Sunday, october 23, 2016

Don’t pop ‘n’ It’s time to drink, your }8&9 fulfil post-civil favourite juice war promises could contain -Ohanaeze, Aka cockroaches, filth Ikenga }13

SUNDAY Sunday, OCTOBER 23, 2016 Vol. 3 No. 977

ARA

Sanctity of Truth

/newtelegraph

@newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com

N150

JUDGES’ BOMBSHELL

Fear grips Buhari’s men }5

“I believe that the judges could not have cooked up the allegations against Amaechi and Onu…if the indicted judges are to step aside, the indicted ministers should also step aside” -Adegboruwa

I never }17 planned for failed marriage Fayose playing with fire over }7 killing of cows -Miyetti Allah

Shun October 29 dialogue

}5

-Militants warn FG lPass vote of no confidence on Clark, others

lWarn against re-opening of Trans-Forcados trunk lIjaws do not have monopoly of militancy lMilitary kills pirates, destroys refineries in N’Delta

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Contents | 23.10.16 BODY & SOUL

Queen of drums Renowned female talking drummer, Araola Olumuyiwa, talks about her passion, failed marriage and plans

}17

POLITICS

Mission to nowhere Senator Ken Nnamani’s Constitution and Electoral Reforms Committee might just be President Muhammadu Buhari’s way of courting the South-East to make up for dwindling popularity in the South-West

}21

BUSINESS

Cashless UBA has confirmed that over 70 per cent of its deposits and over 80 per cent of its total outflow transactions are implemented through digital channels

}43

FAITH

AG crisis

SPORT

Rufai's joy

A solidarity match by loyalists of the excommunicated General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Church (AG) has provoked fresh altercation between the two factions

}50 Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Peter Rufai, is happy that Africa's best keeper, Vincent Enyeama, has decided to return to the Eagles

}55

Magazine

Red alert After decomposing cockroaches were found in children's fruit juice recently, there is need to scrutinise contents of drinks before consumption

}8&9

SUNDAY

Editorial

Rangers on top

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elebrations are still on going all over the nation and beyond following Enugu Rangers’ league triumph after 32 years of emptiness. The party mood which may not fizzle out so soon is hinged on the premise that after over three decades, the Flying Antelopes are back to the top , where they rightly belong.

Beyond this year’s league success, there is history which many fans and writers have failed to acknowledge. Rangers have set a record of being the first to win the league eight times and not seven times as many believe.

It is therefore wrong to claim that the Coal City Boys are at par with younger sibling, Enyimba of Aba, who have won seven times.

For the avoidance of doubt, Rangers won the League in 1970,1974,1975,1977,1981,1982, 1984 and 2016 respectively. The Aba Elephants triumphed in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2015 respectively. It is thus clear , that the Flying Antelopes are the most decorated side in the Nigerian League.

History will not forgive those who have chosen to ignore the fact that Rangers won what would be called the first League title in 1970. It was hurriedly organised because the Confederation of African Football [CAF], refused to accept Nigeria’s entry for the 1971 Africa Cup of Champions Club [today’s CAF Champion’s League], Lagos NEPA. NEPA had won the Challenge Cup in 1970 and were entered for the continental competition. CAF rejected the Electricians, insisting that only League winners would be allowed to take part. Stationery Stores had flown the country’s flag in 1967and 1968 respectively as Challenge Cup champions.

The NFA rushed back home and organised what was known as the Amachree Cup which Rangers won. That victory gave the Flying Antelopes their first continental ticket when they were still less than a year old. And they gave a good account of themselves, getting as far as the quarter finals before bowing to ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’I voire.

One take away from that debut was that they became known as Rangers International after defeating Secteur Six of Niger Republic 1-0 in Niamey after a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home. The Coal City Boys defeated Kaloum Stars of Guinea in the Second Round.

Anyone who denies credit to Rangers and fails to acknowledge it as their first League victory is either being mischievous or has no knowledge of history. It is like saying that the Golden Eaglets victory at the Maiden U-17 World Cup should not count because it was not a championship.

It is not the number of teams that makes a league. The present League as it is consti-

tuted today is far larger than what obtained in the 1970S. We should also learn from FIFA. This conspiracy of historical inexactitude against Rangers should not be allowed to stand. In fact, this is even the time to celebrate this team which was denied the league title in a most horrendous manner in 1972.

The NFF must continue to ask for forgiveness for denying the team success.

In 1972, P.O.C. Achebe, who was an administrative secretary at the NFA, worked out a formal league. With a match to go, Rangers led comfortably, followed by Mighty Jets of Jos. The Plateau team needed to beat their opponents, Bauchi Wunti with at least eight unreplied goals to win at away.

Rangers were to face Octopus of Port Harcourt in Enugu.

The Flying Antelopes had beaten the Army team from the Garden City 5-1 at away and were ready to do better than that in the last match in Enugu. Wunti had not lost a game in Bauchi, so it was easy to predict where the trophy would go.

Octopus refused to honour their last match, which today would have given Rangers three points and three goals. But at that time, FIFA had introduced a new rule of two points for, with a two-goal advantage to any team whose opponents refused to honour a match In Bauchi, scores stood at 1-1 after 45 minutes. Then the absurd happened. Jets scored eight goals in the second stanza. That was not just enough to give them the trophy if Rangers got the statutory two points and two goals from Octopus.

That did not work. The NFA, led by Chairman, Commander Edwin Kentebbe and Secretary General ,Oyo Orok Oyo, convened a full council meeting in Benin City. The verdict? Rangers were declared victors over Octopus but with neither the corollary two points nor the two goals. Mighty Jets thus became champions through a Boardroom fraud. And they crashed out in the first round on the continent in their fraudulent debut.

We believe that the records should be set straight. Rangers are a gift to the Nigerian League and this latest victory must be acknowledged as their eighth, which other teams should strive to equal. It does not help trying to put the heads of Enyimba and Rangers together.

Rangers are the best in the Nigerian league and remain the only team to have won it without losing a match. That was in 1974.

Enyimba are the best Nigerian side in the CAF Champions League. So far, they have won it twice. And both teams are siblings having being founded by the same person: Chief Jerry Enyeazu.

DAILY TELEGRAPH PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief

Funke Egbemode

Managing Editor, Business & Strategy n Yemi Ajayi

Managing Editor, Publication & Operations n Emeka Obasi

Managing Editor, South n Emeka Madunagu Managing Editor, North & Abuja n Laurence Ani (Leave of Absence)

Editor n Ayodele Ojo Editor, Sunday n Juliet Bumah Editor, Saturday n Waheed Bakare Deputy Editor n Tunde Sulaiman

Bureau Chief, Abuja n Onwuka Nzeshi Bureau Chief, Brussels n Leo Cendrowicz Bureau Chief, Washington DC n Marshall Comins Editorial Coordinator, Europe n Sam Amsterdam Asst. Editor, News & Politics n Biyi Adegoroye

Business Development Manager n Taiwo Ahmed Sales/Circulation Manager n Oyebanji Abiodun Head, Arts & Creative n Ugochukwu Nnakwe Head, Admin. n Robinson Ezeh

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

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SUNDAY, 23 OCTOBER, 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

photo NEWS

It was glitz, glam and fun at Excel Centre, Oregun Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday, 22nd October, 2016, when the family of Mr. & Mrs. Adedotun Egbemode, gave their beautiful daughter, Adetoun, out in marriage to her sweetheart, Temitayo, son of Mr. & Mrs. Adeyinka Salami. Here are some of the faces that graced the grand occasion. PHOTOS: SULEIMAN HUSAINI, GODWIN IREKHE AND TONY EGUAYE

L-R: Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and the couple, Mr. & Mrs. Temitayo Salami

L-R: Groom’s father, Mr. Abayomi Salami; his mother, Ganiyat; Groom, Temitayo; Bride, Adetoun; Bride’s mother, Managing Director, New Telegraph Newspapers/President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mrs. Funke Egbemode and bride’s father, Mr. Adeniyi Egbemode

L-R: Bride’s father, Mr. Adeniyi Egbemode; Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Aremo Segun Osoba; Groom’s mother, Mrs. Ganiyat Salami;the couple; bride’s mother, Mrs. Funke Egbemode; former Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan; groom’s father, Mr. Abayomi Salami; Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and President, Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick

L-R: Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka-Pemu; Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Segun Osoba and former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi

The bride’s siblings…L-R: Adeyinka; Adedapo and Abayomi Egbemode

L-R: Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief, The Sun CPS to Lagos State Governor, Mr. Habib Aruna Newspapers, Mr. Eric Osagie; Deputy Managing and former Director-General, Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State, Alhaji Mojeed Jamiu Director, Mr. Steve Nwosu

A cross-section of New Telegraph Newspaper staff

Representative of Ooni od Ife; HRM Oba Babatunde Adesoji (left) and HRM Oba Adesoye Adefarakanmi

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

NEWS

Judges’ Bombshell: Fear grips Buhari’s men

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Biyi Adegoroye

alpable fear has gripped some prominent members of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, following rumours that the presidency might off-load them because of the weighty allegations leveled against some of them by two Supreme Court judges.

The apprehension came just as prominent Nigerians, including Constitutional lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa; factional leader of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Goddy Uwazuruike, and a former Secretary to the Benue State Government, Prof. Saint Gbilekaa, called on President Buhari to remove the Minister of Transport, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, and his Science and Technology Counterpart, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu, to enable them defend the weighty allegations leveled against them.

The fear was reinforced when it was observed last week that the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, who was allegedly named in a N500million bribe over the fine imposed on the mobile telecommunication company, MTN, had been out of office for over two weeks.

Presidency sources said a number of the ministers are jittery over the allegations and that one cannot rule out the possibility of a cabinet shakeup soon to remove some ministers who are said to have heavy baggage. A key government spokesman, who chose not to be named, said he could not confirm that, but that Kyari was on annual leave and would resume duties tomorrow.

Since the arrest of over seven judges by the Department of State Security (DSS), over allegations of corruption in the past three weeks, some of the judges have complained of victimization, witch-hunt and that evidence were planted in their apartment.

While Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court alleged that Hon. Rotimi Amaechi begged him to pervert justice by canceling the governorship election in Ekiti State and order fresh election to favour his friend, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Justice Inyang Okoro alleged that Amaechi also attempted to bribe him to influence the elections in Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

Similarly, Justice Ngwuta alleged that Dr. Onu invited him to his house and demanded that he influenced the outcome of the Governorship Election Appeal for Ebonyi State in favour of the Labour Party candidate in the state who had reportedly agreed to decamp to the All Progressives Congress.

Whereas both Amaechi and Onu have denied the allegations, with the former describing it as “pure fiction, a dubious diversionary tale concocted to muddle the very serious issues of his (Ngwuta’s) arrest and investigations by the DSS,” President Buhari has been advised to, as a matter of urgency, drop those ministers and submit them from investigation.

Constitutional lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, in an interview with Sunday Telegraph, said the current development was a fallout of the belief that even while in the opposition, the APC manipulated the judiciary to secure victory in many states, especially in the South.

“Governors Rauf Aregbesola, Adams Oshiomhole and Kayode Fayemi were imposed on Osun, Edo and Ekiti states respectively by the courts, and not through the ballots,” he said.

He noted that the manipulation by the APC, which was a beautiful bride of the judiciary over the years, have now boomeranged because the party could no longer have its way, adding that it only shows the APC as “an agglomeration of propagandists and political opportunists who took Nigerians for granted and took advantage of PDP’s poor performance to hoodwink Nigerians to vote for them” “I believe that the judges could not have cooked up the allegations against Amaechi and Onu, especially since the former is gradually becoming the Mr. Fix it of this administration.

My submission, therefore,

is that if the indicted judges are to step aside, the indicted ministers should also step aside,” he said.

He stated that the current development was akin to the manner the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, were intimidated and charged to court for alleged forgery until they stood their grounds and the Federal Government beat a retreat by withdrawing the charges against them.

While he said corrupt judges have no business in the temple of justice, Adegboruwa added that the constitutionally approved organ, “the NJC, should be allowed to remove them, not the APC, not the DSS and definitely not Amaechi.”

Uwazuruike in an interview with Sunday Telegraph, said the allegations against the ministers are weighty and the said ministers “should step aside for thorough investigation,” in order not to make a mockery of the anti-corruption war and the ‘Change Begins with Me’ programme.

“If you look at the Justice Ngwuta’s allegation, he was very pointed, telling the Chief Justice of the Federation: ‘My Lord, may I recall one morning when I pleaded not to be on the Panel of Rivers Governorship Appeal? My Lord, you said I was already on the panel and asked me why I made that request to be excluded. When I explained what transpired the previ-

ous night, Your Lordship said Amaechi had also attempted to influence other justices,’ that means that the CJN was aware of the issue right from the beginning.

“Amaechi and the Chief of Staff to the President, who has been named in one or two cases of corruption, should be asked to step aside and thorough investigations carried out on this matter,” Uwazuruike said.

He added, “This battle is against the independence of the judiciary. Since 1999, there had been attempts to deal with the judiciary. The then President Olusegun Obasanjo tried it and you remember that there was a time the Supreme Court was burgled. That is the point I

am making.”

Gbilekaa said the President needs to show greater seriousness with the war on corruption by ensuring that prominent members of the APC accused of corruption are probed.

“He should also probe other non-PDP members.

People have mentioned Rotimi Amaechi, his Minister of Transportation; Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing and several other names. Of course, people who say the Buhari’s anti-corruption war is lopsided are quite right; we are not blind; we have eyes and we are seeing. So, as Nigerians, we know what is happening, it is one sided.

Corruption should not be a party alphabet,” he said.

L-R: Chief Medical Director, Onabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Alfred Jaiyesimi; Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye; wife of the State Governor/President of the UPLIFT Development Foundation, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun; wife of former president, Mrs. Bola Obasanjo; Iyalode Alaba Lawson and Chief Doja Adewolu during the official commissioning of the newly built UPLIFT Development Foundation Cancer Screening Centre at Onabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Sagamu over the weekend

N’Delta dialogue: Militants pass no confidence vote on Clark, others Paul Ogbuokiri and Dominic Adewole

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arely two days after the mainstream Ijaw militant group, the Niger-Delta Avengers (NDA), announced its pull out from the proposed dialogue between the Federal Government and some prominent politicians and traditional rulers in the Niger-Delta region, other militant groups in the upland Delta region have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel the parley, and warned multi-national oil companies operating in the region not to attempt to re-open the Trans-Forcados pipeline (TFP).

The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, the group, which in recent times, has claimed responsibility for most of the bombing of oil and gas installations in the upland areas of the NigerDelta, urged President Buhari to disregard the dialogue template of October 29, in the interest of peace,

describing those constituting the channel of discourse as “doubtful and conduit of corruption.”

The Trans-Forcados trunk was the major delivery line that was bombed in the wake of the resumed hostility in the Niger Delta region by the militants, operating from Urhobo ethnic nationality of Delta State.

The group had rejected the choice of the foremost Ijaw leader and the Minister of Information in the First Republic, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, as the key negotiator in the dialogue between the militants and the Federal Government, describing him as a factional leader, and maintaining that ‘the Ijaws do not have monopoly of militancy.’

The militia group warned those they referred to as “abusers and pillagers” of the natural assets of the people of the region not to dare its Akuma Strike Team.

The spokesperson of the group, Gen. Aldo Agbalaja, who had been claim-

ing responsibility for all the attacks carried out by the group in the past five months, on Saturday, threatened that the proposed October 29 meeting with the Federal Government would hit the rock and trigger more crisis in the troubled region.

“The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate has not been deterred from meting out justice to the abusers and pillagers of our people and our natural assets. We shall execute this ongoing campaign until the last vestige of our enemies (the heartless, conniving oil and gas companies and their criminal partners, the military) have been vanquished and evacuated from our land.

“This can only be halted if these leeches listen to the voice of reason and seek to do right by our people and do so by taking the right steps. We do not have much to say to the oil companies than to just dare you to reopen the Trans-Forcados Pipeline (TFP). We are aware you are experts at testing

wills, especially as you believe that you have a military shield. Please go ahead and restart the facility and see what will happen.

“We thought we should continue to ignore the grand error being orchestrated by those who are responsible for the current parlous state of our region. These people seem to have succeeded in bewitching and railroaded the Federal Government into settling for a dialogue with them, in the name of the Niger Delta people,” Agbalaja said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, last week, invited the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PNDF), a group promoted by Chief Clark and some other Niger Delta leaders, to a meeting in Abuja.

The meeting, Sunday Telegraph learnt, was meant to set the template for an acceptable dialogue with the stakeholders and representatives of the militant groups. But the Niger-Delta Black Emancipation Force (NDBEF), another group that

operate from the Urhobo, has said that it will make good its threat to resume hostilities in the uplands, if Clark is not dropped from the negotiating team and the militants on the upland allowed to name their representatives in the negotiating team.

Spokesman of the group, Group Commander Ruben Epini, in a telephone interview with the Sunday Telegraph, accused the Ijaws of hijacking the proposed panNiger Delta dialogue team, undermining the upland people like the Urhobos, which is the fifth largest ethnic group in the country.

Meanwhile, ex-agitator and former Commander of Zion Gurrab, a Camp under the Niger- Delta Actualisation Force, General Emma Shobor, has tasked the Federal Government to quickly address the demands made by the militant groups in the upland, saying the dialogue with the militants must be all encompassing for it to be meaningful and bring about lasting peace in the region.

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

News

to provide more 1500 cultists, kidnappers FG support for Armed Forces embrace amnesty in Rivers T Emmanuel Masha

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Port Harcourt

ver 2000 cultists and kidnappers of the main cult groups, perpetrating crime in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State have embraced the Amnesty Programme offered by Governor Nyesom Wike.

They surrendered various arms, weapons and charms to the Amnesty Committee, led by Ken Chinda, denouncing their old ways, which included armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom, and pipeline vandalisation.

The cultists were drawn from Deegbam Confraternity, and Iceland Groups,

who used to fight for the control of turfs in the council area and other parts of the state, brandished their weapons.

They came in tens of buses and Hilux vehicles from different communities and villages in the council under the supervision of security agents, who had been drafted to the Amnesty Committee. But some of the cult leaders, including Samuel Nkasiobe, popularly known as Italian; Ikechukwu Amadi (Gunboat), refused to appear and surrender to the amnesty.

Those that eventually dropped their weapons were issued certificates, showing that they had denounced cult membership chanted, sang and turned

the venue to a carnival of sorts.

The acting Caretaker Committee Chairman of Ikwerre Council, Hon. Samuel Nwanosike, had earlier warned the repentant cultists to seize the amnesty offer as the opportunity to turn a new leaf or risk being invaded in their hideouts.

Nwanosike, who issued the warning when the cultists started acting uncontrollably, surging towards the high table, which had been occupied by dignitaries, including over 30 traditional rulers, stressed the need for orderliness and decorum in their conducts.

He said it won’t cost the state government anything to pursue the cultists if they don’t accept the amnesty

and turn a new leaf, saying, “You should be happy that Governor Nyesom Wike came up with this programme. You don’t seem to realise the position you are in. We are here to start a new chapter in your lives.

So, you should be happy that you have this opportunity.

“We are aware of some of the pranks some of you are playing by hiding some of your arms. All of you that have AK-47 and have refused to surrender them are playing with fire. Let me state here that Italian and Gunboat have been exempted from the amnesty programme. Those, who refused to come out today, we will block them. They have missed the opportunity.”

he Minister of Defence, Retired Brig.Gen. Mansur DanAli, said on Saturday that the Federal Government would provide more support for the Armed Forces, despite the country’s dwindling revenue.

Dan-Ali gave this assurance at the passing out parade of 90 new Direct Short Service Course 23 and 13 Special Duty Course 2016 cadets at the Nigerian Navy College Onne, Rivers.

He said the assistance would enable the military to succeed in its ongoing operations such as Operations Delta Safe and Tsare Teku in the Niger Delta and Operation Lafiya Dole in the North-East.

Dan-Ali said the opera-

‘High interest rates may throw Nigeria into instability’ Chijioke Iremeka

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L-R: Secretary to Abia State Government, Dr. Eme Okoro; Managing Director/ CEO, Platinum Mortgage Bank, Sir. Emma Mbaka and Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu during the presentation of keys of prizes to winners of the mortgage housing scheme introduced by the Governor in Umuahia…yesterday

Ozekhome wants confab report implemented Adeolu Adeyemo

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Osogbo.

member of the Confab and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome, at the weekend, charged the Federal Government to revisit and implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference to alleviate the economic recession, rocking the country.

Chief Ozekhome, who made the charge in an interview with newsmen in Ido-Osun, Osun State, said if all recommendations of the conference could be implemented by the government, the Nigeria’s economic recession will vanish in no distance time.

He remarked: “I charge President Mohammed Buhari to be prudent in his approach to end the cur-

rent hardship in Nigeria.

It is a pity that, Nigeria’s economy, which was the first in Africa not long ago, is now the third on the radar. It will be good, if the Federal Government could revisit and implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference to alleviate Nigerians problems.

“Nigerians are suffering and they are in pains.

Therefore, something must be done to avert the hardship. Now, people are scared to talk and invest as a result of the fear that they might be the next target of the government. So, the government itself should not continue to trend on dangerous bends.”

The constitutional lawyer, who attributed the pronounced problem of the country to bad leader-

ship and not corruption, argued that the present administration claims it is fighting corruption, when in the actual fact, those in his cabinet are enjoying corruption.”

He warned also that the anti-corruption war of Buhari should not be selective, witch-hunting, sectional but be holistic to get the country out of corrupt practices.

“Corruption is just one out of the symptoms that are facing the country’s backwardness. Leadership problem outsmarts it and it has to be tackled from the front and not from the rear alone. A good leader must be respected if he respects himself. He should command the respect and not forcing followers to respect him. “Nigeria is still yearning for nation

hood. 396 ethnic groups in Nigeria still live in self denial. It could be against Dansuki, Jonathan and his wife today, but could come to the turn of whosoever tomorrow.

“Tyranny came when people fear those governing them. Alternative voices are now afraid to criticise objectively because of the fear of EFCC and other security agencies.

We can only hope God will deliver us from all these soon. In dealing with corruption, the Federal Government should not be subjective and never condoleds yes-man and yeswoman kind of people at the expense of technocrats.

“Government should bring technocrats together irrespective of their party affiliation for the progress of Nigeria.

tions were aimed at ensuring law and order as well as preserving the territorial integrity of the country.

“The President Muhammadu Buhari administration is ever committed and determined to honour its obligations to support capacity-building for the Armed Forces.

“Government is pleased that the Nigerian Navy has added a large number of platforms (war ships) to its fleet, which includes NNS Prosperity and Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV). As we speak, the latest OPV to the fleet of the Nigerian Navy is underway from China to Nigeria to improve the defence of the nation’s maritime interests.

financial expert, Tajudeen Raji has argued that increase in interest rates in Nigeria might send the whole economy into a state of instability, thereby worsening already fractured economy.

The expert is well abreast with the fact that Nigeria’s economy, like almost every other in the world, is going through a challenging time and will come out stronger when the dew is clear.

According to Raji, from available data, the world economy of most countries of the world is in shambles, including that of Greece, Spain, Saudi Arabia and China among others.

“Nigeria is going through challenging conditions and hopefully working to come out strong once it start gaining traction. So, attempts to increase or to keep the interest rates high would throw the Nigerian economy into instability,” he said.

He noted that world econo-

my, is still trying to gain traction, say that is the reason the US government is keeping the interest rate at almost zero.

Raji also stated that the difference between the foreign countries and Nigeria is the way both reason and view things.

He said, “The data you threw at me shows that our economy is looking great, even better than that of South Africa from 2013, the year of the rebasing.

“As a Nigerian, who is not afraid to logically think for himself irrespective of what white people might think, I know from available data that the world economy is in shambles like many other countries.”

Speaking on the crisis, he said, under Goodluck Jonathan’s administration with Ngozi Okonji-Iweala as the Finance Minister, more looters bought private jets, champagne and other non productive imports, which were avenues of moving billions of foreign exchange out of the country.

Ogun holds NCITI meeting tomorrow

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he Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, will tomorrow declare open, the 8th edition of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment (NCITI) meeting in Ogun State.

The four-day meeting scheduled to take place at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, the state capital, will be concluded on Thursday with a special tour of designated industrial complexes in the state.

Themed “Diversification of the Nigerian Economy From Over Dependence on Oil Exports,” the meeting, which will draw men and women from all

walks of life, will provide the opportunity to build consensus and develop policy direction aimed at taking the Industry, Trade and Investment sector of the economy to greater heights.

Organised by Ogun State Government, through the state Ministry of Commerce and Industry, expected guests include Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enalamah, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, Chairmen of relevant committees of the National Assembly and commissioners for industry in the 36 states.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

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News

Alleged corruption: EFCC searches judge’s home ...recovers bank documents Emmanuel Onani Abuja

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n continuation of its investigation of eight judges, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have carried out a search on the home of Justice Rita OfiliAjumogobia, of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Sunday Telegraph gathered from highly placed sources at the Commission, that the raid resulted in the recovery of valuable documents, which allegedly revealed bank details of the judge and her children’s.

It was further learnt that documents allegedly showing ownership of property in the country and abroad, were recovered during the search.

One of the sources, who pleaded anonymity, said; “A search was conducted on the residence of Justice Rita Ofili- Ajumogobia by operatives of the EFCC. Sources at the commission revealed that the search yielded documents that would assist the commission’s investigations, including bank accounts in her name and those bearing the names of her children and property title both in Nigeria and abroad.

Apart from Ofili-Ajumogobia, other judges that have been interrogated at the Lagos’ zonal office of the Commission are: Justices Mohammed Nasir Yunusa, Hyeladzira Ajiya Nganjiwa, Musa Haruna Kurya, Agbadu James Fishim, and Uwani Abba Aji,

Mother sells 2-month old baby for N450, 000

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51-year old mother, Mrs. Rose Edward, is currently cooling off in police cell for allegedly buying a two-month-old baby for N450, 000.

Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Murtala Mani, disclosed this on Saturday in Uyo, while briefing newsmen.

Mani, who spoke through the Akwa Ibom Police Command’s spokesperson, ASP Cordelia Nwanwe, noted that a homeopathtic doctor, Eneyo Nyang, was also arrested in connection with the crime.

According to the Commissioner, Edward, who hails from Rivers State con-

fessed to have bought the baby because she needed a baby of her own.

Also confessing to the crime, the mother of the baby, Comfort Effiong, said she sold her baby because there was no one to take care of her.

She said, “I sold the baby because of help. I don’t have anybody to help me.

My father is late and my mother is sick and I don’t have anybody to help me.”

However, Mani assured Akwa Ibom people that the Command would not relent in its effort to curb crime in the state, warning members of the public, wishing to adopt children to follow due process.

We are skeptical about Ajimobi’s LG polls –Ladoja

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ormer Oyo State Governor and leader of Accord Party, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, on Saturday said the All Progressives Congress-led government in the state was not committed to conducting the scheduled 2017 council election announcement by the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).

Ladoja, who spoke during the state congress of Accord Party held at the Green Springs Hotel in Ibadan on Saturday, where a new executive was announced, explained that his skepticism about the election date was rooted in the previous failure of promises made by the government.

Elected at the well-attended congress, which was witnessed by four officials of the Independent National Elec-

toral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, are: Alhaji Wahab Oyelade (state chairman); Dr Nureni Adeniran, who was immediate past publicity secretary, was elected state secretary; Mrs. Yetunde Ajibola (Women leader); Akeem Olatunji (Publicity Secretary); Youth leader, Mr. Adekola Adeoye; Organising Secretary, Nasiru Adeniyi; Treasurer, Pastor Oladimejo Orolade, and others.

Chieftains of the party at the congress included Senator Olufemi Lanlehin; Chief Bayo Lawal; Chief Dele Adigun; Professor Tunde Ayeleru; Honourable Bayo Lawal; former Deputy Speaker, Honourable Babatunde Olaniyan; Honourable Olayemi Busari, and all eight Accord members in the state House of Assembly.

Lead Presenter/Osun state Governor, Rauf Aregbesola; Special Guest of Honour/Emir of Kano, HRH, Sanusi Lamido and Royal Father of the Day/Alake of Egbaland, Oba Aremu Gbadebo at the The Point newspaper 1st Public Presentation & Annual Conference tagged: ”What is the Economics of Change? In Lagos…at the weekend.

PHOTO: GODWIN IREKHE

Buhari accuses varsity lecturers of promoting wrong values Biodun Oyeleye

P Ilorin

resident Muhammad Buhari yesterday berated teachers in Nigerian universities, alleging that some of them ‘orchestrate or encourage’ antisocial norms on their campuses such as sexual harassment, indecency and unnecessary demonstrations.

Buhari, while speaking at the 32nd Convocation ceremonies of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) said government was no longer comfortable with the turn of events in the university system and left a warning that leaders of tertiary institutions would henceforth be held accountable for every breach of the peace on their campuses.

The President, who was represented at the event by the Deputy Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Chinedu Mafiana, also told heads of tertiary institutions present the ceremony that the era of wasteful spending was

over as he hinted that government expects universities ‘in the near future’ to become self-reliant or be in a position to provide a substantial portion of their needed funds.

He also charged scholars in the universities to relate their activities to the social, cultural and economic needs of the people of Nigeria as he noted that in a critical period such as its being witnessed in Nigeria, all eyes are on the universities to help the nation out.

His words: “We are all aware of government’s avowed intention to change the attitudes and values of our citizens, particularly our youths towards positive direction.

The responsibilities and obligations of University teachers in achieving this goal cannot be overstated. As leaders of our institutions they must provide the moral compass for our youths. They owe our students the same responsibilities their parents have for them and are expected to advise and help them to become good citizens of this country.

“Government is uncomfort-

able that our citadels of learning which should be training grounds for probity, social justice and decorum have become havens for gross indiscipline, cultism, sexual harassment, immorality, indecency, violence, unnecessary demonstrations and all forms of anti-social behaviours. Some of these actions are orchestrated or encouraged by their teachers.

“No society can thrive in an atmosphere of confusion, divisive tendencies, rumours and misrepresentation of government policies. Channels of communication between universities and the students should always be open to enable both parties interact, dialogue and consult freely to engender peace, tolerance, orderliness, self-discipline, sobriety and attitudinal change in our institutions of higher learning. Leaders of our Universities will be held responsible for every positive and negative action in their respective institutions.

“Government on its part will continue to fund our

Universities to the limit of its available resources. But let me advise managers of our Universities that the era of wasteful spending is over.

Every available fund should be ploughed into teaching, research and productive activities. Government lives in the hope that in the near future our Universities should be self-reliant or be in a position to provide a substantial portion of their needed funds.

“The universities have a role to play in the effort at revitalizing the economy and building a solid foundation for the nation. As catalyst for change, the Universities should not only be producers and disseminators of knowledge, but also creators of wealth. They should be in the vanguard in re-orientating our people to espouse the ideals of good citizenship. In tune with the laws establishing them, our Universities should relate their activities to the social, cultural and economic needs of the people of Nigeria,” he said.

Fayose is playing with fire, says Miyetti Allah

M

iyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian (MACBAN) has said by arresting at killing a cow in the state, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is playing with fire.

A statement by its Spokesman, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, stated that Fayose, by inaugurating a vigilance group, Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals (EGEM), popularly called ‘Anti-malu’ “in furtherance of his threat to banish our members from Ekiti State”.the governor has drawn the battleline with the association.

It said Fayose unleashed the marshals “against our members whose herds of

cattle had gone to a stream at Agon Bridge on Federal Polytechnic road between the times of 2:00 – 2:30 PM to quench their thirst on Friday, October 21, 2016”.

The statement quoted by the DAILY POST reads: “We have been reliably alerted by an impeccable source in AdoEkiti that the Anti-malu vigilance group shot five cows and carted away the meat but the herdsman was able to flee with the rest of his cattle.

“We are hereby constrained to implore the Federal Government through its security agencies to wade into this unprovoked and primitive aggression against our members, before this macabre incident develops into un-

quenchable inferno involving our members and Ekiti State government.

“No Cattle strayed into anybody’s farmland around that area in question. As such, the actions of the Anti-malu vigilance group are not only provocative, but capable of creating uncontrollable scenarios whose ramification may go well beyond Ekiti State.

“As far as we know, Ekiti State is not an island of its own, but a state within the Federal Republic of Nigeria and while the governor is permitted to carry out actions geared towards protecting the interest of Ekiti State, such actions should follow the rule of law.

“We deplore this act of

brigandage and call on Governor Ayodele Fayose to offer an unreserved apology to MACBAN, and equally set machinery in motion with a view to compensating our members who lost five cows in this primitive adventure, it said.

“That the brutality of the Ekiti Grazing enforcement marshals (popularly known as Anti- malu) on herdsmen is even outside the time stipulated by that law (if the law exists at all). The Federal Government should, therefore, look into the actions and activities of this committee because we cannot fold our hands while the only means of survival of our members is taken away and destroyed” the statement said.

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The Sunday Magazine

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Cockroaches found in packed drinks, must not •Dirty storage or mixing tank responsible for objects found in bottled, canned drink –Manager

In recent times, there have been increasing complaints from consumers of packed drinks and other beverages, bothering on safety and quality of the products produced locally for Nigerian consumers. The most recent was the case of a woman, who found decomposing cockroaches in a popular packed beverage bought for her children. CHIJIOKE IREMEKA reports

A

s a warning to parents and other consumers of packed beverages and drinks, especially those with dark colours and others in cans, produced within and outside Nigeria, the video of cockroach-contaminated packed beverage went viral on social media. Mothers, who buy canned and packed drinks, are warned to examine the products before giving to their children.

Nigerians have called on the National Agency of Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to be on top of the situation in ridding Nigeria of wholesome and substandard products as well as safeguarding the health of the nation.

When contacted to speak on the matters raised by victim who claimed that cockroaches were found in a popular packed drink she bought for her children’s lunch, NAFDAC’s Director of Special Duties, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, said such a case is yet be officially reported to the agency. NAFDAC, he said does not treat speculations.

He said: “When such report is received, we first try to establish the fact that the consumer has not tampered with the product in question. Sometimes, it will be an attempt to hit back at a company by some people. So, we are very conscious of that.

But if the product has not been tampered with, then, we will move into action.

“Years back, we had an issue where we shut down a soft drink manufacturing company for certain poor practices. I don’t want to mentioned names because the company had taken corrections, and we had issued compliance and ethics certificate to them.

“Each case has its own merit. We do not lump them together. In a case of bad manufacturing practices, we take immediate action. But this particular case has not been reported to NAFDAC. We have to be very careful because some people are agents of destruction.

“In some cases, some rival companies could use malicious means to undermine the other. We cannot comment on this issue fully until the case is properly reported, after which we must ascertain that the product was bought in a supermarket.

“I will advise that instead of this woman in question raising alarm, she should take the pain to complain officially to NAFDAC, through any of our offices across the country. I promise you, once this is done, we shall take it up immediately. The agency will go there and do more investigations to find out what happened and bring the erring company to book.

“We also need to know where the item was purchased, and then we will trace it to the manufacturing company. It could be a tip of iceberg for us. Nigerians should as a matter of priority take their destiny into their hands and report all cases of fake and substandard products to NAFDAC. Let’s not keep quiet when things are going wrong, we may be victims directly or indirectly.

“Again, on the sale of expired products, anybody that purchases an expired product should ensure he gets a receipt to avoid any denial. With this, the matter can be properly handled and culprits prosecuted. Those, who purchase expired products, should contact the nearest NAFDAC office to report.”

The Acting Director General of NAFDAC,

Mrs. Ye t u n d e Oluremi Oni, said: “It’s the statutory obligation of NAFDAC to prevent the proliferation of counterfeit medical products and unwholesome processed foods, including other sub-standard regulated products.

According to one of the major importers and sole distributors of South Africanmade non-alcoholic wine, Chiwetalu Okorocha, there is an influx of fake and substandard products in Nigeria since the exit of late Prof. Dora Akunyili as Director General of NAFDAC. Due to inherent competition among businessmen, Okorocha noted that, many importers demand for poorly filtered, substandard and fake products in high quantity so as to make huge profits.

Okorocha, who trades at Idumota Market, Lagos Island, disclosed that while offloading products, the businessmen do not spare the time to check whether the goods offloaded are of high or low quality. He noted that nobody has the time to check the expiry dates of imported goods, rather at the centre of every importer’s mind, is ensuring that the large quantity of goods ordered,

w a s supplied.

“How many are you going to check? If you have a 40-feet container of products, will you get there and start checking the products carton by carton, bottle by bottle?

It’s not possible. Once in a while, we get delivery of bad products but the moment we notify the foreign manufacturers, we get quick replacements. Importers are more concerned about the number of cartons, crates and containers being supplied,” he said.

Okorocha added that, one cannot avoid receiving products that do not meet the right standard since there is rush for mass production and mass supply.

According to Vincent Aigbedion, another trader dealing in assorted bottled drinks, there has been rising cases of sales and supply of expired products in the country and many people have lost the idea of checking for product’s expiry dates since Prof.

Akunyili left NAFDAC. Aigbedion is of the belief that the regulatory bodies, which are the industry watchdogs have compromised. He confirmed that not long ago, he got delivery of about

seven packs of expired expensive whisky he ordered from abroad.

“There are regulatory agencies in charge of quantity and quality control. There is the need for them to do their job. I am a very busy man and it would be difficult for me to start checking imported products on delivery. Despite the fact that my workers spend time checking the products, yet customers return bad products,” he said.

However, Sunday Telegraph’s investigations revealed increasing rate at which expired products are sold in supermarkets in Nigeria. In most cases, upon expiry, retailers criminally erase dates of manufacture and expiry with hydraulic fluid in order to deceive unsuspecting consumers.

A food production expert, Samuel Chukwunulu, said “expired products can turn into something else, not because it’s not well filtered, rather it has certain preservatives that work for a certain period and after such period, anything can happen

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

Sunday Magazine

go unpunished - NAFDAC to the products. “That is why you can see sedimentation and even discoloration of some products.

“Sometimes, the products have not attained expiration date but the content has expired due to exposure to sunlight and heat. In this regard, one would think that it was a fake product especially as such was certified by NAFDAC. The storage condition must have affected the product adversely,” he said.

This, he said, calls for serious measures to prevent repeat of the ugly incident that happened with the poisonous baby teething mixture named ‘My Pikin.’ It should be recalled that lack of quality control in a pharmaceutical industry and proper check led to the death of 84 innocent babies in Nigeria, when the manufacturer of “My Pikin” teething mixture supplied contaminated product to the market.

At least, 84 babies died after being fed with the teething powder containing chemicals used in anti-freeze and brake fluid. The contaminated drug brought fever, convulsion, diarrhea and vomiting. These left the victims unable to urinate.

A Senior Manager in another top notch soft drink company, Mr. Uchechi Kalu, said dirty storage or mixing tank is responsible for any object found in a bottled or canned drink, adding that, malfunctioning of machines in production chain also cause shortage in the process.

Kalu insisted also that such disgusting objects like cockroaches found in bottled and packed drinks are from the mixing point, saying, not all the companies in such processes have strict standard for production.

He added that, at his company, the water tank is monitored to ensure that there are no dirt.

“If you check, you will discover that our mixing tank is transparent and people cover their hair very well. Sometimes, it might not be from the company.

“In some cases, the problem comes from the machine that wasches the bottles. There are people in charge of bottle section. They are called bottle checkers. In our company, these people are positioned to monitor the bottles with microscope-like object to ensure the bottles are clean.

“We have about eight lines of production and all of them have the checkers. The bottle checkers have the responsibility of checking the bottles at each stage. The bottles must pass through them before they are refilled and after refilling, they will check them again to determine if they are well coupled.

“Other companies might not have all these machines and they will use naked eyes to check the processes, which I know, cannot be perfect. This is where the problem lies.

We have not recorded such cases because our production chain is well mechanised and monitored.

“In some cases, you discover that some soft drinks companies employ manual labour to couple their products from washing to refilling, packaging, and loading. But we do these mechanically. Each stage of production has timing and when it misses is timing, something is wrong and we have to check what has happened.

“If 100 packs will pass through the chain within 10 minutes, it has to be so. If it comes out before or after 10 minutes, then something is wrong.”

He noted that canned products may have small openings that cannot be seen with naked eyes and through such openings, small cockroaches or ants may enter and die in there or grow to a certain point and die.

“Consumers may think it’s from the manufacturers but every company is conscious of this because a small mistake goes round,” he said.

Dayo Ekeh, who works in the production chain of an international Pharmaceutical company, said breakdown of machine can

make the products substandard and where there is no regulatory body in place, the owners will push them to the market.

The same, according to him, goes for the production of compact discs (CDs), saying, if there are 50 CDs in a chain and there is power outage, the whole 50 will crack and the owners will push them to the market, especially when there is nobody to regulate their activities in the country.

However, former Registrar, Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria, Mrs. Gladys Eke, described deaths from these mistakes especially those of infants' as "horrible" and warned against indiscriminate use of industrial chemicals by unqualified people.

A laptop repairer and IT specialist, Pascal Okoro, who was a victim of expired packed drinks, narrated his experience to our reporter: “Somebody once bought an expired packed yogurt drink for me from a pharmacy in Lagos. The person, perhaps, didn’t check the expiry date. I had opened it and on a second thought, decided to check for the expiry date. Lo and behold, the yogurt expired three months back. I felt bad at the thought that millions of Nigerians must have ignorantly consumed the expired products. If such a product that expired three months back could be sold freely in the market, the fate of consumers is rather hazardous?” He wondered.

Another consumer, Mr. Raji Suleiman, who bought two packs of fried rice and chicken in one of the popular fast food eateries outlet in Ikeja, Lagos, complained that the chicken in both packs were bad. The fast food outlet apologised and gave an excuse that their refrigeration system was bad, this they said was compounded by excessive power outage.

For a soft drink distributor, Mr. Benson Egbunna, who operates at the Trade Fair Mini Depot in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos, there was no time for checking every product delivered for sale.

He noted that his company returns for replacements of bad products discovered in the supplied packages to the suppliers hence there is no need wasting time looking for damaged or shortage in supply.

He noted that, there are instances where products escape the normal production channel due to machine malfunction. This is why we have some half-filled bottles of soft drinks and other juice.

In the case of bakeries that bake bread in commercial quantity, “Flat breads are sold as damaged, because of wrong mixture of flour which makes the dough not to rise as expected. In most cases, this is not detected until the retailers see them and return such to us,” he added.

A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in 2009 slammed N60million against a giant soft drinks manufacturing company in Nigeria as special and general damages to Messrs Keregbe Kpa and Nuka Livingstone.

The claimants had, through their lawyer, Chigozirim Nwaodu, instituted a suit against the defendant, claiming the sum of N100 million as special and general damages for consuming soft drinks contaminated with decomposing cockroach and other harmful substances on or about May 17, 2008.

Justice Emmanuel Ogbuji, while delivering the judgment, found the defendant in Suit No.PHC/551/2009, guilty of negligence and breached its duty of care to the claimants.

The discovery of the said contamination by the guests of the first claimant in a child dedication ceremony for his little daughter on May 18, 2008 and for which the first claimant was derogatorily called ‘an evil ritualist’ and similar plasters of infamy by the guests and other persons amounted to the defamation of the claimant or an aggravated embarrassment to him.”

Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary school in Ikorodu, Lagos

School Kidnapping: Stakeholders express worry, offer security tips Esther Bakare

T

he increasing kidnapping incidents of students’ right inside their school premises have forced stakeholders to offer security tips to government towards beefing up security in the various institutions.

Earlier this year some female students of the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School, Ikorodu, Lagos were kidnapped in the school premises, making it a second occurrence this year after the abduction of some students of the Lagos State Model College, Igbo Nla in Epe, Lagos, where the school principal was also abducted. They all have been released.

It is however becoming a recurring criminality, which has been giving stakeholders some sleepless nights.

The former Minister of Education, Professor (Mrs) Nora Obaji, while suggesting security measures for the schools noted that security personnel should be stationed in the schools; this should be complemented with the provision of staff quarters for teachers to live in the school compound. This she noted would ensure effective learning and teaching as students will not be left to fend for themselves.

She added: “Efforts must be made by the Ministry of Education to ensure that teachers live in the school compound, this would improve learning and the teachers also would do their jobs more effectively under a guaranteed secured environment.”

The former Minister also suggested that for the education sector to move forward, Nigerians should go back to the basis.

More teachers need to be employed as education in the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions are suffering due dearth of teachers.

“A great level of successes cannot be achieved in education without teachers and we don’t have good number of quality teachers.

Government should also ensure they make the environment more conducive, schools should not be overpopulated.

Universities for instance, should not admit students more than their carrying capacity,” she said.

Professor Obaji also blamed setback in the sector on insincerity of top officials of the institutions who compromise standard during admission process, which is no longer based on merit but on connections to government officials.

Corroborating her point, the Director/ Principal of Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Yaba, Reverend Chris Ugorji, said the importance of staff living in the school compound cannot be overemphasized as it enhances performance in academics and ensure close relationship between teachers and students.

‘We just got the delivery of a 1,200 capacity female hostel from the Parents Teachers Association (PTA). The hostel facility has some flats dedicated to staff, the college on its own is going into a Private Public Partnership arrangement to ensure that more flats are built for staff to live in. This is so because government’s policies for now cannot give room for hostels to be built for schools that is why we are not living everything to the government alone,’ he said.

He concluded that the kidnapping incident is another Chibok experience, adding that, the college has already beefed up security by engaging some security squad and also sensitizing students and parents after extra measures have been taken by the school management.

A non-governmental organisation, African Youths Initiative on Crime Prevention (AYICRIP), has suggested ways of improving security measures in schools so as to avoid future recurrence.

Executive Director of the organisation, Mr. Chris Ibe, suggested that schools should adopt crime preventive education.

He said community policing and Neighbourhood Watch should be part of schools’ curriculum such that will make staff and students to adopt preventive measures so that everyone will be at alert always. He stressed that the Nigeria Police Force should also open up for community policing.

He stressed that his organisation will be holding a summit which intends to bring together youth leaders and heads of youth focused NGOs spearheading the fight against drugs, substance abuse and illicit trafficking within the country for the purpose of appraising the war against such as it affects young people.

‘The summit promises to create awareness on the dangers and repercussions associated with young people getting involved in drugs and substance abuse.

It will also stimulate discussion on possible suggestions on prevention, policy formulation and implementation as it affects young people in Nigeria in general,” he said.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

news

LASU sacks 13 staff over forgery, theft Biyi Adegoroye

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he Governing Council of the Lagos State University, Ojo, has sacked 13 staff over cases of certificate forgery and theft. A staff of the university, Onowakpo John, was, however, exonerated of allegation of certificate falsification..

The sack came on the heels of the ratification of the recommendations of the Junior Staff Disciplinary Committee by the council at its 112th Statutory Meeting held on Thursday, October 20, 2016 Those affected include a Senior Library Assistant, an Assistant Catering Supervisor, two senior patrolmen and an Assistant Chief Clerical Officer in the Registry Department. Others are a Keypunch Operator in the Registry Department who fraudulently collected the sum of N123,950.00 from a student and an artisan in Works Department who stole 200 litres of fuel.

Other officers were dis-

missed for offences bordering on “falsification of various WASC for May/ June 1982 WAEC Ordinary Level Result to 1999. A female staff was dismissed for abandonment of duty.

The University’s Public Relations Officer, Ademola Adekoya, who confirmed the report, added however, that the body could not consider some other issues, “most especially staff promotions as a result of time constraint and the need to give additional information on candidates recommended for promotion.”

The Governing Council, therefore, deferred the consideration of those cases to its expedient meeting scheduled for November 15, intended solely to clear all promotion and welfare related outstanding issues before it..

He said the management of the university assured members of staff that the issues in question were of utmost importance to the university and would be given the attention they deserve.

UNILORIN PhD graduand dies on convocation day Biodun Oyeleye

A Ilorin

doctoral degree graduand of the University of Ilorin, Dr. AbdulHafeez Adedimeji, died yesterday morning, few hours to his formal graduation with the degree.

The deceased, who bagged PhD in Arabic was among the 166 doctoral degree students the university graduated yesterday.

Until his death, Adedimeji was a lecturer at the Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State and was said to be senior brother to Dr. Mafouz Adedimeji, the Acting Director, Centre for

Peace and Strategic Studies of UNILORIN. The Dean, Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, Prof.

Badmas Olanrewaju Yusuf, broke the sad news at the university auditorium, venue of the 32nd Convocation of the university while calling forward the new PhD holders for the traditional handshake with the Visitor to the University.

Unconfirmed sources claimed he had been sick for some time before his sudden demise, even as the sad news sent a wave of mourning across the vast auditorium, venue of the convocation.

In all, a total of 8,038 students graduated at the con-

vocation which took place on Friday and Saturday.

Earlier in his address, the Vice- Chancellor of the university, Professor AbduGaniyu Ambali, expressed delight that the first degree graduands of yesterday were largely from the Sciences which he said has become imperative for the transformation of society.

He said, “We cannot under estimate the significance of science in the development and transformation of human life and society. The more scientists we have the better positioned we are to confront the numerous challenges of our life on the surface of the earth. Sciences enable

us to tame nature and the development the world has witnessed in all areas of life are largely a result of scientific breakthroughs and discoveries.”

He added “We also have the postgraduate graduands, who as experts in various disciplines, are expected to illuminate the path of scholarship and excellence further with their qualifications.”

He described the 2015/2016 academic session as remarkable for the university in many respects as both the students and lecturers of the institution excelled in various academic competitions both in Nigeria and abroad.

LASTMA warns motorists against distracted driving Muritala Ayinla

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orried by the increased rate of road accidents resulting in loss of lives and property in Lagos metropolis, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, (LASTMA), has warned motorists to stop pinging or making phone calls while driving.

This was even as the 1,200 newly employed LASTMA officers were yesterday deployed to their duty posts after weeks of training.

Speaking with Saturday Telegraph, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LASTMA, AIG Chris Olakpe (rtd), who gave the warning on safe driving, said that the agency would go all out to commence arrests of drivers who engage in phone calls, pinging and other forms of distractions on the wheel.

Olakpe, who expressed

worry over spate of accidents in the state, said that the agency was dutybound to ensure safety on the road in addition to managing traffic.

While warning that stiffer penalties will be imposed on motorists who engage in the use of phones in a way that distract driving, Olakpe said the newly recruited LASTMA officers had been trained and empowered to arrest.

He said: “There should be no pinging, texting of messages, calling or Facebooking while you are on the wheel. Don’t drive without fastening your seat belts, it is for your own safety.

Don’t put your children on the front seat. You get distracted by adjusting them while you are driving. Let them sit at the back seat with their designated seat and belt them to avoid distraction.

Planning, budgeting critical to devt –Nana Mede Muhammad Kabir

A Kano

Federal Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Nana Fatima Mede has described effective planning, budget ing link as critical for attaining inclusive growth and national development.

Mede stated this in her remarks during the a special-

ised training programme on ‘Strategic Planning and Effective Linkage to Budgeting Process,’ organised by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning in Kano.

The Permanent Secretary was represented by Assistant Director (Plans), Macroeconomic Analysis Department in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning Alhaji Aminu Yargaya.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (right), and the General Overseer, The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Church, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, before the Church’s Abuja crusade at The National Stadium in Abuja …yesterday.

NEWS IN BRIE F

Abia PDP records peaceful ward primaries

Obaseki states support for traditional institution

Ahead of the December 17 Local Government Election in Abia State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the weekend, conducted its ward primaries, where its councillorship candidates emerged.

The exercise was generally peaceful as there were no crises recorded at the centres during the visit of Sunday Telegraph.

However, the exercise was characterised by late arrival of materials as the party had to mobilise the officials and materials the same day.

At the Umuigu ward in Oboro, Ikwuano Local Government Area, voting had not started by 2pm but the party members were anxiously waiting for personnel and materials to arrive.

The ward Chairman of the party, Chief Godwin Nwosu, said over 5000 were waiting for the voting to commence in order to elect either of the two aspirants, Obinna Agodi and Chidiebere Onyekwere.

Also, at Ubakala, Umuahia South LGA, voting had not commenced by 3pm.

A chieftain of the party, who spoke to journalists, Deacon Charles Ekwueme, said the only challenge they were having was the uncooperative attitude of the voters, who refused to leave the party secretariat, venue of the election, to allow for orderliness.

The Edo State Governor-elect, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, expressed his avowed commitment towards uplifting the traditional institutions in the state, saying, “My loyalty to the Royal family, the Benin tradition and the entire traditional institutions in the state is unalloyed.”

The Governor-elect, in a congratulatory message to the 40th Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II, said, for guidance and advice, he would be counting on the Oba to succeed as Governor.

Obaseki said, “It is particularly auspicious and most heartwarming that the events leading to the Oba’s coronation is coming at a time, when I am fortunate to be the elected Governor of the State.”

Besides, the Governor-elect, who sees Edo State with famous cultures and traditions, promised to reinvigorate the sector in terms of being the country’s tourism hotspot and become part of the State’s economic growth harnessed to the greater benefit of the people.

Obaseki said, “I see an Edo State, where our people will live in peace, equanimity and where social justice, equity and fairness shall prevail at all times. I am committed to building a better, prosperous and economically sustainable Edo State based on cultural cohesion.”

‘Govt should release subventions to special schools’ The proprietor of MD School, Lagos, Mrs. Omolara Adedugbe, has urged both the Federal and the state governments to release to concerned schools subventions meant for schools catering for children living with specialneeds.

Adedugbe, who stated this at a media briefing held as part of activities to mark the school’s 30th anniversary, noted that the funds would enable the pupils to access quality educational services and therapies which would make them contribute to the society.

According to Adedugbe, a symposium on special-needs children would be one of the key programmes to mark the school’s anniversary, adding that social responsibility initiatives such as free medical screening, community cleaning and interschool competitions would also be featured in the weeklong celebration.

She said the school had succeeded in eradicating discrimination against children living with disabilities, and that parents of regular pupils in the school have contributed significantly towards to the subsidising the cost of educating and providing therapies to its population of special-needs pupils.

OPINION 11

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

Salute to Femi Fani-Kayode, a man of indomitable courage at 56 Musa Simon Reef

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e was born 15 days after Nigeria was granted political independence from British colonialists on October 1, 1960.

At birth, the Heavens did not blaze the commencement of his earthly sojourn but the young child who was later to be christened David Oluwafemi Adewunmi and born to the family of Chief Remilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, carried the genes of astounding scholarly and cerebral greatness often associated with the family.

His grandfather, Justice Adedapo Kayode, who studied law at Selwyn College, Cambridge University, was called to the English bar in 1923. He was a brilliant lawyer and was the third Nigerian to be appointed as a judge.

His father, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, was a distinguished and respected nationalist and elder-statesman and one of the most brilliant lawyers that Nigeria has ever known. He studied law at Downing College, Cambridge University and was called to the English bar in 1943. Chief Remi Fani-Kayode was the second Nigerian lawyer to be appointed Queens Counsel (Q.C.) in the UK and was the third to be appointed Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He was also a member of the Federal Parliament from 1953 till 1958, and was the MP that successfully moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1958.

This is the lineage and heritage that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode comes from and bears.

I first met with him in 2003, when reporting

for The Punch newspaper as the Chief Correspondent of its Sunday title at the Abuja Bureau. Before meeting him, like many journalists and members of the public, I saw in ‘FFK,’ the picture of “an arrogant fellow” whose upper class British accent attracted more envy than admiration. As Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to then President Olusegun Obasanjo, he faced the arduous task of replying stone throwers of the government.

Obasanjo, who was then seen a lackey of the North, had turned against those who arranged for his emergence on the throne. The consequence was a backlash from the angry core north, as the roof was almost brought down on the government.

After granting an interview where he explained the President’s views on some key issues, he later called to express gratitude when it was finally published. From then, he became a constant source of response on issues concerning the government. Convinced that the public perception about his person was misplaced, I arranged with some colleagues from other media to have an interaction with him.

Further to that, I convinced him to be a guest at a forum organised by the Correspondent Chapel of the FCT NUJ in 2003 where he really proved his mettle.

In the Nigerian society that places much premium on hypocritical respect for elders, FFK never shied away from speaking the facts and allow Nigerians make up their opinions.

After serving as SA to Obasanjo for three years, he was nominated for a ministerial posi-

tion. He scaled the hurdle despite protest from some senators, and he was later appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism. Few months later, incessant air crashes made the government to redeploy him to the Aviation Ministry where he returned safety to air transportation.

Knowing FFK in the last 13 years has revealed to me the awesomeness of his character. When convinced of a course of action, he puts all his energy to achieving the set objectives. When he was convinced to join the Obasanjo regime, he worked so hard to ensure that he was not merely a number in the cabinet.

I was worried when his name came up on the N5.6 billion Aviation intervention fund scandal during the early months of the Yar’Adua administration. When I finally met him, he dismissed my apprehension and said he was not guilty.

Seven years or so later, the court would dismiss the charges and set him free.

My Muslim friends and brothers have had cause in the past to call my attention to his antiIslam posturing in some of his writings. “Please tell your friend FFK that he is too much for this anti-Islam posturing. Please he should stop it.

Advise him to speak and write on national issues,” a few advised me. When I later met him on the matter, he replied, “But Simon, you know that I am not opposed to Islam. I have friends among Northerners and Muslims, and I believe they mean well for this country. No one can accuse me of being anti-North or antiIslam. I stand for the truth and state it as it is.”

Having known and kept close tabs on the

thinking of FFK in the last 13 years, the former Minister is pained that despite launching 1,000 troops to tackle cattle rustling in the North-West, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to set up similar military operations to stop the genocide in some states of the North-central states and Middle Belt zone that are predominantly Christians. He is worried that the government has failed carrying all sections of the country in the affairs of the nation.

Like many Nigerians, he feels anguished at the cascading poverty that has become the lots of our people and reducing the populace into fright victims. The frightening uncertainties and thick clouds of trouble in the nation’s skies keep him awake and he is always caught in apprehension over what the future holds for the people. As a father, he is clearly in agony over what a troubled country will mean for his son, Aragorn. His public views are distress calls for the nation’s leaders to put things back on track. Instead of faulting his style, FFK believes that government should look at the substance of his writings and discourse.

As Chief FFK celebrates his 56th birthday, here is wishing him long life and continued struggle to ensure a free society where all voices count. May his cherished dream of justice to all not remain too long unfulfilled!

Happy Birthday!

Reef, a media practitioner, writes in from Abuja and can be reached via:simonreef927@ gmail.com.

Lagos shanties of horror Gbolahan Akintunde

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ll over the world, shanties in cities are a natural concomitant of urbanisation.

In world’s most populous cities such as Bombay, Hong Kong, London and Singapore, the problem of shanties is a recurring decimal which governments in these countries have battled to solve for ages. The cause varies from rural urban migration, illegal immigrants syndrome in capitals like London and Washington DC, to poverty and insufficient and unaffordable accommodation. Coupled with this is the fact that the urban population in the world is rising generally.

Lagos, a mega city with an estimated population of 22 million inhabitants, is not an exception in the menace of shanties and this has been on for ages. The only exception is that Lagos shanties are becoming that of horror where illegal migrants like kidnappers and militants have made their comfort zones, from where they make use of the waterways to ferry their victims to another location.

Recently, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode ordered that all shanties in Ilubirin and along all creeks, waterways and under high tension cables be demolished while the illegal occupants should be evicted. This may sound harsh in the face of the present economic situation, but the fact remains that the action is necessary in order to protect lives and property of the population. Building of illegal structures under high tension cables is without doubt, an accident waiting to happen which no responsible government would condone.

The history of the Ilubinrin shanties especially, reveals that the present illegal occupants moved in and erected illegal structures by cashing in on the time lag created by the redesign-

ing of the Ilubinrin housing project which was started by former Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu about 10 years ago with the reclamation of the lagoon while the fishermen who were there at that time were resettled at Badore.

The housing units which was initially expected to accommodate 1,254 housing units started in 2013, while the scheme was reviewed and redesigned by the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to accommodate 1,500 families and make the place a live, work and play environment, with the partnership of a private investor. However, the illegal settlers moved into Illubirin waterfront during the process of redesigning the scheme and erected shanties. It is also noteworthy that all quit notices to the illegal occupants have been ignored up till the time that the illegal structures were demolished.

It is not in doubt that shanties all over the world have always provided a safe haven for all sorts of criminals. In Lagos, shanties, especially those along the coastal areas have become the base of kidnappers as witnessed in Arepo, though in Ogun State. The kidnappers, who are suspected militants, operated in Lagos and even kidnapped a monarch, Oba Goriola Oseni, the Oniba of Iba. It took the aerial bombardment of the Arepo shanties by the Nigerian Airforce to reduce the once operational base of the kidnappers to rubbles and this has restored relative peace in the area.

The recent case of kidnap of students and teachers of Lagos Senior and Junior Model College, Igbonla-Epe, once again, brought to the fore the dangers inherent in allowing these shanties to fester in the state. Before the Epe kidnapping incident in March 2016, three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu Lagos, were also abducted and were only rescued six days after, through the prompt interven-

tion of the Lagos State Government.

With the above incidents, the governor could hardly be faulted for ordering the demolition of all shanties along creeks and waterways.

Apart from the security of lives and property of millions of Lagosians which is the primary responsibility of any government, the move would enhance the government’s pursuit of its policy on cleaner environment and restoration of master plans through the removal of all environmental infractions and nuisances across the state. No investor would bring his money to a city where his life, that of his family and property are not safe.

While the plight of the urban poor, most of who migrated to the city to have a better live, must be considered as many of us including Ambode are from humble backgrounds, this does not mean that government should fail in its duty to educate the people on the need to refrain from constructing any structure on river banks.

Not a few people will agree with the obvious fact stated by the state government that, “It is quite worrisome that ramshackle structures, sheds, canopies and shanties, especially along shorelines have turned to the abode of miscreants/street urchins, rapists, kidnappers, touts, street traders and hawkers who often vandalise public utilities and attack innocent citizens”.

Apart from the above, lives of the illegal occupants of these shanties are at risk of flooding and other health hazards like cholera and other communicable diseases as a result of poor hygienic conditions of the shanties.

Just like any other city in the world, the concentration of economic development in a city like Lagos has largely accounted for population boom in very short periods of time which has severely stretched the coping capacity of city governments. One of the most visible outcomes of rapid urbanisation is therefore Urban Slum

Formation. The most pragmatic solution to this is that the Lagos State government taking a cue from other developing nations with city slums, is focussing on the effective link established between planned economic development, uban growth and housing.

This is why Ambode’ s assurance that a lot of houses would be rolled out in the next few months is a cheering news. It is equally heart warming that the private investor will move into the Ilubinrin housing project site with an investment of a whopping $500m anytime from now.

Boxer and politician, Manny Pacquiao, built over 1,000 houses for poor Philippinos in his home town. The multi-millionaire boxing champion, who is also a congressman, and a bornagain Christian said, “As faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others. I’m so happy giving this houses free to my constituents in Sarangani Province from my own pocket more than thousand families are the beneficiaries.”

I know we may not have another Pacquiao in Nigeria even though we have many religious organisations richer than many state governments, but let such individuals and organisations compliment the effort of government by assisting the poor to have access to decent but affordable accommodation. If they cannot offer the houses free like Pacquaio, they can at least make it so cheap.

It is high time the Lagos State Government demolish all shanties of horror which has become the abode of kidnappers of our school children while reviewing the law against kidnapping to make it a capital punishment as obtained in other states in Nigeria.

Akintunde, a development economist, wrote in from Lagos.

12

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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MAIL BAG

* Letters to the Editor

The Sunday Telegraph

Foreign media: Stop the siege!

Queen Eugene, Ikeja, Lagos State

Adebanjo’s words on marble Dear Editor, Chief Ayo Adebanjo (Pa Adebanjo), a chieftain of Afenifere, and one of the quartets called Ijebu mafia, along with Chief Abraham Adesanya, Pa Solanke Onasanya, and Pa Olaniwun Ajayi, in those days. They were respected as politically faithful to the policies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I believe Pa Adebanjo remains faithful to those propeople policies. I want to highlight some of his comments on recent developments in Nigeria, with particular reference to what concerns Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the President, General Muhammadu Buhari

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Petition against the Nigeria Police Force, Benue State command

Dear Editor, Still wondering why foreign media cannot resist the temptation of looking at the dustbin anytime they want to describe Nigeria. In an article title, “Savaged by Boko Haram,” published September 30, 2016, the New York Times described Nigeria as “World’s most destitute region.” An extract from the third paragraph of the report made me hungry. A hunger to be hauled, right into their newsroom and issue each member of staff a punch in the nose: “Boko Haram is described as the world’s ‘deadliest terrorist group’ in the Global Terrorism Index compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace, and it operates in one of the world’s most destitute regions.” These words are rather too insensitive and offensive to describe Nigeria. Is ‘oddity’ the only news value, these foreign media learnt in journalism school?

Again, that these western media understand the import of sound reputation and will do anything to protect theirs is worrisome. Just recently a UKbased medium, Daily Mail, released a disturbing photo of what looks like a fried rat’s head, sandwiched in a chicken meal.

The unusual meal was said to have been discovered by one Rosemary Thomas who posted it on Facebook, expressing disappointment on the culprit fast food, Harlem Popeyes. She also was disgusted at New York City Department of Health rating, which had awarded the fast food five hearts rating, confirming standard. These ‘guys’ have continued to abuse us emotionally. Emotional abuse, psychologists say, is as bad as physical abuse. This is because you can heal a broken bone but you cannot heal a broken mind.

I think it is high time Nigeria returned fire with brimstone.

(

Dear Editor,

Sleeping on duty

(GMB). Pa Adebanjo regrets that Tinubu (former governor of Lagos) decided to side with GMB, even though he (Pa Adebanjo) warned that GMB’s background was inimical to good governance. GMB cherishes the jihad wars of Usumanu Danfodio (clarification is mine).

Pa Adebanjo was convinced that GMB would not shed his dictatorial toga. He is disappointed, as many Nigerians are, that GMB insists that membership of Nigeria by the federating ethnic groups is non-negotiable.

Pa Adebanjo is saying that no government can keep Nigerians together by force. He said he would have been happy if GMB proved him wrong by being Nigeria’s messiah.

GMB is not only a dictator, however. He is nepotistic, refusing to ban roaming of cattle, and allowing Fulani herdsmen to carry sophisticated weapons to kill farmers whose farms are ravaged by cattle.

No wonder the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, told GMB to stop worshipping cattle. GMB is politicising religion and selling dollars at official price to Christian and Muslim pilgrimage-makers, while common Nigerians wallow in abject poverty. GMB is belligerent, refusing dialogue with Boko Haram, Niger Delta militants and Biafra agitators.

Like Pa Adebanjo, I foresaw it all and said GMB failed before he started. Pa Adebanjo is quoted as saying: “We are calling for restructuring, because we want the country to stay together.” GMB is sacrificing Nigeria to his own selfish interests and Fulani Islamic hegemony. Pa Adebanjo said he preferred Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (GEAJ) to GMB because the former promised to “implement the confab report.” If GEAJ were better than GMB why did he delay the implementation and gave

second term as the condition for implementing the recommendations of the confab? The Yoruba say there is no good child in the family of snakes.

The lamentation of Pa Adebanjo on Tinubu is that “it is obvious to state that the former governor hasn’t been treated fairly by his political party.”

The elder statesman said he has decided to overlook how Tinubu maltreated him and other Yoruba elders, because “he is the voice of the Yoruba in the ruling party.” There I differ with Pa Adebanjo. Is Tinubu representing the Yoruba or imperialism and politicisation of religion?

Has Tinubu and the governors under his authority in the southwest treated the Yoruba well? Aren’t they demolishing houses and shops, and banning commercial motorcycles and tricycles needed by pedestrians?

What is the life of commoners like, even in Lagos?

Prof. Oyeniran Abioje, PhD, University of Ilorin.

Defeat of Lagos special status bill: A collateral damage DearEditor, The National Assembly again made a show of its prebendal narrow-mindedness in shooting down a bill aimed at giving Lagos state a special status as a former nation’s capital. With a ballooning population greater than many countries in Africa, even the antagonists of this bill cannot contest the fact that the state has been over stretched beyond limit in provision and maintenance of social amenities to carter for rural-urban migrants desperately exploring greener pasture and exiting the parlous condition of unemployment and low living standards in other states of the federation.

Housing in Lagos has almost

assumed a crisis proportion.

The proceeds of a special status could have afforded the state government a latitude for provision of affordable mass housing compatible with minimum wage. Secondly, Lagos civil service is forced to absorb many none indigenous staff as a carryover of its former status as the nation’s capital.

In other climes, cities with Lagos explosive population cannot be serviced with no fewer than three airports, multiple seaports and state of the art network of roads and railway to befit the commercial nerve center that it is. The road to Muritala Mohammed International Airport for instance is an eyesore to say the least. It is doubtful if there is any airport in the world with such a decrepit access road,a special status would have made more resources available to Lagos state to assist the Federal government in providing ultra modern access road. Lagos as it were is a lost paradise even though fortunate to have been serially administered by progressive governors with creative ingenuity and leadership acumen in the like of Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola and the incumbent award winning Gov Ambode,a special status would have made Lagos another Dubai in Africa. For the myopic lot who shouted nay to eclipse this promising dream, it is a disservice because the first investment destination of any visionary Nigerians including members of NASS who practically live in Lagos and work in Abuja. The sponsor of the bill, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu should not be deterred by this setback and should re-present the bill at a more auspicious time. The bill actually towers above the rhetoric of political reductionism festering in the National Assembly it has a pan Nigerian exigency.

Bukola Ajisola

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Sale of Nigeria’s assets Dear Editor, The recent heated debate on the sale of government assets or as they say “national treasures” is very unfortunate. Like most national debates in Nigeria, it is based on sentiments and perception rather than accurate facts and the underlying numbers. You hear talk of ‘having treasures we will bequeath to future generation’, or ‘why sell off assets to solve short-term problems’? The truth of the matter is recession or no recession, Nigerian government has no business running oil companies.

The pretence by government that it is controlling the oil companies in Nigeria is doing the country more harm than good as it introduces government inefficiencies and corruption into the system while really controlling nothing. According to The Nigerian Guardian: crude oil production from the joint venture between NNPC and the international oil companies (IOCs) have declined by 47 per cent due to the inability of the federal government to provide its own funding through the national oil companies. As at January 2015, NNPC is indebted to about $5 billion in cash calls to its JV partners. The only persons benefiting from the so-called national treasures are top government officials and government appointed directors that line their personal pockets and turn a blind eye as the operators take more than their share of the profits one way or the other. The only reasonable thing to do is to sell the assets to the private sector and let them worry about efficient production and cash calls. The government would just sit back and tax them “appropriately”.

Egbe Igwe, Lagos

Due to the incessant harassment, abuse, killing and other dishonest activities of men of the Nigeria Police Force, Benue State Command, especially within Makurdi Metropolis, where I witnessed a lot of police ill-treatment of the people, I write this petition against the Nigeria Police Force, Benue State Command for the following reasons: On Thursday, December 3, 2015, the policemen at B Division Police Station Makurdi, reportedly arrested a woman with her baby, who was less than a year-old simply because of a domestic violence involving her, her husband and her husband’s lover. The concern here is on the innocent baby who was together with her mother.

Recently, policemen in Makurdi, shot a vigilante group member, rushed him to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi and abandoned him there.

After the incident, they denied being responsible for the shooting that put the man in the unfortunate condition. Another issue against the police in Benue State is the incessant and unnecessary arrests of some members of the public, demanding money from them and threatening to take them to the station if they fail to comply. According to information, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Makurdi, Benue State, shot and killed innocent citizens for crimes they know nothing about. There have been several publications in different national dailies across the country regarding the unprofessional activities of the policemen in Benue State. Despite all these publications no change has been effected.

High-handedness may not be peculiar to the Benue policemen but the activities in Makurdi. This should not escape the Inspector General’s attention.

• Awunah Pius Terwase, Makurdi.Benue State.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

news

Father docked for abusing daughter Chris Ejim Yenagoa

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36-year old father, Benjamin Endurance, has been dragged before a Magistrate Court in Bayelsa State, over a three-count charge of using a hot electric heater to burn his daughter, Miss Goodness Endurance on the leg for bed wetting in her sleep.

The incident, which occurred on October 13, 2016 at about 11pm along Prosco Road in Okaka area of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was reported to the police by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).

The police, led by Prosecuting Counsel, Inspector Joses Totekume, filed a three-count charge against the accused father at the Magistrate Court 4 over alleged criminal intent,

denial of the victim of proper health care and attempt to breach of peace.

In the charge sheet, the police Endurance “did willfully injure his daughter, Goodness Endurance, by using a hot electric heater on her legs because she urinated on the floor where she slept and thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 282 Cap.14 of the Criminal Code Laws of Bayelsa State of Nigeria, 2006.

“That you did willfully, recklessly and negligently deprive your daughter, Goodness Endurance, the right to health and health services by refusing to send her for medical treatment after injuring her and thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 12(1) and (2) of the Child Rights Act, Laws of Bayelsa State of Nigeria,2015.

Settle 12-month salaries owed College workers, lawmakers tell Ahmed Biodun Oyeleye Ilorin

M

embers of the Kwara State House of Assembly, yesterday, urged the state government to pay up the 12-month salary arrears owed to staff of the State College of Education, Oro, with a view to keeping the institution alive.

Besides, the lawmakers, in a resolution, after considering a ‘Motion Without Notice,’ raised by a member, representing Irepodun Constituency, Matthew Babaoye, also urged the state government to implement various reports on the school with a view to salvaging it.

Reading the resolutions of the House, the Deputy Speaker Elder Matthew Okedare, who presided over the sitting, said implementation of the reports of the various committees on

the institution would go a long way in addressing the myriad of problems confronting the institution.

Babaoye had, in his motion, observed among other, things that the institution, which was the first to be established by the state government in 1976 as an Advance Teacher’s College had, in no small measures, turned out products that are contributing meaningfully to the education and socio-economic emancipation of the state.

He argued that the 12-month arrears of owed salaries had made workers to become vulnerable to untold hardship.

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, had in August, approved the constitution of visitation panels for the school alongside its counterparts - College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Ilorin.

Dickson hails establishment of NDLEA Rehab Centre Chris Ejim Yenagoa

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he Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, says the establishment of the Rehabilitation Centre of the State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) will strengthen the fight against the abuse and trafficking in illicit drugs.

Governor Dickson, who stated this at the opening ceremony of the rehabilitation centre at the State Command of the agency in Yenagoa, expressed his administration’s commitment to collaborate with the NDLEA to rid the state of hard drugs and related

vices.

Represented by his Special Adviser on Security Matters, Chief Boma Spero-Jack, the governor called for collaborative efforts in the task of checking the incidence of drug abuse in the state, as it was not the responsibility of the agency alone.

He expressed concern over the alarming rate of drug abuse in the state, particularly among the youths, whom he described as the most vulnerable group to the problem, noting that, the government was considering the possibility of partnering with NDLEA in replicating such centres at the local government areas to curb the menace.

Ohanaeze, Aka Ikenga, Igboekulie task Buhari on post war promises Paul Ogbuokiri and Charles Onyekwere

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s the agitation for the Sovereign State of Biafra lingers, leading to deaths and imprisonment of many agitators, Igbo leaders and orgnaised groups in the region have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit the three RRRs (Restoration, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) programme declared by the Yakubu Gowon administration for the war ravaged South-East..

Rising from a meeting held in Enugu recently, the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ohanaeze Youth Council and Leader of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Nwazurike, said that, what is fueling the agitation is the outright neglect and marginalization

of Ndigbo in distribution of the common patrimony.

The group in a six-point communique issued at the end of the meeting, pointed out that, whereas the Federal Government is rebuilding the North-East because of the devastation by the Boko Haram insurgency, and also rebuilding the Niger Delta, nothing is being done for Ndigbo which suffered a horrendous destruction and death of about one million of its citizens in the three years civil war.

To assuage Igbos and douse the agitation, Ohanaeze Youth said the entire South-East should be declared disaster area because of the devastating effect of erosion and in addition, the Orashi River should be dredged, an airport should be built in Afikpo while action should be expedited on the repair of

Federal Roads in South East among other things.

These done, the Youths believe that agitation, kidnapping in the South-East will abate if not completely stopped.

The communiqué signed

by National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro further called on the, “Federal Government to expedite action to ensure that federal roads in the South-East are repaired and put in order, especially, Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene road, Aba/Ikot Ekpene/Uyo Road, Enugu/ Aba/PH Roads, Onitsha/ Enugu Roads, Owerri/PH Exp Roads.

“We urge President Buhari to fulfill his electoral promise to revamp the Enugu coal mine, set up a Petrochemical industry at Ohambele at Ukwa east.”

Also speaking, Pan Igbo socio-political group, Ig-

boekulie said its time for the Federal Government to consider rehabilitating SouthEast region, which it seeming abandoned since 46 years ago after the Nigerian Civil war which practically reduced the region to rubbles.

President of the group, Prince Ben Onuora in a telephone interview with the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, praised the Federal Government for rising quickly to the onerous task of rehabilitating the North East after the region was devastated by the Boko Haram attacks.

He also lauded the government’s continuing efforts at bringing succor to the people of the Niger-Delta region whom their lands and their aquatic life have over the years been destroyed by the oil and gas exploration activities in the region and recently militancy.

L-R: Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Hassan Bello; Director of Compliance, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Bede Obayi; representative of Vice President, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole; President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industry (LCCI), Chief Nike Akande and moderator of the event, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, at the LCCI Public-Private Dialogue on Ports Efficiency and Maritime Sector Roadmap in Lagos…yesterday.

PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Chijioke Iremeka

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he Chairman, Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation, Senator Malam Ali Wakili, at a book launch in Lagos, called on the Nigerian media to be mindful of their roles in era of change.

Speaking on the theme: “The Role of Media in Era of Change,” the Senator said, “Media role in era of change is continually backed by professionally regulated and morally binding regulations, if only they seek to know their profession, follow its rules and stay on the path of honour in building the country, we all can proudly bequeath to generation yet unborn.”

Senator Wakali, who spoke at public presentation of two books – Strategic Media Relations and Reputation Management, and Strategic Marketing and Customer Relations – authored by Chief Innocent Chukwu, a maritime

Appreciate your roles in era of change, Senator tells media journalist, urged journalists to give credit to the source of materials used and hide identity of their sources when necessary.

Senator, who urged the journalists to hide the identity of those who gave them information in confidence, said the fight against corruption, translational crimes, the need for enthronement of good governance, valueoriented and corporate well-being of the citizens of the Nigeria must con-

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tinue to be the agenda of the media.

He, however, acknowledged the challenges of the conventional media when he said, “We are now in a digital age, controlled by

usage of ICT, Internet, all manners of social media - facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Skype and WhatsApp among others that have made nonsense of the conventional media.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

Science

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Eggheads converge for quintessential aficionado of Chemistry It was a convergence of Who – is – Who in the Science world at Princess Alexander Auditorium, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where eggheads from different institutions in the country came for the First Memorial lecture in honour of Prof. Chimere Ikoku – a quintessential Chemist, Scholar and Statesman, organised by the Dept. of Pure and Industrial Chemistry of the University. Science Writer, STANLEY CHIBUIHEM AMALAHA, who was at the event reports.

Distinguished personalities in a group photograph at the event

Prof. Abdullahi Zuru (right); Prof. Chukwuemeka Nwadinigwe (2nd right) and other personalities

Dr. Jonnie Asegbeloyin (3rd left); Mr. Ikenna Ikoku (3rd right) and other personalities at the event (L-R) Prof. Pius Ukoha; Chief Umeaku and Prof. Abdullahi Zuru

Prof. Pius Ukoha

Prof. Uchechukwu Okoro

Dr. Cynthia Ibeto (2nd left, back); Ikenna Ikoko (middle); Prof. Mazi Ijoma (right) and other personalities

Prof. Benjamin Ozumba

Dr. Jonnie Asegbeloyin

t all began at the office of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where distinguished personalities drawn from different Universities across the country came to pay courtesy visit to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba, in honour of the Late Prof Chimere Ikoku, Former Vice Chancellor of the University. Chimere Ikoku was born on 3rd July, 1928 at Ogidi in the present Anambra State to the family of Dr.

Chemistry, just to mention but a few.

In a speech delivered by Prof. Charles Igwe, Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration who represented the Vice Chancellor, he expressed delight to the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry for Organising such a memorial lecture. In another highlight, Prof.

Abdullahi A. Zuru, Vice Chancellor, Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, in his lecture titled: “Chimere Ikoku: Chemist, Scholar and Statesman,” he eulogized Ikoku’s virtues as a quintessential Chemist of International re-

pute. Some personalities present at the event include: Prof. Uchechukwu U. Okoro, Head, Dept. of Chemistry UNN; Prof. Pius Ukoha, immediate past Dean, Faculty of Physical Sciences UNN; Prof. Chukwuemeka Nwadinigwe; Mr. Ikenna Ikoku, (Chimere Ikoku’s son); and associate Prof. L.N. Obasi. Others include: Dr. Jonnie N. Asegbeloyin; Dr. Paul Ejikeme; Dr. Cynthia Ibeto; Dr. Alfred Achonogor, Dr. Mercy Ezeokonkwo; Prof.

J.O. Ijoma all from the Dept of Chemistry of the University, among others.

Prof. Charles Igwe (right) receiving a Chemistry Magazine from the President, Chemical Society of Nigeria

I

Alvan Ikoku – a teacher, educationist and statesman. He attended the University of Nottingham, England, and the University of Chicago USA, where he obtained both his Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in Chemistry.

His insatiable quest for knowledge and adventurist instinct, took him to the Dept. of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada where he was a Lecturer and Post-doctoral Research Fellow in

15

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

SUNDAY

Body Soul S U N D AY, O C T O B E R 2 3 , 2 0 1 6

I’m going hubby-shopping (11) 20 Flirty peplum hem 18,39 My fan don’t care that I’m married –Mannie 42

I never planned for failed marriage –Ara

16

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Here Beyond

StyleSta ker

Rocking bump Titilope Sonuga Simply Creative stylishly Biwom Iklaki

F

rom time immemorial, there has been a seeming best practice for dressing the baby bump. From covering up your entire body and staying indoors to not be seen until after delivery, to actually dressing the bump in stylish clothes that are far from maternal, emphasising and enhancing all of the contours of the bump. We have seen it all and gone full cycle, and now we just pick on what best appeals to us at the time. No matter the part of the globe a lady is, the bump is often handled in much the same way with only a few differences which are more personal than cultural. Here are a few mama jamas who rocked their bumps and our little stylish hearts as well.

Eunice Stephen

W

e are stalking a stylish lady this week and she is Titilope Sonuga, also known as Titi Sonuga; a Nigerian poet, civil engineer and actress.

Sonuga won the 2011 Canadian Authors Association Emerging Writer Award, and the 2012 Maya Mangelou Poetry Contest. She established Rouge Poetry in Edmonton, a poetry slam series. She has shared a stage with legendary poets like Sonia Sanchez, Jayne Cortez, Yusef Komunyakaa and others at the first spoken word showcase of Achebe Colloquium on Africa at Brown University. In May 2015 she became the first poet to appear at a Nigerian presidential inauguration. She published a poetry collection in 2016. Sonuga has competed in the Lagos International Poetry Festival. Aside from poetry, Sonuga has dabbled into acting, and portrays Eki in the second series of NdaniTV’s

hit series Gidi Up which airs throughout Africa with OC Ukeje, Deyemi Okanlowan, Somkele Iyama and Ikechukwu Onunaku. She also works as Intel’s ambassador for The She Will Connect Programme across Nigeria.

Titi Sonuga’s creativity is not only seen or felt in the poetry world but also in her fashion sense. When it comes to fashion and style, the pretty engineer cum poet knows how to creatively combine wears that suit her. One of the things that stands this beauty out of the crowd is her stylishly done hairstyles; she is a lover of long braids, you can spot her rocking her fab braids in a funky braided up do, with makeup that goes with it. She is that figure whose origin would not be mistaken in any event cause she sure knows how to tell people either through her hairdo or African attires. If you love seeing creativity in fashion you should watch out for Sonuga.

17

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

Body&Soul What was growing up like?

Growing up was beautiful! I am from Ondo town and I come from a large family of nine. I had a very loving dad and mum.

Dad was a banker for many years and he went on transfer a few times round the country. My most memorable was growing up in Warri because I went to primary school there and spent few terms in secondary school there as well before relocating to Akure where my father was transferred to head a branch of the bank. I had my brothers, uncles, cousins around; so it was really nice.

When did you pick up the art of drumming?

Drumming started for me very early in life; I was about five years old. When I was in primary one, I was in a cultural group and was one of the drummers and the only female in the team. When I got to secondary school, I was the drummer in the chapel because I went to an all girls’ Anglican school, and of course I was made the social prefect.

My drumming is genetic.

Is there any other person in your lineage that did or is doing that now?

Yes, my mum came from the descendant of a great king, Alaafin of Oyo. She was a direct descendant, which is where I got it from.

You could’ve chosen other types of drums as your instrument. Why the talking drum in particular?

I play other drums but I got the talking drum from my background. I’m from a Muslim home and during the ‘Odun Ileya’, we went home for the celebration and I used to see those old men beating the talking drum and then of course my mum also coming from Oyo, her dad had a mini palace because he was a high chief and there were talking drums there as well. One day, I got the courage to ask the old men if I could carry the drum and play. I was fascinated by it. There was something about the drum that never left me.

Was it your interest that kept you going while growing up?

My music naturally; I wrote my first song when I was seven years old, and my dad had a keyboardist that used to come to the house to work with me on my songs. I got an opportunity to perform my songs at the end of the year party for the UBA staff kids.

My dad was a UBA staff for over 30 years.

I have always known I was going to be a musician because I used to say I was going to be like Diana Ross.

So you had encouragement from your parents?

Yes, they did encourage me but of course my dad was very strict with my education.

So we had a deal that I have to be top five in school for him to keep encouraging me.

So did you fulfil your own part of the deal?

Yes I did, I won a couple of prices in English and literature.

Did you attend higher institution?

Yes I did, I went to study law at the University of Ilorin in 1993-1994 but that was only for a year because law was not my thing; it was my dad’s idea. I had interest in performing arts.

I switched to it eventually but then a lot of things came up and I went fully into music but later went back to study English. I was in my third year when my former record label picked me up and was made to transfer from the main campus to the other campus. I won’t say unfortunately, but I travelled quite a lot and couldn’t cope with studies, then the management asked me to put my education on hold and pursue my career and dream, that I can still come back for my studies in future.

You remain the first female to

I never planned for failed marriage –Ara

Araola Olumuyiwa is recognised as Africa’s first female talking drummer. She has performed before the Queen of England and also at the Aso Rock Villa. Her dexterity with the talking drum has taken her round the globe where she has performed alongside great artists like King Sunny Ade and Stevie Wonder. A performing artist of over twenty years, Ara as she’s fondly called is known for her versatility with the talking drum and her signature long braids. In this chat with VANESSA OKWARA, she opens up on her life’s journey, broken marriage and plans to remarry soon break the jinx of playing the talking drum publicly while it is seen in most African tribes as a taboo; how does that make you feel?

I thank God; I feel good, favoured and honoured because if God did not permit it, I would never have come to be and I believe it was my destiny. I believe I was predestined to do this and that was why God allowed it and of course without my ancestors and my parents, I won’t be able to tell my history and there is no way I can say who I am today without them. They all supported me and they also created a way for this to happen, so I give all glory to God. It wouldn’t have been easy being a woman and pursuing such a career. What were the challenges you faced?

The initial challenge I faced was that nobody actually wanted to teach me, and there were no females playing it and even if there were, no one recognised them. What I did was to stand up, get CDs of popular musicians who played the talking drums in their music and also looked out for popular foreign musicians to emulate.

That

was just the basic thing and the fear of being accepted as a female traditional musician was another major fear but I just committed it to God and went ahead to do my thing.

Can you tell us about your foreign trips and how you were received in those places?

The foreign trips have been the most beautiful because they appreciate what we have and what I take to them. It is not just playing the drum but dancing and singing and all the energy involved. They know it takes a lot of practice and understand what I do and of course they appreciate me. From France to USA, to UK, China to Canada, everywhere I have been, there’s always standing ovation; they really appreciate it and ask for more.

Have you been blessed financially from this?

Yes I have, but I know it could be better.

Describe your fashion style.

I love to feel comfortable in whatever I wear, I’m a trousers person; maybe because I’m a tomboy, and I’m not too comfortable in gowns or skirts.

But when you are performing, you wear native, why is that?

As a cultural persona, it should start with me. So anywhere I’m travelling to, whether America or any part of Nigeria, I make sure that 90 percent of my clothings have an African fabric or motif.

You are known with long braids; why did you make it your signature style?

My name, Ara, means mystery and wonder and

people wonder how long I take to braid the hair. It takes 8-14 hours depending on the size and it is done by minimum of 5-7 boys, they are now men. They have been doing it for me for over ten years.

What does motherhood mean to you?

Motherhood means love, it means life; it means everything to me. That is the first time a woman really falls in love. When you see your child, that is when you understand what pure love truly is.

How do you cope being a mother and a musician?

When I had my child, after five months I had to travel. When I got there, some people I don’t want to mention their names just took him from me and took care of him. I couldn’t go anywhere without my child. I could remember when I had an event at the Aso Rock Villa, people I did not even know took him from me and when I finish performing, I’ll go and take care of him. I had wanted to be a mother for a long time and went to the orphanage a lot. There was a boy I was taking care of some time ago but unfortunately, he passed away. I love children.

Can you tell us what actually happened to your marriage?

It died a natural death. He has moved on and I have also moved on. He recently had a second child. We are in a cordial relationship and we speak when necessary. He is the father of my child.

What is your plan for marriage now?

Honestly, I have plans to remarry and when the time comes, you would know.

Is there a man close by, anyone we know?

Yes, you know him.

So we are expecting wedding bells soon?

Yes. How did you handle those dark days of a broken marriage?

For me, I never planned for it and the warning signs were there right from the beginning. My daddy warned me but there were a lot of factors working in the marriage. I had to go out of it the hard way and of course my heart was broken and I was broken because it was not what I wanted. But then, I was to blame because the signs were there and I closed my eyes to them. Unknown to me, something else was involved but I thank God for my family.

So what is your word to your fans?

My word for my fans is to show love and live in peace. We all need love and someone may be going through something, it doesn’t matter how their faces are, we need to show love and be kind.

Let there be peace.

Body&Soul

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23

18

Flirty peplum Vanessa Okwara

S

kirts have a way of bringing out a lady’s femininity. There are different types of skirts ranging from pencil, midi, mini, flared skirts and the peplum skirts.

Peplum came into the fashion world and

warmed itself into our hearts with the hems, tops, skirts and gowns. Peplum outfits have been in fashion for a long time and keeps evolving. We have all seen and rocked peplum tops and blouses; the peplum has gone from tops to skirts and gowns. The best thing about them is the fact that they flatter all body shapes.

The peplum version in skirts is usually a soft flare around the hemline, creating the ‘peplum hem’. The look creates a hybrid be-

Editor’s current obsession

twee circle Pep stuff hem as th givin and The as th ly. Th

19

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

Wine & Dine

Cool off with juicy strawberry A

Ibukunoluwa Kayode re you planning on changing your regular drink? Want something refreshingly lush to cool off the palate? Well, try replacing it with a glass of strawberry juice. These fruit berries do not only look good and delicious, but they are also loaded with anti-oxidants, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, folic acid, calcium, iodine, magnesium, manganese, potassium and healthy omega-3 fats.

While nobody can resist the charm of the rich red colour of strawberries, it’s a perfect drink when blended into juice rather than just eating it alone. Juicing is a delicious way to enjoy strawberries for all their nutrition.

Strawberry juice is also perfect for all meals and can​ be served at any occasion.

These tempting red fruits hold so much natural nutrients that help boost health, which are as follows: Antioxidants: One of the primary anti-oxidants present in strawberry is allergic acid known to protect the body against cell damaging free radicals. Studies show the high

levels of vitamin C and fruit pectin in this juice helps to activate proteins in the body that increase internal antioxidant production and also helps in removing toxins from cells.

Vitamin C Foliates and allergic acid: These substances present in strawberries juice are known for preventing cancer development. Foliates regulate gene methylation while Vitamin C and allergic acid protect the body against cancer promoting free radicals.

Immunity Boost: for those who fall ill very often, treat strawberry juice as your best friend. The high vitamin and anti-oxidant content also promote immunity and helps to protect the body against infections.

High Manganese: Adding this delicious juice to your diet would help in promoting tissue strength and enhancing the healing process of the body. The Vitamin C present in the red berries help boosts collagen production that would keep your skin young and healthy, prevents skin tearing and weakening of bones. The high manganese content on the other hand supports collagen production and helps the body to heal faster.

Tantalizing Atama soup

Biwom Iklaki

T

he prowess of the Efiks when it comes to making meals is almost legendary. With world renowned soups like Afang, Edikang Ikong etc, their Atama soup is only another feather in their culinary cap. If you are one of those people who appreciate that slightly sweet taste of water after a meal, the kind you get after you have eaten Onugbu soup, this soup is also for you. Atama can be eaten with your choice of carbohydrate including semovita, pounded yam, rice, etc.

Ingredients 1 cat fish or croaker 1 medium size smoked fish kpomo 1 cup periwinkle (you can de-shell too) 1 bunch Atama leaves Pepper 1 litre bowl palm fruits ½ cup ground crayfish 1 small piece Uyayak (local spice) 4 cubes of seasoning Salt to taste.

Preparation

Cut a bit off the head and tail of the periwinkles and wash thoroughly until the water is no longer cloudy.

Wash and boil the palm fruits for about 30 minutes or until they are soft. Strain off the water and pound till the fibers come off the nuts. Using boiled water, extract the oily liquid from the nuts and set aside.

Wash and season your meat with salt, seasoning cubes and some pepper. Steam for about five minutes then add about 1½ cups of water, stockfish head and continue boiling for about 20 minutes till the meat is almost cooked, and remove from heat.

Cut the atama leaves into very thin strips and pound till they are mushy. In a large pot, pour your oil extract and add your cooked meats with the stock. Add smoked fish, periwinkle, crayfish and uyayak. Let steam for about three minutes.

Taste and adjust your ingredients with stock cubes, pepper, etc. Stir and allow cooking for another seven minutes.

Add the atama leaves and allow to steam on low heat without stirring for another six minutes. Stir, and add salt to taste. After another five minutes, if it is thickened, take off the heat and serve.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

with

Juliet Bumah +234 81 1 675 9770

julietbumah@gmail.com

I’m going hubby-shopping (11) Juliet Bumah

A

call comes through. It’s Kathryn’s cousin, Tessy. She lives in Abuja with her husband.

“Guess what?” Tessy says, her tone weak.

“What?” Kathryn asks.

“I had my baby few hours ago. A girl. She has your nose,” Tessy says.

“Oh! That’s wonderful. How are you doing?

Where’s Akin? I’m so happy for you,” Kathryn says excitedly. They chat briefly and she cuts the line. She doesn’t want to tire out her cousin.

She’ll see them during the naming ceremony.

What a piece of good news. Yeah, she needs to get married and have her own child.

First, she needs to get a husband. Who? Dave, Ben, or some unknown guys out there?

Well, a husband won’t ‘happen’ unless she does something about it.

She dials Ben’s number, not available.

Will she want to be a second wife? Well as unexciting as the prospect is, it will be better than nothing.

But wait, what did Dave mean when he said she should ‘forget’ about his wife?

Then, she remembers that no picture of a woman or child is in Dave’s room. “Men can be funny. If I were his wife, I’ll stamp my presence everywhere in the house,” she tells herself.

She dials Ben’s number again, switched off.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm!

She takes a cool shower and takes her time in applying nude makeup. Then, she dons a sexy white top on a teal mini skirt and killer heels.

She checks out herself in the mirror and smiles.

She is definitely irresistible. A spritz of one of her best fragrances completes her ensemble.

She zooms off in her car a few minutes later. **** Dave looks forward to a quiet evening. His brothers are out. He lies on his bed in his room and rues his quest for a wife. It is obvious he’s competing with some other guys for Kathryn’s heart. He loves her but women are strange characters. You never know with them.

Kathryn! She’s a trophy no man will wish away. His mind keeps going back to their intimate tangos and each time, his man goes turgid. Never has any woman had such effect on him.

The intercom buzzes. He taps a button.

“Oga, na aunty. She wan see you,” the security man says.

“Let her come in. I’m in my room,” he replies, excitement flooding his system. Kathryn!

“She must have missed me so much, as I’m missing her,” he mutters.

A timid knock on the door a few minutes later.

“Come in my love,” he says as he jumps out of the bed and moves to the door.

The door opens and in walks Ann! Anger wells up inside him.

He thunders, “What! What are you doing here? Who invited you? Have I not told you to never come here again? I told you it’s over between us, do I have to beat that into your brain? Now, get out before I lose my mind!”

The lady kneels and pleads, “I’m sorry Dave.

Please forgive me. It’s the devil that pushed me to go out with your friend. I didn’t even know he is your friend. I’m sorry...”

“Please just go back to the devil. Let him push you to another man. I’m done with you,” Dave says angrily and holds the door open.

“Now get out before I commit murder. Go away with the devil you brought here before he pushes me to...”

The intercom buzzes. He moves to it and picks it.

“One Aunty here wan see you. She say she be Aunty Katty,” the security man says.

“Open the door for her immediately,” he says and hangs up.

Heart thumping, he leans on the wall and holds his head with his hands while contemplating the sniveling Ann on the floor.

“Now, get yourself off the floor and get out of this house right now,” he says through gritted teeth.

Ann picks up herself, terror in her eyes.

They both hear a car come to a halt in the compound. A door slams shut and heels clatter on the interlocked floor towards the foyer.

Ann turns furious eyes at Dave and moves towards the door... ***** Kathryn enters the living room. It is empty.

She stands at the door and takes in the view.

For the first time, she admires the plush divan and the dinette fit for kings. Apart from two landscape paintings and a portrait of Dave hanging on the wall, nothing else adorns the wall. The interior decorator who furnished the house is very good. However, the house looks ‘unlived in’.

She walks towards the kitchen and peeps, very masculine but neat. The kitchen does not look like it sees action regularly. Nothing suggests that a woman is in charge here.

As she walks to the staircase, it occurs to her that Dave’s wife may not live here. “Yes! If that is the case, then it will be easy for me to move in here. Maybe that’s why Dave talks the way he does when I mention his wife and

children,” she muses as she walks confidently up the staircase. ***** “So, you are sending me out of your house because you are expecting a woman?” Ann asks, moving towards Dave who is holding the door ajar, facing her.

“This is my house. I allow whoever I want to visit. I gave you an opportunity to be my wife but the greed in you got the better part of you.

What didn’t I do for you? Ann, no one man can satisfy you! Now leave, you’re not welcomed here anymore,” Dave replies angrily.

“And you think I’ll just leave so that you can bring in prostitutes to...” Ann trails off, her face ashen. It’s as if she’s seen an apparition.

Dave swings round and there stands Kathryn!

Oh no! Did she hear Ann refer to her as a prostitute?

Shocked beyond words, Kathryn sways and slumps.

Dave is beside her in a flash. Ann picks her bag and scampers away like a fugitive.

Dave notes the fear in Ann’s eyes but first, he has to take care of Kathryn.

He carries her to the bed.

“My wife, are you alright? Talk to me,” he says soothingly.

“I’m alright. Where did you meet Akudo?” she says weakly.

“Akudo? Who is Akudo?” Dave asks blankly.

Akudo that just left here,” she says.

“Oh, you must have mistaken Ann for someone else,” Dave says with a smile.

“No Dave, that lady is Akudo. Is she your wife?” Kathryn asks, sitting up in the bed.

“No, not her,” he replies, shaking his head in wonderment and muttering “Ann...Akudo”.

“So, what was she doing in your house, in your bedroom?”

“We’ll talk about that later. I’ll like to know how and where you met Ann,” he says curiously.

“She’s not Ann, she’s Akudo. Her English name is Margaret,” Kathryn says.

“Oh? You seem to know much about her,” he says, disbelief in his voice.

“Yes, I know much about her. She’s my step sister,” Kathryn says.

“What! Your what? Sister? How come you people didn’t greet like sisters? Now, tell me another tale,” he says incredulously.

“I hadn’t seen her in like six years,” she replies.

“The more reason you two would have greeted,” he says.

“Dave, Akudo is the reason I went into prostitution!” Kathryn says, looking him in the eyes.

He sits up.

“How...what happened? Tell me everything,” he says.

“About 18 years ago, Akudo and her mum got the document of our father’s house and sold it. My father had two houses in Surulere.

We lived in a small bungalow while the other one was placed on rent. The rent was what sustained us then. When my father found out, he fell ill and died a few months later. Akudo’s mother got other family members to throw us out of the house. My mum was a Ghanaian.

She was not really accepted in the family.

“Mum was heartbroken. She fell ill. The little money she was making from her dressmaking business could hardly sustain us. I was in secondary school then. My brother was in Junior Secondary School then. At a point, I had to fend for them. Mum became very ill and could not work again. I did all sorts of petty businesses to put food on the table. I hawked bread and seasonal fruits. At a point, I dropped out of school in order to pay for my mum’s drugs and my brother’s school fees. Mum died two years later. My brother and I were devastated.

“I didn’t go back to secondary school. I could hardly take care of my brother and I. I was 24 years when I decided to sit for the General Certificate Examination as an external candidate.

Then I sat for JAMB and passed. University education was not easy. I had to look for other means of survival...” Kathryn is crying.

“Oh no! Please stop crying my wife. Everything is alright. You are living well today,” he says.

“You won’t understand. I met Akudo on the streets years ago,” she says.

“On the streets? Doing what?” Dave asks, a little impatiently.

“What else do girls do on the streets in the night? She was hustling for customers. The money they got from the house finished. When my uncles discovered that Akudo and her mum sold my dad’s house, they threw them out of the house. They fell on hard times...like us,” she says with a chuckle.

His breath catches in his throat.

Hmmmmmmm! He must have something for call girls. ******* Yeah, it seems Dave is destined to pick a wife from the streets. Did he? Let’s continue on this very interesting journey on Sunday.

•Send your observations to: julietbumah@ gmail.com

21

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

'Buhari shouldn't spare APC leaders in anti-graft war’ p.22

Agbonayinma: A corrupt judiciary can’t save Nigeria p.23

The Sunday Interview

Sen. Hunkuyi: Recession not peculiar to Nigeria, it's temporary

Politics The setting up of the Senator Ken Nnamani Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee may have beeen driven by political exigency than the need to reform the nation's electoral process, writes ONYEKACHI EZE

p26&31

Biyi Adegoroye Assistant Editor biyi.fire@yahoo.com © Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Nnamani’s C'ttee as Buhari's new game plan

A

t the inauguration of 24-member Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee early this month, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Abubakar Malami said his expectation was that the "committee will look into the possible amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Act, as well as other legal instruments concerning elections to facilitate the attainment of a more robust and generally acceptable electoral system."

The committee, which is headed by former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani, is the second to be empanelled in the last nine years, to fashion an acceptable and credible electoral process for the country.

The first was Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Panel put in place by late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2007.

It was one of the seven-point agenda of the former president, who during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2007, accepted that the election that produced him was less than perfect.

In between the two however, was the 2014 National Conference, put in place by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The conference, in its report, which was submitted to the Federal Government, also made recommendations on electoral reform.

Yar'Adua had observed at the inauguration of the 22-member panel in August 2007, that "One sad recurrent feature of our political developmental history has been the consistency with which every general election result has been disputed and contested.

"Beginning with the 1959 general elections, almost every poll has suffered controversy resulting from real and perceived flaws, structural and institutional inadequacies, and sometimes deficiencies in the electoral laws and even the constitution."

Surprisingly, the 2015 presidential election that produced President Muhammadu Buhari was the first in the history of Nigeria that was not challenged in court of law.

It was also the first where an incumbent was defeated, and he readily congratulated the winner, even before the final result of the election was announced.

But Malami, at the inauguration of Senator Nnamani committee said, it was one of the promises made by President Buhari during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015. He therefore, charged the committee members to: "review recent judicial decisions on election petitions as they relate to conflicting judgments and absence of consequential orders; review the laws im-

Buhari

pacting elections in Nigeria, including relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2012 (as amended); and assess the impact of the various laws and their adequacy for the administration of elections in Nigeria."

Though Malami mentioned the nation's Electoral Act, the last time the nation's electoral law was amended was in 2010. The amendment allowed the introduction of technology in the conduct of elections in the country. It was an improvement on the 2006 amendment.

Thus, during the 2010 voters registration exercise, Direct Date Capture (DDC) machine was used to capture the biometrics of the voter; temporary voter's card, which was later replaced with permanent voter's card after verification and authentication of his/her data.

This was meant to bring credibility to the voters' register, which was previously dogged by multiple registration, ghost and fake registrants, etc. Continuous Voters' Registration (CVR) exercise was introduced to capture people who attained 18 years of age after the last registration exercise, as well as those missed in the last exercise.

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, who was a member of Justice Uwais panel, said about 80 per cent of the recommendations of the panel's report has been implemented.

Professor Jega, who appeared before the 2014 National Conference Committee on

Nnamani

Political Parties and Electoral Matters, said the commission has achieved financial autonomy by law and in practice because government has complied fully with the law, noting that it has given INEC relative autonomy in terms of how it manages the electoral process.

According to him, the part of the Uwais recommendations yet to be implemented include the establishment of a separate body for the registration of political parties as well as the capacity to successfully prosecute electoral offenders.

To further make elections credible, INEC, 2015 general elections, introduced the use of Smart Card Reader (SMR) to authentic and accredit voters during election. The adoption of technology made the 2015 general elections to be credible, and earned INEC the accolade of the international community.

World leaders, including President Barak Obama of the United State of America, have commended Nigeria for the transparent and credible outcome of the election. Outgoing Secretary of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon praised INEC for conducting the election "under challenging circumstances."

One of the "challenging circumstances" the commission faced was non-functional card reader machine. The election was the first where the machine was used, and so there were the usual teething problems.

About 300 out of 150, 000 deployed to polling units were affected. But Ban Ki-Moon noted that "INEC, the domestic and foreign

observers, civil society, political parties, and above all, the Nigerians "should be commended for their commitment in ensuring that democracy succeeds in Nigeria.

French President, Francois Hollande assured that France would continue to "stand with Nigeria to uphold democratic values, fight against terrorism and promote economic partnership between the two countries."

Even within Nigeria, politicians across the divide, as well as of members of the university community, praised INEC for the conduct of the elections, especially the use of technology, which they believe, ensured transparency and credibility of the polls.

Particularly, Oladele Idowu, Chairman, Mega Progressive People's Party (MPPP), said the election was devoid of rigging as a result of the use of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) while Olumide Oguntoyinbo, Chairman, Progressive People's Alliance (PPA) described the election as the best that has ever been conducted in Nigeria because the use of PVC guaranteed accuracy in the number of voters that came out to vote.

It is therefore, surprising to many that the Nnamani committee was set up, which has 10 weeks time frame to complete its assignment. Will this committee achieve more than what the Justice Uwais panel that worked for 12 whole months, could not achieve?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

22

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

politics

'Graft: Buhari mustn't spare APC leaders' Former Chief of Staff to immediate past Benue State Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswan and lecturer at the University of Abuja, Professor Saint Gbilekaa in this interview with ANULE EMMANUEL speaks on the current economic recession, the blame game by the All Progressives Congress and other matters The APC and President Muhammadu Buhari continue to blame the country's current economic crisis on failure of the PDP to properly invest in the last 16 years. Is this really true?

This is what most people call the blame game. This economic problem or lack of planning did not start with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). President Buhari is part and parcel of the problem.

Remember that he has been Head of State between 1983 and 1985. So, if you want to look at the whole thing about lack of planning, misgovernance and misapplication of funds, you have to take a peep far back and not just trying to locate it between 1999 and 2015. That is being escapist; you just don't want to be part and parcel of it and so, you blame the PDP. The Army didn't plan. How many years did they rule this country? I mean, let's be honest with ourselves. How many years did the soldiers rule this country? Did they plan? Did they save for the rainy day? Remember there was a time General Yakubu Gowon told us that the problem of Nigeria was not with money but how to spend it. If we had planned very well, we would have had every infrastructure in place, a sound education system, a sound rail way system, a welfare programme in place just like other advanced countries. So, what are we talking about?

So, you don’t agree with that?

I don't accept that PDP is responsible for the economic recession because they didn't plan for 16 years. We are 56 years today, what about the other years, take 16 from 56, what do you have and who are you going to blame? President Buhari is part and parcel of the problem.

Now when you take over power, it is expected that you know what has been wrong, so you would have planned and set for yourself an agenda that, this is what I am going to do. Has President Buhari done that? When President Barrack Obama took over power, the economy of America at that time was worse than what we have in Nigeria today. He reflated the economy and it picked up well, why are we not reflating the economy but engaging in a blame game? Even in the blame game, we are talking of 16 years of PDP's misrule.

But the APC promises to turn Nigerian around?

It is all 'abrakadabra'. The more you see, the less you understand. Of all the promises that have been made by this government, have you seen any concrete achievement on ground? It's just rigmarole. Change is not starting with an individual, it is collective. We need to re-ignite our psyches, the psyche of all Nigerians to tell them look, you are also government. It shouldn't just be me that should be government. Change should

How do you view the Federal Government’s plan to sell off some national assets?

This is another political game of speaking before thinking. If they were thinking before speaking, they would have looked back and recalled that we sold assets in the past under the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). Mallam El-Rufai was part and parcel of it as well as our revered friend and leader, Hamza Zayyad the first Chairman of the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC). They sold all those companies. Where are these companies? Are they doing well? We are taking public companies and handing them over to private individuals who are not even paying commensurate money for them. It will not even empower Nigerians. I don't think selling national assets is the right thing to do for now.

Gbilekaa

be with all of us. I am telling you that all these promises, watch, in the next four years, nothing will be on ground. It's just all about rhetoric and noise making that is characteristic of African politicians.

Nothing will be on ground. I am not a pessimist, but I do believe that the way we are going, we may not achieve anything. I wish my country very well, I am sorry to say that they may not achieve anything.

What about the anti-corruption war which people say is selective in approach?

Those who accuse the President for being selective in the anti-corruption war are right. We were just talking a few moments with a friend, and somebody said if the President is serious with it, he should start with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, go to former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and

now Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, probe them and then probe the other non PDP members. People have mentioned Rotimi Amaechi the Minister of Transportation, Babatunde Fashola and several other names. Show me one name among all these that is not a member of PDP that is being probed today. Some of the people who are now in APC were also in PDP. How did they get the money to run their campaigns?

Of course, people who say the Buhari’s anti-corruption war is lopsided are quite right; we are not blind; we have eyes and we are seeing. So, as Nigerians, we know what is happening, it is one sided. And that is why for some of us, we believe it will not achieve anything; it has to be wholesome and non segregational. In other words, you have to look at corruption as corruption. Corruption should not be a party alphabet.

But rather than see a more formidable PDP as an opposition to provide checks and balance, your party seems divided at the moment?

You should expect that we claim to be the biggest party in Africa and when you have a big family, you have big trouble.

People would biker here and there. But I think our strength resides in our diversity. We biker but in doing so, we do not biker to disintegrate, we do so to become stronger and I believe PDP will sort out itself. More so, that some people have realised that look, if we keep quarrelling among ourselves, we would be doing a disservice to ourselves to the benefit of the ruling party. I think it is just a matter of time; it is a temporary setback. But give it a few months and PDP will come up stronger.

A few persons say that the infighting within the PDP is being fuelled by the APC government?

There are some strategists within the APC, you must give that to them. If they were not, they would not have been able to snatch power from PDP anyway, with the kind noise that we were making that we were going to rule for 60 years. So, give it to them, they have strategists and you think they would still want the PDP to be stronger so that it takes over power again in 2019? No, they wouldn't want anything of such to happen. So, they would have to use surrogates and put them within PDP in order that they can destabilise the party. I think that is exactly what they are doing.

Recession: Mark empowers constituents

I

mmediate past President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, has called for a synergy between governments at all levels and corporate organizations to work out practical solutions that could empower citizens and address the challenges of economic recession.

Senator Mark noted that the current economic challenges which have led to loss of jobs, inflation, increased cost of living require the cooperation of all stakeholders in order to overcome all the adverse effects .

Speaking at the presentation of skill and empowerment tools to graduates of his Wife's (Mrs. Helen Mark) Women Skills Development Support Initiative (WSDSI) programme in Otukpo, Benue State , Senator Mark noted that the tools would add value to the lives of the beneficiaries and make the society a better place.

The former Senate boss who spoke through a member of Benue State House

of Assembly Hon. Egli Johnson Ahubi, said he was deeply touched by the initiative of his wife to compliment his efforts at bringing dividends of democracy to the door steps of his constituents.

Mark promised to continue to give quality representation that would facilitate the delivery of dividends of democracy to his constituents..

At the event about 100 women including 57 who completed training in computer operation, hair dressing, fashion design and garri processing were given equipment worth millions of naira to start their trades.

Only last week, Senator Mark awarded scholarships worth N50million to 2,196 students of tertiary institutions in Benue State under his David Mark Scholarships Foundation ( DMSF) for 2015/2016 academic session.

Since its inception in 2005, the DMSF has awarded over N500million scholarships

to over 20,000 students.

Distributing the items to beneficiaries from Obi, Oju, Okpokwu, Ado, Ohimini, Agatu, Apa, Ogbadibo and Otukpo local government areas making up the Benue South Senatorial district , Mrs. Helen Mark said she was fulfilled that the graduates successfully completed their training program and collected their equipment to start businesses..

In spite of the prevailing economic challenges, Mrs. Mark assured that WSDSI will continue to support girls and women in the area to make life much more meaningful..

The traditional ruler in Otukpo, His Royal Highness, Och' Otukpo Odu John Eimonye expressed appreciation on behalf of his subjects and urged the initiator to sustain the programme so that more people would benefit to reduce poverty in the land.

23

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

politics You sponsored two motions on the floor of the House that have caused a lot of ripples in the polity. Where did you get the information?

This is the question many people have been asking but it is not how I got the information. The question should be whether the information is factual. And how did we get to where we are that over $17 billion worth of crude oil lifted from Nigeria to global destinations were undeclared over the years. Just between 2011 and 2014, we are talking about billions of dollars gone to private individuals. The cabals have connived with multinational companies to defraud you and me. So, when people ask me how I got the information, I say it is through networking. Just like you’ve seen me receive a call from the US Congress before we started this interview. So, I invest time and money to get the information I need. I have been working on this for some time. I travelled to the US and to my greatest surprise I discovered that over $17 billion was diverted to private bank accounts.

That money belongs to Nigerians and we must do whatever it takes to get this money back. Don’t forget that when you fight corruption, it fights back. Since I moved these motions, I have been getting calls from unknown numbers castigating and threatening my life. Although, some patriotic Nigerians have also called to commend my courage, unfortunately, I’m not one of those that are afraid of threats. God has so much blessed this country but we have bad leadership, which has got us to where we are today. These bad leaders never planned for the future. What we need to do is to be loyal to our country and be our brother’s keeper. In climes where leaders act with conscience, you make more money when you work hard. But here, people are making trillions to the detriment of the ordinary Nigerians. I therefore commend those who have given me information. I have gotten more information about how billions of dollars are being taken out. I want to say the fight against corruption should be a collective one. President Muhammadu Buhari cannot do it alone. It takes two to tango- the giver and the receiver. We all have a role to play. So, when you see a crime being committed and fail to report it is corruption.

Could you shed light on the details of these motions?

The first is about the $17 billion undeclared crude oil that the NNPC has refused to come out clean and tell Nigerians the quantity of crude going out of this country. We are always talking about militancy in the Niger Delta but I want to say that the real Avengers are not the militant that refine crude and move them in jerry cans but the cabal that connive with multinationals to steal crude out of this country.

The other motion was on the $486 million looted funds forfeited in the US. Unfortunately, for over 20 years we have been talking about funds looted under late Head of State, Sani Abacha. Some time in 2004, the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, through his Attorney General gave a provisional approval to a lawyer in Houston, US. But since then, the lawyer could not achieve anything in repatriating the money from US to Nigeria. It came to a time that the office of the Attorney-General, of the Federation in the US decided to file for forfeiture of the monies. It was this same US government that traced this money in different bank accounts across the globe.

We had a situation that nobody could stand for Nigeria and the money was forfeited to the US government. Now, the money has been forfeited, it is only political will that will enable us repatriate this $486 million to Nigeria. And I must thank the US Congress, headed by Congressman Jesse Lee, who took the bull by the horns and passed a resolution on the floor of the US Congress that the money should be returned to Nigeria; even though it had been forfeited by the US government because with the issue of insurgency, Nigeria needs this money

Agbonayinma: A corrupt judiciary can’t save Nigeria Hon. Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma represents Egor /Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency of Edo State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and is the Chairman of the House of Representatives' Ad Hoc Committee on Failed Railway Contracts. In this interview with PHILIP NYAM, he speaks on the ongoing war against corruption, the arrest of judges and other issues there are two sides to every story. I am a lawmaker and not a lawbreaker. To the best of my knowledge, that threat from NBA should not have come from a body like that. Also, the President could have done that in a more cautious manner. He is too smart and intelligent for that. But I think he was misled by some cabals in the NBA.

Agbonayinma

to put things in place. I also appreciate some well-meaning lawmakers in the US, who have also contributed to this cause.

What role are we playing here in Nigeria to get this money back? That is why I am in support of the President Buhari’s anticorruption war, but we must support him because he cannot do it alone.

You support President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war, but the recent arrest of some judges on allegations of corruption has received a lot of bashing.

Some say the DSS has nothing to do with fighting corruption. What’s your take on this scenario?

I am one of those that have been advocating for this war against corruption. And I am against granting immunity to certain classes of public officials because it is still corruption. When you grant immunity, it is license to steal. And again, talking about the DSS operations on these judges, it is premature for people to start castigating the DSS. What are the duties of the DSS? Nobody is above the law. Even as a private individual I can apprehend anybody found breaching the law and hand over the person to the law enforcement agencies. A law abiding citizen has the right to apprehend anybody. If the DSS has decided to obtain search warrant or warrant of arrest on these judges, they have the right to apprehend anybody that is alleged to have committed a crime. I know the person remains innocent until proven otherwise. For me to be hearing from people and bodies such as Nigerian Bar Association taking a position

If judges do not stand firmly to protect their own people by asking them to do the right thing...there will be a serious problem for the nation on this matter without investigation is very disappointing. The NBA as a body of lawyers should be in the forefront of the war against corruption and should help this country, but for it to be issuing threats that the judges arrested by a constitutionally recognised security organisation as DSS be released immediately does not speak well of the body. I would have expected that as a professional body, and the president being a SAN, it should have guided Nigerians on the path of protecting the rule of law.

I expected the president of NBA to have met with the DSS to find out the truth or clear some grey issues before coming out to make that pronouncement. Are we saying the DSS cannot carry out arrests? If the DSS and the police cannot arrest suspected fraudulent or corrupt people in Nigeria, then where are we heading to? So, I’m saying and my position is very clear; it is wrong, it is against the rule of law to take a position without proper investigation, but

What about the reaction of the National Judicial Commission?

I am not playing a blame game here but the judges are part of the NJC and you don’t expect them to condemn their colleagues. To be honest, NJC has not done the right thing. The same way, they should have waited to get the facts before taking a position. You don’t rush to judgement.

It was also too premature. We have great and wonderful judges in this country. I feel sorry when I look at judges writing with their bare hands in this 21st Century. At the end of the day, they receive peanuts.

The government must rise and give judges the necessary tools to do their job. We say we want democracy, so we must emulate other democratic nations. Yet among these good judges, there are some bad eggs. That doesn’t mean all judges are bad. We have good lawyers and great judges. Look at the past president of NBA, Barrister Austin Alegeh. During his tenure, he took the NBA to greater heights. I also believe that the new president should emulate his predecessor and do the needful. This was his first outing, making the pronouncement on judges. In the interest and security of this country, we must guard what we say jealously so that it does not reduce people's perception of Nigeria. Nigeria is a great nation though corruption has eaten into us like a cancer and to eradicate it, all of us must put heads together. We have a lot of respected judges, let us not crucify them.

But there are some wicked, wayward and bad ones full of criminal minds. If judges do not stand firmly to protect their own people by asking them to do the right thing, and government has to wage war against corruption, there will be serious problem for the nation. The judiciary is the one to sustain democracy in this nation, we should not rubbish the judiciary and we should also not support those found wanting. It is unfortunate that sometimes one judge can ridicule the whole nation.

Today, whatever we do, the whole world talks about it.

The first lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari granted an interview to an international media where she cautioned her husband and alleged that a cabal has hijacked the government. What is your reaction?

The woman only confirmed what I have been saying. I commend her for her courage and urge other women to support her in her campaign to save Nigeria from the hands of a few selfish individuals. It was a courageous move for the wife of the President to come and speak openly about her husband’s presidency. I'm sure she has stomached these complaints for long and had to speak out of frustration. To me, there can't be anything more patriotic than what the wife of Mr. President has done. Her interview is a clarion call to her husband to wake up from his slumber and work for the country.

24

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

politics

Presidency’s secrecy over Chibokgirls' release deal N

Villa Notes

Vote-for-cash, a threat to the electoral process T

INEC Diary

igerians on Thursday October 14, 2016 woke-up with a breath of excitement, obviously by the news of the release of 21 girls out of the 219 kidnapped over two years ago by terrorists at Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

It was precisely on April 14, 2014 when Boko Haram struck in the small community, taking away the girls in that large number. Fortunately however, 57 of them escaped by the whiskers on the night of the abduction.

Since that unfortunate incident which has left the Chibok community and the country in pains, government has continued with frantic efforts including partnering with and getting support from the international community to secure the freedom of these girls without success.

One of the 219 kidnapped girls, Amina Ali Nkeki was on May 19 rescued alongside her child by the Nigerian military and has since been reunited with her family after undergoing medical, psychological, emotional screening by experts.

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari hosted the 21 school girls at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Unlike Amina who was received right inside the President's office alongside her baby, the reception for the 21 girls was expanded at the briefing room of the council chambers apparently because of their number and dignitaries who witnessed the event.

For passing through difficult times and long time denial of basic freedom having been held in solitary confinement in the jungle of Sambisa Forest, President Buhari

he September 28 Edo State governorship election has come and gone but the ripple effect will continue to dominate political space for some time.

For the record, the governorship poll was the first to be concluded after first poll since Professor Mahmood Yakubu became the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) sometime in November last year. The two others before it, in Kogi and Bayelsa states, as well as other court ordered re-run elections were able to produce winners after a rerun.

At the moment, the commission is yet to conclude the state and National Assembly rerun elections in Rivers State, which was first conducted last May. INEC is also yet to fill the vacancy created by the nullification of Anambra Central Senatorial election, by the Court of Appeal since December last year.

The Edo governorship election was a big challenge to INEC. Apart from the tension created by campaign activities of candidates of the two frontline political parties - the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the last minute call for the postponement of the poll by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Department of State Services put INEC in a difficult situation.

The election was earlier fixed for Saturday, September 10 but less than 48 hours to the election day, the two security agencies, at a press conference in Abuja, advised the commission to suspend the poll, citing intelligence report on planned terror attack

by Boko Haram insurgents in some states, including Edo, during last Sallah celebration, as excuse.

announced that the Federal Government would be assuming total responsibility of the girls' social, educational and daily needs, a similar gesture that was extended to Amina in May this year.

President Buhari was out of the country when the news of their release broke. He had left for Germany where he held crucial talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on matters of security in Nigeria especially on the insurgency in the North-East.

But the girls including a baby were handed over to his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo by the Director-General of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) Mr. Lawal Daura and later kept for check-up at a special medical center where they stayed until that presidential reception.

Although, the end justifies the means, Nigerians have not relented in asking probing questions concerning what modality and approach was applied this time to secure the release of the 21 girls. The reason is that at some point, one of the options considered by the Federal Government was a possible swap of detained Boko Haram members for the girls.

Vice President Osinbajo told reporters at the presidential villa shortly after receiving the girls at the DSS Medical Center located along the Nmamdi Azikiwe International Airport road that government would be employing the same approach used to secure the release of the 21 girls to get the remaining out of Boko Haram captivity.

Osinbajo who denied any exchange of prisoners for the girls however did not mention any approach used in the nego-

Curiously, the announcement was made without recourse to the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) who was already in Edo State to put security measures in place for the election, nor to INEC, which ordinarily ought to be availed of the intelligence report in the first place before making it public.

Admittedly, that it was not the first time such call was made for postponement of an election (after all the 2015 general elections were shifted by six weeks) but the approach raised much suspicion.

INEC had already started the distribution of non-sensitive materials, and had configured card reader machines and printed ballot papers. Accredited local and foreign election observers as well as journalists had equally arrived the state before the advice was given.

emmyanule@yahoo.com

Anule Emmanuel

tiation so far.

Besides, President Buhari himself had in August confirmed the possibility of a swap deal when he attended the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi.

He said "if they do not want to talk to us directly, let them pick an internationally recognized Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), convince them that they are holding the girls and that they want Nigeria to release a number of Boko Haram leaders in detention, which they are supposed to know.

"If they do it through the 'modified leadership' of Boko Haram and they talk with an internationally recognized NGO then Nigeria will be prepared to discuss for their release," the President stressed.

What Buhari did not fail to make clear was that the Federal Government would not waste time and resources with 'doubtful sources' claiming to know the whereabouts of the girls.

It is unclear why the federal government today treats the deal brokered for the release of the 21 girls in secrecy. While there are unconfirmed reports that four Boko Haram suspects may have been released in exchange of the girls, government officials including the presidency have since denied this.

What is certain though, is that both government and leaders of the terrorist group had a deal after an intensely back-to-back negotiation involving the Swiss government according to presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu.

Agreed that everyone is happy with the

end result which is the freedom of the girls, the question on the lips of many is why treat the negotiation process as top secret? Could this be another condition handed over by the terrorist group to get the rest of the girls?

Advising analysts and commentators to be wary of what they say or write regarding the negotiations for the Chibok girls as the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed puts it, is not enough.

There is need for some explanation here.

For a government that preaches openness and accountability under its change mantra, most Nigerians want to be sure that a few individuals are not taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves.

As revealed in a recently published authorised biography of President Buhari by American historian John Paden, negotiations with the sect last year failed when the group demanded a ransom of $5.2billion for the girls. What this means is that money may have also been involved.

I think it will be hypocritical to deny that none of Boko Haram's conditionalities was met to secure the release of the girls so far.

Considering the desperate desire of the present government and the pressure it has faced over the Chibok girls issue there must have been swap of persons or money must have changed hands.

Like many have imagined, the release of the 21 could also have come as a trust building process, as if the government said 'release the girls, let us be sure they are with you, then we will release some of your men.' Nigerians deserve to know.

ezekachy@yahoo.co.uk

Onyekachi Eze

Though the electoral umpire declared its intention to go ahead with the election but it was clear to every discerning mind that such would not be possible given the grave security implications. In the end, INEC was intimidated to shift the poll by two weeks.

The furore generated by the outcome of the election (which was won by the APC candidate, Godwin Obaseki) has put INEC in the fray. This is, however, not to the first time the electoral body would be so accused.

Losers of every election usually blame their loss to the electoral body, and there is why INEC become one of the defendants in every election petition filed before a tribunal.

Nevertheless, the conduct of the election is now before a tribunal for adjudication.

But there is one aspect that might not be canvassed for by neither the petitioners nor the defendants, in the conduct of the September 28 Edo State governorship election: that is the grave allegation of massive financial inducement of voters by political parties that participated in it.

This allegation, if it turns out to be true, portends danger to the nation's electoral process.

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), one of the accredited observers that monitored the elections, said in its report after the poll that cash gifts were given to voters by the parties with a view of influencing them.

Abiola Akioyede-Afolabi, the Chairperson of the group, who signed the report noted that "TMG observers reported complaints about allegations of inducement of voters by political parties on the basis of 'vote for cash/cash for vote' to influence who they voted for.

"This will be a sore narrative of 2016 Edo

State election. We condemn the pathetic, sorrowful and ignoble act as it is our considered view that when people sell their votes, they become slaves to those who bought it, they surrender their power and strength as citizens and they are robbed of the moral right to hold the politicians accountable or question any wrong doing by the politicians.�

The TMG concluded "Votes should be based on trust on the candidates to deliver on electoral promises and party manifestoes rather than how much money a political party or candidate can offer on Election Day.�

The resort to vote buying by political parties is the latest in the under hand dealings by politicians to win elections by all means, since ballot box snatching and multiple voting have been made unattractive by the use of technology in the conduct of elections.

This is a worse form of corruption, and a voter who sells his/her franchise for pittance mortgages his/her conscience and the future generations!

This calls for intense voter education by, not only the INEC but the civil society organisations (CSOs), the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the media and even leaders leaders of political parties.

The anti-corruption agencies and security operatives should as well focus attention on politicians who want to take advantage of voters to win elections.

This way, the electoral system can regain its credibility, which the introduction of technology made possible in the conduct of the 2015 general election but which, unfortunately, the latest monster tend to obliterate!

25

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

politics NEWS

Mimiko, Fayose drum support for Jegede Babatope Okeowo Akure

D

espite the litigation over who is the authentic candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede SAN, has flagged off his electioneering campaign ahead of the November 26 governorship election in the state, with governors Olusegun Mimiko and Ayodele Fayose drumming support for him.

Before now, Jegede, who emerged in a governorship primary election held in Akure the state capital, had been touring the local government telling them why he is the best person to succeed Mimiko when the tenure expires February 24 next year.

However, the judgment of Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Abuja which asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the name of Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim as the PDP’s candidate despite the fact that he did not hold any primary in the state dampened the morale of Jegede’s supporters.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye who presented the party’s flag to Jegede on behalf of Caretaker Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Markarfi said any other person presenting himself as the candidate of the party for the forthcoming election is a counterfeit. He said the candidature of the Jegede fulfilled all legal and political processes and as such remained the flag bearer of the party for the election.

According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Department of Security Service (DSS), Police and observers witnessed the party’s primary that was conducted in Akure, the state capital unlike the one in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Also, he said the governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, was the representative of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party at the Akure event, saying it was not the duty of court of

Jegede

law to foist candidate on the party.

Governor Mimiko, who presented Jegede to people of the state as his worth successor, said the people should not allow themselves to be taken back to when women died at childbirth, when children dropped out of school because they could not pay school fees; and when they fell on motorcycles because they rode to school on commercial motorcycles.

He said: “We should not be allowed to go back to Egypt. Somebody went to Ibadan for his governorship primary and wants to get the ticket of our party through the back door. Tell them, it is not possible. Our primary was done in Akure, the Police, INEC and other security agencies were there. Jegede emerged from that election. He is the one that will not steal your money; he will not use your money to build houses abroad. He will not tell lie against you.”

The Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who also witnessed the rally, said the opposition party in the country was contesting election with INEC. He, however,

warned that the state would witness unprecedented violence should the "Federal Government tries to manipulate the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate as it did in Edo State." Fayose said with the hunger in the country, it would be a misnomer if the people would allow APC to take over the government of the state.

Jegede, on his part promised to build on the good legacies of Mimiko and leverage on the economic potentials of the state. He promised to revamp the economy, create employment and build infrastructures if allowed to govern the state.

His words: “The event of today represents the opening of a new gate in our desire as a people and a party to start another phase of our journey, - a new journey that will build fresh bond between the old and the new, a bond between the people and the party, a bond between the government and the governed. Our desire is to create prosperity for our people, believing that in that prosperity we create prosperity for our state. Our vision is to leverage on the skills of our civil servants and create a partnership between the public sector and the private sector in order to grow our economy and create jobs for our people and prosperity for our state.

“We shall leverage on the geographical location of our state as a corridor and route to both the northern and the eastern parts of the country to build a new and robust commerce both on our land and coastal areas. I hold no fear and will not be overwhelmed by the challenges imposed by our weak and troubled economy, I am worried about the reluctance of our adversaries who neglect or refuse to share our courage and enthusiasm to overcome the present challenges.

“None the less we shall work with all those who believe in our vision. Our vision is to grow the economy of our State. I believe we must industrialize. I am resolute about it, for this we must plan. Our planning shall include provision for energy supply for our

industries and a reservoir of raw material base. That is where our agricultural potential and natural resources become important and critical.

“We have looked at why the old industries failed. We desire to resuscitate those old industries and bring new industries on board through a workable, transparent, fair, public-private partnership. God is our help.

We will build a new philosophy of farmers first. This is the only way to provide for food security, create employment for our people and bring revenue to government.

“We shall develop a policy that will enable our farmers have immediate and adequate reward for their toil. A deliberate policy that will give our farmers comfort will be our guide. We will encourage our people to create cottage industries around our agricultural potentials. We will maximize the agricultural value chain for economic growth. We shall be committed to helping our parents bear the burden of Education.

We shall continually and systematically address the infrastructural challenges in the education sector. We shall partner with genuine individuals and organisations to offer our young ones opportunity of a good education recognizing that government cannot do all. Government policy will be to provide education for all at subsidized cost.

“We believe that a new way to address our employment challenges is to invest heavily in infrastructural development. We shall tackle headlong the challenges that we face in our efforts to build and maintain our urban and rural roads. Our people deserve accessibility to safe portable drinking water. We shall not rest until our taps function more effectively. We will create a new tourism corridor in the state that will be private sector driven, but supported by the public sector. Like our philosophy, tourism will create employment for our people and bring revenue to our state," he said.

Nnamani’s C'ttee as Buhari's new game plan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

Many Nigerians did not only consider it unnecessary but a sheer waste of time and resources. To have even conceived the idea at all made nonsense of the self professed frugality of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in running the affairs of the country.

Former governor of Kaduna State in the second republic, Alhjai Balarabe Musa said the committee would not achieve anything meaningful. He wondered why the Federal Government does not want to implement recommendations made by previous electoral committee.

"It is a waste of time and scarce resources," he said, noting that it is lack of will power by the government to implement previous recommendations that led to the inauguration of another committee.

Recommendations have been made in the past, and not adopting them makes the resources and effort put into making them a waste," Alhaji Musa added.

Apart from the Justice Uwais committee, the Federal Government still has two conference reports before it, yet to be implemented. The first was the 2005 National Political Reform Conference organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, and the second one is the 2014 National Conference put together by President Buhari's immediate predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The two conferences made recommendations on electoral reform, one of the major highlights being independent candidacy.

The 2014 National Conference recommended that every Nigerian who meets the specific condition in the Electoral Act

should be allowed to contest elections as an independent candidate.

The report of the conference has been sent to the 7th National Assembly; it is also with the presidency. But President Buhari had said that he had no time to look at report!

Why then another committee, which report might not be different from the previous ones?

There are two reasons to this. The first is the usual government provision to compensate loyal party members and to win new converts. The Chairman of the committee, Senator Nnamani early this year, resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform he was elected senator in 2003, and subsequently, President of the Senate. Though he has not announced membership of any political party but his body language shows some sympathy to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Chairmanship of the committee may be a way to lure him to become a registered member of the party.

The second reason may be an attempt by Buhari and his party to forge a political alliance with South-East, especially with somewhat no-love-lust relationship with Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

The former Lagos State governor who worked so hard to ensure APC's victory in the South West, which also helped Buhari to win the presidency, appeared to have been sidelined in the Buhari government.

There is the fear that his proteges whom the administration prefers to deal with, might not deliver South-West if Buhari's decides to seek re-election in 2019.

At the moment, APC has no stronghold in the South-East. The party has only one

state, Imo, out of the five states in the region. The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has one while the three others belong to PDP. APC also managed to secure one senatorial seat out of 15 in the region.

It therefore, seems to Buhari and his party that South-East is a fertile ground to harvest, more so, since the North and South East has had cordial political alliance since the first republic.

After his electoral and constitutional reform assignment, Senator Nnamani next job might be to secure the release of the Director of Biafran Radio, Nnamdi Kanu who has been detained by the Buhari government since last year. The idea is to use the former senate president as a link to the South-East, given the role he played to scuttle former President Obasanjo's third term bid.

But the choice of Senator Ken Nnamani as the person to be used to forge this relationship might turn out to be a serious political miscalculation.

No doubt, Senator Nnamani attains not only national but international recognition due to his matured and experience leadership of the National Assembly. Also, he is someone who sees an opportunity to excel and seized it with hands. That is what he did during the third term debate. Without his historic role, Nigeria would still be reeling under the yoke of Obasanjo's planned prolonged rule!

The Federal Government might want to use him to calm frayed nerves in the South East, by "negotiating" the release of Nnamdi Kanu from detention. The former President of the Senate retained his political relevance by opting not to seek re-

election in 2007. No doubt, he knew what would had been his fate if had attempted to stretch his luck too far.

For sure, he would not have picked the PDP ticket for his senatorial zone, Enugu East. Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, then outgoing Enugu State governor, was not only interested in the seat, but had all the state and National Assembly tickets in his pocket.

The former Senate President had fallen out with the governor immediately he was chosen by his colleagues to lead them, so he was out of the calculation among those who would return to the senate.

And if he had tried to bank on his popularity at the national level, and defect to another party to contest against the former governor, he would have been roundly defeated. So, it was a clever thing he decided not to seek re-election.

Now if Buhari and APC hope to use him to get the South East, it will be a wild goose chase. The former Senate President has no political structure, even when he was in PDP. That was why his departure from the party attracted little noise last February.

Patry leaders in Enugu said Dr. Nnamani, the former governor, helped him to win the 2003 senatorial election. He contested in 1999 on PDP platform but lost to Uche Nnaji of the then Alliance for Democracy (AD). The victory was engineered by Chief Jim Nwobodo who vowed to teach the former Senate President some political lesson for working against his (Nwobodo's) senatorial ambition in 1998.

While it is doubtful whether his committee can make any meaningful contribution in the current assignment, his little political clout can hardly assist the APC.

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Sunday Interview

Sen. Hunkuyi: Recession not Nigeria, we'll get out of it Chairman, Senate Committee on National Identity Card, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, (All Progressives Congress, Kaduna North), in this interview with CHUKWU DAVID, speaks about the recession, fiscal federalism and other national issues, arguing that Nigeria is stronger together

What is your appraisal of Nigeria’s journey since independence?

For an optimistic person, everyday in a nation's life, everyday of a child's life, everyday of your life is a good day to celebrate even if that day happens to be the terminal day. We are all going to return to our creator some day. So, to my mind, Nigeria today has more reasons to celebrate. So, I have to say an emphatic yes, that Nigeria and Nigerians have every cause to celebrate because today, in 2016, Nigeria is still one entity; it is still one polity; one group of people, who have accepted to live together as a nation contrary to so many expectations, some though that our dear country was likely to hit the rocks some time before now.

Today, Nigeria is passing through economic recession. What are the things we have not done right that brought us to this place and how can we get out of the doldrums?

You put two questions in one but I will take them one after the other. The strongest economies and the strongest democracies in the world were at one point or the other in recession. There were also nations that went into depression. Certainly, what is happening today in Nigeria is not an alien phenomenon within the global setting. Therefore, in my own opinion, this is nothing out of the ordinary. On your second question on what we have done wrong, as an optimist, there are many such things.

But

I would rather think we better opt for what we need to do now. But there are so many things we have done wrong to arrive where we are today. And every Nigerian will know that there were a lot of things we didn't do right, and

there are a lot of things we have done incorrectly because the beginning of wisdom is the acceptance of the factual phenomenon that we have committed some errors as a people, whether that was deliberate or not deliberate is yet another thing. I think, quite frankly, we will not be fair to our listeners or readers if we continue to review with pretence issues and events; things that have happened, though they will be etched in our own history for us and our children from those pitfalls in order to avoid them. So, we must admit that there are so many things we have done wrong.

Try and be more definite, what are those things Nigeria did not do right that resulted in the present pathetic state of affairs in the country?

We c a n n o t cover the entire gamut of the issues and events during this interview.

We are talking of a recession; the economy of a nation repletes with a lot of very key characters of dos and don'ts. I am now opening it up so that the reader, will appreciate better but I know that there are issues we have discussed times and times again, and when you are discussing them sometimes, you can't stop be-

ing passionate about them, you can't stop feeling that we have been demeaned as a people.

Let's take for an example, the poverty within an economy. Within our nation and the world over, the World Bank will tell you that one of the very best ways of pushing the boundaries of poverty is to encourage the culture of savings. And I am talking from the level of an individual to that of one family and that of big nations. Savings and poverty are two indices that go parallel. When you see one going awry, the other suffers. If you are able to build your savings, poverty will go down the other way and vice versa.

Within a nation, there are two ways if you are talking of poverty and savings.

The indices are there. The best item that brings in revenue is oil, and that is why we say the nation runs a mono-product economy. Though agriculture contributes higher to the growth ratio, which is the per capita of our country, regretably, it has been neglected. The leadership of the country failed to keep some reserves over this past 15 to 16 years; it failed to live up to its responsibility of building reserves that otherwise, would have been useful in a global recession like the one we are facing today. It would have been the beckon of support and succour to the economy today. Naturally, if you don't have reserves, your needs are likely to grow. So, when you are in need, you always want to deep your hands into your savings so that you can finance your basic needs. That is one area we have failed the people as a nation. There is no gainsaying the fact that the leadership has failed the followership of this nation. We must take responsibility. The leadership has failed the people as regards the recession we now found ourselves into.

Would you say that the ‘unitarinisation’ of our federalism by the military is one of the things that brought Nigeria to the present woes as a nation?

The military didn't make Nigeria a unitary nation. What you have today is voluntary submission of their rights by every component of this nation. With every sense of sincerity, I must tell you that there is no one in this country that can possibly do it alone. That consent to togetherness as a federal entity is there I don't believe it is a mistake.

Do you support the idea of restructuring the current federation as being advocated by many interests recently?

You see, life is not stagnant and the essence of a leader is to lead and drive the peoples' ambition.

In my own opinion, that is democracy for you, and we must be able to sit and listen to one another; listen to the views of everyone. But within a democracy, majority will always carry the vote, and then the minority view will always be there. So, what you have said is the view of so many people. I am sure also, the other view is the

27

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

SUNDAY

Potpourri ​Trend du jour

Weight watchers community

Dance till you shed

D

ancing is an age old sport, even though many people indulge in it without realising the import and impact of their actions. Well, today you are one of those in the know that dance is a legitimate workout and a means to shedding some weight if that is your goal. It of course comes with the added advantage of fun while at it, especially if done in the company of friends and loved ones. The choice of songs is not a big deal, just be sure to dance to quick upbeat tunes. You have a chance to be creative, silly and out rightly ridiculous as long as at the end of the day, you are fit while moving rhythmically…or not, to some of your best songs.

Big hair don’t care

Money talks

Marriage and money II J

ust as we began the discussion last week, money in marriage is very important and cannot be compromised in any way. We all agree that honesty is the best policy where money is concerned as well as communication and budgeting. But of course you also have to earn the money too.

You need to decide early on if you will operate a joint account, how much you will each contribute to the household management, how many kids you would love to have, what kind of life you want for them vis à vis their education and what not.

Planning is key to whatever situation or kind of home you envisage for your family and you must decide that together.

Make friends with older couples that you admire and get their input on how they have successfully managed their own marriage especially where money is concerned. You do not have to take all their suggestions hook, line and sinker, but you could get a few tips here and there and fine tune it to suit your own unique siituation.

Multiple incomes do not hurt and especially if the process does not affect the health and well-being of your family unit.

Stories by: Biwom Iklaki

N

atural African hair has been described as many things including kinky, curly, nappy etc. there has been a recent appreciation for the natural African hair so much so that many ladies and gents are growing their fro as opposed to relaxing it with chemicals. This doesn’t just end with the natural hair, there has also been a corresponding increase in the need for wigs that are like the natural African hair. This hair is worn in so many styles, most popular of which is the Afro puff. Not only is it popular, it translates into other hair styles that women wear. It has encouraged the spotting of full and shaggy manes among the ladies, perhaps you are spotting one yourself?

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Sportxtr

Ronaldo, Messi’s total $ Net Worth intimid T

he joint $520 million Net Worth of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are simply intimidating. The duo are undoubtedly the greatest players of this generation and for best part of the last 10 years they have been at different levels bigger than other footballers in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo has a massive presence on and off the field and his social media following is the evidence for this.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two highest paid footballers in the world and that too by far with their after-tax salary contracts with Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

A whopping 109 million people follow him on facebook while another 40 million followers on twitter makes him the most followed sportsman in the world. Hookit, the website that tracks the followings of sports stars on social media, reports that Ronaldo has reached over 200 million followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram-the first professional athlete to achieve that feat. Ronaldo now has more followers across the three major social media platforms than the combined totals of NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant, showing the Portuguese’s enormous appeal worldwide.

Ronaldo finished second to great rival Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or voting in January. But while he may trail the Barcelona star on the pitch, Ronaldo has proved more media-savvy off it. He has established his own brand, CR7, and regularly posts pictures of his business partnerships on Instagram. According to Hookit, Messi, has a “total social audience” of 122.3 million across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Cristiano Ronaldo Net Worth: $450 million Ronaldo is the highest paid footballer in the world with £15 million a year ($21.5m) a year after tax salary. Only Messi can match his yearly salary from club football.

Ronaldo is also the most endorsed footballer and currently has 4th most lucrative endorsement deal in sports with Nike worth £14.1 million a year ($21m) plus number of other deals.

Ronaldo also have CR7 equipped with clothing and shoes lines plus his $80 million worth of CR7 hotel project in 4 different cities.

Here is taking a look at his yearly income and potential net worth which is already over $450 million making him the most marketable athlete in the world.

Ronaldo Real Madrid Salary: Cristiano Ronaldo has a unique contract with Real Madrid where he is getting paid £288,000-a-week (after tax) salary costing Real Madrid over £500,000 a week to have him in the squad. That is massive £15 million a year ($21.5m) after tax salary more than anyone else in football making him the highest paid footballer.

Cristiano Ronaldo Salary History August 2003: Manchester United signed Ronaldo in summer of 2003 for £12.24million from sporting. Ronaldo was handed a 5-year-deal earning him mere £35,000-a-week.

June 2007: Ronaldo’s last contract extension with Manchester United was back in 2007 when he signed a 5-year-deal worth £120,000-a-week, totaling £6 million yearly.

July 2009: Ronaldo signed for Real Madrid for record £80 million fee in 2009. His initial 6 year contract included £183,000-aweek salary and 25% increase every year to £556,000-a-week in his final year.

September 2013: Ronaldo signed a financially improved 5 year contract extension with Real Madrid in September 2013 making him the highest paid player. Getting £288,000-a-week after tax, totaling £15 million after tax.

Ronaldo Endorsement Deals: But his lucrative endorsement deals put his Real Madrid’s salary to shame. He currently has a fourth most lucrative endorsement deal in the world of sport with sportswear manufacturers Nike, where he is getting paid around $21.7m a year.

But that is not the only endorsement deal under his belt.

He has huge list of international and domestic endorsem with the brands like Armani, Tag Heuer, Toyota, Samsung, H Banco Espirito Santo where he is netting another $10 million put into perspective Ronaldo’s intimidating net worth.

His deal with NIKE is worth £14.1million a year.

Deals with number of other brands like Armani, Konami, Herbalife and several domestic Portuguese deals earn him a a year outside his salary as a footballer.

CR7 Underwear & Shoes line: Ronaldo is not only a grea shrewd businessman and already planning life after footba branded clothing/underwear and shoes line is getting pop another $6 to $10 million a year.

CR7 Hotels: Ronaldo recently made a huge investment w and became the partner where they will be building four million with CR7 branding. One of the hotels will be built in other three will be in Funchal, Madrid and his native Lisbo The first two hotels in the project will be opened in Madeir mer 2016 while by 2017, CR7 Madrid hotel will be in oper early 2018 opening in New York.

Messi is clearly outscoring Ronaldo on the field in terms but when it comes to money/business Ronaldo is in the lea aldo’s current net worth is around $480 million and by th from professional football he might be the first billion doll of total net worth.

Top Ten Highest Salaries in 2016-17 Season NO# PLAYER

WEEKLY

YEA 1 Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £288,000 after tax £15 2 Messi (FC Barcelona) £275,000 after tax £14 3 Hulk (Shanghai SIPG) £320,000 £1 4 Paul Pogba (Man United) £290,000 £13 5 Rooney (Man United) £250,000 £13 6 Pelle (Shandong)

£290,000 £13 7 Ibrahimovic (Man Utd) £220,000 £11.4 8 Yaya Toure (Man City) £230,000 £11 9 Sergio Aguero (Man City) £230,000 £11.9 10 Asamoah Gyan (Shanghai) £227,000 £11.8

Lionel Messi’s $70 million makes him most marketable Lionel Messi has been the best footballer by far in the last rent professional contract with FC Barcelona makes him the footballer in the world as well. Having won five Ballon d’O year) awards in the last seven years, constant successes on one of the most marketable athletes in the world. Unlike major sports, Lionel Messi has the marketability all over th a massive $50 million a year contract with Adidas, where he second biggest sports brand.

Messi is the highest paid footballer in the world, earnin current Barcelona deal earns him around £15 million a yea tax which means he cost around £30 million a year to Barc account 52% tax in Spain.

Messi also has number of other endorsement deals in d Ronaldo can upstage Messi in terms of endorsement deals Here is taking a deeper look at how Messi became one the highest paid footballers in the world having signed a seven-year contract extension with Barcelona since 2005.

Lionel Messi Salary History: Messi came to Spain far back in 2000 when his family arranged a trial with FC Barcelona in December of that year. He was just aged just 13 years. He officially became Barcelona youth team player in February 2001. The club agreed to pay his medical bill of $1,000 a month plus the provision of accommodation for his family who moved to Barcelona with him. Since that time, he never looked back and made his first appearance for Barcelona at the age of just 16 years old in a friendly game against Porto in 2003. He later signed his first professional contract in February 2004 an 8-year deal earning a mere €1,500 a week. Below is the entire history of Lionel Messi salary with Barcelona.

February 2004: Messi’s youth contract with Barcelona, an 8 year deal (2004-2012) but with second tier based clauses. Initially, Messi earned €1,500-a-week but his salary

29

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

ravaganza

$520 million dating

ment deals including Herbalife, Konami and n a year combined. To

Tag Heuer, Samsung, around £7 to £8 million

at footballer but he is a all. His very own CR7 pular which nets him

with “Pestana Hotels” r hotels valued at $80 n New York while the on. ra and Lisbon in sumration followed by an

of trophies and glory ague of his own. Ronhe time he will retire lar footballer in terms

ARLY 5 million after tax 4.5 million after tax 15.3 million 3.9 million 3 million 3.9 million .4 million 1.9 million .9 million .8 million

t 10 years and his cure second highest paid Or (FIFA Player of the n the pitch makes him e top athletes in other he world after signing e is the face of world’s

ng slightly below, his ar ($21.5 million) after celona if we take into

different niches. Only and yearly income. of

was increased to €10,000-a-week after he played for Barcelona first team in a friendly match.

June 2005: Messi signed a financially improved five year-deal (2005 to 2010) on his 18th birthday. This was his first contract as a Barcelona first team player and he became the highest paid teenager in football getting €25,000-a-week totaling €1.2 million.

September 2005: In just three months after signing his first contract extension taking his contract till 2014 and doubling his weekly salary to €50,000-a-week grossing €2.4 million.

March 2007: Barcelona offered him an improved five year deal in March 2007 after he scored his first hat-trick as a Barcelona player against Real Madrid getting €100,000-a-week, which amounted to €4.8 million.

July 2008: Messi signed another contract extension which made him the highest paid Barcelona player and also inherited Ronaldinho’s number 10 shirt. He got €162,000-a-week amounting to €7.8 million annual package.

September 2009: After winning the Uefa Champions League title with Barcelona, Messi signed another contract extension, this time a 7 year deal (2009 to 2016).

This was a financially improved contract which made him highest paid player in the world earning €250,000-a-week, totaling an annual package of €12 million.

February 2013: Another contract extension followed keeping him at the club till 2018 and earned a fixed wage of €13 million a year, with a €270,000-a-week .

In May, 2014: Messi signed what would become the unique and most lucrative professional deal in football with him earning €20 million after tax. Costing Barcelona around €36 million-a-year, at €400,000-a-week after tax, falling back to €20 million after tax.

Lionel Messi Endorsement Deals: Messi is the highest paid footballer in the world with massive yearly salary but he is doing even better outside the pitch with his lucratve endorsement deals with the likes of Adidas, Pepsi, EA Sports, Samsung, walkers and several other domestic and international deals. He is making around $24 million a year with his Adidas deal, while he rakes in another $5 to $8 million with his other endorsement deals.

Adidas has a whole soccer cleats series under Messi banner and every year multiple new Messi boots are released.

Looking at his current professional contract with Barcelona and his endorsement deals he is making around $70 million a year in annual income making him the second highest earning footballer in the world. Here is on the list of other top 15 highest paid footballers in the world.

Three of five EPL stars declared bankruptcy on retirement

A

number of world class footballers have declared themselves broke after quitting the lucrative game; some of the players include Keith Gillespie and Colin Hendry who were prominent players in the English Premier League.

But like many professional sports, an unusually high proportion of footballers, once they hit retirement (or even before), declare bankruptcy. A charity for explayers, suggests that three out of five Premier League players - who earn an average of £30,000 per week - declare bankruptcy within five years of retirement.

Prominent footballers who have declared themselves broke after quitting the lucrative game are Keith Gillespie (unpaid tax after a film investment) and Colin Colin Hendry Hendry (reasons including gambling).

In the US, a 2009 report found 78 per cent of NFL players are either bankrupt or under financial stress within two years of quitting. In the NBA, 60 per cent are broke within five years.

The reasons on both sides of the Atlantic are multifarious - but tend to boil down to one thing: bad advice. Many players make bad investments without knowing what they’re ploughing their cash into. For every Robbie Fowler (who gives property investment masterclasses), there are players like former New York Yankee Johnny Damon, who, despite earning $13m-a-year, lost millions in the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme.

An investigation in 2009 looked at how players often invested in depreciating assets (like £15,000 watches); gave money to friends and relied on untrustworthy advisers. Divorce rates are also much higher in retirement, meaning players can lose half of their large net worth but with their peak earning period over.

So, next time you’re about to call Alan Green to vent about Per Mertesacker’s performance in defence, just be grateful you’re not earning his £60,000-a-week salary.

Former Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City striker Chris Sutton was the first player to go for £5 million, a British record at the time. He went on to enjoy a spell at Chelsea but this did not detract from poor financial counsel. Ultimately this would prove to be his downfall and in May 2014, he was proclaimed insolvent by the courts. In spite of the English centre forward falling foul of a get quick rich scheme where he was allegedly making a profit, Sutton was done out of more than $150,000.

Keith Gillespi

Chris Sutton

30

Luxury

Homes

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Exotic pools

M

any homes have transcended the level of comfort and are nudging the crazily luxurious buttons. Such homes often boast of pools that are reminiscent of exotic holidays in tropical beach locations across the world. They are so beautifully designed that they often take you all the way back to one of such holiday destinations whenever you use the facility. Some are designed to look like waterfalls, cave springs, rivers with mini bridges, etc. a Caribbean inspired bar is not a surprising piece of the equation as it adds to the mood of relaxation and sport after-thought. At nights, the light effects come to play to further mesmerise the lounger and their guests. Music comes with the package and often times, the pool is usually temperature regulated to have a warm or cool swim depending on the weather or the needs of the swimmer. Sigh!

Weird

I

Sea-through thief

n our weird world, every day is a new dawn for something even more magical, senseless, idiotic and shameful to happen. However, we will stick with the magical in this piece where we look at this fish with the transparent head. Weird right? I thought so too! Well, here it is in the flesh. They are real and are called Barreleye with ‘spook fish’ as a moniker. “All species have large, telescoping eyes, which dominate and protrude from the head, but are enclosed within a large transparent dome of soft tissue. These eyes generally gaze upwards, but can also be directed forwards. To better serve their vision, barreleyes have large, dome-shaped, transparent heads; this presumably allows the eyes to collect even more incident light and likely protects the sensitive eyes from the nematocyst (stinging cells) of the siphonophores from which the barreleye is believed to steal food” Wikipedia. You heard them, they steal food, lol. You are welcome to find out more for yourself. I have had enough!

I

Scary clown craze

am not totally sure why we have this particular incident going on, but in a world where our children are growing up far too quickly for their own good, with no time to enjoy their childhood, we have this new craze. Could it be because of the oncoming Halloween celebration? Even so, why would anyone think to mess with something that makes the children so happy and excited? Clowns are almost an intrinsically woven to the fabric of many children’s lives, much like Santa Clause.

Today, a set of sick minds took it upon themselves to deface the idea of clowns. They have turned clowns into grotesquely designed faces and bodies that would frighten the living hell out of the devil, let alone innocent children. This is no laughing matter! Well, thank God some people still have a conscience as I hear Target has pulled the scary clown shell down as a result of the outcry following the creepy craze. We hope it stays that way and never comes up again!

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

peculiar to view of a great number of people, and that is what makes Nigeria.

Since you agree that the various components of Nigeria should sit and dialogue on the way out, would you suggest that the report of the National Confab by the last administration should be implemented?

Where is the report? Why was it not implemented then? If you are back to what I was saying, we must listen to ourselves.

That is the essence of democracy. Why should we convene another conference when you say that the report of the last one is available? Make the report available and we have to discuss it if we need to. That is what I am saying because I am not afraid of listening, just as I am not afraid to say my mind, so long as there is that element of respect for the views of others, because that is the central issue in a democracy. I must stress that it will not be the last possible convocation of a conference in the country. But even if none is convened again, let us open up the one that has been convened, examine what is there, what is in it. It is either it contains views of some people, who are against the views of others but again, agree with me, see it from one golden perspective of democracy. When you listen to one another, the majority will still carry the vote as we have seen in many democracies.

Look at what happened in the United Kingdom; they decided not to be within the European Union. There wasn't any drop of blood; there wasn't any reason to fight. That is the highest kind of decision that democracy can really see us through.

In my own opinion, the fact that we are 56 years today tells you that even the greatest pessimist will know that Nigeria has come to stay because if for nothing, those weaknesses, those things that set us against one another give way from time to time and new ones in emerging democracy may rear their heads also. But at the end of the day, you should know that conflict is part of humanity. If you doubt, go back to your house; you will have conflict to deal with. You have a spouse, if you count the number of times you have reason to have conflict with your spouse, it should not be a breaking point because of your divergent views. Conflict is at the root of human existence because human beings are selfish by nature. So, in Sociology, conflict will always arise, even between two people. If we take a portrait and decide to interpret it, you will hear different names; you will see different complexions. You will see some are tall and some are short; we will understand language of one of us while some will not. That is the strength of our nation and I am proud of it. When we travel out of this country, we see so many things that ought not to be issues but they are issues to them there. To us here, it is even nonexistent. Our diversity forms part of our existence and forms part of the basis of our strength upon which our country will even prosper better.

Recently, one of the national leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu asked the National Chairman, John Oyegun, to resign. The call was also supported by a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

What is your position on the matter as a chieftain of the party?

Why must I belong anywhere in a conflict? Put me where there is consensus, I will be stronger there. I will not belong to

any conflict. Look, we are getting back to the same social issue of conflict but there are also conflict resolution procedures.

Maybe, what Asiwaju Tinubu and the former Vice President Atiku are saying is the end result of one of the procedures of conflict resolution. If the National Chairman owns up that he is wrong such that he should resign, what is new about that?

Have we not seen world leaders resign?

Did the British Prime Minister not resign?

So, there are many reasons within a democracy somebody can resign. So, their call is not alien. It is only him that can answer not Hunkuyi and not you. They say that he should resign because he has done this or that; he has not done that.

Now, read on in the next few days, maybe you will hear that what he is not guilty of the allegations against him or maybe he didn't do it the way they said he did it. So, at the end of the day we will adopt a conflict resolution mechanism and address the matter. In fact, conflict of interests, explanations and interpretations within a democracy are the hallmark of democracy. You would have asked why has the Peoples Democratic Party not exploded by now? It will not explode despite the fact that they have issues.

The Senate led by the APC was enmeshed in a protracted leadership crisis.

Is this the end of the crisis and what is your perception of the journey so far and prediction for the future of the Senate?

I want you to understand that there are some underlying principles behind democracy. One, there must be options and choice. Two, there must be freedom to decide among the options. Three, there must be responsibility and this is the hallmark of leadership. Those three are among the golden steeples of democracy; there are a lot more. The process of the leadership of APC within the legislature is excellent; excellent in the sense that you were here before I was. I am less than two years old in this Senate, and the tendency for democracy to operate within the Chambers has manifested in so many key positions than you and I can count. What we have seen is that it is not just a fight between two arch-enemies because there is a dividing line between the APC and the PDP, no. You could see the struggles are assuming a newer dimension. That is the development of democracy you are seeing. You have to appreciate the fact that, today, as it is, in my own opinion, I am taking a risk by saying that the few weeks or months I have spent here, I have seen that the leadership of the National Assembly is not autocratic, rather, it is open and they are accepting inputs from all walks of life, and they have to listen. And when they listen, they moderate and offer guidance within the ambit of the law. It has to happen that way and that is exactly what is happening. When there is any attempt to do otherwise, you see serious disagreement, and that is democracy at work at its best. Honestly speaking, what the APC is offering is not a winner takes all thing; that is not democracy. Everybody must have a platform to express himself, say his own position and demand for his own right for himself, for his own followership and for his people. And that is what the National Assembly is all about. So, my brother, I think there are better days ahead for APC and the leadership, and the party has done well so far in the Senate, and I believe it will move from better to best in the future.

Sunday Interview

‘Judges not exempted from prosecution’ Dr. Chike Obidigbo, a business mogul and All Progressives Grand Alliance parallel governorship candidate in the 2013 election in Anambra State, tells OKEGWO KENECHUKWU there is nothing wrong in prosecuting judges for corrupt practices How would you react to the present face-off between the Federal Government and the Judiciary over arrest of some judges accused of corrupt practices in the country?

When President Mohammed Buhari came to power, most Nigerians, including myself were very happy with his utterances, especially on corruption. This was because every right thinking and patriotic Nigerian knows that corruption is endemic in this country and has eaten deep into the fabrics of this nation. So, when Buhari spoke against, it, Nigerians overwhelmingly voted him and his determination to curb corruption received applause from every Nigerian including me. You see, the level of corruption became such that every illegality became possible and rule of law was relegated to the background. In fact it was practicsd with so much impunity in the sense that many people rose to the point of becoming above the law. So, whatever Mr. President does in the fight against corruption, so far it is within the ambit of the law, I am personally for it.

Besides, corruption is corruption. It does not matter who indulges in it. Nigerians must learn to run an open and transparent democracy, where the rule of law is maintained. So, if it was found that those, who ought to maintain and execute the laws are themselves, corrupt, I don’t see anything wrong in fighting them because they are not saints.

Are you saying that the judges are themselves corrupt or do you support those who say otherwise?

I am not saying that anybody is corrupt. It is also the legal dictum that an accused person remains innocent until proved guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. But we must not shy away from the truth. Experience in this country has shown that the worst corruption is the one committed by the judiciary. So, anybody, who is attacking the DSS over the war against corruption is aiding and abating corruption. As I rightly pointed out, the law presumed an accused person is innocent until proved guilty and should be no respecter of any person.

The judges are the gatekeepers, who guard against corruption, illegality and crimes among others. They should clear

themselves of the allegations. …After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

I’ve been a victim of perversion of justice. The judges and those, who attacking DSS are those who have not experienced perversion of justice and its attendant psychological trauma. I strongly encourage the fight to uncover all those who have held public offices and those, who aided and abate corruption, no matter whose ox is gored.

As an entrepreneur in the organised private sector, what are your thoughts about the present economic recession in the country?

What we are suffering is the aftermath of several years of manipulation, dictatorship, corruption, squandermania, mismanagement and looting of the nation’s economy.

It is also unfortunate that President Buhari stepped into a nation that was on the verge of economic crisis and as such, inherited an empty treasure. I’ve always said that no country in the world can survive with a dominant mono-product economy, especially when the resources are mischievously diverted and not used to support the country’s strategic planning. Our problem in Nigeria is making policies that are not implemented. Moreover, the political class has technically made Nigerians to believe that there is no need to work hard in order to earn a living and this is the bane of the corruption and economic recession we have found ourselves.

Many companies are shutting down daily.

What is the way out?

Most people have also proffered agriculture, restructuring of Nigeria, and setting up of a strong and patriotic Economic Management Team. To me, they are all good ideas but we must not forget that what we have been doing was working hard to fund local alternatives overtime. I believe we will succeed when the result of the activities of the present administration start yielding result. However, I must not fail to advise that Mr. President look inward and select people who have the experience and wherewithal to fix the economy. He should involve the organised private sector in decision-making and implementation.

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Interview What attracted you to the field of Chemical Chemistry, especially Inorganic Chemistry?

As a young student, I knew that Chemistry in general provided most logical answers to physical, chemical and biological phenomena around me. It is, indeed, the central science. I love Inorganic Chemistry because it is fully integrated with other areas of chemistry such as organic, physical and analytical chemistry.

It deals with the chemistry of all non-organic compounds like water, metals, acids, bases and salts. It also explains elements that play crucial roles in biological processes (bioinorganic chemistry). I also applied analytical chemistry to explain some inorganic concepts during my doctorate degree studies.

Consumption of Lead in water is harmful to adults, children and pregnant women. It causes cardiovascular problems, hypertension, infertility in men and woman. With your stint in South African Water Institute, how will Nigeria avoid consumption of lead in water?

Most Nigerian homes rely on the public water system for water supply. Recently, water boreholes supplement the public system. The only way to know whether your tap or borehole water contains lead is to have it tested.

Water that comes out of the tap warm or hot can contain much higher levels of lead. Boiling this water will not reduce the amount of lead in your water. Regularly check the percentage of Hydrogen (pH) of your tap/well water or get an expert to advice you.

Let the water run from the tap before using it for drinking or cooking any time the water in a faucet has gone unused for more than six hours. Purchase or lease a home water treatment device.

Try and avoid plumbing installations that are lead based. Drinking water may be lead free from the supplier but got contaminated through the delivery channel.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Boiling of water doesn’t reduce lead in drinking water’ Enemchukwu Martin is a researcher and Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (Phd) at the University of South Africa, Pretoria. In this interview with CHIJIOKE IREMEKA, he says boiling of water doesn’t reduce amount of ‘lead’ in it

Enemchukwu

In food processing, what could result in seeing objects or observing sedimentation in a packaged food drinks and how will such be prevented in the production line?

Yeasts are the most important spoilage organisms since they can grow at acidic pH and under anaerobic conditions. Certain lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus and Leuconostoc) can also grow under these conditions when sufficient nutrients are present such as in the soft drinks containing fruit juices.

These bacteria are also resistant to benzoic and sorbic acids. Growth results in the production of haze, sediment, off-flavours, and gas. Build-up of microorganisms in the plant environment is the major cause of spoilage.

Good sanitation practices are critical for the preservation of soft drinks. These drinks and ingredients should also be stored at recommended temperatures.

fertilizers to increase productivity. With the push on mechanised agriculture, how can Nigeria benefit from your expertise?

I did extensive studies on phosphates detection in samples and produced novel solid state phosphate selective electrodes (Talanta 83 (2011), 1491 – 1495; Analytical Letters (2013) 46: 663-670; Phosphorus, Sulfur and Silicon (2015) 190: 36 – 44). Phosphate fertilizers are among the most relevant and most expensive fertilizers used in agriculture. A good knowledge of the soil phosphate and other ions will help farmers manage the soil acid by using measures that increase organic matter and proper placement of fertilizer, thus affecting how efficiently it is used by crops. On site monitoring of ions in soils would help Nigerian farmers to recognise more precisely deficiencies in soil nutrients, directing targeted applications of fertilizers without wasting these expensive fertilizers where they are not needed.

Inorganic compounds are used as catalysts, pigments and coatings of medicines among others. What is your take on non dissolvable coatings used by some drugs manufacturers?

Different types of drug coatings (Film and Sugar, Modified Release and Enteric coatings) and catalysts are used for targeted delivery of different drugs in the human body.

In the USA, these coatings/catalysts must be Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acceptable or compliant before they are used in drugs manufacture. They have to pass a certain standard to be acceptable and this increases cost.

Unfortunately, most non dissolvable coatings are not FDA compliant and the drug companies have so far managed to get away with such lies amidst countries with relaxed regulations.

Solutions to environmental problems, such as pollution control and remediation are best handled by Chemical engineers. How best will Nigeria clean up oil pollution in Niger Delta, which is ongoing?

The best way to reduce the possibility of a fuel or oil spill is to take preventative steps to minimise the chance that a spill will occur. Excellent personnel training, the use of food grade oil, proper storage, regular maintenance and inspection of equipment are important.

In spite of taking these steps to minimise spills, accidents do occur. We should be aware that no two oil spills are the same.

They vary based on oil types, locations and weather conditions.

These variation calls for different approaches viz; boom and skimmer containments use of dispersants to break up the oil and speed its natural biodegradation and introduction of biological agents to the spill to hasten biodegradation. In all, trained

Chemical engineers improve food processing techniques and methods of producing

personnel are needed to combat oil spillage in Niger Delta.

You were tasked with conceptualising and implementing an effective teaching, learning and student support system at the University of South Africa (Unisa). What were your challenges and successes?

My main challenge was changing the status quo. Most people are scared of change.

They are comfortable with what they are used to. Although, they see reasons with your proposal, they sometimes do not want to revamp what they feel works for them.

However, we are in the age of technology and our student base is increasingly going digital. We have to tailor student support to accommodate the times. Classroom teachings are gradually going online; also textbooks and hard copy mails are gradually being accessed online.

Students are more comfortable on the online environment than in the classrooms (hard to believe but true). They are working and studying at the same time. They need help with their studies even if they are at work or at home.

Moreover, they need time to be settled into learning in the higher education environment. I assembled a great team and together we made it work for the University of South Africa.

As Science Foundation Coordinator and research associate of CSET, Unisa, what were your main achievements and how could you apply same to Nigerian environment?

The Science Foundation extended programme under my management achieved a total change from semester to year modules with two foundation years at the first level of University education (First year taught over two years of intensive foundation provision and student support). It also achieved 3-year degrees and diplomas in the two science colleges extended to four

years extended degrees and diplomas.

As a researcher, I am proud of fabricating new solid state phosphate selective electrodes for the measurement of phosphates in biochemical, agrochemical and environmental samples.

The solid state electrodes are currently used in phosphate determination by the Unisa ecotoxicology research group and the Durban University of Technology electrochemical biosensor group for environmental studies and interference studies respectively.

I have co-authored five international peer reviewed scientific publications (two submitted for review) and presented in over eight scientific conferences in Africa, Europe and the USA. My research publications have earned about 120 readings and over 400 views in the recently joined ResearchGate.

I am a founding member of Ecotoxicology, a Research Niche Area (RNA) hosted by the Chemistry Department of Unisa. The group has attracted considerable funding from the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF).

As a recipient of the South African National Research Foundation Knowledge Interchange and Collaboration (KIC) grant (Grant IDs 83402 and 87055), I redesigned Unisa first year Chemistry Inorganic practical which was halted for years because of chemical accidents. It has been successfully run for eight years without undesirable incidents.

I am currently a reviewer for the South African Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) and a member of the American Chemical Society (30886501), South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and South African Chemical Institute (16687).

Nigeria is a diverse community that encourages hard work and growth. With the right kind of support, my experiences can be used in fostering face to face and online student support in our institutions of learning, encouraging our youth on practical research and building a better society for us and our children.

You seemed to have done much for South African education system than Nigeria.

What have you done for Nigeria, especially Abia State Chemical Society of Nigeria, which you belong to?

To be sincere, apart from presentations at some invited conferences and seminars in our universities, I have not done much for our education and research system. I will, if given the opportunity to give back to my fatherland. The main idea of us studying outside Nigeria is to imbibe what works for the host country, come home and develop our local governments, states and country.

Can you tell us your background? Education, professional growth…?

I’m a doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (PhD), University of South Africa, Pretoria, between 2010 and 2012. I hold Master of Science in Chemistry (MSc), Cum Laude, University of South Africa, Pretoria (2007– 2009). I obtained my Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Industrial Chemistry, Abia State University, Uturu (1995-1999). My assessment in Higher Education and Open and Distance Learning, Cum Laude – University of South Africa (2014). I had my West African Examination Council (WAEC), Immaculate Conception Seminary, Ahiaeke, Umuahia, Abia State from 1988 to 1993.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

33

Interview ‘I wore a pair of trousers for one year’ p.34

News Catholic relief workers donate 2.4 m condoms p.50

SERMON

Building a good family p.36

FAITH

Solidarity match triggers fresh crises in AG

titus.anyanwu@newtelegraph online.com © Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

CAN boss lauds FG on Chibok girls’ freedom Musa Pam Jos

T

Tai Anyanwu and Charles Onyekwere

A Enugu

solidarity match by Rev. Paul Emeka’s faction of the Assemblies of God Church Nigeria (AG), said to have involved 20,000 people, in Enugu, the Enugu State capital, has sparked fresh bickering between the loyalists of the two factions of the church.

One of our correspondents, who witnessed the event, said that the participants claimed that peace had returned to the fragmented church, adding that they want unity in AG under the leadership of the excommunicated General Superintendent, Rev. Paul Emeka. The solidarity match, which took the church members through Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium along Ogui Road, Presidential Road, Rangers Avenue, terminated at the Assemblies of God Church District headquarters at Chime Avenue, New Heaven, Enugu.

The participants carried placards with inscriptions like: “We are one Assembly of God Church;” “We are for peace,” “We are for Unity,” “One AG, One God and One Church,” “Rev. Paul Emeka is the Answer”.

Addressing the rally, the Enugu State Superintendent of the church, Rev. Emmanuel Ngene, said that the solidarity match was intended to put to end the crisis that rocked the church and consequently fragmented it. Ngene claimed that Assemblies of God was never divided and appealed to those he said are against the leadership of Rev. Paul Emeka to come back to the fold as peace had finally returned to the church. Another cleric from Enugu South District, Rev. Felix Okafor, stressed that a fresh move to reconcile the factions named ‘Tunnel’ would soon begin. The General Secretary of Rev. Chidi Okorafor faction of Assemblies of God Nigeria, Rev. Godwin Amaowoh, responded saying that they were not aware that Paul Emeka is the current General Superintendent of Assemblies of God let alone being on the edge. He explained that Rev. Paul Emeka is still placed on spiritual suspension adding, “He has continued to live in deceit and has kept his few misguided followers in the bondage of deceit so that they keep contributing money for him to sustain the fight.” Amaowoh stressed that the issue is not between Dr. Chidi Okoroafor, who he described as the duly elected General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Nigeria and Paul Emeka, the dismissed General Superintendent.

“The truth about the Assemblies of God crises is actually between Paul Emeka and the Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria.

Paul Emeka has severally tried to mislead the world by making this AG crises issue looks as something between him and Dr. Chidi Okoroafor. Dr. Okoroafor committed no crime to have been elected at the 35th General Council Election which held in October, 2014. The AG crises came as a result of Paul Emeka violating several provisions of the Constitution of the Assemblies of God Nigeria. Paul Emeka was removed constitutionally, so this repeated foul cry to public is just the mischievous lifestyle of Paul Emeka,” Rev. Amaowoh said.

Tai Anyanwu Head, religous Desk

Ngene

He said: “We are aware that few misguided followers of Paul Emeka who are fewer than 200 persons took the streets of some part in Enugu but they paraded unnoticed.

It is a pure lie calculated to deceive members of the public to hear that they were up to 20,000 persons.

“Paul Emeka cannot in his entire life command such followership. As of today, Paul Emeka does not have even up to 15 per cent out of the total membership of the Church. Those following him were coerced into following him but they are gradually returning back to the fold. It is heart breaking to see that Paul Emeka has turned his followers into political campaigners instead of ambassadors of Christ,” Amaowoh said.

He alleged that Rev. Paul Emeka came to introduce “Personality Cult” in Assemblies of God Nigeria adding; “that is what landed him in his current trouble. He came to shift the people’s attention from God to himself and we all said no to him. The past leadership of Assemblies of God exposed people to God but Paul Emeka came with different Agenda.”

Amaowoh alluded to one of the placards displayed at the rally which stated: “Paul Emeka is the Answer,” and asked “Is Paul Emeka the answer or Jesus is the answer?

Is it not manifestly clear to the members of the public the mission Paul Emeka came to accomplish in AG Nigeria?

Sunday Telegraph, however, learnt that Vice Chancellor of the University of America, California, Prof. Prince Gamaliel accompanied by the Nigerian representative, Prof Gideon Olarewaju, and others conferred Rev. Paul Emeka with a Professorial award in Theology at an elaborate ceremony held at the Assemblies of God, New Heaven, Enugu, prior to the solidarity march. During the conferment the Vice Chancellor of the university stated that the experience, exposure, training and teachings of Paul Emeka qualified him for the award.

“We have theologians from different parts of the world, even in our divinity schools.

Amaowoh

Theology requires spiritual impartation and requires somebody who has been in ministry for over 30 years and somebody who is trained and has the requisite knowledge and experience in the service.

“These are the kind of people whom we require to be part of our adjunct faculty.

Paul Emeka is good and as the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria, he is at home with church history. The board of the University sat down and agreed that he joins us.

We will benefit from his expertise and he will be representing that sector in the University of America. “Paul Emeka has clean credential and if the state of California assures the Church that this guy is okay and we support him, then I don’t know what anybody is fighting for. United States is backing him and my message to all those agitating against him is that they should stop wasting their time and come back to fold and submit to him,” he said.

But Rev. Amaowoh described that award as “professorship title racketeering,” alleging that Rev Emeka keeps moving from one fake institution to the other collecting fake professorial titles to keep deceiving his misguided followers that He is a Professor. This we consider as Professorship Title Racketeering because we are aware that the title of professor is strictly used for academic positions.

His words: “About a year ago, Paul Emeka took a professorial title from a no-existing and unaccredited institution called United Bible University, Lagos. Upon enquiry to National Universities Commission on June 29, 2015, they replied that they have no record of such university. The question still remains, is the professorship title dated 24th August 2005 purported to have been issued

by University of Derby, England which he paraded for about 10 years fake? The answer is yes. This is the reason for the current criminal trial he has been facing at Upper Area Court, Abuja for the criminal offense of forgery for about a year now.”

he Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, Rev Yakubu Pam, has commended the efforts of the Federal Government, International Red Cross and the Swiss government following their collaboration which resulted in the release of the first batch of Chibok girls from Boko Haram captivity recently.

Rev. Pam in a press statement issued in Jos, said what has taken place is the outcome of prayers that people of God have been praying day and night for the release of these innocent school girls that were taken away forcefully from their school in Chibok over a year ago.

According to him, government and the relevant bodies must go on with more negotiations for the release of the other Chibok girls that are still with Shekau and his men, saying that all hands must be on deck to ensure this kind of incident never happens again in any part of the North and other states of the federation.

“To us as Christian believers and leaders of the churches in Nigeria, with God all things are possible, hence the result of what we are seeing in respect to the release of the Chibok girls from the den of their captors’’ Rev Pam said. The Northern CAN Chairman added that to the Christian faithful in the North, the Chibok girls deserves serious medical attention, counseling and good dieting to recover fast from what they have gone through in the hands of their captors, saying these girls deserves all the attention of government and relevant bodies that could assist them to get back to their normal lives and further their education.

He urged Northern governors to give attention to the education of the girl-child in all the 19 states in the North and the FCT so as to bring northern girls to be at par with their southern counterparts in the area of access to quality of education in the country.

Christians charged to be worthy ambassadors of Christ

N

igerians, especially Christians, irrespective of tribes and tongues, have been charged to be very great ambassadors of Christ, with a very transparent relationship with God and mankind and live a worthy happy live at all times.

According to a statement signed by Bro. Aramide Tola Noibi, they were also urged to be holy and trustworthy in their dealings with all persons and groups in order to receive divine grace to turn their lives around to the glory of God. These were the remarks of the Host Pastor, the Royal Chapter of the Christ Healing Evangelical Church (CHEC) London Branch, Pastor Mrs. Olawunmi Ogunfowokan, the wife of the Church’s General Overseer, Worldwide.

Speaking on the theme, “You are the Salt and the Light of the World,” she pleaded with the Christians the world over, to be very exemplary, especially in their transparent and dogged strides to draw and win more souls for Christ, more importantly, to the positive growth and expansion of God’s vineyard at all times.

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Interview How did you get your calling?

I never wanted to be a pastor. I just wanted to love, serve, follow the ways of God and make heaven. I learnt to spend quality time praying, going out for evangelism and use God’s word as my standard. Then I saw the revelation; I saw myself delivering people in chains. I ignored the call but was still committed in my church, until I was convinced about the call.

‘I wore a pair of trousers for one year’

What was the beginning like?

Initially, God told me He wanted me to learn the ministry. You see, nobody can go far without serving first. You bring yourself down and serve because if you don’t serve, you can never be a master. I wanted to go into business but God said ‘no way.’

He told me to go out and do morning cry and evangelism. I later joined Abundant Life Ministries and brought souls to the church. Although God gave me a vision of my own ministry, I was so scared to start.

At a time, God’s visions became clearer.

While I was praying, I began to hear Bayelsa, Bayelsa. I did not want to go until a woman of God confirmed that God was telling me to relocate to Bayelsa State.

the Shunamite women did take care of my food. I forgot about everything and focus on God’s word; my heart is all about God. Then I was not married. My family abandoned me but whatever I needed, God provided. I wore one trouser for one year.

But I saw it as joy. I appreciate God for that training. If didn’t pass through that training, I won’t be where I am today in ministry. What people call persecution, I call it training because every man of God must be trained.

Do you have regrets being a pastor?

No. I have experienced persecution and hardship but I see it as part of training.

God said to me: ‘I want to train you; for some years you won’t have money.’ There are things that bring people down, money, women and pride. He told me to work on these three things … pointing out that if can overcome these three things; I will go far in ministry.

How were you able to cope?

I depended on God. There were some months I didn’t have money. People like

Obi

The General Overseer of Christian Palace of Jubilee Ministry, Pastor Innocent Obi, speaks about his ministry and recent developments in Nigeria in this interview with PAULINE ONYIBE

Why did you combine business with the ministry?

To me, business is a distraction to my calling; I like to focus on whatever I am doing. I am not saying that doing business with ministry is bad. There are some who God called as part time pastors. But a full time pastor must be ready

to go through such test. See it as training.

It should not be seen it as suffering. A lot of people run away from the ministry because they see training as suffering.

How do you assess events in Nigeria in year 2016?

The problem of Nigeria is selfish leaders. We have people who claim to go to church but they are not really Christians.

We also have Christians in politics who are not making any difference as they should as believers. Right now, America is gradually moving away from the way of God and we can all see crisis there. The US legalised gay and God’s grace has left America. Nigeria politicians do not want to give God chance to reign in the affairs of this nation. They go to church but they are occult members. If Nigerian politicians can recognise God and rededicate the country to God like Zambia President did in his country recently, Nigeria will breathe fresh air again. We don’t have people in the political arena that can defend their faith. Nigeria can never be better until our leaders go back to God. They should go back to God and do what is right.

How can churches help to enhance security considering all the security issues that in the country today?

All should recognise God. The Bible says ‘except the Lord buildeth a city, the builder buildeth in vain.’ The army and security agencies are doing their best but they can’t stop what is happening. It is also sign of end time. The bible said in the end time there will be a lot of wars. The only man that can stop it is God. Leaders should recognize God. Let Nigerians return to God or if they want to allow Moslems to be doing their things, they should allow Christians to be free also to do what they want to do. God will never be happy with any nation that is sheds innocent blood. The blood of those innocent people will cry out against the nation.

The more bloodshed, the more the demon looks for more blood.

The more violent people come up. All these things are happening because of hunger in the Nation because of wrong leadership.

They are selling rice now N22,000 per bag. Before now, a bag sold for N8, 000. Leader should listen to the voice of God and to the voice of other people. So you need to take time and listen to the people and take advice from them. With such teamwork, we can achieve much as a nation. Let’s go back to God. Rededicate the land to God. Value the prayers of Christians. God will

come to intervene and deliver Nigeria and Nigeria will be great. I don’t care whether you are a Christian or Moslem. We need leaders that will know that Nigeria belong to all of us. And if Nigeria must move forward, our contributions must be accepted.

What is your take about the perception in some sectors there is a subtle move by those in authority to Islamize Nigeria.

What are Christian leaders doing about this?

I am a member of PFN and we are praying seriously for this country. Those who may be trying to Islamize this country should know that this country is a secular nation, not an Islamic nation. Other countries are now come to Nigeria to be revived.

We will live to see Nigeria become one of the top nations in the world. Any one that is trying to Islamize Nigeria is wasting his time because God will thwart that plan.

Those who are hatching such plan should be very careful There was this amnesty granted to them but recently they have gone back, to the creek. Do you think carrying arms is the solution to the Niger Delta Problem?

No. But what will the people do. Because they don’t know God, they felt that going back to the creeks is the solution. In Nigeria today people tend to listen to you when you take to violence. The people felt that they are being used, their oil is being exploited since sixty years now and nothing has been done to the area. Look at some communities in the Niger Delta, some of them cannot fish again. My in-law is a fisher woman. She can’t even fish because their water is polluted with oil.

They will suck the oil and they will not even construct a road. They said they granted them amnesty. How many of them did they empower. Is it just about giving them amnesty? Did you employ them?

When you look at the big oil companies, how many Niger Deltans are working there? But this is not to say that carrying gun is actually the solution; but because they don’t know God, they felt that is the only way they can fight. Since Nigeria has refused to do what is right, they felt the best is to destroy all the pipelines, so that nobody will have it. But I will advise dialogue with the Federal Government is a better option to peaceful settlement.

How can Nigeria come out of this economic recession?

First, we can’t walk in the past and move forward. Let the present administration have a vision. It is only a man who does not have a vision that will be blaming the other man. Don’t blame anybody for your failure. Excuse is something that can’t move any man forward. Let them forget about Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan left a mess. Didn’t Jonathan meet mess there?

Jonathan met mess. Olusegun Obasanjo met mess and yet they forgot about it and moved forward. They should commend Jonathan’s regime because his own was even better. When Jonathan was on board, Nigeria was one of the best economies in Africa. But right now, the economy has crumbled. They want to sell assets. They President should have a vision and work with the vision. God cannot empower anything outside vision.

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FAITH

Insight

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY October 23, 2016

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veryone should realize that the coming of the Lord is at hand and that Rev. Femi Akinola www.thehebrewsng.com is very shortly. And this His second coming should be 01-790 3163; 0808 584 5864 the desire of every believer.

Therefore it is very prudent that we must expect rapture any moment. We must be conscious of the fact that we when your queen of Sheba nd when are not of this world and that comes, how ready will the queen our soul has a home where you be? Will she still meet of Sheba it will return at the end of its you operating the gift that heard assignment. We should not God has given you which of the fame of Solomon allow a negative mindset is meant to be your main concerning the name of the to becloud our sense of instrument of attraction?

LORD, she came to prove reasoning that rapture is an him with hard questions. inevitable event that is next How can you meet your And when the queen in God’s agenda.

QUEEN OF SHEBA? of Sheba had seen all It is necessary that we must Solomon’s wisdom, and the 1. You must keep remain focus every point in harnessing your God house that he had built, time looking up to heaven given gifts for maximum And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents performance, such that you waiting and expecting the trumpet to sound. Your become irresistible even of gold, and of spices very before your queen of Sheba readiness should include not great store, and precious shows up. Keep developing allowing people to engage stones: there came no more you into none essential, and sharpening your gifts such abundance of spices like frivolous discussion, or and impossible doors will as these which the queen chatting irrelevant things open for you on their own of Sheba gave to king that don’t add spiritual value accord.

Solomon.” to your life, such as how to I Kings 10:1, 4, 10 make money, live a better 2. Be organised so that In life, there is someone life, how to travel abroad your life will not end in whom God has positioned for better living, because if agony. The agony of many to be a blessing to you by God wants you to have such today came as a result virtue of the innate gifting. things He will give it to you. of their unpreparedness Someone you probably We should be ready and when their queen of Sheba have never seen or met remember the signs of His showed up. Most times before; someone who most coming are everywhere. We your queen of Sheba will probably is very far from should not seek to placate not even show up when your reach at the moment ourselves with lies of the you are not ready, as it is and whom you never enemy because the enemy is might meet except God cre- your preparedness and desirous to shift our attention level of manifestation or ates the connection. I pray of the truth of His coming that God will cause a divine performance that is meant quickly. to attract her. So, no maniturnaround in your life by Mt 24:7-8 “For nation shall making you meet your des- festation no attraction. rise against nation, and tiny helpers in Jesus name. kingdom against kingdom: 3. Be a giver: Solomon and there shall be famines, was a great giver, little Who is your Queen of and pestilences, and earthwonder he attracted the Sheba? quakes, in diverse places. All attention of the great queen • She is that person these are the beginning of of Sheba without applicawho carries ‘gold and sorrows” tion. You must be a giver silver’ in exchange for I want you to look at what too if you want to attract the gift you carry. is happening today all over great givers into your life • She is that person the world. I want to let you and receive of their gifts. whose hard questions you must answer to command their respect 4. You must have Integrity: integrity is when and then collect what you have learnt to make belongs to you in their your no your no and your hands.

At the onset of this yes, yes. Those who lack • She is that person you teaching series, we integrity will always meet need in life who can established that with adversity. help you experience though every redeemed your own financial child of God has the 5. Serve God: use your turnaround. potential to command the gifts to serve God so that • She is that person you attention of his generation, you can multiply. You can’t must meet who will without the empowerment bow to God alone and men of the Holy Spirit these pohelp you break into a will ignore you. When you new level of greatness tentials cannot be realised. serve God, because He is a in life.

In previous parts, we jealous God, He will cause • She is that person who examined the Spirits of His works to speak aloud is connected to your Dedication and Obedience in your life. Those who destiny as a dream as Spirits of Christ that refuse to serve God with sponsor. engender our exploits on their gifts, eventually end • She is that God-sent earth. up worthless after having personality whom · In this concluding part, served men all their lives. you must not miss we shall be looking at The and who will help you Spirit of meekness: From Prayer Points fulfil God’s purpose scriptures, we understand • Oh Lord, connect me to for your life. that grace is what makes my queen of Sheba…

If you have been suffering great because everything because your talents & gifts • Lord, you are the giver in the Kingdom answers to of my dreams, please, seem to be wasting away, grace (1 Corinthians 15:10). sponsor my dreams…

I prophecy that the Lord It is worthy of note that • Whoever is carrying is repositioning you for grace does not mean living my silver and gold in greatness; God is bringing as one pleases. Rather, it exchange for my gifts, my is an empowerment to and connecting your queen Father connect them to of Sheba to you, in Jesus stay on course with God’s me… name. instructions and accept • My dreams and my A man’s gift maketh room responsibility to obey them.

Vision shall not die, they for him, and bringeth him We must also understand shall see the light of the before great men.” Provthat God ONLY gives grace day. erbs 18:16 to the meek. That means the …in the name of Jesus The great question is; meeker we are, the greater

Your Queen of Sheba

“A

Danger of missing the rapture (1) Revival Tidings

know that all these signs are fulfilled. Are you talking about earth quakes in diverse places which you know they are real for many have taken places in different parts of the world and still ongoing? Or do we talk about wars and rumurs of wars. Of course, there are wars everywhere and rumurs of wars. Or should we talk of pestilences, you know of HIV, Ebola and many other diseases which human has not been able to find solution except cured

by God’s intervention. And these are confirming the signs of the coming our Lord Jesus Christ.

Or should we talk of famine. Of course there is economic recession everywhere, in fact the whole world is crying of it. Everywhere there is economic problem, depreciating of everything which is an indication that there is no more time.

Hunger is everywhere and we have been made to know that these things are the signs of the end. And yet this is the world some people will like to live forever. I want to let you know those people are wasting their time.

So, we need to understand that the signs are everywhere and the Lord has foretold us that when we observe these things happening we should know it is the beginning of sorrows to those who are not born again, those who are not prepared for this event that will shortly take place.

For those who are thinking that they are going to live in this world forever and thus are living their lives anyhow, pursuing after the things of this world and are thinking they are enjoying, but the Lord said it is the beginning

with

Pastor Lazarus Muoka Email: chosenworldwidepublicityltd@

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of their sorrows. This is because the moment the trumpet sound and the children of God are raptured above and then they are left here; even those believers that could not make it shall suffer the torment of antichrist and the great tribulation which will also torment both the antichrist and their agents.

And it will be a horrible time because whatever they have in terms of money, property, wives, etc shall be tormented in the great tribulation. It will be so horrible and those believers that will miss rapture will regret it but it will be too late. Within that period that would be ruled by the beast- that is the antichrist, all the people we have been talking about will be forced to have the mark of the beast. And failure to comply with such order will attract serious consequences, of which the person will be deprived of all commercial and social involvement. But I want to ask if you don’t make rapture when it is by grace, when opportunity is there and nothing hinders you, is it when antichrist will be hunting for you and causing you not to buy or sell that you will be able to overcome. It is better you overcome now that the grace is available and suf-

ficient for you.

That time, anybody that refuses to take the mark of the beast is regarded as an enemy and will be destroyed by the beast or he will pay with his own blood which will be a disaster for it will be with great torment. In that case, the beast may like to cut him into pieces starting from his hand as it pleases him. And the person will wish to die but will not be able to die because it will be difficult for those things that happened during the grace to happen at that time. And while the antichrist will be cutting and destroying the person, all what the beast wants from the torture is that the person should take the mark of the beast which will disqualify him from going to heaven. And if anybody collects that mark, the person is doomed forever. That is why we should take advantage of the grace of God which has been availed to us, and align ourselves with the gratuitous favour declared by the manifestation of Christ.

I want to plead with all that are reading this message not to be part of the victims of antichrist. Let’s make sure we are among those that will be raptured in Jesus name.

How the Holy Ghost empowers for exploits (4)

A

The Voice of Dominion by

Bishop David Oyedepo E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

7747546-8 (SMS only) our future. However, the future of the proud shall be abased. For instance, it was Nebuchadnezzar’s pride that made him a wild beast for seven years. King Herod also gave an oration to contend with God and the Bible records that an angel slapped Him, and worms ate him up on his throne. That is why we need the Spirit of meekness (Daniel 4:30-33; Acts 12:2223; James 4:6).

Moreover, the Bible says: But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (1 Peter 3:4).

“Hidden man” here connotes our spirit-man. That

means when our spirit-man is empowered for meekness, we are endeared to God’s heart for more grace, and more grace engenders more greatness. For example, Moses was the meekest of all the men that walked the earth in his days and the Bible records that he was very great (Exodus 11:3; Numbers 12:3).

Concerning meekness, Jesus further said: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matthew 11:29).

Consequently, the Spirit of meekness is one of the Spirits of Christ and that was one of the graces that engendered His greatness.

That means, every genu-

inely humble soul is ordained to be highly exalted.

Therefore, we must never pose for God, lest we begin to decompose. Remember, if we are too big to do small things, then, we are too small to do big things. Also, God will never change our positions beyond our level of meekness; as such, we must remain humble as God changes us from one level of glory to another (Philippians 2:5-11).

However, it is important to recognise that being born again is the first step to accessing the Spirit of meekness. Are you born again? If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, you can do so as you 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!”

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

faith

Clothed with splendor and power

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ersons on the street of Cairo or so, the then capital of Egypt saw their king riding on one of the chariots which he had, with signet ring upon his hand and arrayed in vestures of fine linen with gold chair about his neck. The shout before the chariot bow the knee: all the people who came across him did obeisance to the king.

Many of them reached home and asked where Pharaoh was going in the afternoon when there was no occasion. They were made to realize that it was Joseph the Hebrew slave and not Pharaoh. The people doing obeisance did not bother to look at the face of the man riding the Pharaoh’s second chariot. They fused. “but I saw that Hebrew stave yesterday when I visited a friend in prison yard”.

Yes the scriptures told the story after Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the dream Pharaoh had.

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took of his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and

O

Word of Life Archbishop. Moses Kattey moseskatteyabp@yahoo.co.uk

0808 770 7486

put a gold claim about his neck; An he made him to ride is his second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, bow the thee; and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and with thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt (Genesis 41:40-44).

Joseph became the Prime Minister, while Pharaoh remained the President in Egypt. Joseph was No. 2 person in authority and power. Sorry, I omitted one very important part (verse 40): Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shalt all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than you.

It is like the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.

It is like the Holy Spirit and God the Father and the son Jesus Christ. As you see the Son Jesus Christ, you will think you

have seen the father. ….

John 14:8 – 11.

All those who saw Joseph in splendor thought they had seen Pharaoh. This incidence also occurred elsewhere in the scriptures. It was Daniel’s turn to ride upon the horse of King Belshazzar.

Then commanded Belshazzar, and clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom (Daniel 5:29).

Those who saw Daniel thought it was King Belshazzar. Daniel was clothed with garments, splendor and power and authority like the King himself, Daniel was made the third ruler of the Kingdom. Joseph was made the second ruler of the kingdom of Egypt.

If you see a Baby described by the Lord Jesus Christ in the dream or vision, you will think

the Baby is God Himself or the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. People do obeisance to the baby.

Challenges bow to the baby. Even the world is overcome by this little Baby. Read it yourself.

And the Apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you (Luke 17:6) Read also: And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; are it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matthew 17:20).

A man brought the son to disciples of Christ and they could not cast out the demon in him. The Lord Jesus, their Master did and they asked Him why they could not cast at the devil “And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that honour. (Matthew 17:18)

Marriage & Family Intimacy

Bishop Charles Ighele holyspiritmissioninc@yahoo.com

07066579379/09098845521 Where there is nagging, there is discomfort, anxiety and unease family where everybody does only what will benefit them, such a family will never make progress. And there will not be unity and peace. Everybody will seek his or her own prosperity.

Look into your family and into your heart and ensure that you are not allowing this spirit of selfishness to creep in. Whatever decision you want to take should be weighed to see if there is an element of selfishness.

• Bad communication creates a big loophole in your family. Some spouses are good but poor communicators. They might be quiet but their attitude and gestures keep speaking and sending wrong signals to their spouses and to other members of the family. Col. 4:6. Communication can be made with words, actions, gestures and attitude.

When the communication is not well made or well received, it usually puts a

hole in the relationship of the people concerned. You can send a wrong signal without even knowing it especially if you are emotionally disturbed.

A man who had a rough day at the office might get home angry and irritated.

He will end up communicating badly and creating misunderstandings.

• Nagging and criticisms are so unwelcomed in any home. Where there is nagging, there is discomfort, anxiety and unease. Nagging repels love and is seen as a form of noise. Criticism makes relationship to be strained (tensed) and introduces hostility. Try as much as you can to keep off criticizing members of your family. If you must do so, deliberately do it in love.

Nobody likes or enjoys being criticized. But when you point out a fault in love, it is usually taken with joy and warmth. · When you do not accept to be wrong and claim to always be right.

This will definitely cause

Bishop John Ogbansiegbe 0803 341 6327 (SMS Only)

Beyond your imagination

S

atan dominates the world with sin and power of darkness.

Satan developed and highly established the laws of sin and death: “For that the soul that sinneth shall die” –Ezekiel 18:20.

But I thank God that our Lord Jesus Christ came and established a new law to annul the law of sin and death by the law of the spirit of life in Christ for which Romans 8:2 declares: “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” As corroboration to this scriptural position, our Lord Jesus Christ declares in John 10:10: “The thief commeth not, but for to steal, and kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”

In a world of confusion, uncertainty and fear; and a world ravaged by diseases and sickness, God’s healing grace has remained operational. Many that are sick with chronic diseases/ ailments are no more sure arguments which might lead to fights. It might also whether God is still willing to heal them, especially make everyone to avoid when they have explained you since you are always themselves, analyze their right. No human being is born perfect. We are prone situation in line with what to mistakes and we keep many medical doctors striving to perfection. and laboratories have said Therefore, accepting that about their situations, you are wrong is very okay they conclude that healing and will make your family for them is impossible. members know that you Also, when they consider are at least human. Do not genesis of their disease and claim to be a super human how unworthy they seem and destroy the peace of because of their sinful past, your home. they conclude erroneously • Avoiding each other that God will not be willing or avoiding any member to heal them. of the family will create a Like the ostracized leper big loophole in the family relationship. When you are whose account was written avoiding someone, you are in the book of Mark 1:40,41: “If thou wilt, thou canst giving the person or the make me clean.” The leper people watching you the was certainly ignorant of impression that you are the programme and plan keeping malice. Such attitude is bound to make the of our Lord Jesus Christ reother party feel uncomfort- garding the sick. This was able and introduce wrong why our Lord Jesus Christ habits. Keeping malice can commenced his healing be mastered and become a by correcting the erronehabit without your knowous uncertainty regarding ing it.

His willingness to heal; • Suspicion is a feeling by declaring to the man of mistrust or doubt and “I will, be thou clean. No should not be allowed to wonder why the Lord Jesus play pranks in your mind.

Christ declared in the book of Mistrust is the beginning a relationship falling apart. of John 10:10: “The thief commeth, but for to steal Do not even suspect your children but call their atten- and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might tion to what you have fear of or have noticed. Likewise have life and have it more draw the attention of your abundantly.”

The type of life that comes spouse to something that into a condemned criminal needs explanation. Your family needs you just the when he is pardoned, the way you need your family. type of life that comes into

Building a good family

ne thing the devil wants to see is having a bunch of people in a family who do not know what a family represents or what it stands for. He therefore takes advantage of such ignorance and wreaks havoc using the loopholes being created by members of the family.

A good family is one where the members of the family know how to relate, interact, love, disagree in love, share joy and pain together, fight and settle easily; know how to forgive faults, etc. When you value your family, you will strive to see every member happy and together in peace.

There are salient things that can make a family to lose its string of love and introduce strangeness and loopholes.

• Selfishness is a strong tool in the hands of the devil to create a big gap in the relationship of a family. Having the spirit of ‘this is mine’ and isolating yourself most times is not healthy Prov. 18:1. Thinking of doing things that will be to your own benefit alone as parents or children is not acceptable in any family. Think of others in whatever you do. Selfishness simply tells the other people that they are not important and so not considered in the decision taken without them. Imagine a

Mystery of Anxiety

a dead man when he is resurrected, is life that is better and beyond one’s imagination and this is the life that is superior in quality and superfluous in quantity. Concerning his disposition and inert inclination, zeal, willingness and commitment to heal, the word of God declares: “When the evening came, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils and he cast out the spirit with his words, and healed all that were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoke by Isaiah the prophet, saying; Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”

The healing programme of our Lord Jesus Christ has remained progressively operational because our Lord Jesus Christ has remained the same yesterday, today and forevermore” –Hebrews 13:8, and Ephesians 5:26.The healing programme is a divine resolution by the divine paraclete. It was a covenant which was revealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the things that is gone out of my lips,” – Psalm 89:34.

The knowledge of the fact that God is still willing to heal you should provoke the faith required, for you to receive your healing even now. Therefore let every doubt be cleared now concerning God’s intention and willingness to heal you. Let it be a settled fact in your heart now that it is God’s will to heal you.

You have a right to healing, forgiveness and total wellbeing, if only you can believe now. He declares in Exodus 15:26; “For I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

“Healeth thee” means that God’s healing programme is continuous and progressive. He is still active in the business of healing his people. God’s promises in Christ are Yea and Amen.

He is very willing to heal you. Even as you are reading this article, healing is taking place in your body; receive your healing now in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. Since it is beyond controversy that every scripture is the mind of God expressed by the Holy Ghost through the mouth and writings of mortals and every scripture has been given to us by God for our inspiration and edification.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

Body&Soul

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Wole Adepoju 07037763410

Double celebration for Oba Ogunwusi S

ince his ascension to the throne of his forefathers close to a year ago, the youthful but one of the most powerful monarchs in the country, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Akande Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. has never for once rested on his oars as regards keeping the promises he made for peace to reign and make life better for his people. Since then, accolades have not ceased to come his way for these commendable and laudable ideas of his. However, it was really a time for the handsome king to be celebrated by all and sundry when he had double reasons to celebrate recently. First was the significant Ile- Ife festival, ‘Olojo’ which was his first to anchor while the second was his 42nd birthday which also was his first birthday on the throne.

‘Olojo’ as a very significant festival is a celebration of the creation of the first dawn, first afternoon and night in creation of mankind. As it’s demanded by tradition, the King

goes into seclusion for seven days after which he comes out to perform the necessary rights to make the process complete and successful. The most anticipated part of the process which of course happens to be the most glamorous was when Oba Ogunwsi, for the first time wore the Aare crown. The Aare crown, 75kg in weight is designed to be worn by the Ooni of Ife only once in a year during the ‘Olojo’ Festival. The festival has also served as a tourism tool which promotes African culture and business. Thousands of people from the ancient town and visitors from around the world as well as dignitaries and top government functionaries were on hand to make the event a success. The celebration mood ignited by ‘Olojo’ was still very much in the air when the 42nd birthday anniversary of Oba Ogunwusi crept in, and going by his status, one could only imagine what the anniversary would spell for the monarch.

Although drums were not rolled out for the celebration, a modest party was put together at the palace to mark the event. As an individual whose position does not only command respect but his personality and actions have endeared him to many, it has been hordes of congratulatory messages from the seventh of this month that was his special day. It will amount to stating the obvious that the monarch and his beautiful wife, Olori Wuraola, have been basking in the euphoria of the successes of these great events.

Obanikoro sheds toga of a coward

Lamex dislodges Kanu Nwankwo O

lanrewaju Akanni Mohammed, fondly called Lamex, came under the spotlight as a thriving businessman who also has a stake in the social scene as an unrepentant socialite. He got to the consciousness of many people when he won a mouthwatering contract that requires him to clear equipment and related facilities for Mike Adenuga’s business concerns. Stoutly built Lamex had run into troubled waters in the course of executing this contract; but the man has remained financially solid against what was predicted would bring about his financial instability.

His 50th birthday both in Nigeria and Dubai among other luxurious and fund gulping exercises he has repeatedly embarked on, have put his detractors to shame that their target is as solid as a rock financially. Lamex, a notable hotelier, according to a reliable source, has embarked on building another hotel in the heart of Ikeja and this it was learnt is capital intensive based on what the hotel is expected to look like. On another note, but of course in line with his spending and investment spree, Celeb Lounge learnt the business man has dislodged ex- international and former Super Eagles skipper, Kanu Nwakwo, from a building where he operates one of his business concerns as he has coughed out money to take possession of the said building. The building in the highbrow area of Opebi, is said to have since been going through renovations.

Toyin Kolade bereaved I

H

is antecedents of treading where many others would actually dread, former PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has over the years, especially among his admirers cut an image of a brave individual.

However, Koro as he’s fondly called, wore the picture of a coward when he departed the country’s shores for United States, leaving behind his ‘Comrades’ like Femi Fani-Kayode and Sambo Dasuki with whom he played key roles doing the immediate past administration, to bear the brunt of anti- corruption crusade of the government of the day. Although he claimed to have travelled to further his education when the anti-graft agency declared his presence needed in June. He had further consolidated on his new image when the same agency swooped on members of his household and he did not budge or return to take charge. Finally, the former Minister of State for Defense shut the mouth of his critics who are of the opinion that he dares not step foot on his father land; he decided to shed the toga of a coward when he suddenly appeared from perceived self-imposed exile and headed to the den of his prosecutors, the EFCC. His return has since become one of the burning issues even as his alleged confession regarding corrupt charges against him is beginning to raise dust and sentiments.

woleadepoju@yahoo.com

Benson Akindeju set to bury mum

H

e’s not given to unnecessary flamboyance or blowing his trumpet but one fact that cannot be denied the man called Asiwaju Benson Akindeju, is that his status among the high and mighty is as huge as his imposing physical looks. This is already making many to envisage that all roads will lead to Igbotako in Ondo State in a matter of days when the dude will be bidding his late mother farewell in grand style as she’s eventually committed to mother earth.

Tall, huge and dark skinned founder of one of the prominent television series producing outfits, AK Media, Asiwaju Benson Akindeju, lost his octogenarian mother, Theresa Olamodesi Akindeju, to the cold hands of death at the ripe age of 84. The woman, who was fondly called Mama AK was a community leader who impacted many lives. In celebration of a great soul that departed, a three-day event that will kick off on 26th and end on 28th of this month has been lined up for the celebration of Madam Theresa’s well spent life, all at Igbotako in Ondo State.

lesha born but Lagos based flourishing business woman, who has over many years asserted herself as a factor in the social circle due to her dominance, Princess Toyin Kolade, may not be in the best of moods this period over a loss she just recorded that has to do with the passing away of her loving mother, few days ago.

The wife of a top Customs boss lost her mum but she’s apparently consoled not just by the fact that the deceased passed on at a ripe age of 92, but that she equally lived a well-meaning life that impacted many. It is yet to be known when the burial ceremony will take place but the talk that is gathering momentum about the issue is that the Ilesha town will shake to the foundations when the remains of Madam Comfort Adejuyigbe will be committed to mother earth as her daughter is known to be one whose bashes are usually never in half measure.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul a funny one recently and I only woke up the next day to find out that she packed my beverages to her house. I’m tired, do you think I should end the relationship based on this?

Chukkwuma, Enugu I’m addicted to attention from other men

I’m a 25 year old lady in a relationship with a 32 year old man, but I have a serious problem.

I love the attention of other men. I feel like an ungrateful person because I’m blessed with the most mature, kind, loving, understanding generous man; yet, I keep cheating on him.

We’ve been together for a little over a year now and in the course of our relationship I’ve cheated three times with three different men. I don’t have any emotional attachment with these men, as I keep them only for the attention.

I have countless other men constantly calling me, taking me out and giving me gifts. I just love the attention and I know I need to end it, because my boyfriend is talking serious about marriage.

We give each other the freedom to hang out with other friends and he feels when I am out, I’m with my girlfriends. Recently, he told me that he loves me so much and that’s the reason he doesn’t check my phone or messages because he doesn’t need a reason to distrust me.

I feel so bad because he works really hard and even when I was faced with financial problems, he was there for me. I love him too much but I can’t stop seeing other guys. I enjoyed being chased by multiple guys and making them to

I

prove their love but right now I’m stuck with this ‘habit’ and I need a way out. Please advise me!

Clara, Abuja My girlfriend shops for her family at my expense

Let me break it down, I’m in a relationship with a girl I love so much. She happens to be the smartest and most brilliant girl I know and I’m thinking of having a future with her.

But there is a challenge; she is always infusing her immediate family needs into ours. I stay alone but she stays with her parents.

Take for example; anytime I go shopping for groceries for my house with her, she infuses some shopping for her folks. Perhaps I got groceries for the house, which I do mostly on weekend visit from her, with the fridge still all stocked, she empties it by half or more for her folks at home when she’s leaving and all at my expense. I’m not against her taking a few things home, but it’s not fair that she virtually packs everything and most of the time; she will not even tell me she took it. At the start of our relationship, I ignored, hoping she would correct herself. When I could not take it any longer, I talked to her, and she changed a bit of the behaviour, but I’m beginning to think that this habit is inherent. She just made

I’m overworked and hubby complains about everything I do

I am a working mum of four, married to an upwardly mobile professional in the science and technology sector. I have been battling with an issue in my home for so long and I have tried all means I can to resolve it. Nothing seems to work. I dated hubby for five years and we have been married seven years. Hubby is nice and kind to everyone except me! The issue is he complains about everything I do and nothing seems to ever be right. He scolds me most times for any little issue

and I have talked to him about this, so much I am beginning to sound like a broken record.

We both have long commutes from work, but I struggle to get back home early to attend to the children.

I have a nanny who comes in during the week. He says he doesn’t want a live-in help who will live with us. Aside the constant scolding is his inability and unwillingness to help with anything. I am running from pillar to post trying to catch up with cooking for the week, housework and the kids while hubby throws up his feet reading the dailies or watching football. This has led to me resenting him and inevitably refusing sex.

I am at my wits’ end as I live a tired and constantly unhappy life while my partner doesn’t seem to understand why. I really don’t know what to do.

Bola, Lagos

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It’s all happening in the world of literature

t has been a busy period in the world of literature this past week and keeping up with events has been hard. Awards have been given, some more controversial than others and the world’s biggest book fair opened in Frankfurt, Germany. Then, there has also been some sad news that it has been difficult for moi to pick out one thing to focus on. Then it occurs to me, why focus on one thing? What’s wrong in talking about it all if only to highlight the importance of literature in the emerging world affairs. So this week, I am giving you my views on multiple literary issues.

NLNG awards Literature Prize: On July 31, I urged the judging panel of the NLNG Literature prize to award the Prize this year and help promote literature in Nigeria. It was my feeling that not awarding the Prize, as they have done in recent years, was hurting the competition more than it was helping it. Thankfully, sound reasoning prevailed and a first-time author, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, was announced as the winner with his novel, ‘The Season of Crimson Blood.’ Congratulations to Abubakar and kudos to the Panel of Judges and NLNG for keeping the writing dream alive in Nigeria. It is always hard when your first novel achieves any level of success and so NLNG needs to go further and promote the book to help the author. Organise international and national readings, help preview his

writings to draw attention to the unspoken and unreported casualties of war.

She joins a league that includes Chinua Achebe, winner in 2002. The book fair is still ongoing but it is already pushing the boundaries of what is the book and how it impacts other art forms. One thing is certain, with Frankfurt book fair, the book is not going anywhere.

next novel, arrange media interviews and generally put this book on the lips of every Nigerian. Our literature can only get better with such gestures.

The Nobel Literature Prize stuns all: Well, as we were celebrating the award of the NLNG Prize in Nigeria, the ultimate literature Prize was announced. The Nobel, was awarded to author and…hold on, sorry to Singer and Song Writer, Bob Dylan, for his book…sorry, not his book but for the lyrics of his songs which have shown high literary and poetic values. Okay, I am a popular culture scholar and I am all for mixing the popular with the literary but this just stretches the imagination too far.

I know Bob Dylan is a fine writer and in the era where musicians no longer sing and can’t even write songs, he is iconic on so many levels but to win a literature Prize?

Well, nothing spoil. Oya, Tiwa Savage, start

dusting up your collection, Korede Bello and P-Square, the ultimate music Prize is no longer the Grammy, but now includes the Nobel Prize for Literature. Congratulations to Bob Dylan.

Frankfurt Book Fair Opens: In all the political turmoil currently engulfing Europe, it can seem a reasonable excuse to forget that Germany is also home to the largest book fair in the world. The book fair opened this week and the focus is on the role of the book not just as a cultural artefact but also as an economic facilitator in a changing and ever evolving Europe.

But it is not just Europe that is the focus here but the world at large. The annual Peace Prize, so named for the recognition of book as a potent force in achieving peace in the world is to be awarded to author, Carolin Emcke, an international journalist and author, who has used her

The Passing of Ken Wiwa: This week took a sad turn when the shocking news of Ken Wiwa, writer, journalist and son of environmental martyr, Ken Saro Wiwa.

Coming just a few days short of the 21st Anniversary of his dad’s death in the hands of Nigeria’s military junta, the death of Ken Jr. is making me question if my medical science is up to date. He died of stroke in a London hospital and the suddenness of the whole thing is as shocking to the medical personnel as it is to the rest of the world. I have always associated stroke with much older folks and not a 47-year-old man. How sad. I met him briefly in Lagos at the office of Ford Foundation in Lagos when he was promoting the release of his book ‘In the Shadow of a Saint.’ I cannot forget the gentle yet powerful voice that corrected me, “It is Ken Wiwa,” when I called him Ken Saro Wiwa. It was the premise of his book, a man eager to forge his path, away from that of his father. My condolences to the family.

3, 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

m hem

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en a straight pencil silhouette and a full e skirt. plum skirts make pencil skirts look less ffy with it decorative hems. The peplum m skirt is so feminine and whimsical! It’s hough it was inspired by a mermaid tail, ng you that ethereal look that is ultra-sexy girly at the same time. ey are definitely a must have for all ladies hey can be worn casually or semi-formalhis trend is not restricted to week days

What your acne is telling you Biwom Iklaki

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adies who do not often have breakouts sometimes find that they suddenly break out. Other ladies who have learnt to live with their pimples as their fate too have a thing or two to learn about their condition. Your acne break out is often pointing to some other underlying condition. It could be a symptom of something else going on in your body. Here are some of the most common pointers for the site of your pimples.

Acne on your upper lip or below the lips and all the way to the jaw line often points to regular hormonal issues or imbalance.

The bridge of your nose is often covered with enlarged pores and is a pretty common occurrence on many ladies.

Acne on your forehead however, could be a sign of dehydration. It means you are not taking in as much water or fluids as your body needs. It is a sure sign for you to start chugging on more H20. Sounds pretty easy right? Get drinking then!

Acne on your cheeks, right below your eyes is believed to be a symptom of allergies. Perhaps you are reacting to something in the environment, in or on your body.

Whatever your acne is pointing to, take control and fix it before it gets any worse. You could also consult with a dermatologist when you begin to get alarmed.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

dude OF THE WEEK

Dapper in suit lapels Vanessa Okwara

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fter years of slim, subtle notch lapels on men’s suits, some high-end designers have come up with bolder, more pronounced lapels.

Lapels are the folded flaps of cloth on the front of a suit jacket and are most commonly found on formal clothing and suit.

There are three basic forms of lapels: notched, peaked and shawl.

The notch lapel is found in the everyday type of suit, while the peak and shawl lapel is a different style for those who want to dress in a formal way and yet appear more fashion forward.

Suits can be incorporated to fit just about any event.

Whether you are going for a business meeting, on a date, special events or church; you will find a suit that will match. Always wear your suit with a quality dress shirt, belt, shoe, and good socks that match the trousers in

colour.

For trendier additions to your wardrobe, include these three types of lapels to your suit collection and you will definitely make heads turn in your direction.

Notch Lapel (also called the ‘stepped lapel’)-The ‘notch’ is the opening where the bottom of the collar meets the top of the lapel, usually at a 75 – 90 degree angle.

The notch lapel is the most common lapel and the most versatile of the bunch. It is most often found in single-breasted suit jackets, blazers and sports coats. If you only own one suit that will be suitable for any occasion, this is the lapel suit type to go with.

Peak Lapel (also called ‘pointed lapel’) – Peak lapels are traditionally the most formal of the lapels and were originally common in formal wear garments such as the tuxedo. Peak lapels are the most expensive lapel to manufacture because it requires the most amount of skill. Sometimes, the peak lapel is combined with either the notch or shawl lapel for a more pronounced fashionable look.

Shawl Lapel –They are characterized by a continuous curve without breaks or points unlike the notch or peak labels. The shawl lapel is most common on dinner jackets and tuxedos. They can be worn to attend special events such as special dinner events, awards or an event in your honour.

Ycee

Cute rapper Eunice Stephen

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ludemilade Martin Alejo, popularly known as Ycee, is a Nigerian rapper and songwriter. He’s signed to Tinny Entertainment and currently studying Marine biology at the University of Lagos.

Ycee was born in Festac Town, Lagos State.

He became popular after one of his singles titled ‘Condo’, which featured vocals from Patoranking was released. This earned him two nominations at the 2015 Nigeria Entertainment Awards.

He was nominated in the ‘Best Artist in African Pop’ category at the 2015 All Africa Music Awards slated to take place later this year. He also won the

rookie of the year award at The Headies with his second single smash hit ‘Jagaban’ and this made him more popular.

When it comes to fashion and style the ‘Condo’ master is quite stylish.

His style is a mixture of Hip hop and Rasta. His unique hairstyle stands him out in the crowd which has inspired some of his colleagues to follow suit. He’s usually seen dressed in simple t-shirt and jeans or in his Yoruba turban and rarely wears suit or bow ties.

One thing this mixed Yoruba and Igbo born star cannot do without is his rings and necklaces. The ‘Jagaban’ crooner is a star to watch out for in future both in his music and his fashion style.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

RazzleDazzle

Body&Soul Abiola Alaba Peters

with

08062622328 abiolaalabapeters@rockmail.com

​Top celebrities who married non-Nigerians

Ashionye Ugboh Ex broadcaster turned Nollywood Actress cum singer, Ashionye, and her non Nigerian husband, Carl Raccah, have known each other for 15 years but got married six years ago and has two kids; a boy and a girl. On the main reason she opted for a white man, the Delta State born diva said, “I will call it destiny because it was bound to happen. My husband and I before we got married, we were together for like six years. Like any other relationship, we had differences but of course we work them out. We got married and now have children.

I didn’t go out looking for a ‘white man’ to marry. It just happened; we met and became friends, love developed and we are married and happily too. My two previous relationships before I got married while I was in school were with Nigerian guys and we are still friends.

It is not about being white or black it depends on the individual”.

Regina Askia Regina Askia is a Nigerian-born, Americanbased registered nurse. Regina found fame as an actress and model. She’s a healthcare and educational activist, television producer, writer, and public speaker. She’s married to American Rudolph ‘Rudy’ Williams, nephew of Ron Everette and grandson of Fess Williams.

Together the couple has two children, daughter, Teesa Olympia and son, Rudolph Junior.

The union shocked a lot of her colleagues and admirers.

Her white wedding was witnessed by selected guests.

Oluchi Onweagba Oluchi Onweagba Orlandi is a popular Nigerian international supermodel. She won the Face of Africa in 1998 and had also covered a lot of renowned magazines such as Vogue, Elle and Sports Illustrated for a record of four times. Oluchi, 35, is happily married to a 54-year-old popular Italian fashion designer, Luca Orlandi since August 2005. The happy union has produced two boys. She is in the top list of celebrities who have sustained interracial marriages. When recently asked how she copes, she said “I have been married since 2005. I think it’s just marrying your best friend more than anything else. It’s marrying a man that will understand you, a man that will support you in good and bad times. My husband is my best friend”. The dark and beautiful model maintains that her marriage has been wonderful because she married her best friend even though it is an inter-racial marriage.

Nigerian celebrities have given inter-racial marriage a try and it has worked out well for some. In fact, unlike in the past when the practice was heavily frowned at, most celebrities no longer give it a second thought before proudly settling down with their foreign partners.

Increasingly and in greater numbers, Nigerian female and male celebrities are breaking the barrier by marrying non-Nigerian men and women. In droves, they are marrying Caribbean nationals, white Americans and African-Americans. ABIOLA ALABA PETERS brings to you top Nigerian celebrities who found love across the borders.

Uche Jombo Abia State born Nigerian actress, screenwriter and film producer, Uche Jombo, married American born Kenney Rodriguez in a low-key wedding that took place on the shores of Puerto Rico, in the north-eastern Caribbean and they both have a son together.

The wedding, which held precisely on May 16, 2012 took many of her teeming fans by surprise. Since they both signed the dotted lines, the couple has been living happily ever after with their baby, Matthew Rodriguez.

Uche Jumbo is unarguably one of the top actresses in Nollywood.

Aside her huge success as an actress, she is also a successful movie maker.

Anita Hogan Nollywood actress, Anita Hogan and her Dutch husband, Ted, have two children, a boy and a girl birthed at a private clinic at her home town in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State on September, 2011. Hogan and Ted tied the knot in October 18, 2006, with few friends, family and well-wishers in attendance at the Ikoyi registry, Lagos. Indeed, it was a great turning point for the dark-skinned actress amidst the nude picture scandal that almost ruined her career; she even threatened to commit suicide at the time. Fortunately for her, the aged man at the center of the scandalous pictures eventually walked her down the aisle. They are still happily married till date.

Susan Peters Although Susan Peters rarely mentions her family in interviews, she is discrete about romance and has rarely been linked with any men in the media. She said in an interview in 2011 that she was in a relationship but didn’t mention a name, stating that “It’s my private life and I like to keep my private life private”. The award-winning Nigerian actress isn’t just a star on Nigerian TV, but a successful model, interior designer and

beauty salon owner. Susan Peters got married to her Dutch fiancé, Koen Croon, in Lagos on October 10, 2015.

Ufuoma McDermott Ufuoma McDermott is a Nollywood actress and model. Born in Benin City to Nigerian parents who hail from Delta State in Nigeria.

Ufuoma got married on 23 April, 2010 to Steven McDermott. Ufuoma and Steven McDermott have two children, son, Isio Jared, born 10 October, 2012 and daughter Kesiena, born 8 August, 2015. Ufuoma bagged a degree in French language from the University of Lagos where she partook in a Federal Government scholarship holiday programme. She also has certificates and diplomas from Alliance Française and NIIT. She holds a master’s degree in Public and International Affairs, also from the University of Lagos. In 2011, she attended New York Film Academy in Los Angeles for an acting course and later on a film making course from a Dov Simen’s Holly wood Film Institute.

In 2013, she obtained a certificate in Human Resource Management from the London Business School.

Ik Ogbonna Ik Ogbonna is a Nigerian actor and model from Abia State. Ik got married to a Columbian, Sonia Morales, on June 29, 2015 in Belgrade, Serbia. They have a child together. On how Ik met his pretty wife, he said “Basically a friend of mine met me on set and we were talking about me finding a woman, and I think at that time I was just out of a relationship and he was trying to advise me to look for someone and I was not even in a hurry to look for someone. I basically asked God to direct me to someone I would be with because I really don’t enjoy the habit of changing women. So she pointed out this girl to me that was her friend on Instagram. So unconsciously, I was following her and liking all her pictures because she is a pretty woman with a lovely shape” Ik said.

Ikechukwu Mitchel Ogbonna is an actor and a model. The popular actor studied sociology at university of Jos, Plateau State.

Chioma Toplis Chioma Toplis is Nollywood actress and entrepreneur who shuttles between her residence in London and Lagos. Chioma is mar-

ried to UK born Engineer, Andrew Toplis and they have three children together. Since the Abia State born actress came into limelight and settled down, she has been battling with allegations of unstable marriage. But the big, bold and beautiful mother of three with a towering height is never tired of defending her home, which she described as the type any woman could dream of. How she is coping with foreign in-laws? She said, “I don’t have any problem with his family. My mother-inlaw died when I had my daughter in 1998 and my father-in-law also died four years ago. They used to come and stay with us at Christmas.

I never had any problem with them before they died. My husband has only one sister who lives in Cyprus.”

Tosyn Bucknor Popular broadcaster and Top Radio 90.9 ambassador, Tosyn Bucknor, is the only female radio presenter in Nigeria who hosts a morning show on radio all by herself. Tosyn Bucknor and her French husband, Aurélien Boyer, tied the knot in 2015. Popularly called ‘Area Mama’, Tosyn and her beau had their traditional wedding surrounded by happy family and friends. The event was planned

by Tosyn’s sister, Funke Bucknor-Obruthe of Zapphaire Events. Top celebrities, ranging from movies, music and top radio and television hosts attended the wedding. The couple got engaged in August after dating for two years.

Karen Igho Reality television star, Karen Igho who found fame as the winner of Big Brother Africa, got married in Jos on Saturday, December 13th, 2014. The controversial diva got married to Yaroslav Rakos after dating for nine years.

Karen later delivered a son at the Mount Sinai Roosevelt hospital in New York on the 4th of July, 2015. The passionate Actress, business Woman and broadcaster is also a successful brand Ambassador.

Karen Igho’s husband, Jaroslav, is a citizen of Czech Republic; both partners are still having the very best of their marriage till date.

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Emmanuel ‘Mannie’ Essien is a seasoned presenter of the breakfast show on Cool FM. Mannie is an all-round entertainer. He produces, writes and directs creative works for several top cooperate brands.

He is a delegate to the Worldwide Radio Summit in the U.S. A. and the award winner for the prestigious Hollywood Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award in USA, for Best Nigerian On Air Personality. ABIOLA ALABA PETERS, met the maestro with the shiny dread locks for an interview and he bared it all on his struggles, challenges and more

Tell us more about your ‘Good morning Nigeria Show’ and all the shows you run on Cool FM? The ‘Good Morning Nigeria Show’ runs every week day from 5am to 10am. I have anchored it from 2008 till date. It’s a family oriented fun-filled show with all kinds of programmes, giveaways and phone calls. The core value is laughter; so we make a lot of people laugh and stay glued. Mannie and the Angels was created by my boss Amin Moussalli, he wanted a show that had a theme, a show with a boss and his secret agents, just like the series, ‘Charlie’s Angels’ in the 70’s/80’s and it worked! So Mannie is the boss, the angels are the agents carrying out duties. The show got its first major award in 2014.

A quick recap of your success story, how it all started?

Several years ago, I was through with school and stayed in Abuja with my sister. I decided not to go for the mandatory NYSC programme. My sister would have none of that and advised me against such rashness. I insisted I would not serve, but rather go to Lagos; perhaps I would find something worthwhile to do there. Eventually, she gave in to my vague plan and offered me N3000; all she could spare. That was how I started on a seemingly hopeless journey propelled by my dreams, hopes and aspirations. I had no idea of what lay ahead. All I had was N3000 and a few personal effects which included a mini-keyboard. I made my journey and when I got to Lagos, a friend kindly offered to accommodate me for a few weeks. So there I was at a friend’s place, jobless and indoors when others had gone to work. I was always on my keyboard, creating and playing tunes for my pleasure and entertainment. I had produced and stored some tunes on my keyboard while in Abuja just for the fun of it.

On a fateful day, the landlord of the house where I lived came to our apartment. Incidentally the man was a big shot in the advertising field. Every day he heard melodious tunes coming from our apartment and he came to see the face behind those tunes.

He asked me what I wanted to do with the tunes. I told him that they were jingles for commercials. And that is where the story of my life changed.

The landlord got me my first break in which one of my tunes was used as an advert jingle. From then on, it was jingle after jingle for some of the top brands in the country.

MTN was one of such brands.

Then I rented my own apartment and began to pay my bills just from maki n g jingles. I trained half of my family from making jingles.

You have gotten lots of accolades and awards as a seasoned broadcaster, Voice Over-Artist and Jingle Producer. How has that shaped your life?

Honestly, I wasn’t known in public for that; it was just for the media agency I worked for but that was how I got my job at Cool FM, as a producer. I produced a large number of jingles and adverts to survive, pay rent and feed my family members. But my knowledge of production helped give my radio show a style that is unrivalled.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

My fans don’t care that I’m married –Mannie You are currently the host of Africa’s Premier food show, ‘Knorr Taste Quest on Africa Magic on DSTV. How have you been able to present the show without a projector and still doing a marvellous job?

I am so lucky to be the host of ‘Knorr Taste Quest’ for two seasons. I guess I was just born to do things. The Knorr team is amazing, full of talent and tenacity; there isn’t a food show like that on the continent. A lot of people who watch think I’m reading from a teleprompter but I’m not! I have to memorise a five page script every week and put my own persona into it. I guess the organisers wanted a woman this time, so it’s fine.

You have been married to your pretty wife, Grace, for a while now and have two lovely kids. As a ladies’ man, how have you been able to handle your female fans?

It’s never easy till date.

I am constantly under pressure. Nigerian girls are fine; they don’t want to know if you are married or not. If they want you, you need Jesus to escape. My wife has been solid throughout.

My kids are diamonds, so I try to be the best I can and not ruin it all.

You seem to be more into your wife, tell us more about her?

God gave her to me. I met her when I had nothing and she knew I had nothing. She knew I had girlfriends; she wanted to know if I would change. She honestly put my life together.

Tell us how growing up was like?

I’m from Akwa Ibom State but I grew up in Bauchi state; I was born in Jos. I grew up with everything a child would want. Sometime in my teen life, things got really hard as my parents were no longer rich. That caused me to go into all kinds of creative stuff to cater for my needs. Even gaining acceptance was hard because I went to a Federal Government College, so I was a minority. My mum called me Emmanie, so I took out the first two letters and got MANNIE. You won Favourite On Air Personality for Hollywood Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award in USA, for Best Nigerian On Air Personality. How did you feel receiving that award?

I was on the moon; such an award doesn’t come easy or every day. I won by 47 percent of the votes! I guess people just wanted me to win. I love children and I do have a kiddie’s radio show that has run for over seven years. I received the award in Hollywood, at the prestigious Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2015 and I must say it was an experience of a life time. Meeting celebrities from around the world, nothing beats that.

You authored a book, what is it all about?

It’s an autobiography about my life.

So I let out lots of secrets. It’s the first ‘listen and read combo’, meaning you can actually listen to the audio content while reading the book. It was published by Author House, USA; the 10th biggest publishing house in the world.

You are also an actor. You acted in ‘Jesus Christ the Superstar’; please give us more details about this aspect of your life.

I love art and theatre, I love vocally challenging art. I was cast out of dozens for the role of Judas. It was weeks of painful rehearsals and trials. But it was worth it.

What was the most challenging moment in your life that made you cry?

Losing out on the competition in the first ever Project Fame 2004 in South Africa. I was the 17th person to be eliminated from the house.

What is your advice to upcoming talents from your own experience?

I guess artistes need to keep it real.

Don’t copy to be relevant, be yourself.

Be humble, it’s not for man, it’s for God. Write music all the time. Learn to play one instrument; it may pay the bills. Pray.

Never neglect the power of the media. Read anytime you can. Take a risk, that’s what the greats where known for.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

Interview

News Nigeria targets 22% jump in oil output p.46

New maritime security architecture got Buhari’s approval– Amaechi

Auto beat NDA honours Innoson Chairman p.47

p.45

Business

Paul Ogbuokiri Head, Business

paulogbuokiri@newtelegraph

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Nigeria remains Africa’s biggest economy – MF

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L-R: Provost, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Prof. Nwankwo; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Innoson Group, Dr Innocent Chukwuma and Commandant, NDA, Maj-Gen. M.T. Ibrahim,during the presentation of the NDA’s Doctor of Science honorary degree to Dr. Chukwuma by the Vice Presient, at the 37th convocation ceremony for the cadets of the 63 Regular Course, NDA, Kaduna…recently

Cashless banking: UBA depositors using digital channels hit 70%

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Kunle Azeez

ver 70 per cent of deposits received

by UBA Plc and over 80 per cent total outflow transactions by the bank are implemented through digital channels.

Divisional Head of Consumer and Digital Banking of the bank, Dr. Yinka Adedeji, disclosed this on the sideline of a media interaction in Lagos over the weekend, where the Bank also unveiled its EmailMoni, a new service that allows customers to send and receive money using their email as identity.

According to Adedeyi, who with other top official of the Bank, briefed the media on the activities of the Bank towards advancing the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Bank has been at the fore front of deploying cuttingedge technology to transform banking experiences.

“Currently, 70 per cent of money coming into the Bank is through digital channels such as Point of Sales (PoS), Nigerian Interbank Settlements System Instant Payment (NIP), Automated Teller Machine (ATMs), mobile banking and Internet banking in terms of inflow of deposits. We also do over 80 per cent outflow in terms of total transactions.

“Today, there are over 10 million bank accounts so far opened for governments, businesses and individuals across

•As Bank unveils EmailMoni

Africa with eight million of these in Nigeria. We currently do over N100 billion a month on our 1,800 ATMs in Nigeria alone. There are over seven million ATM cards of different brands that we have issued to our customers,” he said.

He said that UBA, which is currently providing touchscreen ATMs for is customers, will deploy innovative technology that makes it possible for customers to do card-less transactions on ATM. “Very soon, we are going to enable our customers to use the ATM to do transactions without their cards,” he said.

Also, Adedeji said through Internet banking and mobile banking e-channels, “we are doing over N50 billion transactions,” stressing that UBA also records between N5 billion and N6 billion transactions weekly.

Speaking on the launch of the email-based banking platform, EMailMoni, Adedei said this is made possible through a partnership between the Bank and MyECheck to provide the revolutionary new social commerce payment system.

According to Adedeji, “We are proud to open a new frontier for e-payments in Africa with EmailMoni. This conforms with our desire to continuously deliver innovative and convenient payment options to our customers.

“Our innovations in the digi-

tal banking space have been possible because of our huge investments in building efficient, trustworthy platforms.

“We assure our customers that we are committed to continually bring the best in the financial technology space to ensure they always have the best and most convenient banking experience with all our service channels.”

According to him, EmailMoni is the world’s newest game changing technology and will dramatically advance the payments landscape in Nigeria and across Africa.

“EmailMoni is a next generation payments technology that enables people and businesses to securely send and receive money electronically in real-time and at low cost using a downloadable mobile smartphone app or from a web app. The EmailMoni web app can be accessed from any mobile device, any browser or any type of internet connected computer.

“EmailMoni allows people and businesses to pay and receive electronic payments securely in a number of easily accessible and convenient ways. Users can send and request money instantly using Microsoft Outlook email, or any web mail. Money can also be securely requested and sent using Facebook, SMS text and other methods,” he said.

He said that available on iOS on the Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play, the EmailMoni mobile app for smartphones will over time, interact with a card-less ATM network using Quick Response (“QR”) Code enabling cash to be deposited and withdrawn from the system at thousands of ATM locations in Nigeria and across Africa.

“EmailMoni will enable faster more efficient payments for UBA customers who are billers, such as cable and utility companies. Customers can also send and receive secure payments instantly and conveniently, while non-bank customers will be able easily access UBA banking and payment services,” he said.

Meanwhile, UBA believes that the future of banking is e-payment.

According to Adedeji, “Adoption is going to growth as there is increase in mobile devices’ adoption and growth and as people continue to appreciate the convenience and flexibility inherent in e-payment.

“In preparing for the current and future growth, we have been making necessary investment in Information technology (IT) and deployment of relevant security infrastructure, which is a state-of-the-art and a benchmark for the industry today,” he said.

gainst media reports, recent estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has shown that Nigeria remains the biggest economy in Africa, followed by South Africa and Egypt.

The estimate in a World Economic Outlook for October 2016 which put Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at $415.080 billion, from $493.831 billion at the end of 2015 also put that of Africa at $280.367 billion, from $314.732 billion a year earlier and that of Egypt remained at $330.159 as at 2015.

Recall that in August 2016, Nigeria was reported to have lost its spot as Africa’s biggest economy to South Africa, following the recalculation of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). “A recalculation using current exchange rates put South Africa on top because the rand has strengthened against the dollar,” BBC had said in August.

“Based on gross domestic product at the end of 2015 published by the IMF, the size of South Africa’s economy is $301 billion at the rand’s current exchange rate, while Nigeria’s GDP is $296 billion,” Bloomberg had also said. The estimates indicated that while the United States, China and Japan maintained remained the largest economies in the world, with a GDP of $18.561 trillion, $11.391 trillion and $4.73 trillion respectively, that of Algeria, one of the largest economies on the African continent was put at $168.318 billion.

Guinness Nigeria appoints Egerton-Shyngle as new Commercial Director

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uinness Nigeria, manufacturers of alcoholic and non- alcoholic beverages such XXXGuinness as Foreign Extra Stout and Orijin have an- Emmanuel Egerton-Shyngle nounced the appointment of Emmanuel Egerton-Shyngle into the position of Commercial Director.

Effective November 1, 2016, Egerton-Shyngle will take over from Paul Costigan who will be moving into other roles within Diageo.

Peter Ndegwa, Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria Plc said: “I am really excited to have Emmanuel in this new role as he builds upon the work that Paul has started and continues the execution of our aligned commercial strategy over the coming period.

I want to really thank Paul for his immense contribution to developing our sales organisation over the past two years.”

Mr. Egerton-Shyngle joined Guinness Nigeria one year ago and during his time, he has played a key role in supporting and shaping the sales organisation’s focus on retail execution and increasing sales performance standards right across the board.

Prior to joining Guinness Nigeria Plc, Egerton-Shyngle was the Sales Director at Cadbury Nigeria, General Manager at Fidson Products Plc., worked overseas as a branch manager in retail banking, and had built a career of over 23 years at Consolidated Breweries and Nigerian Breweries Plc.

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Business

False declaration: Customs impound 4 containers laden with cigarettes

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L-R: Acting Communications Manager, StanbicIBTC Bank Plc, Mr. Melvin Awolowo; Chairman Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN),Mr. Goddie Ofose; Vice President, Ms. Clara Okoro; Marketing Manager, Personal/Business Banking,, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Mr. Bennet Frimpong and former Vice President, BJAN, Mr. Princewill Ekwujuru, at a press conference to announce the Association’s forthcoming Annual Brand/Marketing Conference on “Mobile Money in Nigeria” in Lagos…on Wednesday PHOTO: GODWIN IREKHE

Nigeria targets 22% jump in oil output Paul Ogbuokiri

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ranes are seen during a facility tour at the proposed Dangote oil refinery site near Akodo beach in the outskirt of Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye/Files Cranes are seen during a facility tour at the proposed Dangote oil refinery site near Akodo beach in the outskirt of Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye/Files OPEC member Nigeria expects its oil production rate to jump by 22 percent by the year-end to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from current levels, its oil minister Eunice Stephen

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he Bank of Industry (Bol) in partnership with Benue State government have launched a N2 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development fund.

Under the partnership, BoI will contribute N1billon which will in-turn be matched in equal sum by the Benue state government for on lending to mainly businesses that have high employment generating potential and value addition to local raw materials.

The signing of the agreement which took place at the capital city of Benue State, Makurdi, brought the volume of MSME Funds being managed on behalf of 24 state governments to N18.3 billion.

Four out of the 21 states that had enrolled in the scheme, joined in the last

said on Monday, adding he hoped a force majeure on all its oil fields would be lifted

by December or January.

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, on a visit to New Delhi, also said Nigeria was likely to sign a cash-raising oil deal with India for $15 billion by the end of this year. India’s oil ministry said that Nigeria, whose economy has been hit hard by low oil prices and militancy, had requested an upfront payment.

“Nigeria has a bit of a cash flow problem right now.

Our reserves are not as strong as we want them,” Kachikwu told reporters on Monday. “The impact of that is the value of the naira (currency) is coming down. So what we are trying is to le-

verage on the assets we have to receive immediate cash.”

He said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has agreed to cut world output to rescue prices, has however allowed a production window of 1.8 million bpd to 2.2 million bpd for recession-hit Nigeria.

Apart from the impact of low oil prices, whose sales account for 70 percent of the Nigerian government’s revenue, the country’s energy facilities have been crippled by attacks by militants calling for a greater share of the country’s oil wealth. [nL5N1CD3TQ] Relentless attacks have taken out pipelines in Nigeria, normally Africa’s largest oil exporter, and Qua Iboe, Ni-

geria’s largest export stream, and Forcados remain under force majeure.

Kachikwu, who said oil prices would rise from current levels by December, met Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan to discuss expanding energy ties between the two countries.

In the last fiscal year ended March 31 Nigeria accounted for nearly 12 percent of all crude oil imports by India, one of the fastest growing economies and energy markets in the world.

“We agreed on significant potential for diversifying (India’s) engagement in to E&P (exploration and production), refinery building & marketing in Nigeria,” Pradhan said in a tweet.

Benue partners Bol on N2bn MSMEs financing eight months Mr. Waheed Olagunju took over the headship of the bank in acting capacity.

Speaking during the occasion, Olagunju said that the fund would help entrepreneurs in the state add values to their agricultural produce and also boost employment generation potential of the state.

He enjoined the state entrepreneurs to invest in the agricultural value chain which the state has comparative advantage.

The BoI boss also urged the governor to create industrial parks where beneficiaries of the loans would be able to leverage on infrastructure facilities to reduce operation cost.

On the significance of the parks, Olagunju added,”

I suggest the governor establish industrial parks, at least, one in each senatorial district where amenities will be provided and where other infrastructure will be provided. They will share the facilities.

“Where that happens, it will reduce their start-up cost and operating expenses. It will increase their viability prospect. They will share knowledge, experience and there be synergy.

Apart from that, operating in industrial parks also makes credit administration easier because financial institutions would readily be able to locate them.

He advised the governor to adopt the Kaduna State model, where only the people who had gone

through capacity development programme and in the process, came up with viable business proposal, were eligible to get loans under the scheme.

He also noted that while 21 states had been enlisted in the scheme, discussions with the remaining 15 states had reached advanced stage.

Speaking, Benue State governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom commended the current leadership of BoI, and in particular, the acting MD Waheed Olagunju, whom he described as a go-getter.

He urged President Mohammadu Buhari to appoint him substantive MD, stressing that having worked in the bank for over two decades, he was eminently qualified to lead it.

he Apapa Command of Nigeria Customs Service has confiscated 4 containers of imported Cigarettes from China for false declaration and non compliance with extant trade rules. The Cigarettes were declared as millet ostensibly to evade payment of accurate duty and would have entered the country endangering the lives of unsuspecting consumers. The tariff on Millet is 5 per cent while that of Cigarettes is 75 per cent.

Contained in 2x 40 and 2x20 containers, the Cigarettes were also discovered not to have dates of manufacture and expiry.

Displaying the seizures before newsmen, the Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Willy Egbudin, said the command is determined to implement the laws as contained in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).

The product was also discovered to be without the required Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) certification.

Egbudin explained that the importer and his agent manipulated the Bill of Lading to beat customs process. According to him, while the manifest reads Millet; the declaration was Cigarette. With this discrepancy Mr. Egbudin said he suspected the consignment and asked that an alert to be placed on it.

On sensing danger, the agent went to the shipping company; Comets Shipping, to manipulate the document with the name of a new consignee, new product but with same Pre -Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR).

The new manifest changed the consignee’s name from Oriental International Transport Ltd to Pullover Nigeria Limited and from Cigarette to Millet as the product.

Cigarette attracts 10 per cent Duty on Cigarette; 60 per cent levy and 5 per cent VAT; while millet attracts 5 per cent duty.

According to the customs; apart from the danger the unregistered product could have caused to consumers; the government could have also lost N196;030,800 if this product had entered the Nigerian market.

L-R: Controller, Commercial Finance Marketing, BAT Nigeria, Abisola Adefarati; Area Head SP&I Marketing, BAT Nigeria, Maureen Ekeji; Executive Director, BATN Foundation, Oluwaseyi Ashade; Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Shakirudeen Onasanya; Area Head, Regulatory Affairs, BAT Nigeria, Odiri ErewaMeggison, and General Manager, BATNF, Abimbola Okoya, at the ‘Walk Against Hunger’ ceremony in Lagos…recently

Nigeria in talks with ICD on sukuk deal

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he Federal Government is in talks with the investment arm of Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank about issuing the country’s first sukuk in a bid to diversify government’s sources of funding.

“We are engaged in discussions with Nigeria,” Khaled al-Aboodi, chief executive officer of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, said this week in an interview with Bloomberg. “Once they feel this is a good option to go, we’ll be very happy to accompany them on this process.”

The government is trying to diversify its funding sources to support the economy which has been battered by the collapse in oil prices since mid-2014.

Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo said in January that selling sukuk would help in attracting capital from Gulf states and Islamic markets. Nigeria is planning to issue a $1 billion Eurobond this year, which would be its first such deal since 2013. Osun State in southwestern Nigeria has sold the only sukuk from the country. In 2013, it raised 10 billion naira ($32 million) that is due in 2020 and pays the equivalent of 14.75 per cent interest.

“There has been issuance in the past by one of the states in Nigeria but now there’s discussions at the level of Federal Government,” Al-Aboodi said. The timing of any potential transaction was up to the Nigerian government, he said.

Nigeria is planning to borrow more abroad than locally to fund next year’s budget in a bid to benefit from lower debt costs and reduce pressure on its interest bill, Budget and National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma said on Oct. 12. The country plans to raise as much as $4.5 billion in international markets through 2018, the DMO said.

45

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

BUSINESS INTERVIEW

New maritime security architecture got Buhari’s approval – Amaechi The Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, in a recent interaction with select group of journalists in his Abuja office expressed displeasure over cases of maritime criminality and piracy which have inhibited the growth of the maritime industry in the country. He also disclosed that the new maritime architecture set up to address the issues has President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval. Paul Ogbuokiri was there and brings the report Piracy at the Nigerian waters, do you think these things would impact overall maritime security in Nigeria and the economy?

All I know is that the president has approved a new security framework for the maritime sector and I will not be able to say much on it until we meet because for me it is when the chairman and co-chairman announce what structure they are. I don’t think we should go beyond that because if we go beyond that we are revealing the architecture of the national security.

Nigeria’s economy has rapidly declined, causing serous worry to all, are you not considering a way the national’s maritime potentials could be harnessed to get the country out of the woods?

I am not a magician and the solution is not even in importing, because it is not as if they are banned our vessels from traveling out and coming in with good into the country.

The actual fact is that Nigeria’s economy is import dependent, and so if there is downward trend in dollar purchases then, the chances of importation will also be lower and the implication therefore will be that the business both the larger and smaller ones will also not be rising it will rather be going down. So when you ask if I have any particular timeframe when the economy will start to boom again, I will say that I am not a magician to know but I am confident that the economy will soon be out of the woods, the Federal Government is working towards the growth of the economy, the Federal Government has said that they are looking for money to pump into the economy so that people will have money to buy and sell. When there is more money in the economy, then business activities will increase. They are doing everything they can to put money in the system. I will not be able to mention other parts of the country because I am not there, but in Abuja here as I was coming; I was surprised to see that work has resumed on the road that was abandoned for a long time, near NTA, the man who owned the company was driving the Caterpillar, someone else was driving the tipper, most people would be employed, that is part of the way in which we can grow the economy. Julius Berger is working on the airport road, even if you are flying, you will still take that road to enter Abuja that is what the Buhari government is doing to reflate the economy.

I was watching AIT yesterday (Wednesday), and governor of Cross Rivers State

was on set speaking on the dredging of Calabar port, for me as a person, I see the project as drain pipe in the purse of government. Several times the port had been dredged and the fund the Federal Government has sunk into the project has not yielded any dividend. So how long will we continue to spend money on the dredging of that project that is not viable?

I don’t know if it is viable or not, let our professionals make that decision because that is why they are employed.

What I will advise, because I am aware that the state government is partnering with the private sector to develop what they called Bakassi deepsea port, that is a good alternative to Calabar port and that will bring development to the area. Let’s encourage the state government to develop the place and we should find solution to the dredging of the port, and government will decide what it wants to do with the place but I will advise along that line under my ministry.

Your Ministry has show a lot of interest in bringing the national carrier back to life since you assumed office, what is the situation of things now?

I will tell you what is not gossip and what I think is gossiping. It is not a gossip that we attended a meeting with investors in Singapore and, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them. The foreign investors are ready. The problem is Nigerian investors. In that case, if you talk of Nigerian investors, we are talking about those who will bring in the money, I mean their own funds. Foreign investors have big vessels and the money, while Nigeria investors are yet to bring out

Amaechi their money. We need to buy vessels that can go to other countries for international and coastal trading.

So we are waiting for the Nigerian investors and what is gossip is that the local investors went to banks and banks did not give them money. I asked them to write, when they put it in writing, then I can tell the country that ZYX bank did not give the investors money and if I will advice, should be debit equity funding, to fund 100 per cent debit will not be good for the Nigeria investors.

The security of the Nigerian waterways,

I will not be able we know that towards the end of the last administration, criminality, oil theft, to mention other parts of maritime piracy and other crimes rose the country because I am not there, sharply in the Nigerian maritime domain. What is the situation now? but in Abuja here as I was coming; I was I have said it before that President surprised to see that work has resumed on Muhammadu Buhari has approved a new security architecture for that the road that was abandoned for a long time, nation’s maritime sector, and we near NTA, the man who owned the company are to meet next week. I will not go beyond that because if you tell was driving the Caterpillar, someone else a thief that you are coming to arrest was driving the tipper, most people would him, you don’t expect him to remain there till you arrive. be employed, that is part of the way in which we can grow the On rail transportation, there were controversies over a statement credited to economy

President Buhari that General Electric (GE) of United States of America is coming to invest $2 billion in the Nigerian rail transport system, in a 25-year concession arrangement; but the US firm in a statement said it was investing just $150 million. What is the true situation of things?

It is either you don’t read anything outside the maritime stories or you are being mischievous because GE has come out with a statement, explicitly saying that there were misunderstood when they said that they are going to invest a hundred and fifty million dollars, then, they came forward to say that the hundred and fifty million dollars is their current investment in the Nigerian Railways. Going forward, they said that they are in negotiation with a consortium and that the consortium will invest $2 billion. I said $2 billion, but they said that the consortium will invest more than $2 billion.

The ports access roads like the Tin Can road is in a deplorable situation, what is your Ministry doing to make sure that the road to the seaports in Lagos are motorable?

The Federal Ministry of Work is doing the roads, although NPA wanted to do them but some how the Ministry of Works wants to do them.

46

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Business News

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Eunice Stephens inister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi has said that the Federal Government has advanced talks with the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to create a $500 million exploration fund and corporate mining bonds to attract investment in the mining sector.

Kayode Fayemi also told Reuters that Nigeria had made a “promising” nickel discovery and was looking for investors for the moribund Ajakwuta Steel Complex, part of efforts to reduce reliance on oil exports.

“We are looking at a $500 million fund from their side which would primarily focus on exploration,” Fayemi, said in an interview, referring to the SWF.

FG mulls $500m mining fund and corporate bonds The ministry was also discussing with the stock market selling “corporate mining bonds” in partnership with mining and other investors. He gave no details or timeframe for either project.

Nigeria has been trying to attract foreign mining firms.

Currently, the only significant foreign investor in the sector, where 80 per cent of mining is carried out on an artisanal basis, is Australia’s Kogi Iron.

Nigeria has largely untapped deposits of 44 minerals, which include gold, iron ore, coal, tin and zinc, in more than 500 locations spread across the country.

Imported substandard trucks contribute to road accidents – FRSC

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ome trucks causing accidents on Nigerian roads may have failed standard tests in some other countries before they were imported into Nigeria.

Lagos Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Hyginus Umeje said this recently in an interview with journalists in Lagos.

Umeje accused some businessmen of deliberately importing trucks that are not very good condition just for the purpose maximizing profit. ”Some trucks you see coming into Nigeria are those trucks that are no longer used in their countries of origin. They are trucks that have failed the standard test in the country where they are coming from, so I am not also ruling it out. They will go to foreign countries and buy it with the view that when they get here, they will repair them, believing that it is cheaper for them”.

He added that the FRSC is partnering with other government agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to ensure safety of cargoes and persons. ”The issue of anything entering this country in the name of imported vehicle has been a problem.

But we are partnering with the Nigerian Customs Service and Standard Organisation of Nigeria. You will observe that on the issue of Tokumbo tyres, we are ensuring with the partnership that they are not allowed in because they cause a lot of accidents on our roads. ”You know that we are

not directly in control of that area, but all we can do is to be at the look out for any vehicle coming in that is not supposed to be on our roads. Like I told you, we collaborate with other stakeholders and other sister agencies. Another thing we can do is to continue to sensitise our transporters and even the importers and still be on the look out to ensure they don’t bring in vehicles that are not fit to come into our country. I remember that there was a time Customs made a law that vehicles above ten years will not enter into the country.”

He said to that effect, the FRSC has strengthened our operation, particularly its presence at places like Lagos-Ibadan Express Road, There is increase in the number of the agency’s patrol vehicles.

According to him, the corps purchased additional patrol vehicles for us this year. The Lagos State Sector Command got about 15 vehicles. Some vehicles were deployed to Lagos – Ibadan Express Road to increase the Corps presence in that axis, while the rest were distributed to other component commands.

The minister said he wants to increase mining’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to 10 per cent, from just 0.3 per cent now, within a decade.

He said a geologically “strange” discovery of nickel in the northern state of Kaduna seemed promising.

The discovery of some 40 million tonnes of nickel with a depth of five meters over a 13 kilometer area, around the town of Dangoma, was announced in August by an Australian team registered as Comet Nigeria Limited.

“It could also be that what they are telling us is an under-estimation of what it

igeria’s overnight interbank rate crashed on Wednesday to around 20 per cent from 150 per cent after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold less hard currency than expected at a special auction, traders said.

“The central bank has

of gold leaving the country on a daily basis,” he said.

“None of this gets accredited as gold from Nigeria,” added Fayemi. The most recent official estimate of proven gold reserves is 300,000 ounces and dates from 2013 but Officials say it is likely to be more since no new research has been done for 30 years.

Nigeria also hopes to revive the moribund steel plant in Ajaokwuta. In August, a deal was reached with Global Steel Holdings, an Indian firm, giving the government renewed control after four years of mediation and eight years of inactivity.

Fayemi said Pricewater-

houseCoopers’ was conducting an audit which began on Aug. 1 and would last 150 days, followed by a public bid process.

The minister said companies from China, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus had expressed an interest in operating the plant.

“By the time we put it out on offer to everyone we will get the best bidder who can really do what we want done with the steel plant,” he said.

Fayemi said the priority was to “produce steel locally rather than from scrap metal”. He estimated that steel production could begin as soon as March 2019.

L-R: Head of Retention, MultiChoice Nigeria, Kemi Omotosho; Brand Manager, Tope Oshunkeye; General Manager, Marketing and Sales, Martin Mabutho, and Public Relations Manager, Caroline Oghuma, at the press conference to announce DSTV’s ‘Business Unusual’ packages in Lagos PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Tax debt: FIRS shuts Lafarge Cement, others I n a renewed crackdown on companies with tax liabilities, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has closed the premises of defaulting companies in Lagos, Ibadan and Port Harcourt.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the FIRS enforcement team, led by Ruth

Interbank rate falls to 20% after forex auction

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ought to be by the time we do core drilling,” he said.

Fayemi also said there was a need to get a grip on Nigeria’s informal gold rush which he said is dominated by smugglers.

“Clearly a lot is being taken out illegally,” he said, adding that gold was being smuggled to neighboring Cameroon and Niger, as well as Togo and is registered in those countries.

Fayemi said his ministry did not have figures for gold production but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had provided figures that his department was trying to validate.

“They have given figures in the region of about 100kg

released the result of the auction, but the amount sold fell short of market expectations,” one dealer said, without giving details.

The interbank rate fell after the auction as banks had now more surplus liquidity from funds not used to buy hard currency, dealers said.

Madeun, shut down two companies having a combined tax debt of N1.077 billion. The companies are Lafarge Cement Limited and IGPES, both of which are said to be owing taxes dating back to four years.

Lafarge is owing N10 million, while IGPES owes N1.3 billion in Education Tax, Withholding Tax, Company Income Tax, Value Added Tax and late return penalty.

Madeun told Premium Times that while IGPES stopped tax remittance between 2011 and 2015, Lafarge stopped in 2012. She warned that the FIRS will prosecute anybody who unseals the company premises if the tax liabilities are not settled.

“Breaking of our seals is a criminal offence and anybody involved in such an

act will be prosecuted,” she warned.

In Lagos, the FIRS enforcement team, led by Chinazor Edeh, shut down the premises of Dori Construction and Engineering Nigeria Limited at 901, Balarabe Musa Crescent, Victoria Island, over tax liabilities of N253 million.

Two company officials said they were not aware that the company had such a huge tax debt.

Earlier, the team had sealed off the office of Global Energy Nigeria Limited, located at 182b, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island. The company has tax liabilities totalling N13 million, accumulated between 2010 and 2013.

The company’s managing director blamed the firm’s failure to pay on the current inclement economic

conditions.

But Mr. Edeh told him that the company provided a payment plan, agreed to by the FIRS, which it has failed to implement and ordered its premises shut.

The team then moved to Bono Energy at 19, Amodu Tijani Close, Victoria Island, where a male company official pleaded for time to pay a tax debt of N13 million. But the plea was rejected and the company shut.

The FIRS team in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, shut down the premises of the Lebanese-owned Karmadex Nigeria Limited, a livestock company. Efforts by the management staff to ask for more time to enable it pay the N12.3 million its owes were futile, as the company was shut down.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

NDA honours Innoson Chairman

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Paul Ogbuokiri he exceptional low-to-high flight path of Dr. Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma in business and manufacturing has always been lauded in various terms by different people. But, recently at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Afaka, Kaduna, an interesting addition was made to the accolades as he stepped out to be honoured with a Doctor of Science honorary degree.

The high premium NDA placed on the honorary degrees were underscored when the Commandant, Maj-Gen. M.T. Ibrahim, announced that the three recipients’ names were entering a list of only 21 distinguished beneficiaries of the doctoral honour (including two foreign heads of state) who had been similarly bestowed in the past eight years.

Maj-Gen. Ibrahim disclosed that in order to preserve the integrity of the honorary doctorate degree, NDA went in search of Nigerians who had excelled in their endeavours, and when Dr. Chkwuma’s name came up, he became the obvious choice.

A few months ago, Dr. Chukwuma, an Officer of the Federal Republic {OFR}, elongated the string of his achievements in the industrial sector when his Innoson Group and the Nigerian Armed Forces signed an unprecedented Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by which one of its subsidiaries now produces replacement parts for Alpha jets in the fleet of the Air Force.

It, therefore, did not come as a surprise when Maj-Gen. M.T. Ibrahim informed the guests that filled the Prof Mahmood Yakubu Multi-purpose Hall that in deciding to bestow the doctoral honour on Chukwuma, the NDA council had taken special note of Innoson’s satisfactory performance regarding the production of the replacement parts for Nigerian Air Force jets.

Guests were informed that the academy conferred the degree on Chief Chukwuma also in recognition of his venture into establishing the first indigenous auto plant in Nigeria, Innoson Vehicle manufacturing Company Limited {IVM}, in Nnewi, at a time the first generation auto plants were either dead or dying. Together with other members of the Innoson Group, like the Plastics plant in Emene, Enugu, IVM provides employment for no fewer than 7, 000 Nigerians.

Chukwuma earned local and global recognition with the production of passenger cars and commercial vehicles (midi, mini and mass transit buses, light trucks and refuse collectors) in Nnewi. But the foretaste of today’s feats were given very early when from an apprentice trader in 1981, he grew his spare parts business to the level where it was viable to advance to the importation of new motorcycles in an unprecedented manner – by dismantling them and packing the components in long containers and reassembling them at his Nnewi base, thereby reducing costs considerably.

This way, he started some kind of modernday industrial revolution in local motorcycle production by crashing the prices of new motorcycles, and consequently driving imported second-hand {Tokunbo} competition out of the market. The ultimate result was a viable Innoson Nigeria Limited motorcycle plant which rubbed shoulders with pioneers like Leventis and Boulos Enterprises. It was the success recorded by the motorcycle business that paved the way for the auto manufacturing plant.

The citation read just before the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, decorated Dr Chukwuma, with assistance from the NDA Commandant, his deputy, Air Vice Marshal

C. E. Okoye, and Prof. Nwankwo, summarised the honoree’s success story. It also read in part: “Presently, Innoson has made inroad into some African countries, such as Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Chad, Niger, and Togo where the presence of his Group of Companies is felt. Dr. Chukwuma is also into the hospitality industry with ownership of Beverly Hills Hotel and Resort, located in Abuja.”

Founded after independence in 1964 to provide the defence needs of the country, particularly to train cadets for commission as officers of the Nigerian Armed

Forces, NDA attained a university status in 1985 with mandate to award its own degrees. The curricula of studies were later reviewed to take care of modern military imperatives such as modern warfare and challenges of leadership/management in a contemporary world.

Nearly 400 graduands, including 133 cadets of the 63 Regular Course, as well as postgraduate students, participated in the convocation which was preceded by Prize-Giving and Beating of the Retreat Ceremony the previous day, with Chukwuma as one of the special guests.

Uber partners FirstBank to offer loans to drivers

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ber Technologies Inc. is partnering with FBN Holdings Plc’s First Bank Nigeria to provide loans to drivers.

“A lot of drivers on the platform have to find somebody who can afford to buy’’ the vehicle for them and the economic situation makes it difficult, Ebi Atawodi, general manager for Uber’s Nigeria unit, said in an interview with Bloomberg in Lagos.

“Usually they are working for a partner who has bought the vehicle.’’

First Bank will extend a N2.5 million to each qualified driver for the purchase of a second-hand car at an interest rate of 20 per cent and repayable after two years, she said. To qualify for the loan, the driver “will need to be able to demonstrate an average driver-performance rating of higher than 4.5 and have earned more than N2.4 million’’ in the past six months, Atawodi said.

The Nigerian economy is struggling to cope with a halving in the price of crude

oil since 2014, which eroded government revenue and impaired the ability of authorities at federal and state levels to pay salaries and stimulate growth. The economy is set to shrink 1.7 per cent in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund, which would be the first full-year recession in a quarter of a century.

First Bank will use part of its N10 billion auto-credit facility to fund the Uber programme, Deputy Managing Director of First Bank, Gbenga Shobo, said in the same interview. The bank is targeting 90 drivers at the pilot stage, he said.

Uber, which connects drivers with passengers via its smartphone application in more than 300 cities across the world, is operating in Abuja, and Lagos since it entered Nigerian market in 2014.

It currently has more than 2,000 drivers and is targeting 4,000 by the end of this year, according to Atawodi. The company has offered over a million trips in the country, she said.

Auto beat

Web voting opens for NAJA awards

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s the date for the 2016 Nigeria Auto Journalists Awards (NAJA) draws nearer, the organisers of the event have called on the public to vote for their favourite nominees on the website of the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association.

According to a statement released by the organisers, members of the public can log on to www.naja.com.ng and cast their vote as the votes cast will constitute 50% of the total votes to arrive at the winners. The other 50% will be done by the different auto journalists cutting across print, broadcast and on-line.

The event which is slated for Thursday, November 24, 2016, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, has nominations in different categories in products/services, personalities and prominent industry personalities.

Other highpoint of this year’s award will be in the Car-Of-The-Year (COTY) category where Toyota Corolla, Peugeot 301 and Nissan Almera were selected. Other categories of awards are Luxury Car Of The Year, Road Safety Personality of The Year, Heavy Duty Truck of The Year, Auto Plant Of The Year, Auto Personality Of The Year and CSR Company Of The Year.

Other categories include Mini Bus Of The Year, Pick-up Of The Year, Most Safety Conscious Transport Company Of The Year, Traffic Management Agency Of The Year, Showroom Of The Year, Large SUV Of The Year, Armouring Auto Company Of The Year and Auto Industry Promoter Of The Year amongst others. Meanwhile, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi and the Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Engr. Aminu Jalal, as well as the President of the Coscharis group, Dr. Cosmas Mduka, are due to be conferred with special recognitions during the award night. It would be recalled that last year, the event which held at the same venue, was witnessed by Engr. Jalal and other top industry personalities, after which the Kia Rio was crowned Car of the Year.

Ford focus

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odelling clay is a favourite of many children, who can craft, re-craft and recycle the pliable stuff over many years. While a bit more advanced, Ford has employed a similar idea with the clay it uses to model future vehicles: craft, re-craft and then recycle, the latter to the tune of around 2,250 kilogrammes of clay each year.

Even as Ford embraces digital design and new technology, nothing beats building a full-size clay model of a vehicle. These clay models remain an important part of Ford’s creative design process, helping designers spot issues in both the interior and exterior of a vehicle.

“We are constantly being influenced by new technologies, but when we want to view physical properties early in the process, we still turn to clay,” says Lloyd VandenBrink, modelling manager at

Ford recycles car modelling clay Ford’s Truck Studio in Dearborn, Michigan. “When a design is still fluid, clay allows immediate reviews and feedback so necessary for working in a collaborative atmosphere.” And building these models requires a lot of clay. Ford uses up to 90 tons of clay every year to construct fullsize vehicle models. None of this material would be reused in the past, but during the last five years the company has used a proprietary machine to recycle more than 9,000 kilogrammes of clay and keep it out of landfills – that’s the equivalent of a dozen full-size clay model exteriors.

Innovating with recyclables Most of the clay that Ford recycles comes

from the milling process, during which designers use a machine to help them shape the silhouette of a vehicle. Since even a grain of sand can affect the finish quality of a model, only clay chips that fall into bins surrounding the vehicle are recycled.

Once gathered, these clay chips are placed in the recycling machine – designed to process only Ford’s unique clay material and nothing else. The machine compresses and churns the clay with multiple blades, sucking all the air out of the material. The clay is then passed through a nozzle that’s heated just enough to churn it out with the proper consistency so that it can be reused.

48

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Business

NDLEA: Nigerite’s mysterious cargo is N2bn cocaine

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Paul Ogbuokiri he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has confirmed the mysterious substance concealed in a container belonging to roofing sheet company, Nigerite, recently intercepted at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos to be 214,732kg of cocaine worth N2 billion.

Spokesman of the anti narcotic agency, Mitchel Ofoyeju confirmed to an online new portal, The Journal on Wednesday that tests conducted by the agency confirmed the substance to be cocaine.

He said the NDLEA was still carrying out investigations into the matter and will soon come out with a detailed report on the seizure. He declined comments on questions bordering on number of suspects arrested and possibility of prosecution while asking our reporter to await the outcome of the report. Operatives of Nigeria Customs Service at Tin Can Port uncovered the substance in a container said to contain raw materials belonging to the multinational roofing sheet manufacturing company last week Customs Area Controller of TCIP Command, Yusuf Bashar told newsmen last week that “the container with number CMAU045195/0 22G1, was a 20ft container which cargo clearance was handled on behalf of Nigerite by Elevations Transaction Limited”.

Nigerite is among few companies that enjoy faster clearance in the port under a fast track scheme that excluded them for due examination to avoid delays in production.

Last Sunday, Sunday Telegraph reported that the Tincan Island (TCIP) Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), seized some 200 mysterious items hidden in eight bags concealed in a 20 feet container, bearing

Managing Director Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Mr. Umana Umana (middle) with INTELS officials during his tour of the INTELS facilities in Onne, Rivers State …on Friday

raw materials meant allegedly imported

by Nigerite for its factory at Oba Akran, Ikeja, Lagos.

Yusuf Bashir had then said that NCS resolved to send the items to the NDLEA to

conduct a test on it in its laboratory, saying the outcome of the test will equip the Service on how to deal with the item and how to react when next it is confronted with a similar situation in future.

Thomson Reuters launches FX order book in Nigeria

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homson Reuters has unveiled a new foreign exchange (FX) Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) in Nigeria, helping bolster access to liquidity in the country’s financial market – the move will also help provide the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with more latitude to help police and manage its domestic markets, according to a Thomson Reuters report.

The launch of Thomson Reuters’ CLOB in Nigeria helps drive one of the fastest growing markets on the African continent, which will also strengthen the country’s

financial solutions. In particular, the move will look to augment liquidity access in Nigeria’s FX market, which will also see Thomson Reuters working closely with the CBN and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, Nigeria’s paramount debt capital and FX securities exchange.

The collective goal of the launch and collaboration will be to create a cohesive and comprehensive framework for the Nigerian FX market – additionally, the CLOB will also look to improve immediate trade reporting for on-shore entities to both the CBN and FMDQ.

Charisma, character and success (2) Success Nuggets Victor Okwudiri 08037674300 (SMS only)

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ast week we read the story of John. This week’s piece focuses on the lessons of that story. Here

we go.

LESSON ONE: What you need to create wealth is in you.

John left eastern Nigeria for Lagos, without an assurance whatsoever that a job was waiting for him in Lagos. On getting to Lagos, he gave life a fresh start.

By sheer hard work, he started receiving monthly financial allowances, with his needs met, and was able to send money periodically to his poor family back in the east.

Friend, never complain that you lack help or resources to live your dreams.

After all, what we call wealth is first a chemistry of virtues. Work on your virtues - the virtues of hardwork, discipline, focus, determination, honesty, fiscal prudence, etc. The combination of these virtues will someday translate to material wealth. The point is, VIRTUE attracts VALUE. If you are one of those who complain of lack of capital to start a business or execute an idea, I have a word for you. The head city of every state is its capital. You have a head. It is your capital. Use it!

It is important to note that money does not fall from heaven. Money flows through people. As such, if you lose people you lose money. Think about it LESSON TWO: A gold fish has no hiding place John’s intellectual lustre advertised him and caught the attention of Mr. Roy, who stretched out an arm of friendship to him. The point here is this: Keep being good. Keep getting better. Keep being the best. Someday your quality (ies) will speak for you. You may not know it, but people are watching.

LESSON THREE: Money is a test of character.

By reminding Mr. Roy of the monthly allowance Mr. Roy promised him, despite all the assistance Mr. Roy rendered him, John gave the impression that he was obsessed about money, a character which many find repulsive. It could be that Mr. Roy deliberately delayed the monthly payment to see what John’s reaction would be, and if that was the case, John failed woefully.

Friend, do not give anyone the impression that money has control over you, else you will lose more money (the ones that would have come your way) and things much more than money.

Until you conquer money, your character remains questionable. This is because

it is said that the love of money is the root of all evil.

LESSON FOUR: Money is not everything John forgot so soon that it was his relationship with Mr. Roy that brought him the cash flow he was experiencing. As such, he almost lost the relationship.

Friend, money can never compare to meaningful relationships. There are lonely rich people, and there are poor people who are not lacking in support from people.

It is important to note that money does not fall from heaven. Money flows through people. As such, if you lose people you lose money. Think about it.

LESSON FIVE: Charisma is not enough.

John’s charisma endeared him to Mr. Roy. However, John’s character (attitude to money) almost made him lose favour.

Friend, charisma can take you up, but it is character that will keep you up. It was John C. Maxwell, who said, “It’s true that charisma can make a person stand out for a moment, but character sets a person apart for a lifetime.”

According to Sidney Mohede, “No amount of talents, skills or charisma can sustain us the way integrity, character & attitude does.”

Many a great destiny have been demoted from the HALL OF FAME to a FALL OF SHAME simply by a character slip. Please be careful.

You will succeed.

Reference: 1Timothy 6:10 Follow me on Twitter @VictorOkwudiri

NTELS seeks Umana’s support to support cargo diversion Paul Ogbuokiri

I

ntegrated Logistics Services Limited (INTELS) at the weekend pleaded with the Managing Director, Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Umana Umana to intervene to nip in bud the illegal business of diverting cargo from the zone.

The company alleged that cargoes are being diverted to private jetties where they cannot be evaluated by relevant government agencies for the purpose of revenue collection and has caused a reduction in the zone’s drive to full realisation of its potentials.

Chief Executive Officer of INTELS, Andrew Dawes who briefed Umana at the weekend and led him on a guided tour of the company’s facilities and operational areas in Onne, described the diversion of Oil and Gas Free Zone cargoes to private jetties as the greatest single threat to the success of the zone.

Mr. Dawes sought the help of the free zones authority to put an end to the problem by enforcing existing laws and regulations meant to protect government policy and private sector investments in the oil and gas free trade hubs.

Dawes said cargo diversion was an unacceptable trade practice not only because it undercuts government revenue but also discourages private sector investments in the oil and gas free zones.

He explained that government loses revenue to cargo diversion because its agencies charged with the responsibility for collecting revenues on cargoes are usually not represented at the private jetties to collect revenue for government.

According to him, private investors cannot recover the cost of their investments in the free trade hubs and make profit when businesses are diverted to private jetties, which he explained are not adequately equipped to handle cargoes.

Umana promised to look into the problem of the zone and ensure total enforcement of the laws meant to protect investors’ interests. He also promised to look into the infrastructure challenge of the Onne Free Zone, with especially regard to ensuring that the zone is connected to the national grid for public electricity supply as soon as possible.

Operators of the zone use 100,000 litres of diesel daily to power the port and this development has caused a reduction in the benefits derivable from investing there.

He also promised that the OGFZA will seek ways to be part of the Greenfield Badagry Deep Seaport project as a way of boosting national economy by creating more opportunities for investors.

Kano disburses N1bn interest-free loans to farmers

K

ano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has disbursed N1 billion interest-free loans to 517 farmers associations, under the state’s Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS).

Ganduje, who launched the scheme this week at the Government House Kano, said the fund was secured from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for promoting commercial agricultural enterprises.

The governor said the loan, which would be disbursed to small and medium scale farmers groups, is part of efforts by his administration to diversify agriculture, reduce poverty, create more jobs and enhance food security.“Agricultural commodities included in the value added chain to be covered by the loan are dairy production, fishery, cotton, maize, wheat and rice”, he said.

49

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

Market Awaits Q3:2016 Scorecards …GUARANTY records 59.56% growth in PAT

N

egative sentiments prevailed in the Nigerian equities market, bringing the Week-on-Week return to –0.95%.

The market recorded declines in four (4) out of five (5) trading days of the week, to settle the Year-to-date return at -3.65%. Sixteen (16) stocks appreciated, as against thirtynine (39) decliners, representing a market breadth of 0.41x. Volume and value of transactions declined by 41.98% and 17.23% respectively.

CAVERTON, again, led the gainer’s chart this week, after appreciating by 13.16% WoW to settle it’s share price at NGN0.86. The counter was trailed by NEM (+5.00%), NEIMETH (+4.88%), WEMABANK (+4.84%) and BETAGLAS (+3.33%). Contrarily, CADBURY (-16.21%), GLAXOSMITH (- 14.91%), AGLEVENTIS (-12.90%), FO (-12.28%), and NAHCO (-11.52%) topped the laggard’s table.

During the week some companies posted their Q3:2016 performance scorecards, showing mixed result performances on the average. CADBURY, GUARANTY, TRANSCOHOT and WEMABANK were among the companies that released results during the week.

Also in the week, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation agreed, subject to regulatory approvals, to sell all its shares (60%) in Mobil Oil Nigeria PLC to Nipco Investments Limited, a whollyowned subsidiary of Nipco Plc. Following this transaction, Nipco Plc. will now hold 65.5% of Mobil Oil Nigeria shares.

Given the impressive results released by GUARANTY and UBA, we expect investors’ sentiments to skew towards banking sector stocks in anticipation of more compelling Q3:2016 results.

This report reviews events in the current week, with emphasis on different segments of the financial market, while presenting our expectations for the coming week.

Fixed Income: Naira stays firm against the US Dollar Average Money Market Rate, advanced further from the 107.54% at the close of last week to a record high of 152.90% at the start of the week. However, following improved financial system liquidity, it contracted to 14.25%, representing a WoW decline of 93.29%.

The Central Bank of Nigeria held Treasury bills auction worth NGN138.17bn across all tenors on the 19th October, 2016. At the end of the auction, NGN81.48bn was allotted due to under subscription and exceedingly high bid rates relative to recommended stop rates.

The bid to cover ratios were 0.57x, 0.81x and 0.49x for 91-Day, 181-Day and 364-Day instruments accordingly. Also, the stop rates were 14.00%, 17.09% and 18.30% respectively.

Sell sentiments pervaded the Treasury bills space, as yield advanced across all tenors, thus driving average T-bills yield to 17.72% at the close of trading session on Thursday, 19th October, 2016. On the flip side, demand for Treasury bonds was strong, as investors’ appetite remain skewed towards the shorter term instruments. As a result, average bond yield settled at 15.92%, representing a WoW contraction of 0.20%.

Following improvement in FX market liquidity, the Naira appreciated during at both the interbank (+0.99%) and parallel market (+1.10%), closing at NGN304.75/USD and NGN455/USD respectively. In same vein, average forward quote contracted to settle at NGN326.41/USD. Agric Sector: Investors’ takes profit on OKOMUOIL Sell sentiments pervaded the Agricultural sector this week, as the MERI-AGRI index, which measures the sector performance, pared by 0.14% WoW to settle the YtD return at 26.44%. At the close of the week, zero

NEIMETH advanced in value by 4.88% to close at NGN0.86 this week.

The sustained bearish sentiments in the Healthcare sector this week can be attributed to the generally weak market mood in addition to heightened skepticism ahead of Q3:2016 earnings releases.

We expect the negative momentum in the sector to be sustained for a while longer, however, we do not rule out the possibility of a momentary recovery in the event of positive news inflow.

stocks recorded gains, two counters emerged as losers, while other sector stocks traded flat for the week.

LIVESTOCK emerged as top loser, after paring by 7.87% to settle at NGN0.82. OKOMUOIL, having shed 0.27% WoW, followed closely to settle at NGN40.00.

We attribute the sector’s performance to profit taking on OKOMUOIL, while LIVESTOCK prices continued to fluctuate. Barring any news inflow in the coming week, we do not expect significant activities in the sector.

Banking sector: GUARANTY Releases Terrific 9M2016 Result The banking sector recorded a positive performance this week, gaining 0.84% WoW to peg the YtD return at +8.34%. The sector breadth pegged at 0.63x, as there were five (5) gainers against eight (8) laggards.

WEMABANK (+4.84%), GUARANTY (+3.32%), SKYEBANK (+3.23) and STANBIC (+3.03%) topped the gainers list this week, while ETI (-9.15%), UNITYBNK (-7.14%), STERLNBNK (-4.85%) and UBN (-4.81%) were the top laggards.

Guaranty Trust PLC. (GUARANTY) released its audited Q3:2016 result in the week.

Gross earnings, Profit-Before-Tax and ProfitAfter-Tax all advanced by 43.56%, 52.98%, and 59.56% YoY respectively. The bank recorded these growths despite the huge rise in Loan Loss Expense (LLE) (570.3% YoY), as the impact of gains recorded due to FX revaluation of the FCY assets to the tune of NGN93.64bn (1282% YoY rise) was well enough to offset provisions.

Also, Wema Bank PLC (WEMABANK) released its Q3:2016 result, which showed that Gross Earnings increased by 16.36%, while Profit-Before-Tax and Profit-After-Tax declined by 2.26% apiece.

In our opinion, the gains recorded by GUARANTY following the release of its quarterly result was responsible for the sector performance. We anticipate the release of financial scorecards for FIDELITY, FBNH and STERLNBNK in the coming week and expect the outcome of the results to shape

investors’ sentiments.

Consumer Goods Sector: CADBURY Records Poor Outing in Q3:2016.

This week, activities in the Consumer goods sector signaled weak investors’ appetite. The MERI-CMG depreciated by 1.89% WoW after declining in four (4) out of five (5) trading days, to settle YtD return at -3.10%.

There was no advancer in the week, while ten (10) counters recorded share price declines.

CADBURY topped the loser’s list, after depreciating by -16.21% WoW, to close at NGN13.13. VITAFOAM (-6.86% WoW), DANGSUGAR (-4.62% WoW), GUINNESS (-3.61% WoW) and PZ (-2.89% WoW) also featured on the list.

CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. (CADBURY) released its Q3:2016 result, which showed a marginal growth in Revenue of 1.20%, while profit before and after tax declined by a whopping 2,164.72% and 3,049.55% to loss positions of –NGN0.842bn apiece. The pressure on earnings was primarily due to the 14.84% growth in production costs to NGN16.85bn relative to NGN14.67bn in the prior period. However, operating expense moderated by 15.0% YoY in the same period.

We attribute the negative sentiments witnessed in the week to the weak appetite and cautious trading on the part of investors in anticipation of companies Q3:2016 performance scorecards. We expect this mood to subsist in the coming week in the absence of any positive news to sway market sentiment.

Healthcare Sector: GLAXOSMITH Declines by 14.19%, Closes at NGN15.78 The MERI-HLTH index returned -13.64% WoW as the YtD return closed at -52.88% at the end of the trading week. Three (3) stocks declined in value while only one (1) stock advanced in value, relative to last week’s closing prices.

GLAXOSMITH emerged as the top loser, shedding 14.19% WoW. The stock was followed by PHARMADEKO (-4.71%) and FIDSON (-3.80%) which closed at NGN1.62 and NGN1.52 respectively. Meanwhile only

Industrial Goods: WAPCO Gains 1.20% WoW Despite Factory Shutdown.

The Industrial goods sector closed the week on a negative note, declining marginally by 0.04% to peg the YtD return at 1.58%. The sector breadth pegged at 3.00x, as there were three (3) gainers against one (1) laggard.

BETAGLASS led the gainers list with a 3.33% WoW change in price. The stock was followed by CAP and WAPCO, which recorded gains of 1.50% and 1.20% respectively.

On the other hand, ASHAKACEM emerged the only loser for the week after it recorded a price decline of 9.71% WoW. Also, the FIRS on Monday, 17th October, 2016 reportedly shut down Lafarge Cement Limited (WAPCO) over non -payment of tax liabilities worth NGN10mn.

We expect the release of Q3:2016 financial scorecards to dictate the direction of market activities in the coming weeks.

Insurance Sector: Market Favours NEM The Insurance sector, as measured by the NSEINS10, closed the week in the negative region, after recording a 0.64% week on week decline, pushing the YtD return to -10.29%.

Similarly, the sector breadth closed at 0.33x reflecting a lone (1) advancer against 3 three (3) decliners.

NEM was the lone gainer for the week, after the counter appreciated by 5.00% WoW to close at NGN0.84. On the flip side, CUSTODYINS, LAWUNION and MANSARD were the sectors underperformers in the week, having pared by 7.25%, 4.11% and 3.50% WoW respectively. All other counters traded flat.

In the week, UNITYKAP released its Q3:2016 result which showed declines in both top and bottom-line. GPE, PBT and PAT fell by 16.00%, 31.17% and 35.44% accordingly while claims expenses increased by 70.06%.

We believe that the sectors performance is a reflection of the general market mood, as investors anticipate Q3: 2016 earnings releases.

Oil & Gas Sector: Exxonmobil Divests All its Shares from Mobil Oil Nigeria The Oil & Gas sector was trailed by negative sentiments as the NSEOILG5 index declined by 2.98% WoW after appreciating in two (2) out of five (5) trading days of the week, to settle the YtD return at -9.40%. The sector breadth of 1.00x, indicated three (3) gainers as against three (3) decliners in the week.

Featuring on the gainers’ chart, MOBIL, TOTAL and SEPLAT appreciated by 2.15%, 0.17% and 0.13% WoW to close at NGN190.00, NGN290.00 and NGN386.40 accordingly. On the contrary, FO (-12.28% WoW), OANDO (-2.07% WoW) and ETERNA (-1.01% WoW) were the decliners for the week, with closing prices of NGN127.30, NGN5.20 and NGN2.95 in that order.

During the week, ExxonMobil announced the divestment of all its shares from Mobil Oil Nigeria to Nipco Investment Limited, an indigenous Nigerian oil & gas company with major operations in the upstream and midstream activities. Also, Nigeria reduced the selling price on its major crude grades (mostly on Qua Iboe and Bonny light) in order to offset huge crude cargoes overhang thereby regaining market share.

50

faith

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atholic Relief Services have facilitated the distribution of more than two million units of various types of contraception in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the course of four years, the Lepanto Institute says in a new report.

It gathered that the programme resulted in skyrocketing birth control use in the region where previously residents had minimal knowledge of contraception.

The US Bishops’ international relief agency was an implementing partner from 2006 to 2010 in the US-funded Project AXxes, in which “family planning” was a “key objective,” delivering contraception, including abortifacients, Intra Uterine Devices (IUD), related insertion kits, including surgical sterilisation kits, according to the programme documents.

The documents reveal as well that CRS’s efforts included seeing to it that “family planning” messaging and supplies were incorporated into vaccination, neonatal, Prevention of Mother-toChild Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) and other aspects of the USAID-funded project.

Efforts to get the relief services to respond to inquiry on the report was not successful prior to press time.

However, inventory reports submitted to the US government show how CRS took in 2.25 million units of abortifacient contraception and condoms, and that these contraceptives were distributed from CRS’s warehouse throughout the health zones in the Congo for which CRS was responsible.

The explanations in the quarterly and annual reports obtained by the Lepanto Institute from submissions for Project AXxes to the US Government by the lead organization, IMA World Health, further show that family planning was integrated into multiple aspects of the project, and that CRS was not just involved in that integration, but took part in the planning of the integration as well. The reports also indicate the goal of interspersing family planning throughout the various segments of the project was to decrease the fertility rates of the Congolese in its health zones.

“Given the detail provided in these reports, one thing that is absolutely certain is that Catholic Relief Services received large quantities of abortifacient contraception and condoms,” Hichborn said, “and those contraceptive supplies were in turn distributed to the health zones for which CRS was responsible.”

According to the final report for Project AXxes, the total number of contraceptives received by CRS and distributed to CRS’s health zones were as follows:

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Catholic relief workers donate 2.4 million condoms

Depo Provera an injectable drug given once every three months in order to inhibit ovulation in women, Depo Provera is an abortifacient drug - 88,235 Lo-Femenal combined estrogen-progestin oral contraceptive that can also be used as so-called “emergency” contraception. As with Depo Provera, Lo-Femenal is also an abortifacient drug - 56,885 Ovrette an oral contraceptive often referred to as the “mini-pill” because it does not contain any estrogen 44,097 DIU the acronym for the French phrase meaning “Intrauterine Devices (IUD) – 1,907 Male Condoms – 2,025,216 Female Condoms – 40,891 CCV Kits CCV is the acronym for the French phrase “contraception chirurgicale volontaire,” which means Voluntary Surgical Contraception, or sterilization.

These kits would be used to perform tubal ligations and vasectomies – 18 DIU Kits used to actually insert IUDs into women – 16 Population Research Institute President Steven Mosher, who previously investigated abuses in CRS programs in Madagascar and Kenya, said in a statement that CRS’s role in Project AXxes was unacceptable.

“It is unconscionable that Catholic Relief Services seems to have been directly involved with the distribution of abortifacient contraceptives and condoms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Mosher said.

“Bear in mind that these inventory reports were visually verified and signed off in triplicate,” Hichborn said.

“In other words, what the inventory reports obtained by the Lepanto Institute show cannot be attributed to an accounting error, and given the details provided in each of the quarterly reports, CRS was not mistakenly identified along with this project.”

Given this, he continued, it’s important to note that the distribution of contraception was established as a primary purpose of Project AXxes at the outset.

“CRS was not ignorant of the goals and procedures of Project AXxes prior to its participation,” stated Hichborn. Catholic Relief Services was responsible for 340 health centers out of a total of 929 throughout the entire project, Hichborn said, making CRS responsible for 36 percent of all the health centers under the auspices of Project AXxes.

He pointed out that even if all 17 percent of the facilities that already provided family planning services at the

beginning of Project AXxes were under CRS’s responsibility, and even if the 11 percent of health facilities that did not at this point integrate family planning were also under CRS’s care, this would only account for 28 percent of the facilities.

So at a bare minimum, CRS was responsible for introducing the integrated family planning programs of Project AXxes into at least 77 health centers, and this would only be the best possible scenario, giving the

benefit of the doubt to CRS. “However, as the reports show,” he said, “this is sadly not the case.”

“The truth of the matter is that contraception was almost non-existent in the health zones under CRS’s responsibility prior to Project AXxes,” stated Hichborn, “and those health zones showed some of the greatest increases in the use of birth control throughout the entire project.”

In one example, a section of the “Lessons Learned” in

the Final Report for Project AXxes says it was “learned” that word choice and the emphasis that family planning is a part of primary health care were important in convincing young people in the Democratic Republic of Congo to use some form of birth control.

“The emphasis on family planning messages that focused on ‘spacing births’ rather than ‘avoiding births’ were well received at the community level and ensured a higher uptake of

services and greater acceptability by couples,” it says.

It states as well, “Supervision and support visits which emphasized that family planning was part of the Minimum Package of Activities were important in underscoring the importance of family planning as part of primary health care.”

The reports also show CRS collaborating directly on more effective ways of integrating contraceptive programs and supplies throughout the project.

L-R: Catholic Archbishop of Lagos Archdiocese, Dr. Alfred Adewale Martins; His Eminence, Cardinal Anthony Okogie; Lagos Metropolitan Grand Knight of St. Mulumba, Charles Mbelede; Bishoo of Auchi Diocese, His Lordship, Dr. Gabriel Dunia and Archbishop of Ibadan, His Grace Most Reverend D. Gabriel Abegunrin, at the 9th Annual Cardinal Anthony Okogie Lecture/ Foundation at St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland in Lagos…on Thursday.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Outrage as UNESCO says Temple Mount is not Jewish

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day after the United Nations marked Yom Kippur as an official holiday, the U.N.’s educational, scientific and cultural organization voted for a resolution that claims Judaism’s most holy sites aren’t Jewish at all.

In a vote of 24 in favour, 6 against and 26 abstaining, UNESCO gave preliminary approval to a resolution ignoring the Jewish connection to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Western Wall.

“This is at the core of Jewish and Christian history and yet there’s this systematic attempt to airbrush the history out of the picture,” CBN News Senior Editor John Waage said.

Students of the Bible know that the Temple Mount has been the focal point of Jewish and Christian history for thousands of years. It’s where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac and where Solomon built a temple according to the Lord’s direction. But this Palestiniansponsored resolution refers

to the Temple Mount and Western Wall almost exclusively by their Muslim names.

On his Facebook and YouTube pages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The UNESCO theater of the absurd continues.”

“Even if they do not read the Bible, I would suggest that UNESCO members visit the Arch of Titus in Rome. On it one can see what the Romans brought back to Rome after they destroyed and looted the Second Temple on the Temple Mount 2,000 years ago,” Netanyahu said. “There, engraved on the Arch of Titus, is the seven-branched menorah that is the symbol of the Jewish People and, I remind you, is also the symbol of the Jewish state today.

Soon, UNESCO will say that the Emperor Titus engaged in Zionist propaganda.”

Netanyahu said this decision would be like saying China wasn’t connected to the Great Wall or Egypt to

the Pyramids.

“But I believe that historical truth is stronger and that truth will prevail. And today we are dealing with the truth,” he concluded.

The Foreign Ministry posted a spoof on its Facebook page with a man reading what they called a “UNESCO Bible.” The graphic shows the Muslim name, Haram al-Sharif in place of the Temple in passages in both the Old and New Testaments.

Waage said the Temple Mount is really ground zero for the Jewish and Christian faiths.

“It’s also the place where David was made king of Jerusalem, of Israel and where Jesus overturned the money changers booths at the Temple and also where satan tempted Jesus,” Waage said.

The U.S. joined Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia in voting against the resolution.

Senators Marco Rubio, RFlorida., and Mark Kirk, R-

Illinois., urged the Obama administration to condemn the resolution’s adoption.

“While the world’s worst human rights violators are allowed to run amok in a human rights commission that’s supposed to highlight abuses and stop them, antiSemitic U.N. agencies continue to target the Middle East’s only free market democracy,” they wrote. “And now they shamefully attempt to rewrite history and deny Jewish and Christian people have any connection with Jerusalem.

“This is just another attempt in UNESCO’s disturbing trend of attacking Israel and delegitimizing the Jewish state and does nothing to promote peace,” they wrote.

The spokesman for the Palestinian presidency said the U.S. should review its policies toward Israel and Israel should recognize a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital with its Muslim and Christian holy sites.

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016

Military kills pirates, recovers weapons, destroys refineries in Niger Delta

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Flora Onwudiwe he Joint Task Force (JTF) deployed to root out suspected criminal hideouts in the riverine areas of Delta, Rivers and Cross River states has declared war on pirates, killing about seven suspects, recovering different ammunition and discovering large illegal refineries.

In a release signed by the Deputy Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, Bayelsa State, Lieutenant Commander, Thomas Ogar Otunji, the task force also gave an account of the challenges they faced in tracking the suspected criminals in the last three days and successes recorded.

Commander Otunji said that the troops of Operation Delta Safe (ODS) deployed to Idama Waterside received a distress call from members of the Idama Community of an attack by

the pirates.

“After engaging the pirates in a hot chase in their speed boat mounted with Horse Power engine, we recovered the speed boat, an AK 47 rifle, three magazines, 20 units of 7.62 millimeters ammunition and two life vests,” he said.

In a similar vein, he said the troops while patrolling Kula; Abonema Waterways sailed to Sonykiri Creek and engaged four sea pirates near Olakpoko Kula.

Two of them were killed in exchange of gun fire, while the other two escaped with bullet wounds, but the troops recovered one AK 47 rifle , two AK 47 magazines, 40 units of 7.62 millimeter, two mobile phones and speedboats mounted with 140 HP engine.

He further explained that the troops while on antibunkering operations in Rivers State raided an illegal refining camp at Adokiye –Ama Community of

Okrika Local Government Area, conducted, search operations and discovered large illegal refineries in the community.

“It was revealed that the camp belongs to one Mr. George Amah based in Okrika and we recovered in the camp 33 pumping machines of various sizes, Thermocool generator, two gas cylinders for welding , three hand held radio, five hand held radio chargers, two 75 horse power speed boats mounted with engine and 19 hose rolls,” the statement said.

He said that the troops were in collaboration with the members of the Petroleum Task Force, raided two illegal oil bunkering dumps at Ugwuangwe in Warri South and Udu Local Government areas.

The sites were used as dump and piling camps before trans-loading fuel into petroleum tankers which he said that the troops recov-

ered and destroyed along with the rubbers, hose and jerry cans.

He said that Operation Delta Safe (in Rivers State) intercepted two welding machines, generator, 10 packs of welding electrolyte, two welding masks, two bags of cement, one bundle of marine rope, four shovels, one hose and five live vests, all of which have been set ablaze.

Similarly, two illegal refineries and two wooden barges were discovered around Tangolosusu Area of Bonny Local Government Area and were destroyed by the Troops.

Otunji said that the “Troops in collaboration with the vigilante group in Bakassi ambushed and eliminated five Bakassi Strike Force militants, who had earlier hijacked a boat conveying large quantity of bags of rice from a marketer at Parrot Island in Bakassi Local Government Area.

NewsExtra

Ortom seeks compensation over military attacks Cephas Iorhemen MAKURDI

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enue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has requested compensation for residents of North Bank area of Makurdi who were attacked by soldiers recently.

He made the request during a visit to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Friday.

The Governor who described the attack as unfortunate said, the military and the civilian community had enjoyed peaceful coexistence in the state and stressed the need for peace building measures.

He requested compensation for the victims most of who he said had lost their means of livelihood and commended the Commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME) in the state for taking steps to ensure that the crisis did not escalate.

Governor Ortom appealed for the recruitment of more indigenes of the state in the military on account of the previous sacrifices they

made in uniting the country resulting in Benue having the second largest number of ex- servicemen in Nigeria.

He also expressed the willingness to host the annual Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Conference in Makurdi this year.

In his response, General Buratai said that a commission of inquiry has been constituted to look into the attack, pointing out that those found culpable would be punished even as he promised to look into the Governor’s request.

He urged the Governor to also consider military engineers in the award of civil engineering contracts, saying it had incorporated a company to execute such jobs.

General Buratai also requested for land for the Army’s property company to construct barracks and markets.

Governor Ortom, on return to Makurdi, received relief materials from the Chinese Group Overseas Company (CGOC) for distribution to flood victims.

The items included rice, flour, vegetable oil, and indomie.

Microfinance bank boosts SME with over N455bn Caleb Onwe ABUJA

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L-R: Chairman, Ogun State Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Mr. Akeem Akintunde; National President of SWAN, Mr. Honour Sirawoo and former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, during a visit by Akintunde; to Otunba Daniel in Sagamu…on Friday

PHOTO: NAN

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Mojeed Alabi he Founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide and Chancellor of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Bishop David Oyedepo has expressed his strong belief in Nigeria as a united entity, saying Nigerians must believe in themselves to overcome the challenges confronting them as a nation.

Oyedepo, who spoke at the weekend during the presentation of the University’s 7th Inaugural Lecture, which was part of activities marking the faith-based institution’s 14th edition of the annual Founder’s Day Ceremony, said it is clear Nigeria is troubled at the moment, insisting that God has endowed the country with the adequate resources to overcome the challenges.

Oyedepo called on both the leadership and the citizenry

I believe in a united Nigeria, says Bishop Oyedepo not to view everything foreign as perfect while despising items made in the country, adding that the spirit of selfbelief, sincerity, commitment and dedication to doing good, will resolve all the major contradictions currently bedeviling the nation.

He said: “I believe in Nigeria and I know for sure that Nigeria will survive. Nigeria will not collapse and we will rise again as a people. But we must believe in ourselves, by patronizing things made by our people.

“He has endowed us with large deposit of human and natural resources, we only need to maximize the opportunities. I have always said it that it doesn’t have to be white to be right. We must

invest in education because no nation can rise above the education of her people.”

The inaugural lecturer, who was the university’s immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Charles Korede Ayo, spoke on the theme: Deconstructing the National Development Agenda: The Role of Information and Communications Technologies.

Ayo, who insisted that technology is the future of the world, corroborated his position with the fact that out of the global 10 leading companies, only one is an oil and gas firm, while the rest are technology companies.

He said the situation is unlike some years ago when oil was the determining factor of how wealthy a nation is,

adding that for Nigeria to survive technology must be adopted at every sector of national economy including governance, business, education and agriculture.

He called on government to invest massively in education, while suggesting a wellstructured open and distance learning system as the solution to the country’s admission challenge.

The former executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, commended the university management for remaining the nation’s trailblazer in the areas of quality assurance, technology-driven system and sound leadership qualities among other universities.

esponse by the private sector to the call for a collective action against hunger, poverty, and unemployment in the country has resulted in various initiatives that have been adjudged as unprecedented in the journey towards financial emancipation of the poor in the society.

The founder of Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, who said he was motivated to initiate the organisation many years ago for the purpose of assisting the poor, particularly women to break out of the grip of poverty, also said that the LAPO microfinance bank has disbursed about N455.5 million to owners of micro enterprises in the country.

Ehigiamuse, who spoke recently in Abuja at the 23rd Annual LAPO Development Forum, with the theme: “Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities,” also noted that as an organisation, LAPO has deep interest in revamping the agriculture sector, and has provided up to N20.7 bn as agriculture loans to micro enterprises, mostly those engaged in livestock, arable and tree crops farming.

He also emphasised that the organisation addressed

poverty with access to finance, health and social empowerment programmes.

According to him, LAPO Microfinance bank is a foremost pro-poor financial institution in South-Saharan Africa” and has the mandate to complement the efforts of the government in addressing the challenges of the common people in Nigeria.

The LAPO boss, who lamented the neglect of agriculture and produce marketing cooperatives unions, as well as the subsequent conversion of the cooperative banks initially established to meet the needs of farmers into commercial banks, said also that commitment to economic diversification through agriculture may not be feasible, except there is a positive action by all towards that goal.

Earlier in her remark, the Chairperson, LAPO’s Board of Directors, Prof. Christiana Okojie, said that policy makers and governments at all levels having realised that the only way out of the current recession plaguing the nation is agriculture, must do everything possible to make the dream come true.

Okojie also said that it is important for Nigeria to take advantage of technology which industrialised countries and emerging economies in Asia and South America are leveraging on to improve food production.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23, 2016, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

‘God’s Generals’ Jewels’

Pastor Tokunbo Ashiedu is the wife of the General Overseer of Dominion People Apostolic Ministry Lagos, Apostle Benson Ashiedu. She speaks about the role of the church in nation building and how General Overseers’ wives can assist their husbands’ ministries to grow in this interview with ESTHER BAKARE How did you meet your husband?

We met at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Akoka Students Fellowship in 1987. I was a first year student of English Language and he was studying Computer Science but later changed to Business Administration and was two years ahead of me. I was squatting with a friend at Moremi Hall where I later became the Hall Representative for four years.

He came to visit my friend and saw me there and we exchanged greetings. He later told me that the moment he saw me, God told him I’m his wife. I later joined the fellowship and he had the opportunity to approach me, but I refused because I was still in my first year and I didn’t want to rush into any relationship because I felt it was too early for that. He

Pastors’ wives should work to support their husband’s ministry financially – Pastor Ashiedu told me to go and pray about it but I didn’t do so. But each time I caught malaria, I would always go to him to pray for me. This happened for two years before I finally said yes to him and we got married in 1993.

How did the ministry start?

Before we went for our National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year, he used to tell me that our courtship would not last for too long

before we get married because he had a call to serve God as His minister but I used to argue with him that we must work before we start any ministry.

God had already told me that I would marry His minister but I didn’t take it serious until I met my husband. Initially, I wanted him to work and earn some money before he starts so when he was talking about marriage, I used to quarrel with him that it’s too early to start talking about that. During our NYSC one of the pastors counselling us in courtship said he may not work before starting the church. My mother was worried that how could I marry a man without a job but we got married and God used his younger brother who was a manager in Shell to help us financially.

When did you establish the church?

It was in 2003. My husband was a parish pastor in RCCG and served for 10 years before leaving to establish our own Ministry.

What is the vision of the church?

God spoke to us from the book of Genesis 1: 26-28 that we should go and subdue the earth and have dominion. Wherever our members find themselves, they must dominate; they must stand out and not be hidden. So that is the vision of the church.

What were the initial challenges in the ministry?

Finance was our major challenge although I had already started teaching with Lagos State but it was not sufficient. But like I explained earlier, God used his younger brother to assist us. He was sending money to us to grow the ministry. Another challenge was how to get members because we made up our mind that we were not going to draw membership from the Redeemed Church, but would go after the lost sheep not stealing other sheep, that were already in the church. We started as a family with very few people but today we have a big congregation.

Another challenge was getting committed members to support the mission. People were not committed at the beginning, but that has become a thing of the past too.

Who are your mentors?

Mummy Folu Adeboye, wife of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and Mummy Wilson Badejo of Foursquare Gospel Church have blessed me a lot because I learnt a lot from their teachings as General Overseers’ wives. I also served in the children ministry at the RCCG because every pastor’s wife is a potential children minister in RCCG. So I learnt a lot from that department too.

In what ways have you been supporting your husband’s ministry?

My main area of support is in the children ministry because I’m a teacher with Lagos State Government. I teach in a government secondary school and initially, I did not want to be engaged in extra work in the ministry other that the children’s department. But my husband encouraged me to start a programme for the women so as to contribute to their lives. So we started the annual women’s convention for them to learn a lot of things at the feet of Jesus, ranging from home upkeep, grace to move forward in life, in their businesses and career as well as to support their husbands in various ways.

What is your advice to other pastors’ wives?

I have always believed that women should not sit down at home doing nothing. Some pastors’ wives believe that once God has called their husband into a ministry, they don’t need to work that God will supply their daily bread. I also have faith in God that He is the supplier of our daily needs, but that does not mean we should be idle and continue to depend on the church members to feed us, it is not right because by the time the man of God starts taxing his members , some of them will run away. It also does not also give respect to the wife because some church members believe they are the ones feeding her so they don’t really regard her. That is why I support women to work especially wives of pastors because their children will go to school. Is it the church members that will pay for their school fees and raise them up for you?

Who is Pastor Benson Ashiedu at home?

He is a balanced man, very understanding and friendly. He encourages me a lot. At times when I feel tired juggling my career and the ministry, he urges me to go on and I really enjoy his counsel as well. He is not the type of husband that feels insecure when his wife is making it. For instance I’m now a level 15 officer in Lagos State and this is thanks to my husband’s encouragement towards my career. There was a time I thought of resigning so that I could face his Ministry squarely, but he urged me to move on and built that confidence in me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This is why I urge my colleagues in the ministry to be engaged in one vocation or the other so that they don’t get messed up by any church member because as they say: ‘he who pays the piper dictates the tune’.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 2016 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Word puzzle

The Lion and His Sons Ameer Hamza

For kidsworldfun.com

O

nce upon a time, in a dense jungle, lived a lion and his two sons. One sunny day, the lion and his sons decided to go for a picnic. They prepared yummy meat and other delicious stuff to eat, packed their baskets and set off for the amazingly beautiful river at the North.

The jungle was full of scenic views: it had lush green grass and enormous trees where all the creatures lived.

On their way to the river, many animals met lion and his sons, and wished them a happy picnic. The monkey gave them some bananas to eat. The bear gave them a jar of honey. The elephant presented them a sugar cane and the rabbit gave them some carrots.

On the way they also experienced a sort of semi darkness in the jungle. The sky was completely shut out by the canopy of leaves high above them. Thick vegetation grew all around. A peculiar but nice smell was all over in the air. All around were different sounds of insects, birds and animals. Jungle was somewhat looking spectral but they were used to it as they lived there and ruled it.

After walking for a few miles, they reached a lake.

The lake was so transparent that the shadows of all the trees and the sky were seen in it and it looked like a different jungle in itself. They decided to rest there for a while, and lay on the ground. After taking a nap they had their food.

Then, the lion’s sons decided to play. Their father advised them not to go far off. The younger son of the

lion, whose name was Samba, was very naughty. He never used to listen to his father.

While he was playing hide n seek with his brother Jacky, he saw a pond nearby. He was amazed to see such a beautiful pond hidden by thick trees just adjacent to the lake. As he peeped into it, he saw his own reflection. All of a sudden, he thought of hiding inside the pond so that Jacky would not find him and he would win. He smiled to himself on getting such a brilliant idea and silently stepped into the pond.

To his surprise, the pond was very deep and he didn’t get a footing. He was drowning. He started screaming for help. First, his father and brother couldn’t hear his voice but then they realized that it was Simba’s voice coming from somewhere inside the jungle. They started shouting for him too as they really didn’t have an idea where he was. Finally, they saw water splashing in the pond and ran towards it.

They pulled out Samba but Samba was almost not in his senses. Water entered his stomach and he could hardly breathe. They made him lie on his back and pumped his tummy, to drain out all the water that he had taken in.

After some hard work by the father and the brother, Samba opened his eyes, and realized that he was still alive and his father and brother were standing with tears in their eyes. He hugged them and said, “I am sorry papa for not listening to you.” He also said sorry to his brother for putting him into trouble. They hugged him back and kissed him. They decided not to go to the river because of this incident and headed back towards their house.

Math pix

Celebration

Congratulations Derrick Okpara at 8!!!

GAGS What is the world’s tallest building?

Ans: The library because it has the most stories.

What vegetables do librarians like?

Ans: Quiet peas.

PROFILE: Favourites Colour - Yellow and blue Food - hot Rice and Stew Movie - Transformer Sport - Formular 1

Why did the clock in the cafeteria run slow?

Ans: It always went back four seconds.

Why didn’t the sun go to college?

Ans: Because it already had a

million degrees!

What do you call four bullfighters in quicksand?

Ans: Quattro sinko.

What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work?

Ans: A stick.

What is a ghost’s favorite position in soccer?

Ans: Ghoul keeper.

What is a cheerleader’s favorite color?

Ans: Yeller!

55

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

Sport

Musa scores first goal in England S

uper Eagles assistant captain, Ahmed Musa, scored his first goal for Leicester City as the champions defeated Crystal Palace 3-1 in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Musa scored in the 42nd minute as the Foxes took the lead in a tight first half at the King Power Stadium.

The Nigeria forward struck from outside the area following good work by Algerian strik-

er Islam Slimani, who displayed impressive upper-body strength before teeing him up with a delightful ball.

Musa had the option of passing to Riyah Mahrez on his right but showed the belief and composure of a veteran to fire past Palace goalkeeper Steve Mandanda from 20 yards out.

It was Musa’s first goal for Leicester since completing his move from Russian club CSKA Moscow in the summer.

I

Then, on Saturday, he reached another notable milestone in an already glittering career as Barca secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Valencia.

The Samba superstar was unable to get his name on the scoresheet at the Mestalla, as fellow MSN members Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez did the damage for Luis Enrique’s side, but he will be delighted to have reached a century of La Liga appearances.

His outings to date have delivered 59 goals - helping to secure back-to-back domestic titles - while the 24-year-old needs to find the target just nine more times to have 100 in all competitions for the Catalan giants.

Falcons captain sure of AWCON success

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uper Falcons captain, Evelyn Nwabuoku, has said that her team will go all out to retain the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations trophy when the competition kicks-off in Cameroon next month.

Nigeria, hosts Cameroon and six other countries will

do battle for Africa’s crown in women’s football from November 19 to December 3 in the cities of Yaoundé and Limbe.

The Super Falcons are the defending champions of the competition, having won it in 2014, defeating Cameroon 2-0 in the final.

Solution to Cross Word Puzzle

Dapo Sotuminu

F

EPL Results

Bournemouth 0 - 0 Spurs Arsenal 0 - 0 Middlesbrough Burnley 2 - 1 Everton Hull City 0 - 2 Stoke City Leicester 3 - 1 Crystal Palace Swansea 0 - 0 Watford West Ham 1 - 0 Sunderland Liverpool 2 - 1 West Brom

Neymar makes 100th La Liga appearance

t’s been a pretty productive week for Barcelona forward Neymar. On Friday, the Brazil international finally put pen to paper on a lucrative new contract that will keep him at Camp Nou until 2021.

Rufai: Enyeama’s return will help Eagles

Stage set for Bet9ja NLO Super 8

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he stage is set for the Bet9ja Nationwide League One (NLO) Super 8 Tournament taking place from 23rd - 29th October 2016 at the Agege Township Stadium, Lagos.

The Super 8 promises an exciting football atmosphere as the eight clubs that won their respective groups in the Division One cadre of the Nigeria Nationwide League battle one another to determine the overall winners of the division.

The Executive Secretary of Nationwide League One, Shola Ogunnowo, said at the weekend that all arrangements have been put in place to ensure a hitch-free football tournament, as he noted that, the best of Nigerian football at the grassroots level will be on a display at the Agege Township stadium all through the week.

“All is set for the Bet9ja NLO Super 8 and we are expecting sublime football artistry and funfair from all the participating teams. It is also reassuring to know that Lagosians are football-loving Nigerians, who are ready to be thrilled by these teams when the tournament kicks off,” he said.

Ogunnowo added: “It will also be an opportunity for the clubs to test the strength of their players and their general capacity as they prepare for the tough task of football in the professional cadre in the Nigeria National League (NNL). In fact, some clubs in the Nigeria National League and the Nigeria Professional Football League can use this tournament to seek for young promising football talents they can sign for their clubs.”

NFF broker peace in Nigeria Supporters’ Club

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he Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, at the weekend managed to broker peace in a long standing leadership battle and a power tussle that had crippled the Nigeria Football Supporters’ Club.

The Federation issued a communique itemizing the decision reached at the parley which was meant to reconcile the feuding parties - particularly the Chairman Board of Trustees, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo and the Acting National Chairman, Vincent Okumagba.

An election date for the national body was has been fixed for December 10, 2016.

The communiqué also stated that vacancy for the office of both President General and Deputy President General will be declared come July 2017.

ormer Super Eagles goalkeeper, Peter Rufai, has stated that, the decision of the former Eagles captain to return to the team will greatly help the Nigerian team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.

Rufai, who played in two FIFA World Cup finals for Nigeria at the USA 94 and France 98, said he was filled with joy when the new Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr, confirmed that Enyeama has agreed to stage a return to the Eagles when the team books a ticket to play in the World Cup. He said: “For the World Cup finals, it is important all national teams present their best players from across the globe. It won’t be good for Nigeria to go to the World Cup with some uncertainties about the goalkeeping area of the team. This is the most vital part of the team, and as such it must be well taken care of.

If you have fan-

tastic players and expresses some uncertainties about your goalkeepers, there is no way the players upfront would play well.

“For Gernot Rohr to make such move to bring back Vincent Enyeama to the fold after his premature retirement, forced by former coach Sunday Oliseh, its a very good development. It is a misnomer for Nigeria to have the best goalkeeper in Africa and one of the best in the world and such is not playing in the national team. I commend the Super Eagles coach for this excell e n t move.”

Mikel cautions on Mourinho’s mind games, as Man U battle Chelsea

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ikel John Obi has warned his Chelsea teammates of the influence Jose Mourinho wields ahead of today’s big English Premier League clash against Manchester United.

The Nigeria captain was in the Chelsea team beaten 1-0

by Mourinho’s Inter Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League six years ago when they were knocked out of the competition.

Mourinho used the build-up to that tie to make flattering comments about his former players and the club and he is expected to do so again now.

The Super Eagles captain admits Mourinho’s behaviour last time affected the team and says the current generation must not make the same mistake.

“We have to put the fact we are playing against Jose to the back of our minds from the moment we are on the pitch.

“He is a legend of the club, had two spells in charge and won trophies.

But we must ignore that.

It has to be a different story to the last time against Inter. I remember he had a lot of nice things to say about us in the pre-match press conference back then,” Mikel said.

The Eagles midfielder revealed that Mourinho dis-

played different personalities before and during that fateful game against Inter.

“Then when we walked out to warm-up for the match, he was at the end of the tunnel looking at everyone and giving them a friendly slap on the cheek.

“He was friendly and we had a bit of a laugh and a chat.

But throughout the game he was animated on the touchline, shouting instructions to the Inter players.

“It just shows how the guy works - he loved Chelsea but wanted to beat us that night,” he said.

Mourinho is Chelsea’s most successful manager, winning seven trophies in two spells.

business New maritime security architecture got Buhari’s approval, }45 says Amaechi

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Sanctity of Truth

SUNDAY

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016

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Rufai: Enyeama's return will help Eagles }55

Here comes Oba Ewuare Ogidigan II of Benin Kingdom!

INTRODUTION Permit me to temporarily suspend, for this week only, my series on world leaders that turned their depressed economies around, and how they did it, to pay a deserving tribute to revered new Oba of Benin kingdom, Omonoba N’ Edo, Uku Akpolopolo, Ewuare II. I am a proud High Chief in Benin Kingdom, with the title of Enobakhare-Ode, which situates me squarely in the hallowed pantheon of the highest cadre of Benin Kingdom chiefs, called Eghavbonore, led by Chief Sam Igbe, the Iyase (traditional Prime Minister). To have witnessed the coronation of a new Oba, not just as a spectator, but as a full – blooded subject and chief, was, for me, a personal humbling experience. The last time an event like that took place was on 23rd March, 1979 (37 years ago), when the late iconic Oba Erediauwa, CFR, succeeded his illustrious father, Oba Akenzua II. I was then a final year Law student at the University of Ife, Ile – Ife. I had followed with awe, how my late mentor, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, had entered the next Barber’s shop to cut his hair “gorimapaishly”, to mourn Oba Akenzua II. History was enacted on Thursday, 20th October, 2016, when the erstwhile Crown Prince, Edaiken n’ Uselu, Ambassador Eheneden Erediawa, became the 40th Oba of Benin Kingdom, taking on the title of Ewuare Ogidigan II. For historical contextualization, Ewuare II is following the footsteps of Oba Ewuare I “Ewuare the great”, or “Oba Ewuare N’ Ogidigan (1440 – 1473), who had reigned after Uwafiokun (1434 – 1440), and was succeeded

by Ezoti (1473 – 1475).

BENIN KINGSHIP The Benin (Bini) Kingship is not like any other Kingship in the world. It is both unique and mystical. The kingship serves as the oxygen and afrodisiac that the Binis breath, inhale, eat, drink, dream, speak, survive and live on. It pales into epochal insignificance, such reverred Ashantiland, Carthaginian, Mali, Wolof, Oyo, Borno, Soughai, Kingdom of Dahomey and Zulu Nation of South Africa Empires. It’s evolution in 1180, which saw Oba Eweka, son of Oranmiyan, ruling for 66 years from 1180 – 1246, has inspired unforgettable cultural renaissance and traditional reverence for the kingship, which is by way of primogeniture (father to son). No Bini, except from this royal line of full blue – blooded scions of the line of kings can ever aspire to the sacred throne.

The new Oba commenced his reign by combining the navigational and exploratory wizardry of Vasco Dagama, Mungo Park, Clapperton, Lander Brothers, Prince Henry the Navigator, with the wisdom of King Solomon and the courage of Daniel, by breaking down the steely façade and barriers of myths, when he declared that contrary to widely held views, Oranmiyan, son of Oduduwa of Ile – Ife, and father of Eweka I, was the first Oba of Benin, even if briefly. It was Oranmiyan, he punctured historical revisionists, who established Obaship, after the Ogiso dynasty.

This rare daring bravado, more than anything else, perhaps will signpost the direction and trajectory of his reign, of speaking truth to authorities.

In terms of origin, Benin has an abiding and looming presence amongst the peoples of Onitsha, Ika, the entire Niger Delta, Lagos (Eko), Ekiti, Ikare, Kukuruku, parts of Ondo State, Ife, Republic of Benin and many other places across the globe.

PAST OBAS Whilst all Bini Obas have been great, playing different epochal roles, one recalls with

The

Nigerian Project

MIKE OZEKHOME san, ofr mike.ozekhome@yahoo.com 08094777755 (sms only) nostalgia, Oba Ovoramwen Nogbaisi (1888 – 1914), who fought and humiliated, with a great army, British meddlesome interlopers, for which he was exiled to Calabar, after the horrific infamous Benin expedition and massacre. One recalls Oba Eweka II (1914 – 1933), who rebuilt the ruined Palace and started the second Ogiso dynasty.

Next, the highly exposed and political titan, Oba Akenzua II (1933 – 1978), who fought tirelessly to help midwife Midwest region from western region on the 10th of August, 1963, by popular plebiscite. Then, the just departed colossus, Oba Erediawa, CFR, (he installed me Enobakhare of Benin Kingdom three years ago), who literally erected bridges of unity, understanding, amity, development and inclusiveness between, not just the Binis, but the entire Edo, and other ethnic nationalities across Nigeria.

It is from this illustrious pedigree that Oba Ewuare Ogidigan II, has just emerged, like the northern star that illuminates the firmament and makes other lesser stars to take a dive in obscurity.

To say that the direct son of Cambridge – trained lawyer and former Permanent Secretary, Oba Erediauwa, grandson of Kings College, Lagos trained Oba Eweka II, and great grandson of Oba Ovoranmwen Nogbaisi, is well groomed and fully prepared for his divinely cut out destiny, is an understatement. He drank from the purified fountain of knowledge and wisdom of these titans.

Oba Ewuare, born 63 years ago, did not just have his palm kernel cracked for him by a benevolent spirit, notwithstanding his birth into royalty; he actually worked for it, with sweat, pains, pangs and utmost dedication.

EDUCATION After attending Edo College and Immaculate Conception College, Benin City, young Ewuare II surpassed his father by having his education in both the UK and USA. Growing up in his grandfather’s harem (Oba Akenzue II), having lost his mother in 1976, at a youthful age, Ewuare got groomed in the act and science of royalty.

He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the Prestigious University of Cardiff, UK, and Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the famous 250 year old Rutgers Graduate University, New Jersey, USA. Fully equipped with the intellect and academic qualifications needed to confront a competitive world, Ewuare served as a Graduate intern with the United Nations in New York. He later returned to Nigeria and joined the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos. He was later to become a member, then Director, with the Board of Directors of the Integrated Data Services Ltd unit of the NNPC. He also served as Adviser on Socio-economic development with the Edo State Government.

WORLD OF DIPLOMACY Fully armed with these glittering credentials of a bagful of academic qualifications

and practical experience in corporate environment, he hit the ground running, when he was appointed Ambassador in 1997. His friends recall that Ewuare’s involvement in international business, especially in Oil and Gas, turned him into an economic and diplomatic Czar in the mode and character of his renowned forebearer, Oba Esigie (1504 – 1550).

Recall that the EU and nearly the whole world had slammed sanctions against Nigeria, and recalled their envoys during Abacha’s tyrannical reign, especially after the carefully choreographed “judicial murder” of the Ogoni poet, Playwright and Environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa. Ewuare was posted to the Kingdom of Sweden, with concurrent accreditation to the Scandinavian Countries of Republic of Finland and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway. His task was confidence – building, diplomatic engineering, and balming of gaping sores left yawning by Abacha’s absolutism. Suave, urbane, stoical, personable, sartorial and incandescent, Oba Ewuare’s fascinating royal dressing code illuminated and brightened the dark crevices of locked diplomatic channels, and allowed him unhindered access to the high and mighty in these cold Scandinavian Countries, thus returning Nigeria to the enlightened comity of nations.

His spectacular performance was so visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that Obasanjo, on return of civilian government in 1999, reappointed him as Ambassador to Angola, opening up new frontiers in the bilateral relations between embattled Angola, and a near pariah Nigeria. His exemplary performance, diplomatic wizardry and sheer geniality soon caught late President Yar’Adua’s eye, who in 2007, quickly reappointed him as Ambassador to Italy, with concurrent accreditation to Albania.

HIS PERSONAE This accomplished cultural Ambassador, Administrator Per Excellence, great humanist, irrepressible lover of people, focused achiever, with a quiet mien and magisterial gait and carriage, is fully poised to take Benin kingdom to a new dizzying height of fame and glory.

Being personally close to Ewuare II as I was, to his larger-than-life father, Oba Erediawa has given me a rare insight into a prodigy of a royal humanist, who at once, oxymoronically combines reticence and taciturnity with warmth, gregariousness and conviviality; colourful, yet not flamboyant. A man that is committed to the peace, tranquility and development of the “heart beat of the Nation”, handsome Ewuare possesses the affability and smiles that can melt the Olumo rock of Abeokuta or Zuma rock of Abuja (permit me the apparent hyperbole), to paint graphically, the plenitude, amplitude, depth and breadth, of his remarkable personality. Oba Ewuare’s presence is at once voluminous, commodious, incandescent, illuminating, just as it is infectious, filling a room with light, however dark, large or empty.

Oba Ewuare Ogidigan II, as you ascended the throne of your illustrious ancestors, permit me the rare privilege and honour of wishing you an incredibly long reign, excellent health and peace that passeth all understanding, in administering this historical Benin Kingdom.

Oba gha tokpere, Iseeee.

• Follow me on twitter @ MikeozekhomeSAN

Cross Word Puzzle

with Olulana Kayode 08023183727 Instructions on how to play the game •With reference to the ‘clues across’ and ‘clues down’ below, you shall try to provide answers to the clues, by writing the answer in the puzzle box provided on the left side.

•The number in parenthesis indicates the total number of letters making up the solution or answer you will provide.

•Keep on answering all the questions until all the spaces in the puzzle box are completely filled up.

Good luck!

Clues Across 1 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 16 17 18 22 23 24 25 26

Ex A/Ibom state Governor, (7).

Town near Oyo town, Oyo state, (3).

Unit of Korean currency, (3).

Cause discomfort, (3).

Town in Ondo state, (3).

Stand up, (4). __ Winans, American gospel musician, (4).

Chromium symbol, (2).

Identification, (2).

Motion picture, (4).

Examine in detail, (4).

Long thin fish, (3) Hard wood tree, (3) Plan to do, (3).

Short sleep, (3).

Late Nigerian Premier, (7).

Clues Down 1 2 3 4 5 6 13 14 15 19 20 21

Ex Rivers state Governor, (7).

Specialised force, (6).

Diary on web site, (4).

Imo state capital, (6).

Alimentary canal's lower end, (4).

Recede from shore, (3).

Ex Sokoto state Governor, (7).

Movies collectively, (6).

Paid man companion, (6).

Applaud, (4).

In addition, (4).

Forbid officially, (3).

Turn to page 55 for solution

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