Nigerian observer 22 08 2014

THE NIGERIAN

The Nigerian

1

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

PUBLISHED SINCE MAY 29, 1968 • Vol. 39 NO.062 • FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014 • N100.00

CD rallies support for Oshiomhole

ART AND CULTURE Page 19

Bats in folk culture

REFLECTION Page 23

Lessons from Ebola Virus

BENIN CITY – The Coordinator, Campaign for Democracy, Elder Macaulay Ovienria has called on the people of Edo State to support the Adams Oshiomhole-led administration to enable it

take the state to the promised land.

The Coordinator in a statement listed the achievements of the present administration in the areas of education, c o n s t r u c t i o n /

rehabilitation of roads, health sector, and the recent appointment of P e r m a n e n t Secretaries which he said was based on merit.

Other achievements

of the administration, according to ovienria are; payment of teachers salary, as and when due; promotion of teachers as well as recruitment of new ones; Continues on page 2

Investigate Lecturers’ strike, Oshiomhole directs Governing Councilss

BENIN CITY - Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has directed Governing Councils of the State owned Tertiary Institutions to investigate the reasons behind strike embarked upon by their academics in the state and report back to government.

Management and Oshiomhole gave the Technology, (IMT) Usen, directive yesterday when Oshiomhole said, “by he swore- in the some coincidence, your Governing Councils of the board is being Institute of Management inaugurated today and it and Technology, Usen, coincides with the report College of Agriculture, on papers today Iguoriakhi, and the College (Wednesday) that the of Education, Igueben at Academic and NonGovernment House, Benin Academic Staff Members City. of these Institutions are Addressing the on strike over alleged Chairmen and Members of non-payment of salaries the Governing Councils, of

arising from some upward review among others”.

Oshiomhole said, “I believe that the worker is entitled to his wages and this government does not believe that people should be given

a job without being paid.

“As a matter of policy, I have directed the Commissioners from the very first few months on assumption of office to ensure that workers salaries are given priority.

“I believe that the pay

day is sacrosanct. No reason can be good enough why a worker, whether at the lowest level or at the highest level in an organisation shouldn’t attract his pay at the end of a working day.

“So, whatever the reasons are for non – payment of salaries, I need you to investigate and advice me between now and Monday next week so that government can take Continues on page 2

... inaugurates roads in Airforce base

By BERNADETTE IDALU

BENIN CITY – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State yesterday inaugurated the reconstructed main gate of the Oko Barracks, Shittu Alao Airforce Base as well as fast tracked the process of giving a certificate of occupancy to the 81 Air Maritime Group, to ease the process of citing an Airforce Secondary School in Benin City.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole who paid glowing tribute to the Nigerian Airforce in particular and the Armed Forces in general noted that nothing mattered in democracy without adequate security in society.

He commended the Airforce for their level of discipline, saying there were no known issues of tension existing between officers and their host communities in Edo State.

The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu who had earlier touched down at the 81 Air Maritime Group, Benin City in a plane with registration number NAF203 inspected a quarter guard as well as paid a courtesy visit to the Oba’s Palace.

At the Oba’s Palace, he stated that sophisticated gadgets have been sourced for use by the Airforce in Benin City

TIT BIT

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

- Abraham Lincoln

which would beef up security and help in espionage activity.

He said 80 percent of illegal activities and insurgency would become visible for easy taking down of the enemies of the Nigerian State.

The CAS maintained that the collaboration and Continues on page 2

COMMISSIONING: Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole unveiling a plaque to officially commission the reconstructed Oko Barracks Road at the Shittu Alao Airforce Base in Benin City.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (right) Chief of Administration Headquarters, Air Vice Marshal C. N. Chukwu (left) and the Commander, 81 Air Maritime Group, Nigeria Airforce, Benin City, Air Commodore Olusoji Olaleye Awomodu. Photo: LUCKY AGIE.

Confab report not a waste,

By JOSES SEDE ABUJA - President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, received volumes of six hundred resolutions of the fivemonth long 492-delegate National Conference, with a promise of e f f e c t i v e implementations.

“If 492 egg heads, respected leaders of this country have come up

with this documents, this report, definitely, those of us in the executive arm of government and parliamentarians will

- Jonathan

respect this report”, Mr. President sounded amidst applause from the delegates.

The president noted that “the success of this conference has proved the cynics

wrong in many respects”, stressing, “those who dismissed the entire conference ab initio as a “diversion” Continues on page 2

location of any individual but by the content of character and competence.

Speaking at the maiden Edo State National Productivity Day Celebration where twelve Civil Servants Continues on page 2

Gov urges productivity among civil servants

By FRIDAY OBANOR

BENIN CITY-Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said yesterday in Benin

City that his dream for Nigeria is that Nigerians would no longer be Judged by the geographical

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

News

Gov urges productivity among civil Continued from page 1 servants were given award for

distinguishing themselves in the 2013 civil service year, Governor Oshiomhole noted that the celebration of the event is to focus on institutionalizing productivity consciousness and excellence in service among workers and organisations in both public and private sectors.

Represented by the Head of Service, Mr. Igbaekemen Jerry Obazele , he hinted that the celebration is to emphasise hard work, high performance, efficiency, discipline, dedication humility and patriotism.

He noted that identifying and rewarding the most productive workers and organisation in both public and private sectors of the economy would afford such workers and organisations proper and due recognition for hard work, high performance, high productivity and research achievements”.

According to the Governor, “The deepest principle of Human Nature is the craving to be appreciated and that is what

the celebration of the day depicts”.

On his part, the state Commissioner for Establishment and Special Duties, Comrade Didi Adodo said the celebration with the theme: “Productivity and Creativity for Sustainable Peace and Security”, is focused on modifying action, rather than human attitudes because it is difficult for people to do something new that seems contrary to their nature being changed.

Comrade Adodo further stated that the easiest way to implement the principle of trying to modify human action is to practice the famous advice offered by former American president, Abraham Lincoln in his Book where he said”, Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed”.

According to the Commissioner, “Considering the many problems bedeviling the nation today, the need for

sustainable peace and security cannot be over emphasized because the engine room of peace and security is equity and justice, as “No Justice, No peace; No equity, No security”.

Commending Governor Oshiomhole for being in the fore front of the struggle to revolutionaries the state civil service, Adodo urged public servants in the state to cooperate with the Governor so that the wind of change which is inevitable can touch everyone for good.

“We should be mindful of the faceless monster called Boko Haram and its insurgents in the North East which is trying to spread to other parts of Northern states and beyond”, he added.

In a brief remark, the state chairman Civil Service Commission. Mrs. Ekiuwa Inneh urged workers in the state civil service to shun

According to him, such giant strides of the Oshiomhole-led government was only witnessed during the period of Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia and Prof. Ambrose Alli of blessed memory in the defunct Midwest/Bendel State respectively.

Elder Ovienria therefore

appealed to the people of the state to support the Comrade Governor by paying their taxes, be dedicated to their duties, stating that, “those who want to criticize him should do so with all fairness, not with a pull-him down syndrome approach.”

and so forth”.

While commending the leadership acumen of the Board Chairman, Rev. Peter Obadan, Governor Oshiomhole urged him to put his past experience in place to reposition the institute, stressing that the state government has set up a visitation panel while urging the board of the Governing Council on the need to look into the report.

To the Chairman and members of the College of Agriculture, Igueriakhi Oshiomhole said, “Gentlemen, it’s nice to be gentle, but I guess that you would confront the challenge of repositioning the institute.

“We require a level of nonpunching, boxing, hard questioning, correct answers and proper diagnosis so that we can move forward.

“As you already know sir, we are taking Agriculture very seriously and Edo State is beginning to attract serious investors in the area of Agriculture”.

He stressed that the policy has started yielding dividends as Dangote Company has entered into partnership with the State Government by acquiring a 50,000 hectares of land for the cultivation of rice, which, according to him, will produce 15,000 employments to the people of the state.

“This is going to be the largest farm we are going to have; it is going to be managed by the Brazilians and the Americans. So, this will create a lot of jobs,” he said.

He however maintained, “Government resolved to separate the College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi from that of Agenebode because we don’t find any benefit in having

that college with two campuses and over the period, they have management problem, “We have dispute between Iguoriakhi management and that of Agenebode, so, we choose to separate them so that we can know who is not doing what is right”, he stressed.

To the Chairman and Members of the Governing Council, College of Education, Igueben, Oshiomhole said, “My charge to you is not different knowing that, you all have one common features of salvaging the tertiary education in Edo State.

In their responses, the Chairmen of the various Governing Councils of the three Institutions thanked Governor Oshiomhole for finding them worthy to serve and promised to work conscientiously in order to justify the confidence reposed on them.

According to Mr. Martins Osakue, “Sir, as a professional who have served for more than thirty eight years as a teacher, I want to assure you that in less than two weeks, we should be able to present to you a blueprint where the Colleges of Education, especially the College of Education, Igueben will play a pivotal role in the training and retraining of teachers in Edo State.

The Chairman, Governing Council, Institute of Management and Technology, Usen has Rev. Peter Obadan; College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi has Bar. Gentlman Amengor as Chairman respectively while college of Education, Igueben is headed by Mr. Martins Osakue.

CD rallies support for Oshiomhole

Continued from page 1

reconstruction of roads across the state; repositioning of the health sector, including the construction of Ultra Modern Central Hospital adding that health sector workers in the state are the highest paid public servants in Nigeria.

Investigate Lecturers’ strike Continued from page 1

appropriate steps to rectify this anomalies,” he said Oshiomhole maintained, “I don’t believe that people should go on strike; there must be something that is not right; there must be something that is not in place.

“I know for a fact that we have not defaulted in our monthly subvention to any of our institutions of higher learning, in spite of the financial crunch which many state government and federal government is going through presently,” he said.

According to the governor, “Many states are going through financial crisis. So if we are paying salaries as at when due, it’s not because we are richer; actually, those states in reference earn more per month than we received from the federation account”.

“We have decided and it has been part of our tradition now to manage whatever we have judiciously. We know that small can be beautiful if we manage it very well and that is the reason I am proud to say that we are not in arrears of salaries to anybody in the employment of the Edo State Government.

“If this is a fact, then, it is unacceptable to have anyone who work in an institution that is 100 percent owned by the Edo State Government not to receive his/her salary as at when due.”

“I think there have been issues of management of some of these institutions.

There are allegations and counter allegations.

Sometimes, there are demands as to whether government should increase subvention or not and so on

truancy, indiscipline and be dedicated to their duties as specified from time to time.

Mrs. Inneh who reiterated that hard work pays, however, charged the awardees not to relent in their effort in making the civil service work again while advising those who were not able to make it to the final selection not to see it as a failure, but as a challenge to work harder.

Earlier, the Minister of Labours Chief Emeka Wogu urged Nigerians to develop a productivity mind set, adding that machinery should be put in place to re-launch productivity programme for the country.

Represented by the state Co-ordinator, National productivity Centre, Mr. Oluuyiwa Thomas, the minister however hinted that peace and security are panacea for development of the country.

He appealed to Nigerians to support the federal government in the fight against insurgency in the country.

High- point of the programme was a lecture titled; “Productivity and Creativity for Sustainable Peace and Security delivered by Mr. Olumuyiwa Thomas the state Co-ordinator, National productivity Centre.

The twelve National Productivity Awardees which cut across all Grade levels of the state civil service are category one Staff on Grade Level one-six Mr. Aiyemola Sylvester (Ministry of finance); Mr. Daniel Ekhaguosa (Directorate of Central Admin); Mr. Mathias Aferuan (Ministry of Establishment and Special Duties) and Mr. Tunde Kasimu (Office of the Head of Service).

Level 07-12, Mr. Odalo Thank God (office of the Auditor-General Local Government); Mr. Friday Idahor (Deputy Governor’s Office); Mr. O. Agboola Afekhual (Deputy Governor’s Office); Mrs. M. E. Uwaifiokun (Office of the Head of Service), Mrs. Agatha Okojie Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs), while those in level 13-17 were, Mr. M.O. Omozeghiam (Ministry of Justice); Mr. Festus E. Okougbo (Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Dr. V.A. Iyekekpolo (Ministry of Health).

Ebola: Edo embarks on

street-to-street enlightenment

By TESSY OTENE BENIN CITY- In a measure to prevent Ebola virus disease in Edo State, the Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities has carried out a Sensitization/Awareness Campaign with a theme “SAY NO TO EBOLA”.

The campaign was flagged off yesterday by a top director of the Ministry, Mr. Sylvester Okokhere on behalf of the Ministry.

The officials of the Ministry embarked on a road show from Sapele road, Ring road, and environs.

Mr. Okokhere noted that even though Ebola is not in Edo State, there is need for continuous enlightenment on prevention adding that it will help in letting the people know what to do to prevent the disease from spreading to the state.

He appealed to people to take the preventive measures seriously.

The Director of Environmental Health and Safety who is also head of environmental protection and regulatory unit, Prince Peter Uwagbale who led other officials to markets on the campaign noted that there is need for market women to know the preventive measures adding that everybody is a stakeholder in the prevention of Ebola.

He, however, urged the traders to protect and preserve their wares so as not to litter the markets and ensure that their shops are kept clean.

A resident – Comrade Omobude Agho who spoke on Ebola noted that there is need for people to keep their environment clean and also desilt drains in fronts of their houses and government should carry out more campaign, jingles and sensitization campaign.

He also commended the ministry for the campaign.

Family remembers Pa Fredrick Okuns

BENIN CITY - It is fifteen years down memory lane and the passion and love of yesterday rekindled as the family of late Pa. Fredrick Omosigho Okuns (19241999) remembers him on Sunday 24 August, 2014.

Regarded very fondly for his love and discipline, Godwin Okuns in a statement on behalf of the family said that their late father’s memory will ever remain engraved in their hearts.

The children, grand children and surviving wives of Pa. Fredrick Omosigho Okuns, the statement noted remember and miss the late Fredrick Omosigho Okuns whose “memory remains

evergreen since his passing away on that fateful day of 13th July 1999”.

In his eulogy, Mike Iyobosa Okuns recalled his fatherly care, discipline, advise, jokes and gists enamoured in nostalgic feelings on their cruise around the town.

Besides, Mrs. Igbinedion Joy Oghogho reminisced: saying: “your memories still linger on as each day passes by as if you passed on yesterday. We missed you so much more than words can express. You will remain irreplaceable in our lives because your tenderly love, care and advise makes us to hold on and achieve most of our dreams in life.”

Airforce base

Continued from page 1

sharing of information by member of the armed forces has helped in the reduction of major explosions in streets across Nigeria.

Having served for 10 years in Benin City during his formative years as an Airforce officer, Air Vice Marshal Amosu observed that the Tactical Air Command used to be in Benin City, hence, with the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan, more aircrafts are already on their way to the 81 Air Maritime Group.

Praising the Oba of Benin for giving and ensuring an environment which promoted peaceful co-existence of officers in their host communities, the Chief of Air Staff informed that doors were open for the recruitment of Edo State Sons/Daughters into the Airforce with the kind endorsement by the Oba. On hand to welcome the CAS to Benin City were the Commander, 81 Air Maritime Group, Air Commodore Olusoji Olaleye, Awomodu; State Police Commissioner Funsho Adebanjo; Commander 4 Brigade Lt. Gen. O.F Azinta, other members of the Armed Forces Officers, wives and youths of the Airforce.

Late Pa Fredrick Okuns (1924 - 1999)

Confab report

Continued from page 1 have been proved wrong

as what you achieved has contrary to their forecast diverted our country only from the wrong road to the right direction”.

According to him, the cynics had “said the conference would end in a

deadlock as Nigeria had reached a point where the constituent parts could no longer agree on any issue; we exploded that myth by suggesting that you should arrive at your decisions by consensus or 75% majority threshold” gone very well.

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

News Army Armour School Gets New BAUCHI - The Nigerian Commandant Army has appointed Brig.corps, said Edokpayi Armoured Corps was known Gen. Dike Nnaa as the new Commandant for the Nigerian Army Armour School (NAAS), Bauchi.

Nnaa takes over from Maj.Gen. Austin Edokpayi who has been redeployed to the Defence Headquarters as the Director of Test and Evaluation.

A statement issued in Bauchi by Capt. Danjuma Jonah, the spokesman of the

appreciated officers and soldiers of NAAS for their hard work and dedication to duty in his farewell address.

He said he had a “wonderful sojourn’’ while serving at the school, adding that his subordinates were highly reliable.

The outgoing commandant urged them to maintain the standard for which the

Ebola: Benin Residents

Show Awareness

By STANLEY UGIAGBE/ EDET ELYA BENIN CITY – Residents in Benin City have expressed high level of awareness of the dreaded Ebola virus which has been a source of worry for lots of people across the world.

Investigations revealed that the deadly virus is no longer a news to residents of the state as precautionary measures are already been embarked as a way of checking the infections and spread of the disease.

In an interview, some residents of Benin City expressed their level of beliefs and knowledge of the disease.

Benson Nwanne, a banker said he is very well aware of the deadly virus and is doing everything possible to protect himself and his family.

Mr. Osahon, a meat seller said, “Ebola, Ebola everywhere, who never hear about am? As they say, na through meat people dey catch am; they wan come spoil market for us. I hear say the Ebola dey kill well, say, if you shake or hug person wey get am, you fit contact am. Anyway, I dey careful.”

Johnson Osazee, a student said, “yes of course, infact, who is not aware? The truth is, it is only God that can save one’s life, but Nigeria government should really start checking people coming from other countries medically as that was the reason that Liberian was able to carry that disease into the

country. Now we are in this mess, it is a deadly disease that every one must avoid.”

Mrs. Vivian, a caterer said, “I know about it o, Ebola here and there, tune T.V. Ebola, a beg, those wey carry am come, make them carry their property go.”

Henry Chukwunma, a trader maintained that, “I’m fully aware of the virus, I think everybody is aware, even a day old baby knows it is everywhere”.

Asked about the menace of the virus, one Mr. Pius Abiodun noted that, “it is appalling, the rate at which the disease kills; the virus kills faster than AIDS only God can save us”.

for.

He called on them to always exhibit high sense of discipline.

He stressed that discipline was the hallmark of military profession and urged them to continue to discharge their responsibilities with all sense of maturity.

Nnaa, until his appointment, was the Team Leader, Direct Short Service Course Training Team, Jaji, Kaduna state.

Edo State Commissioner for Establishment and Special Duties, Comrade Didi Adodo (left), State Head of Service, Mr. Jerry Obazele and the Chair of the Civil Service Commission during a ceremony to mark the maiden Edo State Productivity Day in Benin City yesterday. Photo: SOLOMON ENAIGBE.

Church Holds Monthly Revival Programme

By ABAH PIUS OGBADA

BENIN CITY - The Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) has held the 8th edition of its monthly revival programme entitled: God of Wonders at the various church centers in Edo State.

At the programme, the General Superintendent of the church Pastor William Kumuyi who ministered via satellite stressed the importance of submitting our totality to the will of God. In his first message, “the great exchange”, he emphasized that as believers, “we should give up what is useless so that He (God) can give us what is useful”.

He also said, “the only way we

can receive the wonder of God that was provided for us on the cross at Calvary is to surrenders our lives to God as our personal Lord and Saviour”.

Speaking with The NIGERIAN OBSERVER a member of DCLM, Mr. Eguasa and Mr. Lucky stressed that they were richly blessed by the pastor’s message and hope that it confines to be a source of blessings to them, especially at this end time.

Preaching on the 2nd message, “Take it Back” Pastor Kumuyi urged Christians to endeavor to take back their

A group photograph of awardees during the maiden Edo State Productivity Day in Benin City. Middle is the Chair of the State Civil Service Commission, Princess Ekiuwa Inneh flanked by the State Commissioner for Establishment and Special Duties, Comrade Didi Adodo and (her left), the State Head of Service, Mr. Jerry Obazele yesterday. Photo: SOLOMON ENAIGBE.

inheritance in Christ.

According to him, many have lost their position and authority that was given them

by God. He stressed that “regaining lost glory and inheritance is as easy as ABC, which is known for A-Accept that you are a sinner; BBelieve that it is only through Jesus you can be saved and cconfess your sins and continue to live a righteous life all

Clergy Decries Unwholesome Practices In Campus Fellowship

By OMEIZA ROBINSON/ IKPONMWOBA JOEL ABUJA – A Clergy in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Pastor Chika Amechi has threatened to move a motion for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to completely stop campus fellowship in tertiary institution in Nigeria.

During a brief talk with newsmen in his office, he spoke about the ungodly activities that are currently associated with leaders and members of such fellowships.

He said as a graduate of University of Ibadan, I was actively involved in my fellowship on campus and I can remember almost everything that took place then.

“I held several positions in

Kashimbilla Dam: FG Approves N31.2bn Electricity ABUJA - The Federal Government has awarded a N31.2 billion contract for the evacuation of electricity from the 40-megawatts capacity Kashimbilla Dam in Takum local government area of Taraba.

The Minister of State for Power, Mr Mohammed Wakil, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Wakil said that the project

was awarded to SCC Nigeria Ltd with a completion period of 18 months.

“Approval by council, the contract for award for Kashambila Dam; that is the power segment of 40 megawatts.

“The amount is N31.2 billion in favour of Messrs SCC Nigeria Ltd. “By the time we add 40 megawatts to the national grid it is going to complement the existing power that we are generating in the country.

Contract “Apart from the fact we are also going to gain from the 40 megawatts this will now also lead to creation of employment in that community.

“While we can have the formal and informal employment, engineers, artisans and others will benefit from this.

“Further to that we will also have additional, in terms of economy benefits, be it

agriculture, irrigation and many others; by the time it is completed it is going to help us a lot.

“And it is in line with the transformation agenda of Mr President to reform the sector.’’

Information minister Labaran Maku also added that the contract approval followed a memo tabled before the council by the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo.

“The company had already installed the turbines in the course of the implementation

through your life.

Highpoints of the monthly revival programme was prayer for the sick and oppressed and testimonies of God goodness as they all received answers to their prayers.

Worthy of note was the University of Benin Deeper Life Campus Co-odinator, Pastor Edionwe Partrick who also moderated during the programme; Pastor Olori; Pastor Mike Okofu and others who assisted in coordinating the campus fellowship.

of the project.

“But the infrastructure for evacuating power from Kashimbila Dam to various communities of the North East and indeed North Central had not been awarded.

“But as progress on the dam approaches completion toward the end of the year, the minister of power came to council today with a memo proposing a contract for the evacuation of power from the dam.’’

my fellowship and later became the president of my fellowship in my 300 level.

“Upon my graduation in 2002, I have been to several fellowships on campus to preach, by invitation; I have done that in 37 universities across Nigeria, both private and public universities, he said.

The cases he observed have always been similar, comprising of sexual sin, misappropriation of fellowship funds by ‘spiritual brethren’ including bringing inexperienced non-believers into the fellowship system to function in one office or another while the fellowships are filled with inexperienced Christians.

He revealed that campus fellowship is not the right place to breed Christians who are conscious of the fact that heaven and hell truly exist.

According to him most campus fellowship will make people “two times the children of satan” because they do not preach to condemn and discourage the act of sin, they will not preach along that line at all, so that student will not feel hurt and guilty of their sins.”

However, he acknowledged that there are few believers in campus fellowship who uphold the tenets of the Holy Bible and are at risk of being influenced by the high number carnally minded fellowship members.

He said that there was no need to have such fellowships on campuses “so that the bad ones do not contaminate the good ones.”

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Inside Edo Christ Chosen Church Of God Int’l Convention Begins

By SWEETIE IDEMUDIA

BENIN CITY- The 2014 Annual International Convention of Christ’s Chosen Church of God International has commenced at the Church Headquarters in Benin City, Edo State.

Delivering a welcome address, the General Overseer /Spiritual leader of the Church, Most Snr. Apostle Joshua Osasuyi appreciated members who came from various part of the world to partake in the spiritual exercise.

He thanked God for what he called his protection at turbulent times in Nigeria when human life has been badly cheapened .

According to him, “insatiable greed for wealth and power is destroying the very fabrics of the nation and exposing the citizens to impending catastrophe”.

Speaking further, the spiritual leader said the nation is unconsciously drifting to a dangerous precipice and nobody seems to read the hand writing on the wall.

He called on Nigerians to rise up and intensify their prayers for the country so that God would save her from blood thirsty evil men and total disintegration.

Speaking on the topic: Requirements for effective spiritual warfare to remove mountains”, Apostle Pius

Igberaese said, “we live in a world of many evil powers and as such must put on the full armour of God as recording Ephesians 6:10- 13 to overcome evil forces”.

He said the principal enemies of mankind are the devil, demons, spiritual wickedness in high place and their evil rulers of darkness.

According to him” for us to over come them, we must be born again, have faith in God; have the holy spirit, must pray and fast; use the name and blood of Jesus effectively.

Ikolo Esan Commiserates With Late Clement Ehebha Family

Vice President Namadi Sambo (right), presenting an award to the Deputy Chairman, National Conference, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, at the Conference closing dinner in Abuja recently.

Oshiomhole, Symbol of New Democratic Governor not to fail and I on to that promise and Order – Sam Oboh hold UROMI – Chairman of development. rely on God’s strength to

By TUNDE EIGBIREMOLEN

Esan North-East Local Government Area, Hon. Samwell Abhulimhen Oboh has expressed his administration’s commitment to re-erect the Oshiomhole development – based politics verged on infrastructural transformation Oboh who made this assertion recently in an exclusive chat with the NIGERIAN OBSERVER asserted that “Oshiomhole remains the Symbol of a new democratic order in Nigerian politics with his style of leadership verged on massive infrastructural

“Of all the Governors in Nigeria today, Comrade Oshiomhole remains one of the few Governors who represents a paradigm shift by redefining politics and governance. He is always on the side of the masses and the poor in society. And that is what I am committed to replicate in this council” the Chairman said.

“I am resolutely committed to transform Uromi to the chargin of lyrics. My politics is not based on any political affiliation but on the development of the entire council, in line with what

academic calendar may be confronted with the challenge posed by the Ebola Virus.

In separate reactions during

a chat with newsmen in Benin City, students in both campuses of the university were apprehensive in view of the relatively crowded nature

Governor Oshiomhole has come to symbolize, because I run an open and transparent administration,” He said.

According to him, “As a council Chief Executive, I know the stakes, are high; the expectation from the people is also very high. I have promised the Comrade

BENIN CITY- The 2nd Vice –Chairman, Church Council and the Director of

UNIBEN Students Express Apprehension of the university setting.

Ogar Deborah, a student in Over Ebola Spread the Faculty of Social Sciences semester of the institutions BENIN CITY – Some

By IKPONMWOBA OSAZEE JOEL

Students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have expressed fears that resumption for the second

Chief Stanley Obamwonyi, the Esere of Benin Kingdom, receiving a gift on behalf of the Benin Monarch, HRM Oba Erediauwa from Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, Chief of Air Staff during a courtesy visit to the Palace yesteray. Photo: LUCKY AGIE.

deliver.

He also noted that with less than ten months in office his administration has kicked off some notable projects in the health, education and social sectors and promised to complete them in record time.

Clergy Emphasises Importance Of God’s Grace To Believers

By SWEET IDEMUDIA

said she is afraid, because, staying in the hostel means she must be free with all students living with her and she must exchange pleasantries.

She noted that many people are resuming from all parts of the country not knowing who among them might have contracted Ebola Virus.

Another student, Benedict Nwanchukwu, a student in the Faculty of Arts said “many of my friends are Lagosians and I don’t know who they have come in contact with while in Lagos for the holiday; so, I am afraid because I can not do without having contact with them.”

Miss Becky Ugbaja expressed apprehension of ever having contact with her fellow students, saying that she cannot but relate because it is a student community.

BENIN CITY- A Sociocultural and the umbrella body of all Esan Association, the Ikolo Esan Organisation has commiserates with the family of the late Hon. (Dr.) Clement Awolowo Ehebha, who died recently, describing him as a rare gem.

A release endorsed by the Chairman of the organisation Prof. Gabriel Oteze, said the late Dr. Ehebha “died at a time when Esan land, Edo State and Nigeria needed his immense contributions most, “describing it at a great loss too difficult to bear”.

It also described the late Dr. Ehebha as a genius selfless and dedicated leader whose foot prints will remain indelible, adding that his death has left a big vacuum.

Land and Housing of Christ’s Chosen Church of God International, Snr. Apostle Jonathan Onaghise said the grace of God and mercy is sufficient to save those that are truly the children of God. Apostle Onaghise made this known which delivering a sermon titled: “The Ministry of Salvation

by Grace” at the on-going international convention of the church at the headquarters in Benin City.

He said grace is the undeserving favour of God in providing salvation for those deserving condemnation. “it is manifested on earth through the gift of God’s son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins”, according to him, (Onaghise) He called on the congregation to allow the holy spirit lead them, always remember Christ and open their hearts to love if they truly want to apply the grace to their lives.

Hon. (Dr.) Clement Ehebha

Obarise-Imade Dies At 75 BENIN CITY- The death has occurred of Deacon (Engr) E.A. Obariase-Imade at the age of 75 years.

Deacon Obariase-Imade died recently during a brief illness.

He is survived by wife and children.

According to the burial arrangement, there will be a service of songs today at his residence, No 2 Wellington Idehen Street, Off Reliance Hotel Road, Aduwawa, Benin City at 4 pm.

Tomorrow, Saturday, there will be a social dance (Afternoon) at Payne Primary School Upper Mission Rd, Benin City, beginning from 12 noon while the thanksgiving service will hold on Sunday at Jesus Breeds Ministries International, Incorporated, 416 Osayi Street, Off Ewah Road, Benin City.

Deacon (Engr) E.A. Obariase-Imade

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Across The Nation Agric Transformation

Anambra Acquires 200,000 Hectares ONITSHA (ANAMBRA) The Anambra Land Acquisition Committee has said that it had acquired more than 200,000 hectares of land for the state government’s agricultural transformation scheme.

The Interim Chairman of the committee, Igwe Chukwuemeka Ilouno, said this in an interview with newsmen in Onitsha.

Ilouno said that the governor, Willie Obiano, was committed to investing massively in agriculture and had gone ahead to procure some of the needed inputs in furtherance of the scheme.

“We have just too many lands One of the Borehole Projects executed by the member representing Akoko Edo Constituency 1` at Edo State House of and more; what is holding us Assembly, Hon. Adjoto Kabiru at Ayanran, Ward 4 in the Local Government. Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN. back now is surveyors.

“We need a lot of surveyors to come and survey the lands that had been given so that we can sign MoU (Memoranda SOKOTO - The Sokoto of Understanding) with State Zakkat and Endowment various communities that Committee has said that it have donated land. disbursed N105.3 million to had commenced state-wide ensure the success of the eradicate poverty in the “Because previously these society,” Abubakar, lands were never surveyed. the needy in the last seven enlightenment on the scheme. payment of Zakkat.

In his speech, the Sultan of represented by Galadiman So this is exactly the situation months.

Alhaji Sa’ad Garin-Sokoto, said.

The Chairman of the The Chairman urged officials Sokoto, we are in. committee, Alhaji Lawal of the committee to be Abubakar III, urged Muslims The State Commissioner for “And by the time we finish Maidoki, said this at the take- faithful and have the fear of to pay zakkat to the needy in Religious Affairs, Alhaji Tukur surveying, the governor can off of the sensitisation God in conducting their accordance to the teachings Alkali, also urged the wealthy have hundreds of thousands to support government to of hectares of land available of Islam. programme on the need for duties. the rich to pay Zakkat (alm) He also called on people to “Giving of Zakkat according improve the welfare of the for cultivation.

“As we are speaking now, we partner with the committee to to the teachings of Islam will masses. in Sokoto. already have more than surely purify our wealth and Maidoki said the committee

Sokoto: Zakkat Committee Disburses N105.3m

had distributed 1, 844 bags of grains and 14,307 bundles of millet and guinea corn during the period.

He said 240 sheep, 42 goats, 42 cows and two camels were also distributed to the needy He said that the committee

Police To Partner FCDA To Upgrade Hospital

ABUJA - The Police have pledged to collaborate with the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to upgrade its 40bed hospital at Dei Dei police

of its facilities.

“What I know about the hospital so far is that it is a small hospital.

“We will collaborate with the FCDA to expand the hospital to a standard hospital, and we will make it open for members of the public, who we serve, to access,’’ he said.

Governor Peter Obi did Abba assured that all underscore the fact that he inadequate facilities at the remains a member of APGA,“ barracks would be identified

barracks in Abuja.

The Acting InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, disclosed this when he visited the barracks and inspected some

APGA Crisis: Lawmaker Optimistic

ONITSHA (ANAMBRA) Rep. Afam Ogene (APGA – Ogbaru) has said that the leadership of the party in Anambra would resolve its internal crisis.

It will be recalled that a fortnight ago some prominent members of the party threatened to abandon the party for another due to disagreements.

Ogene told newsmen in Atani near Onitsha, that there was no form of disagreement among the party members that could not be resolved amicably.

“There is nothing playing up, what we have as I keep insisting even from two years ago is family disagreement.

“The tongue and the teeth live in the same cavity but they often have misunderstanding once in a while.

“For us as APGA members, it is not a fierce crisis, I keep telling people.

“It is a mass movement of the Igbo people; it is beyond the

200,000 hectares.

“The governor has just waved his hands and said any land that is donated would be cultivated.

“He has already been able to secure 150 tractors, 15 million bundles of cassava cuttings and a lot of rice seedlings and fish fingerlings.

“So he is ready to invest in agriculture. That is what he had shown.

“It is not only him investing, he is inviting international investors, local investors to come and he will give them land to bring in whatever they have to cultivate.“ The chairman, who is also Chairman of Anambra Central Traditional Rulers Council, appealed to all communities in the state to key into the scheme in order to wipe out hunger, unemployment, and crime in the state.

It will be recalled that the state government had begun online application and registration for the agricultural scheme.

The online application and registration is being done through the “Anambra Youth Connect“ platform as well as at the vocational centre at Anambra State College of Agriculture, Mgbakwu.

Of Resolution

political party. If it is about political parties, I have different platforms upon which to stand and I am sure that I would be able to achieve my aim there.

“But because it is a mass movement, my people said no, we cannot abandon what is close to a religion for us.“ According to Ogene, there have been consultations within the party as well as among various Igbo groups to see to a peaceful resolution of grievances among the party members.

“When a husband and wife have issues they settle them before the day breaks.

“We have been able to re-invent ourselves at different critical junctions; don’t forget that when people thought we won’t come together to do the governorship elections, we did.

“There are no big issues; when we sit down and trash one or two issues. We are still together.

‘And you remember that former

he said.

with a view to address them appropriately.

He said he had visited the senior officers’ quarters in the territory and decided to visit the barracks with over 1,900 housing units, accommodating junior officers.

“I hold the junior officers dearly,’’ he said, adding that the force is making plans to provide school for the children of the personnel in

the barracks.

Reports state that the acting inspector-general also inspected a skill acquisition centre in the barracks, a project being undertaken by the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA).

Abba expressed satisfaction with the level of work on the project so far and assured that it would be completed on schedule.

A 300KVA Transformer installed at Ayanran Community by honourable Adjoto Kabiru, member, representing AkokoEdo Constituency 1 in Edo State House of Assembly as part of his 2013/2014 Constituency project. Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN.

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Across The Nation

NYSC D-G Tasks Corps Members On Electoral Duties KATSINA - The NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Bamidele Johnson, has urged corps members involved in electoral duties to adhere strictly to electoral laws and resist inducement by politicians.

Johnson made the call in Katsina while addressing NYSC members during his farmiliarisation visit to the state.

The director-general urged them not to be involved in any form of election malpractice.

He said they should respect the cultures and religions of their host communities, and gave the assurance that the necessary measures had been put in place to ensure their security.

Johnson promised to address the problems he observed during inspection of some facilities at the camp.

The Katsina State NYSC coordinator, Mr Wilson Abiodun, said 2,073 NYSC members were posted to the state.

He also said that of the figure, 141 pregnant or married women are serving in their spouses places of residence.

Abiodun commended Katsina State Government for its support towards the success of NYSC programme.

2015: US Pledges To Support Nigeria ABUJA - The United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, has promised that his country will support Nigeria to ensure a successful general elections in 2015.

He made the promise when he paid a courtesy call on members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja recently.

Ertwistle said: “from our own historical experience, we understand the importance of election.

“The United States will support the Nigerian people in their quest to ensure a credible and transparent election that they want and deserve.

“That is what we stand for.

I will try to be in touch with all the leaders of the political parties to be knowledgeable about the electoral process here.

“I think it is incumbent on all of us to work towards this;

SA’s Death Personal Loss - Uduaghan

By BETTY IDIALU

ASABA - Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has described the death of his Special Adviser on Information and

Communication Technology (ICT), Mr. Sunny Ofili as a personal loss too painful to bear.

Dr Uduaghan who was accompanied by his deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN), and other members of the State

Executive Council, including political aides, paid a condolence visit on the family of the late Ofili in Asaba.

The late SA died in an auto accident that also, claimed the

life of the traditional ruler of Issele-Uku, HRH Obi Henry Ezeagwuna.

According to Dr Uduaghan, the deceased was “a young man, very active and dedicated to his duties with a passion. Sunny’s death is a personal loss to me.”

While condoling the late Ofili’s family on the loss, the Governor said, “I know it is very painful to the family. For us in government, it is also very painful. It is very difficult to

express one’s feelings because his death is a great loss to the state.”

He promised that the state government would meet up the responsibility of giving the late colleague a befitting burial.

Responding on behalf of the family, Mr. Patrick Isichei thanked Governor Uduaghan for the show of love and concern for the Ofili’s family and for associating with them in their period of grief.

By CLIFFORD AGBAJOR BENIN CITY – An aspirant “eying” Orhionmwon/ Uhunmwode seat at the House of Representatives, Hon. Wilson Ogieva has said the successful conduct of Osun State governorship election has “raised” the hope of Nigerians as it affects the 2015 general election.

Dr. Ogieva who made the remark in Benin City, recently, noted that the Osun governorship election has doubled the tension in some quarters that the Ekiti governorship election was rigged by the federal government, pointing out that the Osun election has vindicated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to some extent as well as restored the hope of many Nigerians in the electoral body.

He observed that the conduct of Osun governorship election has shown that those at the helm of affairs are beginning to think of how the country can be taken to greater heights.

The former Edo State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs commended the federal government, INEC and security agencies for not conniving to rig

the Osun governorship election.

While calling the various stakeholders, particularly INEC, to ensure a free and fair general election in 2015, the two-time Orhionmwon Council boss stressed the need for adequate arrangement to be made in the area of security as election will be taking place in some parts of the country at the same time, thereby reducing the number of security personnel that would be posted or deployed to each state compared to what obtained during the Ekiti and Osun States governorship elections.

He therefore suggested that local vigilante groups should be groomed for the general elections by the federal, state and local governments to assist during the conduct of the 2015 general elections.

On his ambition to represent Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Chief Ogieva who holds Ph.D in Public Administration explained that he has the necessary experience and competence to effectively represent his people at the House of Representatives taking into consideration the various positions he has served at the local and state government levels.

Osun Election Raises Hope For Credible General Elections - Ogieva

Shanties gutted by fire at Mgbuoshimini, Rumueme in Rivers State recently.

A block of 3 classrooms with headmaster’s office executed by Hon. Kabiru Adjoto, member representing Akoko Edo Constituency 1, at Ukilekpe Primary School in Lampese.

Photo: GODWIN ISEGUAN.

INEC To Complete Delimitation Of Constituencies After General Elections

ABUJA - Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the delimitation of constituencies would be concluded after the general elections of 2015.

INEC daily bulletin issued in Abuja has quoted Jega as saying this at a Public Hearing on a Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act No. 6 of 2010.

The hearing was organised by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Electoral Matters.

Jega said that although the commission and its partners had covered substantial grounds to delimit constituencies, there was a lot more to be done.

“Though substantial work has been done by INEC and its partners to delimit constituencies, the process cannot be concluded and

submitted to the National Assembly until after the 2015 general elections’’, he said.

He explained that the country’s polling units and registration areas had not been mapped.

He stressed the need to apply Geographic Information System to configure, map out and demarcate the constituencies.

“Without maps, you cannot configure the constituencies.

You need to develop maps and then put the population figures’’, he said.

The chairman said the commission and its partner agencies had been pooling resources to ensure that the exercise was successful.

The bulletin quoted Jega as describing Diaspora voting as a good international practice which Nigeria needed to emulate.

He said the commission’s

staff had observed Diaspora voting in other countries.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, described the public hearing as part of a chain of events that would culminate in the amendment of the Electoral Act.

He said that if the electoral law was morally and technically sound, it would ensure free, fair and credible elections.

He commended the House Committee on Electoral Matters, chaired by Jerry Manwe, ‘for doing a thorough job.’

• Hon. Wilson Ogieva

Threat Files Within 14 Days or Face Sanction who have complaints about their ABUJA - The new Head of mails not being treated in good - HOS Service of the Federation, Mr Danladi Kifasi, has said he would set a 14-day limit within which files must be treated by civil servants or face sanction.

Kifasi stated this while unfolding his agenda to State House correspondents shortly after his swearing-in by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that his vision was a compact federal civil service that was well managed, focused, committed, highly skilled and innovative in line with federal

government’s transformation agenda.

“Obviously, we have to support the transformation agenda of Mr President. So my vision for the service is to have a compact service that is well managed, well focused, committed, highly skilled and very innovative.

“We are going to set up structures that will give us feedback, he concluded.

“For example, I personally will set up a call centre, a blog, a website, twitter, so that people

time can call in or write in to me directly so that they can have a response.

“I intend to set a limit of 14 days maximum; any mail or document treated outside 14 days such officers will be appropriately reprimanded.

“There will be incentive for those that do well and of course stick for those that don’t.’’

A trained accountant at the London School of Accountancy in the United Kingdom, Kifasi said he would ensure strict compliance with the rules and regulations of the service.

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Across The Nation Participate In Voters Registration, UPN Urges Members

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos (right) congratulating the New Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Funmilayo Atilade, during her swearing-in in Lagos recently.

Ebola: CAN

Niger Chapter Stops Handshake In Churches MINNA-The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Niger Chapter, has asked its members to desist from handshaking during church services to curb the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the state.

The Niger CAN Chairman, Rev. Musa Dada, disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with newsmen in Minna.

Dada said the churches have also been directed by the state CAN to continue to enlighten members on the prevention and spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

He said members have also adopted the use of plastic chairs in order to minimise transmission through body

fluids.

“CAN as the body of Christ cannot force people to stop handshakes in churches as every individual have his or her beliefs.

All we can do is to create awareness to discourage handshakes in churches,” the CAN chapter chairman said.

Also, the Catholic Bishop of Minna Diocese, Bishop Martins Uzoukwu, told new that Catholic churches in the state had taken a proactive step in this regard.

“This is by bringing in health personnel to educate our members on the Ebola virus,’’ he said.

Uzoukwu, who spoke through the Cathedral Administrator of

Ebola: Cleric Urges

Personal Hygiene

LAGOS-The District Superintendent, Apostolic Faith, West Africa, Rev. Emmanuel Adeniran, has said that ensuring personal hygiene and environmental sanitation could help prevent Ebola Virus infection.

Adeniran said this in an interview with newsmen Lagos on the sideline of a three-week Camp Meeting of the church holding at Faith City, Igbesa in Ogun State The theme of the meeting is “The Power of Worship“.

“Most of the viruses and all the epidemic that we have around us can be prevented, and we can have a guard of prevention if we are very serious about hygiene.

“In this camp, we have told people that the first thing to do before you eat is to wash

your hands with soap and you should maintain good hygiene; we are not afraid of Ebola.

“God has delivered us from the fear of Ebola; the fear of Ebola cannot come to us because the fear of God is first in us.

“Following the word of God, by the grace of God no Ebola will come here; I am not thinking of Ebola here I’m only praying for the larger country.

“Because while the children of Israel were in Goshen, while all the Egyptians were suffering, God provided a cover for His people; and He has promised us that cover, so am not afraid of it.“ The camp, which opened on August. 3, will close on August 23.

St. Michael’s Cathedral Church, Rev. Godwin Yari, said the Church had also stopped the use of holy water at the church’s entrance.

He said this was part of measures to fight the deadly disease.

“Why we stopped the use of holy water is because church

members dip their hands into the water at the entrance of the church as sign of purification.

“But with the outbreak of Ebola disease, we have ordered it to be stopped,” the Bishop said.

He urged other priests to always protect themselves while praying for the sick so as to avoid direct contact with Ebola victims.

ABUJA- The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) has renewed its call on party members to participate fully in the on-going national voter card distribution and registration by INEC. Alhaji Abubakar Sokoto, the National Secretary of the party, made the appeal in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.

According to the statement, distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and Continuous Registration of Voters (CRV) by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) should be utilised ahead of coming elections.

“Obtaining PVC and partaking in CVR will enable eligible Nigerians to vote and be voted for in 2015 general elections and beyond.

“UPN directs its leaders in all states that the exercise is taking place to mobilise, enlighten and encourage other members and general public to exercise their

civic responsibilities during the exercise,” it urged.

While acknowledging the success of the exercise in many areas, the party however observed some shortcomings.

It advised INEC to extend the period of the exercise where shortage and late delivery of materials were recorded to capture all eligible voters.

It will be recalled that the electoral ombudsman is presently distributing PVCs and conducting CVR in 12 states of the federation, including Oyo, Kwara and the Federal Capital Territory.

The exercise, which started on Aug. 15, would last till Aug. 25 in the aforementioned areas.

The party also advised INEC to moderate the deployment of security personnel to states during elections.

It also cautioned security agencies against harassment or molestation of citizens with impunity.

Group To Purchase Nominaton Form For office at Wadata Plaza, PDP asserted right of first refusal JOSES SEDE National Secretary, Professor Jonathan for the president, which they

2015:

ABUJA - The coast appears cleared for an easy ride of President Goodluck Jonathan’s quest to fly the presidential flag for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, should he declare his bid to do so.

This followed the body language by the national leadership of the PDP which

argued was in the interest of the country for Dr. Jonathan to be their candidate and contest the 2015 presidential poll.

Speaking yesterday, when the National Coordinator House to House Campaign Organisation for Democracy, Ogidi Ben- Bara led other member on a visit to his

Wale Oladipo noted that PDP will win the 2015 presidential election in the interest of Nigeria.

He further noted that that PDP has been known to work towards the development of the nation, and that come 2015, the party would continue its transformation agenda.

Meanwhile, the National Coordonator of House to House Campaign Organisation, Ogidi BenBara disclosed that the group has set aside a total of N19.5 million to purchase a presidential form for the President when he eventually declares to contest the presidential election.

People of Umuezike Village, Isuofia, Aguata Council, protesting over destruction of their homes by Hoodlums at the Government House in Awka recently.

THE NIGERIAN

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Abuja

NSCDC Generates N180m

ABUJA - The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has said it generated N180 million from the registration of private security guards’ companies in the last seven months.

The Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, Mr Emmanuel Okeh, disclosed this at the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) and the Media parley convened by an NGO, INigerian Initiative, in Abuja.

Okeh, who is a Chief Superintendent of Corps (CSC), said that the corps had registered 61 private security companies within the period under review, while 132 others are in different stages of processing.

He also said that 78 of them were sealed off for contravention and the sum of N180 million was generated from issuance or renewal of licences He said that over 600 persons were arrested from 2008 till date for their involvement in various forms of illegal recruitment.

Okeh said that the latest fraudster was one Michael Ogun from Edo who was arrested in a suburb of Abuja recently with

N495 million and other foreign currencies found in his various bank accounts.

The spokesman said that over N90 million had been refunded to victims who reported to the corps.

He advised Nigerians seeking employment with NSCDC to be wary of those peddling fake employment websites and bank accounts.

He said that the Corps do not invite applications through the internet and does not demand payment for employment forms.

Okeh also said that 380 people were arrested for vandalism from across the country between January and July.

“Among those arrested are vandals/illegal bunkers and other criminal elements.

“Several trucks, jerry cans, barges, boats alongside other tools used by these criminal elements were equally impounded.

“Of the number arrested, 10 have already been convicted by different courts of law, while 364 others are undergoing prosecution by either the Economic or Financial Crimes

Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Police or NSCDC officers,’’ he said.

Okeh added that 293 people were arrested for oil pipeline and gas installation vandalism while the remaining 87 were apprehended for destroying or stealing electricity, telecommunication and railway infrastructure.

On counter terrorism operation, he said 15,000 of the corps had been trained by the Nigerian Army on counter terrorism and weapons handling in addition to establishing emergency response units at air and sea ports.

Okeh said that the corps was presently strengthening its surveillance and intelligence gathering mechanism.

“Terrorism is assuming a very dangerous dimension in the country with wave of kidnapping and violent attacks by militant groups in the country on the increase.

“The corps is therefore taking proactive steps to ensure that violent activities of terrorists groups are reduced to the barest minimum.

2 Factory Workers Docked For ABUJA - The police have arraigned two factory Assaulting Expatriates workers in an Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court, Life Camp, for assaulting two Expatriate of Golden Silk Company, Abuja.

Saed Adoun, 26 and Chukwudi Allison, 24, both of Golden Silk Company, are standing trial for criminal force and assault.

Mr Philip Apollos, the police prosecutor, said the offence, which contravened the provisions of sections 265 and247 of the Penal Code Law, was committed on August13.

Apollos said the victims, Mr Zhang Zhangliang and Mr Zhang Zhong, lodged a complaint against the accused at the Life Camp Police Station on Auguts14.

He alleged that on August13, the accused attacked the complainants unexpectedly in their offices.

He said the complainants, who sustained degrees of injury, were receiving medical treatment at the Nigeria Turkish Nizamiyya Hospital, FCT. The accused,however, pleaded not guilty to the

charge.

The Senior Magistrate, Mr Zubairu Mohammed. however, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200,000 each and one surety each in like sum.

He said the sureties must

have a reasonable means of livelihood and reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

Mohammed also ordered that the sureties must be civil servants not below grade level 10 and adjourned the matter till August 25 for hearing.

“Part of the steps being taken includes strengthening our surveillance and intelligence gathering mechanism, staff training and re-training, and purchase of necessary equipment, among others.’’

National Coordinator, I-

Commonwealth Grants: CSOs

Urged To Submit Credible

ABUJA - Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have been urged to come up with credible proposals in order to

Acting IGP Suleiman Abba (left) watch as a policeman is being dressed in a bomb proof kit with a detector at the police headquarters in Abuja recently.

“I think in combating insurgents, the citizenry have a major role to play especially in helping the law enforcement agents by providing information.

“It is very important.

Sometime past, we had this tendency of not being interested in anything that did not affect us.

“Now security, as they say, is everybody’s responsibility.

“So, I think as a citizen or anybody staying in this country, we can serve by providing information on any suspicious

movement in our environment.

‘We can also collaborate by not seeing the security agents especially the police as our enemy,“ he said.

Mr Esua Ettah, another resident, advised Nigerians to see themselves as part and parcel of the government and therefore, not leave the fight against insurgency to the security agents alone.

“Fighting the insurgents cannot be left to the government alone; we constitute the

people, we can either make or break that perception by what we project to the public.

She said this had informed a great part of the NGO’s mission and philosophy, which is “to reawaken the pride of being Nigerian”.

Inspection of Dei-Dei Police Barracks in Abuja by the Acting Inspector-General of Police during the inspection of the Barracks in Abuja recently.

Insurgency: Abuja Residents Urge Public, Security Agencies’ Collaboration

ABUJA - Some Nigerians have called for collaboration between the citizens and security agencies to tackle insecurity in the country.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, they said it had been difficult to curtail the activities of the insurgents because of the nonchalant attitude of some citizens.

Mr Philip Ukpong, a civil servant said some Nigerians were not keen on cooperating with security agents to combat insurgency.

Nigerian, Ms Ada Apiafi, had urged security agencies to be open and transparent when dealing with the media as a way of building mutual trust in the discharge of their duties.

Apiafi said notwithstanding the challenges that we face as a

government; the citizens of Nigeria constitute the government of the federation.

“So, there is need for citizens to help the government to do this through vigilance groups.

“We should be able to know who and who are new in our communities; we should be able to identify strangers in our midst,“ he said.

He applauded the government for providing surveillance devices in Abuja, but called for enhanced security on the nation’s borders.

Proposals benefit from the Commonwealth Foundation Grants.

Dr Martin Uhomoibhi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the call at the opening of a two-day Sensitisation Workshop for CSOs on the grants in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said “the foundation gives out one million pounds (N260 million) annually to beneficiaries from developing countries in the Commonwealth.’’

He told participants at the workshop that Nigeria was one of the highest contributors to the fund with annual subscription of 50,000 pounds (N13 million).

“We are one of the nine permanent members of the foundation but the benefits earned so far are not commensurate with what Nigeria contributes because many CSOs have been unable to utilise the grants’’, he said.

He said the foundation provides grants to civil society groups to engage in participatory governance because the Commonwealth Charter recognises the role of civic engagement in governance.

The permanent secretary reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to the core values of the 53member organisation, particularly as it relates to democracy, peace and sustainable development.

“Nigeria has held four consecutive elections since its return to democracy in 1999 and there have been significant improvements in each of the

elections.

“Nigeria has never gone to war with any of its neighbours and we have not gone to war with any nation, rather, we have contributed troops in places of conflict to promote peace and security.

“The Commonwealth must recognise the progress being made in Nigeria, the Commonwealth has great values and Nigeria has the responsibility to ensure that they are maintained around the globe’’, he said.

Mr Vijay Krishnarayan, Director of Commonwealth Foundation, highlighted significant achievements of the organisation which still makes it relevant after the collapse of the British Empire and colonialism.

He said the commonwealth had reinvented itself by being an outspoken critic of apartheid, advocate for democratic norms and more equitable and sustainable development.

According to him, the association is now defined by its values than its history.

He added that Mozambique and Rwanda which had no historic connection with the British Empire, had decided to join the association while the Gambia and Zimbabwe had withdrawn from it.

He said in the Commonwealth Charter, which was endorsed by Heads of Government and launched in 2013, one of the 16 clauses recognises the important role of CSOs in participatory governance.

The workshop is organised by the ministry in collaboration with the foundation.

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Business + Economy NIPOST Urges MDAs To Use Stamp Duties

ABUJA - The Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to be proactive in the use of stamp duties to boost the country’s economy.

Malam Mori Baba, Post Master General of the Federation, made this call at a two-day summit on stamp duties Act organised by NIPOST in collaboration with stamp duties agents in Abuja.

The theme of the summit is “Implementing stamping protocol in Nigeria’’.

He urged the MDAs to ensure that they generate revenue for the country through the use of stamp duties.

He said that NIPOST would continue to create public awareness of the existence of stamp duties.

Baba commended Jigawa and Osun states for their full compliance with the provision of the Act by their respective MDAs and advised other states to emulate them.

The post master general said that implementing the stamping protocol would help promote the economic reform programmes of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

“One of the enduring legacies which the present administration will be leaving for us is the economic reform programme.

“This, apart from creating an enabling environment for attracting local and foreign investments, has broadened the scope and depth of private sector participation in the Nigerian

economy,’’ he said.

Baba explained that this had made it possible for more people and organisations to be brought into the system because the stamp protocol Act had made it expedient for generation of new jobs.

According to him, the summit will assist to further develop a road map for the success of implementing the stamping protocol in the country.

He said NIPOST was partnering with more than 10 private companies to broaden the scope of implementing the stamp duties Act. Baba explained that adhesive stamps were used by the colonial administration to settle the challenges of land disputes.

“One of the greatest milestones of the 19th century is the advent of postage stamps which contributes in serving as an effective visual communication use by the country to project its values,’’ he said.

The Guest Speaker, Mr Christopher Muo, said the implementation of stamping protocol would eliminate the issuance of fraudulent and doctored receipts in Nigeria.

Muo said the implementation of an appropriate stamping of receipts, documents and registrable instrument would reduce fake documents in the name of any office, business or agency of government.

According to him, it will also block revenue linkage at cash point, thereby making the receipting process audit-

verification friendly.

“It will eliminate the issuance and use of fake, fraudulent or doctored receipts or tax certificates purportedly issued by a tax inspectorate.’’

According to him, if the stamping protocol is properly implemented, it will improve the revenue income profile of any office, establishment, ministry, agency and institution.

ABUJA - The Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, has launched a National Digital Flood Model for better forecasting and monitoring of flooding nationwide.

The Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, said this at the public presentation and launch of the instrument in Abuja.

Represented by Mrs Rabi Jimeta, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mallam said that it would ensure effective environmental governance and prompt response to impending flood disaster.

She said that the model permits

interaction between predicted hydro-metrological data and earth surface conditions such as land use and soil type.

However, she said that the major challenge to the use of the model was for it to be adopted in flood management service delivery in the country.

According to her, the forum was organised to discuss ways to create awareness among stakeholders on the adoption of the model in flood management.

The minister said the launch and public presentation of the model was organised to facilitate interaction among stakeholders on the operations and success of the Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) and the National Digital

Flood Model in the monitoring and management of flood in Nigeria.

The commitment of the Federal Government, she said, necessitated the development and presentation of the model as a new strategy for flood management in the country.

Earlier, Jimeta noted the success of the FEWS programme of the ministry in flood disaster risk reduction in the country led to the development of the National Digital Flood Model in 2013, to enhance weather forecasting.

Jimeta, was represented by Mr Solomon Idinyang , the Acting Director in the Department of Erosion, Flood and Coastal Zones Management of the

He, however, called on the National Assembly to holistically review the Nigerian Poster Service Act in order to enforce stamping protocol as a function of NIPOST. He also recommended that electronic stamps as a class of stamp should be minted, produced, distributed, retailed and sold by NIPOST to increase revenue generation for the

country.

Muo also pleaded with the National Assembly to amend Section 11 of the constitution to include Section 11(3).

This would ensure the recognition of NIPOST and its agents as the sole authority to provide adhesive postage stamps for use in implementing the stamping protocol.

Reports state that the Stamp

Duty Act was first promulgated on April 1, 1939, enacted and enforced in the then colonial Nigeria as the Stamp Duties Ordinance.

However, in 1990, it was updated as the Stamp Duties Act and was holistically reviewed in 2004 and re-enacted as the Stamp Duties Act Cap.S8 LFN 2004.

Youth Corps members collecting registration materials for registration of voters at the INEC Zonal Office in Omu-Aran, Irepodun LGA of Kwara recently.

FG/UNDP Launch Digital Flood Model

Trucks seized from oil thieves set ablaze by joint task force in Ukwa West LGA in Abia recently.

ministry.

She said that the platform was expected to serve as a veritable strategy for flood disaster preparedness and management.

“It is worrisome that relevant agencies in the water and environment sector lacked collaboration in the matter of

flood forecast for the country. “ Hence, the need for this occasion to bring stakeholders together, in order to foster cooperation among them.’’

Also speaking, Dr Anthony Anuforom, the Director-General of the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET), said flooding constituted one of the deadliest

and costliest disasters worldwide.

Anuforom, who was represented by the Mrs Julie Ukeje, the Director, Applied Metrolological Services in NIMET, said that flood disaster accounted for about 90 per cent of lives lost due to natural disasters.

their businesses, adding that the scheme had also helped in creating jobs.

He added that most of the beneficiaries had moved from micro businesses to small and medium scale cadres, citing Akanu Plantain Farms as example.

“Today, you can see his products in big shops like Shoprite and all over the world and that gives us a lot of encouragement,” he said.

the disbursement of the N220 billion MSME fund of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The state was given the money for its “excellent” performance in its micro credit scheme, which it had sustained over the years and had won awards from the CBN for the effort.

Commenting on the fund, Uduaghan said “the fund is going to go to the micro finance

MSME: Delta To Establish Legal ABUJA - Delta State Reports that N500 million was Government has said that it Framework given to Delta at the launch of would promulgate a law that would ensure the sustainability of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) programme in the state.

The state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, made the assertion in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

Uduaghan said that a Bill for the proposed law had already been sent to the state’s House of Assembly.

He explained that the proposed law was part of efforts by the government to get a legal framework and institutions that would sustain the various small businesses that had helped to grow the economy of the state.

“I have already sent a bill to the House, once they pass it, I will sign it and no matter who is there, whether it is me or another governor, the programme has to go on.

“We have various aspects of the bill that will ensure sustainability; so, if you don’t do what the law says, you are breaking the law,’’ he said.

The governor said that those who had benefited from the MSME funds in the state had expanded

Environmental Sanitation

Zamfara Employs 29,000

GUSAU - Zamfara State Government has employed 29,000 youths from across the state as part of its efforts to boost its environmental sanitation programme in oder to ensure a clean environment.

Alhaji Sunusi Dan-Alhaji, the Director-General of the state Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), made this known in an interview with newsmen on Tuesday in Gusau.

Dan-Alhaji said that the programme was is in line with the state government’s commitment toward achieving

the MDGs in the state.

He said that 200 youths were selected from each of the 147 wards across the 14 local government areas of the state.

According to him, the programme was carried out by 10 different environmental sanitation consultancy companies, under the supervision of the state Environmental Sanitation Agency (ZESA).

“The sanitation is carried out twice in a week, where each of the youths receives a monthly stipend of N10,000 and we are seeing improvement in our environment.’’

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014 RECENTLY, the Minister of Health, Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu announced that a Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, a WASH consultant in the Ministry of Finance in Liberia, who was in Nigeria to attend ECOWAS summit had died as a result of Ebola Virus Infection. The death of the 40 year old Patrick Sawyer in Nigeria has made the Ebola Virus Disease a very serious public health concern in the country.

THE Ebola Virus is the most dangerous virus affecting humans and other primates. The disease causes hemorrhagic fever in humans, and once it has been contracted, symptoms start manifesting as from two to twenty-one days. Some of the symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease include fever, headache, muscle pain, chest pain, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, seizures, bleeding, nausea and coma.

THE medical history of Ebola Virus indicates that it is found naturally in certain animals such as fruit bats, monkeys, chimpanzees gorillas, pig, antelopes and porcupine. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ebola Virus was first identified in Democratic Republic of Congo by a 27 year old Belgian Scientist, Peter Piot in 1976 and in the same year it was also discovered in Sudan. Since the first outbreak of the disease, however the most severe happened to be that of 1976 when it killed 280 people.

IN the year 2000 it killed 224 people; in 2012, 12 people were killed by Ebola Virus and that of 2014 has been described as the deadliest outbreak of the Ebola Virus, affecting people in countries like Sierra Leone, Mali, Liberia and Guinea, where over 467 people have died so far as a result of’ the epidemic.

THE Ebola Virus Disease is spread or contracted when an individual comes in contact with blood, sputum, or body fluid of an infested person. It is also a contagious disease and air-borne, which means that it can be

THE NIGERIAN

Checking The Spread Of Ebola Virus

inhaled when a victim dischargers the virus in the atmosphere whenever he or she sneezes or coughs. It can also be contracted when we eat animals that serve as host to the virus, and through sexual intercourse with a carrier of the virus.

ACCORDING to world Health Organisation,(WHO) the disease is spreading fast from rural communities to cities in some West African Countries, and calls for drastic action to curtail the scourge or epidemic before it becomes widespread and difficult to control.

According to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ebola Virus affects multiple organs and systems in human body, thereby making it the most deadliest disease of man presently.

WITH the death of the 40 year old Liberian in Nigeria as a result of Ebola Virus infection, it therefore means that the disease has subtly found its way into the country. Medical experts say the disease is more dangerous and very contagious when one comes in contact with a dead victim, which explains why utmost care must be taken by health workers in handling the corpse of the deceased.

OTHER methods of preventing the spread of Ebola Virus generally, include isolation or quarantine of victims, killing and proper disposal of infected animals, proper cooking of all kinds of meat before consumption, wearing of protective clothes, hand gloves, mask by health

workers attending to Ebola Virus patients and washing of hands regularly. Victims should cover their mouth when sneezing or yawning and should dispose their sputum in a hygienic manner.

THE World Health Organisation says there is no cure or vaccine for now to combat Ebola Virus disease, hence the death rate resulting from the disease is very high, often between 50 to 90 percent.

The NIGERIAN OBSERVER therefore calls on the Nigerian government, and the Federal Ministry of Health in particular, to immediately adopt a health policy whereby any foreigner coming to Nigeria either through air, sea or land boarders should he thoroughly screened for Ebola Virus before being admitted into the country. That is the practice in developed societies against any disease posing serious public health concern such as Ebola Virus and other highly contagious diseases.

FURTHERMORE, the cows and other livestock slaughtered on daily basis in the various abattoirs should be properly screened by officers from the public health department in the local government councils in conjunction with veterinary doctors from the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to safeguard the health of the people.

THE Federal and State governments should as a matter of urgency, provide funds for the purchase of the necessary diagnostic facilities in hospitals across the federation, instead of depending on foreign laboratory services.

AS the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, and in the case of Ebola Virus disease, there is no cure for now. So The NIGERIAN OBSERVER cautions Nigerians to be vigilant, mind what they eat, practice good personal and environmental hygiene, and adhere strictly to all the preventive strategies highlighted above, in order to avoid Ebola Virus infection and spread.

THE NIGERIAN

13 Peacefulness and spreading peace in the world is another virtue taught by Allah’s messenger for which the world including Nigeria is seriously craving.

Peacefulness, be it within an individual’s mind and soul or within society in general, has become a very scarce virtue in our contemporary world. The current times are full of all sorts of unrest, ranging from insecurity, theft, robbery with violence, domestic violence, oppression, injustice and unnecessary national and international wars which are all due to uncontrolled materialistic greed and desires to own more and more of the pomp and glitter of this world.

In spite of the high standard of living that many people have today. Though they live an easy life full of all kinds of material comfort, most people have neglected the true source of peace and looked for it elsewhere.

They looked for inner peace in music, sports, movies, wealth, power and positions of influence, promiscuity, alcohol, drugs and other things, all in vain.

The true source of inner peace and peacefulness is in understanding the purpose of our creation, knowing and believing in our sole creator, cherisher and sustainer and calling on Him constantly.

In Nigeria, everyone is seriously praying for peace. Some have embarked on fasting so that peace can reign. The followers of all the major religions – Christianity, Islam and Africa Traditional Religion have all organized prayers so that peace can reign in the country.

Unfortunately, peace is not an essential commodity that can be purchased in the market. No one can equally pick peace from the ground.

A society can only achieve peace based on the fear of ALLAH. Obedience to the

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Voice Of

Islam

Every Friday With Mallam Abdulfattah Enabulele Chief Imam of Benin

Can Prayer Alone Guarantee Peace?

commandments He has sent down through His Holy Prophets.

Peace will come when everyone will have a change of heart and turn sincerely to ALLAH for forgiveness.

What ALLAH wants in every human is the purity of heart and sincerity of propose. Many of us are very religions but are not God-fearing people.

Therefore, praying for peace without the fear of ALLAH cannot yield any positive result.

Praying for peace with insincerity in the heart will not achieve anything positive.

“O ALLAH! You are the true source of peace and mercy. Grant us inner peace in our hearts, minds, and souls, and make us peaceful people who love peace and spread peace. Ameen”

Let The Truth Be Told

A nation can survive if they refuse to believe in the existence of ALLAH and worship Him. He will continue to provide for all irrespective of whether they believe in His existence and worship Him or not. This is why some unbelievers are richer than some believer.

Why is this so, because ALLAH is the most compassionate; the most merciful.

No society can survive without upholding the virtue of justice, equity and fair-play. No nation can survive without upholding the moral virtue of sincerity, honesty, truthfulness and trustworthiness. No nation can survive if the people continue to dwell in corrupt practices and evil tendencies.

After 100 years of amalgamation and almost 54 years of independence, Nigeria is becoming a classic example of an alien nation.

There is no disputing this facts. Everywhere you turn, you are confronted by the social pathologies arising from alienation.

A deviant post-colonial culture of unprecedented impurity, anti-social behaviour ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killing for money, human trafficking, official extortion, state burglary of the Exchequer and the international reputation for large scale corruption, all compounded by elite political delinquency.

Never in this country have we had so much high level corruption, the quantum of oil theft, the total blackout in the nation, the collapse of the education sector and massive youth unemployment, loss of faith with the system and loss of moral value. These and other issues raised must be addressed in order for peace to reign in the land.

The real problem of Nigeria is neither the destructive anti-economic activities of the South-South militants, nor that of the greedily callous South-East kidnappers nor the ritualists and armed robbers operating freely in the South-West, nor even that of the heartless Kidnappers and bloodletting vandalism of Boko Haram in the North-East and North-West.

It is rather the unwillingness of the so called government at all levels to raise up to

Praying for peace without displaying the characteristics of honesty will equally not yield the necessary result.

Praying for peace when the elements of truthfulness are missing in the society is purely a complete waste of time and energy.

Telling the people to offer prayers for peace to reign in the society, when the moral virtues of justice, equity and fair-play is not upheld and practicalized, such prayer will end in total fiasco. (complete and ridiculous failure) Praying for peace to reign in a society, where the issues of oppression, suppression and double standard is the order of the day,

the occasion and do what is right at the right time.

The root causes of the multi-dimensional problems staring Nigeria in the face today are traceable mostly to the corridors of our government. Of all the vices that currently constitute insuperable problems for Nigeria, particularly corruption and injustice, none originated from a source other than that of the government. The various high profile corruption cases since last five years have confirmed this assertion.

We all blame time for our misdemeanour, whereas, the misdemeanour blamed on time

is actually in us; we smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleans us of any blame; were time endowed with mouth to comment on us; it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; No dog eats fellow dog, it is only men that eat fellow men.

Some of us are very quick at blaming Lord Lugard for Nigeria’s numerous problems.

They argue that the 1914 amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorate was totally a big mistake. If their assertion is

correct or to be taken seriously, is 100 years of that amalgamation and 54 years of independence not long enough for the ruling class and the elites, make the sacrifice so that Nigeria project can be realizable, where all Nigerians can live peacefully irrespective of their tribal and religious inclination.

1914 amalgamation should not be blamed for Nigeria’s problems. We are our own problems. We know the sources of what we call problems and we incubate them. We know how to proffer solution to those problems but like Lotus eaters, we are so much drunk with illegality that it has become so difficult if not impossible for us to part with it.

Allah warns us in Qur’an (13:11) that: “Verily Allah will not change the good condition of a people as long as they do not change heir state of goodness themselves by committing sins and by being ungrateful and disobedient to Allah, but when Allah wills a people’s punishment there can be no turning back of it, and they will find besides Him no protector.”

Whoever calls for equity must come with clean hands. Let everyone of us be very careful because time is running out for Nigeria.

such prayers or supplication will not be answered by ALLAH. Requesting the people to pray for peace in the society when the issues of corruption and greediness is on the increase, such prayer will not only be rejected by ALLAH, efforts put into it will end in vain.

Requesting the people to pray for peace when there is no respect for the sacredness of human soul and people are being killed in an alarming rate is unacceptable to ALLAH. People are told to offer prayers for peace in the country. How can such prayers be answered by ALLAH when some of those in authority don’t care about the welfare of the citizenry. When about 70% of the population are living below poverty level, when unemployment rate is on the increase, when government agencies collect money for services they never rendered to the people.

Authority stealing.

How can a society achieve peace when there exist racism and ethnocentrism, tribalism, sentimentalization of issues, parochial tendencies and discrimination of various grade.

These are the root cause of many divisions, injustices and troubles in our society, which has led to peace eluding us.

The first thing people must do is to seek for forgiveness from ALLAH and offer sincere repentance to Him. May ALLAH enable us to rise above such petty differences in terms of race, colour, creed, socio-economic status and tribe and unite us as one people.

ALLAH ‘s words will never be in want of relevance. They are regularly accompanied by relevance.

ALLAH also confirmed in the Glorious Qur’an that human hearts will find inner peace and tranquility in believing in Him, always remembering Him with words of glorification, supplicating to Him, being grateful to Him and seeking for His mercy, forgiveness and bounties.

O ALLAH! You are the true source of peace and mercy. Grant us inner peace in our hearts, minds, and souls, and make us peaceful people who love peace and spread peace. Ameen.

The Holy Prophet And Peace Making Abdullah ibn Salam said: When the messenger of Allah arrived in Madinah the people came out to meet him. When I gazed upon the face of the messenger of Allah, I knew that his face was not the face of a liar. The first thing that he said was: -O people! Spread the salam (peace and the greeting of peace), -feed others who are hungry, -perform prayers while the people are sleeping and you will enter paradise with ease.

It has often been falsely claimed by some non-Muslims that Islam is a religion of war and violence; however that is not true. We can clearly see in the above hadith that the first thing that came out off the lips of Allah’s messenger when he arrived in Madinah to be its leader was that people should b e p e a c e f u l a n d s p re a d t h e message among themselves.

He also advised them to feed the needy and offer the prayers in the night so that they might hope for A l l a h ’s m e rc y a n d e n t e r i n t o paradise with ease.

It is obvious that meeting people with greetings full of peace, love, affection, sympathy and feelings of well-wishing promotes peace in a society. Couple this with sincere hearts devoted to the obedience and worship of Allah and a people will earn the pleasure of Allah and an unimpeded smooth entry into paradise.

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Insight THERE is a growing consensus among Israelis and Arabs that the IsraelHamas war will end just like the 2009 and 2012 encounters. Hamas will declare victory by pointing out the casualties and pain inflicted on the Israelis and the likely limited relief it will obtain from the crippling blockade. Israel will be satisfied that Hamas’ military capability and infrastructure is destroyed or seriously degraded while leaving Hamas’ governing structure basically intact, as Netanyahu prefers the lesser of two evils—a weakened Hamas rather than the rise of a Jihadist authority in Gaza.

The status quo that existed before the war will gradually be restored, Hamas will rebuild its shattered forces, tunnels, and a new cache of rockets with greater sophistication, and Israel will prepare for the next round of fighting to keep Hamas at bay.

This scenario is sadder than sad; it projects hopelessness about the prospect of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and disregards the repeated heavy toll these mini-wars exact in destruction, death of innocent civilians, and human suffering, further deepening emotional scars and making peace ever more elusive.

Can this appalling scenario be avoided? What would it take, and by whom? The answer lies at the heart of two principle requirements: Israel rightfully insists that Hamas must

permanently renounce violence and disavow its stated objective to destroy Israel as a precondition to lifting the blockade; Hamas demands the lifting of the blockade to allow for the free flow of goods and travel as a precondition to any enduring ceasefire.

Both demands are extraordinarily difficult to accept as neither is prepared to concede without meeting the other’s demand.

Both sides have agreed in the past on ceasefires, which met their objectives only in part. Unfortunately, the lull in hostilities during those periods was not utilized by either side to foster more sustainable peaceful relations.

Although Israel and Hamas view each other as mortal enemies, this war has forced them once again to recognize that neither can destroy the other, and they must now begin to moderate their religious or ideological narratives, necessitated by the changing circumstances. In reality, Israel can reoccupy Gaza and topple Hamas, but Netanyahu does not want, and wisely so, to assume the burden of administering the Strip and caring for nearly two million Palestinians without a viable exit strategy and without leaving behind sustainable calm. Equally, Hamas realized that firing over 3,000 rockets at Israel and its efforts to kill or kidnap Israelis has had little effect.

The fundamental difference in this war, however, may well change

Israeli attack helicopter shoots flares near the Israel, Gaza border.

Ceasefire:

Will Netanyahu

By DR ALON BEN-MEIR

Israel’s and Hamas’ calculus: Never before has Hamas been so strapped for funds and isolated. Egypt destroyed the tunnels leading to Gaza, virtually ending the flow of goods and depriving Hamas from collecting taxes, and closed the Rafah border crossing.

Iran’s financial aid was

the exception of Qatar and Turkey) added immeasurably to Hamas’ woes.

All combined have left Hamas with no prospect of improving the conditions of its despairing populace to stem the growing public restiveness and discontent.

With little left to lose, Hamas ignited a new crisis

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon

reduced to a trickle, and the continuing Israeli blockade and the lack of financial and political support from the Arab states and the PA (with

to shake up the status quo, hoping to change the dynamic of the conflict from which it could benefit, regardless of the risks involved.

Conversely, Netanyahu’s popularity has soared; public trust in his leadership has never been deeper. He has understood the limits of what Israel can do and shown restraint by rejecting calls from his right-wing political partners to expand the war beyond his stated objective—the destruction of the tunnels and Hamas’ infrastructure.

The question for Netanyahu is whether he would be willing to return to Gaza and “mow the lawn” again, and if that would secure Israel’s future despite the lack of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict before he departs the political scene.

Netanyahu is a zealous ideologue who believes that Israel is not an occupying power and that the entire Holy Land, including the West Bank, is an inseparable part of the Jews’ existence and whose redemption is intertwined with the redemption of their land.

from their people and the international community for a drastic change.

Former Israeli Prime Ministers Begin and Sharon, de Klerk of South Africa, and Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union are some prominent leaders who unpredictably changed their political convictions and direction; Netanyahu himself had unpredictably

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

With this deep conviction, can Netanyahu change his position and take a historic leap of faith to work toward ending the IsraeliPalestinian conflict?

I disagree with those who suggest that Netanyahu will never change his stripes.

Many deeply ideological leaders before him have unexpectedly risen to the occasion to answer the call

accepted the Wye River Memorandum.

Netanyahu is a skilled and astute politician; he knows how to rally the people around him, is not deterred by obstacles, believes in himself, and is totally dedicated to Israel’s national security.

The time and circumstances in which he finds himself now place his

deep the u Pales realiz he fi pivota be re Israel F. Ke and l each The prov Neta leade shift t those block He of th period provi renou Gaza statio force secur crossi Egyp In a Arab mean and at a face Wh this emerg to stri would rema much for th negot Ult nation block from negot Pales the o accep Net Mini prede Israel Like surely

“Conversely, Netanyahu’s pop trust in his leadership has ne understood the limits of what restraint by rejecting calls fro partners to expand the war bey the destruction of the tunnels an

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Insight

u Seize The Moment?

ideological conviction against unmitigated reality of the stinians. As a leader, he now zes that the condition in which nds himself provides him a al moment in time that may not epeated to seek an end to the li-Palestinian conflict. As John ennedy once said, “leadership learning are indispensable to other.” e current 72-hour ceasefire ides an opportunity for nyahu to demonstrate rship, courage, and vision, and the onus entirely on Hamas and e countries critical of the kade. should offer a complete lifting e blockade in phases over a d of time (two to three years), ided that Hamas agrees to unce violence and demilitarize . Hamas must also agree to the oning of a robust international to monitor the borders and PA rity forces to supervise the ings from Gaza into Israel and t. addition, Hamas must adopt the Peace Initiative, which would n implicitly recognizing Israel t the same time offering Hamas e-saving way out. hether or not Hamas agrees to Initiative, Netanyahu will ge as a statesman who is ready ike a deal that the whole world d embrace while achieving a arkable feat without risking h, radically changing the outlook he resumption of serious peace tiations. imately, Israel’s long-term nal security rests on ending the kade and neutralizing the threat the West Bank in particular by tiating with any representative tinian government and ending occupation under mutually pted terms. tanyahu has served as Prime ster longer than any of his ecessors, with the exception of l’s founder, David Ben-Gurion. any other leader, Netanyahu is y thinking about his legacy and

likely wants to be remembered as the prime minster who led his people to a lasting peace, rather than leaving Israel even more insecure and vulnerable.

Will Netanyahu seize the moment and give the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians the greatest gift—to live, grow and prosper

THESE days, nothing strikes a bout of panic and paranoia than the thought of Ebola Virus Disease. It’s been decades since a disease or calamity of such proportions threatened our relationships, businesses, sports and our very existence.

In the midst of all the trepidation came a ray of hope – an experimental secret serum, manufactured by California based Biopharmaceutical giant, Mapp. It has been administered to two Americans and a Spanish Priest (first European), all infected in Liberia. The Priest lost the battle against Ebola despite receiving the experimental solution after he was flown back to his country, Spain. However, the health of Dr Kent Brantly and missionary aid worker, Nancy Writebol, has improved tremendously to

reinforce the efficacy of the drug, ZMapp. After the malady had claimed the lives of over a 1000 people in Africa with just about the same number presently inflicted with the disease, the American government in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), on compassionate grounds, sent experimental samples to Liberia for trials on Ebola patients.

It is puzzling why over a thousand Africans had to die before talks of a vaccine hit the airwaves. It is safe to conclude that had the two Americans not contracted the virus we won’t be close to any drug of any sort. Before now, the research for a cure has been shrouded in secrecy by the Americans. That the ailment had no cure and is a fast moving outbreak gives a technical knockout to the argument of ethics – that the vaccine should first be tested on compatriots of the

together in peace?

Maybe I am a dreamer, but as Victor Hugo once observed: “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”

“Ultimately, Israel’s long-term national security rests on ending the blockade and neutralizing the threat from the West Bank in particular by negotiating with any representative Palestinian government and ending the occupation under mutually accepted terms.”

Hypocrisy Of America’s Experimental Ebola Drug

pularity has soared; public ever been deeper. He has Israel can do and shown om his right-wing political yond his stated objective— nd Hamas’ infrastructure.”

researchers and manufacturers in America.

The laboratories of American pharmaceutical companies were not short of promising research experiments of vaccines or drugs. They weren’t eager to develop a vaccine if they aren’t sure who would buy it. With just over a thousand deaths, it’s just a blip compared to the mortality rate of other diseases. For instance, Malaria kills a child every minute. Compare the death

By THEOPHILUS ILEVBARE

rate of Malaria with other deadly diseases you’ll discover why GlaxoSmithKline and other Pharmaceutical giants are making billion dollar investments, researching and working day and night for vaccines for malaria. Ebola is horrifying, but it’s also sporadic — between the big 2001 outbreak and this one, only a few dozen people have gotten sick every year or two.

The current outbreak has spread among a handful of poor countries that all have weak health infrastructure.

America and the rest of the developed world knew the deadly disease had no known cure but since it has mainly being affecting only Africans in several outbreaks since 1976 it wasn’t worth any serious research investment.

Ebola vaccine not the answer?

But even if any of the drugs on trial works, it would be a stretch to say we could confidently use it to prevent another Ebola outbreak. The experimental Ebola vaccine, ZMapp, or any other one for that matter, it appears might not even be the answer to the ravaging strain of the virus. A well-funded and researched vaccine would have done the magic like it was the case for smallpox and polio which put an abrupt end to outbreaks.

The exigency of a cure for the scourge has made relevant authorities approve the use of some experiment solutions on compassionate grounds.

Anyone receiving a rushed mass vaccine like this is putting an enormous amount of trust in Pharmaceutical companies and the government because there is no way to know the long term effects of the disease. It can’t be easily ascertained at the moment. The fears of its long term effect exist no matter how infinitesimal it might seem. The memory of all the kids, who now suffer from a severe form of narcolepsy due to the swine flu vaccine that was hurriedly created a few years ago, remains evergreen.

Before we can say uhuru, the efficacy of such a drug should cut across the various strains of Ebola. The current outbreak is the Zaire virus, but previous outbreaks were Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire strains. The drugs being bandied about might not be the quintessential Ebola elixir that we crave. Most of the experimental drugs are solutions to fight the Zaire virus strain.

These experimental drugs can kill the present virus in the body system and prevent it from infecting others but it does not in any way make us completely immune from the virus, that is, another outbreak.

Containing the scourge would have been much easier with vaccination at the early stage of the outbreak; it is difficult to stop the epidemic in fast moving diseases like Ebola. According to Community Health professionals, most vaccines take a few weeks to provide immunity, and even then, they don’t always control the disease spread. A recent WHO statement submitted that even if any of the drug or vaccine is successful, it will take at least six months to contain the outbreak.

During the early weeks of the pestilence, villagers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea blocked streets,

preventing doctors and health workers from gaining access to Ebola patients. This will pose a problem to vaccination if it eventually becomes available. We heard on good report that at a point, soldiers were deployed to hospitals to prevent locals from forcefully taking away Ebola patients.

There are still remote villages and communities in Nigeria that resist polio vaccination.

They see it as an unwarranted intrusion from the ‘white man’. Imagine what would happen if we tried to preemptively vaccinate thousands of people who not only are skeptical of Western medicine but have never heard of Ebola.

Fighting the epidemic must involve a multi-pronged drug.

ZMapp serum, other drugs from Canada and the one by some Nigerian doctors in the diaspora, focuses on eradicating the disease after infection. What the global community needs is a vaccine to prevent the infection from getting into the body, that is the development of antibodies within the subject rather than injecting them from outside the body.

The serum is by no means the end of Ebola but it leads us away from ineffective containment of the deadly virus disease. The use of vaccine or drug might not be the fastest way we bring the spread of this highly infectious malady to a stop.

Nevertheless, the Ebola story is not all gloomy as 40 percent of victims are surviving.

For now, Ebola patients will jump at the chance to live free of the virus than worry about any side effects in the long term or another outbreak in the future.

This is hoping that these limited doses of the vaccine will not distract and ultimately derail effort to curb the frenzied outbreak using tried, tested and true methods like rapid identification and isolation of the sick and providing basic supportive care for patients, finding and educating who’s been in contact with them and strict hospital infection control.

With these, Ebola can slowly but surely be driven away.

Please follow the writer on twitter @tilevbare.

THE NIGERIAN

18

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Art Alive

With Francis U. Odupute

Class Of 2014 UNIBEN Art Students (Continued From Last Week)

WHILE Collins Obayuwana’s comedic sculptural piece “ The Zealous Professor” deploys humour to raise awareness that “knowledge comes by reading” and that zealous pursuit of knowledge brings humanity closest to nature and results in productivity and the realization of our self worth, Rukevwe O h w o v o r i o n e ’s “INDECENT DRESSING” graphically pillories the deteriorating loss of moral values and dressense among youths in our society. The artist argues that “Indecent dressing is a social malady that is prevalent in both males and females, especially among girls on campus”, stressing that “ Indecent dresses do not improve your beauty, rather, they dent your image. It symbolizes disgrace and public madness”.

The efforts of the Edo State government in addressing poor sanitation culture in the state was the subject matter of Abayomi Monday Akinola’s photo-journalism piece entitled “Photographic Documentary of Environmental Sanitation Activities”. According to the photographer, “ Every living orgamism needs an environment to survive, but human beings need a clean environment to enjoy good health and live long. It is against this backdrop that this project seeks to photographically document those activities of the government and the general citizens of Benin City on sanitation exercise towards promoting clean environment”.

Ever heard of “Motion Graphics”? Ask Joshua Ogenekewe Okoro. He produced one for the UNIBEN Art department on the premise that “motion grahic design is relevant to the daily lifestyle of people today. It is used in the advertising, movie and music industries, and devices like mobile phones and tablets pc, laptops, television, etc. It was a quest to create a motion graplic design and demonstrate its diverse adaptation that birthed this project and this will help in making communication better, easier and entertaining”.

As for Timilehin Dennis Olatuyi, exploring metal

smithing aesthetics of combined metals to produce mace for his school’s Art association, NAFAAS, was a dream come true, even though observers wondered if the National Association of Fine and Applied Arts Students, UNIBEN chapter, would soon create a “legislative chamber”, to put the mace to its intended use.

Kingsley Osita Mbilitem focused on ‘Rebranding Nigerian Trains and Railway System”, banking on the many fiscal benefits of a reinvented “RAILWAY NIGERIA.” The list goes on.

So why can’t things be different? Indeed these UNIBEN students were questioning orthodoxy and challenging the status quo by their innovative artworks, which speaks eloquently about the current leadership, workforce and training

accessible from UNIBEN Fine and Applied Arts department. There appears to be a soft (creative) revolution brewing in the department, as they have set an agenda for the UNIBEN Art Department of the future; and if Mr. Kehinde Shobukonia of the Computer-Aided Design unit of the Art department (who compiled and edited the novel catalogue at the instance of the head of department) was to be taken seriously, the UNIBEN Fine and Applied Arts department would henceforth consolidate on the cataloguing innovation. Writing in the Introduction to the colourful digital catalogue, Mr. Shobukonia explained that the catalogue and subsequent editions would serve the following purposes among others, namely: To showcase the quality of graduates

“The Zealous Professor” by Collins Obayuwana.

Rebranded “Railway Nigeria” by Kingsley Mbilitem

Question Orthodoxy

NAFAAS Mace, combined metals by Timilehin Olatunyi

produced by experienced lecturers in the department; to provide a guide to final year students in choosing novel special project’s topic and execution; a testimonial for graduating artists when in search of employments and commissioned works; to create room for further researches and experimentations in various fields of creative Arts; to also encourage students to engage in developing innovative mind in the creation of scholarly publications to solve academic and societal problems through bespoken graphics and photography”.

Ultimately, the catalogue is expected to “be the beginning of a landmark tradition in the department to building a library of creatively – packaged documentation of subsequent art exhibitions

Dr O.E. Obasuyi, H.O.D., Dept of Fine and Applied Arts, UNIBEN.

where students inside and outside the department can find rich references for their academic works”, the editor wrote.

Need we say it? These are big promises to the Nigerian Art Community that must not

go unfulfilled. Many other varsities are now waiting to benchmark UNIBEN on this feat; it is hoped that this innovation would indeed be sustained and improved upon by the Fine and Applied Arts department.

THE NIGERIAN

19

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Art And Culture

Bats In Folk Culture BATS are mammals that suckle their young and for their echolocation are associated with witches and wizards because they determine the position of objects by means of supersonic vibrations echoed from them.

Traditionally bats Eguen are regarded as Omens of doom and gloom. They are not birds, but are flying mammal with wings attached mainly to their arms and hands, extending along sides to hind feet and tail. They have soft furry bodies with membranous wings.

Their wings consist of sheets of skin extending from the sides of their bodies and supported by their back legs and

extremely long fingers of their front legs.

Bats fly by reaching forwards and scooping air backwards and downwards. There are about a thousand species of bats spread throughout the world; and are mainly in two groups; the fruit-eating bats and the insect eating bats.

The fruit-eating bats generally fly at dusk while the insect eating bats fly in pitch darkness, finding their ways with a kind of echo-sounding system, so accurate that they can use it to catch insects in flight.

Bats let out series of high-pitched squeaks and listen for the echoes to bounce back by the objects in its path. Bats

are not birds, they are the only mammals that can fly and are currently the most endangered mammal. They eat fishes, frogs, fruits and suck blood from animals.

They eat a lot of food is and get fat, then at dry season, they find hidden and sheltered spot in which to hibernate.

Hibernation is the long period of rest by which the bats stay through the long dry season; when food is scarce and

become less active until appear to be asleep. The fat in their bodies supply the needed food.

Some stay asleep until there is food again, others may wake up on warmer days, eat some of the foods they have collected and then hibernate again.

Apart from bats, Vampires and some amphibians-frogs, toads and reptiles, turtles, tortoises, and snakes also hibernate. Hibernating insects include bees and

With AMBROSE EKHOSUEHI

some kinds of butterflies.

Vampire has been described as blood sucker or relentless extortionate. Bats and vampires are believed to be associated with witches and wizards.

Witches and wizards are believed to exist and are reported to have power to cause unrest of mind and illness. They are believed to cause wondering tendencies and inflict some kind of damages to some organs of the body of the victims.

Anaemia may be caused by a witch or wizard sucking away the blood of a victim. It is also believed that an enemy can invite a witch or wizard to inflict certain illness, like congestive failure, stroke, attribute to witches or wizards, clients with such conditions are not settled in mind, spend their time and money at the expense of their health; going from one physician to another.

A person who practices sorcery can cause harm, disease and infertility but a great deal of belief is based on fear, suspicion, jealousy, ignorance and false accusation.

Preternatural is related to the believe in witchcraft and sorcery.

The onset of a disease is usually attributed to the evil imaginations of an enemy; hence some people still have the belief that mosquitoes could be sent to people, so that the mosquitoes might inject the agent that causes malaria into the victim. They hardly adherence to or satisfied

with any scientific explanation.

Bats are nature’s most effective tool against mosquitoes and other night insects. Many trees depend on bats to spread their seeds and night blooming flowers; besides eating night insects.

Bats have one offspring a year and are dearly attached to their small ones. Scientists admire bats and vampires because they use echolocation to find their way about to catch food.

The Vampire-Avamu is an insect eater that feeds entirely on the blood of other animals.

Bats live in all parts of the world, hot area and cold area, they navigate to find their ways about.

In many stories, bats and vampires are regarded as omens of doom. To dream of seeing a bat flying on the air signifies that the person has an enemy but if the bat appears flying by daylight, it is a good omen, if a young person is in love and dream of a bat, it denotes that the person will have a rival; while vampire indicates that the person will marry for money and find it a bad bargain.

Fighting with vampire will receive good news and in European folk lore, a dead person that leaves the grave and keeps itself alive by sucking the blood of living people or a bat that lives on blood.

In all, bats as well as vampires, besides eating night insects, fruits, frogs, fish, mosquitoes and toads; are blood sucking mammals in folk culture.

“Bats are nature’s most effective tool against mosquitoes and other night insects. Many trees depend on bats to spread their seeds and night blooming flowers; besides eating night insects.”

THE NIGERIAN

20

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Issues NEWS of the surging violence by the shadowy sect, Boko Haram, has continued to inundate us even if some no longer shudder at screaming headlines of dozens whose throats have been slit; the extremists have sustained the ongoing brutal campaign against civilian and security targets. The vicious group has showed no sign of slowing down in 2014 with a string of coordinated attacks from Borno to Adamawa and Yobe states. It is inconceivable and incomprehensible in a state under emergency, that terrorist attacks in villages and towns last for hours without any kind of security intervention. The escalation of violence between January and February alone has claimed over 650 lives between Borno and Adamawa. For now, Gwoza, Bama, Konduga and Damboa towns and all the villages around them are facing extinction! The insurgents have left on its trail: lives lost, properties destroyed and terrified residents fleeing their homes. Guerilla tactics in rural areas have made the people vulnerable where Christians and Muslims alike have been on the receiving end of the morally reprehensible sect’s abhorrent violence.

Borno, to Boko Haram, is their spiritual home where the ‘struggle’ began. Losing the battle on this turf to the federal forces will effectively signal the end of their insurrection. In this state, their attacks have been more vicious, somewhat sporadic but with a high level of coordination unexpected in a state under emergency. Their resolve is strengthened by the scores they slaughter in the wee hours of the night. The Nigerian military still has a lot to prove that it is capable of putting down the insurrection.

Guerilla wars(better known as asymmetric combat) are the most difficult to prosecute because the enemies live within the civilian population. Security operatives become vulnerable because they are identifiable but the terrorists are almost invincible. It might be asking for too much from the ill equipped and trained Nigerian military to wage a successful war against them. Such an operation is quite complicated

and requires cerebral personnel.

It is doubtful if the Nigerian military give adequate training to its men to fight guerilla wars – a 21st century security challenge. The unimpressive way the counterterrorism campaign has been waged by the combined team of security agencies have laid bare their conventional and stereotype inbuilt structure of warfare where there is a clearly defined enemy in a well-defined geographical location. The Nigeria military’s symmetric approach to an asymmetric counterterrorism battle in states under emergency, clearly, has failed. The spate of almost daily attacks on hapless civilians in Borno underscores this point.Their modus operandi is similar to all known terrorist groups in the world. The trademark of the organization is blood, tears and sorrow with both covert and overt violent assault against police officers, military, churches and civilian targets.These persistent and mindless killings from highly

Borno And The Changing Dynamics Of Boko Haram

By THEOPHILUS ILEVBARE networked, richly financed groups waging insurgent war often from within civilian population, use a combination of traditional and modern weapons. There tactics can best be mitigated and/or quelled by military operations backed by the most sophisticated and technologically advanced security gadgets. It is a known fact that the structure and design of Nigeria’s national security is too outdated to meet present day security challenges. It has also been reported that the morale of the military and police is ebbing.

In contrast, Boko Haram is better armed and motivated.

Years of corruption in the military and police have robbed us of the best.

Consequently, the cruel marauders pose a serious threat to the nation’s sovereignty and

the continual harmonious coexistence of the various tribes and religions. The possibility of overrunning the country is real.

However, Nigeria’s security challenges are not insurmountable.

With commitment and a dogged political will from the government, the nefarious activities of the blood thirsty fundamentalists can be effectively contained.

Furthermore, government should tighten what many now regard as the most porous border in the world! We would easily win any award in that category.

There is still an ongoing war in Mali; it’s only been months since the Arab Spring ended. All these have put arms and ammunition in the wrong hands.

Those who proliferate these weapons move them across our

borders to a mix grill ready market of terrorists, pirates, hoodlums, unrepentant and backsliding ex-militants, 2015 election tugs and other criminal minded elements.

To quell this increasingly complex threat, the tangled-web of terrorist financing must be demystified and those found wanting brought to book.

Collaboration like joint military action with our West African neighbours to combat threats along border towns and villages is a strategy the military should urgently explore as part of a comprehensive approach to counter the deadly extremists.

The fierce unrelenting assault on neighbouring villages bordering the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, has highlighted the inefficiency and numerical disadvantage of the Nigerian military and police.

With over 8000 troops deployed already to the sub-region

“The fierce unrelenting assault on neighbouring villages bordering the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, has highlighted the inefficiency and numerical disadvantage of the Nigerian military and police.”

without any success, the International Criminal Court was spot on when it said Nigeria was embroiled in another civil war. Remote border towns with Cameroon like Banki, in Bama Local Government Area have been the worst hit as the remoteness of their location have made it almost impossible to respond to distress. Recently, the military decried insufficient personnel in such remote towns and villages, as its bane.

Residents say in some villages, about six military men, poorly armed, and just about half a dozen policemen are present.

This is grossly inadequate and easily outnumbered by over 50 insurgents who storm these target locations in vehicles and motor bikes, armed to the teeth.

The presence of more security personnel in the remote villages will to a great extent improve the security situation.

It is ridiculous when our security chiefs give themselves a pat on the back for ‘curtailing’ the Islamic fundamentalists in the North East, preventing their activities from spreading to other parts of the country. This kind of attitude that promotes mediocrity in the rank and file of our national security must be discouraged.

Sabotage, negligence of duty and unhealthy competition among the security agencies are some of the reasons insecurity

has been on the rise in the troubled states of the north east, particularly, Borno. The military offensive against the sect has been nothing short of a complete failure.

It is shameful that politicians under whose watch the insurgents evolved still strut the corridors of power, and are partisan politicians till today. It must be traumatising for the victims of Boko Haram.

Unfortunately, those who sowed the seed of bloodbath are still at large. Sponsors of the terror group, directly or indirectly, must be brought to justice.

Prosecuting the counterterrorism war without exposing and prosecuting their financiers will amount to an effort in futility.

The spirited attempt by the Jonathan government to fight terrorism with mass education of Almajiris is commendable. More of such schools is needed in northern Nigeria. It is an approach that should be encouraged to fight an insurgency that is firmly rooted in illiteracy and ignorance.

Dealing decisively with the grievances that are spawning terrorism and encouraging radicalisation as well as implementing reforms and policies are pathways to restoring lasting peace, security of lives and properties in the north-east and the nation at large.

Now, more than ever, decisive and sustainable victory against Boko Haram has become more elusive but imperative.

THE NIGERIAN

21

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Opinion Kalu Shouldn’t Worry About

By RUBBY OBINNA

THE former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has a way of treating issues. Those who have been following his column in the Saturdays Sun would understand that the man bares his mind without fear or favour. This is the reason I am writing concerning his article in the Saturday Sun, 16 August, where he brought the attention of the world to the allegation that the incumbent Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has been smearing his name, that of his family members and anything around and about him to the extent that the governor now sends people to lay siege at his residences in Lagos and Abuja, monitoring who visits Kalu and who does not visit.

Anyway, if I were to say, I would have suggested that Kalu should not be bothering himself about the gimmicks of Governor Orji. One thing that I have observed is that Kalu is the beginning of wisdom to the governor that anything Kalu does terrifies the governor.

I think only that goes a long way to show to the world that Kalu is greater than the governor and that the strong does not fight the weak, only the weak does. The later is what we have seen the governor is playing out.

No matter the impression the media is giving to that article by Kalu, I would say that the dude did not ‘lambast’ the governor but only told what he had thought was truth to power.

But this is not the perception of the media when it spitefully wrote on Sunday 17 August that, “a former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, has lambasted the current governor of the state…”

The truth that Kalu has become the beginning of wisdom in the governor’s camp was again buttressed in an article by one Norris Benedict, who signed to be writing from London, which I wholeheartedly doubt. ‘Norris Benedict’, without doubt, is one of the fake names that the aides of Governor Orji use as bylines. They are afraid of writing with their real names because of the legal implications that could follow. They knew that their articles are all about blackmailing Kalu; hence they use pseudonyms to write hate-articles against Kalu.

So, I can categorically say that Kalu and his aides should not bother about this insincere Norris Benedict whose article titled “Kalu Leadership Series; An Insult on Intellect” is an expose of mediocrity, full of errors and incoherencies. It lacks methodology much as it lacks writing ethics and journalism practice. Those that have discerning hearts would know that all the vituperations and venoms that Benedict expressed in that article against Kalu do not exist anywhere around Kalu, even when he was governor and now that he is minding his private

NIGERIA, in the world is a very wealthy Nation apart from the fact that she is the 5th highest oil producing country in the world. God Almighty has graciously blessed us with lots of Natural and Human Resources.

But all these blessings had turned to curse because of our corruption and the greed of Nigeria leaders.

It is laughable when Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan asked for the approval of one billion Dollars (N160 billion Naira) to fight and equip the Nigeria security force at this 21 century when things have fallen apart and the centre cannot be held easily again.

From 1960 after our purported and emergency independence, security vote have always been in the estimate (Budget) in all levels of Government. It is a fact that security vote is not audited.

The big question in my lip now is, what has been happening to the security vote to tune of

billions of Naira every year in this country? Is security vote just a largesse?

The parable that says, ‘that when the wind blows the anus of the fowl will be exposed’ has come to play in this whole game. It shows that if Federal Government which has the

President Goodluck Jonathan

Gov Orji

businesses which scatter across the world. I’m not sure why Kalu should be bothering himself about a man whom he said has character problem since he was made governor.

The following lines by Kalu have to a large extent shown to the world that the governor – is a man who can hide his identity and cannot be trusted. Kalu has said: “I must openly submit that I was

corridors of power like a colossus. He calls me all kinds of names and uses every available medium to castigate my person.

“He is hauling abuses at me on a daily basis and walking the corridors of power like a colossus. He calls me all kinds of names and uses every available medium to castigate my person. His speech at every public or private event begins and ends with my name, as if he has no other business

encounters —businessmen and women, politicians, the clergy, traders, farmers, drivers, carpenters, bricklayers, the high and mighty, lowly people, and just anybody – that I am his sworn enemy. He also takes his campaign of hate against me to the Diaspora. The situation is really getting out of hand.”

Much as Kalu have said that he has severally challenged the governor on a number of occasions to tell the world what he (Kalu) really did to him to warrant such detestable behaviour and enmity towards him (Kalu) and the governor is not

followership in Abia State and indeed, Nigeria.

I think Chief Orji Uzor Kalu should not bother further, expending his energy in the areas that do not deserve them. It is obvious that very soon the governor will leave the government house, Umuahia and, will become an ‘ordinary man’ in the street. Kalu should not bother about the hostilities of the governor against him, because not only NdiAbia, but the entire Igbo race and Nigerians at large, know that Kalu is innocent of all the propagandas and seemingly lies of the

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State.

Orji Uzor Kalu

taken in by his facial appearance, not knowing that deep inside he was a different person all together – a chameleon. Subsequent events have since proved me right. Up till this moment, I still do not believe that it was the same Theodore Orji, whom I met at Chief Mark Uka Ogwo’s house that is hauling abuses at me on a daily basis and walking the

in governance other than to abuse Orji Uzor Kalu.

Not only that: he goes about telling all kinds of naked lies in order to soil my reputation. He also goes to gossip to the President and his wife about me, telling them unprintable things, just to disfavour me.

“He tells anybody he

forthcoming with any proof, that is to say that there may be something that the governor is shying away from. And the way he has thought better from keeping that secret from the world is to be pounding on Kalu left and right with uttermost acrimonies and animosities.

But in the entire governor’s bitterness against Kalu, Kalu still controls scary

governor against him. I will end this article by advising Kalu that ‘truth’ has a long span no matter how humiliated. And if it were true that the governor has been telling lies against him, the truth will always prevail.

Rubby Obinna (Mrs), writes from Ohaji, Imo State.

One Billion Dollars Security Loan

By IMUAGBONHEN JOHNSON

security of life and properties of Nigeria in her exclusive list has been using the money meant for the Army, Police, SSS, Navy, Air

Force etc and other security apparatus well, there could have been no need to ask for this whooping sum of one billion dollars (160 billion naira) to fight security insurgence. When America Government revealed that Nigeria has not been handling the finance meant for security in good form during the Chibok girl’s palava that is still on, we were annoyed.

Today has it not shown vividly?

What I always say is that the too much money in Nigeria from oil sector consumed by few Nigerians is responsible for the high level of corruption. So much that whether all Nigerians continue to sleep, the oil revenue will continue to flow.

I tell you all ECOWAS countries put together cannot afford to play with N160 billion Naira. But this is a chicken change for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

A country that cannot boast of one hour stable electricity in a week and have more than 90% of her youths unemployed with no functioning fuel refinery is asking for N160 billion for security, outside the 2014 security vote.

The Senate and House of Representative will approved this amount-easily because the ruling party are in control and at the end of the day they will share the money.

I am calling on the Civil Liberty Group and all well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the National House not to approve

this money because the billions of Naira purported to have been saved from oil subsidy and the Abacha loots refund, have not been judiciously plowed into the economy.

Nigerians want to see stable power supply and establishment of industries to employ the wainsting youths.

For me, Mr. President aims of asking for this money is to be able to have enough money to share during the next general elections in February 2015.

Nigeria already has enough money to fight security insurgence if not for corruption and greed for power.

“Let develop Nigeria sincerely, because the Chibok girls palava has shown that no other country no matter how friendly will come and develop Nigeria for us”. We are all brothers and sisters no matter where we come from (East, West, North or South).

THE NIGERIAN

22

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Religion Are You Ready When The Lord Shall Come? Part 2 REMEMBER in part one of this title, we did mention that the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is iminent and that the signs of the end are visible all over the world. What the Lord requires of all men (Pastors, Evangelists, Bishops, believers and unbelievers alike) now is repentance. In 2 Peter 2:4, we read that if God did not spare the angels who fell from their first estate, but delivered them to chains forever, then He will surely judge these false pastors.

Unfortunately, so many of these ignorant followers have died and are now in hell crying – had I known. When people fail to believe Truth, God will give them a strong delusion to believe a lie II Thessalonians 2:11-12.

After death there is no second chance Hebrew 9:27. In other words, no one can come back after death to tell stories.

Lazarus died and was in the grave for four days before Christ brought him back to life. Lazarus did not go about giving account of what he saw or didn’t see in his death state. Paul was lifted to the third heavens saw and heard unspeakable things which he did not dare say II Corinthians 12:1-4. Abraham told the rich man in Luke 16:31 that salvation can come only as people hear Moses and the

prophets because faith cometh only by hearing and hearing by the word of God, not the stories of man. The widow’s son whom Christ raised back to life did not tell any stories from the dead.

Only the Truth of the bible can disprove the lies of the devil and deliver man from ignorance.

God, who is seeing the wickedness of man and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart becoming evil continually, will do what He did to the then old world of Noah Genesis 6 :5-7. God, who did not spare the then old world of Noah, will not spare today’s world. This world is already under judgment 2 Peter 3:10 in which the heavens shall pass away and the elements shall melt with fervent heat while the earth and all earthly works/goods shall be burnt up. All earthly goods, lands, mansions shall be burnt up; we shall take nothing from this earth, the only thing we shall have, is the treasure we have laid up already in heaven with our substance.

How did Noah escape the judgment of God? Having found grace in God’s sight in Genesis 6: 8, God showed him the way of escape and that grace covered his household; God did not allow him to partake of His judgments. God

commanded Noah to build an ark of gopher wood. He gave him the pattern and the dimensions- 450 feet long, 75 feet wide. God is very orderly in whatever He does, and has His own pattern of doing things. God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts; a man’s way may be right in his own eyes but completely wrong in God’s sight Proverbs 14:12. If Noah had built an ark according to his own wisdom, way and method, it would not have served the divine purpose. He and his house hold would not have been saved at all.

Noah’s Ark can be likened to a true spiritual church spiritually built in accordance with God’s pattern I Peter 2:5. It is the Spirit of Truth, NOT the counsel / pattern of the Council of Elders of any church that dictates the pattern of doing things in a true church. In marriages, in burials, the naming of babies, in dressing, in worship, in the service of God and even in collecting offering, it is God’s pattern that must strictly be followed.

Whatever we do to our bodies which are the temples of the living God must be in accordance with God’s own pattern, otherwise we shall give account in the Day of Judgment, because the bodies are

not our own, but bought already with a price.

The devil is always seeking to add, subtract, even distort and disfigure the image and pattern of God. For example, the holes we pierce in the ears of female babies, is it God’s pattern? If not, whose pattern is it? satan’s, of course. If the Holy Spirit that is, the Spirit of Christ is not in one, then he or she is none of Christ’s, therefore, cannot understand, neither can he/she agree with God, let alone obey Him. Noah made sure he did not add or subtract from the pattern given to him by God. In Matthew 24 : 38 -39, Jesus warned all churches of the danger of not being ready because of surfeitings, banquetings, revelings and all other unholy pleasures and cares of this life.

The true Church that hears the voice of the Holy Spirit obey and will be free from blemish, spots and wrinkles and consequently will be ready for the Rapture. So the Law of the true church is to comply with every detail of the pattern of God’s ordinances.

True holiness is to comply with the pattern of God. In Ezekiel 43: 11-12, God commands that if the people repent, and are not ashamed of their sin, then they should be shown the true pattern

With

REV. OLU GEORGE even in their own lives.

We need to ask ourselves one or two questions at this point: was Noah’s ark meant for everybody? No! If for instance one of Noah’s sons came out of the ark having already entered, because of love of the world in his heart, it would have been over for him. Or if Noah’s son decided to build another ark, because he didn’t like the pattern, an ark which God did not commission him to build, he would receive no instruction about any pattern and so would have built it in accordance with his own pattern by his human wisdom. As Noah was a preacher of Righteousness, there were also preachers of unrighteousness who would have led themselves and others to perdition. Today there are so many arks that are quite different from Noah’s ark. If God

had sent them to build arks, He would definitely give them His own pattern; otherwise satan will give them his own pattern, because they were not sent by God. Christians must be careful not to believe every spirit, because many false spirits have gone into the world and you do not know which spirit inspired them. I John 4:1 AS WE DRAW NEAR THE END, Christ is drawing all His lost sheep who are of this truth into His spiritual family John 10: 16. They shall hear His voice and follow and be of one fold under one shepherd. Those who are not of this fold will find their way out of the truth. 1 John 2:19. God knows them that are His. CONCLUDED COURTESY: REV. OLU GEORGE C H R I S T I A N GOSPEL CHURCH (The Truth Centre)

“Christians must be careful not to believe every spirit, because many false spirits have gone into the world and you do not know which spirit inspired them. I John 4:1 AS WE DRAW NEAR THE END, Christ is drawing all His lost sheep who are of this truth into His spiritual family John 10: 16.”

“God, who is seeing the wickedness of man and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart becoming evil continually, will do what He did to the then old world of Noah Genesis 6 :5-7. God, who did not spare the then old world of Noah, will not spare today’s world. This world is already under judgment 2 Peter 3:10 in which the heavens shall pass away and the elements shall melt with fervent heat while the earth and all earthly works/goods shall be burnt up. All earthly goods, lands, mansions shall be burnt up; we shall take nothing from this earth, the only thing we shall have, is the treasure we have laid up already in heaven with our substance.”

THE NIGERIAN

23

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Reflection

With REV. FR. JOHN DAMIAN ADIZIE PHONE: 08076635886

Lessons From Ebola Virus

AS at last week there was tension in Nigeria regarding the ebola virus. The honorable Minister of Health and most medical practitioners declared that the ebola sickness is incurable and can terminate people’s life within a few days. This shocking news has caused a lot tension in the society and even in the Church where people were supposed to feel more relaxed and secured in the face of any tribulation.

Last week, in this column, I insisted that the ebola virus is nothing but the work of Satan to destabilize the Church in Nigeria. I insisted that we should not keep quiet and allow the devil to destroy the Church of God. After all Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy, “The Lord will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he afflict upon you, but he will lay them upon all who hate you” (Deut 7:15). Hence, the sickness of the Egyptians is not for God’s children.

With conviction we have engaged in serious spiritual and intellectual battle against the ebola virus. Authentic men and women of God across the nation have also joined in this war against ebola virus. Whereas others are busy trying to instill more fears into the lives of their members, telling them not to even offer sign of peace. As I wrote in my last reflection no amount of fears and discriminations can solve the problem of ebola. The only way out is prayer and selfdiscipline.

This week God answered our prayers by making the impossible possible. This week Monday, it was announced that four out of the eleven patients that were tested positive of ebola virus have been confirmed negative and have been discharged from the isolation ward. These include the doctor and the nurse that first contracted the virus while treating the effected patient.

Tuesday, the next day, it was announced in the NTA network news that only four Nigerians are having the ebola virus. For me, this was the best news of the year.

With these, the ebola theory

has failed as long as Nigeria is concerned. The sickness of the Egyptians is never for God’s people.

At first we were told that the ebola virus has no cue.

The question now which we must ask ourselves realistically is this: those four patients that were successfully managed and discharged after they were confirmed negative of the ebola virus, how were they treated? What exactly brought their cure? How were they healed? Whatever it is that brought their cure will also bring healing to the rest of patients with ebola virus. With this declaration you can agree with me that with God there is nothing like impossible case. Rather, with God all things are possible!

There are lots of lessons we can derive from this ebola virus. The first lesson is that we human beings are still limited. No matter the level of our wealth, our education, and even our faith we are still limited. If an ordinary virus like ebola could cause the kind of tension it has generated in Nigeria, it means we are still human beings with lots of limitation.

We should be humble enough to accept that we have not yet arrived. The search continues.

Anything can happen at any time. Ebola was never an issue in Nigeria. As at the beginning of this year no one knew that will ever take the prominent attention it has taken today. Almost everybody, every the old illiterates in the village are all talking about ebola. Ebola Virus has taken up most media headlines. Today, it is ebola who knows the next threat. No wonder the federal government of Nigeria established NEMA. Nigeria has become a nation where you cannot easily predict the next thing that will happen the next moment. If it is not kidnappers, it is flooding, if not flooding then it incurable viruses, if not viruses then bomb blast.

Avoid Stigmatization: After declaring the four patients who were once ebola positive, the honorable minister went further to declare that people should not stigmatize those who were once ebola positive. His

is an aspect that requires more enlightenment. So, most Church do not even exchange greetings in the church due to ebola virus.

People are not allowed to even exchange the sign of peace in the churches. With this it will be very difficult to convince people not to stigmatize those who were once Ebola patients.

from the effection of ebola virus but we should be prudent and charitable in dealing with our fellow human beings, especially the sick.

Do not be afraid: So many people have developed hypertension due to the fear of ebola virus; some have even died not because of ebola virus but because of

side, you have nothing to fear. The Spirit of the Lord is upon – No Shaking!

Have Faith: faith is one thing people of our generation, even Church leaders, take for granted. Yet, as Children of God, we cannot do without faith. In the gospel of Matthew the people brought a paralytic to Jesus for healing. When

death. Isaiah the prophet came to him and said, “thus says the Lord: set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Remember, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and having done what

As we try to protect ourselves and members of our churches against diseases and viruses, we should also remember that discrimination of every kind is not from God. In the gospel of Mark 1:40-42, a leper came to Jesus and knelt down before him saying, “If you can make me clean.”

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. Touching a leper was a taboo among the Jews.

But out of pity Jesus touched the leper and healed him. If we decide to avoid the sick, who will take care of them?

Moreover, who knows tomorrow, anybody can become sick at any time.

Constant washing of hands and other necessary care must be taken to protect us

the fear and wrong actions taken to prevent ebola. Fear cannot solve problem it rather complicates the problem. It can lead to hypertension. So, whenever there is breaking or shocking news as in the case of ebola virus, be calm. Child of God, do not panic. Do not allow people to instill fear into your life. Be strong, be courageous.

The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Child of God, nothing shall consume you. God is on your side. With od on your

Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven”… The man rose and went away (Matthew 9:1-7) The faith of the people brought healing to this paralytic. If we have faith we cannot just bring healing to those who are afflicted with ebola, with faith we can even cast the spirit of ebola out of our families and our nation.

“With men this is impossible, but with God (and with faith) all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

Be Prayerful: prayer is the solution to every problem. It is the remedy to all maladies.

A prayerful child of God is a powerful child of God. As long as you are prayerful sickness is not for you. Even when you are sick the best remedy is prayer. For instance, Hezekiah once fell sick and was at the point of

is good in thy sight: Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your Father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.”

See what prayer can do!

Child of God, this will be your portion. Even if they have submitted your name in the book of death, with prayer, with faith and with God, your name will be delivered, in Jesus name!

God is adding fifteen more years to your life. You will not die prematurely. Ebola and other viruses will never come near you. You will not die; you shall live to proclaim the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

THE NIGERIAN

24

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

International

Hamas Leader Deserves To Die JERUSALEM - As justified an air strike on Gaza that killed the wife and child of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, saying he was a legitimate target.

“Mohammed Deif deserves to die just like (the late AlQaeda leader Osama) bin Laden. He is an arch murderer and as long as we have an opportunity we will try to kill him,” Interior Minister Gideon Saar told army radio.

It was not immediately clear whether Deif had been killed or injured in the strike, which levelled a six-storey

house in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.

Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra initially said three people were killed in the strike, among them an unidentified man, but later revised the toll down to two. He did not explain why.

Among the dead were Deif’s second wife, Widad, 27, and his seven-month-old son Ali. Rescue workers on Wednesday pulled the bodies of a 48-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy from the rubble, Qudra said.

Witnesses said at least three rockets were fired at the

building, home to the Dalu family, pulverising it into a pile of dust, debris and twisted metal and leaving a huge crater in the ground where the building once stood.

- Israeli Minister

Appointed head of Hamas’s armed wing in 2002 after his predecessor Salah Shehade was assassinated when Israel dropped a one-tonne bomb on

his house, Deif has already escaped five previous assassination attempts by Israel.

The Israelis see him as “the brains” behind the campaign

of suicide bombings that targeted buses and public places during the second intifada (2000-2005) and consider him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians.

Islamic State ‘Embarrassing’ To Muslims - Indonesian President JAKARTA - The president of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesia, has called the actions of Islamic State militants “embarrassing” to the religion and urged Islamic leaders to unite in tackling extremism.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the scale of the slaughter wrought by the extremists in overrunning large swathes of Iraq and Syria and the level of violence being used was appalling.

“It is shocking. It is becoming out of control,” he said in an interview with The Australian, a day after IS released a video showing a masked militant beheading US reporter James Foley, provoking worldwide revulsion.

“We do not tolerate it, we forbid ISIS in Indonesia,” he added, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as IS was formerly known.

“Indonesia is not an Islamic state. We respect all religions.”

He urged international leaders to work together to combat radicalisation.

“This is a new wake-up call to international leaders all over the world, including Islamic leaders,” he said, adding that the actions of IS were not only “embarrassing” to Islam but “humiliating”, the newspaper reported.

“All leaders must review how to combat extremism. Changing paradigms on both sides are needed — how the West perceives Islam and how Islam perceives the West.”

Indonesia is home to the world’s biggest Muslim population of about 225 million and has long struggled with terrorism. But a successful clampdown in recent years has seen the end of major deadly attacks.

Jakarta has estimated that dozens of Indonesians have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight and Yudhoyono said he was concerned about their return, adding that he had tasked

agencies to oppose the spread of extremist ideology in the sprawling nation.

“Our citizens here in Indonesia are picking up recruitment messages from ISIS containing extremist ideas,” said the president, whose decade in office comes to an end in October.

“The philosophy of ISIS stands against the fundamental values we embrace in Indonesia. Last Friday, in my state of the union address to the nation, I called on all Indonesians to reject ISIS and to stop the spread of its radical ideology.

“My government and security agencies have taken decisive steps to curtail the spread of ISIS in Indonesia, including by prohibiting Indonesians to join ISIS or to fight for ISIS, and also by blocking Internet sites that promote this idea.”

- ‘Pure evil’ Indonesia’s neighbour Australia has also seen up to 150 of its nationals join the militants, with the photo of an Australian boy holding a severed head in Syria last week sparking global condemnation.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday said IS was “as close to pure evil as we’re ever likely to find” and what happened to Foley was “sickening”.

He also voiced concern that jailed Indonesian militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir — the chief ideologue of regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah — had pledged allegiance to IS. JI is blamed for the Bali bombings in 2002, which claimed 88 Australian lives, although a successful crackdown over the past decade has weakened such groups.

“That does indicate the potential for increased terrorist activity in our region,” Abbott told reporters when asked about Bashir’s pledge.

Bashir, a vocal supporter of AlQaeda style jihad, has been in and out of prison for years and is currently serving a 15-year term for funding terrorism.

Israeli Education Minister Gideon Saar pictured at a press conference at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem recently.

Ukraine’s Economy Minister Resigns KIEV - Ukrainian Economy Minister Pavlo Sheremeta said yesterday he had tendered his resignation and voiced frustration at not being able to push ahead with much-needed economic reform.

After months of fighting in its eastern regions following the toppling of a government blighted by corruption and economic mismanagement, Ukraine’s economy has contracted sharply, even with a multi-billion dollar financial lifeline from the International Monetary Fund.

Sheremeta had vowed to slash red tape and eliminate corrupt practices that have helped to virtually bankrupt Ukraine when he was appointed soon after the ousting of a Moscow-backed president in February.

But he has not managed to push substantive legislation through parliament.

In a sign of frustration at the lack of broad support for reform, Sheremeta said on his Facebook page that he no longer wanted to “fight against yesterday’s system”.

Sheremeta’s offer to resign follows comments from Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Wednesday that voiced dissatisfaction with the speed and depths of reforms.

Parliament, which is still packed with many former supporters of ex-President Viktor Yanukovich, has managed to pass legislation on taxation and sanctions on Russia in recent weeks — but only after being bullied by Yatseniuk who at one point also threatened to resign over the legislature’s inaction.

The post of economy minister was the first political appointment for Sheremeta, a former economics academic.

US Will Be Relentless With Islamic State EDGARTOWN MASS, USA - President Barack Obama has vowed that the United States will not be swayed from airstrikes against Islamic State after the group beheaded an American journalist, an act he said is proof that the militants stand for no religion.

Obama’s response to the execution of James Foley marked his strongest condemnation yet of Islamic State militants, and he gave no sign of a pause in U.S. targeting of militant positions in Iraq.

“The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. We will be vigilant and we will be relentless. When people harm Americans, anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is done,” he said.

Obama’s remarks, to reporters covering his vacation on the island of

Martha’s Vineyard, came shortly after the White House announced that a video showing the beheading of Foley had been authenticated by the U.S. intelligence community.

The beheading appeared to mark a turning point in the growing U.S. focus on Islamic State as a potential threat to American interests, but whether it will lead to an intensified bombing campaign was not yet clear.

The United States has launched dozens of airstrikes against Islamic State targets in order to protect the religious minority Yazidis in Iraq and prevent the takeover of the Mosul Dam out of concern that a breach in the structure could end up flooding Baghdad, where the U.S. embassy is situated.

Obama’s remarks carried a tough message about the

Islamic State’s harsh penalties against anyone who does not agree to accept its brand of Islam.

He said militants have rampaged across cities and villages, abducted women and children and subjected them to torture and rape and killed Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, by the thousands.

“No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day,” he said.

“Their ideology is bankrupt. They may claim, out of expediency, that they are at war with the United States or the West, but the fact is, they terrorize their neighbors and offer them nothing but an endless slavery to their empty vision and the collapse of any definition of civilized behavior,” Obama said.

Obama also said he called Foley’s family to express his condolences.

THE NIGERIAN

25

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

International

Ukraine Warplane Shot Down As Clashes Kill Dozens

DONETSK (Ukraine) - A Ukrainian warplane was blown out of the sky over rebel-held territory Wednesday as fierce clashes between government troops and pro-Russian insurgents left dozens of civilians dead.

Fighting intensified as Kiev appeared to ramp up a deadly offensive to crush the ailing rebellion in the east ahead of a fresh round of diplomacy that will see the presidents of Russia and Ukraine meet next week for the first time in months.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said a Su-25 jet was shot close to the secondlargest insurgent bastion of Lugansk, where government forces claim to have battled back control over several districts in the past few days.

Lysenko said it was too early to tell who had shot down the plane — the latest in a string of military jets to be hit — or what had happened to the pilot.

Clashes in and around the other major rebel stronghold of Donetsk killed 43 civilians in the past 24 hours, local authorities said.

AFP journalists saw fierce mortar fire tear through the centre of the city close to the state-of-the-art stadium of football team Shakhtar Donetsk, as Ukrainian troops tightened their grip on insurgents holed up in the mining hub.

Street battles were raging in Ilovaysk, a key railway hub some 45 kilometres (30 miles) east of Donetsk, with authorities saying nine soldiers died in the area in the last 24 hours, including a US national who fought for a Ukrainian volunteer battalion.

In the city of Makiyivka, adjoining Donetsk, residents were woken up by shelling

in the early hours of Wednesday.

“What bastards,” said local 81year-old Maria Semyonovna, who said she was planning to go out in the morning but was stopped by sounds of explosions.

“We are at home here and they are bombing us,” she told AFP. “When is it going to stop?

Where can one go?”

The renewed offensive comes as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gears up for a meeting in Minsk with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the heads of Belarus and Kazakhstan, and EU officials next week.

That encounter will come after German Chancellor Angela Merkel jets in to Kiev on Saturday in a show of support for the country’s pro-Western leadership.

Poroshenko this week said the army was regrouping to continue its push on the separatist hubs of Donetsk and Lugansk and to fragment the rebel-held territory to stop the flow of weapons from Russia.

- Russian arms flowing? Kiev has accused Moscow of ratcheting up arms flows to help bolster the crumbling insurgency as Ukrainian forces have pushed deeper into dwindling separatist territory as they look to roust rebels after four months of fighting that has killing around 2,200 people.

Western powers also fear Putin could be preparing to send in the 20,000 troops NATO says he has massed on the border as a last roll of the dice.

A Ukrainian military spokesman could not confirm claims from a commander in the field that a massive convoy of Russian armour entered Lugansk.

Igor Voronchenko, head of military operations around the city, told local television on Tuesday that tanks, Grad rocket launchers, artillery and over 1,200 fighters were seen entering the city after crossing

over from Russia.

Ukrainian forces say they have wrested back control over “a significant part” of Lugansk since the weekend.

Residents have endured over two weeks without water and food and authorities have warned of possible infectuous epidemics.

- Fleeing fighting -

At least 415,800 people have fled their homes due to fighting in eastern Ukraine, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday.

Some 190,000 have been displaced within Ukraine, while 197,400 have fled to Russia and others to Poland and Belarus, said UNHCR, adding that the figures could be higher since there is no centralised

registration system.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s teetering economy continued to suffer with the national currency sinking to a record low against the dollar. The hryvnia stood at 13.22 against the dollar as urgent attempts by the central bank to stop the slide failed to calm nerves.

There seemed to be some signs of progress in the week-long saga that has seen some 300 Russian lorries with

humanitarian aid parked up at the border with Ukraine’s Lugansk region.

Kiev fears that the convoy may be attacked if allowed to cross into rebel territory and could give the Kremlin a pretext to invade.

Russia said that it had agreed with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to “begin movement” of the convoy despite worries over safety guarantees.

Smoke rises after shelling in the eastern Ukrainian town of Olexandrivsk in Luhansk region recently.

Japan Mulls Building Its Own Fighter Jets TOKYO - Japan is considering building its own fighter jets after years of playing second fiddle in a US construction partnership, a report said Thursday, in a move likely to stoke fears of its military resurgence among Asian neighbours.

Japan’s attempt in the 1980s to build its first purely domestic fighters since

World War II faced US resistance and resulted in joint US-Japan development and production of the F-2, the Nikkei newspaper said.

But joint F-2 production ended more than two years ago and the last of the fighters are due to be retired from Japan’s air

Japanese F-2 fighter jets fly over the Japanses force (JASDF) Hyakuri Air Base in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo.

defence force around 2028, it added.

The defence ministry plans to seek about 40 billion yen ($387 million) in state funding for the next year starting in April 2015 to test experimental engines and radar-dodging stealth airframe designs for a purely Japanese fighter, the report said.

According to its mediumterm defence programme, the Tokyo government will decide by the 2018 financial year whether to go ahead with the all-Japanese fighter project.

There is a growing need for Japan to develop a long-haul, highly stealthy fighter jets in face of China’s increasing assertiveness in the East China Sea, where the two countries are locked in a dispute over a group of Tokyo-controlled islands, the Nikkei said.

Beijing regularly warns of what it says is Tokyo’s intent to re-arm on the quiet, saying selective amnesia about its World War II behaviour means it cannot be trusted to have a fully-fledged military.

Last month the cabinet of conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe loosened the bonds on Japan’s military — proclaiming the right to go into battle in defence of allies — in a highly controversial shift in the nation’s post-war pacifist stance.

Japan denies its intent is anything other than defensive, and hits back that Beijing’s opaque military spending and its burgeoning ambitions are the real danger.

The defence ministry started work four years ago on the so-called Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X) plane to explore the project’s feasibility by studying lightweight airframe designs and built-in missilefiring mechanisms, the Nikkei said.

The ATD-X is due to start testing experimental engines in January and the stealth airframe designs in April, the report said.

The ministry hopes to develop the actual engines for the project in cooperation with IHI, Mitsubishi Heavy and other defence contractors in about five years.

Developing a purely domestic fighter is estimated to cost a massive 500-800 billion yen ($4.8-7.7 billion), the report said.

THE NIGERIAN

26

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

International Features

US Wont Stop Confronting Islamic State -Obama

THE United States launched a new barrage of airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group that beheaded American journalist James Foley and that has seized a swath of territory across Iraq and Syria. President Barack Obama vowed relentless pursuit of the terrorists and the White House revealed that the U.S. had launched a secret rescue mission inside Syria earlier this summer that failed to rescue Foley and other Americans still being held hostage.

In brief but forceful remarks, Obama said the U.S. would “do what we must to protect our people,” but he stopped short of promising to follow the Islamic State in its safe haven within Syria, where officials said Foley had been killed. Later, though, the administration revealed that several dozen special operations troops had been on the ground in Syria briefly in an effort to rescue the hostages, but did not find them.

And looking forward, the State Department refused to rule out future U.S. military operations in Syria, where Obama has long resisted intervening in a three-year civil war.

Western nations agreed to speed help to combat the militants — most notably Germany, which bucked public opposition by announcing it would arm Iraqi Kurdish fighters to battle the Islamic State.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he was outraged by the beheading, deeming it evidence of a “caliphate of barbarism.”

Italy’s defense minister said the country hopes to contribute machine guns, ammunition and anti-tank rockets.

The Islamic State called Foley’s death a revenge killing for U.S. airstrikes against militants in Iraq, and said other hostages would be slain if the attacks continued.

Undeterred, the U.S. conducted 14 additional strikes after a video of the beheading surfaced, bringing to 84 the number of airstrikes since they began on Aug. 8.

Two U.S. officials said additional American troops — probably less than 300 — could be headed to Iraq to provide extra security around Baghdad, where the U.S. Embassy is located. That would bring the total number of American forces in Iraq to well over 1,000, although

officials said no final decision had been made. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name.

Foley’s mother said she is praying for other hostages being held by the Sunnidominated terror group, and described her son’s slaying as “just evil.”

Obama agreed.

“No just God would stand for what they did yesterday,

other nations beyond Iraq and Syria. But since the militants’ march across northern Iraq in June, and as its ranks swelled almost threefold to an estimated 15,000 fighters, Obama has acknowledged that the Islamic State could become a direct threat to Americans.

The secret mission to rescue the U.S. hostages involved several dozen special operations forces dropped by aircraft into Syria. The

London School of Economics.

“The Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Emiratis, and even the Qataris, are getting the message now,” Gerges said.

“I think in the last few weeks we have seen a kind of new awareness on the part of regional powers that the Islamic State does present a threat to the very social fabric and the foundation of the state system.”

He said Foley’s death could help intensify efforts on the

straddling the Syria-Iraq border.

Foley, a 40-year-old journalist from Rochester, New Hampshire, was no stranger to war zone reporting. He went missing in northern Syria in November 2012 while freelancing for Agence France-Presse and the Boston-based news

part of Washington’s regional allies to make a more concerted effort to address the threat.

Jordan and Saudi Arabia, both of whom share a border with Iraq, have dispatched troops to the frontier in a bid to prevent any attempt by the extremists to attack. Iran, an ally of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, has sent military advisers to help organize Shiite militias in Iraq and defend holy sites.

Authorities from the Gulf to Egypt, as well as their peoples, have looked on with growing concern as the Islamic State group has brutally expanded the territory under its control, punctuating its rise by declaring a caliphate in lands

organization GlobalPost.

The car he was riding in was stopped by four militants in a contested battle zone that both Sunni rebel fighters and government forces were trying to control. He had not been heard from since.

He was one of at least four Americans still being held in Syria — three of whom officials said were kidnapped by the Islamic State. The fourth, freelance journalist Austin Tice, disappeared in Syria in August 2012 and is believed to be in the custody of government forces in Syria.

The Islamic State video of Foley’s beheading also showed another of the missing American journalists, Steven Sotloff,

US warflanes

and for what they do every single day,” the president said. The Islamic State militants have promised to eliminate all people they consider heretics in their quest to create an extremist state across much of Iraq and Syria.

“We will be vigilant and we will be relentless,” Obama said, urging unity among Mideast governments in order to eviscerate the extremist group’s growing power. He spoke from Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where his family is vacationing.

In capitals across the Middle East, news of Foley’s death was met largely with silence, even in Syria and Iraq — the two countries where the Islamic State is strongest. On social media, people in the region condemned Foley’s killing, but stressed that the Islamic State has been committing atrocities against Iraqis and Syrians for years.

For much of the past year, and until this summer, the Obama administration was deeply divided on how much of a threat the Islamic State posed to Americans or even

hostages weren’t found, but special forces engaged in a firefight with Islamic State militants before departing, according to administration officials. Several militants were killed, and one American sustained minor injuries.

“The U.S. government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence, and when the opportunity presented itself, the president authorized the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens,” Lisa Monaco, Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, that mission was ultimately not successful because the hostages were not present.”

Foley’s death proved to the West what many people in Syria and Iraq already knew: The Islamic State “has declared war on the civilized world,” said Dr. Najib Ghadibian, the Syrian National Coalition’s special representative to the U.S. The group’s sweep also has served as a wake-up call to other Mideast governments, said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the

and warned he would be the next killed if U.S. airstrikes continued. U.S. officials believe the video was made days before its Tuesday release, perhaps last weekend, and have grown increasingly worried about Sotloff’s fate.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that more than 80 journalists have been abducted in Syria, and estimates that around 20 are currently missing there. It has not released their nationalities.

In its annual report in November, the committee described the widespread seizure of journalists as unprecedented and largely unreported by news organizations in the hope that keeping the kidnappings out of public view may help in the captives’ release.

Obama avoided specific mention of the other American hostages in Syria, and was vague on whether the U.S. would significantly ramp up its assault on the Islamic State beyond the airstrikes and small potential increase in troops in Iraq. A third senior U.S. official said the administration was well aware of the risks to the hostages once the strikes began, and would now consider as aggressive a policy as possible to obliterate the militants.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Marie Harf did not rule out military operations in Syria to bring those responsible to justice, saying the U.S. “reserves the right to hold people accountable when they harm Americans.”

U.S. lawmakers, however, said they doubted the White House would expand its attacks to strike within Syria — something the Obama administration has long resisted.

“The mission already crept a bit,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and House Intelligence Committee member. “The administration would be wise to not get sucked in. That’s going to be very hard.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., lamented that Obama has been “unwilling to do what is necessary to confront” the Islamic State.

Courtesy: AP

“U.S. lawmakers, however, said would expand its attacks to strike within Syria — something the Obama administration has long resisted.”

THE NIGERIAN

27

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

EVERY FRIDAY WEEK 06, 2014 LAST SEASON RESULT Anderson Richwell 1.2. X. Forecast

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THE NIGERIAN

28

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Man United Spend Club-Record £72m MANCHESTER United’s signing of Marcos Rojo took their expenditure this summer to 72 million pounds, making it a club-record outlay for any transfer window.

The Argentina defender arrived from Sporting Lisbon for 16 million pounds, following on from the arrivals of 28.8 million-pound midfielder Ander Herrera and 27

million-pound left-back Luke Shaw.

And it meant United have now spent more than they did in 2007, when they bought Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves, loaned Carlos Tevez and 62 million pounds.

United have also spent 195 million pounds in the last five transfer windows and broke their club record to sign Juan Mata for 37.1 million pounds in January 2014.

Wenger Hints At Move For Defender And Defensive Midfielder

Arsene Wenger

Scholes ‘Scared’ About United’s Future

MANCHESTER United great Paul Scholes has said he is scared about the club’s future and believes they could spiral into decline in the same way rivals Liverpool did in the 1990s. need to sign five top players to Scholes, who played for arrest their current slump that United throughout his whole saw them fail to qualify for the career and won 11 Premier Champions League last season.

League titles, says the club United finished seventh in the

Paul Scholes

Premier League in May, having won the trophy the previous year, and began the latest campaign under new manager Louis van Gaal with a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Swansea City on Saturday.

“I am scared for United.

Genuinely scared they could go into the wilderness in the same way Liverpool did in the 1990s,” Scholes said in his column in the Independent.

“What do they need? Five players. Five proper players who can hit the ground running and turn round a situation that looks desperate. Let me be clear: I am sick of having to criticise the club to which I gave my life as a footballer.

But United need to arrest their decline.”

The defeat by Swansea shredded the close-season optimism that had been circulating since former Netherlands boss Van Gaal was chosen as the permanent replacement for

David Moyes, who was sacked after just 10 months in the role.

With many pundits claiming United’s squad needs a rootand-branch overhaul, the club have so far struggled to make a major splash in the transfer market this window.

While some of the world’s best players have been linked with United, only left-back Luke Shaw, midfielder Ander Herrera and defender Marcos Rojo have been recruited to date.

United will get the chance to get points on the board when they play Sunderland away on Sunday.

On Monday, a source told ESPN FC that Mackay will not be appointed as the new Crystal Palace manager after talks broke down amid disagreement over his potential backroom team.

Cardiff owner Vincent Tan sacked Mackay in December 2013, just a few months after the Scot had ended the Bluebirds’ 51-year wait for a return to topflight football.

Two months earlier Moody, Cardiff ’s former head of recruitment and now Palace director of football, had been placed on gardening leave

before being subsequently dismissed.

Mackay launched a 7.5 million-pound legal claim against Tan for compensation and wrongful dismissal after his sacking but dropped the claim in May and issued an apology to the Malaysian businessman.

Cardiff have declined to make any public comment on the dossier and the matter is now in the hands of the FA.

at the back following Thomas Vermaelen’s transfer to Barcelona, with teenager Calum Chambers filling in at centre-back while Per Mertesacker returns to full fitness after his World Cup exploits.

Despite the former Southampton defender’s success in the heart of the defence, Wenger remains on the lookout for signings to bolster his back line but is confident that Chambers can deal with any challenges in the mean time.

“We are not in an emergency case but we are open to any opportunity to strengthen our defensive department,” revealed the Frenchman ahead of his side’s clash with Everton.

“It is a big test [for Chambers against Romelu Lukaku] but it was also a test against Demba Ba [against Besiktas].”

Arsene Wenger is adamant that there are no hard feelings over former captain Cesc Fabregas’s move to Chelsea this summer.

The one-time Gunners hero departed north London to rejoin boyhood team Barcelona in 2011 but struggled to nail down a first-team place before

being sold to the Blues in July.

Fabregas played his first competitive match for Jose Mourinho’s side on Monday, setting up two goals in a 3-1 Premier League victory over Burnley, but the Frenchman insists he does not regret missing out on his old player.

“I have no regrets that Fabregas [joined Chelsea],” Wenger told reporters.

“My only regret is that he left us in the first place.”

Arsenal have a well-stocked midfield even without Fabregas, with few players in the top flight drawing as much praise as Aaron Ramsey over the past 12 months, and Wenger is excited about the Welshman’s progress.

“Aaron Ramsey has a different style to Fabregas but he has huge potential,” the Gunners boss enthused of the 23-year-old, who was sent off against Besiktas on Tuesday.

... Says No Regrets Over ARSENAL manager Fabregas

Fox Accepts Villa CEO Role

ASTON Villa have confirmed the appointment of Tom Fox as their new chief executive.

The former Arsenal chief commercial officer replaces Paul Faulkner, who left last month.

Chairman Randy Lerner said: “Tom’s reputation as a leader and team builder makes him, to my mind, a great fit to take our club forward.

“I was delighted and even flattered by Tom’s interest in the Villa job. His achievements at

FA Confirms Cardiff Dossier On Mackay

CARDIFF City have submitted a dossier regarding the conduct of former manager Malky Mackay and former head of recruitment Iain Moody to the Football Association, the governing body has confirmed.

An FA spokesman said: “The FA can confirm it is currently investigating this matter.”

Cardiff sent the dossier to the FA detailing a number of issues related to Mackay and Moody’s time at the club.

The Daily Mail has reported that the document contains allegations of racist, sexist and anti-gay text messages.

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger admits that he is open to bringing in both a defensive midfielder and defensive cover before the transfer window closes, though the club will not panic into making new signings.

The Gunners have had a +25 million bid for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho rejected but are close to securing Greece international defender Kostas Manolas after the Olympiakos man underwent a medical.

When asked about the possibility of signing a defensive midfielder, Wenger told the press: “We are not against that, no.

“If it’s a long-term injury [for Mikel Arteta] that puts us in a position where we have to be creative.”

The Gunners are also light

Earlier this week, Palace were fined by the Premier League for their part in the “spygate” saga involving Cardiff last April.

The Premier League determined that Palace had breached its “good faith” rule — B16 — by obtaining information about Cardiff’s team ahead of their 3-0 win when the two clubs were relegation rivals.

The Welsh club had complained to the Premier League that Moody had contacted Cardiff employees for information in the build-up to the game, an accusation Moody denied.

Arsenal speak for themselves.”

Fox joined Arsenal in 2009 and had previously worked for Nike, running the company’s Asian sports marketing business, before moving to the sportswear giant’s US operation as sports marketing director.

Chief financial officer Robin Russell had been Villa’s acting CEO since Faulkner ’s departure and is now expected to return to his previous role.

Malky Mackay

THE NIGERIAN

29

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Dortmund Boss Wants Fans To Show BORUSSIA Dortmund CEO Gotze Respect Hans-Joachim Watzke has criticised his side’s fans for their treatment of Mario Gotze and feels the current Bayern Munich star deserves more respect.

The 22-year-old left BVB for Bayern in the summer of 2013 in a deal worth +37 million, causing uproar among Dortmund fans.

Gotze has been given a hostile reception on his returns to the Signal Iduna Park since, but Watzke feels the Germany international does not deserve such a welcome.

“To be honest, I thought it was not correct when our fans • Mario Gotze

all jeered and whistled Mario during the German Supercup,” Watzke told Der Westen.

“I realise that the circumstances surrounding his transfer to Bayern were quite special, but when you look at it from a neutral point of view, you could say that he came through the ranks of the BVB youth academy, played for Dortmund for quite a few years and earned us a huge transfer fee.

“I would be really pleased if our fans would give him a better reception next time Bayern come to the Signal

Iduna Park.

“We should not forget that we are dealing with young guys here and Mario really is a nice guy. Those who know Mario can all confirm that he doesn’t always come across like the guy he really is.

“The BVB hierarchy still have a great relationship with him. He visited us after the Supercup and we gave him a good hug.”

Gotze made 116 official appearances for Dortmund between 2009 and 2013 before joining Bayern.

REAL Madrid have announced midfielder Luka Modric has signed a new fouryear deal at the Spanish club.

Madrid confirmed the news via a short statement on their website and Twitter account.

Modric, 28, signed for Madrid from Tottenham in 2012 and last season played a key role in their successful Champions League and Copa del Rey campaigns.

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The Croatia midfielder also started in the UEFA Super Cup win over Sevilla and played in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid, the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. Madrid signed Germany star Toni Kroos to strengthen their options in midfield but Modric looks certain to retain a key role in Carlo Ancelotti’s side, with Angel Di Maria the player to make way for the former Bayern pass master.

Modric Signs New FourYear Deal At Real Madrid

No German Punctuality At Real Madrid - Kroos • Porto celebrate

La Liga Is Here Again!

Can Atletico Defend Title?

By STANLEY UGAGBE

BARELY a month after the world cup final, Spanish Clubs are gearing up for domestic competition once again and as the action resumes over the weekend, three teams look likely to fight it out for the biggest prize in Spanish football.

Merely reading the fragrant headline many will be quick to say Atletico Madrid cannot repeat what they did last term.

Not so long ago, the primera division was widely referred to as a “two – team league”, but Atletico Madrid shocked Europe by claiming the 2013-14 title at the expense of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

However, defending the title will be a battle of do-ordie as both Real Madrid and Barcelona made debut to sign world players to equip their squads.

With the signings of Mario Mandzukic, Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak and leftback Guilherm Siqueira,

Atletico hopes to defend the title.

Atletico’s Coach, Diego Simeone, who proved to be a master at the art of forging a team that is more than a collected of its parts, has insited on using the same pattern he used last season.

Nevertheless, Barca are starting a new project to rewrite what happened last term under Luis Enrique and European Champions Madrid look strong (despite a poor preseason) after a summer of heavy investment as they start a second campaign under Carlo Ancelotti.

With a new coach, new

players and a new strategy, there are renewed hopes for Barca fans for this term’s title.

After the disappointment of last season, Barca are under pressure to win the title and they can achieve it. The team made no mistake in signing premier league highest goal scorer, Luis Suarez to help the team achieve their aim.

UEFA champions, Real Madrid hope to come back to the limelight of the title which they won last in 2011/12 campaign. The team made no mistakes in signing world cup star James Rodriguez, former Bayern Munich Telisman Toni Kroos and Jesus Navas. With the world best player, Cristiano Ronaldo fully lack to his feet, Real Madrid hopes to clinch the title once again.

As tradition would have it, attention will be on all three teams as the Laliga begins over the weekend.

Will Atletico defend the title? Will Madrid come back?

How about Barcelona? One thing is certain in a race of three, there must always be a winner! I hope to see the unusual in the 2014/15 campaign.

• Diego Simeone

TONI Kroos believes there is a completely different mentality at Real Madrid than the one he was used to at Bayern Munich.

The Germany international joined the Santiago Bernabeu side in a deal believed to be worth +25 million and says he is already adapting to his surroundings in Spain despite discovering a very different approach to the one he became used to at the Allianz Arena.

“The mentality here at Madrid is different than at Bayern,” Kroos was quoted

as saying by Sport Bild.

“When training started at 10:30 at Bayern, everybody would be ready to go at 10:30. Things are a bit different here. I got used to it pretty quickly, though.

Everything is a bit more relaxed and loose.

“I briefly considered using a translator at Madrid, but I didn’t like the idea of having someone around me all the time. I can get by using English. And Sami Khedira helped me out with some minor things in the beginning. He was really helpful for me.”

Kroos then went on to make it clear that he doesn’t feel any extra pressure at Madrid, stating that he is not the type of person to get nervous.

“I never get nervous. It’s simply not in my character. I am convinced of my own qualities, because I know that I can get the best out of myself when it matters most.

“I also know that it’s just a football game when things aren’t working out at some point. That makes me feel calm and relaxed. But I obviously remain focused as well, because I do care about how we play.”

THE NIGERIAN

30

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Europa League Play-Off

Champions League Play-Off

Celtic Draw At Maribor, Porto Beat Lille Hoops skipper Charlie

Inter Thrash Stjarnan

MAURO Icardi, Dodo and Danilo D’Ambrosio gave Internazionale a 3-0 away win at Stjarnan in their Europa League play-off.

The Nerazzurri went into this first leg against Icelandic club Stjarnan, the lowest ranked side still in the competition, without Rodrigo Palacio who was ruled out by injury. Ruben Botta supported Icardi and Dodo shook off flu symptoms to start.

Despite the match kicking off at 2100 local time, there was bright daylight in Rekjavik and a temperature of around 7C. Within two minutes Icardi’s header from a corner had skimmed the crossbar. Hernanes blasted over from distance and a Botta drive was easily smothered.

Andrea Ranocchia thought he had scored on 24 minutes with a towering header from a Jonathan corner, but it was cleared off the line by Olafur Karl Finsen.

Dodo drilled over from an improbable angle, Mateo Kovacic over-hit an otherwise inspired pass for Jonathan and Botta flashed a shot across the face of goal after handling the ball.

Kovacic threaded through for Jonathan again, but this time the Brazilian was inches away from making a clean connection.

Inter finally broke the deadlock before half-time. A Dodo cross was flicked on by Martin Rauschenberg, but only into the path of Icardi to pounce from 10 yards.

The Nerazzurri doubled their lead straight after the restart.

Jonathan stood up a cross for Dodo’s header at the back post and the attempted goalline clearance was too late to stop it going in.

Moments later Icardi nodded off target, then hit a fresh-air shot on a smart Hernanes free kick.

Stjarnan finally had a chance on the hour mark with Bjorgvinsson blasting over after a Dodo error.

Daniel Osvaldo came on and his first touch let him down on a Ranocchia assist, while Nemanja Vidic got himself booked.

Stjarnan threw on two strikers and it almost paid off, Juan Jesus with a desperate slide to stop Rolf Toft tapping in a cross from the left. Samir Handanovic was also called into a fine low save to palm away Olafur Karl Finsen’s daisycutter.

Novak Djokovic

Inter players celebrate a goal during their play-off against Stjarnan

CELTIC appear to have taken advantage of their European reprieve with a well-deserved 11 draw against Maribor in the first leg of their Champions League playoff in Slovenia.

Legia Warsaw had beaten the Hoops 6-1 on aggregate in the third qualifier but were effectively dumped out of the competition by UEFA for bringing on a player who should have been suspended in the second leg at Murrayfield, which left Ronny Deila’s side facing the Slovenian champions.

Callum McGregor shot the visitors into the lead in the sixth minute, only to see his fourth goal in seven games cancelled out by Damjan Bohar.

US Open... US Open... US Open ...

Federer Is Back, But Djokovic Still Favourite In NY ROGER Federer is the form player going into the US Open but Novak Djokovic is favourite to win the title, according to John McEnroe.

Federer, who reigned five. He’s younger and he supreme at Flushing can go the distance perhaps Meadows with five a little bit more easily than consecutive titles from Roger at this stage. A little 2004, won the Cincinnati bit. title last week on the back “Depending on what of reaching the final in happens leading up to it if Toronto and with world they were to play in the No.2 Rafa Nadal injured, final, some of it would have many believe the 33-year- to do with how much was old Swiss maestro can left in the tank from claim an 18th grand slam previous matches.” title. jokovic beat Federer in an “Obviously not having to epic Wimbledon final but deal with (Nadal) is a huge the 27-year-old, who has positive for him potentially just married long-time down the road if he’s at a girlfriend Jelena Ristic, lost stage at the end of the early in Toronto and event,” McEnroe said in a Cincinnati and McEnroe conference call with TV believes the Serb has lost channel ESPN for whom he focus. will be working as a commentator during the year’s final grand slam.

“I would give a slight, slight favourite to Djokovic based on it being best-of-

Federer

“I don’t think Novak’s mind has been into it since it was one of the greatest matches I ever saw at Wimbledon,” he said. “He got married. I didn’t see a lot of his matches since, but I saw a few. I think it was difficult for him to get back into the swing of things. I believe he’ll be ready here.”

It is no foregone conclusion that Djokovic and Federer will contest the final, though.

McEnroe believes Briton Andy Murray, the 2012 champion, can use the U.S. Open to spark a long-awaited return to form, while he also tips Canada’s Milos Raonic and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov to make strong runs on the New York

cement.

Murray has not won a title since Wimbledon last year and has slipped to ninth in the world rankings, although he will be seeded eight in New York because of Nadal’s wrist injury.

“I think that if you look at it, he’s not that far away,” McEnroe, a four-times U.S. Open champion, said.

“It depends if you only look at the glass half empty or half full, and people do both. But given the fact that he had a surgery on his back, which is pretty serious, if you look at his results at the majors, he wasn’t that far off.

“He’s putting himself in the position slowly but surely. To me, he’s the third favourite to win this tournament.

Depending on how the draw pans out, you would absolutely anticipate that he’s going to be a factor in this event.”

However, Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is struggling to back up his breakthrough moment and despite being seeded three, McEnroe is not expecting the Swiss to win a second grand slam of the year.

“He hasn’t been the same since,” McEnroe said. “He doesn’t seem to be able to handle the attention in a way.”

Federer will be playing his 60th consecutive grand slam at the U.S. Open - a feat McEnroe labels heroic.

“It’s obviously remarkable and unbelievable that he’s been able to do this consistently well for this long,” said the American. “To do that, 60 majors in a row, is heroic in a way. It should not be underestimated or underappreciated by tennis fans.”

Mulgrew and defender Virgil van Dijk came close before the interval as the Scottish champions showed a marked improvement on their Legia performances.

Maribor came out with more purpose at the start of the second half in the Ldjuski vrt stadium but the Hoops held firm and indeed Stefan Johansen passed up a great chance to win the game when he stumbled when he was right through - but nevertheless they are in the box seat going into the second leg at Celtic Park next Tuesday.

Despite playing away from home, Porto had 60 percent of the possession, and controlled most of the first half. The hosts exerted themselves a little more to open the second half but it was the away side that took the lead in the 61st minute.

Lille keeper Vincent Enyeama did well to keep out Barcelona loanee Cristian Tello’s shot but could not stop Herrera from tapping home the winner.

Lille’s best chance to score came in the 76th minute when Porto goalkeeper Fabiano spilled a Sebastien Corchia free kick, but Maicon was there to clear.

Oleg Shatov’s first-half goal gave Zenit St Petersburg a 1-0 win, and a crucial away goal, as the Russian side triumphed against Standard Liege in Belgium.

Shatov rounded off a fine move to make the game’s only breakthrough after 16 minutes when he sidefooted home after excellent build-up play involving Domenico Criscito, Danny and Hulk.

Standard produced an improved second-half display but were thwarted by goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin, who made fine stops to deny Tony Watt and — with less than 10 minutes remaining — Jeff Louis, to preserve the lead for Andre Villas-Boas and his side.

Cypriot club APOEL hold a slim advantage after holding Danish side Aab to a 1-1 draw in Aalborg.

The hosts took a lead in the 16th minute when Patrick Kristensen threaded a pass through an APOEL defender’s legs for Nicolaj Thomsen to finish into the far corner.

APOEL’s Brazilian midfielder Vinicius scored from eight yards to equalise nine minutes into second half and his club were happy to play out the rest of the match and return to Cyprus with an away goal in hand.

Slovan Bratislava salvaged a 1-1 draw at home to BATE Borisov to keep their hopes alive.

Tomas Jablonsky’s own goal had given the Belarussians the advantage just before the break, but Slovakia striker Robert Vittek hit back 10 minutes from time.

THE NIGERIAN

31

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Maigari, Umeh Differ On Cause Of Fire At NFA

THE Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Alhaji Aminu Maigari, on Wednesday described the fire that gutted a section of the football secretariat in Abuja as unfortunate.

Maigari returned on development. We leave Monday to his office after everything in the hands of three weeks of absence God. “We thank God that no life following his impeachment was lost but I know things

by NFA Board members.

He returned to office will come back to normal. I following a directive by the believe the security agents Minister of Sports, Mr will set up an investigative Tammy Danagogo, on panel of inquiry to ascertain what actually happened.

Friday.

“We will sit as a board to His return also followed World football governing know what steps to be taken. body, FIFA, directive that all This is an act of God. I don’t parties involved in the NFA want to apportion blame to crisis to maintain post Brazil anybody,’’ Maigari said.

He also said the 2014 World Cup status.

Maigari told newsmen after development would not affect inspecting the level of the country’s preparation for damage by the fire that he the Africa Cup of Nations was astonished by the (AFCON) qualifier against Congo in Calabar on Sept. 6. incident.

“I believe it is not going to “I am short of words. It is a affect our course in any way. very unfortunate and sad

The Falconets are willing and determined to make Nigeria proud and we are doing everything possible to ensure they succeed.

“A board member will fly to Canada tonight to inspire them and take a message of support from Nigerians to them,’’ he said.

The chairman called for the collaboration of the board

• Tamuno Danagogo, Sports Minister

members so as to achieve more positive result for the country’s football.

However, the Acting Chairman of NFA, Chief Mike Umeh, told newsmen that it was difficult to believe that electric spark was responsible for the fire outbreak.

He said the fire was an act of sabotage, adding that the development was strange to Nigeria football.

“Nobody will believe what happened this morning. We are having this kind of fire from the Secretary-General’s office to the Accounts Department.

“This happened during the working hours. It is not as if it started midnight and it was not controlled.

• Falconets celebrate

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup

“Every file there has been destroyed and that will explain to you what we are saying that there is a lot of corruption going on in the NFA. “That is why we distanced ourselves from the meeting that held yesterday. We did not agree with that meeting because nobody can

Cycling

‘I’d Never Have Come Clean’ Admits Armstrong

LANCE Armstrong has admitted that the only reason he told the truth about his doping shame is that he was forced to do so.

In an interview with CNN, the cycling legend - who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after admitting years of doping - said that it was only the US Anti-Doping Agency’s dogged investigation which forced his hand.

“Once you say ‘no’ you have to keep saying ‘no’,” he said.

“If this stuff hadn’t taken place with the federal investigation, I’d probably still be saying ‘no’ with the same conviction and tone as before.

But that gig is up.”

Armstrong is planning a book in which he will tell the entire sordid history of his years of cheating - from the drugs themselves to the lengths he went to in order to cover his tracks and discredit those who tried to blow the whistle.

“There has to be totally no bull****,” he said of his new tome, which is expected to become as big a best-seller as his now-infamous autobiography It’s not about the bike.

“I’m fully committed to putting it all out there. I don’t blame anyone for thinking, ‘I don’t trust this guy with all his

Nigeria Demolish Korea DPR 2-6 NIGERIA defeated Korea DPR 6-2 in the first semifinal of the 2014 Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup to reach their second ever final of the competition.

Four goals from star woman Asisat Oshoala plus one each from Courtney Dike and Uchechi Sunday ensured the Nigerians recorded an emphatic win against the pacy Asians who got their consolation goals through Ri Un-Sim and a penalty from Jon So-Yon. The Africans got an early goal through Dike in the second minute. She was set up by player

of the match Oshoala and made no mistake in putting the ball past goalkeeper Chol Ok. Oshoala doubled the lead in the 24th minute after capitalising on a poor touch from defender Song Kyong-Hui before making mince meat of the Korean goalkeeper and scoring into an empty net.

The Asians responded ten minutes later as Ri Un Sim pulled one back with a great tad of individual brilliance. She received a long ball from the midfield, beat two Nigerian defenders and fired a curly shot past Sandra Chichi who was

• Meets Germany In Finals completely beaten.

Although Yong Bong’s side looked determined to get the leveler, but that was not to be as the first half ended 2-1 in favour of Nigeria.

On resumption of the second half, substitute Sunday got her side’s third of the game as she hit a stunning shot from 20 yards out that left Kim with no chance as it flew into the top corner.

Korea DPR got their second goal of the game through SoYon after referee Margaret Domka adjudged Ugo Njoku to

have handled the ball in her own area.

However, with time ticking away, Oshoala grabbed her second, third and fourth goals of the game to send her team to the final as well as lead the goalscorer’s chat with seven goals.

Nigeria will face Germany, 21 winners over France in the second semi-final game, in the final of the championship that will hold at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

perpetuate himself into power.

“What they did yesterday seems they are buying time.

We must hold our election on Aug. 26.

“If they like let them burn the entire Abuja city,’’ Umeh said, in apparent reference to the face-off between him and Maigari.

Umeh and Maigari had been at loggerhead over the leadership of the NFA.

• Lance Armstrong

bull**** for 10 years’...

“The book needs to be pretty intense and transparent. I need to ‘boom’ — put it out there and let it sit.

“The sooner the better. It has to be the right book, the right tone and there has to be totally no bull****.”

He added that he will not try and deflect any blame.

“I’m a big boy, I made my own decisions and I need to be held accountable for that,” he said.

“I’m not going to blame people. A lot of people have blamed everyone else but that’s bull****.

“No-one forced me or bullied me, so I’m not going to say, ‘It’s not my fault.’ I blame myself, that’s the bottom line.”

Armsong said that his life is still good despite his shame, with the only vitriol directed at him coming via the internet.

“In this day and age, there’s plenty of outlets for people to hurl the most heinous comments that you can think of, you only have to look at the comments that will be at the bottom of this piece,” the 42-year-old said.

“But day-to-day life is positive. I never get crap, not once, and I’m surprised by that.

Sure, I sometimes get the vibe that someone wants to say something, but it’s never happened.”

CMYK

THE NIGERIAN

32

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

Ebola: When Will Nigeria Ever

Leave The Intensive Care?

WITH the issue of Ebola disease spreading like wildfire in Nigeria, one would think it is a most recent weapon of destruction, newly created and sent from the kingdom of hell to join forces with all other problems plaguing Africans. And Satan’s choice to take it to the domain of Nigeria is tantamount to attacking Africa’s nerve centre. But when it is considered that Ebola disease is deadly, highly contagious, or characteristically pandemic, and above all, has been discovered somewhere in the African nation of Congo since 1976 (over 38 years ago) one wonders how for so long Nigeria left itself unprepared for an outbreak: Why did we get inured with the thinking that our door post have been consecrated by a sacrificial animal’s blood to prevent our nation from an attack, as in the case of the Israelites dwelling amongst the Egyptians?

Perhaps this should be seen as another test case of how and why Nigeria has remained in an ‘intensive care unit’ for so long. But being in an ‘intensive care’ does not mean that Nigeria has been abandoned. As a matter of fact, the blaring of sirens around the motorable roads by government officials are all signs of ‘highly dutiful’ personnel, attending to the business of Nigeria; struggling to get it out of the ‘intensive care unit’ with the knowledge, which have been certified adequate by the machinery of their ruling political parties.

However, everyone knows that no matter the number of highly qualified doctors attending to a sick patient, the wish of every patient is to get well - be out of any manner of intensive care, and have

all the organs of the body functioning as naturally designed; without another human having to force the patient to drink or eat any substance – no matter the attendant health benefits.

Therefore, man would always prefer, and most probably feel better in his natural state of wellness – without any form of health supplements.

Human society in the state of nature is not primitive, sick or incomplete. Outside the establishment of modern day governance, human society is set on certain moral benchmarks which are the natural ingredients for maintaining peace, orderliness and growth.

This also nullifies all arguments which presume that a society only fares better when a set of humans assume a position of dominion over all other citizens- to determine what happens to their daily existence.

In earnest, every society requires a moral template which nature has provided it to survive and not essentially the governance by any set of humans. This is the template which the animal kingdom understands and abides with, to maintain the status quo of peace, orderliness, and respect for each other’s right of existence and environmental space.

We as a nation can easily count on our fingertips all the issues that have plagued us. We also know that it is not a natural sequence for these problems to befall us, but for the fact that we have abdicated the lessons from nature by pursuing mainly individualistic desires which are injurious to everybody’s corporate benefits and existence.

And now, everything must affect us unnaturally, setting us as a

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phenomenal case for the world to cite in reference to the worst of all bad situations.

In 2012, there was a diplomatic row between Nigeria and South Africa.

125 Nigerians were denied entry into South Africa because they were accused of possessing “invalid” Yellow Fever Vaccination Cards. In all, nobody mentioned anything about the health

Nigeria.

I have started wondering about how the recent cases of Ebola disease would expose us to the world, once again.

Right now, it has shown as I wrote some time ago, that Nigeria is a country without a backup.

Invariably, we are not prepared for anything except how each group is scheming to win a coming election.

collateral fatality rate.

When we also get to learn that some Nigerians have connived to provide foreign interests a portion of land within Nigeria for the burial of foreign Ebola victims, we should not consider such acts strange if only we remember how toxic

condition of the deported Nigerians as what provided the clue for suspecting the health document as fake. South African’s focus was based on the presumed knowledge that some Nigeria’s institutions are n o t o r i o u s l y unwholesomeness in their dealings. Even when the right of authenticating such documents clearly belongs to Nigerian authorities, some other nations may like to extend their means of verification beyond the source coming from

Also about the Ebola case, I am suspecting that something will happen very soon in Nigeria that would startle the world. Presently we have heard of a nurse suspected to have been infected with the Ebola virus in Lagos running to Enugu and evading treatment or the necessary action of being quarantined to prevent a spread: Somebody, who has been trained to administer health care services to others, now embarking on a suicide mission with a high

waste was once brought in from Italy in 1987 and dumped into Koko, Delta State, through the connivance of some Nigerian businessmen.

When we remember that today, the Chibok girls that have been held captive in the Sambisa forest of Northern Nigeria, would have been getting their supply of daily upkeep through some Nigerians conniving with the insurgents, only then may we appreciate the much harm being perpetrated to keep Nigeria in the

KINGSLEY OGBEIDE-IHAMA ‘intensive care’ for as long as some people prefer.

As expected in the Western world’s thinking, the Canadian government well aware that Ebola may be prevalent in Africa, but it would as usual become the lot of the West to come to the rescue. By today, the intellectual property right for the majorly known experimental drug for the treatment of Ebola, ZMapp, is owned by the Canadian government, which the U.S. Company, BiosProtection Systems Corp is licensed to produce.

Proactively, the Liberian Government has started ordering their course of treatment.

And authoritatively, the Liberian Government can tell the world how much quantity of the drugs it has ordered and the exact date of the drugs’ arrival at their shores.

In Nigeria’s case, the world may never know the quantity imported, cost or date of actual arrival in Nigeria.

Furthermore, no one can be absolutely sure whether such critical medical imports would get to the end users, if we also reflect on how the total number of imported Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCM) never got to INEC because they were stolen at the ports – the equipment that were so critical for the elimination of fraud in the conduct of our elections.

“We as a nation can easily count on our fingertips all the issues that have plagued us. We also know that it is not a natural sequence for these problems to befall us, but for the fact that we have abdicated the lessons from nature by pursuing mainly individualistic desires which are injurious to everybody’s corporate benefits and existence.”

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