Nigerian observer 27 09 2014

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

Weekend

PUBLISHED SINCE OCTOBER 6, 1990 • Vol.XI NO. 3,255• SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 20 14

SPECIAL REPORT

Pg. 6

Why Albinos Are Killed In Tanzania

LIFE

• N 100.00

Pg. 9

My Uncle Went To The Hospital For My Father’s Death Certificate Joseph Raymong

Who Is This CBN Boko Haram ‘Sponsor’?

By OSAZUA IVBAZE

S

teve Davis, Australian negotiator with close links to Boko Haram, who was in Nigeria for four months trying to negotiate the release of the kidnapped Chibok Girls said recently that Boko Haram Commanders told him a Senior CBN official was fully involved in the Details funding of the insurgency. on 3

• Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, ex-CBN Governor

• Nigerians Scream For Answer • His Name Has Been Made Available To The Highest Authorities, But... - Soyinka

• Mr. Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor

• Prof. Charles Soludo, ex-CBN Governor

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2015 Budget: Sedenu Commends Oshiomhole For Early Presentation

By RICHARD IMHOAGENE

SENIOR special Adviser to the Edo State Government on Government Properties, Hon. Ayuba Sedenu has stated that Governor Adams Oshiomhole has the required number of legislators in the House that can form a quorum to ensure that the recently presented budget is speedily approved by the state House of Assembly.

He gave this assurance in an exclusive chat with Weekend Observer at his office in Benin recently.

Sedenu, who revealed his intention to represent Etsako West Local Government constituency in the 2015 elections, gave an insight into his life as a politician and said he should be given the ticket to run for the state house in the forthcoming polls on the platform of the

All Progressives Congress.

He stated emphatically that “if APC confers the ticket on me today, they should be very sure that the election is won. Because I am sure of my popularity and doggedness. I am also closely in torch with my people. I grew with them. I feel what they feel, and I have served them before in various capacities.”

Speaking further, he said,” I can state confidently that whoever the PDP or any other party will field, does not stand a chance against me “He said that he had that confidence because his people in Etsako West know what they want, and they can attest to his performance and dedication to service.

Hon. Ayuba Sedenu, a one time supervisory counsellor for works in his local

government, highlighted some of his achievements in that capacity including the supervision of the openingup and grading of earth roads in several communities in Auchi, Ibionafe, and Uzairue axis, construction of Ultra-modern abattoir, ,the empowerment of youths and the less privileged, among others.

He called on the people not to be deceived by party tricks, but should consider what the individual and the party can bring to the fore According to him, “I believe the electorates have become informed and wise. What they want to see is what is on ground, practical projects, physically sighted and seen”.

He further congratulated the Comrade governor for the

APC Stalwart Wants House Of Reps Position Zoned To Etsako Central

By LAMAI CASSIUS

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart in Etsako Central local government area, Mallam Daudu Abudukereem has appealed to the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the leadership of the party in the state and Etsako in particular to as a matter of justice, fairness and equity zone the House of Representatives position to Etsako Central.

Mallam Abudukereem who made the appeal while speaking with WEEKEND OBSERVER recalled that Etsako West and East local government areas have produced a member in the House of Reps twice each since 1999 while Etsako Central has not and the people have been supportive in any elections in the past.

He said now everybody believes is the turn of Etsako Central to produce a candidate for the position of House of Reps and appealed to Etsako West APC members to behave like big brothers like Etsako East for not struggling the position with Etsako Central local government.

He reminded the people of the recent Osun and Ekiti states elections’ saying; it is obvious that people are no longer voting for a party but rather candidates of their choice irrespective of party affiliation. He warned that any attempt by the party

leaders to deny Etsako Central local government this opportunity of producing a House of Reps candidate in the next election will be resisted by the people in the local government.

He further warned that Etsako Central local government has produced eminent personalities in different endeavours that can occupy any elective position in the country and

wondered the marginalization of the local government of producing House of Reps member.

Mallam Abudukereem however said he has unflinching belief in the state governor as he will not allow the party to lose any elective position to the opposition party in the state as preparatory to 2016 Edo state governorship election.

By RAYMOND OSOGBE

line with existing protocol President Jonathan is expected to pay a courtesy call on the Benin Monarch, Oba Erediauwa CFR, who is a first class traditional ruler.

foresightedness in presenting the budget this early, stating that it is first of its kind and has never happened in the history of the

LG Boss Pledges Support For SocioBY GRACE OSAGIE/ Cultural Group UCHE OKONYE THE executive chairman of Etsako West Local Government, Hon. (Barri.)

Hassan Kadiri has assured a socio political and cultural awareness group, Edo Arise for Democracy, Good Governance and Cultural Organization his administration’s support in carrying out their awareness to the people.

The chairman gave the assurance when the socio organization group paid him a courtesy visit in his office

at Auchi, the administrative headquarters of the local government.

Hon. Hassan Kadiri said he is a lover of culture and would support the group any time he is called upon. He further stated that the local government is also ready to sponsor any youth or youths for training in any part of the country as it is part of his administration’s program to empower youths in various fields of specialization.

Edo Arise Organization, a socio political and cultural

awareness group had paid a courtesy visit to the chairman as part of its familiarization with the local government.

The group organizes training, seminars and cultural feast, to create awareness and help promote democracy, good governance and cultural awareness in Edo state.

Highpoint of the visit was the cultural display by the group to the admiration of the chairman, his wife Mrs. Rabiat Hassan Kadiri and Hon. Abibat Yakubu, the speaker of the legislative arm of the council.

Reps C’ttee Commends Auchi Poly Rector

BY LAMAI CASSIUS

AUCHI Polytechnic Rector, Dr. (Mrs.) Philipa. O. Idogho has been commended for her visionary leadership style in steering the affairs of the polytechnic since she became the Rector of the institution.

Members, House of Representatives committee on Education made the

Oba’s Palace Wears A New Look For President Jonathan

THE Oba’s palace, Benin City is wearing a new look.

Courtesy of the anticipated visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the palace today.

The road to the Palace has received a rehabilitative pill of the RCC Construction Company Plc. Engineer Denis Orji, Federal Controller of WORKS, Edo State was seen yesterday supervising the ongoing road maintenance exercise.

He told our correspondent that he was carrying out the exercise based on directive of Architect Mike Onolemenme, Federal Minister of works.

When Mr. Frank Irabor, Benin Traditional Council (BTC) Secretary was consulted, he reiterated the fact that the palace was ready to receive president Goodluck Jonathan today.

It will be recalled that in

state. In his words, “for a man to present next year’s budget as early as September, it means that his plans and projects for in the coming year are so enormous, and

so he needs to start implementation early.”

The senior special Adviser described the Governor’s performance in the last six years as “a practical display of excellence” and urged the people to give him the required support to take the state to its desired heights.

President Jonathan is expected to address the South-South Unity rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium today.

commendations in her office during their visit to the polytechnic recently as part of their oversight functions to federal institutions to see the level of development to justify federal government huge resources to education sector in the country.

The committee members however observed that the polytechnic has indeed witnessed tremendous infrastructural and human development for the past six years which made the polytechnic a leading and enviable higher institution in the country.

The chairman of the committee, Hon. Aminu Suleiman said with the score card presented by the Rector, Dr. (Mrs.) Idogho, there was

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Education, Hon. Aminu Suleiman (left), addressing the Rector, Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Dr. (Mrs.) Philipa Idogho during the Committee’s Oversight Function visit to the Polytechnic.

no iota of doubt that the polytechnic has adhered strictly to its budget.

Hon. Suleiman enjoined other federal institutions to juxtapose the huge resources spent by the federal government on education sector as it is evidently noticed on ground at the Auchi Polytechnic adding that the Rector has distinguished herself among the few women in top government establishments in the country.

Speaking in the same vein, a member of the Committee representing Etsako Federal Constituency, Hon. Abubakar Momoh while commending the Rector for her exemplary leadership said Auchi Polytechnic was one of the few Polytechnics in the country that did not embark/ participate in the ten months strike recently called off by Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).

Hon. Momoh praised the leadership of Dr. (Mrs.) Idogho for ensuring students of the polytechnic are not kept out of school when they are supposed to be learning, adding that Auchi Polytechnic had enjoyed uninterrupted six academic sessions which he said should be emulated by other school administrators to address the problem in education sector.

Earlier, the Rector, Dr. (Mrs.) Philipa O. Idogho had presented her score card to the members, House of Representatives committee on education since she assumed office as the Rector in the institution few years ago.

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W end Cover NIGERIANS are yet again thrown in a web of perplexity and apprehension, having been kept in the dark on such matters as crucial as the security of lives and property. So many questions arise and the vague answers provided give room for even more questions. Chief of them is: why is the government silent over the alleged involvement of a top central Bank official in the sponsorship of Boko Haram?

It appears the Nigerian authorities are refusing to recognize the severe implications of some of the revelations by Australian Boko Haram negotiator, Steven Davis. While much has been said (and nothing done) about the allegations against Ali Modu, former Governor of Borno State and Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, erstwhile Chief of Army Staff, not much has been said about the alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram by a top CBN official.

Weeks after Davis’ allegations, Nigerians have been thrown into an array of confusion as to the identity of the implicated CBN official.

Even more worrisome is the fact that neither the presidency nor the Apex Bank has come out to explain to the public what the situations or disclose the identity of the individual.

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has given more impetus to the allegation by affirming that his own private inquiries confirm the allegations, and that the name of the official as obtained by him has been made available to the

• Prof. Charles Soludo, ex-CBN Governor

• Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, ex-CBN Governor

Who Is This CBN Boko Haram ‘Sponsor?’

By OSAZUA IVBAZE/RICHARD IMHOAGENE

presidency.

Some Nigerians feel that it makes sense to believe in the Bank’s alleged involvement considering the sophistication of the insurgents. Perhaps, this could just be the answer to a collective question by Nigerians regarding how the sect funds its operations.

• Mr. Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor

The CBN, as the sole controller of minting and printing, and currency circulation in the country, has the capacity to bankroll the sect if it so desires.

Whilst the allegation only says “a top CBN official, many Nigerians have already concluded that such an operation can only be

carried out by a very top person who must have the Management’s blessings.

And true to their nature, they are pointing fingers already.

Concerned Nigerians are worried that the Jonathan administration does not seem to possess the political will to prosecute indicted persons, especially those in top places.” The Farouk Lawan case was swept under the carpet, he almost certainly celebrated Alameseigha, ensured that Bode George was cleared of all charges, and has continued to promote impunity, under the pretence of not “interfering with the law”.

Regrettably they say the President “seems more interested in scoring political points for next years election and believes he has to desist from making enemies by indicting political criminals, especially those from the

north. He has chosen instead to mortgage the people’s safety for his 2015 ambition”.

“Revelations can continue to come up, but where there is no sincere attempt to ensure that indicted persons face the wrath of the law, we will only continue to sing tantrums to deafened ears who are out to pursue personal and political agenda.

If indeed, the name of the CBN official has been revealed to the presidency, why are Nigerians kept in the dark? Why is there no investigation or inquiry into the matter? Even the current CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele has refused to speak on the matter. If not to inform Nigerians, he should at least try and salvage the image of the apex bank in the face of such grievous allegation.

The Socio-Economic

Right and Accountability Project (SERAP), a social rights group, has handed CBN a fourteen-day ultimatum to provide information about the persons involved in the money – laundering and sponsorship of Boko Haram. Empowered by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, SERAP has demanded that Emefiele provides such information or face the law.

However, some Nigerians are of the opinion that the entire revelations by Steven Davis is a figment of the man’s imagination, and should not be taken seriously. They claim it is a mere plot by our collective enemies to distract us from the actual reality and victimize some individuals in the process.

Whatever the case may be others feel that we cannot take chances by trying to politicize the allegations. If the name has truly been released to government, investigations should be speedily carried out in a bid to prosecute those found guilty, and if the presidency cannot do that, it should refer the suspects to the special prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since these allegations are for crimes against humanity.

The Boko Haram insurgency, which has violently plagued Nigeria since 2009, cannot be solely defeated by terrestrial combat alone, but must be tackled from the roots. If they are starved of funds, they cannot carry out operations.

If, shamefully, the CBN is found culpable of the allegations, then government will earn a crucial point in its fight against terrorism by cutting off such sponsorship.

The Federal Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria, security agencies, and other concerned stakeholders must ensure that this alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram by a CBN top official is sincerely investigated and the perpetrator(s) brought to book if they are to prove their commitment to the security of Nigerians and beyond.

“Regrettably they say the President “seems more interested in scoring political points for next year’s election and believes he has to desist from making enemies by indicting political criminals, especially those from the north. He has chosen instead to mortgage the people’s safety for his 2015 ambition.”

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M trowatch

Ekiosa

“It was first used by Missionaries wishing to expand the Christian faith. This location was used extensively by these early preachers to spread the gospel. As the missionaries and new converts trooped in, local traders saw an opportunity to make some money from worshippers by bringing their wares to the crusade. Thus the name “Ekiosa”.”

God’s Market

By RICHARD IMHOAGENE/OSAGIE GRACE

MARKETS grew quickly in human history to become an important part of man’s sociocultural and socioeconomic life.

It is not just a place for exchange of goods and services or other forms of socio-economic interactions, some cultures, especially in

south eastern Nigeria adopt market days as a means of recording important events.

Benin, the capital city of Edo State, has its own fair share of markets scattered across the city.

The Eki Osa Market is prominent among them.

This haven of commerce lies along the

busy Saponba Road by Second East Circular .

It’s long- standing history, especially concerning its origin and the circumstances surrounding its name leaves room for public curiosity.

The etymology of the name is not far fetched.

In native Benin language, the word “Eki” means market and

• How The Name Evolved • Items Used By Native Doctors Sold At A Section Of the Market “Osa” is a shortened form of the word used to refer to God. Eki Osa therefore means “God’s market.” At first thought, one is tempted to conclude that the market is Godly, and perhaps the reason for the name.

That would be rather prematurely conclusive.

According to sources, the area now occupied by the traders served as a crusade ground for early Christians.

It was first used by Missionaries wishing to expand the Christian faith. This location was used extensively by

these early preachers to spread the gospel. As the missionaries and new converts trooped in, local traders saw an opportunity to make some money from worshippers by bringing their wares to the crusade. Thus the name “Eki Osa”.

An amazing discovery, however, is that years after Christianity was planted on that soil, it may not be living to the expectation of those who gave it that identity.

There are sections of the market where spiritual objects and

items used by native doctors and herbalists are sold. The question that arises from this observation is “how can a market which sells such items be called “God’s market?” the items include: animal bones and skulls, dead rats, bird feathers, live tortoise and its shells, native chalk, coins, cowries, red pieces of rags etc. Weekend Observer recently visited Eki Osa to uncover the mystery behind the paradox and Continued on page 5

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Ekiosa

“Away from the spiritual items section, most of the traders who spoke to WEEKEND OBSERVER share a common concern. They decried the practice of some shop owners taking their wares and displaying same on the road, as this prevents buyers from going into the main market.”

• Madam Hannah Igbinovia, Leader of Spiritual items section Continued from page 4

find answers to frequently asked questions. The trip to that commercial enclave at second junction on Saponba Road proved rather revealing amidst the suspicious eyes that greeted us.

In an exclusive chat with Madam Hannah Igbinovia, the woman leader of traders of spiritual items, dealer in all manner ritual items, it was revealed that the name actually came

from the missionary works of Christians who used the area as a ground for evangelical crusades and attracted traders in the process.

According to the nonagenarian who spoke with the aid of an interpreter, the Jehovah’s witnesses were the ones who used the once bushy area for evangelical crusades at the time. She claimed it was long before independence.

She stated that she

has been a trader there for about 80 years, and was a teenager when the missionary work was on-going.

Madam Hannah Igbinovia also deals in spiritual items such as native chalk, cowries, coins, red pieces of cloth, bird feathers, dried animal skulls and bones, eggs of different colours and sizes, alligator pepper, and so on.

When asked about the level of patronage and

“Madam Hannah Igbinovia also deals in spiritual items such as native chalk, cowries, coins, red pieces of cloth, bird feathers, dried animal skulls and bones, eggs of different colours and sizes, alligator pepper, and so on.”

her target customers, she responded that her customers include ordinary individuals who have problems they need to solve, and come there to get the items as recommended by those who have tested their efficacy.

Madam Hannah Igbinovia is just one of many traders, mostly women who have found a means of livelihood by trading in such spiritual items at an allocated location in Eki Osa Market.

The foul stench that greeted one on entrance to that section of the market as a result of rottening animal parts on display, is enough to make one sick in the stomach. It felt like walking into a shrine.

It is interesting to note that despite the proliferation of Christianity with the establishment of c o u n t l e s s denominations across the state, a lot of its people, even those who

Spiritual items

publicly profess Christianity still engage in the worship of deities, and the offer of sacrifices to gods.

The purpose here is not to judge anyone’s religion or beliefs, neither is it aimed at criticizing any man’s faith or bringing such religious affiliations to ridicule. Every man has a right to believe in whatever or whoever he chooses and can worship same freely without oppression.

The controversy, however, lies in the fact that there is no rationale in the act of confessing Christ as one’s only Lord and saviour and such person’s continuous participation in the worship of idols.

There is also the issue of selling spiritual items in a place called “God’s market.” Should it raise concerns or should it be likened to the United States of America tagged “God’s own country “where evil still prevails? Or the Sierra

Leonean City called Free Town where nothing is actually free?

Away from the spiritual items section, most of the traders who spoke to W E E K E N D OBSERVER share a common concern. They decried the practice of some shop owners taking their wares and displaying same on the road, as this prevents buyers from going into the main market. They complained that this has really affected them.

Mrs. Ehigie, one of the traders, said that apart from the environmental implications of this practice, those who choose to remain disciplined in their stores no longer get patronage, as buyers can now get all they want by the road.

They called on the state government to ensure that all traders return to their stores to protect the environment and ensure that all traders operate on a level-playing ground.

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S ecial Report

Why Albinos Are Klled In Tanzania

By OSAZUA IVBAZE

Persecution of People with Albinism (PWA) occur for different reasons. One is based on the belief that certain body parts of “Albinism” albinistic people can transmit magical powers.

Such \o “Superstition” superstition is present especially in some parts of the \o “African Great Lakes” African Great Lakes region, it has been promulgated and exploited by \o “Witch doctor” witch doctors and others who use such body parts as ingredients in rituals, concoctions and “potions” with the claim that their “Witchcraft” magic will bring prosperity to the user.

As a result, people with albinism have been persecuted, killed and dismembered, and graves of albinos dug up and desecrated. At the same time, people with albinism

have also been ostracised and even killed for exactly the opposite reason, because they are presumed to be cursed and bring bad luck. The persecutions of people with albinism take place mostly in East Africa.

Albinism is a genetically inherited condition which is very rare and worldwide affects approximately one in twenty thousand people Although rare in the western world, albinism is quite common in sub-Saharan Africa, likely as a result of consanguinity.”

Both parents who may or may not be albinos themselves must carry the gene if it is to be passed on to the child and is common both in male and female and is not specific to any race or ethnic group.

Statistics prove that fifty percent of albinos in Tanzania have an albino relative which they know of

although very few understand or are educated about the medical and genetic causes of this condition. Most people believe it is a punishment from God or bad luck and that their “disease” could be contagious which is often the view of even members of the medical and professional community.

These misconceptions, coupled with the lack of education are some of the key reasons that albinism is so heavily persecuted. This lack of knowledge around people with Albinism (PWA) means that myth and superstition in the name of witchcraft take place of medical and scientific facts in the minds of many albinos and native Africans which in turn has major effects on the social integration of albinos into society. Ninety eight percent of albinos die by the age of forty for reasons

which could easily be prevented.

Current statistics of Albino persecution A report was released on April 1, 2014 by the Canadian organization “Under the Same Sun” based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Titled “Reported Attacks of Persons with Albinism”, the document lists 129 recent killings and 181 other attacks, all within 23 African countries. These attacks include mutilation, violence, grave violations and cases of asylumseeking.

In Tanzania, albinos represent one in every 1429 births, a much higher than in any other nation.

According to Al-Shaymaa Kwegyir, an albino member of parliament, there are 6977 officially registered Tanzania. However, it is believed that there may be up to 17000 undocumented.

A number of albinos have migrated to the \o “Dar es Salaam” Dar es Salaam area, as they feel safer in an urban setting. Tanzania is thought to have the largest population of albinos in Africa.

Albinos are especially persecuted in Shinyanga and Mwanza, where witch doctors have promoted a belief in the potential magical and superstitious properties of albinos’ body parts. There are further issues which arise when there is lack of

education around albinism.

Fathers often suspect the mother of the albino child of infidelity with a white man or that the child is the ghost of a European colonist. This can cause immense strain on families and relationships. An albino child is often seen as a bad omen and treated as unwanted. Many albino babies become victims of infanticide to these superstitious views.

Origins of myths and superstition causing persecution of people with Albinism (PWA) Rituals and spiritual ideas around albinism have led to the brutal murder and attacks on innocent men, women and especially children under the influence of witchcraft and superstition and desperation for wealth.

These ideas have been around for many generations, however in recent years witch doctors have been teaching misconceived ideas about the promise of wealth, success and power when albino limbs or hair is used in a potion as part of a witchcraft practices. This has gained public attention nationally and internationally as these crimes have been reported which are crimes against human rights. “infanticide, kidnapping, amputations, and decapitations,

committed for purposes of supplying highly valued body parts used for amulets, which are then sold in underground witchcraft market.” Therefore this cause’s great unrest and angst among the albino population who must be protected and often live in a state of solitude simply to protect their own lives and to prevent being hunted like animals.

US congressmen Gerry colony in 2010 passed legislation to protect albinos and urge local governments to protect albinos where he states that “With their help and the passage of this resolution today, maybe we can bring an end to these horrific and heinous crimes.”

It is clear that “the main driving forces underlying these profiling crimes are ignorance, myth, and superstition, such as the belief that individuals with albinism possess superpowers or that their body parts bestow fortune and health.” It is commonly known that in many c o m m u n i t i e s , predominantly in Tanzania and parts of east Africa, that superstitious views designed by ancient spiritual beliefs reinforced by local witch doctors which have been carried through centuries of ritualistic practices and mythical beliefs. This creates a serious risk to the lives of

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S ecial Report Albino Kllings Continue In Tanzania

persons with albinism as the people believe it will bring them wealth, power, success or health depending on the variances of interpretation. Senior police officers claim that these body parts may be sold for as much as $75,000 on the black market for a set of arms, legs, ears, and genitals from an individual with albinism. Therefore there has been an extensive amount of albino murders in the past decade especially in Burundi and Tanzania, where in 2007 more than

seventy documented killings and one hundred and fifty body parts of albinos have been chopped off. Now this number is well over one hundred, with low conviction rates and adding to that figure more albinos which have had limbs severed and left many crippled or severely maimed, traumatized and tortured in the process.

This does and has the potential to cause extreme trauma and stress on albinos in their daily lives already impacted by the

“It is even worse being an albino in Tanzania, where fair-skinned Africans are hunted by witchdoctors for their body parts. At least 30 albinos have been killed this year in the East African country. The lucrative trade in albino fingers, feet, even penises is driving the killings.” stress of their condition affecting skin and eyesight and can create a constant state of insecurity and distrust. According to Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, because of the social and educational exclusion which can often occur there are often very low education levels in albinos and lack social and economic tools to live productive lives. It also “is a common belief that albinos have low brain capacity and are unable to function at the same level as ‘normal

people’. Therefore their ability to learn is often deficient due to the fact that one hundred percent of albinos suffer from some form of visual impairment and there often are not sufficient educational facilities, learning supplies or funding to support children with limited sight.

This causes extensive bullying, exclusion from friend groups, low selfesteem and confidence along with emotional and mental illness stemming from rejection by society and often family members who believe in superstitious myths about albinos. It is clearly revealed that no matter what mythical or spiritual mantra a person may be following or believing about albinos there is a general view in “nearly all cultures in the region of east Africa held and some still hold the view that albinos are less desirable beings who are less than human. Therefore homes and schools specifically for albinos such as Buhangija albino school which have been created in a safe environment for learning and growing. Many children fear to ever return to their families in fear that they may be killed by even their closest relatives. The UN report submitted as part of the Human Rights Council resolution 23/13 of the 13th June 2013 states that they are often regarded as “ghosts and not human beings who can be wiped off the global map.” They are often persecuted as devils or people who are a bad omen or suffer from a curse and in some communities “believed that contact with them will bring bad luck, sickness or death.”

Therefore this is discrimination and mental and emotional persecution alone, where severe bullying for children, exclusion and abandonment occurs even without the brutal physical persecution being mentioned.

However the issues which have created a spotlight for

the Human Rights Council of the United Nations is the murder for medicine and dismemberment, attacks and murder of persons with albinism. Some other possible myths which impose a risk on people with albinism is a myth which “sexual intercourse with a woman or a girl with albinism can cure HIV/ AIDS.” Sacrifice of albinos is believed also to “appease the god of the mountain” when fear of a volcano eruption is possible and it is believed that pulling the hair of albinos can bring good luck. It has also been reported that “miners use the bones of persons with albinism as amulets or bury them where they are drilling for gold. The attacks which occur usually result in the death or severe mutilation of the albino which according to the Human rights council can in “some cases involve trade in organs, trafficking in persons and sale of children, infanticide and abandonment of children.”

It is not easy being an albino in Africa. It is even worse being an albino in Tanzania, where fairskinned Africans are hunted by witch-doctors for their body parts. At least 30 albinos have been killed this year in the East African country. The lucrative trade in albino fingers, feet, even penises is driving the killings.

Many rural Tanzanians still believe in traditional medicine, and a potion made from albino appendages is said to make one rich.

Albinos in Tanzania are scared for their lives.

Recently, some from the albino community voiced their concern by staging a demonstration in Dar es Salaam, the capital, urging the government to do more to protect albinos. Jakaya Kikwete, the Tanzanian president, met albino leaders and condemned the recent killings. “These killings are shameful and distressing to our society,” Mr Kikwete said in a television address to the nation. “I am told that people kill albinos and chop their body parts, including fingers, believing they can get rich.”

Most of the killings have occurred in Tanzania’s western region near Lake Victoria. Albinos have fled from the rural areas to cities, such as Dar es Salaam, where fewer people believe in witchcraft. The capital even has an association that lobbies for albino rights, the Tanzania Albino Society.

“We need to clear out these beliefs that albinism is the result of a curse put on the family and the witch-doctors should be arrested,” said Christopher Dadenekeye of the society that claims 8,000 registered albino members.

The recent albino killings have drawn a lot of local attention and even the interest of the international community. The European Parliament last month passed a resolution condemning the treatment of Tanzania’s albinos. “The European Parliament calls on the Tanzanian authorities, local government authorities and civil society in general to collaborate in order to protect all albinos,” the resolution said.

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V ewpoint

That NANS Award For President Jonathan IT is highly regrettable, appalling, and indeed a shame, none could have ever imagined it will transcend into this, the level of condescension is unbelievable, it is absolutely ridiculous.

After the closure of public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for more than 2 years as a result of avoidable strikes caused by governments vehement refusal to meet the demands of education workers, after more than 4 years of absolute neglect of tertiary institutions in the country in terms of basic amenities and infrasture thereby plunging education into a quagmire of mediocrity, after governments failure and ineptitude in providing employment for the teeming number of unemployed graduates, the National

Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has seen it befitting, worthy and necessary to confer on his Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with the merit award of Grand Commander of Nigerian students. The questions now are: how did President Jonathan merit this award? Is he truly worthy of this award? What was/were the yardstick used in determining, collating and arriving at a conclusion regarding his meritoriousness to be conferred with such a meritorious award?

Given the fact that no Nigerian university featured on the world’s best 500 universities list due to government’s indifference and apparent disregard for education and students alike, given the fact that even among the contending universities

By UCHE OKONYE

in Africa, the best university in the country was ranked at a distant 44, trailing behind some universities in Kenya, South Africa and most annoyingly, Ghana; the award from NANS to President Jonathan could only have been envisioned and imagined in a theatre of the absurd. It is more or less like a head telling a knife “thank you for severing me from the neck”. What else could motivate the choice and conferment of this award on the President when the standard of education in the country keeps dwindling and deteriorating alarmingly and visibly? It should be noted that last year, five Nigerian universities made the list in Africa’s top 100 universities as against 4 in this year’s ranking released not

long ago.

I have always had strong reservation as a student about the genuineness of the NANS leadership.

Therefore, this award from NANS to the President only confirms my doubts and strengthens the belief in many quarters that those who claim to be leaders of NANS are mostly non-students who are using the association for their own selfish benefit, personal aggrandizement and just to line their own pockets. If not, how can a student who is studying under inhuman condition, deplorable academic environment as is the case with all campuses across the country or who because of failure to pay outrageous fees is now faced with the prospect

“Interestingly, this award may have been conferred on the President in the name of Nigeria students but certainly, it enjoys no endorsement nor support from the community of Nigerian students and youths alike.”

of losing studentship support Jonathan and his anti-educational policies let alone conferring an award on him. The award to the President is clearly a gross misrepresentation of Nigerian students by NANS and its leadership. The award is indeed an embarrassment and a slap on the face to the community of students and youths alike in the country. The NANS leadership should be aware at this point, that their view and selfish thinking is not in any way shared by the community of Nigerian students neither is it in same line of thought or harmony with their ideology; idiosyncrasy, nor perception concerning the attitude of the present Jonathan led administration towards education.

Interestingly, this award may have been conferred on the President in the name of Nigeria students but certainly, it enjoys no endorsement nor support from the community of Nigerian students and youths alike. Yinka Gbadebo and his NANS cohorts should have indulged in

extensive students liaison, they should have transversed the length and breath of the country in order to garner and accurately measure the perception of Nigerian students towards his Excellency and his educational policies before dishing out the aforementioned award to him.

Therefore, by failing to laise with the Nigerian community of students before arriving at this conclusion of merit award conferment on the President, the Yinka Gbadebo led NANS has successfully proved to Nigerians that they don’t have the interest of students at heart. The best response to this national shame is for students and activists on all campuses to rise up to reclaim the NANS from racketeers and careerists like Gbadebo and his group. A return of NANS to the democratic and mass platform it used to be and with a leadership that is sufficiently bold enough to defend student’s interests is vital if the ongoing public onslaught on public education in forms of fees hike and commercialisation is to be resisted.

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

i

L fe Death In Africa

My Uncle Went To The Hospital For My Father’s Death Certificate - Joseph Raymond

300L Law Student, UNIBEN “Where’s The First Son?!!!!” “How Did Our Brother Die?!!!!” “The Burial Must Take Place At Home!!!” “Three Cows Must Be Killed!!!” “He Must Not Be Buried On A Market Day!

• Joseph Raymond

T

HESE and many more are what characteris the demise of a person in Africa at large and Nigeria in particular. Death ought to be accompanied with grief, sorrow, mourning and weeping but NO, not in NIGERIA. The moment a person dies in Nigeria, there’s an awakening of all his dispersed relatives and they rendezvous, seek ways to chicane the bereaved family into giving up cash and other valuables.

HOW PREPOSTEROUS!!!!!

Enough of broadening on the subject, let me narrow it down. My father and hero passed on to glory on the 20th of July, 2014. I was in the middle of my exams so I was ill disposed for another week. When I eventually got home before my final paper,

I was relieved because my siblings had taken care of so much that I had little or nothing to do, or so I thought until the cookie as they say crumbled. I was on phone one lovely morning when suddenly my little brother, ran up to me saying “the villagers are here, come quickly to the living room” and he speed off. I dropped the call and jogged down to the living room “aha!! We’ve been looking for you” said the group’s spokesperson as I figured. After exchanging pleasantries that weren’t so pleasant, we went straight to the reason of their visit. “our brother ’s body must be buried at home” he said “our brother cannot come to a foreign land, work and be buried here, that’s all we have come to say, we won’t interfere with the date and all but our brother’s body must

come home” he concluded.

Need I say that in all my sojourn on planet Earth, I’ve never set eyes on these ‘brothers’ of my Dad and I smiled and concurred.

We’re from a minority group in Edo state and have spent all our lives here, Daddy built a house here, so Benin is home and the land my Dad bought in the village was sold by one of his ‘brothers’ without his consent of course, so really, WHERE IS HOME? Due to the intervention of God, the ‘brothers’ later agreed that the burial should take place at our home. I danced at hearing the news then went off to request for my Dad’s death certificate at a health centre, on reaching there, I was waiting on the Doctor when I saw what has changed my perception of humans for eternity. Right before my very own eyes

was my uncle obviously there for the same purpose as me. Let’s take a break while I enlighten you on what a death certificate is, it is a document with which one would process all the benefits of the deceased and without it, nothing in that respect can be done. So, you see my bewilderment at finding my uncle at the health centre. Anyway, back to our story...

I walked up to him and after greeting him and completely ignoring my cousin who was with him on their operation, I asked “what are you doing here?” he blushed, stammered something then managed to say “a junior should never ask a senior questions, so what are you doing here” I smiled, it was clear that he was flustered and I said

“Let’s take a break while I enlighten you on what a death certificate is, it is a document with which one would process all the benefits of the deceased and without it, nothing in that respect can be done. So, you see my bewilderment at finding my uncle at the health centre. Anyways, back to our story...”

“stuff, excuse me please” and walked away majestically with a feeling of triumph. I talked to some staff I knew and his mission was unsuccessful. Did I mention that earlier that day he had called that he was paying us a visit, sigh!!!!!

Well, he did pay us a visit, just not the kind we were expecting. I sometimes run around the thought that I should write a novel on all this, oh well, till I make up my mind.

To cut a long story short, the ‘brothers’ conflicted with us over the date of OUR Father’s burial, made sure we were nearly drowned in the sea of emotional trauma and after the burial on OUR proposed date of course, they dropped the bomb on cutting of hair. After battling it out, we didn’t succumb honestly, I’m waiting for the next ace up their sleeves.

My sincere aim of writing this is to educate us on the effects of what we do to persons who are bereaved, there should be a reevaluation of our actions, in some cultures, the wife is made to drink the water used to wash the corpse cap-a-pie, isn’t that barbaric?!!! Embalmment

fluid which is used to keep a corpse in recognisable condition contains formaldehyde methanol, and other solvents and they are very toxic and venomous as 25m1 of methanol guarantees permanent blindness and 150m guarantees death and these are the chemicals washed off the deceased and given to the wife to ingest and when she develops health crisis, they conclude that the husband’s spirit is at work. We can stop this. I would not wish what I went through on any soul except the Boko Haram members of course.

We need to change our perception of death. The bereaved should be left alone to mourn rather than lured to some vague cultural practises. If possible, all traditional rulers in Nigeria can make amends to their traditions.

Conclusively, in case you didn’t notice, I haven’t made mention of any religion because I do not want to be seen as confronting this from a bias standpoint. All traditions that are repugnant should be obliterated. Thank you.

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

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M trowatch

“It is not out of the financial capacity of a local government to ensure public adherence to simple requirements of elementary hygiene. The Oshiomhole-led government has transformed Benin City, especially King square to an urban attraction that meets global standard. The local government should be seen to be playing its role, and effectively too.”

Attention Oredo LG Council

Imperative Of Elementary Hygiene ONE major thing in the survival of living beings is the ability for them to eat healthy food in a healthy environment.

Food helps to build, maintain and repair body cells and tissues. Therefore food invariably is a part of

human life.

Health on the other hand has to do with wholeness.

The World Health Organisation defines it as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

By GEDU LONGLIFE It is also popularly said that ‘health is wealth”.

Therefore, the completeness of the physical, mental and social well being of an individual has a long way of boosting

his/her productivity and by extension that of the society.

However, good food plays a vital role in the completeness of the physical. Mental and social well being of a person.

But the manner the said food is prepared matters and the place of consumption of such food matters the most.

It is in this regard that Weekend Observer visited Ring road the popular Oba market axis to ascertain the environment in which individuals buy prepared food such as jollof rice, fried rice, chicken, etc for consumption.

Lagos Street junction is a consumption depot of jollof rice and fried rice with chicken and other kinds of meat, and this food is heavily consumed by passers, commercial bus drivers, and traders young and old unfortunately the food is sold in the midst of offensively stinking refuse.

The heaps of refuse are seen along the walk ways after Bob Izua Motor park

towards the end of the walk way to the junction of Lagos Street where the food sellers are located in the mornings.

Despite the stinking refuse around people, seem not to be aware of the health implications the consumption of such food my cause.

The unfortunate thing here is that the refuse stinks so badly that passersby have to put on handkerchiefs to cover their nostrils before they can pass through that place.

Another thing about the food usually displayed in wheelbarrow is the fact that it is not properly covered and in most cases, not covered at all.

“One could imagine the possibility of flies playing around the putrid refuse and flying from that terrain to land on the food that is meant for the consumption of man”.

This is hazardous to human health. Selling already prepared food in the midst of refuse is totally unacceptable and injurious to human health and can cause serious sicknesses

such as typhoid, stomach disorder, cough, dysentery just to mention but a few.

In view of this, the food sellers should be discouraged from selling such kind of food in a location of refuse.

Also the Oredo Local Government Sanitation department should discourage the selling of consumable food around refuse dump.

Vehicles passing by discharge toxic waste like carbon monoxide through exhaust pipes to the environment where the food is sold.

It is not out of the financial capacity of a local government to ensure public adherence to simple requirements of elementary hygiene. The Oshiomholeled government has transformed Benin City, especially King square to an urban attraction that meets global standard. The local government should be seen to be playing its role, and effectively too. This is not a money guzzling exercise.

The department in charge of health and sanitation should be made to do its work.

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

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S curity

Boko Haram

Beyond Davis’ Revelation

By THEOPHILUS ILEVBARE

THE dust raised by the stunning exposé of Australian independent negotiator, Dr Stephen Davis, on the alleged sponsors of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, indicted former Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika (retd), the usual suspect, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, former Borno State governor, and an anonymous senior official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may not settle any time soon as fingers are now being pointed at the Presidency for hobnobbing with accused sponsors of immitigable and unmitigated terror unleashed on Nigerians.

Dr Davis alleged that prominent politicians are the chief sponsors of Boko Haram and that they channel their fund through the CBN so it appears to be legal. The official in charge of the transactions, Davis alleged, currently works in the currency operations division of the CBN. One would think the President would order security operatives to swoop on the CBN official and the two other accused persons. Hell no! Not here. The presidency would rather regard Davis’ exposé as an attempt to bring down the Goodluck Jonathan government.

Whatever must have emboldened the Hostage negotiator to name names, he has broken the official taboo against exposing persons behind atrocities like the Boko Haram menace. And Davis can’t be wrong. He has worked for three successive presidents. Even if the Jonathan presidency denies it, there is incontrovertible evidence that he was part of negotiators contracted to broker the release of the abducted Chibok girls. His revelation gives us an opportunity to nail the sect’s backers. However, there was nothing he said about the sponsors that was new.

Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has been in the news, not once or twice, for alleged links with the rampaging Jihadist fundamentalists.

The sect blossomed to full terror under his ‘stewardship’ as governor of Borno state. Sometime in 2011, Senator Sheriff was named as an alleged sponsor of the sect in a confessional statement made by one Sanda Umar Konduga, an arrested spokesperson of the Boko Haram. As ex-governor, he was arrested on March 28, 2012 in Cameroon on the grounds that he was sponsoring terrorism in neighbouring Borno State.

Like a tail that wags behind a dog, the tag of a Boko Haram sponsor would not sever from Modu Sheriff anywhere his name is mentioned.

Nevertheless, the hostage negotiator’s claims against Gen. Ihejirika, former Chief of Army Staff, the CBN official and Modu Sheriff are mere allegations and should be treated as such until proven otherwise.

Have we not read reports severally in the media by local mediators and military sources that Boko Haram sympathisers are in the military? Are these not indicative that the Nigerian military’s rank and file has been infiltrated by the terrorists? So, what did Stephen Davis reveal that we didn’t have the slightest hint? President Jonathan had also admitted in January 2012 that members of Boko Haram sect had infiltrated his government.

The intelligence and security agencies have been infiltrated, as well.

If this war is to be won, it goes beyond naming those who fund the ceaseless bloodbaths, abduction of adolescent girls as sexual slaves, arson, maiming etc by an Australian, American, or Nigerian. The beginning of the end of this insurgency is bringing their sponsors, home or abroad to justice.

• Boko Haram Fighters

• Stephen Davis

“Whatever must have emboldened the Hostage negotiator to name names, he has broken the official taboo against exposing persons behind atrocities like the Boko Haram menace. And Davis can’t be wrong. He has worked for three successive presidents.”

Nigerians are not stupid to think this government and security chiefs do not know the real sponsors of terrorism. Otherwise, we don’t have any intelligence service in our country. Boko Haram’s political backers are the sacred cows that cannot be brought to book.

Not until we cut the source of their supplies and get those who are involved, we cannot stop them. This is the level of insincerity with which the counter terrorism war is being fought by the present day government.

The battle is being prosecuted even by the military perfunctorily.

Soldiers won’t literarily be fighting with bare hands if some army chiefs have not been diverting billions voted for regular upgrade of military equipment over the years.

We can make revelations on Boko Haram all we want but until suspected persons are made to face the full wrath of the law we will only be going in cycles, as usual.

Considering that the same government has not prosecuted any highly placed individual indicted of corruption since President

Jonathan mounted the saddle, it might be wishful thinking to assume these accused persons will be prosecuted.

No amount of pressure, it seem, will compel Mr President to order an honest investigation to a logical conclusion of indicted persons with 2015 elections just around the corner. The strategy of the President’s men is to capitalise on the festering crisis in the North East to gain sympathy votes across the country in next year’s polls.

Exposing the sponsors of terror most of whom are northern political figures will be tagged witchhunting and tantamount to political hara-kiri for President Jonathan.

“There is some level of political undertone to the problem,” Late General Andrew Owoye Azazi, former National Security Adviser, opened up on the Boko Haram onslaught. He situated the Boko Haram scourge within the PDP as an aftermath of the internal wrangling for the presidency during the 2011 election. He promised to release a list of politicians

allegedly backing the Islamic sect. Soon after those declarations, he was unceremoniously sacked by President Jonathan and thereafter came his mysterious death, with Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state in a copter crash. The official cause has since not been released.

The least expected of President Jonathan is for him to refer the suspects to the Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in view of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the political backers of the extremist group as any local investigation conducted by the federal government may be manipulated by vested political interests, radical lawyer, Femi Falana forthrightly advised.

There’s no better window than the heightened attacks to seize territories and declare caliphates of the past few weeks for the Commander-in-Chief and President to go after the sponsors of the sect. This government may risk being branded complicit if

these allegations go uninvestigated especially as the present administration have chosen instead, to hobnob with persons indicted with allegations of terrorism, than shove them to justice.

The sight of President Goodluck Jonathan all smiles with Ali Modu Sheriff in Chad sent niggles and ruckus back home. Mr Jonathan gave Sheriff the privilege of partaking in a closed door deliberation on terrorism he had with the Chadian President. Modu Sheriff, the de facto posterpolitician allegedly sponsoring Boko Haram, as one writer described him, has since taken refuge in the ruling party by defecting from the APC, apparently to shield himself from prosecution.

Sadly, except these indicted persons are dragged before the International Criminal Court (ICC) by concerned Nigerians or civil and human rights organisations, we may not win this fight against insurgency in the remaining months of this administration.

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

p

S ecial Report Prepaid Meter Or Prepaid Exploitation “Unfortunately, the hope and expectations of Nigerians have been trodden upon as the introduction of the prepaid metre does not serve the interest of the public, but to the benefit of the Electricity Distribution Companies.”

By GEDU LONG LIFE THE introduction of the prepaid metre in Nigeria by defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) on February 16th, 2009 was warmly welcomed by all Nigerians. It was believed to be an alternative that would be of great benefit to electricity consumers across the nation.

People saw it as a way of escape from the initial analogue system where consumers were charged above their consumption rates through the distribution of what was known as NEPA Bills.

Electricity consumers were charged based on the number of occupants in a building or according to the size of the building.

As a result, the bill charged per month differed from one house to another.

In other words, there was no generally acceptable fee charged for electricity consumption as PHCN officials decided what they give as monthly charge per building during this era.

Nigerians actually thought that the introduction of the prepaid metre would save them from the

embarrassment of PHCN officials from disconnecting their light as a result of accumulated bills.

Authorities of PHCN enumerated the benefits attached to the usage of the prepaid metre, saying it is cheaper and better because it is “pay as you uses” (PAYU).

The prepaid metre is just like a cell phone that has to be recharged before one can call out but the only difference between the cell phone and the digital prepaid metre is the fact that while the former can still accept messages and calls from outside, the latter goes off immediately the unit is exhausted.

Once the unit of the prepaid metre is exhausted, the resident of such building experiences a blackout pending when the metre is recharged again before he/ she can get light in his/her house.

Unfortunately, the hope and expectations of Nigerians have been trodden upon as the introduction of the prepaid metre does not serve the interest of the public, but to the benefit of the Electricity Distribution Companies.

Instead of the pay as you use (PAYU) that the metre ought to serve, it is regrettably a means of exploiting the masses because the metre does not connote its meaning of pay as you use but pay more than you use (PAMTYU).

It is however not surprising that the officials of BEDC encouraged people to go for the prepaid metre claiming that it would be of great benefits to its users not disclosing the craftiness of their plans to the public regarding the gain they intend to make from it.

Imagine a person recharging his/her prepaid metre and invariably the units lasted for about 3-months and when the units get exhausted in the 4th month and going back to the BEDC office to buy units in order to recharge it, the fellow is charged the previous 3 months He /She did not come to recharge the metre.

Now the issue is, the fellow did not visit BEDC office to recharge because the units had not been exhausted before then but the officers would still charge the person the 3 months fee which they called maintenance fee.

A service they don’t even

render except you pay them for such. This is criminal and is tantamount to advanced free fraud, popularly known as 419 which require the attention of the Economic and financial Crime’s Commission (EFCC).

A visit by WEEKEND OBSERVER to some residents in Benin metropolis shows that the fixed charged rate differs from one place to another.

Speaking with Weekend Observer, Mr. Andy Best, a managing director of Andy Best International, Airport Road, Benin City, said he has been using prepaid metre for about 3 years now and frankly speaking he is not enjoying it because according to him he is paying more than what he is using.

Mr. Andy, said his monthly fixed charge is N1, 000 as opposed the N750 others pay. When asked why he is paying N1, 000, he said the BEDC officals told him that people residing in airport road axis are exceptional and that is why they have to pay higher amount. Narrating his ordeal, he said: “Imagine when you lock up your store and travel for a year and your metre is switched off and returning after the year to recharge the metre, the BEDC officals would still charge you for the one year that the metre was not in use and the amount for one year would be calculated and must be paid before you can recharge:.

According to him, there was a time his metre got spoilt and he went to complain at the BEDC office and he was charged N3, 000 for maintenance N1, 000 for registration and N1, 500 additional for bank draft.

Making the total of N5, 500 he paid cash before he was attended to.

Speaking further Mr. Andy Best said he bought the prepaid metre at the rate of 25,000, then to collect receipt, he paid another N10, 000 and N5, 000 for installation and others he could not remember before he finally had the prepaid

Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power metre fixed.

Mr. Andy however described the deadly and criminal act practiced by BEDC officials as the greatest exploitation of man kind.

According to Chief Osagie the prepaid metre ordinarily was supposed to be distributed to people free of charge but amazingly they are sold to people who need them.

Chief Osagie said his own monthly fixed charge is N750. He said whether your units finishes or not, you must pay the fixed charge per month.

He further said, if an individual’s metre get spoiled, such a person is expected to buy another one and that new one would take a very long time before the fellow would actually get it.

Chief Osagie however described this act as wicked and highly exploitative.

According to him, using the prepaid metre is not encouraging and he is not happy using it.

Speaking further, he said he bought his metre at the rate of 35,000 then the officer of defunct PHCN that installed it also collected their own fee including wires he bought.

He said in those days, the prepaid metre he knew was original not like the one he has now.

He said then it was located at police quarters at Exhortic Primary School where there was coins in use. He said you put the amount of coins into the prepaid metre and immediately the money is exhausted.

The light would go off and it was very transparent not like this croaked and perversed one.

According to him. “This is

not what I called prepaid metre but prepaid exploitation”.

He however advised the BEDC officials to reconsider their policy and do things that would be of great benefit to the masses rather than extorting them.

A resident of second Oranmiyan Street, Off Evbuotubu Quarters also expressed her dismay recently when she sent one of her sons to buy N1, 700 units to recharge her metre immediately the card finished.

But regrettably, N1, 500 was deducted from the N1, 700 leaving the boy with just N200 saying they have not recharged for two months.

Whereas the units lasted for this particular months in question.

According to her, the boy returned with the N200 and so I have to give him another N500 in order for him to buy N700 units.

What shall we say then, should we continue to exploit our fellow man in order to enrich ones pocket?

I can’t imagine when this deadly cankerworm called corruption that has eaten deep into the system of our nation is going to stop.

It is better we returned to the old analogue system of metre which has to do with bill distribution at the end of the month instead of this supposed pay as you use system that is calculated at duping people of their funds.

Government should set-up agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to look into the account of electricity distribution companies.

The masses deserve all they need to enjoy life and the government of the day.

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

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B lief Systems

“Psychologically, colour is a very strong stimulant. Colour and colour combinations ignite specific emotions in individuals. Red, yellow and brown create an aura of warmth while blue, green and gray relate various degrees of dignity.”

How Colour Affect Human Behaviour FOR hundreds of years, colour has been a significant force in people’s lives which has been used to chase away evils, gain comfort, heal the human body, or even send a message to people and much more.

The impact of colour is universal, cutting across both time and culture barriers. Colour is a property of the light waves reaching our eyes not of the object seen. The Oxford Advanced Learner ’s Dictionary of Current English puts it that colour is a “sensation produced in the eye by rays of decomposed light; effect produced by a ray of light of particular wave length, or a mixture of these”.

For Turnbull and Baird, “the source of all colour is light. When we look at a red rose, we see it only because light reflects from it into our eyes, making the rose and its colour discernible. Colour, then, is a property of the light waves reaching our eyes not of the object seen”.

Although colours have been classified into primary and secondary which include blue, red and yellow, for primary and orange, green and violet, for secondary, however, it is believed that all other colours are composed by compounding some of all of the six colours in specific

gradations or degree.

Research has shown that bright colours secure instant attention, and that a twocolour job attracts more attention than a one-colour job which could be interpreted to mean that to employ colour effectively as an attention grabber, it is vital to master how to use colours to effect a contrast.

Psychologically, colour is a very strong stimulant. Colour and colour combinations ignite specific emotions in individuals. Red, yellow and brown create an aura of warmth while blue, green and gray relate various degrees of dignity.

Specifically, red denotes action, passion, danger and gaiety. Blue connotes distinction, reserve and serenity. Green implies nature; purple denote splendor and pomp; white connotes purity and immaculateness; while black denotes strength and dignity.

However, the work of Alfred W. Munzert a psychologist and psychiatric throws more light on the brown, yellow, gray and purple, Munzert reveals how a person’s personality is expressed by his or her colour choice.

According to Munzert, your first colour choice describes your basic personality traits.

These traits form the image which you project to other

By OMEIZA ROBINSON

people and they describe your basic behaviour style.

Going by Munzert’s position, if your first colour choice is red, then it is obvious that in your behaviour, you are aggressive, extroverted, and show strong desires and craving for action. You are quick to take sides and make judgments. Sometimes, you are easily swayed in your feelings and attitude. You are activity minded and this sometimes makes you appear fickle-minded. You tend towards extremes in your temper, moods, attitudes and emotions.

If your first colour choice is blue, you are calm and cautious in the way you dress, act and speak. You are a conscientious worker.

Though you are loyal and trustworthy, you tend to be impatient with the viewpoints and ideas of others especially when they conflict with yours. You avoid strangers.

If your first colour choice is green, you are stable, balanced, and persistent.

When you start a project, you finish it. You are a good citizen, a good neighbor, and a concerned parent. You tend to be frank, moral and sensitive to social etiquette.

You value your reputation so highly, but it makes you happy to hear about other people’s scandals. You are affectionate, loyal and loving.

If your first colour choice is yellow, you crave for the modern. You tend to be intellectual, idealistic and highly imaginative, and creative. You are artistic but you are inclined to aloofness and shyness. You are more at home with theory than practice. You drift easily into fantasy.

If your first colour choice is purple, you feel you are a special and unique being in relation to others. You are tolerant, sensitive and observant. You prefer a world of fantasy to that of reality. You are inconsistent and indecisive. You like to impress others with a show of glamour, creativity and authority. You confide easily in people.

If you first colour choice is brown, you are a steady and reliable character. You have a keen sense of duty, which may make others to take advantage of you by heaping responsibilities on you. You are a good financial manager. You cherish wellbeing, security and a sense of belonging. You love home and family.

If your first colour choice is black, you want to be master of your destiny. Dignity is everything to you. You tend to conceal your real personality and emotion to others. In public, you may display a witty and clever image.

If your first colour choice is gray, you tend to hide yourself from the world. You have a non-committal approach to things. Your participation in things is superficial and detached.

These personality sketches arising from Munzert’s colour test are quite instructive, especially to any person involved in the business of influencing the behaviours of people. It could help you to get and sustain the attention of people by using colours to capture their loyalty to some extent.

Communication thrives on the power of association.

Colours invoke specific associative forces. These forces compel people to link i.e. associate certain symbols or products or images with specific colours.

Thus green is associated with nature and life, and red with roses or cherries, blue with the therapeutic effects of the sky etc. though consistent, vigorous communication, some companies have succeeded in representing their

corporate identity/image and even their products in specific colours. A mere mention of such companies or organizations brings to consciousness those colours with which they are associated.

Colours have a very high memory value. Even in common conversation, we often describe things by their colours.

The readiness to recall things seen in the past is made easier by colour; and a research has shown, messages (adverts) that are rendered in colours are more effective and are remembered more than those that are rendered in black and white.

Using colour for graphic communication is not as simple as A-B-C. It calls for the sixth sense. Failure to achieve unity, contrast and balance results in graphic confusion instead of graphic communication.

To achieve a pleasing atmosphere, one must have a sense of aesthetics, of equipoise, of proportions and of thematic simplicity.

There must be intra-and inter-harmony in colour mix in relation to the visual weights of the elements.

There most be atmospheric peace. Colour elements must not antagonize each other or else there will be colour chaos or colour riot.

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DELTA WATCH With JOEL CHUKWAGHONIM Monarch Calls On Subjects To Come Home For Celebration Of New Yam Festival A TRADITIONAL ruler, H.R.M. Obi Stephen Chukwuyemeze Osagie III (JP), the Obi of Akumazi kingdom in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, has called on sons, daughters, friends and well wishers of Akumazi land to grace the commencement ceremony of the 2014 New Yam/ Ogbanigbe festival set to kick off on Sunday, 28 th September, 2014, at the Akumazi Palace ground.

The Obi, who is regarded as the third reigning King in the world and the second reigning King in Delta State revealed that elaborate arrangements have been concluded to give the occasion the colour and glamour it deserves.

H.R.M Osagie III also

HRM Obi Stephen Chukwuyemeze Osagie III

appealed to all sons and daughters of Akumazi Kingdom, especially youths to accord the 2014 New Yam/Ogbanigbe festival the respect it deserves by refraining from any act of lawlessness during the occasion.

The obi, Chukwuyemeze Osagie III also assured all expected sons, daughters, in-laws and guests of adequate security as they pay him homage during the festival.

He expressed gratitude to all those who showed concern during the launch of Akumazi Town Hall, even as he encouraged them not to relent in the development of Akumazi Kingdom.

He also thanked Chief Solomon Chukwuma, the Ochoudon of Akumazi, the good conduct group led by Kingsley Ebere Onyekeoseh for their good work done in the community while he appealed to the people to support the group at all times.

The Obi also thanked the state Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweka Uduaghan and appealed for the tarring of the link roads in the kingdom, stating, “one good turn deserves another.”

Need To Use Dance To Promote Culture Stressed Out-Kenia-Ro-ChukwuKo-Mene-Eyin-Ebere Cultural Dance Group (Idumuesah Branch) in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State recently visited its matron, Dr. Mrs. Ezuzu-Ujie of Alihame in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.

Satan to draw close to those who are disobedient to God, and allow him carryout his mission to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10).

The clergy man stated that all festivals the world over occur between

Pastor Christian Nwoko

group to be established.

She said after the said criteria were met, they began on their own in the year 1968, a year they also lost a founding member, Pa Obiazikwo Aleh.

Mrs. Ifenegbulem also stated that they were

Dr. (Mrs.) Ezuzu-Ujie (3rd left), the patron of the Cultural dancers and other members

encouraged by public acceptance of their first album, “Meri-OkpotaNneya-Meri-modujemuOhe-Ego-Kayin-Kaba-unuKpo-nwa-Wu-Nwanne amongst others.

The matron, Dr. Mrs. Ezuzu-Ujie advised them not’ to relent in their love and performance of traditional dance so that the tradition can be promoted as a legacy for the coming generation to emulate.

Special thanks were given to the family of Peter Iduh for bringing the dancers to limelight, Mrs. Felicia Ijenegbulem, who did not allow the cultural dance in Idumuesah to die, and Mr. Peter Etunim who has always supported them.

Dr. Ezuzu-Ujie also thanked the members of the dance group and charged them to always watch out for each other, while she prayed that God will give them long life and good health to move the group forward.

Enogie Of Oligie Backs Creation Proposed THE Enogie of Oligie yam festival which kicks Anambra States (Igbanke) H.R.H. Samuel off at Oligie Palace ground E. Osunde has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to expedite procedures on the creation of more states in Nigeria as recommended by the National Conference.

Making the appeal in his

Cleric Raises Questions Over Synagogue Collapsed Building

PASTOR Christian Nwokio, the General Overseer of Fresh Fire and Anointing Power Ministry, Idumu-OdinbIgbake in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State has reacted to the Synagogue building collapse, saying that it calls for serious questions.

Speaking with newsmen recently, Pastor Nwoko asked; “if God reveals his secrets to his prophet, why was the event of the building collapse not revealed to Prophet T.B. Joshua?

Speaking further, he said that the period of festivities is a dangerous period. According to him, the meaning of the word festival is what enables

According to Mrs. Felicia Ifenegbulem, a member of the group, the group consists of 67 persons, and was founded in 1967.

She said that a surely with M2.000 (two thousand naira) and a goat was required for their dance

August and December like the Egu Festival in Igbanke, Okere festival in Warri, Aro-Ndizogu in the East, fasshing in Germany, the carnival in London, Halloween in the United States, all occur within the period.

Poster Nwoko emphasized that this is the period when the youths engage in many evils and atrocities, which threaten and destroy human life, while the elderly ones go into politics and positions of leadership. He said this also include clergymen who engage in extra marital commitments, mixing water with oil, selling handkerchiefs and revealing fake prophecies just ot meet their selfish desires.

palace at Oligie (Igbanke) Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State H.R.H. Osunde also requested the national boundary Adjustment Commission to ensure that Igbanke Communities including Oligie are grouped with their kit and kins in the proposed Anioma State.

The Oligie said the call was not borne out of separatist tendency but out of the desire to be grouped with those with the same cultural affinity, tradition and common language as he said that Ndokwa, Aniocha, Oshimili, Ika and Igbanke speak the same language and observe virtually the same customs and traditions He remarked that while it would not be feasible to create state for all the communities that requested for it, the request for Anioma State has been the most appropriate and oldest request which was on before the Biafra war.

H.R.H Osunde who is a retired soldier also called on President Jonathan to take a decisive action to

end Boko haram insurgency adding that if the President had taken the right action at the right time, most of the killings and destruction of properties through Boko Haram bomb blasts would have been avoided.

In a related development, the Enogie of Oligie H.R.H. Osunde has requested the presence of the enigies friends and well wishers of all walks of life to grace the commencement ceremony of the 2014 new

on September 25th 2014.

A report from the Royal Palace Oligie said, elaborate arrangements have been concluded to give the occasion the colour and glamour it deserves.

The report appealed to all sons, daughters, inlaws, the youths of Oligie clan to accord the 2014 new yam festival the respect it deserves by refraining from any act of lawlessness during the occasion.

HRH S.E. Osunde, Enogie of Oligie

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“One of the main difficulties for the Nigerian security forces in patrolling the border with Cameroon is a lack of infrastructure, which allows BH to set up bases and training camps in the desert or forested areas of the northern NigerianCameroon border region.”

DISCOURSE Boko Haram:

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND ...? (2)

By ELY KARMON

SPEAKING in Arabic, Hausa and Kanuri in a video disseminated on the Internet, Shekau took responsibility for the raid on the Maiduguri air base and claimed “the whole world” feared him - U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and even the late British premier Margaret Thatcher. He singled out in particular the U.S.: “You are boasting you are going to join forces with Nigeria to crush us. Bloody liars,” he said, adding: “By Allah, we will never stop. Don’t think we will stop in Maiduguri. “Tomorrow you will see us in America itself. Our operation is not confined to Nigeria. It is for the whole world.”(21) The arrest of key figures of the group proved that its links with AQIM opened it up to funding from groups in Saudi Arabia such as the Islamic World Society and some prominent local businessmen. From the trial of Kabiru Umar, suspected mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, in Madalla

on 25 December 2011, it appeared that funding came also from an Islamic group, Musilimi Yaa’maa, based in Algeria. (22) The Regional Threat The regional aspect of BH’s “internationalism” can be seen as the most immediate and infectious threat. It is of note that most of BH’s activities take place within the boundaries of the 19th century Bornu Empire which cover northeastern Nigeria, the northern tip of Cameroon, southwestern Chad and northeastern Niger. After the 2009 rising in Maiduguri documents found on the bodies of dead militants indicated that many of them had come from Niger and Chad. (23) Leaders of neighboring countries such as President Biya of Cameroon and President Debi of Chad as well as leading diplomats of Niger who are devising regional mechanisms to attack BH, recognised it has increasingly become a regional issue. (24]) The ability of BH fighters to escape into other countries has greatly frustrated

Nigeria. A Borno state official accused Cameroonian authorities of refusing to arrest or chase BH militants fleeing across the border after carrying out attacks in Nigeria. Some Nigerian security sources complain that Cameroon has shown little interest in the problem, while Niger and Chad do not have adequate resources to help. (25) Cameroon One of the main difficulties for the Nigerian security forces in patrolling the border with Cameroon is a lack of infrastructure, which allows BH to set up bases and training camps in the desert or forested areas of the northern Nigerian-Cameroon border region. Shekau has repeatedly appeared in video messages sent from his hideout, allegedly located somewhere in northern Cameroon, and BH has consistently used Cameroon as a rear base for carrying out attacks in Nigeria. For example, in February 2013 Boko Haram kidnapped a family of seven Frenchmen in Cameroon, near the Nigerian

Continues on pgs. 16/17

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Boko Haram: Yesterborder, the first major incident by the group outside Nigeria.

In the statement claiming responsibility for the attack the group made reference to the French-led intervention in Mali: “Let the French president know that he has launched war against Islam and we are fighting him everywhere. Let him know that we are spread everywhere to save our brothers.”

A missionary has been killed and several churches set ablaze in attacks by BH in Cameroon. The Nigerian missionary, David Dina Mataware, with the Christian Missionary Foundation (CMF), was killed on November 13, 2013 in a village which straddles the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

He was murdered on the same day as the kidnapping of a French priest, but the death was not reported by the media even though both incidents happened in the same area. (26)BH claimed in a statement that it “coordinated” the kidnapping of French priest Father Georges Vandenbeusch with Ansaru. He was liberated at the end of December 2013.

(27) Most recently, on December 19, 2013, a convoy of BH militants crossed the border from Cameroon into Banki, Nigeria, and attacked the military Kur Mohammed Barracks in Bama. The attack was particularly traumatic because it came only days after Boko Haram destroyed parts of the Maiduguri air base.

Nigeria recently negotiated a security agreement with Cameroon to grant its troops access to BH settlements which has become the new haven for its fighters. The agreement ensures Nigeria is not accused of violating the sovereignty of Cameroon when troops launch air or ground assaults against BH hideouts across the border.

(28) The Cameroonian authorities have set up tighter border controls in the Far North region to guard against infiltration by BH fighters. A rapid response military unit has been deployed and some tourist hotels now have armed guards. However, the authorities admit that it is impossible to completely secure Cameroon’s longest border. The two countries have agreed to conduct separate but coordinated border patrols. (29) Niger Authorities in Niger arrested 15 suspected BH members in Diffa in February 2012 and seized home-made explosives and grenades.

Suspected BH members were arrested in the Zinder region in September 2012.

[30] In May 2013, BH inmates in a prison near the Nigerien capital of Niamey, with support from comrades in Nigeria and Niger launched

an attack on their prison guards. In October 2012, Niger and Nigeria signed an agreement on joint border patrols, with the aim of restricting movement of illicit arms and militants across the borders.

Chad Chad President Idris Deby has warned of the insecurity in the Lake Chad region based on what he describes as “the permanent threat” posed by BH and AQIM, and has called for the creation of a joint deterrence force comprised of military forces from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. In January 2012, the Nigerian government ordered the temporary closure of its borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger to prevent cross-border activities of BH militants and roving bands of Chadian deserters and former rebels who have made the region south of Chad their base of operations. (31]) Mali and beyond BH fighters traveled to Mali in 2012, when the militant Salafist groups AQIM, MUJAO (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa), and Ansar al-Dine controlled the northern part of the country and established closer relations with these groups. (32) The pattern of attacks that has occurred since then indicates the insurgents may have to a large degree scattered into more remote areas of the region. Dumba is located near Lake Chad and close to Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

In August 2012 the imam of the Grand Mosque in Bignona, southern Senegal, claimed that Boko Haram was recruiting local youths.

(33) There are indications that BH has recruited some militants from neighboring countries. Mamman Nur— believed to be second in command to Shekau—is from Chad, while Abubakar Kilakam and Ali Jalingo, responsible for major attacks in the northeastern Borno State, are said to be from Niger. (34) Interestingly, although there are large Nigerian communities in Europe and the United States there is no information about “foreign fighters” from Western countries traveling to Nigeria to join Boko Haram, as Oftedal notes.

The International Context The French Intervention in Mali The French military and African Union states’ forces intervention in Mali since January 2013 has provided new opportunities for the internationalisation of Boko Haram’s activity and has brought it closer to other jihadist groups fighting in the Sahel: AQIM, The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) and

Ansar al-Dine. At the same time it presented the group with possibilities for training, combat experience and operational cooperation with these organisations.

United States Policy A November 2011 report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, concluded that “Boko Haram has the intent and may be developing the capability to coordinate on a rhetorical and operational level with al-Qaeda in the lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Somalian Al Shabaab.” The committee called for designating both BH, and its splinter group, Ansaru, as foreign terrorist organisations.

The committee advised that BH “intent and capability to attack the U.S. homeland” be not discounted, warning the U.S. intelligence community to avoid repeating mistakes made with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula – both groups were underestimated until they attempted to launch attacks on American soil. (35) Already in June 2012 the U.S. had labelled BH commanders Abubakar Shekau, Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.” According to the U.S. State Department Khalid al-Barnawi has “ties to BH” and “close links to AQIM.” According to a source cited by AFP, Barnawi is believed to have run a militant training camp in the Algerian desert and was involved in the kidnapping of French nationals in Niger in 2011 and a Briton and an Italian in Nigeria in 2012.

Since June 2013, the U.S. government has been offering $23 million worth of rewards for information on key leaders of terrorist organisations in West Africa.

BH’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, heads the list with a reward of $7 million for information leading to his location, some $2 million higher than Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran jihadi leader in the Sahel. This suggested a shift in U.S. thinking regarding threats emanating from BH. (36) Opponents of the Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) designation, like Rep. Patrick Meehan, perceived BH as “little more than a grassroots insurrection with no defined leader or structure.” Some believe that the FTO designation could have negative implications for the U.S. and Nigerian partnership. John Campbell, Senior Fellow for Africa Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and former US Ambassador to Nigeria, suggests that BH “could acquire a jihadist character if the United States is seen as supportive of Nigerian security

approaches.”(37) On November 13, 2013 the U.S. State Department finally decided to designate Boko Haram and Ansaru as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), thus assisting U.S. Justice and Treasury Departments in collaborating with counterterrorism partners to investigate and prosecute terrorist suspects or supporters in the United States, including charitable organisations providing material support to these terrorists groups.

The groups operate locally, but have international connections and resources.

As the U.S. government views Nigeria as an important economic partner, Nigeria’s security and stability has added importance to the U.S. Notably, Nigeria is the second largest African destination for U.S. foreign direct investment, and provides approximately eight percent of U.S. oil imports.

Nigeria has also been a major stabilising force in Africa through its major contribution of UN peacekeeping forces. (38) Nnamdi Obasi, a Nigeria analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG) asserts that the move will encourage BH to aggressively target U.S. interests in Nigeria and further radicalise the movement and push it to strengthen international linkages with other Islamist groups. “Some Nigerians are also concerned that it could embolden the US military to launch military operations in the country unilaterally, much like they’ve been doing in Pakistan,” he claims. (39) At the end of December 2013, Canada joined the United States in designating BH as a terrorist organisation under its Criminal Code. By virtue of the listing, the assets of the groups and anyone associated with them in Canada will be “seized and forfeited.”

Conclusion Jonathan Hill, from the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London, rightly compares the path of Boko Haram towards a bloody jihadist group with the Algerian model. The extreme violence and indiscriminate character of its attacks (burning or throat cutting of dozens of students) are re-enacting what has already happened in Algeria.

The extreme forms of terrorism and cruel guerrilla tactics of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) leading to the factionalism of its direct forbears, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and finally the AQIM under the influence of Ayman al-Zawahiri could tie more closely BH to the Algerian jihadi group. (40) Because Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and most populous state, the internal

• President Goodluck Jonathan instability provoked by the expanding violence of Boko Haram could have major regional and global implications.

The bulk of BH’s membership, the indiscriminate and cruel characteristic of its attacks, the complexity of the Nigerian religious and ethnic context, the sheer weight of the Nigerian state in an instable neighborhood (Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Mali) and its proximity to the jihadist battle front in the Sahel play in this direction.

However, on the background of the forthcoming important presidential and legislative elections in Nigeria in February 2015, it is possible Boko Haram will make a special effort to expand its terrorist campaign to southern Nigerian Christian states in the hope of

provoking a religious war and present itself as the defender of Nigeria’s Muslims.

Paradoxically, if the Nigerian army and security forces succeed in curtailing BH’s terrorist and guerrilla activities in the North and seriously weaken the organisation, the result could be enhanced activities outside Nigerian territory, fractionalisation and closer cooperation with foreign “brother” groups, as happened in the past to the GIA/GSPC in Algeria, leading to the Sahel-based AQIM, or the Chechen insurgents driven south to Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia to form the socalled Islamic Caucasus Emirate.

Boko Haram and defining the ‘al-Qaeda network’ The presence of a Britishborn man in Boko Haram’s ranks proves that the group’s appeal is not confined to

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day, Today and...?

• Sulaiman Abba, IG-P Nigeria.

Robin Simcox Robin Simcox is a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and an expert on terrorism, alQaeda and its affiliate groups, and national security.

Boko Haram leader Imam Abubakar Shekau threatens to burn down more schools and kill teachers (AP) Over 200 of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls are still missing. These kidnappings have led to an increased focus on the threat posed by the perpetrators: Boko Haram. This group has been conducting a vicious insurgency in Nigeria since 2009 in the hope of creating an Islamic state, with increased fears over their ties to al-Qaeda and the extent they pose a threat outside Nigeria.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan claimed

in May that Boko Haram was “an al-Qaeda operation”. The extent to which this is technically true depends on how broadly we define the alQaeda network - and it should be noted that Ayman al-Zawahiri has never even publicly referred to Boko Haram - but their ties to alQaeda and its affiliates are now so numerous that they are impossible to ignore.

For example in 2002, Osama bin Laden dispatched one of his aides to Nigeria to distribute $3m to Salafi groups. Boko Haram’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, is thought to be a recipient of this money. Bin Laden’s interest in Nigeria seemingly did not end with Yusuf’s 2009 death at the hands of Nigerian security forces.

Documents discovered in bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound in Pakistan are thought to show an ongoing

dialogue between Boko Haram and the top levels of al-Qaeda, potentially even with bin Laden himself.

By 2006, Boko Haram members were training in the Sahel alongside al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), whose emir Abdulmalek Droukdel admits assisting Boko Haram in a variety of other ways. Co-operation continued until at least 2013, when a large contingent of Boko Haram fighters attended an AQIM training centre in Timbuktu, Mali.

Boko Haram’s links to alQaeda extend beyond AQIM. At least one fighter was trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Others trained in al-Shabab strongholds in Somalia.

The US government suspects that there are “communications, training and weapons links” not only between Boko Haram and al-Shabab, but also al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. A Boko Haram spokesman also claimed in January 2012 that they had met senior alQaeda figures in Saudi Arabia.

It was this presumably this type of activity that led AFRICOM Commander General David M Rodriguez to name Boko Haram an al-Qaeda “affiliate” in February 2013.

Al-Qaeda ‘affiliates’ Boko Haram is also well connected to other organisations in al-Qaeda’s broader network. For example, Ansar al-Din (AAD), a group that received funding, logistical and military support from AQIM, hosted hundreds of members of Boko Haram in territory it controlled in Timbuktu. An alQaeda offshoot, the Movement of Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), has also worked and trained alongside Boko Haram in Mali. According to the United Nations, “a number of Boko Haram members fought alongside al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Mali in 2012 and 2013”, a reference to AQIM, MUJAO and AAD. The links between Boko Haram and al-Qaeda are complicated by the presence of Ansaru, the Boko Haram offshoot that in the past have referred to themselves as “alQaeda in the land beyond the Sahel”. The Jamestown Foundation’s Jacob Zenn has outlined Ansaru’s connections to AQIM and alShabaab, while it is Ansaru that likely conducted the August 2011 suicide bombing of the UN building in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. This attack led to 26 deaths and fears that Nigeria’s jihadists were beginning to be increasingly tied to al-Qaeda’s internationalist agenda.

However, Ansaru’s operational activity has now slowed, and it is now thought that some Ansaru leaders have rejoined Boko Haram.

While accepting that Boko Haram remains the most

prominent terrorist group in Nigeria, the extent to which it offers a regional or even international threat remains contentious. While Boko Haram’s emir, Abubakar Shekau has made threats against the west, in reality his group have been overwhelmingly domestically focused (having killed an estimated 6,000 people there since 2009). From a western viewpoint, Boko Haram’s threat is generally considered local to northern Nigeria, and it was not until November 2013 that the US even designated them as a terrorist group.

Yet in recent years western policymakers have similarly proclaimed that the threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shabab were also purely local. Events on the ground ultimately proved this to be largely wishful thinking: Residents of Syria, Lebanon and Kenya would certainly beg to differ. Now, two recent operations potentially carried out by Boko Haram in Cameroon suggest a new regional component to its threat. The presence of a British-born man in Boko Haram’s ranks also proves that the group has an appeal not solely confined to northern Nigeria.

Such facts cannot be wished away by western governments tired of war, or African countries who consider this to be a solely Nigerian issue. Ignoring the long-standing connections Boko Haram has to alQaeda, or betting that Boko Haram’s focus will remain local is not a policy. It is wilful blindness.

PUNCH Cutting off Boko Haram’s foreign connection March 28, 2014 by Editorial Board THE operations and increasing sophistication of the attacks by Boko Haram and its affiliate, Ansaru, bear the strong imprint of foreign connection and support.

While the sect may have started its murderous exploits with local backing and funding, its operations have since gained international currency.

The latest suggestion of Boko Haram’s strong affiliation to international terror groups is fuelled by the recent seizure of a cache of arms shipped into Nigeria through the Turkish Airlines, a company 49 per cent owned by Turkey’s government. “I do not know whether these (weapons) will kill Muslims or Christians. I feel sinful,” Mehmet Karatas, an airline executive who allegedly confessed his guilt over the shipment, reportedly told Mustafa Varank, an adviser to Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan.

Although officials of the Nigerian Navy said they took delivery of some arms flown

by Turkish Airlines into Lagos, these arms

movements are weighty issues at a time of virtual war in the North-East. The issue should not to be taken lightly as Boko Haram attacks escalate in spite of a state of emergency declared since last May. According to Abdulrahman Dambazzau, a former Chief of Army Staff, “the homegrown terrorism” that the military tackled during his tenure in 2009, has metamorphosed into a bigger group, after being hijacked by foreign elements. Apart from the fatal bombings of the United Nations and the Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja in 2011, Boko Haram has wreaked so much havoc in the country, arising from its enhanced international capacity.

Since December, the group, campaigning to overthrow Nigeria’s legitimacy and enthrone its own warped Islamist ideology, has attacked soft targets like the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, as well as churches, villages and public buildings, such as police and military barracks. The group deploys well-honed military tactics and sophisticated weapons that some military units do not boast and once incapacitated five aircraft at the Nigerian Air Force station in Maiduguri during a daring assault on the airbase.

Since December 2013, the salafist extremists have slaughtered about 1,500 innocent Nigerians and security agents, while about 7,000 people have died from the group’s onslaught since 2009.

The Goodluck Jonathan Administration has yet to tackle this threat with the firm resolve and action that it deserves. Yet, the evidence of collaboration of foreign rogue elements with Boko Haram that is subjecting Nigeria to intense pains is very glaring.

In January 2013, the State Security Service uncovered a terror cell in Lagos allegedly linked to Iran’s Republican Guards, while a ship bearing 13 containers of arms and ammunition was impounded

by Nigerian officials at a Lagos port. Though Iranian officials claimed the weapons were destined for the Gambia, the deadly cargo exposed the reality of foreign sponsorship of terrorism in Nigeria. It was a similar story in Kano, last May, when Nigerian Army Special Forces uncovered an arms cache in a house belonging to some Lebanese nationals.

Nigerian authorities need to understand that terrorism is a global phenomenon, and that it spreads virulently in failing states like Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in fragile states like Nigeria.

Since the Turkish Airlines arms import story broke, Nigeria has not done the basic thing serious governments do: invite the

country’s envoy to demand explanations, which, if not satisfactory, should compel stronger diplomatic action.

Irresponsible foreign elements are exploiting our weakness to sponsor terrorism in Nigeria. It should not be so. The European Union and the United States acted promptly to impose sanctions on Russia after it annexed Crimea, which belongs to restive Ukraine.

Likewise, sanctions by the West have badly harmed the Iranian economy after it failed to tone down its controversial nuclear enrichment programme. This is how focused countries handle any threats to their territorial integrity.

It is foolhardy for the Federal Government to think that it can defeat Boko Haram all alone. The US officials insist that the dangerous Islamist sect has ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates in north-west Africa, Somalia’s al-Shabab and alQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. With the collapse of Libya after Muammar Gaddafi’s death in 2011, and the routing of al-Qaeda rebels in Mali last year in a campaign led by France, Nigeria has witnessed a steady rise in the influx of arms being used by Boko Haram to perpetrate terror.

Two weeks ago, it was alleged in the Senate that insurgents were using helicopters to ferry in jihadists and arms to the areas they targeted. This calls for more aggressive military and diplomatic offensives by Abuja. As Enyinnaya Abaribe, a senator, rightly said, “Nigeria has the right to pursue the attackers to the countries where they came from.”

There should be no room for sentiments again, Abuja should not waste time in taking this road.

Jonathan must muster the strong political will to pursue the murderous groups, and investigate and prosecute individuals associated with them. Nigeria has to forge strong collaborative relationships with its neighbours – Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic – to curtail the movement of arms, men and materials being used to attack Nigerian territory.

It is our government’s duty to take all necessary action against any neighbouring country allowing the rebels to use its territory as a base to launch attacks on Nigeria.

Jonathan has to move decisively against countries such as Iran, China, Russia and Lebanon, whose nationals have often been linked to illegal arms importation into Nigeria. Any foreign national caught for these crimes must be prosecuted, and not let off the hook as 15 Russian sailors were last year, who had the charges of illegal arms importation into Nigeria filed against them withdrawn by the Federal Government, following alleged pressure from their home government.

Nigerians who run foul of the law outside our shores are not shown leniency, so foreigners who violate our laws should also be treated with firmness where our national security is at risk.

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I sues

Who Failed The North?

Northerners, Not Jonathan

By HAMISU ABUBAKAR

IN this centennial season of blame game over everything that has gone wrong with Nigeria since 1914, it is not surprising that President Goodluck Jonathan has become the whipping boy. Yes, the buck stops at the President’s desk – and he knows that.

That is why he takes all manner of criticisms from all manner of people in his strides knowing that he asked for a difficult job in 2011 when he offered to serve the people as their President. In one of his recent chats with the media, President Jonathan did accept that Nigerians, including this writer, are justified to be angry and frustrated at the slow pace we have made as a people in the journey of development since independence in 1960.

While it is justifiable to criticise the President fairly for what he does or does not do, yet that does not confer on any person or group of persons the right to distort facts, misinform the people and accuse him (Jonathan) for offences, which even a

day-old baby can exonerate him from. It is in this category that the wicked accusations of Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie and his Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) fall. According to the ACF, President Jonathan has not only failed the North but also hates our people from the North. Coomasie had said this at the recent emergency meeting of ACF and NGOs in the North.

Needless to point out that the ACF, under Coomasie, has become an irredeemable irredentist group of ethnic jingoist devoid of any nationalistic sentiments and aspirations.

The once respected northern association has succumbed to the parochialism and the personalist littleness of its present promoters like the former inspector general of police. Lest we forget, the same Coomasie now attacking Jonathan and blaming him for the insecurity and the failings of the North headed the Nigerian police at its lowest and most notorious period.

This was the era when

• President Goodluck Jonathan

Coomasie donated the force to the arbitrary pleasures of the former dictator-head of state to persecute and eliminate Nigerian citizens from all parts of the country.

It is only in our country that people who brought opprobrium and ignominy to their fatherland are given yet another platform to further insult the sensibilities of citizens. Just as Nigerians thought they have heard the last of Coomasie, he suddenly re-emerged from obscurity at the recently concluded National Confab with even more vindictive and divisive spirit, which nearly ruined the honest efforts of many other patriotic Nigerians tired of ethnic politics and atavistic regionalism.

And to face the issues raised by Coomasies’s ACF, it is not true that President Jonathan has failed in protecting the North. If anything, it is some northern leaders like Coomasie that have failed the region. The insurgency ravaging the Northeast of Nigeria began even before Jonathan became president and that is, perhaps, the only fact

• Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto

that Coomasie could not twist. Although many scholars and strategists have given many reasons for the emergence of the deadly insurgence in the North, an electic position is that of bad leadership that manifestly impoverished the people of the area for a long period of time is one certain factor.

For many years, northern elite wielded power and did absolutely nothing to improve the access and quality of education in the region. And neither did they build a culture of enterprise and industry there. Instead, what they promoted was personal wealth at the expense of the people, rural and mass poverty that Boko Haram is feeding off for its recruitment. The schools that Jonathan is building and funding in the North today to take children of school age off the streets and make them less vulnerable to radicalisation and other abuses ought to have been done decades ago. And who was in charge then? Coomasie and some of his cohorts at the ACF are directly complicit of the crime against the children and people of the North.

What did Coomasie do when he was in office to help the North? Perhaps the most important service he rendered to the North was

to receive from General Sani Abacha the corpse of the late leader and nationalist, General Musa Yar’ Adua and brought him home to the Katsina people.

If Coomasie is weeping that the North has become divided politically today, how is that the problem of President Jonathan? The concept of the monolithic North has always been problematic. The highhandedness of people like Coomasie who hid under the rally cry of “one North” to promote a certain ethnic group while subjugating the others in a well-orchestrated internal colonialism policy has found them out. The logic of democracy and the freedom that it inheres are responsible for the boldness that the hitherto subjugated peoples and groups in the North are displaying against an oligarchy that is slow in coming to terms with the reality of the modern Nigeria.

Those who are nostalgic about the “unity” of the North are perhaps jittery to explain in whose interest this unity had been in the past. If the monolithic North is disintegrating, it has nothing to do with the President. If anything, those now pointing fingers at different directions need to re-examine the power relations in the North and

how much power had been put in the service of the ordinary people all these years. If it takes an Ijaw man from Otuoke to improve the life chances of the ordinary citizens in the North who have borne the brunt of prebendal use of power by their own elite for many decades, who cares about the selfish moaning of Coomasie and his ACF? It is unfair and wicked to suggest that Jonathan hates the North and that he is doing nothing to secure the northern parts of our country. Sometimes it amazes to grasp the position of some of the socalled northern leaders on the matter of Boko Haram insurgency. The same people barracking the President and accusing him of not doing enough to protect the North are the same people who insisted on the withdrawal of soldiers from the flashpoints in the Northeast. These are the same people who have asked the President to treat the insurgents with kid gloves as was done to the Niger Delta militants. What do this people really want from Jonathan? But the good news is that Coomasie is not speaking for the entire north and Tanko Yakasai and his Northern Elders Forum (NEF) have given us their word on that.

“For many years, northern elite wielded power and did absolutely nothing to improve the access and quality of education in the region. And neither did they build a culture of enterprise and industry there.”

THE WEEKEND

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iBoko Haram: The History

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

V ewpoint

And Anatomy Of Conspiracy

AS it is now the Boko Haram Islamic terrorists group has grown into a monster that the only solution is disbanding the Nigerian military that is infested with mules, fifth columnists and saboteurs.

The only solution to the Boko Haram menace is for each and every community to arm and defend its people.

The Daily Trust newspaper and the BBC Hausa service is making every effort to outwit the other in promoting the Boko Haram evil campaign.

The already compromised Nigeria military is a source of weapons supply to the terrorists otherwise there is no explanation as for why a brigade of “trained soldiers” will abandon their weapons at the

THE Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, should publicly offer profound apologies to all women and girls in the nation, having recently declared a militarized form of domestic threat against military personnel wives. Just a few weeks ago, while addressing

sound of the terrorists gun without even firing a shot.

Listening to the BBC Hausa Service and the Daily Trust newspaper coverage of the terrorists Pogrom on innocent Christians in North Eastern Nigeria, leaves one in tears and agony.

If the news from the above news media is true, then as it is now, there are no more Christians in Northern Borno, Central Borno, Yobe State and Northern Adamawa State.

What is surprising in all the Boko Haram ethnic cleansing of North Eastern Nigeria Christians is the ease with which they overrun towns and cities.

Since the recent surge in Boko Haram attack on towns and villages in

By NDIAMEEH BABANGIDA BABREEK

Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, the Sultan of Sokoto has been dead silent. Sheik Mahmud Gummi and Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) have been urging the vampire to fire on. One of the major active sponsors and overt propagandist of Boko Haram in the person of Senator Zannah Ahmed Khalifa has been active on the waves using BBC Hausa Service and the Daily Trust newspaper.

With the active connivance of the fifth columnists and the mules in the military, it is a matter of when will Boko Haram chase Christians out of North East Nigeria.

As it is now, the predominantly Christian

communities like Potiskum, Gwoza, Madagali, Gulak, Michika, Mubi, Biu and Damboa have fallen to Boko Haram.

The remaining Christian communities in the North East, North Central and even North West must prepare to defend their communities now.

The Nigeria military has failed woefully.

The predicted disintegration of Nigeria in 2015 seems imminent.

As it is now, “the born to rule Nigeria cabal” are wining using Boko Haram. They made the threat to make Nigeria ungovernable for Goodluck Jonathan.

They have carried out the threat to the later.

Your perplex is as good as mine as to how Boko Haram acquired many Armoured Personnel Carriers, (APC) Anti aircraft guns, night vision military equipment and many Arabs terrorists fighters. There are hundreds of thousands of Boko Harams fighters in

detention nationwide, yet not one of the sponsors have been named since the terrorists went violent in 2009.

Can Nigeria survive beyond 2015 election if it ever holds? Only time will tell as the future belongs to God.

Leave Soldiers Wives Alone

soldiers of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu, he thoroughly tread on the rights of women to protest any course dear to them, such as the posting of their husbands into deadly areas of the heavily armed Islamist terror group, Boko Haram.

In a highly barbaric

way, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah reportedly instructed soldiers in the following manner.

“If they repeat it, all those wives will leave the barracks. This is not a civil service organization. This is not a Boy Scout organization. Any repeat of such act, I will tell soldiers to use koboko on the wives and bundle them out of the barracks.”

The threat of flogging a group of Nigerian wives with a knotted rope whip, generally referred to as a koboko, is not only a c o m p l e t e l y disreputable and inappropriate behaviour for an army officer in leadership, but renders the threat tantamount to the violent departure of over 200 school girls now under the

Dr. JOHN EGBEAZIEN OSHODI

abduction of Boko Haram.

For decades, the nation’s females have suffered acts of deadly domestic violence from men in Nigeria.

For a leader in a military system, which is highly regarded worldwide to be an institution of reputation for excellence in terms of human rights, to advocate domestic violence and abuse against women is victimization of the highest order to our young democracy.

Is this man not aware that in 2013, Nigeria passed a federal law to reduce genderbased violence? On a psychological level, the authorization to

beat and disable military wives remains not only verbally and e m o t i o n a l l y disgusting, but physically sickening, as such order could for decades and decades become a strong practice of soldiers and officers in dealing with certain behaviors of their wives and girlfriends.

The idea that wives cannot dictate how their husbands should be employed nor have a role in the Nigerian army is absolutely nonsense, as wives by nature have a much higher function within the military. They are there to provide emotional support, period.

And even if they act out, get angry and show rage on behalf of their husbands, a profession like the military should always show unequivocal commitment and sensitivity to women’s issues, as they, in every and all cases, remain the emotional lifeblood that sustains the majority of our serving men.

Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah is supposed to command the ethos and values, as well as standards, for true leadership. As such, he should be the guiding centre by personal example for his subordinates and show responsibility of character and spirit for our children, especially for the girls and boys now and our nation’s future children.

THE WEEKEND

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

i Wife As Help Or Bread Winner?

V ewpoint

By GRACE OSAGIE

GONE are the days a woman stays at home as a full time house wife with the responsibility of taking care of the home, the children and her husband.

Back in the 50s down to the 80’s when a woman took the job of looking after the home, performing daily chores as sweeping, cleaning, washing and cooking for the family on a daily basis and ensures that the children are brought up with proper home training.

Most of these women are asked not to work by their husbands but rather concentrate fully on taking care of the home and the children, as they will provide all their needs as well as that of the children.

The responsibility of the woman is confined in the home while the man goes out to work and is saddled with the duty of providing the needs and welfare of the family.

As the man of the house and the head of the family as ordained by God right from creation, the responsibility of catering for the needs of the family like paying the bills, sending the children to school, providing clothing, food and shelter for the family as well was on the shoulder of the man.

The reverse is now the case as women are now encumbered with the responsibilities of the man by being bread winners of the home due to one reason or the other.

The reason could vary from the man losing his job, his business could crumble due to economic crisis in the country or out of his unwise planning and squandering of all his wealth on frivolities and ends up in penury.

The woman then take to petty trading or menial job so as to ensure the family survives for the time being the man is out of a job.

It is required that within this period where the woman performs the responsibility of the man by catering for the needs of the family from the profit she makes from her petty trade or menial job, the man is required to go job hunting or solicit for capital to revive his business or start afresh, to enable him bounce back tohandle his responsibility as the head of the family.

Some men take advantage of this set back and display their lazy nature by folding their hands as the woman provides food for them on the table and take care of the bills, simply because they feel the woman should understand and take up responsibility since he is going through financial challenges.

According to the Holy Bible the book of Genesis 2 v 18 says “and the Lord God says it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him”.

Indeed the Lord made the woman not just to be a companion for the man but

PUNCTUALITY is not holding others back with our inadequacies; it is a form of reverence which respects the time of others, and acts quickly when God and others call on us. This shows that you care and respect others.

It is realizing that time is important; the time of others is valuable. Time is a treasure and an investment that pays off in eternity. We are not to waste or take advantage of others!

However, in today’s global world where abnormality has become normality and vice versa, people have taken the “value” of punctuality so much for granted that even its consequences can be made a joke of.

Today, anything can be a “valid” excuse to be late.

Flimsy excuses here and there when in the real sense they have proposed in their minds to be late! You often hear people give unworthy excuses such as I slept off; alarm didn’t ring; previous appointment ended late,

traffic jam; errands; forgot the keys; it skipped my memory and so on and so forth!

With the impatient nature of humans, if you keep a man waiting for just a minute he is bitteret already. Nobody wants to be kept waiting but yet many people have been so much engulfed in the spirit of lateness that it has become a normal thing for them to go to appointments late!

“African time” as the term is being called has become part and parcel of the lives of many people that they have been carried away with the spirit of lateness. The extent to which the chronic disease of lateness has inflicted the lives of many people has become a thing of fear and worries that calls for instantaneous and adequate attention to curb the situation in order to deter further menace of the disease.

Punctuality they say is the soul of business. Being punctual is a task, everyone must acknowledge its

also a help meet to support the man when things are tough or smooth.

Some men who do not have a clear understanding of this scripture tends to hide under the excuse of the woman being their help meet to completely shy away from their duties, as they now have a feel of being taken care of without having to struggle or hustle.

In this modern time where one of the criteria men look out for in choosing a woman to marry is that she must be a working class woman, irrespective of how much she earns either she’s gainfully employed or run’s a business of her own.

They equally consider undergraduates with the hope that she will be able to get a job with her certificate after school. No man wants to marry a liability but rather wants a woman that can contribute to the up keep of the home.

When God created Adam, he first gave him a job by creating animals and plants and God assigned Adam to give them names as he seems right, before God gave him a wife.

A man that do not have a means of income to take care of himself and additional three persons, should not get married.

God never designed the woman to cater for the needs of the family but rather, he ordained the man and assigned the woman to assist him take care of the home

and the children.

The mantle of responsibility seems to have changed, as the duty of providing for the family and paying of bills in most average class families in Nigeria has become a 5050 thing between the husband and the wife.

Some men feel because their wives earn more than them they should leave more

responsibility to her as it concerns the needs of the family like providing daily food, clothing the children and most times paying the children’s school fees.

Due to this shift in responsibility, one hardly finds an idle Nigerian woman sitting in the house during the day on account of being a full time house wife.

It is not a crime if a woman enjoys the comfort or her husband’s house and concern herself with taking care of the home, perform daily home chores and ensure that the children are properly brought up, rather than toil under the sun like a man, trying to contribute to the welfare of the family.

tasks you accomplish before the deadline, the more confidence people will have in you and your work. By experience, they know you are reliable, and so they will know that they can entrust you with more tasks.

Furthermore, besides showing that you respect another person’s time, being punctual is also a proof that you manage your time well.

If you manage your time well, there will be no vacuum for flimsy excuses. Wisdom matters a lot in everything we do and punctuality is not an exception. When you are confronted with situations such as dilemma that may warrant lateness in an upcoming appointment, you need wisdom to pull through.

In the real sense, punctuality is a way to show that you value your time and that of others. Respect for others includes not wasting their time and being early or on time for your appointments is a way of saying you value other people’s time without actually

saying it. If you must come to equality, you must do equity. In other words, if you want others to value your time, you must value their time.

Finally, being on time saves you from embarrassing situations.

Don’t you feel embarrassed whenever, knowing you are late, you enter a room and everyone turns around to look at you? It gets even more embarrassing when your colleagues and teammates are waiting for you because you have something that they need to begin the meeting.

Punctuality is the master planner. It gives self esteem, joy, happiness and satisfaction. The points examined above are credited to Avic caparas!

It is so unfortunate that people no longer appreciate punctuality that not withstanding, I charge you to put on the armour of punctuality and see the price you will receive for there is a reward for everything.

The Relevance Of Punctuality!

By STANLEY UGAGBE

importance in order for us not to infringe on one another’s right. Your freedom ends where another person’s freedom begins! As the maxim says “if you must come to equity you must do equity,” as such, if you want others to be punctual you must be punctual.

The relevance of punctuality cannot be overemphasized. Let’s examine the following points.

Punctuality instills a certain kind of discipline, one that helps you focus on the tasks at hand. It makes you pay close attention to details, because arriving or accomplishing tasks on time requires ensuring that everything is complete. It is note worthy to state that a disciplined man is a principled man as discipline is an element of principles.

Also, punctuality creates a good impression and boosts your professional reputation. Punctuality builds trust and confidence. Having

a good image through punctuality is something as giving some persons individual awards.

I as a person, punctuality earned me the position of “punctuality prefect” at Igbide Grammar School in Isoko South Local Government, Delta State despite the fact that I lived far away from the school.

Again, punctuality helps you gain the trust of your colleagues and avoids resentment. Because you are punctual, people see you as a reliable person, hence they trust you! Moreover, if you are the “African Time” type, colleagues may become anxious and will feel resentment towards you, no matter what reason or excuse you have to give.

Situations may warrant lateness but when it becomes a habit, people may be compelled to tag you as the unserious type!.

The more often you turn up on time and the more

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V ewpoint

The Cash, The Jet And Pastor Oristsejafor MUCH ado has been made about recent events in South Africa concerning the Nigerian-owned jet that was found loaded with millions of dollars and that was in the process of procuring arms and a fighter helicopter for the Nigerian military and security agencies.

As a former Minister of Aviation I wish to assure the general public that the flying of large sums of cash by security and intelligence agencies for the purchase of arms in a time of war and conflict is something that is quite normal and that it happens quite often. As a matter of fact it has happened under successive Nigerian governments, both military and civilian.

Obviously in the case of the jet that flew to South Africa with 9.3 million USD there must have been a breakdown of communication between the South African authorities and ours and a few lapses in procedure here and there which is what has led to the seizure of the money and all the ensuing suspicion and confusion.

However the idea that there was anything untoward or sinister about the whole transaction has no basis in logic, sense or rationality. Perhaps the only failing was the fact that the cash was not declared to South African

Customs as is required by law.

The fact that our intelligence agencies have said that they were the ones that sent the money and that they have told us what it was for is good enough for me. It appears to me that this was a lawful and legitimate exercise and that there is nothing for anyone to worry about.

I am aware of the fact that the British, the French, the American, the Chinese, the Israeli, the Saudi Arabian and the Russian intelligence and security agencies, amongst many others, have indulged in such covert ”cash for arms” transactions on numerous occasions in different parts of the world.

They either sell such arms at short notice and off the cuff or they procure them for themselves or for unknown third parties.

Even the South Africans themselves have done so on numerous occasions in the past. These are legitimate transactions that are covert and secret in nature but they are certainly not illegal.

Such is the murky and dark world of intelligence and security worldwide.

There is plenty that we do not know about their day to day operations and they have their own unique way of doing things.

We should not assume the worse or constantly denigrate them simply

By FEMI FANI-KAYODE

because we are not familiar or comfortable with their modus operandi.

Suffice it to say that anyone that is in the process of getting arms to help our boys at the war front to fight Boko Haram and protect our citizens and our country ought to be regarded as heroes and not villains.

The attempt by certain elements in the opposition and the Nigerian media to stigmatise all those involved in this transaction and make the whole thing appear like something that is out of the ordinary or sordid and criminal in nature really does nauseate me.

Those that know no better ought to appreciate the fact that this is how the real world operates and they should learn to live with it. The Nigerian intelligence services operate in no different a way to their colleagues in the international community and they do so with as much patriotism, professionalism and commitment as their counterparts from other parts of the world.

And yes, we do have our very own ”James Bonds” in our intelligence services even though, more often than not, they are not recognised, celebrated or appreciated. I counsel that

we should cut these men and women that work in the shadows and in secrecy some slack and that we should not be too quick to label them as sleazy rogues who are attempting to indulge in all manner of criminal activities.

On the South African matter it is clear that Pastor Oritsejafor was not the owner of the 9.3 million USD and neither was he aware that the cash was being flown on the plane.

Though he has confirmed that he was the owner of the plane he has also pointed out the fact that he had leased it out to a company on a long term basis who were themselves subleasing it out to other companies for regular trips.

He has also said that he had no idea about who they were subleasing it to, where they were flying it to or who or what they were carrying in it in any of their operations.

The two companies that were involved, both the one that leased it from Oritsejafor and the one that subleased it from them for the journey to South Africa, have since confirmed and corroborated what he has said.

In my view that ought to settle the matter. Yet some people, fuelled and egged

on by a ravenous and desperate opposition with a dark and sinister hidden agenda, have refused to let go of the matter and allow sleeping dogs to lie.

Those in our land that are trying to divide our ranks and denigrate us by alleging that Oritsejafor is involved in gun-running, money-laundering, Boko Haram or any other filthy and unsavory criminal activity are the lowest of the low. They are wicked and cruel and I have no doubt that such people are in desperate need of prayer.

They need deep intercession and deliverance from the demons that have taken control of them and that are using them. The truth is that it is a grave insult to the Christian community for anyone to suggest that the leader of the umbrella organisation of the over 80 million-strong Christian faithfuls in Nigeria is a sponsor of a vicious and barbaric Islamist sect that has killed and abducted more Christians and burnt more churches than any other terrorist organisation in the history of the African continent.

The same people may as well tell us that the leaders of the Christian community in Syria and Iraq are the ones behind ISIL and ISIS. They can also tell us that the Christian leaders in their respective countries

are the ones behind Al Shabab, the Taliban, the Al Nusra Front, Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, Daesh, Hamas, the Janjaweed, the Islamic Brotherhood and all the other terrorist organisations that have recently afflicted the world with their vile inhumanity, their sheer evil and their venal barbarism.

It is only in Nigeria that the leadership of the Christian community would be accused, by a opposition, of wanting to wipe out the Christian faith, wanting to kill all the Christians and moderate Muslims in the country and wanting to establish an Islamic fundamentalist state where 6th century sharia law applies, where little girls are subjected to serial rape and where women are enslaved.

Calling the President of CAN a money-launderer and arms-smuggler and accusing him of murder and sponsoring terror will not help to create religious harmony in our country. As a matter of fact it will completely destroy it.

He deserves to be accorded the same level of respect from the Muslim community in our country as the Sultan of Sokoto, the leader of the Muslims in Nigeria, is accorded by the Christians. What is good for the goose is surely good for the gander.

A word is enough for the wise.

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o

C unselling

Say Less Than Necessary WHEN you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.

The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to break out of its cage and if it is not tamed, it will run wild and cause grief.

Power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words.

According to Leonardo da Vinci (1452-15-19) oysters open completely when the moon is full and when the crab sees one, it throws a piece of stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close again, so that, it serves the crab for meat. Such is the gat of him who opens his mouth too much and thereby, puts himself at the mercy of the listener.

In the court of Louis xiv, nobles and ministers would, spend days and nights debating issues of state.

They would confer, argue, make and break alliances and argue again until finally, the critical moment arrived.

Two of them who would be chosen to represent the different sides to Louis himself who would decide what should be done.

When the faithful moment would finally arrive, the two men would approach Louis, always delicate matter and when they finally had his ear, they would talk about the issue at hand, spelling out the options in detail. Louis would listen in silence, a most enigmatic look on his face. Finally, when each had finished his presentation and had asked for the king’s opinion, he would look at both and say. “I shall see”.

Then he would walk away.

The ministers and courtiers would simply see the result, weeks later, when he would come to a decision and act.

He would never bother to consult them on the matter again.

Louis XIV was a man of very few words. His most famous remark is “Letal, cest moi” (I am the state), nothing could be more pithy yet more eloquent. His famous” I shall see” was one of several extremely short phrases that he would apply to all manner of requests.

Louis was not always this

information he would later use against them to great effect.

In the end, Louis’ silence kept those around him rectified and under his thumb. It was one of the foundations of his power. As Saint – Simon wrote “No one knew as well as he how to sell his words, his smile, even his glances. Everything in him was valuable because he created differences and

immediately broke out, led by liberals demanding that the country modernize its industries and civil structures to catch up to with the rest of Europe. Brutally crushing this rebellion (the Decembrist uprising), Nicholas I sentenced one of its leaders, Kondraty Ryleyev, to death.

On the day of the execution Ryleyev stood on the gallows, the noose around

way, as a young man he was known for talking at length, delighting in his own eloquence.

His later taciturnity was self imposed, an act, a mask he used to keep every body below him off balance. No one knew exactly where he stood or could predict his reactions.

No one could try to deceive him by saying what they thought he wanted to hear, because no one knew what he wanted to hear. As they talked on and on to the silent Louis, they revealed more and more about themselves,

his majesty was enhanced by the sparseness of his words”.

According to cardinal de Retz (1613-1679) it is even more damaging for a minister to say foolish things than to do them. By saying less than necessary, you create the appearance of meaning and power. Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something foolish, even dangerous.

Research shows that in 1825, a new czar, Nicholas I, ascended the throne of Russia.

A rebellion

his neck. The trapdoor opened but as Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke, dashing him to the ground. At the time, events like this were considered signs of providence or heavenly will and a man saved from execution His way was usually pardoned. As Ryleyev got to his feet, bruised and dirtied but believing his neck had been saved, he called out to the crowed. “You see, in Russia they don’t know how to do anything properly, not even how to make rope”.

A messenger immediately

“. . . once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm. The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.”

With

O.C. Madu GSM: 08056379608 went to the Winter palace with news of the failed hanging. Vexed by this disappointing turn – about, Nicholas I nevertheless began to sign the pardon.

But then. “Did Ryleyev, say anything after this miracle?” the Czar asked the messenger”. Sire,” the messenger replied,” he said that in Russia they don’t even know how to make rope”.

In that case, said Czar “let us prove the contrary” and

he tore up the pardon. The next day Ryleyev was hanged again. This time the rope did not break.

Learn the lesson: once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm. The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.

Saying less than necessary is not for kings and statesmen only. In most areas of life, the less you say the more profound and mysterious you appear. As a young man, the artist Andy Warhol had the revelation that it was generally impossible to get people to do what you wanted them to do by talking to them. They would turn against you, subvert your wishes, disobey you out of sheer perversity. He once told a friend, that you actually have more power when you shut

up.

Research shows that in his later life Wharhiol employed this strategy with great success. His interviews were exercises in oracular speech. He would say something vague and ambiguous and the interviewer would twist in circles trying to figure it out, imagining there was something profound behind his often meaningless phrases. Warhol rarely talked about his work, he let others do the interpreting.

He claimed to have learned this technique from that master of enigma.

Marcel Duchamp, another twentieth – century artist who realized early on that the less he said about his work, the more people talked about it. And the more they talked, the more valuable his work became. By saying less than necessary you create the appearance of meaning and power. Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something foolish, even dangerous.

There are times when it is unwise to be silent. Silence can arouse suspicion and even insecurity, especially, in your superiors, a vague or ambiguous comment can open you up to interpretations you had not bargained for. Silence and saying less than necessary must be practiced with caution, then, and in the right situations. It is occasionally wiser to imitate the court jester, who plays the fool but knows he is smarter than the king. He talks and talks and entertains and no one suspects that, he is more than just a fool.

Also, words can sometimes act as a kind of smoke screen for any deception you might practice. By bending your listener ear with talk, you can distract and mesmerize them, the more you talk, in fact, the less suspicious of you they become. The verbose, are not perceived as sly and manipulative but as helpless and unsophisticated. This is the reverse of the silent policy, employed by the powerful.

By talking more and making yourself appear weaker and less intelligent than your mark, you can practice deception with greater ease.

Peace and love.

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e

P rspective

This Is Really DANGEROUS

By OKEY NDIBE

SOMETHING really, really dangerous has happened in Nigeria. It is the reduction of human life to the scale of an ant.

It is not about to happen; it has happened already.

Forget all the talk about 2015 and the coming general elections. Forget the debate about the PDP and the APC. Ignore the news that Nigeria has vaulted into the largest economy in Africa. Don’t bother about the bloated national conference and its tiresome deliberations.

The most urgent issue in Nigeria, the issue that ought to keep Nigerians awake, is the evident abrogation (not devaluation) of human life.

The evidence stares us in the face each passing day. Day after day, Nigerians are massacred in some savage attack.

Nigeria is a country in the grips of a blood lust. It’s as if, every waking day, there’s a promise of senseless death coming the way of some hapless Nigerians. Death or bereavement by Boko Haram has become a daily occurrence, even a guarantee.

Recently, Israeli authorities spared no resource to find three missing, abducted schoolchildren. When their remains were discovered, apparent victims of murder, the Israeli government stepped up reprisals against their suspected killers. Human rights

organizations have flayed Israel’s excessive and indiscriminate use of violence against Palestinians. I’m troubled by such overreach. But the lesson is not lost on me: Israel reminds us how a nation-state behaves when any of its citizens is killed or even put in harm’s way.

From the explosive, strife-torn Middle East to the streets of Philadelphia in the United States.

Sometime ago, a roaring fire consumed residential blocks in Philadelphia. The deaths of four children in the fire brought home the gravity of the tragedy. The horrid event was near the top of radio, television, online and print news coverage.

As my radio tuned to National Public Radio, I heard a local public official say, “A very, very tragic thing has happened to the city of Philadelphia today. We lost four beautiful children.”

I didn’t get the official’s name, but his voice carried a stamp of conviction. His words moved me. And then, suddenly, a deep sadness settled over me.

Here’s why. It occurred to me that, in Nigeria, no government official talks like that about children.

No, they don’t think that children are beautiful, their lives precious, and their death—whether in a fire or human-made bomb explosion—a tragedy. If a Nigerian official describes children as “beautiful” or

their death as tragic, it’s hardly ever from the heart, hardly a heartfelt sentiment. Instead, it’s likely because some speechwriter smuggled the words into a written text.

I did argue in a previous piece that Nigerians had been reduced to the level of animals, their death at the hands of vile, callous terrorists eliciting little outrage and no reaction.

I had contended that Nigerian lives were so thoroughly discounted that the killing of a Nigerian hardly carries more weight than the killing of a chicken.

Then it recently struck me, quite suddenly, that I had exaggerated. I had erred in lifting the Nigerian to the level of a chicken. I’m afraid that the Nigerian has been so dehumanized, so terribly debased, that she invites comparison, not so much to a chicken as to an ant.

Here’s the difference.

Chickens have a visibility that ants don’t. If a car runs over a chicken, there’s a carcass to remind onlookers of what happened. Not so an ant.

The death of an ant is

• President Goodluck Jonathan

often invisible because ants are, on the whole, too small to be noticed.

Even when we walk, we often step on and squelch many ants without taking note.

This sense of dying unremarked, I’m afraid, has become the lot of the Nigerian.

Nigerians appear oblivious to the parade of tragedy stalking their land, to the unceasing line-up of lives sacrificed daily on the altar of sectarian violence.

Somebody could argue that Nigeria’s media feast on reports of terrorist attacks and their maimed or murdered victims. But that’s hardly a refutation of my point. Nigerians are slaughtered in massive numbers, every single day, so that the victims’ lives no longer count, even when some newspaper brings us the news.

There’s sheer fatigue in the international media about Nigeria. Boko

Haram would have to top its continued abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls to awake the curiosity of the battery of foreign media correspondents covering West Africa.

Were it not for the presence of American operatives, I would have been willing to bet that the search for the missing Chibok schoolgirls had been suspended. In the Nigerian imagination, more than 200 abducted schoolgirls might as well be 200 crawling ants!

Nigeria has become a Federal Republic of Ants ruled (note the word “ruled”—not governed or led) by a greedy, grasping bunch of politicians with insatiable appetites. In this misshapen republic, every thing, every value and every human presence, is subordinated to the rulers’ relentless pursuit of lucre. The rulers are too busy, too focused on looting, to notice the ants they trample underfoot. The ants are

too riveted by the ardor of scrambling for the crumbs that they pay no heed to those of their number ground to death both by the rulers and those who presume a divine mandate to kill.

For me, all the talk about fashioning a new Nigeria, all the stipulation about new terms of office and the creation of new states, all the celebration of Nigeria’s stride to the position of Africa’s top economy is poppy cock.

A nation must have citizens to make sense at all. Nigeria has humans scaled down to ants, instead.

That’s the dangerous thing happening in Nigeria. The first, most urgent order of business in Nigeria is to recreate its people into dignified humans. Unless this is done—until this task is accomplished—the space called Nigeria doesn’t even begin to make sense.

That’s the dangerous thing happening in Nigeria.

The first, most urgent order of business in Nigeria is to recreate its people into dignified humans.

Unless this is done—until this task is accomplished—the space called Nigeria doesn’t even begin to make sense. . .”

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p

O inion

One Nigeria?

I Am Afraid!

- Uzodinma Nwaogbe THE scramble for Africa was led by Goldie Taubman, referred to as ‘father of modern Nigeria.’ It was after him that Lord Frederick Lugard came on board to initiate the merging of the Southern and Northern protectorates together in 1914 though, strictly for the economic benefit of the British. It is after this unholy merger of very distinctive states, peoples of different religion, culture, belief, language without their input that has thrown the country into turmoil, confusion and bloodletting ever since. It is on record that millions of Nigerians have been murdered, millions more are still suffering and dying under severe effects of the 1914 mistake by the selfish unification of the colonies that today make up Nigeria.

No doubt, according to history, the states lived in peace, practicing their unique and God giving cultures until the British conquer-to-rule spirit pushed them to Africa and they did what they did without our interest at heart.

There are several unprecedented and unprovoked ethnic, communal, religious, political killings, maiming and destruction of property since the so called amalgamation of 1914 took place. Till date what looked

like a spontaneous, sporadic rioting of Muslim mobs has metamorphosed into organized Islamic jihadist groups with hierarchical structure, formal trainings and huge funding to support the slaughtering of fellow Nigerians for committing the sin of been a member of another religion or ethnic group.

Our pioneer indigenous politicians fought more for self rule from the British and did not consider whether indeed and truly Nigeria is one, united country or not. They failed practically to look inwards and tap into the gains of a country, Nigeria, a land of many independent nations, great hope, progress, nations with immense resources at its disposal, natural, human resources but they blew up the chances because of their myopic, selfish, ethnic and religious consideration first, to nation building which changed the course for Nigeria.

One of the reasons we have not managed to find an escape route out of the tragic mess of our history is that we have not ‘Taken Nigeria Seriously.’ The Nigerian theatre from 1914 till now has been very disheartening with many things no longer at ease. Our national unity, loyalty, allegiance and patriotism have become a mirage yet, we are

pretentiously hanging on to the mantra of one Nigeria.

Nigeria is not and cannot be one when a part of it continues to kill because their religion must dominate and, charging that power is its inalienable right. Here today, let’s not pretend, we run two constitutions in Nigeria, the 1999 constitution perhaps for the south, and Sharia legal system used up north.

Many are convinced that if Nigeria continues to allocate offices, position and privileges, give school admissions, contracts to individuals on the basis that they are representing their communities whether as Muslims or Christians, Northerners or Southerners, Igbos, Hausas or Yorubas, then the cycle of underdevelopment, injustice, denial of progress will continue to be the order of the day. For Nigeria to remain one indivisible entity for our children, the nation then needs well conceived policies that its ripple effects can touch the lives of citizens wherever they may be located in Nigeria. Had the military managed the progress of our national life, laid solid infrastructural development, economic fortunes improved, a true fight against corruption, every ethnic and religious group would have accepted and supported one Nigeria.

We must quit from the selfish and wickedness attitude of the British against Africans when for instance, they built first class roads,

railway lines ONLY to facilitate the movements of our raw materials to their colonial metropolis. The challenge before us as Nigerians is that we must find, locate, ensure that justice gets to all, for the common good of the country.

We are in this mess today because we promote ethnicity and religion above nationalism and patriotism.

Ethnicity connects with pervasive corruption, injustice and absence of the rule of law in our society. In other climes, the cruel men of yesterday were punished but in Nigeria they walk the streets tall, none have been prosecuted rather they are given chieftaincy titles, university degrees, church knights or muslim baba adinnis, they become our political leaders. Do you then still wonder why our travails persist? We are in the current murky waters in our national life because the Nnamdi Azikiwes, Obafemi Awolowos, Tafawa Balewas, Emeka Ojukwus, Yakubu Gowons, Okotie-Ebohs mismanaged the chances of development for ethnic and religious considerations. Not until we agree to dismantle this drastically and honestly, and then restructure, Nigeria will remain a disgrace not only to its peoples but to the whole of the African race.

The Biafra – Nigeria war was and remains a setback.

There was and still enough talent, good education for Nigerians to have been able to arrange our affairs more

“The brandishing menace of Boko Haram today, agitations of MASSOB, militancy of MEND, selfdetermination hunger of OPC are all pointers that the nations has not yet arrived at one Nigeria.”

efficiently, more meticulously to compete and measure up with the Asian tigers.

In Nigeria, State power is everything, and to be without power is to be condemned to perpetual slavery.

Successive governments have misused the oil wealth that accrued to it over the years thereby putting the host communities into deep poverty. There seems to be no solution in sight to the conflict between Nigeria, oil companies and their host communities in the Delta until they are allowed to participate in their own governance and full observance of rule of law.

The injustice in the Delta region is no different from that facing other Nigerian communities and, that is why there are crises here and there. So, Nigeria must desist from pummeling nations who rise to ask questions on its perceived ill treatment from it, rather engage them in discussing the way out of such for One Nigeria to remain.

The brandishing menace of Boko Haram today, agitations of MASSOB, militancy of MEND, selfdetermination hunger of OPC are all pointers that the nations has not yet arrived at one Nigeria. We are quick to pretend and look the other way instead of tackling this evil. Our political, economic and foreign giants keep deceiving us on one Nigeria mantra because they want to sustain their economic power grip, interest. They are not looking at the present situation and using it to foretell the future. If we continue the way we are going certainly this one Nigeria may become history at some point and in a bloody manner.

After 53 years of independence, we still zone political positions not minding if it produces nitwits,

mediocrities. Nigeria’s problems may be traced to clash of cultures, religion, belief systems which are alien to themselves, the forceful unification of Nigeria by some foreign explorers without our input. Perhaps, if there were discussions, agreement by the peoples of these groups on coming together for a blissful marriage then there would be strong pillar on which the country is standing. In 2011, the Sultan of Sokoto was in Harvard to deliver a paper, there and then he did say that the Boko Haram uprising is as a result of deep rooted poverty and injustice but events since then has proved him wrong.

We are aware that the genesis of Nigeria’s problem is the clobbering of Nigeria into one, dysfunctional structure, sandy, faulty foundation, that Nigeria was established and, fanned by bad leadership.

At the just concluded National Conference, we failed again to discuss Nigeria’s Nigeria, to answer if we truly and honestly want to live together as one. We shied away, pretended it didn’t matter; then you ask; Why are the guns still booming in the North East?

Why do the Islamic jihadists believe they are born to rule, impose and occupy their religion on every Nigerian land? Why are the non indigenes easily attacked by the natives? Why are the oil producing communities still up in arms with the oil companies, security agents? Why do we not have trust on any security commander because he is not from our region, religion? How can our national security be compromised by the very people trusted to protect us?

This One Nigeria will still be looked at, when, how, will be answered at the appropriate time. We can only run but never hide!

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When God Moves

GOD knows the situations of things right from the onset to the end. He is never taken unawares, only he takes one by surprise with the attendant testimonies accompany his presence.

God does not move when nothing in at stake rather, he showcase, his majesty and power over into untoward circumstances when he decides or called to intervene.

In Gen. 3:8 says “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst

the trees of the garden”.

Beloved, Adam and Eve were said to have hidden themselves after committing an act of disobedience against their “Land Lord” who owns the heaven, the earth and their lives.

Psalm 24:1.

The triumvirates involved in this act of disobedience had their fair but terrible wrath of the Lord. Gen 3:14-19.

Also, when Cain displayed his wicked act of killing his own brother – Abel unjustly. God moved to avenge for Abel Gen 4:9-12: he pleaded for mercy from the Lord and he received mercy but not total Gen 4:13-16.

In Gen 12:1-3. God moved to address Abram on the way forward in his life.

Abram, out of love for his nephew, lot, he impartially disobeyed God, who had specifically directed him.

“Get thee out of the country, and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto the Land I will show thee.”

The attendant blessing for obedience were stated Gen 12:23. But he departed as the lord had spoken, with Lot in his company, against the will of God. No wonder, he experienced and encounter challenges in

the course of the journey: Gen 12: 10, (famine), Gen12:15 (wife taken from him) Gen 13:7 (strife between Lot’s men and his men). God loved him and also, probably because he did it ignorantly. He overcame the challenges and became a father of the covenant child at the age of one hundred.

God can decide to move to abate storming weather in one’s life or come in on invitation.

Elija called when God’s presence and authority had to be showcased in 1 Kings 18:30-39. Gen 18:39 states, “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces,

RUMINATION With

Ernest Ikhureigbe and they said, “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God”.

Cried to God help.

Gen 30:22 states “God hearkened to her and opened her womb”.

Joseph and Benjamin came further. He does mysterious miracle whenever he moves.

Jesus mother sought his assistance at Cana during a marriage ceremony but affirmed that when his time come, he would showcase the glory. This he did to the amazement of the guest and others, who were at the ceremony: John 2:910.

Beloved, God remains the same in authority and in majesty. He

remains unchanged but can change your challenges to o u t s t a n d i n g testimonies. Heb 13:8.

Malachi 3:6.

The devil is only permitted o roar and even deal with his victims when the victims have broken the fetch.

But, when the victims realise and seek God for mercy, he will move to save such from destruction Psalm 124:6 God is ready to move to save his own when he is acknowledged and one repents of his iniquity. Be conscious of what you do if you expect him to move in your favour… Remain blessed.

Tongues Without Impact!

TENACIOUSLY, one thing that has given me sleepless nights is the extent to which the hearts of many mouths claimed born again believes have become so much devoid of the fear of God that they are no longer afraid of sin. Little wonder Evangelist Amos Ighake said that “nobody likes hell but almost everybody is working for hell”.

Speaking in tongues has become a thing of do or die especially among youths.

Nowadays, you hardly take a step along the streets without hearing people speaking languages they describe as tongues. You wonder

By STANLY UGAGBE/EDET ELIJAH

what galvanized this out pouring of tongues (don’t know if truly it’s from God) that even pagan now speak in tongues. Let’s examine some of the brains behind this hallmarks that calls for urgent and adequate attention to restore sanity to Christendom.

The wrong message has been preached by many ministers (are they of God?); that if you don’t speak in tongues you are not of God and that the spirit of God is not in you.

This wrong doctrine has galvanized many people to go extra ungodly miles to start speaking in tongues. Some start

practicing the act and eventually gets to perfection. In no distant time such people will be speaking in tongues that are best known to them.

What do you expect when such salvation threatening message has been preached?

Today, many Christians especially youths speak in tongues to impress people; for people to know they are “spirikoko”.

They do this act in every occasion even when they are playing just to gain recognition as spiritual personalities.

This ungodly act has propelled

many Christians who have not had the gift of tongue speaking to start learning tongues so as to belong to the class of people who speak in tongues. Youths now see tongues speaking as the ultimatum that they can do anything just to start speaking in tongues.

Also, ministers and doctrines of today’s many churches have not helped matters that, if you don’t speak in tongues such person cannot assume leadership in church and such person is seen as not being spiritual. Examine this

“nobody likes hell but almost everybody is working for hell”.

doctrine and see why many people accidentally start speaking tongues so as to find their way to church leadership.

The issue of speaking in tongues has divided many churches and it calls for interrogation in order to restore sanity.

A minister (is he of God?) Once said “I’m an expert in getting you the Holy Spirit. People have become professionals in Christendom that we now have professional and non-professional ministers who have become experts in making people to start speaking in tongues.

Furthermore, in today’s civilized world where abnormality has become normality even in Christendom, there is this impression in churches that those who speak in tongues are closer to God and that they are the pillars of the church. Little did they know about what the scriptures said in 1 Corinthians 14:4 that he who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but only prophesy edifies the

church!”

What has baffled me about this whole scenario is “what has been the impact of these tongues speaking spiritkoko”?

Tongues! Tongues!

Tongues! But where are the Christians and the impacts? Paul in his elevating teaching and preaching over tongue speaking says that tongues are not a song for believers but for unbelievers while prophesy (preaching) is not for unbelievers but for believers. So if people want to edify the church, it is done through prophesy and teaching and not through tongue speaking.

What is most painful and appalling about this scenario is that “the same people who speak in tongues are the same people who wallow in sincerity among those who “cabash”. People have graduated from the duo universities of fearlessness and civilization that they no longer see God as the Almighty that is to be feared in all situations.

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s

I sues Command in Abuja, reportedly killing 14 people working. The collapse of a 3-storey building awaiting finishing works at Ikeja behind Juli Pharmacy, where over 40 people were trapped in the building. The Abuja building collapse killing over 40 people. There was also the collapse of a Hotel in Akure, Ondo state. All these collapses happened in the last decade.

The Synagogue building collapse has underscored the failure of relevant government agencies on one hand and greed on the part of contractors and building owners who use substandard materials for building, or change

than revocation of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the land – which is a rarity nowadays – where such substandard buildings are erected.

Some remote factors of building collapse include; absence of soil test report, inability to carry out proper land survey, failure by foremen to understand and interpret building codes, lack of coordination between professional bodies like SON, COREN, CORBON, NIA, NSE etc and government and local town planning authorities.

Miserliness on the part of the owners (they shun professionals and use substandard materials to cut building costs), poor

building plans midway through construction – design for a residential(family) building can turn to a church overnight or the likelihood that bungalow, midway into construction, will turn to a storey building which often lead to structural deficiency like the case of Synagogue guest house.

Unfortunately, there are still a number of buildings of similar circumstances dotting the skyline of many Nigerian cities.

The time has come for us to desist from passing the buck or putting the blame squarely on poorquality cement, fake iron rods, greed of foremen to maximize profit and utter disregard for building and construction laws with intentional neglect for the safety of the occupants of such buildings to putting in place punitive measures to ensure engineers or architects who supervise the erection of such substandard buildings are made to face the full wrath of the law. It is time government does more

structural design, noncompliance with approved building design are some of the major reasons for building collapse in Nigeria. We can stop looking for supernatural causes of structural failures and look within. They are human factors. If not for the lack of will to enforce the appropriate building regulations and the need to unnecessarily “manage” building cost, the probability of sudden collapse of building is relatively low even in the event of an earthquake or hurricane, according to geographers.

Every building contractor should be duly registered for easy tracking and punishment should there be a reoccurrence. It is as tragic as the structural failure in itself that the issues of building collapses in Nigeria are hardly ever taken seriously by the government or the relevant law enforcement agents.

Contrary to what many think, building collapses are not natural disasters except in cases of earthquake, hurricane or tornadoes. The incidents in Nigeria are manmade and therefore avoidable.

Tragedy Of Building Collapse IT was a tragedy of building collapse one too many on that balmy Friday, September 12, in the premises of the Synagogue Church, Ikotun, Lagos when the foundations of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) Guest House could no longer hold as it came down crashing like a pack of cards. 80 people lost their lives, 131 people survived albeit with varying degree of injuries, and miraculously, a 45-yearold woman walked out of the rubble alive after 4 days of the building failure. Some persons thought to be South African nationals are still declared missing. The total number of people present at the building before the structural failure was about 200, including foreign believers, local church members and canteen workers. It is a tragedy of monumental proportion when worshippers who had come to seek the face of God end up seeing the face of death.

For Founder and General Overseer, Prophet T.B Joshua and his teeming church members of SCOAN across the globe, this was one tragedy that they didn’t foresee or foretell.

The Synagogue guest house we learnt was originally designed from the foundation to hold a three storey building, but it ended up a sprawling six storey edifice! This is almost twice the load the foundation, steel rods and concrete structure was designed to carry. It is appalling that the Synagogue building had no approved plan in a state like Lagos. There is no evidence whatsoever that SCOAN secured regulatory approval or professional advice to increase the number of floors neither did they ask the appropriate questions, nor did the contractors adhere to strict standards, according to Lagos state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development.

Safety of the members who thronged the Synagogue for spiritual solace was relegated to the background. This failure gives an ample opportunity for government at all levels, particularly in Lagos state, to put an end to structural failures leading to collapse of buildings.

The church authority must therefore be sued by the government for criminal negligence and flouting

By THEOPHILUS ILEVBARE

government’s building regulations to serve as deterrent to others and the contractor charged to court.

Prophet T.B Joshua, labeled the collapse a Boko Haram attack, claiming he was the target. That’s the way to go in Nigeria after an avoidable tragedy. Cases have been recorded where Lagos state residents were forewarned by relevant authorities to evacuate buildings with tell-tale signs of structural failures and danger of imminent collapse but chose instead to cover such buildings with the ‘blood of Jesus.’

Lagos in particular, has recorded several building collapses more than any other city in Nigeria. In 2006 alone, up to 3 major building collapses were recorded. On March 22, the top nine stories of a 21-storey Nigerian Industrial Development Bank building collapsed.

July 18, a four-storey block of apartments composed of 36 flats,

collapsed. In November, an uncompleted threestorey building under construction collapsed. In these three structural failures, at least 28 persons were killed while over 86 others were pulled out of the rubble alive but sustained varying degree of injuries.

It is also on record that a four-storey residential building under construction near Ojuelegba in Lagos collapsed, leading to loss of lives of construction workers and those taking shelter from the rain.

Remember the collapse of a multi-million naira building in Ajah Area, the collapse of a mosque in Mushin killing some Arabic Scholars, the collapse of a storey building in Kano accommodating some Islamic students, similar in scenario to the Oworonshoki building collapse a few days after which eight people were feared dead. There was the collapse of a storey building behind Federal Capital Territory Police

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Today’s Diet With Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Know Your Calling

Memorise: Let every man aide in the same calling wherein he was called. I Corinthians believer to believer, the same Holy Spirit 7:20. works in all genuine Read: 1 Corinthians 12:1-7 believers. Sixth, the PAUL an apostle of following lessons from Holy Spirit gives Jesus Christ, wrote to today’s Bible reading. different assignments tell us in today’s Bible First, it is possible for to different believers to reading that he would Christians to be profit with. This means not want us to be ignorant of facts about the gift is for the gifts. ignorant of the truth spiritual edification of the entire concerning our calling Secondly, there are Body of Christ. It is not as children and many gifts in the body for the fun of it that workers in the of Christ, but no one believers are endowed vineyard. It is needless can or should lay claim with one gift or to emphasise the to having all of the another; neither is it for danger of ignorance as gifts. self-gratification. The Thirdly, it is the Holy stated in Hosea 4:6. seventh lesson is that Our Lord Jesus Christ Spirit who distributes no gift is superior to also emphasised the gifts to every believer another; neither is any importance of knowing as He chooses. inferior to another. For Fourthly, as there the truth this reason, Paul for perfect freedom are differences in further wrote to warn when in John 8:32 He administration of the us against gifts, so also is there said: discriminating in the “And ye shall know division of labour use of spiritual gifts (1 the truth, and the truth among those these Corinthians12: 5- 7). gifts are administered shall make you free” Therefore beloved, let In other words, to. A believer should us work together as falsehood can hold therefore beware of many members, but as people captive! In arrogating all the one indivisible Body of Proverbs 22:29, we activities in the Church Christ, with everyone read that a man who is to himself because it playing his or her role diligent in business will be counteras enabled by the shall stand before productive.

Lord. We shall not Fifth, though there kings. In what business miss our reward in are differences in did the Jesus Name. from Bible refer to? In his operations ACTION POINT own business of “Examine your life and find out what area of course! What happens the ministry the Lord as endowed you with if a person is found in gifts for. Dedicate yourself and be diligent in other people’s it.” business? No doubt, it will be an exercise in “Take to heart the following futility or an lessons from today’s Bible unprofitable venture.

You have to be diligent reading. First, it is possible in your own business, for Christians to be ignorant which is where you will be rewarded. The Bible of facts about spiritual gifts. in Songs of Solomon Secondly, there are many 1:6 says: my mother’s children were angry gifts in the body of Christ, but with me; they made me no one can or should lay the keeper of the vineyards; but mine claim to having all of the own vineyard have not gifts.” kept” Take to heart the

News Extra

UBTH To Transfer NHIS Services To Private Company, SaysHe CMD said that the UBTH owned

THE University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) says it will transfer its National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) services to a private liability company owned by the hospital.

Prof. Michael Ibadin, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UBTH, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Benin yesterday.

Ibadin said that this was to allow for effective service delivery of the scheme.

“The UBTH has registered a private liability company owned by the hospital so we will transfer the NHIS outfit to that company.

“It will not lead to additional charges on the side of the

CHANGE OF NAME IYAYI - I formerly known and addressed as Ahanor Jonah Iyayi now wish to be known and addressed as Ahanor Precious Iyayi. All former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OMOBUDE – I formerly known and addressed as Miss Beauty Omobude now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Beauty Omobude Okuonghae. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

subscribers, but it will lead to proper functioning of the scheme.

According to the CMD, the doctors, nurses and all other employees, working in the NHIS outfit, will be employees of that company.

“Private sector is more efficient; the people who are working there see themselves as government workers, but if the company is the one employing you and is paying your salary, you must do your work.

Ibadin also said that the UBTH venture would recruit its workers and be responsible for payment of their salaries.

“During the last strike, people could not access the NHIS service; we don’t want that to happen again because if it is managed by a private venture, it won’t be affected by strikes,’’ he said.

CHANGE OF NAME ASEGIEMHE – I formerly Miss Asegiemhe Etse Celestina now wish to be known, called and addressed as Mrs. Moses Celestina Adaba. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public CHANGE OF NAME EDOGHOGHO – I formerly known and addressed as Miss Edoghogho Nekpen Judith now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oyiboke Nekpen Judith. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

primary and secondary schools would also be managed by the private venture.

CHANGE OF NAME O S AT O H A N G B O N - I formerly known and addressed as Miss O s a t o h a n g b o n Osadebamwen Osato now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. R o s e m a r y O s a d e b a m w e n Akahomen. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, ELIMIAN CHRISTOPHER wish to bring for the information of the general public that I am the same person called Elimian Christopher and Idebaneria Destiny as appeared in the some of my valuable documents. I am now properly known and called Idebaneria Destiny.

All former documents remain valid. Concerned authorities and general public should please take note.

RECONCILIATION OF NAME I, OSAROGIE DESTINY UGIAGBE wish to bring for the information of the general public that I am the same person as Osarogie Ugiagbe. Henceforth, I am now properly known and addressed as Osarogie Destiny Ugiagbe. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

JOYCE WEDS OSAZUWA The solemnization of marriage between former Miss Joyce Iyayi Igbinosun and Mr. Osazuwa Ajayi (both based in Toronto Canada) took place on Friday 26th September, 2014 at the Oredo Local Government Council Marriage Registry in Benin City. It was well attended by family members, relations, friends and well wishers. Picture shows the couple at the Registry. Congratulations. Photo: Sonnie. E

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How More Money Has Changed The Premier League

LIKE many I take part in a weekly Premier League predictions game. And I am entirely useless at it.

Always have been. My problem is I am way too cautious, littering my entries with 0-0 and 1-1 draws in a division where mayhem is fast becoming the rule. But this season I am not alone.

the rewards are such that every club in the division has within its current account the opportunity to buy and retain the best around. Last season Cardiff, for finishing bottom of the league, trousered £62.1million. The year before, the champions Manchester United scooped £60.8million. Think about what a minimum of £62.1million as your basic income can deliver: that huge increase in spending power at the bottom of the league has transformed the smaller

According to the chap who organises the operation, last weekend in particular saw “carnage” among the collective predictors. Nobody saw Leicester eviscerating Manchester United. Nobody saw Liverpool losing at West Ham. Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea, sure, everyone got that. But as for the rest: utterly off the scale in its unexpectedness. Nobody saw any of that coming.

It has been happening all season. City losing at home to Stoke, West Bromwich winning at Tottenham, Crystal Palace beating Everton at Goodison: you might as well consult the tea leaves in an attempt to second guess what might happen. As Jose Mourinho aptly put it “the Premier League is not just different, it is crazy”.

There is a simple reason for this apparent leavening of expectation: money.

Suddenly everyone has enough of the stuff to make a difference. Cash – always king in this game – is working assiduously to even things out. The pitch appears to have become flatter than ever before. The Premier League has long prided itself on the suggestion that on any week, any team can beat any team. But now it is no longer an unusual event. It is becoming routine.

The Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore may have a less than modern attitude to female emancipation, but in this he is entirely egalitarian:

• Angel Di Maria, cost Manchester United £59m

UEFA’s plans to introduce a new law banning ThirdParty Ownership (TPO) would be an unpopular but entirely governable move, according to a leading sports lawyer.

The European governing body has threatened to act on the controversial practice if Fifa fails to address the issue in the near future.

At present several top clubs around the continent have players whose economic rights are partially owned by outside agencies, with Radamel Falcao among the star names linked to the practice. But Uefa says that TPO needs to stop amid concerns that the integrity of fixtures is being compromised.

“The Uefa Executive Committee reiterated its full

opposition to third-party ownership of players and once again asked for Fifa to implement the necessary measures to prohibit it,” the organisation announced after a recent meeting.

“It confirmed that it would look at prohibiting third-party ownership in its competitions with rules including a transitional period, should Fifa not act on this matter.”

And Daniel Geey, Field Fisher Sports Law Group’s senior associate, says that the ban should be easily governable.

“The question of its governability is one of the easiest things that Uefa will have to deal with. I believe from what I’ve read that they’re going to impose a prohibition within their licensing criteria,” Geey told

he ensures every season that the organisation’s television bounty is evenly spread. It has always been thus. Sure, there are bonuses the higher up you finish – the top club scoops more than the bottom - but the distribution is more democratically delivered than anywhere else in the world.

And this season, following the hugely inflated television rights deal Scudamore negotiated with Sky and BT,

clubs’ ability to compete for talent on the world stage.

This is wholly unlike Spain, for instance, where Barcelona and Real Madrid hoover up a disproportionate amount of the television cash, and are thus the only clubs able to shop on the world market for the very best. It means only the arrival of a truly exceptional side, marshalled by a truly exceptional manager, can disturb their cosy status quo.

Which is roughly what Diego Simone and Atletico Madrid

did last season. In England where the newly enriched income is uniformly passed around, the result is that every single club can now compete in the international market.

You only have to look at Leicester City, newly arrived in the Premier League, but able, on the certainty of television payment, to recruit talent as elevated as Leonardo Ulloa and Esteban Cambiasso. As recently as two seasons ago, the two Argentines would have been way off the budget for a newly promoted side. This year, it is possible to pay them enough to bring them on board.

Southampton, too, have been able to shop with confidence for replacements for those who left in the summer. The club looked as if it were to pay a horrible price for being the division’s research and development department, losing out on players and management who others had seen cutting their teeth on the south coast.

Mauriccio Pochettino, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Luke Shaw all went on to supposedly higher things. But Southampton had the television cash to respond. They bought the two best players - Gaziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic - as well as the best manager – Ronald Koeman – from the Dutch League. If anything, that has made them all the better equipped this season to spring a surprise than they were last. As they did on Tuesday night against an admittedly weakened Arsenal in the Capital One Cup.

Southampton are not the only ones. Palace bought James McArthur, Sunderland Jack Rodwell, QPR Sandro: all players who might have been considered beyond the reach of such clubs in previous years, but are now available thanks to the influx of new money. Because in football there has only ever been one certainty: the price is always right.

You only have to look at the total amount spent by the Premier League in the last transfer window to see how things have changed. £835million was forked out by the English based top 20.

And not all of that was spent

by Louis Van Gaal. Compare that with the £425million outlay in Spain, the £260million in Italy and the £250million in Germany. As was always likely to be the case, the huge upshift in cash intake in the Premier League clubs generated by the new television deal is being spent on players. But what it means is, everyone can buy in proper talent. And since at the very top of the game, the margins of excellence are so slight, that has an inevitable knock-on effect on competitiveness.

Naturally those with more of the folding stuff than the rest – Chelsea, City, Arsenal – are likely eventually to come out on top. But in the meantime the rest are playing on a much more even pitch than ever before. It means every week anything can happen. Which makes the task of attempting to offer prediction frankly impossible.

Or at least that is my excuse.

Striani and Jean-Louis Dupont have done regarding Uefa’s FFP rule.

“But nothing is beyond the scope of possibility. It just remains to be seen what Uefa will do, and that’s the first step really.”

TPO is already outlawed in the English, French and Polish league systems, and Geey believes that Uefa will take up a similar positioning to those nations’ FAs in introducing the ban rather than looking to somehow regulate the practice.

“After the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano issue in the Premier League, they

brought in a regulation that essentially prohibited any outside party having an influence over the running of a club which you would say covers third-party influence.

“But the obvious point is that Uefa now deem that there are probably wider problems that third-party investments deal with, and the easiest solution – as in, the most practical solution – is not simply to regulate it, but to ban it.

“Uefa has the jurisdiction to ban it in its competition, just as the Premier League, the Football League and the Football Association have the jurisdiction in the UK.”

UEFA Third-Party Ban Is Easy To Implement - Sports Lawyer Goal.

“So for any club to play in Uefa competition, just as every club makes declarations for example relating to due payables or break-even, there will be a declaration that says you declare that none of your players in your Champions League squad have any third-party interests. And specifically, the club is the only entity that has economic interest in these players.

“A club is risking breaching regulations severely if they are making false declarations.”

Geey does believe, however, that Uefa could find opposition to the ban, just as they have with the launch of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

“My view is that some of the Portuguese clubs who are big exponents of the practice would see this as a major handicap, for obvious reasons,” added Geey.

“And there’s nothing to say that third-party investors and/ or some other clubs may bring some complaints to the European Commission, or may even start national court proceedings just as Daniel

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Arsene Wenger Looking For Confidence Boost Against Tottenham

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger has suggested a victory in Saturday’s North London derby against Tottenham could provide his side with a huge psychological boost for the rest of the season.

Wenger’s Arsenal have finished ahead of Tottenham in every campaign since he arrived at the club back in 1996, with a handful of those successes ensuring the Gunners and not their rivals secured Champions League football.

The latest meeting between Arsenal and Tottenham comes a little too early in the season for it to be a defining fixture for either side, but Wenger believes a victory could strengthen team’s side’s mental advantage over their neighbours.

“Tottenham have always had good teams so to be on top of them means you can fight for the Premier League,” Wenger said.

“It can have a psychological impact on the confidence of the team [to win the derby]. I just hope we can get on top of Tottenham. It’s always a very heated atmosphere and I believe it will be a very competitive game as well.

“The history [of success against Tottenham] can make

you feel a bit stronger, yes, but let’s not be fooled. What’s important is how well we turn up with our performance tomorrow.

“It’s an important moment of the season and it has a meaning for everybody.

EVERTON have not beaten arch-rivals Liverpool away from Goodison Park in the Premier League in 15 years, after Roberto Martinez’s men were routed 4-0 last season.

The last time Everton claimed bragging rights at Anfield was in September 1999, when they won a badtempered derby 1-0 courtesy of Kevin Campbell’s early goal.

And Everton captain Jagielka is keen to avoid a repeat of January’s crushing defeat.

“Last season as you can imagine there wasn’t much said on that journey,” Jagielka told the Liverpool Echo.

“You’re talking about a lot of angry people and miserable faces.

“That’s what you’d expect from any defeat let alone the heavy defeat we had to our arch rivals.

“When you are made captain you want to look at a decent win percentage. You want to see the team score more goals and keep more clean sheets.

“I’ve been desperate to win

every time we’ve been to Anfield, we all have been. So then the results we’ve had, and how quiet the bus has been afterwards, is not a nice feeling.”

Jagielka added: “You can’t change the past but a win is long over-due.

“It would be a fantastic place for us to give our season another kick-start and get us going up the league.”

While bragging rights are up for grabs, both teams are desperate to kick-start their seasons after sluggish starts.

Liverpool have lost backto-back games, while Everton have only won once this season, with defence a cause for concern.

Everton have conceded 13 goals in 2014-15, after shipping six against Chelsea and three at home to Crystal Palace last week.

“It’s been terribly frustrating,” said the 32-yearold Jagielka. “Being captain and at the centre of a defence that has conceded so many is tough.

“It puts a frown on your face and makes things a bit

Above all it’s an opportunity for us to take points in the Premier League where every point counts. It looks again this season that every point is difficult to make. Of course we play a home game and we want to win our home games.

“I am more proud to achieve our targets every year. That was to be in the Champions League, apart

from that most of the time to be in the Champions League, one of our rivals was Tottenham. For many years it was them or us and we always managed to get above them. I’m just proud to be consistent because that’s the most difficult thing in our job.”

Tottenham are in the process of preparing to build a new stadium on the land where their White Hart Lane home currently sits, but Wenger has suggested they are a long way behind their North London rivals after their move to Emirates Stadium in 2006.

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal host Tottenham on Saturday evening .

“You cannot be in a business where you turn

down 15,000 or 20,000 people every week,” Wenger said. “If your competitors have more financial power than you, at some stage you have to make a decision.

“It looks like everybody makes this decision now, because when you look at Liverpool, Everton, [they] want to increase their capacity. West Ham go to a bigger stadium next season so if you stay in a smaller capacity, it’s even more difficult.

“I just think it’s much more difficult today, because we built our stadium at a price that you couldn’t afford it anymore. We managed to build our stadium by subsidising it with our own resources. That is much

Arsene Wenger

Jagielka Wants To Avoid Anfield Pain

Brendan Rodgers

harder to bear. But I believe in the players around me and I think we can go on a run and keep clean sheets.

“There have probably been 10 individual errors by eight or nine different players so it’s not one person making repeated mistakes or one consistent thing. It’s been a catalogue of errors.

“Us as players need to stand up in certain situations and cut out the mistakes.”

Pochettino

more difficult today.”

Wenger was then asked about the comments from Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino claiming he has ambitions to have an enduring career at his new club to compare to that of Wenger.

“I wish him well with that,” said Wenger, as he prepares to face his eleventh different permanent Tottenham manager this weekend.

“I have always been a fan of technical stability for two reasons. There’s a line of conduct inside the club and it’s better that the manager knows the history and carries the values of the club better than anyone else. If you change a manager every year of two of course that’s not easy.”

Wenger confirmed he is “tempted” to persist with Mesut Ozil in a central midfield role against Tottenham after his sparkling performance in the 3-0 win against Aston Villa last weekend, but he hinted the German international may be moved out of his favoured position again.

“He played very well and he had a good understanding with Danny Welbeck,” added Wenger. “It was a good partnership because they gave each other balls to score. It was an interesting experience.

“It is tempting to keep Ozil in that central role but I maintain again that he will play where he is needed for the balance of the team and that can change game by game.”

£200m For Ronaldo?

THE cost of bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to Manchester United has been revealed; Radamel Falcao is proving useful off the field; and the Frank Lampard selfie-taking pitch invader has been found the main stories making headlines in this morning’s newspapers.

United facing £200m outlay for Ronaldo: If Manchester United want Cristiano Ronaldo back at Old Trafford, they will have to pay through the nose for their former protégée, according to today’s papers. Headline figures range from £140m to a staggering £200m, with the Daily Mirror claiming that second sum has put off the rest of Europe’s top clubs.

Just United remain interested, with Real likely to cash in on the Portuguese in the summer.

Usual suspects Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain

are all out of the running after balking at Ronaldo’s £380,000-a-week salary and the minimum £60m transfer fee that Real would demand. A four-year deal would mean an annual wage of £19.76m, which on top of the transfer fee makes £139.04m - a figure most other papers have come up with. But the Mirror adds on a further £60m for image-rights payments, loyalty bonuses paid out over the full length of his contract and other incentives, making United’s total possible expenditure on Ronaldo a whopping £200m.

Paper Round’s view: Wow. That is quite some total, even for a club like United who seem to have forgotten the real value of money after their expenditure over the past 12 months. Ronaldo, even at 30, would probably be worth the £60m transfer fee given today’s market,

but it is his wages and added extras that would take this deal to another level. Would United be able to afford that to bring back their prodigal son?

Given their new kit deal, probably. But a lot is likely to depend on how desperate they find themselves at the end of this season. Should Louis

Cristiano Ronaldo

van Gaal somehow manage to get United back on track, that kind of expenditure might seem pointless, potentially disruptive even. But if their current malaise persists, there will be pressure to do whatever it takes including spending £200m on one player - to turn things around.

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WHEN the ball ricocheted to him on the edge of the penalty box on the 10th of February, 2013, Sunday Mba had one thing on his mind: fashioning the shortest route to goal.

Three touches later, the It worked a treat for the ball nestled in the back of pacy midfielder: his the net with Abdoulaye introduction in South Africa Soulama rooted to the brought verticality to the spot. The FNB Stadium in Nigeria midfield, thanks to Johannesburg erupted, his direct running and having witnessed another dribbling with the ball. In a decisive moment in a cup crowded midfield zone, up final. In terms of execution, against physical manthis was the rival of Andres markers, the ability to turn Iniesta’s winner in the on the ball is priceless.

World Cup final on the This quality was on show same ground some 30 against perennial months earlier. favourites Ivory Coast in Hoisted up in celebration, the quarter-final, the then-Warri Wolves incidentally Mba’s second player let out a guttural game of the tournament. scream. Joy, unbridled and Both teams cancelled each a measure of relief too, other out essentially, until stood out on Mba’s he picked the ball up from exultant face. He did not deep and roared forward know it then, but that goal past a number of was the one to end two challenges, before scoring decades of hurt in Nigeria’s off a deflection with about football.

Also, 15 minutes left on the unbeknownst to him, that clock. It was a goal that was his apogee. encapsulated all that Mba The 25-year-old made is about: quick thinking, his debut just the year intrepidity and frightening before that Nations Cup campaign, a legacy of the successful WAFU Cup team of 2010. He scored a brace in his second international, a friendly victory over Liberia, but surely could not have been the only one surprised to acceleration. hear his name read out as That winner against Ivory part of the 23-man Afcon Coast announced him, but squad. Indeed, he was one it is for the goal against of six Nigerian Premier Burkina Faso that he will League players called up be remembered most to the Super Eagles. fondly; a strike thoroughly This was not the norm. out of place in a Indeed, it was standard disappointing final. In a practice for team handlers cagey, dour match, his goal to opt for foreign-based was a bright streak of players upon qualification, colour. having given locally-based The epithet of the local players a run-out in the deity of the Igbo clan preliminaries. However, Amadioha speaks of his coach Stephen Keshi kept propensity to take a man’s faith with the likes of life at the height of its Godfrey Oboabona, sweetness. In Mba’s finest Reuben Gabriel, Mba and hour, storm clouds had Ejike Uzoenyi. begun to gather. An illWill it ever get this good advised move to Enugu again?

Rangers was declared null That faith would be repaid handsomely: Oboabona forged an impermeable partnership with Kenneth Omeruo at the heart of the defence, but it was the contribution of Mba that proved truly decisive.

Keshi is often prone to experimentation in the middle of major tournaments, often leading to strange selection choices (the same quirk that saw Babatunde Michael make a name for himself at the World Cup).

• Sunday Mba

Nigeria’s Forgotten Hero

Sunday Mba: and void in March by the NFF due to an extant contract with Warri Wolves.

The Flying Antelopes were directed to pay a full transfer fee, but were unable to come to a workable agreement with Wolves as negotiations dragged on and on.

In the interim, Mba’s career stalled with no competitive football. When eventually the matter was resolved, it was agreed he would spend the rest of the league season on loan with Rangers, before returning to Warri Wolves. Mba spoke of his relief at the resolution to BBC Sport,

saying, “Both parties have agreed to a new decision and this is good for my football career. I wish to thank both clubs, everyone that stepped in and hope to take my career to the next level from here.”

Unsurprisingly, having been inactive for such a long period, Mba was unable to hit the ground running. However, that did not prevent a call-up to the Super Eagles for the FIFA Confederations Cup in June: Keshi is fiercely loyal to his players, and expects (and gets) the same back.

The hope was that a familiar set-up would evince the same game-

changing ability that brought Mba to the limelight.

He thoroughly underwhelmed, and Keshi would later ruefully admit to Futaa.com, “I didn’t get Mba at the Confederations Cup.” Has Mba’s Bastia move killed his Super Eagles career?

However, it seemed the worst had passed, as the very next month, Mba was in sparkling form for the Super Eagles Championship of African Nations team as they spanked their Ivoirian counterparts 4-1 to seal qualification for the 2014

tournament in South Africa.

He provided two goals and two assists, and appeared back to his best.

Having regained the trust of the national team handlers, he seemed poised to lead an impressive local-based selection to victory in South Africa. Then came yet another misjudgement: a January move to French second division side CA Bastia, thereby rendering him ineligible, on the eve of the Chan.

Keshi wished him well, but surely viewed this as an act of disloyalty. The Big Boss has a notoriously long memory, and this showed itself when preparations for the World Cup began. Mba’s visa problems kept him from hitting camp at the right time; he was ultimately dropped from the final 23, but it was telling that Keshi had begun to seek alternatives as early as the Mexico friendly in March.

He has not been called up since.

As the Super Eagles laboured to one point against Congo and South Africa in Afcon qualifying, the hero of Nigeria’s finest footballing hour of the past two decades was being shown a red card in a French National game against Chambly. In his absence, Les Noirs rallied to claw back a goal-deficit in stoppage time.

From being indispensable to the Super Eagles to being expendable in the French Third Division in 18 months is as steep a fall as is possible.

If ever Nigeria needed a hero, it is now.

In 2013, Mba answered the call to deliver glory.

Like Disney’s Mr. Incredible, he may be in no shape to deliver once again, but God knows we need him now.

“Keshi is often prone to experimentation in the middle of major tournaments, often leading to strange selection choices (the same quirk that saw Babatunde Michael make a name for himself at the World Cup)”

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Oshiomhole, Kwankwaso Presidency Needed To Fix Nigeria

IT is heartwarming that Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, has submitted a letter of intent to run for the 2015 presidential elections to the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC as a prelude to contesting and wining the presidential election come February 14 next year.

To many Nigerians who know the pedigree of Oshiomhole as an erudite labour leader and a very successful governor of Edo State, we need his wealth of experience and patriotism to tackle the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria. On his side is the very fact that he enjoys the popularity and support of Nigerians across the six geo-political zones and can win any election any time any day.

On his part, Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has also performed creditably well in Kano, North West Nigeria and has also indicated interest in the Presidency. But the All Progressives Congress must be very strategic to wrest power from the misrule of the deceitful and wasteful government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the views of many watchers of events in the political turf, Kwankwaso will make a very good deputy to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. There is, therefore a compelling need to zero the presidential contest to the South-South of Nigeria since the two leading parties in Nigeria must target the zone to be able to win the presidential election.

Given Oshiomhole’s m o n u m e n t a l achievements in Edo State in the face of very lean resources compared to many oil-rich states’ governors in the SouthSouth, he stands the best position to battle Jonathan out of power and restore sanity to our sick nation.

In the consideration of many Nigerians, the South-South cannot afford to waste its presidency’s turn on President Goodluck Jonathan who has not been able to frontally tackle the many problems bedeviling the country.

Let’s start with the issue

of corruption that has deprived the country from growth and development.

President Jonathan lacks what it takes to fight corruption. An instance is the oil subsidy corruption.

All those involved in bleeding the nation through dubious and scandalous frittering of over $20billion oil subsidy fund, some of them children of former PDP chairmen, have not been made to face justice since the January 2012 fuel

corruption, mindless stealing of the nation’s oil revenues running into several billions of dollars, and that the Nigeria National Petroleum Coporation (NNPC) Chaired by the same Petroleum Minister and Jonathan’s main sacred cow stinks of corruption.

Yet, no single individual or organisation has been sent to jail. The Minister of Petroleum remains shielded and President Jonathan looks the other

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State

pump price increase uprising till date. Many Nigerians have been asking questions but no answers are coming from the Federal Government.

The Sure-P programme is just another conduit established by the Jonathan administration to continue hemorrhaging the nation’s finances. The founding chair has resigned owing to massive corruption in the young organisation.

Anticorruption war has been reduced to mere child’s play as only those opposed to Jonathan’s presidency are pursued to Dubai, London and everywhere for corruption while the PDP officials’ thieving continues unabated and unchecked.

Various Committee reports by the National Assembly and even Presidential Committees as well as Committees set up by the Petroleum Minister, have all indicated widespread

way. All of these have helped to fuel unemployment, underdevelopment and widespread poverty in the country.

What do we even see?

All PDP chieftains who were confirmed and certificated thieves by courts in the land are receiving Presidential pardon and questionable court judgments upturning previous judgments. The desperation of Jonathan and PDP to cling on to power at all cost, makes the emergence of popular anti-corruption aspirants such as Comrade Adams Oshiomhole some sort of chilled water poured into a thirsty Nigerian souls.

Oshiomhole maintains zero tolerance to corruption in Edo and his commitment to good governance knows is unparallel in the annals of Nigerian history. Jonathan has openly conferred National honours on some

of these certified corrupt Nigerians, some of which he claims are his political mentors. If a treasury looter who escaped prosecution in London is Jonathan’s mentor, then you imagine the stuff President Jonathan is made of. But you can thump your chest for Oshiomhole any time, any day on his anti-graft stance. Only recently, Oshiomhole sacked the Executive Director, Public Procurement Agency, Mr. Hillary Ekhoye for poor

MATTERS ARISING

With DAN OWEGIE

alike, yet there is a Federal Government.

What with Jonathan’s disclosure that there are Boko Haram fifth columnists in his government? What has he done to them till date?

Over 298 Chibok Girls were kidnapped by the insurgents and many

Kano Governor Kwankaso

performance. He had sacked commissioners who showed signs and tendencies of corruption in his government and given the poor a sense of belonging in the state.

The problem of insurgency in the North East Nigeria has continued not just because of the problem of enemies within, but because, President Jonathan lacks the tact, and acumen to deal with Boko Haram issues when it started. First, he waited for too long before coming out to combat insurgency.

When he came out, insurgents had developed tap roots in three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa! He declared a lame duck state of emergency in the affected states, so the issues became even worse than they were. Today, the insurgents operate with impunity tearing down communities, slaughtering Christians and Muslims

inocent Nigerian citizens.

Jonathan told Nigerians that once the military locate their whereabouts, in six hours, the girls would be rescued. The Army has since told Nigerians they found the location of the girls. Four months after, the girls who have been traumatized, bruised, raped and subjected to all sorts of inhuman treatment are yet to be rescued by a mouthy PDP President. If the President’s daughter was among the girls would he not have rescued them since? Did he not rescue his uncle kidnapped by gun men in Utuoke?

Thirdly, the infrastructural decay across the country remains a sour taste in the mouths of Nigerians.

There have been endless demonstrations across the country against epileptic power supply in spite of the billions of dollars sank into the project by the PDP government.

The

privatization of the power sector was done in a most opaque manner and till date, all electricity consumers in Nigeria are made to pay a scandalous fixed charge whether they are supplied epileptic electricity or not. The PDP Government just has no conscience or feeling for the common man. The consequence of the problem of poor electricity supply are myriad. It means Nigeria remaining a generator powered economy. All small scale, medium and large scale businesses compulsorily procures electricity generating sets with the attendant expensive fueling-purchase of petrol or diesel on a daily basis.

This increases the cost of production and hence the cost of goods and services. Most Federal Roads are in terrible state of dilapidation, the socalled East-West Road has remained a mirage as the Jonathan Presidency has failed to execute this project direly needed by the people of the beleaguered Niger Delta.

What about water and sanitation? The nation lags behind in all. Varoius international reports on corruption, human rights, even Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have seen Nigeria failing in all with no sign of improvement.

Nigerians believe that an Oshiomhole/Kwankwaso ticket would frontally address all these problems for the common good of all.

As our Comrade intensifies consultations with stakeholders across the country, we would strongly recommend a pairing of Oshiomhole and Kwankwaso to help salvage Nigeria from the ruinous antics and deceit of the PDP Federal Government. · Mr. Dan Owegie is a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State. He is also, the Chairman, Board of Directors, Bendel Newspapers Company Limited, Publishers of The Observer titles.

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