Weekend observer 07 06 2014

N ews

Weekend

PUBLISHED SINCE OCTOBER 6, 1990 • Vol.XI NO. 3,239 • SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2014 • N 100.00 DISCOURSE

DISCOURSE A ‘Soft Approach’ To Dealing With Religious Zealots And Savage Terrorists

Page 6

Chibok Girls

Foreign Assistance And Need For Caution - Page 17

Tax

Appeal Court Dismisses ITV Suit Against EIRS

THE Court of Appeal sitting in Benin has dismissed an appeal brought before it by the Independent Television and Radio (ITV/Radio), Benin City, in respect of distraining order enforced by the Edo State Internal Revenue Service following an order by a Benin High Court over tax liabilities owed by the petitioner.

Delivering the and Tom Yakubu. unanimous ruling, the Said Justice lead judge, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju: “It is Moronkeji Ogunwumiju, overwhelmingly beyond averred that the Benin- doubt that the based television/radio r e s p o n d e n t / t a x had not acted responsibly authority had exercised as a corporate citizen. unreasonable patience Also on the jury were with the appellant who Justices Ibrahim Saulawa kept frustrating the

respondent’s invitation for tax review.

“How then can such party who was given ten different invitations for tax

review meeting but failed to attend, now come to the court to have been deprived of fair hearing?

I am of the firm and

humble view that the respondent followed the provisions of PITA (Personal Income Tax Act) even to an overstretched extent and that the

distraining order given against the appellant was a well deserved one.”

The court considered section 104, sub section

Ado Bayero Was Emancipator Of The Talakawas, Says Oshiomhole “His Royal Highness

GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has commiserated with the Government and people of Kano State on the death of His Royal Highness, Alhaii Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano, describing the late Emir as a friend of the Talakawa.

In a condolence message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Peter Okhiria, the Governor said “ received with a heavy heart, news of the death of His Royal Highness, Dr Ado Bayero, Emir of Kano.

was a foremost traditional ruler, under whose reign Kano Emirate witnessed phenomenal socioeconomic, political, educational and cultural transformation and affirmed its pre-eminent status as a worldrenowned Emirate, centre of commerce, scholarship and a melting pot for all Nigerians.

“Despite his exalted seat, he was a most worthy friend of the Talakawa, an

Continued on page 4

VISIT:Sierra Lone President, Ernest Bai Koroma and President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House, Abuja yesterday during the visit.

MOMENT OF SCRUTINY

Akpabio’s Excesses - Page 5

RELATIONSHIP

Quick marriage make-overs - Page 11

1 of the Personal Income Tax which empowers relevant tax authority to enforce payment of tax due.

The court by its ruling, validated not just provision of section 104 of PITA, but also validated the processes the Internal Revenue Service employed in collection of taxes especially as it relates to ITV/Radio, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) amongst others.

The judgment has put to rest the controversy surrounding the sealing off of the Appellant, ITV/ Radio and further demonstrated the resolve and commitment of Edo State Internal Revenue Service to collect taxes from all and sundry within the provisions of the law.”

Before arriving at the decision, the court had entertained the views of four amicus curiae including Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), Dr. Oladapo Olanipekun (SAN), Mr. Ferdinand Orbih (SAN) and Mr. Ade Ipaye, Attorney General of Lagos State.

Mr. Ken Mozia (SAN) appeared for Edo State Internal Revenue Service while Mr. Alfred Eghobamien (SAN) defended ITV/Radio.

Meanwhile, the Edo

Continued on page 4

PERSPECTIVE

Why What Women Wear Matters - Page 23

NEWS Tambuwal Restates Commitment To Fight Corruption THE Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal said that the House would not be intimidated in its effort to expose corruption in Nigeria.

Tambuwal said this in his address to mark the end of the third legislative session of the 7th House of Representatives.

“I wish to assure Nigerians that the House of Representatives will not be intimidated into abdicating its sacred duty to provide robust check and balances to executive action, “ he said.

The speaker decried the resort to courts by Nigerians to deliberately obstruct the operations of the legislature.

“We witnessed the dawn of a disturbing trend whereby people now go to court to stop the National Assembly from exercising its constitutional mandate and conducting its internal operations,” he said.

According to him, it is not appropriate for the courts to interfere in the workings of the legislature.

“It is neither usual nor appropriate for the judiciary to be used pre-emotively to stop the legislature from acting in the first place.”

Tambuwal urged all members of the House to recommit themselves to the defence of the integrity of the legislative process.

He said that the growing culture of impunity on the part of public officers in Nigeria was impacting negatively on ethos of accountability.

On oversight functions, he said that the House did its best to exercise this important constitutional mandate, adding that such had always been contentious.

He said that the oversight function embarked by the various committees of the House had revealed serious corruption cases in the public sector.

On the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, he said that the House would come up with ideas to protect other Nigerian children against such trauma in the future.

He commended the military for its gallant fight in the ongoing campaign against terrorism.

Tambuwal said that during the period under review, a total of 169 bills were introduced, out of which 46 passed second reading and 27 were subsequently passed into law.

He said that six more bills were awaiting the action of the Committee of the whole of the House. Report also states that the seventh House was inaugurated on June 6, 2011.

Deaconess (Mrs) Endurance Odubu, wife of the Deputy Governor, Edo State welcome the President and members of Congress of Female Artistes, Edo State, lead by Eunice Omoregie, during a courtesy visit to the matron wife of the Deputy Governor. Photo: MOSES OBOH.

National Conference: Ighure, Dokpesi Make

Case For Journalist Protection, Welfare

D E L E G A T E S representing the media at the National Conference called for the protection of journalists and media organisations in order to carry out their constitutional responsibility.

The delegates, while making contributions on the state of the media, said such protection was necessary for the media to effectively monitor governance on behalf of the people.

Mr. Isaac Ighure, representing the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), called for the amendment of Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution to protect journalists.

“The media is the only professional group that is recognised by the 1999 Constitution, and this gives us a very huge

responsibility to hold our leaders accountable and that includes those of us here.

“These cameramen and reporters here are watching us and they are reporting every word we say.

“Yes, we have been given a responsibility, but there is no protection. We have been sent into the jungle to hunt down the lion without any arms or any form of ammunition.

“We are reporting from Sambisa forest. We are everywhere. That is why we need to be protected.

“That is why we are asking this august gathering to ensure that Section 22 of the Constitution, which gives us that responsibility, is amended to protect us.

“When this Conference started, there were

delegates here who wanted the cameramen moved out.

But others said ‘no’ and stood their ground,’’ he said.

Ighure, who is also the Executive Director, Editorial Operations, said the media’s presence had helped a lot.

“That is why we now have fewer people sleeping on duty.

“But in the midst of this, a journalist covering this conference, Iheanacho Nwosu of Sunday Sun, was harassed by securitymen for doing his job. He was detained.’’

The NGE General Secretary, recalled the story of Minere Amakiri, whose head was shaved with a broken bottle by a Military Administrator then, now a delegate at the conference.

He also recalled that the

NYSC Plays Key Role In Nigeria’s Peace, Stability - Wamakko

GOVERNOR Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State says the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) scheme is playing a key role in the sustenance of peace, cohesion and stability in the country.

Report states that Wamakko said this in Sokoto at a send-off ceremony for the 1,168 Batch “B’’ corps members deployed to the state.

“NYSC is the most unifying factor in Nigeria, next to the military, and without it Nigeria will have been a different entity.

“The scheme has become indispensable to Nigeria’s unity, peace and socio-economic prosperity,’’ he said.

Wamakko also said the scheme had thrived and cemented the nation’s diverse peoples, irrespective of the diverse ethnic, religious and cultural differences.

He further noted that the nation’s education sector would have collapsed without the contributions of members of the scheme.

The governor was represented by Alhaji Halliru Tambuwal, Chairman of the NYSC Governing Board and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Welfare and Culture.

In his speech, the chairman of the governing board, Tambuwal urged the corps members to continue to be disciplined, loyal and patriotic to the country.

“You should continue to be good ambassadors of your various families, the scheme and Sokoto State,’’ Tambuwal said.

The state NYSC Coordinator, Mr. Thomas Yamma, said no disciplinary case was recorded against any outgoing corps member.

“This is the first time in the history of the creation

of the scheme in 1973 that we are recording this feat,’’ Yamma said.

Yamma commended the state government, Sultanate Council of Sokoto and the people of the state for their sustained support to the scheme.

He said the passing out parade was low-key nationwide due to the prevailing security situation in the country.

It was also reported that three corps members bagged the state honour awards, while eight others received commendation awards.

likes of Dele Giwa, Bayo Ohu, Godwin Agbroko, Tayo Awotunsin, and Kris Imodibie paid their lives in their attempts “to serve the public red-hot news on television, radio and newspaper’’.

Ighure also called for improved welfare for journalists, saying media workers were grossly underpaid.

Also speaking, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, representing Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), regretted the difficult conditions under which private broadcast stations operated.

“AIT and TVC have been transmitting your (National Conference delegates’) sitting here free of charge.

“This is a public service responsibility which they are doing, just like every other government station.

“We are saying simply that in a dual broadcasting provision, make provisions for public existence and private existence. That is the situation all over the world,” he said.

Dokpesi, who owns Daar Communications, also expressed concern that some private broadcast stations might not be able to meet the deadline for transition from analogue to digital transmission in 2015.

He said the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had warned Nigeria and the rest of the world 10 years ago that analogue broadcasting would stop by June 17, 2015.

Dokpesi also said private stations paid N1 billion as fees for a national network

licence while governmentowned stations did not pay.

“They said the Federal Government stations are doing public service. But, I don’t know what we can call the service we (AIT) are providing here.

“The coverage of the Presidency and all the other activities are also on the same basis. So, there is no level-playing ground, no equity, no justice,’’ he said.

Gombe Governor’s House Bombed

By JOSES SEDE DARING activities of dare devil Boko Haram took a new dimension in Gombe state, as the governor’s private house, which also serves as his official residence was bombed in a multiple explosions.

A Police Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) that was stationed in front of the house was completely shattered by the explosion.

The bombing also touched-off multiple explosions and had rocked the district where the governor resides.

No casualties or fatalities have been confirmed by the Nigerian Police Force spokesperson, who as at press time was yet piecing together details on the incidence.

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N ws

Promote Indigenous Culture

WIFE of the State Deputy Governor Deaconess Endurance Odubu has appealed to movie practitioners in Edo State to produce movies that promote indigenous culture.

- Deaconess Odubu

The deputy governor’s wife made the remark when she received the Congress of Female Artistes (COFA) Edo State who paid her a courtesy

visit in her residence in Benin City.

Deaconess Endurance Odubu urged the female artistes to make their movies

GM Commends Out-going Corps Members

By MARTIN ERHARUYI AND FAITH ISIKHUEMEN

THE Acting General Manager of the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL), publishers of the OBSERVER titles, Pastor Monday Aigbe has commended the out-going corps members who served in the company under the 2013/ 2014 Batch ‘B’ of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

He gave the commendation in Benin City at the send forth party organized by the company’s management in honour of the out-going corpers.

According to Pastor Aigbe, it has been a custom and tradition for the company’s management to hold a get together in order to appreciate out-going corpers for their good conduct during their service year in the company.

The OBSERVER Sport

Editor, Mr. Matthew Okagha also commended them for their loyalty to the company while urging them to adopt the virtues of punctuality, commitment and creativity so as to be distinguished in their future endeavour.

Also, the Acting General Manager Marketing, Citizen Emmanuel Kolawole Okhakhu commended the corpers for their organized manner and dedication to work during their stay in the organization while he employed them to continue in the same might anywhere they found themselves.

The DGM Account Mrs. R.A. Akhanolu urged the celebrants to always remembered to put God first in all their endeavour, and prayed God to direct them.

Mr. Ogunyemi Adebayo James, who spoke on behalf of the corpers appreciated the

THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev. Justin Welby, in Abuja has assured that Nigeria would overcome its several challenges.

The cleric gave the assurance when he spoke with the State House Press Corps shortly after a closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa.

“Nigeria is a country which I have profound respect and deep love and like many, I am deeply grieved by what is happening but God is faithful.

“The country has so much going for it but God is always faithful to us and as Christians, in Jesus

Christ we believe in His faithfulness and we can trust Him for the future,’’ he said.

Welby condemned the activities of the insurgents in the country, adding that he was in the country to condole and pray with the president.

“The bombing in Jos was deeply disheartening because I know Jos very well. I came to pray with His Excellency and express our condolence for the losses.

“God is faithful. In one of the letters that Paul wrote to the church, he talked about the sufferings they were going through being known throughout the world.

“That is exactly the truth here because the suffering

management for their love, acceptance and for honouring them adding that they enjoyed their service in the establishment.

Speaking with Weekend OBSERVER Eze Ada Nnenna said that her NYSC experience with the BNCL has impacted greatly on her while she urged intending corpers to be creative, determined and contribute their best to any establishment they are posted to for service.

The out-going corps members who were honoured included Miss Priscilia Ngozi Mba, Miss Ada Nnenna Eze, Mr. Temitope Omolade Erukubami and Mr. James Adebayo Ogunyemi.

The highpoint of the ceremony was the exchange of gifts between the management and the outgoing corps members.

more informative and educative in order to expose the younger generation to the benefits inherent in indigenous culture.

The deputy governor’s wife said such portrayal of the culture of Edo people would safeguard it from going into extinction.

She appreciated the Congress of Female Artistes for their focus on the empowerment of the girl child and urged them to comport themselves well so as to earn respect and to enable them to achieve their goals.

President of the body Eunice Omoregie who solicited the support of Deaconess Endurance Odubu said it is part of their objectives to occupy young girls in Edo State in meaningful ventures rather than involvement in prostitution and other unwholesome practices.

A crucial aspect of the visit was the presentation of a letter of investiture to the deputy governor ’s wife as the patroness of the female artistes.

Nigeria Will Overcome Its Challenges

Ado Bayero Was Emancipator Of The Talakawas Continued from page 1

embodiment of wisdom and learning, compassion and selflessness. He was an inspiration to millions and a reference point in authentic leadership and service to the

Appeal Court

Continued from page 1 State Internal Revenue Service has lauded the judiciary for this ‘erudite landmark judgment’ which it noted has brought justice to all.

community.

His death therefore is a great loss not only to the Kano Emirate, the State but to the entire nation as his wealth of wisdom will be sorely missed especially at this time. .

“On behalf of the government and people of Edo State, I pray Almighty Allah will console the people of Kano on this great loss.

“I also pray Almighty Allah will grant the late Emir Aljannah Firdaus.

- Welby

in Nigeria is known throughout the world and people throughout the world pray for the country,’’ he said.

He attested to the enormous potential in the country and the good nature of many of the citizenry.

“I do not have words to describe the good potential this country has. There is great difficulty at the moment but it is a country with such enormous potentials.

“I think Nigerians by nature are joyful, hopeful and vigorous, they work hard,’’ he said.

He said he got the assurance of Jonathan that the administration had

taken multidimensional approach to resolve the challenges facing the country.

19-Year-Old-Girl, A Woman Raped In Bariga A 19-year-old girl (named withheld) has been abducted and raped by a group of boys at Bariga in Lagos State.

The victim later tested and declared HIV positive. This incident was reported at the plenary session under matter of urgent public importance by Hon. Omotayo Odunton representing Alimosho II. She also referred to a man and a woman who were also attacked. Hon. Odunton said the man was beaten and eventually ran away, leaving the woman behind.

She said the incident of rape is rampant at Bariga community in Lagos State.

She added that the rape victim requested for justice. Hon. Odunton appealed that the rapists should be brought to

FG Will Explore All Options To Secure Release Of Chibok Girls THE Federal Government has said “all options’’, including negotiation, are open to free the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

The Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr Mike Omeri, made this known when he gave an update on the security operations in the NorthEast at a joint news conference in Abuja.

“The Federal Government is totally committed and focused towards ensuring that our beloved children, kidnapped girls, are returned safe and sound.

“Therefore, as we said before, all options in line with

international best practices are open in this case,’’ Omeri said.

He said government had distributed relief materials to communities affected by the insurgency in the North-East as well as Jos through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

According to him, efforts are ongoing to reach victims also affected by the insurgency in other states.

Omeri appealed to members of the public, spirited individuals and corporate organisations, to come to the aid of victims of the insurgency through NEMA.

Journalist Wants Gap Between Theory And Practice Closed consequences (of the gap) is

A journalist, Mr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said a huge gap existed between what is taught in schools and what is practiced on the field.

Orji made the remark in Abuja during the presentation of his book entitled: “What they don’t teach you in broadcasting.’’

Orji, Director of Communication, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), said the book was about bridging the gap in the content of mass communication courses in universities and institutions of higher learning.

“The negative

that graduates of our mass communication programmes are unable to fit into skill demands of information and communication industry.

“As a result, the quality of news on radio and television programmes in the country has fallen, especially with regard to content and presentation.’’

Orji said the book was written from decades of media industry experience and exposure.

He added that it was knowledge-sharing initiative aimed at bridging the increasing gap between theory and practice.

“It is also a contribution to

“Nigerian spirit will always overcome’’.

He said it was unfair for the opposition to dwell under the dynamism of the nation’s political system and the freedom of speech guaranteed by Jonathan’s administration to rundown the government.

Adesiyan said there was verifiable evidence that government was addressing the challenge, adding that the country would remain united and indivisible.

He expressed concern over recourse by the opposition to negative, rather than objective criticism, all in their desire to

in the country.

The minister called on the international community not to form opinions based on media reports alone but on-the-spot assessments of the situation in Nigeria.

Earlier, Arrion said they were in the country to explore new ways to collaborate with the Nigerian government on how to curtail the current security challenges.

He said they were also interested in forging an alliance on the supply and improvement of energy which were central to the realisation of development objectives of nations.

Police Affairs Minister Berates the international FG’s Critics mislead community about happenings

THE Minister of Police Affairs, Abdul Adesiyan, has described the people accusing the Federal Government of not doing enough to address current security challenges as uncharitable and lacking in patriotism.

Adesiyan said this when he received the Ambassador and Head of delegation of the European Union to Nigeria, Mr Michel Arrion, in Abuja.

Reports state that Arrion was accompanied by a team from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

He said in spite of the evil machinations of the terrorists and their sponsors, the

book.

Also contributing Hon. Rotimi Olowo representing Shomoru I disclosed that Shomolu and Bariga are menace as regards rape incidents. He said young boys always unleash terror and shoot sporadically into the air.

He said the Assembly should urge Rapid Response Squad (RRS) to patrol Shomolu and Bariga regularly. He appealed to Lagos State police commissioner to intervene and identify the culprits. In his speech, the speaker House of Assembly, Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji, wondered why jobless people unleash terror on people at about 5am. He asked “have we accepted evil as nobody wants to fight the ill”.

efforts aimed at enabling the media to play wider and more efficient roles in national development.’’

The book reviewer, Mr Oseloka Zikora, said the huge gap between theory and practice had created a situation where most graduates in the profession remained unemployed, underemployed or unemployable.

“It is said to be largely responsible for the falling standard of broadcasting in terms of content, quality and ethics within and among practitioners in the industry.

Zikora held that the book was a timely intervention and major contribution of the author to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

He recommended the book for students of mass communication, media organisations, training institutions and working journalists, among others.

Mr Gbenga Onayiga, retired Deputy Director in FRCN, commended the author for his efforts.

“We describe newsroom as the best university. You learn so much on a daily basis from the news room. There is no lecture room, no university like the newsroom.

“For someone who has worked in the news room for more than 20 years and has put together experiences of the newsroom, sincerely the book should be what every media professional must have’’, he said.

Orji had earlier written “Inside Aso Rock.’’

“With all sense of responsibility, this law stinks to high heavens. It is sickening, illegal and unlawful. It is a shame and a disgrace to the black race. It is an affront on the African, and it is a crime against humanity.”

IF the recent Bill passed into law by the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly which grants astronomical and outlandish pension package to former elected governors and their deputies is anything to go by then the law is a serious disaster and a slur on the image of a nation called Nigeria.

At a time when hunger, h o m e l e s s n e s s , unemployment, diseases and poverty are assailing the masses, it becomes atrocious for lawmakers in Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to pass a law that propose a “N100 million annual medical bill payout to former governors and N30 million for the deputies, other provisions include a new official car and utility vehicle once every four years, the provision of a personal aide and adequate security for his person during his life time, the provision of funds to employ a cook, chauffeurs and security guard for the governor at a sum not exceeding N5 million or an equivalent of 50,000 per months.”

“Other provision of the law include a befitting house, not below a fivebed room maisonette in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja or in Akwa Ibom State, for the governor, a furniture allowance of 300 percent of annual basic salary once in every four years, a yearly maintenance and fuelling of vehicle allowance of 300 percent of annual basic salary. These are not all, there would be yearly utility allowance of 100 percent of annual basic salary, entertainment allowance which is also 100 percent of annual basic salary.”

The state shall bear full cost of burial for the beneficiary and pay a condolence allowance of a sum equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent to his next of kin. There are other sundry benefits, but this with

Akpabio’s Excesses suffice to prove that an exgovernor of this state will simply retire into a billionaire status and opulence”.

With all sense of responsibility, this law stinks to high heavens. It is sickening, illegal and unlawful. It is a shame and a disgrace to the black race. It is an affront on the African, and it is a crime against humanity.

For a governor who was elected into office by the common people and who have enjoyed the trappings of office for eight years, it is bestial, absurd and misanthropic to have enacted such law. Shame also to the so-called law makers of Akwa Ibom House of Assembly they should hide their heads in shame, even as posterity will soon adjudicate on them.

Such a bill most be rendered null and void. The Federal Government, the NGO’s and all men and women of goodwill, in tune with all that is good must make sure that the law is abrogated sooner.

It is a painful contention that the people of Akwa Ibom have a longer miserable road to travel as a result of this retrogressive law. They have the worst of fate to

Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom State Governor embrace. But one would ask, what are the people doing to help themselves in the face of Akpabio’s excesses.

How many unemployed youths, women and graduates roam the streets of Akwa Ibom today without any hope.

It is this kind of repressive, and selfish, and self centered and materialistic laws that has made people to become strangers and foreigners in their own land.

Though other states in the country had made similar laws in the past, but

the times we are going through are hard time and perilous times, that cautions must be taken not to further plunge this country into greater and wider insurgency.

Poverty is a tinder box that can lead to great conflagration. According to

“It is a painful contention that the people of Akwa Ibom have a longer miserable road to travel as a result of this retrogressive law. They have the worst of fate to embrace. But one would ask, what are the people doing to help themselves in the face of Akpabio’s excesses.”

Steve Osuji “… this megalomaniac sense of benefit and entitlement has no basis in performance or achievement in office. In other words when just any man who goes by the title ‘governor ’ was done looting and wrecking his state, he is rewarded with a billion naira to boot? This law and any other like it anywhere in the country is best described as “the graft law” it is a greedy person’s proposition, sanctioned by the greedy for the greedy.

In a country still ravaged by extreme poverty (that some of these fellows cannot totally absolve themselves from), why would a few rich and affluent continue to wantonly arrogate more of states resources to themselves, minimum wage remains meager and unsustainable and pensions are hardly paid when due yet a former governor (who must have helped himself, well enough to last him many lifetimes anyway) still appropriates a huge chunk of the state’s treasury for himself for life… there cannot be any justification to beyond licentious greed and abuse of power. No House of Assembly worth its name should pass a law such as this. But it was passed all the same. It is a mischievous piece of legislation that must also be revoked post haste so that common sense may prevail. We fear viruses like this spread faster and one hopes that many other states do not catch it. It is obscene in deed.

At the time of writing this piece Akwa Ibo Governor, Godswill Akpabio has asked the House of Assembly to expunge the contentious clause in the law, which placed N100 million and N50 million ceiling on the annual medical expense of former governors and their deputies.

P rspective

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A ‘Soft Approach’ To Dealing With Religious Zealots And Savage Terrorists

IN March 2014, National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) presented to Nigerians, at a well publicized briefing replete with media glitz, a National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) where he outlined a new strategy called ‘Soft Approach’ for dealing with the Boko Haram terrorist group which has for years unleashed the full measure of murderous carnage across parts of Northern Nigeria in murdering policemen and soldiers, bombing churches and other places of worship, murdering innocent men and women, slaughtering hundreds of children in cold blood and more recently abducting hundreds of innocent young school girls.

Only a month before Colonel Sambo Dasuki’s presentation (in February), Boko Haram militants had attacked the Federal Government College in the town of Buni Yadi, Yobe State at 2a.m., hurling explosives into residential buildings and spraying bullets into the hostels. Students (who were sleeping) were burnt to death. Some others were horrifyingly hacked to death.

All of the school’s 24 buildings were then burnt to the ground.

The next morning, hospital officials recovered the bodies of some of the students who had escaped with bullet wounds but died in the bushes from their injuries.

Last year, on September 29, 2013, Boko Haram elements had attacked the male dormitory of the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State and murdered 44 defenceless students and teachers in cold blood. The attack took place at about 1a.m. in the night.

It was therefore with shock that many Nigerians welcomed the ludicrous sounding ‘Soft Approach’ to a savage terrorist bunch by a National Security Adviser at a time when

Nigerians expected a more systematic engagement process that will focus on the improvement in our military and intelligence architecture by training, equipping, motivating, encouraging and rewarding the gallant soldiers and paramilitary personnel who put their lives on the line and keep us out of harm’s way.

In his presentation, National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) was pretty quiet, like many others from his neck of the woods, in acknowledging that Boko Haram remains what it was – religious zealotry.

How then can a National Security Adviser proffer to us a Counter Terrorism Strategy that they claim will assist them (or us?) to understand the root cause of terrorism when we all know that Boko Haram represents the fullness of religious zealotry and founded on unfortunate religious indoctrination?

As we continue in this festival of denial of the violent, expansionist and supremacist nature of these religious zealots, these nasty little Jihads will continue to grow and spread.

A ‘Soft Approach’ that avoids blunt and honest discussions of what is rotten at the core of the religion of these zealots and terrorists is no approach at all.

A ‘Soft Approach’ to terrorism is like a ‘Soft Approach’ to Armed Robbery, Rape, Arson or some other crime. It is as effective as fighting cancer with aspirin.

When men gleefully kill and abduct innocents for their cause, there is only one way to stop them. It is the same way you stop a poisonous snake. You stamp on its head. Boko Haram will not stop until they are wiped out.

Annihilation is the only way forward and it remains to be seen how

By GEORGE KERLEY

National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd.)

the Nigerian Government will build the strategy to enforce this annihilation which can only be by ensuring that our Armed Forces are well trained and equipped to protect the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I do not know how much billions that the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has appropriated for this reckless and ill sounding ‘Soft Approach’ Strategy but I recommend that all of that should be channelled to supporting all those courageous young men, drawn from across the country who dedicate every minute of their lives to keeping us safe.

Those billions should be channelled to protecting our Troops and Para Military personnel, insuring their families through increased funding for Military Cooperative Societies, providing

Health coverage for the troops and their families, Supporting Small and Medium Scale Enterprises owned by their families as well as Free Education of their families (even if it means awarding immediate scholarships for the families and children of the troops who go to war!)

It is after all this is done that we can now talk about adopting any ‘Soft Approach’ to manage the

capacity and tendency of some ‘radical’ to transform to a zealot or Jihadist or terrorist.

In the fight against Boko Haram, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR has deployed a careful, methodical and meticulous process to manage the insurgency in the North.

From the engagement of Northern traditional, religious and political

leaders to engage other stakeholders and build an understanding with the group down to the setting up of a Committee to manage possible amnesty and open channels for dialogue.

Yet again, it was President Jonathan’s government that rolled out the establishment of improved schools for Almajiri across key centers in Northern Nigeria to ensure that they acquire the knowledge they require to access a good life.

On the economic angle, it was President Jonathan that rolled out the resuscitation of the textile industry in Northern Nigeria backed up with an ambitious agricultural transformation agenda that brought back cotton farming in the North.

Roads and railway infrastructure is being revitalised across Northern Nigeria. The construction of dams and the reviving of irrigation infrastructure has long commenced across the states of Northern Nigeria.

What more ‘Soft Approach’ could be better than all these?

Nigeria needs to learn from the follies of Pakistan and its soft approach and come up with firm action against Boko Haram.

Any action that is not founded on building the capacity of our troops to fight terror and terrorists will not work.

Nigeria must not spoonfeed terrorists.

SupportOurTroopsNIGERIA

“A ‘Soft Approach’ to terrorism is like a ‘Soft Approach’ to Armed Robbery, Rape, Arson or some other crime. It is as effective as fighting cancer with aspirin. When men gleefully kill and abduct innocents for their cause, there is only one way to stop them.

It is the same way you stop a poisonous snake. You stamp on its head. Boko Haram will not stop until they are wiped out.”

P rspective

e

PROPELLED by the recent happenings in Northern Nigeria, particularly the abduction of school girls in Chibok, Borno State and acknowledging the fact that women are natural peace-makers, the Mother of the nation, Dame Patience Jonathan, convened a meeting of relevant women stakeholders on Friday, May 2, and Sunday May 4, 2014, at the State House, Abuja, to discuss and rub minds on how Nigerian women, as peace builders, can play critical roles in resolving various security issues in the country.

A melodrama played out itself on the last day of the programme at about midnight on Sunday. When one of the women stakeholders stood up to complain of suspicious women in their midst; and this led to the suspicious women being called out, and during interrogation they confessed their real names and the role they played in impersonating as real mothers of the abducted girls. They also revealed how they were contracted for the job by mischief makers.

Luck ran out on one of the impersonators when the First Lady fished her as leader of a protest few days back. The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, uncovered the leader of a group, popularly known as “Bring back our girls,” whose real name is Naomi Murlah. She had last week led about 300 women on a false protest March to National Assembly over the reported abduction of about 234 secondary school girls in Chibok, Borno State.

However, the die was cast during the stakeholders’ meeting convened at the First

Stakeholders Meetings And Noami’s Arrest: Lady’s conference room at the villa on Sunday May 4, 2014. While all the women at the meeting wrote down their real names at the entrance of the gate, Naomi, who is a Deputy Director at the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Abuja, wrote down her false name as Grace, which was one of the

The True Story

By OMOBA KENNETH AIGBEGBELE

girls on major television stations syndicated and in all media platforms by the ‘hand of opposition.’

Accordingly, when the cat was let out of the bag, she pleaded for sympathy and forgiveness as she

National Assembly, I asked for the leader of the mothers whose children were abducted, this woman (Naomi) was the one that came forward and said that her child was

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan

names of those expected to attend the meeting from Borno State.

The said Naomi Murlah was the leader of the arrange group that claimed she was one of the parents of Chibok

was recognized by the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs to be among the women stakeholders.

The Minister said: “When they said they have gone to lay complaints to the Federal Government and the

abducted. I believed her, she was the woman dressed in black among the protesting mothers of missing Chibok girls.

The Senate President believed them, I also believed them too.”

“When quizzed at the meeting, Naomi Murlah admitted that she was being used and that she had no child among the abducted children. She confessed she was contacted to represent one of those expected to attend the meeting at the First Lady’s conference room.”

The First Lady exclaimed: “God is leading us to the truth!”

She wondered why notable names joined in the fray without knowing the facts of the issue and that she was disappointed by the impunity of Naomi also.

After all due diligence on Naomi and thorough interrogations, she was let off the hook. The women stakeholders, however, passed a motion that the security authorities should look into the matter urgently and decided to also tender an apology on behalf of Nigerian women to the National Assembly for the shame brought to womanhood

by Naomi and her likes.

When quizzed at the meeting, Naomi Murlah admitted that she was being used and that she had no child among the abducted children. She confessed she was contacted to represent one of those expected to attend the meeting at the First Lady’s conference room.

According to her, it was in the morning that somebody called her from Borno State, one Mrs. Grace. She said that Grace was supposed to come, but she appealed to her, saying, “since you people are there as Chibok representatives, please, represent me also.”

Asked if she had been to Chibok in the last one year, she confessed, “I have not gone to Chibok in the past one year.”

At that point, she started pleading, saying it was the work of the devil and that due to the economic situation in the country she submitted to being used and that

“Nigerian women should, please, forgive her.”

The First Lady had no hand in whatever transpired between her and the security officers, who said she breached protocol under false name to gain entry to the stakeholders’ meeting at the State House, Abuja.

Rather, she was heart broken due to her u n p a r a l l e l e d commitment to the wellbeing of the girl child and women and called on other First Ladies around the world to lend their support in our search for the abducted girls.

At a time like this, particularly in this explosive period when terrorists are detonating bombs anywhere, anytime, we should not be in haste to judge or pass the buck. But unfortunately, politicians are having a field day, doing the blame game as never before, and doing everything possible to bring down the government of the day. What we as a people should be looking at now was the audacious revelations that came out from the meeting and a lot of unanswered questions still begging for answers by the Borno Government.

Nigerians should look beyond this orchestration and see how we can be united in spite to fight against terrorism, which is our collective calamity. We should also resist every divisive efforts of enemies of Nigeria, who are really sly unpatriotic leaders, wolves in sheep’s skin, who will do ‘any thing and everything’ to make the country ungovernable and proudly present themselves as alternatives to the government of the day.

e

P rspective BY the Oxford Learners Dictionary, game is defined as an activity with rules in which people compete against each other. The word rules clearly shows that people are to abide by the rules of a game or activity.

In Nigeria, politics has been reduced to a mere activity without rules, or how can one explain the way politicians have totally made politics a mockery. The word politics makes a lot of people now hiss and not want to have anything to do with it.

If we recall back to the 70s and 80s, politics was something people desire to go into because as a politician, you have so much pride and dignity and people respect you when they hear that you are around. But today, it is a thing of shame.

Politicians no longer have respect for themselves not to talk of the people they represent. People now go into politics for various reasons, but the most noticeable reason is money.

Recently, I watched on television with disgust the movement of politicians from a particular political party to another. They

The Game of Politics And Deceits

came out openly without any iota of shame to tell the people that where they were before was not good, in fact that where they were before was darkness and now they have seen the light.

The people applauded them forgetting so soon that this same set of politicians never cared for them. Let me try to refresh our memories of our people in respect of some of these politicians that stood up today to speak and yet people cheer them up.

A onetime speaker of the State House of Assembly, whose influence was not felt by the people in the state and his community to the extent that the road leading to his house is an eyesore in Benin City.

It is an irony that such a man is still coming out to say that the present administration has not done anything for the people and when he was in power for years there was nothing to show for it.

Indeed, politics is played by politicians without following any rules or decorum.

By OJES SUO

Rules are meant to be followed but our politicians take the people for granted, they go into politics for their own selfish reasons, just how to gather wealth f o r themselves, families and unborn children, what an irony. They forget to remember that any good deed is a thing that is written down for generations to come.

The rules in the game must be followed carefully to enable the game be a fair one. But to our politicians, the rules of the game can be put aside or played as you the player like it. That is why our nation is going through what we are going through

people coming and going. today.

Just like the words It is until our of J.P Clark, “Coming politicians begin to and Going these play several season.”

Again, the season i s

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu

the game of politics right, things will always turn out the way it is,

“The politicians should be made to know that the people are not fools and they cannot continue to deceive them over and over again. Enough is enough of the deceit, it is time to arise and put a stop to these lawless games been played by our politicians.

If we close our eyes to these lawless game we will only be putting down our pride for shame.”

here again. The season of elections, where politicians begin the game, using the people to get what they want and dumping them when they finally get voted into power.

It is a very sad development that even the people do not see or realize that these set of politicians should not be voted into office

again.

The politicians should be made to know that the people are not fools and they cannot continue to deceive them over and over again.

Enough is enough of the deceit, it is time to arise and put a stop to these lawless games been played by our politicians. If we close our eyes to these lawless game we will only be putting down our pride for shame.

Now that elections are just around the corner, the people should always put in their minds that it is not just about giving them money, foodstuffs and whatever, it is about voting for a candidate that has the fear of God and the mind of the people at heart.

Together with God on o u r side, w e t h e people will rejoice and enjoy t h e things that will usher in a good democracy.

I end with the words of the Holy Bible refrained, “ When a good man rules, the people rejoice, but when an evil man rules, the people cry.”

May the one that has a good heart come in and rule so that we all will rejoice right from the federal, state and local government level.

o

P litics ON Monday, May 19, 2014, newspapers and other news outlets across the country were awash with reports arising from a press statement signed by Chief (Dr) Tony Anenih, Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees (BoT).

Anenih, who has been a firm fixture in the upper echelons of the ruling PDP since the party’s early days, made a noteworthy departure from partisan politics by calling for national unity against the threat of insurgency.

In his statement titled, “Let us unite against Boko Haram,” Anenih struck a statesmanlike note when he said: “At a time that our nation is facing the menace of terrorism, it is of utmost importance that all Nigerians, irrespective of their regional, religious or political affiliations, should be united in supporting the Federal Government and all the security agencies in the fight to end terror in our country.”

Showing concern as a father, Anenih said: “I deeply sympathise with the parents of the abducted Chibok girls and pray for their safe return. No parent should have to experience what the parents of these innocent girls are passing through on account of this outrageous abduction

by Boko Haram.” The elder statesman went further to add: “I also understand the anger that has been expressed through the g l o b a l #BringBackOurGirls movement and wish to state that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic

That Anenih Advice On Boko Haram

Party (PDP) are fully committed to ensuring the safe return of our daughters.”

If that was all that Anenih’s statement contained, there would not have been a need for this article. For, if there’s an issue which should clearly unite Nigerians across all ideological divides, it is the need to resist the insurgency being waged by Boko Haram with one voice.

Unfortunately, stemming from an apparent need to score political points, some discordant opposition voices have been launching attacks on the Federal Government, as if such people are in cahoots with Boko Haram.

Clearly, it was for this reason that Anenih cautioned: “I must, however, deplore the situation where some opposition politicians have tried to make political issues out of it by calling for the resignation of President Jonathan over a group that is waging war against the Nigerian state. Such behaviour is unbecoming of patriotic citizens of a democratic nation like Nigeria.

When militant gunmen attacked a shopping mall in Kenya, killing many people and holding many others hostage, the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, stood right beside the President, Uhuru Kenyatta, while the latter was addressing Kenyans on the dastardly attack.”

The foregoing quote from Anenih’s statement is an important point that must not be lost on anyone. Our freedom to peacefully disagree with one another—even the Federal Government— is one that is guaranteed under our democracy by the Constitution. It is this

By JOHN UDUMEBRAYE freedom, among others, that Boko Haram seeks to take away. It is therefore the duty of all Nigerians to eschew political considerations at this time and come together as one to stand against Boko Haram.

the efforts of the military and other security agencies. That is why Anenih’s advice that “all Nigerians, irrespective of their regional, religious or political affiliations, should be united in supporting the Federal Government

known and bears repeating here is that, “All over the world, fighting terrorism takes time and requires patience, cooperation and national unity.”

Those who imagine that there is a big button somewhere that President Jonathan needs to push in order

Chief Tony Anenih

As Anenih was quoted as saying in his press statement, “Boko Haram is a threat to Nigeria and to our democracy.” The PDP BoT Chairman also stated that, “The Boko Haram insurgency is not against Jonathan as an individual, rather it is against the Nigerian state. That is why our collective efforts are needed to tackle the challenges.”

However, it is clear that some opposition politicians do not fully appreciate the need for national unity in the fight against Boko Haram. If they did, they would not be spouting invectives on the person of the President or ridiculing

and all the security agencies in the fight to end terror in our country” needs to be re-echoed until everybody in Nigeria internalises the message.

A point which is well-

to immediately bring the nefarious activities of Boko Haram to an end should recall that the United State of America, with its allies such as Great Britain and

Australia among others, have been fighting terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda and the Taliban for over a decade.

One is not saying that President Jonathan needs more than a decade to fight Boko Haram.

However, expecting that a scream from Jonathan will automatically silence Boko Haram is an unrealistic expectation.

Moreover, as Anenih reminded us, “President Jonathan has said it several times that in fighting Boko Haram, the Federal Government is dealing with fellow Nigerians, who are our brothers and sisters.

Consequently, the military cannot deploy its full might against them.

Besides, doing so would be against international rules of engagement.”

Although cynics are within their rights to say whatever they wish about the Boko Haram insurgency, Anenih has clearly placed national interest above all else in advising that the country should unite in fighting the terrorist group. It may be a cliché, but it is still true that a house divided against itself cannot stand. In the words of the wise statesman, “The message to Boko Haram from all Nigerians must be: we will never bow to terror!”

“The foregoing quote from Anenih’s statement is an important point that must not be lost on anyone. Our freedom to peacefully disagree with one another—even the Federal Government—is one that is guaranteed under our democracy by the Constitution. It is this freedom, among others, that Boko Haram seeks to take away. It is therefore the duty of all Nigerians to eschew political considerations at this time and come together as one to stand against Boko Haram.”

o

S ciety IF money is almost equivalent to free speech with willing givers and takers of lust, one would think a man should be able to spend his money the way he sees fit, just as a woman should have the same right. But like all rights, there is a limit when it impugns on others ability to fully develop their own right. In other words, a man

dirty old men, Rev. Father or Mudarris the greater the chances that they may become truants and sex addicts in their beautiful youthful years.

As they get older, nobody cares or look where they are again.

Let us face it; young ladies enjoy the power to capture men just by showing colorable skirts; go as far as tweaking. It

70 yr. old Gov. Nyako, has been caught with a teenage girl. We refuse to believe the young Aisha(s) only happen with Northern governors. For some reasons, Southerner colleagues keep theirs well away from the press.

Religion and impunity of leadership contribute blindly to their desires. It excuses sex acts of the religious born-again right in U.S Waco leader David

leaders, even the married ones. We hardly see women engage in many of these outrageous activities because we scrutinize ladies more except when they are victims and it is ungodly for women to have many sexual partners that men can easily get away.

Therefore a political figure that is a member of one of these religious

between money and lust is very strong regardless of strange isolated and unrelated characters. For example: Ms. Stiviano, Magic Johnson and Donald Sterling racist comment. It did not disprove the fact that Magic Johnson was a voracious “groupie” shiner that Sterling has a right to be jealous and even afraid of. Aids may

displayed a different type because he paid dearly with his career. Everyone around him knew he was an addict. So was President Clinton who had consensual sex with an intern in the White House. Apart from the moral turpitude associated with such behavior outside of boys club, the spouse, wives or girlfriends of these men

Power Craze Must Pay For Lusting Aisha

By FAROUK MARTINS ARESA

should not be criticized for spending his money for a willing giver to lust. But the seductress must be morally old enough, not just legally old.

We all lust but some of us lose control, become deranged. Of all people, President Carter was not supposed to admit lust in his hearts in controversial interview years ago. But when we see Sani Yerima the Governor that first instated Sharia law and Bola Tinubu grinning holding “Bring Back Our Girls”, many wondering minds want to know what they were thinking: time to replace virgins or dollar opportunity. Terrorists have drooled on innocent girls as world market trophies.

If disgraced rich or famous men have to do it all over again, most would swear to be rather poor or cut it off, than destroy dreams. Well, most addicts make the same pledge only to go on another binge after withdrawal and recovery.

It could be an addiction for sex, food, drink or other drugs. Lord, lead us not into temptation, not to get hooked since withdrawal is harder.

Not only can what men do for sex destroy them, it may affect the career of their partners and their victims. As for victims, they may not further their schooling or train for a career that may make them self-sufficient. The younger they are (omo father) when exposed to

Koresh, polygamous Marmon, Jim Baker and does not necessarily Ted Haggard as in African mean they want it right religious leaders. then and there. Flirting It is outrageous when short of opening up your

organizations can claim immunity with young ladies or even underage girls as long as the holy book says so. The fact is in those days, the holy

hedonists command states’ purse, schools, planes that their members are too poor to afford or attend. They urge their followers to contribute for their salvations by submitting to the desires of their

books were written by cave men. Women had no other prospects than becoming good housewives and having children. Now they have a choice of both or either.

Indeed, the connection

panty is part of human behavior, just like other members of animal kingdom display feathers.

They may also attract the wrong admirer that does not take no, for an answer.

For the umpteen time

“Not only can what men do for sex destroy them, it may affect the career of their partners and their victims. As for victims, they may not further their schooling or train for a career that may make them self-sufficient.”

not be politically correct, but the man has reason to be scared. Dumbfounded, that at his age he only bought lust temporarily.

Unfortunately, Sterling’s estranged wife labeled him senile: on to get halfhalf. There is nothing new again about men and their penchant for lust, that estrange their older wives. It is not that rich ladies can’t do the same but most are more discreet with boys. There used to be a time when, whatever you do in your bedroom is your business. Not anymore, there is a market for juicy story from whoever wants to kiss and tell. It’s more salacious, if you are famous and rich.

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss Khan famously known as DSK

might be subjected to ridicule based on association.

There is the dividing line or blurred demarcation.

Most countries or states have legal lines that are below moral age. We struggle with age even in cases of twentysomething year old Monica Lewinsky that insisted it was consensual with the President and the fact that the affair not only almost destroyed his Presidency but destroyed her own career and chances of getting married up to her middle age! After all these years, politicians still dig it up.

Moreover, it may affect the chances of Mrs. Clinton to get a clean shot at the Presidency. All for one man’s lust for a seductive young intern that derived pleasure for capturing an older man’s innate but uncontrollable desire. Take sugar daddy’s money, do not say no if he is not famous.

Consequences for men are not less destructive because once exposed for their hypocrisy, it can end their political careers, destroy their church or mosque and in some cases subject them to criminal penalties, if illegal. With such a high price to pay, men still engage in these activities.

The only way around it is to shield their voracious appetite for sex with moral dignity by invoking God. So if young Aisha engages in it voluntarily or becomes member, it’s deliverance.

s

I sues ON unique characteristic of democracy in this part of the clime is that, at every election period, our political actors unleash their political dragons on the entire nation just because some of them want to be in power at all cost! Sometimes, when I look at how some politicians beat their war Tonga because of an election, I wonder if at all they understood the basic tenets of democracy and its c h a l l e n g i n g responsibilities of using power for the common good of the people! For them, democracy is the acquisition of power for personal gains and enrichment at the expense of the people.

Application of this definition of democracy in Nigeria could only be the reason we dissipate energy, time and resources arguing and debating over trivial issues like ethnicity, region, religion and political party during election periods.

However, as a prelude to the conduct of the 2011 Presidential Election, a lot of resources were spent arguing on zoning and rotation and how it applied to President Good Luck Jonathan’s intention to run for the

oval office in the land.

While some said zoning and rotation was dead and buried or had been observed in breach, others opined that zoning principle should be maintained. Also, while some argued that zoning was not in the 1999 constitution and should therefore not affect Jonathan’s candidacy, others said the principle of the Federal Character as contained in the 1999 was the grandfather of zoning and rotation in the country.

Furthermore, while the zoning debate was raging chiefly between the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) lead by Mallam Adamu Ciroma and the Southern Elders and Political Leaders Forum (SEPLF) lead by Chief Edwin Clark, a summit of who is who in the 19 Northern States plus the Federal Capital Territory was held in Kaduna under the auspices of the Northern Political Summit (NPS).

At the end of the summit, a communiqué was issued saying President Good Luck Jonathan was free to run for the Presidential Election if he so wished.

Their resolution was hinged on this simple analogy; that, if they are two pilots on a plane, and one died along the line, the second

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

2015: Thoughts On

Jonathan’s Eligibility

By EDWIN EKENE UHARA

pilot should not stand idly-by and watch the plane to crash, rather, he should continue piloting the plane till it lands safely. But, at the end of the day, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is the grand norm of the country prevailed as President Good Luck Ebele Jonathan finally declared his interest in running for the 2011 Presidential Election on September 18, 2010 at the Eagle Square Abuja, an election that gave him landslide victory over all his opponents!

Similarly, it will be recalled that similar scenario played out during the preparations for the conduct of the 2007 Presidential Election, where virtually all the Southern States Governors completing their second term of office were presidential aspirants! In the usual political drama fast becoming one of our democratic hallmarks as a country, a group of traditional rulers and

political leaders from the 17 Southern States sprang up claiming that, the south should still retain power because, the north have ruled the country for about 38 years.

After several meetings and political horsetrading, the then outgoing Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili became the most visible Presidential Candidate from the pool of candidates from the South. Dr. Odili was probably on his way to clinching the PDP Presidential Ticket before the eventual emergence of the then out-going Governor of Kastina State, Late, Umaru Yar’Adua as the PDP Presidential candidate who later won the Presidential Election in 2007.

Hence, it is understandable why the preparations for the 2015 Presidential Election is creating similar tension, but in a dynamic way! First, while some said President

“The February 14, 2015 Presidential Election will come and go, and none of the artificial tensions in the country can prevent President Goodluck Jonathan from winning his re-election! Therefore, I advise that instead of threatening a man with an empty barrel, we should drop all the scare tactics and allow the peoples will to prevail come February 14, 2015.”

Jonathan is going for a third term, because he has taken a presidential oath of office twice; the one he took on May 6th, 2010 when he was sworn-in as president to complete the tenure of late President Yar’Dua and the one he took on the 29th of May, 2011 when he won a landslide victory at the polls for the first time, he should therefore be banned from running in 2015, others countered the claims with superior argument saying the first Presidential Oath was for the completion of the late President Yar’ Adua’s tenure. Hence, President Jonathan’s tenure started counting from May 29, 2011; and that he is free to seek reelection like his predecessors in 2015.

This very argument has been upheld by a court of competent jurisdiction and it is binding on every Nigerian. That case should therefore Rest in Peace (RIP)!

Since we have all known that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is eminently

and legally qualified to seek re-election in 2015, what then is the cause of the prevailing political tension in the country?

Like I have said in my previous articles, nobody should blame the media for the cascading political culture in the country, rather, we should blame the opinion leaders who arm-twist media messages and pass on the distorted versions to their followers. Hence, the opinion leaders should ask their followers to stop their needles arguments and tensions over Jonathan’s candidacy.

In conclusion, the February 14, 2015 Presidential Election will come and go, and none of the artificial tensions in the country can prevent President Goodluck Jonathan from winning his re-election!

Therefore, I advise that instead of threatening a man with an empty barrel, we should drop all the scare tactics and allow the peoples will to prevail come February 14, 2015.

A rica Focus

f

MUCH ado over Africa’s power sector Apapa is the industrial hub of Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling commercial capital that’s home to some 17 million people.

Daily, the air in Apapa reverberates with the humming sound of electricity generators. In Apapa, as in most places in Nigeria, electricity generators power big factory plants and air cooling systems, as temperatures often top 30 degrees Celsius.

Nigerians expect the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the entity charged with managing electricity production and distribution, to end decades of erratic energy service delivery.

Despite national efforts to tackle the power crisis, half of Nigeria’s 170 million people have no access to electricity.

A frustrated Hajiya Zainab Kuchi, one of Nigeria’s energy ministers, once said: “We must resolve to jointly exorcise the evil spirit behind this darkness.”

And Nigerians derisively refer to PHCN as “Please Have Candles Nearby.” Candles can be handy when there is a power outage at night.

Before PHCN, there was the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), which performed so badly that it was itself nicknamed “Never Expect Power Always.”

But Nigeria needn’t be in a precarious power situation, argues Kandeh Yumkella, the Special Representative of the UN SecretaryGeneral for Sustainable Energy for All, an initiative to mobilize resources for energy especially in the developing world. The country is endowed with 5 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves—9th highest in the world—

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

By KINGSLEY IGHOBOR

and 37 billion barrels of oil reserves, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Mr. Yumkella says that Nigeria alone could potentially provide electricity for the whole

have brought back what we finally call light at the end of the tunnel,” said a visibly enthused President Ellen JohnsonSirleaf, as she switched on the streetlights at an elaborate ceremony in

President Goodluck Jonathan

of Africa. In addition to oil and gas, the country has coal, wind, thermal and sun—all sources of energy.

Energy and industrialization The Liberian power situation mirrors that of Nigeria. Rebel fighters destroyed Liberia’s energy infrastructure in 1990 and it was not until 2006 before streetlights were restored. “For more than 14 years, Liberia has lived in darkness, literally and figuratively,” wrote the New York Times in 2006. With financial assistance from the US government and the European Union, Liberia purchased a plant to supply power to the main hospitals and to streetlights. “We

July 2006.

Mr. Yumkella and other development experts believe that electricity oils the wheels of industrialization.

Compare South Africa, Africa’s most industrialized nation, which generates 44,175 megawatts for its 51

million people to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, which generates about 3,200 megawatts.

Simply put, per capita, South Africans consume 55 times more electricity

if energy is a big chunk of production costs, adds Mr. Yumkella. “It means somebody can buy your raw materials, take them to Asia or Europe, refine them and

Jacob Zuma, South Africa President

than Nigerians.

“The cost of alternatives, mainly diesel generation, is at least four times the cost of a reliable power supply,” notes The Guardian, a UK newspaper. Industries cannot be competitive in the international market

sell back processed goods to you.”

Reliable energy doesn’t just pertain to industrialization, says the World Bank; it can be a tool to tackle poverty.

With a steady flow of power, hospitals operate efficiently, people will

“And Nigerians derisively refer to PHCN as “Please Have Candles Nearby.

Candles can be handy when there is a power outage at night. Before PHCN, there was the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), which performed so badly that it was itself nicknamed “Never Expect Power Always.”

choose gas cookers rather than wood or coal that pollute the environment, students can access the internet and plug into global information trends, railways operate efficiently, water supply is more reliable, bureaucracy runs e ff i c i e n t l y — v i r t u a l l y everything relating to socioeconomic development revolves around energy.

An energy insecure continent Yet, 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa generate only 68,000 megawatts of electricity, which is what just one country in Europe – Spain – produces, notes the World Bank. And of that figure, South Africa alone generates more than 44,000 megawatts.

This means that without South Africa, subSaharan Africa’s electricity output is 24,000 megawatts, far less than 40,000 megawatts available in New York City. To compound matters, “the low level of power generation is accompanied by correspondingly low rates of electrification.

Less than a quarter of the population of subSaharan Africa has access to electricity,” says the World Bank. In brief, “Africa is the world’s most energy insecure continent,” says Mr. Yumkella.

There is definitely no shortage of energy sources in Africa. More than 90% of the continent’s hydropower, according to the Bank, is not even exploited.

Nigeria has oil and gas and South Africa has coal. Sudan has 6.4 billion barrels of gas reserves, Angola has 9 billion with smaller deposits in a few other Continues on page 15

A rica Focus

f

Continued from page 14

countries. What then is the problem? Mr. Yumkella, a Sierra Leonean, explains: “In the past we have not considered energy as part of poverty reduction.” For a long time, he said, African states monopolized and mismanaged the energy sector.

Emergency interventions in energy supply such as in Liberia—also emulated by neighbouring Sierra Leone—have been more impulsive than based on sound economics.

Such emergency approach “represents a planning and procurement failure on a colossal scale,” according to a World Bank’s assessment, adding that the costs of procuring and running power plants in these countries “could rise up to 3% to 5% of GDP.” Power trade Furthermore, there are huge unexploited energy resources in countries that are far from centres of demand.

For example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia have huge hydroelectric potential but are “far from the main economic centres in southern, western and northern Africa,” the World Bank points out. And these countries’ economies are not robust enough to invest billions of dollars in hydroelectricity just for their own consumption.

“Some African countries have water; Guinea, for example. Some have gas [Nigeria, Angola]” … there is a need to transmit from “high production areas to places where they don’t have it but the demand is high,” says Mr. Yumkella.

To resolve such a problem, African leaders recommend an integrated regional

... End Of The Tunnel

By KINGSLEY IGHOBOR power strategy — meaning that countries with better economics of scale in energy resources should consider investing in the sector and then sell to others.

Countries spending huge amounts

is building the Grand Renaissance Dam, the biggest ever on the continent which, on completion within the next three years, could produce 6,000 megawatts. In addition, a US-Icelandic company

Ellen Johnson, Liberia President

to purchase diesel oil or fuel for power plants are better off negotiating with a neighboring country for hydropower.

Along this line, the Programme for the Infrastructural Development of Africa (PIDA), an African Union initiative, is backing a $22 billion project to develop a pan-African electricity highway by 2020.

Ethiopia’s strategy Ethiopia wants to be an energy superpower and is crafting a 25-year master plan to potentially generate 60,000 megawatts from hydro, geothermal, wind and solar. That’s almost what all of sub-Saharan Africa currently generates. The country

Reykjavik Geothermal is set to build a $4 billion geothermal plant that will generate 1,000 megawatts. The country has Africa’s largest wind farm from which it is generating 120 megawatts.

Ethiopia’s ambitious energy plan is like a

magnet that is pulling in neigbouring countries.

Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania and even Yemen, a non-African country, have signed power supply contracts with Ethiopia. At the same time, the World Bank and the African Development Bank

There is good news in other countries as well.

For example, with support from the World Bank, Rwanda successfully completed its Electricity Rollout Access Programme in 2012, connecting one million homes to the national power grid.

Ongoing reforms in

Girma, Ethiopia President

(AfDB) are financing a transmission line capable of transporting 2,000 megawatts of electricity from Ethiopia to Kenya. Ethiopia is looking “at energy as an export sector the way you export gold,” notes Donald Kaberuka, head of the AfDB.

Sierra Leone will soon brighten hopes for improved power for its six million people, according to the World Bank. South Africa is the world’s most attractive emerging solar energy country, reports Global Information Service, an

“To resolve such a problem, African leaders recommend an integrated regional power strategy —meaning that countries with better economics of scale in energy resources should consider investing in the sector and then sell to others.”

organization that monitors evolution in energy transmission. The country could produce up to 8,500 megawatts from solar by 2030.

Nothing is impossible Africa’s private sector is also jumping on the energy bandwagon. The Financial Times calls Nigeria’s energy privatization programme Africa’s most ambitious.

Hopefully, this should e l i m i n a t e mismanagement “while delivering cheap electricity.” In July last year, US President Barack Obama announced in South Africa a “Power Africa” initiative that will raise $16 billion from private and public sectors to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity for communities in subSaharan Africa. African philanthropists have pledged various amounts to this effort.

There is currently a sense of urgency about energy on the continent.

Africa can leapfrog obsolete technologies to focus on those for exploiting low-carbon energy sources. “Africa has to be positioned to develop its renewable energy assets,” writes Carlos Lopes, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, in a blog post.

While the goal, says Mr. Yumkella, is to concentrate on renewable low-carbon sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, for now, “it’s all energy sources… we can be like Brazil. They have proven technology on ethanol.

They have just discovered huge deposits of oil off their coast. Still they are pushing renewables heavily.”

With all the efforts underway, how soon could the Africa see sufficient light at the end of the dimly-lit energy tunnel? Mr. Yumkella believes that can happen within two decades.

“Nothing is impossible,” he quips.

D scourse

i

A few days before the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) was to begin in Abuja, the terrorist group, Boko Haram, launched a second deadly bomb attack within two weeks in Nyanya, an outlying district of the nation’s capital. The group also abducted well over two hundred girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Following these two acts of terror, there was an escalation of the rhetoric in certain quarters that Nigeria is unsafe and as such WEFA should be cancelled. To his credit, President Goodluck Jonathan stood his ground and went ahead with the conference. And, despite the attempt by some unpatriotic elements to create the impression that all hell has broken loose in Nigeria, “over 1,200 delegates,” as reported by the New Telegraph, “paid their way to participate at the three-day meetings, which brought together all key players in different sectors of global economy.”

In a Business/Economy feature titled ‘WEFA 2014: A success beyond measure’, which was published on Monday, May 12, 2014, the New Telegraph also reported that delegates came “From China to India, Britain, Germany, the United States of America, Brazil, South Africa and Kenya to mention but a few.” According to the newspaper, besides Jonathan, “a group of 11 other African Heads of state and government” attended WEFA, as did Li Keqiang, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and former Brazilian President, Lula Da Silva.

The importance of the

WEFA, Boko Haram And Jonathan presence of such eminent global personalities at WEFA cannot be overstated.

Despite its insurgency against the Nigerian state, Boko Haram failed woefully in scaring away key decisionmakers and potential investors from the country.

Indeed, with the upswing of support for Nigeria through the #BringBackOurGirls movement across the globe, it is only a matter of time before the last is heard of the terrorist group.

Moreover, in spite of the terrorist attacks by Boko

Haram and verbal attacks by detractors who are forever unwilling to admit that any progress is being made by the present government, the success of WEFA is a clear vote of confidence on the transformation being carried out by the Jonathan-led administration. As Vanguard columnist Femi Aribisala commented recently, “The

By JOHNSON MOMODU Nigerian government did not fool the world into having the WEF (World Economic Forum) in Abuja. It took place here because Nigeria is by all accounts an emerging frontier market in the world economy.”

The greatest proof of the world’s confidence in Nigeria’s emerging economy, as announced by Phillip Rosler, Managing Director of

power that cannot be matched by any other country on the continent, it is only natural to expect that a reasonable chunk of those $68billion investments will be located in Nigeria. After all, logic dictates that investors plough their money into economies where there will be ample opportunities to reap worthwhile profits. And with the globally

WEF, is the securing of $68billion worth of investment commitments for the whole of Africa at the Abuja WEFA event.

As Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation, encompassing a reemerging middle-class with a potential purchasing

unmatched success rate enjoyed by foreign telecommunications companies that invested in Nigeria, the country has proven itself to be an economic market with bountiful rewards for investors.

Even without the breakdown of which

“The importance of the presence of such eminent global personalities at WEFA cannot be overstated. Despite its insurgency against the Nigerian state, Boko Haram failed woefully in scaring away key decision-makers and potential investors from the country. Indeed, with the upswing of support for Nigeria through the #BringBackOurGirls movement across the globe, it is only a matter of time before the last is heard of the terrorist group.”

country gets what out of the $68billion investment commitments, the New Telegraph further reported that WEFA was also the scene for the announcement of a “$20 million Preventable Child-Maternal Death partnership between the United States Agency for I n t e r n a t i o n a l Development (USAID), the Federal Ministry of Health and GE Healthcare, one of the foremost global firms in healthcare technology.”

transformation processes he has begun in the country. Within Nigeria itself, even some erstwhile critics of the President, among them Femi Aribisala, have conceded that Jonathan “is by no means the worst president Nigeria has ever seen. As a matter of fact, he is one of the better ones.”

An example that is worth mentioning here is the unbundling and privatisation of PHCN, one of Jonathan’s transformation processes,

Furthermore, with “over $700 million to further drive and deepen immunization activities on the African continent by the African Union led by Paul Kagame of Rwanda as well as the development of a new Biomedical Equipment Technician Training (BMET) project in Nigeria by the GE Foundation in collaboration with the Developing World Healthcare Technology Laboratory at Duke University and Engineering,” it is easy to see why the New Telegraph tagged WEFA “A success beyond measure.”

It is evident from the success of WEFA that the global economic community clearly desire that Jonathan should continue with the

which has been lauded as one of the best policies ever initiated by government in the interest of all Nigerians since it will unlock the creative and entrepreneurial skills of millions of Nigerians.

Regarding Boko Haram’s recent desperate antics, Phillip Rosler, the Managing Director of WEF, made the case most eloquently when he said at the end of WEFA, “We will not allow the terrorists to dictate the African agenda.” And in the words of Aribisala, “Those who feel that by creating instability they will provide a catalyst for Jonathan’s defeat have simply hardened the case for retaining him in power.”

Aribisala also posited: “The issue is no longer about Jonathan. It is now about Nigeria.” The rest, it goes without saying, is up to Nigerian voters.

D scourse

iChibok Girls: Foreign Assistance And

THE tragic abduction of over 200 girls from a secondary school in Chibok by the notoriously ruthless Boko Haram sect should send shivers down the spine of anyone with even an ounce of humanity in them. It is therefore understandable that the whole world is standing with Nigeria to condemn the act, especially with the matter having gone so viral on social media.

The support the world is offering does not just stop at the ‘#Bring back our girls’ campaign which has had over a million hits so far. Right now, countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom, China, France, Canada, and Isreal, most of them world super powers, have began to send their teams of counter-terrorism officials and other specialists to Abuja to help save those unfortunate girls.

It is true that we cannot refuse help at a time like this, especially with emotions running high and everyone anxious for the girls to return as soon as possible. Yet we have to be mindful of the kind of support we receive.

This is not a helpless country. Nigeria has a great track record in peace-keeping operations all over the world, and our Army has acquitted itself well. Nigerian soldiers have a reputation for bravery, operational efficiency, discipline and patriotism. No one should give the impression that we don’t have capabilities here. In fact, didn’t we just catch the people involved in the latest Nyanya bombings, and if I may add, without foreign support. My point is that we must be careful whose support we take and how much.

Despite the best of intentions, it is usually better to control the extent to which you allow foreign troops to enter your country or use invasive techniques to ferret out information about your troops, their capability, their operational procedure and their morale.

There should be a limit to the freedom we give foreign governments to interfere in this matter because some day they will come for their pound of flesh. Besides, terrorism is not stamped out by the use of superior fire power to mow down men and that is one lesson we have learnt from the US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has

Need For Caution

By MUSA YAKUBU

discover that they were easier to deal with than the foreigners we have called in to fight them.

Most worrisome is the fact that the presence of foreign support from so many countries can easily turn Nigeria into another battle ground

Barack Obama, USA President

been careful not to accept all the offers for foreign support in the fight against Boko Haram in the past.

And it has taken this latest atrocity, the kidnap of the Chibok girls, and the attendant pressure from world leaders to convince him to accept external help. He accepted the help because he has promised to do everything possible to bring back our girls.

However, no matter the pain we feel today, caution should be our watch word; as nothing is greater than the sovereignty of Nigeria, our great nation. It will not do to allow foreigners just walk through the place like some superheroes coming to rescue a Third World country from itself.

As callous as the Boko Haram sect has been, as heinous and unconscionable the act of abducting those girls from their school, we may yet

and a multilateral force with contending interests will only complicate, if not compromise, our security.

If the lessons of history are anything to go by, one cannot say for sure that the coming of these foreign terrorism specialists would be the end of Boko Haram.

There are simply no guarantees. And one must have it at the back of his or her mind that even in their home country the

fight against terror is still a major challenge, one that has still not been won.

Specifically, Afghanistan has been fighting terrorism for over a decade and despite the US support, there is still no end to it.

In addition, it is easier to call them in; the real

out is the impact of these foreign experts on our soldiers so that their presence does not dampen the morale of our military. For instance, according to a US official, the United States military, which is being despatched by The Pentagon to assist in the

Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s President

problem is getting them out. And in the case of Nigeria, it is surely bound to be even much more difficult especially with the abundant resources (oil and gas among others) that mother earth has deposited here. We must therefore be careful about signing off on their terms so that we are not enslaved economically.

Another disturbing aspect we need to work

search and rescue of the Chibok girls, will screen Nigerian soldiers with whom they will operate.

Unless the procedure is handled properly, it can become unpleasant for members of our armed forces.

One very important reason for caution is the position that Nigeria occupies in Africa as the largest black nation. As one of the most influential

African nations, if we put ourselves in the hands of these super powers, it simply means that we are putting the continent in their hands. It will therefore not be farfetched to say that their eagerness in collaborating to fight Boko Haram is pursuant to their desire to establish military bases in Nigeria. They have tried it in the past with little success; one cannot help but pray that they do not succeed this time around.

If there is truly no ulterior motive to the assistance they are offering, then the best way to go about it is by sharing intelligence with us, by giving us some of those sophisticated gadgets that will assist in locating the camps of the terrorists, by training our security operatives in counter-terrorism and by giving us the arms we need to improve our capacity to fight the threat.

And to clearly show that the collaboration is only necessitated by the need to free the Chibok girls, the super powers should leave as soon as the girls are found; for anything other than this will amount to an intrusion.

One basic lesson from Mario Puzo’s Godfather, is that one should be wary of those who are quick to offer help. In fact, he advised that one should always pause and ask himself what he has done to deserve such hospitality. And if the answer is ‘nothing’, then something is fishy.

Therefore, as Nigerians, we should ponder if this deluge of military support from all over is really necessary.

“It is true that we cannot refuse help at a time like this, especially with emotions running high and everyone anxious for the girls to return as soon as possible. Yet we have to be mindful of the kind of support we receive.”

P litics

o

WHEN the preliminary nod was given to request

by South East geopolitical zone for extra state to bring them at per with other geopolitical zones except north west, I knew that apart from the project being shot down by unfriendly delegates of south east, the project could die with our people choosing the location of the new state. The decision of political restructuring committee for extra state in the south east will still be discussed and voted on at plenary session of the conference and after that, there is still a long way to go before the zone will be asked to decide from which part the new state will come from but the ruckus of where the new state should be created from is already in a fervent contest.

Before now there has been clamour for creation of extra state for south east by different groups proposing different names and locations. Some of the names we have heard in the past included Urashi state, Adada state, Aba state, Igbo-etiti state among others. Igbo speaking part of Delta state was putting more effort on producing next Delta state governor at the time though they have agitated for creation of Anioma state in the past but was met with indifferent response from both government and the governed. This opening for possible creation of extra state in south east has renewed the call for creation of Anioma state putting them at logger heads with their brothers from south east geopolitical zone calling for the same thing. It is now going to be a question of territory that is more viable and has economic and social potentials to becoming a thriving state.

As an individual I believe that Anioma state is more economically, socially and politically viable even though I am from Anambra state. I support the creation of Anioma state if and when final agreement has been reached for additional state for south east for some obvious reasons. Delta north which

State Creation: Anioma is clamouring for Anioma state is bigger geographically than other areas calling for same even though land geography does not determine ability for survival of a people.

Going from Asaba to Emu Ebendo could take as much as one and half hours and from Asaba which obviously going to be the capital to Igbo Igbanke and then to Kwale has more commercial semi-urban towns than any of the other areas in south east clamouring for state. With Oshimili north and south, Ndokwa north and south, Ika north and south, et al, Anioma has more local governments than their rivals for state creation. In Nigeria where natural resources are valued more than human resources, Anioma communities of Kwale, Osisa, Abho, Okpai all have more oil and gas deposits than entire Abia state. They already have a well built capital in Asaba with airport and a good number of higher institutions like polytechnic in Ogwashi, collage of education in Agbor and Asaba, and second campus of present state university. One can not but notice the rate of real estate development going on in Asaba the capital of Delta state which has over flowed into n e i g h b o u r i n g communities like Okpanam.

Though presence of industries are not much but entertainment and tourism industries can make up for them as Asaba and its environs are home to Nigeria’s multi million dollar movie industry.

Most

Viable Option

By OBI EBUKA ONOCHIE Other regions of south east craving for the new state have the right to and are also viable but the most viable should have it.

The part of Enugu state seriously vying for the new Adada state can only boast of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and college of education at Eha-mufu.

Economically they are locked out from thriving centers of present Enugu state as they are far away from the capital city with agriculture not paid due attention in the state. Then the part of Abia state calling for creation of Aba state has only the city of Aba which is the most neglected and abandoned city in sub-Saharan Africa to boast with. Having been so neglected by successive governments of Abia state, the region dominated by Ngwa people are greatly deprived in developmental facilities. If one should observe well he can see that all the areas in south east and Anioma vying for the new state are all politically weak areas of their various present states and are also fighting to produce next governors of their current states. The edge Anioma has over others is that they have present capital territory of Delta state in their domain and thereby are availed of facilities due to a capital city.

A lot of arguments have been raised against creation of Anioma state by some people in the

south east. Some have argued that Aniomas are Igbos in south-south and should remain like that and not lay claim or partake of what is given to south-east region. The question is whether Anioma geographically not part of south east especially when

Anioma saying that they are not Igbos just like the Ikweres of Rivers state are doing now and thereby should not be allowed this benefit. Again I see that as a lame argument as Onitsha and Ogbaru people in Anambra state where I come from usually call other parts of Anambra “Umuigbo” meaning Igbo people.

Ogbaru

Ngwa, Abriba, Mbaise, people existing in Abia and Imo states, are we going to say they are not Igbos simply because they refer to themselves with those names. All these are intrinsic nomenclature forming part of what we know as Igbo nation.

Creation of this extra state when possible should be chosen by facts and not sentiment. Anioma as a state will be more economically viable than present Abia state without Aba city not to talk of a potion of the state or

Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta State Governor

river Niger is removed from the mindset of critics?

Others have argued and made reference to few misguided people from

specifically referred to themselves as “Olu” people but they are Igbos and we can’t deny that fact. We have heard of

others like Urashi and Adada. Let us agree and do the right thing by creating a state that can survive without bringing shame to south east.

“As an individual I believe that Anioma state is more economically, socially and politically viable even though I am from Anambra state. I support the creation of Anioma state if and when final agreement has been reached for additional state for south east for some obvious reasons.”

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Superiority Among Leaders

Amosun have been at

By RAHEEM IBRAHIM loggerheads over the control of the party in the state for and his group will ones. This time sometimes and at the dump the APC. around, there is no meeting of the While addressing the room for any crisscrossing. Whoever that does not have voter’s card; we would not allow him to vote”.

“We are here today, no one induced you with N10,000 or N20,000 before you came here. You are not like those people they are inducing with money before attending meetings.

Go and open register at every ward, so at the next meeting, I expect all the 236 wards to have got their registers and send them to their various local governments”, Osoba stated.

“Don’t listen to any hearsay. If you have anything that is not clear to you, ask your executive members.

Your executive members came to me, • Governor Amosun of Ogun State they said they don’t National Executive Ogun State and a crowd of supporters trust me again, they national leader of the Committee of APC in from all the 236 wards said they don’t believe party, Chief Olusegun Abuja last week, in the State, the in me again, that I will Osoba has vowed that Governor Amosun former governor said, soon forgive and say he will never reconcile reportedly asked the “You know we have everything has been with the incumbent meeting to ask Chief been together since settled. They said I will Governor, Ibikunle Osoba what else he 1988. Sooner than tell them that some Amosun again, wanted him to do to later, everything will Obas have appealed to declaring that the battle reach political amity be settled. me”, he said. line has been drawn with him and Chief Henceforth, at every “ I was shocked and Osoba reportedly did between them. ward meeting, please asked them what led to Osoba who made the not utter a word. be keeping registers, this. They said they Chief Osoba’s declaration at a meeting because the one they have concluded and styled, consultative rallying his supporters presented are fake their decisions are that forum held at his against the governor residence in Ibara and the party under control of Housing Estate, the Governor Amosun, Abeokuta also told his loyalists to henceforth may be a defining keep their meeting moment in the testy registers and get ready political relationship as for the next line of he told his supporters about a ‘promised action.

It would be recalled land’ but did not that both Osoba and indicate whether he

THE crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has took a new dimension as the former governor of

everyone should go on his or her way.

Secondly, they said they are not ready for any harmonisation, not even, 70/30; 80/20; 95/ 5, is it true or not?”

Osoba asked and the crowd answered in the affirmative.

“Our people here are original party members. You are not dubious, you have tellers, You don’t want to associate with those that do not have tellers.

You are the ones who collected the tellers with your hard-earned money and not government money.

You followed party procedures and not criss-crossing around.

Where we are now, there is no room for harmonisation or reconciliation. If it has got to that stage, it means, we have drawn two parallel lines.

“As I stand before you today, I swear before God and Jesus Christ, my Lord, I promised you all that the issue of forgiveness is no more.

If you stand firmly as a warrior, that is enough for me. If you are ready, there is no more room for reconciliation.

If thousands of people prostrate, it is what you want that I will do, it is what you say that I will say, I will stand where you stand”, he

declared.

“I want to appeal to you, don’t be distracted. They said they have given them the party structure, leave them. Are you dragging the party with them? It is those that have people that have the party”, the former governor said.

On the move by the national body to settle all disputes in some states by appointing caretaker committees in those States, Osoba reacted that, “They said they have set up elders committee, don’t mind them, I don’t know who is older than me politically amongst them. None of them is closer to Awolowo than I was. I wined and dined with him. I don’t have confidence in those people up there again. They are interested in eating you up, don’t allow them to deceive you again”.

“They are coming soon, when they come, they would not meet me. It is you the executives that they will meet. Tell them what is on ground. It is not the issue of party.

When did we form APC? Not up to a year.

You people are the vehicle and the vehicle is moving. We have

“Don’t listen to rumour again. They are on their own. Just wait for me.

When I meet with the leaders, you will hear from me”, Osoba remarked.”

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Divided Ogun State APC dropped the traitors and the betrayers.

When I call you then, will you join me”, he asked.

Osoba dismissed an alleged threat from the governor’s camp to all the Senators, some Reps members and some of his loyalists at the State Assembly, saying the threat will not hold water and maintained that the battle now is a fight to the finish.

According to him, “they are the ones that are threatening Obadara, Kaka, Odunsi, some reps members and our members at the State House of Assembly.

They don’t give them money, hoping they will turn back when they starve them with money. Leave them, we are moving to the promised land and over there, there are many offices and positions available. I believe you all understand me very well”.

“They said they are planning for convention, what concerns me with the convention. They once asked me to come and be their Chairman and I told them that I don’t have interest. Those leaders in Abuja said they can trade with all those that are aspiring to send all the Senators, the reps members and assembly men away. I want to assure you that we will definitely get to the promised land, the original Action Group and the true Awoist group. This is not an abusive time, leave

them with their own, don’t join issues with them”, he advised.

The former governor also reacted to newspaper reports about why he has been at loggerheads with Amosun, saying “They said what did Osoba want? If you

the State, it amounted to N2.3 million and that is the only money they spent during the elections’, if it is more than that, let them come out and say it?

“Now what Osoba wants is this, I want all of you that are here

• Bisi Akande, National APC Chairman

read newspapers this week, they said they have given me everything I want and my questions to them are, can they pay back all the money I spent during the election?

Can they reward my good name that gave us the victory during the election? Can they pay back all my efforts to assemble all these people that we used during the elections?

How much were they paid then? Each ward was given N10,000 then, now multiply the amount with 236 wards that we have in

that laboured both in rain and sun for this party not to suffer in vain. Don’t drag issues with them, just leave them, we will get to that promise land. If within just 48 hours of calling you and we have this kind of crowd, which is

not rented ones, I want to believe that, success is ours and I will forever be happy with you”, Osoba revealed.

He however charged all his loyalists to ensure that ward and local meetings are not hindered, adding that, most of the members of

defected or forcefully send packing to Labour Party and PDP have been discussing with me. They said they are ready to come back, that anytime they hear the trumpet from me, they will move to the river shore”.

Districts and from there to all towns and villages in the State.

You can still remember the way we were doing our campaign then, the same strategy will be applied now”, he said.

He said as soon as he finished with his consultations with some elders and leaders, he will contact the people and by then, the

Chief Segun Osoba

the Action Congress, an alliance partner of the APC, who had left for other parties, have been discussing with him, adding “As soon as you leave here, continue with your ward meetings, all our members that have

“They may call you to come and pick up jobs now, don’t answer them. After three years in office and few months to election, they are deceiving you.

I am going to start from now on and move to the three Senatorial

decision on where and what to do would have been concluded.

“Don’t listen to rumour again. They are on their own. Just wait for me. When I meet with the leaders, you will hear from me”, Osoba remarked.

“On the move by the national body to settle all disputes in some states by appointing caretaker committees in those States, Osoba reacted that, they said they have set up elders committee, don’t mind them, I don’t know who is older than me politically amongst them. None of them is closer to Awolowo than I was. I wined and dined with him. I don’t have confidence in those people up there again. They are interested in eating you up, don’t allow them to deceive you again”.

Ge nder Issues

WE recognize that nothing a women wears can prevent a man from lusting after her. We also take a firm stance that personal responsibility must be taken for a man’s sin toward a woman (be it lust or rape). That being said, ladies can be either a tremendous help or a tremendous hurt to the men in their lives. Here is one man’s perspective.

Um, ladies? Can we talk?

It’s not like we guys don’t appreciate how you look in all of these flattering summer fashions you like to wear. We know that currently, to be stylish is to show a lot of skin. We also know that since we’re supposed to control our sexual urges, and we’re supposed to let you wear whatever you want… or don’t want… we’re supposed to keep our opinions on this matter to ourselves.

Frankly, however, it’s all very convenient for you, but not so much for us.

Because even if, in our silence, you think we don’t see all of that skin you’re showing us, don’t be mistaken: we do. And more often than not, it’s causing us to stumble into sexually impure thoughts. We’re now into the dog days of summer, and this year, the styles for women seem to rely less and less on fabric and more and more on exposed flesh. After all, the less we wear, the more comfortable we feel in the heat. We get it. If we could get away with wearing shorts and tank tops to church, we would. And it’s not like we men would prefer that you dress like shapeless, dour prudes.

But please understand: you’re not doing us or yourselves any favors with some of the stuff you’re wearing or, not.

Rules or Responsibilities? Sure, this sounds like the same old sermon about “nice girls” you’ve probably heard from some curmudgeonly old preacher, or maybe your own strict parents, or maybe some domineering former boyfriend. And sometimes, people make rules simply to have rules, so they can evaluate how obedient everybody is.

Some religious sects force their women to wear anklelength skirts and longsleeved blouses, regardless of the weather, but even then, modesty is relative, isn’t it? If men really want to undress you with their eyes, we have an amazing ability to do so no matter what you’re wearing.

Inversely, however, have you ever wondered whether guys who

Why What Women Wear Matters

By DR. LEWIS AKPOGENA

appreciate the “less is more” philosophy in women’s clothing truly have your best interests at heart? The more they see, the less their lustful brains need to work. Why bother trying to attract guys like that? So this isn’t about rules, or rulers for measuring skirt length.

What women wear has been a topic of conversation in practically every generation since God introduced Eve to Adam. In some cultures,

then again, you may not fully appreciate how visual men can be. Particularly in our sexually charged culture. On the beach, of course, things are somewhat different, even though relative modesty should still be a virtue.

Unless you attend a church whose Sunday services take place on a beach, however, we rarely confuse corporate worship with the frivolity of

women literally wear practically nothing, but then again, the same goes for their men. It’s less a matter of modesty or immodesty, and more a primal accommodation for climate.

But does that mean our summertimes in North America provide the perfect excuse for seeing how little fabric we can get away with in public? You ladies may think so, but

swimming. Yet how many men at your church are met each Sunday with amazingly short skirts, provocatively deep necklines, and sheer fabrics of the thinnest materials which cling ever so delicately to, well, your most delicate spots? Swimsuits may hide the bare essentials, but some of the things some of you wear to church don’t really cover up much else. You expect us to

be men of God. You hope that we be chaste, as well you should. After all, you know what lust is. You know that just looking lustfully at somebody is a sin. Most you be contradicting yourselves, meanwhile, when you wear what you wear and then get upset when we sin with our eyes? What is the extent of your culpability when we men lust after you? Are we men supposed to simply look up at the ceiling when you walk by? How fair is it for you to figure you can dress however you want to dress, and it’s up to us men to deal however we can with the sin it causes us?

The writer of Proverbs 11:22 put it bluntly: “like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.” In other words, even if you’re drop-dead gorgeous by

“The writer of Proverbs 11:22 put it bluntly: “like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.” In other words, even if you’re drop-dead gorgeous by anybody’s standards, if you lack modesty, you’re demonstrating a lack of integrity.”

anybody’s standards, if you lack modesty, you’re demonstrating a lack of integrity. And even though our society tends to reward people regardless of their integrity, doesn’t God expect us to hold higher standards?

We’re supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

Maybe in your family, growing up, you didn’t care how you looked in front of your male siblings, but now that you’re grown up, how appropriate is childish behavior?

Dress for True Success: When you’re shopping in the mall, or surfing clothing websites by yourself at home, perhaps the allure of trendy fashions tends to displace more rational evaluations of what styles are appropriate for public exposure. Retailers don’t want you to think about modesty; they want you to purchase what they have to sell. And they probably don’t lower prices just because what they’re

attention women receive simply by being a woman feed even a subconscious desire to stoke their allure?

After all, women have been known to dress to impress other women, but men can encourage such fashionista posturing for their own benefit and disguise it as female empowerment. Not that covering one’s entire body like a babushka readying for winter is the appropriate response here, either.

Feigning piety is as much a sin as men lusting and women causing us to lust.

And yes, intentionally enticing your brothers in Christ to sin is also a sin.

Instead, shouldn’t modesty that comes from an understanding of one’s true value before our Savior translate into respectable clothing choices that honor others?

The same grace God exercises to save us from our sins is available for all of us to use as we interact with each other. Maybe this

selling these days features less and less fabric.

Unless, of course, you genuinely do intend to seduce men in your church by what you wear and the way you wear it? If that is the case, then perhaps the man you end up seducing will match your ambitions.

But that will be a pity for both of you.

Indeed, men, how much of this problem is perpetuated by those of us who shamelessly flirt with women who dress immodestly? Maybe it’s a chicken-and-egg kind of thing; do women dress immodestly to gain attention, or do the

all still sounds too much like subjective standards being applied to something in which believers has freedom. But where does God ever say freedom in Christ means we can do whatever we want? We are not our own; we’ve been bought with a price.

Doesn’t this mean that being clothed in righteousness never goes out of fashion for believers? Some of us men will be more grateful than others, ladies, if you take our request to heart. Even so, who should you be hoping to please more than any of us? You are blessed for life.

p

O inion AT first they bombed the Churches. We blamed the Muslims for it. For some, they blamed no one, but yet remained criminally quiet about it. Perhaps for some it felt alright.

Then they went after the Imams. Because we had blamed the Muslims for it, we were surprised when they went after the Imams. But some of us just refused to notice.

Some were quiet about it. For some it was good.

And then some of us started blaming the Christians for it. And then by the time they had set us up, all questioning each other; all having blamed each other; all having eaten each other’s flesh and drank the blood therein; all having demonstrated our weakness, that our lack of humanity, our predisposition to clamor only when we felt it was one of ours, then the

WE have been following developments since the abduction almost a month ago of over 200 students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

In the first instance, it appears because the kidnap incidence happened on the night of the April 14 Nyanya bombing, government and the armed forces were too busy attending to blast victims and mounting road blocks in the Nyanya axis than looking for the kidnapped girls.

That alone created an information gap which today has not only rendered us powerless as a nation but crippled us at the mercy of international aid, since our defence chiefs have publicly declared that they have no clues of the whereabouts of the girls.

What this tells those with the benefit of hindsight is that the ranks of our armed forces may have

When They Bombed The Churches

monster revealed its true blood-thirsty self and bombed and killed everyone.

But by that time we were already stuck in our sin. We were already sworn to our suspicion.

We were already committed to our accusations. We had left the door open at night.

We were already divided by our mistrust. Old wounds, old errors had muted us. We had seen killers and rather than call them killers, we sought an association with others we perhaps had reason to distrust, perhaps not. By then we had brimmed when ‘the others’ were killed. By then we had been silent when ‘the others’ were killed. By then we had become sworn enemies of ourselves, we were too ashamed to admit we were wrong. By then

By DR. PEREGRINO BRIMAH

we had replaced the ‘what’ with the ‘who,’ and ‘where.’ Before asking, what was done, we asked, done by whom?

Before asking, what was done, we asked, done to whom?

Now we stared at the monster and it was as hard as we stared at its alien nature that we stuck to our alienation.

The monster had exposed us and revealed our true nature; we were too embarrassed to change, or perhaps we could no longer change. The monster had become us, or we had become the monster; or perhaps the monster was us all along.

Now we can no longer look in the mirror, for it is

that black-lipped bearded one with many different faces, voices and demonic attitudes

that we see. Or perhaps we enjoy looking in the mirror and seeing ‘Shekau.’

The ‘Muslim’ one who forcibly converts his captors to ‘Muslims,’ supposedly ‘his own,’ then keeps ‘his own’

Shekau

Bring Back Our Girls been so depleted by the war against Boko Haram that we don’t even have sufficient personnel or intelligence to police the country and keep track of more than 200 girls who should have been transported in several vehicles to whatever location. It suggests that some sections of the country are on their own as they are not covered by the intelligence of army or police operations.

With the helpless scenario, one recalls a one-time claim by the Nigerian military that infamous leader of the Boko Haram sect Ibrahim Shekau may have been killed, but not even the Commander-inChief of the Nigerian Armed forces, President Goodluck Jonathan could substantiate the claim, making it a fluke.

By JULIUS IKPEN Worthy of note is the intervention by Nigeria’s First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan who took the bull by the horn when it appears all hope is lost to invite Borno State stakeholders and ask relevant questions which led to shocking revelations.

What will a school’s Matron be doing to warrant her absence on a day students she has nurtured for about six years are writing their passing out exams?

With Boko Haram’s rampage in the North Eastern parts why would any state government not provide or guarantee sufficient security for students writing exams in schools?

What type of gain would make a public

prisoners and worse yet says he will sell these ‘Muslims;’ sell ‘his own.’

But this is merely our reflection, indeed; we too have become sellers of human beings. We have sold our own.

Defeated, we called, America, France, Israel, Britain, Lord, come save us from ourselves.

official in the rank of a director lay claim to being a parent of one of the abducted girls only to sharply deny her claim when being interrogated by the First Lady in the quest for solutions to the confusion?

Why has the Principal of the school not narrated the abduction drama till date?

In which of the modern day examinations will students not submit passport photographs and why therefore are the abducted girls faceless till date?

Why did the Nigerian military initially lie about freeing some one hundred of the girls only to later retract the lie?

Like the First Lady, we are forced to exclaim “Chai! There is God ooo”.

These burning questions begging for answers must have moved the compassionate First Lady to exclaiming in tears those words which are the latest joke in town.

Even female folks who should join in asking the right questions and providing promising leads where the men may have failed or lacking are in the vanguard of mocking the First Lady or the outcome of her attempt. The same women will tomorrow push for women liberation but are not ready to stand by their own in such perilous times.

While the First Lady may appear deficient in a Language that is not her own, she portrays no single trace of

complex which could have consumed some other women in her shoes by now. Maybe Nigerian women should recommend another ‘polished’ wife for President Jonathan and throw away their entire woman liberation gamut to the trashcan. But we believe that mock her or not, the First Lady has contributed her own quota in the search for those missing girls and she does not appear as one that will rest on her oars.

In all of these the bottom line is we as citizens should be spared the national and international embarrassment by the government and the armed forces as efforts should be intensified using the offered assistance of the foreign nations to locate and rescue the missing girls.

We are afraid to admit that should anything untoward happen to the missing girls, it poses grave threats to the education of the girl-child particularly in the northern parts of this country.

p

O inion AS we prepared for Gusau’s return, after we heard that President Jonathan had discussed and arranged certain ‘private’ things with him and his name was nominated, 20 girls got abducted. It was this same period when the Yobe school massacre occurred, the remarkable events of his return also included the

THOUGH the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, has spoken, the race has not ended. It has just begun. I have followed the reactions of many Lagosians to Oba Akiolu’s open endorsement of the Former Accountant General of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode for the Governorship of Lagos. The alacrity and suddenness of his endorsement shocked many people. Many have criticized him for such brazenness and others are already plotting how to deal with him. There are also insinuations in many quarters that he is on an errand sort of. That there is a hand of Essau and the voice of Jacob, sorry, the voice of Akiolu.

Again, Bola Tinubu is being fingered to be behind the message so brazenly delivered.

I, however, beg to differ. Those that share

Enter Gusau The Foreign Spy, Exit 234 Girls, Enter Africom APC majority senate refusing to act in confirmation of Gusau and the other service chiefs’ appointments. President Jonathan appeared to have made a slip then

By DR. PEREGRINO BRIMAH when he said he might ‘pull the army’ from the northeast to prove their work. The Yobe massacre was reported as exactly

that-the army stationed at the school were said to have been pulled. Perhaps his new minister or/and security chiefs had advised him to simply ‘pull the army,’ to get the Senate to confirm the new appointees? It worked.

Gusau’s return has thus far from the first minute been marked with a most distressing peak in Boko Haram terrorist activity.

Check the dates and numbers of successful attacks and deaths to get a picture.

Nigerians are not afraid of curses. Perhaps Gusau does not do these things by choice, it is the deaths and blood of so many who they, he and the Babangida team killed that brings this curse on Nigeria anytime he is back in government.

We warned about this but the people did not listen.

We wrote and wrote before the senate confirmed him, but our senate is just so hopeless. How can we bring back a man from the murderous Babangida government who was part and parcel of all the deaths

from the dictatorship and assassinations of our people? A man who had a hand in every single coup in Nigeria’s history: the Buhari coup, the IBB coup and even the Abacha coup, he did them all. This man is our head of defense. What do we expect other than the curses of the dead?

It was when this man was NSA under Obasanjo that MEND and Boko Haram freely came into being under the radar of the government.

Reportedly when Obasanjo asked Gusau about Boko Haram, known as the ‘Nigerian Taliban’ then, Gusau said as reported by Steven Davies that ‘no such group existed;’ thus covering their formation.

[See PmNews [1], Sept.

2011] If anyone is to be blamed for the evolution of Boko Haram, is it not the NSA who was in charge and head of Nigeria’s security when they evolved? Yet, rather than prosecute Gusau who was again recently fingered as revealed by Nigeria’s security

Before We Crucify Akiolu

this position do not know Tinubu well enough. If they do, they will know that he holds his cards close to his chest. A political generalissimo, he never pulls the chestnut out of the fire until the last moment. He distracts to surprise. He waits to pounce. He hibernates to be able to spring a surprise. Such are his ways. He weighs every option carefully and never plays his hand too soon because he knows that will give his detractors enough time and ammunition to attack. For him, the surprise element is an asset as risky as it may be. But later on Tinubu and his political abracadabra.

Back to Oba Akiolu’s endorsement. Here is my take. We are in a

By ALFRED LAWSON

democratic setting.

Lagosians have become more politically savvy but that should not deny anyone the right to exercise his freedom of speech. Akiolu has expressed an opinion that is well within his rights to express. He may have done it in a crude and unexpected manner with the timing suspect, but there is no denying him the right to do so. All this talk about Obas not being involved with politics is hogwash.

All Obas are leg and neck deep in politics.

Politicians seek and court their support for electoral victory and to solve problems. Akiolu’s idea about the man that is good for Lagos will be

tested come February 2015. Lagosians will choose who will be the next governor and not Akiolu. He has had his say. The people will have their way.

We must give Akiolu a pass.

Lagos has become a country within a country. It is the biggest prize after the center. It is attractive.

Akiolu’s love for Lagos must have driven him to want the best qualified man for Lagos, even though what he announced publicly ought to have been left for the privacy of his palace. There is no faulting his love for Lagos.

The APC will still hold primaries and I urge all

that come from within the zone to see Akiolus’s statement as a challenge. They must come out and compete and not close shop. If they simply close shop because of what Akiolu said, then that means in the first place, they lacked the courage and temerity to contest and to govern Lagos.

Against all odds, let’s have all of them at the track and at the starting point. The months ahead will be interesting.

These permutations will change.

New alignments will emerge.

Even Oba Akiolu’s feet which now seems set in wet cement may soon soften. Ambode, now the front runner, has his job cut out. He will soon realize that an Akiolu

department in The Pilot, as linked to the Hezbollah arms cache found in Kano, we allow our wicked leadership make him head of our ministry of defense.

Little surprise the military fails to respond for 13 hours and allows the free abduction of our 234 girls.

Gusau was a foreign spy all through his years as NSA. This die-hard-to be president was appointed as NSA yet always drove high-speed to the American embassy to complain and reveal all Nigeria’s government secret dealings to US ambassadors. He was/is a foreign spy. Simply google his name and wikileaks and you will see so many times he spied for them on us. The one single payment he expected and begged for was a visit to USEUCOM, the European equivalent of AFRICOM. You will find in one wikileaks report where they say, please grant him his single wish. You can see him grinning, ear-ear in the picture of his visit to USEUCOM. Is it surprising our girls were abducted and Nigeria’s 168 million and our African partners could do nothing about it till AFRICOM and every single foreign nation interested were invited to land in Nigeria?

endorsement will not be enough for him to get the trophy. The Lion of Bourdillon has only hummed and not said a word. It’s amazing how people attribute so much to him and also swear by what they do not know.

His silence right now should worry the contenders while it should give we the voters hope. The APC owes Lagos and the country transparent primaries in Lagos to set the tone for other countries.

While the dust of Akiolu’s statement might take a while to settle, the clouds of the gubernatorial battle in Lagos must begin to gather. Akiolu spoke his mind; for that we cannot crucify him. But we may disagree. The fact that we disagree with him also means we have our own candidate. The only difference is that he is a powerful Oba. We take solace in the knowledge that it is only God who appoints kings.

V ewpoint

i

A few days ago, Sen. John McCain made what must go down as one of the most outrageous, most demeaning and most unacceptable statements ever made against our leader and our country. In an interview with CNN, he said, “We shouldn’t have waited for a practically non existing government to give us the go ahead before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those girls”.

There are words that no one has the right to use against another country and Sen. John McCain crossed the line with that infamous comment.

Nigeria is facing what is perhaps it’s greatest challenge since the civil war and the tragic abduction of over 200 girls is a painful and sad chapter which the entire nation has struggled to cope with this past one month.

It is uncharitable for a ranking Senator and perennial presidential candidate like Sen. McCain to use this event as an opportunity to insult our country. The Jonathan administration is a legitimately and overwhelmingly elected government and no one, least of all one who failed so many times to clinch the highest post in his country, should be allowed to speak of it so disparagingly.

With all due respect, Nigeria is too big, too important, for one foreigner to speak of with such disrespect. At the very least, he should be made to tender an unreserved apology and withdraw those reckless words.

What is even sadder is that some Nigerians, because of their inveterate hatred of this government, seem to see nothing wrong with this statement. They

The Outrage That Is John Mccain

forget that such an insult on the government of our country is an insult on all of us.

Even the international media has bought into this malicious farce and prefer to refer to our nation and it’s leaders in disparaging terms. The usual courtesy given to government officials from other countries is denied us.

Since Christiana Amanpour had that interview where she tried to harangue our President over the challenges in the power sector, the media has come to see our nation’s leaders as fair game.

The latest Video conference that the CNN had with Labaran Maku, the minister of information, was hardly decent journalism as the anchor practically threw caution to the wind in trying to get the minister to respond in the way she wants. So sad was the whole episode that after the conference interview, the station had to show a disclaimer dissociating itself from the views, if not the method, used in that interview.

It is imperative to point out that even our own people seem to think it fit and proper to throw decorum away and use insulting language when discussing how our leaders are handling the current crisis. This is both unnecessary and retrogressive.

It is true that either by accident or design, Boko Haram has all of a sudden become the number one

By MUSA YAKUBU

issue in the country today, the parameter by which not only the government, but the nation itself, is judged.

It is also true that in times

While it is natural for people to blame their leaders for perceived failures, Nigerians must resist the temptation to be

attitudes have to be changed, habits learned or unlearned; new tools of war bought to meet new strategies; and countless other subtle changes to match a nefarious and

Senator John McCain of crisis, there is the tendency to become too emotive and lash out at the government in power.

“It is uncharitable for a ranking Senator and perennial presidential candidate like Sen. McCain to use this event as an opportunity to insult our country. The Jonathan administration is a legitimately and overwhelmingly elected government and no one, least of all one who failed so many times to clinch the highest post in his country, should be allowed to speak of it so disparagingly.”

unreasonable.

The impression is being created that the administration is incompetent and uncaring, that it has done nothing to stem the activities of the terrorists. Nothing can be far from the truth. The fight against terrorism is slow and arduous and can be frustrating for those who do not understand how difficult it is, how very enervating. It is not conventional warfare and the opponent does not follow any of the rules that have been so meticulously spelt out in the Geneva Convention. Indeed, they don’t believe in any Rules of Engagement.

It usually take years to root out such insurgents.

Soldiers have to be retrained; operational manuals thrown out and new ones designed;

devious foe. As would be expected, none of this is easy. So the statements being made to rubbish every effort the government is making to fight the insurgency is truly misplaced and in bad taste.

He has been called names and it was even ridiculously suggested that he should put on some kind of uniform and personally go and fight Boko Haram in the Sambisa forest. Please enough of these insults.

We must remember that we are not just insulting our President, but are making a caricature of the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It is sad that we have allowed sentiments to becloud our judgements to the extent that we fail to

see that the President is doing everything possible to end the insurgence.

Examples include the pronouncement of a 12 months emergency rule in the affected states and has presently written to the National Assembly for an extension of the rule; he has changed his service chiefs and Minister of Defence and even his security adviser in the effort to stop this menace.

He has increased the budget for the Defence Ministry. He is looking out for the needs and welfare of our troops such that, he promptly ordered the redeployment of the GOC 7th Division, Major General Abubakar Mohammed, the man in charge of the troops formed to engage the terrorists in their home turf.

So the government is continuously reviewing strategies and men in order to fit into the amorphous situation we have found ourselves.

It is time for every wellmeaning Nigerian to come together to put an end to the mayhem that is slowly engulfing us. It is simply unacceptable that we should be engaged in lampooning every effort of this government.

If there is ever a time that we need to bury our mountain of differences as a nation and come together as one, this is it.

It is time to stop being sentimental because the present evil wind would do nobody any good. Boko Haram has unfortunately become a large menace and an effective way to crack it is to come together as one people to tackle this matter.

We must put sentiments aside and rally behind President Jonathan, as he tries to deal with the insurgence. Instead of these vapid emoting and blame game, we should borrow a leaf from the Americans. During their terror attacks, when the twin towers were blown away; the Democrats did not blame the ruling Republicans; rather, they came together in the fight against terror.

Instead of distracting the President with endless criticisms, one would expect that every Nigerian rally behind him and cooperate with him to put an end to the present senseless killings of Nigerians. Something is definitely wrong with the reasoning that it is all right to work against the progress of one’s nation just because you do not like the face of the man at the helm of affairs.

Today’s Diet With Pastor E. A. Adeboye

The Fire Fell

MEMORISE: Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

1 Kings 18:38 READ: 1 Kings 18:36-38 A careful study of the scriptures shows that each time that God answered prayers by fire, it was because there was something on the ground that the fire needed to consume.

Twice, fire came down to destroy the enemies of God when they tried to humiliate His servant, Elijah. For a reader of this devotional, whatever has been humiliating you in time past is consumed by fire now, in Jesus’ Name.

We see situations in the Bible where Elijah would pronounce an unfavourable decree in the presence of a king and leave unharmed.

They could not arrest Him because he was carrying fire. Whenever God is on your side, He will paralyse your enemies physically and mentally. They would be watching as you are escaping.

“There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

Stones are often symbols of impossibilities and can also represent

hindrances in many situations. God knows that without Him helping you, you can dash your foot against stones. He has therefore made up His mind that the fire of the Holy Spirit shall destroy every stone causing obstructions and failures on your path. When you have God behind you, there is nothing to fear. You can stand boldly and say “I am here”. The son of a leader of witches in a certain town became bornagain and the witches became angry. With the consent of his mother, they sent a dog laced with charms to go and kill him. On the night of the attack, the boy was praying as led by the Holy Spirit. When the dog entered the fully locked house, the boy

could only call the Name of Jesus, and the dog collapsed and died.

The following morning, the witches found their dog being roasted by the boy. The Name of Jesus will deal with any enemy that comes against you. If you are already born-again, search your life, and if there is any area where you are not at peace with God, settle with Him right away. Settle with Him if you have not been praying or reading your Bible the way you ought to be doing.

Promise Him that things will change and you will do His will perfectly. Ask Him to forgive you and ask for a new beginning. Do not allow the devil put any block between you and your miracle. Settle with God in every area you are still failing Him. He will be merciful unto you.

PRAYER POINT: Father, all things that will not allow you to perfect your will for my life, consume them by your fire.

“There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

BRAIMA - I formerly known and addressed as Miss Bridget Braima now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bridget Sule. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

IDEMUDIA – I formerly known and addressed as Miss Idemudia Margreth now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Margreth Ebgua. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note

EHIMARE - I formerly known and addressed as Miss Blessing Ehimare now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. B L E S S I N G EHIZUTOMHIN. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAME GANDAHO- I formerly Miss Gandaho Golda Abosede now wish to be known, called and addressed as Mrs. Golda Abiemwense Benson. All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME EBAGUA - I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ebagua Sophia Isoken now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Prayer Nicky Sophia Isoken . All formerly documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the general public should please take note.

AUCTION SALES There will be a public auction sales of accidented, abandoned and unclaimed vehicles, motorcycles and household items at the following Police Divisions, Edo State Command. Date of sales is three weeks from this publication. EHOR DIVISION- Toyota Corolla car Reg. No. MI 419 AAA, J5 vehicle Reg No AC 844 GWL, M/Benz 300 V/Boot Car Reg No. AR 949 WWR and M/cycles UBIAJA DIVISON-:M/Benz Car Reg No GRA 934 AAA, V/Wagen Jetta Reg No LSD623 AS, and M/cycles. SARS-: High Lander Jeep, Toyoya Camry Car, Golf Car Reg No APP 329 AG, Toyota Hiace Bus Reg No AM649 TRN. ESIGIE DIVISION-: Toyota Carina Reg No AM 522USL, Mitsubishi Bus Reg No XS 193 BEN, Nissan Sunny, V/wagen Jetta Reg No. AL 378 SAP, Audi 80 Reg No BMA 21XA. Contact Abu Osodionahon (Police Auctioneer) 08060382828, 08074007087.

RECONCILIATION OF NAME I, NOSAKHARE FAVOUR wish to be bring for the information of the general public that I am the same person as Nosakhare Patience. Henceforth, I am now properly known and addressed as Nosakhare Favour.

All former documents remain valid.

Concerned authorities, First Bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

L-R: The Acting Manager of Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL), Publishers of The OBSERVER titles, Pastor Monday Aigbe, addressing the out-going Corps members during their send-forth party. Photo: SOLOMON ENOIGBE.

Out-going Corp Members in a group photograph with the Acting General Manager of Bendel Newspapers Company Limited, Publisher of The OBSERVER titles, Pastor Monday Aigbe and some management staff during the send-forth party.Photo: SOLOMON ENOIGBE.

r

F om The Confab THE National Conference sitting in Abuja yesterday, resolved that henceforth, where either the President or the National Assembly fails to meet the timelines set for the passage of the Appropriation Bill, government will have to shut down operations.

Consequently, Conference agreed that Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution which deals with authorization of expenditure in default of appropriation be amended to stop any expenditure by government in the event of a delay in the passage of the budget with established timelines.

This was one of the decisions arrived at as delegates completed debate and adoption of resolutions on the Report of the Committee on Public Service headed by Engineer Ebele Okeke and Ambassador Adamu Aliyu as deputy chairman.

Conference had earlier agreed that Appropriation Bill for the coming year must be presented to the National Assembly on or before September 30 of every year while the process of passage by the National Assembly must be completed within two months for Presidential assent in December.

Three amendments were suggested to include that Section 59 (3) of the 1999 Constitution be amended to include that: i. where the National Assembly fails to consider and pass the Appropriation Bill within the stated time frame, the bill shall be sent to Mr. President for his/her assent. ii. That failure to adhere to the time frame stated for the presentation of the Appropriation Bill shall form part of the definition of misconduct as stated in Sections 142 (11) and 188 (11) respectively. iii. In the event that the budget is not approved by the 2nd of January, Government should operate on the basis of 75% of previous year’s Budget as an interim measure to avoid shut down.

All three suggestions were rejected as delegates insisted that failure to meet the deadlines by either of the parties should result in

Confab Canvass Shutdown For Budget Delay

By JOSES SEDE a shut-down of government, as no expenditure would be allowed as contained in Section 82 of the 1999 Constitution. This is to stem the current situation where both the Executive and the Legislature do not seem to be bothered about delays in budget presentation and approval.

Giving conditions in a situation of failure was viewed as indulgence.

Conference at plenary has also approved amendment to Section 147(3) of the 1999 Constitution which demands appointment by the President of at least one minister from each state of the federation.

Instead, it says the section should be reframed to indicate that the President shall appoint not more than one minister from each state of the federation; thus restricting the President from appointing six more ministers from each of the six geo-political zones as is the practice now.

The Conference however rejected a proposed amendment to the effect that 40% of the ministers so appointed by the President under the said section should be female.

LABOUR MATTERS RESTORED TO EXCLUSIVE LIST Labour matters also received a boost on Thursday as delegates voted overwhelmingly to retain labour and minimum wage issues in the Exclusive as against an amendment that it should be moved to the Concurrent Legislative List.

The Committee had recommended that since the minimum wage is fixed at a level just above the poverty line, and it is the duty of the Federal Government to ensure that the pay of every Nigerian is above the poverty line, labour matters should retained in the Exclusive Legislative.

However, an amendment that minimum wage be raised from N18, 000 to not less than N40, 000 for public servants was roundly defeated by the

delegates during consideration of recommendations.

Conference also resolved that henceforth, no agency of government should charge any fee, no matter how minimal, from fresh graduates before offering them employment in the public service.

It was also decided that to avoid the recent tragic incident where people died in the course of going to the stadium to attend employment interviews, recruitment stations should be set up at state levels for applicants.

A recommendation by the Committee that a new sub-section be introduced in the 1999 Constitution that would compel government to review public sector pay every five years to take cognizance of trends in the cost of living was also approved by the Conference and adopted.

Following a motion by 33 delegates moved by Alhaji Nurudeen Lemu, Conference resolved that the Federal Character Commission be renamed the Federal Character and Equal Opportunities Commission to put it in better stead to address issues of affirmative action for people living with disabilities.

The change is also expected to cater for issues regarding other vulnerable groups including ethnic and religious minorities, women, youth and other sectors of the society that are often excluded.

Conference agreed that the upgrading will foster equity and create opportunities for the often excluded groups.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Meanwhile, the Committee on Science, Technology and Development has said that for effective contribution and synergy in the science and technology sector, and to ensure continuity and seriousness of purpose, the Presidential Council on Science, Technology and Innovation should be enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

The report noted that in

Justice Idris Kutigi, Confab Chairman Nigeria, technological adaptation and innovation through research and development have been thwarted by very low and uncertain funding.

According to the Committee, traditionally, activities considered nonessential normally suffer during budget allocation exercises, particularly in lean times; it was its belief that research and development budget have suffered more than others.

For instance, it stated that at its peak in 1982, capital budget allocation to science and technology was N99 million; in 1983, it was N68 million; in 1984, it was reduced to a mere N14 million while in 1985; it went down to a miserable N7.5 million.

It said the way forward was for Nigeria to strengthen the basic science and technology infrastructure and modern research facilities needed to execute projects that can lead to innovation.

The Committee said government should fund science and technology development programmes up to 2% of the Federation Account while state

governments should contribute to research by way of research projects.

Government, it said, should make it mandatory for every industry to establish research units, contribute money to the Science and Technology Development Trust Fund, and give scholarships to individuals and institutions to carry out research It called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the revitalization of vital infrastructure considered critical and strategic to manufacturing sector.

These include power generation, transmission and distribution; steel industries and machine tools; and national metallurgical development centre; among others.

The Committee observed that Nigeria is yet to implement the African Union resolution that a minimum of one per cent GDP of nations should be dedicated to research and development purposes.

It called for increased campaign to create public awareness in science and technology and their vital role in national development through all

possible means, including the media, research and development.

The Committee, headed by Dr Daniel Maddo and Chief Raymond Dokpesi as deputy, said recognizing the high volume of applicable output of research and development activities in Nigeria that have failed to address socio-economic development issues, there must be a deliberate strategy to reverse the situation.

It said the Nigerian Academy of Science and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, because of their linkages as professional bodies should, through a deliberate policy be engaged in order to enhance the impact of science and technology output on the economy.

To ensure the rapid growth of science and technology, the Committee recommended promotion of academic industry linkage programmes to enhance knowledge sharing through mandatory exposure of academics to industry in the design of programmes in educational institutions.

Abramovich Open To Lampard Return FRANK Lampard has been told that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wants him to return to the club when he has retired from playing.

Lampard has confirmed he will be leaving Stamford Bridge this summer after 13 seasons as he seeks to continue his career in midfield and has been strongly linked with a move to New York City, the Major League Soccer’s new franchise set up and backed by Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour.

However, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says the door is open for him to return on his terms when the time is right.

“Mr Abramovich, the number one, the most

Lampard and Mourinho

World Cup: Super Eagles’ll

Soar In Brazil - Babayaro AN Atlanta 1996 Olympics gold medalist, Emmanuel Babayaro, on Thursday said the Super Eagles in spite of the outcome of their friendly matches would progress beyond the World Cup group stage.

The newsmen Eagles have the impressive run of the drawn their last three World Eagles’ group opponent, Cup warm-up matches.

Bosnia-Herzegovina in its The team played 0-0 against friendly matches, Nigerians Mexico, 2-2 against Scotland should remain confident the and 0-0 with Greece.

Eagles would soar.

Babayaro, while speaking to “So far, we’ve been newsmen in Lagos, implored relatively successful in our Nigerians to be unruffled by build up to the World Cup and the results, saying that warmI’m optimistic that the Eagles up matches were for coaches will advance beyond the to assess their tactics and group stage. identify areas needing “Frankly speaking, we improvement. should be less worried about He said that regardless of results of friendly matches

because it isn’t a yardstick to measure how well a team will perform in the tournament.

“I could recall we got very poor results when we were preparing for the Atlanta 1996 Olympics but we went there and won the gold in football.

“And again, a lot of players want to avoid sustaining injuries and want to play safe in a friendly match,” Babayaro said.

The former goalkeeper, while assessing the team, said he was convinced Eagles’ first choice goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, had the urge to perform remarkably in Brazil.

He added that he was satisfied with the team’s attacking ability in creating chances but pointed out the need for converting the chances into goals.

“Enyeama is the brightest hope I have in the team. He has the capacity to perform at the highest level and I’m certain he’ll be crucial to the team.

“The attack is also good but they must improve on executing the chances they create. The midfield I think is

okay,” he said.

According to Babayaro, the

defence really needs to be improved on because it appears to be porous at the moment.

The Eagles will kick-off their World Cup campaign against Iran on June 16, at the Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil.

important person at the club, wants Frank to be back very much,” Mourinho, Yahoo’s global football ambassador, said.

“Everybody wants it. I want him to be back and the staff want him back, so he comes back for sure. He can come back the way he wants.

“Mr Abramovich has left the door completely open for him on the understanding Frank can do anything he wants at this club. He can try things, feel where he is better suited, we can feel as a club where he can give us more, but he can come back when he wants and, to repeat Mr Abramovich’s words, in the way he wants.

“He can be a coach, he can start at the academy, he can start being my assistant at the same time because he is doing his coaching badges, or he can start in a different role.

He could decide, ‘I don’t want to start immediately in the coaching role, I want another role’.

“He could be an ambassador, or want to work hand-in-hand with the chief executive, representing the club in important places of our life. He can do what he wants, so he has to be back.

Mourinho Confirms Fabregas Interest CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed he is interested in signing Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Mourinho said the Blues are looking into bringing the 27year-old back to play in London, where he featured for Arsenal from 2003 to 2011.

According to the BBC, the Gunners have no plans to resign Fabregas, who could find his role diminished at the Camp Nou if Barcelona can pry Koke — a player Barca president Josep Bartomeu recently praised highly — from Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have an opening in midfield with Frank Lampard departed, and Blues boss Mourinho says Fabregas is ready for a

change.

“I think it looks like he’s really interested in leaving Barcelona and is very, very interested in coming back to England. This, I think, is clear,” Mourinho told Yahoo!.

“There is a process where he wants to leave, [and] he wants to come to England because it’s the country where he wants to be, where he prefers to play. We are interested in monitoring the situation.”

A potential move to Stamford Bridge got another boost on Thursday with Chelsea striker Fernando Torres supporting the notion.

“If he’s made to feel

important, like a leader — like when he was at Arsenal — he can drive the team on and he’s a type of player Chelsea don’t have right now,” Torres said of his Spain teammate.

Cesc Fabregas

Coach Urges Support For Judo Development

Emmanuel Babayaro

THE National Coach, Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF), Edokpolor Ihaza, has called on corporate bodies to support the federation’s programmes to facilitate the development of the sport.

Ihaza told newsmen on Thursday in Lagos that such assistance could be in form of sponsorship of competitions and financial support for officials’ training.

“There have to be regular activities on ground to

engage judokas, especially the upcoming ones; this can only be achieved with availability of funds.

“Coaches also need to update themselves with the latest developments in the sport both locally and internationally; hence, they must go for refresher courses,’’ he said.

He commended the relevant authorities for efforts in ensuring availability and accessibility of facilities

during competitions.

“Gone are the days when we had problem of facilities; the categories we have now are of international standards; so, we need competitions to make good use of them. “ For us to have such facilities now means that the authorities are enthusiastic about developing the sport and ensuring that our judokas can compete favourably with their

counterparts at local and international competitions,’’ he said.

The coach said that engaging athletes in regular competitions would expose them to the use of modern sporting facilities.

“We have the best facilities in the world used during the Olympic Games.

“The exposure of our aspiring judokas to such facilities will boost their confidence to thrive in the sport,’’ he said.

CMYK

Eduardo To Sing Two National Anthems

Count-Down To 2014 FIFA World Cup

NFA, NTDC Seal Deal On Sports Tourism THE Nigeria Football Association (NFA) on Thursday said it had sealed an agreement that would promote and market Nigeria’s vast tourism products and potential within and outside the country.

A statement by the NFA’s Assistant Director of Communication, Ademola Olajire, said the deal was sealed in collaboration with the Nigeria Tourism D e v e l o p m e n t Corporation (NTDC).

“This is a great opportunity for two of the biggest windows available to the nation internally and internationally to collaborate on promoting the nation’s tourism potential.

“And achieve the goal of positioning our dear nation as the preferred Sports Tourism destination for Nigerians and foreigners,” NFA president Aminu Maigari was quoted as saying.

The statement also said that the DirectorGeneral of the NTDC, Sally Mbanefo, expressed excitement on the development.

“I am excited at the signing of this Memorandum of

It noted that on its Understanding.

Nigerian football is part, the NFF shall presently on a high facilitate, within its domestically and ability, the hosting of international matches in internationally.

“And we are happy to Nigeria to encourage collaborate with the NFA foreigners to visit to achieve our vision,” Nigeria.

The body said it would Mbanefo said in the also publicise NTDC statement. local and The statement added during that the country’s international football football had hit new matches, provide free heights at both domestic promotional materials for and international fronts NTDC representatives during football events. in the past two years.

According to NFA, it It noted that the Aminu M a i g a r i - l e d would assist NTDC to administration had been market and promote credited for some Nigeria’s tourism at local ingenious steps and and international levels policy decisions that and assist NTDC to had turned the nation’s facilitate sponsorship for football around for the sports tourism promotion. Sepp Blatter, FIFA President better.

According to the statement, under the terms of the agreement, the NTDC shall endorse NFA as a sports tourism partner for domestic and international sports tourism.

It would also grant the ON a day when a transport workers’ strike issue until investigator NFA reasonable rights brought part of Brazil’s biggest city to a halt, Michael Garcia finished to the branding of NTDC Brazil’s Sports Minister said it was impossible to his enquiry. events, publicise NFA “The only thing I can promise his country would be ready for next during NTDC tourism say to the Qataris is that events and promote week’s opening match off next Thursday when in March this year we said sports tourism at all of the World Cup. the host nation faces we don’t put the World local and international “When you are dealing Croatia, could be Cup in Qatar into football matches. with an event as big as affected. question and we are These, the statement the World Cup there is no However, the 12 said, would start with way for you to put a stadiums should be the 2014 FIFA World diploma on the wall ready, even though Cup finals in Brazil.

Brazil Can’t Guarantee Readness For World Cup, Says Minister

Winning Top Of The Agenda, Says Neymar BRAZIL are renowned for their attacking and entertaining football and they are expected to provide the same style when the World Cup gets underway in Sao Paulo next week.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men are overwhelming favourites to progress from Group A, which features Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon, and add to their five World Cup

Neymar

EDUARDO da Silva will sing both the Brazilian and Croatian national anthems at the opening game of the 2014 World Cup. The former Arsenal striker is a Brazilian by birth but has played for Croatia through nationalisation after signing for Dinamo Zagreb in 1999 and staying until 2007.

Eduardo has played 63 times for Croatia, scoring 29 goals and is part of Niko Kovac’s squad that will face Brazil next Thursday.

His mother is quoted by news agency SNTV as saying: “I’m rooting for Eduardo da Silva.

“I understand that it is very important for him but I’m also rooting for Brazil.

Eduardo vs. Brazil.

“He has said he will sing two anthems. He is Croatian for work, in his heart he is Brazilian.”

titles.

Speaking ahead of Brazil’s final pretournament match against Serbia on Friday, Neymar says the thirdranked country will do everything in their power to win, even if that comes at the expense of ‘beautiful’ football.

“Beautiful football is the last thing we are concerned about. What we want to do is to win,” Neymar told the Brazil Football Confederation’s official website.

“Our team’s mentality is always the same - always beat any adversary, whoever they are.

“We always want to score goals and, if we can, play well in the process.”

Brazil and Croatia open the World Cup at the Arena de Sao Paulo on June 12.

saying you are ready,” Aldo Rebelo said.

“You have to be prepared every day,” the normally upbeat Rebelo added.

“Everything needs to be working 24 hours. I am not going to hang a diploma on my wall and say ‘Here is my diploma, everything is ready.’ We have done everything within our capacity so that things are as close as possible to ready.”

Large parts of Sao Paulo came to a standstill on Thursday after a strike by metro workers prompted people to take their cars to work. It was the latest in a series of stoppages to hit Brazil in recent weeks.

Police, teachers and bus drivers have also been on strike in search of higher wages, causing fears that the tournament, which kicks

workers are still putting the finishing touches to some of them, Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general, said.

Valcke acknowledged some stadiums are still fitting seats and others are installing generators, amongst other issues.

“It looks like there is quite a lot of work going on,” said Valcke. “I would say that is quite normal.

And that is more normal when you consider the stadiums were delivered late.

“We are not afraid of the next days.”

FIFA President Joseph Blatter dodged the elephant in the room by sidestepping questions over Qatar, the hosts of the 2022 World Cup. Allegations have surfaced that money was paid to influence the decision, but Blatter said he would not address the

waiting the result of the investigation,” Blatter said. “I am not a prophet, so we await the results and see what happens.”

Blatter, who has indicated he will seek another term as FIFA president in 2015, also

refused to take a stand on possible term limits. He said the Executive Committee meeting scheduled for next week in Sao Paulo might vote on the issue.

“My opinion is that we have already had this on the agenda in Mauritius and the congress said we will deal with it in Sao Paulo,” Blatter said. “So let them deal with it.”

Diego Costa To Feature Against El Salvador

SPAIN coach Vicente del Bosque has told Radio Marca he is planning to field Diego Costa against El Salvador today but does not want to push the striker too hard.

Del Bosque included Costa in his 23-man World Cup squad despite the Atletico Madrid star struggling with a hamstring injury towards the end of the season.

The Brazil-born forward aggravated the injury when playing for Atletico against

Diego Costa

Barcelona on the last day of the La Liga campaign and then against Real Madrid in the Champions League final a week later.

However, impressed by a haul of 27 goals in 35 league games, and having worked hard to persuade him to switch his international allegiance to Spain from Brazil, Del Bosque has gambled on Costa’s fitness.

The Spain boss believes Costa is recovering well and he is determined that both the Atletico frontman and fellow injury concern Juanfran will both get a run out in the reigning world champions’ final warm-up match against El Salvador — though the pair will be treated with kid gloves.

“We aren’t going to expose them to injury but we want to see them during a match and I hope their response will

be positive,” Del Bosque said on Thursday. “If we can try them in the El Salvador match, so much the better.”

Del Bosque’s side open their defence of the World Cup against Netherlands, in a repeat of the final in South Africa four years ago.

And Spain’s veteran coach is wary of the threat posed by the Oranje, adding: “The first match is the most worrisome, against Netherlands. They are a very organised team, very well coached and surely will give us difficulties.”

Del Bosque also revealed that he has “made a decision on nine players” in his starting line-up for the opening Group B game, which takes place on June 13 in Salvador.

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