2nd October 2016

NO 2,066

SPECIAL TREAT

SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Nigerian Tribune

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Nigerian Tribune

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Event management, good business in recession pg8

Oke dumps APC for AD, picks gov ticket

pg42

Buhari raises Nigerians’ hope pgs3&4 •Says recession won’t last •Speaks on militancy in Niger Delta

•Govs, eminent Nigerians call for unity

Media causing disaffection among comedians —Tee A

3 killed, shops razed as masquerades’ supporters clash in pg7 Ibadan Edo gov election update:

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE...Some of the children of the New Covenant Church, Nigeria bearing placards with different inscriptions, during a parade as part of the activities to mark Nigeria’s 56th Independence Day in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Saturday. PHOTO: SEYI SOKOYA.

5 candidates reject election results pg3

APC crisis: Oyegun gets Alleged kidnappers of

14-day ultimatum •Party leaders victimising Tinubu —Adebanjo

•I won’t join issues —Oyegun •ANALYSIS: Crumbling of a grand coalition?

pg3 pg20

CBN gov’s wife arrested

pg3 •To be paraded in Abuja •How Mrs Emefiele was rescued

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2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

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2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Listing some of the capital projects his administration was currently executing, Buhari remarked that government’s objective was to complete all abandoned projects across the country.

“Notwithstanding the budgetary constraints, the current budget allocated two N240 billion for highway projects against N12 billion billion in 2015.

Many contractors who have not been paid for

three years have now remobilised to sites. N720.5 billion has so far been released this budget year to capital projects. The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has received N197.5 billion.”

He was confident that the programmes he had outlined will revive the economy, restore the value of the naira and drive hunger from the country.

(Full text of the speech on page 43)

Buhari raises Nigerians’ hope Leon Usigbe-Abuja

O

N the occasion of the 56th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that his administration was aware of the hardship in the country and was working hard to change the situation.

He however, warned that there are no easy ways out of the nation’s economic problems although solutions could be found.

In a radio and television broadcast to mark the occasion on Saturday morning, he said: “There are no easy solutions, but there are solutions nonetheless and government is pursuing them in earnest.”

President Buhari noted that the day was “a day of celebration for us Nigerians as it was the day 56 years ago that our people achieved the most important of all human desires – freedom and independence. We should all therefore give thanks and pray for our founding fathers without whose efforts and toil we would not reap the bounties of today.”

He assured that he knew that what was uppermost in the minds of the people was the economic crisis, noting that: “The recession for many individuals and families is real. For some it means not being able to pay school fees, for others it’s not being able to afford the high cost of food (rice and millet) or the high cost of local or international travel, and for many of our young people the recession means joblessness, sometimes after graduating from university or polytechnic.

“I know how difficult things are, and how rough business is. All my adult life, I have always earned a salary and I know what it is like when your salary simply is not enough. In every part of our nation, people are making incredible sacrifices.”

The president noted that on security, Boko Haram has been defeated but only now carrying out “cowardly attacks on soft targets, killing innocent men, women and children.”

While noting that situation has improved on the Boko Haram front, Buhari regretted that: “A new insurgency has reared up its head in the shape of blowing up gas and oil pipelines by groups of Niger Delta militants, adding that “this administration will not allow these mindless groups to hold the country to ransom.

He observed that it was

cancer which must be fought with all the weapons at the nation’s disposal.

He added that: “It corrodes the very fabric of government and destroys society. Fighting corruption is key, not only to restoring the moral health of the nation, but also to freeing our enormous resources for urgent socioeconomic development.”

Also speaking about the economy, President Buhari stressed that his

administration’s change agenda was to restructure the economy.

According to him” Economies’ behaviour is cyclical. All countries face ups and downs. Our own recession has been brought about by a critical shortage of foreign exchange. Oil price dropped from an average $100 per barrel over the last decade to an average of forty USD $40 per barrel this year and last.”

He said government would repair the nation’s

four refineries so that Nigeria can produce most of its petrol requirements locally pending the coming on stream of new refineries.

“At the same time, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank have been mobilised to encourage local production of rice, maize, sorghum, millet and soya beans. Our target is to achieve domestic self-sufficiency in these staples by 2018,” he said.

CBN gov’s wife rescued, kidnappers to be paraded in Abuja Chris Agbambu-Abuja

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said that his wife, Mrs Margaret Emefiele, had been rescued from kidnappers by the Nigerian security agencies, just as some of her alleged abductors would be paraded in Abuja during the week.

A statement released in Abuja on Saturday by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, stated that the CBN governor’s wife was rescued on Friday night.

It is recalled that Mrs Emefiele was kidnapped by armed gunmen along the Benin-Agbor road on Thursday.

The kidnappers made contact with the CBN governor, demanding a huge sum in ransom.

The statement read in part: “The governor thanked God Almighty for the life of

his dear wife who was rescued on Friday night and praised security agencies for their gallantry in bringing his wife back home within 24 hours in compliance with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“He also expressed his gratitude to the Delta and Edo State governments,

THE brewing crisis in the ranks of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be escalating as the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Frank has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun to resolve the crisis or face a revolt.

Frank, who asked to be addressed as the acting national publicity Secretary of the party said in an interview with Sunday Tribune that he, as a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC was issuing the ultimatum on behalf of the “silent majority” of NWC members.

He also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to break his silence and intervene in the brewing crisis.

According to Frank, Oyegun must come out within 14 days to address the allegations made against him by the former Governor of Lagos state, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and also ensure the issues delaying the inauguration of the Board of Trustees are resolved.

“I challenge Chief Oyegun to come forward and respond to the allegations made against him

nah, who disclosed this to Sunday Tribune, said that the suspects were already on their way to Abuja.

He confirmed the release of Emefiele’s wife, adding that the police worked round the clock to secure her freedom on Friday night.

The Force PRO was silent on whether a ransom was paid for her release or not.

Edo: 5 candidates reject election results Banji Aluko-Benin City

FIVE governorship candidates of the political parties that participated

during last Wednesday’s Edo State governorship election have called for the cancellation of the results of the election as declared

APC crisis: Oyegun gets 14 days ultimatum Taiwo Adisa and Bola Badmus

friends and well wishers who, through their actions, prayers and goodwill, helped to bring this harrowing experience to a joyful end.”

Meanwhile, the suspects who kidnapped Mrs Emefiele, are to be paraded in Abuja this week.

The Force Public Relations Officer, DCP John Awu-

by Tinubu. He should not waste time. I know what Oyegun is looking for is protection from Mr. President which is not necessary. These are personal accusations.

“I give him 14 days ultimatum to respond to Tinubu. Failure to do that, I will mobilise party members to demand answers to the questions. Again if he doesn’t call NEC meeting in 14 days, I will mobilise members of the party to hold one. I know that what is needed is only two thirds of members and we will get that, ” Frank said.

According to him, the last time the party held a NEC meeting was six months ago, adding that the constitution provides that the NEC meet at least quarterly.

He said further: “Oyegun should call an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee now. The last time we held a meeting was six months ago. We should be holding meetings quarterly but we should not even wait for stipulated time.

“The chairman is also responsible for the non inauguration of BoT. Why has he not called a meeting to resolve the issue of BoT. But he wants to be there and run the affairs solely. The BoT is an important organ of the party. Call it whatever name you want, we must inaugurate it because if the organ is

operating I would have taken my case there.”

He also questioned the decision of the party under Oyegun to deny those holding deputy positions the chance of acting when the person holding the substantive position is not available.

The National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, however, refused to join issues with Frank, declaring that he would not join issues with a member of his party.

However, in an interview with Sunday Tribune, a chieftain of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, decried the crisis in the APC and insisted that the crisis erupted as part of a ploy to reduce Tinubu’s influence and rubbish the Yoruba.

Chief Adebanjo, who spoke to Sunday Tribune, said that the APC may not survive the crisis as a united entity.

“On the issue of APC, what Buhari and co have done to Tinubu... it is not Tinubu they are fighting.

I want you to understand that I don’t support that.

“It is the Yoruba they are fighting and we warned Tinubu and he can now see.”

According to him, the plan is to reduce Tinubu’s influence in Yoruba land and also relegate the Yoruba nation.

by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The candidates insisted that the figures INEC declared and displayed during the announcements of the results were in complete variance with those their agents and observers obtained from the polling units across the state.

The candidates were Mr Frank Ukonga of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); Andrew Igwemoh of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD); Dr Omorogieva Gbajumo, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); Mr Thompson Osadolor of the KOWA Party and Ishaka Paul of the Action Alliance (AA).

At a press conference in Benin City during the weekend, chairman of the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), Mr Frank Ukonga of the NNPP, said INEC falsified the results to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The results that INEC made public do not tally with what most, if not all, our agents came back home with. We are calling for the cancellation of the entire election because INEC gave APC the PDP votes,” he said.

Another candidate, Mr Andrew Igwemoh of the ACD, said there were glaring errors in the figures computed by INEC in an election that was marred by open exchange of money between party agents and voters.

“I am calling for the cancellation of the results, especially that of Etsako West Local Government

Area because what transpired on the field is not what INEC made public.

The mathematical errors are too obvious to be ignored,” he stated.

Dr Omorogieva Gbajumo said Nigerians are wondering how INEC came up with about 66,000 missing votes whereas voters voted as soon as they were accredited.

“It is clear that the votes declared by INEC are not correct. Even parties that were not on the ballot papers were allocated some votes by the electoral commission, which shows that something does not add up,” Gbajumo noted.

He said that it was curious that INEC used lecturers from the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, who were obliged to do the bidding of their vicechancellor as Chief Returning Officer, instead of personnel from diverse institutions.

Mr Osadolor was of the view that since no voter went home after being accredited and there was a generally peaceful election across the state, INEC had no business voiding the votes it voided.

It was the opinion of Mr Ishaka Paul that INEC’s results were prepared before the actual election, arguing that sensitive electoral materials had been sent out by the commission. before the election was postponed from September 10 to September 28.

The candidates vowed to continue in their advocacy for the cancellation of the elections so that the will of Edo people will be upheld.

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nigeria@56

2 October, 2016

Low-key celebration in Aso Rock Leon Usigbe-Abuja

I

T was a low-key celebration of Nigeria’s Independence anniversary on Saturday when President Muhamadu Buhari presided over events inside the Presidential Villa, rather than at the usual Eagle Square, Abuja.

The last time events marking the day were held at Eagle Square was on October 1, 2010, under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, which was marred by car bombing allegedly carried out by members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Since then, Jonathan’s administration observed the day with live television broadcast and light activities on the forecourt of the Presidential Villa.

Last year, President Buhari also celebrated his first Independence anniversary in a similar fashion, restricting himself to a live broadcast on television

GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has granted amnesty to 10 prisoners from various prisons in the state in commemoration of the 56th Independence anniversary of the country.

A statement signed by Mr Toye Arulogun, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, on Saturday, said that Ajimobi

quota in making Nigeria great.

Bello made the call at the march past to celebrate the nation’s 56th

Let’s salvage our sinking nation, Rivers gov urges Nigerians RIVERS State governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared that the nation is sinking irreversibly, stressing that only a united front will salvage and set it on the path of growth.

The governor regretted that either by commission or omission, the Federal Government had dragged the country into its worst economic crisis where Nigerians find it difficult to feed.

In his Independence address at the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt, on Saturday, he lamented that ordinary Nigerians were dying daily from ailments that were ordinarily cur-

able.

“Just look at the situation of our country at this time.

Never in history has the seed of disunity, distrust, hatred; intolerance, violence, and terrorism proliferated in our country than now, not even in the years of the civil war,.

“It looks as if the country is sinking irreversibly into the abyss, but this is what happens when a country is economically weak and dependent. The need, therefore, is for all of us to work together with the three tiers of government to deliver real and sustainable economic independence to our people.”

Muhammad Sabiu-Kaduna

work.

‘We face many challenges, but it is not beyond us to build a system that moves our peoples into the 21st century with functioning governance systems, equality of all persons before the law and the right to security and happiness” “We mark this day in difficult economic circumstances, but we can overcome these as we did previous moments of hardship.

Robust decisions are pending and we must support government to take, and put into effect, the tough steps that we need to begin the process of economic recovery.

We must promptly navigate a route out of the stormy economic weather,” el-Rufai said.

Nigerians must support govt to end recession, says Kaduna gov

GOVERNOR Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State said the economic decisions taken by the government at all levels had become imperative for Nigerians to support government to end recession. el-Rufai said this in his 2016 Independence Day address on Saturday.

He noted that, though Nigerians marked the day in difficult economic circumstances, he was optimistic that Nigeria would overcome.

According to him “I salute you on the occasion of our country’s 56th Independence anniversary. We have been bequeathed a country of diverse peoples, faiths and tongues and we have a collective duty to make it

signing/presentation of anniversary card preceded by Christian and Muslim prayers for the country. These events were followed by the release of

Ajimobi pardons 10 prisoners pardoned and released five of the prisoners serving various prison terms.

Arulogun said one of the prisoners had his sentence reduced to one year and six months from the initial two years and six months.

Three of the prisoners, who had been on death row, had their sentences commuted to 30 years, while the remaining pris-

FCT minister charges Nigerians on nation building THE Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello, has called on Nigerians to contribute their

and light activities in the Villa.

On Saturday, the major activity on show was the change of guard parade, 21 gun salute, Buhari’s

Independence anniversary, on Saturday, in Abuja.

According to him, there is no nation that grows without challenges.

“Nigeria is facing a lot of challenges in nation building and this calls for our support. We should do all that we can to be among the 10 strong economies in the world,”he said.

The minister said the present administration had been doing its best to provide the best for FCT residents.

He called on the residents to do their best in making Abuja one of the best capital cities in the World.

oner had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

“The objective of the exercise is to decongest the prison which had been a concern at the Security

GOVERNOR Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has said, after 56 years of independence, there is no need for a section of the country to agitate for secession and appealed to those calling for such separation to have a rethink.

He stated this in his Independence anniversary on Saturday at the Trade Fair Complex, Minna.

He said Nigeria remained the greatest black nation in the world and, therefore, appealed to the citizenry, to as a matter of urgency, use their population to their advantage.

“It is my belief that when we enshrine the spirit of selflessness in our younger ones, we are consciously asking them to rededicate themselves to the principles of equity, fairness and accountability, as well as resuscitate the fading values of honesty, discipline and respect for one

pigeons by the president, cutting of anniversary cake and light refreshment.

Among the dignitaries at the ceremony were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Vice Presidents Alex Ekwueme and Namadi Sambo, who was visiting the villa for the first time since May 29, 2015.

Umahi commutes death sentences on 4 prisoners, pardons 32 others GOVERNOR David Umahi of Ebonyi State has ordered that death sentences on 14 prisoners in various prisons in the state be commuted to life imprisonment.

The governor gave the order on Saturday in Abakaliki during activities to mark the 56th Independence Day and 20th year of Ebonyi creation.

According to the governor, 32 inmates from the state have also been granted unconditional pardon on offences for which they were jailed.

He said those whose death sentences were annulled included Igantius Ochioso; Paul Ominyi; Nnachi Asula; Sunday Ukpai; Onyebuchi Eze and Ikechukwu Nwafor.

“Those who were pardoned unconditionally include Ogbuzuru Odoh; Ogbonnia Odom; Shadrack Eboko; Ezi Ekum; Nduisi Nwodo; Paul Una, Musa

No need to agitate for secession —Niger State gov Adelowo Oladipo-Minna

Council meeting and to extend amnesty to deserving convicts who have shown good behaviour over the years of their incarceration,’’ he said.

Sunday Tribune

another.

“In Niger State, we take pride in being endowed with all the attributes to become a great state, leveraging on the platform of democracy that upholds the principles of participatory governance,” he said.

Bako; Chikwu Ndukwe; Mgbeleke Oduma; Ugo Ogbuba, among others.

The governor also announced a five per cent increase in workers’ salaries

We must unite to rescue economy from recession —Ambode Bola Badmus-Lagos

AS Nigerians marked the 56th Independence anniversary of the country, Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwummi Ambode, on Saturday, urged citizens to aggregate their strength and be united in efforts to rescue the country from economic crisis, just as he also urged them to, more than ever before, renew their belief in the Nigerian Project by playing their part diligently.

Ambode made the plea while speaking at the pa-

THE Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Saturday blamed leadership problem for Nigeria’s failure to attain greater heights 56 years after independence.

Speaking during the celebration of the anniversary held at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, the governor promised to constitute a panel of enquiry to probe funds accruable to the state since 2003.

According to him, Nigeria at 56 could be said to have achieved a level of development that was

rade of police, the immigration and other para military agencies to mark the event.

“We all need one another to survive as no part of Nigeria can do it all alone and still wield or command the influence that Nigeria currently wields in the comity of nations.

“This is not a time to despair. It is a time to review our patriotic zeal and stand firm with our leaders at all levels in our collective efforts to make Nigeria work for all,” he said.

Amosun urges Nigerians to support Buhari to tackle challenges GOVERNOR Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, on Saturday, urged Nigerians to join hands with the Buhari administration to tackle the challenges facing the country.

Amosun made the call while delivering a speech to mark the 56th Independence Day anniversary

Leadership problems behind Nigeria’s under-development —Kogi gov Yinka Oladoyinbo-Lokoja

with effect from October 1 and thanked labour leaders in the state for their understanding and support in reaching the decision.

commensurate with its age, saying that the leaders that succeeded those who fought for independence didn’t do enough to develop the country.

held at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta.

He praised the selfless contributions of Nigerian heroes that fought for the nation’s independence and also urged the political class to emulate them.

“We have weathered together a lot of storms as a nation and experiences have taught us to have resilience. We have come out stronger and we will continue to come out stronger.

“Although we are slowly and steadily edging our way through all these difficulties, however, at a time like this, it is good for us to remember that there is still a lot to be done,” he said.

Nasarawa pardons nursing mother, 8 others, to mark Nasarawa at 20 GOVERNOR Tanko AlMakura of Nasarawa State on Saturday granted amnesty to a 17-year-old nursing mother and eight other prison inmates on grounds of age.

Al-Makura granted the pardon when he visited Lafia Prison as part of the activities to celebrate 20 years of the creation of the state and the country’s

56th Independence anniversary.

The governor was represented by the AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner of Justice, Alhaji Yusuf Usman.

Al-Makura added that the exercise was carried out based on the recommendations of the committee on prerogative of mercy.

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nigeria@56

President Muhammadu Buhari (middle) cutting a cake to mark the 56th Independence anniversary celebration, during the Presidential Change of Guards Parade, at The Forecourt of the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, on Saturday. With him are VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo (third left), Senate President Bukola Saraki (third right), former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (right); Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Muhammed; Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin.

PHOTO: NAN

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose (middle), acknowledging cheers from the people during a road walk from Matthew Street to the stadium as part of the activities marking the 20th anniversary of the creation of the state in Ado Ekiti on Saturday.

From right, former Vice President and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara; Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State and former Taraba State governor, Reverend Jolly Nyame, at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the creation of Gombe State on Saturday.

Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (middle); Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Onanuga (left); wife of the governor, Mrs Olufunso Amosun (third right); wife of former president, Mrs. Bola Obasanjo (third right); Iyalode of Yorubaland, Chief (Mrs) Alaba Lawson (second right); elder statesman, Chief Adedoja Adewolu (right) and the Chief Imam of Egbaland, Alhaji Liadi Orunsolu (second left), cutting the anniversary cake at the 56th Independence Day celebration, held at the M.K.O Abiola International stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Lagos State deputy governor, Dr Oluranti Idiat Adebule acknowledging cheers during the 56th independence anniversary, held at Ikeja Police College, on Saturday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, inpecting the parade during the 56 independence anniversary held at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, on Saturday. PHOTO YINKA OLADOYINBO

From left, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike; Commander, NNS Pathfinder, Navy Commander Obi Egbuchulam and the state Commissioner of Police, Francis Odesanya, during the release of pigeons to mark the 56th independence anniversary, at the Sharks Stadium, in Port Harcourt, on Saturday.

From left, a former deputy governor of Nasarawa State, Professor Onje Gye-Wado; another former deputy governor, Senator Solomon Ewuga; former Governor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; incumbent deputy governor, Mr Silas Agara; Governor Umaru Al-Makura; former military administrator of the state, Colonel Bala Mande (retd); former deputy governor, Mr Dameshi Luka and another former deputy governor, Dr Michael Abdul, at the 20th anniversary celebration of the creation of Nasarawa State, in Lafia, on Saturday. PHOTO: NAN

Presidential Change of Guards Parade, during the 56th independence anniversary, at the Forecourt of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, on Saturday.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State inspecting the parade mounted by men of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Police, at a ceremony to celebrate Nigeria’s 56th Independence Anniversary at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, in Benin, on Saturday.

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2 October, 2016

crimereports

Sunday Tribune

edited by Oluwatoyin Malik 0807 889 1950, 0811 695 4633 tribunecrimedesk@gmail.com

A female civil defence corps official gave me uniform after I paid her N22,000 —Suspect

By Oluwatoyin Malik

T

HE Oyo State Police Command has arrested a 37-year-old man, Peter Onoja, who was found dressed as an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, but was discovered to be an impersonator.

This was disclosed to Crime Reports by the Oyo State Police Public relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, a Superintendent of Police, who spoke on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Sam Adegbuyi.

According to the PPRO, the stop-and-search exercise embarked on by the state command as a proactive measure to prevent crime paid off on September 21 at about 5.30pm when operatives attached to the Swift Response Squad (SRS) intercepted a Ford bus driven by one Onoja who was escorting goods from Lagos to Ibadan dressed in civil defence uniform.

Ajisebutu stated further that when questioned, Onoja reportedly confessed to have got the civil defence kit from someone in Lagos. “We also saw an identity card with his picture while dressed as a civil defence officer. We are on the trail of the person who supplied him the kit with the hope of arresting the person,” he added.

In an interview with Crime Reports, the suspect confirmed that he was not a civil defence official but only got the uniform for a price from one of the corps’s serving officials.

According to the Benue State-born suspect, “I live at Ajegunle in Lagos State with my wife and two children. I was arrested when I came to Ibadan in my personal vehicle with some solar panel batteries. The police saw me wearing a T-shirt, cap and identity card of Nigeria

Security and Civil Defence Corps and when I was questioned, they discovered that I was not a civil defence official.

“What happened was that a lady, Gloria, who works with the civil defence, gave me the items found on me. This was after I told her that the officials of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) used to disturb me a lot whenever I was with my vehicle, asking her to help me with a written note which I would give the officials.”

He added that Gloria, who he claimed was serving at the Ojo Local Gov-

ernment Area of Lagos State, gave him the civil defence T-shirt and` cap to always put on whenever he needed it. “She said I should tell the officials I meet on the road that she was the one who gave them to me. I paid her N22,000 for the items.

“Since she gave the items to me, I have been using them within Lagos State; this is the first time I would be using it outside Lagos State. I have never used the uniform to extort money from anyone.

I have my own vehicle; I only got the uniform to have easy passage on the road,” Onoja told Crime Reports.

The suspect, Peter Onoja

5 men who worked as land grabbers for 15 years arrested in Lagos Bola Badmus - Lagos

OPERATIVES of the Lagos State Land Grabbers Committee in conjunction with

The suspected land grabbers

the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation have arrested five suspected land grabbers who had been terrorising

people around Lekki and Ajah area of the state.

Chairman of the Task Force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this

to Crime Reports on Thursday in a statement by the spokesperson of the agency, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, saying that the

committee and the agency acted on a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) sent by members of the public, complaining that they had been chased away from their communities with weapons by land grabbers who invaded their land.

The suspects included Ganiyu Owoeye (42), Sola Adeyemi (47), Samson Raheem (35), Kazeem Solude (41) and Sakiru Ademuyiwa (27).

Egbeyemi urged members of the public to assist the agency with useful information that would help the government to get rid of land grabbers completely from Lagos State.

According to the agency, the leader of the group, Owoeye, who refused to disclose their godfathers, said he and his colleagues had been working around Lekki-Ajah area for about 15 years.

He disclosed further that they had sold many pieces of land to different people around the area before they were caught by the operatives of the task force.

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crimereports

Sunday Tribune

2 October, 2016

3 killed, shops razed as Ibadan masquerades supporters clash again

By Oluwatoyin Malik

T

HE Oyo State Police Command has arrested three suspects in connection with the crisis that erupted recently between two rival masquerades, Moshood Ekugbemi and Alaba Ojo Weliweli, with their supporters in Ibadan, which led to the killing of three men and destruction of property.

The names of the suspects were given as Olasunkanmi Ahmed (22), Dauda Abdulahi (17) and Iskilu Olalekan (21).

Speaking with Crime Reports on the arrest, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, who spoke on behalf of the state Commissioner of Police, Sam Adegbuyi, said that the crisis occurred on September 15, at about 2a.m, at Ita Saku, Itamaya, Foko, Oritamerin and Agbeni areas.

According to the PPRO, many shops were looted while others were set ablaze, adding that the quick response of the police saved the day, otherwise, the hoodlums would have set the entire state on fire.

He stated further that the two leaders of the group, Alaba and Ekugbemi, as well as other supporters who participated in the disruption of peace of the city were on the wanted list of the command.

“But we are on their trail and I assure that very soon, they will be arrested and made to face the law,” the PPRO said, adding that the police commissioner assured that the police command would continue to protect lives and property.

Crime Reports gathered that there had always been supremacy battle between Ekugbemi and Alaba, which was usually more pronounced during the yearly Egungun festival in Ibadan. Past clashes between the supporters of the two masquerades had led to killings, destruction of property and attack on members of the public caught in their midst.

On the latest crisis, Crime Reports gathered that it was Ekugbemi who organised a carnival to mark the recent Eid-el-Kabir (Ileya) festival, but the Alaba group went there uninvited.

Ekugbemi and his supporters were reported to have told them to leave since they were not invited, with the resultant clash between the two groups.

The hoodlums were said to have seized the opportunity of the clash to break into shops, using diggers, with the shop of a particular cloth merchant, Mrs Opeyemi Oladiti, mostly affected as they made away with expensive materials and other valuables.

Also, three men, including an okada rider, Ka-

zeem Omole, were reportedly inflicted with machete cuts and shot, resulting in their death. The motorcycle of the deceased rider was also said to have been taken away by the hoodlums. One of the corpses of the deceased had yet to be claimed as of the time of writing this report.

On the same night, the elder brother of a popular rice merchant in Ibadan, Sunday Agarawu, was reported to have been inflicted with machete cuts and N200,000 allegedly

collected from him while he was supervising the offloading of Agarawu’s goods. A source told Crime Reports that the hoodlums asked to be ‘settled’ but was not satisfied with what Agarawu’s elder brother gave them.

Crime Reports had an interview with the suspects at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) office in Ibadan. Below are the excerpts of their narration: Olasunkanmi Ahmed “I am a cobbler and live

The suspects

at Itamaya. On September 15, there was a clash between two rival masquerades with their supporters and I joined the Alaba Ojo Weliweli faction to throw stones at the people belonging to the other faction, though I did not know what led to the clash. I did this because I saw Ekugbemi’s supporters breaking shops and vandalising vehicles. I also saw Ekugbemi holding a pistol. I didn’t see Alaba that day but I know that he has two guns. I saw him with the

guns during the last masquerade festival.”

Dauda Abdulahi “I am an SSS2 student.

On September 15, I left my father’s shop to go and eat when I saw people running, stoning and destroying shops. I also joined them, took a stick from a young man and started using it. I was a supporter of Alaba group.”

Iskilu Olalekan “I live with mother at Popoyemoja. On September 15, I went to Alaba’s place at Ita Saku. From there, Alaba and I left for Born Photo area to a carnival organised by Ekugbemi. As we watched, Alaba called me to go and meet one Sadiq to collect a cutlass which I did. As I made for a spot within the vicinity where the carnival was going on, one of Ekugbemi’s supporters saw me with cutlass and he called others. They attacked me until supporters from Alaba group came to rescue me. I learnt that Ekugbemi and Alaba had been having a face-off before the day.”

Crime Reports learnt that the suspects were arraigned in court on Friday, September 30, and remanded in prison.

Fake army General arrested after swindling unemployed youths Adelowo Oladipo - Minna

THE Niger State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a fake military officer known as General Ishaku but whose real name is Mohammed Usman.

The 41-year-old fake General, who claimed to be an indigene of the state, was accused of defrauding unemployed youths by promising them nonexisting jobs either in the military or paramilitary outfits in the country.

He was arrested by an undercover team of the NSCDC in Minna after he had allegedly concluded plans to collect a balance of N450.000 for a bargained job into the corps.

During investigation by

the civil defence operatives, the suspect reportedly confessed to have carried out the act, pleading for clemency.

Further checks revealed that one of his accomplices in crime identified as Abubakar Ibrahim went into hiding before the long arms of the law could catch up with him and is currently still at large.

Confirming the arrest to Crime Reports, the state Commandant, Mr. Philip Ayuba, said that the fake General would soon be arraigned in court after the conclusion of investigation.

Ayuba also disclosed that the command had spread its dragnet with a view to arresting the fleeing Ibrahim, the suspected accomplice in crime of the fake General.

The suspect

8

news

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Event management, good business in recession

By Seyi Sokoya

A

S many Nigerians continue to wriggle their ways out of the disturbing and biting economic conditions that have left many homes struggling to meet up with financial obligations, one venture that has continued to thrive is event management services.

The prospect of the business to stand any economic condition rates it high among other entrepreneurship skills. It has also helped to correct the wrong impression that it is a cast-off venture. Recession or not, people, especially from this part of will always have reasons to associate, socialite and celebrate with one another.

Experts in the field have also claimed that no economic condition is capable of stopping Nigerians from holding parties, hence the need for the services of event management.

As businesses continue to fold up as a result of the poor state of the country’s economy, many event management companies have continued to count their blessings as they smile to the

bank. The reason for their sudden financial turnaround is not far to seek. While things continue to get bad for some businesses, those who have ventured into event management are enjoying every moment. Week in week out, many event management companies are busy with one party or the other, they simply have no reason to complain or sit back and expect things to get better, their jobs give them financial empowerment.

These prospects have given those who engage in this business a leverage just as it also gives beginners confidence to be successful and profitable as an event planner. It is believed that an average event planner makes between N250,000 and N500,000 every week depending on the clients involved. It could even go higher if the clients want to have a big do of the event in question. The bigger the event, the richer the event planner.

A career in event management can certainly offer roles which involve plenty of different skills, with the added benefit of offering the potential to develop a specialist area as the career progresses.

Any event organiser that

craves to survive the thick and thin must be ready to be responsible for any production of events such as exhibitions and fairs, conferences, festivals, fundraising and social events, productions and product launches from conception through to the completion.

According to a Lagosbased event manager, Damisi Mamud, who handles jobs for big brands in the country, “the role of event organisers is hands-on and often involves working as part of a team and they must be able to complete a wide range of activities requiring clear communication, excellent organisation skills and attention to details. They must also be ready to work under pressure, and ensure the smooth and efficient running of an event. It is true that we make money, but the risk involve in this line of business far outweighs the gains.

“When a client has paid you to provide a Grade A service, but a little mix up or oversight could cost you more than you ever bargained for. In a situation whereby you have been paid almost half a million naira for a particular event, but

you failed to tidy up your end, you may end up losing such client and other bigger jobs that could have come through such person.”

Mamud added that the job keeps him busy every weekend, but it does not come everytime.

“According to him, “Those who say we get jobs every weekend are right but they also fail to know that jobs don’t come every weekend.

There had been weeks that I didn’t step out of my house because the quality of job that I was offered would lower my standard and put me out there as someone who does not understand the job. So, my best bet in those days was to turn down the job and pray that a better one comes,” she added.

Guaranteeing success in event management There are various important notes to keep in mind for those interestd in achieving success in event management.

Responsibilities For starters, good knowledge of the responsibilities of an event manager is key to determining expertise in this field. The role of event

organisers varies depending on the organisation and type of events involved.

The responsibilities include researching markets to identify opportunities for events; producing detailed proposal for events such as venues, timelines, suppliers, staffing, budgeting and legal obligations; agreeing to, and managing a budget; securing and booking a suitable venue or location; liaising with clients to ascertain their precise event equipment; ensuring insurance, legal, health and safety obligations are adhered to; coordinating venue management, caterers, stand designers, contractors and equipment; hiring and organising facilities for car parking, traffic control, security, first aid, hospitality and the media.

Attractive salary Salary is another major aspect that will improve productivity as well as keep the work force alive. This also determines the survival and avoidance of any hitches when discharging responsibilities.

Salaries vary according to employer, sector and geographical location. Performance-related pay, commission and bo-

nuses are also typical and can increase earnings.

Skills Skills are what any event manager must possess; it shows one’s quality and versatility. Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail must be highly considered. Project management experience, time management skills, ability to work under pressure, problem-solving skills and diplomacy are some of the hallmarks of a skilled event manager. Flexibility and adaptation to approach must also be painstaking, especially as a measure to survive in recession.

Professional development The more developed one is, the greater one becomes grounded and excels in any profession. It is vital to develop in skill and knowledge and one can only achieve these through innovation and trainings. However, trainings opportunities vary depending on the size of the organisation one occupies.

Training is classically offered through short courses, run either in-house or externally.

Ekiti @20: Fayose, Ekiti people celebrate with ‘independence walk’ Commends Abacha, Ekiti founding fathers, political leaders Sam Nwaoko - Ado-Ekiti GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, on Saturday, embarked on a street walk with hundreds of the people of the state to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the state.

Governor Fayose walked from Matthew Street in the state capital to the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium and was joined by hundreds of the citizens of the state.

He addressed the people of the state at the termination of the march, where he lauded the late General Sani Abacha, a former Head of State, for the creation of the state.

Fayose also commended the founding fathers of the state for bringing the dream

of creating the state into reality.

He said: “Let me commend General Abacha for creating the state and I also thank our founding fathers for their vision. Though, I didn’t participate in the struggle, but I am a beneficiary and many children and governors yet unborn will also benefit.

“Politics aside, let me commend all the military and duly elected governors of the past for their contributions, because they have contributed their own quota within the available resources to lay a foundation, for without foundation there could be nothing to build upon.

“Ekiti has scored many firsts within the two years I came on board. Ekiti recorded transparency in bud-

get provision. It came first in 2016 NECO. These came at the most auspicious time when Ekiti is 20. Our desire now is to buckle up and work harder for more service delivery for the good of you and me.

“The present economic recession in our country is not pleasurable, it is not interesting at all. It is a sad news to hear that a dollar is now being exchanged for N500.

“Whatever our political, religious and interests are, we must put our eyes on the ball called Ekiti for our tomorrow to be better than this,” he said.

Fayose promised that the flyover project, Ikere Ekiti dualisation project, the new Oja Oba market and other projects in all the 16 local

government areas, including the proposed high court complex and new governor’s office would be completed before his departure in 2018.

“I want to tell you that I won’t abandon any project.

All the projects I have started would be completed before my departure,” Fayose assured.

While noting that the celebration of 20-year milestone in the life of a state was justi-

Nigeria at 56: We must begin to get things right —OBJ FORMER President, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, noted that the nation’s growth at 56 is impaired, but gave an assurance that there would be light at the end of the tunnel.

He spoke at a lecture entitled “Nigeria Development for Nigerians by Nigerians “organised by the Youth Fellowship of the Owu Baptist Church, Abeokuta, to

mark the nation’s 56th Independence celebration.

The former president submitted that the country was not where it should be since independence, urging all Nigerians to accept responsibility and stop passing blames on the administration of the system.

“Our development is impaired, it is not what it ought to be but we must get it right. We must all accept responsibility, we must stop

tractual agreement already endorsed by both parties, the contract is based on a success rate of 13 per cent using a benchmark of $19,753,012.36 and N239,607,155.52 monthly revenue while a maximum cap of 15 per cent success rate is payable on any new revenue head discovered by the consultants within the contract period.

“In other words, Snecou Financial Services Company Limited will be paid 13 per cent of only the revenue that is above the threshold of the approved benchmark in the course of the contracting period.

“Similarly, Messrs Snecou will also be entitled to a maximum of 15 per cent of new revenue streams discovered during the period.”

Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

NIMASA appoints revenue consultant THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has appointed Snecou Financial Services Company Limited as revenue consultant and debt recovery agent as part of efforts to increase the revenue profile of the agency.

The appointment, which is for a renewable two-year period, is done in line with

the determination of NIMASA not only to rake in more money, but to also recover outstanding debts owed the agency.

According to a statement made available to Sunday Tribune by Lami Tumaka, Team NIMASA’s head of corporate communications, the approval for the contract was recently granted by the Parastatals Tenders

Board (PTB) of NIMASA at its 55th session held in Lagos State..

“Given the urgent need to recover the agency’s debts which is in billions of naira, the agency sought and obtained approval for a “Certificate of No Objection” from the Bureau of Public Procurement in line with the Public Procurement Act (PPA).

“According to the con-

fied, he said “my government has however opted for a lowkey celebration because of the financial realities of our state. However, our attainment and achievements are worthy of celebration.”

passing the bulk,” he said.

Obasanjo added that foreign investors and friends of the country should be encouraged to support the government’s developmental efforts, in the areas of peace and security, education, food, sanitation, shelter as well as transportation.

He identified unemployment as one of the major issues threatening the peace of the country, saying he was offered employment by different establishments, immediately he completed his secondary education at Baptist Boys’ High School.

Obasanjo attributed unemployment as the major cause of youth restiveness in the country, appealing to the government to tackle the situation headlong.

“Unemployment is a major problem in the country today and if we don’t take care, it will consume all of us. In fact, the rising unemployment is a time bomb,” he added.

9

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

life&living

For lovers of Abacha, it is ‘till death do us part’

Abacha is a popular delicacy in the South-East area of the country, but recently six people died in Lagos State after eating it. JUDE OSSAI and CHUKWUMA OKPARAOCHA report that despite this tragic event, lover of Abacha are far from dumping their favourite food.

P

ENULTIMATE Thursday, six people were reported to have died in Isolo area of Lagos State, while about three dozen others were hospitalised. Initially it was said to be a case of diarrhea and cholera until it was discovered to be an outbreak traced to a popular delicacy called Abacha, a delicacy popular in the South eastern part of the country and in Isolo area of the state.

Commonly called African salad, Abacha is prepared from dried, shredded and fermented cassava, leaves of garden egg, stockfish, castor bean, palm oil and local spices.

Although i was not clear how the food became a delicacy, reports said it became common during the Nigeria civil war when food became very scarce and people had to make do with available food crop remnants such as cassava to sustain them in the twar period and the resultant famine.

After the end of the war, Abacha became popular as many people within and beyond the East began to eat it with relish. Some even began to spice it up to make it appealing to a wider number of people.

In Lagos, Abacha joints dot many areas of the city, especially areas populated by people from the South East.

Sunday Tribune visited one of such abacha joints in CeleIlasa area of Okota last the week to find out if people were

still eating the meal and to the surprise of the reporter,many customers were busy snacking on abacha.

From their responses, the report of the casualty recorded of people said to have eaten abacha had done little to dissuade lovers of the delicacy from further eating it.

According to one of them, Chidi, a day without abacha is not complete for him. “I am Igbo and you must have noticed our love for the meal. The deaths recorded from contami-

After the end of the civil war, abacha became a popular food item as many people began to patronise it

nated abacha is rather unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean the food should be seen as bad or unhealthy.

Cholera could break out from anything; today it might be abacha,tomorrow, it could come from another food.

“I have been eating it for over 15 years and I have never fallen sick for a day. I can’t therefore, be discouraged by what has happened because I like the food. I know where I eat it and I am careful not to eat it just anywhere,” he said.

SAnother resident of the area, Mrs Rachael Odika, said it was wrong for anyone to vilify the food, saying rather than see abacha as evil, non-lovers of the delicacy should find out why it had resulted in deaths.

“Abacha is one of the best meals anyone could eat. I love it and I am an expert in preparing it. But instead of criminalising it, as its already being done in some quarters, I think people, including the government, should investigate what has happened. In my opinion, I think it has to do with poor hygiene on the part of those that prepared the bad abacha that cause the cholera problem. This is so because the food does not require any Continues pg10

10 life&living

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Genevieve

Medical experts differ on benefits, dangers of Abacha delicacy

Dr Ajeigbe Bolaji

Continued from pg 9 cooking. Everything used in its preparation is used raw, therefore great care must be taken in its preparation,” she said.

She added that like the popular salad, any use of spoilt vegetable or cassava, which is one of the main ingredients of the food, could make a bite of abacha deadly.

“Usually, the application of heat kills germs, but since abacha, like the foreign salad, does not require cooking, great care must be taken in ensuing that good hygiene is maintained when preparing it.

“I am of the opinion that the abacha that caused the cholera problem must have been poorly prepared. I am sure of this because I have been eating the food for years and it has never affected me for once,” she added.

When speaking on the development, a Lagos-based general health practitioner, Dr Abimbola Ademilekan, pointed out that in order to forestall future recurrence of cholera outbreak, there’s need for the government to restructure the sewage management system in the state in a way similar to what has been done to other wastes generated in the state.

“As long as the government is not serious about sewage management in the state, there is a high chance of people disposing their sewages in unhygienic conditions.

And as long as this happens, one cannot rule out cases such as cholera, especially given the fact that many houses in various communities are usually clustered together,” she stated.

Dr Abimbola, in a telephone chat with Sunday Tribune, further added that “everyone knows how the household wastes generated are managed, especially with the abundance of waste trucks, but nobody really knows how sewage is managed in Lagos State.”

Belgium-trained medical practitioner, Dr O. Adeyefa, blames the death of abacha consumers on the inactivity of health workers who should be conducting random and impromptu visits to eateries and other places to monitor compliance with hygienic conditions. In the past, one feared such

workers because of the powers they had.

Landlords were arrested for overflowing sewages, just as cafetarias are not excempted from punishment if they flouted rules.

But things have got so bad that many don’t even remember we once had health officials monitoring conditions under which what we put in our mouths are prepared including satchet water, confectioneries and the abacha that you are talking about.

Two things could have happened the vegetables could have been contaminated from the source or the cassava was not well dried. Salmonela is an infectious germ that affects the abdomen. I am sure the victims would have vomitted and excreted feaces before they died. Some of them may also have collapsed. As regards the cassava treatment, the cassava used to prepare the salad that killed those people was either not ripe enough, or the water was not well squeezed to the last drain. In that case, it was instant death because the water itself is toxic. Cyanide, the water in cassava, kills immediately. That is why you see garri makers allow two,three days or more to remove cyanide from cassava before processing into garri.

“In whatever way it might have happened, investigation should begin from where the seller got cassava and how the salad was processed. Health workers should be employed or brought back, if we want such deaths to stop. Many Nigerians don’t bother about the conditions under which they produce what others eat. If cholera should break out in Lagos, the end result can’t be imagined. We need health workers to monitor things or we will continue to record

more avoidable deaths,” he said.

Dr Ajeigbe Bolaji of Prospect Hospital, Molete, Ibadan, also complained about the source of the controversial salad. “It could have been poisoned from the source. When I was in the East, I used to eat the salad and it had health hazard then. I don’t know why it should be so now. For the product to have been with us for that long, and we are just hearing about people dying after eating it after these years, then something must have been wrong somewhere. That would be from the source or its preservation. I can’t say its because of the spice that is being added these days, but the source and means of preservation are suspect.

“A lot of things happen in this country which we take for granted. Like what happened to tomatoes in the recent past where we were told that there was “tomato zika,” we can also have something like that happening to salad. I urge Nigerians to begin to seriously consider what they ingest as there is crisis in the country and many are looking for fast ways to make money by improvising. It could be that an ingenious vendor was trying out something new, but got its preparation wrong at the expense of six lives.

“But if samples are taken to a laboratory, we could discover what caused the deaths.

It may be from mishandling the vegetables or someone trying to act fast and smart.

For me, you can’t come up with new edible product and I will eat it. If I see green eba or yellow fufu, I will never eat it, no matter how appealing it may look. Nigerians should be careful about what they eat,” the medical practitioner said.

I am of the opinion that the abacha that caused the cholera problem must have been poorly prepared. I am sure of this because I have been eating the food for years and it has never affected me for once,”

Still a delicacy in the East Sunday Tribune findings revealed that despite the claim of death resulting him eating the food, abacha is remains a musteat in Igboland and is most eaten in OjiRiver, Udi and Ezeagu Local Government Areas of Enugu State.

Abacha is now so popular that it is now a special food prepared for guests during social gathering such as traditional weddings, birthdays and other festivities.

Sunday Tribune during the week, sought people’s views around the Enugu metropolis on why people love to eat Abacha.

A respondent, Okechukwu Ukwueze, said that despite the stories he had heard that some people died as a result of eating Abacha, he will not stop eating it, stressing that Abacha is delicious and contains vitamins required for body building.

“All classes of vitamins are contained in Abacha. How can I stop eating it? I like Abacha and I will not stop eating Abacha. I mostly eat it in the afternoon as my lunch.

It is an African fast food,” he said.

For Ngozi Okeke, abacha is good for the body and nothing comes close to it in satisfying her hunger. “Abacha makes me feel healthy because of the energy I get from it.

Abacha has all the vital ingredients needed in a food. I like it. Those who died because of Abacha were unfortunate.

“Maybe it was because it was not well prepared. Food poisoning can occur in any food if not well-cooked and preserved,” she said.

According to Nkiru Kalu, an Enugubased Computer Operator, “I just like it. It is a natural food and it is easy to prepare.

It is better than noodles. The ingredients are very cheap, few in number and easy to prepare. You can buy Abacha with just N100.00.

“Even if people die because of Abacha, I will not stop eating it. My friend introduced me to eating Abacha when I visited her at a community in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State and since then I have come to like it,” Nkiru said.

•Additional reports by Tade Makinde

11

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

specialreport

Here comes the limit to speed As the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) kicks off the enforcement drive of compulsory installation of the speed limit device starting with commercial vehicles, CLEMENT IDOKO and OLALEKAN OLABULO write that many commercial vehicle owners are yet to install the device.

Y

ESTERDAY, October 1st, 2016, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) commenced what it tagged “Advisory Enforcement” of compulsory installation of speed limiting devices in commercial vehicles across the country. This came after several months of postponement.

This first phase of the enforcement drive, which is expected to last for three months, that is from now till 31st December, 2016, is still part of the ongoing sensitisation programme by the FRSC, in order to ensure that all commercial vehicle own-

ers in the country fully and compulsorily comply with the directive.

Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of FRSC, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, insisted that the enforcement was in line with the approval by President Muhammadu Buhari, as part of government’s strategic efforts to reduce the high rate of accidents and deaths on the highways.

Speed limiting device or speed limiter for short, is a device used to limit the top speed of a vehicle by not allowing it to accelerate beyond the pre-set speed limit.

It has been established that lower speed

variance can be linked to fewer crashes and compliance with speed limits reduces the chances of vehicles getting involved in frequency of crashes and severity of bodily injuries.

Therefore, enforcing the use of speed limiter has become imperative considering the fact that speed itself has been identified as a key risk factor in road traffic injuries and mortality, influencing both the risk of a road crash as well as the severity of the injuries that result therefrom.

Oyeyemi explained recently that the planned implementation and enforcement

of the speed governors had witnessed four postponements from its initial launching date of June 1, 2015, before its final approval by the Presidency. He noted that the “final directive from the presidency is clear; the enforcement date for the implementation of the speed limiting device is on October 1 and we have had series of stakeholders meeting.

“We already have the portal that we will use to monitor this. We don’t need to pursue any vehicle. We will just stop you like we verify licence. On the tablet we will check whether your vehicle has been installed with the device, if it has not, we will impound the vehicle and we make sure that you do the right thing.

Continues pg12

12

specialreport

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Continued from pg11 “We are not talking about fines now; it’s to save lives so we will impound the vehicle then the owner of the vehicle will be made to install the device before the journey continues,” he said, adding that the corps would do this for the next three months to achieve enforcement and compliance so as to compel commercial vehicles to install the device,” he added.

It was revealed that about 68 per cent of the over 12,077 road crashes recorded in 2015, in which 5,400 people lost their lives, was traceable to high speed. Besides, stakeholders agree that aside safe motoring, chief among the benefits of using the electronic device is that it reduces fuel consumption resulting from lower speed.

Regulated speed in turn cuts down the cost of maintenance, thus leading to longer life-span for vehicles.

FRSC Head, Media and Strategy, Mr Bisi Kazeem, explained that all the Sector Commands of the corps have commenced advisory enforcement of compulsory installation of speed limiting in commercial vehicles, noting that advisory enforcement was designed to further sensitise commercial vehicle owners to the need to install the device in their vehicles before the fullblown enforcement in January, 2017.

He corroborated the corps marhsall’s stand that no fine would be collected during the first phase of the enforcement ending by December 31, 2016.

Kazeem, further explained that free ticket booklets have been made available to all the Sector Commands across the Federation for booking of defaulters even though this would not attract any penalty but to force the motorists to go back and ensure that the right thing was done.

Sunday Tribune investigation, however, observed that while some major fleet operators have ensured compliance, not many commercial vehicle operators have complied, though the enforcement deadline started yesterday.

The Public Relations Officer of Peace Mass Transit Company, Abuja, Mr Jude Ngwu, said his organisation has ensured full compliance with the FRSC directive on their fleet. He added that the management of the company in its wisdom installed speed limiters in its vehicles to help reduce road crashes as a result of speeding by drivers.

According to him, the transport company had introduced installation of “speed governors” in its vehicles about six years ago. He, therefore, said the enforcement of by the FRSC did not pose any problems for the company.

He disclosed that from experience, the introduction of speed limiting devices has not only helped in reducing rate of road crashes involving the company’s vehicles but management cost has also been tremendously reduced. He disclosed that speed governors were installed in all his company’s over 3,000 buses plying the Nigerian highways.

Ngwu, noted that when a vehicle is involved in an accident, the loss is not only on the part of the passengers but is alsoborne by the company in terms of cost of repairing the vehicle, loss of personnel, and even the integrity of the company safety-wise, in the eyes of the public.

Managing Director of the Company, Mr Samuel Maduka Onjishi, also described the compulsory use of the limiter as the best thing to happen to transportation in the country.

However, an official of a Mass Transit

Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshall

Yasin, NURTW national president

‘It’s another attempt to make money’ Company located at Mararaba in Nsarawa State, an adjoining town to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who asked not be named said his organisation is yet to install the speed limiters in most of the vehicles, though he said the device is a good initiative in the effort to reduce high rate of road crashes in Nigeria.

He said the management of the company ensured that the device was installed in some of its new vehicles, adding that arrangement was in place to install the device in all the vehicles.

“You know that things are generally hard now in the country and I think the Road Safety people are aware of that. Gradually, we will get there.”

The Managing Director of ABC Transport Plc, Mr Frank Nneji, speaking recently at one of the stakeholders meetings on the implementation of the speed limiters condemned those who complain about the cost of installing the device in their vehicles, insisting that the benefits far outweigh other considerations.

Sunday Tribune recall that FRSC had stepped up sensitisation campaign to

highlight the benefits to motorists and Nigeria at large of the speed limiting devices.

In Lagos State commuters, especially commercial vehicle operators, are anxiously awaiting the implementation of the speed limit device, this is just as the state sector of the FRSC has expressed its optimism that more commercial vehicle operators will comply before the expiration date.

But some drivers who spoke with the Sunday Tribune described the directive from the FRSC as another attempt to extort money from them and this might have been responsible for the low level of compliance among them, as over 90 per cent of them are yet to comply with the directive.

A commercial vehicle driver, who simply wants to be reffered to as Tunde and shuttles between Ikeja and Agege area of the state said: “I’ve heard about it (speed limiter). It can only work for private and personal vehicles, not for us commercial bus drivers.”

He continued: “They said they will start on Saturday (yesterday). We are waiting

Commercial vehicle operators are anxiously awaiting the implementation of the speed limit device, this is just as the state sector of the FRSC has expressed its optimism that more commercial vehicle operators would comply before the expiration date

for them. The Lagos State government has come again. Will they install it in their BRT buses? I know they will not install it in the buses.”

When Sunday Tribune pointed out that the scheme was not an initiative of the Lagos State government, but that of the FRSC, Tunde said: “Don’t they want our vehicles on the road again? Or do they want our vehicles to be crawling on the road? The whole thing is all about making money out of us.”

Another driver, Taiwo, also said: “the fact is that I am aware, but many of our drivers are not aware. I am not sure of any single driver in the whole of our park here that has installed it in his vehicle.”

Taiye, as he is popularly called, also said that “we heard that the case is in court and our union has pleaded for more time.

We are surprised that they still want to go ahead with the implementation.”

He, however, said “whatever happens on Saturday (yesterday) and afterwards will determine the level of compliance. I will wait and see what the road safety officials will do first, before deciding on what to do.”

The Lagos Sector Commander of the FRSC, Michael Olapade, while speaking with the Sunday Tribune expressed optimism that the drivers would comply, adding that some of the drivers had bought into the scheme.

“We are optimistic that they will comply. We don’t expect all of them to have complied by Saturday ((yesterday). Some of them have already installed it in their vehicles.”

“The vendors are doing their marketing and we expect more people to install it in their vehicles,” he said.

13 Continued from

T

2 October, 2016 last week

HIS first principle is this: Man is the sole creative and purposive dynamic in nature: everything else by comparison is inert. In all the spheres of production, distribution, exchange, and consumption, he is the only active agent: all else is passive.

He is the initiator and accelerator of every form of human progress: he is the generator of every initial impulse in human evolution. Any so-called plan for progress which, therefore, places man in a secondary place is basically in error, antithetic to the natural order of human endeavours, and is bound to fail, as well as be a bane rather than a blessing to the people. The so-called” green revolution” of the NPN, as I see it, could only benefit a few educated and already-well-to-do people unless it goes hand in hand with the education, health-care, and full development and employment of the entire mass of our people.

One of the causes of the- disastrous collapse of the First Republic was the failure to recognize the ultimate purpose of the State and the unique and prime status of man within the State. And one of the disturbing aspects of the present dispensation is that the NPN has no ideological direction, and Alhaji Shagari, for his part, and from his recent utterances, appears to have chosen to tread that accursed path which in yesteryear led to a calamitous end.

The fourth characteristic feature is tolerance. Tolerance has been defined as conceding to others the right which you claim for yourself. If you claim the right to criticize others or abuse or insult them, you must concede to them the right to criticize, abuse, or insult you in return. If you claim the right to administer the affairs of the people as their chosen representative, you must concede to them or to others of their representatives the right to question the propriety ot your conduct, if for any reason they think that you have acted improperly or dishonorably. Indeed tolerance can be described as “the Law and the Prophets” of the democratic way of life.

The fifth and sixth characteristic features are respectively the readiness of the party-in-power to surrender power at the end of its term of office, and the willingness of the contending political parties to accept the verdict of the electorate whenever it is freely given.

One of the banes of the First Republic was tenacity of office. The then Ministers and Legislators, and some of them are now in the leadership of the NPN, were not ready to surrender power when their time was up. In the result, they resorted to rigging of elections to keep them-

Awo’s thoughts PATH TO NIGERIAN GREATNESS

On the campaign trail Charter of stability and progress* selves in power. As a consequence, and because the affected people had, for good reasons, lost confidence in the Judges who” were assigned to adjudicate on election petitions, the electorate rejected the rigged results, and embarked on a violent process of self-redress. It follows that willingness to accept the verdict of the electorate must be shored up by free and fair elections, and by the fearlessness and impartiality of the Judiciary to do justice, and be manifestly seen to do it, in all cases of disputed freeness and fairness in the election.

It is the hope and prayer of all right ‘thinking Nigerians that the next elections will not be rigged, and that the Judiciary will, before then, restore itself to its traditional and sacred position of being the trusted bulwark of the citizens’ protection against any kind of injustice from whatever quarter it emanates.

The seventh and last characteristic feature is investment in democracy through financial subvention to political parties. It is now generally accepted by the Democracies of Western Europe and the United States that since political parties are essential to democracy, and since these parties, except those heavily backed by big business, cannot financially fend for themselves, the Government should give adequate aid to them for organization and electioneering. This feature is not as young as it would appear at first sight. Because, at all material times,

Sunday Tribune

financial aid, in various but disguised forms, had always been given to political parties in the past.I have already dealt with this matter earlier in this address.

It is my considered view that every Government of the day should invest heavily in democracy. Apart from anything else, such investment will help to promote free and fair elections in Nigeria.

You will notice that thus far in this address, I have dealt with various aspects of democracy. I have done so because, at this juncture in the annals of our country, it is imperative and in the best interest of stability and progress that democracy should succeed.

But the portents are bad. And I do really tremble to contemplate any alternative to democracy. If we fail to make a success of this second experiment, the consequences will be most dreadful, and those of you who are much younger than myself, however long you may live, will never know democracy again. In the circumstances, I invite all wellmeaning and patriotic Nigerians, to whatever political camp they may belong, to give an objective study to what I have had to say so that together we may evolve arrangements for making future elections free and fair and so save Nigeria permanently for democracy, stability, and progress. To these same ends, between now and the next elections, and thereafter for all time, we need, the following: A tolerant and dedicated Executive; A vigilant, constructive, and responsible Legislature; An absolutely detached, fearless, impartial, and incorruptible Judiciary; and A fearless, powerful and independent Press that will not be cloyed by government patronage or subverted by bribery, and threats of personal privations.

Since the First of October this year, a good number of occurrences have taken place: some eventful; others eventless. The historic inauguration of all our Governors throughout the country has come and gone, but it is only in a few States, including in particular the five UPNcontrolled States, that this event brought cheer into the hearts of our people. The simple reason is that in those five States, the inauguration of the Governors did not just mean the elevation of five persons to a position of power and privilege. It means the advent of a new era - visible enough for everyone with eyes to see, and tangible enough for even the blind to feel. It means a new era of unprecedented dedicated service to the people, and of deep and abiding concern for their welfare and happiness.

To be continued

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Contact: sundaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com or call:08050498483

14

voxpop

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

s a h n io s s e c e r ic m n What econo k a e p s s n ia r e ig N , s u o t e don ve quarters. It is also a business cycle uti sec con o tw for h wt gro c mi no eco e A recession is a negativ s investment spending, ect aff It ty. ivi act c mi no eco in n ow wd contraction which results in a general slo unemployment rate rise. d an es tci rup nk ba , on ati infl ile wh e business profits and personal incom their feelings at this time. on s an eri Nig h wit aks spe IRO DA FA MI OLUWAPELU

MRS SADE BAKARE, BUSINESS WOMAN

NIGERIA is now becoming a hard country to live in as everything has become expensive. Before now, I used to spend about N20,000 to buy commodities.

But now, I have cut down to N10,000.

I have no choice than to cope with the economic recession.

MRS JANET ONAMUSI, FIREWOOD SELLER

NIGERIANS should begin to pray for this country because things are going to get worse. To feed is already a big challenge. There are no sales as it was business-wise.Customers are complaining about money shortage.

MR ADE, BUSINESS MAN

MISS OLALADE OLATUNDUN, STUDENT

MR IDOWU FATAI, MOTORCYCLE RIDER

DAMINI AGBOOLA

It’s been God who been seeing me through this recession, I have no choice than to cope. But the truth is that it has really affected my pocket money. We are faced with challenges on food and many other things.

I buy what I can afford and I ignore what I don’t need anymore. I now prioritise my needs for survival.

In the past, I budget N10,000 for goods. but now, I have reduced it to N5,000. I have cut down on my expenses.

MISS AISHAT LAWAL, STUDENT

THE recession has done more harm than good.

Everything is now very expensive, and yet there is no money to buy what is expensive or cheap. Palm oil that sold for N200 before is now N450. Foodstuff is costly, even clothes are expensive, yet we have to buy things we can afford.

The government must take all steps to ensure that inflation comes to an end because we are tired of enduring.

WE are enduring because there is nothing the masses can do. Things that we bought cheaply before are now so expensive that we strive very hard to even buy them. Nigeria is not easy to live in again at all. The okada that I use for my business is costly. Passengers don’t want to pay any extra money and yet we shop in the same market and buy almost the same things at high prices. Things are extremely tight for us.

THE economic recession has really affected me a lot. My pocket money has reduced drastically, even foods and other essential commodities are expensive. The economy is not favourable, especially to young ones whose parents are being owed salaries.

MRS FOLAKE OGUNMUYIWA, SATCHET WATER SELLER: THEY say ‘water seller never sells at a loss’.

That’s a stale proverb because there is no gain on pure water business anymore. Things are now too expensive. To buy food stuff is a great challenge faced by most Nigerians.

MRS BUKOLA LAWAL, BUSINESS WOMAN

MISS BLESSING AWOYERA

I have no choice than to cope with this recession. But then, the suffering is just too much.

Most Nigerians are suffering.

Getting money to spend on food has been a challenge.

Before recession, many could not afford three meals a day, now that there is economic recession, how will they cope?

WHAT can one do?

I just have to cope and hope for better days to come.

People are really suffering. Food has become ‘gold’ in Nigeria while other things are becoming expensive on a daily basis. I pray we survive this recession. The more we try to cope, the harder it gets, which has made thing difficulty for many people.

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2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Media causing disaffection among comedians —Tee A

Tunde Adewale, otherwise known as Tee A, is one of Nigeria’s standup comedians that has earned his place in the top and has continued to stay relevant for years. Today, at the Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos State, the light-skinned and soft spoken entertainer marks the 20th anniversary of his show, Tyme out with Tee-A. He speaks with SEGUN ADEBAYO about the success of his brand.

Y

OU will be celebrating 20 years of the Tee A brand today, what makes this day special to you?

For me, it’s basically a day of thanksgiving and general appreciation of the people, clients, friends, family members and fans who have stood by me over the past 20 years. It is also a great validation of the Nigerian comedy industry that the industry has been able to stand the test of time. It is a special day, not only to me but also to the industry that I have represented over the years and the practitioners who have worked very hard to put the industry on the map.

Continued on pg17

Why Tiwa Savage shunned TeeBillz birthday

‘My ordeal at the hands of police’

KSA, 2Face, others get royal blessings from Ooni of Ife

16

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune With Segun Adebayo &Seyi Sokoya tegbollistic@yahoo.com seyi_sky@yahoo.com 08116954644 08132577840

‘I’m not lucky,

but blessed’ Continued from pg20

Staging a show during this time when the economy is said to be in recession, how has the situation of the country affected the planning and spending ahead of today?

Well the truth is that this is more of a giving back from me to fans, clients and family as I mentioned earlier. So, this is not just a show; it is a celebration of a landmark achievement, hence I will be spending my personal funds to host my guests despite the current economic situation. I can’t complain now because when the economy was good, I also benefited from it.

Some people believe you are one of the luckiest comedians in the industry and the reason for this is not far to seek. You hardly put up shows like some of your colleagues, but you have been around for more than two decades what have you been getting right?

I wouldn’t say I’m lucky, I would rather say I’m blessed and I know my strength. I have also come to understand the fact that there is always a time for everything. Back then, when I was putting up shows for eight straight years, many had not even joined the comedy industry. I went into television comedy also before many people even thought of it. From that point, I decided to shift my focus to hosting corporate and private events. So, for me, it’s about forward thinking all the time and continually reinventing yourself, rather than doing the same thing year after year.

So you are saying that you are not lucky?

Again, I reiterate that I am not lucky but blessed by God, because even my critics will tell you that Tee A works hard.

Looking back on how your career in comedy started and what you have achieved so far, what would you say has been the greatest achievement of the Tee A brand?

For me, I would gladly say the fact that a couple of comedians can publicly say that I inspired them is good enough for me. That is something that makes me feel proud each time I look back at where I was coming from and how far I have come. The journey continues, anyway.

Does that mean you have fulfilled the dreams you set for yourself when you started?

To the glory of God, I have fulfilled almost all the dreams and I hope to fervently work towards the remaining ones.

You could not have got this far without the low and high moments in your life. If you are to look back at those days, which would you say has been the toughest moment for you?

One thing that I have learnt in life is to take on challenges

as they come. I also understand from a very tender age to take life one step at a time. At this point, nothing really throws me off or keeps me down.

In an industry that is fast growing and expanding on a daily basis with comedians emerging on all sides, how would you say you have fared in the last few years?

It is indeed a great achievement for the industry that we are constantly generating new talents. For people like me who have been in the game for a bit, it’s a thing of joy seeing these guys take the industry to another level. As regards how I have fared, I think I’m even busier these days than when I was an up-and-coming comedian.

You have been quite silent. It was even reported that you had stopped doing comedy because people were not hearing much about you. What really have you been up to?

What I did basically was to stop doing concert appearances. I began producing Tyme Out with Tee A for an international audience and I kept on anchoring events.

I found out while doing these that I was also making more money than I normally would have made when doing concerts.

The truth is that concerts are really only great for brand building purposes as we usually hardly get sponsorships.

Most of the shows you see around don’t bring money back to the pockets of the organisers. Most of them run the shows at a loss. In my own case, I did concerts for nine years and I felt it was time to move on.

Will it be wrong to say that your comedy business has experienced some lull in the last few years as you have not been seen anchoring the big gigs like some of your colleagues?

On the contrary, I actually hosted some of the biggest gigs around. I even pass on events to some of my colleagues when I’m fully booked.

You probably have not been very outgoing?

Let me also add this, I am not the type that likes blowing my trumpet. When I am busy with my work, I don’t like distractions because some of the things you have not seen me do in the last few years are distractions. It is just like people concluding that you have not been working because they have not been seeing you gathering stories or reading your bylines in the paper. I don’t have to make

noise about my work. It is my work for God’s sake, why should I be telling people that I am working? That’s the way I see it.

People don’t really regard you as a ‘serious’ comedian. Some would even say you perform better as an MC than a comedian. Where does your strength lie in all of these and would you say comedy alone could have taken you to this level?

Like I said, there’s a time for everything. I have gone through the phase of doing the so called “serious comedy”.

I have gone through the phase of doing comedy for TV, now I’m in the phase of doing Comedy and MC tomorrow, I might decide to change and do radio comedy or even stage. My belief is that we shouldn’t be stagnant in life, being dynamic is a very strong attribute of the wise.

Some time ago, some people believe that you need to belong to a particular group or caucus if you want to keep getting jobs from the big clients. Would you agree that there is a clique in the comedy industry?

No. There is nothing of such.

But you are known to be very close to Ali Baba and that closeness is expected to get you jobs regularly as it is believed that no other comedian gets as much big jobs as him. How true is this?

It is still not true. Many of us are close to Ali, but we are all very competent enough to get jobs on our own merit.

Ali has done his bit, which was to open the way for the corporate world to embrace us. It is now left for each comedian to prove their worth before the clients. The big clients know what they are looking for, and once you have it, they call you.

Why has it become almost impossible for you and some of your colleagues to displace him as the number one comedian and do you truly see him as the number one?

I really don’t want to dwell on this matter because even the Bible says give unto Caesar what belongs to him, and give to God what belongs to God. The gentleman has earned every accolade he receives, so why contest it? I believe that a section of the media just continually seeks to cause disaffection among comedians and it is really a shame because we are all one very close big family.

For somebody who has been around for a while, how have you managed to stay out of scandals?

It has never been by my power or by might. The level of acceptance and appreciation has definitely increased but enormous corporate and government support is still required for us to be able to compete favourably.

17

razzmattazz

BUDDING Nigerian singer, Emmanuel Joshua Oluwaseyi, otherwise known as Prince J, is taking every step of his career seriously and does not seem to be losing sleep over the success that has been greeting his music since he hit the big scene.

Just after his fans are yet to get over his last single, Shout Out, which ruled the airwaves and rocked many club houses for months, Prince J has returned to the studio to build on the success of Shout Out with another single, Omo Olope.

Prince J said he was happy about his last single and decided to step it up this time with a new song that would rock the airwaves for a long time.

For weeks, there had been talks about his new single which was produced byJasontickbeats as many people said they have been looking forward to the new single.

Prince J, who said he would not like to be compared with Adekunle Gold released his new single Omo Olope on Friday and the song went to top many radio chats in Lagos State and other states.

For him, the music journey has started and he could not back down at this stage when the demand for his songs and presence at shows and gigs has continued unabated. “I can’t complain now. The heat is on and I am ready for the big stage because that was what I had in mind when I decided to join the train”.

The new song, according to the young singer, is a feel cool song, which was borne out of his desire to keep entertaining his fans both home and abroad.

Sunday Tribune

I studied Obasanjo for 6 months to produce ‘Mr President’—Mr Latin

A

Prince J returns with Omo Olope

2 October, 2016

CE comedian, Bolaji Amusan, popularly known as Mr Latin,has disclosed that it took him six months to study former President Olusegun Obasanjo before he could produce his film entitled ‘Mr President’.

He disclosed this on Friday while featuring as a guest on a live programme, Podium, on Sweet F.M Radio Station, Abeokuta,Ogun State.

The film, according to him, focused on the the life and times of Obasanjo, his first term as civilian president, his pre-election era as well as Past-election period among others.

“It took me six months to monitor and study Obasanjo to enable me produce the film, Mr President,” Amusan said.

The artiste added that even whenever he was to act a role of a gateman or

security official in a film, his first port of call was visiting where such officials work to study them, the manner they carry out their operations so that it would be in line with his role in the film.

Mr Latin, however, accused the Nigerian Movie Censor’s Board of contributing to the myraids of challenges confronting the industry, just as he called for involvement of career officers in the film industry.

On his membership on a social media known as penpushing, Amusan commended the administrator and the initiator of the platform, Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji for thinking along the laudable project, which he noted has become source of authentic news dissemination globally.

He added that it was a privilege for him to be a participant and to learn from professionals on the

platform, who he described as professionals, leaders and mentors.

While commenting on the dearth of creativity and quality production in the film industry, he blamed this on paucity of funds and laziness of the part of some producers.

Juliet Ibrahim holds ‘Meets Media’ in style by seyi sokoya IT was an atmosphere of fun when movie star, Juliet Ibrahim, launched ‘Moda Lipsticks and Shade’ which coincided with the September edition of ‘Meets Media’ at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos State.

The event, which featured 360nobs co-founder, Oye Akideinde as the media personality of the month, as part of the initiative of the brands behind media networking and creating

an enabling environment for communication professionals to interact, was also graced by other media personnel from the prints, online, TV and radio.

Hosted by Cute Kimani, the event saw 360nobs founders, Tonia Soares and Oye Akideinde chat with Juliet Ibrahim as she launched her beauty care brand.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of ‘The Broad’ achievements award to the media personality of the month, Oye Akideinde.

Liberty TV berths on GOtv

Abia to host 2016 BON awards

TWO years after its debut as a foremost news and current affairs channel, Liberty Television – broadcasting from Kaduna, will, from tomorrow, berth on GOTv, having been assigned Channel 110, a statement from the Executive Chairman of ATAR Communications Nigeria Limited, owners of Liberty TV, Dr.Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan, said.

Liberty TV’s expansion onto GOtv, according to Ramalan, is an indication of the station’s rising profile as a leading television plat-

By Joan Omionawele

form with an ever increasing audience base across Nigeria and West Africa, “who are captivated by ourunique mix of English and Hausa contents.”

Since its inception in 2014, Liberty TV has become one of the most watched TV channels in the northern part of the country, available on Startimes Channel 180 and Strong HD decoders.

With the kick-off of digitisation in May, 2016 by the Federal Government in Jos, Plateau State, Liberty TV was also included amongs

the 15 pioneer TV content providers available on the nation’s first FreeTV, on Channel 775.

Liberty TV, a 24-hour station appeals to a broad spectrum of viewers due to its rich content in news, politics, culture, entertainment, business, sport, among others.

It is also a virile platform for views, rendered in Hausa and English, with active reporting from key Nigerian capitals and correspondents from Ghana, Sudan, Niger, Cameroun, and Chad.

THE Best of Nollywood Awards (BON) will this year hold on Abia State, December 10.

While accepting the hosting rights from the BON awards organising committee and notable actors including Walter Anga, Yomi Fash Lanso, Rex Nosa and Tayo Sobola, the governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, expressed his delight that Abia State was considered worthy to host an event of the magnitude.

Teriba turns prophet at Ori Oke Sioni’s first anniversary

By Segun Adebayo GOSPEL singer, Lanre Teriba, stunned many people at the first year anniversary of Praise and Prayer Mountain, Oke Sioni, Ago Iwoye Road, Isara Remo, Ogun State, as he mounted the podium and started declaring prophetic messages to the people.

In what could have been taken for a Nollywood drama, the people who had come out in their number were stunned to have seen Teriba, otherwise knownn as Atorise, whom they had expected to thrill them in his usual music performance to take the programme to another dimension.

Clad in a grey Agbada, Atorise, who is the founder of the new mountain, said the pre-

paration for the anniversary had cost him N5million, adding that “Today, a lot of people have come here today to dance because I could see that you are in the mood for dance with the way you are dressed but I am sorry to tell you that we have not come here for that today. “ He admitted to have gone

astray over the years before God’s calling brought him back exactly a year ago when God told him to establish a prayer and praise mountain.

According to him, “I know a lot of people would be surprised to see me stand on this podium praying prophetically but that is where they will miss it, nobody

knows how God works.

When He called me, nobody was there and I am telling you today that I am now a prophet of the living God and anything I say on this podium today will not fail to fulfill its purpose. So, in your own interest, don’t joke with every word that comes out of my mouth.”

Weighing in on the global acceptance and importance of Nollywood, Dr Ikpeazu said Nigeria used to receive a lot of flaks from the outside world but, “In the last couple of years, we now receive considerable buffer from Nollywood.

Nollywood has given us a new level of respect across the world.

“Therefore, when I was approached to host the awards, I thought that while this might not be the best of times financially for us as a state, it avails us a platform to bring the industry back home, show our various tourism and economic potential and join you to celebrate an industry which contribution to the GDP of Nigeria is invaluable.”

According to him, “for us in Abia State, Nollywood has contributed immensely to the well-being of our people because one of the marketing and distribution pivots of the industry, Pound Road, is here in Aba, the SME capital of Africa.

“Just like Idumota in Lagos and Iweka Road, Onitsha, Pound Road contributes more than 50 percent to Nollywood. So, prior to now, I always thought about how to further get involved with the industry which is why we are working on a film village and are glad to host the Best of Nollywood Awards 2016.”

18

Sunday Tribune

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Segun Adebayo tegbollistic@yahoo.com 08116954644

Seyi Sokoya seyi_sky@yahoo.com 08075166585

My ordeal at the hands of police

By Segun Adebayo DAYS ago, news came to town that Nollywood actor, Kalu Ikeagwu, was arrested by officers of the Nigerian Police in Lagos State over allegations of theft and homicide with efforts to reach to speak with Ikeagwu to hear his own side of the story proved abortive. News would later emerge that the actor had been released with no official statement from him.

Shortly after he was arrested, the thespian came out to clear the air on why he was picked up and later released by security operatives.

In an interview he granted Sa-

Sunny Ade, 2Face, others get royal blessings from Ooni of Ife

hara Weekly, an online platform, Ikeagwu who got married recently said that he was accosted by two plain clothes policemen at his residence after they had flashed him their police identity cards and ordered him to follow them.

According to Ikeagwu, he was first taken to Pen-Cinema station Agege, late to Area G police station and to Area F police station in Ikeja, where he was said to have been interrogated.

The actor said he was taken into a room, where he was shown a telephone number and asked if he knew the owner of the number.

He was later able to sort out the owner of the phone number whom he identified as friend who picked him up at the airport a few days earlier.

The light-skinned thespian addded that he inquired from his friend if he had bought a phone recently and his friend said yes and narrated how he swapped his old phone, an iphone6 for an iPhone7 at the popular Computer village in

By Seyi Sokoya

Why Tiwa Savage shunned TeeBillz

SLK Mr Fabu returns from SA with new video

By Seyi Sokoya LAWAL Bolaji, otherwise known as ‘SLK Mr Fabu’ who took a break from his music career for a

greener pasture in South Africa, is back to his home country, Nigeria with a bang.

The graduate of Computer Science from the Ajayi Crowther University, who has been in the music industry for almost a decade, is back in the country and ready to make wave with his new work as well as explore his talents and exposures.

Speaking on the new video entitled: “Lagos to Soweto”, SLK Mr Fabu, gave the reason he featured a South African artiste, Floyd, in the new video, adding that it was part of his motive to give the new video both local and international face. The video was shot in Soweto and Mainland in South Africa.

Yemy TPX launches #NaijaGoSmile GOSPEL music sensation, Yemi Olatunji, popularly known as Yemy tpx has launched an online campaign tagged #NaijaGoSmile, in the attempt to provide encouragement for the Nigerians with regards to the present economic situation of the country.

Following the release of his song, Naija Go Smile, which earned him the Naija Impact Award in 2014, using his music ministry, ‘The Praising Xtian (TPX),’ a ministry targeted at creating an atmosphere of worship, praise and edification in God’s presence, he went on the rebrand the song in celebration of Nigeria’s 56th Independence anniversary.

This new song which was released on the 1st of October 2016, according to Yemy, is “a divine mandate because only God truly understands our pains and from Him comes our salvation. As such, we’re calling on people to join the movement and spread the message of hope.

Speaking with R, Yemy stated that “people can join the movement for a better Nigeria by writing “#NAIJAGO SMILE” on a white sheet of paper/ cardboard, take a picture with it or with friends and upload on social media. This campaign has no political or sentimental affiliations whatsoever. It is a move by a Nigerian for a better Nigeria.”

HISTORY was made in Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Wednesday when King Sunny Ade, 2Face, Mega 99, Femi Solar, Dele Bravo, Princess Ifemide and other artistes recieved royal blessings from the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.

The performance of Sunny Ade, who was hosted by the Ooni in commemoration of his 70th birthday celebration in the city, illustrated the essential difference between KSA and other artistes on ground.

The venue of the event was ecstatic when 2Face breezed in unexpectedly. He would later light up the stage with popular hits such as ‘One Love’ and ‘African Queen’, which, according to him, was dedicated to Olori Wuraola. He later paid homage to Ooni and congratulated KSA on his birthday.

Mega 99’s performance was another moment that got people dancing for more than 30 minutes. Aside the Ooni’s blessings, KSA also went on stage to publicly shower prayers on him after sharing the stage with Mega99.

Other artistes that thrilled at the event

included Gbenga Falope, Olajire twins, while comedian, Taiwo Olusanya, a.k.a Obama , cracked jokes and assisted the anchorman, Mr Laolu Olatubosun.

The event was graced by Ife chiefs, dignitaries and youths. Ooni who was the host, expressed his delight to be part of the success of the event which was organised by the Apreel 1 Event Management, adding that, “It is important to celebrate people, especially those who have made impact in their chosen fields.

I thank God that I am part of this history.

KSA deserved more than this and I am happy that Ile-Ife and Osun State at large dimmed it fit to celebrate the music legend at this unique time.”

The event also had in attendance veteran actors including Adebayo Salami, Jide Kosoko, Yinka Quadri, Rasaq Olayiwola popularly known as Ojopagogo, actor cum politician, Honourable Rotimi Makinde, among others.

It also featured award presentation to the Ooni, Sunny Ade and Alhaja Anike Alajogun by the event management led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Seyifunmi Odunuga.

on his birthday

By Segun Adebayo

A

few days ago, Tiwa Savage’s ex-husband, Teebillz, turned a year older and many people had expected that Savage would wish him a happy birthday, but Savage did not send him a birthday wish or message.

31

After their infamous break up months back, the two former loverbirds have not shared a word about their separation on any of their social media platforms even as there were reports that moves were being made by some friends of the pair to reconcile them.

What got many talking was Savage’s decision to stay silent on the

day when most of her colleagues took to their social media platforms, especially on Instagram, to drop birthday wishes at the instance of her former husband.

R, however, gathered that Savage, who was dropped by MTN as its ambassador last month, was being careful of raising another dust by wishing TeeBillz a happy birth-

day as she had vowed shortly after the marriage collapsed that she would not share anything relating to her marriage on any social media network.

Savage and Teebillz had reportedly been told to keep their failed marriage from the eyes of the public while the reconciliation moves go on.

Davido, Sophie Momodu back together?

By Segun Adebayo THERE are indications that Sophie Momodu and Davido may have buried the differences for the sake of their daughter, Imade Adeleke.

Pointers to this insinuation emerged during the week following an Instagram post by Sophie, which suggested that she might have decided to put the past behind her and embrace a new life with the father of her child.

Months ago, a child trafficking controversy ensued between the family of Davido and Momodu with the two camps exchanging expletives on social media networks.

The fight ranged on for weeks before it was finally settled amicably by the father of Davido and Sophie’s uncle, Dele Momodu.

It seems the pair have found a common ground again after Davido, who is planning to drop an album, Son of Mercy, anytime from now, resposted pictures of his daughter, Imade from Sophie’s snapchat account.

Sophie wasted no time to return the gesture when she took to her Instagram page to post the album artwork of Davido’s much talked about and soon-to-be released album.

Power outage, noisy generator choke Professor Johnbull’s US based nephew in Episode 11

By Rotimi Ige THE perennial incidence of insufficient power supply and the attendant environmental pollution from smoke emission from power generating sets received copious mention this week on the Glo-sponsored TV Drama Series, Professor Johnbull.

In the episode entitled ‘Voice of the City’, the erudite Professor Johnbull, meets his America-based nephew, Dr. Ifeanyi Ogunyemi, who was on a visit to Nigeria but found it difficult to cope with the noise pollution from the generating set of his uncle’s neighbour.

The next day opens with Nollywood star, Mama G, (Patience Ozokwor) who was making an appearance on the TV drama series for the second time, confronting nkwobi restauranteur, Olaniyi (Yomi Fash-Lanso), over the unbearable noise from his generator which, according to the distraught lady, “runs all day to the discomfort of his neighbours.”

Both resolved to take the conflict to their community head, Professor Johnbull for resolution. There, they met Etuk (Imeh Bishop) and other “proximate” people including Ufoma (Bimbo Akintola) and Mai Doya (Funky Mallam).

Professor Johnbull successfully calmed frayed nerves in his usual sartorial stance while admonishing both parties to sheathe their swords.

...with Lalacious

Actor ready to marry wife number 3 THIS actor is popular in the Yoruba version of Nollywood. He is also said to be a man many actresses love to hang around with. He always acts as an old man in movies.

But the gist we are hearing about him is that the young man is said to be preparing to marry another woman which will make it wife number three that he will be taking to the altar.

Our usual reliable source told Nosey Parker that the actor is about to marry the lady barely two years after he beat up his second wife who is said to be the daughter of a former governor in a stage in the North Central. The State has more of Yoruba population but is ruled by an emir.

In fact, according to olofofos, the man decided to get married to the lady, who is said to be a famous face in the entertainment industry, because the lady’s family insisted on marrying her because he had already put the lady on a ninemonth course.

You are still unsure of who this actor is? Well, his surname sounds like “Shattered”.

Actor’s wife beats up actress IT was providence that saved this up-and-coming actress after she received the beating of her life from the wife of an actor in the English version of Nollywood at a movie location.

It was gathered that the Yoruba wife of the Igbo actress took the battle to the movie location after she heard news from olofofos that her husband was eating the yam of this actress who is also a Yoruba lady.

Our usual reliable olofofos told Nosey Parker that the lady, on hearing the news of what was going on, decided to take some of her friends along to the location where they met the lady and before anyone knew what was happening, they descended on her.

It took the intervention of some people at the location to save the lady from further beating after she had got her clothes torn and being bloodied in her and nose. They quickly took her away from the scene while another clothes were provided for her.

Olofofo told us that the wife told the lady that she had just received the first part of the beating, warning her to desist from sleeping with her husband who is popularly known with an alias that has something to do with “New Generation”.

Lying actress finally exposed OUR actresses are always in one trouble or the other. They can do anything to polish their image, including lying and other vices.

There is the story of this actress in the Yoruba version of Nollywood who is very notorious for lying about almost everything. The actress is from a town in a South-West where Baba Iyabo also came from.

Olofofo told Nosey Parker that this actress has been going about telling people, especially men who she had dated, that she was a single, decent and innocent lady whereas the reverse is the case.

Information at our disposal however revealed that the young lady actually has a 12-year-old child who she gave birth to in 2004 when she was a student as a training college.

However, she had succeeded in keeping this secret away from many people until it was exposed.

She was said to have kept the girl, whose father is unknown, with her mother while she never told anyone about it.

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Sunday Tribune

2 October, 2016

thepolity

APC: Crumbling of a grand coalition? << P 20, 21

Ondo APC gov primary, a disgrace…

—Abraham

<< P 22, 26

“With Akeredolu as APC candidate, it’s automatic loss. There’s no need wasting time on somebody that is not loved by the people, the party people dislike him, the electorate do not like him”

Nigeria @ 56 Nigeria has come to stay, but… —Alao-Akala

<< P 24

Good leaders have not ruled Nigeria in 56 years —Frank Kokori

<< P 25

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thepolity

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

APC: Crumbling of a grand coalition?

The cracks appears to be widening within the ranks of the stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), following the bombshell released by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu against the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. But could this development mean that the grand coalition that sacked the Peoples Democratic Party from power is crumbling? Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA, presents some insights.

Bola Tinubu, APC National Leader

N

OT a few feathers were ruffled within the ranks of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) when Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is ceremoniously crowned as the National Leader of the party dropped a bombshell that hit the very root of the party’s survival. Tinubu, who pivoted the consummation of the marriage that produced the APC in 2013, had been credited with a larger than life image in the party ahead of the election of 2015. He was the de facto leader of the party and generally dictated its direction ahead of the election. With the victory the party recorded, his voice and stake were expected to blossom. Not so, as politics is not usually played on a straight line. But then, no one expects a cry of marginalisation from a man of his standing.

That, however, appears to be the reality of the day in the APC and Tinubu, being a man noted for his fight against anti-democratic forces even in the days of the military, found it hard to stomach such.

On Sunday September 25, he fired a detailed account of his take on the outcome of the governorship primaries in Ondo State. There had been controversy that preceded that election. In the build-up, some chieftains of the party accused Tinubu of partisanship and displaying open support for one of the aspirants, but the man defended himself and insisted that he, as a leader of the party, is free to have his preferred choice among the aspirants.

True, certain goalposts got shifted in the APC powersharing game upon the party’s ascension to power on May 29, 2015. Promises made to some of the groups that formed the alliance, Sunday Tribune, learnt were not kept. But no one expects that a powerful voice in the coalition like Tinubu would be caught in the net of brutal power play. Since the Tinubu’s allegation of foul play against his person by the party’s chairman, Chief Oyegun, spontaneous reactions have followed with the party getting the wrong stick of newspapers’ headlines.

One of the aspirants for the Ondo governorship seat,

President Muhammadu Buhari

Chief Olusola Oke, told the Sunday Tribune that Tinubu apparently spoke out due to the enormity of the wrongdoings perpetrated by chieftains of the party during Ondo governorship primaries. According to him, the drumbeat that makes a king to stand on his feet, if beaten for a chief, he would found himself on the roof.

“For a man of Asiwaju’s [Tinubu] standing to come out in this way is a testimony that all we have been saying about Ondo primaries are not just noisemaking. Truth is on the flight from the party and that is where the problem lies,” Oke said in a telephone interview.

He added: “Oyegun is a threat to the survival of the APC. For someone like Asiwaju to speak out, it shows you that we are not just making noise. The injustice perpetrated in the primaries was unheard of and no one can put it better than Asiwaju.”

Aside Oke, there are four other bigwigs who contested the governorship primaries and all of them except the winner are crying foul. The major aspirants were Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, Dr. Olusegun Abrahams and Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, who was declared winner and whose name has been forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Tinubu’s outbursts left no one in doubt as to the anger brewing among the party’s leaders. He instantly decried what he called “injustice” done by the party through the outcome of the primaries and called for Oyegun’s ouster, insisting that a man like that should not lead the party.

In a five-page document, Tinubu declared that the founding objectives of the APC were severely “under critical threat by those who managed to be in the party, but never of it.”

“For those who care about the party, who care about Nigeria and its chance for a better tomorrow, now is the time to stand against this brewing evil before it grows to encompass all we have built and all we hold dear,” he

John Odigie-Oyegun, APC National chairman

said, adding that Oyegun “has done the irredeemable.

His coup is an insult to the party and to patriot, to reason and to the reform agenda of this government. To remain silent would be to admit the defeat of the reform and progressive change many have laboured to bring forth.”

The former Lagos State governor went further: “While the forces resistant to change and reform are strong, Tinubu dare not submit to them. Tinubu encourages all party members not to submit to them. If we acquiesce in this wrong, the one greater than this shall cascade upon us.

“Oyegun’s transgressions are a warning. He is but the mercenary of forces that seek to return the nation to the old ways. If they get away with this infraction, no telling what or whom they will undermine tomorrow. Much is at stake. On the chopping block lies the future of the political party in which the majority of voters had placed their confidence.”

While alleging fraud in the process, Tinubu stated that the delegates list was tampered with by replacing some 150 delegates with some surrogates who were meant to vote in a particular way.

He said: “The delegates’ list had been materially altered by someone in a strategic position to so do. The names of over 150 valid delegates were excised to make room for an equal number of impostors. This was not a clerical error.

“The alteration was wilfully executed that the primary would be directed toward a chosen end that bore nothing in common with the will of most state party members. A cunning few had tried to deceive the many into believing they were outnumbered.

“A conspiracy to steal the Ondo primary had been uncovered. Fortunately, the grand deception afoot had been unable to cover its tracks fast enough. Truth began to cry Continues pg 21

21

thepolity

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Ondo gov primary as trigger of APC’s star wars

Atiku Abubakar Continued from pg 20 for justice. Several candidates filed petitions contesting the result.”

He also accused the party’s national chairman of upturning the report of the appeal committee set up to review the primaries. He disclosed that the panel had recommended a fresh primaries but Oyegun went ahead to submit the name of Akeredolu to INEC. “This recommendation was tabled before the National Working Committee (NWC). After many hours of deliberations spanning several days, a final vote was held by the NWC. Beforehand, NWC members agreed that the decision of the majority would become the stance of the party. Such is the way of democracy.

“The NWC voted six against five to cancel the fraudulent results and hold an honest primary. For a moment, it seemed the party would restore its integrity by giving democracy a chance. However, those who sought to scam an entire state would not let the vote of 11 people spoil their enterprise.

“After the NWC’s vote, a noticeably agitated Oyegun proposed the NWC engage in prayer before concluding the meeting. Adhering to this chairman’s request, NWC members began to pray. Seeing that the others had taken his bait, Oyegun used the prayerful interlude to secretly excuse himself from the meeting.

“Contravening the NWC decision and in violation of all rules of fundamental decency, Oyegun decided to safeguard the fraud done in Ondo by perpetrating a greater fraud. Oyegun arrogated to himself the right to submit the name of Rotimi Akeredolu to INEC as the candidate of the party.”

The former Lagos governor clearly gave a sign that the party could be heading for more danger in his further submissions. He declared that Oyegun may not be alone in the act as, according to him, a camp already exists in the party that does not believe in the ideals of the founding fathers.

He said that there “exists a regressive element in the party that cares nothing for the progressive ideas upon which this party was founded. They joined the APC because it was the best ride available at the time. Now they want to guide the party into the ditch.

“They want to turn the party into a soulless entity incapable of doing good, just like they are. When such a person tastes power, they shed all good restraint. They come to abuse the trust given them as if they are the owners of that trust and not its mere custodians. These people did little to build the party, but now will do much to wreck it.”

Two things immediately send shock waves through the spines of many party faithful. One the outbursts were frontally directed at the National Chairman of the party

by Tinubu. Two, he confirmed the rumours of a powerful cabal that has allegedly hijacked people’s power from the party in the ruling party. Still the allusion of “retrogressive” forces which are behind the “conspiracy” in Ondo sent shockwaves across the party and revealed grave ani-

Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transport

Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna State

mosity and suspicion within the ranks as Tinubu categorically insisted that Oyegun must go.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who was a known ally of Tinubu read the words carefully but unlike many other leaders refused to keep quiet. He fired a statement last week backing Tinubu and insisting that the party cannot break its own rules without causing problems for itself and its members.

The former vice-president charged the party to ensure it was not found wanting on the promotion of rule of law and due process so as to ensure unity in its ranks.

According to Atiku, since the party had found “veritable reasons” to review the outcome of the Ondo gubernatorial primary and was able to establish valid grounds to cancel that election and call for a fresh one, there should be no decision to further vary that conclusion.

He said: “It was wrong for the APC to have set aside a resolution it had reached aimed at resolving the crisis in our party in Ondo State. It is a recipe for acrimony and division.”

Perhaps being a veteran of intra-party squabbles, Atiku counsel that the party would be deceiving itself to pretend that crisis doesn’t exist but added that the leaders must do a soul-searching to address the issues. He also counselled that the leadership of the party do the needful and be guided by respect for the rules, fairness, equity, neutrality and respect for democratic consensus always. He also urged the aggrieved APC chieftains in Ondo to exercise restraint in seeking redress while the leadership retraces its steps to restore confidence among members.

With clear positions taken by Tinubu and Atiku on this matter, it became obvious even to the outsiders that the APC was courting trouble. It runs the risk of getting the crisis expanded even before it gets started. Signals of that immediately started unfolding. The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Comrade Timi Frank, who issued a statement during the week immediately, corroborated the two leaders insisting that many more members of the APC were of the view that Oyegun did not do well in Ondo.

Frank said that the call by Tinubu was a vindication of his earlier call that Oyegun must resign: “It is very clear that I’m one of the first persons that took the bull by the horn to foresee what is happening today in our party. I came out earlier on to say there were issues and crisis in this party. As of that time I was alone; nobody knew where I was coming from.

“The founding father of our party, the national leader of our party, has concurred to my earlier call that Oyegun should resign as the national chairman. That should let you know that I foresaw what they didn’t see. I knew from day one that the person we had as national chairman, yes he has tried by taking the party where he feels he can take it, but again you can’t give what you don’t have.”

Also the former Political Adviser to President Shehu Shagari, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai told newsmen in Kano that the travails of Tinubu might have been engineered

from the presidency. He declared that Tinubu’s political travails were well-thought-out and plotted from the very top, but urged the former Lagos State governor not to give in to the forces at work.

“From all indications, every right thinking person will figure out a sinister plot to completely scheme out Tinubu from the hierarchy of APC; and I want to believe this is coming from the Presidency,” he said, adding that the emerging crisis was not a surprise to political observers.

“Political analysts believe that soon after the formation of the present government it is only a matter of time before crises in the APC would explode.

“APC is an amalgamation of four to five political groups.

After the formation of the government, only CPC group is considered for political patronage. ACN and PDP groups are sidelined. ANPP group is neither here nor there in spite of the appointment of the party’s former National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu into the cabinet.

“ACN leader, Tinubu is totally out of the picture despite the fact that the vice-president is his nominee. The appointment of Fashola to the jumbo ministry is considered personal, just like that of Amaechi. The situation at the moment is that apart from the CPC members, everybody in the government is a mere onlooker. To those that control the government and the party, those shut out of the power equation in the government, including Tinubu, are seen as a bunch of disgruntled elements.”

Speaking in an interview with Sunday Tribune on Friday, Timi Frank further reiterated his earlier position in a statement. He insisted that by all intents and purposes, I stand by my earlier position on Oyegun.

“The outbursts of [Tinubu], you know, it started from me. I foresaw it when my leaders didn’t see the danger in continued leadership of the party by Oyegun. I know his leadership is not for the good of the party. We don’t need a leader who would be under the control of a handful of people.

“Today it has happened to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku has also seen it. A majority of party men hold this view but they don’t speak up. For me silence is a crime. The truth is bitter but it is only the truth that can set us free.”

He said that Oyegun must call an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of the party within 14 days and also speak up within the same period otherwise; he would lead the charge to raise the required number of members to call a meeting and possibly sack the executive.

Though it could be safe to say that the Armageddon is not hear yet for the APC, it is also fast becoming obvious that the party may not be far away from the precipice. A number of political observers would say that as the ruling party, the allure of power patronage would still hold a lot of aggrieved persons down until it became obvious that no crumbs could fall from the power table anymore.

Thus, the tendency for the party to continue to patch up till close to the next election is there.

Continues pg 26

22

thepolity

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Ondo APC primary, a disgrace to Buhari, party —Abraham Dr Olusegun Abraham is one of the leading aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who lost in the primary of the party.

He speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on steps taken to reclaim his mandate; the consequences of the alleged fraud on the party and his stand about the party’s candidate. Excerpts:

Y

OU have been crying blue murder over the governorship primary of your party; how do you intend to retrieve your mandate?

The mandate is the mandate of the good people of Ondo State. It was given to me by the delegates; so it is the mandate of these people that I want to reclaim. I have said it many times that we have some steps that we need to explore to restore this mandate and we have only explored one step and we are disappointed with the outcome, so we are moving towards the two other steps in order to claim our mandate. Fortunately, the issue is now a public matter and the whole world has seen that a crime was committed by some people in the APC at the national level. It is a criminal offence to inject names of non-delegates and non-party members into our voting list in Ondo State. We want to know who injected those names, and on whose authority was the name injected? Are they superior to the congress of the party and the panel?

We want to know what the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, did if his leadership was not the one who put the names illegally? Has he informed the EFCC to investigate the matter, because this is a very great criminal offence?

If [President Muhammadu] Buhari’s government truly represents change and is fighting corruption, this electoral fraud must be properly investigated and the culprit must be punished. If not, I don›t think this government has any right or moral justification to arrest anyone for fraud. This is one of the reasons I said I am not going to leave the party, we will be here in order to salvage the party. I support the Buhari government in fighting corruption and I’m sure this menace will be brought down to a minimal level, if not eradicated from our land. Therefore, if there are elements, either in government or in the party, that are trying to encourage corruption, this should be part of the things we must fight and correct.

So in specific terms, you are asking EFCC to investigate this particular matter?

Yes. I thought the perpetrators of the fraud should have been arrested by now.

I thought Oyegun and his group, if they knew nothing about the padded delegates’ list in Ondo State, should fish out those behind the illegal padding. They should have been arrested by now. It is absurd, disappointing and an embarrassment to Buhari’s government and to a party that is known for fighting corruption. That we found out this fraud within the same party, is a disgrace.

But do you see the party reversing its decision after submitting the name of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s choice for the election?

during the primary?

He who pays the piper dictates the tune.

Those who put them there have an arrangement with them, because they have predetermined the results. There’s no need to mince words, they all voted for Akeredolu. They’ve been discovered and as a patriotic democrat, I am so confident that anytime there’s a rerun, I will win again and again. That’s one of the reasons they are afraid to go back to the field. If these perpetrators had been arrested by the EFCC, we would have known the truth and we wouldn’t be talking of this now.

Do you think you can get redress in court?

We have not reached the option of court because we know there are mechanisms within the party, which we can explore to correct these anomalies and reclaim our mandate.

Dr Olusegun Abraham

As I said earlier, those who did not support the candidature of Akeredolu are more than those who supported him. It is high time we fought this corruption.

That somebody single-handedly dropped his name at INEC against the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) is another illegality. I am surprised to still find Oyegun at the helms of affairs of the APC, because in a much civilised society, this man ought to have resigned. He has nothing to do again. The same fraud that was perpetrated in Ondo was perfected by the national body. A candidate that was not popular was picked above favourite aspirants in the election. I was sure of over 800 delegates before the election but they went ahead by disenfranchising my delegates from the exercise; by removing their names and replacing them with non-delegates. This is even a greater offence than people stealing billions of naira—stealing somebody’s mandate through fraudulent means and giving their votes to an unqualified aspirant. These are the issues we need to correct and this is one of the reasons we are in this mess today in Nigeria, because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believed in rigging from the primary to even the general election and look at the situation we find ourselves today. But we want to put a stop to this during Buhari’s administration, because Mr.

president is known to be a honest man, a man of integrity and someone determined to flush out corruption from this country and that’s why we are in this party to correct these anomalies.

You said you have three options that you’re going to explore in getting back this mandate and that you have only explored one of the three options, what are the two other options?

The two options are still within the party machinery. I don’t want to preempt the results of these options but when we get to that stage, the whole world will understand and know.

But the NWC members insisted there was no going back on Akeredolu, do you think there is still any need for the options?

The NWC members are not the people of Ondo State. Though they are the organs of the party, the organs of the party must listen to what the people are saying, because this is not a military regime but a democratic government and they must learn how to be democratic.

Talking about fake delegates, how are you sure many of the alleged fake delegates did not vote for you

Do you suspect the Presidency in this alleged fraud of delegates padding?

We can’t rule it out. But what I know is that the president will not have a hand in that fraud. I believe they cannot perpetrate this fraud without the connivance of the people at the party secretariat. That’s why they took our delegates’ list and injected the list with their own delegates. I was surprised that the legal adviser did not even tell them the implication of what they have done; that they have no right to do that or tamper with the authentic delegates’ list Do you see any nexus in the statement credited to Akeredolu before the election where he reportedly said the result of the election would shock Tinubu, and the alteration of the delegate list?

The result of the election confirmed that statement. God has a way of exposing some things ahead of time. Has he not shocked the whole world with the result?

Not only Tinubu but also the whole world was and the shock was multidimensional.

It shows people could be so daring to the extent of fraudulently inputting names illegally into the delegates’ list. He also shocked the whole world by calling some members of the opposition to come and vote for him during the primary, calling people on the streets who were not members of the party; paying them to vote for him. We should be talking about this act in the 15th century and not the 21st century.

It is also shocking that even the apex body of the party kept quiet about the foreign names injected into the list. It’s a big embarrassment to the party. This might have an adverse effect on the foreign investors who are thinking of operating in Nigeria, because they do not want an atmosphere Continues pg 26

23

nigeria@56

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

It’s a stain comparing present leaders with the founding fathers —Arogbofa Chief Sehinde Arogbofa is the secretary of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere. He speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on the state of Nigeria at 56 and the way out of its challenges.

N

IGERIA is 56 years old as an independent country.

What is your assessment of the journey so far?

We thank God that we are still Nigerians and that Nigeria is still one. That is what we can really rejoice at but in terms of performance as a nation, at 50, we are expected to be really matured and try to cross some ‘ts’ and dot some ‘is’. But in our own case, not much progress had been recorded. We seem to have been taking just a few steps forward and many backward. At 56, such a thing is not good for a country like ours. We cannot be said to be young any longer; this is middle age and we should be seen to be in the vanguard of leadership in all aspects.

Apart from the fact that we fought a Civil War and we have remained one and even our remaining one is still under threat from flashpoint areas because of the skewed federal system we are running. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASOB) is there; we have the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), we have the Boko Haram and IPOB is there. The SouthWest is peaceful only because the Yoruba race is a highly civilised race; we have ways and means of doing our things, short of extreme violence. But everywhere in the country now, there is no peace.

What do you then think is responsible for this backwardness?

The type of federalism we are running is a skewed one, not true federalism. It’s almost like a unitary system of government which is not good for a country that has so many diverse nationalities. Nigeria is not one nation, but so many nations brought together at a time they were not very well forged or melted. The result has been this clamour for restructuring since the First Republic. Take for instance, Papa Obafemi Awolowo cried foul in the federal election of the 1950s when the election was rigged.

Even after the election, nepotism was the order of the day, when some parts of the country were favoured and some were alienated as if they were no longer Nigerians; when the population census was manipulated for political reasons. So, all these things were already there.

The old started saying then that we need to restructure this country; it is a long history.

But because of the imbalance in the structure, because of nepotism, corruption in government, alienation in the government, we were not surprised at the intervention of the military then, which in itself has done a great disservice to the country. The military should have come, put things in order and run back to their barracks. But because they have tasted the honey in government, they made it an open and close business-coming in and going out. On the issue of how to restructure this country to make it better, Awolowo did his best but Nigerians did not listen to him, even after his death. There were some impostors who claimed they wanted to restructure this country. Look at (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo, for example, who said he was going to restructure the country, only to use the restructuring as an extension of realising his dreams for the third term in government.

No wonder he failed because he was not sincere.

But in 2014, former President Goodluck

and the late Sarduna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello; they were focused and knew what they wanted. Awolowo knew what he wanted to do in the West and had a very good team; he was hardworking and industrious. It was not a surprise that the West was the best in whole of Africa then when he was there as the premier. Look at education for example, the Federal Government devoted only eight per cent of the budget to the sector, instead of the 26 per cent recommended by UNESCO. But during the time of Awolowo, in the West alone, he devoted as much as 40 per cent to education. It was not surprising that he succeeded; he knew what it was all about.

In terms of dedication, honesty, devotion, service to the people and planning for the people, the past leaders were far ahead of what we have now. People we have now are just fighting for their pockets. This is one of the problems we are facing now; we are talking about selling our assets and to whom are we going to sell the assets to?

To the same people? This is very wrong.

So, there is no way you can compare them; there is a gulf of difference in our founding fathers and those who are there now. It is a stain if we start comparing them.

Chief Sehinde Arogbofa Jonathan, after severe criticisms by some of us, firing him that he must restructure this country, and after serious pressure, succumbed and gave us the free hand but warned that we must not divide the country. This was a place to ensure that we have a new order so that every component of the country can develop at its own pace and the Federal Government is going to be reduced and it will only be responsible for a few national issues like defence, customs, monetary system, while issues like education and agriculture would be left to the state and every state would be allowed to develop at its own pace. Issues like economy and the petroleum we are all dying for should be left to the state and the people but they must pay tax to the Federal Government.

We also did a research and knew that every state in this country had and still has some mineral deposits whereby the state could make a living and if the state could not finance the tapping of the resources, the Federal Government could loan the states the money to take off for the money to be refunded later. These states should be taxed and asked to pay to the centre. Nigerians at their best from all parts of the country, both high and low, were there at the Abuja conference for four months and what people thought could not be a success became successful.

We came out with about 600 resolutions arrived at through consensus and we were very happy to take part in such exercise.

But the present administration is not thinking about the implementation of the report as it appeared it has been thrown into the bin…

That is why we are suffering now. We are talking of recession in the country today and this recession wouldn’t have taken place if, immediately President Muhammadu Buhari got there, he picked up what (the report of the conference) Nigerians from different religions, faith, classes and political views did to move the country

forward. There would not have been any recession if the president had picked those that are relevant for the progress and development of this country. For instance, a lot was said about the agricultural sector and mineral deposit and we made provisions for all these things. If the president had embarked on some of these things, what we are now suffering might not have happened because he would have started and people would have been involved.

In Africa, we don’t love one another. We are very arrogant; whenever we are there, we behave as if nobody has ever occupied the leadership post or the world has never existed, whereas if we don’t look at the past we cannot know what the future is going to be like. To me, if that is our policy, I see it as hypocrisy. Why are they now talking of those who looted the treasury in the past? I think the president must have the courage to look at the recommendations because it is not too late. All this economic team put in place, to me, what are they going to achieve? Some of them are not even experts and some of them are even making suggestions that, maybe it will help or it will not help. Whereas, in that blueprint (the report of the conference), all recommendations were made. I think until we go back to the recommendations and in any case whether they go back to it or not, there is a ray of light that is giving us the impression that they are already copying from the recommendations. Look at what happened at the House of Representatives; we talked about state police and they agreed that the 36 states should have their own police structure. Why don’t they call a spade a spade?

Is there any basis for comparison between the past leaders and the crops of leaders we have today?

No, no and no; it is like comparing a lion with the ordinary cat. Our founding fathers were highly principles. Look at Awolowo, the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe

We have witnessed both military and civilian administrations in the last 56 years, yet most Nigerians complain about non-availability of basic needs. What do you think is responsible for this?

To start with, military regime is an aberration; it is an intervention in civilian area which they should not be involved in and if you come to civilian rule, the military have instilled their military mentality into civilian administration. I think the best thing is for civilians to purge out some people who are with military etiquette in civilian administration. Some of them are still there; most of these people are the civilians the military used and they are still there. That is why we are saying that if every state is allowed to grow at its own pace, it will be better. It is not a matter of saying either A or B or which is better, civilian administration is not meant for the military.

What is the way out of this present sociopolitical and economic woes we found ourselves?

I am not an economist but as a layman, I would think that jobs should be more available to more hands; maybe little, little contracts for the people. Some of the suggestions we made during the CONFAB should be made use of. Let us go back to agriculture; let the Federal Government give some money to the states to develop; let those areas where a lot of our money go into waste be blocked. We have always said that lawmaking should be a part-time job; our legislators should not be working on full-time basis; they should be paid sitting allowance and this must commence with the next dispensation. They waste a lot of money there. I read some time in the dailies how money is siphoned. How could a legislator have as much as 28 aides for Christ’s sake and some of these aides are earning the salaries of permanent secretaries? We must find a way to reduce these wastes.

24

nigeria@56

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Nigeria has come to stay, but … —Alao-Akala

Former governor of Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, speaks with WALE AKINSELURE on why he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), offers suggestions to President Muhammadu Buhari’s government on how to steer the ship of the nation off its current turbulence and how he would have handled the affairs of Oyo State if he were governor.

W

HAT’S your view on the calls for the restructuring of the country?

I support the calls for restructuring.

Restructuring will address the agitation of different groups in the country. The Niger-Delta would be under a regional government that can fully attend to its agitations.

into being in one year and the party is now running government; so, in politics, anything can still happen. In politics, two plus two is not equal to four. The political climate will become clearer in late 2017.

But do you think restructuring can address the agitations and clamour for a Biafra republic?

Those calling for the Republic of Biafra are jokers. Nigeria has come to stay. All those clamouring for Biafra are ignorant of what Nigerians went through during the time the Civil War lasted. You would observe that the elderly persons of the Eastern region are not at the forefront of calls for Biafra; rather, it is the young ones who have been misinformed. Fighting a war is not a child’s play.

In December 2015, you defected from the Labour Party to the All Progressives Congress (APC). While some of your followers have also joined you in your new party, others such as the members of the state House of Assembly that emerged on the platform of Labour Party have not declared themselves as members of the APC. What informed your decision to join the APC? As of the time that I joined the Labour Party, I should have become a member of the APC. But, at that time, all the vacancies for elective positions had been filled and I would not have been able to pursue my gubernatorial ambition on that platform.

Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not exist at that time. And, not long after I contested the last election, I left the Labour Party for APC. About 85 per cent of my political associates throughout the nation are members of the APC, and so I had to join the party. I did not join the APC because I seek any position. As regards members of the House of Assembly who emerged on the LP platform, we must note that they form the government of the Assembly. Also, they have to abide by certain principles guiding defection and the have to be very careful. Even if they are not there with me in body, they are with me in spirit.

What were the terms of agreement between you and the incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi before you joined the party?

I don’t have any agreement with him and I did not make any request. We are both politicians and he has been doing what he thinks is good for me. One does not have to give conditions before joining any party. One must first be convinced of one’s decision. I was convinced about my decision and that was why I joined the APC. The task before us as members of

Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala the party is to make the APC in Oyo State very strong.

When will your talked-about formal declaration as a member of the APC take place?

Declaration is just a jamboree. As far as I am concerned, I am an APC member. I do not need to put up any jamboree for people to know that I am a member of the APC. What is pertinent is for me to be faithful to the party that I belong to. I do not need any formal declaration for people to know that I am now a member of the APC. I have joined the party from my ward level and my followers have joined the APC from their respective wards level.

You onducted local government election during your tenure as governor, haven’t you spoken to the governor on the need to fulfill his promise to conduct local government election?

The governor or the government itself has nothing to lose. There is a lot that has to be put in place before conducting an election. Money is required and at a time when the money is not forthcoming, the governor has to think twice before deciding to conduct local government election. I will continue to urge him to conduct the local government election, but, the challenge may be lack of funds. He is struggling to pay workers’ salaries and that would be his priority now rather than using the available funds to conduct local government election. The use of caretaker chairmen might be the palliative or doctrine of necessity to shelve the election in the meantime. This

does not mean that I am in support of not conducting local government election. It is not democratic. Section 7 of the 1999 constitution states the need for a democratically elected local government authority.

The constitution never said selected local government authority.

Does being a member of the ruling party mean that you must now support all the state government’s policies?

The government comes up with many policies, and the governor, for one reason or the other, will have reason for bringing up any policy. But, where I think that a policy is injurious to the people of Oyo State, I will speak out.

With your defection to the APC, there are fears that the state may be gravitating towards a one-party state and reduced opposition politics. Also, there are notions about the emergence of a ‘third force’ before the next general election.

We still have the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, though the party is weak. The PDP is weak in the sense that nothing is happening. You would also agree with me that if there wasn’t opposition politics, APC would have conducted local government election and have a field day. But because we know that we will be challenged by other parties, our focus as APC is to put our house in order before conducting election. I don’t agree with you that the state is moving towards a oneparty state. We still have enough time before the next general election. APC came

What are your suggestions for the nation’s economy to rebound?

President Buhari’s cabinet is full of technocrats more than politicians. Those technocrats should rather be used as advisers.

He must put together an economic team that can put a call through to New York, Washington, England, and is aware of happenings in the global economic scene.

Persons that are conversant with global economy – economic experts - should be engaged, not necessarily as ministers but as advisers. Also, we should stop paying lip service to agriculture. Since we have successfully removed subsidy from fuel, that money should be devoted to agriculture. Nigerians should be able to access agricultural loans with low interest and agricultural inputs should be easily accessible. I am a farmer and I can say that this year, I made the highest amount ever from selling the produce of my cashew farm.

So, imagine how much money would circulate in the economy if Nigerians are encouraged to be involved in agriculture.

And, the people should patronise “Made in Nigeria” goods; our production should be localised and our appetite for foreign goods and services should reduce. Some time ago, Nigerian were encouraged to use a Peugeot car, including the Head of State, because it was being produced in the country. I must add that I am also baffled to see our banks and other financial institutions advertise their goods and services in the foreign media rather than focus on their customers here in Nigeria.

What do you make of the current fight against corruption?

I like the idea of fighting corruption.

However, the present administration is treating the symptoms and not actually the ailment. Corruption began a long time ago and it was caused by the military. Corruption was established during the military era. When Murtala Muhammed came to power, he announced the retirement of civil servants on radio, even when some people had not attained the retirement age. Due to this, every civil servant became compelled to acquire all they could while serving, knowing that they could be retired at any time. Many of those civil servants that were retired had no house and some died out of frustration. In those days, civil servants upon employment were given furnished accommodation among other necessities to live a comfortable life. Also, politicians are termed corrupt, but politicians cannot carry out corruption without the assistance of civil servants. So, our president should tread softly and try to institutionalise dealing with corruption, especially from the root, and not on the surface.

25 nigeria@56

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Nigeria @56: Good leaders have not ruled Nigeria —Kokori geria is not a failed state so it’s just we taking our destiny in our own hands and that’s what we are doing now. So, obviously we will surpass this little recession we are passing through by discipline and what we are trying to put together, all the stolen, looted funds we have in this country and bringing them back in safe hands.

Former Secretary-General of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, in this interview with EBENEZER ADUROKIYA, identifies reluctant leadership and bad leaders as factors militating against the progress of Nigeria.

The APC national leader and former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, recently lambasted the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, accusing him of entrenching corruption in the party as regards the APC primaries in Ondo State and it now appears the party is divided. As one of the leaders of the party particularly from Delta State, what’s your take on this?

Normally, the issue is in public domain already, so we are all aware of it. I don’t know the facts, the disposition of Tinubu about corruption, but as a respectable party leader, he knows his stake in the APC. Oyegun the same thing, so it’s a matter the party will take up; I know they’ve already stepped into the matter and it will be resolved amicably. The media is overblowing the matter.

I don’t know the facts about the disposition of the Asiwaju himself, but at the end of the day, the APC is a very respectable, disciplined party, it’s not like the PDP. So, they will come together and we will resolve the matter.

N

IGERIA is 56 years old and it’s quite disheartening that the nation is still unable to feed its citizens; how do you feel about?

To me, it is a shame. Like you said, at 56, we should be able to have put everything in order in our country; actually 50 years of independence is enough for us to have drawn a thorough road map for our people and we should have been following that road now and prioritising our needs instead of going into frivolities which has been the hallmark of governance for these 56 years.

It is unfortunate Nigeria has not been blessed with good leadership and the fact is that the good leaders never ruled this country. People who were not prepared for leadership have always had the opportunity to rule this country, which is the way of God that nobody can really question or comprehend.

The Awolowos of this world, the Azikiwes of this world, they wanted to give Nigeria a good start, they dreamt of leadership; they had ambitions; they had aspiration for the country, but they could not gain power with their political parties to govern this country.

So, those who were not really prepared for leadership became the leaders of our country, that’s what we experienced in the First Republic when leaders were not really prepared to become or had the aspiration to govern, God placed them there so they took the country like that and unfortunately, that experiment never worked.

The army came and did what they did and scuttled democracy and after that, we had to wait till about 20 years from 1966 to 1979 that’s about 15 years or so before democracy came back to Nigeria. Again, in that process, we had Shehu Shagari, a very good gentleman, decent man, but I think that type of man shouldn’t have been our leader at that time because he hadn’t got the type of guts and charisma to lead a country like Nigeria, but he became the president, so what can we do?

The Awolowos and Azikiwes too became sidelined, so the progressives could not gain power in this country, it’s only the conservatives and the feudal north leaders of the NPC, the NPC is a feudal party, it’s a very conservative party and the Action Group or the UPN of Awolowo, they could not, those are the progressives people, but they could not gain power in this country, so that has been the bane of Nigeria’s leadership and we have been groping on that. First, Second, Third republics in between you have a very reactionary military and the final straw of the military’s despotism and destruction of this country came during Babangida’s era, so during the interregnum, another very conservative military, that is the Babangida, Abacha era, so that’s how we found our-

Kokori

Solving our problems is just through discipline, diversification of the economy and little sacrifice, that’s all. selves in this stage and those were during the golden years of the oil boom where oil was $120 per barrel.

Nigeria had a great windfall, but we could not make use of it so that is what we are suffering today. Then we had this Babangida and Abacha era of great looting that led us to this level. We never saved, we never did anything. People never really had any real ambition to take Nigeria from the third world level to even the second world level so instead of progressing, we were retrogressive, those are part of our history. Fifty-Six years of no action, 56 years of a standstill, 56 years of leaders who, instead of being patriotic and nationalistic, were more concerned about themselves, self-conceited leaders, leaders who preferred self-aggrandisement instead of nationalism.

You could see too that most of our electoral processes have not been free and fair; any country that talks about democracy without free and fair electoral system; an electoral system that is bogged down with corruption and shenanigans, cannot go anywhere and this has been what we have suffered for all these years and most of the elections have been fractured with violence, murder, corruption, so that has been our lot all these years.

Let us hope that this last election that has brought up a new government of change led

by President Buhari, a man of steel, who has

struggled actually to become a president, will do it right, because one of the problems we had all these years are leaders who never really struggled; reluctant leaders who were just picked and they would tell you they never wanted to be president.

The nation’s economy is in recession and one of the proposals being bandied around to pull it out of the woods is the sale of some national assets. What would be your suggestion on how to revamp Nigeria’s economy?

The question of selling assets for a short term relief is out of the way, because it’s just a suggestion by certain individuals.

The Senate or the National Assembly has not passed any bill or motion and it’s in the public domain and I think it will be blown off and I know the president will not take that and the public opinion on that issue is against it, so I would just say it’s dead on arrival and you could see the reaction of the big pressure groups on the country and the organised labour.

My view is that it’s not realistic; it’s dead on arrival. It should go; nobody is going to consider that. Solving our problems is just through discipline, diversification of the economy and little sacrifice, that’s all. Nigeria is not in real or serious depression, Ni-

Following the resurgence of militancy that is taking its toll on the economy of Nigeria, the Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, came up with the forum he called the Niger Delta Coastal Stakeholders. But you were not at the inaugural gathering in spite of your status in the SouthSouth region. Do you think the forum would be able to mediate between the Federal Government and the militants? Or what’s your take on the forum?

My take is that we should bring peace to the Niger Delta, so anybody who is doing anything to bring peace to the Niger Delta, I should be happy. The fact that I wasn’t there is because that body is more of a conglomerate of sympathisers of PDP, but there is another organisation which we now called the South-South Peace and Development Stakeholders Forum. I was at the meeting in Abuja last Saturday [September 24] and it was coordinated by Rotimi Amaechi and the Clark group will tell you it’s not partisan, because you have traditional rulers there, you have distinguished people there, former ministers, governors; so I think the decision we took on that now is that there is going to be collaboration.

Do you think it will be better for Nigeria if it is divided than remain as a single entity?

Obviously, Nigeria will not divide; no commander-in-chief will allow Nigeria to break up. Even as well-intentioned as [Emeka] Ojukwu was, because the Igbo were provoked at that time and pushed to the wall and they had to take up arms, yet Nigerians did not allow them to go. These are not serious agitations; we can’t break up; nobody will support breaking up of this country. I know it’s a wild goose chase. They [the agitators] are seeking attention.

26

interview

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘Fake delegates voted for Akeredolu’ Continues pg 22 where corruption thrives. And investors have been showing interest in investing in Nigeria, because they’ve seen the seriousness of President Buhari in fighting corruption.

your support, will you abide by this?

I will only ask them to prevail on the people of the state, because what took place was a fraud and a slap on the faces of the people of the state. If they want to prevail on the people by producing fraudulent results and a fraudulent candidate that emerged through fraud but the people have said it repeatedly that they would not

In the face of this crisis, what do you think should be the position of the NWC of the party?

Would you advise them to resign or what?

Well, that should be determined by the leaders of the party. But as for me and my people, my mandate should be returned to me. Again, those who perpetrated that criminal fraud by bringing in fake delegates’ list must be prosecuted so that it will serve as a deterrent to others and there won’t be a repeat of such act in other states.

But once they allow the perpetrators to go scot-free, then we are in problem in this country, because an enemy of the state can be pushed forward as a candidate and once they succeed, the general election will not count again and INEC will be irrelevant in elections in the country, because they will use the same power to prevail on INEC and make it redundant. This was what the NPN (National Party of Nigeria) did in 1983 and that was the beginning of the end for the NPN then; President Buhari should not allow this fraud and irregularities to go on in APC. He should appeal to him (Oyegun) to look into this and reverse the decision by giving me my mandate.

If the leadership prevails on you and asks for

Dr Olusegun Abraham

support fraud and fraudulent person to rule them. So, I stand by the peoplr and I stand with them and so calling me or prevailing on me will be immaterial. The answer to their request is what have they done to those who perpetrated the initial fraud? And we can’t continue this way in this country. We have a lot of young undergraduates and youths who have no job, women who are jobless, and elderly people who cannot afford to eat three-square meals because of the corruption in our country. We must think and find a way of putting an end to this corruption and fraudulent act. Anyway, I want the fraud in the Ondo APC primary to be investigated.

Do you see APC winning the election in the state?

With Akeredolu as APC candidate, it’s automatic loss.

There’s no need wasting time on somebody that is not loved by the people, the party people dislike him, the electorate do not like him. He is not sellable to the electorate, because the moment his name was mentioned as the party’s candidate for Ondo election, the party went comatose. Members of the party in the state have started dumping the party for PDP; that’s an indication that the candidate picked by the party is not popular and he is not acceptable to the majority of the APC members in the state. Some people have joined the Action Alliance too; we don’t need crystal ball to know that the party is finished in the state. If we are lucky in this coming governorship election in the state, we will be number five unless the party reverses its decision.

The “Forces” at play Continued from pg 21 I won’t respond-Oyegun Despite the barrage of attacks on his person, the man in the middle of the storm, Oyegun, insisted that he would not join issues with Tinubu on the matter. The chairman had evaded media interviews since the crisis blew open, but just managed to say “I won’t respond to attacks from any quarters,” last week. Sunday Tribune made efforts to draw him out, but the veteran politician insisted that he must consult the party organs widely before making any comments that affect the top members of the party, adding that he was not doing a personal thing.

Is the ‘war’ in APC’s stars?

Those who saw the APC spring up in 2013 were surprised it held firm all through the electioneering process.

Not a few were of the opinion that the party would not stand in view of the perceived conflicts in the characters of many of the chieftains. The party started off with three legacy parties; the Action Congress of Nigeria led

by Tinubu; President Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) led by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu. There was also a section of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha. Initially the progressive bent was noticeable with eyes on Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the CPC but with the fusion of APGA and ANPP and then by the time the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) wing led by Senator Bukola Saraki and the five governors who defected in November 2013 joined the fray, it became an ideological potpourri, a clear amalgam of political forces in search of power.

Perhaps due to oversight or time constraint, the stakeholders did not settle down to interrogate the power equation. There was the understanding that the CPC wing would take the presidency and the ACN would take the vice-presidency. But the other positions, it was revealed, were not clearly rationed to other members of the alliance, though that claim was disputed by the Saraki group. Thus a blank cheque was given to the CPC wing, which produced the president and took charge in 2015.

Having occupied the seat in Aso Rock, it became the lot

of the leader of the party to dispense every other favour and without prior clear understanding; issues of lopsided allotments seized the air. Even now, the crisis in Ondo is partially traceable to the situation above. It was gathered that some chieftains of the party gathered in Abuja and decided to thwart the candidate already favoured by the South-West leadership of the APC, Abrahams. The result was the accusations and counteraccusations we are witnessing.

Party insiders say that what is being witnessed could be an attempt to whittle down the influence of Tinubu not just in the South West but also in the party, preparatory to the rise of new godfathers in the polity.

Will the cookie crumble?

Frank, who likes to be addressed as the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC said that stakeholders must rise to the occasion and prevent the party from certain death.

He said: “Why I am crying is that I was a member of the PDP and we were making the same agitation then that the leaders must rise up and that Bamanga Tukur was suffocating the party. They woke up too late. I believe that the APC is too young to die, but if leaders don’t do the right thing, if care is not taken you might start seeing mass defections. We should act before it is too late.

“If we don’t act on time, what happened to the PDP, when five governors defected may happen to the APC. I am doing everything I can to ensure that the president [Buhari] breaks his silence to ensure that we do the right thing in this party. We need to call emergency NEC meeting and get the chairman to answer to allegations from Tinubu in 14 days. This party is too young to collapse.”

The “Forces” at play Whether the APC survives its emerging crisis will largely be dependent on how the emerging forces manage their contentions. The issues at hand include the jostling and positioning for 2019, and the battle for the control of the party structure ahead of the full-blown 2019 power tussle.

A North-West/South-South alliance is seen to be working against the South-West group headed by Tinubu.

It was learnt that a loose working alliance between the

forces led by Kaduna state governor, Nasiru el-Rufai and the former Governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi is seeking a dominant voice in the party as it is. The structure is believed to be a dual-face one. It is on one hand said to be loyal to President Buhari and on the other hand positioning the duo of Amaechi and el-Rufai for a possible bite at the high office in 2019 should the opportunity present itself. The calculation, according to insiders, is to cut Tinubu’s wings ahead of the next election such that new leaders might take over his role, if he should decide to quit the coalition.

There is also the Atiku Abubakar/Senate President Bukola Saraki ensemble, which in another breathe encapsulates the New PDP wing of the APC. Atiku is believed to be warming up for 2019 and is seeking alliance across the board for that ambition. Whether Atiku would be able to work with Tinubu in view of the 2007 and 2015 incidents that separated them and whether the loyalists of Tinubu would be able to accommodate Saraki, who they are believed to have an axe to grind with, is another issue for political decisions.

The Peacemakers Outside the major gladiators pulling the strings for the control of the party are some notable peacemakers who were former layers in the PDP. These actors are said to be pulling the strings to unite the forces and ensure peace at the end of the day. Former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the former Ekiti State governor and National Vice Chairman of the APC, Segun Oni, are seen as catalysts in this project. The duo and some members of the party are said to have devoted much of their time to orchestrating peace among the forces. One of the efforts recently yielded the peace in Edo APC before the just concluded governorship elections.

The issues on ground are as dynamic as the face of politics could be. There is also the threat of the formation of a “Third Force,” a new political movement believed to be in the making to subsume the troubled PDP and take a chunk out of the ruling APC. When that crystallises, the troubles of the party may get extended on different fronts but how the stakeholders manage the power game will determine the fate of the grand coalition.

27

O

N September 29, UNICEF, which has been doing a great job cleaning the mess left of Nigeria’s NorthEast came up with a scary report. First is the scarcity of funds for its operations in the zone. Second is the dire strait Nigerian children of the North-East have found themselves in the wake of the prolonged insurgency. The UN agency said it was revising its humanitarian appeal fund for Nigeria from $55 million to US$ 115 million in aid of some additional 750,000 persons in deed of support in the NorthEast.

Hear the real sad news according to the report: “As new areas open up to humanitarian assistance, the true scale of the Boko Haram related crisis and its impact on children is being revealed. An estimated 400,000 children under five will suffer from severe acute malnutrition in three states across the northeast this year. More than 4 million people are facing severe food shortages and 65,000 people are living in famine-like conditions, mostly in Borno, the worst affected state.”

“Children’s lives are literally hanging by a thread,” the report quoted Afshan Khan, UNICEF’s Director of Emergency Programmes as saying. “We are reaching new areas to provide critical humanitarian assistance but we need greater international support to further scale up and reach all children in dire need,” she added.

As the statistics above stare us clearly in the face, they evoke pity, fear and empathy. But going by the volume of donations we have been told stream in from across the world through the Nigerian authorities the IDPs have no business passing through such hell on earth. Perhaps President Muhammadu Buhari should see a good assignment for the eagle-eye EFCC men who have been everywhere of late.

If we go by the records of donations to the Nigerian authorities in the last two years, none of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) should be living in the conditions painted by UNICEF above.

The funds started rolling in with the N28 billion realized from the Victims Support Fund (VSF) set up under the leadership of General TY Danjuma during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

There are reports also indicated that the sum of $900 million was pulled together by Australia and other likeminded countries, another $200million said to have been donated by the Government of United States of America (USA); the sum of $800 million from World

2 October, 2016

the lynxeye with Taiwo adisa

08072000046

Corruption war and the plight of IDPs

Bank; the sum of N6.3 billion donated by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and other individuals; $248 million donated

by UNDP and $750 million donated by Saudi Arabia.

Outside the donations, the Nigerian 2016 budget also allocates N10 billion for the care of the IDPs and that is aside the series of undocumented humanitarian supports from Non-Governmental Organisations, women groups, as well as religious and charity organisations.

Whether these sums are calculated in official or unofficial money rates, they look pretty good enough to assuage the immediate needs of the IDPs. So why are we having the humanitarian challenges painted above? It is certain the in-

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cumbent government needs to focus the attention of its anticorruption war in this direction. In this fight against graft, I guess it should be easier looking at today than yesterday.

Rather than look too deeply into the past, the government would help save lives in millions if it opens the eyes of its agencies to the situation surrounding the Donor funds.

While many of those wanted in connection with past acts of impunity may be out of sight or might have buried their incontinence deep down, it should be far easier to investigate any acts of impunity that happen around the management of the donor funds.

Those who should answer questions include the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the state versions of the agency as well as state government officials deployed to manage the IDPs. Why do we have huge donations from across the world and yet left our citizens in hunger? It’s difficult to fathom.

But the scenario above appears widespread in the management of IPDs. Only recently, the chairman of IDPs in Abuja told a delegation of humanitarian groups that they should henceforth donate their goodwill to the IDP camps directly.

Mr. Philemon Emmanuel, who spoke on behalf of the IDPs in Abuja, told his shocked visitors that his compatriots would prefer to be reached directly rather than through some state officials.

Hear him: “We have been here since 2014; we are 1467 persons from Borno State, Gwoza Local Government area and 56 from Adamawa. And we have been surviving because of the help of some churches, organisations, mosques and private individuals.

“We hear many times that people have donated items to assist IDPs in Abuja but don’t get to see the donations.

Recently, we heard that Dangote donated items worth millions of Naira to IDPs in Abuja but we are yet to receive the items. We however want to appeal that if some people want to help, they should come through the IDPs camp so we can get the assistance directly.”

Yes, we have a President who hardly talks but this is not an issue to keep mute about. The President should order his EFCC hands, who appeared so effective in dealing with politicians to go into this multi-million dollar matter. They will not only recover funds but directly save lives. Being your brothers’ keeper is an onerous task for the sake of humanity.

Shimon Peres: Tribute to a great son of Israel

By Femi Fani-Kayode

ONE of the greatest souls that ever bestrode the earth, a champion and founding father of the Jewish State of Israel, a former freedom fighter, a former soldier, an internationally-acclaimed statesman, a Nobel Laureate, a former Minister, a former Member of the Israeli Parliament for 50 years, a three-time Prime Minister of Israel, a President of the Jewish state, a diplomat, a peacemaker, an institution in the politics of Israel and the Middle East and the most experienced leader and politician that the State of Israel was ever blessed with, President Shimon Peres, has passed on at the ripe old age of 93.

How, indeed, are the mighty fallen!

I had the singular honour and distinct privilage of meeting Shimon Peres on at least two occasions. The first was when I was a student at Cambridge University in 1984 where he came to deliver a lecture on the State of Israel and the complicted politics of the Middle East.

After the lecture a few of us from the Friends of Israel Society of the university paid him a courtesy call at his hotel and when I told him that I was from Nigeria, his eyes lit up and he wanted to know everything that was happening in my country.

He listened attentively and after I finished analysing the situation to him (we had experienced a coup d’etat which brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power one year before) he said two things to me, which I shall never forget.

Firstly that I must endeavour to return home after completing my studies in the United Kingdom to help to build my nation and move her forward because Nigeria had so much potential.

Secondly he said that he knew my father very well and that they had met on several occasions through the 1960’s and again in the 1970’s just after our civil war.

He told me that they had been good friends since that time though they had lost contact over the years.

I was astounded because throughout our conversation he never gave me the slightest idea that he knew my father right up until the very end when we had finished and we were about to leave.

He told me to go back to Nigeria and to spend my life trying to “make a difference” in the affairs of my country and that I must always do all I can to stand for and fight for the State of Israel. I was touched and humbled and I never forgot those words or that counsel.

The next time I met him was 22 years later in 2006 at the United Nations Heads of Government meeting in New York. I was Minister of Culture and Tourism at the time and when I went to see him after the various meetings the first thing he asked me was how my father was.

When I told him that he had passed on 11 years earlier, he was clearly saddened and visibly moved and he said “you must do all you can to keep the flag flying and build on his great legacy”. I have never forgotten those words either.

He also told me that he was happy and proud of the fact that I had taken the advice that he gave me when I was a student at Cambridge in the 1980’s and that I was helping to move my nation forward by going into politics.

He reminded me that I must always remember that I have a friend in him and in the State of Israel. He touched my very soul with those encouraging words and with his obvious concern for my welfare and career.

The truth is that in all my years I have never met a powerful and influential public figure and an international statesman that was as kind, generous, compassionate, interesting, intelligent, widely-read, well-informed, humble and caring as President Shimon Peres.

Unlike most people that are on his very high level he was not self-absorbed, he did not have an over-bearing sense of self-importance, he did not hog the conversation and he did not spend 99 per cent of the time talking about himself or his country.

He asked questions about you and spoke about you, your country and your challenges as much as he did about his own. He was a father to all.

Most importantly he made you feel as if you were the king of the world and part and parcel of a much bigger and wider family and brotherhood of humanity.

In him I did not just see yet another great and powerful Israeli leader that was simply fighting for and speaking to protect and further the interests of his nation from an existential and very real threat.

Rather than that I saw and met a man that was brimming with compassion and a deep and honest desire to make the world a better and safer place for all of humanity.

His achievements in his over 70 years of public service for his nation are legion and too many to be mentioned here.

However, no tribute to him can be complete without at least a mention of the heroic role that he played, alongside his mentor the great President Ben Gurion, in the establishment and liberation of the State of Israel.

Again, we cannot but mention the courageous role he played during all three wars that took place between the Arabs and Israel since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948.

We can also not but mention his noble efforts during the American President Jimmy Carter-sponsored Camp David negotiations in 1978, which resulted in the historic peace treaty that was signed between Egypt and Israel.

His role in the famous “raid and rescue” operation in Entebbe, Uganda in 1976 when over 140 nationals of the Jewish state were taken hostage by Arab terrorists that had hijacked their passenger plane is also worthy of mention.

He was a true son of King David. He was Jehu, Daniel and Solomon all rolled into one. Like Julius Caesar, he was a colossus that bestrode the earth.

Shalom Al Israel.

Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation

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2 October, 2016

I

love the pairing in Ondo State. I mean the two men, one of who would soon be governor for another four years by God’s grace. Tomorrow surely doesn’t belong to us but the current arithmetic in the state’s politics, is very interesting. Babatunde Fashola has made it a thing of pride for Senior Advocates of Nigeria to be in pole position for state top-job. With a tinge of programmed exceptionality, he roamed into history book as one of the most fecund tutored IQ in governance. Being a SAN is thought to have helped his leadership thoughts. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo SAN may be slightly shaded in the current administration but his occasional expressed thoughts aren’t jaded. Millions rallied behind Buhari during the elections because of Yemi’s “learned” head and robed body.

In Ondo, ceteri paribus, a Senior Advocate is certain to succeed the outgoing medical doctor-governor Segun Mimiko. It is either Akure-born Eyitayo Jegede from Mimiko’s PDP or Owo-sired Rotimi Akeredolu of APC. Both are senior lawyers, with Akeredolu being the more experienced and known, having served as the national leader (that title again) of all Nigerian lawyers, elected unopposed!

But there would be no such luxury on November 26.

He may not even be second time lucky in the electioneering process. The hurdles this time are higher than 2012’s, when he ran a distant third. It should have been a much easier race for him, considering that the two men who bested him the last time aren’t on the ballot now. He bettered one; Olusola Oke, in the disputed party primary election and his main conqueror; Mimiko isn’t directly involved. But semantics aside, Eyitayo’s battles are Mimiko’s and indirectly, the greyed one would still be squaring with his old nemesis.

Mimiko/Jegede’s combo is however half of Aketi’s political migraine though it would worry his ambition to the extreme. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, if not dexterously-managed, would likely be the beyond-extreme gulf standing between Akeredolu and his Alagbaka ambition. Interestingly, the capacity-defining Lagos politician was the defining factor for Aketi’s involvement four years ago. His attempt at something and someone new this time around as APC’s South-West Sole Distributor has been the defining moment for the much-prized ticket Aketi eventually appropriated to the shock of those who thought their whim a must.

The Ondo APC primary election debacle has gone national, with leaders knocking heads. Resolving it effectively before the November poll has become a must for Aketi to stand any winning chance and the resolution is beyond his simplistic offering of “reasonable adjustment for peace”.

NIGERIAN leaders’ love for committees is boundless.

The first thing that crosses their minds when there is an issue in a sector is to raise a committee, regardless of the fact that there may be an existing body with the statutory responsibility to handle such matter.

In 2010, the Federal Government set up two different committees in the power sector; presidential action committee on power and presidential task force on power.

For the maritime industry in the same year, there was at least one presidential, ministerial or special committee for virtually every sub-sector of the industry. There was a task force on customs reform, a national task force on importation of small arms as well as a ministerial committee on review of port concession.

Recently, the Federal Government set up an inter-agency committee on recovery of loans granted to commercial banks and corporate organisations by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). Meanwhile, AMCON was set up for the purpose of recovering loans granted by banks to corporate organisations. Imagine, a committee was set up to recover loans granted to commercial entities by an organisation set up to recover loans granted by banks. According to the AMCON Act, it was set up “for the purpose of efficiently resolving the non-performing loans assets of banks in Nigeria.” So, what is the essence of the new committee?

The Federal Government has just set up two committees to resolve crisis in the health sector. The committees are headed by ministers. When Aero Contractors Airlines ran into troubled water, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, set up an inter-ministerial committee to save the company. There is an inter-ministerial committee on aviation security. There is also an inter-ministerial committee on the ease of doing business in the country. There is another committee on reducing tax burden on SMEs. In August, the government set up a committee to devise strategies to drive direct foreign investments.

I am aware that the university system, as well as the legislature, are run on committee basis, but to subject governance to committees is to deploy an Aristotelian strategy in the 21st century.

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Ondo: Nice mix, but...

It is easy to point more fingers at Tinubu for his unhidden love for “picking” instead of “electing” party candidates, either in imposition or endorsement guise. A lot of party chieftains in the South-West with the exception of largely-benefitting Osun and Lagos States, can hold legitimate angst against Tinubu and his style, but not Aketi.

His politics began and flourished on imposition, packaged by Tinubu. Bourdillion’s fingers feted his political hunger. He can’t morally kick now. It was the same admonition Fashola largely got when the Ambode’s imposition politics collided with his Alausa-interest. Tinubu’s perceived excesses can’t diminish his excessive political generosity.

If APC is an intricately-woven complexity in Ondo today, Aketi has plenty blame to carry. While his ambition was and still legitimate, he over-talked, in his usual boisterous way, making the crisis to brew over.

Tinubu is surely in a dire situation in Ondo as he is unlikely to do anything that would benefit Mimiko politically,

With Sulaimon Olanrewaju 08055001708

lanresulaimon@yahoo.com

A nation’s love for committees

The love for committees is borne out of our quest for quick fixes. As a people, we abhor process because we are more reflexive than reflective. First, we allow problems to accumulate until they become unmanageable.

When they get to the climax and there is a snap, rather than take time to think through them to get a permanent solution, we want a magic wand that will solve in a month a problem that had amassed over the years and we quickly

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but he has reasons to “fight” and correctly too, by taking the battle straight to those suspected of pumping Aketi’s puffed chest during the primary contest.

But such a fight must be issue-based, fact-grinding and morally-defensible. If the primary election was rigged like all other political contests in the land, it should be challenged. If Oyegun actually manipulated the appeal process, such administrative heist should be contentiously contested. Without doubt, both Aketi and Oyegun have a right to wean themselves of Tinubu’s influence, but while Oyegun has shown more maturity in handling the backlash, Akeredolu’s swashbuckling personality has kept overshadowing whatever genuineness inherent in his unleavened settlement offer.

Tinubu has tactically taken the battle to a higher ground in Abuja, in order not to be seen engaging a trainee, but the truth is that Ondo is the battleground and Akeredolu’s ambition is what would be at stake when the Abuja Bombers take on Bourdillion Boys in what could be the deciding shot before water recedes to its level.

It is one battle Bourdillion may not want to lose having lost nearly all against its bedmate adversaries within APC. Ministerial appointment, Senate presidency, Reps Speakership, Kogi governorship, and now this. Little wonder the outburst. You can keep flogging a man and ask him not to cry.

For a man so viciously criticized for creating and executing an expansionist agenda yet unmatched in Nigerian political history, the Leader of Team Bourdillion may be attracting more of his-own-too-much-sef grin for now, but the moment he positions himself properly as the underdog in this Akeredolu’s battle as he is gradually doing, favourable sentiments won’t be in short supply for him, since Aketi himself hasn’t been much of a public-darling despite being public-oriented all his adult life.

Coming on the heels of Edo election, Ondo presents a different scenario. There is a humiliated godfather, a defiant godson, a biased party leadership, a governor and candidate unlikely to benefit from others’ misfortune and an unyielding “authentic” National Leader in Abuja.

When those who should solve problems are problems to be solved themselves, then come can be said to have become. Gibbers gave APC, Edo. The Jimoh Ibrahim distraction is without doubt a worry for Mimiko and Jegede, but both camps are going to pour the votes into the same basket, before resolving who should inherit them. Ondo is strongly looking PDP, whichever way.

resort to committees.

When rather than regularly maintaining our roads, as is the practice in other climes, we allowed the roads to go bad and there were cries from every corner about the deplorable state of the roads, a presidential committee on roads was set up.

When as a result of years of neglect of the aviation sector, the management of the sector became problematic, a presidential committee on airports was the response.

When as a consequence of our inability to invest regularly in the power sector, electricity generation ebbed and supply became unbearably epileptic, committees were set up.

Pray, what can a road committee do that a properly funded and managed Federal Ministry of Works can’t?

What can the committee on airports achieve that the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) cannot accomplish with the right management? What can the committees on power pull off that will be beyond the reach of the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission and the supervisory ministry?

Committees operate on ad hoc basis but a country should have long term plans. So, no country can go far by being committee-dependent. Methinks instead of waiting for a calamity to land before raising a committee to clear the mess, the ministries and the agencies should be empowered to discharge their basic duties. Our much desired development will remain a mirage until we learn to do the right things at the right time. Doing the right things involves properly and adequately equipping the civil service to deliver to expectations. Doing things right entails those having oversight functions carrying out their duties as expected of them. When fund is voted to ministries or projects, it should be released. Not just that, the National Assembly and others with supervisory and monitoring functions should see to it that the fund is utilised as expected.

That way we will continue to make progress in every sector and we are not likely to get stuck. If we do not get stuck, there will not be an emergency. And if there is no emergency, there will be no need for any presidential committee.

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2 October, 2016

ON THE

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With Bolanle Bolawole turnpot@gmail.com 07052631058

lord’sday

University admissions: Is NECO losing relevance?

A

T no time in the history of university admissions had parents and students been through the kind of trauma they were subjected to this 2016/2017 session. The confusion began with the new Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, querying the need for the post-UTME reviews that the universities subjected students to. Before you knew it, the mere words of the minister had become law; post-UTME had been outlawed just like that! What would replace it, no one knew – the universities did not know; JAMB had no idea; and the minister himself was incoherent. So began a macabre dance that made matters worse for everyone.

To solve a so-called problem, a legion others had been whimsically created. In most things Nigerian, this was a policy summersault that was not well-thought-out.

It was like, let’s first destroy what we did not like and think of what to replace it with afterwards. A fire brigade approach to replace the destroyed system with something, just anything, thus began. This year’s university admission exercise is a “peculiar mess” (aka Penkelemesi). After the ordeal that most students and parents have gone through, a perfect system is still not in place. In fact, a system as manageable as the one destroyed

by Adamu is nowhere in sight.

After the initial ding-dong over whether, truly, post-UTME had been overloaded just like that was resolved in favour of its overloading, next began the puzzle of what replaces it? Everyone except, perhaps, Adamu and his co-travellers was agreed that JAMB admission exercise could never be allowed to stand on its own. It was because JAMB had been found ineffective that postUTME became an addition to the university admission procedure. Ordinarily, once JAMB was found to have become defective, even destructive of its raison-d’être, it should have been scrapped outright. That way, we would have got rid of a bureaucracy that adds no value but overburdens the polity, contributing to the humongous cost of governance that everyone is complaining about.

Before JAMB, the universities had conducted their entrance examinations on their own. Many of those who imposed JAMB on us had been beneficiaries of that system. What they sought to avoid was what they referred to as the multiplicity of admission, in which bright students get admission to more than one university. If it was a problem, what they replaced it with had been far worse. The institutions coped very well with the so-called problem; till date, the same system is followed all over the world by universities to admit their students.

Initially, JAMB appeared to have been up to the task, although right from the outset its creation was another evidence of the overcentralisation of powers in a so-called federal system. The states are made more and more powerless while the centre becomes an octopus. Even state and private universities these days are under the stranglehold of JAMB, which is a federal agency, even though the same Federal Government has refused to extend the federal largesse of grants and subventions to such universities.

Our federalism is in words only; we operate

a unitary system of government in actuality.

As with most things Nigerian, JAMB soon degenerated and became a clog in the wheel of progress. Corruption swept it off its feet. Its examinations could no longer stand the test of integrity. Questions were sold and bought.

Marks were sold and bought. Admissions were given to the highest bidders. It took some time before the malfeasance became public knowledge, though; but what started as rumours soon became confirmed gospel truth. JAMB was porous, very porous. JAMB had become useless; thoroughly useless. If this baggage must be carried along, then, something must give. A redeeming feature was needed for JAMB to continue; that was the reason for the invention of the postUTME exercise.

That, again, is vintage Nigeria. We do not confront our problems head-on; rather, we dodge them. We don’t solve our problems; we sweep them under the carpet instead.

JAMB should simply have been axed – period! The universities ought to have been freed to return to assume the responsibility of admitting their students; that is what the law that sets them up says; but here, the big men, especially those in government, do not respect the law. When one government comes, it interprets the law as it deems fit and manipulate processes and procedures to satisfy primordial interests. It does not matter that institutions are ruined in the process.

How was the last – or is it ongoing? – admissions exercise conducted by the universities? Not many can vouch that they know! The universities, JAMB, Adamu, and everyone wallowed in the dark; guidelines were drawn up and torn into shreds again and again as uncertainty ruled the waves.

Many universities still wallow in that dark alley as we speak. The harrowing experience is better imagined than felt. In the absence of post-UTME, how were the applicants tested and found suitable for admission?

How were the inadequacies of JAMB examination taken care of? Truth be told, it was not taken care of at all; it was simply

glossed over! By faith we assumed that the JAMB examinations were now okay for us to rest university admissions upon! the authorities have said so; therefore, it must be so. Whether we believe so or not; that is the official position and there is nothing anyone can do about it – at least for now.

For as long as the present leadership is in place, we have to live with this. When it is out of the saddle or its folly had become too embarrassing to be glossed over, then, sanity may return.

One thing is sure, this shenanigan will not last. We are bound to throw it overboard at some point. That is the norm here – one step forward, two steps backward. That is why countries like Malaysia and Taiwan, not to talk of South Korea and Brazil, that were at par with us a decade or so back, or that we even towered head and shoulders above, have caught up with and left us many miles behind.

The last university admissions exercise, after groping in the dark, reportedly resorted to allotting marks to applicants on the basis of their WAEC scores – as if those examinations were in themselves fault proof! It was a desperate, last-grasp effort to run away from post-UTME. We wait to see the outcome of this new admissions system, if we can call it that, since there is nothing systematic about it. To make matters worse, many of the universities, confused and exasperated, possibly, inflicted incalculable damage on students relying on the National Examination Council (NECO) to gain admission in the academic session under review. By so doing, the affected universities further ensnared themselves in needless controversy. They are chargeable and liable on many fronts.

One: They told applicants they would be considered for admission with their NECO results and collected application forms from the students. But they reneged and closed down their portal days before the release of NECO results! They lied and are guilty of insincerity.

Like erstwhile military dictator Ibrahim

Babangida, they shifted the goal posts after the match had begun. They ambushed unsuspecting students. They disappointed trusting parents. They obtained application money from students/parents under false pretence. The law calls it OBT – obtaining by tricks. Universities are ivory towers and should not have descended this low. They ought to keep their words and honour promises made. Eggheads should not by any means be fraudsters. They ought to open their portals and allow NECO applicants compete. This is the only path of honour.

Mercifully, this impunity is being challenged by a pressure group of concerned citizens – the Association of Tutorial Schools Operators. In a statement, the association accused the affected universities of doublestandard by allowing only applicants with WAEC results to access their portals while denying applicants with NECO results the same opportunity. It added that the Federal Ministry of Education must look into the matter or else, NECO may become a worthlessor second-best examination; like the dichotomy between university and polytechnic certificates. Pray, who would go through the pains of preparing for an examination or run costs that would amount to nothing in the end?

“This is callous and they are toying with the lives of thousands of candidates. This is admission racketeering and it is worse than examination malpractice...These institutions (said) candidates awaiting results are eligible to apply. These are probably NECO candidates and they were told that they would be allowed to upload their results whenever it was released.

Many candidates bought the screening forms with that assurance. Why are they shifting the goal post in the middle of the game? (JAMB) gave them up to November to conclude the admission process”, said the group protesting this unfair practice by the defaulting universities on behalf of distraught parents and crestfallen students.

There is no denying the fact that the universities concerned are being clever by half. They think they hold both the yam and the knife; therefore, they think they can their cake and have it. That is impunity. They think by disqualifying applicants with NECO results in this ingenious way, they would be reducing their admission headaches which have been monumentally compounded this session by the Adamu summersault.

This is crass opportunism. None of these shenanigans should be mentioned even once among our institutions of higher learning; for, if gold rusts, what will iron do?

LAST WORD: The rumbling within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is getting louder and clearer. What many political observers had suspected from the beginning, but which APC leaders had tried to paper over, is becoming too obvious to be glossed over with paints. I’ll rather wait to see for now; for, like grandma taught me, what is rumbling in the bush is definitely making its way to the main road. Rather than go look for it in the bush and run any risk, wait for it to come completely into the open; same goes for the Edo State governorship election, which is befuddled at the moment by claims and counterclaims.

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2 October, 2016

Tribute: 62 Candles for Mimiko

By Kayode Akinmade

G

OVERNOR Olusegun Otaibayomi Mimiko is 62 years old tomorrow, (Monday, 3 October 2016). Language deconstructionists would no doubt agree with our matching of Mimiko’s names (Olusegun Otaibayomi or “God-given victory to shame ill will”) with his persona, struggles and life achievements.

The Ondo governor is not your typical sissy of a public officer. In other words, he is a veteran of many wars, victor in uncountable fracas and survivor of many titanic political skirmishes. Whenever he fought his battles, not a few of his loyalists would think that it was all over for him. It was at the point when he was given up for dead that an invisible hand would come to his rescue and he would rise to send a jab, cross, hook and upper cut to the solar plexus of his enemy who would land on the canvass, panting like a beached whale. A man whose philosophy of altruism comes from a pure heart cannot but enjoy the intervention of God. Thus, an opponent underrates Mimiko, whose seemingly fragile physique and harmless mien, harbours a steely core, at his own peril.

When Dr. Olusegun Mimiko competed in the gubernatorial elections on April 14, 2007, former President Olusegun Obasanjo threatened to set the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission loose on him. A politician who has skeleton in his wardrobe would have run away like a scared hound with its tail between its hind quarters. With nose-thumping determination, he contested against the incumbent Olusegun Agagu but was rigged out. Not a man to say die, Mimiko contested this decision at the election tribunal. When the verdict was given at last, Agagu lost office on February 23, 2009. He was replaced by Mimiko as governor.

And in the October 20, 2012 election, Mimiko contested on the platform of the Labour Party against Rotimi Akeredolu of Action Congress of Nigeria (supported by many party bigwigs from outside the state); the candidate of the PDP, Olusola Alexander Oke; and the candidate of the CPC, Olusoji Ehinlanwo. Mimiko won and became governor for a second term. The medical doctor turned politician is not called Iroko, king of trees in the forest, for the fun of it! However, he, on Thursday October 2, 2014, officially decamped to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from the Labour Party.

The good thing is that Mimiko’s life struggles are not just ends in themselves but means of providing service, comfort and happiness for the greatest number.

Suffice it to state that he is a socialist to the core operating though within a political party comprising legions of conservative elements.

This leftist orientation has a long ancestry. In other words, selflessness runs in Mimiko’s blood. His great grandfather, Chief Akinmeji was the famous Runsawe of Ondo; his grandfather, Pa Famimikomi was also successful, brave and kind man.

His son, Atiku Bamidele Mimiko, the governor’s father, also inherited the virtues.

No wonder Olusegun Mimiko the son, adopted the progressive ideas and sharpened them at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in the 1970s. On campus, he was a member of the Pan-Af-

rican and Socialist Student Organisation, the “Wantu Wazuri” and the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Young Socialist Movement. No wonder the welfarism philosophy he gathered from his leftist orientation blossomed when he became a medical doctor and later as governor.

First, when he established his MONA MEDICLINIC in Ondo town in 1985, his charges were so low that he sustained that institution on shoe string. It is safe to say that Mimiko is service, sympathy and empathy walking on two legs! And he has demonstrated this in the last eight years of governing Ondo State. True. Since 2007, Mimiko has used the instrumentality of government to help the poor.

In the area of health, the Abiye programme is one of the cardinal programmes of Mimiko who conceived it so that pregnancy would no longer be like signing one’s own death warrant. Through it, government provides free and qualitative healthcare for pregnant women and children of zero to five years of age.

To ensure its effectiveness, the Mimiko government assigns Health Rangers to pregnant women for proper monitoring from conception to birth; provides mobile phones for the women for them to contact their Healthcare Providers. Moreover, government provided (and still does) four-wheel and tricycle ambulances; renovated existing basic health centres, constructed new ones and provides drugs and other consumables. It was for these reasons that the World Bank officially listed Ondo State’s Abiye programme on its website as, according to a writer, “one of the success stories coming out of Africa.”

Mimiko did not stop at that. There is the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure; the Medical Village, Ondo, comprising the Trauma Centre, Kidney Care Centre, Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre and Mother and Child Hospital. People come from outside the state to avail themselves of the opportunities provided at the centres.

Dr Mimiko has made a statement in the area of education that everybody irrespective of social or economic status has a right to quality education with his Mega School initiative. It is not only the monstrous structures that are mind-boggling; the standard of teaching is also high, there is quality control while the service is liter-

ally free. It is not for nothing that even the well-to-do in the society have been withdrawing their children from the so-called high profile private schools and putting them in public schools. With about 54 of the Mega Schools already built across the state and more in the pipeline, every community is soon to have one.

What is more, the Mimiko administration provided 100 buses for student to ride to and fro their schools free and also established a specialized medical university (Ondo State University of Medical Sciences), first in Nigeria and the second in Africa.

True to his promise, Mimiko has been able to make the state an event destination through its much sought after International Cultural and Event Centre, christened ‘The Dome’, and sited on a large expanse of about 34,000 hectares of land in Akure.

A product of great thinking, the initiative is as a result of the drive to reposition the state for core investments and tourism attraction.

A three-in-one dome with a 6,000 capacity hall, a gallery for art, and a discothèque, it is the first of its type in the country.

The Dome, Mimiko had projected, will put Ondo State among the states in the country that can hold any international conference without hassles about the venue, a projection which has come to pass.

With complimentary facilities in the Dome are proposed nearby Africa Village and a five-star hotel.

The Mimiko Cocoa Revolution has also gone a long way to project his belief in economic diversification. The Oda Cocoa Plantation symbolises Mimiko›s on-going silent revolution in the state. This should surprise no one going by the background of the state as a top cocoa producing one.

The revolution is premised on the bid by the administration to retain Ondo State in the number one spot in cocoa production in the country. Farmers get high-yielding cocoa seedlings from the plantation to increase their produce. On top of this is the value-addition initiative that will put cocoa farmers in the state in the position to process their produce into chocolate and cocoa butter.

To this end, the state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding

Sunday Tribune

with a United States concern, SPAGnVOLA Chocolatie LLC, on the establishment of Cocoa Academy where farmers will be trained on the value added initiative. It is also on record that Cocoa from Ondo won a silver medal at the Chocolate Academy award in the United Kingdom.

The Mimiko administration is equally boosting cassava production across Ondo State and has put in place the machinery for high scale production of rice in Ogbese area of the state in order to put food on the table of the people while also empowering farmers.

Mimiko also introduced the Kaadi Igbe Ayo smartcard technology that helps government to have the database of all residents of the state. Through it, citizens have access to all the good things of life, “it facilitates the systematic development of databases for efficient security and surveillance purposes, the categorisation of citizens for employment, taxation and financial palliatives, the use/management of public facilities (public transport, subsidised consumer products, even fertiliser).”

Mimiko has also achieved a lot in the realm of industrialisation. The Guardian, on 31 August, published a report on how the Federal Government commended Ondo State, ranking it as one of the fastest growing economies in Nigeria. That was by way of a statement by the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed during a courtesy visit to Mimiko in Akure after an Environmental Impact Assessment of the Ilaje Free Trade Zone in the Southern Senatorial District of the state.

It is on record actually that southern part of Ondo State harbours the longest coast line in the West African sub-region.

The minister had mentioned at the visit that the target of the project is to match the achievements of the present federal administration towards diversifying the economy.

Head of the Technical Review Panel, Engr. Funso Makanjuola, according to the report, explained that the project if completed in time would place the Mimiko-led administration in an enviable pedestal.

But the industrialisation of a state will be a huge joke without power supply and the Mimiko government is aware of that.

According to a 20 March 2016 Thisdayonline report, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued a generation licence to Ondo state government and its partners, Kingline Development Company, a South Korean firm, to generate 550 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the state’s Independent Power Project (IPP) plant.

Mimiko, after coming into office also embarked upon an urban renewal programme in all the three senatorial zones.

In Akure, he upgraded the road from Fiwasaye through Oba Adesida, Oyemekun down to Ilesha-Benin Expressway.

There is the dualisation of Arakale road in the city; dualisation of Mobil junction in Akure through Oba Ile to Airport. Also the Fiwasaye-Oba Ile Adesida-Oyemekun down to Ilesha-Benin Expressway, axis has about thirteen mini car parks and a central car park behind Akure Central Mosque named Democracy Park. It can accommodate 2,000 vehicles at a time.

There are two special roundabouts constructed in the state capital: the fountain roundabout at Alagbaka and the new roundabout at the Fiwasaye end of the road.

32

2 October, 2016

makeover

Sunday Tribune

Rita Okonoboh 08053789087 tribunemakeover@gmail.com

Dressing up for

Independence

D

espite the economic circumstances, there is always a reason to celebrate and with the recent declaration by the Federal Government of a public holiday tomorrow, families can take the opportunity to engage in celebrating Nigeria’s 56th independence.

With many events, including religious services targeted at the celebration of Nigeria’s 56th independence anniversary, there are a variety of opportunities available and it is important to dress appropriately for the outing. For those celebrating Nigeria’s democracy, below are a few style tips to follow:

The outfit The best bet for this celebration is traditional designs with touches of green and white. They provide the right platform for pairing accessories, and can work for as many occasions as possible – church thanksgivings, beach outings, children parties, red carpet events or family visits.

Switch between Ankara shorts or skirts to full/kneelength dresses. For children, pure white traditional outfits could go for those who are relatively older. And if your aim is to win Democratic Family of 2016, let the family come out in matching traditional outfits.

complete the look. For women, use the sunglasses to hold back your hair and the look is nothing but classy.

The lips The lip colour should depend on the general theme of the party. You could go gothic by using black lipstick for an informal club party. Red, pink or purple also work well with traditional outfits. The key is moderation.

Photo: www.marieclaire.com

Photo: www.eyemakeupdesign.com

Photo: www.fashionpoliceng.com

The eyes The colours, green and white are hard colours to work with on the make-up palette. For green eyeshadow, know the varying shades of green available and pick the ones that will work well with your skin tone.

White eyeshadow does not go well with very dark complexions. Instead, you could go for a lighter shade of ash.

And if you can’t make green/white work, go for traditional makeup colours. Throw on a pair of sunglasses to

Photo: www.bellanaija.com

The feet For women, heels or flat strappy sandals go wonderfully with traditional dresses, shorts or skirts. For men, shoes or sandals go well with Ankara outfits. One can also take advantage of the variety of Ankara-themed shoes available in sneakers, strappy or block heels, sandals, shoes, among others.

The hair Especially for women, up-dos are a great combination with dresses, especially for those with sleeves. For tube dresses, let the hair be long and should cascade down the shoulders to ensure some sense of decency.

33

2 October, 2016

With Akintayo Abodunrin akinjaa03@yahoo.co.uk 08111813058

Why I’m picking on JP Clark —Ben Tomoloju Playwright and director, Ben Tomoloju, is directing the 2016 MUSON Festival play,‘The Wives Revolt’ written by Professor JP Clark. He speaks about the play and his preparations ahead of its staging later this month. Excerpts:

and others about 20 something years ago.

I like to be modest, I don’t know if I am going to bring in any twist to the play that is so special but I know that I am going to be myself. I like to be different. I had the temptation of going to say Baba we are performing your play, we will like to take photographs with you, tell us this and that. I should face the play from the point of view of my own interpretation but with full feat to the creativity and genius of the playwright. I don’t just tamper with plays. I first of all, try to respect the genius of the playwright and then my own interpretation comes in without tampering with the message. Work with the literary skill without tampering with the plot and diction but trying to weave something that can be very exciting to the spirit, intellect.

T

ELL us a bit about the play you are directing for the 2016 MUSON Festival?

It is JP Clark’s ‘The Wives Revolt’. It was written in the early 1980s. It is reputed to be the emeritus professor’s first comedy. It is a classic by all descriptions.I am comfortable directing the play for so many reasons; one is that it is a master’s work. We have an opportunity once again to show the public the high skill, the genius of a master in person of John Pepper Clark. It is also something that the younger generation can learn from in terms of literary craftsmanship, in terms of dramaturgy and play making and directing. It offers an opportunity for actors and actresses to try something different from just the normal music, dance and all that stuff; and still get good entertainment- sound wonderful entertainment, out of literature in drama.

What kind of actors were you looking for during the audition?

Kakaduto be staged in South Africa for Africa Day celebrations AFTER successful outings in Nigeria and Davos, Switzerland in the last three years, UcheNwokedi’s award-winning ‘Kakadu, The Musical’ has now joined the exclusive list of world class productions to be staged at the Nelson Mandela Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The musical based on several pivotal events that happened in Nigeria between 1965 and 1974, will have its run at the Nelson Mandela Theatre from June 7 to 18, 2017 as part of the Africa Day Celebrations.

Executive producer, Jo’burg City Theatres, Claire Pacariz, who announced the selection of the musical, explained that: “Kakadu is a highly creative, original production which has been internationally acclaimed as the first ever musical from Nigeria and that is why we are interested in bringing it to South Africa for the 2017 Africa Day celebrations.”

Speaking on Kakadu’s selection, the writer and producer, Nwokedi, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said: “It is quite significant to the ethos of ‘Kakadu’ that we have been invited to a theatre named after Nelson Mandela, a champion of liberties.”

With musical direction and orchestration

by BennethOgbeiwi (Uncle Ben of Project Fame) and KanayoOmo calling the shots as artistic/technical director, ‘Kakadu’ has a strong plot, captivating storyline, spectacular dance and a blend of the Anglo-American soul and pop music of the 50s and 60s that influenced musical expressions in 1960s Africa. The eclectic musical also showcases Highlife, Afrobeat and traditional Nigerian folk music.

Tomoloju (second right) and the cast of The Wives Revolt.

As the producer and director, I did the casting. I looked for experience, proficiency, versatility, and virtuosity of the actors. I tried to bridge the gap between the generations in this production;whereas we have someone who has 22 years’ experience in acting with someone who has been in the business for 10 years or thereabout. Each showing what they have to offer. Phase by phase new talents should be introduced to the public. And we shouldn’t just get stuck to older talents. As the director, for instance, I enjoy watching the works of younger directors. I want new actors to be acknowledged and seen by the public.

How did you arrive at the choice of the play?

The choice is strictly by MUSON. If I don’t like the play, I will not touch it. I feel challenged to pick on a JP Clark.

While you were talking about the

actors,Ina Erezia,Uzor Thaddeusand Prince Oyakhilome, I noticed your voice peaked with excitement. I have a feeling they are really making you feel excited about the rehearsal.

They are challenging me, really. But I have always appreciated them that way. I am not the one who will give them a pass mark; it is the audience that will give them a pass mark. But I would have prepared them to have that ace. But they are very interesting to work with. They are like lamps we cannot hide under the table. They should come on top of the table and their talents should illuminate the environment of performance. So that was the reason behind the excitement.

Are you bringing any new twist to The Wives Revolt?

You confirm the year of premiere; I think it is 1984 or something. I was there to see the play as performed by Toun Oni, (Mama T)

MUSON is interested in doing something with younger directors, could this be a platform for doing more for young talents?

Young directors have been making their impacts. Some of them are heads of departments and are still in the same age group with those who are directing outside, they have been making their impacts. One of the most highly respected is Tunde Awosanmi, Head,Theatre Arts Department, University of Ibadan. That is one and at the same time you talk of Segun Adefila. These are difficult questions because the policy of MUSON is not really within my care. It is only MUSON who can say what they want to do with their facilities. In terms of my advocacy, I like people to give opportunities to emerging talents.

In all respects, I know of a private organisation that owns a facility and over the years made the facility available to young talents who have also grown their wisdom teeth now and are making remarkable impact in the theatre community and to the theatre going public.

‘MTN will continue to discover Nigerian talents’ TELECOMMUNICATION giant, MTN, will not relent in discovering more budding talents in Nigeria as several are still scattered across the country.

Company’s Head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs,AminaOyagbola, stated this at the MTN Project Fame closing gala ceremony last weekend.

Oyagbola, who also praised Ultima Studios for its world class facilities, said that Nigerians don’t need to travel abroad to have a show as glamorous and impactful as MTN Project Fame West Africa because of the upscale venue.

Amina Oyagbola (right), Okiemute Ighorodje and another official at the closing gala.

She said, “on behalf of MTN, I say a big thank you to all the finalists who have made it thus far, and also appreciate Ultima Studios for proving to the world that we need not travel out of the shore of Africa to have world class production. Let’s not also forget that MTN is always willing to motivate, inspire, and empower all our esteemed customers.”

Earlier at the well-attended event, 25-yearold OkiemuteIghorodje, a graduate of English and Linguistic from the University of Port Harcourt, emerged winner of MTN Project Fame Season 9.

She became the third female to win the coveted prize after ChidinmaEkile and Monica Ogah.

Her victory came after weeks of rigorous academy drills and weekly performances alongside other contestants under the guides of the academy’s faculty including Joke Silva, Ben Ogbeiwi, KachiIge and LovetteOtegbola.

Ighorodje was deemed the outstanding among the super-six contestants and thus clinched the title.

She was rewarded with five million naira, brand new SUV, and recording deal while the runners up did not leave empty handed. Elizabeth, the first runner-up after performing ‘Standing Ovation’ by Tiwa Savage walked home with three million naira, and a salon car while Kitay got two million naira and a salon car.

Pere whose parents were in the audience got two million naira, while Dapo and Winner got one million and 500, 000 naira respectively.

Speaking at the end of the show, Silva assured that the next edition will witness another twist, as past contestants will be given the opportunity of being auditioned. She however disclosed that the alumni will not be auditioned with the budding talents so that the hopefuls can shine.

34

2 October, 2016

children’sarena

Sunday Tribune

Olaide Sokoya ollydesanmi@yahoo.com 0807 449 7425

O

NCE upon a time, there lived a generous and kindhearted king. He was fond of birds and animals, and had a huge bird sanctuary in his kingdom. He disliked harming the animals and birds. He did not kill them, even for meat.

In appreciation of his generosity and kindness towards birds, the king was presented two beautiful falcons by a businessman. Those two falcons were used to different climatic conditions. The king thanked the businessman and ordered the head bird trainer to provide all the facilities to those beautiful falcons and make them feel comfortable in their country. The head trainer took care of the birds.

Gradually, the birds got adapted to the country’s climate.

One day, the king wanted to see the falcons fly as he had heard that one of those falcons could fly to great heights at very high speed. The bird trainer let the falcon out of the enclosure. It flew very high, very quickly, and came down to the enclosure within minutes.

The king was quite surprised, and rewarded the bird trainer with a handful of gold coins. He enquired about the other falcon. The bird trainer stated with regret that the other falcon had not moved even a

step from day one and had just sat on the branch.

The trainer also added that he had tried everything he could but still failed to make the bird move.

The king consoled him and told him that he would bring someone more experienced than him to try to train the other falcon.

Soon, the king announced that he needed someone to make the falcon move and fly.

Hearing this announcement, an old man reached the king’s palace and assured him that he would make the bird fly like the other one.

The king asked the head trainer to take the old

Parrots can live for 80 years •There are around 372 different parrot species.

•Most parrots live in tropical areas.

•Parrots have curved beaks, strong legs and clawed feet.

•Parrots are often brightly coloured.

•Parrots are believed to be one of the most intelligent bird species.

•Some species are known for imitating human voices.

•Most parrot species rely on seeds as food.

Others may eat fruits, nectar, flowers or small insects.

•Parrots such as the budgerigar (budgie) and cockatiel are popular as pets.

•Some parrot species can live for over 80 years.

• Birds range in size from the two inches Bee Hummingbird to the Ostrich which can grow to nine feet tall.

•Birds are also social animals which participate in social behaviours. They are known to work together in breeding, flocking, hunting and mobbing predators that threaten them.

•They communicate using songs and calls. They can also communicate by using visual signals, such as quickly flapping their wings.

ILD E CHF TH K O EE W

Don’t desire to walk when you have wings to fly

man to the sanctuary to train the falcon. He said that he would visit them the next day to see if there was any change.

The next day, the king was very surprised to see the other falcon fly like the first one to great heights in rapid speed. The king was very happy and gave the old man a handful of gold coins.

Then the king asked the old man what he had done to make the bird fly in a day.

The old man simply replied, “I just cut down the branch of the tree where the falcon used to sit.”

Many of us are like this.

We have wings to fly; we know how to fly, and where to fly. Still we sit doing nothing or doing something that makes us inferior to others.

Don’t sit still when you have wings to fly! www.kidsworldfun. com

OluwarotimiEmmanuelSokoya clocked 2 Many happy returns

Famous invention

C

Doughnut

aptain Hanson Crockett Gregory was the inventor of the doughnut with a hole in the middle.

William Rosenberg, the food-franchising pioneer, founded the Dunkin’ Donuts chain. Rosenberg opened his first coffee and doughnut shop, called the Open Kettle, in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States, in 1948. The name was changed to Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950.

According to “Donuts and the Salvation Army” - While the Army may not have invented the first doughnuts, it can certainly take credit for [helping] the popularity of doughnut today.

POEM

Pop, Goes the Weasel All around the cobbler’s bench The monkey chased the weasel.

The monkey thought ‘twas all in fun.

Pop! goes the weasel.

A penny for a spool of thread, A penny for a needle.

That’s the way the money

goes.

Pop! goes the weasel.

Up and down the City Road, In and out of the Eagle, That’s the way the money goes.

Pop! goes the weasel.

Half a pound of tuppenny rice, Half a pound of treacle, Mix it up and make it nice, Pop! goes the weasel.

Quote

“You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”

35

2 October, 2016

tribunechurch

Sunday Tribune With Rita Okonoboh tribunechurch@gmail.com tribunechurch@yahoo.com 08053789087

Oh God! Please save our country...

Clerics pray for Nigerian citizens at 56

FromRitaOkonoboh,OlaideSokoya, MuhammadSabiu,JudeOssai,Sam Nwaoko and Victor Ogunyinka

F

OLLOWING various comments and recommendations for moving the country forward, as Nigeria celebrates its 56th independence anniversary, a new beginning for it as a nation, clerics from across the country prayed for Nigeria especially for unity, peace, progress, leaders, government, politicians, victims of insurgency, the widowed, the persecuted, the oppressed, families, among others.

Most Reverend (Dr) Samuel Abidoye, Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide, Ayo Ni O May this nation experience peace, prosperity and divine visitation. May God remember this nation and save it from unnecessary bloodshed. May the joy of the Lord be the heritage of the citizens of this nation. May God open the hearts of Nigerians to see one another as brothers and sisters. May there be abundance in the land. May both the poor and the rich have enough to eat in Jesus’ name. May the current administration receive help from the creator to rule with truth, justice and honesty. May Nigeria survive in Jesus Christ name.

Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, Catholic Diocese of Oyo Dear God and Father, as we celebrate Nigeria at 56, have mercy on your children, victims of insurgency and provide for their needs. In your mercy, put an end to insurgency, violence and bloodshed in Nigeria.

Restore peace to our land so that all may rejoice in you forever. Amen.

Archbishop Michael Fape, Lagos Anglican Province As we celebrate another Independence anniversary, God will arise and cause Nigeria to prosper. Our country will receive divine visitation that will overshadow our problems.

Nigeria will rise and shine again economically with good governance championed by God-fearing leaders. Nations will rise from the East, West, North and South and bless Nigeria. It is well with Nigeria in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reverend Musa Asake, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Abuja Our God and Father, we want to thank you for keeping Nigeria till this time. As we celebrate 56 years, we celebrate Your faithfulness. Continue to keep us together, guide and direct our leaders, we pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Bisho p F a i t h Emmanuel Benson Idahosa, Church of God Mission International Lord, we pray for your direction on Nigeria’s education sector as we enter another year of our nation’s growth. We have been given the task of educating the next generation of Nigerians that will eventually take up leadership positions within and outside our shores. Teach us how to teach them to learn and how to grow to be leaders that the world can follow and that we can be proud of.

Reverend Ikemefuna Okafor, Anglican Church, MaryLand, Enugu State My prayer is that victims of oppression should bear in mind that life can turn around. They should come closer to God. My prayer is that those who have died as a result of the uprising in the country especially in the North should bear the pains and come closer to God. I also pray that our oppressors should turn a new leaf and understand the plight of the oppressed.

My prayer point for unity is that God should sustain our country in line with the founding fathers ambition of unity in diversity. I pray that government sees the need to leverage the plight of widows and widowers with soft loans. My prayer point for prisoners is that government and relevant authorities should dispense justice with mercy.

Bishop (Dr) Samuel Olubayo Sowale, Ilesa Anglican Diocese Almighty and most merciful God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, we remem-

ber before you all poor and neglected persons, especially orphans, as we celebrate the 56th anniversary of our independence as a nation. We remember in particular those who became orphans through civil war, automobile and plane crashes, the devilish work of armed robbers, natural disasters, insurgency and herdsmen attacks. Help us to eliminate cruelty to our neighbours. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. Grant that at national, state and local government levels, we may have robust plans backed up with adequate funds to take care of orphans in our midst, so that all orphans will have sense of belonging by reason of our care for them, to the extent that every one of us in this nation may enjoy a fair portion of the natural endowments of this land through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Bishop Seun Adeoye, Osun State.

Oh Lord, God of grace and mercy, I pray for widows and widowers in Nigeria. Give them comfort, peace and joy. Lift their hands and supply their needs. Oh Lord, heal their loneliness, be their partners, be the Father and Mother of their children. Our Lord and God, fight for them and grant them justice in the land according to your promise in Jesus name.

Bishop Titus Omoniyi, Methodist Church Nigeria God of heaven, we pray for Nigeria that You may have mercy upon our nation at this time of economic recession, have mercy upon our leaders, let the fear of God be in them, and turn around our economy for good, take away poverty from our land, put your spirit in the hearts of our politicians so that they may be ready to offer sacrifice to our nation, Lord direct our president to the path of

justice and peace, grant all these prayers in the name of our Lord and Saviour.

Most Reverend (Dr) J.O. Akinfenwa, Ibadan Anglican Diocese As Nigeria celebrates its independence, we beseech God to heal our land and the people.

Today, our people are suffering and dying of myriads of preventable, avoidable and treatable diseases. May it please God in His mercy to release His healing power across the nation and to restore those under the burden of epidemic; those whose health have been compromised by abuse of the environment; those poisoned by chemicals and other toxic substances, victims of industrial, domestic, road and other accidents; and many others who are currently on their sick beds across our land. Lord, we particularly plead with you to stay the hand of the scourge of cancer ravaging our land, especially our women. We also pray your blessings upon efforts to eradicate polio in our land; please strengthen those working hard to ensure that this wasting disease is finally banished from our nation.

Pastor Dan Obinebo, Victory Prayer Ministry My prayer is that the country will prosper and move forward. Agitations for division should be dropped for peace and progress of the nation. We should see ourselves as one nation where peace reigns. I pray that someday all the ethnic nationalities will see themselves as brothers. I also pray for those involved in the fight against insurgency and militancy. My prayer point for prisoners is that there should be drastic reduction in crime and speedy trials in our courts to reduce prison congestion.

Bishop Peter Ogunmuyiwa, CAN Cordinating Chaplain I pray that the wisdom of God will come upon all political leaders. I also pray that God will remove every spirit of greed in the heart of our leaders and that God will visit Nigeria and heal our land. May He bless us with people with the fear of God and political leaders with heaven consciousness who have the people at heart. May God help us to discover talented economists that He will use to take us out of our economic recession to a level of prosperity of our land. I pray that there will be peace, stability, and religious stability and that the peace of God will take place in every aspect of our lives.

Pastor Bright Edada, House on the Rock, Ebonyi State Our father, we ask of your blessings upon our nation, we seek your face and turn from our wicked ways, heal our economy and teach our leaders to do right in Jesus name.

Continues on pg38

36

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune With Olaide Sokoya ollydesanmi@yahoo.com 08074497425

churchnews

Prayer, panacea for current economic situation —Cleric Oluwole Ige - Osogbo

T

HE Provost of the Light of the World Bible School, Ede, Osun State, Pastor Hezekiah Omotoso has said that the nation can only get out of economic recession if Nigerians intensify prayers for God’s intervention in the socio economic and political activities of the country.

He made this known during an interview with TribuneChurch at the third graduation and ordination ceremony of the Light of the World Bible School.

Omotoso, who said prayer remained the only solution to the current economic situation in Nigeria, noted that Nigerians, irrespective of political party affiliations, religion and tribe, should seek divine intervention for God to turn the nation’s economy

around for good.

According to him, “we should all be prayerful in this period of economic recession, insurgency,

militancy, kidnapping, cattle rustling and any act capable of tampering with our nation’s hard-earned unity.”

He added that through fervent prayers, the lost glory, virtues and dignity of Nigeria would be restored.

Omotoso, however, appealed to Nigerians to be patient, hopeful, expectant and put their trust in God, stressing that “God is the

Royal Dance concert holds today

From left, His Royal Majesty, Eze (Dr) Patrick Ogbuagu; General Overseer, Glory Christian Ministries, Pastor Iruofagha James; Pastor (Mrs) Yemisi Duggan and Mr Meshack Masade, at the annual Kingdom Partners Forum, held at the church auditorium of Glory Christian Ministries, in Lagos State recently.

Kumuyi in Asaba for transformation crusade today Alphonsus Agborh - Asaba THE General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, is to visit Asaba, Delta State, today for a transformation crusade.

Pastor Kumuyi, who had visited Warri area of the state twice this year, will hold a special session with people from the northern part of the state at the oneday outreach.

The state overseer of the church, Pastor Jude Chukwuocha, speaking on the crusade, stated that Kumuyi had visited several cities across the country, adding that he had a peculiar love for Delta State.

Chukwuocha also urged the Nigerian government to give opportunity for God to run the affairs of the country, stating that with the presence of God, nothing shall be impossible for the country.

“Nigeria is a blessed country. We have the potential to be great among the comity of nations in the world. Through the influence of men of God and with the right atmosphere created by those at the corridors of power, we can

one who can turn all situations around for the better.

We should also pray for our leaders.”

achieve all we need in Nigeria. We should not lose because we will get out of

the economic recession,” he said.

He also said though Nige-

ria had several institutions to fight crime and bring criminals to order, these

institutions would not be able to control crime without spiritual rebirth.

Nigeria@56: We must not relent in prayers —Abiara

By Seyi Sokoya THE General Evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church (C.A.C), Prophet Samuel Kayode Abiara, has charged Nigerians not to relent in their prayers and support for the government in putting an end to the current economy recession and other challenges facing the country.

While felicitating with President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians on the 56th independence anniversary, Abiara told TribuneChurch on Friday that, “We need to thank God for everything, irrespective of our current situation or the challenges we are facing as a nation. We need to appreciate God for the grace to witness Nigeria at 56 in peace.”

He added that “People may query us on why we should rejoice, but it is important to thank God; especially for the gift of life and that Nigeria is still at peace. Every Nigerian irre-

spective of class or colour must thank God and pray for the country and also repent from sins; we should abstain from stealing and corruption.

“On our own part, we will

continue to pray for people and the government. I am confident that Nigeria will not fall or fail because of its problems; I know that recession will not last long.

God has really blessed Ni-

geria with good people that can give the country a facelift. I urge these people to do the needful to change the story of this nation for good.”

Recession, opportunity for repentance —Pastor James

By Rita Okonoboh THE General Overseer of Glory Christian Ministries, Lagos State, Dr. I.S. James, has enjoined Christians and Nigerians not to be troubled by the present economic recession in the country, but should rather see it as a cause associated with repentance.

He also stated that the present situation was an avenue to draw people closer to God with the belief that it would soon be over.

Speaking during the occasion of this year’s annual Kingdom Partners Forum, Pastor James stated that, instead of lamenting, the recession period should be a time of revival and trust-

ing God for direction on how to activate hidden opportunities.

Quoting from Ecclesiastes9: 1-12, he said: “God’s plan for us is to joyfully enjoy life and be free from any form of depression, oppression or recession, but due to our nonchalant attitudes, mismanagement nature and ingratitude towards His divine provisions for us, He allowed some occurrences to checkmate us.”

He described recession as a global situation, which God will use to redirect people to His divine economic promises, provisions and assurance.

He said: “The world’s economy has led us astray because things we ought to

deal with in our lives, we had over time built affinity with, and therefore failed to do the right thing at the right time, which had led to a situation in which instead of enjoying life as God meant it to be, we are enduring it.”

He admonished Nigerians not to complain, regret, be depressed or intimidated by Satan’s language and false impression on momentarily failure that happens to people in life, but to remain steadfast and look up with absolute trust to God in all situations for greater opportunity, provisions and chances that abound to make life meaningful and enjoyable in Jesus Christ.

Deaconess Opeoluwa Orobiyi and her OmoobaEledua gospel train will host lots of gospel artistes in the welcome back praise event tagged; Royal Dance at DE Heptagon Events Palace, this afternoon.

According to the release made available to TribuneChurch, the aim of the praise concert was to praise God especially during the Independence season as it has been an annual event which has run for almost five years.

Also, her team will leverage on the opportunity to welcome her back from her trip to the United States of America (USA) where she also gave a performance in celebration of her 15 years on stage.

Some of the artistes expected at the concert include Pastor Fatoyinbo, Reverend and Mrs Samuel Oyelade, Evangelist Seun Ibitola, Pastor Olasesan, Evangelist Owolabi Ope, Pastor Emeka, Evangelist Titilayo Akinbowale, Akintolu Rachael, Obaeri Ajidara, Psalmkey2, Evangelist Biyi Samuel, Opa Oshoffa, Lamide Green, Evangelist Timi Osukoya, Evangelist Paul Friday, Evangelist Ayandokun, BJ Lolys and Evangelist Bukola Amusan.

The event, which will take place at De Heptagon Events Palace, Koya Akinwale street, Ipaja, lagos State by 12 noon, is powered by MTN Nigeria, LTV, ABN Channels, Eledua music world, Faaji FM, among others.

Deaconess Orobiyi

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Sunday Tribune

What Buhari should do to beat recession —Revd Anwo

Reverend Solomon Adewole Anwo, the General Overseer of Christ Landmark Ministries Inc., speaks with RITA OKONOBOH, on his calling, his 20-year experience in the ministry and the way forward for Nigeria after 56 years of independence.

H

OW did you find yourself in the ministry?

It was divine; the journey of my life has been wrapped in mystery. From my childhood, people always referred to me as pastor and it became an appellation I could not really explain. Maybe it was because of my attitude; I was very committed to the things of God because my mother taught us to be very devoted to the work of God. All through my secondary education, people still referred to me as pastor. Maybe it was because of my nature. I wasn’t very outgoing. In fact, at that time, if you didn’t find me in church, you would find me at home.

In the early 80s, when I finished my secondary education, at that time, I was bent on studying Law at the University of Lagos. I kept seeking admission but somehow, even when scores were high, I didn’t get it. After so many attempts, I still didn’t get into UNILAG. I was in the business of shipping at the time. One day, while on a ship, the Lord asked me to go to the topmost floor. He told me to look around and all I could see was water; there was no dry land in sight. That was when I began to imagine the mystery of God. He asked if I loved Him and I said ‘yes.’ Then He told me that I could not plan for myself unless I allowed Him to. That was when He opened my eyes to the fact I would attend the University of Ibadan and that I would study Sociology. When I got back to Lagos, I received an admission letter that I had been admitted into the University of Ibadan to study Sociology. I still cannot explain how that happened till today.

By the time I got to the University of Ibadan, registration had been on for a few weeks. The queue of people who came for admission clearance was so long and I was already feeling frustrated. While I was contemplating this, a man came to me and asked why I came late. As I was explaining, he simply asked me to follow him.

And he took me through the line, into the admission office and he attended to me.

People were just looking at us but nobody questioned his action. After we finished, we went out of the office and he sat at the front of Trenchard Hall and said I could go for my faculty and departmental registration and that he would wait for me.

However, that was the last I ever saw of the man. That is when I knew that angels could appear in human form.

However, the real encounter came when I was at the University of Ibadan studying sociology in 1989. I was almost rounding off my programme then when I had an encounter with God. When I settled down in the university, I wanted to join a fellowship and the Ibadan Varsity Christian Union (IVCU) came to mind. However, God took me round the campus to a place where I found about 14 people gathered to fellowship and He said this was where I must fellowship. That was The Apostolic Christian Fellowship of Nigeria (TACSFON). That was where God groomed me for the ministry. When I left school, when I was on camp, people began referring to me as pope. How they came about it, I

really cannot explain. After our orientation at the NYSC camp, I was supposed to serve at the INEC office in Abeokuta, Ogun State, but somehow, all my service year was used in the church. God sent us there to assist them and God made revival possible. It was a great revival. I was ordained a pastor at Christ Faith and Miracle Church, Abeokuta. This was in 1994.

As time went on, we were assisting the pastor at the time and I was quite okay with that. The pastor in charge said as much as he would have wished to have us under him, he knew we had the calling and he would encourage us to follow that calling and that he would pray along with him. I never wanted to be on my own but I heard a voice telling me to go down to Ibadan.

There were so many challenges, especially when I didn’t want to heed the call. Going into ministry is something I didn’t pray for because my grandfather was a prophet in the Christ Apostolic Church before he died and he went through so many challenges. Like people would tell me, it was like leaving certainty for uncertainty.

How would you describe the experience so far?

It has been wonderful. That’s why we made the 20th anniversary theme, “The Goodness of God.” When we look back, we never thought we could do it. It’s not necessarily about me, but about the people God has raised with me in the mission. I couldn’t have done it alone. I have enjoyed wonderful support from my wife, the pastoral team and the church.

What is the greatest testimony you have recorded in the past 20 years?

Our testimonies are countless. However, our greatest testimony is that lives have been positively affected. It’s like God sent us to rescue the perishing and the dying.

We have had testimonies of people being blessed with the fruits of the womb after 20 years and even 30 years of marriage.

God has used the ministry to touch so many lives and He has been very wonderful.

How would you assess the Nigerian journey in the past 56 years?

We are blessed with so many resources but with the current situation of things, one wonders what is really happening.

Whatever the case may be, we still need God to intervene in the case of Nigeria. I would plead with Nigerians to trust God. It takes God that rules in the affairs of nations to make things happen. Human reason to better Nigeria will not work. We must allow God to take charge. It is only prayer, not might, that can help us as a nation. That’s my advice to President Muhammadu Buhari. He should also consult experts on moving the economy forward.

God just put him there to be a coordinator. He can’t do it alone. He needs the support of others. He also needs to allow God have His way and God would prevail over Nigeria.

Some people would say religion

has done more harm than good to Nigeria. With your experience, how would you respond to that notion?

I would not subscribe to that notion.

Thank God for the power of prayer that is keeping Nigeria. See the situation in other countries. Worse things have happened in Nigeria that could have made things worse but we thank God for the power of prayer. We are just trying. God is the only One that can save man and it is the same God that we can call upon to deliver Nigeria. Unrighteousness seems to be on

the rise and this is part of the end time programme. The devil knows the time is short and so wants to use all means to drag as many people back to hell. That’s why we must use religion to make people conscious of the faith.

Where do you see the ministry in the future?

Like God has been revealing for some days now, it’s like we’re just starting. He wants us to pray that the God of the harvest will raise the right people for the work of the gospel.

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I witnessed a pastor drop dead at the altar during service —Ogunleye Prophet Taiwo Olaoluwa Ogunleye, popularly referred to as Omo Ajinde, is the pastor-in-charge of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke Orisun Iye, Oke Orogun, Ibadan, Oyo State. He speaks with RITA OKONOBOH on his experience as a pastor, his recommendations for developing Nigeria and what the CAC must do to unite. didn’t know where to go. Then, Apostle Joseph Babalola visited me four times in visions to join the CAC in ministry for revival. I was ordained as a pastor of the CAC in 2012. However, my calling is as a prophet.

H

OW did your journey into the ministry begin?

My calling was by divine arrangement. According to what my mother told me before she passed on, she used to visit the church for prayers and she made a vow to God that if He gave her a male child, she would dedicate him to the ministry. She already had girls but she wanted a male child. After 30 years, I went back to the church and I saw the prophet and he confirmed the calling and that was how I renewed the covenant with God. I also visited some other prophets. During this time, God usually spoke to me, telling me that my place was in the ministry but I didn’t want to be a pastor because of the challenges and suffering my father faced as a pastor. Although I was involved in ministerial work right from my university days, when I graduated, I tried to get a job for almost seven years, visited mountains for prayers to get a lucrative job but to no avail. After such a long time, and many years of evading the call, God told me that if I refused to heed the call, I would die. So, I decided to accept the call in 1999. Then, I

What challenges did your father face as a pastor that discouraged you from joining the ministry?

I didn’t want to suffer. In fact, sometimes, I had to beg for money to go to school. What I then resolved to do was that I would make money, then come back to the ministry.

However, those seven years I spent looking for a job were seven years of suffering.

Who are some of your mentors in the ministry?

Prophet Obadare (of blessed memory), Prophet Michael Olowere, Prophet Gabriel Oyelami, Elder Segun Adegbenro, among others.

What has been the greatest challenge you have faced as a minister?

There have been so many challenges.

When you’re known for always speaking the truth, you’ll face many tribulations. However, I will continue to speak the truth. I have encountered hired assassins, accidents and even spiritual attacks. A lot of things have happened to me. Even some fellow ministers of God don’t want to hear the truth.

However, one of the greatest challenges I experienced as a pastor was at a church planting programme I was invited for. As

the pastor in charge got up to lead the opening hymn, he fell down. It was shocking. I carried him and prayed so hard but nothing could bring him back. That was how he died.

That experience was a very bitter one for me. It was supposed to be a time of celebration but it became one of mourning. Earlier that day, between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00a.m., I heard a voice calling me, but because of the environment, I panicked and didn’t listen to what the voice wanted to tell me. I wept bitterly that day and even questioned God. I travelled with the corpse down to Oyo and later took it to Adeoyo. His family members, who were traditionalists, did what the Yorubas call, Oku riro, and I was under much spiritual attack. This was sometime in 2012 and the incident took place in Kwara State.

I couldn’t stay at home because of attacks.

Even the ministry suffered and at a point, I stopped my popular programme on radio.

However, God told me to continue. After a while, I got a message from the traditionalists that they had actually cast a spell on me to kill me within days and they realised that I had to be a real pastor for such spells not to have effect on me. I just thank God for everything. I had another experience in which I was involved in a ghastly motor accident, but God saved me. There has also been the challenge of betrayal from people I trained.

What is your greatest testimony?

That would be that I did not depart from the covenant I made with God and have not derailed from my calling, in spite of so many challenges.

Sunday Tribune

Your yearly crusade is in its tenth year now. Why did you start?

God directed me to do it. The ministry God gave me was on resurrection prayer ministry. I used to wonder about being a pastor and bearing the name Ogunleye. Then, I prayed to God about it, and He said, though that was my father’s name, and my mother named me Taiwo, He would give me the name, Omo Ajinde. And that was how I came about the name, and in fact, it’s a biblical name.

What has God told you about Nigeria?

Nigerians must come back to God. There has been so much bloodshed in the land and God is not happy. There have also been insinuations about plans to Islamise the country but that will not be possible. At that time, God raised Apostle Babalola, born in 1904, for ministry and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, born in 1909, for political restoration. However, when FESTAC 1977 was celebrated, we departed from the Lord and worshipped idols. As such, God wants us to come back to Him in repentance.

What is your take on the current CAC crisis?

According to the message from God, CAC would become one very soon. However, I would tell our leaders to make way for peace. The current problems are a result of the quest for titles. Interestingly, Apostle Babalola didn’t have time for such titles. In fact, he was named apostle after his death.

Even the crisis has caused confusion in the doctrines of the CAC. For instance, it is against the practice of the CAC to use talking drums in church but that has changed now as we now have such practice in some CAC churches. There are also CAC churches where women worship without covering their heads and some even wear trousers to church. That is against the CAC teaching. It is also against the CAC teaching to have a general overseer. Jesus is the General Overseer. We need to go back to the original calling.

Independence: Clerics say prayers for Nigeria Continued from pg35

Reverend Joseph Adelekan, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Makera, Kaduna State As we celebrate, let us thank God for what He is doing and what He will do, for the best is yet to come. Let’s thank God for our leaders. I pray for strong unity among us all. I pray for God’s peace to rule in our land. Our youths shall be preserved to build this nation better. The power of God will move again in our land to eradicate all forms of kidnapping, killing, stealing, cheating and other vices. Nigeria shall be great again and the dream of our founding fathers shall come to reality.

Pastor Olu Makinwa, Bible Society of Nigeria Father, we thank you for saving and redeeming this country. We thank you for your glory over this nation. We thank you for what you did 56 years ago. We thank God for what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do for Nigeria.

For the past 56 years, we know that by now, there are things we expect that we haven’t yet seen in Nigeria. But you said in Your word that we should continue to give thanks because we know that tomorrow will be good for Nigeria. We pray that as we celebrate Nigeria, the glory of Nigeria will rise again. Our hope is in God that Nigeria will rise again and that its glory will shine. Nigeria will not mourn again and we shall always have cause to glorify God in Jesus’ name.

Pastor B.O. Akanmu, Chairman, CAN, Oyo State As Nigeria celebrates its independence, I pray for all our leaders at the helm of affairs that God will give them a simple heart to do what is right at all times. I pray that Nigeria’s lost glory will be restored and God will take perfect control so that the nation will surmount its challenges and insurgency will be a thing of the past, in Jesus name.

Prophet P.F. Owa, Christ Revival Miracle Centre

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and they were saved. I pray God’s protection shall be upon Nigeria and shall continue to manifest more than before. The Bible says He will keep us like eyeballs. May the Lord protect Nigeria the way He protects the eyeballs. Jesus is Lord.

Reverend Samson Akinrinde, Assemblies of God Church My prayer for children in Nigeria is that the Lord should endow them with special abilities, fresh ideas and innovative instincts that will make them solution providers and answers to global questions. I nullify sudden deaths over their lives.

Grace will speak for them.

Bishop Olukunle Amoo, Laughter Foundation Ministries Our Almighty Father, we thank you first over our great nation Nigeria. We pray for forgiveness of our sins in this nation.

Look unto our nation with your mercy through the precious blood of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We plead for forgiveness of ancestral sins, idolatry, murder, stealing, greed, selfishness and other sins that might be working against our progress as a nation, We ask for forgiveness in all realms. Imbibe in us the spirit of the fear of God in all our undertakings as leaders and citizens of this nation and let Nigeria be God’s own nation with peace, progress and prosperity in Jesus mighty name (Amen).

Pastor Agboola Ebenezer, C.A.C., Hand of God Ministry Genesis 1:28 says “and God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. Joshua 1:3 says every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I give unto you. That is the promise of God to all faithful businessmen in this country.

Reverend Ademola Akinpelu, The Word of His Fresh Grace Ministry My prayer for pregnant women in Nigeria on the occasion of our independence is that just like the Hebrew women delivered without stress, they will give birth safely. The power of God will give strength before and after delivery. Your lives will not be an exchange for your children in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Reverend (Dr) Terry Shaguy, REGAM Global Christian Missions Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy which has sustained Nigeria as one nation, in spite of all our sins and resultant challenges these 56 years. We acknowledge and are grateful that your mercy has indeed kept us. You have graciously blessed us with all conceivable resources, numerical strength, fertile land and high intellectual and spiritual wealth. You have spared us natural and scientific disasters.

Yet, we have enjoyed Your goodness, peace and prosperity.

Prophet Paul Abraham Osinaike, Mountain of the Lord Church May God make a way for all government workers so as to forget their years of sufferings, delay and wastefulness. I decree and pray it shall well with them. Their prayers for many years will be answered. They will enjoy and eat the fruit of their labour and nothing will hinder their promotion in Jesus name. Peace be unto all government workers.

Reverend James Akinadewo, Motailatu Church of God As Nigeria turns 56, I pray that God will bless business owners and employers of labour. Their endeavours shall be fruitful. Their businesses shall yield plenty in profit. The Glory of Zion shall be unleashed on the work of their hands. Those owContinues on pg39

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livingword

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

dawnofanewera with Most Revd J.O. Akinfenwa

By Bishop David Oyedepo Call 7747546-8; or e-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

Bishop of Ibadan Anglican Diocese

Encounter with the Power of the Holy Spirit for Exploits!

EVERY child of God is redeemed for exploits and has a golden destiny in redemption. Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12; see also Romans 8:29-30; 2 Peter 1:3; Matthew 5:13-15).

He also said: Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matthew 11:11; see also Matthew 12:42).

However, it is one thing to have potentials and yet another to actualise it. For instance, from scriptures, we understand that John the Baptist had more potentials than Elijah, yet a small girl demanded for his (John’s) head. Thus, potential does not equal actualisation and that is why we must discover what it takes to actualise our potentials in Christ; for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (James 2:26 see also Luke 1:13-17; Matthew 17:10-13).

Furthermore, it takes the anointing of the Holy Spirit to actualise our potentials in redemption. Until Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit, He had no identity. Also, until the Holy Ghost came, the

potentials of Peter, James, John and other apostles were not realised. However, after they were empowered by the Holy Ghost, the fearful Peter became an ‘earthquake’ and himself, and other apostles took the city by storm (Luke 4:14; Acts 4:13).

This helps us to understand that though we have golden destinies in redemption, it cannot be realised by power or might, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Also, until we become born again, we cannot access the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Are you born again? This means, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?

If you haven’t, you can do so as you say this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins.

Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!”

For further reading, please get my books: Anointing for Breakthrough, Understanding the Anointing, Anointing for Exploits and Release of Power. I will continue this teaching next week.

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have five services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:35 a.m., 9:10 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. respectively.

Clerics say prayers for Nigeria Continued from pg38

ing workers shall be financially empowered to pay and their business moves rewarding.

Impunity shall end in Nigeria and the glory of our nation restored. The captivity of Nigeria shall be turned for good; business owners and employers of labour shall enjoy the good of the land and Nigeria shall be great again.

Prophet Siwoniku Oluwasegun, Celestial Church of Christ We pray concerning the economy of our country, presently in the hands of our dear president, that the anointing that came upon Joseph in Egypt, that made him move the economy of that nation to greatness, that same power should come upon him and he will be given the grace to move the nation from its current economic situation to greater heights.

Pastor Olu Eyebiokin, CAC Ado Ekiti District Coordinating Council (DCC) We thank God for our leaders, both past and present. Lord, we hand our country over to you, please look down with mercy upon us and our country, in Jesus’ name. We hand the direction of this country to you, Lord please take control. This is a country you have established yourself, please don’t let the devil destroy it. Revive our ailing economy Lord and strengthen our leaders. Give us the grace of breakthrough, so that we would continue to praise you. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pastor (Dr.) Tope Adeyemo, National Coordinator, Christ Apostolic Church Students’ Association (CACSA) Thank you Lord for all that Nigeria has been able to accomplish thus far. We pray that you forgive all the sins of bloodshed in this country; we pray that you forgive the sins of our leaders in this country; forgive the sins

of men, women and youths and the children.

We pray that peace will reign in Nigeria and that every form of insurgency and militancy will cease in our country in Jesus’ name.

Pastor Joseph Ayorinde Paul, Glorious Chapel Gospel Church, Cross Rivers State The Bible says God will plead the cause of the widows. Jesus who is husband to widows will plead your cause and bear your responsibilities in Jesus name; may the helper of the needy rise for your help in Jesus name.

Reverend Michael Osobukola, Igbomina Anglican Diocese I pray that as God visited Samaria, He will visit us by His mercy to turn our scarcity to plenty in Jesus name. Amen.

—Evangelist Abayomi Oni, CAC I pray for all the needy at this time of Nigeria’s independence that the Lord will be your shepherd. Put your trust in him alone as I hereby declare that He will protect and defend you from all hidden dangers and deadly diseases, because He has covered you with his wings. You shall be safe. Even if a thousand should fall down beside you and ten thousand around you, you shall not be harmed in Jesus name.

Pastor Abereifa Joseph Bayo, Redeemed Christian Church of God. We pray God to Nigeria the spirit of oneness, unity and true love henceforth. Draw us together from all religions and tribes and let us dwell together in your fear and in your love. Let your peace prevail in our nation, in Jesus mighty name we pray.

Venerable O.I. Ogunrinde, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Odo Ona, Oyo State God Almighty, we bring the youth in Nigeria to your throne of grace this Independence

The mercy of God WHEN you know that you live at the mercy of God; and on account of that, you submit yourself to the mercy of God, you shall enjoy the blessings of mercy.David submitted, and he enjoyed the mercy of God. In 1Samuel 22, David sang a long song to God, in the day that God gave him victory over his main enemy. How did David conclude this long song? He said, 2 Samuel 22:50-51 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

That leads us to the last definition of mercy. Mercy is something to be thankful for: a welcome event or situation that provides relief or prevents something unpleasant from happening. The Bible says, Lamentations 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

If you look well, you have something to thank God for. If not for anything, he delivers you from death on a daily basis. Between yesterday and today, many have gone to the great beyond. But you are here; death has passed you over. If that is true; that we have received his mercies, then we need to be thankful to him. The Psalmist says, Psalms 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God

of our salvation. Selah.

Will you thank God today for His mercies?

David, the man who enjoyed the abundant mercy of God so much that he passed it on to his children, says to us: Psalms 136:1-4 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endurethfor ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endurethfor ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endurethfor ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endurethfor ever.

As we give thanks, God’s promise of everlasting mercy, which manifested in the life of David, shall manifest more and more in our lives also. We shall receive forgiveness instead of judgment. We shall receive divine comfort and acceptance instead of divine rejection. Most importantly, we shall receive divine blessings that we do not deserve because the mercy of God has availed for us.

So, as you go into this week, notwithstanding the situation in the country, pleasemarchforward with this song – it is both an expression of gratitude, and a confession of faith: I have seen the Lord’s goodness His mercies and compassion I have seen the Lord’s goodness Halleluyah! Praise the Lord.

Concluded!

theapostolicmessage

By Pastor (Dr) G.O. Olutola JP.

Grace for living But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8) In this new month, you are numbered among the living, praise the Lord!

But, you need to know that it is the grace of God that made it possible.

You may be asking yourself, ‘how will my story be at the end of this year, since in a little while, the year would have come to a close, will I make it or not?’

If these and other questions have continued to bother you, I want to tell you that the grace of God can change your story or your situation.

The Bible portion says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Because of God’s grace in his life, he found the favour of God that when it was time for God to destroy the world, Noah and his household were excluded.

Noah feared the Lord and set his face against public opinion and conduct; hence God singled him out and favoured him.

In this difficult times, when many are groping in wants and others are merely struggling to make it work for them. If you receive the grace of God, then what others are passing through can never be your portion.

You will succeed where others fail.

Where they meet with frustration, you will meet with celebration, where they meet with closed doors, you must experience open doors. Grace makes you to live a life devoid of struggle.

Grace is the favour and loving-kindness we receive from God. It is bestowed on us because we are His children, and heirs of the kingdom.

Grace is freely given to those who have accepted Jesus Christ into their lives.

John 1:12 says to them that believe in Him gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name. And if children of God, they are qualified to receive grace, enjoy it and live it. That is to say, no grace without Christ because Christ is the grace of God (John 1:14). “And the world was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father), full of grace and truth.” And as Paul puts it “for in Him dwells all the fullness of God’s glory and grace.”

Grace will make you grow, and succeed where others fail. Noah who lived in the corrupt world was spared God’s anger because of grace. What befell the world could not befall him. So also, in this present day of economic melt down in the world, the grace of God keeps His children out of economic quagmire.

Genesis 26 brings out an example of one who was not affected by the famine though others suffered it. Isaac dwell in the land where there was famine yet, “he sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundred fold” (Genesis 26:12). Where there is destruction, grace protects you and keeps you out of it. In I Chronicles 21:1, (II Samuel 24:1) when the anger of the Lord was kindled against the Israelites, David and his household were spared the destruction, because he enjoyed the grace of God. According to II Samuel 7:15, God had bestowed David with his lovingkindness– “My mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul.”

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2 October, 2016

language&style

by Samson Dare 0805 500 1770 samsonadare@yahoo.co.uk

Sunday Tribune

g

rammar jokes

Back to school

There and their (I)

S

AMPLE 1: “…he has not picked up any local dialect or the national language, English, which are dominantly spoken by indigenes…Been a light sleeper, I only had one opportunity to look through the window before ducking through the back door and escape into the bush…There remains were deposited at the Bishop Shanahan Mortuary at Nsukka…The reality is that the menace of the Fulani Herdsmen is real. In fact it has become a routine exercise in many farming settlements in the northern parts of Nigeria…Fulani herdsmen don’t understand any other language other than their own…

Fulani people places premium attention on seniority, rank and class…They also learn to live under harsh weather conditions while tending to their wares…For Alhaji Lukmon Mafindi, chairman of Miyetti Allah in Taraba, rustlers are the biggest treat to herdsmen…Needless to add, Fulani herdsmen will attempt to dominate it environ if given the opportunity…While farmers are skeptical about the idea on the strength that vacant or free land is hard to come by due to expanding farming…He added that education is also key in order to teach host and renters that mutual understanding and social integration will keep us together than isolation and mistrust.”(Grazing Reserves: Lasting Solution or More Problems? The Nation, May 1, 2016) This text exhibits a number of egregious errors, those that are too elementary to be associated with a discourse of this level seriousness. For example, the reporter cannot differentiate between the words there and their.

Take this: “there remains were deposited.” Anyone with elementary education would immediately identify the error in the use of the word there.

Now let’s illustrate the difference between the words there and their. Please read the following sentences: 1) There are many more people outside the hall than inside. 2) There is no wisdom in that suggestion. 3) There were rumours that the president had another woman in his life. 4) There is no reason to leave so early since the programme is scheduled to commence late in the afternoon. 5) There were many undercover security men snooping around.

6) There was no truth in the story. 7) Neither the chairman nor the secretary was there. 8) I was able to pick some useful information here and there. 9) How soon will you be there? 10) I was there waiting for you for almost three hours.

For the proper usage of the word their, please read the following sentences: 1) Their house is not far from ours. 2) The ancient Jews and their forefathers are part of the heroes of the Christian faith. 3) Their lawyers are holding a meeting with our own lawyers next week. 4) Sadly, their plan is to destroy their opponents’ business interests. 5) I find it difficult to understand why they could not mind their business. 6) Their directors are planning to reduce the workforce. 7) It is not their duty to tell us how to run our own affairs. 8) Their students are not even half as brilliant as our own. 9) Their house is directly opposite the bank. 10) How can our failure be a reason for their celebration?

The following sentences each contain the two words under consideration: 1) Were you not there when their thugs attacked our chairman? 2) It is their fault that their representatives were not there when the case started. 3) There were a few men at the meeting who claimed to be representing their bosses’ interest. 4) A lady went there, met the children, claimed be their mother’s friend and took some money from them. 5) I was there when our president visited that country and said something positive about their political system.

It should be obvious now that the word their should replace there in the context under review.

Next, let’s examine the grammatical implications of the choice

Q: “What letter of the alphabet has got lots of water?”

A: “The C” of the form been in the following context: “Been a light sleeper, I only had one opportunity to look through the window…” The appropriate form for this context is not been but being. The only condition for the form been to occur in a context like is the presence of the form having: “Having been in a trance for half an hour, I woke up suddenly…” or “Having been tried and trusted, the manager was elevated…”

This leads us to a discussion of the difference between the forms being and been.What rule is involved here? To understand the nature of the error, we need to sketch and illustrate the two rules that are here confused. First is the rule of the perfect tense situated in the structure of the passive tense. The perfect tense is of the following nature: have/has/had plus a past participle form of the verb. Let’s read the following sentences: 1) David has written the letter. 2) The girl has spoken the truth. 3) The men have broken their promise. 4) The officers have prepared the report. 5) The boy had released the secret before the warning came. 6) The police had arrested the man before the court order was vacated.

Those are examples of the perfect tense outside the passive structure. The same grammatical principle is maintained in the context of the passive structure. In this case, the structure is of the form: have plus been, where been represents the past participle. Now read the following sentences: 1a) The company hasbought new cars (active sentence in the perfect tense) 1b) New cars have been bought by the company (passive sentence in the perfect tense). 2a) The police have arrested the criminal. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 2b) The criminal has been arrested by the police. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 3a) That transaction has created many fraudulent loopholes. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 3b) Many fraudulent loopholes have been created by that transaction. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 4a) The central government had constructed numerous roads. (active sentence in the perfect tense.) 4b) Numerous roads had been constructed by the central government. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 5a) Soldiers have invaded the crisis-torn zone (active sentence in the perfect tense) 5b) The crisis-torn zone has been invaded by soldiers. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) 6a) The library has stocked over six million books. (active sentence in the perfect tense) 6b) Over six million books have been stocked by the library. (passive sentence in the perfect tense) The second rule is that of the continuous or progressive tense.

The rule is of the nature: be plus the ing form of the verb (ie is going; was singing; were washing; are training; etc).

Let’s read the following sentences: 1a) The church is planning a one-week revival programme. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 1b) A one-week revival programme is beingplanned by the church. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 2a) The people were distributing seditious pamphlets. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 2b) Seditious pamphlets were beingdistributed by the people. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 3a) The scientists are examining the specimen. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 3b) The specimen is being examined by the scientists. (passive sentence in the progressive tense). 4a) The girl was washing the clothes. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 4b) The clothes were being washed by the girl. (the passive sentence in the progressive tense) 5a) The musician is composing new songs. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 5b) New songs are being composed by the musician. (passive sentence in the progressive tense) 6a) The lecturer isgrading the scripts. (active sentence in the progressive tense) 6b) The scripts are being graded by the lecturer. (passive sentence in the progressive tense.)

Take this: “there remains were deposited.” Anyone with elementary education would immediately identify the error in the use of the word there… There were a few men at the meeting who claimed to be representing their bosses’ interest…

It should be obvious now that the word their should replace there in the context under review

Q: What’s the longest word in the dictionary?

A: Rubber-band—because it streches.

Q: How do you get ten English teachers to agree on the best teaching method?

A: Shoot nine of them.

Q: What’s a teacher’s favourite nation?

A: Expla-nation.

Q: Name a bus you can never enter?

A: A syllabus Q: What is the longest word in the English language?

A: Smiles. (There is a mile between the first letter and the last letter.)

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then why do actions speak louder than words?

If two wrongs don’t make a right, then why does a double negative make a positive?

It’s good to be awesome, so why is it bad to be aw”ful”?

If Horrible and Horrific are the same things, then why are terrible and terrific opposites? source: http://www.jokes4us. com/miscellaneousjokes/schooljokes/grammarjokes.html

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news

2 October, 2016

Nigeria @ 56: PDP congratulates Buhari Leon Usigbe and Jacob Segun Olatunji-Abuja

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and Nigerians on the occasion of the nation’s 56th Independence anniversary.

The Party urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to close ranks with major stakeholders in the country in order to move the nation forward.

In a statement issued by the National Publicity Sec-

retary of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, in Abuja on Saturday, the party observed that the cooperation and contribution of all was needed at this time in the nation’s development.

In the statement entitled: “Nigeria @ 56: What Now To Celebrate,” the PDP said: “Most importantly, we celebrate our fathers and all those who fought and are still fighting to keep the oneness and unity of this great country, Nigeria. May our flag continue to hoist!

“On the other hand, the cooperation and contribu-

tions of all citizens are required at this time to move the nation forward from the present precarious situation; and we wish to once again urge the APC administration to close ranks with all major stakeholders in the country with a view to bringing to bear, the ideals, vision and mission of those who fought for the independence of our great nation, Nigeria.”

In its address to the members of the PDP, the statement read, “to our numerous party members and teeming supporters nationwide, we pray them

to remain confident in the National Caretaker Committee under the leadership of Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi.

“We are committed as ever loyal party men and women in delivering on the mandate of the national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to re-discover our party.

“Equally, we call on our members and supporters to remain undaunted in the face of the ongoing distractions within the party hierarchy and we promise that all issues will be resolved soonest.”

Sunday Tribune

Nigeria’s unity non-negotiable

—Oshiomhole

Banji Aluko - Benin City GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has stated that Nigeria’s unity remains nonnegotiable as the nation marked its 56th Independence anniversary.

He said no amount of “sponsored acts of sabotage” would lead to the negotiation of the nation’s unity, adding that no nation in the world is perfect.

Speaking at ceremonies to mark the nation’s anniversary at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, Edo State, on Saturday, Oshiomhole said: ““We stand by President Muhammadu Buhari in his resolve that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable. No part will be allowed to break away. We must stand together as the Federal Republic of Nigeria. God does not make mistakes.”

I am one of those who believe and I am not reluctant when I say and I wish to repeat today that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable.

“The unity of Nigeria cannot be re-negotiated. It is not whether it is perfect or not perfect. I know of no nation that is perfect and our elite must rethink.

“The amalgamation of 1914 was ordained by God. It cannot be questioned by man. I reaffirm my faith and I ask you to reaffirm your faith. Together, we must rebuild this country as the giant of Africa and one that is destined to provide leadership for the black race,” Oshiomhole stated.

Ajimobi felicitates with Obaseki, says APC ’ll not disappoint Edo people

From left, bride’s father, Mr Laolu Olatunbosun; the groom, Mr Festus Agbonkpolo; the bride, Miss Christianah Oluwatobi Olatunbosun and the GMD, Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Mr Adewale Raji, during the wedding ceremony of Mr and Mrs Agbonkpolo at Elewi-Odo area, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Saturday. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

Hijrah: Aregbesola congratulates Muslims •As Kano declares Tuesday holiday Kola Oyelere-Kano with Agency Report Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, on Saturday, congratulated the Muslim faithful on this year’s Hijrah, and called for endurance and patience in every Muslim’s way of life.

Aregbesola said this in a statement by the state Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, while felicitating with Nigerian Muslim Ummah on the occasion of another new year 1438 AH. He stated that as Muslims entered a New Year, they must not only celebrate alone but strive, as part of what Allah commands them, to internalise the lessons of the essence of the Hijrah as exemplified by the uncommon patience and endurance of Prophet Muhammad in the face of hardship.

He enjoined Muslims, in the spirit of the New Year, to always forgive, eschew unhealthy rivalry, antisocial behaviour and above all, avoid all acts capable of attracting or causing crisis in the land.

In a related development, the Kano State government has declared Tuesday as public holiday to mark the beginning of the new year.

The state Commissioner of Information, Mr Mu-

hammad Garba, made this known in a press statement made available in Kano State.

In the same vein, the state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, accom-

panied by top government officials, visited some hospitals in the state capital to show sympathy with the sick and to pray for their speedy recuperation, in line with Islamic etiquette.

Mimiko plays host to SOGON, to deliver keynote address ONDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, will play host to a 5-day 50th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of The Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) which holds in Akure, between Monday 3rd and Saturday, 8th October, with Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, as guest of honour.

With the theme, “Women’s Health and SDGs in Nigeria: Policies and Strategies,” the conference will take place at the International Conference Centre, The Dome, in Akure, Ondo State, and has Governor Mimiko as chief host and guest speaker.

According to the programme of events released by the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade, in Akure on Saturday, members of the

society will pay a courtesy call on Governor Mimiko in his office on Tuesday while there will be presentations by members of the body and corporate organisations on Wednesday which has been tagged ‘Business Day.’ Slated for Thursday morning is “Majekodunmi Young Scientific Award” presentation with a presidential panel session where the president of the body, Professor Brian Adinma would give presentation after which Dr Mimiko will deliver a keynote address, slated for the afternoon of the same day.

Professor Adewole is also expected to make his presentation on Thursday.

The programme is scheduled to end on Saturday after some other scientific presentations by members of the body would have

taken place on Friday as well as a dinner session.

Akinmade said arrangements had been made to ensure that the medical practitioners had a hitchfree event.

President of SOGON, Professor Adinma, had, during a visit of the body to medical facilities in the state, commended the Mimiko-led government over its achievement in the health sector, describing it as a pacesetter for best practices in qualitative healthcare delivery, particularly in the area of maternal health care.

He urged the governor to ensure the continuation of the Mother and Child hospitals after the expiration of his tenure and assured that the society would partner the state government in all areas of mutual benefits.

OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has assured the people of Edo State that the governor-elect, Mr Godwin Obaseki, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not betray the trust and confidence reposed in them through their mandate.

The governor gave the assurance through his Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mr Yomi Layinka, in a congratulatory message to Obaseki, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Saturday.

Ajimobi applauded the Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, for entrusting the fate of the people of the state in the hands of Obaseki, whom he described as a worthy successor capable of keeping up the momentum, and thanked the people of the state for their resolve to keep faith with the APC. Ajimobi also called for continued support of the people for the APC-led Federal Government in its determination to take the country out of its present economic doldrums, stressing that they would have cause to smile when the efforts began to yield fruits.

Shehu Sani warns on Nigeria’s economy Kola Oyelere-Kano THE senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District in Kaduna State, Shehu Sani, has observed that it was disturbing that at this very critical moment of the country’s history, it had been faced with series of economic challenges that, if not managed well, could lead to self-destruction.

The chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts spoke in Kano State during his visit to elder statesmen, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai and Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, in commemoration of Nigeria’s 56th Independence anniversary.

“In the last four to five decades, we have been dependent on oil revenue and we have seen how, over the years, the resources accrued from such revenue have not reflected or has not tallied with the level of social and economic development we have seen on the ground,” Sani stated.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to beam their searchlight on the Middle East and Far East where he alleged some corrupt Nigerians stashed funds.

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news

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Troops arrest suspected livestock rustlers in Kaduna, Katsina Chris Agbambu -Abuja

Mr Gbenga Rotimi Dairo of Nigerian Tribune and his wife, former Miss Lydia Abimbola Lawal, during their wedding ceremony at The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Oke-Itunu, Mokola, Ibadan, on Saturday. PHOTO: PETER OYEBANJI.

Ondo 2016: Oke dumps APC, to run as AD gov candidate Hakeem Gbadamosi -Akure

A

governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, on Saturday, dumped the party for the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Oke’s declaration laid to rest speculations that the former Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and governorship candidate of the party in 2012 was planning to dump

APC for another party to realise his governorship ambition.

Speaking with his supporters across the 18 local government areas in the state, in his residence, Oke stated that his defection was necessitated by the injustice perpetrated by some leaders of the party in the primary election of the party.

He explained that he waited patiently for the leaders to correct the injustice before opting out of the party.

Oke, who said he took the

Nollywood stars mourn as popular actor dies SOME Nollywood actors have expressed sadness over the death of veteran actor, Martins Njubuigbo, popularly known as Elder Maya, whose death over a liver-related ailment was announced on Saturday.

Segun Arinze, popularly known as ‘Black Arrow’ told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja, that Njubuigbo was a great actor.

“He was amiable and very jovial; we will sure miss him.

“Like Shakespeare said, ‘the world is a stage’; Njubuigbo has come, done his beat and taken his exit and the curtain has fallen.

“All I can say is good night Elder Martins Njubuigbo; may God grant the family the heart to bear the loss,” Arinze said.

Martins Njubuigbo

Another veteran actress, Mrs Rita Edochie, said he was a good artiste, “too bad that it happened.

“May God comfort the family and may his soul rest in perfect peace with the Almighty creator,” Edochie said.

Mr Babatunde Obalana, the National President of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, said the demise of the actor was unfortunate.

“He will surely be missed; may his gentle soul rest in peace. Amen.”

Mrs Chiwendu Egwu, a housewife and an ardent fan of the late actor, said he was a perfect character interpreter.

According to her, he can act any character assigned to him and that he would be greatly missed by his fans all over the world.

“We cannot ask God why it happened; we just pray for his soul to rest in peace and the family to bear the lost.”

NAN reported that the late Njubuigbo, also known as Elder Maya and Baba Jumoke, featured in blockbusters, including ‘Died Wretched,’ ‘Battle of Mussanga, among many others.

decision to dump the party after due consultations with some APC leaders and supporters across the country, disclosed that he would contest the November 26 governorship election on the platform of the AD. He said he was contesting for the governorship seat in the forthcoming election to rescue the people of Ondo State from underdevelopment, describing the AD as home of the progressives.

Oke noted that the PDP in the state “has been celebrating the decision of the APC to field Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s candidate in the election.”

He said: “I was the first person to raise the alarm over the giant fraud in that primary. I was later vindicated by the appeal committee, which ruled that the primary be cancelled and that a new primary be conducted where a popular candidate will emerge.

“But Oyegun and his cabal

Special dinner CHRIST The Redeemer’s Friends International (RCCG Region 21 Chapter), will hold a special dinner on Monday, 3rd October, 2016.

The dinner, which is strictly by invitation, is scheduled to take place at the Functions Hall, Jogor Centre, 1 Harvesters Drive, Liberty Stadium, Ibadan.

Pastor David Erivona (PICP, Oyo 11), who is expected to be the speaker will speak on the theme: The King’s Economy.

Pastor Adeboye

proceeded to submit that name to the INEC, thereby killing the dream and vision of Ondo State people in APC to have a true change they have been yearning for.

“I confess to you that the dreams of the founders of APC is good and laudable.

The philosophy behind APC is good, but unfortunately, some set of opinionated cabal hijacked the soul of the party at the national level.”

TROOPS of 1 Division, Nigerian Army, have conducted clearance operations within Kaduna and Katsina states and arrested two suspected livestock rustlers, Mallam Lawali Nakaduna and Yahuza Suleiman.

The troops also arrested a livestock rustler and armed bandit, Gide Maikwasara, who was shot while attempting to escape.

The troops, it was gathered, recovered several empty cases of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition, two Dane guns, one cutlass, a knife and local charms.

In Jajaiye village, Shinfida District, Jibia Local Government Area, troops arrested three suspected collaborators; Alhaji Muhammadu Jammu, Sani Jammu and Garba Bammi, while others fled into the forest.

The troops also recovered a locally-made Dane gun, a cutlass, a sword, an axe and arrows.

They also recovered 137 rustled goats and 157 sheep.

The suspects and the recovered animals have been handed over to the Nigeria Police in Jibia.

North-East: Kebbi govt commends Buhari

THE Kebbi State government has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for curtailing insecurity in the North-East.

Governor Atiku Bagudu made the commendation in Birnin-Kebbi on Saturday in a statewide broadcast to mark the 56th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.

Bagudu said this was the first time the nation was celebrating the anniversary devoid of fear and uncertainty.

He said the last six years were characterised by palpable fear and uncertainty due to instances of bomb blasts and explosion in the North-East.

He said determination, commitment, prayers and political will of present Nigeria’s leadership was the factor responsible for decimating the insurgents’ activities in the region.

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fortherecord

2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

No quick fix to recession but there’s solution —Buhari Text of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence anniversary’s speech to Nigerians on Saturday morning.

T

ODAY – 1st October is a day of celebration for us Nigerians. On this day, 56 years ago our people achieved the most important of all human desires – freedom and independence. We should all therefore give thanks and pray for our founding fathers without whose efforts and toil we would not reap the bounties of today.

I know that uppermost in your minds today is the economic crisis. The recession for many individuals and families is real.

For some It means not being able to pay school fees, for others it’s not being able to afford the high cost of food (rice and millet) or the high cost of local or international travel, and for many of our young people the recession means joblessness, sometimes after graduating from university or polytechnic.

I know how difficult things are, and how rough business is. All my adult life I have always earned a salary and I know what it is like when your salary simply is not enough. In every part of our nation people are making incredible sacrifices.

But let me say to all Nigerians today, I ran for office four times to make the point that we can rule this nation with honesty and transparency, that we can stop the stealing of Nigeria’s resources so that the resources could be used to provide jobs for our young people, security, infrastructure for commerce, education and healthcare.

I ran for office because I know that good government is the only way to ensure prosperity and abundance for all. I remain resolutely committed to this objective.

I believe that this recession will not last.

Temporary problems should not blind or divert us from the corrective course this government has charted for our nation.

We have identified the country’s salient problems and we are working hard at lasting solutions.

To re-cap what I have been saying since the inception of this administration, our problems are security, corruption and the economy, especially unemployment and the alarming level of poverty.

On Security, we have made progress.

Boko Haram was defeated by last December – only resorting to cowardly attacks on soft targets, killing innocent men, women and children.

Nigerians should thank our gallant men of the Armed Forces and Police for rescuing large areas of the country captured by insurgents. Now, residents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, as well as several neighbouring states go about their daily business in relative safety. People can go to mosques, churches, market places in reasonable safety.

Commuters can travel between cities, towns and villages without fear. Credit for this remarkable turn-round should go to our Armed Forces, the Police, various sponsored and private vigilante groups, the local traditional leaders. Security is a top to bottom concern and responsibility.

Besides Boko Haram, we are confronting other long-running security issues, namely herdsmen vs farmers, cattle rustling, kidnappings. This Administration is firmly resolved to tackle these challenges and to defeat them.

A new insurgency has reared up its head in the shape of blowing up gas and oil pipelines by groups of Niger Delta Militants. This Administration will not allow these mindless groups to hold the country to ransom.

What sense is there to damage a gas line as a result of which many towns in the country including their own town or village is put in darkness as a result? What logic is there in blowing up an export pipe-

line and as a result income to your state and local governments and consequently their ability to provide services to your own people is reduced?

No group can unlawfully challenge the authority of the Federal Government and succeed. Our Administration is fully sympathetic to the plight of the good people of Niger Delta and we are in touch with the State Governments and leaderships of the region. It is known that the clean-up of the Ogoniland has started. Infrastructural projects financed by the Federal Government and post amnesty programme financing will continue.

We have however, continued to dialogue with all groups and leaders of thought in the region to bring lasting peace.

Corruption is a cancer which must be fought with all the weapons at our disposal. It corrodes the very fabric of government and destroys society. Fighting corruption is Key, not only to restoring the moral health of the nation, but also to freeing our enormous resources for urgent socio-economic development.

In fighting corruption, however, the government would adhere strictly by the rule of law. Not for the first time I am appealing to the judiciary to join the fight against corruption.

The Third Plank in this Administration’s drive to CHANGE Nigeria is restructuring the economy. Economies behaviour is cyclical. All countries face ups and downs. Our own recession has been brought about by a critical shortage of foreign exchange. Oil price dropped from an average of hundred USD per barrel over the last decade to an average of forty USD per barrel this year and last.

Worse still, the damage perpetrated

by Niger Delta thugs on pipelines sometimes reduced Nigeria’s production to below One million barrels per day against the normal two point two million barrels per day. Consequently, the naira is at its weakest, but the situation will stabilize.

But this is only temporary. Historically about half our dollar export earnings go to importation of petroleum and food products! Nothing was saved for the rainy days during the periods of prosperity. We are now reaping the whirlwinds of corruption, recklessness and impunity There are no easy solutions, but there are solutions nonetheless and Government is pursuing them in earnest. We are to repair our four refineries so that Nigeria can produce most of our petrol requirements locally, pending the coming on stream of new refineries. That way we will save ten billion USD yearly in importing fuel.

At the same time, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank have been mobilized to encourage local production of rice, maize, sorghum, millet and soya beans. Our target is to achieve domestic self-sufficiency in these staples by 2018.

Already farmers in thirteen out of thirty six states are receiving credit support through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Programme. Kebbi state alone this year is expected to produce one million tonnes of locally grown rice, thanks to a favourable harvest this year. As part of the 13 states, Lagos and Ogun are also starting this programme. Rice alone for example costs Nigeria two billion USD to import.

The country should be self-sufficient in basic staples by 2019. Foreign exchange thus saved can go to industrial revival requirements for retooling, essential raw materials and spare parts. It is in recognition of the need to re-invigorate agriculture in our rural communities that we are introducing the LIFE programme.

Government recognises that irrigation is key to modern agriculture: that is why the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources are embarking on a huge programme of development of lakes, earth dams and water harvesting schemes throughout the country to ensure that we are no longer dependent on rain-fed agriculture for our food requirements.

In addition, government is introducing Water Resources Bill encompassing the National Water Resources Policy and National Irrigation and Drainage Policy to improve management of water and irrigation development in the country. We are reviving all the twelve River Basin Authorities, namely; i. Anambra – Imo ii. Benin – Owena iii.

Chad Basin iv. Cross River v. Hadejia – Jama’are vi. Lower Benue vii. Lower Niger viii. Niger Delta ix. Ogun – Osun x. Sokoto – Rima xi. Upper Benue xii. Upper Niger The intention is eventually to fully commercialise them to better support crop production, aqua –culture and accelerated rural development.

This Administration is committed to the revival of Lake Chad and improvement of the hydrology and ecology of the basin.

This will tune in with efforts to rehabilitate the thirty million people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad basin countries.

The second plank in our economic revival strategy is centred on the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. The Ministry will lead and oversee the provision of critical infrastructure of power, road transport network and housing development.

Power generation has steadily risen since our Administration came on board from three thousand three hundred and twenty four megawatts in June 2015, rising to a peak of five thousand and seventy four megawatts in February 2016.

For the first time in our history the country was producing five thousand megawatts. However, renewed militancy and destruction of gas pipelines caused acute shortage of gas and constant drop in electricity output available on the grid.

There has been during the period June 2015 to September 2016 big improvement in transmission capacity from five thousand five hundred megawatts to the present seven thousand three hundred megawatts.

There were only two system collapses between June and December 2015, but due to vandalism by Niger Delta militants the over-all system suffered 16 system collapses between March and July 2016 alone. As I have said earlier, we are engaging with responsible leadership in the region to find lasting solutions to genuine grievances of the area but we will not allow a tiny minority of thugs to cripple the country’s economy.

In the meantime, government is going ahead with projects utilizing alternate technologies such as hydro, wind, and solar to contribute to our energy mix. In this respect, the Mambilla Hydro project, after many years of delay is taking off this year.

Contract negotiations are nearing completion with Chinese firms for technical and financial commitments.

The project is to be jointly financed by Nigeria and the Chinese-Export-Import Bank. In addition, fourteen Solar Power Projects have had their power purchase agreements concluded. Hence the plan to produce one thousand two hundred megawatts of solar electricity for the country would be realized on schedule.

And in line with the objective of government to complete all abandoned projects across the country, the Rural Electrification Agency’s projects needing completion are provided for in the 2016 Budget.

Bringing electricity to rural areas will help farmers, small scale and cottage industries to integrate with the national economy.

Roads Construction and Rehabilitation has taken off. The sum of twelve billion naira was allocated to this sector in the 2015 Budget, not enough even to pay interest on outstanding unpaid claims.

Notwithstanding the budgetary constraints, the current budget allocated two hundred and forty billion naira for highway projects against twelve billion naira in 2015. Many contractors who have not been paid for three years have now remobilized to sites. Seven hundred and twenty point five billion naira has so far been re-

leased this budget year to capital projects.

The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has received one hundred and ninety seven point five billion naira. Work on the following highways has now resumed.

1. Dualization of Calabar – Itu Road in Cross River/Akwa Ibom States.

2. Dualization of Lokoja – Benin Road, Ehor – Benin city, Edo State.

3. Re-construction of outstanding sections of Benin – Shagamu Express way, Edo/Ogun States.

4. Expansion works on Lagos – Ibadan Dual carriageway, Ogun/Oyo States 5. Rehabilitation of Onitsha – Enugu Expressway, Anambra/Enugu States.

6. Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Enugu – Port Harcourt Dual carriageway, Abia/Rivers States.

7. Rehabilitation of Hadejia – Nguru Road, Jigawa State.

8. Dualization of Kano – Katsina Road, Kano State.

9. Dualization of Kano – Maiduguri Road, Borno State.

10. Dualization of Azare – Potiskum Road, Azare – Sharuri Road, Bauchi State.

11. Rehabilitation of Ilorin – Jebba – Mokwa – Birnin Gwari Road, Kwara State. 12. Construction of Oju/Lokoja – Oweto Bridge over River Benue, Benue State.

Other major highways are in the queue for rehabilitation or new construction.

Already contractors have recalled about nine thousand workers laid off and Government expects that several hundreds of thousands of workers will be reengaged in the next few months as our public works programme gains momentum.

On railways, we have provided our counterpart funding to China for the building of our standard gauge Lagos -Kano railway. Meanwhile, General Electric is investing two point two billion USD in a concession to revamp, provide rolling stock, and manage the existing lines, including the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Line. The Lagos-Calabar railway will also be on stream soon.

We have initiated the National Housing Programme. In 2014 four hundred million naira was voted for Housing. In 2015 nothing. Our first budget this year is devoting thirty five point six billion naira. Much of the house building will be private – sector led but Government is initiating a pilot housing scheme of two thousand eight hundred and thirty eight units uniformly spread across the 36 states and FCT. We expect these units to be completed within 4 – 6 months. These experimental Nigeria House model Units will be constructed using only made in Nigeria building materials and components. This initiative is expected to reactivate the building materials manufacturing sector, generate massive employment opportunities and develop sector capacity and expertise.

The programmes I have outlined will revive the economy, restore the value of the naira and drive hunger from our land.

Abroad, Nigeria’s standing has changed beyond belief in the last 18 months. We are no longer a pariah state. Wherever I go, I have been received with un-accustomed hospitality. Investors from all over the world are falling over themselves to come and do business in Nigeria. This government intends to make business environment more friendly because we can not develop ourselves alone.

All countries, no matter how advanced, welcome foreign investments to their economy. This is the essence of globalization and no country in the 21st century can be an island. Our reforms are therefore designed to prepare Nigeria for the 21st century.

Finally, let me commend Nigerians for your patience, steadfastness and perseverance. You know that I am trying to do the right things for our country.

Thank you and may God bless our country.

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2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

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2 October, 2016

SUNDAY

Editor: Wale Emosu tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08111813054

Abuja Rubicon, Ibadan Jericho shine at MTN/ Kano 2016 Polo ABUJA Rubicon, Ibadan Jericho and Kaduna DeeBee Farmers, have emerged the first set of winners at the ongoing MTN/Kano International Polo Tournament.

The Dantata Cup, the first major cup of the prestigious event was decided before a full house at the legendary Usman Dantata polo ground, as the resilient Abuja Rubicon team won the gold, defeating six other opponents.

The Abuja Boys, powered by the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, were clearly the stars of the tournament, as they added the Ado Bayero Cup played in honour of the immediate past Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ado Bayero, to their trophy haul.

Before clinching the royal crown, the Abuja Rubicon team, made up of the quartet of Lado Aliyu, Idris Badamasi, Malik Badamasi and Jamilu Mohammed, had put themselves in pole position after overcoming tournament favourites, Kano Titan, 412-3 in their opening game of the Dantata Cup cracker before facing defending champions, Lagos Marina in the final.

Also, Rubicon easily eased past the Lagosians 9-1 for their double titles win, Bashir Dantata, the legendary Chairman of Kano Polo pivoted his Kano Dantek squad to a runner’s up finish after out placing Kaduna EMC side 8-61/2 in the Dantata Cup series.

Ibadan Jericho gave the Southwest contingent plenty to celebrate as they clinched a sensational MRS Cup victory by defeating home boys, Kano Triple K. The explosive final was decided by sudden death scored by Dozie Onwuli after the two arch rivals laboured to 3-3 draw at the end of the final chukka.

A Flamingoes player (left), closes in on Ana Votira of Brazil during their group C game of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, on Saturday, in Jordan.

FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup:

Flamingoes lose opener to Brazil •Why we lost —Nikyu

By Ganiyu Salman

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IGERIA’S Flamingoes on Saturday at the King Abdullah II International Stadium, Amman, lost 0-1 to the young Samba girls from Brazil, in a group C opening game of the fifth FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan.

It was the first time Nigeria had lost its opening game of the global competition which was introduced in 2008.

The Flamingoes wasted a couple of scoring chances es-

pecially in the first half which could have given them at least a point.

A pullout from Mary-Ann Ezenagu from the right flank was wasted as the effort could not be connected by either captain Rasheedat Ajibade or Folashade Ijamilusi with goalkeeper Kemelli already displaced.

Seven minutes on, a through pass set Ajibade on, but her low drive was pushed away for a corner kick. The corner kick was connected by Christy Ucheibe’s but Kemelli again pushed it away for another corner kick to be taken.

The Brazilians wasted a giltedged chance to take the lead in the 40th minute when a close range effort was brilliantly cuddled by the Flamingoes keeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie.

The match winner came for the Brazilians in the 41st minute as Nnadozie’s clearance after beating Ana Votira to the ball, located an unmarked Micaelly who lobbed the ball over Kenneth Christine and her team-mate into the yawning net.

The Africans who had featured in all the World Cup finals since 2008, will on Tuesday face England in their second group game.

Quadri crashes out of ITTF World Cup

By Oluwabunmi Ajayi THE dream of the reigning African champion, Aruna Quadri to make a statement again in table tennis was dashed on Saturday as he crashed out of the 2016 ITTF World Cup in Saarbrucken, Germany.

Quadri, it will be recalled, at the just-ended Rio 2016, became the first African to play in the quarterfinal of the Olympics after he had sent Chinese Taipei’s Chuang ChihYuan and the world’s number 10, Timo Boll packing before losing to world’s number one, Ma Long of China.

However, the Nigerian now rated world’s number 27, who was the fans’ favourite in the hall failed to

Sunday Tribune

progress to the second round of the World Cup as he lost to the duo of Sweden’s Par Gerell and Singapore’s Ning Gao. Quadri this time bowed to the aggressive and topspin service of the Swedish player, Gerell as the game ended 4-2, in what turned out to be a sweet revenge for the European who had earlier this year lost to the Nigerian at the 2016 German Open.

In the clash with Ning, Quadri, who was heavily supported by German fans as every point he won received a huge applause raced to a 2-0 lead, but the Commonwealth champion clinched three games in a row to takeover.

The Oyo State-born star fought

back to level at 3-3, but a lot of forced errors in the seventh game gave his Asian opponent victory on 4-3.

According to the ITTF-Africa

Quadri

press release, Quadri blames his exit from the World Cup on illluck.

“I think I was just unlucky in this competition because I played very well in all the two matches.

My inability to return my opponent’s service in the first game affected me, while the experience of my opponent in the second game was my undoing. This is another lesson for me and I will keep on working hard,” a disappointed Quadri said.

Meanwhile, one of his conquerors, Gerell said his game-plan worked out as planned.

“I tried to be more aggressive compared to our first meeting at German Open,” Gerrell said.

Meanwhile, coach Nikyu Bala while speaking during the postmatch conference said his team lost to stage fright.

“Because of the name that Brazil has in football, I think my players were frightened and didn’t settle to play the way we know they can. Against another team, I’m sure they would have relaxed more and played better.

“But the first match in any competition is always difficult. We have played and lost and I see no point in being too hard on my goalkeeper and defence. My focus will be on getting ready and making preparations for our next match,” Nikyu told FIFA.com.

The coach of Brazil, Luizao said the victory is a boost for his players in the competition.

“I always had high expectations for this match even though Nigeria are a great team. I trust in my team and we have been working for three years together, improving all the time. To win against a team like Nigeria is a great achievement.

“They attacked us strongly towards the end of the match but my defence handled the high balls very well and my goalkeeper also played well. The result makes us pretty proud and we were all very happy in the dressing room there. It will also increase our confidence for the tough matches ahead,” he said.

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2 October, 2016

Sunday Tribune

sportmatazz Juliette reads Iwobi ratings on FIFA 17.

Valencia (left) with Meneses.

I’m still single —Valencia MANCHESTER United full-back, Antonio Valencia has clarified his ‘civil status is single’ after being accused of a secret hotel liaison with a nurse he met on Instagram.

Valencia, 31, who has regularly taken to social media to declare his love for long-term partner, Zoila Meneses, previously referred to as his wife, allegedly flew 23-year-old Norwegian, Sophie Vagsaeter to England for the Manchester Derby on September 10.

He allegedly arranged for her to attend the game and put her up in a hotel, after they were said to have exchanged raunchy messages for weeks prior to their meeting, after she grabbed Valencia’s attention on the social media site.

Since the reports came out, Valencia has taken to social media, posting a picture including Meneses and his daughter with the caption “My motivation. Further work, there is always a reason’ having previously described Meneses as ‘my love”.

He also wrote “we are a team and with the blessing of God will remain forever” alongside a picture of the two posted together last summer.

But the Manchester United player has now issued a statement via social media claiming his ‘civil status is single’ and he has ‘not had any formal relationships’ over the past months and apologised if ‘recent events’ had caused confusion or distress.

Iwobi’s girlfriend critiques player’s FIFA 17 ratings

A

LEX Iwobi has won plenty of plaudits for his performances on the left of the Arsenal midfield so far this season, but that seemingly isn’t enough for the 20-year-old player.

Iwobi has played six times for the Gunners this season, with his direct running and dribbling ability catching the eye and creating three goals for his club, but now he’s filmed girlfriend Clarisse Juliette reading out how he rates on FIFA 17.

Juliette, wearing a tight gold dress, is sat on the sofa holding up a giant card including her boyfriend’s vital

Djokovic, Serena hang out again

Djokovic (right) with Serena on the tennis court celebrate victories.

NOVAK Djokovic and Serena Williams are still not done spending quality time together after the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy grand opening, the Novak Djokovic Foundation gala and the Djokovic and Friends exhibition.

The duo were spotted sitting side-by-side and hanging out at the Giorgio Armani SS17 show during Milan Fashion Week.

Djokovic brought a plus one, his wife and CEO of his foundation, Jelena. The couple semi-matched in white shirts and black jackets.

All this fashionable action came just after she ran into her good friend Ciara and shoe designer, Giuseppe Zanotti on the streets of Milan.

Just days after telling CNN she was tired of playing unhealthy, the world’s number two officially pulled out of Wuhan and Beijing with a right shoulder injury.

Djokovic is still expected back in action in Shanghai in two weeks.

statistics, which he has also signed as he ensures his social media follows know just how good he is.

She describes herself as a ‘South American and European Londoner’ on her own Instagram page, and methodically works her way through the card, stumbling slightly as she tells the watching audience Iwobi’s club, national team and playing stats.

Iwobi later posted the message ‘She Tried , Bless Her’ alongside a still image his girlfriend studying his skills.

For the record, Iwobi is rated as a silver player on the EA Sports game, gaining an overall rank of 70, with his running and dribbling ability his strong points. He’s rated 77 for pace and 76 for dribbling, but could do with working on the defensive side of his game given he’s rated at just 28 in that department.

The Nigerian international clearly has a keen interest in the simulation game, given he took to Instagram to share his excitement after attending the launch event on Tuesday.

He wrote: “At The #FIFA17UKLAUNCH & Got My Hands On @EASPORTSFIFA 17 For The 1st Time”.

While EA Sports have rated Iwobi at 70, former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand clearly has a high opinion of the winger.

Schumacher can’t stand, walk yet —Family THE family of racing driver, Michael Schumacher, has confirmed that he is still unable to walk or stand up, nearly three years after he suffered devastating injuries in a 2013 skiing accident.

Schumacher’s lawyer, Felix Damm, gave a rare update on his condition while speaking in court on behalf of the Schumachers, who are suing a German magazine over a story that falsely claimed Michael was able to “walk a little with the help of his therapists”.

The article, which was published in December last year, included a comment from a “friend” of Michael’s, who said that the star “manages to make a couple of steps. And he can also raise an arm”.

But those claims have been vehemently denied by Michael’s family, who are arguing for his right to privacy. Felix Damm told the court that the sportsman “cannot walk” and even with the help of therapists is unable to stand. A verdict for the case is due in October.

47 sport

2 October, 2016

Moses wins Man of the Match award

Owoeri scores in Sweden NIGERIA’S John Owoeri and Alhaji Gero were among the goals for Allsvenskan (Swedish top division) clubs on Saturday in a good day in the office for Nigerians in the Scandinavian nation.

Owoeri scored the opener for Hacken in the 2-4 home defeat to Malmo FF, while Gero was at the double for Ostersunds FK who thrashed Falkenburg 6-1.

Owoeri scored in the 15th minute but it represented scant consolation as his side fell to a comprehensive defeat at Bravida Arena.

It was his 11th league goal of the season for Hacken who currently seat in fifth place on the Allsvenskan standings.

Gero scored twice in two minutes, the second on the stroke of half time, as Ostersunds FK racked up their biggest win of the season.

The former Kano Pillars player had before Saturday’s game not scored for the club in the league this season.

N

I must face Vardy in sprint one day —Musa NIGERIA international, Ahmed Musa has thrown down the gauntlet to his Leicester City team-mate, Jamie Vardy and wants to find out who is faster.

Claudio Ranieri’s explosive duo will look to use their fearsome athleticism when the Leicester City takes on Southampton today.

Both strikers possess blistering pace but the statistics from this season make for unhappy reading for the Foxes’ record signing, Musa as his team-mate has the edge.

In terms of top speed, Vardy has

Sunday Tribune

reached an incredible 35.1 km/h and the former CSKA Moscow forward, Musa peaked at 33.93 km/h.

Yet, the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner wants a one-on-one contest to test himself against Leicester’s Premier League winning hero.

“We haven’t tried yet so I can’t say now who is the quickest. But I tell you this – we’re going to have a race one day.

“My friends called me Cristiano Ronaldo because I was playing on the wing and they thought I had a little bit of speed like him,” Musa told the Guardian.

Perhaps the difference between the pair is Vardy’s bizarre pre-match cocktail of port, three Red Bulls and a double espresso.

Musa will be heartened to learn that his average speed of 6.52 km/h outdoes Vardy’s effort of 6.28 km/h.

The former Nigerian league goal king with Kano Pillars has seen his gametime cut by Islam Slimani’s strong run of form but the sight of the Nigerian coming off the bench and lining up alongside Vardy is enough to give any manager cause for concern.

Success saves Watford from home defeat ISAAC Success scored his first goal in England on Saturday as he helped Watford rescue a point in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth in the Premier League.

The Nigeria striker, who has yet to start a league game for the Hornets since his move from Spanish club Granada CF, was again overlooked from the get go with the Watford manager, Walter Mazzari, electing to go with Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney as his preferred choices up front.

Mazzari eventually withdrew Ighalo and threw Success into the fray just before the hour and the young Nigerian forward did not disappoint.

Success struck in the 65th minute, seven minutes after his introduction, to tie the scores at 2-2 and eventually help his side claim a share of the spoils.

The goal was a header off Jose Holebas’ excellent delivery from a free kick.

It was only Success’s fourth league appearance of the season which has seen him rack up a measly 66 minutes under his belt.

Success is among the players called up by the Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Zambia in Ndola next Sunday.

Success celebrates

IGERIA international, Victor Moses on Saturday scooped the Man of the Match award in his first start for Chelsea in three years.

Goals from Willian and Diego Costa inside six second-half minutes gave Chelsea a 2-0 victory over Hull City in the English Premier League.

Moses despite not hitting the score sheet claimed the Man of the Match award with his superb performance.

The winger said he looks forward to having more matches with ‘The Blues’.

“I hope there will be more games for me to play in the future for Chelsea because they are a huge club, one of the best in the world,” said the 2013 Af-

rica Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner.

The arrival of Italian manager, Antonio Conte this season has given Moses a new lease of life at Stamford Bridge after he has been shipped out on loan to Liverpool, Stoke City and West Ham United in the last three seasons.

Moses who is one of the invited players for next Sunday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Zambia said the victory at KCOM Stadium was very satisfying for all those involved with Chelsea.

“We are delighted with the three points, the club as well as the fans. We are pleased,” he said.

Conte also praised his men after the win.

“After two defeats, this win was very important and we played well today,” said the former Italy coach.

Lagos agog for GOtv Boxing Night 9 THE Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium will come alive today as it plays host to the biggest boxing event of the year, the ninth edition of GOtv Boxing Night.

The seven-fight professional event will feature boxers in various weight classes, with the best boxer of the event going home with a cash prize of N1.5million.

The two headline bouts lined up will see a reboot of the Ghana/ Nigeria sporting rivalry. Olaide ‘Fijaborn” Fijabi, national lightweight champion, faces the Ghanaian threat represented by Raphael “Iron King” Kwabena King in an international challenge contest.

Additional threat from Ghana comes in the shape of Richard “Desert Warrior” Amefu, who takes on Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph, the national lightweight champion.

Yet another big one is the national cruiserweight title duel between incumbent champion, Ekeng “Fighting Policeman” Henshaw, and Idowu “ID Cabasa” Okusote.

Also in the lightweight category is the duel between Prince “Lion” Nwoye and Sikiru “Omo Iya Eleja” Shogbesan. The light heavyweight division offers two bouts.

One is between reigning national champion, Jude “Great Jude” Iloh and Adewale “Masevex” Masebinu, while the other will see Emmanuel “Man Mopol” Igwe clash with Kabiru “KB Godson” Towolawi. The light middleweight division brings Ebubechukwu “Coded Man” Edeh face to face with Semiu “Jagaban” Olapade.

As part of the fun, the organisers, Flykite Productions, will provide a giant LED screen at the venue for fans to watch the title decider between Enugu Rangers and El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri.

GOtv Boxing Night, which is supported by MultiChoice, Paragonis Multimedia Limited, KSquare Security, Bond FM, Complete Sports, newsbreak.ng and Brila FM, will be broadcast live in 47 African countries

by SuperSport.

SIDELINES NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER

NO 2,066

2 OCTOBER, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

N200

Less than 24 hours after the wife of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, was kidnapped, her release was facilitated by men of the Nigeria Police. Good work you would say. But pray who would not be concerned in this period of biting recession?

It would have been suicidal to wait till the kidnappers demand for the counrty’s remaining external reserves as ransom!

We Yoruba must, and can, change this now

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OMETIME ago, I asked the question, “What are we Yoruba nation in Nigeria doing wrong?” To date, I have given three answers to that question – that we have been carelessly lettingour great culture gradually erode away; that though we clearly chose and established the foundations for a line of successful development in the 1950s, we have abandoned it and followed Nigeria’s chaotic and corrupt ways – and thereby let the masses of our people descend into very shameful poverty; that we have allowed our farming to perish gradually – so that we are no longer able to feed ourselves today, have totally lost grip on food security, and have lost almost all of our produce (cocoa) exports which used to make us a rich people in the 1950s and 1960s.

My further answer today is that we are foolishly neglecting to use our greatest asset – our culture – to generate wealth for us. In the world today, Cultural Tourism is one of the big means by which nations generate wealth for themselves and their citizens. When people from other parts of the world come to see the attractive or exotic parts of a nation’s culture, they bring wealth into that nation. They come with foreign exchange, and with it they pay for hotel rooms, food, drinks, transportation, souvenirs, sight-seeing, and many other needs. In short, they bless the country with a lot of foreign exchange – and thereby make the country and its people richer.

In particular, they make business owners and service providers richer – hoteliers, restaurant owners, bar owners, artists, artisans, public transporters, car rental owners, tour guides, messengers, and countless others. It works as if the nation is exporting aspects of its culture for sale abroad. Many countries in today’s world derive a lot of wealth from Cultural Tourism. More and more are struggling to put their culture on the pedestal for the world to come and see and buy. Even the richest countries in the world today pay a lot of attention to attracting tourists, and invest heavily in it.

Every nation has something about itself to show to the rest of the world. But, while some nations pay attention to it, others don’t. Countries like the United States, Britain, France, Russia, count their incomes from tourism every year in the billions of dollars. So do some of the countries of the Middle East and Asia –

especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and India. The ancient Egyptian monuments attract millions of visitors to Egypt every year. The monuments of early Christianity attract millions of tourists to Israel and Palestine every year. Religious tourism (the Islamic pilgrimage) takes millions to Saudi Arabia every year. In Asia, Buddhist temples and scenes and other historic sites attract millions of tourists to India and other Asian countries annually.

In all these countries, it is not just the historic monuments and cultural events and festivals that attract tourists; the governments and the people also must put a lot of effort into it. The government must provide decent and well run airports, roads, public facilities (electricity, water, etc), and the business owners and service providers must make their hotels, motels,

and monstrous corruption, and of revolts and Islamic terrorism, makes the development of any serious tourist industry very difficult. One American writer wrote about Nigeria that “no tourists go there”.

There is no doubt that, among the nations of Nigeria, the Yoruba nation is the greatest loser in this matter. Even in spite of Nigeria’s awful image in the world, we Yoruba can still generate a lot of Cultural Tourism in our own homeland. That is because Yoruba Culture is the Black African culture best known, most sought after, most studied, and most imitated, in the wider world.

In the countries of North, Central and South America, and in the West Indies, millions of people feel a strong attachment to Yoruba culture. In fact, in most of these countries, more and more peo-

diranapata@yahoo.com

restaurants, food, service personnel, etc, super attractive. In short, both the governments and the people must invest in this.

Unhappily, not many Black African countries have woken up to the possibilities of tourism. Under British rule, Kenya began to attract the world to come and see its wealth of animals in the wild, and Kenya has since developed into perhaps tropical Africa’s richest tourist country.

Besides Kenya, only a few like Senegal, South Africa havedeveloped sizeable tourist industries.

Nigeria has enormous possibilities for Cultural Tourism. Virtually every national culture in all parts of Nigeria has something significant to show the world – and together, Nigeria could easily become owner of a Cultural Tourism industry yielding billions of dollars per annum.

But, unfortunately, not only is the right level of effort not there, Nigeria’s general image as a country of political instability, of rigged and violent elections,of conflicts

ple are claiming to be of Yoruba descent.

The Yoruba culture is the great symbol of Black African identity and Black African pride in these countries. Even white citizens of some of these countries are adopting various aspects of Yoruba culture, especially Yoruba religion. As many as 50 million Brazilians, six million Cubans, and millions of others all over the West Indies and other American countries, claim to be of Yoruba descent or are practitioners of Yoruba religion. And the same trend is increasingly happening in other regions of the world – even in unexpected places like Europe, Asia and Australia.

When the newly crowned Oni of Ife visited the United States of America some weeks ago, the huge crowds that came to welcome him everywhere included countless Brazilians, Cubans, West Indians, and other Black Americans. The United States was overwhelmed. Large numbers of white Americans soon joined the crowds.

Some in the United States media began to

World Cup qualifier: Rohr stranded in Germany NIGERIA’S preparation for a crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier against Zambia is heading for chaos as the camp is scheduled to open tomorrow in Abuja.

Reason: The Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr is now stranded in Germany, while top stars led by Mikel Obi are up in arms after they were ordered to fly down in economy class.

A directive was said to have come from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), for Rohr and Eagles Euro-based pros to buy their flight tickets and get a refund, but

was only made late Friday and so most of the players were caught off guard.

Officials said several players were expected by today (Sunday), but after this late order, it is unclear when most of them will now hit the training camp in Abuja.

“Rohr is still in Germany after it was first agreed he will be sent his ticket before he was then asked to buy it and get a refund on arrival,” a source informed AfricanFootball.com “The players have also been caught off

guard by this order to buy their tickets.”

The players are believed to be ready for a showdown with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after they were told to travel only economy class and that is besides the fact that many of them were not refunded for the tickets they bought to fly down for last month’s AFCON qualifier against Tanzania in Uyo. Zambia hosts Nigeria in Ndola on Sunday, October 9, to kick start the final round of the qualifying series for the 2018 World Cup to be staged in Russia.

call the Oni the King of Africa. Very many of the Brazilians, Cubans, West Indians, and Black citizens of the United States appealed to the Oni to make arrangements to bring them to visit their Yoruba place of origin in Nigeria soon. Countless white Americans wanted to come too.

What all these mean is that, if the Yoruba people in homeland Yorubaland in Nigeria were to embark seriously on promoting a Yoruba Cultural Tourism industry, it could easily grow into a mammoth source of foreign exchange and wealth for the Yoruba Southwest and for the Nigerian Federation. If we arrange it well, we could easily have millions of tourists visiting our Southwest every year.

For instance, in the 1970s, the Institute of African Studies of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, started a small annual festival of Yoruba culture. We called it Ori Olokun Festival. I was one of the junior academics involved in it from the beginning – and years later, I became its principal chief executive when I was appointed Director of the Institute of African Studies. Even though we as a university department did not have enough funds to popularize the Ori Olokun Festival as widely as possible in the wider world, it quickly grew beyond our wildest imaginations. Crowds of people came annually to it from the Americas, and from other distant parts of the world.

For us the Yoruba nation, the possibilities of a great Cultural Tourism industry are great. Our festivals and other cultural properties are waiting to be turned into hugely attractive Cultural Tourism assets.

With or without the problems posed by our being part of a Nigeria with its awful image in the world, we can make a big success of Cultural Tourism in our Southwest. If our states developed a general picture of what we want to show the world and how we want to show it, and if each of our states puts effort into it, we could have a prosperous Cultural Tourism Industry in our Southwest in only a few years.

Our failure to exploit this great source of wealth is one of our greatest failings as a nation in modern times. Culturally, we have been walking on gold and doing nothing with it. Even today, as these words are being written, we are still not thinking seriously of doing anything with it. It is an incredible loss of value. Let us begin to do something about it now.

Results

English Premier League Watford 2 Bournemouth 2 Hull City 0 Chelsea 2 Swansea 1 Liverpool 2 West Ham 1 Middlesbrough 1 Sunderland 1 West Brom 1 Women’s U-17 World Cup Brazil 1 Nigeria 0 Japan 5 Ghana 0 England 3 Korea DPR 3 USA 6 Paraguay 1 POOLS: 6, 9, 10, 12, 18, 27, 31, 32, 34, 37, 39, 41, 47 TODAY’S MATCHES: 01, 04, 05, 09

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: sundaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 2/10/2016 MANAGING DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR : SINA OLADEINDE. All Correspondence to P. O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712.