9th July 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 1,159

www.tribuneonlineng.com

SATURDAY, 9 JULY, 2016

os Weekend Lag

Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

N150

Nigerian Tribune

OJUELEGBA:

Welcome to Lagos’ den of the Devil

pgs19,20&21

Senate seats: Andypg4 Ubah, Stella Oduah win Adeboye in Ibadan pg5

tomorrow

pg6

Presidency on NNPC board

Go to court if aggrieved over appointments

pg4

Retired Army officers write Buhari, seek reinstatement

UCHE JOMBO Bukky Ajayi was iconic, true legend

pg5

pg26

Commotion at Lagos airport over gunshots 2 passengers wounded

pg5

Christian leaders

Muslim leaders

Avengers blow up oil pg4 facilities in Rivers, Bayelsa They are saboteurs —Osinbajo

Obas should lead in pg9 mosques, churches —Oluwo

Armed security men, Christian and Muslim leaders in Osun State, on the premises of the State High Court, Osogbo, on Friday, during the hearing of an application for stay of execution of judgement authorising the use of hijab in public schools. PHOTOS: OLUWOLE IGE.

2

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

3

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Wale Ojo has appeared in over 100 movies. The awardwinning actor, who has stolen the hearts of movie lovers through his lead roles in the movie,‘Phone Swap,’ Mnet soap, ‘The Adebanjos’and now ‘The CEO’, speaks to journalists on his career, the perks and challenges.

JOAN OMIONAWELE brings the excerpts.

Y

OU landed yet another lead role in Kunle Afolayan’s movie, ‘THE CEO’, what was the experience like?

I will say it was very good. I always have fun with Kunle. I had a lot of fun listening and learning from everyone. He is a nice character and you know, there were other fantastic cast to work with, including Angelique Kidjo, Peter King, Aurelie Fatym Nico, and Lala. We had a great time.

As an experienced actor, what do you think makes a good script?

Good stories, one has to follow the rules of screen writing; which are attention, action. I like a lot of action, originality and the ability to connect with the audience.

What would you describe as the most challenging scene in that movie?

I think there is a scene which I tried to drown one of the actors; we were actually directed to go into the sea, although I’m a good swimmer, the other actor wasn’t, so I had to pretend to drown the actor and at the same time protect the actor and I found that very challenging and intriguing at the same time

What one needs to be a great actor — Wale Ojo

Between you and me, who killed Peter King in the movie?

If I tell you that information, the suspense is gone, I think you should see the movie and experience the fun (laughs).

As an actor who has made impact in the industry, both home and abroad, what will you say makes a good actor?

I think to be a great actor you have to be a great listener, and you really have to be sensitive to what is around you, to what people are saying.

Listening, I think is one of the best qualities an actor can have. Acting is reacting, you have to be able to really tune in to what somebody is saying to you and react accordingly.

It is a rare opportunity having to work with other international actors, what was the experience like?

It was great, it was always good working with actors from different parts of the world because everybody has a different quality. The French actors have a different quality. Peter King from Kenya had a different quality and Nico Panagio from South Africa had a different quality; you know, you work with that and it is always interesting, it is always challenging, so it is good.

What would you say you have learnt from them?

I would say the need to always be a part of an ensemble. I don’t need a solo adventure, you must be good as the actor next to you. So, when you all work together, it creates something that is very beautiful. So what I learnt is the importance of acting as an ensemble.

Like other actors, are you also thinking of producing your own movie?

I have a movie that I’m working on now, it is called ‘Kalakuta Express’. It is being crafted to honour the late Fela Anikulapo -Kuti. I started back to front promotion for it on the 26th of May and I am also doing an afro beat, live afro beat concert. I’ll make sure I reveal to my fans that I am also a musician as well as an actor, so, I’m playing with a 10 piece afro band and it would be at the Hard Rock Café.

So is ‘The CEO’the most challenging for you?

No, I have done much challenging movies but it was challenging but I won’t say most challenging.

What were the challenges?

I mean to be honest with you, I liked the script on set and I accepted the challenges that were there and I won’t say that there were like huge challenges as such, but they were just hard work and it was intense, it wasn’t comedy, it wasn’t very easy. It started as a comedy initially, but it got more and more intense with more and more tragedy happening.

What prompted the title of your new project ‘Kalakuta Express’?

What prompted it is my love for Fela’s music, my love for afro beat.

What is your take on the supposed disparity between the old and new Nollywood; some people are of the opinion that the old Nollywood deserves some respect?

How can you say there was disparity because there wouldn’t be any cinema unless Nollywood started it? Nollywood started their work in the 1990s and they didn’t have any support from government and they only had one video camera and the standard was low but they were able to make an industry that makes about three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) a year. So that is not an easy feat. I even have a movement that is even called New Nigeria Cinema and I said to everybody, New Nigeria Cinema is not competing against Nigeria but it is a child of Nollywood. It is Nollywood that has given birth to New Nigerian Cinema and in New Nigerian Cinema, we would take it further like we are doing with ‘THE CEO’, 35,000 feet up to the sky and beyond.

4

news

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

NNPC board appointments: Aggrieved persons can go to court —Presidency Leon Usigbe - Abuja

T

HE Presidency has declared that the newly constituted board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is not lopsided in favour of the North just as it advised anyone not satisfied with the appointment of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum, as the board chairman to challenge it in court.

The NNPC Act provides that the post of the corporation’s chairman be occupied by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, who in this case is President Muhammadu Buhari. Kachikwu is the minister of state in the ministry.

There have been criticisms that Kachikwu is merely holding the fort for Buhari on the board because, according to the critics, the law does not support his appointment.

But reacting to the criticisms trailing the arrangement, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, told Saturday Tribune that Kachikwu was sworn in as a minister of the Federal Republic and a member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

When asked why he was the one to hold the post which the law expressly gave to the substantive minister, Shehu queried: “And the minister of state is not a minister?”

He further stated: “Well, the president calls them ministers and he appointed them ministers. They took their oath of office as ministers and members of the Federal Executive Council as far as we can see.

“If anybody has a problem with that, let them go to court.

“Whatever it is. As far as the federal cabinet is concerned, Kachikwu doesn’t sit on the back row.

“You yourself have entered the Council chamber, you know how all of them are. They are all considered members of the FEC. They are all members of the FEC. “As I said, anybody that has any issue can go to court and seek clarification.”

Also reacting to criticism on the perceived lopsidedness of recent appointments made

by President Buhari into key government institutions particularly the board of the NNPC, Shehu said that there was nothing wrong with the appointments.

According to him, the NNPC board has four persons appointed from the North and three from the South.

The NNPC board an-

nounced last Monday showed the Minister of State as chairman and Maikanti Kacalla Baru was named the new Group Managing Director (GMD) and a member of the board.

Other members are the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Mahmoud Dutse; Chief of Staff to the presi-

dent, Mallam Abba Kyari; Dr. Thomas M. A. John, Dr Pius O. Akinyelure, Dr Tajuddeen Umar, Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and Mallam Yusuf Lawal.

Shehu said people should be more concerned about the quality the appointees could bring into their jobs rather than about primordial attachments.

When asked to react to the criticism of the lopsided nature of Buhari’s appointments, he said: “What is the lopsidedness there? Four from the North, three from the South in a seven-man committee. So, what is the lopsidedness there?

“What is the lopsidedness? Because it should

have been four South and three North? It could have been that way.

“I think people should be looking at what are they contributing in a country, what quality are they bringing to the board not this primordial kind of attachment.

“However, for a board that there are three (South), four (North), there’s balance.”

When reminded that it was not just the NNPC board that was perceived to be lopsided, the presidential spokeman said he did not want to speculate.

“Even the number of states in the country is not balanced, 19 and 17,” he said alluding to the fact that there are 19 states in the North and 17 in the South.

6 killed in Borno bomb blasts Nigeria Air Force strikes at Boko Haram location in northern Borno Chris Agbambu - Abuja, Bodunrin Kayode - Maiduguri with Agency Report THE Nigerian Army on Friday confirmed the killing of six persons in two separate suicide bomb attacks in Damboa, Borno State.

The confirmation is contained in a statement issued by the acting spokesman for the army, Col. Sani Usman.

He said that the attack, which occurred at 5.15 a.m. on Friday was targeted at the Damboa Central Mosque.

“In the early hours of today, precisely at 5.15 a.m., two Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked Damboa.

“The first suicide bomber targeted Damboa Central Mosque but due to stringent security measures, he could not gain entry but he eventually exploded and died near the mosque.

“The second bomber veered off and gained entry into another smaller mosque and detonated the bomb killing him and six other worshippers and injuring one other person.

“The wounded have been evacuated to a hospital while efforts are on to clear the rubble and secure the area.”

Usman said that suspected Boko Haram terrorists, in another development, attacked Gaskeri village ahead of Dalori on Thursday evening.

He said that the insurgents killed three civilian vigilantes and looted food items from the village.

He said that troops had been mobilised and were on the suspected terrorists’ trail.

The spokesman added that the army had commenced escort of motorists as part of the efforts to keep the Maiduguri-Dikwa-Gamboru Ngala road open and safe.

He said that troops of 3 Battalion, 22 Brigade on Thursday escorted four trailers and 44 other vehicles from Dikwa to Gamboru Ngala.

He said that the troops also ambushed the terrorists at Gajibo crossing point and recovered one AK-47 rifle, a transistor radio and a knife.

Nigeria Air Force strikes at Boko Haram location in Northern Borno Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Component of Operation Lafiya Dole has carried out air strikes on a Boko Haram location in northern Borno.

A statement signed by its Director of Public Relations

and Information, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Friday, said the strikes represented another major success in NAF’s air campaign against the insurgents in Northern Borno.

According to the statement, the latest strike is part of the air operations conducted by NAF in support of the efforts by own

surface forces and the Multi National Joint Task Force.

The statement said the location in northern Borno “lies between Tumbum Rego and Malkonory and is about 25km from Kangarwa, where own surface forces are currently harboured.

“The location, as can be seen from the enclosed footage, harbours the insurgents’

makeshift structures and about 4 to 6 clusters of solar panels, which are used by the terrorists to power communications equipment and for lighting.”

Famuyiwa further said the latest strike was to rid the northern part of Borno of the remnants of insurgents in an operation codenamed “OPERATION GAMA AIKI”.

Avengers blow up oil facilities in Bayelsa, Rivers

Niger Delta Avengers are saboteurs —Osinbajo Ebenezer Adurokiya - Warri and Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure THE Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), on Friday, again wreaked havoc on oil facilities in the Niger Delta.

The militants’ economic sabotage, this time round, was carried out in Bayelsa and Rivers states where the group said on its website,that its strike force had bombed Nembe 1,2 and 3 crude oil trunklines.

The group did not, however, mention the operators of the trunklines, but added that the attack was carried out between 3:00a.m and 5:00a.m suspectedly on Friday.

“At about the hour of 3am to 5am, the Niger Delta Avengers blew up Nembe 1, 2, and 3 trunk-line in Bayelsa/River States,” the group, in the post signed by its spokesperson, Brig.

Gen. Mudoch Agbinibo, disclosed.

Spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Desmond Agwu, was said to have confirmed one of the attacks.

According to reports, Agwu said the attack took place at Lasukugbene, adding that one of the pipelines is operated by Agip in Rivers State.

Agwu was said to have further disclosed that operatives of the NSCDC engaged the militants in a shoutout after the attack on the oil installations.

The Avengers, in the post, also warned the public to be wary of frauds impersonat-

ing it on social media.

“We are still using this medium to warn the general public of impostors of Facebook accounts. Niger Delta Avenger is not on social network anymore,” it insisted.

Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization, Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), has condemned the continued militarisation of the Niger Delta region.

The NGO said the region has been turned into a battle ground as a result of confrontations between the military and adamant militants.

The group also expressed worries over the degradation of the region by pipeline vandalism orchestrated by the nefarious activities of the rampaging militants and the exploration and exploitative activities of the multinational oil companies.

In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Comrade Sheriff Mulade and made available to Saturday Tribune in Warri, Delta State, the group said “it will shock the public to know that well over 75 riverside communities are adversely affected as a result of the unabated bombings by militants, illegal bunkering and oil theft as well as the failure of the multinational oil firms to adopt environmental best practices.”

The NGO believes that the Federal Government’s reprisals on militants will further bastardise the region

as the environment is the only heritage of the people and explains that the future generation will suffer greatly if the environment is completely destroyed.

The centre also carpets the International Oil Companies (IOCs) for starting the militarisation of the region when they engaged military personnel to man key and strategic facilities, thereby “using force to get what rightly belong to the people from them.”

It therefore reiterated the call for the Federal Government to engage critical stakeholders in constructive dialogue, saying it is the only way to resolve the simmering conflicts and restore enduring peace and security to the region.

Niger Delta Avengers are saboteurs —Osinbajo.

Meanwhile, the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbanjo, on Friday said the new militant group in the Niger Delta region of the nation, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) are saboteurs.

Osinbajo states this at the second annual Foundation Day Lecture delivered by him at Elizade University, IlaraMokin, Ondo State, titled: “The Future Is here, Earlier than We Thought.”

The vice-president frowned at the agitations of the NDA, saying that the group comprises individuals driven by selfish interest and questionable agitation to frustrate the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government.

He said “The Niger Delta Avengers are not freedom fighters. They are not fighting for the people, they are only fighting for themselves.

You cannot be blowing up pipelines and making governance difficult in the state and say you are freedom fighter.”

The vice-president said that destroying the nation’s economy under the guise of fighting for human right will cause more harm to the nation and will aggravate the poor state of the nation.

While commenting on the frantic agitations by some states in the South for federal restructuring, he pointed out that he was in the Supreme Court for a minimum of 12 times to pressurise the FG to yield to the demands when he was the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Lagos State.

Osinbajo said the major thrust for restructuring and resource control, which is oil, has plummeted and is no longer sustainable as it used to be during the oil boom days.

He urged the states to manage the available resources and diversify their income, urging every federating unit, especially the elite to desist from comments that can destabilise the polity.

He said: “We must continue to engage ourselves but we must be very careful not to allow the elite to divide us along tribe and religion.

It is not a tribal issue, not religion, we have to come together to show ourselves how to live a peaceful life.”

5 news

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Court refuses to sack Andy Ubah, Stella Oduah from Senate Sunday Ejike - Abuja

From left, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market, Hon. Teejay Yusuf; Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyema; Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives, Right Hon. Yakubu Dogara; President, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and the Deputy Chairman, Media and Publicity, Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Jonathan Gaza, at the ringing of the closing bell of the Market by Honourable Dogara at the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos, on Friday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Stampede as gun goes off at Lagos airport Shola Adekola - Lagos

T

HERE was pandemonium at the departure hall of the General Aviation Terminal of the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Friday, after the gun of an orderly of an unidentified politician accidentally discharged.

The mishap, which caused hundreds of people within the terminal building and outside to run helter-skelter, happened as outbound passengers were waiting their turns to buy tickets at Arik Air counter.

The security detail, whose gun discharged and wounded a man and a woman in the process, was said to be among those on the queue at the counter.

Many of those within the terminal were said to have sustained injuries while attempting to escape, thinking that the situation was an attack by Boko Haram terrorists or Niger Delta militants who had earlier threatened to attack the airport.

Officials of the airport police command and security officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were said to have stormed the scene to arrest the development.

The story, however, changed for them when it was discovered that it was a case of an accidental discharge.

An airline staff told Saturday Tribune that the atmosphere was charged initially as no one knew where the gunshot came from.

“Initially, everyone thought the gunshot was from Boko Haram terrorists or Niger Delta militants.

Therefore, in their bids to escape to safety, people began to push and shove and run.”

Confirming the incident,

the General Manager, Public Affairs, FAAN, Yakubu Dati, said: “Two persons were injured on Friday at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, when a man identified as an orderly of a senator wanted to remove the magazine of his gun and there was accidental discharge that left him and a woman injured.

“The orderly was to travel on Arik Air and wanted to lodge his gun, which is a

standard practice on air travel, but the gun released a bullet that splinted and hit both the man and the woman in the leg as he bent down to pull the magazine out of the gun.

“According to eyewitness account, the two were taken to the hospital at the airport. They walked out of the terminal to the vehicle that took them to the hospital, and also walked into the hospital without any assistance, which indicated the injuries were

not severe.”

Dati insisted that stowing the gun away with its magazine was a standard procedure because guns are not taken onboard aircraft; they are usually checked in the luggage compartment.

He assured air travellers that all the airports are safe and secure and in recognition of the security challenges in the country and in the world, security at the nation’s airports has been fortified.

Compulsory retirement: Army officers file appeals to Buhari SOME of the 38 senior army officers compulsorily retired last month have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to review their cases and reinstate them.

Sources close to some of the officers told Saturday Tribune that the affected officers premised their appeal on the provisions of the law which allowed compulsorily retired military officers the privilege of seeking the intervention of the President who is also the Commander- in- Chief.

They are using the window of opportunity contained in Section 09.02e of the HTACOS Officers, 2012 which states that “an officer called upon to retire, resign or to relinquish his commission shall, if he so desires, appeal to the President and Commander-in-Chief through the Chief of Defence Staff within 30 days to have his case reconsidered.”

The source said he could not state the actual number of the officers who had filed such appeals to the president but stated that he knew they “are many.”

The Army Council had at its meeting of 9 June 2016,approved the compulsory retirement from the Nigerian Army of the 38 senior officers

made up of 11 Major Generals, 10 Brigadier Generals, seven colonels, 11 Lt. Colonels and one Major.

The Army in retiring the officers cited partisanship and corruption as the basis for the punitive decision.

While the army subsequent-

ly claimed that the officers were given the opportunity to defend themselves, it was learnt that a major plank of the officers’ appeals to the president is what a source described as “lack of fair hearing as they were not heard before the action was taken.”

Skye Bank shares drop further by 8.42% SKYE Bank’s shares on Friday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped further by 8.42 per cent following investors’ continued reaction to removal of the bank’s board and executive management.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) removed the board and management of the bank on Monday, and replaced them with another, a measure it said was to redirect the bank.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the trading on Friday, the bank lost 8k to close at 87k per share.

The bank’s shares had depreciated by 9.5 per cent on Monday, forcing it to close at 95k per share.

A breakdown of the activity chart on the Exchange showed that investors sold 21.59 million shares of Skye Bank valued at N18.79 million.

Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf,

immediate past President, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said that the shares of the bank were on offer but nobody was buying.

Yussuf urged the new management of the bank to map out strategies to assure and reassure shareholders and investors.

Further analysis of the losers’ table showed that Forte Oil lost N8.93 to close at N171.90 per share, while Beta Glass dipped N4.17 to close at N38.66 per share.

Lafarge Wapco shed N3.35 to close at N63.65 per share and GlaxosmithKline dropped N2.24 to close at N20.78 per share.

Consequently, the AllShare Index shed 147.08 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 28,854.98 compared with 29,002.06 achieved on Monday.

JUSTICE Adeniyi Ademola of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday dismissed the suit seeking to sack Senators Andy Ubah, Stella Uduah and others from the National Assembly.

Senator Annie Okonkwo and others had through their counsel, Chief Asam Asam (SAN) dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ubah, Oduah and 15 lawmakers in the National Assembly and Anambra State House of Assembly before the court, asking the court to invalidate their nominations.

Justice Ademola, in a judgement delivered on Friday dismissed the suit, filed by Senator Annie Okwonkwo, Chris Ubah and 42 others for lacking in merit.

In the judgement that lasted for about an hour, Justice Ademola held that the plaintiffs’ claim that they are the rightfully nominated candidate of the PDP in the National and State House of Assembly election in the March and the April 11, 2015 Presidential election held in the state cannot stand in the face of the law having been unlawfully nominated by the state executive of the party.

The court held that it has been established in law that the power to conduct primary election, nomination of candidates and submission of list of candidates to INEC is vested on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of political parties.

The judge said in the instant case the plaintiffs, having emerged from a primary conducted by the state executive of the PDP, submitted themselves to an act of illegality and as such cannot seek legal backing for such a nomination.

The trial judge referred to the Supreme Court judgements of 29th January 2016 and the ruling of the apex court delivered on February 24, 2016 where the issue of the powers of the PDP NEC and the state executive committee was ventilated to the effect that the state organ of the party has no power under the constitution of the party and the Electoral Act to nominate candidates for the purpose of general election.

Justice Ademola said since the Supreme Court had made the clarification via an order, such order must be obeyed by persons and statutory bodies.

N22.8bn fraud: Amosu, others opt for plea-bargain Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin - Lagos A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos was on Friday informed that a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (rtd), two serving senior air force officers and eight companies who are presently facing a N22.8bn fraud charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have opted for a plea-bargain.

The two serving senior air force officers arraigned alongside Amosu are: Air Vice Marshal Jacob Bola Adigun, Air Commodore Gbadebo Owodunni Olugbenga. While the companies are Delfina Oil and Gas Limited, McAllan Oil and Gas Limited, Hebron Housing and Properties Company Limited, Trapezitrs Bureau De Change (BDC), Fonds and Pricey Limited, Deegee Oil and Gas Limited, Timsegg Investment Limited, and Solomon Health Care Limited.

The accused persons were alleged to have commited the offences between March 5, 2014 and May 4, 2015.

The three air force officers were alleged to have converted several billions of Naira belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), to their personal use.

At Friday’s proceedings, the EFCC informed the court of the willingness of the accused persons to enter into a plea-bargain settlement.

“The accused persons have approached the commission for a plea-bargain and the agreements drafted by the commission have been served on lawyers for the accused persons,” EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said.

He therefore urged the court to allow the commission to open the accused persons’ trial.

But lawyer for Air Marshal Amosu, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), while opposing the commencement of trial, imformed the court that the prosecution failed to tell the court that it was yet to obey court’s order as regards the bail conditions of the accused persons.

Ayorinde said the prosecution left out the fundamental issue, which is the court admitting the accused to bail.

“As of now, the accused are still in the custody of the commission or prisons’ custody. We have satisfied all the conditions and I expected the prosecution to inform the court,” he said.

The presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned the matter till September 12 and 13.

6

news

Saturday Tribune

9 July, 2016

Hijab: Don’t use religion to destabilise judiciary —Osun Judge Oluwole Ige - Osogbo

A

N Osun State High Court judge, Justice Jide Falola, on Friday warned parties involved in a litigation over the wearing of hijab in public schools to desist from encouraging students to defy court order or judgment.

Falola had on the 3 June, 2016 delivered a judgment, allowing female Muslim students in public schools to wear hijab to school, citing their fundamental human rights and religious belief as reasons that informed his judgment.

Hearing the motion for a stay of execution of the judgment filed by counsel for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Osun State chapter, Barrister Olufemi Folarin Ayandokun, the presiding judge stated that “you should admonish your clients not to use religion to divide or destabilise the judiciary. To go to the extent of shopping for a type of judge our case should go before is ridiculous”.

According to Falola, “judiciary is a sanctuary that deals with the law. Whoever handles any case would not allow his religion to interfere in the process. Some students were encouraged to defy court judgment. The only means you have against any judgment is to appeal. Not to encourage students to defy court judgment”.

He continued, “pictures of these students are on social and regular media. The students may not be aware of the implication of what they were being made to do. These are

students we expect to become lawyers, doctors and judges in the future.”

Falola, who also admonished the media to be professional in their reportage of proceedings on hijab suit said “the in-

Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta THE Ogun State Police Command on Friday said it has arrested no fewer than 40 suspected cultists in different parts of the state in the last few weeks.

Seventeen out of the hoodlums were arrested over last

to provoke crisis. They have constitutional roles to play.

The court works on facts and laws placed before it. My conscience is clear and my hands are not tied. I applied the law,” he added.

Wednesday’s killings of some members of a cult group in Igode and Emuren areas of Sagamu.

The remaining were said to have been arrested at the university town of Ago-Iwoye in Ijebu North Local Government Area.

Saturday Tribune gath-

ered that the miscreants who were said to be members of Aye Confraternity launched an attack against members of the Eiye Confraternity to celebrate their anniversary tagged 7/7 on Thursday.

Reports had it that the hoodlums armed with sophisticated weapons stormed

Igode on motorcycles and unleashed terror on anyone sighted.

It was also learnt that houses and other valuables were vandalised by the hoodlums.

The Command’s image maker, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, told newsmen that the crisis was caused by members of the

Owerri court okays Ikpeazu as Abia gov Joe Nwachukwu - Owerri and Sunday Ejike - Abuja A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri on Friday dismissed a suit filed by Chief Friday Nwosu, seeking to remove Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State for allegedly presenting forged tax certificate to his party.

Nwosu, a governorship aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the December 8, 2014 primary, approached the court requesting that he be declared Abia State governor on the grounds that Ikpeazu was not qualified to represent PDP in the 2015 election in Abia.

Delivering judgment on the suit, the presiding justice, Lewis Allagoa, pointed out that the plaintiff, through his counsel failed to justify his claim that the tax certificate submitted by Ikpeazu was

“I have already promised President Muhammadu Buhari that Taraba will meet 10 percent of national tea demand by December 2016 and we are committed to achieving that,” said Ishaku.

“We have also committed resources to boost rice production and other crops in the state to improve the economy and feed the nation. We have the right soil, rainfall, weather conditions and the workforce so we would revive the economy using agriculture,” he said.

Adeboye in Ibadan tomorrow GENERAL Overseer of the The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor E. A. Adeboye, will be in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, tomorrow, Sunday, July 10, 2016 to dedicate the stadium-like RCCG Covenant Sanctuary, opposite Zartech, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan.

Time is 8.00 a.m. The chief host is Pastor Dele

god before adjudicating on a matter.”

“Reading through the press in the past few days, one would think the Armageddon has come. The media should not use their reports

The state chapter of CAN had on June 22 filed an application before the Osun State High Court asking for a stay of execution of the judgment pending its determination by the Appeal Court.

Cult killings: Police arrest 40 suspects in Ogun

Agric will save Taraba from bankruptcy —Governor Sylvanus Viashima - Jalingo FOLLOWING a recent publication that listed Taraba among states that may go bankrupt due to reliance on Federal Government’s allocation, the governor, Darius Ishaku, has vowed to increase the state’s Internally Generated Revenue by boosting investment in the agricultural sector.

Ishaku stated this recently at a dinner organised in Jalingo to mark the breaking of Ramadan fast for Muslim faithful in the state.

tention of some tiny section of the media is to intimidate and subdue the judiciary. I am employed as a judge and sit in a court of law. May that day never come when a judge will have to consult a tiny

Balogun, the pastor-incharge of Region 21.

Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Ogah’s Certificate of Return lawful —Abuja court

forged.

He noted that aside looking at documents in litigation, proving a forged matter requires adequate clarification on the issue and addition proof by experts before a forgery claim can be established by law of the land.

According to him, Ikpeazu was not properly taxed in year 2011, the court observed that it was not the position of Ikpeazu, but that of the tax official to determine how he could be taxed.

The court maintained that since the issuing authority (Abia State Board of Internal Revenue) was not joined in the suit nor an expert engaged to ascertain the authenticity of the document, it would be unlawful for the court to rule in favour of the plaintiff.

On the third relief sought seeking to dismiss the claim to the governorship position by Dr Uche Ogah, the court ruled in favour of the plaintiff, noting ‘Ogah is not eligible to enjoy the outcome of the PDP primary because he rejected the result of the primary.’

Allagoa had earlier favoured Nwosu on two other grounds; that the originating summons filed was properly filed and that the Federal High Court has jurisdiction to hear the pre-election suit.

Meanwhile, Justice Okong Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday held that the Certificate of Return issued to Samson Ogah by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was lawfully carried in compliance with the judgment of the court.

Justice Abang, in the rulings he delivered yesterday dismissed the application brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking for the stay of execution of his judgment which ordered governor Okezie Ikpeazu to vacate office on account of giving false tax information.

The Judge, who disclosed

the application for stay of action on the judgment of the court, said the said application constituted an abuse of court process because the PDP filed two motions on the same subject matter.

He said though, the PDP had sought to withdraw the earlier application it filed on June 28, 2016, issues had already been joined by Ogah’s counsel, Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) via a counter affidavit.

Besides, the Court held that there was nothing before the

court to stay execution as the judgment had already been executed by the electoral body.

“Judgment of the court had already been executed by the issuance of the Certificate of Return in favour of Dr. Samson Ogah, therefore there is nothing to be stayed”.

Justice Abang further held that there is no evidence before the court that the Certificate of Return was issued to Ogah before service of the notice of appeal was served on INEC.

Aye group who killed a goat belonging to the rival group for celebration.

He stated that the command had no record of the number of casualities in the incident, submitting that the police had it on good authority that the cultists were members of the community.

Adejobi also pointed out that some traditional chiefs within the affected communities were alleged to be habouring the hoodlums.

The PPRO also added that the Divisional Police Officer in Sagamu and some of his men had blocked the expressway leading to Sagamu, based on information of a likely reprisal.

He said, “On Wednesday, the cult group killed a goat of other rival group for celebration. The other group also went angrily to attack them back, but they have their target. The command did not have the record of those killed, they are hurting themselves.”

7

news

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Buhari appoints new Chief of Defence Intelligence Chris Agbambu - Abuja PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Saliu Usman as the new Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI).

AVM Usman takes over from Major General Sarduna Davies who has been acting as the Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI. Taking over the headship of the Intelligence Agency on Friday, the new CDI told the Defence Intelligence Agency Community that they have been mandated to focus on intelligence gathering as the only solution confronting the country’s security challenges.

According to him, the agency has to build a collective capacity building that will enable them to focus more on intelligence gathering.

He assured the staff of the agency that he will be fair to all, as his doors will be open and urged them to join hands to move the agency to the next level.

Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, addressing the crowd during the solidarity rally by the Conference of Ekiti State Private Sector Union (COEPSU) to rally support for the governor, in Ado Ekiti, on Friday.

Pro-Fayose rally rocks Ado Ekiti

Olalekan Olabulo

I’ll continue to point out FG’s ills, Fayose insists Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti

AGAIN, a large number of Ekiti State citizens under the aegis of Conference of Ekiti State Private Sector Unions trooped to the streets to rally support for the state governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, against what they said was the harassment of the governor by the Federal Government using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The protesters, in their hundreds, comprising artisans, drivers, commercial motorcyclists, mechanics, tailors, barbers/hair-dressers among others, said they were against the freezing of the governor’s accounts with Zenith Bank by the EFCC.

Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state, Mr Clement Adekola, led the protest with his counterpart in the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Mr Samuel Agbede and the leader of Commercial motorcycle Riders Association of Nigeria, Mr Dahunsi Olaniyi.

About 40 unions in the informal sector in the state participated in the protest which was apparently in reaction to a similar rally against the governor by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, on Thursday.

The pro-Fayose groups dismissed EFCC’s action

against the governor as “a deliberate witch-hunt against an opposition voice”, while also warning the APC in the state to “desist from acts capable of blackmailing the state government and destabilising Ekiti.”

Addressing the rally, the governor maintained that his current travails were masterminded by the APC for the sole purpose of ruining the chances of his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2018 governorship poll in the state.

He said: “They said I collected a sum of N1.3 billion from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd) to fund my

Kashamu alleges plot to abduct him THE senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Prince Buruji Kashamu, has raised the alarm over a plot to either abduct or assassinate him.

In a statement issued on Friday in Lagos, Kashamu alleged that the plot was being planned by some

powerful politicians in connivance with some top officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Kashamu alleged that the plot was to either have him abducted or attacked on the streets or at a social function.

Wondering why anyone would want to bypass legiti-

Police arrest five armed robbers, recover arms, ammunition in Lagos Lekan Olabulo FIVE suspected armed robbers, including two members of a gang that attempted to break into a shop in Mushin area of Lagos State have been arrested by the police The other three persons were arrested by policemen from Apapa divisional police station at a very popular hotel in Apapa area of Lagos State.

The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos confirmed the arrest to Saturday Tribune and added that two locally made pistols and axes were recovered from

the Apapa gang, while one pump action gun, six live cartridges, one locallymade revolver pistol with 9mm live ammunition, iron cutter and spanners were recovered from the Mushin gang.

It was gathered that antirobbery policemen from Area B Command, Apapa, while on a patrol along Wilmer Road, intercepted three suspected armed robbers with a bag at New Point Hotel.

It was further gathered the policemen subjected the suspected armed robbers to a routine search and two locally-made pistol and axes were recovered from them.

mate authorities and resort to such crude tactics and self-help in a democratic Nigeria, Kashamu said, “I do not know what I have done to them that they want to behave as if Nigeria is a Banana Republic. If anyone thinks he has a case against me, he should approach the courts and allow the rule of law to prevail.”

The senator said the latest plan to have him abducted or assassinated could have been because of his activities in the nation’s political landscape.

According to him, “Politics should not be a do-ordie affair. I will always say and stand by the truth in the interest of the masses.

I will always rise above primordial sentiments and selfish interest in all my dealings, in and out of politics,” Kashamu said.

The senator, who said he was out to ensure good life for the masses and good governance in the country, urged Nigerians to pray for him so that the machination of those plotting against him would end up in futility.

Millitants invade Igbo Olomu, abduct politician, demand N10 million ransom

election. Some even said I collected it through Mr Musiliu Obanikoro. Let me put it on record that I did not know Col Dasuki and Obanikoro has not come out openly to indict me, because he has not returned from abroad.

“They said a similar thing in 2006. It was all about second term then, because they didn’t want me to contest for a second term. They said the N1.3billion project which I initiated was a scam, but God brought me back. The APC and EFCC conspirators took me before a judge and I got justice.

“When God says yes, nobody can say no. God has given me an uncommon favour over my enemies.

I am presently using the mandate of God and Ekiti people and they are ready to defend the mandate and that is why you [protesters] proudly came out today to express support for me.

“Nigerians have never had it so bad like this.

People are suffering and hungry and President Buhari says he is fighting corruption. How can the FG increase fuel from N86 to N145? The price of kerosene is now over N200.

“No act of intimidation and harassment will shut my mouth. I will continue to talk about national issues.”

According to him, “somebody from Ekiti gave President Buhari N1.5billion for campaign, but today he is being seen as a saint.

When you want to campaign or do marriage, people will give you money and my own can’t be an exemption. I am not afraid of incarceration or death.

“APC’s problem is 2018 and as the Lord liveth, they are going nowhere. We will stand up and defend our state and the money they said they have gotten through anti-corruption should be spent for Nigerians.”

ARMED gunmen, suspected to be militants, again in the early hours of Friday invaded Kajola area of Igbo Olomu in Ikorodu area of Lagos State where a popular politician, Oluwole Oginleye, was abducted.

The gunmen also forced their way into some of the houses in the area and residents were robbed of their money, mobile phones and laptops.

The gunmen later contacted the family of the abducted politician and demanded ten million naira ransom, before he would be released.

The wife of the kidnapped politician and community leader was also severely injured by the gunmen, who reportedly held the community to ransom for more than two hours.

Dallas sniper identified, wanted to ‘kill whites’ POLICE killed one of the suspects in the Dallas police massacre Friday morning by detonating a bomb carried by a robot after negotiations broke down with the man, who had railed against cops and white people.

“He was upset about Black lives matter, the recent police shootings, he was upset at white people. He wanted to kill white people, especially police officers,” Dallas Police, Chief David Brown, said of Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite.

Johnson had no known criminal history or links to terror groups, according to media reports.

“Our hostage negotiating team did an exceptional job getting this suspect to talk,” the city’s top cop said about the man, who had been holed up for hours in an El Centro College garage.

“He said he was not affiliated with any group. He said he did this alone,” Brown said.

Brown said cops had no choice but to use the bomb: “Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger.”

The new information emerged after snipers gunned down five police officers and injured seven others during protests over two fatal police shootings of black men — an explosion of violence described as the deadliest day for law enforcement since 9/11.

Husband disappears as wife gives birth to twins Collins Nnabuife - Abuja A man identified as Mr Martin Nwosu reportedly ran way as his wife was at the verge of delivering a set of twins in Abuja recently.

The whole scenario started when the man reportedly told the wife to abort the pregnancy, saying that he did not want to have more babies, but the woman, Mrs Gloria Johnson, refused to abort the pregnancy.

While speaking to Saturday Tribune, Mrs Johnson said that months into her pregnancy, Nwosu packed out of the house owing to his inability to live up to his financial responsibility, including failure to pay his rent.

According to her, “when I became pregnant, I told him, he was happy but a month after that, he changed. He used to give me N1,000, but he cut it down to N500, and I have a son for him already. Anytime I complained to him that the money was small, he would tell me that there was no work.

“In the long run, he stopped coming back to the house after work, and whenever I asked him why he didn’t come back to the house, he would tell me that he had no transport money.”

8

news

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

We will resolve oil workers’ issues —Kachikwu Hands over to NNPC’s new GMD

The Acting General Officer Commanding, 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Jude Egbudom (right), handing the flag of authority to the new GOC of the division, Major General Kasimu Abdulkarim, during a handing over ceremony at Adekunle Fajuyi Cantonment, Ibadan, on Friday. PHOTO: OLUWATOYIN MALIK

Court to Sheriff: Stop parading yourself as PDP national chair Sunday Ejike - Abuja

J

USTICE Valentine Ashi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Friday warned former acting national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sherriff, from further parading himself in that capacity.

The ruling of the FCT High Court came after Sheriff, through his team of lawyers, approached the court with a motion seeking the setting aside of the June 29, 2016 judgement of the court which nullified the December 2014 amendment to article 57(c) of the constitution of the PDP. The amended article was the basis on which Sheriff was nominated from the North-East to complete the term of office left by he original occupant of the office, Adamu Mu’azu, who also hails from the zone.

The amendment was done on the grounds of political expediency following the resignation of Bamanga Tukur, to al-

low for Adamu Mu’azu’s emergence to complete the tenure zoned to the northeastern part of the story.

However, following Mu’azu’s resignation after leading the PDP to a major electoral catastrophe, Sheriff, also from the North-East, was brought in to pilot the affairs of the party.

But the court described the amendment to the PDP constitution as illegal and

declared it null and void, including all actions taken on the basis of that amendment, effectively pulling the carpet off the feet of Sheriff who has continued to lay claim to the party leadership.

An attempt by Sheriff to have the court reverse itself met a brick wall on Friday as Justice Ashi threw out his motion as an abuse of the court process.

Sheriff’s grouse was that

Buhari breaks silence on Fulani herdsmen attacks Leon Usigbe - Abuja PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Friday broke his long silence on the attacks allegedly perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen across the country, saying that it was a genuine concern that was being addressed.

He had come under criticism for remaining silent despite daily reports of atrocities blamed on the herdsmen in parts of the country.

Receiving the Northern Christian Leaders Eagles Eyes Forum at the State House, Abuja, he also said

his administration would not hide anything from Nigerians in its resolute commitment to restore the economic fortunes of the country and deliver prosperity to Nigerians.

The President emphasised that the Federal Government would continue to prioritize the safety of lives and properties, in addition to equipping Nigerian farmers with the right tools, technology and techniques to boost agriculture.

He said: “You must tell your followers the truth about the country. We have

We ’ll transform education sector —Ambode Bola Badmus - Lagos LAGOS State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has expressed delight at the winning of the annual Spelling Bee Competition by students of public schools in the state, saying that the development was an eloquent testimony that his administration was on the right path to transform the education sector in the state.

Governor Ambode said this on Friday at the Lagos House, Ikeja, while hosting the 16th One-day Governor, Master Olaseinde Olufemi Joshua and members of his cabinet.

According to Ambode,

the PDP was not represented in the proceedings leading up to the judgement, but looking through his records, the judge affirmed that the party was adequately represented by counsel.

The judge insisted that his decision stands, and anyone acting on the basis of the annulled amended provisions of the party’s constitution stands restrained.

the fact that winners of the competition emerged from public schools in inner communities was a clear indication that public schools in the state are now becoming exemplary citadel of learning.

“I must say that I am impressed about the mixture of the people that we are now celebrating. I can personally say that I did watch the school debate on television and I am very excited that the schools from which the winners emerged are from our inner communities in Shasha in Alimosho, Badagry, Ilupeju and also in Mushin.

“That in itself shows that

we are on the right path.

We must be able to show that our public schools are exemplary citadel of learning that we can also use to showcase the fact that the future of Lagos is brighter than what we have now,” Governor Ambode said.

The governor, while congratulating the winners of the competition for doing the state proud, said the competition was one of the ways of encouraging younger ones to venture into position of leadership, adding that development would also go a long way in preparing the students for position of leadership in the future.

nothing to hide because we have no other country but Nigeria.

“Tell them to give us a chance to stabilize the country. Your concern for the security, unemployment, anti-corruption campaign and the frequent altercations between herdsmen and farmers are genuine concerns.

“I know the Ministry of Agriculture and the Governors Forum are doing a lot to resolve the lingering crisis between herdsmen and farmers, we must give them a chance.”

Buhari thanked the Christian leaders for their support to the Federal Government’s anti-corruption campaign and other policies geared towards reviving the economy.

He added: “It is saddening that some of those who stole from our national resources put the money in their personal accounts.

“However, it is gratifying that those who stole money and shared funds meant for the purchase of arms for our military are regretting their actions and they will regret more.

“Those caught in corruption will have themselves to blame.”

He appealed to the religious leaders not to lose hope in the unity, stability and progress of the country.

MINISTER of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe kachikwu, has assured that all issues raised by oil workers’ unions would be addressed to ensure sanity in the country.

Kachikwu gave the assurance while fielding questions from newsmen on Friday in Abuja.

The unions are Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) as well as the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

“We have listened to all their items of concerns and we will address them; we notice that anytime there is strike, it sets us back for two weeks News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.

“We have scheduled a meeting for July 11, and we will tackle some of these issues,” Kachikwu said.

According to him, some of the issues border on security for their members and the fate of some of the members that were laid off.

He also expressed hope that it would end well in the interest of the nation.

It would be recalled that PENGASSAN had threatened to embark on a nationwide strike on Thursday over various workers’ welfare issues, including alleged mass sacking of its members by some oil and gas companies.

Family, friends bid OJB Jezreel farewell as he is finaly laid to rest

FAMILY and friends on Friday bade their final farewell to music producer, singer and songwriter OJB, popularly known as Okungbowa Jezreel Babatunde as he was laid to rest at the Ikoyi Cemetery.

The artiste passed away on June 14, after battling with kidney disease.

The burial service was held at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Surulere, Lagos.

It was an emotional moment as mourners filed past his gold casket, as he was carried from his home to the church, and to the burial ground.

“I met him at the very beginning of my career; he was the one who recorded my first single.

“When everybody stopped believing in me and my talent, OJB still believed in me.

“I thank God and I was happy when I heard that he gave his life to Christ before he died; and that is the essence of living actually. He lived a good life, very nice person. “Our prayer is that his children will continue where he stopped,” Nigerian soul singer, Azeezat Olaoluwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Yorubas in America demand better performance, accountability from Buhari NIGERIANS living in the United States and Canada have been called upon during a weekend national conference in Dallas, United States to help reform Nigeria’s political system, eliminate corruption, and rebuild the country’s education and healthcare systems.

The two-day national conference of Egbe Omo Yoruba, which represents more than 400,000 native Nigerians or people of Nigerian descent living in the United States and Canada, featured several erudite Yoruba scholars, including renowned Nigerian economist Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande, President of Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri; Dr. Toyin Falola, Professor of African Studies and History at the University of Texas Austin, among many others.

The conference was designed to bolster national efforts to attract American investment in Nigeria, accelerate economic growth and prosperity for the Yoruba people, and unite and promote the cultural and professional spirit of the Yoruba community in North America.

Speaking in one of his two keynote addresses, Akande, who was recently elected the first Nigerian-born president of a prestigious American university, highlighted some of the problems bedevilling the country. “Our beloved Nigeria isn’t working,” he lamented. “Our Nigeria is mired in incompetence and corruption. Many of our public institutions barely function. In most respects, to refer to Nigeria as a third-world country is to insult other third-world countries.”

9 feature

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

The Oluwo leading the Eid prayer on Wednesday. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

Why I took over, led Eid prayer with my crown on —Oluwo

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul Rasheed Akanbi (Telu i) shocked the congregation at the Iwo Central Prayer Ground on Eid-el Fitri Day, led the two-rakah naflat marking the end of Ramadan. In this interview by TUNDE BUSARI, Oba Akanbi explains why took over from the Chief Imam and he led the ceremonial prayer, among other issues. Excerpts.

D

o you have the requisite qualification to lead prayer as you did at the prayer ground on Wednesday?

What do you mean by requisite qualification? How much of Iwo history do you know? You need to seek knowledge first to be liberated from ignorance. This is what I have realized among our people in this part of the world. In advanced world, people do a lot of researches before they take a position on issue. But here, we just jump into conclusion without having relevant information to justify our position.

Kabiyesi, do you have knowledge of an Imam to lead such a large congregation?

I am not only adequately equipped as one who is versed in the Qur’an but I am also qualified as the religious ruler of Iwoland to lead the prayer. Do you think it is possible for an ignorant to rule over a town of many great Islamic scholars? Iwo’s strong tie with Islam and the North is well acknowledged in any part of the world. In Yorubaland, Iwo stands out as a town where Islam is deeply rooted. History of Islam in Iwo cannot be written without mentioning the Oluwo called Oba Alausa who brought the religion into the town. He was the one who led the people in prayer and helped the religion to spread and made Iwo a strong Muslim community.

As I am telling you, the Oluwo must first be turbaned before traditional akoko leaf is inserted in his cap. Go and see the picture of my installation to confirm what I am saying.

This is a town of Islamic scholarship. No other town in the South-West can boast the number of scholars we have in Iwo. Because

we understand Islam very well, Christianity is also practised here in a free and peaceful atmosphere. Bowen University, which we are proud of today and which has registered our name on the list of Nigerian university town, is owned by the Baptist Church. And you can see we live in harmony. So, I am qualified and my people have confidence in me. Go to the North, emirs lead prayers there.

Was there an understanding with the Chief Imam because it was reported that you pushed him aside to lead the prayer?

I shouldn’t react to such fallacious report.

Can you even believe such? Is it possible to do such before a large congregation? There was nothing of such. I told my Chief Imam that I needed to lead the prayer to send a message to the world and to other obas that their responsibilities to their people include religion. A Christian oba also has the obligation to lead service in the church. But he must be clean. I used it to show God that I am clean and upright with what He has sent me to do in the world. I have no secret pact with any other person aside from Him. I observe that Muslims and Christians don’t want to become king again because they are scared. They are scared that the stool is all about fetish things. It is not. We have the responsibility to make the palace attractive to the people. We should not derail from the path of God which makes it an obligation to be just to our subjects. Once an oba is just, he has nothing to worry about or fear about. I am saying it again that we should always be conscious of the day we are returning to God and give a report of our reign. I am happy that my people are with

me in this crusade as you can see that they always surround me either in the palace or on the street. I am accessible to everyone because they are my people whom I must serve with all God has given me. An oba must not amass wealth. He must rather share his wealth and make his people happy because he is the father they look up to.

This is not encouraging laziness. It boosts genuine love among the people. I am happy that I am enjoying that in my people, from my chiefs to everyone, including Christians.

Okay, can you also lead Jumat prayer on Friday?

Why not? I have said it that I am not only a traditional ruler like other Yoruba obas.

I am also a religious ruler. I am a ruler ordained by God, the Creator of all of us.

It is unfortunate that we are not living our status. We are not the ruler. God is the ruler. We are only His representatives on earth and we must live that status, and not reduce it to ordinary. How do I mean?

I told my Chief Imam that I needed to lead the prayer to send a message to the world and to other obas that their responsibilities to their people include religion. A Christian oba also has the obligation to lead service in the church.

We must not bow to any lesser god or do anything God does not encourage us to do.

We are supposed to be aboveboard and live by example at all times because we have Somebody up there that watches over us and takes note of our actions and our inactions. We are returning to Him one day to give account of how we represented Him. Don’t you think wearing a crown, seen as a symbol of Yoruba tradition to lead Islamic prayer, was odd and contradictory. Why not wear a turban and ordinary cap?

Wearing a crown to lead the prayer is my way of submitting myself to God. Don’t forget that Islam means total submission to the will of Allah. I have worn a bigger crown to pray at Jumat. I wore it with heavily embroidered aso oke to show my humility to God. There is nothing bigger than God, including crown and any other paraphernalia of the stool.

Because my crown is clean, I have no reason not to wear it to pray to God. Why do you also carry a long staff instead of horsetail with which obas are customarily identified?

I use both the staff and horsetail. But I must tell you that the staff I hold is more symbolic in the history of my town. There is a parrot on top of the staff. Doesn’t that tell you the story of Iwo? Parrot is as important to us as the town itself. That is why in our panegyrics, parrot features prominently. I am comfortable holding the staff anywhere because it is a way of showcasing the history of my town to the world. Wherever I go, either home or abroad, I will always hold it and be ready to answer any question arising therefrom.

10

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

11

9 July, 2016

Saturday With

A

PPARENTLY fazed and confused by the spate of bombings of oil installations by the new Niger Delta militants called Avengers, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, spelt out the non-negotiability of the Nigerian unity. While playing host to a delegation of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) residents who paid him Sallah homage, the president had said that the unity of Nigeria would not be compromised. To tell the truth, the activities of the group are enough to get the head of a country into such unnecessary frenzy. The Avenger, at the beginning of its assaults on oil installations, had vowed to bring production level to zero. As it stands now, the amorphous, yet deadly group has almost halved oil production, sending jitters into the recessive Nigerian economy.

Thinking they were a mere dross or fluke, the president had talked tough initially. Threatening fire and brimstone, the president even said he would treat the militant group as insurgents. But as things later turned out, the Avengers were a group whose mind was made up at crippling the economy of the Nigerian nation and its hegemony over the oil that is explored in the Niger Delta. No one taught the president to eat the humble pie when he began sending emissaries to the group for a rapprochement.

President Buhari has sustained the language of autocracy in his slightly over a year of rulership of Nigeria, one of which is this statement of his. A few days ago, while lamenting an alleged subterranean intervention to cripple the anti-corruption stance of the government, the president had used that language that is the pastime of military autocracy which is the personalization of power. “I will fight them,� he had said, pardon the paraphrase.

What happens to law fighting such malefactors? What happened to modesty in power?

On the unity of Nigeria that the president said was not negotiable, with due respect to the president, that language is too hackneyed to be relevant in the present age. While the military was in power, it was pardonable for its high-epaulettes heads to maintain that the unity of Nigeria was not negotiable. This they exhibited in crushing coup plotters who took up arms against them. Major Gideon Orkah knew the essence in that statement too late. Decades after, it has proven to be a refrain that the 21st century cannot accept or can accept at its perils.

Happenings around us are proving that the unity of Nigeria is very negotiable and should be negotiated now or else, we would be pretending of the presence

Saturday Tribune

ayinla mukaiba ayinlamukaiba@yahoo.com

Sweetie, our union is negotiable

of unity and thereby walk down the precipice of our tragedy.

Indeed, it is only those who are profiting from the skewed unity of 1914 who can go to town with such regimented statement. Those who are not benefitting from it are like the man who is down who needs no fall. Currently under the Buhari government, the North, a prong of the two spouses that came together in 1914 for the so-called unity, has been enjoying the matrimony, to the chagrin of the other spouse.

Of the 17 security appointments made by the president so far, for instance, the North grabbed 14 while the South has 3. Dr. Junaid Mohammed has also recently told us of how a familial rhapsody is the tune of Nigerian administration at the Villa today. If there is an infraction which the Buhari government carries out with impunity, it is in embarrassing appointments.

Coming to the oil that has become the mainstay of the Nigerian nation, to which the northern hegemons pride themselves over, it is only rational that those who own that resource should kick at the you-may-go-jump-inside-theriver disposition of the conquistadorial group who lord it over them, in spite of their oil. No matter how long the lordship may last, someday, the children of the disenabled will gather their voices to protest their disenablement. This is clearly what is being done at the moment.

The current police recruitment is another example of this so-called unity that is being taken for granted. The recruitment process is said to be on the verge of being circumvented now due to the avaricious desire of some hegemons by tak-

ing the process through the local government, rather than the states. Of the 774 local governments plus the FCT in Nigeria, successive Northern-headed military governments have ensured that the north has unfairly skewed more numbers of councils than the south.

Thus, recruiting the 10,000 policemen from the local governments would surely make the recruitment to be in favour of the lords of the Nigerian manor.

So, for the president to claim that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable is not only a language of autocracts, it is a self-centred argument that can only be spoken by those who are gaining advantage from the status-quo.

As the marriage is being administered today, there is the need to interrogate it and see whether it still has the impetus, the trappings of the First Republic practice which made Obafemi Awolowos to insist that we all should appropriate the benefits of togetherness for the south and the north equally. As things stand at the moment, only a section of the country is benefitting from that togetherness and it is high time we negotiated our continued stay together or at best, interrogate the content or the context of our continued relationship.

Our colonizer, Britain, recently defied the tenor of the Buhari rigid abidance by an over a century-old unity.

Even though they are regretting the referendum conducted to decide their continued stay in the European Union, the UK is better off after the votes as they at least have an understanding of themselves. Not to discuss terms of staying together can only widen the schism of a nation and further worsen the factitious and divisive voices within.

The president’s minders should take him through a refresher on the language and discourse of democracy. Even husbands and wives know that their spousal unity is negotiable and as such, on a daily basis, they wake up to concretize its strength through doing mutually beneficial acts. Once one of them continues to do acts that violate the sacristy of togetherness, they are cultivating the furrows of breakage.

AFRICAN NEWSPAPERS OF NIGERIA PLC Founders: CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO GCFR, SAN (1909 - 1987)

Chief (Dr) H.I.D Awolowo CON (1915 - 2015)

Chairman Rev. (Mrs) Omotola Oyediran Co-Chairman Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Edward Dickson Controller (Business Development) Fola Oke Chief Accountant Oluremi Olufisayo, ACA

Ibadan Office (Advert Hot Lines): 08077227269; 08034135733 Lagos Office (Advert Hot Lines): 08055333067; 08033013177 South South Regional Office: No. 50 Ikwerre Rd., Mile 1, Diobu, P/Harcourt, Rivers State

Snr. Manager (Advertisements) Kayode Titiloye Sales Manager Omotayo Lewis, Ph.D Consultant/Director Segun Olatunji, Ph.D

GOT NEWS?

Abuja Office: Suites G2. 05-07, PEB04 Plaza, Plot 2027, Dalaba Street, Beside NAPTIP Headquarters, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja Advert Hot Lines: 08033199716; 08078891797 Kaduna Office: AN 20, Lagos Street, by Keffi Rd., Kaduna.

Ikeja Marketing Office.

Block C, First Floor, Motorways centre, Opp., 7up Alausa, Ikeja.

Contact: saturdaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com or call:07030004233

12

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

13

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune BLESSING EKUM ekumblessing@gmail.com 08116954639

food&drink

Chocolate

cake: Yummy and pleasing to the eyes

Aina Odukogbe Gentry, the owner of Aina Gentry Cake and Pastry, speaks to TOLUWALASE ODETUNDE on the trends in the catering world and why chocolate cake is king.

For how long have you been into catering? ’VE been into catering since I was a student; that’s more than seven years now. I decided to specialise in cake making and pastries because going into full catering is more expensive and quite stressful.

I

What’s the trend in the pastries world?

Presently, fruit cakes are trending in weddings. Then marble cakes (the combina-

tion of butter sponge and chocolate), butter sponge cakes, chocolate cakes are also in.

For pastries, cookies, Scotch egg, meat pie, sausage roll, fish pie, chicken pie and small chops are the in-thing at occasions.

Can you recall your most memorable catering experience?

That was when a client wanted me to make a character cake for her baby shower.

I was to bake and design a cake of a pregnant woman in a maternity gown; I had not done that before. But I did it anyway and

Jamaican carrot juice

Ingredients: 2 pounds carrots, chopped 4 or more cups water 1 can condensed milk ½ teaspoons nutmeg/ cinnamon adjust to taste 1-teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon fresh ginger Directions: • Add coconut milk and sugar in a medium saucepan.

•Cook on medium heat for about 35 or more minutes, stir often with a whisk. You may have to reduce the heat if necessary to

prevent burns. Do not step away from the saucepan. When it has thickened remove and let cool before using. Proceed with carrots and replace the condensed milk with this.

•Blend carrot in a blender with about 3-4 cups of water.

•Sieve carrot mixture using cheesecloth, fine cheese or clean kitchen towel. Squeeze

she really appreciated it.

What is it about cake making that most people don’t know?

It is very stressful and tiring. Thus, it requires hard work, a lot of practice and confidence.

Any advice for prospective caterers?

You can’t just call yourself a caterer overnight. You need to be determined, make researches and learn from others.

really tight to extract carrot juice. Save carrot juice and discard the rest.

•Rinse the blender with water to remove any leftover carrots.

•Then place carrot juice in blender together with all the other ingredients. Pulse for about 30 seconds until all the ingredients have combined.

•Chill until ready to drink.

What type of snacks do you prepare when you want to give yourself a treat?

Chocolate cake. It is yummy and pleasing to the eyes. So, I prepare it whenever I want to give myself a treat. I also eat it together with friends and mostly when I don’t have appetite to eat cooked food.

Share the recipe for chocolate cakes?

The ingredients needed are all-purpose flour, baking powder, white sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, eggs, vegetable or canola oil, chocolate bar, browning, milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla extract, salt (optional) and boiling water.

First, pre heat oven. Grease and flour pan with butter and flour. In a large bowl or mixer, stir sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk through to combine or, stir through flour mixture until well combined. Carefully add boiling water to the cake butter. Bake for between 30 and 35 minutes in the pre-heated oven until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and remove.

14

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

intimacy W

STRICTLY FOR ADULTS

Sex after pregnacy: How to get your groove back

HILE your doctor will likely give you the green light for intercourse four to six weeks after childbirth, that doesn’t mean your postpregnancy sex life will snap back to what it was before the arrival of your baby. Read on for six common sex-after-pregnancy problems and the tips you need to get back in your groove.

• Your partner is ready, you're not Even if it's been six weeks since you gave birth, your C-section wound has (mostly) healed, and you're no longer sore, you may still not want to have sex. Don't underestimate what your body is going through; your hormones are changing dramatically, your uterus is shrinking, your Csection or episiotomy wounds are healing, and you're likely exhausted and overwhelmed caring for your new baby. Plus the hormones involved in breastfeeding can lower libido.

What to try: Take it easy on yourself. Let your partner know how you're feeling and foster closeness in other ways: cuddle, kiss, or simply play with your baby together. Assure him (and yourself!) that your body will heal, your libido will return, and you'll feel like your old, frisky self again soon.

• You can't wait six weeks to get it on!

On the flipside, you might be eager to get back in the sack with your partner before the standard six-week mark — especially if you weren't able to have sex as often during your pregnancy.

What to try: Check with your doctor: It may be okay to go for it sooner, as long as all post-partum bleeding has stopped (otherwise, you risk infection).

• Your breasts are tender and leaky

achy. Take comfort knowing that as you and your baby get into a breastfeeding groove, your breasts will become less sensitive, which means both you and your partner will soon be better able to enjoy their thanks-to-nursing ampleness.

• Sex doesn't feel the same After pushing out a baby, your vaginal muscles may be temporarily stretched out, which may make sex feel a little different than it did pre-baby. But don't let that worry you — the differences are likely to be subtle and temporary.

And different isn't necessarily bad, it's just new!

If you're nursing, your breasts may be sore, heavy, and prone to inconvenient let-downs (like during orgasm, which stimulates some of the same hormones as breastfeeding). And after a day of having your baby on your breasts, you may want them left alone at night.

What to try: If it makes sex more comfortable, try wearing your nursing bra or a tank top during sex. You can also pump or nurse your baby right before sex so your breasts aren't as full and

What to try: Everybody's favourite sexercise: Kegels! While you've heard about the benefits of doing pelvic-floor exercises during pregnancy, they continue to be your best friend once the baby has arrived and can help get your vagina back in shape faster. Do them whenever and wherever you can – while you're driving, at your desk.

• Intercourse is painful Post-pregnancy hormonal changes can cause vaginal dryness, which may be the source of pain during sex. Breastfeeding also reduces vaginal lubrication, and you may still be sore from

conversewithyemisi Help me, my man cannot sustain erection!

Dear Yemisi, My man cannot sustain erection for long, even when having romance, the same thing happens. I have tried buying so many herbs, but his situation remains the same. He was active when I tried manpower which makes him very weak at the end of the day.

What should I do ma?

Anonymous, 08********3.

Dear Anonymous, Helping your husband to sustain erection is a welcome development because he is your partner in progress, but I want to believe it is an area that you cannot do much.

Buying him herbs cannot help because I can deduce from what you said that you went all the way to get him one.

I am of the opinion that he should be the one reaching out to whoever could be of assistance to him because he who feels it knows where it pains.

You are only applying your treatment superficially. What if there are hidden underlying causative factors that are not known to you? What your man is going through might be a result of an untreated infection.

childbirth, too.

What to try: Let your partner know about these physiological changes (which have nothing to do with your attraction to him!) and have plenty of water-based lubricant on hand during sex. If the pain is coming from an irritated C-section, episiotomy stitch or tear, give yourself another week or two to heal before trying again – and take it slow when you do. If you feel pain and/or pressure even when you're not having sex, check with your doctor to rule out an infection.

• You feel body-conscious It takes two months or so for your uterus to return to its pre-pregnancy size, so in the meantime you may still look like you're around sixmonths pregnant. What's more, it can take up to a year or longer to lose your pregnancy weight... add stretch marks, maybe a scar, and bigger feet.

What to try: Take a look at your newborn and marvel at all your body has accomplished, Mama! You grew a baby in your belly and then brought her into the world. She's here because of your blood, sweat, and tears. What could be stronger, more beautiful, and more sensuous?

Your partner is beyond impressed. You should be, too.

Courtesy:http://www.whattoexpect.com

08055001741 (sms only) yemiaofolaju@yahoo.com

I don’t trust him, but ...

Dear Yemisi, am a girl of 20 years, though still a virgin. I am in love with a guy who is 23 years and we started dating about two months ago.

He is in 200level while I am still seeking admission. He claims to love me, but I don’t trust him. I am so worried that I decided to let him go by telling him that I don’t love him and that I have been deceiving him since the first day. My telling him my feeling angered him

I

If you really want to help him, advise him to see an expert who deals with such cases on daily basis and not the off the shelf prescriptions that you are branding all about.

You must handle this issue with much care because he might not take it lightly with you. If he agrees to see an expert you must go with him so that you can explain all the herbs he has tried because he might want to hide this from the doctor.

It will be in the interest of both of you to stop self medication. Doing this will further compound his problem.

This is the time to act fast before it is too late. I can even submit that his problem might be psychological, but leave this for the practitioner to sort out.

that he stopped calling me.

Now, I am having sleepless nights because I am in love with him as I want him back.

Please, what can I do?

Iwami, 0814******2.

Dear Iwami, You are the architect of what you are going through now. If you ask me, you told the guy the piece of your mind at the moment you did untimely.

You met a guy just barely two months and you have concluded that he is not to be trusted, hence your having to tell him to find his way. Are you fully armed with proofs to show that he is not to be trusted?

Your hasty decision calls for a thorough investigation. To start with, you have allowed your immediate feeling to affect your sense of thought or better put, that you have developed the sense of insecurity too early just because the guy is an undergraduate while you are still an applicant.

You are to really examine yourself to stop reacting to issues on mere suspicion. You cannot begin to doubt somebody you have not really interacted with for about six months and just come with a reason for insincerity.

Though I can sense why you are feeling unsafe is because he is on campus where there are choices from which he can pick. You might be wrong in your assumption.

Now that you are no longer comfortable with your decision, all you can do is to find means of reaching him to apologise for what you did. Put yourself in his shoes were it to be that the issue was the other way round.

How will I continue to dissipate energy and waste money on a venture that is not likely to be profitable? Have you ever called him afterwards? From your letter, I could see that he was the one calling. If you want peace, please call him even if the union will not be. It is always better to put records straight.

Your decision to call it quits with him might be for a better future, so don’t be an impostor. If the two of you are destined for each other, the issue would be resolved and if not, life continues.

In the interim, work and study hard to further your education and be who you have been created to be. Having and sustaining a relationship is not a matter of life and death.

Wishing you the very best.

15

9 July, 2016

health&fitness

Saturday Tribune BLESSING EKUM ekumblessing@gmail.com 08116954639

Financial problems double women’s risk of having a heart attack —Study

I

T’S well-known that stress and heart attacks are linked, but it’s not clear whether any particular kind of stress carries a greater risk for heart health.

Now, new research suggests that for women, money problems may be at the top of the list.

Using data from the Women’s Health Study, a long-term survey that followed participants for an average of nine years, the researchers analyzed the stressful experiences of 267 women, whose average age was 56, who had suffered a heart attack sometime over the study period. For comparison, they also examined 281 women with similar risk factors, like age and smoking habits, who did not experience heart attack. At the beginning of the survey, the women had provided information about stressful life events — such as incurring an injury, losing a job or discovering a spouse was unfaithful — that had taken place within the past five years. Of the items on the survey, three were classified as “traumatic”: a life-threatening illness, a serious assault or the death of a child or spouse.

It turned out that financial problems doubled women’s risk of having a heart attack. Experiencing a traumatic life event also increased the risk of heart attack by 65 per cent, regardless of women’s income, the study found.

Scientists still know relatively little about the factors that affect heart disease

in women who haven’t had heart problems previously, the researchers said. “Much of the prior research related to negative life events was done in persons who have a history of heart attacks, and in men,” Dr. Michelle Albert, a co-author of the study and a cardiologist at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, said in a statement.

Just like stress affects men and women in different ways, so does heart disease, which is currently the No. 1 cause of death for women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although men are more likely to suffer a heart attack, female heart-attack patients tend to fare worse. About 25 per cent of women who have a heart attack will die within a year, compared with 20 per cent of men, and a 2014 study found that among

younger people, in particular, women have longer hospital stays than men after suffering a heart attack.

On average, women also tend to develop heart disease about 10 years later than men.

Previous research has suggested that some of this gap might have to do with insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar.

Insulin resistance — a condition that can lead to high blood sugar levels — may increase the risk of heart disease, but a 2013 study found that women’s bodies seem to handle insulin resistance better than men’s, leaving them with fewer of the condition’s negative effects.

This most recent study, presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in April 2016, illustrates the need for further gender-specific research on heart-disease risk factors, “particularly in women who also have limited socioeconomic resources,” the authors wrote in their abstract.

“At the biological level, we know that adverse experiences, including psychological ones, can lead to increased inflammation and cortisol levels,” Albert said, but “the interplay between gender, heart disease and psychological factors is poorly understood.”

Courtesy:livescience.com

Scientists finally discover key to preventing cancer FOLLOWING a healthy lifestyle — which includes maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly and refraining from smoking — may prevent cancer, a new study finds.

Healthy lifestyle choices could potentially prevent 20 to 40 per cent of cancer cases and about half of cancer deaths, the study found.

The study, published in the May 2016 edition of the journal JAMA Oncology, comes after a different study, published last year, found that the majority of cancers were caused by random mutations in DNA, and suggested that therefore these cases were unpreventable.

The new findings, however, “provide strong support for the argument that a large proportion of cancers are due to environmental factors and can be prevented by lifestyle modification,” the authors of the new study, Dr. Mingyang Song, a research fellow in epidemiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Edward Giovannucci, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, wrote in their paper.

In the study, Song and Giovannucci looked at more than two decades of data on nearly 136,000 white men and women who were enrolled in either the Nurses’ Health Study or the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All of the participants had regularly responded to surveys about their lifestyles, and the researchers divided the participants into two groups: a low-risk group, all of whom followed a healthy lifestyle, and a high-risk group, all of whom did not.

The researchers defined a healthy lifestyle as never or no longer smoking and never drinking alcohol or drinking moderately (one drink a day or less for women and two drinks a day or less for men). The researchers also specified having a BMI between 18.5 and 27.5, and exercising regularly

(either at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or at least 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week).

The researchers found that women in the high-risk group were 25 per cent more likely to get cancer and 48 per cent more likely to die from cancer during the study period than the women in the low-risk group.

Men in the high-risk group were 33 per cent more likely to get cancer and 44 per cent more likely to die of cancer than the men in the low-risk group, according to the study.

The researchers noted that all of the people in the study were health professionals and therefore potentially more health-conscious than the general population. If the results of the study were applied to the general population of white adults, a healthy lifestyle could prevent between 40 and 70 per cent of cancers, the researchers estimated.

The researchers noted that their study only included white men and women, the results may not apply to other ethnicities. However, all of the healthy lifestyle factors included in the study have been shown to decrease cancer risk in diverse ethnic groups, they added.

In an editorial accompanying the new study in the journal, two researchers who were not involved in the new study or the one published last year wrote that the new findings show that “cancer is preventable.”

“As a society, we need to avoid procrastination induced by thoughts that chance drives all cancer risk or that new medical discoveries are needed to make major gains against cancer,” wrote Dr. Graham A. Colditz and Siobhan Sutcliffe, both public health researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Instead we must embrace the opportunity to reduce our collective cancer toll by implementing effective prevention strategies and changing the way we live,” they wrote.

Courtesy:livescience.com

16 healthandfitness Boils in my vagina MY problem is that I always see something like boils in my vagina. Please, what is my problem?

Ibukun (by SMS) Frequent appearance of boils could be a sign of depressed body immunity or some other underlying ailments such as diabetes or pus-filled cysts among others. In order to confirm the actual diagnosis and treatment, you will need to see a doctor who after ex-

Can I have a baby at 50?

amining you, will order for some blood and urine tests among other likely tests.

I am always constipated I am a 60-year-old businesswoman. I am in good health except for the fact that for the last two years, I noticed that I could stay for three days without going to the toilet. Things are so bad that I have to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables before going to the toilet. Kindly tell me what to do.

Ope (by SMS) Since as you mentioned, eating vegetables and fruits helps you to go to toilet more frequently, you should try and eat these food items more regularly.

It is equally important for you to drink more fluids

and go for exercises more since the guts usually become sluggish as one ages.

If, however, the situation does not improve after two weeks, you will need to see a doctor for more examination and investigations.

Saturday Tribune

9 July, 2016

I recently remarried after being a widow for many years. Although I had three children for my late husband, I am eager to have one or two children for my new husband before I go into menopause.

I read that having babies at 50 years of age poses some risks to both the mother and child. Please let me know if it is worth the risk.

Chinelo (by SMS) As you have rightly mentioned, having babies at an advanced age has some risks to both the mother and baby. Although with the advancement of medical technology, such risks have been substantially reduced, they still exist.

If you are determined to still have more children, then you must be ready to invest in good medical treatment with the support of medical experts. If not, adoption could be a more plausible solution.

Dr. Wale Okediran waleokediran@yahoo.co.uk

08055069356 (sms only)

My son’s gonorrhoea MY 14 year-old son who is in JSS2 recently complained of painful urination with some discharge of pus.

The doctor who attended to him diagnosed gonorrhea and treated him. I was shocked by this discovery while my son has also strongly denied having sex with any girl in his life. I don’t know who to believe, the doctor or my son. Could he have caught the disease from the toilet? Please help me solve the riddle.

Mrs FAS (by SMS) Your son’s symptoms tally with gonorrhea, so the

doctor should be correct in his diagnosis. My advice will be for you to believe the doctor and have a serious talk with your son on the dangers of unprotec-

ted sex, especially at such a tender age. In addition, you should also closely monitor his activities to avoid a repeat of the incidence.

Is this scabies?

EVERY night for the past three weeks, my son who attends a highly-rated boarding school has been having severe itching and rashes on his arms and buttocks. The school nurse treated him with some drugs without any success. One of my friends thought that the disease could be scabies. I however disagreed with him since the school is very

clean. How do I confirm the disease?

Habeeb (by SMS) The best person to help confirm the disease is a doctor through a physical examination and laboratory tests. Most diagnoses of scabies infestation are made based upon the appearance and distribution of the rash and the presence of burrows.

Whenever possible scabies should be confirmed by isolating the mites, ova or feces in a skin scraping.

Scrapings should be made at the burrows, especially on the hands between the fingers and the folds of the wrist. The extracted mite then can be identified by microscopy. Your son must have been infected with the disease in his boarding school.

Hope rises for Ovarian cancer patients as drug goes for trial

P

FIZER Inc and German drugmaker Merck KGaA on Wednesday said they had begun a late-stage trial of their immuno-oncology drug avelumab in combination with standard treatment for ovarian cancer, Reuters reported.

The 950-patient study will enroll patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have not previously been treated for the disease, which is diagnosed annually in almost 23,000 American women and has a high mortality rate.

Avelumab is a so-called checkpoint inhibitor, which works by taking the brakes off the immune system.

“The hope is that avelumab can change the natural history of the disease and potentially take the survival rate beyond the current five-year estimate,” Alise Reicin, a senior research executive at Merck KGaA said in a statement.

One group of patients in the Phase III study will receive avelumab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy, the current standard of care. Others will receive chemotherapy alone, or avelumab a few weeks after receiving chemotherapy.

Rival drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Merck & Co are developing similar checkpoint inhibitors for a range of cancers, but have not yet tested them alongside standard treatments in large trials of patients with previously untreated ovarian cancer.

In one small early-stage study of Merck’s Keytruda, tumor shrinkage was seen in 11.5 percent of patients with ovarian cancer, without significant safety issues. Ovarian tumors shrank by 15 percent among patients taking Bristol-Myers’ Opdivo in a small trial.

Two weeks ago, United States based Tesaro Inc said its experimental ovarian cancer drug niraparib met the main goal of prolonging survival in patients, without the disease worsening, in a late-stage trial, sending its shares to a record high.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company’s shares more than doubled to $77.

About 22,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United States every year, and nearly 80 percent are diagnosed after it has progressed to a severe stage.

The trial which enrolled more than 500 patients, included subjects some of whom had a BRCA gene mutation. BRCA is a tumor suppressing gene, and ovarian cancer patients who carry this mutation are more treatable as they respond better to chemotherapy.

Analysts said the data increased the probability of niraparib being used as a first-line treatment for ovarian cancer and BRCA-related breast cancer.

“The data was even better than our bullish expectations,” Mizuho Securities analyst Eric Criscuolo said.

The results had a positive read-through to Clovis Oncology Inc, which is developing a similar drug. Clovis shares were up 19 percent in morning trading.

Shares of Myriad Genetics Inc also rose 7.3 percent. The diagnostic company makes a test, which was used to recruit patients into Tesaro’s trial.

In patients with BRCA mutation, progression-free survival for those treated with niraparib was 21 months, compared to 5.5 months for those on a placebo.

In patients without the BRCA mutation, who are relatively more difficult to treat, the progression free survival was 9.3 months compared to 3.9 months, for those on placebo.

17

9 July, 2016

Divorce

Saturday Tribune

Court & Crime My husband is callous, wicked and behaves abnormally —Wife

‘Though, I still love her, her attitude drives me to beat her’

With her in my house, my life is in danger, man tells court I’m sorry, my childlessnees makes me to misbehave —Wife

StoriesbyAyomideOwonibi-OdekanyinandBiolaAzeez

A

man, Adeniyi Omolola, has dragged his wife, Funke Racheal, before a customary court at Centre Gbooro in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital presided over by Magistrate Ibrahim Abdulkadir.

Adeniyi is asking the court to put an end to the 16-year-old marriage between him and his wife.

The man, who said love had died between him and his wife, explained that it is because of sanctity of life that he has sought divorce, adding that he wanted his wife to go in peace.

He also accused his wife of attracting and causing too much trouble.

Adeniyi told the court that his wife came to bang the door to his room a night before he came before the court to seek divorce and broke all plates at home.

He said that Funke did not stop at

breaking the plates, adding that he her wife’s appeal, telling the court that his life destroyed other valuables, while in- had been in danger. sisting that both of them should go He said his wife had been threatening his life their separate ways. with knife.

Meanwhile, Funke, in her own deMagistrate Abdulkadir then adjourned further fence, said she is not a troublemaker hearing in the matter till July 20 to give ample contrary to the allegations levelled by time for the couple to resolve their differences her husband. and possibly make amends.

She said the issue of childlessness in The magistrate also told the couple to bring reher life, which she said her husband port on the possible solutions to their differences had not cared to pay the needed atten- otherwise the court would have no option but to tion to, usually made her to misbehave. come up with its own resolution on the matter.

Adeniyi’s wife, who said she was still However, the magistrate cautioned Funke to in love with her husband, however, behave well and watch her attitude in her relaasked the court to allow her make tionship with her husband, saying that no harm amends should befall Adeniyi before the next hearing to her and date. beg her husband.

Let her go, she doesn’t love me She’s planning to take my B u t anymore —Husband pregnancytoanotherman —Husband Adeniyi I’m ready to go, but let him pay the I’m not even pregnant —Wife stood up money he’s owing me —Wife See pages 18 & 23 against

inside

“MY husband flogs me at any slight opportunity and he does not have respect for me and my family,” Olajumoke Osaretin told an Igando customary court in Lagos State during the week.

Olajumoke had approached the court seeking an end to her five-year-old marriage over allegations of battery.

“Whenever he flogs me, he will then attempt to strangulate me, always threatening to kill me. He does not spare our children as he also beats them at will over any slight mistake,” she said.

The mother of two told the court that she developed high blood pressure over the issue.

“I lost appetite for food. I live under the fear of what he would one day do to me and my children. I have all sorts of scars on my body as a result of the beatings. My husband is callous and wicked, he drinks to stupor, and behaves abnormally. I want the dissolution of the marriage and want custody of my children because I don’t want them to live with their father,” she said.

Responding, her husband, Sunday Osaretin, however, pleaded with the court to beg his wife as he promised to turn over a new leaf “I am sorry for all the wrongs I have done to my wife; I don’t want to lose her as I love her with a passion. Though, my wife is not exonerated from this problem between us, whenever we fight, she tears my clothes which normally makes me to beat her hard. She does not respect me, she abuses me as she likes and this makes me to beat her,” he said.

The respondent told the court that he had changed and would not beat his wife anymore.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, however, admonished the couple to keep the peace and ordered them to bring two members of their families for possible settlement.

18

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

23

courtandcrime

Let her go, she doesn’t love me anymore —Husband

I’m ready to go, but let him pay the money he’s owing me —Wife StoriesbyAyomideOwonibi-Odekanyinand Biola Azeez with Agency reports

A

N Upper Area court sitting in Akerebiata, Ilorin, Kwara State, has dissolved the marriage between Tomoke Isiaka and Abdulfatai Abolarin over lack of love.

The marriage was contracted under the Islamic law.

Abolarin, 52, a commercial driver had filed for divorce from his wife, Tomoke, 42, a trader over lack of love.

The couple had been married for 15 years.

When the matter was first mentioned in the court, the trial judge, Suleiman Adams, advised the two parties to explore out of court settlement.

But on May 26, the parties reported a ‘settlement failure’ which made the judge to grant the prayer of the respondent (wife) and ordered the petitioner to pay the wife the money he owed her.

The petitioner informed the court of his readiness to pay the respondent the debt and told the court that, “I am here with the money [N49, 000] to pay her (the respondent), and let this court grant my divorce request today”.

Dissolving the marriage, the trial judge, Suleiman Adams, said: “We are compelled to follow the injunction of the Holy Qur’an that divorce is not to be advised between couples.

“However, the Qur’an further states that where settlement between a couple becomes impossible, that in the interest of peace and justice, such a marriage should not be unnecessarily imposed but rather to be dissolved. The court could neither superimpose a wife on a husband nor a husband on a wife. In the instant case, both the wife and the husband have right to divorce.

“And in view of the statements and the testimonies given so far in the instant matter by the parties, I found out deductively that the marriage between them has lost outright what is called love.

“The inelastic decision of the petitioner to proceed on the divorce petition in spite of appeals for reconciliation and his timely fulfillment of the payment of the said claim of uncontested debt clearly show that there is no more love ‘inter parties’.

“I, therefore, for this reason, order that the marriage between the parties is hereby dissolved. And that the respondent must observe three menstrual periods (Iddah) in the petitioner’s house who shall maintain the respondent during the period.”

He further ordered the petitioner to be issued a divorce certificate at the court’s registry on the payment of the requisite amount.

My husband changed when he became a politician —Wife

AN Agege customary court in Lagos State has dissolved the 23-year-old marriage between a couple over allegations of battery.

The complainant, Mrs Evelyn Owolabi, had approached the court to dissolve her marriage citing irreconcilable differences.

She told the court that she decided to take the action because she was scared for her life and those of her children.

“My husband beats me at will despite my age and my sickness. He doesn’t care how I feed or how the children survive in school. My eldest daughter who is just 18 has taken up the responsibility of providing for me and her two siblings from the catering business she started in school.

“We were living in peace but things changed

when my husband delved into politics a few years ago. He got some contracts and started living large and spending his money on strange women. It got so bad that some of the women got my number and started raining curses on me and my children. One of them whom he brings home whenever I am not around even threatened to pour acid on me.

“Our family intervened but all to no avail; my husband is rigid and stubborn, he won’t change.

“I want the court to dissolve the union and grant me the custody of the children. Please end this marriage. I am tired of this union,” she said.

President of the court, Mr Phillios Williams, held that since the husband, Mohammed failed to show up in court through out the proceedings, the court had no choice but to end the union.

“The court was informed that the respondent filed a similar suit in another customary court when we were still handling the very matter.

“This court, therefore, sees this as an abuse of court process. We stand by the judgement we will give here today.

“Starting from today, you cease to be addressed as husband and wife; you shall go your separate ways and keep the peace,” he said.

He gave the custody of the children to the wife in the interim, saying that the other three children were old enough to decide who to live with.

He also ordered that the man should pay N25,000 monthly through the court for the upkeep of the children.

“He should also be responsible for the education and medical needs of the children,” the court president held.

My husband is a chronic flirt, wife tells court She’s hot-tempered, fights any woman she sees with me —Husband “MY husband is an incurable and a chronic flirt,” a 42-year-old businesswoman, Mrs Rashidat Wilson, told an Igando customary court on Friday in Lagos State.

Rashidat said these while responding to a divorce suit filed by her husband, Odion Wilson.

“My husband is dating singles, married women and the divorced. He does not have a taste as he runs after anything in skirt as if he is cursed.

“He is even having illicit affairs with my friends and our tenant.

“Most times, he would say that he was going for vigil,

instead, he would pass the night in one of his concubines’ houses.

“Whenever I called our pastor or other church members to know if my husband was in church for vigil, they would say that he was not there,” she said.

The respondent said that the church’s leadership had expressed its regrets by ordaining her husband as the father of ‘Good Women’.

“My husband was ordained as the Father of Good Women by our church but because of his illicit affairs with women, he was demoted.

“He left the church because he was disgraced.

Man docked for allegedly beating his wife for late preparation of meal

She’s planning to take my pregnancy to another man —Husband I’m not pregnant —Wife A middle-aged man and resident of Bukola village in Moro Local Government area of Kwara state, Garuba Olatunji, has alleged that his ex-wife, Falilat, is planning to take “his” pregnancy to another man.

He told the court that Falialt left his house with his pregnancy and denied him the ownership of the pregnancy.

The parties had been divorced by the court on an order of dissolution of marriage recently in an action instituted by the defendant (Falilat).

According to him,”I know the defendant. We were divorced in this court recently consequent upon an order of dissolution which effected the cessation of the marital union between me and the defendant following a divorce petition commenced by her some couple of weeks ago.

“My agitation now is that she told me that she was pregnant shortly before the cause of action of divorce arose. And now that she has left my house, I do not want her to give my pregnancy to another man. I told her that I want my baby. She denied having any pregnancy for me at all. I want this court to unravel the mystery and recover my yet unborn baby for me,” he said.

Responding, Falilat denied being pregnant for the plaintiff.

She told the court: “I knew the plaintiff to be my former husband.

It is true that our marriage was dissolved by this court. But sincerely speaking, I was not pregnant for him before I left his house. I did not run away with his pregnancy. I am sure I am not even having any conception now.”

The judge, Suleiman Adams, however, ordered Falilat to undergo pregnancy test to unravel the truth about the matter.

“I think at this moment, you people need to be guided lest you waste the court’s time unduly. Prolonging issues by claims and disclaims through mere personal testimonies of the parties or their witnesses when a medical report of pregnancy test could be employed to ascertain the veracity of the claims or disclaims of the shrouded pregnancy is uncalled for at this point in time.

“I, therefore, order that the defendant be taken to the state specialist hospital, Alagbado in Ilorin for pregnancy test and to produce before the court the report of the test while the plaintiff takes care of the responsibility of payment of the medical bill.” The judge then adjourned the case to a later date”.

A 45- year-old man, Monday Usifo, who allegedly beat up his wife for preparing his meal late was on Friday arraigned in an Ikeja Chief magistrates’ court, Lagos State.

The accused, an engineer, is being tried for assault.

The prosecutor, Sergeant Rapheal Donny, told the court that the offence was committed on April 17 at the accused’s residence.

Donny said that the accused alleged that his wife, Blessing, did not prepare his food on time, and resorted to beating her.

“The accused hacked his wife with a cutlass on the head, which caused her to bleed profusely.

“If not for the intervention of the neighbours who rushed the victim to the hospital, it would have been another story entirely,” he said.

The offence contravenes Section 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

The chief magistrate, Mr Tajudeen Elias, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety in like sum.

He adjourned the case till July 20 for mention.

Court saves 10-year-old marriage in Ekiti AN Ado-Ekiti customary court in Ekiti State on Friday saved a 10-year-old marriage from dissolution by striking out the divorce petition by one Oye Aluko against his wife, Tosin.

President of the court, Mr Joseph Ogunsemi, struck out the petition after counselling the parties on how to live in harmony.

Ogunsemi urged the couple to keep the peace in the interest of the future of their children.

Aluko had filed the petition citing stubbornness, frequent fighting and lack of rest of mind as grounds for dissolution.

The father of three expressed his sadness over the conduct of his wife, saying she was too stubborn and unwilling to change.

He also complained about the attitude of his mother-in-law, stressing that she always supported his wife against him whenever she visited their house.

He, therefore, urged the court to caution his wife to

desist from such acts or go ahead to dissolve his marriage to Tosin.

“The pastor made reference to him during one of his sermons where he advised him to desist from illicit affairs,” she said.

Rashidat, however, said that she was not ready to divorce her husband because she still loved him.

The petitioner, Wilson, 60, a businessman, sought the dissolution of their six-year-old childless marriage claiming his wife was hot-tempered.

Odion said that Rashidat had become hot-tempered because of her constant complaints over his alleged randy behaviour.

“My wife is hot tempered; she always fight or beats-up any woman she sees with me.

“Rashidat is always frustrating my life, fighting and accusing me of dating every woman she sees with me.

“She always tells me the woman to talk to and which I should not talk to.

“She once hit me with a plank and tore my clothes in public because she saw me talking to a woman.

“There was a Sunday she fought with a woman in our church during the service accusing the woman of dating me.

“Because of that embarrassment, I stopped going to that church.

“She also traced me to my current church where she also accused me of dating another woman there,” Wilson said.

The respondent said that his wife was an ingrate.

He said that he built a shop for her in front of his house where she could be selling provisions but remained unappreciative of his kind gesture.

He begged the court to terminate the six-year-old marriage which, he said, had not produced any child.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, adjourned the case till July 26 for judgement.

Woman causes flight delay after insisting on immediate divorce from husband

PLANE passengers in Russia had a fellow traveller to blame for a seven-hour delay, after she decided she didn’t want to fly and demanded an immediate divorce from her husband.

Reports from mirror.co.uk said the unnamed woman in her 40s boarded the aircraft with several hundred passengers flying from Moscow to Vladivostok, Russia.

Shortly after, she apparently told cabin crew that she needed to get off the plane to change her relationship status.

The Rossiya Airline flight was almost ready for take off when the incident took place on Monday.

According to witnesses, the woman was heard saying: “I am not in the mood to fly now.”

She then went on to demand that flight attendants let her

off the plane.

In accordance with safety regulations, more than 500 other passengers were also forced to disembark the aircraft.

It is not clear whether the woman’s husband was also on the plane at the time she made her decision.

A video, uploaded to Instagram by Elena Ashtein, showed angry passengers walking down the steps of the plane and back towards the airport.

A caption alongside the clip read: “One girl decided not to fly to the coastal town. Moreover, she changed her mind at the time of takeoff. “[For] more than an hour [they] tried to persuade her to stay.”

19

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Weekend Lagos Editor Lanre Adewole m: 0811 695 4637

e: olanreade@yahoo.

OJUELEGBA:

Welcome to Lagos’ den of the O Devil

Everyone agreed the spirit can’t just be right. LANRE ADEWOLE, LEKAN OLABULO and NAZA OKOLI undertook a search for the force propelling the uniquely-notorious Ojuelegba’s spirit.

inside

Resident speaks: “Our problem here is Esu. It is an evil spirit. It is going round cursing people, making them do evil”

NCE upon a time, the Devil (call him satan if you like) had its permanent abode in a town which was eventually harnessed into what is today known as Lagos State. Though its abode was invaded by men who got it physically supplanted, its spirit appears not to have left the town. In fact, it was as if human beings went to look for bigger trouble by trying to displace the Devil from its physical abode, because instead of operating from a particular spot with minimal ca-

Eko Akete Lesson in obeying hawking ban

pacity for evil and damage, the invasion which now makes its amorphous, has expanded its territory of evil since it now hangs in the firmament, refusing to quit, operating in the spirit, causing more grievous harm and ultimately being implacable.

Have you ever wondered why Ojuelegba, a hitherto separate town, now a sprawling community in Surulere, has remained notorious as the axis of evil in Lagos State, as long as humanity in the state can remember? Don’t get

into a prolonged head scratching.

The Devil once lived there and has obviously refused to move home. When it took up residency, its presence was said to be totally dominant that the town had to be named after it. Before the shortened, funkified form of the name ‘Ojuelegba’ came to be, it was originally Ojubo-Elegbara (the shrine of Elegbara, who in Yoruba cosmology, means esu or Devil in English language while Ojubo means home or shrine of a deity).

Continues on pgs20 & 21

Re-creation of historical monuments

20

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

Weekend Lagos A legacy of madness But the story of the worship of Esu at Ojuelegba has been the subject of much research. Jeremy Weate and Bibi Bakare Yusuf (earlier cited), for instance, found that the designation of Ojuelegba as the centre of Esu worship dated back to the seventeenth century or earlier.

“Ojuelegba literally means the “eye” or “shrine” of Elegba. It is the site where sacrifice was made to Esu Elegbara, the Yoruba divinity and trickster figure carrying messages between this world and the celestial sphere.”

“Amidst the multidimensional profanity, Ojuelegba also functions as a shrine dedicated to the spirit of Esu-Elegbara (translating as ‘Esu the powerful one’), commonly known as either Esu or Elegba…. Esu is the orisha of the mixed message, distant cousin (across the ocean) to Hermes, the Greek god of garbled meaning, potentiality, plurality, and paradox. Sometimes he takes the form of a creature wielding a large stick.

At other times, he is a tiny being that needs to “tiptoe to put salt in the soup”. At all times, he embodies exchange and paradox: he is both the first born and the last born; at once an old man and a child, and both cunning and capricious. At times, Esu appears as an aggressive copular god. Elsewhere, he becomes a beautiful woman, or a bisexual figure… he is a thief, a trickster and a transformer: turning nonsense into sense and back again.”

OJUELEGBA:

Lagos’ den of the Devil

Continued from pg19

So, how did Ojuelegba get its name? According to Jeremy Weate and Bibi Bakare Yusuf in a study titled “Ojuelegba: The Sacred Profanities of a West African Crossroad,” Esu has always been the principal deity of the original land owners of Lagos, the Aworis. The researchers continue: “As the principal crossroads in Lagos, Ojuelegba soon became the consecrated site for the worship of Esu. Prior to urbanisation, Ojuelegba had the “stone” of atonement, made of lateritic earth with cowrie shells marking the eyes and mouth of Esu in which cult officials pour daily offerings of palm oil to maintain’s Esu’s problematic coolness. With increasing congestion at Ojuelegba, Elegba cult officials decided to move the shrine to its current site on Apapa road, where the worship of Esu continues to this day in relative peace, and the descendants of the Awori fishermen remain at their trade. Till the present time, each Sunday, devotees of Elegba (no longer purely Aworis) congregate to worship the god of threshold.”

Even for those who had never visited Lagos, Ojuelegba holds a special “evil” appeal. Whether years back or now, the town has held tightly to the number one spot on notoriety table, with every evil imaginable not only possible but also commonplace.

On Monday, 27 June 2016, a Twitter user, Kehinde (@ kenny_O), tweeted: “My guy and three other people got robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight at Ojuelegba today and no one tried to get help. People were just watching.”

Just like New York in America with its peculiar notorious spirit, the experience narrated above depicts just one of the numerous evil possibilities in Ojuelegba with its satanic spirit.

The town keeps changing, but not in spirit content. It now has many churches and mosques, but the spirit of “satan” still reigns supreme. To many people, the Devil has continued to play a major role in determining what happens therein, despite the coming of modernity that got its former abode transformed into one of the most popular bridges in the state.

Or how does one explain why the Devil had to be appeased before constant road carnage, cult killings, armed robberies and other tragedies could stop. The traditional people in Ojuelegba have a very strong belief

that the refusal of one of the former traditional rulers in the town, to continue with the regular appeasement of Esu —the Devil was responsible for the tragedies in the area .

In actual fact, the people of Ojuelegba, supported by the government and some senior police officers appeased the evil one recently as a way of putting an end to the constant tanker and other trick accidents on the Ojuelegba bridge, a resident told Saturday Tribune.

And to think it was the same human beings that first sacked “satan” from his abode!

Ojuelegba of the 70s and 80s used to be notorious for prostitution - the great Empire, the largest concentration of sex workers in Nigeria, has for over the years maintained its position. The city also was at the forefront of nightlife, gambling and other vices. It is however necessary to point out that the city also attracted positive development like the National Stadium and other national monuments. But you want to ask, at what cost?

‘Why the Devil wreaks havoc here’ Oluwo Olanrewaju Ajala Ajamajebi, the Olori Oluwo Ogboni Abalaye Fraternity Association of Nigeria is no doubt an authority when it comes to culture and tradition of the indigenes of Ojuelegba. Oluwo Abalaiye, popularly known as Oluwo Taju, while speaking to Saturday Tribune, insisted that contrary to the belief of many people that Esu is evil, Elegba in Ojuelegba as the Devil is regarded, “brings peace and tranquility to the Lagos community.”

The town keeps changing, but not in spirit content. It now has many churches and mosques, but the spirit of “satan” still reigns supreme.

According to Oluwo Taju, Ojuelegba used to be one of the communities under the mainland of those days and that it was during one of the efforts to liberalise and develop the town that they were referred to Elegba, which was sited under the present Ojuelegba under bridge.

He narrated that “ Ojuelegba was one of the communities under the Lagos Mainland ,during the days of our forefathers . The settlers at that time were told that there was already a deity in existence and that they should go and search for it. Hunters were drafted to go and search for the deity and it was located directly under the present Ojuelegba Bridge. At that time there was no bridge in that area. The name was coined from the spot, where the deity was located. The deity was identified as “Elegba” the devil. The spot where it was found is the “Oju Elegba.” Elegba became the major deity of the community. It was always being referred to for any spiritual assignment at that time and people began to worship it . Some people call it Elegba . Others call it Elegbara.”

Oluwo Taju also insisted that the Elegba of those days is still in existence. According to him, “Yes, it is still in existence. The first traditional ruler at that time really worshipped it and appeased it from time to time but the next Baale dissociated himself from Elegba. The deity was relocated and a new shrine was built for it. People stopped appeasing it, where it was relocated. They did not know how to appease Elegba. Then, the problems started. Some government functionaries,including an assistant commissioner of police called me to find a lasting solution to the problem and the Ifa divination was contacted and it was revealed that the problem was as a result of the neglect of the Elegba deity. I told them that I had warned the community for about 10 years.

When they got to the shrine around the bridge,the deity was no more there. We had to appease the deity to stop the constant accident on the Ojuelegba bridge. Cases of cult killings, and diseases have also become a thing of the past as a result of the appeasement to the Elegba deity.”

Apart from the Elegba shrine, which was demolished as a result of the construction of the bridge, the town’s main Iledi at Masha has also paved the way for a modern drainage system. Edan and other deities, which were kept in the iledi were also abandoned.

May God deliver me--Monarch The traditional ruler of Ojuelegba, Chief Karimu Awoyemi also confirmed that the name Ojuelegba was derived from a deity, though he declined to say whether it was from the devil or not .The traditional ruler said “What I can say is that the name was derived from a deity but I cannot say whether it is the devil or not. May the Lord deliver me from the devil.”

Chief Awoyemi also stated that some of the major communities that form the then Ojuelegba - the seven Obeles, had gone into extinction. He also said that, apart from the Elegba shrine, which had paved the way for modern development, the former Eid prayer ground has also become a thing of the past in Ojuelegba .

The spirit of the city Ojuelegba is one of the most densely populated areas in the state. Most of its buildings are old. Shops, apartments and offices are clustered together and sited so close to the road that a visitor walking through the streets might feel a choking sensation. Most of its inhabitants are young, unemployed people who loiter the streets day and night.

Though Tuesday, July 5 was a public holiday when Saturday Tribune visited, hundreds of people were seen at the town’s major bus stop, the intersection under the bridge with connecting links to Surulere, Yaba and Ikorodu Road. At the side of Itire Street, close to 50 young men were gathered; it looked as though a fight was about to start.

Ojuelegba is a puzzle on many counts. For instance, there are as many betting centres as there are ‘Bible schools’ and ‘Christian bookshops’ around the vast area that is called “Under Bridge”. Along the streets are churches of various denominations, many of them on the same block as liquor houses.

Cursed?

It is not clear what Ojuelegba is most known for. It is an eminently famous part of the city’s mainland, but it is not often spoken of in glowing terms. People mention the town when they talk about drug dealing, cult fights and armed robbery.

The town is rich in legends and folk tales. By far the

Jide Martins. PHOTOS: NAZA OKOLI most pervading of these is the belief that of being home to Esu – the peddler of deceit. Indeed, many believe that it is the town’s connection with this “dark history” that is responsible for all the evil daily witnessed in the area today.

At Ojuelegba branch of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), a deliverance session was on. Pastor Lanre Justus Olanrewaju, a tall, soft-spoken gentleman, excused himself from the meeting.

“There is an evil spirit at work at Ojuelegba,” he told Saturday Tribune. “It is the spirit of Ojuelegba. It is the spirit that controls here. However, it does not disturb us as christians because once you are in Christ, you are protected. You can pray yourself out of any problem.

“There is something we call territorial mapping. It means going where there are shrines and praying over them in order to destroy the evil power at work there.

We don’t do this while the priests or worshippers of the deities are there; so we usually choose the night, to avoid unnecessary confrontation.”

For Sheikh Ismail Busayry, a Muslim cleric in the area who spoke to Saturday Tribune over the phone on Thursday, the legendary has a lot in common with Satan and Shaitan of the Christian and Islamic religions respectively.

“There is the belief that there was someone called Esu, just like Ogun, and other gods. Esu symbolises evil. Even in the Bible and the Quaran, we have Satan and Shaitan. They are almost the same. We believe he was the one that was responsible for the way Adam was sent out of the Garden of Eden. So, Esu or Devil or Satan or Shaitan symbolises evil. Even when Cain killed Abel, he said he was guided by the spirit of Satan.

Again, when the wife of the King of Egypt seduced Joseph, we are told Esu or Satan was responsible.

“Well, we never can say whether it really began here.

As I have said, this Devil or Esu has been in existence since the beginning of creation. Again, there are other Esu shrines in other parts of Yorubaland. But that is not really relevant. The important thing is that we have Esu worshippers here, and because of that there is evil in this area. How can you not expect evil in a place like this?”

Gunpoint.

Many others who spoke to Saturday Tribune earlier in the week were doubtful that there was any “supernatural force” at work in the area, choosing instead to blame the government and security agencies for their inability to make the town safe.

Agboola Samson who used to live in the area in the past told Saturday Tribune that he remembered only the shrine.

“No, the place is not cursed,” he said. “There used to be an Esu shrine there; it’s called “ojo no esu”. But that doesn’t mean the whole place is cursed.”

At one of the bus stop shelters, an old man, Mr Jide Martins, sat, clutching a small radio set. Formerly a cab driver, he told Saturday Tribune he suffered a stroke after his cab was snatched from him at Ojuelegba.

“I used to be a cab driver,” he said. “But after my cab was snatched from me last year, I had a partial stroke.

I am better now. I was healed during a miracle meeting at my church.”

Fela on Ojuelegba

Dem be three men wey sell for roadside-o Dem three speak different language-o Dem speak Lagos, Accra, and Conakry One white man come pay them money –o He pay them for pounds, dollars and French money-o For the thing wey he go buy from them He remain for them to share am-o Me I say, na confusion be that-o [...]

Ojuelegba, Ojuelegba For Ojuelegba Lagos city, Surulere, ogoro center For ojuelegba, for ojuelegba Moto dey come from south Moto dey come from north Moto dey come from east Moto dey come from west And policeman no dey for center Na confusion be dat-o...

Source: Weate & Yusuf, 2003

21

Eko Akete

Lesson in obeying hawking ban

INDEED mixed reactions have trailed the ban of road hawking in Lagos.

While only few have repudiated the idea of road hawking in a state that is fast ascending the mega city ladder, a large majority nurse the fear that Lagos may cease from being Lagos when hawking is finally vanquished.

A state famed for its quotidian traffic jams and long-drawn-out journeys to short distances, Lagos is also known as the land of the hustlers. Hawking, as one of its many inventions, is a necessity. From selling refreshments to household items, hawkers at many occasions have earned their titles as godsend. There are few bad eggs among the hawkers. The reports of robbing unsuspecting buyers of their valuables in broad day light have been heard.

This is not mentioning the high risk of hawking on a highway. But here is how Lagosians are weighing in on the matter. Eko Akete eavesdropped the conversation between two employees on a road side.

“Why should civilised and educated people be selling wares on the street?” the first, a woman of middle age and officiously dressed, queried. “It is not done. Go to even Benin Republic and see how organised the streets and roads are,” she concluded almost annoyingly.

They were seen at the Kingsway bus stop in Ikeja waiting for a bus. It was already afternoon and the sun was present. “So if I am in traffic and I see gala and lacasera I will just tie my stomach till I get home eh!” the other fellow, a light-skinned man in suit and tie, said reserving the remainder of his rage.

He didn’t sound quite finished. A bus pulled over. The bus conductor, who was clutching a half-eaten sausage roll, confirmed the bus was going to Yaba.

It was time to enter, but as soon as he said N200, everyone was offended. No one entered. The man resumed immediately.

“Some laws are not worth the papers on which they are printed. This is one of such laws. You can’t jump the gun because you want change. The most reasonable thing to do is to expand the state’s economic frontiers, solve traffic problems and street hawking will be less lucrative”.

There were no hawkers on this road.

In fact, there weren’t many vehicles too. The road was free. It was lunch hour. The sun stood firmly eyeing everyone. The man adjusted his tie. Still no vehicles. There was brief silence.

“So if I am dehydrated and thirsty and there is a ready hawker to meet my need, kini kin se (what should I do)? Die of thirst?” the lady who had been remonstrating with street traders and those patronising them, said with a sudden burst of defiance. She was about retreating to a nearby shade when she unzipped her handbag, brought out a bottled water, took a sip and shot a glance at her colleague.

Only her could tell where the bottle of water came from.

22

9 July, 2016

Freedom Park

Tafawa Balewa Square

Re-creation of historical monuments

Madam Tinubu’s statue

Some have become ordinary spots where daily trading activities take place, while others have turned into beautiful fun spots. Yet, others have become the place for the homeless. In this report, Chukwuma Okparaocha looks at the current state of some monuments in Lagos.

V

IRTUALLY all nations of the world have historical monuments or structures that tell stories about them.

Nigeria equally has some historical monuments that tell the story of its transformation from a colony of slave trade to a land under the British rule and finally an independent nation.

Some of such monuments include Tinubu Square, Freedom Park and Tafawa Balewa Square, all of which are situated in one of the oldest and historic regions of Lagos State – Lagos Island.

Though formerly in a derelict condition, Lagos Island’s Tinubu Square is a site of historical importance; it was here that the amalgamation ceremony that unified the Northern and Southern protectorates that gave birth to Nigeria took place in 1914. It is named after Madam Efunroye Tinubu, the first Iyalode of the Egba clan, who was reputed to have been an active antagonist of slave trade.

Located at the end of the popular Broad Street on Lagos Island, the square had, however, been in a state of disrepair for a number of years before it was eventually rebuilt by the immediate past administration of Mr Babatunde Fashola.

Meant to stand as a reminder of the struggle against slave trade and man’s inhumanity to man, Tinubu Square, formerly known as the Independence Square, carries messages of hope, courage, freedom, liberation, sacrifice and heroism.

A teacher of history in one of the tertiary institutions in the country, Mr Segun Toriade, told Saturday Tribune: “Sadly, the entire Tinubu Square arena has, over the years, been transformed into a commercial hub where various items are sold.

Saturday Tribune

“The square, which was meant to be a spot that would remind us all of our past struggles and create in everyone who comes visiting a sombre reflection of the pains and sacrifice made by generations long gone, has been swallowed by hustle and bustle of people striving to eke out a living.”

Any idea of a quiet visit any tourist may be hoping to have at the Square would be quickly drowned in the sea of the noise typical of any Nigerian market.

In contrast to Tinubu Square, Freedom Park is situated in a serene environment.

Located on a site that once housed a notorious pre-colonial prison called Broad Way Prisons, Freedom Park seems apt for a complex that once held in captivity not only criminals, but freedom fighters and agitators such as the late elder statesman, Herbert Macaulay; Nigeria’s first president, Nnamdi Azikiwe; foremost leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and even Adeyemo Alakija, who were all branded rebels by Nigeria’s then colonial lords.

According to history, the 52-cell Broad Street Prison used to be one of the earliest facilities established by the colonial masters after the ceding of Lagos by Oba Dosunmu in 1863 to the British colonial masters.

Now a park full of beautiful flowers, fountains and shrubs, Freedom Park has become a tourist centre. Where once stood a dreaded 52-cell prison now sits a row of small 45-inch rooms (this is according to a measurement made by Saturday Tribune’s correspondent who visited the park), which retain the size, shape and originality of the previous prison cells.

A Lagos resident, Pa Amodu Adediran, who claimed to have spent 65 years on the Island, noted in a chat with Saturday Tribune: “It is fascinating to watch the once

sinister and mysterious prison walls crumble and the whole place turned into a beautiful garden. All these should remind the new generation of leaders, including the youth, of the selfless sacrifices made by past leaders.”

Speaking generally on the massive change that has happened to Broad Street over the years, a nostalgic Pa Adediran lamented over the condition of many of the facilities now available, while also noting that there had been a near total collapse of many of the amenities that had made Lagos Island the toast of many regions in the country.

“There were fewer automobiles on the road. The streets were always clean, unlike now when there is refuse everywhere. We enjoyed better scenery of peace and quiet. But nowadays, there seems to be confusion everywhere,” he lamented.

Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) is another historical monument that seems to have also been forgotten. Indeed, it has not been totally forgotten, as it still battles for relevance in the scheme of things.

Formerly known as the Race Course, with its signature being a row of huge horse and eagle statues that adorn its surroundings, TBS was the symbol of Nigeria’s political struggles. It was the point where the green and white flag of the nation was hoisted for the first time ever, replacing the Union Jack of the Great Britain.

But nowadays, despite a few political events that are occasionally held there, this great monument has merely been reduced to a centre where periodic trading activities are held in the form of the Lagos Trade Fair. Its once beautiful landscape has now turned into the resting place of the homeless, while its frontage and other sections have largely evolved into a mini market of a sort where various items such as clothing, shoes, food, shoes, household items, sunglasses, books, and movie discs are sold on a daily basis.

What was meant to be the monument’s car park has now become a major garage where commercial buses plying different parts of Lagos are stationed.

Thus, there, it is not uncommon to hear shouts of “Ajegunle!” “Mile 2!,” “Apapa-Wharf!” and “Oshodi!” among other names of places coming from the operators of the various buses stationed there.

Even a section has been cut out for the government-owned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Lagbus buses to also carry out transport activities.

A Reporter’s Diary

How not to be a rookie reporter

By Kasali Qudus Olusegun BEING a rookie in reporting comes with its “issues.” For one, everybody has their own idea of how best you should approach the job as a newcomer. It is funny. Someone tells you to use advanced and “mature” vocabulary in your report, another tells you to be simple. Someone tells you to read extensively, and another tells you to listen to the news. Some say it’s best to work late into the night, reading feature articles and news reports; others tell you to sleep well. They will all appear good pieces of advice

since they are well-meaning, coming from senior colleagues who have seen it all. But what happens when you attend a programme after a sleepless night?

It was the very first assignment -- an event coverage. It was a business event. The conference hall was almost full, and the event had even started.

A seat by the window is always great. Another great thing: the phone recorder. No need for a jotting material. And then suddenly, sleep came and claimed a captive. It must have been the handiwork of gentle breeze oozing through the window.

Minutes passed -- perhaps 20, perhaps 30.

The event was over, and everyone had begun to rise. A quick look at the phone.... and horror of all horrors, nothing was recorded!

Luckily, there was an ingenious participant, who was kind enough to recall much of what was said. It was a big relief! Soon, time to write!

Time to check the syntax, review the choice of words, re-read for correctness and logical arrangement of ideas. The result was a beautiful piece, deserving of a presidential handshake!

Strange as it may sound, the supervisor read it, frowned and said calmly --- very calmy: “Rookie, this is unusable; it’s not a story.”

24

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Toluwani Olamitoke 08050498504 toluwaniforever@yahoo.com

W

HAT does your background look like?

My mum, Mrs. Doreen Odugbesan is from the Caribbean, Barbados precisely, while my dad was from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State. We had a stable upbringing and my parents were very understanding of each other. The natural language in our home was English because my mother couldn’t speak Yoruba language. As a result of this, I’m not a fluent speaker of the Yoruba language.

Which of the two cultures were you exposed to?

I was exposed to both. I’ve been to the Caribbean and lived there and know their cuisine. I’m very conversant with their food and my husband actually enjoys them.

What do you love most about the Caribbean culture?

Their simplicity and the vivaciousness. Caribbeans are colourful, loving, lively and full of fun.

How was your mum able to cope with life here?

I really admire mum. We call her ‘Mama.’ I don’t know if I was to be in her shoes I would have been brave enough to be able to leave my family and follow a man half way across the world to a place I’ve learnt of but not seen. She left the Caribbean for Africa and Nigeria precisely. I believe she adjusted well, though there were things she found strange.

What were the things she learnt to do?

She learnt to wear the Nigerian attire, but her headgear is still being tied for her.

What did her dishes look like?

She cooks Nigerian dishes but with the Caribbean flair.

How do you mean?

If she is going to cook efo (vegetable), she would cut onions, pepper, but she would not use ground pepper. She would also put a lot of smoked fish. She wouldn’t add meat or ponmo (cow skin) and make the vegetable dry, that is with no sauce.

What foods do we share in common?

Caribbeans also have gari among other things which they sometimes make into ‘ Cassava Pone’. This is cassava and ground coconut mixed together and baked in the oven. It comes out like a pudding. Coconuts are made into several delicacies.

In what ways did your mother especially prepare you for marriage?

She’s very hospitable.

I watched her. She doesn’t talk a lot in terms of giving instruction, and so you are forced to model her- y ou imbibe her lifestyle.

She’s a strong a n d hardworking woman.

S h e founded this school in 1976 and I later joined

‘Dressing provocatively shouldn’t be an excuse for rape’

Mrs Diane Olatutu Odelola is an educationist and President, Mondiale Pour L’Education Pre-Scolaire (OMEP), Oyo State chapter, an international non-governmental organisation concerned with the development of the total child. She speaks on the activities of the organisation and her family in this interview by TOLUWANI OLAMITOKE.

her.

What did you admire most about your parents’ relationship?

My parents were friends. Dad really doted on mum. He was always a gentleman. Even with me — he loved buying me shoes. He actually chose my wedding shoes and materials.

What was the initial impression your parents had of your husband?

We practically grew up together. They knew him from his youth.

What attracted you to your spouse?

We were already through with university studies, we were both working in different places and had also had our own Damascus experiences with God (become born-again). We were both convinced after praying that God meant us for each other, so we went along with Him. What has been your marital experience?

To tell you the truth, my relationship with my husband and our marriage is a journey, time of discovery for each other. We see marriage as a team work and have been very supportive of each other and each other’s dream.

How old is your marriage?

Twenty-six years.

From your experience, what will you say is making your marriage work?

Friendship is what makes our marriage work — your desire for the other to enjoy his or her life and succeed.

Can you please introduce your spouse?

He’s Tunji Odelola from Osun State. He’s a pharmacist by profession but also a logistician. He works in Logistic and Supply Chain Management.

In contemporary times, many marriages hit the rock even before they have even really started, do you think getting married is worth the while?

Somebody said that marriage is the only institution that gives a certificate before you take the course. People really have to understand what they are getting into, they really have to understand the institution before going into it or making commitment to their partner. For me, we built a friendship first before talking about any other thing. Our relationship was firstly platonic and we discussed about our goals and life generally.

As an educationist, whose responsibility is it to teach a child sex education?

Ideally it should be the parents. They are children’s first teachers. Unfortunately, many are uncomfortable with this issue and don’t know what to say and how to tell the children.

They also need to be informed and educated, but one of the problems today is that these parents are not there for their children because they are distracted with their responsibilities due to their quest to make ends meet. These children are left in the hands of their househelps and drivers who sometimes abuse them and warn or threaten them not to tell anyone. Teachers in school should be next. They should know or recognise the symptoms if a child has been abused.

Rape and sexual harassment have been on the increase in recent times; some people attribute this to indecent dressing, what is your take on this?

As a Christian, I would not dress in a provocative way, but just because a person is

dressed in a provocative way doesn’t give anybody the right to rape her. A person who does so is a criminal. The right of an individual, either male or female, should be protected by the law. Rape is a deliberate action and anyone who does it should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Of what relevance is OMEP to the Nigerian society?

OMEP is an international non-governmental and non-profit organisation concerned with all aspects of early childhood education. It was established in Europe in 1948 after the devastation of the Second World War and geared towards the welfare of vulnerable children that were left as orphans, homeless and destitute after the war. Nigeria attended the World Assembly and Conference in 1983 and was accepted as a bona fide member country in 1985 through the joint efforts of Late Mama Ibiyemi Bright and Mama Bilewu (Kaduna).

OMEP was inaugurated in Ibadan in 1986 by Mrs Christie Ade-Ajayi and was embraced warmly by members of the university community.

Can you shed light on your vision?

OMEP’s aim is to share information concerning early childhood education worldwide and initiate action to benefit young children in all countries. It seeks to assist in raising the total child by educating society about the fact that the ages of 0-8 are the most important and formative years of a child’s life which can either make or mar the child. Nigeria was able to connect with the world vision of OMEP because of our desire to improve the life of the Nigerian child. This awareness has been gaining ground rapidly as presently, various universities such as University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and also Obafemi Awolowo University, Kwara State University and Tai Solarin University, all provide degrees in Early Childhood Education and not simply courses.

What do your activities entail?

We hold regular annual workshops and seminars for early childhood educators and caregivers who work directly with the children and share current issues in ECE with them which they need to know on how to care for children between the ages of 0 and 8. In Nigeria, we assumed before now that natural maternal instincts were sufficient to care for children but current research in both medicine and education reveals that it’s more than this. We hold a children’s rally every year on the Wednesday before Children’s Day (May 27), we choose different themes for each year. We are presently gathering items for victims of terrorism at the camps for Internally Displaced Persons in the northern part of the country. We are also involved in universal projects such as “The Wash Project” in which children all over the world are taught about the importance of water and the importance of washing hands.

What new things do you plan to introduce during your tenure?

I want to continue with the goals of the last executive and do what can be considered sustainable which will impact the lives of children through their teachers. So we are focusing on publications - making reference and resource materials available to teachers which they can use to teach their pupils in the classroom. Textbooks are applicable but we also need more creative curriculum and activities that are developmentally appropriate and which will bring in the richness of our culture.

What does your weekend look like?

Since I work hard during the week, I spend my weekend quietly. I’m usually at home.

Do you consider yourself sociable?

I think so, but I’m not a socialite.

25

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

ntertainment News

Society Gist

Omionawele

Newton-Ray Ukwuoma

newtray2002@yahoo.com 08052271251

Celebrity Interviews

Nollywood

mourns

Steve Gukas releases trailer of 93 Days Ebola movie Page 27

J

with oan

jistwtjoan@yahoo.com Twitter:@joanbajojo 08054682201

Bukky Ajayi

Ruth Kadiri’s other side

Page 30

26 entertainment

9 July, 2016

Day Bukky Ajayi wept, begged for forgiveness ‘on stage’

• As Nollywood mourns late veteran actress Stories by Joan Omionawele and Newton-Ray Ukwuoma

E

NCOMIUMS poured in during the week for veteran Nollywood actress Bukky Ajayi, who died on Wednesday.

The social media was awash with tributes to the late actress who was honoured with a lifetime award at the last edition of the African Movie Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA).

At the 2016 edition of the AMVCA’s, the award presentation Ajayi’s was the highlight of the event as she broke down in tears when everyone present gave her

a standing ovation. She had said: I am surprised with you all standing for me. To everyone I have offended in the course of my work, please forgive me, and to those who have offended me, I forgive you too.”

Her speech enveloped the hall into an emotional and serene state; everyone and everywhere became silent as if all of them within that space had a premonition it would be mama’s last public outing.

The death of the actress during the week led to tributes from Nollywood actors and actresses.

The following are tributes from some Nollywood actors

Steve Gukas releases trailer of Ebola movie THE trailer of 93 Days, the highly anticipated movie on the outbreak of Ebola virus disease, is out. The movie, which was released on social media platform by main producer, Steve Guskas during the week, has been getting impressive reviews from fans.

Featuring Hollywood actor, Danny Glover, Bimbo Akintola, Tim Reid, Somkele Iyamah Idhalama, Alastair Mackenzie, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey, Bimbo Manuel, Charles Okafor, Gideon Okeke among others, 93 Days tells a real-life story of the bravery, passion and patriotism of the men and women who sacrificed their lives to save Nigeria from a dire straits. The film journeys back to July 2014, the period a deadly virus hit Nigeria and extends to the immediate measures put in place to stop its spread.

It also recounts the he-

roic roles played by Nigerians such as the late Dr Adadevoh and her team at the First Consultant Hospital; Babatunde Fashola, the then Lagos State governor; former President Goodluck Jonathan and the federal and state ministries of Health in saving the country from a major epidemic, which was quashed within ‘93 days’ of arriving Nigeria.

93 Days was produced

by Steve Gukas, Pemon Rami, Bolanle Austen-peters and Dotun Olakunri.

Speaking about the movie, co-producer, Dotun Olakunri, who disclosed that the actual movie will be released later in the year, called for support for the movie.

“93 Days is a film all Nigerians should be proud of and support because it tells a story that is a major milestone in our history as a people and one that shows us at our finest,” he said.

on the departed veteran.

Foluke Daramola Salako: ‘RIP mummy, you lived a good life. Olorun ma te yin si afefe Rere.(Rest in Peace).’’

Uche Jombo: ‘‘I just heard the sad news but I want to thank you for sharing it with the world. What

a career and body of work. A true legend of Nollywood, the iconic, brilliant and talented actor, Bukky Ajayi. RIP Mama Bukky.’’

Fred Amata: ‘‘Aunty Bukky was a core and total professional of theatre and screen whose exemplary lifestyle, both on and off set is worthy of emulation. Bukky Ajayi’s death has left a huge gap difficult to fill in acting, yet her life and work is a huge contribution to resource and annals of Nolly-

Saturday Tribune

wood.”

Richard Mofe-Damijo: ‘‘Aunty Bukky, I am sorry. Sorry I did not visit you in your last days, not because I didn’t want to but because I took for granted the gift of life by procrastinating. To think that I spoke to your son, Abounce Kunle, (whom I share the TV series, HUSH with where he is such a star now as Ruffy Jackson, taking after you.) several days ago to ask for the best time to come see you. If I knew it was time I would have come that very day to see you, but who would have thought that the bold, strong Aunty Buks who constantly defied every circumstance and risen above every situation will go to sleep so soon.’’

Bimbo Oshin: ‘‘She was sincere, amiable, ambitious, adaptable, witty, unassuming, unique, beautiful, zealous. Mama was a superb icon and a mentor to so many.

She lived a life worthy of emulation. Ladies and Gentlemen, join me in celebrating a veteran and a legend, we love you but God loves you more.’’

Sola Sobowale- ‘‘I will forever love you. Rest in peace, Bukky Ajayi.’’

Femi Branch: ‘‘I just found out that Aunty Bukky passed on and I picked up my phone immediately to call her and I couldn’t find her number on my phone. I felt so ashamed and this is what happens to us a whole lot of times, especially in this profession. When work brings us together, we dance, rejoice and celebrate. If you see us at the moment, you would think we reach out to each other everyday and relate to each other so well but once we leave that location, that is it. We hardly relate with each other only to find out things about ourselves on the pages of newspapers, we need to reach out more.’’

Falz and I are still working on ‘Soldier’ part two —Simi SIMISOLA Ogunleye, popularly known as Simi, has responded to questions concerning the release of the second act of ‘Soldier’, shortfilm musical, that featured Bhad Guy label boss, Falz.

The ‘Love Don’t Care’ crooner, who admitted that she wrote, mixed and mastered the Soldier song, told Saturday Tribune in an interview that she and Falz have begun the shoot of ‘Soldier’ part two.

“We are seriously working on it,” she said. “Falz and I are really committed to releasing ‘Soldier’ part two, especially because of the requests. Everybody keep asking. I ask everyone to have some patience and faith in us”.

About her relationship with Falz, who recently bagged a BET award as best international act and who she has

featured in a magazine cover with, Simi said she has “a musical chemistry” with Falz before disclosing that she is in a committed relationship with someone else.

“I guess people can just sense the chemistry, but it does not automatically translate to romantic relationship. The magazine cover was a shoot for artistes that are buzzing. I guess because we did a song together and sometimes we like to take pictures in an event. I am actually in a relationship. Falz and I are good friends,” she said.

Simi also revealed plans to release her maiden album later this year. “I am working hard to make sure it comes out this year. These things are sometimes not in my hands. I have a team, but we are doing our best to drop the body of work this year.”

Ruth Kadiri gives back to society FAST rising actress, Ruth Kadiri has embarked on another life-transforming journey through her foundation for kids, Ruth Kadiri Kids Foundation, as she empowered 100 students of Ilasan Primary School, Jakande Lekki, on choosing the right identity and appreciating who they are. She also gave them educational gifts to help their studies.

Speaking to select primary school pupils who were very much excited to be in the company of the actress, Ruth highlighted the forthcoming possibilities that they would encounter as they progress in their studies, which, if not well taken care of, might endanger their original dreams.

“When you get into secondary school, you are going to meet a lot of people that would make you feel like there is something wrong with you. However you are, you are okay, you are unique,” the actress advised the pupils, who listened with rapt attention.

Since the founding of her foundation, the actress has embarked on quote a number of projects that involve young people, in a bid to help them grow and become better persons.

According to her, reaching out to the children is one of the things she lives for and finds so much joy in, and her only reward, is to see the children smile.

27 entertainment

9 July, 2016

UN General Assembly to view Seyi Shay’s ‘wannabe’ video

Fun, excitement as Jack Daniel celebrates 150th anniversary

Stories by Joan Omionawele and Newton-Ray Ukwuoma

O

ne of Nigeria’s leading songstresses, Oluwaseyi Joshua, known as Seyi Shay, during the week released the video of her collaborative effort, titled: What I Really Really Want, a rework of Spice Girls’s ‘Wannabe’ done 20 years ago, on social media.

The musical video which is centered on empowering women, has Seyi as well as artistes such as Gigi Lamayne, Moneao (from South Africa), Jacqueline Fernadez, a Bollywood actress from Sri Lanka, M. O from the UK, Taylor Hatala from Canada and USA’s Larsen Thompson on the video, which is billed to be viewed by world leaders in September, during the Global Goals week.

Directed by MJ Delaney, the film reflects the voices of girls and women all over the world addressing such issues as quality education, an end to violence, an end to child marriage and equal pay for equal work.

It has been regarded as the first Global Goals campaign for girls and women

since the millennium and will be presented at the next United Nations General Assembly as a demonstration of mass public

support for the rights of girls and women.

The video will also be used to exert new political and financial commitments from

governments, in support of their commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Meanwhile, the Island Re-

Professor Bartholomew Okolo, a Professor of Applied Microbiology and a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in his paper on the Social and Cultural Roles of Beer in Society, explained thatIn all societies, beer

plays an important role not only in major life-cycle events, such as birth and death, but also in minor everyday transitions. According to him, in studies conducted in various parts of the world, beer drinking venues have been identi-

Tales of war, tears told in ‘WAF’ dance play FUN lovers and entertainment enthusiasts gathered together to view, the much talked about Nigerian dance show, We Almost Forgot (WAF), at the Freedom Park, Lagos, recently.

The dance show, unveiled in Nigeria after a successful showcase in Berlin, Germany, was part of the Lagos Live Arts Festival at the Freedom Park, Marina and it gave Qudus Onikeku more than the one thousand people he’d estimated would watch his show.

The dance show invoked sympathy, serenity, and depicted the anguish and pain that the society was undergoing. It was also a non-verbal dance with so much melee (albeit bloodless) and a craze that typifies today’s society which in his creative philosophy, suggests how ‘we almost forgot’ that the world was created with sanity and mankind was meant to coexist peacefully.

cords first lady has released her first single under the record. The song, which is titled Murda, features Patoranking and Shaydee.

Experts link beer to social and cultural cohesion SCHOLARS and culture experts have highlighted the role of beer in the sustenance of the socio-cultural cohesion of people across ages. They made the submission at the third Nigerian Beer Symposium in Lagos on Thursday.

Onikeku himself takes the lead in the one-hour drama, with an actress whose narrative further provoked the thoughts of the audience.

Onikeku’s play made use of music subtle sounds and as well as high energetic movements, as it narrates stories of war, crime, starvation, abuse

and weirdness where everyone is victim and villain at some point.

The underlining message is that while the unusual has become the norm, we are reminded once in a while, of the law of retributive justice.

The Lagos leg of the show was later followed by another in Abuja hosted

Saturday Tribune

by the National Universities Commission, just as he is planning a Paris premiere on November 3.

The project has received active support from developmental agencies such as Bank of Industry, Goethe Institut, The French Institut and the German Embassy.

fied as the most important venues for promoting interactions and friendships between people from diverse backgrounds.

“The Nigerian beer parlour is an example of such an institution where you could find a lawyer having a beer next to a plumber or a doctor having a beer next to a tailor. You could also find a professor having a beer next to a banker. In such circumstances, people can offer all sorts of support and even professional advice at no cost. It is possible to explore such settings for other benefits including security and commerce, for example in the creation of cooperative societies,” he said.

Okolo added that alcoholic drinks are a symbolic vehicle for identifying, describing, constructing and manipulating cultural values and interpersonal relationships. In all cultures, he remarked, different alcoholic beverages are classified in terms of their social meaning. Every drink therefore connotes a symbolic meaning and conveys a message.

“In the present day African tradition, beer is a regular feature on the list of items that must be presented at various stages of the marriage process. It must also be present during such other ceremonies as funeral rites, coronations, peace missions, special invitations, among others.

FOLLOWING the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery, the oldest registered distillery in the U.S., Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, last week announced the Jack Daniel’s Barrel Hunt, a global scavenger hunt that will unite friends of Jack across the world. The first Barrel Hunt will take place at the home of the distillery in Lynchburg on July 1 and visit more than 50 countries in 90 days including Nigeria. Jack Daniel’s will provide clues via its local Facebook pages to help fans find the hidden whiskey barrels around the world, giving them the opportunity to win unique, specially designed prizes to commemorate the distillery’s 150th anniversary.

Jack Daniel’s has grown from a local name in Lynchburg to an iconic brand in more than 170 countries by remaining true to its legacy of authenticity, independence and integrity,” said Mark McCallum, President of Jack Daniel’s. “The 150th anniversary is a major milestone for the distillery and is a perfect opportunity to invite everyone to join us in our celebration of Jack Daniel’s with our first-ever global Barrel Hunt.”

From July through September, 150 handcrafted whiskey barrels will be hidden in various regions across the globe at historic and cultural sites, with clues on Jack Daniel’s Facebook pages to help guide fans to the secret location. Clues tied to the history of each region will be provided on the day of each local Barrel Hunt and barrels will be opened when the first person to arrive speaks the correct barrel password.

Updates and results will be shared as barrels are found around the world and prizes are claimed in each region.

“The barrel is key to crafting Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey as it accounts for 100 percent of its color and 70 to 80 percent of its flavor,” said Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Jeff Arnett.

“It’s an important part of our process that’s remained unchanged for 150 years, and that tradition will continue to live on in every barrel we make and each drop of our whiskey. The Barrel Hunt celebrates the distillery’s history and gives fans a chance to own a barrel and be forever linked to Jack Daniel’s.”

28

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

with Tunde Ayanda ayandaayotunde@yahoo.com 08034649018

Donald Duke’s love for beer FORMER governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke has affirmed that beer plays a significant role in the sustenance of good health and cultural cohesion.

The politician was the chairman of the 3rd Nigerian Beer Symposium recently at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, where he stated that beer is low in carbohydrates and is as natural as both orange juice and milk.

Duke’s choice of beer over oth-

Alaba Lawson off the radar IYALODE of Egbaland, Chief Alaba Lawson is currently trimming her social activities.

The woman of substance has chosen to maintain a low profile for reasons unknown to many of her admirers who say they have not been seeing her at some functions like before.

Those in the know say that the APC woman is only slowing down her usual activities to focus on other things in her life.

Iyalode Lawson is regarded as one of the major supporters of Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s administration in Ogun State, as she carries some responsibilities on key political matters.

Eunice Efole bonds with D’banj AT a time the news is spreading that popular musician, Dapo Oyebanji, has secretly tied the knots with Didi Kilgrow, the musician is busy visiting friends and living his merry life as usual.

One of the people D’banj visited recently is Lagos property devel-

er drinks is the healthy features of the drink which contains antioxidants.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Breweries, Nicolaas Vervelde, stressed that the objective of the beer symposium is to highlight and share contemporary knowledge on beer.

Duke, who is regarded as one of Nigeria’s most stylish men, is always a centre focus on issues bordering on good health and lifestyle.

Double celebration for

Folorunso Alakija

E

XECUTIVE Director of Famfa Oil, Mrs Folorunso Alakija, is presently having a ball.

The billionaire businesswoman, who entered the Forbes Magazine’s rich list as Africa’s second richest woman after Isabel Dos Santos, is celebrating her 65th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary.

The Ballroom of the Lagos Oriental Hotel is set to host the ceremony expected to be one of the biggest

oper and socialite, Eunice Efole.

The artiste was a guest of the Efoles for the Ramadan celebration in Lagos.

The style icon, who couldn’t hide her joy for the august visitor, busied herself taking photographs of the musician with her brothers and nephews.

D’banj was his usual warm self as he enjoyed the moment with members of the Efole family, whom he said were as much closer to him than his own family.

Some friends of Eunice Efole who tried to scoop the truth on the musician’s wedding tale from her met a brick wall as she described the visit as ‘private’.

society events in 2016.

The celebration will kick off with a thanksgiving service at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos, followed by the grand reception at the Oriental Hotel, where an inspirational book written by the billionaire would be presented.

The love story of the business tycoon and her husband, Modupe, is known within the Lagos social circle, it’s a tale that marks four decades of friendship and companionship worth celebrating with friends, families and admirers.

Happy times for Gbenga Elegbeleye THIS is jubilation time for former Director General of National Sports Commission and former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Otunba Gbenga Elegbeleye and his wife, Solape. The couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last weekend at their Asokoro house in Abuja.

The event was well-attended by friends and associates of the cou-

Shina Peller’s other dream TO say that the Quilox Nightclub in Lagos is the number one in the nightclub business in the country is absolutely correct and the runaway success of the enterprise is linked with the owner’s dedication and hardwork.

According to many, the owner, Shina Peller, is not resting on his oars as he is set to conquer other fronts and step on unfamiliar terrains.

One of his interests is what is making the rounds presently with plots and strategies to make it work.

The man is said to be working to achieve one

of his biggest dreams.

The son of the late magician, Professor Peller, is positioning himself to be in charge of the welfare of the people and giving them a voice in governance.

The club owner is said to be quietly putting together a group of friends to form a structure in the actualisation of his dream.

The Quilox Nightclub is the second home of many politicians, businessmen and entertainers who respect the owner’s intelligence and may be ready to help sail his dream.

ple. Some of those in attendance were Edem Duke, John Fashanu, Dino Melaye, and many others.

Elegbeleye also used the occasion to inform the guests of his intention to contest the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State. Elegbeleye, who became the Otunba of Ikareland a few months ago, was very excited as the event was classy and remains a reference point for event planners.

29

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

30

9 July, 2016

weekend cartoons

Saturday Tribune

Adeeko Olusegun adeeko.olusegun@yahoo.com 0811 695 4638

Just a Laffing Mata

POLITICO

La u nd ry bo ys

One day, Segeluulu and his friend, Tommy, were walking home from a choir rehearsal and a lady beckoned to them from the window of a storey building. This led to a conversation between the two friends.

Segeluulu: Omo, e be like say na me that babe dey call o.

Tommy: Guy, leave her, no mind am.

(Then the lady signalled to him to come).

Segeluulu: Omo, the babe dey call me sha.

Tommy: Ogbeni, no go.

Segeluulu: Why you go tell me make I no go? Fine babe like that dey call me, you say make I no go.

Tommy (feeling pity): Guy, abeg no go, no go o.

(Segeluulu ignored him and went over to the lady and then they both went upstairs. Suddenly as they were about to have fun, they heard a car honking).

Lady (on opening the window): Oh my gosh! That’s my husband.

Segeluulu: Yeh! Mo gbe!

Lady: Don’t worry, just pretend like you are a laundry man and iron these clothes (pointing at a heap of clothes).

(Segeluulu spent the whole day ironing clothes because the husband didn’t leave home that day again.

The next day, Segeluulu went over to his friend’s place.

Segeluulu: Friend, you won’t believe it; I ironed throughout yesterday.

Tommy: Didn’t I tell not to go? All the cloth wey you iron so, na me WASH am!

FUNOLOGY

w ho i s a c hr i s t i a n he re ?

Segeluulu entered a church carrying a brand new cutlass and asked: “Who is a Christian here?”

The whole church went as silent as a graveyard. He asked again, “How can a filled church have no Christian?”

No one replied. Segeluulu then grabbed the nearby young man and went out with him and told him, “Young man, come help me kill my goat because I don’t know how to do it”.

After the young man had killed the goat, he told Segeluulu that he didn’t know how to skin it. He told Segeluulu to go back to the church and get someone else to help him do that. Segeluulu returned to the church with the cutlass dripping with blood.

When the congregation saw Segeluulu again in the church with blood dripping from his cutlass, they screamed and jumped out of the church through the windows!

Ojuelegba crooner celebrates mom as she adds another year on US Independence Day

31

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

32

9 July, 2016

The South-West Editor Wole Efunnuga | 08111813056

Saturday Tribune CREW sari n Tu de B9u3530 081275 ndare nga - Ogu Yejide G8b1e16706853 0 unesan Tunde O9g54634 08116

t: r us; contac Got news fo bune@yahoo. ttri es hw ne ut so bu @ uthwesttri co.uk or so ail.com gm

Katan Gowa Market: Now centre of attraction for South-West traders Katan Gowa Market is a second-hand clothing hub, whose clientele base has continued to grow in the South West and beyond. Situated on Abule EgbaIyana -Ipaja Axis in Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, Katan Gowa is a market that boasts very rich history and tradition, AKIN ADEWAKUN reports.

I

TS name may sound alien to the community it is domiciled, but it is obvious from its operations that it is meant to cater for the needs of all, irrespective of where they come from. There is always something for everybody, as far as the market is concerned. This perhaps explains the increasing patronage the second-hand clothing market has continued to enjoy across the South West and beyond, in recent times.

While some believe that this market, which prides itself as one of the biggest second-hand clothing commercial centres in south-western Nigeria, derived its name from the early Northern traders in the place, others simply ascribed the nomenclature to the huge concentration of Nigerians of Northern extraction, not necessarily merchants, living in some areas within the neighbourhood.

Despite the not-too-clear history of the Katan Gowa nomenclature, it has, today, become a generic name for second-hand materials, especially clothing.

The history of Katan Gowa Market may be shrouded in mystery but one thing that is glaring about this variant of the famous Okrika Market in the Orile area of Lagos is the cost accessibility of most wares sold in the market; a strong reason the market has continued to thrive, especially at these trying economic times.

“Although one may not be able to trace the history of this market or verify where it derived its name from, one thing that is sure is that the location of the market and the cost accessibility of its wares have really given it that a competitive edge,” explained Bolaji, a factory worker in a cream factory in Abule Egba and a frequent visitor to the market.

Bolaji may not be farther from the truth.

For instance, Saturday Tribune gathered that the proximity of the market to the neighbouring Benin Republic, a country that has become a mecca of sort for Nigerians trading in second-hand goods, is one of the factors that have kept this popular market going for the past few decades. The relatively cheap wares in the market have made it irresistible for Lagosians and others who come from neighbouring states and villages.

“I go there on a quarterly basis to pick things for the family, especially at the beginning of every academic term,” stated Alaba Johnson, a staff in a federal government establishment in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.

According to Mrs. Johnson, besides its cost effectiveness, the durability of materi-

Traders at Katangowa Market als of items bought from the market will always be a major attraction for her.

While Mrs Johnson buys from the market in retail, Mrs Wemimo Olaniyan buys wares wholesale. Since retiring from the Ondo State civil service three years ago, the mother of three has gone into second-hand clothing mercantilism with Katan Gowa Market constituting her major supplier.

For this class of people, Katan Gowa Market remains that ‘place of refuge,’ especially at these times when the price of virtually every commodity has continued to aim for the roof.

But while the market has continued to hold its attraction for this category of people, especially those on the lower scale of the socio-economic ladder, there are many who would not dare touch it with the longest of poles. A case of different strokes for different folks, one may say.

For instance, for some, Katan Gowa Market still represents that ‘old, second-hand clothing market, another sad replica of the famous Okrika Market’ that should be steered clear of.

“For me, the market and every other second-hand market in the country represent a sad reminder of our failure as a country. They are pointers to the real reasons why those textile industries of old such as Odua’tex, Asabatex and others are no longer in place,” Mr Ibrahim Kolapo, an economist, said while commenting on the proliferation of second-hand ware markets in the country and their increasing patronage by Nigerians.

Kolapo argued that with the existence of such markets, the present government’s efforts at reviving the nation’s economy might end up an exercise in futility .

“There is no way their existence is helping the nation’s economy. All those things that you see as gains are just superficial. We can make real profits if we learn how to do these things here and get them patronised,” he added.

Kolapo’s comments may be a bitter pill for those eking out a living in this market, and not a few of them believe that such a wish could come to pass in the foreseeable future.

But they might be right since they seem to enjoy the support of history. The immediate past governor of the state, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had once planned a relocation of the market to another part of the city, a move traders in the market then frowned at and resisted.

Interestingly, years after, the traders have been able to weather the ‘storm’ of the planned relocation. Today, the market still stands tall in its original location.

Perhaps one striking thing about Katan Gowa is the fact that even though with a nomenclature that seems to suggest that it is meant for people from a certain part of the country, it is actually a market that flings its arms open to all, as obvious in the variety of wares displayed at every nook and cranny of the market.

A first-timer to the place might get the shock of his life at the type of wares, especially ladies’, on the display shelves in the market.

At the ladies section, ladies’ under-wears, ranging from pants to brassieres and other accessories are on display and patrons are never in short supply.

Ladies of different hues and classes were

Since retiring from the Ondo State civil service three years ago, the mother of three has gone into second-hand clothing mercantilism with the Katan Gowa Market constituting her major supplier.

seen picking their choices enthusiastically and paying for them.

‘It is a sign of the time. Ladies that used to snub that section before are suddenly finding solace in those wears. Nobody seems to be thinking of the health implications of wearing such clothing items again. It is that bad,” another patron of the market stated.

But some of the ladies who reluctantly volunteered to speak with Saturday Tribune stated that the issue of health implications would not arise as long as the materials were properly sterilised before use.

“I used to have such funny feeling about patronising this section before but the fact remains that what you get here as second-hand are far more durable than the so-called new wares sold in some markets,” Madam Titilola, who buys in retail, told Saturday Tribune.

She added that since no authority queries the existence of these wares, less blame should go to those that patronise them.

The authorities seem to have their reasons for looking the other way as far as the existence of this second-hand market is concerned. It has become a huge source of Internally Generated Revenue for them, of late.

Perhaps the economic role Katan Gowa plays in the lives of citizens and authorities in the area is best captured by Fatima Ibrahim, a pure water seller in the area.

For Mrs Ibrahim, besides being a refuge for Lagosians desirous of quality and affordable clothing materials at this period, the market has enhanced the economies of individuals and corporate bodies in the area.

“If not for this market, surviving at these trying times would have been tough for me and my entire household. With the existence of the market in the area, I don’t need to go far to earn a living,” she stated.

Perhaps this explains the gloom that attended the botched relocation by the immediate past regime and the reason the market will remain relevant to Lagosians and people in neighbouring states.

33

interview

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Reports of illegal recruitment under Buhari inaccurate —Akande, VP’s spokesman

Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, addresses some concerns about the activities of the present administration in this interview with select journalists. LEON USIGBE brings the excerpts.

T

HE vice president is doing a lot on the economy and apparently, the impact of this administration’s Economic Management Team has not been felt on the nation’s economy, one year after. What will you tell Nigerians?

The Economic Management Team started taking shape after ministers were inaugurated. That means it is not up to a year. That was October 2015 or thereabouts. We have to understand that the attitude of this presidency is to consider the management of the economy as a government responsibility. It is not something that this government believes should be done by bringing in some of the private interests into the economic team to take a decision that they will be directly involved with.

So, our stand is that the management of the economy is a government responsibility and we engage the stakeholders in the economy. For instance, we have started meeting on a constant basis with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). There have been meetings with arms of the economic sector of the country. There have been meetings with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and some other economic interests with companies making presentations. But generally, this thing is a government team and the team has been able to set out before the budget trying to figure out what the budget ought to focus on. After the budget was presented and eventually signed, there was also the publication of the strategic implementation plan which was produced in a reader-friendly format. All of these are the outcomes of what the Economic Management Team does and it is also in the team that you have the heap of the whole physical and monetary policy and don’t forget that the monetary policy is always the duty and responsibility of the Central Bank which is an economic arm of government.

At times, more than once in a week, almost certainly most of the time, the team meets every Monday and make proposal and suggestions to the president but then the team is actually like an ad hoc committee of the Federal Executive Council and that is why we don’t throw a lot of media around it because it is a committee that is meant to advise Mr President.

So, the team, for instance, defined six themes around the economy and used that to build the budget and reflate the economy. The first is policy, governance and security, which includes issues such as ensuring a stable and predictable exchange rate and securing the nation. The second one is economic diversification, which includes achieving targeted self-sufficiency in agricultural produce and increasing private sector investments. The third is infrastructural development, which includes the completion of several NIPPs and the Lagos-Calabar coastal railway. Oil and gas reforms is the fourth one and it includes privatisation of refineries, PIB and ensuring gas availability to power the plants. The ease of doing business is the fifth one. In this regard, the president has constituted a presidential council headed by the vice president to look at fast tracking pre-investment approvals across the country, eliminate bureaucratic delays and so on. The last one is the social investment meant to assuage unemployment pains, development of human capacity and improve school enrolment Nigerians out there tell you that the economy right now is not in a good shape. How do you convince them that the government is working towards ensuring that the economy is boosted?

As much as we try not to say this, we know as a matter of fact that members of the past administration, most of them have come out to say they did not save for the rainy day.

So, we are dealing mostly with situations that have been caused even before this administration took over power.

The president and his team have worked hard and planned not only to save cost, not only to tighten public expenditure but to also diversify the economy like never before.

So, we believe that going forward, things will begin to pick up again. It is taking a while because of the extent of the damage. If the country took a sharp drop, as much as 70 percent drop in its foreign earning, you can begin to understand some of the difficulties that the country is going through, where states used to share a huge sum of money but which has come down incredibly. For instance, in April, I think, the whole foreign earning was just about $550 million, which is low. So, these are the problems and a lot of what is happening right now in the country is as a result of some of the decisions that were taken in the past.

But the administration has clearly changed the direction of this country and going forward, we expect better things.

This is the second year of the administration and it is the same song of what the past administration did or didn’t do being responsible for where we are. When should Nigerians expect the first fruit of this administration’s efforts?

As much as some of our friends in the media will tend to say what is up and down, there is no way you won’t have to look back to look forward. That is the point. How many of the infrastructural projects that were made have been implemented for the betterment of the people? How many were delivered? And how many roads were built, for instance, in the last eight, nine, 10 years?

The first fruit is already in place because we have started rebuilding. I believe that a huge factor in the way Nigeria is today economically is corruption. We can’t run away from that and the president has made it clear and I think everyone in the country now understands that and it is not going to continue. Effectively, he has reduced the corruption in Nigeria. Look at what the TSA, for instance, has managed to save, I think, in the region of N3 trillion, which would have been lost if we didn’t have the TSA implemented. I think he tried to cut cost with many ghost workers in the federal payroll detected and I understand that the process is continuing. So, one of the things that the president has delivered is that the bleeding has stopped and that is so important.

The constitution requires that whatever is made is deposited into the Federation Account in which case, you can’t keep aside any money. So, how can this government accuse the past government of not saving?

Well, there are several ways of managing your resources adequately in a prudent way. Firstly, when a barrel was being sold for over $100, what did we do with the money?

And as much as some of our friends in the media will tend to say what is up and down, there is no way you won’t have to look back to look forward. That is the point. How many of the infrastructural projects that were made have been implemented for the betterment of the people? How many were delivered? And how many roads were built, for instance, in the last eight, nine, 10 years? These are the ways you manage your resources well to take care of the future.

And when you look at the idea of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), it is also a good idea which this country needs. That is why we say Nigeria would have safeguarded Continues pg34

34

voxpop

9 July, 2016

Studies have shown that people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) who know they are infected can be done a world of good by the vital knowledge of their status.

KATE ANI samples the disposition of some Nigerians in this regard. Their responses are presented here.

Do you know your HIV status?

Olawale Emmanuel It is not an easy decision to make. I was 23 years old when I first did the HIV test. The thought of going through the procedure nearly killed me, not to talk of the wait before getting the results. Every day, my thoughts would just flash back to those times I had unprotected sex with causal female friends and before I knew it, I was having serious nightmares. The test came out negative.

I remember the first time I went for the test.

After a frightful, sleepless night, I was told the next day when I went to collect the result that I had to redo the test because there was a mixup. I ran away and never came back until two weeks later.

Those were the worst 14 days of my life. I went back and after some counselling, the result was negative. You need to hear how loudly I shouted for joy.

Raphael Omobolanle The truth is, not knowing is the best. If someone goes for the test and it comes out positive, it could lead them to their early grave. Anticipation of death, they say, is worse than death itself.

Dimeji Alimi Well, it is a good thing for one to know his or her status, no matter the outcome. I have done it about five times. The last time I checked was two weeks ago. I wasn’t nervous while waiting for the result, unlike the first time. The earlier one detects the virus the better.

Kunle Adeleye I have never gone for such a test before but lately, I have been thinking about going ahead to know my HIV status.

Saturday Tribune

Fan Kasibe I will go for the test immediately the cure is found…Testi ko examu ni

Bunmi Olubusola I have done the test twice, first as an undergraduate and then as a corps member. I was curious and nervous because my hairdresser was reported to have tested positive. It was terrifying. Ever since then, I always make sure to buy my own personal hair-fixing tools.

Kenneth Alizor

Dimeji

Bunmi

Kenneth

interview

‘Why we blame Jonathan for today’s problems’ Continued from pg33

much more than what we have. So, when you spend your resources adequately on your people, when you spend your resources on infrastructure, in essence, you are saving.

What I am saying is that we had a lot of wrongs in the past.

Let’s look at the government’s social welfare scheme. Many would have thought that with the media hype that characterized it, by now, you should have been able to point to a certain number of people that have benefited from the scheme.

You have to agree that we do have some delay in the whole process because of the timing of the budget approval. For instance, when we came in at the end of May, there was no way the government could implement some of those social welfare schemes because it was not budgeted for.

So, we had to wait for the budget process to kick in so that we can begin to put our ideas forward, which was done and since the budget has been signed now, we are taking off. For instance, we have started the 500,000 jobs for unemployed graduates and people have been applying and I can tell you that the project will continue for the rest of July and the application process should end sometime at the end of this month and we will go to the next stage of picking the 500,000 unemployed that have been selected.

The school feeding is also in the process. We are in the process of sitting down with the states that will start the first phase of it, trying to work out the modalities of how that is done. I think we can identify the states that would start. The states where the register has been developed are already working with the World Bank to start the conditional cash transfer. So, that is also in progress. As soon as funds become available, we would begin to announce very soon the commencement of these programmes.

What is the time frame for these projects? Besides, do you think that the N23,000 earmarked as the salary can sustain a graduate, considering

the current harsh economic realities.

I believe the intention of the president is to make impact in the lives of Nigerians. The 500,000 jobs for unemployed graduates is a continuous programme. So, we expect that the people are going to exit after two years and I also think a new set of people after the two years will come in but it is going to get to a point that the economy would have picked up and sufficiently advanced to create private sector jobs.

So, yes, we can’t begin to talk about the termination of the programme now because it is just starting. Hopefully, it is something that is going to go on for a while.

On the issue of the N23,000, the way we conceived the allocation of 500,000 jobs for unemployed graduates, especially teaching, is not so much to see it as a full time permanent job. It is like a volunteer job and then people get paid. The idea is to intervene. The idea is to say that N23,000 is better than nothing. They will stay in their community and help to teach, help in health sector. N23,000 is not a lot of money but it is an intervention to reduce the situation. We believe within two years, all things being equal and by the grace of God and all the programmes of this government in the economy, technology, agriculture, more jobs, real jobs, better jobs would be created. One thing that you are also not taking into consideration is the fact that we planned to pay N30,000 but an idea came that why don’t we actually do more in terms of preparing and equipping those selected 500,000 graduates by giving a laptop or an iPad that would be equipped with different kinds of Apps that can help them to develop new skills.

So, N7,000 would be taken out of the N30,000 and would be used to give them, maybe, an iPad or a laptop. We are working with Microsoft and some technology firms abroad on how to give a good and useful skill that people can be empowered through and by that, even though he or she leaves in two years, he or she would take away that iPad, that laptop and be allowed to continue to improve themselves. So, we are looking at it as something that is a little bit more exciting than just those two years. We intend to

create conditions that would give opportunity to people to actually discover their hidden talents, some of their gifts, by exposing them to better technology in different aspects of life.

Some people had the impression that the recruitment would have been better handled by the NDE or ministries instead of the office of the vice president. Their belief is that the exercise will not be transparent under the current arrangement.

How will you react to this?

The first thing about this process is that it is transparent and that is why we are using a platform that everybody can go and check. That is the first thing. That is why we are insisting on applications. NDE is involved. The ministries are involved. When we have a project that cuts across ministries, we need coordination and that is what the presidency is doing. So, it is for the reason of bringing about effective coordination that Mr President has asked the vice president to coordinate this programme to bring the ministries together. It is not just something that is done by one ministry and you don’t want a situation where everybody would be going in different ways. The presidency exists for the purpose of coordinating the job of government. So, that is why it is being coordinated. So, each of these programmes has inter-ministerial interactions and working effectively and efficiently to deliver on the plans of Mr President.

The vice president coordinates the economy under this administration. Is he not concerned about reports of illegal recruitments in some government agencies such as CBN and FIRS? Some of these reports are inaccurate. What we heard is that government is working to ensure that we develop going forward in more transparent process. We are committed to going forward to ensure that some of these procedures are refined, fine-tuned and made more transparent.

35 feature

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Boko Haram: We’re dealing with a faceless insurgency —UNHCR Official Militarisation of IDP camps has become a licence for abuse

IDP children at Malkohi camp in Adamawa. PHOTO: IRIN.

By Hilary Matfess - Irin

S

OMETHING odd was happening outside the Dalori camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri.

In front of the gates, a group of men in a mixture of civilian and military outfits were shovelling bags of blankets and plastic goods into an auto rickshaw, known in Nigeria as a ‘keke’.

The cherry on top of this illicit sundae was a printer, still in its box, shoved with such force into the overloaded three-wheeler that it nearly toppled over.

Kick-started into life by a nearly invisible driver, the keke struggled up a small embankment onto the pot-holed road and was gone: brazenly carting away donations made to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

The theft of relief materials for the 20,000 displaced people in Dalori is criminal and reprehensible. One aid worker at the camp, who has witnessed such behaviour repeatedly, remarked that it was like “stealing from a corpse”, in light of how little assistance the IDPs receive.

It also points to a larger problem over the management of the 244,000 displaced people who have fled Boko Haram violence and settled in 75 government-run sites.

According to the UN’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the management of IDP camps is usually vested in “existing government agencies with relevant mandates”.

In Nigeria’s case, that would be the Emergency Management Agency at the individual state level. But, in reality, IDP sites are effectively under military control.

Armed soldiers, police, and a paramilitary vigilante group known as the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) protect the camps, and

the military provides the final authorisation on who is allowed to enter.

A ‘faceless insurgency’ While officially justified on the grounds of the Boko Haram security threat, the military’s role poses problems for the displaced, state authorities, and humanitarian agencies alike. It goes further than merely securing the camp from external threats; soldiers are also frequently tasked with the distribution of relief, particularly in remote areas that are more vulnerable to attack.

There is an obvious practical reason, according to Hamsatu Allamin, coordinator in the northeast of the UK-funded Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme, a conflict reduction initiative.

“In communities like Bama and Dikwa [previously Boko Haram strongholds], there is no civilian government presence, no INGO presence,” Allamin explained.

“There’s only the military to care for the IDPs, deliver food, fight the war, and protect the people.”

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, argues that the security threat in the northeast means the humanitarian effort cannot be independent of the military.

“You are dealing with an insurgency, a faceless insurgency,” a UNHCR official, who asked not to be named, told IRIN. “In other situations you have people with an objective, who you can negotiate with.

People here are killing for the sake of killing.”

A tempting target In February, a Boko Haram double suicide bombing took the lives of at least 56 people in an IDP camp in Dikwa, 80 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri. This week, the army thwarted an attempted attack against IDPs in Monguno, close to the Chadian border, shooting dead

two female suicide bombers. A third suspect’s explosive vest detonated prematurely.

The militarisation of IDP camps presents Boko Haram with an even more tempting target. But the blurring of the lines between civilian and insurgent, between humanitarian intervention and security surveillance, also invites abuse within the camps.

Organised theft, like the scene at Dalori, is not uncommon under conditions of weak accountability. A UN official, who like all others interviewed for this story requested anonymity, recounted a case in which ambulances filled with goods for IDPs were allegedly “packed up in the night and taken away” by soldiers and vigilantes.

Impunity Even more serious is the impunity the security forces appear to enjoy when it comes to sexual abuse and harassment.

“The soldiers and vigilantes harass the women in places that you cannot see it, but we have heard so many reports,” another

A UN official, who like all others interviewed for this story requested anonymity, recounted a case in which ambulances filled with goods for IDPs were allegedly “packed up in the night and taken away” by soldiers and vigilantes.

UNHCR official said. “When they want to go out, access food, or get help, they are forced to give sex.”

There is no effective system to address abuse by the military. “Reports would have to go to the security officials, but they are the ones most often committing the abuses,” one UN official explained.

Despite the fact that living in a formal camp comes with healthcare, some psychosocial support, and food assistance, conditions are such that out of the 1.8 million officially displaced in the northeast, more than 87 percent elect to live outside the camps, among relatives and friends in the community.

The brutality and lack of professionalism of the Nigerian military are long-standing problems – it’s a history punctuated by excesses against civilians, for which the armed forces have widespread impunity.

Danger recognised And Boko Haram capitalises on that bitter narrative. One teenage girl living in a government-run camp in Maiduguri was initially terrified of being settled there because of the soldiers and police she saw manning the gate.

She told IRIN that Boko Haram had told everyone in her village: “Beware of the Nigerian military, because if they find you they will kill you!”

Borno State governor Kashim Shettima recognises that the militarisation of the relief effort poses a threat to its humanitarian character, and the quality of the care provided.

“We have done as much as possible to secure the camps, but also to demilitarise them,” he said. “That is why we have increased the presence of the police, the Nigerian Civil Defense Corps, the CJTF.” But as the insurgency winds down, the best hope is that civilians will be able to soon leave the camps and return to their homes in safety.

36

9 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

views.com

The transience of power By: Kayode Olagunju

I

was motivated to write this piece after going through “The Ceramic Cup”, an experience of a former United States Under Secretary of Defence, culled from “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek, incidentally sent to me by an about retiring senior colleague. The ex-under Secretary compared his experiences when he attended a conference while in office and after leaving the office. He relayed his varying encounters at a large conference of about one thousand people. He told the audience that he came to the last conference in business class with someone waiting for him at the airport. The protocol team arranged to pick him up to the hotel and had been checked in before his arrival. His room key was handed over to him and was escorted to the room. The second day, somebody was downstairs waiting for him and a vehicle was arranged to pick him to the venue. At the conference centre, he was ushered in through a reserved entrance into the green room, the VIP waiting room and without asking, he was handed coffee in a beautiful ceramic cup. That was when he attended the conference the previous year as somebody in a position of authority.

The following year, after leaving the office, our “man of yesterday” came to the same conference in economy coach, nobody was waiting for him at the airport, he had to find a taxi to take him to the hotel, checked himself in and walked unescorted to his room. In the morning of the conference day, nobody was waiting at the hotel lobby and none was to chauffeur him to the venue. He called on a cab. At the venue, no special route of entrance, he came in like other participants. No waiting room and he had to find his way to the backstage and when he requested for coffee he was shown a coffee machine placed in a corner.

He had to serve himself in the Styrofoam (paper cup) provided.

This time, no ceramic cup. He reminded all the attendees that the ceramic cup and all the other royal treatments were not meant for him as a person but for his office.

Our leaders, especially the politicians, senior government

officials and high-ranking military and paramilitary officials should always think of when they leave the positions they are currently occupying. Many of the privileges and courtesies they are presently enjoying are not meant for them but for their offices and ranks. When they leave, human traffic to their offices and homes will reduce drastically, their phones will stop ringing, they will receive very few or no sallah or Christmas gifts, even New Year greeting cards will only trickle in. All the aides will disappear and they will have to personally carry their bags.

All those presently claiming affinity with them will look for new relations among today’s men. Free money through government care will suddenly dry up and people will suddenly realise how difficult and arrogant they were while in the office.

Even those they assisted will claim they could have done better.

I am presently an Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM), the third in line of leadership of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria as only the Deputy Corps Marshal group separates the Assistant Corps Marshals from the Chief Executive, the Corps Marshal. I think of that separation between Assistant Corps Marshal and myself, Kayode Olagunju daily. Today, before I wake up my uniform is ironed, ranks and badges fixed, shoes well polished and handed over to me by person assigned to do so. I have to even resist the offer to wear the shoes and tie the laces for me. Getting official vehicles fueled or maintained is not the responsibility of the officer.

The government pays for such. As an ACM you are ushered into your beautiful official car, with flag flying to show the authority confirmed on you. The staff car is fitted with siren, though I don’t use it and with communication gadgets to reach different locations from the car. Somebody is there as your orderly to open door for you, fend off unwanted guests, hold your phones, with the official phones never lacking airtime and data for communication.

The orderly is at your beck and call. You get to the office, people are called to be on attention, no movement and at every step, you get saluted. The office has been cleaned by those assigned to do so and some other people are provided to make your job easier.

Many will even want to think for you.

When travelling, you don’t know how your tickets are sourced.

The accommodation and protocol arrangements are perfectly made for you. Some of the courtesies are also extended to the families. Do you then wonder why many people will prefer their spouses to die in the positions rather than leaving such influential offices? Anyway, when such people also die in office, the burial expenses are most times passed to the government. If all these happen around the “small me” as we say here, then think of what happens at higher level of governance. Some even overdo things as they see these as status symbols. They engage in expensive lifestyles. They want security aides to carry their wives’ bags and go on all sorts of illegal assignments. The truth is, a lot of wastes go into these arrangements and I wonder how many people can sustain these after leaving their positions.

I have seen the “yesterday men” visiting their formal offices and observed that they are now barely recognised. The escort vehicles are no longer there. Sirens are no longer blaring. The retinues have disappeared . Maybe just one or two aides remaining. The influence has waned and now some practically seek recognitions. Allowances and free government monies are no longer there and they have to now fend for themselves.

Those who want to sustain same lifestyles after leaving the office would have to steal while in the office. Stolen government funds are being used to build mansions, buy expensive cars and send children, many of them pampered, to schools overseas. Some of them, I mean both the spoilt brats and their parents are in jail or being ridiculed, just because people think the indulgences must be permanent Lessons I have learnt? Simple. Power is transient. Don’t get used to a lifestyle you will not be able to legally sustain after leaving the office. Please note that tomorrow exists. You can be asked to account for the actions of today, in not too distant future. And finally, always remember this story of the ceramic cup meant for your office and the Styrofoam cup, the paper cup that is always meant for you.

Olagunju (Ph.D) is Assistant Corps Marshal, FRSC.

That education in Western Nigeria may prosper again

By Femi Babatunde IT is still a sobering reality that the quality of education in South West Nigeria has experienced an abysmal downturn in recent years. The present story should be sufficiently shocking and worrisome, particularly to those familiar with the golden era of the region when it was an all-round tales of inspiring exploits in virtually all sectors of human endeavours. Unfortunately, this region that once prided itself as the bastion of educational excellence and scholarship has retrogressed and now slides tragically behind other regions of the country that once looked up to her for leadership.

Take a look at the 2015 May/June West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination statistics: Only Lagos State, in the sixth position, was found on the top ten out of the 36 states, including Abuja. Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Oyo all ranked 11th, 13th, 19th, 29th and 26th respectively. As if this is not enough, the wave of scandals and crisis now dotting the education landscape in some of the western states should leave every true Yoruba son and daughter saddened, if not irked. The narrative is indeed disturbing, and thus, justifiably, requires all critical stakeholders in the country to devote concerted attention to finding a way out — urgently.

It was in apparent response to this that the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission, the region’s impressive integrative force, took up the gauntlet last week, convening a Technical Roundtable of leading stakeholders in education.

The theme could not have been more apt: ‘Developing a Collaborative Framework for Education Advancement in Western Nigeria’.

The effort was both timely and audacious. And much of this purposefulness reflected in the overall make-up of the event and the array of stakeholders harnessed to candidly dissect the matter at hand, while also forging a realistic and strategic direction for education in the region.

Dipo Famakinwa, Director General, DAWN Commission, brilliantly captured the place of qualitative education to the region this way: “The people of Western Nigeria are the region’s most important asset. It is from within the people that capable men and women who would effectively lead the region, and work hard for its prosperity and social harmony will emerge. There is the necessity to create a bespoke but globally-aligned South West Education to transmit our worldview which in turn would help in sustaining survival and promoting our civilisation. The long-term survival and

sustainability of the region is therefore hinged upon the production of educated, highly skilled, motivated and engaged people.”

Present at the event was a compact team of stakeholders.

With these professionals of impeccable records joined by the commissioners and permanent secretaries of education from different states, it was not difficult pulling out a great outing.

The uniqueness of the roundtable was definitely in its unpretentious approach of telling the truth as it is.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State who played host to the participants, delivered a very insightful keynote address. His presentation was sufficiently lucid and thus provided the required depth of conviction for the task at hand. Drawing randomly from his own childhood experiences, Governor Aregbesola emphasized the need to ensure the region focuses on functional education ideal that not only produces a graduate that aptly fits into the Omoluabi ethos, but one who is useful to the society indeed. “Education is that infrastructure of the mind that develops our youth to become models of good character, innovation and competence; the true Omoluabi. This Omoluabi personae is honest, courageous and rational; one who excels in character, innovation and competence.

The educated person is well connected to his or her Yoruba culture and heritage,” he noted. Of course, the governor’s address would not have been complete without clearing the air on the raging controversy stirred over the recent court judgment on the wearing of hijab and the reclassification of schools in his state.

The plenary session that featured presentations of iconic programmes and projects in education from the participating states was a unique experience worth escalating nationally.

Like a peer review session, it took a deep dive into some of the key programmes of the western states in primary and secondary education. The stakeholders consequently took turns to critique these projects, volunteered constructive feedbacks that the participating states obviously cherished. The highly successful school feeding programme (OMEAL) of Osun, the all-inclusive anti-cultism template in Oyo and the very ingenious public private model for funding public education cum data-driven system in Ogun, among many other interesting efforts, were well-regarded as being good enough to be replicated.

In many ways, it was the stakeholders’ panel session that undoubtedly turned out the most stimulating and rewarding. The team was led by a panel of five members: Mr Muyiwa

Bamgbose, educational technology advocate and founder, Educational Advancement Centre; Dr Kola Babarinde, director, Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of Ibadan; Dr Tunde Adekola, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank; Dr Olufunmilayo Olalusi, DFID representative and Professor Joel Babalola, former Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan. Their diagnoses of the retinue of challenges bedeviling education in the region and the solutions proffered were both deep and irrefutable. Also, other stakeholders in the audience engaged their colleagues and what resulted thereafter was an exhilarating free-flow of bold ideas, which eventually culminated in a formidable template upon which the expected fortunes of education in the region could be anchored.

The crux of the enriching deliberations centred on injecting fresh ideas into the education sector for an urgent turnaround. Active partnership between the various stakeholders, including teachers, parents, government and allied stakeholders in the region was identified as being critical to delivering qualitative education in the region. The need to give teachers the deserved pride of place in the region also came to the fore. It was echoed severally that, to professionalise teaching in the region and commit teachers to deliver on mandate, stakeholders must redirect efforts and ensure teaching is made intensely attractive through improved remuneration. This, as the stakeholders noted, is required to retain the region’s best brains in education. This was in addition to the call made to improve the learning environment in schools, while also reviewing the subsisting school curriculum.

Again, it was canvassed that political leaders in the region must exert the right political will on forging a road map that is all-inclusive and visionary. To this end, it was emphasised that for the region to deliver on the promise of bequeathing a greater future for the coming generation, qualitative education deserves the right kind of attention, priority and commitment.

After the intensive deliberation that stretched late into the night, it was agreed that a technical working group should be commissioned to articulate the strategic thinking that emanated from the roundtable. One can only hope, as the DAWN Commission promised, that the gains that accrued from the event become a sufficient stimulant to spur greater action and reverse the uninspiring fortunes of education in the western region.

Babatunde sent in this piece from Osogbo.

37

sport

9 July, 2016

Cech joins Messi in retirement

C

ZECH Republic goalkeeper, Petr Cech announced his retirement from international soccer on Friday following his country’s group stage exit at the ongoing Euro 2016.

This came barely two weeks after Lionel Messi had announced his retirement after the Copa 2016 final loss to Chile on June 26 in the United States.

The 34-year-old keeper, who plays for Arsenal in the English Premier League, is

his country’s most capped player with 124 appearances and played all three games at the tournament where the Czech Republic could only manage one point in group D. “This is a purely football-based decision. If I want to prolong my career and play at the highest level for as long as I can, then I will probably need to find the balance so that I can continue to do so,” he told Arsenal’s website (www. arsenal.com).

Wimbledon: Raonic set for Murray showdown As Serena faces Kerber today MILOS Raonic won a thrilling five-set contest to reach his first Grand Slam final and ended Roger Federer’s hopes of an eighth Wimbledon title for another year.

The big-serving sixth seed won 6-3, 6-7, (3-7) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Centre Court to become the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam final.

Raonic, 25, will now face Andy Murray in tomorrow’s final as world number one, Serena Williams faces German Angelique Kerber in the women’s final today.

Federer, 34, was beaten for the first time in 11 Wimbledon semi-finals.

Raonic recently added John McEnroe to his coaching team of Carlos Moya and Ricardo Piatti, and said the American’s influence had been significant.

“What he told me was to go out and leave it all out there,” Raonic told BBC Sport.

“I showed a lot of emotion, always positive. Mentally I had one of my best matches of my career. He gave me plenty that helped today, so did Carlos Moya. I hope they have a lot more to give me.

“I’ll focus on the task at hand. I’ve by no means done what I came here to do.”

Meanwhile, Murray triumphed over Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to set for his second Wimbledon title tomorrow at All England Club.

“I’m now 34 and the next (international) tournament is in two years which, in football, is a very long time.

The last thing I wanted to do was start a campaign and then say ‘I don’t think it’s right for me to continue’ halfway through it.”

Cech, who made his international debut in 2002, moved to Arsenal in June last year after spending 11 years across London at Chelsea, where he won four titles and the Champions League trophy in 2012.

Eagles’ job: Yusuf happy to make shortlist NIGERIA caretaker coach, Salisu Yusuf has told AfricanFootball.com he is most honoured to be among the three coaches to be interviewed for the Super Eagles top post on Monday.

Yusuf, Frenchman Paul Le Guen and the Belgian Tom Saintfiet are the three coaches who have been short listed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and will be interviewed for the top post and the successful man appointed thereafter.

“I’m honoured by the trust and confidence shown by the federation and Nigerians in general that I can shoulder the responsibility at this level,” said the former El-Kanemi Warriors midfielder, who has assisted Stephen Keshi, Sunday Oliseh and Samson Siasia in the past.

“I hope to be a worthy representative of all Nigerian coaches and the game in the

country.

“All the coaches short listed are very experienced, but I am convinced I can do the job.

Neymar corruption case dropped SPANISH investigators on Friday dropped a corruption case against Brazilian superstar, Neymar and his father in relation to the player’s 2013 transfer to FC Barcelona.

The case had been brought by the Brazilian investment fund DIS, former owners of the player’s rights.

But a judge ruled that the case “cannot be pursued in the criminal courts”, according to a statement by Spain’s High Court.

Clattenburg for Euro 2016 France/Portugal final UEFA has announced Mark Clattenburg will referee the final of Euro 2016 between France and Portugal tomorrow at the Stade de France.

Portugal had on Wednesday night dumped Wales 2-0 in the first semi-final, while hosts France beat Germany by the same margin on Thursday to reach the final.

The 41-year-old Englishman, a regular Premier League official, will become the second man after Portugal’s Pedro Proenca in 2012 to referee both the Champions League final and European Championship decider in the same season, having

already been the man in the middle for Real Madrid’s penalty-shootout victory over Atletico Madrid at San Siro in May this year.

He also took charge of the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley on May 21 and will be the first English referee of UEFA’s quadrennial international showpiece since Arthur Holland in 1964, when Spain defeated Soviet Union 2-1.

Clattenburg will be joined by assistant referees, Simon Beck and Jake Collin and additional assistants Anthony Taylor and Andre Marriner.

Saturday Tribune

“I am therefore looking forward to the interview on Monday.”

The 54-year-old Yusuf was in temporary charge of the Super Eagles for two recent friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg which they won.

Cech

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER

10 JULY, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

features

N200

glitz

Coping strategies of Lagos street traders

Onitsha: Capital city of filth, pollution

fan me

What a at did to Idumota market — Kunle Afod

glamour

I want bigger

boobs

— Motilola Adekunle

interview

Grazing reserve controversy: Will hostility be renewed on the Plateau? crimereport

Unbelievable but true!

A traditional ruler led a gang to rob and kidnap members of his community. Who is this traditional ruler? Where did this happen? Find out tomorrow.

Plus news, sports, fashion... and more!

Book your copy

38 sport

9 July, 2016

Why I dropped Osimhen from Rio squad —Siasia

N

IGERIA Olympic football team coach, Samson Siasia has said he did not consider Wolfsburgbound Victor Osimhen for the Rio Olympics because of

how important he is to the Flying Eagles, who are campaigning to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) U-20 in Zambia.

Osimhen was not picked in the 35-man provision-

Nigerian coaches set to honour Amodu, Keshi THE umbrella body of football coaches in Nigeria, the Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA) has scheduled novelty matches to honour two of their departed former colleagues, Amodu Shuaibu and Stephen Keshi.

A statement signed by the General Secretary of NFCA, Solomon Ogbeide said the executive committee has resolved to honour the late former Super Eagles coaches.

According to him, a mock match will hold in honour of Amodu on July 19 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin between the national teams (past and present) coaches and would also participate actively at the 40-day prayer in Okpella on July 20.

Similarly, another mock match is slated for the same stadium on July 28 in honour of Keshi during the Lying-in state.

“In view of these elaborate programmes, the NFCA has

directed all state affiliates to pay their yearly fees of N10,000 and a compulsory levy of N20,000 before July 15, while all coaches are also expected to make personal donation to the widows of the two coaches,” the statement said.

It further stated that coaches would wear green and white colours during the two events.

al squad for the summer games next month in Brazil even after he featured at the U23 AFCON in Senegal in December.

“I am of the opinion that the boy is going to play a very important role for the Flying Eagles. I know Emmanuel (Amuneke) has an important Africa Youth Championship qualifying match to play where he needs the boy since he is a very important player for him in the team,” Siasia explained.

“So, if I should take him straight to the United States (of America) as at the time I left), am I helping the Chief Coach of the team or the team to qualify by depriving them of one of their important players? So, why would I go and destabilise his (Amuneke) team?

“If you check the 65-man list we first made, Victor (Osimhen) was on that list.

So, the player has been on my list before I decided to excuse him to help the U-20 national team excel too.”

Saturday Tribune

After the Trinity Ordination held at the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Balogun Agoro, Osogbo on Sunday July 3, 2016 by his Lordship, Right Reverend James Afolabi Popoola

From left Mrs. & Rev. J.A. Faramade, the Diocesan Bishop & his wife, Rt. Rev. & Mrs. J.A. Popoola, Rev. & Mrs. O.O. Salako, and Rev. Dr. & Mrs. J.A. Tanimowo three of the newly Seven Ordained Priests.

Enyimba owes players 3 months salary PLAYERS of seven-time Nigeria champions, Enyimba have not been paid salaries for three months now, AfricanFootball.com has been informed.

The players said this month (July) will make it fourth straight month they have not received their salaries.

According to one of the players, who did not want his name to be mentioned, they have most disappointed that the management did

not even address the team to state why they are yet to be paid.

The player said the major reason the Aba club is not doing very well is because they lack motivation.

“No one can play football on an empty stomach,” said the player.

Enyimba is fourth on the league table and bottom of its CAF Champions League group B, which has Zamalek of Egypt and Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa.

From left Mrs. & Rev. S.A. Aderibigbe, Mrs. & Rev. V.O. Ajayi, the Diocesan Bishop & his wife, Rt. Rev. & Mrs. J.A. Popoola, Rev. & Mrs. J.M. Emiade, and Rev. & Mrs. E.T. Akindele, four of the newly Seven Ordained Priests.

Competing with Mourinho helps me a lot —Guardiola

PEP Guardiola believes his rivalry with Jose Mourinho will help push him on to achieve success at Manchester City.

The two managers were bitter foes when they were in charge at Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

Now they have started work at the same time in Manchester, with Guardiola taking over at City and Mourinho returning to the Premier League as Manchester United’s new manager.

As he tries to downplay his past history with Mourinho, Guardiola says taking on the former Real, Chelsea and In-

Guardiola

ter Milan boss – as well as a clutch of other high-profile overseas managers – will bring the best out of him.

Speaking with the media for the first time since leaving Bayern Munich to replace Manuel Pellegrini as City boss on a three-year contract, Guardiola said: “He wants to win, I want to win.

“I can say like a coach they help me – the big coaches – and Jose is one of them.

They help me to reach another level.

“We know each other pretty well from before, from Barcelona. I think it is great that big managers are here, top managers are here.

“My experience against

Mourinho

him, against (Jurgen) Klopp at Dortmund, they made me better. All the managers in the world want to win.

“Big managers take me as a manager to a different level.

Competing with them takes me to the next level.

“They push me to try and win the league, win the cup, win the Champions League and then you find out if you are big enough, capable enough to win with teams like Bayern, like Barcelona, like Manchester City.”

Guardiola, 45, was twice a Champions League winner as Barcelona coach and, after winning three league titles in Spain, also led Bayern Munich to a hat-trick of Bundesliga successes.

But he believes imposing his style of eye-catching, passing football on the Premier League and winning honours domestically and in Europe with City could be his toughest test yet after the 2013 champions finished fourth in the league last season under Pellegrini.

From left Rev. E.I. Odelola, Rev. R.O. Ige, the Diocesan Bishop & his wife, Rt. Rev. & Mrs. J.A. Popoola, and Rev. & Mrs. E.O. Odeniyi three of the newly made Eight Deacons.

From left Rev. & Mrs. I.S. Ojewoye, Mrs. & Rev. O.G. Olutoki and Rev. & Mrs. S.K.S. Ojetayo. From front, the Diocesan Bishop & his wife, Rt. Rev. & Mrs. J.A. Popoola, and Rev. & Mrs. E.K. Asomooba four of the newly made Eight Deacons.

For bookings, contact ’Laolu Afolabi on 08054681741 or Tommy Adegbite on 08116954631

39

sport

9 July, 2016

Nigerian players who dazzled last season abroad

Saturday Tribune

Anthony Ujah UJAH finished with 14 goals in all competitions last season for Werder Bremen which escaped relegation from the Bundesliga.

The Nigerian international who had his debut season after signing a four-year contract with Werder Bremen endured the longest goal drought of his career, scoring 14 times in 37 appearances.

Ujah, however, surpassed his Bundesliga goal tally of 10 goals for FC Koln in the 2014/15 season.

This is the concluding part of the piece by GANIYU SALMAN, the first part of which was published last weekend highlighting the exploits of some of the Nigerian players last season in foreign leagues.

Kelechi Iheanacho

Kelechi Iheanacho THE starlet was a delight to watch in his debut season with Manchester City.

He played most of his games from the bench, but made a tremendous impact.

His consistency made him the toast of his former manager, Manuel Pellegrini.

After first playing for the City U-21 team, Iheanacho was elevated into the main squad and he did not disappoint Pellegrini, having finished the season with 14 goals in 26 appearances.

The Taye Academy product who was ranked among the top ten emerging tal-

ents in the EPL last season, would always be remembered for his spectacular hat-trick against Aston Villa in the FA Cup till the new season begins.

His exploits at the justended season earned him plaudits from the Citizens chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who remarked that “We’ve had some good experiences this year with pushing some of our talents from the academy and Kelechi is a great example of that”.

Iheanacho, who had his senior international de-

Isaac Success Mikel

Mikel Obi Mikel had a splendid romance with Chelsea last season despite his modest accomplishment.

He became a rebranded player with the coming of Guus Hiddink after the sack of flamboyant manager, Jose Mourinho, as he had more playing time under the Dutch manager. His regular appearance forced Brazilian Ramires to join a Chinese side, Jiangsu Suning.

Mikel played a vital role when the Blues took on Paris Saint German in the knockout stage of the Champions League as he scored in the 1-2 loss at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

The Nigeria captain had his 59th Champions League appearance at Stamford Bridge when the Blues eventually bowed out in the Round of 16 following another 1-2 loss to PSG. The midfielder believes he will equally command a regular shirt under incoming manager, Antonio Conte, hence his decision to shun a number of offers being dangled before him.

Prior to Conte’s arrival, Mikel had said “I have one more season with Chelsea but I know when this season ends, we will definitely sit down and try to sort out whatever needs to be sorted out. If it means me leaving, fine.

“If it means me staying, then I have to play because one thing I don’t want to do is to sit on the bench like I did before.”

Mikel is on the 35-man provisional list for the Rio Olympics as coach Samson Siasia might consider him as one of the overage players for the Games billed to hold in August this year.

THE Nigerian striker was indeed a success last season with Granada CF of Spain. He netted six goals in 30 appearances and was instrumental in the survival of his club in La Liga last season.

His exploits with the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes based-side earned him offers from a number of clubs before he a few hours ago put pen on paper for the English Premier League side, Watford to join his kinsman, Odion Ighalo at Vicarage Road.

Success, a product of BJ Foundation, Benin City, had started with Granada B team before his elevation to the senior team and eventually hit a jackpot with Watford, which had a modest finish last season in its EPL debut.

The former junior international who became Watford’s record signing with £12.5m (N4.8billion) is expected to form a superb combination with Ighalo in the incoming season.

but last November against Swaziland, in a World Cup qualifier, also scored in the 3-1 defeat of Luxembourg in May this year after featuring in a double header against the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Al Mubarak too believes the Nigerian international can perform better in the new season if given more playing time adding “I think next year and the years that are coming he will have more minutes and I hope he will keep that goal-perminute ratio at the level it’s at right now”.

The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup Most Valuable Player, also clinched the award of being the player who scored a goal-per-minute ratio, a feat which eluded more deadly finishers such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo Luis Suarez and Karim Benzema, among others.

Iheanacho, also impresses in the Champions League semi-final clash with Real Madrid, after two late substitute appearances against Dynamo Kiev and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the previous stages.

With only 11 starts last season, Ihenacho given his performance must have endeared himself into the heart of the new City manager, Pep Guardiola in the new season which begins in August.

He is among the 35 players listed by Nigeria for the Rio 2016 billed for August.

Ujah

Moses Simon SIMON had a superb season with KAA Gent of Belgium. The Nigerian international helped the Belgian side to the knockout stage of the Champions League before it lost to a German side, Wolfsburg 4-2 on aggregate.

He finised with 10 goals in 44 games last season including five appearances in the Champions League.

Simon who is among the 35 players on the provisional list for the Rio Olympics, had his first international goal last September in the 2-0 win over Niger Republic in a friendly.

Moses

Haruna Garba

Garba

Haruna Garba unknown to many emerged the best Nigerian striker in Europe at the just-ended season having scored 22 goals for Hamrun Spartans of Malta. His exploits aided his side to gain promotion to the top division in the Maltese league.

Garba became the first Nigerian player in Europe to surpass the 20-goal mark last season and also emerged the second top scorer in the second division.

NPFL Match Day 26 fixtures

N150

SATURDAY, 9 JULY, 2016

NO 1,159

Nigeria shortlists Keshi’s adversary, Saintfeit, for Eagles’ job

Le Guen

Yusuf

By Dipo Ogunsola

N

O permanent enemy in sport!

Nigeria on Friday named Belgian coach, Tom Saintfeit as one of the three candidates vying to become the head of the technical crew of the Super Eagles, the country’s senior national team.

Also in contention for the post, according to the NFF chairman of the technical and development committee, Chris Green, are Frenchman Paul Le Guen and indigenous Salisu Yusuf.

Then as coach of Malawi, Saintfeit had dragged former Super Eagles’s head coach, the late Stephen Keshi, to F I F A over an alleged r a c i a l abuse.

Saintfeit

Saintfeit raised the alarm on security in Calabar ahead of a September 7 2013 World Cup Cup qualifier against Malawi in which Nigeria assured FIFA of safety, mentioning that police escorts and bomb squads would be deployed to ensure safety in Cala-

bar, forcing Saintfeit to refer to British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advisory that described Calabar as a no-travel area because of fears of terrorism and violent crime.

He added that if Calabar was safe, Nigeria needed not make assurances to FIFA. Ke s h i

Saturday, July 9 Heartland vs Enyimba Sunday, July 10 Shooting Stars vs Nasarawa Utd El-Kanemi vs MFM, Lagos

did not take kindly to this and lashed. ‘‘If he wants to talk to FIFA, he should go back to Belgium. He is not an African person, he is a white dude. ... He is mad. I wish I could say it to his face.”

Eventually, Keshi and Saintfeit embraced after the match and this could be a softlanding for Saintfeit as he hopes to land the Eagles’ job.

He has previously worked for Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Togo.

Kano Pillars vs Lobi Stars Plateau Utd vs Akwa Utd Rangers vs Abia Warriors Warri Wolves vs Wikki Tourists Rivers Utd vs Tornadoes

Oliseh

Pay me while I’m alive, Oliseh tells NFF ERSTWHILE Super Eagles handler, Sunday Oliseh wants the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to pay him and Francois Loscuito their outstanding debts without litigation.

The former Nigeria captain resigned as coach of the country’s senior national team on February 26, over unpaid wages cum series of battle with the NFF, media and fans owing to Nigeria’s early exit from the African Nation Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda.

Oliseh revealed on his twitter handle that the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF board has disregarded letters from his assistant’s [Loscuito] lawyer

and fears the Court of Arbitration for Sports could clamp down heavily on the country.

“Hope the NFF will pay coach Losciuto & myself the huge amounts they still owe us without litigation whilst we are alive! Pray they listen!,” he tweeted.

“For 5 months, Losciuto’s lawyers’ letters to D NFF have been ignored.

Should CAS suspend Nigeria it is not his fault.

B4 they lie 2 you again!”

It will be recalled that the NFF after the death of its technical director, Shuaibu Amodu admitted that the late coach was being owed salaries like any other employee of the Glass House.

Musa passes medical to land Leicester transfer record

By Oluwabunmi Ajayi

Musa in Leicester colours.

Musa on duty for CSKA. PHOTO:EPA

REIGNING English Premier League champions, Leicester City on Friday completed the signing of Ahmed Musa from CSKA Moscow for an undisclosed fee, the club has confirmed.

The Foxes have committed the Nigeria international to a four-year deal at the King Power Stadium after passing his medicals on Friday.

Musa becomes the team’s fourth senior summer signing following the captures of Nampalys Mendy, Ron-Robert Zieler and Luis Hernandez.

It is believed that Musa’s sign-on fee is worth around £16 million.

“Known for his electric pace and clinical finishing, Musa enjoyed his most productive season for CSKA Moscow yet

in 2015-16, netting 13 goals in 30 Russian Premier League games to fire them to the Russian title,” Leicester said in the statement welcoming the Nigerian to the East Midlands.

“Blessed with natural speed and agility, Musa can operate either on the wing or upfront.”

Speaking to the club’s website, the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner said he is delighted to have joined one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“I look forward to seeing the fans in the new season and I will do my best to make them happy.

“I joined because it’s one of the best clubs in the Premier League and they are like a family. That’s why I joined Leicester City and I’m very excited,” Musa who featured at the 2010 and 2014 World Cup finals stated.

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: saturdaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: LASISI OLAGUNJU. All Correspondence to P. O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 9/7/2016.