10th January 2016 by Nigerian Tribune

nigeria’s most informative newspaper no 2,028

SUNday, 10 January, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Buhari orders EFCC to recover looted loots

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Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

Nigerian Tribune

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Oyo ’ll conduct LG polls by June —Ajimobi

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Bloody election in Bayelsa pg4

APC thugs killed 14 persons — Gov Dickson PDP snatched ballot boxes — Minister Nobody died — Police

My relationship

Saheed Balogun with

—Allwell Ademola

Arms probe:

How N100m was disbursed —Falae

A person allegedly injured by political thugs, being taken off a vehicle at a medical centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on Saturday.

DSS quizzes, releases Faleke, Audu’s son

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10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

life&living Things Lagos cab drivers do to survive

The taxi business in Lagos can best be described as a bittersweet, yet interesting, enterprise. From the rise in airport pick-ups to nightclub clients, concubines and never-ending run-ins with men of the law, RITA OKONOBOH, who visited some towns in Lagos, reports the experiences of taxi drivers, in their quest to meet up with financial demands.

Photo: www.africanexaminer.com

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HIS traffic is something else. How do you cope with being on the move every time with this kind of traffic?” the reporter inquired, shifting uncomfortably in her seat for the umpteenth time. It had been two hours on the Third Mainland Bridge and it didn’t seem like any appreciable progress had been made. Smiling, the driver responded. “Aunty, that’s the norm o. You won’t believe this is the third night I have not slept at home. My wife has not been very happy, especially as she is pregnant with our first child.” The trip should have lasted barely twenty minutes, under normal non-traffic circumstances. However, this was Lagos and the abnormal, when it came to traffic situations, was normal. Spending four to six hours in traffic was the norm and with the festive period, the situation seemed to be worse. Although, there are taxi operations in many states across Nigeria, Lagos pro-

vides a hotbed of opportunities because of the concentration of business options, as well as the seeming attractiveness the city offers in terms of the allure of quick cash, especially for those willing to work for it. Taxi drivers, especially in big cities such as Lagos, are not an unusual sight. From the passengers who want to visit as many places as possible within limited time, to the taxi drivers who are also in a hurry to make as much money as they can, the taxi business is a bittersweet envy of all professions at this time. While many may assume that the average taxi driver’s day begins and ends at a particular time, in reality, for many of those in the business, there are no strict working hours, not just for those who work for private companies, but for those in the business for themselves. A visit around various towns across Lagos reveals the obviously hidden realities taxi drivers face on a regular basis. ‘With what I’ve seen, I can’t be-

come a personal driver for any ‘big man’’ “The fare is N4,000.” “N4,000? Just from Third Mainland to Berger?” the reporter argued. “Yes o. In fact, it should be more than that. You’re just lucky I’ve been at the mechanic’s since morning and you’re my first customer and I must make my delivery today.” And the haggling continued until the driver agreed, albeit reluctantly, to take N3,000. Mr Ahmed Olu (not real name) is a driver for one of the popular privately owned taxi operations in Lagos. As the journey commenced, he quickly formed a rapport and in a few minutes, he was talking about politics and the general state of the economy. Speaking with Sunday Tribune, he noted that while many may assume that the business is a steady source of income, it is actually not as lucrative as it seems. “I’m barely thirty-five years old and I’ve been driving for close to a year. When I

didn’t get anything to do after I completed my OND, my cousin introduced me to one of the drivers and with time, I was given a cab. The business is so stressful, especially as we make delivery of N7,000 every day. Interestingly, whether one makes money or not, you have to deliver N7,000. That’s the agreement and that’s why I decided to carry you and your friend to make up for lost time,” he stated. When asked why he had not started his own business, that is, owning his own car or at least applying as a personal driver to one of the ‘big men’ whom he said were part of his clientele, he quickly went on the defensive. “Personal driver ke? No o. I’ve been offered but I’m not interested. I’d rather sell recharge cards than be a driver to these ‘big men,’ especially because of the reservations I have about them. You have no idea what goes on at wee hours in Lagos that’s why you would suggest such. continues

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life&living

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘We carry Ogas’ concubines, suffer traffic palava’

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State continued from

Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation

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“Just few days ago, I was contracted by some university students to pick them up at about 1a.m. from a nightclub. After I dropped them off, I decided to go back to the office and sleep in my car because my house is too far from this neighbourhood. Do you know that when I got to one of the popular areas just after Ojota, I saw a man rolling something that I would swear with my life, was a human body, out of his car. The picture was so scary and I have vowed not to pass that area at such time again. Honestly, things are happening in this country. And that is just one of the many scenarios that play out on these roads. No, I can’t take such a job, especially as I can’t control the hours, nor the destination,” Olu stated. ‘The guilt of having to pick up customers’ concubines is killing’ At one of the taxi parks around Ikeja, many of the drivers are middle-aged and one of them, Mr Peter Arowolo, use spectacles. They were engrossed in a heated discussion about the recent budget presentation of President Muhammadu Buhari, but, like clockwork, as soon as the reporter entered into the premises, they looked up, and paused their discussion. After asking around, one of the drivers reluctantly signalled a man who cut the picture of the boss of the park who was buying his lunch from the roadside food vendor. Mr Jide Oyewole finally agreed to speak with Sunday Tribune after initial reluctance. While Sunday Tribune observed that apart from the unmarked taxis stationed at the park, some private firm taxis also had a mini-queue at the park, on inquiry, it was found out that the private firm cabs come there to find customers because the spot is a good catchment area for customers. One would notice the unspoken agreement between both groups, with intermittent squabbles about who was next in line. Mr Oyewole narrated to Sunday Tribune that having been in the business for over 15 years, he had seen a lot. “I’ve seen people start, get frustrated and leave. There are times when we have to leave the park to look for customers and you know how parking rules apply in Lagos, even at airports. I’ve had an instance when a security officer almost shot me because I was arguing with him about parking space at the airport, while waiting for a customer who had called me earlier to pick him up. And then the annoying trips one has to make sometimes. In this business, you’re the gateman, receptionist, customer care officer, accountant and the manager. We try to form personal relationships with as many clients as possible

Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, FRSC boss

so they can reach out to us when they need cab services. However, it can be very embarrassing sometimes. Imagine at my age – I’m over 55 – having to pick up an elderly man’s many concubines. This is someone whose family I know and I’ve taken the daughter to school sometimes. The guilt when I see his wife – such a nice woman – is killing but what can one do. The man pays well and I need the money,” Oyewole stated. At this point, two of his colleagues, who had earlier refused to speak to the press, but had been listening intently to the conversation, walked over. After making the reporter promise to absolutely keep their real names out of the report, and Mr Oyewole agreeing to ensure that this instruction was followed to the letter, they agreed to share their experiences. Mr Oyewole, thus excused himself and settled further into his car to have his lunch. ‘The traffic situation also boosts business’ Mr Fisayo Oyeniyi, one of the drivers, gave the age range of the drivers as between 25 and above. Speaking on how the traffic situation affects the business, unlike what one would assume was a disadvantage, for Mr Oyeniyi, “it is actually an advantage and even customers don’t have a choice but to pay for it. Traffic situations form part of the charges and many customers rarely complain and we get a lot of patronage, because we are experts on the road, and the customers are usually impressed.” Speaking on the annual test drivers undergo in Lagos, Mr Peter Arowolo, who uses glasses and has been in the business for over 10 years, recalls his first official road test. “It was almost embarrassing. I’ve been driving for as long as I can remember and I knew my eyes were bad but I was determined to pass the test. As I sat at the office, I read the expression of the man who read the report

I’ve seen people start, get frustrated and leave. A security officer almost shot me because I was arguing with him about parking space at the airport, while waiting for a customer who had called me earlier to pick him up

Alhaji Nojeem Yasin, President, NURTW and I knew he was about to tell me to pack up. I simply switched to my native dialect and told him in an emotion-laden voice that I had a son like him in the university who depends on my taxi business. The young man simply smiled and advised me to make sure I used the glasses recommended for me at all times. I couldn’t thank him enough that day,” Arowolo narrated. He, however, noted that it would be encouraging if government relaxed on its parking rules, especially for cab drivers as it can be challenging getting where to stay if they decided to look for passengers outside the park. ‘With the fuel situation, why won’t I sleep outside home?’ Another driver, who simply identified himself as Mr A. Johnson, who relocated with his family from the SouthSouth related his experiences to Sunday Tribune. Mr Johnson, who is a member of the executives of one of the parks around Ikorodu, narrated the experiences of his trade. According to him, membership of the park is by approval of members to maintain the dignity of the park, especially for customers. Thus, while no delivery to bosses are made, members are encouraged to put on a good showing when on the job to discourage negative perceptions about the park. He noted that “I had to move here after I got married because I needed to make something with my life and the pressure from home was getting out of hand. The business can be interesting at times, but there are times when we just burn fuel coming all the way here, with the terrible traffic, only to go home empty handed. We charge per hour but it also depends on the agreement one has with the customer. It’s personal business for many people and for the days we get lucky, one can make as much as N10,000 per day. The business is open to anybody, as long as you have a good car. “Sleeping outside home is not a strange thing and my family understands, especially as it is not every time. It’s like a seasonal thing. What’s the point of staying at home when there is no money to compensate for my presence. My sister, I’m a man and I must bring in money. No be presence family go chop. Apart from the fact that this is Lagos and airport pick-ups are popular, some of us who live far away find places to sleep, especially if the business takes us far from home, so as not to waste fuel going all the way home and back.... Good afternoon, Sir, Where are you going?...” And the interview ended because he had a customer. Actively involved in the daily hustle and bustle that characterises Lagos, taxi drivers, private, public, whatever the case may be, are, indeed, the kings of the road.

news

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Bloody election in Bayelsa

As gov, minister trade blames over killings, violence Austin Ebipade -Yenagoa with agency report

o fewer than 10 persons were reportedly killed during the supplementary Bayelsa State governorship election on Saturday, with the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, claiming that 14 persons including soldiers and policemen died. The Bayelsa State Police Command, however, told Sunday Tribune that “nobody died during the election,” noting that the election was peaceful and that the police were in control. Speaking through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Asinim Butswat, the police maintained that reports of killings were false, while noting that the command arrested two suspected thugs who were in their custody. Official results of the election are expected to be announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the early hours of Sunday. Sunday Tribune findings showed that series of violent acts and allegations of snatching of election materials marred the supplementary election in Southern Ijaw Local Government and other 101 units in Sagbama, Nembe, Yenagoa and Ogbia local governments. The killings were reportedly at Ekeremor, Nembe and Yenagoa.

Dickson condemns violence, killings Governor Dickson, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel IworisoMarkson, condemned “the electoral malpractice and violence, which marred the supplementary elections in Brass, Nembe, Ekeremor town and parts of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.” The governor also accused APC chieftains of “masterminding the killings of innocent Bayelsans in Brass, Ekeremor, Nembe and Sothern Ijaw and wondered why the APC would kill to capture power.” While reiterating his earlier stance that the APC was not ready for one man, one vote, the governor said the violence also vindicated him on his earlier position that the security agencies particularly, the Nigeria military, were partisan and not willing to provide the enabling environment for a free and fair election to take place. The statement claimed that “over 14 people were

feared dead, saying four of them were policemen, two soldiers and eight civilians in Ekeremor alone. Many PDP members were also attacked in Brass and Southern Ijaw and are in critical conditions at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa,” the statement further claimed.

APC accuses PDP of snatching ballot boxes A senior military officer was also accused of snatching ballot boxes in Ekeremor, with eyewitnesses alleging that pandemonium broke out following an alleged invasion by armed men led by the reported military officer to snatch election materials in the area. The military officer, who was said to be of the rank of a Major, it was gathered, led armed youths to the area. Comrade Preye Amba, an aide to the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, confirmed the incident, saying: “The PDP, in concert with one Major (names withheld) came to carry away electoral materials from Ekeremor to Egbema Angalabiri. We have on record that the said major is on the pay roll of a known ex-militant leader bent on bringing down the APC in Bayelsa State.” “We call on the military authorities to investigate the role of the said major because he took away the materials without any other escort provided either by the Police or the DSS.” Voters in Okoroba home of the late Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Oronto Douglas, on Saturday, raised the alarm over the hijack of election materials meant for their unit by thugs.

According to some of the voters, though only Unit 13 Ward 11 was cancelled in Okoroba community, the materials for the unit were hijacked at the point of distribution by political thugs allegedly in the presence of security agents and the police. Gift Douglas, a lawyer, confirmed that the thugs also attacked and beat up a traditional chief, Etulankimor Douglas Eteli, to stupor in front of security agents, saying: “The materials for Okoroba community is now in Nembe and they are thumb-printing for the APC.”

Shootings in communities Voting in Ekeowe and Famgbe communities of Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa Local Government areas was delayed beyond noon due to sporadic shooting and security threats by armed thugs in the area, with accreditation and voting yet to begin after 11.30. In Famgbe community, armed men reportedly invaded the venue of voting to scare away the voters with gunshots. Election materials meant for Lobia 1, 2, 3 and Peremabiri units, among others, were hijacked by militants wielding AK 47 and other dangerous weapons, with a building belonging to a PDP chieftain, Chief James Jephtah, a.k.a. Octopus, reportedly set on fire by political thugs, who chased voters out of the community. Lokpobiri debunks alleged shooting, killing of 10 Also reacting to the claim that 10 persons were killed,

Senator Lokpobiri debunked the claim by some PDP loyalists that there were heavy shootings in Ekeremor town, which led to the alleged killing of two soldiers and two civilians. The minister, speaking through his aide, Amba, said though the claim had been traced to some PDP apologists, the conduct of the election in Ekeremor was peaceful, orderly and without violence.

Impressive voters turnout, as observers, voters commend card reader performance The election, despite fears of large scale violence, recorded an impressive turnout of voters in most units in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and some other units where the supplementary poll was conducted. With adequate presence of security personnel and electoral officials, the exercise began at all the polling units in Anyama Primary School, Anyama-Ijaw, Ward 2, at 9.30 a.m. The exercise was also smooth in other units in the ward. Delay in distribution of materials within Ward 4 caused the exercise to commence at about 10 a.m. in the area. At Peremabiri, where polling was being conducted at the Town Hall, the card reader was also functioning, with the voters taking their turns in accreditation and balloting. However, the exercise was yet to commence at Odenwari community, Ward 3, at 10.15 a.m. as materials were still awaited in spite of large presence of voters as well as security personnel.

Meanwhile, voters and election observers who participated in the poll commended the performance of card readers deployed for the exercise. The voters, who spoke to the NAN in some of the polling stations, commended INEC for correcting the lapses, which the card readers recorded in the December 5 exercise. Soldiers arrest ballot box-snatching suspects Two persons suspected to be agents of one of the political parties involved in the supplementary governorship election were arrested for allegedly snatching a ballot box. NAN maintained that the suspects were arrested by soldiers at Otuokpoti Unit 1, Ward 2, Ogbia Local Government Area, where the box was allegedly snatched, with the suspects said to have forcefully carried the ballot box while polling was ongoing at the unit. The incident caused pandemonium at the unit but after the suspects were taken away, accreditation and voting resumed, NAN stated. The police in Bayelsa said it had commenced investigation on the alleged snatching of ballot box during the election. The police spokesperson, Buswat, confirmed to the NAN in Yenagoa that the two suspects were arrested for forcefully removing the box at Otuokpoti, Unit 1, Ward 2, Ogbia Local Government Area, saying: “As we speak, two suspects who snatched the ballot box are in our custody. We have commenced investigation on the incident. So far, we have not received report of

any incident since the election began early today in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and other polling units in other parts of the state,” he said. Butswat said police team leader for the election, Mr Hashim Argungu, a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), accompanied by heads of other security agencies and one INEC commissioner, visited some polling units. “The team visited Agudama-Epetiama community in Yenagoa Local Government Area, with three polling units. The situation was calm and reports from other polling units say all was calm,” he said. The spokesman said that the command was in control of the situation and that personnel deployed for the election were effectively monitoring areas assigned to them. PDP thanks Bayelsans for their resilience The PDP has, however, praised the people of Southern Ijaw and others in the remaining 101 units for their steadfastness. Speaking through Dickson’s Restoration Campaign Organisation’s Director of Publicity, Jonathan Obuebite, who was full of joy, noting that the party was cruising to victory in the supplementary election, the PDP commended the display of courage by Bayelsans. “I want to appreciate the people of Southern Ijaw local government areas, and those in the other 101 polling units, as they listened to our call that they must not allow anybody to intimidate them, as they step out to exercise their civic responsibilities.”

Buhari asks EFCC to recover all looted loots Taiwo Adisa - Abuja PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari was at the weekend said to have given matching orders to the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Ibrahim Magu to account for all properties and funds recovered through the Commission from indicted persons in recent years. Indications to this effect were given by sources in the administration who provided insights into recent visits of the EFCC Chairman to the Presidential Villa last week. Magu was said to have made two quick returns to the Villa, prompting inquiries as to his mission. Sources however con-

firmed that the President met the EFCC boss on the basis of ongoing investigations into the whereabouts of the looted funds and other properties recovered in the past by the commission. It was also gathered that the President has demanded a comprehensive detail of all properties recovered through the EFCC and sold to some Nigerians. It was learnt that there were concerns that many of the properties had been acquired by some influential Nigerians including politicians, legal luminaries and other professionals and this may have been made known to the presidency especially following last year’s disagreement between the

Senate and the former EFCC boss, Ibrahim Lamorde. The Senate had summoned Lamorde to account for over N1 trillion recovered from indicted suspects tried by the Commission but the former EFCC boss did not appear before the Senate Committee until he was relieved of his position. It was specifically gathered that Magu has submitted to the Villa preliminary reports of his probe of past activities of the EFCC and that he got the presidential go ahead to recover all properties not properly disposed of by the commission. “There were concerns that many of the properties recovered from a convicted fraudster those seized from

former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Tafa Balogun among others were looted. Recall that one of the convicted persons had in 2009 written a petition to the Attorney General of the Federation alleging that he was shortchanged in the sale of some properties. The Commission is looking into all these issues already. The commission now has a presidential backing to review the sale of all properties including those ones bought by some persons in the judiciary and recover all those not disposed off through due process,” a source said. In August, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions had received a petition from

one George Uboh, in which he alleged that the over N1 trillion proceeds recovered by the EFCC from convicted persons had been mismanaged. When Lamorde was summoned, he pleaded for time to enable an international audit firm submit a report of its audit of the EFCC so that he could present a detailed report to the Senate but he never really appeared before the lawmakers till he was sacked. His lawyer, Festus Keyamo later wrote the Senate, challenging its authority to question Lamorde. The matter has since been kept in abeyance in the Senate following Lamorde’s sack.

news Use of holding charge to detain Metuh illegal —PDP

•Attack on anti-corruption fight futile —APC LeonUsigbe,JacobSegun Olatunji-Abujawithagency Reports

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for relying on illegal holding charge to keep the party’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh, in detention since Tuesday without charging him to court, while the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Saturday, has said that attacks by the PDP on the war against corruption, being waged by President Muhammadu Buhari were futile. The PDP, in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, stated that the supposed holding charge clearly showed the dictatorial character of President Buhari-led government, which it said has not hidden its disdain for rule of law and has an appetite to gag the opposition, just as the APC’s statement, also issued in Abuja, and signed by its Assistant Director (Publicity), Mr Edegbe Odemwingie, available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the party was aware of the plot by PDP to blackmail anticorruption agencies over ongoing corruption cases. “In three orchestrated press statements issued on Friday, Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, and Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, among others, alleged plans by the APC and President Buhari’s administration to silence the opposition through a selective anti-corruption fight. Also, the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, on Friday, accused the APC of attempting to turn the country into a one party state. The APC urges anti-corruption agencies not to be distracted by these coordinated attacks but continue to employ legal and legitimate avenues to bring to book all looters of our common wealth. The party described as “conspiracy theory’’ the allegation by the PDP that Buhari was fighting a selective war on corruption. “For the umpteenth time, if the PDP has any proof of corruption against any APC member as alleged, we advise that they approach any of the anti-graft agencies constitutionally mandated to handle such cases. The ongoing war against corruption is not selective. Anybody guilty of corrupt practices must face the law,” it stated. The National Legal Ad-

viser of PDP, Victor Kwon, noted that the continued detention of Metuh was in clear breach of his fundamental rights. It stressed that relying on a purported

‘holding charge’, said to have been derived from a Magistrate to detain Metuh beyond the statutory period allowed by the law, was in total violation

of the constitution and extant corresponding rulings by several trial and appellate courts in the country. “We draw the attention of all Nigerians and the in-

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

ternational community to this illegal clamp-down on the opposition spokesman by the EFCC, using a purported holding charge said to have been derived from

a magistrate court. “Holding Charge, which implies ‘arrest before investigation’ instead of ‘investigation before arrest,’ is clearly an aberration and abuse of judicial process which has since been declared by several courts as illegal, null and void, and of no effect as it is totally in contradiction with section 35 (1), (4), (5a) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “The PDP is particularly worried that Chief Metuh, since his arrest on Tuesday, is being inhumanly kept in an underground cell where he is daily threatened by officials, who we gathered, have been mounting pressure on him to accept guilt of fictitious figures and implicate PDP leaders. “The public is very much aware that the EFCC Chairman has visited the Presidential Villa at least twice since Chief Metuh was arrested and detained by the commission, ostensibly to get further directives on the case.

Hon. Ladi Adebutu, Chairman, House Committee on Rural Development, (fourth right); Chief S.A. Odubona (second right), with community leaders, at the opening of a block of two classrooms which he renovated at St. Paul’s Primary School, Igbololo, Sagamu, Remo, Ogun State, recently.

LG election’ll hold in six months —Ajimobi By Wale Akinselure Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has declared that he would organise Local Government elections in the next six months just as he would not appoint commissioners soon. Speaking on a talk show aired on a private radio station, Splash Fm, Ibadan, on Saturday, Ajimobi said that he would appoint Caretaker Chairmen to run the 33 local governments in the state this month, while elections into the councils would be conducted before the end of June 2016. Ajimobi added that he was in no rush to appoint commissioners and other members of his cabinet, noting that government formulated policies with inputs from Permanent Secretaries of Ministries, and not with Commissioners. “We will organise Local Government elections within the next six months. We should have been able to settle court cases on the matter before then. We didn’t conduct local government elections because there was a court case. But, we have been able to withdraw the court case. Once we appoint Caretaker Chairmen this month, we will have Local Government election before end of June.” “I decided not to appoint Commissioners yet

because some of the ministries function very well. Commissioners are political appointees. Policies are not formulated by them. The government with input from the permanent secretaries formulate policies. Commissioners are the political heads of these ministries.” “So, if we want to bring in the Commissioners, we need to first study all the

aspects of each ministry. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag. Just wait, at the appropriate time, we will appoint them. I will appoint them at the time that I fix. It can even be in the next two years but I won’t do it alone for four years.” Ajimobi also disclosed that the decision of former governor, Chief Adebayo Alao Akala and his fol-

lowers to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not connected with a speculated agreement to apportion some political positions to one of Alao Akala’s sons or some of his associates. “In politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, we only have permanent interests. And once our interests are congruent, what is wrong in hav-

ing an Alao Akala in our party. He did not kill my brother or daughter. He says he likes what we have and is joining us, so what is the problem?” “He is not joining us to run the state. Alao Akala is not joining Ajimobi. He is joining the APC. If someone wants to join the party and embraces how we run government, what is wrong in that?”

22-year-old set ablaze by father in Kwara State •Another burnt to death in Osun OluwoleIge-Osogbowith Agency Reports A 22-year-old man in Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Sola Akangbe, died in the early hours of Saturday following wounds from a fire allegedly set on him by his biological father, Kehinde. The deceased, a wheelbarrow pusher, was said to have suffered high degree of burns and was confirmed dead by doctors at Ajisafe Hospital, OmuAran, where he was rushed to by the police on Friday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that doctors at the hospital battled to save his life as the fire affected most parts of his body. The deceased was said to have been accused of stealing an undisclosed amount of money from some roadside beggars on Friday and was apprehended and handed over to his father.

The father, a commercial driver, allegedly drove his son to a nearby bush on Omu-Aran-Isanlu-Isin road, tied his hands and legs before setting him ablaze. Sola, who was still alive when he was rescued, told his rescuers that his father was responsible for the act. Mr Ajayi Okasanmi, the Police Public Relation Officer in the state, confirmed the incident, saying that the suspect was already in police custody and that investigation was ongoing. Also at Isale-Aro area of Osogbo, Osun State on Thursday, a 75-year old man, Lamina Ishola, was burnt to death in an inferno which razed a building. The fire started around 9.00pm. An eyewitness informed that the neighbourhood had noticed thick flame billowing from one of the rooms in the mud house where Ishola

laid. “Some residents of the area made frantic effort to put out the fire before fire fighters arrived the scene to complement the efforts of the sympathisers,” but Ishola, a father of two, had been burnt to death before he could be rescued. The deceased’s younger brother, Mr Ademola Oseni said the fire was prepicitated by a locally made lantern. Oseni further explained that Ishola, who

was not in good mental condition owing to an injury he sustained in an accident, could had mistakenly hit the lantern while asleep. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Osun State Police Command, Mrs Folasade Odoro, said the police was not aware of the fire incident. She said: “It has not been reported at the station.”

Adeboye holds special Holy Ghost Service in Ibadan The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor E.A Adeboye, will be in Ibadan on Wednesday, January 13, 2016, for a special Holy Ghost Service. The service with the theme ‘Divine Visitation’, will be held at the old sports complex, behind Faculties of Education and Arts, University of Ibadan and it will start at 4pm.

10 January, 2016

crimereports

Sunday Tribune

edited by Oluwatoyin Malik 0807 889 1950, 0811 695 4633 praiseboy01@gmail.com

My pastor asked me to lie that armed robbers snatched my boss’s vehicle —Suspect By Oluwatoyin Malik

company driver, arrested by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos Police Command in collaboration with Sango Area Command, Ogun State for stealing a company’s bus, has disclosed that his pastor directed him to tell a lie that he was robbed and the vehicle taken away from him by his assailants. Crime Reports gathered that the suspect, Daniel Ogunlade (25), was sent on an errand within Lagos by the company’s Managing Director on Christmas eve in 2015, but diverted the bus, a Toyota Hiace 2014 model with the registration number EKY 463 DM, to Ifo, Ogun State. One Oyetade Ade (30) was also arrested in connection with the case. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni had on Christmas eve directed the Commander, Rapid Response Squad, ACP Olatunji Disu to work towards the recovery of the Toyota bus which was tracked to Ifo, after which the Sango Area Command secured the vehicle along with the two suspects. Reports reaching Crime Reports indicated that Ogunlade, who had been working with the company for about three years, was directed to pick up a company client at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja and drop him in Ajao Estate, but he took the bus to Ifo, Ogun State where the Rapid Response Squad tracked the vehicle. In a disclosure after his arrest, the suspect said that a pastor of a white garment church which he attends tutored him to tell his boss that armed robbers snatched the bus, a sum of N150,000 and a Christmas hamper from him. Ogunlade, who stated that he was not too sure

Elijah Ogunsami

The suspects with the recovered bus that the pastor (name withheld) was not using a supernatural power on him, added: “when I was on Third Mainland Bridge around 11.30 a.m., en route Muritala Muhammed International Airport to pick a client, I received two calls. One was from my father who told me that my

mum was sick and the other one was from my pastor who directed that I should proceed to his church in Adiyan, Ogun State. “As if propelled by forces beyond me, I headed straight to the church with the company’s bus. This was contrary to my itinerary for the day, which was

to wait at the airport for the client with a delayed flight, drop him in Ajao Estate and give some people N150, 000 and return the vehicle to Lekki. “At the church, the pastor told me to drop the hamper for him, even when I told him that my boss said I should give it to

someone at the airport. “He then asked if I knew that the day, December 24, 2015, was Imoke Day. I answered in the affirmative, and he directed me again to join the church there. A church member, Oyetade, joined me in the bus and I was in Ifo to buy fuel when the bus stopped moving. I

invited an electrician and he was about to start working on it when we the police came. “I called the pastor at about 7.30 p.m. to inform him that the bus had stopped working and he replied that I should tell my boss that armed robbers snatched the bus from me. But I was I didn’t know what to say when my boss called me”. Ogunlade expressed surprise that the pastor denied collecting the hamper from him, saying: “He abandoned me and a church member that I offered a ride at the petrol station. He didn’t even attempt to see us at the police station” He stated that he wasn’t trying to run away with the bus and N150,000 his boss gave him, “I can’t explain exactly how I got to where the police arrested me. My boss was doing his best. He was paying me N60,000 monthly as salary. Though I am struggling with my finances, I never planned to steal the vehicle,” Ogunlade said. Crime Reports learnt that the suspects, who were initially transferred from Sango Area Command, to the RRS headquarters in Ikeja, had been taken to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit, Ikeja, for further investigation.

NSCDC arrests 45 vandals in Kwara Biola Azeez - Ilorin

A total number of 45 suspected oil pipeline vandals have been arrested by the Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Speaking with journalists on the activities of the anti-vandalism drive of the command for 2015 in Ilorin on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, the state commandant, Augustine Obiekwe, said that not less than five

of the suspects were sentenced to three years jail term each, adding that 40 others were being prosecuted at various courts of competent jurisdiction in the state. The NSCDC boss said the achievements were recorded through pro-activeness of his men in intercepting vandals while in the act, and through stopand-search measures that were aimed at discouraging oil products diversion. He also said that some of

the suspected vandals were caught through routine surveillance and monitoring of the NNPC right of way. Obiekwe added that various tools and equipment such as vehicles, digging instruments, pumping machines, welding machines, drums and jerry cans filled with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), handsets, among other items, were recovered from the vandals from different parts of the state including Oke Oyi in Ilorin

East LGA and Afon-Kankan-Osin-Ladula axis of Asa LGA in 2015. The NSDC boss, who said NSCDC officials had resolved not to allow vandals to thrive within the shores of the country, called for cooperation and collaboration of other security agencies. He also appealed for support and assistance of communities where petroleum pipelines traverse, saying they should be vigilant and report suspected

movements to the corps for appropriate and immediate actions. Obiekwe, who said that host communities are exposed to a high risk when vandalism takes place, added that vandals are economic saboteurs. He also warned all those involved in the illegal activities of vandalism to desist or stay away from the state, stating that the corps would take more drastic measures against vandals this year.

crimereports

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

I was invited for carnival but was taken for robbery —Suspect By Oluwatoyin Malik

T was claims and denials among three suspected members of an armed robbery gang who were arrested by the Lagos State Police Command on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, when one of them, Kuye Daniel (20), said that the two others, Adewunmi Fashola and Balogun Mutiu belonged to the robbery gang of his friend, one Badoo. But Fashola and Mutiu denied Daniel, saying that they had never seen him before in their lifetime. The three suspects were among those mentioned by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Fatai Owoseni, on Wednesday, January 6, 2015 during a press briefing held at the command headquarters in Ikeja. Owoseni told journalists that policemen attached to Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and Surulere Division intercepted a gang of armed robbers operating in a Toyota Corolla car with registration number AAA 239 BD at Randle Avenue, Surulere in the early hours of January 6. He stated further that the car was snatched by the gang from one Banjo (other names withheld) (45) at gun point at Akinde Street, off Balogun Street, Iju area, few hours before the interception of the robbers by the police. Crime Reports learnt that a locally-made pistol, two live cartridges, seven laptops, three ATM cards, N5900, 21 assorted phones and jewelries were recovered, along with the car. In an interview with Crime Reports, Daniel, who said he was a cobbler, claimed thus: “I was called by one guy called Badoo, who told me that he was going to a carnival at Ojuelegba. I told him to call me when he must have got to Oshodi, which he did. I was picked at about 3a.m., and I joined Badoo in a Toyota Corolla car he came in, in which I saw the other two suspects. I did not know where they first went to rob; I noticed the laptops in the car when I got in. I later learnt that they had gone to other areas to rob. “When we got to Ojuelegba, others entered a house to rob. When they

came out, I was given jewelries they got from their victims to keep. They also got phones. On our way, I was caught by the police while others ran away. Mutiu jumped on a bike to escape but was caught. The third suspect, Fashola, was also caught by the police. I got to know their names

after our arrest because we were meeting for the first time that day. I only knew Badoo among all the gang members. Badoo also escaped. “I knew Badoo long time ago. We became close because he used to bring his shoes to me for repairs. I lived in Ibafo, Ogun State

before my arrest and only came to Lagos for the yuletide.” The second suspect, Mutiu (32), who continually shook his head in denial during Daniel’s narration, said: “I didn’t know anything about the car or robbery. I was on a bike on my way to my farm where I

rear goats and cows at Iponri when I saw policemen flashing their torch lights ahead. I told the okada man to stop. I noticed some of my friends around and tried to make inquiries into what was happening. I was told that there was a robbery operation. “I went with the okada

The suspected robbers with the snatched car and other items recovered from them

rider to the police station as instructed by the police. I was in the cell for about two hours before I was taken to the DPO. Two other suspects were brought out and I said I didn’t know them.” At that point, Daniel interjected and said that Crime Reports should ask Mutiu why he (Daniel) did not point at the okada rider as a member of the gang. When asked about how he got into police net, the third suspect, Adewunmi (32), simply said: “I have heard all that the first suspect said; only God will judge us. I was going to Agidigbo from my residence in Surulere to buy cigarettes at about 4.05a.m. “When I could not get to buy, I went back home, changed and started trekking to Ojelegba to save money. Police asked me to stop but I ran away because I was afraid. I was arrested when I tried to scale a fence.” The Commissioner of Police said that the suspects had been transferred to SARS for further investigation.

72 arrested over Kwara communities’ clash Biola Azeez - Ilorin

SEVENTY-TWO persons have been arrested by the Kwara State Police Command in connection with the recent communal clash between Share and their Tsaragi neighbours. Speaking with journalists while presenting the new Federal Special AntiRobbery Squad (FSARS) outfit in Ilorin, the state

police commissioner, Esosa Amadasun, said 40 among the arrested persons were already being prosecuted in court for their alleged involvement in the communal crisis in Ilorin. It will be recalled that the two communities rose against each other recently over land dispute, while valuable property like vehicles, residential build-

ings, religious houses, and a police van, were destroyed. The police commissioner, who said that no life was lost in the clash, added that peace and normalcy had since been restored in the two communities. Also, the police boss said that 19 suspects had been arrested in connection with a recent cult clash between two rival cult groups

at Agaka and Fagba areas of Ilorin metropolis, during which a life was confirmed lost. He said the arrested persons, including a woman who owns a drink joint where the suspects drank before the clash, were currently undergoing investigations, adding that they would soon be charged to court. Speaking on the new

Lagos police nab 15 suspected traffic robbers By Oluwatoyin Malik and Oluwabamise Ademola

FIFTEEN suspected traffic robbers who had been terrorising commuters along Ojota-Mile 12 road in Lagos State have been apprehended by the police patrol team attached to Department of Operations in Lagos State Police Command. Disclosing this to Crime Reports during a press briefing at the police headquarters in Ikeja on Wednesday, the state Com-

missioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, gave the names of the suspects as Adeleye Rasheed (21), Promise Paulinus (29), Ayo Olusola (20), Abalawa Kayode (21), Ahmed Tajudeen (31) Abayomi Olorunsola (32), Jacob Odede (18) and David Olaitan (18). Others are Paul Okorie (24), David Buba (18), Oluwafemi Omoniyi (36), Wisdom Malachi (26), Samuel Aladeshote (24), Jimoh Tajudeen (25) and Yusuf Mohammed (45).

Recovered from the suspects were a cutlass, a Blackberry phone, three Nokia phones and two Tecno phones, among several handsets, as well as bags of weed suspected to be marijuana. It will be recalled that many motorists had been victims of traffic robbers who usually dispossess them of their valuables while armed, in the full glare of members of the public who would watch helplessly.

Those who tried in the past to resist the traffic robbers were either fatally shot or injured, after which their valuables would be forcefully taken. The lucky ones would have vehicles glass shattered with iron for the robbers to gain access to the valuables. CP Owoseni said that the suspects had been transferred to the Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, for further investigation.

special outfit called FSARS, the police boss said “in a bid to further curb and possibly put a permanent stop to heinous crimes like armed robbery among others, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was reformed, retrained, rebranded and re-orientated to suit the current trend of globallyaccepted crime bursting norm”. The police commissioner, who said members of the FSARS now wear all black outfits with FSARS written on their T-shirts, added that the new dress code became sacrosanct for easy identification and control, in order to give the outfit a distinct identity throughout the federation. “With this re-invented and re-invigorated FSARS outfit, considering the evolving sound police/ public synergy in Kwara state, I have no doubt in my mind that armed robbery and serious crimes in this state will become a thing of the past”, he said.

crimereports

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

I was invited for carnival but was taken for robbery —Suspect By Oluwatoyin Malik

The suspected robbers with the snatched car and other items recovered from them

72 arrested over Kwara communities’ clash Biola Azeez - Ilorin

Lagos police nab 15 suspected traffic robbers By Oluwatoyin Malik and Oluwabamise Ademola

news Articulated vehicle kills 1, injures others in Ibadan 8

By Tunde Ogunesan

NE person and three other people were reportedly crushed to death on Friday night around Oke Elesin area, Amuloko, along Akanran Road, Ona Ara Local Government Area of Ibadan, when an articulated lorry lost control and rammed into a gathering of commercial motorcycle operators. The NNPC coloured trailer with registration number LAGOS XL 724 KTU, according to eye witnesses, lost control while ascending the rough Oke Elesin Road around 9.00 p.m. and descended the sloppy road. The deceased, 45-year-old Ade Owobiyi Owoeye (a.k.a. Igwe), a father of twins, was said to be the Chairman of Okada riders at Larodo area of Akanran. The source informed that the trailer, while trying to rescue the situation, swerved onto the motorcyclists who were negotiating nearby.

10 January, 2016

Some eye witnesses, who saw Igwe’s corpse trapped under the trailer, informed journalists that the driver had escaped before the police arrived the scene.

The three motorcycles were still at the scene as at yesterday morning while efforts were being made by sympathisers to remove the corpse around 10:15

a.m. and conveyed to the state mortuary at Adeoyo, Ibadan. The Divisional Traffic Police Officer, Akanran Division, Mr Taiwo, who was at

the scene of the incident said only one person died and not three as being claimed by people. He said others who were injured had been taken to different hospitals.

Wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Mrs Feyisetan Olayemi Fayose (left) presenting a cheque to 55 year-old mother of triplets, Mrs Adeyemi Victoria (third left) at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado Ekiti, while the wife of the Deputy Governor, Deaconess Janet Olusola (second left) watches, as part of activities marking Mrs Fayose’s 52nd birthday anniversary.

Birthday bash: Why I prefer to dine with less privileged —Mrs Fayose Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Mrs Feyisetan Fayose, has vowed to always celebrate her birthday with the less privileged throughout the four years tenure her husband would be in office.

According to a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti yesterday by her Special Assistant (Media), Gbenga Ariyibi, Mrs Fayose made the declaration on Friday in Ado Ekiti

during a short prayer session to commemorate her 52nd birthday anniversary. Mrs Fayose said she had resolved that throughout the period her husband would remain in office, she

I’m an apostle of peace, orderliness —Ajimobi •As Ibadan elders salute governor’s sagacity The governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has said that he will continue to take steps that will promote peace and the rule of law in the state even if it means bending over backwards on some issues as it recently happened in the Olubadan chieftaincy promotion ‘infraction. The governor said this while playing host to members of the Ibadan Progressives Union (IPU), who were in the governor’s office on what they called a thank-you visit, following the governor’s decision to approve the promotion of nine Olubadan-in-council high chiefs. Ajimobi said he was humbled by the openness of the elders who converged on the residence of the President of Ibadan Elders Forum, Ambassador Olusola Saanu, in calling a spade a spade. This, he said, played a major role in his decision to let the sleeping dog lie. The governor said that he was an apostle of peace and orderliness, adding that the intervention by the elders doused the tension,

which he said would not have occurred in the first place if due process had been followed. “Our baba, the Olubadan is a member of the IPU. I’m also a member of the IPU. It was a good thing that the elders, through the platforms of the Central

Council of Ibadan Indigenes, the IPU, the IEF and others waded into the matter,” Ajimobi stated. The IPU President, Pastor Johnson Adeniji, who led others IPU members at the meeting said the elders were indebted to the governor for his understanding.

would always associate and celebrate her birthday with the less privileged. “I have resolved in my mind to always celebrate my birthdays with the less privileged members of the society and the needy. There is nothing wrong in doing advertisements on radio and television, but l prefer to use the money to provide succour to the less privileged,” she stated. Mrs Fayose said she preferred to reach out to people who are incapacitated rather than throw big parties or spend on frivolous activities. According to her, the present administration in the state headed by her husband, Mr Peter Ayodele

Osun tertiary institutions restructuring: 141 ASUP, NASU members sacked Oluwole Ige-Osogbo The controversial plan by the Osun State government to restructure its tertiary institutions took a new twist on Friday, as no fewer than 141 members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) were sacked in two colleges of education. Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that two institutions affected include Osun State College of Education, Ila and Osun State College of Education, Ilesa. Credible sources informed our correspondent that the sack letters were brought from the state Ministry of Education on Friday for

distribution to the affected staffers, but the leaders of the ASUP, NASU directed their members not to receive the letters. According to one of the sources, “at Osun State College of Education, Ila, 37 academic staff were sacked, while 34 non academic staff were also affected by the retrenchment exercise”. However, as of the time of filing this report, about 70 staffers of Osun State College of Education, Ilesa were sacked, though it could not the ascertained the number of academic and non academic staff affected by the development. When contacted, the chairman of ASUP in Osun State College of Education,

Ila, Comrade Segun Onifade confirmed the distribution of sack letters, but said the union had instructed its members not to collect it. Reacting to the development, the state chairman and secretary of Council of Academic Staff Unions Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions (CASUOSTI), Comrade Lasisi A. Jimoh and Comrade Olusegun Lana, respectively, in a press statement confirmed the development. Several calls put through to the cell phone of the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, were not answered, but he simply replied to a text message sent to him by saying “No” to the enquiry.

Fayose, is planted by God and this would make it impossible for the enemies of the state to pull him down. The governor’s wife expressed appreciation to the people of the state for their constant support and prayers for her husband. Earlier, Pastor Samuel Olaniyi Olayinka, who led the prayer session, prayed for the celebrant and her family, the state, and the governor, Mr Ayo Fayose. In another development, Mrs Feyisetan Fayose, in her characteristic manner, extended fellowship to about thirty-one families by paying off their medical bills. Among those whose bills were settled was a 55 year old woman, Mrs Victoria Adeyemi, who gave birth to triplets. Speaking while presenting the cheques at the State Specialist Hospital, Ikere and Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, Mrs Fayose urged people of the state to take advantage of government-owned facilities in meeting their health challenges. Mrs Fayose said the bills were paid off to encourage the beneficiaries to feel free to always make use of government-owned facilities whenever the need arises instead of visiting alternative places because of debt. One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Adeyemi, thanked her for the good gesture and wished her long life and continued prosperity.

Sunday Tribune

The deceased’s younger brother, Gbenga Owoeye, (a commercial bus driver), described Igwe as a very quiet, gentle, easy going and industrious person, “When I saw him last in October, he told me he would leave okada business and concentrate on selling palm wine. He was very generous to people and devoted to his family. His death is indeed devastating,” Gbenga said. A sympathiser, who simply identified himself as Kamilu, said “series of accidents have happened on this hilly road because the road is bad. We are calling on Governor Ajimobi to come and repair this section of the road to end such ugly incidents.”

Why Davido will bury hatchet with babymama, Sophia Momodu Newton-Ray Ukwuoma-Lagos

After a protracted war between music sensation, David Adeleke, also known as Davido, and his babymama, Sophia Momodu, over allegations of child trafficking and illegal custody, the two families may soon find common grounds for peace as Davido is willing to bury the hatchet in order to move on with his career. A source close to the Dodo singer intimated Sunday Tribune that the musician is fully committed to peaceful resolution of his media face-off with Sophia as companies with whom he is endorsed are threatening to severe ties on reputation grounds. The source said Davido would soon lay rest the matter that is being mediated by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). Contrary to media alert that the Adeleke’s and the Momodu’s signed a peace pact last Wednesday during their meeting at NAPTIP, Ikeja Office, Lagos, the source said that there was no such peace accord, and that the musician used the opportunity to level more allegations on Sophia. It was gathered that Davido on Wednesday told officers of NAPTIP that Sophia had slept with his father’s friend. Davido’s sister, Ashley Adeleke, is expected to appear before NAPTIP operatives next week in Lagos, with Imade, on a final hearing of the petition.

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

feature Biafra protest in Onitsha: Igbo in Kano hit the streets

KOLA OYELERE writes on the immediate reactions of Igbo residents in Kano State, following the recent pro-Biafra violence in Onitsha, Anambra State.

HOUGH there was apprehension on whether there may be a reprisal attack on the Igbo community residents in the ancient city of Kano on the very day a mosque in Onitsha was allegedly burnt by Biafra protesters, with effective security put in place by the operatives who stationed at every strategic place, forestalled any occurrence of a situation that could have arisen in Kano, following the incident. However, the Eze Ndigbo of Kano, Igwe Boniface Ibekwe, at every forum, always voiced out that the Igbo in Kano or in the Diaspora did not support any protest or demonstration that would cause untold hardship and untimely death of their brothers and sisters resident outside their states of origin. As the leader of Igbo in Kano State, Igwe Ibekwe, who said whenever there was an opportunity to speak, he usually laid emphasis on the need to always give peace a chance, as according to him, dialogue was better than war, hence the need for whoever was agitating for one course or the other to always embrace dialogue to settle any confronting issue. While also speaking on the various protests being carried out by the IPOB, Igwe Ibekwe called on President Muhammadu Buhari to look into implementation of the outcome of National Conference, saying it would go a long way in dousing the tension of agitation for actualisation of the Biafra, as well as solve other issues that threaten the corporate existence of the country. He said the Igbo in Diaspora were not in support of the protest and demonstration being carried about by IPOB , noting that they still believed in the indivisibility of one Nigeria.

Ibekwe further called on the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu , the leader of the IPOB radio, noting that his release would automatically douse the present tension in the South-East, adding that through the implementation of the report of the national conference, the South-East would be able to get additional states, saying, at present, the region was being denied a state to complete their own six states which other regions in the country had. The Eze Ndigbo of Kano noted that the South-East was being marginalised in all ramifications, as there were no good roads, no concrete development. “Look into the various appointments made so far by the present government, the region is marginalized. All these can be solved if the report of the national conference is implemented,’’ he added. Ibekwe also noted that the fact that the Igbo were resident outside their region and conducting their businesses in peaceful manner was an indication that they still believed in one Nigeria. He added that the last running of Igbo resident in the Northern part of the country during last general election caused untold hardship and untimely death to many Igbos, “therefore , I don’t support any crisis that would make them to encounter a similar thing again.’’ According to him, there were many issues the national conference deliberated on, charging President Buhari to implement the proposed national CONFAB report “and many problems will have been solved.’’ He urged the Federal Government to borrow a leaf from the late President Musa Yar’Adua who called the Niger Delta militants to a round table, adding that it was better to dialogue than go to unnecessary war.

Ibekwe, therefore, charged the Igbo residents in the North not to support any demonstration or protest for the actualisation of Biafra country, but should continue living in peace with their host community. However, the state police command, headed by Muhamemed Katsina, has continued to meet with most of the stakeholders on the need to sustain the tempo of conducive peace being enjoying in the state. While the Emir of Kano, Sarki Muhammadu Sanusi, has not left any stone unturned to maintain peaceful coexistence among residents of the ancient city, warning traditional and district heads that they would be held responsible for any crisis occurred in their domains. Also, the state governor, Dr Abubakar Umar Ganduje, has been contributing immensely to ensure that the relative peace being enjoyed in the state was not tampered with. The state Commissioner for Information, Comrade Muhammed Garba, whenever he held meetings with editors of media organisations, as well as state correspondents chapel, always advised them against provocative and sensational news capable of causing tension and ill feelings. Garba who admonished media executive on the need to support the Ganduje-led government to sustain the peace every resident of the state is enjoying, said ‘’only Allah knows the best and why different tribes, ethnic and religious groups were created and nobody can query God on why He decided to have done that, hence the need for all of us to see ourselves as brothers and sisters and do away with enemies of progress who may want to cause disaffection and crisis.’’

interview

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Iknewmyworkwillbedoggedbyconspiracy, bias—Donwhosolved110-yr-oldMathsequation Dr Enoch Opeyemi Oluwole of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUIYE), has been in the news for his bold claim of a feat of solving the Riemann Zeta Hypotheses, a 110-year mathematical equation that had remained a mystery. The Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) lecturer recently bared his mind to journalists in Ado Ekiti on a number of issues surrounding the feat and what the world should know. SAM NWAOKO brings excerpts of the media interaction.

for the whole world to view and scrutinise? They sent the link to me about six days after I had presented my work. I was already in Nigeria when they sent the link to me. The news medium claimed that for me to have gotten those beautiful results, I must have hacked into a dead man’s account on the Internet. However, I want these documented so that we can make more than $1million. None of them has brought their allegations forth.

HAT prompted you into solving this mathematical problem? The motivation actaully came when four of my students in the then University of Ado Ekiti (UNAD) brought the problem to me. They actually wanted to make money to meet their needs by solving some mathematics problems. So, they went to the Internet and stumbled on this problem. The name of one of them is Jimi Gabriel Alo while the other is David Oginni. They came with the problem then and I sent them out when I heard the price attached to solving the problem. Eventually, just a few days after, a corps member assigned to my office, Sunday Joshua and one other guy called Samuel confirmed that there was such problems for which if anyone should solve one of that, he would give him a million dollars. I went to the Internet to get that all because I wanted to live up to the expectation of my students who brought the problem to me in the first place. I decided to start working the mathematics problem. That’s how it all began. So, how long did it take you to arrive at the solution It took me seven years. The problem was brought to me on November 14, 2008. Before now, I had been presenting the solution or my findings bit by bit and Austria was not the first platform on which I was going to present my findings. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the one I presented in Austria. And I took time to present this solution all around on some international platforms so as to be able to muscle up international witnesses and evidences for this particular problem. What is this problem? The problem is called Riemann Zeta Hypotheses. It was written in November 1859 by a German professor. He wrote it when he was 33 years old and he died at 40. How are you sure that you got the problem solved? It’s simple and straightforward. We know what they want and some great mathematicians had predicted before now how it would be. Only that there were some little conception that was to be corrected. Hilbert predicted that the solution would be the Eigen Values. The Eigen Values means the energy level. The Eigen Values of Hermitian Matrix or a self-adjoins matrix. So, we know that we need a matrix which will give us what we want. That was one way to know that we are getting towards the right thing. The second way to know is that we would be getting to one formation or formula, expression for which at all times the outcome of that expression will end up having 1/2 as the real part, and the imaginary part will always be the answer to the second equation. That is a second way to know. Then the third way to know is that the second equation that helps the first equation to go beyond its boundary, its capability, is that the answer to that equation, we will be able to

So, do you smell conspiracy in the whole thing you’ve said? Yes sir. I knew right from the start that this work would be dogged by conspiracy and some bias. We need to also do theological alongside. Were you motivated by the money, by the prize money? Speaking sincerely, I must tell you that the inventions I have would give to me more than one million dollars in less than two weeks. So, why must I wait for two years to access one million dollars? A million dollars for now would be close to N300million, but are there no Nigerians that make close to that in a week? Dr Enoch Oluwole

have one expression for that answer. That anytime you put it in, it will give you what you want. So, how did you present your solution to the mathematics world? I was to be in Turkey, to present my findings in Turkey. That was to be in August 22, 2015. But along the way, I was denied visa to Turkey all because I do not have a ‘Schengen visa’ to access Turkey. I had to apply to my university again for a reconsideration since I was to go through TETFUND. My Vice Chancellor graciously approved that I should go to Austria and do the presentation. So I filed in for the conference that was to be held in Austria, for participation. And after about six weeks, they granted me the privilege to participate. That was how I got to Austria. But before then, it was expected of us to submit our abstract. I did. This same abstract I submitted to Austria was what I submitted to Turkey and it’s in the database of the conference that was to be held at a university in Van, Turkey. It was on their database and anyone can access that, but just because of the visa problem, I couldn’t go. That’s how I got to Austria as the only alternative for me to attend the conference. When did the issue of plagiarism come in? I was surprised when they brought the issue to me that there is a Pd.D student in America claiming that I plagiarized his work, that he had gone to the website of the conference to study the proceedings of the conference and that he read through my abstract and that he did not discover any link between my abstract and what I claimed to have done. Even when he had not seen the

content of my work, he announced that I plagiarised. It’s a Ph.D student at Yale in America. I thought it was just one of those things and I was even expecting that. So I have my arsenal. Someone who had not seen the content of my work, how would he come up to claim that I plagiarised? I told CNN when they called me that I had an assignment for them: they should help me to find out from the student and the world at large if they now rank a PhD student in the USA above a PhD holder all because he is coming from Nigeria? I told them that I want to talk to the student’s supervisor. If they have any allegation of plagiarism against me, let them write the government of my country, the Ministry of Education and communicate that to my university to establish that against me if possible. I just want it documented and I want to relate with his supervisor because I am a PhD holder. Secondly, a PhD student that has not yet published any of his theses, how on earth was I able to gain access to his work? I told BBC and CNN to ask those questions and help get it clarified. Eventually, when that was not working, another man came up. They came through a news medium that claimed that I must have watched or hacked into a late mathematician’s account, who they said had worked so much and had recorded significant result on this subject. I think they eventually saw my results through my pictures of the conference that were uploaded on the Internet. They uploaded so many of the pictures and the video in the Internet, I didn’t do that, the conference did that and sent the link to me. So, I was not the one promoting myself, they did. If the conference organisers were not so sure of what was presented, how on earth could they have uploaded the work

Will this take you to the Noble prize? I am expecting that but it is not promised along with the reward. Do you have the technology that can help in tackling Boko Haram? Yes. To an extent, it will help us to be battle ready. You know, if you knew five minutes before hand that that would happen, and it will point to you the person who is the possible suspect, you can easily get the person arrested and check if there are evidences on him that he is trying to do that. It is very possible. It might not avoid it completely but it would reduce it to an extent. Secondly, on the issue of pipeline vandalism, the total length of pipeline for petroleum products we have in the country is 666kilometers long. The total pipeline we have in Nigeria aside the privately-owned ones is 5,001 kilometers long. It is very possible for us to protect those pipelines from being vandalised and the protection is in three phases: We have the self defence mechanism; we have the locational defence and we have the territorial defence. If one fails, then we know who to handle. This will prevent Nigeria from losing the billions of naira she is losing every month. Some staff members of NNPC came to discuss with me about this. So, they know and they’ve come to hear if my claims are true or wrong. So, what’s the state of this technology right now? It’s perfectly ready. It’s just waiting for implementation. The technology to detect someone with evil intentions is still with me. I did not submit it to anybody. I only submitted one and that’s the i-Cell key holder. I’ve not gone to conferences abroad to present them. Doing that would expose the technology.

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

13 Continued from

10 January, 2016 last week

AVING shown by the above quotations that I am by no means a post-1959 convert to Democratic Socialism, may I now once again urge it upon the Federal Government to adopt in theory and in practice the ideals of Democratic Socialism, and to appoint forthwith a National Economic Planning Commission with one hundred per cent Nigerian composition, which will produce a fiveyear plan for the nation on the basis of these ideals. Well-meaning and expert expatriates, with the correct ideological background or training, and with no vested interests in Nigeria, may be invited from time to time to advise the Commission. If merit is the decisive factor in appointing the members of the Commission, I have no doubt that it will succeed in producing a plan worthy of Nigeria and under which the resources of our land will be exploited mainly for the advancement of the masses of our people. The third realism which we must face is that the difficulties of the Regional Governments arise primarily from an unusually prolonged depression in the prices of our export commodities, from lack of courage in exploiting every avenue of raising funds; and secondarily from a misguided rivalry in prestige spending. It does not appear that the Federal Government attaches much importance to our commodities. It is these commodities that give us the wherewithal for paying for our overseas purchases. Yet throughout the Economic Mission, mounted by the Federal Government, little attention was paid by the Mission to giving a strong fillip to the volume and prices of our export products. The Federal Government must now make an all-out plan for boosting the sales of our export crops and for getting much better prices for them. On the other hand, the Regional Governments must never again fight shy of calling upon the people to pay for the benefits they receive or clamour for. The truth is that those who are able (and there are millions of them) are not being made to contribute enough or at all to the Government coffers in accordance with their individual ability. I shall have more to say on this point later. But it will be helpful for all of us to remember the following figures. According to reliable statistical data prepared in 1957, Nigeria only employs 5 per cent of her gross national products on current public expenditure, as against 15 per cent in

Awo’s thoughts VOICE OF REASON

Call to rededication and reconstruction A statement made at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council of the Action Group of Nigeria, held at Ikeja VIP, on 18th December, 1961.

As it has been our privilege to give the lend in big spending, so it must be our honour to set a noble example in what real austerity in the face of financial crisis truly means

Sunday Tribune

Ceylon and 12 per cent in Ghana and Tanganyika. We can only spend as much as we care or have the courage to demand from the people. But it is clear from these figures, other things being equal, that our Governments are assuredly very far from getting enough financial contributions from the people. At the same time, it must be emphasised that the capital and recurrent expenditure on the State Houses in Kaduna and Enugu could have been usefully saved, and the numbers of the Missions we have sent abroad in the outgoing year could have been fewer, and their sizes much smaller. The fourth realism is that by injudicious political manipulations, we have (all of us without exception) succeeded, albeit unwittingly, in breeding the haves and the have-nots fast becoming more and more mutually antagonistic. Before the two classes harden, in their prejudices, beyond non-violent readjustment, we must embark on the dual operation of leveling down and leveling up. The fifth realism we must face is that if, at this point of time, we are intent on evoking any patriotic response from the masses for the need to make adequate and additional financial contributions to the Government exchequers, those of us who have the privilege to lead the nation must not only purify ourselves in the eyes of the public, but must also show example that we too can give the lead in self- sacrifice whenever the circumstances so demand. Having set out the realisms as I see them, I now proceed to make a number of concrete proposals in addition to those which I have already made in the course 0f this statement. In the course of my contribution to the debate on the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, during the last meeting of the House of Representatives, I had declared as follows: ‘The present time calls for austerity, if we are to get over our financial difficulties, and promote the welfare of our people.’ This is the keynote of the purely material aspects of my proposals. As it has been our privilege to give the lend in big spending, so it must be our honour to set a noble example in what real austerity in the face of financial crisis truly means. It will not be proper for me to give the details of what form or forms these austerity measures should take. That is a matter for the Federal Executive Council to consider and determine.

To be continued

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10 January, 2016

Which would you prefer: White collar job or self employment?

ADEOGUN OPEYEMI With the way Nigeria’s economy is, I’ll go for self employment. I can’t depend on the government because, they are not dependable and reliable in all aspects. Once you have your own personal business, you will be able to do things on your own anytime and anywhere.

ADEMOLA ADEWUMI I’ll work in a company first, gain more experience by practising what I learnt in school, after which I will start up my own business and have people work under me.

With the rising number of graduates joining the job market, it is pertinent that people find alternative sources of income. HANNAH SASODJE and TEMITAYO ILIASU sought public opinions on if individuals would prefer white collar jobs to self employment or vice versa.

OGUNKANMI OLAYINKA I’ll go for self employment because I’ll have enough time to take care of my family. As a woman, you should not have two bosses because, your husband is one, so why go look for another at work when you can be a boss of your own.

OGUNLOLA OLUWAPELUMI I’ll go for self employment because, white collar jobs have turned into a nightmare in Nigeria. Companies will ask for eight years experience before you can secure a job. How do they expect young graduates to have that…. so unimaginable.

Sunday Tribune

MOHAMMED NANA I want to have my own personal business because, I’ll have time for my family. Instead of running errands for someone, I’ll have my own business and make my money at my own convenience.

FAGADE MARGARET Self employment. No white collar job will give anyone an opportunity of unlimited income. It feels cool when you are a boss of your own and you get as much income as you want anytime.

CLEMENT OMEKA I prefer to go into my personal business rather than seek a white collar job. The fact that you are a graduate does not make you literate; it is how your potential is being maximised. You are your own boss while managing your own business and your income is not limited. Your idea is fully expressed and utilised and there is also room for exposure and experience.

OLUGBENGA OLUWADAMILOLA Anyone that brings good money. I’ll do a white collar job first before I start a personal business because what I was taught in school needs to be practised and more experience will be acquired.

ILUPEJU OLUWASEGUN

JEKAYINFA PRISCILLA I’ll go for self employment any day because, I would have my ideas set into action and be happy with what I am doing. I would have a goal which can be attained if I put in a lot of efforts, unlike the white collar job where I would work 9am-6pm and still have to write exams just to move to the next level. Personal business gives you more opportunity to fulfill your goals unlike white collar jobs.

I believe self employment is better because, I believe I have a lot of potentials and energy which would help a lot if I channel them into my own business, and become my own boss. Being educated is an added advantage out there because, I’ll get to learn both academically and morally.

LILIAN UGBO I would rather go into my own business than settle for a white collar job because it will create the avenue for me whereby I will be able to take care of my family. Moreover, decision making is very fast and I will also take all the profit.

MARK IDUNUN There is nothing like having your own business. However, if I receive an offer from a very lucrative white collar job, I will take it but will still run my own business. You are practically a slave when you work for someone else and it’s not all white collar jobs that are not interesting. There are some that do not require you sitting in an office. I will prefer those if I have to settle for a white collar job.

10 January, 2016

homes&interior s r

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designed rugs ture reimagined traditional motifs, especially flowers and vines. Many of our outdoor rugs feature transitional designs. Additional styles will help you narrow down your rug selection. Choose from flokati, shag, floral, border, country, novelty, lodge, Southwestern, Asian influence, braided, tropical and kids. Rugs are also categorised by colour. On a traditional rug, it is the area within the border of the room. On other rugs, it is the background or most-used colour. When youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re evaluating whether the rug will match your decor, you should consider the overall tone, not just the field colour. Try to focus on the view of the rug as a

whole. Determine the rug size you need based on how the room is used, how the furniture is arranged and where the rug will be placed. Take conversation areas, furniture placement and traffic patterns into account. Measure the area that various rug sizes would take up in the room, including any fringe, and consider how much exposed floor would remain. Rugs come in many different shapes, sizes and designs, including scale and colour, they may vary based on size and shape. According to experts, the dimensions of handcrafted rugs may vary up to 5 per cent from rug to rug.

Sunday Tribune

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10 January, 2016

write this with sobriety; if the heading sounded sardonic, that wasn’t the intendment. As a father, I worry when a defenceless baby is the epicentre of custodial mess. Again, the issue of single fatherhood or motherhood is as serious as is controversial, at least for serious-minded people. Without doubt, the Adeleke/ Momodu “Baby Mama” saga compelled this intervention but the sense of responsibility to Imade, the hapless baby being battered by adults who are not proving very responsible, would be unmistaken. Davido, the minstrel scion of iron-merchant, Dr. Deji Adeleke, certainly isn’t the first known name to father a child out of wedlock. Sophie, the niece of Dele Momodu, certainly isn’t the first oldie to “do” a younger male lover. The two families certainly won’t be the first famous ones to handle child custody. Why then fouling the air and exposing Imade to a possible lifetime of ridicule in an e-age when anything written today could be easily accessed on the eve of her wedding 25 years going forward. I have heard about erasing stuff on internet with hefty cost. Maybe when sense overtakes nonsense, a budget can be worked out to protect Imade’s future on the internet. Without pulling ears in judgement, among others before it, the Davido saga is a reflection of the mess that has become of family values in African setting. Generations of Dele Momodu and Dr. Adeleke should be held responsible for cultural inferiority that sheepishly handed our core family values to rampaging Western values that came with the craze for its correctness. It was almost unheard of when Dele and Deji were growing up for an older lady to knowingly and willingly date a younger guy, for lovers to consentingly have children out of wedlock or to “collect” pregnancy as we used to say in Ijesha (o gboyun). Things of shame of the past have become fame now, with funkified, complementing appellations. If nothing at all, the sustained threat of being disowned, would be enough to tether boys with ravaging phallus. Mothers of days of yore also always sang armageddon in the ears of their daughters suspected of “itching” thighs. Now, the new world has stolen our uncommon sense, including sense of shame of today’s daddies, mummies and guardians. Our unbridled craze to jump into every Western fad doesn’t always allow for proper contextual

IN its reaction to Federal Government’s announcement of removal of subsidy from premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it would mobilise its members against the move. Although the labour movement made some germane observations about the seeming inconsistency in the statements made by some government functionaries on the matter, I think the overriding concern of the NLC should be the overall interest of Nigerians. Therefore, I fail to see the sense in the vow of the NLC to mobilise Nigerian workers against fuel subsidy removal. The government’s position is clear: since the price of crude oil crashed in the global market, the need to pay product importers to ensure that the commodity is available at affordable prices in the country no longer arises. By taking this stance, the country will be saving close to N1trillion annually from the exercise. So, I do not understand why NLC wants to mobilise its people against a policy meant to plug leakage. Perhaps the leadership of the NLC does not realise that while the subsidy regime was in place the government was not only bridging the price differentials between the international and local prices of PMS, the government was also paying the marketers exchange rate differentials, that is the difference between the official foreign exchange rate and the black market rate. All a marketer needed to do was to say that he sourced his dollars from the black market at a particular rate and the government would have to pay the difference between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate. The government also paid the marketers demurrage for the products they imported as well as interest on the money deployed in the conduct of their business because the government assumed that the marketers must have sourced funds from banks and would need to pay an interest on the borrowed money. How can a serious labour body agitate for the continuation of such a wasteful system, especially now that God has graciously brought about the crash of crude

0811 695 4647

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The world is full of Baby Mamas

analysis. Before we got into Baby Mama madness here, no one thought deeper about dearth of functional institutions in our clime. The more societal freedom over there, the stronger the restricting mode. The institutions of government pretending to be functional here, I am certain, are not even taking themselves seriously as some people do. Forget Davido’s breakthrough in x-generation music industry of little sense and danceable lyrics, he was raised more by the American society than his father. So what bragging right would Dr. Adeleke have in this matter, except to prove his societal status? Dele Momodu is worse off. Would he claim not to know about Sophie’s dalliance with Davido until Imade was born? What did he

With Sulaimon Olanrewaju 08055001708

lanresulaimon@yahoo.com

NLC: Time to ponder

oil price so that we can have a review of our policy? The NLC has always maintained that its interest is to protect the ‘poor who would be affected by the removal of fuel subsidy.’ But pray, how is the interest of the poor served when the government expends scarce resources on paying interest on loans it did not take and demurrage on products it did not import? How is the interest of the poor served when the government deploys resources meant to develop the whole of the

Sunday Tribune

do then as a caring uncle? Did he for once warn Sophie of the likely consequences of “doing” a famous younger fellow? The weight he is trying to throw around now may be heavy physically but morally, feathery. It would be unfair cracking down on NAPTIP for not being pro-active when its crisis of functionality isn’t an isolated situation. But will it be asking for too much if the laws guiding the agency are amended to empower it to step into such future cases without waiting for petitions and take immediate custody of Imade’s ilk until the custody issue is resolved, regardless of affected family status? Can such amendment also forbid the release of the identity and pictures of victims like Imade and if must be made public, shrouded? Can heavy sanctions also be lined for violation? Can NAPTIP also prevail on Davido and Sophie to stop drawing blood before they start describing each other’s genitals and sex performance? For heaven’s sake, this is about three lives with life ahead of them, not Nollywood thriller. In resolving this mess, NAPTIP should be brave and apply the law with eye on realities. Can the Adelekes look after the baby? Yes. Can the Momodus? Yes, if Dele is willing to be an uncle indeed to Sophie. Can Sophie do it on her own? Her story didn’t suggest that. Davido is completely out of consideration. With the way Davido and Sophie turned out, there are also serious doubts about Deji’s fatherhood and Dele’s guardianship capacities. Whether at NAPTIP level or court, resolving the custody issue should not be strictly about deep pockets. Parental attributes based on empirical evidence, should count. I’m sure none of the feuding families would want Imade to turn out like either of parents, regardless of the source of the “ganja” in her system. For now, the social media has gone bunkers with the issue and there seems no ways of reining the e-rats despite Dele Momodu’s complaints. He should have thought of that before his breaking-news tweets, photos and secretly-recorded airport scenes which first brought the family issue to public domain. Did he really think his family would walk away from the social media war he ignited, rocking like Donald Trump after calling for travel ban on Muslims to America? Which insightful uncle does that anyway?

nation to keeping just a few fat cows in business? I think NLC needs to take another look at its agitations. It needs to know the difference between criticising a government policy and protecting the interest of its members. It is not every government’s decision that should be attacked by the labour movement. Before rushing to make a statement about a government policy, the NLC needs to seriously look at the policy and consider its long-term effects on the people. The leadership of NLC should learn to resist the temptation to always play to the gallery to guard against losing its essence. Instead of planning to mobilise its members against subsidy removal, what NLC ought to do is to task the government to ensure that profiteering marketers do not fleece members of the public. NLC should encourage the government to put machinery in place to ensure that the interest of every Nigerian that has a cause to buy PMS is protected. Once that is done, the job of NLC is complete. I agree that agitation is the mainstay of a group like NLC. Without agitation, the body feels it is lifeless. But there are ample issues that NLC can mobilise against. Corruption is entrenched in the country, NLC can mobilise against that. Observance of rule of law is still at low ebb in the country, NLC should mobilise against that. The standard of education is on a free fall, NLC should mobilise against it. Our health facilities are nothing to write home about, NLC should mobilise against that. Despite the bailout by the Federal Government, many states are still owing workers’ salaries, NLC should mobilise against that. Kidnapping is becoming a serious problem, NLC should mobilise against that. NLC should also mobilise against the molestation of the citizenry by men in uniform. If NLC should do what it ought to do, it will not be in want of issues to mobilise against. NLC should realise that there is time to speak up and there is time to shut up. Wisdom is in knowing the difference.

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

K1, Percy part ways

Headies Next Rated Award:

Korede Bello should have won

—Reekado Banks

My relationship with

Saheed Balogun —Allwell Ademola

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Tade Makinde tademt2@yahoo.com 08055001753

Artiste, label fight over car gift ‘He has no right to change its ownership’ By Seyi Sokoya

Jugo releases Follow Me Go IT’S hard to see an unveiling of this manner within the Nigerian music industry these days but fast-rising singer/songwriter, Jugo, who’s been diffident from music for quite some time, ultimately comes to term with his abilities and gladly presents this outstanding offering, his debut single titled “Follow Me Go”. This bloke who’s been into music unofficially for five years having worked with a couple of bands and filling in as a backup vocalist for One Mic 9ja, went on to learn about the craft at TenStrings Music Institute and graduated successfully in the Music Artist Training Program. Jugo enlists producer extraordinaire, LahLah, for his “Follow Me Go” debut single and comes with a whole new sound.

Praise Breed debuts ‘To God Be The Glory’ GOSPEL group, Praise Breed Family, with Sam Opeche and friends, have released their debut album titled Hymns Alive Project Volume 1. Inspired by the need to revive and restore the rich truths imbedded within some of our favourite Hymns, the Hymns Alive Project was created to help listeners fall in love with hymns once again, as spiritual songs. Last week, Praise Breed Family unveiled the new video for ‘To God Be The Glory’, the lead single from their Hymns Alive Project. Originally written by Fanny J. Crosby and released as far back as 1875, both acts have updated the popular hymn with a more contemporary sound for the modern audience. The song was produced by Sam Opeche, Thimmy Abioye and Emmanuel Adeniran, while the video was shot at Angel Studio in London. Sam prayed that “ageless truths of God ministers to all in a fresh and living way, as you’ve never heard before”.

HE IBADAN-BASED winner of the last edition of a talent hunt competition,“These Colors Will Never Go Down”, organised by Lagos-based Myche entertainment Record, Ojeniran Gideon Ademola, a.k.a Prof Gee, has described the last two years of his career as a waste of life and time to his career. Prof Gee lamented to R that instead of the outfit to promote his career and music, according to both party’s agreement, the label abandoned him as it did nothing to give him the necessary push in the music industry. He said the deal was not successful because he was tricked into signing a contract with the label without allowing him time to consult with necessary individuals. “My label handled my career with levity, eventually wasting my life in the process. Ignorantly I signed a two-year deal with them, while they did not work on my music promotion. Each time he complained, he was told to wait and relax as his time would come. “They told me that they were working for

me, not knowing they were just wasting my time.” The label, however, has been making moves to repossess the car the artiste won along with the deal. He has been told to bring the car back to Lagos for rebranding. “I know they are trying to take the car from me. The car was a gift and it has nothing to do with the deal.” The head of the corporate desk of the label, Tolu Oluwole, said it was not true that the car was not part of the deal. “It is our car and he is expected to return it after two years to be used for other purpose,” she told R on Friday afternoon. The musician also alleged that the label, since 2014, reneged on its promis e to pay him N15,000 monthly, and that once his music began to sell, it would be increased. “This is why I have deter-

mined to hustle for myself. I have responsibilities,” he said. The artiste also said that he is no longer with the label and was now ready to push his music alone pending the time he would sign a new deal with a new label. Prof Gee described the development as unfair to his life and career. Reacting further, Tolu told R that Prof Gee betrayed the terms and conditions of the company. “He used to be our artiste, but he eloped for two years without meeting the demands of the record deal. He did not even do two tracks. On the car, he has no authority to change the ownership of the car except he meets the terms and conditions which we also have a copy. He has not even done bit of his demands.” “We are waiting to see how this pans out before we decide on what to do next, she added.

Coptic samples Fela’s music in Ghana “FE Fe Ne Fe”, a track that features the music and vocals of Fela, has been released by Coptic from Ghana. In his own version, the song explains the reasons behind the Ashanti proverb about women who hold their breasts while running. Coptic praised his partner, Flowking, for bringing his experience to bear

on the final outcome of the single. “He is definitely a heavyweight in the GH hip hop scene. His talent is immense and unmatched by many. Coptic’s album last year featured Sarkodie, M.anifest, X. O Senavoe, DBlack, Edem, Stonebwoy and others. It is his second single.

EMCOAN to ensure that digitisation deadline is met THE President of Electronic Media Content Owners Association of Nigeria (EMCOAN), Mrs. Debbie Odutayo, has declared that the body was set to improve on its set goals this year, promising that networking and unwinding with stakeholders would move the industry forward. She said this at the red carpet held at R & A City Hotel, Ikeja, just as the representative of the Registrar of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Alhaji Garba Kankarofi, also stated that;“digital broadcasting

has become an issue following the proposal by the government to grant migration from analogue to digital broadcasting. He sees this as a challenge to EMCOAN, calling on the body to brace up to technological demands of the system as well as be prepared to cope with increase in content as may be required. Responding, Mrs Odutayo said “as Nigeria gears up for the giant stride of digitalization, it is important that we come together to ensure a successful transition”. She added that; “Media content owners

Mrs Ariyike Oladipo, Mrs Jibe Ologeh, Mr Wale Adenuga (MFR), Mrs Debbie Odutayo, Mr Kingsley Omoefe, Elder Ganee Adewuyi and Mrs Toyin Ohio-Alegbe

are a vital part of the entertainment industry because, without them, there would be no interest in the mass media”. Mr Emeka Mba, the Director General of National Broadcasting Commission(NBC), also said in his opening remarks that efforts had been put in place to ensure that Nigeria meet the set target date for digitization, calling for support and the need for all hands to be on deck to ensuring a successful transition from analogue to digitization. Guests were treated to music and jokes by Yemmy, Jason Blue and dance group, Born 2 Succeed; and also Baba De Baba. At the event, EMCOAN presented a birthday gift to the Managing Director, Mediareach OMD, Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, who was represented by Mr. Yinka Adebayo and Mr.Alaba Fadero respectively. The dinner was supported by Lifemate, STAR Times, while media supports came from WAPTV, R2TV, RAVE TV, BETV, Primetime Entertainment, REEL E Magazine.

razzmatazz

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Naydo, J Real dazzle at Yola beauty pageant NAYDO held guests spell-bound at the maiden edition of the Miss North East beauty pageant last week. The first RnB female singer from that region, together with Funkiest Malam and J Real thrilled guests to numerous hits from their different archives to the delight of many. The beauty pageant has been designed to create an avenue for indigenous young ladies to participate in national and international beauty pageants and fashion shows. It is believed that this pageant would create a platform for young ladies, especially in the areas of education, humanitarian services and entrepreneurship. “We expect it to serve as a platform to showcase artistes from

this region who are home-based and those in the diaspora,” Naydo told R on phone. Juliet Joseph, a 19 year old Bachama lady from Adamawa State who showcased the Fulani attire, emerged winner. She is a student of English of the Federal College of Education (FCE), Yola. Rose Clement, 22 was 1st runner-up and Blessing Amos 23 was 2nd runnerup. Kimu Mindapa of m2 venture said “all North-East states were represented at the pageant which held at the main bowl of the Wane-

nosom cinema, Numan, Adamawa State. Kimu has participated in about 35 national and international Fashion shows , exhibitions and beauty pageants and has modelled for Jimmy King in USA.

K1, Percy part ways

To release new album soon By Tade Makinde

Flavour denies wedding plans with Sandra FLAVOUR has denied reports that he was getting set to marry. “It is music and me for now. I’m still single,” he has said. It had been widely reported last year that Flavour Nabania and

Jable is the “Pretty Masquerade” PRO-CD’s new single, entitled “Pretty Masquerade”, and which features SA-Young, “is easily the most innovative composition and delivery that will make the piece an all-round success in 2016’, asserts his label, Alien Prose Entertainment. Jable’s “Voices,” which was released late last year, is believed to have described his brand of soul music, “and which is destined for the Hall of Fame”. “Jable sure has the finest lyrics combined with a soulful melody which does unique justice to rendering nothing short of a beautiful piece of music for his audience, SA Young told R. 2015 saw Jable record some success with his rendition of tracks such as “Voices” and “Into My World”. The Delta State-hailing youngster came through with an unexampled version of both songs, in which he retained the instrumentation from the original producer.

his baby mama, Sandra Okagbue, were going to get married sometime last year but the ‘Gollibe’ crooner has denied reports that he has now been secretly married to Sandra in a low key celebration in Onitsha on December 28, 2015. Apart from Sandra who has a child for the musician, Flavour has another child with a former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria. Flavour also sparked dating rumours with Chidinma Ekile few weeks ago after they shared a passionate kiss on stage to cap their performance at the Phynofest held in Onitsha.

K1 de Ultimate has unveiled his new publicist, Esther Akinwande, as well as announced his forthcoming new work of art. She takes over from Percy Akinmokun who has been managing the band for a long time. No real reason was given as regards the parting of ways by Percy, but R gathered that Percy has become more used to staying and doing business in Dublin more than usual. His hands are now so full that it doesn’t make sence for him to be shuttling Nigeria and UK on short terms. “Sometimes when you do things and you feel like you want to move on, its fine. But I felt that he should have chosen someone to take over from him because there wasn’t a problem between us. The manner in which he left made that vacuum very big and it keeps getting larger every day and that has created a lot of distance between us. I’m so used to him handling certain issues for many years; he was with the band for almost 20 years and I pray God keeps and blesses him as he keeps the band also,” Wasiu said. K1 is set to release a full album after a long time. “The album would be a full one, not just the short takes that we usually do. We plan to release the album this month. The album is entitled “Let The Music Flow” Esther said she was elated to be the spokesperson of King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall. She promised to work to the best of her knowledge with Nigeria’s media solely for the benefit of her employer.

40 named as Sounds.ng jurors By Abiola Oyedeji TOSIN Adeda: Ehiz: VJ, Ehiz Okoeguale; Osi Suave; Olamide Adedeji: Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi: Bizzle Osikoya: Tosyn Bucknor: Chin Okeke: Remi Ogunkayo: Audu Maikori: Olowu IllRymz Adebola; DJ Lo: Cleopatra Amartey; Timi Aladeloba: Wilfred Okiche: Joey Akan: Jim Donnett: Omobonike Olofin, among others have been selected for the Sound NG jury’s 40 members. The increasing need to evaluate Nigeria’s music players and sounds on a reputable platform has informed the decision of the event organiser to follow suit as the industry is growing and has taken it upon itself to make this

happen. Sounds.ng, in its research, concluded that working with these jury was the best thing that will happen to the entertainment industry. “Nigerian music has evolved over the years with the consistent introduction of new sounds and players. We have searched within the ranks of the Nigerian music industry for the most powerful voices and relevant players to form a jury worthy enough to cross-examine Nigerian music, Adebola said. “This jury is be made up of individuals who have distinguished themselves as industry experts, sound analysts and music lovers in their varying fields. Their jobs will be a weekly task of turning out the best of the best Top 40 Nigerian music, he added.

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

With Segun Adebayo and Seyi Sokoya tegbollistic@yahoo.com, seyi_sky@yahoo.com 08116954644 08132577840

By Tade Makinde and Segun Adebayo

OR a long time, many had expected a serious backlash from furious award nominees who feel shortchanged by award organisers for not reckoning with their works when it is most expected. Complaints have always followed most awards organised, or even held in Nigeria but which outcome did not favour particular acts. This year’s Headies Awards may have come and gone but the dust the muchtalked about event raised may take months, if not years to settle. To those who have followed the event from when it used to be Hip Hop Awards till when it later metamorphosed into what has today become the Headies, it has been a platform that rewards musical ingenuity and provides healthy rivalry between acts. While the organisers have created a platform that has birthed the careers of many artistes who have climbed to the A-list status today, it has also won the hearts of many by celebrating artistic ingenuity for ten years. In the past, Nigerian Music Awards was usually trailed with one controversy and another. When Shina Peters carted home four awards in the four categories he was nominated, many Juju musicians faulted the choice of SSP as the sole winner of the important categories and heaped vituperations on the organiser. Many alleged that the Juju musician bought the awards. Till date, such allegations have continued to haunt award organisers. What fuels this is the believe of an average Nigerian that it’s either the best or nothing. Nobody appreciates the fact that a nomination speaks volume of the acceptance of one’s work, hence the disdain for seconds/thirds at any such event. Each artiste strives to put out songs and musical videos that would command favourable followership from music lovers, take them to shows within and outside the country and probably earn them some mouthwatering endorsement deals. This explains why artistes try to up the ante in the delivery of their lyrics and spend fortune on shooting videos. Over the years, the organisers have been lauded for their contributions towards giving the Nigerian music industry the much-needed platform and face-lift that have eluded the artistes for years. The last edition of the event which held on January 01,2016 at the Landmark Events Cen2Face tre in Lagos, according to those who should know, did not live up to its expectations. Sunday Tribune findings revealed that many people who had looked forward to the day did not turn up after the organisers decided to shift the date from its initial 30th of December 2015 to the 1st of January 2016. A date that coincided with Ali Baba’s January 1st concert in Lagos. A very popular artiste in Lagos who begged for anonymity said that it was wrong for the organisers to have shifted the date of

Don Jazzy

Olamide

Entertainment awards:

Still a

long way to

than the winner, six, compared to Tizzle’s one, he also believed that “Shole”, the song that won Tizzle the award then, was nowhere near any of his singles. So, he was lost as regards what informed the decision of the award organisers in picking the song above his. Since then, he has kept away from The Headies award. Once rated among Nigeria’s best rappers, Mode 9 was miffed when he was told that an award at which he had three nominations, and which he was sure he would at least win in one, had been ‘rigged’ for another rapper. He didn’t believe this as it was just two days to the award ceremony proper. To his shock, the rapper in question won in all the three categories. He made an issue of this in the media. But he was doubly shocked the following year when he was nominated in two categories. “I was told that a younger brother of the award organiser had been bribed by a top stakeholder. I was told his name. Lo and behold, the guy won the categories and that was when I stopped believing in any award in this country,” he said. Sometime last year, Wizkid, Jimmy Jatt and Yemi Alade were loud in the condemnation of the BET award. This came as a shock, even to the United States organisers of the award who were forced to make a public statement that “African music did not have an immediate impact in US, but we are using the BET as a marketing opportunity for the region’s musicians to have access to our acts. American’s angle According to the Director of Programming and production, Lilian Blackson, performances sell awards, shows and make ratings, not the categories. “Let’s step up our game and get our music so big that they can no longer ignore it. Out of 19 categories, only four or five make air. This is standard in Award shows. If the US artistes are not outraged and complaining, why are we? The artistes who have been honoured, why have you not cleared the air and told the truth about what happened! Why the silence? BET domestic does not and has never aired African music, so to have a category is a major deal. Let’s prove and show them our worth not anger. “Finally, let’s be a little humble. No one owes us anything. Like everything else, we have to work our way to the top so we can stay there. Let’s try and keep our category and know the fact. It does nothing to the network to take it away-but it sends us back several steps.” Wizkid had won the BET award in his blooming days because the BET organisers saw his music as something new then, the essence of creativity, but none denies the fact that Wizkid has not really been creative lately, though he still churns out ‘good music’. Now that the world has be-

perfection Sade Adu the event to the day Ali Baba was having his concert. “I don’t know why they came up with that idea, but for whatever reason, I think it was a wrong move. Many people, including the artistes, were not happy about the postponement giving the fact that some of them had been billed to perform at Ali Baba’s concert on the 1st of January. To me, I think that was one of the many mistakes the orgnaisers made. But above that, it was a good show and I am happy to have

Ayuba

performed and thrilled the audience even though I was not nominated”, he said. But not many are this humble when it comes to the crunch. Three years ago, when Sean Tizzle emerged the winner of the Headies Award’s most covetted category, probably because of the Hyundai SUV that came with it, “The Next Rated Act”, Burna Boy was disappointed that it wasn’t him. He believed he not only had more hit singles

Continues on pg 21

21 glitz Continued from pg 20

come a global village, Nigerian music alone does not define African music. Artistes from other African countries have begun to be heard globally, competing hard with Nigeria’s hip hop at global events and awards. Truth is Nigeria’s stranglehold on the region’s entertainment sphere is now slipping, especially with competition from Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya. The days of a 2Face, D’Banj holding sway for decades are gradually over as Africa has begun to unleash new sets of artistes whose tremendous contributions are been globally rewarded. In fact, Nigerian music has become so tainted that what we try to coat as Nigerian Hip Hop has been the bane of the nation’s music industry as America, the undisputed world capital of the entertainment industry, does not recognise that genre of music. It is a stolen idea. Hip hop is American and there is no way that Nigerian acts can do it better than them, just as the Americans can’t do Juju, Fuji, Afrobeat, Apala than us. Two time Grammy Award nominee, King Sunny Ade, has urged Nigerians who covet the prestigious award to always bear it in mind that for any Nigerina to win any international award, they have to be as African as possible. When Femi Kuti won the World Music award in Monaco, France with Bang Bang Bang, it was the heavy presence of afrobeat in the song. Between then and last year, Femi has been nominated for the Grammy four times but he is yet to win and he has not blamed the organisers for his loss. He is always appreciative of any nomination, like KSA, as this is a confirmation that his music has a level of acceptability The award night had started on a good note despite some of the issues that were raised, but the turn of event came when rapper and owner of YBNL record label, Olamide, accompanied his artist Adekunle Gold, who won Best Alternative Song , to the stage to receive his award. Unhappy Olamide had been waiting for the best time to express his dissatisfaction with the organisers after Reekado Banks beat his artist, Lil Kesh to the Next Rated award which came with a brand new Hyundai SUV. While on stage, Lil Kesh prostrated for Olamide who took the mic and started (raining expletives). “From lyrically to Shoki to Efejoku. Ko ni dafun Iya anybody”, before dropping the mic and walking off the stage. The Drama did not end there, Don Jazzy responded by saying “Egbon Olamide, if you want the car, come and collect it.” While accepting his Special Recognition Award at the Headies which he did to defend his artist, Reekado Banks who won the award. Though the duo have reportedly reconciled but it remains to be seen if the dust has finally settled. Speaking on what he thinks about Nigerians’ attitude to awards, especially when it does not go in their favour, comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka, blamed it on human nature, saying human beings are never satified with results that don’t turn out in their favour. “We are never satisfied with results and we always want things done our way. When we lose, it is ‘ojoro’. Just like in exams too, if the result is A1, it’s ‘I scored A1’ but if it’s F9,’ they gave me F9’. This is also not to say every allegation is a lie because there is no smoke without fire but we should not make unsubstantiated accusations. Anybody who feels an award organiser collects money should provide proof”, he said. Contributing, the CEO of Soundcity, Tajudeen Adepoju, said “the major problem is the calibre of the people that organise these awards. They are not important enough to organise such awards or do not

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘Why Nigerians react negatively when awards don’t favour them’

KSA

Femi Kuti

Lilian Blackson

Animasahun, Headies organiser

have the platform credibility to organise such awards and hence don’t have the clout and pedigree necessary to have there decision respected. Artistes have an over bloated ego and are not learned, this include their management and so do not understand how rewards work or the criteria often employed by the organisers. “There’s this mentality that because it’s Nigerian, and the artistes know the organisers, they actually think they are bigger than the people and the organisers and so, they do not respect any decision that does not favor them. For me, the way out is solely the credibility of platform. Platform must have requisite influence to organise the award. Process must be advertised and third party accrual checks and balances must be employed and respected. Industry personnel must be part of the selection and vetting process. Once these are done, and

the media communication of the processes and winners are well handled, credibility will be restored and the bickering too will stop”, he enthused. For Executive Chairman, Entertainment Foundation of Nigeria, Dr Tee Mac Omatshola (MFR), he urged the press to ignore artistes who pick up fight when they don’t win awards, adding that bad publicity is manna to their ego. “ most upcoming acts are ego–trippers! They have little to offer and they think too big of themselves. They think they’re God’s gift to themselves and if they are not recognised, they believe they have been cheated. Most of them would not even exist in the first world but in Nigeria, the country of the blind, where they get away with their little talents. The press should ignore them because even bad publicity is manna to their ego”. In his words, the publisher of City People Magazine and the organiser of City

There’s this mentality that because it is Nigerian, and the artistes know the organisers, they actually think they are bigger than the people and the organisers.

People Award, Dr Seye Kehinde, said people don’t like to accept defeat, even among the politicians. “It is a general problem in Nigeria. People don’t like to accept defeat. Even among politicians. Once result is announced, the loser goes to court. We need to cultivate the spirit of sportsmanship. It’s an attitude thing”. Covenant Child however blamed the negative reactions of losers on the systemic corruption in the society “ Research is very important in any award, so organisers should carefully chose who heads this unit of the award. I, however, blame the negative reactions of losers on the systemic corruption in our society. A situation where excellence has been mortgaged for mediocrity across all sectors throws up spoilsports. If an artiste who has ‘actually’ worked hard wins an award, why shouldn’t he be applauded by his fellow artistes who lost out in same category? Media should begin to celebrate excellence devoid of undue PAYOLA (bribery)”. Even two years old AFRIMMA has not been spared of harsh words from sour losers as many Nigerians complained about their dismal performance at the event. Because the event was held in Nigeria, which many considered to be a home-advantage of sort, the few Nigerians who were nominated in different categories, and who lost to other African musicians, vehemently protested to the orgainisers for shutting them out. There were allegations that the organisers deliberately favoured non-Nigerians to create an impression that AFRIMMA was not a Nigerian award. How this will work out next edition remains to be seen as many have promised not to attend the event in the future The Nigerian factor is believed to be responsible for the absence of many celebrities at a global award that has held in the country twice. Prior notification to actual winners by moles in the organiser’s office dent a blow on the awards. Moles allegedly inform losers ahead of the ceremony proper, hence their staying away from the grand finales. Once one is aware that he or she would not win in any category, it is better to stay away. This diminishes the value of such awards, therefore the credibility. For any award to be taken seriously, like the Grammy, MTV Award, Channel O, before the music cable network went under, the CNN award, the whole process must be held in secrecy. That is why many are always in suspense. In the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year awards, finalists are not left in doubt as to the sincerity and openness in the whole process., said Mr Wale Emosu, CNN award winner and staff of the Nigerian Tribune. “During the finalists programme leading up to the awards night, one could see the high emphasis on excellence in African journalism, which explains the criterion that guided the organisers in drawing up the list of finalists. “Apart from this, on the awards night, after the winner of each of the categories is announced, the footage of at least two of members of the judging panel is played. In the footage, the judges explain why a particular story has been picked as the winner, what gave it the edge over the other stories. Despite reports that FIFA accidentally leaked Lionel Messi as this year’s Ballon D’oir winner during the week, it is almost certain that Naymer and Ronaldo will be at the award.

10 January, 2016

entartainment

with Segun Adebayo tegbollistic@yahoo.com 08116954644

Headies Next Rated award:

Korede Bello should have nks a B o d a k e e R — won ard, just ws that the aw urged T is no more ne he artist, as ues ag Mavin Records lle co s hi won s nk Ba do ka ba Ree felt d ial Next who the controvers for not winthe 10th ediRated award at ning to keep es last week, tion of the Headi orking be new to w but what may rd, adding ha have folho w le op pe y man that there are roversy that lowed the cont more hong the event is and has been trailin ours s come to say mco s el that Reekado ha ur la e e to win th rv se de ’t ey dn th di he ing if ep ke award. n ought in a ca Reekado has br on the good the reactions new twist to work. d. The Kata trailing his awar A s k e d d ne was sig his pot crooner who bassador about am ai nd yu H as a Globacom w ne e radio liv a g rin du do ka ar ee last ye V, R ol Fm with SU Co the on al w ve ie re rv te ’t in dn ymi said his di but Do2Dtun and Ta Bello de- location of the car de de ci re de Ko ld e, at label m said he wou ard. e aw th e th ith in w w do to to t served t on wha no ld ou w he Reekado said r soon. had not won ca have felt bad if he

Sunday Tribune

Femi Solar picks April for album launch PREPARATIONS have begun for the launching of Jasa gospel singer, Femi Solar’s new album, even as he revealed that he would be working with Fuji star, Pasuma and rapper, Olamide on the new project. Though Solar said he would not want to reveal much about how far he has gone with his collaboration with Pasuma a n d O l amide, but the lightskinned music i a n promised to intimate his fans w i t h more details soon. Soalr said his new album would be launched in April in a special way. He disclosed that top musicians across different genres would be at

the event that would also attract socialites from within and outside Nigeria. On what his fans should expect from the 13-track album, Solar who last dropped an album in 2014 said he would be stepping up his game in the new work, adding that he would be giving his fans value for their money. “I have decided to make this new project a step away from the norm. That does not mean I am deviating from my usual Jasa-gospel style but I only upped the ante to show my dynamism on the craft. I can’t dump my style of music”, he said.

Sifter set to drop ‘Chop Am’ MONTHS after dropping his hit single, Ololufe which featured 9ice, US-based Nigerian born singer, Sifter is starting the new year on a good footing again with another new single, ‘Chop Am’ which is set to drop next week Saturday. Sifter who is signed to Bugatti Records Group (BRG), which its CEO, Promise Ilebor, is also based in the US, in this new single, left his usual comfort zone of R and B and delved into a contemporary dancehall beat, a development which Sifter believes explains his versatility in music. Despite being away from Nigeria, the ‘Olulufe’ crooner has kept a close relationship with his fans as they continually exchange pleasantries on social media platforms. For months, Sifter’s fans have been yearning for a new song, and according to him, this is a perfect time for him to appreciate them for their patience and love with a new song that explains why he had to take his time before dropping

another song. Speaking with E on his new single, Sifter whose birthday comes up on the same day said he could not have thought of a better birthday gift to his fans than a new music jam that would keep them dancing and happy in the new year.

“As you know that my birthday comes up next week Saturday, I have decided to drop my new single on that same day to the delight of my fans who have obviously been waiting to hear from me again after Ololufe”.

TAMPAN reads the riot act to fake members THE Theatre Arts Motion Pictures Practitioner Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), has read riot act to fake members of the association to desist from operations or face full wrath of the law, with further order that any member without identification card would also be prevented from film recordings and productions. The declaration and warning was issued by National President of the Association, Omooba Dele Odule at the end of Central Working Committee meeting on Tuesday in Ibadan, Oyo State Capital.

The President declared that henceforth any member of the association without his or her identification card will seize to be a member of the association and also will be deny to work on a film set by producers that belong to the association. He said this is put in place to actually have figures of authentic members, and to further put in check any malpractice or bad behavior from members of the association,while the directive further mandated all producers to make sure they obtain a covering letter from the Association national of-

fice to any police post or station nearest to where the film shoot will take place in other to avoid any harassment or intimidation from any quarter or group of people.

10 January, 2016

sundayzest

Sunday Tribune

With Victory Oyeleke victoryoyeleke@yahoo.com

What we should know about the new guantanamo guests next door T HE United States on Wednesday, 6 January, transferred two Yemeni detainees held at the controversial military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Ghana. The transfer marks the start of 17 departures expected in early 2016. Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby were transferred into the custody of the government of Ghana and the country made history, as it became the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to take in Lower-level US detainees. US might be pleased with the transfer but most Ghanaians were not. “The United States is grateful to the government of Ghana for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility,” said Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Gary Ross in a statement Comments made on social forums indicated that Ghanaians were not enthused by the move and were concerned of the security risks the men posed. Some argued that, the US should have detained them in their maximum prisons rather than bringing them to Ghana. However strict rules of law prevented imprisonment without trial in the US and since the men couldn’t be allowed to live in the US or return to Yemen due to instability and chaos they had to be sent to countries willing to deal to take them in. The US claimed the men were no longer a threat to the United States but the Pentagon had been wrong before

as several previous detainees had re-joined terrorists groups after they were released. A notable one is the high profile case of Jamal AL Harith a British citizen detained in Guantanamo. He claimed he was innocent and was released to the British government but has now been fighting for Isis for over a year. Like Jamal AL Harith, the men were never charged with a crime but did that mean they pose no threat to West African especially as Boko Haram had declared its allegiance to Isis? According to the Dossiers leaked by Pvt. Chelsea Manning, both Khalid Mohammed Salih al-Dhuby and Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef were born in

Saudi Arabia but of Yemen descent. They went to Afghanistan before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and were captured by Afghan forces and handed over to the United States later that year. Bin Atef was said to have admitted to being a member of the Taliban, and fought for Usama Bin Laden. He was also considered to be high risk to the US and American interest. During a riot, he threatened the lives of US citizens on multiple occasion, threatening to cut their throats upon release. Al-Dhuby was classified as medium risk to the US, and trained with AL Qaeda in Afghanistan both men will be able to leave Ghana after two years.

Like Jamal AL Harith, the men were never charged with a crime but did that mean they poses no threat to West African especially as Boko Haram has declared its allegiance to Isis.

10 January, 2016

makeover

Rita Okonoboh 08053789087 rosarumese@gmail.com

Essential skin care tips for men By Rita Okonoboh CONTRARY to the popular assumption of many men that skin care is not so important, it is a vital routine to achieve not just flawless skin, but to ensure general well-being. Below are a few tips for men for general skin care: Moisturize With the dry winds still in full blast, it is absolutely essential for men to take the time to actually use moisturizer, and generously too, no matter the rush. Moisturising helps to rehydrate the skin, giving it the needed shine.

Photo: www.hypehair.com

Caring for dry hair By Yetunde Tijani

URING dry season, like the one Nigeria is currently experiencing, the hair tends to be dry and it can take so much effort to make constant beauty changes to the hair. Dry hair causes hair damage and this might be as the result of too much heat. There are ways of taking care of dry hair, through artificial or natural products. Below are some easy and cheap ways to care for dry hair: Less blow drying Blow dryers and hot combs are not too good for dry hair because they not only increase dryness, they also cause damage. Use conditioner Hair conditioner is good for dry hair. It helps soften the hair and should be used more often. Coconut oil After washing the hair, it is mostly advised that coconut oil should be used for dry hair because it works better than man-made treatment because it is natural and free from chemicals or alcohol. It moisturizes the hair, reduces dryness,

prevents hair damage and brings out the colour and beauty of the hair. Eggs Eggs are also a natural and cheap way to take care of dry hair. Break two eggs in a bowl and mix together; after washing the hair, gently massage the egg mixture into the hair for some minutes and rinse with water. This will help to reduce the dryness and also prevent hair damage.

Sunday Tribune

Use shaving essentials Depending on what suits the skin, for shaving, men should use trusted and quality shaving products, including after-shave products. While many men may assume that after-shave treatment is unnecessary, since there are no immediate consequences, in actual fact, after-shave treatment helps to soothe the skin and repair cuts that may occur during shaving, thus preventing unsightly scrapes and bruises. For best results, go for alcohol-free options. Also use quality razors.

Use more natural products Many grooming products for men tend to contain a lot of artificial ingredients. Thus, men should look out for products that contain more natural ingredients. Watch for products that contain nuts and fruits and ensure that the overall content has not subsumed the natural product. Patronise experts Seeing as skin care do not involve products that are changed on a daily basis, nor does it involve lots of testing, men should be willing to invest time and money in patronizing an experts on grooming essentials. There are many male experts on skin care products and it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hurt to seek quality opinion. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just use products because they are cheap or handy, find out just how appropriate they are before use and your body will thank you in the long run.

Eat better Like the popular notion goes, it is what one puts in that one gets out. That is, what a man eats reflects on the general outlook of the skin. Thus, no matter the schedule, eat more home cooked meals, and incorporate fruits and leafy greens into your meals.

Herbs Some herbs can also be used to care for dry hair, reduce or prevent dryness of the hair. Sage is a herb that helps the hair, it reduces dryness and prevent hair damage. Rub the leaf of sage on the palm and massage into the hair for some minutes and rinse with water. Hairstyles for dry season Seeing as the season causes dryness on the hair, there are hairstyles one can use to reduce the effect of the weather, Braids is a common hairstyle for dry season, because they last long, but this also depends on how good the hairstylist is. Ghana weaving is another option, as well as weavons.

Photo: www.ddmmagonline.com

10 January, 2016

relationships

. . . issues, family, sex

Sunday Tribune

Rita Okonoboh 08053789087 rosarumese@gmail.com

ITH the new year still in its early days, many people have expectations, including meeting the perfect significant other. While many have held off for too long and know when it is time, others have no idea how to determine their readiness. There are a few pointers to create the right environment for finding, and keeping, one’s soul mate:

Love yourself One effective way, and perhaps, the most important, is to find pleasure in your own company. People sometimes mistake singlehood for loneliness, and thus, find the need to always have a partner at every point in their adult life. A person must find enjoyment as a single person before one can say he/she is ready to fall in love. After all, it doesn’t seem sensible that you can find a person to love you if you can’t love yourself. Believe in the beautiful uniqueness that constitutes you. Take long walks, read and generally enjoy yourself. If you fall in love without loving yourself first, you will build up unnecessary resentment and believe, albeit too late, that the person is crowding your space. First things first. Find stability The impression that people are needy, dependent lilies in all ramifications is only bolstered by the incessant demands by women for everything – from paying for meals to free rides, shopping trips and even money for hairdo, as well as men – refusal to live alone, get drunk at all sorts of

Getting ready for your soul mate hours and places, philandering, joblessness and general misconduct. Preparing to settle down comes with stability, especially emotional, financial and social. Now is the time to make drastic and necessary changes to lifestyle, especially negative tendencies. Get a job if you don’t have one, and no matter how meager – experience doesn’t come on a platter of gold. If you have plans to further education, be sure you have your finances organised. If you have no savings, now is the time to work with a plan. Desist from impulse spending and get your life on track. Financial independence is a must, for men and women.

Set priorities Maturity and readiness to settle down comes with knowing how to prioritise and having clear and realistic goals for the present as well as the future. Setting priorities will also help to differentiate between men/women who are looking for flings and those who are searching for something serious. And if you already have a significant other, now is the time to actually determine if he/she is really your soul mate. Take care of you Before now, you couldn’t care less about your health. However, another way to know that you’re

Relationship is understanding. It is a process of self-revelation. Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself — to be is to be related

Random Fact A soulmate is the one person whose love is powerful enough to motivate you to meet your soul, to do the emotional work of self-discovery, of awakening. —Kenny Loggins

ready for your Mr/Miss Right is to take better care of yourself. After all, no one likes to be a bur-

Photo: www.blackloveadvice.com

Be more responsible The willingness to take responsibility for actions is a determining factor for maturity, which is essential for meeting the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Once upon a time, you needed as many people to blame for failed relationships, crushed dreams and even lazy ambitions, without seeing the need to look inward. However, taking responsibility and being more responsible is a way to open yourself up for better experiences and quality relationships, which will in turn move you towards a lasting romantic union. Acknowledge your faults, take responsibility for bad situations, no matter how terrible and become a better person.

den. Eat better, reduce the late night crawls and let your health be one of your main concerns. Be cheerful As much problems as you think you have, you’re not the worst person in the world, nor is your experience the most bizarre. As such, be happy, inside and out and spread happiness as well. No matter the relationship challenges faced in the past, make the effort to have a positive outlook and work on regaining your confidence. Most important of all is to believe that you only going to be a soul mate, you will find the one who will be your perfect match. As Bruce Lee sums it up, “Relationship is understanding. It is a process of self-revelation. Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself — to be is to be related.”

10 January, 2016

With Akintayo Abodunrin akinjaa03@yahoo.co.uk 08111813058

With Kakadu and Wakaa!, two productions staged over the yuletide and into the New Year, Nigerians may not need to head to Broadway and the West End to see great musicals again.

HOUGH returning for the 14th time, The Playhouse Initiative’s ‘Kakadu the Musical’ staged from December 29 to January 3 at the Agip Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, remains fresh as ever. A production that celebrates life and living in the Lagos of the swinging 60s, lawyer and playwright, Uche Nwokedi and his team have given Nigerians a quality and timeless piece that remains as relevant as it was when it premiered in May 2013. Lively and sombre in turn, ‘Kakadu’ takes the viewer on a roller coaster, beginning on a gay note but concluding with a warning to the nation, especially at this time when ethnic nationalities are renewing their agitations. Preceded by an exhibition of 14 paintings by artist Polly Alakija who sat with the cast during rehearsals and captured them in action, the musical is also a great advertisement for African and Nigerian music of the 1960s. This is aside foreign ‘old school’ music like ‘Twist’ and ‘Lumbar Rock’ that were performed. The audience was treated to numbers by highlife greats including the late Bobby Benson, Celestine Ukwu, Christy Essien- Igbokwe, Onyeka Onwenu, Sir Victor Olaiya and ace guitarist, Sir Victor Uwaifo by the resident Kakadu Nite Club band, the Fabulous Flamingos led by Lugard ‘Omo Eko’ Da Rocha played by Benneth Ogbeiwi. While some people think that the graduate of Civil Engineering from the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma and Head of Music, Project Fame West Africa is a flat track

Kakadu: Revisiting Lagos of the swinging 60s bully by his antics on the show, Ogbeiwi is actually a talented artiste that lifted the production backed by MTN Foundation, Access Bank and Casers Group amongst others. But a tree does not a forest make; the remaining cast members, majority of who are appearing in the musical for the first time, also gave competent performances. A celebrity hangout that young people found irresistible, Kakadu attracts all sorts but its patrons always learn to comport themselves. Osahon, newly arrived in Lagos and taken to the club by his friends Kola and Emeka, however becomes excessive. He quaffs the available liquor greedily,

gets drunk and wouldn’t stop trying to paw the ladies, Amonia, Bisi, Hassana, Onome and Enoh amongst others. There is also a fourth guy, Dapo, who Kola and Emeka don’t rate highly because of his false airs, being the son of a rich man who has just returned to Nigeria after completing his studies in England. When Osahon returns to Kakadu for another night of fun, Lugard calls him aside and warns him to take life easy in Lagos: “Kakadu is Lagos and Lagos means Love All Girls on Saturday. In Kakadu, you don’t rush alcohol or women, you take things easy” he tells the chastened Johnny Come-Lately.

...Fusion of music, comedy in spectacular Wakaa! HAVING raised the bar with ‘Saro’ and ‘Saro The Musical 2’, the question that arose when Bolanle Austen-Peters announced the staging of ‘Wakaa’ was, will she uphold the standard of the earlier productions or surpass it with this latest Broadway-style musical? She answers emphatically with this spectacular fusion of music, comedy, dance and social commentary that thrills. It takes snippets from past and current events to portray

us as we are by touching on politics, aspirations, relationships, culture and community development. Given its form, it was not surprising that the audience was actively involved in the play, laughing at some of the lines of the actors and spontaneously singing along with them during the two-hour show at the MUSON Centre. Well paced and with economy of movements, ‘Wakaa’ satirises ‘gold diggers’;

A scene from Wakaa

politicians who deceive people to get power and thereafter loot the public till and supposed smart guys that are so sharp they cut themselves. It also highlights the naivety of academics who venture into politics, thinking their high falutin English and bombast is what will get votes from the electorates. From Kike (Arese Emokpae), the greedy leech that wouldn’t let go of idealist Tosan (Patrick Diabuah) to the deceitful Otunba Sagay (Bimbo Manuel) who eventually becomes governor of Savanna State, ‘Wakaa’ is a rich, colourful musical that should return to the stage soon. While Otunba Sagay and his running mate, Iyalode Owokitan (Mawuyon Ogun) of the Generating Party are the typical sly politicians who prioritise ‘stomach infrastructure’, Professor Elias Bazuaye and his running mate, Prof Jojoba of the Brainny Party are just grammar speaking toddlers in politics. Sound Sultan’s ‘Mr. Jagbajantis’ lustfully rendered by the band before Jojoba’s campaign speech was a clincher. Unsurprisingly, the duo lose to Sagay and Continues p27

The guys, ladies and other patrons are having a ball at Kakadu one fine evening when the military strike. It was the night of Nigeria’s first military coup and Kakadu, home of revellers would never be the same again. The patrons disperse following the outbreak of the civil that follows the coup. Emeka and others from the East flee Lagos while despite Lugard’s best efforts to keep Kakadu afloat during the war, the remaining patrons stay away. The dislocations and mistrust that follow the civil war is heart wrenching and highlights why war should be avoided. Bisi’s father refuses to agree to her marriage to Emeka who she is dating before the war. Meanwhile, it’s the same with Emeka’s extended family. Despite both parents being friends and business associates, the distrust caused by the war almost wrecks the happiness of their children. Similarly, some policies introduced after the war including the wrongful disengagement of some military and para-military men, giving Easterners just N20 for their old money and seizing their houses through the ‘abandoned property’ law lead to social problems including armed robberies. Tellingly, the musical also hints that issues raised by that war have not been fully addressed, hence the agitations by ethnic nationalities. Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Many Rivers to Cross’ soulfully rendered to buttress the point that reconciliation and reconstruction is yet to be truthfully pursued, was haunting. Laced equally with music, drama and dance, the costume, hair dos and other props used in Kakadu appropriately represented the era being depicted. The fact that there was an accompanying exhibition where the 14 works sold out on the opening night also reinforces the unity of different art forms which other practitioners will do well to explore.

27 arts&culture Poet and journalist, Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, writes on his visit to US-based artist, Victor Ekpuk, who recently rounded off a four-month residency in Ikoyi, Lagos courtesy of the Arthouse Foundation

OING to see the celebrated artist Victor Ekpuk in uptown Ikoyi, Lagos was indeed very strange to me. One was used to the very humble and personable Victor Ekpuk as a kind boynext-door in the Surulere suburbia back in the 1990s when we were colleagues at the Daily Times in the heady 1990s. I had to make the joke that after relocating to the United States for more than a decade Victor has come back to Nigeria as “a member of the idle rich class”, to borrow the words of playwright George Bernard Shaw. The Victor I met on Cameron Road, Ikoyi was his old self – warmhearted and extraordinarily hardworking. He was rounding off a fourmonth residency, courtesy of the esteemed Arthouse Foundation. The residency is a forerunner to his scheduled major solo art exhibition billed for this year. Both projects, the residency and the art exhibition, are geared towards the Arthouse Foundation’s “commitment to promoting Nigerian art beyond the primary business of the auction house.” In his new stretch of woks, Victor Ekpuk is fascinated by the idea of hawkers carrying things on their heads. Having been away in America, it struck him upon the return to Nigeria that many roadside hawkers were ferrying sundry goods about on their heads. He took still photographs of these loadcarrying hawkers and brought the pictures back to his studio. The metaphor that registered inside his mind was the idea of people carrying their problems on their heads. The generic idea led to the making of his range of works entitled “Heads”. In a clear case of the immediate society impacting on his works, Victor Ekpuk extended his inquiry to even the fashion Nigerians bear on their heads. This leads to even the psychoanalysis of the diverse matters going on inside the head that carries the load, or bears the fashion. For instance, the profile of a headgearbedecked lady leads to multiform artistic renderings. The concept also appeals through sculptural forms. The abstractions are indeed

10 January, 2016

Victor Ekpuk trends Universal Victor Ekpuk pleasant to the eyes of each beholder even as profound meanings yield to further probing. The head idea goes further afield to the prevalent religiosity of the average Nigerian who would readily end every sentence with the phrase: “By the grace of God.” The pain in the face may appear life-threatening but there is always the fatalistic “Insha-Allah” for one to forge ahead. The portraits use the faces to illustrate what goes on inside the heads. The Nigeria Victor Ekpuk is bearing witness to is a land in which religion has taken over everywhere. Incidentally, my visit to Victor in Ikoyi had to be delayed for minutes on end because a religious procession had blocked the entire road before CMS Busstop such that I had to make the rest of the journey on a motorbike, aka, Okada! Of course Victor Ekpuk has not forgotten his life in Surulere before the sojourn to the United States. Coming back to stay in Ikoyi afforded him the artistic distance to put all the realities in perspective. The artist was looking on as from a glass panel, seeing escort cars and beholding the huge gap between the rich and the poor. He has since undertaken work tours to the slum of Mushin where people and ill-assorted urchins scavenge in the gutters. In the interest of his work as an artist on the frontline, it is richly rewarding to be able to move in different worlds. He could attend champagne parties, and learn a lot from a measure of

detachment from the debaucheries. It is as though he is seeing it all from the outside even as he is a present insider. He knows deep within that somebody who is not experienced cannot tell the difference. His preAmerican experience in the Ijeshatedo area of Surulere has indeed served him well. “I can readily go out of my way to put myself in past situations to do my work,” he assures, with a soft smile beneath his spectacles. “It creates empathy because you know what the other side is like.” Victor understands that the affluent can be very lonely and sad while the poor happen to be somewhat happy within the ambit of what some will see as their deprivations. His stint in Cuba when he participated in the 12th Havana Biennale was an object lesson to him in this wise. The people may live on rations and there can be the issue of class denial, but the masses of Havana, Cuba enjoy themselves abundantly, with people always dancing in the streets. For them, life is simple. According to Victor Ekpuk, “If you think too much of the ideal you only end up getting frustrated.” He has come to terms to a choked-up Lagos where one cannot keep two appointments on a given day. He had to perforce adjust himself to the reality. He once sat in traffic for five hours for a normally short journey from Orile to Mushin. The contradictions help as grist to the mill of his work as embodied in “All Fingers Are

...Fusion of music, comedy in spectacular Wakaa! continued from pg26

Iyalode, who mimics ex-First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, during campaigns. Tosan, who Kike sees as her meal ticket is appointed an assistant to Otunba, his uncle after his victory at the polls. But knowing that he values integrity and that he conceived most of the ideas that he and his cronies are using to loot the treasury, Otunba wouldn’t stop sending Tosan on needless trips outside the country. Tosan gets to know of his Uncle’s treachery during a visit to a community centre run by Ngozi (Ade Laoye) and funded by Cletus, a rich Igbo businessman. Having earlier graduated from the university with her, Kike, the extremely fake Rex and Alero, Tosan is surprised by the cold reception he gets from Ngozi when he arrives at the centre alongside Kike. The good natured Ngozi thereafter shows him evidences of his Uncle’s looting. However, Otunba Sagay, who tells Tosan at a point that “election promises are not real promises”, is not the only villain of the

musical. There is also Rex (Jolomi Amuka), who though trained as a medical doctor, travels to London with the intention of living an easy life with the white girl, Cassandra (Dolapo Philips) he meets on Facebook. Sadly, she is not who she pretends to be on social media and Rex finds himself firmly in the claws of a ‘catfish’. That’s not all. After he is deported back to Nigeria, he sets up a record label and swindles some up and coming musicians before he is found out. Robed in the same garment is the ‘grammar blowing’ Prof Jojoba who is later invited to ‘come and chop’ by Otunba. He accepts with gratitude. Like Jojoba, Kike also does not cover herself in glory with her avarice and her oscillation between Rex and Tosan. She starts out as Rex’s babe but eventually settles for Tosan, having carefully considered his prospects. The scene early in the musical where Rex and Tosan bicker over her with songs attracted applause from the audience. Trying to get fresh with Kike, Tosan warns him to back off with Patoranking’s ‘My Woman’ but Rex replies with ‘I’m hot, you

are not’ from D’banj’s ‘Ongbona Felifeli’. They would quarrel over her again towards the end of the production. However, the scene where Tosan and Kike make up is moving, both stating their cases with heart melting love songs. The decision to incorporate elements of culture into the musical, especially in the scene where Cletus decides to teach children in the community centre about masquerades is commendable. However, the masquerades that appear onstage looked more like players in a carnival with their costumes and head dresses. ‘Wakaa’s scores are glorious while the acting and choreography is top notch. Manuel excellently portrayed the corrupt Yoruba politician while his sidekick, Ogun, was also remarkable. It’s the same with Tosan, Kike and Ngozi who gave their best and justified their inclusion by the production crew including Ayo Ajayi (music director), Gbenga Yusuf (choreographer) and producer/director, Bolanle Austen-Peters, who is fast earning her spurs as Nigeria’s queen of spectacle.

Not Equal”. There are divergent levels of appreciation of these works. Informed critics delve deeper, given their understanding of Ekpuk’s groundbreaking works in Nsibidi and Uli forms. “Most Western critics do not know the background,” Victor reveals, shaking his head. “I have to turn into an anthropologist on their behalf.” His use of the aesthetic concept of Nsibidi serves as the take-off platform, not that he is writing Nsibidi per se. The head as the seat of consciousness lends to a profound appreciation of his aesthetics. The vista of “Head 2” is at the very heart of this awareness. The broadening of Victor Ekpuk’s output can be seen in dimension called “Women’s Aesthetics”. He once saw the picture of a beautiful polytechnic lady student in an old copy of Nigeria Magazine. It turned out to be the photograph of the mother of a mutual friend of ours, Helen Etukudo-Egbe. That single photo led to a vast corpus of works. A particularly arresting curve in the Victor Ekpuk production can be seen in the “Slave Narratives”. The Papal Cap becomes an image that churns the mind and uplifts a diverse range of interpretations. The poetical can thus project the diabolical. The Papal Decree is grafted in for good measure. The phallic forms a halo over the holy. The separatist and racist Jim Crow laws of old America are ready grist to the mill. The meditations upon memory unify the universe within the ambit of Victor Ekpuk’s delivery. He could not but marvel at seeing his native Ekpe masquerades tattooed on the backs of Cuban boys in Havana. He witnessed the initiations in Cuba and says: “I could hear my language in the rituals.” It was a moving experience for him bearing witness to the Abakua Society. The identity of an Efik or Ibibio somewhat finds validation in faraway Havana, Cuba. “The music was hypnotic,” Victor Ekpuk stresses, as though transported back to Cuba. “I don’t think I can get that kind of audience in Nigeria. The experience was overwhelming.” A 1989 Fine Arts graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Victor Ekpuk is very visible internationally in such esteemed venues as the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Dakar Biennale, Senegal; the Johannesburg Biennial, South Africa; the Krannert Art Museum, Illinois; the Fowler Museum, California; the Newark Museum, New Jersey; Sulger Buel-Lovell Galery, London; the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, USA, and the 12th Havana Biennale in Cuba.

Sunday Tribune

10 January , 2016

glamour

With Tayo Gesinde temiligali03@yahoo.com 08054727801

My ideal man must be

tall, dark, intelligent and eloquent —Allwell Ademola Allwell Ademola Apeke is the granddaughter of Nigeria’s first Chief Justice, Justice Adetokunbo Ademola. She is an actress, filmmaker, singer and scriptwriter who is good at what she does. She speaks with Doyin Adeoye on her career and style, among other things. Excerpts:

livelier. Also as a stage actor, you must have your own lines, stage is more tedious and it makes you alive. As a stage performer, you must be able to sing, act and dance, because there is no stage production without music. So I enjoy this on stage. You can’t be lazy as a stage actor. So compared to movie production, I’d say stage is the real thing.

ORAY into entertainment I started as a singer when I was five; I used to be in the church choir as a child. My father was the patron of the choir then, so I automatically became a member of the choir. I was also a member of the school choir. There was also a day a man came to our school and said they needed children who would do ‘Animal Games’ and I was one of those who were picked and that was how it started. The ‘Animal Games’ was a children programme, where we would sing, act, recite poetries and all sort. It was aired on NTA 7 then. I later moved on to ‘Tales by Moonlight.’ And professionally, I started being paid in 1985 by NTA for ‘Tales by Moonlight.’ Growing up I didn’t really have much of the childhood experience because I got into entertainment as a child, so I was unable to do most things my mates did. I was on TV then, so I couldn’t just stroll on the street because even as a child, I had my fans. I remember my mother would follow me everywhere, so it wasn’t the normal experience every other child had.

Also, my father was a very strict man who really didn’t support me being a TV personality at my age. So it was one of the challenges I faced, coupled with the fact that I also had to face my studies squarely. So I was always busy doing one thing or the other, especially with my academics. And when I was not in school, I was at a location. So I have been an adult since when I was a child. Educational background I grew up in Aguda Surulere, so my primary and secondary education were at Surulere; I attended Atara Primary School and Fountain Schools, before I proceeded to Itolo Girls Secondary School, Eric Moore and Western College, Yaba. Then I went to Osun State College of Education and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, where I studied English. I also have a Diploma in Performing Arts from Jovies Perfection Press, Surulere. How I developed scriptwriting skills Scriptwriting for me, started from stage in 1998. It wasn’t as if I studied it anywhere as at then. In

1993, we used to do stage plays from already written books. So one day, we wanted to do something different at the Apapa Theatre Club, and we thought of a 20-minute play, rather than the two-hour stage productions we used to do. So we needed a script as fast as possible, so while they were still discussing on how to go about it, I started writing the scenes and I showed it to them, even though I didn’t know they would buy it. And they did. So that was the first script I ever wrote. I didn’t really brush up the skill until 1998 when I did a production with the ‘Rhythm of the Black Man’ where I wrote something for a stage production and my director then liked it, and that was how it started. My preference between stage and camera I’d say stage because it is the original thing. I was doing TV before I moved on to stage production and then back to TV and movies. It was really fun while I was on TV as a child, but when I got to stage acting as an adult, I realised that it was more difficult, because we’ll have to read and rehearse, stay in camp for days, do drilling exercises in the morning and all, so it is

Why I chose a career in music I love singing a lot. I love music so much that even when I’m upset, once I sing, I will be fine. I find myself in the choir in every church I go to. So over time, whenever there is a wedding in the church, I would lead the choir and sing at the reception, and I later realised that I could make a career out of it. So, in 2000, I formed a band of my own, majorly with members of the choir, and till date, the name of the band is ‘Allwell and Company.’ That was how I came up with my own band. Why I relate more with the Yoruba sect of the movie industry It is a personal decision. When I was in the English sect, I had friends and colleagues that are very dear to me; the likes of Femi Branch, OC Ukeje, Yemi Awomodu and others. We used to be on stage together then and we said we would stick to stage performances, be-

quickly push it out, so it was a big loss. After that, I had to go back to my drawing board, restrategised and looked forward to recovering my loss, or at least break even. So after a two-year break, I produced ‘Agan.’ Then I later produced and directed ‘Asiko’ which won me a Nigerian OSCAR award in the directing category. And I decided to do something to make people laugh and that was what inspired ‘Atupa.’ My relationship with my grandfather Well, growing up with the first Chief Justice of Nigeria as my grandfather was awesome. He was a strict personality. He was a son to a king, and I wasn’t really close to him, because my father was raised by the king, that is his grandfather. But whenever he was around, one thing I loved so much about him was his English; you can’t be around him and speak incorrect English. He was really fun to be with. My take on toning People don’t tone anymore, they bleach. If you are good as an actor, even if you are not pretty, you will be casted. There are actresses that are black and have remained so. The likes of Genevieve Nnaji, Ini Edo, Mercy Jonhson, Funke Akindele didn’t bleach, and they are doing really fine. So why spoil your skin when you can do well being black? This job has nothing to do with you changing your skin colour, so most of the ladies bleaching their skins should have their own reasons for doing that. My take on provocative dresses Bukky Ajayi started as a model; she is an international act, she is very close to her eighties now and the Bukky Ajayi I’ve always known, I have never seen her body above her elbow, yet she is an international act, so it is not as if she is not good. The same goes for Joke Silvia too. And these are people that have acted almost every role possible. So I think that our directors should just try and correct them to do what is right. This was not the practice from the onset, but unfortunately, it is all over the place now. Also, there are many things that shouldn’t be, you’d see a lady play the role of a banker and she’d still wear revealing clothes. You’d see someone in her house in a movie and she’d be elegantly dressed. Someone could be an orange hawker and yet will have well manicured nails and looking so expensive. These are not realistic. A lot still need to be addressed.

Scripting Eti Keta I met Saheed Balogun in 2007 and the first thing I did for him then was a soundtrack for his movie, Sakojiya. He gave me the project without even hearing what I had done before. So thereafter, we did some productions together and he later told me he wanted to do a big project and I told him I could write the script. He briefed me about the story and by the time I showed him the first draft, he was really impressed, and that was it. I just went back to my board, effected some corrections and that was it. How that particular project paved the way for me It did. The truth of the matter is that after the release of Eti Keta, Saheed Balogun being a good man, told whoever cared to listen that Allwell wrote the script. He also gave me the liberty to do the casting. The only person I did not cast was himself, I and Sunkanmi Omobolanle. Every other cast, I suggested and he did not object. After that I went for an audition at Lekki, and I was asked what I had written before as a writer, and I mentioned the major projects except ‘Eti Keta’ because it was still at the cinema. The man then mentioned the kind of movies he liked and the kind of writer they wanted, and in the list, he mentioned ‘Eti Keta’ by Saheed Balogun. Immediately I told him I wrote the script, all he said was you have the job. So ‘Eti Keta’ really made the name Allwell fly. I got lots and lots of job through it and I made fortunes through it.

cause we felt that movie was cheap and lazy compared to stage. And although I later started seeing others in Yoruba movies, I wanted to stick to my words, not until Uncle Jide Kosoko advised me to relate more with the Yoruba sect and that was how I came back and I am happy I listened to him. My take on people’s impression that there is a huge gap between the English and Yoruba sects of the industry The truth of the matter is that the only problem we have is that the English speaking sect is easily understood by everybody. The Igbos, Hausa, Ghanaian understand it because it is a general language, but Yoruba is a particular language that not everyone understands. So you won’t want to see a movie that you don’t understand what they are saying. So that remains a problem to some extent. But as much as some think that Yoruba movies are localised because of the language, I can categorically say that there are more graduates in the Yoruba sect than in the English sect. It is so unfortunate that many people think that the English sect is better. The veterans in the English industry, I mean when it started, were Yorubas; the likes of Akin Lewis, Joke Silvia, Olumide Bakare, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, Olu Jacobs, Shola Sobowale, Bukky Ajayi, Ayo Mogaji and others. They have been in the industry since the 70s. So the question is when these people were working in the 70s, where were they? So that is

why I can never understand how the Nollywood anniversaries were calculated. How the movie industry can be improved First, we need funds. In the western world, they get sponsors, but here, we use our money and even after that, there are pirates out there waiting to consume. So you spend your money and you are not getting anything back. It is something we love doing and we don’t want to stop. Without money you can’t get the right things for filming, so we have to manage. It is not as if we don’t know what to do. As far as I am concerned, I believe that Nollywood is a very brilliant industry, because from the little we have, we could manage. So basically, we need funds. How I bounced back after producing Adeda Adeda is a true life story; it is my story actually. I worked on it for five years before the production. It took that much time because I didn’t want to rush it, but at the end of the day, I still didn’t get the 100 per cent I wanted, but to some extent I was able to get 85 per cent, which was a pass mark. And unfortunately, it was pirated and I ran into a very big loss. It was handed over to a marketer, who was supposed to be the sole distributor. He didn’t even know until I called him to inform him that I had downloaded it on my phone. And that was the major reason we had to

Rumours about myself and Funsho Adeolu There are actors I like and respect so much in the industry; the likes of Yomi Fash Lanso, Muyiwa Ademola, who is my cousin, Saheed Balogun, Funsho Adeolu and others. And I love working with them. And the reason I like Funsho Adeolu is that he is a singer, actor and also a fantastic dancer. So he featured in one of my movies, where he spent four days at the location instead of the two days we agreed upon and he did not complain at all, unlike some other people. And he delivered the role very well. So while appreciating everyone who worked towards the success of the production at the premier, I said that “God bless you Funsho Adeolu. If you were not married, I would have married you. Funsho Adeolu, I love you.” Those were my words and his wife was even there and I remember saying to his wife that ‘madam no vex o,’ and we all laughed over it at the event. Only for the media to pick that and a week later, it was all over the place that Funsho and I were dating. There was nothing between myself and Funsho. He is good at what he does, and I respect that about him. Is Allwell single? Yes. My ideal man I once had a fiancé that we would have been married by now, but he died two months to my wedding. So I would say my ideal man is someone like him. He was tall, dark, not so handsome, but with amazing looks. He had a great dress sense, eloquent, and intelligent. That is my ideal man.

aspire

10 January, 2016

BY OLAIDE SOKOYA 0807 449 7425 (sms only)

ollydesanmi@yahoo.com

‘Gov’t should invest more in tomorrow than today’

Adebayo Olaifa is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LivingMIND Resources, Abeokuta. The Ogun State indigene speaks with OLAIDE SOKOYA on his foray into the world of enterprise and the lessons he had learnt in the course of his job and sundry issues. Excerpts:

hat is your educational background? I hold Bachelors degree in Biochemistry. I am an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Financial and Investment Analyst of Nigeria (CIFIAN). Also, I have an associate membership of Nigerian Institute of Management(NIM-Chartered). I am currently running an MBA programme. Why don’t you go in line of the course you studied? I have always been interested in the enterprise world right from my tender age. This love has made me to tread this path. What prompted you into this business? Like I said earlier, my love for the enterprise world has prompted me to take up this line of business. Years back, in my university days, I was involved in a few enterprises that failed due to inadequate information and experience. Since then, I have always been willing to learn new ways of building a startup and help people not to fail. How long were you able to learn it? I actually learnt first from my own experiences and experiences of other people. I have learnt this for say eightyears and I am still learning every day. What is your definition of style? Well, style I believe is the way or method an individual choses to achieve an outlined objective. What are your best colours and what is the significant of the colour? My best colours are green and purple. Green indicates freshness to me while purple is for royalty. This is because I desire to be identified with excellence and great achievements in my chosen endeavours. What lessons have you learnt in the cause of your profession? I have learnt patience, endurance, perseverance and empathy. Who are your role models? My role model is anyone that has successfully and legitimately built a business/enterprise from startup and has conveniently nurtured it to fruition. If not for your business, what would you have become?

We only hear of a lot of money set aside for small scale businesses in the media but such money does not get to the real people that needed it.

Olaifa I think I would have become a medical doctor. How lucrative is your job? My job is lucrative because people are venturing into business everyday and lack the perquisite knowledge and training. So, I always have clients. What are the challenges you have faced? I have faced business setback and financial hardship. Where do you see yourself in the next five years? I see myself in the midst of royalty and improving on what I love doing. Increasing my business turnover by 60 percent as well as my clientele base. What is your advice to young people? My advice to young people is to take the bull by the horn. They should not sit and fold their arms but rather venture into legitimate small scale enterprises. Do you think the federal government is doing enough for young entrepreneurs? Well, to be frank, I don’t think so. We only hear of a lot of money set aside for small scale businesses in the media but such money does not get to the real people that needed it. What is your advice to the government concerning high rate of unemployment in Nigeria? Government should invest more in the tomorrow than today. That is by empowering the youth; also providing an enabling environment for small businesses to thrive and develop. By this, unemployment will be reduced drastically.

Your Life Counts

Sunday Tribune

by Tunde Jaiyebo 0803 406 2013

Handling the gloomy forecast of the year (I) THE general forecast is that it is going to be a very tough year. Things might be tougher and rougher than it was last year. We have been told to tighten our belts and get ready to make sacrifices. Sacrifices are never comfortable but this must not get us scared. Sacrifices are needed to make headway in life. “He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.” James Allen All indications point to the fact that this year is a year where we will encounter adversity, face challenges and possibly run into turbulent waters. The issue is what will we do when we get hit by these adversities. Are we going to crumble under the weight of challenges? Are we going to join the majority who will just be complaining? Are we going to crumble under the yoke of adversity? Are we going to allow the adversity terminate our dreams and goals for the year? Or are we going to stand up to it and pursue our purpose and dream for this year to a logical conclusion. The choice is ours. There is no point debating about adversity – we simply need to formulate and execute effective strategies to overcome them. There is no time to waste, let us get on with our lives no matter what life brings up. “Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.” Voltaire Life never gives us what we desire but what we demand and if we do not understand that life comes with adversity we might get frustrated in the journey of life. Tough times and adversity are simply part of life. “If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Life is never a smooth road that leads straight to our dream destination. Life is a mixed grill of valleys, mountains, rivers, smooth roads and wisdom simply demands we must develop the ability to navigate through the different terrains of life. Now is the time to make a conscious decision as to what we will do when the winds of adversity blows this year. We must not just sit and cross our legs hoping that when we get to the river we will somehow cross it. We must understand we do not prepare for war in the time of war – we prepare for war in the time of peace. This year our perspective of life must be accurate. The choices we make in life are largely hinged on our perspective. Our perspective will determine whether we will see possibilities instead of problems or we will see opposition instead of opportunities. Our perspective will determine whether we will see problems and challenges as mountains or molehills. Life is not an easy road but at the same time it is not an impossible road. “A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn.” Author Unknown Life will always throw a barrage of challenges, crisis and circumstances that are tough and only the strong hearted can make it. Life is not designed for the faint hearted who will throw in the towel at every difficult point he gets in life. One tread that weaves through the fabric of any great man or woman of substance is adversity. Adversity is inevitable and our attitude and response when it shows up will determine how far we will go in life. Adversity or negative circumstances can either paralyze us or it can propel us to rise beyond it to greater heights. Adversity is usually a temporary bus stop on our way to our final destination. Nobody in his right mind lives in the bus stop- it’s just a transit point. For enquiries/comments please send email to urlifecounts@yahoo.com

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

thepolity Security should not be left in the hands of FG alone —Amosun Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, during the 2016 maiden media chat, held last week, provided answers to questions from some media practitioners on the state of things in the state since the commencement of his second term in office. Assistant Editor, OLAYINKA OLUKOYA, monitored the interview session. Excerpts:

OUR Excellency, how can agriculture be used as a means of employment especially for young people out there vis-a-vis reviving farm settlements and rice plantation, among others? You said agriculture, but if you look at our five cardinal programmes, it was not just agriculture; we believe that it is agriculture that will lead us to industrialization, because gone are those days when you just farm, like subsistence farming. Now, we are not just talking mechanised farming, but farming that will take full advantage of the value chain that agriculture offers. And what do we mean by that, whatever we grow, we must process, whatever we process, we must market once the products are ready. So a lot of things like the presentation, the packaging and marketing are involved; everybody will be involved. Once that is done, we will attract all these investors, entrepreneurs to come and assist us in developing Ogun State. But what is the primary motive? If you look at it, the first in our five cardinal programme is education, the second is health, the third is agriculture that will lead to industrialisation and more of social service. Education won’t give you money, but education will be the bedrock, because if you are informed and educated, you will apply the knowledge into other areas like health, agriculture, infrastructural development or urban-rural development and so on. In fact, in all facets of human endeavour, if you are not educated, you cannot succeed. For us to be able to fund education, to fund health and other social amenities, we will need to have a fulcrum on which every other thing rests upon, and agriculture presents that opportunity particularly if you look at others. In fact, I want to say that even in Ogun State, if care is not taken, maybe half a million of our people that are not working are educated, young graduates, they don’t have anything doing. But what we are trying to do is to attract them, make agriculture to be very attractive to them and that’s why we are working on all the state farm settlements. Are you saying that the state government has already taken steps to invest in this regard? Agriculture takes time to materialise. It is not something that you invest today and tomorrow you are reaping; no! So, what we have done, of course, you mentioned some but you missed out on one. There is no state in Nigeria that does it the way we do. It is not just cassava for maybe garri, flour and so on; no. There are a lot of things you can use cassava for and these

are the reasons many people want to partner with us, because they need all the cassava that we can plant. There are a lot of other areas you can put cassava into use. So we are growing cassava now into what I call massive commercial quantity. Rice is very key. You just mentioned rice now, so is oil palm plantation. Before now, cocoa will live up to 9 or 10 years before you harvest, but with technology, there are new initiatives and new ways of doing things. Within three years now, you can begin to harvest. So, we have taken cassava, rice, oil palm plantation, cocoa and the last one which we know is a money-spinner and that is to now go into vegetable cultivation. And this will include tomatoes, pepper and so on. Again, we have now delved into the area of fruits, oranges, pineapples, banana and so on. Don’t forget that all of these companies now are now in Ogun State. We are telling them to do backward integration, so that not everybody will wake up in the morning to say that I want to go to government office and look for job. What we want to do is to let our people know that there is dignity in labour, they can even be employers of labour themselves, rather than maybe

wasting their time looking for jobs. Now, what have we done? We have partnered with the Bank of Industry (BoI); we put down N500 million for our young graduates so that they can go into small businesses. We are encouraging them to come and be employers of labour themselves. We have built farm houses and have about three of them in each of our senatorial districts. So, we are encouraging young graduates to delve into area they like. How have the youth been responding so far? Yes, as we speak now, we have about two or three success stories and thankfully, Ogun State will be 40 years and that is one of the projects that Mr. President will come and commission for us. We have one in Owowo; that is the pilot scheme. We are doing Cocoa in Alagbagba; we have in Odeda here and we have in Olomore. We are encouraging our young graduates to come and be part of what we are doing. The totality of what we are doing is that, once that is done, it will work positively on our economy, because if we do this, it will create wealth for our young ones. I am happy now that whatever egg or to-

mato we produce is sold out. Those young ones are happy because they are making money and have other people working for them. So, people will see what we have been doing, because we are going to showcase this. But once we are able to do this, we are getting our people to work, particularly our young ones. And we are going back to what I call cottage industries and that is one area where vocational training is key as well; so that when they are taught in all ramifications even in your farm settlement, something needs to be done. You don’t need to run around to start calling people from Ghana, Benin Republic, Togo. This is not the way we were brought up and that is why we are going back to our roots. So, agriculture will be the fulcrum on which all of these things will rest, together with our initiative in infrastructural development which I will still talk about. Though you have made so much emphasis on attracting foreign investors in the agriculture sector, one is still concerned about Ogun State, continues pg 35

interview

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Aregbesola has put Osun in bondage —PDP chairman

The chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, speaks with MOSES ALAO on the state of Osun State and the activities of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, whose government clocked five years in office recently.

OVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola was five years in the saddle as the governor of Osun State in November, having defeated your party for another term in office in 2014; can you honestly say your opposition to the governor is justified with regards to his achievements in office? Well, there is the saying that if one fixes a date for 20 years, certainly that date will come one day. The day the Appeal Court made Governor Rauf Aregbesola the governor of Osun State, it was like the world would end and they celebrated as if he would not finish the tenure in four years. As you have pointed out, the first four years have gone and he has spent a year out of the four years for his second term; of course, before long, the second term too will lapse. But to answer your question on whether our opposition to his government has been justifiable so far, I will address the issue with the statement of the Holy Quran that we will all become subjects of discussion one day. Human beings were, therefore, admonished to ensure that they live in such a way that they would become subjects for positive discussion and not condemnation. Let Aregbesola ask himself what people will say about his reign, because I am sure everyone knows what posterity will say about him. It was when Aregbesola became governor that the fortune of Osun State and its people changed for the worse. Now, everyone is attending to where he is hurt by the policies and activities of the incumbent state government; no one can claim to have had it better under this government. Today, brothers cannot help each other; friends and colleagues at work can no longer lend each other money, because there is pervasive poverty and lack in the state. So, in Aregbesola’s five years, Osun State has only been in bondage. But God will deliver us. But the governor said that a new dawn has come for the state during the commemoration of his five years in office. As the PDP chairman, you are not expected to be on the same page with the governor but are you not exaggerating the situation of the state? The case of Osun State is like a kid who is being slapped; by the time you slap him for the first, he will insult you; you slap him a second time, he will insult your mother. But by the time the beating gets to a point, he would plead for mercy and even pray for you. That is the situation in Osun. So, if the governor said a new dawn has come, what would he have said? He only said that to save face. When he became governor, he introduced everything opposite to what obtained in other states; O’this and O’that, but now we have realised that O then was actually zero. O’Meal, O’School, O’Reap and so on; now we have seen that Osun people are in O’Punishment. There is no new dawn anywhere; people are just counting down to the completion of

Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa

Aregbesola’s government that God will end our suffering. I am happy that you journalists too can see things. What can you point to in Osogbo, the state capital, is it the poor state of Old Garage Road or the Osogbo-Ikirun Road or the GbonganOsogbo Road? Which good road can you take to enter Osogbo today? Osogbo-Ila Odo-Offa; Iwo-Osogbo; Ilesha-Osogbo and other roads are in bad state such that Osogbo has been cut off from the other state capitals. So, if Aregbesola is deceiving outsiders, can he deceive us? We all know their government is a government of deceit; all they do is deceit. We have all met ourselves in Suara’s Lorry in Osun, God should just grant safe landing. But the government can point to Freedom Park; construction of roads across the nook and crannies of the state; construction of model schools and others in the last five years. It cannot be all tales of woes as you are making it look… (Cuts in) It can tell those lies to those far away from Osun State. The whole world knows that government is a continuum but if a new government comes in, it must have new ideas. However, do you because you have new ideas destroy existing infrastructure? You are saying he built model schools; how many schools did he destroy, how many was he able to rebuild in five years? If you destroy over 5,750 blocks of classrooms which the former governor, local governments or lawmakers built as constituency projects or the ones built by SUBEB and ETF because

you want to build model schools, the question is what was wrong with the structures? A government should not show off. Aregbesola promised to build model schools, how many has he built? How many did he promise? Let me tell you what he did, he went to a few locations on major roads leading into Osun State to build model schools with borrowed money so that he could give the impression of someone working. Let him tell the world the price at which he built the schools; are they worth those prices? You must also have heard that one of them collapsed last year. Did Osun State even need the demolition of schools at that point? For a state that had no factory or industry or any viable economy but depends on federal allocation to destroy buildings that had no problems all because the regime wanted to show off was pure misplaced priority. If you talk about roads; can he tell us how many kilometres of roads he has done so far? Even those local government roads were constructed immediately after the PDP-controlled state government left office, because those roads were already allocated for. I am a former local government chairman and I can tell you that local governments already had provisions for some roads through the Joint Account Allocation Committee involving state and local governments. For me, as the PDP chairman, I cannot see anything this government did in five years. But the governor still launched the construction of a road in Osogbo, making people to see your party

as being unnecessarily critical of the APC-led state government… The governor can launch a thousand roads; what we are talking about is successfully carrying out the project. That is what government should be about; completing projects and not just launching them. The road you talked about from Old Garage junction to Ila Odo, which Oyinlola got approval for, he launched that and what has happened? Go and look at the Osogbo-Ikirun road, which Aregbesola claims to be constructing; but they put fake pictures on billboards and make bogus claims. So, why would he launch a new road? He started a needless overhead bridge at Gbongan junction but today, what has become of that venture? Yet, he has borrowed money on all these abandoned projects. So, if he launched another road, it is a plot to put Osun into further debts, debts that grandchildren will continue to pay. The crises Aregbesola has caused will live with Osun for over 100 years. Look at the huge amount of bailout he collected from the Federal Government, over N34 billion; and it is a debt that Osun people must pay back for years after Aregbesola’s ruinous reign ends. Unfortunately, he did not spend the bailout funds for the purpose it was given. Imagine that; a fund that we will pay back for more than 20 years but has not been spent appropriately. Is this how to run government? If it is only two projects you can do successfully, do them and let the world see; not that you will be deceiving people with many unsuccessful projects. Maybe Aregbesola doesn’t know that one can be a governor and after leaving office, one will never be able to pass through that state due to shame. Finally, the governor lamented the low allocation accruing to the state monthly as a result of deductions, with the amounts accruing to the state in the September and October allocations being under N700 million. Wasn’t it the PDP-controlled state government that put the state into trouble with debts, which the incumbent government is repaying? No governor in Osun State left any debt for Aregbesola. The loan Oyinlola took was still intact in the account when the court handed over power to the incumbent governor. He squandered the money and began to borrow money since then. Meanwhile, I thought he used to lie that former President Goodluck Jonathan withheld Osun’s allocations then; now that APC is in power, who is withholding Osun’s money? Is Buhari also withholding Osun’s allocations? He should tell another lie. Jonathan came to Osun and said he didn’t owe any state but Osun people said he lied; now, what will they say. Aregbesola is saying that allocations cannot pay NEPA bills now, I am sure before long, the allocations will not be enough to fuel the retinue of cars in the service of the state government. The prayer Osun people should pray is that God should give them a merciful leader from the PDP, who will take the state out of its present crisis, which the APC brought upon it.

interview

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

PDP is primarily responsible for Osun’s situation —APC’s Director of Publicity

The Director of Publicity, Media and Strategy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State and legal practitioner, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, responds to the opposition’s claims about the Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s government, concluding that it has ensured a paradigm shift that culminated in improved standard of living and economy for the people and the state. He also defended the governor on the state of infrastructure and finances in the state. OLUWOLE IGE brings the excerpts:

its development projects, relative to the economic collapse at the centre. The question of loans is secondary. No government in the world survives without loan. The most successful economy in the world today is the one that is most indebted country in the world today - the United States of America. Osun is not the one with the highest loan portfolio in the country anyway! Virtually all the states of the federation are affected as a result of the economic collapse at the centre that has impacted negatively on the states and literally wiped out the ability to service their loans. For example, when a state’s federal allocation drops from N4.8 billion to N55 million, people should begin to use thinking caps to locate where the problem lies.

S Governor Rauf Aregbesola celebrated his fifth year in office as governor of Osun State, the question being asked is what does the five years of Governor Aregbesola’s administration mean for the people of Osun State. If at this stage of development in Osun State, there are still people asking what Governor Aregbesola’s government stands for, then something is seriously wrong somewhere with their perceptive ability. Aregbesola’s administration came to institute a change paradigm unknown to the state since it was created. And these were encapsulated in the 6-point action plan that emphasised agricultural development, educational renewal, economic repositioning of the state including environmental and health care renewal. The programme also involves massive infrastructural development, linking towns to each other within the state and connecting the agricultural base in farmlands with the urban centres. Within these broad-based economic programmes were numerous items that practically changed lives in the State of Osun from what it was before 2010 and what it has become in the last five years. This is the summary of what Aregbesola’s administration has meant to the people of the state. But the opposition claimed that the APC-led administration has done nothing, pointing specifically to the state of road infrastructure, mentioning Gbongan-Akoda road project and Osogbo-Ikirun-Ila Odo-Kwara boundary road project, among others. What is your take? The roads in question are fundamentally federal roads, which had been totally dysfunctional. Besides, they were completely outdated to meet the plan that Aregbesola had for the state. So, the administration intended to reconstruct those roads to meet the template of the developments that are on-going to transform the state. Work had progressed considerably on those roads before the economic crash occurred in mid-2014 as a result of PDP’s mismanagement and looting of the nation’s wealth. So, strictly speaking, it was the PDP-led Federal Government that sabotaged the construction of those roads. That the PDP in Osun State does not appreciate this is a function of their pathetic inability to discern reality, even when it is as clear as crystal. However, it is pathetic that of all the infrastructural development engineered by Aregbesola’s government, it was only these roads PDP could see and comment on. The chairman of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa argues that the education sector has also been bastardised, claiming that

Mr Kunle Oyatomi

promises made on model schools have not been fulfilled. What is your reaction? First, Olaoluwa deserves some sympathy because of his level of education. He does not have the intellectual capacity to appreciate the work done on education by Aregbesola in the last five years in the state. So, when a man like him talks about bastadisation of education in Osun State, you wonder what he was talking about. One of Aregbesola’s best known legacies for the Osun State is the quantum leap he made on educational infrastructure and content upgrading, which those who know what education is all about have commended, both nationally and internationally. So Olaoluwa’s illiterate comment is inconsequential. The opposition also claimed that Osun is bondage, considering the economic downturn, accusing Governor Aregbesola of plunging the state into financial crisis through loans secured from financial institutions. Aregbesola’s policies did not cause oil prices to fall. Aregbesola’s policies were not the reason PDP’s government, especially during the Jonathan’s period, looted the economy into collapse. Aregbesola’s

policies, therefore, could not have caused the economic downturn in Osun. People should begin to get sensible about things. If we talk about the level of the impact of this economic collapse in Osun, then we will have to locate the primary causes not in Osun but elsewhere, in the international global economy as well as in the primary dislocation in our federal structure. Since the Federal Government virtually owns everything, then economic collapse at the centre will resonate across Nigeria, but at different levels. The impact in Osun State should be seen vis-a-vis the magnitude of

One of Aregbesola’s best known legacies for the Osun State is the quantum leap he made on educational infrastructure and content upgrading

The opposition also accused the governor of causing untold hardship to the civil servants by paying them half salaries since June 2015. It is a pity that we have a nihilistic opposition that preys on the misfortune of others to make it relevant. It is unfortunate that Osun is where it is today and we are lucky to have an Aregbesola in charge who is not thinking about retrenching civil servants, but he is going one step at a time to see how he can ameliorate a tragic situation in order to reduce the pain that everybody in the state including the civil servants are going through. There are only two ways to manage the civil servants’ situation. One is to downsize significantly on staff strength or two, to have the current arrangement of paying half salary instead of throwing people out of job completely. The second option is the better of two evils. But what the opposition will not let the world know is that the question of half salary to civil servants was an agreement with labour that was vehemently opposed to downsizing, which would have led to workers losing their jobs. The idea was that whatever fund is available to the state at the end of every month will be distributed in such a way that everybody will have something to live on in the interim. And this process is being managed by a committee under the chairmanship of one of Africa’s best labour leaders, Alhaji Hassan Sunmonu. If civil servants today suffer any hardship, the PDP is primarily responsible for it. It is immoral for the looters of this nation’s wealth to be accusing others who are their victims as the cause of the suffering that civil servants and other citizens of the Osun State are going through. Finally, it should be made abundantly clear to everybody that this suffering goes beyond civil servants; it affects everybody. What goes up comes down. After a storm, there will be calm. It is a matter of time, much sooner than later that this crisis will be over. And Aregbesola is working hard towards that goal.

interview

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Buhari’s war against corruption not a witch-hunt —Ondo APC gov aspirant

Mr. Odunayo Oyewole Akinrinsola is a technocrat and entrepreneur vying for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this year’s governorship poll holding in Ondo State. The politician of Ile-Oluji, Oke-Igbo Local Government extraction, speaks with BOLA BADMUS on his ambition and how he wants to transform Ondo State if elected as governor. Excerpts:

NDO State is preparing for governorship poll this year, how does your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) intend to take over the state from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has the power of incumbency? The power of incumbency can only be of effect if the government meets the needs of the people. But when you talk of a state that is lacking in everything, the multiplier effect is at zero level. What we are experiencing in Ondo State is nothing to write home about, because the standard of living of the people has dropped drastically. There is no security, there are no infrastructures; nothing is working. I don’t see the power of the incumbency coming into play, because the electorate would be the ones to justify the means. That is why we said it is democracy that is at work in the state and it is not one-sided. If good governance is at work, then we can say that for continuity, progress and good living of the state, they should continue. But in a situation where there are no dividends of democracy; nothing is working and everything is in disarray, the power of the incumbent cannot come into play. Ondo State is beyond that now; we are talking about change and holistic change totally from the grassroots to the apex level. The state is clamouring for a change, where everything would be available and the state would be industrialised and there would be jobs for school leavers and security and infrastructure that would make the state to be relevant in the country. So, we don’t want to lag behind in the scheme of things. I don’t see any reason anybody that is not doing what is expected can impose anybody. We don’t want that again. It is believed that you have been making consultations on your ambition; can you tell us what your experience has been since you have been consulting with your people and the party leaders concerning your ambition? I have a conviction having gone far and wide to consult people that matter in the party and you know that when you go around telling people your ambition about what you want to do, you would get a feedback. The feedback we have been getting is that the state has really woken up from its slumber. They feel that if a man that has been managing his business for years and has been able to make headway in a difficult terrain is coming around, if he is given an opportunity to rule the state, he is going to make an impact such that the multiplier effect would be seen obviously. Managing government business is different from managing private business; in a private business, there is no money from anywhere, you have to source for money and work to pay staff salaries and get yourself going. So, managing government business is different because the money is there already, you are talking about being prudent, which is part of what I read as an accountant.

same thing that played out in choosing the ministers, once there is a credible candidate; he is going to be given. On post-primary crisis, when I was in Akure recently, I met with Olusola Oke who defected from the PDP and is now a governorship aspirant under the APC. Why are we trying to do that? We are doing that because we don’t want anything to cause acrimony among the aspirants. We want them to know that we need only one candidate and it is the interest of the party that matters.

Mr. Odunayo Akinrinsola

Key PDP members have been defecting to the APC in Ondo State, how do you see this development? It is a plus to the APC, because the party is now well-recognised. They know that they have not been able to perform well in their own party and APC accommodates all other forces and by so doing, it would make the party to be more popular. They are looking for an avenue, where they would be more relevant. We welcome ideas from other people; they are getting to know that where they were was bad. We welcome them and we want them here. As of last count, 18 of you are jostling to pick the APC governorship ticket, what is the assurance that the delegates would vote for you at the primaries? What characterised Ondo State politics in the past was moneybag, but now the people have realised that they need to examine the candidates that would deliver. So, we have been going around to meet the people at the grassroots, telling them what we have in stock for them and how we hope to drive the force for the state, how we want to change the state from what it used to be to what it should be. What they believed was that once you give them little money, they would vote for you, but they have realised that the days of giving them money to trade their votes have gone. My own strength is that I believe in myself and if I am given the opportunity to serve, I will do it in a way that will cut across all sectors of the state. We have 18 gladiators for one seat, it is more interesting when it is competitive and people are many. It is not far from

what I tell people in Akoko that people are coming out because of the structure of the APC. All hands are on the deck to present a credible candidate. If we are not many, it will not be interesting and one will not be able to cross-examine oneself and do personal appraisal to showcase what one has for the state. I am sure that I will emerge as the candidate of the APC for the state at the primaries eventually. There is this power rotation issue in Ondo State; the people of Akoko South want power and there is the Akure Agenda, as a politician from Ondo South, what is your reaction to this agitation and how will the APC avert post-primary crisis with the high number of aspirants in the governorship race? On sectional interests, structurally, the state is divided into three senatorial districts; people of the south, north and central are agitating for power. Don’t forget the fact that the party does not believe in zoning. It is not in our agenda, we only want a credible candidate. Now, everybody has right to agitate, but what matters to the party now is to present an acceptable, marketable and credible candidate that can stand out and win the state for us in the general election. What is paramount is the party, the party supersedes any agitation. What we are saying is that if the party can stand out and say that there is no favouritism, imposition or a preferential treatment, it is easy for people to come up with agitations. But when you look at it holistically or historically, you would see that the three senatorial districts have done it in the past. It was the

People have been accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of witchhunting opposition party members with his anti-corruption fight, with the arrest of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh and other PDP chieftains being cited as examples. What is your reaction on this? If the country is going to be sanitised, definitely, it will start from somewhere. Don’t forget that the PDP has ruled for 16 years. It amazes me when people compare APC government with that of the PDP, forgetting that we have not ruled for one year and they are trying to equate a year with 16 years. When Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) was interviewed outside Nigeria last year on the general election, he said that he would want a postponement. When President Muhammadu Buhari came in, we all know he has zero tolerance for corruption. If you look at it, a lot of embezzlement and diversion had been done in the past. We would not have discovered that the person advocating for the postponement of the election is a key player in the whole process. Metuh is the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, one way or the other, I am not indicting him but I know he must have done one thing or the other with the past government. People say it is witchhunting, I don’t see it that way, because if nothing is traced to you, nobody will accuse you of stealing or corruption. If you become the governor of Ondo State today, how would you address agitation for new minimum wage by Labour unions? Logically, Nigeria as at today is facing a lot of crisis, we are talking about N18, 000 minimum wage and the labour union is asking for more. I think it is high time we began to look away from the oil sector and look at what used to be our pride in the state. We have some sectors like agriculture; we have cocoa, timber and rubber. But we left them because of oil, even the budget of the country is based on $38 dollars per barrel of crude oil and the price has even dropped. So, what is the reality of that budget? If you cannot beat them, join them. We are going to create an enabling environment; we will not reduce the N18, 000 minimum wage, and it might not be increased. We will ensure prompt payment of salaries. Most states owe workers’ salaries, which was why they got bailout from the Federal Government. I don’t owe staff salaries in my own little way, so I would try and maintain the status quo of N18, 000 minimum wage for now.

thepolity

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘We are attracting youths to agriculture’ continued from pg 31

which will be 40 on February 3 and with particular reflection on the agriculture sector, which got a budget of N10.6 billion representing 5 per cent of the total budget in 2016. How do you intend to drive this agricultural plan and apart from attracting foreign investors, how do you intend to encourage local farmers? It is also reported that Ogun State has the best arable land. How do you intend to maximise this potential? As we speak today, we have seven industrial hubs. I was in Ota and somehow I was not happy with the environment; we were talking and somebody said ‘if care is not taken, Ota will gradually lose that status of being the industrial capital.’ As we speak today, we have other areas that are springing up; Agbara is there and Sagamu-Ogijo axis that ends towards Ikorodu is also there. Just look at the express, you will see different companies coming up every day. Look at the old Abeokuta road, everybody is coming up now. We have one in the Sagamu axis, even now we are trying to see the possibility of developing areas between our road in Ijebu-Ode that leads to Epe; we are trying to turn that place into an industrial hub. Also, the belt from Ita-Oshin to Ewekoro, we are trying to turn it also into another industrial hub. Agbara is still there, Ota is still there as we speak; we are even looking now in the area of agriculture in the Odeda belt, because that is where the University of Agriculture is located. So, if we look at it, we are having seven of these industrial belts now, so that we will be developing every everywhere in Ogun State. But we cannot do this without putting the infrastructures in place. If we talk about what we have budgeted; you have said it, we gave five per cent for

agriculture in the budget. Yes, these are the seed money, because agriculture will not just happen. It will happen with a lot of things, because the capitalists will drive it, which means that a lot of money will be given to it. So that is what that money is meant for. It is not our responsibility to start saying what we need to do. What we will do is that we will encourage investors to come and partner with us. We have people from all over the world calling us to say that this is what they want to do. And I said no problem, we are going to support you, we are going to create the enabling environment for you. So, all these money that you see, as I said N10 billion is the money that will create the enabling environment for the investors to come and assist us in developing the state. You talked about the security system in the state. Recently, Ogun State was reported to have had security challenges, especially in the border areas. What is your government doing to address the challenges of insecurity in Idiroko/Benin Republic border? Let me say this and to the glory of God, yes we have challenges; but I think for three years running, we have been getting it right with our security system. Security experts, on a yearly basis, do agree that Ogun still remains the safest in terms of security. I hate to say this again, because I want to project Ogun State in positive like; but things were so bad before we came on board as government in terms of security. No industry could work beyond 4 p.m. It was that bad. Today, to the glory of God; people do shifting now. I met one of those that are saddled with security responsibility of our border areas some days back and I asked him if people know that in the entire nation, no state has the kind of border that Ogun State has, especially those illegal routes. We

have over 100 illegal routes, so we have our challenges. So, this is not what any state can do alone but security is not just for the Federal Government alone, there are no federal people, and that is why for me, if we are not secured, nobody will come and invest here. Nothing can happen in the absence of security and that is why we invested heavily on it and we thank God that in the last maybe two and a half years, we never experienced any bank robbery except one just recently and strangely that one happened in Agbara. Indeed, we were told that the armed bandits stormed the banks area with the intention of carrying out their operations without hindrance, but when they got there, they saw our Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). I say this with all sense of responsibility that there is no state that has the kind of APC that we have. We went to California for a security show and I was so moved by what I saw and that was why we purchased those APCs; this kind of APC is the only one that can move 200 miles per hour. With the APCs, our security personnel were able to repel the robbers and they were unable to attack all the banks before they fled. That means we are benefiting from the investments we made. I have to thank all our traditional rulers, all our community development associations and all the security agencies; they are working all around the clock to ensure safety. It is everybody’s duties to ensure a safe environment. We have done our bit but they need to support us. The last time, we had 14 APCs but we have increased the number of Hilux vans from 20 that we met on ground to about 300 for all our security agencies and all of these security interventions need huge money. Before now, investors ran away because our state was not conducive for business due to security issue, but we have moved on and addressed this challenge head on.

opinion Golden garlands for Tambuwal at 50 By Imam Imam ONE bright January morning, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, was immersed in his private library at his home when I walked in, uninvited. At the door, I was informed he had been in the library for at least four hours. Seeing him alone with his thoughts and books, I considered moving away in order not to disturb. Quickly reading my intentions, he motioned me to sit down. Spread on his reading table were four books: Ngozi Okonjo Iweala’s “Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria,” Hernando do Soto’s “The Mystery of Capital,” Rashid Al Maktoum’s “My Vision” and Muhammad Yunus’s “Banker to the Poor.” It took the next six hours of total concentration, silence and absorption, before he finally closed his books, turned over to me with a smile, and said ‘good day Malam Imam.’ That particular day was January 10, Tambuwal’s birthday. I recall vividly asking him why he had to spend 10 hours on his birthday reading books about leadership and development. And his answer was succinct: “We were elected to lead. Every day, birthdays inclusive, we will lead. I subscribe to Albert Pike’s assertion that ‘what we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.’” I don’t know what Tambuwal, who is now the governor of Sokoto State since May 29, 2015, will be doing today, seeing that it is a day he achieved the milestone of witnessing his 50th birthday, but having worked closely with him in the last six years, one thing is for sure, he will busy himself, through hard work, dedication and commitment, on providing the needed leadership that will deliver on his change agenda. Tambuwal, like all good leaders, are social revolutionaries. They are people who dare to dream big and seemingly unrealisable dreams. They are the precursors of a new and better world. They are the visionaries of their time. They are change agents, harbingers of hope and heralds of freedom. They are people totally dedicated to the struggle for a better future. They have redefined the unpalatable narratives of dearth of quality governance in our country – an existential reality even in global political

discourse. A journey of 50 years has no doubt shaped Tambuwal’s life. Even though born into a royal household, he remains a simple, humble and self-effacing leader whose politics is defined by passion for discovery and service. Endowed naturally with knowledge and sense of perception, closely observing Tambuwal at work leaves one with impression of a man who refused to be encumbered by the nation’s fault lines. Just as prophets refuse to be defiled by the iniquities of the moment; Tambuwal has risen above the bitterness and acrimony of ethnic, tribal and religious divide. Being born into an aristocratic family on January 10, 1966 shaped his passage into adulthood without airs and graces. For Tambuwal, nobility of birth in a predominantly peasant milieu was more of a challenge than the comfort it provided. In fact, it was this outlook that formed the canvass on which his life and leadership style has remained oiled. In Sokoto today, the citizens are rightly rich in huge expectation from the Tambuwal administration. This, in all honesty, is not unfounded because of his pedigree and passion for service. The people’s prayers for his success are

rooted in their belief that his emergence is not only beyond accident of history but a well-timed epiphany. For Tambuwal, there is an element of freshness about him even at the Golden Age of 50. Freshness of spirit, freshness of ideas, freshness of vision and mission for him as a person, as a leader and for the state he has superintended in the last eight months. He has unarguably, run a dazzling race of his life as a politician, an administrator and a leader. Despite the howling success he has made of all of his endavours, he exudes, yet a seeming urgency to reach the finish line in his chase to get his faithful citizen-colleagues to the Promised Land. Eight months ago, he set the momentum going by building on his predecessor’s developmental framework. Methodically, he set about adding to the foundation the necessary ingredients for Sokoto State to attain its potential. As an astute husbandry of resources, Tambuwal sees plenty, even in the face of paucity. It is his rare determination to make the most out of nothing that he has been able to put in place all that is needed to ensure Sokoto grows in leaps and bounds and eventually raise the bar by setting standard for others. That Sokoto has become a template and a reference point for most of the states today is not owed to Tambuwal’s complacency or passivity in governance but more to his conscientiousness and forthrightness. Allied to these is the enthronement of calm and consensus building in the political spectrum. Through consensus, thorny political issues have become free of tumult, acrimony and bad blood. This was made possible by Tambuwal’s calm persona on a very volatile system. By entrenching core values of selflessness and integrity, he has effectively earned the confidence and trust of his friend and foes alike. He has re-defined the concept of leadership and effective governance by effectively re-orientating the mindset of the political class to see politics as a call to service. As he clocks 50 years today, his high-octane performance in governance and in the leadership of his state sure sets him apart as a selfless and passionate leader who burns to put his state on the world developmental map. Happy birthday our amiable governor! • Imam is Governor Tambuwal’s spokesman.

interview

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Adamawa House of Assembly not shielding gov —Chief Whip Following the face-off in the Adamawa State House of Assembly, where the member representing Mubi South Constituency, Honourable Abdulrahaman Abubakar Isa took on his 24 other colleagues, the Chief Whip of the House, Honourable Hassan Mamman Barguma, representing Hong Constituency, speaks with KABEER GWANGWAZO on the crisis.

S the Chief Whip of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, you are saddled with the responsibility of maintaining discipline and order in the House, what do you have to say on the recent happenings in the House, where Hon. Abdulrahaman Abubakar alleged other lawmakers of conniving with the governor, Senator Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow to siphon the state’s resources? You see, the legislature as an institution is about three things; to make laws, to amends laws and to repeal laws. Other duties are the oversight functions to checkmate the excesses of the executive arm of government. What I can tell you is that Abdulrahaman is building a skyscraper of lies; building falsehood and propaganda through those allegations. That is the simple fact of the matter and because discipline must be applied on any derailing lawmaker who goes contrary to the provisions of the laws guiding the formation this honourable House, we have taken the appropriate step to suspend him. Unfortunately, rather than feel remorseful, we are aware that he has continued peddling lies and accusing the House of collecting money from the governor to gang up against him on the suspension. Let me tell you what actually led to his suspension. It is in our laws in the House

motion was raised to approve a letter from the governor, which sought permission to secure a loan for the payment of salaries and the House unanimously agreed. Abdulrahaman also answered in the affirmative during the session, only to go and organise a press conference feeding the people with different information that could lead to suspicion and anarchy in the state.

Honourable Hassan Mamman Barguma

that any issue, whether pending or subject to approval, should not be discussed outside the House plenary. You will agree with me that some information are very sensitive. Abdulrahaman was on the floor of the House when a

He alleged the House of collaborating with the governor to steal money from the coffers of Adamawa State. Could this have come out of the blues? Are you sure there is no underhand deal under way? There is nothing shady or underhand. The truth of the matter is that he is fighting the governor and that should be between him and the governor. I cannot talk for Bindow, because I cannot go into their personal issues. Abdulrahaman is like the governor’s political boy such that even his membership form, according to him, was purchased by the governor. Now, if you have a disagreement with your leader, I don’t think he should have taken fighting the governor that far to the extent of lying about the entire House. It is disrespectful. If there were issues continues pg 37

opinion A\Ibom: Uncommon governance, uncommon critics By Jackson Udom ANYONE who read last the Vanguard newspaper of 3 January, 2016 column of the former Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Mr Tonnie Iredia, entitled: “Uncommon governance: The bane of Akwa Ibom State” would be left with more questions than answers. Iredia had, in the piece, cast aspersion on the Akwa Ibom State government; Senate Minority Leader and former governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio and his successor in office, Governor Udom Emmanuel. According to Iredia, the uncommon governance in Akwa Ibom, which he summed up to mean mere celebrations, is the bane of the state. While one would have loved to ignore Iredia’s opinionated and contemptuous reduction of the good governance provided by Akpabio in his eight years in office, which the people of the state still remember and respect him for and the continuity in human and physical development, which Udom stands for, to mere celebrations of landmark events such as Christmas Carol and the state’s founder’s day, not responding would have conceded too much to sophistry and irresponsible journalism. For instance, one is bound to ask, are all the statements made by the erstwhile media chief sacred truths based on empirical evidences or hearsays? Was Iredia objective enough given his confession that most of the things he wrote were “based on what he read in the media and based on media reports?” For a media practitioner in the class of Iredia, making statements of facts based on “what we hear” and “media reports” should have been an anathema, given the fact that he spent his productive years as a media manager. But Iredia the columnist, unlike Iredia that anchored Point Blank on NTA, threw caution into the winds, couching blackmail and outright lies as sacred facts. The former NTA DG clearly showed his disdain for the Akwa Ibom state government and Akpabio from the beginning of the write-up, when he said there were “media reports” that people were unhappy with Akpabio’s teleguiding of the governor, which he said “results in huge expenses on cosmetic matters which do not impact in the

strict sense on the living conditions of the people.” And when he went ahead to mention the Christmas Carol and the celebration of the 28th anniversary of the creation of Akwa Ibom State as examples of such cosmetic matters, his “mission to destroy” became clear. Did Mr Iredia ask Akwa Ibom sons and daughters their views about the celebration of the state’s 28th anniversary, which signifies the end to hard labour and bondage of decades when they had a state of their own, where they could truly develop and aspire for greatness like real people? Now, it is one thing if Iredia’s posturing was about the propriety of Akwa Ibom State organising a Christmas Carol for its people to, in one accord, praise God and celebrate at Christmas; it would also have made perfect sense if his argument had been about the need to praise God at all in a state largely dominated by Christians but where the rights and privileges of minority Muslims and others have never been ignored. Iredia would have saved himself and his “them say” column the embarrassment he has brought to his fans, if he had taken time to visit Akwa Ibom State in order to have a firsthand information on human traffic through the well-tarred roads into the state and the airport, just to attend this landmark event, which he mischievously tagged a monumental waste. I am quite sure that in the thinking of columnist Iredia, the airport he flew into to visit Akwa Ibom when he was a guest of the state government during Akpabio’s reign as governor, which was constructed by the former governor, is also a waste. To criticise such landmark event that annually brings Akwa Ibom indigenes together to praise God and pray for their state and distinguishes Akwa Ibom from others in Nigeria, making it an attraction for the world, having entered the Guinness Book of Records for the largest carol on earth, as a waste of public money only exposed Iredia as either an atheist or a paid agent of the opposition in the state. Also in a bizarre and unfounded claim that could only have been made by a confused and uninformed hatchet writer, Mr Iredia brazenly attacked Governor Udom of being teleguided by Akpabio. Really, if Akpabio, who Iredia accused of teleguiding the governor had not set

worthy examples in good governance, which were commended at one time or the other by several national and international figures such as Professor Wole Soyinka, former Governor Segun Osoba, the late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the United States Congress, including Iredia during his visit to the state government, people would have reasoned with his line of thought. But to accuse Akpabio of teleguiding Udom to “waste funds” on cosmetic matters, to say the least, is ungodly, irrational, unfounded and irresponsible, because for anyone conversant with the politics of Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio has not only allowed Udom, a banking expert-turned-politician freedom to govern the state, the latter has put his signature on all areas of the state as an independent-minded administrator, with most of the government efforts and projects being in direct fulfillment of his electioneering promises. Or is Iredia also confessing to the whole world that as the DG NTA, he was also teleguided by his predeccessor? Because Iredia, the columnist had a target blamed the epileptic power supply in the state on the state government, but chose to forget that power supply is on the Exclusive List, despite the fact that the state has over 250 megawatts of power begging to be evacuated from the Ibom Power Plant by the government at the centre. Finally, one doubts if Mr Iredia, before penning that piece, heard from his grapevines that the 2015 edition of the 9999 Carol was sponsored by the United Bank for Africa, Globacom and Zenith Bank, among numerous others. It will also be of interest if Iredia can furnish the public with the details of wasted public funds in monetary figures, as it is easy for anyone to make claims of wastage of public funds without ever providing any proof. While Akpabio has never for once pretended to have solved all the problems of Akwa Ibom State in his eight years as governor, it is incontestable that he did his bit and even did it better than how some of Iredia’s friends ever envisaged and has also left Udom to chart a better course for the state. • Udom is Special Assistant Media to Senate Minority Leader.

opinion Is something fundamentally wrong with Nigeria(ns)?

10 January, 2016

By Tunji Olaopa

OME years ago, I got an article titled ‘Blacks Don’t Read’ that had been circulating on the Internet. The most provocative part of that article reads: ‘If you want to hide something from a black person, put it in books.’ This statement has been iterated so many times that it takes many forms. Sometimes the ‘black people’ is changed to ‘Africans,’ and the method for hiding is sometimes conceived as ‘writing it down.’ This provocative statement is founded on an enduring racial stereotype of the black, or specifically the African, as being a creature of orality rather than writing. Another dimension to this stereotype is that blacks are more materialistic than reflective. In other words, we think more of the belly than of tomorrow. We are creatures of the now rather than the future. And so, in the racially demented white mind, blacks are still slaves despite the best of their freedom rhetoric. And the best methods of containment are ‘Ignorance, Greed and Selfishness.’ Recently, Donald Trump, the Republican top contender for presidency of the United States, is alleged to have remarked that Africans are lazy fools who are only good at eating, lovemaking and thuggery. Well, the message here is clearly from a racial perspective: Something is considered to be fundamentally wrong with blacks and Africans. And these are not just scattered opinions of a few insane personalities; on the contrary, it is actually an ingrained perception that has endured for a long time. Everything seems to be wrong with Africans: Africa is the hungry continent; it is the poorest; it is the least developing; it is the least democratic; it has an enormous leadership deficit; and it is the very Dark Continent par excellence! However, beyond the Western gaze which we may accuse of a racial othering of the African self, Africans themselves have deployed a very critical realism that questions Africa and her predicament. I have a long-standing example in mind: Areoye Oyebola’s Black Man’s Dilemma (1976). There are three serious issues which Oyebola lamented about the continent. First, contrary to the anger we collectively felt about colonialism, Africa participated actively in her own decimation and domination, especially through the Trans-Atlantic slave tragedy. Two, African countries have failed to make any significant incursion into modernity. And third, and the most controversial: Africa has not made any significant contribution to world civilisations. Of course, Oyebola’s book generated the expected debates (with most scholars dismissing his realism about the African predicament). But then, he has

also contributed his quota to the issue. And the question remains: Is something fundamentally wrong with us? Close to sixty years ago, there was a mighty euphoria all over Africa as we celebrated what was called the African year of independence. In that year alone, 17 countries became independent from colonial servitude—Cameroon, Togo, Nigeria, Madagascar, Somalia, DR Congo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Senegal, Mali, Mauretania. More than fifty years after independence, reality has burst the euphoria of regaining freedom from colonial domination; the decolonization process has been stalled and development is arrested. All we need do is simply consider the 17 countries, and we see critical similarities that cut across Africa itself—wars, refugees and IDPs, infrastructural dysfunction, democratic deficit, and the protracted leadership predicament. The paradox of the continent is terrifying: Mandela and Mugabe; Botswana and DR Congo, African Renaissance and African underdevelopment, democratisation and Boko Haram, religiosity and criminality. I doubt if there is any university curriculum in Africa that teaches Oyebola’s Black Man’s Dilemma, but one is forced to ask whether, other things considered, his Afrorealism was not pointed in the right direction. In recent years, there has been an optimistic reportage of consistent economic progress in Africa. The catchphrase of ‘Africa Rising’ is meant to stand as a counterpoint to the many years of progressive underdevelopment on the continent. Thus, scholars, intellectuals and economists have been brimming with hope founded on Africa’s economic resilience in the face of global financial crisis as well as the slow but steady economic growth. But then, economics has been considered as a dismal science. In this case, economic statistics do not match sociological reality on the continent. Two stark facts contradict the optimism of ‘Africa Rising.’ First, Africa is considered the most youthful conti-

Sunday Tribune

nent because of an accelerating youth bulge. This simply implies that the youth population, ranging from 15 to 24 years old, is growing faster than any other continent. And there are roughly 200 million youths in this category. This demographic fact signals a source of tremendous hope for participation in labour markets, as well as being a budding resource for innovation and governance. Unfortunately, close to 60% of the 200 million youth are unemployed or unemployable. Thus, the youth which by their very name signals hope are themselves caught in the terrible cycle of deprivation; the African crisis that has been reproduced from one generation to the other. The second fact is that of poverty. Bessie Head, the South African writer sums up the situation: ‘Poverty has a home in Africa—like a quiet second skin. It may be the only place on earth where it is worn with unconscious dignity.’ I am not sure how long such a dignity will last. This is because protracted unemployment is a further insult that makes poverty a threat; poverty and unemployment are two sociological facts that portend a possible African Spring. On another level, and since I read the ‘Blacks Don’t Read’ article, I have never stopped ruminating about the three elements of self-containment: ‘Ignorance, Greed and Selfishness.’When we manage to overcome the high emotion induced by racial slur on the African image instigated by the article in question, maybe we can then return to a more sobering and realistic assessment. If these sociological elements are not fundamental to our predicament, what else is? Let us begin with ignorance. In Africa alone, 182 million adults are illiterate; they are joined in this category by 48 million youths. Presently, the adult literacy rate is 63%. The 70% of youth literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world. But whatever hope we might want to entertain is snuffed out by a further consideration—what is the content that the literate youth consume? How many of today’s African youths are intelligent readers? How many youths are even historically aware of Africa’s past and present? How many have heard of Fanon, Nkrumah, the Nigerian Civil War, the great civilizations in Africa or even Africa’s economic dilemma? If the African youth is ignorant, are we not all ignorant? Greed and selfishness are Siamese concepts in my view. And there can be no other terrible combination to explain how stagnant we have become in terms of socio-political dynamics of elite activities that undermine any progressive initiatives in Africa. • Dr Olaopa is a retired Federal Permanent Secretary.

interview ‘Adamawa House of Assembly not shielding gov’ continued from pg 36

he discovered the governor was contravening, he should have written to the House, which will mandate the House Committee on Public Accounts to investigate the matter. That committee is the only one that has the mandate to investigate the financial activities of the governor; other committees are to carry out oversight functions, even the committee that Abdulrahaman chaired. So, for him to level those kinds of allegations on the House, to me, was blackmail. He just wanted to dent the House’s image because we removed him as the chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Appropriations and Budget. But he reported the House to the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC). On what ground did he take you to EFCC? For you to understand that Abdulrahaman doesn’t know what he is doing, how would he say we overlooked the N3billion overdraft that the governor collected from the bank to pay salaries? For heaven’s sake, the governor has the right to access overdraft without a notice to the House. It is only loans that we can debate on for approval to the state government. The fact that he dragged the governor and the Assembly to the EFCC for misappropriating the bailout funds has already exonerated the House, because we don’t have any business with the bailout funds. We are just to checkmate the implementation of the funds and to make sure the money is used

for the purpose it was intended and our committee on public accounts will be monitoring the implementation of the bailout funds. So, whether the governor is misappropriating the bailout funds or not, that will be revealed in no distant time but as for the issue raised by Abdulrahaman before the EFCC, I don’t think he has any case. But he raised some critical allegations… Which critical allegations? He requested the EFCC to investigate the leadership of the House over N49million the House obtained from the government in the name of publication of standing rules booklets. You see, the House is an entity of its own, it runs independently. Is he saying that we should not award contract or what? We came on board and there are many laws that were amended; some new ones were about to be made and a lot of changes have taken place. So, we said all the changes being effected must reach the 21 local government areas in the state; what is wrong in that? He is saying that the N49 million that was paid into an account of the state House of Assembly from the state/local government joint account was not intended for the stated purpose of publishing standing rules, which he claimed the lawmakers were not in need of. Instead, he said, the money was meant to serve as a settlement for the members of the House who hurriedly endorsed a suspicious and fraudulent virement from the executive arm of the government, even before a report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, which I headed, was laid before the House. This issue of virement he is talking about, I challenge him to

answer the question on who holds the virement documents. Virement or no virement, the House will always and only approve what will be of huge benefit to the people of the state and bring about socio-economic growth in the state. He also raised the issue of supplementary budget, what is your take on this? Every government has the right for a supplementary budget if need be and the House will look at it whether it is needful. You will agree with me that when this government came on board, it only realised N900 million, which could not even pay the salaries of workers in the state, which stood at over N2billion. I think that was why the governor had the challenge to raise a supplementary budget. From his petitions and statements, he appears to be challenging the House for shielding the governor, whereby you approved all letters brought to you without serious efforts to verify things. Abdulrahaman was part of all the approvals made in the House. He was there and even seconded some of the motions; why is he raising eyebrow now? I am pleading with the people of this state to please not hesitate to furnish the House with useful information that can help checkmate the governor; as lawmakers, we may not see those deals by the governor or there may be lapses in our oversight functions, but the people can call us to order. However, such should not be through lies and blackmail as the suspended lawmaker is doing.

HOUGH President Muhammadu Buhari got a sort of waiver of more than 100 day honeymoon when he took over on May 29, 2015, no one expects any of the ministers to get that lucky. So as soon as they got sworn in late last year, many expected them to hit the ground running. The pesident had announced ahead of their inauguration that the series of meetings he held with Permanent Secretaries were aimed at laying solid grounds for the takeoff of ministers. While many would argue that not much has been happening in the various ministries, no one expects a deafening silence from the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory (MFCT). The FCT ministry is regarded as one ministry that provides a minister an easy opportunity to shine in the eyes of the public. Somehow, a loud silence has also taken over the scene since Alhaji Muhammed Bello assumed office as minister late last year. Many see the FCT as a super ministry; so they expect action from their minister and the reasons are not far to seek. Being the Federal Capital, Abuja enjoys funding from two sets of budgets; the federation’s budget and budget based on its Internally-Generated Revenue. In the last five years, the MFCT had enjoyed an annual budget in the region of N300 billion, a figure which should enable the office holder to accomplish a lot, even though the territory also handles a number of gigantic, moneyguzzling projects. Unlike the ebullient and what some called the ‘noticeme’ attitude of some of his predecessors, whose appearances leave no one in doubt as to the man in charge, Alhaji Bello is adopting an unassuming character in the office. Some have said he has a disposition that he could perform his duties without drawing salaries or allowances from government. That should make him a man with special attributes. And by that he could easily avoid the antics of some power hungry fellows, who would want you to see the minister as one kind god. But such humility and selflessness could come with vices. If the minister is clearly invisible, it becomes difficult to see what he is up to. And not a few residents are already grumbling as to the loud silence from the FCT, which gives the impression that nothing is happening. While he would need to avoid the overbearing nature of

MY friend’s children came home from the United States for the first time in their lives to spend the Christmas holidays with their parents. All four were born and raised over there, so it was really exciting for them to come to Africa for the first time to know and feel their roots. They spent their first week in Lagos and one week was spent in the village somewhere in Ondo State. They made a stop-over to spend some time with us in Ibadan where they were supposed to spend four days with us; but thanks to the almighty power generating company, we only enjoyed electricity for one night and thanks also to the fuel marketers and their cohorts, we could not fuel the generator to provide electricity. I could read boredom and an urge to flee on their faces. This reaction was most pronounced on the face of the youngest of them, who from the day they arrived had shown disdain for Africa and the efforts of the parents to make them comfortable and really feel at home. It was during this uncomfortable visit for the children and even the parents who went all out renovating and re-arranging their home to make these children comfortable that I read the news of the Nigerian cab driver in London, Henry Dare, who claimed that the child shown at the end of the latest Islamic State propaganda video was Isa (aged between four and five years old) one of the sons of his daughter, Grace Khadijah, who has also been used as a figurehead by ISIS. Grace Khadijah Dare was born to Nigerian Christian parents who moved to Britain in 1987. Grace grew up in Lewisham where she lived with her parents and from where she went to school. Grace Khadijah converted to Islam as a teenager before leaving for Syria. When she got to Syria, she met and married Abu Bakr, a fighter from Sweden, in a wedding, which many believed was arranged by his mother. I was unsettled reading the story and watching my friend’s last child behaving the way she did. I was worried as she was obviously bored with life. At 18, she had completed her Master’s degree and there seemed to be nothing else for her to achieve. As I looked at her,

10 January, 2016

the lynxeye with Taiwo adisa

08072000046 taiadisbabatj@gmail.com

What’s happening in FCT?

some of his predecessors, who failed to see themselves as agents of development, he could still do a lot to grow the FCT by working without the razzmatazz. For instance, the minister inherited several projects, which have now been brought to standstill. Some of them include the Abuja Airport Expressway/Kubwa-AYA road also known as the Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX); the ApoKarshi road; expansion works on Nyanya-Mararaba Expressway, the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Expressway linking the AYA bridge around Asokoro Junction to the Southern end of the City Centre; Construction of the Ring Road Three and adjoining roads (which would open up the Southern end of the city) as well as several ongoing infrastructure development works on emerging districts.

frontrow with Toyin Willoughby Muyi 0805 500 1769 toyeenz@yahoo.com

Who is this stranger?

I thought, this is a potential recruit for ISIS. When you look at the majority of the recruits, they are well-read young people who would be better off contributing to the progress of the world. But what do we have? Young brains fighting the world, using religion as a cover for want of an identity. I am not surprised at the reaction of Grace Khadijah’s parents. They reacted normally but have they stopped to find out where they went wrong? The signs were very

Sunday Tribune

There are a number of overhead and pedestrian bridges, which are now practically abandoned. Incidentally, while the pedestrian bridges being constructed by the Federal Government/MFCT are taking more than a year to get completed, such bridges constructed under the World Bank Assisted programmes took an average of six months and are already in use. Residents and visitors to Abuja may not be interested in having a minister who would be linked with series of controversies. But everyone is interested in getting the city back to work. Not a few of the residents would openly declare that the past five years were more of work in progress. Unfortunately, the immediate past minister was unable to deliver on some of the landmark projects, which harbour the capacity to impact the traffic situation and development of the FCT positively. What the new minister needs to do while retaining his unassuming character is to press the right buttons and ensure that life returns to all construction sites. A common sight around the headquarters of the major construction companies at weekends is the hoardes of second-hand cloth sellers and other goods who display their wares around the gates of the companies. Investigation revealed that most ware sellers hover around construction workers and had chosen to set up emergency markets around the construction companies because the workers are paid on a weekly basis. While displaying their wares, they could collect part payments of the previous sales from their customers and sell fresh goods. But the absence of construction workers since June has definitely inflicted unimaginable financial mysteries on the workers, the customers and their dependents besides the troubles of loss of jobs, leaving families in distress. It is quite hard to convince anyone of the logic behind the decision to suspend the construction works in the first place. Everyone would agree that the projects are for the good of the city and its people. If the new government has issues with the cost of the projects, it could quietly probe the contract awards while work is ongoing. At the end of a review, those concerned could be asked to make refund as appropriate. But the government will definitely incur some costs to mobilise the contractors back to the sites after months of inaction.

visible. She was searching; searching for spiritual fulfilment. But she couldn’t get any help in the places she looked. Her mother, Victoria, said in an interview with the BBC last year that her daughter had been someone who had previously been zealous in practising her Christian faith. “She loves church. She was the one who was dragging me: ‘Mum I found a good church again.’” Did you hear that? ‘I found a good church again.’ Very sad. Merely going to church, as I always tell those who cared to listen, would not lead to spiritual fulfilment. It is the personal application of the principles learnt that leads to spiritual growth. I could see in Grace Khadijah, a young girl earnestly searching and seeking, but finding no help. Not at home and definitely not in any of the churches she visited - “dead churches with dead people seating on dead pews” as my spiritual father, Bishop Francis Wale Oke would say. If she had, why would she keep moving from one church to the other – ‘mum I found a good church again’? But has she now found what she was seeking? Speaking about her marriage, she said, “I couldn’t find anyone in the UK who was willing to sacrifice his or her life in this world for the life in the hereafter. I prayed and Allah ruled that I came here to marry Abu Bakr.” When Grace turned 18 and announced to her mother, ‘I’m now a Muslim,” her mother recalled that she was shocked and said she reacted by saying: “Muslim? What for? What happened?” The last question “what happened” came too late; the handwriting had been on the wall all along. This brings me to the responsibility of parents in the spiritual upbringing of our children. How many of us teach (I mean deliberately teach) our children to love the Lord when they are still at a receptive age? It is not enough to take them to church on Sundays or to other church programmes and dump them at the children’s class; what do we teach them about the Lord at home? What do they see in us to make them want to tow the path we have chosen? This is food for thought.

10 January, 2016

ON THE

Sunday Tribune

With Bolanle Bolawole turnpot@gmail.com 07052631058

lord’sday Decapitating the PDP

“L

ET someone come quickly to Macedonia to help PDP. The party is sinking” “How do you mean the party is sinking? It is the official opposition party and is doing fine in that respect” “Its General, who had been firing on all cylinders, has been captured by ‘enemy’ forces” “And who can that be?” “Olisa Metuh, of course; the PDP National Publicity Secretary” “That is serious; who kidnapped him – Fulani herdsmen or who?” Forces mightier than any herdsmen have taken the man out of circulation” “If I may ask again, who could that be?” “Almighty EFCC, of course! They took the man into custody” “You are an alarmist! The way you couched your statement, it was as if something really terrible happened to the man” “What can be more terrible than the EFCC gulag? They come out of the place leaving their voices behind””Anyway, it will be really bad if the ruling APC is behind your man’s arrest””He is not my man in the real sense of the word. I am only being conscious of the need for a vibrant opposition as the fulcrum of any democracy properly socalled””If the APC is trying to muffle the opposition, I will be cross with President Muhammadu Buhari””They are not coming out frontally but acting by proxy””I disagree. EFCC is an independent agency; unlike in the time of Jonathan, it is now very active”” I agree it is now very active, but doing so like Fela’s zombie” “How do you mean?” “It is uni-directional; demolishing the PDP like the zombies did Fela’s Kalakuta Republic””Nobody can give such an order in a democratic setting; not even the president can” “Don’t be too sure. Buhari is a military man, you know” “Was a military man, you mean to say” “Once a soldier, always a soldier. I hear they give them an injection that does not leave their blood. Didn’t you see Obasanjo” “Baba is a different kettle of fish, so don’t attempt a comparison between him and Buhari” “Something worse than Odi and ZakiBiam is on the way. Once a vibrant opposition is muzzled, the way will be clear for the dictator to bare his fangs” “I don’t support dictatorship, but on this issue of Metuh, I most respectfully submit that the man is the architect of his own destruction” “I agree with you. For being outspoken against the powers-that-be, he drew undue attention to himself” “That is not what I mean. From reports, he has a case to answer over Dasukigate. Are you saying he should be overlooked simply because he is trying hard to outdo Lai Mohamed?” “Of course, no sinner should go unpunished; but what is sauce for the APC should also be sauce for the PDP” “How do you mean?” “Can the APC tell us how they too funded their presidential campaign? Did they or did they not touch public funds?” “You are not being realistic. A knife does not sharpen itself; neither can a mirror see itself” “Meaning?” “APC as the ruling party cannot probe itself, just as PDP when it was the ruling party never probed itself” “So you support a sectional anti-graft war?” “It has nothing to do with my support or otherwise; that is how such things work out here”

“So you don’t see any reprieve coming the way of PDP?” “Unfortunately, I see none. Had it wanted any, it would have behaved differently when it was in power” “How?” “By building virile and independent institutions; had it made the EFCC truly independent when it had control, it would have been difficult for the same EFCC to be unleashed on it today” “So it is nemesis catching up with PDP” “Correct! And the same nemesis awaits the APC down the line. One day it, too, will leave office and will be called upon to give account” “That looks so much like a game of musical chairs” “I think it is worse; it is tragicomedy of the worst order” “Then PDP is doomed with their mouthpiece now silenced” “I don’t think so. They have other options”“The Jalo of a man who stepped into Metuh’s shoes is not convincing” “He will grow on the job” “He is too conciliatory and apologetic; it’s like he is not too sure of himself” “It is more than that. If you are in the man’s shoes you, too, will cast constant glances over your shoulders” “I will not! What is worth doing at all is worth doing well. I will even outdo Metuh in my combativeness and truculence” “That will be so if you did not visit the ONSA during the arms money bazaar” “I see! It is amazing how so many PDP top shots soiled their hands in the arms fund bazaar” “Not PDP alone; military men and journalists, too. Recently, even traditional rulers have been fingered” “I will not be surprised if men of the cassocks also get a mention very soon” “That is in the nature of bazaars. It’s usually an all-comers affairs” “The only people left out of it were the poor””Unfortunately, they are the ones who bear the brunt” “Exactly! PDP or APC, the poor are the guaranteed losers” “Don’t you think PDP was foolish? They boasted they would rule till eternity but see how they crashed like humptydumpty” “It is in the nature of politicians on these shores. APC is already displaying

similar mentality already” “How?””They should be building institutions and not strong personalities” “But without strong men, how could they have won the elections?” “Winning elections is one thing; forming and running government in a way that will make them win future elections is another” “I see! But there are more ways than one to kill a dog. Once there is no vibrant opposition, the coast is clear for them to ride rough-shod over the polity” “It is not going to be that easy. Nature abhors vacuum. Metuh or no Metuh, PDP will still mount strong opposition to this government” “I agree. Men like Femi Fani-Kayode and Doyin Okupe, for instance. Pardon me, I can’t remember the other one’s new name” “It does not matter. They have thrown their hats into the ring already, but let us hope they will go far” “Do you foresee the EFCC also neutralising them?” “If they, too, visited the ONSA; why not? He who comes to equity, as they say, must come with clean hands” “The problem of big men in Nigeria is that virtually all of them have skeletons in their cupboards” “What is the salary of the president? If Nigerian leaders live on their salaries, they will be some of the poorest folks on earth” “So what do they live on?” “On ONSA bazaars! There is no corner you turn in this country that you will not bump into one bazaar or another” “I see! That is why the whole place is a cesspit of corruption” “Can there, then, be anyone who is not tainted? That question has always agitated my mind” “Don’t give yourself hypertension, please; times are hard and going to India on medical tourism is not cheap” “You are right; especially with the Naira on a free fall in the market. Zimbabwe, here we come!” “Tufia! Eewo! I reject it in Jesus name!” “Amen! But the prognosis is nowhere near good; especially with the recent visit here of the IMF boss” “Come to think of it: Did she come on her

own or was she invited?” “Either way, when you see vultures hovering in the sky, know that morbidity is around the corner” “We have learnt our lessons. IBB’s and Olu Falae’s SAP taught us hard lessons” “One was disgraced out of office and the other cut a pitiable sight after his ordeal in the hands of Fulani herdsmen not long ago” “The Law of Karma is weighty and inscrutable” “Karma, is he a Nigerian?” “No; were he one, the rich and powerful would have found it very easy to escape him” “Is Buhari contemplating an IMF loan?” “The big hole in his N6 trillion budgets has to be plugged anyhow” “I thought they said Okonjo-Iweala was the World Bank\ IMF stooge and they have a new woman as Finance Minister?” “The elite are the same; they think and act alike” “We need men and women of the people in the corridors of power” “They are hard to come by” “Men like Awo, Ayodele Awojobi, Gani Fawehinmi, Tai Solarin, and talakawa defenders like Aminu Kano” “All the people you mentioned are dead; will they, like the biblical Lazarus or the dead dry bones, resurrect from their graves to salvage the country?” “I know there are other Nigerians cast in their mould but I cannot immediately think of any now” “I will help you; Buhari is one of such conscientious Nigerians but a tree will not make a forest” “We are back to where we began this discussion. Six months over and the situation has not improved for the man on the street” “It will take more than six months for an economy that, for decades, was consistently compromised to be repaired” “I am afraid solutions will not come easy or pretty fast” “That is usually the problem. Otto von Bismarck said it comes with sweat, blood, and tears” “That’s serious; that name does not sound Nigerian” “Correct; it is German but until we have our own Bismarck, we are not likely to make headway” “In other words, you are preaching revolution. You are going to get people frightened” “Only those who are afraid of their shadows have got to fear” “Like anyone who visited the ONSA, for instance?” “Exactly!” “What if Okupe and Fani-Kayode also visited the ONSA?” “Even if they did not visit the ONSA of Sambo Dasuki, it is likely they visited some other ONSAs” “That is serious!” “Really serious! When the books of their own ONSAs are opened, we shall see” LAST WORD: Who, then, will rescue PDP? Governor Ayodele Fayose has been upbeat but is at the moment enjoying a well-deserved break. When he returns, the fireworks, hopefully, will resume. Governor Segun Mimiko as chairman of the PDP governors’ forum has been too gentlemanly for the kind of ‘rofo-rofo’ fight that the times demand. PDP acting (?) chairman, Uche Secondus, has been incognito; now a court order has stripped him of the pretence of office. Ahmed Gulak, who engineered the court order, is too busy in pursuit of his ambition to lift a finger in defence of the party he desperately wishes to lead. And, if I may ask, where is Jonathan, the party leader by virtue of PDP’s constitution?

10 January, 2016

language&style

by Samson Dare 0805 500 1770 samsonadare@yahoo.co.uk

Pleonasm!

AMPLE 1: “Sunday Sun gathered that James was attached to a hotel on the said street, to provide security to the patrons of the hospitality facility. Apparently, after drinking, he went over the top and lost mental coordination under the influence of alcohol. An eyewitness, AlarapeAbiodunAliu, who witnessed the incident, commented on his Facebook wall this way…(Policeman Runs Amok in Lagos…Kills 3, Self, The Sunday Sun, December 27, 2015) I am interested in showing readers some examples of pleonasm---verbosity not motivated by any desire to be stylistically elegant. There are two such instances in the excerpt. Now consider the following sentence: “Apparently, after drinking, he went over the top and lost mental coordination under the influence of alcohol.” We are told that the policeman in question “went over the top and lost mental coordination.” The reason for this behaviour and mental condition is given at the beginning of the sentence in the phrase, “after drinking.” That should be a satisfactory reason for the bizarre action. Not satisfied with the reason offered in the sentence-initial position, the reporter feels under compulsion to offer yet another in the sentence-final position. Here is the reason: “under the influence of alcohol.” Should we not understand that the unconscionable behaviour coming “after drinking” is the result of drinking or alcohol? Certainly one of the two phrases should go: “after drinking” and “under the influence of alcohol.” The second instance of pleonasm is found in the following sentence: “An eyewitness, AlarapeAbiodunAliu, who witnessed the incident, commented on his Facebook wall this way…” Please note the noun phrase, “an eyewitness” occurring in apposition to (or referring to) AlarapeAbiodunAliu. The important word is eyewitness, commonly, especially in journalism, playfully presented as I-witness. If you allow this platitude, an eyewitness is a person who witnessed an event directly. Now what do you make of the relative clause “who witnessed the incident”? We are told that “an eyewitness” “witnessed the incident.” This is a thoughtless repetition, to say the least. Certainly one of the two expressions should go: “an eyewitness” and “who witnessed the incident.” Sample 2: “Goods worth over N1billion were destroyed in a fire inferno that ravaged parts of the popular Aleshinloye market in Ibadan, Oyo state capital at the weekend.”(Fire Destroys Over 100 Shops in Ibadan Market, The Nation on Sunday, August 17, 2014) We are interested in the phrase, “a fire inferno” which occurs in the following context: “Goods worth over N1billion were destroyed in a fire inferno…” What is an inferno? What is a fire? My understanding is that the two words (fire and inferno) are synonymous. It is curious that the reporter has brought the two together, the one modifying the other. Could we describe this as another case of pleonasm? At any rate, only one of the two words should suffice in the context. There is a third word, conflagration, which could also be one of the options. In other words, the words fire, inferno, and conflagration are synonymous. Sample 3: “In Nigeria, if you lose $59.8 million in a year, federal and state governments will not pay salaries, adding there is no way the Nigerian budget can accommodate such a loss without the country grounding to a halt…”(Dasukigate: Jonathan’s Headache, The Sunday Sun, December 20, 2016) The expression that concerns us is: “grounding to a halt.” The focus is on the word grounding, a word that embodies a gross grammatical contradiction. It is doubtful whether the writer realizes that the basic verb-form is grind and that the past form and past participle are ground,ground. The gerund or ing form is grinding. In the sense in which this word is used in the context, the form grounding is a misnomer. The form grounding does exist, as we shall soon see, but not in this context. How do we mean? Take another verb, buy. The past and past participle are bought, bought. The gerund or ing form is buying. Could you imagine anyone suggesting the bizarre *boughting as the gerund form of buy? That’s the analogy of what we have in *grounding. Now read the following sentences: 1) The activities of the company will soon grind to a halt. 2) Three years after he took over power, the country ground to a halt. 3) Following the collapse of the power sector, business activities ground to a halt. 4) Nobody was able to explain why the traffic ground to a halt. 5) The coun-

Sunday Tribune

line

life with

Niyi Osundare

Random Blues try was grinding to a halt when Abacha passed on. 6) When the family was very prosperous, its members weregrinding pepper and other materials for soup every week. 7) All the villagers come here to grind their pepper and dried yams. 8) Members of the family watched helplessly as the deceased’s heart ground to a halt. 9) When he heard about the failure, he began to grind his teeth in disappointment and sorrow. 10) As we approached the scene of the accident, the traffic ground to a halt.11) The beverages we buy at exorbitant prices are nothing but our cocoa beans ground into powder. The major issue is that Nigerian users tend to regard ground as the basic form, a form possibly derived from Pidgin English. Not surprisingly, some Nigerians would say: 1) *I want to go and *ground some pepper. 2) *The sugar cubes have been *grounded. 3)*The grains have been *grounded to powder. 4) *The next stage is to *ground the pieces of rock into very fine powder. 5) *Add a measure of *grounded pepper to the boiling soup. 6) *What is the difference between finely *grounded stones and cement? 7) *The bomb blasts *grounded the entire building to power.8)*The concoction is prepared by mixing *grounded charcoal with sheabutter and some other strange substances. 9) *Grounded rice prepared like amala can be a delicious meal especially when eaten with rich soup. 1o) *Some people would prefer to *ground their tablets and mix the powder with honey before taking it. The corrected version of each of those sentences is presented as follows: 1) I want to go andgrind some pepper. 2) The sugar cubes have been ground. 3) The grains have been ground to powder. 4) The next stage is to grind the pieces of rock into very fine powder. 5) Add a measure of groundpepper to the boiling soup. 6) What is the difference between finely ground stones and cement? 7) The bomb blasts ground the entire building to power. 8)The concoction is prepared by mixing ground charcoal with sheabutter and some other strange substances. 9)Ground rice prepared like amala can be a delicious meal especially when eaten with rich soup. 1o) Some people would prefer to grind their tablets and mix the powder with honey before taking it. There are some similar forms that require our attention. When we say that someone is grounded in a subject, we mean he has a good knowledge of it. Please read the following sentences: 1) Grounded in Mathematics, the young man decided to study Electrical and Electronic Engineering. 2) To live a godly life, you must be grounded in the Christian Scriptures. 3) Our students are grounded in literature and language. 4) All Nigerians should be grounded in traditional cultures and native languages. 5) The products of our secondary schools should be grounded in the basics of English and Mathematics. A ship or plane that is grounded is one that is prevented from moving either because it has developed a fault or because the pilot decides not to move it: 1) The ship used for the oil theft has been grounded. 2) Something vital happened to the engine and the boat was grounded. 3) The ship collided with a mighty shark and was forcibly grounded. 4) The ship strayed into our territorial waters and was grounded. 5) Following a mighty storm, the ship conveying the refined product became grounded. 6) The militants were said to have grounded many Nigerian and foreign ships. When we say that an idea or truth or teaching is groundedin or on something else, we mean it is based on it: 1) The Pastor’s sermons are always grounded in the Bible. 2) The theory is grounded in Aristotle’s principles. 3) All Islamic teachings should be grounded in the Quran. 4) All Soyinka’s ideas are grounded in the Yoruba tradition and culture. 5) Every academic paper should be grounded in a well-known theory. 6) His philosophy of life is grounded in the wisdom of the elders. 7) Christians’ actions should be grounded in love. And grounding? To have a grounding in a subject is to have a good knowledge of that subject. Now read the following sentences: 1) To qualify for admission into this Department, you must have a grounding in Mathematics. 2) The advantage she has is that she has a grounding in computer. 3) The workshop aims to give the participants a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of basic accounting. 4) In the first two years, the students are expected to have a grounding in practical survey. 5) Our products secure jobs easily because they have been given a good grounding in the fundamentals of the profession.

(Blues for the ‘Dairy Queen’)

He took one look at her chest And screamed “Behold the Dairy Queen!” *Agbaga!* He took one look at her chest And shouted “Behold the Dairy Queen!” The eyes saw first, the heart began a race Then the dream and desire and something in-between

“A happy pair of hills Fore-goes your every step”, Say, a happy pair of hills Fore-goes your every step The spell you cast around your shadow Will surely make the monastery yelp

A happier pair of hills My eyes have never seen Ah, a sweeter pair of hills My eyes have never seen They hold the streets in awe This magic of the Dairy Queen

“I am no dairy queen”, said she “My father is not a cow” Hear? I am no dairy queen And my father is not a cow I promise such bovine bunkum Will put a scowl on your stupid brow”

“Gorgeous, proud, tremendously endowed My curves know their class Say, gorgeous, proud, tremendously endowed My curves know their class School your eyes and tame your lust Reserve some respect for this amazing lass

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

With Rita Okonoboh rosarumese@gmail.com 08053789087

tribunechurch

World Leaders, Christians celebrate Orthodox Christmas As Putin makes surprise appearance in church

Russian President, Vladimir Putin lights a candle during the Christmas service at the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in Turginovo. PHOTO: REUTERS

HRISTIANS in their millions, from Orthodox traditions, last week, celebrated the birth and baptism of Jesus Christ, marking the day with festivals and blessing of water ceremonies. According to Christian Post, famous world leaders, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, observed the day as well, which was January 6, 2016, with the Russian leader taking part in a candle lit service at the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God in Turginovo. Orthodox Christians celebrate the Epiphany on Jan. 6, according to the old Julian calendar, along with the birth of Christ a day later. The Daily Mail reported that Putin had not warned the Turginovo church of his arrival, but took part in the candle lit service, alongside children and other worshippers. The Russian president, who has often referred to his Orthodox faith in speeches, attended the same church for Christmas mass in 2011. BBC News noted that Epiphany is observed by Christian communities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, all with different traditions and practices. In Bulgaria, thousands of young men took part in the centuries-old tradition of diving after a wooden cross in freezing waters, believing that whoever retrieves the cross will be healthy and freed from evil spirits for all year. Similar swimming ceremonies were held in the Czech Republic and in Greece, while over 1,000 Orthodox Christians in Cyprus attended the blessing of the waters in Famagusta for the first time since 1974, due to Turkey’s invasion of the island. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made a gesture toward Coptic Christians by attending Christmas Eve mass at the St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral on Wednesday, January 5, 2016, Fides News Agency reported. Al-Sisi spoke about the attacks on churches and Christian communities in Egypt that have been carried out by

Thousands of young men took part in the centuries-old tradition of diving after a wooden cross in freezing waters, believing that whoever retrieves the cross will be healthy and freed from evil spirits for all year radical groups, and said that his government will try to do better in repairing houses of worship that have been damaged by gangs linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, the former ruling government that has since been declared illegal. “The greetings President al-Sisi received from the hundreds of faithful present were jubilant,” the report noted. “Already in January 2015 al-Sisi had attended Christmas Mass in the same cathedral, which the Coptic Church celebrates following the Julian calendar. Last year was the first time an Egyptian President attended a liturgical solemnity that celebrates the birth of Jesus.” According to the BBC, communities from Europe, Africa and the Middle East marked the event - each with their own unique traditions. In the Russian capital Moscow, some 350,000 people took part in Christmas liturgies. Other countries celebrated with firework displays, traditional log-burning ceremonies and processions. Among the worshippers at Cairo’s Orthodox Cathedral were Ethiopian Christians, who had fasted for 43 days

An actor dressed as Grandfather Frost, the Russian Santa Claus, walks next to a statue of Soviet Union founder, Vladimir Lenin, during celebration of Orthodox Christmas in St.Petersburg, Russia. PHOTO: AP As reported by The Guardian of UK, in Moscow, the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, joined the Patriarch Kirill for a Christmas day liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, that once played host to Pussy Riot’s punk prayer. The patriarch, who is the head of the Orthodox church, marked the day by offering his support to Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria, which he said was protecting the nation from “terrorism”, AFP reported, while in Belarus, army recruits lined up to kiss the cross on a freezing day in the capital, Minsk.

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

With Olaide Sokoya ollydesanmi@yahoo.com 08074497425

churchnews

2016, year of vengeance, restoration —Primate Olorunsola

•Says four former world leaders may pass on Sam Nwaoko-Ado Ekiti

HE founder of Living Christ Gospel Church (Aladura), more commonly known as “Ijo Natha”, Primate Nathaniel Olorunsola, has described 2016 as “a year of vengeance and a year of restoration in many nations as decreed by God the Almighty Father,” and predicted that the year would see a turbulent National Assembly. He said there would be leadership issues and changes in the Senate as wee as in the National Assembly generally, which according to him, would witness political alignments and realignments in the year. “The Senate President would face a tough battle and there will be changes in the National Assembly. Many speakers of state assemblies would also go just as many governors would have problems.” He said the changes to be witnessed in the National Assembly would also lead to political realignments that would bring about a new political party “which will be formed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) members. He also predicted that about four former heads of states across the world would pass away this year, and added that “death of many political leaders as well as politicians would be recorded in the year.” Primate Olorunsola told TribuneChurch that the year would also witness some events that would reshape the Nigerian polity, and added that the year would also witness the emergence of new political frontiers and listed a number of former Nigerian leaders that would need prayers to be able to see the end of 2016. In his 2016 predictions published in November last year, he also charged artistes in the entertainment industry to pray against deaths in the industry this year, saying “this is serious and I have already contacted their president about this.” He said it was revealed to him that “January to May would be tough for Nigeria.

There’ll be famine and economic downturn in Nigeria and many nations and the general public would feel it.” He also said he saw that many religious leaders would pass away in many nations just as there would

be upheavals, strife and riots. He said agriculture would witness improvement in the country and added that government at various levels would turn to agriculture as a way of diversifying the

economy and raise funds. Some states, he said “will experience issues that would rock them and they include Rivers, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Katsina, Ekiti Ogun, Kwara, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kogi, Enugu, Anambra, Oyo

and Osun. He also said he saw “a new Police Inspector-General coming before the end of the year and many police commissioners would be redeployed, sacked and retired, saying “in short, heads will

From left: Pastor Idowu Owoeye of The Apostolic Church, Onireke district, Lagos; Chairman, Lagos State Government House correspondents, Mr Joshua Bassey; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr Fola Adeyemi; Chief Press Secretary to Lagos State Governor, Mr Habib Haruna and Director, Public Affairs, Lagos Ministry of Information, Mrs Toro Oladapo at a new year prayer in Lagos, recently. PHOTO: NAN

Catholic Church to organise Christian reality show By Victor Ogunyinka IN a bid to reduce conflict and promote peace, justice and communal living among youths, the Catholic Church is set to organise its first reality television show later in the year. The programme tagged ‘Achievers’ Platform’ is expected to be hosted by

Youth Network Nigeria in conjunction with CEOAfrica, which is the first business and leadership social media network designed to identify and celebrate African leadership and entrepreneurship, thus creating a medium for positive change in African economy. The founder of the Inspire Youth Network

Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Victor Ogunyemi, explained that the objectives of the reality show are: “To build up spiritual life amongst the youths; promote culture of peace and conflict resolution; establish communal living amongst the youths; inculcate leadership abilities in the participating housemates; instill in the

800,000 expected at ‘Our Daily Manna’ world anointing service —Kwakpovwe By Olaide Sokoya ALL is set for the annual world anointing night service organised by the wavemaking and live-changing daily devotional, “Our Daily Manna,” set up by Senior Pastor of The Manna Prayer Mountain, Lagos, Bishop (Dr) Chris Kwakpovwe. The annual year starter 21-day fasting and prayer programme commences from January 9, 2015 at the expansive Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos and will be concluded on Janu-

ary 29. The much anticipated event themed: “Jehovah Ebenezer - Lord Wipe My Tears” is expected to draw over 800,000 worshippers from various nations across the globe such as the U.K., U.S.A., Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Zambia. The convener, Bishop (Dr) Chris Kwakpovwe, ascertained that the programme was ordained by God and that miracles, signs and wonders await attendees, adding that, “various

anointed men of God are expected to minister, while notable gospel artistes will also perform. The programmes will liberate homes.” Speaking on the vision of the devotional booklet, the National Coordinator of ‘Our Daily Manna’, Reverend (Mrs) Flora Ejiro Kwakpovwe, stressed that the ODM booklet is to provide people with daily practical life stories, inspirational Bible expositions, breakthrough prayer points, songs and strong prophetic declarations.”

housemates, problem solving abilities, ability to cope with unfavourable conditions which will help in their psychological, moral, religious development and empowerment, and to contribute our quota in poverty alleviation through financial empowerment of youths.” The Founder of CEOAfrica, Prince Cletus Ilobanafor, said the organisation believes that the reality show will further help to promote entrepreneurial skills among the youths, which is the only way towards making Africa emerge the world economic power come 2060. “The reality show, which is the first of its kind in the whole of Africa, is expected to house 25 housemates from all parts of the country with good spiritual background. The programme is expected to kick start in the last quarter of 2016 and run for a period of four weeks. Screening exercise will take place in various regions in Nigeria,” he said.

roll in the arms forces including Customs, Immigration, Army and others.”

2016: Pastor Bello calls for prayers THE Presiding Pastor of Latter House Ministry Inc., Ibadan, Pastor Henderson O. Bello, has released his 2016 prophecies, in which he called for prayers to avert disasters. According to a statement made available to TribuneChurch, the cleric, who prophesied that the industrial unrest between workers and the Osun State government will be amicable settled to the surprise of many, noted that “Governor Wike of Rivers State needs prayers. He is sitting on the edge of the governorship seat. He needs God and only God. He must watch his utterances, if not, he may be pushed off the seat.” Continuing, he said: “The forgotten Haliburton case will be revisited and heads will roll. Some people will plan to frustrate President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to make Nigeria great but they will fail. A judge at the federal level will pass away as well as a prominent chief in Ibadan. MTN, Etisalat and Airtel will lay off some staff; more banks may collapse, leading to laying off of staff. A new generation bank will be engulfed by fire. The bank with a name relating to a precious stone should guide against fire,” he stated, just as he said that he saw a star falling at Omolayo area of Akobo, Ibadan. “More problems will arise in the NNPC as a result of power change and subsidy removal. PDP as a party should take care not to go into oblivion, while APC will witness a great crack; a new party will likely emerge. The economy will get better, sequel to Nigeria’s relationship with China. In Burkina Faso, the blood of Thomas Sankara will cry for justice and there will be many explosions in the Middle East,” Pastor Bello stated and called on all to get closer to God this year to witness “Divine connection and exceeding expansion.”

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10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

2016: No need to listen to prophecies of doom —Abiara Prophet S.K. Abiara, the General Evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) worldwide, shares with TUNDE OGUNESAN, his thoughts on sundry issues affecting the country, and his prophecies for 2016. Excerpts:

HAT is your message for the people of God in year 2016? Having survived year 2015 which was full of tension in the land both politically and economically, the Lord said year 2016 would be a year of achievements, peace, joy for those who have faith in him. Those who truly serve God, and all that can run away from sin, will enjoy Him and it shall be well with them. But for the wicked people all around the world, the Lord said it is going to be a terrible year for them. By this, I mean kidnappers, armed robbers, terrorists, and those that have been attacking people unnecessary. 2016 will be tough for them if they don’t change from their old ways. Is the church of God praying along in this direction? Yes, we are praying fervently for them. That is why God has been able to reveal to us what He has in stock for them by way of warning. We are people of God; we don’t do things without consulting Him. He is our CEO; He controls everything we do. For example, He has just asked us to change our mode of service in our Lagos church – CAC Agbala Itura, Lagos church, Abeokuta expressway, Ile-Epo bus stop, Oke-Odo, Agege. God said we must change it. And we have no option to do so. Now, we have our English service from 6:30a.m. to 8:45a.m.; Yoruba service from 9a.m. to 11:45a.m.; Alone with God by between 12 noon to 3p.m.; special prayer by 3pm and miracle revival by 5.30pm. We are praying that bad people change. Heaven rejoices over sinners that repent than putting them before the judgment. As a revered minister of God, what is your prophecy for 2016? Our authority as God’s oracle is not to embarrass people of God and Nigeria as a country, by coming out with bogus revelations. That is why I keep telling people not to listen to prophecies of doom on Nigeria. The Bible says “no new things under the sun”. There is nothing anybody wants to

By Seyi Sokoya PROPHET Joshua Iginla has joined other men of God to prophesy as well as predict what they have received from God regarding the state of the globe. The cleric, in his series of shocking predictions for 2016 for individuals, nations and continents, just has he warned the President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President, Bukola Saraki and a host of others on the dangers ahead in 2016. He specifically warned the Senator Bukola Saraki to watch and pray, because there will be an attempt to poison him adding that, “The Senate President should pray, because there will be an attempt over his life. I see a strong plot to remove him and a strong plot to poison him.” He also cautioned the president, claiming that he is surrounded by many Judas who are hell bent on betraying him, saying “The president should also pray hard, because there will be an attempt over his life. I see serious health issue. He should pray to finish his tenure. There are lots of Judas around him. I see a plot to poison him too. He should pray to finish it. He should take good care of himself and spend more time to watch the enemies stationed around him than those afar. He should watch his house because the enemy is closer than he thinks.” Iginla, however, claimed that the Buhari-led administration will do well and that Nigeria will rise again, noting that enemies, rather than friends, are the ones slowing down the wheel of the progress of his government, just as he also advised him not to succumb to the tension that may arise in some areas but rather remain focused to achieve results. He also assured that Nigeria will rise again and the future of Nigeria will be restored, while he also revealed that “many politicians will go to jail in 2016, lots of money will be recovered and lots of mysteries will be unveiled.” Other predictions according to him, include: “a com-

say now that is not in the Bible. However, whatever God has revealed, instead, we pray over it. So, for year 2016, we have also organised prayers and programmes. We have organised a special prayer session to pray for Nigeria for 12 Sundays, 12 Wednesdays and 12 Fridays. This is our calling; there is nothing prayer cannot do. There is no need to listen to prophecies of doom; all has been captured in the Bible. In Jeremiah 29:11, God said “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” What is your position on this new regime, especially as there have been varying comments on the performance of President Buhari few months into his administration? First of all, Buhari is not an angel; I want Nigerians to know this. He has a programme and will execute it while we wait for good results. There is time for everything – “time to sow and time to reap.” Nigerians should be more patient with him. The administration is less than a year and if he tries to act fast and makes mistakes, we will all blame him. Let him toe his line of doing things carefully and make progress. This administration came as a way of God’s promise, so let us give them our full support to perform. Both the president and his vice have told us they came to serve this country and as such, they need our support. What is your take on the situation regarding the Shiite group? People should understand under any religion that God can fight for himself. He doesn’t need anybody to fight for him. Any religion that thrives in violence is not from God. He frowns at blood shedding. Anyway, I want to appeal to them to lay down their weapons and let us work and live in a peaceful atmosphere in this country. They should repent not to incur the wrath of God because hell is real. Do you support amnesty for terrorists?

Well, if God puts it in their hearts, Government can do so. What I know is that the blood of innocent Nigerians killed through whatever medium is crying unto God. Do you support President Buhari’s drive against corruption? Yes. As much as I support the fact that it is good to root out corruption in the country, I want to call on President Buhari not to waste time on this. Let him call the corrupt people to return whatever they have looted, pardon them and move on in his administration. To me, it is the money in their custody that matters. If you victimise them and they die without the money being returned, what have we gained? However, I am not saying judgment should not prevail. Meanwhile, my utmost concern is for the ruling party – All Progressives Congress (APC) to be more united, else, it could be more disastrous for this country if in-fighting comes to play amongst them. At this point in time, Nigeria needs total cooperation to move out of its present predicament. I pray that satan will never succeed in dividing the country. For the opposition parties, our politicians should just emulate countries like the USA. Parties don’t fight to bring down the government. They disagree on issues but work together to develop their country.

I see strong plot against Saraki —Prophet Iginla I see a sitting governor whose seat the deputy will take over.

mercial bank having a major problem that will affect its capacity and output. I see the CBN governor facing a hard time and I see him being removed. “The policy of the regulatory body will be too much for

her and it will fold down. I also see Ebola resurfacing in some other African countries. We should pray. “I see a former minister who held a sensitive position struggling for survival. We should pray for her because her candlelight is almost off. It will take a miracle for her to survive. While she is battling corruption battle, I see the owner of her life knocking the door of her soul,” Iginla stated. He also prophesied that the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, should pray against an attempt to discredit him as this might not go down well. “There will be a strong shake in the cabinet in 2016. One of the ministers will lose his seat as a result of displeasure of the President with him. In 2016, the economy of this country will be very tasking and quite challenging. If care is not taken, it will navigate into serious recession. I see strong hardship in terms of the economy. I see a sitting governor whose seat the deputy will take over. I don’t understand but it may be as a result of death, impeachment or court order.”

44 tribunechurch You have been around for 31 years. What major challenges have you faced? In deed, it has been 31 years of holding tight unto God; 31 years of pursuing one’s calling, and 31 years of striving in a discouraging industry. Most times, you find just few Christian marketers, with even the so-called believers compromising. For me, however, the most important thing is the marketers accepting your work, investing in it before they start hearing it. I was in the music industry for about six years before I came out with my first album. It was tough at the beginning, but it is getting better now. As a stakeholder in the industry, what have you been doing to promote gospel music in the country? The impact gospel music is making now is actually God pulling man to Himself. There is something in every man that desires God though unbelievers are rebelling against their maker. However gospel music is gaining grounds, because many people are accepting the importance of God in their daily lives. So, the gospel industry has gone higher, its vocal delivery is equally soaring, as is its marketing too. So, it’s all about God increasing our chances and circle of influence too, and people are being drawn to Him and accepting Him like never before. Did you have any clue that your song, ‘This Kind God,’ would be a hit? I did my first work in 1989 and ‘This kind God’ was my 16th album and by my calculation it came out on came out 20 years later and within two weeks, it had become an international hit. I believe that God wants to show that He can lead anybody. How did you come about the song which still resonates with people, especially Christians? I actually heard the song in Cameroun, repackaged it and sang it in Nigeria. However, I am still searching for the main person that wrote the song, because I want to settle him for the song. How was life before the breakthrough? The interesting part of my life is not about the rigours I have gone through, but how God has turned my life around for good. If I have slept on the floor for two years and if I had once ridden Okada, then I believe there is nothing too difficult for Him to do. It is all about God and I try to obey Him always. He has shown Himself in many ways, and the story has never been the same. What have you been doing since your first album in 1989? I am not into only music; I do up to nine different things. I am or have been a marriage counsellor, motivational speaker, Christian comedian, song leader, marketer, author, and run a studio, whichever is needed. I never waited for music to take care of my bills, though music is the major work I do. How would you compare the music industry 20 years ago to the present time? The quality was very poor though the acceptance is higher now. When I told my people in 1989 that I wanted to do gospel music, they told me I was on my own. That was the year I recorded my first album. Though I was into business then, they said should I lose my money it would be my own headache, because musicians then were seen as unserious people. But

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘Collaboration with secular artistes? Light and darkness have nothing in common’ The name Evangelist Chuks Chidube may not ring a bell with many people, but the hit song, ‘This Kind God’, especially among Christians, will surely do. In this interaction with OLAIDE SOKOYA, Chidube speaks on how his popular hit turned his life around, his 31 years experience in the industry, and his new album, ‘I don Come Again.’ Excerpts: today, the story is different as musicians can celebrate their whole life on securing a hit track that can fetch them millions in paycheck. So, music today surpasses what we had 20 years ago; indeed, they are millions of miles apart. Do you have anything you are working on at the moment? That has to do with my new album entitled, ‘I don Come Again’. My original style is actually highlife, but ever since we came into the industry I started doing other types of songs. I am trusting God that my new album will surpass ‘This kind God,’ which is why I am doing a lot of publicity. The posters are everywhere and the T-shirts too. I am in touch with the marketers and the DJs are doing their best too to push it out. I believe it will be a blessing to people. Do you see yourself doing any music with secular artistes? I can sing to bless them, but I don’t see myself doing collaboration with them, because light and darkness have nothing in common, though some people do. But I really love them and some are even my friends, but I can’t engage in any collaboration with them. Do you see the change being clamoured for in Nigeria? I am yet to see it, but I am still praying for the administration. Personally, I think they are too slow, because we ought to have started feeling the impact of the new governance by now. We need a better country and they should fix our refineries so that fuel won’t be an issue anymore in our country. Power supply is still very low, and the cost of telephone calls is still very high. We need changes on these too. How would you advise the President Buhari led-government? They should focus on making people’s lives better. We should enjoy dividends of democracy; enjoy the electricity we pay for. In fact, we are expecting 100 per cent uninterrupted power supply. Also, education and healthcare should be made affordable, and the unemployed who are ready to work, but do not have the opportunity, should be paid monthly stipends, because it will reduce crime. Also, housing should be affordable, even as the government should be people-oriented. What is your advice to upcoming musicians who see you as a role model? I would advise them to work hard. They should be the best they can and leave the rest to God. They must also be ready to work hard and push their brands, keep practising something new and explore greater things. Make sure you are called because if you are not called, it is going to be a fruitless effort. Live holy and wait for God’s time.

Christ Embassy feeds 1,500 less privileged By Ronke Sanya IT was a day to put smiles on the faces of indigent children and adults, who were resident in the interior part of Ibadan, when members of Christ Embassy, Ibadan South, Mobil, distributed food items, drinks, and Christian literature to them. The event, which held at Moganna compound, Bode, Ibadan saw children excitedly troop out from their houses to partake of the free meals as well as benefit from the copies of Christian publications given to them, some of which include Children Rhapsody of Realities, TeeVoo for teenagers and audio/video tapes of the renowned founder of the Christ Embassy Church, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome. Exuding excitement, the children went away with the gifts and went ahead to in-

form friends and folks of the good news. One of the beneficiaries, an elderly man, Pa Adeojo, in his response appreciated the initiative of the church to take evangelise to the less privileged, noting that “This is what every church should emulate. We are the church. We make the church. Today, we will never forget the act of kindness shown towards us by members of Christ Embassy. We hope to see them next year.” Pastor Gabriel Omorogieva of Christ Embassy Ibadan South, in his address said, “This initiative which we call ‘send portions’ is an act which Jesus Christ did while he was on earth. Jesus Christ fed the poor, he catered for the needless and that is what we are doing, following the footsteps of our saviour Jesus Christ and saving the lives of many. We can only do more. This is the essence of Christianity.”

45 tribunechurch

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

dawnofanewera

firmfaith:rightreason

with Most Revd J.O. Akinfenwa Bishop of Ibadan Anglican Diocese

with Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, fradebadejo@yahoo.com

A year to live true (or) A year to be faithful

Recover the man

THE crown of God’s creation So many resolutions made for 2016 would by now have been forgotten by their makers. In reality, no dream realizable if its operational template is faulty. People dream of a better world, a better year and a better home but the indispensable component needed to realize them all, man, crown of God’s creation is often neglected. In defining the essence of man’s being, the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes the second Vatican Council document “Gaudium et Spes”: “The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator” (CCC 27). In this pristine condition, man operates at his best. This is the man whom David addressed in the beautiful psalm “What is man that you be mindful of him, the son of man that you should care for him? Yet you made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and gave him the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet...” (Ps 8: 5-7). Decay of the central processing unit Almighty God knew exactly what was at stake when man descended below his “installed moral capacity”. He sent his only son so that all who believe in him might be saved. (Jn 3:16). Jesus was born in a lowly stable and of lowly parents but he taught the noblest of values and proclaimed the love of God and neighbour above all things. He showed man that being born in a stable does not necessarily make one an animal. Christian doctrine teaches that in the coming of Jesus as man, God simply did all he could have done to save man, his most prized creation. The decadent state of man which completely contrasted with the bliss of Eden, attracted such overwhelmingly compassion. At Eden man and woman could afford to be naked without being ashamed, meaning that they feared no danger or harm, natural or artificial. But right after the fall, man evolved in the story of Cain and Abel, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah. Those stories summarise contemporary man, downgraded to the level of infanticide, fratricide, genocide, and even self-destruction because of his denial of God’s place and role. The prophet

For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator

Isaiah addressed such a situation: “Woe to him who argues with his Maker, being but a pot among pots. Will the clay say to him who fashions it, “What are you making? You have no skill. Woe to him who asks a father, ‘What have you begotten!’ or a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?” (is 45: 9-10). The Modern indices The fatal “Declaration of Independence” by Adam and Eve in Eden betrayed concupiscence, human ingratitude, pride and greed. Satan told to them: “.. your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). They swallowed the foolery, hook, line and sinker. Today, that seed of rebellion has become a tree with many branches. Man has become a terror to his own kind for wherever God is sidelined, man too is necessarily diminished. Never in human history has there been like now, a civilization that legally murders its own children right in their mothers’ womb. That is what much of humanity parades today under a thin veneer of freedom, glamour and fashion. Among the most disingenuous inventions of man today are his contraceptive devices and methods, his weapons of war and devices of materialistic self-destruction. Jonathan Swift, describing such blatant human conduct of his own time, said: “I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed”. So, as is observable today, wicked acts perpetrated by men and women which normally should cause deep shame have not only become commonplace but fashionable in defiance of the commandments of God. Religious enterprise and activities must therefore seek to restore man to his “spiritual factory settings” and bring back that man who lived in harmony with his Creator. Unless that process of recovering the original man is sustained, man will simply evolve into a greater monster than he, in many ways, already is. The recovery route The popular story of a working father being impeded by his little son is apposite for our thoughts. He decided to send the son away with a tough task to do. He got the page of a newspaper with a map of the world on it and proposed a handsome prize to the child if he would put the shredded pieces of the newspaper page correctly together. The son took the bet. The father then tore the page into many small pieces and sent the young man off. Convinced that he could not lose this one, the father settled down to his work. Great was his shock when the boy returned shortly afterwards, triumphant with the map of the world correctly reassembled. The distressed father grudgingly paid up. In curiosity he asked his son how he had managed the feat in such a short time. The victorious young lad turned the other side of the page where, the father had not noticed, was a the fullpage image of a man. Then he said. “Dad, I simply pieced the man together and the entire world fell in place. Fix the man and you will surely fix the world as well” How very relevant those ideas are for us, starting off 2016!

OUR nation has suffered so much setback and contradictions because of much lip service to religious faith. People bear religious names, belong to religious institutions and sometimes occupy high office therein, yet they manifest or exhibit the very opposite of the teachings of their religion. On account of this, a nation of deeply religious people that should overflow with virtue has been grounded by the vicious conduct of her very own citizens. That Nigeria is comatose at this turn of the year should actually not surprise us. The Bible says, Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. However, at both corporate and personal levels, there is a way out of the reproach and backwardness that sin brings. God assures us in His word: Therefore, let us all make this new year a year of humble repentance; a year of heartfelt prayer, a year of seeking God in spirit and in truth, and most importantly a year of turning from all our wicked ways. Put simply, let us fear God in all we do (religious or secular), and let us obey His commandments. If we do this, He will forgive our sins, and heal our land. There is so much good that can happen to us, individually and corporately, in 2016. God is able to bless us beyond our wildest imaginations, but serial unfaithfulness

draws back God’s hand from blessing His children. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? This year, let us resolve to be faithful Christians. Let us live true to the tenets of our faith. Let us refuse to follow the multitude to do evil (Exodus 23: 2). Let us stand for God and for righteousness, even if that means standing alone. If we do these, we shall be like our Lord, and we shall be rewarded like our Lord, of whom it was written: Hebrews 1:8-9 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Those who stand for truth may face adversity, but they shall always triumph in the end. 2016 shall be a year of great triumph and success, but to experience it, we must eschew lip service to faith in God, and return to a life of faithful and virtuous walk with God. His word gives us this firm promise for 2016: Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. Once again, Happy New Year!

livingword By Bishop David Oyedepo Call 7747546-8; or e-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

Engaging the power of sanctification for fulfilment of destiny! (2) LAST week, we began this teaching with the understanding that every redeemed child of God is ordained for a glorious destiny in Christ Jesus, and sanctification is our guaranteed access, among others. As we begin this week’s edition, it is important to know that sanctification is the will of God. The Bible says: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour (1Thessalonians 4:3-4). From the above scripture, we understand that God’s will for us is sanctification, and we have been empowered to live a sanctified life. For instance, Jesus our perfect example in scripture and in life says: “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John 8:46). Again, it was said of Him: For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). If Jesus knew no sin while he was on earth, that means we also have the capacity to do same because we have been enabled to do whatever Jesus can (John 20:21). But, how did Jesus dominate sin? First, we must understand that iniquity is a mystery; but, godliness is a ‘great mystery.’ Remember the Bible says: For

the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The scriptures also says: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory (1 Timothy 3:16). These scriptures helps us to know that the mystery of iniquity can only be swallowed up by the Great Mystery Of Godliness just like in the case of Aaron’s Rod, swallowing up the rods of the magicians (Exodus 7: 10-12). In other words, Jesus had the Spirit of Holiness or Godliness on His life; that was what empowered Him to have dominion over sin. Thus, if Jesus, the Holy Child of God, needed the Spirit of Holiness to live a sanctified life, how much more us, who were born in sin? That means every one of us must understand that the Spirit of Holiness is the only way to live sanctified lives (1 Corinthians 6:11; Romans 1:4; Luke 1: 30-35). What is the mystery behind the Spirit of Holiness? The mystery of Godliness or Holiness lies in the Ministry of the Holy Spirit. From scriptures, we understand that there are diversities of operation, but by the same Holy Spirit, and holiness is one of them.

feature

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Mum had 4 sets of twins, son has triplets after 3 kids By Sade Oguntola

“W

HEN I was asked to buy three shawls for the babies, with only N2000 in my pocket, it dawned on me that I would be paying in triples, for many years

from now.” That was the submission of Mr Isa Idowu Ganiyu, a father of triplets, at the Adeoyo Specialist Hospital, Ibadan, whose wife put to bed three boys on the 30th of December, 2015 through caesarean operation. For Mr Ganiyu, who already has two boys and a girl, the journey started about eight months ago, when his ill wife was pronounced pregnant based on an ultrasonography scan. Recounting his experience, Mr Ganiyu, whose mother also had four sets of twins, did not make him think that his wife, too, might end up having twins or triplets. According to him, although they had initial delay of four years before having their first child, “even when the scan said she was carrying triplets, I still found it hard to believe.” With three children already, the news of triplets worried the couple, and with time, the effect began to take its tow on Mrs Guvat Ganiyu’s health. Aside the frequent visits to the hospital, twice she fainted and had to be resuscitated. She also was placed on hospital bed rest at the fifth month of pregnancy till the babies were eventually delivered through caesarean operation. Although he accepted his fate, believing God for help, according to the father of the children, there were many challenges, especially as caring for his wife became a necessity, which resulted in less time for trade. For Mrs Guvat Ganiyu, her experience carrying the triplets was significantly different from her previous ones. “I did not know I was pregnant for almost four months because I was still seeing my period. I got to know when I fell ill and tests at Adeoyo Specialist Hospital indicated that I was pregnant,” she stated. Although it was initially said to be two babies and later three, she said: “maybe I would not have been worried if it was my first pregnancy. If it was when we were newly married and there was money, it would have been easier. But now, thinking of how to care for them in this trying period brings me so much pain.” The 35-year-old petty trader, whose business had been grounded because she is always weak and unable to do much due to the pregnancy, added that “when the money we had for the caesarean operation was not enough, people, including health workers, came around to assist us to pay.” However, the birth of the triplets only reminded her of dreams of having many children before she got married. Watching one of the babies, Mohammed, lying in a baby’s crib, Mrs Ganiyu said he is fed with breast milk as the others named Addulraman and Al-rahim. They are still in the hospital’s special baby care unit because they were born small. They weighed 2,2kg, 1.7kg and 1.8kg respectively. Surprising, Mrs Ganiyu, had all her previous babies at this hospital. And she was full of praise and thanks to the staffs of the hospital, who she described as very supportive. “Many times, people talk about their experiences at the hospital, when sick or requiring one form of treatment or the other. They talk about the waiting time; they always forget about the number of patients waiting to be attended to. But, one thing is certain, if you are patient, you will be attended to and you are sure of the quality of service.” Ganiyu’s triplets still need more support to ensure they attain their potentials in life. Already, wife of Oyo State Governor, Chief Mrs Florence Ajimobi, represented by Mrs Folusho Sali, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs, on a courtesy visit to the hospital made some donations of baby formula to them as well as some other patients in the hospital on 1st January, 2016.

If it was when we were newly married and there was money, it would have been easier. But now, thinking of how to care for them in this trying period brings me so much pain

But Mr Ganiyu said more still needed to be done to support these babies through life. Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Hospital Management Board, Ministry of health, Dr Adebayo Adigun, remarking that cases of multiple deliveries were frequently recorded in many Oyo State health facilities, said this case just further proved that the notion that state hospital facilities were not working were untrue. “Oyo State government hospital facilities are working. They are doing their best to render healthcare services to our people. These facilities are available to our people and, as such, we have large number of people coming down to benefit from our various facilities,” Adigun stated, just

as he assured that health was topmost on the agenda of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, and declared that bed occupancy rate in most government hospitals in urban centres was almost 100 per cent. Adigun, noting that “the records are there if you want to know,” however, urged erring health workers be reported to ensure the system continues to provide good services to patients. He also encouraged individuals to patronise the Oyo State health insurance scheme, saying it was aimed at ensuring people also benefit from the health dividends from the government.

feature

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Boko Haram arrests worsen Cameroon prison conditions

Humanitarian news agency, IRIN, in this piece, looks at the impacts activities of Boko Haram are having on the condition of prisons in neighbouring Cameroun.

ETENTION conditions in Cameroon’s prisons are worsening as thousands of people suspected to have links with Nigeria-based terrorist group Boko Haram are thrown in jail. Since 2014, at least 1,300 people have been “arbitrarily arrested, and many held in deplorable conditions, which have led to dozens of deaths,” said Alioune Tine, Amnesty International’s director for West and Central Africa. At least 700 of these suspected Boko Haram terrorists are currently detained in Maroua Central Prison, where already poor conditions “have been worsened by these massive arrests of Boko Haram suspects”, the attorney general for the Far North Regional Court of Appeals, Joseph Belporo, told IRIN. Under Cameroon’s 2014 anti-terrorism law, the military and police have been raiding homes and markets along the northern border with Nigeria searching for suspected Boko Haram militants. Most of those taken into custody are teenage boys and men, and they are often arrested dozens at a time. Many families say they still don’t know where their loved ones were taken. “It [has become] a normal thing for innocent citizens to be arrested and detained for the purpose of investigations at this moment when the country is at war with a terrorist organisation,” said Eva Etongue, of the National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms. “But we are concerned with how these suspects are treated and how long they are being held in custody.” Cameroon’s penal code allows judges to keep suspects in pre-trial detention for a period of six months, renewable once, but human rights advocates say many of these prisoners have been held for much longer. “Since the government started arresting Boko Haram suspects, I am not sure they have released any of them,” Marie Nana Abunaw, who runs a local NGO called Prisons Fellowship, told IRIN. Overcrowded and unsanitary Statistics from the NCHRF indicate there are now a total of 26,702 inmates in Cameroon prisons. Maximum

capacity is not meant to exceed 17,000. The commission’s most recent report on the state of prisons found there is “little or no access by detainees to adequate healthcare facilities, [and] poor sanitation and inadequate feeding.” Due to rationing, each prisoner receives just one meal a day, worth less than 150FCFA ($0.25), they say. A September report by Amnesty International found that at least 40 inmates at Maroua Central Prison died between March and May last year as a result of inadequate health care and poor sanitation. The government has denied such allegations, and says that security officers involved in one particular case, where 25 people died while in custody, are no longer on the staff. Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Backary maintains that the arrests and detentions are “within the prerogatives of the armed forces, who are facing a faceless enemy,” and that the objective of the raids is to “protect national territories and citizens”. He insists that soldiers don’t intentionally detain innocent citizens without cause. Responding to the concerns about overcrowding and the protracted detention periods, the president of the Far North Regional Court of Appeals, Fonkwe Joseph Fongang, blamed the situation on a host of factors: a shortage of magistrates; a lack of courtrooms at the military tribunal; lengthy trial procedures; and a “non-mastery” of the new criminal procedural code by some magistrates. A wake-up call? Prisons Fellowship’s Abunaw, who also served for 31 years as prisons general in Cameroon’s Ministry of Justice, said more must be done to improve the conditions for pre-trial detainees. “Despite the rise in the number of inmates in Cameroon prisons due to the war against Boko Haram, the government has not increased the usual funds allocated for food and other facilities for prisoners,” she said. “That is why their situation is getting worse by the day.” In Maroua Central Prison, for example, there is no running water and just 20 latrines for more than 1,200

people, according to Amnesty International. An ex-convict, Celestin Yandal, who was held in pretrial detention for 22 months, told IRIN that he suffered “inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment”. He claimed that at least five inmates died each week because of the conditions. “It is a prison without water, electricity and especially without toilets,” he said. “Inmates defecate in pots.” Settling scores Cameroon’s Minister of Justice Laurent Esso was aware of concerns that his judiciary was not functioning as it should and did not seek to deny them. “These claims are not totally unfounded and are not totally exaggerated,” he told IRIN. Esso said the majority of inmates being held in pre-trail detention would have been released if it wasn’t for the logjam in court proceedings. He admitted the need to improve detention conditions, and added that the government was seeking to combat cruel and degrading treatment, in accordance with the UN Convention against Torture. “There are still many examples of cases where justice is not rendered as it ought to be,” he said in a speech last year, adding that “such mishandling risks creating suspicion over the entire system.” Amowahnou Agbessi, director of the UN Commission for Human Rights and Democracy for Central Africa, told IRIN: “we are aware many innocent people are being held in custody as Boko Haram suspects”. But, he added, “we also know that some citizens in the Far North Region are using the situation to settle scores with their enemies. Some can just run to security officers and tell them that an enemy of his has links with Boko Haram, and given the magnitude of the terror situation, he will be arrested and put behind bars. The government of Cameroon does not want to take chances.” The government says it is currently constructing new prisons across the country in order to alleviate overcrowding. But as the fight against Boko Haram intensifies, conditions will likely get worse before they get better.

10 January, 2016

children’sarena

Sunday Tribune

Olaide Sokoya ollydesanmi@yahoo.com 0807 449 7425

Words from kids

I want to have As in all subjects

—Dorcas Itoro, SS2, 13 years I am looking forward to resuming back to school; I have started reading my books because my result last term was not that good. I didn’t fail but I wanted As in all subjects. I want to put in all my best to get A’s in my entire subject. It’s not going to be easy but I’m giving it all my best.

Quiz Seeking the Violets 1. What country has the second largest population in the world? 2. In what country would you find the cities Glasgow and Edinburgh? 3. What country has a maple leaf on their national flag? 4. What country is home to the Great Barrier Reef? 5. Tapas and paella are dishes that originated in what country? 6. What country was the first to land a man on the moon? 7. What is the largest country (by size and population) in South America? 8. In what country is the Yangtze River found? 9. The kiwi is a flightless bird that lives in what country? 10. In what country would you find the islands Santorini and Mykonos?

Answers 1. India 2. Scotland 3. Canada 4. Australia 5. Spain 6. USA 7. Brazil 8. China 9. New Zealand 10. Greece

Compiled by Temitayo Iliasu

resumption

I want my parents to be proud of me —Shammah Ikiedemhe, Jss 3, 12yrs. I have promised my parents and teachers that I will be a good boy in this new term. I want to be more focused on my studies than the previous term. I performed well in my result but I didn’t meet up with the expectations of my parents. This new term, I want my teachers and my parents to be proud of me. So I’m looking forward to resumption.

To perform excellently

I want to suprise my teachers this term

—Mercy Obah,SS1, 13 yrs

—Opeyemi Aloke, SS2, 14 yrs

I am already reading towards next time examination; my parents have already bought everything I needed for the commencement of the new term. I want to come out in flying colours in my next examinations; I want to surprise my teachers and my parents with good results this term. I want to pass excellently well.

famousinvention Brief history of toaster

Quote

Our plans towards

My plans towards resumption is to study hard so that I will pass excellently after the exams. “All work without play makes Jack a dull boy”. So I’ve had time to play during the holidays and now it is time to work and I will do just that. I really can’t wait to resume back to school. Also, I really missed my friends and teachers at school.

"You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." -- A.A. Milne / Christopher Robin

k ild ee h C ew th of

A toaster is a small electric appliance designed to brown or "sing[e]" sliced bread by exposing it to radiant heat, thus converting it into toast. Toasters can toast multiple types of sliced bread products. The first electric bread toaster was invented by Alan MacMasters in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1893. It was developed over the years, with the introduction of an automatic mechanism to stop the toasting and pop the slices up–the "pop up toaster" in 1919 being a significant development. Modern toasters are typically one of three varieties: pop-up toasters, toaster ovens, and conveyor belt toasters. For home use, consumers typically choose a toaster type based on their intended use. Pop-up toasters are better than toaster ovens for making evenly toasted toast, but toaster ovens can bake and broil while pop-up toasters cannot. Conveyor belt toasters are mostly used in restaurants or other industrial catering environments where toast needs to be made quickly and in larger quantities. Toasters are designed to look in place in any kitchen. Designers presented more aesthetic variations to pop-up toasters than other toasters. Consumers may choose a toaster by its appearance.

Precious Anunimorigba

Durodola clocks 1 Many happy returns

newsanalysis

10 January, 2016

Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance

Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State, Petroleum

Oil price slump heaps pressure on naira, other currencies By Steve Johnson (Financial Times)

HE New Year may be only a week old but already, the currencies of some oil exporters are shaping up to be among the worst performing financial assets of 2016. On Monday, the Angolan kwanza slumped 15 per cent to an all-time low of 158.7 to the US dollar, extending its 24 per cent slide during 2015, as the government allowed the largest devaluation to date. Further falls are likely, with the kwanza trading around 260 to the dollar on the black market. “I don’t think there is much likelihood that it will get [to 260] soon, that sort of shock would be pretty devastating, but I don’t think this will be the last devaluation,” says John Ashbourne, Africa economist at Capital Economics. The move followed Azerbaijan’s decision in December to abandon its dollar peg, precipitating a 32 per cent slide in the manat, after burning through over half its foreign currency reserves in an effort to defend the

Sunday Tribune

currency amid slumping oil revenues. Just days earlier, the South Sudanese pound slumped 85 per cent in two days, tumbling from 2.96 to 18.5 against the dollar, after the government of the fledgling state abandoned its peg. The devaluations have heightened suspicion that Nigeria may be the next oil exporter to allow its currency to weaken, and even that Saudi Arabia, which has resolutely retained its fixed dollar peg despite oil prices crashing to below $35 a barrel, may also be forced to follow suit. The Saudi riyal and Nigerian naira are now markedly out of step with the currencies of most other major oil exporters, which have either devalued more aggressively or stood back and watched their freely floating currencies fall more sharply since the start of 2014. Since 2008, the naira had moved almost in lockstep to the tenge of fellow oil exporter Kazakhstan. However, since the tenge was devalued in August 2014, a yawning gulf has opened up between the two. Few believe this anomaly can last, given that the

naira’s peg is only being maintained by limiting imports of goods such as rice and rubber, restricting the use of domestic debit cards abroad, lowering ATM withdrawal limits and eating into Nigeria’s foreign reserves. Mr Ashbourne notes that Nigeria’s manufacturing sector contracted in the first nine months of 2015, “with many firms struggling to purchase the inputs needed to boost local production. “The president of the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees recently claimed that limits on the import of tomato concentrate could cause the loss of thousands of jobs in the food processing industry,” Mr Ashbourne says. Given that the naira is

continuing to weaken on the black market (it now trades at 265 to the dollar, compared with 210 in February 2015 when the official rate was devalued to 199/$), Mr Ashbourne expects a devaluation to around 240/$ in the first half of this year. “Such a devaluation will be painful, but probably less damaging in the long run than the gradual strangulation imposed by the current system,” he adds. Alan Cameron, economist at Exotix Partners, goes further. He believes a decision to devalue “has already been made” by President Muhammadu Buhari, with timing the only issue. He predicts a move to 240/$ or 250/$ could be announced to coincide with the country’s next monetary

He predicts a move to 240/$ or 250/$ could be announced to coincide with the country’s next monetary policy committee on January 25 and 26.

policy committee meeting on January 25 and 26. Mr Cameron’s belief that a decision has already been made is underpinned by his analysis of Nigeria’s budget, where “we cannot seem to arrive at the official deficit target of N2.22tn ($11.3bn) using the other benchmarks provided in the budget speech, unless we begin to tamper with FX rate assumptions. “Under our current baseline scenario, we think the deficit target in the proposed budget would be achievable at an exchange rate of 240-250/$, depending on what other assumptions one makes.” A devaluation of this size would be the ‘minimum’ Nigeria would need in order to re-establish market confidence, he argues. A move to 300/$ is within the range of possibilities, although ‘probably not required.’ Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital, cautions that a devaluation will do little to increase Nigeria’s export volumes, as it would have little effect on demand for its oil. However, he believes fears over any spike in inflation

are misplaced, given that it has only risen by one percentage point to 9.4 per cent since the February devaluation, comfortably below the 12-13 per cent rate inflation was running at as recently as 2012. RenCap’s proprietary model suggests that at 199/$, the naira is 1.53 times its fair value in real effective exchange rate terms of 305/$. This model also suggests that the dollar-pegged currencies of Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman are about 20 per cent overvalued. Although few are betting on any of these pegs breaking soon, the divergence between the Saudi riyal/dollar spot rate and the 12-month forward rate is at its widest for at least four years, pricing in a fall in the riyal of about 2.3 per cent in the coming year. Mr Cameron says a Saudi devaluation is ‘probably under consideration,’ adding that ‘the signal’ from Riyadh’s 2016 budget, which envisions cutting public spending by 14 per cent, is that “they expect oil prices to stay low for some time.”

news

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Oyo govt urged to revive moribund OYSADEP

From right, Deputy Corps Marshal, Operations, Adei Abu; Deputy Corps Marshal, Motor Vehicle Administration, Charles Theophilus; Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi and the Assistant Corps Marshal, Corps Logistics office, Olakunle Motajo, during the management team‘s visit to the road signs and number plates production plant, in Gwagwalada, Abuja, at the weekend.

DSS quizzes, releases Faleke, Abubakar Audu’s son Yinka Oladoyinbo-Lokoja

eputy governorship flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress in the Nov. 21, 2015 Governorship election in Kogi State, James Faleke, and Mohammed, the eldest son of Abubakar Audu, the late APC governorship candidate, were on Saturday quizzed by the State Security Service for undisclosed reasons. The director of media and publicity of Audu/Faleke Campaign Organisation, Honourable Duro Meseko, however, said the duo were

released by the security agency around 5.00 p.m. on Saturday. The duo were guests of the DSS for about eight hours. Meseko, had earlier in a statement on Saturday said that Faleke and Audu arrived the SSS headquarters in Abuja at exactly 10.00am and were kept in an office with assurances that an officer would attend to them only to keep them there indefinitely. Meseko said the two politicians were kept in an isolated office till 4p.m on Saturday evening. He said, “I’m surprised

my Principal and the eldest son of our political leader, Mohammed are still being kept as I speak with you which is 4p.m. What could be responsible for this ill treatment by the SSS? “Or could they be acting the intimidation script? Trying to arm-twist them into abandoning the sacred mandate freely given to the Audu/Faleke team by the generality of Kogi people? “Let me make it abundantly clear that our mandate is sacred and no amount of technical detention, intimidation and harassment would shake

our resolve to get justice through the judiciary.? “I refuse to believe that the presidency has hands in the arrest! But we may not rule out the fact that the powers that be must have wielded their influence in the arrest, but we are not pertubed over the development, because we believe that God will ultimately vindicate us.” He stated Meseko, who confirmed the release of the duo to Sunday Tribune through telephone on Saturday said they regained their freedom without any strings attached.

Arms probe: How I disbursed N100million —Falae A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, has given more details on how the N100million he received from a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tony Anenih, ahead of the 2015 elections, was disbursed. On Saturday, Falae told an online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES by phone that the fund was received through the account of his party, Social Democratic Party, before it was distributed to the state branches of the party. He also dispelled the statements by some party members that they were not aware that the N100million was received by the party from the PDP, for the elections. “It is true I received the money for the party and then it was distributed to the state branches of the party for onward distribution to other levels of the party. “The money came through the party’s account and it

was through this account that the money was distributed. “The account is there for everyone to verify. I can assure you that all the branches of the party in the states received the money.” Falae said it was unfair for some party members to claim that they were not aware of the donation, because their respective

branches were informed and received the money. “We have over 200,000 people in the party, am I supposed to go around telling every one that I have received the money,” he asked. Falae noted that once the party leaders were involved, they reached out to those at the grassroots. “I have my integrity intact,” he said. “I was a for-

mer MD of a bank, I was a former minister and a former secretary to the government of the federation. “Once they cannot link us to the Dasuki thing, they are coming up with all sorts of things. “Based on my integrity, these allegations should be discarded. At 78, what will I be doing with public funds,” he said.

Bells VC charges students on use of social media devices The Vice Chancellor of Bells University, Sango-Ota, Ogun State, Professor Isaac Adebayo, on Saturday, advised all new students to be focused and desist from spending so much time on social media devices. Adebayo gave the advice at the 11th matriculation ceremony of the institution in Sango Ota, Ogun State. The don urged the new students to be serious in order to face the rigours of academic life, adding that life in the university was

different from life outside the world. ‘‘Students should desist from spending much time on social media devices chatting, but should concentrate more on their studies in order to meet the competitive global market,’’ he warned. He implored the matriculating students and under-graduates to empower themselves by acquiring additional skills and professional certificates to boost their future careers.

‘‘Parents should advise their children to be of good behaviour and prepare to go the extra mile by ensuring that their wards key into various professional certificates available within and outside the university,” the Vice Chancellor stated. He told the students to take advantage of the accredited centre named ATLAS on the campus, which prepared students for professional examinations in Accounting and Personnel Management.

An appeal has gone to the Oyo State government to revive the moribund State Agricultural Programme (OYSADEP) established in Oke-Ogun area of the state. The appeal was made by a community leader,Chief (Dr) Isaac Ishola, while delivering a lecture, organised by the National Association of Saki Elites, Ibadan branch, recently. The guest speaker opined that the revival of the project would aid agricultural research policies that would assist farmers in the area on modern methods of farming. Chief Ishola, who described the land in Oke-Ogun as suitable for farming, lamented that farmers in the area were not encouraged to sustain the rating of the area as the food basket of the nation. “Our people are still using crude and ancient farm implements,” farming is still done on small scale, while the Land Use Decree makes the acquisition of land for farming difficult,” he lamented. Chief Ishola also blamed the lack of federal presence in Oke-Ogun, despite its size and economic potentials, as a factor discouraging the people of the area from farming. The community leader urged the government to take advantage of the dwindling oil revenue and the need for the development of other energy alternatives to diversify the economy from oil to agriculture, which had the potential to solve unemployment problem.

Adhere to govt policies, Ogun warns timber contractors The OGUN State Commissioner for Forestry, Honourable Kolawole Lawal, has disclosed that the state government will not work with any contractor that is not ready to adhere to the rules of engagement. The commissioner, who was on a working visit to some forest reserves in Ijebu North Local Government, made the disclosure during a meeting with some timber contractors operating in the area. He said nothing but total implementation of government policies would be accepted, saying that the policies were formulated to help boost the economy of the state and also create more jobs for the teeming youths. Lawal explained that taking unprocessed logs outside the state would only ruin sawmill business, and render many people jobless, noting that it would also affect the revenue generation of the state. ‘‘The Ministry will not work with any contractor that is not ready to adhere to the rules of engagement; it’s nothing but total adherence to government policies. Stop taking our unprocessed logs outside the state because it will only kill our sawmills and render those working there jobless. It will also affect the revenue generation of the government, as those affected will not be able to pay their taxes,’’ he said.

el-Rufai begins free feeding of public primary school pupils Muhammad Sabiu-Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has announced the beginning of free feeding of all public primary schools pupils on January 17, 2016. Addressing a news conference in Kaduna, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mallam Shehu Usman Adamu, explained that public primary schools would resume on January 17, while secondary schools would resume on January 11. He said arrangements were in top gear to fine tune the readiness of food vendors and schools to facilitate effective delivery of the free feeding programme when the schools resume. Adamu added that between January 11 and 15, vendors that would take part in the programme would meet with the school authorities for their logistics. According to the commissioner, the vendors, recruited in each of the 255 wards, had been organised into cooperative societies to serve free meals in every primary school in the state. Adamu added: “The past few months have been a busy time for the Kaduna State Ministry of Education. He said: ‘‘During this time, the government has begun a programme of school rehabilitation, teachers’ recruitment and training needs assessment for current teachers. ‘‘Each of these initiatives has recorded tremendous progress, and these priority areas will continue to command the attention of the government in the current session and beyond.”

news

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Complement govt’s efforts, traditional ruler pleads

From left, Minister of State for Solid Minerals, Honourable Abubakar Bwari; Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko; during a meeting in Abuja, at the weekend.

Shi’te women vow to defend sect with their blood Isaac Shobayo - Jos

HI’TE women in Jos, Plateau State, have condemned the continued detention of their leader, Shiek Ibrahim Zakzaky, his wife and other people by the security agencies, saying they are ready to defend their religion with their blood, their possession and their lives. The women, who stated this during a peaceful procession, held in Jos, Plateau State, also called for the release of corpses of those that were killed so that they could be buried according to Islamic rites, The procession took off from their headquarters at Angwa Rogo and marched through Bauchi road to the Central Mosque holding the posters of their religious leader, chanting messages for his release and for justice

to be done. Speaking to journalists as they arrived the Central Mosque on Masalachi Jummah Way, one of the followers, Malama Hajia Lubabatu Ladan, who led the women group, all dressed in black, said ‘‘we are ready to use our blood, our life and all we have to defend our religion because that is what Allah has decreed and the

Nigerian Army should know they have attacked harmless people and He would revenge for us.’’ According to her, the procession was to show their solidarity with their movement and to condemn what happened between December 12 and 14, 2015 in Zaria, Kaduna State, adding that the military’s explanation was merely cooked up to

Ekiti Speaker charges women on marital virtues SPEAKER of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Right Honourable (Pastor) Kola Oluwawole, has charged women to imbibe virtues that will make their marriages successful. The Speaker gave the charge in a congratulatory message he sent to the wife of the state governor, Mrs

Feyisetan Fayose, on her 52nd birthday on Friday. In the message, signed by Oluwawole’s Special Assistant (Media), Stephen Gbadamosi, he praised the celebrant for being “a good mother, wife and staunch supporter of her husband.” Oluwawole said Mrs Fayose had, over the years,

PAN cautions farmers as bird flu resurfaces in Kano, others THE chairman of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) in Plateau State, Mr John Dasar, has cautioned its members to ensure strict bio-security measures to avert another outbreak of bird flu. Dasar said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos, on Saturday, that the warning became necessary as investigations showed that the disease had resurfaced in Kano and some states in the South-West. He called on the farmers to adopt stringent bio-security measures to forestall the outbreak of the disease. “Bird flu is one of the fastest spreading diseases in Nigeria. This is because

justify the barbaric act. “The soldiers had said our people blocked road and prevented them from passing through. But we believe that the whole thing was pre-planned because they killed those they said blocked the road and entered our headquarters and killled our men, women and children and bombed the place,’’ she stated.

poultry products are being moved from one point to another and from state to state. “The last time the disease began in Lagos around January 8, 2015 and by January 18 of that same year, it was already recorded in Plateau, meaning that within the span of just 10 days, it had reached our domain. “Reports have it that the disease has shown its ugly head in Kano and some states in the South-West, so the need for our farmers to be reminded to take their bio-security more seriously,’’ he said. The chairman explained that a lot of farmers suffered during the last outbreak of the disease in the state, and

that PAN would not allow such an ugly incidence to affect its members again. “We are calling on farmers not to relax on adhering strictly to bio-security measures because Nigeria is not yet free from bird flu,’’ he added. Dasar, however, said that since June 2015, no case of the disease had been reported in the state and commended the efforts of the farmers who kept to terms with the tenets of poultry business. In 2015, Plateau was one of the most hit states when there was an outbreak of bird flu which left the state with more than 160 farms closed down and 400,000 birds destroyed.

displayed virtues that distinguished her as a good woman and wife. “She is worthy of being celebrated. Over the years, she has displayed qualities that set her aside as a good wife and mother. Her support for her husband, the governor, Ayodele Fayose, is legendary. And that is what virtuousness in marriage is all about. “It is, therefore, incumbent on women to borrow a leaf from the book of this woman so as to enjoy peaceful and prosperous marriage. The virtues of humility, love, support and godliness that Mrs Feyisetan Fayose has imbibed are surely responsible for the success of her family and friend. “As she attained this milestone at 52, we not only need to rejoice with her, but also learn from her life and copy her good example. We wish her many more years in wealth and success in life,” he said. The Speaker, who also described Mrs Fayose as a kind-hearted human, prayed that God would elongate her life “so that the people of Ekiti will enjoy her motherly role much longer.”

A traditional ruler in Oke-Ogun Area of Oyo State, Oba Bello Oyesiji, has pleaded with well-meaning indigenes to complement government’s efforts in the area of the provision of infrastructural development. Oba Oyesiji, who is also the Alagere of Ofikiland made the plea during the grand finale of this year’s Ofiki Day, held at Ofiki Grammar School, Ofiki. Oba Oyesiji noted that the dwindling revenue accrueing to all the tiers of government made it compelling for the people to assist government in the provision of basic social amenities for their people, adding that government alone could not shoulder the responsibility. The traditional ruler, speaking on behalf of other rulers in the area, appealed to the Federal Government to make its impact felt in the area by completing the abandoned Agunrege/Owo/Ofiki/Irawo road and the health centre projects for the use of the masses in the area. In his address, the chairman on the occasion, Senator Fatai Buhari, who was represented by a politician, Prince Moshood Adebisi, lauded the prevailing peace in the area, adding that development could only be achieved in an atmosphere of peace. The chairman of the planning committee, Alhaji Yinusa Olafaju, stated that the programme was put together to call attention of government and well-meaning Nigerians to the need of the people and to foster unity among them.

Ganduje harps on cooperation with security agencies Kola Oyelere - Kano KANO State governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has emphasised the need for synergy between the government and security agencies to rid the state capital and rural communities of crime. The governor, who made the call while receiving the new Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 1, Alhaji Shu’aibu Lawan Gambo, at the Government House in Kano, said because Kano city was cosmopolitan, it required constant surveillance and a strong security network. He also said, recently, the hitherto peaceful rural parts of the state were being threatened by activities of cattle rustlers as a result of which the rural economy had suffered a great deal. His words: “Although we have recorded some success by recovering about 5, 000 cattle alone from the rustlers, there is need for our security agencies to work more closely to mitigate threats to life and property.”

Armed Forces Remembrance Day: Amosun, Wike advocate support for fallen heroes Dapo Falade - Port Harcourt THE Ogun State government has reassured that it will continue to support the welfare and other activities that would benefit the dependents of fallen heroes who paid the supreme sacrifice in the cause of defending the nation. The state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who was represented by his deputy, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Onanuga, gave this assurance during a special Jumat Service to mark the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day on Friday, at the Central Mosque, Kobiti, Abeokuta. Governor Amosun maintained that Armed Forces Remembrance Day should always be seen as a period of sober reflection in the country, calling on well-meaning Nigerians to come out and complement efforts of the command at catering for the welfare of the families of the fallen heroes. Also, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has called on Muslims in the state to work with his administration to promote a peaceful environment for enhanced development. He made the call while speaking during a Jum’at prayer, held in Port Harcourt, on Friday, to mark the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day. The governor, represented by the chairman of the Rivers State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Abdulrazaq Diepriye, said development could only take place in a peaceful environment.

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

Iheanacho on song for

IGERIA junior international, Kelechi Iheanacho regained his scoring instinct on Saturday, when he scored for Manchester City in the 3-0 humiliation of Norwich City in the third round of the FA Cup at Carrow Road. Sergio Aguero put the

Citizens ahead in the 16th minute with a driving run and emphatic shot. Aguero later set up strike

City partner, Iheanacho for City’s second goal on the half-hour. The visitors wrapped up

victory 12 minutes from time through substitute Kevin De Bruyne. Another Nigerian, Alex

W-Cup qualifier: Flamingoes hammer Namibia 4-0 Nigeria’s Flamingoes on Saturday at the National Stadium, Abuja thrashed the Baby Gladiators of Namibia 4-0 in the first leg of the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifier. The Bala Nikyu-piloted side went on the rampage right from the blast of whistle in search of a curtain raiser, which came just after 13 minutes through Rasheedat Ajibade. The Namibians were able to hold the Flamingoes

again till in the 36th minute when Cynthia Aku made it two, while Efih made it 3-0 in the 42nd minute. On resumption, both

sides had little to offfer but the only difference was the goal by Ajibade in the 67th minute, which was her brace for the day.

Losciuto undergoes successful surgery in S/Africa Super Eagles assistant coach, Jean Francois Losciuto was Saturday operated on in Pretoria, South Africa, where the team have been preparing for

CHAN 2016:

Gbadebo replaces injured Madu Lobi Stars defender, Samson Gbadebo will now join the rest of the Super Eagles squad in Rwanda ahead of the fourth African Nations Championship which kicks

Gbadebo

The Namibians will host the Flamingoes at the Sammy Nujoma Stadium, Windhoek in the reverse fixture.

Iwobi shone in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over fellow English Premier League campaigners, Sunderland. The Gunners came from behind to snatch the victory in their bid to successfully defend the FA Cup. Sunderland took a 17thminute lead at the Emirates Stadium through Jeremain Lens, but Joel

off later this month, officials have disclosed. Gbadebo was a late replacement for injured Enugu Rangers defender, Christian Madu. The goal-scoring defender scored one of the goals for the Eagles in a 3-0 win over Rising Stars Academy FC in Abuja. He was earlier to join the squad in Pretoria, South Africa, before it was decided he now joins them in Rwanda. The Eagles are due to fly into Kigali on January 15, three days before their opening group C match against the Menas of Niger.

the African Nations Championship (CHAN) which gets underway later this month in Rwanda. It was further gathered that “a small metal” was found in the stomach of the coach after the surgery. The Belgian was in severe discomfort before he was rushed to hospital after which he was operated on. It is now left to be seen if he would fly out with the rest of the squad to Rwanda on January 15. He was in charge of the team during the Eagles training camp in Abuja when coach Sunday Oliseh was recovering from a viral infection at his base in Bel- Loscuito (left) with Oliseh during a training session. gium.

Campbell equalised eight minutes later before second-half goals by Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud gave Arsene Wenger’s men victory. Premier League leaders, Arsenal are seeking to become the first team to win three FA Cups in a row since Blackburn Rovers between 1884 and 1886.

10 January, 2016

THE

Sunday Tribune

Fabio Lanipekun 08050498512 lanipekunfabio@yahoo.com

8 months to Rio: Nigeria 40% ready

t has become traditional to say that you prepare for the Olympic Games at the end of one, which translates to the fact that once the London 2012 Olympics were over, our preparations for Rio 2016 should have commenced, pronto. Many countries with neck deep commitment to sports, especially the Olympic Games, are by now putting finishing touches to their preparation towards Rio 2016, but here in Nigeria we are still fumbling. Recently eight events that Nigeria would participate in were announced – athletics, basketball, boxing, canoeing, football, taekwondo, wrestling and weightlifting. If the Sports Minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung, had his way he would have preferred that all sports that qualified should be allowed to go to Rio. Such doctrine belonged to the past when the spirit was in taking part and not in winning. But as Vincent Lombardi, the famous American coach says: “Winning is the only thing”. In selecting the eight sports events, NSC technocrats had adduced the reasons that Nigeria had comparative advantage and potential medallists, especially in women’s sprints and relay races. Nigeria also have medal potential in women boxing, wrestling and football men. To stand a chance of winning medals in these sports “depend on proper planning, programming and budgeting system, standard facilities and equipment, high performance system, calibre of coaches, athletes welfare, nutrition and science and technology”. As a result of inconsistent sports policy, Nigeria have not been doing well at Olympic Games since our participation started in Helsinki in 1952. We have won a handful of medals in boxing, athletics, football and taekwondo. In all the other events that we sent in scores of athletes, the results have not been heart warming. The

Odunayo Adekuoroye (right), the only Nigerian wrestler who has secured the Rio Olympics ticket so far. reality is that we are so far behind in many sports that it amounts to a waste of time and resources, trying to compete with the established countries, like for example, China in table tennis, badminton, swimming has become a no go area for us, as the gap between us and the super powers – USA, Australia, European countries is getting wider every Olympic year. Is it not a shame that Nigeria comprising an island like Lagos surrounded by water and other coastal cities, cannot produce swimmers to vie for medals in the pool? There are close to 40 gold medals in swimming, yet we have no claim to none and in athletics 46 gold medals and none in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012. And at every Olympic Games we see our African brothers and sisters from Kenya,

Ethiopia, South Africa the West Indians regularly hugging the podium. It is not as if the Federal Government is insensitive to the lack lustre performances of the various contingents to Games, it has always responded by setting up one probe or the other, but recommendations made gather dust until the next Games are around the corner. Nigeria’s most woeful performance at the Olympic Games were recorded in Seoul 1988 which we attended with the largest contingement ever, but returned with no medal, followed by another dismal show in London 2012 and one would expect better preparations for Rio 2016, but with eight months to go, Nigeria’s preparation was 40 per cent. Listen to the Sports Minister, Dalung speaking in Lagos last Monday. “I was surprised when I asked officials about our preparation and was told that it was 40 per cent

as at last week and I told them it was not good enough to give us a good outing in Brazil”. The Minister promised to inject more fund into the preparation, but from experience the quality of the coaching crew is equally important than physical cash. Modern sports has gone beyond lumping athletes or players together under one coach. For example, a track and field athlete needs an individual coach, just as each table tennis player needs one as well. I recall at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, the Chairman of the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation, Mr George Segun filled in the gap as a coach because not enough coaches accompanied them to the Games. So with eight months away our Olympic Games preparations are 40 per cent, we can only wish the contingent a jolly peregrination.

National Sports Festival

Dalung

Do you know that Nigeria will be attending the Olympic Games without holding its National Sports Festival, which in the first place, is the production chain for international sports competitions. Nigeria have always sourced for materials at the National Festival and many of our stars, global and continental came through the festival. But here we are on the threshold of the Rio Olympic Games not knowing what to do with the 18th edition. The often-postponed Festival should have held in Cross River State, but for one reason or the other, they keep postponing it from 2012 to 2013, 2014 and ……. ad infinitum. One can only imagine the damage these postponements have caused the youth of this country who are being denied their rights to sports competition once in two years. The Fes-

tival should have held before the All Africa Games in …….. and should have been the outlet to discover more talents, even for Rio 2016. All these opportunities are being wasted because the Sports Ministry has not done what it ought to do. Let me remind you of a similar scenario in 1989 when Bauchi State were to host the National Sports Festival. Bauchi had also won the right to host the World Junior Ladies Handball championships and dilly-dallied over the National Sports Festival. Without blinking an eye, the then Sports Minister, Alabo Graham-Douglass shifted the venue of the National Sports Festival from Bauchi to Lagos where it was held successfully, and heavens did not fall. Is Barrister Solomon Dalung reading this? That is getting Nigeria’s sports out of jail.

54 sport

10 January, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Mikel (left) and Hiddink

Mikel

Mikel’s ‘resurrection’ at Stamford Bridge under Hiddink

IGERIA international, John Obi Mikel is practically part of the furniture at Chelsea. To Guus Hiddink, though, he isn’t ready for the testimonial treatment just yet. Chelsea’s midfield has been feeble this season, but last week was different as Mikel maintained his unbeaten record under the interim manager. Mikel has played 19 games across two seasons under Hiddink and never lost – drawing five and winning 14, including the FA Cup final in 2009. Crystal Palace became his latest victim last week and Scunthorpe could be next. Chelsea signed Mikel in 2006 and their win percentage rises when he is in the team. With him, it is 61.8 per cent . Without, it drops to 58.1 per cent. Last week he was preferred to Nemanja Matic and was a catalyst for Chelsea’s most complete performance this season. You can’t bully him, nor can you shove him off the ball. The 28-yearold tackled, blocked, cleared and intercepted at Selhurst Park – and produced an unrivalled 95.1 per

cent pass completion rate too. It was the fourth highest accuracy by any player with 80 or more passes in a Premier League game this season, and Hiddink said afterwards: “I think John Obi can be one of the key figures in bringing back balance. “He reads the game very well, he knows where the strength of the opponent is and knows how to combat that. He has very good sense, he doesn’t do it in a brutal way, he’s very elegant. Someone who can defend so smoothly is very beautiful.” Thumbs up don’t get better than that, and Mikel even brought the best out of Cesc Fabregas. Alan Pardew admitted his players ‘couldn’t get near’ the Spain midfielder, who made more passes than anyone else (104) with 89.4 per cent accuracy. It wasn’t as precise as his partner but those numbers have been a rarity for Fabregas this season, given he managed just 78.9 per cent against Watford in their 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in his last appearance. Hiddink has faith in Mikel – more than his predecessor any-

way. The man due a testimonial this summer after 10 years at Chelsea has already played 225 minutes under Hiddink in the Premier

Mikel (right) struggles for ball possession with a player of Crystal Palace.

League this season, having played just 177 under Jose Mourinho. He didn’t start consecutive Premier League games in 2015 at all, yet has already righted that wrong in 2016. Mikel was used infrequently by Mourinho but Hiddink turned to him almost immediately, as if it was 2009 all over again. The only season when Mikel made more than 30 appearances in the Premier League, after all, was in 2008/09 during Hiddink’s first spell at Chelsea. Mikel said recently: “It’s difficult when you’re not playing, as you don’t really know what the problems are. “I wasn’t playing that much under Mourinho so couldn’t put my finger on what was going wrong. It was a collective thing – the players and the manager were not per-

forming.” It is 11 years since Mikel came runner-up to Lionel Messi at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2005 as the tournament’s MVP, when he was used to playing as an attacking midfielder for Nigeria. That role was reduced in England, and commentators are never far from mentioning his barelyexistent goalscoring record in the Premier League (one goal in 225 appearances) whenever he unleashes a wayward shot. But that’s not his job. Last week he bossed midfield and tidied up for Chelsea, who looked rejuvenated by Mikel’s partnership with Fabregas. And so Matic may need to get used to the substitutes’ bench because, with his record under Hiddink, Mikel could be here to stay as Chelsea’s unlikely go-to guy.

sport

10 January, 2016

Platini to appeal FIFA ban tomorrow

MBATTLED president of EUFA, Michel Platini will appeal his eight-year ban from football tomorrow, according to his lawyer. Thibaud d’Ales said Platini had received overnight from world governing body the reasons behind the ban. “We’ll read them, analyse them and launch an appeal on Monday,” D’Ales said. FIFA’s ethics tribunal earlier said it had provided Sepp Blatter and Platini with the reasons for its decision to ban them from football for eight years, clearing the way for them to appeal against the decision. Blatter and Platini had to wait until receiving the document before they could take their cases to FIFA’s appeals committee. Meanwhile, a statement from FIFA’s ethics committee said: “The adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee has fulfilled its commitment to provide the grounds for the respective decisions to Mr Blatter and Mr Platini within

the first half of January 2016 as they had previously been informed. “After receiving the grounds for the decisions, both officials may lodge an appeal with the FIFA appeal committee.” Blatter and Platini were banned for eight years on December 21 over a £1.3million payment to the Frenchman in February 2011, signed off by Blatter. They say the payment was made on the basis of an oral

The timing of the payment raised suspicions however - it came as Blatter was preparing to stand for a fourth

term as FIFA president and facing a challenge from Qatar’s Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Double Olympic champion, Farah beaten Double Olympic champion, Mo Farah was beaten into second by American Garrett Heath in the men’s race at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country. Farah, 32, lost out in a sprint finish as Heath won in 25 minutes 29 seconds. “It is disappointing to lose but better to lose now than later in the year. I couldn’t really sprint - it was very slippery,” Farah told BBC Sport.

Fellow Briton Kate, Avery, 24, recorded her first senior international victory in the women’s race at Holyrood Park. Avery took the lead in the early stages and finished the 6km course in 21:05 to win by four seconds. Ireland’s Fionnuala McCormack, representing Europe, was second, with GB’s Gemma Steel third in 21:31. Great Britain won the team event with Europe

Messi nets hat-trick in Barca’s 4-0 win Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as FC Barcelona secured a comfortable victory over Granada to return to the top of La Liga. The Argentine scored twice in the first 15 minutes and added another after the break to take his season’s tally to 18, as Barca made it 20 games unbeaten. Messi put Barcelona in command with

Messi

Conor slams Mayweather over racist comments

Platini

agreement between them 13 years previously when Platini worked as Blatter’s technical adviser.

composed close-range finishes to Luis Suarez-inspired moves. He followed up to add a 58th-minute third, before Neymar lobbed the fourth. Victory increased Barcelona’s advantage over Real Madrid to five points. Barca’s hold on top spot could be short-lived as they will surrender their position if Atletico wins at Celta Vigo later today. Messi broke the deadlock in the eighth minute against a side who were beaten 6-0 at the Nou Camp last season. A clever dummy from Suarez allowed league debutant Arda Turan to thread a fine ball to the Argentine to slot home. The second came six minutes later, as Neymar eased through before passing to Suarez, who knocked the ball down for Messi to finish. Granada came into the contest more in the second half, with striker Isaac Success posing a threat, and David Lomban hooking a chance over the bar. Normal service was soon resumed however, as Messi claimed his third - and 11th goal in eight La Liga appearances against Granada - following up after a dummy by Turan let in Neymar to shoot against the frame of the goal. Neymar capped another impressive individual display by adding a fourth goal with seven minutes left thanks to a precise lob after good work by Messi and Suarez.

Sunday Tribune

second and USA third. Scotland A, anchored by Laura Muir, won the 4x1km mixed invitational relay with Britain second and Ireland third. Britain’s Alex Yee, 17, won the junior men’s race with compatriot Bobby

Clay, 18, victorious in the women’s junior event. Farah, competing in the event for the first time since winning in 2011, began his Rio Olympics preparations with a rare defeat over the 8km course.

Conor McGregor has hit back at Floyd Mayweather after his comments about racism. Mayweather, who retired from boxing last year, claimed racism still exists in the sport before he turned his attention to the UFC featherweight champion. But McGregor has since responded and also offered to fight the former pound-for-pound No 1. Writing on Instagram, he said: “Floyd Mayweather, don’t ever bring race into my success again. I am an Irishman. “My people have been oppressed our entire existence and still very much are. “I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood. “In my family’s long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name McGregor was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again. “If you want we can organise a fight no problem. I will give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favour seeing as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue.”

SIDELINES NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER

no 2,028

10 JANUARY, 2016

www.tribune.com.ng

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Four robbery suspects who were apprehended last week reportedly lamented not finding a dime in the vault of an old generation bank they burgled in Ondo State. Will the old generation bank henceforth teach new generation banks how to make cash invisible for robbers during such ungodly operations?

Welcome to the new Ooni

N Yoruba tradition, there is a mythical gravity attached to Ife. Ile-Ife is not merely the place of origins and the Yoruba nation’s “ancestral home”, it is also the abode of the supernatural powers that uphold order in Yorubaland and even in the whole world. In the light of this mythology, after the Ife kingdom and the city of Ile-Ife were founded in the 10th Century AD, the Yoruba nation developed an unusual creative energy to found tens of similar kingdoms and cities all over the Yoruba forest. The Yoruba thus became and prospered as the most organized people in Africa. Upon that scene, the Yoruba established a system of order and peaceful interactions among their many kingdoms. The system was based on the belief in their common origins from Ife and the common ancestry of their kings from Ife. The supernatural forces of order living in Ife were believed to superintend over the whole system. In the context of all these, a national convention of thought and practice arose, that respect and honour for the Ife kingdom was a fundamental condition for the preservation of the whole system. The Yoruba nation thus became a commonwealth of friendly and prosperous kingdoms. The quality of leadership and governance in Ife became the mystical marker of order, peace and progress in Yorubaland. Strange as it may sound, the amount of order, peace and progress in Yorubalandhas tended to reflect the amount of order, peace and progress in Ife. In the eight centuries following the founding of the Ife kingdom, the newly founded Yoruba kingdoms and cities prospered tremendously as Ife itself prospered. In fact, some of these younger kingdoms prospered so well that they rose beyond Ife in wealth and power. By the 16th century, one of them, the Oyo-Ile kingdom, had become the foremost of all the kingdoms of the Yoruba people. Oyo-Ile even went on to create the greatest empire in Yoruba history – an empire which included much of Yorubaland as well as the homelands of some non-Yoruba peoples. It was the greatest empire ever in the history of West Africa. However, bad times arose from the last

years of the 18th century, resulting in a series of wars and a lot of turmoil lasting almost a whole century. Some leading cities and kingdoms perished although others were immediately founded. In certain Yoruba traditions, these troubles are said to have been started off by a small insult to the Ife kingdom. In the course of the wars, Ife was attacked and sacked twice, and as tradition has it, that was when the wars became most intense and most confused. Good times returned when peace treaties in 1886 and 1893 made it possible for Ife to be resettled. The years that followed have been amongst the greatest years in the history of the Yoruba nation. Trade pros-

FA Cup third round results:

Pinnick tips Ighalo for 2016 African Player award

Wycombe Arsenal Birmingham Brentford Bury Colchester Doncaster Eastleigh Everton Hartlepool H/dersfield Hull City Man U

1 Aston Villa 1 3 Sunderland 1 1 Bournemouth 2 0 Walsall 1 0 Bradford 0 2 Charlton 1 1 Stoke City 2 1 Bolton 1 2 Dag & Red 0 1 Derby 2 2 Reading 2 1 Brighton 0 1 Shef. Utd 0

Pools: 4, 10, 13, 15, 20, 29, 31, 35, 43. TODAY’S MATCHES: 5, 6, 7, 23, 27, 40, 44.

of Nigeria in all areas of modern development. Yorubaland continued to make good progress until the 1950s when under a phenomenally creative and productive Western regional government, giant strides were made and the Yoruba country became “first in Africa” in every area of development. Today, many Yoruba regard the 1950s as the Golden Era of their modern history. It is instructive that this era was co-terminus with the reign of the greatest Ooni of the 20th Century, Oba AdesojiAderemi. In short then, the disposition and quality of leadership existing at Ife points to the disposition of the Yoruba nation. Today, we have a new Ooni on the throne,

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pered mightily all over Yorubaland. Yoruba farmers became significant in the growing world economy. Yoruba people seized the advantages of incoming Western education and quickly became the most literate people on the African continent. By the 1890s the Yoruba already commanded a powerful elite of highly educated people as doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, journalists and so on. A Yoruba man, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, served as the most important servant of Christian gospel in West Africa. Newspapers sprang up in many Yoruba cities. In fact a movement of Yoruba cultural nationalism arose to emphasise the beauty of Yoruba culture, clothing and traditions. In the light of this, serious studies of Yoruba culture and history were done. This era continued into the 20th century. By the time Yorubaland was included in Nigeria in 1914, it was far ahead of the rest

By Nurudeen Alimi FOLLOWING his exploits in the English Premier League, president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr Amaju Pinnick has tipped Watford star, Odion Ighalo to win the 2016 African Player of the Year award. The Super Eagles forward was highly instrumental in the promotion of Watford to the EPL and finished 2015 with 34 goals, 14 of which came in 19 Premier League games. Pinnick believes given the impressive performance of Ighalo, Nigerian players would be back to challenge for the coveted award in the nearest future.

and the sounds and vibrations from him are already pointing to great times for the Yoruba nation. His pronouncements indicate that he is an Ooni who sees his role as going far beyond traditional rulership, limited to the confines of the palace. We have an Ooni who is expressing great commitment to the unity of the Yoruba nation. He is also expressing pronounced concern for the wellbeing of the masses of educated but unemployed Yoruba youth and promising to promote job skills and entrepreneurial skills amongst them, thus raising hopes of a new industrial and business upsurge in the Yoruba Southwest. He has announced plans for encouraging youths to the traditionally vibrant Yoruba pursuit of agriculture, thus helping to revive that weakened industry and creating many jobs for the unemployed. It would appear that under this Ooni, the Yoruba can hope to once again

“In the next award, you will be seeing the likes of Ighalo,” Pinnick told newsmen at the 2015 Glo/CAF awards gala in Abuja. “That one is certain. I can assure Nigerians that he (Ighalo) will not just be nominated but winning the award.” Pinnick however, insisted that Nigerian football is progressing based on its recent success story at various championships in the preceding year. “If you look at our results in the last six months you will know there it is not a fluke. “You know that there is an input from somewhere, an intelligent study and the prozone software we acquired is working.”

lead the way in food production for the Yoruba nation and beyond. The Ooniis already creating great hope for the final end to the long running Ife-Modakeke problems. The stories going around are that the Ooni has a special link to Modakeke even though we are not allowed to speak of him as having earthly parents. It is a thing of joy, however, that those embarrassing troubles could soon be in the past. We are also looking up to him to bring to an end the troublesome relationship with another great father of the Yoruba, the Alaafin of Oyo, and restore cordial, cooperative relations between the two extremely important thrones. We are hopeful that they will hold hands to lead our nation into a new era of unity and progress. We are looking to him to promote a new era of dignity for our traditional rulers and a new era of unity, peace and prosperity for our nation. In one other dimension, we are looking to him to further promote the greatness that is emerging for the Yoruba nation in the whole wide world. In the time of Oba Sijuwade, the glory of the Yoruba nation spread in many countries in the world. Leaders came from countries of Central America, South America, the West Indies and the United States to pay homage at their ancestral home at Ife and to receive appropriate chieftaincy titles. In country after country, the glory of the Yoruba nation was hoisted high, making Yoruba people and their descendants in the diaspora very proud indeed. The idea of a Trans-Atlantic Yoruba Nation is gradually becoming a reality that promises to become very significant in the affairs of the world at large. We are looking to the new Ooni to raise our profile even higher in these and other significant directions. A new day then is dawning in Ife and over the whole of Yorubaland at home and abroad. We who have the privilege of seeing these times heartily and happily welcome our new Ooni, Oba AdeyeyeEnitanOgunwusi,Ojaja II, to the throne of Oduduwa.We pray that hemay live to fulfil his tremendous promise. May the Yoruba nation prosper mightily in his time.

Ighalo

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: sundaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR WEEKEND TITLES: LASISI OLAGUNJU. All Correspondence to P. O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 10/1/2016