21st May 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 1,152

SATURDAY, 21 MAY, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

Nigerian Tribune

N150

Kwara APC chairman, secretary kidnapped

pg5

Unknown to many, I am very spiritual pg2

Buhari warns Niger Delta pg4 militants Escravos gas pipeline blown up

—Ronke Odusanya

Shonde, alleged killerhusband docked pg7

Tinubu meets labour leaders, pg5 pleads for peace Controversy over 2nd rescued Chibok girl pg5

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (middle); Group Chief Executive, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Mr Udeme Ufot (left) and the President, Association of Advertising Agencies, Mr Kelechi Nwosu, during the 43rd AGM/Congress of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, held at Le Meridien Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort, Uyo, on Friday.

Weekend Lagos

Funsho Williams: Freed prime suspect speaks pgs19,20,21&24

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21 May, 2016

true and part of it may not be true.

But I believe that God has a way of doing things for some reasons, probably one’s way of life might need some adjustments and checks and balances.

Star Nollywood actress, Ronke Odusanya, aka Flakky Ididowo, is one actress who has remained consistent in performing and interpreting whatever role she is given. In this interview by JOAN OMIONAWELE, she talks about her travails, controversies, personal life, among other things.

But there have been times when calls are put through to Yoruba actresses, especially and some start cursing...

People handle things differently, at least you will know you have done your part by calling him or her. I still think it’s best to find out before publishing.

There were some cases where someone called me to say they heard I was fighting Fathia Balogun over Pasuma and I was right beside Fathia in Osogbo, I had to give the phone to the person to speak with Fathia. You can imagine things like that. You don’t have to defame someone all in the name of getting your job done. I studied mass communication in school and I know a lot about journalism, I know journalists have to be creative to write catchy things, but in doing that, one shouldn’t invade people’s privacy.

They said I snatched someone’s husband, did they even know what happened, do they know how many people have snatched mine too?

H

OW has life been as an actress?

It’s been fun and a bit bumpy, but I bless God, I am still coping and managing.

Do you sometimes feel you are not celebrated enough?

Well, to a large extent, my opinion about that is funny. I say it’s funny because it’s not everyone that’s being celebrated that is doing well or doing what should be done. Some people pay to be celebrated. Some people deserve to be celebrated, while some people are still looking to be celebrated, so I don’t believe in the statement that everyone who is celebrated deserves to be celebrated You just returned from South Africa where you acted in an English movie, what was it about?

A company called Total Recall contacted me about an English series project. He forwarded the script to me, I really liked the concept as I played the role of the main character – Victoria Macauley – a wife to a deceased man named Steve Macauley, it was a very major character for me because I played the character of a 48-year-old woman, with a daughter who is in her mid 20s and a son in his mid 30s.It was first of its kind for me.

I haven’t done something like that before, although I have featured in a few home videos and a few English soaps, it was a long time ago, it’s like a very big break for me in the English sector.

What was the transformation like having to act in an English movie?

First of all, I’ll like to correct the notion that Yoruba actresses cannot speak proper English. Naturally as an actor, if people have this opinion about you and they try to pass across a message to you, you have to work harder to do your best, if you are one who is not confident, you might do something you are not supposed to do or fake an accent which you don’t have.

Acting in English is not what I do every time, we shot about 980 scenes and I featured in about 800 of the scenes and I spoke in English in every scene, and it wasn’t easy in the first few days because my director is one who likes us to recite the words of the script word for word.

Was there any point in time when you felt like quitting when you were on the set of the movie?

There was a time I had not left the

Unknown to many,

I am very spiritual —Ronke Odusanya house where I was lodged for almost one month and it was getting crazy, at a point I was losing my vibe and when my director asked me what the problem was, I told him I was getting psychologically derailed and he told the crew that he would take us to Monte Cassino and we would rest and our brains will be refreshed.

There was a time you lost so much weight, was it in a bid to compete with other slim actresses?

There is no point competing with anybody because my body structure is different from that of some other person. I feel I was being overweight, coupled with the fact that my doctor advised me to slow down on my weight. There are also some roles that determine how you look and I had to get a little bigger because of the character of Victoria Macaulay in the new TV series, and immediately I got back, I started working on my size again.

Saturday Tribune

You also went low key during your last birthday, which is unlike you, what happened? (smiles) I’m a naturally private and quiet person. I don’t like to be seen, but because of my job, I can’t avoid it totally, and sometimes I get to go for parties, but I am not a party person. I’m an introvert. It is a very bad part of me. I’m a very spiritual person and sometimes when I pray, I receive messages and just keep it low, I think it is working for me and I bless God. Have you always been a white garment church member or you started going there because of the messages?

No, I was born into a celestial church, but my mum is a pastor in Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), they pray a lot in the CAC, but I like the white garment church, probably because I was born there, I still like the church and it is not because of the messages they see and receive.

Seeing messages is not peculiar to celestial church or Cherubim and Seraphim. CAC and others see messages, some people go there because they want to receive messages, but I am not here for that, I am also an ‘alore’– someone who goes into transit and sees visions.

Have you always been so spiritual or it just happened?

I have always been spiritual, since my university days, in fact they still call me for functions at Ago Iwoye, it didn’t just start now, it’s even my job that hinders me sometimes How do you handle negative statements, especially now that we are in the social media age?

My sister, I must confess, it has not been very easy, especially when people hear things about you without waiting to hear your part before concluding. It is one part of the media I really don’t like. When you hear some things, part of it might be

But if you are open to the public about some issues raised, things will be cleared..

You cannot satisfy everybody and in the course of me telling everybody what happened, someone else will say it’s a lie, it never happened.

Imagine someone fighting over me at the beach, she said she knew me well, she never knew the person whom she was talking to was my cousin, she said I have two kids for Pasuma and was at the naming ceremony of the two children. I was shocked, because I don’t know when they got me pregnant not to talk of giving birth. What will you say to that? How do I defend that? This is why I don’t handle anything media.

So how has this been affecting your relationships?

Very negatively, there was a guy I met some time ago, who did not believe I did not have a son, all because I took a picture with my friend’s son and put it online. He kept arguing with me that I have a son.

Is that the reason why you haven’t said ‘yes’ to a man?

I will say ‘yes’ if I see.., but I haven’t seen. Is it the one I said ‘yes’ to, who gave me a ring but had another girlfriend somewhere and the ex-wife came and started saying I caused their divorce that I will say ‘yes’ to?

This was a woman who left her husband for two years because he had nothing, and because people think actresses are always after money, I started helping the guy, and when she saw that her husband had two cars, and was better, she now came out after she left the house for two years and went to the media, not knowing that I serve a living God, I am still up and standing and doing better than I was then.

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

news Buhari warns Niger Delta militants 4

From Leon Usigbe, Ebenezer Adurokiya and Christian Okeke

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RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Friday warned militants, aggrieved persons and communities in the Niger Delta to drop their confrontational stance and work with those who have been charged by the Federal Government to review the Amnesty Programme initiated by the Umar Yar’Adua administration for the benefit of all parties.

Speaking at a meeting with the Global Director (Upstream) of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, Mr. Andrew Brown, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, Buhari also assured oil companies operating in the Niger Delta that the Federal Government was taking all necessary actions to protect strategic assets in the region from vandals and criminals.

He said that he has directed the Chief of Naval Staff to reorganise and strengthen the military Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta to deal effectively with the resurgence of militancy and the sabotage of oil installations.

The president told Mr. Brown that the operations of the JTF were also being enhanced with increased

support and cooperation from the United States and Europe in the areas of training, intelligence, equipment and logistics.

He said: “We have to be very serious with the situation in the Niger Delta because it threatens the national economy. I assure you that everything possible will be done to protect personnel and oil assets in the region.”

The president praised the resilience and staying power of Shell in Nigeria despite the operational challenges of the environment.

He urged the company to do its best to end gas-flaring in the Niger Delta quickly and produce more gas for electricity generation to support manufacturing and job creation in the country.

Brown had appealed for an urgent solution to rising crime and militancy in the Niger Delta.

The Shell Executive also dispelled speculations that the company was pulling out of Nigeria, saying that contrary to such speculations, Shell was currently in discussions with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on new joint oil and gas projects.

Meanwhile, in spite of the military siege to Ijaw com-

munities in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, militants, in the wee hours of Friday, again struck, bombing another section of the Escravos Gas Trunkline located behind Salvation City, near the OgbeIjoh community.

The incident reportedly took place at about 2:00a.m on Friday.

Saturday Tribune further gathered that the blast-

Sunday Tribune

21 May, 2016

•Escravos gas pipeline blown up

ed trunkline was the phase two of the Escravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline owned and operated by the Nigerian Gas Company Limited (NGC).

Meanwhile, an official of the Delta State government, who declined being named, has, however, described the attack as a major blow on gas production in the country.

A top military official, who craved anonymity, confirmed the incident, just as

the spokesperson for the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Niger Delta, Col. Isa Ado, could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, two freedom fighting groups based in the Niger Delta, AkwaCross Freedom Movement (AFM) and Bakassi Strike Force (BSF) have condemned destructions of oil installations

by Niger Delta Avengers.

Leaders of the groups, Master Simply and Ibok Eyo

called on law enforcement agencies to quickly use everything at their disposal to reject such criminal agitations and bring every criminal elements to justice.

They called on Niger Delta Avengers group and every other agitators to go for dialogue and negotiation with the Federal Government and all relevant authorities rather than sabotaging national facilities.

PMS: Finance ministry will liaise with CBN on forex —Adeosun Sanya Adejokun -Abuja Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun on Friday said the ministry would work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ease availability of foreign exchange for importers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to get foreign exchange.

Shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated last year, the Government paid the marketers N48 billion, part of the subsidy claims of the importers.

However, Chairman of Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), Prince Dapo Abiodun told Adeosun at a meeting in Abuja that the money paid to them since last year was still kept in

their accounts as they had not been able to change it into foreign exchange at the official window.

Adeosun, who recalled that the marketers were paid another N42.4 billion last week, said government would strive to ease official foreign exchange window for them to change the naira

into dollar so that the importers could settle their foreign creditors.

“I cannot promise that we will pay you immediately but we will work out a solution.

We will liaise with the CBN to see what can be done on the foreign exchange issue.

“We will do everything to support you so that you can

continue to bring in products. We do not want a situation whereby Nigerians will stay longer than necessary in petrol stations, while waiting to buy petroleum products,” she said while also declaring that government would strive hard to make the deregulation programme successful.

Buhari removes Opara as NCPC scribe Clement Idoko -Abuja PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has approved the disengagement of Mr. John Kennedy Opara as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) with effect from Thursday, 19 May, 2016.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, En-

gineer Babachir Lawal conveyed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Lawal, who did not give reasons for Opara’s removal, however, said President thanked him for his invaluable services to the nation and wished him well in his future endeavours.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan had in June

2013 approved the re-appointment of Opara as Executive Secretary of NCPC for another term of five years after he had completed his first tenure of five years.

Jonathan had approved his reappointment for a second term of five years in accordance with the NCPC Establishment Act of 2007.

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Controversy over second rescued Chibok girl

C

AMPAIGNERS on Friday questioned a claim by the military that a second Chibok schoolgirl had been rescued.

Former minister, Oby Ezekwesili, in her tweets, asked military authorities to clarify the status of the girl, because her name was not on the list of the missing girls.

She also queried the class of the girl. “If Serah Luka was in JSS1 at time of abduction of OUR #ChibokGirls taking their SSCE from GSS Chibok, why so?,” she tweeted.

Yakubu Nkeki, the head of the Chibok Abducted Girls Parents group also said the military contacted him before an announcement was made on Wednesday about the discovery of the first girl, Amina Ali. “We were able to identify her and then establish her parents,” he told AFP. But there was no call before Nigeria’s army announced late Thursday that a second schoolgirl had been rescued.

She was said to be Serah Luka, who was among 97 women and children rescued earlier that day in the Damboa area of the northeastern state of Borno.

She told troops and civilian vigilantes she was a Christian pastor’s daughter originally from Madagali, in neighbouring Adamawa State, and had been in Chibok to sit her exams.

Nkeki said his records showed only two girls with the surname Luka.

“These are Kauna Luka Yana and Naomi Luka Dzakwa. Among the list of parents we have only four priests and none of them is Luka,” he added.

“Among the girls none of them is from Madagali. They were either from Chibok, Damboa, Askira and Uba (all in Borno State). So I can say... that this girl is not among the abducted Chibok girls.

“We were never contacted by the military for verification of the girl’s identity before the announcement was made.”

A human rights activist in Mubi, Adamawa, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of his work, also said a Serah Luka was not on the list of the missing.

A senior Nigerian military source said it was “beyond reasonable doubt” that the schoolgirl was among the 219 held by the Islamists since the kidnapping on April 14, 2014.

“The military personnel who carried out the rescue operation and the civilian vigilantes who assisted them

and those who know the girl confirmed that she is among those abducted,” he said.

“We can only change our position if the principal of the school or the government of Borno State come out and refute this established identity of the girl.”

Meanwhile, a statement by Sesugh Akume, spokesman

for the BBOG movement on Friday said the group was “excited with the news of yet another rescued Chibok girl.”

“According to Haruna Mutali, a community leader in Chibok, their background checks have revealed that this second returnee, Miss Serah Luka was an SSS 1 learner at GSS Chibok, who

Soji Eze-Fagbemi with Agency Report

tion, adding that the present administration wanted to express its success through the change mantra.

“If change is our slogan, we want to keep collaborating and cooperating with making those progressive changes for the benefit of the people.

“We are trying to educate our children not to suffer the same problem that we suffered; we want to correct their future; we want to guarantee their future.

“I want to assure you that we will work for the better-

ment of this country; I also want to bet with you that this government will work and President Buhari will listen, Tinubu said.

Responding, the NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, said the visit showed that the APC leadership was concerned about the welfare of the citizenry.

Wabba said NLC was open for negotiations on issues that affect the masses.

“The protest is not about fighting government policies but about policy engagement

and the approach to it.

“This message will be communicated to our people and we will get back to you after the NLC National Executive Council meeting,’’ Wabba said.

Also speaking, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State said that government was concerned about the welfare of the people.

“I want to appeal to you that we are not fighting for a different goal but the same goal which is for the good of the people.

“Though the techniques might be different, the purpose is the same; please shelve the strike and let us talk,’’ Aregbesola said.

In a remark, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi, representing Kaduna North, said the president meant well for all the citizens.

“Mr President is worried about this action and has requested and appealed that you should call off this strike for the good of the Nigerian people,’’ he added.

Biola Azeez - Ilorin

them failed as the line was no longer available.

“We are on it to see if we can still establish a link with them. We have taken all necessary steps and linked up

with relevant security operatives to ensure their safety and eventual release,” Buhari said.

The APC in the state appealed to the Inspector Gen-

eral of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, to do everything to secure the release of the party chairman and the secretary from the den of the kidnappers.

was abducted by the insurgents in her home in Madagali.

“Every citizen returned is victory for us all.

“We appeal to the humanity in us to stay positively focused on emerging developments. We wish to advise caution in disseminating information too promptly,

as we appeal that we respect the human dignity of our returnees and their loved ones, as we engage on this topic.

“We commend the gallant Nigerian army, the Civilian JTF, and the other security forces. We are strongly with you, as through great sacrifice you annihilate the insurgents, return our com-

patriots, reclaim our territories, and restore peace and normality, especially in northeast Nigeria,” he said.

The Chibok schoolgirls were abducted on April 14, 2014 by members of Boko Haram.

Amina Ali, one of the schoolgirls, was rescued – or escaped from captivity – on Tuesday.

Tinubu meets labour leaders, appeals for peace THE All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shelve the ongoing nationwide strike over increase in fuel pump price in the country.

Tinubu said this when he led a delegation on a visit to the leadership of the NLC on Friday in Abuja.

He said that it was important for the NLC to call off the ongoing strike and return to the negotiating table.

“I cannot say I was not a part of what is happening today on your side and I cannot say I was not a part of the decision that created this.

“I can only say I noticed the communication gap; I cannot say that you are enemies of progress or the president of this country.

“What I want to say is for you to get back a little bit, even though we are aware of the division; it is just politics and there is always a conflict resolution system.

“Today, we are here to appeal to you, so that we can bring this country to a progressive path.’’

According to him, the ideology of the present administration is about progressive governance that includes the welfare of the people and progress of the nation.

He noted that the progress being made by the present administration depended upon the acceptance of the people.

He said the visit was to assure the NLC that they are not the enemy and would never be the enemy of the present government that is progressive.

“Why should we continue with this same problem? why must we continue to do the same thing over and over again, this is an expired ideology and will not inspire new thing?, he asked.

“So, I am here to appeal to you to understand that whatever you are doing, whatever this government is doing, whatever the President is doing, which involves myself and yourself, is for the good of all.’’

He noted that it was through the effort and support of the NLC that the present administration won the elec-

Kwara APC chairman, secretary kidnapped

THE chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Alhaji Ishola Balogun Fulani and the secretary of the party, Chief Bode Adekanye, were, on Friday, kidnapped at gun point on the Lokoja-Okene Road.

The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, told journalists in Ilorin that the party chiefs were kidnapped at about 10.00 a.m. on their way to Ilorin from Abuja.

“We received a call from the telephone line of the chairman around this time, (10.00 a.m.) telling us of the kidnapping. No ransom was mentioned and all attempts to make further inquiries from

Buhari condoles with Egyptians over plane crash PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Friday condoled with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the people of Egypt on the crash of Flight MS 804, which claimed many lives.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.

It stated that Buhari phoned Al-Sisi on Friday evening to

commiserate with him and Egyptians on Thursday’s EgyptAir jet crash.

“Condoling the Egyptian leader on the loss of 66 lives in the crash, Buhari assured AlSisi and the people of Egypt of the sympathy of all Nigerians as they mourn the passengers and crew of EgyptAir MS804.

“President Buhari told President Al-Sisi that the thoughts and prayers of Nigerians are with the families and friends

of bereaved Egyptians and other nationals who are in sorrow as a result of the tragic air crash’’, the statement said.

The President prayed that God Almighty would comfort all those who lost relatives and friends in the crash and grant eternal rest to the souls of those who died.

The statement also quoted President Al-Sisi as thanking President Buhari for his condolence and sympathy.

Ajimobi appoints Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, 9 Special Advisers OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has approved the appointment of Dr Gbade Ojo and Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin as his Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff respectively.

This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Mr Yomi Layinka, in Ibadan, on Friday.

Ojo, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Ilorin, was Ajimobi’s Special Adviser on Political Matters during the governor’s first term, while Gbadegesin, a neuroscientist, served as Commissioner for Health during the last dispensation.

The statement also announced the appointment

of Mr Seyi Adisa as Principal Private Secretary to the Governor and Mr Segun Abolarinwa as Special Adviser on Security. They held the same positions during the governor’s first term.

Other Special Advisers appointed by the governor

are Mr Niyi Ajao, Information Communication Technology (ICT); Mr. Biyi Oloko, Bureau of Internal Revenue; and Honourable Matthew Oyedokun, Solid Minerals.

The list also included Ms. Folakemi Akinleye, Spe-

cial Adviser, Public-Private Partnership; Mrs. Rose Oyedele, Due Process; Mrs. Tolu Sadipe, Projects; and Mr. Tope Fajana, who is yet to be assigned a portfolio.

Layinka said other appointments will follow in due course.

Labour warns traders, threatens to shut Ekiti down today Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti

THE Nigeria Labour Congress has threatened to shut Ekiti State today to enforce compliance with the nationwide strike embarked upon to protest hike in the fuel price and warned traders who still open their shops for business.

Workers who staged a street protest in Ado Ekiti on Friday also demanded that the Federal Government should explain to Nigerians if subsidy on petrol has been removed

or not.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) chairman in the state, Mr. Raymond Adesanmi, said after the rally that there will be total shutdown of the state on Saturday, saying labour was not divided.

He said: “It seems to some people that labour is divided but that is not true. We are not saying that subsidy should not be removed but that the labour as a stakeholder must be carried along.

“The Federal Government

should explain whether there is still subsidy or not. If the price of fuel was N86.50k per litre and the government said it was subsidising it for N13, if you add that together, it does not amount to N145. We are thinking that the government is deceiving us.”

The NLC which had staged the protest in conjunction with Joint Action Front also warned financial institutions, traders and artisans to stay at home in obedience to the strike action.

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Cultists’ clash in Ibadan 3 killed in 24 hours

By Oluwatoyin Malik

Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha; chairman of the National Convention Screening Committee of The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Emmanuel Aguma and the acting national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, during the screening of delegates for the party’s convention in Port Harcourt, on Friday. PHOTO: NAN

We’re ready for PDP convention —Police Sheriff, Secondus, others screened in P/Harcourt Dapo Falade-Port Harcourt with Agency report

T

HE Rivers State police command has said that it is ready for today’s national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scheduled to hold at Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday that adequate security measures had been taken for a successful exercise.

He said that the command had deployed men at the venue of the convention and other strategic places to protect delegates, lives and property in the state.

Muhammad, who did not disclose the number of personnel deployed, said the police were aware of the magnitude of the event and had prepared for it.

“Adequate measures have been put in place to secure the arena and other places.

But we are appealing for understanding from the public for the inconveniences they may encounter due to such measures,” he said.

The acting national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and his deputy, Prince Uche Secondus, were screened on Friday in spite of the fear that the convention might not hold.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had claimed that there was a federal high court injunction restraining it from monitoring and recognising any election conducted at the convention into the offices of the national chairman, national secretary and national auditor of the party.

INEC, in an open letter to the PDP national chairman, dated 16 May, 2016 and published in the Nigerian Tribune, on Friday, said it had been “served with an order of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, restraining PDP from conducting and the commission from monitor-

ing and/or recognising the conduct of elections by PDP” into the affected offices.

The electoral body, however, said it would monitor elections into the unaffected offices in compliance with the court order.

But Modu Sheriff, a contender for the office of the national chairman, was screened at the state secretariat of the PDP in Port Harcourt on Friday by the screening committee, headed by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Emmanuel Aguma (SAN), with former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, as a member.

Aguma said that the screening was done in line with the constitution of the party and that the exercise was thorough.

The committee also screened others aspiring to the different offices of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC).

Speaking after the screening exercise, Modu Sheriff

gave the assurance that the party would embark on an aggressive reconciliation process after the convention to ensure that every interest group was carried along.

“PDP is the only party that belongs to Nigerians and owned by Nigerians. There is no sole owner of PDP. PDP is for you; PDP is for our brothers in the village; PDP is for the elders in Abuja. PDP is for everybody. Therefore, we will carry everyone along.

“The way forward is for everybody to be united. Anybody that is aggrieved, we will work towards getting our members on one page.

We want a united house. In party politics, it is natural that all views be not the same.

As much as possible, we try to unite all views for everyone to have a sense of belonging,” he said.

Also speaking after he was screened, Secondus described the screening as being in line with the provisions of the constitution of the party.

The venue of the convention

is already wearing a new look following the renovation of major facilities.

NAN also reported that hotels and guest houses have been fully booked till Sunday and Monday in some cases by delegates arriving for the convention.

Delegates from different states have already arrived in Port Harcourt and investigation by NAN showed that some PDP governors arrived on Wednesday to plan for the event.

Personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) have also been deployed to control traffic on major roads in the city and venue of the event.

Meanwhile, the Special Assistant on Social Media and Communication to Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Mr Lere Olayinka, has disclosed that the PDP would resolve its differences.

He also said that the party would soon be repositioned to take over at the federal level in 2019 after today’s convention.

Ijaw group alleges molestation of Gbaramatu indigenes Bola Badmus- Lagos

A group, Coalition of Ijaw Youth Leaders (COIL), has raised fresh concerns over the activities of the military in Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State.

It urged human rights bodies like the United Nations and Campaign for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) as well as influential persons to intervene and bring an end to alleged current abuses and molestation.

COIL made the call on Friday in a statement signed

by Dr Clarkson Raphael, Mr Fred Brisibe and Mr Fred Afoegba, its chairman, secretary and national coordinator, respectively and made available to journalists in Lagos.

“COIL decries the wanton human rights abuse and

gross molestation of innocent and law-abiding indigenes of Gbaramatu Kingdom by the military under the pretext of looking for Niger Delta Avengers,” the

statement said.

The group called on men who “have respect for the sanctity of life” to call the “rampaging” military men to order.

A 23-year-old man, Taiwo Martins, popularly known as Is Taiwo, was on Wednesday night killed by suspected members of the Black Axe Confraternity at the Apete area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

Also, some suspected Eiye cult members, on Thursday night, allegedly shot and killed one Babalola Akeeb and Abiola Adedeji, a.k.a Olori Odo, at Agbaje-Ijokodo junction, in what seemed to be a reprisal.

Is Taiwo, who was said to belong to Eiye Confraternity, was reported to have been pursued to a spot called Akere at Apete, close to a drink joint, and was axed on the head and chest until he was dead.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the attackers shot into the air while leaving the scene, abandoning Is Taiwo’s remains and the axe used to kill him.

The gunshots were said to have caused residents and shop owners in the area to flee in different directions.

As of the time of this report, the shop owners had yet to return for fear of being invited by the police as witnesses to the incident.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the police at the Apete Division were later informed of the incident and the Divisional Police Officer, SP Godwin Mba, led detectives to the scene to remove the victim’s remains, which had been deposited in the mortuary of the state hospital at Yemetu.

In a reprisal on the same night, Eiye cult members reportedly shot and inflicted machete cuts on one Usman, a.k.a.

Campus, said to be an Aye member, before leaving him for the dead.

Although it was learnt that Usman was rushed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, he could not receive care because of the ongoing strike in the hospital.

A source informed Saturday Tribune that Usman’s family had taken him to Lagos State for medical attention.

On Thursday, Akeeb, who was rumoured to be a case of mistaken identity, was shot in the belly, while Adedeji was shot in the chest, given two machete cuts on the head, a source told Saturday Tribune.

The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Sango Division, SP Joyce, reportedly visited the scene after information got to them. Three empty shells and a cutlass were recovered.

Is Taiwo’s father, a retired policeman, reportedly showed up at Apete police station on Thursday and said he had nothing to say on the incident.

The father was reported to have expressed shock to learn that charms were discovered around Is Taiwo’s waist when his body was about to be put in the morgue, saying that he brought his children up in the Christian way.

Meanwhile, Saturday Tribune learnt that policemen in the Apete and Sango divisions had been at alert since the incident occurred to forestall an outbreak of cult clash or reprisals while the remains of Olori Odo were buried in the same area on Friday.

Confirming the activities of the suspected cultists, the state Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, said that police patrol teams had been drafted to the trouble spots to forestall reprisals that might snowball into a high-magnitude violence, while efforts were on to arrest those involved in the criminal acts.

He harped on the need for families to dedicate time for their children’s care, saying that many youth choose wrong friends and toe wrong paths as a result of peer group influence.

Gunmen kill Benue gov’s security aide Johnson Babajide - Makurdi GUNMEN, in the early hours of Friday, killed the Senior Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor on Security Matters, Mr Denen Igbana.

Sources in his community said that the unknown gunmen stormed the deceased’s residence at Mobile Barracks, Adeke, a suburb of Makurdi, at 12.30 a.m. and shot him at close range.

It was gathered that the aide, a retired inspector of police, was rushed to the state’s university teaching hospital

in Makurdi, where he died.

The state governor, Mr Samuel Ortom, who visited his late aide’s residence, early Friday, expressed devastation at the death of the aide whom, he said, he was expecting to receive to deliver the report of an assignment.

Youths lamented the death of Igbana, who, they said, was a political leader in the area and urged the governor to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.

“We are angry over his death because he is the one who led us to the All Progressives

Congress (APC). He was a true leader,” a respondent, Ephrahim Nyamsha, said.

Similarly, a community leader in the area, Mr Thomas Ijir Ayakpam, decried the death of Igbana who he said provided security in the area.

He also called on the governor to, as a matter of urgency, investigate the murder and ensure that the culprits are arrested.

While condoling with the family of the deceased and the community, Governor Ortom said he was personally hit by the death of Igbana, whom

he described as his most “trustworthy aide,” adding that the deceased worked for the success of the state’s amnesty programme, which has received national and international accolades.

Ortom extolled the virtues of his late aide, noting that he has was instrumental in stopping kidnapping in the state.

The governor also visited the hospital where one of Igbana’s sons, who went into shock as a result of his father’s death, was admitted as well as the hospital where the corpse of Igbana was deposited.

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Austerity: Cleric calls for review of salary of politicians Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

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HE Bishop of Diocese of Remo, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Right Reverend (Dr) Olusina Fape, has called on the Federal Government to review the salary structure of politicians in view of the current economic realities confronting the nation.

He said the review must be done from the local, state to the federal, and submitted that political offices should be made less lucrative.

The theme of the Synod is “ What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Fape stated this in his presidential address presented to the Third Session of the Eleventh Synod of the Diocese, held at the St. James’ Anglican Church, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, on Friday.

He described the salary packages of politicians as outrageous and that political offices should be made service-oriented.

“We call for a review of the salary structure of the politicians. Political offices should be made less lucrative. It should be service-oriented. It is our prayer that God will raise a generation of dedicated political office holders who will put the interest of the nation first. Knowing full well that the various positions they hold are to enable them render valuable services for the progress of our country,” he added.

The Bishop appealed to the Federal Government to address the challenge of insecurity, saying the leadership of the country could not afford to aggravate the sufferings of the poor masses.

He also called for the

quick implementation of the 2016 budget so as to add value to the day to day activities of the common man.

Speaking on the issue of war against corruption, Fape pleaded with the agencies of government to expose and bring to justice any Nigerian convicted of

misappropriating government’s fund.

He said: “It is very disheartening to see how much few individuals have misappropriated for their selfish interest. We plead with the necessary agencies of government to ensure that perpetrators of the heinous acts are

JUSTICE Rita Ofili Ajumogobia on Friday sentenced a former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Raymond Omatseye to five years in prison over a N1.5 billion contract scam fraud.

Omatseye was charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 27-count charge bordering on bid rigging and contract splitting.

Chief Godwin Obla (SAN) appeared as lead counsel for the EFCC, while Mr Edoka Oneyeke appeared for the accused.

Delivering her judgement by fiat on Friday, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia found Omatseye guilty of 24 out

Family of slain Ogoni leader sues for peace Dapo Falade - Port Harcourt EXACTLY 22 years after he was murdered along with three other prominent Ogoni leaders, one of the children of the late Chief Albert Badeh has called for peace in the troubled Ogoniland.

Suage Badeh made the call while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, on Friday, noting that the time was ripe to let the whole world know the truth about what was happening in that part of Rivers State, It will be recalled that the late Badeh, a former Secretary to the Rivers State Government and a former state chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), was killed along with Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Theophilus Kobani and Chief Samuel Orage on May 21, 1994, during a meeting at Giokoo, Gokana Local Government.

Twenty-two years after the incident, the younger Badeh, who said the family was yet to recover the remains of their late father, said there was a need to have peace in Ogoniland, instead of the pervading violence.

Ambode commissions Olowogbowo Health Centre in Lagos Island Sylvester Okoruwa - Lagos

Mr Lekan Shonde, the man accused of killing his wife in Egbeda area of Lagos (right) during his first arraignment at the Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court, Oyingbo, Lagos, on Friday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Shonde, alleged wife killer, docked, remanded Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin and Opeyemi Owoaseye - Lagos LEKAN Shonde, the 51-yearold man accused of killing his wife, Ronke Shonde, nee Bewaji, was on Friday docked before an Ebute Meta magistrates’ court.

Lekan who was handcuffed and dressed in khaki

shorts and a black T-shirt, was brought into the courtroom at about 11.44am.

Lekan, who worked in a port in the Apapa area, had allegedly beaten his wife Ronke to death.

Thereafter, he was said to have fled the house, locking their two children with their mother’s lifeless body. He

Former NIMASA DG jailed for 5 years Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin - Lagos

brought to book and the funds recovered should be channelled towards revamping the economy of our nation.”

Bishop Fape commended the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for the giant strides his administration had recorded in the last five years.

Saturday Tribune

of the 27 counts preferred against him.

She, however, discharged and acquitted him of three out of the 27 counts bordering on bid rigging.

Ajumogobia found Omatseye guilty of the offence of awarding contracts above stipulated threshold, and accordingly convicted him on counts 1 to 20,24,25,26, and 27.

She, however, discharged and acquitted him on counts 21, 22 and 23 of the charge.

“In the instant charge, the defendant testified in his evidence in-chief that he was released on administrative bail and asked to come back the following day and in his statement, he responded that his threshold for supply was N2.5 million.”

“Furthermore, his statement was corroborated by Pw2 and Pw3; Pw2 stated in his testimony that in line with the Public Procurement Act, the Chief Executive officer had a threshold of N2.5 million for goods and N5 million for works.

“From the foregoing, I find that the exhibit PD 16 A-Y are all above the threshold and approved limit of the DG; that means, they are all above N2.5 million.

“The testimony of Pw2 and 3 that the approved threshold of the defendant on goods and services was N2.5 million does not only corroborate the statement of the defendant, but totally lends credence to the threshold limit applicable on the defendant as DG of NIMASA,” she said

had reportedly denied killing his wife of eight years, when he was apprehended by the police, while he was hiding in an apartment in Ikeja.

The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital had on Wednesday released an autopsy report which stated that Ronke died from respiratory seizure.

She was also said to have had water in her brain and some bruises on the head.

The charge against Lekan Shonde read: “That you Olalekan Shonde on the 5th day of May 2016, did unlawfully kill one Ronke Shonde, 37, with fist blow.”

Lekan asked for the charge to be read to him again and promptly replied that he did not kill his wife. But his plea was not taken.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Chinalu Nwadione, asked the court to remand the accused in prison due to the sensitive nature of the matter.

Lekan’s counsel, I.B Mohammed, did not oppose the prosecution’s demand.

Consequently, the presiding magistrate, I.A Adelaja, ordered that the case file be forwarded to the Department of Public Prosecution for legal advice.

LAGOS State governor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday commissioned the health centre refurbished by Lagos Island Local Government at Olowogbowo and also commissioned a three-kilometre road that links Savage, Onitonle, George and Olowogbowo streets to the newly refurbished health centre The Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Sola Oworu, who represented the governor, said that the health facility will go a long way to improve the wellbeing of residents of the area medically.

The chairman, Lagos Island, Mr. Adetoyese Olusi told Saturday Tribune that the upgraded health centre cost the council the sum of N8 million while it spent N3.2 million to equip the health centre with state-of-the-art medical facilities. He added that the health centre has a special centre for the treatment of tuberculosis, a consulting centre, three wards made up of six beds each for in-patients.

“Lagos Island Local Government under my command’s cardinal aim is to continue to build infrastructure, encourage community services, donate books and educational kit to students in the council, all these for the communal benefit of residents of my council, so this health facility is a continuation of our commitment in improving the lives of our people,” he added.

NDDC acting MD reassures on project delivery Dapo Falade - Port Harcourt ACTING Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs Ibim Semenitari, has reassured the people of Opobo in Rivers State and other communities in the Niger Delta region of the execution of more projects and programmes in their areas.

She gave the reassurance when members of the ‘Vanguard of Opobo Nation,’ from Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State, paid her a courtesy visit in her office in Port Harcourt on Friday.

Semenitari, in a statement issued by the head, NFC Corporate Affairs, Mr Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, said that the commission recognised the need to bring governance closer to the grass roots where most of the challenges of development existed.

“The commission is payCHANGE OF NAME ing special attention to deI formerly Miss Hammed veloping communities in Aminat Olanike now the Niger Delta to ensure MRS SALAMI AMINAT that they enjoy the benefits OLANIKE. All former documents remain valid. of the oil that is produced TESCOM, Oyo State and in their land,” she said. general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I formerly Miss Fatimo Ajoke Bandele, being the name on my birth certificate, later had Fatimo Alabi on my Primary School Testimonial; Alabi being my father’s name. On my GCE certificate, I was registered as Alabi Ayanbola Fatimo while on my Grade Two Teacher’s Certificate, I am Alabi Bola Fatimo. On my NCE certificate, I am Bola Fatimo Adeosun while on my ACE Certificate, I am Fatimo Bola Adeosun. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as MRS ADEOSUN BOLA FATIMO. All documents bearing these names remain valid. SUBEB and general public take note.

REGULARIZATION OF NAME

I, Yussuf Oluremi Oladunni, my name was written as Rasheed Kemi on Syke Bank. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as YUSUFF OLUREMI OLADUNNI. All former document remain valids. Skye Bank and general public take note.

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Monarch tasks FG on implementing 1976 LG reform Yinka Oladoyinbo - Lokoja

From left, Head, Mass Market Segment, Diamond Bank, Mr Osita Ede; Area Manager, Diamond Bank, Ibadan, Mrs Awodipe Olukemi Olubunmi; Area Manager, Diamond Bank, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Mr Daniel Gbuji; Head, Consumer and Privilege Banking, Diamond Bank, Mrs Aishah Ahmad; State Coordinator, National Lottery Regulatory Council, Mr Fashanmi Omotayo and Mr Akinsoye Olawale of Consumer Protection Council, at the DiamondXtra Season 8 draw held in Ibadan, recently.

2 soldiers feared dead in boat mishap Ebenezer AdurokiyaWarri

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O fewer than two soldiers were feared dead with scores injured in a boat mishap involving military men laying ambush for members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) in the creeks.

Reliable sources who ruled out probable sabotage said the incident occurred on Friday at about 10:00a.m.

The incident, the second in recent times, occurred around the creeks of Egwa 1, near a flow station belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.

As a result, the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield and 3 Battalion, Nigerian Army, Effurun were said to have been thrown into another round of mourning barely three weeks after a similar incident occurred in the area.

Although details about the boat mishap were still sketchy as of the time of filing this report, a senior official in the military, while

confirming the incident, said about 10 troops were on board the military boat.

The troops, according to the official who sought anonymity, were on routine checks of oil installations around Egwa 1 community when their boat suddenly capsized.

Egwa 1 community, it is recalled, was host to the first bombing of oil pipe-

lines early February, an incident NDA later claimed responsibility for.

Saturday Tribune further gathered that the injured in Friday’s boat tragedy were rushed to an undisclosed hospital in Warri where they are receiving treatment.

“We lost two of our soldiers to a boat mishap early

Ondo 2016: APC groups bicker over zoning Hakeem GbadamosiAkure AHEAD of the governorship election in Ondo State, two political groups within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, the Ondo State Fresh Insight Network (OFIN) and Sunshine Crusader, have expressed different opinions over the zoning of the governorship ticket to a particular zone.

While the Sunshine Crusader urges the APC leadership in the state not to zone the governorship ticket, the OFIN backs the zoning of the governorship ticket “in the interest of equity, fairness and natural justice.”

The position of OFIN was contained in a statement

signed by the chairman and secretary, Olumide Akingbade and Peter Adewunmi respectively who said the call for zoning was to cause disaffection within the party ahead of the party’s primary in August.

According to them, those behind anti-zoning are being used by some politicians within the party to achieve their selfish interest, saying the leadership of the party in the state will not be coaxed into jettisoning the spirit of fairness, equity and natural justice.

They said, “No genuine leader that loves Ondo State will stampede the APC for selfish interest and coax the party hierarchy into jettisoning the spirit of fairness, equity and natural

Why Christians must embrace holy life —Cleric Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta

THE Bishop, Remo Methodist Diocese, Right Reverend O. Akinwale, has urged Christians irrespective of denominations to embrace holy and godly lives so as to inherit God’s kingdom.

He said this in his sermon at the 2016 Synod Opening Service of the Diocese of Remo, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), held at St. James’ Anglican Church, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, on Thursday.

The cleric speaking on the theme of the Synod

this morning around Egwa 1 in Warri South West of Delta State. They were patrolling the creeks when the incident happened. Report reaching us says scores were injured,” the senior military officer disclosed.

Meanwhile, JTF spokesperson, Col. Isa Ado, could not be reached by phone as of the time of filing this report.

“What shall I do to inherit eternal life,” noted that many Christians have replaced God in their lives with worldly things.

In the service which had in attendance the cochairman of the African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, Bishop Akinwale, called for genuine repentance among Christians.

He highlighted genuine repentance, deep knowledge of God’s words, passion for God’s kingdom and

righteousness, walking in revelation and godliness as keys to eternal life.

The cleric explained that quite a lot of Christians are religious but not godly, saying that God cannot be deceived.

“Every Christian that worship God in truth and spirit must walk in revelation.

There are lots of Christians who only go to church but are not godly. Let us imbibe the virtue of godliness, so that all our effort on this planet will not be in vain,” he said.

justice.”

OFIN specifically said that the governorship slot should be zoned to the northern senatorial district of the state, noting that the zone has been sidelined in recent times.

“There are two major political offices in Ondo APC today: the party chairman and the minister. The holders of these two positions are currently from the south and yet some faceless groups are clamouring for anti-zoning agenda to protect the interest of their paymasters.

“We started the fourth republic in 1999 with Adefarati (1999-2003) from the north. He spent four years. Agagu followed him (2003-2009) from the south. He spent six years.

Mimiko took over (20092017) from the central.

He’s about rounding off the eighth year. The spirit of fairness, equity and natural justice demand that the north should produce the next governor.

“Perhaps, we should pick our next governor from Ondo town because the Sunshine Crusaders and Honourable Bola Ilori say no to zoning. Their submission and agenda is laughable and condemnable because it was propelled by nothing but selfish interest.”

THE Maigari of Lokoja, HRM Muhammed Makarfi, has said the implementation of the 1976 Dasuki Local Government Reform is a major sloution to the series of crises facing local government administration in the country.

The monarch,who stated this while receiving the newly constituted five-man administrative committee for Lokoja Local Government Area led by the administrator, Lawal Shiru, called on the Federal Government to revisit and implement the reform to bring sanity into the system.

He, however, tasked the Federal Government to sincerely implement the recommendations of the reform, noting that doing otherwise would aggravate the existing problem in the third tier of government.

Makarfi said, “The 1976 Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Reform would have saved local governments from all its present challenges. Though President Muhammadu Buhari then as a military head of state implemented it, it was halfheartedly; such a situation did not bring a complete solution to the LGAs challenges.”

Unilever rewards shareholders with N189.2m dividend Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba - Lagos UNILEVER Nigeria Plc has declared a dividend of N189.2 million upon the unanimous approval of its shareholders at the 91st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company in Lagos.

The dividend payout translates to five kobo per ordinary share as the company, for the year ended 2015, made a profit after tax of N1.2 billion as against N2.4 billion made in 2014, while its revenue increased by 6.2 per cent from N55.7 billion in 2014 to N59.2 billion in 2015.

Addressing shareholders at the AGM, the chairman of the board of directors, Nnaemeka Achebe, said with the declaration of dividend, Unilever has once again demonstrated business resilience under very difficult circumstances.

“Although 2015 was a challenging year for businesses in Nigeria, particularly within the manufacturing sector, Unilever remains committed to delivering returns to its shareholders,” he said.

Honeywell urges youths to be job creators HONEYWELL Flour Mills Plc has advised youths to be more creative by acquiring entrepreneurial skills that will make them self-dependent. With white collar jobs becoming elusive, the company urged them to rediscover themselves by tapping into their creative talents and improving on their inert abilities.

Managing Director, Mr. Lanre Jayeola, who stated this last week at the Honeywell Wheatmeal Cooking Competition held at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Lagos State camp, Iyana Ipaja, noted that every individual has innate skills which when properly harnessed will push them beyond their limitations.

At the occasion attended by top notch of the NYSC, including the state coordinator, Mr. Cyril Akhanemhe, Jayeola reiterated the company’s readiness to continue aligning with any cause to promote entrepreneurship as exemplified in the quantum support it is given the CHANGE OF NAME NYSC and similar other ones. I formerly Mr Salawu Ramoni He urged youths to imbibe the Bisi now MR SALAUDEEN spirit of entrepreneurship as ABDULRAHMON OLABISI. this will reduce the quest for All former documents remain non-existing white collar jobs valid. General public take note. and further reduce poverty.

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Soldiers are destroying our people

—Gbaramatu chief Chief Godspower Gbenekama is the Benemowei of Gbaramatu Kingdom.

He is also the acting secretary-general and official spokesman for the kingdom.

Chief Gbenekama speaks with EBENEZER ADUROKIYA on the activities of Niger Delta Avengers, the military siege to Gbaramatu Kingdom, its effects on the people, among other issues.

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section of Nigerians believes that the Ijaw are aggressive, always clashing with everybody, including the government. What is wrong with the Ijaw of Niger Delta?

There is nothing wrong with the Ijaw, but there is everything wrong with the Nigerian state. In a situation where you are dehumanised or treated inhumanly, you will react. That notion that the Ijaw are troublesome, war-mongers or whatever is not really correct. Ijaw means truth. The Ijaw man’s anger is exposed only when truth is relegated to the background.

The crisis of 2006 or thereabouts was such that could happen anywhere, anyway. Imagine three Ijaw kingdoms that are autonomous, given a local government and then after chairmen and counsellors were elected and sworn in, something happened and the headquarters, which was initially in an Ijaw enclave, Ogbe-Ijoh, was taken to an Itsekiri area. That was the genesis of the Warri crisis. I will not like to open an old wound but the truth is that we were not the aggressors. Our neighbours were the aggressors in that crisis. We were pushed to the wall and we reacted.

A group of people calling themselves the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) recently destroyed oil pipelines in Gbaramatu Kingdom, causing Nigerians to believe that members of that group are Ijaw of that kingdom.

Is it true? Are you one of them? Or are you one of the people recruiting them?

I wish I was the person recruiting them. Then I would have been able to direct my grievances to the appropriate quarters.

I wish Gbaramatu people were really involved to take a collective decision to say we want to protest some things that are happening in the country. We would have been able to direct our grievances to the right quarters. But as it is now, the avengers, or whatever they are called, are dealing with the people of Gbaramatu more than any other persons.

In want sense?

Our economy economic life is down. Chevron is the only IOC that you can see in our area. People may say that they have not done enough but they are the only company that have been able to do one or two things in our area through their corporate social responsibility. You feel their impact in terms of employment and particularly in pipeline surveillance programme.

Chevron employed over 200 youths who guard the pipelines.

If Chevron is shut, all these guys would come back home.

Sincerely, people that are benefiting from that programme are enormous and that is just one programme. So, when they are attacking Chevron, they are attacking the economic life of

Gbaramatu because it is the only thing bringing food to our tables for now. There may be others but Chevron is the most visible one. Attacks on Chevron facilities are worrisome to us, the Gbaramatu people. If people are accusing us of attacking our own socio-economic life, it means that the country will fail.

And all these accusations are coming from fifth columnists who want to paint us in very bad light.

We are not involved. I am not involved. I don’t want to be involved. I cannot be involved. My people are not involved.

We cannot be involved. We have never been involved. The traditional ruler of Gbaramatu has given us a marching order to ensure that these things do not continue in our area.

The Ijaw are known to be strong and defensive of their territory and possessions. Are you saying that it is possible for outsiders to come to Gbaramatu Kingdom and bomb pipelines without your knowledge?

What the Federal Government was not able to do, one young man called Government Ekpemupolo, Tompolo, was able to

do. He brought sanity to the area. But these days, they are kidnapping people. There are sea pirates, oil thieves and many other criminals in the creeks. When this young man was not pursued out of the place, he was law. The people respected him.

The fear of him was everywhere. Miscreants did not tamper with facilities in Gbaramatu, but there are people that are looking for cheap leadership who have been able to arm-twist the Federal Government so that the man does not stay in Gbaramatu. Let me tell you, one of the facilities that were destroyed by these so-called avengers was just about 100 metres from a military security house-boat that was saddled with the responsibility of guarding the pipelines. Am I, a defenceless civilian, the one to stop the arm-bearing avengers? And when these pipelines you are talking of are broken, they say Gbaramatu people are involved, arrest them, kill them, we will deal with them. Are you involving me in the security of the pipelines?

Then I would claim ownership. But you are not involving me and when some things happen, I would risk my life to stop it?

I will rather keep my life and allow those you have assigned to take care of the pipelines. That is the situation now.

Buhari and his government should know that we are in a civil dispensation, not a military regime, where you just go and begin to crush.

Besides, the Niger Delta is like a tsetse fly which perches on the scrotum. If you use hammer to hit the fly, your testes will have a problem.

Are you saying that since the Federal Government is not involving the Ijaw of Gbaramatu in pipeline surveillance contract, you can now arm-twist the government to make them do your bidding by bombing pipelines and creating an unsafe environment?

I don’t think you understand me. There is this local content policy in the country where the people are involved in things done in their area. At least some percentages of the job are given to the local people. But as I speak, in the surveillance contract in NNPC and NGC, the locals are not involved. Those that are involved are arm-twisted to say ‘I will pay you 50 kobo. If you Continues pg30

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

style

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08071080888 anikate92@yahoo.com

with Kate Ani

Welcome to the new style era: Men now making stylish statements with

women’s bags!

Tinuola Ayanniyi tayanniyi@yahoo.com 08055069379

Do-it-yourself:

Bling shoe

What you need

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EN handbags have definitely become popular and the sight of men carrying female handbags has now become socially acceptable. As so many things in men’s fashion, this unusual trend started off with stylish gay men in America and now, straight men are doing the same things.

However, the most popular women’s bag men are now splurging on is the oversized 10,000 Dollars (N2 million) Birkins Hermes tote bag. Big boys are now making a huge statement with these eye catching luxury female bags made popular by the EJ Johnson, the gay son of Basketball Legend, Magic Johnson.

This Italian well crafted leather bag is one of the most expensive female bags in the world. Boxer Champion, Floyd Maywhether, multiple Grammy winners; Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and other super stylish male celebrities are so into this ladies bag game!

In Nigeria, male celebrities like blogger and style influencer, Noble Igwe, Designer, Mai Atafo and On-Air-personality, Denola Grey have been spotted rocking this ladies handbag trend. Guys, would you rock it? Share your views about this trend by sending me a mail to anikate92@yahoo.com

I am obsessed with false eye lashes —Tamar Braxton Tamar Braxton, the sassy younger sister of Grammy Award winning singer, Toni Braxton is a co-host on the Real talk show and a budding singer. The stylish superstar shares her beauty in an interview with In-Touch Magazine.

WHAT makes you feel beautiful?

Confidence! It doesn’t matter what you have on or even if you look like a hot mess, if you feel great, you look great.

How do you take care of your glowing skin?

My skin is very sensitive, so, when I get glammed, afterwards, I rush to take it off. To cut down on acne breakouts, my sister, Toni and I use ice to cool our itchy skin.

Your must have beauty enhancer?

I am obsessed with false eye lashes. Lashes are just as important as your heels.

11 commentary

21 May, 2016

Saturday With

ayinla mukaiba

The Chibok girl conundrum

ayinlamukaiba@yahoo.com

T

OWARDS the last days of this week, precisely on Thursday, a huge national celebration or mis-celebration was promoted on the national dais. On front pages of national newspapers and on national television stations hours after, photograph of our president, Muhammadu Buhari, adorned prime spots in the media. He was holding the daughter of Amina Ali Nkeki, one of the kidnapped Chibok girls said to have been rescued by the Nigerian troops in the notorious Sambisa forest. By his side was the Chief of Staff to the Kaduna State governor, Hajiya Hadiza Bala-Usman, a young man said to be her ‘brother’ and the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima. Nkeki was allegedly rescued with her child, a product of the criminal and ostensibly forced liaison between her and a Boko Haram warlord. Another girl, also identified as a Chibok girl escapee, has been unveiled as recovered by the Nigerian troops.

The Boko Haram kidnap of the Chibok girls has gained notoriety worldwide. Prominent world leaders have sympathized and empathized with Nigeria over this unfortunate tragedy. President Barack Obama’s wife, Mitchel, was one of the sympathizers. For two years now, the world has not stopped wondering about this Nigerian impenetrable gossamer, of a people with collective inability to track or even have a qualm of a monumental calamity as this. How could over 200 young girls be ferreted from a school and trafficked across the border without Nigerian security apparatus having a whiff of it? To governments of saner western democracies who take their works seriously and for whom the lives of their nationals were worth a lot, it was almost inconceivable that they would not have had a glimpse of it.

A lot has been said about this tragedy, ranging from the banal to the laughable. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had contextualized the calamity when he said that Goodluck Jonathan, under whose presidency the kidnap happened, festered the inability to track the terrorists because he did not believe that the kidnap actually happened. For those who had over the years mystified and mythified the Nigerian presidency as a hub of intelligent and hard-working professionals, it was a let-down that the presidency could demur over such a major calamity. That the

Saturday Tribune

presidency, the highest echelon of Nigerian power, was powerless and clueless in the art of gathering information about the kidnap was even more tragic than the tragedy itself. By the time the presidency realized that there was an iota of truth in the kidnap story, the deed had been done and the insurgents had successfully transported a crop of Nigerian tomorrow into their venal sacristy.

Apart from the corruption matrix of the Jonathan government which the All Progressives Congress (APC) successfully wove round its neck and which became its albatross, one other campaign issue which drew a sorry picture of the gross mental and governmental limitations of the government was its laxity that allowed the Chibok invasion and its cluelessness thereafter. Buhari and his minions mounted the rostrum to campaign that once Nigerians voted them into power, the kidnapped girls would be found by its projected governmental understanding and concern for the lives of the people.

However, about a year down the lane of its government, Nigerians have been treated to a circus over the issue of the Chibok girls by the Buhari clique. In terms of efforts, commitment and governmental concern over the fate of the girls, it is frightening and alarming to state that there is no remarkable difference between the Jonathan and Buhari governments. While the former exhibited an admixture of ignorance, naivety and barefaced you-can-all-go-jump-inside-the-lake disposition, the latter, aware of the baggage of its failed braggadocio of promising to retrieve the girls and

having failed woefully almost 12 months after, has been dashing its feet on stubbles and rubbles ever since. Both have exhibited crass lack of understanding and acute naivety of the essence of security and laying store by the life of an average Nigerian.

Apparently to show that it cared for the fates of the girls locked up in God-knows-where, wife of the president, Aishat, on the anniversary of their kidnap, had launched a beauty therapy book whose proceeds she claimed would be dedicated to the welfare of the kidnapped girls wholesale. Attended by the high and mighty, the launch netted a total N55 million which she said she has donated to the girls parents. If you place this side by side the embarrassing weeping at the summon of the Principal of Chibok Girls College

by Jonathan’s wife and the laughable drama that was acted there, leading to the famous or infamous diaris God sound-bite, you would not fail to recognize the difference between the Aishat and Patience presidential spousal interference in their husbands’ actions and inactions at arresting the shame of the loss of the girls.

Now, a return to the Amina Ali Nkeki girl and her colleague said to have been retrieved from the jaws of the terrorists. Inside the narrative juts out tissues of unaligned or unalign-able stories which are being interrogated since government unveiled the story.

The first is, how come the find of the Chibok girls is being unleashed on us in subsequence, just a few days to the first anniversary of the Buhari government, when what can be showcased as concrete nuggets that are worth the while of the votes of the people is far between? How come there are so many disjointed tales woven round this find?

Perhaps worse in the string of wonders about the Nkeki find is how the president was used to legitimize this story. It makes it look like an official imprimatur to inanity with a colouration of propaganda. Good as it is that the find, if true, portrays a glimmer of hope, it is too tokenistic for celebration. The picture of the president holding the product of a forced liaison between Nkeki and the insurgent may even come across as a national underscore and perhaps acceptance of the liaison. If the target is May 29, Nkeki is indeed a poor attempt.

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12

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

with Aunty Yemi 08056834515 ojeleyeoyeyemi@yahoo.com

Are you planning to celebrate children, schools, churches, groups, etc? Contact Aunty Yemi for publication of photographs of Children’s Day activities at affordable prices.

Another Children’s Day is around the corner, we hereby wish all children a happy celebration in advance. You will succeed and live healthily to fulfill your purpose on earth.

Make use of the celebration to appreciate your parents, if only by simply saying “thank you mum and dad for your love and care.”

IN ADVANCE

Happy Children’s Day in advance

Also, have it in mind to have a change of heart on bad behaviours so you can become a better child.

In the course of having fun, be careful so you won’t wound yourself. In addition to this, minimise the intake of sugary things.

Have a fun-filled celebration.

Our plans for Children’s Day, wishes and prayers as Nigeria celebrates another Democracy Day Respondents are students of Kingston College, Sango-Eleyele Road, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Foluso Akinwande, year 7

Temitope Lawal, year 8 I already got my favourite outfit

Happy celebrations in advance to children around the world and my dear country

I plan to go to a fun factory on the Children’s Day with my siblings. I already got my favourite outfit, a pink gown ready for the outing. Aside having fun with my siblings, I would be celebrating the day with orphans with a visit to an orphanage to present them some gifts. I look forward to eating chicken and ice cream.

As Nigeria celebrates another Democracy Day, I pray that before the end of the year, the Chibok girls will return. I also wish this country would become a place which the citizens would not run out of again.

I will be attending a Children’s Day party in church. After that, I will be going to a fun factory with my friends and probably attend my school’s party as we have it in our school calendar. I wish Nigeria more fruitful Democracy Days as well.

friends. Mum, in her usual way, will prepare fried rice with chicken for us by the time we come back from our outing. I wish Nigeria peace in every sector as she celebrates another Democracy Day. I pray that the Boko Haram terror will stop and all of us will be proud of living here.

poem o o n

Pearl Udom, year 8

For the Children’s Day celebration, I have a plan to go and watch a Nigerian singer, Falz’s performance at Ventura. This will be in company of my sisters and friends.

The celebration would not be complete without playing some games and also seeing a movie titled ‘Kungfu Panda 3’ with my

t

The underprivileged will be cared for in this season of celebration for children. I will make such children have same atmosphere of festivity like any other child with parents. By God’s grace, I will present food items and clothing items to them. I would go to Shoprite with my friends to buy food and play ‘Fifa 16’ game. I pray for Nigeria that corruption will be a thing of the past by next Democracy Day.

Darasimi Adeniji, year 7 Mum in her usual way would prepare fried rice with chicken for us

r

Olaoluwa Adeoye, year 8 I pray for Nigeria that corruption will be a thing of the past by next Democracy Day

I thank God another Children’s Day is around the corner. I wish my friends a happy Children’s Day in advance. I will go shopping for new wears and also play games in Shoprite. Besides engaging in these activities, I will be buying some story books for my library to mark the Children’s Day celebration.

Before the next Democracy Day, I wish that all the crises such as fuel price hike, increase in cost of foodstuffs, strike threats by workers and the like would have been resolved. I pray that God would give Nigeria leaders wisdom to tackle every problem facing this country.

a

I will go to Ventura to play a game called ‘Glow hockey going to zoo’ with my siblings and friends. By the time I get tired of that, we will go the cinema to watch movies.

On another ground, I believe that Nigeria could be better than other countries. I therefore beg our leaders to try and make things work in this country as we have in other countries.

Wonuola George, year 8 Before the next Democracy Day, I wish that all the crises would have been settled

C

Tomiwa Fadaka, year 7 I will invite my friends on Children’s Day

On Children’s Day, I will be attending a progarmme organised by the church with some of my friends. The programme is scheduled for 9:00 am. After the service, we will go shopping. May Nigeria celebrate violence-free Democracy Day this year. Happy celebrations in advance to children around the world and my dear country.

Fortune Segun-Israel, year 7 At the cinema, I would make new friends while I watch movie and eat popcorn My plans for the Children’s Day include inviting my friends to my house from where we will go out to have fun at Queen’s Cinema. At the cinema, I would ensure I make new friends while I watch movie and eat popcorn by interacting with new faces. My friends would be staying over in my house on the Children’s Day so we would play some of our old games. While Nigeria is happy to witness another Democracy Day, I wish one of our achievements would be that Nigeria would become producer of goods from where other countries would buy. I also pray that Nigeria would be better in every sector.

13

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune BLESSING EKUM ekumblessing@gmail.com 08116954639

food&drink

For tasty ogbono soup

every time, avoid these mistakes

Ogbono soup doesn’t “draw”

Reason a) The ogbono seed is not fresh •Solution Buy ogbono seeds and mill yourself rather than buying already milled one. This is because the longer milled ogbono stays, especially when it’s not properly stored, the more it would lose mucilaginousness . b) Too much water in the soup •Solution There are different methods of preparing ogbono soup but regardless of the chosen method, if too much water is added to the soup while cooking, it would break its viscosity. c) Seeds with low mucilaginous quality •Solution Some seeds have very low mucilaginous quality and would not “draw” when cooked. To determine this, do a quick “draw” test before purchase. Break the seed and rub the broken sides together. If they produce a viscous sap, then you’ve gotten a fresh, viscous batch. d) Onions •Solution Onions can be added while preparing beef for the soup, but when used as an ingredient in ogbono soup, it has the tendency to reduce its viscosity. e) Covering pot while cooking •Solution When cooking ogbono soup, the pot should be left open or slightly covered once ogbono is added. Covering the pot contributes to the soup losing viscosity.

By Blessing Ekum

O

GBONO is one soup that is loved across many ethnic groups in Nigeria. Its simplicity, time saving and tastiness are few of the factors that make it endearing. It’s also a delight for mothers who want to introduce solids to their toddlers’ diet owing to its mucilaginous quality that makes for easy swallowing.

From the health stand point, ogbono seed has been discovered to be beneficial for weight loss, lowering cholesterol levels and diabetes control.

Ogbono soup is also a very versatile soup that can be prepared in a variety of ways - with vegetables, without vegetables, with palm oil, without palm oil, with okra, without okra and some even enjoy it with egusi. Even the vegetable choices come in varieties.

One could make use of ugwu (flute pumpkin leaves), bitter leaves, uziza, oha, efirin, waterleaves. This soup can be eaten with all kinds of swallow and even rice. It’s no wonder it appeals to many palates.

Despite the allure of this mouth-watering delicacy, many things could go wrong in its preparation. These common errors discourage some from eating it and dissuade others from attempt-

Too much lumps

Too bitter soup

Reason Undissolved ogbono •Solution Ogbono should normally be well dissolved during the cooking process else the result will be a lumpy soup. Depending on your chosen method of preparation, you can use a whisk to mix ogbono with warm water/palm oil/meat stock before cooking.

Reason a) Ogbono seeds or ground ogbono is old or mouldy •Solution Fresh seeds make for tasty ogbono. To ensure that purchased seeds are fresh, do the “draw” test before buying and make sure to store properly to prolong freshness.

Bland taste no matter the ingredients and condiments used Reason Short cooking time •Solution Ogbono soup is one of those soups that taste better the longer it cooks. It takes at least 20 minutes to cook. Cook on low heat till you perceive that unique aroma distinct to ogbono.

b) Bitterleaves are too bitter •Solution Bitterleaves can be added as vegetable for ogbono soup but they can also contribute to a very bitter taste. Ensure that you buy the sweet variety of bitterleaves or you thoroughly squeeze the bitter variety to reduce the bitter taste.

ing to prepare it. However, they can easily be corrected as outlined below. Don’t let petty errors stop you from enjoying this lip-smacking soup.

Ogbono cooking methods 1) Heat some palm oil in a pot, add milled ogbono. Stir until it is well incorporated.

Add warm water and continue to stir. The advantage of this method is that it allows you control the level of consistency.

2) Bring water or meat stock to boil. Mix milled ogbono with some warm water/ pre-heated palmoil to make a thick paste. Add the mixture into the boiling water/meat stock. Stir continuously until ogbono is well incorporated.

Add more water as desired.

Add palm oil.

3) Place water in a pot. Add palm oil and bring to boil.

Add milled ogbono and stir to incorporate. Set on low heat and continue stirring until it thickens.

Ogbono soup always gets burnt Reason a) High heat •Solution Owing to the mucilaginous nature of ogbono, it has the tendency to get burnt easily so cook on low heat to prevent burning. b) Adding crayfish at initial stages •Solution Crayfish has been discovered to speed up burning in soups especially those that are mucilaginous. So, it’s advisable to add it last. When milling ogbono seeds, separate the batch that is milled with crayfish. Save that bit for last.

14

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

With Bosede Ola-Samuel 08112658560 bosedeola_samuel@yahoo.com

intimacy STRICTLY FOR ADULTS

What to do if caught cheating by your spouse

T

HOUGH this should be avoided like a plague, the fact remains that infidelity is real. Some married people do get soaked in the dirty waters of sexual immorality. And when it happens, there should be a way to deal with it. This should never be encouraged, but the truth of the matter is that it is a reality. Some married ones who engage in infidelity get caught in the act undeniably.

Though no one prays for such to be his/ her lot, to discover that one’s husband or

especially one’s wife is cheating on one can be killing. But, I believe that what will happen to the marriage thereafter would be largely determined by what the caught-inthe-act partner does about the discovery.

As I consider this dangerous issue, I remember a song composed and sung by the popular juju musician turned gospel singer, Ebenezer Obey, about such an incident. The message in the song is that if the cheating spouse is the wife, the sane thing to do is to go down on her knees and

passionately plead for forgiveness.

But, if it is the husband that is the culprit, he should try and cover up the deed, and if that fails, he should use bold face. After all, a man can have more than one wife, but a woman is only allowed to have one husband at a go. Oh my God! It is indeed a man’s world. Otherwise, what makes it right for a man to cheat on the wife, while the wife is expected to stay ever faithful to the husband?

But for the sake of love, justice and equity, I strongly believe that the way out for the cheating partner, whether husband or wife, is to show remorse and passionately plead for forgiveness. This will not correct the damage that has been done, but it will at least assuage the offended and hurt partner. It makes it look like it could have been a genuine overbearing temptation for him or her.

Asking for forgiveness also relieves the hurt and pains in the heart of the offended partner. Trying to explain it away or using bold face will only do more damage to the marriage. It may harden the of-

fended partner to take a pound of flesh at the slightest opportunity. After all, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Married couples need to realise that cheating goes beyond the real act of sex.

After all, one may say the organ was just used and not taken away. But it borders on the issue of trust and love. It throws up so many questions in the heart of the offended. One wonders whether one was truly loved in the first instance. The question of loss of physical value and attraction also readily comes to such minds.

Cheating batters the self esteem of the offended. One may feel like a failure in his/ her marital responsibility.

This is why it is always difficult to forgive such an act of cheating. But taking a penitent approach makes it easier to forgive and lessen the burden of the inflicted pain.

Or what do you think? A rejoinder or contribution is most welcome, especially if it is a firsthand experience.

In response to my readers’ request, I have packaged some of my previous articles into a book with the title: ENJOYING GREAT SEXLIFE. You can call me on 08112658560 for the book.

08055001741 (sms only)

conversewithyemisi Can I continue with this relationship?

Dear Yemisi, am 16 years old. I have a boyfriend who is 18 years old and we love each other.

We started our relationship about two months ago and we were doing well until recently. I discovered that my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend who I happened to know is monitoring him.

The impression my guy always gives is that he tells his exgirlfriend that we are just friends and that there is nothing happening between us. I was let into this through one of the girl’s friends.

On hearing this, I called my boyfriend and confronted him with this piece of information at my disposal, all he said was ‘do you want to break up with me?’ But I didn’t say anything.

Please, do you think that he still loves me and should I still continue with this relationship?

Kindly help me on what to do.

Jennifer, 08*7*****7*.

I

Dear Jennifer, I think it will be too early in the day to start to have problems in a relationship that I think will not see the light of the day.

If you met a guy a teenager like you just two months ago and you have noticed a crack without any informant telling you and you had the inkling that his former girlfriend is monitoring your acclaimed boyfriend, then you ought to have known right from day one that you are in the wrong union. If your so called boyfriend could have the

courage to dissuade the alleged ex girlfriend that there is nothing to suggest any serious commitment to you, then, you are nowhere near his girlfriend.

His response to your question was an attack that you should be wary of. He is smarter than you and he has summed it all up that the worst you can do is to call it quits with him. I am of the view that you should not wait till you are embarrassed by the other girl before you tread the honourable path by asking the girl to free you.

Jennifer, the two of you are teenagers who are prone to fall in and out of love. It is not an unusual phenomenon. It is a phase as you grow into adulthood. Even adults are many times caught in this web of wanting to have more than one lover at a time. It is a game that you must learn the rules that govern it.

For you not to feel used and dumped, allow the guy to make up his mind as he makes his choice.

Don’t force yourself on any man. The journey is a long one and you cannot afford to miss it at your age.

Be guided by your ambition to be a pride to your parents and your real self and not allow a non ambitious boy/girl destroy your future. Weigh your options and stick to the best one as you navigate through this phase of your life. If you can stand the embarrassment of name-calling, then hold on to him, but if not, the ball is in your court.

yemiaofolaju@yahoo.com

For Him

Akomolafe, 53, businessman, widower, Ibadan-based, needs a woman or a widow for a relationship. Contact 08037861624.

Gbadebo Adekunle, 43, single father, Christian, from Ogun State, graduate, Lagos-based accounting officer, needs a Christian, working class lady aged between 35 and 40 for a relationship. Call 09034625359.

Femi, 40, businessman, from Lagos State, needs a lady aged 38 to 40 for an affair. Call or text 07066947220.

Emma, 52, Lagos-based working class, needs a working class lady for a relationship. Call 08038836207

For Her Amudalat, 37, single mother, practising Muslim, from Kwara State, Lagos based needs a marriage-bound relationship with a practising Muslim. Call 07063359304.

Woman, 48, business tycoon, based in Ikirun, Osun State, fair-skinned, Christian, needs an educated, businessman, Christian, aged between 50 and 60 for a relationship. Call 09099115266.

Olayemi, 29, from Ondo State, 5.5 feet tall, Christian, needs a God-fearing man aged between 35 and 47 for a relationship. Call 08134746173.

15

21 May, 2016

health&fitness Why you should not hold in faeces?

By Rukayat Odewale

A

RE your stools hard and dry?

Do you have to force and strain during bowel movements? Hard, dry stools that are often small in size can be difficult to eliminate and often indicate a bout of constipation. When one is constipated, he/she may also feel uncomfortably full, even though they haven’t overeaten or haven’t eaten a meal for several hours. Bowel movements are usually a bit painful with a bloated, gassy or general abdominal discomfort with little or no relief.

Speaking with Saturday Tribune, Dr. Oluwaseun Akinyemi of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, sheds light on this discomfiting and potentially life-threatening condition.

Foods that are low in fibre can cause or worsen constipation.

Dairy products such as cheese or milk can cause constipation in some people.

How one can know it’s constipation and not something more serious such as bowel obstruction?

If someone is feeling constipated, there are some drugs you can use, for instance laxatives. The instructions on the drug will indicate that if symptoms persist after three days you should consult your doctor. There are some home remedies that recommend intake of lots of vegetables. This can work because vegetable is very high in fibre. If the home remedies don’t work or the person is still having the symptoms, the best thing is to go and see your physician.Sometimes, in cases of faecal impaction, one may have to visit the doctor who may decide to make use of liquid paraffin to help lubricate and allow the faeces come out.

Frequency of normal bowel movement Bowel movement differs from person to person. Normally, one is expected to have bowel movement at least once in a day. It can range from three times in a week in some people up to 21 times in a month. If you are the type that has bowel movement daily and it happens you are unable to move it for three to four days with no other symptoms, there might not be any problem but sometimes people are distressed psychologically. It is difficult to say there is a normal time to have bowel movement, generally once a day is acceptable; it depends on the individual.

Can this condition be life-threat-

BLESSING EKUM

ekumblessing@gmail.com 08116954639

Symptoms of constipation A person suffering from constipation would experience some symptoms such as reduced bowel movements, swollen abdomen or abdominal pain, discomfort, feeling of lots of gas in the stomach, hard stools.

What constipation really is Constipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is commonly signified by painful defecation. Severe constipation medically known as obstipation (failure to pass stool or gas) and fecal impaction can progress to bowel obstruction and become lifethreatening.

Causes of constipation There are so many causes of constipation. Low fibre diet food is a major cause.

If people eat foods that are low in fibre, they might become constipated because the fibre in our diet helps the bowel move.

Most of all these processed foods or refined foods, processed sugar, juice, packed food products are very low in fibre and the bowel might not move very well. Medical experts also add that other causes of constipation include colon cancers, changes in diet or activities, not drinking enough water, pregnancy, some medications (especially strong pain relieving drugs such as narcotics) and stress. They add that sometimes, constipation can also be a sign of some underlying disease.

Saturday Tribune

Preventing constipation, especially in the elderly Always eat foods that are high in fibre (for instance, vegetables and fruits), drink a lot of water, go to the rest room when you feel the urge, exercise regularly, avoid caffeine because it can be dehydrating.

Treat constipation at home Liquid paraffin and laxatives can be taken at home to treat constipation. Nutritionist, Mrs Kehinde Alaba, recommends that one can add fruits and vegetable to the diet, drink four glasses of water daily, eat high-fibre foods such as cereal to combat constipation.

ening?

Constipation can be serious enough to be life-threatening if the cause is an underlying disease. It can cause bowel obstruction.

For someone that likes to hold in faeces for a very long period of time, water is being

reabsorbed into the body from the faeces.

This would result in the faeces getting stronger and harder which can sometimes cause tear in the anus while trying to force the faeces out. Most times, the tear can become infected and lead to complications.

Foods that cause or worsen constipation Our diet is important and can contribute to contracting certain diseases and conditions. This is also applicable for constipation. Foods that are low in fibre can cause or worsen constipation. Dairy products such as cheese or milk can cause constipation in some people. One needs to keep a food diary to help identify the foods that cause or worsen constipation in them and also avoid such foods.

Traditional treatments for constipation There are no scientific evidences to show that traditional/herbal treatments work, so they are not encouraged.

16 healthandfitness

21 May, 2016

Is too much sugar bad?

Dr. Wale Okediran

I have always loved very sweet things and I add a lot of sugar to my tea. Even though, I am not diabetic, I have been advised to reduce my sugar intake that too much sugar is bad for the body. Kindly let me know why this is so.

Hakeem (by SMS) ‘Too much of everything is bad’ is a well -known dictum in life. For sugar, this is doubly true. Of all the foods consumed today, refined sugar is considered to be one of the most harmful. From the eyes to the liver, kidneys and body muscles, it has

been confirmed that excessive consumption of sugar negatively affects almost every organ in the body. Sugar also makes the blood very thick and sticky, inhibiting much of the blood flow into the minute capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. Therefore, we wind up with diseased gums and starving teeth.

America and England, the two largest sugar consumers, have horrendous dental problems. And even though you may not be diabetic now, you will be far healthier if you can significantly reduce the amount of sugar you consume on a daily basis.

Rashes on my skin Two dark ring-shaped rashes have been on my chest for the past two months. The rashes disappeared after I used the cream I was asked to use by a chemist. However, the rashes came back the moment I stopped using the cream. Kindly let me know what else to do.

Babale (by SMS) The rashes you have described appear to be a common fungal infection called ‘Ringworm’. By nature, fungal infections are very stubborn and need a prolonged period of treatment before they can be adequately treated. In view of this, I will advise that you should continue to apply any antifungal cream for another two weeks even

My baby has a tongue tie My six-month-old baby’s tongue is fixed to the floor of the mouth by a thick muscular tissue. The doctor that examined him said it is a ‘tongue-tie’ which should be left alone.

Although my baby is able to suck the breast and lift his tongue very well when crying, I am still worried if the tongue-tie will not affect his speech in future.

Elizabeth (by SMS) Ankyloglossia, also known as tongue-tie, is a congenital oral anomaly that may decrease mobility of the tongue tip and is caused by an

Dr. Abiodun Adeoye adeoyemoshood@yahoo.com

N

ow that the World Hypertension Day celebration is over, the message should remain with us. I want to use this time to appreciate many of us that checked our blood pressure on that day or that will check today and continue to monitor regularly to promptly report any increase to their doctors for advice. In the last series, we saw the havoc hypertension can cause to brain, kidneys and the eyes. This week we shall concentrate on the effects of hypertension on the heart.

The complication of hypertension on the heart manifests as an entity called hypertensive heart disease, meaning diseases of the heart resulting from complications of the hypertension.

Hypertensive heart disease is the number one cause of death associated with hypertension and is a group of three major disorders, namely hypertensive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, and left ventricular hypertrophy (excessive thickening of heart muscle). Without creating any fear in our heart, not all hypertension results in complication once it is detected on time and blood pressure is well controlled. This is why regular blood pressure check is advocated and when it is high, adherence to hypertension medication is advocated.

What is hypertensive heart failure?

Heart failure does not mean the heart has stopped working or is dead. Rather, it means that the heart’s pumping power is weaker than normal or the heart has become less elastic.

When the heart fails, blood moves through the heart and body less effectively and pressure builds up in the heart chambers.

With this, the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body’s needs. Cardiac chambers respond by stretching in order to hold more blood to pump through the body. This in turn helps in keeping the blood moving, but with time, heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. There is impaired blood flow to the kidneys, which often responds by causing the body to retain fluid (water) and sodium, affecting the legs, arms, ankles, feet, lungs or other vital organs culminating in an entity called congestive heart

waleokediran@yahoo.co.uk

My poor sexual performance I have an issue that is bothering me. When I make love with women, it sometimes lasts for an hour and at some other times, it doesn’t last more than ten minutes.

What could be the problem?

Benson (by SMS) As you might be aware, several factors ranging from emotional, hormonal and neural come into play during a sexual activity. The emotional and physical states of your body as well as your relationship with a woman could go a long way in determining the result of your sexual intercourse with

when the skin rash might have disappeared. In addition, since fungal infections thrive more in a moist condition, you should endeavour to expose your chest to fresh air anytime such an opportunity presents itself so as to hasten the treatment of the rashes.

08056564360, 08072000017 (sms only)

08055069356 (sms only)

Saturday Tribune

unusually short, thick lingual frenulum, a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Although, there is no obvious way to tell in infancy which children with ankyloglossia will have speech difficulties later, the following associated characteristics are common: V-shaped notch at the tip of the tongue, inability to stick out the tongue past the upper gums, inability to touch the roof of the mouth and difficulty moving the tongue from side to side. Since, as you said, your baby can suck and cry well and your doctor has advised that you leave the tongue alone, I will urge you to heed the doctor’s advice and monitor your baby’s progress.

the woman. Since, as you indicate, you can last up to one hour during lovemaking, you should endeavour to utilise the skills that made this possible in your other relationships.

Could this be tuberculosis?

I am a 50-year-old man who has been coughing for the past two months. Although I have been smoking for the past 30 years, this is the first time that I will be coughing. In addition to the cough, I have been losing weight while sweating at night. Even though I put

the sweating to the current hot weather, I am worried in case I have tuberculosis.

Please tell me what to do?

Yemi (by SMS) It is true that a combination of cough, weight loss and night sweat should make one worry about the possibility of a tuberculosis infection.

However, your long history of smoking could also predispose you to other forms of chest affectations apart from tuberculosis. Therefore, in order to confirm whether or not you have tuberculosis, you will need to go for a proper medical examination and investigations. Apart from a chest X-ray, you will also need to do a sputum examination as well as some blood tests in order to confirm the existence or otherwise of tuberculosis.

Hypertension and the heart

failure (fluid in most parts of the body) There are about three major stages of hypertensive heart failure: Stage I: At this stage the person is in heart failure and the blood pressure recorded at the hospital is high and patient gets out heart failure with the available treatment modalities. Once one is compliant with medication and maintains a healthy lifestyle, he or she may not experience another heart failure in the near future.

Stage II: Presents with features of heart failure but the blood pressure recorded at the hospital may be normal or even low, but with the treatment when the heart regains her strength, blood pressure rises up. At this stage though the prognosis is poorer, it is still better than the third stage.

Stage III is the last phase of hypertensive heart failure which is the stage most people in Nigeria, even the elite present at the hospital. At this stage, the heart muscle is so weak and no matter the treatment, it can no longer sustain good pumping function except we replace with a new heart.

I know our God is the custodian of ‘spare parts’ for all the organs in the body, but let us not tempt God by implying faith and neglect our body. Once you are hypertensive use your medication and play your role, then leave the rest to God. I am waiting for the day that our government will pay more attention to cardiovascular diseases like hypertension. Heart failure is worse than HIV and its prognosis is at par with cancer of any part of the body. Let us integrate full management of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases in our National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

What are the symptoms of hypertensive heart failure?

Shortness of breath Swelling in the feet, ankles, or abdomen.

Difficulty in sleeping flat on bed Irregular pulse Nausea and fatigue Greater need to urinate at night.

Are you having any of above, please kindly consult your physician.

ISCHAEMIC HEART DISEASE Hypertension can lead to ischemic heart disease, meaning that the heart muscle is not getting enough blood supply.

Ischemic heart disease is usually the result of atherosclerosis or hardening of coronary arteries (vessels that supply the heart muscle), which impede the blood flow. High blood pressure can make the arterial wall thicken and harden. When arterial wall thickens, the inside of the blood vessels narrows.

Cholesterol and fats are more likely to build up on the wall of damaged arteries, making them even narrower. Blood clots can get trapped in narrow arteries, blocking the flow of blood.

This can progress to heart attack.

SYMPTOMS OF ISCHEAMIC HEART DISEASES Chest pain which may radiate (travel) to the arms, back, neck, or jaw.

Chest pain with nausea, sweating, shortness of breath, and dizziness.

Irregular pulse Fatigue and weakness. Any of these symptoms warrant immediate medical evaluation.

LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY Left ventricular hypertrophy is excessive thickening or enlargement of heart muscle. It may either precede the clinical manifestation of hypertension or may complicate hypertension. Either way, left ventricular hypertrophy is an independent risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. As with any muscle in the body that hypertrophy with exertion, hypertension creates a kind of resistance to pumping function of the heart which in turn results in heart muscle over use, then the heart muscle hypertrophy.

This complication may not be of much concern because there are various drugs now available that can remodel the heart muscle back to near normal if not normal.

In conclusion of this section, hypertension is a silent killer but one of easily preventable cardiovascular disease. Just maintain healthy a lifestyle and be free from hypertension and its associated complications. Till next week maintain a healthy heart.

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21 May, 2016

Divorce

Saturday Tribune

Court & Crime

He denies me access to my child-Ex-wife

‘I didn’t get her calls and text messages cos’ she didn’t know my phone number’

She’s the enemy of my progress —Husband He’s irresponsible, beats me always —Wife

Stories by Ayomide Owonibi-Odekanyin and Oyeyemi Okunlade, with Agency reports

A

47-year-old man, Isiaka Fagbolade, has instituted a divorce suit against his wife, Adenike Lawal, at the customary court sitting in Inalende, Ibadan, Oyo State, praying the court to dissolve the 17-year-marriage between him and his wife, over claims that his wife is an enemy of progress.

The plaintiff claimed that he married his wife as a virgin with the payment of dowry and that the marriage is blessed with four children, who are in the custody of their mother.

According to him, “I want to divorce my wife because she is an enemy of progress. Last year, she requested for an amount of money and I told her that I did not have. That was when she started raining curses on me. My landlord and a neighbour intervened but she refused to listen to them.

“On the fifth day of that week, I bought some goods for sale but unfortunately they were seized by Customs officers. Neighbours came to sympathise with me. Instead of consoling me, my wife told me that I had just started (suffering) even when she saw our first child sympathised with me.

“I borrowed money I used in purchasing the impounded goods from a bank and in order not to default in the agreement I made with the bank, I had to sell my uncompleted build-

ing. After two weeks of the incident, I decided to pack out of the house. But my children visit me and I still take care of their school fees and other needs.

“One day, I had to go to my last child’s school to plead with the school owner to be patient with me, but I got to know from my first born that my wife had enrolled him in a public school. She embarrassed me in the public when she asked me to give her children money for feeding and school fees.

“She’s neither satisfied nor appreciative. I’m tired of her,” he told the court.

When Isiaka was asked by the court whether he reported the case to Adenike’s parents, he said he did on several occasions.

While responding, Adenike, 40, a trader, accepted the plaintiff’s plea to the court, saying, “I want to divorce Isiaka because of several beatings. I don’t have anything to say in his presence.

“We have suffered in this town [Ibadan] for ten years. I cater for the household. I travel to my hometown, Ipetu Ijesha, in Osun State to collect money and foodstuffs from my parents to feed.

“My husband got a contract and he needed capital to start. He could not get money from his parents and I had to go and meet my parents again. They gave me N40,000 and I also sold two of my sewing machines to make up for the amount I got from my parents. He promised to refund the money I lent him by giving me his first six months salary. Not long after he

settled down with his job, I learnt from one of my friends that he had rented a shop for a lady.

He also changed his house and within a week, he spent three to four days before coming back home. He stopped catering for me and the children.

“I got a shop and I pleaded with him to support me financially but he said that he had no money. I reminded him that he had money to refund and he started to exchange words with me. He told me that I’m the one disturbing his life and also wanted to ruin it but my children said that I should leave him. Out of N 40,000 I collected for him from my parents, he paid me only 5, 000,” she told the court.

Adenike, however, pleaded with the court to recover the N 40,000, her sewing machine and also take care of her children.

In his ruling, the president of the court, Mr Ramoni Olafenwa, said: “Having gone through the evidence of the both parties, the court observes that there is no more love between both of them and can longer live as husband and wife. The court hereby pronounces that the 17-year-old marriage between both parties be dissolved.

“On the issue of recovery of machine and the money mentioned by the defendant, the court cannot do anything on it because the case brought before the court is that of dissolution of marriage.

“The plaintiff is ordered to take responsibility for the children on moral, health, financial and education grounds.”

A 32-year-old woman, Patience Samuel, has dragged her ex-husband, Mr Barnabas Bala, to a Mararaba Upper Area Court, Nasarawa State, for allegedly denying her access to their child.

Patience told the court that ever since their marriage was dissolved by the court, Bala had denied her access to meet with their only child.

“The court had granted me the permission to see my child any time I wished to do so and my ex-husband accepted that in the court.

“But to my greatest surprise, any time I call or send him text message, that I want to see my child, he does not reply and all efforts to see my child proved abortive.

“The respondent had repeatedly refused to either pick any calls or reply to my text messages, thereby denying me access to our child,” Patience said.

In his response, Bala told the court that he never denied her access to see their only child.

“The calls or texts messages she claimed she made or sent, I did not see them.

“Besides, she doesn’t have my numbers again, how will it be possible to call or send a text to somebody you don’t have his numbers,” Bala asked.

The presiding officer, Mr Vincent Gwehemba, told both parties that the reason why he was still on this case was because of their child and ordered Bala not deny the plaintiff access to see the child.

“How will you feel if you are asked not to see your mother that gave birth to you, knowing fully well that she is alive, you will feel bad,” Gwehenmba said.

He told both parties to drop their numbers with the court registry, to avoid re-occurrence of what happened previously.

Gwehemba ordered both parties to get each other’s numbers from the court any time they deemed it fit to see their child.

inside

He raped my sister and beats me at will —Wife

He didn’t allow us to attend vigil in the church —Wife I caught her on many occasions going out with different men —Husband See pages 18 & 23

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

courtandcrime

I caught her on many occasions going out with different men —Husband

Dissolve the marriage but help me recover my N66,000 —Wife Stories by Ayomide Owonibi-Odekanyin and Oyeyemi Okunlade, with Agency reports

A

N Omu-Aran Area Court in Kwara State has dissolved the 10-year-old marriage between Olayemi Aremu and his wife, Kemi, on the grounds of desertion, waywardness and extramarital affairs.

Olayemi, who resides at Oko Road in OmuAran, had urged the court to dissolve the marriage, citing desertion, waywardness, extramarital affairs, denial of love and lack of care.

He asked the court to award the custody of the three children of the union to him.

The petitioner told the court that since he married his wife, he had not enjoyed the relationship.

“She is fond of making trouble with me at the slightest provocation.

“I caught my wife on many occasions going out with different men and she failed to heed my advice to desist from extramarital affairs.

“Sincerely speaking, I am tired of this union. I have explored many measures to make her see reason why she needs to keep our marriage and make our children happy but to no avail.

“All I want is the dissolution of the marriage and the custody of the children,” Olayemi told the court.

Kemi, who did not dispute her husband’s allegations and prayer, urged the court to assist her to recover the N66, 000 owed her by Olayemi.

In his ruling, the judge, Mr Abolade Banigbe, said from the arguments of both parties, the marriage had broken down irretrievably.

“I have no other option than to dissolve this union after carefully listening to the arguments of the two sides,” he said.

Abolade asked the parties to file separate suits for the award of the custody of the children and the issue of debt at the appropriate court.

“I cannot give any order now on the issue of the custody of the children and debt claim as such issues attract separate suits at appropriate courts.”

She’s a drunkard, starved me of sex since 2012 —Husband

I refused him sex ’cos I don’t want to get pregnant —Wife The petitioner said that his wife had kept some strange materials like horns, calabash and other fetish items in his wardrobe.

He added that the woman was in the habit of leaving her matrimonial home for up to a month without permission.

“Whenever I questioned her she fights me. She always engages herself in a physical combat even with our son’s teachers when she goes there.

“And she always fights me with knife, cutlass but will quickly rush to the police station to report and get me arrested,” Ige told

A Sharia Court Judge in Basawa, Zaria, Kaduna State has been arraigned before an Upper Sharia Court, for an alleged attempt to rape a married woman.

ther told the court that her husband instigated their landlord to send her out from the rented stop and afterwards, sent her out of the house. Theresa further said she later found a means to rent another shop in Bodija.

“One of my children needed money to write an examination and her father (Augustine) asked her to come and collect it from me, not knowing that it was a ploy by Augustine to know my new shop because up till then, I deliberately kept the location secret from him so that he would not continue to haunt me. My Lord sirs, I am tired of his several threats.”

Teresa explained that she had reported the cases of threats to life and perpetual drunkenness to Augustine’s siblings but one of the brothers once quipped: “You have not seen anything yet, he has just begun (drinking).”

The court observed that the defendant has been absent from the court intentionally and that there was no more love between the couple.

The court, having seen this, ruled that the defendant should take care of the children’s education, health and financial needs.

Man quits marriage hours after wedding

‘I’m sorry, it’s a mistake’

“The court hereby pronounces that the marriage between Mrs Oluwaseyi Ajofoyinbo and Mr Kamoru Ajofoyinbo is dissolved from today, and both parties, henceforth, cease to be husband and wife.

“Both are free to go their separate ways without any hindrances and molestation,” Omilola said.

The petitioner, Oluwaseyi, 33, a food vendor, had sought the dissolution of her seven-year-old marriage because her husband raped her sister in their matrimonial home.

“My husband raped my sister when I left our house for a night. When I returned, my sister told me that my husband who had been making advances toward her succeeded in

raping her.

“When I confronted my husband, he admitted raping my sister but attributed his action to the devil’s handiwork.

“Because of his action, I packed out my belongings, including my children from my matrimonial home,” she said.

The mother of two said that her husband was in the habit of beating her at any slightest provocation.

“My husband is a wife-beater, he started beating me from the first day of our living together,” the petitioner said.

She said that her husband had refused to pay her bride price.

“We were not legally married. He refused to pay my dowry,” Oluwaseyi said.

However, Kamoru accepted the allegation of raping his sister-in-law, claiming that it was a mistake.

“I know I have made some mistakes and I’m sorry,” he said.

The respondent said that his wife used to disturb him with constant prayers.

“Oluwaseyi is a prayer warrior, she always disturbs my sleep at night with her frequent prayers,” he said.

Kamoru said that his wife packed out of their matrimonial home since 2014 and had refused to return.

The accused, Haruna Aliyu, was brought to the court located in GRA Zaria, by the police on a one-count charge of attempt to commit rape.

The prosecutor, Sergeant Ibrahim Hussaini told the court that the accused was apprehended by the police at about 7:00pm. during the week with the woman.

He said that a lawyer, Aminu Adamu-Mohammed of Waff Road Sabongari, reported the case through a phone call to Sabongari Divisional Police Headquarters.

The prosecutor said that the complainant had accused Haruna of luring one Fatima Alhassan, a house wife, to a hotel on Samaru road in Zaria with the intention of committing adultery.

The prosecutor said the offence is punishable under Sections 226 and 116 of the Penal Code Law. The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the offence, and his counsel, Mr M. G. Sadiq requested the court to grant his client bail.

The judge, Mustapha Umar granted the accused bail in the sum of N50, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

He ordered that one of the sureties must be a civil servant on GL 10 or a village head.

Umar adjourned the case till June 6 for further hearing.

Alleged wife battery lands husband in court

words and action.

“When he asked her if her friends were more important than he was, the bride answered that they were.”

The argument became heated and the groom stormed out of the hotel, telling his wife that he wanted a divorce.

Gulf News, which cited Al Watan, reported that a court had referred the case to a reconciliation committee, but the husband insisted on a divorce.

According to a Saudi legal expert, around 50 per cent of divorces involved newlyweds.

Ahmad Al Maabi said: “Misunderstandings, differences in views and the easy approach to marriage without a deep appreciation of the responsibilities are among the major causes for divorce among young people.

“Marriages are bound to fail when there are no robust foundations or trust.”

THE police have arraigned a civil servant, Michael Kwekwe, in a Wuse Zone 2 chief magistrates’ court in Abuja for alleged battery of his wife, Anita.

Kwekwe of Kubwa was arraigned on a two-count charge of assault and hurt contrary to sections 264 and 249 of the Penal Code.

The prosecutor, John Ijagbemi, said Anita reported the case to the Commissioner of Police, FCT, through a petition on May 9.

He said the defendant unlawfully assaulted her by beating her mercilessly to the extent of pulling off her natural hair with his bare hands and she sustained serious injuries.

Anita, of Efab Estate, Lokogoma, Abuja, said her husband assaulted her at 2-2 Kubwa, Abuja.

The magistrate, Mr Teribo Jim, admitted the defendant to bail.

Jim said that the defendant should produce a surety on grade level 12 in the civil service, and adjourned the case till June 28 for hearing.

AN Iyaganku chief magistrates court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, has remanded a 62-year-old pastor, Isaiah Akinojo, in prison custody for allegedly raping his friend’s daughter.

The chief magistrate, Alhaja Modinat Akanni, remanded the accused at Agodi prison pending the advice of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

The plea of the accused, arraigned on a one-count charge of having unlawful carnal knowledge of a minor, was not taken.

Akinojo, according to the charge, is a pastor at Light of life Ministry International Church, Egbeda, Ibadan.

The prosecutor, Inspector Sikiru Ibrahim, said the offence

was committed on May 10 at about 7 p.m. on the church premises.

Ibrahim said: “the offence took place inside the church while Akinojo sent the girl’s junior brother on errand to go and buy something.”

He said that the victim usually returns to the church everyday after school before their father would take them home in the evening.

Ibrahim said the offence contravened Section 218 of the Criminal Code Cap. 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State 2000.

The case was adjourned till July 15, for mention.

Accuses bride of putting SMS ahead of his feeling

A husband divorced his wife hours after their wedding because she was too busy texting her friends to consummate the marriage.

The groom took his Saudi bride back to their hotel room after the ceremony in the city of Jeddah.

But when he tried to get intimate with her, he was pushed away by his wife because she was trying to respond to congratulatory messages from friends on her phone.

She became angry when he asked her to stop.

A relative told Saudi daily Al Watan: ‘The groom tried to get closer with her and more intimate, but he was shocked when she ignored him, not responding to his

the court.

Bola, a 44-year-old businesswoman, however, attributed her refusal to have sex with her husband to her fear of getting pregnant.

“I denied my husband sex since 2012 because of my health condition. I gave birth to our only 10-year-old son through operation and I don’t want to experience such again,” she said. Bola also accused the husband of beating her frequently which was why she frequently left their home.

Sharia Court judge arraigned for attempt to rape married woman

He didn’t allow us to attend church vigil —Wife AFTER several adjournments for possible settlement between Theresa George and her husband, Augustine George, a three-man panel of judges led by Mr Ramoni Lafenwa, of Grade ‘C’ customary court, Inalende, Ibadan,Oyo State, has dissolved their 25-yearold marriage.

The plaintiff, Teresa, a 37-year-old trader who filed a divorce suit against her husband, Augustine George.

Teresa said she got married as a virgin to Augustine about 25 years ago, adding that there was due payment of dowry.

The marriage is also blessed with five children whose ages are between 18 and six years.

“I want to divorce my husband because anytime we want to attend vigil in church, he would not allow me and the children. He gets intoxicated and sometimes sniffs snuffs.” The plaintiff said further that any time Augustine gets drunk, he beats her. “He doesn’t care for his household,” Theresa told the court.

Aside the claims made earlier by Theresa, she fur-

He raped my sister and beats me at will —Wife A 33-year-old businessman, Kamoru Ajofoyinbo, has lost his seven-year-old marriage to his wife, Oluwaseyi, for allegedly raping her sister.

An Igando customary court in Lagos State severed the relationship following allegations of infidelity brought against Ajofoyinbo by his wife, Oluwaseyi.

The court’s president, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, noted that the couple was tired of the marriage, saying “all efforts to reconcile both parties had failed.

“Since both parties have consented to the dissolution of their marriage, this court has no other choice than to dissolve the marriage.

AN Igando customary court in Lagos State has dissolved the 11-year-old marriage between Azeez Ige and his wife, Bola, over alleged sex starvation.

While dissolving the union, the court’s president, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, said in his judgement that the court was convinced the estranged couple was tired of the union, as all efforts to reconcile them had failed.

“Since both parties consented to the dissolution of their marriage, this court has no choice but to dissolve the marriage,” Omilola said.

“The marriage between Azeez Ige and Bola Ige is hereby dissolved from today. Both parties are free to go their separate ways without any hindrances and molestation.”

Ige, a 53-year-old civil servant, had approached the court seeking to dissolve his marriage, on the grounds that the wife starved him of sex since 2012.

“My wife is starving me of sex, whenever I want to make love to her she always fights me and my body is not a stone nor stick.” he said.

He also told the court that his wife was fetish, a drunk, and had once tried to strangle him.

“She held my neck and wanted to kill me but God saved me.” According to him, Bola consumes excessive alcohol and misbehaves as a result.

23

Court remands pastor for alleged rape of friend’s daughter

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

That eatery on Ogudu road

Eko Akete ‘Blind’ pilot’s adventure

21

Weekend Lagos Editor Lanre Adewole m: 0811 695 4637

e: olanreade@yahoo.

Funsho Williams: Fresh vista in an unending controversy LANRE ADEWOLE peeps into the new vista gradually opening in one of Nigeria’s yet-to-be-resolved high-profile murder cases.

JULY 27 will mark the 10th anniversary of the midnight murder of Lagos respected technocrat, high-flying socialite and colourful politician, Engineer Funsho Williams, in his Dolphin Estate home. He was found tied up, stabbed and strangled to death.

After the usual initial rite of security investigation, the killing has settled into the Nigerian pattern of unresolved high-profile murder cases, especially after the last six suspects were freed by a Lagos High Court, Igbosere, presided over by Justice Ebenezer Adebajo, on June 30, 2014.

But one man seems determined not to let the killing remain unresolved like others before it. Ironically, he was the prime suspect in the murder case and the first to be picked up by security agencies hours after the dastardly act went public. Bashir Junaid, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in court to seek damages

for what he terms unjustified oneyear detention. The suit which was filed on September 12, 2014, has controversially suffered many adjournments but the plaintiff appears undeterred. He wants 11 persons and institutions to collectively pay him N5 billion and the Nigerian state to reopen investigations into the killing and prosecute the original culprits.

Those listed as defendants are the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, former IGP, Mr. Sunday Ehindero; Attorney General of the Federation, former Special Adviser on Export Promotion to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs Modupe Sasore; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dr. Muiz Banire SAN, former General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Babatunde Edu; former Commissioner for Information, Mr. Dele Alake and the chairman of

Lagos APC, Chief Henry Oladele Ajomale.

While the government institutions are represented in the suit, Dr. Banire is the only political personality to have filed a defence, asking the court to strike out his name from the action. Despite the summon issued by the first judge that handled the matter, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, others are yet to enter appearances and join issues with Junaid. In Banire’s response, he argued that the trial Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit, because it was not commenced by due process of law. He sought the dismissal of the entire suit for being unmeritorious and in the event of the court holding a different notion, his own name should be struck out for lack of course of action.

Ehindero and the Nigerian state institutions are also seeking same treatment for the suit.

But beyond the N5 billion demand, Junaid’s statement of claim is the most unsettling aspect of his suit, at least for the defendants, Williams’ associates and those desirous of a logical closure to the killing. The uninhibited claims are too expressive, too declaratory and too self-explanatory. Putting such in public domain should worry all stakeholders. But not Junaid.

He is ready to defend his claims anywhere and everywhere. When an interview appointment was sought with him, he only asked for a few hours to consult with his lawyer. He kept his promise of getting back and it was a definite ‘Yes’ because all he had to say was already in public domain. But it appears the spill-it-all Junaid is waiting for the new judge, Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo to commence full hearing on June 21, before the real bombshell would be thrown.

Crimes were imported to Agege; our town used to be peaceful

—Oba Agbedeyi

A visit to Makoko:

Lagos slum on black water Funsho Williams

Bashir Junaid, freed prime suspect

Naza Okoli -Lagos

IGP Arase

I know who killed Funsho Williams —Freed prime suspect M

day morning and I was arrested on Saturday evening by the police from Abuja. They were in my house at about 5:30 in the evening. They were in four buses. They came with several

THERE are several entrance points to the famous floating shanty town of Makoko, close to Yaba, in Lagos. But by far the most rewarding route is the “waterfront” itself. Here, canoes take visitors directly to the village, without the usual interference by members of the community who often look on strangers with mistrust and suspicion.

Residents say in the past they were besieged by visitors who asked them questions and took photographs of them, and showed a lot of concern, without eventually doing anything to improve

Continues on pgs20 & 21

Continues on pg22

LANRE ADEWOLE, AYOMIDE OWONIBI-ODEKANYIN, OPEYEMI OWOASEYE, OLUWAKEMI ADEBAYO and OLUFUNMI ISEOTAN spoke with Bashir Junaid in this revealing chat.

R Bashir Junaid, you were the prime suspect in the murder of Engineer Funsho Williams, can you tell us all that you know from the moment

you were involved up to this moment?

Funsho Williams died on the 27th/ 28th July 2006 and I was arrested on the 29th, on Saturday evening. The man was murdered in his sleep, I think between Thursday and Fri-

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21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

Weekend Lagos Even as of the time he started as special adviser I was with him as PA, then later he became the Commissioner for Special Duties.

We were the ones that even went to Tinubu to see to it that we were given good position in the state because we had the highest number of votes in Mushin Local Government for Tinubu.

Continued from pg19

policemen handling guns. I was taken from there to Zone D police command on Isolo road Mushin, Lagos. From there, I was taken to Zone 2 police command at Onikan. There, I was interrogated by some policemen because they said there was a petition that was written against me. The police officer asked me several questions, they asked me what was my relationship with Muiz Banire, and my relationship with [Senator Bola] Tinubu. He said I was the person that gathered together the killers of Funsho Williams. I said I never knew Funsho Williams and I had no connection with him but they said I was planning to eliminate all PDP gubernatorial aspirants in Lagos. I said I didn’t have such character that I wasn’t the one and that I knew nothing about the death of the man, or how he died.They went on asking about Muiz Banire and about the Team Lagos that Muiz Banire put together, claiming that I knew very much about that squad.

The man was reading from the petition that was written against me.

Somehow, I was able to see the name of the petitioner. That guy was the PA of a former special adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo. That woman lives in my ward in Ilupeju .

She was your neighbour?

Yes, she was my neighbour, because we had an argument earlier in 2003 when she contested for the senatorial seat in Lagos West Senatorial District. She lost that election. I even spoke on television then. I was the secretary to the party (the defunct ACN) in Mushin Local Government. So I was the one that mobilised and did everything for that election so that Senator Afikuyomi [Tokunbo] would emerge. I made a derogatory statement that she lost the election so woefully and lost her will and everything. So I heard later that she said if it remained one second, she would see that she dealt with me and that was why she made that boy to write that petition against me. I saw the petition three times, even after I complained at Alagbon, the woman complained in the presidency and they had to get the IG to query the interrogators and there and then, the IG sent two policemen to Lagos, (I was there in Alagbon again because by that time, I had been transferred to Alagbon) -- to question me on how I got the identity of the petitioner. I said the officers should leave that matter and that I got it because the man was not protective enough of his document.

Who was the IG then?

The IG was Sunday Ehindero Now let’s go back to when you were taken to Mushin.

The man that arrested me asked me, ‘why did you kill that man?’ I said ‘which man?’ I was devastated. He asked again, ‘why did you kill that man?’ To which I replied that I did not know who he was talking about. He replied that he was talking about Funsho Williams. I said I didn’t kill anybody. He asked me where I was on the day of the incident and I told him that I was in my house.

Apart from being the secretary of the ACN in Mushin then, what other job were you doing?

As of that time, I was the chairman of Matori cemetery. The man on that seat asked me if I knew Muiz Banire, I said I didn’t know him.

I said this because I knew this was a very serious matter. Then he asked me what I knew about Team Lagos, FERMA and LASTMA. Then, there was a serious issue between

You are speaking so authoritatively.

Are you saying in black and white that you know the killers of Funsho Williams?

Because of the situation I found myself when I was detained, Banire.....

Funsho Williams

Bashir Junaid, freed prime suspect

IGP Arase

Governor Ambode

I know who killed Funsho Williams —Freed prime suspect

LASTMA and FERMA. They decided they needed to fight all the FERMA officials at that time because FERMA was established

by Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe to complement LASTMA’s activities on Lagos roads.

I believe that it was the consequence of that crisis that led to the death of Funsho Williams because when that fight was becoming very heavy, LASTMA officials were assembled at the Lagos State auditorium. There, [someone] distributed N10, 000 to each of them. It was even posted to their accounts.

He said that they should use it to arm themselves that any FERMA official should be mowed down and thrown into the lagoon.

You have made serious allegations. How did you know about all these since you are not an official of LASTMA? I know everything about the establishment of LASTMA. I know when it was first established. I was the first to be given several forms to give to our boys in Mushin just to pay them back for their services and in my capacity as the secretary, I was first given 28 forms.

You are alleging that it was the crises between FERMA and LASTMA officials that eventually led to the killing of Funsho Williams.

Because it was immediately after the crisis that he was gruesomely murdered.

What was the correlation between telling the LASTMA officials to arm themselves and possibly attack FERMA officials and the gruesome murder of Funsho Williams? And who also set up the killer squad?

They were not staff of the Ministry of Transport. They were just a bunch of hooligans. They were National Union of Road Transport Workers members.

This is a strong allegation you are levelling.

Yes, it is in the open court. All these are in my documents before the court.

This is a strong allegation you are making, though we know it is in the

public domain now. What we are saying is, how can you establish the veracity of this that the Team Lagos was a killer squad. Did they kill anybody that you know about, because we also have to be very careful.

When I was at Alagbon I was asked about these individuals and I told the police to go after them.

Which individuals?

I have mentioned them.

Are you saying that the names are in the suit you filed for damages?

Yes, these individuals are the alleged people and forensic examination should be conducted on them like they did on me. They conducted forensic examinations on us when we were detained. We were lined up with ’Seye Ogunlewe and [Musiliu] Obanikoro at Alagbon and tests were conducted on us.

Are you not trying to shift the focus from yourself to these Team Lagos members?

I am not trying to shift the focus to those people. They are the people that had everything to do with what we are talking about.

Even some of them have just come out of a murder charge, that they killed some people in Mushin there.

So are you saying Team Lagos members were responsible for the killing of Funsho Williams?

Yes, I am saying categorically that Team Lagos members were responsible for the killing of Funsho Williams.

You are saying this authoritatively?

Yes sir.

Then you must have the right evidence. lt is simple. I have evidence that even after the murder they were paid handsomely.

By who?

By the state government, through contract.

Some built houses. They gave them juicy contracts.

Even you were compensated for your party activities. You were given the management of the cemetery.

I was there before Funsho Williams was killed.

Then maybe they were compensated for being loyal party members?

I was compensated because earlier we had a disagreement that I was not fully compensated so they now said that I should manage the cemetery.

Let’s go back to the time after you were taken to Alagbon. What happened then?

I was taken to Zone 2 police command at Onikan. I was interrogated.

Can you remember the name of the leader of the investigative team?

I cannot remember his name. In Alagbon they still confronted me that I actually killed Funsho Williams.

Why would they think that you were the one that killed Funsho Williams?

They said from their petition that I am a mafia (don) and that I must know definitely

I was compensated because earlier we had a disagreement that I was not fully compensated so they now said that I should manage the cemetery.

who killed him. They said that if they tortured me severely I would confess. They said that it was the petition that singled me out as the killer of Funsho Williams.

Would it be correct to say that you had a mafia-like past?

I told the police that they could go to where I lived in Mushin and ask about me. They would know that I am a peace-loving person. I have never had any issue with the police. I have never led any gang or riot in Mushin.

Do you think their allegation against you was political?

It was political. It was that woman that wanted to bring me down and they believed that by the time they tortured me I would be able to speak against [Senator Bola] Tinubu and [Muiz] Banire.

Did you tell the police about all these allegations?

I told the police that they should go and arrest all those people which was why when ... was interrogated at Alagbon he confessed to the existence of Team Lagos.

(Cuts in) You have not answered the question. Are you saying in black and white, authoritatively, that you know those who killed Funsho Williams?

If those alleged in my suit are investigated, they are the killers. I said their blood samples should be merged with the DNA of Funsho Williams. They (the police) would know the killers. They have the blood samples at Alagbon. It is with the police. When it is merged, they will see that these boys are the killers.

Even the leader of that gang was shot dead in Lagos here.

Who was their leader?

It is in the suit.

From Alagbon, you were moved to where?

From Alagbon after the release of Senator Ogunlewe, I was moved to Abuja.

So what happened in Abuja?

In Abuja, we were taken first, to the Force CID. It wasn’t just only me. The police arrested all Funsho Williams’ orderlies.

In the course of interrogation back and forth, what questions were they asking you that you did not answer that kept you for that long, what did the police want to know or the Federal Government, I should say, that you weren’t telling them?

Of course, they were asking me to say something. Even, let me tell you sir, I make bold to say it, through a phone call to someone that we were detained together in Alagbon, they told me to say something.

So from Alagbon, what happened?

You were detained?

I was detained. I was also interrogated and made to write statements. Then after the release of the 14 PDP gubernatorial aspirants, I now called Muiz Banire that I needed a lawyer. While we were on phone, he told me that anything I needed that time he would provide.

You are speaking in riddles, who was the person, because at this point you have made a very weighty allegation, you were ready to mention Team Lagos, maybe because they were people whom you believe will not ruffle your feathers but now you are getting to the point where you don’t want to mention names. Are you saying you knew something that you did not say to the police?

I told the police to first go and get the people that they have mentioned, they said ‘do you know these guys?’ I said well, do the interrogation for them, but Lagos government, that was the antics, had already gone underground to see that no other person was interrogated, that was why I said the security agency bungled that interrogation.

What was your involvement with Muiz Banire?

I was the one that wrote his name on my party letterhead. My party was the one that nominated him. I was the secretary. I shortlisted his name.

So you felt you went to carry some people’s cross for a whole year and now you felt that they didn’t do enough when you returned. So, you are angry that they abandoned you?

I was terribly abandoned.

So you now started campaigning for him at that time?

So this money you are asking for N5 billion, is for abandonment?

But did he say they were a killer squad?

He won’t say that now.

Were the Team Lagos officials carrying arms?

Their arms were well concealed.

For abandonment and the crime I knew nothing about and which they knew something about.

Are you sure of that?

If they don’t know something about it, let them file a reply to my suit.

Knew something about what?

The death of Funsho Williams.

Now, let’s go back to Abuja, when you were there, they would bring you out, ask you the same set of questions and take you back to the cell. You said someone wanted you to say something, if you don’t want to mention names, at least you will tell us what that person wanted you to say, the somebody that called somebody around you, what was the conversation?

He only told me that I should not continue to punish myself; I should open up and have this sum, get myself and my children out of the country.

You were offered money to implicate some people?

In fact, I said if they have anything, let them bring them, let them arrest them.

Who did they want you to implicate?

They wanted me to implicate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, even I wrote a letter to him that he should compensate me, I wrote the name of the person that wanted me to implicate him there, he said he saw that letter.

Why were you the only one taken from the Action Congress? Why was everything zeroed down on you?

The target was that I would suffer if I did not speak the truth. I even sent some people to help me beg the woman and she said I would suffer if I did not say the truth.

What did she expect you to say?

She was expecting me to mention Tinubu and Muiz Banire as the killers, but meanwhile, they already had been accused by the police.

I was asked what was my relationship with Tinubu and why did I conspire to start killing PDP gubernatorial aspirants in Lagos. They also said I was the one who always assembled boys for rallies and campaigns.

If the woman was so determined to take you out of Mushin politics, how pervasive was your influence as a politician since you were just the local party secretary, you were neither the party chairman, mobiliser nor youth leader?

I am bold to say that many party members in Mushin know my quality, they know I don’t flip flop, that I am very straight forward. I was always used as the campaign head.

You also know how to bring in votes?

I know how to bring in votes. I always beat my chest for that.

Were you also involved in a bit of thuggery before it could be zeroed down on you that you committed the crime?

We normally have the highest number of votes in Lagos State and even in Nigeria.

There is no local government that can surpass Mushin Local Government in elections and anybody that must be our party secretary must be a strong individual, must be the people’s man because people hail me wherever I go; even in restaurants.

Continues on pg24

21

Eko Akete

‘Blind’ pilot’s adventure THE gist making the rounds is about a pilot in the employ of one of the airlines in Nigeria who in his attempt to cover up on his health status was caught napping and dealt with.

According to the gist, the pilot, prior to now, had no problem with his sight and therefore more than qualified to take command of any flight.

In line with civil aviation rules and regulations, as a pilot you are expected to undergo routine medical check-up every six months to know if you are still fit to continuing flying.

This was the routine this pilot in question went for when he discovered that he now has problem with his sight.

The new discovery however was said not to have declared him unfit to fly as the problem was said not to be of any threat to flying.

The pilot, however, ran into trouble when he failed to declare the development to the relevant aviation authority.

This insincerity of the pilot was said to have angered the authority which led to the operational licence of the pilot being revoked.

Following his failure to live above board in line with rules and regulations which expect professionals to notify the authority of any discovered and developing health issue, he may not be able to fly again as his licence has now being revoked.

Don’t they say honesty is the best policy?

That eatery on Ogudu road

BEFORE checking into eateries in Lagos, Eko Akete is saying, double-check. Don’t be fooled by fantastic names. Don’t be bought by their so-called pedigree. Open your eyes wide before placing orders. In particular, scan all the scanable with your eyes. You may just be saving yourself a bad time at the menu table, plus an irritable salesgirl.

Half of Lagos eat out. With eateries, restaurants and local bukas springing up in different parts of the state, people have a choice of where they would like to have their meals depending on the size of their pockets.

But if demand is higher than supply, profit becomes the focus and customers’ needs become secondary. It appears that is the case with a popular eatery on Ogudu Road.

It is giving customers “shit” literally and figuratively, to eat and many aren’t complaining.

But a customer did recently and has been telling her story to whoever cares to listen.

“I decided to visit the eatery as I was hungry. I ordered for jollof rice and moi moi (steamed beans pudding). I got the shock of my life when I unwrapped the moi moi and discovered that it was mouldy. I called the attention of the service girl who answered me rudely and said I must have swapped the moi moi because I wanted to give them a bad name. It took the intervention of the manager who apologised profusely, and offered me another plate. Of course I declined,” she said.

Saturday Tribune 21 May, 2016 22 Crimes were imported to Agege; our town used to be peaceful —Oba Agbedeyi

The Alayige of Orile Agege, Oba Ambali Hakeem Agbedeyi, speaks with OLALEKAN OLABULO about his domain.

AGEGE is gradually becoming notorious for crimes and when you mention Agege now, what readily comes to mind is crime. Is this part of the culture of the Agege people?

Agege was not noted for crime in the past.

Crime is never part of our culture. This was a very peaceful land. We did not start Orile Agege with hooliganism, although people commit crimes everywhere. If you described Agege as being notorious for crimes, what would you say about Mushin? Most of the criminals in Agege are those who ran away from Mushin. They are responsible for most of the crimes in Agege. Hardly will you find any Agege indigene taking part in criminal activities. An Agege indigene would first consider their home, family and parents before indulging in any activity but non-indigenes have no reason to consider all these since they know that they can always relocate to another place. Agege is the source for some people. It was ordained by Ifa. What has been the greatest challenge confronting Orile Agege?

We give glory to God that we have no serious challenge. The state government has created a local council development area for us but the only concern for me and residents of Orile Agege is the menace of the Awawa Boys. They move in large number and that makes it difficult for people to tackle them. If all of them should pinch a person, the person may die. They make it impossible for policemen and other security agents to arrest all of them.

Is there anything that your attainment of this throne has robbed you of?

Definitely. My being an oba has prevented me from doing many things. For instance,

before I ascended to the throne, I was a contractor. I used to go here and there to seek contracts. As a contractor, if you don’t hustle, you won’t get a contract. Now, as an oba, I am not expected to be doing any job let alone going about new sites to seek contracts. Apart from my job, royalty has stopped me from attending parties frequently. There is a limit to where I can go. One has to respect himself.

They bring issues and differences to the palace now and we settle them for them.

Farming and hunting were the primary occupations then. Efunmikan was into cocoa, kola nut, bitter cola and palm kernel.

The railway line in Agege at that time was the major market for people from all villages around here. As the market developed, there came the Hausa people. They came in large numbers and many of them even married from among the Yoruba. Because the Hausa at that time could not pronounce Ayoge conveniently, they resorted to calling it ‘Agege.’

That was how the name Agege came into existence.

You said you used to be a contactor before becoming an oba. What kinds of contracts were you exactly into?

I used to be a welder. I was into iron bending and fabrication. Apart from welding jobs, I was doing casting for building contractors. I cannot do those things again.

Can you tell us how the name ‘Agege’ came to be?

The name ‘Agege’ came into existence as a result of the long-standing relationship between the Yoruba and the Hausa people in Orile Agege. They actually mispronounced the name. We are not from Ogun State, or Awori in Ota. We are from Isheri in Lagos State. Efunmikan is the forefather of what is known as Agege today. He was the first person to settle in Orile Agege. He was one of those who came from Ile Ife. Some of them settled in Isheri, some in Iddo and others in Iru. It was at Iru that he met Aromire and Alashe and the three of them moved to Ita Iduganran to settle down. At Ita Iduganran, Efunmikan had the problem of child mortality. His children were always dying and they had to consult the Ifa who revealed to him that he was not destined to settle down in Ita Iduganran. He was advised to look for a new settlement. That was when he came and

settled down here, which was a very thick bush then. Because most of his people were at Ita Iduganran, he was shuttling between this place and Ita Iduganran. He was a very industrious hunter and farmer. He would hunt for animals here and take them to Ita Idunganran to sell. He was very popular with women then. He was also a very good dancer hence, they nicknamed him Ayogesibadi. They used to call this place ‘Abule Ayoge,’ meaning Ayoge village. Anybody that wanted to come here from Ita Idugantan then would say that he or she was going to Ayoge village. Ayogesibadi was shortened to Ayoge.

What then is the relationship between Ayoge and Agege?

How do you prevent clashes among the different ethnic groups in Agege, especially between the Yoruba and the Hausa, considering their large populations?

All the ethnic groups in Agege have leaders. We have the Seriki Hausawa. We have the Seriki Tapa and we have the leader of the Igbo people. Those leaders are usually called upon whenever there are misunderstandings and they always able to resolve them before they grow into big clashes. The leaders are the ones who call their subjects to order to ensure a harmonious co-existence.

What is that major thing that Agege contributes to the economic growth of Lagos State?

As a result of the development that Agege has witnessed over the years, we have been robbed of our major economic contribution.

We used to be noted for farming but all our cocoa, cola nut, palm kernel and other crops have given way to housing estates, banks and other buildings. The only major contribution of Agege to the economy of Lagos now is the tax from individuals and markets.

Inside Makoko, Lagos’ slum on black water Continued from pg19

their condition. Some of these visitors, they claimed, were spies sent by their enemies to steal information from them. All of that is over now, because the people of Makoko have stopped entertaining visitors – except when the visitors are accompanied by one of their own.

Thankfully, there are a number of native canoe-paddlers who are on shore waiting for intending visitors. For a good fee, they can serve both as transporters and as tour guides. One of them, a man who appeared to be in his forties, identified himself as ‘The Boy’, and turned his arm to reveal where the letters were tattooed.

He stood on the edge of the canoe and paddled both sides. It was a smooth journey, though several times the canoe collided with oncoming ones.

Hundreds of houses made of wood and zinc litter the black water. The shantytown is pretty well known, but even people who have visited here more than once often say they find the settlement on water as strange as they did on their first visit.

To the rest of Lagos residents, Makoko is just a story: they have heard of it in the news.

“Don’t you mean those people you see from the Third Mainland Bridge?” Abiodun Samuel, a final-year student at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, who has lived at Bariga all his life, asked.

Reading on water The only functional school in the floating village is Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School, owned by Mr Noah Shemede, a 28-year-old man who has lived in the com-

munity all his life.

“I was born and brought up here,” he told Saturday Tribune. “This is where I have lived all my life. I married here. I have two kids. I know the challenges of education here. My father had 22 children. I am the last of them. But I am the only one that went to school (secondary). That is why I consider education very important. During my own time, people did not know the value of education. My brothers flogged me with a cane. I was forced to go to school, because then I did not know the value of education. But when I got to secondary school, I interacted with people from different ethnic groups, and it was then that I really began to value education.

“I finished secondary school in 2007, and I started this school in 2008. I volunteered to create an opportunity like the one I had for the people of my community. Education here is completely free, even though I have nine members of staff that I pay every month. People often come to appreciate what we do here, and when they learn that it is free education, they often ask how they can be of help, and I always tell them to help by paying my teachers their salaries.

Some may pay one person for two months, and so on and so forth. Sometimes when there is nothing at all, I would convene a parents’ meeting, and through voluntary donations of N200 or N500, we are often able to settle our teachers. This is what I have decided to do for my community; and that is why there is a school here.”

Whanayinna is a one-storey building made of wood. It sits on a small, completely sand-filled, area. Outside the enclosure are canoes of different sizes. Some of them

the media. The structure is still there, but not a single soul was found there on Tuesday, when Saturday Tribune visited.

“Yes, I also own the floating school,” Shemede said. “It is an extension of Whanayinna. It is not functional at the moment, because of the harsh wind. We had a meeting and parents advised me to relocate everybody to the old school, this school, because it is safer here.”

Makoko children in school belong to the pupils. In the morning they paddled them to school; they used thick ropes to tie them to the low wooden fence, where they would remain until school closed at 2 o’clock.

“We now have two school boats,” Shemede said. “They are speedboats. We use them to take our pupils to school and back to their homes. We figured that if people on land can use school bus, we should use boats to achieve the same result.”

But Shemede is perhaps known more for his “floating school” which, a couple of years ago, generated a lot of excitement in

Independent It was learned that all the pupils at Whanayinna live on water, while the teachers live outside. There is little to suggest that members of the community ever felt the need to make friends outside.

“They don’t usually go out,” a teacher at Whanayinna said. “They like it here. And besides, all their friends are here. They go outside mainly to buy foodstuffs; the traders among them go out to buy the things they sell here.”

Indeed, some women were seen with canoes full of wares; moving from house to house. They sold biscuit, detergent, bottled water, food, drinks, fish, and so on.

In spite of the squalor, there is a general atmosphere of contentment all over the village. Very young children could be seen paddling canoes, laughing, and even venturing further into the lagoon to catch fish. It was difficult to think of them as people who needed help, who wanted to be “rescued” or “evacuated”.

A boy of about seven was seen defecating into the black water. He seemed confused when he noticed the many eyes staring at him from the canoe as it gently rolled by. It was another world.

24

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

‘I know who killed Funsho Williams’

have money like those that were being released.

Continued from pg21

Apart from being a party secretary, what else do you do?

I am an electrical engineer.

So you spent eight months in detention in Abuja?

Yes, and spent four months in detention in Lagos. That makes it one year altogether.

Let’s go back to when you were in Abuja, you were flown....

(Cuts in) No, we were driven in buses, we were more than 30. There were also some youths that were detained in Ikorodu in connection with the murder but they were released six months later.

All through this time, what did your party do?

My party leaders in Lagos told me that I should hold on.

Can you mention some of them?

Muiz Banire was my only contact.

You were chained on your way to Abuja?

Yes, we were chained two-two (two persons chained together) to prevent us from running away.

As your lawyer or your party leader?

It was from his chamber that the suit was filed on my behalf. We got judgement that I should be released and even went further to get a contempt of court against the Inspector General of Police and a warrant of apprehension was issued against him. When I came back, Banire did not tell me that he went for that warrant of apprehension, I only got to know through his reply to my suit. He made a mistake. He wanted to attach the judgement that was given that I should be released but instead he attached the warrant of apprehension to the suit.

Can you remember the date you were taken to Abuja?

I can’t remember the date but it was two months after I was detained in Lagos.

When you got to Abuja, where were you detained and what happened?

We got there at night and they said the IG was waiting for us in Area11 at Louis Edet’s House. We were made to stand in the open field, hoping that the IG might come but he did not. We were then taken to the detention centre. You can never know that there is a detention centre there. It is owned by the IG. It is the IG cell because most of us detained were either accused of armed robbery, murder or of being Niger Delta militants.

So, what happened with the IG? Normally, they took people in batch by batch but I was the only one taken to see the IG. There was a man in charge of investigation then, his name is Ali Ahmadu. He was ready to take up the investigation because he said he wanted to be the first that would unravel the killers in a murder case because no high profile murder case had ever been unravelled.

How long did you stay with the police in Abuja?

I stayed for six months.

Where were you detained?

In Area 10 then. It was about two months to the election in May because there was handing over at that time, I was taken to Karishi divisional police headquarters and detained because in that cell they were bringing some other ACN members from all over the South West that were not allowing PDP to win elections. We were moved out for a new set of people to be brought in.

So, how did your interrogation there go?

There was a time I was taken to the Force CID and there were some other AIGs on seat and they shifted the interrogation to Ogunlewe and he (the AIG in charge of the case) asked me that there was a time I told a detainee in the cell that a police officer when I was in Zone 2 said why should it be you that was arrested because a day before Funsho Williams died, he was in Zone 2 with other PDP gubernatorial aspirants. AIG Adeoye wanted to settle the crisis amongst the gubernatorial aspirants to stop the fight at Bariga and Ikorodu because it was becoming a murderous campaign. When one of the aspirants was coming down, a policeman told me Funsho Williams was down the staircase, he (the other aspirant) was threatening Funsho Williams that ‘you will see, I will show you that I am superior to you in this Lagos, you are small.’ Funsho Williams went back upstairs and told the AIG about the threat.

The AIG stood up to call Ogunlewe back to make a statement. The policeman said those

Bashir Junaid, freed prime suspect people were the suspects because Funsho Williams was strangulated when he got home from the police command. It happened during one of the interrogation sessions. I was furious because that was my eighth month in detention.

And you were not taken to court?

I was not taken to court and when I was called I bragged that anytime I got out of detention I would take the police to court, no matter what; that this is not my home and how can the police detain me even if they had evidence against me, let me be taken to court.

I will bring my lawyer. I told them I didn’t mind if I would be locked in Kirikiri maximum prison.

So, what was that implicating statement that you made to that inmate that led to that Ogunlewe matter?

I was buying meat pie for that inmate, I paid for his food.

Where were you getting money from in an underground cell?

Why won’t they give me money? I had to eat. Nobody was being fed. You had to fend for yourself. My family members were giving me money. I was also collecting money from Banire.

Your political associates were also giving you money?

Yes. That was how I started chatting with the inmate that when were they going to release us and that the police should arrest Ogunlewe and others at least they were the PDP that were the cause of it. It was when

We were driven in buses, we were more than 30. There were also some youths that were detained in Ikorodu in connection with the murder but they were released six months later.

we got to Abuja that the police told the guy that if he heard anything from the inmates he should report. We all knew in the cell that anything you told him the police would pick you the next day.

So he was the police informant?

Yes. So everybody kept quiet. Ali Ahmadu, the CP, came to the detention centre himself to pick us up for interrogation. We were already being taken out in the morning and we were detained in the afternoon in an underground cell.

Chained down?

No, we were not chained in the cell because you cannot escape. Dokubo [Asari] was also in the cell. That was the cell in which Baba Fasheun [Fredrick] and Gani Adams were detained before they were taken to Kuje prison.

What happened between you and the informant that brought Ogunlewe into the case?

When I was taken in the evening for interrogation they took him away in the morning.

When Funsho Williams’ SA Media came in, I suspected him. As he came in, I asked what was happening. He said same old story. So they called me. I thought maybe it was because of the court judgement, maybe they wanted to release me because people (inmates) were singing. When I got to the force headquarters to meet the DIG, I saw Ogunlewe and Dacova. Dacova was sweating in his beard, saying that he had nothing with Ogunlewe and that the police should release him. I was also saying that they should release me that how could I be detained for so long. I also boasted that PDP would not win Lagos and that if they liked they should detain me till Jesus Christ would come. Then Ali Ahmadu said I should not worry and that I would be released. He then asked, ‘did Ogunlewe kill Funsho Williams?’ I said I was not there since I wasn’t a member of their party. I was in ACN. Ogunlewe was interrogated and detained. Two days later he was released.

Ogunlewe was detained for making that threat when they were settling issues for them at the police station?

Yes, after that, I was called for interrogation but I refused. I said was it because I didn’t

Who secured the judgement for that order of the court?

Barrister Kunle Adegoke, the lawyer from Banire’s chamber.

So, you were not released even when the order of court was given?

I was not released.

Then, how did you eventually come out if you were not released when the order was given?

I was released the second day immediately after the warrant of apprehension was given on the 17th of May, 2007. The police asked me to get someone to sign for me.

Who signed for you?

Special adviser in Lagos liaison office That means Lagos government was involved?

Fully and I slept in Lagos Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. The second day, Banire sent me some amount of money and the driver in Lagos liaison office, on the orders of the special adviser, took me to the airport and flew me down to Lagos.

Who was caring for your family while you were detained?

It was Muiz Banire.

Why suing your benefactors alongside the Nigerian state then?

Let it be clear to you I am a godsend man, I made Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to still remain relevant in Lagos politics.

In his lifetime, did you ever come across Funsho Williams?

I was in UNCP in Abacha’s regime in the same party with him.

Did you have any interaction with him?

No, I was a very small party man then.

But you knew him from a distance?

We were in his group then, the Network Alliance.

Who will you say he was?

Very gentle and quiet man.

Do you think security agencies bungled the investigation into his killing?

They bungled the investigation severely.

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21 May, 2016

ntertainment Society Gist

News

Saturday Tribune with Joan Omionawele and

jistwtjoan@yahoo.com Twitter:@joanbajojo 08059793705 Newton-Ray Ukwuoma 08052271251

Celebrity Interviews

Controversy as Burna Boy denies baby mama —P27

Concern over ailing Nollywood actor’s health —P28

Foluke Daramola to women:

Give him your body and soul

F

OLLOWING the recent hike in fuel price and the growing pangs of inflation, Yoruba actress, Foluke Daramola-Salako has taken to the social media to advise married men and women on how to tolerate each other.

In a post on Instagram, Foluke wrote: “With the current situation of Nigeria and different happenings, I decided to write this Open Letter To Nigerians.

“How are you? I already know the

answer to that. I know that living in Nigeria and surviving takes the grace of God. I just want us to follow these guidelines for us and our families to live in peace and happiness”.

She continues: “Pray, pray and pray.

Prayer is the key, spend wisely, we all know it’s very difficult to save in these times of petrol at N145, three tomatoes for N200. Buy only what you really need. Avoid conflicts in any form, many people are angry and frustrated and are ready to kill at any little provo-

cation, patience is key, ignore as much as possible, it’s better safe than sorry.

The actress also advised men, saying “Our men, please control your anger, we know how hard it is to meet up on bills and everything, please don’t take it down on your wife and family, let your home be a place of refuge, not a war zone. Don’t worry, we will all smile again.

Further admonishing her fellow femalefolk, she wrote: “Women! women! women! How many times did I call you?

Control your mouth! This is not the time to start complaining, and nagging your husband, you too do something for your family, give him your body and soul, don’t complain of being tired oh!

Be a good mother to your children, and let your family time be fun”.

“Our health is very important, especially in this very hot weather, let’s eat healthy too, do things that are fun for you, to take your mind off stress. May God help us to make our lives better.”

26 entertainment Ailing veteran actor battles liver failure, in need of surgery

21 May, 2016

Shina Peller takes 40th birthday to school for the blind

L NOLLYWOOD actor, Martins Njubigbo, also known as Papa Labista, is in the throes of a life-threatening condition as a result of his liver failure.

According to reports, the elderly actor, who is prominent in roles such as chief priest, king and elder-in-council, has been bedridden since his liver complications and will require an immediate surgery to save his life.

The picture of thespian emerged on social media platforms during the week showing an emaciated figure and protruded belly of Papa Labista, indicating an advanced stage of the liver failure.

Nollywood actor, Ernest Obi, who first posted the image of the veteran actor, says he needs about N1million for treatment.

Liver failure occurs when large parts of the liver become damaged beyond repair and the liver is no longer able to function.

Medical experts say liver failure may occur gradually over many years and in rare conditions occurs rapidly in as little as 48 hours and can be difficult to detect initially.

Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, long-term alcohol consumption, cirrhosis, hemochromatosis and malnutrition have been identified as the causes of liver failure.

Late symptoms of a complicated liver failure include jaundice, profuse bleeding, swollen abdomen, mental disorientation or confusion, sleepiness, coma and death.

AST week, Lagos stood still as the King of Night life, Shina Peller celebrated his 40th birthday in grand style. It was an elaborate series of events that began on the 12th of May with a novelty soccer match at Meadow Hall, Lekki. The match was between the above 40s and the below 40s. In attendance were a host of celebrities, including: Freeze, Basketmouth, Alibaba, DJ Jimmy Jatt, Olu Maintain, Do2tun, Bovi, Tekno, Sound Sultan, Anuel, Tilla, Banky W, Que Peller, Base One, Ay and Sexy Steel. The above 40s team won the match 6-3.

On Friday, events started as early as 7am with the philanthropic celebrant giving back to the society, as he donated Huwaei tablets with pre-installed educational syllabus and solar bags

at Kuramo Senior Secondary School and Victoria Island Secondary School.

Sir Shina Peller also appreciated the effort of some selected staff of the schools and gave them tablets to encourage them. He went further by giving university scholarships to six best students, three from each school.

After that, the celebrant visited the Pachielli School for the blind. He donated

cash and educational materials to support the children and also pledged to sponsor two pupils through school.

He went further to visit the motherless babies home in Lekki, which is also a yearly tradition.

Sir Shina Peller who is a prominent Remy Martin influencer was hosted by the said brand on Friday evening to a cocktail party at the Remy Martin XO lounge with a few people.

Saturday Tribune

‘Breathless’ movie premiere date set for July 1 THE director of Black Sillhuoete, Charles Uwagbai, is set to premiere another blockbuster movie titled ‘Breathless’ on July.

The movie features multiple award-winning actor, Mike Ezuruonye, BBA winner, Uti Nwachukwu and veteran Bimbo Manuel, Brycee Bassey, Bobby Michaels and John Njamah.

Shot at a location in the upscale Lekki area of Lagos, ‘Breathless’ weaves a lust triangle into an unresolved murder in a plot sequence searched with intrigues and suspense.

Uti Nwachukwu just got nomination for The Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in ‘Breathless’, while Mike Ezuronye was nominated for the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) as Best Actor in a Drama (TV/Series) also for his role in ‘Breathless.’

The movie will debut in cinemas on 1 July.

Samsung collaborates with Rele Gallery in food art exhibition

From left, Ms. Olajumoke Okikiolu, Head, Product Marketing, Information Technology and Mobile, Samsung Electronics West Africa; Chef Ozoz Sokoh; Mr. Emmanouil Revmatas, Director, Information Technology and Mobile, Samsung Electronics West Africa; Chefs Tiyan Alile and Dunni Obata, at a private viewing to start off the Samsung and Rele Gallery’s #TechMeetsArtNG initiative “What’s Cooking”, a Culinary Art and Photography Exhibition, at the Rele Gallery, Onikan, during the week.

SAMSUNG Electronics West Africa and contemporary art space, Rele Gallery have collaborated to present an unprecedented culinary art and photography exhibition as well as online competition, with the theme ‘What’s Cooking?’

The exhibition featured the works of two prominent photographers, Kelechi Amadi-Obi and Ade Asiko Okelarin, who drew inspiration from Nigerian cuisine created by three leading chefs, Tiyan Alile, Ozoz

Sokoh (Kitchen Butterfly) and Dunni Obata (Dooney’s Kitchen). The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Smartphone was used to capture the photographs showcased at the exhibition.

The exhibition was preceded by an online culinary art contest which attracted over 300 entries from across the country and produced three winners who were announced at a private viewing event to mark the beginning of the four-week exhibition at the gallery in

MultiChoice bags LCCI award LEADING video entertainment company, MultiChoice Nigeria, has won the Award for Excellence in ay TV services at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) awards held on Saturday, 14 May 2016 in Lagos.

The LCCI awards recognise, promote and celebrate private and public institutions operating in Nigeria for best business practices, growth through innovation, business sustainability as well as positive impact on people and the society.

Receiving the award, Hasiya Abdu, representative of the managing direc-

tor, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe thanked the chamber for the recognition.

She said MultiChoice Nigeria remains committed to providing excellent services to its subscribers. “We remain committed in providing quality pay-TV service to our subscribers and will continue to bring innovative technology to the business of pay-TV in Nigeria,” she remarked.

She also reinforced MultiChoice’s resolve to continue to partner with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Dr. Nike Akande, president of the

Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in her opening remarks, said the awards recognised corporate organisations and institutions that have contributed to the development of the country’s economy. She noted that the chamber promotes healthy competition as competition promotes value creation.

Having been launched in 1888, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the first and the largest chamber of commerce in Nigeria with membership strength of over 1, 500 institutions spread across all sectors and sub-sectors of the economy.

Lagos.

According to the organisers of the competition, the food art competition engaged talented Nigerians from all over the country trying their hands at culinary artistry by creating an original work of art using real food in line with the exhibition theme.

Entries were uploaded by participants on www.techmeetsart.ng, who also stated what inspired their food art.

All entries were judged by a reputable panel of chefs and photographers based on published guidelines.

Mr. Paul Lee, Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, speaking at the event which took place at Rele Gallery, Onikan, Lagos, said that ‘‘Technology and art have had an unfamiliar relationship over the years with many people wondering what the nature of this relationship is. Art and technology derive strength and inspiration from one another. Hosting a competition among chefs is logical as cooking is also a form of art.

GOtv introduces two new comedy series to bouquet ONE of Nigeria’s topmost digital terrestrial paid channel outfits, GOtv has introduced two new drama series onto its bouquet. The two series, namely ‘If Only I Was You’ and ‘Love, Look What You Made Me Do,’ will debut on popular channel, Zee World, Channel 25 this month.

‘If Only I Was You’ will be premiered on Monday 23 May in the afternoon, while ‘Love, Look What You Made Me Do!’ is being screened on the paid channel.

‘If Only I Was You’ is a humorous, romantic story, while ‘Love, Look What You Made Me Do’ presents true love stories and happy endings. It’s been screened on Zee World, channel 166 on DStv and channel 25 on GOtv.

27 entertainment

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Ex-Beauty Queen, Tomi Salami , brings Six Internationa l Queens for needy kids

Controversy as Burna Boy denies baby mama Stories by Joan Omionawele and Newton-Ray Ukwuoma

I

T’S another baby mama season and Nigerian celebrities are surely partakers.

Popular musician, Burna Boy was fingered by a certain Uju Stella as the father of her unborn child.

The musician who released a video on snapchat replied the said lady, saying “‘fu**ked that girl once and now she’s claiming that she’s pregnant’.

The lady further made accusations that her life has been under threats as she shared a photo of her door and said “he broke

Courage, emotions ‘n’ excitement on The Voice Nigeria!

IN what is already turning out to be one of the most exciting competitions on African television, viewers were once again treated to a spectacular blend of entertainment, courage, passion and incredible talent as aspiring singers thrilled coaches and fans alike in episode six of The Voice Nigeria, sponsored by Airtel in association with Coca Cola.

Sunday’s episode saw #TeamTubaba win over the silky voiced contestant, Obed Ogbonna and the petite songstress Precious. #TeamWaje continued her impressive streak as she won over male vocalists Promise and Uche Michael, while #TeamPatoranking scored with Benjamin and #TeamTimi successfully wooed Kofo.

Highlights of the show included the perfor-

mance by visually impaired Adim, who inspired a rousing applause from the audience for his courage, and opera singer Amanda who could not garner support from the coaches despite a sterling performance.

At the end of the episode, the teams were neck deep in competition with #Teamwaje leading the pack with 11 talents. #TeamTubaba, #TeamPatoranking and #TeamTimi each has 10 talents in Africa’s most exciting television show.

You can also download The Voice Nigeria app on the Apple and Android app stores and get updated on backstage photos, news and highlights from Africa’s biggest show.

through it and that she was going to the police to report”.

It will be recalled that Burna Boy was accused by

his producer for releasing a song without paying for the rights of the song fully, an allegation which the singer also denied.

EX-MISS Tourism Nigeria and finalist, Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2012, Tomi Lydia Salami, has concluded plans to host six beauty queens from different parts of the world as part of her effort for the education intervention for 5,000 needy kids in Nigeria.

Salami, CEO, Aurora International (a beauty, events & lifestyle brand), is hosting the queens from the USA, Canada, South Africa, India, Botswana and Puerto Rico, who are also passionate about touching lives.

While in Nigeria, the queens are expected to help galvanise support for Salami’s pet project, Kits for Kids (K4K) and serve as goodwill ambassadors.

“We are set to stage a massive education intervention like never before for thousands of impoverished kids in Nigeria with special support appearances by these six celebrities and international beauty

queens who are also passionate about touching lives,” said Salami.

According to her, since 2013 when she took her passion for helping the underprivileged a notch higher, through her Aurora Foundation, she has quietly been impacting thousands of lives of impoverished kids across Nigeria.

This year between May 23 and 26, she would be giving out brand new schoolbags, sandals, stockings, exercise books, stationery, lunch bowls, toothbrushes, water bottles and many more to needy kids in public schools in Kwara State.

“In the last three editions, we have impacted over 3000 kids in Kwara, Lagos and Ogun states. But we are returning to Kwara State this year because we are getting support from the state government to make the donation a lot bigger,” she said.

100 years: The movie you will never see, to be released in 2115

LOUIS XIII Cognac, one of the most luxurious spirits in the world, has announced an original film, starring actor John Malkovich, which envisions Earth one hundred years from now and will not be released until 2115.

The unique movie, which was directed by Robert Rodriguez has been titled “100 Years”, the movie you will never see, was inspired by the century of careful craftsmanship and patience it takes to create each decanter of Louis XIII Cognac.

To ensure that “100 Years” remains secure until its official premiere on November 18, 2115, one century from now, the film has placed in a state-of-the-art safe which will open automatically in 100 years when the timing is complete. One thousand guests from around the world received an exclusive invitation to give to their descendants to attend the premiere of “100 Years”, on November 18, 2115, at the House of Louis XIII in Cognac, France.

“Louis Xiii is a true testament to the mastery of time, and we sought to create a proactive piece of art that explores the dynamic relationship of the past, the present, and the future,” said Ludovic du Plessis, Global Executive Director for Louis XIII Cognac. “Four generations of cellar masters put a lifetime of passion into a bottle of Louis XIII,

yet they will never taste the resulting masterpiece. We are thrilled that this talented actor and creative filmmaker were inspired to join us on this artistic endeavor.”

While this ground-breaking film will not be released until 2115, three teasers have been produced that explore hypothetical visions of what Earth might be like in one hundred years. Each teaser begins with the same dialogue and incorporates the actors, but each pres-

ents a different future. One imagines the Earth one hundred years from now overtaken by nature. Another imagines a world ruled by technology, after extraterrestrial exploration when Earth becomes ultra-urbanized and technologically advanced. And the third teaser imagines that humanoid robots have taken control of the earth and humans have to run to escape. They engage viewers to question which vision is closest to tomorrow’s reality.

Nostrova honours Ruggedman, Jo-El, others POPULAR hangout, Nostrova recently honoured top Nigerian artistes, namely Ruggedman, indigenous rapper, Seriki, Rayce and Kennis Music’s songster, Joe El among other hiphop acts for their involvement in the growth of the entertainment industry.

The chief operating officer (COO) of the wine bar, Mr. Emeka Williams, popularly known as ‘Emwill’ said, “we at Nostrovia appreciate the importance of music in the hospitality business which is one of the major reasons we dedicated Friday night to celebrate and appreciates our artists for the tremendous contribution to the entertainment industry growth.”

Speaking further, he added that the hangout has invested heavily in latest musical and culinary equipment

as well as experienced staff. “We are poised to make fun lovers within and around the axis to feel comfortable without travelling far from their locality and another reason we bring aspiring music star closer to our customers,” Emwill added.

Nostrovia wine bar which commenced operations few months ago and has been giving major clubs, hangout, lounge around its environs a run for their money as its standard of operations is top notch. The hangout, situated at Eniola Davies, Charity, Abule-Egba area of Lagos is now a place where the crème de la creme of Nigeria’s high society within Fagba, Abule-Egba and its environs choose to unwind and have the best of the good times.

28

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

with Tunde Ayanda ayandaayotunde@yahoo.com 08034649018

Hassan Fatungase soars with Beij Inn ONE of the first set of Nigerians to become managers at the prestigious Hilton Hotels in the 80s, Hassan Fatungase, is at it again.

The Director at the Hospitality Industry Consultant is putting into contest the new Beij Inn and Suites in Lagos to compete with other prominent hospitality centres all over the world.

The Beij Inn located inside the Ogudu, GRA, Lagos is world class boasting of different equipment and facilities that set the standard in the hospitality business.

Fatungase said that his HIC company was counting on the experience of its staffers, the facilities, esoteric architectural design, connection and the location of the Beij Inn to draw patrons from people who understand high taste and good life. This has come to pass with the Beij Inn experiencing a rare patronage within weeks of its operation.

Double joy for Segun Adewale ITS a season of joy for politician, socialite and the Chief Executive Officer of Aeroland, Segun Adewale.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, who contested but lost the Senatorial election of Lagos West, clocked 50 years a few days ago and on the heels of this milestone came the graduation of his son, Tosin, who made a First Class in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University in the United States of America.

It was celebration time for father and son as they both had dinner in a choice restaurant with family members in attendance.

Friends of the Aeroland boss are said to be planning a big party to celebrate him on his return from the United States.

Segun Adewale is a man of many parts, a philanthropist, a patron to many community projects.

Wedding tale hovers round Vivienne Chiologi

T

HE wedding bell is tolling and the sound is being traced to Vivienne Chiologi, the boss of Pride and Joy. The woman of style has been on the social scene for a long time and now, she is set to walk down the aisle with the man of her dream.

According to those in the know, the high octane ceremony, which is tagged ‘strictly for our friends’ will take place at the Mayfair Library, London, United Kingdom.

The lady, who for many years botcotted party scenes only to return last year, has had her fair share of romance before her final decision to sign the dotted lines.

Vivienne’s groom-to-be is John Shittu, a top football agent and Manager of Nigerian Chelsea FC player, Mikel Obi.

Funmi Banire walks for life FUNMI, the wife of a former Lagos Commissioner and National Legal Adviser to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muiz, Banire, is showing to the world her concern for humanity with the recent staging of the sixth edition of her Walk For Life awareness campaign.

The campaign is aimed at sensitising the people about the causes and prevention of stillbirth among pregnant women.

The programme, which was put together by an NGO, Rhesus Solution, saw a number of friends of the convener walking some major streets of Lagos.

The programme, which started six years ago, improves every year with different plans and ideas that touch the lives of the people.

Gov Ikpeazu, Ben Bruce, others for Dressmeoutlet’s ‘Cocktails N Dresses’ THE high society is getting set for what is known as the largest fashion sales and exhibition in Africa, a Made-In-Africa event tagged: Cocktails N Dresses, which is set to hold tomorrow at the Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The exquisite show, which is put together by the Chief Executive Officer of Dressmeoutlet.com, Torera Oniru, is an event where new products are launched and quality, luxury fashion, beauty brands and retailers gather to showcase products and services to the African market.

The bi-annual event will feature many high-ranking guests from various industries, who support the manufacturing and retail industries with the likes of the Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, Senator Ben Bruce,Mrs Lola Akande, Abimbola Ashiru and a lot of other prominent people on the guests list.

To highlight the exhibition, the Governor Ikpeazu would present awards to top manufacturers while the Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce, Lola Akande

will give an address on the importance of supporting the Made-In-Africa movement and women entrepreneurs.

29

21 May, 2016

outofthisworld

Saturday Tribune With femi osinusi

osfem2@yahoo.com 08055069292

They won millions in jackpots, lotteries, but ended up in misery

I

t is always a wonder why some people who win millions in jackpots and lotteries don’t use their winnings well. The truth of the issue is that probably, the money one does not work for will not stay long in one’s pocket.

It is however not in all cases that people who won lotteries and jackpots don’t spend the winnings well, there are instances where some actually end up living good for the rest of their lives from these winnings, but it seems many who won end up in misery because a few years after the winnings, they have nothing to show for them.

Below are some people in history who won millions in lotteries and jackpots and wasted the whole money as reported by oddee.com.

She spent all her millions on clothes, parties and breast enlargement Callie Rogers, a Briton, was once the world’s luckiest teenager. At the age of 16 in 2003, Rogers won £1.9 million lottery. Now it’s all gone. The ecstatic girl spent her winnings on vacations, homes, shopping, friends, and even a couple of breast improvements. Six years and two attempts of suicide later, Rogers is a 22-year-old single mother of two. She now works as a maid to sustain herself and her family. She is also paying debt induced by her spending.

The man won $20m, spent heavily on friends and killed by angry sister-in-law Think your in-laws are a pain in your life? Consider the case of Jeffrey Dampier who won $20 million in the Illinois Lottery, United States, in 1986. Upon receiving his prize, he immediately began showering friends and family with expensive gifts, including cars, houses and trips to exotic places. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for Dampier’s sister-in-law, Victoria Jackson. On the night of July 26, 2005, Jackson and her boyfriend, Nathaniel Jackson (not related), kidnapped him and shot him once in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

Ken Proxmire was a machinist when he won $1 million in the Michigan lottery in the United States. He moved to California and went into the car business with his brothers. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy. “He was just a poor boy who got lucky and wanted to take care of everybody,” explains Ken’s son, Rick. “It was a hell of a good ride for three or four years, but now he lives more simply. There’s no more talk of owning a helicopter or He won $315 million lottery and lost everything in 4 years riding in limos. We’re just On December 25, 2002, West Virginia, United States build- and everything gone, said: everyday folks. Dad’s now ing contractor, Andrew Jackson “Jack” Whittaker Jr. won “I wish I’d torn that (lottery) back to work as a machinist,” says his son. $315 million in the Powerball multi-state lottery, at that time ticket up.”

The preacher who won $31 million, lost his money, wife and committed suicide A Pentecostal preacher working as a stockboy at Home Depot in the United States hit the $31 million jackpot back in 1997. At first, life was good with Billy Bob buying a ranch, six other homes, and some new cars. Like many others who win the lottery, he was unable to simply say “NO!” when people asked him for a handout. Later in life, he divorced his wife, spent money lavishly and eventually committed suicide, the stress was apparently too much to handle for this lottery winner.

The man who won $1 million lottery and went bankrupt 4 years after

the largest jackpot in history won by a single person.

55-year-old Whittaker was living a successfully comfortable life, a well rounded family, great job and healthy grandkids.

Whittaker did some good, but his bad deeds make his story. He was arrested twice, once for drunk driving and also for threatening a bar manager. A woman sued him after he groped her. Thieves took $545,000 in cash from Whittaker’s car while he was visiting a nude club.

About a year later, thieves again stole $200,000 from his car. Caesars Atlantic City sued him for bouncing $1.5 million in cheques. His wife divorced him. When reached for comment, Whittaker, now with no family

The garbage man who won 9.7m pounds, lost it all with party and prostitutes and returns to his old job Want to know how to fritter away a multi-million lottery fortune? Ask Michael Carroll. The Briton has blown a £9.7 million jackpot he won in 2002 and is currently hoping to get his old job back as a garbageman. At first, Carroll lavished gifts on friends and family, but soon started spending on cocaine, parties, cars, and, at one point, up to four prostitutes a day. Only a year after his winning, he was smoking £2,000 of crack cocaine every day and hosting drug and drink fuelled parties at his home. After his wife left him, Carroll turned to prostitutes. He boasted about sleeping with four a day - a total of 2,000 at a cost of £100,000 over eight years. He was down to his last £500,000 cash in 2008 and last year, sold his £400,000 fleet of luxury cars and spent the proceeds.

Now he is collecting a £42 a week in jobseeker’s allowance.

According to him, “It’s easier to live off £42 dole than a million.”

30

interview

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

‘Even a 12-year-old Ijaw boy can embarrass Nigeria’

ment. He is a businessman. Right now, it is difficult for people like me to even talk to Tompolo. I was among those who begged him to drop his arms, as dreaded as he was then. We told him he could attract development to his people if he did and it paid off. The young man has been attracting development to the area. Immediately that government left, the new government demonised him and chased him out of town. They should look for a political solution to the problem.

Continued from pg9

don’t take, I will employ other people.’ We are talking of localising the local content. These people are just coming and using the military to arm-twist people - those who are hungry - and they will say ‘I will give you N50, come and enter boat. If you don’t enter, I won’t pay you.’ That is what is happening in the area. House boats are all over the place. You don’t know who supplies them. People are all over the place. You don’t know those who are guiding the pipelines. And these speed boats that our people are known for producing and driving, they don’t involve our people. They just go and pick their cronies and do these things. The Federal Government should think properly. We are not talking about arm-twisting; we are talking about our rights. It is our right to be involved in things that happen in our area. For now, the local content policy has been abandoned. It is no more localised. It has become Nigerian content. If they localise the local content, my people will be involved and they will take charge of the situation and pipeline security. And because they are involved, they will risk their lives. How do you risk your life for what someone else is coming to benefit from? You won’t risk your life. We are not arm-twisting; we are saying allow local content to operate and we will take ownership of these things.

Since the onslaughts of the NDA, the Federal Government has deployed more troops in the creeks to halt further attacks and probably fish out the perpetrators. But there have been reports quoting you as accusing the troops of harassment. What is the actual situation in Gbaramatu since the arrival of the troops?

They are harassing the people of Gbaramatu Kingdom. They are threatening them. They sometimes encroach on their privacy, break their doors and struggle with them in the name of sniffing for members of the NDA. They have done many things that should not be done in a civilised world in Nigeria, in Delta State. Tell me, if it’s not Gbaramatu, why will military men invade the palace of a king and when he seeks the audience of the invaders, you tell him he can’t talk to you and they leave?

Are you saying the troops desecrated the traditional stool?

As you claimed, the Ijaw are stubborn. The Ijaw man will always say: ‘why are you doing this to me?’ We are human beings, too. Treat our king as a human being. Imagine a military man punching the palace of the Emir of Kano and the Emir now says to the soldier, ‘let’s talk’ and the soldier says ‘we are not going to talk to you. I came to do what I was asked to do.’ He destroyed and left without the people resisting him. The military are destroying our people. As I speak, at the Kokodiagbene community in Gbaramatu, the soldiers went there, gathered the men, women and children and asked them to sit on marshy ground, in ponds, intimidated them and asked them: ‘where are your bombs? Where are your dynamites?’ They searched and searched but found nothing. They broke doors open in search of the avengers and they didn’t see anything and they left and went to arrest innocent people.

As the spokesman of the Gbaramatu Kingdom and a chief, what do you think the Federal Government should actually do to stem the ongoing resurgence of militancy in the creeks?

Well, I will first of all advise the so-called avengers to have a face. As it is now, there is nobody you can interface with.

In Tompolo’s struggle, there was a face tied to the struggle and other militants like [Mujahid] Dokubo-Asari and others.

These guys are not people you cannot identify. They identified themselves and said they were struggling for the betterment of the Niger Delta and we knew them. Even though it might not be easy to access them, at least people knew them and their locations. So, if the avengers are really fighting for their people, they should show their faces. Let people know what they fighting for. This bogus programme of change of currency and hoisting of flag, well, that is their own, I think they should show their faces and make their demands more humane.

Secondly, this ‘go and crush them, destroy them, go and kill them, we will destroy them’ syndrome should be downplayed.

[President Muhammadu] Buhari and his government should know that we are in a civil dispensation, not a military regime, where you just go and begin to crush. Besides, the Niger Delta is like a tsetse fly which perches on the scrotum. If you use hammer to hit the fly, your testes will have a problem. If you go and destroy them, you will destroy the pipelines and everything together and we will have nothing to protect. The government has the responsibility of protecting lives and properties. The first thing the government should protect is

They are harassing the people of Gbaramatu Kingdom. They are threatening them. They sometimes encroach on their privacy, break their doors and struggle with them in the name of sniffing for members of the NDA. They have done many things that should not be done in a civilised world in Nigeria, in Delta State. life which the present administration does not believe in. They should protect lives. They should protect the civil populace of the Ijaw and Gbaramatu to ensure that this ‘crush,’ ‘destroy,’ ‘dismantle,’ ‘kill’ language is reduced. Then let the people have confidence in you so that they can talk to you freely. Right now, nobody can talk to the government freely as people are afraid. If you try to approach the soldiers to confide in them, they can shoot at you even before you get to them. Where they are making us enemies, no one would approach them to give them information. It is not our fault that this oil was found in our area but when people come to destroy it, we suffer from degradation and others.

Thirdly, the Federal Government should know that Tompolo was its partner. He was arresting criminals for the government.

Sometimes - I don’t really want to say this - when we arrest these criminals for the government, they kill them. This man ensured that there was sanity in the creeks. So, they should look for a way to bring down the tempo of the aggression against Tompolo. Unfortunately, he is no longer accessible to those of us who are his kinsmen. The man has run away. They should make things easy so that he can come back. If he comes back, he is like a rallying point. So many former militants will rally round him and these bombings and all these things will reduce. But inasmuch as they are pushing him away with court injunctions and threats of bring him out alive or dead, the man will continue to leave the area and when it continues like that, criminals will continue to perpetrate their nefarious acts. His name was law. Let me tell you, he is still respected among his people so much so that the people feel he is wrongly being accused. So, Tompolo represents something in Gbaramatu and in Ijaw land. Let the Federal Government look for some political solutions to the issues that are there. Tompolo was not a government official. He did not force the Federal Government to sign a cheque for him. These things would have happened through negotiations and discussions. Are people looking at all these areas? I am not Tompolo’s spokesman but I am proffering the solutions that you asked for. Let Tompolo’s matter be resolved. Let him come back home. Let it not be seen that they are still pursuing him. Let them solve the problem politically.

Won’t the Federal Government see it as a slap on its face? Is Tompolo bigger than other people that are being prosecuted for alleged corruption in the country?

I didn’t say he should not be prosecuted but every law should have a human face. A situation where you see that a law is pursuing an agenda, somebody won’t have faith in that kind of system. That is what I am saying. I am not saying the Federal Government should kneel and beg Tompolo but I am saying that they should look for a political solution to the situation.

The man was not in government. He has never been in govern-

Is it true that the new militant group is better equipped than the military?

I don’t know about that. I am not a militant and after 2009 bombings, I don’t know any militant camp that has sophisticated weapons. But in the Niger Delta, a 12-year-old boy can impact the Federal Government if he is allowed to. In Niger Delta, three or four aggrieved boys can deal a blow that will cause the Federal Government pains. That is why there should be somebody they look up to, somebody they can take permission from. There should be somebody they can trust to tell what their problems are. As it is now, the avengers do not have anybody to take their problems to. That is why they are going haywire and they are faceless. If others see Tompolo as a leader, through other former militant leaders, he would have information on the activities of the NDA. Those days of so many kidnapping cases, without payment of a dime, but only a call because he had information, Tompolo would secure victims’ release in three hours because he would go for them if they did not. You don’t demonise such a person. Everybody has a value, whether nuisance or whatever. And in the Niger Delta, Tompolo has serious value that the government can tap into.

The late President [Umaru] Yar’Adua knew it and it helped his government immensely. As long as we demonise people that can help us, we will continue to have problems. Boko Haram has heavy weapons. We all know that. But the avengers are faceless and I don’t even know if they have the capacity to withstand the Nigerian military. They don’t have the capacity and that is why they are hiding. It is possible they are even in Lagos, Port Harcourt or in the North. And who knows if this is even an extension of Boko Haram.

What advice would you give your people given the present situation of military siege in Gbaramatu?

The traditional ruler of Gbaramatu has given us a marching order that everybody should go to their communities and sensitise their people that should they see any suspicious movement, they should report to those concerned, particularly the navy. We have phone access to the navy. But the army is inaccessible to us. No contact between us.

Are you saying the intimidation and aggression against your people are not actually coming from the navy?

Not totally from the navy. It is, we heard, a task force deployed by the Federal Government to come and crush Niger Deltans.

Those are the people doing it, although with the aid of both navy and army. But the navy still has some human face because if there is any problem, they have phone numbers we can call and they would listen to us. But for now, the military, the ones that are coming, no number, in fact, they don’t have any interface with us. So, I am saying to our people to be careful and not play into the hands of the soldiers. If they say don’t move in the night, obey. And if you are going for a meeting, carry women in the boat so that they will know that you are going for a meeting. At least, we have not heard that members of the avengers have females among them. Our people should remain calm.

They must obey the law. We are there for them in case of any trouble. We don’t want the military to use us as scapegoats. We are not militants and we will remain non-militants.

What is the state government doing about all this?

The state government just set up a task force headed by the deputy governor. We were with them on Tuesday at Gbaramatu and we discussed at length, held meetings with the men, women, the youth, community leaders, etc. They left their posh offices and were with us overnight in the creeks. The state government, for now, I think, is trying their best and the task force is also trying its best. But our governor needs to be more vocal and protective of his people. This is where the oil comes from that increases his revenue to the state. So far, we were abandoned. But thank God, he has set up a committee headed by our own son. In the first place, why should Gbaramatu be involved in this kind of thing when we have our son as the deputy governor? We can’t be angry when we are now the number two in the state. We are ready to collaborate with our son so that we succeed. The committee won’t fail. But federal, state and the local governments should do the needful for the people so that we can have a sense of belonging.

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21 May, 2016

voxpop KATE ANI finds out how risky or gainful it is for an unmarried couple to try each other on for size before going to the altar.

With Kate Ani

08071080888 anikate92@yahoo.com

Can you cohabit with your boyfriend\girlfriend?

Remi Aloja N cohabitation, now called trial marriage, they both do whatever there is to do in marriage. Why not marry at once instead? Plus, in our social settings now, marriage is a contract and a contract gets terminated. So, one should get married without cohabiting and if it does not work out, you can always divorce and no one will sue you.

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Izik Johnson Only a foolish lady would be living with a man without being married to him. Such a lady should not cry if the guy doesn’t marry her the end. What will remain after he has eaten your workshop and expanded it to cinema hall?!

Mosunmola Lawal Living with someone helps you get to know each other much better. You’ll see all the small things that a couple of hours/days spent together won’t show and it’ll reveal the real you. He will see your face when you wake up, without makeup or fancy clothes, you will see him helping you out with daily chores. You’ll have guests, share so many things together, start building your own universe therefore, you’ll get a glimpse of what marriage means and you’ll know if you are ready for this and if the other person is the right choice.

Chris Benogor There’s really no guarantee as to the things that determine a good marriage. It takes two willing people to tango. That being said, I think it depends on the maturity of the couple involved. Living together can be a reminder of what will be when you tie the knot. I think one might lose the excitement of being newlyweds couple but in its place, you would have gone through the teething problems that some early marriages go through. There’s no more surprise, you learn quickly that sex life in marriage, for instance, is far from the occasional hormone filled hook ups you have.

Taiwo Kehinde Some guys like the idea cohabiting with their girlfriends because it would afford them the luxury of having a free cook, cleaner and can have all the sex they want, whenever they want it. Other guys don’t like the idea because they have girls for everyday of the week, so moving in will cramp their style.

Owoyemi Aderemi If two mature people feel like they are mentally strong enough to handle it or they already almost spend a lot of time together then why not?

Pelumi Ifedayo The truth is, even though majority of us here criticise it, over half of unmarried couple cohabit. My point is, it all boils down to the individual you are cohabiting with. Marriage doesn’t change anybody; it’s just a way of telling people officially that we are cohabiting for life. I have seen many couples who initially lived together and ended up as lovely husbands and wives. I have also seen a couple who went straight into marriage after normal dating but are now heading for divorce.

Cool Jide Everybody cannot follow the same way of life. Living together before marriage can either fail or be successful. At least most guys became married this way: you give my pikin belle you must marry am or else Sango go follow you dey run package every second.”

Abiona

Saturday Tribune

Pelumi

Abiona Adeleke I just feel one should leave some surprises for marriage. But on the other hand, living together shows you are both compatible.

Muritala Hassan When you see too much of what’s inside you’ll never want to get in.

If you spend 10 years perusing and interviewing, I bet it would take more years to make up your mind.

When you see too much of what’s inside you’ll never want to get in. If you spend 10 years perusing and interviewing, I bet it would take more years to make up your mind.

Taiwo

Mosun

Dipo Aderiye Whether you sleep over or cohabit, it’s the same thing, as long as you are sleeping with him. It’s like shopping for food stuff weekly (sleep over) and buying in bulk monthly (living with), its just the frequency of the act (sex) that differs.

Izik

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interview

Gov election: We’re ready to do battle in Ondo —Falae The national chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on the state of readiness of the party for the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State. Excerpts:

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HAT exactly is the philosophy of the SDP? It is social democracy, which is the philosophy of labour movement worldwide. It is a progressive philosophy that focuses on the welfare of ordinary person from cradle to the grave. So, to me, that is the political philosophy that any rational nation should embrace.

It accepts free enterprise as the main driving force of the economy but recognises that you cannot entirely surrender the affairs of men to blind market forces. Man must be ready, with God-given intelligence, to intervene and make adjustments and corrections so that the failings of the market will not destroy the society. The SDP was resuscitated because it is the torchbearer of social democracy, the philosophy that sees to it that man survives in a world that is becoming progressively difficult.

The governorship election in Ondo State is in November, how prepared is the SDP for the exercise?

We are as prepared as any political party can be. We have been working hard to get the party on the ground at the grass roots. In this state today, we have the party’s executive committee at every local government and every ward. So, we are surely on the ground.

Our problem in the past was that we had no structure. If you spend money shouting on the radio and television but you have no structure, on election day, there will be nobody to rally the people to defend your votes.

That was what happened to us in the last election but we are correcting that now. We are holding regular meetings at all levels. At the meetings, we convince ourselves that our party has the capability to win the election. If you are not convinced that you can win, you can’t go out and convince others. These are the arrangements we are making and when the time comes, by God’s grace, we will be in a position to give a good account of ourselves and win the election.

Your party, considered to be a third force in the state, is believed to be well placed to receive disgruntled aspirants from other political parties in the heat of electioneering. How prepared is the party to manage that kind of situation?

That is a very interesting question. But let’s put aside the possibility of their coming for now. Let us recognise the fact that 80 percent of active politicians in this state today used to be members of the SDP. So, I am the leader of most of them. Who in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today will say that I am not his leader, even the governor recognises me. We are in the same political party but he accepts me as his political leader. Who in the All Progressives Congress (APC) will say I am not his leader? Those are the people who worked for me when I ran for president. They all campaigned for me. So, having been on the same political platform before, it [joining the SDP] should not be difficult for them.

If where they went to is not producing the kind of result they want, it should be easy

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

to them. That was the method [former President Olusegun] Obasanjo used later.

So, here in Ondo State, we will do a similar thing. Within a reasonable period, we will get rid of the backlog of salaries. We will create new sources of revenue. We will stop the enormous wastes in government and the way to do that is not by sacking people but to make them work for themselves. In my book, I stated that there is the need to have what I call national apprenticeship training scheme, which does not exist in Nigeria. Our people don’t learn trades or skills anymore, they ride okada and sell recharge cards. We are importing artisans from Ghana and Benin Republic. This national apprenticeship training scheme can take up to five million people within nine or 12 months. The second one is what I call urban transformation programme.

The Yoruba are the most urbanised people in Africa. In other words, our civilisation is centred in the city. So, the city is important to us, but look around the cities, what do we have?

Confusion, decay and poor infrastructure. We must transform the cities which are the core of our culture. You can’t do it overnight, but we must start somewhere.

Are you saying that the SDP is the change that is needed in Ondo State?

Absolutely, because we have better programmes that will bring about change and transform the lives of our people positively.

for them to come back home. Coming back to the SDP is coming back home. We will be glad to receive them back.

Now how do we manage them? We have experience. Sometime in Lagos State, when [Senator Bola] Tinubu picked [Mr Babatunde] Fashola as the governorship candidate, the regular political leaders who thought they should have made the candidature left the [defunct Action Congress of Nigeria] ACN and came to our party then, [the Democratic Peoples Alliance] DPA. They all came to my house in Victoria Island. They said ‘Baba, we have come back home’ and I welcomed them back. They made a proposal as to how the candidate should be chosen, which was contrary to the party’s constitution and I explained to them that we were a serious, principled party, not opportunistic people. Our constitution specified how the governorship candidate of the party should emerge. Eventually, in following the constitutional provision, Jimi Agbaje emerged. And what happened? All others disappeared the following day. Some went back to where they came from, some got out of politics. We have

This state has been governed since 1999 by different parties, starting with the [Alliance for Democracy] AD under [Adebayo] Adefarati, [Olusegun] Agagu’s PDP took over and then we had [Governor Olusegun] Mimiko’s Labour Party and now his PDP. It is time for change, for a breath of fresh air so that people can compare us with others who have ruled the state.

some experience.

Even last year, candidates who failed to obtain nomination form in their parties came to us and we welcome them. The first thing we heard from them was that they had spent so much money in their former parties and they had no money left to even to buy nomination form. Some said they had spent about N20 million trying to obtain the form in their former parties. Nomination form was about N2 million here and they could not pay, but they could afford to pay N20 million elsewhere. We have experience about such a situation but I want to say that this time, we will welcome those who come but they should recognise the fact that we have a party structure, a system and we don’t compromise discipline. The difference between a mob and an army is discipline. An army and a mob are two large bodies of men but what makes the difference is discipline.

This party will not compromise that. Once they accept our discipline, they are most welcome. We will expect them to abide by lawful decisions of our party. We do everything according to law and reason. We held our national convention recently and it was open. Nobody protested because I sat down and made sure that everything was transparent. We let the democratic process take its course. Don’t try to prove that you are wiser than others in democracy. When they come, we guarantee them fair and equal treatment and we will expect from them, loyalty and discipline. Once that is in place, there will be no problem at all. When they come, they should join hands with us to win the governorship election in Ondo State so that the state can have a new lease of life.

This state has been governed since 1999 by different parties, starting with the [Alliance for Democracy] AD under [Adebayo] Adefarati, [Olusegun] Agagu’s PDP took over and then we had [Governor Olusegun] Mimiko’s Labour Party and now his PDP. It is time for change, for a breath of fresh air so that people can compare us with others who have ruled the state. I think it is only fair, especially now that things are difficult as they are. People should ask the aspirants how they are going to clear the salary arrears.

That is challenge number one. When I ran for president, people asked me about how I was going to clear Nigeria’s debts and said I would clear them in six months. They asked if I was a magician. I said no and explained

People say you are close to the state governor, Dr Mimiko and as such your party may work for the PDP in the election by not presenting a candidate.

How would you react to this?

Well, I told you something earlier, that I am a leader to all politicians in the state. Many of them, including Mimiko, still regard me as their leader. If you are in another party and we still talk, I am your leader. That is relationship. Ours is not politics of bitterness.

Whether you are in party A, B or C, we maintain a civilised relationship. The reasons we didn’t present any candidate in the past was that we had no candidate who had the money to contest. We tried so hard to persuade people - I don’t want to mention names. Why will my party present a candidate and I will work against such a candidate? I want to tell you that my party already has an aspirant and as you have said before, more [aspirants] may come later. In order words, from a situation of no aspirant, we may have too many aspirants. Why then would we not present a candidate? If Dr Mimiko himself finds that his own candidate cannot win, he will wish us well. Wherever I am, he cannot wish us evil.

He knows I will not support a candidate who will not perform. We are not for that. We are for the welfare of the good people of the state.

We will field a candidate and we will win the election and we will take care of the people of Ondo State with our creative programmes.

We will create jobs and make the payment of salary regular.

How do you intend to finance the activities of your party, particularly when we have APC at the national level and the PDP in the state?

We will get our finances from the people.

I ran for president before and the personal money I spent was not more than N10 million, because that was all I had. I had to sell some of my investments to demonstrate to the people that I was serious and committed.

Then, in one night, in the full glare of the public, I raised N585 million because people knew that I was credible and they saw that I had made my own contribution. So, this party is a credible party and the programme we are going to be talking about will be so unique, refreshing and credible. People will support this party because they want a new lease of life, they want something different. I am sure we will raise enough money to deliver our message.

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N the South West, Ekiti State led the way by conducting local government elections in December last year, thereby putting elected council executives in place. Does this have any impact on the once powerful ALGON’s activities and on the state itself?

We have the opportunity to have a governor that is close to the grass roots, who also knows the importance of democracy, especially at the grass roots. One of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s promises during his campaign was that he would conduct local government election and true to his word, on December 19, 2015, we had a local government election in Ekiti State and that put us in a vantage position in the comity of states in the South West and in the federation.

Others have followed suit as Ondo State conducted local government election recently. We also heard that Oyo State is looking at conducting council polls. So, we are grateful to God for a governor like Fayose who knows where the shoe pinches.

Regarding ALGON, the association is still relevant and powerful. In fact, there was a recent meeting of ALGON in Abuja, where it was proved that it is only Ekiti that has put local government chairmen in place.

That was before the Ondo election. This confers a lot of advantages on members because ALGON looks at whether you are elected representatives or not and councils’ financial standing with the association among others. We in Ekiti have been able to fulfil all our obligations at ALGON. The mantra has been lack of funds and you were elected in the midst of this. How have you been running the affairs of the council considering the notorious issue of paucity of funds?

When we assumed duties on December 21, 2015, we went round and the picture we saw wasn’t good at all. It was better imagined. There were leaking roofs all over. There was only one functioning vehicle, and that’s that of the chairman.

Contractors being owed were even threatening to seize the car. The quarters were so dilapidated that no one could occupy the place. In the midst of all these, we said we have been elected and we must do something. No blame game or lamentations. So, we had to find means.

So many rural roads could not be ignored.

Somebody gave us a grader, we fuelled it and paid the operator and we started with at least making the rural roads motorable.

We started with Ile Ono; the 5.2-kilometres Odo-Oro road is strategic because tippers scoop sand there and through that, we earn some revenue. So, we had to take care of the two culverts on the road and make the road better. We also did some grading in Igede town at Ilamoye-Odo Igede, Sinabole and so on. In places like Igbemo, we have discussed with contractors for the grading of some township roads there.

Unemployment is one of the main problems and we have liaised with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and they are training 50 youths now, after which we will arrange a soft loan for them to start businesses and stand on their own and even employ other people. We are looking inwards and we are working hard to ensure that our impact is felt.

Your party, PDP, seems to have issues across the state, especially in this period preparatory to your national convention. What do you think is happening?

The party is quite on course here in Ekiti

21 May, 2016

‘APC lying their way through governance’ The chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Ekiti State, Mr Oladapo Olagunju, was inaugurated as the chairman of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state in December 2015. He speaks with SAM NWAOKO on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and prospects and challenges of his new office. Excerpts:

What the APC as a party in government has been able to give Nigeria and Nigerians so far are economic confusion and frustration, policy somersaults and retraction of electoral promises which they are also explaining away with further lies to confuse Nigerians.

State. As a matter of fact, it is easy for anyone to deduce that the party in the state is not in any form of rancour nor are our members in disarray. We are strong and united under the leadership of Governor Fayose. Our congress where we elected Gboyega Oguntuase as the state chairman of the party was one of the best, if not the best in the country. It was fantastic and we have evidence from witnesses who had attended from the national secretariat of our party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the security agencies and other relevant bodies. They all saw how we conducted ourselves and went about electing a new

PDP executive in the state. Interestingly, it was after our congress that we heard that some people who called themselves ‘Omo Ilu’ had gathered somewhere to hold what they called a congress. The man they announced as their secretary is a member of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. He is from my local government area and I still have tape recording of when he formally defected from the PDP to the APC. So announcing him as PDP secretary is, to say the least, preposterous, because we have evidence of his defection at a ceremony in Idi Omo in our council area. So, we don’t have a problem as far as this state is concerned.

Saturday Tribune

At the local government congresses, let’s use my Irepodun/Ifelodun as a case study, delegates attended from all the 11 wards and I’m sure that the peaceful conduct of the local government congresses too in the state is a source of worry for the opposition in the state. So, we have no crisis at the ward and unit levels.

What about the other state chapters of your party, or do you want to remain in your state’s situation oblivious of others?

We know that there are misgivings in some state chapters but again, we can describe this as politics in action. It is common to hear of and witness such things when party positions are up for occupation but I’m sure they will be resolved. However, I must not fail to advise that our people all over the country should be patient because all of us cannot get positions at the same time. People should be patient, steadfast and dedicated. This is even the time for us to be more dedicated so that PDP can return to power. That is the major thrust. I say this because what the APC as a party in government has been able to give Nigeria and Nigerians so far are economic confusion and frustration, policy somersaults and retraction of electoral promises which they are also explaining away with further lies to confuse Nigerians. So, millions of PDP members all over Nigeria who are frustrated with the faltering Federal Government of APC should remain steadfast and dedicated because things will change for the better in a short while.

Your local government area is large and that must have a large workforce. How have you been coping with workers under the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and sundry labour issues when the issue of funding is considered?

Payment of their salaries is centralised.

Salaries are paid through the office of the accountant-general. However, because we are close to the grass roots, we have no issues with the workforce. When I came, I addressed them and we meet regularly for prayers and discussions on the state of the council. There is nothing to hide from them to fuel suspicion. When you make underhand deals, then you’re courting trouble and there’s nothing of such here.

We have to be open and let people see what we’re doing. If there’s money, every one of us will see it and when we’re broke, we all know. We also have a close rapport with our monarchs and carry them along too. Yes, we are a large local government area but we have been managing the affairs well with our workers and leaders.

How about internally generated revenue, what steps have you taken to boost this and enhance the functioning of the council?

We are basically a rural local government.

Our towns are not like some of the bigger towns in Ekiti State and, therefore, we have to be mindful of this in driving the IGR. It may interest you to know that when we came, we saw that N5 and N10 were still being paid as fees in this local government. However, we have looked at ways of making our people understand that this must change and we have taken steps about it. We have asked the legislative arm of the council to come up with new rates that would come into force as soon as they are approved. So, in terms of IGR, we are not doing badly but it must also improve.

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views.com

Change, govt policies and NOA: The resource untapped

By Adebobola Omowon

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T all becomes clear. Nigeria has a deal with China, to come and set up these industries in Nigeria, and produce these goods here in Nigeria. If these industries come and produce in Nigeria, using all our facilities and materials here, these products would be branded “made in Nigeria.” So, other countries in West Africa and Africa as a whole would in the long run see reason to purchase what is around them, that is produced by the same people in far away China, so, they purchase made in Nigeria product.

Nigeria uses the naira, other African countries buying our goods would buy in our currency. So what happens to the naira? It becomes strong, starting from our own region/continent. This is the future many do not see. The developed world is light years ahead of us only because of one thing; long term strategic planning (see Marshal plan, Truman Doctrine, etc — plans that have shapened world politics till today). Today, strategic planning is being done by the government of the day.

I have heard many say the president has the worst economic team and the worst people around him, but I do believe that there has not been a better president being advised by seasoned foreign affairs experts. From the time of Carl Marx, to the time of Lenin, down to Lincoln, to Roosevelt, to Zedong, to Nixon, to Stalin, to Castro, to Ghadaffi, to Muritala to Bush senior, to Nkrumah, and many more across the globe, we had people and leaders with ideologies. Their ideology shapened their economic policies and foreign policies. The American ideology is capitalism, this shapens their foreign policy to create a dependent need in other countries, which only they must fill, so they have to create an open market in many countries for the goods they are producing in large numbers.

This is not wrong, it is international relations and national interest comes first. Stalin had his, that is communism.

So why must the step of putting the country on a right path be seen as a sin by even the very people who will benefit? It makes it easier for the powers that are not gaining from our policies to divide us with ease.

So, it must be understood that ideology is key, and that is what guides the government in her economic and foreign policies.

Economic team or not, what everyone wants is results.

This we will get because for the first time in a long while, this country is on the right path, it will take some time, but it is for our collective good.

That being said, there is much heat surrounding so many things going on in the country right now, from the numerous journeys of the president, to the anti-corruption campaign, to foreign exchange policies, down to the provision for everyone in the budget, and finally to the

latest subsidy removal and other government policies of the new administration. The masses have shown various reactions, many condemning the new government and her policies and talking against those who voted them in, viewing things as a wrong “change.”

Looking critically at these policies, however, there is no doubt that the government of the day means well for the Nigerian people as each of these policies are steps needed to break the hegemony of the “unchallenged powers” that have taken advantage of the country’s vulnerability for so long.

The problem, however is, in this age of social media and numerous platforms for discussion, the day to day actions of the government are interpreted in millions of ways by different people on the social media. People who do not know anything about government comment, people who do not know anything about the economy comment, those who don’t know anything about history comment. The implication is, everyone believe what they want to believe from different comments on social media platforms. These beliefs are taken by different millions of Nigerians to their own smaller cirlces (homes, schools, churches, relaxation spots, etc). In the process, millions

of Nigerians are fed a million different things to believe about these different government actions. A form of self sensitisation and orientation, which is very important, but this time, most of what is circulated is false and a misinterpretation of what the government intends. People have taken over the function of the government in terms of orientation and sensitisation.

No dispensation needs to campaign if they are doing a great job. All it takes is making the people aware and acquainting them with your different policies. This, amongst other things, is the sole function of the National Orientation Agency (NOA). Their job is for mass mobilisation, sensitisation and orientation. Having offices in all states and all local governments of the federation puts them in a position to reach the grass roots very easily and bring the policies of the government to them, explaining and giving them orientation. The grass roots must not be ignored, so, as their job description permits, they are the ones that will reach out to the artisans, market women, drivers, name it.

They are the ones who in different states and local governments, send agents who go deep into the midst of the common man, to feel the pulse of the people, taking back the feedback straight to the mainstream government with feedbacks that get as high up as the National Security Adviser’s office. An agency with such function must be tapped. You don’t need to fund a campaign within a dispensation. All it takes is funding the National Orientation Agency, giving them the resources to carry out public orientation and sensitisation. They do know their job and will act if given the responsibility, but today, the once vibrant NOA seems to be sleeping and without the strength it was known to have. This is not their own doing. The government must know that, to make a government work and to make people feel their policies and understand it, they just need to fund NOA. This country will be great again. These steps and policies of the government are not an immediate stop to the problems, but are steps and policies that come with sacrifices, required from all of us, for a better tomorrow, where we will no longer be ashamed to call ourselves Nigerians. These decisions are difficult decisions needed at these difficult times to put us back on the right track. I never believed it was going to be easy, this is clear, as sacrifices are to be made. That is happening already, but not everyone reasons like that. To make people know this too, they must be carried along and sensitised.

Like the biblical Ark Of “Noah”, NOA remains the body; the “ark” to bring the importance of government policies, into the ears of everyone, and drive it down our minds.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Omowon sent in this piece from Oluyole Estate Extension, Ibadan.

Confronting security challenges in Nigeria

By Oladipo Sanusi CITIZENS’ education has, for long, been a necessary ingredient lacking in the way Nigeria has carried on since independence.

Even with loads and loads of university degrees and other academic attainment, citizens’ participation in governance has been dismally poor. The elite class has therefore leveraged on this apathy to further widen the gulf between the people and all that should matter to them.

However, circumstances of the last seven years have brought us, the leaders and the led, to a stage where it can no longer be business as usual. We are faced with a security problem, the magnitude of which no one could have foreseen a decade ago.

Since the civil war ended in 1970, Nigeria’s corporate existence has never been threatened the way terror and sectarian attacks have done these past years. The country has been in the eye of the world for this wrong reason.

It is no longer news, the devastation which the terror group, Boko Haram, has caused in the North East sub-region and many other parts of northern Nigeria. Boko

Haram has slaughtered innocent Nigerians - men, women, girls and boys - with hideous cruelty.

The group has declared war on Western education with emphasis on discouragement of girl education. Educational infrastructures have been razed down while male and female students have either been killed or abducted.

Till date, over 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram on the night of 14–15 April 2014 from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State are yet to be released.

Year 2015 Global Terrorism Index indicates that deaths from terrorism increased by 80 percent in 2014 to the highest level ever. Boko Haram and ISIL were jointly responsible for 51 per cent of all claimed global fatalities in 2014. seventy-eight per cent of all deaths and 57 per cent of all attacks occurred in just five countries, namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. Surely, not a good company to keep.

Nigeria experienced the largest increase in terrorist activity with 7,512 deaths in 2014, an increase of over 300% since 2013. Added to the bloodletting by Boko Haram, are the alleged herdsmen’s vicious attacks on

communities across the country.

The heightened tension which the renewed attacks on farming communities by herdsmen has brought on the nation is giving every patriotic Nigerian a cause for concern. In addition to this is the emergence of a new militia called Niger Delta Avengers who have been bombing oil installations in the Delta region, causing untold dislocation on the already lacerated economy.

It is, therefore, not surprising that there has been a flurry of activities in the mould of summit, talks, conferences majorly spearheaded by government on how to put an end to the orgy of violence which is pushing the country to the precipice. However, partnership between government agencies, local and international and the local citizenry may just be what is lacking in the approach to put an end to the carnage.

Such trusted partnership can be achieved and nourished through meaningful and regular dialogue that creates a shared sense of the current state of affairs of the nation’s safety, its level of intelligence-gathering, and pressing priorities.

•Sanusi is an Abuja-based media practitioner.

37

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

PHOTOS: D’ TOYIN

Official opening of the Third Session of the Eleventh Synod of the Diocese of Remo Church of Nigeria held at the St James Anglican Church, Iperu Remo, Ogun State on Friday. Photos: D’ Toyin

Deputy governor of Ogun State, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Onanuga (left), representing the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and the Rt. Revd Dr M. Olusina Fape, Diocesan Bishop of Remo, during the official opening of the Third session of the Eleventh Synod held at St. James Anglican Church, Iperu Diocese of Remo Church of Nigeria.

Co-Chairman, African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Ambassador Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu exchanging pleasantries with the deputy governor of Ogun State, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Onanuga, while the Deputy Diocesan Chancellor of the Church, Hon Akinlolu Osinbajo, acknowledges.

The Rt. Revd. (Dr) Olusina Fape, his wife, Toyin and the Diocesan Chancellor of the Church, Mr Lanre Ogunlesi (SAN) (right).

Dr Erastus Akingbola (left) and Dr Adedapo Onafowokan.

Olotu Omo Oba Michael Oyedele (right) and Chief E.O. Sokoya.

Prince E.A. Adesanya (left) and Rt Revd. Phillip Adeyemo, Bishop of Diocese of Omu Aran, Kwara State.

Otunba Adeleke Adesina (right), Baale Babatunde K. Olayede and Chief Kola Sodipo.

The Synod Committee .

Group photograph of officials of the Synod with the deputy governor of Ogun State, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Onanuga.

Venerable Foluso Babatunji and Venerable David Fadugba.

38

sport

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

Youngsters storm Kaduna for CBN tennis Muhammad Sabiu-Kaduna

OVER 100 junior players between the ages of 10 and 18 drawn from across the country have registered to participate at the 10th Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Junior Tennis Championship scheduled to hold at the Murtala Square, Kaduna, later this month.

The tournament being staged in the North for the first time will run from May 23 to 28 according to the organisers.

Acting Director, Corporate Communication, CBN, Mr Isaac Okoroafor said that there would be prizes for winners and runners-up of the tourney at the various categories of age 10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and 18 years and prizes for the most outstanding players in the boys and girls category, while the winners of 16s and 18s categories will qualify for the CBN Senior Open Championships.

“The 2016 CBN junior tennis championship has the objectives to ensure that young talents are discovered early and nurtured to limelight, while establishing a strong transition platform to the senior, to provide a platform that would attract and enable junior players from all over

the country to compete and showcase their talents.

“To provide a structure that would allow the junior players compete at a very early age and transit from the junior to the senior category. This junior tennis tournament is designed to serve as a feeder to the senior championship, also a major event organised by the Nigeria Tennis Federation in conjunction with CBN,” he said.

Okoroafor, who was represented by Mrs Tiki Tanga, stated that the youth tourney has achieved a lot for Nigerian tennis as products from the CBN Junior Circuit have represented Nigeria in the African Junior Tennis Championship and other international competitions.

“They (Nigerian players) have dominated the West African junior circuit in both the boys and girls category and are now set to challenge their South African counterparts. They are already challenging the senior players in the CBN Senior Open Tennis Championship. In the current national rankings, we have eight players who have gone through this circuit in the top 12 with the first five enjoying the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings.”

Milo school b/ball championship :

Kogi wins Confluence Conference

K

OGI State representatives, Crowther Memorial College and Harmony Secondary School have emerged champions of the Confluence Conference zone in the 18th Milo Basketball Championship held at the indoor sports hall of the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja.

Crowther Memorial College displayed the spirit of of true champions when they produced a worldclass performance to overcome General Muritala College 39-37 in the boys’ final.

The girls’ final was a dramatic affair. Gallant Har-

feature

mony Secondary School fought the battle of their lives to emerge champions.

The Kogi girls had been written off after going down 5-0 to Government Secondary School Numan Adamawa at the end of the first quarter.

However, Obatoyinbo Bidemi and Most Valuable Player of the Girls’ event, Amodu Ketimu dunked nine points between them in the last two quarters to aid the victory of the Kogi team.

Speaking after the match, coach of the Adamawa team, Tinism Dickson said that his wards failed to play to instruction.

competition which is one of his programmes to move football forward in the state, would be played in a league format for five months across the communities that would also involve the three senatorial districts in Anambra State.

“The 127 teams would be reduced to 64 after the first round and later to 32 teams, before the round of 16 which is the final round that would be played on round-robin. The beauty of the competition is that at this stage, the 20 best players in the competition would be selected by a team of soccer experts that involved former national team coaches. These selected 20 players will be groomed and sponsored to take part in a FIFA recognised international soccer tournament in China in November,” Ubah stated.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Azeez Abiola Saudat now MRS. AMUBIKANHUN ABIOLA SAUDAT. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Beauty pageantry: The attraction, the fraud

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER

22 MAY, 2016

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Anambra set for Ifeanyi Ubah grassroots soccer tourney THE first edition of the Chief Ifeanyi Ubah sponsored-Grassroots Soccer Championships will kick off in June in Anambra State.

The competition according to the sponsor would see all the 127 communities in the state battle for supremacy in an event that would run till October 2016.

Ubah, who is also the Chairman of the Anambra State Football Association, noted that, he decided to bankroll the competition “so as to make sure all the youth in the state are engaged in the competition aimed at ensuring that talented youngsters who have hitherto been hidden in the grassroots without the opportunity of showcasing their talents are given the leverage to come to the front burner”.

He stressed that, the

“It is unfortunate, we thought we could defend the title for the third time.

I hold no player responsible, but it is the collective fault of the team, we did not get our shots right and our defence failed woefully in the last quarter of the game,” he said.

SSG to the Governor of Kogi State, Mrs Ayoade Ariike, who represented Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, extolled Nestle Plc for sustaining the sponsorship of the only major Secondary School Championships in the country for the past 18 years.

She also commended the efforts of the sponsors, Nestle Milo Plc at developing sporting talents in Nigeria, stressing that the state will look forward to hosting Nestle Milo championships in the coming years.

On his part, North Central Regional Manager, Nestle Milo Plc, Mr Adeyeye Afolabi explained that, “Sport is a great teacher and children’s participation in sports helps set the foundation for a solid future.”

“They learn determination to succeed, discipline to persevere and many more life values by participating in sports. We will continue to provide them this platform”.

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sport

21 May, 2016

Saturday Tribune

My dad paid Westerhof’s salary for 4 years —Ex-NFF boss, Kojo Williams

FORMER Chairman of the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Mr Kojo Williams, in this interview by Deputy Sports Editor, NIYI ALEBIOSU, speaks on how Nigerian football can regain its lost glory on the global stage, just as he reveals that he worked alongside Clemens Westerhof in making the Super Eagles a brand in 1994. Excerpts:

N

IGERIA has failed to qualify for the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) for the second consecutive time, as a seasoned football administrator and former chairman of the NFA, what does this portend for the nation’s football?

It portends a negative signal, it portrays us in a very bad light worldwide, and shows how less serious we are as a nation, because it is not that we don’t have what it takes to assemble a good team. It shows how unprepared we are in the area of youth development from the grassroots to the senior level. It shows that the foundation is faulty.

When we won the Nations Cup three years ago in South Africa, I told a few journalistfriends of mine, that if care was not taken, we will not qualify for the 2015 Nations Cup, and they were like, how could you say such a thing? Our victory was a fluke and I told them we were not prepared, that from our style of football, it was obvious that we were not ready for the competition? No serious gameplan, Burkina Faso had too much respect for us (at AFCON 2013) and we were able to ride through them.

Secondly, the standard of football in Africa has dropped drastically and because that has happened, we were able to push and win our matches without so much effort, but rightly, I said we will not qualify for the 2015 AFCON, and it happened. Honestly, it was not that I did not want us to progress, but as a football administrator, you have to look at things critically. You must look at things in a professional manner. So, looking at our strategies and preparation, I realised that we were not ready and did not have what we need to get to where we are expected to be yet, that is just the basic thing.

So, what is the way forward for football development in Nigeria?

We just have to re-jig the foundation of our football, go back to the grassroots, set up proper training centres at the grassroots where kids are taught the technical aspect of the game at tender age. We could have regional football centres within the six geopolitical zones and some football modern colleges. Not even that, sports colleges where kids are taught the basic education. We have to imbibe a new philosophy and such will go all the way down from the senior level to the junior kids who are being taught football from tender age with the consortium of coaches working together, reporting at the centre with continuous monitoring system to make sure that we get it right. Football has gone past just putting in haphazard measures, it has to be professionally done, planned. It has to be long-term planning as

demonstrated by other countries that excelled in the last eight to 10 years. Take Spain or Germany for instance, they had a time frame and they were able to build and I see no reason we cannot do it. It is not just about picking anybody from the street where you do not have details of those boys and just put them in the U-17 national team, take them to the World Cup and we win and then we begin to celebrate mediocrity. We have to go beyond that. We have to build from the foundation, concentrate on the developmental aspect of the game. Monitor kids from different age groups to the senior side.

Then more importantly, our league itself is very corrupt and because of this, we do not have the best players playing in our league. We have to sanitise Nigerian league and make sure there is true professionalism and the coaches too are upright at all times.

If a coach signs a player on merit, he will be comfortable to feature that player anytime because money did not exchange hands before the contract.

If we build a very viable league where we train these children from the young age, then we need to have a proper drafting system to ensure that we have a law to back it up. Boys who are coming from that development plan mentioned earlier will go through the drafting system to make sure they make the league, and make sure there was standard salary structure for them in line with true professionalism. We must also make sure that the league itself is commercially viable and transparent so that you and I can buy shares in those clubs. We can ask questions, make sure that the kids that come from the junior sides also have a league to play. If you have a secondary schools league, it becomes more popular because 60 per cent of youths that made up this country are between the ages of six and 18 years. We have to take advantage of this, build them for the future, they will not only become professional footballers, but leaders of the future.

They would become coaches, managers, you teach them all of these at the early age, imbibe confidence in them and make them true leaders, that is what we need in this

No I’m not going to call Nigeria national team the Super Eagles because they are not super.

Kojo Williams during the interview. country, and that is what I believe we should be doing. Also, we need to bring in some coaches from out there, a consortium of coaches that will train our own youngsters, those same boys that will become our coaches in the future because of international best practices, we will be able to teach them all of these.

More importantly, we have to teach our boys the modern day football apart from the physical aspect which is very important. Nutrition is very important, we have to look at the nutrition that really suits us, not giving them those nonsense, those noodles that are made by ..., we don’t need that rubbish. We have good foods that can make our kids to develop and make them world champions.

Are you in support of a foreign coach for the Super Eagles?

Of course I do, because we do not have qualified coaches in this country, they have been tested, we do not have them. Please, get this right, I am not biased, I have nothing against indigenous coaches. I am a proud Nigerian, and I know that we have what it takes in terms of professionalism. For example, we have the best doctors in the world, we have the best in several fields too but the problem is that when it comes to football, we have not been able to train our coaches to be good enough. We have not been able to give them exposure, so it is time for us to build that now and the way to do that is to bring in foreign coaches, use them judiciously, let them develop our own coaches and when they leave, our coaches too can take over and perform excellently, but if you don’t and you keep on using half-baked coaches, we are not going to get anywhere. To have played for Nigeria before or in some foreign leagues does not mean you will be a good coach. No, you will have to have win some laurels, handle some teams somewhere in major competitions as a coach not necessarily in the Premier league. You would have proved your mettle before you are brought in to handle our senior national team. No I’m

not going to call Nigeria national team the Super Eagles because they are not super. We need experienced and established coaches and those ones we don’t have now, we would have them in the future if we imbibe the culture I am talking about in them.

How do you think the NFF can raise funds to pay the foreign coaches if finally employed?

Yes, they can raise funds if they put their act together, they need to put their house in order and stop all wranglings. They need to build good reputations, there are a lot of organisations out there that are willing to sponsor football it if we have a well-structured NFF, with transparency where accounts are published monthly and then you allow investors or sponsors to be part of the system. Of course yes, they will put money in there. The ministry of sports, get more money budget wise, Nigeria is the only country that I know that spends more money on sports compared to any other countries in the world. So, what did we get out of this?

It is not only the NFF, the ministry of sports itself has questions to answer, what did they do with this money? The NFF itself as I said has to put its house in order, there must be transparency, good public relations, if they do all of these, sponsors will come.

It’s not a big deal. Why can’t we for example have money from the telecoms tax, certain percentage going to the colleges I am talking about if the NFF is well structured. why can’t we get money from education tax?

The ministry of education and sports should work hand-in-hand, education and sports is one, they are one anywhere. And sports is not for drop-outs. It’s for those who have the drive to become champions and leaders.

You have to go to school, you have to use your brains, it does not mean you have to be a professor or the best in class, but you need that basic education.

To be continued

Plateau Utd Warri Wolves Wikki Tourists Abia Warriors Akwa United

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SATURDAY, 21 MAY, 2016

NO 1,152

NPFL FIXTURES - Sunday, May 22 Lobi Stars vs K/Pillars Enyimba vs El-Kanemi MFM, Lagos vs Ikorodu Utd vs Sunshine IfeanyiUbah vs 3SC RESULT Rangers 0 Heartland

vs vs vs vs

Rivers Utd Nasarawa Giwa Tornadoes

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Mikel rues miserable season at Chelsea

Mikel

LMC expels Giwa FC from NPFL

By Olawale Olaniyan

THE League Management Company (LMC), has expelled FC Giwa from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), following breach of the rules guiding the top flight league.

This came on the heels of the failure of the Jos-based side to honour its match day 18 home fixture against Enyimba in Ilorin last Sunday, where the team was banished to.

FC Giwa had prior to last Sunday’s botched game failed to honour two games against Wikki Tourists (in Bauchi) and Akwa United (in Ilorin).

The banishment of Giwa to Ilorin came after the game with visiting Rangers at the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos, was disrupted in the 74th minute by crowd violence, while Giwa later protested against its banishment.

The LMC recalled that Giwa appealed the decision but failed to appear before the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) disciplinary committee for hearing, following which the decisions of the LMC were upheld.

The LMC, in a statement

said FC Giwa by the action violated Rule B13.25 and B13.28 which prescribes expulsion from the league for any club that fails to honour three matches cumulatively within a season with no acceptable reason to the LMC. Rule B13.28 states that: “For failing to honour three matches cumula-

tively within the league season and without any acceptable reason, Giwa FC is expelled from the Nigeria Professional Football League with immediate effect and all matches involving Giwa FC, whether played or unplayed as well as the points arising or accruing there from are cancelled.”

CHELSEA midfielder, John Mikel Obi has admitted he is disappointed the London side failed to defend the Premier League crown at the just-ended season.

‘The Blues’ finished a disappointing 10th in the just-ended Premier League season after winning it the previous season and were eliminated in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner, Mikel said he was disappointed.

“As a player you have to be disappointed looking at the season we had and given the standards we have set for ourselves,” he told AfricanFootball.com.

“We made it to the Round of 16 of the Champions League, but now we have to look ahead to next season because sometimes you just don’t get to win titles.”

The career of Mikel got a boost last December following the arrival of Guus Hiddink, who tok over from sacked Jose Mourinho, as the Nigerian international got more playing time which made him to shun offers being dangled by clubs outside England before him.

A player of FC Giwa (right) battles for the ball possession with Shooting Stars’ Sylvanus Ebiaku, during their NPFL clash in Ibadan.

PHOTO: OLAWALE OLANIYAN.

Pinnick, Dikko meet new FIFA scribe, Samoura TOP Nigeria football officials have met the newly-appointed FIFA general secretary, Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura in Abuja.

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Mr Amaju Pinnick and second vice-president, Alhaji Shehu Dikko were at a breakfast meeting with Samoura on Thursday.

Samoura from Senegal was appointed into the position at

last week’s 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico City.

The 54–year old Samoura is the first–ever woman to hold the position in FIFA’s 112 –year history.

“We are very much delighted at your appointment. You are not only the first woman in this very important post but you are also the first African,” said Pinnick.

“We are very proud of you

and what you have achieved with the United Nations to deserve this position.

“By your appointment, the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino has shown his hand at the kind of organisation he wants to run: a dynamic, efficient and people–friendly institution that will fulfil his motto of ‘bringing football back to FIFA and FIFA back to football’.”

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: saturdaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: LASISI OLAGUNJU. All Correspondence to P. O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation.21/5/2016.