30th July 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 1,162

www.tribuneonlineng.com

SATURDAY, 30 JULY, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Court Ooni Sijuwade advanced Awo’s legacies —Awolowo Dosumu didn’t OAU celebrates late monarch

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@nigeriantribune

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Nigerian Tribune

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stop PDP convention

Militants flee Lagos, Ogun communities —Makarfi as aerial bombardment continues pg6 committee

Yoruba leaders unite, demand true federalism

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Pastor Bakare: North’s opposition to restructuring is betrayal of its founding fathers

t s e t a e r g y M fe

li fearkunin le Gold —Ade

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Weekend Lagos

Bank workers ordered to declare assets pg6 Omo Onile: Miscreants who are as powerful as the state

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Co-Chairman, ANN Plc, Ambassador (Dr) Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, with the acting Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Professor Anthony Elujoba, at the colloquium in memory of Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, at the Oduduwa Hall, OAU, Ile-Ife, on Friday. PHOTO: D’TOYIN

From left, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila and Mrs Desola Adejuyigbe (Fajuyi’s daughter), at the Fajuyi Golden Remembrance ceremony, organised by the Yoruba Think Tank, held at the International Conference Centre, U.I, Ibadan, on Friday. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

Workers protest turns pg7 Police rescue another bloody, 1 killed by police chained child in Ogun

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Yoruba leaders unite, demand true federalism

Saturday Tribune

Pastor Bakare: North’s opposition to restructuring, betrayal of its founding fathers

By Kunle Oderemi, Dare AdekanmbiAndTundeOgunesan

L

EADERS of the Yoruba race, on Friday, insisted on the structuring of the country as any further delay on the issue would pose grave danger to the unity of the federation.

The leaders, who used the opportunity of the 50th remembrance anniversary of the great hero and martyr, Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, to make their demand, said the defect in the current structure was crippling the stability and progress of the constituent units.

The occasion was unique as it brought together Yoruba from all walks of life and regardless of political affiliations with the multiple award-winning, world class scholar, Professor Niyi Osundare, delivering a lecture entitled “Adekunle Fajuyi and the Politics of Remembrance.”

Leaders in groups such as the Afenifere, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), Yoruba Assembly, Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and others were present at the well-attended event.

In a communiqué signed by retired General Olufemi Olutoye, who is also the Alani of Idoani on behalf of the leaders at the event organised by a new group, Yoruba ThinkTank, the Yoruba leaders decried the “terrible poverty that has become the lot of millions of our people as a result of the crisis of Nigeria’s structural defects, which have made it impossible for most of our states to meet their obligations to their citizens or even to pay basic salaries to their state workers.

They also “frown upon other effects of the unitary economy, especially its assault on Nigeria’s federalism which has now created the absurd situation whereby the Federal Government treats the states like beggars, and doles bailouts to them with stringent conditions from the resources which actually belong to them but which the Federal Government uses its unitary fiat to corner away from them” “We particularly reject the situation whereby our Yoruba nation’s welfare ideology has become practically impossible to implement in the context of the terminal crisis that Nigeria has now plunged into economically.

“To get out of this crisis, we insist on the restructuring of the Nigerian federation so that the federating units would be able to develop and harvest their resources to revive development and economic prosperity for our people,” they stressed.

“Yoruba people express unhappiness with the damage that has been done to our cultural and economic life by the unitary governance structure which has been foisted on Nigeria gradually since independence, and which has drastically limited and constrained our civilization. Many young Yoruba people below 30 years of age have either faint or no idea of historical figures like Fajuyi because Nigeria has stopped the teaching of History in our schools, thereby repressing our culture. There is nothing Nigeria can offer us that can compensate for the relentless erosion of our rich culture which we are proud of and which deserves to be cherished eternally.

“To repair this damage we resolved as follows: “Our state governments are duty bound to restore the teaching of history in our primary and secondary schools, and conduct regional examinations, and

issue certificates, on it for our students. Yoruba Language should be a compulsory subject in our schools, and our Houses of Assembly should use it as is now done in the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The Yoruba renaissance will be difficult to achieve without re-enacting the indigenous cultural heritage of the people.

Participants resolve that Yoruba language be made the language of instruction in all subjects in all public and private primary and secondary schools in Yoruba territories.

That the entire South-West should in the next one decade work to ensure that Yoruba language becomes the grandnorm in cultural, political and economic relations in all Yoruba States.

Yoruba people frown at the terrible poverty that has become the lot of millions of our people as a result of the crisis of Nigeria’s structural defects which have made it impossible for most of our states to meet their obligations to their citizens or even to pay basic salaries to their state workers.,” they said.

In a lecture entitled Adekunle Fajuyi and the Politics of Remebrance, Professor of English, Professor Niyi Osundare, said Nigeria was

“extraordinarily lucky” not to have disintegrated in the face of the various “ethno-regional and religious eruptions bedeviling it.

Osundare, a United States varsity don, therefore, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari not “to wave off the lingering call for a restructuring of the country” as doing so would be tantamount to “suicide through denial.”

“As yet, Nigeria has no ‘unity’ to negotiate or not to negotiate, which is why President Muhammadu Buhari must not only read the reports of the 2014 national confab; he owes himself and the country a critical duty to read, digest, deliberate on, and identify its implementable parts- beyond all partisan and ethno-regional considerations.

“To wave off the lingering call for a re-structuring of this country is to risk the possibility of suicide through denial,” he said.

Convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, lamented that the country was yet to recover from the “structural anomaly” of a unitary system of government foisted on it by the Aguiyi Ironsi military junta.

Ooni Sijuwade advanced Awo’s legacies —Awolowo Dosumu As OAU celebrates late monarch at colloquium

By Laolu Harolds and Oluwole Ige - Osogbo THE multi-dimentional virtues of the late revered Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, were extolled on Friday by various speakers at a colloquium organised by the Institute of Cultural Studies of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. Ooni Sijuwade’s humanism, religious tolerance, commitment to peace, doggedness in the pursuit of true federalism, philanthropy and other virtues were celebrated by an array of 15 speakers who presented papers.

Among the speakers at the event was Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, who spoke on ‘Oba Sijuwade’s Commitment to the Legacy of Obafemi Awolowo’.

According to her, the late monarch played a significant role in moving the legacy of the sage forward, and was relentless in pushing for the advancement of Chief Awolowo’s quest for true federalism.

She spoke glowingly of the late monarch’s contribution to Yoruba unity and alluded to his “many acts of kindness,” expressing the hope that both old and young Nigerians would continue to uphold the values that both Awolowo and Ooni Sijuwade stood for.

“Kabiyesi was well-placed to move Chief Awolọwọ’s legacy forward in this regard because he enjoyed the distinct

advantage of avoiding disparaging labels such as ‘tribalist’ or ‘Yoruba irredentist’. In any case, such labels could never have stuck, for many reasons.

His activities in this regard simply confirmed the Yoruba dictum, ‘ilé l’a ti ίk’ẹṣọ r’òde’.

“For example, he was wellknown, even before he ascended the throne, for his cosmopolitan outlook and, therefore, his formidable network of friends across all geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

He not only maintained and deepened such friendships throughout his reign, he continued to expand his already impressive circle of friends.

“Furthermore, the Yoruba Unity Forum, an umbrella body for all sociocultural organisations within the Yoruba nation, was one of the significant initiatives championed by Mama H. I. D. Awolọwọ, Oba Ṣijuwade, Bishop Bọlanle Gbonigi and other notable leaders.” (See full text of her speech on pages 28 & 29).

In his opening address, the acting vice chancellor of the university, Professor Anthony Elujoba, challenged all stakeholders in the Obafemi Awolowo University project to contribute to make the much trumpeted greatness of the university a reality.

But more than anything else, Elujoba said that the celebration of Ooni Sijuwade’s anniversary was as auspicious as it was instructive.

While describing the late Ooni Sijuwade as a great achiever and his reign “highly impactful,” Elujoba said, “Let it (his memory being celebrated) be a lesson to those of us that were handpicked by destiny to lead – especially traditional rulers.”

He urged them to know that the position they occupy – which is an exalted one – will end “at an appointed time.”

He thanked the Sijuwade family for the honour to be allowed to host the colloquium in Sijuwade’s honour “free of charge”.

The Dean, Faculty of Arts, OAU, Professor Gbemisola Adeoti, in his address noted that traditional rulers have an irreplaceable role in helping to tackle Nigeria’s security challenges, since, according to him, they are closer to the people than politicians.

He also lamented the tragedy of the Yoruba language that is dying, and challenged the traditional rulers to take the lead in what he called the traditional language renaissance.

In fact, he argued that anyone to be crowned king in Yoruba land should be someone who is not only proficient in the use of the language, but who is comfortable with its everyday use and is ready to promote it.

He also extolled the virtues of the late Ooni, whose life he said was “well-lived, and worth living,” as he promoted peace and the Yoruba culture.”

Other speakers at the event include Senator Femi Okurounmu, who spoke on the ‘Role of Oba Sijuwade in Promoting Yoruba Unity’.

Senator Okurounmu said there was the need for Yoruba leaders to downplay personal interest collective agenda of the race in order to achieve greatness.

According to Okurounmu, “Collectively, when it comes to protecting and advancing the interest of the race, we rank poorly. This, in my view, is because of too much individualism and too little sense of corporate responsibility to the race. We loathe yielding leadership to others, in the collective interest of all.”

He described Oba Sijuwade as “a colossus among the Nigerian traditional rulers of his generation, even more so among obas in Yorubaland, where the impact of his illustrious reign will reverberate for generations”.

Okurounmu, however, used the occasion to condemn the constant battle for supremacy among Yoruba obas, a development he described as totally unnecessary.

Ambassador Segun Bamgbetan spoke on ‘Oba Sijuwade’s Impact on Tourism’; Professor Muiz Opeloye spoke on ‘Oba Sijuwade as a Christian and Promoter of Religious Peace and Harmony,’ while Professor Yemi Akinyemi spoke on the ‘Political Aspect of His Imperial Majesty, Oba

Okunade Sijuwade’.

One of the speakers, Professor of History, Siyan Oyeweso, lamented the fact that Ife, in spite of its undeniable centrality to the Yoruba history, has not produced enough experts in the legal profession.

According to him, there are currently not more than five lawyers from Ife who have attained the status of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

He also challenged Ife to produce books on its history, just as he challenged the Obafemi Awolowo University to immortalise the late Ooni with an academic monument.

The reigning Ooni, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja I, in his brief remarks called for a minute silence in honour of his predecessor, who, according to him, lived an impactful life worthy of emulation.

Eminent personalities at the event included former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel; the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja 11), Professor Gabriel Olawoyin, the chairman of Ife Development Board (IDB) Professor Muib Opeloye, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the Alayemore of Ido-Osun, Oba Adedapo Aderemi, the co-chairman of ANN Plc, Dr Awolowo Dosumu, the acting vice chancellor of OAU, Professor Anthony Adebolu Elujoba, Senator Femi Okurounmu and a host of others.

Bakare warned against downplaying the call for restructuring “by certain interests. Mostly northern, upon the claim that the current pseudo-federal structure suffices.”

“Any anti-restructuring position taken by the North would bring to the courts of historical opinion the sincerity of the motives of the perpetrators of the countercoup that led to the death of Adekunle Fajuyi.

“The elders of the North who, today, are opposed to the call to restructure Nigeria have deviated from the ideals of the founding fathers of Northern Nigeria- the likes of the Sardauna, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa; leaders of our nation who were forerunners of Fajuyi in the Nigerian hall of martyrdom.

“Lest we forget, these Nigerian leaders from the North made it clear in the series of constitutional conferences that heralded Nigeria’s independence that true federalism with regional autonomy was the only condition under which they would exist within a Nigerian nation. “...The main reason the northern leaders and counter coupists who took the lives of Aguiyi-Ironsi and Fajuyi demanded a reversal of the unification decree and a return to the federal system of government.

“Consequently, to oppose restructuring now, fifty years after, is to confirm the words of Aesop, that “the injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scales,” Bakare said.

Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, in his own remarks, noted that restructuring of the country is an idea whose time has come and which cannot be wished away.

Dignitaries at the ceremony included General (Oba) Olufemi Olutoye and his wife; General AlaniAkinrinade; Sir Olaniwun Ajayi; Pa Ayo Adebanjo; Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu; Chief Cornelius Adebayo; Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN; Chief Supo Shonibare; Dr Kunle Olajide; Emeritus Professor Ayo Bamgbose; Chief Seinde Arogbofa.

Others were the representatives of Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti governors respectively, Alhaji Olalekan Ali (SSG), Chief (Mrs) YetundeOnanuga (Deputy Governor); and Mr JideEgunjobi (Information Commissioner); Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila; Professor BanjiAkintoye; Mr YinkaOdumakin; Mr Dele Alake; Mr ToyeArulogun; one scion of Fajuyi, Mrs DesolaOlajuyigbe; Chief Yemi Elebuibon; Mr Muyiwa Aduroja SAN; Chief TokunboAjasin; Mr RemiAjayi; Professor Abiodun Ilesanmi; Mr Jimi Agbaje; Dele Adesina SAN; Professor (Mrs) Dupe Adelabu; representative of OhanaezeNdigbo, African Region, Oliver Akubueze; and others.

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30 July, 2016

Alleged budget padding: Reps open more cans of worms, disown Jibrin JacobSegunOlatunjiand Kolawole Daniel - Abuja

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HE last may not have been heard on the padding of the 2016 budget by some principal officers of the House of Representatives as alleged last week by the ousted chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin, as some members of the committee publicly disowned him.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the deputy chairman of the committee, Honourable Chris Azubogu, flanked by other members, declared that “as members of the Committee on Appropriation, we want to state categorically that the ousted chairman’s action does not in any way reflect the position of the committee. He has constantly allotted all the actions and decisions of the committee to himself without conferring with the members.

According to him, “we, the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation view with total dismay and disappointment the conduct of the former chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Honourable Jibrin.

“We wish to state that we totally disassociate ourselves from all the plots to pull down the integrity of the leadership and mem-

bers of the eighth House of Representatives.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that a comprehensive collation of the reports of the budget from the various standing committees of the House was done by the appropriation committee which was in the process of deliberation when the ousted chairman unilaterally hijacked the entire budget to a hideout with his consultant without the consent of the committee. That was the last time the committee saw the budget only for Honourable Jibrin to resurface about three

weeks later, with a report purported to have come from the committee.

“In reaction to this unwarranted provocation, members approached Mr Speaker with a complaint and a demand to remove Honourable Jibrin as the chairman of the committee.

In his calm and peaceful manner, Mr Speaker sought to resolve the matter amicably in the overall interest of the House and the nation.

“In his usual recalcitrant manner, Honourable Jibrin preferred the confrontational approach which irked

the members to request for his urgent removal from office. This request was overwhelmingly supported by the entire House.

“In response to this demand by members, Mr Speaker had no choice but to act accordingly in order to maintain the integrity of the House “We also wish to state for clarity that there is no offence known to law in Nigeria as budget padding, otherwise the entire work of appropriation in the past and in the future will amount to nothing.

JacobSegunOlatunjiand Kolawole Daniel - Abuja

Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the three other principal officers to reconvene the House and step down with immediate effect to face prosecution.

According to him, “They have all lost the moral grounds to call themselves presiding and principal officers of the House. The more they cling on to power, the further the image of the House will be battered.”

The statement reads in part: “I wish to inform you that I have officially approached the EFFC and the ICPC to come in and decisively deal with this matter and other corruption cases in the House. Kindly note that the allegations must be externally investigated.

He also questioned the rationale behind his former deputy,

Honourable Chris Azibogu and few others’ decosopm to address a press conference where they claimed there was no budget padding.

He wondered why “only 9 out of the 40 appropriation committee members agreed to participate in such a dishonorable press conference after shamelessly collecting $20,000 each distributed to them yesterday at the Speaker’s residence by his Deputy Chief of staff, Hon CID Maduabum.

“My same Deputy Hon Chris Azubogu ( you will remember his history with Hon Hembe in the 7th Assembly) who was used to organize the press conference was clearly on camera almost crying at the press conference where I announced my resignation.”

EFCC, ICPC must probe allegation —Jibrin FORMER chairman of the House of Representative Committee on Appropriation, Honourable Jibrin on Friday insisted that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) must probe the allegation of budget padding he levelled against the Speaker, Honourable Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers.

He said that, “This is a defining moment for the House of Representatives. It will never be business as usual”.

To this end, he urged members “to join hands and do the honourable thing by asking

Suspected militants flee Lagos community as military air raid continues Olalekan Olabulo - Lagos

SUSPECTED militants have started leaving Imuti, Igbo Olomu and other parts of Ikorodu in Lagos State as military onslaught on militants terrorising the community continued on Friday.

A new detachment of soldiers was, on Friday, deployed to combat the activities of Niger Delta militants in the state.

Residents told Saturday Tribune that some suspected militants had started relocating from the community.

They, however, decried the inability of the security agents to challenge the fleeing militants and possibly arrest some of them.

Military aircraft reportedly returned to the Ikorodu community around 8.00 a.m. on Friday and hovered around the base of the militants at the creek.

A resident who simply identified himself as Sile told Saturday Tribune that “the plane returned this morning and hovered around the creek for some time before going away.”

He said “some military men

were also brought in but they are yet to get into any major confrontation with the militants. We have not heard any serious gunshots.”

The resident added that “since yesterday’s invasion by the military, we have started noticing some strange faces leaving the

communities. Some of them used fez caps to cover their faces and mounted commercial motorcycles with bags on their backs.”

He also stated that “the only thing is that we cannot stop them since we cannot confront them. There were no policemen in the

communities to stop them.

Many of them would have been arrested.”

Other residents of Igbo Olomu who spoke to Saturday Tribune urged the military to sustain the air raid on the community as a form of solution to the menace of the militants.

Disquiet as banks force workers to declare assets Sanya Adejokun - Abuja FOLLOWING escalating cases of fraud in the banking sector, the Federal Government has ordered a staff assets verification and declaration exercise for every bank worker in the country.

However, this appears to be causing some disquiet among the workers as some of the questions raised in the forms are almost impossible to answer.

It was learnt that the forms issued to the bank workers to fill were markedly different from the standard Assets Declaration Form issued by the Code of Conduct Bureau.

It was further gathered that the workers were asked to state names of their siblings, parents as well as all persons that they have business relationship with including their

bank details as well as how much they have in their accounts.

Our sources in a new generation bank explained that the staff were given up to last week Friday to submit the forms but most of the workers refused to fill details aside from their personal information.

When contacted, spokesperson of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Isaac Okorafor said the directive for banks toverify assets of their staff did not come from the apex bank.

He said “if there is any such thing happening in banks, such banks will be in a better situation to explain why they are doing it. “if it was a CBN directive, I would be able to explain it to you”, Okorafor said.

But when our correspondent spoke with a senior manager with a first generation bank,

he insisted that the directive that bank workers should declare their assets was from the apex bank.

The source, which did not want his name in print said that the move came in view of increasing incidence of fraud among bankers.

“If you declare your assets this year and it is stated that you have two cars, you cannot then acquire 10 cars within the next two years and claim that you got them through a fantastic salary that you are earning”, the source stated.

According to the 2015 annual report of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), 12,279 cases involving the sum of N18.02 billion were reported in the banking sector during the year.

The report also indicated that eventually, only N3.17 billion was actually lost.

Saturday Tribune

PDP crisis: Court didn’t stop August convention

—National Caretaker Committee Jacob Segun Olatunji and Leon Usigbe - Abuja AS the ending leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP continues , the Senator Ahmed Makarif led National Caretaker Committee of the Party on Friday declared that the Federal High Court in Abuja never issued any order sacking the Committee stopping its proposed August 17 National convention as widely reported in the media.

The Spokesman of the Committee,Prince Dayo Adeyeye who made the clarification in Abuja on Friday stated that the order credited to the Abuja Federal High Court in the media had created a lot of confusion about what actually transpired in the court.

According to him, “on the widely reported “ORDERS” purported to have been made by Hon. Justice Okon Abang, it is important to note the following: *The motion seeking to restrain the PDP from conducting the proposed 17th August, 2016 National Convention has not been heard by the Court and no date has been fixed for the hearing of same. *What was before the Court on Friday was the issue of who is the authentic legal Counsel for the PDP as between Ferdinand Orbih, SAN and O.O. Fakunle, SAN. “The Court in determining the question of Legal representation held that the appointment of O.O. Fakunle, SAN

by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff was acceptable to the court.

“It must be emphasized that at no stage did the Hon. Judge set aside the judgment of Justice A.M. Liman of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court, which could have led to the dissolution of the National Caretaker Committee.

“An Order validating Sheriff as National Chairman could not have arisen from the issue of proper legal representation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the portion of the ruling relating to this is herein- under reproduced: “Though I have powers to nullify the decision of the Port Harcourt.

Division that recognized Makarfi Leadership, I will not do so because there is no application to that effect before me. I will, however allow the Court of Appeal to do justice to that” According to him,”this clarification necessary because proceedings of Courts of Law should not be subject of subjective manipulation. We are a law abiding committee and will always continue to operate within the ambit of the law.

“It is not possible in law that a Judge of a Court of record will acknowledge the existence of a valid judgment and proceed to make the kind of Orders purportedly attributed to him.”

“It should be very clear to you now that the ruling of yesterday did not at any point hand over the leadership of PDP to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, it did not declare the Sen. Makarfi led Caretaker committee illegal and did not stop the proposed 17th August, 2016 National Convention,” he declared.

Prince Adeyeye who stated that the committee was not opposed to any peace efforts j declared that party members had started talking to one another after Thursday’s court ruling in Abuja.

He lamented the embarrassing manner in which courts were being manipulated by politicians in the country pointing out that in the end all issues will be resolved politically.

Said he,”We are tired as caretaker committee because of the way politicians are using courts to interfere in our operations. We are not averse to political settlement. Our doors are open for any peace talk” He also stressed that the caretaker committee was still working towards a successful conduct of the August national convention in Port Harcourt amidst political or legal movements.

Internal, external forces behind PDP crisis —BoT chairman Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna

THE chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Walid Jibrin, has attributed the festering crisis in the party to internal and external forces.

Nonetheless, he said that the party was taking steps to resolve the crisis and restore the party’s glory through genuine reconciliation and mediation.

Senator Jibrin, in Kaduna, on Friday, while commenting on a latest court verdict terminating the Ahmed Makarfi’s chairmanship, noted that the challenges “coming from both internal and external forces” were bound to happen.

“We are engaging in genuine reconciliation and mediation that will make us stronger to win Edo and Ondo governorship polls, the rerun in Rivers State and capture power in 2019,” he added.

He also said that the national convention of the party would go ahead as scheduled based on the party’s constitution and guidelines.

“We are yet to see any judgement suspending the national convention. Whichever way, if we decide to appeal and we are given accelerated hearing, nothing will stop the convention,” BoT chairman said.

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30 July, 2016

Exchange rate: Bakers may increase prices of bread

•As car dealers groan

By Tunde Ogunesan

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HERE is the possibility of an increase in prices of bread any moment from now as members of the Bakers Association of Nigeria, Oyo State, chapter are set to meet next week following a major increase in prices of production materials.

This was disclosed to Saturday Tribune by a member of the association, Mr Taiwo Samuel Titilola, in an interview.

Titilola revealed that following the likely increase in the price of flour next week, it is almost certain that the bakers meet to review the prices of bread.

He further added that the recent upsurge in the exchange rate which now stands at one dollar to N330 is killing their business.

He also noted that since exchange rate has been fluctuating in recent times, bread production has almost been unprofitable to bakers. He revealed that since the last outrage over expensive materials, only bakers in Oyo state have not increased the prices of bread, but stated that the review is inevitable now.

According to Titilola, “As we learnt, the prices of flour which we buy now at N9,500 per bag will be increased by August 1. With that, it is clear now that we can’t do without increasing the prices of bread now.

“As I am talking to you, it is only bakers in Oyo state that have not increased prices of bread. All our colleagues have complied, so with the latest clue that the price of flour will soon

go up, we’re meeting next Thursday at our headquarters in Ibadan to take a decision on that.

“Our people have been agitating for increase, the national body met last Friday and took a decision. We may have to do so, the unstable exchange rate is killing, but we can’t do that in isolation. Just wait for the outcome of our meeting on Thursday for final decision,” Titilola noted.

THERE was pandemonium in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State on Friday as men of the Nigeria Police killed one protesting worker, while several others were injured.

The police allegedly opened fire on the protesting workers during the visit of the Ayuba Waba-led Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to the state.

The NLC national leadership’s visit followed the lingering strike embarked upon by the state chapter of the NLC over the 50 per cent salary cut by the government.

Speaking to newsmen after the incident, the NLC national president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the police shot three protesting workers at the gate of the Government House, while officials of the union were holding a dialogue with Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura.

He said: “It is unfortunate that the police commissioner was lying to us that nothing happened while our men

Meanwhile, car dealers are also groaning over the fluctuating exchange rate.

Saturday Tribune’s investigation shows that the sharp rise became noticeable about three months ago and could not be unconnected to the exchange rate of the dollar which was hitherto N145 to a dollar but now exchanges for N373 to a dollar indicating 100 per cent increase.

A car dealer, Alhaji Afeez

were being shot. “ The workers in the state have a right to protest the reduction in their salary and no law enforcement agency has the right to shoot them.”

He said that the action of the police and the state government was against the rules of engagement which guarantees the right of workers.

He called on the police authorities to fish out the perpetrators of the act.

Reacting to the incident, the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Abubakar Sadiq Bello, who had earlier denied the story said he had instructed his men to investigate the matter.

He said he was inside the Government House when the incident happened and could not give a proper account of what happened until he is properly briefed.

Investigation by Saturday Tribune revealed that trouble started when the General Manager of the Nasarawa Broadcasting Service (NBS), Yusulf Musa, who was trying to

Oyo CP assures of safety over rumoured vehicles containing arms, ammunition

By Oluwatoyin Malik THE Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Leye Oyebade has assured residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, that his command has dispatched detectives and patrol teams to some locations within Ibadan metropolis where some yet-to-be identified vehicles allegedly containing arms and ammunition were rumoured to have been parked.

The assurance was given on Friday in a statement issued and signed by the state command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, a Superintendent of Police, on behalf of the police commissioner.

Saturday Tribune gath-

ered that the panic arose after an anonymous caller who claimed to be based in Germany phoned in during an entertainment programme on Fresh FM, Ibadan at about 12 noon on Friday.

The caller was quoted to have said that two trucks loaded with arms and ammunition were parked at Sabo and at a petrol station at Iwo Road areas in Ibadan.

Though the radio station was said to have told the caller to furnish it with more information on the registration numbers of the trucks and other details, he was yet to do so at the time of filing this report, according to the director, Corporate Affairs and Promotions, Fresh FM, Mr David Ajiboye.

His call, however, sent

Lagos to remove structures under high tension poles •Gives owners 7-day ultimatum Bola Badmus - Lagos

Ajani, told our correspondent that the rise in the exchange rate has really affected the purchasing power of motor vehicle dealers.

“We usually liaise with the bureau de change operators to know the actual price of the dollar before we travel. But most times, the dollar usually increases even while we are in transit which makes us to borrow and spend more than we budget for.”

One killed, many injured as police open fire on protesting Nasarawa workers Godwin Agwam - Lafia

Saturday Tribune

shivers down the spine of many residents who listened to the programme, which made the rumour to spread round the city.

Oyebade said that he had deployed operatives of Counter Terrorism Unit, Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Anti-Bomb Unit and regular policemen to the mentioned areas as well as others, but no vehicle as described by the caller had been found.

He disclosed that his men were still on the search to confirm the information and possibly recover the exhibits, if there was any, while he enjoined members of the public not to panic but go about their legitimate businesses.

gain access into the Government House ran over a police officer with his vehicle which got some protesting workers angry and pelted his vehicle with stones.

Musa had been having a frosty relationship with workers in the state, due to his perceived ‘ partisanship’ in the coverage of labour issues by the station.

This, it was gathered, led the police to shoot sporadically to disperse the protesters from the Government House premises.

THE Lagos State government has expressed its resolve to establish zero tolerance for all structures and properties built under high tension cables across the state, just as it has issued a 7-day ultimatum to owners of such structures to remove them without further delay.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr Anifowoshe Abiola, gave this ultimatum on Friday while speaking with newsmen, saying the measure was part of efforts by the state government to maintain a sustainable, organised and friendly environment.

“The Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development had noted with dismay the flagrant disobedience of Building Regulations in the state, and has, therefore, resolved to ensure removal of all structures that are in contravention of the law.

“The ministry and its relevant Agencies have commenced service of Contravention Notices on offending structures.

Owners of such structures are, therefore, urged to remove them within the next seven days.”

LASU suspends 3 students for attempting to abduct Student Union president Naza Okoli - Lagos THE management of Lagos State University (LASU) on Friday suspended three of its students for allegedly attempting to abduct the president of LASU Student Union (LASUSU), Mr Tayo Sekoni, on his way home from school, on Thursday.

A statement issued by the management identified the culprits as Oladayo Mojeed Babatunde, Adebanjo Fatai Adekoya, and Fola Kosoko.

According to the statement, Oladayo Mojeed Babatunde and Adebanjo Fatai Adekoya are 500-Level students in the School of Transport and the Faculty of Law respectively, while Fola Kosoko is a “fresh graduate.”

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Police rescue another chained child in Ogun Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta

B

ARELY a week after nine-year-old Korede Taiwo was freed from shackles by security operatives, the police have rescued another child, a certain 10-year-old Promise Ude, who had been in chains for 24 hours.

Korede had been chained by his father for weeks because of his habitual stealing.

The acting Public Relations Officer, Ogun State police command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, told newsmen, on Friday, in Abeokuta, that policemen attached to the Adigbe Division, acting on a tip-off from neighbours, stormed an uncompleted building in the area and rescued the girl.

The victim, according to the police spokesman, was rescued on Thursday.

Oyeyemi said the girl was chained to an iron bar for more than 24 hours in the building for allegedly stealing N4,000.

Oyeyemi said the suspect, a certain Mrs Chiamaka Okafor, had fled her home, while her husband, identified as Sunday Okafor, is in police custody.

Mrs Okafor was said to have escaped arrest on Friday afternoon when

the Divisional Police Officer, Adigbe, Mr Omoh, led a team of policemen and journalists to her residence.

She took to her heels on sighting the police and abandoned a baby, about six months old and three other children.

One of them, Godwin, said, “our mummy has gone to buy baby food for our baby.”

But three of the Okafors’ relatives and a tenant who occupied the boys’ quarters in the house were arrested.

Saturday Tribune could not establish whether the girl was a relative or a housemaid of the Okafors.

One of the tenants, who identified himself as Segun Poviesi, told the police that the landlady (Chiamaka) was around some minutes before the arrival of the police.

“She was around about two minutes before you arrived here. I could hear splash of water from the bathroom of the main building. I don’t know how she escaped,” the tenant said.

Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police, IIiyasu Ahmed, had expressed displeasure over the incident and ordered that full investigation into the matter be commenced imme-

diately.

“We got information that a 10-year-old girl by the name Promise Ude was chained inside the uncompleted building. This caused our men to move to the scene.

“The girl was rescued by the police and upon interrogation, the girl told us that it was her aunt that tied her on the allegation that she stole a sum of N4,000. The aunt is on the run, while her husband, who is an accomplice, has been arrested and he is helping us in our investigation.

“The CP, IIiyasu Ahmed, has launched a serious manhunt for the fleeing aunt with a view to bringing her to justice so as to serve as a deterrent to others. The CP is not happy with the situation, barely a week after one Korede Taiwo was rescued from a similar situation. ‘‘The matter is under investigation. The police are after the woman by the name Chiamaka Okafor.

Her husband, one Sunday Okafor, is in our custody.

As soon as we complete the investigation, they will be charged to court,” The police spokes man said.

According to him, the girl has been taken to Stella Obasanjo Children’s Home, Ibara.

Why I won’t seek vengeance against killers of Abuja preacher —Adeboye Ebenezer Adurokiya - Warri

THE GENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has disclosed the reason he will not seek vengeance against killers of Abuja preacher, Deaconess Eunice Olawale Elisha.

The 42-year-old was killed by unknown persons on June 9 at the Gbazango-West area of Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory, while preaching early in the morning.

She was an assistant pastor in the RCCG, Divine Touch parish, Kubwa area.

Adeboye said contrary to calls by eminent Nigerians that he should seek vengeance against the killers of the evangelist, he would not do so.

He said such move would be counterproductive, just as it would be contrary to what the deceased wanted and stood for when she was alive.

According to Pastor Adeboye, if Decaconess Elisha was actually preaching to win souls for Jesus Christ, it would be wrong to seek

to kill the same souls she sought to save.

Adeboye made the declaration on Friday, the second day of the ongoing Ministers Conference at the Redemption Camp, Kilometer 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, ahead of the 64th annual convention of the church, starting on August 1.

“I’m not looking for vengeance. I won’t listen to people asking me to seek vengeance.

“I won’t pursue the case.

That will be contrary to what she wanted.

“She wanted them saved,

not killed.

“What will their killing do for me?” the cleric said.

Treating the topic, “Importance of Mercy,” Pastor Adeboye said since every Christian did not know when they would die, the time to truly seek God was now.

Making an example out of the slain Mrs Elisha whom, he said, did not know she won’t return home alive on that fateful day, he warned that the end of the age was imminent, hence the prevalence of vices all over the world.

30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

The 2016 graduation ceremony of Misty-Gee Model College, Awosun Fasina, Ife-Ibadan Expressway, Ile-Ife, Osun State

From middle, the proprietor of Misty-Gee College, Alhaji Oyerinde Akanmu Gbenga ls’aq ; the proprietress, Alhaja Tawakalit Adenike Oyerinde (left) and the PTA chairman, Prince Funminiyi Alidu Adeyeba, the vice principal, Mrs Belle Amarachi Elufowoju, with the graduating students, during the event marking the 2016 graduation ceremony of Misty-Gee Model College, lle-Ife, Osun State, on the school premises, recently.

From middle, the proprietor of Misty-Gee College Alhaji Oyerinde Akanmu Gbenga ls’aq; the vice principal, Mrs Belle Amarachi Elufowoju (flanked right); Mr Lawrence Adewuyi Adeola; Senior Prefect (Boy), Adejobi Solomon; Senior Prefect (Girl), Adekanmbi Martha (flanked left), and the graduating school prefects at the event.

Members of the Governing Council of the college in a group photograph with the proprietor and proprietress of the school at the graduation ceremony.

Okorocha approves 3 working days for Imo workers Joe Nwachukwu -Owerri

GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has said that civil servants in the state are to work for only three days a week while the remaining two days will be for other pursuits to sustain their families.

Okorocha made the declaration on Friday while addressing newsmen at his residence in Owerri.

According to him, those that will not be involved in the arrangement are

hospital workers, teachers, fire service personnel and other essential workers.

He pointed out that after the payment of outstanding salaries for the months of May, June and July, workers in the state would begin to receive their salaries as and when due.

Chief Okorocha also said that he was considering calls from several quarters to drop the free education programme which he started at the inception of his administration.

A cross section of some members of staff of Misty-Gee Model College and Kiddies Academy at the event.

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t s e t a e r g My

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11 news

Saturday Tribune

30 July, 2016

Bode George best bet as PDP national chairman—Campaign Organisation

By Moses Alao

T

HE Olabode Ibiyinka George Campaign Organisation, the body saddled with the responsibility of mobilising support for the ambition of former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George of becoming the national chairman of the party, has stated that the top politician threw his hat into the ring “because of his pan-Nigerian vision and the love for the collective interest of Nigerians.”

The organisation stated this on Friday during its visit to the management of the African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, publishers of the Tribune titles. On the entourage were the organisation’s chairman and former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope; secretary, Mr Usman Shodipe and Chief Dare Adeleke “Chief Olabode George is experienced, having been the National Vice Chairman (South-West) of the party and later Deputy National Chairman (South).

Under his leadership, the PDP achieved electoral success in the SouthWest geopolitical zone and across the country,” Babatope said, noting that the team visited Tribune because “no matter what anyone says, Tribune has established itself as

a successful and courageous institution and Chief George remains a staunch supporter of Papa Obafemi Awolowo and a lover of Tribune. He believes in Tribune and the Awolowo family.

“We know that you are not politicians; we are and we need your support,” Babatope added.

Meanwhile, Shodipe maintained that Nigeria could only have an effective democracy if there was a counter-balancing effect, which he said is non-existent in Nigeria today, calling on the media to develop democracy by rising above the fray to allow for plurality of voices and give vibes to the opposition’s

Wordfeast 2016 CHRISTIAN Information Network Ministry (Inc) is set to hold its WordFeast 2016 with the theme “Beyond Pentecost.”

The event is scheduled to take place from Thursday, 4 August till Sunday, 7 August at Redemption Family Church, Opposite H.P. Petrol Station, W.A.E.C. Ijokodo Road, Ibadan Oyo state.

Time is 5:00pm daily, Sat-

voice.

Sodipe added: ‘‘Chief Olabode George is in this race not because of personal interest but for the collective interest of Nigerians. Nigeria is in trouble right now, so anyone who will become PDP national chairman must be someone who can act effectively as an alternative president.’’

Responding, the Editor, Nigerian Tribune, Mr Debo Abdulai, who spoke on behalf of the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief , Mr Edward Dickson, welcomed the team on behalf of the management, lauding Chief George’s love for Tribune.

He promised that the

urday 4:00pm and Sunday 8:00am.

WordFeast 2016 will feature In-depth Teaching; Holy Ghost Baptism; Impartation of spiritual gifts; Miracles; Worship experience, among others.

Singspiration/ Music will be performed by Evang Toun Soetan and Trinity World Outreach; Redemption Voices and the Joint Campus Christian Fellowship ( JCCF) Choir of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Guest ministers are Reverend Samson Ajetomobi of MIV, Ibadan; Evang.

(Mrs) Toun Soetan and Pastor Remi Afolabi of RCCG, New Jersey,U.S.A. The hosts are Reverend Francis and Toyin Adesola.

company would give adequate support to the aspiration of Chief George, whom he described as a f r iend of t he hou se,

noting, however, that such support would be “within the ambit of what media ethics and professionalism allow, because

Tribune was founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo on a sound philosophy of fairness, justice and truth.’’

Tunde Busari

attestation of the dawn of a new era in the relationship between Iwo and Ile-Ife. He said the place of IleIfe as the cradle of Yoruba race was undisputable and indeed sacred, hence the respect accorded to the Ooni of Ife by Yoruba at home and in diaspora.

“What this development tells me is that unity of

Yoruba is in sight. We shall soon get there with spirit of love and communalism. I am happy to witness this development and I am happy to reunite with my kith and kin with a view to forging a more united family both in Iwo and Ile-Ife. I have no doubt in my mind that we shall achieve it sooner than later,” he said.

Oluwo returns to family compound in Ile-Ife HISTORY will be made tomorrow in Ile-Ife when the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul Rasheed Akanbi leads his people to the ancient town to reunite with members of Owodo Luwo Royal Family.

The historic visit follows a letter of commendation the Ife royal family recently sent to Oba Akanbi in which the family extolled his strong attachment with the family in his words and deed since he ascended the throne in November 2015.

The letter, dated July 9, 2016, was signed by the duo of Sooko Owodo, Professor Prince S.R.A. Adewusi and family Secretary, Prince S.A. Adegbola.

“Your enthronement to the throne of your forefathers is not by accident but by God’s doing who had planned it in honour of Telu, our son and your royal highness’s source of the highly esteemed crown that your highness is presently wearing as one of the ancestral rulers, not in Osun State alone, but also beyond,” the letter stated.

Oba Akanbi could not hide his joy at the Owodo Luwo family’s sense of history, describing the letter as unprecedented and an

Church Anniversary LAND of Mercy Church of God International, a.k.a.

Mountain of Mercy, is set to celebrate its 11th anniversary with the theme, “From Glory to Glory,” from Monday, 1 - Sunday, 7 August, 2016 between 9a.m and 12noon.

On Friday, 5 August, 2016, there will be a vigil from 11p.m. - 5a.m., while the thanksgiving service will hold on Sunday, 7 August, 2016 at 11a.m, at Tobi Rentals B/Stop, along Eleyele/Ologun-Eru Eruwa Expressway, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Guest minister is Prophet/ Evangelist Rotimi Olu-Ojo. Other guest ministers include Prophet Oluseye Adesiyan; Evangelist Tope Olasupo; Pastor Jayeola Isaac and Pastor Ayo Joseph Iyiola.

Also ministering are Bunmi Ken-Iriah, JP; Evangelist Adesiyan Deborah; Evangelist Obadele Stella Oluponna;

Pastor Joel Akintoye.

Prophet/Evangelist Oluponna Oluaseyi, JP, is the host pastor.

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

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

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

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

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

GOT NEWS?

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

Ikeja Marketing Office.

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

Contact: saturdaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com or call:07030004233

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

With Aunty Yemi 08056834515 ojeleyeoyeyemi@yahoo.com

1 1.

Olukayode Talabi, 11 yrs old, JSS 1 2 I want to become a pastor. I want hardship, kidnapping, corruption, trafficking, etc, to come to an end. I will intercede for my country against everyone troubling her, especially Boko Haram so that our society can be at peace and harmony to enjoy every resource provided for us by God. May God grant our President the wisdom to lead Nigeria aright.

3

4

2. Marvelous Agboola, 11 yrs old, JSS 1 My ambition is to become an agricultural engineer in order to serve my fatherland. With my profession, I will encourage students who are running away from agriculture to embrace it. I will also make effort to promote mechanised farming so that I would have young people getting involved in agricultural production.

3. Olubusoye Adetutu, 12 yrs old, JSS 3 As a way to give back to my society, I wish to become a nurse. I’ve learnt of people like Mary Slessor, who was a missionary but at the same time practised as a nurse and who campaigned against the killing of twins in Nigeria.

By God’s

5

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

6

Our ambitions and what we want to give back to the society grace, I will be a dedicated assistant to godly doctors with fine characters unlike many today.

4. Emmanuel Folasade, 12 yrs old, JSS 2 My desire is to become a lawyer who will rise to the level of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). This will empower me to render assistance to people even while I practise the profession. I want to join lawyers who say nothing but the truth and aid fair judgments in courts, irrespective of the people’s status - young or old, rich or poor

and literate or illiterate.

One of the aspects I will focus on is promoting fundamental human rights, particularly of children.

5. Joshua Olakanla, 13 yrs old, JSS 3 I would like to go into the teaching profession in a higher institution. I want to share of the knowledge I have acquired with the younger generation. My visions are to bring out the potential in every child I have contact with, be a role model to them in dressing, through hard work, punctuality and fairness

to fellow human beings. I will teach creativity. I have noticed that most students are no longer worthy in learning and character. In my little way, I will reverse this decadence.

6. Omotolani Oyebade, 11 yrs old, JSS 2 I aspire to become a medical doctor. I’m interested in saving lives. It hurts me when I see sick people not being attended to in time. I hope by the time I begin to practise, together with other doctors, I will be able to find cure to some ailments that yet have none.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S JUMBLED WORDS 1. ERCI

1. RICE

2. AWTRE

2. WATER

3. IGHLT

3. LIGHT

4. CPASE

4. SPACE

5. OCLD

5. COLD

6. ATHRE

6. HEART

7. EBE

7. BEE

8. GENYER 8. ENERGY 9. ESED

9. SEED

10. AMRS

10. MARS

C

Tongue Twister

One good turn deserves another Can you say this ten times without a pause?

a r t O O n

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

16 healthandfitness I don’t enjoy sex

I am a newly married lady. I have not been enjoying sex with my husband because he complains that I am too tight for him to penetrate. I have tried to use lubricants to no avail. Please help.

Nkechi (by SMS) You and your husband will need to engage in more foreplay before the actual

sex so as to allow some form of lubrication of your vagina for easy access. In addition, you will need

to divulge yourself of any form of fear or misconception about sex which may be giving you some form of anxiety and frigidity.

If all these steps fail to improve your sex life, then you may need to see a gynaecologist for a proper examination to rule out any other deepseated anatomical problem in your body.

I see my menses twice a month I have been seeing my menses twice a month for the past four years.

Kindly let me know the cause and treatment of the problem.

Margaret (by SMS) Although the ideal thing is to see your menses once a month, certain factors

ranging from emotional to infection as well as the use of hormonal and in-

tra uterine contraceptives can cause the menses to be irregular. In addition, women with fibroids or those close to their menopause can also have this kind of problem. My advice will be for you to see a doctor for a proper examination as well as some laboratory investigations.

Dr. Wale Okediran 08055069356 (sms only)

P

Cataract is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. It can affect either or both eyes. While

rolong sitting is one habit that receives less attention from most of us. While many jog or do one form of physical exercise or the other, the cardiovascular death though declining has not reached the target. Our entire modern world is constructed to keep you sitting down. When we drive, we sit. When we work at an office, we sit. When we watch TV, well, you get seated. Health-enhancing benefits of physical activity, this alone may not be enough to reduce the risk for disease.

Prolonged sitting, meaning sitting for eight to 12 hours or more a day, increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 90% as shown in a study. Those with prolonged sitting hours have a 15 to 20 per cent higher risk of heart disease, death from heart disease, cancer, death from cancer. It then means that avoiding sedentary time and getting regular exercise are both important for improving your health and survival. Engaging in 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous daily exercise does not mean it’s proper for you to “sit on your rear” for the rest of the day.

Many of the currently available jobs are sedentary in nature; thanks to advent of computers and information technology (IT). While IT is useful we need to apply ourselves and prevent prolonged sitting by the computers. Prolonged sitting is not good for our health. Legs have the largest bulk of muscle in the body and when at rest, calories are not burnt and blood flow rate is reduced enhancing the ability for the blood to come together and form clot in those that are predisposed to it. Apart from this, when you sit for too long, the body weight increases leading to obesity.

Obesity is associated with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart attack, stroke, and cancers. My concern is that these diseases are increasing in our communities traversing through the old and young, high and low social class, literate and those educationally underprivileged group. If you find yourselves obese or overweight, kindly reduce your weight by at least by 10%. People are dying at the prime of their ages; we shall all eat the fruits of our labour. Watch your weight, keep moving your legs and avoid sedentary lifestyles.

Start by examining the time you spent on computer, watching television, treating files in your offices, when in excess it leads to cardiac problem. We must all be active irrespective of our age. Physical activities have been shown to

cataract is commonly associated with ageing, not everyone who suffers from it is old. Some children are born with cataract (congenital cataracts) and, in these cases, early detection and treatment is critical to prevent permanent damage. As well as being hereditary, other causes of cataract can include eye trauma, sun-

waleokediran@yahoo.co.uk

My whitish discharge I discovered a whitish discharge from my penis about a year ago. I used Erythromycin 1gm and the discharge stopped only for it to start again. I have not used any drugs again because some of them used to give me constipation.

Please I need your advice.

Obinna (by SMS) In view of the long period of the infection, the best thing to do is for you to send a sample of the discharge to a laboratory for proper analysis. This way, the actual cause of the infection as well as the ap-

Afraid of cataract operation My company doctor recently confirmed that I have cataract in one of my eyes and referred me to the teaching hospital for surgery. However, I am afraid of eye operation. Kindly enlighten me on this ailment and the required operation. I am 67 years old and not diabetic or hypertensive.

Danlami (by SMS)

Saturday Tribune

30 July, 2016

light exposure, diabetes, genetic disorders or dehydration in children from severe diarrheal infection and fevers, and even some medications. Cataract is treated with a straightforward, 20-minute surgery, which when performed by a qualified ophthalmologist, is very safe and effective.

propriate drugs to be used to treat the infection will be confirmed. In addition, it is also important for you

to also treat whoever you could have had sexual contact with in order to avoid a reinfection.

Rashes on my upper lip I don’t know the English name but I have these rashes on my upper lip. It is called ‘Isinu’ in Yoruba.

It is very painful and has made my lip bigger than before. What causes it and what can I do to treat it?

Oriade (by SMS) What you have is a virus infection called Herpes Zorster. It usually happens when your immune system is depressed or you have been run down physically.

Since it is a virus infection, it will run its course. All you will need is to see your

doctor for some medicines that will relieve the pain as well as some cream or skin paint for the rashes. Some Vitamin tablets that will help to boost your resistance will also be helpful.

In severe cases or when the rashes are recurring too frequently, your doctor may order some blood tests to rule out other underlying ailments.

Dr. Abiodun Adeoye adeoyemoshood@yahoo.com

08056564360, 08072000017 (sms only)

Prolonged sitting can kill faster than imagined • • • be of tremendous help in maintaining a healthy cardiovascular state. There is no age limit when it comes to physical activity. Just because a person ages does not mean he or she must become inactive. The older a person gets, the more important it is to remain as physically active as possible.

Studies have shown that “It is not good enough to exercise for 30 minutes a day and be sedentary for 23 and a half hours. Also, “Decreasing sitting hours is not a replacement for exercise, and exercise is not a replacement for sitting more. They are both important to do, and do more of.” This is the key for prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

For all of us, especially our busy executives, I have the following measures of physical activities that will not affect you work.

At home • Go out for a short walk before breakfast, after dinner or both. Start from five minutes and gradually step it up to 30 minutes.

• Engage yourself in certain home works thereby giving helping hand to the ‘officers’ in the kitchen. House help may not have to do everything for us. Get water and drinks from the fridge. Clear tables where applicable and move around in the house.

• Rather than driving or sending somebody to get things for you in a nearby shop, walk there yourself. Use car

•

or bike only for long distances. When walking, pick up the pace from leisurely to brisk. Choose a raised or uphill route wherever possible.

Stand up while talking over the phone and pace up and down while the conversation lasts. It helps.

While watching TV, get up often, especially during the commercial breaks.

You can walk with your dog if you have one. This may look strange depending on the area of your settlement, don’t bother; keep it up.

Park further away at shopping mall and walk the extra distance subject to safety of your car in that vicinity.

At the office Employers need to recognise the impact of prolonged sitting on their employees, and encourage workers to get up and move throughout the day.

• Brainstorm project ideas with a co-worker while taking a walk. It is not all projects or business discussion that requires prolong sitting. The common saying is “let’s sit and discuss it over” but this oftentimes delay the outcome and possibly affects our cardiovascular state.

• Again, in the office where possible, stand while talking over the phone. Get a specially made table that can allow you stand and still work on your computer.

• Walking down the hall to speak with someone rather than using telephone.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator/lift.

• Get involved in organising charity walk and raise money for the underprivileged. Your heart benefit in both ways, being happy for helping others and the effect of the exercise on the heart.

• Get off bus/car/bike a few stops early and walk the rest of the way home or work.

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30 July, 2016

Divorce

Saturday Tribune

Court & Crime

My husband dates 4 girls on our street, woman tells court

Her behaviour changed the moment I lost my job —Husband

My wife does not know how to cook, her food is always tasteless —Husband Please, don’t dissolve the marriage, I still love him —Wife Stories Courtesy Agency Report

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46-year-old housewife, Aisha Abiodun, has lost her 21-yearold marriage to her husband, Ashimiyu, over poor cooking.

Delivering his judgement, the president, Igando Customary Court, Lagos, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, said the petitioner was adamant despite all mediations from the court and family intervention to save the marriage.

“Since the petitioner has insisted on divorce after several interventions, the court has no choice but to dissolve the union despite the wife’s claim that she still loves her husband.

“The court pronounces the marriage between Ashimiyu Abiodun and Aisha Abiodun dissolved today; both parties, henceforth, cease to be husband and wife.

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

Earlier, the petitioner, Mr Ashimiyu Abiodun, 54, had approached the court

and asked it to dissolve his 21-year-old marriage over his wife’s alleged poor cooking.

“My wife did not know how to cook, her food was always tasteless. Anytime she cooked and I complained about her food, she would tell me to cook myself.

“And I started cooking my food because if I had continued eating her food, I might have fallen sick,” he said.

Abiodun said, “My wife was very dirty; she would not wash or sweep the house, everywhere in the house used to smell.

“She kept packing used plates for four days or more without washing them and I was always doing the cleaning.

“Aisha would go out every Friday and return on Sunday evening.

D u r i n g

inside

weekdays, she would leave home by 7 a.m. and return at midnight and I dared not query her.

“Aisha had turned my children against me, they had stopped respecting me and she would not allow me to correct them whenever they erred.

“On several occasions, my wife and my first son torn my clothes in the public when I wanted to beat him for his wrongdoing,” he said.

Abiodun said his wife was lazy, saying she ruined the shop he equipped for her on three occasions.

But Aisha, 46, a launderer, said, “I did not know why my husband stopped eating my food. I tried my best to give him good food but he was always complaining that my food was tasteless.

“I was not dirty as I was always cleaning the house,” she said.

Aisha urged the court not to grant her husband’s plea, saying “I still love him.”

My husband is a carpenter who has not built a table in 3 years —Wife I only beat her ’cos she was not submissive and respectful —Husband

See pages 18 & 23

Mrs Cecilia Ajayi, 42, has pleaded with an Igando customary court in Lagos State to dissolve her 20-year-marriage with her husband, John Ajayi, aged 46.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Cecilia, the petitioner, accused Ajayi, the defendant, of being as a womaniser.

“My husband is a womaniser, he is dating four girls in our street and brings them into our matrimonial home.

“On many occasions, he and his lovers have beaten me up whenever I prevented them from entering our room.

“He was not satisfied with his lovers, as he, on several occasions, made attempts to rape my younger sister,” the wife told the court.

She also accused John, with whom she has three children, of excessive alcohol consumption.

Cecilia said, “John is a drunkard.

After drinking to stupor, he will be falling inside gutter, talking in an incoherent manner.”

She also claimed that her husband sent her packing because she was not educated, saying, “he can no longer cope with illiterate.”

The wife said that John refused to leave his family house since they got married in 1996.

On three occasions, I was attacked

by John’s family members over inheritance, she said.

“My husband’s family wanted to kill me; they said that I was the one preventing my husband from sharing his late father’s property.

“John always said that he could not relocate from his family house,” Cecilia said.

She urged the court to end the marriage, saying that she was no longer interested in the affair because her life was no longer safe.

The husband, John Ajayi, however, denied the allegations, saying that his wife ran away with a man because he lost his job and was no longer financially buoyant.

“Things were moving on fine until I lost my job and her behaviour changed, she packed out to live with another man.

“She even gave birth for her new lover two months ago,” he said.

The respondent said that he could not leave his family house because he was the only son in the family.

John, therefore, begged the court not to grant his wife’s wish adding that he was still in love with her.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, after listening to the couple, adjourned the case till September 27, for judgement.

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

23

courtandcrime

My husband is a carpenter who has not made a table in 3 years —Wife

I only beat her ’cos she was not submissive and respectful —Husband Stories by Ayomide OwonibiOdekanyin,BiolaAzeez,withAgency reports

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woman, Mrs F a d e k e m i Owoyemi, has dragged her husband, Dele, before an Igando customary court in Lagos State, asking for the dissolution of her 15-year-old marriage over battery and neglect.

She told the court that her husband was a drunk that does not care for his family.

“My husband is a regular customer at the bars; he will drink and even fall into the gutter,” she said.

She also added that he did not care about the welfare of his three children.

“We have been married for fifteen years. All through this time, I have been the one catering for the needs of my family from my meagre resources. I combine all sorts of odd jobs with my tailoring business to make ends meet.

“My husband is a carpenter who has not even built a table in the last three years.

He uses any money he has to drink and womanise. If I complain, he would beat me mercilessly.”

The complainant also accused her husband of threatening her by always hitting her with dangerous weapons which always left scars on her body.

“My husband always attacked me with dangerous weapons whenever he wanted sex.

“If I told him I was not in the mood, he would pick a quarrel with me,” she said.

She begged the court to dissolve the union, saying she could no longer tolerate his conduct.

Her husband, however, told the court that he never threatened to kill his wife, but admitted beating her only because she was not submissive and respectful.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola adjourned the case till September 13 for further hearing.

He neglects me and the children for his family —Wife A 48-year-old man, Ikechukwu Oshomagbe, has lost his 19-year-old marriage to his wife, Ejiro, over his inability to take decision on his own.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, in his judgement, said that it was obvious from available testimony and the respondent’s refusal to appear in court that the marriage had hit the rocks.

“Throughout the duration of this case, the respondent refused to honour court processes.

“Since the petitioner had produced the affidavit of service to prove the respondent’s absent, the court had no other choice but to dissolve the marriage.

“The court pronounces the marriage between Ejiro Oshomogbe and Ikechukwu Oshomagbe is hereby dissolved from today, both parties henceforth cease to be husband and wife.

“Both parties are free to marry any partner of their choice, without any hindrances and molestation,” Omilola said.

Earlier, the petitioner, Ejiro, 45, trader, had urged the court to dissolve her marriage to Ikechukwu, because his extended family controlled her home.

“My husband could not take decisions on his own, his mother and his six brothers were controlling our home.

“If we discussed anything, my husband would first go to his family to consult with them, what they said would be my husband’s final decision.

“I am just like a maid, my decision is always rejected. In fact, I don’t have a say in my matrimonial home,” she said.

Ejiro also told the court that her husband was a drunk.

“My husband always spent his salary with his brothers at a beer parlour and after drinking to stupor, he would be staggering and falling into the gutter.

“He urinated and messed up everywhere in our flat whenever he is drunk and most times, he beat me without reason,” the estranged wife alleged.

The mother of two accused her husband, who failed to appear in court after receiving several summons, of being an irresponsible husband and father.

“When my daughter fainted when she had fever,

I called my husband to come home so that we could take her to the hospital, he said that he was in a beer joint and that he could not come.

“He did not sleep at home most times as he stays with his brothers or mother, he always told me that nothing could separate him and his family.

“He is so attached to his family, he constantly met their needs, wants, feelings, he always supported them financially and was not willing to spend anything toward our upkeep.

“I paid the house rent and the children’s school fees because my husband refused to pay,” she said.

Ejiro claimed that her husband asked her to go to his

He usually subjects me to public ridicule and disgrace —Wife She’s diobedient and quarrelsome —Husband A housewife, Kudirat Shitu, has urged an Oja-Oba Independent Panel Sharia court in Ibadan, Oyo State to dissolve her 11-year-old marriage to her husband, Taofeek, for alleged molestation and irresponsibility Kudirat told the court that Taofeek usually humiliates her in public as well as not catering for her needs.

“My lord, ever since I got married to Taofeek , he has subjected me to varying degrees of molestation or public humiliation.

“I am also psychologically and emotionally down because rather than correct my mistakes within our immediate living room, he prefers going outside where people can ridicule and look down on me.

“As if that is not enough, Taofeek is in no way alive to his responsibility as a husband because he does not even fend for me and our four children, let alone clothing our nakedness.

“For instance, we spent the last Ramadan fast in hunger, including the under-aged children who ordinarily should not fast because there was no food.

“Worst still, Taofeek has been preventing people who wanted to render support or monetary assistance to me and the children.

“Please my lord, there is no amount of plea from him that will make me change my mind as my family members

Woman divorces hubby for not having toilet in his house A newly-married woman has divorced her husband for not having a toilet at their house at Dahawa village in Bihar’s West Champaran district in India.

Archana Gautam (21), who is from a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district, had tied the knot with Bablu Ram (22) on May 20. Bablu’s family had promised her parents that they would construct toilet before the wedding.

Archana filed for divorce and returned to her parents house on Thursday after her in-laws failed to

Man jailed for robbing lover after sex

A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court, Ghana, presided over by his Worship James K. Botah, for robbing his lover of her belongings after sex in a hotel at Tweneboah, Accra.

Mohammed Issah was sentenced on his own plea by the court, Daily Guide of Ghana reported last week.

The convict, who hails from Tamale, lures his women to a hotel, have sex with them after which he robs them of their valuables while they are resting, according to the police.

A police source told Daily Guide that Mohammed Issah meets victims on Facebook and establishes friendship with them.

After chatting for a while, the convict, who usually claims to be a businessman and imports mobile phones from Canada and Germany, will then propose love to them. Later the convict would arrange for them to meet at a hotel and after sex he robs the women of their valuables and absconds, the source said.

Mohammed was about to use the same means to rob another victim

when one of his victims, who had reported him earlier to the police, caused his arrest.

The complainant in the case (name withheld) said she met the suspect on Facebook three months ago and they became friends.

On June 24, 2016, she said Mohammed requested that they meet at a hotel located at Odorkor,Tweneboah.

We had fun when we met and slept together until the next morning at the hotel, she said.

Around 6:30am, the victim said she went to the bathroom to freshen up, and immediately Mohammed took her three mobile phones, which included a Samsung Grand 2, Sony Xperia, Mastercard and cash of GHcl50 from her bag.

She said Mohammed also locked her up in the hotel room and bolted with the key and items.

According to the victim, she raised an alarm which attracted the hotel management who rescued her with a duplicate key.

The victim later lodged a complaint with the Odor­kor Police.

keep the promise. “As there was no toilet at the house, she had to go and defecate in a field,” said a villager.

Sarpanch Binod Chaudhary and other panchayat members ruled in Archana’s favour.

“The woman’s husband and mother-in-law expressed their inability to install hand pump and construct toilet at their house citing poor financial condition. Bablu is a daily wager. After hearing arguments from both sides, the panchayat approved Archana’s divorce petition,” the sarpanch said.

Misunderstanding, main cause of divorce —Lawyer AN Ilorin-based legal practitioner, Mr Isiaka Ahmed, has identified lack of understanding among couples as the major cause of divorce in the country.

Ahmed said this when he spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Ilorin Magistrates’ Court.

He said that understanding was a basic ingredient for a successful marriage, but was lacking among most couples.

He said it was unfortunate that most young couples rushed into marriage without understanding themselves, a development he added had always led to break-up in young marriages.

Ahmed, therefore, advised intending couples to

village for spiritual cleansing.

“My husband is forcing me to go to his village for cleansing; I didn’t just understand what the cleansing was all about.

“Two of my husband’s elder brothers’ wives have gone to the village for cleansing, they died few days after returning to Lagos.

“I am afraid because I didn’t want to die now,” she said.

The petitioner presented a text message sent to her by her husband that she should go to his village for cleansing and that he would not appear in court for any dissolution.

take time to study themselves and to understand their likes and dislikes before going into marriage.

This, he said, was critical to ensure a successful marriage and to avoid being disappointed at the end of the day.

He, however, blamed most parents for forcing their children into marriages and imposing spouses on them, adding that this accounted for high rate of divorce among young couples.

He further advised parents not to force their children into relationships, adding that this could lead to bad relationship and break-up.

Ahmed urged governments and religious leaders to organise regular marriage seminars for youths in order to orientate and prepare their mind for a lasting marriage.

have already approved of the separation,” Kudirat said.

Taofeek, 50, denied the allegations of being irresponsible, adding that though it was true that he had in the past cautioned her publicly, but Kudirat was a disobedient wife.

“Ever before I caution her outside, I must have done more than enough in the room and it is as a result of her disobedience, that I made some of those public corrections on her.

“I have, however, stopped that some years back. I have numerous evidence of how I have been so responsible toward Kudirat and the four children based on the level of my economy.

“In fact, in one of the apartments we lived in the past, Kudirat fought the landlord’s daughter, inflicting very serious tooth bites on her of which I paid heavily for the hospital bill.”

He said that it took God’s intervention to stop her from being sent to prison.

President of the court, Sheikh Ahmad Tirimisiyu, asked the couple to produce evidence to support their arguments.

Tirimisiyu advised Kudirat to be patient, adding that the issue was not serious enough to warrant separation and adjourned the case till August 4, for further hearing.

A villager said the couple had differences over educational qualification. “The woman is a graduate while her husband is not educated.”

Woman calls in false bomb alert in Geneva to stop husband from flying A woman triggered a false bomb alert at the airport in Geneva because she wanted to prevent her husband from flying away, Swiss prosecutors said on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office in Geneva, the woman called the airport’s customs office Tuesday night and said that a person with an explosive would be at the airport the next day.

It said that when the police raided the home, they found “a woman who admitted to placing the call and who explained that she had wanted to prevent her husband’s departure Investigators traced the call to a home in Annecy, a nearby town across the border in France.

“Before the incident was cleared up Geneva police were conducting strict identity checks on airport passengers.

“Heavily armed officers were deployed, and several entry points were closed “Officials didn’t say where the man was flying. Criminal proceedings against the woman have been started in Switzerland and France,” the statement said.

19

30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Weekend Lagos Editor Lanre Adewole m: 0811 695 4637

e: olanreade@yahoo.com

Omo Onile: Miscreants who are as powerful as the state

Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State

Fatai Owoseni, Lagos State Commissioner of Police

SHOLA ADEKOLA, BOLA BADMUS, AKIN ADEWAKUN, CHUKWUMA OKPARAOCHA and KEHINDE JAYEOBA look at the activities of land grabbers, otherwise known as Omo onile, which have truncated the aspirations of many potential landowners and homeowners in Nigeria’s commercial city – Lagos.

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VER the years, land grabbers have constituted a plague unto many Lagos residents interested in owning landed property. Their activities have increasingly caused social concern so much so that the Lagos State government had to take measures to run them out of business. A new law in the state now makes their activities criminal with serious penalties.

The law comes on the heels of the frustration many residents of the state face at the hands of the land grabbers who either sell a piece of land to different people or insist that people pay them some money before they can embark on any building.

Investigations by Saturday Tribune showed that many lives have been lost to the activities of these Omo Oniles, who will stop at nothing to make their victims part

with N500,000 or N1 million, or even more, depending on their mood.

For any one nursing the ambition of becoming a landlord in Lagos, it is like attempting to fight with ‘principalities’ as the Omo Oniles do not only engage their targets physically but they also use diabolical means to deal with anyone they feel is too stubborn to succumb to their demands.

They go as far as placing charms on any land in contention and even sending killers after their victims in their desperation to extort money from their victims or scare them away from the land to enable them to resell to another buyer.

Their behaviour over the years has deprived many people of the opportunity of owning houses. It is for this reason that in Lagos, the name “Omo Onile,” is synonymous with

“parasites, hoodlums and enemies of progress” who enjoy reaping from where they have not sown.

Rather than get themselves gainfully engaged, they inflict hardship on those who have worked hard to provide for themselves and members of their families good things of life like shelter, as they show up at the last minute to make demands on the excuse that their fathers own the land.

The Omo Oniles, who have become a thorn in the flesh of many Lagosians, particularly those who nurse the ambition of buying a land to build a house, wait for any excuse to extort money from them under the guise that their ancestors are the rightful owners of the land.

Continues on pgs21 & 22

Kings of the road: Inside the

money-spinning Lagos transport unions

pg22

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Saturday Tribune

Weekend Lagos Omo oniles, land security ‘officers’ as lords of Lagos

Continued from pg19

As many people living in Lagos would have loved to build their own houses, this dream has become almost impossible in view of the lawlessness being perpetrated by these so-called Omo Oniles who have made owning a land appear like an unrealistic ambition.

In Lagos, it has become an unwritten law for anybody attempting to erect a structure on a newly acquired piece of land to first settle Omo Oniles before any work can commence there.

In making their illegal demand, they often subject their victims to inhuman treatment if they feel they are not cooperating. They usually harm anyone found uncooperative on a building site.

Victims’ tales Many of the victims of these Omo Oniles have pathetic tales to tell and harrowing experiences to share.

For Olu (not real name), his experience with the Omo Oniles is something he cannot forget and would not like to pass through again. He had, in 2012, secured a plot of land somewhere in the Ikorodu area at the cost of N400,000. He laid the foundation and did the perimeter fencing as well as a gate without any hindrance.

Olu, who was looking forward to owning his personal apartment soon, said he embarked on the foundation and perim-

eter fencing first in the hope to achieve further construction in phases within four walls and stave off attention to the structural development going on inside.

Unfortunately, he lost the possession barely two weeks after completing the first phase of the project. Information had reached him that some strange people had taken over his property and had even helped him build it up to lintels within a short period.

Olu, who found the information incredible, moved in his car in a great speed to the site, accompanied by two people.

Upon getting there, what he found was unimaginable. Not only was the information that had reached him true but he abandoned his car and ran for his life as tens of weapon-wielding Omo Oniles chased him.

His car was later retrieved but those from whom he purchased the land could only assure him of an alternative plot somewhere else, an offer which he immediately rejected. He could also not secure a refund of the money that had gone into the property; he was only paid a pittance.

Like Olu, Mrs Shola Ajileye (not real name), who is now a landlady in the Bammeke area, narrated the nasty ordeal she went through at the hands of this illegal group while trying to build her house.

According to her, after managing to pay for the acquisition of the property which

already had on it a structure, hell was let loose when she mobilised bricklayers to site to begin full construction work.

Immediately the Omo Oniles around the area got wind of the development, they threatened to kill anyone who attempted to commence work there without settling them first.

“But for my swiftness, the leader of the Omo Oniles would have used a heavy block he carried in his hand to shatter the skull of one of the workers on site for daring to challenge them,” she said. Mrs

Ajileye got more than she bargained for; she had to “settle” two groups of the Omo Oniles, who came at different times, with N400,000. While she paid the first group N150,000, the second group showed up and demanded N250,000, claiming that the earlier callers were fakes. At the end of the day, she was made to part with another N200,000 with cartons of wine before work could fully commence despite the fact that the property in question was not a virgin land.

Thinking that trouble was over, Mrs Ajileye got another shocker while laying the foundation as the Omo Oniles showed up again asking for a fresh N100,000. After hours of appeal, they settled for N50,000.

In the case of another victim, who wanted to be addressed simply as Tope, at a point, he almost called it quits with his housing project.

Tope, who is based in the United States of America, said he decided to heed the call of his people to build a house and begin the process of settling down in Nigeria. He came in September 2015 to buy a plot of land on Edun Street, in the Aboru area of Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of the state.

After filling the necessary papers and paying the required fee to the owner of the property, who happened to be a lawyer, he commenced work on the project, hoping to do something significant on the plot of land during his two-week holiday before returning to the US. He had been briefed about the activities of the Omo Oniles and the need to ‘factor’ them into the scheme of things and he agreed to do just that. But a few days after reaching out to those he was directed to, another set of miscreants came, this time led by a woman who claimed the land had been sold by her mother to the lawyer who sold it to Tope.

“When I told her that I didn’t have any business with her but the lawyer, she said that any transaction on the land must involve her, since she was the genuine daughter of the owner of the land.

I was further shocked when the lawyer who sold the land to me agreed with her position and asked me to listen to her. I had to cough up additional N250,000 as

I had to cough up additional N250,000 as agreement fee on a land I had previously paid a similar amount of money. At a stage, I almost abandoned the project because they kept coming back. When I erected the gate, they came. The same thing happened when I was doing the lintel of the building. They collected money at every stage

agreement fee on a land I had previously paid a similar amount of money. At a stage, I almost abandoned the project because they kept coming back. When I erected the gate, they came. The same thing happened when I was doing the lintel of the building. They collected money at every stage,” he said.

The failure of previous administrations in the state to check the activities of the Omo Oniles has been criticised by many Lagosians who also attributed the enormous power these people wielded to the support they enjoyed from traditional rulers. Apart from the alleged involvement of traditional rulers in land grabbing, government officials and law enforcement agents like policemen have been accused of aiding the Omo Oniles.

Recently, a family in Ikorodu petitioned the state House of Assembly over cases of land grabbing in that community. In the petition, which was debated on the floor of the assembly, top government officials were accused of land racketeering in the Imota area of the community. The petitioners — Chief Museli Poye Ogunyemi and Engineer Ola Olusesi — claimed that the government officials in question were being led by an executive secretary in the Land Bureau of the state.

Similarly, a Lagos-based businessman, Alhaji Saidi Abiola, also recently called on the Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, to intervene in the crisis that led to the stalling of some infrastructural projects meant for the benefit of the residents of Gborigi Iragon area of Badagry.

The lawlessness of the Omo Oniles knows no bounds as they have sent many breadwinners to their early graves for nursing the ambition

Hon Agunbiade, Majourity Leader, Lagos House of Assembly

of becoming landlords.

‘Not all Omo Oniles are bad’ However, Seye (not real name), a popular Omo Onile in Bammeke, has come to the defence of the group, saying not all of them are bad.

Although he agreed that many of his fellow land grabbers carry their activities too far, he accused their agents of desperation to achieve personal goals using the name of Omo Oniles.

Seye also claimed that the activities of the Omo Oniles had been made seamless with the support of police personnel who work with the agents.

According to him, Omo Oniles do not have a fixed amount they collect from land owners, as somebody who owns a N10 million worth of land, for instance, can be asked to pay about N1 million or slightly more, depending on the area. He, however, said that until the state government enforced a relevant law, the overbearing attitude of Omo Oniles would continue.

Aborted dreams Many people now keep their money in their pockets or go to remote areas to achieve their dream of becoming house owners for fear of being extorted or attacked by the Omo Oniles.

Some have even stopped dreaming the dream on the grounds that they don’t want to lose their lives or hard earned money to a group of jobless people.

State action Perhaps the cries of many victims about the lawlessness of the land grabbers have finally

reached the ears of the state government. The government has approved 21-year jail term for anyone found guilty of land grabbing.

The state House of Assembly has passed a bill to prohibit forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed properties in the state.

The bill, after three readings, was passed into law through a motion moved by the Majority Leader of the House, Honourable Sanai Agunbiade, whose constituency, Ikorodu 1, is a hotbed of the activities of the Omo Oniles.

The law prohibits the incessant forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed properties, violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties in Lagos State.

The majority of those who spoke to Saturday Tribune on the development called on the state government to enforce the law, saying only through this could those who have given up the hope of owning houses in Lagos could fulfil their dreams.

However, land agents have condemned what they call the plan to ban the activities of land speculators, describing the proposed ban as a “fraud” and a ploy to take over lands from the original owners.

Prince Adedipe Ewenla told Saturday Tribune that people tend to mistake land agents, estate agents and “land security” for Omo Onile. He explained that Omo Oniles are the ones whose fathers or great grandfathers owned the land, while “land security” people are those who help them secure the land from invasion and estate agents help them to sell.

Ewenla blamed the government for most of the land crises in the state: “The government is responsible for most of these things. First of

21

all, land cases last for more than 30 years and in that time, some people might have occupied the land in question. What usually happens is that in a situation where there is a dispute on a land and the court decides in favour of a party, court bailiffs and policemen are used to take possession of the land but these people will leave as soon as the possession is done.

But there is the need to protect the land from invaders after the police and the court bailiffs have left. That is where the land security people come in. These people are registered with the government. They pay tax and returns and are registered with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.”

The land security expert adds: “Trying to ban Omo Onile is like trying to forcibly take over land from the original owners. Those who own expanses of land will always want to sell it and there is no way they will not contact land agents and land security. As long as people own land, there will always be Omo Onile. It is only when the government takes over all the land in the state that there won’t be Omo Onile.

“They know that it is the land agents who help people to reclaim their land, even from the government. Go to Ajah and other places and see how the government forcibly took over hundreds of hectares of land from the original owners only to release such land to serving and former government functionaries.

“Another area where the issue of Omo Onile comes in is when land buyers refuse to pay the necessary money. Normally, they pay for foundation, security, decking and other things, but these people prefer to use their influence in government or the police to prevent paying the money.

“The major problem is the delayed court cases. On many occasions, a land in dispute would have been completely developed and it is not easy for people to just vacate their buildings and investment. Look at the case of Abule Egba where some people got a judgement after more than 20 years.”

Ewenla said that the law banning activities of Omo Onile was not properly formulated. He wondered why the state House of Assembly did not make efforts to invite land agents and land security experts for discussion before enacting the new law.

No common front Meanwhile, land and estate agents may not have a common front to tackle the proposed ban on their activities by the Lagos State government as a result of the sharp division and fractionalisation among thousands of the members.

Investigation by Saturday Tribune revealed that there are three different factions with meetings holding in Abeokuta, Sango Ota and Ikorodu by the different factions.

“Members of these groups rally round any of their members who has any serious problem with the police or any other law enforcement agency but the division among us is a major challenge in battling the ban on the activities of Omo Onile. Some people even prefer not to be associated with any of these groups as a result of the division,” an estate agent who pleaded for anonymity said.

“We have always discussed it but we cannot fight for the entire land and estate agents in Lagos and Ogun states. The Ogun State government is also planning to ban Omo Onile but if we can come together, we can forge a common ground to fight the two states,” he added.

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Kings of the road:

Inside the money-spinning Lagos transport unions

KASALI QUDUS explores the inside of transport unionism, its politics and unbelievable IGR.

T

R A N S P O R T unions, like other professional groups, were formed to see to the welfare of members in their trade.

They look after commercial drivers, their equipment (vehicles) and general wellbeing. Moreover, they take care of members involved in road accidents and assume responsibility for the upkeep of dependants of dead members.

In the days of yore, it was common to see that executive and top echelons of transport business were former transporters who knew the trade inside out.

These days, the music has changed and outside forces in politics, commerce and entrepreneurship are calling the tune.

The incursion which began with meddlesomeness in cab and mini-bus driving cadre has now spread to tri-cyclists and motorcyclists. The mode of operation is same: the leaders smile to the banks as the drivers wallow in abject poverty. Some intending investors in the transport industry have been discouraged by the antics of the union members .

Transport union leaders own choice properties in upscale areas and boast of exotic fleet of cars in their garages. They collect money daily from the multiple levies that are

collected from commercial bus, cars, tricycle and motorcycles operators.

Commercial vehicles operators pay as much as N1,800 daily to settle fees for security tickets, booking, loading and off-loading of passengers. Some of these payments strangely are used to ‘settle security’.

Dare, who is one of the workers retrenched by the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), narrated that “one experience I can never forget in my life is what I went through with the people called the Union of transport sector. They really know how to send one out of business.”

“After I collected my entitlement from the government, I bought a bus with the intention of using it for commercial purpose but the experience I had with the union people is nothing to write home about, “ Dare said.

He also added that “initially they told me that I would register with N8, 000.”

“Every day I paid N1,500 early in the morning and I also paid at different bus stops. There are some bus

Dare to dare

By Lanre Adewole I love challenges; I mean those with potential for positive results. But I don’t like the dare game, especially the controversial “Truth or Dare”.

Anywhere I run into such a game, mischief is always too obvious. Mischief that borders on eventuality. Newton Ray Okwuoma, a colleague in the office is a fantastic guy, but I have not stopped wondering the real intent of a near-permanent smile on his face, always achieved with just his lower lip.

stops where I paid N100, depending on the number of passengers that I picked or dropped”.

He, however, pointed out that “In actual fact these people also settle the police, at times three to four groups of policemen would

collect money in a day.

They also give daily money to other operatives.”

Another commercial bus driver simply named Taofeek also has a story to tell.

“I have been driving since 1974. I shuttle the routes around Bajulaiye unit

Commercial vehicles operators pay as much as N1,800 daily to settle fees for security tickets, booking, loading and off-loading of passengers. Some of these payments strangely are used to ‘settle security.’

most times. One thing I can say is that in the olden days, the country was so good to the extent that the union took very good care of the drivers in many circumstances.

“But nowadays, it is the other way round. In the olden days, it was the drivers that eventually emerged as the union leaders. These days, people come from different places and leaders being imposed on us, not necessarily through election. There is no protocol, hence, we lack proper planning and orderliness,” said Taofeek.

He continues: “As a result of imposition of leaders, we have no say in the affairs of the unions. They collect money for loading and booking. Morever, there are various rates you pay on tickets. There are payments for council tickets in the morning but in the afternoon, you will pay for booking, loading and evening running. The booking fee is collected twice, from Bajulaiye unit and Onipanu unit as follows - loading-N100,ticket-N200,booking-N200,council fee-N200 and evening running charges-N100.

Council money and union ticket are collected once.

The evening fee is collected at Bajulaye unit and also Onipanu unit”.

“I spend exactly N1,600 every day to carry out my commercial operations.

If you are a new comer at Bajulaiye unit, you would have to do registration with the sum of N5,000.”

Investigations by Saturday Tribune showed that further collection is done by officials of the transport unions. The henchmen collect levies from the commercial bus operators on behalf of their unions but most of them don’t have anything to justify or validate collections.”

A park attendant with one of the unions who pleaded anonymity, while speaking with Saturday Tribune said: “People just talk about unions collecting money from drivers. Some of us are like the drivers . It is our leaders who benefit from the money. At times I only get N1,500 in three days.

There were many occasions when they would tell us that the whole money collected from commercial drivers was going to those at the top.”

A Reporter’s Diary Imagine someone smiling with just a lip! But it is still better than wearing a permanent scowl and possibly scare away likely future wife as a wellput-together bachelor. With a guy like Ray, you need constant activation of the seventh sense. So, Ray called last weekend and I missed his call. I reverted. First, it was the one-lipped smile, decodable even by phone.

Then, he launched into a pity-lyrics, becoming a worrier for me on my busy schedule and manifest lack of rest. Ray isn’t good with the flattery business, so I waited for his real intent for reaching out, hanging on, with gratitude for checking on

my wellbeing and how his ilk make it happen for me always and all warts. Then Ray delivered. “Sir, can you share how you manage to do so much week in, week out, with us for Reporter’s Diary?”.

That was plain transfer of schedule. I laughed in self-pity. Someone who just empathised with me for packing so much into every 24 hours, in one breath, now deliberately adding to the “overflowing” schedule, the next moment. I know Ray. So, I promised him to reveal the professional “secret” he enquired. Ray, here is it; just having to do it because of your kind. In less than two hours after our discussion, I just had to do this!

24

30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Toluwani Olamitoke 08050498504 toluwaniforever@yahoo.com

per annum at United Nigerian Insurance Corporation. We had four children and these were attending schools where fees were paid.

As the account officer in the High Court, I was always left with little or nothing to do for the rest of the month after the judges might have been paid their salaries and travel expenses. Calculating how to spend our salaries on rents, children’s school fees among other needs was my major preoccupation. After working hours on a fateful day, on Martins Street, I saw a head tie being sold for three and a half pence. I bought some which I sold for four and a half pence each. I later saw a lace material similar to the one sold for 28 pounds in England being sold for 65 pounds here in Nigeria. Since it was very difficult to get pounds sterling, I appealed to my boss who had a house in England to help change my naira to 25 pounds. I bought some jewellery (GL) and sent to my sister in England to help me sell. My boss collected 125 pounds with which my sister bought 10 bundles of lace materials and sent them to me. A customer bought the lace with the suitcase for 400 pounds. This was how I started my business with 125 pounds.

I started business with £125

—Awoyemi, Iyalode of Ilishan-Remo Chief Grace Otuola Awoyemi, the Iyalode of Ilishan Remo, Iya Ijo Methodist Church, Ilishan, Yeye Oba Ilishan Remo and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Amazing Grace Exclusive and Graade Nigeria Limited, joined the octogenarian club on June 20, 2016. In this interview by YEMISI AOFOLAJU, she X-rays her birth, childhood years, marriage and sojourn into entrepreneurship.

C

an you recall your experience growing up?

My parents are late. My mother was Madam Abosede Idowu and father, Pa Alimi Odujinrin Idowu. I was the first of my mother’s two children.

Was your father a monogamist?

He had many wives, I knew at least four of them, but had three children, two from my mum and one from another woman. At birth, I was a very precious child because my mum lost her first child at three months and had to wait for another seven years before I was born after consultations with gods, unlike now that medical checks abound. My parents were pagans. In fact, I was born in a shrine and the whole town knew about my arrival. At my birth, my mother was unconscious for many hours before she came round again. I was pampered as a young girl in the shrine where I was restricted to until I was three years after which I moved to my father’s house. Due to my mum’s line of business, I had to move to my grannies’ house. Their house was close to a school and I always watched the pupils pass by when going for physical exercise. I told my grandparents I wanted to join the school but they refused. I insisted that I wanted to go to school when I was about seven years old. I was brilliant and always came third in the three arms but I was sickly which made my mum to go round again out of fear of losing me and she was eventually told to stop me from attending classes. I was out of school for another two years. In those days, teachers were more dedicated. There was a teacher, Mr Ogungbe from Ago Iwoye in my grandparents house who prevailed on my grandmum to send me back to school. I finally decided to go back to school and told my parents to go and appeal to their god to allow me go back to school because my classmates were already ahead of me.

My brilliant performance in Standard Three made me to be loved by all my class teachers and specifically Olori Yetunde Gbadebo (nee Idowu) from Abeokuta who taught me in 1950. I decided to live with her. The late patriarch of Methodist Church, Bolaji Idowu, was her brother. She was and is still my mentor.

Is she still alive?

Yes, she is very much alive. I decided to live with her, though my father was against it, I had my way. We only had Sagamu Girls’ Secondary School and Sagamu Teachers Training College in the whole of Remo then. She was

When did you hit your first million?

I cannot remember.

What was the feeling like on your first outing with 125 pounds?

I got it changed and sent it back to my sister. This was how I started selling textile. the one who took a form for me and eventually became my guardian. Her maiden name coincidentally tallied with mine, so people thought she was my blood sister. I was given admission but my father later came to inform the principal that I was not related to Miss Idowu.

In the long run, I was sent back to the primary school. Two years after, Mr Soyombo, our headmaster sent me back to Sagamu, saying that I should not be denied education because my father was not a Christian. I was baptised there with my uncle, a Methodist member as guarantor. Later, my principal wanted me to go to UMC, Ibadan for a four-year course, but the Methodist Teachers’ Training College course was for two years and I was already a mature student. I had a boyfriend then who was the only child of his parents.

Did you marry your then boyfriend?

Yes, I did. We courted for seven years before we got married. I lied to the principal that my parents could not afford to pay my school fees just to get married. That was how I attended Methodist Teachers’ College for two years.

What attracted you to him?

His mother was a nice woman who I got attached to through my friends. I joined them to sell water, palm kernel and kola nut for her, though this was against my parents’ wish. In the process, she started calling me ‘my wife’.

Later, the son approached me. I thought within me, ‘was it because your mother used to call me ‘my wife’ that gave you the confidence to approach me? Initially, I didn’t give in though he was equally stubborn. He had a friend who was my uncle who drove away other men from me.

For how many years did you teach?

As a Grade 3 teacher, I taught for three years in both Sagamu and Lagos. I travelled abroad, London precisely in 1962 and had five certificates there.

Were you married then?

Yes, I was. I got married on January 1, 1959.

How old were you?

I was 23 years old.

What was the reaction of your parents to getting married at that age?

They were expecting this. In those days, girls who were 16, 17, 18 years of age were given out in marriage. All my age mates who were not educated got married before I did.

Are you still trading?

Yes, I am. When the business was growing, my husband and I did it together. He travelled abroad every weekend and would bring to Nigeria all that my sister bought for me. For him then, it was good night on Friday in London and good morning in Nigeria on Monday.

What was the experience like being in the same business with your husband?

What courses did you study abroad?

It was nothing unusual. We were selling I first enrolled for Chartered Secretarial together till he died in 2005.

Studies, Business Studies, later Taxation, Management Studies and Credit ManageWere you satisfied with textile busiment. I had these between 1962 and 1968. ness only?

I was duped when I tried to diversify.

Didn’t you have children while undergoing the courses?

What other business did you go into?

I had three of them.

Rice business, the famous Dikko Rice.

We could not buy directly, we got our How were you able to combine all consignment after we might have paid to these? a middleman for us to get the product at All the courses were on part-time basis. the ports with tickets. The middleman colI came back to Nigeria in December 1968 lected money and never supplied me the while my husband came in 1969. I first rice till date. taught at a school in Mushin, Lagos for three months before joining Nigeria Broadcasting Did you ever feel like quitting busiCorporation, Lagos as executive officer in the ness?

Administrative Department. I got another I felt like quitting when I lost 450,000 job with the Lagos State Ministry of Finance dollars. I brought in lace materials with as Executive Officer, Accounts, where I was two trailers and a pickup van which were posted to the High Court. impounded by the Customs at Anthony.

Selling lace materials then was like selling How long did you work for the gov- cocaine now. Another consignment through ernment?

Seme-Ota was again seized based on a I joined the government in 1968, and re- tip-off within a space of three months. This signed in 1975. was the time I felt quitting the business was the only option. Again, I gave some amount Why? to an American who wanted to set up soft I was working and also trading. drinks business in Cross River State. He was to help me pay to the Central Bank so that How did you cut your business teeth? I could collect in dollar or pound sterling Before I left England, I was earning 1000 abroad. He too duped me. It was like starting pounds per annum. On getting to Nigeria, I all over again. It got to a point when I wanted was paid 648 pounds. Then, naira was more to sell all I had to relocate to the UK since all valuable than pounds sterling. I couldn’t cope my children were there studying. with the family needs with just 648 pounds.

Continued on pg35 My husband then was earning 720 pounds

25

30 July, 2016

ntertainment Society Gist

News

Saturday Tribune J

with oan

Omionawele

jistwtjoan@yahoo.com Twitter:@joanbajojo 08059793705

Newton-Ray Ukwuoma

newtray2002@yahoo.com 08052271251

Celebrity Interviews

My shape, body stature is no one’s business —Biodun Okeowo

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OLLYWOOD actress, Biodun Okeowo, during the week lashed out at critics who queried her stature and appearance at the recently held City People awards.

Writing on her Instagram page, the actress who wore a long, green lace

dinner dress said: “I’m shaking my head for people using Ibruprofen for someone else’s pain. My shape, stature, body is mine and my Boo’s headache, not anybody’s, biko all the stature advisers, Enough! Na who skinny help? Am I going for a beauty pageant, or did my doctor’s report

state unhealthy?” She asked She continues: “Any uncomplimentary comments about my body henceforth should be kept as personal opinion not to be stated here on my page, thanks blockmodeactivated, no room for cyber bullying,” she added.

Mercy Aigbe bags another endorsement deal

Leo Mezie needs N10m for kidney transplant NOLLYWOOD actor, Leo Mezie is currently in dire straits as his protracted kidney disease has reached a critical stage.

The Abia State actor, who has been suffering from an infection in one of his kidneys for some months now, is on the verge of a total kidney failure as the other kidney is reportedly about to pack up.

Industry mate, Prince

Ekeh, who confirmed the report to Saturday Tribune, said that the Labista actor had been treating the ailment through weekly dialysis.

Speaking to Saturday Tribune, president of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Eke said they had sent out messsages to patrons of Nollywood on the matther.

Mezie, who is currently

a shadow of himself, is in need of N10 million financial assistance for an immediate kidney transplant abroad.

Prince Ekeh also told Saturday Tribune that the movie industry was amassing efforts from friends and well-wishers to assist him.

Mezie, who joined Nollywood in 2006, became popular after his role in the 2003 movie ‘Labista’.

Mezie has featured in movies such as ‘Close Enemy’, ‘King’s Sleepless Night’, and ‘Empty Throne’.

NOLLYWOOD celebrity, Mercy Aigbe-Gentry is in high spirits as she was recently unveiled as the new face of Edalaf Brothers, an IT firm which provides integrated school management system softwares in Nigeria. The mother of two was unveiled on July 26, at Ibis Hotel, Toyin Street, Ikeja.

Speaking on their choice of Aigbe-Gentry, Biodun Falade, a cofounder of the firm noted that the actress was an ideal choice of ambassador for the company.

“Mercy has done pretty well for herself in the indusentertainment try, she is at the peak of her career, she has been scandal-free and chiefly, her character is congruent with our brand. She will in no doubt reach out to our target market and impact the youths of this nation.”

Reacting to the honour, an elated Mercy said: “Words cannot

express the pride and honour I feel about this great company. It has been a remarkable year for me and I am beyond thrilled to have been considered for such a huge role.”

In order to keep in touch and share experiences with her fans, Mercy would launch her

website and app on August 1. The app will offer access to her exclusive photos, videos, fashion styles, sneak peak of her films and other projects. Fans will also have the opportunity to sign up and interact with one another, post pictures and comments, to mention a few.

MTN Project fame season 9 unveils with opening gala AFTER weeks of auditions in search of the next industry rave in West Africa, the Project Fame Season 9 Academy has received 14 contestants for the new season. The unveiling of the lucky 14 contestants took place at the opening gala which was held at Ultima Studios, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos last Saturday.

The atmosphere was full of suspense as the contes-

tants and audience held their breath to know the verdicts of the judges on the contestants who would get admitted into the Academy and the ones who will sadly drop out of the competition. The evening could boast of enough glitz, glam and entertainment that no one will forget in a hurry.

One of such was Jeff’s (winner of project fame season 8) electrifying performance, which again

reminded us why West Africa thought he was the perfect head to wear the crown of Season 8 winner. He thrilled the audience with his debut single titled ‘Never let you go’.

For the 18 contestants who hoped to get the baton from Jeff, the judges ruled that 12 of them had fully convinced them that they deserved a spot each in the Academy, hence Eli, Oluchi, GABRIEL, Winner, Elizabeth, Yusuph,

Pere, Mirabel, Dipo, Solomon, Okiemute, and Favour went straight in.

However, Benjamin, Blessing, Kitay, Kissi, Seun, and Steve had to perform again to get their admission. In the end, Kitay and Steve made it in. For Kissi, Seun, Benjamin, and Blessing, it was time to say goodbye but not the final goodbye as they will automatically assume the wild card contestant positions.

26 entertainment

30 July, 2016

Warri carnival slated for September

‘All Roads Lead to Love’ set to premiere in August Entertainment is said to increase for Telemundo lovers as a brand new telenovela, ‘All Roads Lead to Love’, is set to premiere on August 1 on Dstv and GOtv. The subject matter spins the story of Eva Soler, a woman discovering her strength through her own undoing.

Played by the ever enchanting Edith González, Eva is a tough and determined beauty who always dreamed of becoming a truck-driver, so when she inherited her late father’s truck, her life started to fall into place. She found love, settled down to start a family and even established her own transport business.

Fast forward a few years, and all is not well in paradise.

Between her two troubled daughters, with issues ranging from Asperger’s to substance abuse, a sister who envies her deeply, and a best friend who is also her worst enemy, Eva has enough to contend with.

Then the serial infidelity of her husband, Armando, sets off a chain reaction leading to intrigue, murder, conspiracy and potentially even Eva’s imprisonment.

Thrown into the mix is her growing attraction for the steamy Pablo. He’s a handsome and noble ex-cop who is ten years her junior. But with a tragedy in his past, Pablo has his own secrets, and it’s no coincidence that his path has crossed with the Soler family’s.

My weight loss is 100% natural —Destiny Amaka

Davido, Wizkid, Olamide, Sarkodie, others battle for AFRIMMA Awards Stories By Joan Omionawele and Newton-Ray Ukwuoma

T

he African Muzik Magazine Awards( AFRIMMA) have unveiled the nominees list for the third edition of the biggest African music awards in Diaspora.

Following the outstanding success of the first and second editions, AFRIMMA 2014 and AFRIMMA 2015 respectively, expectations have hit the roof for this

On-Air Personality and Nollywood actress, Destiny Amaka, during the week opened up on the reason behind her weight loss, also stating that she achieved her slender looks using natural processes.

Amaka, who shed over 23kg of flesh within twelve months told Saturday Tribune that she has been happier and healthier as the medical challenges attached to her former weight have since been a thing of the past.

The CoolFm anchor of Cool Overnight Lounge, who is often regarded by industry mates as an epitome of an African woman because of her hip size, now looks much slimmer with newly hit 66kg weight from 89kg.

She said she would like to inspire other women with her new lifestyle programme which she embarked upon last year.

She said, “I started losing weight in May, 2015. An incident happened in my life that affected me emotionally. And for this reason, I lost my appetite. I wasn’t

eating well for six weeks.

People noticed and started complaining. However, I realised that my waist line was smaller and I was lighter and healthier.

“I learnt how to balance the whole thing. I am able to come out now because it is clear to me that I know how to balance it. I feel I can reach out to people who want to reduce their weights.

My weight loss has affected me in so many positive ways. One, my health is so much better. I had a knee operation in my left knee, my right knee carries the bulk of my weight. Because of my weight, my right knee began to pain me. I couldn’t wear heels for much longer, I could walk or stand for much longer too. My lower back had issues. I had a lot of personal health issues that my weight was not helping.

Speaking about her fitness program, the process of losing weight and the backlashes she has received, Amaka maintained she did not use any medication as the process was wholly natural.

Saturday Tribune

year’s edition set to hold in Dallas, United States ,on October 15.

Some of Africa’s big hitters and the most impressive names on the African music scene in the past calendar year earned a mention in highly competitive categories. Wizkid, Flavour, Davido, Sarkodie, Aka are joined by fresh faces like Falz, Mr. Eazi, Locko and

Bisa Kdei on the AFRIMMA 2016 nominees list. Also for the first time in the history of AFRIMMA, North African music and Caribbean music have been recognised with categories.

Celebrating African music and heritage, the third edition of AFRIMMA promises to be another festival of African music and the nominees list has set off the massive countdown.

Professor Johnbull apologises to daughter over false alarm in episode 2 It was another hilarious and edifying edition of the rave TV drama series, ‘Professor Johnbull on Tuesday night as the second episode, Eliza My Daughter, was aired on NTA Network, NTA International and Startimes channels.

The episode began with the lead character, Professor Johnbull (Kanayo O. Kanayo) manicuring his garden plants, and enjoying a sonorous highlife song by Flavour, which incidentally is the soundtrack for the drama series, exclusively sponsored by Globacom.

As Professor Johnbull sighted his engineer son, Churchill (Junior Pope), he confronted him and sought to know who repaired his transistor radio and made it possible for him to enjoy the radio set once again.

Churchill’s response that he did rekindled the endless conversation between father and son on which profession Churchill should pursue. “I

am highly impressed with your genius in fixing gadgets”, Professor Johnbull posited as he tried to dissuade his son from becoming a musician, describing Churchill’s plan to become a musician as “arrant balderdash”. Convinced that music was his calling, Churchill respectfully held his ground.

While the conversation was ongoing, Elizabeth (Queen Nwokoye) rushed out of the main house, looking sickly and nauseous. Before Professor Johnbull and his son could move close to Elizabeth to ascertain what was wrong with her, she started vomiting.

After carrying out what he termed “optical examination and initial parental diagnosis” of checking the body temperature and eyes of Eliza for signs of pregnancy, Professor Johnbull went further to discreetly procuring pregnancy testing strips from a local pharmaceutical shop, and enlisted

the help of Caro as well as a medical doctor, acted by Pascal Atumah, to unravel the pregnancy mystery.

Interestingly, in her characteristic illiterate manner, Caro gave the pregnancy testing strip to her lover boy, Olaniyi, the nkwobi seller, acted by Yomi Fash-Lanso, who turned the issue to a communal discussion involving Mai Doya and Samson, the “adjudicator” acted by the comedian, Ogus Baba, to make Professor Johnbull a laughing stock.

He admonished parents from overreacting and stop being overtly suspicious of their girls despite the prevalence of sexual immorality amongst the youth.

The programme, bankrolled by Globacom, runs on Tuesdays at 8.30pm on NTA Network, NTA International and Startimes while the repeat episode runs on Fridays on the same channels at the same time.

Organisers of the Warri Carnival in Delta State have announced that the maiden edition of the event will be held on September 28 to October 1, this year, as arrangements towards the successful hosting of the five-day event have reached an advanced stage.

Announcing this during a media parley in Lagos, the chief promoter and initiator of the carnival, Sunny Nikoro, stated that the carnival was targeted at entrenching Warri as a gateway to the Niger Delta region, and listing it as a tourist destination in Nigeria.

“The annual Warri Carnival also aims at unifying the diverse ethnic nationalities that existed to make Warri the cosmopolitan society of old, and foster peace, unity, love and cordial co-existence between the ethnic groups that Warri was identified with in the past,” Nikoro stated.

Noting that the Warri Carnival is being organised to also coincide with the nation’s 56th Independence Day Anniversary celebration on October 1, Nikoro assured that the event which is already attracting tourists’ inquiries from African countries and across the world, will be nurtured to become Africa’s biggest street carnival.

“Apart from entertaining the anticipated millions of spectators coming from within and outside the state, the Warri Carnival will bring out the joy and bliss associated with the season, while also promoting commerce, laughter and love among the indigenes of Warri,” he went further to say.

Warri city is one of the major hubs of petroleum activities and businesses in southern Nigeria. It is the commercial capital city of Delta State, with an estimated population of 2,000,000 people.

Activities lined up for the five-day event include unveiling of symbol of unity, top artists performance and comedy fair, carnival float/ street parade, land boat regatta, Miss Warri beauty pageant, cultural dance and performance, including Carnival Cup 2016 – a novelty football match.

The match will feature ex-Nigerian footballers like Segun Odegbami, Frank Obire, and Henry Nwosu among others who will be playing alongside the Warri Wolves, a Nigeria Premier League side.

27 entertainment

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My deals with Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey —Veteran music composer, Jide Oshinnubi

Veteran music composer, Engineer Olajide Oluremi Oshinnubi, was an item in the 60s through the 70s during the glory days of highlife and juju music in Nigeria. Born into a music family in Lagos, Oshinnubi, who will clock 77 years later this year, commenced his journey into the Nigerian music industry as a composer, writing songs of the day for renowned musicians such as Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade and the late Oliver De Coque. He has traversed the length and breadth of the musical sphere of Nigeria and Africa from the earlier 50s and now. Against the background of this wealth of experience, the septuagenarian discloses the failings of the present music industry as well as the remedies in this interview by NEWTON-RAY UKWUOMA.

H

OW did you make your mark as an early music composer?

I started from the choir. My dad played four musical instruments during his time. He played accordion, guitar, organ and the drum. He was also a composer of both gospel and secular music. I inherited the trait from him. I didn’t have any formal education in music composition before I started working with musicians. Living in Lagos at the time gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of musicians. We were all young music lovers. I attended dance classes with some of these old musicians. During our days, dancing was an elitist art. You had to be taught by an instructor. Dance music such as Slow Foxtrot, Bolero, Amber couple, Calypso, Highlife were popular in our days. Juju came in much later.

What songs are your best known compositions in the industry?

I composed ‘Obey de Olohun Orin’ by Ebenezer Obey. [He sings the chorus.] I composed ‘Sweet Banana’ for Sunny Ade. [He drifts into the song] I was the one that composed ‘Ori mi tete dami lohun’ by Sunny Ade. I composed the song Oliver De Coque did about President Babangida. [Sings the entire song.] This was the only Yoruba song Oliver De Coque did. He was the rhythm guitarist for the late Jacob Oluwole, who led a juju band, before he formed his own. He used the characteristics of name calling and praise songs in his music.

Oliver De Coque started it before Morocco and other Igbo Highlife musicians followed him.

How did you meet Oliver De Coque?

Oliver De Coque was the rhythm guitarist for Jacob Oluwole. It was during the band’s trip to London that he met with me and a lot of Yoruba musicians . That was when we met. I started working for him afterwards. Let me tell you something, in other climes, the music business is about division of labour. You have the composers, the producers, the mixers and other experts even before the musician himself.

We practised it during our time. Making music was not the exclusive preserve of the musician. I think this is one of the problems these young people are facing. They want to do everything by themselves.

In your opinion, do think music composition needs to be farmed out to specialists?

Yes, because what these young people are singing now cannot last another decade. All they want is money. Tell me the song that they have sung that is reasonable, that parents can listen to with their children? Music should entertain, educate and teach morals or discipline. In our time, musicians sang about the consequences of doing evil, they praised good deeds and parents used their songs to influence their children.

Amazingly white people still sing songs that have moral lessons even now, but most of the songs we have here are either about money or women’s body part, songs you wouldn’t even want your kids to listen to. Sometimes I wonder what those handed the responsibility of regulating songs are doing. They have allowed gangsters to dominate the music industry.

Do you have musicians that you appreciate or are they all the same?

A large majority of these musicians fall under my earlier description. But the truth is some people are keeping this industry strong. People like Psquare, Flavour, 2Face [2Baba], Davido and Olamide are doing well. But I am most inspired by what Don Jazzy is doing. The way he manages crisis. See how he has groomed these small boys into superstars. If not for people like him, the music industry would have gone under. But Don Jazzy needs good composition for his boys.

I want him to come to me. I have composed a lot of songs for him and for other musicians like him. I want to release what I have for the modern musicians. I have made songs that would interest people like Davido, Wizkid, Flavour and Don Jazzy.

I am looking for them. I am inspired by what they are doing.

Are these songs written down somewhere?

Yes. [He retreats into his bedroom and returns with a wornout notebook.] I have more than 150 songs here. I have made these songs for them. I have been following their progress especially Flavour and Don Jazzy’s.

What if they have music ideas that are not in this book, what would you do?

I am a composer. I can compose any song they want me to.

It would only take me two weeks to develop any idea.

Why didn’t you venture into music full time?

I did establish a factor earlier, my main occupation is composition. I didn’t want to do more than that. God gave

Music should entertain, educate and teach morals or discipline. In our time, musicians sang about the consequences of doing evil, they praised good deeds and parents used their songs to influence their children.

everybody different talents. You can invite me to your studio, I will do my job but you will be paying me for it. Besides that I was pursuing a career in engineering at that time. I only had time to compose, not to sing or own a band.

How did you meet Ebenezer Obey?

I met him during one of his shows back in the day. After his performance, I simply walked up to him, told him I wanted to work for him. He and Sunny Ade just accepted me. I need to thank these people for the opportunity they gave me. I told them that I didn’t want to sing, that I wanted to just write songs. They accepted. Oliver De Coque was another person that gave me the opportunity.

What, in your opinion, is not right with today’s music composition?

We have too many more music imitators than creative musicians today. Some of these songs are not composed to last longer than a year before they are forgotten. This is because they lack essential components of good music.

What are the components of a good music?

Good. Lyrical quality and touch. By touch, I mean the ability to relate with people’s sensibility. For instance, people like [Ebenezer] Obey and Oliver De Coque had compositions for every event: wedding, birthday, naming ceremony and so on.

Femi Esho still has relevant archive of streamlined songs these people did. Bands like Uhuru Dance Band, Ranbrance Dance band from Ghana were very popular here. During the days of highlife in Nigeria, Chief Billy Friday was pivotal to the spread of the music across Nigeria. These people operated by popular demand. And most importantly, their lyrics were powerful.

Secondly, they were not singing the same thing. Everybody came up with different ideas. I can still remember all their songs because they had deep meanings. Every tribe danced to songs from other tribes, because they all had good lyrics.

Songs by Oliver De Coque were loved all over the country.

There was no discrimination, whether you are a Yoruba or Calabar man, people gravitated to rhythm and lyrics. During those days we enjoyed music from the north [Sings Hausa song]. Today’s musicians are chiefly imitators. Once someone comes out with something catchy, all they do is imitate him, and then it’s gone. There is no structure in the music industry.

What is your message to Nigerian musicians?

Let them use this opportunity to sing and compose lyrics that will last through time. IK Dairo is still remembered today because of the kind of music he did in the past. The future lies with anyone of them who can use this opportunity to etch himself in the sand of time. I appreciate that most of the young musicians are going back to old school rhythms and songs. It shows how timeless what these old people have done. I’m 77 years old. I have a lot of songs I want to give out before I pass on. I want any of them that is interested to come.

28 fortherecord Paper presented by Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu at a one-day colloquium on‘The life and times of Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II’, organised by the Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on Friday, July 29, 2016.

Protocols I feel highly honoured to have been invited by the organisers of this colloquium to present a paper on the topic, ‘Oba Ṣijuwade’s Commitment to Awolọwọ’s Legacy’. I am most grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts on this important topic.

Both Chief Awolọwọ and Oba Ṣijuwade were, undisputedly, icons in their respective generations. They both rose to the zenith of their chosen paths in life through hard work and perseverance. They also happened to be friends.

Theirs was a lifelong friendship whose hallmark was a deep and abiding loyalty.

A friendship that saw both great men through good and bad times. And, as they attained prominence and their appreciation of true friendship probably became more profound, their friendship endured.

That has to be an eloquent testimony to the genuineness of their relationship.

But I would like to begin this presentation with an assertion that Oba Ṣijuwade’s commitment to the AWO legacy stemmed, not only from loyalty in friendship, but also from a firm conviction that it was the right thing to do.

I would crave your indulgence, however, to start with a brief elucidation of the concepts of ‘commitment’, ‘loyalty’ and ‘legacy’.

Commitment/Loyalty The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s simple definition of commitment is the most apt, in my view, for the purposes of the theme of this paper. It defines commitment as ‘a promise to be loyal to someone or something’.

We live in a world where selfishness seems to be the order of the day, and personal gain, the objective of most relationships and endeavors. Nevertheless, one of the most honourable character traits a person can develop remains the ability to be loyal. Loyalty is the ability to put others before yourself, to stick with them through thick and thin, and to look out for them.

Loyalty is essential to the most basic things that make life livable. Without loyalty there can be no family. Without loyalty there can be no friendship. Without loyalty there can be no commitment to community or country. And without those things, there can be no society.

Chief Awolọwọ’s great mission in life was to build a better society by, amongst other things, offering vital, life-transforming opportunity to those who were incapable of acquiring it for themselves. Kabiyesi’s commitment and loyalty to friendship, and to those noble ideals, contributed immensely to the endurance of that legacy.

Kabiyesi was a thorough-going businessman and, therefore, acquired and maintained friendships across political lines. To the uninformed, his friendship with an equally thoroughgoing politician like Chief Awolọwọ seems a most unlikely proposition.

I have no doubt that they both had ‘advisers’ who held strong reservations about their friendship. I do recall, however, that Papa always responded to such advice with the retort, ‘you cannot choose my friends for me’. He was so right. As it turned out, particularly after Chief Awolọwọ’s transition and until he joined his ancestors last year, Kabiyesi did re-

‘Ooni walked in when the rest of the world walked out’

main the good friend that, constantly, walked into the Awolọwọ family’s world when the rest of our world was walking out.

Legacy The word ‘legacy’ is frequently used to describe the property that people leave their heirs when they die. But every human being also leaves behind a nonmaterial legacy - one that is harder to define but often far more important. This legacy comprises a lifetime of relationships, accomplishments, truths, and values, and it lives on in those whose lives they have touched.

Legacies can be positive or negative.

A person who systematically disciplines his life so as to improve the lives of those around him and does his or her best to transform the lives of others in a positive way is bound to leave a positive legacy.

These are people who, invariably, have a specific way of life that governs their thinking and their behavior. They systematically attempt to structure their own lives in such a way that they become testimonies to whatever worldview they proclaim.

Chief Awolọwọ was a shining example of people who left a positive legacy.

For the purpose of this presentation, I will address Chief Awolọwọ’s legacy, and Oba Ṣijuwade’s role in its sustenance, under the following sub-headings: I. Unity within the Yoruba Nation;

II. The Nigerian Nationhood Project and the Yoruba Agenda; III. The Obafemi Awolọwọ Foundation; and IV. The Awolọwọ Family.

I. Unity within the Yoruba Nation Yoruba unity had historically been severely tested through internecine wars such as the Ibadan-Ijaye war of 1861, over who should be the political head of Yorubaland; the Kiriji war (1877-1893), an epic and historical war between two powerful Yoruba confederates, Yorubas of the West (Ibadan and its allies) and Yorubas of the East (Ijesha and Ekiti); and the trade wars between Ibadan and Ijẹbu, when Ibadan traders were attacked on their way from Port Novo (1877).

Political unity also proved elusive for many years. Yorubas, historically and to this day, imbibe sophisticated concepts of democracy, liberalism and progressivism. They possess a worldview that is devoid of bigotry or prejudice. On principle, they felt completely at liberty to proudly and openly support political parties other than the Action Group whose leaders were, ostensibly, overwhelmingly Yoruba.

Indeed, the party had great difficulty winning elections in major Yoruba cities and towns in the early years of its formation.

However, there was a dramatic realignment in the political landscape of the Western Region in the second republic under Chief Awolọwọ’s leadership of the

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AG’s successor political party, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). In the 1979 elections, the party won well over 90% of the votes in Western Nigeria. This shift signposted the culmination of a series of events surrounding the regional crisis of 1962-1966.

Prior to that, Chief Awolọwọ had been declared, by acclamation, ‘Leader of the Yorubas’ by the Yoruba leaders of thought at a meeting in Ibadan in 1967. It is instructive to note that some of his most ardent political opponents were active participants in that acclamation.

From then on and until the end of his life, Chief Awolọwọ became the undisputed rallying point for the Yoruba nation. Nevertheless, his advocacy, mission and vision for ‘life more abundant’, which encompassed all Nigerians, continued unabated.

That unity, though forged in the crucible of adversity and sacrifice, appears to have, unfortunately, been subjected to severe strains and stresses since the transition of Chief Awolọwọ. The situation, unsatisfactory as we may deem it to be today, could perhaps have been worse, were it not for the spirited efforts of the likes of Oba Ṣijuwade and many other leaders of the Yoruba nation.

Kabiyesi was well-placed to move Chief Awolọwọ’s legacy forward in this regard because he enjoyed the distinct advantage of avoiding disparaging labels such as ‘tribalist’ or ‘Yoruba irredentist’. In any case, such labels could never have stuck, for many reasons. His activities in this regard simply confirmed the Yoruba dictum, ‘ilé l’a ti ίk’ẹṣọ r’òde’.

For example, he was well-known, even before he ascended the throne, for his cosmopolitan outlook and, therefore, his formidable network of friends across all geopolitical zones in Nigeria. He not only maintained and deepened such friendships throughout his reign, he continued to expand his already impressive circle of friends.

Furthermore, the Yoruba Unity Forum, an umbrella body for all sociocultural organisations within the Yoruba nation, was one of the significant initiatives championed by Mama H. I. D. Awolọwọ, Oba Ṣijuwade, Bishop Bọlanle Gbonigi and other notable leaders.

The objective of the Forum is to harmonise, and work towards the actualisation of the aspirations of the Yoruba nation within the larger context of Nigeria, regardless of partisan political affiliation. This objective remains, I have to say however, work in progress.

May I say, at this juncture, that attainment of the noble objectives of the Yoruba nation which, by the way, redound to the best interests of all other nationalities in Nigeria, will continue to be hampered by our current regrettable lack of internal cohesion.

II. The Nigerian Nationhood Project and the Yoruba Agenda ‘Justice is the appetiser, the main course and the dessert on the Yoruba’s political menu. He serves it daily to everyone who comes his way. He expects and demands it from every other person who interacts with him privately and publicly.’ (Nigerian Tribune ‘Monday Lines’ by Lasisi Ọlagunju) Contrary to seemingly tribalist connotations, the ‘Yoruba Agenda’ is not about a set of self-serving proposals that would benefit only the Yoruba nation, to the detriment of other nationalities in Nigeria.

It is, actually, a set of recommendations that are firmly rooted in the principles of equity, justice and fair play for all Nigerians and would, ultimately, be in the best interests of all. It is a prescription for permanent unity and stability in Nigeria and is a document that is highly recommended for those who have never read it.

Continues pg29

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‘For Nigeria to move forward, we have to battle our internal demons’ Continues from pg28

For the purpose of the theme of this paper, I will consider just one. I refer to the crucial issue of fiscal federalism and the consequent need to restructure the Nigerian polity. This issue, as much as any other, lies at the very core of the legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolọwọ.

It is probably best, therefore, to hear directly from him on this matter. Permit me to reproduce a few of his thoughts, as follows: On his preference for federalism, he says: • ‘In 1951 when the controversy on the form of Nigeria’s constitution began, I had already been for more than eighteen years a convinced federalist.’ (AWO 1960) And to prove that this was not a position he arrived at without rigorous consideration, he says: • ‘Our own stand in this matter is well known. We belong to the federalist school. Nevertheless, we have elected to adopt a completely objective and scientific approach to our present search and are prepared to abandon our stand if we see sound reason for doing so. Accordingly, we have made a much more careful study of the constitutional evolution of all nations of the world with a view to discovering whether any, and if so what, principles and laws govern such evolution.

We have found that some countries have satisfactorily solved their constitutional problems, whilst others have so far not. In consequence of our analysis of the two sets of countries, we are able to deduce principles or laws which we venture to regard as sound and of universal application… there are altogether six continents in the world… we will take the continents one by one…’ (Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution 1966); • ‘…in any country where there are divergences of language and of nationality – particularly of language – a unitary constitution is always a source of bitterness and hostility on the part of linguistic or national minority groups. On the other hand, as soon as a federal constitution is introduced in which each linguistic or national group is recognized and accorded regional autonomy, any bitterness and hostility against the constitutional arrangements as such disappear.’ (Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution 1966).

On the need for objectivity: • ‘It is incumbent upon us…to endeavour to discover, from the empirical facts which political history supplies, and from the conclusions which political scientists and analysts have reached, whether there are any patent wellestablished political principles by which our action can be guided. And if we discover them, to follow them with objective fidelity, whatever our predilections, personal feelings, or secret aspirations.’ (Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution 1966) On the need for a suitable constitution he says: • ‘In our view, three factors combine to produce political stability: the type of constitution, the form of government, and the calibre and character of political leaders in and outside government…

As regards the type of constitution, political scientists and analysts have reached two firm conclusions, namely, that a unitary constitution will not work in circumstances which warrant a federal constitution… Suitability is, therefore, of the essence of a constitution. This is so for all countries of the world. It is so for Nigeria where the search for a suitable constitution has gone on for more than 20 years, and still goes on today with renewed vigour and reanimated fervour. We predict that the search will go on after this generation of Nigerians has passed away, unless we are realistic and objective enough to give ourselves now a constitution which is suited to the circumstances of our country and which will, therefore, endure.’

(Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution 1966) On the alleged threat to national unity by a truly federal constitution, he had this to say: • ‘…in the peculiar circumstances of Nigeria, only a federal constitution can foster unity with concord among the diverse national groups in the country, as well as promote economy and efficiency in administration… …if federalism had not disrupted the unity of those other countries which have operated this type of constitution for decades it cannot by itself impair or ruin the unity of our own country.’ (Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution 1966).

Chief Awolọwọ was, clearly, an unrepentant federalist.

He was also unrepentantly committed to a strategy for development that puts people firmly at the centre of the process.

other dispute within the Nigerian university system. In the light of the developments, we had good reason to doubt the feasibility of hosting the Dialogue. We vacillated between postponement and outright cancellation. In the end, buoyed by Kabiyesi’s massive support and mobilisation, as well as the decision of the National Strike Coordinating Committee of ASUU to rise above the situation and permit their members to honour Chief Awolọwọ at the forum, we decided to take a risk and forge ahead.

The event recorded unprecedented, ‘standing-roomonly’ attendance at the Oduduwa Hall.

Iv. The Awolọwọ Family I started this presentation with a brief thesis on the concept of loyalty in friendship. ‘Kabiyesi’, as he is fondly referred to by members of the Awolọwọ family, exemplified this, not only in his relationship with Papa, but also, subsequently, in his relationship with Mama and the rest of our family.

Unfortunately, contrary to Mama’s dogmatic belief, Kabiyesi was no longer with us when she passed on. Nevertheless, we thank God for their lives and for precious memories.

Time will not permit me to recount Kabiyesi’s many extraordinary acts of kindness towards the Awolọwọ family during and, more importantly, after Papa’s lifetime. It is my prayer that they have been counted to him for good in the hereafter.

For him, therefore, rather than remain in denial about our ethnic divergence, geographical separateness and diversity, different economic visions, divergent resources, religious differences and, above all, linguistic differences, we would do much better to acknowledge and embrace them through a truly federal constitution.

Chief Awolọwọ’s position on this matter remains valid and, indeed, assumes even greater relevance and, I dare say, urgency today, in my humble opinion.

Since Chief Awolọwọ’s transition, a number of National Conferences have been convoked to address the constitution and various other issues. Senator Femi Okurounmu has been given the task of speaking on this topic at this colloquium so I will not go into details here.

I will say, however, that Oba Ṣijuwade always organised pre-Conference meetings aimed at harmonising the Yoruba position at those Conferences in order to ensure that their interests are adequately safeguarded. On every occasion, he, in the best tradition of Yoruba monarchs through history, provided dedicated leadership and supported the positions that were arrived at by the majority.

The ‘Yoruba Agenda’, which essentially upholds Chief Awolọwọ’s position on the matter of federalism, among other issues, emerged from, and was reaffirmed over the years at these and similar gatherings and it enjoyed Oba Ṣijuwade’s full support throughout.

On this critical aspect of Chief Awolọwọ’s legacy, Kabiyesi’s commitment remained steadfast till the end of his life.

Iii. The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation One important development after Chief Awolọwọ’s departure was the establishment, in 1992, of the Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ Foundation, the institutional custodian of his intellectual legacy, which was set up as an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research institute, dedicated to immortalizing the ideals of Chief Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ. It is committed to the promotion of a socially-edifying interaction between policy and scholarship.

We are immensely proud and privileged to have had, since inception, Oba Ṣijuwade as our Grand Patron. In that capacity, Kabiyesi’s support could always be counted upon, regardless of situation or circumstance. His encouragement kept us going when our spirits flagged. And his majestic presence lent tremendous dignity to many of the Foundation’s outings.

Permit me to recount one event to which Kabiyesi’s critical intervention made a world of difference.

We were in the midst of preparing for a Special Dialogue, themed, ‘AWO Legacy and the Youth’, incidentally in collaboration with Obafemi Awolọwọ University, as part of the events to celebrate Chief Awolọwọ’s centennial in 2009. I was living abroad at the time but, thanks to technology, was able to organise the event, effectively and successfully, in close concert with a highly dedicated team of OAU-based academics led by the then Vice Chancellor, Professor Fabọrọde.

Unfortunately, we ran into the heavy storm of yet an-

Conclusion Let me end with the following quotes on loyalty, friendship and legacy.

The first quote highlights modern day challenges to building true friendships: • ‘Our modern, rootless times do seem to be a particularly inhospitable environment for loyalty. We come and go so relentlessly that our friendships can’t but come and go too…’ (Eric Felten, Loyalty: The Vexing Virtue)

The second affirms the imperative of loyalty in friendship, nevertheless: • ‘I may be stupid, as you say, to believe in honour and friendship and loyalty without price. But these are virtues to be cherished, for without them we are no more than beasts roaming the land.’ (David Gemmell, Shield of Thunder)

The others are self-evident: • ‘Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.’ (Anon) • ‘True leaders don’t invest in buildings. Jesus never built a building. They invest in people. Why? Because success without a successor is failure. So your legacy should not be in buildings, programs, or projects; your legacy must be in people.’ (Myles Munroe) Kabiyesi’s commitment to the sustenance of the noble legacies of Chief Awolọwọ was, without a doubt, total. It is reassuring to note that he was not alone in that commitment and that countless Nigerians appear determined to follow in his footsteps.

Nevertheless, as I conclude this presentation, permit me to encourage, particularly the younger generations of Nigerians, about the virtues of commitment to high ideals. It is often said that ‘if you do not stand for something, you fall for anything’.

A famous quote also goes thus, ‘to conquer a nation you just have to block the transfer of values, morals and beliefs between generations’. In these times, it appears that the adversary that threatens to conquer us is not some external aggressor, necessarily, but our own internal demons of unbridled selfishness and insatiable greed. We all need to keep in perpetual focus the words of Plato, ‘self-conquest is the greatest of victories’.

It is my prayer that we will all, again particularly younger generations of Nigerians, continue to remember, discover, and acknowledge, these trailblazers and heralds, Chief Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ, HIM Oba Okunade Ṣijuwade and, may I add, Yeye Oodua HID Awolọwọ, until nobility becomes, not only totally acceptable, but also the undisputed way of life for both the leader and the led in our land.

I thank you all for your attention.

Dr O. Awolọwọ Dosumu July 29, 2016

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interview

Saturday Tribune With Saheed Salawu

0811 695 4643

yinkadejavu@yahoo.com

Buhari must listen and restructure Nigeria —Sen. Durojaye

Senator Biyi Durojaiye, a lawyer and former Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria, represented Ogun East in the Senate between 1999 and 2003. A former member the 1988/89 Constituent Assembly, he was a presidential candidate under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1992. In this interview by NAZA OKOLI, the 83-year-old statesman and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) speaks about the need to review Nigeria’s current political structure.

W

HAT would you advise the President given the kind of ethnic tension we have in the country?

Yes, I think he needs to take a look at what people (including me) have been saying that there is need to restructure this polity. I am as patriotic as any Nigerian you can get. I can beat my chest and say that when it comes to loving Nigeria, I believe I can stand shoulderto-shoulder with anybody else. I have always said that an experiment that has lasted over a hundred years can be passed as successful experiment. This is our one hundred and second year as a nation. So if there are those areas that there are stumbling blocks, we owe it to ourselves to identify those problems and remove them without necessarily breaking up the country. Well, I’m speaking for myself because there are younger people in the South West who would probably say “enough is enough, lets create our own country; we are being retarded by others. But in the presentday world, number counts. Look at China, with a population of about 1.6 billion; look at the US approaching the third of a billion in population. Number counts. It makes for easier economic planning. It creates a big market for production. So that is why I say cutting ourselves into small groups is not the answer. Nigeria has come to stay, but it has to stay properly. It is not just a union of a rider and a horse – one mounting on the other.

How can we cohabit better and contribute together to build a greater nation. There is a proverb that says that the wind does not blow for him who has no destination to sail to. If someone’s destination is in the east, and the other’s destination is in the west, definitely the wind cannot be blowing for them at the same time. They cannot even paddle their canoe together, because they have no similar orientation, no similar ideologies. That is why it is necessary to revisit the constitution that our founding fathers handed to us, after a series of brainstorming with experienced and seasoned colonial administrators, lawyers, and professionals. And what was their recommendation? It was a federal constitution: three regions. Let every region develop at its own pace. But the essential ingredients of nationhood (like defence, armed forces, foreign policy, central bank, and so on) should be federal. Some others would be concurrent.

But the bulk of the responsibilities should be regional. That was the essential ingredient of the 1960 Constitution Now that we are in 2016, how do you think this structure would work?

Thank you for the question. Very simple.

In 1960, the population of Nigeria was about 35 million. The regions were three; later they became four. Today we are about 170 million, so we cannot be talking about three regions.

But we have six-geopolitical zones, and they have come to stay. What we need to do now is to give them power.

The six regions would have six Governors?

Of course. We can call them Governors or Prime Ministers. But we will have one President at the centre. Consider this: what is the business of the Federal Government with agriculture? Does the Federal Government have land for agriculture? We say that the Governor is the chief security officer of his

his suspension.

There have been some calls to give immunity to the office of the Senate President, and possibly that of the Speaker, especially given the controversial trial of Senator Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Bureau. Would you support such a move?

No. The ding-dong has lasted too long for comfort. In an interview I granted last year, I said maybe our party made a mistake, one way or another, in handling the process that led to the nomination of the Senate President, but whatever it was… in the interest of the party, in full consideration of the challenges ahead of us, we should let the sleeping dog lie. People have said he should be removed because of it, and I told them: ‘If you remove him, you would start a major crisis at the very beginning of the government’. But what I said we should never tolerate is to allow a PDP man to become Number Two. For two reasons: there was no agreement before the election to form a national government where two or more parties would share power.

Secondly, there was no agreement to form a coalition government between APC and PDP. So how come the minority would provide the number-two position, such that whenever Number One is not there, Number Two would preside? Would the PDP have allowed that?

State, but he has no control over the police?

Do you think this structure can cater to the needs of over 250 ethnic groups?

What is the alternative? Are you saying we should have 250 States? No, something has to be sacrificed. And this happens everywhere.

Look at Britain, a small country by size. But it has the English people, the Welsh people, the Scottish people, and the Irish people. For more than 300 years, they have cohabited, as the United Kingdom of the Great Britain. It’s the same story in France and Germany. Are you telling me that there is only one ethnic group in China, with their population of 1.6 billion? So we have to learn to tolerate one another; to live together as one.

Your party, the APC, made a lot of promises before it came into power.

One of their old posters says: ‘We will create 3 million jobs in one year.”

In retrospect, do you think some of those promises were made rather too hastily?

No. we were sincere about them. But there is always a difference between a plan and an actualisation. Oftentimes, even with the best of intentions, there are some unforeseen forces that may block some of the things you plan to do. But what it does is to retard; it doesn’t mean to cancel. It only makes the process slow.

APC will certainly do all it has promised to do.

I have been elected to the Board of Trustees of the party, anyway. But up till now, we have not yet met even for once. But nobody would have imagined that millions and billions of naira went under the carpet, during the past administration. If Mr President had not been slow and steady… if he had rushed through signing the budget within a week or two after it was presented to him, maybe what was later discovered to be budget padding would have passed unnoticed. I was in the Central Bank, so I know. The billions that some people were alleged to have stolen, could run many coun-

tries in Africa. Now look at what is happening in the South-South; the militants are holding the jugular veins of the country in their hands, out of bitterness, destroying what could have kept the country going. These are some of those things that the constitution could address.

What makes these people so angry that they have chosen to resort to treason? Granted, they may have reasons to be annoyed, only that they are overdoing it.

But do you think the President has done enough to show these people that he cares for them?

I think that he has tried to show that he cares for them. He was trained as a military man. There was the bombardment of Odi – we call it Odi Massacre. But the provocation in Odi was not as much as this provocation we are having here.

There was an incident in the Senate involving Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Remi Tinubu, where Melaye was said to have threatened to “beat up and impregnate” his colleague. You are a former Senator. Is that how senators talk during their famous “closeddoor sessions”?

First, it is puzzling that what happened during a closed-door session became public knowledge. In my time, during the exclusive sessions, the gallery would be cleared; the president would come down from the high seat, and we would deliberate. Tempers might go high, but never to the extent of vulgarity.

That said, no matter the provocation, there are certain things a man should not say or should not do. This is the hallowed ground of the highest legislative chamber of this country. There are some utterances that would shock you if they were said at a motor park, how much more the Senate. No matter the level of provocation, it is wrong for a man to say those things reported. If I were in the Senate, I would have moved for

So now that the error has been made, what should be done?

He should be removed.

Would that not cause a major crisis?

Whatever it would cause!

It is widely believed among the Yoruba that what the region has got so far from this present government is not commensurate with the effort that they put towards making Buhari President Yes, that is the general feeling. I can’t deny it. I am not unaware that if you do a headcount, you may probably say that the West hasn’t got enough, but it can get more. A philosopher once said: “For the best form of government, let fools contend. Whatever is well administered is best administered.” It doesn’t matter, but I may be alone in this.

Some of my people may say we cooked the soup together, so we ought to eat it together.

But I regard myself as a statesman, not a politician. If I were a politician, maybe I would have gone even further than I did in my political career. Let me give you an example.

The plan to rig the 2003 election was leaked to me, and the people who leaked it to me told me the way I would return to the Senate for a second term. I refused to do it. I said I would rather sink or swim with my party. Even some party members blamed me later. They said I should have taken it, since it would mean that they would have someone still speaking for them. The whole of the West was swept away.

So to me, it’s not so much about what we are getting, provided the whole system works very well. If there is a well ordered government, and all these distractions (like Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants) were not there, it wouldn’t matter who is working with the President, or who is occupying a political office. If the country is well run, everybody would benefit from it.

35

interview

30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

Nobody can intimidate me on the street ’cos it’s my territory —Shittu, rights activist

A human rights activist, Comrade Amitolu Shittu, in this interview by OLUWOLE IGE, speaks on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari vis-a-vis the state of the polity. Excerpts:

W

HAT is your assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration?

President Buhari is facing a lot of crises.

Notwithstanding, there are a few things that the president needs to fix urgently, among which is power generation. Everything revolves around power. The ordinary people depend on energy. Without electricity, those who have grinding machines cannot work. The cost of petrol to power their generators is killing. Buhari should see power supply as a priority.

Also, our dwindling economy which has affected the value of our currency in the international market is worrisome.

Buhari should be pragmatic in his approach to tackling the problems in the health, energy and education sectors. To prevent the people rising against the government, Buhari should address all the problems hampering their well-being.

The recent increase in the price of petroleum was uncalled for and inhuman. The government failed to engage or consult the people before taking such an action. How can you just increase the pump price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 per liter? It is unfair. The situation has affected all sectors of the economy, leading to increase in the prices of goods and services. Prices of food items have gone up. Why is the government making suffering a way of life in Nigeria? I will continue to disagree on the increase in the price of petrol.

Measures must be taken to mitigate the effect of the satanic increase in the price of petrol on the people.

Although he has come at a very tough time, he should try to do something to reduce the suffering of the masses. Things were difficult initially in the country under the late General Murtala Mohammed but within six months, he fixed the economy. If Mohammed could fix the economy within six months and Nigerians were calling him the messiah, in a democratic setting, we should be able to do better than that.

When Buhari was the chairman of PTF, he performed very well. Then, there were drugs in our hospitals and the roads were good. If he could do that under the military government, I believe he can do better now that he is a civilian president.

He should strive to deliver dividends of good governance to the doorsteps of Nigerians. But we commend the president on the issue of insurgency in the North. He has been able to subdue Boko Haram terrorists. I expect the environmental crusaders to condemn the implications of what the Niger Delta Avengers are doing in the South-South. Destruction of

Niger Delta. Boko Haram terrorists are not Muslims. Those who claim to be Niger Delta militants are not true Niger Delta militants. You will not set your own house on fire. Outsiders are helping them to bomb their homes, just like what is happening in the North. But the law and instrumentality of office are there for Buhari to explore. The constitution empowers him to do certain things. I don’t subscribe to his sluggish way of handling sensitive matters. Buhari is a corruption fighter and he is ready to lay down his life in fighting corruption.

oil pipelines will wreck the soil. The destruction their activities will bring to aquatic life cannot be quantified. Environmental activists should rise and make the militants realise the impacts of their activities. The Niger Delta Avengers are destroying the future for generations yet unborn through their economic sabotage. If the late Ken Saro Wiwa and Adaka Boro were destroying oil pipelines and bombing oil facilities, nobody would remember them today. The militants are not fighting for the cause of the Niger Delta.

There is the belief that if the government can dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups, destruction of oil facilities will stop.

What is your take on this?

When you want to explore dialogue and some miscreants are hell-bent on killing people and causing problems for their kinsmen, then the dialogue option would suffers setback.

The bombers are not living in the midst of the people in the

Some people are given to the view that his anticorruption fight is selective and targeted at the opposition.

It is nonsensical to conclude that Buhari’s anti-corruption war is selective. How do you describe what the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd) did with arms funds? President Buhari has a lot to do. I am in support of his anti-corruption crusade and I am ready to put my life on the line for it. My fear for him is the types of individuals who surround him. There are some of his ministers who do not share his philosophy and ideas. That is where the problem lies. Your ministers must be on the same page with you. The United States president, Barack Obama, was able to achieve so much because he has a team that believes in him and shares his ideology. Therefore, I will disagree with Buhari for listening to his minister of power to increase the electricity tariff. The cost of living in Nigeria today is high and embarrassing. The present government is underestimating the power of the civil society.

During the last demonstration against fuel price increase, there were reports that you were disallowed from addressing the protesters and some people planned to attack you. Can you explain what actually happened that day?

I am a product of the streets and the streets remain my territory. I engaged former President Ibrahim Babangida on one street together with my leaders like the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. We barricaded the streets and fought him. When Chief M. K. O. Abiola was in prison, we were on the streets.

Streets remain my territory and nobody can take me away from them. Only death can do that. I want to say emphatically that nobody dares attack me on the streets. Nobody can do it in this country. Nobody can intimidate me. If a government gives priority attention to the welfare of the people, that is my government.

‘Day my goods worth $450,000 were impounded’ Continues from pg24

What has kept you on?

God has kept me on.

What is the secret of your success?

God has been my secret because I don’t believe in failure.

I always push ahead. There was a time that I didn’t have up to five bundles of lace material to sell, but I continued buying each design in five yards to show that I was still in the business.

Did you display these in the shop?

Which shop? I only had one just for five years and I never stayed there for a day. I always had a sales girl in the shop.

As we speak, I don’t have any. My house has been my shop till date.

Who are your customers?

Nigerians are my customers. You [Women Affairs] will soon be one of them. The quality of my fabric has always done the magic. Quality has been the watchword of my business. Though my clients are of the opinion that my textiles are expensive, they are of good quality. I started selling Aso Oke just by chance. But I am now known more with Aso Oke than lace.

What do you value most?

My children are my assets.

How will you rate today’s teachers?

Teachers nowadays are businessmen and women. In our days, we not only taught the pupils in school but continued teaching them at home. Who is doing this now?

Giving back to the society is my weakness, but I don’t like making noise about this. I hate seeing people in need. I believe in sharing because as I give God keeps giving me.

What can be done to remain on top of challenges?

I have told you the challenges I had, but I never allowed this to get at me. I pushed on in spite of all odds. Whenever you come to a brick wall, try all you can to climb or break through it. The issue of the 450,000 dollars that I was duped of ate deep into my husband’s purse as he spent nearly the same amount chasing after the culprit. I later told him on the need for us to start all over again. One thing that has helped is that I am a land speculator. When our business was moving, we invested in properties, though we have sold many. If we didn’t invest, we could not have sold. Investing in properties is the surest investment in the world today. If you buy cars, they might crash, if you invest in dresses or gold, you can dispose of them easily or they can be stolen.

Who is your role model?

Olori Yetunde Gbadebo remains my role model. She was instrumental in my being educated. She is a teacher and a preacher. I started preaching like her in 1953.

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies are reading, shopping and singing to keep me in shape. In 1979, some Chinese doctors who came to Nigeria advised me to stop walking after a check up. They said that with time, I wouldn’t be able to walk again, but this was not my portion. This was the time I chose to travel to Hong Kong, South Korea and to the far East to get good textiles. I can shop from morning till evening. When shopping I don’t feel hungry. When I am reading, I don’t feel sleepy, when I am singing, I forget all my sorrows.

How do you give back to the society?

Are you still in touch with her?

Yes. She will be around for my party today.

How old is she?

She is 88 years old.

What counsel do you have for young women?

Do I have any? Even if you do, will they listen? They are fond of discarding any word of advice from the elderly as they say, ‘that was in your time’. The only advice for them is to be hardworking, honest and God-fearing.

What lesson has marriage taught you?

I was lucky to have a good husband. Marriage has been kind to me. I had a brother in my late husband. My husband of 46 years was my friend, confidant, lover and everything to me. If you offend me, I easily forget, but if anybody offended my husband, he or she had offended me because he was the type who was not used to reacting to issues.

At 80, what is your wish?

My wish is to serve God and humanity the more.

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

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30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

38

30 July, 2016

Saturday Tribune

39 sport

30 July, 2016

Nigeria unveils wrestlers for Rio Olympics today

By Olawale Olaniyan

T

HE Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), would today unveil its team for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

According to the president of the NWF, Daniel Igali, the official send forth of the wrestlers will hold at the High Performance Hostel, Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja by 2pm.

The squad consists of five female wrestlers—Mercy Genesis, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Aminat Adeniyi, Blessing Oborududu and Hannah Reuben, as well as two male wrestlers, Amas Daniel and Soso Tamara.

Igali, a Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist

with Canada, said the unveiling was to further motivate the athletes who have been committed to their fatherland through the sport.

“This gesture is to encourage these wrestlers going to

The Management and Staff of

CRO WALK

DATA LINK LTD.

Extra-Classe League debuts in Oyo

By Oluwabunmi Ajayi IN its bid to engage the youth in the sporting activities, a non-governmental organisation, the Extra-Classe Oyo pro league is organising a three-month football fiesta in Oyo State.

Speaking with Tribunesport, the representative of the sponsor of the championship, Mr Abidemi Adewoye, the chief executive officer, Sportsdotcom Dynamite Agency explained that their

Onigbinde extols Thunder Balogun’s virtues FORMER Super Eagles chief coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, has extolled the virtues of the late Nigerian football legend, Teslimi ‘Thunder’ Balogun, as his family celebrates his 44th year memorial today in Lagos.

Onigbinde said the late ‘Thunder’ Balogun was a hero whose fascinating exploits motivated a lot a companies in Nigeria to float football clubs, especially in Lagos.

He noted that Balogun’s greatest asset as a footballer was his head which he used in scoring most of the vital goals he scored for both club and country.

“When people talk about Teslimi Balogun they tend to omit the aspect of his level of fitness as a footballer. He was a very fit player who never indulged in drinking nor smoking.”

He added that, Teslim Balogun got his nickname ‘Thunder Bolt’ from the

Rio as they will be competing with their counterparts from other parts of the world. It is to show that we are concerned about their welfare,” the former freestyler wrestler said.

goals he scored at the 1949 Nigeria Challenge Cup final between Nigeria Railways and Marine FC which claimed many lives.

“Marine Fc were leading Railways 3-0 until eighth minutes from full time when Teslimi Balogun scored three goals in seven minutes to level scores for his side. When he scored the first goals, the fans stood on their toes and when he scored the equaliser many of the fans fell off from the spectators stand in wild jubilation and five of them died on the spot.”

The President-General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, also described the late Teslimi Balogun as a fantastic footballer with bullet shots on both feet.

“He had speed and could dribble. A Ghanaian newspaper in the late 60s once described him as the greatest centre forward Africa ever produced.”

ultimate objective was to develop football in the state.

“We are going down to the grassroots football to discover and bring up young and talented footballers who can be groomed to represent the state in future competitions as well as the country at large.

“Oyo State as Pace Setter, is blessed with a lot of football stars in the past and we believe we can still develop more talents from the grassroots,” said Adewoye.

He noted that, the U-21 team league games which will commence with 16 teams have been approved and supported by the Oyo State Football Association alongside the Oyo State Sports Council.

“The kits for each team will be provided by the sponsor of the championship, Pangeea Event sponsor campaign from Romania with three years contract.

“The matches will be home and away games as we are making use of five stadia in the state, Lekan Salami Stadium, Durban stadium, Ogbomoso township stadium, OYSADEP play ground Saki and Iseyin township stadium and it will cut across all the zones in Oyo State,” he added.

Adewoye urged the youth in the state who have passion for football and ready to develop themselves to show up for the championship, as he assured that Extra-Classe Oyo pro league would continue to support sports from the grassroots in order to discover talents for the state and the country as a whole.

your Royal Majesty ON YOUR

FIRST CORONATION ANNIVERSARY ON THE THRONE OF YOUR FORE BEARS

The past one year has been nothing but eventful.

We applaud your reign.

We celebrate you.

May your reign be long and peaceful

HRM, OBA

ALADETOYINBO

Federation Cup: Crown good for title —Adeniyi

By Dipo Ogunsola CHAIRMAN, House Committee on Sports, Oyo State House of Assembly, Adeniyi Adesina, believes Crown FC of Ogbomoso has all it takes to win this year’s Federation Cup. Crown, had during the week defeated Nigeria Premier League side, Wikki Tourists 4-3 on penalties in one of the quarter-final games of the ongoing Federation Cup and is poised for semi-final showdown with FC IfeanyiUba.

“Crown has really done us proud in Oyo State,” Adeniyi told Tribunesport.

“They have the potentialities to go all the way and lift the cup, they only need the moral support of all wellmeaning fans of football in Oyo State,” he added.

Adeniyi contended that the fact that the ‘Ajilete Boys’ defeated Premier League table toppers, Rangers International FC of Enugu and Wikki Tourists in succession, points to the fact the Federation Cup title is within the

grasp of the Ogbomoso side.

“Crown defeated Rangers and Wikki Tourists in the Federation Cup, we have a giant killer as a team, others can fall as well.”

He further called on the Fatai Osho-coached side to keep the focus on their oustanding engagements.

“Crown wants promotion to the elite cadre and is in the semi-final of Federation Cup, we will do all we can to motivate them to be successful on the twin target,” said Adeniyi.

Saturday Tribune

Mr. Tony Ibidapo MD/CEO

21, Isaac John Street, Igbobi Fadeyi, Lagos.

P.O. Box 3903 Shomolu 01-8799424, Mobile: 0803 044 3518, 01-7757320 www.crosswalkingng.com E-mail: crosswalking@yahoo.com tonycrosswalk@yahoo.co.uk info@crosswalking.com

OGUNLADE ALADELUSI (ODUNDUN II) Deji & Paramount Ruler, Akure Kingdom

Nigeria Premier League fixtures

N150

SATURDAY, 30 JULY, 2016

NO 1,162

SATURDAY, JULY 30 Nasarawa Utd vs El-Kanemi Warriors SUNDAY, JULY 31 3SC vs Sunshine Stars Rivers Utd vs Ikorodu Utd IfeanyiUbah vs Kano Pillars

MFM, Lagos Enyimba Lobi Stars Akwa United Tornadoes

vs vs vs vs vs

Plateau Utd Rangers Warri Wolves Wikki Tourists Abia Warriors

FIFA partners NFF to actualise ‘Football Made in Anambra’ project Saliu Gbadamosi - Abuja FIFA has said that it is committed to the actualisation of the ‘Football Made in Anambra’ project being initiated by the Anambra State Football Association.

In seeing to the actualisation of the project, which is initiated by the Dr Ifeanyi Ubahled Anambra FA, the world football-governing body is to partner with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

In its bid to raise footballers from every family in the state, Anambra FA recently launched the project aimed at providing 50,000 footballers for 50,000 homes.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, who during his two-day official visit to the country during the week, hailed the initiative as a major developmental project in Nigerian football.

Infantino noted that the Anambra FA’s initiative if actualised would be of immense benefit to Nigeria, adding that he was happy that such project was coming from Nigeria.

“It is a very important project that the Anambra State FA is undertaking. We have discussed this with the chairman of the FA (Ubah) and you know FIFA is very active in the development of the game through the local association.

We are going to embrace the project through the NFF. “Whatever FIFA can do to encourage the project and even produce more than 50,000 players in the country will be done. This is exactly

the direction we want to see the member associations to follow and we are very happy that such a programme is coming from Nigeria,” Infantino stated.

Meanwhile, Ubah, in his remarks declared that FIFA’s decision had energised the Anambra FA to move forward on the laudable project.

“We have taken Anambra State to FIFA and it has manifested in the visit of the FIFA President to Nigeria. Now that FIFA has keyed into the 50,000 footballers project of the Anambra State FA with the assurance that they will support us technically, I am so happy for this has gone a lot way to prove genuinely that the football made in Anambra project, is becoming a reality,” Ubah said.

Keshi

Family members and sympathisers watch in agony as the body of Stephen Keshi was being lowered into the grave on Friday in his hometown, Illah.

Delta will immortalise Keshi —Okowa As Eguavoen laments Alphonsus Agborh - Illah

D

ELTA State government has promised to immortalise the late former Nigeria coach, Stephen Keshi.

This was disclosed by the

state’s governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa on Friday, as the remains of the football legend were committed to mother earth at his Ukpologwu quarters in Illah, Delta State, amid tears from family members, fans and ex-team-mates of the former Nigeria captain.

The sleepy town of Illah came alive as the body of Keshi, after arrival in the morning, was taken round the major streets, including the ones leading to the family house and the church adorned with posters of the former Togo coach.

Ajimobi promises to give Lekan Salami Stadium facelift

By Wale Akinselure OYO State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has assured of increased funding to sports in the state, especially promising that facilities at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan, will be given a facelift.

Ajimobi gave these assurances when he visited players, the coaching crew and management of Shooting Stars Sports Club, at the stadium, on Friday, during a training session.

Noting that he was encouraged by the recent performances of 3SC and Crown FC, Ogbomoso, he avowed dedicated financial and mor-

To watch 3SC/Sunshine clash tomorrow al support, more than ever before.

To show commitment to this renewed resolve, Ajimobi said he would be present at the stadium tomorrow, when 3SC hosts Sunshine Stars of Akure in a match day 29 fixture of the Nigeria Premier League.

“We are encouraged by their recent performances and there is the need to encourage them, not only financially, but also by visitations. I will be visiting them to cheer them up, to give them the necessary support, from time to time.

“I think the more we are able to encourage sports and sport-

ing activities, it has a multiplier effect of providing avenue for our youths to develop themselves, mentally, physically and with their recent performances, they deserve nothing less.

“We’ll restructure them, we’ll give them financial support, we’ll ensure that the infrastructural facilities are improved upon. The tartan tracks here are not okay and we will change them in the next couple of weeks,” Ajimobi said.

In his remarks, General Manager of 3SC, Mr Rasheed Balogun pleaded with all lovers of 3SC to be calm

as he assured them that the club would not be relegated at the end of the season.

“The people of Oyo State know that victory will be ours (against Sunshine). We know what is at stake. It is a derby but all we aim at is getting three points. By the grace of God, we will avoid relegation,” Balogun said.

Coach of the team, Mr Gbenga Ogunbote described the governor’s visit as a morale booster to the players, adding that the governor’s presence at stadium on Sunday (tomorrow) would also spur the players to give their best.

Dr Okowa, at the requiem service held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, said the state was working out modalities to immortalise Keshi, who he described as having played his script because he came, saw and conquered.

Speaking through the deputy governor, Barrister Kingsley Otuaro, who led other government functionaries, Okowa said the state government would link with the federal authorities to look for the best way to immortalise Keshi.

Ex-internationals and former team-mates of the late football icon, led by Austin Eguavoen moved worshippers almost to tears when they sang their favourite songs for the fallen soccer hero which had encouraged them to victories in their playing days.

“People may say he ‘Keshi’ was too bossy, he was not.

We ran the national team together. If any person wanted to deal with Keshi, the person cannot because we (teammates) were with him.

“Keshi is still our member, he is now lying in the box, it could have been any of us,

but I tell you, our hearts are heavy,” said Eguavoen, who captained Nigeria to a 2-1 victory over Zambia in the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final in Tunisia.

The former Eagles defender lamented the inability of the Federal Government to partake in the burial of Keshi.

“I am not shocked by the way the government has treated this event,” he said.

“For instance, most of us have yet to get the houses the government promised us when we won the Nations Cup in 1994. You are only energised when you have been looked after. One keeps wondering if Nigeria is worth fighting for or even dying for” In his homily, Reverend Fr. Dennis Arinze urged Nigerians to have strong faith in God, adding that a lot should be learnt from the death of a person like Keshi.

The clergyman took a swipe on the economic situation of the country and noted that, a lot more needed to be done in the area of education, health and other sectors.

He bemoaned the level of unemployment, prostitution, hunger and other social vices plaguing the country.

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. 30/7/2016.