Peoples Daily Newspaper, Tuesday, May 15, 2012

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 8 No. 37

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

. . . putting the people first

Jimadal Akhir 24, 1433 AH

N150

Power outage: 50 trapped in Lagos airport lifts From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

A

power outage yesterday left over 50 airport users, including air passengers, trapped lifts at the international wing of the

Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

This happened few weeks after electricity supply to the international terminal and runways at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,

Abuja, went off long enough to prevent aircraft from landing.

The incident sparked outrage at the National Assembly which summoned the supervising aviation minister to explain why it

happened.

The Lagos incident which occurred as a result of the power seizure by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the inability of the backup generating sets to work

left a sizeable number of users thanking their stars for surviving the sad experience.

Some of the victims of yesterday’s power disruption told our reporter it was an Contd on Page 2

2015 will be bloody, warns Gen. Buhari >>> Page 2

Military hardware inaugurated during the opening of a combat arms training week, yesterday, in Bauchi.

NAF ready to crush insurgency, says CAS >> PAGE 2

Nigeria agrees to send troops to G/Bissau, Mali >> PAGE 2

Yobe govt earmarks N50m for victims of Potiskum attack >> PAGE 7

Photo: NAN

8 killed in Zamfara robbery >> PAGE 9

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Newsxtra

27

Agriculture

29

2015 will be bloody, warns Buhari From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

F

ormer Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari , who was the presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the April 2011 elections, has warned that there would be bloodshed in Nigeria in 2015 if the general elections that year do not turn out to be free and fair.

“Except there is justice in the conduct of the elections, blood will flow because there will be bloodshed between the dogs and the baboons,” Buhari said yesterday when a delegation of CPC members from Niger state paid him a courtesy visit in Kaduna.

He lamented the magnitude of corruption and the insensitivity of Nigeria’s leadership, and warned that “there is a storm of awareness and God willing, by

2015, something will happen.

They either conduct free and fair elections or they go a very disgraceful way.”

Buhari also spoke about the nation’s current security challenges, especially in the north and regretted that “the north is handicapped” even as he described the federal government as insensitive.

As he put it, “the north does not own the police, the soldiers or the Central Bank of Nigeria and since the leaders now do not listen to anybody but do whatever they wish, there is nothing the north can do.

“I will like to quote Professor Ango Abdullahi who said that there are three Boko Harams including the original one led by Mohammed Yusufu who was killed and his supporters tried to take revenge by attacking law enforcement agencies and

politicians.

“There is another developed Boko Haram of criminals who steal and kill while the biggest Boko Haram is the federal government”.

Buhari also spoke on the petroleum industry, noting that he was quite knowledgeable about the affairs of the sector. He was federal Commissioner of Petroleum in the late 1970s.

He said “the current leadership of the country has destroyed the petroleum industry. This kind of things can only happen under the type of Nigeria current leadership.

“Nowhere in the world can such things happen now and nowhere in the world can government increase the cost of petroleum products with more than 120 per cent. It is most insensitive. Besides the air people breathe, the next important thing

NAF ready to crush insurgency, says CAS From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

T

7 members of CPC in Katsina kick against dismissal, Page 39

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU The Peoples Daily wants to hear from you with any news and pictures you think we should publish.

You can send your news and pictures to: letters@peoplesdaily-online.com pictures@peoplesdaily-online.com contact@peoplesdaily-online.com

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

he Nigerian Air Force is combat-ready to crush any insurgency in the country, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar, declared yesterday in Kaduna.

According to him, the Air Force would complement efforts of other security services aimed at protecting the lives and property Nigerians.

Umar spoke while commissioning two blocks of 18 flats airmen accommodation, 10 room self-contained airmen transit quarter and upgraded officers mess projects, executed by the 335 Base Services Group of the Nigerian Air Force, Kaduna.

“The Air Force is better trained and equipped to tackle the problem of insurgence resulting from activities of terrorist groups in parts of the north”, he said.

“As you can see, I am congratulating my men on their performance. We are training and equipping our personnel to ensure that we key

into the efforts of the other services.

“As you know, it is not the Air Force alone that is keeping peace in the country. It is a joint operation with other services - Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Police, and the Department of the State Security Services as well other organs or security agencies across the country”.

He added: “We are in joint efforts to see that we contain this security challenge. As you can see, our aircraft are serviceable.

“I can tell you want we have now is incredible. More than 99 percent serviceable.

Aircraft that you will see tomorrow and I am sure throughout the week, some of them are involved in tackling this security challenge. And of course, we have also our air men and women who are on the ground helping the Army, Navy and the Police to tackle this challenge.

“I am indeed delighted to be here among you this morning to commission these projects for the use our officers and air men

at 335 BSG. “It gladdens my heart to see that my hardworking personnel are being rewarded for the excellent work they are doing the Nigerian air Force and for this country.

“I want to say that when we came on board, one of our key drivers in our vision is personnel motivation and you cannot motivate personnel if you do not ensure that you take adequate care of their welfare and their well-being.

“And that is why we decided to expend resources to ensure that we build and upgrade facilities on the base.

“I want to assure you that we shall continue to look into your welfare by ensuring that we build more accommodation for our airmen and women an indeed our officers and other facilities and infrastructures that will make your work much easier.

“I want to admonish you to remember that these facilities were built with resources and the resources were not always available.”

to them is petroleum products.

“Unfortunately for me, I know more about petroleum industry than others in government because I was there for over three years as a leader.

“We started with the PortHarcourt refinery producing 60,000 barrels per day. It was upgraded to 100,000 barrels per day. Another one was built there also in Port-Harcourt producing over 150,000 barrels, making a total of 250,000 barrels per day slated purely on Nigeria crude and there was even a time, we were exporting 100,000 barrels per day of refined products but this current leadership has destroyed the industry.”

Nigeria agrees to send troops to G/Bissau, Mali

By Abubakar Ibrahim

N

igeria will deploy troops to Guinea-Bissau this week, Defence Minister Bello Haliru Mohammed said yesterday at a meeting of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) defence chiefs in Abuja.

Nigeria, considered the region’s powerhouse, remains “committed” to its pledges to deploy troops to Guinea-Bissau and Mali in the wake of coups in both countries, he said, adding: “Our troops are ready.”

“In Guinea-Bissau, we will deploy before the 18th of this month,” he said, without stating how large a force would be sent to the former Portuguese colony whose government was overthrown on April 12.

“In Mali, we await the signals from (the regional grouping) ECOWAS. We have all our forces and equipment ready for airlift,” Mohammed added.

West African leaders decided at a summit in Abidjan on April 26 to deploy between 500 and 600 troops from at least four countries — Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast and Senegal — to Guinea-Bissau following the coup there.

The summit also decided to deploy a regional force to Mali where a coup overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22.

Power outage: 50 trapped in Lagos airport lifts Contd from Page 1

experience they expected to have again in their lifetime.

Yetunde, a cleaner with one of the cleaning firms within the facility, said “it is a miracle we survived this incident,” some of those we were inside the lift together, were already calling their families and saying their last wishes or prayers should they not come out alive.”

A member of staff of the agency who did not want his name in print told our

correspondent that it was a shameful occurrence “especially when we were at the peak of operations inside the airport.”

Eyewitnesses told our reporter that the outage which occurred about 12 noon local time lasted for 45 minutes before power supply was restored.

One of the engineers who simply identified himself as Adedamola said they had to force the lifts open for the trapped victims during the

duration of the darkness as airport users were shouting and wailing while others screamed and banged the lifts located at the different fingers of the terminal.

Adedamola said that a team of engineers had to climb the sixth floor of the terminal to work on the lifts thus forcing them open to enable the passengers and others trapped inside to escape.

Countless empty bottles of water and sachet water wraps littered the premises of the

terminal when our reporter arrived the scene as some said the water was used to resuscitate those who almost fainted while others used the liquid to wash their bodies of sweat immediately they came out of the hot lifts.

When our reporter called the General Manager, Public Affairs of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr. Akin Olukunle, to speak on the situation, his calls were not answered.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 3

Unilorin 44 sacked lecturers seek prison term for VC, 3 others From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

L-R: Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Bashir Mohammed, Chairman of the committee, Senator Ayogu Eze, Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, and committee member, Senator Bukar Ibrahim, during a national workshop on “Attitudinal Change Course on Management and Financing of Roads in Nigeria”, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

N7bn suit: FG accuses North of sleeping over rights

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he Federal Government yesterday, told the Supreme Court that the governments of the 16 Northern states slept over their rights, by filing their suit seeking for the payment of N7 billion outstanding value of the assets of the defunct Northern States Marketing Board (NSMB) out of time.

Sixteen of the 19 states in the North are asking the Supreme

Court to compel the Federal Government to pay them N7 billion as outstanding value of the assets of the defunct NSMB. The board was said to have been taken over by the Federal Government in 1977 from the then North-Western, NorthCentral, Kano, North-Eastern and Central-Western states.

The states as presently constituted comprise Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi,

Kogi, Kwara, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara who instituted the suit had named the AGF as the defendant.

In a preliminary objection to the governors’ suit filed by Mr. Ade Okeaya-Inneh, on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), he said the northern governors’ statement of claim is statute barred by virtue of section 7(1)(e) of the Limitation Act. AGF said the cause of action upon which the plaintiffs’ suit is

predicated are letters dated July 27, 1983 and August 13, 1984 in their statement of claim dated February 17, 2011.

“Since the plaintiffs instituted this action by way of civil summons on February 17, 2011 in consequence thereof, the said action is at variance with section 7 (1)( e) of the Limitation Act. “Whenever a party’s action is statute barred, the party would lose his right of action and lose the right of enforcement,” he said.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher who led a seven-man panel of justices adjourned the matter to September 20, 2012 for mention.

Jonathan tasks West African defence chiefs on security

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday urged West African Defence Chiefs to ensure that peace and security are sustained in the sub-region.

The President who made the appeal during a courtesy visit to State House by Chiefs of Defence

Staff in West Africa who are in Abuja for their 30th Ordinary Meeting, stressed that the strength of any nation depends on the might of its military and “security is very vital to the integrity of nations.”

President Jonathan while commending the defence chiefs for their role in ensuring the current relative stability in the sub-region

enjoined them not to relent.

“Though there are challenges in some areas, the stability of countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) subregion is commendable. We have progressed significantly compared with what we had 20 years ago,” the President said, adding that “we have to continue to ensure peace,

security and stability.”

President Jonathan who noted that the whole sub-region has embraced democratic governance, expressed appreciation to the military chiefs for joining hands with civilian authorities to address the challenges in a few countries in West Africa such as Mali and Guinea Bissau.

…Amends retirement age of tertiary institutions’ staff

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan has signed the Bill for an Act entitled, Retirement Age of Staff of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education (Harmonisation) Act, 2012.

The law harmonises the compulsory retirement age of

staff of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education to be 65 years and exempts them from the Public Service Rule which requires a person to retire from the Public Service after serving for 35 years.

According to a statement

signed his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, President Jonathan has also assented to the Bill for an Act to further amend the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act No. 11, 1993.

The new Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act, 2012,

limits the tenure of principal officers of universities to a single term of five years, while increasing the compulsory retirement age of staff in the professorial cadre and nonacademic staff in Nigerian universities to 70 and 65 years respectively.

he 44 sacked lecturers of the University of Ilorin, who were reinstated by the Supreme Court have applied for an order of the Ilorin Federal High court to commit to prison the Vice Chancellor and three other officials of the university for “neglecting to obey the judgment of the Supreme Court contained in its judgment delivered on December 11, 2009.”

The Supreme Court had in the judgment reversed the sacking of the lecturers by the university in 2001 but the lecturers are claiming that the school had refused to grant them all what they are entitled to such as accumulated annual leaves and promotions as reportedly contained in the judgement.

The applicants’ grounds of application include that: The Supreme Court delivered its judgement in this case on appeal on 11/12/2009 wherein it restored the judgment of the High Court thereby granting them all their reliefs".

“The judgment debtors have refused to grant the judgment creditors their annual promotions for the period they were unlawfully dismissed.

“Forms 48 and 49 have been served on the judgment debtors and they still persist in their disobedience.”

The motion on notice signed by the applicants' counsel, Toyin Oladipo is slated to be heard on May, 25.

SSS denies knowledge of N40m Boko Haram funding

By Lambert Tyem

T

he State Security Service (SSS), yesterday claimed ignorance of an alleged N40 million aid from Algeria to fund the activities of the Boko Haram sect.

Spokesperson of the Service, Mrs. Marilyn Ogar, when contacted, said she did not have such information.

Police spokesman, CSP Frank Mba when contacted, initially declined comments, saying he was in a noisy area.

Subsequently, he failed to respond to several calls made to his cell phones.

Subsidy probe report: SNG heads for court, says protest last option From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

F

ollowing the expiration of its 2-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to take concrete action on the report of the House of Representatives subsidy probe report, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), yesterday headed for the court to challenge what it described as delay in the adoption

of the report by the Executive.

Speaking in Lagos, the convener of the group and the Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said the group is also among other things seeking the judicial interpretation of section 80 and 81 of the 1999 constitution which deals with appropriation and spending from the Federation

Account from a Federal High Court in Lagos.

Bakare while acknowledging all that has been said in the last two weeks in response to the group’s threat to stage protests said, “it is to show that we are a responsible organisation prepared to exhaust as many options as are available to us, only opting for public protests as a very last resort.”

He continued: “However, all we have heard hitherto has been mere rhetoric with no concrete actions from constituted authorities. It is not lost on us that the President, under whose watch N3 trillion was stolen, has not directly addressed this monumental scandal except through remarks on his behalf by presidential aides. An ethical

president ought to have made a national broadcast on this series of events unrivalled anywhere in the world. Yet, we are ready to extend the rope to see what comes of the EFCC’s promise within a reasonable time. We will watch every step they take with our firm resolve that this report will not go into the mortuary of probe reports.”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 4

No rift between Kwakwanso and Kano Assembly members, says deputy

By Lawrence Olaoye

K

ano state deputy governor, Dr. Abdullai Umar Ganduje, yesterday, clarified that there was no rift between the governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso and the members of the state House of Assembly.

Responding to questions from newsmen over the speculations that the state governor was at loggerheads with the lawmakers, the deputy governor who represented his boss at the retreat held for the lawmakers in Abuja, said “You can see there is no problem in Kano state; that’s why

we are here and you can see us smiling”.

Kwankwaso in his speech read on his behalf by his deputy, challenged the lawmakers to always have the interest of the public behind all their actions.

According to him, the lawmakers should concern themselves with making laws that would ensure that dividends of democracy are delivered to the people.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Hon AbdulAzeez Garba Gafasa in his speech, equally appealed to the government to consider more training programmes for the lawmakers in order to enable them perform their statutory functions.

Child Rights Act: Non compliant states to be penalised, says minister

By Maryam Garba Hassan

T

he Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, has said that states that did not pass the Child Rights Act that was federally domesticated in 2003 into law, will be penalised.

The minister made the disclosure while fielding questions from the media at the end of her presentation at the on going Ministerial Platform in commemoration of Democracy Day and the 1st anniversary of President Goodluck Jonathan in office, yesterday in Abuja.

According to her, only 23 states and the FCT out of the 36 states of the federation passed the law while Kebbi, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Zamfara, Enugu, Kano, Adamawa, Gombe and Bayelsa states are yet to pass the Act into law.

The minister said other achievements recorded under her regime with some initiated by her

predecessors, were the ministry’s partnership with the police to address the rampant cases of rape, violence against women, prostitution, hawking by children and trafficking and the establishment of more Gender Desks in police stations across the country to handle such cases.

She said one of the major achievements of the ministry was the establishment of the forum of female Ministers and Special Advisers to the president, which she said was formed as a strategy to scale-up response on Affirmative Action, gender mainstreaming and gender focused budgeting and take-off of Gender Units in the MDAs as well as to further provide Nigerian women in governance and politics with a platform to meet, share ideas, compare notes on their experiences in governance and strategise properly in meeting the challenges of mainstreaming gender issues in national development.

Supreme Court slates July 30 to deliver judgement on oil well suit

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he Supreme Court yesterday slated July 30, 2012 for judgement in the suit brought before it by the Cross River state government claiming the 14 oil wells ceded to it by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday, counsel to the appellant, Yusuf Ali (SAN) prayed the court to compel both the Federal Government and Akwa Ibom state government to respect the sharing formula put in place by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the 90 oil wells which had been a subject of dispute between Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.

Cross Rivers state had dragged the Federal Government and the Akwa Ibom state to court on ground that some of the oil wells ceded to it by the agreement reached at a meeting called by the former president in 2006 were not released to it.

Ali submitted that former President Obasanjo through a letter dated October 31, 2006 had shared the oil wells between the two states given 76 to Akwa Ibom and

14 to Cross River.

Ali prayed the court to allow the appeal and grant all the reliefs sought for by the applicant.

In his submission, counsel to the Akwa Ibom state government, Chief Bayo Ojo, submitted that the issue before the court was whether Cross River is a littoral state or not as at present.

He further argued that the handing over of the western Bakassi to Cameroun in August 14, 2008 removed Cross River from being a littoral state and hence could not benefit from the oil wells.

He therefore urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

Counsel to the Federal Government, Damien Dodo, on his part, argued that the matter was before the court as at the time the former president wrote the letter sharing the oil well and that the court did not embrace that letter when it sat on the matter in 2005.

He further argued that the National Boundary Commission and the Revenue Allocation Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission acted ultra vires in all matters that led to the instant suit.

He therefore urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

N7.5bn debt: Appeal Court strikes out Dokpesi’s application From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

T

he Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, yesterday struck out the application filed by Daar Communications Plc, asking the court to stay execution of a judgement delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The Federal High Court, Ikoyi, had in its judgment ordered Daar Communications to pay the sum of N7.5bn debt to Fidelity

Bank Plc. At the hearing of the application for stay of execution of judgment, the appellate court presided over by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, observed that the application filed by Daar Communications was not signed by a legal practitioner.

In his submissions, counsel to Fidelity Bank, Dr. Joseph Nwobike prayed the court to strike out the application for incompetence.

Earlier, counsel to the appellants, Olumide Adefila had

sought for adjournment to enable parties resolve the matter amicably.

Adefila informed the court that the chairman of Daar CommunicationS Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi and the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank met at the weekend and agreed to resolve the matter amicably.

In his reply, Dr. Nwobike told the court that he was not aware of any plan to settle the matter out of court.

Speaker, Kano state House of Assembly, Hon. Gambo Salahu (right) in a handshake with the state’s Deputy Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (middle), during the opening ceremony of a retreat for members and staff of the state House of Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. With them is the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Isyaku Ali Danja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

How bank staff defrauded me of N25m, by victim

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

Bureau De Change Operator, Alhaji Abubakar Kalidu yesterday told an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse Zone II how some members of staff of the Unity Bank Plc allegedly conspired to defraud him of N25 million.

Alhaji Kalidu, a prosecution witness who was led in evidence told the court that one Yusuf Musa introduced Latifat Lawal to him as a staff of Unity Bank in their bid to buy 157, 282 US dollars with its naira equivalent in the tune of N25 million.

The prosecution witness, who is also the complainant in the matter, said he paid the suspects’ N155, 150 as commission on the transaction, adding that, “After finishing with the 4th accused person (Latifat Lawal), I gave one Umar Abubakar the account number of Datman Ventures to transfer N8 million to, which he

confirmed was done with the letter-head paper of the company as requested.

“The owner of the account also confirmed the receipt of the amount in his account, only for Yusuf Musa to call me that there was a problem as Latifat told him that the 2nd accused person stole the money with which he bought the dollars.

“After a while, Latifat now called to tell me that the 2nd accused person stole bank’s money to buy the dollars and that the bank, on discovering it, retrieved the money and froze the account”, he told the court.

He said he took the complaint to the Inspector General of Police after efforts to get the account opened and the money paid back failed.

While been cross examined by the counsel representing the accused persons, Sunday G. Kekere-Akpe, Kalidu told the court that Unity Bank has never

bought dollars from his Bureau De Change and that Yusuf Musa is not an agent of the bank but a Bureau De Change Operator who can get customers anywhere.

He equally said the 4th accused had never brought a document from the bank requesting for the purchase of dollars, adding that, “our business of buying and selling of dollars is not done like that, it does not require signing of documents”.

The suspects, Asia Uchechukwu; Nancy Yusuf Dogo; Latifa Oyizu Lawal and Dayyabu Sanusi standing trial for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal breach of trust by the police, have been granted bail after pleading not guilty.

Chief Magistrate Oyeyipo Ademuyiwa Olakunle adjourned till June 8, 2012 for continuation of hearing and ordered the prosecution to come along with all its witnesses.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 5

Two killed as rival thugs clash in Benin From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

A

n Edo state Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff was stabbed to death while a member of a rival Drivers Welfare Scheme in the state, Omosigho Wilfred, was also killed during a mayhem that lasted about three hours yesterday.

Several others whose identities could not be ascertained, were said to be lying critically injured and in coma, in various hospitals in the state capital.

Supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) allegedly unleashed mayhem at INEC office complex in protest over the attempt by the commission to organise a fresh voters’ registration exercise ahead of the July 14, 2012 governorship elections in the state.

The ACN alleged that the process was a design by INEC and PDP to rig the forthcoming elections.

Meanwhile, aggrieved members of the welfare scheme yesterday stormed the secretariat complex of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Edo state council with the deceased body of their member.

Members of the ACN during the protest called on the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, to order the immediate evacuation of all the DDC machines in the custody of the office of the commission in Edo state to allow peace reign in the state.

PhD student stabbed to death in Benue From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

A

doctorate student of the Benue state University Makurdi, Mr. John Tor Viha Gber was yesterday allegedly stabbed to death by one Mr. Akaa at Logo 1 area of Makurdi, the Benue state capital.

Sister to the deceased, Miss Janet Gber narrated that Mr. Akaa came into their compound, claiming that the father of the deceased had sent him to pick a motor spare part from the house.

Janet said his brother refused to oblige Akaa’s request, contending that his father never informed him that Akaa would come and pick something from the house.

According to her, Gber’s refusal resulted in a disagreement that attracted neighbours, who sought to know what was happening.

It was in the process of explaining that Akaa was said to have removed a knife and stabbed Gber in the back and on the head.

He died few minutes later in an undisclosed hospital.

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Alaribe Ejike who confirmed the incident, said that the police had since arrested the culprit and would charge him to court soon.

L-R: Ondo state Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, President Goodluck Jonathan, and Akwa Ibom state Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, after the inauguration of Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

NDLEA records first creamy cocaine seizure From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded the first seizure of creamy cocaine in the country.

The 9.500kg cocaine which looks like ice cream was being smuggled into the country in four big coolers by an unrepentant suspected drug trafficker who is currently facing trial over unlawful importation of one kilogramme of cocaine from Brazil in 2010.

The re-arrest of the 50-yearold at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos has generated mixed

reactions on the adequacy of the legal framework and justice dispensation in drug control.

The suspect, Martin Ikechukwu was caught with 9.500kg of creamy substance that tested positive for cocaine on his way from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Operatives of the NDLEA detected the drug following suspicion on the four giant size water coolers.

Four (4) parcels each of creamy cocaine were found to have been industrially strapped round the body of the four coolers. In all a total of 16 parcels weighing 9.500kg with an estimated street value of over 90 million naira were recovered during search at the

arrival hall of the airport.

NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar who confirmed the arrest explained that the command has been grappling with the problem of re-arrest of suspected drug traffickers who are released on bail.

“The re-arrest of persons undergoing trial for drug related charges is one of our numerous challenges. This suspect was first arrested on 23rd of February 2010 for ingesting one kilogramme of cocaine and there are several cases like this,” Hamza noted.

Commenting on the arrest and drug seizure, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu

Giade said that the arrest showed the extent to which drug barons can go in attempt to prevent drugs from being detected.

According to the NDLEA boss, “while this arrest reflects the level of desperation by drug barons, it has also raised questions on the issue of bail for drug traffickers.

Certainly, the accused is unrepentant and has shown no remorse because he was first caught with 1kg and went back to smuggle 9.500kg of cocaine even when the first case is ongoing. We shall pursue this case to a logical conclusion and use it as deterrent to others”.

The NDLEA is also investigating the circumstances under which the suspect acquired new travel documents as well as his accomplices.

131 perished on Kogi highway in 4 months, says FRSC From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

F

ederal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Kogi state has said at least 131 persons lost their lives to highway accidents from January to April this year.

Michael Olapade, Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in the state revealed yesterday in Lokoja while speaking with newsmen in

his office.

Olapade said 1,582 passengers were involved in 189 road accidents that happened across the state within the period under review.

He added that 748 of them suffered various degrees of injury saying: “Out of the 1,582 people involved in the accidents, 131 died, 748 got injured while the rest escaped unhurt.

“Thirty-one persons died in

accidents that happened in January, 46 in February, 26 in March while the month of April recorded 28 deaths.”

Olapade attributed the accidents to over-speeding, dangerous driving, tyre bursts and brake failure among others and pointed out that most of them were avoidable and could have been averted but for carelessness and non-adherence to traffic rules.

He warned motorists to desist from reckless driving, always observe traffic rules and codes and above all, minimize their speed to manageable level to save the lives their passengers and theirs.

The sector commander hinted that the command had stepped up its public enlightenment campaign in its resolve to reach out to motorists to educate them on the need to change their driving attitudes.

2 die, 45 others injured in Katsina auto crash From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

N

o fewer than two persons died and 45 others got injured in an accident involving a J5 bus conveying a bride and Volkwagen Golf car.

An eyewitness told our

correspondent that the accident occurred on Sunday evening at ‘Yartafki village along FuntuaZaria road.

The source disclosed that the Golf car coming from the Zaria end of the road had a head-on collision with the bus coming from Funtua which conveyed the bride while

attempting to dodge a motorcyclist.

Our correspondent who visited the Funtua General Hospital where the dead and the injured were taken met a confused situation as relatives of mourned the victims.

The dead and the injured were

conveyed to the hospital by the rescue team of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Funtua Command.

Confirming the incident to our correspondent, the unit commander of the command, Alhaji Umar Betara noted that of the 45 people that got injured in the accident, 23 were serious while 22 were mild.

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Kogi task force on sanitation prosecutes 30 persons

Army to open dog training centre in Lagos From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

T

he Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Army to brace up for the security challenges in the country.

The COAS disclosed this in Bauchi yesterday while declaring open the Combat Arms Training Week held at the Armoured Brigade Headquarters, Bauchi, with the theme 'Repositioning the Combat Arms through Training and Retraining and Equipment to meet Contemporary Challenges'.

Ihejirioka revealed plans by the army to use trained dogs to detect explosives and narcotics to help fight terrorism and other crimes.

The Army Chief said the discarded Dog Unit of the army would be revived by converting army structures in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos to a Dog Training Centre.

He said that a 48 carriage was being constructed to accommodate the specially trained dogs each of which would have its own room and parlour as well as air-conditioner.

He disclosed that already, the first, second and third sets of officers and soldiers to handle the dogs had been sent overseas for training.

According to him, training village for its officers and men would have a feel of real war time situation, adding that troops have been sent to the United Kingdom and Pakistan to see the structures there, to enable the army have the best of such facilities.

FRSC appoints Akpabio, Lagos sector Commander

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has appointed Nseobong Charles Akpabio, as the Sector Commander of the Lagos State Command, to take over from Corps Commander, Jonas Agwu.

A statement issued yesterday by the Corps Education Officer (CEO) of the Lagos State Sector, Esther Sonusi, indicated that Akpabio, was one of the pioneer staff of the FRSC, and a highly decorated officer, who holds National Honours Award in the rank of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON). He was the immediate past Corps Public Education Officer at the National Headquarters, Abuja.

"He served the Corps in various command and staff appointments including the Sector Commander in Akwa Ibom, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Benue states in addition to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Head of the Corps' Command Administration and Strategy in the Operations Department, National Headquarters supervising over 200 FRSC Commands nationwide", the statement added.

From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

N

Malam Lawal Tudun-Wada, attacked by a gang of armed robbers at the weekend Tudun Malamai in Funtua, receiving treatment, yesterday at Funtua General Hospital.

Photo: NAN

CNPP berates PDP over plot to kill Labour From Ayodele Samuel and Ojebola Matthew, Lagos

T

he Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has expressed outrage over news from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Federal Government has perfected plans to create a Labour Centre with the intent of killing the labour movement in Nigeria.

CNPP also challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to call to order "those unpatriotic, undemocratic and anti-labour elements in his party and government whose plan is to factionalise and indeed kill the Labour Movement in Nigeria to stop

forthwith."

CNPP National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, in a statement said: "Our worry stems from the fact that to factionalise the Labour Movement, which played a major role in reclaiming our democracy from military dictatorship and which always stood with the people in waging wars of attrition against antipeople's policy, a metaphor of the PDP-led Federal Government of Nigeria in the last 13 years, will be a national disaster".

"Is it not paradoxical that the government is afraid of a Labour Movement which many patriots accuse of fraternising with President Jonathan's government as

evidenced by the abrupt stoppage of the January 2012 fuel subsidy mass action and which has neither supported nor joined with the Save Nigeria Group's agitation for Mr. President to immediately sack and prosecute all those indicted by the House of Representatives Report and recover the stolen subsidy funds? This smacks of fledgling dictatorship", it said.

CNPP also bemoaned how, since 1999, the PDP devoted huge resources to killing the Alliance for Democracy, All Peoples Party and other democratic institutions, instead of utilising unprecedented oil revenue to provide electricity, modern railways and social services.

Insecurity caused by bad governance, says Amaechi From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

T

he River's state Governor Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has attributed the current spate of insecurity bedevilling the entire coun t r y t o b a d governance.

The governor who stated this yesterday at state Government House, Qutse during a working visit to Jigawa state, said insurgencies either from the South or North were attempts to resist bad governance.

According to him, "either way one looks at it, whether it is the militants or the 'Boko Haram', it is a group of people that are resisting the

overwhelming pressure of bad leadership".

Amaechi who is the chairman of the Nigerian Governors' Forum, observed that the Jigawa state governor has made landmark achievements towards uplifting the state through the prudent use of the public funds.

He said, "from what I have so far seen from the road construction while I drove into the state from Kano, I must commend Alhaji Sule Lamido for his doggedness by sticking to his policy of putting the "Talakawa" first.

He said, "My visit to Jigawa would provide me with the opportunity to learn from the

experience of the governor whom I am advising to let the world see what he has done against the backdrop of those calling state governors thieves", he said.

Earlier on, Alhaji Sule Lamido who went down memory lane narrated how Jigawa state was created out of necessity than design.

Governor Sule Lamido urged governors from the South-South to pay similar visits to the North in order to disabuse the minds of those portraying the north as an insecurity prone area.

He advised governors to do whatever is possible, to address the current security challenges in the country.

o fewer than 30 persons who contravened the Kogi state government's sanitation and beautification laws and the building of illegal structures in the state capital have been prosecuted and fined.

Magistrate Abdullahi Suleiman, fined the culprits amounts ranging from N1,000 to N5,000 as first offenders for contravening law No Hl 03 of 2011 and PHC CAP 109 of 1963.

The prosecutor, Shaibu Ibrahim, said those arrested were caught displaying wares along the streets despite several warnings, which is tantamount to disobeying constituted authority.

Speaking at the court premises, the Acting General Manager, warned that henceforth, dropping refuse on road divide would attract sanction while calling on the people to cooperate with government in ensuring a clean society.

Reacting to the continuous disobedience to the ban on street trading, the secretary, beautification committee, Adavi Abraham, appealed to the people to make use of the neighborhood market provided by the government as the present administration was ready to rid Lokoja of filth.

UNILAG declares 3-day mourning for late VC From Ayodele Samuel and Ojebola Matthew, Lagos

T

he University of Lagos (UNILAG), has declared three days of mourning in honour of its late Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, who passed away at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on Saturday.

During the mourning period, which commenced from Monday May14 to Wednesday May 16, all lectures, statutory meetings and other university activities at its three campuses would not hold.

According to hospital sources, the VC suffered a heart attack while in his office at the Department of Computer Science but managed to call his doctor from the medical centre who came to his rescue and brought him to the medical centre in an ambulance.

He was subsequently transferred to LUTH where he was diagnosed as having myocardial infraction.

He was resuscitated before being transferred to the high dependency unit in ward E8 of LUTH. Unfortunately, he suffered a second heart attack and all efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Post mortem examination has since been carried out and this has confirmed the cause of death.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 7

Yobe govt earmarks N50m for victims of Potiskum market attack

G

overnor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe state has approved the payment of over N50 million as compensation to victims of the recent Potiskum International Cattle Market crisis.

A statement signed by the governor’s Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information, Abdullahi Bego said the payment

of the compensation, which will be made this week, follows verification work done by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), in collaboration with the leadership of the Cattle Market Association.

According to Bego, the families of each of the 63 people confirmed to have died as a result of the attack will receive

N600, 000 bringing the total to N28, 800, 000 while owners of 15 vehicles and three tricycles burnt during the attack will receive a total of N5, 850, 000.00 which represents 60% of the original costs of the burnt items.

The statement added:

“Owners of 49 cattle that were burnt will receive N3, 433, 250.

The sum of N10, 000 will go to each of the owners of 738 Market Shades that were burnt during the attack which totals N7, 380, 000.00. The 26 water and beancake vendors who lost items will also receive N10, 000.00 each.

People who lost goats in the goat market close to the cattle market will receive a total of N2, 727, 810.00 which is 60 percent of the cost of the lost goats”.

“Five cattle dealers will receive N1, 560, 000.00 as a result of loss of items belonging to other people in their possession”.

Probe Lamurde killings, group urges Adamawa Benue medical students protest Assembly umbrella body housing all Bata that “No security steps were and Bachama kingdoms in taken and it seemed that Adamawa state, claimed that government deliberately turned delay in accreditation of courses From Blessing Tunoh, Yola government did not respond to deaf ears and blind eyes to what From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

M

edical students of the Benue State University, yesterday, staged another protest against the state government over the delay in accreditation of courses at the College of Health Sciences.

The students who trekked from the school that is over 10km from the town, convened at the Government House roundabout decked in their white over-alls but were prevented by security operatives who wielded guns and tear gas from gaining entrance into the Government House.

They claimed that they were on appointment to see Governor Gabriel Suswam who was in Abuja attending a meeting.

Indecent dressing destroys womanhood, says Miss Catholic Youth

M

iss Catholic Youth Organisation (CYON), 2012, Archdiocese of Lagos, Miss Chioma Okose, yesterday, advised young women to dress decently in order to protect the dignity of womanhood.

Okose told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that women have lost their dignity due to increase in indecent dressing among the youth.

“The pride of young ladies is lost with the incessant craze for fashion and modernisation, we should not expose our bodies,’’ she said.

She said that beauty contests should be carried out without exposing the sacred parts of bodies, adding that, it should be a show of talent and not bodies.

“Beauty contests should display more of the intellect of young girls and not concentrate on showing those parts that should not be made public,’’ she said.

Okose advised religious bodies to promote decent pageants which should change the concept and tradition of exposing bodies during beauty pageants.

The Chaplain, Catholic Youths Organisation, Lagos Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Andrew Ogidan told NAN that the Church condemns indecency in female dressing. (NAN)

The College Provost, Dr. Shima Gyoh appealed to them to go back so that the issues could be amicably resolved.

Speaking with journalists on the matter, Secretary to the State Government, Dr. David Salifu, assured that government would ensure full accreditation of courses in the medical college in few weeks time, disclosing that the Out-Patient Department, as well as the X-ray departments were already functioning.

A

socio-cultural association, Pene Da Bwatiye, yesterday, urged the Adamawa State House of Assembly to institute a highpowered probe into the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s attack by alleged Fulani mercenaries on 12 villages in Lamurde local government area of the state.

Addressing a press conference at the NUJ secretariat, Yola, Prince Hebron Fada, president of Pene Da Bwatiye Association, an

reports of an impending attack made to it.

“The security committees of Numan and lamurde local government areas had met severally and using laid down channels, communicated to the government and all indicators point to the fact that this attack was in the offing”, Fada stated.

The group however expressed dismay that even with such security reports, government failed to deploy troops into the area, alleging

seemed obvious, in surreptitious support of the act seen as retaliation”.

Reacting on the Lamurde massacre, Governor Murtala Nyako through the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Kobis Aris Thimnu, described the attack as unfortunate, bizarre and uncalled for, insisting that “no responsible government will sit and allow its citizens to take up arms against themselves no matter the provocation”.

L-R: Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, Country Head, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Mrs. Adaora Ikenze, and Advocacy Officer of OSIWA, Mr. Ilo Jude Udo, during their visit to the EFCC headquarters, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Daily Times: Group urges Jonathan to sanction AGF From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he South East Forum for Justice and Economic Empowerment (SEFOJE) has called on President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to sanction the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Alhaji Mohammed Adoke for misleading the Federal Government and the general public on the privatisation of Daily Times of Nigeria as well as taking actions that have militated against efforts at gainful operations of the publishing organisation.

In a statement signed

yesterday by the Executive Secretary of the socio-political group, Arch. Desmond Elugwu Okere, it wants the minister sacked for his role in the crisis that has constituted hindrances to the progress of Daily Times newspapers and other related acts it said were repugnant to government’s principle of Justice, rule of law, equity and good conscience.

The group noted that the decision of the Justice Minister to institute criminal proceedings against the Anosike brothers and their company, Folio Communications when the Inspector General of Police who was said to have directed that the

case was civil in nature, was unexpected from a Minister of Justice.

“We are quite aware that the case which the AGF instituted against the Anosikes and their company, Folio Communications Limited, has been dismissed in court because the AGF and all his gang members cannot muster enough facts to prosecute the case.

We are also aware of the plot by the oppressors to look for loopholes on which they would re-start the case, all in desperate bid to continue to keep Daily Times stagnant. We have also gone through the many revelations from an article written by one Mr.

Bonaventure Melah and published in several newspapers with the title: ‘How Federal Government Frustrates Investors in Nigeria. ”It is our considered opinion that rather than blame the Federal Government on this matter, the AGF should be sanctioned for misleading both the Federal Government and the general public into thinking that the process leading to the sale of Daily Times Plc was flawed when in actual fact all required due processes were met and that this has been the position of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on the matter.

PAGE 8

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

1

ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence staff during their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at the State House in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

2

An ‘almajiri’ sleeping on a culvert on Shendam road, yesterday in Lafia, Nasarawa state. Photo: NAN.

L-R: Lagos state Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola with Dr. Funmi Sofoluwe, widow of late ViceChancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Adetokunbo Babatunde Sofoluwe, during the governor’s condolence visit.

3

4

A man sleeping on an articulated vehicle’s tyres, yesterday in Lagos.

Photo: NAN.

1

2

3

4

PAGE 9

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Disaster risk reduction to be included in school curriculum, says NEMA

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

D

L-R: Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, and Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, during the ministerial press briefing to mark the 2012 National Democracy Day and the first anniversary of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

8 feared dead in Zamfara robbery attack

N

o fewer than eight persons, including four policemen, were feared killed in a shootout between the police and a gang of armed robbers at Dansadau in Maru local government area of Zamfara state.

A resident of a nearby village along Dansadau-Gusau road, Aliyu Na-Allah, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday.

He said, “I heard sporadic shooting from a distance.

“In the day time when the shootings subsided, we were told that the gun battle was between a gang of armed robbers and the policemen who were patrolling the area.

“We equally learnt that four of the policemen were killed, while two of the armed robbers also died in the shootout.

Sources close to the police headquarters also said that two

vigilante group members, who were on the spot to assist the police died while five other policemen were still missing.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the robbers laid ambush for the police patrol team and opened fire on spotting them.

The Public Relations Officer of the Zamfara Police Command, ASP Amiru Sanusi, who confirmed the incident, said he had no details of the number of casualties in the

shootout.

NAN recalls that armed banditry around Dansadau area between September 2011 and May had resulted in the death of more than 40 persons, including a number of policemen.

NAN also recalls that aerial surveillance introduced by the former Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Tambari Yabo, did little to reduce the protracted insecurity in the area. (NAN)

They all told the court that they are already pursuing settlement and would want the court to give them a chance to work things out.

But reacting, counsel to EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, while confirming the attempts at settlement, stated that his hands are tied as he could not produce his witnesses before the court. ”It’s my inability to produce witnesses that has put me in a tight corner. I confirm that we met on issues of settlement”.

“I will plead with the court to give us the rest of this week to conclude on settlement so that if it fails, trial will commence next week.”

However, Ogunlesi opposed this application on the ground that the settlement could not be resolved in a week as the president is presently out of the country and Jacobs himself is also very busy.

In her ruling however, Justice Okunnu held that other defendants cannot be held to ransom or denied speedy hearing because some want to reach an agreement on settlement, adding that the charge can be amended at any point later and commencement of trial does not affect settlement agreement.

Justice Okunnu consequently adjourned the matter till Tuesday, May 22, 2012 for continuation of trial.

Nwosu: Possible settlement stalls trial From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

T

he ongoing trial at a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, before Justice Lateefah Okunu, of former Managing Director of FinBank Plc, Mr. Okey Nwosu and three other directors of the bank was stalled yesterday as a result of the fact that three of the defendants are seeking settlement with the prosecution.

The troubled bank boss is standing trial alongside Dayo Famoroti, Danjuma Ocholi and Agnes Ebubedike on a 26-count charge instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), bordering on alleged stealing and illegal conversion of the sum of N16.2 billion belonging to Fin Bank.

Counsel to Danjuma Ocholi (the third defendant), Dare Ogunlesi, told Justice Okunu that events have overtaken the prosecution’s stance that court should adjourn till Tuesday for them to produce their witnesses who will be coming from outside Lagos because their settlement issue is already before the Presidency.

“Events have overtaken the stance of the prosecution in asking for adjournment so that the trial can continue.

“Our letter for settlement is presently before the Presidency for approval and the Attorney General is aware of this.

“My lord, it will serve no useful purpose, if we proceed to trial tomorrow and the Presidency accedes to the settlement, it will be a waste of the court’s time because the charge will need to be amended as the present charge involves the four defendants,” he stated.

Even, counsels to Dayo Famoroti and Agnes Ebubedike (the second and fourth defendant), Mr. Yemi Sowemimo and Ayodeji Adedipe, aligned themselves with the position of the third defendant.

isaster Risk Reduction (DRR) will soon be included in educational curriculum to impart to students at primary and secondary school levels the basic knowledge on how to reduce the chances of disaster occurrence within their environments.

Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi, disclosed this while presenting awards to the winners of a quiz competition on DRR organised for selected secondary schools within the FCT

by NEMA. He said NEMA is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Education, UNESCO, to introduce Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) courses in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools to achieve the objective, adding that the agency is already collaborating with six universities on the possibility of offering Master’s Degree programme in disaster management.

He said that disaster management has become the business of every individual; hence the quiz competition was aimed at creating awareness on disaster reduction and response among students.

“There is no better way to create awareness on disaster management than to start from the schools”, he said.

He pledged the agency’s support for the activities of DRR clubs in secondary schools, urging members to spread the awareness campaigns on DRR to their schools and homes.

Earlier, Mr. Jimoh Abubakar, the NYSC corps member, who initiated the idea for the competition, said it was aimed at bringing the school clubs together to sensitise them on DRR, commending the DG for his supports and cooperation.

Meanwhile, at the end of the competition, Government Secondary School (GSS), Garki, emerged winner, Government Secondary School (GSS), Tudun Wada, came second, while Regina Pacis College emerged to the third position.

Teaching hospital appeals for security against incessant raids by robbers

T

he Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, Dr. Uwa Iweha, has expressed concern over incessant attacks by armed robbers on patients and workers in the hospital.

Iweha told newsmen yesterday in Aba that he had informed the police requesting

for assistance, due to the frequency and brazenness of the attacks.

He said the most recent incident occurred at about 2 a.m. on May 10, when the robbers ransacked two wards at the old site of the hospital during which they dispossessed many members of staff and patients of cash,

mobile phones and jewelry.

“We are still wondering what the situation could have looked like had the robbers decided to go with any of the newly delivered babies at the central delivery unit”, Iweha said.

He said that only recently, students residing at the female hostels at the School of Nursing, at its old site, were attacked by the robbers.

He said that the bandits also struck in broad daylight at the House Officers’ Quarters at the permanent site at Abayi.

“Considering that ABSUTH is a health institution which makes it difficult to restrict entry of all sorts of people, let alone to police, this spate of armed robbery attacks in the institution is a most saddened development,’’ he said. (NAN)

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

LG dissolution: Crisis continues in Benue From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

C

risis has continued to brew in Benue state over the dissolution and constitution of new local government transition committees.

Last weekend, Governor Gabriel Suswam through his deputy, Chief Steven Lawani announced the dissolution of 19 local government transition committees. But Lawani was accused of doctoring the list by ensuring the retention of his protege, Mr. Robert Idoko who is a

year old in office for Okpokwu council.

Peoples Daily investigation reveals that there was high level of insecurity in Okpokwu LGA over the weekend as members of the PDP caucus expressed bitterness at the retention of the chairman as well as the names submitted as members of would-be committee by the state PDP chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Agbo who also hails from the area.

A reliable source who would not want his name in print, said the

crisis which engulfed the area led to the deployment of men of the Benue state Police Command to quell the disagreement.

He said the two factions - Agbo and Obande Obeya camps held separate meetings and came out to engage each other in a hot exchange of words.

“Agbo is insisting that his list is the authentic one and should be approved while the other camp is against him imposing people on the LGA. So as it stands, there is a stalemate in Okpokwu”, the source

said.

Similarly, serious trouble erupted in Kwande local government area where the state PDP secretary, Mr. Bem Dzoho was said to have sent thugs to harass the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly and now Federal Commissioner representing the State at the Federal Civil Service Commission, Mrs. Margaret Icheen.

Mrs. Icheen and others who are vehemently opposed to the list of committee members, were locked out of the caucus meeting.

PIHV to begin HIV vaccine trials in 2015

R

esearch Coordinator and Senior Programme Officer, Plateau Institute of Human Virology (PIHV), Mrs. Sophia Osawe, has said that the institute will begin trials of the administration of HIV vaccine in 2015.

Osawe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Jos that the institute had received a four-year grant from the Institute of Human Virology, Maryland, U.S.,to carry out the study towards preparing for the trials.

“Already, we are conducting a study using discordant couples (one positive, the other negative) who are living together, in preparation for the trials.

“We are using that scenario because it provides the most natural exposure to the virus.

“We are recruiting the negative partner; while we do that, we would monitor them and see their retention rate. We will then plan to administer the vaccines using a very stringent process.

“We prefer that they are together because the individual cannot just miss an appointment, so we intend to see how well volunteers can stay in the study.

“We will follow up on them to know how many of them contracted HIV in the next two years and how many of them didn’t; this study would enable us get a comprehensive data that we would give to the Federal Government to enable us get the go ahead to administer the trial vaccines,” she said.

She explained that the medical world, in a bid to eliminate or reduce cases of HIV and AIDS, would move from the drugs to the vaccine stage, adding that the vaccines were at their rudimentary stages.

According to her, the institute has also begun on-ground preparations for the effective administration of the vaccine to ensure that the best of service was delivered.

“We are getting our laboratory staff, clinical team and the nurses well prepared to administer the vaccine and the laboratory is also being upgraded to be of international standard,” she said. (NAN)

Govt, NULGE to check corruption in Kogi From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

T

o make local government administration virile and viable, the Kogi state government has promised to partner with the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), to make it productive and check corruption.

The state Governor, Capt. Idris Wada, represented by his deputy, Arc Yomi Awoniyi, made the pledge when he received in audience, the newly elected executives of NULGE, in his office in Lokoja at the weekend.

The governor called on the new executives to think of doing things differently towards adding value to council administration in the state rather than resort to confrontation and agitation.

He acknowledged the importance of local government administration with a promise to stop it from business as usual.

Earlier in his speech, the reelected chairman, Comrade Tom Abutu, commended the steps so far taken by the present administration in putting the state on the path of sustainable growth and solicited for the full implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage for council workers in the state.

Difficult terrain hampers fight against polio in Bauchi A woman with her quadruplets at a roadside, yesterday at Orile Iganmu bus stop, Lagos. Photo: NAN

Wada lauds plan to establish aero space tech course at Kogi poly From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

P

lans to establish a programme in Aero Space Technology (AST), at the Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja, by the Centre for Satellite Technology Development, Abuja, have been described as novel.

Governor Idris Wada made the assertion when he received the management, Centre for Satellite Technology Development in his office in Lokoja.

He said that the high premium placed on education by his administration, is to underscore its

importance and the effect it has on the sustainable development of every nation.

“It would be a laudable initiative by the Centre for Satellite Technology Development for choosing the state polytechnic to establish the National Diploma Programme, that will make the polytechnic a model.”

Earlier, Dr. Spencer Onuh, Director of the agency, described Aero Space Engineering, as a marketable field, stating that if established, Nigeria intends to capture the African market.

The director commended the

polytechnic for having the necessary engineering facilities to enhance that of the agency, adding that it would further attract facilities worth N400million for the successful commencement of the programme.

Mr. Onuh called on government to support the collaboration effort in establishing the department as it would serve as a flagship programme for Aero Space Engineering in Nigeria.

In his speech, the Rector Kogi state Polytechnic Lokoja, Prof. Matthew Ajibero said facilities at the Itakpe campus of the institution were enough to commence the national diploma programme for Aero Space Technology and Engineering.

Gunmen raid villages in Adamawa

U

nidentified gunmen on Sunday raided Burukutu and Suwa villages in Lamurde local government area of Adamawa state.

Spokesperson of Adamawa Police Command, Mr Nemuel Yoila, confirmed the attack, but said that he was yet to have details of the casualty figure.

He said the affected areas had been secured, but could also not confirm whether any arrest had been made.

Reports from the affected villages, however, indicated that several people lost their lives and many houses destroyed, with residents fleeing the area.

The attack is coming barely two days after a committee set up by the state government to investigate the January sectarian violence in Lamurde and three other local government areas sumitted its report.

The other three local government areas are Numan, Girei and Guyuk. (NAN)

T

he Executive Secretary, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Nisser Umar, has attributed recurrence of polio cases in some parts of the state to difficult terrain and uncontrolled movement of people.

Umar made the declaration when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Bauchi.

“We haven’t had polio for almost 24 months, but in relative terms, we are still observing decline in polio; we should thank God that we are having only two cases in more than 28 months now.

“It is a sad development but the net polio cases are flying over the last two years and I think we looked backward to see why we got those two cases.

“And we realised those areas were too hard to reach and there were some oversights and these perhaps were the reasons why we got those two cases.

“We’ve missed some cases; this is expected because we have dynamic population; we have population that are coming into the state at one time and leaving another time. So, we don’t have absolute control on our population target mobility.

“So we can’t say for sure that we are going to have 100 per cent coverage and in that circumstance it’s going to be unrealistic for us to assume we get completely 100 per cent coverage.” (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 11

90-year-old emerges ruler of 100-year-old town From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

A

90-year-old member of the defunct Action Group (AG), Wahab Adepoju Aileru, has emerged as the first traditional ruler of over 100-year-old OlugaKemta town of Ogun state, following his coronation and official

presentation of staff of office on Saturday.

The ceremony is scheduled to hold at the palace of the paramount ruler of Egbaland in Abeokuta, before the new royal father move to his own palace in the community located in Odeda local government area of the state.

Oba Aileru, who was one of

the apostles of late Obafemi Awolowo during the hey days of Action Group, at a press conference disclosed that 17 villages were under his jurisdiction, adding that before his upgrade to obaship status by the government he had been the village head of the community for over 20 years.

“I have been Baale (village head) for over 20 years before my upgrade as Oba by the state government; I have 17 villages under my domain.

My coronation will take place on May 19, 2012, at Alake palace ground, while reception will follow at African Church Primary School Field, Oluga-Kemta”, he

said.

Oba Aileru disclosed that the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun will lead the government delegation to the ceremony, while other notable personalities expected include former Ogun state Governor, Aremu Olusegun Osoba, traditional rulers and host of others.

Ogun, Lagos fight polio From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

O

gun and Lagos states have jointly resolved to and reaffirmed their commitment toward total eradication of polio.

This was disclosed at a polio advocacy campaign held at Ogijo in Sagamu town of Ogun state by the governors of the two states, Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun and his Lagos counterpart, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola.

They gave the assurance during the campaign with the theme: ‘Youth against Polio’ which attracted stakeholders including government functionaries from the two states, international partners, health workers and nursing mothers.

In his speech, Amosun described the youth as a potent force in the fight against polio and dissemination of the polio campaign noting that Ogun and Lagos states recorded high numbers of visitors and would set an example for the rest of the country in the fight against child killer disease.

Similarly, Lagos state governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, urged local government authorities to be active in the fight against polio observing that a vaccinated child is immune against the disease.

Fuel subsidy: TUC condemns registration of another labour movement

T

he Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers council, has condemned the registration of another labour centre in the country, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The state TUC chairman, Mr. Chika Onuegbu, told NAN yesterday in Port Harcourt that the creation of another labour centre would be disadvantageous and a waste of resources.

According to him, the plan by politicians to weaken the trade union movement is not the way out of corruption and is capable of weakening the transformation agenda.

“It is important for the Federal Government to demonstrate its seriousness on the fight against corruption and insecurity in the country.

“And as such, President Goodluck Jonathan should distance his administration from the continued plot by some political jobbers to weaken the Nigerian labour movement. (NAN)

L-R: Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Chinyere Ezeaka, Associate Professor in Child Health, University of Ghana Medical School, Prof. Onike Rodrigues, Board member, Nestle Nutrition Institute of Africa (NNIA), Prof.

James Renner, and Business Manager, Nestle Nigeria, Mr. Mazhar Qureshi, during a workshop on maternal and infant nutrition, yesterday in Ibadan.

Photo: NAN

200 motorcycles impounded as govt clamps down on achaba in Jalingo From Yusha’u Alhassan, Jalingo

M

ore than 200 motorcycles belonging to both private and commercial riders were impounded on Saturday for contravening the curfew imposed by the Taraba state government as commuters groan over lack of other visible means of transportation.

It would be recalled that sequel to the terrorist attacks in Jalingo, the state capital, Governor

Danbaba Suntai had in addition to the curfew, imposed a ban on motorcycle riders popularly called Achaba.

Residents of the town who have been forced to resort to trekking are lamenting that the ban is causing economic hardship on the people.

The dusk to dawn curfew imposed by the Taraba state government following various bomb attacks in the state capital was no longer effective before the ban on achaba.

Investigation by our reporters

revealed that both commercial and private motorcycle riders have been carrying out their operations without hindrance by security agents.

A concerned citizen Mohammed Usman who spoke with our correspondent, condemned the trend saying that the curfew was for the good of the citizenry considering the security problems in the state brought about by the recent bomb blast in Jalingo.

He said evil doers use motorcycles to perpetrate their

criminal activities stressing that it was mandatory for motorcycle riders to comply with the government order to ensure a crime free society.

A civil servant John Michael said the recent armed robbery in Jalingo at the Oando filling station where millions of naira and other valuables were carted away was perpetrated by men of the underworld on motorcycles.

However, the Taraba state Commissioner of Police Mamman Sule said the curfew was still in

Oyo, Australian firm sign MoU on NOA to partner US Global settlements Enterprise Institute on ethics mineral exploration, farm Speaking at a brief ceremony

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

A

s part of the National Orientation Agency’s “Do the right thing: Transform Nigeria” campaign, the agency is set to partner with the US based Global Enterprise Institute to host a two-day seminar in Abuja on ethical re-orientation with the theme, “Ethics First.”

The Director General of the NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, made this known when a delegation from the institute led by Mr. Jim Corbett visited his office to fine tune arrangements for the seminar which is scheduled to commence next week.

Omeri, said the seminar which would serve as a follow-up to the launch of the “Do the right thing” campaign, would focus on inculcating positive principles in the leadership of various sectors of the society.

He said while every Nigerian and friends of Nigeria have roles to play in achieving the mandate of transforming the country, leaders at various levels of society should participate significantly in the change process by providing purposeful guidance to their followers, which he said, necessitated the proposed engagement with community, sectoral and opinion leaders through the seminar.

From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

T

he Oyo state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an Australian consortium for the exploration of mineral resources in the state.

Governor Abiola Ajimobi and other top government officials signed on behalf of the state government, while Dr. Dapsy Olatona signed on behalf of MM&E, the Australian Company.

The relationship would also involve the production of fruit juice, development of farm settlements across the state, as well as vocational training for students in tertiary institutions.

at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Ibadan, Sen. Ajimobi said with the signing of the MoU, the various mineral resources which abound in the state would be fully explored for the growth and development of Oyo state.

He told the investors to fashion out a programme of implementation to enhance the exploration of the resources.

Gov. Ajimobi, who described the signing of the MoU as a step in the right direction, commended the investors for their interest in the areas of agriculture and mining, which he said the state had comparative advantage.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

T

Gov. Fashola’s false step

he Lagos state government under Governor Raji Fashola has continued to blaze the trail in good governance that has impacted positively on the state. He has thus far proved to be one with a vision of what he wants to achieve in office and has gone about it with gusto. The result is the enviable transformation Lagos state has undergone under him, and it is evident for all to see. However, one major glitch of the Fashola administration is its inability to resolve once and for all the recurring impasse between it and the doctors in its employ.

As happened last year, doctors in the state had embarked on a threeday warning strike action to press home their demand for the implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure [COMESS].

The doctors argued that since the state government, along with other states of the federation, signed the basic minimum wage for doctors last year, it was obligated to pay the COMESS. Therefore, after talks between them and government officials failed, the doctors began their warning strike.

But in a swift reaction, the state government announced the sack of about 1000 of the striking doctors and began the process of employing their replacements. In a letter issued to them, which was signed by the Chief Medical Director of the Lagos state University Teaching Hospital, Professor David Oke, the government accused the doctors of failure to respond to queries issued them and

absenting themselves from duty without permission, hence their dismissal. The government followed that up with the eviction of some of the doctors from their official residences.

In its defence, the government insists that it is unable to pay the COMESS due to financial constraints.

We are concerned that the crisis has remained unresolved for this long and worried that the Lagos state government did not seem to have fully

“

We believe that the state government can and will be able to pay, and should therefore do so without delay. The government cannot justify the enormous resources it expends on politicians and its officials and yet brazenly neglect its workers whose calling is to save lives exhausted all avenues to resolve the matter before taking the rather drastic action of sacking the doctors. The doctors are within their rights as a union to agitate for improved welfare and the warning strike was a legitimate step taken to press home their demands. Rather than the arbitrary sack, the government should have sought legal redress to prevent

OUR MISSION “To be the market place of ideas and the leading player in the industry by putting the people first, upholding the truth, maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards while delivering value to our stakeholders”

the warning strike and the eventual escalation of the crisis. Without doubt, the sack action has strong implications.

It is in doubt if the newly employed doctors have the experience and the capacity to attend to the many patients that have been left languishing in hospital wards, some with life threatening illnesses. It is also unlikely that the government would get the required number of doctors to replace the sacked ones, the implication of which is that the few new doctors may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients that need their urgent attention.

Considering the enormous financial resources of the state government, it is somewhat untenable that the Fashola administration would claim it cannot pay the COMESS. According to Dr. Saheed Babajide, the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, LASUTH, only N10 million is required to pay the COMESS. We believe that the state government can pay, and should therefore do so without delay.

The government cannot justify the enormous resources it expends on politicians and its officials and yet brazenly neglect its workers whose calling is to save lives.

The negative global attention the action of the state government has attracted to the country is unacceptable and we urge Governor Fashola to immediately rescind his decision and go back to negotiate with the doctors in order to reach an amicable solution and resolve the crisis for good, for the good of all.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE EDITOR, DAILY AHMED I. SHEKARAU

DIRECTOR/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND RICHARD IHEDIWA

GM PUBLICATIONS ABDULAZEEZ ABDULLAHI MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

“To be a reputable, profitable, innovative and technologically reliant media company offering world class services and products”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

By Musa Agyo

I

t is with a rude shock that the concerned people of Taraba state read the advertorial signed by some National Assembly members from the state: Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, Hon Isyaka Bawa, Hon Jerry Manwe, Hon Sam Tsokwa, Hon Haruna Manu and Hon Ibrahim El Sudi, under the aegis of “Taraba Lawmakers Forum”.

The advertorial was meant to be a rebuttal of Senator Aisha Alhassan’s interviews she granted to some newspapers. As an indigene of Taraba State and a keen and interested observer of the politics of my state and indeed Nigeria, I had the opportunity of reading the two interviews granted by Sen. Aisha Alhassan (Taraba North, PDP).

In the interviews Senator Aisha merely said what she felt about the state of affairs in Taraba state without mincing words. One expects that if some other persons like the “Taraba Lawmakers Forum” feel differently from her views, such persons would advance factual and cogent arguments to counter her positions. Unfortunately, no factual rebuttals were presented in the rejoinder by the so called “Taraba Lawmakers Forum”.

It is expected that as lawmakers, they are better positioned to know that every individual reserves the right to his/her opinion and the right to criticize those entrusted with positions of leadership. There is nothing wrong with Senator Aisha drawing the attention of the world to Governor Danbaba Suntai”s recklessness. She merely exercised her right to criticize within the ambits of the law! So, if some other people wish to differ they should present their arguments based on truth, issues, facts, and intelligence.

Rather, being the sycophants

PAGE 13

Taraba lawmakers or defenders of falsehood? that they are, they threw caution, decorum, intellect and civility to the dogs and resorted to use of gutter language and abusive words in their desperate bids to please their benefactor, Governor Danbaba Suntai. For the benefit of readers not well aware of the political happenings in Taraba State, let me summarizes the major points raised by Senator Aisha Alhassan in her two interviews: That there was never any election (or a consensus agreement) in all the 168 wards, 16 LGAs, 3 Zones and State level during the recently concluded PDP Congresses. The Governor in his characteristic arrogant and dictatorial manner merely appointed his hatchet men (“Taraba Lawmakers Forum” inclusive) to compile lists of people who would be loyal to him to fill various party positions from ward level to the state level.

We expect the lawmakers defending Danbaba to refute this by citing an instance where election took place or who was adopted by consensus. Rather, they resorted to cheap blackmail and name calling quite unbecoming of lawmakers. In their folly, they forgot that even INEC had written to PDP National Headquarters asking for the cancellation of the bogey congress in nine states including that of Taraba. That Danbaba Suntai relocated the State NYSC orientation camp and State Polytechnic to his remote village of Suntai thereby sinking Billions of Naira in one Ward to the detriment of other 167 wards.

(This is in addition to a stadium, an aerodrome, guest houses, farm house, banking facility and market constructions). What kind of nepotism is this? Which Governor in Nigeria has done a thing like this and what happened to the principles of Federal Character and even distribution of development? Yet some self centered errand boys are defending this injustice!

That rather than concentrate on good Governance, Gov Suntai is busy globetrotting and flying in a privately acquired aircraft.

Again, is this not the truth?

Every Tarabian knows that the reason why Danbaba constructed an aerodrome in Suntai is for his personal use and never for any national or international investors or tourists. Neither can we be fooled that an aerodrome in Suntai of all places is meant to ease transportation problems in the state. That Gov Suntai spent so much time and resources training to be a pilot, at the expense of quality governance time and resources. Here too everyone in Taraba knows this to be true. So, what is wrong with our Senator pointing it out? Did we elect a governor to come and use our resources to buy aircraft and learn to fly? Certainly, this unethical and immoral behaviour can only be tolerated

by Emma Bwacha and his cotravellers, who sometimes enjoys free rides in Danbaba’s aircraft!

But any other persons with some decency know this to be wrong.I must state here that rather than castigate Sen Aisha for telling

the bitter truth against their paymaster, Emma Bwacha, Isyaka Bawa, Haruna Manu, El Sudi, Sam Sokwa, and Jerry Manwe should hasten to seek the forgiveness of their constituents before the wrath of the people catches up with them. For it is not only condemnable but also unforgiveable of them to write that “We are proud of our Governor and his administration and we have no apology for that.....Under the able leadership of Gov Suntai, the state hospitals have regained their glory as centres of care and healing. In the same vein, hundreds of roads have either been constructed or rehabilitated. Farmers in Taraba are now more empowered than ever before” What a shame that it is only in Taraba that members of the National Assembly will stoop so low as to tell lies on the pages of newspapers! Obviously this is the case of a Senator not being distinguished and House Members not being honourable.The truth about Danbaba”s woeful mismanagement of our resources is not hidden to anyone in Taraba. Even visitors to the state often wonder if we have a government in place. But those few unpatriotic individuals who bask in the euphoria of Danbaba Suntai’s largess and unwholesome practices would stop at nothing to defend him.

They don’t care if the entire state is simmering in the heat of Governor Suntai”s deliberate policy of marginalization and

huge tolerance for unwholesome deals.

For us in Taraba state, we take consolation in the fact that at least there are two Distinguished Senators (Tutare and Aisha) and one Honourable Member (Aminu Malle) who have chosen the path of decency and righteousness and opted to be the Davids of our time fighting the Goliath (Danbaba and his sycophants ). Surely, it is the promise of God that David will triumph over Goliath for, truth always reins over falsehood. And one with God is always majority.

The efforts of Distinguished Senators Aisha and Tutare, and Aminu Malle will forever be appreciated by the people of Taraba and no effort to castigate or malign them on the pages of newspapers will yield any fruit.

For every right thinking man and woman in Taraba state knows where the truth lies.

As for the rest of the hypocrite members of NASS who see nothing wrong in thievery, wastefulness, intimidation, nepotism, selective appointments on the basis of religion, etc; they are left for posterity to judge them. After all, is it not God that is the most conclusive of all Judges? Thanks to God that the sorry situation in Taraba is well known to the PDP headquarters, and the entire nation. We also thank God that 2015 will be the day of reckoning for them and their paymaster, Danbaba.

Musa Agyo resides at 16 Gindiri Street, Garki, Abuja. Email: musaagyo@yahoo.co.uk

Throwing the baby away with the bath water? (III)

By Kayode Oladele

O

ne very vital point is that the defendant must request a speedy trial. In the same vein, dismissal for violation of speedy trial rights must be based upon a motion by the defendant, not by the court Suo motu (on its own motion) just because the judge was in a way annoyed with the slow speed of the prosecution. The Court in dismissing a case for violation of speedy trial rights of the defendant must consider whether such violation has prejudiced the defendant. In United States v.

Loud Hawk, 474 U.S. 302 (1986), the Court held that a 90-month delay occasioned by interlocutory appeals did not weigh against the prosecution for the purpose of speedy trial rights of the defendant. The US Supreme Court further held that the possibility of prejudice occasioned by the delay was not sufficient to establish a Sixth Amendment speedy trial violation. Moreover, the courts of appeals routinely reject Sixth Amendment speedy trial challenges in the absence of a showing of prejudice to the Defendant. Even where the Judge

is inclined to dismiss a case pursuant to the speedy trial violation, the Judge must consider various factors in determining whether to dismiss with prejudice or without prejudice. One of the factors includes the seriousness of the offense, the circumstances leading to dismissal, and the impact that a new prosecution would have on the administration of justice and the criminal justice system.

A defendant’s right to a speedy trial has constitutional and statutory foundation.

Unfortunately, under the Nigerian legal system, there is no Constitutional provision that guarantees a defendant’s right to speedy trial or provides for specific time limits for the computation of time within which a criminal trial must occur unlike in other jurisdictions such as the United States where the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions. There is no statute to determine the computation of time - when the speedy trial period would run and expire such as the United States’ Speedy Trial Act of 1974 that establishes time limits for completing the various stages

of a federal criminal prosecution.

Therefore, criminal trials in Nigeria can take several years to conclude and in some cases, at the instance of defendants themselves who encourage such prolonged delay in the hope that they will benefit from it one way or another in the final analysis. For example, after about 159 months (over twelve years) of trial, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State General Sani Abacha and Lateef Shofolahan was on January 30, 2012, sentenced to death by hanging by a Lagos High Court over the murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola.

In Akingbola’s case, it is evidently clear from the ruling and the history of the case that the Judge was dissatisfied with the conduct of the prosecution team; hence, the learned trial Judge dismissed the case with sanctions for what he described as abuse of Court process and violation of the defendant’s right to a speedy trial.

Abuse of court process and violation of the Defendant’s

speedy trial rights are too weighty allegations which are today, some of the banes of the rule of law in Nigeria and one should applaud the judge for his fearlessness in dismissing the case and meting out appropriate sanctions to the erring prosecution team in this regard.

The rule of law and abuse of court process cannot co-exist symmetrically in the same legal system as both are intrinsically contradictory in terms having different properties and relationships. According to the observation of Lord Goldsmith: “The rule of law is not simply about rule by law; such a proposition would be satisfied whatever the law and however unfair, unjust or contrary to fundamental principles, provided only that it was applied to all. The rule of law comprehends some statement of values which are universal and ought to be respected as the basis of a free society”.

However, while analyzing the negative effect of the doctrine of abuse of process on the rule of law in the Brooks case, Sir Roger Ormrod held inter alia that: It may be an abuse of process if: “the

prosecution have manipulated or misused the process of the court so as to deprive the defendant of a protection provided by the law or to take unfair advantage of a technicality, or on the balance of probability the defendant has been or will be prejudiced in the preparation or conduct of his defense”.

The abuse of court process in Nigeria has in most cases led to situations where judicial decisions are influenced by extraneous considerations such as political equations and relationships, economic factors and power structures. Hence, even the most brilliant legal analysts may not be able to predict the outcomes of any case no matter how well cut and dry it is, thereby tinkering with the doctrine of predictability and fairness which the rule of law imposes. The presence of abuse of legal process in any legal system also makes the operation of the rule of law very vulnerable, subjective, permeable and outcomes largely biddable and commercialized. Instead of being an integral part of the success of democracy, abuse of court process can easily turn the judiciary into Continued on page 15

PAGE 14

By Umar Mohammed Puma

O

ne thing that many Nigerians will remember for a long time to come is the revelation from the ad hoc committee on subsidy report, headed by Hon Faruk Lawan, especially its impact on the generality of poverty stricken Nigerians who are being exploited daily by the so-called leaders who only care about their individual benefits. The massive corruption that regularly take place in the fuel subsidy scheme has uneven consequences against the most vulnerable groups in the society, namely, the poor, women and children. What actually caught the attention of many Nigerians was the payment of N999 million made 128 times within 24 hours to some oil and other companies in the name of subsidy by then Accountant General of the Federation, now Gombe state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo.

According to a 200-page report of the House of Representatives, corruption in the fuel subsidy scheme drained $6.8bn from the country’s treasury over a three-year period.

This has resulted in increased spending on oil hand-outs between 2009 and 2011. Fuel subsidies, part

By Philip Agbese

F

rom the days of Jesus Christ in the Bible it has been established that good men must come to grief with their good work. This aptly describes the present travails of Dr. Matthias Oyigeya in the hands of mischief makers who have capitalized on his unassuming nature to ruin his hard earned reputation at the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi.

It has been argued in so many quarters that there is nothing that can ever force the centre to work to meet the health needs of the people of Benue state irrespective of financial commitment by government or the administrative will of the management, because some persons have installed themselves as emperors to frustrate anybody that comes in to head the institution as Chief Executive Officer, not minding his or her state of origin. For a long time, these ‘cabal’ have continued to pose as threats to current challenges in the health sector and government

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

The subsidy probe and matters arising of a decades-old programme meant that magnitude took place under his some 72 fuel importers. to keep fuel prices low for millions of watch without due respect for the rule On its part, the Federal ordinary Nigerians, jumped to N2, of law simply to satisfy the inordinate government has yet to show 587 trillion from N384 billion within greed of some high-ranking public sufficient political will to effectively the same period. officials and their cronies in the address the allegations and bring Curiously however, less than 72 private sector. suspected perpetrators to justice. hours after its There are deliberation on the s e v e r a l report, the House of obstacles Representatives including but Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text exonerated the not limited to former Accountant inadequate messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written General of funding for contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 Federation without investigations words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and any convincing and judicial a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed explanation for procedures, to: doing so, thereby political putting a question immunity The Editor, mark on the f r o m Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, integrity of the prosecution for 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. report. The question some key Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com begging for an functionaries of answer is why the government SMS: 07037756364 House hurriedly and the exonerated the g e n e r a l Accountant General instead of The report also indicted the culture of impunity, militating inviting him to appear before it in Nigerian National Petroleum against successful and effective order to clear the air about the Corporation (NNPC) as the key culprit investigation as well as prosecution allegations leveled against him. in the subsidy scam being single- of those indicted on corrupt practices.

Many Nigerians would no doubt handedly responsible for most of the The government also has not want to know how transactions of shady subsidy deals in cohorts with developed an effective and

WRITE TO US

transparent regime for the recovery of the alleged stolen funds.

It is quiet disturbing and shocking that a negligible percentage of Nigeria’s over 150 million people would hold the entire country to ransom by cornering the country’s resources for their personal use thereby undermining the economic prosperity and viability of Nigeria. The Leadership of the green chamber deserves commendation for initiating the subsidy probe and the Faruk Lawan committee for its courage to come out with the report against all odds, otherwise Nigerians would never have known about the massive and scandalous rip off associated with the fuel subsidy.

Nigerians eagerly wait to see what would become of the report.

Would the Federal Government take a decisive action against those indicted without fear or favour or just allow it to die like the power probe report, which allegedly indicted top government officials? Only time will tell.

UmarMohammedPumalives in Abuja.

The cabal in Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi reforms that are designed to position the institution for effective service delivery to the people of Nigeria.

Ninety days our people say are for the thief but one day for the owner (poor masses) and that day was 1st July, 2008 when late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua appointed Dr. Matthias Oyigeya as the Chief Medical Director of the centre.

Many stakeholders saw his appointment as a demonstration of then President Yar’Adua desire to see to the secondary health needs of the people of Benue State and neighbouring towns in view of the people’s population and Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi being the only tertiary health centre situated around the vicinity.

Undoubtedly, the hospital cabals are the exact set of people looking for the head of Dr. Matthias Oyigeya, the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi to give to their beautiful daughters as a birthday gift like the big head of John

the Baptist in the Holy Bible. The cabal wants to crucify Oyigeya for daring them and restoring the hopes of many families who have visited the new Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi under his stewardship. These evil men have made it a point that money allocated for rehabilitation of structures and expansion purposes must be shared into their private pockets. The cabal has been infuriated with the fact death rate has largely reduced since Oyigega has provided affordable drugs and equipments to carter for the sick. As if it was not enough for the Medical Director, he ignored their wise counsel that only their brothers should be employed to do cleaning services around the hospital when our widows are begging for food to eat. He went further to complete all on-going projects at the Apir permanent site of the centre and thereafter transferred most major units of the hospital to a befitting structure that suits the name and the functions.

My perusal of the document which they call a petition before a member of the House of Representatives is that Oyigeya’s sky rocketing achievements in office are enough reasons to fetch him re-appointment for 2nd term by Mr. President who is interested in consolidating on transformation and destroying every form of cabalocracy within our democracy.

To these hawks, re-appointing a performing Oyigeya that is a plus to public good is a minus to them and total declaration of war against their greedy empire for another four years. I hope the voice of reason will prevail on them soon that this era of Transformation under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is a season of war against every form of cabalocrcay.

Dr. Matthias Oyigeya has defiled their temple that was built by sharing taxpayers’ money and for this reason their god is also demanding for his head or nothing

less. These evil men are more desperate than cabals except for the fact they are ideologically bereaved and have no torch with present day realities. The FMC Cabal as they have been code named by staff and patients that visit regularly are ready to do anything to teach Oyigeya a lesson of his lifetime but the people are watching and will rise up in his defence. We respect their constitutional right to achieve greatness by any means but not at the detriment of patients that are undergoing life threatening pains already. They could do it to us in other areas but let them leave our hospitals alone. His blood will be too bitter for them to leak because every home is singing to God to spare his life for bringing standard and affordable health care services to the reach of the common man.

Agbese Philip, President General, Nigerian Unemployed Youth Forum contributed the article from Makurdi.

him) is obliged to be distraught with the calamity which has befallen corporate and visible Christianity in the northern part of Nigeria. His frustration can never be misunderstood. The CAN president issued the final warning after the Boko Haram sects attacked the Christian worshippers at the Bayero University, Kano (BUK) on Sunday 29th April, 2012 in which two professors (teaching and training Muslims and northerners too) and many others were mowed down by gunmen while worshipping in the church.

Notably, before the final warning by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri in Borno state, Archbishop Oliver Doeme, had in Abuja lamented that Catholics in Maiduguri Diocese had become endangered species as they are pursued and killed by the Boko haram openly and discretely.

However, in the maze of all the outcry and lamentation by well meaning Nigerians over the

mayhem caused by the Boko Haram sect, His Eminence, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III stands out. If Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe were here now, I believe he would urge Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor for restraint and to reflect on the gospel of the Sultan which His Eminence gave on the 27th of December 2011 after he visited President Good Luck Jonathan to commiserate over the dastardly bombing of worshippers at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madala – near Abuja.

Addressing State House correspondents after his meeting with President Jonathan, the Sultan said: “we came in here to felicitate and commiserate with Mr. President over the unfortunate incident that happened (this period). We have had very positive meeting with Mr. President on so many things and how to move this country forward, how to make our country stable and to approach those challenges that are facing Nigeria on a common ground.

“I want to assure all Nigerians

that there is no conflict between Christians and Muslims, between Islam and Christianity. It is a conflict between evil people and good people and the good people are more than the evil doers. The good people must come together to defeat the evil ones and that is the message.

We want to assure all Christian brethren and leaders that we stand on the path of truth according to our religion that we will continue to work in sha Allah, for the greatness of this country.

“As I said there is no conflict between Islam and Christianity and I want to assure that we will do all we can in the best of our ability to solve the numerous problems confronting our country”, so intoned His Eminence, Sultan Abubakar the III who is clearly a good man.

I was in Sokoto on Thursday, 8th of September, 2011 to witness the coronation of Dr. Mathew Kukah as the New Catholic Bishop of Sokoto.

My spirit of journalism stole me out of the Trade Fair Stadium to the

Palace of His Eminence, the Sultan.

And the good man was there, as busy as the bee, hosting many eminent Christian leaders who were Sokoto for Bishop Kukah’s enthronement and at the Sultan’s palace to pay respect to the foremost Moslem Leader in the country. I can attest that the Sultan’s gospel for peace is real and not a shibboleth but a credible roadmap for dialogue and national syllogism.

If father Azikiwe were here, he would no doubt implore Pastor Oritsejafor to regard the “final warning” as part of a continuum.

Father Azikiwe would also implore all Nigerians to remember that four years, eight years or even a decade, in the context of a nation, is but a straw in the woodland of time, “united Nigeria being our souvenir and our collective trophy, with charity to all and malice towards none”, being the Azikiwe mantra.

John Francis Ekemezie wrote from Awka, Anambra State. Email: nnwa_azikiwe@yahoo.com

Important gospel according to Sultan Abubakar III

By Francis John Ekemezie

I

write this letter to the memory of our father, Dr Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, the late Owelle Osowanya 1 of Onitsha and first President of Nigeria, who left us sixteen years ago on the 11th of May 1996 and was buried on his birthday, the 16th of November. If the Great Zik were here today, he would call a world press conference to task Nigeria on peace, compromise and patience, which he often called surulere, so that the nation he gave his all to cobble together from a mosaic of ethnic and cultural groupings, may endure. If the Great Owelle and pathfinder of Nigeria had spoken ten times urging compromise, he surely would speak again after the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Oritsejafor, issued what he called the “final warning” to the Federal government in respect of the atrocities of the Boko Haram sect.

Pastor Oritsejafor (in fairness to

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 15

GEJ needs to think away from the noise By ‘Dimeji Daniels

I

couldn’t help laughing when I read President Goodluck Jonathan’s address to African leaders in Addis Ababa in which he urged them to empower youths in their countries to enable them take up their leadership roles in Africa’s future within the next decades. What I am not sure about was if Jonathan was also advising himself considering that Nigerian youths have been continually violated.

Nigeria is a country where a 30-year-old man calls himself a boy, and don’t blame him. He still lives with his parents, unmarried, clothed and fed by them. He cannot look up to himself for anything because he has lost his self-esteem due to the incapacitating economic conditions of his country. His psyche has been bastardized so much so that at 30 he feels proud being called a mummy’s or daddy’s boy.

I know politicians thrive on their ability to outshine one another in lying, but in other climes the lies are laced with halftruths. The heartless way Nigerian politicians dish out lies without blinking their eyes irritates rather than amuse me.

If not, what qualifies our Otuoke-

born once-shoeless President to advise anyone about youth empowerment? Does he hope to extricate himself from all blame by blurting out in an even-if-Idon’t-do-it-at-least-I-say-it manner? Or is that how he does penance?

Some people have argued that most Nigerian leaders only go through their speeches on the day it is to be delivered. So, by not digesting it to input their own ideas, they motionlessly and passionlessly read to their audience what their speechwriter has penned down for them.

After all, it is not their words.

Unfortunately in Nigeria, most speech-writers put in their principal’s speeches what they know, judging by his character, he could not accomplish in this lifetime all in a bid to present him like some kind of orator, only that in Jonathan’s case, the delivery would mar whatever beauty is crafted into the words.

Most Nigerian youths are disoriented, with no clear-cut vision of their future. Like their leaders, many hope to stumble and wobble to a much-desired bright future, only that we know that works one in one hundred.

They bow in reverence to those not as brilliant as they are if it would ensure the day’s meal. It is

their turn to serve the children of those their fathers have served.

Slavery by inheritance imposed by the clueless greedy few.

Besides stopping to insult us with his Abati-written speeches and press statements, Jonathan should also spare us the agony of hearing his voice for it bears in it no assurance or re-assurance, but only non-performance and ingratitude to Providence for giving him shoes and removing him from Otuoke to Aso Rock which he has further desecrated with his own style of rudderless governance.

Instead of fouling our public space with his vocal farts, he should act on the subsidy probe and prove to us that the money was not spent on his re-election in April, 2011.

The two-sides-of-the-mouth talk of his Justice Minister, Adoke, should stop.

In a sane society, the government consults the people before taking any decision on their behalf.

Without adequate consultations and the lie that subsidy would not be removed until April, the Jonathan Government unilaterally removed subsidy on New Year Day, his trojan horse to Nigerians.

It started on Tuesday, 13 December, 2011 when he made no mention of subsidy in the 2012

budget during his presentation of same to the National Assembly.

As it turned, the greatest daylight robbery has been meted out to Nigerians in the name of subsidy under GEJ’s nose. We now know who was right, Nigerians or GEJ. When I remember names like Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Tafawa Balewa, I wonder and ponder if integrity has given way to roguery? Whether performance has given in to vacillation? Whether being remembered for good has given way to living good? Apart from using the name of Nigeria’s founding fathers to campaign, don’t Nigerian politicians feel bothered about how they would go down in history? Why was Jonathan named Azikwe if he has not the zeal of the great Zik? We all know he cannot be a General, but were Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo and Tafawa Balewa Generals?

Most African leaders, when presented with opportunity, have failed to set their people on the path of progress. Like Koomson in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, they bungle on endlessly, concerning themselves only with amassing wealth at the expense of the ones they are supposed to serve, thus making corruption

look like the only way out of poverty. And in the end, like Koomson, they are forced to go down the latrine of history, with its attendant odious smell, never to be remembered for anything good again. Jonathan was overwhelmingly voted in by Nigerians. He has the chance to make things right. He should push aside all his toothless speeches and go into his closet, away from all the noise and the scheming, to think deeply.

And as for David Mark, the Senate President, he should stop being Jonathan’s defendant. He should know that he is the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, accountable only to Nigerians, and not the President of the Senate of the Federal Government of Nigeria or PDP. Most of his words and actions are filled with nuances that he holds more allegiance to GEJ than to Nigerians. If truly he wants to take his turn at the presidency come 2015, that is if Jonathan does not betray him like he has betrayed Nigerians, he should know that despite PDP’s rigging prowess, Nigerians would still be the deciding factor.

‘Dimeji Daniels wrote in from 6 Fiyinf’Oluwa Street, Adebayo, Ado-Ekiti

Throwing the baby away with the bath water? (III) Continued from page 13

an institutional obstacle and constraint to democracy.

To this effect, both the dismissal of the case against Akingbola and the sanctions against the prosecuting attorneys may be justified even though, the Judge’s motive for his action and his criteria for the computation of time in the absence of statutory or constitutional provision may also be put on a searchlight.

However, Judges have very wide powers when it comes to sanctioning of erring lawyers.

Only recently, a New York appeals court suspended a lawyer from law practice for two years after a federal grievance committee found he had submitted briefs of “shockingly poor quality.”

Another lawyer was sectioned by the same Court for ‘frivolous, Outrageous and Unprofessional Deposition Behavior”. At the deposition, the lawyer who has been practicing meritoriously for forty years, “repeatedly interrupted the questioning and made improper objections and lengthy speeches that had no merit”; but the New York Appeals Court imposed a $10,000.00 sanction on him for his behavior while he was also ordered to pay attorney fees to the other side for the costs of pursuing the sanctions motion. Be that as it may, it is doubtful whether a Judge can disband a prosecuting team as part of his sanctions without usurping the functions and powers of the Attorney General of the Federation who appointed the prosecutors.

Nonetheless, can Judge Achibong’s order represent the

fruit of the poisonous or forbidden tree or has his order served the interest of justice? Did he overreact or has he not thrown the baby away with the bath water all in a bid to give the baby a through clean bath?

A cursory examination of the entire proceedings on that day and the historical background of the proceedings before the trial judge might taint the motive behind the Judge’s order of dismissal and sanction. We are told from the records that the prosecuting team had earlier filed a motion requesting the judge to disqualify himself from the case which he denied as a result of which the prosecuting team filed an appeal. We are also told from the records that after hearing the prosecution argument, the judge rose and went into his chamber to write his ruling on the prosecution’s motion to stay further proceedings in the matter pending an appeal against his refusal to recuse himself; again, we are told that minutes later, the Judge came back into the courtroom and delivered the far reaching Order dismissing the case and sanctioning the lawyers thereby rendering the appeal against his refusal to recuse himself moot. Finally, records available to the public indicate that the Judge made the far reaching orders sua sponte without a formal application or prior motion or request by the defendant to that effect.

Arguably, the Judge should not have sat on the case after a motion for recusal had been filed and argued against him even if

he had denied the motion as he did in the instant case; otherwise, his decisions and rulings might be tainted with bias and retaliation.

Writing on a paper, “Deciding Recusal Motion: Who Judges the Judges? Prof. Leslie W. Abramson posits that “judicial impartiality is a significant element of justice.

Judges should decide legal disputes free of any personal bias or prejudice. As a result of a conflict of interest, a judge may be unable to maintain impartiality in a case and thus should be disqualified”.

Public confidence in a legal system and the ability of the judges to discharge their duties fairly without bias is crucial to the effective dispensation of justice. A legal system that does not enjoy public confidence in its ability to dispense justice fairly and speedily, will ultimately collapse; hence, the foundation of democracy and rule of law.

Even though, the decision whether or not to withdraw from a case rests squarely on the discretion and good conscience of the presiding judge, the general standard for disqualification is that a judge should disqualify himself in a proceeding in which the judge’s “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” In addition, it is doubtful whether Akingbola’s case is the only criminal action before Judge Achibong that had been pending for more than two years; if that is the case, his impartiality might reasonably be questioned for not satisfying the appearance of justice. In rule of law and judges’ disqualification, what matters is not the reality of bias or prejudice but its appearance.

Lastly, while the Judge has chided the prosecution for tardiness, by far the worst culprit for the protracted tempo of criminal trials in Nigeria is the outdated, behind the times and tedious nature of the Nigerian criminal justice system and the administration of justice which require a total overhauling, remodeling and new legislation.

Case management is very crucial to the criminal justice system and lack of it can be very vital to effective administration of justice. Currently in Nigeria, our criminal procedure does not have a place for pretrial conferences and in most cases; judges do not take active roles in ensuring compliance with speedy trials and effective administration of justice. In most jurisdictions, it is the duty of the trial judge to schedule a trial management conference to discuss administrative aspects of the case, such as scheduling and other pretrial matters.

Pretrial conferences which are also being been conducted in civil cases in several jurisdictions including Nigeria to formulate and simplify the issues in the case, eliminate frivolous claims or defenses, obtain admissions of fact and documents to avoid unnecessary proof, identify witnesses and documents, make schedules for the submission of pretrial briefs and motions, make rulings on motions submitted before the conference, set dates for further conferences, discuss the possibility of a settlement, and discuss the consolidation or management of large, complex cases can be also be introduced in

criminal cases as well in order to make trial judges more proactive and effective in the administration of justice and to decide matters that do not go into the core of the case such as whether the defendant is guilty or not. A pretrial conference in criminal cases can be conducted to expedite disposition of the case, help the court establish managerial control over the case, discourage wasteful pretrial activities and improve the quality of the trial with thorough preparation. The Judges can also use the pretrial conferences to admonish a lethargic prosecutor and put him back on fast track.

For instance in the US, Under rule 17.1 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, pretrial conferences for criminal cases may be conducted to promote a fair and expeditious trial which in practice, include a decision on such preliminary matters as what evidence will be excluded from trial and what witnesses will be allowed to testify at trial.

Nigerian Courts are always congested and crowded by the day, therefore, the use of pretrial conference in criminal cases to narrow down issue for trial will help to decongest the Court system and assist in the prompt and effective dispensation of the criminal justice system. Pretrial conferences can save valuable time for courts by narrowing the focus of the trial and resolving preliminary matters.

For now however, it is debatable whether the ends of justice has been served by the federal trial Judge’s actions.

Concluded

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Development control demolishes 3500 shanties along Airport Road

By Josephine Ella

T

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration has revealed that over 3,500 shanties along the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Expressway (Airport Road), have been demolished, and that more additional shanties springing up in the suburb of the FCT will soon be raided.

The FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed, who revealed this

during the FCT Operations Briefing Session at Gwarinpa I District (Life-Camp), yesterday, directed the Development Control Department to double its efforts to rid the Federal Capital City of all illegal structures.

While cautioning all those occupying such structures to vacate them immediately, Sen. Mohammed said that a high-powered Task Force would be constituted to assist in clearing the back logs of

shanties and illegal structures in Abuja.

He however, pointed out that while his administration is determined to achieve the objective of upholding the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan, "we must clearly differentiate the difference between the original Abuja indigenes, their villages and the squatters who have over the years erected illegal communities".

Sen. Mohammed

emphasised that the Development Control Department must decisively deal with the menace of shanties springing up around the city; saying that the expansion of these villages is unacceptable.

"We cannot afford to continue this way, otherwise we will be faced with all manner of social problems including threat to security in the Federal Capital Territory," he said.

2 unemployed men docked for criminal intimidation

T

wo unemployed men, Abraham Moses, 23, and Joseph Abraham, 19, were yesterday, arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrates’ Court for alleged joint act, criminal intimidation and assault.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr Paul Anigbo, told the court that the case was reported to the Lugbe Police Station by one Clement Obah of Tudun Wada area of Lugbe, Abuja on April 26.

Anigbo said that the complainant had a quarrel with Moses sometime in April, adding that the accused later came with Abraham and one other person who is now at large.

The prosecutor said that the accused allegedly stoned the complainant and in the process, his (complainant’s) vehicle windscreen got broken.

He added that the accused persons allegedly threatened to kill the complainant whenever they saw him at Tudun wada area in Lugbe.

Anigbo said that the accused were, however, unable to give satisfactory account of their action during interrogation.

He noted that, the offence contravened sections 79, 327, 265 and 397 of the Penal Code Law. The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Magistrate Hadiza Dodo, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200, 000 with a reliable surety who must reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

She then adjourned the case till June 13, for hearing. (NAN).

An elderly woman goes for plywood as alternative energy source in Garki Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Abaji chair condoles with Kpache community over death of village head

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he chairman of Abaji area council, Hon. Yahaya Muhammad, has commensurate with Kpache community, in Abaji, FCT, over the death of its village head, Alh. Moh’d Ndastu Kpache, who died after a brief

illness.

Muhammad, in his condolence message, prayed for the decease and sought for Allah’s Mercy for him to make Jannah.

Similarly, the chairman also visited the family of a former councillor, Hon Moses Adilo, representing Nuku/

Sabongari ward in year 2001, who died last week, after a brief illness.

Responding on behalf of the community, the present speaker of Abaji Area Council Alh. Usman Abubakar Ajiya thanked the chairman for the visit and prayed for success in his tenure.

2 security guards in court for negligence, theft

T

wo men were yesterday, arraigned before an Abuja Magistrates’ Court on a three-count charge of negligent conduct, office breaking and theft.

They are Danlami Alhassan, 27, and Istifanus Isah, 24, both security guards of Yasmin Private School located located at 14 Road, Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja.

The Police prosecutor, Sgt. Salisu Mohammed, told the court that the case was reported on May

7 at the Gwarinpa Police Station by one Oyealaro Lucky of Block A1, Suit 1, Commercial Road, Area 1 Abuja.

He said that the accused had negligently abandoned their duty post, allowing thieves to break into the school and stole N28,000 and two laptops.

Mohammed said the offence was contrary to section 196, 355 and 287 of the Penal Code.

The accused pleaded not

guilty to the charges.

The Magistrate, Hajiya Sadiya Mayana, granted them bail in the sum of N10,000 with one surety in like sum.

She said the surety must have a decent and reasonable means of livelihood and must be living within the jurisdiction of the court.

Mayana adjourned the case till May 16 for further hearing.

(NAN)

Community policing: Kuje residents inaugurate committees

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Police Community Relations Committee PCRC, Kuje area council, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has inaugurated five different committees with responsibility to work with Nigerian police to bring an end to various crimes in the areas.

The committees are; Public enlightenment committee, Disciplinary committee, Welfare committee, Finance and general purpose committee and Central planning and strategy.

Inaugurating the committees, the Divisional Police Officer in Kuje Area Council, CSP Danladi Isa, charged the committees not to see the responsibility as a minor but do everything within their capacities and resources to achieve the best.

He said members of the committees should see their selection as a privilege from God. The DPO, who called for nighbourhood watch, also said most of the crimes being committed in the area were being committed in the presence of people; and blamed the people for not releasing necessary information to the police. CSP Isa revealed that Nigeria constitution empowered every Nigerian to arrest and handover to the police any suspected criminal in their area.

He therefore called on all the members of PCRC to wholeheartedly work with police, adding that police cannot work alone without useful information from the general public.

Earlier, Chairman of PCRC in the area, arch. Ashafa Kayode, told Journalist that they decided to inaugurate the committees so as to work with police in carrying out their official duties excellently.

He said the committees was expected to sensitize people on the need to be police friendly and release necessary information to them when the need arises. The chairman charged all the members to be security conscious in their area, and give every needed support for the organization so as to achieve its aims and objectives.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 17

Clearing of refuse: Staff of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), yesterday at Aco Estate in Abuja.

A man pushing his soft drinks-laden motorcycle at Apo village, Abuja A man loading planks in this SUV, yesterday at New Nyanya in Abuja

Goat meat seller at Aco Estate Lugbe , Abuja

Taxi-cabs and motorcyclists compete for passengers along Airport road, Lugbe, Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo, Mahmud Isa and Joe Oroye

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

The day vulnerable groups in FCT smiled home with N53m(II)

By Josephine Ella

A

ccording to her, "the success recorded in the first batch of the rehabilitation exercise in 2011, encouraged other unemployed ladies, who availed themselves of the opportunity and that is why today we are graduating an impressive number of 473 ladies as against 39 ladies in the 1st batch".

She, therefore solicit the support of other agencies, international organisations and NGOs for assistance in the areas of training, provision of equipment and financial donations for the project.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on the FCT, Hon. Emmanuel Jime, urged the girls to put the training to good use and to in turn, be employers of labour, stressing that anything short of this would be a disappointment to the society.

On his part, the chairman of the occasion, Senator Smart Adeyemi commended the secretariat for its efforts and encouraged the graduands to put the training and kits given to them to good use.

Adeyemi, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, said as part of the effort to support the secretariat in rendering such services, the committee had reviewed its 2012 budget proposal upwards, to enable it do more in the fiscal year.

For the graduands, who went home each with a starters pack and take-off grants of N100, 000, donated by the FCT administration, it was unspeakable joy.

Earlier, the social development secretary said that the gesture was part of the commitment of the administration to ensure that the beneficiaries are able to establish a business based on the

FCT National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) Coordinator, Mrs Linda Amugo, presents a cash grant and starter pack to a physically challenged beneficiary at the event skills they acquired in the course of the training programme.

This, she noted is aimed at empowering them financially so that they are not tempted to go back to the streets gain.

Virtually all the graduands, who spoke with journalists at the occasion, where appreciative of the training they received.

Those of them that had hitherto engaged in prostitution assured that there was no going back to their vomit.

Barely two day after this ceremony, was yet another graduation ceremony, but this time around for a set of trainees

of the Bwari Vocational and Rehabilitation Centre for the Physically Challenged Persons, Child Hawkers and Street -Kids at Kichiko in Bwari.

Picked up from streets in the FCT, the 57 graduands, comprising of physically challenged persons and destitute had undergone a three-six months training on electrical works, computer training, leather works, metal work/ fabrication, tailoring and art.

In order to assist them to set up businesses in their respective vocations, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration also donated a cash grant of

Assorted handcrafts by graduating repentant social workers at the event

N100,000 and starters park to each of these beneficiaries.

According to Onuh, the initiative is a proof of the commitment of the administration to rid the territory of the nuisance constituted by destitute and physically challenged persons.

"This initiative of the FCT administration under the social development secretariat is a continuous process. It is not going to stop. This is a way of taking people off the street, to say that the FCT has a rehabilitation, training centre where they can be useful to themselves and their families," she said.

Furthermore, the secretary said that within the last one year, the secretariat has rehabilitated and empowered 141 child hawkers and beggars in Abuja.

She had equally, urged the graduands not to indulge in self pity, thereby constituting a burden to the society, but to rise above their limitations and maximise the knowledge garnered at the centre.

While emphasizing government's duty to meet the basic needs of destitute and other vulnerable group, Onuh urged private and public institutions to apportion a reasonable percentage of their vacancies to the physically challenged.

She said a monitoring group from the secretariat would monitor their progress, disclosing that arrangement has already been concluded with a micro finance bank and other corporate

organisations to support them with loans if they do well.

In his remarks, the Principal of the Centre, Comrade Musa Bala, blamed theinjustice in the country to higher social imbalance as he lamented the securitychallenges resulting from this.

"So many things have gone bad in this country. If we do not help to remove these people from the streets, then there can be no end to the Boko Haram menace, because these are the same people that are paid N10, 000 and given an explosive-containing bag to go and drop somewhere," Bala, a physically challenged fellow said.

However, he commended the FCT administration and SAPCLN for the efforts towards empowering the less privileged.

He explained that out of the number trained, three were trained in the electronic department, 22 in ICT, six in leather works, 17 in metal works/ fabrication, six in tailoring, and three in arts.

As the beneficiaries moved forward to the podium to collect their certificates, starters pack and cash grant, they were full of smiles and excitement.

"We will never return to the street again. We thank the government for what they have done for us today. We will start our own business with the money they gave to us," this quote from an interview with one of the beneficiaries, trained in leather works, Ali Madaki, captures the response of other beneficiaries interviewed at the occasion.

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE

Mob: 08033644990

IMF cuts sub-Saharan Africa 2012 growth forecasts to 5.4%

By Aminu Imam with agency report

S

ub-Saharan Africa’s economies will expand at a slower rate in 2012 than earlier projected, undermined by global financial distress and a sluggish recovery in South Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday.

Africa’s growth has remained above 5 percent in the last eight years, underpinned by strong prices for its natural resources, better governance and growing disposable incomes.

In its latest Regional Economic Outlook, the IMF forecast 5.4 percent growth this year from 5.1 percent in 2011.

Its previous projections were 5.9 and 5.5 percent respectively.

“The growth outlook for 2012 is somewhat less favourable than outlined in the October 2011 Regional Economic Outlook, with the growth projection for 2012 now cut by almost one-half a percentage point, driven in large part by the weaker economic outlook for South Africa,” the IMF said.

Growth in Africa’s economic powerhouse was likely to be a relatively modest 2.7 percent this year and 3.4 percent in the next, held back by its reliance on trade with Europe and close links with western financial

Flight schedule AIR NIGERIA (MONDAY - SUNDAY) LOS-A BJ: 07.15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.30, 17.00, 17.20, 18.30 ABJ-LOS: 07.00, 09.30, 10.30, 11.15, 16.15, 19.15, 19.35

markets, the Fund said.

However, an upturn in drought-hit East Africa, fresh output in new natural resource producers such as Niger and Sierra Leone and recovery in post-conflict nations such as Ivory Coast should help boost the continent’s economic activity in 2012.

Sierra Leone and Niger could post outstanding growth of 35.9 and 14 percent respectively. Big oil-producers Nigeria and Angola will also be major drivers of the expansion.

Economies reliant on nonrenewable resources are experiencing faster growth but are also suffering the worst volatility in exports, revenues and GDP expansion, the IMF said.

The fund also said the rapid expansion of pan-African banks may be cause for concern in countries with poor regulation.

Banks such as South Africa’s Standard Bank, Togo-based Ecobank and Kenya’s KCB have been widening their reach, increasing competition in their new markets while improving technology and expertise.

“But rapid expansion of these groups may, in some cases, have outpaced supervisory capacity.

Under adverse economic conditions across the region, these banking grounds could become a channel for crossborder contagion,” the IMF said.

Countries with fastexpanding loan books should prioritise strengthening the resilience of their financial sectors, the IMF said, pushing for cross-border supervision in the

region.

“Effective mechanisms for limiting cross-border contagion,

such as arrangements preserving

ring-fencing aimed at subsidiaries’

- Pg 20

Shell loses 43,000 bpd to theft resources could be added to a review of existing bankingresolution frameworks,” the IMF said. (Reuters)

L-R: Assistant General Manager, Legal, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mr. Victor Eniang, Commissioner of Police in charge of ports Affairs, Mr. Kola Sobipo, and acting General Manager, NPA, Eastern Ports, Mr Ugochukwu Empire, during a visit by the Commissioner of Police to NPA, yesterday in Port Harcourt.

Photo: NAN

Naira weakens on fuel importers’ dollar demand

T

he Naira weakened against the U.S dollar on the interbank market yesterday, as strong dollar demand for the local currency from fuel importers held down the local unit.

The Naira closed at the interbank market at 157.95 to the dollar, weaker than the 157.75 it closed on Friday.

Traders some fuel importers were issued fresh import licences, boosting dollar demand. This was

combining with insufficient dollar supply from oil companies were pilling pressure on the local currency.

“Some oil importers have been issued fresh round of licences to import fuel, while outflows to dividend payments by some companies are increasing demand for the dollar and putting pressure on the naira,”one dealer said.

Dealers said that although the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) sold about

$500 million to some lenders last week, the impact of the dollar sales on the Naira was subdued because the company sold at a rate close to the prevailing market price, leaving too small a margin for lenders.

“We see rate crossing the 158 naira to the dollar mark by Tuesday (today) unless there is significant dollar flow from multinational oil companies to counter demand,” another dealer said.(Reuters)

KANO-ABJ: 08.35

FG to distribute energy-efficient bulbs

ABJ -SOK (MON): 09.35

By Abdulwahab Isa

ABJ-SOK (FRI): 10.10

T

ABJ-KANO: 18.40

ABJ-SOK (WED/SUN): 11.20 SOK-ABJ (MON): 11.35 SOK-ABJ (FRI): 12.00 SOK-ABJ (WED/SUN): 13.20

AEROCONTRACTORS (MON - SUN) LOS-ABJ: 06.50, 13.30, 19.45 LOS-ABJ (SUN): 12.30 LOS-ABJ (SAT): 16.45 ABU-L OS: 07.30, 13.00, 14.00, 19.00 ABU-LOS (SUN): 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 ABU-LOS (SAT): 18.30

DANA AIRLINES (MON - SUN) LOS-ABJ: 07.02, 08.10, 12.06, 15.30, 17.10

he Federal Government has concluded plans to commence the distribution of energy efficient bulbs and phase out the high energy consuming ones, Minister of Energy, Prof. Bart Nnaji said at the weekend.

The distribution which will commence from first week of June, is in line with the proposed electricity tariff increase, which would be implemented on June 1 .

The Minister said the Federal Government would provide

CBN

LOS-KANO : 08.10 KANO-LOS: 11.25 KANO -ABUJA: 11.25 ABUJA-KANO : 10.08

IRS AIRLINES

CFA • £ RIYAL $

LOS -ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

SELLING 0.3083 202.1012 250.9444 41.5289 155.75

PARALLEL RATES

ABJ-LOS: 11.30, 3.45, 4.45 LOS-KANO: 6.15 LOS-KANO (SAT/SUN): 16.30 KANO-LOS: 07.30 KANO-LOS (SUN/SUN): 10.30

9th May, 2012 BUYING 0.2883 200.8036 249.3332 41.2623 154.75

• £ RIYAL $

BUYING 210 250 40 156

SELLING 212 252 42 158

efficient bulbs and then take the energy inefficient bulbs from users and destroy them.

“The energy efficient bulbs are more expensive than your current bulbs, but you will be saving more than 80 per cent of your electricity.”

The minister added that the new bulbs would release more power for everyone.

“If you have a 60-watts bulb, you will get the same lightening with a 12-watts bulb. This is something that is coming by the first week of June this year and what it does is that it releases more power to everybody.You

will pay even less.

“So, for those of you who are going to get the energy efficient bulbs, you will pay much less for electricity in addition to the subsidy being provided by the government.”

Nnaji also disclosed that in a few years, the government would no longer need to provide subsidy, as a tariff structure that would make customers who could pay to subsidise those who cannot.

He said that government had directed that all the electricity generation recovery projects must be completed within six months.

Management Tip of the Day

EXCHANGE RATES

ABJ-LOS: 07.20, 09.36, 13.05, 14.40 ABJ-LOS (SAT/SUN): 13.05, 18.00

subsidy for some categories of electricity consumers. He added that, energy efficient bulbs are better though a bit more expensive than the current bulbs used as they consume less energy.

Nnaji said energy efficient bulbs would save more than 80 per cent of the current electricity bills most consumers pay.

“We are going to inaugurate the Energy Efficiency Programme in this country in the next three weeks,” he said.

“The EEP means that we are going to get bulbs, energy

I

3 tips for creating a realistic budget

f you have to put together an annual budget for your department, your compensation may depend on your ability to stick to it. Here are three tips for creating a manageable budget: Stay goal-oriented. If you aim to increase sales, make that your overriding concern.

Don't let other issues sidetrack you.

Don't do it alone. Include your team members in developing the budget - they may have knowledge about certain line items that you don't.

Question your assumptions. A budget

should take current data, add assumptions, and create projections. Be careful about the assumptions you make and question how likely they are to come true. When you present the budget, you'll need to be prepared to defend them.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS

IPP project: Delta receives turbine

T

he first batch of 37 components of gas turbine for the Delta State Independent Power Project (IPP) has arrived Oghara, Delta state, the site of the project.

The second batch of the consignment is said to be at Onne Port, Rivers State.

FCSL rolls out four new mutual funds into Nigerian market

A

n Investment firm, FCSL (Finance and Commercial Services Limited), has rolled out four new mutual funds for the Nigerian market which would provide an avenue for asset diversification and risk management. The launch of the funds occurred at the FCSL investor forum, which was held in Lagos last week.

Delta Airline plans to save N48 bn in fuel cost with acquisition of refinery

D

elta Ailrline, which operates daily flights into Lagos from Atlanta, has reported strong financial and operating performance for April 2012 just as it acquired an oil refinery from ConocoPhillips for $180m.

Dangote Cement sees profit at N77.5bn

D

angote Cement Plc of Nigeria said net income for the six months through June will probably be 77.5 billion naira.

Market operators urge govt to check profit-takings by foreign investors

C

apital market operators, on Monday, attributed profit-takings by foreign investors as a fresh problem militating against the capital market.

They explained that the foreign investors’ dominance of activities and their high dependence on marginal gains would make the market to oscillate.

Total says gas leak has stopped at Nigeria field Stories by Muhammad Nasir

F

rench oil company, Total SA at the weekend said it stopped a natural gas leak at one of its plants in Nigeria’s cruderich southern delta after 54 days, an emergency that forced the firm to shut down the field and evacuate the area.

Total said it used heavy fluids and cement plugs to stop the gas flow from its Obite natural gas field in Rivers state, in the heart of the country’s Niger Delta.

Workers will put a cement seal on the well to permanently staunch the flow from the well, Total said in a statement.

A spokesman for Total’s Nigerian subsidiary, Fred Ohwahwa, said on Sunday that the company hoped to restart gas production at the plant soon, but that he didn’t know an exact date.

Crude oil production at the facility continued while the gas plant there was shut down during

the leak, he said.

Workers noticed a mix of water and natural gas bubbling up from portion of a marshy site near the plant on April 3, the company has said. Officials blamed it on a “technical incident” that occurred there March 20, without giving any other details. Rumors about an accident at a Total operation had circulated in Nigeria for weeks, though the company remained silent.

Total said its workers will continue to sample air and water around the plant to make sure there is no residual pollution from the gas leak, though the company has said it found no toxic damage in the time since the leak began.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with more than 160 million residents, is a top energy supplier to the U.S. The OPEC member nation also has

seen foreign oil firms boost production of natural gas in recent years.

However, environmental and industry regulations lag behind spills and violence in its oil-rich Niger Delta, a region of mangroves and swamps about the size of Portugal. Some environmentalists say much as 2.1 billion liters (550 million gallons) of oil have spilled during more than 50 years of production.

That would be at a rate roughly comparable to one Exxon Valdez disaster per year in a region where oil still stains beaches and waterways.

Many foreign oil firms blame thieves for much of the oil spills now happening in the region, as they tap into pipelines to steal crude. However, there have been a series of major spills and accidents in the last six months,

including a spill by Royal Dutch Shell Plc at its offshore Bonga facility that saw some 40,000 barrels of oil spill.

Natural gas projects in Nigeria also have seen serious accidents in recent months as well. On Jan. 16, an offshore Chevron Corp. gas rig exploded in an apparent industrial accident that killed two expatriate workers. Natural gas bubbled to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and fueled a massive fire on the water for weeks after the explosion.

Total’s Obite gas plant exports a capacity of 10.65 million metric cubes of natural gas, and collects oil condensate to mix with crude oil it produces from another area, the company has said. Total operates in the plant in partnership with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.

Ex-NUPENG boss lauds PPPRA for probity

T

he Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Reginald Stanley, has been commended for entrenching transparency and sanity in the operations of the agency.

The disclosure was made by the former President of the bluecollar National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Peter Akpatason, in Abuja at the weekend.

Akpatason, who is now a member of the House of Representatives, was reacting to the recent suspension of a Swiss Oil trading company, NIMEX by the management of the PPPRA, noting that Stanley had since assumed office, and has shown the resolve and firmness necessary to realise the transformation agenda of the Federal Government in the downstream sector.

The unionist said that Stanley had demonstrated strong ability to carry oil and gas unions along in achieving the set goals of government in the oil industry.

It could be recalled that on May 6, the management of the PPPRA announced the suspension of a Swiss firm NIMEX, for failing to provide detailed documentation on its oil trading activities in Nigeria.

Announcing the suspension, Stanley said that the action was a clear warning to all marketers that a new regime of transparency and due process in the oil and gas industry had come to stay.

It is to be noted that the downstream sector has been undergoing tremendous reforms in recent months, following the directive issued to ministries and agencies by President Goodluck Jonathan in pursuit of the transformation agenda of his administration.

L-R: Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Fola Daniel, Deputy Commissioner (Technical), Malam Ibrahim Hassan, and Deputy Director, Corporate Services, Mr Lucky Fiakpa, during a workshop on diagnostic study of microfinance in Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Afren discovers significant oil reserves in off-shore Nigeria

E

xploration firm, Afren has said that it had found significant oil reserves at its Ebok North Fault Block well, offshore Nigeria.

According to the findings, the data showed that there could be an excess of 100 barrels of oil at the site, towards the upper end of Afren’s pre-drill expectations.

In a statement by its Chief Executive, Osman Shahenshah, said that they had encountered

370 feet of true vertical thickness (TVT) of oil in excellent quality reservoir sands, adding that the proximity of Ebok NFB to existing infrastructure at the main Ebok field production hub means that they can quickly monetize the newly discovered volumes.

It was also noted that the company made a discovery of significant oil pay at the location underlined the high-grade prospectively that exists across

Shell loses 43,000 bpd to theft

S

hell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. loses at least 43,000 barrels of oil a day to crude theft and illegal bunkering in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, a statement

by Precious Okolobo, the oil giant’s spokesman, said on Monday.

In 2011, Shell lost about 11,806 barrels in 118 incidents due to sabotage and crude oil theft. The spills, equating an average of one spill every three days, accounted for 77% of the total spilled volume during the

period.

“Since, we calculate crude theft quantities based on volumes produced from flowstations and what is received at terminals it is true that additional oil is stolen between wellheads and flowstations,”, Managing Director of SPDC, Mutiu Sunmonu said.

According to the statement, most thefts have been on SPDC joint venture’s two major pipelines in the Eastern Niger Delta—the Nembe Creek Trunkline, known as NCTL, and

the wider area.

However, it has been a mixed year for Afren, because it had seen success at its Okoro East site, offshore south east Nigeria, as well as the Simrit-2 exploration well in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Meanwhile, shares took a hit towards the end of April after the company reported disappointing results from its Nunya 1x exploration well, offshore Ghana.

Trans Niger Pipeline or TNP. The NCTL was replaced in 2010 at a cost of $1.1 billion, the statement said but the new line is still a favorite target of crude thieves.

It was shut down for one month in December last year following a spill caused by two failed bunkering connections. The thieves took advantage of that month-long pipeline depressurization to install even more bunkering points.

Since the restart of production in January 2012, there have been multiple trips caused by pressure drops resulting from illegal off-take.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Ten things about computer use in schools that you don't want to hear (but I'll say them anyway)

I don't want to hear this

T

he comments below are adapted from a presentation I put together for senior policymakers in a developing country who have high level oversight of the use of technology in thousands of schools.

Complemented by a separate discussion about 'worst practices' in ICT use in education, there were meant to be provocative, and to serve as a springboard for subsequent discussion and debate. They may or may not be useful or relevant to the people who read this blog (especially those with a lot of experience using ICTs in schools over many years), but I thought they potentially were relevant to the group with which I was speaking. To the extent that they might be of any interest to others, here they are: 1. Computer labs are a bad idea In most places I visit, putting all (or most) of a school's computers into a special 'computer lab' is seen as the obvious thing to do when a school is being 'computerized'.

This may seem obvious ... but is it really a good idea?

The trend in industrialized countries has largely been away from computer labcentric models for educational technologies. One reason for this is quite practical -- the computer labs are already full of computers, and if you want to buy more of them, you need to put them in other places.

Fair enough. There is also a recognition, however, that if you want computers and other ICTs to contribute directly to impacting the learning process in core subjects, you need to put them where core subjects are being taught -like in the classroom. The move toward 1-to-1

computing, where each student (and/or teacher) has her own dedicated laptop, can be seen in some ways as a further extension of this belief.

This is not to say that school computer labs are a bad idea. Or, for that matter, that they are a good idea.

Rather, it is to argue that, where the decision is made to invest in them, it should be for the right reasons -- and not just because "that's what everyone else seems to be doing (or did in the past), so we should do it too".

2. ICT literacy classes are a bad idea Why do you need to put computers in schools? So that kids can 'learn how to use computers'. How do kids best learn how to use computers?

By deliberately being taught their basic functions as part of a special 'computer class'.

Right?

Some people don't think so, and contend that using ICTs primarily to build 'ICT literacy' tends to crowd out other educational uses of the technologies, and that desires to develop skills that conform to narrow definitions of 'ICT literacy' (i.e. basically the mechanical stuff -- opening a document, word processing, etc.) can often be met by utilizing ICTs in other ways.

Might it be better, they ask, to help students develop their 'computer skills' as a natural byproduct of ICT use as part of other learning activities than to 'teach' them, for example, how an operating system works and how to use basic office productivity applications? Of course local context is important here: What works in one place (or time) in this regard may not work so well in another. This is not to say that vocational computer-related instruction is a waste of time.

Certainly not! (Although it may be worth asking what extent basic 'computer courses' are really appropriate in places where likely usage scenarios for ICTs going forward do not involve someone sitting at a desk, but rather using a mobile phone or -- soon -- a tablet device.) Nor is it meant to imply that children do not need to learn how to perform basic tasks with a computer. But there is more than one way to accomplish the task of making students 'ICT literate'.

A World Bank blog on ICT use in education, submitted

by Michael Trucano (To be continued)

PAGE 21

Yahoo chief executive steps down

Y

ahoo is replacing its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the third time in as many years, and giving three board seats to a hedge fund led

by Daniel Loeb, putting him in a strong position to influence strategy at the struggling internet company.

Yahoo did not give a reason for Mr Thompson's exit but said the company's global media head, Ross Levinsohn, will be interim CEO. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that before resigning as chief executive of Yahoo over the weekend, Mr Thompson disclosed to the company's board of directors and several colleagues that he has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

The paper had sourced the report to people familiar with the matter.

The decision to step down from Yahoo was in part influenced by Mr Thompson's cancer diagnosis, a person told the Journal.

The diagnosis had occurred in recent days while the board was investigating why the executive's academic record had erroneously included a computer science degree, according to the newspaper.

Mr Thompson's departure after just four months on the job throws into question the future of Yahoo as it struggles to revive growth amid fierce competition from the likes of Google and Facebook, and produce a long-term strategy

to convince investors to reverse its share slide.

Yahoo was a dominant player in the early days of the internet but has struggled for years to maintain its relevance as social media, mobile computing and highly personalised advertising have redefined the industry landscape.

While brands such as Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance remain among the most popular destinations on the web, a relentless industrywide decline in display advertising prices has made it difficult to make money on those assets and raised questions about the long-term viability of an ad-based strategy.(Reuters)

Glo wins ‘Telecoms Operator of the Year’ award

By Muhammad Sada

L

eading telecoms operator Globacom emerged Telecoms Operator of the Year at the Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Awards held recently, where it also took home two other awards for its sterling performance in the telecoms sector.

At the award ceremony, which was held at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, Globacom won the Telecoms Operator of the Year, Submarine Cable Company of the Year for Glo 1, and the Best Promotion of the Year for Text4millions promo.

Organisers of the BoICT event, CommunicationsWeek, said the award was instituted to reward the vision and enterprise of individuals and companies that have contributed to the growth of the ICT industry in Nigeria.

Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer of the magazine, Ken Nwogbo, said the main objectives of the awards were to evaluate and recognize standards of excellence in the country's quest for growth and development in the use of ICT and to ensure that ICT professionals are provided a benchmark for recognising and validating outstanding

contributions.

Nwogbo explained that the Telecom Operator of the Year award was given to Glo as a recognition of "Glo Mobile's unparalleled achievements and for variously impressing with its ability to reinvent the wheel, for breathing life into fixed line service with Glo Broadaccess, for providing sufficient bandwidth for economic prosperity through Glo 1 and for helping the realization of government's cashless policy through Glo Text Cash (mobile money ), amongst other initiatives."

According to him, Submarine Cable Company of the Year was awarded to Glo 1 for being the most significant milestone that has redefined telecommunications in Nigeria and Ghana since landing. He added that Glo 1 "has improved and increased telecom and internet services as well as penetration."

For the Best Promo of the Year Award, Nwogbo observed that "Text4millions" Season 2 has transformed lives with hundreds of winners and given back so much to Glo's loyal subscribers. The promo is hugely popular and transparent and has an open process of selecting winners as well as an easy-to-play

module," Nwogbo stated.

Globacom's Executive Director, Mr. Adewale Sangowawa expressed delight on the awards and attributed the recognition to the hard work of the Board, Management and staff. He specially thanked the customers for their loyalty, adding that "they are the reason why we are in business.

"We at Glo dedicate the awards to our esteemed customers," he said.

Globacom boss, Mike Adenuga

Broadband, key to rapid GDP growth - Minister, NCC boss

C

onsidering that voice telephony has just become a basic service in many countries of the world today, while data transmission defines for them the speed which businesses are conducted in the new world order, Accenture, gathered technology experts and other industry stakeholders last week, in Lagos, to brainstorm

on possible ways of promoting and sustaining broadband availability in Nigeria.

Interestingly, Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson chaired the parley while the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah also made a powerful presentation on the way forward.

The event seemed to have

revolved around these two, considering that the institutions they head are key to the success or otherwise of the country's broadband penetration efforts. While the ministry is expected to formulate and implement right policies to ensure growth, NCC is expected to sustain growth through focused regulation.

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

CBN says enterprises fund not to bailout microfinance banks

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend said that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMEs) fund was not meant to bail out distressed micro-finance banks.

The Director, Other Financial Institutions Development (OFID) department of the CBN, Mr. Olufemi Fabanwo, made the clarification at the 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the National Association of Micro Finance Banks (NAMB) in Abuja.

Fabanwo said the fund, which was initially established as Micro Finance Development Fund (MDF), was changed to MSMEs Development Fund.

“The MSMEs fund is not medicine for those who are weak, the MSME fund is going to be assessed by institutions that have shown proven record of performance; it is not for any

L-R: Chairman, Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu, and CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,during the inauguration of Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council, yesterday, at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

NEPAD seeks SMEDAN support on ‘Global Partnership Week’

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

T

he Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar has pledged the agency’s support for the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Business Group on its upcoming Global Partnership Week and other activities as they relate to the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

Alhaji Umar made the commitment at the weekend, while receiving the Executive Secretary of the Group, Dr. Aniebo Roberts, who paid the SMEDAN DG a courtesy call in company of the NEPAD Business Group Program Manager, Mrs. Dorothy Gam in Abuja.

The SMEDAN boss promised to bring other relevant agencies of government on board, to make contributions toward achieving the set objectives of the Group.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the NEPAD Group, Dr. Aniebo Roberts explained that the purpose of their visit was to notify the agency of the proposed Global Partnership Week, in celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives and seek areas of partnership and support from SMEDAN. He said that the event, which would be supported by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and

other international partners, is being held to among other things honour the founding fathers of ECOWAS, for their roles in the overall development of Africa, and especially for their roles in the debt cancellation of African countries by the Paris Debt Club.

He disclosed that the NEPAD Business Group, which deals with private sector components such as advocacy and human resources development, aims to harmonize the informal sector at the upcoming Global Partnership Week, where SMEDAN’s expertise in the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would be needed to mentor participants.

The event according to him, would x-ray the security situation in Africa, examine the external debts of African countries, address entrepreneurial training needs across board, establish mentormentee relationships as well as profile and promote SMEDAN’s successful trainees.

Based on the laid down objectives of the event, the Group boss sought SMEDAN’s support in the areas of granting the Group access to SMEDAN’s entrepreneurship centers across the country, providing technical support to SMEs and linking them to credit sources (funding and insurance), active participation in the preparation for and attendance at the planned event.

micro finance bank.

“It is not a bailout fund. There is going to be a social window for capacity building in any area that will augur well for the development of the sub-sector.’’

The director said CBN was not satisfied with the level of returns rendition and the audited accounts of micro-finance banks.

He said that only about 70 per cent rendition had been recorded by the apex bank since the end of the last financial year.

Fabanwo, however, added that the MFBs had recorded greater stability after the September ‘sanitation’ carried out by the apex bank in which 244 licences of MFBs were revoked.

He stressed the need for microfinance banks to update their subscriptions annually, warning that the apex bank would not hesitate to penalise defaulters.

(NAN)

AFC targets N480bn investments in sub-Saharan Africa

A

frica Finance Corporation (AFC), a Lagos-based development financier, is considering potential investments worth $3 billion (about N480 billion) across subSaharan Africa over the next year, its chief executive said on Monday.

Created in 2007 to help increase much-needed investments in the key infrastructure, transport and heavy industries sectors in Africa, AFC - 46 percent-owned by seven west African states including Nigeria and Ghana has already invested $500 million in projects worth a total $4 billion from Cape Verde to Zambia.

“In our sectors we see a lot of opportunities. We are currently reviewing investments totalling $3 billion across the continent.

That is what our pipeline is,” Andrew Alli told Reuters in the Kenyan capital.

Alli said AFC - part of a

growing phenomenon of Africans investing in their own continent - also looks for a commercial return on its investments, was looking to conclude the potential deals soon.

“It is almost certain that we won’t invest in all of them but we would expect to review them and close them over the course of the next year or so,” he said.

Other potential investments being evaluated include some in the Nigerian power sector where planned privatisations later this year could open up opportunities, Alli said.

AFC is also assessing investment opportunities in Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana and Ivory Coast, where they have already secured approval to fund construction of a tall bridge in Abidjan, Alli added.

“Infrastructure is the skeleton that economic growth generally hangs,” he said.(Reuters)

Airtel CEO decries multiple taxation, regulation From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

C

hief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop has raised an alarm over the rising spate of multiple taxation and multiple regulation, saying that telecoms operators are groaning under the heavy burden the enormous financial demands of multiple government agencies and institutions.

Swaroop, who was speaking at the 2012 Edition of the West African Information and Communications Congress (WAFICT) in Lagos, said independent tax consultants working for different local, state

and Federal Government are making life unbearable for telecoms companies as they slam outrageous levies and taxes on operators.

Represented by the company’s Regulatory Affairs Director, Osondu Nwokoro said aside the financial harassment from different government bodies, many telecoms operators are unable to plan their operations due to multiple regulations.

“It is important that we understand that multiple taxation and multiple regulation are two different issues. For instance, if a particular operator has a base station in a particular

community, he is faced with the challenge of paying all manner of levies and taxes to different governmental agencies for just that base station. Also, he is faced with the challenge of multiple regulations from different government agencies.”

He said “At the end of the day, the customer is made to suffer for this, as some of these agencies usually shut down base stations, thereby preventing engineers from performing routine maintenance work.

Just imagine an operator with more than 2,000 base stations.

Indeed, the impact is huge and customers are made to suffer unjustly.”

Swaroop also noted that government is also losing revenue as independent tax consultants are raking in handsome profits from the exercise. “Without a doubt, if telecoms operators are making more money, it means more taxes for government. But if they are making losses or less profit, government gets little or nothing.”

He also cautioned that the twin challenges of multiple taxation and multiple regulations can lead to loss of Foreign Direct Investment, lack of cooperation from telecoms operators and failure on the part of government to create real value for the citizens.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Facebook CEO turns 28 H

e famously wears a hoodie, jeans and sneakers, and he was born the year Apple introduced the Macintosh. But Mark Zuckerberg is no boy-CEO. Facebook’s chief executive turned 28 on Monday, setting in motion the social network’s biggest week ever. The company is expected to start selling stock to the public for the first time and begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday. The IPO could value Facebook at nearly $100 billion, making it worth more than such iconic companies as Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods, according to Associated Press (AP).

At 28, Zuckerberg is exactly half the age of the average S&P 500 CEO, according to executive search firm Spencer Stuart. With eight years on the job, he’s logged more time as leader than the average CEO, whose tenure is a little more than seven years, according to Spencer Stuart. Even so, the pressures of running a public company will undoubtedly take some getting used to.

Once Facebook begins selling stock, Zuckerberg will be expected to please a host of new stakeholders, including Wall Street investment firms, hedge funds and pension funds who will pressure him to keep the company growing.

Young as he may seem — especially in that hooded sweatshirt— Zuckerberg will be about the same age as Michael Dell and older than Steve Jobs when those two took their companies, Dell Inc. and Apple Inc., public. In his years as Facebook’s CEO he’s met world leaders, rode a bull in Vietnam while on vacation, started learning Mandarin Chinese and as a personal challenge, wore a tie for the better part of a year.

Facebook, of course, got its start in Zuckerberg’s messy Harvard dorm room in early 2004.

Known as Thefacebook.com back in those days, the site was created to help Harvard students — and later other college students — connect with one another online. The scrappy website later grew to include highschoolers, then anyone else with an Internet connection. Today more than 900 million people log in at least once a month, making Facebook the world’s definitive social network.

All along, Zuckerberg has shown a maturity beyond his years. As the site grew rapidly and caught the eye of big media and rival Internet companies,

Zuckerberg consistently rebuffed mouth-watering buyout offers, including from Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. “Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services,” wrote Zuckerberg in his letter to prospective shareholders. “And we think this is a good way to build something. These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits.”

People who’ve observed Zuckerberg closely say his age is an asset. His is the generation that grew up with social networking, with computers all around them and the Internet as something that’s always existed. Many of his employees are younger than him, as are a lot of the up-and-coming technology entrepreneurs with whom he competes.

“I don’t think you could build a company like this if you were an old guy like me,” says David Kirkpatrick, a 59-year-old author who chronicled the company’s early history in “The Facebook Effect”.

Kirkpatrick, who is also founder of Techonomy, a media company that hosts conferences on the relationship between technology and economy and social progress, first met Zuckerberg six years ago. He says he was impressed with his vision, even then. “It’s the willingness to take risks, the willingness to abide by a very contemporary vision ... I don’t think that he’s too young. I think most CEOs are too old.”

Zuckerberg, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif. with his girlfriend and a white Hungarian Puli dog named Beast, has matured as a leader with the help of experienced mentors. One of his closest advisors is Sheryl Sandberg, who he hired away from Google in 2008. Zuckerberg, known for sometimes-awkward public appearances, realized that the razor-sharp, people-savvy advertising executive complements his own shortcomings. Sandberg is Zuckerberg’s No. 2, the chief operating officer who oversees advertising and often serves as Facebook’s smiling, public face.

Then there’s Donald Graham, the 66-year-old CEO and chairman of The Washington Post Co., who serves as a mentor to Zuckerberg and holds a seat on Facebook’s board of directors.

Rebecca Lieb, analyst at the Altimeter Group, says Zuckerberg has assembled a

Mark Zuckerberg team of “truly exceptional lieutenants.” David Ebersman, Facebook’s chief financial officer, who hails from biotech firm Genentech, is another example. Zuckerberg hired him in 2009, saying that Ebersman’s previous job, helping to scale the finance organization of the fast-growing biotech company “will be important to Facebook.”

He was right. Facebook’s revenue grew from $777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. In the first quarter of 2012 it was more than $1 billion.

Obviously, Zuckerberg still has a lot to learn. As part of Facebook’s pre-IPO “roadshow” last week, Zuckerberg visited several venerable East Coast financial institutions wearing his signature hoodie. While Silicon Valley insiders defend his fashion choice, others saw it as a sign of immaturity. Was it, as some speculated, a sign of a rebellious 20-something acting out? For Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, Zuckerberg’s attitude and attire symbolizes “a level of aloofness to stakeholders.”

“He seems very customer focused and very employee focused. I am not sure he cares about anyone else... If he’s going to go public, he has to answer to shareholders,” Pachter says. “That’s why Google hired Eric Schmidt.

That’s why Steve Jobs was ultimately forced out of Apple.”

Jobs, in fact, was another Silicon Valley luminary who had Zuckerberg’s ear. He was 25 in 1980 when Apple went public. He was ousted five years later after clashing with John

Sculley, the former Pepsico executive Apple hired as chief executive. Jobs famously returned to lead Apple in 1997 and the company has thrived since.

Not much is known about the relationship Jobs and Zuckerberg shared, but Jobs reportedly told his biographer

Walter Isaacson: “We talk about social networks in the plural, but I don’t see anybody other than Facebook out there.

Just Facebook, They are dominating this. I admire Mark Zuckerberg . . . for not selling out, for wanting to make a company. I admire that a lot.”

When Jobs died last October, Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page, “Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.”

Jon Burgstone, professor at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley, believes that Zuckerberg will need to keep his perspective and continue developing.

“He has already become one of the world’s most famous people, and also the richest,” he says. “He walks into a room and you can feel people’s excitement and the rush to be near him.

He’s already had time to learn how to deal with such fame and fortune, but now it’s advancing to an entirely new level. How will he handle it, emotionally and professionally?”

Lieb marvels at the life Zuckerberg has led so far.

Imagine being in your 20s, a self-made billionaire, your life the subject of a Hollywood movie. “It’s a lifetime and the guy isn’t 30 yet,” says Lieb.

He’s made big mistakes, especially with regard to users’ privacy. One example is

Facebook said a bug allowed an intruder to hack founder Mark Zuckerberg's fan page.

Mark Zuckerberg, a young millionaire to admire

Beacon, Facebook’s misguided advertising product that broadcast user’s activities on outside websites without their consent. Still, he took steps to correct them. On blog posts about Facebook’s privacy blunders, he’s admitted the company has made mistakes.

His 2007 post about Beacon showed his straightforward, methodical thinking: “ We’ve made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we’ve made even more with how we’ve handled them.

We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. While I am disappointed with our mistakes, we appreciate all the feedback we have received from our users.

I’d like to discuss what we have learned and how we have improved Beacon,” he wrote five years ago. Facebook shut down Beacon two years later.

Zuckerberg has done well for himself so far, but he’ll be pulled in many directions once Facebook is public.

“There is going to be a tremendous amount of scrutiny on this company,” Lieb says. “Who really is qualified” to carry such a weight?

Source: AP

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Iran & Israel Presidents

ANALYSIS

By Ben

T

here are 18,000 Iranian naval personnel and 30,000 air force personnel, including 12,000 in air defence.

The Israeli army has more than 3,000 tanks, reported to include 441 Merkava MkI, 455 Merkava MkII, 454 Merkava MkIII, 175 Merkava MkIV and 206 Centurion models.

The Israeli military also has, according to Reuters, some 10,484 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and 5,432 artillery pieces, including 620 motorised and 456 towed pieces.

Iran's military reportedly has 1,613 tanks, including some 100 locally produced Zulfiqar, about 100 ageing British-made Chieftain Mk3 and Mk5 models obtained before the 1979 revolution, alongside 150 US-made M-60A1s as well as 480 Soviet-designed T72 tanks and 540 T-54/T-55 models, according to the Reuters news agency.

Tehran also has about 640 APCs, in addition to 8,196 artillery pieces - of which 2,010 are towed and more than 800 are motorised.

The Israeli navy has three Dolphin (German-made type 212 variant) tactical submarines thought to be nuclear-armed in order to give Israel offshore second strike capability - in addition to 57 patrol and coastal combat ships, including three corvettes.

Iran, on the other hand, has a significantly larger fleet of naval craft, containing 23 submarines, including 15 tactical subs; three Kilo-class Russian-made Type 877 diesel-electric attack submarines, 12 midget submarines (Iranianbuilt Ghadir and Nahang shallowwater vessels made for the Gulf) and eight swimmer delivery vehicles.

The Iranians also reportedly

PAGE 31

Iran and Israel: Comparing military machines (II) have more than 100 patrol and coastal combat ships, including six corvettes, 13 patrol craft, four patrol boats, 21 semi-submersible boats and 56 various other patrol vessels.

The Israeli Air Force established a reputation for its precision during the 1967 Middle East war, but was heavily criticised in the wake of thousands of civilian deaths in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon in subsequent decades. It has 460 combat-capable aircraft, with 168 fighters, including 27 Boeing F15A Eagle, seven F15B and 90 F16A Fighting Falcons. The fleet also includes 227 ground attack fighters and 65 attack aircraft, in addition to nine tanker/transport aircraft and 77 other transport aircraft.

Israel maintains 81 attack helicopters, including 30 Bell AH1E/AH-1F Cobra and 30 Boeing AH64A Apache gunships, as well as 200 transport helicopters. Its air defence capabilities include 48 towed surface-to-air missile launchers (SAM) and 920 guns, as compared with the 279 SAM missiles reportedly held by Iran.

Iran's air force is believed to contain some 336 combat-capable aircraft, including 189 fighter aircraft such as 20 US-made F5B

jets, 60 F5E Tiger IIs and Russianmade 35 Mig-29A jets. The force is also understood to have 108 ground attack aircraft, among them both Iranian and Russian-built craft, many of which were reportedly taken from Iraq. The country's 116 transport aircraft were made in China, Netherlands and the US, among other places. The IRIAF also has 30 Bell 214C maritime reconnaissance helicopters.

Iran's approximately 1,000 strategic missiles, believed capable of striking throughout the Gulf and beyond, are reportedly controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, and include around 300 short-range ballistic missiles, including Iranianmade Shahab-1 (Scud-B), Shahab2 (Scud-C), as well as Tondar-69 (CSS-8).

Tehran has also domestically produced Shahab-3 strategic intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM), with a reported range of up to 1,000km, the Ghadr-1 with an estimated 1,600km range and a Shahab-3 variant known as Sajjil-2 with a reported range of up to 2,400km, according to Reuters reports. If true, Israel and much of eastern Europe would be within range.

“

In January 2009, Iran said it had tested a new air-to-air missile.

Then on March 7, 2010, Iran said it had started producing short-range cruise missiles it described as highly accurate and able to destroy heavy targets. The Revolutionary Guards have 24 launchers - of which 12 to 18 are for the short-range Shahab 1-2, and at least six are for the Shahab-3, Ghadr-1 and Sajjil-2.

"All of this is shrouded in mystery and not really transparent," says Bokhari of Stratfor. "We don't have a very good understanding of what Iran can actually do. There is a greater likelihood of Iranian missiles accurately targeting Arab states in the Gulf, but Israel is far away."

Bokhari suggests that Iran's power lies in its "ability to disrupt the global economy" and keeping the other side from unleashing a military campaign via "associated costs that are too high ... The issue right now is Iran's asymmetric capabilities, and future nuclear capabilities".

During war games in early January 2012, Iran tested medium-range surface-to-air missiles in the Gulf which were domestically designed and built.

The launch coincided with

The Iranians also reportedly have more than 100 patrol and coastal combat ships, including six corvettes, 13 patrol craft, four patrol boats, 21 semi-submersible boats and 56 various other patrol vessels.

increasing international pressure over the country's atomic programme.

While Iran has denied it is in the process of producing nuclear weapons, Israel is widely believed to have nuclear capability, despite its policy of "nuclear ambiguity". Delivery means include Jericho-2 intermediaterange ballistic missiles and Jericho-1 short-range missiles. It is believed to have in the range of 200 nuclear warheads that it can launch with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

On November 2, 2011, Israel test-fired an ICBM thought to be an upgraded Jericho-3 from the Palmachim base, with a potential payload of 1,000kg and capable of reaching as far as South America or Oceania. The next day, Israel staged a mass civil defence drill simulating a missile attack in the centre of the country.

Despite the conventional military advantage to Israel, Roberts, the security specialist at RUSI, believes that "the Israelis don't have enough planes and enough of the right bombs to significantly set back whatever is going on in Iran ... I don't think it's a very sensible thing to do.

There should be no [illusion] that Israel can unilaterally put an end to the Iranian nuclear programme".

"The one absolute kind of certainty is that, subsequent to a strike, Iran would be guaranteed to be pursuing the bomb vigorously and clandestinely."

Concoulded Culled from Aljazeera.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 32

Mali coup leaders threatened with new sanctions

Mid-ranking army officers seized power in March in protest at the government's failure to end a Tuareg-led rebellion in the north, but the coup backfired and triggered a lightning advance by rebels who now control two-thirds of the country.

The twin crises have led to disruptions in the local gold sector in Africa's third largest producer.

Mali's neighbours already imposed foreign asset freezes and travel bans after the power grab but they were lifted after junta chief Captain Amadou Sanogo last month formally stood down to allow Dioncounda Traore to take over as interim leader.

Yet Traore's stint in charge has been overshadowed by the

military maintaining its grip on much of day-to-day power in the country and uncertainty over who should take charge once his 40-day mandate set out by the constitution runs out.

Backers of Sanogo say he should take the helm given the crisis in the north and the public's lack of confidence in the local political class - a proposition that regional leaders and Western donors have firmly rejected.

ECOWAS mediators left Bamako at the weekend after five days of failed talks aimed at breaking the deadlock. Sanogo suggested on Monday a national convention of political and civic society groups decide who should take charge of the country.

But in a statement issued on May 11, the United States underscored international frustrations with the coup leaders.

The U.S. State Department called on Sanogo to step aside and allow for the full return to civilian rule.

It said the coup leaders had undermined democracy and hampered the West African nation's ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis in northern Mali.

"We hold the (CNRDRE) directly responsible for the increasing suffering of the Malian people," Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The northern part of Mali is now in the hands of a mix of Tuareg separatist rebels and Islamist groups, some of which are closely collaborating with regional al Qaeda-cells.

The United States, which is one of Mali's top donors and had spent millions of dollars on counter-terrorism training, has already imposed sanctions on Sanogo and cut all nonhumanitarian aid.

Muammar Gaddafi.

In a report based on investigations at bombing sites during and after the conflict, the New York-based HRW said NATO strikes killed 20 women and 24 children. It called on the alliance to compensate civilian victims and investigate attacks that may have been unlawful.

"Attacks are allowed only on military targets, and serious questions remain in some incidents about what exactly NATO forces were striking," Fred Abrahams, special adviser at HRW, said in a statement.

The report claims to be the most extensive investigation to date of civilian casualties from NATO's air campaign and presents a higher death toll estimate than a March paper by Amnesty International which documented 55 civilian deaths, including 16 children and 14

women.

NATO considers its Libya operation highly successful, illustrating the allies' ability to work well together in a limited campaign. NATO carried out some 26,000 sorties including some 9,600 strike missions and destroyed about 5,900 targets before operations ended on Oct. 31.

The alliance said the campaign had been conducted with "unprecedented care and precision and to a standard exceeding that required by international humanitarian law".

"NATO did everything possible to minimise risks to civilians, but in a complex military campaign, that risk can never be zero," said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu in a statement.

"We deeply regret any instance of civilian casualties for which NATO may have been responsible."

Mali"s junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo speaks during a news conference at his headquarters in Kati April 3, 2012.

W

est Africa's 15-nation ECOWAS bloc threatened yesterday to impose new sanctions on Mali's coup leaders and their allies, accusing them of blocking a return to civilian rule and further destabilising the divided nation.

Mali's neighbours and donors are furious that the officers who led a March 22 coup are still meddling in politics despite a pledge to stand down. They have also criticised the coup leaders for failing to tackle separatist and al Qaeda-linked rebels in control of the north.

Neighbours are looking to send a 3,000-strong military force to Mali but the deployment hinges partly on ending a political stand-off in the capital

Bamako. The coup leaders' CNRDRE group last week resisted a call by ECOWAS to extend the mandate of the caretaker president which is due to expire in a week's time.

"The ECOWAS Commission is closely monitoring the situation and will not allow any individuals or groups to hold the transition to ransom," the bloc said in statement.

"It wishes once more to warn that failure on the part of the CNRDRE and their civilian allies to clearly reaffirm their commitment to the transitional arrangement in the next few days, and to refrain from any further interference with the arrangement, will be met with the immediate reinstatement of the targeted sanctions," it added.

NATO underplayed Libya civilian deaths, claims Human Rights group

Relatives and neighbors search for survivors in the rubble of the Gafez family home in Majer on August 9, 2011, one day after NATO strikes on this and another compound killed 34 people and wounded more than 30.

N

ATO air strikes killed 72 civilians in Libya last year, Human Rights Watch said on Monday, accusing the

western alliance of failing to acknowledge the scope of collateral damage it caused during the campaign that helped oust

Expelled S African leader vows to ‘fight on’

Despite his expulsion, the ANC Youth League insists that Julius Malema remains their leader

S

outh Africa's renegade youth leader Julius Malema has vowed that he will one day lead the governing African National Congress (ANC) party, despite his expulsion from the ruling party for indiscipline.

"I'm going to lead the ANC. I will lead this ANC. It doesn't matter what time it takes," Malema told journalists in his first remarks since his expulsion last month.

"We are not submitting.

We're going to fight this political battle."

Despite his expulsion, the ANC Youth League, the party's youth wing , i n s i s t s t h a t h e remains their leader, creating a new political headache for the party of Nelson Mandela, which has ruled since the end of the white-minority government 18 years ago.

The party's internal battles with Malema are the most visible face of the ANC's leadership contest, leading up to its elective conference in December when President Jacob Zuma will seek another term as chief.

Given the ANC's huge support among voters, Zuma is almost guaranteed of retaining South Africa's presidency.

Malema was once a vocal campaigner for Zuma, at one point vowing to "kill" for him.

But his fiery rhetoric eventually became too much, as Malema advocated s eizing mines and farms and called for "regime change" in democratic Botswana.

Malema, however, said he would not start his own political party.

"I will die in the ANC. This is my home and nobody is going to chase me away from my home," he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 33

Syrian troops ‘killed’ in Rastan clashes

F

ierce clashes between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters have left at least 23 soldiers killed in the central Syrian city of Rastan, activists say.

Dozens more were wounded in yesterday's violence, the UKbased Syrian Observatory for

Human Rights said.

Opposition sources also said the army had shelled the town, which they say has been under rebel control since January.

Nine people were reportedly killed in the bombardment.

"Shells and rockets have been hitting the town since 3am (12:00 GMT) at a rate of

one a minute. Rastan has been destroyed," a member of the opposition Free Syrian Army in Rastan who declined to be named told Reuters news agency by satellite phone.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said three armoured vehicles

carrying government troops had been attacked as they were heading to Rastan, in Homs province.

"Rastan is a strategic town and a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army," she said. "Many defectors from the army comes from Rastan."

Syrian authorities say more

Group claims Afghan peace envoy killing

A

Taliban splinter group has claimed responsibility for the killing of Arsala Rahmani, a top negotiator for Afghanistan's High Peace Council (HPC), according to Pakistani media reports.

The little-known Mahaz-eMullah Dadullah, or Mullah Dadullah Front, said it was behind Sunday's shooting in a text message, the ExpressTribune newspaper said yesterday.

According to a spokesman who identified himself as Qari Hamza, Rahmani had been targeted because of his connections to the government in Kabul and its foreign allies.

"The infidel forces had assigned Arsala [Rahmani] to sell out the mujahideen to nonMuslims, so that the nonMuslims continue their occupation of Afghanistan," the man said. "We will target and eliminate all such people."

Mahaz-e-Mullah Dadullah, which operates mainly out of Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, is named after a senior Taliban commander, Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in Helmand province in 2007, and opposes Taliban negotiations with the US. The former senator's body was laid to rest in Kabul's Nader Khan hilltop at a burial ceremony this afternoon.

The burial took place 100 metres from the grave of the Afghan King, Mohammed Nader Shah.

Rahmani was killed in western Kabul on Sunday when an unknown attacker in a vehicle shot the former Taliban deputy education minister while on his way to work, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the Kabul police department's criminal investigation division.

"Shortly after leaving home he was hit by a single bullet from a passing car. The bullet passed through his left arm and hit his heart," Mohammad Waris, Rahmani's grandson, told the AFP news agency. "He died in the hospital."

The former British ambassador to Afghanistan discusses the prospects for peace and stability.

Rahmani was on his way to a meeting with politicians and other officials in a government-run media centre in the heavily barricaded diplomatic centre of Kabul.

Rastan, in the restive Homs province, has become a stronghold of the armed opposition

About 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails had been on hunger strike to protest conditions and policies

than 2,500 members of the security forces have been killed since the uprising began in March last year. Opposition activists say more than 9,000 people have been killed.

Yesterday's violence further undermines a UN-backed peace plan that is supposed to bring an end to Syria's deadly crisis.

A ceasefire that was supposed to begin on April 12 has had only a limited effect, throwing into doubt the rest of the plan that calls for talks between President Bashar alAssad's government and those seeking to end his rule.

Part of the plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 UN military observers. By Sunday,189 observers were on the ground, and several more arrived on Monday.

In the latest effort to isolate Syria internationally, European Union foreign ministers agreed fresh sanctions against the country on Monday, the 15th round so far to protest against the repression of dissidents.

An EU statement issued at a meeting of ministers said they adopted "sanctions against the Syrian regime" but gave no details.

An EU diplomat confirmed, however, that the ministers agreed to impose an assets freeze and visa ban on two firms and three people believed to provide funding for the regime.

Syria-linked violence has spilled across the border into Lebanon, with five people killed since Saturday during clashes in the northern port city of Tripoli, according to officials.

Gunbattles erupted on Saturday between residents loyal to Syrian President Bashar alAssad and those supportive of the Syrian opposition.

Fighting flared in Tripoli again on Monday, leaving two people dead and nine wounded, a security official told the AFP news agency.

Palestinians end Israel prison hunger strike

T

Rahmani was laid to rest on the Nader Khan hilltop

he Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs has said a deal has been reached with Israel to end a weeks-long hunger strike by hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Issa Qaraqe said the Palestinian prisoners signed the deal yesterday afternoon at an Israeli prison in Ashkelon.

He did not have details of the deal, and Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

About 2,000 prisoners held

by Israel have been on a hunger strike since mid-April, demanding better conditions.

A handful of prisoners have been refusing food for as long as 77 days, and are said to be in a critical condition.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Scores of headless bodies dumped on Mexican highway M

exican authorities have found the dismembered bodies of at least 49 people stuffed into bags and dumped on a main road leading to Texas near the northern city of Monterrey, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of drug gang killings.

The bodies were found in the early hours of Sunday, sparking a large deployment of local, state and military officials to the scene, the Excelsior newspaper reported on its website.

"What's complicating the identification of all the people was that they were all headless," said Jorge Domene, the Nuevo Leon state government's spokesman for public security, who added that many hands and feet were were also missing.

The bodies were being taken to a Monterrey auditorium for DNA tests.

They were found on an isolated stretch of the road, scattered in a pool of blood at the entrance to the town of San Juan, on a highway leading from Monterrey to the border city of Reynosa. A white stone

arch welcoming visitors was spray-painted with black letters: "100% Zeta."

The victims could have been killed as long as two days ago at another location, then transported to San Juan, said state attorney general Adrian de la Garza.

De la Garza said he did not rule out the possibility that the victims were US-bound migrants.

Only one couple looking for their missing daughter visited the morgue in Monterrey where autopsies were being performed on the mutilated bodies on Sunday, a state police investigator said.

The officer said none of the six female bodies - some of which were badly decomposed matched the missing daughter's description.

Suspected drug gang violence has flared up across the country this month, with scores of deaths attributed to massacres between the two largest drug cartels and clashes with security forces.

Eighteen people were found decapitated and dismembered near Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara, on Wednesday.

: Forensic technicians and police detectives remove the body of journalist Otto Rene Salgado Orta from the trunk of a vehicle in Cuernavaca on Sunday.

Just a few days earlier, there were 23 killings in the city of Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas state adjacent to Nuevo Leon on the US border, where nine people were found

hanging from a bridge and 14 others that had been decapitated.

Authorities have blamed much of the deadly violence on battles between the Zetas,

Elections in the region have a history of influencing national politics. Seven years ago, a humiliating loss for then-

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats in the state prompted him to call an early election, which he lost to Merkel.

Merkel dealt heavy blow in German vote

C

hancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have suffered a heavy defeat in regional elections in Germany's most populous state.

According to preliminary results, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) won 38.9 per cent of the vote in North RhineWestphalia, a western German state of more than 13 million people, and looked set to form a coalition with the Greens.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) saw their support slide to just 26.3 per cent, down from nearly 35 per cent in 2010, in a state that includes the cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf and the industrial Ruhr region.

"This is not a good evening for Merkel," Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University, said.

"The SPD is strengthened by this election, which will stir things up in Berlin."

"People don't want us to make hard cuts in social funding, what we want is a 'New Deal' where both the social welfare state and fighting debt will work."

The victory could embolden the German left to step up attacks against Merkel over her support for European austerity policies 18 months before national elections in which she is expected to fight for a third term.

The election is the third statelevel vote this year and comes a week after a coalition of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and pro-market Free Democrats - the parties that make up the national government - lost

power in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The Free Democrats enjoyed a rebound in support in North RhineWestphalia, gaining 8.3 per cent of the vote to secure a return to the state assembly.

The Pirate Party, which campaigns for internet freedom and shot onto the national stage last year, continued a strong run at regional level, making it into the fourth straight state parliament with 7.8 per cent of the vote.

North Rhine-Westphalia, a traditional centre-left stronghold, voted three years ahead of schedule after its current minority government, made up of Germany's main national opposition parties, narrowly failed to get a budget passed in March.

Hannelore Kraft, federal state premier of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) and top candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Sylvia Loehrmann of the Greens (R) a coalition partner of the Social Democrats.

EU ministers mull Euro 2012 boycott of Ukraine

E

uropean Union foreign ministers were debating yesterday whether to boycott this year's European soccer championship matches played in Ukraine to protest alleged abuse of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

"We've been very consistent in sending messages to Ukraine about the importance of justice being done and seen to be done," EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said.

When Tymoshenko launched a hunger strike last month after saying she was beaten by prison officials, several European leaders vowed to shun Ukraine during Euro 2012 in protest, but critics have warned that boycotting the matcheswould mean

mixing sports with politics and could do more harm than good.

She said Poland, co-host of the tournament, would brief the ministers on the situation. Ukraine is not a member of the EU, but Poland is.

Officials said no formal decision on the move was expected at the meeting on Monday. Instead, the 27 ministers were expected to agree to jointly decide on any future moves regarding Ukraine, said a senior EU official who could not be named understanding rules.

"It would be more of an undertaking that they won't make any individual decisions (on the boycott) that would give the impression of lack of coordination,"

he said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he personally had no plans to attend 2012.

"It's very important that there is a focus on Ukraine," he said. "But as far as ministerial attendance is concerned, that will be kept under review."

Critics say shunning the matches could lead to boycotts of other nations with questionable democratic credentials, including Russia when it hosts the Sochi winter Olympics in 2014 and the World Cup in 2018.

Some ministers also played down the political significance of a possible boycott of the tournament.

a gang set up by ex-commandos, and groups allied to the Sinaloa Federation of Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

"This is the most definitive of all the cartel wars,'' said Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

The Zetas are a transient gang without real territory or a secure stream of income, unlike Sinaloa with its lucrative cocaine trade and control of smuggling routes and territory, Benitez said.

The government's success in killing or arresting cartel leaders has fractured some of the big gangs into weaker, quarreling bands that in many cases are lining up with either the Zetas or Sinaloa. At least one of the two cartels is present in nearly all of Mexico's 32 states.

Under President Felipe Calderon's nearly six-year assault on organised crime, the two cartels have become the largest in the country and are battling over strategic transport routes and territory, including along the northern border with the US and in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Drug violence has killed more than 47,500 people since Calderon launched a stepped-up offensive when he took office in December 2006.

Mexico is now in the midst of presidential race to replace Calderon, who by law cannot run for re-election. Drug violence seems to be escalating, but none of the major candidates, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Enrique Pena Nieto or Josefina Vazquez Mota, has referred to the body dumpings directly.

All three have said they would stop the violence and make Mexico a more secure place, but offered few details on how their plans would differ from Calderon's.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 35

Birthday girl, six, hit by car and killed outside her home minutes after party A six-year-old girl was mown down and killed outside her home minutes after her birthday party, it emerged today.

Tragic Daisy May Brooks was playing with her new gifts outside her home when she was hit by a car on Saturday evening.

Daisy was rushed to hospital but she died of multiple injuries a short time later.

Earlier that day Daisy, nicknamed 'Pud', had been celebrating her sixth birthday at her home in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, with 20 family and friends.

Her distraught mum Helen sobbed as she spoke of her daughter, saying that Daisy had been surrounded by lots of friends at her party.

She said: 'She had had a lovely day. They played pass-the-parcel and went to the park.'

Ambulance crews were called to the house after the accident at 5.14pm.

Daisy, who attended Springdale Infants School, was taken to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton but died hours later.

Helen said: 'We would like to thank everybody for their support.

Daisy will never be forgotten.

Tragedy: A picture of Daisy May Brooks aged two. The six-yearold was taken to hospital but died a few hours later

Since the accident on Saturday night, flowers and cuddly toys have kept building up outside Daisy's family home

‘There were lots of her friends at the party. They played pass-the-parcel and went to the park’

A

mbulance crews were called to the house after the accident at 5.14pm.

Daisy, who attended Springdale Infants School, was taken to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton but died hours later.

Helen said: 'We would like to thank everybody for their

support. Daisy will never be forgotten.

'All the doctors and nurses there were brilliant. They tried their best for her but sadly they could not save her.'

Teachers, neighbours and children yesterday left dozens of floral tributes to the popular girl.

Daisy's father Simon Davies, 37, added: 'The crash happened just after the party.

'Daisy was a lovely little girl who always had a smile on her face. She was funny and cheeky.

'Her nickname was 'Pud' because after she was born we bought her a musical Christmas

pudding hat and the name just stuck. We have still got that hat.'

The couple have three other children, Chelsea, 11, Liam, nine, and eight-year-old Hollie.

West Midlands Police confirmed the driver of the car, a Honda Civic, had been spoken to and investigations were continuing.

Lizard got your tongue? Hilarious moment reptile fought back when cat attacked repeatedly tries to shake off the stripey lizard but is unable to do so.

At one point the lizard begins to disappear into the cat's mouth as it pulls the tongue back in.

The video, which has been watched more than 130,000 times, was uploaded by user

Marcztr.

They said: 'I feel bad for this little guy, because you know it's not a pleasant experience.'

One user posted: 'Poor cat I bet that was not fun', while another said: 'Ironic isn't it?

Cat got your tongue - more like lizard got your tongue'.

Biting off more than it could chew: The smoky grey cat looks confused as the lizard latches on to its tongue and refuses to let go

T Heart breaking: Daisy's friends have left teddies and little messages at the scene of the accident.

his cat ended up biting off more than it could chew when it decided to go after a lizard.

For when the feline made a play for the reptile the tiny creature latched on to its tormentor's tongue - and wouldn't let go.

The lizard took the phrase 'cat got your tongue' and gave it a whole new meaning when

it launched its revenge attack.

A comical video uploaded to YouTube shows the irritated cat walking around a back yard trying to shake off the lizard.

Its tongue stretches as the weight of the creature pulls it towards the ground - and the stubborn reptile seems content to dangle precariously from the cat's mouth.

The confused moggy

Just can't shake it: At one point the lizard begins to disappear in the cat's mouth as it pulls the tongue back in

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Chemicals in household items are ‘causing huge increase in cancer, obesity and falling fertility’

C

hemicals found in household products may be causing significant increases in cancers, diabetes, obesity and falling fertility, the European Environment Agency has warned.

Among the everyday items containing endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which affect the hormone system, are food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

The chemicals, which can leach out into food and be absorbed by the body, are also causing an increased number of neurological development problems in both humans and animals, it is

claimed.

In recent decades, there has been a significant growth in many human diseases and disorders including breast and prostate cancer, male infertility and diabetes.

The substances mimic female hormones and have already been linked to breast cancer, low quality semen and thryoid disease as well as sex changes in fish in polluted waterways.

Many scientists think that this growth is connected to the ‘rising levels of exposure’ to mixtures of some chemicals in widespread use.

Jacqueline McGlade, EEA

Warning: Chemicals found in household products may be causing significant increases in cancers, diabetes, obesity and falling fertility

The chemicals mimic female hormones and have already been linked to the rise in obesity. executive director, said: ‘Scientific large body of evidence linking by the agency over the past 15 research gathered over the last chemical exposure to thyroid, years. few decades shows us that immune, reproductive and The study has been published endocrine disruption is a real neurological problems in animals, in a report titled ‘The impacts of problem, with serious effects on and many of the same or similar endocrine disrupters on wildlife, wildlife, and possibly people. diseases and disorders have been people and their environments’.

The EEA has called for a observed to be rising in human It concludes: ‘Tthe effects of ‘precautionary approach’ to the populations.

EDCs on humans may be more chemicals until their affect is better ‘Both animals and humans difficult to demonstrate, due to understood, but stopped short of may be exposed to these chemicals the length, cost and recommending a complete ban. in the environment, or via water methodological difficulties with It did, however, fully accept or the food chain where the these types of studies – so wildlife that there is a definite link between chemicals can build up.’ and animal studies may be seen the chemicals and some diseases EEA scientists arrived at their in some cases as an early warning seen in humans. findings after combing through of the dangers.’

The study says: ‘There is a scientific literature commissioned Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Snoozing at your desk? Piling on the pounds? You may have social jetlag

O

ur hectic lifestyles and demanding jobs have left many of us battling ‘social jetlag’, researchers say.

The condition has been blamed for everything from sleeping problems to obesity.

It is caused by a mismatch between the body’s internal clock – which says we should get up when it becomes light and go to sleep when it gets dark – and the realities of our daily work and social schedules.

Doctor Till Roenneberg, of the University of Munich in Germany, said: ‘We have identified a syndrome in modern society that has not been recognised until recently.

‘It concerns an increasing discrepancy between the daily timing of the physiological clock and the social clock.

‘As a result of this social jetlag, people are chronically sleepdeprived. They are also more likely to smoke and drink more alcohol and caffeine.

‘Now, we show that social jetlag also contributes to obesity; the plot that social jetlag is really bad for

our health is thickening.’

He explained that every human has a biological clock, but we can’t set the clock according to our whims like watches.

They are rather regulated by daylight and darkness to provide the optimal window for sleep and waking.

Dr Roenneberg said: ‘In modern society, we listen to those clocks less

and less due to the increasing discrepancy between what the body clock tells us and what the boss tells us.’

To find out the scale of the problem, Dr Roenneberg’s team is compiling a vast database on human sleeping and waking behaviour, which they’ll eventually use to produce a world sleep map.

Clocking off: Pressure of work means we are ignoring our natural rhythms and causing our health damage, say experts.

Killer: Tiredness makes us more inefficient at work and could even be dangerous when behind the wheel.

Now, 10 years into the effort, they already have lots of information including participants’ height, weight, and sleep patterns.

Their analysis shows that people with more severe social jetlag are

also more likely to be overweight.

Dr Roenneberg said, in other words, it appears that living ‘against the clock’ may be a factor contributing to the epidemic of obesity.

He said it would help if people began spending more time outdoors in open daylight or at least sitting by a window.

As people fail to do so for one reason or another, their body clocks get set later and later, leaving them awake into the night and tired by day.

Dr Roenneberg added: ‘Waking up with an alarm clock is a relatively new facet of our lives.

‘It simply means that we haven’t slept enough and this is the reason why we are chronically tired.

‘Good sleep and enough sleep is not a waste of time but a guarantee for better work performance and more fun with friends and family during off-work times.’

The findings were published online in the journal Current Biology.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 37

Tukur’s charity-begins-at-home vision F ounding fathers of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the country have expressed confidence that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s emergence as National Chairman of the party would restore internal democracy.

Members of the party from the six senatorial zones in the country reiterated this in separate goodwill messages during a civic reception organized for Tukur by the party’s leaders in the NorthEast zone in his home town during the weekend.

Saturday’s reception followed the one organised last Thursday at the Ribadu square Yola by Governor Murtala Nyako and the state chapter of the party for the National Chairman. The epochmaking occasion was an assemblage of crème de la crème in the PDP’s fold, as it is easier to say who was not there than dignitaries in attendance as friends and business associates of the Tukur’s dynasty including former Ekiti state governor, Segun Oni, converged at Mayo Kalaye in Jada local government to honour the former Governor of defunct Gongola state.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and immediate past chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Senate President David Mark, Speaker House of Representative Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and former military president Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida were conspicuously absent; as well as Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa who was supposed to serve as father of the day.

However notable among the bigwigs who were present include the Vice President Namadi Sambo who represented President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice Present Atiku Abubakar, Governors Babangida Aliyu of Niger state, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state, Theophilus Orji of Abia state, host Governor Murtala Nyako, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi as well some state deputy governors.

Others include Senator Abdul Ningi who represented the National Assembly, Minister of Defence Bello Haliru Mohammed, former Chairman of PDP Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Ambassador Idris Waziri, PDP National Women Leader Ambassador Kema Chikwe, members of the National Working Committee of the PDP, former BOT Chairman Chief Tony Anenih, and the North-East zonal Vice Chairman of the party Alhaji Lawan Girgir.

Expectedly, there are high expectations on the new PDP leader; but for Tukur, charity must begin at home as the party’s chapter in his home state, which has for long been fragmented by aggrieved politicians from different quarters, is in dire need of a healing balm. Typical instances are former Senators

The climax of reactions that trailed Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s emergence as National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) played out last weekend in his hometown, Mayo Kalaye, in Jada council area in Adamawa state. Blessing Tunoh takes a look at the significance of Tukur’s emergence on the state chapter for the party.

PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

Governor Murtala Nyako

Jonathan Silas Zwingina and Grace Bent as well former factional chairman of the party, Medan Teneke, who had for a long time boycotted PDP activities in the state; all surfaced and featured prominently as members of the reception committee.

In separate remarks with journalists in the state, the trio had described Tukur’s chairmanship as God-sent and frowned at the manner the party is being run in the state and expressed optimism that the elder statesman would do away with the “impunity” state chapter of the party has come to be known for and instill internal democracy. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in a goodwill message on behalf of the northeast said the Herculean task of reforming the PDP and repositioning the country’s democracy has been entrusted on Bamanga, and therefore urged him to brace up against the challenges of instilling internal democracy into the ruling PDP. “Healthy democratic practice is a true reflection of democratic

map on the ways to rebuild and chart a common course for the party in the geopolitical zone would be decisively addressed.

Immediate past Senator representing Adamawa Central, Prof Jibril Aminu, who had also gone comatose ever since he was denied ticket for a third term said Tukur’s emergence was well deserved and maintained that it is a good omen for the North-East zone.

Prof Aminu corroborated comments of the early speakers with regards to internal democracy and urged the National Chairman to address the nagging intra party wrangling threatening the existence of the party in some states. In his speech, Vice President Namadi Sambo had described Tukur as “a technocrat, true son of Nigeria, a galvanizer and an embodiment of humility” and one who is committed not only to the growth of PDP but the advancement of democracy in the country and urged Tukur to ensure that internal democracy, party discipline, observance of rule of law hold sway in the PDP. Speaking earlier, Governor Murtala Nyako expressed happiness over the calibre of personalities that gathered to grace the occasion, saying it was a clear testimony that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur is widely accepted as the National Chairman of the PDP. Nyako observed that the choice of Tukur was no fluke, adding “it was well deserved and a well taken decision.”

maturity from politicians; you have to look inwards with the view to addressing the challenge of entrenching internal democracy into our party.”

Atiku advised amidst cheers from party members in the crowd supporting his argument.

The former Vice President stressed that the processes leading to the election of party executives and subsequent nomination of members are key to embedding internal democracy in political parties.

While calling on the National Chairman to ensure his tenure accords a level playing ground for members seeking elective positions, he argued that the only way the party could retain the support of people is through provision of good democratic governance, entrenching internal democracy and respect for rule of law.

Considering the obvious signs of grievance in some of the state chapters of the party, Atiku therefore suggested for a convention of North-East PDP stakeholders where a clear road

“

Healthy democratic practice is a true reflection of democratic maturity from politicians; you have to look inwards with the view to addressing the challenge of entrenching internal democracy into our party

Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Chief Servant of Niger state Babangida Aliyu, who represented Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers) Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum vouched their support for the National Chairman. Aliyu stated that Tukur is an elder statesman who has the experience to turn around the ruling party for good. He therefore called on Tukur to address the many ills bedeviling the party as well as ensure that aggrieved members are listened to and carried along in the scheme of things.

“We expect that where there are ills, misgivings, injustice and nagging problems would be spotted out and healed for the betterment and growth of our great party” just as he observed that the bane of the party in some states of the federation is lack of internal democracy and therefore advised that the issue be critically looked into if the party must forge ahead.

In his remarks, an elated Tukur admitted his new position is another call to continue to offer selfless service to Nigeria and assured he would do everything possible to excel and accommodate all in the big family umbrella. By and large, the Adamawa state chapter of the PDP is counting on the Tafidan Adamawa’s leadership to bridge existing gaps of discord as the his first assignment towards repositioning of the party for national growth.

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Ogun LG polls: ACN youth attack Senator’s office From Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

T

he July proposed local government elections in Ogun state started on a danger note yesterday; as youths from Odeda Local Government attacked the Senatorial District office of Senator Gbenga Obadara, accusing him of plot to impose candidates against the wishes of majority.

Obada is a Senator representing Ogun Central Senatorial District in the Senate. The protesters swooped on the lawmakers office located in Isabo, Abeokuta, in annoyance and destroyed properties and valuables.

On completion of the destruction, the aggrieved youths headed to the home of the mother of the Senator at Oke-Aregba, in the town asking the aged woman to call his son to order on the alleged plan to impose candidates on them.

The protesters who are members of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria{ACN} like Obadara, were seen with various placards with inscriptions such as 'Zoning is Government',' Odeda says no to imposition of Chairman',' Pls Mr. Governor, Elemide from Odeda ward as our Honorable, Obadara, Senator from Itesi ward, the same constituency, let Opeji constituency produce the Chairman' The youths emphasized "On the zoning arrangement put up by our

elders we stand, it is the turn of Opeji to produce the next Chairman for our Local Government, ACN leaders; the electoral fortune of Odeda Local Government in your hands and Odeda-Ilugun has produced the member of the State House of Assembly-the chairmanship slot is ours"

However, while reacting to the development on phone, Obadara told newsmen that he was not a party to the jettisoning of the zoning arrangement, admitting that he himself was a product of the zoning, and there was no way that he would go against the system.

He denied having any secret

meeting with the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in supporting any aspirant or on how to jettison zoning arrangements as being alleged. Obadara pleaded for understanding with the people and promised to ensure that the governor respects the wish of the people.

L-R: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, receiving publications from the National Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko on a visit to PDP secretariat, at the weekend in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Probe Lamurde killings, group urges Adamawa Assembly From Blessing Tunoh, Yola

A

socio-cultural association, the Pene Da Bwatiye yesterday urged the Adamawa State House of Assembly to institute a highpowered probe into the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s attack by alleged Fulani mercenaries on 12 villages in Lamurde Local Government Area of the state.

Addressing a press conference at the NUJ secretariat, Yola, Prince Hebron Fada, President of Pene Da Bwatiye Association, an umbrella body housing all Bata and Bachama kingdoms in

Adamawa state, claimed that government did not respond to reports of an impending attack made to it.

“The security committees of Numan and Lamurde Local Government Areas had met severally and using laid down channels, communicated to the government and all indicators point to the fact that this attack was in the offing” Fada stated.

The group however expressed dismay that even with such security reports, government failed to deploy troops into the area, alleging that “No security steps were taken and it seemed that government deliberately turned

deaf ears and blind eyes to what seemed obvious, in surreptitious support of the act seen as retaliation”.

Reacting on the Lamurde massacre, Governor Murtala Nyako through the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Kobis Aris Thimnu described the attack as unfortunate, bizarre and uncalled for, insisting that “no responsible government will sit and allow its citizens to take up arms against themselves no matter the provocation”.

He explained that government has always provided logistics to all service Chiefs in the state to ensure the security of lives and property of

people of the state, adding that “Since the January crisis in the area, troops and members of Operation Tsaro have been stationed there”.

“We have security agencies stationed in Lamurde since crisis erupted in the area last January and government has not relented in its efforts to ensure that peace returns to the area” the SSG stated.

Kobis said as part of efforts to broker peace between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Lamurde, several meetings were held with religious and traditional leaders, stakeholders, opinion leaders etc in the area on ways to promote peaceful co-existence amongst the people.

Ekiti House member calls on FG to tackle insecurity

C

hairman, Ekiti House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Ayodeji Odu, on Sunday called on the Federal Government to take more proactive measures to tackle insecurity in the country.

Odu told the New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that insecurity arising from the Boko Haram insurgence could only be tackled by the Federal Government.

“The Boko Haram insurgence has become a menace but thank God it has not been able to get to the South but we do not have to wait until it gets to the South.

“Boko Haram has the colouration

of politics and religion. We believe that something more drastic must be done to ensure that the members are checked.

“The recent decisions of the National Assembly in this regard is a welcome development.

“As citizens, we must give information to security agencies by being alert to our environment.

“I want to appeal to Federal Government to take more proactive measures by strengthening the internal security apparatus to deal decisively with security issues in the country,’’ Odu said.

Odu,who is serving on the ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria

(ACN), debunked recent newspaper reports that a Yoruba man was caught as a leader of leader of the Boko Haram sect.

“Though the possibility of a Yoruba man leading the sect cannot be completely ruled out, particularly in Kano where you have a place called Sabon Gari that is predominantly occupied by Yorubas.

“But I do not believe that a Yoruba man will be involved in such activities which has no objectives,’’ Odu said.

He called on the people of Ekiti to join hands with the governor to rebuild the State.

NAN reports that the Nigeria Governors Forum, an association of the 36 elected governors at its meeting on May 10 pleaded with Nigerians to show greater understanding over the present security situation in the country.

The forum said that steps were being taken to address the situation as a brainstorming session would be organised in June with a view to addressing the country‘s security challenges.

The forum said that insecurity caused by the activities of the Boko Haram sect had become a national embarrassment.

Group urges legislators to deliver democracy dividends

C

hairman, Igbemo General Assembly, Abuja Chapter, Mr. Bola Olowosejeje, has called on members of Ekiti House of Assembly to deliver true democracy dividends to the people of the state.

He made the call on Sunday in Abuja at a reception organised by the assembly to honour indigenes of Igbemo recently elected and appointed into various offices in Ekiti.

NAN reports that the occasion was also used to raise fund for the completion of some development projects embarked upon by members of the assembly.

“The government and the people may have looked at some qualities in you before choosing you, please work very hard and make sure you do your best not to disappoint those who choose you.”

He added that the people of Igbemo were particularly looking up to the state legislators for the development of infrastructure, water and employment generation.

“You should try your best to ensure that taps in the town flows again. Look into providing borehole in the three quarters of Igbemo to augment government efforts.’’

The community leader urged the state legislators to unite the three quarters of Igbemo community, stressing that this was necessary to ensure the achievement of the desired goals.

He commended Gov. Kayode Fayemi for his developmental strides and love for the people and assured him of the peoples’ support and loyalty to his administration.

Those honoured included Mr Ayodeji Odu, Chairman Ekiti State House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Dr Adewale Agboola, Mr Olushola Oloniniyi, Prince Samuel Omowumi, Mr Oluwashola Ayinna and Mrs Bisi Olowoyo, among others.

Odu, who spoke on behalf of the recipients, expressed appreciation to God for giving him the opportunity to serve his people in his present capacity.

He stressed that as a legislator he would always initiate and support viable and reasonable bills and motions to improve the social wellbeing of the people of the state.

Odu said that the state assembly had already passed into law the social security bill to enable the aged receive some allowance at the end of every month.

He further said that the assembly had also passed the Female Gender Law, the Freedom of Information Bill and other bills that would enhance progress in the society.

“As at today, we have passed about 30 bills in Ekiti State that will improve the social and economic well-being of the people of the state,” Odu said.

In a remark, Deputy Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adetunji Orishekade, said Odu was a pillar in the assembly, adding that the community was lucky to have him as a member of the house. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 39

Akpabio wants equal opportunity for all geopolitical zones

L-R: House of Representatives Leader, Hon. Mulikat Akande, Senate President David Mark, Chairman, Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Justice George Uloko (rtd), and Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, after the inauguration of PCC by the National A s s e m b l y , yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

G

overnor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom has advocated for equal opportunity to be given all the federating units of the country.

He made the call on Sunday in Uyo when he hosted the Nigeria Law School Class ‘88 at the Le Meridian Hotel and Golf Resort.

“Unless equal opportunity is given to all the sections of the country, it will be difficult for Nigeria to rise beyond its present level,’’ the governor said.

He said the act of discriminating against one region would continue to suppress the growth and development of the country.

Akpabio noted further that Nigeria’s problem stems from lack of justice, adding that instead of the federating units developing their region they have been interested in fighting each other.

“It is either the West is pulling down the North, or the North pulling down the West, or both of them combining to pull down the East, or all of them combining to pull down the South and vice-versa.

“There is the tendency that if you pull down somebody, you too will remain down with him,’’ he said.

The governor, who is also a member of the group, advised members of the group to use their privileged positions to sustain the unity and development of the country.

Rivers Governor attributes insecurity to bad leadership

G

ov. Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers has attributed the current security challenges in the country to bad leadership.

Amaechimade the statement when he paid a courtesy call on Gov. Sule Lamido in Dutse on Monday, saying the problem was the people’s resistance to bad governance.

He said Nigerian leaders had failed to provide good education and health facilities.

“This insecurity is an attempt by society to resist the government’s inability to address poverty and decay in education sector, among other problems, “ Amaechi said.

Amaechi said while the Boko Haram insurgency was happening in the north, kidnapping was rampant in the south.

The governor said he was in Jigawa to exchange ideas with the government of Jigawa on policies and programmes.

Responding, Lamido said that the visit of Amaechiwould give Nigerians confidence that some parts of the north were safe.

The Rivers governor will on Tuesday inaugurate the new School of Nursing and Midwifery in Birnin Kudu as well as BaburaGumelRoad built by the Lamido administration.

Senator Esuene briefs constituents on constitutional review

S

en. Helen Esuene, (PDP, Akwa Ibom) has urged members of her constituency to make inputs in the proposed constitutional amendment by the National Assembly.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Esuene, representing Akwa Ibom South, made the call on Sunday during a constituency briefing of members of Eket Senatorial District.

The Senator also used the forum to inform representatives from the 12 council areas

constituting the district of current developments at the National Assembly. She said that the review of some sections of the constitution was desirable to make the Nigerian constitution to be in line with present realities.

She informed the meeting that the National Assembly had identified 16 areas it required memorandum from the public.

The areas include devolution of powers, state creation, recognition of the six geo-political zones, role of traditional rulers, local government and fiscal federalism.

Others are expunging of Land Use Act, NYSC Act and Code of Conduct, Immunity Clause, Nigeria Police, rotation of offices among senatorial districts of a State, among others.

Responding, Dr Effiong Edunam, a PDP chieftain said that the proposed review was silent on corruption as the nation required a stringent legislation to tackle corruption.

“The National Assembly has taken the right steps to amend the constitution but the proposed amendment is silent on corruption

and the elections.

“Corruption is a major problem that confront us as a nation, we cannot make progress in development without addressing corruption,” Edunam said.

Chief Bassey Essien, former speaker of Akwa Ibom, House of Assembly also urged the National Assembly to make a legislation to protect oil bearing communities to ensure that they got part of the derivation funds.

The meeting raised a fivemember committee to draft a memorandum on the 16 areas highlighting the position of the senatorial district.

7 members of CPC in Katsina kick against dismissal

S

even members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Katsian state have kicked against their dismissal from the party.

The members are; Sen. Lado Danmarke, who was CPC’s governorship candidate in the last general elections in the state, Gambo Musa, representing Danmusa/ Safana/Batsari Federal Constituency and Sen. Abdu Yandoma, Sen. Ahmed Sani-Store, Mamman Danmusa, Dr Bashir

Kurfi and Tijjani Zango .

Danmusa, former State Chairman, Elder’s Committee of the CPC, who addressed a news conference on behalf of the other members in Katsina on Monday described ”the dismissal is a farce.”

Danmusa said , “as far as we are concerned, the dismissal as announced by the caretaker committee is null and void, therefore we are still members of the CPC.’’ “ CPC constitution says that punishment to be imposed may take

the form of expulsion from the party and not dismissal.

“What the members of the state caretaker committee did is in complete disregard to court order.

“On the purported suspension of the executive committee of the CPC in Katsina State, most members of that committee went to court and filed their case on March 1, 2012 and the case is going on.

“But in their attempt to frustrate whatever judgment the court may give, they instituted a caretaker

committee to investigate the causes of crisis within the CPC in the state and as a result we filed in a motion on notice to refrain them from establishing a committee.”

Danmusa said, “because these people have no regard to due process, on the eve of delivering the judgment they selected some people including myself and announced that they have dismissed us from the CPC.” He further said that Danmarke and the other members were still bone fide members of the CPC.

Obasanjo, others pay tribute to Ige

F

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo has paid tribute to the late Sir Dele Ige, a businessman, who died on Saturday, aged 82.

Dele was the younger sibling of Chief Bola Ige, the former AttorneyGeneral of the Federation.

“I receive with shock the death of Sir Dele Ige last Saturday,” Obasanjo said. “He was a good friend and a successful businessman.

“He was a good father who looked after his family and those of his elder siblings,’’ Obasanjo said, adding that his place in the family and the community would be hard to fill.

Meanwhile, scores of Nigerians have continued to visit the Bodija

residence of the late industrialist.

Some of the visitors, who spoke to the News agency of Nigeria ( NAN ), described Ige as a philanthropist, public spirited and a good neighbour.

One of the visitors, Chief Ishola Sangobowale, who said he met the Ige in the course of his business pursuits, described him as principled, saying this was not like the average Nigerian businessman.

Referring to his many philanthropic activities, Sangobowale said Ige was not given to making public his philanthropic deeds.

Another visitor, Mr Abdlrasaq Gbolahan, said Ige would be remembered for his self-effacing

approach to “societal initiatives”.

Gbolahan, who said he was close to the family, noted that the deceased, as the patriarch of the family, wielded the entire Ige household as one united entity.

Describing the deceased as a humanist, he said Ige would be missed by the Esa-Oke community in Osun.

A resident of Bodija, where the deceased lived for decades, Mrs Tayo Adebowale, told NAN that although Ige was not too visible on the social scene, he contributed his quota to the development of the largely residential area.

He said residents of the community would miss the

deceased for his generosity.

Mrs Toyin Akintola, the eldest daughter of the deceased, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that her father was not sick when he died.

He added that he was hale and hearty before he stood up to speak at his birthday party.

“It was a complete shock I can’t imagine my father dying in the next 10 years because his health was good enough at 82.

“If I say that he was kind, loving and humane, it’s an understatement. I don’t have the best word to describe him.

“He did to us the children, all that was expected of a God given father. I will miss him forever,’’ she said.

PAGE 40

Jang expresses surprise over journalists’ boycott threat

G

ov. Jonah Jang of Plateau on Monday reacted to calls by Plateau Correspondents Chapel to boycott government activities, and described the development as “surprising’’.

The Chapel, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Yemi Kosoko, and Secretary, Seriki Adinoyi, had urged its members to boycott the state government activities, citing the governor’s inability to explain why the Plateau violence had continued unabated.

The journalists said they were miffed that the governor had continued to keep mum, while lives were being wasted on the Plateau.

They said they were also appalled at the governor’s insensitivity to the plight of journalists in the state.

“Just recently, some of our colleagues were attacked while covering the crises in Riyom, but nobody showed any concern,’’ the correspondents alleged.

They also accused the governor of refusing to create an opportunity for interaction with the media men on “weighty matters”, and called for more light on a recent claim by the governor that he had been releasing N1 million monthly to journalists in Plateau.

But the governor, through Mr James Mannok, the Director of Press Affairs, rejected the media men’s claims and described them as rather surprising.

“Governor Jang has continued to maintain a good relationship with all journalists over time.

“Most of the members of the chapel can testify to the fact that the governor had stepped in to assist many of them even in very personal issues like ill-health, births and deaths.

“He has always been there for them and fully identified with them especially in the time of need.

“Jang has also remained committed to supporting the Special Task Force (STF) toward peace in Plateau and it will be wrong for journalists to say that he was not bothered about their security.

“In words and deed, the governor has demonstrated lot of commitment to a peaceful Plateau for all residents. He has remained constantly in touch with Abuja and other stakeholders toward peace in Plateau,’’ Mannok said.

The media officer advised journalists to see themselves as major stakeholders in the Plateau peace process, saying that they should collectively strive to contribute to stability in this time of its history.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Political parties accuse INEC of preferential treatment S ome political parties in Abuja yesterday alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was giving preferential treatment to selective political parties.

The Deputy National Chairman of Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) Mr Olisaemeka Akamukali, said in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that INEC officials were not making themselves accessible to party officials on administrative issues.

Akamukali said, “political parties and Electoral Commission anywhere in the world are supposed to be partners

in progress, but the reverse is the case in Nigeria.

“INEC is so unfriendly to political parties in Nigeria, the distance between the INEC and the political parties is too wide.

“This is unnecessary under the democratic dispensation, INEC should be friendly with the political parties and desist from creating bad impression about itself.”

In a related development, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) said in most cases, INEC was not carrying the political parties along in some of its activities while in most cases it gave priority to few political parties.

Mr Osita Okecheukwu, Chairman CNPP, said, “as a political party, we are supposed to be friends of INEC, but the reverse is the case.

“More often than not, officials of the political parties are being harassed by uniformed men in INEC and sometimes, party officials are not allowed to gain entry to INEC office, this is not too good for democracy.

“There are sometimes one will send in a request to see the INEC officers, there will be no response.

He advised INEC to remove all the barriers hindering the party officials to have free access to it and its officials.

According to the CNPP

L-R: Hon. Hamza Sule Bichi and Hon. Salisu Ibrahim Mohammed, all members of Kano state House of Assembly, during the opening ceremony of a retreat for members and staff of the state House of Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

chairman, the electoral process is not being done in the open, thereby closing every opportunity for the political parties to be part of the process or have an input.

Okechukwu emphasised the need for political parties to be represented whenever INEC was printing the ballot papers.

However, INEC said the commission always gave equal opportunities to all political parties in all its activities.

Mr Mohammed Hammanga, a National Commissioner in INEC, said some of the political parties were fond of violating the rules.

He said some of the party officials were not following the procedure whenever they had business with the organisation, adding that there were procedures for all visitors to be followed while in INEC. Hammanga said that INEC could not involve the political parties in the printing of ballot papers due to the sensitive nature of the materials.

According to him, INEC can invite the political parties to verify, proof read and approve the ballot papers before they are printed.

He said INEC had been friendly with the political parties, but recently at a meeting in Calabar, members of the political parties walked out on INEC officials when it was a time to discuss the code of conduct for the parties.

Hammanga said INEC would always bring the political parties together to argue out points and arrive at solutions in order to move the country forward.

The national commissioner urged the political parties to cooperate with INEC at all times and during this period of security challenge in the country.

8 LG chairmen in Katsina yet to declare assets – CCB

T

he Director of Code of Conduct Bureau in Katsina state, Mr. Abu Simon, said 26 out of the 34 Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairmen in the state had declared their assets.

Simon, who stated this on Monday in Katsina during a sensitisation visit to the state Ministry of Justice on the activities of the

bureau, said eight of the chairmen were yet to declare their assets.

He said the bureau was still expecting the affected chairmen to comply in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

“Every public officer shall after taking office declare his or her assets and subsequently after every four years or at the end of his office term,’’ he said.

According to him, public officers were expected to declare their assets within 30 days of receiving the asset declaration forms from the bureau.

He said that the main objective of the bureau was to ensure high standard of morality in the conduct of government business.

Simon added that the bureau was also mandated to

ensure that the actions and behaviours of public officers conform with the highest standards of public morality and accountability.

The director said civil servants in the state had been issued with the forms, adding, “workers are expected to fill the forms within the time limit or face the wrath of the law.”

Edo Speaker urges state federal lawmakers to help fight poverty

S

peaker of Edo House of Assembly, Mr Uyi Igbe, has urged federal and state lawmakers not to relent in efforts at eradicating poverty from the rural areas.

The Speaker made the call on Sunday in Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo during the presentation of poverty eradication items by Mr Philip Shuaibu.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Shuaibu, a member of Edo House of

Assembly, had presented the items to some of the people in his constituency.

Igbe said the fight against poverty would not be won if individuals and organisations did not contribute their quota to fighting the menace.

“If people in authority and in certain organisations can do what Shuaibu has done today, I am sure we will be talking of completely banishing poverty among our people in no distant future,’’ he said.

In his remarks at the occasion, Shuaibu who is the State Assembly’s Majority Leader, said the items were his little way of appreciating his people.

“It is also to help in contributing to eradicating poverty in the area,’’ he said.

Shuaibu said lawmakers could assist the state and federal governments to eradicate poverty by empowering people in their constituencies.

“I do not have to wait for

elections to come before giving back to them. They have been behind my success and I cannot say ‘thank you’ enough for their support.

“This is not about politics but about the people. We are concerned about the people, irrespective of political party affiliation,” said.

NAN reports that among items given out were refrigerators, grinding machines and over 500 crash helmets.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 41

NNNL board wants premier league players ban from cadet tourneys

By Patrick Andrew

T

he board of Nationwide League, the amateur division- has called on the Nigeria Football Federation to ban from international competitions all premier league players from the Flying Eagles and the Golden Eaglets.

The board made the call when its leadership paid a courtesy visit on the President of the NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari where the members of the board registered their disgust with incessant use of overaged players in cadet championships.

According to the board, use of age cheats to prosecute cadet championships was not only an embarrassment to the nation but detrimental because it negates the grassroots talents development, which the cadet fiestas are meant for.

Chairman of the nationwide league, Ahmed Kawo Muazu, who presented the position of the amateur league board to Maigari,

said the nation has enough grassroots talents to feed the agegrade teams noting that the use of age-cheats players had only been encouraged by lazy coaches.

Meanwhile, Maigari has applauded the board of the Nationwide League for its ‘ surprise achievement’ recorded within short time in office, noting that he was impressed with the level of performance and assured that the football federation would the board the necessary support to grow the game.

“I am impressed with what I have heard and seen about the Nationwide League and what you (board members) are doing. It is surprising that within a few months that you came onboard, you are able to record these achievements, which means before the end of your tenure Nationwide league would become a delight to the nation.”

He said that the NFF would assist the board to meet its target adding the league is strategic because being a grassroots it

Nkwocha leads Falcons pros

A

frican Footballer of the Year Perpetua Nkwocha will lead three foreign pros for an African Women’s Championship qualifier versus Zimbabwe.

MTNFootball.com can exclusively report that Perpetua Nkwocha, Onome Ebi and Rita Chikwelu are the only three foreign-based players coach Kadiri Ikhana has invited for the game against Zimbabwe.

The three players will join up with the rest of the squad in Zimbabwe.

“We are inviting the three players to join up with the players we have on ground. Like I have said before, I will only invite players we need and we are starting with three,” coach Ikhana said.

CAF Champions League: Sunshine Stars to know opponents today

Aminu Maigari serves as the spring board for fledgling talents to be discovered and then exposed to grow.

Maigari, appealed to well meaning Nigerians and corporate bodies to lend their support to the nationwide league adding such support would go along way to help fund and stabilise the league.

“I am calling on corporate bodies, individuals, government and all football lovers in the country and beyond the shore of Nigeria to support the good work the board of the nationwide league has started in repositioning our football in the grass roots which is the basic for football development.”

World Cup qualifiers

Okocha thumbs down domestic league Eagles F

ormer Super Eagles skipper and member of the Nigeria Football Federation technical sub-committee, Austin Okocha, has thrown a spanner in the works of Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, whose confidence in the local league players seems to have grown tremendously.

Okocha, who admits that the future of the Nigeria senior national team rests with players from the domestic league, however, claimed

that the current set of players would need at least three years to get into the mood and of commanding regular shirts in the Eagles.

“I guess it is definitely the way forward, but I don’t think the homebased players are ready yet, so if I were in Keshi’s shoes I would be trying to get them ready in the next 3 or 4 years,” he said during a live web chat on the GuinnessVIP mobi platform.

The former captain concedes that there are a few talented players who can make the squad, but plumps for the more exposed Europe-based players.

“Of course, if some of them are so talented that they are quick learners then I would include them in my squad, but the truth is that we still have so many professional players who are hungry and eager to play for their country, so it will be better to use them as they have

Chigozie Agbim, Azubuike Egwueke, Gabriel Reuben, Okocha says they are not quite ready for Eagles

that level of exposure.”

With Nigeria turning to focus on the home-grown lads after years of disappointment, Okocha agrees that the future is at home.

“Definitely the future lies in those new players, but for the moment they cannot be as consistent as where we want to be.”

Okocha also spoke about his relationship with former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho and how he mentored the former Brazil star. “I had a great time at PSG and Ronaldinho was like my kid brother.

I realised he was just so talented and he just needed someone to guide him. And I’m so glad he turned out to be one of the best players in the world.”

Okocha turned out for the likes of Fenerbahce, PSG and Bolton Wanderers, but picked out lowly Eintracht Frankfurt as his best club.

“Eintract Frankfurt was my best team, as for coach that was (Dragoslav) Stepanovic because he was the one who brought me from a third division club and gave me my first real opportunity.

“For me, for a coach to be able to scout a player from a lower league and make him a first division player shows he has some great qualities. He was definitely the best I’ve played under.”

N

igeria’s remaining candidate in the continental clubs campaigns, Sunshine Stars will know their opponents in the CAF Champions League group stage today.

Sunshine only last Sunday defeated Djoliba FC of Bamako, Mali to book the group stage ticket along with Berekum Chelsea, TP Mazembe, EToile Du Sahel, ASO Chlef, Esperance, Zamalek.

The Nigerian representatives like their counterparts from Ghana Chelsea reached this stage at a first shot and would hope to make impact but would face an uphill task were they to be drawn against the defending champions Esperance, former winners TP Mazembe or even Zamalek.

However, Sunshine must be wary of ASO Chlef of Algeria who defeated Al Hilal of Sudan 4-2 on aggregate after holding the hosts to 1-1 draw in Khaurtom.

Holders Esperance who dismissed Dynamos of Zimbabwe 7-0 on aggreagte will be anxious to avoid stubborn opponents like their neighbours Zamalek or Etoile Du Sahel even as they would desire immediate clash with sensational Berekum Chelsea who have in their confines the championships’ current highest goal scorer, Emmanuel Clottey. The Ghanaian forward has six goals in his kitty.

Academy, Kano FA to organise courses for coaches

R

ush Soccer Academy, in conjunction with the Kano State Football Association, has concluded plans to organise a three-day seminar for coaches and football administrators in the state.

The Director of the academy, Oladimeji Abdulgafar, dropped the hint in Kano while presenting certificates to 10 participants who graduated.

He said that the seminar scheduled for May 31 to June 2 in Kano was organised to expose coaches and football administrators to modern coaching techniques and upgrade their knowledge. “‘The aim of the seminar is to get our coaches and administrators in tune with the new changes and challenges in the world of football,” the director said.

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

3 to represent Rayfield Golf Club in Scotland Djoliba’s coach rues loss to T Sunshine Stars From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

he management of the Rayfield Golf Club in Jos, Plateau state has selected Samuel Mancham, Zingat Wadak and Nendang Wadak to represent the country in Scotland.

Chairman of the caretaker committee of the club, Mr. D.D Auta, a retired commissioner of Police (CP), said the trio who participated in the kids Golf International competition at

IBB Golf club Abuja were selected because of their successes during the fiesta.

According to him, arrangement is on for the trio to proceed to Scotland to participate in a competition slated for June this year.

He also disclosed that during their tenure as caretaker committee there have successfully hosted two tournaments sponsored by Jos Electricity Distribution (JET) in honour

of their Chief executive Officer Mrs Vera Ngozi Osunhor and MTN. Further, Auta commended the chairman and members of the board of trustees for the opportunity given to them to serve the club and thanks members for their corporation which enable them to achieve these result.

Meanwhile, the chairman board of trustee the Rayfield Golf Club, Air Marshall Jonah Wuyep, has commended members for the peaceful

conduct of the election of new executive members of the club at the weekend.

He advice the new leadership of the club to work as a team to move the club to greater height.

In his acceptance speech on behalf of the newly elected executive members, the Captain of the club Col Flix Ghan thanked the members for the confidence repose on them saying they will not disappoint them.

Keshi advises Kogi to establish premier league club

S

uper Eagles chief coach, Stephen Keshi, has called on the Kogi government to establish a professional football club which can play in the Nigerian Premier League.

Keshi, who spoke on Sunday inspecting of facilities at the newly-constructed Lokoja Confluence Stadium, said such a club would help launch the state into the international arena.

“The state should be able to establish or fully support one of the clubs in the state to the Premier League level,” he said.

The Super Eagles chief coach decried the level of football clubs in the state, adding that so long as they are all still playing at the amateur and pro-league stages, the state would remain in the back waters of Nigerian football.

He commended the foresight of the state government in constructing the stadium which has a 25,000-capacity and called on the government and sports-loving individuals to ensure its proper maintenance.

Keshi pointed out that bad maintenance culture was

the bane of sports facilities in the country and urged the state to curtail the trend by ensuring that the stadium was properly maintained.

“Resources that should have been used to develop sports are over the years wasted through the repair of facilities that were allowed to fall into dilapidation due to bad maintenance culture,” he said. The coach said sports development would assume a new dimension in the state with the stadium in place.

“I will discuss with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) on ways to keep this stadium busy,” he said adding that the natural grass would have been better than the synthetic grass which had been laid on the pitch.

The coach, who was led on the inspection tour by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello, inspected the dressing rooms of the stadium’s main bowl, the stadium’s indoor hall’s facilities and the standby generator serving the stadium.

Messi beats Ronaldo, Van Persie to win European Golden Shoe award

L

ionel Messi has won the European Golden Shoe award as the continent’s top scorer.

The Argentine superstar scored an incredible 50 league goals over the campaign, and finished the season four goals clear of nearest rival Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga.

Messi failed to find the net on Saturday, as Barcelona drew 2-2 with Real Betis in Pep Guardiola’s final league game in charge of the Catalans, but he could not be caught by Ronaldo, who netted just one as Real Madrid beat Malaga 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Robin van Persie ended

Leonel Messi

the term on 30 goals, but failed to find the net as Arsenal beat West Brom 3-2 at the Hawthorns to confirm the Gunners place in the Champions League next season.

The Bundesliga came to a close last weekend, where Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Mario Gomez finished on 29 and 26 goals respectively.

In fifth place, Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the first person to win the capocannoniere (Serie A’s top scorer award) with two different clubs as he ended his campaign with 28 goals for Milan, despite not scoring in the club’s 2-1 win at home to Novara.

Wayne Rooney came in closely behind with 27 goals, as he bagged the winner in Manchester United’s 1-0 win at Sunderland.

Four players made up the rest of the places, all joined on 48 points for the season.

Burak Yilmaz failed to find the net in Trabznspor’s 1-1 draw with Besiktas on Friday as he ended the campaign with 32 goals.

Bas Dost’s season wrapped up last weekend as he helped Heerenveen to fifth in the Eredivisie with 32 strikes.

Radamel Falcao ended his season on a high. He scored a late winner for Atletico Madrid as the team beat

Cristaino Ronaldo

A

lou Diallo, the head coach of Djoliba AC of Mali has described the team’s exit from the CAF Champions League on Sunday after losing 0-1 as “painful and unfortunate.”

Diallo, whose team were defeated by Sunshine Stars at the Dipo Dina International Stadium, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun, thereby foiling to reach the money spinning group stage of the CAF Champions League, regretted the 1-1 draw that they played at home a fortnight earlier.

The Stars scored the vital goal in the 38 minute into the game, a goal the Malien coach said distabilised his team’s plans. Sunshine’s goal was scored by Azuka Izu. The Super Eagles played had equally scored in the first leg in Bamako. The result meant the Nigerian side moved to the next round on a 2-1 aggregate.

The Djoliba coach said that the goal by Izu disorganised their original strategy to be executed for the match.

Diallo, however, said that his team would try to maintain their lead in the league in Mali to return to play in the CAF Champions League in 2013.

“We are out of this year’s CAF Champions League but I am happy that we are on the top of the league in Mali and this is an opportunity for us to get back. We are going back home to consolidate our position but all the same I give credit to Sunshine players,” Diallo said.

The Malian coach expressed satisfaction with the hospitality accorded his team by their Nigerian hosts during their stay in the country.

In his reaction to their victory, Gbenga Ogunbote, the Head Coach, Sunshine Stars described the game as a tough match, stressing that only the determination of his players enabled the team secure the victory.

He explained that the players’ awareness that another draw with Djoliba would be dangerous for their qualification motivated them to give their best.

“I must confess to you the match was a tough one but the most important thing is that we won and we have moved to the next stage. Although our target was to score two goals, we could not, but we thank God because the lone goal was good enough to take us through.”

The Coach explained that the team would be under serious pressure, being the only surviving Nigerian team in the CAF Champions League.

“Now that Sunshine is the only surviving team in the CAF Champions League, there are no two ways about it, there will be a lot of pressure on the team. But we will not bow to the pressure. We will do our best to ensure we manage the pressure as it comes”.

Clottey leads Champions League scorer chart

B Robin Van Persie Villarreal to condemn the Yellow Submarine to relegation. He is joined at 24 goals by Diego Milito, who rounded off his superb 2012 with a penalty for Inter as the club went down 3-1 to Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

erekum Chelsea striker Emmanuel Clottey emerged topscorer in the CAF Champions League after scoring his sixth goal in Sunday’s 2-1 win at CotonSport.

Clottey opened his continental account with a brace against Liberian side LISCR in the preliminary round qualifier.

He scored a hat-trick at the Golden City Park as they thrashed Raja Casablanca in the penultimate qualifier.

“We are excited and me for instance, it’s my first shot at the Champions League. I am happy with the performance. The quality of players we have gives me hope that we can go to the finals and win the Cup,” the 2007 Ghana Premier League goal king said The Ghanaian side are through to the money zone to the continent’s flagship event which begins in July.

Berekum Chelsea will find out their Group opponents for the competition after today’s draw.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 43

Babalola, Fatima win CBN tennis tourney’s singles

T

he 34 th Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Tennis Tournament ended on Sunday in Lagos with Abdulmumuni Babalola and Fatima Abinu emerging as winners of the singles events.

Number three seed Babalola defeated Shehu Lawal, seeded four, to win in two straight setsof 6-3 6-4 to emerge champion in the men’s singles.

In the women’s singles final match, Abinu who was seeded one beat 14-year-old tennis prodigy, Sarah Adegoke, 6-4 6-3 in an exciting game that brought the best both tennis players.

An elated Babalola said after the game that he was happy to win and hoped to keep up with his winning streak.

“I am a proud man today, and truly I am really short of words to express myself. I practised hard to have this win, although I had an opponent that knows my game and gave me a tough time.

“We have met in different finals in this competition and he has won a couple of times. I know his game well, because we play a similar style of game. We like to

hit the ball hard and play close to the net. At a point I almost gave up but something in me just kept pushing and I didn’t give in and rallied to win,” he said.

Reacting to his loss, Lawal said he was tensed up during the match, especially after his opponent won the first set.

“I have played against my opponent on a number of

occasions and I have beaten him in some games. I really know his game plan. But I failed to shut him up on time. I was not relaxed when I lost the first set and this put me under more pressure to win the second set,” he said.

On her part, women’s singles title winner Abinu told NAN that she was nervous initially in playing the highly-rated Adegoke who had

defeated several big names to arrive at the final.

“My heart skipped as I played my game, because I was playing against a junior player who was as determined to win.

“The first 10 minutes in the first set gave me the jitters but I had to fight to win. I am happy I won the game finally,” she said.

In the men’s doubles, the pair

Basketball League:Dodan Warriors performance delights Coach Daudu

C

oach Adeka Daudu of Dodan Warriors Basketball Club of Lagos, has expressed delight over his team’s unbeaten run in the ongoing 2011/12 DStv Men’s Basketball League in Lagos.

Daudu disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday after his club defeated Lagos Islanders Basketball Club of Lagos 76-55 in week 11 match of the competition.

The Warriors, who were third in the Atlantic Conference last

season, are now leading the other seven clubs in the DStv league with 22 points.

“My team will no doubt dethrone the reigning champion, Royal Hoopers of Port-Harcourt at the end of the season.

“The team’s performance so far is the end result of hard work and determination. I give kudos to my players and sponsors, IGI, which have made it possible for the team to be where they are today.’’

So far in the league, a total of 44 matches had already been played with 12 matches to go.

The ongoing season will end in three weeks.

The four top teams for the Final Eight Play offs would be decided at the end of the 14week league format of the competition.

The fifth, sixth and the seventh placed teams would remain in the league while the eighth placed team would be relegated to Division one.

of Adamu Sanni and Henry Atseye emerged winners after defeating the pair of Clifford Enoseregbe and Nonso Madeke.

The pair of Blessing Samuel and Christy Agugbom beat the pair of Fatima Abinu and Omotola Ibrahim to win the women’s doubles title.

In the mixed doubles, Fatima Abinu and Shehu Lawal beat Abdulmumuni and Christy Agugbom.

The winners of the male and female singles titles went home with N600,000 each, while the runners-up got N400,000 each.

Also, winners of the doubles event received N200,000, while the runners-up got N150,000.

The winners of the mixed doubles received N300,000, just as the runners-up took home N150,000.

Ikana Mbora, Secretary of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), organisers of the competition, thanked the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the CBN for their support for the championships.

She noted that CBN was a major contributor to the development of tennis in the country.

Sports Festival: MOC/LOC assign venues for events T

Babatunde Fasola, Lagos State Governor

he Main and Local Organising Committees of the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF), tagged: “Eko 2012,” on Monday named 11 venues for the hosting of the 25 events of the fiesta, which is billed to hold from November 27 through December 9. The Secretary General of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the festival, Dr Kweku Tandoh, in a statement said that the two committees named the venues after an “exhaustive deliberation”.

Tandoh said that Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere would host athletics, gymnastics, squash, swimming, taekwondo, traditional sports, and volleyball.

He said that National Stadium, Surulere would host chess and table tennis while Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Yaba, would host basketball and badminton.

Other venues, he said, were Agege Stadium, Abalti Barracks, National Institute of Sports, Surulere, Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, University of Lagos, Tafawa Balewa Square, Yaba College of Technology and Campos Square.

The secretary added that the committees also concluded plans for the tour of the festival torch to the 36 states of the federation and Abuja.

Federer hopes to eclipse Sampras’ record, eyes world No. 1

R

oger Federer admits he has one eye on eclipsing Pete Sampras’ all-time record for most spent time as world No. 1 after leapfrogging Rafael Nadal in the world rankings, released yesterday.

Federer’s victory at the Madrid Open saw him move back to No. 2 in the world rankings as he came from a set down to beat Tomas Berdych 3-6 7-5 7-5 on the controversial blue clay.

The last time Federer won in Madrid he went on to win the French Open - victory at Roland Garros would see him return to No. 1 - equalling Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at the top of the world rankings.

“Back then I was just trying to stay world No. 1 and I never really looked at Pete’s record that much,” Federer said. “I guess I could have chased it a few years ago, just really trying to beat that record. It’s no secret for any player out there that you’d rather be No. 1 than No. 2. “But I look at the long term, maybe if I wasn’t good enough to break that record, then maybe I never will be.”

Novak Djokovic is aiming to hold all four major titles by winning the French Open, but while the Serb tips six-time champion Rafael Nadal as the man to beat at Roland Garros, Federer is a man in form - having claimed a fourth title of 2012 on the blue clay in Madrid.

“I don’t need to beat every record Pete set, he’s my idol after all and I’m just happy I’m that close already,” he said. “But it’s exciting times ahead for me. Winning so many tournaments and playing so well, obviously I do believe I can win the grand slams.

“But I know the difficulty of the French Open and the focus will be a lot on Novak because he’s going for four in a row and on Rafa because he’s the defending champion. It’s going to be an exciting tournament.”

Roger Federer

Patrick Ekeji, DG, NSC

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Bolt to race in Zurich D

ouble Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt will race in the Zurich leg of the Diamond League on May 30, organisers announced on Monday. Bolt, also the world record holder over the 100 and 200m, kicked off his season on home soil last week, winning the Jamaica International Invitational in a world-leading 9.82 seconds.

He is scheduled to run the 100m in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on May 25, and will also race the 100m at the Diamond League meetings in Rome on May 31 and Oslo on June 7.

His final race before the July 27-August 12 London Olympic Games will be over 200m at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on July 20.

“Zurich is often called the one-day Olympics and I expect this year to be a very special meeting 18 days after the London Games,” said Bolt.

It will be the Jamaican’s fifth appearance at Zurich, Usain Bolt having placed second in the 200m in 2006 and 2007 before going on to win the 100m in 2008 and 2009, the latter two victories having come on the heels of winning Olympic and world gold respectively.

“Usain is the most popular track and field star of the millennium. We are delighted to have him back in Zurich,” said meeting director Patrick Magyar.

“2012 will be a very special edition of our meeting. Zurich will be held 18 days after the Olympic Games - an ideal date in the outdoor competition calendar. This will help us present high-level fields in all our events.”

Ibile Games: 1000 athletes vie for honours

N

o fewer than 1000 athletes yesterday began hostilities for honours in 25 sports at the Lagos State Sports Festival tagged “Ibile Games”, at various venues in the state.

The 12-day event, which will end on May 26, would be used to select Lagos State athletes, ahead of the National Sports Festival (NSF).

The Games would hold at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Yaba, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka.

Other centres are theYaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Agege Stadium, and Tafawa Balewa Square.

The Mobolaji Sports Centre, which hosts most of the sporting events, was agog as athletes, who represented schools, Local Government and Local Development Areas were contesting in their various sports.

Table tennis, handball, basketball, squash, deaf table tennis, tug- of -war, wrestling, shooting and traditional sports like kokowa, dambe, Langa , ayo and abula, holds at the centre. The Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) and the Nigeria Police Force

patrol van were available at the centre, to attend to the injured athletes, and to also prevent criminal acts. Niran Adeniji, the ViceChairman, of the technical committee, expressed satisfaction with the the large turnout of athletes at the event.

Adeniji described the event as a good platform for athletes to show their talents, adding that the state would have a good opportunity to select the best athletes for the sports festival.

He said the athletes were certified medically fit for the Games.

“This is a very good opportunity for the festival bound athletes, and the budding ones to show their stuffs, anyone who defeats the other will be selected for the festival, “The state will not win at all cost or through crooked way as Gov. Babatunde Fashola have said, but they will contest fairly to emerge winners at the festival. “From this competition we will also discover future potentials, who will represent the state at other competitions in the future,” Adeniran said.

He said the technical department was on top of coordination and logistics of the Games, to guard against logjam of events, while the athletes’ welfare had also be taken care of.

WBA, IBF titles: Moves to reinstate Khan in top gear G

olden Boy Promotions want Amir Khan’s loss to Lamont Peterson to be declared a nocontest result. This will enable the British boxer to reclaim the WBA and IBF lightweight titles.

The promoters have asked commissioners in Washington to overturn the result of the bout between Khan and Peterson last December.

If the District of Columbia Boxing Commission does so, Khan will get his belts back.

The move comes after a rematch, scheduled for May 19, was called off because the American had failed a drug test last March. Khan has called Peterson “a cheat” and demanded his titles be returned.

A dismissal of Peterson’s split-decision victory is by no means certain. Peterson had not tested positive for any banned substance before the fight.

He did so only under Olympic-style random testing that he requested ahead of the rematch, three months after the original fight.

But upholding the validity of the victory would not necessarily keep the titles from being vacated or returned to Khan in the wake of the positive doping test.

The controversy after the bout resulted from referee Joe Cooper deducting two points from Khan for excessive pushing. Without those deductions, Khan would have kept his titles.

A statement from Peterson’s camp noted he had not failed a drug test “beyond this isolated and explainable occurrence. We still stand behind the fact that he did nothing wrong and he was more than ready to go through with the fight.”

Khan, however, said his family and camp worried for his safety should he climb into the ring with Peterson.

Khan is expected to fight again in late June or early July, but specifics could be delayed until the status of the titles is determined.

Allyson dreams two Olympic gold medals

T

he hottest women in 200m, Allyson Felix hopes she could make a double dip at the London Games, but the three-time 200m world champion just isn’t sure which one. Felix produced a stunning upset in the women’s 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday, clocking 10.92sec to beat home Jamaican rivals Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly-Ann FraserPryce.

The American then hopped on a plane for Dallas, arriving in time for the US Olympic Committee’s media summit, a three-day event where more than 100 Olympic contenders and hopefuls met the press to discuss their London ambitions.

Felix, who attempted a 200m-400m double at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, last season, said she didn’t yet know if she’d try for two individual events in London.

If she does, however, it could be in the 100m and 200m.

“It’s definitely one of my possibles,” she said of a potential 100-200 bid. Since my last race people actually believe me,” she added.

Whatever she and coach Bobby Kersee decide, she said she doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardise her 200m bid.

“I like to call the 200 my baby,” Felix said. “It’s my favourite event. I’ve had almost four years to think about being the silver medallist,” Felix added with an unhappy stress on the “silver”.

In Beijing four years ago, Campbell-Brown clocked a personal best to finish ahead of Felix – who also earned silver behind the Jamaican at Athens four years earlier.

“That (the 200m) is my main focus. But I am comfortable with running another event.”

Allyson Felix In Daegu, Felix settled for silver in the 400m and then bronze in the 200m. As in plotting her Daegu campaign, Felix said the difficulty is that the 200m would follow either the 400m or 100m, perhaps proving too tiring to leave her at her best for her pet event.

But she said her experience in South Korea had taught her a lot about how to approach a double.

“Getting to go through rounds was a very valuable experience for me,” she said. “I do feel confident I could run two events.”

Before that can happen, Felix must get through the demanding US athletics trials, which will be held in Eugene, Oregon, in June.

She said her performance in Doha was a signal that her season is shaping up well.

“I was definitely excited to start my season off that way,” she said. “I’m going in the right direction. Of course it’s going to be a long season ... I feel like things are on schedule now.”

Amir Khan

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

Alex McLeish is fired as Aston Villa manager after 11 months in charge following the club’s 16th-place Premier League finish.

Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar earns a Wales squad recall ahead of the June tour to Australia and clash against the Barbarians.

Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale gives his back to fellow batsman Jonny Bairstow after his call-up to the England Test side.

Roger Federer returns to number two in the world with victory over Tomas Berdych in the Madrid Open final.

Gary Neville has joined Roy Hodgson's England set-up for the 2012 European Championship in a coaching role and has signed a four-year contract.

PICTORIAL

United States Ryder Cup player Matt Kuchar wins the Players Championship in Florida, with Scotland's Martin Laird joint second.

PAGE 45

Britain's Savannah Marshall upsets highly-rated US boxer Claressa Shields at the World Championships in China.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 46

Transfer The season is over. Clubs are counting their blessing as well as losses and would like to make amends and even beef up their squads where noticeable lapses exist. And the transfer market is agog barely 24 hours after major European leagues dropped the curtain.

And so to keep abreast with latest rumours, we begin daily doses of movements within the market both for players and coaches like.

Lazar-Markovic

Chelsea in race with Liverpool to sign £16m-rated Markovic

C

helsea are looking to beat Liverpool to Partizan Belgrade’s 18-year-old attacking midfielder Lazar Markovic. Former Chelsea boss Avram Grant, currently coaching Partizan, is understood to have recommended Markovic, who earned his first cap for Serbia in February.

Liverpool and Tottenham are also interested but Partizan want around £16million and would also like to have him back on loan. The Reds are in hunt for an aggressive midfielder that will beef up their engineroom especially following the poor showing of Charlie Adams and Jordan Henderson. Published: 10th May 2012.

Man United, Newcastle mulling United boss bids for Debuchy SirManchester Alex Ferguson travelled

F

ollowing Lille’s indication that the France right-back would be allowed to leave in the summer transfer window, both Man United and Newcastle are considering bidding for the player.

The 26-year-old has enjoyed a fine campaign for Lille and is hoping to be named in France’s Euro 2012 squad.

He is keen to move on in the summer and reports in France suggest his club will sell if a £6.5million bid is received.

Scouts from a number of major teams have watched Debuchy this season, and both Bayern Munich and Valencia are known to be interested.

to France to see him in action when Lille faced Lyon in March and is now believed to be giving serious thought to making an offer.

Right-back has been a problem position for the Red Devils this term and Ferguson has been forced to deploy central defenders Phil Jones and Chris Smalling there.

Newcastle are in the market for a right-sided fullback as Danny Simpson is set to be sold after rejecting a contract offer.

The Magpies’ former Lille midfielder Yohan Cabaye recently told the Journal he had discussed life at Newcastle with Debuchy and that the defender would ‘love’ to join him at St James’ Park.

Hulk sets to exit Porto

P

orto striker Hulk will definitely leave the club this summer, according to the his agent. Hulk has been strongly linked with Chelsea in recent years, although Paris St-Germain have also been reported as strong suitors for the powerful forward who has helped propel Porto to another Portuguese league title in his fourth season at the club.

Hulk’s agent Teodoro Fonseca believes the timing is now perfect - for the player’s career, and the club’s finances - for the 25-year-old to be sold to one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

“Porto have valued Hulk at •100 million but I believe this will not be a problem. For any club, Hulk provides goals, pleasure and titles and those are priceless.”

Hulk has scored 16 goals in 22 league games for Porto this season and recently expressed his hope that he will get the chance to move in the summer, although he remains happy at Estadio do Dragao.

Chelsea have already made a start on their summer transfer activity, sealing a deal for Werder Bremen attacker Marko Marin.

L

Premier League record and sees a move for the Bulgarian international as a viable option.

The 31 year old Man United forward has made just five Premier League starts this season, despite last term finishing as the top joint top scorer in the top tier.

Despite the lack of playing time there is no doubting

W

Hugo Rodelega

that the former Tottenham man is still in a rich vein of form, notching up nine goals in eleven starts in all competitions.

Berbatov has been linked with a number of clubs on the continent, most notably Lazio and his former side Bayer Leverkusen, but having spent the past six years in England he is apparently

Everton line up £800,000 move for Hungary keeper

O Goalkeeper Balazs Megyeri

Shinji Kagawa

A

rsenal are ready to enter the race to sign Borussia Dortmund attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa as Arsene Wenger looks to freshen up his Emirates Stadium squad this summer. The Japanese international has stated his intention to leave the Bundesliga club this summer and has been strongly linked with a number of prospective suitors, most notably Manchester United.

Wenger sent scouts to monitor the 23 year old last term and with Andrei Arshavin and Abou Diaby said to be exit bound and Yossi Benayoun unlikely to be offered a permanent role at the North London club there may well be a need

to bring in a goal-scoring attacking midfielder when the transfer window reopens.

Kagawa has enjoyed a remarkable spell in Germany, winning back to back domestic titles in his first two seasons at Borussia Dortmund. Jurgen Klopp has used the Kobe born talent in an advanced central midfield role, sitting behind the club’s forwards and in this role he has managed 28 goals and 12 assists in 70 matches.

The Borussia Dortmund man is not likely to cost a great deal as he has just a year to run on his current contract and has proclaimed his intention to leave this summer.

Wenger is said to be willing to make a substantial cash offer and is also willing to consider the use of a number of squad players in part exchange with the likes of the aforementioned Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh as possible inclusions in any deal to bring Kagawa to the Emirates Stadium.

Hugo Rodallega is leaving Wigan this summer igan Athletics may lose three players in the coming summer no thanks to interests from several English Premiership clubs.

The Latics are resigned to losing the Colombian hitman Hugo Rodallega along with keeper Chris Kirkland, midfielder Mohamed Diame and defender Steve Gohouri.

They are out of contract next month and boss Roberto Martinez is not too

Liverpool may turn to United’s Berbatov for lifeline iverpool are reportedly considering making a move for out of favour Man United striker Dimitar Berbatov. Kenny Dalglish is looking to beef up his Anfield attacking options but still has faith in Andy Carroll to deliver the goods in the long term and is therefore looking for an experienced back-up options with a proven

Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund in join race for Nippon ace

lympiacos keeper Balazs Megyeri could be brought in to provide competition for Tim Howard at Goodison Everton boss David Moyes is checking on Hungarian keeper Balazs Megyeri - as he looks for new competition for Tim Howard.

Megyeri plays for Greek side Olympiacos and is an under21 cap for his country, but he wants to come to the Premier League and would cost around £800,000. Moyes’s spies have been tracking Megyeri recently after being tipped off about his availability and they could pounce if there is a summer vacancy. Megyeri, 22, is entering the last year of his contract but is keen to move this summer.

He has made the Greek side’s first team but fears they will sign a top keeper in the next window.

hoping to be thrown a Premier League lifeline but does not wish to continue to warm the bench at Man United, a fact echoed by Sir Alex Ferguson who has admitted that he may well lose the talented forward.

Dalglish has seen his Liverpool side struggle for goals this term, managing just 47 goals in 37 Premier League games to date, the same total as relegated Blackburn Rovers and now the Scot is looking at possible additions to help add strength in depth up front.

A move for Dimitar Berbatov would also prove inexpensive with the forward having just over a year left on his current contract, which was extended merely so that Man United wouldn’t lose a player who cost the club £30.75m for nothing.

An offer in the region of £3-5m would probably suffice.

sad to see them go.

All four have been unable to command a first-team place this season but it is Rodallega’s fall from grace that is the most surprising.

Last season, the 26-yearold scored the goal that kept Wigan up on the final day at Stoke but has just two goals

in 21 games since then.

He signed for a clubrecord £4.5million in January 2009 from Necaxa and his 24 top-flight goals is a Wigan record.

Martinez said: “I don’t know if he has another club lined up but he will go with our blessing.”

Transfer target, Elm, warns Liverpool

R

asmus Elm has warned Liverpool he is far from certain to leave AZ Alkmaar in the summer

Erasmus Elm

transfer window.

The Sweden international has been strongly linked with a £7million move to Anfield, as the Reds look to revamp a midfield that has struggled during Steven Gerrard’s injury absences this term.

Liverpool were reported to be keen to conclude the deal before the start of Euro 2012, but the 24-yearold will not be rushed into making a decision about his future.

The free-kick specialist told Voetbal International: ‘I say to all the clubs, I will wait until after the European Championships.

‘I hope to take a step forward in my career, but it is far from certain I will leave this summer. I feel good at AZ.’ Elm has just 12 months remaining on his contract and there would be no shortage of interest if he became available on a free transfer in 2013, as scouts from Arsenal, Newcastle and Bayern Munich have all watched him in action this season.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

PAGE 47

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

. . . putting the people first

TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

Hazard confirms Manchester destination

L

ille attacking midfielder Eden Hazard confirmed on Monday that he will be playing in Manchester next season, but refused to reveal whether it will be at Manchester City or Manchester United.

Hazard was speaking at the UNFP (National Union of Professional Footballers) awards gala, where he was crowned Ligue 1 Players' Player of the Year for the second season in succession.

"To Manchester, I've already said," he replied when asked about his likely destination at the end of the current season. The decision will be taken soon."

French media reports have linked the 21-year-old Belgian international with both United and newly crowned English champions City. He is expected to cost in the region of 40 million euros ($51m).

Bolt dumps girlfriend to focus on London Olympics

U

sain Bolt ended his sixmonth relationship with a Slovakian fashion designer in order to focus on the upcoming Summer Olympics.

News reports suggest Bolt's breakup with Lubica Slovak, 28, was because of his desire to repeat his double-gold/worldrecord Olympic performance in London. The Jamaican swept the sprint events in 2008 and set the world marks in each race.

A source close to Bolt told The Sun, "He will have plenty of time for relationships. At the moment he's concentrating on his running career and doesn't want anything to distract from that."

Slovak emigrated to Canada as a teenager and later moved to Jamaica after she took a vacation there. She was introduced to Bolt by reggae singer Tami Chynn, a mutual friend.

The sprinting star was criticized in his native Jamaica when a picture of him kissing Slovak, who is white, appeared in a local newspaper. A cartoon accompanied the photo, in which Bolt was seen running past a black woman with "local" written on her shirt and into the arms of a "Slovakian fashion designer."

ADVERT: BUSINESS: NEWS: LAGOS:

0803 0805 0803 0805 0803

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE Reflect on your present blessings, of w hic h e ver y man has man y; whic hich ev ery many; not on y our past misf or tunes your misfor ortunes tunes,, of which all men have some — Char les Dic kens Charles Dick

Yekini: Another hero betrayed

H

e was arguably the best footballer that ever laced his boots for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Those who criticised his style of play argued that he was technically deficient, yet they did not deny the fact that football is all about goal scoring; and in this, Rasheedi Yekini was a legend. He was the nightmare of defenders across the globe, during his active playing days. His generation, thanks to his scoring ability, was the golden era of Nigeria’s football.

To imagine, he died lonely and depressed, according to media reports, is a painful reminder of our penchant for using and dumping our bests for charlatans and misfits. Rashidi Yekini should not have died the way he did if those eulogising him now, in death, were kind enough to look in his direction when it appeared all was not well with him. His mother said much when she admitted she was battling mental depression, years after quitting football.

Yekini did not have to die, at least, not the way he did. He brought smiles to millions of his country men and women in his active years. One can see commitment when Yekini adorned the national jersey. He tortured himself in the field of play, when he missed a golden chance to score.

That, to me, is the hallmark of patriotism. Yekini was loyal to Nigeria till the end of his career.

Only very few players, during his active days, showed his type of commitment to the country.

Sunday Oliseh, Amuneke, Taribo West, Garba Lawal and Finidi were those who came close to Yekini in terms of commitment to the fatherland. Today, these men are not patronised by the leadership of the football governing body in Nigeria. Rather, those who held the country to ransom and brought psychological pain on their compatriots are now being made coaches of the national teams.

The likes of Stephen Keshi, Daniel Amokachi, Siasia and, of course, Okocha do not deserve anything from Nigeria. These men used Nigeria as a platform to get lucrative football contracts abroad. They were quick to jettison national assignments for club engagements. And they are known to blackmail the entire nation during crucial matches in the name of allowances and bonuses.

None of these aforementioned men played for the nation’s glory, theirs was self service; those in doubt should,

311 689 606 327 454

7458 1765 3308 1969 0344

GUEST COLUMNIST

By Olurotimi Adeola rowiade@yahoo.com

Late Rashidi Yekini

please, watch the recorded matches again.

It is also shocking that in death Yekini became a tribal affair. Only Yoruba states donated money to his burial and were represented at his final interment. A man who brought joy to all Nigerians, suddenly becoming a Yoruba man in the eyes of other governors in death? Even the Nigerian Football Federation, who are the direct beneficiary of his football exploits, did not deem it fit to honour him with their presence!

Those commentators claiming Yekini was fully paid his dues by the government during his active days are far away from the truth.

In other climes, legends of Yekini’s class are national treasures priceless and are their country’s sport ambassadors till death.

Nigeria indeed owes Yekini a debt of gratitude , and must ensure his children and aged mother are well taken care of.

We all are made guilty by Yekini’s death. The nation betrayed him in his hours of

hopelessness. For five years, Yekini lived in our amidst exhibiting strange behaviours and avoiding the very people he gave his youth to entertain; no one raised an eyebrow. We watched him unconcerned. Even sport media houses that benefited greatly from the sport Yekini’s exploits helped to popularise in Nigeria were silent as Yekini took the painful and no retreating path to mental depression.

Here we go again burying our best while the ranks of nonentities and charlatans continue to swell in our midst. We abandoned our heroes and heroines in their hours of need. All Yekini needed to stay alive was our comfort, appreciations and patronage; in all these we let him down.

The Super Eagle today lacks prolific strikers in the class of Yekini Years after Yekini quit the stage, our senior national team could not produce a successor to the legend.

Those that were brought up by the system to replace him only showed some sparks and then dimmed our hopes. Yekini was just not replaceable. Yet he was allowed to waste away in Ibadan, when Nigeria could have called on his service to tutor others on goals scoring.

Kwara state House of Assembly is believed to be making moves to honour Yekini, by naming its stadium after him. The same stadium that the Nigerian Football Federation closed down a couple of times for being sub-standard? How callous can these Kwara parliamentarians be! If that stadium is not world class, then it does not befit the memory of Yekini.

Like every human, Rashidi Yekini has paid the ultimate price, death. But again, his death diminishes our humanity as a people. The truth is, Nigeria is the greatest loser by his death. Sleep well, Yekini – king of goals; a hero betrayed by his country and its people.

“

Kwara state House of Assembly is believed to be making moves to honour Yekini, by naming its stadium after him. The same stadium that the Nigerian Football Federation closed down a couple of times for being sub-standard? How callous can these Kwara parliamentarians be! If that stadium is not world class, then it does not befit the memory of Yekini

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos, Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 606 3308. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.com ISSN: 2141– 6141