Peoples Daily Newspaper, Saturday 15, June, 2013

Vol. 3 No. 45

SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

COVER

6-YEAR SINGLE TERM

Constitutional window for Jonathan?

Pg 9,10,11,12 &13

RAJAB 30 - SHA’ABAN 1, 1434 AH

NEWS FEATURE

ENTREPRENEUR I started my business with only N2,500 – Salisu Buhari

Baby, 14 mths, flogged by father for crying too Pg 27 much

SODOMY

N150

Pg 14

Man rapes man in Kaduna

FEATURE

Lagos cremation law, residents react Pg 40

NEWS FEATURE

How man escaped death in the hands of ritualists in Kano Pg 46

Page 2

News Extra

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Christmas day blasts: Court slates June 21 to decide Kabiru Sokoto’s fate

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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federal high court in Abuja yesterday slated June 21, 2013 to decide whether or not a prima facie case has been established against Kabiru Sokoto, the alleged mastermind of the Christmas day bombing in Madalla, Niger State.

Kabiru Sokoto who is standing trial on a two-count charge bordering on terrorism has filed a no- case submission claiming that the prosecution did not link him with the alleged offence before the court.

At yesterday’s proceedings, the prosecution counsel, Mrs Chioma Unuegbu closed her case

after calling six witnesses while Kabiru’s Counsel, Ibrahim Umar moved his application of a no- case submission to show the court that the prosecution has not established any case against his client.

It was the contention of Kabiru that no shred of evidence by the prosecution linked him to the alleged offence.

The prosecution witnesses, who had their identity hidden and wore masks told the court how they obtained statement from the accused person, who spoke to his interrogators in Hausa language.

Sokoto, in the statement said the group’s commanding body, the Shurah is concerned with planning and strategising for the sect’s

operations, while other members were involved in the execution of the plans and well-being of other members.

He had also denied involvement or knowledge of the deadly attack, but suddenly opened up on how they plotted and killed over 40 worshippers on December 25, 2011 at about 8.00am.

Sokoto dismissed claims that the attack on the church was carried out by a suicide bomber butn however revealed the financial link Boko Haram had with Algeria’s Muslimiyama(the group from the sunset) “which normally sends money to us”.

The sharing of funds by the members of the Islamist sect, he

said, led to the major crack in Boko Haram.

On the church bombing, Sokoto told the court that the incident was a coordinated attack that was executed by two persons, Bashir Mohammed and Mukhtar Kafanchan under the supervision of Suleiman Habib, who is the commander of Boko Haram in Niger State.

“It was not a suicide bomber as many believed. It was a coordinated attack. The car that was used for the operation was parked near the church, laden with explosives and later detonated by the people assigned for the job,” he told the court, adding that “it was because of the sharing of N40 million they sent to us that our sect split into two”.

Nigeria’s economy may collapse, says Okonjo-Iweala

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t the third round of the 2013 ministerial platform in Abuja on Monday, June 10, 2013, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, spoke glowingly about the Nigerian economy, saying the fundamentals were strong and the economy was buoyant beyond danger.

But a few hours later behind closed doors, on Tuesday, the minister detoured with a different tune to her government colleagues that the Nigerian economy is shaky despite the official fundamentals and requires drastic steps to save it from collapse.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala spoke at the 50th meeting of the 15-member Federal Government Economic Implementation Team held behind closed-doors at the presidential

villa.

The implementation team is headed by the minister, and meets every week. It was established by President Goodluck Jonathan to oversee the effective implementation of decisions of the Economic Management Team chaired by the president.

Other members of the committee are the Ministers of Petroleum Resources, Power, Agriculture, Trade & Investment, Works and Health as well as the Ministers of State for Finance and Health, the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, the Special Adviser to the President (Monitoring & Evaluation), the Director-General of the Budget Office, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise and a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

At Tuesday’s meeting, a presidency source said, the minister painted a gloomy picture of the economy and hinted that there was an urgent need for “stringent budgetary measures” to arrest the downward slide.

Although the meeting was convened to review the government’s plan to create 3.5 million jobs in the agriculture sector and consider the report of a subcommittee on the automotive industry, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala could not hold back on the disturbing prospect of the economy.

The minister explained that crude oil production now hovers around a disturbing 1.3 million barrels per day, a figure far lower than that seen during the height of the protracted militancy in the

Niger Delta.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had on April 18 reported a drop in crude oil production in the first quarter of 2013, January to March, which cost Nigeria a loss of crude oil revenue to the tune of $1.23 billion (N190 billion). That loss is now set to continue and the country might not be able to meet its obligation to its customers.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala also informed the meeting that crude oil theft had continued unabated and was at its highest level ever despite the best effort by government to stem the tide.

Nigeria is estimated to lose about $6 billion annually to crude theft and the development, the minister lamented, is now severely hurting the economy.

Subsidy protest: Court awards N4m against DPO From Matthew Irinoye, Lagos

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ustice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja yesterday ordered the sum of N4million to be paid as compensation to four protesters, who were shot by

former Divisional Police Officer of Pen Cinema Police Station, Agege, Lagos, Mr. Segun Fabunmi, during last year’s protest against subsidy removal.

While delivering the judgement Justice Okikiolu-Ighile held that, the police and Fabunmi were liable for “recklessly shooting and

inflicting bodily injury” on the applicants. She also ordered the Police to apologise to the applicants in The PUNCH newspaper and any other national daily.

Fabumi, had allegedly shot at the protesters at about 9.30am on January 9, 2012 at Yaya-Abatan Junction, Agege, Lagos, during

removal of fuel subsidy protest.

The four applicants were said to have been injured while one other protester, Adedamola Daramola, allegedly died instantly.

The applicants include Egbuzor Samuel 24(M), Alimi Abubakar 41(M) Joy Monday 21(M) and Chizuba Udor 28 (M) respectively.

Boko Haram: Shoot my son, father tells JTF From Mustapha Maiduguri

Isah

Kwaru,

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n angry man in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital (names withheld), yesterday accused his 25-year-old son of being a member of the Boko Haram sect and subsequently handed him over to the operatives of Joint Military

Task Force, (JTF), pleading with them to shoot the son so as to prevent him from fleeing, a security source told newsmen.

This came on the heels of the continued massive manhunt for the fleeing insurgency suspects by a group of vigilante youths, populary known as ‘civilian JTF’.

The angry father, it was gathered had been monitoring the activities of his

biological son for a long time and that after reportedly being convinced that the latter was indeed member of the insurgent group, invited the security forces into his house to apprehend the suspect.

The son, according close family sources, had once threatened to kill the father before he fled home only to return home days back as security operatives continued to clamp down

on the sect.

He was said to have returned as a prodigal son and wanted some kind of asylum in his father’s compound.

“After confessing all his crimes including how he participated in killings and looting of banks to his father, the old man said he has no such conscience of keeping a killer son in his home’, said a family member who doesn’t want to be quoted.

Newswatch ownership: Ekpu, others to know fate July 1 From Matthew Irinoye, Lagos

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ustice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court sittting in Ikoyi, Lagos, yesterday fixed July 1, 2013 to determine whether former directors of Newswatch Communications Limited (NCL), Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade have been re-appointed as directors of the resuscitated media outfit by its chairman and publisher, Dr Jimoh Ibrahim.

The judge noted this after counsels in the matter had argued and adopted their written addresses before the court.

It would be recalled that Newswatch, Dr. Ibrahim and Global Media Mirror Limited had instituted the suit, praying the court to declare that the four former directors of NCL are no longer directors of the company and as such cannot do anything legally on behalf of the company.

Dr Ibrahim, alongside other plaintiffs also want the court to hold that the former directors are not competent to declare a trade dispute under the Share Purchase Agreement, SPA, between them and the NCL. The plaintiffs consequently prayed the court to restrain Ekpu and other former directors from embarking on what they termed measures that may be inimical to the interests of the media outfit.

At the last hearing of the matter on June 12, 2013, Lawyer to the plaintiffs, Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) had asked the court to determine.

Managing Editor’s demise: Gov Shettima condoles Media Trust, family

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has condoled with the management and staff of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily, Weekly and Sunday Trust Newspapers over the sudden death of the company’s managing editor, Malam Suleiman Mohammed.

In a statement issued yesterday by Isa Umar Gusau, Special Adviser on Communications, Governor Shettima described the late Mohammed as a “humble, gentle, versatile and highly knowledgeable journalist” whom he once met on board a Lagos bound flight from Abuja, seven years back, while Mohammed was working for Media Trust in Lagos.

“I once met Mohammed… in a flight to Lagos from Abuja, we sat on the plane side by side and we had … one of my most interactive moments.

Mohammed was evidently a very intelligent, well grounded and highly experienced journalist from his knowledge and analysis of issues on the Nigerian economy, social structure and politics.

ACF felicitates with Emir of Kano

By Jamila Nuhu Musa

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he Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) felicitates with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji ( Dr) Ado Bayero, Government and people of Kano state on his 50th Anniversary

celebrations.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony N.Z Sani, in Abuja, ACF, it stated that it “believes that as long as the Emir is very much around to provide us with the inspirational leadership needed

at this difficult time, the hope that the nation can overcome the myriad of socio economic challenges is very much alive”.

According to the release,” The 50th, Anniversary of the Emir of Kano, in the person of His Royal

Highness, Dr, Ado Bayero, is worth celebrating, precisely because the Emir is a symbol of unity and peaceful co existence and of our common values not only in the north, but across the country.

ACF wishes the Emir, many

more years on the throne of the ancient city, and prays for Allah to guide him always. “We pray to Allah to make it possible for him to experience more decades of annual celebrations of his life on the throne for public good”.

News

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

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Group charges youth on peace, unity

By Emmanuel Eko

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he National coordinator, Miss Centenary Nigeria Beauty Pageant and Fashion Show Project, Mr. Kolade Oludare has urged Nigerians to embrace peace for the attainment of Vision 2020.

While speaking ahead of the Beauty pageant, Oludare said that the competition is scheduled to take place in Abuja on the 14th December 2013,with the programme targeted at

showcasing Nigerian womanhood in culture and tradition in the past 100 years.

The pre-event activities would commence with a tour around the six geo-political zones of the country so as to select representatives of various states of the country.

According to him, the event is to support peace building among youths between the ages of 18-25 who are eligible for the competition.

Meanwhile prizes such as a brand new Nigerianmanufactured SUV car among others, would be awarded to winners.

The project would also afford the winner of the Miss Centenary to participate fully in the general celebration in January 2014 competition.

Oludare added that the value of culture and traditions should not be forgotten, because it is a basis for all social existence.

Unsafe blood transfusion: 4m infected with HIV globally, says Minister

By A’isha Biola Raji Globally, four million people have been tipped to have HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infection through dangerous blood transfusion, a situation described as ‘requiring a change’.

The minister of health, Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu who was represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Fatima Bamidele made this call yesterday in Abuja at a press briefing to mark the occasion of the 2013 World Blood Donor Day with the theme ‘Give the gift of life, donate blood’.

He said the national council on health at a meeting held in July 2012 has approved the use of suitable ELISA technology as least standard for screening of blood meant for transfusion all over Nigeria. ELISA means Enzyme-Linked

Immuno-Solvent Assay.

He said the ministry is determined to change the situation of unsafe blood transfusion through the technology. “If this strategy is fully implemented, it will ensure the availability of adequate quantities of safe blood for transfusion,” he declared.

He said the Nigerian government is in partnership with its US counterpart under a cooperative agreement, adding that the United States President‘s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) would continue to assist in ensure 100 per cent screening of blood collected by National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS).

He called on Nigerian youths to donate blood

especially to save one million lives yearly.

He said, “WHO’s goal is for all countries to obtain all blood supplies from voluntary donors by 2020.

Only 10 per cent of our blood supply is from voluntary blood donors.”

The WHO regional Director for Africa, Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo called on the general public especially youths to embrace the life saving project of donating blood.

He said, “Many patients requiring transfusion in developing countries do not have timely access to safe blood leading to fatal consequences.”

The Nigerian highest voluntary donor, Mr. Nathan Akpan also called on youths to join him in saving lives of people thereby helping the donor live a healthy lifestyle.

Three killed in border clash between Benue/ Nasarawa tribes From Uche Nnorom,Makurdi

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ear has gripped residents of Wadata in Makurdi Benue State capital following renewed confrontation between Tiv and Agatu people that resulted in the death of three persons yesterday.

Peoples Daily Weekend observed that traders at the popular Wadata market scampered for safety when bodies of the three persons were ferried across River Benue to the market which sits on the bank of the river.

It was further gathered that there was heavy fighting between the Agatu people and Tiv natives at the other end of the River which was

said to have degenerated so quickly that the traders had to run for their dear lives.

However, the police authorities dispelled the rumour of any confrontation between the Tiv and Agatu people in Makurdi metropolis.

This is just as the State Command spokesman DSP Daniel Ezeala confirmed that two persons were killed and one injured.

Ezeala further explained that the fighting between the two tribes was going on at a border town in Nasarawa state and that the dead persons as well as the injured were transported from the trouble zone to the town through the river.

Ex EFCC boss Ribadu warns youth on political thuggery From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna The former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu has called on Nigerian youths to resist any attempt by selfish politicians to set them against each other.

According to him, there is the need for youth in the country to remain focused and steadfast in the course of nationhood.

Ribadu made the call in his goodwill message at a one Day Seminar with a theme” Functions of the Lawmaker in a Democracy” organized by Center for Development and Rights Advocacy held in kaduna. “ Don’t listen to anyone who will tell you that your Christian or

Muslim neighbour is your enemy or obstacle to your progress. Your real enemy is the one trying to incite you against your fellow citizens while he has looted you blind, depriving you of a decent future.

This is what we must resist.

He said: “ the legislature, like the media and the civil society, is closer to the people than the executive arm, the two tend to have a more independent and thorough observation than the legislature. Hence, I see it as important that the organizers of this event invited people from these two quarters to address and assess their colleagues in the other arm of the tripod- legislature.

“It is important that we have

more of this type of assembly as a necessary avenue to dialogue, ask questions and proffer the way forward for our country especially at a critical time like this. We must continue to ask questions.

“We should not be deterred; the greatest disservice we would do to our country and democracy is to keep silent. Citizen engagement is the fertilizer that abets the growth of true democracy,” he said.

The guest speaker at the event, Human right Activist, Barrister Festus Okoye said most Nigerians are ignorant of legislatives duties which is a major challenge.

He therefore charged the people to always seek for accountability and transparency from their leaders.

Earlier former Minister of Aviation, Mr Hassan Hayat challenged the lawmakers to always make laws that will be of benefits to the ordinary Nigerians and the country in general.

L-R: Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amma Pepple, Former Deputy Governornor of Kogi State, Chief Phillip Salawu and the President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, during the official Flag Off of National Christian Campaign on Social Transformation, with the theme, “Be The Change you Want to See”, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Three killed in border clash between Benue/ Nasarawa tribes From Uche Nnorom,Makurdi

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ear has gripped residents of Wadata in Makurdi Benue State capital following renewed confrontation between Tiv and Agatu people that resulted in the death of three persons yesterday.

Peoples Daily Weekend observed that traders at the popular Wadata market scampered for safety when bodies of the three persons were ferried across River Benue to the market which sits on the bank of the river.

It was further gathered that there was heavy fighting between the Agatu people and Tiv natives at the other end of the River which was said to have degenerated so quickly that the traders had to run for their dear lives.

However, the police authorities dispelled the rumour of any confrontation between the Tiv and Agatu people in Makurdi metropolis.

This is just as the State

Command spokesman DSP Daniel Ezeala confirmed that two persons were killed and one injured.

Ezeala further explained that the fighting between the two tribes was going on at a border town in

Nasarawa state and that the dead persons as well as the injured were transported from the trouble zone to the town through the river.

He said securitymen have been deployed to flashpoints to maintain law and order in the area.

Arewa youths warn against inflamatory utterances nation, therefore we are ready From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

A group under the aegis of Arewa Youths Agenda has kicked against inflammatory comments capable of disintegrating Nigeria.

The group’s National Director Media and Publicity, Honourable Musa Ibrahim Bere who disclosed this in a press conference in Kaduna, vowed to fight individuals all forms of negative utterances.

According to him, the group was totally against the disintegration of Nigerian, adding that nobody can divide Nigeria. “ God brought us together as a

to fight those making inflammatory statements and comments in the country. We are not interested in the division of Nigeria and we will never allow that to happen. “ This is why we are organizing a programme (today) Saturday in Kaduna to sensitize the youth on the need to be self dependent so that they will not rely on selfish people to exploit them to cause trouble.

We want to educate them on the need for unity and peaceful coexistence among Nigerians irrespective of religions or tribal affiliation.

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

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Images

Chief Imam of Central Mosque Keffi, Mallam Awaal Abubakar leading prayer for the remains of Daily Trust Managing Editor, Sulaiman Muhammad before the burial, yesterday in Angwan Dadi Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

A cross section of Muslim Women Graduates, during the 11th Executive WalimatulQur’an ceremony by Al-Habibiyyah Academy, recently in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

L-R: Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku with the Minister of Environment, Hayiya Hadiza Mailafia, during the 2013 Ministry of Environment during the Ministerial Platform, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

R-l : Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai with the Minister of State, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, during the 2013 Ministerial briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Tourists inspecting exhibition wears, at the National Council of Arts pavilion, during the ongoing 6th African Arts and Crafts Expo 2013, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

News

Automatic ticket for Jonathan is undemocratic, says Rep …Committee adopts 4 year single term for president

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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he Chairman, House Committee on Information, Hon Zakari Mohammed has said that the proposed automatic ticket for President Goodluck Jonathan by Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the 2015 party primary is undemocratic.

Muhammed who stated this in Ilorin while speaking with Journalists said all the aspirants should be allowed to test their popularity among the delegates.

He said: “ It means that party men have a say again. The party men must be given the opportunity to select the best of their choice, who can go in and face the other people. May be BOT Chairman was quoted out of context, because I know he should know better.

“What I know is that there must be time check after four years. People must be given the allowance to assess if the administration is worth giving another chance.”

Speaking on Constitution review and retention of the four years two terms for the president, vice president , governors and their deputies by House of Representatives, Muhammed said: “We are bringing out own report soon. In the report, we have retained the structure of four years two terms as it is in the constitution. When we present our report, of course there will be conference committee between Senate and House of Representatives.

“If they don’t agree, there will be conference and it is about 360 members of the House of Representatives and 109 Senators. At the end of the day, the position of the House would be in order.

“We went down to Nigerians, 360 federal constituencies and everybody in the 360 wanted a retention of the four years two terms as enshrined in the constitution. That is the judgment that we brought from the people, because our own constitution review was people-based and it was an opportunity to interface with our people.

“Rather than mix it up we need to be very clear. The Senate had submitted its own report, our report is ready, by the time we come back from the break, we will present it at the floor of the House .”

Kano state Governor, Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, when the latter visited the former at Government House Kano.

Move to higher grounds, Awoniyi warns river bank dwellers From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

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s water level rises in Rivers Niger and Benue, the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, has once again appealed to those living in the flood prone areas of the State to move to higher grounds.

Awoniyi who also doubles as the State Chairman, Flood Relief Management Committee, said the State

would not want to be caught unawares this year by the flood, appealing to those who are still living in areas considered prone to flood, to move to higher grounds as report already shows that the waters were rising.

While noting that the State government has begun the building of rehabilitation camps in last year’s affected Local Government Areas, he explained that the State is now

well equipped to handle the challenges this year’s flood may pose.

Against this backdrop the United Nations Under Secretary for humanitarian affairs and relief materials, Baroness Valerie Amos yesterday in Lokoja stressed that intervention of expatriates in the flood disaster zone would form the fulcrum of prevention and relief work.

Baroness Amos who was in

Kogi state to assess the level of devastation, said that she would use her findings to consult agencies to come to the aid of the victims.

In his speech Chief John Egwemi, Onu Ujeh stated that the visit of the Baroness Valerie was not only timely but has brought hope to the victims that their plight was receiving world attention, urging her to ensure that the victims were not stranded.

Allow people to choose their leaders, group tells Kwara PDP From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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he Kwara Change Initiative, a pressure group in Kwara State has told the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to toe the line of people wishes by allow the electorate to decide their true leaders.

The group in a statement signed by its organizing secretary, Adewale Adefila blamed the leadership crisis in the party on the poor leadership qualities of former Governor Bukola Saraki who seeks to lead despite his inadequacies.

“The leadership crisis tearing the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP), Kwara State chapter is a reflection of the leadership by fiat that characterised both government and party administrations in the state in the last few years.

“The former governor refused to come to terms with the fact that he rode so long on the back of his late father, Dr. Olusola Saraki who during his days, helped the young man to fix nearly everything. He must again not be lost to the pseudo victory they had in the last 2011 elections. “ We wish to refresh our memories that the father in his great political sagacity gauged all the aggrieved who would have worked against his son in

the defunct ACPN. Who does not want his heir to succeed him? It would also be recalled how the father was spirited in after the elections for a reconciliation where everybody including the governor was nearly prostrate.

“Since that development, every democrat knew that democratic institutions in the state are under severe threat and may not survive it if they refused to rise to save the state and its structures. Dr. Bukola Saraki has since been running the state like a private estate with the active connivance of the incumbent Governor Abdul Fattah Ahmed who said repeatedly that theirs is a tag-

team. “ The Saraki style is outdated, what is in vogue now is meaningful engagement of all tendencies, anything short of this will always bring about avoidable crisis.”

The group also warned former Governor of the State, Alhaji Shaaba Laafigi from following Dr. Saraki who the National Secretariat are working against.

“Alhaji Lafaiji should not misrepresent his present status for a reflection of our general opinion in the state as par the party or the government. The Sararki hegemony has worn out our patience as a people including those in government.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

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Crime Cycle

pmlcrimecycle@gmail.com 08138559513 (SMS only)

Businessman admits raping, impregnating minor

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ne businessman, Nakap Garba, 30, standing trial before a Jos Upper Area Court, for alleged raping and impregnating a minor begged for mercy, after admitting quilt of the crime.

Garba, a resident of Apata Area in Jos, appeared before Malam Mustapha Hassan on a one-count charge of raping a 14-year-old girl.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr Gokwat Ibrahim, had told the court that the accused committed the offence on May 4.

Ibrahim told the court that on the fateful date at about 10.00 a.m the accused lured the minor to his parlour and committed the offence.

He said that one Mrs Augustina Anobe of the same compound with the accused reported to the Laranto Police Station on June 7 that the accused had committed the offence.

“The complainant informed the police that one boy in their compound by name Chidi told

her the accused raped her daughter some days ago.

“The complainant informed the police that she then took the girl to the hospital for test where she was told that the minor was three weeks pregnant,’’ he told the court.

The prosecutor said that when the parents of the victim confronted the suspect, he confessed to have committed the offence under alcoholic influence.

“During police investigation the accused pleaded guilty to the offence and promise to take full responsibility for the minor.’’

Ibrahim said that the accused committed the offence in violation of Section 283 of the Penal Code.

When the case came up for hearing, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge and begged the court for leniency, saying that it was the devil that pushed him into committing the act.

“My lord, I am sorry for committing this shameful act,

…My wife is too lazy, Husband replies

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IGP Mogammed Abubakar I am begging for leniency,’’ he pleaded.

The presiding officer ordered the police to take the accused to hospital for HIV screening

to confirm his health status and reserved sentence until the result was out.

Hassan adjourned the case to June 21, for judgment. (NAN)

Court orders psychiatric evaluation of suspected armed robber

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n Igbosere High Court in Lagos has ordered prison authorities in the state to conduct a psychiatric evaluation on one Wisdom Onorode, standing trial for alleged attempted robbery.

Justice Ebenezer Adebajo gave the order at the arraignment of Onorode, who had been in prison custody since his arrest on April 29, 2007.

Adebajo ordered the controller of prisons in the

state to conduct a psychiatric evaluation on the defendant and report the outcome to the court within 14 days.

Onorode, 23, who used to reside at No. 142, Queens Barrack Road, Apapa, and believed to be mentally unbalanced, is facing trial for attempted armed robbery.

The defendant, who was not represented by counsel and whose plea was not taken by the court, was arrested at Kofo Abayomi

Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, in possession of a gun.

According to the charge sheet, Onorode was in possession of the gun with the intent to commit felony to wit: armed robbery.

When the charge was read, a State Counsel, Mr Akin Adesomoju, urged the court to order an investigation into the mental state of the defendant.

He said that because of the suspected mental state

of Onorode and the fact that he was not represented by counsel, the court could not take his plea.

Adesomoju urged the court to order an evaluation of the defendant’s mental state.

The prosecution said that the offence was contrary to Section 403 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.

Adebajo adjourned the matter till Sept. 18 for hearing. (NAN)

Ekiti monarch banishes suspected drug dealer

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he Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, has banished a suspected drug dealer from his domain over reported involvement in the procurement and sale of prohibited drugs.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the monarch gave the directive when the National Drug

Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) visited him in his palace.

NAN further reports that the NDLEA had reported the offender to the monarch several times over his alleged involvement in the procurement and sale of banned drugs.

The NDLEA after efforts

‘My husband treats me like his house maid’, wife tells court

to ensure that the offender desisted from the act reported to the monarch and sought his approval to send him out of the state.

The agency described the suspect, a convict, as the most wanted illicit drug dealer in the state.

The NDLEA State Commandant, Mr Dele

Akingbade, was represented on the visit by his deputy, Mr Nnama Nworisa.

Consequent upon the NDLEA request, the monarch pronounced banishment of the accused, ‘’because he is an unrepentant dealer in this illegal business.’’

(NAN)

housewife, Monsurat Ibrahim, has revealed to an Ilorin Area Court that her husband, Tahiru, was fond of treating her like his house maid, just as her husband accused of being a lazy wife.

The 29-year-old woman, who is a resident of Niger Area, Ilorin, prayed the court to dissolve her two-yearold marriage to Tahiru, for allegedly maltreating her `like a maid’.

Monsurat told the court that her husband always shouts at her in public and as well as ran curses on her.

“My husband will at times beat me unnecessarily and lock me indoor till he comes back from work in the evening time,” she said.

She said their marriage, which was contracted in 2011, had yet to produce any child.

“My Lord, I want an end to this marriage because I’m tired of being enslaved by a man that does not have any respect for me,” said the complainant.

The defendant objected to the prayer of his wife, saying that he was still interested in the marriage.

“My wife is too lazy, that is why I handle her with iron hand; but I promise not to enforce anything on her as from today, because I still love her,” he said.

He prayed the court for an adjournment to enable him reconcile with his wife.

The presiding Judge, Mr Yusuf Abdulkareem, adjourned the case to July 3 for a report of settlement or continuation of hearing.

(NAN)

Interview

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“My wife prayed for me, asked me to buy her praying rosary that 99 names of Allah before she was killed” Yakasai

Inuwa Idris Yakasai From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

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t was supposed to be a period of honey moon for the couple, Inuwa Idris Yakasai and Zainab Yusuf Isa barely less than two weeks into their marriage, but it turned out to be the end of Zainab and mourning period for Yakasai. As unknown assailants sneaked into their residence at Medile area of Kumbotso local government area in kano and allegedly strangled the bride to death.

Zainab was found dead in her room by her husband Yakasai when he returned from work on Tuesday evening, 11,June, 2013 by yet-to-be identified assailants suspected to have strangled her to death.

Yakasai who is a director in the Kano Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Home Affairs was still in shock, said he will never forget the last moment he had with his wife on that fateful day before she was murdered right in her own bedroom, stating that she prayed for him and asked him to buy her muslim praying rosary on his ways back.

“The incident happened on Tuesday, June 11, 2013, at about 5:30p.m. When I returned after closing from work, I honed at the gate

Zainab Yusuf Isa

but my wife didn’t open it for me as she used to do.

I then came out of my car and knocked the door but she still didn’t open it.”

The bereaved husband said that he then opened the gate with his spare key and entered his premises and called his wife’s name, she didn’t answer. He walked around the fence to peep the window curtain only to found a ladder but the security wire around the fence was cut.

He also said he saw her lying on the ground when he peeped through the window and rushed to call his neighbours for help.

He said: “When opened the gate with my spare key and called her but she didn’t answer, i walked around the fence and found a ladder but the security wire around the fence was cut at the ladder’s spot. I then opened the window and saw her lying on the ground like she was sleeping. I rushed into the room and tapped her. To my surprise, I found her like a dead person with some blood stream from her nose. I then went to the neighbour for help. When the woman entered and held her, she confirmed to me that she is dead.”

Yakasai also noted that when he asked his neighbours if they saw somebody around the house before the incident

happened but they told him that they didn’t see or hear anything around.

“When I asked my neighbours if they see somebody around before the incident, they testified to me that they didn’t see or hear anything until his returned from office.”

He said the assailants carted away her boxes that contained clothing materials and jewellery.

“My last moment with her was on the day the incident happened when I forgot my phone and returned back to take it. She escorted me to the gate and remind me to buy her a rosary that contains 99 names of Allah, I said ok and departed after she prayed for me, I will never forget this moment.”

He described the death as quite painful and amazing and prayed to God to grant her soul in the paradise.

He also prayed to God to expose the assailants.

The bereaved husband also described the deceased wife as a good and religious person.

“Her death is quit painful and amazing, but we have to accept death as inevitable. I pray to God to forgive her and grant her soul in the paradise. May He also give us the fortitude to bear the loss. I also pray to Almighty God to expose the assailants where ever they are, ameen.”

Peoples Daily weekend visited the deceased’s family house at Rimin Kira quarters of Municipal Local Government in the state’s metropolis and found a gathering of sympathisers, who had come to sympathise with her husband and family in a bad mood.

The deceased’s elder brother, Adamu Yusuf Isa, said he was at market when he was called on phone and told the incident. “ I was called when I was at the market and told that Zainab was killed at her residence. I just rushed to our house to confirm the incident which I later confirmed is true.”

Isa said, he then rushed to the residence and found her dead with some blood from her nose, a sign that means she was strangled. “ When I reached the house, I saw her dead with blood from her nose. I then saw the ladder and the

wire they cut to climb the house.”

He described the deceased as a good woman who never had quarrel with anybody in her life. He also prayed to God to forgive her and rest her soul in Jannatul Firdausi.

“Zainab is a good person.

She never had a quarrel with anybody during her lifetime. I pray to Allah to forgive her sins and rest her soul in Jannatul Firdausi.”

The deceased’s mother, Hajiya Aisha Yusuf, amidst tears, surrender to the almighty God as she believe Is the only One to make such a thing happen. “ I believe it is only God that can make such a thing happened, so I can only thank Him for all the thing He does to our life.”

Asked if she notice some injuries on the deceased’s body after the incident, the mother said they didn’t notice any injury in her body as they were giving bath to the corpse. “ I am among those that bathed the corpse but I didn’t see any injury apart from the blood that streamed from her nose, nothing .”

She described Zainab as a good and an educated woman who memorised the whole Koran. “ Zainab is a good girl and educated. She even memorised the whole koran. She never quarrelled with anybody. May Allah forgive her and rest her soul in Jannatul Firdaus, ameen.”

When contacted, the Kano State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Musa Magaji Majjia confirmed the incident, saying the husband of the deceased reported the matter to the police.

Majjia added that the police went to the scene of the incident and some arrests were made.

He said investigation was on to apprehend the main suspect, adding that the corpse had been deposited at the hospital for autopsy.

Sources revealed that similar incidents happened about three times in the area when some assailants climbed houses about three occasions and strangled the house wives in the past months.

My last moment with her was on the day the incident happened when I forgot my phone and returned back to take it. She escorted me to the gate and remind me to buy her a rosary that contains 99 names of Allah, I said ok and departed after she prayed for me, I will never forget this moment.”

News Feature

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Drama as man rapes man in Kaduna From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

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t all started like a drama at last weekend when a 25 year old civil servant, Kabiru Baffa alleged that a businessman, Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi raped him at his residence at Badarawa Kwaru in Kaduna when he went there to collect a brocade (shadda) that he ordered.

The whole incident which seemed strange to most of the residents of the area occurred last Saturday night around past 8 pm.

It was gathered that the businessman who deals in brocade he imported from Dubai into Nigeria is said to be a very close family friend of the victim’s mother.

Peoples Daily Weekend gathered that due to Alhaji Abu’s closeness to the family, Kabiru grew up to know him as his uncle.

The victim, who sustained various degrees of injuries in his efforts to escape from the house of the man, said they fought each other for minutes before he was able to free himself.

Kabiru, a staff of Ministry of works, Kaduna, narrated how the incident occurred when he received a called from Alhaji Abu that he should go to his house to collect the brocade he asked him to bring for him.

“When he called me, I was inside a friend’s car, so he asked where I was. I told him I’m with a friend. Then he said it was about the shadda he promised me. He told me to get a commercial motorcyclist to take me to his house along Zakariya Street in Badarawa Kwaru but I told him, I didn’t know his house.

“He explained to me how to get there, so when I got to the street, it was very rough and dark, I have never been there before. I still could not find the house. So, he later came and picked me where I was. When we got to his room, he started saying that I don’t like coming to his house.

“So, he offered to get me food but I told him I was not hungry because I was not feeling fine. He insisted that it was not possible for me to come to his house for the first time without eating anything.

“He brought me rice but I couldn’t eat because I was not feeling too well. But he insisted I eat the meat. After like two seconds I felt like vomiting so he opened the door for me to go inside the balcony and vomit. After that he brought me back to the parlour and offered to make a cup of tea for me which I agreed to take,” he said.

Kabiru said as soon as he finished taking the cup of tea he fell asleep, saying that after some minutes, it occurred to him as if he was sitting on something in a dream.

Kabiru Baffa

“I felt pain behind me. He was on top of me with himself in my anus. I struggled to stand up but couldn’t because he was lying on my back. So, I began to shout because I couldn’t breathe well. He told me to wait so that he finished what he was doing, saying he was going to pay me any amount I wanted.

“But I refused to listen to him as I continued struggling to free myself from him. Later he pointed a knife at me threatening to stab me if I refused to allow him release sperm in me. Still I started screaming. So, he dropped the knife and pleaded with me to be quiet.

“When he dropped the knife, I quickly grabbed it and we struggled over it before I succeeded in stabbing him. I stabbed him severally.

Even when I heard him screaming, I didn’t stop. He bite me at the back as he tried to take the knife from me. I left him screaming as I tried to escape from the house. When I opened the door he shouted thief! thief! So, I was stopped by his neighbors,” he said.

The young man further explained that when the people stopped him, he pleaded with them to call his mother to come right away, adding that both of them were later rushed to the Garkuwa Hospital for treatment.

The victim’s mother, Hajiya Fatima Ali who accompanied her son said they have a strong relationship with the man who was alleged to have raped her son.

She stated that she received a call from Alhaji’s family members around 2am that her son alongside Alhaji Abu were admitted in Garkuwa hospital due to injuries they both sustained in a fight.

“I was surprised when I received the call that night that my son and Alhaji Abu were admitted at Garkuwa Haspital following a disagreement between them.

Alhaji Abu Abdullahi

Kabiru’s mum

Honestly, I was surprised because I know my son did not even know his house,” she said.

On her relationship with Alhaji Abu she said, “well, we have a very strong relationship with him because my elder sister married his father. I know him since he was a kid. In fact, we see him like a son and part of our family because the house is always open for him anytime. Personally he is like a son to me.

Asked if she knew him to be homosexual, Hajiya Fatima said, “Yes, I know he is homosexual which is why I cautioned my son not to associate himself with him.

The truth is that Kabiru has never been to his house which is why I am still surprised over what happened” .

According to her, she visited Alhaji Abu on his hospital bed

twice so as to find out the actual truth of what really happened that night. “ But the kind of comments he made on my son made me to come out publicly to say that my son is not an armed robber as claimed by Alhaji Abu and I am ready to prove that,” she said vehemently.

Alhaji Abu was said to have been seriously injured by Kabiru that night. His face, arms and other parts of his body were covered with plasters.

In his reaction to the allegation, Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi denied carnal knowledge of Kabiru in his house on that faithful day.

He said Kabiru came to his house around 8.30pm on that faithful day but could not stay because his mother called him back home and he left.

According to him, Kabiru later

came back again around 11pm that night and called him on phone, adding he asked him what the problem was at that time of the day.

“When I opened the door for him, he asked if there was hot water to drink tea and food, I said yes, so he came in. After he finished drinking the tea and eating the rice, he said he was feeling hot and wanted to take his bath. So, he asked where the bathroom was and went to take his bath. While he was taking his bath, I prepared my own tea and when he finished taking his bath, he made another cup of tea for himself, that was around 11pm,” he said.

Alhaji said Kabiru later told him that he wanted to spend the night in the house.

“I asked if his mother was aware and he said yes. So, we went to bed together; l laid down by the side of the bed with my back turned at him. It was around 2 am that night that he started stabbing me with a knife. I never suspected he was the person stabbing me until later,” he said.

According to him, he is not a homosexual person and did not know why the young man accused him of it, saying his mother and the boy respect him.

He said he did not know the motive behind the attack because he has nothing against the young man.

Asked if he will take legal action against Kabiru, he said “well I have not decided on what to do yet. I leave everything in God’s hand”.

He also added that he has asked the doctor in the hospital to carry out test on Kabiru to ascertain his claim, so as to clear his name from the allegation leveled against him and to safe guard his personality.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Six-year-single term:

Constitutional window for Jonathan?

Aso Villa

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Six-year-single term: Constitutional window for Jonathan?

By Lawrence Olaoye, Okechukwu Okaforadi Abdul-Azeez and Suleiman

B

arely two years into his first four year tenure, President Goodluck Jonathan and his political trouble shooters began to device one scheme or the other to clear the way for his stay in office beyond the first four years which expires in 2015.

First, the President’s men made several failed attempts to stifle the opposition which only resulted into an apparent formidable merger of the three major opposition parties.

Swiftly switching to the next option, the President moved quickly and took complete control of the Peoples Democratic Party national structure by scheming the emergence of a new leadership headed by 80-year-old Bamanga Tukur.

This move too, rather than serve the President’s immediate purpose, resulted into an ever-widening crack in the ruling party. First, the move set Jonathan into a direct collision with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and by extension, means a clash with several powerful PDP state governors such as Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and many others.

Moving to counter Obasanjo’s anticipated plots, Jonathan crowned Chief Tony Anenih the PDP’s chairman of Board of Trustees. This too appeared to backfire as Bamanga Tukur and Anenih soon began to have conflicts of interest that saw the two operating on parallel wavelengths.

Further darkening the President’s chances, the North, suspicious of another ploy to betray yet another ambiguous gentleman agreement, further distanced itself from Jonathan’s camp.

At this point, Anenih began shooting from both sides of the hip; he got Asari Dokubo, leader of a Niger Delta militant group to issue a threat to set the country on fire if Jonathan were not allowed to rule beyond 2015.

When the Asari bluff was called, Anenih shifted from militancy to diplomacy by advocating for automatic tickets for incumbents wishing to contest on the PDP platform. This too met a stiff resistance forcing the Jonathan group back to the drawing board.

Suddenly, the Senate came up with a recommendation for a sixyear single term for the president and state governors as against the current maximum of two terms of four years each and stirred the hornet’s nest while appearing to cause a sharp crack in the polity.

On one hand are those who fear that if passed into law, Jonathan and 13 governors seeking re-election in the 2015 might be technically barred from participation. On another hand are those who see it as another plot by Jonathan to get a tenure elongation through another means.

President Goodluck Jonathan

Attempting to justify the recommendation, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu explained that if adopted, the six-year single tenure would effectively deny those aspiring for second term of their mandate and appealed to the president and 13 governors likely to be affected by the change to make sacrifice in the interest of the nation.

“For us, it would have been easy to say let’s put it six years and let whoever wants, including those who are available now, let them benefit, so long as it will keep overheating the system away.

“But we don’t want Nigerians to say that we have colluded with the executive to give tenure elongation to the president and certain governors.

That means somebody, instead of staying for eight years, will now be staying for 10 years.

“I think it will be easier for someone to deal with the issue of making a sacrifice than for someone to have the period for 10 years. I am not sure what our colleagues will say.

“If they say that those who are there now should benefit, that is fine. Those who are currently serving should be able to excuse themselves and say we make this sacrifice on behalf of the system,” Ekweremadu said.

President Jonathan himself made a painstaking effort to expatiate on the concept and the likely gains if it is adopted and passed into law by claiming that it was the “only way to reduce unrest and stabilise the polity,” and cautioning that the country could not “withstand the tension created as

a result of the tug-of-war for second term of office among politicians.”

The president observed that “the nation had never experienced a stable political climate since 1960, when it got independence” and insisted that a single six-year term was “necessary to stabilize the country and its economy.”He made further efforts to justify his position by saying that: “as we speak, there are people holding meetings because of 2015. This creates so much tension, which the country cannot stand.”

The idea, he said, is not being newly raised but was proposed during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and not driven by any selfish motive, ostensibly to elongate his tenure as president.

However, Jonathan and Ekweremadu’s explanations, rather than douse suspicions raised by the proposal, seemed to have inflamed a raging national debate.

Significantly, the House of Representatives immediately signaled that it was against the proposition when a member from Rivers State, Dakuku Peterside, said that the House of Representatives got an overwhelming endorsement from members to retain the two terms of four years and that the members were not in support of anything different from that.

Peterside pointed out that doing the opposite of what their constituents voted for, during the period of the exercise, would amount to shortchanging their people and could cause them their mandate.

“Our decision to stick to two terms

of four years was arrived at after an exhaustive consultation with our respective constituencies and we cannot come back to change what they did not ask us to change.

“I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that we arrived at that decision based on our constituency engagement. Most of the opinions were in favour of two terms of four years and not six years,” he said.

On their part, proponents of the single term of six years claim it would eliminate or minimise the damaging effects of the incumbency factor in Nigeria’s elections, improve the access of all ethnic groups to the leadership positions, and encourage stronger and healthier feelings of belonging and citizenship. Above all, they argue that single term tenure will reduce acrimony in politics and create a level play field for all candidates during elections. Others claim that it could reduce the cost of running the nation’s presidential system, which some experts claim takes about 80 per cent of annual budgets at all levels of our governments.

But leading opposition parties like the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and the Patriotic Alliance for Nigeria (PAN), as well as groups like the Civil Liberties Organisation and Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), all kicked against the proposed bill.

While CNPP spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, insisted that the recommendation was a plot by Jonathan to elongate the tenure of the incumbent leaders, the CPC said it was the “unveiling of a grand delusion” and the ACN said it was “nothing but tenure elongation by subterfuge.”

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN National Publicity Secretary, maintained that the project was also self-serving because, “despite the deceptive proviso that President Jonathan will not benefit from it, there is nothing in the constitution that bars him from seeking another term of office in 2015.”

In any case, he said, Jonathan has not told anyone that he will not run again after his current tenure.

Critics also puncture the vaunted hypothesis that the single six-year term will reduce unrest and stabilise the polity. They cited Mexico and The Philippines operating a single six-year term for their presidents and Zimbbwe that practices five years’ tenure system.

According to them, only 10 out of 144 countries practise one form of single term system, as the vast majority of the countries [54 per cent) practice a two five-year terms, while 17 countries (15 per cent) practise two four-year terms. Six countries practice two six-

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Senate President David Mark

Speaker, House of Representative, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal

Six-year-single term: Constitutional window for Jonathan?

year terms, five countries practise two seven-year terms, and another five countries practise a single five-year term. Two countries each practice the following: unlimited non-concurrent four-year term, two non-concurrent five-year terms, one four-year term, and unlimited terms. Only one country practice each of the following: single seven-year term, unlimited nonconcurrent one-year term, three fouryear terms, three five-year terms and two three-year term.

The Arewa Consultative Forum, in rejecting the proposal, said it would not only encourage corruption, but also discourage performance in public office and would not advance the cause of good governance. “Such a provision would be counter-productive, precisely because it cannot further the cause of good governance that goes with purposeful leadership, especially when regard is paid to the fact that it lacks the basic elements of motivation and incentives needed in any management of human affairs for performance. In the single tenure system, there are no incentives, motivation and reward that

can inspire for excellent performance.

And this has to do with the fact that the good, the not-so-good and the feckless leaders, are grouped together in the same hall without any distinction.

Such a practice cannot deliver on good governance. That may explain why most countries in the world practise multiple tenure systems which enable leaders to aspire for excellence in the hope of reward by way of re-election,” the ACF said.

On its part, Afenifere insisted that six years is too long to put up with a bad government. “If you have a bad government, the hope of changing it in four years is better than waiting for six years. So, we are opposed to it, we object to it, we are for the current fouryear renewable tenure but if they are insisting on one term, it should not be more than four years.”

But Ohanaeze Ndigbo on the other hand, saw the plan as capable of guaranteeing peace and progress, as well as eliminating inherent injustices in the country.

“We want a six-year single tenure for the president and it should be

rotational among the six geopolitical zones. That is our submission to the Constitution Review Committee and we stand by that. “At the moment, in present circumstances, nobody is patriotic in this nation because of the inherent injustices in the polity. These need to be redressed, lest there will be an implosion. All parts of the federation must be seen as equal stakeholders.

From there, there will be progress and development,” the Ndigbo group said.

But unlike Ohanaeze, the Program Officer, West Africa, of the National Endowment for Democracy, Oge Onubogu, concluded that the proposal may appear plausible in countries where institutions that check government excesses function effectively exist, but this was “not the case in Nigeria where state-accountability institutions are mostly weak and a culture of impunity still exists.” ”What is the motivation for any politician in Nigeria today to perform within a single term when they will not have to convince voters about how well they have performed while in office? It is already common for most “elected”

politicians to come into office with no action plan or clear understanding of the job. How will the single term proposal mitigate this?” He said.

He noted that though the current four-year consecutive term creates a self-perpetuating incentive of reward which in turn benefits the entire society, a single six-year term would only give “fewer incentives to successive politicians to record achievements quickly because they will not be contesting for a second term.”

Besides, he said the idea that an elongated single-term would curb preand post-poll violence and mitigates the “do or die” nature of succession politics greatly downplayed the deeprooted causes for the recurring trends of election-related violence in the country which is further exacerbated by a widely acknowledged frustration with the government. Quite frankly this proposal is typical of what we have seen over the years where politicians suggest strategies to “fix” Nigeria’s problems without first addressing the root causes.

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Discordant tunes over Senate’s single term proposal

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t was President Goodluck Jonathan who set the idea in motion by suggesting that the numerous bickering preceding the business of governance after every election, which often interfere with the efforts of elected leaders to provide good governance, could better be avoided if the electoral law should be amended to provide for a six year single term for the President, Vice President and state governors in the country.

This suggestion, coming at a point when the opposition was yet to conclude in crying wolf over the alleged manipulation of election results to the of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), expectedly was trailed by outrage and criticism.

The opposition camp quickly interpreted it as an early ploy by President Goodluck Jonathan to perpetuate himself in office beyond 2015, describing him as a treacherous leader. Swiftly clearing the mist created by this proclamation, Jonathan admitted that he will not benefit from this amendment. He said this will sincerely entrench the young democracy democratic government on Nigeria.

Even though the antagonists to this proposal were still sceptical about the sinister agenda belying it, the Senate progressed in action by incorporating it into the constitutional items of amendment.

This line of thought was informally adopted in Lagos during a retreat organised by the leadership of Senate to discuss some of the contentious issues in the constitution amendment exercise.

In the meantime, the Senate committee reviewing the 1999 constitution, lead by Ike Ekwerenmadu, has submitted its report, wherein they recommended a six year single term as was suggested

by President Jonathan, even as it precluded Jonathan and about 13 other governors elected on two term constitution, from seeking reelection in the 2015 general election.

Meanwhile, it was submitted for consideration in the Senate barely two days to the mid-term break of the lawmakers. Accordingly, the Senate President, David Mark, who received the report from his Deputy Ike Ekwerenmadu, said that debate on the document is suspended until after the short recess. According to him, this is to enable the lawmakers go home with the document and study it carefully, such that when debate is opened on it at return from recess, Senators would be speaking from informed perspective, having also consulted with their constituents.

Obviously, a recommendation of this magnitude cannot sail across the sea without causing splashing waves at the banks; therefore, various shades of comments have continued to emanate from both opposition and government alike.

In fact, even the Senate that originated the report is divided already, as some principal and ranking officers in the UpperChamber, are already kicking

Former Lagos governor, Bola Asiwaju Tinubu

against some of the sections which for one reason or the other, they found objectionable.

A good analysis of the various opinions on this issue indicates that majority of Nigerian opinion leaders have ruled out the potentials of this controversial section from sailing through. This is predominantly because the President, who holds the constitutional right to sign the amendment into law has expressed reservations over the section which encroached on his constitutional right to seek re-election in 2015.

In addition, majority of Nigerian political stakeholders, including political parties and socio-political organisations, have prefered that the status quo be maintained. They argue that the electoral process should rather be made transparent enough to ensure that the most popular candidate emerge after elections.

Speaking against the proposal, the Arewa Consultative Forum, said it will be counter productive.

The forum explained that the new proposal has lumped together good, the bad and ugly together, hence governors or President who performed well while in office, cannot be returned by voters.

The underlying view of this group, as disclosed by its National Secretary, is that the constitution should be made to accommodate compensation for governors who have worked hard in office, while those who performed poorly should be voted out.

To the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the current practise should be maintained while a more transparent free and fair electoral process should be put in place.

The party posited that the essence of election in democratic government is not only for electorate to elect their leaders, but also include the ability to vote out bad leaders.

General Muhammadu Buhari

CPC, which spoke through its National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, wondered what the Senate intended to achieve with the single term proposal.

Also Speaking, the Action Congress of Nigeria ( ACN) submitted that two tenures of four years each should be maintained, adding that it will inspire the governors and Presidents to work hard in office so as to merit re-election. He said that if the practise is changed, nothing prevents the incoming lawmakers from changing the law to something different. He counseled that the Senate should rather build on something that can endure.

There are indications however that the Presidency may not be in sync with the Upper Chamber on the proposal especially on its recommendation that it takes immediate effect with President Jonathan and other state governors seeking second term not benefitting. Similarly, the much needed concurrence from the House of Representatives may not be obtainable going by the feelers coming from the leadership of the Green Chamber recently.

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, while featuring on a Channels Television programme, recently said President Goodluck Jonathan was ready to forget his ambition to run for second term in 2015 if the proposal for a single non-renewable six-year tenure sailed through.

But in what seems to be a recant, Gulak later hinged support for the single tenure amendment on 2019 commencement date. This, he explained, would give President Jonathan and first term governors the opportunity to contest the 2015 elections.

Gulak said by 2019, the President and state governors who are currently serving their first term of four years would have completed their second

and final term as allowed by the 1999 Constitution. He said with the amendment taking off in 2019 , the country would then start on a clean slate with the President and governors that would emerge then already aware that they would serve only a single tenure of six or seven years as the case may be.

Gulak insisted that denying the incumbent President and first time governors the opportunity of participating in the 2015 elections would be unfair to them since the constitution under which they were elected allows them to contest a maximum of two terms.

He said, “The President has the single tenure idea and he still stands by it. The difference is that the amendment should not be in such a way that it will be targeted at a group of people. The committee’s proposal is that those incumbent governors and the President who are supposed to enjoy second term will not participate.

“What we are saying is that laws are not amended to target a particular group of people. It could have been okay if all those first term governors are allowed to participate, and after 2019, anybody coming in will know that he is going to be elected under the amended constitution.

“As it is today, it appears that the first term governors will be shortchanged because their rights to be re-elected or to contest under the 1999 Constitution as amended would have been abridged if this proposal goes through. Is it proper to shortchange them when they were elected under a constitution that allows them two terms of four years each? That is the crux of the matter.”

Gulak explained that Jonathan agreed not to benefit from the single

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12 tenure proposal when he moved the idea because he believed that the amendment would commence after he or the governors might have finished their second term. He expressed the belief that the proposal would not scale through since the process involved in amending the constitution was a long one. He was confident that party politics would come to play at the appropriate time.

Meanwhile, Afenifere, the pan Yoruba socio – political group, has described as improper, any move that could exclude the President and first term governors from seeking releection.

Secretary General of the group, Bashorun Seinde said, “It is not proper to make laws that would favour some people and exclude some others. We should not give excuse to legitimise illegality.” Arogbofa noted that Afenifere had never supported the fact that the National Assembly should amend the constitution on behalf of Nigerians because most of the members were not the real representatives of the people.”

Similarly, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed opposition to the six year-single tenure for the president and governors as proposed by the Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution. The apex northern socio-political body cautioned members of the National Assembly against adopting it.

It argued that adopting such a provision would be counterproductive because it was capable of impeding good governance in the country. National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, said in Kaduna, that apart from good governance, the proposal lacked the basic elements of motivation and incentives needed in the management of human affairs.

He said, “ACF’s position on single tenure for president and governors is that it is counter productive, because it has no incentives to motivate for excellence. This is because the good, the not-so-good and the feckless are grouped together without any exception.

He continued “All management of human affairs which has no way of rewarding excellent performance cannot reasonably be expected to be effective. In multiple tenure, reelection is often a form of reward for good performance. And if the president and governors know that they are all entitled to only six years whether they perform or not, they will concentrate on the pillage of public treasury, which is counterproductive.”

There were indications that the House of Representatives on resumption of its recess may not endorse the single term proposal.

This is because a random opinion sampled indicate that he idea is not popular among the lawmakers. It is unanimously believed that the idea, if not well handled, has the capacity to cause ripples in the nation’s polity.

According to Rep Peterside Dakuku, the House of Representatives got an overwhelming endorsement from members to retain the two terms of four years and that the members were not in support of anything different from that.

The Chairman, House of

13

Discordant tunes over Senate’s single term proposal

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo

Representatives Committee on Information and Public Affairs, Zakari Mohammed, has said the House will retain the four-year, twoterm provision for the President, Vice President and governors in the constitution. The spokesman said this is the position of the House on the review of the constitution.

He said: “We are bringing out our own report soon. In it, we have retained the structure of four years with two terms as it is in the constitution. When we present our report, of course, there will be a conference committee between Senate and House of Representatives.

“If they (Senators) don’t agree, there will be a conference, and it is about 360 members of the House of

Representatives with 109 senators.

At the end of the day, the position of the House will be in order. We went down to Nigerians – 360 federal constituencies – and everybody there wanted the retention of the four-year, two terms, as enshrined in the constitution. That is the judgment that we brought from the people. This is because our own constitution review was peoplebased and it was an opportunity to interface with our people.

“Rather than mix it up, we need to be very clear. The Senate has submitted its report; ours is ready.

By the time we come back from the break, we will present it at the floor of the House. It will come as a single bill. It will go through the process of first reading and second reading.

Alhaji Bamnga Tukur

Then a public hearing will follow.

It will come back to the floor of the House and we will adopt the report.

Then, it becomes a clean Act that Mr. President will assent to.”

With the open disagreement on the single term tenure within the two chambers of the National Assembly, the executive and the critical segments of the society, it is clear that the passage of the proposal may be improbable. The single tenure, critics are unanimous, is a novel idea that may be inconsistent with democratic norms world over. Leaders who performed well should be given the opportunity to re-contest while those who failed in their duties should be rejected at the polls.

Entrepreneur I started my business with only N2,500 —Salisu Buhari PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Sailisu Ibrahim Bihari was the first Speaker of the House of Representatives after the return of democratic government in 1999. Though he short lived the office, he is still in the political arena but more of a businessman. In this interaction with Ayodele Samuel, he reveals how he started his business with only N2, 500

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ailsu Buhari’s name rings a bell; many remember him as the first Speaker of the House of Representatives. He has since put behind him the controversy that rocked his short reign. Still, he remains a politician but only few know that he’s endowed with passion for doing business.

An alumnus of the prestigious Kings Collage in Lagos, Sailsu Buhari who also attended ABU Zaria in Kaduna State, is married to a beautiful Yoruba lady and is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of his numerous concerns in the country.

Sailsu who had been off political radar since 2003 after he contested the governorship of Kano state said he had moved on from what happened in the past and now a happy man doing his business quietly. “I am happier doing my business. I could never be happier in my life and I think every Nigerian in fact pursue that dream of happiness, I enjoy what am doing now, that is my business. For criticism, everybody has his right to own an opinion. For me, it’s all about being happy.”

He said a lot “of people are surprised that am into manufacturing, but those who understand me know that I have been into business before venturing into politics and have been back to it because its better I do my business than carrying my briefcase and going to see ministers in Abuja. Today, I go to see a minister today, tomorrow he might not want to see me, you understand. But if you are on your own, the little you are making, you are able to maintain your sanity and dignity which is much more dignifying than to go to Abuja and be going from office to office. That is why I decided to go into manufacturing and not oil and gas because I don’t want to run after public officials.”

How it started: I started business at a very young age. I actually started with a loan of N2, 500 from my daddy. That was when I was in ABU Zaria. I bought a taxi.

It was working for me in Kano while I was schooling in Zaria.

Every weekend, the driver comes down to Zaria and he gives me my money, like that till I finished from Zaria. I had kept a lot of money to begin other businesses. That was the beginning of my coming into business. The rest they say is history.

Doing business in the North in face of security

challenges: I think the issue is that there is no society that can prosper within the context of insecurity.

For any country to prosper, you need a stable and peaceful environment, not only in Kano. A lot of factories in this country suffer from insecurity because the problem is not just in Kano. Its spread everywhere but really you have to commend the President for the steps he has taken now, things are subsiding for this violence in the north.

Doing business in the north at this time is quite tough. If you ask any business man here, they would tell you it’s not easy but we are living it through day by day.

There are a lot of challenges. We have power problem like everybody, we also have infrastructure problem.

It was hard but I think we have overcome it, you know what happened in the north mostly in 2011 in Kano. We had a lot of the insurgency. The business environment was hostile. Many of the manufacturing companies in Kano were in need of funds.

Most of our commercial banks were actually withdrawing their money from their customers and not giving out loans, because they had declared Kano a war zone so we were left stranded in Kano. The last bank we ever thought of was the Bank of Industry BOI. We had no other option. We needed to supplement our capital and boost our operations. Fortunately BOI was able to sit with us and listened to us.

They understood the incidents in Kano had no bearing on our operations. Where we source our raw materials was not affected.

Our market was not affected.

Our customers don’t come to our factory or Kano state to buy our products. They pay their money into our account in their various states and we cargo our goods to them. With this little point, BOI was able to agree with us and help us. Fortunately, 2011 was our most profitable year, despite the unrests, the insecurity and Iam proud to tell you we are growing from strength to strength.

Coping with politics, business and the home front: To be honest, I dedicate most, if not all my time to my business and family, which I enjoy doing.

As I said, every Nigerian should aspire to be happy. I have a beautiful wife and four kids and of course I have my parents that I take care of and they take care of

me. I am still a daddy’s boy. If am not in the office, am in my house.

I don’t pay much attention to politics. For me, it’s my work and my home. I do 12 hours at work; I do 12hours at home. My family is very important to me. I don’t joke with them because they are lovely. I love traveling. Me, my wife and the family go on holidays. I don’t choose where we go for holidays. My wife chooses the destination, and I love playing squash Game. I have a Squash Yard in my house.

How to tackle unemployment: Part of it is the Bank of Industry issue I told you about. If you go and ask them, they are also creating jobs. I tell people, if you see somebody employing or we create jobs for about one thousand people, it’s not just the 1000 people. Look at the effect of the 1000 people on the society. Out of those people, maybe most if not all are family men with at least four dependants. Then look at those who will serve those people lunch, the society would be better. Unemployment would reduce. Also, don’t forget that in every country of the world, there is unemployment but we Nigerians are fantastic people. We are among the bravest, brightest and industrious people on earth. Whatever a Nigerian wants to achieve, he achieves.

The only thing is that everybody wants to make money. But apart from making money, what you want to do, pursue it with passion. If you want to be a barber, go to a barber’s shop, start sweeping the owner’s shop. You would learn from there and one day, you would become a shop owner. But it hurts me to see young people going into something either, it’s that they have no option or just because somebody else is doing it. If it’s what you really want to do, you must have passion for it.

Whatever you want to be, go out there and fight for it and leave the rest to God. Advice to youths: My best advice is to look for what you like from the bottom of your heart. If it’s business, go ahead and do it. If it’s politics from the deepest part of your heart, go ahead. If you want to serve the country maybe in the police or military, just make sure that is your passion. I tell you that is the key to success. A lot of people go into business or choose a career for wrong reasons and lack of passion. Anything you have passion for, you will succeed. That passion would drive you into making it from the busi-

Alh. Salisu Buhari ness and you would be happy.

Kano Politics: Giving a pass mark on Kano state government under its governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, “You should know that am from the same party with Kwankwaso.

We might have some differences within the party in terms of opinion and party structure but I can say he’s one million times better than the ANPP man that left there. Everywhere there are road constructions going on in Kano.

Just drive in and out of Kano.

For me, he’s trying to do his best.

I don’t belong to Kwankwaso’s faction of the party but he’s also our governor by the grace of God. That does not mean we should not give credit to him.

This man is working. Go to Kano and see what is going on there.

I am proud that he is in PDP. If he’s from another party and he’s working like that, I would tell you we (PDP) are finished in Kano.

There are factions, yes but primaries would come and we will always participate in elections united, despite all these factions and disunity in the party. At the end of the day, when the chips are down, we would put our house in order and confront elections as a united party.

Lesson learnt from Politics: If there is anything politics has taught me, it’s the nature of humans, their behaviour. It has really taught me how to relate with people from different parts of this country. My deduction truly is that we are all Nigerians.

There might be different languages, different cultures but we are a united country and it has taught me more about human character. But I have moved on with life. This is a happier Salisu Buhari.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

PAGE 15

Feature

Making life worthy for impaired children in Kwara From Olanrewaju Lawal,I lorin

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child with physical impairment could be referred to as one with learning difficulty which requires provision for special education via an Act of parliament.

A child has a “learning difficulty” for the purposes of this Act if he has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his age, or a disability which either prevents or hinders him from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of his age in schools within the area of the local education authority. Or if he is under compulsory school age and is, or would be, if special educational provision were not made for him, likely to fall below his age.

Besides, Special Education could be defined as education of physically or mentally handicapped children whose needs cannot be met in an ordinary classroom.

In Nigeria today, millions of children are roaming the streets begging for alms and other means to survive in life. This societal problem had compelled the Kwara State Government to establish the School of Special Needs formerly known as School for the Handicapped.

Investigation by our correspondent showed that the school situated along Old Jebba road has both primary and secondary Schools with hostels, mosque, workshops, water system and standard administration block among others.

On June17, 2011, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed ordered the immediate comprehensive renovation of School for Special Needs. It was gathered that twelve years after the Kwara State School for Special Needs, Ilorin was last visited by any governor (military

Physically challenged kids

or Civilian) Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed broke the jinx when he visited the school and announced the immediate comprehensive renovation of the School.

The governor, who was emotional touched on sighting the status of the hostel buildings in the school, directed that a comprehensive report on the school’s renovation requirement be submitted to his office latest within a week.

The governor who was accompanied on the visit by top government functionaries, disclosed that his visit to the school was to enable him collect first hand information on the school and the areas of needs that requires urgent government attention. He said government would create a platform for skills acquisition so that students of the school can be taught to acquire various vocational skills.

“I have come to see what is available in the school to make life meaningful for the students and get them fully integrated into the society”, he said.

The governor, who also assured teachers and students of the school that teaching facilities in the school would be improved upon, urged the teachers to endeavour to train the students in such a way that they would be able to face future challenges.

According to him, renovation of the school would commence immediately with the critical areas such as the hostel, classroom and laboratories, adding that a substantial part of the renovation work was expected to be ready for commissioning within the first 100 days of his administration.

“I assure you that before the year runs out, you will have a brand new school for Special Needs,” the governor disclosed further, prom-

ising that his administration would do everything humanly possible to make the children feel like Nigerians.

In her response, the Principal of the School, Hajia Aisha Raji expressed appreciation on behalf of the management, staff and students to Governor Ahmed for his genuine concern and for making the school the first to be visited since he assumed duty.

The school, according to the Principal, was established in 1974 by the State Government to provide qualitative education for children with special needs with a view to making them self- reliant. Raji, however, appealed for government assistance in the areas of inadequate staffing, food supply, non-availability of science-based laboratories, poor electricity supply, inadequate sporting materials and erosion problem, among others.

Our correspondent who visited the school a year after, observed that the structure of the school has changed, with additional staff, both teaching and non-teaching provided. The School, which located beside the road, is well fenced with four security men working day and night to protect the Special Children in the school.

Similarly, Justice Mustapha Akanbi also pledged an annual donation of N600,000 to the Kwara State School for Special Needs.

The former President of Court of Appeal and pioneer Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC), announced the donation when he visited the school on the Old Jebba Road, Ilorin, as part of activities marking his 80th birthday.

He pledged to redeem his pledge at a monthly rate of N50, 000, adding that the gesture was his birthday

Gov. of Kwara state, Abdulftah Ahmed

gift to the students.

He said that the way to appreciate God’s favour on him was to spread the hand of fellowship to the less privileged in the society.

Reacting to the gesture, principal of the school, Alhaja Fatima Raji, said the school was saddled with responsibilities in taking care of the students, whom she said, were intellectually-challenged and hearing-impaired.

Water tank at School of Needs,Kwara State.

“In spite of disability, we have a lot of ability in them. What we are doing here is to make sure we train them to become economicallyindependent after their school programme,” she said.

Raji commended Akanbi for identifying with the students and prayed God to give him good health and long life to enable him do more of selfless service.

16

Homes

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Decoration ideas for sleek, modern kitchens

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odern kitchen design trends change fairly rapidly and this post goes out to all of you out there interested in finding some inspiration for a modern kitchen design. For today we thought about gathering a collection of fabulous modern kitchen design ideas that would serve as a good source of inspiration for anyone thinking about redecorating. All the arrangements in the pictures below have a contemporary feel and fit great in modern houses or apartments. The color palette is various and we also tried to find some kitchen designs that featured a certain theme. Wood is present in most of the interiors, creating a warm environment. When decorating, also keep in mind to add some flower arrangements as they have the ability of really cheering up a place.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Relationship

18

Meeting your fiancé’s parents: Tips to

win their hearts

Heart Matterz With A’isha Biola Raji

E-mail: rajia39ishabiola@yahoo.com Phone: 08082071393 (Text only)

My on again-off again relationship – Anonymous

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By Abhishek Agarwal

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lady might feel like introducing her new fiancé to her parents early in the relationship, other than the man introducing his fiancé to his parents. The reason is because females speak more candidly concerning their life to with their parents that means that they will most apt to view the meeting as just an opportunity for three significant individuals in her life to get together and even meet. The Men folk on their side are not likely to speak candidly to their parent, so, for them introducing their fiancé is a mammoth step that shows that his new girl is much serious. Whilst this is an enormous step in any serious relationship, it is significant to bear in mind that the guy’s parents are not dissimilar to any other parents you may have meet in your life, so try to be

your-self and you’ll most likely survive this initial encounter unscathed.

Because this is a very significant step in any relationship, it is significant to recognize that your guy’s parents also realize the importance of this encounter and will be watching you very much during this encounter.

Conversely, do not let this frighten you as your guy already feels affection for you so there is no much reason for his parents never to have the same feelings for you. Remember that they are apt to scrutinize you but also remember that being your real self and not feigning any false airs is the surest way to make it successfully in this initial meeting with his parents. If you have always been real to yourself so far in your conduct with your guy then he already consents of your character and dispositional traits so do not be scared

to let the genuine you glow through when you meet his parent. They are much possible related to him in persona so if he loves then you should be rest assured that they will too, as much as you are sincere and candid with them.

When meeting your guy’s parents for the initial time, it’s essential to let him lead when discussing the position of your relationship. Whereas the two of you might have already started talking marriage or even moved in together, he might not be prepared to share this kind of details with his parents thus far. Do not come up with the supposition that he has already talked with the parents about your relationship with him and that he is relaxed to let them know the stage that the relationship is at and the plans the two of you have about the future.

To be continued…

If you have any relationship story you want to share with our readers, please send to the above address. Let’s share your love story.

had met my now exboyfriend almost four years ago. At first, things were rocky but we managed somehow. We talked and dated for a while before making anything official. I’ve personally have never had insecurity issues before until him- then again, all my other relationships have made me gotten to that point.

Nonetheless, our first year together was tough. I had just gotten kicked out of a University and had felt like my life was completely spiraling out of control. I started feeling like I wasn’t good enough for someone like him- who had a job and was attending school and was somehow balancing friends and family all at the same time. We decided to take our first break here.

Months passed and we reconciled. Things went fine for a while but little arguments here and there would emerge. It wasn’t until a couple months ago that everything went down the drain. We would get into intense fights and he would get up and walk away like nothing even mattered to him. I would try to continuously call him day after day and he would refuse to pick up my calls or return my texts.

When I was finally able to face him, we were able to

talk it out and promised for better days. Of course, promises were meant to be broken and here we are again. A couple nights ago, we got into another intense argument that resulted with us breaking up. He had called my phone but by that time, I was so angry that I had fallen asleep so I missed his call. I tried to return his call the following day and he’s ignored me since then. This has been a constant problem in our relationship: whenever things get tough, he’s the first one to get up and run. I just don’t understand it anymore.

After almost four years together, I would expect some type of respect from this guy but I’m just not receiving it. It breaks my heart to let go just because we’ve been through so much, yet staying isn’t helping anything. I’m just not sure where we stand right now.

Ever since the fallout, I’ve just been getting an extreme case of anxiety. I have limited eating to only one meal a day and I’ve just been moping around. I know I’m supposed to know better than to get this low but I just don’t know how to feel better about this situation when I don’t even know where we stand at the moment.

Re – I hate him but I couldn’t say no to my parents

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afeesa, try and get back with your ex-boyfriend Salihu and leave Ahmed because there is no way you can forget him. There is a Hausa saying that your past still remain your past and there is no way you can do away from your past “Tsohuwar zuma da’ita ake magani.”

--Mansur A Magaji Abuja Wuse Zone III

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Beauty Tips

19

How to get rid of blackheads

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lackheads are black bumps that appear on the skin, and they’re caused by excess oils that collect in hair follicles. This form of acne is also referred to as an “open comedo” and develops when a plug increases in size, and forces its way to the surface of your skin.

The reason this form of acne appears to be black is due to dark pigment melanin.

Blackheads are as small as the tip of a pin, and are ordinary occurrences among both men and women of all ages. The areas of your body that may be affected by them are the spots where you have over-active oil glands, such as your face around the nose, chin and forehead, as well as the arms, chest and back. Some people may even notice them around their lips as well.

Blackheads aren’t always easy to spot if you’re not looking for them; but once you notice you have them, they are hard to ignore.

They’re easier to see in natural sunlight or other bright lights like florescent lighting. Women will notice them more in their t-zone (line across forehead, line from middle of forehead to chin) since blackheads love to root in the oiliest areas of the body. They are likely to increase or decrease with changes in the weather, or changes in hygiene routines.

The reason why the body produces oils that inevitably cause all forms of acne is to keep your dermis supple and moist; after all, your skin cells are constantly reproducing so that dead skin cells can be shed. This process causes clogged pores that appear as blackheads or whiteheads, which have the potential to become inflamed areas that are difficult to get rid of. The best way to avoid them is to keep acne-causing bacteria off of your face; however this is easier said than done.

Home remedies There are simple things you can do to keep blackheads and other forms of acne to a minimum, including using acne creams and cleansers. By adopting a skin care routine that focuses on acne problems, you will be more likely to reduce the amount of blackheads that appear on your face and body.

Routine to follow To keep the dirt, dead skin, and other unwanted debris out of your pores, you will want to consider using a face wash every day, two times a day, ideally morning and night. This will help keep blackheads from appearing, and also helps remove ones that

have already formed.

It’s important to use cleansers with ingredients like salicylic acid that fight off acne by removing dirt, dead skin and bacteria.

Before using the cleanser at night, wipe off your makeup with a makeup wipe, otherwise you will need to cleanse twice; once to remove the makeup, and secondly to remove what has been left behind.

Two or three times weekly you’ll benefit from using a facial exfoliating scrub that contains salicylic acid, micro-beads, or some sort of gentle exfoliating beads. For acne-prone people, using a gentle exfoliating scrub daily may be helpful in treating the problem. Another ingredient to look for in facial cleansers or gentle exfoliates is alpha hydroxyl acids. These will also remove pore-clogging materials.

Use a toner daily before applying moisturizer to close pores and keep oil from building on your skin. You can find toners in all price ranges, and also in your local drugstore or department store. Keep in mind that it’s important not to use a toner that contains alcohol. You can also use toner sprays throughout the day if you feel it becoming dry due to makeup and/or weather conditions.

Facial peels are helpful in removing unwanted blackheads, and you may be able to use these every other day while showering. Facial peels are used for removing dead skin, and some are even strong enough to remove blackheads or peach fuzz

from your skin – it all depends on the products you use. Finish your daily routine with a moisturizer to replenish the moisture that may have been stripped away from all of the cleansing and exfoliating.

Lemon You can use lemons in homemade face masks and rinses to exfoliate your skin since it’s a natural alpha hydroxyl. Alpha hydroxyl acids are fruit acids, and will exfoliate the

skin naturally like salicylic acids do.

Also, lemon can reduce the amount of dead skin cells so that you won’t develop blackheads.

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE,

Laptop screen repair I f the screen on your laptop cracks, bleeds, or is dim, we can repair it. We can save you hundreds on this repair. We have a minimal labor cost and we never mark up the price of parts. We only use brand new screens and our repairs come with a warranty.

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We guarantee our repairs so you don’t have to worry when you leave our shop.

Data Recovery Did your laptop crash and you think you lost everything? Think again. At Santa Cruz Computer Shop & iPhone we can recover your valuable and priceless data.

Data is one of our priorities here.

You can always replace a laptop but not your pictures and work.

Page 20

Would you like a slap with that?

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rom catering i l l u s t r i o u s celebrity-fueled events to bouncing from table to table at a high-volume restaurant, “Slap” is an unflinching, humorous look into waiting tables. Savor 30 short & sweet vignettes of hospitality colliding with absurdity (which averages out to 40+ full pages).

Do you need to be a waiter / waitress to appreciate this? Not if you can laugh at yourself! For the love of preserving basic manners, anyone that isn’t offended by mild language should read this book.

If you’re looking for breezy-filler, a heady / ego-stroking psychanalysis of the service industry, “Victorian” etiquette lessons, or you just want to take a stroll down memory lane through fluffy memoir-this book is NOT FOR YOU. Save your buck and use it to tip a hard-working bartender!

(Please!)

“Slap” is simply a book that goes straight for the cheek and delivers rude people their just desserts. Are you ready? Dig in ...

Come in for a free diagnostic today.

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Whether a virus damaged your laptop, or you accidentally deleted system files, we can repair your system. There are also other reasons why your operating system will stop responding or even loading.

Virus Removal Virus come in many shapes and forms. Malware, spyware, trojans, worms etc.. Some track your internet usage, some can destroy your files or your operating system and more. Some can even spy on you via microphone, webcam, screen capture or all. If you have been infected we can completely remove the virus and set you up with a FREE antivirus. When you leave our shop your system will be virus free. We can also show you how to stay safe online.

Did you know that?

• Norwegian prison, Bastoy is one of the best in the world. It houses 115 criminals in one of its most luxurious set up • New born babies have a natural reflex to swim for the first 4-6 months of their life.

The instinct then disappears and must be re taught.

• Norwegians pay half tax in November so everyone has more money for Christmas • There is an office building in Japan which has a high way passing through it • In 2005, a Supreme Court decision declared, it is NOT the duty of any police force in the US to protect citizens, but to enforce laws and there will be no need to protect anyone.

• Queen Elizabeth’s used pant sold for $18,000 • Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school • You can stop hiccups by swallowing a teaspoon full of sugar

• Abraham Lincoln was a tremendous, skilled, wrestler. He once beat a man with a single toss and challenged a mob that had gathered, “Any of you want to try it? No one stepped forward.

• A man left his job to devote his time to playing video games. He died from dehydration and heart failure after playing for 50 hours straight.

• Women find men more attractive when they notice other women looking at him.

• Cats make over 100 vocal sounds, dogs make 10 • Orange, lemon and lime, all repel spiders • In 2001, Kenny Waters, a man who was wrongly imprisoned for 18 years for murder was finally freed after his high school drop- out sister went to law school and proved his innocence.

Learning

With Emmanuel Eko junioremma419@gmail.com 08165618872

Book Review

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A small lump of coal

e was just, “A Small Lump of Coal” A bouncing babyboy arrived on the Paoli, Indiana scene in1942. He bounced from household to household and from mother, to grandmother, to aunt, to foster parents and back again until he was fourteen years old.

He bounced back and forth between Paoli and Bedford, Indiana and between Lakeland, Gainesville, and McIntosh, Florida. He never spent 36 consecutive months with any family from his birth to his marriage.

His grandparents claimed to have adopted him and his birth mother refered to him as, “Her brother,” as did his aunts and uncle, but he was never adopted.

He never met his real father. His first stepfather gave him his surname and nothing else. His second stepfather was physically abusive when he was drinking and he seldom stopped drinking.

His mother birthed eleven children. He was the oldest.

Four of his siblings died before they were two-yearsold, She gave five of them away before their fourth birthday. She raised the eleventh child. He knew the location of only one sibling for most of his life.

He quit school when he was sixteen, married when he was seventeen, and had fathered five children before he was twenty-five.

Any Psychologist will tell you that he was destined to fail. BUT HE DIDN’T!

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Health Diabetes education as a tool in diabetes management -Dental A Diabetes expert, Mr. Isaac Yakubu Akogu, is also Pharmacist with over 16 years experience with specialisation in Diabetes Education. Trained by The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Johannesburg, South Africa, he also acquired training in Tanzania, Uganda and Cameroon in 2011 to qualify as a Diabetes Conversation Map Expert Trainer saddled with responsibility of training doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health care professionals on current dynamics in diabetes education. He holds a Postgraduate certificate in Diabetes Management from Dares Salaam, Tanzania and is currently the 2nd Vice President of Diabetes Association of Nigeria, North Central Zone. In his weekly column, Wellness, in Peoples Daily Weekend, he brings to you, the appropriate and current information on diabetes and other health matters.

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iabetes education is the cardinal principle that guides Diabetes management. The discussion in last week edition in this column elicited comments, questions and contributions from readers within and outside Nigeria concerning the topic Hypoglycaemia (Low blood glucose), I like to thank you for your comments both on Phone, email and social media, on ways to further enrich this column and am also encouraged to know that a lot of information lacuna is being filled for better living with Diabetes.

This week, we shall take a look at an important part of the body that can influence blood glucose control- Dental care.

It should be noted that uncontrolled Diabetes has made many persons to lose their teeth earlier than normal, knowledge about how to take care of the mouth will assist in good dental care and ultimately good glycaemic (blood glucose) control. The presence of high blood sugar does not affect large organs like heart, eyes, kidneys alone but body parts like the teeth and gums are involved too. It is therefore important to learn what one needs to do about the mouth to keep the teeth healthy.

Cavities and Gum Diseases The need to maintain a good glycaemic control (blood glucose level) is irrespective of the type of Diabetes either type 1 or type2. The higher the blood glucose level, the higher the risk of this cavities and gum diseases.

Cavities (Tooth Decay) The mouth naturally contain some bacteria which thrive, however, the presence of sugars and starches from

Gingivitis with swollen gums food we eat, beverages we drink leads to interactions with these bacteria to form a film coating on the surface of the teeth known as Plaque. This contains some form of acid which attacks the hard surface (Enamel) of the teeth leading to formation of cavities. The higher the blood glucose level, the higher the proportional rise in the formation of this plaque which wears the teeth.

Gingivitis (Early gum disease) The body’s ability to fight infection reduces with uncontrolled Diabetes. The plaque formed on the enamel (hard outer surface of the teeth) if not removed with regular brushing and flossing, it could harden under the gum line into a substance called

Periodontitis

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Pharm. Isaac Yakubu Akogu www.diabetesguidenigeria.blogspot.com, 08176179496, diabetesconcepts@gmail.com

tartar (Calculus). The longer the plaque and tartar, the more the irritate the gingiva, lower part of the gum around the base of the teeth, this leads to swollen gum around the base of the teeth which can bleed easily, a condition referred to as Gingivitis.

P e r i o d o n t i t i s (Advanced Gum disease) This is an advanced stage of gum disease. This results when gingivitis remain untreated for a long time. This condition is serious, it leads to destruction of soft tissue and bone that support the teeth, it is referred to as Periodontitis. This causes the gum to pull away from the teeth with eventual falling off of the teeth.

This condition tends to be more serious in people living with Diabetes because when Diabetes is uncontrolled, resistant to infection reduces and healing slows. This condition can also lead to rise in blood glucose level, making Diabetes control difficult even though one is judiciously using anti diabetic drugs, prevention is therefore key.

How to prevent Dental infection - Regular brushing of the teeth especially after meal and before going to bed.

- Regular flossing of the mouth after each meal to remove debris of food particles left over in the mouth.

- Use of tooth picks to remove food and meat particles in between the teeth after meals.

- Regular monitor and control of blood glucose level.

- Routine visit to the Dentist for examination.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE,

Kiddies World 22

With Aunty A'isha rajia39ishabiola@yahoo.com 08082071393.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS The smallest woman in the world

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HIS AND HERS’ CORNER It’s all about having comfortable sandals

SHORT STORY

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

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JyotiAmge, the smallest woman in the world.

JyotiAmge (born December 16, 1993), a resident of Nagpur, India,Jyoti is only a little bit over 2 feet (62.8 cm) tall, roughly the size of a one year old baby, attracting curious people wherever she goes.

Her restricted height is due to a growth anomaly called achondroplasia.

She is resident of Nagpur, India and according to the Guinness Book of Records holds the record for the

world’s smallest living woman.

Jyoti claimed the record as of December 16, 2011, when she became an adult.

“It is wonderful to celebrate my 18th birthday with a new world record; it’s like an added birthday present. I feel grateful to be this size; after all, if I weren’t small and had not achieved these world records, I might never have been able to visit Japan and Europe, and many other wonderful countries. I have put Nagpur on a world map. Now everyone will know where it is.”

h! she said to the servants, “my mother is coming, and she will kill me.”

“She shall not kill you at all; we will lock you in a room where she cannot get near you,” the servants replied.

When Silver-tree came ashore, she called on Gold-tree to come out and greet her mother but she refused.

Silver-tree begged her daughter Gold-tree to at least stick out a finger for her to kiss. “Will you not put out,” said Silver-tree, “your little finger through the key-hole, so that your own mother may give a kiss to it?”

Gold-tree put out her little finger, and Silver-tree went and put a poisoned stab in it, and Gold-tree fell dead.

When the prince came home, and found Gold-tree dead, he was in great sorrow, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he did not bury her at all, but he locked her in a room where nobody would get near her.

Later, he married again, and the whole house was under the hand of new wife but one room, and he himself always kept the key of that room.

On a certain day of the days he forgot to take the key with him, and the second wife got into the room.

She saw the most beautiful woman that she ever saw.

She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed the poisoned stab in her finger. She took the stab out, and Gold-tree rose alive, as beautiful as she was ever.

At the fall of night, the prince came home from the hunting-hill, looking very downcast.

“What gift,” said his wife, “would

you give me that I could make you laugh?”

“Oh! Indeed, nothing could make me laugh, except Gold-tree was to come alive again.” “Well, you’ll find her alive down there in the room.”

When the prince saw Gold-tree alive, he was happy. Then the second wife said, “Since she is the first one you had, it is better for you to stick to her and I will go away.” “Oh! Indeed you shall not go away, but I shall have both of you.”

At the end of the year, Silver-tree went to the well, where there was the bony fish.

“Bonny little fellow,” she said, “Am I not the most beautiful queen in the world?”

“Oh! Indeed you are not.” “Who then?” She asked. “Gold-tree, your daughter,” bony fish replied.

“She is not alive. It is a year since I put the poisoned stab into her finger.” Bony fish said, “Oh! Indeed she is not dead at all.”

Silver-tree went home and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, for that she was going to see her dear Gold-tree, as it was so long since she saw her. The long-ship was put in order, and they went away.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

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Kiddies World E AD

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With Aunty A'isha rajia39ishabiola@yahoo.com 08082071393.

CREATIVITY

ACTIVITIES

How to make cassava bread Cassava bread is delicious and easy to make.

What you need: 1cup fresh cassava meal 2 tablespoons counter flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1/3 cup milk 1tablespoon lime juice

23

Using the right colours, shade the image below. Describe the action and show your work to your teacher for correction. Cheers!

1 egg What to do: Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add egg and milk to produce a thick batter. Stir in oil and lime juice.Pour one half of batter into well-greased non-stick frying pan.

Cook on moderate heat for about 5 minutes. Turn and cook for a further 5 minutes.

AFRICAN TALES

The Ape, the snake, and the lion MODEL OF THE WEEK

Happy birthday to beautiful Nifemi Olaoye @6, kiddies world wishes you many happy returns. Hurray!

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hen ’MvooLaana had walked a great deal farther without finding which way he should go, he met SimbaKongway, who asked, “Where are you going, son of Adam?”

And the youth answered, as dolefully as before, “I don’t know; I’m lost.”

“Come, cheer up,” said the very old lion, “and rest yourself here a little. I want to repay with kindness to-day the kindness you showed me on a former day.”

So ’MvooLaana sat down.

SimbaKongway went away, but soon returned with some game he had caught, and then he brought some fire, and the young man cooked the game and ate it. When he had finished he felt a great deal better, and they bade each

other good-bye for the present, and each went his way.

After he had traveled another very long distance the youth came to a farm, and was met by a very, very old woman, who said to him: “Stranger, my husband has been taken very sick, and I am looking for some one to make him some medicine. Won’t you make it?” But he answered: “My good woman, I am not a doctor, I am a hunter, and never used medicine in my life. I can not help you.”

When he came to the road leading to the principal city he saw a well, with a bucket standing near it, and he said to himself: “That’s just what I want. I’ll take a drink of nice well-water. Let me see if the water can be reached.”

As he peeped over the edge

of the well, to see if the water was high enough, what should he behold but a great big snake, which, directly it saw him, said, “Son of Adam, wait a moment.”

Then it came out of the well and said: “How? Don’t you know me?”

“I certainly do not,” said the youth, stepping back a little.

“Well, well!” said the snake; “I could never forget you. I am Neeoka, whom you released from the trap. You know I said, ‘Save me from the rain, and I will save you from the sun.’ Now, you are a stranger in the town to which you are going; therefore hand me your little bag, and I will place in it the things that will be of use to you when you arrive there.”

To be continued…

WELCOME TO THE WORLD

God has blessed the family of MR. MOSES ESSON AKWASHIKI JOHN, with a bouncing baby boy recently

Photo: Emmanuel Eko

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Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Entertainment

My song, ‘yara manyan gobe’ made me popular – Zico Why are you nicknamed A.A. Zico?

Zico is the name of a famous Brazilian footballer and I used to play football before, so I was named after the Brazilian.

What motivated you to engage in singing?

It started by just developing passion for fun. Fun is my hobby. I love having fun always to the extent that I used to dance at wedding ceremonies, parties and other ceremonies. Based on that, I chose to sing because it would give me more fun.

When did you start singing?

I started singing in 2002 by using a flute amidst my friends, making beautiful sounds with the flute. It was then my friends began to encourage me to join the film industry, telling me that I would make a great impact in the industry considering my talent in music and the way I produced different sounds with the flute. My friends then made drums, using buckets and leather sacks and used to make beats while I blew the flute to create a musical scenario. At that time, I didn’t use my voice but used the flute in making the songs. I produce the lyrics with the flute. We made beautiful songs in that way for some moments. I later on decided to

Anas Abdussalam Ahmad, popularly known as A.A. Zico, has carved a niche in Kannywood as a musician for nine years. In this interview with MUSTAPHA ADAMU, the Banking and Finance Diploma holder shares his experience in the career and the challenges he faces. start voicing the songs I made with the flute and succeeded in doing that by making a lot of songs.

How did you get into Kannywood?

It was late Jamilu Squiding that first called me to join the industry. He was a photographer working for the industry, so he used to call me to accompany him to Kannywood anytime he had an assignment. After going to the industry several times, he then tipped me with the idea of joining the industry since I have talent for singing. I accepted and began to concentrate in the area of music to the extent that I got a master that continued to teach me music.

How many songs have you sung so far in your career?

About 200 songs. I was unpopular in music despite the fact that I have written many songs, but I produced a song titled “ yara manyan gobe”. It is the song that made me popular because it was even played in

radio stations.

baki” and “farin masoyi”, I hope

Do you sing for Hausa movies?

Yes, I have started singing for Hausa films. I have sung in some yet-to-be released films including Adam A. Zango’s film titled “Madugu”. The song is the movie title song; it is called “madugu.”.

Frank Marshall to produce ‘Assassin’s Creed’

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eteran moviemaker, Frank Marshall, is in negotiations to produce ‘Assassin’s Creed’, Hollywood Reporter has said.

It added that the New Regency and Ubisoft Motion Pictures’ big-screen take on the popular Ubisoft video game that has Michael Fassbender attached to star.

The talks are happening as Basil Iwanyk closed his deal to act as a producer on another Regency-Ubisoft partnership, the adaptation of Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell.

Mike Lesslie has written the script, and Ubisoft’s Eli Richbourg, Fassbender and his partner Connor McCaughan are producing.

Marshall would join the team, bringing decades of film experience, especially of the blockbuster variety.

Marshall’s impressive producing credits range from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and Poltergeist to the recent Matt Damon Bourne trilogy.

He is currently working on Jurassic Park 4.

Hollywood Reporter further

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Which is your best song?

All my songs are my favourites but “yara manyan gobe” is my best because it is the song that made me popular.

Zico

When did you sing “yara manyan gobe”?

I produced it since 2002 but I didn’t sing it until 2012.

to release them immediately after “yara manyan gobe”.

How many albums have you made so far?

I have made three yet-tobe released albums so far but hope to release one of them in the upcoming Eid-el Fitr period. It is called “yara manyan gobe” including its video. The remaining albums are “fari da

Which musical instrument do you use?

I use piano. When I get on the keyboard, I select a desired code, C code, E or F, depending on the code I select. After I produce the instrumental, I then produce the voice over the instrumental afterwards.

Z’, starring Brad Pitt, is to screen from June 20 in Imax theaters in Australia and Hong Kong, Hollywood Reporter has said.

It added that the deal with Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions, in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films, has seen the zombie apocalypse thriller digitally remastered into Imax’s 3D format before landing day-anddate in other foreign territories.

“We’re thrilled that ‘World War Z’ is [Brad Pitt’s] first

On his background My name is MohammaduAwwalu City. I was born in 1977 at the city of Kano, precisely at Mariri area of Kano, right by what is now Kasuwar Yan Goro. Both of my parents are still alive. Iam presently married to a wife and we are blessed with two lovely children.

On how he got into the music profession?

Though my parents are

Mohammed Awwalu City not musicians, I got into the profession after my tutelage under a popular Hausa musician, who unfortunately has passed away. I learned to sing under the late Ali Makaho, who drew me close to him while I was still attending school. I have been with the late sage, learning the ropes and when he died, I went solo. Though our style of music differs, he is known as a ‘Gurmi’ maestro while Iam presently into the modern Hausa music, singing basically for films, politicians and wedding ceremonies.

Which of your songs have become popular?

Among my songs that have become popular especially among Hausa music lovers is ‘Alagidigo.’

I can say that song was at a point the rave of the moment and it made me popular. I also sing political songs like those that I did for Alhaji Isa Yuguda, the Bauchi state governor, as well as AlhajiUmaruTanko Al-makura, his Nasarawa state counterpart.

Some of my songs I would rather not talk about because it may generate controversy for me.

On his challenges as a musician Presently, my biggest challenge is that Iam not mobile; I don’t have a car of my own. Most people would not believe this because I meet a lot of prominent persons in the society. Many people don’t believe that I don’t have a car and I have to board commercial vehicles just like any other person. God has blessed me with the ability to meet with movers and shakers of the society but up till now, I don’t have a car that will facilitate my movement. The music profession

as a whole is rewarding and as a musician, Iam able to meet with people that ordinarily I would not have met in my life. It is as a result of my music that I met General MohammaduBuhari. I sang a song for him, ‘Nigeria SaiBuhari’ and because of that I visited Daura, his country home where he personally presented me with a gift. He told me that he so much enjoyed the song and that was why he invited me to Daura. It was as a result of that song that I also met Governor UmaruTanko Al-makura of Nasarawa state.

On his advice to up and coming Hausa musicians My advice to both musicians and those aspiring to become one, is that we must uphold the virtues of sincerity and honesty. If you look at what is happening in the country, there is the need to tell both the leaders and followers the truth. The people are yearning for change and we should try and reflect that in our songs. It will not be beneficial at the long run if we sell our conscience to the highest bidder who may give us money but who may want us to sell a not so popular idea.

With Tobias Lengman

2 Chainz arrested for Pot possession at LAX

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opular American rapper, 2 Chainz was arrested by the Police for possession of illegal substance, TMZ has said.

2 Chainz had been arrested at Los Angeles International

Brad Pitt’s ‘World War Z’ to screen in Imax in arc Forster’s Imax release and look Hong Kong, Australia ‘World War forward to his fans

How I met Buhari – Alagidigo MohammaduAwwalu City is an upcoming Hausa musician, whose song, ‘Alagidigo’, has become a rave of the moment mostly in the Northern part of the country. In this interview with our Lafia correspondent, ALI ABARE ABUBAKAR, Awwalu City, who was recently at the commissioning ceremony of NAGIS office in Karu to thrill the audience, spoke on his life as a musician and other issues.

said that Ubisoft, set up Tom Clancy’s ‘Ghost Recon’ at Warner Bros. with Michael Bay attached to produce and possibly direct, depending on scheduling and the script.

‘Assassin’s Creed’ centers on the adventures of a bartender who finds out he comes from a secret and historic line of assassins. He is captured by a corporation that forces him to hunt down historic artifacts using a device that brings forward the memories and skills of his ancestors.

Page 25

having the opportunity to experience it in the world’s most immersive format,” said Greg Foster, chairman and president of Imax Entertainment, in a statement.

Paramount’s action thriller, in which Pitt adopted a family man in a race against time to stop a zombie infestation that is threatening to decimate his loved ones and the world, also stars Mireille Enos and James Badge Dale.

The film was from a script by Matthew Michael Carnahan, who adapted the book by Max Brooks.

Airport for possession of marijuana and promethazine.

According to the reports, the rapper was also carrying ingredients common in sizzurp, the cocktail combining codeine and promethazine that is popular in the hip hop community.

The report further said that the arrest came few days after he was reportedly robbed of his wallet and cell phone in San Francisco.

According to TMZ and confirmed by MTV News, police found weed with the rapper while in LAX’s terminal 5.

However, the man born Tauheed Epps took to Twitter on Tuesday denying he was the victim of a robbery hours before his set at Oakland Summer Jam, but added that the city had the “best smoke in the world,” which likely didn’t help his case with police.

A legend goes home at 86

By Emmanuel Eko

H

ighlife music icon, Fatai Olanrewaju Olagunju popularly known “Fatai Rolling Dollar” is dead. Peoples daily findings reveal that Fatai died early Wednesday in a Lagos hospital.

Until his death,Olagunju was admitted for a number of days and was later discharged.

The renowned singer who had been suffering from cancer and fell horribly sick on June 5, 2013, and was hurried to the hospital by one of his spouse.

Fatai who was often described as the “Come Back King”, got his legendary name

back then in secondary school when he had the talent of rolling silver dollars expertly before the football teams decide which side takes the first kick. He was born in Ede, Osun state in 1926 to the family of Late Chief Olagunju, He collaborated with master guitarist, J.O. Araba and tenor sax, Ishola Willie Payne to play at the exclusive Island Club in Lagos His music break came in 1953. The then Afro skittle band adopted Ghanaian palm wine music to Yoruba highlife sounds, a union that deeply influenced up-and-coming artists like Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey (whom he taught to play the

guitar) as well as late Fela Kuti.

It is on record that the early days of independence saw the Afro Skittles recording several 78-rpm vinyl songs for Philips, with hits such as Ranka Dede and Ogba oya ya. Fatai then moved out of the music scene for about 25 years before making an immense return in 2003. He also benefitted immeasurably from former Lagos State governor, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who pulled him out of wretched poverty and gave him a new home amongst other goodies.

He is survived by three wives together with a German and 16 children.

Lagos AGN holds election today

R e Th

aju rew n la iO atagunju F e lat Ola

eports reaching Nigeriafilms.com confirms that the Lagos State chapter of the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria (AGN) will hold its election into various electives posts in the state guild today.

According to information gathered, new executive members of the state guild will

emerge to fill the vacant positions.

Already, those running for different posts have started canvassing for votes.

Few months ago, the Emeka Rising-led Lagos State executive was dissolved by the National body giving room for a new election to usher in new excos.

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Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Hollywood/Bollywood

Families squabble over Bollywood actress’s suicide R

euters has said that Bollywood actress, Jiah Khan, was found dead in her Mumbai apartment on Thursday, after allegedly committing suicide.

Two Bollywood families have broken their silences over the suicide of starlet Jiah Khan, after police arrested actor Suraj Pancholi in connection with his girlfriend’s death last week.

Pancholi was arrested on Monday after Khan’s mother, the 1980s actress Rabia Khan, made public a six-page letter apparently written by the 25-year-old actress before she hanged herself on June 3. Her last phone call was to Pancholi.

In the letter, widely published in the Indian media, the Britisheducated Khan speaks of being physically and emotionally abused and of having to have an abortion against her will.

As Khan visited her daughter’s grave on Wednesday vowing to fight for justice, Pancholi’s mother, the veteran Bollywood actress Zarina Wahab, broke her silence on the scandal, saying her son was not responsible for the actress’s death.

“I know the pain that Jiah’s mother is going through,” Wahab told Mumbai’s DNA newspaper, adding the family was in shock that Pancholi could face charges of abetting Khan’s suicide.

“But I also know my son. I know what he’s capable of doing ... and

the behaviour that I hear being attributed to him is not like my son at all.”

Pancholi, 22, whose father Aditya is also a film actor, appeared in court and was remanded in police custody until June 13 after which police will have to apply for an extension.

Indian media said the authenticity of the suicide letter needed to be verified by handwriting experts.

Khan’s suicide and Pancholi’s arrest shocked the Indian film industry. Several Bollywood stars attended a prayer meeting for the actress on Saturday.

Khan, whose real name was Nafisa Khan, was found hanged in her room in a Mumbai apartment last week.

The US-born actress made her Bollywood debut in 2007 with Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd, playing the 18-yearold female lead opposite one of India’s leading actors, Amitabh Bachchan.

Nishabd received mixed reviews and did not do well at the Bollywood box office but Khan went on to play supporting roles in two more films, the psychological thriller Ghajini in 2008 and the comedy Housefull in 2010.

However Khan had not appeared in a movie since 2010 and filmmaker Varma said in a tweet after her death that the actress had been depressed about her stalled Bollywood career.

Ashton Kutcher as Apple’s Shahrukh Khan to Co-Founder Steve Jobs become a father J for the third time! obs, the highly anticipated film chronicling the story of Steve Jobs’ ascension from college dropout to one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century – nationwide on August 16, 2013.

Jobs detailed the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2001. The film plunges into the depths of his character, creating an intense dialogue-driven story that is as much a sweeping epic as it is an immensely personal portrait of Steve Jobs’ life. Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matthew Whiteley, Jobs was shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter and produced by Mark Hulme.

Jobs starred Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons and Matthew Modine.

T

he King Khan of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan, will become a father for the third time!

According to reports from the media, the couple is apparently going to have a third child through surrogacy. This is actually a secret and very few people are enlightened to this news. But this ‘secret’ news has been leaked out by the media.

A source close to Shahrukh Khan says the baby is a boy and it was Gauri Khan’s decision to go in for surrogacy.

If the reports are to be believed, the couple have consulted the same doctor that Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan had gone to for their baby, Azad who was given birth by a surrogate mother.

Shahrukh Khan’s kids Aryan(15) and Suhana(13) are also excited about their new brother while preparations have begun to welcome the new ‘khan’ in Mannat.

News Feature

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

PAGE 27

Baby, 14 months, flogged by father for crying too much From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

S

ahura Ibrahim Halatu, a fourteen months old baby in Bauchi State has suffered beating from her heartless farther causing some marks on her back, neck and other parts of her body. Her sin? She cries too much.

The incident is right now attracting a lot of attention of sympathizers in the state. Even though her parents would not allow her picture to be taken, people took photograph of her back ridden with marks from the whip.

Children are being abused in different ways, ranging from child labour, begging, sexual harassment, human trafficking, molestation by parents or foster parents among others.

Some children are considered the property of their parents, and therefore used as they deem fit. This slave-like relationship has led to an increase in the number of children who experience abuse possibly adopting this behavior as a model for their own parenting.

A good example is the case of Sahura’s father who is alleged to be a drug baron molested by beating his own 14 month baby.

The mother of Sahura, Malama Huwaila Abdullahi who is the second wife of the man lived with her parents at Bakin Kura.

She said, her husband, a well-known drug dealer who has been arrested severally by the law enforcement agencies took his first wife, Aisha to live with him in his new house in Tirwun, a suburb of Bauchi Metropolis.

According to her, he abandoned her and their daughter about two months ago but occasionally sent one boy called Ibrahim to carry Sahura to spend some time with him and his first wife in their new house.

“Last Wednesday he sent Ibrahim to come and bring Sahura around one o’clock in the afternoon. When they returned, my daughter was crying and I saw some strange marks all over her back,” she said.

Huwaila quickly rushed to the Bauchi State Shari’ah Commission to lodge a complaint after she confronted her husband who claimed he flogged Sahura because she was disturbing him with her cries.

The Permanent Commissioner II of the State Shari’ah Commission, Jibril Hassan said the mother of the girl lodged a complaint prompting the commission to summon the father.

Hassan told Peoples Daily Weekend in his office that the

Baby Sahura commission is investigating the issue and would charge the father of the girl to court at the appropriate time.

The father, Ibrahim Haladu said he beat his daughter with the wire of his phone charger because she was disturbing him with cries.

“I was watching an Arab Channel. I was enjoying the programme but her cries kept disturbing me so I brought out my phone charger’s wire and flogged her. My wife Aisha was even angry that I was beating her like that. I regret my action”,he said.

Ibrahim denied that the marks on his daughter’s body which appeared to have been carefully done were for ritual purposes as some are accusing him.

“I can never use my child for ritual. It is unfortunate that people are saying I used her for ritual. God will not allowed that”, he said.

The residents of the area where the incident occurred have been devastated and bitter over the brutal treatment of a baby who is barely a year old.

A sociologist Alhaji Kabiru Saidu said most children are molested and abused by their

Baby Sahura’s injured back parents, the people who are supposed to show them love and affection. Beating of children is almost in every home and is applied frequently as a mode of discipline for almost any type of misdemeanour, however trivial. Some forms of punishment meted out to children are extremely harsh and

are both physically and emotionally dangerous.

Saidu said, “Some parents feel cutting incisions on the backs of children’s hands as a punishment for petty stealing within the household, resulting sometimes in infection and leaving permanent marks

Minister for Women Affairs Hajiya Zainab Maina

of shame. Sometimes, the father of the little baby should be punished for him to know that if you are a father, you have no right to infringe on the rights of the baby you father”.

A resident of Bauchi, Mallam Ila Gadau said this parent should be punished for what he has done to this little baby, you see children are abused in numerous ways physically, emotionally and sexually. Abuse affects people in various ways, and in the process of growing up, many do not realize the problems they encounter are directly attributed to the abuse.

Seventy percent (70%) of the children abused and neglected become numerous kinds of dubious characters.

The fatalities were tending to be children under the age of five. Small children are especially vulnerable to physical injury such as road accidents, ritual killings, hunger and all sorts of hazards.”

“I think government should lay more emphasis towards sensitizing and educating parents on the dangers of child abuse in the homes and public places,”he said.

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Cuisine

Dambun dankali

Breakfast is surely the favourite meal of most people. It kickstarts their day nicely and keeps them going the whole day.

This light meal of potatoes and shrimps will certainly make your weekend a worthwhile one. Savour…….

Ingredients: Irish potatoes, ice fish (sukumbiya) 2 eggs ¼ tin of evaporated milk, onions and thyme, carrot pieces and groundnut oil.

Method: Peel potatoes wash and cook then keep aside. Cook fish with seasoning until soft then remove from fire. Allow cooling then, removing burns and keeping aside, wash and cut carrot boil it with piece and keeping aside.

Get a clean pot and put the cooked potatoes and fish then mash it with a wooden spoon add chop onion and some groundnut oil then put on fire start frying little by little add milk turn very well, then add cooked carrot and piece.

Break eggs beat well then add. Turn very well allow to cook well then serve hot.

Grilled marinated shrimps Ingredients 1 teaspoon olive oil Juice of 3 lemons 1/4 soy sauce 1/4 parsley 3 teaspoon tarragon 3 teaspoon garlic powder Preparation Cut down back of each shrimp shell but do not remove shell. Wash and drain. Place in covered container. Add marinade. Marinate for 2-4 hours in refrigerator, tossing now and then to mix well.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.

Grill about 5 minutes.

Grilled shrimps

With Hajiya Ramatu Usman Dorayi

Page 29

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Womanhood

My three year-old daughter was nearly raped by his friend, says woman trapped in abusive relationship ………Continued week

from

last

A

fter I bathed and got dressed, I called a woman called Uyi who looked after the children and told her to please come over as soon as possible, that Chris was raging, and I had to go to work, but that I was afraid of leaving him alone with the children, seeing he was so angry.

I felt if there was another person in the house, he would not be able to do anything to them. Uyi said she was in Vancouver and that she would come very soon.

I called another person called Manas. I wanted someone to be around Chris to provide a buffer between him and the children.

Manas soon arrived with another man called Emmanuel.

These were both young guys in their early 30s, I believe. Also, unknown to me, there was a third person called Michael, who was in the car who had driven them down. I met them at the door and asked them to come in. I said, “Please wait until Uyi arrives.”

Chris then came down and asked them to leave. I gave Manas my key and I said, “I invited you, if he locks you out, just open the door and come in.” Chris said, “Okay, you’re not going to work then!

Get back inside!” And he started to drag me back in. I fought him off, and I think one of them held him, and I asked the men again to please wait for Uyi, who was going to arrive soon. So he said, “Okay, if you guys want to stay, that’s fine, but I’m taking the children and I’m going out.” So when I got outside to go to work, I went to the van that he usually drove – it was my van and disabled the gears.

That way he would be unable to drive the car with the kids in it, seeing how enraged he was. Then I went to work.

Until now, I have no idea what transpired in my absence, but within two hours of me being at my new job on my first day, a policeman came to my workplace.

He said he wanted to talk to me, so I took him to the conference room, we sat down, and he asked me what had happened. I told him a little of my history, and I also told him what had happened earlier in the afternoon. He said he had been told by Chris and by a man called Michael that I had stabbed Chris with two knives, and he had pictures of the knives.

He said Chris had told him that I poured bleach on him from head to toe. I said, if I was carrying the jug of bleach, I would not be able to reach up to Chris’s head, as he was 6 foot 2, and I was 5 foot 8.

I also asked, how about his clothes? He was fully dressed, did he show you clothes? He said, well no, but Chris took him upstairs and showed him the carpet stains where the bleach was and that the bottoms of his pant were bleach

Amaka and her children

stained. I pointed out that if he had actually been poured bleach from his head to toe, all of his clothes and all of his body would be bleach stained, contrary to me, who was not dressed and who had had the bleached poured from my head to my toes.

I said, okay, so if he said I stabbed him, where were the stab wounds? Were there marks on him? I told the officer that, look, I wasn’t seeing when I was trying to grab onto anything, so I grabbed and I touched the bleach, and that the cover came off in my hand, and that was how he was able to just get it. But the officer said that both the men had said the same thing, so he had no choice – he had to arrest me. He however said, “Go and grab your things, grab your purse, grab your jacket – you and I are going to walk out of here like friends. I am not going to handcuff you.” I thanked him. I called the shift supervisor, I said I had to leave, and then I went with the policeman. He didn’t

“

cuff me until he got to the car.

He was almost apologetic at the car, saying “Sorry, its regulation.

I must put cuffs on you.” I said, “That’s fine.” He was really extremely kind.

I was taken to jail again. I was there for two days. I was marked as a no-show at work, and I almost lost my brand new position, but for my union representative being so tough. I appeared in court the next day.

I told the duty counsel my side of the story, and they let me out on bail restricting me, however, from seeing my kids or going to my house. I stayed with Uyi at her boyfriend’s place for the 10 days before I appeared again in court. When I came to the court, the prosecutor called me and he asked to speak with me.

I told him the entire truth about what had happened, strongly stressing that none of the men were around when it happened. He said he thought the story Chris told him was

The biggest thing I did not know then was that I had the option of leaving a terrible marriage. I had, after all, gone to Pastor Phillip for help, and all he had said to me was, “Go home and sleep with him, and that should make things better.” I also didn’t know who to go to for help. I didn’t really have a friend who would be able to help, and I knew nothing about services for women in trouble, so I stayed. I resigned to my fate, and I suffered.

strange, and he didn’t believe a word of it, especially given the bleach from head to toe without the clothes to show, and the stabbing with no evidence of any wound. In the court, he dismissed the charges completely, and I was freed. I went home to my kids.

One would ask me at this point why I continued to stay in light of all that happened to me.

My immediate response would be that, I don’t know. For one thing, I was not thinking clearly. I had undergone too much trauma. I thought that it would not be the best thing for my children. I had seen women endure real horrors in their marriage just for the sake of their children, and I was also fairly sure that the way Chris was with other women, that soon he would find someone else he wanted to leave me for.

The biggest thing I did not know then was that I had the option of leaving a terrible marriage. I had, after all, gone to Pastor Phillip for help, and all he had said to me was, “Go home and sleep with him, and that should make things better.” I also didn’t know who to go to for help.

I didn’t really have a friend who would be able to help, and I knew nothing about services for women in trouble, so I stayed. I resigned to my fate, and I suffered.

I came home one evening after work and I took my kids as usual to bathe them. As I undressed Christine, I noticed that her underwear was bloody.

She was not yet four years old – why would her underwear be

bloody? I was upset beyond belief.

I called Chris asking him for an explanation. He said he had had to go to a meeting, so he had left my children with Manas and Michael and another woman, who I think was Michael’s girlfriend, and that when he got there to pick him up, Christine had no clothes on and that she and David had been put in separate rooms to nap. I was panic- stricken and upset, I was outraged. I was unable to breath.

I called the police immediately.

Chris started to rail about me calling the police. I told him he was insane. It looked like my daughter had been assaulted, and he was talking about his bloody Church.

The police took statements from me and we were asked to go to BC Children’s hospital immediately.

Christine was examined, and they told me that they could not find anything really conclusive. The doctor in charge of the assault team said there was some trauma to her labia, but that it was inconclusive. I took a few days off work. We were referred to VGH counselors as well. At the end of the day, they were unable to reach definite conclusions, but I remember one of the counselors in charge, she said to me, “Keep your daughter away from that man Manas, because it was he that Christine had mentioned his name over and over.”

When I was working, Chris would leave her with Manas even though he had been specifically told not to expose her to him.

That was how uncaring he was towards her. He also frequently would leave them with people we didn’t really know. Once, on my break at work, I called and I asked after the children, and he said “They’re here.” So when asked to speak with them, he said, “Oh, I left them at the beauty supply store near the Royal Bank, because the woman told me she was from near your village in Nigeria.” I asked him to go pick them up immediately, and said if he did not pick them up right away that I was going to call the police to go pick them up.

After Chris moved out in 2009, the kids and I finally had breathing space. I was finally at peace. I applied for a nights-only position at work, so I was able to fully care for my children. I got a sitter who I paid $30 a night to be with the kids while I worked.

It came to $600 a month, which I paid very gratefully. I would take them to school and I would sleep until it was time to pick them up, then I would go pick them up, I would spend the day with them, and we would all go to bed at about 8:00 or 8:30 pm, then I would be up again by about 11:00 pm to go to work. It really was perfect.

Story continues………..

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

30

Do you  have old pictures for memories?

Send them to junioremma419@gmail.com

ARCHIVES

Onitsha, Nigeria.

Nigerian passengers embark and disembark during river transportation including canoes and ferries from River Niger.

Nigerian men pose for a picture in 1970s

Makurdi market around the River Benue in 1978

The 15th Century Kofar Fatalwa in 1951, Kano state.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Leisure

31

STRANGE FACTS

Life • Can you feel the pulse in your wrist? For humans the normal pulse is 70 heartbeats per minute. Elephants have a slower pulse of 27 and for a canary it is 1000!

• If all the blood vessels in your body were laid end to end, they would reach about 60,000 miles.

• Abraham Lincoln probably had a medical condition called Marfans syndrome. Some of its symptoms are extremely long bones, curved spine, an arm span that is longer than the persons height, eye problems, heart problems and very little fat. It is a rare, inherited condition.

• In one day your heart beats 100,000 times.

• Half your body’s red blood cells are replaced every seven days.

• By the time you are 70 you will have easily drunk over 12,000 gallons

of water.

• Coughing can cause air to move through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound – over a thousand feet per second!

Germs only cause disease, right? But a common bacterium, E. Coli, found in the intestine helps us digest green vegetables and beans (also making gases – pew!). These same bacteria also make vitamin K, which causes blood to clot. If we didn’t have these germs we would bleed to death whenever we got a small cut!

• It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.

• That dust on rugs and your furniture is not only dirt. It’s mostly made of dead skin cells.

Everybody loses millions of skin cells every day which fall on the floor and get kicked up to land on all the surfaces in a room. You could say, “That’s me all over.”

• It takes food seven seconds to go from the mouth to the stomach via the esophagus.

• A human’s small intestine is 6 meters long.

• The human body is 75% water.

• Your blood takes a very long trip through your body. If you could stretch out all of a human’s blood vessels, they would be about 60,000 miles long.

That’s enough to go around the world twice.

• The strongest bone in your body is the femur (thighbone), and it’s hollow!

• The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body.

• The average human dream lasts only 2 to 3 seconds.

• The average American over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.

• The farthest you can see with the naked eye is 2.4 million light years away!

CARTOON

Photo of the day

WORD SEARCH Find the words which are listed at the right side of this page in the Word Search grid. The words can be forwards, QUOTES backwards, up, down, or diagonal. Circle each letter Dale Carnegie T h o m a s separately and keep in mind that the letters in each words If a woman is to Jefferson find happiness Our greatest may be used in more than one words name.

Soap Cotton Life Admiration Future Bedroom

Emancipation Tribute Passion Endurance Nuture Perfume

at all in her husband, she is to find it in his appreciation and devotion.

Katherine Anne Porter Our being is subject to all the chances of life.

There are so many things we are capable of, that we could be or do.

The possibilities are so great that we never, any of us, are more than one-fourth fulfilled.

happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

Martin Luther King Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

32 Compiled by Ekah Theodora

Fashion

10 ways to be a true Lagos ‘Fashionista’

A

month ago a friend of mine moved to Nigeria from “obodoyibo” (America to be specific) and I decided to take her around Las Gidi. After a while, I noticed she was becoming less interested in our outings. What kind of Yankee duller is this babe I thought, so one day I decided to confront her.

My friend is a very beautiful lady; most men would look at her twice if she walks past. However, she told me she always felt under dressed each time we went out.

I laughed so hard and realized that our Lagos “fashionistas” have most likely tensioned her closet. At this point, with my “tongue in cheek” I decided to enlighten her by giving 10 tips on how to become a Lagos fashionista from head to toe.

Hair: To be a true Lagos fashionista, you have to be a member of team weave from any continent apart from Africa. You must purchase several bundles and the weave ought to be at least 18inches long.

If for any reason your natural hair needs to be out, (this must not happen too often by the way), it should ONLY be packed up into a bun that’s at least 10cms high.

Eyebrows: Any makeup artist would tell you that the eyebrows are the most important facial feature. As a fashionista you have to accentuate your eyebrows by making them as thick as possible and draw them like an upside down Nike sign.

Eyes: How else are you going to draw attention to yourself if your eyes don’t speak volumes?

Your eye makeup needs to be very dramatic.

This can only be done by making use of many colours of eyeshadow at the same time. Don’t forget to stick on false lashes that are long enough to touch your eyebrows.

Lips: Let your lips do the talking without saying a word! Use only very bright colours like red, pink, purple, orange and plum.

If you do not want to diversify, just stick to a MAC R u b y Woo and call it a day.

Please DON’T forget to pout.

S k i n tone: It’s unfortunate b u t fashionistas are not supposed t o be dark in complexion. If you are not naturally fair you have to make use of chemical peels, lightening and bleaching creams. If you are lucky enough to be light in complexion, you had better maintain it and avoid the sun as much as possible. If the air conditioning in your boyfriend’s car is faulty….dump him.

Clothes: This in itself is a topic on its own.

All I can say is whatever a fashionista is putting on MUST h a v e s o m e

element of colour blocking. For example you can combine a yellow top with a purple skirt and carry a green hand bag!

Shoes: Thou shall not be caught wearing flat shoes.

If your shoes are not at least 6 inches, high dispose of it. The accepted standard is any high heeled shoe with a red sole as it can easily pass as designed by Christian Louboutin.

Manicure & Pedicure: As a fashionista, every part of you needs to be colourful and loud. Therefore, nobody is supposed to see your nails without some colour.

It is also important to make sure your fingernails are very long like a lion’s claw.

Accessories: Over accessorizing does not exist in a Lagos fashionista’s rule book. Your outfit is never complete without a huge statement necklace (at least 0.2 kg); heavy bracelets aka ‘arm candy’, gigantic chandelier ear rings, Michael Kors wrist watch (fake or real) and a collection of “vintage” rings. Also, fashionistas do not carry handbags that are not from a high end label.

Mobile Phones: To complete your Lagos fashionista look, you must be in possession of at least t w o phones. One must be a blackberry (Bold 5 and above) and the other should be an iPhone or Samsung galaxy phone. The Blackberry is supposed to help y o u look busy as you ping a w a y because a fashionista is not supposed to be idle.

The iPhone and Samsung is for you to post your look of the day on Instagram for your “fans” to like and learn.

Source: Online

Page 33

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Style

Lalle, new designs

By Emmanuel Eko

L

alle as it is popularly called by the Northerners generally is simply an art of tainting the skin, leaving b e h i n d beautiful, adorning organic

design of black, brown or red colour that lasts for about ten days. It was later transited from the crude boiling of powdered lalle leaves to the modern day more sophisticated application and designs.

L a l l e was used traditionally in the northern part of Nigeria for the beatification of legs by women who appeared initially red and later turn black after continuous application with no form of art work.

Subsequently, fertilizer was introduced to achieve quick darkening; fertilizer mixed with ash was used to quickly darken the lalle.

C o o k e d p o w d e r e d Lalle leaves with hydrogen peroxide to get a kind of paste which is administered on the desired part of the skin.

BU$I#€SS PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Fastjet Airways to begin operation in Nigeria From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

F

L-R: Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku and the Minister of State for Agriculture, Alh. Bukar Tijani, during the Ministry of Agriculture Ministerial Score Card Public Presentation, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin ImoOwo

World Bank cuts China growth forecast T

he World Bank has cut its growth forecast for China amid warnings of slower but more stable global growth over the coming months.

The bank now expects the China to grow 7.7% in 2013, down from its earlier projection of 8.4%. It also cut the forecast for global economic growth to 2.2% from 2.4%.

The bank said growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, had slowed as policymakers look to rebal-

ance its growth model.

Over the past few decades China has relied heavily on exports and government-led investment to boost its economy.

However, a slowdown in key markets such as the US and Europe has seen a decline in demand for Chinese exports, prompting concerns whether China can sustain its high growth rate.

There have been calls for China to

take measures to boost domestic demand to offset the decline in exports and rebalance its economy.

While Beijing has been keen to boost domestic consumption, analysts have said that the shift in its growth model may see China’s growth rate slow in the short-term.

In a report released in December last year, the bank said that stimulus measures and approval of infrastructure projects would help boost China’s

fertiliser each and would also be given improved seeds free as part of efforts to boost productivity of small-scale farmers.

He called on farmers who registered and were validated by the GES programme in 2012 and 2013 to go to their redemption centres as soon as they receive text alert to get their fertiliser. ``Others, who were registered but could not be reached through text messages due to unavailability of network should also go to their redemption centres to confirm their names in the farmers’ regis-

ter,’’ he said.

According to him, the federal and state governments will pay 50 per cent while the farmers will pay 50 per cent of the price. He said a farmer is expected to pay only N3,250 for NPK and N2,750 for Urea, adding that seeds would be given out free.

The director said the redemption exercise would last for only six weeks. ``Farmers are therefore urged to come out en masse to redeem their inputs to enable them add value to their agricultural activities,’’ he said. (NAN)

growth, and raised it forecast for 2013 to 8.4% from 8.1%.

That was after Beijing had approved infrastructure projects worth more than $150bn (N 24 trillion).

However, in its latest report, the bank raised concerns over China’s investment-led growth model. (BBC News)

astjet Plc, Africa’s low-cost airline, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigeria’s Red1 Airways Ltd (Red 1), to create a low-cost airline operating within Nigeria and to destinations across Africa.

The MoU brings together Fastjet’s strong brand, reputation, management experience and economies of scale and RED1’s extensive local market knowledge within Nigeria.

The airline will be branded Fastjet Nigeria. Since launching in Tanzania in November 2012, Fastjet has established itself as a provider of safe, reliable and high quality air travel in Africa; Fastjet Nigeria intends to bring this same level of service to Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa with more than 165 million people.

The Fastjet Nigeria management team will be led by Red 1, who will oversee day-to-day operations, while the Fastjet Plc management team will bring its extensive experience and expertise of the low cost airline industry to the partnership. Operating within Fastjet’s growing Pan-African organisation, the partnership is planned to provide Fastjet Nigeria with an extensive distribution network.

Commenting on today’s news, Fastjet CEO, Ed Winter said:“The combination of Fastjet’s brand and experience and Red 1’s extensive knowledge of the local aviation market and Nigerian business landscape is a perfect foundation for a great airline. The Nigerian people deserve a new airline offering great value and operating to international standards of safety and reliability.”

On his part, Red 1 CEO, Dikko Nwachukwu said, “We are excited to partner with Fastjet and humbled to be working on bringing Nigeria its first true Low Cost Carrier. At Red 1 our motto is “now every1 can fly” and we aim to make air travel affordable so more Nigerians can choose to travel by air.

NPA promises to Fertiliser distribution: 239,935 increase patronage farmers share 800 trucks in Plateau of Eastern ports

T

he 239, 935 farmers registered in Plateau for the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme for 2012/2013 would share 800 trucks of fertiliser under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

The Director, Plateau Green House of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Daniel Kakwi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos yesterday that distribution had started.

Kakwi said that under the GES scheme, registered farmers would receive two bags of

T

he Governing Board of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has expressed its determination to boost business and patronage of the Eastern ports in the country.

Alhaji Aminu Dan’Agundi, a board member of NPA, expressed this determination at an interactive session with port workers in Port Harcourt.

A statement issued by the NPA, in Lagos yesterday, said that Dan’Agundi said that the board was concerned that the Eastern ports were not getting enough patronage.

He said that the board’s concern was heightened by the fact that majority of importers in Nigeria were

from the Eastern part of the country.

Dan’Agundi advised the management of the affected ports to devise strategies to increase their tempo of activities and revenue generation.

The NPA Managing Director, Malam Habib Abdullahi was also quoted as saying that the NPA management was doing everything possible to live up to expectations of stakeholders.

He said that the tour of the board members was to enable them get first hand view of operations at the ports and interact with workers and stakeholders. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Economy PAGE 35

We have set N1bn as counterpart funding for state Jigawa state, on the 29th of May held its first Economic and Investments Forum, aimed at announcing the readiness of the state to take advantage of its potentiality and open-up its flood gate to beckon investors to take the maximum advantage to do business in the state. In this interview with Alhaji Waziri Ahmad, a representative of the Bank of Agriculture, who is also the Executive Director, Wholesale Finance Bank of Agriculture Limited explained to Ahmed Abubakar why the bank is investing N1 billion for farmers in the state. Excerpts:

I

n your presentation you raised some very vital issues with regards the partnership that your bank the bank of Agriculture intends to go into with Jigawa state government; can you give more insight on the process?

Two and a half years ago, the current executive management looked at the status of the bank, looked at how the bank’s business is running and we came to the conclusion that we have to change things among other things we have to change the banks logo the bank’s name from the old NACRDB to the Bank of Agriculture, and also had to change the banks’ color brand; but must fundamental was the need for us to re-focus the banks’ business, to go back to the mandate of the bank as it was initially intended, not as we found it; as a result, one thing that we concluded we needed to do was to recognise the fact that agriculture, as a business, actually occur in the state more than anywhere and since the state government runs the affairs of the state, our logical conclusion was that we should begin to collaborate with the state governor. The state government was the one that was supposed to have implement Federal or state policies on agriculture and the use of the land for production of raw material for our factories.

So, what we have done largely in that respect was to come up with a tailored initiative for the individual states and then go to each states and offer this initiative so that we can come in with a meaningful whole; we cater for each individual states by providing financing to investors, to small-holder farmers and to other sectors and the populace that those state governments are interested in supporting.

In the majority of the states, it is a collaborative arrangement that we have, whereby the state would provide 5o percent of the required funding and the bank would provide the other 50 percent, and this fund would be available to the citizens of the state to invest.

The state would decide largely what strata or what category of borrower or sector in the state that they want us to lend to.

While some states would like to bring up small-scale micro-borrowers, other states would prefer medium-scale commercial agriculture borrowers while others would like us to partner with some of the parastatals in the state that are doing something similar, in the line of agricultural development, and it is in this line that we are making our proposal to the state.

Is your bank willing to offer about a billion Naira as counterpart funding to the state, as you mentioned during your presentation?

Yes, in the case of Jigawa state, we have offered to set aside a billion Naira and we are encouraging the state government to also provide a billion Naira, so that we would have a pool of N2 bn for the farmers to be able to borrow from.

What impact are you envisaging that this level of investment would have on agricultural development in the state?

Well, for a start, you would think that N2 billion is really inadequate in terms of finance for developing agriculture in the state, but we think we could start from somewhere and doing so we have looked at the potentials of the state in terms of what type of products could be produced by the agricultural sector and the kind of financing that needed for processing some of these products and we believe that we don’t need to be the ones to completely provide all the funding in the agriculture and agro-business needs in Jigawa but when we start something then other fund providers would be encouraged, both the financiers and investors even from outside Jigawa, to come and invest in the agriculture sector of the state.

Are there other states that have benefited from this program?

Definitely; recently, we have entered into a partnership with Sokoto state, and we have almost

completed an arrangement with Kebbi, Kaduna, Adamawa and we are looking to Borno; these are areas we think there a lot of potentials because of unemployment derived from the present insecurity. In the South, we have entered into an understanding with Delta state, and Bayelsa we are pretty close to going into something with them. We also have an on-going collaboration worth one billion with the Niger-Delta Development Council (NDDC) as well as Cross Rivers, and Akwa-Ibom has invited us to come and work with them; we are waiting for the governor of Benue state to come and approve our proposal to them and with Lagos state, we have this approved disbursement on a collaborationrelated arrangement.

As it is your target is the rural poor how do you hope to tackle the problem of collateral when it comes to the issue of accessing bank’s credit facilities that?

There are two ways that we looked at it; the first is that, as an institution we are a bank; our funding constitute of loans, not grants, so if you bring risk management into what we are doing we would look at the profile of the potential borrower; to see if it is somebody who can repay your loans, somebody who you can give money to and who would repay you, but if is somebody that you conclude that evidently, there is no way they can repay your loans, our money cannot go to such a person, except in special cases that another party gives the loan and we would guarantee the repayment; we would guarantee the service of the loan.

As for the people that we can lend money to, we got two strata; the low strata, that is from N1 to N250,000; we usually lend without any kind of security; the only thing that we would require is that the people should come in groups and they do cross-guarantee and we put the pressure on them and quite often it works.

Then above N250,00 we usually require some form of security and nowadays as you know, there a lot of new ways that have been

Gov. of Jigawa state, Alh. Sule Lamido

developed for securitizing loans and is not like the physical collateral of the past, but collateral that includes including cash flowbased lending. If we see your business has a good cash flow, from the projections that we do during credit analysis, then we know the money is going to come back; you can service the loan.

We also use the facility the CBN has provided for reducing credit risk and for sharing credit risks, by the borrower paying a little bit extra above the annual interest rate, to be able to get some kind of credit. And we also have a category of loan whereby we give out money for procurement of equipment or installations, in which case we put a charge on those physical things.

What interest rate do you charge to your customers?

First of all that’s about the best you can afford in this country, when you are talking about interest rate the cost of money in this country, the minimum lending rate from the CBN is 12.5% now; we are working with 12% because we are supposed to be an institution that is tax-driven; however, at the end of the day our services cost about 15% in reality; but we are trying to compete against commercial banks that are really making money from the kind of money they are lending. We are trying to compete with them by providing money as such low interest rate to a sector we think cannot afford it any more than that and that is when the government provides us with funding as we are not tied to the organisation that enjoys budgetary subventions on an annual basis.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Economy PAGE 35

We have set aside N1bn as counterpart funding for state - Bank of Agriculture Rep.

Jigawa state, on the 29th of May held its first Economic and Investments Forum, aimed at announcing the readiness of the state to take advantage of its potentiality and open-up its flood gate to beckon investors to take the maximum advantage to do business in the state. In this interview with Alhaji Waziri Ahmad, a representative of the Bank of Agriculture, who is also the Executive Director, Wholesale Finance Bank of Agriculture Limited, he explained to Ahmed Abubakar why the bank is investing N1 billion for farmers in the state. Excerpts:

I

n your presentation you raised some very vital issues with regards the partnership that your bank the bank of Agriculture intends to go into with Jigawa state government; can you give more insight on the process?

Two and a half years ago, the current executive management looked at the status of the bank, looked at how the bank’s business is running and we came to the conclusion that we have to change things among other things we have to change the banks logo the bank’s name from the old NACRDB to the Bank of Agriculture, and also had to change the banks’ color brand; but must fundamental was the need for us to re-focus the banks’ business, to go back to the mandate of the bank as it was initially intended, not as we found it; as a result, one thing that we concluded we needed to do was to recognise the fact that agriculture, as a business, actually occur in the state more than anywhere and since the state government runs the affairs of the state, our logical conclusion was that we should begin to collaborate with the state governor. The state government was the one that was supposed to have implement Federal or state policies on agriculture and the use of the land for production of raw material for our factories.

So, what we have done largely in that respect was to come up with a tailored initiative for the individual states and then go to each states and offer this initiative so that we can come in with a meaningful whole; we cater for each individual states by providing financing to investors, to small-holder farmers and to other sectors and the populace that those state governments are interested in supporting.

In the majority of the states, it is a collaborative arrangement that we have, whereby the state would provide 5o percent of the required funding and the bank would provide the other 50 percent, and this fund would be available to the citizens of the state to invest.

The state would decide largely

what strata or what category of borrower or sector in the state that they want us to lend to.

While some states would like to bring up small-scale micro-borrowers, other states would prefer medium-scale commercial agriculture borrowers while others would like us to partner with some of the parastatals in the state that are doing something similar, in the line of agricultural development, and it is in this line that we are making our proposal to the state.

Is your bank willing to offer about a billion Naira as counterpart funding to the state, as you mentioned during your presentation?

Yes, in the case of Jigawa state, we have offered to set aside a billion Naira and we are encouraging the state government to also provide a billion Naira, so that we would have a pool of N2 bn for the farmers to be able to borrow from.

What impact are you envisaging that this level of investment would have on agricultural development in the state?

Well, for a start, you would think that N2 billion is really inadequate in terms of finance for developing agriculture in the state, but we think we could start from somewhere and doing so we have looked at the potentials of the state in terms of what type of products could be produced by the agricultural sector and the kind of financing that needed for processing some of these products and we believe that we don’t need to be the ones to completely provide all the funding in the agriculture and agro-business needs in Jigawa but when we start something then other fund providers would be encouraged, both the financiers and investors even from outside Jigawa, to come and invest in the agriculture sector of the state.

Are there other states that have benefited from this program?

Definitely; recently, we have entered into a partnership with Sokoto state, and we have almost completed an arrangement with Kebbi, Kaduna, Adamawa and

we are looking to Borno; these are areas we think there a lot of potentials because of unemployment derived from the present insecurity. In the South, we have entered into an understanding with Delta state, and Bayelsa we are pretty close to going into something with them. We also have an on-going collaboration worth one billion with the Niger-Delta Development Council (NDDC) as well as Cross Rivers, and Akwa-Ibom has invited us to come and work with them; we are waiting for the governor of Benue state to come and approve our proposal to them and with Lagos state, we have this approved disbursement on a collaborationrelated arrangement.

As it is your target is the rural poor how do you hope to tackle the problem of collateral when it comes to the issue of accessing bank’s credit facilities that?

There are two ways that we looked at it; the first is that, as an institution we are a bank; our funding constitute of loans, not grants, so if you bring risk management into what we are doing we would look at the profile of the potential borrower; to see if it is somebody who can repay your loans, somebody who you can give money to and who would repay you, but if is somebody that you conclude that evidently, there is no way they can repay your loans, our money cannot go to such a person, except in special cases that another party gives the loan and we would guarantee the repayment; we would guarantee the service of the loan.

As for the people that we can lend money to, we got two strata; the low strata, that is from N1 to N250,000; we usually lend without any kind of security; the only thing that we would require is that the people should come in groups and they do cross-guarantee and we put the pressure on them and quite often it works.

Then above N250,00 we usually require some form of security and nowadays as you know, there a lot of new ways that have been developed for securitizing loans and is not like the physical collateral of the past, but collateral

Gov. of Jigawa state, Alh. Sule Lamido

that includes including cash flowbased lending. If we see your business has a good cash flow, from the projections that we do during credit analysis, then we know the money is going to come back; you can service the loan.

We also use the facility the CBN has provided for reducing credit risk and for sharing credit risks, by the borrower paying a little bit extra above the annual interest rate, to be able to get some kind of credit. And we also have a category of loan whereby we give out money for procurement of equipment or installations, in which case we put a charge on those physical things.

What interest rate do you charge to your customers?

First of all that’s about the best you can afford in this coun-

try, when you are talking about interest rate the cost of money in this country, the minimum lending rate from the CBN is 12.5% now; we are working with 12% because we are supposed to be an institution that is tax-driven; however, at the end of the day our services cost about 15% in reality; but we are trying to compete against commercial banks that are really making money from the kind of money they are lending. We are trying to compete with them by providing money as such low interest rate to a sector we think cannot afford it any more than that and that is when the government provides us with funding as we are not tied to the organisation that enjoys budgetary subventions on an annual basis.

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

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LETTERS & ONLINE COMMENTS

Osun 2014 : Omisore and the others

By Hamid Hendrix

A

s the political scene begins to boil and bubble in Osun State with the looming approach of the 2014 elections, the confident calmness of the leading contender for the state’s governorship ticket, Senator and former deputy governor Iyiola Omisore is simply enigmatic.

His enviable political pedigree dwarfs not just the CVs of his fellow PDP aspirants but even that of the ACN incumbent governor. Senator Omisore continues to win the hearts and minds of the Osun electorate by simply being there for them whenever and wherever they need him. Can you imagine a recent weekend search for the senator finding him in the thick of the downtown wedding ceremony of retired teacher’s daughter, avidly doing justice to a dishful of amala, ewedu and goat meat in the midst of joyous folks of the area?

Yet this is the same Omisore over whom ACN Governor Rauf Aregbesola has been having bouts of migraine just to come up with propaganda vile enough to turn the masses against their political hero. From bellicose billboards to acidic articles raking up hideous hoopla, nothing seems to work against the Omisore political rollercoaster. Even the Bola Ige murder scarecrow had lost steam long before Saturday 20th April, 2013 when two former aides of former President Obasanjo, Prince Segun Seriki and Mr. Richard Odusanya appeared on SaharaTV to reveal some startling dimensions and antecedents of the killings of former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige and Chief Harry Marshal, which further debunked the so-called Omisore link.

To rattle the Osun government more, Senator Omisore’s strategists have

WRITE TO US

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Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com been relentless in harping about the judicial anointment of the Aregbesola governorship as rendered by the infamous Tinubu-Salami midwifery of ACN’s electoral insurgency into PDP Osun stronghold, a short-lived scoop that is already unravelling under the pervasive populism of Omisore’s political campaigns. Not to mention serious posers which question the lack of accountability in several Osun government programmes and spotlight cases of bad governance due to inexperience and arrogance of power.

For the state government and other “victims” of the awesome political enterprise entrenched by Senator Omisore in Osun State, another dilemma is that of widespread appreciation and celebration of the exemplary track-record of the senator in people-oriented activities not linked with partisan politics. These episodes of spontaneous salutation of Senator Omisore’s philanthropic qualities constitute landmarks of constant reference and recollection all over the state by people of all walks of life, especially the needy and the

vulnerable. One such occasion which significantly boosted the soaring profile of Senator Omisore took place in Osogbo on May 11, 2013 when the Multiple District 404 Nigeria of the distinguished Lions Club International conferred its highest award, the coveted prestigious Melvin Jones Fellow Award on him for outstanding service to humanity.

That was the occasion where Governor Mimiko made the muchquoted remark that Senator Omisore is “a most misunderstood Nigerian whom God will vindicate in the fullness of time”, a fully-loaded observation and forecast that can only add to the tribulations of the senator’s political detractors and rivals. Mimiko’s candid comments captured the uniqueness of Senator Omisore’s political career and the significance of his impact on the lives of so many common people across the country without political considerations. Little wonder that what was billed to be a convention banquet of the Lions Club turned out to be a festival to which the people of Osogbo trooped in multitudes to endorse the

recognition of Senator Omisore as a worthy leader of his people. No less impressive was the long convoy of vehicles that snaked through OsogboIfe road well after midnight to escort the senator home.

Evidently, Senator Iyiola Omisore’s strongest arsenal in any political contest is “people power”, the ultimate determinant of the genuineness and superiority of political leadership qualities, that enables him to be so comfortable in the midst of the common people.

Such selfless reaching out to bring succour and hope to the suffering and the ill-fated like sponsoring vital but costly treatment of indigent patients, establishing a micro-finance bank to empower widows and less privileged artisans and a scholarship scheme for indigent students in tertiary institutions or walking into the OAU Teaching Hospital in Ile-Ife just to settle outstanding bills of hapless patients are uncommon acts of charity that are bound to summon uncommon opportunities to serve even more people.

Beyond the confines of local politics of governing Osun State, Senator Omisore is no less influential at the national level of leadership politics having occupied several positions of authority and responsibility with enviable records and still remaining relevant today. Indeed, this is yet another hard nut to crack in decoding the secrets of the assured successes of Senator Omisore in his political endeavours which also accounts for his characteristic calm confidence in the face of desperate contenders for OSUN 2014.

Hamid Hendrix Osogbo

wrote

from

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Opinion

37

Justice Okeke: Pension is rotten in the heart of judiciary

By Farouk Martins Aresa

I

t is so difficult to distinguish the sheep from the lion in Nigeria as a whole.

Involvement of the Judiciary our last hope of justice in corruption, even on a small scale is disheartening. The report that one Funke Ogunbiyi, the daughter of a Justice of the Supreme Court went to Justice Okechukwu Okeke and demanded he reverse himself on a matter already executed is disturbing. If it was one of our uncles in those days, that girl would not sleep at home that night. Na who born dog?

The Chief Justice of Nigeria Mariam Aloma Muhktar, may God bless her soul, was just trying to clean up the mess in the judiciary and many Nigerians are relieved at the fresh hope of justice. We were trying to recover from the last nightmare between the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloyius Katsina-Alu and the suspended President of the Court of the Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami when this allegation by Justice Okeke raised its head. Then came a pension rogue of 203 million fined 1,500,

by Justice Talba.

Instead of rushing to condemn anyone, further details showed some stinking odor around some Justices themselves for which they were warned before retirement, suspended or should have been fired. Now Okeke, a respected Justice unafraid to rule against governments, may even have been innocent of any allegation. But his allegation against a seating Justice of the

Supreme Court is equally hasty. Okeke was linked to the notorious Speaker of the Lagos State who was alleged to have given Justice Okeke half a million dollars bribe advance and the other half after he would have been discharged.

These are very honorable people that have served the Country for a long time.

While it may be true that this Funke Ogunbiyi actually approached the honorable Justice, it is premature to implicate her mother. Nobody should underestimate this new generation of Nigerians that learned from corrupt elders. There might have been some discussion at the dinner table for which Supreme Court Justice Clara Ogunbiyi was unhappy with some rulings she could not do anything about. It did not mean she sent her daughter.

Looking further into the case of 5A George Street Ikoyi, it showed that the residents are HPCN staff and have the erudite lawyer, Falana to represent them; that the building should not have been forfeited to the Government as Ms. Ibru’s Oceanic Bank saga negotiation. The case becomes clumsier and difficult to distinguish the head from the tail. Right now we do not know who is the hero or the valiant as Justice Okeke must be encourage to speak out if he thinks he could have been wronged or damaged somehow.

Corruption in Nigeria has been used to embellish the most innocent and humble.

If you do not play the game with them, they will find ways to get you involved. In

other words, you cannot be cleaner than them. Since the Lady Chief Justice made up her mind to clean up, many of us have been praying that she must not stumble.

Nigeria needs someone like her to take on the big boys and win. Corruption has been so endemic in the system, it takes a durable and indefatigable human to wrestle it down.

As for Funke Ogunbiyi, we would rather take the words of Justice Okeke over hers. She probably went to his office as reported just because she thinks she is the daughter of a Supreme Court Judge.

Whatever her age, she needs family members to reprimand her for trying to soil her mother’s reputation. Nigerians in high places must also remind their children and grandchildren not to embarrass or soil their names, especially in public places. Some of us boast too much in front of her children.

It is hard enough being a judge without looking for trouble. They preside over difficult and extremely dangerous individuals that may take the law into their hands. If that is not enough to worry about, they need to get a good part-time job as teachers of children in public schools. Their presence there and similarly disadvantage places is enough to instill humility and discipline. The Chief Justice of Lagos has been visiting different prisons to release those locked up for years without bail for minor offences.

Recently, the son of one of the Justices was kidnapped. Trying to recover from such ugly incident can be traumatic. Some

months later, the wife and the daughter of the same Justice Bode Rhode-Vivour were kidnapped again! Gathering life savings if you are not corrupt to bail out your love ones from kidnappers, is not what we wish on the innocent people that are not oppressors.

Our judges must behave accordingly and realized that even when they have the same blood and flesh like everyone else, they must grief, reflex and merry privately and modestly. However, penury in our old age is not only scary to justices, but to all of us. A country that do not treat people that have sacrificed their younger days toiling for the betterment and future of the Country deserve to live the rest of their lives in peace without worrying about their old age. Na weytin, Bodi no be leather nah.

We also know that nothing is more lucrative than being appointed Election Tribunal judge. If you did not celebrate your appointment, some of your relatives would.

It is like winning a lottery. Some people say it will not change them. Your relatives tell you to speak for yourself, because if it does not change you, it will change them!

How can anyone in any high place in the Country explain that he or she did not use that influence to take bribe, steal allocation, pension and salary?

Indeed, that may be a sure way to invite your relatives to kidnap you until you come up with their share. faroukomartins@aim.com

Children’s nutritional needs in an era of food crisis

By Saratu I. Sanga

T

he dramatic rise in world food prices has once again forced hunger to the top of the humanitarian agenda. Aid groups have long been warning about the consequences of trade imbalances and climate change, but food riots in Africa and Asia have brought the issue into the limelight.

The United Nations said that 100 million people are urgently at risk of not having enough food to eat and that include people in every continent of the world.

Rising fuel cost, erratic weather patterns, and the conversion of lands to grow bio

fuel crops, are all factors. Rising incomes in poorer countries have also increased food demand in recent years, diminishing global reserves. To protect their citizens, some food exporting countries have now limited what they export and also, aid groups cannot provide as much as they use to.

The biggest concern is that these changes are having a great effect at the family level. Families spend twice of what they ought to have spent in two or three months to feed for one month. Emphasis is shifted from providing a balanced diet to just accepting to eat whatever they can afford. In this case, most families living below average, depend safely on

My Thoughts With Ayodele Samuel 08074420617 (SMS only)

I

was barely 4 years old when the June 12 general election was held, but the impact today remains the solid rock on which our ‘democracy’ and my demcocratic views stands. As young as I was then, I knew something was going on in town. I had the inkling when my meal that morning was not properly served, My precious mother was in a hurry to cast her vote, leaving her last son’s meal to secure a better future from the polls. I never knew it was an election and was always happy to hear the name MKO Abiola… is our man oh! Till date, MKO remains relevant in our politics 17 years after his death, his bequest still fears his enemies, failing politicians still use his name to disguise for their failure, his name sounds of that of a wise

warrior who laid his life for his people, to fight another war. June 12 1993 is that day every Nigerian even the unborn will live to celebrate, the day Nigerians woke up early to conduct themselves in the most orderly manner for an election.

As far as elections is concerned in Nigeria, that election was one we cannot forget in a hurry even though I didn’t participate in it,The Federal Electoral Commission played by the rule of the game, the elections were properly planned and well conducted. It was all for Chief MKO Abiola, the heavens must have stood still for this man. A day another chapter was open for electoral process in this country, a day Nigeria history got a new topic. The

carbohydrates for their basic three square meals if they can really afford them.

How many families can really meet the food demand of their children? For example, a child under three years needs to feed five to six times a day. This is because the child’s stomach is smaller than that of an adult, and as such, cannot eat as much as an adult at a go. But its energy needs, for its size, are greater. The child’s porridge needs to be enriched with mashed vegetables and a little of oil or fat. We do not have to repeat the same food for the child all the way. In between, mealssuch as died foods or snacks-fruits, bread, biscuits, coconut, nuts, banana or whatever clean

food available, should be given.

The simple way out in improving the child nutrition’s needs is for every family to devote time in developing a garden around the house. A vegetable garden does not require much time and effort. It is even a nice place to spend leisure time. A good cultivated garden can help complement what we have to spend to give our children their basic nutritional requirements. Your little vegetable garden in your backyard is in a way your own contribution towards curbing the global food crisis.

Saratu I Sanga, writes from Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri

June 12 on my mind last election that was error-free without petitions and no tribunal sitting. Nigerians indeed made up their minds to choose a leader.

Many Nigerians are still traumatized by the June 12 brouhaha. It was indeed a turnaround to many Nigerians lives. My dad’s beetle car windscreen was smashed during a protest to defend his vote, the family had to starve for some days before it was fixed. While some were killed, jobs were lost, many went into exile yet opportunists emerge, they came calling as June 12 disciples and destroyed our democracy. But June 12, 1993, was not just about Abiola; it was about so many other things- it was about democratic principles, the rule of law and the common man on the street, who Abiola died for.

The fundamental thing about June 12 was that an election held and Abiola won.

The crime about it was that some cabal secretly plotted against Abiola and eternally denied him of the mandate that the Nigerian masses gave to him. He was asked by the people to give them hope, but hopelessness they get in return. Selfish persons, a few of whom unfortunately are still trying to come around the corridors of power decided otherwise. Many who know nothing about

true democracy, it intent and principle came and rode on the holy political day to swindle Nigerians. No national honour would be too much for this man who won an election and was murdered for attempting to claim his mandate. He lost his business empire, his wealth and his wife was assassinated just to bring hope to the masses. However, with more than a decade of democracy, our leader have successfully undermined the basic tenet of democracy, of the right to vote and be counted in the favour of the common man on the street in which Abiola died for.

Dividends of democracy is now at the peril of the masses, only the political heavyweight benefits from the government of the day. Corruption has racked us, uncontrollable youths unemployment in the land, the common man on the street has no reason to be happy about government insensitivity to mindless killing. All these and more remains a dishonour to this hero of our democracy. To honour a great man like MKO, the people must smile not just at the change of name of institutions, government must work to eliminate the suffering of the people. June 12 is all about the common man on the street of Nigeria.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

PAGE 39

International

Iranians go to polls, as voting is extended

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illions of voters across Iran are continuing to cast their ballots in the country’s presidential elections, after the interior ministry extended polling for two hours to allow more people to vote.

Polling stations were set to close at 8:00pm local time on Friday.Voting opened at 8:00am local time and were supposed to close 10 hours later.

Interior Minister Mostafa Moammad Najar told the Fars news agency, however, that the voting hours had been extended because of a “rush of voters”. It is unclear when polls will now close.

At the same time as choosing a new president from six candidates, voters will also pick municipal councillors.

There are more than 50 million eligible voters, with 130,000 ballot boxes in more than 60,000 voting stations. The first results are expected at the end of Friday or early on Saturday.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who called for a large turnout but did make his preference public for any single candidate, cast his ballot in the capital Tehran at the Hosseini Imam Khomeini Mosque in the Beit Rahbari compound early on Friday.

“Among those running ... I had someone in mind who I chose. I haven’t told anyone [of my vote],” he told state television as he voted.

“Even those close to me like my family and children don’t know who I voted for.”

Khamenei derided Western

misgivings about the credibility of the vote.

“I recently heard that someone at the US National Security Council said ‘We do not accept this election in Iran’,” he said. “We don’t give a damn.”

Presidential candidate and moderate Muslim leader Hassan Rouhani has also cast his ballot in Tehran.

“I have come to destroy extremism and when I see that these extremists are worried by my response and my vote I am very happy. It means that with the help of the people we can instill the appropriate Islamist behaviour in the country,” he said after voting.

If no candidate secures 50.1 percent or more of the votes to win outright, a second round will be held a week later.

Soraya Lennie, reporting from Tehran, said that while the elections have been a little bit more subdued compared to four years ago, people have been arriving quite early and lines are already forming outside the voting stations.

With the conservative camp divided, reformists seem confident of a good showing by Rouhani, the former chief nuclear negotiator, who has emerged as a frontrunner. According to analysts, there is a possibility of a run-off.

Lennie said that Rouhani was earlier not thought of as a serious contender, but since the endorsements of two former presidents, pro-reform Mohammad Khatami and pragmatist Akbar Hashemi

Rafsanjani, there had been increasing excitement in Tehran over his candidacy during the past 24 hours.

A group of three heads the conservative camp: former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and the republic’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

Both sides, reformist and conservative, have appealed for the electorate to turn out in high numbers - the first hoping for change, and the other to show the power of a regime accused of seeking to ensure victory for a Khamenei loyalist.

For both camps, the impor-

Mandela’s condition continues to improve but remains serious

A

nti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela’s condition “continues to improve but his condition remains serious,” President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

Zuma was speaking after visiting Mandela who has been hospitalized for a recurring lung infection since Saturday.

Zuma, accompanied by African National Congress (ANC) Treasurer- General Zweli Mkhize, visited

Mandela in hospital in Pretoria, the presidency said.

“We continue to appeal to people to keep Madiba (Mandela) in their prayers and wish him a speedy recovery,” said Zuma.

Zuma said on Wednesday that Mandela “is responding better to treatment from this morning (Wednesday morning).”

“We are very happy with the progress that he is now making,

following a difficult last few days,” Zuma said.

Mandela, 94, was whisked from his Johannesburg home to hospital early Saturday morning after his condition deteriorated.

As Mandela spent his sixth day in hospital, two of his daughters were seen entering the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where Mandela is receiving medical treatment.

Mandela was visited by his daughters Zenani and Zindzi and their two children Zoleka and Zondwa, hospital sources said.

Zindzi left the hospital after being at her father’s side for an hour.

Hope is growing that Mandela will continue to make progress after Zuma said he is responding well to treatment.

With a heavy police presence, scores of people have been stopping by the hospital to wish Mandela well. A large contingent of local and international journalists are holding to their camping sites in front of the hospital, hoping to report the latest news about Mandela’s condition.

tant issue will be to mobilise abstentionists who demonstrated against Ahmadinejad’s re-election in 2009, alleging massive electoral fraud.

The authorities cracked down hard on street unrest started by that result, leading to the eventual detention under house arrest of two reformist candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

Campaigning this time has been dominated by two issues: Iran’s nuclear ambitions and a devastated economy hit hard by international sanctions because of the atomic programme.

Inflation is raging at more than 30 percent, the rial has lost nearly 70 percent of its value, and unemployment is rising.

Both Western powers and Israel accuse Tehran of seeking to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy programme, a charge Iran denies.

Neither the US nor Israel has ruled out taking military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.

Regional tensions have also soared over Iranian support for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, an important ally whose government has faced an uprising for more than two years.

Russia, U.S. to focus on Syria during G8 summit

T

he Syria issue will top the agenda of a planned meeting between Russian and U.S. presidents during the upcoming G8 summit, a Kremlin aide said Friday.

“Big attention will be paid to the Syria issue, especially on the background of the U.S. representatives’ claims that their intelligence has information that Bashar al-Assad’s regime used chemical weapons,” Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

Moscow and Washington did not compete in Syria but sought to solve the problem “in a constructive way,” Ushakov noted.

However, if the U.S. would supply Syrian opposition with arms, that would not facilitate preparations for an international conference on Syria in Geneva, said the diplomat.

According to the U.S. President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs Ben Rods, the U.S. possesses information that Syrian government troops used sarin against the rebels “on insignificant scale.”

He added that the U.S. has furnished Russia with proof of chemical weapons being used in Syria.

The information has not convinced Moscow, though, Ushakov added.

“For the U.S. it was more important to play up the very fact of providing that information to the Russian side,” he added.

Vladmir Putin

Feature PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 15 - SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Lagos cremation law: Residents react, no one should be forced to adhere, says expert

By Engr. Nura Alkali

T

he president of the Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos chapter; Dr. Francis Faduyile has praised the Governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for taking a bold step in passing the cremation Bill into law as it is practiced globally.

He said that cremation of bodies has no medical contraindication but a good way of disposition of corpses especially in a state where there are lots of people that comes from all over the country to reside.

Faduyile noted that cremation law is in order, so as to meet up with global practice of disposing dead bodies.

He however advised that the state government should lay down strict guidelines on the operation and management of crematorium to avoid abuse of burning dead bodies in the state.

Also commenting on the decision, the National president of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), Dr. Anthony Omolola, said the passage into law, of cremation of dead bodies’ Bill in Lagos state is a welcome idea which has been embraced globally decades of years back and has been a traditional in some countries, and however been adopted in others.

He explained that cremation would reduce the burden on cemeteries if it is embraced by all as it needs no space or land to bid dead loved ones farewell to eternity.

Dr. Anthony however said that, no one should be forced to adhere to the law of burning the dead body of loved ones as everyone is entitled to choose as they please.

He noted that the bill gives room for people to decide on what they want, either cremating or burying of their dead loved ones.

A Lagos resident, who simply identified himself as Ayodele Olalere, told Peoples Daily Weekend that, there is nothing special in cremating dead bodies.

“Governor Fashola does not make it compulsory for people, it is left for individuals to decide and make a choice if, they want to cremate their dead or not. More so, this is happening in some other countries of the World, so Lagos state endorsing it would not be exceptional,” he declared.

Another resident in Lagos, Miss Mayowa Otekaiye noted that, “whether dead body is cremated afresh or is buried in grave, everything will still turn to dust after a while. So it is even more of honour when a deceased is cremated rather than digging graves here and there just because

Lagos state governor, Governor Raji Fashola

you want to bury the dead.

A Lagos based Layer Charles Abare, noted that the paramount basis for the cremation is that the dead body is the admissibility of that Law. He said, “What is paramount is the consent of person who determines how his burial should be. And in other countries in the world, the said practice is on-going; in as much as, it is not infringing on someone’s right, there is nothing bad in it.”

Cremation according to Wikipedia is the use of high-temperature burning, vaporization, and oxidation to reduce dead animal or human bodies, to basic chemical compounds, such as gases and mineral fragments retaining the appearance of dry bone.

Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite that is an alternative to the interment of an intact dead body in a coffin or casket.

It is said that excessive mourning over a deceased prevents the soul from being completely detached from its loved ones, and keeps it from undertaking its new journey; that of taking up a new life. Cremation helps to remove most of those things that can act as a reminder for the person’s existence and thereby also assist the family in getting over the loss.

Cremated remains, which do not constitute a health risk, may be buried or interred in memorial sites or cemeteries, or they may be legally retained by relatives and dispersed in various ways.

Cremation however, is not an alternative to a funeral, but rather an alternative to burial or other forms of disposal.

Different parts of the world have their different reasons and methods of practicing cremation to suit their beliefs.

In many countries, cremation is usually done in a crematorium, but other countries prefer different methods such as open-air cremation in India and in Nepal. The cremation occurs in a crematory that is housed within a crematorium and comprises one or more furnaces. A crematorium may be part of a chapel or a funeral home or may be an independent facility or a service offered by a cemetery.

Hindus believe in the soul being indestructible; and that death symbolises end of the existence of a person’s physical being, but the start of a new journey for the soul. This soul then reincarnates in some other life form and passes through the same cycle of taking birth, growing and eventually meeting death only to begin the cycle afresh. Cremation of a person’s dead body is therefore, supposed to rid the departed soul of any attachments to the body it previously resided in.

Also, a traditional belief among Hindus says that a person’s body is composed of 5 elements- earth, fire, water, air and sky. The cremation ceremonies of Hindus are directed towards returning the body to these elements. The body is progressively returned to earth, air, sky and fire by burning it under skies; and the ashes are respectfully collected and poured in a river.

It is said that excessive mourning over a deceased prevents the soul from being completely detached from its loved ones, and keeps it from undertaking its new journey;

that of taking up a new life.

Cremation helps to remove most of those things that can act as a reminder for the person’s existence and thereby also assist the family in getting over the loss.

In the United Kingdom, the body is not removed from the coffin and is not placed into a container as described above. The body is cremated with the coffin, which is why all British coffins that are to be used for cremation must be combustible. The Code of Cremation Practice forbids the opening of the coffin once it has arrived at the crematorium, and rules stipulate that it must be cremated within 72 hours of the funeral service. Therefore, in the United Kingdom, bodies are cremated in the same coffin that they are placed in at the undertaker’s, although the regulations allow the use of an approved ‘cover’ during the funeral service.After the cremation, ashes are then given to relatives or loved ones or scattered in the crematorium grounds where facilities exist.

In Germany, the process is mostly similar to that of the United Kingdom. The body is cremated in the coffin. A piece of fire clay with a number on it is used for identifying the remains of the dead body after burning. The remains are then placed in a container called an ash capsule, which generally is put into a cinerary vase.

In Australia, the deceased is cremated in a coffin supplied by the undertaker. Cardboard coffins are becoming popular, with several manufacturers now supplying them. For low cost, a plain, particle-board coffin (known in the trade as a “chippie”) can be used. Handles (if fitted) are plastic and approved for use in a cremator. Coffins vary from natural cardboard and unfinished particle board (covered with a velvet pall if there is a service) to solid timber; most are veneered particle board.

Nowadays, modern cremators are computercontrolled to ensure legal and safe security.

Page 41

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Sports Weekend FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil,

Eight countries, six continents begin war

I

t’s now less than a year until the best footballers in the world converge in Brazil for the World Cup finals 64 matches played to a samba rhythm in one of the most beautiful countries on Earth.

After months of angst over preparation delays, Brazil steps into the global spotlight on Saturday when it kicks off the Confederations Cup, a key test of its readiness to stage the World Cup next year.

Six Brazilian cities: Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio and Salvador are hosting the

two-week soccer tournament, expected to attract some 355 000 Brazilians and foreign tourists.

Brazil, winner of the previous edition in South Africa in 2009, has this year dropped to a new low of 22nd in the rankings of world football’s governing body Fifa.

The other contenders are current World Cup holders and European champions Spain; European vice-champions Italy, South American champions Uruguay; CONCACAF champions Mexico; Africa champions Nigeria; Asian champions Japan; and Oceania

champions Tahiti, very much the minnows.

Today’s opening game in Brasilia’s Mane Garrincha pits the Brazilians, five-time World Cup winners, against Japan.

Not only is the tournament important in testing the magnificent venues that will host the World Cup in 12 month’s time, but it’s a chance for some of the best teams to challenge themselves against each other with an eye on winning the biggest prize.

Like the World Cup, the Confederations Cup is staged

every four years and, since 2005, has been held in the same country chosen to host the main event 12 months later. It comprises eight nations, including the host nation for the World Cup, the previous World Cup winners and the winners of each of the continental tournaments - the European Championships, Copa America etc.

It serves an important logistical purpose in testing out the venues that will be used for the finals, but also gives some of the best nations on the planet an early chance to size each other up.

Some key players to watch

S

ome of the best players in the world will go head to head when the Confederations Cup starts this weekend - Spain, Italy, Brazil, Uruguay, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria and Tahiti meet in the competition Neymar Perhaps, Neymar will receive the most attention in this tournament having just been transferred from Santos to Barcelona for an eyewatering £48.6m price tag. We will now see just how accurate those comparisons to Pele and other Brazilian greats are.

Juan Mata He had been phenomenal for Chelsea Europa Cup champions.

He was part of Spain’s victorious 2010 World Cup squad in South Africa, and then played in the 2011 European Under-21 Championships, the 2012 European Championships and the London Olympics. We look forward to more fireworks from him.

Stephan El Shaarawy Talented young striker enters the tournament with a record 19goal this season for Milan. The

rookie in the Italy set-up has a real opportunity to demonstrate his skills at the world. It Brazil gives him to justify his comparison with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Brown Ideye In the absence of Emmanuel Emenike, Nigeria’s offensive hope rests on him. He was part of the Super Eagles squad that won AFCON and this season has scored 21 goals in 40 matches for his club, Dynamo Kiev, this season.

Shinji Okazaki Okazaki has been instrumental to Japan’s qualification to next

summer’s World Cup finals. His international scoring record of 33 goals in 63 outings speaks for itself, even though his goalscoring ratios at Stuttgart could do with some Javier Hernadez (Chicharito) A familiar name to followers of the English Premier League, Chicharito is a Man United player. But what is less known is Chicharito’s impressive international scoring record of over a goal a game. He is expected to re-enact his international form.

Japan get ball rolling today

T

oday’s opening match of the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 between the hosts and Japan at Brasilia’s gleaming new stadium happens to involve the only two teams so far sure of a place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

Japan head into the tournament in good heart after recently booking their place at Brazil 2014 thanks to five wins in eight games in the final qualifying round in Asia. Cheered on by Brazil’s sizeable Japanese community, Alberto Zaccheroni’s side now have the chance to tune up for next year’s world finals against a variety of opponents from across the globe, starting with the tournament hosts.

The two teams faced off as recently as last October, when a Brazil side still coached by Mano Menezes won 4-0 in Poland courtesy of a Neymar brace and goals from Paulinho and Kaka, a notable omission from Luiz Felipe Scolari’s squad for the Festival of Champions. The Japanese have yet to beat A Seleção in nine attempts, losing seven times and drawing twice.

The experienced Scolari is slowly but surely bringing his influence to bear, with Brazil’s hard work on the training ground beginning to pay off, as shown by the recent 2-2 draw with England and the comprehensive 3-0 defeat of France.

Today match

Brown Ideye

Juan Mata

Javier Hernadez (Chicharito)

Shinji Okazaki

Stephan El Shaarawy

Neymar

Group A - Brazil v Japan Sunday June 16 Group A - Mexico v Italy Group B - Spain v Uruguay Monday June 17 Group B - Tahiti v Nigeria Wednesday June 19 Group A - Brazil v Mexico Group A - Italy v Japan Thursday June 20 Group B - Spain v Tahiti Group B - Nigeria v Uruguay Saturday June 22 Group A - Italy v Brazil Group A - Japan v Mexico Sunday June 23 Group B - Nigeria v Spain Group B - Uruguay v Tahiti Wednesday June 26 Semi-final - Winner Group A v Runner-up Group B Thursday June 27 Semi-final - Runner-up Group A v Winner Group B Sunday June 30 Third-place Play-off FINAL (Rio De Janeiro

Page 42

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Sports

Eagles celebrating their AFCON trophy win. After the bonus saga the team travels to Brazil today for the FIFA Confederation Cup

Eagles off to Brazil as Maigari struggles to explain bonus saga

By Patrick Andrew

T

he Super Eagles finally departed South Africa for Brazil this morning following the intervention of the Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi in their protest over the decision of the Nigeria Football Federation to slash their match bonus without consulting them.

The Eagles had on Thursday declined all entreaties from the embattled leadership of the executive committee of the NFF to board the flight to South Africa en-route Brazil for the FIFA Confederation Cup. They protested against

the $2,500 given to them for the drawn game against the Brave Warriors of Namibia on Wednesday. Before then, they had rejected the $5,000 handed to them for beating Kenya at home.

Instead, they demanded for the usual $10,000 or alternatively $15,000 for both games, but the Aminu Maigariled board opted on the argument that they were financially incapacitated by reduction of budgetary allocation.

That though was resolved following the Minister’s financial succour to the team. It was the second time within six months

that Abdullahi have had to step in to clean the mess of the football federation.

Peoples Weekend Sports recalls that the Minister had to step in to persuade Stephen Keshi, the Super Eagles head coach, who resigned from the post barely 24 hours after leading the team to win the AFCON trophy.

Meanwhile, Maigari, has reacted angrily to the furore that erupted over the bonus saga stressing they had pleaded with the players to understand the board’s financial plight to no avail.

“We pleaded with these players even before the (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier

against) Kenya and explained the situation of the federation’s finances to them.

“We were shocked when they refused to accept the $7,500 after defeating Kenya 1-0 in Nairobi and drawing 1-1 against Namibia in Windhoek,” a subdued Maigari told a wire service.

“There was nothing we did not say or do to convince these players to board the flight to Johannesburg but our pleas fell on deaf ears.

“It was a very unfortunate situation but the good thing is that the issue is finally resolved and Nigerians can see their darling team at the Confederations Cup,” he said.

Golden Eaglets to open camp July N duka Ugbade, one of the Assistant Coaches of the Golden Eaglets, says the team’s open camp will soon commence, in a build-up to the 2013 U-17 World Cup in October.

According to him, 10 new players who did not participate in the U-17 CAF championships in Morocco in April, will join the regulars in camp.

Ugbade said on Friday in Lagos that the team was expected to regroup in Calabar for the World Cup billed for the

United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He added that the exercise would afford the technical crew the opportunity to try out some new set of players for the team. ``The open camp will be in Calabar and the team will be taught the spirit of unity in playing, and also get familiar with each other’s style of play. ``It is meant to build up the players ahead of the rigorous engagement that the team is expected to encounter at the UAE. ``There are ten new players

that will be joining the camp because they were not part of the team that participated in the CAF U-17 Championship,’’he said.

Ugbade, who won the maiden edition of the U-17 World Cup as skipper of the Golden Eaglets in China in 1985, assured that the team would leave no stone unturned in its preparation.

The 15th edition of the U-17 World Cup will take place in six cities across the UAE. They are: Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.

A total of 52 matches will be played in the UAE’s top stadiums: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Emirates Stadium in Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah Stadium in Fujairah.

The other venues are: Sharjah Stadium in Sharjah, Rashid Stadium in Dubai and Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain. The competition will hold from Oct. 17 to Nov. 8 and is set to be the largest football event in that country’s history.

Mikel turns Galatasaray as Mourinho begins Chelsea rebuild

J

ose Mourinho may have begun a rebuild of Chelsea by making it clear that some of his old faithful are surplus to requirement.

Though the former Real Madrid manager has told John Terry that he would remain the skipper of the Blues, it seems John Mikel Obi may have been told to look elsewhere to render his services.

Accordingly, Mikel it was reported by Mtnfootball.com that he may be joining old pal Didier Drogba in Turkey to ply his trade for Turkish champions Galatasaray.

Galatasaray sporting director Bulent Tulun said Mikel has agreed in principle to join them, according to a leading Turkey football website fotomac.

Mikel is to replace Brazil star Fillipe Melo, who is on his way out to either Brazil or Italy.

Chelsea returning boss Mourinho and both clubs are now to decide on this transfer, said Tulun, who met with other top officials this week on the matter.

Mikel still has a contract with ‘The Blues’ till June 2017 meaning Galatasaray will have to buy out the remainder of his contract.

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Page 43

Sports

Mikel agrees to join Galatasaray

C

helsea midfielder Mikel Obi has given his word to Turkish champions Galatasaray he wishes to join them.

Galatasaray sporting director Bulent Tulun said Mikel has agreed in principle to join them, according to a leading Turkey football website fotomac.

The 26-year-old Mikel is to replace Brazil star Fillipe Melo, who is on his way out to either Brazil or Italy.

Chelsea returning boss Jose Mourinho and both clubs are now to decide on this transfer, said Tulun, who met with other top officials this week on the matter.

Mikel still has a contract with ‘The Blues’ till June 2017 meaning Galatasaray will have to buy out the remainder of his contract.

Arsenal chase Imbula

F

rance winger Franck Ribery signed a two-year contract extension with Bayern Munich, keeping him tied to the club until 2017.

Belgium centre-back Daniel van Buyten also added a year to his current deal, meaning he will remain until the end of next season.

The former Marseille and Galatasaray midfielder joined the Bavarian giants in 2007 and this season was part of the historic first ever German treble-winning side as Bayern claimed the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup crowns.

The Frenchman scored 10 goals and provided 15 assists in 27 games during the past Bundesliga

Ribery

season, while also scoring once and setting up five goals, including one in the final, in the Champions League.

Van Buyten, 35, joined Bayern from Hamburg the year before Ribery. He had also played for Marseille and spent an unsuccessful loan spell at Manchester City in 2004.

“We’re delighted to be going forward with two important elements of the team,” said Bayern’s Chief Executive Officer Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

“Franck and Daniel have have done amazing things over the years. We’ve always been able to count on them and they’ve often made the difference in crucial moments.”

City close in on Malaga playmaker M

anchester City are close to making Malaga playmaker Isco their third signing of the summer.

City is confident terms will be agreed with the Spain Under 21 midfielder, who is set to follow Manuel Pellegrini to the Etihad in the coming weeks.

The Chilean coach left Malaga at the end of last season and the 2012 Barclays Premier League champions are hoping to unveil Pellegrini over the weekend.

Isco, 21, lit up La Liga and the Champions League last season with Malaga but has hinted at his willingness to leave the Spanish club, who have been banned from both the Champions League and Europa League.

The Spain star, who has a £30million buyout clause, slated UEFA’s decision to ban Malaga for failure to adhere to financial fair play regulations, describing it as ‘shabby’ and ‘embarrassing’.

Odemwingie

Chelsea swoop Mourinho seals £18m Schurrle deal Mourinho has landed his first player born in unified Germany to for Lewandowski Jose signing since returning to Chelsea with represent his country alongside Mario Germany forward Andre Schurrle joining Gotze. with £25m from Bayer Leverkusen for £18million.

Schurrle plays predominantly on the Chelsea has turned their attention to Borussia Dortmund star Robert Lewandowski as Jose Mourinho looks for a man to lead the line for the Blues.

Mourinho is unconvinced by Fernando Torres and Demba Ba and wants another front man to compete with youngster Romelu Lukaku and new £18million signing Andre Schurrle - who will mainly be used out wide.

Lewandowski is looking to engineer a move away from the Champions League finalists but Dortmund are determined not to sell to Bayern Munich, who remain the Pole’s preferred choice.

The 24-year-old’s representatives have contacted Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona as well as Bayern over a potential £25m move.

Dortmund would be loathe to sell to Bayern after the German champions activated wonderkid Mario Gotze’s £32m release clause last month.

Cavani is a long-term target of Chelsea’s, but Mourinho is a big fan of Lewandowski’s having watched him score four against his Real side in the Champions League semi-final.

Chelsea also remain keen on Zenit St Petersburg forward Hulk, but Manchester United do not want to allow sell unsettled Wayne Rooney to Stamford Bridge.

Schurrle, 22, has been on the radar at Stamford Bridge for over a year and is set to sign a long-term contract after the club confirmed a fee had been agreed on Thursday.

Chelsea midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has not been included as part of the deal, despite reports suggesting the Belgian would head in the opposite direction.

Schurrle came through the youth ranks at Mainz where he played under Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp and alongside Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby before leaving for Leverkusen in a £6.5m deal two years ago.

He made his international in November 2010, becoming the first

left wing but is comfortable operating in any forward position. He has scored seven goals in 24 games for Germany.

Andre Schurrle

Modric urges Bale to join Madrid Modric played with Bale at Tottenham before moving to Real last summer and thinks the player would fit seamlessly into the team.

Bale, 23, has become one of the hottest properties in Europe following a fine 2012-13 season that saw him named both the PFA Player of the Year and the PFA Young Player of the Year, as well as the Football Writers’ Player of the Year.

Real Madrid and Paris SaintGermain are just two of a number clubs to have been linked with the Wales international, who has made no secret of his desire to play abroad at some point in his career.

And Modric, who played with the former Southampton man during his time at White Hart Lane, believes Bale would be a perfect addition to the Madrid team.

Benteke

Page 44

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Sports

Confederations Cup Preview: everything you need to know about the World Cup warm-up in Brazil I

t’s now less than a year until the best footballers in the world converge in Brazil for the World Cup finals 64 matches played to a samba rhythm in one of the most beautiful countries on Earth.

After months of angst over preparation delays, Brazil steps into the global spotlight on Saturday when it kicks off the Confederations Cup, a key test of its readiness to stage the World Cup next year.

Six Brazilian cities: Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio and Salvador are hosting the two-week soccer tournament, expected to attract some 355 000 Brazilians and foreign tourists.

Brazil, winner of the previous edition in South Africa in 2009, has this year dropped to a new low of 22nd in the rankings of world football’s governing body Fifa.

The other contenders are current World Cup holders and European champions Spain; European vice-champions Italy, South American champions Uruguay; CONCACAF champions Mexico; Africa champions Nigeria; Asian champions Japan; and Oceania champions Tahiti, very much the minnows.

Today’s opening game in Brasilia’s Mane Garrincha pits the Brazilians, five-time World Cup winners, against Japan.

Not only is the tournament important in testing the magnificent venues that will host the World Cup in 12 month’s time, but it’s a chance for some of the best teams to challenge themselves against each other with an eye on winning the biggest prize.

Some of the best players in the world will go head to head when the Confederations Cup starts this weekend - Spain, Italy, Brazil, Uruguay, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria and Tahiti meet in the competition Like the World Cup, the Confederations Cup is staged every four years and, since 2005, has been held in the same country chosen to host the main event 12 months later. It comprises eight nations, including the host nation for the World Cup, the previous World Cup winners and the winners of each of the continental tournaments - the European Championships, Copa America etc.

It serves an important logistical purpose in testing out the venues that will be used for the finals, but also gives some of the best nations on the planet an early chance to size each other up.

BRAZIL - The host nation for

the 2014 World Cup SPAIN - The World Cup holders from 2010 JAPAN - The winners of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup MEXICO - The winners of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup URUGUAY - The winners of the 2011 Copa America TAHITI - The winners of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup NIGERIA - The winners of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations ITALY - The runners-up in the 2012 UEFA European Championships - because Spain currently hold both the World Cup and the European Championship trophies, the runners-up are invited to take the European space in the tournament.

That would be Brazil, who won the competition in 1997, 2005 and 2009, and were also runners-up to Mexico in 1999. France took the honours in 2001 and 2003, while if you include the tournament’s forerunner, the King Fahd Cup in Saudi Arabia, then you can add Argentina (winners in 1992) and Denmark (1995).

The eight teams have been divided into two group of four, with the top two in each advancing to the semi-finals. In Group A, we have Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Italy. In Group B, we have Spain, Uruguay, Tahiti and Nigeria.

Well, if you’re not fortunate enough to be jetting out to Brazil, the good news is every match will be screened live on either BBC One, BBC Three or the BBC Red Button (full details below). The matches are at reasonably social times, with kick-offs usually at 8pm UK time, though there are also some 11pm starts for night owls.

Six of the stadia to be used next summer will host the Confederations Cup. They are: Rio De Janeiro Maracana (top left); Capacity: 78,639; two group matches, Final Brasilia Estadio Nacional (top middle); Capacity: 70, 064; Opening group match Fortaleza Estadio Castelao (bottom middle); Capacity: 64,846; two group matches, semifinal Belo Horizonte Estadio Mineirao (bottom right); Capacity: 62,547; two group matches, semifinal Salvador Arena Fonte Nova (top right); Capacity: 55,000; two group matches, third-placed playoff Recife Arena Pernambuco (bottom left); Capacity: 44,248; three group matches

Neymar You could single out almost every player in Brazil’s starstudded squad, but there’s no doubt it will be Neymar who will receive the most attention in this tournament and at the World Cup finals next summer.

Having just made the move from Santos to Barcelona for an eye-watering £48.6million price tag, we will now see just how accurate those comparisons to Pele and other Brazilian greats are.

With the forward set to grace the Champions League for the first time next season, Europe will be scrutinising his every twist, turn, trick and flick too.

Mata The Mata Marathon goes on, with the playmaker spending his summer at yet another tournament.

Part of Spain’s victorious 2010 World Cup squad in South Africa, he then played in the 2011 European Under-21 Championships, the 2012 European Championships and the London Olympics.

And now, despite a hectic season leading Chelsea’s attack, he won’t be getting a long summer holiday again.

Just one asset in a phenomenally talented Spain side, there will be plenty of scouts monitoring his performances closely after incoming Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho hinted he would listen to offers for the 25-year-old.

Stephan El Shaarawy Talented young striker who enters the Confederations Cup brimming with confidence after a prolific 19-goal season with Milan, relatively new to the Italy setup, this is a real opportunity for El Shaarawy to demonstrate on the world stage why observers in some quarters have been happily comparing his style of play to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Brown Ideye A relative newcomer to the Nigerian side but a player on which great hopes have been pinned, Ideye helped his country to Africa Cup of Nations glory earlier this year and scored 21 goals in 40 matches for his club, Dynamo Kiev, this season.

As ever, the Nigeria side could be dark horses in this competition.

Shinji Okazaki Okazaki has played an instrumental role in guiding Japan to next summer’s World Cup finals they became only the second side

to qualify last week and he will give us a sneak preview of his potential here.

His international scoring record of 33 goals in 63 outings speaks for itself, even though his goalscoring ratios at Stuttgart could do with some improving.

A familiar name, of course, to followers of the Premier League, where opportunities came usually from the subs’ bench as Manchester United claimed a 20th league title, but what less is known is Chicharito’s impressive international scoring record of over a goal a game.

Given regular pitch time at this tournament, expect him to add to that tally in his customary goal poacher’s style.

Little is known about Pacific minnows Tahiti, but this tournament is bound to be a great experience for them.

Chong Hue became a national hero when he scored the winner in the 2012 Oceania Nations Cup final against New Caledonia. He played for AS Dragon in the Tahiti first division.

Today match Group A - Brazil v Japan

Sunday June 16 Group A - Mexico v Italy Group B - Spain v Uruguay Monday June 17 Group B - Tahiti v Nigeria Wednesday June 19 Group A - Brazil v Mexico Group A - Italy v Japan Thursday June 20 Group B - Spain v Tahiti Group B - Nigeria v Uruguay Saturday June 22 Group A - Italy v Brazil Group A - Japan v Mexico Sunday June 23 Group B - Nigeria v Spain Group B - Uruguay v Tahiti Wednesday June 26 Semi-final - Winner Group A v Runner-up Group B Thursday June 27 Semi-final - Runner-up Group A v Winner Group B Sunday June 30 Third-place Play-off FINAL (Rio De Janeiro

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16, JUNE, 2013

Page 45

Issues Building public convenience for persons with disabilities For Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory City, the importance of public facilities such as public toilets for residents and commuters convince cannot be overstressed, as it impacts a lot a lot on the public health and environment of any modern society. But, the discriminatory architectural posture of most of these facilities against persons with disabilities, who may want to use them, appears to shut out this segment of the public from getting relieve from ‘inconveniences’. As a result, most often not they are faced with even greater inconveniences whenever nature calls.

Writes EMMANUEL EKO.

A

toilet is a specially designed structure to basically serve the interest of humans. Public toilets are supposed to be accessed by all, but most times present accessibility challenges for people with disabilities. For example those in wheelchairs. stalls may not be able to fit a wheelchair, and transferring between the wheelchair and the toilet seat may pose a very difficult task. Accessible public toilets are designed to address these issues by providing more space and bars for users to grab and hold during transfers.

In countries like the Western United States, have requirements for public toilets to ensure rapt accessibility.

Most new constructions

Physical challenged persons; (Inset) Persons deficating in a refuse dump site due to lack of access to public toilets

for public use must be built to meet up standard for accessibility. In the United Kingdom, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 requires organisations and businesses to make adjustments to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

For them, there is a room for wheelchair-height toilet, to help the user on and off the toilet, with handles (grab bars); An emergency alarm, in the form of a red cord that reaches the ground, connected to a buzzer and a flashing red light; Height sink and hand dryer; a very wide door leading to it, allowing sufficient space for a wheelchair are becoming more common in public toilet facilities, as part of a trend towards universal design.

A public toilet needs a larger floor space than other cubicles to allow space for a wheelchair to maneuver. This space is also useful for people who are not necessarily wheelchair users, but still need physical support from someone else. A wheelchairheight changing table is also

recommended, but remains rarely available.

Accessible changing tables are low and accessible to a wheelchair user, and long enough for a caretaker to change an older child or adult with a disability.

But checks here revealed most times these public operators stigmatize these set of people a lot thereby not allow them to make use of these toilet facilities even in cases where they are very press and need to ease themselves, toilet operators never treated them like other humans.

Despite all the aesthetic

beauty of the city centre, public toilets are not even a luxury, some these toilets are completely nonexistent, as the city planners paid little or no attention to the provision of this basic infrastructure.

Governments in other parts of the world prioritise the welfare of the citizens, but, in Nigeria, the reverse is the case, as it appears that these toilet operators make life more difficult for the physically challenged people.

Most times, you come across faeces littered on the streets, but it is not the

Despite all the aesthetic beauty of the city centre, public toilets are not even a luxury, some these toilets are completely non-existent, as the city planners paid little or no attention to the provision of this basic infrastructure.

fault of the people because even the toilets built by individuals are not managed properly, while they deny the physically challenged access when they want to use of them.”

As it stands, the price that the city has had to pay for this seeming negligence is faeces littered in every corner of the city, just as urine has defaced the colour on most walls and fences.

He urge individual owners and government of the day to their aid, of course we are humans just like every other, they should ensure that these challenged are not just given the opportunity to make use of these public toilets but rather treat them just like every other human, he lamented.

By and large, developing a city where equally right to public facilities in the society must be able to accommodate all, as to have sustainable and inclusive city, it is time to revive and expand our appreciation for those who are shut out of these facilities that impact on the greater wellbeing of all.

Page 46

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 8 — SUNDAY 9, JUNE, 2013

Special Report How man escaped death in the hand of ritualists in Kano From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

D

eath is inevitable and nobody escapes death when it comes. When it comes upon you, you must go whether by sickness or not.

But if your time has not come, you will not die no matter the situation.

This is the story of a man that mysteriously escaped death in the hand of ritualists.

The victim, Augustine Zakariya of Adamawa State, narrated his ordeal to Peoples Daily Weekend, about his narrow escape in the hands of ritualists, saying the incident happened on Sunday, June 9, 2013 around 5:20pm along France Road in Sabon Gari area of Kano metropolis as he was rushing to reach home before rainfall because there was thick cloud that signified rainfall at any moment, at the time.

“I went to France Road to buy a switch for my laptop but I had to return back home immediately due to fear of rain that could damage my laptop.”

“As I was desperately looking for a tricycle, suddenly appearing to me was a Mercedes Benz Vee boot car with some guys inside it. One of them just called my name from inside the car. I felt relieved that someone who must have known me would give me a ride. I thought it was one of my customers. I have many customers that know me but I don’t know them unless they identify themselves as my customers”, he said.

Austine said that the car was tinted such that he could not see anybody from the outside, adding that as soon as he entered the car, he went into coma.

“The car was tinted and one of them just opened the door of the car and asked me to enter.

As soon as I entered the car and tried to take a glimpse of them, and see if I knew them, I just saw five men but I couldn’t see their head, I could see only their body. One of them just wiped my face with a handkerchief and I fell unconscious within seconds.”

Zakariya added that he woke up only to find himself in a place that he had never seen in his life and had his head shaved with some inscription written on his head and chest. “ I just woke up in a strange place and found my head

shaved with inscriptions on my head and chest that read “300 billions...” and some other words that I couldn’t read.

It was later that I discovered that it meant my head and my chest were the valuable parts they needed from my body that would give them much money.”

He also said that the shaving was done by a woman called “queen of the course”. “She was a headless woman who used a machine to shave our heads.

We were told she comes from India to suck human blood for making money and that she is their boss. We could only see her body but her head was invisible to us.”

Asked if he could describe the house, he said: “it is decorated with glasses, everywhere is glass that I could see myself from the glass.

They took me and put me in a pool full of human skulls.

The water was oily and my body dried seconds after they removed me from the pool.”

Zakariya also stated that the inscription made on his body was done by a person that was also invisible. He couldn’t see him but felt when he was writing on his body.

“I couldn’t see the person that shaved my head because he was

invisible. I just felt it that he was writing on my head and chest.”

He also stated that “the cultists were ten but if they talked, their voice sounded like they were in thousands. They also spoke different languages; they spoke English, Hindi (India), Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba; they spoke as many as six different languages.”

Asked if he could identify the location of the house he was taken to, the victim said: “ I swear to God, I don’t know and I can’t identify the area and the house.”

Zakariya further narrated how the ritualists cut off human heads, saying: “ after they shaved our heads, we were five, they called us one by one to cut our heads off with a drilling machine, remove the brain and handed it to the queen of the course. I was the last person to be sacrificed.

After the next person to me was sacrificed, they decided to leave me till midnight. All the remaining four were sacrificed in my presence”.

On how he finally escaped and found himself in police custody, Zakariya said that he removed his phone when he regained consciousness and handed it to the security guard of the ritualists, who could be

seen completely, not like others whose heads were invisible.

“When I regained consciousness, I saw a man who said he is their security guard.

I could see him completely, so I gave him my phone to keep for me. He later told me that he was initially captured by the ritualists for money but the queen didn’t like his blood. It was then he told me that her name is “ Wayanga”.

“She was more sympathetic than her mother. She helps captives out if they have beautiful features. So, the guard said he would help me out, even if it meant losing his life. So, I wrote my father’s phone number and gave it to him secretly, asking him to call my father. Luckily, my father, who didn’t see me return home up till midnight, called my phone which was already with the guard but I didn’t know what they discussed.

Kano State Police Public Relations Officer, Magaji Musa Majia, confirmed the incident and urged people to be careful with the commercial vehicles they use.

“All praise is due to Allah who saved Augustine Zakariya from the hand of ritualists.

I call on people to be careful with the kind of commercial vehicles they board. People

should go to motor parks that are registered by government to take commercial vehicles, rather than just taking a vehicle along the road.”

We just pray to the Almighty God to protect us where ever we are, amin”, he said.

“

Zakariya further narrated how the ritualists cut off human heads, saying: “ after they shaved our heads, we were five, they called us one by one to cut our heads off with a drilling machine, remove the brain and handed it to the queen of the course. I was the last person to be sacrificed. After the next person to me was sacrificed, they decided to leave me till midnight. All the remaining four were sacrificed in my presence”.

Page 47

Peoples Daily WEEKEND SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16 , JUNE, 2013

From the Pulpit

Who are you listening to? (III)

I

’m so glad to bring you the third part of this series. I believe God will speak to you again today whether or not you read the previous parts.

Before I rounded off last week, I said that while you should listen to other people’s advice, you must know that it is not everybody who gives good advice.

I’m not saying you should feel self-sufficient that you think you don’t need advice – that is an extreme. But another extreme is to think that every advice people give is right. No. It is a fool who says he needs no advice. Prov12:15 puts this clearly, “Fools think they need no advice, but the wise listen to others.” (NLT) Prov 19:20 says, “Get all the advice and instruction you can, and be wise the rest of your life.” (NLT) According to Prov15:22, “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success.” (NLT) But one must be sure of the quality of these counselors. You don’t take counsel from just anybody.

It is true that Prov 13:10 says those who take advice are wise. (NLT) And verse 13 of that scripture goes ahead to say, “People who despise advice will find themselves in trouble; those who respect it will succeed.” (NLT) But one must emphasize that it is not just any advice that makes one succeed in life but actually the right advice.

You need the advice of people who are wise by Bible standards. Prov 13:14 says, “The advice of the wise is like a life-giving fountain; those who accept it avoid the snares of death.”

(NLT) That is the difference between taking advice of a wise person and taking the advice of a foolish person.

The advice of the foolish may actually plunge one into danger and death.

In fact, the advice of one wise man is better than the advice of multitude of fools. Listen to wise advice; reject

foolish advice. “Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without the advice of others.”

(Prov 20:18 NLT) Hatred for truth Don’t be like King Zedekiah who would not listen to the truth. Jer 38:15 says, “Jeremiah said, ‘If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.’” (NLT) King Zedekiah failed to listen to the advice of Jeremiah that if he surrendered to Babylon, he and his family would live, and Jerusalem would not be burnt. But if he refused to surrender, he would not escape and the city would be handed over to the Babylonians, and they would be burnt to the ground.

Prov 23:9 says, “Don’t waste your breath on fools, for they will despise the wisest advice.” (NLT)What was the consequence of this rejection of the wisest advice Jeremiah gave King Zedekiah, which was a revelation of Heaven’s mind? Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem suffered a tragic loss. “King Zedekiah and his royal guard saw the Babylonians in the city gate, so they fled when the darkness of night arrived. They went out through a gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley. But the Babylonians chased the king and caught him on the plains of Jericho. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. He made Zedekiah watch as they killed his sons and all the nobles of Judah. Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in chains, and sent him away to exile in Babylon.” (Jer 39:4-7 NLT) What a terrible thing!

Amnon’s wrong friend Having as counselor someone

who advises you how to perfect evil desires is a curse. The tragic story of Amnon illustrates this point very well. A God-fearing friend would have silenced Amnon and killed his lust for his half-sister but Jonadab was his counselor. “After this Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Now Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, ‘Why are you, the king’s son, becoming thinner day after day? Will you not tell me?’ Amnon said to him, ‘I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.’” (2 Sam 13:1-4 NKJV) And what was the satanic counsel of crafty Jonadab? “So Jonadab said to him, ‘Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” (2 Sam 13:5-6 NKJV) Amnon carried out the plot successfully and raped Tamar but he only dug his own grave because two years later, he reaped what he had sown. He was murdered by the servants of Absalom, Tamar’s brother. “And it came to pass, after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal Hazor, which is near Ephraim; so Absalom invited all the king’s sons. Then Absalom came to the king and said, ‘Kindly note, your servant has sheepshearers; please, let the king and his servants go with your servant.’ But the king said to Absalom, ‘No, my son, let us not all go now, lest we be a burden

GREEN PASTURES By pastor t.o. banso

cedarministryintl@yahoo.com GSM: 08033113523 to you.’ Then he urged him, but he would not go; and he blessed him. Then Absalom said, ‘If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.’ And the king said to him, ‘Why should he go with you?’ But Absalom urged him; so he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.

Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, ‘Watch now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon!’ then kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you?

Be courageous and valiant.’ So the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and each one got on his mule and fled.” (2 Sam 13:23-29 NKJV) You didn’t determine the family you were born into but you choose who your friends are. Be careful who your friends are. Amnon suffered untimely death because of the poverty of a righteous friend in his life who would have given him the right advice and scolded him for lusting after his half–sister. Jonadab was a wicked man, a callous person.

In verses 30-33, he didn’t tell David that he gave Amnon that evil counsel on how to rape Tamar.

“Let not my lord suppose they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, for only Amnon is dead.”

(Verse 32 NKJV) Did you hear

that? Only Amnon is dead! But who was advised him?

Relationship is not by force; it is by choice. It takes your permission for anyone to come into your life, and it requires your consent for you to act on the wrong or evil counsel of anyone.

I’ll stop here today, and continue this message next week. Be a doer of the Word and not a reader alone. Be careful who you listen to.

TAKE ACTION! If you are not born again, kindly say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and surrender my life to him today. I invite Jesus into my heart today.

By this prayer, I know I am saved.

Thank you Jesus for saving me and making me a child of God” I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations!

You will need to join a Bible believing, Bible teaching church in your area where you will be taught how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon.

May you grow into Christ in all things becoming all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. May the Lord be with you.

The Christian woman and her unbelieving husband L ikewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any will obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation coupled with fear.”

(1Pet. 3:1and2) These are the verses of scriptures we are looking at today.

The Lord is talking to us about the family. What does a family look like?

The family is made up of, the husband and a wife both joined together by the will of God, by the word of God and then they live together until death do them part. Any thing outside this is an abnormality and not according to the word of God. Now, as two people come together, they need to live together and they need to be able to have fellowship together, understanding together and live their lives in such a way that both will be happy and both will have fulfilment in that marriage. Because the man and women are coming from different background, they may have different understanding, different world view, and different perspectives. As a result of these, they sometimes talk differently. Think differently, plan differently, yet they need to align everything together and be in agreement together in fellowship and in love.

Here is a Christian woman, the Christian wife that wants to still fulfil her duty in the family and she wants to be dear to the Lord as a child of God, but the husband is not born again and is causing some problems, opposition, persecution, contradiction and attacks against her faith. What is that woman to do? That’s what we are learning today. It says wives be in subjection to your own husbands. That if any

of those husbands, if your husbands in particular obey not the word, they also may be won by the conversation of the wives. While they behold, while those unbelieving husbands behold and see and they look at, and they can tell that your life is very different, ... your chaste conversation- that is, your manner of life, your character, your conduct, your lifestyle as you are now a new creature in Christ coupled with fear. That word ‘fear’ is not slavish fear. But reverence and honour for the husband. Some people have a three part, kind of principle – Force, Fight and Fret. (1) They force issues. They say yes I am born again, but I am not going to take any nonsense from you. We are going to fight it out. If you do that, you become a backslider like your husband. Force will not win the day, and force will not win the game. If you are going to win your husband to the Lord, it is not by force. (2) It is not by fighting. That is not a good fight of faith, that is a bad fight and the grace of God is not going to be available in that kind of fight. Other people just (3) Fret. They worry, get anxious, nag, complain and give excuses all the time. In their fretting, they develop High Blood Pressure. The Lord is telling us then, if you are going to solve the problems in the family it is not by force, not by fighting, and not by fretting. But by the Precept. What is the precept? Be in subjection to your own husbands.

The Purpose. What is the Purpose?

Why are you in subjection to your own husbands? That they also may without the word be won by the conversation. How do you win him or

By pastor W.F Kumuyi

her back? (1) By Faith: You present this husband that the Lord who has given you grace will give him grace as well. The time will come, the day of joy and a moment of joy in your life when this man will realise the way he has been going and turn around. (2) Forbearance. You know between the time of his unbelieving act and the time he comes to believe on the Lord and becomes saved you have to endure quite a lot of things without complaint, without compromise, without worry and anxiety. You carry the cross with a smile and the joy of the Lord will be your strength.

(3) Forgiveness: Whatever the man does, forgive knowing that he is not born again. You make up your mind whatever he says and whatever he does there is only one thing I am going to do. I am going to forgive. (4) Faithfulness. You will not say because he is unfaithful to me, I am going to show him something. Do not show him anything. You just be faithful.

You have your soul to keep. You have

your salvation to guard and you have Heaven to gain. (5) Freedom. You must be free from the things that he is doing. (6) Fellowship. Do not turn your face towards the wall. Turn your face towards him. Your husband is still your husband. Therefore, you fellowship together in conversation, decision making and in just being happy together. (7) The Fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Gentleness and Long suffering, Goodness, Faith, Meekness and Temperance. Do him well all the days of his life. The meekness, the faithfulness, the fidelity and then; the temperance. What a glorious day that will be when your life has such a great impact on your husband that now he comes to know the Lord, and has real Christian experience with the Lord.

The character of an unbelieving husband Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands... The next phrase describe those husbands that ... if any obey not the word, when

you find that in the scriptures, “if any obey not the word”. Who are those being referred to; (1) they are the defiant men. Those who defy the commandment of God, and they defy the plan of salvation. (2) They are disobedient. They obey not the word deliberately. (3) These are the impudent men. They deceive themselves. Sometimes, the husband will tell you, “You think I am not going to Heaven? I will tell you that, I’m going to get to Heaven before you” (Romans 10:16). “But they have not all obeyed the gospel”. The only way is by your character, by your meekness, humility, by your life in the Lord.

When he is able to behold that every time and knows that this must be the grace of God in your life. That will bring this man down eventually. Not by force, not by fret, not by fighting.

Romans 5:2–8 “but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth. They are contentious, very much argumentative and you know when you are talking to your husband and it degenerates into argument.

You must have the grace of God to stop discussion right at that point once argument begins, when temper begins to rise, the facial appearance is changing and once the fellow is saying well mind yourself don’t let me go beyond this. Better to stop it there, and go on your knees and present the husband unto the Lord, so that the husband will really know the Lord. Just be in subjection that if any obey not the word, by your good conversation, by your Christian life and by Christian comportment, you will be able to win them to the Lord.

BIG PUNCH We are sorry to say that the so called “THIRD PATH” is a clueless path to socioeconomic abyss as it remains essentially a theoritical proposition with no evidence of success either in history or contemporary climes

– Presidency to Bola Tinubu

SATURDAY 15 — SUNDAY 16 , JUNE, 2013

Who will save Nigeria?

A

ccording to the Nigeria’s Senate President, David Mark, the insurgency in Nigeria will soon be a thing of the past. “The operation is being handled well and sooner than later, terrorism will soon become part of our history,” he remarked while addressing the parliament of the Czech Republic, on June 10, 2013.

“We are conscious that fighting terror is difficult because of factors that dwell on human rights and collateral damages.

But the operators of emergency that has been introduced in the area will bring terrorism to its end.” By virtue of his position, Senator David Mark is presumed to be a man of honor, a man of his words.

The insurgency itself, it must be kept in mind, is a bloody scourge brought upon Muslims in particular and Nigeria in general by the politicians. They have never disputed the fact of their culpability, only the degree.

Even the journey so far in the fight against the insurgency is bound to leave a far reaching impact on Nigeria. The likely impact on the Nigeria Army is the most worrying. We now know that our army is thoroughly and dangerously out of control - it obeys no law, it respects no authority, it is bound by no principles and its respect for the Citizen, the very basis for the existence of Nigeria, is at best tenuous. An eye witness account of Adam Nossiter, of The New York Times epitomizes the Army’s notion of the Nigerian Citizen.

The scene was the Maiduguri government hospital.

‘A fresh load of battered corpses arrived, 29 of them in a routine delivery by the Nigerian military to the hospital morgue here. Unexpectedly, three bodies started moving. “They were not properly shot,” recalled a security official here.

“I had to call the J.T.F.” — the military’s joint task force — “and they gunned them down.”

It was a rare oversight.’ Can an army sink any lower?

To complete the picture, Adam Nossiter gives another account: ‘Laminou Lawan, a student, said Nigerian soldiers had been attacking young men just because they wore traditional robes. “As soon as they see you with clothing like ADVERT: BUSINESS:

NEWS: LAGOS:

this, they shoot,” said Abukar Ari, a Koranic teacher in a long robe who said he had fled across the border from Nigeria two weeks before. “They don’t ask any questions. I’ve seen them shoot people. Yes, I’ve seen them shoot.” Friends and neighbors were being shot, they said; young men were being rounded up at night; and citizens with the vertical ethnic scarring of the Kanuri, a group dominant in the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, were being taken away.’

This has been the consistent pattern of operation by the Army everywhere in the North - an echo, surely, of ethnic cleansing.

The Army, perhaps, has lost its innocence and its legitimacy, and has unwittingly inflicted upon itself a mortal wound. The big question is whether it can live much longer as a cohesive, credible, impartial national institution or it stands the risk of a momentous implosion. It is bad enough that the Army considers itself as a body distinct from the Citizens of Nigeria - harm one of their number and an entire community can be wiped out. Worse still: the army is almost like a self perpetuating caste ‘sharply segregated from the larger society and with its enlisted ranks disproportionately recruited from the disadvantaged’, as Karl W. Eikenberry and David M. Kennedy observe regarding the so called strongest military power on earth, in The New York Times, [26/5/2013].

‘History,’ they add, ‘suggests that such scenarios don’t end well.’ The perverse recruitment practice, albeit illegal, for the rank and file in particular in recent years worsens the situation even further. Pay certain amount of money, and you are a member of the Nigerian Army, irrespective of your background. So, with money every one – a bandit, a murderer, a rapist, an incorrigible criminal, a ‘restive youth’, an ethnic jingoist, a religious bigot – can be a soldier, and carry out their trade as they wish.

We have insisted throughout the discourse on the current security challenges which we are bringing to a close

0803 311 7458 0805 689 1765 08033223427 08053271969 08034540344

WEEKEND With

Ibraheem Sulaiman sa427420@gmail.com

Senate President, David Mark

that Nigeria is committing a grave error by concentrating all attention, expending huge resources and exerting all efforts on the insurgency in the North which happily Senator David Mark promises will come to an end soon while turning a blind eye on the far more extensive, far more profound existential threat from the Niger Delta. What is happening in Niger Delta is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria, unprecedented in the world. ‘It is embarrassing,’ a seemingly bewildered President Jonathan laments, ‘that it is only in Nigeria that crude oil is stolen.’ But surprisingly, this gargantuan, worldwide enterprise is allowed to thrive in relative peace and, what is even more alarming, to keep growing exponentially, threatening the nation’s economy and undermining its foundation.

Oil Theft continues unabated with the active participation

of every family in the Niger Delta, as The Economist has correctly observed, as well as the active participation of the Army, Navy, Police, Customs and, even more ominously, many other key stakeholders in the Nigerian enterprise. That is precisely why there is no concerted effort to combat this horrendous war on Nigeria, it let alone stop it.

Add to this the escalating piracy from Niger Delta. Joe Bavier of Reuters [5/29/13] gives us a glimpse of the lethal activities of the Niger Delta pirates.

‘With one of the world’s biggest black markets for fuel a by-product of subsidy scams that cost Nigeria $6.8 billion over three years - pirates found a ready-made market for cargoes.

“Nigerian pirates can make in 10 days what Somalis make in 10 months,” Michael Frodl, head of U.S.-based consultancy C-Level Maritime Risks said.

“It’s easier to offload oil to the local black market than negotiate ransom with foreign ship owners.” After Benin, pirates stepped up attacks further along the coast in Togo, before heading to Ivory Coast — the Gulf of Guinea’s secondlargest fuel refiner after Nigeria. Just before midnight on Oct. 5, pirates armed with AK-47s and knives boarded a gasoline tanker named the Orfeas as it lay at anchor in sight of the bright lights of the Abidjan skyline. After subduing the 24-man crew and smashing communications equipment, they sailed 650 nautical miles to a rendezvous point off Nigeria where they stole as much of the cargo as they could. In all, the operation took four days but the pirates knew there was almost no chance of being caught. Ivory Coast did not possess a single vessel capable of patrolling on the open sea. “They’re here because there’s noone here to stop them,” one Western security official told Reuters. “The number of attacks is reaching a tipping point ... If this law enforcement problem is left unchecked, it will have economic consequences.”

Piracy’s impact on West Africa’s import-dependent economies, some of the world’s poorest, could dwarf that in East Africa. Hikes in insurance premiums after attacks off Benin in 2011 led to a 70 percent drop in traffic to Cotonou port, Defence Minister Issifou Kogui N’Douro told the U.N. Security Council. Port fees and customs duties are an essential source of revenues for the region’s coastal nations. In Benin, they provide half of government receipts, according to the World Bank, and 80 percent of these come from Cotonou’s port. Any increase in shipping costs due to insurance premiums or onboard security also adds to the price of everything from milk to auto parts in landlocked Mali and Burkina Faso.

The entire Nigeria system has been mobilized to fight ‘Islamic’ insurgency. Who will fight the unprecedented existential threat from Niger Delta which is pulling Nigeria into total economic failure, total collapse?

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