Plot to impeach Amaechi illegally exposed

Vol. 1 No. 30, Monday, August 26 - Sunday,September 1, 2013

N150

FG deports 22,000 as part of anti-insurgency fight

Pg

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Anambra 2014:

Five killed as gunmen attack Andy Uba, Ngige, Ifeanyi Ubah, Enugu vigilante group 5 Pg 3 sustained Obiano set for battle bullet wounds, 5 arrested Pg 12

WICKED: Mother dumps baby in gutter in Onitsha Pg

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First International flight to Enugu (Ethiopian Airlines) Inset: l-R: Governors of Enugu, Abia, Anambra state, Mr. Sullivan Chime, Chief Theodore Orji, Mr. Peter Obi and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah and the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (behind), waving to the crowd aboard the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft that made the first international flight to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu Saturday. SEE STORY ON PAGE 4.

RIVERS CRISIS

Plot to impeach Amaechi T illegally exposed

By Ted Peters & Rex Arum

here are very strong indications that Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State may be illegally impeached any moment from now, and subsequently arrested and prosecuted in court for allegedly masterminding

Continues on page 2

G-5 Speaker, Bipi says he has Assembly key in his pocket Why IGP left CP Mbu in Rivers

Igbo doctor commits suicide in Lagos

Page 4

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

ADVOCATE

RIVERS CRISIS

Plot to impeach Amaechi illegally exposed *G-5 Speaker, Bipi says he has Assembly key in his pocket *Why IGP left CP Mbu in Rivers Continued from cover page the fracas that materialized on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly on July 9, 2013.

The Presidency and the Rivers State chapter of the people Democratic Party (PDP) have persistently insisted that Mr. Amaechi should be held responsible for the July 9 fracas on the floor of the hallowed chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Information available to The Advocate suggests that Hon. Evans Bipi, the self-styled “Speaker” of the Rivers State House of Assembly may soon lead members of the antiAmaechi lawmakers into the hallowed chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly solely for the purpose of announcing the impeachment of Governor Chibuike Amaechi. This imminent session of the legislative house is expected to take place, complete with full police protection, provided by the Rivers State Commissioner of police, Mbu Joseph Mbu. Our checks indicate that the legislative sitting to illegally impeach Governor Amaechi will latch upon the contents of a published write-up by one Dr. Nnamdi Uwadiegwu in the Saturday Thisday of August 10, 2013, where upon the political scientist argued that Hon. Bipi, as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, can lawfully organize the impeachment of Governor Amaechi despite the takeover of the legislative duties of the Rivers Legislature by the

Evans Bipi

Gov. Amaechi National Assembly.

According to Dr. Uwadiegwu, “While the constitution bars the N a t i o n a l A s s e m b l y f ro m impeaching a state governor after taking over of the legislative duties of a legislative house, it does not deprive the Rivers State legislators their power of impeaching Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi if they desire to realize such an objective”.

Dr. Uwadiegwu had also insisted in his essay that since “The takeover of the legislative duties of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the National Assembly has not stopped the state legislative house from functioning, as sanctioned in

section 105 (1) of the constitution”, Hon. Bipi and his group can still conveniently sit and remove Governor Amaechi from office. According to him, Section 105 (1) of the constitution (as amended) says: “A House of Assembly shall stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the House”.

Our findings indicate that it is t h e s e a s s e r t i o n s b y D r.

Uwadiegwu that emboldened Hon. Bipi into publicly claiming a few days ago, that his group can meet any time in the hallowed chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly despite the takeover of its legislative duties

by the National Assembly and do whatever they like. According to a news-report in The Nation of Saturday, August 17, 2013, “The representative of the Rivers West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Wilson Ake, expressed displeasure over the refusal of the Federal Government to redeploy the Rivers Commissioner of police , Mbu Joseph Mbu, while noting that the self-styled “Speaker” of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Evans Bipi, who represents Ogu/Bolo c o n s t i t u e n c y, w a s s i m p l y displaying ignorance by publicly announcing that the key of the Assembly was in his pocket and

WICKED: Mother dumps baby in gutter in Onitsha ...As residents set robbery suspect ablaze

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esidents of the commercial city of Onitsha woke up on Friday to behold a gory sight of a lifeless body of a baby boy dumped inside gutter and not far from the scene was also the burnt body of an armed robbery suspect at the Upper Iweka axis of Onitsha in Anambra state.

We gathered that at the No 19 Upper New Market road, scene of the gory sight, residents of the area including traders on their way to the Main Market stopped to catch a glimpse of the lifeless body of the baby boy suspected to have been dumped inside the gutter by the mother.

The baby dressed in blue and white attire with marks indicating that he must have been strangled to death was found by early callers to the market, mostly women who stopped to rain curses on the mother

of the baby and whoever had a hand in his death.

One of the women who did not want her name in print told our reporter that the person who dumped the baby inside the gutter will never have baby again adding “this is the highest level of cruelty meted to an innocent baby who just came into this world. The person that did this will never hear the cry of a baby again in his or her house” “Each time we mothers teach our young children the dangers of getting pregnant out of wedlock, some of them will rather like to continue jumping from one man to another and when they get pregnant, most of them will abscond to another place where they will give birth to these babies and snuff lives out of them. While many women are busy crying, praying to God for a fruit of the

womb, some useless randy girls are here killing and dumping these precious gifts from God into the gutters and tomorrow they will begin to go from one adoration and prayer houses another other in search of children”, the bitter resident added.

It was however gathered that the whereabouts of the mother of the baby was still unknown as at the time of filing this report while policemen from the Central Police Station, CPS, Onitsha led by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Mr. Tope Fasugba came and evacuated the lifeless body of the baby.

Also found not far from where the baby was dumped was the burnt body of a young man in his late 20s who had boarded a luxury bus going to Lagos with a view to robbing other passengers on the way but luck ran against him as he was searched and a locally made pistol

found on him.

The incident according eyewitness accounts occurred at 9pm on Thursday when the suspect dressed in a black suit boarded the luxury bus with other passengers. But when the driver wanted to move, he asked that a search on passengers be conducted and it was during the search that a locally made pistol fell off from the suspect's pocket. As a result, he was lynched and burnt by irate youths.

Confirming the incident, the Onitsha Police Area Commander, Mr. Benjamin Wordu said the policemen discovered the burnt body of the suspect at the Upper Iweka, adding that he was a victim of jungle justice. Wordu urged residents of the commercial city to go about their normal businesses on the ground that the situation has been brought under control and investigations were ongoing.

they could sit at any time despite the taking over of its functions by the National Assembly”.

However, The Advocate findings suggest that rather than acting out of ignorance, Hon. Bipi's utterances on the matter reveal what may happen any moment from now on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly, with the connivance of the police, that will lead to the illegal removal of Amaechi from office as the Governor of Rivers State.

A valuable and dependable source in the Presidency insists that the only reason why the Federal Government allegedly stalled the replacement of Mbu Joseph Mbu as the Rivers State Commissioner of police by the current commissioner of police for Imo State is the belief in governmental circles at Abuja that it is only Mr. Mbu that has shown the zeal and commitment to assist Bipi and his group to remove Governor Amaechi from office.

In fact, the thinking, our sources maintain, is that once Governor Amaechi is impeached, Mbu would be posted out of Rivers State to a higher office in the pretense of satisfying the wishes of the civil society organizations and the Labour movement.

Sources at Abuja also gathered that once Bipi announces the impeachment of Governor Amaechi on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly, his (Amaechi's) security aides and details would be withdrawn, and he will be immediately arrested, hand-cuffed and flown to Abuja for prosecution and possible imprisonment.

It is believed that the execution of this act will scuttle Amaechi's ambition to participate in the 2015 presidential election as a runningmate to a northern presidential candidate.

Further findings reveal that the alleged recent posting of security/intelligence officers to the Rivers State Governor's Lodge at Abuja and the Government House in PortHarcourt without consultations with, or notification to, the Governor; acts which Amaechi himself insist are attempts that may put his life in danger, may, in reality, be the strategic weapon designed for effecting his (Amaechi's) arrest once Bipi announces his (Amaechi's) impeachment on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Efforts by our Correspondent to speak with both parties on the alleged impeachment plot were unsuccessful as both Amaechi's media aides declined comments while Bipi did not pick his calls.

THE

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

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Association. He informed the Five killed as gunmen attack Enugu vigilante group government that “the problem s in Ugwuagor Community are yet to long detention of the suspect be settled” and attached copy of 5 sustained bullet wounds, 5 arrested without handing him over to the suit number 367/2013 which they

By Rex Arum & Patrick Okolie

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ive persons were shot dead by unknown gunmen who attacked the office of Ogwuagor Community Joint Neighbourhood Association in Enugu East local government area of Enugu State Wednesday evening.

The Advocate learnt that those killed in the attack which followed the arrest and detention of a suspected cultist by the vigilante group, included a member of the vigilante group, Sunday Eze, two women and two other men whose identities could not be ascertained by press time.

But the police confirmed the death of two persons namely Sunday Eze and Nebechi Mba whose corpses were deposited at the National Orthopaedic Hospital mortuary in Enugu while five others, Messrs Uwadiegwu Onyegwu, Anayo Ifeji, Ani Basil, Hyacinth Ugwu and Ozioma Ezekwem wounded in the attack are currently receiving treatment in an unnamed hospital.

Already, four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident while full scale investigation has commenced to ascertain the cause of the attack, the state police command said Thursday.

The State police spokesman, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the incident said that “no fewer than four suspects have been arrested by the Operatives of the Enugu state police command in connection with the alleged shooting incident which occurred in Ogwuagor axis of Abakpa Nike in Enugu state in the evening of August 21, 2013.”

He identified those arrested as Peter Nwankwo, Udeh Chimezie, Osita Onyia and Chief Frank Eze, who is Chief of Ogwuagor Community.

Mr. Christopher Amaeife, secretary to Chief Eze's Cabinet was also arrested on

Gov. Chime Friday when he went to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS' office to see the Chief, who is Ohabueze 1 of Nike and Prime Minister of Udi Town.

Amaraizu did not give reasons for the shooting but he said security has been beefed up in the area and advised members of the public to go about their lawful businesses.

But a member of the vigilante group told The Advocate that the attack by the gunmen who drove in a Camry car to their office, followed the arrest of a young man suspected to be a cultist. He was chained by vigilante men on the instruction of one Enyi who is described as Chairman of the Action Men, He narrated: “Our vigilante men in Ogwuagor arrested somebody and chained him in the office from 10 am to 4.30 pm when unknown persons drove into the office in a Camry Car and opened fire on the vigilante man guarding the suspect.

“They started shooting indiscriminately at different directions and in the process two women in a nearby hairdressing saloon were hit by bullets. One of them had her breast removed and

Two brothers stab friend to death

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n Igbosere Magistrates' Court in Lagos on Friday remanded brothers, Nurudeen Dada, 38, and Wasiu Dada, 41, who allegedly stabbed their friend to death.

The Magistrate, Mrs A. Tobi, ordered that the brothers should be kept in the Ikoyi Prisons pending the advice of the state's Director of Public Prosecutions.

The court, consequently, could not take the plea of the brothers, who reside at Isheri-Oke, Ijegun, Lagos.

The prosecutor, DSP Raymond

Akhaine, told the court that the accused conspired to kill Mr Quadri Busari, 32, on Aug. 3, at Isheri-Oke. He submitted that the brothers stabbed Busari during a fight with him.

“The accused unlawfully killed Busari by hitting him on the head with a stick before stabbing him with a knife.”

Akhaine submitted that the offences contravened Sections 221 and 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The court adjourned the case to September 23 for mention.

she later died. Two other men who were discussing their private business were also hit by bullets and later died.

The vigilante man, Sunday Eze died at the spot before any help could come his way. We heard that a total of five persons have died so far.”

The gunmen fled in their car after the sporadic shots that brought five persons down, he said.

It was gathered that the attack might not be unconnected with the disagreement between members of the vigilante group which had been factionalized by a politician in the council.

An fficial of the Ogwuagor Community Joint Neighbourhood Association said that though some people blamed the attack on the

police, the attack may have been sponsored by a top official, who was backing one of the factions.

He said that members and leaders of the vigilante group arrested were not involved in the shooting alleging that those pointing accusing fingers at the Frank Eze group who are already in court to challenge the re-inauguration of the group, capitalized on Wednesday incident to deal with their opponents.

He urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident with a view to unmasking those behind the deadly attack.

Secretary to Dr. Ezeh's cabinet, Mr. Amadife had written the state Commissioner for Human Capital Development on August 20, notifying him of the illegality of the Federated Ugwuagor Neighbourhood Association, a parallel group that was opposed to the existing Ogwuagor Community Joint Neighbourhood

filed on August 19, 2013 at the Enugu High Court challenging the setting up of the parallel security body.

The Ezeh group advised the government to suspend the inauguration of the parallel group pending the determination of the suit but it was turned down as the commissioner went ahead to inaugurate the group. It was members of that new group that took charge of the community's security before the gunmen attacked on August 21.

However, the attack was blamed on the alleged over-zealousness of one of the new group's leader who ordered his boys to detain the suspect more than necessary. It was gathered that the attackers untied the suspect after the shooting and set him free, a development that suggested that the attack was retaliatory as it was meant to free the suspected cultist, which reason for his arrest was not disclosed.

FG provides N30bn to support University councils FG not ready to end strike – ASUU

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f t e r 1 0 unsuccessful meetings with the Federal Government, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday said government was not ready to end the 8week-old strike, lamenting that government displayed dishonesty and lack of integrity during negotiations.

At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU's President, Dr. Isa Faggae, claimed that government had declared it would not implement the agreed injection of funds to revitalise the public universities, but was only making a dubious statement of supporting some universities with N100 billion.

He said: “Government had also declared that it will not pay university academics their earned allowances which accumulated from 2009 to 2013. Rather, it is talking about providing N30 billion to assist various Governing Councils of Federal Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system.”

Narrating the union's experience at the last meeting with the Government held on Monday, Faggae said: ASUU was shocked by the level of deceit, dishonesty, and lack of integrity displayed by the Government. Never in the history of ASUU-Government relations have we, as a union, ever experienced the kind of volte-face exhibited by Government. At one

President Jonathan

stage in the interaction, the Secretary to the Government Federation ridiculed the agreement, the MoU and the Needs Assessment Report, mocking the Minister of Education to “go and give them N400 billion,” at which members of the government scornfully laughed.”

He argued that the Governor Gabriel Suswam-led Implementation Committee was being used as smokescreen to “deceive ASUU, Nigerian students and their parents, as well as other unsuspecting members of the public on the purportedly released N100 billion for the implementation of the Needs Assessment Report.

First, he said, government plans to divert the regular yearly allocations to universities by Te r t i a r y E d u c a t i o n Tr u s t ,

TETFund, to make at least 70% of the N100 billion. This is unacceptable to ASUU. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, since the idea of revitalization took full cognizance of the intervention role TETFund ab-initio.

“Again, contrary to subsisting operational procedures, about 75% of the money meant for revitalizing universities would not be released to them as the Suswam Committee plans to hand over construction of the hostel projects to the Federal Ministry of Education and/or the National Universities Commission, for implementation. This is illegal; neither the ministry nor NUC is backed by laws of Nigerian Public Universities to divert monies meant for the development of these institutions into centrally executed projects.”

Dr. Faggae questioned the committee's motives for proposing to commit N1.6 million to a bed space, instead of N200, 000 to N400, 000, saying, “We see a continuation of outrageous contract regimes in the plan to centrally coordinate the construction of student hostels as done in the case of the 12 newly established Federal Universities with TETFund resources. The NUC has transmuted itself into a “Tenders' board” which awarded contracts for the construction of 560 bed spaces hostel for each university at a whooping sum of 1.2 bn. This contract sum translates into N2.143 million per bed space.”

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

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First passenger international flight arrives Enugu, South East celebrates THE

By Ted Peters

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t was historic. As soon as the crowd that thronged the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to witness the arrival of the first passenger international flight sighted the Ethiopian Airline, they went frenzy in jubilation.

The plane was sighted at about 12.10 am and pulled up at the tarmac 6 minutes later.

Carrying 20 passengers on board, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft took off from Addis Ababa.

158 passengers including Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu and Governor Sullivan Chime boarded the plane back to Addis-Ababa en route Europe and other parts of the world.

The crew was personally led by the deputy chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines, Esayas Haylu.

On hand to receive the aircraft include the Secretary to the Federal government, Anyim Pius Anyim, minister of aviation, Stella Oduah; deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu and minister for power, Chinedu Nebo.

Also present were all the South East governors excepting that of Imo state.

Present also were the national chairman of All Pregressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh and Comfort Obi of the Police Service Commission.

Deputy CEO Ethiopian Airlines, Esayas Haylu expressed happiness that his Airlines was the first to commence international flights to Enugu.

Esayas who is also the Chief Commercial Officer of the airlines greeted the crowd with the traditional Igbo greeting of "Igbo Kwenu" on disembarkment.

He praised the "spirit of Igbo people", saying repeatedly, "I love you, I love you".

Esayas promised that the Ethiopian Airlines would ensure that it abides by the aviation rules and regulations of Nigeria as long as they fly the Enugu route which is their 76th destination world wide.

The Pilot of the aircraft marked ET-APL, Captain Zena Berhanu Gobere, said he had a smooth flight into Enugu, stressing that the runway of the airport was one of the best as landing and taxiing to the tarmac was an interesting experience.

Igbo leaders who witnessed the ceremony, showered praises on President Goodluck Jonathan for fulfilling his promises to Ndigbo and pledged to continue to support him.

FG deports 22,000 as part of anti-insurgency fight

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he Federal Government has deported some over 22,000 illegal immigrants over the past couple of months as part of a crackdown linked to its fight against an Islamist insurgency, the government said.

Interior minister Abba Moro told reporters in the northern city of Kano late Thursday most of the deportees came from the neighbouring nations of Chad, Cameroon and Niger and were not properly documented.

He said Nigeria was engaging in the crackdown because illegal immigrants “have become ready tools in the hands of insurgents”.

“So far as at today, over 22,000 of such illegal immigrants have been eased out of the country,” he said in response to a question on activity in recent months with

a state of emergency in place in the country's northeast.

“They are not just from one country. Most of them are Cameroonians, Chadians and Nigeriens.”

Nigeria has at times sought to portray the insurgency by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram as being influenced and contributed to by foreigners.

However, most analysts see it as a domestic group fed by poverty and hopelessness in the country's north.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation with 160 million people, roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

The insurgency concentrated in the northeast has left more than 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

Igbo doctor commits suicide in Lagos

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he Lagos State police command is trying to unravel why the Medical Director in charge of City Convalescent Clinic in Kosofe area of the state, Tony Okereke committed sucide.

Dr Okereke was said to have hung himself on the ceiling fan in one of the rooms at his residence at 13, Aliu Street, Ketu in Kosefe area of Lagos Friday morning.

A police source said the wife of the deceased, Disu, had reported that she was sleeping in the same room with her husband the previous night only to wake up Friday morning to discover that her husband was no longer in bed.

The source said that the woman claimed she did not suspect any foul play but was shocked when she later discovered her

husband's body dangling from the ceiling fan.

The senior police officer said the force was investigating why a medical doctor would commit suicide when the wife was in the same apartment with him without her knowledge.

A neighbour who did not want his name in print said the man may have been manipulated spiritually to kill himself, adding “why I believe so is because the man was peace loving who loved his family very well” Lagos state police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide who confirmed the incident said the corpse has been deposited in the hospital for autopsy.

She said the police were investigating to ascertain the cause of death.

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Why I shunned Amaechi's deputy in P'Harcourt – Patience

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IFE of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has said that the refusal of senior officials of the Rivers State Government to pay her a condolence visit when she lost her foster mother was the reason why she shunned the state Deputy Governor, Mr. Tele Ikuru, at the Port Harcourt airport.

She said despite the fact that several groups and individuals from across the country came to commiserate with her, she did not receive any delegation from Rivers State.

Mrs. Jonathan said this in a statement by her spokesman, Mrs. Ayo Adesugba.

She was reacting to media reports that she snubbed Ikuru, when she arrived at the Port Harcourt airport on Sunday.

The President's wife said she decided to make her visit to the state as quiet as possible so as not

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

to give room for those who she described as mischief makers to succeed in their plans of involving her in the political intrigues in the

state.

She said since the wife of the state governor ordinarily receives her whenever she visits any state, that

was why the wife of Bayelsa State governor came to Port Harcourt from Yenagoa to receive her.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to reports in some media claiming that the First Lady, Dame (Dr.) Patience Goodluck Jonathan snubbed the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, who was said to have gone to the Port Harcourt International Airport to receive her.

“The reports, by all indications, represent a contrived motive of some gladiators in the Rivers State crisis to continue to paint the First Lady as an aggressor.

“It should be clear to all that for quite some time now, the First Lady has refrained from commenting on issues relating to the Rivers State crisis while these gladiators have continued to use every media at their disposal to fan the embers of disharmony and hatred.

It is for this reason of the intrigue at play that the First Lady would want to be left out of Rivers State

crisis, hence making her visit to the state as quiet as possible, so as not to give room for mischief makers to succeed in their plans.

“Ordinarily, the wife of the state governor receives the first lady whenever she visits any state. That is why the wife of Bayelsa State Governor travelled from Yenagoa to receive the First Lady.”

“In addition, as a daughter of Rivers state, the First Lady is free to visit the state any time she desires. But we are forced to ask: why the presence of the First Lady in Rivers State always generate rumpus?

“It should be noted that while several groups and individuals from across the country came to condole the First Lady and Mr. President on the death of her mother, no official of Rivers State government deemed it fit to pay the first Lady’s family condolence visit, yet they claimed the First Lady is a daughter of Rivers State.

“He who must go to equity must go with clean hands. They should learn to give respect to those who deserve respect so that they too can earn respect.”

Akwa Ibom 'child-witches' still endangered

By Christopher Okon, Uyo

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very Akwa Ibom child will be completely protected by this law we are signing today, and this is a commitment we would protect with all the might of the legal instruments at our disposal. We have come to make a law to protect everything we cherish and value….”

Those were the words from Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio shortly after signing the Child Rights Bill into Law on December 5, 2008.

The law became necessary after many parents and guardians in the state subjected their children/wards to inhuman treatments after branding them “witches” and “wizards”.

The events leading to the passage of the law are still fresh in the memories of many as the state was subjected to global odium by a report on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on alleged child-witches and inhuman treatments meted to them by their parents and communities.

A self-styled cleric, Bishop Sunday William, declared in the report that 2.3 million witches and wizards existed in the state most of them, according to him, are children.

Williams also claimed that he helped parents kill about 110 “child-witches” for as much as N400, 000 per 'witch'.

The BBC documentary on the activities of his church went viral on the internet. It angered Akpabio that a 'Bishop' would declare that 2.3 million witches existed in a state of less than 4 million people; leaving just 1.7 million of the population witch-free.

The governor immediately

ordered the Bishop's arrest.

The Bishop was later paraded at the State Police Headquarters, where he told reporters he did not kill the children as alleged, but m e r e l y destroyed spirits of witchcraft in them.

“I started destroying the spirits of witchcraft from people since 2007. I only destroyed the spirits out of the people up to 110 but not killing the main people.

“You can see behind me some of the children whom I have destroyed the spirit of witches out of them.”

Akpabio dismissed the 2.3 million witches claim. The governor, who spoke at a ceremony organised by Inoyo Toro Foundation in honour of Science, Mathematics and English language teachers in Uyo, said some of the children had confessed to being witches and wizards when they were tortured by their parents and church leaders.

Akpabio said: “If you put a nail on my head and ask me to agree that I am a wizard, I would do that to save myself from torture. That is how these children are tortured to accept that they are witches and their parents would gladly throw them out of the house.

“We will not only destroy such churches, but also get their pastors prosecuted and jailed to set example for others because some churches are deceiving people.”

While the number of such persons prosecuted since the enactment of the law remains unknown, cases of maltreatment and abuse continue to increase daily in the state.

Commissioner of Police Umar Gwadabe said the command was grappling with the rising tide of violence against persons accused of witchcraft.

His words: “On several occasions, our men were called upon to rescue vulnerable persons, such as women, children and the elderly who are falsely accused of being witches, and who are being subjected to untold acts of torture and brutality by some criminal elements.

“A case in point is the rescue of two male children aged nine (9) and six (6) years Mmenyene and Samuel who were branded as wizards in a village called Ikot Obio Asanga. They were rescued in a toilet having been locked up for 14 days without food and water.

“This followed a so-called prophesy that the children were wizards and responsible for the misfortune that had befallen the

family. Those involved, the father and a prophetess had been picked up and charged to court.”

One of such unlucky victim was 12-yearold Mercy Frank, whose mother bathed her with acid because a p r o p h e t claimed she was possessed by witchcraft. When our reporter met Mercy at the Children Ward of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), she was sitting alone and begging for food.

Mercy, before the acid bath, attended Atabong Primary School in Oron. The acid bath affected her breasts, mouth and other parts of her body.

Narrating her sad story, she said: “I am from Atabong village in Oron Local Government Area. I am the second child in the family of four children. My mother poured acid solution on my body that is why my mouth and my body are like these.

“One of our neighbours told my mother that I was a witch but I told her that I was not a witch. She took me to Apostolic Church in Atabong, Oron and the pastor told her that I was a witch. When the pastor asked me if I was a witch, I told him I was not a witch.

“The pastor prayed and told my mother that I was a witch then we went back home after the prayer.

When we got home that night, my mother canned me seriously.

Other neighbours begged her to let

me be but she refused.

“Later at midnight, my mother took me to a deep forest and poured acid solution on me and dropped me by the roadside and left.”

She said security agents brought her to the hospital after seeing her in pains and crying by the roadside.

Mercy was lucky to survive the attack.

Effiong Lawson was not. He was recently beheaded, allegedly by his stepfather, Felix Lawson, 43, who accused him of being a wizard. Sources said Lawson accused the child of being responsible for the fate of his wretched and poverty-stricken family.

Eyewitness said the incident occurred while the suspect was enjoying his meal after returning from work on the fateful day.

His hungry step-son reportedly sneaked into the backyard and whispered to his younger sister to bring him leftover food to stop his hunger.

But the enraged stepfather, who heard and recognised his voice, went for his machete and attacked the child.

Two friends of the late Effiong's who accompanied him to the house, sensing the danger from the stepfather, took to their heels but the late Effiong was not as lucky.

He was overpowered and beheaded by the irate father.

Our investigations revealed that these and other incidents occurred despite the Child Rights Law. Observers say the state government needs to exercise its judicial power and make the law function effectively by ensuring that perpetrators, like Effiong, are punished by the court to serve as deterrent to others.

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FG has paid PHCN staff N119.17b severance package – BPE Says deadline for payment of remaining bid sum stays

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he National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and its implementation arm, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has reassured Nigerians that the power sector reform process is on course.

According to a statement, the BPE said the deadline for payment of the balance of 75 per cent by the various preferred bidders remains Wednesday, 21 August 2013 as stipulated in the Request for Proposal (RFP. In line with the resolve to handover the privatised assets, the bureau noted that “as at Friday, August 16, a total of 20,304 of the 40,000 staff of PHCN have so far been cleared and paid their severance benefits totaling N119, 176, 731,492.88k.

“The payment is being handled by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), and commenced on Thursday August 1st, 2013.”

In line with the agreement reached with Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) labour unions dated December 12, 2012, Federal Government commenced payment of benefits due to the staff on 1st August 2013.

It will be recalled that all the preferred bidders for the 15 Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies have earlier met the deadline for the payment of the mandatory 25 percent of the offer value of their bids as at the deadline date of March 21, 2013.

The Bureau had received

$559,445,573.96 from 14 bidders for 15 successor companies.

According to the statement, the BPE recalled “that President Goodluck Jonathan revived the reform and privatization of the power sector with the launching of the Power Sector Reform Roadmap in August 2010 as a

major plank of the Transformation Agenda of his administration” the statement added.

Winners of the bids to take over 11 distribution companies of the PHCN, last week, gave fresh conditions for payment of the balance 75 percent of the bids

sum, including that government must meet established “condition precedent”, besides seeking additional one month extension to the payment deadline with just about two weeks to the expiration of deadline set by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) for payment.

Ten out of the 11 distribution companies with the exclusion of Kaduna Distribution Company, who met with Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo, said the deadline of August 21 was not feasible, as government needs more time to complete payment of the severance benefits.

Other demands presented by the bidders, under the auspices of the Roundtable of Distribution Companies (the Disco Roundtable), are that the government must hand over the assets free of all legacy liabilities.

How Presidency stopped Soludo in APGA

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he Presidency has been fingered in the disqualification of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to run for the Anambra State governorship election on November 16 by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) screening panel.

Soludo had recently resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before casting his lot with APGA. He had bought nomination form with the intention to contest the Anambra governorship election on APGA's platform.

He was, however, not cleared for the race by a three-man committee that screened the aspirants at the party's Abuja national headquarters on Friday.

His appeal against his disqualification was also dismissed by the appellate panel of the party on Saturday.

It was reported last week that the leadership of the PDP was plotting to stop Soludo from contesting the election on the

platform of APGA. The report had it that the leadership of the PDP was jolted by the entry of Soludo into

A P G A , which, it feared, would make the former CBN c h i e f a candidate to beat in the election.

It was learnt that the former CBN boss was shot down from t h e governorship race by APGA following a 'stop Soludo by all means' order from the Presidency.

Dependable sources close to APGA said that the order not to allow him to contest the election came from the Presidency, first to Governor Peter Obi and later to the party's National Chairman, Victor Umeh.

The source claimed that the Presidency was worried that if Soludo was allowed to contest the election, he may win, which, it was believed, will be an illwind for the President.

It was gathered that the decision to stop Soludo was a hard one, as members of APGA screening committee could not find an easy way to do it.

A source close to the screening committee said, “It was real headache finding grounds on which to stop Soludo. Members of the screening committee were at a loss because they felt that it was a betrayal of the party's chance to field a formidable candidate.

“But since the order was from the above, they eventually had to find whatever they could, to disallow Soludo. But I tell you, it was a nightmare for them.”

It was not possible to speak to Soludo as he did not pick his calls.

His Media Assistant, Bonaventure Melah, who spoke on the development was rather evasive, saying he has not been briefed on any of the questions raised.

Boko Haram grounds economy of Northern states industries are said to have closed

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he activities of the I s l a mis t s e ct, B o k o Haram, have destroyed economic and commercial activities in the Northern part of the country.

The 2011 World Investment Report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, noted that the Nigerian economy had

lost over six billion dollars (N1.3 trillion) as a result of attacks by the sect.

Mr. Shedrack Madlion, a businessman based in northern Nigeria, lamented the situation.

He said: “Business activities in northern Nigeria today have gone to almost zero percent. There is no way anybody can come and put up any investment where

there is insecurity. I was thriving on N3 million daily in business, in my agricultural inputs, but today, I don't see N80,000.”

Madlion disclosed that farmers in Plateau, Kaduna and Sokoto states no longer go to farm for fear of what will happen to them, adding that it was a serious threat to food production in the North.

He said: “If we don't have peace, there would be a need to review the Federal budget as Nigeria would be forced to import yam from Jamaica and enhance rice imports from Thailand and Cambodia.”

the city, was reported to have been seriously affected as hundreds of shop owners, especially Southerners were said to have closed their businesses and left the troubled city.

Banks are also said to be o p e r a t i n g u n d e r d i ff i c u l t situation and have reduced their business hours.

Borno State Commissioner of Information, Mr. Inuwa Bwala, said the activities of the sect constitute a setback to the economy of the state, noting that it may take the state 20 years to recover.

Borno

Kano

In Maiduguri, Borno State, the activities of the sect have weighed down seriously on commercial and businesses activities in the city as many businesses have reportedly crumbled while many people have fled the state.

The Maiduguri Monday Market, said to be the biggest market in

Since the militant group's devastating attack in Kano on January 20, 2012, life has not been the same again in the city.

Kano, which is reputed to be the hub of business and commercial activities in the entire 19 Northern states and beyond, is gradually losing steam.

About 80 per cent of the

town due to the daunting security challenges posed by activities of Boko Haram.

The Centre for Research and Documentation in the northern city of Kano attributes the threat to a drop in earnings for nearly all businesses in Kano State.

U m a r I b r a h i m Ya k u b u , Executive Director of the Centre, said: “We discovered that 97 percent of businesses were negatively affected by the security problem.”

Kaduna Kaduna, the former capital of the defunct Northern region has not fared better as business activities in the city continued to nose dive as a result of the increasing level of insecurity in the state.

Many residents live in perpetual fear of the unknown as the Boko Haram sect continuous to attack the city so they restrict their business activities to areas where they feel safe. Worst hit is the hospitality business in the city.

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N1trn spent on N'Assembly members in eight years – Ezekwesili

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ormer Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, on Monday said Nigeria had spent over N1tn on the National Assembly members in the last eight years.

Ezekwesili, in a keynote address she delivered during one-day dialogue session on the 'Cost of governance in Nigeria, “ added that banks earned N699bn as interests last year on loans secured by the government.

“Since 2005, the National Assembly members alone have been allocated N1tr,''she said while also lamenting that “82 per cent of Nigeria's budgetary cost goes for recurrent expenditure.”

To buttress her claim that much was being spent servicing those in government, she said that “ a research conducted in the United Kingdom identified Nigerian legislators as being the highest paid in the world.”

Although she was applauded by participants at the session organised in Abuja by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre with support from Federal Public Administration Reform Programme in the UK, she drew flak from the National Assembly members, who said her claim amounted to blackmail.

But Ezekwesili, who was also a former minister of Solid Mineral and World Bank Vice-President for Africa Region, challenged civil society groups to demand a mini-national dialogue that centres on good governance and the release of the Steve Oronsaye report on Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.

“There should be effective demand by civil society groups of the report of the Oronsaye report.

You should also demand a mininational transparent dialogue because it touches on the heart of good governance”, she stated.

She also pointed out that one of the greatest mistakes of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration under which she served twice as a minister was that Nigeria delved into democracy without necessarily doing away with a military mindset.

“There is a drawback to the military era. One major mistake of the government under which I served was that we simply got into democracy and did not spend reasonable time getting every citizen; every leader and every institution to do away with militaristic ethos and principles from their minds,” Ezekwesili added.

According to her, the social dilemma which the country

Oby Ezekwesili currently finds itself would be overcome if stakeholders, especially lawmakers, consider part-time legislation as a means of bringing down the cost of governance.

She said part-time lawmaking would ensure that the right people got into governance.

“Things will improve through part-time legislation. It will also reduce the number of people who will go into the National Assembly. You must have means of livelihood so that you won't have to depend on public funds, ”she said.

The former minister argued that Nigeria's problem was not the system of governance but more of the kind of people managing it.

Ezekwesili said while other countries were moving forward technologically, Nigeria was trapped by oil, a natural resource which it loses a revenue of about $1.6bn annually.

She said, “When I was in government, I was totally debating public policies. We must debate public policies as a nation because if we don't do so, we will make silly mistakes because we don't involve the stakeholders. So policy debates must be encouraged.

“The culture of personalising policy dialogues must stop. When you have a problem, you don't leave the problem and begin to chase other matters.

“I feel sorry for any person who is fairly okay in this nation and doesn't care about the poor because there will be an implosion. Whatever treatment that is given to the poor and

vulnerable in the society must matter to everybody because except we have social inclusion in the society, we stand the danger of implosion. This has happened in other countries which ignored the vulnerable people.”

In his speech, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Ibrahim Rafsanjani, condemned the cost of governance in Nigeria.

He said, “There is recent media report of our National Assembly members being the highest paid in the world. The size of the cabinet at the executive level, including the retinue of superfluous aides and special assistants, is alarming. The fact

that the 10 planes in the Presidential fleet gulp N9.08bn annually is something that must be looked into.”

But the Senate, through its Majority Leader, Victor NdomaEgba(SAN), described the statement by the former minister as another blackmail against the National Assembly.

Ndoma-Egba told one of our correspondents that the National Assembly received far less than what the other arms of government were allocated in the national budget.

He said, “I don't know how she arrived at the figure. But what is allocated to the National Assembly is known to the public.

In the last four years, the National Assembly has been allocated N150bn, which has been the highest since 1999. It is another attempt to blackmail the National Assembly.

“They are saying cost of governance is high, what was the overheads when she was minister.

Let her say it.

“Pick the budget and look at it without sentiments and compare the overheads of the Executive with that of the National Assembly. Nobody is saying anything about that.

“When President Goodluck Jonathan said there should be a reduction in the cost of governance, the National Assembly reduced its overheads, none of the other arms of government did that.

“If we say that cost of governance is high, we should sit down and look at all the aspects, instead of castigating the National Assembly.”

The House of Representatives also dismissed the former minister's comments as “blackmail, which sole aim is to seek headlines.”

The House argued that her figure

appeared to have been “conjured up for fancy as it simply does not add up.”

The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Victor Afam-Ogene, who spoke for the legislators, said that in the last three years, the budget of the “entire National A s s e m b l y, i n c l u d i n g t h e bureaucracy and the National Assembly Commission, had remained at N150bn.”

He added that this meant that prior to 2010, the budget could have been less than N150bn.

“Now, a simple check will tell you that even at N150bn per year from 1999 till date will not give you anything near over N8tn. It, therefore, means that her figure is fallacious”, Afam-Ogene stated.

He expressed surprise that each time people talked about reducing the cost of governance, they only complained about the National Assembly and not the Executive arm.

Afam-Ogene asked, “What is the percentage of N150bn in a budget of N4.9trillion (2013 budget)?

“People think that this N150bn is just for salaries and allowances of legislators. This is not correct.

“It is for the entire institution of the National Assembly, including the capital projects for all the organs therein. We have always called for cutting cost of governance and the problem really is with the Executive. That is where the waste we often complain about is. But, nobody looks that way.

“Today (Monday), some papers reported that ministers were spending N2bn on air tickets alone. That is the waste we talk about.

“People always want to blackmail the National Assembly, the core of democracy, and leave out the real issues.”

Hard time awaits illegal, sub-standard schools in Akwa Ibom State

By Christopher Okon, Uyo

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kwa Ibom State Government has declared war against sub-standard private schools and illegal schools operators in the state without compromise.

The State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Mrs Atim Antai made this known while interacting with stakeholders and proprietors of private schools in the state during a crucial meeting in Abak local government area.

Prof. Antai said any private school that does not meet up with the current demand of education or found to be

encouraging examination malpractice would be closed down alongside sub-standard private schools while their certificates will be withdrawn immediately in-order to show that government is serious over the issue of education, adding that government is not joking over the improvement of educational standard in the state.

She said that the crucial meeting was not a jamboree rather it aims at giving the education system a new beginning because proliferation of sub-standard schools is becoming worrisome to government.

While urging private school teachers to register with

Nigerian Union of teachers (NUT), the commissioner seriously advised proprietors, stakeholders over the issue of cell phone during school hours saying that it should not be tolerated.

Prof. Atim Antai said Government will not relent on their responsibility in the educational sector in the state while commending the National Association of Proprietors of private school for their understanding over the present development on ground adding that government would not frustrate their effort or abandon them in the educational business noting that they also contributed meaningfully in the sector.

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Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years for leaking security information to Wikileaks

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he US soldier convicted of handing a trove of secret government documents to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Pte First Class Bradley Manning, 25, was convicted in July of 20 charges against him, including espionage.

Last week, he apologised for hurting the US and for "the unexpected results" of his actions.

Prosecutors had asked for a 60year sentence in order to send a message to future potential leakers.

Pte Manning will receive credit for time he has already served in jail, plus 112 days' credit in recompense for the harsh conditions of his confinement immediately after his arrest.

Military prisoners can earn time off their sentences for good behaviour but must serve at least one-third of any prison sentence before they can become eligible for parole.

The 25-year-old defendant, in full military uniform, cut a diminutive, bespectacled figure as he sat in court, tapping his feet and rearranging his papers.

But as he stood to hear her words he showed little emotion. And his aunt, Debra van Alstyne, also seemed impassive behind him.

The hush was broken as he was led away. His supporters, dressed in black T-shirts bearing the word "truth", ignored earlier warnings by court officials and the judge to remain calm.

Shouts of "We'll be waiting for you, Bradley" and "Thank you, Bradley, we love you" rang out.

In the military courtroom in Fort Meade, Maryland, on Wednesday, Judge Col Denise Lind declared Pte Manning would be dishonourably discharged from the US Army and forfeit some of his pay.

While stationed in Iraq in 2010, the junior intelligence analyst passed hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and diplomatic

cables to Wikileaks, the protransparency group headed by Julian Assange.

Pte Manning said in a pre-trial hearing he leaked the secret files in the hopes of sparking a public debate about US foreign policy and the military.

In a statement during the sentencing hearing, Pte Manning told the court martial at Fort Meade, Maryland that "the last three years have been a learning experience for me".

He said he mistakenly believed he could change the world for the better, and that in retrospect, he should have worked "inside the system".

His defence lawyers are expected to make a statement later on Wednesday.

The verdict and sentence will be reviewed, and possibly reduced, by a military district commander and will be automatically reviewed by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

Meanwhile, Amnesty

Bradley Manning International and the Bradley Manning Support Network have announced an online petition asking President Barack Obama to pardon Pte Manning.

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by the defence at his trial, military supervisors ignored Pte Manning's erratic behaviour, which included trying to grab a gun during a counselling session.

His lawyers said such actions had shown that Pte Manning had not been fit for duty overseas.

Defence lawyers said Pte Manning was treated unfairly in solitary confinement in Quantico, Virginia and in a cell at Camp Arifjan, a US Army installation in Kuwait.

Pte Manning told the court he remembered thinking: "I'm going to die, I'm stuck inside this cage."

He enabled Wikileaks to publish sensitive messages between US diplomats and records of military incidents in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a cockpit video showing a US Apache helicopter killing 12 people in the Iraqi capital in 2007.

The revelations caused significant embarrassment to the US government, and US officials have said the disclosures damaged US relations with its allies and disrupted the war effort in Afghanistan.

Microsoft to phase out Windows XP by April 2014

XP poses security risk after end date

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icrosoft Inc., Thursday, in Lagos announced that the Windows XP operating system has up till April

8, 2014 to remain in existence officially, as it would be replaced with Windows 8 and Office 365.

The implication of that to

Obama: Syria will 'require America's attention ssential American interests are at stake as Syria's twoyear-old civil war continues to rage, President Barack Obama asserted in an exclusive interview with CNN that aired Friday.

Speaking with "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo, Obama defended his administration's decision to not intervene militarily in the conflict so far, but predicted that American focus on the country's strife would be necessary for the fighting to come to an end. “I think it is fair to say that, as difficult as the problem is, this is something that is going to require America's attention and hopefully the entire international community's attention," Obama

Isolated deployment As an intelligence analyst in the US Army, he had access to a large amount of very s e n s i t i v e information, despite his junior rank.

The young soldier grew up in Oklahoma and in Wales, where his mother is from, and reportedly joined the US Army to help pay for college.

A m i l i t a r y psychiatrist has told the court that Pte Manning had struggled with his gender identity and wanted to become a woman at the time of the leak.

Navy Capt David Moulton testified that Pte Manning had felt abandoned by friends and family after his 2009 deployment to Iraq and that his relationship with his boyfriend had hit a rough patch.

According to evidence presented

said.

His remarks came the same week rebels in Syria alleged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in an attack on rebels. The assault killed more than a thousand people, the rebels claimed.

Obama said the United States, along with United Nations inspectors, were gathering information on the attack, but that preliminary signs point to a "big event of grave concern."

"It is very troublesome," he said.

"That starts getting to some core national interests that the United States has, both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating, as

well as needing to protect our allies, our bases in the region."

A year ago, Obama laid out his barometer for greater action in Syria during a White House press conference. He said in August 2012 that "a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized."

"That would change my calculus," Obama said at the time. "That would change my equation."

Earlier this summer, the Obama administration announced it would provide military support to rebel fighters because al-Assad's forces had used chemical weapons. Some members of Congress have called for greater U.S. Involvement.

consumer is that the company would no longer from that date be providing backup support for Windows XP users.

Using the term “End of Support� for Windows XP, the Acting Country M a n a g e r, Aw a w u Olumide-Sojinrin said the change process became necessary due to various advancements in technology development and the need to provide consumers with better opportunities that would aid their effective in workplace and in carrying out their day-to-day activities. This she said is critical for people to be in line with current technology as XP is no longer a product for today. She noted that Windows XP does not meet new demands of present day technology, which products like Windows 7, 8 among others introduced by his organisation would be providing. She further said that the action is a buyer's decision as Microsoft will not force any of its clients to migrate away from XP. Olumide-Sojirin said that it became important to announce the planned phase out of the product ahead because as an organisation it likes being proactive with communication, which is usually not limited to communicating new ideas but also when there are needs for precautions.

The Solution Sales Specialists, Microsoft, Mr. Oluyomi Alarape said that when Windows XP was

introduced into the market, it was a great product but technology has changed and what is requested from products has also changed.

He noted that any customer who continues to use Windows XP after April 8, 2014 would be exposing itself to great security risk as the organisation would not be available to provide support for such users. He maintained that customers should not consider the migration from the point view of cost but from protection and security and saving the organization losing vital documents as result of security threat from virus.

According to him, the last 12 years of Windows XP have been tremendous, stressing that it was able to simplify production and drive productivity for both individuals and corporate organizations.

The Solution Sales Specialist, who said the Office 365, which is now in about nine countries across Africa, including Cameroon; Senegal; Cote 'd Voire among others, disclosed that the solution comes with cloud services, which provides highest form of security for users against any form of attacks.

Mr. Biodun Ogunjobi of Ha-shem Network Services, a Microsoft Partner, enjoined Microsoft consumers not to wait till the deadline or when virus attacks their system before migrating. He said that it is important to be proactive by migrating early even before any crisis to safe the organization from the loss that may be suffered from the negative implication in delay from migrating.

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Disqualification: Soludo loses battle in court

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n Abuja High Court last (Friday) heared a motion in which a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a governorship aspirant of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, Prof. Charles Soludo, asked it to set aside his disqualification from the Anambra State gubernatorial election by the party's screening committee.

Soludo and five other gubernatorial aspirants were disqualified from vying for the November 16, 2013 election on the APGA platform.

However, Soludo in an ex parte motion filed on Thursday, asked the Abuja High Court to set aside the party's decision.

In the motion filed by his counsel, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, SAN, the former CBN governor argued that the screening panel's decision violated the party's constitution, as well as the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. He prayed the court to order the party to maintain the status quo.

Soludo also wants the court to grant an order of interim injunction restraining APGA from preventing

him from participating in the party's primary election, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The APGA gubernatorial primary election is scheduled to hold on August 26, 2013.

According to the ex parte motion, Soludo is asking for “an order of certiorari, removing the decision of the screening panel/appeal panel, dated 16th of August, 2013,” purporting to disqualify him from contesting the Anambra State gubernatorial primary election.

Also, he wants the court to make an “order quashing and setting aside the decision” of the screening panel “as being contrary to and ultra vires the constitution of APGA, the electoral guidelines for the Anambra State Governorship Primary Election 2013 made/approved by the National Executive Committee of APGA and being in flagrant violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.” It would be recalled that the APGA screening panel had on Friday disqualified Soludo and five other aspirants.

The other disqualified aspirants are Emmanuel Nweke, Ogbuefi Tony Nnaechetta, Chinedu Francis Idigo, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, and Oseloka Obaze.

A statement signed by the chairman of the APGA gubernatorial screening panel, Alhaji Tayo Sowunmi, at the end of the panel's sitting, explained that Soludo and

the others failed the party's test.

Seven aspirants passed the test.

The APGA gubernatorial screening appeal panel headed by Chief Tony Ojielo upheld the decision of the screening panel and rejected Soludo's appeal to be cleared for the contest.

Meanwhile, the quest by Prof.

Charles Soludo to become the candidate of APGA through the court, suffered a major setback with the dismissal of the case he filed at Abuja High Court 30, Jabi on Friday.

The Judge who presided over the matter, where Soludo was praying to be included in the APGA primaries taking place on Monday, Justice Peter , agreed with the submissions of the lawyer to APGA, Barr Tochukwu Onwubufo (SAN), that order of Certiorari by which Soludo came is only applicable in judiciary and quasi judiciary matters and not in political matters. He also agreed that a matter on who becomes a candidate is internal affairs of political parties.

Soludo was represented by Barr Ikechukwu Ezechukwu ( SAN)

Kogi is a fertile ground for investment – Alli

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ithin a relatively short stay in office, Capt Idris Wada, the Kogi State Governor has through signing of memorandum of understanding with foreign partners stimulated the state's economy.

Special Adviser to Kogi State Governor on Investment Promotion, Alhaji Yusouff Alli who disclosed this to journalists said that at the last count, not less than ten Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) have either been signed or about to be signed

by Partners to invest in several sectors of the State.

Alhaji Alli also disclosed that a MoU with Chelsea Group Limited, Gavic Construction Limited, Light House Financial Services Limited and Astra Coal Nig. Ltd have already been signed. Other MoUs signed include that with Astra Agriculture Resources Ltd and kiabo Engineering Ltd, Reprom Company Nig. Ltd, Good Earth Power Nig. Ltd, Ostertrade Engineering and Manufacturing.

Speaking on other investors who are yet to sign an MoU with the State, he said “there are companies that are in the process of entering into partnership with the State following the discovery of the State's strategic location to investment which include, DPP International, APS and Espera Global Ltd.” Alli posited that aside incentives as tax holidays, access to land with necessary titles, the State also facilitates exploration of Minerals through the necessary Federal Agencies.

Similarly, towards developing the State agriculturally and

industrially, the governor has their obligations and high net worth Ethanol Plant and other associated Alli opined made the State sign an entered into an understanding with with a Return on investment of Industries in Ilama Community in MoU with Good Earth Power Nig. willing entities, to form joint 27% i.e. a payback period of less Dekina Local Government Area. Ltd and Astra Coal Nig. Ltd. The venture and later build, operate and than four years. It is also capable of The project is a 300 million USD companies aside investing in t r a n s f e r w i t h a n e n a b l i n g g e n e r a t i n g t h o u s a n d s o f investment. The equity structure of H o u s i n g , A g r i c u l t u r e , legislation to allow for Public employment in the area of its 85% and 15% for Cassava Infrastructure and Power Plants, development for the partner and would utilize the abundant Coal Private Partnership already in its location. state government respectively, will deposits to generate the much Similarly, the partnership with final stage.

The Special Adviser to the E s p e r a G l o b a l L i m i t e d i n occupy a landmass of 10,000 needed electricity for the Country.

Astra Agriculture Resources Ltd, governor on investment, whose commercial Agricultural and Agro hectares of land. wealth of experience has helped in Industrial investment which would According to Alhaji Alli, Capt according to Alhaji Alli intends to the consummation of most of the operate on a Project Model called Wada's effort in providing mass establish a Rice farm and Rice Mill MoUs said he ensured that in Strategic Fast Tract Agricultural housing scheme in the State, made at Ibaji where infrastructures such a d d i t i o n t o t h e b a c k w a r d Development System, Alli says it to enter into partnership with as Health Centre, Schools, Roads, integration that accrues to the seeks to invest up to 650 million Light House Financial Services Water and electricity the Special Limited to build 1500 houses of Adviser disclosed would be community and the State as a USD on 25,000 hectares of land. various categories for it citizens in provided by the investor as part of Aside the backward integration whole, a proportion of the profit is also earned by the State thereby advantage to the state, the state also the state. The scheme that would be t h e i r C o r p o r a t e S o c i a l enhancing revenue generation to enjoys 15% share of the project located majorly in Lokoja and Responsibility. while employment would be other urban towns in the State is Through the Kogi investment and the State. c “All the partnership entered into by r e a t e d i n A g r i c u l t u r e designed to be prosecuted in properties Limited, a joint agreement with Kiabo Engineering the State ensures a dual advantage Infrastructure and Social Service. phases. of having a Direct and Indirect The MoU entered into with The importance of Power in Group Holding Limited of Hong employment created on a massive Chelsea Group Limited, is for the d r i v i n g s o c i o - e c o n o m i c Kong to Design, Construct and establishment of Agriculture and development in any society, Alhaji Operate an eleven storey Hotel and scale as well as funds made available for other developmental purposes” He said.

The specific content of the relationships entered into by the State, Alhaji Alli disclosed include a Joint Venture MoU for farming of up to 6000 hectares of Cassava and processing into native and modified Cassava Starch with Ostertrade Engineering and Manufacturing as well as DPP International APS. The project he noted has an equity investment of 650 million USD to be realized within 18 months with all parties honoring UNN and Howard University officials with Howard Provost Fredrick and UNN VC Okolo 4th and 5th from left

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Chime's wife Police ready to partner with relevant groups with focus on community policing donates N17m to ensure security – Enugu CP dpersons welling on the imperatives of Neighbourhood policing strategies by the gift to old he Enugu state commissioner of those forgotten tenets about the role of the SERVICOM officer ASP Akandu p o l i c e A b u b a k a r A d a m u c i t i z e n i n t h e s e c u r i t y o f h i s Modupe.

Mohammed has indicated his neighbourhood. people's home readiness and willingness Another lecture that thrilled the to partner with The state chairman of the Police

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he wife of Enugu State Governor, Her Excellency Mrs. Clara Chime has commissioned an elevator installed at the old people's Home Aw k u n a n a w E n u g u b y t h e s t a t e government.

In a speech during the event, Mrs Chime represented by the State Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Women Development, Mrs. Ndidi Chukwu commended the State Government for ensuring speedy completion of the project initiated by Governor Chime's wife at the cost of about seventeen million naira.

Chime noted that the project would go a long way in helping most of the inmates who move about on wheel chair or with the aid of walking stick due to various infirmities.

Responding on behalf of the inmates, Mrs. Cecelia Nwatu, commended Governor Chime and his wife for their continued assistance to her members and prayed God for their protection and guidance.

Mrs. Nwatu appealed to other spirited individuals in the state to emulate the good work of the first family of the state by coming to the aid of the old people at the home who have no other means of livelihood but dependent on charity.

Mrs. Nwatu also commended the sisters in the home for the assistance and service to t h e i n m a t e s .

While fielding questions from the journalists, Sister Philomena Ude thanked Governor Chime for approving and ensuring the installation of the elevator and commended his wife for initiating the project.

Sister Ude who represented the Mother Supervisor in-charge of the Home, Sister Philomina Reilly, appealed to the Enugu State Government not to relent in assisting the Home to ensure continued service to the elderly ones.

Speaking further she said that the Home needed vehicle to facilitate movement of their 46 inmates to and from the hospitals whenever the need arises adding that some houses built many years ago at the Home needed renovation and appealed also to spirited individuals to assist the Home.

The commissioning ceremony was witnessed by the State Commissioner for Works, Engr. Goddy Madueke and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Gender Affairs, Mrs. Angela Gbanite, among others.

all relevant groups in the state to ensure that their neighbourhoods are made safe and secured.

He stated this recently at the Udi council Headquarters Enugu state during a community security workshop organized by the command in partnership with the police community relations committee udi chapter.

According to Adamu, “there was need for all to close ranks and work together through sharing of information with the security Agencies about crime and criminality in their neighbourhood so that appropriate security steps could be taken on time, thus making the area safe and secured.”

He further stated that the security workshop has just started at Udi and promised that it will run through all the local government Areas in the state to achieve full sensitization.

He also informed participants drawn from the neighbourhood watch groups, Police community relation committee members, religious leaders, traditional rulers as well as all the Divisional police officers in the state that arrangement has also been concluded to hold a statewide security summit between the command and men of the Neighbourhood watch groups and the police community Relations committee members in order to strengthen relationship and to foster further partnership among all the groups and the command.

In his speech, Professor Sam Ukpabi thanked the organizers of the security summit pointing out that it has afforded participants the opportunity to re-embrace

community Relations committee Ben Udeze pledged to support the police in the state in line with the mandate of the police community Relations committee while the Esco Nweze promised to ensure that all ranks are closed to ensure a robust information flow between the police and the public.

Lectures were delivered by resource

NIIMP key to rapid economic development – Chime

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overnor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has described the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) as a veritable tool for the country's economic growth, poverty reduction and job creation.

The Governor stated this through his Deputy, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi in a keynote address to declare open the Zonal Validation Workshop on the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, held at Nike Lake Resort Hotel, Enugu.

Governor Chime noted that NIIMP focuses on the core infrastructural needs of the country in critical areas such as energy, transport, housing, water and ICT, agriculture, mining, social infrastructure and security.

The State Chief Executive observed that the NIIMP challenges all stakeholders to intensify their efforts in infrastructure development, adding that the plan also envisages an increased investment by both the federal and sub-national governments as well as input of the private sector and

Gov. Akpabio to sponsor 1,500 pilgrims to the Holy Land Christopher Okon, Uyo

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kwa Ibom Government intends to sponsor about 1,500 pilgrims to the Holy Land for this year's Christian pilgrimage.

Governor Godswill Akpabio, who stated this at the monthly prayer held at St. John's Chaplaincy, Government House, Uyo, said "The state government would sponsor a minimum of 1,500 pilgrims to the Holy Land for the 2013 Christian pilgrimage. I want people to remember Akwa Ibom State for one thing: let us be remembered as that State that loves God”.

Akpabio said Akwa Ibom State should also be remembered as a state that uses its resources to better the lives of its people, recalling “Somebody asked me 'you are doing a lot of projects when are you going to rest? Don't think that I am going to relent.”

"We will continue to put in money that is meant for the people. We are intervening right now at Eket-Ibeno Road. We are dualizing the road from Eket to Ibeno starting at three locations because I want to commission that road before I leave

participants was on security information flow and management, and community sensitization delivered by the Enugu state Police Public Relations officer DSP Ebere Amaraizu.

The high point of the workshop was the interactive question and answer session, distributions of security numbers of the police and the federal Road Safety corps as well as photographs.

office as a Governor”, he added.

The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, Mr. John Kennedy Opara, hinted that Akwa Ibom International Airport has been listed as one of the airports in the country to airlift pilgrims for this year's Christian pilgrimage to Rome and Greece, saying "If there is any airport in Nigeria, it is Uyo airport. This is the airport with all the fire-fighting equipment”.

According to him, “We are so impressed at the development in the airport and this year God willing, we will be airlifting pilgrims from here direct to Rome and Greece. The neigbouring States will also be passing through here”.

Mr. Opara described Governor Akpabio as a man who has passion for excellence reflective in the quality of development projects executed in the state, adding “There is no second-class project here”.

In his homily taken from Luke 10: 29 vs 37, the Rev. Father James Eshiet said “The action of the Good Samaritan was that of love”, charging all to emulate such as commanded by Jesus Christ.

The monthly prayer featured choir's rendition, prayers for the nation, the state and leadership at various levels in the country.

international development partners.

The Governor stated that his administration had since inception, treated infrastructural development as a top priority, observing that with the support of the State Legislators, the State and the private sector, his administration has been able to deliver on a number of infrastructural projects.

The projects he said included the construction and rehabilitation of 345.6 km of urban roads, 251 km of inter local government and rural roads with asphalt overlay, culverts, pedestrian walkway and concrete side drains.

Others he said were the construction of 470 units of houses under public private partnership, installation of 682 double arm and 1,996 single arm street lights among others.

The Governor extended the deep appreciation of the good people of Enugu State to the Federal Government for the opportunity to host the workshop and wished the participants very successful and fruitful deliberations.

Earlier in an address, the Secretary, National Planning Commission, represented by Chris Ezeilo noted that the gap in the national infrastructure master plan has reduced the country's economic development.

He therefore said that National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) would enhance economic growth and development as well as enjoined participants to the workshop to add value to the plan through asking questions and making contribution to enrich the document.

He expressed appreciation to Governor Sullivan Chime for hosting the workshop which was attended by participants from the states of the South East zone.

The Minister and the Deputy Chairman National Planning Commission, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman represented by Engr. Olughenga Adegburu presented the draft NIIMP to the participants.

In the draft, the expected benefits of NIIMP included efficient allocation of resources, enhanced economic growth, enabling environments for investors and robust framework for infrastructure development among others.

Also in attendance were some top government officials of Enugu State including the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Amechi Okolo, Executive Council members and the State Head of Service, Mr. Chidi Ezema and traditional rulers, among others.

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Enugu police rescue kidnap victim, arrest notorious suspects

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he Enugu state command of the Nigeria police force through this operatives rescued a victim unhurt that was abducted at about 11:10 pm on 20/8/13 and arrested notorious kidnap suspects at about 12:05am.

It was however gathered that the victim identified as one John Paul

Ede of Akpugo in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu state had allegedly been abducted by two armed men at the compound of the friend identified as one John Abah at Aji in IgboEze North Local Government Area of the state whom he has visited.

Following the incident, police

operatives were promptly alerted and upon the prompt response of the police operatives, two of the suspects namely one Ejiofor Apeh and Ifeanyi Abah both of Enugu Ezike in IgboEze North Local Government Area of the state were apprehended in the victims Tundra Car ABUJA 424 ABC

along ogurute /obollo-afor road.

After their arrest, the suspects revealed where they kept the victim in their hideout during which one Eze Ogbonna and two others whose identities are yet to be ascertained keeping vigil on the victim were also apprehended after a severe gun duel which left suspects fatally injured.

The victim was however rescued unhurt while police recovered from the suspects the victims

Tundra SUV vehicle, phone, other assorted phones, sim cards, wrist watch and charms.

Meanwhile a full scale investigation have commenced into the incident just as the state Commissioner of police Abubakar Adamu Mohammed has commended the efforts of his security operatives for their timely intervention and useful information by the members of the public.

Abia residents score ASEPA high Students condemn Patience over waste management Jonathan's reckless

By Emmanuel Iheanacho, the people residing in Abia state their waste at the end of the day that there's a clean environment into the proper place meant for Umuahia.

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esident of Umuahia, the state capital and Aba the commercial hub centre have scored the Abia state environmental protection Agency ASEPA in the area high for keeping the two cities clean.

Speaking with some residents recently, who don't want their name on print said since the inception of Prince Ik Apugo as the General Manager of the Agency the two cities are wearing a new look.

According to Chima Bille the chief Executive officer of PUKKA PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD, “since Prince Ik Apugo took over the leadership of the Agency refuses and environment management has become a difference thing in Abia state” While interacting with the general manager ASEPA Mr. Ikechukwu Apugo, he assured

because he is looking up to the governor who has vowed to govern the healthy people and called for the cooperation of the citizens to ensure that their efforts are not fruitless.

He called on every shop owner to patronize their ASEPA waste bag that will enable them dispose

Boko Haram kills army Lieutenant in Maiduguri

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igeria's anti-terrorist Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and a stronghold of the militant Boko Haram sect, yesterday lost another officer in an encounter with members of the extremist Islamist group.

Two sources who demanded anonymity disclosed the development to our correspondent. One source revealed that the army officer, Lieutenant Haggai Bitrus, an

EFCC grills Mbonu, former MD of SGBN, the Saraki family bank

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he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) grilled the former managing director of Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN), the commercial bank owned but liquidated by the Saraki family.

Sources at the agency told our correspondent that the investigation relates to the commission's interrogation of the former Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki, who is now on administrative bail supposedly for medical reasons, following his August 11 and 12th grilling.

Mr. Robert Mbonu is specifically being questioned following revelations during investigations that NGS Securities Limited, one of the companies linked to Mr. Saraki, used funds stolen from SGBN to purchase shares at the Southern Sun Hotels, formerly Ikoyi Hotels. The shares were later converted to Mrs. Saraki's personal coffers.

Another petition submitted by

disposal of waste The ASEPA GM also warned the travelers who are making use of Abia roads to ensure they don't throw things out of their vehicles but rather put them inside the waste bin made available for them in the vehicle, for they said cleanliness is next to godliness.

Sayyu Dantata, a Northern Nigeria-based businessman and younger brother of Aliko Dangote, alleges that a special deposit of $11 million he made at the bank was shared between the former governor and Mr. Mbonu during the time they held sway at the bank.

Mr. Mbonu was still being interrogated at the EFCC as of the time of this report. Our source stated that several of the bank's former employees have also been invited for questioning over what has been termed as one of the biggest bank frauds ever carried out by a single family in the history of banking.

On August 12, Saraki, who is now a Senator, turned himself in to the EFCC after the commission declared him wanted. He was subsequently released on administrative bail. It is unclear how serious the EFCC is about this investigation, as it is fairly routine in Nigeria for the rich and powerful to get away with anything.

indigene of Plateau State died when the Islamist group launched a surprise attack on JTF operatives.

“There are so many things happening now that Nigerians are not being told,” said the source, himself a military officer. “We have lost yet another officer in the person of Lieutenant Haggai Bitrus to these Boko Haram elements. His parents have been informed. The situation is bad.

Just last week we lost some soldiers too.”

The military officer revealed that the JTF was carrying out serious operations against Boko Haram targets, but he added that the group was resilient and was carrying out sporadic guerrillastyle assaults on JTF fighters as well.

Another source, who said that the deceased lieutenant was his relation, described the officer's death as a shocking development.

“All the family was shocked when we received the sad news,” he said.

He added that the slain soldier was a graduate of the University of Jos before his enlistment in the Nigerian Army. “He was a gentle man,” said the relative. He added, “His mother died in 2009, and he was the last child of his mother.

He was a very hard working young man who had labored for life and only to be cut short in his prime by wicked and evil forces called Boko Haram. This is our saddest moment in life.”

As at the time of this report, the Defence Headquarters was yet to issue a statement detailing the circumstances that led to the killing of the army officer.

spending on Abuja rally saddening that the office of the first lady would organise such a kangaroo rally and force motorists plying routes leading to Eagle Square in Abuja venue of the event to be subjected to untold hardship because of m a n y barricaded alternatives.

“Frustrated motorists were forced to take any available space, thereby leading to a chaotic traffic snarl for the most part of Patience Jonathan that day.” he National Association of Timilehin decried the rally N i g e r i a n S t u d e n t s tagged: 'Nigerian Women Rally (NANS) has condemned for Peace and Empowerment', the extravagance exhibited by saying it was not beneficial to Nigerian President Goodluck Nigerians, especially with the Jonathan's wife, Patience, during stance of the government that lack a recent rally for women in Abuja. of funds was responsible for its NANS has thereby asked the inability to meet the demands of Nigerian government to reveal the ASUU. amount spent on such frivolity He said the money spent on the taking into consideration the crisis rally should have been channelled in the education sector, which has towards the education sector, culminated in an industrial action adding that the student body embarked upon by the Academic w o u l d n o t r e s t u n t i l t h e Staff Union of Universities government does the right thing (ASUU) in which negotiations especially in the education sector.

Motorists as well as commuters has ended in stalemate.

In a statement issued by the were subjected to untold hardship students' body on Tuesday, it in Abuja, as the rally organised by urged the government to declare a the Office of First Lady in state of emergency in the collaboration with the National education sector, adding that all Council of Women Societies well-meaning Nigerians should (NCWS) on August 15 paralysed frown on such 'wasteful spending' Abuja. as the ASUU strike has forced the Despite the fact that the rally that students to be at home for over six was attended by women from the w e e k s f o l l o w i n g t h e 36 states of the federation was government's inability to honour unannounced, security operatives its agreement with the university barricaded all the routes leading to the Eagle Square, venue of the teachers.

The statement signed by NANS rally, thereby forcing residents of National Financial Secretary, the city to have a hard time getting Ayenuro Timilehin, states, "It is to their various destinations.

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ANAMBRA 2014 Andy Uba, Ngige, Ifeanyi Ubah, Obiano set for battle ‌ PDP, APGA, APC, LP top the contenders ‌KOWA Party, ADC underdogs

Andy Uba Uche Chukwu, Ted Peters , Rex Arum & Uzy Obiora, Awka

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he battle for the control of the soul of Anambra State is now at a critical stage as it has created a very big divide between the billionaire contenders and mere participants in the race to Anambra Government House. The quiet town of Awka, the state capital is once again witnessing the influx of people from different political camps and it is clear to the residents that the battle for the number seat in the state is raging.

Despite the scenario of a bandwagon effect, political parties that do not have roaring moneybags are hoping to spring surprises. These parties include, Accord Party, KOWA Party which is the first party in the state to produce a governorship candidate in the person of Chief Dennis Oguguo, ACPN which has Udo Udeogaranya as its aspirant, African Democratic Congress (ADC) which has Ekelem as its aspirant.

In the race for Anambra 2014, four major political parties are front runners, namely, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) and the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

After PDP's gubernatorial primaries on Saturday, August 24, it would be the turn of APGA to hold its own on Tuesday August 26, while Labour Party takes the centre stage on Thursday August 28 with APC formalizing its version on Saturday August 30, this year respectively.

According to the Time Table provided by the Independent

Ngige National Electoral Commission (INEC), all the gubernatorial primaries of the political parties taking part in the election must be completed on or before September 2, this year. KOWA Party became the first party to produce its governorship candidate in the person of Chief Dennis Oguguo, Ochendo Awka, while ADC is strategizing to holds its primaries before the deadline.

This gives about two months gap for the conduct of the state gubernatorial election and an extra two weeks for run-off, if it becomes necessary.

Apart from these big four, the other parties set to spring surprises in the November 16, 2013 governorship include KOWA Party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Progressives Peoples Alliance (APPA) and the Accord Party (AP). As at the time of going to press, a number of political parties that were hitherto deregistered by INEC were warming up to be part of the struggle to get to Government House.

The PDP, the self-acclaimed Africa's biggest and largest party, is leaving no stone unturned in its bid not to shoot its self on the foot and lose Anambra State governorship seat. But events, as are being played out, indicate that the party has not learnt any lesson, as the two factions that had been battling for the soul of the party for a long time, have taken their rivalry to a dangerous end and each has preferred to go it on its own having armed themselves with several contradictory court orders.

Ahead of the PDP primaries, a crowd of aspirants lined up to take the governorship slot after obtaining the party's Expression

Ifeanyi Uba of Interest Forms. They include Emmanuel Andy Uba, Senator Emma Anosike, Senator Alphonsus Ubanesse Igbeke, Hon. Nicholas Ukachukwu, Comrade Tony Nwoye, Dr. Obinna Chukwudum Uzoh, Ugochukwu Okeke, Michael Okoye, Akachukwu Sullivan Nwankpo, Sylvester Onuorah Okonkwo, Alexander Odikasigbue Obiogbolu, Ambassador Jerry Sonny Ugokwe, Walter Ubaka Okeke, Charles Odunukwe, Chuba Ikpeazu, Eucharia Okwunna Azodo, Donatus Chukwunonso Okonkwo, Chukwuka Wilfred Onyema, Agape Ifunanyachukwu Dike-Kramer, Obianuju Onyenisi, Calista Adimachukwu and Chinyere Udemba.

But the aspirations of these governorship hopefuls, developments have shown, are hanging in the balance. This is as a result of the existence of two different factions of the party, one led by Prince Ken Emeakayi and the other led by Ejike Oguebego, loyal to a self-professed godfather of Anambra politics, Chief Chris Uba. At the peace rally of the PDP held in Awka, the Anambra State capital, only 11 aspirants turned up for the event in which they were unveiled to the party supporters and members loyal to the faction of the party led by Ken Emeakayi.

The 11 governorship aspirants are Dr. Obinna Uzoh, Akachukwu Nwankpo, Charles Odunukwe, Jerry Ugokwe, Josephine Anenih, Nicholas Ukachukwu, Senator Emma Anosike, Sylvester Okonkwo and Afam Onwuanyi were not cleared by the PDP Screening Appeal Committee, which got the

disqualification of Comrade Tony Nwoye and Ugochukwu Okeke by the PDP Screening Committee reversed.

Prominent on the side of Oguebego is Senator Andy Uba, currently representing Anambra South senatorial district in the Senate. It is being speculated that the other aspirants on the platform of PDP who shunned the peace rally event organized by the Emeakayi faction might have pitched their tent with the Oguebego group and are likely to slug it out with Senator Uba. In this group are the likes of Senator Igbeke, Michael Okoye, Chuba Ikpeazu, Eucharia Okwunna Azodo, Donatus Chukwunonso Okonkwo, Chukwuka Wilfred Onyema, Agape Ifunanyachukwu DikeKramer, Obianuju Onyenisi, Calista Adimachukwu, and Chinyere Udemba.

Preparatory to August 24, gubernatorial primaries, the PDP appears not to have settled the rift between the Emeakayi and Oguebego factions. It was gathered that the Oguebego group has called on its supporters and delegates to storm the Emmaus House, Awka for the primaries, the Emeakayi factions believably directed its delegates to turn up at Choice Hotel, Awka, a minute walking distance apart.

But at its Thursday August 22 meeting at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, the national leadership said the gubernatorial election in Anambra would hold as scheduled.

At its 62nd National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja, where the national leadership suspended the South West zonal congress, ratified the Special National Convention of the party

Obiano for August 31, and took a major step by appointing a gubernatorial congress committee for Anambra election under the chairmanship of Ibrahim Shehu Shema, with a mandate to conduct a free, fair and acceptable exercise.

National chairman of PDP, Bamanga Tukur has said that there would be no imposition of candidate on Anambra State during the primary stressing that the candidate that emerged would be formally presented on August 30, this year.

The meeting was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President Daivd Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal as well as other top party stalwarts.

It was gathered that the resurrection of parties which are not regarded as heavyweights came as a result of the Court order which declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no power to deregister any political party.

According to The Advocate investigation, the aspirants, especially those in the so-called big parties are behind the resurrection of the then deregistered parties, which they have set up as a plan B to have a soft landing in order to contest the election at all cost.

Our source said the aspirants stand a better chance of getting nomination or settlement after contesting (and failing to win in) an election.

Preparatory for the November 16, 2013 governorship race, the parties are making frantic efforts to pick candidates that would run on their platform.

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

Confusion in PDP as Ubas dribble other aspirants

Akachukwu Nwankpo

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lready, there is confusion, among the PDP supporters and members as to who is the authentic chairman of the PDP in Anambra State. This, we gathered, is due to what party faithful describe as position summersault in that respect.

Ahead of the primaries of the PDP, the Emeakayi and Oguebego factions emerged, with each claiming to lead the party in the State. A move by Emeakayi to organize a triumphant entry into Aw k a , a f t e r t h e n a t i o n a l leadership of PDP gave him its backing was soon punctuated as a court order was secured by Oguebego dismissing Emeakayi as an impostor.

This matter did not deter Emeakayi as he succeeded in assembling and unveiling 11 gubernatorial aspirant in Awka, a fortnight ago when the absence of Senator Uba raised speculation of his decision to distance himself and his group from the Emeakayi faction.

The crisis, it was learnt, continued as both factions held separate primaries to pick councillorship and chairmanship aspirants for the Local Government and State primaries.

At a time aspirants are still crying foul over what they described as stage-managed process, some others are still waiting for the party to conduct the primaries.

However, the matter was laid to rest as the national leadership of the party reported that it had accepted the results of the primaries conducted in the state.

Sources close to The Advocate revealed that the national leadership of the party was still considering how to resolve the issue of factions in the party, on

Senator Emma Anosike

account of threat by INEC that it would disqualify any party that is factionalised from contesting the main election.

INEC had written a letter to the PDP insisting that it would not recognize Mr. Ken Emeakayi, as the Anambra State Chairman of the PDP, contrary to the position of the national office of the ruling party.

A letter issued from the office of the Secretary of INEC, dated August 11, 2013, and addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, I N E C n a m e d M r. E j i k e Ogbuebego, as the party's Anambra State Chairman.

In a similar vein, INEC also issued a press statement in which it reiterated its position on Ogbuebego as PDP chairman in Anambra State.

Bludgeoned by the INEC's position, Oguebego last Tuesday,

Andy Uba

Josephine Anenih

approached a Federal High Court sitting at Port Harcourt seeking it to declare him as the recognised chairman of the party in the state.

Oguebego, at the court, complained that despite the exparte order earlier obtained, the PDP national body, had been dealing with the Emeakayi faction.

The PDP lawyer, Mr. M. Kanu, informed the court that the party will not disobey the court order anymore while INEC's lawyer, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), informed the court that INEC had always and will continue to abide by the court order.

The court however could not hear the main application Tuesday, but the PDP filed a paper challenging the order made and the jurisdiction of the court to even make the order.

The court ruled that its earlier order that Mr. Oguebego was the

authentic Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State should be upheld.

The court in the interim, made an ex-parte order restraining both the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP from dealing with the Emeakayi faction until the main application for injunction is heard and determined, warning that Oguebego should continue to be recognized as the party's chairman.

Because there was not enough time, the court adjourned till next Monday for the hearing of the application presented by the PDP. In a bid to produce a governorship candidate of the PDP, the Oguebego group, slated the PDP primaries for Emmaus House Awka, Saturday, August 24, this year.

Top on the list of aspirants for the

Chris Uba

Dr. Obinna Uzoh primaries is Senator Uba, who is the elder brother of Chief Uba (Eselu) and benefactor of Oguebego. He is tipped to win especially on the side of Oguebego. Confusion, according to political pundits would greet the conclusion of the gubernatorial primary on the side of Emeakayi faction, as sources said the final decision would be taken in Abuja after the exercise.

Most parties, experience has shown, are waiting on the PDP to fight it out in its primaries before conducting theirs. This, as we gathered, is to provide a political space for the failed aspirants to aspire for the governorship tickets on their platforms.

Ngige sure of APC ticket

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he APC is believed to have endorsed Ngige as a consensus candidate amidst protest by Godwin Ezemmo who said there should be an internal democracy to determine who becomes the party's flag bearer.

Okorocha had intervened to enjoin both Senator Annie Okonkwo and Ezemmo to shelve his gubernatorial ambition to allow Ngige to run, but Ezemmo has kicked against the move.

Okonkwo , the APC's interim Deputy National Vice Chairman whom Okorocha quoted to have stepped down for Ngige could not be reached for comment, though source disclosed to The Advocate indicate that Okonkwo might have been assured of a return to the senate after Ngige.

For Labour Party, Ifeanyi Uba, multibillionaire businessman turned politician has no challenger yet.

The party would hold its primary for the fun of it on August 28, two days after its screening. He is sure of the party's ticket.

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ANAMBRA 2014

Oguguo emerges 1st guber candidate on KOWA Party platform

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s the race to the Government House Awka reaches its crescendo, the Prince Isaac Onuka-led KOWA Party in Anambra State has become the first political party to elect its flag-bearer in for the November 16, 2013 Governorship race in Anambra State.

At KOWA Party's primaries at the J-JUMAC Hotel, Awka, the State capital which was attended by delegates from across the 21 local government areas of the state, 1246 out of the 1443 accredited delegates voted for the emergence of chief Dennis Oguguo who was the party's sole contender.. . The Secretary of the Board of Trustees and National Organizing S e c r e t a r y, C o m r a d e M a r k Adebayo who was the Returning Officer announced about 1246 delegates out of 1443 accredited delegates, voted for the emergence of the Awka-born chief Oguguo who has promised top deliver.

Handing over the party's flag to chief Oguguo as the candidate of the KOWA at the venue of the primaries, the party's National Chairman, Alhaji Umaru Mustapha, declared that the party's candidate has all it takes to become the governor and uplift the status of the state and its citizens.

KOWA Party's National Chairman confessed that he was overwhelmed by the intimidating umber of delegates who turned out to express their choice.

Reacting to his emergence,

Oguguo thanked the delegates for the confidence they have in him, saying that he would get to power and deliver the democracy dividends the people, as according to him, the race to government house was anybody's.

The state chairman, Prince Onuka who also spoke noted that KOWA was the first political party to pick the gubernatorial candidate of for the 2013 race, stressing that it was an indication that the party would place first in the race to the government house.

Onuka who is the state chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), called on the teeming supporters of KOWA to avail themselves of the opportunity provided in the ongoing voter registration

exercise, urging them to register or confirm that they are registrable for the forthcoming election.

He said that the vote was the power the people have to vote in candidates of their choice adding that KOWA party would spring surprises in the elections.

KOWA Party boss said that his party is a mass movement, and the only true Nigerian party that could take the country through the process of good governance, adding that the party has an ideology unlike most of the other parties, saying it has produced the current minority leader in the Bayelsa House of Assembly under the platform of KOWA Party.

The party boss said that KOWA means “come and let us all be educated in most Nigerian languages including Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba, clarifying that KOWA

means everybody in Hausa, everybody come in Yoruba and teach or educate in Igbo He said that KOWA Party is committed to the improvement of standard of living of Nigerians, development of minds through education, industrialization and wealth creation, energy security, accountable and transparent leadership, people-centred foreign policies, individual liberty and dignity and supporting democratic institutions and human rights and social justice.

According to him, since 2009 the party was registered , it has set a record as the most widely spread political with grassroots structure, noting that it was for that reason that INEC did not include it among its controversial deregistered parties few months back.

He stated that KOWA Party

would not support money politics, pointing out that Anambrarians would no longer be deceived by opportunists who use election period to identify with them but disappear once they get to power.

Onuka said that KOWA Party has embarked on a massive enlightenment campaign to sensitize and educate Nigerians on their civic obligations and voter education, stressing that once an electorate is educated, he can vote according to his conscience.

He said KOWA Party would participate in the shaky forthcoming local government and governorship elections in the state as according to him, the party boasts of so many councillorship and chairmanship aspirants warming up to participate in the elections,

State. Former Secretary to the State government, Oseloka Obaze who was disqualified alongside Soludo was tipped to be Obi's anointed person in place of his brother Dubem Obaze. Suddenly, the name Willy Obiano, a green horn but a distinguished banker, who served until lately as the Executive Director of Fidelity Bank whereGovernor Obi has huge interest, was thrown up. Obi was the chairman of Fidelity Bank until he became governor.

Observers tip Obiano to win but some feared that he would make a little impact. But incumbency factor and the expected local government elections which

would likely give APGA structure at the grassroots level, could be his major advantage.

Governor Obi is fingered to align with President Goodluck Jonathan to stop former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo to scale through the screening panel to participate in the exercise. A text message by a group called Igbo Youths alleged that the Soludomust-be-stopped-at-all-cost antics was to stop him from gunning for the Presidency in 2015.

But Soludo is not taking it easy as he has approached a Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge his disqualification, which he said

violated party's constitution and 1999 constitution, praying the court through his attorney, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu not to allow APGA to conduct the August 26 gubernatorial primary without determining his case. In an exparte motion, Soludo sought an order of certiorari for the setting aside of the screening panel's decision.

Labour party would hold its congress on August 28 after its screening exercise on August 26.The State party chairman, Hon. Sam Oraegbunam confirmed that Ifeanyi Uba has no rival, stressing that there would still be a formality election in a situation where no other aspirant emerges.

APGA …difficult to predict candidate

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PGA is one party political pundits find difficult to predict. The party cleared John Nwosu, Patrick Obianwu, Willy Obiano, Paul Odenigbo,Hon Uche Ekwunife, but dropped Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Tony Nnacheta, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, Oseloka Obaze, among others.

A school of thought assume that the state governor, Mr Peter Obi has literally sold APGA to PDP hence the name “APGA-PDP” and is determined to present a weak candidate that would enable PDP to win the state and make it possible for Jonathan to have a PDP crony as governor in the

Ngige set for APC ticket as Ezemmo kicks consensus arrangement

By Uche Chukwu & Uzy Obiora, Awka

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nambra State stood still last Friday as the former governor of the State and current senator representing Anambra Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, D r. C h r i s N g i g e m a d e a triumphant entry into Awka, the state capital to celebrate in advance his endorsement as the consensus candidate of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ngige's entourage made a road show of the major streets on Awka before moving to the venue of the rally.

The presentation of Ngige as the sole candidate of APC following the reported withdrawal of Senator Annie Okonkwo and Godwin Ezemmo, has heightened apprehension on the part of his contenders both within and outside the APC fold.

There were doubts as to whether Senator Annie Okonkwo is also nursing the ambition to contest

Chris Ngige

Annie Okonkwo

APC primary in the state but this was cleared on Friday as Okonkwo and Okorocha escorted Ngige to Awka and presented him to the people of Anambra State.

But while Ngige was holding his rally at a different venue, Ezemo and his supporters were holding another rally at a different venue.

Leaders of the party said it is a welcome development stressing

that any aspirant opposed to the consensus arrangement was free to contest at the primaries.

APC was expected to hold its official primaries to pick gubernatorial candidate for the November 16, 2013 election before this development.

Ngige who won the senatorial ticket on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria, one

of the parties that fused into the APC merger was accompanied by the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, and other stalwarts of APC. Okorocha was instrumental to the emergence of Ngige as a consensus candidate amidst resistance by Ezemmo.

Okorocha who announced the emergence of Ngige at a meeting of APC leaders in Abuja, also revealed that Senator Okonkwo would lead the campaign of Senator Ngige as they prepare to take over Anambra State.

Okorocha said: “We have the masses and I can assure you that victory is guaranteed for APC in Anambra State. Today, I want to present to you one of the people who is the initiators of this merger.

His name is Annie Okonkwo. He will go down in history as that man who rose up from the East and ensured that the Igbo are part of this merger.

“We have resolved and agreed that there will be primaries in Anambra, in accordance with our party regulations and constitution.

In his magnanimity, Senator

Annie Okonkwo will lead the governorship campaign of Senator Chris Ngige. Our party is a party of unity. Our mission is one. Our mission is to save the lives of numerous Nigerians while saving the lives of the poor Nigerians.”

Okorocha warned that the party must put its house in order and use Anambra governorship poll as a litmus test towards future elections in the country.

“For the South-East and for Anambra elections, there is no cause for alarm. Anambra election will be the test case for APC. It will be the first stage for APC. Therefore, this party must do all it can to deliver Anambra for APC,” Okorocha warned.

The Imo governor further warned the party to de-emphasize religion and ethnicity that have been associated with APC to garner the support of Nigerians.

“Our victory in 2015 has been signed, sealed and delivered,” Okorocha said, adding: “To do so, we must unite. To unite, we must

Continues on page 25

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NEWS

Amaechi, six other govs float new party, VOP

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he crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took a turn for the worse, weekend, with the decision of seven of the party's 23 governors to float a new party, the Voice of the People, VOP. The application for registration by the new party, it was learnt at the weekend, has been filed with the Independent National Electoral Commission, which is processing it. A source in INEC contacted on the development, Sunday, said he was unable to confirm the veracity or the stage of the application.

The party, it was learnt, is receiving the patronage of several chieftains of the PDP. The seven governors alleged to be behind the new party include all five Northern governors that have engaged in a series of consultation with eminent statesmen, including former heads of state. The five governors are Murtala Nyako of Adamawa ; Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano; Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto; Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Babangida Aliyu of Niger State. The five governors are being joined in the rebellion against the PDP by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and

Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

Another governor is also sympathetic to the proposed VOP, but his identity could not be confirmed as at weekend. The inclinations of Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal towards the new party have also not been confirmed though it was learnt that he has been approached.

The decision of the governors to move out of the PDP came ahead of the special national convention of the PDP this weekend. Governor Amaechi who has been suspended has not been invited to the convention but the decision of the other six to pull out of the PDP could come as a blow to the PDP given the electoral weight of the states involved.

With Sokoto, Kano and Jigawa states out of control of the PDP and the Southwest totally out of control of the ruling party, the PDP would be reduced to playing second fiddle in the Northwest and Southwest regions whose total voters' population is more than 40% of the national voting population.

There were indications that last Friday's private meeting between Governor Kwankwaso and President Goodluck Jonathan

The alleged seven VOP Governors was a last minute bid to stop the governor and his colleagues from the rebellion.

Though associates of Speaker Tambuwal in the House of Representatives claimed ignorance of his involvement or knowledge of the new party, there were nevertheless suspicions that the involvement of Governor Wamakko could

inevitably lead the speaker into the emerging party.

Speaker Tambuwal has been severally flayed by some PDP associates for his close ties with opposition political parties.

The decision of the governors to float a party instead of teaming up with the All Progressives Congress, APC, it was gathered, flowed from deep suspicions

between the governors and some of the promoters of the APC. One of the governors involved in the new party had confided that General Muhammadu Buhari and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who are among the champions of the APC were missing when activists fought for democracy during military rule.

TERRORISM

Lebanese, Indian arrested for taking pictures

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he police in Abuja on Saturday arrested and temporarily detained two foreigners for suspected terrorism.

The two foreigners, a Lebanese and an Indian were arrested for taking photographs of strategic public facilities while driving in a car.

The Indian was driving while his Lebanese counterpart was taking the photographs of public buildings, bridges and streets.

Among the photographs found in the camera of the Lebanese were that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

A police officer, whose identity could not be immediately ascertained, had accosted the foreigners and pursued them in his car to the Total Filling Station opposite Force Headquarters, where they were eventually apprehended.

From the argument between the police and the suspected terrorists, it was revealed that the foreigners refused to stop when they were told to do so.

In a bid to escape, the fleeing suspects beat the traffic light at the Force Headquarters Junction from the Ministry of Finance until they were blocked at the Total Filling Station about 50 metres from the Force Headquarters.

When accosted by the

policeman, the Lebanese who had his passport on him, said he worked in a furniture firm in Lagos.

It was gathered that the Indian was not carrying his passport as at the time of the incident.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, confirmed that the two foreigners were held and later released after the police had profiled them and found that they meant no harm.

According to him, the Indian,

who lived in Ibadan, had visited his Lebanese friend in Abuja and both of them were driving around the city taking pictures for fun. “The two foreigners were released because we found out

after profiling them that there was no reason to detain them.

The Indian had never visited Abuja before and so, he decided to take pictures of buildings and places he found interesting; he meant no harm,� Mba explained.

CROSS RIVER LG POLLS

PDP resolves internal crisis

By Edem Archibong, Calabar

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he state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Cross River, Ntufam John Okon has stated that the party had taken steps to resolved all internal wrangling which characterized the party due to the recent local government primaries for the local government elections coming up on September, 21st, 2013.

Speaking to our correspondent in Calabar, after inauguration of the Youth wing executive of the party in his office, Ntufam Okon revealed that the decision to put up all the necessary committees was muted by the leader of the party, Senator Liyel Imoke, to ensure that those aggrieved due to some misdeed arising from the just concluded primaries can forget their differences and forge ahead in one spirit into the forth

coming Local Government elections in the state.

He disclosed that this effort has started yielding fruits as those who lost during the party primaries and prepared to seek red-dress in court had already declined in their decision to prosecute the party due to the

intervention mechanism put in place to arrest the situation.

The bureaucrat assert that though the time given by the Cross River State Independent Electoral commission (CROSIEC) to complete the electoral process is very short, they have no option than to ensure strict compliance with the state electoral law by speeding up and kick- off the state's wide campaign on September, 11th, 2013.

He maintained that the party machinery is set to work in tandem with the state government in making the state a tourism destination in Nigeria and therefore will not allow the development of crisis that would scare both the tourist and investors willing to invest in the state.

Ntufam Okon commended the magnanimity of the state governor by ensuring that the

state maintained a peaceful atmosphere and also strive to sustain the tempo to the level of attracting the Dangote Company, the General Electric and others who have indicated interest to make huge investments in the state.

On the allegation of petitions which has resulted in the party's decision about substitution of candidates in some local government areas in the state, the PDP boss dismissed it as mere rumor which is predicated on figment of imaginations of those who failed the party's primary.

He used the opportunity to appeal to the opposition party like the APC which has indicated interest in some local government of the state to fill candidates for the local government elections to ensure that they conduct their activities in an orderly manner as his party is ready to carry the campaign of one man one vote to all nook and cranny of the state.

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Chief T. A. Orji (Ochendo), Executive Governor, Abia State

I, Chief Ikechukwu Apugo, General Manager, the entire Management and Staff of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, heartily felicitate with His Excellency, Chief T. A. Orji (Ochendo), Executive Governor of Abia State and the peace loving people of Abia State on the celebration of 22nd Anniversary of our dear state.

Abia has no doubt been transformed and the dreams of our founding fathers have been actualized. Your Excellency, you have demonstrated vision, mission and the highest degree of devotion to duty for the development of Abia State.

We are convinced and satisfied with your transformation agenda for our dear state.

GM. Abia State Environmental Protection Agency

On this Special Day of our 22nd Anniversary, we say To God Be the Glory!

Long Live Ochendo Long Live Abia State

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Nigerian Military Heads of State (7)

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eneral Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar (rtd.) ( born June 13, 1942) is a Nigerian Army general who was President of Nigeria from June 9, 1998 until May 29, 1999. He succeeded Sani Abacha upon Abacha's death. It was during Abubakar's leadership that Nigeria adopted its new constitution on May 5, 1999, which provided for multiparty elections. Abubakar transferred power to president-elect Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999.

Early life and military career Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar hails from the Gwari ethnic group and was born on June 13, 1942 in Minna, Niger State. He was educated at Native Authority Primary School in that city, the Provincial Secondary School in Bida, and finally the Technical Institute, Kaduna. After this, he joined the military. Abubakar led Nigeria's contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and eventually rose to the role of Chief of Defence Staff. His wife's name is Fati and they have six children.Presidency Nigeria had been ruled by military leaders since Muhammadu Buhari

seized power from Shehu Shagari in a 1983 coup. Although democratic elections had been held in 1993, they were annulled

by General Ibrahim Babangida.

Reported to have had an initial reluctance to accepting the position, Abubakar was sworn in as president on 9 June 1998 after the unexpected death of Abacha.

He declared a weeklong period of national mourning.A few days after assuming office, Abubakar promised to hold elections within a year and transfer power to an elected president. He established the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), appointing former Supreme Court Justice Ephraim Akpata as chairman. The INEC held a series of elections first for Local Government Areas in December 1998, then for State Assemblies and Governors, National Assemblies and finally for the President on 27 February 1999.

Although efforts were made to ensure that the elections were free and fair, there were widespread irregularities that drew criticism from foreign observers.Surprising some critics of the country's military, Abubakar kept his word and transferred power to elected

president Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. It was during his leadership that Nigeria adopted its new constitution on May 5, 1999, which went into effect when Obasanjo became president.Later life Following his short rule Abubakar received multiple honors, including the Rainbow/Push Coalition Peace Prize, the Economic Community of West African States International Gold Medal, and the Star Award of Ghana.In 2000, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him to try to shore up the UN Mission (MONUC) to the CongoKinshasa.

However, Abubakar's legacy is mixed. A lecture circuit at Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois, United States featuring him encountered opposition, because he had supported Abacha's government. (Abacha's administration was notorious for its human rights abuses). He was also sued in that country by other Nigerians who claimed he was responsible for the death of 1993 president-elect Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, who died in custody after being

General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar prevented by the military from taking office, and for the violation of the rights of others during his administration.

Abubakar helped in the Liberian

peace movement by presiding over the 2003 peace talks between Charles Taylor and the opposing rebels. This is seen in the movie: "Pray the Devil Back to Hell".

Government should involve President Generals of communities as stakeholders – Ogakwu Continued from page 21

I think through that way God can hear us. As you can see, you people are trying your best, leaving all you have to do to be here for this interview. It is commendable and you are doing it because you believe in it, otherwise who should you leave it for? I agree that moral instructions should be reintroduced in schools.

How do you think that traditional rulers can fit into this moral education arrangement, when some of them are also part of the problems? People say that some of your colleagues would, for example, when asked to recommend youths to be trained at skill acquisition centres built in their communities, first try to know who their fathers are; or if they are rich or known to them before acknowledging the person.

Not exactly true. Traditional Rulers would require the support of the Government of the day to be able to carry out some of their responsibilities. The problem could be with youths themselves who may be reluctant even to accept to be trained in the acquisition centre. Some youths nowadays would feel it is waste of time for them. You know that in my community wine taping is big business but youths do not want to engage in it and the business is dying. I am worried about it; they don't want

anything that gives them stress. I am even afraid that after building the skill acquisition centre in my community that you may not see any youth opting to go there to acquire skills. Even our girls; I watch them and I feel sorry for them. We are finished as a nation. Our youth want quick money that is why you are hearing about kidnapping, obtaining money through false pretext or 419 among others. Some of the youth would travel outside came back with jeep cars through criminal means and others soon would get attracted in the business and would quickly join in such criminal acts to make quick money. How do we teach them?

Enugu State has agricultural institutions, but how many people will like to be there because some people now do not want to touch the soil; our people do not want to spoil their hands. We must first of all, insist on our youths to learn and become interested in self employment. There is hardly any hope for the future from the look of things.

without knowing. In my community today, I have instituted a scholarship foundation since last year and this is something that will stay forever so that we can get indigent students from poor families to further their educations. So the people who do not have money can go to school; up to university. It will take off properly within the next one year. This will contribute to the empowerment of the community at large and I expect well-to-do individuals to help out because it should be a collective effort. When I was growing up there were some age mates who were very brilliant but lately ended up as artisans because there families had no money to enable them pursue further in education.

Today where ever and whenever I see them often feels bad for them. And they failed not to be educated due to no fault of theirs. This is a situation I would not like to continue to exist in any community. Efforts should therefore be made to ensure that all brilliant indigent students must be educated in any community through this scholarship foundation project.

who are made to create good laws think should be done to fight this a r e t h o s e p e o p l e w h o a r e ugly situation?

I don't think, there is something any encouraging them mostly.

Unfortunately, who are the people building the hotels? You should find out, how some of them get money to build the hotels. That is the lack of morality we are talking about. Who are those in positions to build hotels; find out and you will know these problems will have no end except by prayers. Training has to start from the families. I make sure I train my girls and expect others to do so too. But if your girl gets loose, who do you blame? But that is what is happening today. Our girls want quick money too, because they like material things like latest things in the market; so they look for men to get it and that is our problem. All I can say is that everyone should do his best in his family and his place of work. There is nothing else we can do. It is unfortunate, that girls still stand on the roads in our own time.

When I was young, I did not go out in the night; I thought such things didn't exist, until you are saying it now. It is very bad indeed.

What about the church building What is your take on the perpetuating of criminal acts skill acquisition centres?

If you get very good clergy men in against the less privileged, Academic manipulation has places they will do well but what I especially, child trafficking and battered our education system. don't know is how our present selling of new born babes?

Today you can see a lawyer paying Urge for quick money politicians would want the system to work. Politicians would give the What do you think government 1.5m to pass through law school opportunities to those people who should do to reverse this ugly trend and some of the graduates who did cannot deliver, because they are in where school girls are abused in not go to school before graduating. government but fail to understand that hotels? This is because the people Today our judiciary is now money they are running down the government making institution. What do you

one can do because it has eaten so deep. Some time ago I recommended six people to go and take exam for employment in the Bank. Almost all of them failed, though all of them had 'As' in their WAEC exam and they are now doing odd jobs instead of perhaps working in good institutions or offices. Today in my area, students will leave their school and would be permitted to go to remote areas to do their exams and get 'As' in all the papers. Some years ago a young girl with 'As' in all the subjects in her WAEC came to me to help her gain admission into UNN. Do you know this girl could not make a complete correct sentence in English. She may still eventually get admitted into a University. Tell me what would be her fate

Do you think people can use the Church to perpetuate criminality?

It depends on the church and individual clergymen in charge of the church

Don't you think is high time we addressed these issues?

There is so much lip service in our country Nigeria. Many excellent proposals and policies are hardly highly implemented even in our government. I thank you very much in your efforts to try to restore moral ethics and values in the country.

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commissioning of the Dialysis centre of Abia state Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic centre in Umuahia.

Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state (right) with Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister for Health during the official commissioning of the Dialysis centre of Abia state Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic centre in Umuahia.

L-R Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state, Alh. Aliyu Ukariwo, Chief Immam of Umuahia and Alh. Suleiman Ukandu, Chairman Muslim pilgrim welfare board Abia state, when the governor hosted the Muslim community in Abia state at sallah in Umuahia.

Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister for Health cutting the tape to officially open the Dialysis centre of Abia state Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic centre in Umuahia. He is flanked by on his right by Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state, Bishop Ikechi Nwosu, Sir Emeka Ananaba, Deputy Governor, Ezeogo Anagha Ezikpe and Prof. Augustus Mbanaso, Chief Medical Director and on his left by Rt. Hon. Ude Okochukwu, Speaker Abia state house of Assembly and his deputy.

Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state receiving Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister for Health to his office for the official opening of the Dialysis centre of Abia state Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic centre in Umuahia.

L-R: Assistant Corps Marshal, Dr. Kayode Olagunju; Assistant Corps Marshal, Mr. Victor Nwokolo; and Sector Commander, Lagos, Nseobong Akpabio; during the decoration of promoted FRSC officers in Abuja... on Wednesday.

Ethiopian Airline in Enugu : Gov. Sullivan Chime welcomes the Deputy CEO of the Ethiopian Airlines, Esayas Hailu, during the arrival of the aircraft that made the first international flight to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu Saturday.

From Left: Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa'i; Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim and Minister of Labour, Chief Chukwuemeka Nwogu, at the Meeting of the Sgf With Pro-Chancellors and Vice Chancellors of Public Universities in Abuja of Friday.

From left: GOC, 3 div., MAJ.-Gen. Ebiobowei Awala; Commander, 53 DIV. (signals), Brig.-Gen. Lucky Irabor and representative of the Chief of Accounts and Budget, Nigeria Army, Col. Jeremiah Faransa, at the 3 DIV.'s finance training session in Jos on Friday.

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With Uju Nwankwo e-mail: tender4j@yahoo.com

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raditional wear is not what you just give a tailor to make for you, except you want to be looked upon as a 21st century masquerade.

If you really need to step out unique and dignified, you got to need a competent designer who will bring out the glamour.

You surely deserve styles that exude this glamour and design with sophisticated material.

If you got a competent designer, you are sure of clothes of international standard.

We have got designers who are unparalleled when it comes to quality, professional skill and innovation. Who pay much attention to details and perfect finishing in other to make you stand out!

Gone are those days when African's westernized in fashion trend, traditional attire is taking the lead, Nigerians are not left out in this trend as they came up with this superlative name 'Senators wear' that distinguishes them w ith the sophisticated senegalistic designs.

Gone are those days when African's westernized in fashion trend, traditional attire is taking the lead, Nigerians are not left out in this trend as they came up w i t h t h i s superlative name 'Senators wear' that distinguishes them w i t h t h e sophisticated senegalistic designs. Even ladies now have their version of senators wear so whichever way you choose to appear, these stylish folks will serve you better.

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Cameroonian lady buys Nigerian 3-day-old baby for N1.2m Tanker driver

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4 2 - y e a r- o l d Cameroonian lady who gave her name as Evelyn Atemkeng was, Wednesday, arrested in Calabar with a threeday-old baby she allegedly bought for N1.2 million.

Mrs Atemkeng accompanied by her 70-year-old mother, Anastasia Fambong, was said to have bought the baby boy from a matron of a clinic in Delta State into whose account she paid the N1.2 million.

Commander of the Cross River State Immigration Command, Mr Samuel Ichoi, who ordered the arrest of the woman said that his men accosted the lady while boarding a ship to Cameroon and after interrogation, she confessed that she bought the baby.

He said: “The lady came from Cameron on Friday without any sign of pregnancy but this morning (Wednesday) she was

Mrs Evelyn Atemkeng, the suspect and the baby found to be carrying a baby and when my men examined her there were no signs that she just gave birth, so she and the baby were apprehended.”

According to Igoche, the lady also claimed that in May last year, she

was given some herbs at Okigwe where she “miraculously gave birth to a baby girl who is now in Cameroon.”

However, the lady who said she is a teacher in the North-West region of Cameron claimed that she gave

Surgery: Chinese man born with his heart in abdomen

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man who has lived his entire life with a heart protruding from his abdomen is finally able to walk upright without getting out of breath or turning blue. Huang Rongming, from Henan province in China, underwent lifechanging surgery to correct heart a defect and move the organ away from his abdomen and into his ribcage.

He had lived with the rare condition for 24 years until a doctor told him his condition was rapidly deteriorating and that he r e q u i r e d u r g e n t s u r g e r y.

Congenital heart displacement is incredibly rare and occurs in just five babies out of every million born. Most patients die soon after birth.

Mr Rongming could not afford the procedure that would place his heart in his chest as it should be, but media coverage of his condition enabled him to undergo to life-changing operation.

'It's a dream come true. I'm going to lead a normal life like everyone else,' he told ChinaDaily.

Before surgery, Mr Rongming's heart could clearly be seen pumping underneath a thin layer of skin and bulging out from his upper belly.

When Mr Rongming was born, doctors did not think he would survive, as his protruding heart had defects and was vulnerable to injury. His parents admitted they were anxious when he was a boy and said that he was not allowed to play with other children for fear that he would die.

The condition made the young Mr Rongming vulnerable to breathlessness and turning blue if he stood up as well as sudden

death if his heart was knocked.

Earlier this year he sought treatment at Wuhan Union Hospital. His doctor, Dong Nianguo, a cardiac surgeon at the hospital, was astonished that he was still alive. Tests showed Huang's condition was deteriorating rapidly, and he needed immediate surgery, which could cost about 200,000 yuan.

Huang's story attracted considerable media coverage and within six days of his story being reported, he received all the money he needed from kind readers.

The surgery lasted more than 10 hours and was entirely successful.

His abdomen is now flat and his heart defect fixed. Mr Rongming said: 'I am now normal, thanks to the many kind souls’

birth to the baby and that N1.2 million she paid into the account of the matron was for delivery and herbs she gave to her to aid delivery.

She said: “She (matron) said my breast would start producing milk in three weeks but for now the baby is taking baby food.”

According to her, she does not have anybody in Cameroon to take care of her, that was why she came to Nigeria to deliver before returning to her country.

“I am married and my husband is in Cameroon but there is nobody to take care of me in Cameroon, that was why I came to Nigeria to deliver,” she said.

The Anti Human Trafficking Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service at the Calabar Port, Mrs Agbor Ojong Ogar, said she took time to examine the woman and she does not have any sign that she just gave birth.

She said: “The woman passed here on Friday, she left on Saturday and returned to Calabar on Tuesday and was heading back to Cameron with a baby and when we examined her she does not have any sign of having given birth recently.”

arrested for defiling 2-yr-old girl

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41-year-old tanker driver identified as Bashiru has been arrested in Calabar for allegedly defiling a two-yearold girl and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.

The incident happened in Okom Ita, Akamkpa Local Government Area, Cross River State, when the two-year old girl (name withehld) strolled from her mother's room into Bashiru's apartment to play with the man she calls “uncle.”

Margaret, the toddler's mother who narrated the incident to newsmen said she did not stop her daughter from going into Bashiru's room because she considered him a neighbour who could not harm her daughter.

She said: “We have been living together for some time, so when my daughter went into his room I did not stop her even when she later came out and complained that she was having pains in her private part. I thought it was ordinary pain until in the evening when I wanted to bath her and she began to cry when soap touched her private part.”

Margaret said when she reported the incident to the police, Ba shiru was arrested and taken to the Akamkpa police station .

Mr Hogan Bassey, the Cross River State Police Command spokesman confirmed the arrest of the man and said the matter was under investigation.

Man kills girlfriend, sends the picture of her corpse to her sister on Whatsapp

L

ess than two weeks after a man posted a photo of his dead wife to Facebook and confessed online to killing her, a similar case emerges in Costa Rica.

Police there say a 29-year-old man strangled his girlfriend

"Operation Restore Morality" 21 sex workers nailed in Jigawa

2

1 suspected commercial sex workers have been arrested in the course of 'Operation Restore Morality' in Jigawa State, according to the state commander-general of the Hisba Guards, Malam Saadu Aliyu.

The operation was conducted by the Hisba command in a bid to curb activities of sex workers in some parts of the state.

Mr. Aliyu disclosed that the arrests were made in the Chaichai and Larabar Tambarin Gwani areas, the places chosen by the women as their haven.

The local youths are becoming morally degraded because of the activities of sex workers, Mr. Aliyu lamented, adding that measures have to be taken.

"Also, their immoral and abominable business is attracting

the activities of criminals who are using their centres as a hideout in the state.

"The arrested suspects would be handed over to police for investigation before taken to the court," Aliyu said in conclusion, and stressed once again that the Hisba Guard are determined to fight all sort of immoral activities in the state.

and sent a photo of her body via What'sApp to her sister, apologizing for what he had done.

He also informed the family of his whereabouts, and police soon arrived, found the body, and arrested him. The IBT quotes local media as saying that the man, identified only by his surname as Macotelo, had copied the earlier incident from Florida.

In that case, newly released police documents reveal that Derek Medina admitted to detectives that he repeatedly shot his wife when she threatened to leave him, then posted the Facebook confession, reports the Miami Herald. The 31-yearold faces first-degree murder charges and will be arraigned later this month.

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18A

THE ADVOCATE Rejoices with Abians

Chief T. A. Orji (Ochendo), Executive Governor, Abia State The Publisher, Management and Staff of The Advocate Newspapers Limited rejoice with the Executive Governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Chief T. A. Orji (Ochendo), and the people of Abia State on the celebration of 22nd Anniversary of Abia State.

Newspapers Limited

May the Almighty God continue to prosper Abia State for the good of all.

Signed: Congratulations

MANAGEMENT

Corporate Office: No 30 Edinburgh Road Ogui New Layout Enugu phone: 07066097362, 08087631127 E-mail: editoradvocate@ymail.com website: http//www.theadvocatengr.com

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NEWS

Senator's son arrested for alleged robbery

A

former senator's son has been arrested and remanded in prison following his involvement in robbery in Abuja.

Police sources said that the former senator's son, who hails from Ekiti State, led a gang of armed robbers to rob a Colonel

(names withheld) at Mbora Estate by Jabi District, where his AK-47 and other valuable items were removed.

The source disclosed that the robbery operation which took place on the July 5, 2013, resulted in the arrest of the exsenator's son whose name was

given as Ola Kila.

The source said in the process of investigation operatives from the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, working on a tip-off subsequently arrested Ola Kila and while a search was conducted in his house around Life Camp area, Abuja, 16 live

Married men should writemen, their Wills and this becomes the reason why her ministry embarked on – C’River Commissioner sensitization of women to

By Edem Archibong, Calabar

T

he Cross River State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Edak Iwuchukwu has charged all married men in the state to ensure that they write their wills in favour of their wives and children and update same on annual or quarterly bases to enable wives inherit their husband's properties after their demise.

Making the assertion during the annual interaction with Journalist in Calabar recently, Mrs Iwuchukwu explained that there is a general grief culture of silence in the state amongst women themselves as they are afraid to oblige information about all cases of women abuse and domestic violence to her ministry for necessary actions against those involve in the act.

In her words, “discrimination knows no status” and therefore domestic violence against women can be perpetrated at even the highest or lowest level and calls on the media to also join the vanguard in promoting the maintenance of domestic peace as well as equal treatment for women folks in society.

On the role of women in the socio- economic structure of the state, the Commissioner who was transfered from the Ministry of Social Welfare barely eighteen months ago to Ministry of Women Affairs argued that statistic indicate that women in the state constitutes the bulk of workforce more than men in the informal sector.

She also remarked that women are noted to be the virtual producers of all basic food stuff but their efforts and contribution are not harnessed and utilize in consummate terms as that of

facilitate formation of women co-operative societies to ensure the weaving of development initiatives through the opening of credit windows for them.

To realize this vision, the Commissioner stated that the state government had in partnership with National Center for Women Development and Japanese International Development Cooperation Agency reactivated three Women Development centers in Ogoja, Abi and Oban Akamkpa to serve as skills acquisition/vocational centre to cater for the three

cartridges and some other incriminating exhibits were recovered from the suspect's house.

During interrogation, it was discovered that the suspect allegedly belong to a notorious armed robbery gang that has been terrorizing the FCT and its Senatorial Districts of the state.

In various skills areas such as Tailoring, Hair Dressing, Catering, Bead making and Interior decoration not less than 145 women have already been trained at the three centers of Ogoja 72, Abi 20, and Akamkpa 53 while the first batch of the trainees in Akamkpa have so far been equipped adequately.

On widowhood, Mrs Iwuchukwu decried a situation where in all the societies or ethnic groups, widows are subjected to abuse, deprivation and neglect or denied basic rights of inheritance after the demise of their husband.

She called for reversal of such inhuman treatment on women.

Dillish wins Big Brother The Chase!

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fter expressing her desires to be the first woman to win the Big Brother grand prize since Zambia's Cherise did so seven seasons ago, Dillish has done it for all of Africa's women!

The gorgeous Namibian started her Chase race as the proverbial underdog and was labeled everything from lazy to a pampered princess. As the Chase rolled on however, Dillish quickly emerged as a very strong contender for the Chase title and won her fellow Housemates and Africa over, with her quirky,

Give us constituency projects, legal unit and 4 year tenure – Hon. Nkpanam

By Edem Archibong, Calabar

T

he Leader of the Calabar Municipal Council legislative House, Hon. Okokon Mkpanam has called on the Cross River State House of Assembly to review the State Law No.7 which empowered the Assembly to regulate the activities of Local Councils in the state to provide them with constituency projects, the legal drafting unit and extend the councilors tenure to four years in line with the constitutional provision.

Speaking with the Advocate in Calabar, during the Southern Senatorial District 2014 Local Government Budget Stakeholders Consultative Forum on the theme: “Participatory Budgeting for Grass-Root Development in

environs.

The suspect reportedly told investigators that his friend, an Igbo boy whom he knew to be a member of a robbery gang brought the gun and the cartridges to his house and that the boy has gone back to the East with the intention of bringing more arms and ammunitions.

Ola Kila, however, denied participating in the robbery attack on the Lt. Colonel's house at Mbora Estate on the day in question.

He confirmed however, that the said Ibo boy brought two laptops robbed at gun point to him, which he sold in the GSM Village, Abuja.

He also alleged that the said Ibo boy robbed a man at Life Camp and shot him sometimes in May this year.

The suspect and another member of his gang were last week charged for false information at Area Magistrate court, Karu by the magistrate who ordered that they be remanded at Keffi and Nasarawa State Prisons.

Cross River”, Hon. Nkpanam called for the provision of a legal drafting unit with professionals to assist the councilors who are novice in the use of legal terms to all councils in Cross River instead of the mere legal adviser who cannot handle the work load.

He said that with the provision of constituency projects, the presence of both the Federal and state government at the Grass root level will be more felt as they will be able to know what projects is mostly needed by the people and its execution should be made mandatory by the council chairman to impact more positively on the people.

The leader further contended that Nigeria's administrative pattern had since depended on the top to bottom approach to governance yet there are some unresolved

issues in the country's polity while suggesting that it is not wrong for us to adopt and experiment on the bottom to top approach and draw a comparative parity when all and sundry will participate.

He decried the embarrassing issue in educational sector where the lecturers are on strike indefinitely, the poor state of the health sector as well as the administrative sector while commending the budget stakeholders forum put forward by the Cross River State Department of Budget, Monitoring and Evaluation in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government Affairs and wish that many states in the country would to have similar experience.

On the tenure of councilors, the leader opine that it is absolutely necessary for the councillors

to be given equal legislative tenure with the states and the national because of the closeness of the councillors to the grass root dwellers which enables prompt response to the desire of the rural electorate than the state or national representative.

For the autonomy of Local Government, the leader argued that the states should be able to have a way of instilling discipline to ensuring that checks and balances are put into the system through joint developmental programme as it is presently being done in Cross River.

Mr. Nkpanam explained that autonomy of Local Government should not be misconstrued but it will bring the presence of Federal and states government close to the people and reduce the present over dependence on the states while there will be need for effective checks to avoid power abuse and misuse.

accented alter ego, aptly titled Princess Dillish.

The Namibian made sure to stay away from trouble and coasted through the Chase by taking her place behind the scenes. While her fellow Housemates got themselves into hot water, fighting and gossiping their way to what they hoped was the top of the mountain, Dillish remained grounded and maintained cordial relations with her fellow Housemates.

The only time the Namibian got herself in a spot of trouble was when she and her good friend, Nigeria's Melvin, had a disagreement after she told her fellow Housemates about a relationship he was involved in, which was less than stellar.

Dillish and Cleo proved to all and sundry that women are indeed a force of nature. The two hotties pipped their male counterparts, Elikem and Melvin to the Top 2 while, as well as their close friend Beverly.

Before the big news was delivered, Pebbles the fish surprised all and sundry with one last speech. “On behalf of myself and the other fish, I would like to congratulate you on your amazing feat. You are the specialest ladies in Africa,” Pebbles said.

However, one thing is clear!

Tonight is Dillish's night and oh whata moment it was! As soon as the Namibian was announced the winner of the Chase, the Namibian broke down in a heap of tears at the realisation that she has a cool USD 300 000 sitting in her bank account. Yes Africa.

She came, she saw and she conquered. In heels even!

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

19

Enugu Elections 2015: Our people will vent their anger on PDP government – Val Nnadozie

Val Nnadozie, businessman, social commentator and Governorship candidate of ACN in the 2011 general elections said that the PDP government in Enugu state has nothing to show for the huge sums that come in monthly as allocations to the state from the federation account. In this interview with Rex Arum, Nnadozie insisted that if the roads which the government beats her chesty for is placed side by side with the allocations and Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, one will certainly ask Chime to account for the balance. EXCERPTS May I meet u sir?

My name is Val Nnadozie I am from Oji River L.G.A. I am a small time Politian. I ran for governorship in Enugu under the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011. But Intrigues and political machination made us not to win. I believe that is why Enugu state is still where it is today.

That does not support the notion of a small time Politian, does it?

I think it does, it depends on how you see it. If you have always lived your life as a servant that means you are a small time Politian. As far as I'm concerned what we attempt to do is to call ourselves small time Politian. It is not my profession or what I intended to do, I'm not into politics as what I do, I do other things to sustain my family, my friends, and other people that we try to help out of poverty, that's why I called It small time Politian. If I am into politics as a full time operator, then I could do one or two bad things to get what I want or what people think I should have. It is because it's not what I do, that is why I said politics for me is a means to help and alleviate the poverty level of my people. And it does not mean it's entirely what I do. I do other things to help in societal growth.

What particularly inspired you into politics, you left other things you were doing to come into politics, what's your interest?

I have not left the other things I'm doing. I do a whole lot in consultancy, I do a whole lot in engineering services and I do a whole lot in oil and gas too. But I came into politics because of the yearnings and aspirations of my people. I came in because I know that God has created a Joseph for every bad situation; God created tall people for short ones. I came to politics to help to salvage my people; to move them out from the imperial state they are in, to move them out of poverty and bad governance. I grew up in the city, I know what happened when the like of Jim Nwobodo was governor here, from then on we have had this downward trend and I don't like it. Going about the state you will see poverty, hardship, hitting the people and they need help. Whereas we know that with the instrument of power we can do much more than what we are doing as individuals. I give you an instance with the case of insecurity, people said if they become governor, president, they

are going to provide security, you can't provide security if you don't provide jobs. It is the idle man that is the devils workshop. And you can't provide jobs if you don't encourage industrialization, if you don't encourage agriculture, housing etc; you can't provide jobs. So those things are my inspiration. Those things made me say maybe its time for us to come and put a stop to all these nonsense; maybe it's time for us to say enough is enough, let my people go. For me I believe I'm a messenger of hope I mustn't be governor or president but I could play an active part to make sure that the right peg enters the right hole, that's why I'm in politics.

After the 2011 elections how did you feel? Do you think the electoral system has been good enough to give way for the likes of you to come into power and probably help in changing or better the system?

Before the last elections, elections were rigged in the national headquarters of INEC. In the last election it was not like that. INEC lived up to certain expectations but what happened was that you discover that poverty has so smitten our people that any small money you give them changes their opinion so what the ruling party did was to systematically impoverish the populace so that at the end of the day when election comes especially in 2011 they brought out the money they stole and were giving out money for people to cast their votes. The first National Assembly elections that were cancelled in Enugu, PDC won landslide; in every area of Enugu state because people wanted change. A.C.N did their bit but PDC won, for me till tomorrow I still believe it was a kite that they flew and when they discovered that they lost, they cancelled the elections, went back to the volts and brought more money to pay the people to vote, so the electoral process as far as I am concerned, we are not yet there but we have moved from Egypt, we are now in the red sea, soon we will cross over. If election rigging has left the table of the national chairman of INEC, came down to the states, went down to the wards and then you can only rig now in the polling booths using money, then we are almost home. The only thing is to find a way to stop people from using money at the

Val Nnadozie booths to influence votes. Once that is done then we will have free and fair election in this country and then if you lose, you know that you lost not because somebody who is with enough money has shared enough money.

Do you have any solution to proffer for this; how to stop the riggings at any level, and are you comfortable with the electoral laws?

Well, the electoral laws as far as I am concerned for now are in order, the only problem with the electoral laws is the implementation. I am aware that in sub sections of the electoral act, there is a limit to the volume of money you can spend for any election, if you can make sure that politicians spend within those limits, there is nothing we can't do.

For instance if you say you are running for governor you can't spend more than hundred million, that means there is limit to what you can do with money. We must find a way to stop people from using excess money to influence people, once that is done, we are home and dry.

Let us come back to our dear state, Enugu state. Do you still have that aspiration to lead the people, since you said you are out of Egypt and there is a red sea to cross, because now you are going to transmute from Joseph to a Moses of today.

Every human being is a Politian; if you are into partisan politics you

must have ambition. For now I am not thinking in that direction.

What I am thinking about is to organize Enugu state, to organize the opposition in Enugu state, to make sure that we stop being in the opposition and go into position. So that the people in position now will go into opposition, it doesn't matter if it is me or whoever. As far as I'm concerned for now, it is the people who decide what happens at the end of the day, who go where.

A new party, APC, was registered recently, you were a member of the ACN, is your group in ACN one of the party that merged to become APC? There are no two groups of ACN; ACN is part of the merger. It is only in APGA that you faction B, A, one belongs to the merger, one doesn't believe in the merger. In ACN all of us are part of the merger.

What is the future of the new party APC especially in Enugu?

If you go round Enugu you will understand people are angry, people are disgusted and fed up with the government in power.

The only thing is that the system has impoverished the people that all they can think of when they wake up is where my next meal is coming from. So nobody is interested in how anybody runs the government, but we must understand that government is not just about one meal a day or paving the roads, government

transcends those barriers. There are more expectations from government then we have seen so far. I agree to some extent with people who say Enugu state government has done well because if you check the other years before they came on board, Enugu state did not witness any development but with the coming of Sullivan Chime at least we have seen roads paved but if you put those roads side by side with the volume of money they have received from the federal account and internally generated revenue, then they've not done anything. I am aware June allocation of Enugu for 2013 came to about 5 point something billion and I heard my local government receive one hundred and sixty something million. I ask myself where the money is going to.

Assuming we have had 4 billion coming to Enugu for 2 and half years does it translate into what you see? It hasn't, as at the last time I checked the commissioner for works in Enugu, he said they have done 300 kilometres of road, I give it that they have done 500 kilometer of roads in Enugu and they are paying for the 48 million per kilometres, multiply it and get the figure, you now put it side by side these monies they have received in two and half years and you point to any other project that they have done outside these roads and you ask yourself where is the balance, we do not have any industry here working, the only one we had, the AVOP, they vandalized it and after vandalisation, they set it ablaze.

None else is working. We have the ADA farms, the last time the monitoring people came from Abuja, they got to the place, it was supposed to be ponds and all of that, they couldn't see anything.

Enugu has arable land that can feed Nigeria nothing is been done in that direction. Assuming Anambra and Kogi didn't go to crisis because of the oil found, Enugu would have been lying silent. We have oil in Enugu, we gas in Enugu, what is Government doing in those directions? Nothing absolutely. On housing, I keep saying it, no government can thrive if the population doesn't live under roofs.

I can give you an example, there are international organizations that are willing to come and invest in housing in Nigeria and mortgage is the vogue in the globe and nobody is talking about it. We have land and nothing stops this government from building houses for civil servants who you are sure you will recover the money from.

So nothing stops the government from coming to do houses for civil servants at least and every month instead of paying N20, 000 per flat, you collect N15, 000 from

Continues on page 20

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Enugu people will vent their anger on PDP government – Nnadozie Continued from page 19 him for a house that he owns and he pays over fifteen years. The person in the office is not encouraged to steal so that he can build a house because he already has one and they have something to look up to during retirement.

Those are the kind of things you look at here and some of us every morning we thank God he has brought us here but we feel unfulfilled because you see people who live in shanties in Enugu, you go to the villages you cry, there is no encouragement in agriculture, no industrialized agriculture, not at all. Yes they have done the roads, they have tried but if your idea stops at road then you can't do more than that.

There are several other sectors in health even in youth development they have failed woefully in these areas and I believe that with the coming of APC all these will change because we have been there with the people. The people know what they need and they are the ones who will actually take over.

People say that opposition in Enugu state has been docile it is said that the only way evil will subsist is for honest men to stay aloof or keep mute in the face of tyranny and oppression, so how do intend to achieve the so-called 'opposition coming into position' in 2015?

Well, if you say opposition is docile in Enugu it could be right it could be wrong.

What is happening is that if you want to run a successful opposition, you must have money to pay the print media, to rattle your opponents at the airwaves, to get recognized and all of that.

As a matter of fact some of these media houses have been gagged by the government, so much so that the news worthy items they don't even carry them, they get clearance from the government before they carry them and if there is no clearance you can't see it. Unless you float your own paper or broadcast outfit which cost humongous money. We run a mono-economy in this country; once government is not spending there is no money in circulation. They only give people who are one of them. Once you are identified as the opposition nothing comes to you unless you're struggling on your own as a consultant, industrialist or any other and people see your flourishing in your own aspect and they will come to you. But if you want to depend on the government, forget it because they will never give you. For instance in Enugu maybe you have one or two or three tall persons who are doing well in

business, the other people are peasants and the money you are going to use to feed them at least you want to go throw away in the print media.

I think the opposition is doing what they have to do. They are mobilizing in their wards and in the booths in the local government quietly. I believe with APC in no distant time there will be an explosion and people will vent their anger and spleen on the government and they will leave.

Now you talked about a mono economy, are you suggesting another kind of economic system or do you have the antidote to Nigeria economy which seem to have defied all known economic theories?

When PDP said they were going to rule Nigeria for 50 years we thought they were joking but they were not joking. They know what to do to be here for 50 years. They know that if there is a diversification in the economy of this country, people will get empowered and they will fight them. Now the government is not encouraging industrialization,

The same thing they did with proliferation of parties, it was PDP and others, unfortunately for them Jega and his people has risen to the occasion and have given us a very strong alternative. With that once there is a change of government more space will be opened for people to compete.

They pay lip service to this thing they call industrialization. The ministry of Agriculture allocates money to small scale farmers; you can't even find it because the money is stolen. Have you seen any farmer in Enugu that they gave loan, not one, I challenge to it, everywhere in the country. Its only big time farmers who own large farms, I wouldn't mention names, only one or two in this country, call them their kit and kin that give to.

They don't encourage smaller people, as such people who ought to have created jobs, 5 man jobs, 10 man jobs, are obliterated, they are no more there, If you ask me how, it's simple, change the government. I am aware that if you want to rule the country for 4 years or so and have your efforts or foot-steps to be written in the sands of time, you will open the space for people to come and participate, to even think. What they do is that they make sure nobody thinks; you only think about how you are going to feed your family and nothing else. So we must have a change of guards in this country.

Yes, change of guard, those who are going to take over are they from the moon or are they still Nigerians? Nigeria is regarded as one of the most corrupt Nations in the world and these people, who are clamouring for change, are they saints?

I do not believe it would be the same situation when APC takes over because what we have in APC are people like you and I who have seen bad government not in theory but in practice. APC means business when they are talking about change. When you look at their manifesto they have zero tolerance to corruption. It will take a long time to wipe the psyche of corruption in Nigeria but the leadership has to demonstrate willingness to fight corruption. The current leadership has not done that instead they encourage it everyday. Go to transparency international, the last report they had, Nigeria has gone way up in the ladder of corruption. It's for the leadership to decide to have a change of heart or there must be a change of guards. It is not going to be easy to wipe corruption from Nigeria. I give you an example one time governor of Anambra

“I believe I'm a messenger of hope I mustn't be governor or president but I could play an active part to make sure that the right peg enters the right hole, that's why I'm in politics.� you only see industrialization in the hands of one or two people who are core supporters of the government and they give every leverages they need. They don't encourage small scale industries, medium scale industries, nothing.

The last I checked they were talking about modular refineries in this country, modular refineries means that you and I can own a small refinery that can cost about 200 hundred thousand dollars but that have not seen the light of day.

They want refinery that will cost 10 billion dollars you and I cannot have access to that kind of funding. The other day one rich man in this country has gotten a loan of 5 billion dollars to build a refinery here. You are I cannot have access to that. It is closed circuit thing for them to make sure that nobody else has funding.

state was preparing to cloth Anambra with velveteen, he didn't steal money. By the time the military took over and he came back to his village, they put him on the night watch because he didn't come back with money, he didn't give anybody money. The psyche of our populace have to change, we got to have people who want to really serve. In some local government this state, when the allocation is received, they share three, four or five thousand Naira, and at the end of the day, what does it translate to? Nothing.

You put the money together to build something that will benefit them ultimately. It is not giving N1000 or 2000 that a matter to me, what I want is legacy that will be of benefit to me and even my children. I believe strongly that we have people in APC who want change. Change from poverty, change from degradation, change from the vagaries of life, from what PDP has taken us into. An improvement of life is what all of us believe in and that is why we are here to make sure that this thing works. That's why some people have thrown in their ambitions to make it work.

What is the rate of optimism that you share about APC taking over the leadership in Enugu State even in the face of PDP zoning arrangement?

In a recent interview I had with the media I said, people clamour for zoning when there is failure in leadership. If the government in place equitably distributes the wealth of the state nobody will talk about zoning. If you talk about zoning, you simply accept defeat and failure on our parts to deliver dividends of democracy to the people. You can only talk about zoning if for instance, Enugu west feel that it has been cheated, that nothing comes from the center to them, then they want a governor of their own extraction to come and assuage them. As far as I am concerned, I don't believe in zoning. I believe in equitable distribution of facilities to all. But it does not mean that if for instances we have a governor who is good from the west and in the next election we have somebody who is better from the east, shouldn't he run? He should run.

Some people talk about zoning to the North, my question is, has there been any election in Enugu State that the North didn't run, has there been anyone? Is it when you lose you talk about zoning?

Assuming you had won, will you talk about zoning? I encourage them much as I would want, if possible, for a governor of Enugu North extraction to emerge in this state, for now I think they should go and do their homework well and bring their best to come out.

Because all the other zones will want to run whether they like it or not, others will produce aspirants.

As a matter of fact, when you produce more aspirant for the

state that is when you get better person to qualify. The North should go and do their best, let them throw their hearts into the race and compete.

In essence, are you saying that all the other zones in the state should not run?

No, I said, if they like it or not other zones are going to produce aspirants. They should just go home and work. They should produce the best and support him or her. But if you produce the best and do not support him, another zone and earn the support of all they will be beaten to it. For now what I see is bickering all over.

People say it is the turn of the north, even in the north they are disarrayed, they are dismembered. I hear some traditional rulers are relying on the PDP internal arrangement on zoning, they don't care about what the other parties are doing, well I wish them luck. If there's zoning in PDP, fine but I know there's nothing like that in Nigeria constitution. It is not in APC constitution either, I have not seen, unless there is amendment tomorrow on that effect.

Earlier you said people should decide, should the people actually decide on somebody who is not from Enugu North, or should the people also clamour for you to come and salvage their situation knowing your pedigree, will you say no because of your sympathy for Enugu North zone?

Even if the people say I should come and become a councilor in my ward I will. They say I should come and become party chairman in my ward, I will as long as it is what they want. What I will not do is to impose myself on anyone.

Your advice Well I think people should be allowed to say their minds on issues. People should learn the habit of accommodating each other. They should sit down to talk and listen to each other. It is when we don't sit down and talk that we don't hear each others side of the argument. For every situation there has to be an agreement and eventually we have to agree on what to do. For now I see people who do not tolerate each other. I see people who do not feel they should sit down and talk. Until we start to cultivate the attitude of sitting down to talk; to talk about problems and prospects we will keep going round the seconds. So my candid advice is for people to have this accommodating spirit.

Everybody has his own method, his own thinking; there are different people, different individuals, and different perspectives so we must have different ways of seeing things.

But it is the ability to sit down in one table then we will be able to bring out the best from these thinkings. That is what moves a nation forward.

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

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Government should involve President Generals of communities as stakeholders – Igwe Ogakwu His Royal Majesty, Igwe Chris Ogakwu (MON), the Okwuluoha III of Udi ancient kingdom spoke on various bugging issues in Nigeria especially on moral decadence. In this interview with The Advocate correspondent, Igwe Ogakwu applauded Governor Sullivan Chime on his achievements in Enugu State but lambasted some of the governor's aides, whom he described as mere sycophants that have attracted catalogue of criticisms for Chime's administration. Exerpts Sir can we meet you?

Thank you very much indeed, I am very pleased to welcome you to my palace, I am His Royal Majesty Igwe Chris Ogakwu, (MON) the Okwuluoha 111 of the ancient kingdom of Udi. It's my pleasure to welcome you, As you must know, what you are doing is something that makes, me sleep well, I have grown up in this country to notice that things are not going the way it should and I am trying to see how many people like me, can try to make things work well. If it's your way I will like to listen to you and share my view with you on how to ensure that morals are restored in my area, Enugu and particularly Udi kingdom.

Looking at the nation and its insecurity challenges including bombings, and other negative vices, it has affected our psyche, what do you think is the remedy for the ugly situation?

This is a good question and I will start by saying that immorality seems to have eaten deep into this nation. I say this because when we talk about corruption, you can find out that those who say they want to stop it in Nigeria are even more corrupt than corruption. You may not understand what I mean? I like what you are doing and I will join you. If you pick me up for example and make me a minister today, I will be worse than people who were there before me. I am just using myself as an example.

That is Nigerian character; you will see somebody that preaches against immorality, give him chance and see how immoral he or she will be. It seems as if this bad character is embedded in us. For goodness sake! We shouldn't stop but keep trying as you are doing.

Moral Mentorship group are now trying, let's see how far they will go. Nigeria is bad, the people who are supposed to be good are worse than what we are talking about.

You talk about a Governor who will appoint commissioners who only mind their pockets and be rubbishing the governor because he (the Governor) is too far away to know what those under him are doing. This happens because there is difficulty in gaining access to the governor himself and he has not established monitoring teams to evaluate what his aides are doing.

This is happening in almost all the 36 states. When I see this situation I feel sorry for such a governor on how some of his subordinates

sycophants are ruining his church leaders and even in this world; we have done all we genuine intentions down; but the traditional leaders who need to do. We have completed when they see him the Governor our work in this world and we they praise him and advise him on are all stakeholders in the need to build a good platform for only what he would like to hear. crusade to ensure a sane our children but some of us at That is not governance. I like s o c i e t y h a v e b e c o m e times when we see envelops people who can criticize me as a materialistic yet some of (money) we close our eyes and leader and not clap for me in them build and donate mouths and that is why people use everything I do. This is exactly it as a tool to silence some of us. what is happening in Nigeria. I c h u r c h e s t o t h e i r There were people who were there had been a politician, but during communities. Is that not as Traditional Rulers for more my own time, things did not another way of paying than 30 years and I am just five degenerate like this. This time, tithes to God or reparations years as Igwe. you can see some people who call to their communities. What However, the Governor (of Enugu themselves stakeholders in a State) happens to be my subject community and without the is your take? and he is doing well. So far so knowledge of their traditional To be frank with you this is what I good but some of his subordinates am stressing on, immorality in Ruler or Town Union I regret to say are l e a d e r, s u c h rubbishing him, Stake holders but he may not could pick always know. someone who He has done so will be in w e l l f o r charge of traditional development rulers, by centres or be a increasing l o c a l their stipends government and giving chairman them vehicles. without the So many of traditional them did not rulers knowing have bicycle about it. What before but now, type of politics they can ride is that? But, I cars. What I am am sure that the saying is that person at the he should head like the consider Governor may setting up a not be aware of monitoring t h i s team to know misconduct but h o w h i s some people directives are will feed him being carried with lies and he out down the would believe line. I tell some them. If things of the officials are not quickly that they are addressed in not doing well Nigeria we will and I am tired get into more and too old to problems. continue to be Nevertheless w o r k i n g we will not around.

HRM. Igwe Chris Ogakwu, (MON) Okwuluoha 111 of Udi stop; it is all Today in about doing one's Nigeria you can best; I do my best and others do religious circles. If a corrupt see a top official of the State their own best. The only thing we politician gives any gift to a G o v e r n m e n t w h o w i l l b e need now in Nigeria is prayers; religious person, they will often c h a l l e n g i n g t h e a w a r d o f asking God to help us. If we not remember that they are certificate of recognition to a d e p e n d o n t h e s o - c a l l e d religious people again; and start Traditional Ruler by his employer, individuals that call themselves dancing to the tune of their new H e t a k e s t h e g o v e r n m e n t our leaders we will not achieve masters. Such religious leader indirectly to court and the Head of anything. Like I said, it is not would start doing the bidding of the Government may not know about pessimism; because I know his master. But some people may about it. In other words, that one day, we will get it right. mean well in some of these gifts. government is challenging itself Let us get the right people in the But I blame some of my colleague in court. It is ridiculous. right places if we want things to Traditional Rulers for not On the area of security, change, period. In Nigeria we speaking out. They should speak Enugu State is no doubt need to go back to electing out against any such ills in the society. For those of us not in want enjoying relative peace leaders, not selecting them.

M o s t p o l i t i c i a n s , and who are old enough, there is from gangsters, especially nothing we are looking for again from the undergraduate -

g o v e r n m e n t o ff i c i a l s ,

cultists. The issue of insecurity which used to be a serious thing is now a thing of the past. What do you think was the magic or do you think otherwise?

I should say that in Enugu State, the people are generally peaceful.

We have strong standing culture and tradition, coupled with this neighborhood watch group that was introduced in every community. This is why I am asking the state government to sustain the tempo. The watch group members should be provided with equipment for security and paid reasonable stipends to encourage them. The traditional rulers are trying their best but the government should support this innovation by helping too, because Traditional Rulers best efforts may not be good enough to sustain and encourage this neighborhood watch. The government should from time to time look inwards to know what is happening in remote areas. They should not leave the matter alone to those who call themselves stakeholders, who do not recognize the number one citizen of their communities. The government should bring in the president generals of communities as stakeholders, not only the politicians. There are a lot of things happening in my community that I should know about and I cannot use it as reason to become a registered politician.

It is wrong for stakeholders to select development centers administrators in my own town without my knowledge and I insist that this is not the best way to play politics. At my age, I am willing to say what I think is right and defend it anywhere.

Your Highness, would you support the suggestion that moral instruction should be re-introduced and made compulsory at all levels of education?

I agree with you totally.

Governments have tried in the past to impart these morals in schools but our system is very bad because you don't get the right people in the right places. Most teachers now are no longer teaching the children. From where do you recruit teachers that will teach these children moral instruction? Like I said, it is not about being pessimistic, I am trying to say the truth and that is that we should pray for the betterment of this nation.

Continues on page 15

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Baby factory: Police nab two over sale of baby ·Teenage mother given N10,000 to forfeit baby

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HE Ebonyi State Police command has arrested two suspects allegedly involved in the sale of a boy to a baby factory in Imo State.

Briefing newsmen at the command's headquarters in Abakaliki, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Sylvester Igbo, said one of the suspects, Mr Ifeanyichukwu Agwu, specialised in conveying pregnant young girls from Amasiri to Amaraku, Amaigbo in Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State where the baby factory is located.

The suspect was said to have taken the pregnant teenager, Miss Uchechi Sunday, from Amasiri in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State to the baby factory after he had promised to link her to a provision store where she would be engaged as a sales girl.

It was gathered that the victim, Uchechi, on reaching the factory was shocked to discover that only pregnant girls were confined in the building used for the production of babies but had no option but to remain in the building until she delivered her baby.

After the delivery, Uchechi was stripped of her baby and transported to Okigwe where she was left with N10,000 to transport herself to Amasiri and to purchase some new clothes.

Angered by the development, her

parents reported the incident to the police who commenced investigation into the matter.

According to the police spokesman, police investigation led to the arrest of the suspect and a nurse, Gloria Ezenwa in Feziechi Hospital at Orlu which served as a referral centre to the baby factory when incidences of complications arose.

He said: “The case of child trafficking was reported to us. It is all about a teenager, Uchechi Sunday, I7 years, who became pregnant to an Ebonyi husband

and was taken away by one man named Ifeanyi Agwu, 24, from Amasiri in Afikpo North. He deceived the lady, telling her that he had a place where she will do sales work at Amaigbo in Imo State.”

“On reaching that very place known as Amagibo, in Nwangele Local Government of Imo state, the girl saw other teenagers at that area who were pregnant by unknown men. They were housed waiting for the time they will deliver. And when this girl discovered this thing, she has no

choice but to stay.

“That girl was taken to that place in the month of March, 2013 and on 5th June; the girl gave birth to a baby boy. While on the 6th June, the child was taken away from the girl to unknown people. After that, the sum of N10, 000 was given to the girl as her transport fare to her place in Amasiri. And she was helped and was dropped in Okigwe in Imo state. When the girl came back, the matter was reported to us.

“The girl also reported that one other girl from her village was also

Lagos rescues 25 children from alleged trafficker

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agos State Government has rescued 25 children from an alleged child trafficker in the Egbeda area of the state.

It was learnt that the suspected trafficker, Mrs. Rosemary Nwachukwu, was also arrested and had been handed over to the Alausa Police Division, while the children were currently in government's custody.

The government accused Nwachukwu of operating an illegal orphanage named, Saint

Stephen Charity Foundation, on Abiodun Adebanbo Street, Egbeda. It was gathered that officials from the Office of Youth and Social Department, led by the Director, Child Development, Mrs. Alaba Fadairo, in conjunction with personnel from the Office of Public Defender and policemen, stormed the orphanage on Saturday.

The government said findings showed that the suspect was using the orphanage as a front for another illegal business.

Lagos couple rape neighbour 25-yr-old girl narrates how she was raped by couple

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36-year old man, Chigbo Ebo and his wife, Charity Ebo, 26, has been arrested and arraigned in court by the police for allegedly engaging t h e i r n e i g h b o u r, N n e k a Onwuatuegwu, in both oral and real sex in their home in Lagos State.

The 25-year old Nneka alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the couple whom she alleged fondled her breasts and inserted their fingers into her private part without her consent.

The victim admitted in the open court that the couple lured her to their house where they gave her alcohol to drink and started fondling and sucking her breasts and private part and thereafter the man penetrated her.

She said she woke up while they were carrying out the act and discovered that she was naked and her private part was wet with semen from the man.

Nneka said she went to Agboju Police Division and reported that she was raped and the police arrested the man and his wife.

She allegedly told the police that Charity inserted her finger into

taken there by this Ifeanyi. It was discovered that this place was used as baby factory by the proprietress, favour, whose surname was not known. On reaching to that place, it was discovered that the woman has vacated the area and the teenagers have been relocated.

“But they saw one of the nurses that the woman has been using to look after the teenagers and the nurse was arrested. She is Gloria Ezenwa staff nurse in Feziechi Hospital at Orlu. The nurse is with us and she is helping in investigation. Effort is being intensified to ensure that the fleeing proprietress of the baby factory is arrested.”

her private part and sucked her breasts as well, while Chigbo, her husband, not only sucked her breasts and fingered her private part, but also raped her.

The incident happened in their Abule-Ado home where both the complainant and defendants reside.

The suspects were charged before Apapa Magistrate's Court

presided over by Magistrate H. O. A. Amos, for allegedly engaging the victim in a sexual act without her consent.

Part of the charge reads: “That you Chigbo Ebo and Charity Ebo on the same date, time and place did sexually touch Nneka Onwuatuegwu on her breasts and private part without her consent.

The second count also said the

defendants lured the complainant into sexual activity without her consent.

They pleaded not guilty and the court granted them bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety each in like sum.

The matter was adjourned till when the court would resume from vacation.

Court orders student to pay fiancée that she had reported him to the N80,000 for 'using' her nearest police station for them

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he Upper Area Court II, Gombe, has ordered David, a 25-year-old, undergraduate to pay the sum of N80,000 to his fiancée, Binta Williams, as part of claims for the 'damages' which he inflicted on her within the two years in which they cohabited as lovers.

Williams had accused David as having “camped and used” her for almost two years in his room, while promising to marry her. The accused,

confessed that he impregnated Binta twice and aborted the pregnancies, while promising to marry her, but had pled with her that she would have to wait for him to graduate within three years.

Williams revealed to the court that the accused had harassed her and thrown her belongings away, telling her that the “relationship is over,” and that despite all her efforts to resolve issues, he did not want to see her again. Williams also said

to be reconciled.

“He used and dumped me, after sleeping with me for quite long; he said he would marry me, but he didn't. Now, I am claiming damages of humanity,” Wiliams told the court.

Binta prayed the court to make David pay her the sum of N500,000 for the damages, but the judge, Alhaji Salihu Baffa, advisedly ruled that the accused pay her the above mentioned amount.

The Director, OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, said the children, whose ages ranged from three months to 12 years, were victims of human trafficking.

Rotimi said, “It was discovered upon investigation that Nwachukwu trafficked 27 children and kept them in a room. We were able to rescue three infants of ages three to six months and 22 other children.

Efforts are still on to locate the remaining two.”

The OPD director added that the suspect used the victims for financial gains by putting them up for adoption. She said the suspect would be charged to court after investigations had been concluded.

H o w e v e r, F a d a i r o , s a i d , “Investigation also shows that there are no records of each child and no evidence of how the children got to her orphanage.

No police or security report.”

Fadairo urged members of the public to be vigilant and report suspicious orphanages to the appropriate authorities. She said some of the orphanages might be fronts for human trafficking.

She said, “People and organisations that operated unapproved orphanages will be arrested and prosecuted according to the law.”

But Nwachukwu said she had been running the orphanage for 18 years, adding that it was purely on charity basis, and without financial gain.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said Nwachukwu was in police custody and been charged to court.

She said, “We found out that she registered as a charity and thus not qualified to run an orphanage.

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

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UNN and Howard University to collaborate in Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing and Law Exchange of faculty and students UNN founder Nnamdi Azikiwe Howard alumnus

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istoric black higher institution Howard University of America is to collaborate with the University of Nigeria Nsukka through faculty and student exchanges in key d i s c i p l i n e s o f p h a r m a c y, medicine, nursing, dentistry and law.

The collaboration follows extensive discussions and meetings involving a UNN team led by Vice Chancellor Professor Bartholomew Okolo and officials of Howard University led by Provost and Chief Academic Officer Professor Wayne A.I. Fredrick.

The University of Nigeria team met with their Howard counterparts on Friday, August 16 at the Howard campus in Maryland, Washington DC, USA. The collaborations, as solicited by the UNN Vice-Chancellor, would i n c l u d e s t a ff a n d s t u d e n t exchanges, joint workshops and conferences, shared curricula and joint grant applications. Both parties are working on the memorandum of understanding covering the agreement.

The Howard University team comprised of Provost Fredrick, Dr Alvin Thornton, senior academic adviser to the President, Dean of

UNN VC Prof Okolo poses with Professor Fredrick Provost and Chief Academic Officer Howard University the College of Pharmacy Dr. Anthony Wutoh, Dean of the College of Medicine Dr Mark Johnson and Dean of the College of Nursing and Applied Sciences Dr Mary Hill.

On the mission with Okolo were Professor Anene Moneke, Senior Special Assistant to the VC on Projects and Head, Department of Microbiology, Professor Ben Ogwo, Director Centre for

Technical Vocational Education, Training and Research and Dr Bennet Nwanguma, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor on Special Duties.

Howard University is a federally chartered, private, coeducational, non-sectarian, historically black university. Founded in 1867, Howard University is one of only 4 8 U . S . p r i v a t e , Doctoral/Research-Extensive

universities, comprising 12 schools and colleges with 10,500 students enjoying academic pursuits in more than 120 areas of study leading to undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. The University continues to attract the nation's top students and produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D.s than any other university in the world.

Since 1998, the University has produced a Rhodes Scholar, a Truman Scholar, six Fulbright Scholars and nine Pickering Fellows.

Founder of UNN, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe is a notable alumnus of Howard University. So is current President of the Institution H. Patrick Swygert, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; the first AfricanAmerican governor L. Douglas Wilder; Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison; Savage Holdings LLC CEO and Howard Board of Trustees Chairman Frank Savage.

Others include Emmy Awardwinning actress Phylicia Rashad; opera singer Jessye Norman; actress, producer and director Debbie Allen; the first AfricanAmerican president of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr.; attorney, civil rights leader and Wall St.

executive Vernon Jordan; former mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young; and the first female mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin.

University of Nigeria is the first full-fledged university in Nigeria, founded in Nigeria's independence year 1960. The 53year old institution runs diverse programmes in arts and sciences featuring 15 faculties, 105 departments and seven directorates charged with special projects. It has a student body of 40, 000 in four campuses of Nsukka, Enugu, Ituku Ozalla and Aba. The main campus in Nsukka houses programmes in agriculture, basic and biological sciences, engineering, arts and social sciences while the Enugu campus houses professional courses in management, architecture, law and environmental sciences. The College of Medicine, with a teaching and referral hospital, is located at Ituku-Ozalla, on the outskirts of the Enugu state capital, while the School of Languages is located at Aba, in Abia State.

The collaboration with Howard University is in line with a programme by University Management under Okolo's leadership to pursue institutional advancement and revive the original vision of building a global centre of learning in Nsukka.

UNN has entered collaborations with no fewer than 40 institutions across four continents since 2009.

FG provides N30bn to support university councils T

he Federal Government has provided N30 billion to support university councils in settling the “Earned Allowances” of university workers.

Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, announced this at a meeting with Pro-Chancellors and Vice Chancellors of Public Universities.

ADVOCATE CARTOON

Anyim said the amount would be disbursed to the various university councils, which were in position to know, who was entitled to what and how much, after verification.

“From the foregoing, it is obvious that the Federal Government has demonstrated sufficient commitment to the implementation of the 2009 FG/ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) Agreement.

“By this, it is clear demonstration of commitment to revitalise the university system, government hereby, urges every staff of the nation's universities to return to work as all issues are being resolved.

“With particular reference to the contentious issue of “Earned Allowance'', every staff of the universities that is so entitled should verify his

claim with his university council and accord get paid.

“President Goodluck Jonathan is fully committed to bringing the students back to school and appreciates the patience of parents and students.

“Government is making every effort to revitalise the university system, '' Anyim said.

He said that the government acknowledged the contributions of the Non-Academic Staff Union ( N A S U ) a n d S e n i o r S t a ff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

The SGF also acknowledged other associations, such as National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and other stakeholders.

Earlier, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa'I, said that the government was ready to implement all the recommendations, particularly as it relates to revitalisation of the universities.

Rufa'I said that on the issue of funding and revitalisation, the

Needs Assessment Committee would address infrastructure decay in universities.

“I want to assure you that this will be done in the next few years.

Also, Prof. Kimse Okoro, the Chairman, Committee of ProChancellors of Federal Universities, commended the government for its efforts.

Okoro called on chancellors to use the funds judiciously and appealed to ASUU to show some understanding.

Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, the Chairman, Committee of ProChancellors of State Universities, said that the institutions would put more efforts to ensure that regulations were followed.

Also, Prof. Mohammed Hamise, Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, commended government for the N30 billion to university councils to defray the arrears of the peculiar allowances which had remained outstanding.

“The committee regards this as a positive step which, if replicated over the next two years, would solve the problem of the arrears,'' he said.

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We shared flood materials judiciously – Kogi Govt

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he Kogi State Flood Relief Management Committee has denied a media report that the State Government shared the sum of N4000 and N3000 to victims of last year's flood disaster in the State.

The Flood Management Committee, under the supervision of the State Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, noted that the N500million donation received from the Federal Government was aimed at providing succor to internally displaced victims while they were in camps and to assist in the repair of damaged infrastructures.

In a statement in Lokoja, the Committee noted that since the State Government also received

material items such as food stuff from public spirited organizations and individuals,

rather than using the donation to buy food stuff , food items received were used to cater for the victims while in camp, thus the donation received were majorly channeled into rebuilding damaged infrastructures.

The Flood Management Committee also frowned at the misrepresentation of facts by the Newspaper that over N1 billion was received as donation by the Kogi State Government, said for the purpose of the uninformed writer, N753,192,704.10 was the cash donation that the State received. The monies came in as N500 million and

N253,192,704.10 from Federal Government, private individuals and organizations respectively.

While it is important to state that it is not the function of the State Government to rebuild damaged houses for victims of the flood disaster as alleged in the report, most of the affected houses, the Flood Committee disclosed were illegally built on flood prone areas without government building plan approval.

The building of the flood housing estate in Lokoja by the Captain Idris Wada's administration which would be replicated in other flood council areas is a responsible government gesture to assist those living in flood prone areas.

Emergence of BGIS technology very timely in Bayelsa – Surv Ebifuro

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he Managing Director, Bayelsa State Geographic Information System (BGIS) Surveyor Odubo Ebifuro has revealed that creation of the state Geographic Information System is very timely.

Speaking to journalists recently in his new office where he appreciated Governor Dickson for the bold initiative of establishing this crucial agency, Ebifuro explained the benefit of establishing this great agency as a system designed to capture, store manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data in the state.

Surv. Ebifuro who highlighted the historical background of the new Agency, said the Geographical Information System (GIS) is aimed at solving the various bottlenecks associated with citing of infrastructural projects like the Tombia Dump site which was wrongly placed the current location where it can cause epidemic within the neighbourhood.

“The Agency is basically established to issue Certificate of Occupancy, C of O, and getting C of O was very cumbersome which prompted Governor Dickson to establish this agency to make it

easier for landlords to process C of O of their property so that if need be they can be mortgaged for loans that will enable further creation of wealth.

The MD further said, “Getting C of O will be very easy, payment can be made in banks, forms can be up loaded and process through your smart phone or laptop and in the shortest possible time you get your approved C of O.” “The BGIS also goes beyond issuing C of O, it manages the infrastructural

FG tasked on power sector reforms

By Christopher Okon, Uyo

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he Nigerian Labour Congress has called on the federal government to take seriously any issue bordering on power sector reforms in the country.

The national president of Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Abdulwahad Omar made the call while speaking with journalists during the opening ceremony of the 2013 RAIN SCHOOL in Uyo, saying the Union supports the power sector reforms but now it has become worrisome to citizen and the union because of the incessant and exorbitant review of electricity tariff by federal government which might soon become difficult for Nigerians to pay.

According to him, the tariff structure is designed to benefit the investors in the power sector without consideration for the consumers who are poor and do not enjoy regular and efficient service commensurate to the amount of money charged for power supply.

Comrade Omar told the Federal

was designed to train them and have the necessary knowledge and competencies that would empower them to protect and defend their members of work place.

The Chairman Nigerian Labour Congress Akwa Ibom State branch, Comrade Inyime Usoro said “It is significant to note that the government of Akwa Ibom State had graciously approved the building of the Abdulwahad Omar permanent block for government to consider the issue Rain Schools here in Uyo to cater of tariff and try to stop this for the training needs of the Union increase for the interest of Leaders across the nation. workers and poor working He commended the National families, if not it may lead to President for his kind gesture to industrial strike, while he make sure the union always condemned in strong term the maintains as one family while rising security challenge that has advising the participants to take c o n t i n u e t o t h r e a t e n t h e advantage on the Rain School for sovereignty, unity and the their own interest and assure them economy of the country. that there would be convivial He advised the participants to atmosphere of learning without understand the RAIN SCHOOL any panic.

development of Bayelsa state, it is institutional building mechanism, and it is emerging technology, very timely in Bayelsa state, like Lagos, Abuja, which has been in a existence for quite some time now.

“We will train staff and Bayelsans within and outside the country to acquired the needed knowledge, the agency will monitor infrastructural development, guide developers both in private and government institutions such as road constructions, citing industrial layouts, among others.

Ebifuro said “maintenance and construction of drainage system has been a great challenge, especially during the rainy season, if you open one drainage and leave others, you cause flooding in other parts, flood is a perpetual problem and with BGIS, we can solve it.”

While appreciating the government in setting up committee to clear drainages as a palliative measure, he promised to acquire data needed to submit to government for appropriate action once and for all in reducing flood mishaps, tasking landlords, and developers to be very mindful while building structures.

Ebifuro advised Bayelsans to support Governor Henry Seriake Dickson's Restoration Government, especially on his developmental blueprints

It is important to also state that none of the victims affected by the flood most of whom built illegally in the said flood prone areas were assured by Government of helping them to rebuild their houses while leaving their camps as claimed by the publication. For record purposes, the on-going housing estate nearing completion is costing the state government N504 million.

Similarly the sum of N139,555m was given as assistance to the nine flood affected Local Government Areas with the affected councils charged to decide on the modalities for the use of the money allocated to them in rebuilding damaged infrastructures most especially.

The amount being brandished as money given or was shared to the victims of the flood disaster was assistance given by stakeholders of the affected Local Government Areas and not the Kogi State Government as was alleged by the Newspaper report and also in some quarters.

The flood management committee described as laughable the allegation that the funds received by the State Government were not put into purposes intended. For sake of emphasis, the rehabilitation of schools affected by the flood gulped the sum of N81,376,646.55 Rehabilitation of flood affected roads N423 million; Agricultural recovery programme along the river plain in the flood affected Local Government Areas was carried out at the cost of N200 million. This are some of the interventions of Government among many others too numerous to mention.

As to the measures being put in place by the State Government towards this year's predicted flood, the State government has set up 15 camps, to be equipped with infrastructures and will be better managed this year.

Furthermore, the State Government has procured boats, medicines and other perishable relief materials in readiness for the predicted flood this year. The officials of SEMA and other stakeholders in the State have also been trained on better method of managing disasters and rescue operation. Similarly, there has been an increased level of sensitization campaign to encourage people leaving in flood prone areas to move up land. One therefore wonders why, the writer feels nothing is been done in the State ahead the predicted flood.

While the State government is working in consonant with the united Nation, NEMA and other agencies to ensure that people of the State do not suffer hardship as a result of the flood this year, the flood management committee appeals to journalists to always cross-check and verify their facts before going to the press.

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Enugu state Fire Service to be fortified – Govt

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n the heels of his unprecedented provision of brand new Fire engines to the Enugu State Fire Service, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has concluded plans to provide the Service with State of the Art equipment for rescue operations in the events of disaster or mishaps.

The State Commissioner for Rural Development, Dr. Eric Oluedo announced this at a Workshop o rg a n i z e d f o r g o v e r n m e n t ministries, departments and agencies as well as other establishments in the state to prepare them to fight cases of fire outbreak at any point in time as the city continues to expand.

The Commissioner said the government intended to procure fire-proof dresses for the officials of the State Fire Service to ensure that their operations and services meet with international standard.

According to Dr. Oluedo, the State Governor, has also approved recruitment of 40 able bodied' physically young men as firemen into the State Fire Service to inject new blood into the establishment to ensure that the firemen were able to face the challenges involved in fire fighting incidents.

Dr. Oluedo explained that the state fire service was highly rated in the country and used the occasion to call on wealthy indigenes, residents of the city and public spirited individuals to compliment government efforts in supporting the fire outfit since it can not do it alone.

He explained that his ministry now works in synergy with the State Ministry of Capital Development, adding that apart from ensuring that fire gadgets were installed in appropriate places, the two ministries cooperate in other welfarism to protect the people of the state.

The commissioner said that the Ministry of Rural Development organized the workshop for MDGs and other ministries in Enugu State to prepare them to fight cases of fire outbreak at any point in time, as the city was growing rapidly as a notable developed centre in the world.

Also in a contribution, the State

Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Onodugo Cosmas, represented by Mr. Obinna Omebi in an interview said that the State Fire Service has been repositioned by the State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime.

He noted that the problem of water and vehicles were now a thing of the past, pointing out that there is a dam that ensures storage of water

to meet challenges orchestrated by emergencies.

On the strength of staff, Mr. Omebi stated that 64 workers were recruited, and now the state government has given approval for the recruitment of additional 40 young firemen.

The workshop was attended by top government officials including the

Anambra/ Kogi Boundary Dispute:

Kogi people demand access to farm land/ fish ponds

By Our Reporter

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he people of Kogi State who share boundary with Anambra State where there have been lingering boundary dispute have once again disclosed that they would not subscribe only to the use of Legal Notice 126 of 1956 in the demarcation of disputed boundary and that they are more concern about access to their farmlands and fishponds and not the presence of oil as is been insinuated.

Kogi State Deputy Governor and Chairman State Boundary Commission, Yomi Awoniyi, reiterated the concern of his people while presenting a supplementary submission at a public hearing organized by the House of Representative Joint Committee.

The Joint Committee was set up to interface with parties involved in the alleged encroachment of some parts of Kogi State by Anambra State and to carry out investigation into activities of oil companies in the disputed area.

The Joint Committee meeting was sequel to a motion brought before the House and referred to the Committee's of Petroleum Resources (upstream) and that of

Special Duties. It would be recalled that on the 2nd of July 2013, when the Deputy Governor made his first presentation to the Joint Committee of the House of Representatives, he disclosed that what the people of the state are more particular about is access to their farm lands and fish ponds, regarding oil as least important to them.

He called for a quick resolution of the lingering crisis which he noted has affected the preoccupation of his people whose means of

POLITICS

livelihood is farming and fishing. communities in Kogi and Anambra While noting that oil was only states to use ethnographic references to resolve the areas of dispute in favor of Kogi State adding that the inability for the people to access their farmlands and fishing ponds is the state's concern and not oil as is been alleged.

The Deputy Governor called for the sustenance of the peace that has existed between Kogi and its Anambra neighbors since the peace talks began, saying that since the crisis began eleven of it indigenes have been killed while sixteen others are currently recuperating in the hospital from gunshots discovered somewhere in the injury. present day Bayelsa in 1956, He urged the National Boundary Awoniyi, disclosed that as far back Commission not to rely solely on as 1922, documentary evidence of the Legal Notices 126 of 1956 as it colonial times showed that the first is been clamored for by its crisis between the present Kogi A n a m b r a n e i g h b o r s i n and Anambra over the disputed determining the boundaries of the areas were forest reserves under two states but to also dwell on the Kabba province which were historical proofs, Northern being encroached upon to establish Nigerian map and that of the Anambra Forest reserves.

Northern protectorate, historical, The Deputy Governor also said g e o g r a p h i c a l a n d c u l t u r a l that as far back as 1994 there were perspectives as well as settlement a l r e a d y e f f o r t s b e t w e e n pattern of the people along side ethnograhic evidence that are gazetted and are in the nation's archives in defining the boundaries of the two states. equally denied the stepping down Awoniyi, described Kogi People as of its principal, whom they people who honor agreement, said described as a major contender for the State has fully mobilized and is the APC, ticket. Addressing ready for the demarcation exercise journalists on the issue of Ngige's that would lead to determining the endorsement as the candidate of Kogi / Anambra boundary.

APC, Thursday, the Director The Deputy Governor also said the General of Ezemo Campain State is interested in the activities Organization, Barrister Clems of Orient Petroleum Resources and Chigbata said that Ezeemo has would take up the offer to invest in not stepped down for any body, the Company, however assured contending that the news that that if the struggle is about oil, oil Ngige has gotten the ticket was would one day be discovered in the false.

State as evidence abound that the "The rumour that Ngige has State is blessed with oil. gotten the ticket is not true, We Also in his submission, Joe wish to tell our sympathizers Abraham, Kogi State Attorney to remain steadfast and have General and Commissioner for confidence that Ezeemo is still Justice, said the essence of Legal very much involved in the notice 126 of 1956 is being race,"Chigbata Stressed. misunderstood by the people of Chigbata said that as the APC is a Anambra State, saying the notice party that cherishes internal was basically aimed at bringing all democracy,they are very hopeful of the various boundaries into one that the Party's leadership could document but without varying not anoint any one. same.

Ngige set for APC ticket as Ezemmo kicks consensus arrangement Continued from page 1 4 de-emphasize ethnicity and religion in APC. “We must ensure that our presidential candidate, governors and local government chairmen are men of integrity and not based on where they are from. Let him who is competent rule this country irrespective of where the person comes from.

In a swift reaction to the said endorsement of Ngige, Ezemmo who was said to have withdrawn for Ngige debunked the claim as according to him, insisting that there should be primaries to pick the candidate and that if Ngige won they would accept the result Reacting to the emergence of Senator Ngige as the consensus candidate, one of the aspirants on the platform of the APC, Godwin Ezeemo, described it as the wishful thinking of Okorocha.

He said the Imo governor would

Permanent Secretary, Rural Development, Mr. Barth Ede, Senior Special Adviser to the State Governor on Rural Development, Mr. Henry Ugwuodo, among others.

There were demonstrations on different fire fighting methods by men of the fire outfit and participants at the workshop.

not be allowed to become an overlord in an election that concerns people of Anambra State.

His words: “Governor Rochas Okorocha is not from Anambra State and he would not be allowed to become an overlord in an exercise that is for the people of Anambra State.

“As far as I am concerned, the announcement of Senator Ngige as the consensus candidate of the APC in Anambra is complete falsehood. It is merely the wishful thinking of one man in the person of Rochas Okorocha,” he said.

Ezeemo said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not recognize consensus arrangements, insisting that there must be primaries for the aspirants running on the platform of the APC in Anambra State.

According to him, before now,

leaders of the party had all agreed that there must be a level playing field for all the aspirants and maintained that nothing short of primaries would be accepted by his teeming supporters.

He stated: “When did Rochas Okorocha become a native of Anambra State and somebody that would now dictate what happens to people of the state. We are going to resist any imposition in the coming election because that is not what the constitution says.”

“Leaders must not be chosen on the basis of their religion, but on what they can do. For so many years, we have celebrated failure and ignorance in Nigeria. APC is a child of circumstance. Nigerians are waiting anxiously for this party. We must not fail them,” he added.

In a similar vein, the camp of Chief Godwin Ezeemo in Awka,

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26

Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

The Advocate Gospel This Week

Oshiomhole tasks religious leaders on peace, unity

BUILD, PRAY, KEEP AND WAIT TEXT: Jude 20-21 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (NIV)

NARRATION Opposition can be paralysing. We can be like frightened animals, hiding and motionless while danger threatens.

But that was not the example of Jesus or the Apostles.

Jude saw how the church was in danger of being swept away from true faith by the false teachers, but also recognised the danger of spiritual paralysis as faithful believers might be tempted to hide away. Instead they needed to keep building up their faith.

Building faith is like building muscles: the more you use them, the stronger they become. Lift heavier weights and the body will grow stronger. In the same way, opposition is allowed so that we may trust Jesus more and grow stronger. Instead of sinking into self-pity or being frightened of taking any action, we should pray; and when we do not know how to pray, we look to the Holy Spirit to help us (Romans 8:26-27 ). God's love is our only totally secure place: believe it, keep there and trust Him. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Waiting should be one of the most active parts of our faith. When we are secure in God's love, the waiting time is quiet and peaceful. It gives us the opportunity to be active in resisting the temptation to run, hide, compromise or sin by pursuing self-defence mechanisms. It encourages our prayer as we expect the Holy Spirit to reveal what is true, to comfort, strengthen and empower. Waiting in faith grows our confidence that God will win the victory and meanwhile will use the time of testing to strengthen our faith. The final chapter of the story is in God's hands: it is His job to bring us safely to His eternal home. So whatever the dilemma you face, keep on facing it in the security of God's love, learning to trust even though it hurts, praying in the Spirit, and waiting for God's answer.

Prayer: Loving Lord. Thank You for Your unfailing love which is revealed most strongly during times of difficulty and opposition. I am sorry when I allow problems to overcome me and make me ineffective in Your kingdom. Please help me to trust You more when I face opposition of any kind, and help me to see that You allow difficulties in order to make me stronger through Your love.

Help me to look to the Holy Spirit so that I will pray in line with Your will, and to grow in faith as I wait for Your answers. In Jesus' Name.

Amen.

ADVOCATE

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overnor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has urged religious leaders and groups in the country to help build bridges of unity and peace to enhance

Pastor in court for duping congregation

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37-year-old pastor, Kolawole Olugbenga, on Friday appeared before an Ikorodu Magistrates' Court in Lagos, charged with defrauding a member of his congregation of N214,000.

Olugbenga, who lives at No. 19, Arowoshola St., Imota area of Ikorodu, is facing a charge of fraud.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Iyabo Johnson, told the court that the accused committed the offence sometime in 2011.

According to him, the pastor obtained the amount from a businesswoman, Mrs Mosunmola Fashola, on the pretext of praying over it.

She explained that the amount was to be her initial capital with which the complainant intended to use to start a small business.

The prosecutor said that after collecting the money, the pastor converted it to his personal use and had since not refunded it.

Johnson said that the offences committed contravened Sections 312, of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Section 312 provides a penalty of 15 years imprisonment for fraud.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Magistrate, Mr B.A. Sonuga, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100, 000, with one surety in like sum.

Sonuga adjourned the case to Sept. 5 for trial.

development.

Speaking to a delegation of Majlis Ansarullah Ahmadiyya Nigeria who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Friday, Oshiomhole said he believes that religion should be used as a tool for peace and progress.

According to the Governor, “I hope that your deliberation would help to contribute to the cause of peace and justice in Nigeria, particularly at this time, when it is an open secret that we have problems in different parts of the country involving people who are restless, people who are hungry and angry and there are all kinds of worrisome signals that are also coming on the eve of electioneering with the tendency of politicians to put themselves first before the nation, which is unfortunate”.

Oshiomhole noted “it is my hope that various religious groups will continue to help build bridges and help us to build the morals of our younger ones so that we have leaders who are God fearing.

“Nigeria may be said to be poor, but we have enough resources, if managed prudently with the fear of God, our condition need not be a hopeless one. That is what we are trying to do in Edo and we are committed to sustaining it”.

The Governor explained “we have seen that our people are ready to support any government that is committed to addressing their welfare and contrary to the general view that we are divided along religious and ethnic divide, the truth is that Nigeria is divided between the rich and the poor, those who have hope and those who have become hopeless, those who are educated and those who are wallowing in ignorance.

“I think your group like other religious groups should continue to sermonize on the side of moral re-armament on the part of leaders and followers. I am a believer that religion is a tool for progress and unity. It cannot be used for division.

When a Muslim commits an offence, treat that offender as an individual. We must separate criminals from religion because a true believer will not go to the church and kill innocent people, go to the mosque and kill innocent people or go to schools and kill children”, he added.

The Governor noted that people bring ethnicity to shield criminals, adding “don't be tired of preaching the word of God, of remanding us that the essence of our existence is to love one another and to use any privilege we have to deliver comfort to those who are in pain and provide hope to those who are hopeless”.

Earlier, the leader of delegation, Alhaji Mashhud Fashola said the leader's forum is in Benin to hold their convention.

Alhaji Fashiola said “Muslims are supposed to protect the freedom of every citizen.

Fundamentally, every citizen has equal right to decide where to belong and Islam must protect this freedom. Muslims are supposed to be at vanguard of justice and equality”.

He noted that “Islam means peace and if anybody does anything else, it is not Islam.”

THE

ADVOCATE

Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

27

AUGUST WOMEN RETURN:

Expanding HIV/AIDS Prevention and Access to Services

By John Ife Ajogwu

I

n the beginning God created man and on seeing that there was need for him to have a helper, God also created woman, so noted in the Holy Scripture.

Since creation, the complimentary role of woman in seeking solution to the evolving moral and societal challenges confronting humanity cannot be over emphasized. An adage has it that the world is not complete without a woman. This explains the unprecedented role that women play in the entire life of the family, community and indeed the society. These roles can be said to include sociocultural, moral, religious and political, hence women are precious in the eyes of the creator as well as to man.

In view of the above assertions, Christian women all over Nigeria, and more particularly those of the South Eastern states, saw the need to come together every year to identify community specific issues and sought viable ways of tackling them during the month of August. It is a forum for women in the Christian community especially the Catholic and Protestants faithful both home and abroad to interact and participate in decisions that could lift their various communities to higher levels.

Those women could embark on various projects like water and sanitation, church buildings, health centers renovations, scholarships, co-operative farming, among others. This yearly meeting can be said to have started around the late eighties and early nineties in one of the South Eastern states and are observed during the month of August. The choice of August was made due to the fact that primary and post primary schools are usually on long vacations; it is equally a period when rainfall ceases for a while. Although it is not in the Christian calendar, “August meeting or August return” as it is popularly known all over the area has become a yearly activity for women in various communities and towns.

Preparations for the meetings start from December till July even though the end of a particular year August meeting gives clue on how the nature and scope of the next meeting will be, as it could forms a yard stick for proper planning drawing inference from lesson learnt.

Moreover, some community specific issues including health matters as it concerns their people have been a key aspect of deliberations during the meetings. This could be informed by the increasing awareness on reproductive health issues such as maternal and infant mortality,

cancer, malaria and also HIV and AIDS. There is today urgent need to intensify the response to the global pandemic of HIV and AIDS. These are due to the fact that millions of people are currently living with the virus all over the world. Around half of all the infections occur in young people under 25 years of age.

Most of the young people infected with the virus do not even know their HIV status coupled with the fact that about 70,000 persons get infected with HIV on a yearly basis. In several findings, women and girls are more infected with HIV infection than men. The undulating prevalence of HIV in the many parts of the country, and findings have shown a preponderance of the HIV and AIDS in rural communities. The rapid spread of HIV and AIDS in rural communities means that alongside the continuing need for prevention, there is an escalating demand for care and support for those infected and a need to deal with the societal development impact. The result of the 2010 sentinel survey have further confirmed that the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Nigeria remains a public health problem of enormous magnitude that must be given priority attention. The epidemic has affected all parts of the country with varying degrees of severity.

During the August meeting, women should understand that their roles and responsibilities have increased due to HIV and AIDS epidemic particularly in the communities and the state in general. Women should involve themselves in ensuring that HIV and AIDS messages that gets to the grass roots focuses on prevention and increased access to services. Currently, there is no

cure for HIV and AIDS and yet the vaccines are still under trials. Therefore prevention must be central to the response.

Given the vocal and innovative approach by women in community development, well targeted l o w - c o s t prevention strategies have been effective in promoting b e h a v i o r change such as delayed onset of sexual activity, reduction in sexual partners, abstinence and safer sexual practices.

Women should at the meeting the plan how to increase efforts in ensuring that people living with HIV and AIDS have access to the benefits of scientific progress.

The care and support of orphans and vulnerable children should equally be paramount in their discussions. Creation of adequate awareness is important to have positive impact on the Person Living with HIV and those orphaned by HIV and AIDS. Over the years, both the Federal and State Government, as well as development partners have

established free, accessible and available treatment centers, in both urban and rural areas, as a demonstration of the government commitment to the course of the fight against the epidemic. But the necessary knowledge, attitudes and best practices for prevention of HIV new infections through care continuum are yet to attain the expected milestones.

The challenge remains that, one key group of people that should be strategically targeted are the vulnerable people, whose HIV/AIDS status are known to be higher than the general population. They include; Transport Workers, Sex Workers, Youths, People Living with HIV/AIDS, People Affected by HIV/AIDS and the Special Need Population. Other areas of concern are how to speed up aggressive interventions both in the urban and rural populations to reduce the spread of the virus and reduction of the impact among Persons Living with the Virus (PLWHA) including Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

It has become evident that to strategically mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS and strengthen service provisions, each organization should make manifest its goals in meeting the needs, aspirations, and expectations of the people. These could be possible through the coordinating structures in the state such as the State Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA) and the HIV and AIDS mainstreaming interventions of

Local Action Committee on AIDS (LACA) and Line Ministries. The Civil society Organizations, Faith Based Organizations, and Private sector Organizations should equally contribute meaningfully in the mult-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS. Moreover, the Development partners through the concept of expanded and comprehensive multi-sectoral response, which integrates adequate resources, organizational capacity and stakeholders commitment, should work towards an expanded scope and scale of HIV and AIDS program in the communities.

Therefore no effort should be considered less in mainstreaming HIV and AIDS in this year's August meeting in our different communities. This will avail the women the opportunity to have increased knowledge on reproductive health issues including HIV and AIDS and capacity for holistic response to the epidemic. It will proactively empower the women to understand which socio-cultural norms and behaviors are potential risk factors.

It is also our expectation that at the end of the August meeting, our women all over the various communities will exhibit a common stance and proffer a lasting strategy to reduce new infection, reduce stigma and discrimination, increase care and support through increased access to services.

John Ajogu wrote from Enugu

Angry health workers down tools

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ARK clouds have gathered over the fortunes of the health sector yet again as workers of all Federal tertiary health institutions nationwide, under Joint Health Sector Unions will embark on an indefinite strike.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the unions noted that the strike was called at the expiration of a 21day ultimatum issued to government on the August 1, to accede to the 10-point demand and agreements reached on May 10, 2012.

The statement was signed by National President and SecretaryGeneral, Medical & Health Workers' Union of Nigeria, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, and Mr. Marcus Omokhuale, respectively; National President, National Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Association Institution, Mr. Adeniji A. and the Ag. General Secretary, National Association of Nigeria

Nurses and Midwives, Mr. Yusuf Badmus W. It said members of the unions at the states and local governments health facilities are expected to join the strike as from 12 midnight by August 28.

The angry health workers said the strike became inevitable after Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, shunned a meeting called on Monday by the Labour Minister Emeka Wogu in an attempt to stave off the industrial action.

“Consequently upon the expiration of the ultimatum given, members of unions in JOHESU have been directed to proceed on an indefinite strike action with effect from 12 midnight of 21st August, 2013, at the Federal Tertiary Health Institutions, while our members at the states and local governments health facilities shall join as from 12 midnight of 28 August, 2013,” the statement said.

“While we sincerely apologise the inconveniences this action may cause Nigerian citizens, the Minister of Health Professor Christian Onyebuchi Chukwu should be held responsible,” the labour leaders said.

They justified the decision to ground the country's health sector, saying: “You will recall that on the 1st of August 2013, a press release containing 21 days ultimatum to government.

The ultimatum borders on ten point demand made to government and agreements reached on 10th May, 2012 on five items and resolutions made as follows: The meeting also resolved that other items which have been agreed upon required the action of the Federal Ministry of Health should be addressed on or before 29th May, 2012, to allow the Technical Working Group commence its sitting. The other items are: i. Implementation of Presidential Committee Report on Harmony in the Health Sector.

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

ADVOCATE

Dilkon hails CBN's withdrawal of govt funds from banks

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he Central Bank of Nigeria's withdrawal of 50 per cent of government funds from commercial banks, is good for the economy, says Leonard Dilkon, former Chairman, House Committee on Finance.

Dilkon in Jos on Friday said that the step was “very good'' as commercial banks would now begin to invest in wealth and job yielding ventures that would stimulate growth.

Commercial banks had kicked against the policy, insisting that such measure would “spell doom for the economy''.

The banks, in separate reactions, had argued that the step would raise interest rates and make lending very difficult.

But Dilkon, who is the Executive Chairman, Hamtul Press Ltd, a Jos-based large scale printing outfit, argued that the banks had not helped the economy much as they “merely collect monies from local, state and federal governments''.

“The banks collect monies from all tiers of government and give them out on loan to the same governments. Such monies are deducted at sources with heavy interests.

“The banks do not support any business initiative; when you are building your business, the banks will not be there to support, but once you have established, they come for deposits.

“Banks hardly support small scale industrialists and may not even care if they ever existed. The commercial banks hardly seek out ways to help the society,'' he claimed.

CRIME Gunmen kill several cops in a raid on Kaduna police station

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unmen suspected to be Islamist militant of Boko Haram earlier today raided a police station in Kaduna killing yet-to be determined number of police officers.

A police source who witnessed the attack told our correspondent that the gunmen stormed Kajuru Police Station, situated in Maraban Kajuru, Kajuru local government area along Kaduna-Kachia Road in the predominantly Christian southern parts of Kaduna State.

The area, according to the source witnessed heavy gun fire that overwhelmed the policemen on duty.

Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Olufemi Adenaike could not be reached as at press time he had gone to scene of the attack to assess damages and verify the number of officers killed or injured.

He suggested the withdrawal of “up to 100 of government monies from the commercial banks'', adding that the commercial banks were “exploiting depositors by collecting Commission On Turnover (COT),'' even when they had no input on such turn overs.

He stated the banks could do more in addressing the problem of violence in most parts of Nigeia, by stimulating the economy.

“Most rioters are only idle and engage in such vices because of indolence; if you approach a bank to seek for a loan to start up a business so as to positively engage Boko Haram members, for instance, they will tell you it is bad investment.

“But if it is government money that should enter their hands, they tell you it is good business. Banks won't support growth but will be quick to seek to reap from any economic growth,'' he further

alleged.

The law maker decried the quest for power by Nigerians, and challenged them to replace such attitude with a desire to establish cottage industries to engage the youths.

“Northern leaders in particularly, must compete over cottage industries like their counterparts in the south west are doing. That is the only way to take our youths off the streets and make them assets to the society,'' he said.

Dilkon also expressed dissatisfaction with imposition of taxes on investors by government without any form of support to such investors, warning that the nation might not move forward if investors were simply left on their own.

He said that Hamtul Press, set up via a partnership with some German investors, currently had close to 100 workers, and was targeting 3,000 jobs in the next two years.

Ecobank sets up department to finance SMEs

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n its bid to boost the Nigerian economy, Ecobank Nigeria Plc has concluded arrangement to set up a microfinance department to support small business owners in the country.

These groups of people constitute the unstructured market and are small entrepreneurs whose businesses are below the range of a million naira.

According to a statement from the bank, the Development Finance Department of the Bank would give out small loans to this category of entrepreneurs at special and flexible

rates and the use of identification methods.

Ecobank Head, Development Finance, Felix Oyakhamoh who stated this during a chat with the media in Lagos, said small business owners that cut across artisans, traders, small time farmers amongst others qualify for this special window. The beneficiaries do not necessarily need collaterals, but guarantors to collect the loans.

According to Oyakhamoh, the Bank has dedicated staff in select branches of the bank in the six geopolitical regions of the country to

attend to customers who fall within this loan bracket. In his words “We are dedicated to rejuvenation of the wealth creation process in Nigeria.

Our ultimate goal is to empower as well as provide financial services to the otherwise down trodden, being part of our financial inclusion drive.”

He encouraged small business owners to embrace the opportunity by walking into any Ecobank branch for detailed information on how to benefit from the special scheme. Oyakhamoh noted that the beneficiaries will also get all other

bank incentives like debit cards, mobile banking and all other ebanking services that go with being a customer of the Pan African Bank.

He reiterated that this gesture by the bank is in line with its vision to build a world class pan-African bank and contribute to the economic development and financial integration of Africa. “Ecobank is a full service bank that caters to the corporate, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the micro, and the growing middle class. The bank has something for everyone's needs; that is why we are the pan-African bank”

Excess crude cash shrinks to $5.1bn

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eserves in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) shrunk to $5.1 billion following the withdrawal of N115 billion from it to augment revenue shortfall for the July Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements to the federal, states and local governments.

Minister of State for Finance Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama told reporters after a belated FAAC meeting in Abuja yesterday that it became necessary to draw from the ECA because of a massive drop in revenue from N863.026 billion received in June 2013 to N497.984 billion in July.

Ngama attributed the fall in revenue to continuous theft of crude oil, leakages, pipeline vandalism at various terminals, HP compressor failure and repair work.

Another reason the minister gave is the downward review of some companies' estimates and a judgment debt by the Tax Appeal Tribunal on Education Tax, which reduced the Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) paid into the Federation Account for the month.

Also, mineral revenue for July was put at N361.935 billion, representing a shortage of N136.122 billion from the N465.057 billion budgeted for the month.

Civil servants in both federal and state employments may have to wait a little longer to get paid this month because, as the minister explained, the lateness in holding the July FAAC meeting was due to the National Council of Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) meeting, which took place earlier in the month in Minna, the Niger State capital.

For last month, total revenue distributable for the month, including Value Added Tax (VAT), is N715.845 billion.

From this, the net statutory revenue available for distribution after payment of collection costs to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), both of which received N4.1 billion and N2.3 billion respectively, was put at N477.049 billion, representing a N113.457 billion shortfall.

From this amount, the Federal Government got N227.516 billion, States, N145.39 billion while local governments went away with N88.96 billion.

The sum of N45.1 billion was shared to oil and gas producing states as derivation fund.

For the VAT distribution, the federal government got N10.6 billion; states, N35.6 billion; andlocal governments, N24.9 billion. Also distributed was the

N7.617 billion Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) indebtedness to the federation account as well as N35.549 billion under the SubsidyReinvestment Programme (SURE-P).

Reserves in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) shrunk to $5.1 billion following the withdrawal of N115 billion from it to augment revenue shortfall for the July Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements to the federal, states and local governments.

Minister of State for Finance Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama told reporters after a belated FAAC meeting in Abuja yesterday that it became necessary to draw from the ECA because of a massive drop in revenue from N863.026 billion received in June 2013 to N497.984 billion in July.

Ngama attributed the fall in revenue to continuous theft of crude oil, leakages, pipeline vandalism at various terminals, HP compressor failure and repair work.

Another reason the minister gave is the downward review of some companies' estimates and a judgment debt by the Tax Appeal Tribunal on Education Tax, which reduced the Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) paid into the Federation Account for the month.

Also, mineral revenue for July was put at N361.935 billion, representing a shortage of

N136.122 billion from the N465.057 billion budgeted for the month.

Civil servants in both federal and state employments may have to wait a little longer to get paid this month because, as the minister explained, the lateness in holding the July FAAC meeting was due to the National Council of Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) meeting, which took place earlier in the month in Minna, the Niger State capital.

For last month, total revenue distributable for the month, including Value Added Tax (VAT), is N715.845 billion.

From this, the net statutory revenue available for distribution after payment of collection costs to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), both of which received N4.1 billion and N2.3 billion respectively, was put at N477.049 billion, representing a N113.457 billion shortfall.

From this amount, the Federal Government got N227.516 billion, States, N145.39 billion while local governments went away with N88.96 billion.

The sum of N45.1 billion was shared to oil and gas producing states as derivation fund.

For the VAT distribution, the federal government got N10.6 billion; states, N35.6 billion; andlocal governments, N24.9 billion.

Also distributed was the N7.617 billion Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) indebtedness to the federation account as well as N35.549 billion under the Subsidy-Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P).

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our continental musical heavyweights will light up the Big Brother: The Chase stage this Sunday during the stunning 2-hour live finale, as Africa's votes decide who out of Beverley, Melvin, Elikem, Cleo and Dillish will take home the USD300 000 prize after 91 days of epic action.

Ice Prince, DJ Ganyane, Keko and R2bees are household names across the continent, and will add the perfect musical accompaniment to what promises to be a dramatic evening.

Ice Prince has been performing and rapping since he was in secondary school. Since then, the Nigerian superstar has charted and performed around the world, collaborating with some of the continent's hottest artists and selling out shows wherever he goes.

Influenced by Notorious B.I.G, Rakim, JayZ, Common, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Lauryn Hill, M.I and Jesse Jagz, he has won numerous awards such as the Headies Awards 2011 for Song of the Year and Best Rap Single, African Act of the Year at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2012, the Ovation Award: Africa Pop Songs 2012, Best Hip Hop Artist at the 2012 Channel O MVA's. He has performed at the HMV Apollo Afrobeats Festival, the O2 Arena in London, Botswana's Wharic Park, the Expo Hall in Lagos, hosted the 2012 Channel O MVAs, played at SXSW in Texas

gist in 2012 and was the audience host for Chris Brown's show in Nigeria in 2012.

South Africa's Ganyani Tshabalala DJ Ganyani has been in the music industry for over 20 years. His passion for music led him to teach himself DJ-ing techniques, aged 15. Today he is recognized for his mastering of harmonic mixing and killer beats! A household name amongst the youth in South Africa and the SADC region particularly in Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana, he is the DJ of choice for the South African Football Association. DJ Ganyani has tutored, mentored and inspired a host of local and international DJ's and his latest album, Ganyani House Grooves 5, achieved gold status within 3 months of its release.

Multi Award-winning Ugandan rap star Keko recently joined the Sony Music stable, alongside international superstars like Alicia Keys, P!nk, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Pitbull and Chris Brown. Her rise to fame began in 2010 with the release of “Fallen Heroes”, where she appeared alongside other established Ugandan artists like Don MC, SP, DAVIS and the Mwanba Children's Choir.

Keko began to turn heads with her lyrics, delivery style and sheer presence. Her 2012 chart-topping club hit entitled “Make You Dance” featuring Kenya's Madtraxx, became a smash hit on radio stations across Africa,

Ice-Prince, R2 Bees and Kekeo with the video on high rotation across leading music television channels.

Ghanaian group R2BEES believe in not only making songs for Ghanaians living at home or abroad, but believe that the world can relate to their message. Comprised of cousins Peadae and Mugeez, they started out as a group called Camp Yard in Tema, winning radio contests and competing at shows around Greater Accra. The group released its first single in August 2009 titled “Yawa Gal”, which was an instant hit. They followed their debut track up with “A Dey Mad”, which immediately topped charts across Ghana, while their third single “Kiss Your Hand” ft Wande Coal made massive inroads across the

X Factor: This is not the end for us DNA Twins

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continent and catapulted the group to international fame. At the 2013 Ghana Music Awards, the group took home wins in 6 of the 9 categories in which they were nominated, including Song of the Year and Artist of the Year.

Don't miss out on the Big Brother: The Chase Finale this Sunday at 19:00 CAT live on DStv Channel 197 & 198 and AfricaMagic Entertainment as these musical superstars rip up the stage, and the massive USD 300 000 prize is handed over to one of the remaining housemates. For information on how to vote, visit www.bigbrotherafrica.com. Voting is currently open, and lines close at 06:00 CAT on Sunday morning.

Tiwa Savage, fiancé TeeBillz set to wed

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avin records' songstress, Tiwa Savage and her fiance, TeeBillz have finally picked a date for their white wedding.The couple will be

having their traditional marriage on the 23rd of November, in Lagos, while their white wedding will hold early next year*(February) in Maldive Islands, an island nation in the Indian ocean.

Last weekend, Tiwa and TeeBillz attended Davido's younger sister's wedding as a couple, and next t h i n g , t h e songstress took to Twitter where she *Tiwa

*DNA Twins with Toolz NA Twins declared shortly after their eviction from the X Factor singing reality television show last Friday night that better days are ahead for them.

“This is not the end for us as we are going to use this platform to build on our musical dream. People should look out for us in the near future,” the duo boasted.

They said Glo had through X Factor given

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

them a platform which has projected them to national and international audience.

“We were disappointed that we have been evicted, but we believe everything happens for a purpose. we believe that God who brought us this far has a plan for ur. For us anything is possible now,” Clinton said.

“We want to tell Nigerians, Africans wherever you are, watch out for DNA. Don't be surprised to see us doing a song

with P-Square,” Blair added.

Blair and Clinton Robert turned 17 on June 16. The twins come from a polygamous family of 13 children and attended Madonna Model Secondary School, Owerri, Imo State. They had just finished writing their final exams when the X Factor audition started and they decided to participate at the Abuja auditions.

and TeeBillz

tweeted about their being together.

Matinee gathered that the couple's fans are not happy at the moment following their plans to travel to India for their white wedding.

Already, the wedding has become the talk of the town.Many are positing that it will be the best wedding in history. One however wonders whether it will beat the record set

by Tuface and Annie when they wedded in Dubai.

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Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

By Okey Anyichie

Nigerian pioneer football clubs (8) Sharks Football club of Port Harcourt

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ort-Harcourt, the present capital city of rivers state is one of the cities that produced star football teams and iconic footballers, right from the colonial days from the 40's to present.

Since competitive soccer championship started in 1945, when the present football association (FA) cu fiesta began, port-Harcourt was one of the early cities out side Lagos to lift the trophy and a runner up in port Harcourt in 1948, 1949 and 1950 lost out in the finals of the FA cup soccer championship to Lagos football clubs like railways and UAC. However in 1955, Port Harcourt became the FA cup champion after beating warri team by 5 -1. The city was to produce another championship stuff in 1958 after beating federal united football club of Lagos by 6-0, the team from the city again won the cup in 1963 after beating jos highlands by a lone goal. This is the score card of this city in FA cup soccer championship, until the civil war enveloped the eastern part of the country, then known as Biafra

Sharks Football club of Port Harcourt from 1967 to 1970.

After the civil war in 1970, the city became the capital of the present rivers state and no longer part of the then eastern region with the capital in Enugu. Port Harcourt like other states capital cities in

the country in the early years after the civil war in 1970 Port Harcourt started piloting the affairs of the then new state of rivers. Football once more resumed its pre-war situation and in 1972, a football club called Sharks football club

Mikel set for Chelsea bow

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uper Eagles midfielder, John Obi Mikel could be on his way to Turkey, to team up with former Chelsea club mate Didier Drogba at Galatasaray before the end of summer transfer window.

Galatasaray tabled a bid of 10m pounds (about N25om) for Mikel and it was gathered that Chelsea was considering it even as Brazilian international Willian is been expected to arrive Stamford Bridge.

Mikel has not featured for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho this season and this has fueled speculations that he will be allowed to leave the club to make room for incoming Willian who is also a midfielder.

Napoli of Italy are also interested in signing Mikel and the Super Eagles play-maker will likely choose where he will be guarantee of regular football.

Turkey is already home to top Nigeria footballers like Joseph Yobo, Emmanuel Emenike, Mike Eneramo and lately defender Godfrey Oboabona who was revealed during the week by Caykur Rizespor.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has quashed rumours Juan Mata could be departing Chelsea this summer as he admitted that Mikel and others could be leaving. But the Chelsea boss has again stated Mata will remain part of his plans. “He is a player we all like, he is a player we want to keep. We want more quality in the team, not less,' Mourinho said.

'Juan is not a player we want to

was formed in Port Harcourt. It was known that some of the players that featured for a football team called ndoro island football club owned by one soccer buff called Willie Eselemo, whose team was also known as Eselemo Babes. However the formation of this city football club in 1972 once again made the name of Port Harcourt within football circles to vibrate like the pre-war. Among the pioneer players of Sharks football club when it was formed in 197 were Josiah Dombraye, Ebiyon Dediare, Sydney Ugorji, Okonkwo Tetteh, Raymond Quacopome, Martin Owolo who

challenged other established football clubs in the country. It would be recalled that Rangers football club of Enugu played a very hard quarter- final match for FA cup in 1974 with Sharks F.C and won narrowly by a lone goal.

After this encounter with Rangers of Enugu, the club in Port Harcourt started waxing stronger and was eliminated in the semi final of FA cup in 1976, by Alyufsalam Rocks FC of Ilorin.

Later Sharks was finalists in 1979, 2003 and 2009 FA cup. Within this period of finalist in FA cup, the club had already produced star players like Adokye Amasiemeka, who was one of the winners of 1980 cup of nations soccer championship in Lagos, other star players of the club were Alhassane Dosso, Tosin Daniel, Taribo West, Finidi George, Richard Owobokiri, Murphy Akanji, among others.

The club impacted on the international scene in 2010 after winning the West African club championship, thus becoming the third Nigerian football club to win this West African sub regional clubs' soccer championship .

This is the score card of this Port Harcourt based club side although the present standard of the club especially in the Nigerian Premier League soccer championship is not high. With, its position in the league table after last week's 26th encounters across the country, Sharks stand at 12th position and is not likely to shoot its way to the top position at the end of the competition in this season. But the club since 1972 had done its best in the Nigerian soccer to justify as one of the top clubs in the country.

Miller quits international football

K

Mark Clattenburg and Mikel Obi

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enny Miller has called time on his Scotland career with immediate effect, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) has confirmed.

The 33-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps striker won the last of his 69 caps in the 3-2 defeat to England at Wembley last week and signed off with a goal - his 18th for his country.

The former Hibernian, Rangers, C e l t i c , Wo l v e r h a m p t o n Wanderers and Cardiff City player quits the national team with only

Kenny Dalglish, Denis Law, Hughie Gallacher, Lawrie Reilly and Ally McCoist ahead of him on the all-time list of Scotland goalscorers.

He left Rangers for Turkish club Bursaspor in January 2011, but his 22 goals up to that point of the season was still enough to make him the SPL top scorer.

He made his international debut in 2001 under Craig Brown and was a regular starter under future managers Berti Vogts, Walter Smith, Alex McLeish, George Burley, Craig Levein, before playing his final match under Gordon Strachan.

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31

We will silence Malawi - Keshi … Sainfeit Accuses Keshi of racism ... Says beating Eagles will be beautiful All they want is to distract us but their plan has failed and we on our part have vowed to do the talking on the pitch, with a convincing victory in Calabar.

“Calabar is a very secured place to play football, with nice environment and I was shocked that they could say that it was a security risk. The only thing we want to do now is to ensure that they are roundly beaten, so that they can learn to work harder and talk less”, added Keshi.

Similarly, Malawi's Flames coach Tom Saintfiet has sounded confident that his charges have got all what it takes to defeat the Super Eagles and progress for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Keshi

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fter series of failed attempts by Malawi to get FIFA to take the crucial World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Malawi out of Calabar, Coach Stephen Keshi has vowed to silence the Flames for good with a thumping win on September 7.

Nigeria top their World Cup qualification group F table and need to avoid defeat against the

The Flames are expected to play against the reigning African Champions on September 7 in Calabar and Saintfiet said he has Sainfeit got all the hopes that the Flames are capable of beating Nigeria on Flames to progress to the final U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar to their home soil. round, where they face a yet to be host the dicey match. known team in a two-legged Speaking during the week, Keshi, “My main focus is about the playoff for a berth in Brazil 2014. who said that he was aware of the Nigeria clash. I only care about Despite being aware that they mind games being played by the winning against Nigeria which I have one foot in the playoff, the Malawi Football Federation and think is going to be a beautiful African champions are not ready Coach Tom Saintfeit to unsettle thing for all the soccer lovers in to step their foot off the pedal the Eagles warned that the Flames Malawi. “Of course I don't when the Malawians come were going to face the full wrath of u n d e r e s t i m a t e N i g e r i a considering the fact that they have visiting because of the trouble the Eagles on September 7. they have made by going to FIFA “I think it is very clear what they got plenty of top players in major to protest over the suitability of the (Malawi) have been trying to do. leagues across the world. But let me also point out that looking at

US Open 2013: Qualifying wins for Baltacha, Evans and Ward

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ritish trio Elena Baltacha, Dan Evans and James Ward are just one match away from reaching the US Open after winning their second round qualifiers.

On a day where play in New York was delayed because of thunderstorms, Baltacha beat Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-3 6-0.

both 2010 and 2011, and will face world number 118 Michelle Larcher de Brito, who beat Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, in her final qualifier.

Evans, who is aiming to reach the main draw for the first time, will face Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, ranked 15 places below him at 184.

Ward, ranked 175th, had comfortably lost to his higherranked German opponent in both their previous meetings and was outplayed in the first set.

But Sam Murray lost out 6-4 7-5 to American Taylor But the Londoner, who had never won a match at Flushing Townsend.

Meadows prior to his first Baltacha, the world number qualifying round victory over 244, was on court for just 69 F r e n c h m a n J onathan minutes in a match interrupted Eysseric, turned things around for four hours because of the and must now beat sixth seed weather.

Somdev Devvarman of India The 30-year-old is bidding to to qualify for a Grand Slam for reach her third US Open, after the second time. reaching the second round in Evans beat Flavio Cipolla of Italy 7-5 1-6 6-3 while Ward defeated Germany's Mathias Bachinger 2-6 6-4 6-4.

the past experience, I am sure that Malawi have a chance to win,” said the coach.

The mind games between Coach Stephen Keshi and his Malawian counterpart, Tom Saintfeit ahead of the World Cup qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Flames of Malawi, took a new dimension when Saintfeit accused Keshi of racism.

Saintfiet argued that Keshi by calling him a ''White dude”, has made racial remarks, which the world soccer governing body frowns at. The Belgian-born coach claims to have instructed his lawyers to make a formal complaint to FIFA. “It is unacceptable that any person says these words it is clear racism.

It is 100% sure that my lawyers will lodge a complaint with Fifa,” Saintfiet told BBC Keshi who was reacting to Saintfiet's call for the September 7 match to be moved from Calabar, because of fear of terror attacks, was quoted as saying on Vox Africa Sports360: “If he wants to talk to Fifa, he should go back to Belgium. He is not an African person, he is a white dude, he should go back to Belgium.

“I have never used any words like these to any coach. He has no right, who is he? “All other countries play in Calabar. Calabar is one of the safest places in Nigeria… He is mad. I wish I could say it to his face.”

Okagbare better than Eagles – Kalu

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feel for Okagbare.

Never in our history did anyone singlehandedly win all the country's medals in a senior global competition.

Okagbare achieved that in Moscow, yet nobody is planning a Presidential reception for this great athlete.” Said Kalu Speaking further, the exgovernor explained that the Eagles got a good deal after their Nations Cup glory, a far cry from two World Championships medals by an individual.

“Without taking away anything from our beloved Eagles, I do not think they are World class.They never won an Olympic medal, never played in the Orji Uzor Kalu quarter-finals of the World Cup, nor in the Semis of the Confederations Cup. gold”, he added.

Okagbare is on higher ground, On the protest march, Kalu said, “I having won Olympic bronze in will march to the First Lady's 2008, and now silver and bronze. o ff i c e f i r s t . I k n o w t h i s She is more than an African government is gender sensitive. In champion and should be rewarded 1996, Tongan Super heavyweight for her feat even if she did not win boxer, Paea Wolfgramm, the man

who beat Duncan Dokiwari in the Atlanta'96 semis and loser to Vladmir Klichko in the final due to i n j u r y, c a u s e d K i n g Taufa'ahou to announce public holidays in his honour. Now, if a country of about 110,000 people could do that for a silver winner, why would our own country of 170 million sports lovers fail to honour this one-woman riot squad?”

Kalu reminded compatriots that the last time Nigeria went for a big competition in Moscow, nothing came out of it.

“Yes, the Moscow '80 Olympics ended in disaster. Our best was seventh position in the men's 4×100 relay.

The quartet of Hammeed Adio, Kayode Elegbede, Samson Oyeledun and Peter Okodogbe made the final. Remember, the Americans, the Brits and West Germans were absent.This year,they all came and Blessing helped us with two medals. Please give it to her”.

Vol. 1 No. 30, Monday, August 26 - Sunday, September 1, 2013

Chidi Odiah Back page comment

Not so fast, Femi Fani-Kayode

By Ben Gbulie, Author of Nigeria's Five Majors

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ust to put the record straight with regards to the coup d'état of th 15 January 1966, and consequently to disentangle truth from blatant falsehood, I wish to educate Mr Femi Fani-Kayode and all those of his ilk whose malevolent inclination to continue to cast the aborted putsch of the patriotic Nigerian Army officers of kindred spirit in the mould of an 'Igbo coup'.

I refer them to late Major Ademoyega's book, “Why We Struck” (Evans Brothers Nig. Publishers Limited, 1981).

Significantly Adewale Ademoyega was Yoruba, not Igbo. In the preface of the book, he related as follows, “this is the first authentic account of the revolution. It is written by the only surviving member of the innermost group that planned the revolution.”

In the same vein, my f o r m e r course-mate and equally Femi FaniKayode's kinsman, MajorGeneral Emmanuel O. Abisosoye, p.s.c. (rtd), has this to say in the book's FORWARD: “At last, the missing link in our contemporary history is being supplied by Adewale Ademoyega, a former Major in the Combatant Arm of the Nigerian Army. He is one of the historical trio who planned and executed the first Nigerian coup d'état of January 15, 1966.

“Hitherto, we had been treated to half-truths and sometimes imaginary stories by those who claimed to know the real motives behind the said coup. That Ademoyega is alive and able to place his account on record can only be attributed to the guiding hands of providence; else posterity would have lost for all time this vital link.

(A rebuttal) “If we agree with S.E. Finer, the author of Man on Horseback, that 'the regimes where the military are the decisive political factor form a distinct class which we may call the empirical autocracies and oligarchies', and since Ademoyega enlisted into the officer corps of the Nigerian Army as a revolutionary, with principles affixed in his mind, to correct the social ills of Nigeria, then one can only commend him for being faithful to those principles to the end…”

Then the question arises. Where lies the notion of an 'Igbo coup' in the foregoing citations credited to the

two highly-placed, well-meaning Yoruba military men if it is not in the warped mind and fixated consciousness of the anti-Igbo cabal to which Femi Fani-Kayode obviously belongs?

Even his assertion that LieutenantColonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the assassinated Military Governor of the West, had sacrificed his life for Major-General Ironsi, an Igbo, was also both fallacious and mischievous, as it is common knowledge that Fajuyi was associated by his killers with the January coup plotters. As to that noted Ademoyega, “However, Lieutenant-Colonel Fajuyi who commanded the Course (meaning our Battle Group Course held at Abeokuta in 1965) had sympathy for

our cause and was willing to contribute ideas towards the execution of our plan. It shall stand eternally to his credit that although the coup took place while he was away on leave, he rose for the revolution and stood firmly by its principles even until he breathed his last.” (Why We Struck, page 82) I strongly recommend this gripping book to Mr Femi Fani-Kayode who, it appears, is bent on engaging in soppy sentimentality as opposed to the hard facts. I need not remind him that ignorance is an insidious disease which, if he is not careful, may consume him entirely.

Finally, it is not as if one does not know that young Fani-Kayode's anti-Igbo clangers derive largely from his late father's painful experiences in the hands of the coup executors f r o m Abeokuta who had manhandled him not only f o r t h e massive rigging of the Western Regional elections but also for the boasting to the Yoruba electorate that whether or not his party, the NNDP, was voted for, it was bound to win at the polls. And win at the polls it did.

Thus giving rise to an outbreak of turmoil otherwise known as 'Operation Wetie' in the so-called Wild West.

Anyway, Igbos have too many friends and associates amongst the Yorubas to begin to bother their heads about Femi Fani-Kayode's misplaced prejudices. Moreover, I have no doubt at all in my mind that most Yorubas know better than to allow themselves to be hoodwinked into fighting Femi Fani-Kayode's senseless family war for him.

Ben Gbulie, 07033123512 Benedict.gbulie@yahoo.com

Chidi Odiah (born 17 December 1983) is a Nigerian professional football player who's last play was for CSKA Moscow in 2012. Odiah has previously played for Sheriff Tiraspol in the Moldovan National Division, Eagle Cement and Julius Berger F.C. Chidi Odiah has represented his country at international level. He has shown himself to be a skillful, attack minded fullback with a high work-rate.

Club career Eagle Cement and Julius Berger He began his career with Eagle Cement in the Nigeria Premier League, before moving to Julius Berger F.C. in 2000 for which he has played 10 games. In this year Julius Berger F.C. won the Nigeria Premier League.

Sheriff Tiraspol In late 2000 he moved to Sheriff Tiraspol. For the time spent in Tiraspol, Odiah appeared in 58 games adding five goals, becoming one of the major players in the team. Sheriff dominated Moldovan football and Chidi won many honors: Moldovan National Division 200001, 200102, 200203, 200304; Moldovan Cup 2000/01, 2001/02; Moldovan Super Cup 2003 and CIS Cup 2003. He also gained experience in the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase.

CSKA Moscow In CIS Cup, he drew the attention of scouts CSKA and in 2004, Odiah joined CSKA Moscow on a four-year contract.Chidi was given the number 15 shirt. He made his debut for CSKA in the Russian Premier League against Rostov.

After Odiah's release from CSKA Moscow, there was an internet rumour that Odiah had retired from football and was now driving taxi's in the USA, a claim that Odiah denied.International career and stats Chidi has represented his nation at various youth levels. He played for Nigeria U-17 national team to African U-17 Championship winner of the tournament. On the next event, Meridian Cup, he was team captain. His premier match in the senior team took place in September 2004, in a match against Zimbabwe. Chidi also twice won the bronze medal with Nigeria senior team at the African Cup of Nations 2006, 2010.

Odiah was chosen for the team of Nigeria to 2010 FIFA World Cup and in the first match against Argentina came into the starting lineup, as well in the match with South Korea, he made goal assist.

Chidi Odiah, a right wing-back with plenty of experience for Russian giants CSKA Moscow, Odiah joined his current club after making his name in Moldovan football.

He was recalled to the Nigerian squad last autumn, and travelled to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. However, the only game he started in Angola was the third-place play-off against Algeria.

Odiah was sent off in CSKA's Champions League exit to Inter in April after receiving two yellow cards.