TEP AUGUST 2013

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August 2013

Crisis in Benin Catholic Church Five Junction Palava Extra Judicial Killings in Edo Youths disrupt NDDC Commissioning Hooray!!! Anenih is 80 N300

Leadership

The bane of Nigeria’s development

Special Report on Federal Ministry of Works

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Quotes

Short & Sharp The Empowerment Post

We Just dey observe!

Nigeria Delta Edo 3

2015 2015 2016 August 2013

Commentary

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EDO PEOPLE DIVIDED BY POLITICIANS

By Chief Lawson A. Omokhodion

Anenih (left), Oshiomhole (right)

A

t a recent gathering of Lagos based Edo professionals the frightening gulf and unimaginable divisions existing between the peoples of the state were passionately discussed. Edo state rests on a tripod- Bini, Esan and Afemai but politicians have removed the third leg on which the state rests. It is therefore an unbalanced state we live in.

It is understandable when politics of ideas, ideologies and initiatives separate a state into compartments of belief systems which politics does, but when politicians who today have become the harbingers and perpetrators of hate come between peoples, the consequence is a divided people whose bonds of brotherhood, loyalty to one another and conviction of oneness becomes shaken to its roots. Political leaders in Edo have become champions of their localities. No longer is the Edo man regarded as an Edo elder. He is simply a Bini leader, an Esan leader or an Afemai leader. This artificial emasculation of the ability of certain leaders to command respect across the state has been achieved by parochial politicians whose stock in trade is ethnic divisions and claim to power over their people by base sentiments and appeals to local gods and deities followed by the distribution of petty largesse that run out as soon as it is disbursed.

But the people of Edo have a historical foundation of unity. That is why a name like UNU (mouth) has the same meaning across the length and breadth of the state. That is why Bini language is spoken and understood in one form or another across 4

the state. It is for that reason that His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Benin, Omo N'Edo Uku Akpolokpolor (May he reign forever) always remains the Chairman of the Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers. Undisputedly, the Ishans originated from Bini kingdom so did majority of Afemai people. But these days the state is fully carved out by politicians with negatively slanted references to a section that contributes a little over 50% of its population, another that contributes slightly over 30% of its population and one that contributes less than 20% of the population. If these references were for statistical reasons to enhance development no one would complain but it is always for a selfish purpose. These distinctions have totally ignored inter-marriages, consanguinity, and settlements that have freely occurred across the state over hundreds of years.

The Edo political leaders would do anything that gives them power and influence not minding the cost to the previously united people of the state. Rather than generate ideas and initiatives to develop the state across the board these simpleminded politicians prefer to exaggerate features that divide the people and so many tools have been used. Politicians in Edo forget that Edo state has been in existence for well over 50 years because it formed the nucleus of the old Midwestern region created in 1963 when it was ruled by the duo of Late Dennis Osadebey and Late Jereton Mariere. It was followed by the Governorship of Col. David Ejoor and immediately of Brigadier Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia and then that of the Late Col. Agbazika Innih. The neophytes who currently masquerade as Edo politicians forget that Late Professor Ambrose Alli ruled Edo state so did Chief Lucky Igbinedion and for a brief period, Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor. The leadership of each of these past Edo leaders promoted diversity and applied the qualities in our small differences and high similarities to develop the state.

The current political leadership of Edo state is pushing the state along the path of war. Although two parties exist in theory in the state today, in truth it is a one party state. In the Edo state house of assembly before the current administration came to power, it was a balanced composition that enhanced debates and progress. That was the assembly that former Governors Igbinedion and Osunbor worked with. In the days of Professor Alli the UPN and NPN legislators were equally balanced. Today, it is virtually a one party assembly but if it was that way prior to 2008 the current political leadership in the state would never have had the opportunity to come to power. Why throw away the ladder that the present government in Edo used to climb August 2013

Commentary

to power? Is it ingenuity or hindsight? Now it is the winner takes all approach to power in Edo governance.

Even local government elections cannot even admit of diversity. It must be a one party local government affair not minding what the people would want for themselves. It was in promotion of this belief that “all votes must be for one political party” that Governor Adams Alliu Oshiomhole of Edo state a while ago sacked all commissioners of Esan extraction in his cabinet. Most Esan civil servants whose next posting was to the permanent secretary grade were also suspected to have been sent out of office through bogus retirement programmes. In 1990 a book called Road Show was authored by Roger Simon and this paragraph was conspicuously highlighted “The devil appears before the candidate and tempts him, saying, 'I can grant you victory … But in return you must sell me your soul. You must betray all decent principles. You must pander, trivialise, and deceive. You must gain victory by exploiting bigotry, fear, envy and greed.

And you must conduct a campaign based on lies, sham, hype and distortion”. It was as if Roger was talking to Edo politicians.

I have never seen a government in Edo state that makes the division amongst his people a state policy. Every Edo citizen is happy to see the construction works going on in the various local government areas that make up the Capital of the state.

As an authentic Benin boy, it gladdens my heart to be able to drive feely on certain portions of Siluko road, to drive on Airport road to where you can go no more, to drive on Akpakpava road, to behold the works going on along upper mission and to hope that mission road will not just end up with the median divided. I particularly appreciate the government for this because having done my primary, secondary and higher school certificate education in Benin City I can only pray for the best to happen in Benin. Friends in Etsako and Afemai land are full of praises for the huge road works in Edo north, for the fly-overs in Auchi and for road constructions all over the area. The cost of these projects is never known and an informed value for money analysis would rigorously question the figures placed on them. But that is not my worry because it is always better to have something on ground.

In Edo Central where the Esan people live, it is like Governor Oshiomhole wants to use a fly-over bridge to connect Benin City with Auchi thus bypassing towns like Ekpoma, Irrua and Ewu. In other Esan towns like Uromi, Ubiaja and Igueben it is the 5

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same story of no development. I know a small road was tarred in Ewuatto where the Governor's late wife hailed from but that is the best he has done in Esan land. Even Amborse Alli University is of no material importance to the Governor because he would rather relocate it to his home town. The Edo government would prefer to bring down the private homes in these Esan towns and if he can, reduce the entire senatorial district to the status of a rural dusty village. But it will not happen. It is only fair for Edo government to realise that the constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens. The great civil rights leader, the late Martin Luther King said, amongst others, on August 28, 1963, “…I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…” Let no Edo Governor or politicians be deceived, sooner than later, the Bini man, the Esan man and the Afemai man will sit down at the table of brotherhood to reconstruct their common destiny.

I t i s q u i t e disconcerting to hear Edo politicians at the highest level resorting to personal insults and disparagement of age when political issues are discussed. Elders are abused and denigrated. These elders are called all kinds of names and even little children who were in pampers when these elders were retiring from their previous work life, join in the fray. I have heard and read the Edo Governor insulting the 80year old revered gentleman, Chief (Dr.) Tony Anenih, CFR and politicians say it is politics. Chief Anenih's first child daughter was in the HSC with me in Edo College and the Edo Governor is not older than 61 years of age. I have heard the Edo Governor castigate the Esama of Benin kingdom, Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, and paradoxically the coming to power of Governor Oshiomhole was only made possible by Governor Lucky Igbinedion, the first son of Chief Igbinedion. Even before Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia became a confidant of Governor Oshiomhole he was already being abused. Those abuses have now stopped because Dr. Ogbemudia is at the beck and call of the Governor 24/7. I have heard tales of the Governor dressing down the Igueben High Chief, Sir Tom Ikimi.

It is very clear to me that if late Chief Ini Umoru and late Chief M. C. K. Orbih were alive today Governor Oshiomhole would have insulted the hell out of them.

Fortunately Chief Orbih, for example, left this sinful world of politicians on December 15, 2004.

Young August 2013

Commentary

people pray to grow old. That is the reason young people go to the elderly for advice, for prayers and wise counsel. Even where the old people go wrong the wise young people meet with them in private to vent their anger. But it cannot be so for the Edo politicians. The louder the older man is denigrated the better they feel. I pray to God to grow old and strong and for me, I will never insult my elders. Every elderly man is a father to the young and every elderly woman is a mother to the young. Exodus 22:12 says “Honour your father and your mother so that your days may be long in the land which your lord your God gives you�. If the Edo political leaders want forgiveness they must go one after the other to beg for pardon. Contrition is important!

Because of the political posturing of the Edo government, tourists are running away from Edo state.

Apart from crime and criminality that now infect the state, in general and Benin City in particular, with devastating consequences for tourism, most Edo sons and daughters now carry their major events to places outside the state. Even the Edo Governor is not exempted because he took the wedding ceremonies of his two children to Abuja to celebrate. But if he had worked to promote peace and plenty in the state such events would have benefitted the state economy. Even the wedding ceremony of the son of Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, the Chief of Staff to the President was taken to Abuja for celebration depriving the Edo people and its economy of the spectacular benefit of such celebrations. The memorable celebration of August 4, 2013 in Abuja for Chief Tony Anenih's 80th birthday also did not take place in Benin City because the Edo Governor has not provided an open and safe playing field for Edo politicians.

A cabal has developed in Edo state that has the Governor in its clutches. Because of this cabal and the negative politics that has characterized the state, Edo economic specialists, industrialists, businessmen and businesswomen and local and international investors have turned their back on the state. As at today the economic directions and policies of the Edo government are not known, probably they do not exist.

Many progressive states have had to assemble their citizens annually in the form of an economic forum to 6

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talk about the economic future of their state. Five years into the life of the present Edo government no such forum can be assembled principally because the state is so divided such that the ready human resources of Edo Specialists resident both in the state and outside of it cannot be reached. The vast land resources of either side of Benin bye-pass remain fallow and uncharted.

The fertile lands of the Esan basin and the Ekpoma rice mills are moribund. The Agbede historically arable land and the agrarian promise of Afemai land is neglected. All these can only be harnessed in an open, transparent and all inclusive atmosphere. There is a lot to do and Edo citizens of knowledge and intellect must be ready to help rescue the state from the clutches of tribal and ignorant rulers.

The divisions in Edo state have even penetrated family unity. Fathers now are at war with sons and daughters are at war with mothers. Brothers fight their sisters and sisters castigate their brothers. The situation is so bad that it is saner to remain distant from these political jobbers who believe that their transient access to wealth made possible by political channels will last forever. Edo politicians in their hundreds visit spiritualists and once these diviners prescribe potions of disunity to the politicians they drink them with relish and hell is let loose. Both family and group relationships have suffered under the pressure of Edo politicians. People who should lead the way have created oasis of darkness everywhere you turn. The darkness is so deep that today the Federal presence in Edo state is nothing to write home about. Whatever comes to Edo state today is not more than 15% of the goodies that would have naturally come from Abuja if a conciliatory atmosphere existed.

This atmosphere can exist despite the differences between the government in power in Edo state and in Abuja. The same political party does not have to rule both Edo and Abuja for Federal presence to be felt.

Seeds of discord have been sown across the state and divisions have been promoted to the level of a religion.

As a people, Edo state has been left to mourn its disunity and to reap the rewards of poor leadership.

Chief Omokhodion is a Lagos based Business Executive.

August 2013

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Publisher’s note

THE TYPE OF LEADERS WE NEED

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now should possess the following qualities according to Jack Uldrich · Doing the thing / The Principle of Integrity · Mastering, then Situate/ The Principle of Action · Serving the Greater Good/ The Principle of Selflessness · Speaking your mind/ The Principle of Candor · Laying the Groundwork/ The Principle of Preparation · Shoring the Knowledge/ The Principle of Learning and Teaching · Choosing and reaching the People/ The Principle of Fairness · Focusing on the Big Picture/ The Principle of Vision · Supporting your People/ The Principle of caring

Short & Sharp Edo people divided by politicians The Edo political leaders would do anything that gives them power and influence not minding the cost to the previously united people of the state.

Dealers not Leaders Of all definitions of leadership, the one that has the most meaningful universal acceptance is political leadership.

Declines in party leadership In the context of our politics in Edo State, the manifestations of attitude, value and power relations tend to adumbrate the location of leadership.

Lingering crisis in Benin Catholic Church The raging crisis between members of Benin members of the Catholic faith and the Archbishop of Benin Diocese deepens.

Extra Judicial Killing: Police vs Civil Societies Cases of extra-judicial killings by the police are becoming worrisome as innocent citizens are falling victims of police bullets on a frequent basis.

CONTENTS

F

or the Capitalist class to survive in any given society with its economic and political systems in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit and benefit of the general people, there must be a good leader. Such arrow-head (leader) should be chosen through democratic election.

In view of the above statement, a good leader which every sane society deserves practically with regards to Edo and Delta must be a great motivator and ready to sacrifice his/her selfish interest; help his/her people to achieve great feats in all their undertakings.

Such leader's names will be emboldened in gold/marble. We at the Empowerment Post want to remind our leaders that leadership is the ability to bring people to achieve success in statehood like we envisage in Edo and Delta; we need leaders that can put the state in a sustainable development process.

To this end, the type of leader we want

August 2013

Editorial

The Empowerment Post

Higher Education?

LEAD WELL, DEAL LESS

D

evelopmental albatross in Nigeria is intertwined with distorted leadership in every strata of governance.

The country has been encumbered with leadership whose major focus is in the treasury. Not for application to issues of development but rather a meal for scavengers.

Nothing appeals to the ruling class as much as financial dividends. They are neither trained nor even prepared for leadership. Leadership is far from them, however a cauldron is developing and we are sounding a note of warning about its repercussions.

Inside this edition are protest against NDDC, the lingering crisis in Benin Catholic Church, the Five Junction Palava and lots of other regular.

We also offer a feed-back channel for you our beloved readers to send us your views, comments and opinions on any issues concerning any of our editions to our e-mail; theempowerment@yahoo.com or direct to any of our offices.

Your satisfaction is our reward.

Emeka Ogbeide JP

The Empowerment Post ... the right to know

Publisher Osakue Agbontaen Executive Consultant Emeka Ogbeide JP Executive Contributors Chief Lawson Omokhodion Patrick Oronsaye Administration Sylvester Uyigue Gloria Ogbeide Marketing Kingsley Ogbeide-Ihama Karen Ese Omogiate Editor Kenneth Okunbor Correspondent Omafume Amurun (Delta) Graphics Odiete Lawrence Kunle Bagbe Legal Counsel Peter Osemwenkha Esq Published by: Peoples Broadcasting Limited Benin Office: 15 Sapele Road, opposite High Court Lagos Office: 194 Ikorodu Road, Palmgrove, Lagos Phone: 0802 312 4291, 0803 305 0478

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LEADERSHIP STYLES

compiled by IWELUNMOR PATRICK

Leadership has been known to be an indispensible tool for development, especially in instances where strategic directions must be charted for the common good. In states, nations and even organizations, leadership translates into many dynamic systems that culminate to enhance progress and the attainment of desired heights. It has been discovered that a combination of the right models of leadership can be one of the most strategic decisions any entity can ever make. Heard of failed states, economies or organizations? Check their leadership styles and you won't be shocked that the problem began from the failure of leadership. Here are some leadership styles, their advantages and otherwise.

General Sani Abacha Autocratic Leadership Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where a leader exerts high levels of power over his or her employees or team members. People within the team are given few opportunities for making suggestions, even if these would be in the team's or organization's interest.

Most people tend to resent being treated like this.

Because of this, autocratic leadership usually leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. Also, the 11

team's output does not benefit from the creativity and experience of all team members, so many of the benefits of teamwork are lost.

For some routine and unskilled jobs, however, this style can remain effective where the advantages of control outweigh the disadvantages.

Bureaucratic Leadership Bureaucratic leaders "work by the book�, ensuring that their staff follows procedures exactly. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances or at heights) or where large sums of money are involved (such as cash-handling).

In other situations, the inflexibility and high levels of control exerted can demoralize staff, and can diminish the organizations ability to react to changing external circumstances.

Charismatic Leadership A charismatic leadership style can appear similar to a transformational leadership style, in that the leader injects huge doses of enthusiasm into his or her team, and is very energetic in driving others forward.

However, a charismatic leader can tend to believe more in him or herself than in their team. This can create a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader were to leave: In the eyes of their followers, success is tied up with the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and needs long-term commitment from the leader.

Democratic Leadership or Participative Leadership Although a democratic leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving employees or team members in what is going on, but it also helps to develop people's skills. Employees and team members feel in control of their own destiny, and so are motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward.

As participation takes time, this style can lead to things happening more slowly than an autocratic approach, but often the end result is better. It can be most suitable where team working is essential, and quality is more August 2013

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Mallam Umaru Musa Yar Adua

important than speed to market or productivity.

Laissez-Faire Leadership This French phrase means "let them do" and is used to describe a leader who leaves his or her colleagues to get on with their work. It can be effective if the leader monitors what is being achieved and communicates this back to his or her team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership works for teams in which the individuals are very experienced and skilled selfstarters. Unfortunately, it can also refer to situations where managers are not exerting sufficient control.

People-Oriented Leadership or RelationsOriented Leadership This style of leadership is the opposite of task-oriented leadership: the leader is totally focused on organizing, supporting and developing the people in the leader's team. A participative style, it tends to lead to good teamwork and creative collaboration. However, taken to extremes, it can lead to failure to achieve the team's goals. In practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of leadership.

Servant Leadership This term, coined by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone, at any level within an organization, leads simply by virtue of meeting the needs of his or her team, he or she is described as a "servant leader". In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership, as the whole team tends to be involved in decision-making.

Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest it 12

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is an important way ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, in which servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and ideals. Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people practicing servant leadership will often find themselves left behind by leaders using other leadership styles.

Task-Oriented Leadership A highly task-oriented leader focuses only on getting the job done, and can be quite autocratic.

He or she will actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, plan, organize and monitor. However, as task-oriented leaders spare little thought for the well-being of their teams, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of autocratic leadership, with difficulties in motivating and retaining staff. Task-oriented leaders can benefit from an understanding of the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid, which can help them identify specific areas for development that will help them involve people more.

Transactional Leadership This style of leadership starts with the premise that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they take a job on: the transaction is (usually) that the organization pays the team members, in return for their effort and compliance. As such, the leader has the right to punish team members if their work doesn't meet the pre-determined standard.

Team members can do little to improve their job satisfaction under transactional leadership. The leader could give team members some control of their income/reward by using incentives that encourage even higher standards or greater productivity.

Alternatively a transactional leader could practice "management by exception", whereby, rather than rewarding better work, he or she would take corrective action if the required standards were not met.

Transactional leadership is really just a way of managing rather a true leadership style, as the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for knowledge-based or creative work, but remains a common style in many organizations.

Transformational Leadership A person with this leadership style is a true leader who inspires his or her team with a shared vision of the future. Transformational leaders are highly visible, and spend a lot of time communicating. They do not necessarily lead from the front, as they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their teams. While their enthusiasm is often infectious, they can need to be supported by "detail people".

In many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add value.

August 2013

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The Empowerment Post

Dealers not Leaders

by Emeka Ogbeide

O

f all definitions of leadership, the one that has the most meaningful universal acceptance is political leadership. It covers all classes of people, every profession and indeed religion's beliefs.

But it is in the application of leadership concepts that the frailty of man manifests so glaringly.

In spite of this, it is apt to localize leadership and situate it for clarity. For instance, in advanced polities the leader abides by the rules, obeys the law and is not allowed to fall short of expectations. His counterpart in Africa on the other hand is a bully, champion of impunity and evidently above the law. He is the Lord not a servant. While the president of America cannot authorize the use of a simple aircraft from the presidential fleet for private use, in Africa such fleet is seen as personal property by the leaders.

The British Prime Minister travels aboard British Airways in spite of his country's reputation as one of the wealthiest in the world, but it's not known if there is any African president without a Jet set aside only for his personal use, the level of poverty notwithstanding.

The president of Uruguay rides in his 1967 Volkswagen Beetle car and has donated his entire salary towards alleviating the sufferings of the poverty stricken segment of his country. Can he find an equivalent in Africa?

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What of monopoly of state power? What makes it extremely difficult for Africans to relinquish power when their time is due remains an unsolved mystery could it be poverty or other yet to be disclosed tendencies? But most plausible is the access to the treasury at every strata of government.

Suddenly, the ascension to power provides avenues for reckless assault on the tills for personal gains. Rewards of such unbridled sleaze create very visible contradiction to the apparent poverty of the places they lead. In a way, embezzlement has become a sine qua non for leadership.

In Nigeria, since 1999 when this third republic was launched leadership has become a toga for sleaze, embezzlement, stealing and in fact, reinforced models of corruption. Several efforts to put such activities in check have either become highly restricted, even when prosecuted offence is never with commensurate penalty or most annoyingly perpetually inconclusive.

In fact, affronts on corruption has become moribund in Nigeria.

A leader is not what you are likely to find in Abuja or most state capitals. What you find there are dealers in power and influence who hop around in siren led convoys of exotic bullet proof cars. They visit

August 2013

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villages in chartered helicopters to the bewilderment ascertain their correctness. And when he is convinced of the hapless villagers whom they have denied access they are not, he must display the courage to effect to portable water and other essential amenities as changes and refocus in the right direction irrespective outlined in the Millennium of inherent resistance to Development Goals change. To deal with such (MDGS) Leaders are institutional resistance expected to face facts and requires absolute attention reinforce responsibilities, from the leader. cultivate collaboration and H o n e s t y , inspire initiative and truthfulness, sincerity and innovation. While these all other components of attributes prevail character must be elsewhere, in Nigeria identifiable traits of a leaders dwell on worthy leader. Do we have intimidation, acquisition leaders with character? and exhibition of raw You can determine be that power. Even their minor simply putting their GENERAL YAKUBU GOWON subordinates and aides act lifestyle, utterances and in similar way in their temperament to this simple absence. character test. Leaders are Leaders have a people who do the right vision and are obsessed with thing and are measured in acts to communicate that that regard but let's carry vision, but in our out a brief check; environment any suggestion YAKUBU GOWON 1967 to be on such path usually – 1975. A young Army attracts sanctions, Officer aged 32 years with sometimes in very severe leadership thrust on him by proportions. Leaders here confusion from politicians are noted for pursuing self of the First Republic. He interest as their fundamental prosecuted the civil war in a activity with zero patience boom era for the country. for any diversion.

Had a cabinet of GENERAL IBRAHIM BABANGIDA While leaders are technocrats who on expected to focus on the hindsight appears to be the right people to drive most pragmatic of modern processes and systems for era in Nigeria. But Known efficiency and productivity, for publicly confessing that our leaders are parochial in his leadership didn't know thinking and outlook, how best to spend the huge filling every available space revenues accruing to with relatives and cronies, Nigeria. Short form for more as a favour rather than planlessness M U R I T A L A effect. This is disastrous, as MOHAMMED 1975 – nothing is more 1976. Another young demoralizing than a leader military officer 38 years who cannot articulate what who replaced Gowon in a his followers are doing or coup embarked on whirl chooses to be unconcerned.

GENERAL ABDULSALAM ABUBAKAR wind style leadership that Another factor in effective decimated everything he leadership is courage. touched. Most visible is the damaging impact of his According to Winston Churchill, “Courage is rightly regime on the Civil Service. His objective was to esteemed the first of human qualities, because it is the create a balance between the North and South who quality which guarantees all others” Leaders are dominated the service at the time Mediocrity was the therefore visionaries with a poorly developed sense of result of the massive spree of retirements he carried out fear and no concept of the odds against them. A Leader OLUSEGUN OBASANJO 1976 -1979. Another must possess the ability to be critical of decisions to 14

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military officer who rushed through what was left of leadership style that elevated official negotiation for his predecessor's agenda and began the policy to move sleaze to an art. To get your way, you had to “Settle” the federal capital to its present location That was the unwritten modus operandi According to SHEHU SHAGARI him, “everyman has 1979 -1983. Reputed a price” He became for simplicity but h i g h l y lacked the qualities untrustworthy with to propel the nation political statements to new heights. but never shied away Became docile as his from confronting more powerful status quo. He was a subordinates seized disciple of John F. the reins of power Kennedy's school of from him. In due thought “that course, a new conformity is the dimension of corrupt jailer of freedom and practices was the enemy of unleashed on the growth”. However country. Leadership the change he became synonymous introduced were with opulence and c l e a r l y highly offensive circumvented by the display of stolen settlement toga of his wealth. He totally regime. For instance, lost control of he devalued the government and Naira in a manner leadership fizzled that produced new out of his weak wealth for a hands. Unfolding particular set of events in latter years people. This, in spite confirm his of the debilitating innocence in any impact on the know corrupt country's economy. practices but he was Till date the Naira the President and has remained in the leader. intensive care unit.

MOHAMMADU Did he achieve BUHARI 1983 anything? He GENERAL MURITALA MOHAMMED 1985. Stern looking probably did. But put Military Officer, former on a scale, his other ventures Military Governor and former vitiate any thoughts of Petroleum Minister. He came to accomplishment especially office with a reputation of June 12, 1993. He lost impeccable credentials. But by completely the moral plank to his actions, he showed a lack of remain in office and negotiated understanding of the dynamics a surrender of power instead of of power, had no respect for becoming victim of a conp personal liberties and saw the ERNEST SHONEKAN 1993. country like one big garrison.

Interim Head of state lacking in Introduced retroactive laws targeted at particular authority, power, followers and protection. Didn't stay individuals, created so much fear in the polity. In the long enough to unfold any leadership style beyond his end, his abrasive style could not be sustained as leaders chairmanship of UAC Plc. He read his own abdication do not force people to follow; they invite people on a of office on national network of both radio and television journey SANI ABACHA 1993 – 1998. Mystery man of the IBRAHIM BABANGIDA 1985 -1993. A wheeler army; arrowhead of coups shoved Shonekan aside; dealer Military Officer riding into power as a relief to took the reins of power. His first acts were to wipe out the punitive regime of Buhari. Babangida introduced a 15

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GENERAL MOHAMMADU BUHARI

DR. GOODLUCK JONATHAN opposition, became paranoid and led by surrogates.

Rarely seen in public but acted without remorse. He turned Nigeria into a pariah state but handled the resources of the country like personal items. His loot ran into billions of dollars. His leadership conformed to no known model, he was everything. His demise was widely celebrated all over the world as Nigeria regained its freedom.

ABDULSALAM ABUBAKAR 1998 – 1999 He returned the machinery of government to its functional level and diffused authority by allowing organs of governance to operate unhindered. He restored hope and confidence in the Nigerian State. He midwifed the birth of the Third Republic, despite several inadequacies, this Army General is a historical icon in the annals of Nigeria.

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO- 1999-2007. His return to power has a chequered history But his handling of election matters, his systematic but failed attempt to change the constitution for his own benefit and an overbearing administrative style remain sore points in his rather rare trophy board of accomplishments. He never hid his hatred for opposition both within and outside his party, a very robust anti-democratic 16

The Empowerment Post

ALHAJI SHEHU SHAGARI

CHIEF ERNEST SHONEKAN attribute. Was Obasanjo a democrat? Does he believe in democracy? Does he posses the temperament for democracy. Did he practice it while in office?

UMARU MUSA YARA'DUA-2007-2010-Strong believer in the rule of law, had an all embracing leadership style that had its foundations on people.

Nigeria's first graduate President. Did not live long to stamp his style on the vista. He fell to a terminal condition after a protracted controversy.

GOODLUCK JONATHAN 2010 To date, clearly underrated, but firm apostle of the rule of law and due process. In spite of this, how do you define the Jonathan style? Is he a weak leader? Does he assert himself on issues? Has he lost grips on power? He has however, shown a deep understanding of the power matrix in Nigeria, but has remained adept at quick but firm decisions. Is that an advantage?

Leadership flows from the top, creating ripples and effects as it trickles down the line. Other tiers of government usually align with the processes developed and practiced at the top. Nigeria continues to stagnate in various areas as a result of having dealers in authority.

August 2013

The Empowerment Post

Cover

DECLINE IN PARTY LEADERSHIP

By John Dithaiye

Chief Samuel Ogbemudia

P

olitical party leadership is the cornerstone of party organization. However, the subject of leadership has continued to defy common definition by scholars. In practical terms, it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that has concrete outcomes. For our purpose, one would prefer the definition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary which defined a leader 'as a person who leads or commands a group, organization or country. To lead means to cause a person to go with one by drawing him along, show the way to a destination by preceding or accompanying him'.

This means that the essential attributes of leadership includes goal setting and motivation. In essence, party leadership means a body of people who lead and direct activities of a group towards shared goals. It denotes the ability to lead, direct and organize a group towards a destination. To truly understand, explain and predict patterns of political leadership, we need to analyze beliefs, values, character, 17

power relations, attitude and actions of leaders and followers.

In the context of our politics in Edo State, the manifestations of attitude, value and power relations tend to adumbrate the location of leadership. Everyone makes claim to leadership and creates a web of leadership diffusion which at a glance seem quite intense and labyrinthine. There is an urgent need to resolve the conundrum and ambiguity in the formal and informal leadership structure of the Nigerian political parties. At the national level for instance, who is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? The simple question is neither answered with clarity by the party's constitution nor by the convention and observances of the party. This is not the case in advanced democracies where leaders are groomed overtime within the party.

For instance, in the United States, as soon as any party member successfully passes through the internal mechanics of the party

primaries to win the Presidential election, he becomes the party leader u n q u e s t i o n a b l y.

President Obama is not only the President of the United States of America; he is also the leader of the Democratic Party. Mention is hardly made of the Chairman of the party, Mr. Debbie Wasseman Schultz. The party leader becomes the repository of the party vision, principles and ideology as well as the image. The leaders of the Congress work with the President to protect and defend established party principles, values and ideological positions with latitude of independence on other topical national issues. The Parliamentary system in Britain is organized in much the same manner. The Party Leader is the Prime Minister.

Here in Nigeria, President Obasanjo was declared Leader of the PDP after his first tenure in office by overzealous and overfed sycophants in the corridors of power. Today, President Jonathan is still struggling with effective assertion of leadership over the party. When it suits the godfathers and political influential hawks, the President will be proclaimed and hailed as the Leader of the party and at other times, the National Chairman would find reasons to assert his position by impressing it on all that he is the first citizen of the party, insisting that all elected official on the platform of the party are subordinate to the party leadership. After all, the party produced the President, Governors and members of the legislature. The logic is not farfetched; a child cannot be senior to his parents.

August 2013

Cover

The Empowerment Post

At the are in charge of State level, the elected leaders e n o r m o u s in government resources, the positions giving prevalence of directives while f i n a n c i a l the official party recklessness and bosses across t h e v a s t board concur as constitutional mark of loyalty. powers of the The unelected governors make party godfathers it easy for state and patrons, not governor to only influence assume party the nomination leadership of candidates w i t h o u t through corrupt questions. In Edo consensual State, the arrangements; Chairman and they also Members of the nominate people State Executive into appointive of Action positions at all Congress of levels; from Nigeria (Now l o c a l APC), the ruling government party in the state c o u n c i l is completely supervisor to General Ibrahim Babangida, (left), General Muhammadu Buhari, (right) paralyzed and ministerial hardly come up positions. In the for mentioning in p r e this ought to define their public discuss. They marginally representation in government. amalgamation CPC and the ACN, participate in membership The ideological emptiness the unelected party bosses were recruitment and reception of new of party politics and the diffusion of even far more powerful and members which falls within their power have thrown up all manner of overbearing. It is seriously purview primarily. Yet, for lust of leaders in the polity. Thus, beyond dysfunctional for party leaders to filthy lucre, they dare not seek to the State governor, a motley crowd control parliament from distant assert their rights over their of unelected party patrons have spheres outside the confines of constitutional duties. The national taken over the party system in Edo parliament. Parliament draws its leadership of opposition parties at State and in many parts of the strength and dynamism from the center; ACN, CPC, ANPP (Now country. Some of these unelected negotiations, compromises and APC) and APGA are not better off. party leaders could be rightly horse trading among multifarious For instance, the outgoing national described as godfathers who interests groups within.

Chairmen of the ACN and the CPC bankroll the activities of the party, To the ordinary man in Edo are certainly not leaders of their wield overwhelming influence over State, the most conspicuous public parties. What stands out eminently choice of candidates and ensures face of a political party is the party is the fact that Nigeria political that their candidates are delivered at patron in his neighborhood. He is parties are not organized around the polls. Some are mere party the most important official that the well articulated leadership patterns, patrons who simply cajole and voter can relate with and should ideas and systems that galvanizes coerce their way to positions of p l a y a l e a d i n g r o l e i n followership and loyalty.

Not influence in the party. The party communicating the party image, surpisingly, elected leaders in patron may not be so popular but he philosophy and policy. The public executive and legislative positions could deliver electoral results in his perception of a political party is in government were never groomed area of influence. They influence informed by the attitude, values and and oriented to internalize the election of party leaders at the character exhibited by the party principles, values and ideology of operational executive level and patron in his neighborhood. The fact their parties because existed. Yet, breadth down their shoulders. They remains that the leader- follower

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August 2013

The Empowerment Post

Cover

relationship in the neighborhood and beyond, are defined by a circular process of motivation and power exchange that reinforces each other. The political leader functions within social and organizational context and expected to exhibit positive interpretative judgments from here. He is therefore; first, a social leader or community leader as the society provides the platform for leaderfollower interaction which develops

conclusion that the leadership system was irredeemably corrupt.

A few days ago, a notorious militant, and one time street urchin, turned into transport unionist courtesy of government settlement policy, opened an ultra-modern Hotel in Benin City with the State Chief Executive and his Deputy in attendance. While this writer was busy negotiating through the maze of traffic, some drivers shouted at him, 'Na our money be that

President Olusegun Obasanjo into political leadership thus validating social and political leadership overlap. From this stand point, it is understandable, if there is a state of animated suspicion and disdain of the party leader in Edo State. The reason for the poor public perception of party leadership in Edo State is not unconnected with apparent lack of development and the prevalence of poverty in the society while the leader is seen by all to be living in luxury far above his means. The sudden wealth, luxury and ostentation of the leader in the neighborhood unsettle and agitate the people who have come to the 19

'obviously mistaken him for a government official. Events like this reinforces like of confidence in the party system and government.

When the elected leader exercise overwhelming domination over subordinate followers he does not embody the aspirations and values of his people who clamour for the entrenchment of justice, trustworthiness and development.

He does great harm to the party and cannot retain the confidence and respect of the people. Loss of confidence must be seen as the concrete outcome of poor leadership. The situation is often not helped by the fact that most

unelected party patrons are people with questionable background: Retired Motor Park touts, rough necked leaders of militant unions and swaggering tough elements.

Most politicians behave as if one can separate morality from politics.

Their insensitive display of power and impunity seek to practically severe morality from politics. Not only does it batter the image of the party but clearly reveal the decay and steep decline in party leadership.

It is the responsibility of party leadership to guide the party to forcefully play an intermediary role linking citizens, local interests and concerns to state agenda, linking institutions of government to social groups, advocating positions that improve public welfare. The party and its leadership not only aggregate public interests, articulate policy options but provide structures for political participation. The present state of party leadership is severely handicapped in these respects due to the dominance of persons whose leadership interests are driven by raw acquisitive instincts. The fear of James Madison at the inchoate stages of party formation in American finds expression in the Nigerian fledgling democracy.

He feared that party o rg a n i z a t i o n s r e p r e s e n t e d 'sinister interests and prone to undermining, perverting, or usurping the will of the people'. In Edo State and Nigeria in general, party leaders must work hard to discover the essence and functions of political parties and project same to the front burner of party preoccupation. At present, who is that party leader that is concerned with the entrenchment of internal democracy, with the articulation and aggregation of public interests or with the proper training and socialization candidates for public office? Yet these are the issues the party and its leadership should be deeply involved in.

August 2013

The Empowerment Post

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Asiwaju Bola Ahamed Tinubu Consequently, the political party must be re-engineered and strengthened as an essential democratic institution. The indispensability of the party to the formation of good democratic government makes this imperative.

The party is expected to integrate conflicting demands of groups, organizations and communities into coherent policy programmes, select and train candidates and leaders, provide voters with choices of candidates and policies and organize the process of government to implement the advertised policies and programmes. This is by no means simple but complicated. The uneducated and unelected party patron or godfather cannot superintend, direct and manage such a sophisticated and goal driven process. A state cannot be properly governed by a party with unconvincing democratic credentials and structures. The present dispensation has thrown up a class of unelected party leaders whose skills in manipulating the levers of power over time have been honed and cannot be controlled by the existing party structures. What the unelected leaders have always done is to cease the party structures and make outrageous demands that hamper governance and slows down the pace of development on elected officials. This is an aberration.

Political parties in Edo State must urgently reverse this intolerably costly anomaly. There is an ongoing debate and general consensus on the 20

implementation of internal democracy in the parties. Indeed, that is the way to go. The commitment of the political class to the transformation of political practices must begin with internal processes. The state party bosses must be elected under free and fair environment and allowed to lead the parties unhindered. This means those who consider themselves centers of political power must seek to lead must be stouthearted enough to openly campaign and run for offices. Let party bosses be men and women who have internalized the philosophy, values and ideology of the party and let them truly represent the public image of the party. The unelected party patrons must subordinate themselves to the authority of the party structures rather than resort to threats, intimidation and shadow boxing.

The parties in Edo State need a shift from leader domination, democratic autocracy to liberal inclusiveness and institutionalization.

At this juncture, it is germane to interrogate the parties on whether they subscribe to some forms of ideas as fundamental guiding principles. It is even more urgent to inquire into their state of awareness and internalization of the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. From all indications, their knowledge of the provisions of the constitution judging from the caliber of persons leading the

parties across the board is highly suspect. There is no doubt the leadership of the parties in Edo State are deficient of ideas. The parties have no traditions, no clearly defined expectations of performance, no party philosophy and no ideology or manifestos to guide and set apart their representatives in government at both executive and legislative level. Yet, the constitution has established a basis for crafting a set of principles and ideas on governance that could make each party unique. Specifically, the constitution has given clear directions on issues of related to equality, human rights, national integration and unity, economy, education etc.

The parties in Edo State have groped in the dark enough. The need to establish right-based political and economic system of governance that would facilitate state building and economic development cannot be over emphasized. In order to catalyze the achievement of this, the parties must be guided by ideology from which policies, programmes and action would emanate. Besides, in a crises ridden polity such as Nigeria, it will serve as an instrument of crises management, party identification, popular mobilization and legitimization. Party manifesto should espouse the ideology on which they plan to run the government in order to give the electorate a clear picture of where the state is heading to and to decide whether or not to work in that direction. Understandably, if the National Headquarters of the various parties resolve the issue of ideology, the states would only need to cue in. Where there are no ideological leanings, politicians simply rally round charismatic and oratorical office seekers and office holders as recently witnessed, irrespective of how stunningly hollow and deceptive the leader may be.

August 2013

Commentry

The Empowerment Post

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP

By Sylvester Uyigue

However, when one engages in the discussion of what leadership really means, it is critically important to view this very wide subject from some unavoidable perspectives.

Some of these areas are very large but not limited to Theories, Styles, P e r f o r m a n c e , Tr a i t s , Contexts, Historical Views, Myths, Titles Emphasizing authority, Action-oriented environments, Critical thoughts, Executives and The Ontologicalphenomenological model for leadership. Therefore the discussion of this very important subject would be on-going in this magazine from month to month as all these parts could not be adequately discussed in one edition.

In this edition, we are concentrating on the various theories that have been advanced over the last several centuries by many scholars on leadership.

John F.Kennedy

B

y now, it's almost universally agreed that most of the problems that have led to the sorry state of affairs in Nigeria in the political, technological, industrial and managerial development is the absence of Leadership. It's time to start the process of examining just what leadership is and what could be learned by most people occupying positions in many aspects of life where it is most needed. It has also been established that the average Nigerian does not have the proper orientation that would afford them the opportunity to even know what to do when either he or she is required to lead. Some of the reasons for these are among others but not limited to the circle of corruption that has eaten deep into the society and the precedence set by those that were supposed to lead by example.

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Leadership has been described as a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.

Leadership is organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal. The leader may or may not have any formal authority. Studies of leadership have produced theories involving traits, situational interaction, function, behavior, power, vision and values, charisma and intelligence, among others.

Somebody whom people follow: somebody who guides or directs others.

There has been some historical precedence in the search for the characteristics or traits of leaders.

Philosophers like Plato and Plutarch have explored the question “What qualities distinguish an individual as a leader?� Underlying this search was the early August 2013

Commentry

recognition of the importance of leadership and the assumption that leadership is rooted in the characteristics that certain individuals possess.

The traits theory of leadership dominated the th early 19 century research into the characteristics of leaders. Writers like as Thomas Carlyle and Francis Galton whose work in the traits theory prompted decades of research. Carlyle identified the talents, skills and physical characteristics of men who rose to power. Galton, in his “Hereditary Genius” examined leadership qualities in the families of powerful men.

After showing that the numbers of eminent families dropped off when moving from first degree to second degree relatives, Galton concluded that leadership was inherited. In other words, leaders were born not developed. Both of these notable works lent great initial support for the notion that leadership is rooted in the characteristics of the leader.

However, in the late 1940s and 1950s, a series of qualitative reviews prompted these theories to be revisited once again. Studies done by Bird, Stogdill, Mann in 1940, 1948 and 1959 respectively, took a drastically different views of the driving force behind leadership. In reviewing these premise, Stogdill and Mann found that while some traits were common among a number of studies, the overall evidence suggested that persons who are leaders in one situation may not necessarily be a leader in other situations.

Subsequently, leadership was no longer characterized as an enduring trait, as situational approaches posited that individuals can be effective in certain situations but not in others. This approaches dominated much of the leadership theories and research for the next two decades.

New methods and measurements were developed after these influential reviews that would ultimately reestablish the trait theory as a viable approach to the study of leadershi p. For example, improve ments in researche rs' use of the round r o b i n research design methodol o g y allowed researchers to see that individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks.

Additionally, during the 1980s statistical advances

allowed researchers to conduct meta-analyses, in which they could quantitatively analyze and summarize the findings from a wide array of studies.

This advent allowed trait theorists to create a comprehensive picture of previous leadership research rather than rely on the qualitative reviews of the past.

Equipped with new methods, leadership researchers revealed the following: ·

Individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks

·

Significant relationships exist between leadership and such individual traits as:

·

Intelligence

·

Adjustment

·

Extraversion

·

Openness to experience

·

Conscientiousness

·

General self-efficacy

While the trait theory of leadership has certainly regained popularity, its reemergence has not been accompanying by a corresponding increase in sophisticated conceptual framework.

Just six years ago, this trait theories was attacked because it is said to still focus on a small set of individual attributes such as Big Five personality traits, to the neglect of cognitive abilities, motives, values, social skills, expertise, and problem-solving skills.

That it fails to consider patterns or integration of multiple attributes. That it does not distinguish between those leader attributes that are generally not malleable over time and those that are shaped by, and bound to situational influences. And that it does not consider how stable leader attributes account for behavioral diversity necessary for effective leadership.

Attribute pattern approach is another area that has been widely debated in the leadership theories.

Considering the criticism of the trait theory outlined above, several researchers have begun to adopt a different perspective of leader individual differences – the attribute pattern approach. In contrast to the traditional approach, the leader attribute pattern approach is based on theorists' arguments that the influence of individual characteristics on outcomes is best understood by a person integrated totality rather that a summation of individual variables. In others words, the leader attribute pattern approach argues that integrated constellations or combinations of individual differences may explain substantial variance in both leader emergence and leader effectiveness beyond that explained by single attribute or by additive combinations of multiple attributes.

To be continued next edition August 2013

Commentry

Lingering Crisis in Benin Catholic Church Deepens

Most Rev. Augustine Akubeze

T

here is no doubt that the raging crisis between the Benin members of the catholic faith and the Archbishop of the Benin Diocese of the catholic church has now degenerated to another level with the Benin palace lending its voice to the call that the embattled Akubeze must go.

The reason is the Archbishop's sustained denials of the rights and privileges of Benin priests and laity to serve the catholic church in the propagation and evangelization of the gospel through the catholic church within the Archdiocese of Benin.

As a result, the Iyase of Benin kingdom has declared that the Archbishop Akubeze “must go”.

At a recent press conference at the Urhokpota Hall; King's Square Benin-city, the Edo state capital, which was attended by some palace chiefs and some prominent Benin sons and daughters Chief Sam Igbe , maintained that when the Benin catholic voiced their opposition in the wake of the frantic preparation to install Augustine Akubeze as Archbishop of the Benin archdiocese, the Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa sought to find a lasting peace and intervened by sending three of his chiefs in the Nuncio to prevail on him to provide time for reconciliation between those who felt disenchanted with their leaders in the church.

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Chief Sam Igbe According to Chief Igbe “The three senior chiefs were humiliated when the doors were locked against them at the residence of the archbishop, where the Apostolic Nuncio and a good number of Bishops were gathered .The chiefs includ a former federal minister, who was a member of the catholic church and this humiliation has continued to define the manner people have been treated by Akubeze and the catholic church since his installation”.

The Iyase who traced the entrance of the earliest catholic church missionaries to as far back as th the 15 century , during the reign of Oba Esigie, who himself was baptized “and mass was celebrated regularly within the palace”, expressed dismay as to why “Archbishop Akubeze stands against the use of Benin language for mass and why he is gathering all weapons of war against his flock in the circumstance when he should actually be behind and ahead of them to ensure their safety and unity of purpose”.

Chief Igbe remarked that “whether God's church is a house dedicated to the worship of God or a body of all organized Christians or an organized Christian society, or an organized group of clerical professionals. It is its responsibility to promote the Christian doctrine, and make it clear to both the August 2013

Commentry

shepherd and the flock that we all are an abundance of underserved facts and love”.

While insisting that Archbishop Akubeze's action and inaction since the crisis started had not been reconciliatory and peace seeking, the Iyase's statement emphasized that “we cannot allow a missionary tribal ruler priest to dilute the moral strength of the church.

We have heard it said on the pulpit that, “if you want to leave the church, you can go and we will not miss you.”

These people cannot be true priests and they cannot expel us from the church, we will stay and fight them until they realize and repent of their transgression.”

While clearly aligning into the position of the Edo Liturgical group which had since the past two years been canvassing for the remover of Bishop Akubeze because of his obvious hatred for the Benins, Chief Igbe urged Bishop Akubeze to regard the press conference as a message from the Benin people to ask for his transfer to the South-East, Ibo speaking region of Nigeria since he cannot use the language of the people to evangelize them and since he cannot obey the duties of his church”.

However, the indigenous Benin priests of the catholic Archdiocese of Benin city, have pledged their support and unflinching loyalty to the Archbishop and catholic Archdiocese of Benin for holding to the tenets of the catholic faith. Rev, Fr. Felix Igineweka, chairman of the indigenous catholic Benin parish described the Archbishop as a pride to the catholic and to the entire Christian faith.

Commending the pastoral achievement of the Archbishop in the past two years, Rev. Fr. Igbineweka prayed for peace and unity in the Archdiocese of Benin-city.

Edo Liturgical Group, a Catholic Church group in Benin City, Edo State, had demanded the removal of the Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Benin, Most Rev. Augustine Akubeze and a Benin 25

Priest, made a Bishop in his place for the true evangelization of the people of the kingdom.

Addressing newsmen in Benin, Chairman of the group, Mr Andrew Ayemwenre, also accused the Archbishop of punishing Benin people for demanding for a Benin Bishop to help achieve proper envagelization in their land in accordance with the recommendation for the church by Pope Benedict XV. “In less than two years of Archbishop Akubeze's coming, there appears to be a design by him to replace our people, priests and laity in the Catholic Church. The Edo Liturgical Group visited him on more than four occasions to find the way forward.

“Among issues raised were one Edo Mass for parishes at primetime in the entire diocese, copies of Edo Bible and Missal be made available in the Church, use of Edo songs at Mass, Priests in the Archdiocese to learn to celebrate Mass in Edo language, the reinstatement of Pa Vincent Osakue to the knighthood, which was withdrawn by Akubeze and Mr. Chris Aghimien as Secretary of the Laity Council of the Archdiocese of Benin and the retention of the name, Edo Liturgical Group.”

Ayemwenre insisted that despite peace moves by the group, the Archbishop failed to accede to any of their requests and refused to approve the one Mass on Sunday for the indigenes in all parishes in Benin-City.

“Holy Cross Cathedral as a Parish has 28 Sunday Masses in a month while only one Mass is said in Edo language for her indigenes. This means that of the 364 Sunday Masses in a year, only 12 is in the native tongue. Meanwhile, in Onitsha and the entire Eastern Nigeria, the reverse is the case. The use of Edo language as part of the Mass is a taboo to Archbishop A k u b e z e , ” t h e g r o u p s a i d .

August 2013

Anniversary

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GLORIOUS @70 T

he metropolitan city of Benin was bubbling with activities when “Mama” Archbishop Margaret Idahosa celebrated her 70th Birthday. The Christian family, notable Nigerians in academics, government and business, media representatives, politicians, family members, friends and well-wishers were all on hand to celebrate with the woman fondly referred to as “The man called Mama” or “Mother in Israel” For those who still retain the memory of how “Mama” Archbishop Margaret Ekhoe Idahosa joined forces with her late husband, Archbishop Benson Idahosa to win souls for Christ at time most families were disowning any who abandoned their native religion for Christianity, a celebration like this would always signify an opportunity to publicly express their gratitude for allowing God to use them as His formidable soldiers when the battle was most dreadful.

The event commenced on Saturday 27th of July, 2013 with a Documentary on the life of Mama, a lecture on the topic: Re-engineering society through quality leadership, by Dr. Gamaliel Onosode, and a presentation of an Educational Trust Fund by Bishop David Oyedepo. The day 2 of the ceremony, Sunday 28th 2013, was a Thanksgiving Service which featured a guest speaker, Rev. Dr. Felix I. Omubude, General Superintendent of New Covenant Gospel Church and National President, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) On the 3rd day was tagged “Morning Glory” which featured the cutting of birthday cake and apostolic blessing on Mama's children. Following this was a “Praise Concert” which featured Timi Dakolo, Gordons, Sammy Okposu, Danny D Humorous, and more. At the end, Mama and her guests had a fun-filled and glorious celebration.

Mama, Bishop David Oyedepo & Bishop Osa-Oni

Mama & Dr. Pius Odubu

Mama, Feb & Laurie

Cutting of Cake by Mama

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Dr. Gameliel Onosode & Mama

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Anniversary

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Bishop Mike Laju (MOG Chapel) & Mama

Danny De Humourious

Danny De Humourious

CWFI women

I Go Dye

Freke

MA @ 70

MA

A cross section of Ministers

Church Choir

Guests at reception

Adlan Cruz from U.S.

A dance troupe

Eghosa Sax, U.S.

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A dance troupe

Bovi

August 2013

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Email: info@royalmarblehotel.com, mh_info@yahoo.com URL: www.royalmarblehotel.com Hotlines: 08059231739, 08026242600

Event

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Sir Allan: Reward for dedication

T

o be recognized in a worship congregation is an attestation to both character and outstanding discipline. To be duly rewarded is an affirmation to the consistency and reliability of the identified traits in the recipient. That explains why many are called but few are chosen.

At a solemn ceremony which was held on Sunday August 4, 2013 at Wesley Cathedral Benin, Sir Allan Osawe Omorogbe having been found worthy was honored with the Knight of John Wesley by the M e t h o d i s t C h u rc h o f Nigeria.

In attendance were dignitaries from several walks of life. They were hosted to a sumptuous reception.

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With wife, Prof. Mrs. Yinka Omorogbe

Prof. Mrs. Yinka Omorogbe

Sir Allan

Osakue Agbontaen left, Allan Omorogbe

With friends

Sir Allan

Barr. & Mrs. Alfred Eghobamien SAN

Iroro (l), Owen & Omoregie Agbontaen

With Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu

Siblings 30

Friends & relations August 2013

Event

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Mrs. Lizzy Agbontaen (r), twins & Osasu

With Daughter Esosa & kids

Jamal & Franco Osazuwa

Madam Edowaye & Mrs. Ukponmwan

Mrs. Allan & guests

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Sir Allan

With Elamah & his wife

With ITV GM Ogbeide

Friends

Agbontaen twins

With Dr. & Mrs. Uwoghiren

Sylvester Uyigue (l), Osakue & Ize-Iyamu

Prof. Ukponmwan

Guests August 2013

News

YOUTHS DISRUPT NDDC PROJECT COMMISSIONING

By Kenneth Okunbor

PROTESTING YOUTH

T

he plan to commission the Obasogba-Abudu road in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo state by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, was halted by the youths recently, following the continuous abandonment of projects in the area. So far, about 22 NDDC projects in the state are yet to be completed. The youths stated that the act displayed by the NDDC, has become worrisome to the people of Edo State particularly, the youths in the affected communities and the Benin Monarch, His Royal Highness, OmoNoba Nedo, Uku Akpolokpolor, Oba Erediawa.

Piqued by the spate of abandonment projects by the NDDC in the state, the protesting youths from several communities in Orhionmwon Local Government Area, carried placards condemning the NDDC for attempting to commission what they described as “half job,” adding that, the 24 kilometer road project, off the Benin-Asaba express way, was terminated at Abudu headquarter of Orhionwon Local Government Area and not Obagie where the contractor stopped working. Hence, they had to stop the NNDC officials from commissioning the road by hanging around the venue until the canopies were brought down.

Consequently, the food and drinks meant to be served at the aborted commissioning was allegedly taken away by the NDDC officials who came in a Hilux van.

While reacting to the allegation against the NDDC, His Royal Highness, Moses Omosude, a

traditional ruler in the locality (Enogie of Obasagbon,) revealed that a borehole and electricity project being executed by the NDDC for the past seven years were yet to be commissioned.

“How can they be commissioning a road yet to be completed?

The slabs on the gutter leading to our houses are yet to be covered”, he said.

On his part, His Royal Highness, Solomon Ojomade, the Enogie of Ugboko, advised the NDDC to complete the road project to Abudu before commissioning it, saying, “the era of deceit is over and that if the people of the community allows NDDC to commission the “half job” road, the road might not be completed again.”

In his reaction, the Director, Project Monitoring and Supervision of the NDDC, Okenwa Alexander, said the surface of the road has been completed adding that the first phase terminated at 24 kilometer. He, however, advised the youths to use the opportunity to appeal to NDDC to consider the award of the few kilometers left rather than creating tension.

It would be recalled that when Mr. Henry Okhuanobo, the Edo State Commissioner on the board of NDDC, paid a courtesy call on the Oba of Benin, recently, the monarch urged the NDDC to live up to expectation by ensuring that the abandoned projects in the state were completed. The Oba who observed that the commission had improved since the coming of the current administration under Dr. Christian Oboh, however, called on the NDDC to embark more on developmental projects in order to create job opportunities for the youths and justify the reason for its creation.

According to him, “we were all happy when NDDC was created but people are worried that not much development had been achieved. Though we are seeing improvement, we need more so as to justify the reasons for its creation. We want development in the Niger Delta and we should get it through NDDC, which is saddled with the responsibility.”

Mr. Okhuanobo however, assured that Edo state would benefit from several projects, which have been lined up August 2013

News

Alarming Rate of Child Defilement By Adults

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ndeed, the rate at which female children are being defiled by adults has become very worrisome in recent times. There is hardly a week or month without a case of child defilement being reported at police stations across the state. What make the situation so complex is that men of God are even very much involved in the unholy act of child defilement?

There are even some cases, where fathers of the children have been involved in the defilement of their children.

Child defilement is fast becoming a source of concern especially in Benin City, the Edo state capital.

The involvement of men of God has made it worrisome and it seems to be giving law enforcement agents, non governmental organizations, NGO, parents and even judicial officers sleepless night on how to tackle this emerging social menace.

In the last few weeks no fewer than ten children have allegedly been defiled in Benin City alone by men old enough to be their fathers. Recently, Edo State police command paraded 32 suspected criminals among them were three accused of defiling children. The suspects include a pastor in charge of Deeper Life Bible Church in Abudu, administrative headquarters of Orhionmwon local Government Area of the state, Eze Fidelis, who was said to have had carnal knowledge of two girls, of different parents, Joy 9, and Alboma 11. There is also the case of one Grace 12, who was sent on an errand by her mother to get a rechargeable lantern from a hall within their compound. When the girl failed to return after 30 minutes, the mother went in search of her, only to discover that Segun Olom 42, was allegedly having carnal knowledge of her in the hall. The woman raised

the alarm which attracted members of the public, while the suspect was promptly arrested by the police. th The incident occurred on July 6 . The following day, one Saturday Cole 35 and a co-tenant of the complainant lured the complainant's daughter Identified as Marian 11, into his room and had a carnal knowledge of her. While the victim was coming out from the suspect room her eldest brother saw her and inquiring, discovered that the victim was not putting on her pant. The victim narrated her ordeal in the hands of the suspect.

On July 12, one Eugene Odozor, 46, allegedly took 13 year-old girl identified as Oluwabuni into his room and forced her to lie on his bed where she was said to have been defiled by the suspect.

For Pastor Eze, the suspect in the July 11, 2013 alleged rape, luck however ran out on him after one Joseph observed that his daughter joy 9, was not looking well. Suspecting that his daughter may have been defiled, he threatened to deal with her if she refused to say the truth. The little girl alleged that her pains started after she had sexual intercourse with the pastor. She further confessed that the pastor had intercourse with her friend Anthonia, 11 too. Joy revealed that the unwholesome practice had been going on for about a year.

Pastor Eze, confessed that he defiled the underaged girls, Joy and Anthonia, saying he was possessed by evil spirit to commit the act. Said he, “I am really ashamed of myself particularly as a pastor. I have been a pastor at Deeper Life for over six years. They were always visiting me, so on this particular day I defiled both of them. It was Joy that brought Anthonia to my house they were my church members”.

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by the commission and that the abandoned project would definitely be completed.

It would be recalled that a group of contractors under the aegis of Niger Delta Contractor Coalition, recently, petitioned the NDDC accusing the agency of becoming a tool in the hands of greedy politicians. In their petition to President Goodluck Jonathan the contractors complained among others of the continued recklessness of the incompetent management of the Niger Delta Development Commission led by Dr. Chris Oboh and the board led by Dr. Tebipah Tarila in handling the construction of some major Roads and other adjourning streets projects in Edo and Delta States.

On his part, Samson Osagie, member representing Orhionmwon / Uhunmwode in House of Representatives and Minority Whip, shortly after inspecting the road project at Umogun Nokhua, 33

lamented over the poor quality of works so far executed by the company. The Umughun-NokhuaOben Road project was awarded in November 2009 by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to Askay Construction Company. Osagie said: “The people of this community, Obe, Omoghun Nokhua in Orhiomwon council, who are to benefit from this project had been shortchanged.

He, however, noted that there was no justification for the company not to have laid asphalt on any part of the 22-kilometer road after three years.

“In my opinion, I am unable to accept the argument that the weather condition had been largely responsible for the delay in this project. This is one case of a project awarded to a contractor, who lacks capacity in terms of men and machinery to execute the project,” Osagie said.

August 2013

The Empowerment Post

Special Project

Nigerians will truly see the difference – Onolememen

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Arc. Mike Oziegbe Onolememen - Minister of Works

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riving through the endless construction sites in Abuja, the approach to the imposing structures of Ministry of Works in Mabushi reminded one of a typical scene in a war film. Especially the drive way laden with barricades, checkpoints and security operatives in mufti and a variety of uniforms. Our confidence was stable as the energetic Minister of Works Arc. Mike Oziegbe Onolememen had made adequate arrangements for our easy passage.

Calm, ready and soft spoken, all these, veneer on a tough and tireless performer, Onolememen responded flawlessly to all enquiries. A c h a r t e re d a rc h i t e c t a n d p ro f e s s i o n a l c o n s t r u c t i o n manager of almost three decades experience, he is currently rounding up work on his doctorate in Public Policy and Administration.

An acclaimed authority in technical audit and due diligence, h e w a s h e a d o f p ro j e c t management of the defunct Petroleum Trust Found and served earlier as Minister of State in the Ministry of Defense. He is a member of several professional groups including Nigerian Institute of Architects, Association of Consulting Architects of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Management. He Spoke to our Publisher Osakue Agbontaen and Executive Consultant Emeka Ogbeide in his Abuja Office.

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Sitting here now as Minister of Works what kind of pressure does this office carry and how do you cope with it.

The office carries an enormous pressure, and it is quite understandable, reason being that for us in this country road infrastructure plays a very pivotal role in helping to promote economic activities. For some reasons for the past 2, 3 decades it is clear that but for the road infrastructure in our country, the economy perhaps would have collapsed if you consider that the rails are not working and the only means therefore to move goods and services form one point in the country to another is by road infrastructure, that accounts for the pressure one faces in this office from so many stakeholders from businessmen who want theirs goods to be moved, from travelers who go from one part of the country to another, from state governors who want Federal presence in their states and indeed from various communities across the country not to talk of representatives of various constituencies in the National Assembly and of course members of the executive too who want to see Federal road infrastructure in their various places. To that extent, there is a lot of pressure in this office.

How do you manage this, what's your formula and approach Approach is very important to be able to deal with those enormous pressures. What I set out to do when I got here was to be very clear about what I wanted to accomplish on this seat particularly when one recalls that the state of road infrastructure when I got here was nothing to be happy about. In the sense that the road infrastructure was in a dilapidated state.

We needed to do something very quick to bring the infrastructure to a level that can truly serve as economic artery in our country. Looking at the budgetary provisions and what was available I also knew that the

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plethora of projects I inherited, the funds will not be able to deal with them, and in a way that also accounted for the haphazard nature of road projects in the country and in terms of completion, it seemed as if Nigeria was littered with so many incomplete road projects and it didn't make sense. So as a professional, one of the first things I did was to bring the road map of Nigeria and marked all on-going road projects. I discovered we couldn't really pin-point a single project that was truly completed in the true sense of the word out of the about 168 on-going projects. And what was by far most intriguing was that most of the on-going projects were unconnected. In other words many of them were in isolated places and they didn't add up into a major alignment and that was also a very big problem which meant that there was no corridor you would move uninterruptedly for like one hour without having bad portion. So what I now did consistent with my conviction that we needed to do things differently, I decided to prioritize by looking at the road map of Nigeria and identify the key arterial roads then connect them in a way I would want it to be so that Nigerians are able to drive on long stretches of road uninterruptedly. So out of the 168 ongoing projects I was now able to reduce it to 80 projects which I knew I needed to drive in further phases in terms of priority to completion.

Once we did that, we started work and two years later, we started recording very appreciable success in that effort. That's why by the road of last year, we were able to complete 32 out of the prioritized 80 road projects and many more by the end of this year will be completed. I can assure you that all the 80 prioritized road projects will be certainly completed by 2015 in the lifetime of this current administration. When that happens, Nigerians will now be able to travel thousands of kilometers uninterruptedly. It will have the salutary effect of really improving economic

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activies in our country.

When you got into office the major issue about federal roads was the Benin-Sagamu Expressway. At some point we noticed some improvement what is the status now.

Well when I came in the Benin-Sagamu road was really topical in the ministry because it is a most important road and that road is part of the trans-Africa highway which connects Lagos and the Atlantic Coast with the city of Mombasa in Kenya on the Indian Ocean Coast. So this stretch of the trans-African highway was in utter disrepair and what we did because we knew our brothers from the South East, South South and most especially Edo State were actually suffering from that axis because at the time people used to spend about 14 hours to get to Lagos from Benin. Infact a number of times my phone would ring and it would be somebody who is stranded on BeninOre road. Having traveled that road a number of times, I knew what I had to do. One of the key arterial roads I was going to deal with was the Benin-Ore-Sagamu road and it's on record that it was one of the first projects sites I visited to assess the situation myself in order for me to truly appreciate the enormity of the work that needed to be done on that particular alignment. I went there, I saw for myself, I looked at the ongoing contract and I found out that even the on-going contracts were not going to address the knotty issues on those roads. So I went back to Abuja and I discussed with Mr. President and he approved that I should do something about it. We reviewed all the contracts and ensured that they were well positioned to succeed and the President also supported by adequately funding the on-going contracts from Ofosu up to KM 25 on the Benin bound, the second contract was km 25 all the way to Benin and back on the other side to Ofosu. These were the two major on-going but at the time, practically very little was done because of funding challenges the two projects were having. One of the things we did was to improve the funding on the projects, then in prioritizing all projects from 168 to 80 helped a lot. During the 2012 budget preparation session which I championed, I ensured that enough money, was voted into that particular road and that also gave the contractor the 36

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confidence to work according to our instruction. Infact I told the contractor there that from the time I came into this office we needed to change our attitude on the development of that road, on the construction work on that road. That I wouldn't want them to stop work from that time till the road is completed or till those subsisting contracts were completed. I also promised that on my part I will ensure that all their due certificates were paid. And I kept on to my word and since then the contractor has been very happy and that is why today from Benin to Ofosu is one of the best pavements we have in this country, one of the best alignment complete with road markings and road furniture. It is having a salutary effect of improving travel time between Benin City and Lagos, also reducing the cost of maintenance of vehicles because of improved driving surfaces. As we speak, we have an on-going contract there that will drive the construction of a dual carriage way from Ofosu all the way to Ajebandele.

But before this time when we came in 2011, the Ore section of it was completely a no-go area. One of the things we did was to start work on the Ore Section, it's like dealing with the worst area of the road. We actually created that particular contract and we made sure that they focused on it, that is why today you are able to drive through Ore without knowing that you have gone past Ore. But from there onto Ajebandele the boundary with Ogun State, there is a subsisting contract that is going on which the same contractor RCC having done well in the previous section, we contracted them again to take the road further to Ajebandele. But right now from Ajebandele to Sagamu I have just given instruction to the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to move into that section since that section is not under procurement just now. We have plan to procure that outstanding section next year. So that the entire road from Benin City to Sagamu covering a distance of almost 300 km will now be a brand new road. Like what we are doing with the Lagos-Ibadan road now, when both of them are completed, at least on that stretch alone Nigerians can move on long stretches of asphalt road covering several hundreds of kilometer in an uninterrupted manner.

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I was going to talk about the section you said FERMA has stepped into Usually any road the Federal Ministry of Works is not engaged in by way of subsisting contract, the practice is for FERMA to take all responsibilities for the maintenance of that road.

What about Benin-Okene road In 2006 a contract was awarded for the dualisation of Abuja-Lokoja expressway and that contract is ongoing and they have reached appreciable level of completion. That contract will be delivered sometime next year from the work programme that we have and from the solid plan of the ministry.

So what we did last year looking at the road map of the country, in terms of the ongoing dual carriage roads you will now discover that the section from Lokoja to Benin is the only area you have a broken link. If you are coming from Port Harcourt to Warri, or the EastWest road if you like, that is being dualised right now and from Warri to Benin is already dualised, from Enugu to Onitsha is dualised even though we are reconstructing because of failure of over 20-30 years. From Onitsha to Asaba to Benin is also dualised, from Sagamu to Benin is dualised. When you are now going up north, it is just an ordinary highway up to Lokoja, but since they are dualising from Lokoja to Abuja, from Abuja to Kaduna, Kano is already dualised and Kano to Maiduguri dualisation is also going on by us now and also will be completed by us by 2015. We realized that for Nigerians to truly enjoy driving on dual carriage way from any of the six geo-political zones to another, we needed to ensure that the dualisation programme from Abuja to Lokoja is extended to hit Benin.

Benin is a loader town infact it's like a collector town, the Benin ring road is like a collector ring road, either the dual carriage way coming from the West or the one from the South South through Warri or the one from the South East they all meet at that Benin outer ring road, the Benin Bye-Pass. From there the new project will also hit the Benin Bye-Pass.

It will get to that point?

Oh yes, it will not just get to that point, there is also a part of the upper alignment that will get to Ramat Park, that is how the contract has been awarded. So if it is completed you now find out that any where you are in Nigeria you can truly drive continuously from Sagamu all the way to Maiduguri on dual carriage way.

That is part of the promise of the President Goodluck 37

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Ebele Jonathan administration to bequeath to Nigerians unbroken chain of dual carriage way, so that they can travel from one geo-political zone in the country to another. The project was awarded in December last year and the contractor mobilized to site in February this year. The project was flagged off February this year. We are at the height of the rainy season, I can assure you by the dry season the construction will pick but what is important is that the four contractors on the stretch, the road is in four sections that is why work is going on here and there.

But I can assure that that particular road will be completed on schedule and we hope that with the possibility of improved funding through the Sure-P full action will really commence by the dry season of this year on that particular alignment.

Can you assure Nigerians that these roads will go on and be completed on schedule as stipulated in the contract No government will embark on a project with the intention of abandoning that particular project.

That is not the purpose of government. Government goes into projects particularly in areas like road construction because they truly want to deliver democratic dividends to the people. But nevertheless we also realize that there are challenges because some kind of money that is meant to carry out the project may not be readily available that is why government has to prioritize in executing projects of this nature. For government, its intentions are and it will continue to use the limited resources at its disposal to ensure that key national infrastructures are delivered to help improve economic activities in the country.

What I can say is that this government is determined to deliver these on-going projects and within two years we have demonstrated that capacity to deliver. People often ask Minister of Works what happened? Is that you now have more access to money, I say well it's all about planning really, because we are focusing on roads we believe will bring maximum benefits to the people of our country. In so doing we also recognize that yes funding is a challenge, but the little we have we are trying to maximize it while we are also looking out for extra-budgeting funds. That was one of the reasons why we went to China last week (July). The road sector was one of the sectors that gained from the China trip and it is work in progress. I can assure you roads are not cheap things to do. Right now the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Works in all our on-going projects is about N1.4tr. But you and I know that of that amount what we have outstanding for that portfolio of projects amounts to about N850bn or if you like N800bn Again we also know that we have an average of about August 2013

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N200bn for road construction this year, that is why the issue of prioritization comes in. Funds are scarce, the little you have, you have to manage in a way that can best serve your objectives. For us the objective of connecting the six geopolitical zones of the country with dual carriage way is one that is topical. That's why these projects that I have mentioned will truly be delivered. We will deliver the Abuja Lokoja road, the Benin-Sagamu road, we will deliver the KanoMaiduguri dual carriage way which covers a distance of 510 kilometres. And we will deliver the EnuguOnitsha dual carriage way and the reconstruction of the Enugu – Port Harcourt dual carriage way. I think Nigerians will truly see the difference. We do hope that by the end of the Jonathan administration majority of these projects will be delivered. Even those that may not have been fully completed will have been substantially completed.

Are you considering other options of funding the smaller roads.

It is on record that we are the first ministry to establish a public private partnership unit at the federal level. When I came in here I upgraded that unit to a fullfledged department because of our desire to drive projects using the public private partnership vehicle.

Currently as we speak, we have at least two or three projects that were executed under that same model. The second Niger Bridge is one, then of course the access road to Muritala Mohammed international airport in Lagos from the Oshodi end. You are aware that we awarded the PPP concession on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Unfortunately that didn't work because the concessionaire was not able to achieve financial closure and as a responsible government having waited for over 30 months after that agreement we felt the need to terminate the agreement that was not working in the interest of hapless Nigerians that continued to die on that road as a result of avoidable accidents. That was why the government took over that particular road. The government now elected to construct that road but in constructing that road, government is also using some novel method of collaborating with the private sector in order to ensure quick completion of that road through enhanced funding. Really there are various means to achieve your objective in road development.

There are proposed bills that will lead to the establishment of the Federal Roads Authority, Road bulk and a Road Fund. When that comes on stream it means that we have now put in place that corporate institution that will help drive private sector investment in road development in our country. That is really the future of road infrastructure in this country and other infrastructure needed for economic transformation.

Would these options result into re-introduction of toll-gates.

Let me say very clearly that all over the world the governance structure of road infrastructure is such that for sustainability reasons you have to toll roads 38

The Empowerment Post

where private sector funds are applied. When you use private sector funds. The model for that particular vehicle makes it compulsory for that road to be tolled because that's the only way the investor will recoup his investment. All over the world even in Communist China, roads are tolled. I am just from China, to the airport on departure you have to pay toll, that's a communist state. So everywhere in the world that is the governance structure whether in America or China or Russia roads are tolled so that those who invested in the road would be able to recoup their investment.

Secondly so that they would also have funds for the operation and maintenance. That is very key in ensuring the roads don't deteriorate to the level our roads deteriorated to in this country.

What the Federal government under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has said right from inception was that look our road infrastructure was in such a terrible state. There used to be tollgates on them, they were demolished but the way the roads are now nobody in his right senses will think of tolling these roads. Let us first of all put the roads in order. Nigerians like good things. We like good infrastructure. When these roads are all completed and Nigerians are asked to pay little user related charges on the roads, I can assure you, they will not hesitate to do that, as long as the money is ploughed back to the maintenance and operation of that particular road. That's what we are aiming at. We want to make our highways look like what we see in other parts of the world.

Menace of the trucks?

We have plans to collaborate with the private sector to begin to develop rest places, truck parks for smaller vehicles along the routes. Most especially we want to start demarcating our right of way. All activities along the right of way have been declared illegal and they are going to be moved behind our right of way line .

All we will do is to provide exit for them to connect to those activities with proper signage so that our roads and right of way can be sanitized so that they will look like what we see in other climes. A road right of way should be a beautiful place, when somebody is driving you enjoy the scenes, the vista of the city. That's our goal.

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Special Project

Benin-Ore -Shagamu Expressway

Third mainland Bridge in Lagos

Newly Completed Von-Machokk Road

Newly Completed Section of Ibadan - Ilorin Road

Reconstruction of Abakaliki - Mbok ( Ogoja Junction)

Onitsha-Head Bridge with three additional lanes

Dawson Road Benin City, part of Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway

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Dingaya-Galanbi-Rungo Road Sokoto State

August 2013

Politics

The Empowerment Post

We are mobilizing - Orbih to 'five-junction' and five-junction road is actually been done by the Federal Government. The recent explanation by the Director of the Federal Ministry of works is that Oshiomole is doing underground drainage. The fact is that he is doing the underground drainage; nobody can see what he is doing there.

What people can see is the actual road construction done by the PDP controlled Federal Government that is all. We are drawing our strength from the failure and disappointment by the people on the performance of the Adams Oshiomole government.

Dan Orbih Dan Orbih, former governorship aspirant under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party and Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Edo State spoke to Emeka Ogbeide on issues relating to the 2016 general elections in Edo State.

What are you doing now to reposition the PDP in the state?

Edo PDP today is the most organized party anywhere in the country that is in opposition. We have been very objective in our criticism and we have never stayed away from speaking when we need to speak. The party is getting stronger and stronger after the governorship election in Edo state. The reason for our renewed strength is as a result of the disappointment of the people by the performance of the Adams Oshiomhole's government. There was so much expectation before his second coming but you will agree with me that these expectations were dashed and if you go round the state, no project is going on. All the contractors have withdrawn because they have not been paid. The ones we have taken pains to talk to, said that they have not been paid because the government has no money and that is why I am not surprise that when people come to Edo state, the Governor will take them 40

We saw not too long ago, mass movement of people from PDP to ACN and they gave different reasons.

That was before and after the governorship election. We have been receiving ACN members into the PDP and only recently, we received the former commissioner, Hon Joe Atohengbe and his supporters into the PDP of Ehor, the administrative head quarters of Uhunmwode local government council. The only thing is that we are not making noise about how we are receiving ACN members into the PDP. But you will observe that there was an attempt to conduct local government election and you are aware that he could not and it was obvious that he was going to be defeated in the local government election and they ended up writing result in the 17 local government councils. It was only Esan North East that they could not write result and that was a litmus test to the strength of our party. If you watch the reports in the electronic media and in some prints, the people booed the governor in his own local government in Estako West. So far, so good, I am satisfied with the grass root mobilization embarked upon by the PDP and it is yielding results.

Is your secretariat functioning now?

Yes, if you go to the secretariat now, you will meet staff working there. I was there yesterday, I met with some of our members and I hope to be there again on Monday. Actually the secretariat of a party is where the party holds its working committee meetings. What we are doing now is grass root mobilization committee and they are busy working on the field. There is no point going to sit in the office from morning to evening because the work is in the field.

August 2013

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The Empowerment Post

Extra Judicial killing: Civil Societies Vs Police

By Annette Edo

CSP Carol Afegbai

c

ases of extra-judicial killings by the police are becoming worrisome as innocent citizens are falling victims of police bullets on a frequent basis. A case in point is that of Monday Osaghae, a middle-aged man, that was allegedly shot in Benin City recently, by a policeman who happens to be his in-law.

The officer, presently serving in Port-Harcourt, was reported to have shot his in-law on the leg due to a slight misunderstanding between them. Consequently, the man was rushed to a private hospital were doctors are currently battling to save his life as a result of the serious injury inflicted on him by the power-drunken officer.

But Ovie, another middle aged man, was not that lucky as he died on the spot. The victim who was alleged to have been involved in pipeline vandalisation was arrested by the police and taken to the State Criminal Investigative Department, SCID, Benin City, where he was shot on the chest on the claim that he made an attempt to escape.

Another victim who lost his life to the bullet of the police is Andy Okunrobo, a boy in his mid-20s.

Sometime last year, Okunrobo had gone to purchase kerosene at the NNPC mega filling station, along Sapele road, Benin City, when an argument ensued between him and one of the police officers attached to 42

the filling station. The officer who was allegedly provoked by Okunrobo's utterances shot him, leaving him in a pool of blood. Though, the victim was rushed to the hospital but the doctors could not save his life.

Ovie and Okunrobo are not the only people that have lost their lives through the bullet of the trigger happy policemen as there is another case of mass killing that took place early this year around the Eastern part of the country where more than 50 people were allegedly killed by the police after which the bodies were dumped at the Illu River, along Onitsha / Owerri, road. The act of barbarism was however, revealed when corpses started flowing on top of the river and the people of the community raised an alarm. The action of the police did not only result to cholera outbreak in the area but scarcity of water because the river was polluted.

However, it was gathered that apart from the excuse that the victims were shot while attempting to escape from the cell or trying to evade arrest, the police also pointed accusing fingers at the judiciary whom they claimed grants bail to hardened criminals that often goes back terrorizing the society. Based on these flimsy excuses, the policemen are sometimes not punished for their action by the authority. But the case of Ibrahim Momodu, a 22 year-old final year student of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, that was murdered recently by the police might not be that easy as the Edo State government and some Civil Societies in Edo state are battling to see that the culprits are brought to book.

In a bid to press home their demand, a group of students, bereaved family, and Civil Society Organizations, led by Reverend David Ugolor, the Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, a nongovernmental organization committed to the promotion of human rights, had on July 3, protested to the state Ministry of Justice, Edo House of Assembly, Palace of the Benin Monarch and the state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, calling for law and order in the state and the country in general.

During a protest to the office of the Edo State Attorney General, Ugolor, with a letter alongside other document of claims, explained that the protesting groups want the state government to set up judicial and independent panel of enquiry to look into the killing of Momodu adding that the group was not against August 2013

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anybody or organization, but as civil societies, they have a duty to ensure that all security agencies operate strictly within the ambit of the rule of law and avoid any act of summary judgment or extra judicial killing.

On his part, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, Chairman, Edo State Civil Society Organisation, a group made up of one hundred and fifty organizations, in a petition dated June 16, 2013 and addressed to Mr. Mike Okiro, the chairman of the Police Service Commission, said the Federal Government and the Inspector General of Police should conduct a t h o r o u g h investigation into “the direct or remote causes of the brutal murder of Momodu and Oyerinde.”

The group condemned the way and manner that Momodu was killed and how he was horriedly buried without medical autopsy or recourse to any medical institution or contact with the family of the deceased, arguing that the action of the police Late Ibrahim Momodu was “an attempt to cover up the recklessness of the police” which has remained unabated in the country. The group called on the authorities of the Police Service Commission to be effective in the discharge of their statutory responsibilities adding that the time has come to “put a stop to the arbitrariness and extra-judicial killings and the grievous impacts of blatant abuses of rights of citizens in the hands of the Nigeria Police.”

Momodu, a 400 level student of Medical Laboratory science, was allegedly shot at Textile Mill Road, around Siloko Road axis in Benin City, by Mrs Carol Afegbai, the former Divisional Police Officer of Ogida Police Station who was immediately redeployed to Ibadan, Oyo State soon after the ugly incident occurred.

But contrary to the claim of the police that Momodu was killed in self-defence, Barrister Jefferson Uwoghiren, the lawyer to Momodu, displayed verifiable evidence suggesting that his client was not shot and killed at the check point when he was stopped along Siluko road in the night of the incident as claimed by the police and that he was arrested alive and taken 43

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away to the Ogida Police station by Afegbai and her men that were on duty.

However, the redeployment order did not go down well with members of the Edo State Civil Society Organizations. In a press statement dated July 25 and tagged: “The malicious murder of Ibrahim Momodu

by CSP Carol Afegbai: let justice be done,” the group described the transfer of Afegbai to Ibadan as an “attempt by the police authority to negatively obstruct the legal process of bringing Afegbai and members of her killer squad to trial by delivering an inclusive report of the police on the murder of Momodu to the DPP without first charging the accused police officers to c o u r t . ” According to the statement signed by Osazee Edigin, Marxsist Kola Edokpayi and James Ehigiator, “we reject this modus-operandi and demand that the killer DPO Carol Onyeka Afegbai and her killer team be charged to court for murder and conspiracy so as to serve as deterrent to any trigger-happy police officer.”

They cited section 4 of the police act as well as section 214 of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria which states clearly, the aims and objectives of the police force which include the prevention and detection of crime, apprehension of offenders, enforcement of law and order, Protection of lives and property and the enforcement of all laws and regulations made by the Federal, State and Local G o v e r n m e n t .

The group alleged that “the conspiracy to exonerate Afegbai because of her rank” was ironic because she is not above the law. “This is to buttress the fact that she is being transferred to Ibadan to continue her sadistic and malicious killings. This action is contrary to the rule of law and a situation where citizens have no confidence in the Rule of Law, things will definitely fall apart and the centre can no longer hold,” the group said.

However, the Civil Society Network Against August 2013

News

Corruption has petitioned the Police Service Commission over the mounting allegations of extra judicial killings against the police in accordance with its powers under the PSC Act of 2001.

While reacting to the dastardly act, the state government and some members of the public, condemned the action of the Nigeria police arguing that their action was unbecoming and contrary to the rule of law. For instance, the Edo State Government under the leadership of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, faulted the manner of investigation into the killing of Momodu by the authority of the Nigeria Police Force saying it was shoddy and that a panel of enquiry be set up to look into extra judicial killings in Edo State with specific reference to the UNIBEN student case and that of Olaitan Oyerinde, the late Principal private secretary to the Edo state Governor, who was murdered by unknown gunmen last year.

Though, the state Director of Public Prosecutors, DPP, has already submitted his advice on the killing of Momodu, in line with the investigative report submitted to the DPP by the police to the office of the state attorney general but Idahagbon said there are a lot of omissions in the investigative report submitted to the DPP by the police because when he examined the DPP report, he discovered that the police was yet to do a thorough investigation that could grant prosecution for murder in the case.

According to him, “the case file has been returned by the DPP to my office. The police are yet to do a thorough investigation that can grant prosecution for murder. There are still a lot of lacunas in the investigation. The police investigative report would be sent back to them and the specific areas in dire need of investigation in the matter would be communicated to

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the police.�

Similarly, Kaduna Eboigbodin, the former chairman, Edo State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Co-ordinator, Gani Fawehinmi Movement for Good Governance, said the case file sent by the police to the DPP was not adequate enough hence, their demand for a panel of enquiry where their claims can also be entertained.

In the same vein, Jude Obasanmi, President, Coalition of Civil society, said going by the antecedents of the Nigerian police with the handling of case files, the authenticity of the case file sent to the DPP is questionable. He condemned the incessant cases of extra judicial killing by the police saying it has become imperative for the Government to take up the investigation of the case of Ibrahim Momodu since the police have been compromised in their investigation.

Based on this, Mr. Austin Osakue, Coordinator, Foundation for Good Governance and Social Change, who described the killing of the student as a case of a bloated life, however, called on all Nigerians to mount pressure on the police to ensure that they reveal the truth on the circumstances surrounding the death of the student.

Osifo Osasere Favour, President, Students Union Government, UNIBEN, said Momodu was a student of the institution until his death and that the union would follow the matter to a logical conclusion to ensure that their late colleague got justice.

On his part, Uyi Igbe, Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, EDHA, said the House was aware of the efforts made by the state governor, to set up the panel of enquiry into the killing of Momodu and the investigation by the Nigeria Police Force. He, however, called on the Police Service Commission to use its office to carry out independent investigation into all the allegations mentioned and other extra judicial killings committed by men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force in accordance with the powers granted to the commission under Section 6(1)(b) of the Police Service Commission Act of 2001.

Going by the role played by the state government and the Civil Society groups on the matter so far, Mrs. Osas Okungbowa Momodu, mother of the deceased, who spoke amidst tears, expressed gratitude to the people for their interest in the matter saying that his late son was merely a victim of circumstance because he was framed up by the police.

Late Andy Okunrobo 44

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By Patrick Oronsaye

The fall of Benin City

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he deaths of so many officers provided the opportunity that Ralph Moor had been looking for. "Force" could now be safely used against Benin. On 12 January 1897, Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson, commanding the squadron at the Cape of Good Hope was appointed by the British Admiralty to lead an expedition to capture the Benin king and destroy Benin City. The operation was named Benin Punitive Expedition.

On 9 February 1897 the invasion of Benin kingdom began. A "punitive expedition" was organised under the command of Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, the commander in-chief at Cape Town. Within a month, an elite force of 1,200 British soldiers brought to the Benin River from 4,000 miles away.

They came in from London, England, Kingston, Jamaica, Cape Tow, South Africa and Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. This armada landed on the coast, and teamed up with several hundred black troops, locally recruited. Thousands of African porters were brought from the British military base at Sierra Leone.

The invasion force of about 1200 British Marines, sailors and hundreds of Niger Coast Protectorate Forces and was composed of three columns; the 'Sapoba', 'Gwato' and 'Main' Columns. The 'Sapoba' column and the 'Main column' reached Benin City after 10 days of bitter fighting but the 'Gwato' column was routed at Gwato.

Admiral Rawson's three-pronged attack on Benin City which began in February 1897 was no pushover.

Each of his advancing columns met strong resistance from the local African population. Benin soldiers harassed the first one for several days. The second one was attacked in its base camp and the commanding officer was killed.

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The story of the third column is given in the diary of Felix Roth, a naval surgeon. He provides considerable evidence of the indiscriminate way in which British forces used their machine-guns to mow down Benin resistance. "We shelled the village, and cleared it of the natives. As the launch and surf-boats grounded, we jumped into the water... at once placed our Maxims and guns in position, firing so as to clear the bush where the natives might be hiding." Luckily, Roth recorded, "no white men were wounded; we all got off scot-free." This providential protection was easily explained. "Our black troops, with the scouts in front and a few Maxims, do all the fighting."

A meeting of the “Benin River Chiefs” many of whom were opposed to Oba Ovoranmwen, was organised not only for the purpose of gathering intelligence from them, but also for the purpose of reading to them the British proclamation on the "massacre" of the white and the measures which were to be taken against the Oba and his City. Bacon of his Book Benin; City of Blood, observed: "It was impossible to tell from their faces what they thought, but it must have been with a shade of skepticism that they heard that the king was to be no more, his town taken and his priests, if possible killed, the Juju houses burned and the Benin Juju forever broken ...."

The following is an extract from the book “The Benin Massacre” by Boisragon who survived the ambush at Ugbine

The Punitive Expedition As soon as the news of the massacre of our expedition arrived at home, on the 11th. January, telegrams were sent at once to Admiral Rawson, August 2013

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Benin River through the Forcados River and Nanna Creek.

The main column was to advance on Benin City by what is called the Ilogbo route, — Ilogbo being a Benin village on the Ilogi Creek and supposed to be only about twelve or fourteen miles from Benin City.

The distance turned out to be about twenty-two miles.

The Ilogi Creek is the creek from which the Benin City people used to get their water, and at that place was called the Ikpoba Creek. Unfortunately for the expedition, it soon got too shallow and full of snags and obstructions to allow of any steam-launches or boats going up it, and being of any use to the marching column. To reach Ilogbo the force landed at a place called Warrigi, a few miles below Sapele on the Benin River, and marched about seven miles across to Ciri, a friendly village on one side of the Ilogi Creek and about one mile below Ilogbo. When the advance began it had been the Admiral's intention to throw a wire suspension bridge across the Ilogi Creek, but unfortunately the bridge could not be used owing to swamps. The Protectorate troops arrived at Ciri about the 4th of February, and started cutting a road back to Warrigi, while a party of carriers, with the help of some bluejackets, began the road from the other end, and a very good road was ready for the Admiral's inspection when he came to visit Ciri on the 9th February.

Admiral Sir Harry Rawson C.B., commanding the Naval Squadron at the Cape, to organize a Punitive Expedition as soon as possible, the expedition, of course, being almost entirely a naval one, with the assistance of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force. This expedition took Benin City on the 18th February, — only about five weeks after the first telegrams. Marvelously smart work, especially when one considers the distances most of the expedition had to come, the extraordinary arrangements that had to be made for it in the shape of carriers from all parts of West Africa (between three and four thousand being employed), stores, etc. etc., and last, but not least, the nature of the country through which they had to fight their way.

As I have said before, the naval force was taken from H.M. Ships Theseus, Forte, St. George, Phoebe, Philomel, Barrosa, Widgeon, Magpie, and Alecto, whilst an additional force of marines was sent out in the P. & O. S.S. Malacca, which was to act as, and had been fitted up as hospital ship. The first two ships, H.M.S. Theseus and Forte, came from the Mediterranean Squadron, while the remainder belonged to the Cape Squadron. As I have already mentioned, the Theseus, Forte, and St. George being too large to come over the bar of the Forcados River, anchored off its mouth, but the rest came up the 46

Meanwhile there was a lot of work going on at Warrigi organizing the great number of carriers that were to accompany the expedition. These men came from Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, and some, of course, were supplied by the Jakri Chiefs of the Benin River, and belonged to many and various tribes of West Africa. In addition there was a force of some hundred or more scouts raised in Lagos by Mr. Turner, a travelling commissioner of the Niger Coast Protectorate, and officered by him and Lieutenant Erskine, R.N. They looked a very brave sight in red shirts and fezes, and I believe did very fairly well afterwards, especially considering that it had only been possible to give them a very few days' drill.

On the 10th February the remainder of the bluejackets and marines forming the main column landed at Warrigi, and marched across to Ciri the next day, so that the advance on Benin City began on the 12th February. The Protectorate Force was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Hamilton of the East Yorkshire Regiment, who had been sent out by the War Office with the following special service officers, Major Langdon, A.S.C., as second in command. Captains Walker, Scottish Rifles, and O'Shee, R.E. The officers actually belonging to the Force present were Major Searle, the permanent second in command, Captains Ringer Koe, late of the Royal Irish, Carter of the Black Watch, Lieutenant Cockburn

August 2013

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of the Queen's Bays, and Lieutenant Daniels, a native officer, and as plucky as any white man.

Before the main column advanced two flanking columns had been sent by the Admiral for the purpose of drawing away the enemy's attention from the main attack, and also to try and stop any fugitives escaping from Benin City. Unfortunately they were not successful in stopping the King and his Juju men when they fled. One of these columns went up the Jamieson River under the command of Captain M'Gill, R.N., and the other, under Captain O'Callaghan, R.N., went up the Gwatto Creek.

Captain M'Gill's force, which was made up from men of the Phoebe, Magpie, and Alecto, proceeded up the Jamieson River as far as Sapobah, landed there and marched The Benin River Chiefs to a place some four miles north of Sapobah where there were cross-roads from Benin On the 14th February the column went back to City. There they built a stockade. On the 11th February Gilli-Gilli, where they made a zereba. However, being this stockade was attacked by the Benin men from the reinforced, they advanced again to Gwatto once more dense bush which surrounded it, and Lieutenantand occupied it. For two days the Benin men attacked Commander Pritchard of the Alecto and one bluejacket them from the bush, but with little success, as only three were killed. After this the stockade was reinforced and men were slightly wounded, whilst the Benis lost strengthened. The Benin men again attacked on the several, and eventually never attacked at all after the 20th, but, as they did not seem to care about coming to 18th. On the 25th February, a company of the close quarters, there were no casualties. However, the Protectorate Force, under Captain Gallwey, D.S.O., same day they attacked a column proceeding back to arrived at Gwatto from Benin City without having been Sapobah, and killed one marine and wounded two once attacked, which showed that the taking of Benin others. Captain M'Gill's column returned to Warrigi on City had a great effect on the Benis. On the way down. the 24th February, having previously burnt the Captain Gallwey came across the scene of the massacre stockade. This, of course, was after Benin City had of our expedition, and buried the remains of our dear been taken, and when the naval force was leaving the comrades that he found there, reading the Funeral country.

Service over them. Captain O'Callaghan embarked his force, and left Gwatto on the 27th February.

The men forming the Gwatto column, under Captain O'Callaghan, came from the Philomel, To return to the main column: but before Barrosa, and Widgeon. On the 10th February Captain starting an account of the march and taking of Benin O'Callaghan burnt Gilli-Gilli, the frontier Benin City City, it may be as well to explain that this column had to village on that side, and then proceeded on to Gwatto. fight its way through twenty-two miles of dense bush After searching the bush with volleys and some rounds country, along a narrow uncleared path that only from a quick-firing gun, Captain O'Callaghan landed admitted of marching single file, and almost with a force of about eighty men. While they were unceasingly attacked by an unseen enemy, who used to engaged in burning the town they were attacked by a creep up within twenty yards of the path before firing. strong force of Benin men, who fought most pluckily Add to this no water to be found on the march and the from the bush for nearly an hour, although a number of excessive heat of the country, and some idea can be them were seen to fall. Then they had had about enough conceived of the work the column had to do. Of course of it, and retired. Captain 0'Callaghan having blown up the Admiral, now Sir Harry Rawson, K.C.B., was in two big houses with gun-cotton and burnt the supreme command, and the Consul-General of the remainder of the town, then retired to his boats at the Protectorate, now Sir Ralph Moor, K.C.M.G., water-side without being attacked again. None of the accompanied him. time, but that a rocket coming fairly force were killed, but Lieutenant - Commander Hunt of near them made them decide to quit. And quit they did, the Widgeon and two bluejackets were severely worse luck. wounded, whilst Captain O'Callaghan himself and some others were slightly wounded.

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August 2013

Obituary

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Late Hon. Henry Irumundomon

O

n behalf of the Executive, the Legislative arm, Staff and the good people of Esan West Local Government Council and all members of the Action Congress of Nigeria we commiserate with the family of our departed Chairman Hon. Henry Irumundomon which sad event happened on Friday July 26, 2013 His exit has created a vacuum that will be difficult to fill but we will ensure that his vision and mission for Esan West is accomplished May his gentle Soul rest in perfect peace.

Burial arrangements as announced by his family.

Signed: Chief S.I. Ogbeide Acting Chairman, Esan West

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August 2013

Controversy

FIVE JUNCTION PALAVA

Dan Orbih, Edo PDP Chairman

“There was so much expectation before his second coming but you will agree with me that these expectations were dashed and if you go round the state, no project is going on. All the contractors have withdrawn because they have not been paid. The ones we have taken pains to talk to, said that they have not been paid because the government has no money and that is why I am not surprised that when people come to Edo state, the Governor will take them to 'five-junction' and five-junction road is actually been done by the Federal Government. The recent explanation by the Director of the Federal Ministry of Works is that Oshiomhole is doing underground drainage. The fact is that he is doing the underground drainage; nobody can see what he is doing there. What people can see is the actual road construction done by the PDP controlled Federal Government that is all.”

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Osarodion Ogie, Commissioner for Works

“The issue of 5-junction is an unnecessary distraction by PDP. Everybody knows the flooding situation at that point which was a major headache to several administrations before Comrade Oshiomhole assumed office.

He took a courageous decision to confront that problem by awarding a drainage contract to clear the moat and construct underground drainage to de-flood the area. When the job was completed, a decision was made to resurface the road. We asked the contractors working around there to bid, because they were already on ground the cost of mobilizing to site would not be there. Hitech who were doing the drains and RCC who were doing the side roads both bidded. RCC rates were better so we gave them the job.

A proper contract was awarded and payments made. They tried to intimidate the contractor into lying against us, but he stood his ground that we gave them the contract. What did they do? That engineer was deported but when people in the National Assembly intervened, he was brought back.

Ask them, who paid compensation to owners of d e m o l i s h e d s t r u c t u re s d u r i n g t h e construction.”

August 2013

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Motoring

Rugged Performer

Mercedes-Benz G class:

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here are 5 types of a body of the car Mercedes-Benz G class – 3, 5, 3/5, 2 and 4-door

cars.

Seats: The car was issued in options with 5, 4 and 7-seat salon.

Mercedes-Benz G class was issued with the following types of a body: offroad vehicle, sport utility vehicle (SUV), convertible (cabriolet), station wagon (estate, combi).

The car G 500 (2002) have 1095 kg and this is the minimum weight among all modifications of Mercedes-Benz G class. The heaviest car in a production line of Mercedes-Benz G class, is the model W463 G 320 (3 d) (1997) - its weight 2750 kg.

The smallest model is W463 G 320 (3 d) (1997) which length makes 2750 millimeters. The longest Mercedes-Benz G class is the model G 55 AMG (2005), which length the 4720 millimeters.

Mercedes-Benz G class was equipped by 21 options of engines.

The smallest engine had volume in 2297 cubic centimeters and was established on such models, as: G Break Court (1988) and G Break Court (1980). The most powerful 51

engine was established on model G 55 AMG (2001) and had volume in 5499 cubic centimeters.

The maximum speed of the Mercedes-Benz G class makes 210 kilometers per hour. You will see such information on a speedometer of such models as: G 55 AMG (2007), G 55 AMG Kompressor (2005) and G 55 AMG Kompressor (2006).

The car Mercedes-Benz G class is equipped with 2 types of transmission - automatic and m a n u a l .

At 178.3 inches in length, 72.4 inches in width and 66.5 inches in height, the GLK is a clear class below the Mercedes-Benz M-Class in size. By way of comparison, the BMW X3 runs to 179.7 inches in length, 78.2 inches in width and 65.9 inches in height.

L i v i n g R o o m Step up into the GLK and you're instantly aware that the interior packaging is different from most rivals. This is because the windscreen is mounted at a rather upright 58 degrees, compared to the faster 50-degree slope of the M-Class' windscreen.

Mercedes-Benz originally planned to provide the GLK with the same front seats as the C-Class to lower production costs. However, the more upright windscreen requires a more upright seating position — a major conflict. As a result, the GLK boasts uniquely upholstered seats in which the upper section of the backrest receives added padding to help promote a more u p r i g h t p o s t u r e .

August 2013

Event

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Celebrating an Icon @80 hough it was expected to be a roll call of all Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwarts as the party's Board of Trustees chair, Chief Tony Anenih marked his 80th birthday, but the occasion turned out like a national event with most notable personalities in attendance. For a man who has made a visible presence in the nation's political and business endeavours, his array of friends; political and business associates, no doubt would have spread across the length and breadth of the country. As he celebrated his 80th birthday in grand style, the calibre of personalities present actually reflected the diverse segments of the country. Apart from the expected crowd of politicians, all sectors of the country's national life were well represented. Added to the celebration was the opportunity for numerous politicians to bond. President Jonathan Goodluck also used the occasion to raise thought-provoking issues which bordered on inflammatory statements and advised general restraints from overheating the polity. The celebrant Chief Tony Anenih called for a stronger unity and support of Mr President in achieving his aspirations of a better Nigeria. He further asked fellow politicians to learn from the magnanimity exhibited by former President Olusegun Obasanjo who in spite of their well known disagreement on some national issues made out time to attend his birthday celebration. The twofold events of thanksgiving and reception which held at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro Cathedral & International Conference Centre, Abuja were highly eventful.

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August 2013

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Fashion

Fashion trends of a career woman

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areer pressure and demands of motherhood have not dampened the sharp dress sense of Omua Grace Akpan. A Computer Science graduate of the University of Benin, Omua has remained in the front pew of the fashion trend with her distinct colour mix and combination of styles keeping this mother of two aglow. Born of Otuo parentage in Owan West L.G. of Edo State, Omua is a major player in the oil and gas sector and an official of the Edo branch of NUPENG.

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Sports

Thompson Oliha: A legend departs

By Kingsley Ogbeide-Ihama

T

h a t Thomps on Oliha died as an assistant coach in Kwara F o o t b a l l Academy, Ilorin meant he was giving back his last moments to where he started from. Scouting for young resourceful p l a y e r s sometime in 1984, Coach I y a s e r e discovered Thompson on Late Thompson Oliha the side of Niger College soccer team, where he was acquiring his secondary school education and introduced him to Coach Sebastine Brodericks. Coach Brodericks, who was at that time the Chief Coach of Bendel Insurance Football, is known for being the first Nigerian coach to win FIFA World Cup in 1985 with the U16 National Team.

As soon as Thompson joined Bendel Insurance Football club, he earned the 1st team shirt and thereafter started thrilling the Benin enthusiastic football fans with his electrifying skills. His game at Bendel Insurance was enjoyed between 1985 – 1987 before proceeding to Iwuayanwu Nationale, Nigeria for another 3 years (1988 – 1991) Africa Sports Ivory Coast 1992 -1994, Maccabi Ironi Ashdad, Israel 1994 – 1995 and Antalyaspor, Turkey1995 -1996.

Oliha was a member of the Flying Eagles' squad to the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, and then played for the Super Eagles at the 1990, 1992 and 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, Oliha was an influential member of the 1994 Super Eagles, regarded as the golden generation of Nigerian football. He helped the team qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 1994 and also played a major role as they won a second AFCON title in Tunisia same year.

The Federal Government promised the team officials and players houses but while some players received theirs, Oliha and some others did not.

Oliha's widow, Iris, said her husband had 'repeatedly' clamoured for government to fulfill its promise, saying the ex-Turkey based player didn't want to die without seeing the house.

“The only thing that my husband did not live to witness 56

was the house that the Federal Government promised the winning 1994 class of the Super Eagles,” Iris said.

“He repeatedly asked questions on what was causing the delay in fulfilling the promise. He said his colleagues, Uche Okafor and Rashidi Yekini, died without the promise being fulfilled.

“He did say that he didn't want to die before the Federal Government fulfilled the promise, but, has it not happened now? This is highly unfortunate,'' she added.

Iris said contrary to rumours, her husband was never sick for long and didn't complain of any ailment.

She said, “He even went to work yesterday (Saturday) because they played a match. He came back to take his shower. On Wednesday, they also went to Ibadan to play a match with 3SC. So, if he was sick, how would he have gone to Ibadan?

According to a reliable source, Ajara Mohammed, who has an eight-year-old son, Clinton, for Oliha, said the former Bendel Insurance player started having a change of attitude towards her and their son.

“I spoke last with him on Thursday on the phone and I asked him when he would start paying Clinton's school fees. He said I shouldn't worry; that once he received the money he was expecting, he would pay and I said, 'okay.' He was just laughing and cracking jokes with me. He said he would call me back but he never did,” she said.

Notably, he featured for the national team between 1988 -1994 and appeared 31 times with a record of 2 goals. Though he lost his vibrant football career to an early injury from which he never fully recovered, but the short span would always leave the Nigerian football fans with an enduring memory of a staunch midfield maestro, whose football contributions would be difficult to forget.

Dying of complicated malaria related illness on 30th of June 2013, the burial in his native home; Benin City was marked with series of events, beginning from 26th July 2013. When his casket touched down at the Ogbe stadium, Benin City, football lovers, friends, wellwishers, family members, colleagues at the Kwara Football Academy, government officials and former playing mates at local and international levels were all on hand to bid him a final honour.

In addition to the burial events, a commemorative football match which was staged between exinternationals, a combination of some members of Kwara Football Academy and players from Bendel Insurance FC stars ended 1-1, with the likes of former Super Eagles' Coach, Augustine Eguavoen, Alloy Agu, Emeka Ezeugo, Benedict Iroha, Bauldwin Bazuaye and Edema Fuludu present as a mark of their last respect.

Oliha is the third player from the 1994 Nation's Cup winning team to die without receiving their house gifts.

Before him were Uche Okafor who died in the United States of America and Rashidi Yekini who died in Ibadan last year August 2013

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Sports

Late Thompson Oliha

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August 2013

Health

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KIDNEY CARE continued from July edition Symptoms of Kidney Disease Kidney disease is a condition that can easily go unnoticed until the symptoms become severe.

The following symptoms are the early warning signs that you might be developing kidney disease: · fatigue · trouble concentrating · poor appetite · problems sleeping · muscle cramping · swollen feet/ankles · puffiness around eyes in morning · dry, scaly skin · increased urination, especially during the late evening Severe symptoms that could indicate that your kidney disease is progressing into kidney failure include: · nausea · vomiting · loss of appetite · changes in urine output · fluid retention · anemia · decreased sex drive · sudden rise in potassium levels (hyperkatemia) · decreased immune response · inflammation of sac around heart—pericarditis Risk Factors for Developing Kidney Disease Certain people run a higher risk of developing kidney disease. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease—44 percent of people on dialysis have kidney failure caused by diabetes. Other risk factors include: · high blood pressure · other family members with chronic kidney disease · being elderly · belonging to a demographic with a history of high diabetes rates and high-blood pressure rates such as African and Hispanic Americans, Asians, American Indians and people from the Pacific Islands.

How Is Kidney Disease Diagnosed?

Your doctor will first determine if you belong in any of the high-risk groups. Doctors will then have a choice of different methods to use to test whether or not your 58

kidneys are functioning properly including: Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) This test will measure level of kidney function and determine the stage of kidney disease.

Ultrasound or CT Scan This will give your doctor a clear picture of your kidneys and urinary tract. It will also let your doctors know if your kidneys are too small or large and if any tumors or structural problems are present.

Kidney Biopsy This test will allow doctors to see what type of kidney disease you have and how much damage has occurred. The doctor will remove a small piece of tissue from your kidney while you are sedated.

Urine Test Your doctor may order a urine test to look for albumin. This is a protein that can be passed into urine when your kidneys are damaged.

Blood Creatinine Test Creatinine is a released into the blood when creatine, a molecule stored in muscle, is broken down. If your kidney is not functioning as it should, the levels of creatinine in your blood will increase.

Treating Your Kidney Disease Treating kidney disease usually focuses on controlling the underlying cause of the kidney disease. This means your doctor will help you better manage your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels.

Drugs and Medication Your doctor will either prescribe ACE inhibitors (like Zestril, ramparil or Altace) or ARBs (like Avapro and Benicar), which are both blood pressure medications that can slow the progression of kidney disease. They often prescribe these medications even if you do not have high blood pressure to preserve kidney function.

To be continued in next edition August 2013