The Nation April 21, 2012

Pension fund scandal: Bank manager's mother-in-law, corps member share N53.8m loot PAGE 5

Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC boss

Violence in Akure as thugs disrupt Adefarati's lecture Many injured Olaiya Oni’s car vandalised Mimiko after my life - Ex-Ondo LP chair 57 PAGE

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL.07 N0. 2102

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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Fuel subsidy probe

Tambuwal faces 4 impeachment threat PAGE

Tension over plot against Speaker, Lawan, others Eucharia Anunobi

From right: Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar; Ogun State Deputy Governor, Prince Segun Adesegun and Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo at the commissioning of APCs, security vans and other equipment in Abeokuta …. yesterday. Inset: Governor Amosun after test-driving one of the APCs. SEE STORY ON PAGE 57

Yes, I'm PAGE 23 ordained but I will still play romantic roles

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

• Caskets bearing the remains of victims.

• Relations and sympathisers at the burial.

Easter tragedy: Collapsed church building victims buried amid tears The 22 victims of the collapsed building of St.Roberts Catholic Church, Adamgbe, Benue State on Easter Saturday were laid to rest yesterday amid tears by relations

By Uja EMMANUEL, Makurdi and friends.

They were all buried at the premises of the church.

The burial was witnessed by

hundreds of sympathisers, including dignitaries from within and outside the state.

Governor Gabriel Suswam was represented by his deputy, Chief Steven Lawani

.

The Catholic Bishop of Makurdi Diocese,Bishop A.Usuh, assisted by Bishop Avernya and others, con-

ducted the one-hour funeral service that preceded the burial.

The pillars supporting the church building had suddenly gave way and caused

Group faults SSS, PDP over conspiracy against Aregbesola

2015 election will be the best in Nigeria, says Jega

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HE Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said that every effort will be made to make the 2015 general election not only the best in Nigeria’s political history, but also the most acceptable to Nigerians.

He spoke in Paris, France at a luncheon in his honour by the staff of the Nigerian Embassy led by the Acting Head of Mission and Charge-de-Affaires, Ambassador Felix Awanbor.

Jega, who is at the head of INEC delegation to observe the French presidential election scheduled for tomorrow, said several strategies were being put in place to achieve the goal Jega’s spokesman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, quoted him as saying: “I must note that conducting elections in our country is a very challenging task. But we did our best under the circumstances, and we are pleased with the general acceptance that the 2011 election was perhaps the best in the history of our country.

“We also know, however, that it wasn’t good enough for many of our compatriots, because people had very high expectations. But things have been so bad for so long that it would take a little more time to get rid of all the baggage that we inherited. We did our best in April 2011.’

“We believe that between

Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja now and 2015, we will be able to do many things and put many structures in place to ensure that the 2015 elections are not only the best in the history of our country but also the most accepted by our citizens, not just our development partners.

“We are trying to institutionalise a system of continuous voter registration. We have been able to set up data bases at the national level and in all the states and the Federal Capital Territory. We are now working very hard to clean up that data and consolidate it, and to ensure that both the states’ data and the national data are well integrated.

“Our hope is that before the end of this year, we will have the technology sorted out so that people can register continuously.”

“And it would not just be fresh registration; people who have changed their addresses can apply, following a stipulated procedure wherever they are, to have their registration status updated. That is what we are working on and, God willing, before the end of this year (2012), we will achieve that. And once we do that, there is no need again to continue to do a major registration before an election.

“I must mention here that we just got the approval of the Federal Executive Council to issue

what we call permanent voter cards. We issued temporary voter cards before the April 2011 elections. The permanent voter cards we will be issuing will be chip-based, and will contain all the information about voters.

“Our hope is that by 2015, we will be able to, at the minimum, ensure 100 per cent authentication of voters if we cannot do electronic voting. We will ensure that whoever votes in 2015 will be somebody who has brought his or her card, and that card will be inserted in a card reader so as to establish that he or she is the true owner of that card. That is what we are working hard to achieve.”

“Obviously, that card is also useful – if the resources are available and we are able to have a review of the legal provisions – it is possible with that kind of card to even move towards electronic voting. But we won’t want to raise too many hopes in that regard because there are still many challenges associated with that. We are doing our best to, first of all, ensure that our data base is solidly established, and that the technology is seamless.”

On the agitation of Nigerians resident abroad to vote in the country’s elections, he said: “I must say that it is a possibility.

But we have to work very, very closely between now and 2015 – not just between the Commission and Diasporans, but between the Commission and

other stakeholders to see, first of all, whether there will be the resources we need to have the technology to put this in place; and secondly, whether there is a consensus of opinion about what methodology to use if we are to provide the opportunity for Diaspora voting.”

“It is possible, and it is conceivable. In fact, we are not opposed to it as a commission, because whatever opportunity we can make available, so long as it can be done transparently and without any likely negative consequences, it is something that we will be happy to do. ‘’But it will require, given our own history of mutual fears and suspicion about the use of technology and so on, a consensus among stakeholders; because there is no way we can do Diaspora voting without heavy reliance on technology. ‘’Luckily, 2015 is three years or so down the line. We will do our best as a Commission. We have not yet discussed the matter and decide how to go about it, but I’m sure we will have to soon confront it.”

The Acting Head of Mission at the Nigerian embassy had told the INEC team that the April 2011 general election elevated Nigeria in global reckoning and eased diplomacy routines.

“Your work gave us a new spring in our steps and we are very proud of you and our country,” he stated

Africa should execute poverty reduction policies, says Ezekwesili

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AFRICAN leaders must ensure they make policies that would enhance economic growth and reduce poverty in the region, World Bank Vice President for Africa, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has said.

She disclosed this at the ongoing Spring Meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesteday in Washington DC. Speaking on “The Rise of Social Safety Nets in Africa’’, she said although Africa had shown relative and positive economic growth, good policies would facilitate inclusive growth in the region.

“Economic growth is critical to the continent. It is a necessary condition. You can’t wish it away.

We need economic growth in other to reduce poverty.

“Therefore, all the economic

Ayodele AMINU, Group Business Editor in Washington DC policy choices that will lead to growth must be supported in order that countries may growth.

“So, policy makers will do well to keep their handle on those key policies, macroeconomic policies, structural, sectorial polices that are needed, the right investments, the choice of investment, efficient and effective investment that are pro-poor,’’ she said.

Besides, Ezekwesili said there is the need to build vibrant institutions and regulatory systems that will drive the process of private sector participation as the drivers of growth.

She said that the economic

growth witnessed in the continent had left some people behind, adding that in a season of growth, social economic safety was an important tool of public policy According to her, this would cushion impact and effect of the growth.

She noted that the rise of social safety nets in Africa, had helped to reduce poverty in the region.

“Social safety nets are taking off across Africa, where more than 120 cash transfer programmes have been set up in the last 10 years.

“There is growing evidence that they significantly help to reduce poverty. In Rwanda, the government has attributed rapidly falling poverty between 2006 and 2011 partly to the vision 2020 Umurenge programme of public works and

cash transfer,’’ she added.

World Bank Vice President, Human Develoment, Ms Tamar Atinc, said that social safety nets had helped many countries in Africa and so should be supported more to ensure inclusive growth.

Poverty, she said, remained a major challenge on the continent, which could be drastically reduced with good social safety nets.

Atinc stressed the need for policy makers to ensure that they make polices that would facilitate the sustainability of projects that geared towards inclusive growth in the region.

Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda, Mr John Rwangombwa, also said that poverty had been reduced in his country through the social safety nets from 34.4 per cent to 24.4 per cent recently.

the building to collapse.

Adamgbe is about 10 kilometers from Vandeikya on the Makurdi-Obudu highway.

Olugbenga ADANIKIN, Abuja

•Aregbesola AUF Aregbesola Support Group (RASG) has faulted the State Security Service (SSS) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the allegation of secession they levelled against the Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

Describing the allegation as a conspiracy, the group said Aregbesola did not attempt to alter the state’s religious equation.

The Northern State Chapter Chairman of the group, Hon. Bisi Oyo-Osun, and the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Alhaji Abdulrasak Sanusi, said the gov-

R

ernor had not committed any religious prejudice, citing the provision of rail transport for indigenes of the state during the last Easter as an evidence of his liberal mind.

The group stated: “The Federal Government of the PDP is making a mountain out of nothing in its bid to discredit the amiable governor on his good performance in the state. ‘’Is it the appointments that are not balanced on religious basis or his effort in building religious harmony between the religious sects? ‘’Everyone who was home during the Christmas and New Year saw what was done during the period for the benefits of Osun people. He made trains available to convey the people from Lagos to Osun. He did the same during the Easter period. ‘’ How then can a right thinking person say that the governor is trying to Islamize the state?”

Police recover $75,000 from ex-Air Nigeria director

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HE Police have recovered $75,000 out of the $100,000 belonging to Air Nigeria illegally diverted from the company’s account by the former Executive Director (EDF), Finance, Mr. John Nnorom, who was recently sacked from the company.

A statement by the company’s Media Relations Manager, Samuel Ogbogoro, revealed that the fraud was discovered in March.

“It was discovered sometime in March, this year, that the EDF was using his position to short-change the company in its financial transactions. He was specifically found to have attempted to defraud the company of $300,000 US dollars in a particular transaction with a bureau de change (name withheld, where investigation revealed that he is the Director), which he personally introduced to the airline. The company managed to prevent the theft of the entire sum, but not until after he had successfully siphoned $100,000 US dollars”.

After his subsequent (and mandatory) sack by the Board of Directors, the company commenced the process of recovering the stolen money by lodging a case against him with the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police, at Ikoyi, Lagos. This effort led to the recovery of $75,000.

The statement further reads: “With the consequences of his actions staring him in the face, we quite understand his desperate attempts to exonerate himself by resorting to cheap blackmail and spreading false information about the airline.

“While, it is not in our character to join issues with former staff of the airline, we are constrained, on this occasion, to make the necessary clarifications and to also inform all our customers, suppliers and vendors that Mr. John Nnorom no longer has a mandate to represent Air Nigeria”.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Appeal Court dismisses LP’s case against Senator Tinubu

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HE Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, yesterday dismissed an appeal filed by the Labour Party (LP) against the election of Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

It held that the appeal lacked merit, and awarded N30,000 cost against the party.

The court also dismissed an appeal filed by LP’s candidate for Surulere II Federal Constituency, Prince Sunday Aderonmu, saying it lacked merit.

Senator Tinubu, of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), represents the Lagos Central Senatorial District.

LP had challenged the decision of the National Assembly/ legislative House Election Petition Tribunal, Lagos, to strike out its petition because 180 days had lapsed.

The tribunal had said it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the “unlawful exclusion” petition after the Supreme Court held in a judgment on the case involving the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) vs. Alhaji Muhammed Goni & others that petitions must be concluded within 180 days.

Dismissing LP’s appeal, Justice John Inyang said yesterday that he was shocked that the LP would challenge the tribunal’s decision which was based on an “unambiguous pronouncement” of the Supreme Court.

He said to allow the appeal would be to return to the days when election petitions dragged on endlessly.

“It will mean taking us back to the dark years when election petitions took years to complete.

“It is in the interest of Nigerians and the judiciary to allow the sleeping dog to lie quietly,” the justice said.

Justice Inyang said the principle of stare decisis (legal obligation to respect legal precedent) was well-entrenched to avoid judicial anarchy.

He said the Supreme Court judgment based on section 285 of the Constitution was very clear that a tribunal should deliver judgment in writing within 180 days from the day a petition was filed.

Joseph JIBUEZE According to him, LP’s petition was 300 days old when the tribunal struck it out, meaning that the petition no longer existed in the eye of the law.

He alluded to the fact that a Supreme Court’s decision is like “a rock of Gibraltar or Mount Zion which cannot be moved.”

Justice Inyang said although the Appeal Court had initially made an order for a retrial of the petition before the tribunal dismissed it, “even an order for retrial cannot extend the 180 days.’’

“This is explicit enough for all discerning minds to imbibe,” Justice Inyang said.

He added that it would amount to “impunity, impertinence and recklessness” to ignore a Supreme Court pronouncement.

Lauding the tribunal, the justice said to disobey the highest court in the land and continue with proceedings “is like suicide.”

He said in the hierarchy of courts, no matter how “learned” a lower court considers itself to be, it must submit to the decisions of a higher court.

“I am happy that the tribunal was aware of this and acted appropriately,” said Justice Inyang.

He added: “The Supreme Court has spoken. Be it sweet or bitter, we must swallow it.”

He said Nigerians should be grateful for the constitutional provision which set a time frame for the conclusion of election petitions.

According to him, it has provided a way to “navigate” out of prolonged determination of election cases, in which previous ones were abused by endless applications that stretched proceedings for several years.

That, he said, made Nigeria a laughing stock in the international community.

“The appeal lacks merit,” Justice Iyang concluded.

Two other justices agreed.

Justice Regina Pemu said: “The appeal is devoid of merit and same is hereby dismissed with N30,000 cost.”

•Continued on Page 6

•Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno (left) with former PDP National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe, at a wheat harvest ceremony in Marte LGA, Borno State... yesterday

Fuel subsidy probe: Tambuwal faces impeachment threat F OLLOWING Wednesday’s release of the report of the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee on the scandals surrounding the management of oil subsidy, an impeachment threat now hovers around the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.

Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, Alhaji Farouk Lawan, is also facing threats from unnamed forces on account of the panel’s recommendations.

In its report, the committee had indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), oil marketers and others for unbecoming acts and asked them to refund a total sum of N1.07 trillion.

The alleged plot, it was gathered yesterday, is already generating tension in the National Assembly.

As a first step, security may be strengthened around Farouk

Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation Lawan who, sources said, resisted the pressure mounted on him not to expose public officers and oil marketers involved in the fuel subsidy scam.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that some forces in government are uncomfortable with the findings and recommendations of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy.

A principal officer of the National Assembly said: “The House leadership ignored pressure to water down the panel’s report or treat it in confidence.

“The argument of these forces was that the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee would hurt the economy and make investors to lose confidence in Nigeria. But the House

Appointing two ministers won’t solve oil sector’s problems, say Balarabe, others

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FORMER Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, and the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday said the demand for the appointment of two petroleum ministers can not solve the rot in the oil industry.

Also, the Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Monitor, Mr.Festus Okoye, said the system has nothing to do with the number of ministers managing the oil sector.

The respondents asked President Goodluck Jonathan to have the moral courage to implement the recommendations of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy rather than pre-occupying himself with appointment of more oil ministers.

Mr. Okoye said: “I think the system is completely rotten. It does not have anything to do with the number of ministers in charge of the oil sector.

“Having two ministers will create additional job for political jobbers.

“The oil industry has been a major problem. Everybody is in oil business and they have consistently made sure that the oil sector does not work.

Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation “We need to overhaul the oil industry and run them as a commercial venture so that the system can be better. At present, the system or the procedure is not working at all.”

Speaking with newsmen, Balarabe said: “The recommendation calling for the appointment of two oil ministers is superficial. The issue is beyond having two ministers in charge of petroleum resources.

“What the government should do is to address this chaos and looting in the oil industry. Although I have not seen the full report, the recommendations from the Executive Summary have confirmed scandal and anarchy in the oil industry.

“I think the situation calls for a revolutionary change. It appears there is no leadership, no system. The President must act.

“What Nigerians should now insist on is punishment for those who have committed infractions. It is not a question of appointing two oil ministers.

“Some of these companies were given foreign exchange to import fuel but they did not.

The government should have the courage to expose the directors of these oil companies and let the law take its course.

“Also, some companies were invited but they did not honour the invitation of the Ad Hoc Committee. Those who treated the committee with contempt should not be allowed to get away with it.

“The government should look beyond the superficial appointment of two oil ministers; it should implement the recommendations to restore sanity.”

On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Comrade Osita Okechukwu, said: “I think the issue is not about two ministers; it is about how to address the endemic corruption in the oil sector.

“The corruption should be tackled from the top with the immediate sack of all those at the top of these oil agencies.

“We demand the immediate prosecution of Senator Ahmadu Ali under whose watch such sleaze was perfected. Every other officer involved should be punished.”

A former governorship can-

didate in Delta State, Chief Collins Eselemo, said: “Nigerians expected the committee to come up with concrete solutions to improve the subsidy management, but they are talking of the appointment of two oil ministers. Does having two ministers go to solve the mess being piled up on the people of Niger Delta? Does appointing two people in a ministry address the problem of corruption?

“Having two ministers in the oil sector is like creating more bureaucracy for the industry.

This development will slow down decision making process “What is the essence of a bloated cabinet in an era that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is trying to save cost?

“Didn’t we have two oil ministers under late President Umaru Yar’Adua? Yet, we could not move far on key issues like the Petroleum Industry Bill.

“As far as I am concerned, the Ad Hoc Committee is only begging the issue. So, for all what Nigerians suffered for on fuel subsidy, it is the appointment of a new minister that is the solution?”

saw the Ad Hoc Committee’s activities as part of a new era to usher in transparency.

“Since the report was released to the public, we have got sufficient signals that some forces are unhappy with the House. Although we do not give a damn, we are watching our back.

“These forces have renewed their plot to move against the Speaker and deal with Lawan and members of his committee.

They want to remove the Speaker for his refusal to check the Lawan panel. They have branded the Speaker as “disloyal” to the PDP and a stooge of those opposed to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Although the Speaker has maintained that he is putting national interest above partisan consideration, the forces have vowed to unseat him.

“We are suspecting that some oil marketers are funding the anti-Tambuwal project. In fact, some of these forces are also planning to blackmail Lawan. The House leadership has, however, asked Lawan to lie low and avoid further comments on the report.

“We will throw the debate open as from Tuesday and Nigerians will know where their representatives stand on fuel subsidy management.

“One of the strategies of the forces is to frustrate the report of the committee by lobbying members to reject the recom-

mendations.

“They are also trying to prevail on some House members to ensure that the debate on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee is suspended until the Senate completed its own probe into the fuel subsidy regime.”

A member of the committee also said: “We have been receiving knocks here and there over the report, but we are standing by our position. The rot in the oil industry cannot continue.”

When contacted, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, confirmed the plot.

He said: “The attention of the House of Representatives has been drawn to calculated attempts by indicted firms and their backers in government to plot the removal and discrediting of the House leadership for allowing the subsidy report to get to the public without being doctored to spare them.

“The antics being employed range from fanthom charges to intimidation via security agencies. This type of plot will discourage parliamentarians from unraveling corruption and rot in the society.

“In spite of all this, I want to assure Nigerians that we will continue to promote transparency in governance and we will not cave in to any form of blackmail from anybody or institution, no matter how highly placed.

“In accordance with our legislative agenda, we will continue to partner with patriotic Nigerians to rid our system of rots in whatever form.”

Stage set for Omu-Aran Day

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HE fourth Omu-Aran Day, a N2 Billion community development fund-raising event, has been scheduled for Saturday, May 19, 2012 in Omu-Aran, Kwara State.

Otunba Jide Adebayo, chairman of the Omu-Aran Day 2012 Publicity Sub-Committee, said Senator Smart Adeyemi will be the chairman of the occasion while business mogul and chairman, Global Fleet of companies, Chief Jimoh Ibrahim, will be the Chief launcher.

The periodic socio-cultural occasion, Otunba Adebayo explained, is designed to address issues of infrastructural deficits in the community through donations by its indigenes, governments and well-wishers.

Specifically, he said that the focus of this year’s fund-raising are the upgrading of Omu-Aran High School to a model International full boarding school; full equipment of the community’s three other colleges, rehabilitation of township roads, completion of its ring road and building of a new Olomu palace.

The statement appealed to all indigenes and friends of the town to grace the occasion

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

News 5

Pension funds scandal: Bank manager’s motherin-law, youth corps member share N53.8m •EFCC seizes N500m, $2m in ex-pension director’s company’s accounts S ORDID details of how the sum of N4.5 billion allegedly stolen by suspended directors in the Pension Unit, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, was distributed to close relations, including the mother-inlaw of a bank manager, are now in possession of a Federal High Court, Abuja.

Several banks are cited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as collaborators in the scandal.

The bank manager’s motherin-law was allegedly paid N18,907,100.00 from September 18, 2009 to February 11, 2010 (five months) as pension and gratuity, while one Miss Chinwe Ezeh, a youth corps member serving in Lagos as at May 2011, was also discovered to have col-

lected N8,539,332.09 from OHCSF. Another N26.4 million (N13.8 million and N12.6 million respectively) was paid in two tranches to the companies of the female corps member.

Directors Sani Teidi Shuaibu and Phina Ukamaka Chidi were suspended on Thursday by the Federal Government.

They had previously served as Director and Deputy Director in the Pensions Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

The EFCC said it has obtained an Interim Forfeiture Order to secure N500 million and $2 million traced to the accounts of Pam Investment Properties Limited, which is linked to Chidi.

In a proof of evidence filed before the court, the EFCC said it

Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation interrogated four bank managers–Boniface Jirbo, Ikenna Anoruo, Franklin Okey Nwankwo and Udusegbe Omoefe Eric–who opened the Pandora box.

It listed the means through which funds were looted as follows: use of fictitious names; payment of pensions to non-civil servants at any time; mass award of doubtful contracts; use of Bureaux de change and engagement of companies, relations and friends.

The Proof of Evidence reads in part: “That Boniface Jirbo was arrested and brought to EFCC

where he volunteered his statement under caution which was recorded at various times from 20/1/2011 to 24/5/2011. A search warrant was obtained from Magistrate Court of F.C.T. Abuja on 25/11/2010 and was executed at his office, Usuma Street, Maitama Branch on 19/ 1/2011 (121) where several deposit slips that were used to make deposits into Pam Investment Properties were recovered.

“Also the Mandate file of Pam Investment Ltd was recovered in his office, where it was discovered that the company has both current and Domiciliary Accounts with UBA. From his confessional statement, he confessed to have remitted the total

sum of N146,771,252.00 to Mrs. Chidi through Pam Investment Properties account with UBA from the monies fraudulently paid to his companies, while he benefited 5 per cent of the total sum which amounts to N7,338,562.60.

“Boniface also confessed to have used his customers’ companies’ bank accounts–Effect Services Ltd. and J. K Palawinco Nigeria Ltd–to collect the total sum of N116,525,000.00 and N105,100,000.00 respectively for fictitious contracts from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) .

According to him (Boniface), the monies were withdrawn and deposited into Pam Investment

No crisis in ALGON, says President

•Continued on Page 5

Gbenga OMOKHUNU, Abuja

ECOWAS rejects junta’s transitional council in Guinea-Bissau

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HE new National President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Nwabueze Okafor, yesterday cleared the air on the rumour that the present ALGON executives were elected illegally and that there are factions in the association.

Okafor told newsmen in Abuja during a reception organised by ALGON staff for the National Executive Council (NEC) of ALGON, that there was no faction in ALGON, adding that the present NEC members were rightfully elected.

He warned those that are bent on destroying ALGON to desist, adding that efforts were being made by the new administration to ensure that aggrieved members who are willing to work with the new ALGON are embraced for the development of the local government areas.

Okafor vowed to work hard with NEC members to restore ALGON’s lost glory. He disclosed that ALGON and Governors’ Forum were discussing a synergy for Nigerians to better enjoy the dividends of democracy.

He disclosed that ALGON was making frantic efforts to partner stakeholders to key into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

His words: “Within the shortest time we will turn around ALGON for good.

There is no faction in ALGON and the present NEC members were properly elected.

You can see for yourself that there was an election which saw this administration in place. For somebody or people to say we are illegal and that there is a faction is not right. This will not help democracy.

“ALGON has been in the news for long, positively or negatively. But it is our hope that from now on, it will be positive news. As the closest government to the people, we will work very hard and partner with federal and state governments to improve local government councils in Nigeria.’’

and Properties account.

“Boniface further confessed to have collected funds from Ikenna Anoruo, Franklin Okey Nwankwo and Emmanuel Olanipekun several times on behalf of Mrs. Phina Chidi and deposited same into Pam Investment Properties Limited account, using fictitious names. He also confessed to have suggested the opening of dollar denominated account for Pam Investment Properties Limited with which to launder the proceeds of the fictitious payments.

“Following the recovery of deposit slips from Boniface Jirbo for the deposits made into Pam Investment Properties Ltd, a letter was sent to UBA Plc requesting for all the relevant documents on the account.

“The letter was sent on 20/01/ 2011(34) signed by Wakili Mohammed. From the analysis of the response of the Bank on 27/ 01/2011 signed by two Compli-

Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja

•L-R: Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; her husband, Governor Kayode Fayemi; wife of Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi; and her husband, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, during a condolence visit by the Ajimobis to the Fayemis on the death of his mother, Mrs. Dorcas Aina Fayemi, in Ado-Ekiti... on Friday.

Bayelsa guber: Supreme Court strikes out Sylva’s suit

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HE Supreme Court yesterday nailed the hope of the immediate past governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, of re-occupying the Yenagoa Government House.

It dismissed Sylva’s cross-appeal to pronounce him as the rightful governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, for lack of jurisdiction.

The five-man panel presided over by Justice Mahmud Mohammed said it lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit and allowed the appeal filed by the PDP against the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which remitted the case back to the Federal High Court, Abuja, for retrial before another judge The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, the candidate presented by the PDP, as the winner of the governorship election held on February 11.

In the judgement written by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour but read by Justice John Fabiyi, the apex court said it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit because the issue raised by Sylva was exclusively a primary affairs of the PDP. Sylva had complained against his exclusion from the party’s primaries won by Dickson.

Justice Rhodes-Vivour said the issue was a pre-primary affairs of the PDP, which did not fall

It’s dark day for democracy, says ex-Governor Gbade OGUNWALE, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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ORMER Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, yesterday described the ruling of the Supreme Court upholding the election of Hon. Seriake Dickson as the new governor of the state as a dark day for democracy in Nigeria.

His media aide, Doifie Ola , said in a statement that the ruling was that of “man and, certainly, not justice.”

“Everyone involved in the Bayelsa State governorship matter shall still face the judgment of history and the judgment of God. Neither history nor God will condone impunity,” Ola said, explaining that his principal had accepted the judgment all the same.

He said: ”The former Governor thanked his teeming followers in Bayelsa State and lovers of democracy across Nigeria and beyond, especially, in Bayelsa State, who held out despite intimidation, threats and pressure to abandon the path of democracy and justice.

“He extends his special gratitude to members of the Bayelsa State caucus of the National Assembly, who stood firm on democracy, as well as members of the Nigerian Governors Forum, senior citizens from across the country, and all his supporters. He commends the media and the human rights community for speaking out on the side of truth and justice.”

Kamarudeen OGUNDELE, Abuja within the precincts of the court to adjudicate upon.

Invoking Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act, the court said assuming jurisdiction on the matter would be most inappropriate as it would amount to a nullity.

“The appeal is allowed. The present suit at the Federal High Court is hereby struck out. The cross appeal is also struck out,” the judge said.

Sylva in the cross appeal had

asked the Supreme Court to invoke Section 22 of its Act so as to decide once and for all who the lawful candidate of the PDP is.

Adopting his written address at the last sitting, PDP’s counsel, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) argued that the issue raised by Sylva was pre-primaries, which “remains in the realm of internal affairs of the party, over which the court lacks jurisdiction.”

Besides, he argued that the complaint was against the action of the PDP, which could not be heard by a Federal High Court,

adding that “the action is not justiceable.”

But Sylva’s counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) maintained that the PDP conducted the primaries won by Dickson in disobedience to the suit which was already before a competent court.

He argued that “the PDP had submitted the first respondent’s name (Sylva) to INEC as candidate for the governorship election, which was later postponed.”

He submitted that the ruling party had no power to withdraw his nomination or substitute it after forwarding it to INEC, when the candidate had neither resigned nor died; the two circumstances upon which his nomination could be replaced.

Citing Sections 33 and 35 of the Electoral Act, Fagbemi argued that the Federal High Court had jurisdiction over the matter.

He drew a distinction between the case and that of Senator Yakubu Lado where the Supreme Court held that only the National Executive Council (NEC) or Board of Trustees of a party could decide which primary to recognise.

Fagbemi said, “in this case, there are no factions.The issue is: can they substitute? In this case, there is only one PDP. In CPC’s case, they were factionalised”.

•Continued on Page 6

THE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission yesterday condemned and rejected the Transitional National Council set up by the Guinea-Bissau military junta and 24 political parties to rule the country for the next two years.

According to a statement issued yesterday by the Communication Unit of ECOWAS, the commission insisted on the written undertaken the junta had issued to immediately step aside when a delegation of ECOWAS visited the country on April 16, 2012.

The statement reads: “The ECOWAS Commission has learnt with surprise the announced establishment of a socalled ‘Transitional National Council’ by the Military Command Junta and 24 political parties in Guinea Bissau to govern the country for a twoyear period.

“The Commission strongly condemns this illegal initiative, particularly after the Junta had given a written undertaking, following its meeting with a high-level ECOWAS delegation in Bissau on 16 April 2012, to step aside to pave the way for the immediate return to constitutional normality with the facilitation of ECOWAS. “The Commission wishes to reiterate its rejection of the usurpation of power by the military command, and to make it known that it will never recognise any transitional arrangement emanating from the junta.

“ECOWAS reiterates its commitment to the immediate restoration of constitutional order in Guinea Bissau, whose modalities constitute the focus of ongoing consultations with Bissau-Guinean stakeholders, and which shall also be discussed at an emergency summit next week.”

6 News

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Port Harcourt tragedy: Rocket from overflying Air Force jet destroys building, car A ROCKET from an overflying Nigerian Air Force (NAF) jet unexpectedly went off yesterday in Port Harcourt and destroyed a residential building and a Nissan Primera 2.0 SLX salon car.

No life was lost or injured, although the rear glass of the car was shattered.

Occupants of the house, which is still under construction, and others in the neighbourhood scampered to safety as the rocket exploded.

So strong was the impact of the explosion that it threw the car from where it was originally parked beside the house to the frontage.

The jet was on a preplanned/routine inspection when the rocket accidentally fell off its receptacle on the jet.

The damaged building is adjacent the popular St. Nicholas Anglican on Woji Road.

The owner of the damaged building, Mr. Eric Chioma, told The Nation that the incident occurred around 7 am.

It shook the house to its foundation and exposed some of the iron rod used for the decking.

The walls of the one-bedroom flat on the first floor hit by the rocket were damaged and only the metal railings on

•The car and building affected

Bisi OLANIYI, Port Harcourt the balcony stopped the floor from caving in.

Chioma said: “The building may collapse anytime from now. Only experts can determine the extent of damage. We want government to help us.

Appeal Court dismisses LP’s case

Marshall Abba Zannah), Rivers State Director of SSS (Segun Agbaje) and other top security officials later visited the scene. Men of the antibomb squad went away with the rocket.”

The Commander of the 92 Special Operations Group (SOG), Air Vice Marshall Abba Zannah, confirmed the inci-

dent.

Zannah, who briefed newsmen in company with Agbaje said the incident could be as a result of system failure (electrical/mechanical) or human error.

The Air Force chief said there was minimum damage to the building, with investigations ongoing, while the

outcome would assist the NAF to step up measures to prevent a re-occurrence.

Zannah, Indabawa and Agbaje also urged Rivers State residents to remain calm and go about their lawful businesses. He described the occurrence as rare and isolated.

Pension funds scandal: Bank Manager’s motherin-law, youth corps member paid N53.8m

•Continued from Page 4

Justice Pemu, in another judgment, dismissed an appeal filed

by LP’s candidate for Surulere II Federal Constituency, Prince Sunday Aderonmu.

LP and Aderonmu had appealed the tribunal’s dismissal of their petition because it exceeded 180 days, arguing that they were denied fair hearing.

Justice Pemu said: “It erases all borders of decency and rule of law to disregard a Supreme Court judgment.”

Besides, she said the appellants could not complain of lack of fair hearing when their petition was based on a “faulty foundation”, having lapsed.

According to her, the fact that the Court of Appeal is the final court for determination of House of Representatives appeals does not mean it is no longer subordinate to the Supreme Court.

“The decisions of the Supreme Court are sacrosanct and unimpeachable…To allow this appeal will be inviting anarchy in the judicial realm and terrain.

The appeal is hereby dismissed with N30,000 cost.”

Justice Pemu said the enactment on 180 days for conclusion of election petitions should be welcomed by everyone, including judges and lawyers, because of its many benefits, including removing the “helplessness” judges and petitioners faced in the past.

LP, in a six-page Notice of Appeal, had urged the appellate court to set aside the ruling of the tribunal and order it to con-

“When the rocket hit the building, people were shouting fire, fire, fire! We saw smoke coming out of the affected flat. Everywhere was vibrating. We are yet to recover from the shock.

“The Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, (Mohammed Indabawa), Air force Commander (Air Vice

•Continued from Page 5

•Mrs. Tinubu

clude hearing of its petition.

It contended that the facts in case between ANPP vs. Alhaji Muhammed Goni & others on which the Supreme Court based its decision were entirely different from the ones contained in its petition.

The party argued that by virtue of Section 246 of the Constitution its petition was not status-barred as both the earlier ruling of the tribunal and the order of the Court of Appeal were within the stipulated perioa of 180 days.

Besides, the party argued that the tribunal erred in law and totally misapplied the decision of the Supreme Court and thereby occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice.

It said it was wrong for the tribunal to use the Supreme Court’s decision as a reason to bury the right to appeal by aggrieved persons.

The tribunal had earlier fixed March 5 to deliver judgment on the petition, but it had to invite parties to appear in court for the judgment in view of the Supreme Court decision.

ance & OpRisk managers, it was confirmed that Pam Investment Properties has two (2) accounts– a current account. No. 04970030002472 and a domiciliary account No. 04970131001596.

The current account was discovered to have a turnover of about N560 million while the domiciliary account had $2,150,000.00.

“From our letter dated 24/5/ 2011(208),signed by Wakili Mohammed to UBA, and their response of 22/7/2011, signed by two Compliance & OpRisk managers, it was also discovered that the total sum of N500 million and $2 million USD were placed in fixed deposit in the two accounts respectively.

The EFCC have obtained an interim forfeiture order to secure the funds.

“Boniface further confessed that Pam Investment Properties accounts were opened by Mrs. Phina Chidi with an elderly woman’s passport photograph while Mrs. Chidi is the sole signatory to the accounts.

“The purported account owner was said to be Cecilia Maduagwuna, which is the same name Mrs. Chidi used in opening her personal account with Wema Bank Plc with her picture and forged driver’s licence on the account opening package. The total sum of N6,900,000.00 was discovered to have been transferred to Maduagwuna Cecilia’s account at Wema Bank Plc from Pam Investment Properties Ltd.”

On Anoruo, the EFCC said: “From a letter sent to Zenith Bank on 10/2/2011(211) & 4/10/ 2011(46), signed by Wakili Mohammed, following the analysis of the response from the bank on 24/2/2011, signed by John Olorundare and Chamberlain Okezie, it was discovered that his wife, Chioma Odum Anoruo, was paid the total sum of N9,414,350,00 as pension and gratuity from OHCSF, while the sum of N55,525,001.00 was paid to her company, Ossy Integrated Prints, for fictitious contracts and supplies. Chioma Odum Anoruo was invited to the Commission where she came and volunteered her statement under caution, which was recorded from time to time as the need arose from 29/3/2011 to 61412011 “From a letter sent to Zenith Bank on 10/2/2011(211) and 4/ 10/2011(46) signed by Wakili Mohammed, following the analysis of the response of the bank on 24/2/2011, signed by John Olorundare and Chamberlain Okezie, it was discovered that the mother-in-law, Grace Orieji Awa, was discovered to have fraudulently collected the total sum of N18,907,100.00 from 18th September, 2009 to 11th of February, 2010 (5 months) as pension and gratuity.

“Miss Chinwe Ezeh, who is a youth corper serving in Lagos as at May 2011, was also discovered to have collected the total sum of N8,539,332.09 from OHCSF as pension arrears and gratuity, while the total sum of

N13.8 million and N12.6 million were fraudulently paid to her companies, Challyview Enterprises and Chineze Nig Ltd respectively.

“Miss Chinwe Natsha Nweke Ezeh was invited to EFCC where she came and volunteered her statement under caution on 13/ 4/2011, confessing that Ikenna was the one who used the account for the fraudulent transactions.

On his part, Nwankwo was said to have been introduced to Mrs. Chidi by Boniface Jirbo where he was fraudulently paid the total sum of N49,412,417.88, using two (2) different bank accounts, as pension arrears and gratuity.

It said: “Out of the sum, it was discovered that Ngozi Ikeagota was fraudulently paid the total sum of N42,512,399.35 (N42.5 million) as pension arrears and gratuity from OHCSF, which she transferred the total sum of N39,703,000.00 back to Franklin through his account with USA account No. 00740520125987, while the remaining balance of N2,809,399.35 was left for Ngozi.

“Franklin was invited, where he came and volunteered his statement under caution on17/ 5/2011, confessing to have collected all the monies remitted to Ngozi Ikeagota and the ones passed through to him to Mrs. Chidi through Mr. Boniface Jibro who was said to have deposited same into Pam Investment Properties Ltd account. The mandates were discovered to have been confirmed by Dr. Sani Shaibu

Teidi.’’

Concerning Udusegbe Omoefe Eric, the EFCC said he conspired with Dr. Shaibu and Mrs. Chidi to launder N1,988,312,000. through fictitious companies and ghost pensioners.

The commission added: “From our letter sent to Oceanic Bank Plc dated 18/1/2011, signed

by Wakili Mohammed in respect of Gozinda Enterprises, Bashinta Nig. Ltd and Akpotehiri Otega, and following the bank’s response of 26/1/2011, signed

by Asmah Salami & Bisi Belio, it was discovered that the sum of N413,400,000.00, N393,000,000.00, N2,340,000.00 respectively was fraudulently paid to the above mentioned accounts from the OHCSF for fictitious contracts and supplies, while Akpotehiri Otega was paid pension arrears and gratuity.

“Two letters sent to Oceanic Bank on 10/5/2011 & 3/5/2011 (79) and 19/5/2011(92), signed

by David Iloyanomon and Wakili Mohammed respectively, which they responded to on 12/5/2011 and 20/5/2011 by two authorized signatories of the bank, revealed that the total sum of N384,162,000.00, N364,900,000.00 and N396,130,000.00 were fraudulently paid to the accounts of Haleath Enterprises, Uthathak Nig. Ltd and Krasiva Nig. Ltd respectively from the OHCSF for fictitious contracts and supplies.”

Fuel subsidy probe: Tension over plot against Speaker, Lawan, others •Continued from Page 5

He recalled an earlier decision in which it declared that the tenure of Sylva and four others ended on May 28, 2011, Fagbemi said the primary conducted in January 2011 and won by Sylva was the valid one and not the one conducted in November 2011 and won by Dickson.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had warned the PDP against conducting a fresh primary election.

In an exparte application by Sylva, Justice Gabriel Kolawole summoned the defendants to come and show cause why he should not grant all the reliefs sought.

Ignoring the warning, the PDP conducted the primary which produced Dickson as winner.

Following an appeal by the PDP and Dickson, the Court of Appeal, Abuja remitted the case back to the Federal High Court and asked the Chief Judge to assign the case to a new Judge.

The Appeal court, which agreed that the Judge overreached himself, however, rejected PDP’s contention that the court had no jurisdiction over a dispute arising from candidacy of a political party.

The Court held that Sylva was right in approaching the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop PDP

from conducting another primary for the purpose of selecting the party’s candidate for the next governorship election.

Dissatisfied, PDP and Sylva filed an appeal and cross appeal respectively at the Supreme Court.

Fagbemi (SAN), contended that ‘The Court of Appeal erred

in law when it held that the pronouncement of the learned trial Judge, which asked the Respondents to show cause and also warned the Respondents from taking any action.

He stated that “a court of law has a duty to protect the sanctity of its proceedings” and “a party cannot be allowed to foist a fait accompli on a court of law.”

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

9

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

I

start on a happy news that it is a good day for justice, corruption and development in the world as we know it today and I hope I infect you with my upbeat mood as we go on. In Libya the government of the day told the International Court of Justice-ICC-that the late Muammar Gaddafi’s son Salif who was a lesson in impunity during the long reign of his father, would not be handed to the ICC but will be tried in Libya. Just as the British got assurance from the Jordanian authority that it would not use torture to get evidence from the fiery Islamic cleric that the British wanted deported but which the European Court had ruled against, on the same grounds. But in Norway a man who confessed to killing 77 youths in cold blood told those trying him that he would do it again and that he should either be jailed or given the death penalty.

Furthermore this week, a UK Court sentenced the former governor of Delta state in Nigeria James Ibori to a 13 -year jail term and the British prosecutors were happy and enthused that they have sent a clear signal to those who plunder the treasuries of developing nations that they would not henceforth have safe sanctuary for their loot in the UK. Also in selecting a new Managing Director of the World Bank the Bank’s Board picked the US nominee as expected. Yet in picking Jim Yong Kim they picked a man who reports claim has been fighting for poverty alleviation and development all his life and I want to see why anyone should quarrel with that , especially in our part of the world.

Going back to the Salif Gaddafi trial in Libya one can console the ICC that it should not lose sleep over the refusal of the Libyan authorities to ensure that they deal with the trial at home.

The ICC has already made its mark in the trials of Sloban Milosevic of Serbia who died while on trial at the Hague and Charle Taylor of Liberia still on trial there.

In addition, the ICC should find a way urgently too to bring in and consummate its warrant of arrest for the present President of Sudan Omar Bashir for genocide and crimes against humanity committed at Darfur.

This is because Omar Bashir has started a new round of war mongering against South Sudan by announcing that he would liberate the people of South Sudan from their leadership over the seized oil region of Hizlig.

ICC should leave Salif in the hands of his nation and countrymen because they are capable as a sovereign nation to try Salif for his impunity and past legal misdeeds and he will get the justice he deserves, just as the Nazis did at the Nurenberg Trials after the Second World War. In the UK, the deportation of Abu Qatada said to be an influential extremist terrorist preacher who has refugee status in Britain from Jordan where he fled, is creating some legal ripples on human rights and creating a clash between the European Courts on Human Rights –ECHR and the UK. Abu Qatada’s lawyers have appealed the deportation order but the British government said it is going ahead as the appeal

Leadership, politics and sportsmanship

was filed outside the three months deadline and has written a letter in this regard. But the ECHR has said the appeal is within the deadline and would be processed.

The British Home Secretary Theresa May has made contacts with the Jordanian authorites who have confirmed that they have firmed up their laws on torture and would give Abu Qatada a fair trial. The British government is not resting on its oars to show that the ECHR is unwittingly using the law on human rights to protect terrorists and has called conference of 47 EU nations to discuss the backlog of over 1500 cases with the ECHR and find ways to overhaul the Court to face new legal challenges. UK PM David Cameron in particular wants the Conference to limit the ability of the ECHR to overturn cases already determined by national courts as in the Abu Qatada case.

Which to me is a step in the right direction as the ECHR right now is like a dinosaur or stumbling block in the fast track of making the law catch up on terrorists in Europe and the UK. Again the issue of human rights resonates sickeningly in the trial of Anders Behring Breivik in Oslo Sweden. Breivik killed 69 people at a ruling Labor Party youth camp in Utoeya in Norway last year. At his ongoing trial in Norway he was given five days to address the Court and his handcuffs re-

moved as he did so. His lawyers insist it is his right to say his side of the matter.

Breivik has shown no remorse and has asked to be given the death penalty or released as the purported 21 year maximum sentence he would get will according to him be ‘ ridiculous’. He said he acted to protect the de Christianisation of Europe and is against Immigration and Multiculturalism as practiced in Europe especially by the Labor Party in Norway. He said he did not expect to be alive after the shootings. To me his trial is lesson in how to make an ass of the law. Given the severity of his actions he should have faced a court martial and sent to the gallows summarily . In the old Wild West of the US a posse would have hung him on a tree as a lesson to his likes. In Lagos a mob would have used petrol to skin him alive. But in the sedate court room in Norway a confessed mass murderer mocks his accusers and ridicules the memory of his unlucky and uprotected victims.

A great day you may say for human rights and justice - but a very bad and sad one for humanity, the sanctity of human life and an unforgettable mockery and vulgarization of the rule of law in modern society.

Yet, every cloud has a silver lining even in this macabre legal trial and travesty of justice in Norway. The judiciary in Norway should ensure that this

cold blooded murderer of innocent youths will spend the maximum 21 years in jail as stipulated by Norway’s feeble legal system which they think is reformative but is no more than an invitation to anarchy and lunatic ventures and insecurity at the expense of innocent law abiding citizens.

In the UK again the long arm of the law caught up with James Ibori the former governor of Delta state as he was jailed by the Southwark Crown Court in London for 13 years for fraud and corruption charges. According to the presiding Judge Pitts-During those two terms as governor you turned yourself in very short order indeed into a multimillionaire through corruption. The figure may be in excess of 200 million pounds, it is difficult to tell . The confiscation proceedings may shed more light on the enormity of the sums involved. ‘In all, the court in London sentenced Ibori and his collaborators including wife, girlfriend, sister, lawyer and others to a cumulative jail term of 43 years in prison .

The Ibori Corruption Express Train that crashed in a London Court is a potent lesson on the nature and magnitude of corruption and bribery in governance in Nigeria. It is a disgrace to the Nigerian nation state and its citizenry. It has soured the sovereign reputation of our country in the business and investment communities of the world and has damaged

our democratic credentials as a nation and people who have respect for the democratic values and ideals of transparenc, accountability, integrity and plain honesty in the conduct of human affairs. But for the fact that the trial took place offshore or abroad, there was no way Ibori would have been convicted in Nigeria which too is a national calamity.

Certainly, there are many real and budding Iboris still in power and office planning how they will not be similarly caught pants down but Ibori’s exposure and disgrace in a foreign land gives hope that the monster of corruption can still be shackled and contained as it is impossible to eliminate what has become a way of life in governance and a political culture in Nigeria . The Ibori sentencing is like the success of the ICC in bringing way ward and blood testy former presidents and heads of states to trial in the Hague which has become a deterrent for impunity and has restrained even military coup plotters such as the ones in Mali recently.

Next, let me applaud the choice of the new MD of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim and congratulate the Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo Iweala for her challenge. At least it is part of her credentials now that she was considered for the post of the MD of the World Ban. However it is to those who think that the new American MD elect is less qualified than our Ngozi that I want to say a few things. Some have said that the new World Bank MD elect Jim Yong Kim – JYK- is a medical person whereas our minister is a consummate economist and Harvard Phd. I therefore set out to find out about the new World Bank MD and I just want to share the information.

First I listened to a BBC interview where he was asked how he would cope with the world of finance as a medical person and JYK replied that as a physician he is trained to act

on evidence to cure his patients and he would apply the same approach in his new calling in finance. He said he would look at the evidence and structure of each environment and make his decisions on each manner of evidence. Is this not a fresh breath of clean financial air and a new way of looking for financial solutions? Instead of the current global budget and fiscal reforms that pauperise nations and raise prices of fuel and basic necessities beyond the ordinary man, which is the present modus operandi of the IMF and World Bank from where our Ngozi has come twice now to teach us?

The new World Bank MD to me brings the credentials of compassion and innovation into his new office. He is credited as introducing methods that create poverty alleviation and making drugs and medicine cheaper and affordable for poor people suffering from HIV aids in the WHO and has helped earthquake victims in this way survive in Haiti and Peru. In a new learning world of diversified intellectualism JYK was among the first enrollees at Harvard ‘s MD /Ph D programme in the Social Sciences. He was a lecturer at Harvard Medical School eventually holding professorships in Medicine ,Social Medicare and Human Rights.

More importantly I read a report by Mark Weisbat of the Center for Policy and Research in Washington on the new World Bank MD elect . According to Weisbat–‘There is just no comparison between him and any of the prior World Bank presidents. The others were political insiders. They spent most of their lives getting rich or becoming politically powerful or worse. Kim by contrast has spent most of his life trying to improve the lives of poor people‘. That really is what the World Bank needs right now to help developing nations and it does not matter to me whether Dr Jim Yong Kim comes from the moon , the US or even my own Nigeria.

10 COMMENTARY

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

When Kim’s water was thicker than Okonjo-Iweala’s blood

T

WO years ago, my son returned from school and threw a teaser. "Dad, what is the full meaning of OBAMA?" he asked with a mischievous smile that told me he already knew I didn't have the answer. Not willing to be humiliated by an eight-year-old boy, I told him Obama was neither an abbreviation nor an acronym, but the surname of the President of the United States of America.

"I know that, Dad," he said. "Obama is somebody's name, but it has a fuller meaning. Since I did not have the faintest idea of what that could possibly be, I decided it was no use hazarding a guess "I don't know it," I admitted, asking him to tell me the answer.

"Very simple," he said as his wry smile turned into full laughter. "OBAMA means Original Black African Made in America!"

Anyone who is familiar with Barack Obama's family background would not fault this ingenious contraption from his name. The American president has his direct roots in the East African country of Kenya where his polygamous father was born and bred before he went on a study expedition to Hawaii, USA to become an economist. But not a few Nigerians have expressed doubts about the originality of his 'Africaness' after the role he played in the emergence of a new President for the World Bank.

The contest for the coveted seat of the chief executive of the World Bank had been a straight fight between Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a thoroughbred Nigerian economist who had worked with the supranational organisation for 20 years and rose to become one of its managing directors, and Jim Yong Kim, a Korean American known more for his exploits in health matters, particularly the battle against the dreaded HIV/AIDS. To the chagrin of

T

HOSE who know you very well would testify to all that care to hear that you are a good man, perhaps outspoken and a bit rough around the edges but a very good and dependable man. Well educated, widely travelled and extremely humble by disposition. You are indeed a Christian leader that is worthy of note. Reading in-between the lines of your last interview, it was not too difficult to detect the anguish and sorrow of a heavy heart that has suffered great loss.

As an indigene of Kaduna State, your eyes have seen diverse changes through the decades and witnessed your own fair share of persecution through the years, but nothing could have prepared you for the dastardly, wicked and abominable acts that are being perpetrated in your beloved city. Like all other Christian leaders in Kaduna State, your mind cannot but be besieged by the many questions that follow the traumatic experience of great sorrow.

Especially the nagging questions that assail the mind uninvited to cast a dark cloud of blame as to what leadership could have done to prevent the death of the innocent. This is a part of the burden of leadership and those whose heads have carried the crown know this by experience.

As a close friend who has been with your people through many trying times in the past, it would be unspeakable for me not to lend my voice to the chorus of commiseration because of the fatalities recorded in the last bombing. The carnage and destruction could have been worse but for divine intervention. We all would like to assure you that the bombings will never be repeated ever again, but the sober reality of this hour restrains us. Instead of effusing optimistic liberty that is not grounded in truth, we would want to encourage

many of our countrymen, Obama chose to support the Korean against a fellow African woman. The distraught Nigerians cannot stop wondering why, all things considered, Obama would prefer the candidacy of Kim to that of Okonjo-Iweala.

They wonder what has become of the saying that blood is thicker than water.

They found it even more annoying that Kim's selection was done by executive directors of the bank, some of whom had worked with Okonjo-Iweala all their lives.

Okonjo-Iweala, they reasoned, had not only proved her mettle as an official of the World Bank, but also as Nigeria's Minister of Finance during the Obasanjo administration when she championed the payment of $12 billion out of the $30 billion debt the nation owed the Paris Club and also got the creditor nations to cancel the remaining $18 billion Nigeria owed them.

With the foregoing, I personally don't believe that Obama decision not to support Okonjo-Iweala had anything to do with incompetence. If sentiments are discarded, no one would fault the intimidating

P

records of Kim as a leader of repute. He is not only the current president of Dartmouth College, he is also a co-founder of Partners in Health and former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation. Before assuming Dartmouth's presidency, he was a professor at the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He also served as chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital and director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Centre for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kim was named one of "America's 25 Best Leaders" by the US News and World Report in 2005, and was selected as one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2006, among other honours.

Obama's lack of support for OkonjoIweala could have derived from the lead-

ership failure that has been the lot of Nigeria since the country returned to democratic governance in 1999. As would be seen in his decision to snub Nigeria and visit Ghana during his first official visit to Africa after he was elected the president of America, Obama has seized every opportunity to tell us as the supposed giant of Africa and most populous black nation in the world that he would have nothing to do with us until our leaders have shown some seriousness in the art of governance.

Incidentally, Okonjo-Iweala has been a major actor as the Minister of Finance during the Obasanjo administration when the pump price of fuel was raised 11 times without an improvement in the nation's infrastructure and the people's standard of living. She has also been at the forefront of the bid by the Jonathan government to totally remove the purported subsidy on fuel when the increase of the pump price of fuel from N65 per litre to N97 is yet to make any impact on the people's lives.

It's not over for Ibori, after all

OLITICAL jobbers and hangers-on can celebrate. Ibori's fate is not as bad as it has seemed, after all. Contrary to the clamour in many quarters that he desrved nothing less than life imprisonment, given the enormity of his money-laundering activities, the court in Southwark, London sentenced him to only 13 years imprisonment.

And he will only spend four and a half of the 13 years and become a free man again.

Those who think that Ibori's political career would be ruined by his prison adventure missed the point by a wide margin. Such ignorant minds would need to be told that Ibori, Nigeria's de facto president during the administration of the late Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua, is not a Nigerian within the bounds of law as far as this clime is concerned.

If he were, he would be rotting in jail in those years that he held the Aso Rock captive, bestrode the nation's political landscape like a colossus and junketed the globe like the famous Ajala.

Those were the days the Farinda Waziri-

led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission thought they could do him in with the 170-count charge they filed against him in court. But what happened? The discredited former Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, who saw himself first and last as Ibori's defender-in-chief, caused a high court to be instituted in Asaba and appointed solely for Ibori. The court quashed all the 170 charges against Ibori and declared him as clean as a hound's tooth.

If Ibori could cause the law to be altered for his sake then, he surely can do it again if he chooses to return to Nigeria at the end of his prison term. Forget about what the statute books are saying about an ex-prisoner not being eligible to contest an election into a public office. All the astute politician would need to do is to cash in on the desperation with which some current occupants of public offices at the centre will seek to hold on to power beyond 2015. He should openly declare his support for them through his agents

and roll out trailer loads of money to support their campaigns like he did in the days of Yar'Adua. Before he knows it, his status will change from that of an ex-convict to a mentor. For his sake, the National Assembly could be prevailed upon to reconsider the law against ex-convicts. In that circumstance, Ibori could yet become a presidential candidate in 2019 when he, his wife and his mistress must have completed their jail terms in London.

Luckily for him, his cousin successor at the Government House, Asaba has done enough to prove his loyalty with the delegation the Delta State Government dispatched to London to express solidarity with Ibori on Tuesday. It is enough sign that the sums seized from Ibori and returned to the Delta State Government will be intact by the time he comes out of prison. Who says the counterwar against anti-corruption campaign is not succeeding?

Reader’s view Epistle to Dr. Kujyat and Kaduna Christians Ladi THOMPSON yourself and all other Christian leaders in the besieged city of Kaduna to rise above the darkness of the hour to face this real and present danger with great courage.

The blood of the innocent and the cries of widows and orphans demand outstanding levels of leadership from the Christian Vanguard of Kaduna State.

There is an urgent need for a closing of all ranks against the enemies of progress both in Kaduna and every other state in Nigeria. The hour calls for consensus building in Christian leadership so that we can deploy all forces within our arsenal against this dark tide. In the history of every nation, tribe or people, there are pivotal moments when the strength or weakness of leadership will make or break and this could be that hour for Kaduna State. If the leadership pattern of our exemplar Jesus Christ is anything to go by, this is the moment when all hatchets must be buried for the greater good to prevail.

This is the season of great sacrifice and we dare not stoop to the depths of fleshly rancor to acerbate divisions in our ranks, lest the enemies of progress rejoice. Left to those behind the bombings neither the Kaduna State chapter of the CAN nor the Northern CAN would be in existence! The maxim for the moment dictates “those who are not against us are for us”. We must all keep it in mind that we will all account for our stewardship one day. No matter the length or tenure of our

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You are indeed a Christian leader that is worthy of note.

Reading in-between the lines of your last interview, it was not too difficult to detect the anguish and sorrow of a heavy heart that has suffered great loss

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leadership, the terms will not last forever.

Even those who are sponsoring the dastardly bombings will not live forever and they too will appear before the judgment seat of the Almighty God to give an account of the evils they have chosen to perpetrate in their lifetime. The spiritual compass point marked by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ continues to be our assurance that these dark days will not last forever. There will be an ultimate defeat of evil not only in Kaduna, but also all over the nations of the world. Until that

day of total triumph, we will stand together in unity to resist the devil.

It was my intention to write you privately as our custom is, but it did occur to me that the trials that we are facing in Kaduna might be duplicated in a few other places before the victory trumpet is heard and many others in Christian leadership could learn a thing or two from our discourse. History teaches us that Sophronius was the Patriarch of Jerusalem in November 636 when the city was besieged by Arab troops. After four months of resistance, he offered to surrender and pay jizya on the condition that Caliph Umar would come in person to receive the surrender. When Caliph Umar rode triumphant into Jerusalem in April 637 it is reported that many Christian divisions as well as the Jews cheered him in as a liberator from oppression. Things could not have turned out otherwise because “A kingdom divided against it self cannot stand” just as a can full of holes cannot retain water!

Consensus building requires great humility, but we trust that God will always provide whatever is needful for all those in leadership. Our CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, sends again his regards and his prayers are with all the churches and citizens of Kaduna State. His heart is greatly enlarged towards you all and cares very much about your safety and wellbeing.

Rev. Thompson is Special Adviser to CAN President on Conflict Resolution & Terrorism

‘You need a ‘You large heart to large pick babies from pick the dustbin’ dustbin’

LIFE & STYLE / 41

0-21

How four kids, grandfather died in Anambra

Thriller/ 2

INTERVIEW/ 54-55

‘It is not just medicare, there are Nigerians who go abroad to dry-clean their clothes’

Generator fume tragedy

Weekend

PEOPLE THE NATION, Saturday, APRIL 21, 2012

Relat io

nship

11

Late Favour

l a t n e m s ' a i r Libe s i s i r c h t l a e h

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

•Inmates at the defunct Holy Ghost Mental Home, popularly called “Camp Crazy,” in Toepe Village.

Liberia’s mental health crisis

Olatunji OLOLADE, Assistant Editor

D

IMPLES bowed shyly like a wet swan. It was his umpteenth bow astride splinters of glass out-thrust from a stone ledge. His frazzled cheeks swelled and tapered off into white whirlpools of spittle forming around his moustache. Downwards, his manhood dangled perilously close to the tip of the out-thrust glass. And just before he collapsed to sit on the ledge, he paused, causing his manhood to dangle dangerously above the shards of glass. Then he stared up to grin maniacally at his audience.

Dimples is a tease. Especially “when he is in a good mood,” revealed Roosa, a bun seller at the junction where Sinkor district veers off into Congo Town. Roosa thinks Dimples would be better off living in another “Camp crazy” (a psychiatric home) although his family thinks otherwise. According to her, “the poor boy lost his head at the beginning of last year. He just started to go crazy…just like that. They took him to that Grant home for the crazy…in Paynesville but he got too crazy for his folks to handle. They couldn’t get him through the gates. So they brought him back home…the boy’s been crazy from the very bad things he did during the war.

That is what I tell people, you know; everybody gets his own. You never get to go unpunished,” she said.

Roosa thinks Dimples suffers for “everything he did” as a child soldier with the

Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) during the war that devastated Liberia for 14 years.

“That crazy boy,” she claimed, “raped a lot of women and poor girls. He spared no one.

He raped three of his friends’ mothers and sisters. And those are the ones we know of,” said Roosa.

Nobody knows Dimples’ side to the story but almost every resident familiar with his story believes Roosa’s story and more often than not, a colourful variation of it. Eighteen months on since he took to the streets, Dimples’ antics no longer attracts the awe and interest of neighbourhood adults and kids. He does not feel their condescending smile when he walks naked nor does he feel it when he does his manic dance.

Far from Dimples’ lair in Congo Town, Matthias, another former child soldier, in early adulthood crouched in a corner of the only functional psychiatric home in Liberia, the E.S. Grant Mental Health Hospital, Duport Road, Paynesville, Monrovia.

The deep lacerations on his wrists and ankles are a result of his past antics which had in the past edged him to the brink of death. According to a nurse with the hospital, his family, having been terrified by his rages had tied him up for days. Somehow, he managed to escape from their Rafiki Village residence, Lower Margibi County. He was found two days later snorting crack and a variant of gun powder in Monrovia’s Redlight district.

Matthias’ case, diagnosed as acute psychosis, is not unusual for ES Grant and its increasingly busy out-patients department.

Whatever troubled him was accentuated by alcohol and hard drugs, according to the hospital’s nursing director.

Pale, wiry and extremely hyperactive, Matthias was irritable and aggressive when

•An inmate sticks his hand out of his cell at “Camp Crazy”

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•Former child soldiers were recruited to act in the movie, Johnny Mad Dog, an expose on the brutal impact of the Liberian civil war on child soldiers in the country

That crazy boy... raped a lot of women and poor girls. He spared no one. He raped three of his friends’ mothers and sisters. And those are the ones we know...

he arrived at ES Grant. He was expected to spend two weeks in the hospital on a cocktail of sedatives to help him rest and detox, and group counseling sessions on alcohol and drug abuse. Although he is spending his third week, Matthias’ condition has remarkably improved.

Nine years since the end of the civil war, Liberia is still struggling to survive the trauma of the conflict but with a barely acceptable healthcare sector, it is a struggle for those affected by the fighting.

The civil war flipped Liberian society inside out. It tore across ethnic, socio-political, economic and religious boundaries, leaving over 250,000 people dead, at least another 300,000 injured or maimed and more than a million displaced, Seventy-five percent of the female population including children, suffered sexual violence, particularly gang rape.

More harrowing were the forced recruitments. Rival rebel forces marched through Monrovia and the countryside recruiting civilian kids forcefully into causes they couldn’t really understand. The line between harmless civilian and revolutionary warlord blurred frequently, and made the threat of violence a permanent nightmare. People, particularly women and children, were often forced to switch allegiances depending

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on which armed group controlled their area. Of the few who escaped and attempted to steal back into society, many were captured and re-conscripted days later.

Very few Liberians survived all this with few psychological side effects and a great deal more live in the vicious grip of painful memories of their war-ravaged past.

With only one practising psychiatrist, a handful of support staff and a mental health clinic for a country of 3.5 million people, treatment remains out of reach to most.

“There are a lot of people suffering,” stated Rodney Presley, Director and Lead Administrator, E.S. Grant Mental Health Hospital. According to him, “Majority of those who witnessed and perpetrated atrocities of any kind are still frequently having flashbacks. It’s excruciating on their psyche. Consequently, many of them resort to drug use to forget and deal with their pains,” he said.

The memories, according to Myles Estey, a media trainer and multi-media expert, are as grotesque as they are appalling: child soldiers bolstered by the AK-47s they cradle; Death Angels, Black Diamonds and the Butt Naked Brigade blazing into battle, doped-up, virtually naked but for their boots; motley units patrolling in fright

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

wigs, makeup and frilly dresses; cannibalism; chainsaw-wielding units; hotspots patented with human heads and innards strung across the road, he stated.

Today, such episodes are recollected nonchalantly. Countless civilians were exposed to a level of brutality beyond that of the average war. Its lasting effect on the minds of the population, however, remains largely uncharted territory.

Liberia’s 1989-2003 conflict left a population bearing both physical and emotional scars of the ruinous war and decimated the infrastructure that could help them. Experts calculate that over half the population of 3.5 million have psychological problems, 80 percent of them war-related, often the legacy of rape and the conscription of 21,000 children, some as young as nine, who were used as soldiers or sex slaves.

High-profile attention has been given to the use of child soldiers. The award-winning 2008 film, Johnny Mad Dog, set in an unnamed African country, used one time Liberian child soldiers to recreate the life of boys taken from their families, fed crack and handed AK47 rifles.

The film was showcased at United Nations headquarters in New York, but the story it did not tell was the shocking aftermath on such youngsters shorn of their innocence and their families. The following case provides a vivid illustration: In 1998, during Liberia’s civil war, teenage rebels surrounded a family and, at gunpoint, ordered the husband to sleep with daughters, while his son was ordered to sleep with his wife. His son refused and was immediately shot in the head at close range. However, when the father refused, he wasn’t killed instantly, rather he was ordered to dig a hole in the ground and start mating with the earth. The pain was of course, unbearable to him and he stopped when the skin completely peeled off his penis. At that point, he was also shot in the head at close range. In abject desperation to preserve her life and their two daughters,

the wife offered herself and her elder daughter, a 13-year-old as the teenage rebels’ sex slaves. After taking turns on the widow and her elder daughter, they took them back to their camp “near Voinjama” as hostages.

Three months later, the woman escaped with her younger daughter as the elder one refused to go with her. “She said she didn’t want to be with me. My poor girl; she had tasted the forbidden apple. She didn’t come with me”.

Her name is Matilda Nsolehg and eventually, she lost her younger daughter to “very strong fever and disease.” Nsolehg never knew the whereabouts of her elder daughter until December 2011 when her lifeless body was discovered in an abandoned house widely known as a drug parlour and transaction venue for gunrunners.

Liberia has been a focal point of international aid ever since a peace deal, backed by West African peacekeepers and United States forces, brought the civil war to an official end in 2003. United Nations’ signature white trucks are everywhere, as are the barricaded checkpoints that mark the entrance to major towns. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) strategise inside walled, razor-wired compounds. Bombed, shelled and burnedout areas remain even as shiny new buildings pop up haughtily with corporate insignias.

Meredith Polvish, an aid worker and volunteer cautioned that Liberia’s infrastructure development won’t do much to heal psychological wounds. According to her, a burgeoning economy and impressive infrastructure development hardly indicates if someone is psychically okay or incensed by feelings of revenge, she stressed.

To deal with such issues, Polvish recommended a more comprehensive version of individualised care and a lot of patience.

Reconstruction groups, NGOs and donor agencies, she advised, should exercise greater patience and avoid tailoring their rehabilitation efforts to conform to quanti-

•Women and girls weren’t accorded special treatment at “Camp Crazy”

fiable goals and deadlines. Psychological troubles, she noted, should never be handled in a hurry. The UN-led Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation (DDRR) process, for example, was fairly effective from 2003 to 2005 at getting weapons out of the hands of fighters, but it did barely enough to ease the persistent psychosocial needs of Liberia’s ex-combatants.

There was never enough time. Reintegration essentially meant having ex-combatants trade in weapons for cash, while trying to make amends with victims they spent years maiming, raping and slaughtering. This type of instant approach overlooked the fact that inadequate counseling in post-conflict societies can significantly hinder reconstruction efforts.

According to Dr. Benjamin Harris, Liberia’s lone psychiatrist, Liberians have lived through many years of war and the country is still a very angry society. “People are still very tense. These are things we need to recognise in order to understand certain behaviours.”

Harris cites a recent study that surveyed 1,600 Liberian households. The study “showed that 43 percent of the population met diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and up to 40 percent meet the diagnostic criteria for major de-

pressive illnesses.” Apply this number to 3.5 million people, and the amount in need of treatment is staggering.

Challenges of mental healthcare in Liberia Major challenges to mental healthcare in the country, according to Presley, include lack of qualified mental health professionals in the country. Presley revealed there is only one qualified Liberian psychiatrist in the country, “and he is supposed to serve 3.5 million people. So because of that, we have had to begin training of mid-level professionals like nurses and nursing assistants to do the work psychiatrists do.

We are doing this with the assistance of the United States-based Carter Centre. So far, the centre has trained 39 mid-level professionals who can prescribe medications, counsel and conduct group therapy.”

“We do not have adequate funding for mental health. Currently, the country’s Ministry of Health has no provisions for mental healthcare. The ministry makes no allocation to mental healthcare in the country,” he said.

Presley stressed that a greater percent•Continued on Page 22

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

‘Why Igbo cannot leave Kano because of Boko Haram’

•Hon. Ogbu

Sanni ONOGU Ibekwe said. He added that there was never a time the indigenes of Kano sat down and decided to “drive us away or to start killing our people. What is happening today in Kano is strange to all of us both indigenes and non-indigenes.”

He said the relocation threat by Boko Haram which was later re-echoed by certain elements in the South East should not be accorded any modicum of credibility. He said since the Boko Haram gunfire and killings were indiscriminate, it was the duty of all to rise up to the occasion. “We cannot say we are not non-indigenes because we have what we call Non-Indigenes Leaders Association in Kano, of which I am the vicepresident.

“Now, when you look at the whole

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The other time when the thing happened, we have disgruntled elements in our midst; they capitalised on that, saying that the Igbo should leave Kano and that Ohanaeze had decided that all the Igbo should leave Kano. It was a wrong insinuation because I was present at the South East Governors Forum meeting when a decision was taken in Igbo land. All the leaders were there. In fact, I was the first to speak at that meeting to tell them of the situation in Kano...

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N spite of widespread fears that the lives of other tribes living in the Northern part of the country, especially Kano, Yobe and Borno states are in grave danger following purported threats by the Boko Haram Islamic sect and threats urging them to return to their respective states or face dire consequences, most non-indigenes resident in those states are hell bent on staying put.

Most of them who have lived all their lives in these cities see such calls as nonsense.

“Why do you want us to leave when some of us were born and bred here?” asked the Eze Ndigbo of Kano, His Highness, Igwe (Dr.) Boniface Ibekwe (Ide 1), who spoke to our reporter, who visited the city recently.

Dr. Ibekwe, who said he has spent over 40 years in the Centre of Commerce, said he has witnessed various social political upheavals dressed in religious garb in the city in the past. He noted that the Boko Haram imbroglio is not only targeted at dismembering the nation but a grandiose design to scuttle the peace and unity of the country. He said it was the duty of all to rise up and fight the reprehensible and cancerous circumstances being orchestrated by the extremist group.

According to him, the other tribes, especially the Igbo, residing and doing business in Kano State, have confidence in the security measures put in place by the federal and Kano State governments to stop the Boko Haram bombardment and restore peace and order necessary for businesses to thrive.

“In Kano today, we are facing security challenges but at the same time, this is not the first time. I have been in Kano for over 40 years and I know the situation in Kano,”

situation, what is affecting the Igbo man is affecting the Yoruba man. It is affecting Ijaw man; it is affecting Hausa man in Kano State and so many other tribes. As a result of that, it is a collective responsibility of all of us to see that we stop all these on-going killings.

“The other time when the thing happened, we have disgruntled elements in our midst; They capitalised on that, saying that the Igbo should leave Kano and that Ohanaeze had decided that all the Igbo should leave Kano. It was a wrong insinuation because I was present at the South East Governors Forum meeting when a decision was taken in Igbo land. All the leaders were there. In fact, I was the first to speak at that meeting to tell them of the situation in Kano,” the traditional ruler stated.

Although, he described the present security in some states in the North and, especially Kano as serious, he said the actions of the government have helped to boost their confidence that things would not degenerate further.

“I am happy that you people are in Kano and you can see so many of our people,” he said.

“They are doing their businesses. Things are normalising. Although what has happened in Kano is a serious issue but with the government in Kano today, we are confident that it will be over because the government did not support what is happening and their actions have proved to us that they really mean to safeguard us security-wise.”

He said the decision of the Igbo and other tribes not to abandon their houses and businesses in the face of the precarious situation was based on the antecedents of Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso during his first tenure.

“I could recall that when Kwankwaso was the governor of Kano during his first tenure, there were so many crises in Kaduna. That was when this sharia issue started,” he stated, adding, “It is unbelievable that all what has happened in Kaduna, I can tell you authoritatively that that thing did not affect anybody in Kano because of what the governor did.

“He stood his ground and told us that we should not go anywhere that he was going to protect lives and property and he did it. Now this one, I know that there are some people who are behind it but they are failing in the sense that what they were trying to do is to destabilise this country entirely and I can say that since (Goodluck) Jonathan took over government, we did elections peacefully.

Suddenly, there was crisis.

“So many people were killed; so many property were destroyed. No reason was given. Even though there was no name that was given to those people that did it but we know that it is the same thing. It is the same people who don’t want us to live in peace. But I thank God, we are in Kano.”

He said the Igbo and the other tribes would

remain in Kano and collaborate with the state government to redeem the situation.

He added: “I have already called my people, I told them they should not go anywhere. We are Igbo of Kano. We will live here and salvage it together. The other day I was in the Emir’s Palace, I told him we are not going anywhere because we have a lot of investments here.

“Look at my house, I have so many in Kano and I am still investing because this is our country. When I went to the East, I addressed the Hausa Community. I remember Alhaji Suleiman, he is in Enugu, he has been there for over 30 years.

“He has investments there too. What I am saying in effect is that in Kano, peace is returning gradually and we are overcoming what is happening because of the leadership, because of the governor, because of the Emir and because of some of us who know the role we should play so that there would be peace.”

He commended the security agencies for being out to protect the people and being alive to their responsibilities. He urged the Boko Haram sect and their sponsors to sheathe their swords because they cannot exterminate everybody and expect to have a country. He noted that peace is gradually returning to the troubled city while business activities are daily improving, but he lamented that the process was slow due to the ferocious nature of the attacks.

“I want to use this opportunity to commend the security agencies. They have done a lot because even there is anything happening, if you call them, immediately you will see them.

So we have confidence in them. They are trying.

“I want to appeal to these people who are doing all these things to stop it because if they have a policy to implement, when they kill everybody, who are they are going to implement the policy for? Nobody! Peace is returning to Kano and business is returning but not as fast as we expect because a lot of things have happened,” he stated.

President-General of the United Ethnic Democratic Forum and Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor on Intercommunity Relations (Igbo), Hon. Chukwuma Ogbu, said many who fled the city during the crisis left out of fear. He said most of them have started returning having seen the determination of the state government to protect everybody in Kano.

Ogbu said: “People are already coming back.

The population of people that left was not that much. It was just out of fear but as we keep on encouraging them, they stayed and others have started coming back. Let me say that His Excellency (the governor) has done perfectly well in the area of security arrangements. Most of the attacks did not take place in Sabon Gari area.

“When this thing happened, we held a meeting with the governor and I told him that our people need adequate protection. His Excellency really did something great to my surprise.

“When His Excellency, Rochas Okorocha came (Imo State governor), he still placed emphasis on it while discussing with the Kano State governor. He told him that he has seen that what they were hearing back in the East is far from the truth. What I am saying is that to a great extent, measures have been taken to secure everybody in Kano State not for just the settlers.

“I want to let you know that this issue of Boko Haram is not a state issue, it is a national issue.

It is an issue that has to do with the unity of this country over which all must come together and fight. What we have seen is that the Boko Haram group is the one responsible for this havoc and not the Hausa or Fulani.”

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

My husband died fasting for pregnant patient, says widow of slain Lagos medical doctor •Children demand justice

•Grace, the widow

F

ORTYthreeyear -old Mrs. G r a c e Adegboyega was not in the least prepared for widowhood, but she became one after gunmen shot her husband dead last Easter Monday.

The gruesome murder of Dr. S a m u e l Adegboyega after his assailants had dragged him out of his Olaleye Clinic around 6am on April 9, 2012, came as a rude shock to residents of Ogundele Street, Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos, where the hospital is located.

Policemen from the Abattoir Police Division were said to have stormed the scene shortly after the incident and arrested two nurses for interrogation. The case, according to the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Joseph Jaiyeoba, was

•The late Dr. Adegboyega

“Around 6.30 am on the day of the incident, three men went to the clinic, pretending to be patients. They held the nurses on duty hostage and demanded to see the doctor. Immediately they saw him, they opened fire on him. The three of them then hurriedly left the scene before policemen could get there,” explained a source who pleaded anonymity for security reasons.

It was gathered that two days before the incident, a woman had been delivered of a baby girl at the hospital, but the child’s mother died shortly after. The husband of the woman was said to have accused the late medical doctor of

•...two of the deceased’s children “complicity” in the death of his wife, threatening not to take the matter easy with the late medical doctor.

When our correspondent visited the Esther Owoyemi Street, OkoOba, Agege residence of the deceased, scores of sympathisers took turns to offer heart-felt condolences to his distraught widow. Outside the compound, friends of the deceased’s children were also on hand to commiserate with the family.

Although she lay on the floor and was surrounded by sympathisers

‘ Kunle AKINRINADE then transferred to the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos.

I had visited him at the clinic at about 6am the day he was killed... to check on a pregnant woman that had been rushed to his hospital. Her case was a bit tough and my husband had been fasting and praying for about two days for the woman’s safe delivery...

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when our correspondent arrived, she got up as soon she learnt about his arrival. Clutching a Holy Bible, the widow of the 52-year-old Erin-Oke, Osun State-born medical doctor narrated her husband’s last moments.

She said: “I had visited him at the clinic at about 6am the day he was killed for two reasons. First, to check on a pregnant woman that had been rushed to his hospital. Her case was a bit tough and my husband had been fasting and praying for about two days for the woman’s safe delivery besides the treatments he was giving to the woman. As God would have it, the woman safely put to bed on Easter Sunday.

“Secondly, I wanted to persuade him to come and break his fast at home, but he asked me to return home, saying: ‘Don’t worry, just go home, I will soon join you for breakfast,’ I never knew that would be our last conversation.

“I had barely returned home when I received a telephone call around •Continued on Page 18

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Mass failure:

A shocking discovery we made, by Minister of Education Prof. Ahmed Rufai

Before her appointment as Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqqayattu Ahmed Rufai was a two-time commissioner in Jigawa, her home state.

Since her re-appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan, the minister has taken up the challenge of reforming Nigeria’s battered education sector. In her interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, Rufai was optimistic that the sector would soon return to the path of glory.

Our Abuja Managing Editor, Northern Operation, YUSUF ALLI, and Abuja Bureau Chief, YOMI ODUNUGA, were there. Excerpts:

W

HAT constituted your challenges and your agenda when you were appointed to the ministry?

As Minister of Education, I realised that I would have to go through a roadmap to see how we can chart a new course for the Federal Ministry of Education. We found out that there have been challenges facing the sector for many years. So, looking at the roadmap, even though I was a former Commissioner for Education, I realised that the four critical areas that were the yardsticks for developing the sector were not adequate. We looked at that as a team and added two more critical ones. The four critical areas we met were: access and equity; standard and quality assurance; technical education and training; and of course, funding, resource utilisation, and mobilisation.

Of course, these key areas are critical and they will continue to be critical, but we realised that there were two other critical areas if really the sector is to move forward in the next

few years. These two critical areas are teacher education and development. We realised the fact that if you don’t look at the teacher or a lecturer in any institution of learning, then forget about whatever development you can bring in that sector. So, we added it as number five. And the kind of ministry I met, serving as aCommissioner for Education, and relating with the then Minister of Education at the federal level, I knew what I was going to face by becoming a minister, but what I saw was even beyond my own imagination in terms of strengthening the entire ministry. I realised that the ministry is so complex with so many parastatals, about 22, and the number of institutions: universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, unity colleges, and looking at the policy decisions and implementations for the entire nation when it comes to primary and secondary education.

I noticed that we needed to add the issue of strengthening the entire system of education, because if we do not work as a team and coordinate

between ourselves, then we can do nothing. You may have a ministry where something is going on that is critical to you and you don’t even know. So, we added the issue of strengthening the entire system of education by coordination among all the institutions, parastatals, and of course, have a regular meetings, and discussions.

With this, how did you expect to achieve results?

We developed a-one year mandate last year and the major problem we are facing again as a nation is the issue of implementation. We are very good at seminars, workshops, sensitisations, training and capacity buildings, but when it comes to implementation, it is a herculean task. So, our plan has to go with the implementation plan side by side. Really, we have an implementation plan. Not only the plan, we developed six strong teams that are overseeing it. Every month, they will look at the parastatals and institutions, among others as part of their discussions.

which he presided over. Stakeholders told us things that we didn’t even know, because it was a fact-finding exercise that we wanted to hear directly from those involved at the grassroots.

So, many things were uncovered and as a result of that, Mr. President also formed a kind of Presidential Task Team on Education based on the summit and which was chaired by a renowned scholar, Professor Obayan. The team worked on the recommendations of the Presidential Summit on Education, they also sought memoranda from various individuals that may not have participated in the summit. Towards the end of our tenure, a presidential report was handed over to Mr. President, which he passed on to the ministry to work on all the recommendations for a kind of white paper which the president would consider.

Thereafter, I quickly organised my team and then we started work, we were working towards getting approval for the presidential task team because some of the issues that were mentioned needed presidential attention.

We quickly had the presidential approval to actually implement all the recommendations. So, we had about four, five documents to work with and there was no way we could have this mandate without developing another plan. Since

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It is one company that has answered all WAEC questions. Believe me we have people that went through this one. It’s even my own son that is sitting for exam this year, and going through them (the question and answer papers), 17 out of 50 are wrong and this is what the students are using to say that they are ready to go and sit for WAEC...

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•Prof. Ruqqayattu Rufai

For example, if we look at the issue of access and equity, the team made a lot of efforts and after three months last year, there was a regular meeting for the entire teams because there was also the overall team that was coordinating that system. At the end, we realised what we needed to do. We made a presentation of a full report of our mandate to Mr. President, represented by the Vice President. We forwarded all what we did in one year, and the major thing that came out of that also was the development of up-to-date statistics to take care of the sector from 2006 to 2010.

What was the situation like before then?

Prior to our assignment, we realised that even the data in the ministry was not there and if you are in the Education Ministry without knowing the number of students or teachers or even facilities, it’s difficult for you to say you are planning according to budgetary provisions. We developed those six key areas and handed over all these documents to Mr. President.

The major report that was developed after the statistical data for the ministry was the issue of the presidential summit that we had on education. Because of the decay and collapse that we have had in the sector, Mr. President himself was so concerned that he asked us to organise a two-day summit,

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

‘Why Fed Govt is establishing more universities’

•Prof.

Ruqqayattu Rufai

ment to ensure that all the children are in school. So, any strategy that will make this happen is the responsibility of the government. Nigeria is also a signatory to the Education For All Programme, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The target proposal is 2015 and we are just approaching 2015, so we have to come out with strategies.

Therefore, we are working closely with the states and have developed the commissioners’ forum, which we are conducting almost every month. We had access campaign a year ago in Yola where we addressed the issue of girls’ education.

We have programme of girls’ education in the North and we have another one for boys’ drop-out in the South-East. So, we started them because we know that these are the problems we are experiencing. But the major thing we did was that the number of students that were out of schools was discovered and the next thing was that we enhance the participation in schools. So, we have recorded, to a great extent, success in making sure that the children are back in schools at their various levels. Though we can’t say we have completely succeeded because we still have some of them out there. For

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the first time in the history of this country, the president approved and agreed that we have to address this issue right from the top. Before the crisis in the North, we had been taking care of these children. We started with about 32 schools, most of which are now completed while some are about to be completed. Upon completion, they would be handed over to the state governments. So, anywhere we establish these schools, it doesn’t mean that the Federal Government will override the state governments, because it is their responsibilities. The second phase of the programme is also coming.

Some of them are at the local level, with about 50-52 of them mostly in the North, but we have about two to three states in the South that are having the problem of uneven development.

So, we have to address the problem now before it becomes too late for us. We have about 115 of these schools that are being developed, precisely about 92 or 94 are almost completed and we will bring these children from the streets and register them. They are going to be registered for both the Islamic and formal education, particularly to benefit from the mallams, because we

want them to develop their capacity so as to participate in the tertiary institutions for further development.

There is need for some kind of integration which will take these children out of the streets and then develop them so that they will have something to benefit from in the future. We will continue to develop such schools and it is our expectation that state governments will follow suit. Some states have already started on their own but with this one, when they see that these children are being transformed, we believe that they will continue to also develop such schools. I am sure in the next three years, we would have addressed that issue of access to education at the basic level.

In the last two years, a close look at the NECO examinations shows that less than 10% really passed the English Language. Tell us what is really wrong and how you are addressing this?

When we came on board, the first major thing that we were to do, two years ago, was to look at this critical issue of mass failure in examinations. We had series of committees; seminars, examination assignment, even this year, we are committed to our examination assignment because we know that this issue is still lingering. And it is very easy to run into problems for many years but it is not easy to go out of it, it has to take time; but that is not an excuse.

What we plan to do and what we are doing is to look critically at the various states. If you look at what is happening in terms of examination failure, you know that 99.9% of these schools are not under the Federal Government, they are state government-owned. Federal Government has only 104 unity colleges but that is not an excuse since the Federal Government is supposed to drive the process; it is supposed to provide leadership.

That is why we are working very closely with commissioners; they have a forum which we are meeting very regularly. Whatever we may decide to do at the top, if it doesn’t reach them, we are not doing anything. If many of our students who participate in the exams are failing in many of these states, it will definitely affect the Federal Government. The last examination result that we got in NECO is a private examination result, it is not a school level exam. The difference is that this category of students that sat for this last NECO examination, they can be working class, they can be mechanics, they can be labourers, they can be taxi drivers but after 10- 20 years, they may now want to go back to school. So, they can register and they can sit for exam, but when the result is out, it is bad.

So now, people will ask the minister what is happening. Look at what we have spent on WAEC, There is an improvement. When we came, the result was so bad. We had been working closely day and night and we are improving the situation after the recent one that is about 46%.

Before, it was 10%, 12%, 15%, 20%, and 30%, but the recent one is 46%.

And as we used to say, it has to be gradual. So, we started the reform of Mr. President just two years ago.

But I want you to please have a clear demarcation between private examination and school level examination. School level examination is

As soon as we had the approval of Mr. President and the Federal Executive Council to establish nine universities, we realised that only 12 states out of the 36 did not have a federal university. Therefore, we proposed that all the states should have federal universities...

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the mandate from Mr. President was for four years, we used our roadmap, our one year strategy, our presidential task team report and then formed a four-year strategy plan, which has just been developed. The plan accommodates all the inputs of the stakeholders and various categories of parties responsible, and it is now with Mr. President and will be published anytime from now.

At the time Nigerians are saying that the quality of education has gone down, our universities are mere secondary schools of the old days, the Federal Government and private investors are establishing new universities. Can you say something about the quality of education and the quality of these universities?

May be this is a good forum for me to explain that when we say we are expanding in terms of development of schools, it is very difficult for people to conceptualise what you are doing when you still have challenges of quality. They will ask: why can’t you stop expanding and concentrate on the issue of quality? That is a very good observation, but not in the Nigerian context. What I mean is that first, we have millions of children that are out of school, so government will have to expand the junior and senior secondary schools so that these children will have to be enrolled. The Federal Government also realised that it has to work with state governments because primary and secondary schools are the responsibilities of the local and state governments. We have started the process of expansion by establishing universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. We have encouraged private individuals and corporate organisations to also develop such schools and we are really eager to address the issue of these youths that are roaming the streets.

To do this effectively, we have to change our curriculum and include entrepreneurial studies, which we have done, because we are graduating them to be self-employed. As soon as we had the approval of Mr. President and the Federal Executive Council to establish nine universities, we realised that only 12 states out of the 36 did not have a federal university. Therefore, we proposed that all the states should have federal universities, but because of the pressing issues before the government, we started with nine and six happened to come from the North, three from the South because only three states from the South do not have federal universities. We also encouraged private individuals to establish universities.

Within the two years of this administration, we have established 18 universities-nine each by the Federal Government and the private proprietors. And of course, we have a number of state universities. And when you come to the issue of quality, you realise that our students do not answer their certificate. And they have so many problems there.

Where are we even starting? Is it the students themselves, is it the teachers? If you look at the quality of their degrees, you begin to wonder. So, is it the issue of teaching we are even battling with? Some of them do not even sit for their exams but they have results. So, sometimes when we are looking at quality, we don’t even know the aspect of quality we are talking about. But what we are doing at the moment, we look at the current sector. We started to enhance the quality through firstly, the curriculum, because we realised we have so many problems there. So we have to review the curriculum; also from the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

Will expansion address the problem of poor quality of education in the country?

It is the responsibility of govern-

the one that children are in school and we are trying to improve school system by improving the quality of teachers and the level of materials and equipment we have and the level of school environment. So I am sure even though it takes time, we will soon see improvement. Even now, at least it is better than a year or two ago. Sometimes I get report from the students that they wanted to see the school answer sheets. In developed nations after every exam, once you see your school, you can press your name in the internet and see where you went wrong but here, we don’t see, so they say they are also equally concerned, definitely we have to do something. And one major thing that is not helping us on the system, you will see that we have private people that have developed WAEC questions and answers.

I am sure you know even in your neighbourhood, that the thing exists.

It is one company that has answered all WAEC questions. Believe me we have people that went through this one. It’s even my own son that is sitting for exam this year, and going through them (the question and answer papers), 17 out of 50 are wrong and this is what the students are using to say that they are ready to go and sit for WAEC. It’s not WAEC that developed this but a private company. I approached WAEC to ask if they can now provide their own questions and answers so that students can study and pass and it means we have to evolve a strategy banning all these private past questions and answers because in one subject, if you have to sit for an exam, the student has already failed 17 out of 50, you cannot talk of any success. So this is the major challenge recently discovered that we also have to deal with.

Recently, a private secondary school did an advertorial, publishing the lists of students who secured an admission to start their first year in September. And in that advert, they said parents of successful pupils should pay N1.2million into the account of the school; and that’s possibly for the term; not for the year. My question is that the cost of private schools in Nigeria is becoming frightening because public schools have collapsed.

How do we come out of this?

You are talking of N1.2million in secondary schools, especially now that we don’t charge fees in the universities. So in Nigeria now, ironically, if a child is going to secondary school and you are going to the university, his parents may pay may be 10 times or even more for the secondary school than what you will pay in the university. With all the problems we have in this country particularly in terms of the poverty level of our people, it means people that have the intellect, people that are genuinely very intelligent will now be sent out of schooling if we were to think of fees in the universities. But for the private schools, we have been talking about this but we never took anybody’s initiatives.

Why? Because of their rights in terms of establishing the schools and putting in place the facilities they use. We never thought that we will now face them and say no, you can’t charge more than N500,000. We didn’t think about that. But if this is becoming unbearable, then probably we will have to call a meeting with them and then see how to make it a little bit more affordable since we are having a delivery at the same level of schooling because if you charge N1.2million for a secondary school child even though you can say it is an American School, all the same it is really out of control. So, I assure you that we will call a meeting of all the private school owners and then discuss with them how to move forward. I think we may have to do that because it is getting out of control.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Abandoned by family, woman needs N16m for surgery

R

OSELYN Etsemobor was born really happy; although her parents were not extremely wealthy, she was well catered for and raised to have hopes of a lovely future. Like most of her contemporaries, Roselyn looked forward to obtaining the highest education possible, get a good job and enjoy a blissful marital life blessed with kids.

However, at 34, like the proverbial pack of cards, her dreams are crashing right before her eyes and her aspirations are fizzling away by the day and except something is done urgently, the high hopes will soon become a mirage.

Roselyn is threatened by an aggravated eye tumor (cancer) that continuously makes the possibility of her going blind more real every passing day. As it is today, she is no more motivated to achieve her dreams, which have since been overtaken by her need to survive.

The young vibrant lady once loved and admired by her acquaintances has since become an object of scorn, despised by friends and rejected by those who should rise up to her aid in this time of need as she searches for succour towards getting her life back on track.

Roselyn urgently needs N16million for surgery to save her from blindness and untimely death.

She is, therefore, sending this passionate appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to come to her aid. Spearheading the campaign for the treatment of Roselyn is the Lady of Africa Foundation, a foundation that helps the less-privileged in the soci-

ety and has past records of successfully spearheading the treatments of similar cases.

Edo State-born Roselyn, who lives at 22, Amuda Jacoba Crescent, Agbara Estate, Lagos, explains her predicament further: What really is the cause of your present health condition?

It started with catarrh. I was having constant catarrh and when it refused it go, I went to Jos Teaching Hospital. At that time, I was living in Jos. At the hospital, they conducted several tests but they told me that there was nothing wrong with me. They said my health was okay.

Nevertheless, they gave me Amoxil and some other drugs. That was in 2001.

In 2004, I relocated to Lagos as a result of the crisis in Jos. During the riot, my shop was burnt. In 2005, I noticed that the catarrh just stopped.

I thought everything was okay. But in 2006, I woke up one day and noticed that the upper side of my right eye was swollen. After some days, I went to Ikorodu General Hospital where it was discovered that my left eye was not seeing well. They directed me to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) for further tests. At LASUTH, doctors recommended that I should go for some tests but I could not do them because of lack of money.

While I was moving from one place to another trying to raise the money, I was knocked down by a vehicle and in the process hit the same spot that was already swollen on my eye on the ground which aggravated the situation. The scan I

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Right now, none of my family members is helping me. Even my siblings have stayed away from me. One would feel bad when people reject you and despise you. It is so bad that if I want to enter any commercial vehicle, the drivers will not want to carry me. Some would not even want to sit beside me. It got to a point I started sleeping in the shop...

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•Roselyn was to do at LASUTH was to cost N78, 000 and I was to undergo surgery. However, they also said that with drugs, I can manage it and it would go. When they started the treatment, the swelling went away and I thought I was okay but it later came back. I went to different doctors and they said there was nothing wrong with the eye.

What happened after that?

I went for another scan and it was discovered that the catarrh that was

supposed to be coming out did not come out and was pushing the eyeball out.

Eventually, I got in touch with some American doctors. They are from UT Medical Group Inc., Department of Ophthalmology, Hamilton Eye Institute, Tennesse, United States. I have been communicating with them and they said they can correct the left eye and also do the surgery on the right eye.

According to the hospital, the estimated cost of the test, surgery and other treatments is $100,000 (N16million) and it would be done in America.

What efforts have your family made to help you?

I lost my father when I was a baby, according to what my mother told me. Because of my situation, my mother is now sick. I am the first daughter of my family. We have ex-

hausted all the money we have. I am a fashion designer but I have not been able to go to my shop because it is when you have good health that you can work.

Right now, none of my family members is helping me. Even my siblings have stayed away from me.

One would feel bad when people reject you and despise you. It is so bad that if I want to enter any commercial vehicle, the drivers will not want to carry me. Some would not even want to sit beside me. It got to a point I started sleeping in the shop.

How much have you raised from the required amount?

So far, some sympathisers have contributed N4million. I want people to come to my aid so that I can be okay and go back to my work.

Her account details: Etsemobor Roselyn,1003831114, Zenith Bank, Phone number: 08093287614.

‘My husband left behind an aged mother who lives in his home town and five children’ •Continued from Page 15 6.30am that some armed robbers had shot my husband. I rushed back to his clinic only to find him in a pool of blood near the gates. I was told that the heartless fellows had held the nurses on duty bound and demanded the whereabouts of my husband. As soon as he emerged from his office, he was shot in the abdomen while he tried to raise the alarm.

His assailants were said to have immediately fled on a motorbike.

“We rushed him to the Orile-Agege General Hospital but doctors demanded for a police report before they could commence treatment. I rushed to Abbatoir Police Station for the document, but I was confronted with the news of his death by the time I returned to the hospital.

“He was such a quiet and warm person. His life revolved around the triangle of home, church and office.

We had 23 years of blissful marriage before the cruel people took his life.

I will miss him, I will miss him...”

On the speculations that her husband’s death might have to do with a threat allegedly issued by the husband of a woman that died in her husband’s clinic during childbirth, she said: “Well, everything that is hidden to man is revealed to God, because the man did not make any trouble when he came with some men to take away his wife’s corpse. I was there and I saw all that happened.

“But it is strange that the man has fled his residence since the news broke that my husband was killed.

My husband left behind an aged mother who lives in his home town and five children whose responsibilities I would have to shoulder alone now. But my trust is in God.” The eldest child of the late medical doctor, Adebayo (23), also shared his father’s last moments with our correspondent, saying that all the family wanted was justice.

Amid heavy heart, he recalled how

•A view of the hospital. Inset: the bloodstain on the floor where his body lay

his father had resorted to prayer and fasting to complement the orthodox treatment of an expectant mother who was in critical condition before his life was abbreviated.

He said: “I had just returned from a vigil in our church at about 6am on

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the day of the incident when my mother told me she wanted to see my father in his hospital because he had not come home for two days and had strangely not attended Sunday service in church. She explained that she wanted to visit him so she would per-

But it is strange that the man has fled his residence since the news broke that my husband was killed. My husband left behind an aged mother who lives in his home town and five children whose responsibilities I would have to shoulder alone now...

,

suade him to come home to break his fast.

“Then she returned at about 6:30 am only to be told on the telephone that my father had been killed by unknown gunmen. We thought it was a joke and quickly rushed down to his clinic only to be confronted with the reality.”

The 23-year-old 200-Level Psychology undergraduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) further narrated the fruitless efforts sympathisers made to rescue his father, saying his father would have survived if he had he received prompt medical attention.

“Now, all we want in this matter is justice. I want to implore the Police to carry out a thorough investigation

of this case so as to unravel the mystery behind the killing of my father, because he was a peace-loving man with a large heart. He would go the extra mile to assist people. Those who know him would attest to this.

“I have four siblings. My immediate younger sister is also a 200-Level English Language undergraduate at OAU. My father, who was responsible for our education and needs, is no more. Life is definitely going to be challenging without him.

“However, I would not want to accuse anyone of being responsible for his death, so as not to impede investigation by the Police. My only appeal is that the two nurses held by the Police should be released so as not to punish them unjustly.”

When our correspondent visited the premises of the deceased’s hospital, the place was desolate. There were bloodstains at the spot near the gates where the deceased was shot.

It was gathered that some shop owners at the building were still observing a one-week mourning period in honour of the deceased.

Some okada (commercial motorcycle) riders, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, described the deceased doctor as a good man, adding that he had been helpful to many of their members who had at one time or the other sustained injuries in auto accidents.

“We will definitely miss his kind nature. He would treat our members whenever they sustained injuries in auto accidents without demanding for money before commencing treatment,” said a chieftain of the commercial motorcyclists association in the area, who did not want his name mentioned.

Before press time, The Nation gathered that the doctor was to be buried yesterday in his home town in ErinOke, Osun State. The burial was to be preceeded by a service of songs on Thursday evening at his OkoOba, Lagos residence.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

‘My father told me there was nothing wrong with making money from robbery’ A MEMBER of a suspected threeman robbery gang, 23-year-old Nurudeen Saka, an indigene of Osun State detained by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command, has said he was lured into armed robbery by his biological father.

In a chat with our correspondent, Saka said he stopped going to school because his father warned him to stop telling him anything about school. “He told me that the richest man in our village was an illiterate, yet he built the best house and was even begged to be conferred with a chieftaincy title because of his stinking wealth. He said people in the community knew that the man in question was a criminal until he hit money and opted out of armed robbery. My father said that even people with Master’s and doctoral degrees were begging him for money and were applying to work in his multinational company.

“He also told me that my mother was not the only woman he married and that the other women had children for him too. Hence, he said I should help myself. He said since his mother and father did not enjoy anything from him, he too was not expecting anything from his children. He told me that theft was a risk worth taking because of the quick money that could come from it.

“I did my best to further my education through self-help before I decided to learn driving so that I would look for a commercial bus to drive until the day God would bless me with wealth.

Unfortunately, after learning how to drive, I could not get a bus to drive.

One day, a bus driver called Sharp, I don’t know his real name, hired me to be his conductor. But in spite of my working hard for him, he would not accommodate me in his rented apartment somewhere in Oshodi area of Lagos.

“Then one night, a thief who was being pursued by a crowd ran past the bus I slept in. When his pursuers could not catch him, they became angry and wondered how the thief could disappear like that. Then they saw me inside the bus, dragged me out and gave me the beating of my life. When I told them that my master was the one who told me to sleep in the bus, they dragged me to his room and warned him to stop telling me to sleep in the bus. From that day, I started sleeping at the backyard of the building.

“One day, as I was sleeping in the compound at about 3.30 am, Sharp and his gang members came in and started sharing money, handsets, wrist watches and other valuable items they had snatched from people. They were five in number and two of them held locally made pistols. When they noticed my presence, they told Sharp to drive me away from his compound.

Sharp did not only drive me away, he also sacked me as his conductor.

“That was how I started sleeping under the bridge at Oshodi. There were about 20 of us under the bridge. Some of them were hawkers of pure water, others were conductors, drivers, motor touts and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) who loaded vehicles at the park.

“Under the bridge, we lived a communal life that encouraged sharing. We smoked Indian hemp together and ate together. My only ugly experience with them was that the sum of N7,000 I hid in my pant was stolen the first night I got there. I later learnt that every new arrival experienced it and they called it ‘baptism’.

“Some of us also worked as thugs for bigwigs who came to the spot from time to time to hire us. A percentage of the money they realised was used to maintain the colony, especially when the Police threatened to raid the place or security guards at the market threatened to portray them badly before traders.

“Some of us also waited for robbery gangs whose leaders normally came to

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The SUV snatched by his gang

Ebele BONIFACE recruit people for robbery operations. I belonged to the group that waited for jobs from robbery gangs.

It was here that I met our gang leader who I knew only simply as Scorpion and another member I knew as Pepper. They gave me the name Ologbo, the Yoruba name for cat. We became close friends. At times, Scorpion would come with N100,000, N50,000 or N200,000 and take me out for enjoyment. In the end, I would have about N20,000 or more in my pocket.

“On March 19, at about 7pm, Scorpioni and Pepper came and engaged me in a smoking and drinking spree for about one hour. It was a Monday and I expected Scorpion to give me some money like he used to do, but he did not. Instead, he said they would take me out to find money. When I asked him how, he said he would buy a pair of slippers and razor blade with which we would fabricate something that would look like a short gun.

“He said people are so afraid of gun that the moment it was pointed at somebody in the night, he or she would think it was a real gun.

Within some minutes, he came back with the slippers and razor blade.

He fabricated the gun and gave it to Pepper. I did not know that he had a real short gun in his pocket until we reached Abule Egba. It was Pepper that carried Scorpion and I on a motorcycle.

“On getting to Olaniyi Street, off New Oko Oba Road, Abule-Egba, we saw a man in a Rav4 Jeep discussing with a woman we suspected was his wife. That was at about 9 pm. Scorpion ordered Pepper to stop. As soon as he stopped, he and I rushed towards the jeep.

Scorpion banged at the door, the man opened. He brought out a pistol and pointed it at the man. He ordered him to come down with the woman. Later, Scorpion ordered the

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man to enter the back seat with his woman. With Scorpion by my side, I took over the steering and drove off while Pepper followed us on his motorcycle.

“When we got to Ile-Epo Market, I dropped the man and his woman and continued towards Oshodi.

When we got to Cappa near Fatai Atere Way, I parked the jeep on the first street where trailers are usually parked. Scorpion then started calling a buyer we knew as Jamiu, but Jamiu asked us to come the following day.

The following day, we called him but his line was not going through.

“Scorpion told me to continue trying his number and to take the jeep to him and collect money since he and Pepper had planned to go to Cotonou (Benin Republic) the following day. I called again and Jamiu’s line went through. He told me to come and collect the money at National area of Agege. On getting there, I was arrested by SARS operatives. I did not know that Jamiu had already been arrested.

“When I asked Jamiu what happened, he said trouble started when he called somebody to buy the jeep so that he would be able to give me the money. Unknown to him, after telling the buyer to pay N350,000 for a Rav4 Jeep worth over N2 million, he alerted the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari who came with five of his men and asked Jamiu to tell me to come and collect the money. I was immediately handcuffed and brought to SARS’ office.”

Asked about his wife, he said: “I am not married, but I have a girlfriend called Sakira. She stays at Oshodi.

She used to come to meet me at rail line. She did not know that I had joined a robbery gang. Whenever I gave her money, like N1000 or N2,000, she would ask me how I managed to get the money, but I always lied to her that I got it from the bus I worked with.

“I am a Muslim. I pray five times a day. I cannot rob in the North because they will cut off my hand if I

He told me that the richest man in our village was an illiterate, yet he built the best house... because of his stinking wealth... he told me that theft was a risk worth taking because of the quick money that could come from it

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am caught.

If I regain my freedom, I will go and tell my friends under the Oshodi bridge to find a legal means of livelihood.”

Narrating his ordeal with the gang, the victim, 33year-old Anayo Efidi, a trader in refrigerators, said: “On that day, I was inside my Rav4 Jeep which I had parked to make a call. Suddenly, I saw two guys and one of them pointed a gun at me and ordered me to open the door. I hesitated, but he then hit my jeep with the butt of his gun and threatened to kill me, saying: ‘If you don’t open the door and come down, I will waste your life with this gun and still do what I intend to do.’ I looked up and saw the third man on the motorcycle telling the one with the gun to kill me, saying there was no time.

At this point, I opened the door and came down.

“The one that looked like their leader pointed the gun at my stomach, pressing my stomach with its nozzle. He ordered me to enter the back seat and ordered his partner to take over the steering. As we were going, the one with gun frisked me, searching my trousers, pant, singlet, shirt and shoes. He removed my belt, wrist watch, two phones, two identity cards, my driver’s licence and the sum of N4,150.

“When we got to Mangoro area, they dropped me and I started trekking back to Mangoro bus stop.

There I begged somebody to use his phone to call my uncle, Fidelis Nnamani, to tell him what had happened.

The second day, I went to Oko Oba Police Station to lodge a complaint and later made a statement. Later, I got a call from the pastor of my church that SARS operatives called his number and told him that the jeep had been recovered.

“He said the SARS operatives saw the church’s documents in the jeep

•Saka, the suspect

and used the phone number to call the pastor. I then went back to my investigating police officer (IPO) at Oko-Oba Police Station, Sergeant Nasiru Isiaka, and told him what I heard.

“He prepared the documents and went with the file to SARS office at the police headquarters, GRA, Ikeja.

I was taken before the OC SARS, SP Abba Kyari, who told me to produce the original documents to confirm ownership of the jeep. I did so and my jeep was handed over to me.”

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

•The building where the incident took place

e 'v I , t s e n o h e b To , e m n i n a m e h t t los r e h t a f d e v a e r says be whose three m o r f d e i d n e r d l i ch generator fume Nwanosike ONU, Awka

A

LTHOUGH Urum is a sleepy community in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, it has some things in common with the people of Ohafia in Abia State. The people are predominantly farmers, living in harmony with the inhabitants of four surrounding villages.

But last Saturday, the peace and harmony for which the area was known was broken in Akaeze village, leaving in its wake an unforgettable tragedy. At the moment, the people of the area are inconsolable, having lost five of their children in one fell swoop.

The family, according to sources, had had their supper with their generator working on a rainy night. Because of the rain, they brought the generator into the corridor of their small apartment without any of them sensing danger.

Unknown to them, the fume from the generator had permeated every nook and

cranny of the building before it was put off.

By the time they fell asleep, the unexpected happened. Four of the occupants of the house, including 95-year-old Pa Sopuru Nwankwo; his grand children, Chigozie (9), Dubem (7) and Favour (7) all died after inhaling the generator fume.

The only survivor, 14-year-old Ogonna Nwajideobi, was rushed to Crest Specialist Hospital in Awka the early morning of that Saturday. After battling for her revival, the hospital referred her to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, where, unfortunately, she gave up the ghost.

Three of the deceased children belonged to Mr. Charles Nwajideobi, the son-in-law of Pa Sopuru Nwankwo. He was said to have visited the deceased grandfather the day before the incident. But Favour Nwankwo was said to be the son of the owner of the apartment where the incident occurred, who was based outside Anambra State.

Agony and sorrow have since enveloped

•The killer generator set

the family, while sympathisers besieged the compound to console the bereaved parents of the deceased children.

Speaking with our correspondent on the tragic incident, the traditional ruler of Urum, Igwe Benedict Nweke, described it as catastrophic. He said it was the first time such a

‘

thing would happen in Urum, adding that it is a taboo in the community to bury two people at a time, not to talk of five.

Igwe Nweke said the people of Urum would be in mourning mood for a long time, adding that something would be done to unravel the mystery behind the

My brother, if I tell you that I’m still the man I used to be, I am a liar, I had four boys and two daughters but today, two of my boys are gone while I have only one daughter remaining...

’

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

•95-year-old Nwankwo, who also died

•Ogonna, one of the victims

•Late Chigozie

calamity.

Asked whether an autopsy would be conducted on the bodies of the deceased persons to determine the actual cause of their deaths, the monarch said the family and not the entire community would decide that.

The entire community was in mourning mood when our correspondent visited the family during the week. Surprisingly, the 41-year-old mother of three of the deceased children, Mrs Mercy Nwajideobi, exhibited a lot of courage and was even consoling Mrs. Nkiruka Nwankwo, the mother of the late Favour. Nkiruka was speechless, repeatedly shaking her head and looking devastated. But Mercy said her belief in God has already consoled her after losing three grown-up children at a go.

She said: “My children went to my mother’s house and I was with them before I left. They later came back home to fetch some water for me and went back.

“They told me they would sleep there and they did. What we heard the following morning was that the gate had not been

•Late Favour

•Mercy... lost three children

opened. When my husband got there and started knocking, it was not opened. He decided to come to the house to pick the spare key.

“When we opened the gate and the door, we saw the corpses of my father, my children and my brother’s son.”

Her husband, Mr Charles Nwajideobi, popularly known in the area as Ochiagha, was not as strong-willed as his wife, but he managed to narrate what happened.

He said: “My brother, if I tell you that I’m still the man I used to be, I am a liar, I had four boys and two daughters but today, two of my boys are gone while I have only one daughter remaining.

“I thought it was a joke when I was called by my in-law’s neighbours who had knocked at the gate without anybody answering. But it dawned on me that it was no joke when I took the spare key to unlock the house and saw the unspeakable.

“Do you know what it means losing your father-in-law, your son-in-law and three of your children at the same time?”.

Meanwhile, controversy is trailing the

•Nkeiruka, the mother of Favour, also one of the victims

•Forlon-looking Mr. Charles Nwajideobi... lost two sons and a daughter

death of Ogonna Nwajideobi in the hospital. Her father, Charles Nwajideobi, is accusing the hospital over his daughter’s death.

He told The Nation that if the management of Crest Hospital had not removed the oxygen placed on his daughter when she was referred to UNTH in Enugu, she would have recovered.

When our correspondent visited the hospital in Awka, the Chief Medical Director, Dr. E. I Onwubuya, was said to have travelled out. His assistant, Dr Sam Okafor, declined comments on the issue because he said he was not at the hospital when the patient was brought in, adding that he only resumed work on Monday and so was not in a position to react on the incident.

Nwajideobi did not indicate whether he would take any action against the hospital for what he described as its unethical conduct.

A source at the hospital, who pleaded anonymity, however, told The Nation that there was no way the hospital could have al-

•Devastated Urum monarch, Igwe Benedict Nweke

lowed the only oxygen equipment it had to move out of the place.

The source said: “If the only one we have moves out and a similar case occurs, what happens? It is a pity that the girl died. But it is not to say that the hospital had a hand in it”.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

•Continued from Page 13 age of their in-patients at the mental hospital fall within the age bracket 16 to 25 years.

And lack of access to needed psychotropic medication constitutes a major challenge to their treatment. “Although we are able to get some, most times, we run out of medication. Another challenge is the stigma associated with mental ailment. That causes many troubled people to shy away from our facility. Many families also refuse to bring their loved ones for treatment because they wouldn’t want to be seen bringing their relatives or visiting them in our facility. Most times, they prefer to take their sick relatives to fetish priests and witchdoctors. And when the case becomes unmanageable for them, they come to dump their sick ones in our facility,” disclosed Presley.

It’s a dilemma Adolphus Breneman understands personally. Breneman seldom sees Moses, his brother, and when he does, it’s a crapshoot as to what to expect. Breneman’s brother is addicted to a dangerous mixture of crack and gunpowder. Before his condition worsened, he used to stay with Breneman in an abandoned storey building in Congo Town. Today, Moses sleeps anywhere he finds himself at dusk. Oftentimes, Breneman finds it a task locating him and when he does, there is little likelihood that his older sibling would recognise him.

The chances of people like Breneman’s brother ever getting treatment are made worse by poverty.

“Mental ill-health and poverty interact in a negative cycle,” writes Dr. Ala Alwan in a 2008 World Health Organization report.

“Mental ill-health impedes people’s ability to learn and to engage productively in their economies,” Alwan argues, “and poverty in turn increases the risk for developing mental disorders, and reduces people’s ability to gain access to health services.”

The hierarchy of needs, in other words, greatly affects people’s ability to seek care.

When people can’t satisfy their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing, they are unlikely to have the presence of mind to recognise signs of mental illness in a friend or relative. In a country where most people live on less than $2 per day, it’s not hard for individual symptoms, and the overall mental health crisis to escalate unnoticed.

The challenge extends beyond quantifiable factors. As in much of Africa, symptoms of mental illness carry deep cultural stigmas that compound the efforts of health care workers. Most people in Liberia regard mental illness as a manifestation of evil or diabolic attacks, drug abuse or comeuppance for past atrocities committed by the sufferer. “Oftentimes, they see mental patients as victims of witchcraft or wicked people who have been cursed for their evil acts and are thus suffering in due course,” said Mambina Gospel.

“The community often tries to reject the patients. They don’t want to be around mentally ill patients,” explained a nursing

•Trainee nurses tour E.S. Grant Mental Health Hospital

Liberia’s mental health crisis

‘

Majority of those who witnessed and perpetrated atrocity of any kind are still frequently having flashbacks. It’s excruciating on their psyche.

Consequently, many of them resort to drug use to forget and deal with their pains

’

•Many inmates at “Camp crazy” were chained to steel beds and heavy logs supervisor at Liberia’s only mental hospital. Consequently, families dump their sick relatives at the hospital, “And they hardly return to check if they are getting better or not. They always try to avoid taking them back,” he said. Run by Cap Anamur, a German non-profit medical aid group, E.S. Grant Mental Hospital currently plays a crucial role in the provision of mental healthcare in the country. For just over $6 US, 80 patients can be treated for six weeks at a time. But the demand is too great for one facility.

The inpatient unit capacity at the clinic is about 80 patients. Reportedly, clients pay a one-time fee of 450 Liberia dollars for inpatient service (which is equivalent to $6.50) and 300 Liberian dollars for outpatient service (which is equivalent to $4.24).

Data obtained from Grant Hospital showed that roughly 54 per cent females and 46 per cent males are recipients of treatment. Five per cent were 10 years old or younger, 33 per cent were between 11-25 years of age, 25per cent age range from 26-40, 27 per cent were between 41-61 year old, and nine per cent were between 61-80 years of age. Over 85 per cent of the patients seeking inpatient treatment were Liberians in the productive years. Patients seeking admission presented the following diagnosis: 47 per cent psychosis (Schizophrenia, organic psychosis [malaria related], post partum psychosis, and drug induced psychosis), 23 per cent epilepsy, 18 per cent “anxiety neurosis,” six per cent dementia, six per cent PTSD, four per cent depression and one per cent mania.

The average length of stay is 14 days. Extrapolated findings from the recent study on assessing the prevalence and impact of civil war related psychosocial trauma onto the population of Liberia revealed that 800,000 adults would meet criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), 750,000 adults would meet criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, 205,000 adults would have suicidal inclinations and approximately 112, 000 adults are likely to have attempted suicide.

Seventy per cent of patient seeking admissions at Grant Hospital present with psychosis and epilepsy and a combination of psychotherapy, support therapy, and phar-

•An inmate peeps out of his cell at “Camp crazy”

macological treatment remains the most effective treatment for schizophrenia at the clinic. Pharmacologic treatment primarily consists of antipsychotic medications. There are few psychotropic medications in Liberia.

The most common drugs prescribed at Grant Hospital are Phenobarbital, Chlorpromazine, Haloperidol, Trifluoperazine, Fluophenazine, risperidone and thiothixene.

Another non-governmental agency, Medicins Du Monde commonly treats emotionally disturbed patients with Amitriptyline, Haloperidol, Paracetamol and Phenobarbitol.

Many of the antipsychotic drugs used in Liberia, although potentially useful for complicated psychosis, were developed in the 1950’s and have significant side effects. Recent antipsychotic drugs with less side effects and increased effectiveness quickly are used in developed countries. Phenobarbitol which is used to treat epilepsy is no longer recommended as a first or second line choice of treatment for epilepsy, except for neonatal seizures, in developed countries. Epilepsy (also known as seizure disorder) is the second most common disorder which patients present for admission at Grant Hospital.

Despite the pivotal role played by the hospital, “We are severely stretched and overtasked; the pressure is too much for one clinic,” lamented Presley. To fill the void, alternative care services have emerged.

These range from compassionate faith-based counselling to extreme methods reminiscent of rural Liberia’s history of chaining the mentally ill to steel beds or logs. Holy Ghost Mental Home, run by a nurse out of a Monrovian suburb, was repeatedly forced to close in 2008 after health officials found patients shackled in cramped, dirty rooms.

The nurse had a little home where she chained her patients to steel beds and heavy logs. Some of them reportedly got better, a great deal more got worse, a situation attributed to the nurse’s brutal treatment methods.

A glow in the dark After years of persuasion and intense lobbying, Harris finally got the government to add mental health to the overall health plan-

•Rodney Presley, Lead Administrator, E.S. Grant Mental Hospital ning process. The result is the recent launch of a new mental health plan produced with the support of the World Health Organisation. The plan focuses on community based care, increased training of medical personnel and the reform of the system for allocating prescription drugs.

Liberia is in the final stages of developing a comprehensive mental health policy. “The mission is to ensure mental health programmes exist that will address the wellbeing of all people through affordable, accessible and available services,” explains Nmah Bropleh, an assistant minister at the Ministry of Health, and the head of the mental health committee.

The committee’s main objective is to provide local clinics, hospitals and caregivers with basic psychiatric training. Treatment and counselling will occur locally for smaller problems; more serious conditions will be referred. Community organisations and local NGOs such as LAPS, that provide psycho-social counselling, will receive better direction and training.

If implemented, Liberia’s mental health plan will be the first of its kind in a postconflict country, and something Bropleh and others hope will serve as a model. However, despite its many advantages, the plan won’t eradicate poverty and high unemployment; it won’t overhaul and re-energise the country’s ineffective justice system nor would it guarantee access to freely available drugs—all of which exacerbate Liberia’s mental health crisis. It might, however, ease those issues by helping thousands return to more productive lives, and demonstrate that a better mental health policy should be a core component of any post-war recovery strategy.

Until then, many Liberian families would continue to spurn orthodox treatment facilities like the E.S. Grant Mental Health Hospital to visit tribal healers and witchdoctors.

It wouldn’t matter what violent methods or dangerous potions are administered to “free” their sick relatives of demons as long as they get the troubled fellows out of the house.

Some families would, however, settle for the easiest way out by simply ushering their troubled relatives on to the streets.

LOCATION

BACKSTAGE

SNAPSHOT

REEL NEWS

MUSIC

SCREEN

Edited by: VICTOR AKANDE

Tel: 08077408676

E-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com

ntertainment

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012, 2012

23

Yes, I'm ordained but I will still play romantic roles -Eucharia Anunobi SEE PAGES 28 - 37

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

STANDh BY! Wit

VICTOR AKANDE E-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com Tel: 08077408676 (SMS only)

THINK

nt part of An importa s of any the succes is its civilisation late the mu ability to e t led to the a th factors ther success of o Eric .— s civilisation rt Reine

SNAPSHOTS

N

$200m industry grant: A hearty dance off-key?

“

My first instinct when I heard about the $200 million grant which the incumbent president promised the entertainment industry was that of skepticism. Have you ever witnessed or imagined the roforofo that plays out when a politician throws naira notes in the air for urchins to catch?

Three things usually happen: a quarter of the notes are ripped, a quarter of the scavengers gets bruised, yet, the remaining notes do not impact significantly on the problems of the beneficiaries, but the so called benefactor drives away as a hero.

“I have flocked fairly enough with this industry to understand that no matter how melodious a sound track may be, it does not play to the end, so I hesitate to start a hearty dance. If a man greets you with a 'good morning' at night, it is either the man himself is just waking up from an unusual sleep, or he is merely being mischievous.

And so do I feel about President Jonathan's 'better late than never' generosity towards the movie industry.

But until that bird not only touches the hand but comes within the grip of the entertainment industry, that grant is a good as a political statement.”

The above was my sentiment on this page of December 11, 2010 under the same title, but without the question mark. However, if the World Press Conference scheduled by NEXIM bank today on a movie project just accomplished by one of the beneficiaries of the scheme is anything to go by, I may just well be put to shame. For once, I like for the table to turn against my skepticism and unfortunate instinct of suspicion on any promise made by politicians during electioneering campaigns.

I like for President Jonathan to turn my imaginations to fiction, make them laughable, and help to deem the image of such fantasies that we have for long celebrated as a film industry by bringing to the fore, the most desired realities

I like for President Jonathan to turn my imaginations to fiction, make them laughable, and help to deem the image of such fantasies that we have for long celebrated as a film industry by bringing to the fore, the most desired realities that appear odd to our polity- the reality of a promise fulfilled to the latter that appear odd to our politythe reality of a promise fulfilled to the latter.

Like I said in that former piece, the industry is willing to wait, because waiting is a part of business especially when you are certain the proceeds will be good.

Perhaps the wait is worth it, as Mr. Bello (a product of the grant) is unveiled today. Still, I like to listen to myself again, even when the chips are down… that article continued thus: “Am I a septic? Yes. Am I a sadist? No. Will I apologise if the industry gets the money before President Jonathan goes to the poll? Yes. Will I be surprised if the grant doesn't work out? No. My doubts are merely borne out of worries for an abstract industry and a complex government protocol…

“That said, can Jonathan do it alone? Have we thought

Would we be ready to engage opposition voices that entertainment is not a 'play thing' like they think? Are we ready to convince the financial institutions of the huge profit that would come out of the entertainment industry if properly harnessed?

about the criticism that may greet this intention from other sectors who may think that a grant for the entertainment industry is a misplacement of priority? How ready is the industry to lobby lawmakers who may want to use the crisis in the education sector as an excuse? Isn't our health care system also in decay?

What about the power sector?

Is someone not going to remind us about insecurity in the land? Would we be ready to engage opposition voices that entertainment is not a 'play thing' like they think?

Are we ready to convince the financial institutions of the huge profit that would come out of the entertainment industry if properly harnessed? Can we tell them, through data and not by words of mouth, that the industry can do better than the N5 billion that Nollywood is said be worth annually?

Are we willing to let government know that no matter how much grant we get, if an enabling government is not created, our investment may still go down the drain? Are we willing to tell ourselves the truth about the importance of properly instituted distribution and exhibition platforms? Are we ready to accept the truth about the state of piracy in the country?” Perhaps these questions will prepare us for the challenges ahead.

Truth be told, we dance to soundtracks with so much foolishness in our heart. Are we truly foolish? No, we are not just real. And our problem is that of individualism rather than communal. We see every opportunity as a national cake and trade the conscience of the nation for our selfish ambition. After today, I like to be able to talk more about the prospects of the government grant for the entertainment industry, and site examples of beneficiaries who have broken the jinx of undue complacency that some Nollywood filmmakers have come to be identified with.

WRITE TO US! Do you watch Nollywood movies? What do you think of the Nigerian motion picture industry? Send your review of any movie or short essay on any topic of your choice about the film industry in not more than 200 words. Send entries by e-mail to: victor_akande@yahoo.com or SMS your short comments to 08077408676

e i n a h p e t S Okereke d e w o t t e s in Paris

...Air France to celebrate couple in style

OLLYWOO D actress Stephanie Okereke will be walking down the aisle a second time this weekend in Paris as she exchanges vows with her heartthrob, Linus Idahosa in far-away France.

The ceremony which is rated as one of the most anticipated wedding in the country will hold in a 17th century Parisian Castle reserved for royalty today Saturday, April 21.

It is rumoured that the new couple wish for guests to receive a unique kind of 'touch' from the experience.

The wedding will be a very private affair, celebrating the couple's love, respect, admiration and appreciation for each other.

Arik Air, the official airline for the wedding will also be playing a major role.

Air France, we also learnt is throwing its weight behind the couple; providing highly discounted tickets to guests from all over the world and sponsoring the couples honey moon trip to any destination of their choice abroad.

Sexy actress, Mercy Johnson, loses it!

25

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

RE ELNEW S Zuma 2012 SevenSeries, Dori Media Group partner for Emerald

COSON receives NORCODE boss

Race for Box Office award heightens Nominees emerge for Yoruba Movie Academy Awards

Here comes tattoo artistes competition

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Married with kids, singing couple, Olubukunola and Damilola Bekes are both gearing up for the release of their individual albums set for launch on May 6. The couple who share a passion for music have been keeping faith with the art, despite not making any profit from music. They spoke about their individual albums, their journey as gospel artistes and the challenges of the job in this interview with AHMED BOULOR.

Everyone is not meant to do hip hop—Wife

The singing couple People thought we couldn't survive doing music—Husband

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Glo throws weight behind Laffmatazz

Obesere still in pain

•Tolu Maintain, his daughter and Konga on Stage

Ahmed BOULOR

Tuface goes ‘Buckwyld and Breathless’

KC drops two more singles

Which Star Quest band wins tonight?

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R E V O C

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012, 2012

COVER

R OVER OVER OVER OVER OVER OVER E V O C C C C C C C

‘Why I don’t miss my ex-husband’

R E V O C

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

COVER

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Szczesny targets

500 ARSENAL

APPEARANCES 29

Osaze

By

Harry Iwuala

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Real Madrid Barcelona Valencia Malaga Levante Osasuna Bilbao Atletico Sevilla Espanyol Getafe Real Betis Mallorca Rayo Vallecano Sociedad Villarreal Granada Zaragoza S/ Gijon Santander

33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33

27 25 14 15 14 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 10 12 10 8 10 8 7 4

4 6 10 6 6 13 12 9 9 9 9 6 10 4 9 12 6 7 7 14

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107 96 50 49 47 37 48 44 40 43 38 40 35 49 40 34 30 29 33 24

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78 72 8 3 1 -16 4 3 2 0 -6 -5 -6 -9 -9 -13 -19 -30 -30 -28

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

D

R. Dre says he's thrilled with the way his Tupac hologramme rocked Coachella last weekend and says that he would love to see a Jimi Hendrix hologramme follow Pac's lead.

The hip-hop legend was at Boa steakhouse in Hollywood last night when he said that he's so fired up about the Tupac show that he will be breaking out the hologram again at the next Coachella concert on Sunday. He's even thinking about taking Pac on tour.

Dre says he's hopeful the 2pac concert will inspire other artists to resurrect legendary musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye.

Tupac came back to life last weekend as a hologramme.

Pac was resurrected for the Coachella music festival in California and performed a couple of his greatest hits including 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted with Snoop Dogg.

Mel Gibson may sue Joe Eszterhas

Jackie Appiah's first single out

Dr. Dre thrilled

by Tupac hologramme

Kardashian to run for Mayor Madam Kpelems attacks Buk Bak on set

Demi Moore in fresh start

D

EMI Moore resurfaced Tuesday night after her rehab stint, and it was mostly business.

Demi showed up at a home in Beverly Hills to celebrate the launch of the TV show, "The Conversation."

She's the Executive Producer, and her best friend, Amanda de Cadenet (red and white) is the star.

Although Demi has not filed for divorce yet, she's ready for a name change. Demi tweeted last night that she's taking suggestions for a new screen name. Her current one is @MrsKutcher.

Crane over Ghollywood Juliet Ibrahim turns footballer

Female celebrities rock VGMA

A

shocking picture of what happened on a video shoot set has surfaced. The picture was a bit blurred but the personalities in it were Madam Kpelems the husband beater of Laugh a minute show and Bright of Buk Bak fame.

Investigations revealed that the picture was taken at a video shooting where Madam Kpelems comes into the video to pose as an orange seller listening to music on her Beat by Dre head phone.

As the filming was in progress, Bright accidentally run into her table of oranges which she tediously arrange with his bicycle thereby causing filming to pause, then she confronted Bright about the mess he had caused.

Black Celebrity Magazine unveiled

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

My sister, Folawe Agoro has left us

I

’ve been waking up in the middle of the night at odd times this past week, not to use the toilet, but something has been waking me up. Whenever this happens, I simply sit down and meditate. I soon go back to sleep and that’s all. So when I woke up on Sunday April 15, 2012, I thought it was the usual wake up-and meditate night. But it wasn’t to be. As much as I tried to pray, I couldn’t because there was something strange hanging around me and I instantly became sad. I slept off around 4.00 am after taking a warm mug of milk only to be woken up by one of my brothers, Damilare.

Not wanting to break the news directly, he said, “Sis mi, I hear something terrible has happened in the family o. Call Baba to confirm”. His line went off before I could find out what it was. But I knew that something indeed had gone amiss, but what it was, I couldn’t guess. So I called Dolapo, the second in line to me in my father’s house.

Dolapo lives with her family in England, but she keeps in touch with every member of the family wherever they may be in the world. I don’t know how she does it with practicing Law, running a small business and taking care of two children and a husband, but she’s the one who checks on everybody, so she’s the one always with the right information. I figured out that if I needed to know the blow that had hit my family, it would not be from my dad, (what if he was the one something happened to? I wouldn’t be able to handle it), so it was better to hear from Dolapo.

“Adeola, Folawe died this morning before day break.

I’ve already spoken with Baba. You have to call him now”, she said even before I asked her what was wrong in the family.

Folawe, one of our sisters has left us, just like that! To think that so-often-taken-for-granted typhoid fever took my sister away from us in her prime.

It is a big blow to all of us because I think in our naivety, we never thought something would one day come to our strong fold and take one of us away. Just like that!

I come from a very big family. My dad, Dr. Olapade Agoro must have had this weird fantasy to have many children and when his brothers and sisters dared him, he just went on having us. I happen to be one of the first 5 and I really can’t remember much of what happened when we were that number. Much of what I remember are the things

that happened when I had had at least 10 siblings behind me.

We were about 15 then and I was that big but skinny sister who couldn’t wait to be on her own in our Apata Areraye Mansion, Olapade Agoro Estate, Ibadan.

I grew up with my grandmother so to say, but my father ensured that no weekend went by without the driver coming to pick me for the weekend and that was when I had the time to be with my many siblings.

Folawe Agoro was within the first 10 and so, we had a special kind of rapport. We had the same husky but ringing voice, the same way of smiling (just like most of the Olapade Agoro children. But we were different because while I was rather shy and reserved, she was on the outspoken side. We had the gift of jibes in common (she from the showy point of view while mine was the silent type) and she used to enjoy nudging me and making me come out of my shell.

Dad soon added more to the family and it never ceased to be one happy family with everybody looking forward to coming home to have some laughter and fun that only being together could bring.

Soon enough we began to grow older in age, go to university and college and later marriage, travels, children and work began to take us away from home but we all tried to stay in touch as much as we could. Physical contact however became something of the past. We’re large in number, so getting us all under a roof became somewhat impossible.

I sent a mail to my Aunty Deremi Agoro-Fagbamila a year ago urging her to bring us all together. I specifically told her that birthdays, weddings and child christening would certainly bring us together and I added ‘burials too’. I said in my mail that we shouldn’t wait until burials bring us together before we realize family plays a role in one’s life.

Most of us couldn’t make it to Folawe’s burial because she was laid to rest the same day she died as instructed by Baba (Dad) and we couldn’t leave our various destinations to be there, but we all hooked up together on the phone to bond and cry together.

I’ve learnt something from all of this, no matter how busy one gets, priority must be given to family because you naver can say when one of them might be snatched from you. It is a lesson Folawe’s death has taught me. To all of the Agoro family of Erinmo, I say a o ni ri ru e mo o.

To you readers out there, I’m sorry I can’t offer any solution to your problems this week. By next week, I’ll be still be mourning, but the tears would have dried and I’ll be back fully.

Enjoy the little I got for you to fill the page and let me mourn.

Hearts With Adeola Agoro

E-mail: libranadeola@yahoo.co.uk

Living together is different when you’re older Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, The Huffington Post: When I was 18, I moved in with my first love. This was the late 1960s and as much as I loved him and he loved me, we both knew that we were too young to get married. We both had college degrees to pursue, wars to stop, injustices to rectify and a world to change.

Back then, living together served many purposes, not the least of which was to seriously piss off our parents — a good thing.

The arguments with my parents both sets of parents actually - over the issues involved with cohabitation were about as ferocious as they come. My parents warned me against it in sometimes crude terms — “he won’t pay for what he gets for free” — an oblique reference that living together eliminated David’s need to marry me since he was getting laid while staying rogue. His parents questioned my very character. “Nice girls wait until they see a ring,” I was told.

We, in turn, accused them of preferring a 1968 version of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” where they didn’t really care what we did just as long as their relatives and friends didn’t find out about it. We also spoke of the infidelities in our own parents’ unions, the hypocrisy of them

Seven habits that will help you live longer (and better)

W

E’RE all aging. And this much I’ve figured out: The challenge isn’t how to stop it. It’s how to

do it.

When I turned 50 a few years ago, it became unnervingly clear that changes had to be made. Post-menopausal pounds were creeping on, my blood pressure and cholesterol levels were rising, I wasn’t moving my body enough and my energy was waning.

All of this was making me feel invisible, old and ready to give up — believing aging like this was inevitable. Looking

around, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. What’s worse, when I envisioned what my life could be five or ten years hence, I got really scared.

That’s when I took control and took action. I researched and wrote The Best of Everything After 50, and five years later, I am in — for me — perfect health: weight is down, health check numbers down, intake of unhealthy foods down, and my daily activity level is way up. These simple changes turned my health, outlook and life around, preparing me for the natural

progression of aging.

This week I read the New York Times obituary of Dr. Lester Breslow, a public health leader whose research offered proof that people can live longer, healthier lives by changing habits. In a seminal study, Dr. Breslow followed the behavior of 7,000 people in Alameda County, CA, for 35 years. He concluded that seven simple daily health habits can predict how long people will live and how healthy they will be during their lifetime.

In a news release, Dr. Breslow said: “What was surprising to me was how these seven habits were so strongly predictive of mortality.”

The “Seven Healthy Habits” — as Dr. Breslow referred to his key tips — are: Don’t smoke.

Drink moderately or don’t drink at all.

Get a good night’s sleep of seven or eight hours.

Exercise 30 minutes at a time, several times a week. Walking vigorously is a top choice.

T

•10-year-old Master Segun Joseph Ajetomobi being assisted by his sister Nifemi Deborah during his birthday at Oke-Ijebu, Akure, Ondo state

Forget the scales. Eat moderately to maintain weight in relation to height.

Eat regularly, whether that’s two meals a day, three or five. Whatever you do normally, keep it up because it’s the regularity of life and moderation in eating, sleeping and exercising that makes all the difference.

Eat breakfast every day.

The statistics from Dr. Breslow’s study are astounding.

A follow-up study showed that those who followed better habits were less likely to become disabled. Of those with four or more good health habits, 12.2 percent were likely to be disabled 10 years after the study began; those with two or three, 14.1 percent; and those with only one or no positive health habits at all, 18.7 percent. Dr. Breslow found that a 60-year-old who followed the seven recommended behaviors would be as healthy as a 30year-old who followed fewer than three.

telling us about the sanctity of marriage.

Things today are much simpler, I suspect. According to New York Times’ opinion piece, the majority of young adults in their 20s will live with a romantic partner at least once and some 7.5 million young couples are already shacking up.

Most young couples slip into living together without much fanfare. They date, start spending nights together more frequently and then someone’s lease is up and the economic conclusion is reached that two can live more cheaply as one. There may not even be a conversation about cohabitation being a pathway to marriage - although the Pew Research organization says almost 64 percent of cohabiters see it as such - and I suspect almost no one’s mother is saying she isn’t nice for merging potted plants with the guy she’s been dating for a year.

What’s interesting though is that the recent conversation about cohabitation has been limited to it being a rite of passage for those in their 20s. The fact is, boomers are doing it too, just for different reasons — and those reasons are about as far away from a path to marriage as they can get.

Post 50s cohabitate because marriage in your 50s or 60s can be a financially complicated nightmare. You both come to this relationship with decades of baggage in the form of children, houses, stock portfolios and accumulated wealth. That’s the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is when the two partners have uneven amounts of baggage: One has invested wisely and saved, the other pretty much doesn’t have two nickels to rub together. One has kids who get first dibs and the other has a cat.

Take the case of a long-divorced stockbroker friend who had lived for almost a decade with a divorced doctor. The doctor has adult children from a previous marriage, the stockbroker does not. Until the day he was diagnosed with cancer. His treatment plan would be delivered out of state and never mind that she would miss work to take care of him — many hospitals wouldn’t even let a non-relative into the recovery room. And then there were all the complications with his estate and adult children; where would my friend wind up financially after caring for her beloved?

4 things you do that kill her sex drive

HERE’S a reason why you and your wife of 20 years don’t ravage each other anymore, and it isn’t for your lack of trying. According to a new study in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, women in a committed relationship report lower levels of sexual desire over time—a .02 percent decrease every month, while a guy’s desire stays the same.

“Some research suggests that somewhere between 6 and 30 months, relationships switch from passionate to compassionate—more affectionate than ripping each other’s clothes off,” says lead study author Robin Milhausen, Ph.D., a sex researcher at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

So are you to blame for her lack of lust? Not necessarily, Milhausen says. “For women with a lower sex drive in the first place, the switch to a deeper emotional bond may reduce some of the excitement associated with sex in new relationships.”

Still, you’re not exactly helping matters. We asked several sex experts to shed light on the worst things you do around the house and in the sack that turn her off. Vow to never commit the following mood-killers again—try to Banish These Bad Habits, too—and your sex life will suffer no more.

Ignoring Her Appearance: “Guys in long-term relationships tend to stop noticing when their partner looks pretty, and so much of female sexual desire is tied to a sense of self-esteem,” says Ian Kerner, Ph.D., sex counselor and author of She Comes First. The fix here is simple: Pay her a few simple compliments every day, like letting her know she’s sexy, Kerner says.

Putting Her Under Pressure: Don’t worry or question her about getting orgasms, says Marnia Robinson, author of

Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow. Stay relaxed and focused on playful touching, she advises. “This means no performance pressure on either of you. Let whatever happens happen in its own time—or not. Good sex is about connection and sensual satisfaction, not number of orgasms produced.” And here’s a nice added benefit to staying calm: “The relaxation is good for erections,” says Robinson.

Using Porn As a Benchmark: It’s good to keep the sex hot—but it’s more important to keep it real. In other words, forget that cool move you caught on XTube. “Just because you saw a sexual practice in a film doesn’t mean it’s safe or satisfying,” says Robinson. And it might not even be something she’s into. “If you need extreme stimulation to perform with a partner, you may want to cut back on overstimulation. A desensitized brain can also find sex less arousing. As you restore your brain to normal sensitivity, regular sex behaviors become enjoyable again.” Time to rediscover the wonders of the missionary position. (Need more help finding great moves? Use our handy Sex Position Master.)

Leaving Her Lips Hanging: As men get comfortable in a relationship, their approach to foreplay tends to focus on the moments leading up to sex, says Kerner. “But female desire doesn’t operate like a light switch that turns on and off—it’s more like a dimmer,” he says. Small acts of intimacy like hugging and kissing can get her in the mood. But don’t get antsy: “Don’t expect her to be immediately turned on,” Kerner says

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

IT HAPPENED TO ME

T

WO years ago, when I turned 31, my mum sent me a card. Not a birthday card as you might expect but the wedding invitation of my cousin, Tega. It was my mum’s way of reminding me that time was passing and it was time I settled down. I got the message alright. But I didn’t need to be reminded about the issue.

I had been thinking about it for some years especially as more and more of my school mates and friends got hooked. And it’s not as if suitors had not been coming. I’ve had so many men asking for my hand in marriage that I’ve lost count. But the problem was most of them were not my type. I have had a certain type of man in mind as a marriage partner since my secondary school days and most of the suitors I have had don’t fit that picture.

My ideal man has to have a certain look (tall and handsome), a kind of personality and status in life. My mum thinks my taste is too high and I might have a hard time getting such a man.

“Just accept one of these men who have proposed and settle down. The most important thing is a man who will make you happy and fulfilled as a woman,” she keeps telling me.

But I knew I could not be fully happy until I got a man who fit the criteria I was looking for in a life partner so I continued the search. Sometime last year, a colleague of mine at work suggested I should try the internet, that it was a cool way of meeting people and I could be lucky to meet someone really interesting. I was sceptical at first.

I had heard all kinds of stories about on-line dating, how some people give fake information about themselves just to hoodwink others.

Meeting Deni With encouragement from my colleague, I later relented and joined an on-line dating service. I ‘met’ a couple of guys but the one that really caught my interest was Deni.

Tall, good-looking with a charming smile (from the photos he sent me), Deni said he was an engineer who worked for the UK branch of an international construction firm. Having left Nigeria for nearly twelve years, he said he was tired of living abroad and was planning to relocate home soon to set up his own business.

Deni and I seemed to have a lot in common and we spent hours chatting on-line and exchanging emails. With time, we started speaking on the phone and got to know each

When love is not enough... other better. He was a few years older than me and seemed to have all the qualities I had been looking for in a man. So when he suggested coming to Nigeria to see me so as to take the relationship to another level, I quickly agreed.

A year after we met online, Deni came to Nigeria. I went to the airport to pick him up and he looked even more handsome in the flesh.

He bought a lot of gifts for me and my mum who took to him as well.

“I’ve never seen you so excited about a man before,” she said a few days after Deni’s arrival. “He looks like a nice, young man so if he’s the one you want, make sure he does the right thing like meeting your father before you commit yourself fully.”

Shortly after his arrival, we travelled to the village to see my father who had retired and had relocated home. The introduction was done then while the traditional marriage ceremony and wedding were fixed for June. My father and the other family members all seemed to like him and I was glad as Deni was all I ever wanted in a man and I couldn’t wait

Re: My quest for the high life led me into the hands of ritualists (1) I read your story with much interest. I must say, it’s lack of contentment that led you into this problem.

What are you waiting for? You better confess to your parents and Tracy’s parents before it’s too late for you.

James Y. Abutu (07030399840) It’s better for her to do restitution, that can only help her. I pray the Lord will see her through.

If that story is true, I want the girl to first of all report the matter to the police and try to locate those people (the person who invited them to that party) then she should look for people to follow her to the mother of the other girl and narrate everything that happen to the mother, after that she should go to the Synagogue Church of all Nation to see the man of God TB. Joshua for her deliverance and freedom.

(08164957850)

‘

Shortly after his arrival, we travelled to the village to see my father who had retired and had relocated home. The introduction was done then while the traditional marriage ceremony and wedding were fixed for June this year

to be his wife. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly happy and contented.

The feeling was mutual as he seemed to be besotted with me as well. He confessed that I was the first woman he had met that he had felt like settling down with.

“I never felt the urge to get married until I met you,” he told me one evening on our way back from an outing. “Where have you being all my life?” he queried.

“Well, better late than never!” I quipped.

“You are right, sweetheart,” he said, planting a quick kiss on my lips.

“Hey, watch the road!” I said, laughing.

We had had a lovely day at the beach, then ended up at a popular cinema on Victoria Island. It was nearly 9pm and we were on our way home.

“Is he spending the night?” my flatmate Mandy whispered to me when we got home and Deni had gone to the bathroom.

I shook my head.

“Of course not. I want to wait till after the wedding before we start sleeping together.”

“And he doesn’t mind?”

“I told him that’s what I want and he said it was ok with him. He said he doesn’t mind waiting.”

“Be careful, anyway. So, one of these ‘sharp’ Lagos girls doesn’t snatch him from you. You know he’s so cute.

’

And he lives abroad; he’s the kind of man many girls are looking for.”

“I’ll kill any girl that tries such a thing,” I declared vehemently.

“Who are you planning to kill?” Deni asked as he came into the kitchen where I was helping Mandy prepare dinner.

“Nobody important, darling,” I said, giving him a hug.

“Now let’s have the delicious meal your friend has been cooking. I could smell it all the way from the living room!” he said.

Later, after the meal, I saw him off to his car.

We sat inside for a while, talking and making plans about the wedding and our future together. After the ceremony, we planned spending the honeymoon in the UK, then I would return to Nigeria because of my work. Deni would stay back in London and be shuttling between there and Nigeria to see me. Since he had a British passport, travelling between both countries would not be a problem.

“I intend relocating to Nigeria in the next two years,” he said.

“That will be great. We will then be together always,” I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Please drive carefully.

You know our roads are not as well-lit as the streets in London,” I cautioned him

before stepping down from the car.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart.

I’ll be fine.” He blew me a kiss as he reversed the car and drove off towards Surulere where he was staying with a relative. I stood watching until the taillights of the car disappeared then I went back to the house.

My fiancé, a rapist?

I happily threw myself into the wedding plans. I wanted a big wedding with all the trimmings at least to show some of my friends and others who had been making snide remarks about my single status all this while.

Then a few weeks ago, I got an email from a total stranger. She said she lived in London and had known Deni for years.

She told me a lot about him, how he had been to jail for credit and tax fraud as well as rape and other crimes. To prove the authenticity of her story, she attached a newspaper report published about five years earlier on the fraud case. It was all there in black and white- Deni’s picture with two other members of the ‘gang!’

To say I was shocked was putting it mildly. In fact, I almost fainted after reading the mail. At first I thought it was just a mischievous person or a jealous ex-lover trying to ruin my relationship and marriage plans with Deni. But pictures don’t lie and it was all there, as clear as daylight.

I called her with the number on the email and she reiterated her story, even giving more details. It turned out she knew a cousin of mine who lived in the UK who was planning to come to Nigeria for my wedding and when she found out my fiance’s name, she said she felt compelled to contact me to let me know the kind of man I was marrying.

Even my cousin confirmed the story.

It took time for me to accept the fact, that my loving and caring husband-to- be whom I was so madly in love

40 with, was not just a fraudster but a rapist. How could this have happened, I wondered.

Why me? Had things moved too fast? Should we have courted for a longer period so I could know more about him? So many thoughts kept going through my mind which got me even more confused.

Unfortunately Deni was not around when I found out these things about him. He was back in London making final preparations for our wedding. When I called him on the phone and told him all that I heard, he denied it at first, saying it was the work of detractors who wanted to ruin our marital plans. But when I pressed further, he confessed and said he had really gone to prison but that he had been set up; that he would explain everything when he got back to Nigeria.

When I asked him why he kept such vital information from me, he said he was afraid I would not have accepted him if he had told me he was an ex-convict.

Right now, I feel angry, deceived and even betrayed.

I’ve stopped answering his calls and I have told my parents I’m calling off the wedding because there was no way I was going to spend the rest of my life with a man who had fooled me so completely.

My mum says I should wait for him to come so we could talk about it. That if I loved him, I should listen to his own side of the story. Mandy feels the same way too.

But can love be enough to erase his sleazy past? Much as I loved him and want to settle down, I’m not that desperate that I would want to end up with someone who had gone to prison.

Besides, if he could keep such information from me, who knew what else he was hiding from me? How could I trust such a man? And what was marriage without trust?

Yet my heart breaks anytime I remember the time we spent together while he was around and how compatible we are. Despite what he has done, I still love him. I’ve never loved any man as I love Deni. But can I forgive him?

Should I forgive him or forget about him and look for someone else? Please I need your advice. Thank you.

Concluded.

(Names have been changed for privacy’s sake.)

For comments and advice, please send sms to 08023201831 or email psaduwa@yahoo.com. To send advice to Isi, the narrator of the story carried in the last three editions of the paper titled: “My quest for the high life led me into the hands of ritualists,” use the same contact above. The best text message or email wins N1000 recharge card.

Next week’s story: It revolves around Ken, a bachelor in his 20s whom Nina, his friend’s wife is in love with. He wants nothing to do with her out of loyalty to his friend Willy who has been so good to him and was responsible for getting him a job in his father-in-law’s company where he is a director. But the woman is threatening to make life difficult for him including sacking him if he doesn’t do what she wants...

Don’t miss it!!!

&

LIFE

Society Profile

THE NATION, Saturday, APRIL 21, 2012

STYLE Gossip Interviews

41

See Pages 44&45

You need a large heart to large pick babies from pick the dustbin

Bola Dare, Abuja's celebrated 'foster' mother

44

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

She is beautiful, about six feet tall, slim and really charming. At almost 45, she may be above the limit for the Miss Nigeria beauty pageants, but her likes organise beauty shows. At first contact, she looks like the fun-loving type, but after a closer contact with her, that impression changes. For Yeye Bola Dare, the idea of fun is devoting her time and love to the 47 children God has given to her. ADEOLA AGORO sought her out and ended up joining in the dancing and eating sessions at her Mother Teresa Orphanage Home in Gwarimpa, Abuja.

‘God told me to start caring for abandoned kids’

•Bola Dare

Y

eye, it’s a pleasure meeting you. Some of the pictures of you that I’ve seen do not speak of this beauty I’m seeing.

Sitting in front of this beautiful face makes me wonder what a woman like you is doing running an orphanage instead of running a beauty pageant or something related to that.

Tell us, how did the journey to the orphanage start?

You know, God doesn’t look at faces when He’s giving an assignment. God doesn’t look at your age or where you come from. This is a great calling from Him. For me I’m a politician, I’m a business woman and I like enjoying myself a lot. Just for God to call me to come and take care of abandoned children and orphans, so I call it a great call.

How long ago was this?

After the election campaign that brought in late President Umaru Yar’Adua, most of my colleagues were waiting for appointments, I bought this building and started renovating it. I travelled abroad and when I came back I told the engineer that it wouldn’t go for rent, that I was going to use it for an orphanage and I opened the orphanage on my 40th birthday in 2007.

I got the message directly from God. He said He wanted me to take care of abandoned children.

How long did it take you before the kids started coming in?

The first kid came in the week I got approval from the Federal Government. The then Minister of FCT, that was Dr. Aliyu Moddibo, he and others were all surprised

and asked what a politician was doing with an orphanage. He then sent his people to come and inspect the place. When they came, they found out that I was fully equipped and he approved it. But nobody took me seriously. They were looking at me as a socialite and a politician, but to come and start taking babies from the dustbin from different areas and then taking care of the children... It is God. You can’t take care of 47 children ordinarily.

Taking care of one baby is big work, taking care of two is a handful, and you are taking care of 47! I can see that you have many hands here, but it can’t be easy taking care of all these children because of all the factors involved in taking care of children – the physical presence, the emotional and

spiritual involvement, how are you able to handle all that? Well, God has been really there for me giving me the ability to do my best. One, I love children, then I’m a very playful person. When you see me playing you will never think that I can have the time to do any other thing. But I’m a very serious person and I take whatever task I’m given by God seriously. For you to even go to the places where some of these children are abandoned takes the grace of God. It takes the grace of God to pick a baby from the dustbin. You need to have a large heart to do that. You have to take them most times to the hospital after picking them up, stay around the hospital to see that they’re stable before you bring them home. So, it takes the grace of God. When a woman you gets involved in the care of children not biologically hers, it makes one wonder, do you have your own biological children?

Yes, I do. My last child is 17 years old.

Really?

I’ll be 45 this year.

You really don’t look a day older than 35.

Maybe God made me look younger because He knows I have a lot of work to do for Him here.

You do really look good. Doesn’t the mirror tell you that daily?

I don’t even know how I look. I just wake up every day, dress up and enjoy myself. I enjoy myself with these children here. Before you came, I was with them upstairs, dancing with them and making myself happy. After every one hour, I go back to see them again and that is the way it is. When I’m out there doing politics and business, I’m totally lost in my work, but the moment I come back here, I don’t think of any other thing apart from the children no matter what they’re offering me, no matter who is calling me. When I’m here, I’m no longer the Yeye Bola Dare that people see; I instantly become the mummy to my many children.

Do you take all ages of children that are abandoned or orphaned?

I like taking new born babies o. That way, you can groom them from the beginning.

But new babies come with a lot of problems- colic, demand for touch, waking up at nights and all that, so how do you do it?

You’re right. Some even come with

45

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012 illnesses. Like the case we had last week, the woman just came in here and dumped her baby in a carton – naked! They called me and when I came, I saw that the baby was very weak. I just carried the baby and said: ‘Oya, straight to National Hospital.’ When we got there, I said they must admit the baby. They said: ‘This baby looks good and may not need admission.’ I said; ‘Let’s check.’ They admitted the baby and by the time they did what they call eco-scan, they discovered that the baby has a hole in the heart. They started treating him and fortunately, the hole has started closing up.

The hole is closing up miraculously?

Yes. The baby is doing fine and I’m happy.

I thank God that I was around that day, if not, we might have lost the baby. He was dehydrated, he was weak and sick.

Have you ever had cases where babies die in your care?

Not in our care, but yes, we have had a situation where a baby was dumped in our dustbin here and maybe he had been there for a long time before we discovered him and got him on the way to the hospital.

Apparently, the baby couldn’t cope with the stress of being in the dustbin and it died before we got to the hospital. I felt bad but I told God I tried my best and that’s it.

Whenever I see children, I give them all my care and all I have, so if a baby goes like that, it can be heart-breaking but sometimes, that’s the way God wants it.

How old are the oldest children here now?

They’re under five years old.

What are your plans for them as they grow older?

We have 11 of them in school; they’re in the League British School. They’re getting a good foundation in life.

How do you pay the school fees of such a school and still feed the ones not yet in school?

I’m a businesswoman, don’t forget. Then I have good friends who support us here. So when I’m done with running around for politics, I go round seeking for support. Then of course, I have the mother of the nation there for us, that’s the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. She has never turned us down whenever I run to her and cry to her.

She is the big mother of these children.

One area I’m actually interested in is the relationship between you and the First Lady.

There are two Bolas close to Her Excellency – you and Hajia Bola Shagaya. Hardly would they see Dame Patience Jonathan home and abroad without seeing both of you. In fact, the news is that you are both her friends officially. Tell us, what’s the relationship all about? So many people mean so many things to the First Lady, so I think she’s the one that will answer this question. She picks whoever she wants close to her. She knows everybody’s potential and she underlines it.

She knows whom to give this duty to and she knows the characters best suited for certain assignments. As for me, I take her as an elder sister and I flow very well with her.

Her mind is as free as air, she’s very real and that’s why I like her. I don’t know why she likes me, but this is why I like her. I don’t know how she looks at me, but I look at her as my elder sister. Whatever I can discuss with my elder sister, I can discuss with her and I can tell you that, that is the way she accommodates everybody, particularly those that are very close to her. Once she likes you, you’re close to her. She’s a very nice person.

They say having a great face can open doors for you, but it is your brain that keeps you inside. You have a great face, how many doors has this face opened for you?

There’s no door that is closed for me. Ever since I realised who I am, there’s no door that has not opened for me. I won’t ever say ‘it won’t work’. I never! I’m a well-focused person – you cannot draw me back. If I have something I want to do, I go ahead and do it, you can’t pull me back. I will move and I will get it done. I don’t pretend and I don’t manage. It’s either I’m there or I’m not there.

So no door can close for me and by the grace of God with this work that I’m doing, no door can close. What I’m doing is I’m working for God and He is paying me salaries. The GO (general overseer) of a church works for God and gets salaries. This is a ministry. Taking care of orphans is a ministry. I’m an anointed woman, anyhow they look at it. Whenever I want something from God, I sit here and talk to Him and He answers immediately because this is a channel I use to reach Him. You’re so confident and sure of yourself that I wonder how your husband got you to listen when he was doing the ‘toasting’ game.

Tell us, how did he get you interested?

If a cleaner likes me, he can talk to me. If I like a cleaner, he can walk up to me. It’s about me. If I like somebody, I can give him the

•Bola Dare with some of the kids

room to talk. If I don’t give you the room, if you like, bring the whole world, I’ll keep blocking you. Everything depends on me. I like you and I like you. If I don’t like you, you cannot penetrate. I like being simple.

Was there something in your childhood that defined the woman you are today?

Maybe my parents. My father used to be a policeman that moved into the State Security, so we had a very strict upbringing. My father was a security man married to my mother who used to be an optician, so the home setting was good. My father was tough and he never told us that life was easy. My mum is so accommodating – she’s a Brazilian, you know. She taught us to accommodate everybody. When I was in school…Ha! I went to so many schools! You know police work Transfer. Transfer. Transfer. That’s why I understand Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba and a little bit of Calabar, a little bit of Bini… so many languages because of the many transfers and I love having friends all around me. When we closed from school, I never used to go home straight. We used to branch at one friend’s place or the other and I grew up like that. I feel more comfortable with the opposite sex. I was tough when I was in school because most of my friends – the female ones – whenever they had problem, they would call me and I used to take up their fights for them.

Fight? You don’t look like somebody who used to fight.

(Laughs) You know, not that kind of street fighting but I was tough. In life, there are some decisions you take and you have to be firm. You can see the kind of campaign we ran for Mr. President in the last election, going here and there; you have to be firm to do that kind of work. What are the things that set you apart from most women you know?

I’m a happy person and my health is good because nothing bothers me. I don’t think about anything. Whatever will happen, until then. But today, I’ll enjoy myself and take life as it is. I’m never sad; I’m telling you.

When I see sadness, I move away from it.

Hei! I keep having fun, fun, fun.

Let’s talk about the fun you have; what’s your idea of fun?

For me, this is fun. For me, having fun is not about parties. In fact, I select the parties I go to. I just don’t dress up and go to parties. I go to parties when the person means a lot to me and to the orphanage. If you have been to the orphanage to see my children, whatever you’re doing, I’ll be there. And I’ll be there not just as a guest; I’ll be there to support you fully. My friends are those who have come to visit us here, they’re the ones I relate to as friends. If you’ve never been here, no matter what you’re doing, I will not there.

And I will tell you straight that I’m not going to come because you have not identified with the children that I’m taking care of. If you

•...Cuddling a baby at the home

think you want to send gifts to the children without coming to see how they are doing, then we don’t need you. Some of my rich friends call me to come, that they have something for the orphanage and I should come and collect. I tell them I cannot come. I don’t do like that. I tell them: ‘You can send money to us to go and buy something for the children. Come and see where you’re sending the money to.’ What kind of money do they want to give you that you’ll be dancing around them without seeing the love they have to give?

See how you’re radiating warmth as you talk; you look so sexy. How do you handle male admirers?

Are you going to write this inside the paper?

Yes now!

(Laughs). Na wa o. Anyway, do I even notice men? If you’re a man and you like me, I won’t even give you the room to start

thinking you can get far; I’ll just divert your attention to something serious (Laughs again). If you allow your good looks to occupy your mind then you’re in trouble. I know I’m tall. Some women come and tell me and say: ‘Na wa o, this your height. If I were the one as tall as you are, I would have used it to do many things’. I know I’m very tall and I tell them: ‘That is why you’re not tall because God would have known what you would do with it.’ God has created me this way and I know that everybody cannot be the same. What I know is that God created some special species and Yeye Bola Dare is part of that specie. I am privileged to be part of that species and if it is by the grace of God, He allows me to achieve my vision of moving these children into Mother Teresa’s Children’s Home in December this year when I’ll be 45, nothing will change that plan by the grace of God. Oh! It will be the celebration of God. We shall be celebrating God. I shall involve the media during the planning. I was once a journalist, you know.

Tell us about your years as a journalist.

We actually started the Vanguard with Muyiwa Adetiba and others. Then they started the Yellow Pages. Uncle Sam (Amuka) moved us to Yellow Pages and I was the best.

Once I go for anything, I get it. Once we had any problem I solved it. That was how I moved to Hints Magazine.

I was in Hints too.

I was in charge of credit control in Hints and I was collecting money for them. I was there with Kayode Ajala, Chindima AwaAgu, Hetti and a lot of them. But I left after one and a half years to join Tell after which I went to start business and then politics. It was like play-play with the politics until now. But I must say that with politics, I didn’t start from the grassroots. I started from the top. I worked with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Did you work with late Mrs. Stella Obasanjo?

No. I didn’t work with Stella, I worked with Baba. I wasn’t earning salaries, but wherever Baba sent us, we would be there.

So how were you making your money?

Baba groomed us and ever blocked us from making a way from ourselves. Baba expected you to use your head and anywhere we found opportunities, we went there. Baba is a total man and you must be highly intelligent to work with him. I enjoyed working around him, I must tell you.

You’re a total woman too and I think you should add mentoring young women to the list of things you do for God apart from the children you care for; have you ever thought of that?

Periodically, I organise small talks with the youths, not only young woman. A lot of youths walk up to me and I do my best to instruct them in the right things. Let’s go up and dance some more with my children. I’m rearing to go.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Essence launched in style O

ne of the telecommunications companies in the country, Etisalat, revealed its new masterbrand campaign tagged Essence in style along with a fashion show which was held at the Zinnia Hall, of the prestigious Eko Hotel & Suite.

The event had in attendance industry titans, top celebrities and entertainers who came to witness the glamorous event. The company showcased itself as a brand that is in step with the youth segment of the country by staging a fashion show that had top celebrities such as Byran Okwara-Ex-Mr Nigeria, Uti Nwachukwu, Eku Edewor, Muna and Lynxx and a host of others strut the runway in designs by Mai Atafo and Emmy Collins.

Guests at the event were also treated to musical performances by Wande Coal and sultry singer Tiwa Savage, amongst others.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Ideal footwear for rainy season

Tips •Pairing them with short gowns or pleated skirts or jean trousers presents a sassy look.

•Pairing them with fitted outfits and some corporate wear lessens the serious look. It makes one look colourful and cheerful and at the same time fashionable.

•Also pairing them with the head scarves that have the same colours will also look beautiful, but one should not combine too much of the colours so as not to look like part of a carnival parade. They are very attractive and cannot go unnoticed, so it is better to lessen the colours on top and let the fancy footwear do its magic.

Omowumi OGUNTUASE

P

LASTIC sandals are the answers to your problems this season. Are you surprised? Did you say plastics sandals? But yes, plastic sandals are the right shoes for the season. It comes in different colours, designs and shapes simply because little drizzling can spoil your beautiful shoes and make nonsense of the time spent in dressing up.

These colourful fancy wear has now become the order of the day for ladies. They come in sandals and slippers and are everywhere. One cannot walk through a place and not notice the very cute things on most ladies’ legs. They vary in types and colours, and the ways they are matched makes them look more chic.

These allow the popularly called colour-blocking to become the trending fashion.

They are fashionable and comfortable and they can be worn anywhere and on anything. The sling backs are fashioned in the peeptoe style while the slippers are flip-flops.

•If you are the type that cannot do without your leather shoes, simply wear the jelly/rubber shoes from home and change to leather when you get to the office.

Daphne Guinness announces auction of her wardrobe

Last month, Daphne Guinness announced that she would auction off 100 items from her wardrobe at Christie’s in London come June 27.

The Telegraph just got a peek at her picks.

Among them were a strapless “bubble dress” by French couturier Christian Lacroix; a white silk mini dress by London Fashion Week designer Christopher Kane; a silver mini dress by her late friend Alexander McQueen and a selection of the heel-less shoes she is famed for wearing

by Norita Tatehana.

There are a few bargains in the lot, with something like a spare button, or extra thread, but the event could bring in as much as £100,000 or nearly $160,000, all going to the Isabella Blow Foundation.

Louis Vuitton’s train for Shanghai Britney Spears $20,000 sports bra

Britney Spears wore a $20,000 sports bra to promote the new game, Twister Dance. Created by Body Rock, the “Eternal Love Bra” is made from silk, encrusted with silver diamond Swarovski crystals and gold pyramid studs, and has an $18K gold zipper.

Louis Vuitton’s fallwinter 2012 show and much-talked-about train will travel to the Chinese city, Shanghai, in late July to celebrate the reopening of LV’s store at the Plaza 66 luxury mall.

SOCIETY

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THE NATION SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Erelu Sunbo Famuyibo celebrates 50th birthday in grand style Kayode ALFRED T was one of the hottest events on the social calendar for the month of April. Penultimate Saturday, Erelu Sunbo Famuyibo, the wife of Otunba Reuben Famuyibo, celebratted her 50th birthday. It was an occasion that brought political bigwigs, socialites and celebrities together at the Jogor Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State.

It was an occasion anyone invited would hardly want to miss. Hence, guests turned out in large number and dressed their best to identify with one of their own.

A nurse by profession, Erelu Famuyibo had served in many hospitals within and outside the country before she founded her current business known simply as Exclusives.

It was the celebration of a woman who has touched many lives. The well-attended event featured the band of juju maestro, King Sunny Ade..

The host’s husband and owner of the defunct FSTV, a pay sattelite television station, played a major role in ensuring that all the A-list guests were well catered for.

I

•The host and her husband, Otunba Reuben Famuyibo

•King Sunny Ade at the event.

•Oyo State First Lady, Chief (Mrs.) Florence Ajimobi, at the event.

From left: Former Ekiti State Governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, former Osun State Governor, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke and Chief (Mrs) Obembe.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

‘Day a woman made me shed tears because of a loan I took to build a church’

Bishop Emmah Isong presides over the single largest church in Calabar and is also the chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Cross River State, besides being the international president of an international assembly of pastors-the Association of God’s Servants. He is reputed to have built the largest and most expensive church in the region which is already becoming a tourist attraction. In this interview, Isong spoke of the embarrassments he went through in the course of trying to put up the multi-billion naira project which will be inaugurated on May 12. He also spoke on the crisis in some parts of the North. Excerpts:

T

HE looks of the City of Testimonies have changed, far different from what we used to know.

The Faith Mansion World Centre(which is what we call the new cathedral) is the manifestation of a dream I had in 1990, November 17. It is a dream I had when I was sleeping on the floor and God showed me how this temple would look like. I am happy it has come to pass. In that dream, I saw a magnificent edifice for the worship of God. I woke up and felt stupid. It was like a beggar in Surulere dreaming and seeing himself becoming the president of Nigeria and he is sleeping under the bridge.

Number one, you wouldn’t even believe it would come to pass. But I was wise enough to write it down and drew what I saw in my layman’s idea before I took it to an architect to put it well. He did it and I brought it and locked it in my drawer until a word of prophecy brought it out. Then, we did the foundation laying and then abandoned it for another five years.

Thereafter, we started the construction but we also abandoned it for a long time again.

Of course all what you are seeing here now happened in the last three to four years.

Let’s talk about the pains you went through during this period.

This is one question I cannot stop answering because moments and times of building this have been painful yet gainful. It has been times of condemnation and commendation. People thought it would never been completed in my life time, not to talk of the inauguration which is going to take place on May 12. We have had friends and enemies. We have had discouraging proclamations like ‘God did not send him.’

We have also had encouraging words like ‘this is the hand of God.’ This period of building has taught me great lessons. While I was building this church, God was building me.

So, on May 12, it is me actually that will be dedicated not really the church because through thick and thin, I have come to realise the will of God. It has brought out another me that I did not know. I am becom-

ing wiser through this building.

Can you paint a picture of some of the horrible experiences you had in the course of the building?

The first shock was after I set up a committee of professionals for the work. The next day, the chairman of the committee came to my office and I was very happy, having dedicated them as a committee. I saw an envelope in his hand and it was addressed to me. I almost burst out in joy, thinking it is a cheque. I was almost dancing when he told me to open the letter first before dancing.

When I opened the letter, it was a letter of resignation from the committee I set up the previous day.

Then he said to me: ‘I don’t enter into ventures that won’t come to pass. I don’t participate in things that won’t happen, so I am not only resigning from the committee, I am also leaving the church right now.’ I begged him and he said it was over. He was very honest and frank.

The other one was that we got a facility from a woman who was running a kind of cooperative and she thought I was taking the facility for personal use. She came to meet me because her money was due for refund the next day. She did not know God was going to do a miracle for us to pay back. She wrote me a stinker, calling me a false prophet and all that. She thought her money was not going to be paid on the due date. Unknown to her, we had also given somebody her money to her; so while I was reading her letter and crying, her money had been sent to her and she was asking if I had got her own letter and they told her yes, that I got it and I was crying as I read it.

•Bishop Isong

Somebody also sent me an anonymous letter at a time that this building had no shape or form. There was no beauty. I did not even understand how the building would go. The person sent me a text and said Evangelist Emmah Isong, you call yourself a man of God, you dress in good clothes and good shoes. Sell all those shoes and roof that house. I knew that all my shoes put together cannot be up to N100,000, so I was wondering how I would raise the needed money which was about N50 million for the roof alone…I began to cry. But I saw the level of people’s hatred to progress. People feel bitter that you are trying to dream bigger than what you can carry.

The text message actually completed this building. I did not want to be mocked and I started to preach the message…I shall not be mocked.

That was how God connected me to incredible people that I never knew.

Inside a flight, I just greeted somebody and the person said I want to help you; I have heard of the project you are handling. I have had somebody meet me to say God commanded him in a hotel lift who told one man of God that he was looking for 10 men of God he could help and they gave my name. He is sup-

‘

I knew that all my shoes put together cannot be up to N100,000, so I was wondering how I would raise the needed money which was about N50 million for the roof alone…I began to cry. But I saw the level of people’s hatred to progress. People feel bitter that you are trying to dream bigger than what you can carry...

,

porting me till today and I don’t even know him.

You call this one of the wonders of the world.

It is a generational wonder. This edifice is an architectural mesmerisation. It is a complete engineering hitech. There are 105 offices underground, including conference halls and galleries named after the six continents of the world that I have been to, in the course of preaching the word. You are talking about an altar that is made of marble, pure gold and the preacher would finish preaching and off he goes into the bunker underground.

It is made of granite floor. Yes, the vision was bigger than me. And I know that it is a generational glory to God. For me, any vision that is not bigger than you was not given to you by God. A vision must be bigger than you. A vision is given by God today for a man’s tomorrow. If people do not say that you are mad with the vision you have, please go and take a look at that vision again.

People say there is no money in Calabar but God has made it happen.

We hear people come here to take a look at the building…

Yea, we call this place the spiritual Tinapa. When you go to Israel, you see wonderful cathedrals. This is what is happening to Calabar now.

As people are visiting the state for relaxation, they also find it convenient to come and behold this edifice. This is a thing of pride for Calabar. One day, pastors from across Nigeria came here to pray and they burst out in compassion; that day they took an offering of over N900,000 and they said please add this for the completion of this building. Everybody agrees that this is the work of God. What we have put into this building is greater than what we would have used in feeding our-

selves and buying houses abroad.

This is our seed to God and our generation. If I live for 100 years and die, this place remains for God. The marbles will be there for over 500 years, it will surely outlive me.

What lessons to Nigerian leaders?

We need to re-order our priorities.

I could have bought an island at The Bahamas and own a duplex in Lagos but I do not have a house in my village. Let me tell you something. I stay in small bedroom apartment.

The committee handling the church project told the painter to go to my house and paint the walls since there was a paint that remained. He ran away and came to say it was not my house. They told him it was my house. He is a Lebanese. He later came to me and said I should go and show him my house. But when I told him that the house they took him to was my house, he knelt down and said I should pray for him. His idea has been that pastors make so much money and that they are rich.

But you see, I run a church that has a priority for God first. We invest in things that will last for God and I think less about myself. The shirts and cars and fine personal houses will go. But this one is a public building and it belongs to God. I have proven a point that all pastors do not eat church money. The government should learn to prioritise its activities. The church is doing so much to change the society and that is why I believe that the government should pay their tithe to the churches. No prison in Nigeria, no reprimand home has produced one person that has come out a truly better, born again Christian except an evangelist had visited that prison and led him to Christ. Look at armed robbers. Do everything to him and release him, when he is out, he will do worst things.

What’s your take on the crisis in the North?

I have always believed that it is a wind. We had this wind blow in the West. It was called OPC. We had it in the Niger Delta, it was called militancy. This one is called Boko Haram. Real, genuine muslims do not kill. I hope it will not generate to a point where non genuine Christians do not react. I am sure you know we also have non genuine Christians who can get angry and say we must stop this. But come to think of it, have you heard where a mosque had been burnt? If we say we do not know those who are bombing this country, then there is a problem. In that case, we need to invite the British to come and rule us again, or we ask Benin Republic or Ghana to come and govern us.

But we are an independent nation.

Are we really independent? I am not sure. We are a civil society, not yet democratic. Look at our technological know-how, would you say we are independent? Are we a federal republic or strange bed fellows?

It worries me. When the Igbo man is more of an Igbo man than a Nigerian. The Akwa Ibom man in Calabar is called a non -indigene, not to talk of the Igbo man in Zamfara.

There should be a round table national conference since the sovereign national conference worries them.

We need to know if the Igbo man in Kaduna is really free. Why are we more proud to be called a Yoruba man that as a Nigerian? Why is the Niger Delta man fighting for himself? Why can a middle belt man not be called a northerner? who are Nigerians? The Fulani man is proud to be a Fulani man and not a Nigerian. That is why he can kill a non Fulani man. I keep asking this question: why has the vice president who is a muslim not killed Jonathan who is a Christian? Why have the muslims in the National Assembly not killed their Christian colleagues, if this thing is a religious issue? Who is sponsoring this thing?

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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FAMIL Y HEAL TH AMILY HEALTH

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Maintaining purity in courtship (3)

D

EAR Reader, You are welcome to another time in the presence of God. In courtship, you have to protect your marital destiny by protecting yourself from defilement.

Like I explained at the beginning of this teaching, do all in your power to see that the foundation of marriage you lay during courtship is not destroyed through the lust of the flesh.

Defilement of bed is the defilement of marital destiny. It takes the mercy of God to restore the honour in marriage, once it is defiled. That is why I shall be talking about Abstaining from all appearances of evil this week.

Temptation is not equal to sin.

Falling into temptation is what is termed sin. Jesus was tempted at

all points, yet He was without sin.

You can take cover under God in prayers and then take practical steps to protect yourself from falling. Protection is very crucial to your desired future.

While in courtship, there should be no room for sexual relationships or anything that leads to it. Somebody may say, “But we intend to marry.” As long as you are not yet married, it is sinful for you to go into it or do anything that leads to it.

The reason why a good number of people in courtship get involved in pre-marital sex is heavy petting that got out of control.

Many who found themselves in it had no intention of having sexual intercourse, but one thing led to another. That is why God’s Word says: Abstain from all appearance

of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). Another translation says that we should flee from all appearances of evil.

Don’t wait until evil comes before you flee. It starts from kisses to passionate petting and before you know what is happening, the bed is defiled. By so doing, some girls have found themselves pregnant with babies they were not prepared for. For some individuals, the feelings of guilt become barriers to adjusting in marriage.

That is why care has to be taken, so that when you begin in the spirit, you do not switch over to the flesh.

The only way out is to keep walking in the spirit, for when you walk in the spirit, you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Even if one of the partners is being tempted, the other should be able to help him overcome. It takes two to defile the bed. Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself (and this was under the old covenant), and he was not defiled.

But we are operating under a better covenant based on better promises and it should be easier for us today

to overcome, than it was in the days of Daniel.

Purpose in your heart not to defile yourself and you will not be defiled. You earn respect from your partner when you marry as a virgin. Sin is deceitful; it looks sweet initially, but bites at last. Let your relationship before marriage be a holy one, that which will bring glory to God and honour to you.

This is easy as you learn to walk in the spirit.

With the AIDS scare terrorizing the world today, there is no safer precaution than choosing a life of purity and chastity. There is no medical cure for this deadly virus, and most carriers of the HIV virus don’t have it written on their foreheads; prevention is indeed better than cure. In courtship, always seek the Lord uncompromisingly and He will preserve the treasure He created in your bodies.

With the help of the Holy Ghost, it is possible to say “No!” to premarital sex. Christian parents have a role to play in educating their children on the ills of premarital sex. Even the unbelieving

and secular world has suddenly discovered the need for purity. It realizes that even “the condom” is limited in its ability to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, so it has taken to the streets crying out to the young to say “No!” to pre-marital sex. The miseries of abortion and promiscuity can be avoided if purity is maintained.

As I said earlier, it takes a walk in the Spirit and the help of the Holy Spirit to maintain purity in courtship. To walk in the Spirit, you have to be born of the Spirit by accepting Jesus as your Lord and personal Saviour. If you want to be born again and enjoy the help of the Holy Spirit, say this prayer: Dear Lord, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins.

Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know I am born again!

Congratulations! Till I come your way again next week, call or write, and share your testimonies with me through: E-mail: faithdavid@yahoo.com Tel. No: 234-1-7747546-8; 07026385437, 07094254102 For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all the Living Faith Churches, and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work and Building a Successful Family.

Male health issues and concerns for aging men Male health concern Male members of society have a number of health concerns specific to their gender. These health issues include Alopecia (baldness), Heart Attack, Hypertension, Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, Incontinence, and Urinary Tract Infection.

Issues involving Ejaculation, the Prostate, and the Testes are others that males face. Health concerns related to Testosterone deficiency, Alcoholism, Narcotic abuse, Smoking, Obesity, and Stress are additional concerns for males in society today.

Alopecia - Alopecia is better known as, ‘Balding,’ or, ‘Baldness.’

Ninety-five percent of persons with baldness have, ‘Androgenetic Alopecia,’ or, ‘Pattern Baldness,’ an inherited condition affecting approximately twenty-five percent of the male population in many parts of the world. Androgenetic Alopecia affects most of these men before they reach the age of thirty, and twothirds of all men prior to age sixty.

This form of baldness may develop in older adults as well, with a resulting overall thinning of their scalp hair instead of complete baldness.

Heart attack - The American Heart Association states that Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death among Americans and people from other countries. Heart attacks are responsible for one out of every five deaths among adults. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that 1.2 million heart attacks happen every year in America; 460,000 of them result in death. More than threehundred thousand people die every year from a heart attack before they can receive medical attention.

One estimate suggests that in 2010, heart disease has become the leading cause of death world-wide.

Hypertension - The force of blood through a person’s arteries is known as their, ‘Blood Pressure.’

When their heart beats, it pushes blood through their arteries with a certain amount of force, referred to as their, ‘Systolic Blood Pressure.’

•Regular blood pressure check is the best prevention for all heart diseases that affect men, yet many ignore it Heart disease causes congestive When the person’s heart relaxes heart failure, angina pectoris, heart after each beat, the force of the blood attack, ischemia, and sudden cardecreases; this is referred to as their, diac arrest.

‘Diastolic Blood Pressure.’

Arthrosclerosis is the most comHypertension is a chronically mon form of heart disease, and is elevated state of pressure in a the result of continued narrowing person’s arteries. Persons whose of a person’s blood vessels which blood pressure is above 120/80 mm supply both blood and oxygen to Hg are diagnosed with Hypertentheir heart. sion.

High Cholesterol - Cholesterol is Hypertension is a risk factor for a soft and waxy fat particle that circongestive heart failure, heart disculates through a person’s blood, ease, impaired vision, stroke, and produced by their liver. kidney disease. The higher a Cholesterol is a common steroid, person’s blood pressure is, the and is an essential building block greater the risk the person is at.

Hypertension that is untreated for cell membranes. Cholesterol is needed for the formation of bile, can affect all of the person’s organ something that helps people to disystems, and may shorten the gest fats, as well as in the formaperson’s life by ten to twenty years. tion of hormones, other steroids, Heart Disease - ‘Heart Disease,’ and vitamin D. is a term that may be used to deMany of the foods that are popuscribe any disorder of a person’s lar today contain cholesterol in cardiovascular system which afamounts that the body does not fects their heart’s ability to function. need, increasing levels of it in the Other names for Heart disease inperson’s blood and causing the clude, ‘Coronary Heart Disease accumulation of plaque deposits in (CHD),’ ‘Cardiovascular Disease,’ their arteries. Plaque buildup in a or, ‘Coronary Artery Disease.’

person’s arteries can lead to Atherosclerosis, or Coronary Heart Disease, increasing their risk for stroke, heart attack, circulatory issues, and even death.

Male Incontinence - Enlargement of the prostate or, ‘Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH),’ is one contributing factor to male incontinence, although there are a number of factors that may contribute to it.

Male incontinence may be considered acute, temporary, or chronic. Acute male incontinence occurs suddenly, while temporary male incontinence is transient.

Chronic male incontinence is longlasting. Male incontinence may be ‘congenital’, in that it is present at the time of the person’s birth, or it may be, ‘acquired’, in that it developed as the result of a disease or an injury the person experienced.

Urinary Tract Infection - Urinary tract infections are common and may occur in men, women or children.

A urinary tract infection happens when bacteria enter the opening of a person’s urethra and multiply in their urinary tract. A person’s urinary tract involves not only their urethra, but their kidneys and bladder. Urinary tract infections that develop into kidney infections can become painful and quite serious.

Prostate Cancer - The clinical term for a cancerous growth on the prostate gland is, ‘Adenocarcinoma.’ A growing prostate cancer may spread to the interior of the prostate gland and tissues near to the gland, as well as to other, more distant parts of the person’s body.

Untreated prostate cancer can affect the man’s lungs, liver, bones and additional parts of their body.

When prostate cancer is confined to the prostate gland, it can often be treated successfully, making prostate examinations very worthwhile.

Enlarged Prostate (BPH) Growth of the prostate involves hormones, not just prostate cells.

The hormones affect various types of tissues, including both glandu-

lar and muscular tissues, and affect men differently. Because of the different effects on men, treatment of BPH is individual. Once BPH has begun it will continue in many cases unless therapy is started.

There is no cure for BPH. There are two different ways that the prostate grows. One way the prostate grows involves multiplication of cells around the man’s urethra, resulting in a, ‘squeezing,’ effect. The second way the prostate may grow is described as, ‘middlelobe prostate growth,’ where cells grow into the man’s urethra and bladder outlet area, commonly requiring surgical intervention.

Erectile Health Issues - Men may experience some different erectile health issues. One of these issues involves Erectile Dysfunction.

Another health issue men may face is Delayed Ejaculation.

Premature Ejaculation is a health problem that some men experience.

A health care provider can assist men in working with these healthrelated issues, as well as infertility.

Testicular Health Issues - There are several testicular health problems that men may experience in life.

Testicular pain, or scrotal pain, epididymitis/orchitis, and hydrocele are among the testicular health concerns men may have. Varicocele, peyronie’s disease, and testicular cancer are others.

Men may also experience a Testosterone deficiency.

Keeping appointments with a doctor is important, as well as annual physical examinations.

Alcohol Abuse - Alcoholism is a chronic disease that is also known as, ‘Alcohol Dependence,’ and is potentially fatal. Characteristics of an alcoholic include the inability to stop drinking despite psychological, medical or social complications; an increased tolerance for alcohol, drinking in excessive amounts, and the presence of withdrawal symptoms when the person stops drinking. The person may drink when it is dangerous to, such as when they Continued on Page 53

FAMIL Y HEAL TH AMILY HEALTH

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Avoiding psychological tiredness

T

IREDNESS can be physical or mental and a result of what we have done in excess (exhaustion). It can also be from the bodily fatigue of ill health. Various social factors can also get us “fed-up”. Before we discuss tiredness from knowable causes, let us consider the tiredness from unknown causes, or tiredness that is apparently unwarranted. A person may feel tired for no apparent reason. He or she has not worked beyond a natural physical or mental capacity but experiences tiredness. This is psychological tiredness, a state of the mind.

Psychological tiredness can result from individual perceptions of reality, individual conceptions of values, and individual expectations. Too much concern and effort or too little concern and effort invested into an interest results in frustrations and disappointments.

As you go on in life, you should be observant about the things that affect you.

For many people, environ-

ment matters. A person may spend evenings at the Club after work routinely because he does not enjoy being in his home.

Coming into the house gives a depressive feeling, it weakens the mind and emotions and he gets tired of staying around there.

When he comes home from the club, he goes to sleep till the next day.

With this routine, he escapes the home environment. It is important to take care of our environments, at least for our own well-being if not for anything else, because they do affect the mind.

Relationships are also a source of virtual tiredness. One person’s attitudes, behaviour, habits, or words may be toxic to another person’s feelings - precipitating a depression of the good emotions and passions of the victim. You should know those relationships in your life that are downregulating and negative as they may be the source of any psychological tiredness you may have.

If they are relationships

you have to live with and cannot avoid, at least knowing that they affect you and how they affect you helps you to develop coping mechanisms. In relationships, you can work on turning negatives into positives and you will be uplifted by this.

Pending and accumulated work, tasks, and duties can subconsciously affect our psyche. They give a sense of “bondage” and “oppression” because you are not “free” until they are done or over. Un-achievement is a down-regulator.

You know this because of the ease and happiness you feel when you have accomplish things you needed to do, be it some cleaning, repairs, shopping, business, or professional work. Laziness and sloth are traditional vices.

In modern times, they can hide under television, internet, cell phones, and computer games. These are all good and needed in our lives but when we misuse them and waste time on them, we end up with unaccomplished tasks and aspects of normal life unattended to which in turn oppress us with a sense of un-achievement. Becoming aware of the magnitude of undone tasks can be overwhelming and tiring even before we can begin to make some effort to do

something.

Keeping your mind free can save you from psychological tiredness. We understand this by analogy with the physical: if you spend the whole day carrying around a load on your back you are more exhausted at the end of the day than if you were not carrying anything. In a similar way, the mind can carry a lot of load: annoyances, hurts, disappointments, comparisons of what other people have or do, etc. are some of the many loads we keep on our mind that do not do us much good and even tend to tire us. “Forgive and forget” is not just a principle; it is a way of a free and easy life, perhaps a happy life also.

Psychological tiredness is something that each of us has to try to understand and deal with personally. If we are naïve about it, it can become debilitating for various aspects of our lives and societies including family, home, work, and beyond.

We will fail to accomplish ordinary things and certainly not venture near extraordinary things.

Dr. ’Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA. For any comments or questions on this column, please Email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 07028338910

Male health issues and concerns for aging men

Continued from Page 52

drive, and their drinking may cause family and other social problems.

Narcotic Abuse - Narcotic abusers have both impaired function and a great amount of interference in their ability to live daily life.

They develop social, mental health, and physical health problems that affect not only themselves, but their family members and friends.

Estimates place the cost of treating, caring for, and loss of productivity on the part of narcotics users above tenbillion dollars each year; not including the cost of treating

narcotic-user related diseases.

Slightly more men than women use narcotics, particularly in urban areas.

Smoking - Smoking produces short-term effects such as respiratory illnesses like colds, coughs, pneumonia, and bronchitis.

Children exposed to second-hand smoke from adult smokers experience higher rates of ear infections, asthma, and lower reparatory infections than children who live with nonsmokers.

The long-term effects of smoking are extensive, including a number of diseases that have been linked specifically to smoking.

Smoking causes cancers of the lungs, mouth, throat, kidneys, bladder, stomach, pancreas, and cervix.

Approximately one-third of all forms of cancer have been linked to smoking and tobacco use in general.

Ninety-percent of lung cancers have been linked to smoking. Smoking causes Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Emphysema, and Chronic Bron-

Are sagging breasts inevitable after breast-feeding?

It is normal for a woman to wonder how breast-feeding will affect her breasts. Research has shown that breast-feeding doesn’t negatively affect breast shape or volume.

Still, sagging breasts are a valid concern.

During pregnancy, the ligaments that support the breasts may stretch as it get fuller and heavier. This stretching may contribute to sagging breasts after pregnancy — whether or not a woman breast-feed the baby or not.

Sagging breasts may be more noticeable with each subsequent pregnancy, especially for a woman with large breasts.

Other factors which also contribute to sagging breasts, includes aging and smoking — both of which reduce skin elasticity. Being overweight can have a similar effect.

Remember, breast-feeding is best for babies.

Women should not allow the fear of sagging breasts to stop them from breast-feeding.

To maintain the appearance of the breasts at any stage of life, women should make healthy lifestyle choices. Physical activities should be included in their daily routine as well as a healthy diet. Women who smoke should quit because it also has an effect on their overall health.

chitis, and also doubles the risk for stroke.

Obesity/Overweight - Persons who are overweight or obese risk developing coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and gallbladder disease, as well as several other forms of illnesses.

Obesity increases a person’s risk for breathing issues, including asthma and sleep apnea. Persons who are overweight or obese are more likely to experience a stroke, or may suffer from depression or other forms of emotional disorders. The National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey found that ninety-seven million people in America and other developed countries worldwide are either overweight or obese.

Stress - All human beings experience certain amounts of stress. Stress can become an issue when it is experienced too much, and there are descriptions for excessive stress.

Stress may be described as, ‘Acute,’ when it is short term, ‘Episodic,’ when it is experienced frequently, or, ‘Chronic,’ when it is experienced over long periods of time.

Chronic stress is considered to be a serious condition and often times causes severe emotional and physical symptoms in people. An example of Chronic stress is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which can follow life-threatening events.

53 Coping with diseases with Prof. Dayo Oyekole

H

Hepatitis

EPATITIS is an inflammation of the liver. Unless further qualified, the term is usually taken to refer to a virus infection of the liver; also known as “infectious hepatitis”. Hepatitis is also (occasionally) a result of a bacterial, protozoan or other microbial infection. There is also Toxic hepatitis which is caused by poisoning of the liver with various chemicals (such as industrial solvents), drugs, or (very rarely) general anaesthetics.

Virus hepatitis occurs in two basic forms, one of which is called infectious hepatitis (or hepatitis A) and the other, serum hepatitis (or hepatitis B), which is also “infectious”. It is fairly certain that these two conditions, although clinically similar, are caused by different viruses and the modes of transmission are different.

In Hepatitis B, transmission is mainly by the injection or transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products, or by accidental skin pricks or other injuries caused by contaminated needles or other sharp objects.

Transmission also occurs from inadequately sterilized hypodermic needles, syringes, surgical and dental instruments, tattooing instruments and razors.

Hepatitis B is also common among narcotic addicts and others who use unsterile syringes for drug injections.

The virus which causes hepatitis A, by contrast, is mostly transmitted in the faeces. Although it can be spread by blood transfusion, the main route is from infective faeces to the mouth via the hands or objects contaminated with the faeces.

The patient with hepatitis may notice little or nothing wrong, but in more severe cases, the patient will have fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, a severe loss of appetite and aching in the muscles. Then jaundice, caused by an accumulation of yellow bile pigment in the blood, appears after a few days or, in some cases, a week or two from the onset of the symptoms. The liver may become enlarged and tender and may develop cirrhosis. The conditions may lead to death from liver failure.

In Holistic Lifecare, hepatitis patients are strongly advised to have adequate bed rest, with proper care in the handling of infected excreta. Alcoholic beverages should be strictly avoided.

The holistic remedy being suggested for total cure of Hepatitis is a combination of natural extracts of Eugenia caryophylatta, Musa cavendichii, Citrus lemonis, Euphorbia unispina and Capsicum frutescens,.

For further information and consultation on Holistic Lifecare research and services, especially on Blood Infections, Infertility, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Chronic Debilitating Conditions as well as mental and social problems, please call on: 0803-330-3897 or visit: Mosebolatan Holistic Lifecare Centre, Adeyalo Layout, Ogbere-Tioya, Off Olorunsogo Express Bridge, Ibadan. Website: www.holisticlifecare.com.

Distance is no barrier, we can send remedies by courier if need be. We also have facilities for accommodation, admission and hospitalization in a serene and homely environment

INTERVIEW

54

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

It is not just medicare, there are Nigerians who go abroad to dry-clean their clothes —Health Minister Prof. Chukwu

W

HAT was your priority when you were appointed health minister?

One of the major things that I wanted to do when I first came was to identify the people that I want to be working with because I have been in the health sector for more than 25 years now and I am familiar with a lot of issues. But as a minister, one needed to know what was in place, where we are and how to go about our work, and even find out whether we really have the capability to do the work. From time to time, I look at issues with regard to the Nigerian health sector. The first thing that I understood was that the minister cannot do it alone because health is supposed to be on the concurrent list. I said it is supposed to be because under the current constitution, it’s neither on the concurrent list nor the exclusive list; it’s a serious oversight which reflects how we think about health issues in this country.

What it means is that the Minister of Health alone cannot pretend to be responsible for the healthcare of Nigerians. He has to be sure that various council chairmen and state commissioners of health work with him. This means that he has to work very hard to get the co-operation of all stakeholders. So, that was the background.

What are the health priorities of the Federal Government?

In the health sector, it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure that epidemics are prevented, managed and to also take care of after the effects of epidemics. That is the only area that is the exclusive responsibility of the government when it comes to public health and epidemics. Again, creative medicine is divided into three tiers: primary, secondary and tertiary. The Federal Government concerns itself only with the tertiary.

What it does in the primary health care is to show the way for other tiers of government to follow. So, it is an instigator, a catalyst and promoter of primary health to ensure that it remains the bedrock of healthcare in the country.

We have five priority areas in the health sector. The first is leadership, governance and stewardship. The second is meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Nigeria was among the countries of the United Nations that attended the millennium summit and signed its declarations and by 2015, we will be asked whether we have delivered on the millennium development goals. The third priority is disease prevention, surveillance and control. The fourth is team work.

Finally, why do Nigerians still have to go outside the country to access high skilled technology and sometimes even what you may regard as ordinary healthcare? Those are the five priorities which the government of President Goodluck Jonathan wants to tackle in the health sector.

Can you briefly explain each of these?

Leadership, how do we tackle it?

By committing ourselves to the real tenets of leadership; leading by example, listening to other people, recognising that you are not alone.

And one thing that the present administration has introduced and has continuously re-emphasised is the issue of planning. The president always asked if whatever you bring

•Prof. Chukwu

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, at an interractive session with journalists in Abuja, gave detailed reports about the activities of his ministry, including the plans by the govenment to stop the funding foreign medicare by top government officials and political appointees. Our Managing Editor, Northern Operation, YUSUF ALLI, and Abuja Bureau Chief, YOMI ODUNUGA, were there. Excerpts: to him had been planned for. The second thing, which I introduced when I came on board, is continuity of policies and programmes. The tradition is that once a minister is changed, the new one will want to begin a new thing. Several ministers have produced good policies over the years, what has been lacking is diligent implementation.

That’s why I decided that continuity will be my key word. When I came on board, I discovered that

‘

they have started work on developing a national health plan that will span 2010 to 2015. My predecessor started work on that. We took up from there.

The National Strategic Health Development Plan looked at the issues raised by different health stakeholders and ensured that they were taken care of. The plan was taken to the Federal Executive Council which approved it after debate by members. It was later launched by

Mr. President. The 2011 Appropriation was based on it and the 2012 Appropriation is also based on it.

So, we now have a health plan and it is aligned to the Vision 20:2020 documents. When Mr. President was elected, he introduced the transformation agenda. This transformation agenda invoked the final copy of the National Strategic Health Plan.

Most of your colleagues have failed in the implementation of the

Some unscrupulous doctors and health practitioners, because of money being made from such medical trips, often refer patients abroad. There is a commercial motivation because once somebody has chest pain, they will tell him it is a heart disease and thereafter refer him or her abroad for treatment. It is as bad as that...

,

MDGs, what about you?

We are on track, because we have moved far on reducing the infant mortality rate by almost 50 per cent.

Going by our 2008 demographic survey, it stood at 157 per 1, 000 which is very high as it means that out of 1, 000 children under the age of five, without being a prophet, you can predict that 157 would not go beyond the age of five, and that is not good enough. Why we say we are on track is that we are almost at the rate of reducing it by 50 per cent because the whole thing about MDGs is about percentages and not that by 2015 it is going to disappear.

We are saying that certain percentages would be gone.

Maternal health is one we are not fully on track, but we are doing things to get on track. We have made progress, because between 2003 and 2008, we have reduced mortality rate in this country by 30 per cent. That is very significant and Nigeria is not being given credit for that. But going by our plan, we want to reduce it by three-quarter; when you compare the figure with what we have in 2000 and that of 2015, we should have reduced it by threequarter. Though we still have much to do, we are working hard. In 2008 when we did the demographic survey, our maternal mortality rate was 545 per 100,000 which meant that for every 100, 000 pregnant women, 545, a very high figure, are predicted to die.

It was, however, discovered that since 2008, we have made progress and the figure for now is 487. We have moved from 545 downwards to the current figure. On diseases, like HIV/AIDS, since 2008, we have reduced the national prevalence rate 4.6 per cent to 4.1 per cent.

Though it is immodest, it is significant; and for me as a minister, I didn’t just take that figure and look at it as a national average, I look at the aggregated data state by state and discovered that we achieved that improvement through some states which are almost tending towards zero, though some are actually increasing in the prevalence.

Malaria is killing many Nigerians, what are you doing about it?

About malaria, it remains endemic in Nigeria. Malaria is being fought with what we called integrated vector management, which is what we all agreed under the World Health Organisation. We are integrating this by ensuring that all pregnant women must take preventive drugs to assist them maintain malaria-free period. We are saying that they need to sleep under the net just like the children and other people who are vulnerable to malaria. These nets must not be ordinary ones. Nigeria has done what any country has never done in the world by distributing almost 15 million nets from 2009 to date. Our target as at the end of 2010 was to distribute 63 million nets and we will get to that figure this year, but the population has increased and we need to do more than that. Everybody acknowledged that we have improved, even though we can still do better.

What about tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis remains a problem in Nigeria, but what has made it worrisome is the fact that we have more drugs resistance in the country. Unfortunately, the facilities for treating them are just being developed. During the TB Day on March

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012 24, this year, we went to Lagos to open a new facility, which is a joint effort of the Federal Government, Lagos State government, WHO and United States, which has been committing a lot of funds to TB control by establishing the facility in addition to what we already have. Presently we have centres in Ibadan, Calabar and before the end of this year, the one in Zaria will be opened. And hopefully, that of Kano will also come on stream as we have started developing them.

This year, the Federal Government will buy the second line drugs to treat the multi-resistance TB. What we have been doing is team work; we have set up a Presidential Committee on Harmonious Relationship among professionals in the health sector. It took the committee almost a year to submit its report; we have reviewed it at the ministry and it would soon be taken to the Federal Executive Council.

Let me mention the issue of disease control and surveillance. WHO says Nigeria is one of the countries that are doing well in terms of integrated disease surveillance. But we want to do it better. We have a system that is working though not up to our standard. This present administration, for the first time in the history of our country, has established the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control. We are also working with the United States which has the original centre for disease control to further develop it. We are working hard to ensure the building project is completed before the end of the year. It will serve as a laboratory, even though we are not relenting in our efforts as we have a temporary laboratory at Asokoro that we are presently using. Also, for the first time, we have, in our budget, funds for the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.

What are you doing about meningitis, especially in the North?

We have been able to introduce new vaccines for meningitis that can last for 10 years instead of the usual two years, but the coverage of the whole country is in phases. It was introduced last year and this year, we have just introduced inter palliate vaccine. Polio has equally remained a problem. We were doing well when we came on board in 2010, such that at the end of that year we had only 21 cases of polio.

But in 2011, we got distracted by the election which ought not to be so.

The security situation also worsened the problem as we had 62 cases due to people fleeing to different parts of the country and across border.

The president has decided to use political will to drive it and has now set up a presidential task force, which is being chaired by the Minister of State for Health, while governors of the eight states with polio prevalence are members. In the past two years, only the eight states have had polio problems, other states have not had it for more three years.

The president has also doubled the money to be spent on polio eradication compared to 2011. This year, the Federal Government alone would spend N4.7billion apart from the support we are going to get from other bodies and state governments on polio.

We should be ashamed as a country to have our citizens go abroad for medical treatment.

Can’t you do something?

There are a number of reasons for this, but it is not all of them that the government will tackle. The first one is that sometimes there is no skill and there is no facility, and it is the responsibility of the government to provide them. The second reason is that generally, Nigerians love foreign products and services.

It is not only health, it transcends everything as some people still dryclean their clothes abroad, because they can afford it not that there are no dry-cleaners in Nigeria. It is also their fundamental human right to

INTERVIEW

55

Yellow fever card: ‘Why Nigeria disagreed with South Africa’

see doctor anywhere in the world.

We can’t stop them.

However, very soon we will take a memo to the Federal Executive Council. We are still consulting other stakeholders, but the memo will state that for any public officer to go abroad for medical treatment, the Minister of Health has to certify that such services are not available in Nigeria. So, if they are available, such services must be rendered in Nigeria, but if he/she wants to use personal money for the medical trip, there is no problem, once the public fund will not be used for that purpose. The other reason is ignorance. Many doctors, care providers, and health professionals do not know that certain things can be done in Nigeria. Even complicated diseases are being treated here. Kidney stone problem is being treated in Abuja. We don’t open the sick to remove kidney stone. We have gone beyond that. Now, we use lacer machine to remove it. What we are doing now is that we are collating data so that we publish them both online and disseminate to the media about places where you can get some kind of treatments in Nigeria.

Retina surgery is being done in Nigeria; surgery for glaucoma with lacer is being done in Nigeria as well as bone-marrow transplant. All these are happening under the present administration, we are doing a lot and we need to let people know. Now, the other reason why people go abroad is the most disturbing to me as Minister of Health.

Some unscrupulous doctors and health practitioners, because of money being made from such medical trips, often refer patients abroad. There is a commercial motivation because once somebody has chest pain, they will tell him it is a heart disease and thereafter refer him or her abroad for treatment.

It is as bad as that.

Nigeria and South Africa quarrelled recently over yellow fever vaccination card. The general feeling is that one can buy the card from anywhere. At the end of the row, the Foreign Affairs Minister said the bi-national committee would address it. Can we know how they have gone in resolving the issue?

Nigeria was annoyed with South Africa for some reasons. It wasn’t because South Africa demanded the yellow card or the evidence of yellow fever immunisation. They have every right to do that. The reason is that Nigeria is one of the countries said to be at risk. It is true that Nigeria has not had any case of yellow fever since 1995 and even some of the suspected cases are not yellow fever, they were other diseases.

South Africa has a right because we are still at risk; even Cameroon had an outbreak this year and they are our eastern neighbour. So we are at risk. It has a right to demand it just like Nigeria has the right to demand from 43 other countries of the world.

The issue was that South Africa said these visitors to their country from Nigeria had fake yellow cards.

Any document is liable to being fake. We have fake naira notes, fake dollar notes, even visa, drugs can

‘

•Prof. Chukwu

be counterfeited. What happened was that if you think I have a fake document, take it to the person who produced the original and ask.

South Africa failed to do that. The second reason is that it doesn’t matter if the person is a South African or a Nigerian, as long as you live in Nigeria, you must also have yellow card. But they don’t insist on their own citizens who live in Nigeria, having the card. It was wrong. Their own citizens who also live in Nigeria should also have their yellow card. They didn’t do that, which means there were other motives.

Finally, the international health regulation is that you don’t deport people based on such excuses. If you have anybody that should have been vaccinated, tell the person and quarantine the person and then you offer the vaccination. They did not do that. So that was the reason why Nigeria got annoyed. So, what have we done? Even though South Africa didn’t do it in the proper way, we have started looking at it. We also want to reinforce what we have.

In 1988, the National Council on Health took a decision to decentralise the production of yellow cards by allowing states and

local governments to produce these yellow cards. Now, we think there is the possibility of faking them when you don’t have the right control of production.

At the National Council on Health that would hold this month in Abuja, the Minister of Health is proposing that the council reverses that decision that was taken several years ago such that only the Federal Ministry of Health should print the cards. Right now, we are in discussion with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company. We are arranging the procurement process. They would be the one to print for us and they want to introduce a lot of security features on it. So, we are working with them and we are hoping that this year, we will produce new ones after the National Council on Health has approved.

Then we are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to streamline and discuss the rules under this interchange health regulation. That’s the situation.

Why are Nigerian hospitals not allowed to advertise? When you open Nigerian newspapers, you see foreign hospitals being advertised. You have just said that there

...it doesn’t matter if the person is a South African or a Nigerian, as long as you live in Nigeria, you must also have yellow card. But they don’t insist on their own citizens who live in Nigeria, having the card. It was wrong. Their own citizens who also live in Nigeria should also have their yellow card.

They didn’t do that, which means there were other motives...

,

are some medical skills available in Nigeria but they are not known to Nigerians and that is the reason most of them travel aboard. If these advertisements are not allowed, how would they know?

It is the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria that monitors issues associated with advertisements. The one that happened in Abuja, which people are talking about, the board has been dissolved then and I have consulted legal experts, including our own legal adviser in the ministry.They all said that since we are now doing the work of the council, we can reconstitute the panel.

The idea of individual people not advertising is not to allow unscrupulous individuals take advantage of patients.

If I come and say I am the best orthopedic surgeon in the world, it may not necessarily be so, but there is nothing wrong if you offer services as a doctor and on your sign board, you can say ‘Fertility’ clinic available here’, because it is a special area. There is nothing wrong.

But don’t say that ‘Doctor Somebody is the best gynecologist’. The advertisement has to be taken in context. If you just state the services you offer without relating it to a particular doctor, it is not advertisement. Hospitals are free to mention the services they render.

Who controls the National Hospital not under your ministry so that you can supervise and know that they are doing the right thing?

The hospital was not planned as a National Hospital; it was a hospital that was promoted by a former First Lady for women and children, though she meant it to be a small hospital with 200 beds to look after women and children. But at a time, the Federal Government decided to make it a full-blown hospital, a tertiary care centre having all the services it should get in a teaching hospital. The law, under which it is being operated, puts its supervision under. But in March 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan was not satisfied with that arrangement and wrote to the Minister of Health transferring his powers of supervision to the Minister of Health and since then it has been under the purview of the Ministry of Health.

I keep wondering why we are not embarking on research to come up with a vaccine for malaria. Is it just impossible or we are not just looking that way?

It is difficult but not impossible.

A few months ago, I was specially invited by think-tank groups in the UK to lead a discussion at a forum.

It was a two-day meeting where the strategies for fighting malaria were to be discussed. And also the vaccine candidate that has the greatest promise. We call them vaccine candidates because they have not been proved to have universal protection against malaria. The best of all of them is the RTSS, which is being produced by GSK. Preliminary trial shows that it can reduce the number of episodes of malaria when someone has been vaccinated with that particular one by 50 per cent.

So if you used to suffer about six episodes of malaria a year, it reduces it to three. It still has not yet zero.

We discussed the development. It is most promising. It is not easy to produce vaccine because of the nature of the genetic make-up of the parasite. There is hope now and the target is that by 2020, more work would be done by GSK. Now, it can help us to reduce child mortality.

We discussed the modalities for introducing the vaccine to tell people that it cannot protect forever but it can reduce malaria.

56

M

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

R. Christian Aforka lost his wife and brother to the Boko Haram carnage in the North, precisely Mubi Adamawa State, along 12 others.

Last week, Mr Aforka was so touched that he said the souls of his late wife and brother and those of other people murdered in cold blood by the Boko Haram sect in Northern Nigeria will not rest in peace if the carnage is not stopped.

He was speaking on behalf of the victims at Adazi-Nnukwu Town Hall when the President of a NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO), Charity Ezeemo Trust for The Lessprivileged, Mr. Goddy Ezeemo, paid them a condolence visit.

Aforka prayed God to continue to remember and bless all those who have continued to give them cause to still be alive after the tragic incident and appealed for a stop to the carnage to avoid wasting more lives.He asked the Federal Government to put a stop to the security challenges in the North as many Nigerians have been rendered useless because of the troubled North.

Ezeemo gave the bereaved families N150,000, saying the NGO was for other avenues of assisting the families.

He said, while handing over the sum to the National Vice President Home, Adazi-Nnukwu Town Development Union, Dr Theo Belonwu, that their death was tragic and regrettable.

Boko Haram:The souls of our beloved ones will not rest in peace unless... —Bereaved husband

•Ezeemo with Dr. Belonwu

Odogwu EMEKA ODOGWU, Nnewi He urged the families of the victims to take solace in God as nothing happens without God's knowl-

edge. He appealed to the government to ensure that the lives and property of Nigerians are secured anywhere they reside in the country. ''The security challenge is over-

whelming us and nobody is safe. If things continue this way then, the notion that we are one Nigeria does not hold water and already, the peace of the country is being threatened by the activities of the Boko

Haram sect.

Ezeemo concluded: ''I commiserate with the families of the victims and I assure them that our Charity Trust is with them in this trying moment.

Earlier, the Vice President of Adazi-Nnukwu Town Union, Dr. Belonwu Emmanuel Obiaso, who spoke for Adazi-Nnukwu people, commended Ezeemo for remembering the victims, even when he was not around when the incident happened.

He said they have left everything in the hands of God, having lost illustrious sons and daughters of the community.

Charity Ezeemo surprised other charity organisations in Anambra State by paying the condolence visit to the families of the murdered Adazi Nnukwu 12.

The Nation recalls that 14 Anambra indigenes were murdered at Mubi , Adamawa State. Twelve of the victims were from Adazi-Nnukwu.

Agulu had one and Azigbo one.

They have been since buried.

Commentary

I

N a country where politi cal stakes are high; where accessing power is seen as the be all and end all to life, cut-throat intrigues, premeditated mischief, bitter betrayal and Machiavellian tactics come into full play. The bold bid, of course, is to outwit the opponent and cow him into silenced submission.

That precisely paints the puerile picture of the high-octane political drama currently unfolding in Osun State, with the incumbent governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as the prime target. Or, how else would any sane Nigerian explain the loaded lies being hawked in the corridors of power, using religion as the arrowhead to thwart the exemplary flight of another rising star from the South-West geo-political zone? But more discerning citizens know that here, religion is but a mesmerising mask. Behind it, a sordid evil holds sway.

Precisely, the recent spurious security report sponsored by the ruling discredited People’s Democratic Party(PDP), comes in rainbow’s colours; but not as fanciful. The allegations are indeed curious. Aregbesola is accused of planning secession for the South-West geo-political zone. He plays Osun State anthem in place of the national one. And to further his Islamising ambition, he has since done away with the services of the State Security Service (SSS). In its place is the Islamic extremist group called Tawun. What more, he has changed the uniform of secondary school students in Osun State to the compulsory wearing of hijab by female students with an official seal. Not done by the PDP, he is similarly accused of sending militants for training in Cuba! This must be another tale by moonlight, you would say.

One cannot but wonder if this is a script taken straight out of a fictional thriller. So, Aregbesola has now become so Islamised as to swing to the extremist camp. Yet, it would interest critical observers of politics in the South-West that

Aregbesola and his armchair critics Idowu AJANAKU while the PDP had a field day in the region, the erstwhile governors of Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo and Osun states are all Christians. Indeed, that of Osun, which was subject of controversy now, had Oyinlola as a Christian and his deputy, Erelu Obada, a Christian from the historical town of Ilesa where the late Apostle Ayo Babalola did a lot of exploits for Christ.

Never for once did the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) raise an eyebrow that the PDP wanted to Christianise Osun State, instead it dwelt on issues of governance in the state.

It is on record also that when Aregbesola’s current deputy ,Otunba Tomori Laoye, engaged in passionate prayer sessions at the famed Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church (MFM), led by Dr. Daniel Olukoya, for 42 weeks to reclaim the ACN’s mandate, the governor gave her his full support. The deputy governor started this at the Prayer City when he came to give testimony to thousands of worshipers how she used the efficacy of prayer to retrieve their mandate from the rigging machine of the PDP. If he had such extremist tendencies as being ascribed to him, he could as well have gone for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. But he did not do so because his antecedents show him clearly as one promoting religious tolerance.

To underscore this poignant point, he had this to say during his inauguration as the state governor on November 27, 2010: “I am not a governor of Muslims or Christians, neither am I a governor of the ACN, but a governor of all the people of the state of Osun. Irrespective of their beliefs or religions, I will ensure the protection of the rights of all as I pledged before you all”. So far, as a man of unimpeachable integrity, he has kept an abiding faith with that solemn

•Governor Aregbesola vow. He has hosted the likes of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo and the Primate of the Anglican Church, Peter Oko, in his quest to engender religious harmony. Furthermore, he has discussed with these respected men of God, including Pastor Williams Kumuyi of Deeper Life Church, on how to develop a Christian Convention Centre in Ilesa regarded as the cradle of pentecostalism in Nigeria to be equipped and made functional with state-of-the art facilities. It is on record that Aregbesola recently provided a free train ride from Lagos to Osun State during the last Easter celebrations. Is Easter celebration a Muslim fiesta?

In a similar vein, he has been to the RCCG branch at Magodo for supplications, while struggling to retrieve his mandate. The interests of people of diverse religious backgrounds were taken into consideration while shortlisting cadets for the Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES). Similarly, during the first year anniversary of his administra-

tion, people of every religious beliefs were given a full sense of belonging. So were the awards given to citizens of exemplary conduct, irrespective of faith.

But now, the political hawks are up and about and finding nothing credible to do him in. They have come up with the rather sensitive issue of religion to whip up undue public sentiments.

Truth is, given the tone and tenor of the so-called security report, it comes with redolent political undertones as it has degenerated into a ping-pong game between the PDP and the ACN. Surely, some people somewhere are uncomfortable with Aregbesola’s towering political stature with the aim of making it impossible for him to return to the Government House come the next gubernatorial election in the state. In fact, Osun State PDP Chairman, Gani Olaolowa, said that much when in early April this year, he and his cohorts told Aregbesola pointblank to start preparing his hand over notes. But that may well be another pipe dream, all because they have underestimated the political

sophistication of the well-informed voters in the SouthWest.

Even then, some people wonder why the man, Aregbesola, is giving his coterie of desperate detractors sleepless nights. It is all because of his passionate belief and determined efforts to see to the emergence of the Yoruba race again as a major player in the nation’s socioeconomic sphere. He wants their cultural re-awaking and cohesiveness and unity. As a man of vision, he has seen the imperative and political expediency of regional integration as the best way forward for Nigeria and her people.

That is why they say he is too radical. But anyone who believes in true fiscal federalism as he does, would agree that the unitary government we are operating now is antithetical to the norms and dictates of democracy.

Aregbesola wants the Yoruba who make up the South-West to take their destinies in their own hands and become centres of excellence like the states of Florida and California in the United States. So, what is wrong with that?

What is wrong with a state within the matrix of a true federation creating its own logo?

Didn’t the Jakande-led government in Lagos State have its own logo and emblem during the Second Republic? Did the Shagari –led administration misconstrue that as signal for secession? Of course not, because it knew all too well that a state is constitutionally empowered to have a sense of self identity. Were it not so, different states would not be known by their slogans such as The Heartbeat of The Nation for Edo or the Centre of Excellence for Lagos. Good enough, he explained this in a recent interview. “The Osun identity is an exercise to inculcate in the people a new way of seeing and doing things; it is an ethical movement…to let the people peep into their culture

and value that which will motivate them.”

That is why he is championing the integration drive as it was during the tenure of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Name them: The first television station in Africa, the Cocoa House edifice, the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, even the Nigerian House in London bought by Awolowo which the military took it over, all stand as worthy testimonies to political pragmatism. It is for the purpose of reawakening, that spirit of excellence that he is urging his state to sing its song of identity.

He envisions a South-West where there would be healthy competition among the six geo-political zones in Nigeria as in the case in the First Republic. With the Governor Fashola-led administration of Lagos State constructing a 10lane dual carriage way as the first of its kind in Africa, imagine the zone linked with light train to facilitate movement of goods; a monolithic university for the zone with satellite campuses in each of the state capitals. Ondo State cannot therefore, be an exception, as it is poised to join the fast-moving train of the ACN –led SouthWest.

As amply demonstrated by the voters during the last set of elections, never again will reactionaries come and lord it over the progressives. They have been consigned into the dustbin of history and there they would remain. Therefore, instead of the monumental distraction from the good governance, which PDP government has failed to provide, it should focus on that and the Boko Haram security challenge and leave Aregbesola, and other ACN governors to fulfill their electoral promises to the good people of Osun State and the entire SouthWest. Period!

Idowu Ajanaku is a Lagos based journalist.

NEWS 57

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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KURE, the Ondo State capital, was practi cally under siege yesterday after hoodlums suspected to be supporters of the ruling party in the state, Labour Party (LP), disrupted a lecture to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of former Governor Adebayo Adefarati, shooting and inflicting machete cuts on guests.

Scores of ACN members and other well wishers who had gathered for the event at the BTO Hall were injured.

The high-profile victims of the onslaught included the National Chairman of the ACN, Chief Bisi Akande, a former Chairman of the LP in the state, Dr. Olaiya Oni, and a former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Wunmi Adegbonmire, both of whom are now ACN chieftains.

Chief Akande barely escaped with his life. His team was also attacked.

The ACN in the state reacted immediately and vowed to meet force with force henceforth.

“It was a very dangerous development. My effort to seek a resolution was aborted because the situation simply degenerated,” Chief Akande said of his ordeal.

The thugs, numbering about 200, were led by a chieftain of the LP in Akure.

The invasion came just 24 hours after the formal declaration of Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose for the governorship race on the platform of the ACN at the Akure City Hall.

Mrs Anifowose’s declaration was forced to be shifted to a new venue - Customs area on Ondo Road - after the state authorities instigated the police to stop the use of the hall.

The thugs, who invaded the venue of yesterday’s lecture, carried dangerous

Violence in Akure as thugs disrupt Adefarati’s lecture •Many injured • Oni’s car vandalised •Mimiko after my life —Ex-Ondo LP chair •’We’ll meet force with force’ commemoration of the late Damisi OJO, Akure weapons which they used freely on their defenceless victims.

Buses belonging to Wale Akinterinwa, Dr. Olusegun Abraham and Alhaji Jamiu Ekungba were destroyed.

The lecture, which was planned to honour the former governor, was also anticipated to be one of the biggest political gatherings of the ACN in the build-up to the October gubernatorial election.

All the ACN governors were billed to be in attendance with Governor Fayemi as guest speaker.

Fayemi’s convoy had to make a detour, when he was informed of the volatile situation.

Machetes were freely used by the thugs who kept screaming they had instructions to decimate some top ACN big wigs.

Chief Adegbonmire, billed to be chairman of the event, was attacked by matchetewielding thugs. Though he managed to escape bodily harm, his car was destroyed.

“Adefarati does not deserve this. I don’t know why the government should resort to violence to settle political matters. Attacking and matcheting people, especially political opponents, is not acceptable. The police

here are defective and ineffective. They are not doing their duty. They acted as though they were part of a private army,” Adegbomire said.

Besides, one of the ACN governorship aspirants and former aide to Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Hon. Saka Lawal, and over 5,000 defectors from the LP to the ACN were attacked by the hoodlums, while they were marching from the ACN state secretariat to the venue.

The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals, while commercial activities in the vicinity were paralysed as shop owners hurriedly closed down.

Motorists and okada riders withdrew their vehicles and bikes from the roads.Security men watched as the hoodlums unleashed terror on innocent citizens.

The brigandage left one of the children of the late Chief Adefarati- Adegboyega speechless.

Dr. Oni, whose car - a Camry with the registration number DC 296 FST - was vandalised by the thugs, said it was now clear that Governor Olusegun Mimiko wanted him dead by all means.

Oni said he was in the vehicle when the hoodlums descended on it.

His words: “I was on my way to attend the lecture in

•Dr. Olaiya Oni’s damaged car

Adebayo Adefarati’s fifth anniversary and suddenly I saw people, shouting. I didn’t even know it was me until they mentioned Tinubu and my name and some women carrying leaves and throwing stones at me. They all stood in front of the car.

“They damaged my car in the presence of some top officials of security operatives including the Commissioner of Police.

“That is the lifestyle of Mimiko. He is a violent man.

The Commissioner of Police was there but refused to make any attempt to save my life and I confirm this to you that those security operatives were acting Mimiko’s script.

The security agents are trying to create anarchy because the opposition may be forced to respond.

“I am urging the new Inspector-General of Police [IGP] to look into this. Our lives are no more safe. We are living with enemies acting under the instructions of the present government.

President Goodluck Jonathan should assist Ondo State people by taking necessary actions.”

Oni, however, vowed that as a descendant of warriors, no amount of threat from the powers that be would stop him from attending public functions.

Those who defected from the LP said they left the party because of the way the governor maltreated their political leader, Lawal.

Reacting to the development,the ACN in the state condemned the action of the hoodlums.

The party’s acting chairman, Chief Noah Adesoji,speaking at a press conference, said: “ACN will meet force with force against the intolerant LP’s administration and Dr. Mimiko.

Describing the development as embarrassing and ridiculous,Chief Adesoji said: ”For any individual or group to stall the memorial anniversary of the late governor in spite of his contributions to the development of the state, is disturbing.”

The news conference was attended by virtually all the ACN governorship aspirants.

They included Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), Hon. Saka

Ogun spends N4bn on security

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OVERNOR Ibikunle Amosun yesterday said his government spent about N4bn in the last 10 months on security in Ogun State.

He said: “No meaningful socio-economic development can take place in any society without security of lives and property,” adding that despite this huge amount so far expended on security matters, his administration had not yet taken a dime from the State’s Security Trust Fund(STF) launched some months ago.

The governor disclosed this

Ernest NWOKOLO at the Memorial Arcade Ground in Oke - Mosan Governor’s Office, Abeokuta during the commissioning of Six Hi - tech Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and 125 pieces of Hilux vans - security vehicles-purchased by the state government to improve the safety of lives and property in the state.

He said five other APCs meant for the state were already in Lagos and would be collected soon.

“The state had expended

about N4 billion on security and had not spent a kobo from the Security Trust Fund. The people of any community can only blossom in their day-today activities in an atmosphere that is safe and secure,” he said.

He said his administration would make Ogun secure for residents and investors, noting that the APCs were of the very latest technology.

“Ogun State was the first to bring in this new technology into fighting crime in Nigeria.

This will also enhance protection of lives of our security personnel,” Amosun said.

According to him, with the

provision of security patrol vans fitted with modern telecommunication equipment for “the Joint Police/Military Task Force codenamed ‘Quick Response Squad’ and ‘Operation Mesa,’ Ogun State would now be safe only for the lawabiding persons.”

The governor noted the connection between unemployment and crime, and said his government was doing everything possible to fight joblessness by providing an enabling environment for productive engagement of youths.

Lawal, Tayo Alasoadura, Chief Jamiu Ekungba, Hon. Olayato Aribo, Dr. Olu Agunloye, Festus Oluwole, among others.

Adesoji said the incident was sponsored by the state government.

He said : ”When Agagu was in government and Mimiko was campaigning for election, there was no attack or confrontation by the PDP’s government.

“It is so unfortunate that many of our aspirants were attacked. As early as 7.00 a.m, Mimiko had sent his boys to attack eminent dignitaries who came to grace Papa Adefarati’s memorial anniversary. If we allow this to continue, the state will be in danger”.

He urged all aspirants to put their heads together on how to tackle incessant political violence being perpetrated by Mimiko’s adminis-

tration against ACN members.

The ACN chairman said the Commissioner of Police, Elgar Nanakumo, was physically present at the event but failed to order his men to curb the attack.

The memorial lecture was cancelled eventually, while the special guest of honour and National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, and the guest speaker, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi decided to stay off due to security reports.

A top government official, who didn’t want to be quoted, said the alleged attack had no link with the state government, stressing that “it is purely a political party affair.”

Efforts to speak with one of the spokesmen of the ruling party, Barrister Femi Okunjemiruwa, did not succeed as his mobile was switched off.

Tinubu condoles with Governor Fayemi

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SIWAJU Bola Tinubu, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) national leader, has hailed the late Madam Dorcas Fayemi, mother of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State.

“You must console yourself with the fact that she was a good mother, a woman of virtue and one who God kept alive to witness the rise of her child to one of the highest political offices in the land,” Asiwaju wrote in a condolence letter he sent to the governor, and released to the media.

But he told the governor to think legacy and use the death of his mother to rededicate himself to good and compassionate governance in Ekiti State.

“This time, you must use the occasion of your mother’s passing to rededicate yourself to salvaging the poor, developing your society, ensuring good governance and fighting political and economic injustice”, Asiwaju Tinubu counselled, adding: “In so doing, you will build on her legacy and make the family name endure.”

The former governor of Lagos said though he received the news of Madam Fayemi’s death with sorrow, he was comforted that she lived up to the ripe age of 83 and left her mark by grooming a good family.

Aregbesola’s wife warns parents against exposing children to rape

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IFE of the Governor of Osun State, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola, has warned parents to pay adequate attention to the protection and care of their children, as cases of rape would no longer be treated with levity in the state.

Mrs. Aregbesola, who stated this in Osogbo, the state capital on Thursday at a rally against rape, said Osun would no longer be a haven for all forms of child abuse under the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

She said: “Those who involve themselves in acts of child abuse would not be allowed to go scot-free without facing the consequences of the law.”

According to her, any parent who is found guilty of exposing children to any form of abuse, including rape, would also not be spared, as such parents would be dealt with with the apparatus of the law.

She then warned girls to desist from wearing clothes that expose their bodies and attract men.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Mofolakemi Adegboyega, who stated that the state government was pursuing four cases of rape in the court of law, said the purpose of the rally was to sensitize the people on the need to protect female children against rape.

She also appealed to children to refrain from all acts that could make them vulnerable to rape, saying their dresses should portray them as virtuous children of the state.

Pa Odunaiya is dead

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HE death has been an nounced of Pa John Adewale Odunaiya.

Pa Odunaiya died on April 5 at the age of 73.

According to a statement by Mr. Feyiseye Odunaiya, a Christian wake will be held at his residence, 64, Kekereowo Street, Ilasamaja, Mushin, Lagos on April 26 at 5.00pm.

On April 27, a funeral service will come up at his residence at 10.00am. He will be buried immediately after the service at the same venue.

Guests will be entertained at Ajeabo Primary School,

•Odunaiya Ilasamaja, Off Akanro Road, Lagos, starting from 2.00pm.

Pa Odunaiya, popularly called Barry White, is survived by children and grandchildren.

58 NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Igbo leaders express worry over crime rate

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SECTION of Igbo leaders yesterday expressed worry over the incessant and unresolved killings in the South East, especially, Anambra State.They threatened to employ spiritual and traditional means to cleanse the land and check the ugly trend.

The leaders, who met at

M

Okodili NDIDI, Onitsha the Rojenny Tourist and Games Village, Oba, attributed the insecurity in the zone to the declining influence of traditions and culture on society.

The convener of the meeting and Ogirishi Igbo, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, said parents and custodians of Igbo traditions have failed in their responsibility of bringing up their children in the fear and knowledge of the customs of Ndigbo.

Chief Ezeonwuka maintained that youth restiveness, which he said fuels criminality, was caused mainly by the declining interest in the traditional ways of life of Ndigbo.

“Our youths have lost respect for the sanctity of life and if we must rid Igboland of all manners of criminal-

Two killed in fresh attack in Plateau

ERCHANTS of death returned to Plateau State in the early hours of yesterday killing two residents of Bokkos in Bokkos Local Government Area.

Killed were Mangut Dakwan (35) and Magit Manaseh (28), according to the member of the State House of Assembly from the area, Hon Titus Ayuba Alams. The victims were members of the community vigilance group.

An eye witness and member of the vigilance group said: “Unknown armed men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen in Riyas village opposite Plateau State University( PLASU) in Bokkos, invaded the village at midnight.”

The 15 -man strong gang allegedly proceeded to surround the village and then began shooting sporadically.

Members of the community vigilance group reportedly swung into action and confronted the invaders in a gun duel.

In no time,the invaders who apparently came fully prepared, shot dead the duo.

It was gathered that the Fulani living in the village moved out 48 hours before the attack.

The attack is the first in Bokkos local government area since the outbreak of the sectarian crisis in the state in 2008. Fear of reprisal attack

UPGA is mass movement party —Lagos chair

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…seek spiritual solution

HE Chairman of Lagos State chapter of the newly formed United People’s Grand Alliance (UPGA), Dr Dom Femi Ferguson, has declared that the party is poised to be a national party.

He said the vision of the party is to bring about a true people’s party.

Ferguson said the vision and aspiration of the new partywould soon be manifested and all Nigerians would see it in no distant time.

He expressed “pleasant surprise at the overwhelming response, especially, Lagosians towards the emergence of UPGA.” ‘’UPGA is a mass movement and the aim is to be voice of the voiceless. We also intent to use it to bring together all the progressives mind in the country under one umbrella. The major thrust of our new party is to cater for the of average Nigerian and empower the masses’’

Yusufu AMINU IDEGU, Jos has now gripped residents.

Neighbouring Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Government areas were attacked last week by suspected Fulani herdsmen who left at least 10 people dead.

Hon. Alams asked the Federal Government to intervene

immediately to forestall an escalation of the situation.

Spokesman for the Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis code named ‘Operation Safe Haven’ Capt Mdahyelyah Markus confirmed the attack but said it was a case of cattle rustling.

He said: “The case of Bokkos is that of cattle rustling. Some yet to be identified gun men

came to rustle cattle and in the process killed two members of the community. The gunmen also succeeded in rustling some cows but the number of cows stolen cannot be immediately ascertained. We are still investigating the matter.“ Capt. Markus said “no arrest has been made so far but we are on the trail of the suspects.”

ity, we should place emphasis on the revival of Igbo tradition and ways of life; teach our youths that it is a taboo to kill your brother or to covet his wealth,” he said.

He added that his office as the ‘Ogirishi Igbo’, which oversees Igbo traditions and culture, would seek to check the flagrant abuse of Igbo traditions as a way of re-building peaceful and brotherly coexistence among the people.

Responding, the Prime Minister of Oba community, Chief Wilson Obieze, who outlined the functions of the ‘Ogirishi’ institution, noted that if the zone must win the fight against criminal activities, there must be concerted efforts to revive the tradition of the people, lamenting that civilization

has robbed the youths of all the virtues that Ndigbo were known for.

Obieze described kidnapping, assassinations and armed robbery as alien to the culture of the people.

Also speaking, the Oba of Oba and former Speaker of the old Anambra state, Chief Ifeanyi Enechukwu, commended the convener of the meeting, saying such deliberations would go a long way in creating a viable platform to combat crime.

Enechukwu urged Ndigbo to restore the era when Ndigbo were their brother’s keepers, adding that the installation of the ‘Ogirishi’ institution by the Nri Monarch, Eze Onyesoh Obidiegwu, would usher in the renaissance of Igbo traditions and culture.

NEWS 59

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

Amnesty office not a security outfit, says Kuku S PECIAL Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Matters, Hon. Kingsley Kuku said yesterday that the Presidential Amnesty Office has neither the power, nor the competence or wherewithal to stop any person who wilfully decides to commit crime in the region.

The Amnesty Office, Kuku said, in a statement, also has no guns or ammunitions and thus cannot physically combat wilful crime or criminality in the Niger Delta.

Mr.Kuku, in the statement signed by the head of media and communication, Presidential Amnesty Office, Henry Ugbolue,said:“ The very critical role of enforcing extant laws that deal will crime in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country is constitutionally vested on the Nigeria Police, the State Security Services and of course the Armed Forces as currently represented in the states in the Niger Delta by the Joint Military Task Force.

“Amnesty Office is not a security agency and the man-

Kelvin OSA-OKUNBOR

date of the Presidential Amnesty Programme does not include curbing crime or enforcing laws in the Niger Delta.

“Yes, it is true that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has aided the stabilization of security conditions in the Niger Delta by successfully overseeing the disarmament, demobilization and currently reintegrating the entire 26,358 exNiger Delta agitators who accepted the offer of amnesty and enlisted in the Amnesty Programme in two phases.”

The statement was in response to growing criticism of alleged breach of human rights by the Amnesty Office.

Kuku reiterated his confidence in the ability of the officers and men of the JTF to protect vital oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta

and also to deal decisively with any person or persons who for any reason or reasons attempt to attack oil facilities or generally attempt to breach the peace in the zone.

Accordign to him, the fact that several former agitators in the region accepted the offer of amnesty does not, in any way, mean that the region no longer has aggrieved persons. But he insisted that all aggrieved persons any where in Nigeria should seek and embrace non-violent and peaceful ways to express themselves, especially when the Federal Government has clearly shown that it has the capacity to listen and act in the greater good of the citizenry.

He emphasised that “the humble efforts of the Amnesty Office have helped to save the economy of our dear country from imminent collapse.”

One dies, scores injured in Onitsha auto crash

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NE person was confirmed dead, while scores of other passengers sustained severe injuries in a multiple auto accident which occurred yesterday under the Upper Iweka Fly-Over Bridge in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State.

The accident, according to an eye-witness account, occurred when a Mercedes Benz 911 lorry carrying a full load of palm kernel unexpectedly developed a brake fault, lost control and rammed into a Mitsubishi L-300 Bus and a Peugeot Boxer.

According to the source, as the lorry rolled down the slope towards the Upper Iweka Fly-Over Bridge the driver lost control of the ve-

Okodili NDIDI, Onitsha hicle.

At the scene of the accident, the damaged vehicles, including the Peugeot Boxer with inscription “Transport Company of Anambra State (TRACAS) Limited” littered both sides of the road, while the body of the deceased victim and the injured ones were evacuated to nearby hospitals, including Toronto and St. Charles Borromeo for medical attention.

Confirming the incident, the Unit Commander of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Fred Okoh, told newsmen that the accident was as a result

of brake failure of the lorry, adding that he quickly drafted his officers and men to the scene to ensure the victims were immediately evacuated to nearby hospitals.

“We have often said it, that Nigerians lack maintenance culture. They prefer to manage a bad brake instead of looking at the risk of life or lives they are conveying”, Okoh stated, adding, “I want drivers and motorists to always check their vehicle before embarking on journeys and repair them without looking at economic consideration that is not bigger than their lives”.

At the nearby Toronto Hospital, some of the injured victims were responding to treatments.

Boko Haram strikes again in Kano

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USPECTED members of Boko Haram struck for the second day running yesterday in Kano,attacking the Sharada Industrial Estate.

The attack, which was launched after the Jumat prayers, claimed the life of a resident simply identified as photographer. He was felled by stray bullets.

The State Police Command’s spokesman, ASP Magaji Majia confirmed the attack .

The gunmen stormed a Mobile Police check point

Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano in the area on motorbikes opening fire in the direction of the uniformed men.

An eyewitness account described the attack as “brief” but sporadic, adding that the victim fell as soon as he was hit by bullets. The mobile policemen were said to have taken cover.

Yesterday’s attack followed a similar attack on

Thursday, in which two policemen were injured.

The victim was said to have died of injuries received from the gun shot fired by the militants.

Although the Police Public Relations Officer for Kano Command, ASP Magaji Majia confirmed the death of one person, sources at the scene claimed Police equally suffered some casualties.

The PPRO said no officer lost his life in the said attack.

‘Contract for Calabar access road is N2.69bn’

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HE contract sum for the construction of a four kilometer access road to the site of the Calabar International Conference Centre is N2.69 billion and not N6.9 billion as previously reported.

This clarification was made

by Mr. Christian Ita, the Chief Press Secretary to the Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke.

Ita attributed the N6.9 billion earlier reported to a mix-up, saying one of the contractors that put in a bid for the job, had submitted a

N6.9billion quotation.

The Governor’s aide said the contractor was not awarded the job because his quotation was considered too high.

IThe Cross River State Government and the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) recently signed the agreement for the construction of the road.

The Special Adviser, Governor’s Office, Mr. Nzan Ogbe signed on behalf of the State while the General Manager CCECC Nig. Ltd, South-South and South-East,

Mr. Lee Wang signed on behalf of the company.

At the ceremony, Governor Imoke urged the contractor to be committed to the road project and ensure its completion on schedule and without any variation of thje cost.

According to Imoke, the dual carriage road will commence from Murtala Mohammed Highway to the centre, create access to Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort and open up the adjoining area, thereby cutting the 16 kilometer distance to Tinapa by 12 kilometer.

THE NATION SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

60

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 20-04-12

ADH declares N766m profit

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SSOCIATED Discount House Limited (ADH) has announced a profit before tax of N766 million for 2011 financial year, representing an increase of 571 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Managing director, Associated Discount House Group, Mr. Abubakar Jimoh, said the group recorded gross earnings of N7.469 billion during the year and total assets position of N77.728 billion while shareholders' funds increased to N5.826 billion in 2011 from N5.057 billion in 2010.

He noted that in spite of the challenges of the financial services environment, the group took a conservative approach to address all asset impairments in the last three years.

"Now that the clean-up has been concluded, the group is forging ahead with its transformation plan to repositioning as one of the leading financial institutions in Nigeria," Jimoh said.

According to him, the improved results witnessed in 2011 and consolidation on profitable operations is indicative of employees' hardwork and resilience during the period.

He said the group was repositioned through products and processes enhancement, revenue diversification, renewed customer focus and

• Stocks rally N117b gain

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

enhanced and proactive risk management among other measures which ensured sustainability of the current trend in performance.

He assured that group is poised to sustain and improve on returns to shareholders, while offering excellent services to its numerous clients in all sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, the All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) trended to 21,756.50 points as equities chalked up N117 billion to close at N6.938 trillion.

Also, the upturn was boosted by gains by largecap stocks such as Nigeria Breweries, Access Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank, Oando, FCMB and Guinness Nigeria.

Total volume transacted moved up to 685.38 million valued at N5.64 billion in 4,712 deals. GT Bank led the most actively traded stocks' log with 121.36 million shares, valued at N1.88 billion in 504 deals. GT Assurance, First Bank and FCMB were other active volume pullers in the top five list.

On the top trade list, Nigerian Breweries and Total Nigeria gained maximum five per cent value to head advancers' list. Ashaka Cement, Zenith Bank and

Unilever were other major gainers in the top five charts.

Gains here were advanced by hybrid of improved full year 2011 earnings, dividend recommendations and market forces. Vitafoam led losers' log by 4.94 per cent value cut to close at N3.08. Other strong losers in percentage term are; BOC Gases, Goldlink Insurance, Eterna Oil and Academy Press.

Sectorally, the banking sector moved in line with the market trend, recording more gains than losses. Toptier banks, GTBank and First Bank recorded gains of 2.0 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively.

Participants however sought to lock in profit and could stall further appreciation in coming sessions analyst said. Growing demand for Zenith Bank and UBA also led to respective gains of 5.0 per cent and 4.9 per cent, with closing demand suggesting that this trend could continue early next week.

Sentiments for Ashaka Cement turned bullish yesterday, resulting in a 5.0 per cent mark-up. It closed with unsatisfied demand at the highest price of the day. On the flip side, profit taking shaved off 3.1 per cent from CCNN, while Lafarge Wapco and Dangote Cement recorded no price change but were skewed to the buy side.

With its closure date approaching, demand for Total firmed up its price by maximum points. Also on the uptick was NCR with a 4.9 per cent mark-up and closing demand that could lead to further gains next week.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 20-04-12

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012

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Tomorrow in THE NATION PUNCHLINE That Okonjo-Iweala comes from a country better known globally for how not to govern or manage resources profitably for owners of the resources must not be ignored as a possible reason for voters at the bank to look in another direction.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.7, NO. 3002

—Ropo Sekoni

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

Watch your back, Keshi

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UPER Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi is enjoying the rave commentaries in the media following his decision to parade home-based stars in the country’s matches.

He has won many followers. They want him to drop the experienced stars on grounds that they lack commitment and are not dedicated.

Most pundits are rooting for home-based lads, based on their results. But it must be said here that no general goes to war with his best men in the barracks.

What Keshi has shown with the home-based is that Nigeria has a standing team to handle emergencies such as the ones we had in the past where our foreign legion dumped the Eagles on spurious reasons, including missing their way to a London hotel (Don’t ask me who did that).

Home-based stars are rookies. They must be allowed to earn their shirts in the Eagles, based on performance. Their performance so far shows that the Eagles have depth-in-strength, which is good. Most big matches are won from the changes that coaches make in the course of games.

However, it would be foolhardy for anyone to cajole Keshi into abandoning the experienced players. I was in Kigali. Rwanda would have beaten Nigeria, if we had paraded a home-based side.

Vincent Enyeama’s, Joseph Yobo’s, Ike Uche’s and Victor Moses’ contributions gave the Eagles the verve to hold back the few incursions that the Rwandans made at the Stade Regional de Kigali.

In fact, we are talking about home-based stars’ exploits because of Enyeama’s three acrobatic saves and his calmness under the sporadic onslaught of the Rwandans in the dying minutes of the match.

Keshi should ignore talks of fielding homebased Eagles. What will guarantee his job is Nigeria’s qualification for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2014 World Cup, with the Eagles playing flawless football.

Keshi, along with Shuiabu Amodu, got Nigeria into the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup,

but were sacked because the team’s play was convulsive, lacking any initiative worthy of the pedigree of the Europe-based stars in the squad.

I saw clips of the game against Egypt in Dubai.

I shudder to differ that the last two goals were conceded because of the home-based stars’ naivety.

Keshi, please, only the best players should play our matches. Recall that Samson Siasia was adored because many felt that he had restored discipline to the Eagles.

When the euphoria got into Siasia’s head, he stepped on the big stars’ toes. He has learnt his lessons wherever he is today because those who rooted for him then voted for his sack when we failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Keshi, be warned.

Between Mikel and Messi Seven years ago, precisely at the finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup final between Nigeria and Argentina, the world watched in awe the amazing talents of John Mikel Obi and Lionel Messi.

Both kids had excelled through the two teams’ matches and pundits needed this final game to decide who was the better talent.

Messi was adjudged the best. Mikel and another Nigerian, Taiye Taye were voted the second and third best kids in the world.

Hisses, sighs and curses were rained on FIFA eggheads for picking Messi ahead of Mikel. At that time, two big English sides, Manchester United and Chelsea, were up-in-arms to recruit Mikel. He chose the Blues.

Not a few have blamed Mikel’s preference for Chelsea as the reason why today, nobody will dare equate him with Messi.

I looked forward to how the two players would compete in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg game at Stamford Bridge.

I felt that Mikel did his best, even though he wasn’t assigned the task of policing Messi. Once in the game, Messi left Mikel sprawling on the turf. Where I watched the game, we begged God to prevent Messi from converting a spot kick that was awarded when Mikel brought down the Argentine.

It was good to see Mikel contribute to Chelsea’s fairytale outing and I won’t join the Blues’ unrepentant optimists that they would edge out Barcelona from the competition.

Barca was clearly the better side on Wednesday, even though Chelsea won the game. But at Camp Nou, I don’t expect the luck that saw Chelsea outscore the Spanish side in London to repeat itself next week Tuesday.

Barca will score first and that would force Chelsea out of their defensive position. I foresee an avalanche of goals, if Chelsea choose to chase the game.

My concern on Tuesday would be on how well Mikel will play against Messi. I hope he would remember to exchange jerseys with the Argentine and then take pictures-like they did seven years ago.

Who says Mikel can compete against Messi?

It will be a tough challenge. But Mikel, please, enjoy the game on Tuesday.

My story I’m a sad man. Coming back from Benin on Monday afternoon, my phone rang. On it was the name Tony Bekederemo, a professional colleague on Brila 88.9FM and I picked it.

He congratulated me over an appointment into NFF’s media committee. I was shocked. I told him his information was breaking news because nobody had called to inform me of the appointment.

I guessed he wanted my reaction. I told him that I would only comment on it when I’m told of it. I said with his information, I would give it a second thought; I would love to ask those who picked me if they would be comfortable with my column criticising the NFF. And that my decision would be based on their reply. I asked him to get back to me later in the day. He promised to do so, but never did.

I was, therefore, shocked when I heard my voice on Brila 88.9FM giving the impression that I had declined the offer.

I tried his phone it was switched off. I called his colleague Femi Raji, who handed Bekederemo the phone. I expressed my sadness at the poor job he did. I asked what happened to the part that he didn’t broadcast. He

said it got corrupted and my heart sank. This is a clear case of mischief.

I told him that if that was what happened, he ought to have stopped the broadcast, especially as he didn’t tell me that he was doing an interview, like he always did in the past. I gave him the opportunity to correct the mistake; he hasn’t done that, even though he promised to.

I have chosen to use this platform to redress the issue, especially as people have called to ask why I rejected the appointment.

I like challenges and I feel strongly that I should always tell people what I think. If they are in tandem with my thoughts, I will work with them.

I couldn’t have declined an appointment that had not been given to me. Even if I had reservations, my parents taught me to be well-mannered. Therefore, I wanted to speak with those who appointed me, like I did when former Sports Minister Colonel Musa Mohammed (rtd) wanted me to function on the Interim League Management Board.

I knew that I would attend a meeting with NFF chieftains on Tuesday and I told NFF President Aminu Maigari in the presence of Emeka Inyama, a board member, my reservations on the appointment.

Inyama and Ademola Olajire (both members of the committee and journalists) said they knew I would raise the poser of integrity. My position on the interference of NSC with the NFF is legendary.

Being a member of NFF’s Media Committee shouldn’t be seen as being the hired gun for the body when I write here subsequently. I will quit the committee any day my views are challenged by NFF chiefs.

I want to contribute to the development of the game because it was the reason I was listed and chosen, having been screened for the 2012 London Olympic Games as one of the torchbearers.

Indeed, I have never turned down any offer to serve. I told the then minister Mohammed so when he called in 2005, when he said he had been told I would reject the Interim League Management Board job.

I have forgiven Bekederemo and I told his colleague in Abuja on Wednesday after the committee’s inauguration. I granted Brila FM another interview. But, I will be very careful in whatever I say to Bekederemo subsequently.

Illuminations will be back next week

Mikel Obi keeps football world waiting for his first Premier League goal

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FTER 135 games in the colours of Chelsea, John Obi Mikel has yet to reg ister a Barclays Premier League goal, writes Sportsrollcall.com.

John Obi Mikel’s attacking flair was second to none at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. The 24-year-old midfielder had more shots on goal than Argentina’s Lionel Messi, whose goals propelled his country to the trophy at the expense of Nigeria.

The rivalry between both players was so unimaginable that a few eyebrows were raised when Messi won the MVP award ahead of Mikel, who settled for the silver ball.

Sundry thought the rivalry thrown up by the championship will last a lifetime. But that was not to be, as Mikel has yet to score a Premier League goal for Chelsea in six seasons at Stamford Bridge, whereas Messi has been painting the globe red with goals ever since.

It will take eternity to calculate the number of goals Messi has scored in the colours of Barcelona since 2005, but suffice to say the little Argentine has already notched up 60 goals in all competitions for the Catalans this season.

However, this discourse is not about the reigning World Player of the Year, but centered on Mikel’s leper-aversion for opposing goal posts.

The former Lyn Oslo player was recently quoted as saying Jose Mourinho made him what he is today, but in actual fact , several fans of his, including yours sincerely, see the reverse as the case.

From a highly adventurous player at the 2005 WYC, the 24-year-old was made a ‘gatekeeper’ of some sort on setting foot on Stamford Bridge,

after he sensationally denounced Manchester United, hours after signing the dotted lines for the Old Trafford giants.

Shunning the England champions has turned out as Mikel’s greatest mistake of his career yet. United manager Alex Ferguson wanted a lasting replacement for Roy Keane and would have moulded him into a midfield lord, as the Scot did with David Beckham, Paul Scoles, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs, who are some of the greatest midfielders to have graced the Barclays Premier League.

Mikel cannot be said to have lived his dreams at Chelsea, for having failed to score a Premier League goal in whooping 138 games. No player would be happy to burn calories in futility for so many years and the Jos-born is no exceptional to the rule.

Following quickly on from the purchase of Salomon Kalou in the summer of 2006, the arrival of John Mikel confirmed Chelsea’s determination to add exciting young talent as well as established stars to a squad that had just won back-to-back league titles.

Having smoothed out some rough edges both on and off the pitch, manager Jose Mourinho increasingly used Mikel’s talent in the holding midfield role, especially when requiring a longer range of passing than other options including the feted Claude Makelele. But a junior Mikel had played more as an attacking midfielder.

Named Chelsea Young Player of the Year, he survived an injury scare the week before the 2007 FA Cup Final to play the whole game.

Chelsea beat Manchester United in the first final at the new Wembley.

The 2007/08 campaign saw Mikel continue to grow in the ‘Makelele’ role, and by the end of it he had played more games than the old master of the position.

Top displays became more commonplace in the 2008/09 season when, with Michael Essien injured for much of the campaign, Mikel became the permanent anchor man – his calm

touch a major contribution to the 2009 FA Cup win over Everton.

One item that has remained lacking from the midfielder’s game is goals, much like his former mentor Makelele.

Two in his first season, both FA Cup goals in the January of 2007 against lower league opposition, have not been added to since, though as he says, there are plenty of others in the midfield who can contribute goals, allowing him to concentrate on stopping them.

Mikel has better shelve that erroneous impression because his primary duty is to link attack with defence and, unhesitatingly convert scoring opportunities in the course of games.

His assertion is further flattened by the fact that most Chelsea defenders and midfielders find themselves among the goals week-inweek-out this season, underscored by the following illustration.

Defenders: Banislav Ivanovic Appearances 26 Goal 3, David Luiz Appearances 20 Goal 2, José Bosingwa Appearances 24 Goal 1, Garry Cahill Appearances 9 Goal 1, John Terry Appearances 26 Goal 4 Midfielders: Ramires Appearances 26 Goal 4, Frank Lampard Appearances 28 Goal 11, Florent Malouda Appearances 21 Goal 1, Raul Meireles Appearances 26 Goal 1.

Further injury to Essien in 2009/10 ensured that for the second season running Mikel was the primary choice as deep-lying midfielder.

On his return from the Africa Cup of Nations in February he started every game until his own knee and ankle problems in mid-April ruled him out of the season’s two-trophy climax, and the first African World Cup Finals. He did however have his first league championship winners’ medal.

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