The Nation April 26, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

N5.7b for post-2011 poll riots victims

Couple remanded for selling babies

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•Bauchi, Niger, seven others listed

•Court adjourns matter till May 16 www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

VOL. 8, NO. 2467 FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

INSIDE

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Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka (1960 - 2013) A 16-PAGE COMMEMORATIVE PULLOUT

•Globacom’s Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel (middle) shakes the Vice President (West Africa), Huawei Technologies, Mr. David Fan, after signing a $750m (N120 billion) Glo network upgrade pact in Lagos...yesterday. With them his Managing Director, Huawei Nigeria, Mr. Jimmy Pang.

•Group Managing Director Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede flanked by Group Deputy Managing Director/CEO Herbert Wigwe (left) and Chairman Gbenga Oyebode at Access Bank’s 24th Annual General Meeting held at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos…yesterday

ACN, activists: Jonathan should face Criminal Court Allegation insulting, says Presidency 25 die in fresh battle

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HE Defence Headquarters dispatched yesterday a fact-finding mission to Baga, the border town 180 kilometres north of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, where 185 peoples were killed last Friday.

The massacre drew more flaks from a cross-session of the society yesterday.

Majority of the dead were

‘

When the President issued his tactless vituperations... we warned that he was further victimising the victims of the insurgents’ attack. That action helped to set the stage for the mindless massacre in Baga

By Bunmi Ogunmodede and from Joel Duku, Damaturu

women and children.

In Yobe State yesterday, 25 people died in a battle between

’

security forces and Boko Haram insurgents.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) described the attacks on the civilian popula-

‘

President Jonathan is...a responsible leader...Trying to twist his statements out of context to justify their own purposes seems to be a stock in trade for those who seem desperate to discredit the administration

tion as crimes against humanity, which it said should attract the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The party said the interven-

I

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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singing, laid there in a glittering steel casket in a restful pose.

She died on April 6 in Lagos after a long battle with cancer. She was 52.

The body was laid in state at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in Ado-Ekiti, the state Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

Federal, states get green light to borrow $9b

Fayemi bids deputy tearful bye T was the kind of scene she would have liked – her close associate and the state’s troupe singing her praises before a massive crowd of dignitaries and ordinary folks.

But there was no way she could have acknowledged it all. Mrs. Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka, the deputy governor of Ekiti State, who loved dancing and

’

tion of the ICC became necessary because the Federal Government has not demonstrated enough willingness to bring the masterminds of the killings

to book.

It said the killings in the North, especially the latest at Baga, fall within the temporal jurisdiction of the global court.

In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said far beyond the justifiable call for a judicial commis-

•Dr. Fayemi...yesterday

HE Federal Government and the 36 states got yesterday the National Economic Council’s (NEC’s) green light to borrow about $9 billion in 20132014.

The cash will go into infrastructure development, the Council said.

NEC, which comprises the

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

36 states’ governors, ministers of National Planning, Finance, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, took the decision at its monthly meeting chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the State House, Abuja.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Anambra State Governor Peter Obi disclosed that the loans would be sourced from various international funding agencies and would be strictly used for developmental projects.

Stressing that the total portContinued on page 2

•BUSINESS P11•SPORTS P24 •POLITICS P43 •MONEY LINK P55 •CITYBEATS P59

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

NEWS Amaechi: I have no quarrel with Jonathan •From left: Managing Director, Infrastructure Bank Plc, Mr Adekunle Oyinloye; Director, Comrade Promise Adewusi and Vice Chairman, Mr Johan Kruger, at the bank’s board meeting in Lagos …yesterday

Fayemi bids deputy tearful bye Continued from page 1

capital.

The event, which lasted nearly four hours, attracted thousands of residents, who converged on the stadium to catch a glimpse of “Moremi Ekiti”, a term referent of the legendary woman liberator of the old Ife kingdom.

They filed past the casket, which was kept under a canopy. There were sonorous dirges intermittently rendered by various groups.

Mourners who came from all the 16 local government areas and beyond included politicians, artisans, youths, students, trade unionists, traders, as well

as ethnic communities of Igbo, Hausa and Ebira resident in the state.

The husband of the deceased, Mr. Lanre Olayinka, an architect, and her children-Yeside, Ololade and Olamide - joined the dignitaries in the state box.

A large army of security personnel were at the ceremony to control the huge crowd.

Earlier, the body had been laid at the Executive Council Chambers in the Governor’s Office where a special valedictory session was held in her honour. Governor Kayode Fayemi, his wife, Erelu Bisi, Commissioners and Special Advisers were present. Her remains were also taken to the

House of Assembly for a special session.

Dr Fayemi, who chaired the Council, fought hard to hold back tears as he delivered his speech. He brought out of his pocket a white handkerchief with which he stopped the tears, his wife patting him on the back.

The Governor promised to sustain the dream he shared with the late Mrs. Olayinka “to banish poverty from the state.”

He urged the people to embrace the virtues - dedication, courage, commitment, integrity and compassion - exhibited by the late deputy governor.

Fayemi, in his tribute at the

stadium, described his late deputy as “an icon, a class act, a dependable ally, an epitome of beauty, a woman of excellence, a virtuous wife and loving mother.”

He had opened his tributes with what he disclosed as a favourite song of his late deputy: “What shall we say unto The Lord; all we have to say is thank you Lord; thank you Lord, thank you Lord, all we have to say is thank you Lord.”

Fayemi said of the late Mrs Olayinka: “You set for us a blazing example of patience in distress. You are a true icon, a class act. In good and bad times you Continued on page 62

Federal, states get green light to borrow $9b Continued from page 1

folio cuts across both federal and state governments, he said that about $450 million of the total loan package would be sourced for the eastern states, including Edo and Cross River, to fund erosion projects.

He said: “The Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME) briefed the Council on the current facilities made available by different international funding organizations, including Islamic Development

Bank (IDA), African Development Bank (ADB), French Development Agency as well as Chinese and Indian Exim Banks, totalling about $9 billion for projects development.”

“The facilities, which have up to 10 years moratorium and 40 years repayment periods, are available to both the Federal and state governments to fund high impact projects towards improving infrastructure, agriculture and employment generation.”

Maintaining that the National Assembly has already ap-

proved the loan portfolio, he said that states are now expected to “meet the requirements for the loans and to ensure that the facilities are meant to fund meaningful projects in their states”.

Cross Rivers State Governor Liyel Imoke said the Council received the report of the AdHoc Review Committee on the Re-Investment Plan in the power sector, headed by him.

According to him, the committee recommended the need to urgently source for and dis-

burse N3.37 billion to ensure the closing of the huge gap between the required power generation and transmission capacity.

He said: “The Committee highlighted the over $4 billion NIPP investment already made in generation, which has produced additional 4,774MW generation capacity by NDPHC and would have raised the overall generation capacity in Nigeria to 9,582 MW in December 2013 - in line with the nation’s updated generation capacity Continued on page 62

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IVERS State governor Rotmi Amaechi has denied any rift between him and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Amaechi, who spoke yesterday in Kano, described the speculated conflict “as a media creation.”

The Rivers’ helmsman, who doubles as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), was in Kano on the invitation of his Kano counterpart, Alhaji Musa Kwankwaso.

He told reporters that he was not aware of any row between him and Mr. President.

Amaechi said: “I am not aware that Mr. President and I are quarrelling; at all. I am not aware as far as I’m concerned.”

He said his mission in Kano was to inspect some of the projects being implemented by the Kwankwaso-led administration.

“Governor Kwankwaso invited me to Kano to come and inspect some of the projects on ground and that is why I am here,” Amaechi told reporters.

Commenting on the forthcoming NGF election, Amaechi said it was not a do-or-die

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

thing as he would willingly bow out if not given the chance to continue.

He said: “If I am not re-elected as the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, there is nothing to lose. I will still remain a member of the Forum and also work towards its success.”

Reacting to reports that posters depicting him as vice presidential candidate to either Kwankwaso or Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido have flooded some states in the North, he humourously responded: “My picture with that of Kano governor as well as Jigawa Governor Lamido, I will be vice to both.”

Amaechi used the platform to give an insight into the educational exchange programme between Kano and his state, pointing out that all arrangements have been concluded for scheme to kick off with six students from each state by September.

According to him, the collaborating state governments will sponsor the students.

Three killed, 200 injured as examination hall collapses

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HREE pupils, including a girl, were killed and hundreds injured on Wednesday when a building in which they were writing the West African Examination Council School Certificate examination (WASCE) collapsed on them.

The incident occurred in Alpha Academy, a private secondary school in Mararaba, Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Some 560 candidates were writing the examination in Alpha Academy. Many of them complained of the cracks before the building came down on Wednesday.

Of the 200 injured candidates, 30 are said to be in critical condition at the CRCN Hospital, Takum, where doctors are battling to save their lives.

One of the survivors, Godiya John, 22, who sustained a spinal cord injury,

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

was immediately referred to the National Hospital, Abuja.

Donga council chair Capt.

Douglas Ndatse (rtd), who confirmed the incident, described the examination hall as a one-storey building.

He said the examination was taking place upstairs.

Another survivor, simply identified as Ezekiel, said they were waiting for the Biology question paper when the building suddenly came down on them.

Ezekiel, who is seriously injured, said the incident occurred at about 6:48pm, more than three hours behind the time scheduled for the examination.

“The paper was slated for 3:30pm,” Ezekiel said, attributing the delay to officials.

Some 560 candidates are writing the examination in Alpha Academy.

ACN, activists: Jonathan should face Criminal Court Allegation insulting, says Presidency

Continued from page 1

sion of inquiry into the massacre, the time has come to hold to account the leaders under whose watch these killings are being perpetrated.

The statement reads: “The killings in Baga, like previous ones in the areas where Boko Haram and the military Joint Task Force (JTF) have been engaged in clashes, are undoubtedly a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population - the definition of crimes against humanity, which is one of the four groups of crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC. “Those engaged in the killings, including the Boko Haram sect, cannot and must not get away with these heinous crimes. The only reasons that the killing and maiming of innocent citizens have continued unabated in Nigeria is because such killings in the past, either in Odi, Bayelsa State, or in Zaki-Biam, Benue State, under the watch of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, went unpunished. ‘’Enough is enough! Even in countries at war, innocent citizens are not being daily mowed to death either by insurgents or state

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HE Presidency reacted last night to the allegation that the President Goodluck Jonathan’s statement may have sparked the Baga massacre.

Presidential spokesman Dr. Reuben Abati said: “Must ACN play politics with everything? Reducing the Baga incident to another opportunity for name-calling and the politics of blame and abuse is irresponsible to say the least. In no manner can President Goodluck Jonathan be accused of having incited the security agencies or the insurgents against the people of Bagga during his visit to Yobe and Borno states. To make such an allegation is preposterous and insulting.

“President Jonathan is committed to the cause of peace and stability, and he has

forces, as we are experiencing in Nigeria. It is clear that the Nigerian government is either unwilling or unable to prosecute these crimes, despite the deceptive assurances by those at the helm, hence the ICC must immediately beam its search-light on the situation in Nigeria. ‘’While we are aware that the killings in Odi and Zaki Biam occurred before July 1, 2002, when the Rome Statute setting up the ICC came into force, the

remained consistent in this regard. He is a responsible leader, a man of peace and a defender of the people’s causes. Trying to say what he did not say, or trying to twist his statements out of context to justify their own purposes seems to be a stock in trade for those who seem desperate to discredit the administration at every score.

“These promoters of the aphorism that a lie when reported too often may begin to sound like the truth, must begin to realize that they cannot fool the people all the time.

President Jonathan has ordered an investigation into the incident in Bagga and has publicly condemned it, including clear assurances that whoever may be behind the incident will be sanctioned accordingly, and

killings in the North, especially at Baga, fall within the temporal jurisdiction of the global court.”

The party blamed the Baga killings on President Goodluck Jonathan, who it accused of failing to distinguish between support for security agencies battling the insurgents in the North and the incitement of the same forces against civilians who are caught in the crossfire.

It said: “When the President

where rules of engagement have been violated, appropriate cause of action will be taken. He has also ordered the deployment of relief materials to the area, and directed immediate collaboration between Federal agencies and the Borno state government.

“It is further amazing that Lai Mohammed has not heard of the Multinational Joint Task Force that was set up under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to ensure security along the joint borders, involving Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. He could simply have done a little research to know this. Having failed to do so, I recommend that simple exercise to him now and always, as a reality check before he makes his usual wild and incorrect allegations.”

issued his tactless vituperations against community leaders, and by extension hapless civilians, during his visit to Borno and Yobe States, we warned that he was further victimising the victims of the insurgents’ attack. That action helped to set the stage for the mindless massacre in Baga.

“According to a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information Brig-Gen Chris Olukolade, the military delegation to Baga is being led by Maj-

Gen Lawrence Ngubani, the Chief of Training and Operations (CTOPS) in the DHQ. The DHQ statement said the Multi National Joint Task Force troops on routine patrol in Baga, Malam Garati Road, had an encounter with some members of the Boko Haram at about 7.30pm on April 16.

According to the statement, a soldier was killed and five others injured in the confrontation.

•Obasanjo

It stated that 30 Boko Haram terrorists died five were arrested and many escaped with bullet wounds.

The release also stated that six civilians were killed and 10 others were injured in the crossfire.

But some clerics urged the military to apply the rules of engagement in tackling insurgency, with a view to avoiding civilian casualty.

ADVERT HOTLINES: 08023006969, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS

Activists urge U •Insecurity: Reps urge Fed Govt to fence borders

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•Abia State Governor Theodore Orji (second right) , his wife Mercy , Labour Minister Chief Emeka Wogu (left), former Senate President Adolph Wabara (second left), Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (third left), during the first annual Ochendo lecture to mark the Abia Youth Empowerment programme in Umuahia ... yesterday.

•From left: Managing Director, Infrastructure Bank Plc, Mr Adekunle Oyinloye, Director, Comrade Promise Adewusi and Vice Chairman, Mr Johan Kruger, at the board meeting of the bank in Lagos ... yesterday

IGHTS groups yesterday condemned the Baga, Borno State bloodbath, calling for the trial of the perpetrators by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

No fewer than 187 people were killed when the Multinational Joint Task Force invaded the town in search of Boko Haram members.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and some clerics urged the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands to bring the perpetrators to book.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and National Director of Media Affairs, Miss.

Zainab Yusuf, said it was worried that the National Assembly and the national institutions that should investigate the killings have have gone into “administrative slumber”.

HURIWA said: “We sincerely think that the current Federal administration does not have the political will to clinically supervise a credible probe of alleged massacre by armed security operatives of civilians especially the current major cases of alleged mass extra – legal execution in Baga, Borno State and Ezu River in Anambra State.

“We think the only committed and transparent organ to hold any credible probe of these dastardly acts of mass murders both on the side of armed security operatives and the armed terrorists waging war on Nigeria, are the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court.”

Clerics, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the killings must stop.

Imam Shuaib Abdullahi, Executive

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• President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mr. Olumide Akintayo (second right)presenting a document to the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji (right), during a visit to the Head of Service Office in Abuja...yesterday. With them are National Secretary, PSN, Mr. Victor Okwuosa, Deputy President, South PSN, Dr. Ernest Okoli (second left).

•From left: Alternative Dispute Resolution Consultant to the Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA), Mrs. Olusola Adegbonmire, Executive Secretary/ Chief Executive Officer, LCA, Megha Joshi and member, Board of Directors, LCA, Fabian Ajogwu( SAN), at the LCA Media Round Table in Lagos ... yesterday.

IGERIA joined the Community of Democracies (CoD) in order to deepen its democracy.

Efforts so far made to entrench democracy in Nigeria have been recognised by the body, as the country was elected to lead the organisation from 2015 to 2017.

The election took place on February 26, at the 7th Governing Council meeting of CoD in Geneva, Switzerland.

The CoD, an intergovernmental organisation, was established in 2,000 in Warsaw, Poland, and it works to strengthen democracy worldwide by providing support to emerging democracies and civil society groups.

It also identifies threats to democracy, while advancing broadbased participation in democratic governance, among others.

As a prelude to Nigeria’s assumption of the Presidency of the CoD, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the body, recently organised a workshop in Abuja with the theme “Strengthening Democratic Traditions and Institutions”.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who spoke at the workshop, pledged the Federal Government’s commitment to entrenching democratic principles.

He stressed that the 2011 general elections were “adjudged by international and local observers as free, fair, transparent and credible.

“Respect for human rights, justice and the free choice of Nigerians remain fundamental to the policies of this administration,” Jonathan said.

Prof. Viola Onwuliri, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,

•Kerry (right) greeitng Ashiru ahead of a bil ... yesterday.

Director, Zakat and Fadaqat Foundation, said it was sad that some citizens lost their lives in the name of terrorism.

He said there were rules of engagement and standards to be followed by the military to ensure that civilian casualties were avoided.

“This is democracy where there are rules of engagement or standards; military personnel should be able to put to practice those rules in tackling insur-

‘Why d

By Chijioke Okoronkwo, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

said many people around the world had sacrificed their lives for democracy to thrive.

She said the country’s 14 years of democracy had its challenges and threats, just like other more established democracies elsewhere.

“Be it as it may, our interest in deepening democratic values has led Nigeria to join the CoD. “While Nigeria may be a relatively new democracy, it is pertinent to note that for almost 14 years since the return to democratic rule, we have recorded a huge measure of stability,” she said.

Senate President David Mark, represented by Maj.-Gen Mohammed Saleh (rtd), said there was no perfect democracy in the world as every democratic institution had its own challenges.

“There is no government with a perfect democracy and as citizens, we have to understand that.

“It is a learning and building process.

The older democracies have had numerous challenges.

“We must, as a matter of urgency, come together with a collective mind set to move the country forward,” he said.

Ms Maria Leissner, the SecretaryGeneral of CoD, said democracy was not only about politicians and leaders but also about civil societies and participants from all spheres of life.

She said there was no permanency in democracy, as leaders must give way for new ones.

“I am pleased that Nigeria is taking

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS

e UN to investigate Baga bloodbath John Kerry: there’s tough violence in the North •Foreign Minister Ashiru meets Secretary of State

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a bilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC PHOTO: AFP

gency to prevent civilian casualty,” he said.

Director of Social Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos Monsignor Gabriel Osu, said there should be strong security at the Nigerian borders to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.

Osu prayed for the repose of the souls of those who died and wondered why suspected terrorists

NITED States Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Affairs Minister Gbenga Ashiru yesterday met in Washington on insecurity in the North and other challenges facing the country.

Kerry said the U.S. was happy helping Nigeria curb extremism.

He said: “I’m very happy to welcome His Excellency, Foreign Minister Ashiru of Nigeria. We have a close association, close working partnership, and Nigeria is a very important leader within the African Union as well as the Economic Community of West African States.

“Unfortunately, they are facing some tough violence in the northern part of the country, which we condemn, and we join with them in helping to fight against extremism. And we’re appreciative for their support on any number of issues, from economic leadership to energy leadership, security. We have a lot of work to do and a lot to talk about. So I’m happy to welcome you here.”

Ashiru said the country appreciated the partnership between the U.S. and Nigeria. He said the Federal Government believes that with the support of the U.S. Nigeria would overcome it challenges.

The minister said: “I’m happy to be here to meet with the U.S. Secretary of State. It’s a very important meeting for us. We appreciate the strategic partnership we have with the U.S. And we believe that as a leading country in

should use innocent civilians as shield.

“Immigration should be at its best to make sure that people don’t just cross the border anyhow, because we were told that it was caused by outsiders,” Osu said.

National President Nasrul-lahi-fatih Society of Nigeria (NASFAT) Imam Sherif Yussuf praised the Federal Government for ordering an investigation into the crisis.

‘

Unfortunately, they are facing some tough violence in the northern part of the country, which we condemn, and we join with them in helping to fight against extremism. And we’re appreciative for their support on any number of issues, from economic leadership to energy leadership, security. We have a lot of work to do and a lot to talk about.

’

By Olukorede Yishau

Africa, we can bring so much in terms of the maintenance of peace and security on the continent, which we do on behalf of the UN Security Council and also the United States.

“There are many challenges we face in our country, which the Secretary of State has already mentioned. And we believe that with the support of the U.S., we will overcome the challenges in the not too distant future. And we hope in our meeting today we’ll be able to discuss all the areas to further improve on our bilateral relations with the U.S. The U.S. is now an important partner, and we will continue to work to strengthen the partnership we have with the U.S.”

Yussuf urged the government to implement recommendations from the investigation, noting that human lives were sacred.

“Terrorism is a serious tragedy and it’s bad, in whatever we are using to combat terrorism, we should not sacrifice innocent lives.

“I support what the Federal Government has done, we have to get to the root of the problem, whether the

military overreacted or over reached their limits,” he said.

Pastor Bayo Akinola of the Lord Mission Ministry International Church, urged people in the area to fish out strangers among them and report them to security authorities for timely intervention.

“The residents should be able to fish out strangers among them, report them to law enforcement agents,

so that they can be interrogated immediately,” he added.

The House of Representatives yesterday identified porous borders and illegal routes as major contributory factors to the growing insecurity in the country.

The lawmakers urged the government to construct a perimeter fence across Nigeria’s borders with neighbouring countries to curb illegal movements into the country.

Their decision followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hassan Saleh (Benue, PDP) who noted that despite the many economic and security challenges linked to the poor condition of the borders, government was yet to take definite measures to secure the land border posts.

He said: “It is disheartening to note that our borders with our neighbours remain poorly and inefficiently managed. At some of our borders, there are no flags, gates or any form of proper demarcation, rather what has been observed at some border posts such as Seme and Idi-Iroko borders are demarcations made of bamboo trunks.

“It has been alleged that there exists 1,497 illegal routes into the country. Presently, most of our villages, towns and cities are filled with illegal immigrants who go about without any fear of being questioned about the illegality of their stay in the country and constituting a nuisance in these places”.

The proposed fence, according to Saleh, should be equipped with sensors and cameras to track illegal migrants and help the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to have a proper statistics of persons going in and out of the country.

The House Committee on Interior was mandated to liaise with the Ministry of Interior and NIS to explore the possibility of constructing the fence to properly demarcate the borders and check the indiscriminate influx of illegal aliens into the country.

y democratic institutions must be strenghtened’

•Tambuwal

•Prof. Onwuliri

•Leissner

should ensure a level-playing ground for ‘allINEC parties, the law enforcement agents should be non-partisan and the media should report issues without bias ’

over the presidency of the community because of its contributions to peace and its size.

“By population and contribution to peace in the sub-region, I am delighted you are coming on board.

“In democracies, there will always be new chances; there is no perma-

nency in power,” she said.

Leissner said Nigeria was expected to show the world that Africa was not all about negative things.

“It is an opportunity to project the real image of Africa and democratic institutions across the continent,”

she added.

House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, said Nigerians could not understand the role of the National Assembly in a democracy because of the many years of military rule.

The Speaker, represented by

Rep. Nnenna Ukeje, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Nigerians ought to be more enlightened about the roles of the three arms of government.

“Long years of obscurity, caused by the military interregnum, made it difficult for Nigerians to understand the role of the National Assembly.

“The mission of the parliament is to represent the people and form a nexus between the people and the government,” he said.

Former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro said the police had a vital role to play in the sustenance of democracy.

He, however, stressed that the police should be non-partisan and be fair to all.

“INEC should ensure a level-playing ground for all parties, the law enforcement agents should be nonpartisan and the media should report issues without bias,” Okiro said.

Prof. Abdulhameed Ujo of the Department of Political Science, University of Abuja, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be granted “full autonomy”.

He said this was the first time Nigeria would have an electoral body with the appellation “independent”.

Ujo noted said that INEC only enjoyed financial autonomy.

“INEC must be truly independent; in a democratic setting, the electoral body is an umpire and

therefore, it should not be under the control of the executive or any other stakeholder.

“This is the first time we have an independent body by law but the Constitution does not make provisions for its independence.

“However, INEC has financial autonomy; the executive no longer has control over its finances,” he said.

The university don also stressed the need for transparency in the appointment of INEC chairman and commissioners.

Ujo said the positions should be advertised, and the candidates screened by the National Judicial Council, which would then make recommendations to the president for ratification.

Prof. Ehiedu Iweriebor of the University of New York called on INEC to design a deliberate programme to mobilise Nigerians to participate “fully” in the democratic process.

He noted that traditional African societies were democratic, adding that democratic struggles had been an inherent part of Nigeria’s political history.

Stakeholders believe that Nigeria’s fledgling democracy will mature with time.

They also believe that Nigeria’s democracy will receive a boost as soon as the country takes over the Presidency of the CoD from El Salvador in 2015.

THE NATION FRIDAY APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS

Jonathan approves N5.7b for victims of 2011 post-election violence in nine states

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday a p p r o v e d N5,747,694,780 for victims of 2011 post-election violence in nine states .

The victims lost property, their means of livelihood and places of worship to the violence.

Jonathan set up a panel of enquiry, headed by Sheik Ahmed Lemu to, among other things, identify the spread and extent of losses suffered across the country following the post-election violence and disturbances

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

in the states.

After the submission of the panel’s report and its adoption by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing was mandated to assess the reported losses and damage to property in all affected states.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, noted that based on the Ministry of Lands and

THE BENEFICIARIES •Bauchi - N1,574,879,000.002, •Sokoto - N55,888,506.003, •Zamfara - N93,253,485.004, •Niger - N433,375,875.005, •Jigawa - N208,667,634.006.

•Katsina - N1,973,209,440.007, •Kano - N944,827,000.008, •Adamawa- N420,089,840.009, •Akwa Ibom - N43,504,000.00.

Housing’s report, President Jonathan approved the release of funds to nine of the 14 affected states.

The President also directed that an Implementation

Committee for the disbursement of the funds to beneficiaries in the nine states be constituted as follows: “Chairman of the committee – Governor or Deputy Governor, and members to include representative of State Government, Secretary of the Sheik Lemu Panel, Representative of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Representative of the FMLH&UD.” The statement reads: “In-

spection and assessment of damages and losses suffered are yet to be carried out in Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna and Nasarawa states as modalities and further instructions for the exercise are still being expected from the state governments.”

“Funds to cover the losses sustained by victims of the post-election violence in these five states will be approved and released at the conclusion of the assessment exercise,” the statement said.

Okonjo-Iweala is chair of AU agency

By Joseph Jibueze

T

HE Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed the first chair of the Governing Council, African Risk Capacity (ARC).

ARC is a specialised agency of the African Union (AU), which supports African states to mitigate the severe social and economic impact of extreme weather conditions through a structured insurance system.

Partners who supported the creation of the ARC include The Rockefeller Foundation, the UK’s Department for International Development, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Okonjo-Iweala expressed her delight at the honour.

She said ARC is a timely and innovative African response to the increasing challenges brought on by extreme weather conditions which deserve the support of all Africans.

“Not only can we predict extreme weather conditions, with a well-managed risk fund we are prepared to address them and ensure that the most vulnerable people in our communities receive protection.

“The ARC will support the governments of its member state to manage response programmes effectively. And ensure that they have resources to meet natural disasters head-on.”

T

T

HE House of Representatives yesterday mandated its Committee on Interior to liaise with the Ministry of Interior and Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to properly demarcate the country's borders with other neighbouring countries.

It also mandated the committee to liaise with the two government agencies to provide better working conditions and incentives for officers posted to man the country's borders to check influx of foreigners.

The resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Rep. Hassan Saleh (PDP-Benue) in Abuja and it was unanimously adopted without debate.

According to Saleh, there are 1,497 illegal routes into the country, giving access to illegal immigrants, who stay in most villages and cities without being questioned.

He said: ``It is disheartening to note that our borders with our neighbours remain poorly and inefficiently managed.

Presidency disowns “women in oil”

T •L-R, Author, Mr. Femi Onasanya, Chief Launcher and Chairman/CEO, Sadakpex Nig. Ltd., Mr. Sore Dapo Osibodu and former Inpector General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Musiliu Smith, at a presentation of two books entitled: “Soul Refreshers and Pleasant Dreams”held at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos...yesterday

Court halts move to sack PDP’s NWC members

P

LANS by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to have the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) dissolved suffered a setback yesterday. A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the party and others to stop all actions in relation to the issue.

Justice Adamu Bello, at the hearing of a suit seeking among others, to restrain INEC from recognising or allowing any attempt to place the impeachment or removal of any member of PDP-NWC on any agenda of any of the national organ of the party, ordered parties to maintain status quo pending the determination of the suit.

The order was consequent upon an application by lawyer to the PDP (plaintiff in the suit), Ajibola Oluyede seeking an order that parties in the case maintain status quo concerning issues raised in it pending the hearing and determination of the originating summons filed in the case.

Justice Bello, while granting the application, noted that ordinarily, parties are bound by the doctrine of lis pendens to refrain from tampering with the res (subject of dispute) in a case before a court, but that in Nigeria it is not always the case.

The judge fixed hearing of the originating summons for May 23.

By the court’s order, the PDP and INEC (being the only parties in the case) are to maintain status quo pending the hearing and

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

determination of the originating summons.

PDP filed the suit against INEC. The plaintiff is specifically urging the court to determine whether, one year after the party’s last national convention was concluded, anyone could use INEC’s report on the convention, which complained about the procedure for election of some members of the party’s NWC, for any purpose.

PDP urged the court to declare that the procedure of affirmation and voice vote used for unoppossed candidates at the national convention was consonant with Section 223 of the Constitution and in substantial compliance with PDP guidelines for the convention.

It also seeks a declaration that any complaint about the national convention must be made within 48hours and therefore, can no longer be made a year after the convention was concluded.

The plaintiff also prayed the court for an injunction restraining INEC from recognising or allowing any attempt to place the impeachment or removal of any member of PDP NWC on any agenda of any of the National organ of the party.

Oluyede said the order for maintenance of status quo is equally binding on the PDP, its officers and organs. He added that the issue of dissolution of the PDP NWC or impeachment of any its members must now await the court’s decision on the suit.

Why insecurity persists in North, by Govenors’ Forum HE Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) Committee on Reconciliation, Healing and Security (NSCRHS) yesterday insisted that poverty, illiteracy and ignorance and an unequal access to political power are among the causes of insecurity in the North.

Since Boko Haram launched its onslaught in the region, about 2000 innocent lives have been lost and property worth billions of naira destroyed.

The committee was set up on August 22, last year and it is headed by Ambassador Zakari Ibrahim. It has a mandate to identify the causes of the crisis and proffer lasting solutions. It submitted its final report to the NSGF in Abuja yesterday.

According to Ibrahim, oth-

Reps to probe influx of foreigners

•Yuguda: we’ve failed From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

er causes of the insecurity in the North are ownership and access to resources (land and territory), economic inequality and narrowing opportunity, conflicts and unhealthy competition around ethnic and religious identities, as well as the feeling of lack of respect.

Other causes of the crisis, he said, include issues around appointments into traditional headship positions, the deterioration in personal and inter group relationships and widespread impunity; injustice; and disregard to rule of law.

He pointed out that the

North has suffered very serious economic, social and psychological devastation, with relationship among the people severely fractured as a result of the insecurity.

But he maintained that the underlying factors of the insecurity are surmountable if serious consideration is given to some of the recommendations submitted by the committee.

Speaking after receiving the report, Niger State Governor and Chairman of the NSGF, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu agreed that the situation has negatively impacted on the economic and social lives in the states.

According to him, the assignment carried out by the

committee has opened a new vista for the North to address the situation. He stressed that the issue should be collectively addressed since what happened to one can also happen to others.

On fuel subsidy, he urged the government to develop the political will to punish people caught committing crimes in order to deter others from doing same.

Aliyu said: “There are people who lied to get fuel subsidy. Where are they now? If you catch a thief and you don’t punish him, the next one will think it is better to engage in thievery. Today there is more thievery in the oil sector. We should endeavour to punish those who have been caught.”

Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda noted that Muslims

and Christians live peacefully together in the South and questioned why such does not happen in the North.

“We governors and local government chairmen are in trouble, we took oath to protect lives, but don’t protect lives. We are in trouble because on the last day God is going to ask us question,” he said.

Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema, calling for the issue to be collectively addressed, described the North as a sleeping giant.

“The report of this committee must be implemented.

Killing each other is a thing we all must collectively reverse. We don’t have excuse not to tackle these problems head-on,” he added

HE Presidency yesterday disowned a programme tagged: “Women in oil”, luring unsuspecting women to invest in shares and oil business to get the profits in 2015.

Dr. Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, made the clarification while addressing State House Press Corps in Abuja.

Abati said President Goodluck Jonathan did not approved of such programme and warned unsuspecting Nigerians against the scam.

He said the programme was intended to dupe the people of their hard-earned money.

Abati said the presidency was not selling such forms or asking people to invest in oil or any programme.

Nigeria’s envoy dies in Bern

N

IGERIA’S Deputy Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr Bashir Musa, is dead.

Mrs Fidelia Njeze, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Netherlands confirmed the development in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) yesterday in London.

Musa, who died on Tuesday in Bern following a brief illness. He was 56. He joined the foreign service in 1982.

“I worked with him closely for a short period; we were both appointed about the same time last year,” Mrs Njeze said.

“He was quite an easy going person who was committed to his job, and a nice family man too. May his soul rest in peace.’’

She added that a condolence register had been opened at the embassy.

“Members of the Nigerian community have been here on condolence as well as the diplomatic corps and the Swiss government.’’

NAN reports that plans are under way to take his remains home.

Musa, who was appointed ambassador in 2012, had previously worked at the Nigerian High Commission in London.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

7

NEWS

NIMASA frustrating removal of wrecked vessels, says commissioner T HE Lagos State Government has accused the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) of frustrating its efforts at removing wrecked and abandoned vessels on the state’s coastline.

Commissioner for Waterfront and Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru, spoke yesterday at the sixth anniversary of the Babatunde Fashola administration.

Oniru said over 200 wrecked vessels, which littered the coastline, do not only constitute danger to the maritime environment but also major pose a threat to the people living on the shore-

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

line.

The commissioner asked why officials of NIMASA were fond of attacking state officials deployed to remove wrecked vessels even when they refused to address the issue.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan has not fulfilled the promise he made in 2011 to release the ecological funds to the state to address the problems of ocean surge and removal of the abandoned vessels on the state’s coastline.

Oniru said: “The Federal Government has done nothing for coastline protection.

With the removal of abandoned vessels and protection of the coastlines, various letters have been written to the Federal Government since the late President Umaru Yar Adua’s time till date. Not only have we not got any help from the Federal Government, to get a reply to our various letters is a big problem. This is not just a water front issue; the Ministry of Environment is also concerned. We are talking about the ecological fund

as well. We have not got any assistance so far.”

On the efforts of his ministry to free the waterfront from danger, the commissioner said: “Wrecked vessels constitute a grave danger to the marine environment and are causing the degradation of the shoreline and the adjacent properties, particularly the waterfront. That the owners have not taken the responsibility to remove the wrecks does not mean we will fold our arms and watch the harm those vessels cause to the people living around the coast-

line. We have so far succeeded in removing four of those vessels.”

On the floating school, currently under construction at the Makoko waterfront, Oniru said: “It’s an illegal structure. It shouldn’t be there. We are trying to get rid of the structures there. It’s not a project that has been abandoned. Various bodies have gone to court. We stand to be corrected. I can’t say much because there is a legal case on ground. It’s without the knowledge and permit of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development as well as the Ministry of Water Front and Infrastructure.”

Groups to Presidency: stop muzzling opposition

T

HE Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, and the National Coordinator, Ogoni Solidarity Forum, Mr. Celestine Akpobori, yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to stop muzzling the opposition.

Addressing reporters in Abuja, the duo urged the Federal Government to tolerate opposing views since constructive criticism is the hall-

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

mark of democracy.

Presenting a joint statement, Ugolor urged the Judiciary to redeem its image and maintain its independence.

He referred to a United States (US) report, which alleged that Nigerian judges were easily bribed and that litigants could not rely on courts to get impartial judgments.

The cleric cited the April 15 judgment of an Abuja High

Court, headed by Justice Isaq Bello, which sacked the River State executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and approved the election of a parallel executive.

Ugolor noted that the verdict was a hatchet job against Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

He added: “The reason for pursuing Amaechi is well known to many Nigerians.

Whereas President Jonathan has repeatedly told the nation that he does not want to be distracted from his adminis-

tration’s Transformation Agenda, he is ‘fighting’ Amaechi through the Judiciary, perhaps, because of the rumoured Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa and Rotimi Amaechi possible paring in 2015.

Akpobari said the speed with which the Rivers State PDP executive’s case was handled calls for concern.

According to him, the hasty dispensation of justice is lacking in the myriad of corrupt cases pending in various courts in the country.

Braithwaite: my application for amendment justified

By Precious Igbonwelundu

•Dr. Braithwaite

E

LDER statesman, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, has told an Igbosere High Court, Lagos, that his application for the amendment of his originating summons in the suit against Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited on the construction of a 14-storey building and five-level car park near his home on Victoria Island, Lagos, was justified and meritorious in law.

Braithwaite, in a 34-para-

graph affidavit deposed to on his behalf by Ismaila Usman, sought the court’s order to stop the bank from building the commercial complex in a residential area.

He informed the court that the development permit, which the defendant purportedly obtained from the state government authorising a mixed development in the area, was invalid and unlawful. He described the building as illegal.

The lawyer prayed to declare that the erection of a 14-storey building at 142 Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos, and a five-level park at Plot 141 Elias Close, Victoria Island, also in Lagos, by the bank is

unlawful and damaging to his rights.

In his reply on points of law to the objection of the proposed amendment by counsel to the respondent, Niyi Adegbonmire, the senior lawyer yesterday submitted that the respondent’s conduct was not only manifestly wrong but also made it necessary for him to amend his originating summons.

He said the validity of the development permit allegedly issued by the Lagos State Government was being challenged, adding that the bank was restrained by the Court of Appeal from continuing with the development of the property.

Citing a Supreme Court

judgement delivered in 1987, Braithwaite argued that “it is within the power of the court to grant an amendment, even if the amendment would add to the existing cause of action or substitute, therefore, a new cause of action, provided that the additional or the new cause of action arises out of the same or substantially the same facts as are contained in the pleadings”.

He added: “In all civil litigation, it is the duty of the court to aim at and to do substantial justice and allow formal amendments as are necessary for the ultimate achievement of justice and the end of litigation...”

Justice Doris Okuwobi, after listening to the parties, adjourned till June 7 for ruling on the application for an amendment of the originating summons.

Tribunal berates Conduct Bureau for poor handling of case

T

HE Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja has absolved a former local government chairman in Cross River State, Emil Lemke Inyang, of being a member of a cult group when he was in office.

The tribunal, in a ruling by a three-man panel, upheld Iyang’s no-case submission and held that the prosecution, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), failed to prove its case against the accused.

The tribunal came down hard on the CCB for conducting a shoddy investigation on the petition.

Inyang, the Chairman of Biase Local Government in 2007, was accused of being a member of a society to known as the National Association of Buccaneers.

The CCB, which brought the charge on behalf of the Federal Government, alleged that Inyang’s alleged membership of the society was incompatible with the functions and dig-

•Frees ex-council chair of cultism charges From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

nity of his office.

The prosecution claimed that the action constituted an offence under Section 14 of the CCB and Tribunal Act, 2004, and punishable under Section 23 of the Act. In the course of the trial, which began last November, the prosecution called only one witness, Ikechukwu Iguela, of the Calabar office of the CCB. Inyang did not defend but made a “no case” submission.

He averred that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against him.

Justice Robert Odu (rtd), in the lead ruling, held that it was wrong for the CCB not to have established the author of the petition and called him/her as its witness.

He said: “No one has owned up to having written the petition. If the CCB only received the petition but did not see or

interview the petitioner, why did it not drop the charge.

“And if the petitioner was seen and interviewed, why was the petitioner not brought before the tribunal to give evidence in this case?

“It is no longer in doubt that corruption has been the bane of Nigeria’s political and economic development. A lot of our youths roam the streets in search of jobs owing to the level of corruption in this country.

“It is suggested that the security challenges being experienced in the land is traceable to abject poverty brought about by corruption.

“Notwithstanding this obvious fact, there has been, unfortunately, a growing tendency on the part of the prosecution to bring frivolous and embarrassing charges before this tribunal and stall prosecution of charges filed against suspects

by applying in writing or orally to withdraw such charges.

“The prosecution has no evidence whatsoever that the accused is a cult member; yet, it charged him before this tribunal.

“It would seem this tribunal is being used to let off the hook suspects facing criminal charges, after they have been harassed, figthened and intimidated. This is not enough and it is not acceptable to the CCT. “It is the conviction of this tribunal that no reasonable tribunal might convict on the evidence adduced by the prosecution. It has not made a prima facie case against the accused.

“The submission of ‘no-case to answer’ is hereby upheld.

The accused is discharged under Section 286 of the Criminal Prosecution Act,” Justice Odu held.

Other members of the panel - Danladi Yakubu Umar and Atedze W. Aguadza - agreed with the lead ruling.

He added that Amaechi’s sins’ also include the vibrant opposition of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which he chairs.

“There is a gradual attempt to muzzle the opposition and human rights group,” they said.

FAAN, NEMA, others carry out mock drills

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

THE Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in conjunction with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the Red Cross, FAAN Fire Service, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Lagos State Fire Service agencies yesterday carried out a mock emergency rescue exercise at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

A mock drill is part of the measures carried out regularly by aviation agencies to ensure readiness for an emergency and its management.

The Regional Manager, Southwest Airports, Mr Edward Olarerin, told reporters after the exercise that

8

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

NEWS Traffic Law: Lagos records fewer accidents

Industrialisation critical to growth, says Ajimobi

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro and Yinka Aderibigbe

T

HERE has been a steady decline in motorcycle-related accidents and deaths in Lagos since last September, a month after the Road Traffic Law was enacted, the state government has said.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris and his counterpart in the Ministry of Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, revealed this yesterday while speaking with reporters.

Giving statistics of accidents in recent times, Idris said about 6,131 cases of motorcycle related accidents were treated at public hospitals in Lagos between January, 2012 and last month, adding that 148 deaths were recorded during the period.

He said 696 cases were recorded last year February and 646 last August. Idris said: “For example, in the first three months of last year, 1,833 cases were recorded, but only 415 were recorded between January and March, this year.

“The 696 cases for last year February have steadily declined to 126 last month, while the 47 deaths recorded in the first three months of last year reduced to four from January to March, this year.

“The law has brought some order, safety and security to the state. The government will continue to do its best to prevent motorcycle-related accidents.”

He urged motorists to obey traffic rules and stay away from the wheels when they are drunk.

Idris said the government would step up safety advocacy at motor parks and other strategic points.

Opeifa said the implementation of the Traffic Law reduced traffic violations from 29 per cent last July to five per cent last month.

He said applications for driver’s licence increased by 170.6 per cent and BRT lane violations decreased by 74.2 per cent in the last nine months.

Ogun council presents budget

By Abike Adegbulehin

O

GUN Waterside Local Government Chairman Olatunde Rufai has presented a N1, 878,470,874 proposed budget to the council’s legislature.

Rufai said the proposed budget would meet the needs of the people and alleviate their suffering.

The budget, according to the council’s Director of Information, Prince Segun Soneye, was split into major sectors and sub-sectors, including economics, road maintenance and development, electrification, agriculture, commerce and finance.

In the social sector, education has the highest allocation, followed by health and social development.

Rufai urged the people to pay their rates and levies when due.

During the programme, 200 defectors from various political parties were accepted into the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) by the state Chairman of the party, Mr. J. Okunusi.

Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Muyiwa Oladipupo inspected the council’s new office complex at Alo and health centre at Okebi.

Ajimobi to lead health walk tomorrow From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

O

YO State Governor, Abiola AJimobi, will tomorrow lead residents in a health walk, tagged Ajumorin, in Oyo town.

This is the second edition of the walk, which was inaugurated on January 24 in Ibadan, the state capital.

The walk, which will be hosted by different towns in the state, is to promote the exercise culture and good health.

At the first edition, the governor led top government officials, Nollywood actors and actresses and residents on the walk from the Government House, Agodi, to the historical Mapo Hall.

During the walk, which was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ajimobi enlightened the populace about his programmes.

The second edition will take off at Owode Market to the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, where the governor would interact with the people of the ancient town and its environs.

SURE-P: 2,000 jobs for Oyo youths From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

C

HAIRMAN of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) in Oyo State Dare Adeleke yesterday said 2,000 youths will be employed under the scheme before the end of next month.

He said the youths would provide social services and clean the environment.

In a statement in Ibadan, the state capital, Adeleke said the programme was designed to eradicate poverty and develop the state.

He said: “The unemployed youths will be employed with reference from the head of their community. It will not be business as usual.”

Adeleke described the programme as part of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government. He said the present beneficiaries would soon be paid their stipends, adding that the delay in the payment was due to logistic problems.

•Ajimobi

O

YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has said industrialisation is critical to the nation’s growth.

Ajimobi said indolence, lack of continuity of government policies and so much emphasis on paper qualification were responsible for the country’s slow growth.

He spoke yesterday in Ibadan, the state capital, at the opening of the sixth conference of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment.

The theme of the conference was: Industrialisation as the Driver of Economic Development, Revenue Diversification and Wealth Creation.

Ajimobi said attitudinal problems have bred institutionalised inefficiency and indolence, adding that lack of continuity in government has disrupted laudable programmes and policies.

He said rather that placing so much emphasis on paper qualification, Nigerians should focus on skill acquisition and what a person is capable of doing.

The governor condemned “the delegation of human responsibilities to the spiritual”, saying this has prevented many people from realising their potentials.

He said: “Each time I travel abroad and see how well things work there, I marvel and ask myself what our problem is in Nigeria. However, I have come to realise that our problems are caused by three or four factors.

These are attitudinal prob-

Musical festival begins tomorrow

T

HIS year’s edition of the gospel festival, known as Living Spring, begins tomorrow at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. It will feature popular gospel artistes, like Ayan Jesu from Abeokuta; Shola Allyson from Ibadan; Zion Voices from Jos; In His Image from Lagos; Glorious Covenant Dancers from Ilorin; Inspire Team from Ondo and As Well As Rose Gee from Jos, among others.

The three-day event will also feature seminars on digital music production, bass guitar techniques, keyboard, voice training, church worship, the motive of music and the message of the musician.

Oyo monarch dies at 85 From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

T

HE Obalufon of Sepeteri, Oba Abdul-Kareem Akanji Alatise III, is dead.

He died on Wednesday at 85.

The late Oba Akanji had been bed-ridden for some months.

He was installed on April 19, 1986 and spent 27 years on the throne.

His remains will be interred today according to Muslim rites.

lems, which have resulted in institutional inefficiency and indolence; lack of continuity and so much emphasis on paper qualification at the expense of skill acquisition.

“Another thing is the delegation of our responsibilities as human beings to the spiritual.

In those countries, they do not take anything they are capable of doing to God. “But here in Nigeria, we still take those things God has given us the will-power to God. Interestingly, even after telling God about them, we go to sleep.

“By doing this, we are putting too many responsibilities on God, whereas God has rules and regulations. What He has given us the will-

power to do for ourselves, He will not do for us. We should, therefore, be ready to take our destiny in our hands.”

Ajimobi said industrialisation plays a major role in economic development and should be encouraged in Nigeria.

He said the pervasive unemployment and balance of payment challenges confronting the nation leaves policy planners no choice but to resort to promoting industrialisation.

The governor said the conference was timely in the light of the nation’s challenges.

He urged the delegates to consider the needs of the masses and come up with a

pragmatic policy framework to boost industrialisation in Nigeria.

Ajimobi said his administration was working with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to industrialise Oyo. He said his administration was partnering the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission to establish the Oyo State One-Stop Investment Centre (OYSOSIC), which he said would boost investment.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga said the economy cannot grow without industrialisation, which he said can be achieved by providing a conducive environment for businesses to thrive.

90-year-old man’s abductors demand making serious efforts to HE abductors of a 90– year–old man, Alhaji N30m ransom track down the perpetrators

T

Musa Adisa, popularly called Labaika, are demanding N30 million ransom.

The nonagenarian was abducted near his home at Isolo in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Tuesday morning.

He was on his way to a mosque to observe his morning prayers, when the gunmen seized him.

His son, Alhaji Musbau Iyiola, told reporters that the kidnappers phoned the family and demanded N30 million.

Iyiola, who is the state president of the Master Bak-

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

ers Association of Nigeria (MBAN), said: “They phoned me and demanded N30 million. I begged them to collect N500, 000, which is what I can afford, but they said no and ended the conversation.”

He urged the police to secure the release of his ailing father.

Police spokesman Wole Ogodo said the command was searching for the old man.

Ogodo said: “We are working round the clock and are on top of the situation. We are

and free the old man.”

On Wednesday, five suspected kidnappers were arraigned before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in OkeEda, Akure, for allegedly abducting Mrs. Taye DavidWest.

Dada Bamidele (40), Olofinji Dare (32), Joseph Akogun (40), Fiwabe Olayemi (39) and Segun Ekundayo (42) allegedly committed the offence on March 28.

The Chief Magistrate, Johnson Adelegan, remanded them in prison custody.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

Daniel: Ogun PDP group faults alleged Presidential order

A

group with the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Collegiate Vanguard, has faulted the reports of alleged “Presidential orders” to former Governor Gbenga Daniel to reconcile some chieftains of the party.

In a statement by its Secretary, Otunba Mukaila Ariyibi, the group said: “The claim was part of the lies being peddled by Daniel and his cohorts in order to hoodwink unsuspecting party members.”

The group added: “The well-choreographed visit to Chief Alani Bankole was designed to divert the attention of the media from reporting the proceedings at the High Court, Isabo, Abeokuta, where he is standing trial for corruption.”

Thankfully, his proposal to get the elder Bankole to make his son and former Speaker Dimeji Bankole to join him in his efforts to sink the PDP and promote Labour Party (LP) was turned down.

The statement reads in part: “We recall that what he sought to sell to the media was also what he told members of the Chief Francis Fadahunsi-led Reconciliation Committee set up by the new Southwest leadership of the party which has been recording huge success.

“He boasted on that occasion that he played a key role in the re-election of Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko and because of his exploits, Mr. President has mandated him to rally round all the various tendencies and make the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Labour Party (LP) and PDP to merge like the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Perhaps, what Daniel forgot to tell the committee was that he and his people who are planning to go to LP were to meet with some Afenifere/Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftains on Tuesday at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, which he eventually attended.

“Our advice is that Daniel should stop linking Mr. President and his Chief of Staff with anti-party activities. He should first go and clear himself of the allegations of corrupt enrichment before looking for respectable people to associate with. Was this not the same man who burnt his finger with his PPN experiment during the 2011 elections?”

The group said Daniel lacked the moral fibre to call for the investigation of certain PDP leaders because his eight-year reign has remained the most controversial in the history of Ogun State.

“His claim that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was using Governor Ibikunle Amosun to confiscate his assets flies in the face of available facts. How much was he worth in 2003 when he got into government and when he left in 2011?

“We advise him to remove the log from his eye before attempting to remove the speck from another person’s eyes. How could he have forgotten to tell the committee that besides the over N49 billion debt portfolio that his administration left behind, it is dogged by allegations of politically-motivated assassinations that are yet to be resolved? How could he forget the existence of a killer squad that even the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) attested to in court? How could he forget the recent death in mysterious circumstances of the Apagun Pote of Egbaland, Chief Oluwole Olumide, after his statement to the EFCC in which he was said to have indicted top officials of his administration? How could he forget the assassination in cold blood of governorship hopeful Dipo Dina (DD Direct) as well as Dele Arojo? How could he forget the murder and disappearance of the body of Animashaun Suleiman (a.k.a Age Omo Lemomu)?”

The group urged the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to re-open investigation into all the criminal cases and bring the culprits to justice, adding “the case files are at the State Police Command, Eleweran, Abeokuta”.

It alleged of plots by the “killer squad to assassinate a prominent party leader from Ijebu North Local Government on account of his principled stance against injustice, imposition and other illegalities.”

The group said it was prepared to declare “a total war against the masters of deceit and enemies of our dear state. We have all the relevant documents and shall soon swing into action. We are already working on instructing lawyers to commence the process for private prosecution, if necessary, of all those who were complicit in the inglorious reign of the past.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

NEWS

Aregbesola is a gift to humanity, says Baptist Mission •Church honours governor

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HE Nigeria Baptist Convention (NBC) has described Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola as a gift to humanity.

The Convention President of the Nigeria Baptist Mission, Rev. Olasupo Ayokunle spoke yesterday at the closing of the 100th National Baptist Convention.

He hailed Aregbesola for preaching tolerance and love among people of all faiths.

The convention passed a vote-ofconfidence in the Aregbesola administration.

Aregbesola, a devout Muslim, was pronounced an Evangelist of the Baptist Faith and conferred with the Honourary Doctorate Degree of the Nigeria Baptist Institute by the Convention President.

He was also pronounced the Commander of the Royal Ambassador of the Nigeria Baptist Convention.

Aregbesola, who was the special guest of honour at the convention, urged members of the church to always show love to others and imbibe the teachings of Jesus Christ.

He said Nigeria would be a new nation, if love takes the centre stage in all religions.

The governor, who led all members of the state executive council to the convention, thanked the church for the spiritual and material blessings it brought to the state through the centenary convention.

Attributing the relative peace in the state to respect for the values of all religions, he said the people hold these values in high esteem in defi-

•Aregbesola being decorated by Rev. Uche Enyioha. With them are the Marshal, Royal Ambassador of Nigeria, Councellor Festus Akinola (left) and Dr. Dawari George...yesterday.

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

ance to the divisive antics of mischief makers, who exploit religious differences to generate crisis.

Aregbesola thanked the church for its intervention in the education sector.

He said: “The demonstration of love without discrimination that Jesus Christ came, lived and died for all should be emulated by ev-

Police arraign 15 union leaders in Ibadan From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

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IFTEEN union leaders in the crisis-ridden Institute of Agriculture, Research and Training (IAR&T) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were yesterday arraigned before an Ibadan Chief Magistrate’s Court on a four count-charge in connection with the 11month strike by workers of the institute.

Those arraigned cut across the four main unions in the institute, including the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research and Allied Institutions (SSAUTHRAI).

The arraigned unionists are Femi Oladeinde, Abraham Ogunsola, Adegboyega Bola, Funmilayo Oladunsi, Ande Olufunlayo, Olapade Olawale,Osadiya Adewunmi and Anthony Ilufoye.

Others are Michael Akande, Josephine Tokede, Oladiji Mukaila, Fasasi David, Timothy Adeniyi, Bamidele Omotayo and Ibiloye John Olufemi. They were said to have been arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday.

They were accused of “conspiring to commit misdemeanor at the institute around last September 28; conducting themselves in a manner likely to cause breach of the peace by padlocking the door to the office of Prof. Ogunbodede and chasing away his workers; unlawfully assaulting one Abideen Adewale to collect his car key and attemping to defame the character of Prof. Benjamin Ogunbodede by calling him a thief.”

The 15 union leaders pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. I. Adetujoye, granted each of them N50, 000 bail and a surety.

The case was adjourned till May 21.

The union leaders were released on bail yesterday afternoon to the warm embrace of their colleagues, who thronged the court.

SSANU Vice-President (West) Comrade Alfred Jimoh told reporters that the arraignment has revealed that “the institute’s management was desperate to sweep the allegation of fraud against it under the carpet”.

He said all unions in the institute were prepared to defend their leaders.

SSATHURAI General Secretary Comrade Moshood Oladimeji also saw the arraignment of the union leaders as a challenge to unions in the institute.

He said: “Now that the unions have been challenged, we are up to the task. The battle line has been drawn and we are ready for the battle which we know we shall win. We too see the court as our last hope and believe it will save us from oppression.”

Workers in the institute have been on strike for 11 months. They are demanding the removal of the institute’s executive Director, Prof. Benjamin Ogunbodede, for alleged N192. 5million fraud.

The institute is a campus of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

eryone, if Nigeria must fulfill its mission as a nation.

“As a government, we are similarly doing our part by strengthening the Omoluabi values that bind our people together. An Omoluabi will keep the peace at all cost; he will be good to his neighbours at all times and will extend the hands of fellowship to a fellow human being in all circumstances.

“The fundamental goal of all reli-

gions is to make us better persons and keep us together in a better society. Religious leaders have a responsibility in bringing about a better society. They have a duty towards God and their human followers.

They are very much like the shepherd. They lead guide and direct. It is their responsibility to impart moral teachings and the values of God into their flock.

Rev. Ayokunle thanked the gov-

ernor for his love and support to Christians.

He said the Baptist Mission would continue to hold him in high esteem.

The highlight of the programme was the decoration of the governor as the Commander of the Royal Ambassador of the Nigeria Baptist Convention and the signing and presentation of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for the convention ground to Rev. Ayokunle by Aregbesola.

Ibadan fire victims attack tanker driver

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ICTIMS of Monday’s tanker fire in Omitowoju, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday attacked a tanker driver, who drove into the area.

They threatened to set the driver ablaze, if he failed to make a detour.

Residents, in their hundreds, joined the victims and barricaded the street, preventing any articulated vehicle laden with fuel from going through the road.

The victims seized the driver and asked him to produce the driver of the tanker that caused Monday’s fire.

It took the intervention of the community elders before the driver was released, after a stern warning never to ply the road again.

The Mogaji of Atere Compound, where three storey buildings were completely burnt, Alhaji Bello Atere Olatubosun (92), said the victims have

A

•Search for owner of burnt truck From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

started searching for the owner of the tanker to find out if the truck was insured and work out modalities for possible compensation.

He said four of the houses burnt in the fire belonged to members of his family and lamented that nobody from the oil dealers or insurance companies has come to sympathise with the victims.

When The Nation visited the area, members of charity organisations and a few Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were distributing clothes, shoes, and household items to the victims.

One of the victims, Mr. Johnson Oladejo, a retired civil servant, said the only thing he had left were the

clothes he was wearing.

Raising the trouser and shirt given to him by one of the NGOs, Oladejo said: “This is all I have in this world.

My shop, house and every other thing were consumed by the fire. Please tell Nigerians to help us. We want to know the owner of the tanker that brought this sorrow on us. Yesterday (Wednesday), we learnt that members of NUPENG visited the Mokola Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who is in charge of this area, and we know the driver that drove the tanker is with him. So, there is no way the insurance company and the owner of the tanker will not be produced. It is only a matter of time.”

Over 1,200 people were rendered homeless by the fire.

‘Olayinka is the humblest public servant I ever met’

N elder in Ekiti State, Chief Oladeji Fasuan, has said the late Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, was humble to a fault.

Fasuan, a retired permanent secretary in the old Ondo State, said: “The late Mrs. Olayinka is the most humble public servant I ever met. She was very sublime in conduct and committed to the development of the state.”

In his tribute to the deceased, he said: “It is very difficult to find a public servant more respectful and humble. I cannot talk about her efficiency, but Governor Kayode Fayemi has said it all by saying she was his co-pilot.

“This assertion is very significant in a political ambience, where the deputy governor is generally seen as a spare tyre. This is the first time a governor would describe a deputy as a co-pilot.

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

“Her death is a tragedy for us in Ekiti. Here was a woman literally in the trenches as a partner with Fayemi, trying to retrieve a stolen mandate.

There was a lot of anxiety and, eventually, success.

“I have been close to the family for over 60 years. Her dad, Chief Famuagun, was my classmate in the elementary school now called primary school.

“We were also colleagues in Ibadan for over 15 years and, more importantly, we have been neighbours in this residential area for about 30 years.

Only two houses separate us on this street.

“I knew the late deputy governor through her father when about 30 years ago, he brought her to me and

said she had been nominated as a director of the Oodua Textile Mills, now defunct. I gave her some printed materials and some information. I was once the chairman of the organisation.

“On a more personal note, she related to me quite warmly. She participated actively in any family function that I had. In Ado-Ekiti here, she was a symbol, not only of womanhood, but also of integrity.

“I am not sure any section of this society has a negative thing against her. Hence, you have visitors and sympathisers of all categories rushing to the governor and the family house to express their condolences.

She was not controversial at all.

“People saw her as decent and straightforward. Certainly, we will continue to miss her for a long time to come.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Following the approval of Federal Executive Council, we have concluded arrangements to commence the construction of not just one, but five brand new world class international airport terminal.

- Ms Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation

Lagos, World Bank spend N1b on agric

By Daniel Essiet

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AGOS State and the World Bank have spent more than N1 billion on the Commercial Agriculture Development Programme (CADP) to build farmers capacity across three agricultural subsectors.

The subdivision includes aquaculture, rice production and poultry production.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal made this known after addressing the Ninth bimonthly meeting in Lagos yesterday.

CADP is a five-year project set up in 2009 by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources in collaboration with the World Bank and other stakeholders to enable participating small and medium scale commercial farmers gain to access to improved technology, infrastructure, and finance, information and output markets.

Within the last three years, the commissioner said some positive results have been realised, such as a 37 per cent reduction in the price of floating fish feed through the support given to farmers to produce the feed locally.

He explained that over 80,000 Nigerians have benefitted directly and indirectly from the impact created across the value chains.

He said the project has improved road access, boosted agricultural trade opportunities, and enabled access to social services benefiting rural communities.

The $150million CADP is being implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Cross River and Enugu states.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa-$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N10.6 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -9% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending -22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $48b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

• Senator Ajimobi; Mr Aganga; and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Dauda Kigbu, at the event.

Nigeria saved N4.2tr on manufactured goods, says Aganga N IGERIA saved N4.2trillion from the decrease in the importation of manufactured goods in 2012, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, has said.

He made this known during the opening ceremony of the ministerial session of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment, in Ibadan yesterday.

Speaking on the theme, Industrialisation as the driver of economic development, revenue diversification and wealth creation, Aganga said the country saved about N817billion due to a decline in the importation of textile, cement and vegetable oil within the same period.

He said: “In terms of trade,

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

we have done very well. Nigeria’s external trade fell by 4.3 per cent, from N29trillion to about N28trillion in 2012. However, the good and exciting news is that the fall was as a result of a sharp decrease in the value of import from about N9.8trillion to about N5.6trillion by the end of 2012. That was a decrease of about 43 per cent in savings of more than N4.2trillion, which has gone to the increase in the foreign reserves of our country.

“The last time that we had such a big fall in import, for

a country that is largely import dependent, was in 2008 and that fall was about N1trillion. This shows in real sense, a decreasing over-reliance on import for domestic consumption and a significant savings on our foreign exchange. That is why foreign exchange is going up.

“Specifically, for vegetable oil production, import fell from about N1 trillion to about N577billion; textile imports fell from about N190 billion to N94 billion , representing about 82 per cent decrease; while cement import fell from about N219billion to about N27billion. In total, these three sectors only con-

tributed to more than N817billion to our foreign reserves because we are less dependent on import.”

The minister noted that the country also recorded significant improvement in non-oil revenue earnings within the last seven years with the nonoil sector accounting for 30 per cent of the nation’s revenue earnings in 2012, as against 15.5 per cent recorded in 2005.

He said: “Now, if you look at our exports, it has gone up by 15.5 per cent, from about N19.4 trillion to about N22.4 trillion in 2012. In terms of oil and non-oil revenue, in 2005, oil revenue contributed about 94 per cent of our for-

Glo, Huawei seal $750m equipment deal

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ATIONAL telecoms operator, Globacom, yesterday in Lagos, signed a $750 million network upgrade equipment deal with Chinese equipment vendor, Huawei.

The contract, according to the telco, is aimed at making the network more resilient for better user-experience.

Group Operating Officer (GCOO) of the telco, Mohammed Jameel, said this year marks a significant milestone in the annals of the

By Lucas Ajanaku (Asst. Business Editor)

firm’s operation in the country.

He added that the network upgrade will be holistic as it will affect all the facets of the equipment of the firm.

He said Globacom took the decision to make the network more resilient because it is central to good quality telecoms service provision to the subscribers.

Mr Jameel added that the decision of the telco is a re-

flection of the importance the firm attached to customers’ satisfaction.

He said the network upgrade prgramme, which will take the next six months, will be carried out without any disruption to the network. He promised that the network transport, which has 10 gigabytes (Gig) capacity, will be upgraded to 100 Gig, adding that the telco is changing in line with changes in the development of technology.

Huawei Vice President,

Africa, David Fan, said the equipment vendor was delighted to work with Globacom, saying the two firms share certain similarities in common.

According to Fan, China which is the host country of the firm, is an emerging market while Globacom is also operating in a country that the leading emerging telecoms market in Africa, adding on the cultural front, the countries share one quality, which is that of hardwork.

Why states, councils won’t access MDGs grant

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HE Senior Special As sistant to the President on Millennium Development Goal (MDGs), Dr. Precious Gbeneol has explained why some state governments and their local councils may not have access to this year’s Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS).

Gbeneol said with less than five months to complete implementation of the 2012 cash scheme, states, which failed to make best use of the grant will not benefit from

From Olugbenga Adanikin and Jane Maha, Abuja

the 2013 grant.

The presidential aide spoke during a Pre-implementation workshop for 2012 CGS to councils yesterday in Abuja.

She emphasised that the ability to present executed projects by benefiting states as well as local councils will serve as a benchmark for this year’s grant.

Gbeneol said: “We are

not going to give any money to States or local councils that have not fully implemented the 2012 grant scheme. You have just five months to go, if you have not met your target, you won’t have access to the 2013 grant because it will no longer be business as usual.”

According to her, the scheme provided frameworks to addressing challenges of child and maternal health, poverty, HIV Aids

among others.

She added that about 5, 532 projects in areas of primary healthcare, water and sanitation have been delivered to 113 local governments across the country.

The CGS is an initiative of the Federal Government, funded from the Debt Relief Gains (DRGs) where states and local governments access funds to fast track specific projects in their localities towards achieving the MDGs.

eign earnings while the nonoil sector contributed only six per cent.

“If you look at the same statistics in 2012, the oil sector contributed about 69 per cent while the non-oil sector contributed 30 per cent.”

As part of efforts towards diversifying the nation’s economy, enhance job creation and wealth generation, the minister said his Ministry had begun the implementation of its Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan, based on areas where the country had comparative and competitive advantage.

In his opening remarks, Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajumobi, said the state was committed to partnering the Federal Government to transform the state.

‘No fresh recruitment in Customs’ From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

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HE Nigeria Customs Service yesterday urged members of the public to disregard reports that it conducted fresh recruitments, saying the allegation is unfounded.

Addressing reporters in Abuja yesterday, the Deputy Comptroller-General (DCG), Garba Makarfi, noted that the last time the service recruited was conducted in 2011.

There were online reports accusing the Customs management of violating the federal character principles.

But Makarfi said criminally minded people have started fresh scams using fake facebook accounts and websites, announcing recruitments by the service.

Some of the fake websites include;www.job. customes.gov.ng,www. nigetriacustomsservice. net,www.nigeriacustoms service.org,www. customsng . com, and www. nigeria customsrvice.net.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

AGRO-BUSINESS

Smuggled poultry products unsafe, say farmers T HE rising consumption of smuggled poultry and poultry-related products is posing challenges to food security as chemicals used in preserving them are raising health concerns, the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has warned.

The body said heavy use of agricultural chemicals and antibiotics in poultry and other livestock have been associated with safety risks, adding that smuggled poultry products contain high residues of antibiotics that are banned in livestocks.

Worried by this, PAN, Lagos Chapter and the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) are involved in multi-pronged efforts to address safety risks from smuggled poultry products.

These efforts include inspecting

Stories by Daniel Essiet, Agric Correspondent

and ensuring that contaminated poultry products are not brought into the country through the borders as well as putting in place measures to address hazards at their processing plants and on farms. These were the highlights of a meeting between the association and the NSC in Lagos.

The Chairman, Adedotun Agbojo said there was need to attack food safety problems at all points in the supply chain.

He said the association is ready to work with the government to step up regulation and enforcement for domestic and smuggled poultry products.

Agbojo said smuggled products have been associated with unsafe chemicals typically introduced in processing and handling, stress-

ing that effective policing of the borders by men of the NCS will check the influx of smuggled poultry thus prevent the entry of foreign sicknesses.

To this end, the Controller, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, Ikeja, Comptroller Inuwa Mohammed, said food safety is central in the agency’s agenda to ensure only healthy products are allowed into the country.

With this, he said the service has been put on the alert on the entry of smuggled poultry products.

He said poultry business is a significant source of income for farmers, but that smuggling has had a huge impact on the industry.

Mohammed said domestic poultry production tends to lag behind and this has given rise

to increased smuggling.

In response to alleged health concerns linked with smuggled poultry products, the controller said the service had stepped up domestic survelliance to control the movement of such products into the country. He said the service would ensure that poultry products is free of contamination from chemicals used in preserving them.

Mohammed said consultations and exchanges between stakeholders and the service on food safety is an important step towards a more coordinated safety/quality control system.

According to him, increased interactions will promote understanding of the requirements and differing approaches to food control.

To minimise contamination, he

advised processors of poultry to follow mandated procedures, stressing that training among the stakeholders is vital in raising awareness of standards and good practices.

Mohammed said the service has managed to stem the smuggling of chickens, adding however that the service requires considerable resources to continually monitor the borders to ensure that smuggled poultry products considered vulnerable to safety problems are controlled.

He said it was in the interest of consumers, that the service ensured the importation of products.

The controller urged poultry producers to substantially invest in sanitary facilities, equipment, water treatment, workers’ hygiene and changes in production processes.

Seeds road map coming

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HE West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) is set to assist Nigeria to develop an enduring road map for local production of certified seeds. This will be through collaboration with private seed companies.

Speaking at an interactive meeting with the visiting World Bank Implementation Support Mission in Abuja, the Lead Agricultural Economist and Regional WAAPP Task Team Leader, Dr. Abdoulaye Toure, said WAAP-Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian Agricultural Seed Council (NASP), will be setting up a task force that could meet quickly and come out with an action plan on massive production of varieties breeder foundation and certified seeds for the country.

Toure observed that in the face of the deficit in the supply of breeder foundation and certified agricultural seeds to the country, it has become necessary to strategise for a Seed Road Map for the country by adopting a transformative change approach.

This ,he said can be achieved by creating a network of vibrant and enterprising seed breeders, mainly of the private sector, who can effectively work in collaboration with WAAPP and the Agricultural Seed Council in Nigeria.

He observed with concern the appalling gap between agricultural production capacities in the West African sub region which he said was rather too low, and the astronomical rise in population which has in turn led to unprecedented consumption in the region over the years and said the situation needed to be urgently remedied.

Introducing the purpose of the World Bank Mission’s supervision visit to the private seed producers earlier, the National Project Coordinator WAAPP Nigeria, Prof. Damian Chikwendu, said as part of its activities, WAAPP is seriously considering patronising the private sector for a productive relationship that could result in massive production of hybrid quality seed.

The WAAPP project ,he expatiated is presently looking at ways of ensuring rapid multiplication of crucial foundation and certified seed of hybrid rice, maize, sorghum, and massive production of cassava stems and yam setts. The totality of these efforts, he added, is to garner support for the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the present administration.

Chikwendu eulogised the efforts of research institutes in this direction citing instances of vari-

ous innovative technologies of the institutes and colleges of agriculture, prominent among which is the tissue culture innovation which he said could lead to rapid seed multiplication if given the right atmosphere to thrive. He however decried the inability of the Institutes to live fully up to expectation due to some unrestrained bureaucratic practices and the current protracted strikes.

WAAPP, he added, would do everything possible to create the right atmosphere for the seed producers to function. The private sector he continued is reputed for having the right business positioning and to have less encumbrances. He thus charged them to prove their mettle but reminded them that WAAPP will only continue to deal with them if they enthrone credibility into the collaborative process.

Appraising WAAPP intervention efforts in Nigeria, the Deputy National President (Administration) of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Prince Ike Ubaka, observed that the seed sector in Nigeria has remained very comatose and needed to be urgently revived. Nigeria he said needed to go beyond borders and learn from various agricultural success stories.

He suggested the establishment of seed village concepts to enable youths pick up interest in seed breeding.

Also contributing, a private seed processor, Mr. Nathaniel Longmut, assured that indigenous seed processing companies could meet the nation’s seed requirement in a short period if given the right atmosphere to perform.

He advised the government to look inward instead of procuring seeds from outside the country as such products come in with its own ecological and genetic difficulties. He advocated the procuring of appropriate seed processing machines for the private seeds companies in the country as part of the collaborative efforts.

•Chikwendu

•From left: President, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, Mr Sayina Riman; Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative,Mr Oghenerobo Adhuze and Chairman of Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria,Mr Dimeji Owofemi, at a meeting to unveil the World Cocoa Foundation-Africa Cocoa Initiative, Nigeria Segment in Abuja.

Govt embraces G-8 initiative on food production

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HE Federal Government is to join a G-8 initiative, New Alliance (NA) in Africa Agriculture Development Programme, to ensure steady food production in the next 10 years.

The Senior Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on Donor Coordination, Partnership and Investments, Barbara Noseworthy, said the aim was to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next decade through inclusive and sustained agriculture growth.

Speaking at the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Consultative Forum on New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, she noted that the initiative would bring together G-8 governments and the private sector to spur investment into agriculture.

Noseworthy stressed that the move was a right step in a right direction adding that it would accelerate implementation of the country led plans on food security She noted that African governments and the donor community have realised that focusing on agriculture solely as a development

From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

project is not effective adding that private sector participation and investment should be leveraged to affect significant change in the agricultural sector.

Commenting on the benefits that Nigeria government would gain as a member she said: “G-8 members would be provided with an assistance and other development tools such as technical assistance.”

In his remarks, the Acting Permanent Secretary and Director Policy Research and Statistics of the Ministry, Dr. Umar Hussaini stressed that the move was to turn Nigeria into a global powerhouse in agriculture.

He said the Ministry has assured food security in the country by adding 20 million metric tons of food to the domestic food supply by 2015.

Commenting on the benefits of joining the New Alliance, Hussaini, who represented the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said “We are going to benefit for being part of this new

alliance.

“Being a member of new alliance will help in terms of more funding from the G-8 countries. Nigeria will have the opportunity of sourcing funds from the G-8 countries.”

“It would help to create awareness about what we are doing because we a doing so well in Agriculture sector by joining the New Alliance we will get more partners , more companies and countries that we can engage with and improve agriculture,” Adesina added.

On whether Nigeria has met the criteria for being among the member countries Adesina said: “The meeting of the G-8 is going to take place in London on June 8 and as you rightly pointed out there are set criteria’s to meet before will join and happy to say that Nigeria has met the criteria’s. One of them is a semi performance application, which we have done.

“Secondly is to engage the private sector, civil society and also the private sector. Now the meeting today with the civil societies is one of such meetings and engagement.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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Dankwambo lights up Gombe streets

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O deter criminals, the Gombe State government is lighting up some major roads to address insecurity which has become a major challenge in northeastern states lately.

To this end, the over 52 metropolitan township roads being constructed by Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo since assumption of office two years ago have been provided with light.

The increasing volume of human and vehicular movements occasioned by the provision of roads also necessitated the provision of traffic lights as the heavy traffic in Gombe metropolis was beginning to the free flow of traffic because of lack of adequate control.

The government decided to light up the streets not only for safety but also to enhance security surveillance on the roads.

Governor Dankwambo approved that all major township roads; including existing ones and those newly-constructed by his administration must be provided with lights both within the Gombe metropolis and in the local government townships.

Work has started on roads within Gombe metropolis and most of the completed major roads are being provided with streetlights.

With every developmental effort, there are new problems associated with it. The problem occasioned by the construction of new roads informed the creation of many intersections, thereby making traffic flow along those roads or streets a little bit more complicated. The result of this is that manual traffic management has become too cumbersome for the traffic wardens.

To ease this problem, the government decided to install traffic light signal heads in 19 critically intersections in the Gombe metropolis. A stroll in parts of the city where these facilities are installed gives one an impression of Gombe being a model city like Abuja.

Efforts are being made to identify other critical intersections so that they would also be provided with such lighting facilities, especially as more roads are being completed.

In the meantime, there is an aggressive awareness campaign on what the signal heads (traffic

By Babawuro Abdellah

light) are all about, and how to read and obey them.

Apart from the provision of lights on major roads, another project that government believes will beautify the state capital is the construction of modern roundabouts in six critical areas as well as beautification of some open spaces in the town like the one being embarked upon at the Mile 3 on the Gombe-Yola Road Junction.

The beautification of that area, along with about six roundabouts in the city which include Government House Roundabout, Emir’s Roundabout (already completed), Central Roundabout, the Union Bank Roundabout, Market Roundabout and the Federal College of Education (FCE) Roundabout are going to be beauty to behold when completed.

Government cannot provide traffic signal heads at all intersections. This is why in some areas plans are underway to install speed bumps and flexible speed breakers in different locations.

Engineer Hadi, one of the site engineers for the projects said: “We will provide this and where there are conflicts regarding the right of ways for the same hierarchy of roads meeting at an intersection, we will define the road that has the right of way and on the other ones, we will introduce these flexible speed breakers.

Continuing, he said: “At those crowd-attraction spots, we will introduce zebra crossings which will be clearly marked. We will provide these so that we regulate the activities of these motorcyclists (Achaba), so that they won’t be knocking people off the streets.”

There are plans also to construct pedestrian bridges at some places to reduce the likely problems that pedestrians would experience as traffic becomes heavier in the city.

With passion and zeal for the speedy economic transformation of Gombe State, Governor Dankwambo also plans to upgrade the Gombe Airport to truly meet the specification of an International Airport. Gombe

airport is strategically located as the town is regarded as the hub for commercial and social activities of the North Eastern part of the country.

Currently, the airport boasts of the best runways in the country.

However, the terminal building and other facilities at the airport are not befitting of a modern airport. Plans are being made by the government with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to upgrade the infrastructural facilities at the airport. The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure confirmed this. He said: “We are also introducing a cargo terminal for commercial purposes. We are also introducing a fuel dump and support services such as ground handling services and other kinds of logistics.

“So, work on the packaging of the enhanced programme is at an advanced stage. In fact, His Excellency, through the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has begun discussions with the Ministry of Aviation to the effect that Gombe can key into the current remodeling programme embarked upon by the Federal Ministry of Aviation on all Federal Airports in the country.

“This will enable us to get some kind of intervention from the

Federal Government which will ensure that Gombe is included as one of the airports to be remodeled. When that is achieved, I can tell you that the internally-generated revenue from the airport can also be enhanced.”

The government has also entered into an understanding with Messrs Arik Air Limited so that they will operate on regular basis on the airport. Under the agreement, the airline would begin night operations to have a stopover in Gombe. That means that the last flight will leave Abuja on a daily basis except on Saturday while the first flight will leave Gombe the following morning.

By this arrangement, the flight will be regular in the town to enable business men and women in the zone transact business in Abuja or other parts of the country on a daily basis, even as they are assured of a return flight daily.

When fully operational, the arrangement will boost economic activities as well as enhance the hospitality industry; as business men and women would spend the night in the hotels to enable them to catch the morning flights.

To support this programme, the governor has already brokered an understanding with the President

•Governor Dankwambo to make the 25km road from the airport to Mile Three a dual carriage way. This will enhance the traffic capacity of the road as well as ensure security on them.

Equally important for mention is government’s resolve to address the issue of desertification.

To this end, the government has begun the beautification of the state capital through planting of trees along major roads. This effort is a deliberate plan to make majority of the people to embrace tree planting.

•Babawuro Abdellah writes from Nafada, Headquarters of Nafada Local Government Area of Gombe State

NGO makes case for environment laws

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HE Coordinator, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), Comrade Sheriff Mulade, has called on federal and state lawmakers to enact laws towards clean cities and communities.

Mulade made the call in Sheffield, United Kingdom when he and other members of the Nigerian environmental stakeholders visited the UK. He said such legislation would not only make the cities clean, but also manage waste to create employment through recycling processes and harnessing of bioenergy for electricity generation. ”Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice will continue to strive to work with all relevant environmental authorities

From Shola O’Neil, Warri

in Nigeria on the best ways to manage and dispose waste in a more environmentally-friendly and cost-effective manner. ”It is high time the Nigerian legislature enacted environmental best practice law to address the challenge of indiscriminate waste disposal in our cities. Nigeria can no longer continue to send majority of its household waste to land-fill sites instead of recycling facilities,” he said.

Mulade expressed optimism that accepting modern method of waste management would guarantee the cleanliness of our environment while ensuring the provision of employment and bio-generated energy.

“We were attracted to Lagos State last year where, in collabo-

ration with the state government, we held a national environmental summit. What we saw in Lagos clearly demonstrates that waste is now wealth,” he stated.

Explaining further, the National Coordinator of CEPEJ reiterated that in line with its mission statement, the NGO is fully committed to partnering with relevant government agencies and other stakeholders for a sustainable campaign for the transformation of the Nigerian environment through reduction of waste, proper waste disposal and recycling.

Mulade said: “In CEPEJ, we have continued to carry out enlightenment workshops that are meant to change the old system of waste disposal and management.”

Oyo trains youths in skills

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HE Oyo State government has trained 46 youths in various skills, including branding and customising, barbing and hairdressing.

The beneficiaries, who were drawn from the 33 local government areas of the state, received their work equipment at the state secretariat, Ibadan.

The youths were trained and empowered by the state Agency for Youths Development.

Presenting the tools to them, the chairman of the agency, Mr Olugbenga Olayemi said it will would bring many more youths on board this year.

He said that the project, which was a pilot scheme, was initiated after findings showed that only about five per cent of beneficiaries of similar projects in the past are still in business.

He explained that the agency decided to do something unique by picking willing youths for a two-week intensive training programme undertaken by experts in the three fields.

Olayemi said: “They were camped at the IYY Training Village at Egbeda, Ibadan where they were fed and trained by experts,” he said.

After the training, the benefi-

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

ciaries were placed on a threemonth industrial attachment with thriving practitioners for practical knowledge. During the period, the agency sought shops and paid one year rent for each of the participants. It also got the shops ready for business by painting and decorating them.

“On completion, we bought all the equipment needed for each trade to enable them run their businesses without hindrance and to run it profitably. For instance, each of those who trained in branding and customising received a complete set of computer, printer, UPS, scanner, iron, standing fan, executive office chair, two plastic chairs, office table, pressing table, carpet, 2.5 Elepaq generator and a flex signpost.. This is in addition to the shop and offices already rented for them.”

Olayemi put the cost of empowering each beneficiary at N250,000.

He thanked Governor Abiola Ajimobi for supporting the project and disclosed that the number of beneficiaries would increase largely this year.

But he pointed out that they

would not be allowed to sell the equipment due to the monitoring mechanism put in place by theagency.

One of the beneficiaries who spoke with The Nation, Miss Oluremi Kolawwole, a hair-

dresser, praised the administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi for the gesture.

According to her, she had learnt hairdressing and was looking for funds to set up when the opportunity came. She lauded the

•Olayemi presenting tools to one of the beneficiaries

training and industrial attachment, saying it enriched her knowledge of hairdressing.

“I can handle any type of hairstyle now. I can do Ghana weaving, fixing, rolling and setting as well as local weaving,” she said.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

19

COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

FROM OTHER LANDS

Crisis in Rivers PDP should not drag the judiciary down with it

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HE turmoil in Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where there are two parallel executive committees is unhealthy for the judiciary and the polity. The verdict by Justice Ishaq Bello of the Federal Capital Territory High Court declaring the congress that produced Chief Godspower Ake as state chairman last year invalid has provoked angry reactions from the governor of the state, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and those sympathetic to him.

Indeed, the state government has argued that Governor Amaechi was the target in the move, which had all the trappings of high-wire politics. Ake enjoys the support of the governor, while the minister of state for education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, leads another faction believed to be working with President Goodluck Jonathan and the national secretariat of the party, in a bid to cut the governor, who is also the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), to size. This is not the first time that President Jonathan would be flexing such muscles; he did the same thing to remove the former governor of his state, Bayelsa, Timipre Sylva, using legal and extra-legal means in the process. We seem to be in an era where vendetta has been elevated to national credo.

Prior to the Justice Bello ruling, there had been power tussles involving the president and the governor, with a surprise move early in the year to whittle down the influence of the NGF chairman through the establishment of a rival PDP Governors’ Forum, with a fellow Niger Delta governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, as chairman.

In all this, truth is the casualty and the polity is getting unnecessarily overheated.

Governor Amaechi’s supporters insist

that the Abuja judgment could be compared to the one delivered by Justice Bassey Ikpeme in Abuja in 1993 on the famous June 12 elections. Ikpeme, who was moved to the Federal Capital Territory just about one week before the matter to scuttle the presidential election was filed by the Chief Arthur Nzeribe-led Association for a Better Nigeria, ruled in favour of the unknown association without due regard for processes.

In like manner, Governor Amaechi’s men also contend that the matter ought not to have gone to an FCT court when it involved the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a federal agency. More appropriately, they have argued, it ought to have been filed before a Federal High Court, thus raising queries about the motive and conduct of the judge who strangely assumed jurisdiction in such a matter.

We are bothered that, almost 53 years after independence, we are still confronted with situations that query the commitment of our elected officials to the rule of law and due process. Leaders have failed to make a distinction between personal and public interest. Now, there are two executive committees in the state.

While Ake has the backing of most of the local government chapters of the party and government structures in PortHarcourt and the local councils, the Felix Obuah executive derives its power from the centre. It is seen by many in the state as an imposed leadership which may have to rely on the police to function. The stage thus appears set for conflict. The state police command seems to have realised this and has said it is duty bound to enforce the contentious Abuja court order.

The judicial absurdity was further

compounded by the ruling of a high court in Port Harcourt which purportedly reversed the judgment of the Abuja high court, with which it has co-efficient jurisdiction.

This is our worry. If politicians want to go down, they should do that alone; they do not have to drag the judiciary into their political mud because when all else fails, it is to the judiciary that we would turn. We do not understand why a matter that should be tried in Port Harcourt would now be filed in a high court in Abuja. In like manner, we cannot understand the basis of a court nullifying the judgment of another court with co-efficient jurisdiction. A stage is being set for judicial anarchy, which is dangerous.

We urge the National Judicial Council (NJC) to step into the matter before the Rivers crisis escalates and brings the roof down on our heads.

‘If politicians want to go down, they should do that alone; they do not have to drag the judiciary into their political mud because when all else fails, it is to the judiciary that we would turn. We do not understand why a matter that should be tried in Port Harcourt would now be filed in a high court in Abuja. In like manner, we cannot understand the basis of a court nullifying the judgment of another court with co-efficient jurisdiction. A stage is being set for judicial anarchy, which is dangerous’ ‘

Prison kids •This is shameful; government must address it immediately

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RISON is one hellhole that no one would wish to experience. It is primarily a place of punishment for crime. This reality makes it absurd and horrifying to learn that there is a high population of kids who committed no crimes and are languishing in the country’s prisons. Even if they did commit crimes, minors are, by law, exempted from imprisonment. The appalling news is from a report by the African Union (AU) on the rights and welfare of the Nigerian child. An estimated 6,000 children reportedly live in prisons and detention centres across the country, many of whom were born there.

The 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices recently released by the United States’ Department of State painted a picture of the deplorable circumstances of children in the country’s prisons. Accord-

‘This scenario should prick society’s conscience.

It must be acknowledged that through no fault of theirs, but by birth and environment, these unfortunate children have found themselves exposed to negative influences that would likely shape their future. This is as unsettling as it is unacceptable’

ing to the document, “Authorities sometimes held female and male prisoners together, especially in rural areas, and prisons had no facilities to care for pregnant women or nursing mothers. Infants born to inmate mothers usually remained with the mother until weaned. Juvenile suspects were often held with adult prisoners.”

Since the law clearly forbids the imprisonment of children, this situation of caged kids opens the prison authorities to the charge of lawlessness. This irony in which the custodians of law breakers have themselves shown disrespect for the law is made even more pronounced by a piece of information in the US report. “Despite a government order to identify and release such children and their mothers, authorities had not done so by year’s end,” said the report.

It is pathetic to visualise such children behind bars, both literally and metaphorically. It goes without saying that they are likely to suffer arrested development in various aspects, including growth, education, and socialisation. The country’s prison environment, as described in the report, is certainly not a place to raise any child. The document said, “Most of the country’s 234 prisons, built 70 to 80 years earlier, lacked basic facilities.

Lack of potable water, inadequate sewage facilities, and severe overcrowding resulted in dangerous and unsanitary conditions.”

Furthermore, it said, “Disease remained pervasive in cramped, poorly ventilated prison facilities, which had chronic shortages of medical supplies. Inadequate medical treatment caused many prisoners to die from treatable illnesses.”

Even if children in this context are lucky to survive the harsh conditions, it can only be imagined the degree of damage that would have been done to their psyche.

Hardened, as they would surely be, by the tough terms of existence in prison, can they possibly grow into socially welladjusted adults? In a regrettable sense, they just might be embryonic criminals.

This scenario should prick society’s conscience. It must be acknowledged that through no fault of theirs, but by birth and environment, these unfortunate children have found themselves exposed to negative influences that would likely shape their future. This is as unsettling as it is unacceptable.

It is immensely disappointing that the activities of prison monitors in the country have had little or no positive effect on this state of affairs. Both the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which compiles an annual prison audit, and the Federal Ministry of Justice, which executes the Federal Government Prison Decongestion Programme sadly fall short of public expectation in this matter. These bodies should not only be aware of the improper circumstances of the prison kids, they also ought to take urgent steps to correct the anomaly.

It is worrying that the US report highlighted the failure of prison authorities to carry out the government’s directive on the identification and release of prison kids and their mothers. The government should promptly address this apparent disobedience of authority. The continued existence of children in jails does the country a disservice.

Smoking and the right to dumb choices New York’s proposal to ban purchases by those under 21 is off-base.

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S thoroughly awful as everyone knows cigarettes to be — still the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country — public officials walk a blurry line when they try to reduce smoking’s terrible toll. As long as they lack the will to ban tobacco altogether, they face all sorts of ethical, legal and political problems in regulating a product that is, after all, perfectly legal.

High tobacco taxes, critics say, unfairly punish smokers, who are disproportionately low income. Banning advertising of a legal product raises free-speech issues. And can tobacco companies really be forced to put large graphic warnings on their own products to discourage customers from buying them? Does that make sense?

Now, the New York City Council, backed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is considering another tactic: making it illegal for anyone younger than 21 to buy cigarettes. Currently, anyone 18 or over can buy a pack.

Bloomberg has taken a lot of ribbing for previous nanny-state proposals involving salt and trans-fats and, especially, for his plan to ban the serving of soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. The new proposal would, at least theoretically, make cigarettes difficult to obtain by those who are most vulnerable to peer pressure and tobacco marketing. Prevention makes sense because smoking is so addictive that more than 85% of those who try to quit relapse.

Yet the good intentions are outweighed by the proposal’s problems. For one thing, it’s practically doomed to have minimal effect. A 20-minute bus ride will transport any Bronx resident to neighboring Yonkers, where 18year-olds would still be allowed to buy as many cartons as they wanted. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, nearly 90% of smokers take up the habit before the age of 18 — apparently unfazed by the existing rules barring stores from selling to them.

Beyond the practical considerations, government leaders should think twice about taking away the right of adults to buy a legal, if dangerous, product like cigarettes. And 18-yearolds are adults — allowed to sign legally binding contracts, to vote, to go to war and to seek and obtain a doctor’s prescription for Oxycontin. True, the legal drinking age is 21 in every state. But that is justified by the fact that an 18-year-old’s dumb decision to drink may harm others. A decision to smoke harms only the smoker.

More than 1,200 people die of smoking-related disease each day in this country. By all means, there should be more education about the dangers of smoking, more bans on where people may smoke, more advertising to counter the tobacco industry’s marketing. But adults should retain the right to make most decisions that affect only themselves, even very bad decisions.

– Los Angeles Times TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

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•Manager, Corporate Marketing Hameed Odejayi • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: When the G-34 was formed to challenge Late General Sani Abacha, it was hailed as one of the most progressive groups in the nation’s chequered history. It took a rare form of courage for defenceless civilians to stand up to the country’s number one goon.

Sadly with the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party which the group metamorphosed, it turned out to be the case of the hunted becoming the hunter. Since 1999, the nation has watched with despair how the behemoth mismanaged the resources which nature in her kindness bequeathed to the Giant of Africa.

The lack of vision is so comical that the Boko Haram insurgents are now dictating the terms and conditions for peace to the hapless Federal Government.

Mergers of political parties are not a novel trend in Nigeria. In the First Republic, two dominant alliances – the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) and the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) were formed in 1964. The NNA had the ruling Northern Peoples Congress leading the pack of other less influential parties which included the

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Still on the APC merger Nigerian National Democratic Party, Mid-West Democratic Front, Niger Delta Congress, Dynamic Party. UPGA had the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and the Action Group, Northern Elements Progressive Union, United Middle Belt Congress in a futile attempt to wrestle power from the NPC. In the Second Republic, the National Peoples Party led by Zik of Africa and Peoples Redemption Party led by Mallam Aminu Kano had a strategic alliance.

It is no surprise that the ACN is leading a group of other like minded political parties which include the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) amongst other groups to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A look at some of the key arrowheads shows that indeed there is some hope when their antecedents are taken into consideration.

Former Lagos State Governor and ACN National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu played a key role in the struggle for the actualisation of democracy as a founding member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Major-General Muhammadu Buhari has proven to be an incorruptible leader from his days as Petroleum Minister, his stint as the Head of State and Chairman of the Petroleum Task Force where his hands were not soiled with filthy lucre.

Fighting corruption should be the major focus of the APC. This should be its overriding ideology to give it a strong wave of focus. One reason

two federal road contracts being built in the same Enugu State presently.

One of such roads is the Amanseaninth mile segement along EnuguOnitsha expressway. Another one is the road which traversed Ikem to Obollo Afor. These federal roads have pot-holes despite the fact that they were ashpalted just months ago. But roads built by Governor Chime usually last for a long time because they are properly supervised and well built with drainages.

Building many kilometres of roads as democracy dividend is one thing, another most important thing is the quality and durability of the roads. For a state government

to use Arab Contractors who are reputable shows that it meant well for the people of the state.

However, I must draw the attention of His Excellency to a road so dear to the good people of Enugu state which is the Ugwuogo-NikeNeke-Ikem road. Work on that road was stopped abruptly in October last year and as this year’s rainy season is about to set in, if the road is not re-visited, it will wait till another dry season.

This is a road a lot of people never believed will ever be built in this our generation due to the ruggedness of the terrain and the bridges that it contains. A man once whispered to my hearing that the road

why many of such noble mergers fail is that personal interest among some of the key players is put above the common good. The performance of some of the Governors under the APC, notably in Edo, Lagos and Ekiti is a clear indication that the welfare of Nigerians will be paramount. The lot of Nigerians has worsened under the mismanagement and greed of the ruling PDP. Nigerians have become poorer because of corruption. The Federal Government’s efforts at combating it have been so dismal that it is nothing short of a cruel joke. The APC has a lot of work to do here if it is to win the confidence and trust of Nigerians who are on the brink of despondency at the moment.

No progress can be achieved in an atmosphere of insecurity. The

Kudos to Chime on Enugu roads

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IR: I want to commend Governor Sullivan Chime for building lot of roads in Enugu State, especially the political roads.

That is roads that have been used by past governments to secure second term only to abandon them after being voted into power.

A good example is UgwuogoNike-Ikem road. When I was told that contract for the road has been awarded, I thought it was another political gimmick. But Chime proved me wrong. This road is nearing completion. Let me point out one remarkable thing about roads built by the present government in Enugu State: they are of high quality, more durable than

is the best thing to happen for ages.

Other roads are still under construction but work has stopped on this particular road. Nothing will gladden the heart of the road users than the completion of the road.

The good Lord will guide and protect Governor Chime as he positively touches the lives of Enugu people. Since the creation of the present Enugu State in 1991, we have never had it so good and we know our governor will not be a governor of abandoned projects because the norm in other areas is that second tenure is a time of laxity.

• Gozie John Ikem, Isi-uzo, LGA, Enugu State.

Jonathan administration has been clueless on the way to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency. It is so bad that they are dictating the terms claiming that they are not criminals and so don’t need any form of amnesty.

Did US President Barack Obama beg the bombers in the Boston massacre? He took decisive action in a manner that gave pride to the American presidency. The APC must fashion a clear cut agenda on how to tackle the security crisis that is threatening our very existence.

• Tony Ademiluyi Lagos

Frank Mba and tinted glasses

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IR: I wish to commend CSP. Frank Mba for his recent illuminating write-up on the use of tinted glasses.

The write up has educated the public about the use of tinted vehicle glasses. What is puzzling however is while the punishment for using tinted glasses is N2,000.00 the cost of obtaining a permit for it is said to be N25,000.00. This is astronomical and appears unreasonable. This high cost will discourage people from applying for or obtaining the said permit.

It is also said that the permission can only be issued by Police Headquarters in Abuja. The issuance of the permit should be reduced to about N5,000 or less and vested in Police Commissioners at state level. It is should not be a basis for raising funds for the police.

Permit for cars with factory made tinted glasses should not be made prohibitive as many of them are gifts from friends and relatives.

• Yemi Olajide Akure

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013 16

21

COMMENTS

If

I

F we were truly as intelligent as we think we are, this will be the moment in which we understand that the choices we made had never served but impeached us. This is the moment in which we agonize over what consequences we shall get to endure or what indescribable joys we will get to enjoy, according to the choices we made.

If we had truly given voice to our rage and pain by casting our votes for the candidates truly deserving of them, we would know, from this moment henceforth; if President Goodluck Jonathan is the Messiah that we had longed to find. This moment henceforth, we will get to know if every state governor, senator, local council chairman, among others, actually measure up to statesmanship we are yet to enjoy.

This moment henceforth, we shall begin to understand the many aces and inadequacies of “If.” And so shall we finally come to terms with wantonness, folly, and cowardliness by which posterity will define and judge us.

If only we could ever get past “If”and its politics of regret and expectation.

If President Goodluck Jonathan would scorn the beaten path, he would offer us more than time-worn “lifeboats”that basically, incapacitates and obscures.

If Mr President-elect truly intends to be true to his words, he would be done with his promises of better life, free amenities and infrastructure for in the normal conditions of existence, it is the duty of the government to provide

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among other things; good roads and electricity, security and a stable economy; for we do pay for them – quite painfully too; from our income as tax.

If President Jonathan would do his bit, then he would foster a prompt eradication of the canker of unemployment; then he would seek with intent to actualize, lasting solutions to the monstrosities of bad roads, substandard education and health sectors, insecurity, erratic power supply, redundant refineries, elephant projects, ill-equipped hospitals, pervasive poverty et al. Then he would motivate his associates and fellow public officers in power to hearken and seek determinable end to the people’s cries and grunts of pain.

And if every serving state governor among others would aspire to the noblest deeds in statesmanship and ardour, then every city and every village would be a haven for tourists to explore. If Governor Babatunde Fashola would extend his politics of progress and expansion to the enclaves that no one could manage to accept, still, as dazzling emblems of his mega-city project, then every street and every neighbourhood in Agege, Abule-Egba, and Agbado-Ijaye to mention a few, would become attractions no one could ignore.

If Governor Babatunde Fashola would accord his studious stare beyond the bounds of Yaba, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Victoria Island et al, then he would find that there are resources yet untapped within the enclaves no one would gallantly identify as brilliant archetypes of

EAD this: “I the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs, being of the opinion that Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman as present in Nigeria ought to be classified as a prohibited immigrant and acting under the powers confined on me by section 18 (3) of the Immigration Act, 1963, and of all other powers enabling me in that behalf, accordingly order that the said Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman be deported from Nigeria by the first available means and of direct that the said Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman shall thereafter remain out of Nigeria.

“This order may be cited as the Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman Deportation Order 1980.

“Made at Lagos this 24th day of January, 1980”.

The above Deportation Order was signed by Bello Maitama Yusuf, the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs in President Shagari’s administration. Curiously, Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman, who was then the majority leader of the Great Nigeria People Party (GNPP) in the Borno State House of Assembly, was deported in the early hours of January 23, 1980.

He was deported by the Federal Government before the proclamation of the Deportation Order. At the wee hours of the fateful night, immigration team led by one Mohammed Mofio, Assistant Superintendent of Immigration stormed Shugaba Darman’s house at Mafoni Ward in Maiduguri, took him away amidst family members protest and dumped him along Sheri River along the Cameroon/Chad border about 200 kilometers away from Maiduguri.

What followed is now history as Shugaba Darman took the Federal Government to court challenging the deportation order claiming as a Nigerian citizen, he cannot be deported from his own country. Justice Oye Adefilla sitting at the Maiduguri High Court nullified the order, ordered Shugaba Darman be returned to Nigeria and ordered the Federal Government to pay him the sum of N350,000.00 being general, aggravated, compensatory and exemplary damages.

Today, after 23 years after this violent violation of the constitutional right of a Nigerian from Borno State, a new phenomenon is gradually crippling or building in again in which some people from Borno especially from Maiduguri are consciously or unconsciously being stigmatized or treated as prohibited immigrants or per sona non grata outside Borno.

Provided you are from Borno and in particular Maiduguri, not withstanding your tribe or religion, to hide your identity sometimes as coming from Borno may be the “beginning of wisdom”. If you don’t, you may innocently discover yourself either in an unfriendly atmosphere or an atmosphere of suspect. Today, Borno people as a whole instead of the concerned few, are made to carry rightly or wrongly, the burden of the cross they never authored or bargained for. They are being

his mega-city project. Then every lane and every settlement in Ayobo, Iyana Ipaja, Ipaja, AjasaCommand would be a sight for the living. Then every street and every neighbourhood in Ahmadiyya, Meiran, Iju-Ishaga, Akute, Ojodu and those impenetrable streets of Ajegunle, just before Ogun state would become more habitable for every visitor and every resident alike.

And if Ogun state governorelect, Ibikunle Amosu, is truly the Messiah the natives claim he would be, he would endeavour to reverse every anomaly that has been foisted upon the state. He would re-energise the state by repairing the damaged roads of Abeokuta, Sango-Ota and the link roads by which Itele meshes with Lagos. He would make the filth in Ita-Elega, Itoku, Itoko, Isale-Ake, Onikolobo, Quarry road, Adatan, to mention a few disappear; he would improve the lot of Abeokuta, the land of industry, paramount royalty and the cerebral.

If every incoming governor, local council chairman, could aspire to such noble ideal as the provision of good roads among other vital infrastructure, then, the mountain dwellers of Sankwala and their neighbours in Gashaka-Gumti, Taraba state would have no further need to travel across the border into Cameroon to seek good medical care. Then they would have no need to emigrate to till other people’s lands in Cameroon, while our land lay fallow in our moth-

erland.

If every public office holder would accept that we do not live for the benefit and love of “lifeboats” and that no patronising politics would serve as fertile earth in which to sow our seeds of hope, development and prosperity, they could chance on the means to improve our lives. And they could learn to institute veritable means by which we could attain it, like conscientious leadership cum service in the interest of the people.

If they all would accept that poverty, ignorance, illness, corruption and strife as other afflictions of their kind are hardly metaphysical emergencies as we have been made to believe, they could finally attain a grasp of true statesmanship and governance.

If they all would seek to obliterate these anomalies and improve upon our lives within the bounds of conscious efforts in pursuit of those values we seek – particularly those we are too effeminate to seek, they could eventually become the worthy representatives we have always wished that they would become.

If every incoming public officer would evolve a personal ethic wholly derived to elevate the fundamental nature of our universe, then they could be able to revert that time-worn and insidious altruism that has been our lot.

Then the Nigerian state could be able to refute such menacing philosophy that that propagates the notion that every citizen by his nature and stature is helpless

‘If every incoming public officer would evolve a personal ethic wholly derived to elevate the fundamental nature of our universe, then they could be able to revert that time-worn and insidious altruism that has been our lot’

and doomed. Then every Nigerian could be able to rebut such manner of altruism that stresses that success, happiness and achievement are impossible to you and me; that emergencies and catastrophes are the norm of our lives and that our primary goal is to combat them with the least expectation of triumph while we expect altruistic lifelines, lifeboats and other pickme-ups from our leadership and state.

If every newly elected public officer would endeavour to scorn the allure of the beaten and yet most travelled path, they could attain such wisdom and honour their predecessors could never have. They could get to appreciate that no brilliant degree of sophistry or double-speak could ever justify or validate such politics that seeks to asphyxiate the aspirations and wishes of the man on the street however farfetched they are.

They could get to understand why like the altruistic philosophy from which it is derived, such politics rests on a plethora of myths that are as outdated as supernatural as edicts legitimizing“The Divine Right of Kings” over serfs.

And if we could endeavour to be more mindful and assertive, we could at long last, re-invent ourselves as everything but the inconsequential social elements we have been labeled to be.

We could divest our lives of the shams that incapacitates and obscures. We could learn how not to compromise our struggle for self-determination any longer knowing that if we do, more often than not, we will suffer a succession of familiar betrayals that has overtime emboldened and fortified the power of corrupt and wholly evil leadership that we had lacked the courage to fight and conquer.

Persona non grata in your country?

By Victor Izekor discriminated against, humiliated and in some instances rejected in most parts of their fatherland as they are erroneously tagged “security risks”. No one has bothered to ask how feasible is it for all the people of Borno to be adherents of Boko Haram. Head or tail, it is the generality of the people of Borno especially the travellers from the state who are losers from all ends. First, there is the fear of being a victim of the Boko Haram sect; on the other hand, there is the likelihood of being treated as a security risk or prohibited immigrant outside Borno.

Take for instance, you travel by road from Maiduguri to any part of the country, you are welcome by barrage of questions at most of the security posts or checkpoints. “Where are you coming from? Where are you going? What work do you do? What is in your bag? Show your identity card or identify yourself.”

Meanwhile all passengers in the vehicle would be told to disembark and file up possible for search after which you will be directed to trek few meters ahead of the driver who would later meet you with the vehicle. This is the daily ritual travellers are subjected especially from this part of the country. Consequently, the journey from Maiduguri to Abuja which would under normal circumstances take about nine hours now go for 16 hours of mental torture, worries and uncertainties. For those who are unlucky to meet the rude and uncivilized security operatives, it is a bad day as you will be delayed more than expected. The same goes if you are coming into Maiduguri from any part of the country or into the state capital from the neighboring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger republics. Expect anything good, bad, ugly from some men in uniform you meet on the way. However, some are good, courteous and humane and would go out of their way to cheer up the passengers.

I was in Abuja recently at Utako Motor Park to see off a friend going to Lagos. We were lucky as the Toyota Sienna bus was only expecting a passenger to be fully loaded. My friend was asked from where and he replied Maiduguri. He had two bags; one containing his dresses and the other his laptop, international passport, money (both dollars and naira) and some vital documents including his curriculum vitae (CV) as he was going for a promotional examination. The driver insisted on putting all the loads at the boot of the vehicle

while my friend insisted on carrying the small bag containing his laptop by his side. I overhead the driver saying to some of his colleagues in a language that my friend did not understand that in the first instance, he was not disposed to conveying my friend because of where he came from (Maiduguri) and his mode of dress, but for the dearth of passengers. The driver then asked to no one in particular, “who knows whether he is not one of them?

Side by side with this gradual segregation or discrimination against the people of Borno especially the travellers is the same fate people suffer with regards security accommodation in some hotels and some commercial guest houses. Get to some of the hotels or guest houses and after filling the form for accommodation and your point of origin showed Maiduguri, expect anything. The type of accommodation you want is either exhausted or not available. To be more diplomatic, you will be told if you want a single room, that only double ones are available and when you demand for this, the answer would come readily, “sorry we just discovered that even the double rooms have been fully booked”.

A friend of mine had a nasty experience in Kaduna. He was booked for accommodation in advance in one of the city guest houses. On arrival in Kaduna, he went straight to the guest house, given the form to fill for the accommodation already reserved and he complied. On completion of the form, the receptionist told him to hold on. Having waited for over 30 minutes and discovering that some of the guests that came after him have been checked in, my friend got in touch with our colleague who had earlier booked him and explained to him the delay he was experiencing in securing the accommodation. In no time, our colleague arrived, went straight to the reception in anger as to why his colleague should be treated like that since he has brought a lot of customers to them. The receptionist took him into her office and later he came out and gave my friend a new form to fill indicating his point of origin as Yola not Maiduguri.

Thereafter, he was given the key to his room. The message is clear.

This is the excruciating experience some people from Borno (both natives and non natives) especially the travellers from the state to other parts of the country face as a result of the security challenges presently facing the state. It is the prayer and hope of all that peace will return to Borno soonest and that her abiding philosophy of “Home of Peace and Hospitality” will flourish again and its citizens move freely among other Nigerians without molestation or ill-will.

• Izekor writes from Maiduguri.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

22

COMMENTS “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” — Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884) AST Friday and Saturday, the entire world stayed glued to their satellite stations watching the CNN. They were eager to witness the denouement to the search for the surviving on-the-run suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing in the United States of America (USA). That night, the US system showed the entire world why its remains world’s number one country.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, from the same mother and both resident in the US, were the suspected masterminds of the dastardly act that claimed three lives, critically injuring 180 others near the finish line of that marathon race. Both of them were born in former Russian territory known as Kyrgyzstan and are of Chechen descent. In their bid to escape from justice, Tamerlan was killed in Watertown, Boston while Tsarnaev escaped on foot, albeit fleetingly. The manhunt for Tsarnaev brought out the best of America’s disdain for terrorism and her readiness to protect the sanctity of human lives and property in her territory.

The FBI and the Watertown police launched a citywide lockdown by conducting a houseby-house search for the alleged killer. The federal and the Watertown police displayed professional agility and civilised disposition in the discharge of their police duties. They were well kitted with the best of police combat costumes as they drove round Watertown in armoured patrol vehicles. This must have informed the confidence and commitment displayed by these men.

Their ceaseless security vigil since the day the bomb blast occurred became fruitful when Tsarnaev was eventually nabbed, after a brief gun duel with the police, in a tarpcovered boat he had been hiding in the backyard of a house. The Watertown police siege scenery was a reminder of what policing in Nigeria should be but which unfortunately, it is not. The kits adorned by the American police were procured with money and it is not as if this country does not have the funds to procure such. But corruption has been the greatest inhibition to our goal of attaining that security standard. The lives of those America police are insured against the hazards of their profession. Nothing of such is available for their Nigerian counterparts.

Billions of naira is yearly budgeted for police equipment, welfare, training and over-

L

T

HERE is indeed crisis in the land, a lachrymal crisis. We thought our institutions were decayed but the reality is that they have become interred under the debris of insouciance and leadership malady. The day has come in Nigeria when a civil servant, a much junior one at that, would take to the national newspaper to harangue a serving minister, call her names, blackmail her and put her on the defensive. Though badly savaged as it were, it is a sad day indeed for the civil service that ought to be the pillar on which other institutions are hoisted. It is a sad day for Nigeria’s public service and it sure portends a weird augury for the nation and her public service.

I am talking of course about the small matter between the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and a certain Mr. Yushau Shuaibu, who until a few days ago, held sway as the Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. Shuaibu had recently, written an article in a national newspaper much impetuously, accusing the honorable minister of ethnic bias, favoritism, insensitivity and even throwing in a bit of intimidation, blackmail and threats in the matter of appointments in the ministry under the Minister’s purview.

Hear a bit of Mr. Shuaibu: “Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should also note the blatant disregard for the sensitivities and sensibilities of others while arrogantly promoting only people from her tribe may expose them to hatred with potentially explosive consequences such as those experienced in the 1960s when most federal positions were occupied by a particular tribal group.”

We ask, would Shuaibu have written such tendentious article if Okonjo-Iweala were Hausa-Fulani? Is it fair for a junior staff to put a minister through such indignity of publicly defending her official actions? What was Shuaibu thinking of committing such Civil Service sacrilege? Such gross insubordination is never condoned in the Service and Shuaibu ought to know that at his level unless he was minded to embark on a kamikaze. If every aggrieved civil servant went to the press to blackmail their bosses and undermine the institution, there would not be a Service left for Shuaibu to have joined in the first place. Even out of service, what manner of worker would

Boston’s day of vigil for justice

•Obama

all national security but the money never gets down. Yet, we expect such policemen officers to be the veritable aegis for maintaining peace and security in our country.

It would not happen because it is what is sown that would be reaped. That brings us down to the handling of Boko Haram insurgents in the country. Quite unlike what we all witnessed in Boston, the handling of the insurgents by the Nigerian police, military and intelligence agencies has been laughable.

The handling of this intractable problem by security agencies has made mockery of the nation’s competence in making her territory a safe haven for inhabitants. Could the problem be that of waning motivation among security operatives? Could it be one of incompetence or even misplaced priority of how to handle security, especially police affairs in this country?

For instance, the police institution that is

the pride of the US has become an albatross in, especially, the northern part of the country today. Even the intervention of the military through the Joint Task Force (JTF) has exposed the military as suffering from the same official lethargy that has become the lot of the police and other security agencies in the country. At the same time the US police was commendably hunting for, before eventually apprehending Tsarnaev, the Nigerian military was struggling in a battle with the Boko Haram miscreants. At the end of that battle, not less than 185 lives were lost in the gun duel between the JTF and Boko Haram insurgents.

Most of the people killed, according to reports, were women and children. About 2000 houses and more than 50 motorcycles were burnt in the commercial town of Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Baga is a fishing town on the shore of Lake Chad adjacent to the Chadian border. It is a shame that a military general commanded JTF has not succeeded in its attempts to reclaim 10 local government areas in Borno State including Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno that have been taken over by Boko Haram killer members. This exercise is a complete mockery of the essence of the Nigerian military which is to quell insurrection against the state that the Boko Haram is currently championing. Yet, Mr. President could not rescue the already bad situation.

Sometime last year January, not less than 186 people were killed in coordinated attacks

by Boko Haram fighters in Kano State. Tens

EXPRESSO STEVE OSUJI

SMS O8181624757, email:steve.osuji@yahoo.com

Okonjo-Iweala, Shuaibu and the future of Nigeria go to the press to disparage his company’s chairman, board or management and still expect to keep his seat one day longer?

Besides insubordination, there are issues of rascality, infantilism, ethnic jingoism and acute case of Igbophobia. Please how on earth does the specific case of the appointment of the head of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, affect Shuaibu so adversely to drive him into throwing such insolent words at a minister?

This certainly is not part of his schedule of duties at NEMA. If he is so aggrieved, why would he not pass his petition through his boss who would forward it through the appropriate channels to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Presidency?

Is it possible that Okonjo-Iweala could act on a matter as weighty as the appointment of the FIRS chairman without the input of FEC members and the President’s express directives? For instance, the head hunt and selection for this job was said to have been carried out by Phillips Consulting. If government wants to fill that strategic position with a professional in the mold of Omoigui Okauru, the immediate past occupant, that is the prerogative of the President. If the search for a replacement is planked on merit, are we going to ab initio, bar Igbo professionals from the contest? Did Okonjo-Iweala mandate Phillips Consulting to look out solely for an Igbo?

What is clearly Igbo mauling has continued unabated leaving a trend that cannot be ignored

anymore. Things that public servants of other ethnic groups routinely get away with become a national crisis when an Igbo is involved. But this column will continue to point out that fair is fair.

It is common knowledge here that appointees always populate their offices with their own kith and kin. Let a panel be raised to cross check this point and I wager that Igbo public office holders are not the worst offenders. There has been a long-standing allegation that the Central Bank has been converted to the Central Bank of Kano, (CBK), turban and all, no Shuaibu has gone to press with this. It is alleged that a grand employment racket is going on at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) which engendered the use of multiple websites and gave us that most titillating “my oga at the top” clanger. But for obviously a lesser offence, Mrs Rose Uzoamaka who headed the Immigration Service until recently, was chucked out of office as if she was leprous.

Just because she is Igbo; the soft target.

Recently, the Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika, the first Igboman to hold that position in over 50 years! was subjected to media ‘bombardment’ over mere allegations of populating the army with his Igbo brothers.

It was ok for over 50 years when other tribes, especially Hausa/Fulani held sway and filled up the military with their kind. No army boss was ever put through such impertinence of having to answer to the public for purely mili-

of others were killed, even in military barracks, by the unscrupulous sect members in other northern states at different occasions without any clue being gotten by security agencies. The approach of government has always been like begging the issue without any concrete result coming out of bombings that have become routine in the country.

Could this kind of things happen in the US for this long period without a solution being arrived at by the security agencies and the government, even if there is northern elite complicity as being insinuated in the current case in the country?

Whilst President Barrack Obama rose to the occasion as witnessed in the Boston’s case in the US, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria turned to his cliché of calling for an investigation into the matter. As usual in the latest Borno state Boko Haram shootouts with the military, he has ordered a powerful probe, that would be a shameful end to the incident.

He sits in the comfort of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, from where he is demanding from Brig.-General Austin Edokpaye, Commander of JTF in Borno State, a comprehensive brief of what transpired which even when given to him, he most possibly would not act on. The question is: Will Obama take the same position if the Boko Haram were to be in America? The question is no! The American government would have wiped them out of its territory. That is a sign of a country with serious leadership focus of how its affairs must be administered. President Jonathan’s arm-chair Commander-in-Chief approach to security matters especially, has become serious embarrassment to credible citizens of this country. The venomous situation, currently witnessed in most parts and the displayed inefficient official disposition, cannot continue if the Nigerian project is still of importance to those in the corridors of power.

Whether against Boko Haram insurgents, unscrupulous militants or even armed robbery/kidnappers siege, when is Nigeria going to witness the type of effectively triumphant security agencies that kept vigil for humanity in Watertown, Boston last weekend? This is a food for thought for all reasonable Nigerians within the country and in Diaspora that want the country to witness peace/stability. Eternal vigilance, as deployed by America in Boston, is truly the price of liberty - apologies to that great thinker, Wendell Phillips. tary decision. Ditto for Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah; there has been a song and dance that she has ‘Igbonise’ the sector and it does not matter that she is getting results; indeed, damn the results, her traducers seem to chant. It is all because they are Igbo, but we must not shy from singing this refrain.

Until we elect to build this nation on fairness, equity and justice to all tribes, big or small, we will not make desired progress. I am all for ‘sensitivities and sensibilities’, to quote Shuaibu who I suspect would rather be a politician and columnist; federal character and all that merit killers are also desirable but let us do it based on facts and fairness. If only the Federal Character Commission would do its job by publishing annual report of recruitments and appointments in all MDGs. It rankles when one group acts as if it alone has license to impunity. If we have built our nation on impunity and injustice it is only fair that we all enjoyed the forbidden repast equally. Even as we bicker over one small appointment, the north is at the helm of most strategic positions in the land today from the judiciary to security agencies and specialized commissions. No Civil Servant has gone to the press on that.

The Okonjo-Iweala versus Shuaibu affair boils down to the age-long tendency to bully Ndigbo in the Nigerian system. Igbo is Nigeria’s easy target. A sitting President once made a national broadcast on account of a ‘paltry’ N55m bribefor-budget scandal while voiding at the court, a half a billion matter involving his cousin. Igbo is perceived as the proverbial ukwu nwanyi onye ara – the mad woman’s buttock which is at the pleasure of all manner of men.

In summary, it has become obvious that we do not possess the filial concupiscence to sustain what would have been a wonderful Nigerian marriage. There does not seem to be a Nigerian future. We have pretended for too long that we are one people. We are not; we are a bland rainbow country, a queer amalgam of penguins, eagles and hawks – three great avian wonders but which must not be yoked in one coop. We must sit down and disengage peacefully, let us liberate ourselves so that those that fly would explore the skies; those that soar would sail, drone rocket-like, into untold horizons while those that walk would do so in regal majesty, unhindered and unperturbed by their hyperactive kindred. That is our future, really.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

23

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

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OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

Fare thee well, ‘Moremi Ekiti’

Funmi Olayinka: ‘I just wanted to My friend, my sister hear your voice’ Page 26-27

Page 27-28

Tributes by her The journey of an accidental politician husband, children Page 30-31

Page 32-33 and 40

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

26

NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam PROLOGUE

Funmi Olayinka:

Moremi, bye for now

By Olukorede Yishau

I

N the beginning, it started like a speculation. One of those myriad gossips on the social media. At the end, Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka added another prefix to her name— the late. And the smile, the beauty and the brain have become history.

Never again shall we see her glow, her flow and her show! The show has stopped. The music is gone too.

And what is left is a frightening rhythm, which calls for nothing but macabre dance. The thanksgiving she was looking forward to organising after beating cancer can only hold in dreamland.

Never again shall we see this woman of grace show what stuff she was made of! She now belonged to another realm. A realm strange to us and inaccessible.

What a waste! The training, the upbringing, the strive and the struggle have all gone down, flushed into the reservoir of history by cancer. Never again will we reap the benefit of her sound training, which made her a technocrat of uncommon hue.

Born June 20, 1960, her days as Olayinka Famuagun were days of promises, which later manifested for all to see, but were not fully realised.

She gave educaton her best.

At the Holy Trinity Grammar School, Ibadan where she obtained her first school leaving certificate, she did it stunningly, with a distinction. Her record at the Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo State, where she obtained her Higher School Certificate (HSC) was not less sparkling.

Her quest for further knowledge saw her obtaining a Masters Degree in Public Administration in 1983.

That was after she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (Marketing) from Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma, United States in 1981, where she was three times winner of the Dean’s Honour roll.

A Marketing Analyst & Strategist, she started her career in banking with First Bank of Nigeria Plc in 1986. She later was Relationship Manager for Corporate Accounts in Access Bank, the now defunct Merchant Banking Corporation (MBC) and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.

By August 2002, she took up a new challenge in Corporate Communications when she became Head, Corporate Affairs Division, UBA. She later became Head, Brand Management & Corporate Affairs and led the team responsible for the rebranding of the United Bank for Africa. She co-chaired the Branding Sub-Committee during the merger of UBA and Standard Trust Bank.

She later became Head of Corporate Services, Ecobank Transatlantic Inc, the job she was doing before Dr. Kayode Fayemi, through Senator Babafemi Ojudu, made her his running mate for the 2007 governorship race on the platform of the then Action Congress (AC) .

She stood by Fayemi all through the struggle, which ended in October 2010 when the Appeal Court removed Segun Oni, paving the way for Fayemi and the late Mrs. Olayinka to be sworn into offices.

The man who made her drop Famuagun for Olayinka, Lanre, her three children and parents, can only be consoled by God. Like many, they would have given anything for cancer not to end her beautiful life on April 6.

Adieu, the great woman many loved to call Moremi.

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi reveals what made Funmilayo Olayinka a special woman

I

WAS already seated when she walked into the busy Chinese restaurant in Ikeja that fateful evening end of January 2007. We had spoken on the phone twice but never met. I instinctively stood up and beckoned her to my table ‘Mrs Olayinka’, I called out. She was that recognisable in the crowd.

‘Good evening, you must be Dr Fayemi.’ I answered in the affirmative and we greeted warmly.

The meeting was to explore the possibility of her joining my ticket as the Deputy Governorship candidate of the Action Congress in Ekiti State. I’d won the Action Congress’ gubernatorial primaries in December 2006 and the final deadline for submission of the candidate’s name to INEC was mid-February 2007, barely two weeks away. My friend, Femi Ojudu and our Leader, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, both of whom knew her in Lagos had broached the subject matter with her already and the feedback from them was: sceptical but not out-rightly negative.

This was crunch time.

The battle for the party ticket was a tough one, with many good people aspiring to govern the State.

But once the battle was over, the focus then became who the running mate would be. The party leadership had zeroed in on AdoEkiti as the place to produce the running mate and there were many politicians in Ado Ekiti interested in the position. After extensive deliberation, the party leadership settled for one of the politicians. A delegation from the party then went to Ewi’s palace out of courtesy to brief His Royal Majesty on the party’s choice and to their utter shock discovered that the party’s choice had defected to the rival PDP the previous day. Disappointed, the leadership then urged me to give the party any candidate of my choice. With the free-

est - a maybe, not an outright No! She asked pointed questions based on her google search of my name, wanted to know about the campaign agenda and was worried about political violence, given what she knew of the recent past.

She had also read about my wife and was keen to know more about her work. I too asked about her experience in the corporate world, her family and her worldview. It became clear that she was bold, driven, deeply religious, very concerned about entrenching good governance and even more Ekiti than me. Her earlier discussion with Femi Ojudu and Otunba Adebayo had clearly helped but she was still not ready to commit.

She however promised to consult her husband and children as well as her employers and also pray over it. We agreed to speak two days later as I’d impressed it on her that I needed to know in good time, given the INEC deadline. In the intervening period, I called Bisi in Accra to give her an update on the search and also got back to Otunba and Femi with updates. They kept up the pressure on their side. In the end, she did get back to me in 48 hours but only to ask for an extension by another 24hours. To my relief, she phoned a day later to say she had given it extensive thought, prayed about it and consulted widely and was ready to give it a shot.

We both

party leadership and the Ewi-inCouncil. And she got her political baptism of fire. News had filtered out that I had chosen another Ekiti ‘abroad’ just like me, a professional woman from the bank, as my running mate. Many of the politicians interested in the position were disappointed and their supporters organised a protest against her at Ewi’s palace when she arrived there. If she had been a faint-hearted, lily-livered person, she would’ve thrown in the towel at that point when all sorts of unimaginable expletives were hurled at her and returned to her cosy bank job. Her steely resolve manifested itself early when I called to apologise to her for sending her into the Lion’s den.

She waved it off and insisted that the outcry was understandable and that it was her

even they began to warm up to her.

She was a natural.

AVING crossed the initial hurdle in Ado Ekiti, Abuja was the next port of call to complete INEC formalities in order to meet the sixty day deadline before the governorship election on April 14 2007. More importantly, Bisi was also due in Abuja same week to attend a conference and we had arranged that this would be a good time for her to meet Funmi. Even though my wife had vigorously campaigned for a female running-mate and I’d kept her abreast of all discussions in relation to Mrs Olayinka, I knew it might be dicey if they didn’t hit it off. Fortunately, Bisi and Funmi got on very well from the minute they met in Abuja. And the relationship grew from strength to strength despite the common tendency of people to try and generate conflict between two strong, principled women. Indeed, in many ways they became inseparable – almost like twin sisters till the end.

This was to be the relationship between myself and my deputy and our spouses and children. It was a relationship based on mutual respect, genuine admiration and commitment to our people in Ekiti. From the time Funmi Olayinka became my running mate to the day the Lord called her,

H

dom to choose entirely mine, I knew I wanted a woman as running mate, largely due to my wife’s influence and also because it is sensible politics in Ekiti given the central role our women played in my success at the primaries. The first AdoEkiti woman that I approached declined for personal reasons.

It was in this context that Mrs Olayinka came into the picture and given the deadline I confronted, this dinner was going to be a make or mar experience since there was no other woman in the picture.

Thus began a journey that I could only describe as God-ordained until the cold claws of death snatched her away from us on April 6, 2013. In the first place, by the time dinner was over two hours after; her scepticism had been replaced with a curious inter-

congratulated each other and she asked me to hold on for her husband, Lanre, who was very warm on the phone and equally gave his blessings. I re-assured him that even though the journey would be rough, with God on our side, I was confident we would triumph.

And the journey was rough and tough! That weekend, she came to Ado Ekiti to be introduced to the

duty to win the doubters over.

And that was exactly what she did.

By the following day, there was a remarkable turn-around and those who led the protest against her had become her cheer-leaders. She didn’t stop at that. She also visited key party leaders and all the potential running mates in humility and with respect requesting their support and solidarity. Slowly,

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

27

NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

My friend, my sister Ekiti State Deputy Governor and Chairperson of the Economic Management Team, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka presenting the first report of the Team to Governor Kayode Fayemi at the Exco Chamber, Governor’s office, Ado Ekiti

‘

Virtually all through 2010, the cancer was in remission following chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as regular checks in the UK and at home in Nigeria and we were relieved. By October 2010 when we won at the Appeal Court and were sworn into Government in Ekiti State, the indication was still good

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our bond remained strong – even in the saddest of times, we gave each other strength. After the egregiously rigged election of April 14, 2007, when I apologised to her again for dragging her into politics and suggested that I would understand if she chose to return to her corporate world since she only took a leave of absence, she was very displeased with me. She was so confident that we would get to government because we won the election and because we genuinely wanted to serve our people. Although I had no doubt she was right, the depth of her conviction was infectious. Even when we lost at the Justice Bukar Bwalaled Tribunal in Ado Ekiti, she remained unperturbed. A woman of immeasurable faith, she urged the team to go on Appeal as Chair of our Strategy Group. When we won the appeal in February 2009 and a re-run election was ordered, she worked with Bisi on one of the most challenging elections in the country, not just organising the women but also charging the men not to go wobbly at the knees. We went back to the polls in April/May 2009 and the election was again rigged. We were back in court from June 2009 till victory finally came our way in October 2010 and she was unwavering in her commitment all through.

I cannot now recall the exact date she gave me the worrisome news about the lump she had felt in her breast but it was after the re-run election in 2009. She kept me in the picture from that moment – right

from the first wrong diagnosis that gave an all clear to the second diagnosis later in the year that confirmed there was a problem – leading to surgery late 2009 in the United Kingdom.

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IRTUALLY all through 2010, the cancer was in re mission following chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as regular checks in the UK and at home in Nigeria and we were relieved. By October 2010 when we won at the Appeal Court and were sworn into Government in Ekiti State, the indication was still good. Early in 2011, she had gone back to the UK for yet another check and there was an indication that the cells had metastasized to another part of the body. And so she renewed the battle with the dreaded disease with some of the world’s most renowned oncologists on the case from Nigeria, America, Canada and the UK. It was a tortuous time for a woman who had given her all to the struggle to retrieve our mandate.

All through, Bisi was at hand with her in the UK from September 2009 till her last visit in February 2013.

We did everything and refused to accept that the situation could not be saved. She was also a source of inspiration. Just as she refused to give up on the struggle to retrieve our mandate, Funmi never gave up on recovery from cancer. She kept hope alive, refused to stay off work – no matter my admonitions; she

insisted she cannot give in to the disease. Even when she came back from the UK in February 2013 and I had to insist that she stayed off work, she was still insistent on serving Ekiti people. She believed she must continue to relieve others of pain even at a time that she was experiencing excruciating pain. She was so selfless in service and was hopeful till the end. Indeed, when I saw her a week before she passed, she still felt the need to discuss work. Till the end, she felt she had let me down by not being there to contribute her quota due to ill-health. That’s Funmi Olayinka for you – a stickler for hard work, determination and perseverance till the very end.

UNMI Olayinka was in deed the Moremi Ekiti. In the true tradition of the legendary Moremi, she gave her all in defence of our people. Indeed, there are bound to be many people who will insist that had she stayed away from politics and Ekiti, she probably would still be alive.

Funmi would disagree with that.

As a devout Christian, she believed we all have our appointed time with our Maker. In the six years that I was privileged to be her political partner and boss, she was never given to regrets. She was pleasant in disposition, but always business-like in work. She focused on our goal of bringing succour to our people in Ekiti with extra-ordinary dedication. I had no reason at any point to doubt her commitment, loyalty or integrity. She was stellar in the performance of the tasks assigned to her and she was clearly central to the success of our administration to date.

Both as a banker and politician, Funmi Olayinka has clearly written a new chapter in the history of service as sacrifice. Of course, when women succeed in any endeavour – career, business or politics, it is still often presented as the benefit of patriarchal generosity, spousal tolerance, pure luck or wanting to be male.(obinrin bi okunrin) They said that about her erstwhile name sake – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Mrs Margaret Thatcher also suffered the same fate. The reality is of course often more complicated and we tend to understate the courage of conviction, perseverance and capacity to negotiate and re-negotiate patriarchal terms of engagement by such women individually and collectively. My friend’s life is a study in redefining our society as a space guaranteeing increasing measure of opportunities for both men and women to actualise their dreams.

This point was clearly captured when Mrs Olayinka joined Bisi, Mairo Mandara and other leading ACN women to draft a Womanifesto for the Action Congress of Nigeria in 2010 insisting that our progressive party must live up to its billings by paying more than just lip service to gender equality. It remains a bounden duty for us to ensure and promote more women in public life against all odds. It is for this reason that we must make every effort to remember by not forgetting the contributions of my remarkable, redoubtable, courageous, dedicated and loyal partner in the Ekiti project.

This is why Ekiti will invest in efforts at early diagnosis of the dreaded disease. This is why I shall not relent on delivering our promises to Ekiti people through our eight point agenda. This is why your family is now my family. This is why Bisi and I will forever remain grateful to you for being part of the Collective Rescue Mission. This is why you’d remain my sister, my friend even in death.

Moremi Ekiti, Sun re o!

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam Wife of Ekiti State Governor Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi gives rare insights into the woman that was Funmilayo Olayinka

‘I just wanted to hear your voice’ Moremi Ajasoro. Afiikoko ide ponomilodo. Afi Kankan fadaka soge lawujo egbe. Moremi ti ewure ile mi o gbodo pa.Moremi obinrin ogun.

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HAT is the cognomen I made up for Mrs Funmi Olayinka, the Moremi of Ekiti. She loved it when I recited it to her, especially if it was over the phone. She would say ‘E ma ki mi lo, mo ndahun’, ‘Keep singing my praises, I am attentive’.

I first met Mrs Funmi Olayinka in February 2007. My husband waded into the so-called murky waters of politics in 2005 as a Gubernatorial Candidate for the then AD, later Action Congress in Ekiti State. When he told me that he had been approached by some party elders and peers, persuading him to run for office, I was initially very reluctant even when he got some of the elders to speak with me. I, however, decided later that it was time people from our generation put themselves forward for service instead of expecting that there would always be someone else to fix our leadership crisis, which is not unique to Nigeria but is a problem for most African countries. I knew that whatever the outcome, the presence of someone like Dr. Kayode Fayemi in the race for the Governorship of Ekiti State at that time would raise the bar and send a strong message that there were indeed visionary, capable and competent people around who had fresh ideas for the future of the state and the country as a whole.

As we embarked on our political journey, I was particularly interested in the role of women and how they were treated within the party hierarchy and community at large. The women were very active and politically astute, with amazing mobilisation skills. However, none of the top electoral slots up for grabs was available to them. In December 2006, after an eighteen month campaign for the primary ticket, Dr. Kayode Fayemi emerged as the Gubernatorial Candidate for the Action Congress. When all the dust generated by this struggle settled, I observed that there were no opportunities available for women. All the candidates for the State House of Assembly and National Assembly were male. I then advocated strongly that the running mate for Dr. Kayode Fayemi (JK) should be a woman. The position had been zoned to AdoEkiti, so I insisted that the party should look for a woman from Ado. Two prominent Ado women were approached, but they were unable to take up the offer for personal reasons. When the search for a woman was beginning to look futile, a man was approached, but as God would have it, two days before we were to be presented by our party, the Action Congress, he decamped to the People’s Democratic Party. The search for a Deputy Governorship candidate had to start all over again.

I was based in Accra, Ghana at the time as the Executive Director of the African Women’s Development Fund, an Africa wide grant making foundation for women. One day I came home from Accra, and our good friend and brother Senator Femi Ojudu, showed me a CV. It was that of Mrs Funmi Olayinka, who at the time, was Head of Corporate Affairs and General Services at ECOBANK. I was very excited that at last, we had found an appropriate candidate. I left Lagos for Abuja on

a Sunday to represent AWDF at a conference organised by the African International Media Summit (AIMS) in collaboration with ECOWAS. That evening, in Ado-Ekiti, a major drama unfolded. Mrs Olayinka was taken to meet the party members and elders. There was stiff opposition from those who felt that the very ‘juicy’ position of Deputy Governorship candidate was being offered to an Ekiti ‘outsider’. I kept getting calls from people in Ado, especially the women. I told them to stand firm and that if we were truly members of the same party, we all need to rally round the woman and support her.

Two days later, JK and Mrs Olayinka came to Abuja for her to complete the necessary paperwork at INEC. That evening I was at a dinner to round up the AIMS Summit when I got a message that JK and Mrs Olayinka were waiting for me outside the ballroom. I went out to meet them and that is when I saw Mrs Olayinka for the first time. We hugged and I said, ‘Welcome my sister, congratulations’, and she responded with her trade mark beautiful smile, ‘Thank you, I have heard so much about you’.

We went on the campaign trail, and even though neither of us had been on a campaign before, we acclimatised quickly. Mrs Olayinka’s initial detractors, who thought that this polished, beautiful, elegant Lagos ‘babe’ would never be able to cope with the rough and tumble of grassroots politics and campaigning, were astounded. She was a natural.

When I was advocating for a female Deputy Governor candidate, one of the questions I was asked was, ‘If we find one, will women vote for her?’.

I said, ‘Leave that to me’. When the campaign started, I sat with the then Action Congress State Women Leader, Mrs Ronke Okusanya, and we designed ‘Women’s Rallies’, so that we could mobilise women across the state not only to vote for Dr Kayode Fayemi, but to support a competent female candidate. Everywhere we went, she was a huge hit, and the women in the state started saying that even if they were not inclined initially to vote for our party, they would vote for us because of Mrs Olayinka, the Deputy Governor or me, the candidate’s wife. On March 8, 2007, International Women’s Day, we launched the famous ‘Pact with Ekiti Women’, which was a highlight of Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s campaign.

HE April 14, 2007 elections came and then our threeand-a-half year battle to seek justice began. After the 2007 elections, I went back to Accra. We spoke every day, and she would begin or end our conversations with ‘I just wanted to hear your voice’.

In April 2008, she accompanied me to Imezi-Owa in Ezeagwu Local Government, Enugu, when I was given the chieftaincy title of Ochiorah (People’s leader) in recognition of AWDF’s support for widows in that community. Since that time she always called me Ochiorah, and even when other people refer to me as ‘Erelu’ she would say ‘She will always be my Ochiorah’.

I travelled extensively for work, and I did not roam my number because it would have been too expen-

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•The late Mrs. Olayinka on her return from a break ...last year.

sive for the organisation, so I had separate lines for countries I visited regularly. She had every single number for me and had them saved as ‘Ochiorah US’, ‘Ochiorah South Africa’, ‘Ochiorah London’, ‘Ochiorah Kenya’, etc. Even if I did not call her right away when I landed in a foreign country, she would send a text on one of the many lines she had for me to check if I had arrived. For those who are wondering where she got the nickname ‘Moremi’ from, it was Chief Jide Awe, the ACN Party Chairman, who started introducing her as ‘The Moremi’ of Ekiti during the rerun campaign in 2009. Since that time, Ekiti people, especially the women, latched on to the name.

N August 28, 2008, we got a ruling from the elections petition tribunal. We were together at Isan-Ekiti, watching the tribunal proceedings live. At a point we moved closer to each other and held hands. When the verdict was given, and we lost, we hugged each other and then I turned to hug JK. Then we walked out hand in hand to face our distraught party members. None of us showed any emotion, we were the ones consoling others. It became a pattern – February 2009 at the appeal court when a rerun was ordered, May 5, 2009 when the fiercely fought re-run election was awarded to PDP , and May 5, 2010 when we lost at the tribunal again. We never, ever, cried in public. Behind closed doors, we would cling to each other and cry and comfort each other. Then we would wipe our tears and start planning the next move. One of her favourite questions was ‘What is the way forward’? The only time we allowed our emotions to show was October 15, 2010 when Dr. Kayode Fayemi was declared the winner of the 2007 elections.When the election was declared in our favour, I hugged and kissed JK. I then turned to Moremi. We hugged and then fell crying to the floor, rolling from left to right.

We had so many things in common. We were both Geminis, my birthday is June 11th hers was June 20th. We were both Anglicans. We loved purple. We loved snails. We were both extroverts. We loved fashion. We had the same shoe size. We loved to dance. We both slept late, and reserved our long conversations for late at night till that had to change when she was too ill to stay up so late. We both loved organising and coordinating things, paying attention

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When we went back to London on February 1, 2013, it was very bad news. The cancer had spread from her liver to her lungs. I knew she was in very bad shape. She had lost a lot of weight, she was coughing and because of the liver malfunction, she was jaundiced. For the first time since 2009, it dawned on me that I was about to lose my beloved sister to details. We also had quaint opposites – she loved her fried plantain soft, I liked mine hard, I drank Nescafe Gold Blend regular, she drank Gold Blend decaffeinated, she wore low heels, I like high heels.

We taught each other a great deal and drew from each other’s strengths. I left Nigeria in 1988 for England and moved from there to Ghana in 2001. All the years we were campaigning and fighting for our mandate, I was commuting between Ghana and Nigeria. I finally relocated in December 2010. As a result, I did not have close friends in the country, save for a few classmates/childhood friends I had not been in touch with for a while. Moremi was the only very close friend I had. I have always liked to dress up when the occasion required it, but working in the field of international development around the world, there is hardly any time to dress up or think about high fashion. People in other African countries are not as fastidious about fashion as we are in Nigeria.Early on in our political work, I never bothered about dressing up, and JK was very sensitive about us appearing to be ostentatious or privileged, because we were all labeled as ‘ foreigners’. I was therefore very careful about not appearing too glamorous – JK even made me take off my Gucci sunglasses on my first trip with him to Ado-Ekiti in 2005.

Moremi changed all that. She was

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always impeccably turned out. Moremi used to joke that we have to dress up and look like we don’t have a care in the world so that (a) when we get into office we will not be accused of using state funds for our wardrobes and (b) our political opponents will not sense our distress at being beaten so many times in the political battlefield. She knew where to get everything we needed in Lagos – fabric, shoes, jewelry. She taught me how to tie my wrappers so that I would not have to worry about them coming loose at any point during the day. She also tied my geles for me. On inauguration day, I was not pleased with how my gele looked after a while because of all the shoving and hugging, so we sneaked into one of the rooms at Osuntokun Lodge and she re-tied it for me. n turn got her to ditch her lace fabrics for ankara, which she hardly ever wore in the corporate sector – she wore only suits for work and laces for parties. I taught her the ‘deduct from source’ trick of taking a yard of fabric off Ankara so that we could use it for headties instead of getting into endless arguments with our dressmakers. I also got her to take an interest in women’s rights and social justice activism. AWDF organised a seminar on Women and Political participation in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2008, and I made sure that she was one of the key resource persons. The activists and politicians across Africa who were there loved her and pledged to work hard at enticing more women from the corporate sector to get

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam see me at Government House, and I told her that there was a friend of mine who was battling cancer, and I wondered if she would be able to meet with her before leaving the country.

Professor Olopade said yes, of course.

Moremi was very careful about discussing her medical challenges; very few people knew what she was actuallygoing through, though many noticed that all was not well when the side effects of the treatments began to manifest. I broached the matter with Moremi and she was very receptive to the idea, so that is how Professor Funmi Olopade stepped in to help manage her treatment.

ROFESSOR Olopade brought in another Oncolo gist in London, who reviewed the medical history and prescribed additional treatments. I accompanied Moremi to meet with him in London, August 2012. He sounded optimistic that there were a number of things that could be tried and that things were far from over. However, when we went back to London on February 1, 2013, it was very bad news. The cancer had spread from her liver to her lungs. I knew she was in very bad shape. She had lost a lot of weight, she was coughing and because of the liver malfunction, she was jaundiced. For the first time since 2009, it dawned on me that I was about to lose my beloved sister.

Moremi was, however, optimistic that this was not over. She said I should not worry and we should put our trust in God. I did not want to take her hope away from her, so I hid my fears and tears from her and continued to pray and be there for her.

In her last days she was very weak and frail. I went on a trip on February 26th , and saw her just before I left. She called me on March 1 while I was still out of the country and she ended the conversation with her usual ‘I just wanted to hear your voice’. When I saw her again on my return ten days later, I knew the end was near. I spent long hours at her bedside, with her husband Uncle Lanre, and other family members and friends taking turns to visit. I held her hand, stroked her hair and sang to her. There is a song our party women in Ekiti sing, which both of us love, and I used to sing it to her ‘Funmilayo duro demi ni be yen, iwo ni mo we le duro de mi mailo, iwo ni mo wa lo’,‘Funmilayo, wait for me there, I am here for you, I have come looking for you’. The song would calm her down and she would smile.

I am thankful to God for the gift of a mother, wife, sister and daughter who lived a short life, but packed it full of huge accomplishments. A lot has been said about her professional success,her political feats, her role as a devoted wife and mother, her great beauty, elegance, grace, strong faith, warmth and compassion. She meant much more to me than that, more than I can ever find the words to express. Funmilayo Adunni Olayinka was my twin-sister, comrade, accomplice, companion and confidante. We worked, played, laughed, cried, travelled, danced, prayed and ate together. I give thanks to God for the blessing of having her in my life. I am thankful that I had moments of sheer joy and happiness with her, and that we were able to comfort each other in times of distress.I am glad that I was able to be there in those moments when it was obvious that she was leaving us, but was still able to stretch out her arms to me and Foluke Dosunmu, to hug us, and say ‘My friends, I love you. We will meet again’. I love you too Moremi. I know you will always be with me. Rest in peace, my beloved twin-sister. Your great legacy of love and service will live on. I wish I could hear your voice too, one more time.

Moremi Ajasoro. Afiikoko ide ponmilodo. Afikankan fadaka soge lawujo egbe. Moremi ti ewure ile mi o gbodo pa.

Moremi obinrin ogun.Sun re o.

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•Dr. Fayemi (right), his wife Bisi and the late Mrs Olayinka celebrating the return of their mandate in Akure in 2010.

involved in the work ofcreating political space for women. My feminist activism rubbed off on her and she became an ardent advocate of women’s rights too.

In January 2009, I was in Nigeria to spend time with JK for a few days.

Moremi told me that she had been feeling a hardness in her left breast since the end of 2008. She called a friend of hers, Mrs. Ebun Anozie who runs a breast cancer project called C.O.P.E. Ebun advised her to go for a mammogram at a diagnostic centre in Lagos. When she went, they did the mammogram and a biopsy.

When the results came, she was told that there was no problem, but she should come back if she noticed anything bothersome. She said that she knew I would be alarmed if she told me and would want to rush back from Ghana. So she had decided to wait till I came home to tell me. I was of course alarmed, but since she had been given the all clear, I calmed down.

In August 2009, we had a by-election in the Ekiti North Senatorial District.

Senator Ayo Arise’s election was annulled by the appeal court and a rerun was ordered between him and Mr. OluAdetumbi of AC (now Senator Adetumbi). I took leave from work to go to Ekiti for the campaign and election.

When I arrived, Moremi told me that she needed to go back and have the breast checked again because she was still feeling some hardness. She went back to the diagnostic facility to have another biopsy, and as soon as it was done that morning, she joined us on the campaign trail. We were at Ifaki town when she arrived. She was wearing a loose boubou (both of us hate shapeless boubous, we prefer fitted Kaftans)and only I knew why. When she sat next to me, I asked her how it went and she said it went ok and she would get the results in a few days. I squeezed her hand and whispered to her that it would be alright.

When I left Nigeria after the by-election, I returned to Accra and then left for a meeting in Johannesburg. As usual, Moremi and I were in touch. One evening, around 6pm Johannesburg time, I got a text from her asking me to call her that night, no matter how late. I thought she wanted to share updates on Ekiti politics so I responded that I was on my way to dinner with colleagues and would call her when I got back to my hotel. I called her later that night, and the first question she asked me was ‘where will you be next week?’ I told her that I would be away on yet another trip. Then she told me that

she had to leave for London right away. Just as I was about to ask why, it clicked. She had got the results of the biopsy. She told me that the diagnosis was Stage 3 breast cancer. Then she started to cry saying ‘ I wish you were here’. When we finished our conversation, I sat there all night staring at nothing. The following day at the airport, I bumped into people at least twice because I was zoned out.

I was not able to pull out of the trip I had planned, but I was assured when her other close friend, Mrs Foluke Dosunmu was able to accompany her to London for the masectomy. I went to London shortly after, and we arranged to meet at the Edgware Road station, which was not far from the apartment where I was staying. We fell into each other’s arms and started crying. In spite of her ordeal, she looked as beautiful and elegant as ever. I stayed with her in London for a while, and was with her when she got her first round of chemotherapy.

After the first session in London, she took the rest of the chemotherapy treatments in Lagos, under the supervision of two excellent Oncologists. I had the schedule for her treatments, and on the morning of each session, I would send a long, inspiring text, or call and reel out the Moremi praises she loved so much. The chemo treatments left her very weak and drained but she was able to rest at home since there was a lull in our political activities at that point, this was October 2009 – March 2010.

After the chemo treatments, in March 2010, it was time to go back to London for six weeks of radiotherapy.

The radiotherapy treatments have to be taken every day. Moremi usually stayed with her cousins in Essex, a long train ride from the hospital in central London. We decided that it would be best to look for a place to stay in central London for the period of her treatments. My friend, Dr Funmi Olonisakin who lives in London, found an ideal place in South Kensington. I arranged to spend time with her to settle in to the apartment.

We joked about the absence of things a ‘Naija’ woman needs to make herself at home so we went round buying pots, pans, a blender, etc. We went to the African market at Brixton and bought familiar food such as yams, gari, ground rice, etc. In the mornings,

we would go to the hospital, and afterwards, we would wander around London window shopping or sightseeing. There was a day I wanted to cheer her up by taking her to watch a new movie ‘Precious’ about a teenager who was raped and abused by her step father and had a very abusive mother. The film was so depressing, we both left in tears, and then when I apologised to her for making her cry, we both burst out laughing.

All we needed to cheer us up was each other. When I accompanied her for a fitting for a prosthetic bra, we giggled so much that the nurse who was assisting her commented on our special bond and said this would aid her recovery. Moremi was very happy after the fitting and it meant so much to me to see her spirits up.

N June 2010, Moremi turned 50.

She did not want to celebrate because she felt that with all our political travails and her health challenges, it was not worth rolling out the drums. I pointed out to her that she did indeed have those challenges, but we also have cause to give thanks to God. So I managed to persuade her to have a modest birthday celebration, which was also a house warming for her new house in Ikoyi. She had always expressed a desire to visit Dubai, so I arranged with JK for us to give her a birthday gift of a trip to Dubai in September 2010. This was fixed for when she had to go back to London for her six-month review.

The two of us arranged to meet in Dubai, and the first question I asked her was how the review had gone.

She said all was fine but she had to go back in another six months. As a result of this great news, we spent three glorious days on holiday. For the first time in over a year, it was as if a huge cloud had been lifted.

In March 2011, she went back to London for her review, but this time the news was not good. The cancer was in her bones, specifically her spine. The doctors at that particular hospital in London were not keen on prescribing any more treatments, they felt it would not work. She told me that she would seek a second opinion. The Oncologists in Nigeria were willing to try more treatments, though there were no guarantees, so they worked together with her UK Oncologist, and administered the treatments

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in Lagos. Moremi then began the gruelling routine of taking treatments in Lagos and heading off to Ekiti on a four-hour journey. These new treatments had disturbing side effects.

They turned her hands very dark and blotched, and we would joke that if anyone asked what was the matter, she should say that she ran out of ‘skin toning’ creams because she was stuck in Ekiti! If we were at a function which required cutting of cakes, I would place my hand over hers on the knife so that people around would not stare at her hand.

I tried unsuccessfully to get her to take a break from work. Watching her take treatments in Lagos every three weeks and head back to Ekiti immediately after, broke my heart. She continued to work as if nothing was amiss. She endured long state functions, meetings, funerals, weddings, birthdays and the like, sometimes in excruciating pain and discomfort.JK too tried to talk her into taking time off but she would say ‘that is what my sister said too, but don’t worry, I will be ok’.

One of the things we used to talk about in the years of our political struggles was the fact that we should never give people an opportunity to come between us. We knew that the political terrain we were navigating was full of booby traps and creepy crawlies. When she became Deputy Governor and I became the wife of the governor, there were those who were happy to see us together and there were those bent on mischief.

Some people started saying that the Deputy Governor was not visible in state affairs and it was the wife of the governor who was always all over the place. A virulent whispering campaign started that I had edged out the Deputy Governor from her functions. I hope those people realise now that my brave and courageous sister was fighting for her life. May God almighty forgive them.

In March 2012, she went to Canada for a review and it was the same story – the cancer had spread and the only thing that could be done was for her to continue her treatments. By this time, the cancer had attacked her liver.

In April 2012, Professor Funmi Olopade, the Chicago-based world renowned Oncologist, who is from Ekiti State, came home. She came to

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

The journey of an ‘accidental’ politician A longtime friend of the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, pays her a tribute

“F

EMI, you have come again with your jokes,” she said that fateful afternoon when I invited her to become the running mate to the governorship candidate of the Action Congress in Ekiti State. “I am not a politician.

When last did I visit Ekiti?”she asked.

I persisted.

“So you are serious about this?” she asked.

I said, “Yes.” “Running mate to who?” she pursued.

“To Dr. Kayode Fayemi, a committed young man with good education and a decent family background.”

“Ha! If that is the case, Femi, let me think about it.”

She promised to call back after discussing with her husband and her boss at work.

An hour before this discussion, I was driving on Aromire Avenue in the Ikeja area of Lagos and suddenly the Land Cruiser I was in with my friend, Kayode Afolabi, had a flat tyre. For about a week prior to this time we had been searching and racking our brains on who would best pair up with Dr. Fayemi to fight for the governorship seat of Ekiti State.

Our parameters were that the person must be as equally educated as Fayemi, urbane, good-looking and committed to the development of the state. We were looking for a co pilot as the Governor later stated in his tribute, and not a spare tyre . We were limited in our search because we had agreed that the deputy must be a female and must be from Ado Ekiti where the two main parties going for the election had zoned the position of the deputy.

While we were waiting for the tyre to be fixed, we were ruminating over this when Kayode Afolabi who had just relocated from Atlanta, US said, “Femi, what about this Ado Ekiti lady I once met in your office?”

“Which Ado-Ekiti Lady?” I asked to be sure.

“The banker,” he said.

“Oh! You mean Funmi Olayinka?

“I don’t remember her name,” he said.

“You must be talking about Funmi,”I told him, “But Kay, Funmi is not a politician and she appears too clean and delicate to go for Ekiti politics,” I tried to dissuade him.

He insisted that I put a call through to her and suggest the idea. “There is no harm in trying,” he said.

Right on that roadside on Aromire, I made the fateful call to Funmi and there began Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka’s journey into politics and finally to Ekiti Government House.

It was rough. It was full of thorns.

Sleepless nights, frustrations, insults and abuses, an accident on Lagos Ibadan highway that almost terminated her life, all of these characterised the quest.

When Funmi finally got back to me about three hours after I first broached the idea to her, she said to me in a measured tone: “Femi, the ways of politicians are very strange to me. But coming from you and having also googled the governorship candidate, I can see you people mean

well.”

After pausing for a few seconds, she said, “Since it is about our people, do count me in.”

I immediately linked her up with Dr. Fayemi who later got back to me to say she sounded very intelligent, committed and urbane.

The following day, Funmi and I were on our way to Ado Ekiti. Our first port of call was the palace of Ewi to pay homage to the Kabiyesi and also get introduced to a couple of elders in the town that I had alerted and asked to be at the palace to meet this accomplished daughter of our town who had agreed to sacrifice her plum job in a bank and serve the town and the state.

Apparently, the news about her coming had leaked to some party members. They organised a reception, albeit a negative one at that. The moment we stepped out of my car, the crowd of about 200, largely women, greeted us with abuses. We were both called all manner of unprintable names and almost physically attacked. Their grouse: why were we bringing a “Lagos import” when they had an idea of a local person who they wanted as deputy governor”. We ran into the palace to avoid attack.

“Funmi”, I said, “I am sorry for this embarrassment I have caused you.

Let’s get back into our car and be on our way back to Lagos. Our people do not want to be helped, to be salvaged.”

Funmi took a long look at me and said: “Femi, listen, you and I were born and raised in this town. We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated. It is precisely because they have behaved in this manner that I am going to stay put and make this dream a reality.”

She was not through with me. She then went on to lecture me on the need to save these ‘misguided people’ from themselves.

“If we don’t tackle this problem now, help this people out, our children will not be able to visit this place, not to talk of live here in the future.”

HIS was my first lesson from her. Courage was her forte.

Her heart was full of tenacity and she radiated commitment the way she radiated beauty.

When we were finally ushered her to where the elders were, Chief Dele Falegan, the retired Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank and former Director of Research, Central Bank of Nigeria, had come to the same conclusion as I did and in annoyance said: “Femi, Funmi, you people should go back to your work in Lagos. Your fathers have tried for this town. If these people don’t want you to assist their progress, leave them to continue in their suffering.”

Funmi, as she earlier did again put her foot down.

All this while, I was eager to get out of town and be back on my desk in The News.

I kept reporting the situation to Dr. Fayemi and overnight he was able to calm frayed nerves. He too had met with similar antagonism when he was first introduced in the state to be the AC gubernatorial candidate.

T

When Funmi stepped out the following morning to visit some elders of the party, it was the same women who gave us hell the previous day who were quarrelling among themselves as to who would carry her bag.

Several meetings thereafter with party elders across the state, Funmi was announced as running mate to Dr. Fayemi and her name forwarded to INEC, the electoral body.

She worked very hard, partnering with Bisi Fayemi, another accomplished woman who gave up her women advocacy job to join in our collective mission to rescue Ekiti. Between them, they quickly fashioned out programmes of mobilisation and empowerment for Ekiti women while also giving time to join in our endless strategy sessions either in my house in Ado or at the Isan modest bungalow of Dr. Fayemi, or in Ibadan where the couple built their first home.

Funmi took on the financial management of the campaign. We set out to mobilise resources and left her to disburse the funds as it is done in a corporate environment. For this, she again drew the ire of traditional politicians who could not understand why they should make written requests for funds or found it insulting to be asked to retire same after spending.

Funmi took to the podium campaigning as if she was Indira Gandhi who was born into politics. She switched easily from Queens English to Oyo Yoruba and sang fluently in Ekiti dialect. She was a delight to see as she engaged in a call and answer with fellow women, shaking her body to the rhythm of Ekiti songs, dancing and waving the broom, her party’s symbol.

Before long she had been given the title ‘Moremi’, the Yoruba woman in mythology who sacrificed all for her community. Looking back now that was so prescient.

Sometimes, she got irritated, but she was never deterred. She will always find a very deep local proverb to explain the situation.

She gave her all. Journeying from Lagos to Ekiti, taking care of family responsibilities, managing the affairs of her young daughters who were all registered in US universities.

She combined all this with the drag of unending political meetings, settling petty rancors among the locals while finding time to organiSe. It was telling for her and on her both physically and psychologically but her strenght of character kept her going.

The schedule was very hard and tough on her. Sometimes Kayode (Afolabi) and I, would take a look at her and conclude that we had been unfair in bringing her into politics because sometimes we could see that she had lost the sheen and radiance we knew her for. There was no time for make-up anymore, no time to wear those designer dresses and jewelries anymore. It was total commitment to the objective of rescuing Ekiti. Our mantra for this purpose was COLLECTIVE RESCUE MISSION. The journey to Ekiti Government

Senator Remi Tinubu cutting the tape to commission the Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre built

by Senator Babafemi Ojudu (right). In the middle is the late Mrs. Olayinka.

House, which we thought was going to last for a few months, good or bad, was going to consume another three years . From the first election to a journey through tribunal, to the Appeal Court, then a rerun and back to the tribunal, again to the Appeal Court and finally the Government House , it was a challenge that could weigh down a faint hearted but Funmi soldiered on like the amazon she has come to be known as.

HE challenges and intrica cies of serving a people who, over the years, have been deprived of purposeful leadership and life-changing service itself was daunting. Funmi remained undaunted.

All through this period, Funmi stood resolutely by her principal, unflinching, unwavering, ever-smiling and always full of words of encouragement to our compatriots and to supporters young and old, men and women, genuine or fake.

Funmi had poise and she was dignified in it, she had splendor and she was sartorial . She was a woman of extraordinary courage.

On the occasion of our first judgment at the tribunal, we were gathered in my house to know the outcome. The moment we heard the verdict, people around us burst into crying. Funmi was the Consoler-inChief, assuring everyone that we were just starting and that the destination was sure.

Very early the following morning - I think about 5.00am (and that is the time we used to talk to each other all through our campaign, victory and governance) - I put a call through to Funmi and apologised for the trouble I had put her through by bringing her over: I was overwhelmed by emotions and started crying. She put down the phone and emerged at my house 30 minutes later, pleading with me not to regret bringing her into politics. She said good or bad, victory or defeat, she would forever be appreciative of me for the experience.

“Femi”, she said, “let’s keep hope alive.” She went further to say that

T

‘

Funmi has gone to the land of no return, never to smile at me again. Never to hug me again. I called her ‘Eye’ and she called me ‘Aba’, an affectionate title of mother and father in our dialect

‘ her fate and the genuineness of our purpose would see us through.

We parted smiling and with a new resolve to continue to fight. That was the stuff Funmi was made of, never say die - a woman of intellect, a woman of substance, a woman of courage, a woman forged in steel. All through, she was the chair of our strategy committee, a task she handled with tact, maturity, intelligence, experience and candour.

When I started seeing the telltale signs of the sickness in her, I couldn’t summon the courage to ask her. I went on the internet to research the symptoms and came to the conclusion about what was wrong with her, while praying that my fear would not be confirmed. As she later told her very loyal personal assistant, Teju, she too could not tell me. We

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam that we could do something urgently.

I went that night to see the governor who gave me a detailed account of the ailment and how they had been managing it. For me, that was it. We agreed to go see the husband to help convince her to take time off to take care of her health. Incidentally, she was scheduled to fly to London during the week to see her doctors and undergo further tests and treatment.

We chose the day she was supposed to travel to see Lanre. It was in the course of this meeting that I heard stories of her bravery, how she fought to keep her condition away from those she loved. How she would leave her desk in Ekiti for Lagos to have chemotherapy and return the following day to her desk.

How she one day left Ekiti for treatment and spent about 10 hours on the highway due to gridlock and collapsed on getting home and had to be rushed to the hospital. How she left the hospital after having chemo and insisted on calling on my colleagues in TheNews magazine to commiserate with them on the fire incident that ravaged the office. She flogged herself , sometimes overflogged herself. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps, knowing she might not survive, she was bent on leaving people with a good impression of her.

I remember her bringing her children home in December 2011 and taking them on a trip to Calabar to watch the carnival. I remember a similar trip to Dubai in December 2012. I remember the details of the planning and execution of Mama and Papa Famuagun’s 80th birthdays in 2011 and 2012 respectively. I remember the early morning prayer messages she used to send to Tola, my wife, and her close circle of friends daily in the last one year.

All these now suggest to me that Funmi may be have been aware that the end was nigh and tried to face it with candour while spending her time doing good and spending quality time with the children and friends alike.

E came to an agreement that when she returned from Lagos she should not bother coming around until she was fully recovered, but we didn’t know the worst was about to come.

While in London, I called her; she didn’t pick my call. I called Teju, her PA, who had stood solidly by her all through this period and demanded to know the result of the test. She was reluctant and when I saw that she was battling with her emotions, I ended the call. I knew the door to the long night had opened and the journey to the final day for my sister had begun.

I kept calling Lanre (her husband) and he kept telling me things were under control. Of course, she returned and apologised to me profusely for having kept me in the dark about her condition. I then started praying for her and I could hear her sobbing at the other end. Before I could ask her why, we both started crying. That night, I couldn’t sleep. I had to call Kabiyesi, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, to let him know what the situation was.

I kept in regular touch with Lanre with text messages, praying and consoling him. Similarly with Yeside, her first daughter. I didn’t give Teju too a breathing space. I couldn’t summon the courage to talk to Funmi on the phone again. Two days after the encounter, I couldn’t sleep. I woke my wife up and told her I was worried for Funmi. She said I should not call at that hour of the night. By 5.00 am, I called Teju several times, but there was no response. I called Lanre too; the phone rang out.

I went to the toilet in the visitors’ room downstairs and cried. After ridding myself of that emotion, a call came through from Teju and I shouted, “What happened!”

“Sorry”, she said, “your sister was

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•The late Mrs. Olayinka (left) playing Ayo Olopon with Director, Visual Arts, Osun State Council for Arts/Culture Mrs. Folayemi Onibonokuta, during the first Ekiti State Festival of Culture and Arts (EKIFEST) at the Ekiti State Trade Fair Complex, Ado Ekiti.

had become like twins and she told Teju if she told me, I might die before her. It would be better for her to fight it without putting me in the know. I kept my suspicion to myself and this itself was killing. Every morning, I would wake up, call her and offer the few words of prayers I could summon and thereafter send a text message telling her to take care of herself and have enough rest. She probably knew at that point that I knew something was wrong, yet she wouldn’t tell me and I wouldn’t ask pointedly.

HEN in February, Senators Oluremi Tinubu and Olusola Adeyeye were honoured by the State College of Education, I came back from there and went to her house to ask why she was absent from the event. She told me she was tired and barely made it a day earlier

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to the convocation lecture delivered

by Mrs. Bisi Fayemi.

On the evening of the Sunday following the convocation, I requested to see her to discuss some political developments in the town. She gave me an appointment for 7.00 pm. I got there at exactly 7.00 pm and I could see that the security aides were unusually dodgy, first telling me she was not in and when I pressed further, they said she was sleeping. I called her number and unusually it rang out. I rang that of her PA and she too did not pick the call. I left the house with a lot of misgivings. Somehow I had this feeling, a feeling that something must have gone wrong?

I then switched off my phones. Two hours thereafter my wife and everyone close to me gave me messages

that Funmi said I should see her urgently.

When I got to the house, I sat in the outer sitting room and I saw her come out of the bedroom, but not with the usual gait. I immediately put on my reporter’s cap. As a result of my earlier suspicion, I had invited Kay (Kayode Afolabi) to join me for the meeting. She ushered us into the inner room of the Deputy Governor’s lodge and struggled to take her seat.

I saw the difficulty with which she went on with the meeting and I signalled Kay that we should keep it short.

When we got up, she struggled to see us to the door. Kay and I discussed our suspicion and we both agreed that I should go and raise her health issues with the governor so

rushed to the hospital last night.”

I cried and cried again. There was nobody to share my sorrow with other than my wife who was scheduled to return to her Lagos base from Abuja that morning.

Later that day, a call came through from the First Lady of Ekiti, my sister Bisi Fayemi. She too burst out crying as soon as I picked the phone.

“Ha! BOT (Chairman, Board of Trustees, her affectionate name for me) I don’t like the way I saw your sister today,” she said. She had just arrived from a trip to Australia and went to the hospital from the airport to see her.

ISI had from the moment Funmi was diagnosed of breast cancer stood by her.

She was her pillar of support. She was with her whenever she went for radiotherapy, mastectomy, days of chemotherapy and the final visit to her doctor in London. We cannot thank her enough. This has been the stuff our friendship, association and partnership are made of. Even when people want to divide us and sow seeds of discord, we just laugh it off and with the refrain that: “They think we are fools ,they don’t know we have come a long way.”

The governor too came back from a trip to South Africa the following day and called to tell me how Funmi’s condition had taken a turn for the worse in less than a week after returning from London. I called Teju who confirmed this and said the governor couldn’t hold himself when he saw her.

All this while, I was still too scared to go see her on her sick bed in a discreet hospital off Gerald Road, in Ikoyi. When I finally summoned the courage and entered into the room where Funmi’s ghost lay on the bed, I didn’t know when my legs crumbled under me and I rolled on the floor crying. She cried with me and I rushed out of the room to cry the more. When she failed to stop crying, the husband came to me and said I should come and pacify her.

I summoned courage again, went in and held her hand assuring her she was going to pull through. “Do you mean it, Femi?” she asked. I said, “Yes.” She then said I should stop crying. “This too will be over and we shall celebrate, have a big thanksgiving”, she said with a quaking and distant voice. “Yes,” I said, mumbling all manner of mumbo jumbo in the form of prayers. I was completely devastated and disoriented. I held her hand, tears welled up in my eyes again. I pulled back, but she held me still. She beckoned me to come and give her a hug. I did, but with trepidation.

Funmi, my dear sister, friend and compatriot, comforter in difficult times had began the journey to the end.

When I got there the following day, she was no longer talking intelligibly.

She kept murmuring. Nobody could decipher what she was saying. I ran out again crying. It was Yeside who came and said I should not cry but keep praying for her. She told me of plans to bring back her two siblings from the US to see her. I left praying for miracle to turn her around and put her firmly on her feet.

I paid the last visit the day after. In company of Senator Oluremi Tinubu, I was at her bedside. At that moment, I suspected it was a matter of days, if not hours... ...And Funmi has gone to the land of no return, never to smile at me again. Never to hug me again. I called her ‘Eye’ and she called me ‘Aba’, an affectionate title of mother and father in our dialect.

I am crying as I write this, Funmi. I can only wish you a peaceful rest. You have surely earned a place in the pantheon of our Ekiti , of Yoruba and Nigeria.

I miss you sorely, Eye. O digba o!

B

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

His wife, their mother For the sake of her husband and their three daughters, the late Mrs. Olufunmilayo Olayinka found a way to balance her career, political life and roles in the homefront, even at the height of a debilitating cancer, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

A

SK her father and he will be quick to answer you that he never once thought she would go into politics. She was the quiet type as a child. So, he ruled out the possibility of her embracing partisan politics.

Her children too thought she was joking when she first told them she was going into politics.

One of them, the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka recalled in a 2007 interview, said: “ Mrs. O (that is what they call me when we are playing) are you really sure of what you are saying?”

When she told her last child, Lolade, she rolled from the staircase down in reaction.

She said: “My other child said it is impossible. One of them went further to remind me that there are no good roads in Ekiti, regular power supply, basic infrastructure and the taps don’t run always. But I told her it is so in Lagos too. My last child looked at my husband and said, ‘daddy, your wife said she is going into politics.’ My husband told her that there was no problem since we have prayed and discussed it. He further enjoined them to pray and encourage me. My children laughed when they saw my pictures and that of Dr. Fayemi on the internet and I educated them that one of the best things they can do is to serve their community. My husband was initially bothered and he reminded me that he has always supported me in all I do and he reassured me then that he would always support me.”

So, Yeside, the first daughter, Olamide, the second, Lolade and their father, Lanre, the Abeokutaborn architect, stood by their mother all through the political and health struggles that followed her foray into politics.

Despite her tight schedule, she played the balancing role.

She said of how she was able to balance her home and her political engagements: “ I believe as a

ON HER WEDDING DAY

Mom was my guiding light

By Olamide Olayinka WHEN we lose someone we love, it seems like time stands still. Those we love and lose are together with us in hearts and forever with us in memory.

Mom was my guiding light. She set the example of what a good wife, mother and friend should be. She was God-fearing and brilliant in so many ways. She always knew the best thing to say in any situation. She was amazingly intelligent.

Mom had a great deal of faith and rarely missed church on Sundays. One hymn was her particular favourite, and I remember how she used to light up whenever ”All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” was sung in church. She truly believed that she could pass through raging waters in the sea and not drown because God was with her the entire time. I know that’s how she felt about her battle with cancer. She knew that even if the cancer won, God would be there with her to carry her safely to Heaven.

Mom put God first in everything that she did and taught us how to do the same. Every time I had an exam she would anoint my pencils and pens in anointing oil. Before going to school each day she would ask me to recite Philippians 4:13.

Looking at her life with my Dad, she

• The couple and their children, Yeside, Lolade and Olamide... several years ago.

woman we are naturally balancers.

We can do lots of things at the same time. Whenever I am in Lagos, I make sure I visit my daughter in school. As for my husband, he often goes around with me when duty permits him because he has to also attend to his business in Lagos.

When I am not here most times I do the cooking before I travel, and

I preserve it in the refrigerator so that whenever he wants to eat, he warms it. I must also note here that my husband is a very good cook and he loves cooking a lot. When he is not there with me, he is here to earn a living for all of us.”

She dated him for eight years and they were married for over two decades.

They were just like siblings.

They met in the United States, fell in love and Lanre was not reluctant to dump his Muslim background when her parents insisted on it.

She said: “I grew up in a very strict Christian home; my father will have nothing to do with the other religions. Then you dare not

have a friend from another religion.

When my father knew that I was dating a Muslim, he was against it; it took us so long before my father gave us his consent. My husband agreed to all the terms my parents laid down; he accepted to become a Christian. He told them that all he wanted was me and that he can go to any length because of that. We met in America not

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

and their sweet Mrs O • The late Mrs. Olayinka being led into the church by her father on her wedding day.

set a shining example of the kind of unconditional love required to see a marriage through good and bad times.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. She was truly a Proverbs 31 woman!

Mrs O. was an epitome of beauty.

She never stepped out of her bedroom without looking good. Her loving countenance complemented her beautiful self without fail. Her sense of style was unparalleled. I am grateful that she was able to teach me the art of shopping with an eye that is attentive to detail as well as a head that knows the value of hard earned money.

She knew how to have fun when she got a chance to relax. Not a big fan of roller coasters, but she was sure to ride at least one whenever we went out to theme parks. She also loved to play pranks on me. I remember an occasion when she wrapped my Christmas gift in so many wrappers and boxes hence creating a huge gift. I went from thinking it to be a huge dollhouse to actually realising it was a pair of earrings. Another time she was upstairs at home and I was downstairs, she sent me a text asking me to come up to her. On getting there, she asked me to give her the remote control that was right next to her, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Though fun loving, she knew how to be a disciplinarian when necessary.

I recall being disciplined on many occasions when I failed to hand-wash my laundry. You knew you were in

trouble when she called you by your government name (full name). Even with that, she was still very sweet.

Every morning when she woke me up she would sing to me & my sisters saying: “You are my sunshine my, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey, you never know dear how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away”.

I take solace in the fact that nothing rooted in love is ever lost, for it has become part of the living whole.

Someone as special as you mom, will never be forgotten.

You can shed tears that she is gone Or you can smile because she has lived You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her Or you can be full of the love that you shared You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday You can remember her and only that she is gone Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

She is Gone – By David Harkins

wearing religion on his forehead; he is from a Muslim background and attended Christian school; maybe that partially influenced him to become a Christian. For me, it wasn’t an issue.

This may be because we were abroad, if we were both at home, people might have discouraged us from day one. Before we got married, it was a very big family issue. People were appealing to

my father. When everything seemed not working, I stepped in and things worked out fine. His relatives are not fanatical, they went with us to church and they performed all the normal Christian wedding rites with us. It was a big deal but we were able to cope. My husband at the initial marital stage would stay at home while the kids

Adunni mii…

Oluwafifunni Oluwasigba lo, ibukun li orukoOluwa. Job 1:21 My Funmilayo, beautiful, intelligent, smart, humble, hardworking and dedicated.

A devoted Christian, wife and mother.

I love you even in death!!!

A- Admirable D- Delightful U- Unconventional N- Noble N- Normal I- Inspiring Your Loving Husband, Lanre • The late Mrs. Olayinka and her husband

and I will go to church, he was neither a Christian nor a Muslim but eventually one thing led to another and he met with the Lord through his friends. He is more Christian than most of us who were born Christian and he now believes that Christianity is the best way of life.”

Even in the heat of her illness, the late Mrs. Olayinka still tried to be a

mother to her three daughters. In December 2011, she brought them home from the U.S. for holidays and took them to see the Calabar Carnival. Last December too, she brought them home and also took them to Dubai for holidays.

Now, the woman they fondly called Mrs. O is no more to take them on such trips. Her husband

too will have to live with the reality that his wife of over two decades, who cooked sumptuous meals for him and stood by him, has gone to the great beyond.

Perhaps the memories of the good times they had and the tighter bond they developed since her battle with cancer began in 2009 will be useful here.

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

‘Her death a reminder of a p

President Goodluck Jonathan On behalf of myself and the Federal Government, I commiserate with the people and government of Ekiti State and the Olayinka family over the death of the deputy governor of the state, Mrs Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka.

The late Deputy Governor was a dedicated, public spirited technocrat who used her talents to make a difference.

Her skills as a technocrat were useful, her contributions were wise and meaningful and her death, painful and sad.

I pray that the Almighty will grant her soul peaceful rest and her family, the fortitude, and the grace to bear the loss.

Senate President David Mark Mrs. Olayinka was an indomitable amazon, who stood to be counted when it mattered. At a time when it was a Herculean task for women to aspire to elective office, Mrs. Olayinka was among the few Nigerian women who ventured into politics. She was a very determined person, who had a dream and mission.

She proved her mettle and contributed immensely to the building of a new Ekiti State. We shall miss her resourcefulness and robust contributions. We shall miss her passion for women and youth development.

Good night Funmistic Adetoro Oladapo, a Deputy Director with the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, was a close friend of the late Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka. They played and schooled together. Oladapo, who is a former National President of the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), pays tribute to her late friend, who she always called ‘Funmistic’.

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RITING a tribute on “Funmistic”-- whom I thought will remain a part of my life till the very end having shared with her 43 years of my over five decades of existence-- is indeed an uneasy task. Where do I start from? Can I ever recount all our escapades as young rascals in secondary school? Or is it our shared joy and pain as young women and mothers ? Or is it managing career stress and family/sibling politics.?

I met Funmi in Holy Trinity

Grammar School, Ibadan in I972.

Olayinka nee Famuagun was born on June 20th 1960. She was the first of six girls which put enormous responsibility on her even from a young age.

Funmi as young as age 14 would coordinate domestic chores, including shopping for the house, ensuring that meals were well prepared and served with little or no supervision from her step mother.

Myself having come from Lagos and schooling in Ibadan and staying in the boarding house, a good

distance from Lagos then, I spent most short breaks or public holidays with the Famuaguns. There, I saw how a young girl like me had been exposed to such huge responsibility and I got fascinated because she did all these with less stress.

She taught me how to wrap moinmoin in leaves, how to peel large quantity beans with legs, which she also did to the admiration of my in-laws after I got married and was doing the naming ceremony of my first child in Lagos some 28 years ago.

Governor Babatunde Fashola I feel completely overwhelmed, just imagining the depth of your pain on the death of a most loyal, dependable and diligent deputy, which you had in Mrs. Olayinka.

When the history of the restoration of the democratic mandate freely given to Fayemi and Mrs. Olayinka, as well as the back-breaking work to restore meaningful governance to Ekiti State is written, a very glorious mention would be made of the late deputy governor.

‘

She taught me how to wrap moinmoin in leaves, how to peel large quantity beans with legs, which she also did to the admiration of my in-laws after I got married and was doing the naming ceremony of my first child in Lagos some 28 years ago.

‘

We became close in the boarding house when we became prefects. I, assistant senior girl and Funmi, games prefect, as she was extremely active in sporting activities. We had to work together to coordinate the students. We were heady and rascally, and that earned us great admiration from teachers and students-- even till today.

While Funmistic was into sports, I was into school debate and was the “defender of the universe”, fighting any injustice against stu-

dents. In all these we excelled in our studies. When we sat for the West African School Certificate Examination, in 1976, only three girls passed out of the over 40 girls. We were both in that successful trio.

We sometime went to Erijiyan Ekiti for the burial of my brother in law who was assassinated, Funmi, uninvited left her nine months old baby she was then breastfeeding and went with me for three days, not minding complaint from her family. Funmi made sure that our children wore same dresses for their christening.

Above all, Funmi was highly religious. She served her creator till the very end. Until she was hit by the sickness, Funmi did not fail to send prayer messages to her teeming friends on Mondays, despite her exalted position.

Funmilayo omo aba Addo! Omo Eye Iddo Faboro. Sun re o. Thank you for being part of me and my family. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pay back your generosity and the emotion you invested in me. Thank you for allowing me to feed you some few days before your departure and share your last few minutes on earth with you. That will remain evergreen in my memory. Good night Funmistic!

Th Fu wh tra br of am pa of cen wi

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

parlous health care system’

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

Emeka Anyaoku

The sudden demise of Ekiti State Deputy Governor Funmilayo Olayinka is a big blow and comes at a time when she is most needed to play a vital role in the transformation of Ekiti. She rose like a meteor and brought compassion and grace to the exalted office of the deputy governor. She was a leading light amongst women of her generation and creed. Her painful death sadly reminds us of the parlous state of our health care system in Nigeria. A national cancer centre of international repute needs to be established with proper funding.

I am here to commiserate with you on the death of your deputy. This is my first time in this state and I am impressed by the developmental strides, especially the road network. This shows that you and your late deputy and the rest of your executive are working as a team.

Like you said yesterday, she was your co-pilot and that shows she played a very important role in the administration. You should not be discouraged by her death, rather you should strive to actualise the vision to develop the state.

Prof. Wole Soyinka I have just picked up the news on Internet. My most sincere condolences. I met your late deputy Funmi Olayinka, only a few times, but was instantly struck by her unassuming grace, intelligence and political commitment. Her departure will be felt as a great loss to your administration, to the people of Ekiti State, but most especially to her family, to whom I request that you be so kind as to convey my message of fortitude in the face of this grievous bereavement.

My ‘Val’, where are you?

Chief of Staff to Governor Kayode Fayemi, ‘Yemi Adaramodu, pays tribute to the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka

D

•Adaramodu

EATH comes and we weep with sorrow dumped in our hearts.

Death comes and leaves us grief-stricken under the thrust of an irredeemable loss.

But this death comes with trails of swift and rude bewilderment. One death too devastating, when strength avails us not.

Sometimes the interception of death takes away with it, an Amazon. How long do we keep accepting this terminal fate we cannot change? If not, how I wish death chooses a convenient time to take us or those we love.

I ponder over why these things must be.

And so sudden it came again, this time with such rudeness,

and took away Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka. A reality I took for a joke because Moremi held with me a promise I looked forward for its fulfillment.

My Val, as I humorously called you, I remember with mortal nostalgia how you held my hand after that State Executive meeting which happens to be the last you had with us and asked as usual: “Hope you have eaten”?

“My Chief of All Staff, (with a look of seriousness embedded in your usual lively character of joke with me and before I could respond), you said, I am sure you have not eaten. Please make sure you eat on time and take your one-per-day bottle of ‘Baba Dudu’ (Small Stout). You know we need you this period more than ever and you need to also

be around our Oga (Dr. Kayode Fayemi) the more. We have much work to be done in the state and you need to remain strong.”

I never got the faintest hint from this conversation that you would be around no more so soon. With brightened face, parting me at the back, you held my hand warmly and said: “Chief of all Staff, I will see you when I get back” and Moremi never came back to fulfill this promise.

But how our God eternally displays His omnipotence! I wish I had an iota of clue this would be our last one-to-one conversation, it would have afforded the Chief and all his staff an uncommon privilege to bid our amiable Deputy Governor a good farewell.

But in this designated territory we held as life, death is one cruel certainty with no timely certainty that affects us all in very different ways.

OlufunmilayoAdunni Olayinka’s death is one.

Evidently, Ekiti people lost a rare Jewel. We make bold to say, once lived in this world an Amazing Amazon, who gave her best shot at life and left in the anal of Ekiti socio-political history, a quest for more of her.

Our common solace lies in your legacy of life of service as a family woman, as Ekiti political icon and intelligentsia in Nigeria as we say adieu to our own treasured Moremi of Ekiti.

Sister mi. May your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. O d’arinanko o di oju ala…

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

Woman who never took no for an answer

As a reporter and now Special Assistant to Governor Kayode Fayemi, ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA knew the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka-the woman who never took no for an answer

S

HE arrived the Ekiti State political firmament unheralded but she left in a blaze of glory after breathing her last on Saturday, April 6 following a long battle with cancer.

Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka was born to Chief Festus Obafemi Famuagun, a native of Ado-Ekiti and Mrs. Grace Adetutu Famuagun, who hails from Ido-Ekiti at Ile-Abiye Hospital and Maternity in the Ekiti State capital on June 20, 1960.

Having sojourned outside her community on academic and professional pursuits which took her as far as the United States of America where she bagged her first and second degrees and a banking career spanning 21 years, she returned home to serve her father land.

This writer remembered that day in January 2007 when she was unveiled as running mate to Dr. Kayode Fayemi, at the state secretariat of the then Action Congress (AC) in AdoEkiti by the party chairman, Chief Olajide Awe. Dr. Fayemi had just won a keenlycontested party primary held in December 2006 and a long search for a credible, exposed, experienced, tested and trusted running mate had just ended.

Party members who were present at the press conference were confounded by the confidence she exuded that day believing that although she was new in partisan politics at the time, her experience in the corporate world had prepared her for the demanding office of the deputy governor.

She said: “I may be new in partisan politics but having spent over two decades in the corporate world, I am prepared for the office of the deputy governor and I believe that I will bring my experience to bear on the job.

“Don’t forget that everybody is a political animal and we play politics on daily basis. You know that politics starts in the family when the father decides who gets what, when and how.

“The children gather together and decide on what to present before the family, do you want to tell me that this is not politics?

“I am coming from the corporate world into politics and I want to assure you that the experience gained there will stand me in good stead for this job.

“There is also politics in the boardroom where key players try to influence a decision through arguments and games of wits. I want to tell you that I am well-prepared for this job.”

Shortly after her public presentation as the AC deputy governorship candidate, Mrs. Olayinka showed the stuff she was made of as a colourful politician.

Her ravishing and stunning beauty stood her out anywhere she went as she combined brain with beauty in winning the hearts of the electorate who saw her as a competent hand in the Fayemi team.

She learnt the ropes very fast and adjusted well as a thoroughbred politician of the progressive bloc in giving unflinching support to Dr. Fayemi and joining hands with her “twin sister”, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, to mobilise women on the political field.

Very proficient in the local Ekiti dialect, Mrs. Olayinka articulated the manifesto of her party and eight-point agenda to be implemented by the Fayemi administration when elected to office to voters and followed her boss to very hamlet in the state to campaign for votes ahead of the April 14, 2007 polls.

She supported Mrs. Fayemi in organising financial and economic empowerments for women in Ekiti State to help reduce poverty and hunger in the grassroots.

Having been born by a textile dealer who trades at the popular Erekesan Market, Mrs. Olayinka spearheaded market campaigns ahead of the election urging market women not to disappoint the daughter of one of them.

It was not a surprise that majority of market women in the state voted for the Fayemi-Olayinka ticket.

In the absence of Dr. Fayemi, Mrs. Olayinka always took charge of activities at the governorship campaign secretariat and ensured that the place was well run and did not lack anything.

Anytime she was around, party members would converge on the Old Coca Cola depot building to hold consultations with her and many of them would return home happy because the late deputy governor was a generous and cheerful giver.

She also took care of young ladies working in the campaign organisation and it was no surprise that she ensured that they and other campaign aides followed her to the Government House after her inauguration as the state number two citizen.

Even after the mandate given to Dr. Fayemi was twice brazenly and egregiously stolen, Mrs. Olayinka provided a bulwark of support and courage for her principal.

This writer remembered the mood at the press conference addressed by Dr. Fayemi shortly after the Governorship Rerun Tribunal gave a split decision in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in which many party members wept profusely at what they described as daylight robbery. Mrs. Olayinka who did not betray emotion that day was busy pacifying the party faithful who were crestfallen and disconsolate with the 3-2 judgment which they believed robbed their party of victory after the

then Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Olusola Ayoka Adebayo, infamously told the “party to go to court” after the perceived electoral robbery.

Mrs. Olayinka was a dogged fighter and a firm believer that the stolen mandate would be retrieved hence her recourse to prayers throughout the time she was in the political wilderness with her boss.

She participated in the various street protests, democracy walks, June 12 Democracy Day rallies, public lectures, interviews in media houses and other activities to force the then interlopers in the Government House to surrender the people’s mandate.

After a three-and-half-year legal battle to retrieve their stolen mandate, the Court of Appeal which sat in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on October 15, 2010 declared Dr. Fayemi as the rightful winner of both the 2007 and 2009 polls and ruled that he be sworn in.

Dr. Fayemi alongside Mrs. Olayinka took their oaths of office before a mammoth crowd on October 16, 2010 as the Governor and the Deputy Governor respectively which marked the beginning of a purposeful leadership which has turned the fortunes of the state around for good in all sectors.

Mrs. Olayinka was loyalty personified and her relations with Dr. Fayemi is a good example of how a governor and his deputy should work together harmoniously for the development of their state.

Throughout the time she sat on the deputy governor’s chair, Mrs. Olayinka was a workaholic who usually closed from office after midnights attending to files and horde of visitors thronging her office.

She wanted her targets met and never took no for an answer. She was a stickler for punctuality and always asked about the welfare of her aides and civil servants working with her.

Mrs. Olayinka as the Chairman of the State Economic Management Team, led other eggheads with backgrounds in the economic and financial sectors to fashion out a blueprint that added value to Ekiti State and brought her out of the woods.

The late deputy governor would also be remembered for bequeathing a new corporate identity and rebranding of Ekiti which is in consonance with the dream of the founding fathers of the state.

She was an active player in the process which helped the state to secure bond from the Capital Market with which visible capital projects and infrastructural transformation of the state were carried out.

Although Mrs. Olayinka is dead, her legacies in governance, politics, women empowerment, philanthropy, gender advocacy, economic development of her home state.

•Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Chief Dayo Fadipe and the Caretaker Chairman of Gbonyin Local Government, Hon. Paul Abegunde with the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka and the Apalufin of Aisegba Ekiti, Oba Adeyanju Omotoyinbo at the inspection of roads under construction in Aisegba by the Deputy Governor, on March 15, 2012.

Portrait of a rare amazon She was the salt of everywere she operated___ the banking world and the political arena.

This unique perspective on her sheds more light

E

UNICE Oluwafunmilayo Adunni Olayinka (nee Famuagun), considered one of the most attractive and resilient women in Yorubaland, attained corporate and political prominence through commendable hardwok, commitment to excellence, courage and perseverance. She was a perfect fusion of ageless beauty and profound brains. All through her 19,268 days on earth, she radiated inward and outward beauty, and was unarguably an epitome of humility, fidelity, faithfulness, forthrightness, elegance, honesty and decency. A diamond vessel of honour she was; her commitment to humanitarianism and Ekiti transformation was quite legendary.

A native of Ado-Ekiti, ‘Funmi was born at precisely7am, on Friday 20th June 1960 in Ado Ekiti,to the noble family of Chief Festus O.Famuagun, the Agbaakin of Ado Ekiti and Deaconess G.A Famuagun (nee Faboro) from Ido-Ekiti. Her ‘Dad’, as she fondly called him in many of her let-

ters to him while she studied abroad, is a retiree of the Western Nigeria Cocoa Board, while her mother was a textile trader in Ado Ekiti. She is the first daughter of her parents. Her baptism and naming was performed on 20th November 1960 at the Christ Apostolic Church and she grew up beaming virtues, exuding wisdom andinspiring affection.

She was admitted and enrolled at Holy Trinity Grammar School in January 17th 1972 at the age of 12.During herstay at the Holy trinity Grammar School, she was consistently rated as an exceptionally well-behaved student, who displayed aptitude for French, mathematics and geography. She rounded-up her secondary education in 1976 and proceeded to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, for her Higher School certificate (HSC) on November9th 1976. At Olivet Baptist High school, young ‘Funmi was again rated as a very well-behaved and dedicated student; her marital, social, career and political life bore the hallmarks of her long-standing good character and devotion.

Her combined academic performance at Holy trinity Grammar school and Olivet Baptist High School earned her the overseas admission into Central State University, Oklahoma, USA, to study Business Administration.

She arrived at Central State University (CSU) on Monday, 12th September 1977 to commence her undergraduate studies. Upon settling downin her hostel on campus, she wrote a very inspiring and prophetic letter to her father.

The second paragraph of that letter was deeply intuitive and discerning, it depicted her appreciative attitude, and faith in God. She prophetically and prayerfully stated: “Infact, I’ve got to thank you a lot for the opportunity you gave me that am here today, while am thanking the Lord too, am not so surprised because you had been a father who always runs after the

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

37

NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

The Funmi Olayinka I knew

I

•Falana

‘

The greatest tribute that can be paid to Mrs Adunni Funmilayo Olayinka by the Ekiti people is a collective resolve to promote knowledge to a stage where humanity will be in a position to prevent cancer and other dangerous diseases from destroying precious lives in our country

progress of your children. God too will surely recompense you and give you longer life so that you will eat the fruit of your labour. I also pray that you may increase your efforts to do the same to other brothers and sisters after me.

More grease to your elbow.’

36 years after, these prayers and fervent wishes have come to fulfillment in many ways.

She was named to the Central State University honour roll and was consistently on the dean’s honour roll ‘as a result of outstanding scholastic achievement’. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Marketing) in 1981 and proceeded to study for her master’s degree the same year. She completed her post-graduate studies in 1983 and was awarded an M.A. in Political Science (Public Administration).

She was nominated as a member of ‘who is who’ in American University in 1981. She was mobilized forNational Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1984 and posted to the National Cereal Research Institutein Ibadan, Oyo State, for her primary assignment. She completed her national service in 1985.

Her career life began while she was studying at the CSU. She seamlessly combined full time studies with parttime work. She served as Clerk at the Central State University Bookstore, as Supervisor in Sales & Marketing at Street Merchandise and as Cashier & Office Clerk at Sterr’s Foods.

‘Funmi returned to Nigeria after her studies abroad, and her first full-time post-school employment was with First Bank of Nigeria Plc as Supervisor in June 1986.She was at different periods appointed as Relationship Manager for Corporate Accounts in Access Bank, the defunct Merchant Banking Corporation (MBC) and the United Bank for Africa Plc. In August 2002, multi talented ‘Funmi

‘

RECEIVED with shock the news of the tragic death of our Deputy Governor, Mrs Adunni Funmilayo Olayinka while I was outside the country last week. But I took solace in the glowing tribute paid to her in your special broadcast which I read on the internet. It must have been extremely traumatic for you during your visit to the family at Ado Ekiti when Adunni’s 81-year old mother asked you for the whereabout of her daughter, your deputy!

As a member of the legal team constituted by your good self in 2007 to challenge the stolen mandate of the Ekiti people I met Mrs Adunni Funmilayo Olayinka at close quarters, for the first time, in the course of our preparation of the gubernatorial election petition. Although both of you were not considered learned in any area of bourgeois jurisprudence, your decisive interventions added value to the case and contributed immeasurably to the success recorded at the Court of Appeal after a protracted legal battle.

Upon the inauguration of your Administration on October 15, 2010, the Deputy Governor, Mrs Olayinka charged me to join hands with you in rescuing Ekiti State from the reactionary forces that were determined to impede the progress of our people.

In spite of our ideological differences, Mrs Olayinka took my constant harassment of your Administration with maturity and in good faith. As far as she was concerned, the Administration needed to be kept focused and committed in the prosecution of its 8-point agenda for the transformation of Ekiti State from poverty to prosperity.

Apart from such political affinity, we also became close through the in-

The late Mrs. Olayinka

took up the Corporate Communications role and moved over to head the Corporate Affairs Division, UBA. She afterward became Head, Brand Management & Corporate Affairs, thereby leading the Team responsible for delivering a compelling Brand proposition and re-branding of the erstwhile UBA which helped to drive the bank’s business strategy, increased its visibility and added value to the total image of the Brand.

‘Funmi was also the 2nd Vice

President of the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) between 2002 and 2004.

She was Co-Chairman, Branding Sub-Committee and Member, Media Relations Sub-Committee during the merger process of UBA & Standard Trust Bank.

Her last role in banking was Head, Corporate Services, ECOBANK NIG. PLC where she was responsible for communicating the bank’s activities to the public, relationship manage-

ment with thepublic and providing feedback to management as it relates to the total image of the bank. Additionally, she also headed the General Internal Services Unit with responsibility for overall co-ordination of administrative services for the entire bank.

Her entry into politics and public service began in 2006 when she was deservedly nominated to contest as deputy alongside Dr. KayodeFayemi, present Executive

By Femi Falana

timate friendship of our children.

Hence, in spite of her critical health condition, Mrs Olayinka and her darling husband joined you and your wife in gracing the occasion of the wedding of my daughter in Lagos on December 8, 2012. In her usual vivacious character, she was full of charm as she sang and danced at the Church service to the delight of my family. Little did we know that that was going to be one of her last public appearances!

In a society where women are completely relegated to the background by culture, law and religion, Mrs Olayinka emerged a respected political leader through dint of hard work, sheer courage, unrelenting determination and unalloyed loyalty to principles. Thus, in the space of three years, she and your wife (Comrade Bisi) have encouraged and influenced our young women to discard prejudices and compete with their male counterparts on the basis of equality of opportunities. Mrs Olayinka was polite but firm, she was gentle but tough, she was friendly but strict. At all times she comported herself with dignity, grace and sartorial elegance.

It is indisputable that Mrs Olayinka was an Omoluabi per excellence.

The greatest tribute that can be paid to Mrs Adunni Funmilayo Olayinka by the Ekiti people is a collective resolve to promote knowledge to a stage where humanity will be in a position to prevent cancer and other dangerous diseases from destroying precious lives in our country.

Mr. Governor, kindly convey the heartfelt sympathy of my family to the Government and the good people of Ekiti State over the untimely death of Omo Ayiye, Mrs Adunni Funmilayo Olayinka.

Governor of Ekiti State under the Action Congress party ticket. At the expense of her personal comfort and risk to life, she was actively involved in the struggle to reclaim their mandate. For almost three years, she fought doggedly for their stolen mandate with uncommon bravery, valour and tenacityreminiscent of Princess Moremi of Ife and Queen Amina of Zaria.

As deputy Governor of Ekiti State, ‘Funmi assiduouslyperformed oversight functions over the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, State Emergency Relief Agency, Boundary Commission, Ministry of Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Urban Renewal Agency, Multipurpose Credit Agency, Fountain Holdings & Investment Limited and Community & Social Development Agency. Her skillful co-ordination of these MDAs enhanced their overall performance and service delivery. She additionally sat as chairperson ofnumerous State Executive Council-empanelled committees including the State Economic Management Team, Brand and Communications Strategy Committee, State Tenders Board, to mention a few.

She was responsible for the strategic re-branding of the State, culminating into a new and distinctive visual identity that has so far projected a coherent image and definitive slogan expressingthe core ideals and goals (political, economic, perception change) for the State.

Her loyalty, courage, transparency, commitment, devotedsupport for the Fayemi administration and constancy of purpose has led to uncommon transformation of Ekiti State across the broad spectrum of the administration’s 8-points agenda and delivering beyond election campaign promises.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) greeting the husband to the late Mrs. Olayinka, Lanre Olayinka, at the Chief Executive Officer’s Annual Merit Award of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc on April 29, 2012. In the middle is the deceased.

•The couple cutting their wedding cake

•The late Mrs. Olayinka (second right), Executive Director of UBA Plc, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa (second left ), a General Manager with the bank, Mr. Deolu Ijose (right) and Ekiti State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Dapo Kolawole (left ), during a courtesy call by the UBA team on the late Deputy Governor in her office in Ado-Ekiti.

•The late Mrs. Funmi Olayinka taking the kick off in a novelty match between the Executive and Legislative the first aniversitry of the 4th Assembly in June 2012.

The late Mrs. Olayinka displaying the award she received at the second Congress of the Ireland Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). With her is the immediate past chairperson of the ACN, Ireland, Mrs. Bunmi Salako.

•Governor Kayode Fayemi (second right), the late Mrs. Olayinka (right) Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, and Mr. Funminiyi Afuye (left).

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam

The late Mrs. Olayinka, with Andrew Montague, the Lord Mayor of Dublin , at the second ACN Congress of the Ireland chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), last year.

•From left: The late Mrs. Olayinka , wife of the governor of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi and former Military Governor of the Western Region, Gen Robert Adeyinka Adebayo (Rtd) at the Commendation Service held in honour of the Late Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Most Revd. Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye, at the Cathedral Church of Emmanuel, Ado-Ekiti, last year.

•The late Mrs. Olayinka and her husband Lanre, during their daughter Lolade’s birthday.

lative arms to mark

The late Mrs. Olayinka in a handshake with the ViceChancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Prof.

Bamitale Omole during the church service for late Prof.

Sam Aluko, at the Archbishop Vinning College of Theology, Akure, Ondo State on, March 2, last year.

The late Mrs. Olayinka consoling Akure lawyer Mr Morakinyo Ogele, over the death of his mother during the funeral, last year.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

NEWS OLUFUNMILAYO ADUNNI OLAYINKA (20.06.1960 --- 06.04.2013)

In memoriam Dear Mrs O, How is it going? I know you are getting as much rest as possible in the bosom of our Saviour.

I honestly cannot believe my phone is not going to ring showing your name and I’ll pick up and you’ll say “Mama Mia!” I miss you so much already. However, I am comforted by the priceless values and lessons you have taught my sisters and me.

I will always remember to make my bed once I wake up every morning. I will always walk with my back straight and head high.

I will miss your hugs, I’ll miss sitting in your bathroom and gisting with you while you shower.

Thank you for the wonderful memories and being the best mother any girl could ask for.

I pray to be as amazing a woman as you!!!!

I love you for forever and a day.

Your daughter, Yeside Ajoke Olayinka.

• The couple and their children, Lolade, Yeside and Olamide... several years ago.

A daughter’s letter to mum

The inside story from Team Moremi The driver Karim Rasaq RASAQ, an indigene of Osogbo, Osun State, became the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka’s driver in 2008. The pair hit it off.

He said: “She brought me to Ekiti.

I am an Osogbo person. She never took me as a driver. I would eat and drink with her. I have been with her since January 2009. She never fought me on anything. Actually, I joined her in 2008. She then just recently retired from the bank. She never told me she was a politician.

There is no pride about her. She would tell people about me ‘that is my brother who drives me’. She used to say she liked me because I never stole from her.

The cook Bosede Adeyeye A COOK in her official residence in Ado Ekiti, Bosede Adeyeye, did not get to know the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka until she became the deputy governor in October 2010.

She found her a loving personality.

She said: “Mama Funmilayo was exceptional. She would pity you. If you had any problem, don’t tell her because that would become hers immediately. She was always satisfied with whatever we cooked here. She would make you feel good as a cook. She would always come with gifts for us anytime she travelled out. She was always having soothing words for us as well. She would say ‘I would be there when your children are marrying’. She knew how to hug and make people really loved.”

They served her in her years and months as Ekiti Deputy Governor. They relived their experience working with the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka to SULAIMON SALAWUDEEN. Their perspectives reveal that she was kind and motherly.

The Personal Asst. The Special Asst.

Adeteju Okuyiga

Lekan Fadeyi

MRS. Okuyiga knew the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka for years.

She said the late deputy governor knew her when she was still wearing diapers. They shared the good times and the bad ones. She was with her at work and while the illness held her down.

According to her, she learnt a lot of lessons from the deceased, especially that loyalty has rewards.

Mrs. Okuyiga said: “Iya was open to everybody. The way I would talk about her is the same way the driver, the gardener, launderer, any other associate would talk about her. We were just sisters before I became her PA. She knew me from my diapers. She was a workaholic.

She would send messages anytime of the day and expect a reply immediately. She was a perfectionist par excellence. She would work and work and work.

She was firm, truthful, bold, courageous, a thoroughbred disciplinarian but soothing and loving. She would crack jokes with anybody. She taught me the virtue of loyalty, saying it has rewards.

She hated incompetence, indolence, lying, malingering and laziness. She was courageous in a way I find most inspiring. She fought the ailment till she could fight no more. Despite being in pains, she was the one consoling the sympathisers.”

THEIR relationship predated his years as her Special Assistant, Media and Communcations.

He worked with her at the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

It was from her he learnt that it was possible for someone to occupy a high position and still be humble.

According to him, she believed in repaying good deeds done to her.

Fadeyi said: “She was a mother, confidant, trainer and lover of God and humanity. This was a woman who would take delight in your family and your growth as an individual. I never had any reason to oppose her on any issue. There were cases when she summoned me to her office and whenever I explained things to her, she listened and allowed me to be. She did not know how to keep malice. Somebody just told me this afternoon (yesterday) that whenever the deputy rebuked him, she would make him realise why she rebuked him. The overall purpose was to develop you. Mrs. Olayinka never called me by my official designation. One day she sent for me, and the person called me Lekan.

When I showed up, the person fidgeted, realising I was the one.

“When she invited me to come and work with her at UBA, I never realised until that time that a person could occupy such a high position and still be humble. She never let off airs. She would never forget any good thing done to her. Any good thing you did her, she would find a way of repaying you. I am sure she died a non-debtor. She was ever first to instigate favours.”

•The late Mrs. Olayinka

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013

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From right: Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi and former Governor Rasheed Ladoja at the Agodi prayer ground, Ibadan, when the going was good. PHOTO: FEMI ILESANMI

The crisis between Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the Accord Party (AP) leader, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has deepened, following the sack of the latters’ followers from the State Executive Council. BISI OLADELE traces the genesis of the frosty relationship and its implications for the next general elections.

Ajimobi, Ladoja: Old friends, now foes T

HERE is no permanent friend or enemy in politics.

Political alliances emerge and collapse as the situation dictates. Ego war, flexing of muscles and mudsliging often shape political relations among waring politicians. In a minute, they collaborate. In another twinkle of an eye, they quarrel and part ways.

In Oyo State, many saw the acrimony between Governor Abiola Ajimobi and Senator Rashidi Ladoja coming.

The two of them are cousins. They belong to different parties. But necessity made a pact between the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Ajimobi, and Ladoja’s Accord Party (AP) more compelling in 2011, when they were threatened by a common foe, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

For almost two years, it has been an a turbulent marriage. Last week, the accord finally collapsed. The sack of Ladoja’s followers in the Ajimobi Administration was the last straw that broke the carmel’s back. The move has also altered the political calculations in the state, ahead of the 2015 polls.

In a letter written by Ajimobi to Ladoja, he said he felt “constrained to take this painful, but inevitable decision”, in view of their personal relationship.Two commissioners, two special advisers, some chairmen and members of boards of parastatals and agencies, caretaker chairmen of a local government and others who were nominees of the former governor lost their jobs in the Ajimobi government.

Observers contend that, mutual trust, the platform upon which they built their alliance in June 2011, had broken down. Ladoja has been critical of the administratin in recent times. Also, the AP has been firing salvos at the ACN. The agreement between the duo has come under serious strains. Some people have observed that the AP’s participation in the ACN administration has exposed the governor as a political neophyte. However, the sack also generated more heat.

Ladoja and his party have not spared Ajomobi, particularly on his urban renewal project aimed at giving Ibadan, the state capital, a lift. He has chided the governor for the demolition of illegal structures, stressing that a government that means well for the people should not destroy their means of livelihood by not providing an alternative before the demolition.

Ajomobi had exoplained that he embarked on the city project to return Ibadan to its original urban plan and prepare for future rains. In the metropolis, many buildings are erected on water channels and refuse often pose environmental challenges to the residential areas. Therefore, the governor issued a quit notice to many traders whose shops either obstruct water flow or disturb the urban planning. The government also had to relocate many street traders to new locations where neighbourhood markets are being constructed with modern facilities.

But Ladoja and his party disagreed with the policy, saying that it inflicts pains on the traders who had their

‘Ladoja is now perceived as a veteran governorship candidate.

There are forces in his party urging him to allow the younger elementss to fly the party ticket.

His fear is that the masses may turn their eyes from the AP, if he abdicates. But, if he runs again in 2015, how far can he go’ shops demolished without an alternative market. They rejected the neighbourhood market, arguing that they should have been provided before the demolition took place.

Government officials have said that the urban renewal project was non-negotiable, stressing that it would make the city to attract investors. But the former governor maintained that that fruit sellers are found at train stations and other public places in the United Kingdom, wondering why Ajimobi was bent on turning Ibadan to a truly urban centre. He pointed out that Ibadan cannot be turned to London in a day.

Frowning at these criticisms, Ajimobi said that Ladoja was distracting him. He deliberately doubled his effort on the urban renewal agenda with impressive gusto.

But is the urban renewal project the main bone of contention between the governor and former governor?

Sources disclosed that the preparations for the 2015 elections have pitched the two politicians against one another.

Analysts point out that the alliance had broken down much earlier, but that the criticisms and propaganda by Ladoja and AP have only confirmed the parting of ways.

By this development, the battle line is clearly drawn between the ACN and AP. It is expected that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may see the new crack as an opportunity to sharpen its teeth to bite in 2015.

The PDP governorship aspirants; Jumoke Akinjide, Teslim Folarin, Seyi Makinde and Soji Adejumo; may renew their hope of regaining many party supporters that have joined either of the two parties. Thus, the 2015 election may still go in the way of the 2011 where the three parties had a good showing, but in which the most popular party produced the governor.

At a critical hour of need, AP had come to the aid of the ACN. The collaboration produced the numerical strength that reduced PDP to a minority party in the House of Assembly. With the breakdown of the accord, can ACN

Administration survive in the state?

According to analysts, Ajimobi Administration now needs a united ACN to survive and forge ahead. The administrtion has recorded some landmark achievements. These include the peace and tranquility that have replaced criminality, the road and bridge construction, beautification and environmental sanitation, unparalleled welfare package for the civil servants, rebuilding of education through infrastructural facilities, training and retraining of teachers, free transport for state government workers, provision of loans, provision of hospitals and free health. These may make it difficult for another party dislodge the ACN from power in the next election.

The result of the last election showed thatLadoja was more popular in some local governments in Ibadan. He also commanded a large following among the civil servants. But the loyalty of the civil servants may be divided by the memory of how the former governor paid their salaries promptly when he was in the saddle from 2003 to 2007.

Many Ibadan indigenes have applauded the beautification of Ibadan and the restoration of sanity to the intra-city roads. Thus, Ajimobi’s support base is expanding among the ordinary people who are the fans of Ladoja.

However, Ladoja has started mobilisation for the 2015 electoral contest. On daily basis, many peoople are defecting to the AP from the PDP. Ajimobi is not relenting too. He is mobilising by working for the people. In Oyo State, what will determine the fate of the governorship candidates is their track record of performance.

Since he was endorsed for a second term by his party, he has been firing salvos at the opposition. A witty Ajimobi had jokingly told Akinjide at a social function last month there will be no vacancy in the State House.

“My dear sister, if I am four years older than you, it means you can succeed me after my first four years. But if I am eight years older than you, it means you will wait till I spend eight years”, he said.

The governor cracked the joke to achieve two purposes.

He used it to douse the tension between his supporters and Akinjide’s. The governor told his supporters to stop whatever could bring back the politics of brickbats. He also used it to wittingly tell Akinjide that the ACN would not allow another party to defeat it in the 2015 election.

If AP and PDP resolve to come together to battle the ACN, there may be tension in the state. But Ladoja appears to have ignoring that option, owing to the inability of the PDP leaders to assure him that they would not betray him again.

Ladoja is now perceived as a veteran governorship candidate. There are forces in his party urging him to allow the younger elementss to fly the party ticket. His fear is that the masses may turn their eyes from the AP, if he abdicates. But, if he runs again in 2015, how far can he go?

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NEWS Customs intercepts ‘pistol’ from passenger

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•Lagos State Commissioner for Environment Tunji Bello (second right) listening to Project Manager, Bullrun Resources Ltd Akinsemoyin Tokunbo (left) during a project tour at the Beach Resort Estate, Osapa-London, Lekki …yesterday. With them are Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage Services, Muyideen Akinsanya (second left) and Coordinator, Eti Osa Drainage Consult, Henry Johnson.

PHOTO:OMOSEHIN MOSES

Anambra community warns Kogi

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HE people of Aguleri Otu community in Anambra East Local Government of Anambra State have warned their Ibaji, Kogi State, neighbours to stop attacking them.

The community said despite the government‘s efforts to curb the crisis, the people of Ibaji reportedly attacked them on Wednesday.

The people said enough is enough.

There has been a bloody crisis between the community and Ibaji in Kogi State.

According to a source, the people have respected the government enough without going to war with Kogi people.

The source said: “We will

•’Enough is enough’ •Govt distributes relief materials From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

not continue to allow our people be slaughtered like goats.

“We are also men, what ever the people of Ibaji want, we will give them now.

“We decided to lie low because we have been following government directive, but we cannot allow this to continue.

“Even some of the police and soldiers deployed in the area were discovered to be their people and that is why some of them are not mak-

ing any attempt to stop the crisis.

“Two days ago, they started burning down our houses again but some of the mobile policemen shot into the air and they ran away, leaving behind some of their weapons.

“We are not cowards and that is why we are saying enough is enough.”

The Anambra State Government has sent relief materials to the community.

The materials were shared to Enugwu Otu Aguleri, Eziagulu Otu Aguleri and Mkpunando Otu Aguleri by

Communities accuse minister of N58.9t oil blocks’ deal

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ELTA State Oil Producing Communities yesterday accused the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, of lack of due process in the allocation of oil blocks to the detriment of the communities.

The members of the community, who besieged the National Assembly, prevented lawmakers and workers from entering through the complex’s main entrance.

They asked the National Assembly to investigate how Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 4, 26, 30,34,38,41 and 42 were given out by the minister.

The protesters were led by Emami Ayirimi. They asked that the National Assembly to cancel the OMLs and give qualified indigenes of the communities the Rights of Pre-emptive and/or first refusal.

In a letter to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, the communities said: “We are compelled to bring to the notice of the National Assembly how the Oil Mining Leases were allocated by the minister, the officials of the ministry and the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited.

“Two days before President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved the Federal Executive Council in 2011, officials of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), of which Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke was chairman, allegedly transferred production

•Barricade National Assembly’s entrance From Victor Oluwasegun, Dele Anofi and John Ofikhenua, Abuja

rights in four large oil blocks, OMLs 26, 30, 34 and 42 to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, a company that neither tendered nor bid for the blocks “By this deal, 60 per cent of NPDC’s 55 per cent stake of these assets is about five billion barrels, which when calculated with the 2013 crude oil benchmark comes to $380 billion or N58.9 trillion.

“This figure is exclusive of the four trillion Cubic Feet ( 4 TCF) of gas asset in the blocks valued at $15.72 trillion.

“In OML 26, 30, 34 and 42, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke’s no-bid approach via the so- called ‘ Strategic Alliance Agreement’ fetched the Federation Account an upfront cash payment of little more than $50 million as initial entrance fee from Atlantic Energy, while Shell’s open and competitive bidding process got $1.3 billion from Heritage Oil Plc for its 45 per cent Joint Beneficiary’s stake on the same block.”

The communities said the government had been shortchanged by the deal on OML 30 as the value of the asset block divested to Atlantic Energy by NPDC should have been higher by at least $750 million.

“If the open and competitive bidding process mandated by

Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act had been followed, it should not be any less than $800 million,” they said.

The minister could not be reached for comments.

The ministry’s Chief Press Secretary, Kingsley Agha, said the minister was not around and would not return till today.

Agha said: “There are so many oil blocks so send the numbers of the four blocks they are talking about to me.

I will give you the answer because the minister is not around now.”

Girl, seven, dies in road crash From Chris Oji, Enugu

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SEVEN-year-old girl has died in an accident involving two commercial buses.

Nine persons, including the two drivers, were injured.

The accident occurred at about 4pm yesterday at Obe Town on Agbani Expressway, involving two L300 buses with registration numbers XE 683KWL and XF 530FKJ. Police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu said the victims were receiving treatment at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH).

the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

The Director of SEMA, Nwabufor Ijezie, said yesterday that the relief materials were 15 bags of beans, 15 bags of rice, 15 bags of garri and 100 kilogrammes of maize.

The materials were presented by the Special Adviser to Governor Peter Obi on Political Matters, Fidelis Okafor, Chairman of Anambra East Local Government, Chinedu Obidiegwu at the Enugwu Otu Aguleri Centre.

More relief materials, according to Ijezie, are likely to be approved by Governor Peter Obi soon.

N air soft gun, otherwise known as Zinc Alloy Shell G.15 pistol and five sachets of pellets were yesterday intercepted by the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command of the Customs Service from a Kenya Airways passenger at the Lagos Airport.

It was during an inward clearance of flight KQ532 from Johannesburg in South Africa.

The pistol was found in Mr Ukeje Goodluck Joseph’s luggage during a routine examination by the Customs and other relevant agencies, Joseph claimed that it was a toy gun, which, he said, he bought for his son.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Airport Command, Mr Thelma Williams, the passenger and the air soft gun with five sachets of pellets have been handed over to the Airport Police Command for further investigations.

Mrs Williams said :” During the inward clearance of Kenya Airways flight KQ532 from Johannesburg , in South Africa, on the April 24, 2013, about 1050 hours, one Mr

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

Ukeje Goodluck Joseph with Nigerian passport number A04206153, upon normal routine examination with other relevant agencies , his luggage was found to contain one air soft gun zinc alloy shell G.15 pistol which he claimed to have bought for his son claiming that it is not a real gun.

The passenger and the air soft gun with five sachets of pellets have been handed over to the airport police command for further investigations.”

•The pistol

JTF destroys seven camps in Bayelsa

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HE Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday said it destroyed seven camps used by militants and sea pirates in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The raid followed an attack by gunmen on a convoy of policemen while on escort duties, which left 12 policemen dead on April 6.

A statement by the JTF Media Coordinator, Lt Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the camps had been identified as bases used by the militants and pirates.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

GTBank assures of higher returns

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 25-04-13

•Shareholders commend sustained growth

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HE board and manage ment of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc have assured shareholders that the bank would continue to explore new opportunities and create new values to enhance dividends to shareholders.

The assurance came at the annual general meeting of the bank at Eko Hotel yesterday in Lagos. Shareholders generally commended the performance of the bank during the year ended December 31, 2012, rounding off with a rapturous fare-thee-well song for the retiring chairman of the bank, Mr Oluwole Oduyemi.

Oduyemi said the bank would build on the landmark achievement it recorded in its financial performance in 2012 by creating new innovative products and services and exploring boundless opportunities offered by the digital ecosystem.

According to him, this financial year would see the emergence of the bank’s virile small and medium scale banking business, which would seek to support entrepreneurs in various sectors and drive the expected growth in the Nigerian economy.

He said the bank would also seek to convert more of the unbanked population through increasingly accessible mobile money services while consolidating on the reach of the social banking platform that it recently deployed.

In his remarks, managing director, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc, Mr. Segun Agbaje, assured shareholders that the bank would continue to increase dividends citing the 41 per cent increase in cash payouts for the 2012 business year.

He said the bank would continuously strive to sustain its leadership in the banking industry while sustaining its

By Taofik Salako

core values of teamwork, integrity and customer satisfaction.

“We have declared the best results in the industry in the last few years and provided shareholders the best return on equity for any financial institution in Africa. We intend to continuously reward our shareholders for the confidence they have in us,” Agbaje said.

Chairman, Ibadan Zone Shareholders Association (IBZA), Chief Sola Abodunrin, commended the performance of the bank noting that it has become more cost efficient.

He said the beginning of expansion into Francophone African countries with the opening of Cote D’Ivoire subsidiary was futuristic and commendable.

In his comments, general secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Mr. Adebayo Adeleke, described the 2012 performance as “very good results” noting that the bank has done extremely well.

Shareholders approved the recommended gross final dividend of N38.26 billion. In addition to interim dividend of N7.36 billion paid earlier, total dividend for 2012 stood at N45.62 billion. On per share basis, shareholders of GTB would receive a final dividend per share of N1.30 in addition to interim dividend of 25 kobo.

GTBank had strengthened its position as the pacesetting Nigerian financial institution as it achieved a record profit before tax of N103 billion during the financial year ended December 31, 2012.

GTBank grew pre-tax profit by 66 per cent from N62.08 billion in 2011 to N103.03 billion in 2012, the highest by any bank so far. Profit after tax also

rose by 69 per cent from N51.7 billion to N87.3 billion. Gross earnings had risen by 22 per cent from N182.41 billion to N221.94 billion.

Key extracts of the audited report showed that GTBank recorded impressive performance in profit and loss accounts as well as balance sheet structure and size. The bank closed the 2012 financial year with onbalance sheet size of N1.73 trillion as against N1.608 trillion in 2011 while total assets and contingents stood at N2.26 trillion compared with N2.14 trillion in 2011.

Besides, deposit liabilities of the group grew by 12 per cent to N1.15 trillion in 2012, reflecting a decent growth of N120 billion from the N1.03 trillion recorded in 2011. The growth in customer deposits underpinned modest increase in the loan book with net loans and advances of N783.9 billion in 2012 as against N707.05 billion in 2011. Shareholders’ funds increased from N230.4 billion in 2011 to N283.4 billion in 2012.

Meanwhile, GTBank’s share price trended upward by 19 kobo to N25.40 per share at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, trading at a contrarian position to the negative overall market situation.

Aggregate market value of all equities dropped from opening value of N10.687 trillion to N10.638 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the main index at NSE, slipped from 33,432.68 points to 33,271.34 points.

The overall market position reflected both the preponderance of losers and substantial losses suffered by several highly capitalised stocks.

Nestle Nigeria led the decliners with a loss of N10 to close at N900.01. Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of N6.96 to close at N253.04 while Lafarge Wapco Cement Nigeria dropped by N3 to close at N77.

Total turnover stood at 634.71 million shares valued at N4.24 billion in 4,722 deals.

Banking subsector accounted for 496.73 million shares worth N2.61 billion in 2,136 deals.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 25- 04-13

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

MONEY LINK ‘Why American banks are weary of emerging HE difficulties faced by said, presents a great of oppormarkets’ banks from developed tunity for the emerging markets,

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countries in starting new banks in emerging markets have been linked to the complex nature of retail banking.

Managing Director, Global Head of Emerging Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bernard Mesah disclosed this.

Speaking yesterday at the commencement of internship programme for Nigerian undergraduates in Lagos, he explained that banks in developed countries are used to wholesale banking than retail.

He said that entering emerging markets requires recruiting from the local markets, people with experiences on retail.

He predicted that the rising growth recorded in many emerging markets, in most cases, above five per cent, will be re-

Stories by Collins Nweze

versed in the future.

Mesiah recalled that there were times when developed markets were growing at similar levels, but had since declined, to sometimes, below one per cent.

For instance, the United Kingdom growth for the first quarter of the year was 0.3 per cent, and similar figure is applicable in other developed countries.

“It is not going to be a smooth run for these emerging market economies. There will certainly be reversals of the growth going on in this region,” he said.

He noted that developed markets have aged population, while those of emerging markets are young and vibrant. This he

FCMB, US flag-off Evergreen Project

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IRST City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc is promoting en vironmental protection and economic empowerment of communities in Nigeria with the flagoff of its Evergreen programme in Sokoto State.

The lender said in a statement that the programme is its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The programme according to the bank integrates economic empowerment with genuine environmental sustainability drive, while engineering a behavioral change through sensitization, advocacy and training on sustainable alternatives to the use of firewood for cooking and related activities.

FCMB’s Executive Director (Abuja and North), Mr. Adam Nuru, said that the programme, which is already running in Katsina State, “is aimed at promoting environmental protection, discouraging deforestation, engendering economic development, skills acquisition and poverty alleviation in communities nationwide”.

Mr. Nuru identified desertifica-

until the reversals set in.

He explained that regulation in Nigeria’s banking has been firm and made the sector safer.The expert said the banking reforms instituted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have brought sanity into the system.

He however, said it remains unclear whether the old practices that bother on abuse of corporate governance are coming back. On the internship programme, he said 250 Nigerian undergraduates have been selected, and will be examined .

The best candidates, he said would be taken for six months internship in Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He said the 250 were selected out of the 1,000 undergraduate students to apply.

Jaiz opens branch in Gombe

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AIZ Bank Pls, the first fullfledged non-interest (Is lamic) bank in the country has commissioned a branch in Gombe state. This brings to five states, including Abuja, where the bank has branches.

In a statement, the lender listed other states where it operates as Kano, Kaduna, and Borno. It plans to open more branches in some parts of the country before the end of the year.

The bank commenced operations in January, last year, with N5 billion minimum capital base, after it secured a banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a regional

bank. The Bank has grown its capital base to over N11 billion.

Chairman of Board of Directors of Jaiz, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, said that the new branch offers a wide range of corporate and retail/consumer financial services covering working finance, agriculture financing, small and medium enterprises finance, home acquisition finance and consumer finance.

“At Jaiz Bank Plc, it is our desire to make positive contributions to society through the encouragement of enterprises; empowerment and development of the economic base of the society

as well as to provide access to innovative channels of financing that are better alternatives to interest-based system,” he said.

The state governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo expressed the state’s readiness to partner and support all financial institutions that are ready to invest in real sector in the economy of the state. He said the lender is one of the first non-interest banks in the country, advising the people of Gombe to take advantage of this new opportunity to borrow money and open new businesses or establish profitable partnership with the bank.

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Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount

OBB Rate Call Rate

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 25-04-13

SYMBOL PAINTCOM EVANSMED LEARNAFRCA IKEJAHOTEL LIVESTOCK ROYALEX UNITYBNK WEMABANK MAYBAKER UBCAP

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

1.70 1.50 2.01 0.64 2.45 0.55 0.58 1.29 1.75 1.08

1.87 1.65 2.21 0.70 2.63 0.59 0.62 1.35 1.80 1.11

CHANGE 0.17 0.15 0.20 0.06 0.18 0.04 0.04 0.06 0.05 0.03

WAPIC UTC DEAPCAP PREMBREW CCNN FO JAPULOIL STERLNBANK AGLEVENT NEM

O/PRICE 1.10 0.70 1.64 0.75 8.80 15.55 0.64 2.51 1.60 0.75

C/PRICE 0.99 0.63 1.48 0.68 8.00 14.24 0.59 2.34 1.50 0.71

Amount

Exchange

Sold ($)

Rate (N)

Date

350m

150m

150m

155.2

2-7-12

350m

138m

138m

155.8

27-6-12

350m

113m

113m

155.7

22-6-12

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP

147.6000 239.4810

149.7100 244.0123

150.7100 245.6422

-2.11 -2.57

NGN EUR

212.4997

207.9023

209.2910

-1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

Bureau de Change 152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

(S/N) Parallel Market

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N)

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

153.0000

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE INVE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY • ARM AGGRESSIVE

LOSERS AS AT 25-04-13

SYMBOL

Amount

Offered ($) Demanded ($)

MANAGED FUNDS

NIDF NESF

In a statement, the firm said its products, which will be launched in Lagos on May 17, is part of the organisation’s transformation agenda started late 2009.

“The products are aimed at enhancing FITC’s service delivery in line with emerging situations of its stakeholders as well as on-going reforms in the broader Financial Services Sector and national economy, for global competitiveness,” it said.

DATA BANK

Tenor

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

tion as a major challenge to the well-being of humanity and the world; a condition worsened by the problems of climate change, global warming and deforestation caused by excessive emission of carbon dioxide and other Green House gases into the atmosphere.

“Sokoto, like some other states in the North is gradually beginning to feel the grip of devastation by desertification. Combating this requires urgent, collaborative and concerted efforts by all and sundry”, he said.

FITC to enhance service delivery

HE Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), a special purpose professional services firm owned by the Nigerian Bankers’ Committee will be introducing new products next month.

The products include FITC Virtual Learning, FITC E-recruitment, FITC Virtual library and the Nigerian version of the IFC Corporate Governance & Board Leadership Training Curriculum.

FGN BONDS

•GMD FCMB, Ladi Balogun

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 138.34 143.59 0.80 1.15 1.07 100.00 1,000.00 1,805.48 15.86 1.39 1.87 10,855.53

9.08 1.00 137.92 144.38 0.78 1.15 1.05 100.00 1,000.00 1,799.18 15.09 1.33 1.80 10,528.92

• KAKAWA GUARANTEED

CHANGE 0.11 0.07 0.16 0.07 0.80 1.31 0.05 0.17 0.10 0.04

• STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUNDARM AGGRESSIVE

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

•

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous

Current

04 July, 2012

07, Aug, 2012

Bank

8.5000

8.5000

P/Court

8.0833

8.0833

Movement

THE NATION FRIDAY APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS Couple remanded for ‘selling babies’ From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

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N Asaba Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday remanded a couple in prison custody for allegedly selling their twin babies.

Augustine Agbona and his wife, Ebele, were remanded in Ogwashi-Uku and Agbor Prisons by the court, which adjourned the matter till May 16.

They are on trial for the sale of their newly born twins to a woman, Mrs. Okogwu, for N400,000.

Two other suspects -Okolie and Ebere- were said to have masterminded the deal. Okolie, of the Welfare Department, Ministry of Women Affairs and Ebere based in Ogwashi-Uku were granted bail after fulfilling the conditions. The court ordered that the couple should be remanded after failing to meet bail conditions.

Ebele was recently delivered of a set of twins (a boy and a girl) at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba but allegedly sold them in connivance with her husband.

They were apprehended by members of the Asaba vigilance group.

The police have arrested 10 robbery suspects, including four women.

Police spokesman Lucky Uyabeme said the suspects attacked Mathias Ofotokun at Oghara junction, Ethiope West Local Government.

He said the robbers dispossessed the victim of an unspecified amount of money, a Blackberry and other valuables.

Uyabeme said the police, acting on a tip-off, raided a hideout and arrested the suspects.

GOVERNORS ALL: Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) flanked by Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) (left) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu) at the National Economic Council meeting at the Presidential Villa....yesterday PHOTO AKIN OLADOKUN

EDSIEC cancels election in Esan North East

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HE Edo State Independent Electoral Commission yesterday cancelled the election in Esan North East Local Government.

The Chairman, Solomon Ogoh, said the election was cancelled because it was marred by violence.

Results were not announced in the election, which was held on Wednesday.

Voters laid siege to the police station in the locality, where the results are believed to have been kept.

A chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) told The Nation earlier that the election would be cancelled because of the emergence of several results.

The ACN chieftain said it has become difficult to believe which of the results was genuine.

Esan North East is the local government of notable Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains like PDP Board of Trustees Chairman Chief Tony Anenih, Minister of Works Mike Onolemenemen, House of Representatives member Friday Itulah, Brown Ebewele and Patrick Iluobe.

Voters came en masse to participate in the election that was monitored by Commissioner of Police Folusho Adebanjo and State Director of State Security Service (SSS) Bakori Tukur.

The voters waited after vot-

ACN wins in Esan West

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HE rescheduled elections in IkpobaOkha and Oredo local governments were held peacefully yesterday.

Elections were postponed in the two local governments following delay in the arrival of materials.

Accreditation of voters across the two local councils began early.

There was low turn-out in some wards in Oredo, but Ikpoba-Okha witnessed a huge turn-out of voters.

In many of the polling units, voters were waiting to vote after accreditation.

Speaker of the House of Assembly Uyi Igbe, who voted at Oredo, said many problems identified last week were rectified by EDSIEC. A voter at Ward 9, Osaretin Edosomwan, said materials arrived early at the polling unit.

A councillorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Okundaye Osayabamwen, assured that he would win, if things were done properly.

Commissioner for Works Osarodion Ogie described the rescheduled election as good, adding that result sheets were available.

State representative in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Henry Okhuorobo, who voted at Aduwawa unit in Ikpoba-Okha, said the process was peaceful.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

ing but were later told that the result sheets were with the Electoral Officer, who was not present.

Two EDSEIC officials were reportedly beaten up by voters, following allegations that they were with the result sheets.

Security was strengthened

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

Members of the opposition were not seen in many of the polling units visited.

The candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Esan West Local Government, Henry Ihumudumu, has been declared winner of the election held on Wednesday.

He polled 30,911 votes; the PDP boycotted the election.

EDSEIC Chairman Solomon Ogoh, who announced the results, denied barring reporters from Independent Television, a station owned

by Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, from covering the commission’s activities.

EDSIEC spokesman Mrs. Osaretin Uwagboe had reportedly told ITV reporters that she was instructed from above not to allow them into the commission’s premises.

Ogoh said he had no powers to ban reporters.

According to him, “I saw myself being abused on television for what I was not party to. I did not ban any organisation and I have no intention of ever doing so.

“I don’t even have the power to ban any media organisation. I cannot do it.”

Ogoh confirmed that Mrs. Uwagboe has been redeployed.

around the locality and 20 persons were arrested.

Some residents said voters blocked all roads in the locality.

Commissioner for Water Resources and Energy Chris Ebare said the tensed situation was caused by the PDP. He alleged that PDP supporters drove voters away from polling centres.

Ebare said the ACN would accept whatever decision taken

by EDSIEC. A PDP leader in Uromi attributed the problem to EDSIEC’s refusal to record the result of the election from the polling units.

He said over 4,000 youths were in front of the police station, insisting that the results must be announced.

UNIPORT 4: Trial suffers setback, as judge hands off case

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HE trial of the suspected killers of four students of the University of Port Harcourt on October 5, last year, in Aluu community suffered a setback yesterday.

This followed the decision of Justice T. S. Oji, who “washed her hands off the case”.

Justice Oji’s decided to return the case file to the Chief Judge when she noticed that of the 11 accused persons, Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, the third accused, did not have a lawyer to defend him.

Ugonna Obuzor, Lloyd Toku Mike, Tekenah Elkanah and Chiadika Biringa were accused of robbery and set ablaze by suspected members of the community.

The Director of Public Prosecution, I. Otorubio, who led the prosecution and other lawyers, announced their appearance, but no counsel appeared for the third accused.

Dissatisfied with this development, the judge said she would rather return the case to the Chief Judge than try it because she would not take sides in the matter.

“It is safer to send the matter back to the Chief Judge for reassignment than favour any party in this matter,” she said adding that her hands were tied in the case because she had a close relationship with the two (the accused persons and victims) parties in the matter.

The accused are Lawal Segun, Ex-Sergeant Lucky Orji,

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, David Chinasa Ogbada, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe, Abang Cyril, Alhaji Hassan Welewa, Okoghiroh Endurance, Ozioma Abajuo and Chigozie Evans Samuel.

Justice Oji said: “The accused persons I know. The victims I know. My hands are tied in this matter. I am sitting between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

She also said her decision to return the case to the Chief Judge was not because she lacked the competence to handle the matter, but because of its sensitive nature.

The judge added that the case has received widespread publicity and attracted attention and therefore, the image of the judiciary should be protected.

She expressed confidence in the judiciary to try every case, stressing that the vital point in this Aluu case was not that justice will be done, but it must be seen to have been done.

“I will not satisfy anybody. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to have been done. The Rivers State Judiciary has very capable hands to try all matters,” she stated.

The case had been at the Port Harcourt Magistrate Court, but due to the fact that it lacked jurisdiction to try the matter, it was transferred to the High Court, where it suffered a setback yesterday.

Fake Air Force officer nabbed From Osagie Otabor and Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

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FAKE officer of the Nigerian Air Force who specialises in duping the public through promises of employment into the Air Force has been arrested.

He was identified as Tekena Kolukumo from Bayelsa State.

Kolukumo was arrested in Benin City, following complaints from citizens that they were defrauded of huge sums of money to enable them join the Air Force.

Parading Kolukumo at the 81 Air Maritime Group (AMG), Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Force Headquarters, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas said military identity cards and NAF badges were found on Kolukumo.

Cmdr Yusuf said Kolukumo was arrested while trying to collect N150,000 from Venture Ogbe, a candidate at the just-concluded NAF recruitment exercise in Benin City.

He noted that Kolukumo had forwarded a UBA account No. 2019037035, now frozen, for money to be deposited and directed the victim to come to Benin City to attend the screening.

Yusuf said Kolukumo would be handed over to the police fand warned that the criterion forNAF appointment was not on a cash-and-carry basis.

According to him, “touts, who pretend to help gullible youths or their parents/guardians, should be avoided. The 2013 recruitment exercise, like the previous ones, was done in a careful, transparent and objective process.”

Kulokumo said it was the devil that pushed him into the mess and added that the account belonged to Paul Okechukwu, who is on the run.

He said he was enlisted into the Army as a private and was dismissed because he was absent without leave.

Illegal oil bunkering sites destroyed From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

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HE Navy in Akwa Ibom State yesterday said it had burnt illegal oil bunkering sites in Jaja Street waterside, Old Market waterside, Edemaya Creek, Ikot Obong and Essene Street Waterside.

During the raid on Essene waterside, 63 drums of illegally refined products suspected to be AGO were destroyed. In the raid on Jaja street waterside 19 drums of locally refined products suspected to be AGO were destroyed.

The Commander, NNS JUBILEE in Ikot Abasi, Cmdr Isaac Ogbole, said this while addressing students of the Junior Course 75 of Department of Maritime Warfare Armed Forces Command and Staff College,Jaji, Kaduna State.

“In the last three months, the base has carried out various operations within its area of operation. The base patrol team on February 24 impounded a wooden boat carrying 25 drums of illegally refined products and two suspects were arrested.”

Police arrest ‘car thieves’ in Calabar From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

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HE police in Cross River State have arrested three men suspected to be part of a car snatching gang operating in the state.

Recovered from them were three vehicles -a gold Hyudai SUV with Cross River registration number, AE 797GGJ, a Nissan Almeira and Toyota Camry with no registration number- and some locally-made pistols.

Commissioner of Police Kola Sodipo said the men were apprehended, following a tip-off on April 19. He said the Divisional Police Officer of Federal Housing Police Station raided a hideout in Ikot Mkebre, where the Hyundai and Nissan were recovered.

According to him, the team laid an ambush and when a man, who came to be identified as David Augustine, showed up to open the Hyundai, he was arrested.

He said Augustine who claimed to be a panel beater working on the silencer of the car led them to Josph Asuquo, the suspected robber of the vehicle.

Augustine also led the team to arrest Edet Inyang, believed to be the gang’s mechanic. The Toyota was found parked in Inyang’s house.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Police smash pastor-led kidnap gang •’We will fish out Bamigbetan's abductors’

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12-MAN kidnap gang allegedly led by a pastor, Solomon Eze, 33, has been smashed by the police.

Lagos State Police chief Umar Manko, who paraded the suspects at the command headquarters in Ikeja, said the police would fish out the kidnappers of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Chair Kehinde Bamigbetan.

Bamigbetan, who was abducted on April 15, was released last weekend.

The pastor was arrested with a landlord, three drivers, a commercial motorcyclist and a clothes seller.

One of them, a suspected fake Lance Corporal, Joseph Onyeami, was said to have died when he jumped from a two-storey building at Agboju, a Lagos suburb, in a bid to evade arrest.

The others are: Sunday James, 29; Emmanuel Iloakazi, 26; Ikechukwu Okafor aka Osuofia I, 37; Obinna Egbugha, 26; Ikechukwu Chedom, and Christian Ezinkwo aka Alhaji, 31. Onyeami is dead; five others are at large.

Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) recovered three AK47 rifles, 11 Ak47 magazines, each loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunition, from the gang.

Manko said on April 6, about 2.00am, the officer-incharge, SARS, Superintendent of Police (SP) Abba Kyari, received information that a robbery/kidnap gang that relocated from the east to Lagos planned operate that day. The police, he said, swung into action, tracking down Eze in Ajegunle.

Eze, he said, confessed to several robberies and kidnapping in the state, after which the suspect led detectives to one of the gang’s hideouts at Ikorodu, where an AK47 rifle with serial number 6090 was recovered.

The detectives, he added, arrested other members of the gang in Surulere, Ajegunle and Ajangbadi.

All the suspects, Manko said, led detectives to Ajegunle

‘Sunday chartered my car to Ijebu-Ode side and paid me N45,000. I only followed them once. They wanted to force the second one on me with gun, but I refused. I forgot to inform police about what they were doing before I was arrested’ Jude Isiguzo and Ebele Boniface

where two AK47 rifles with serial numbers 28097 and 23451, including 11 AK47 magazines loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunition each, were recovered. The weapons, he said, were concealed in the gang’s operational vehicle, an unregistered Nissan Sunny car.

They also led detectives to their detention camps at Ikorodu and Ibeju-Lekki where two houses were searched and sealed off.

Eze, who hails from Osisioma village, Abia State, described himself as a "deliverance minister" at Bride Assembly in Ijesha, Lagos Mainland.

Asked why he got involved in robbery and kidnapping, he said: "On October 15, 2012, I met a brother, Uchenna where I used to pray for people Mountain of Mercy, Ikoyi, Osun State. After three days' prayer, he started calling me.

He asked me where I live and do prayer. I told him that I live in the Leadway Estate, Eruwe. came with one Ogonna on January 2. Ogonna collected my number and left. I did not see him for more than a month when I wanted to travel to Anambra for a church programme.

"I left them in Ikorodu and

travelled to Anambra. I was there when my brother, Kingsley called me that the police had arrested him because of me. I returned and reported myself at the Ajegunle Police Station. I was arrested and brought to SARS. Uchenna told me that his brother used to bring cars from abroad and asked me to follow him to bring them. We went and brought a Toyota Camry car.

He gave me N30,000.

"I only prayed for Uchenna before my encounter with them. I am married. My wife sells fruits and she is carrying a seven-month pregnancy. It was James that put me into trouble because I arrested him.

I did not participate in four armed robbery and kidnap operations as he is claiming. I don't even know that I was arrested for belonging to a robbery/kidnapping gang. It is a surprise to me because I have never been involved in this type of case."

James, the gang's second-incommand, said he used to smuggle Okrika (second-hand clothes) wears from Ghana. A native of Ndieze Opoto in Ebonyi State, he said he took to robbery and kidnapping in December, last year, when he lost his goods to Customs men at the Togo border.

He said: "Out of frustration, I met Victor Emmanuel, now at large at Mazamaza in Lagos.

I narrated my problem to him and he promised to help me.

He said we should look for a house. He contacted one Okeh living at Ajah. When we got a house, I called one Victor who said work had started; that we would be kidnapping people to keep there and collect ransom.

"Our first victim was a woman. We blocked her on LagosAjah Road, forced her inside our vehicle and took her to our Ikorodu detention camp. Her people paid N1 million. I got N100,000. In the second operation, we carried one man and collected N1 million. Like the second, our third operation was on the same Ajah Road.

We carried a man and collect-

'Let's boost youths' talents'

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IGERIANS must develop the creative talents of youths, the Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr. Afam Ezekude, admonished yesterday in his goodwill message on this year's World Intellectual Property Day. According to him, this year's theme, "Creativity: the Next Generation," "underscores the strategic importance of the younger generation of inventors, scientists, authors, musicians, artistes, etc, to the future of mankind and the sustenance of national aspirations in our increasingly knowledge-driv-

en world."

He said intellectual property remained Nigeria's most valuable resource which must be harnessed in a responsible and sustainable manner, adding that the spirit of creativity and excellence should be inculcated in Nigerian children, including all supports to enable them realise their God-given talents.

He added: "Our school curriculum should be balanced in both academic learning and the sharpening of creative skills.

Greater attention should be paid to extra-curricular activities in our schools and institutional support given to talent

hunts at every level of education."

Ezekude added: "Convinced on the need to invest in the next generation, the Nigerian Copyright Commission will continue to partner with relevant institutions to strengthen the copyright system and give hope to our teeming creative talents", he stated, adding that with the country's abundant creative talents, "the nation will not only reproduce the likes of Achebe, Fela, Ogunde and Ladi Kwali, but is already at the threshold of taking creativity and innovation to the next level on a global scale."

Polytechnic loses lecturer

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HE management, students and staff of the Federal Polytechnic Auchi, Edo State, were bereaved on Tuesday. A lecturer in the Mass Communication department, Mr. Nasiru Ikhazuagbe, died after a brief illness at Faith Foundation Hospital in Edo State. The news of his death

By Abike Adegbulehin and Sampson Unamka

was broken by his wife, Zubedatu.

His remains were moved to his Ogbido, Edo State home where he was buried according to Islamic rites.

His students said his death came as a shock because he taught them a day

before his death, and that he was still seen in the school premises on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

A source said: "He slumped on Friday and he was rushed to Faith Foundation Hospital where he was hospitalised and was receiving treatment until his death early on Tuesday".

•Some of the suspects ... yesterday. Inset: The weapons recovered from them

ed N2 million. We used N1.5 million to buy a Pathfinder Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).

My role was to take victims to our detention camp.”

Iloakazi, a taxi driver who hails from Imo State, said: "I am a landlord in Shibiri area of Ajangbadi and used to drive Sunday James.

“The Gulf car I was driving for him had its windshield and side mirror broken. He gave me N45,000 for the repairs. It was not the money I got from him that I used to build my house at Shibiri Ajangbadi. I was formerly working with Guinness Plc Nigeria in Lagos.”

Okafor, a bus driver who hails from Ihiala in Anambra State, said: "Sunday chartered my car to Ijebu-Ode side and paid me N45,000. I only fol-

lowed them once. They wanted to force the second one on me with gun, but I refused. I forgot to inform police about what they were doing before I was arrested. It was only Sunday I knew at the Jibowu motor park. I did not know that he is a kidnapper and armed robber."

Imo State-born Egbugha, a commercial motorcycle rider in Ajangbadi on the outskirts of Lagos, said he only took Chedom and Iloakazi on his bike on at different.

Chedom said his brother duped him of N1.3 million after which another South African-based brother helped him with N700,000 which, he said, was "consumed by the high cost of living in Lagos." He added: "My wife ran away with my son who later died

after a brief illness and she became a full-time prostitute.

One of my friends, the late Efiigbo, who used to go to Cotonou with me went to Onitsha and bought an AK47 for N1million. I took policemen to Nwafada's place to get our operational AK47 rifle in his possession but he escaped. Onyeami aka Lance Corporal Joseph jumped down from his hotel and died when SARS men cordoned off the hotel."

Chedom, who said he broke his hand in an accident, said he participated in robbery with Sunday Emmanuel, Ikechukwu and Okwudili only once.

Ezinkwo, a truck driver from Anambra State, said: "I am a victim of circumstance because my brother, Ikechukwu Chedom gave me a AK47 rifle to keep in my Nissan Sunny car."

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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NEWS Group plans market recovery forum

Ahmed, Belgore quarrel over Shonga project’s film award T HE Kwara State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday debunked the claim by the state government and former Governor Bukola Saraki that Shonga Farm in the state won the Agriculture and Green Economics category at this year’s Deauville Green Award in France.

The party said the claim conflicts with details from the award’s organisers.

In a statement yesterday in Ilorin, the state capital, by Mohammed Dele Belgore’s media aide, Rafiu Ajakaye, the party faulted the government’s claim.

Belgore, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was Kwara State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in the 2011 election.

Ajakaye also dismissed as a sham and diversionary, reports that some of Belgore’s supporters have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The

• Award a sham, says ACN • Govt: opposition insincere From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

media aide affirmed that some people were paid to disguise as ACN/Belgore supporters to satisfy PDP’s obsession with publicity.

“We have since discovered that the PDP and its government can go to any length, including concocting mindless lies, to satisfy their obsession for media attention,” he said.

“When you place the defection story beside the claim by the leader of the ‘defectors’ that they belonged to an MDB Forum, the whole thing falls flat.

This is because there is nothing like MDB Forum.

“But we are not surprised.

Just last weekend, the PDP-led government shamelessly issued a statement claiming that a documentary on Shonga Farm had won The Agriculture and Green Economics Category in the 2013 edition of the Deauville Green Award.

“We have since found out that this claim falls within the series of lies for which this government is notorious. The award, which the film on Shonga won was: ‘the Grand Prix for Best Audio-Visual Environmental Institutional Policy’, not the Grand Prix in the Agriculture and Green Economics, as claimed! And we ask: why this mindless falsehood?”

The state government and Dr . Saraki, last weekend, issued separate statements celebrating the award, which the government’s spokesman, Dr. Femi Akorede, claimed was a “further validation of Saraki’s unparalleled vision for agro-reform”.

The government yesterday said the ACN was alarmed at its giant strides, “the latest example of which is the Asteria Grand Prix (award) for A Farm For Africa. This is consigning the party to irrelevance in Kwara State”.

The Special Asssistant to the Governor on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Akorede, said: “It will, therefore, stop at nothing to diminish the state government’s achievements, even where these are obvious to all well-meaning Kwarans...

“I wish to state with all emphasis at my disposal that I received a Grand Prix for A Farm

Benue retires 512 civil servants From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

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HE Benue State Government is sending 512 civil servants on retirement with immediate effect.

A government circular has been sent to ministries, parastatals, heads of agencies and various extra-ministerial agencies.

It has caused fears among civil servants in the state.

The circular, with reference number BS/HCS/CIR/ 22/517, was signed by the Head of Service (HOS), Mr. Terna Ahua. The Nation exclusively got a copy of the circular, which directed that the salaries of those to be retired from service should be stopped immediately and their letters of retirement tendered to enable them proceed on retirement.

Attached to the circular was a list of the 512 affected civil servants.

The circular reads: “The government expresses concerns that through the action of those charged with the responsibility of issuing retirement letters, those due for retirement have continued to feature on the state payroll and warns that henceforth officers who neglect this warning would be sanctioned.”

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T •Belgore

for Africa. It is a documentary film on the revolutionary Shonga Farm project in front of crowd of film producers, government officials and representatives of non-governmental organisations. Clearly, ACN and its leaders are the ones peddling falsehood here.”

Akorede said the documentary, entitled: A Farm for Africa, won the “Grand Prix Award in the Agriculture and Green Economics”. The film was produced by a British film producer, Matt Reid, and directed by Ed Wardle.

• Niger State Governor and Chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (right) receiving a report from the Chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum Committee on Reconciliation, Healing and Security, Amb. Zakari Ibrahim, at the State Governors’ Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja...yesterday.

From Khadijat Saidu, Birni Kebbi

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‘Good governance has kept crisis from Zamfara’

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AMFARA State Governor Abdulaziz Yari yesterday said good governance in the state since 1999 has ensured peace and kept the Boko Haram sect from entering the state.

Addressing State House correspondents, the governor noted that even when Sharia was established and there were crises in other states, Zamfara State remained peaceful.

Yari was accompanied by Senators Ahmad Rufai Sani,

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

ernment, which claimed to be youth -driven still deceived the people.

The statement reads: “The Kaduna State ACN views the recent ceremony organised by the state government for the distribution of SURE-P transport scheme items as deceitful and an executive falsehood.

“The much-touted distribution of 40 taxis, 35 buses, 15 luxury buses and 700 tricycles to the supposed ‘beneficiaries’ is not only misleading but also designed by the government to deceive the people and swindle the ‘beneficiaries’, who were made to pay a quarter of the total cost of each of the items.

“Most of the ‘beneficiaries’ had to borrow from friends and relations to meet up with the so-called empowerment

HE Association of Stock Broking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) will next month hold a forum to sustain the recovery experienced in the capital market since 2008.

Outlining the procedure for the plan, the executives of the association, led by its President Emeka Madubike, said a forum, tagged: Capital Market Night, would brainstorm among members and other stakeholders to review recent happenings in the market.

Madubike said: “We have interactions from all stakeholders and it is an opportunity to share our experiences with other practitioners in the market to see how we can enhance market recovery.”

The programme, which will hold on May 23, is the maiden edition and will serve as an avenue for stakeholders to review the market performance in the last few years.

It will also address issues that enable the market to attract retail investor confidence.

‘Lamido for President’ posters flood Kebbi

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Kabir Garba Marafa, Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u, representing the state; former Governor Mahmud Shinkafi, Zamfara State House of Assembly Speaker Sanusi Garba Rikiji and the Emir of Anka and Chairman of the state Traditional Rulers’ Council, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad as well as members of the House of Assembly.

The governor and his delegation paid President Good-

Kaduna ACN calls for distribution of SURE-P items HE Kaduna State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday urged Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero to release the Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) items recently launched in the state to the beneficiaries or refund their money.

In a statement in Kaduna, ACN Chairman Mohammed Musa Soba said 30 days after Yero started the exercise, as part of activities marking his 100 days in office, beneficiaries have not been given the items for which they borrowed money and made deposits.

But the Director-General on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Ahmed Maiyaki, told The Nation that the delay in the distribution of the items was to allow the beneficiaries make the required 25 per cent deposit.

Soba regretted that a gov-

By Tonia Osundolire

programme’s requirements.

Despite the public show of the physical distribution of the items by Governor Yero to those that have been screened and cleared upon the payment of the necessary deposits by the ‘beneficiaries’, no single item has been given to any of the said ‘beneficiaries’ as at today.

“About 30 days after the purported distribution, all the items are parked on the premises of the Government House and the Ministry of Works and Transport. It is regrettable that a government that claims to have ‘Youth Empowerment’ as the driving force of its security, peace and development agenda would embark on deliberate deceit to further frustrate the youths and make them vulnerable to crimes and other social vices.”

luck Jonathan a “thank you” visit for giving Zamfara a university and approving N900 million for the remediation of some villages affected by lead poisoning.

He said: “I think that has to do with the collective effort from the traditional rulers. I can clearly mention the issue of good governance right from 1999 till date.”

“When Sharia was established, all the crises that happened in other states never happened in Zamfara State.

This is part of good governance. The President also appreciated the way and manner Zamfara State has been peaceful. He clearly mentioned that if there is any place in the country that would have the kind of Boko Haram activities, if truly it lies in Islam, then it should be Zamfara State. He appreciated the fact that there is no incident like that in Zamfara State.”

On Dr Jonathan’s visit, Yari said: “It is a high-powered delegation led by myself, distinguished senators, former governor, members of the House of Representatives and traditional rulers.

Recently, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the establishment of a federal university in Zamfara State.

“Since the establishment of the state, Zamfara has been struggling to get a university in place, but as God would have it, it did not happen

until now. We came to express our appreciation to the President for this gesture.

“You are also aware of our struggle with lead poisoning. Recently, the President approved about N900 million for the remediation of some villages affected by the poisoning. As I am talking to you, work is ongoing, and myself with the Minister of State for Works and the Minister of Information will be at the site to see how the work is going on.

HE campaign for a northerner to reclaim the Presidency in 2015 seems to have swayed some supporters of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido to flood Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, with his presidential campaign posters.

Major streets and important areas in the town have been taken over by the governor’s posters. Among the areas the posters have been pasted are the entrance gates to Gesse Phase 1, Adamu Aliero Housing Estate’s gate, Badariya area and major roundabouts in the state capital.

The posters have also become a subject of discussion among residents.

The Nation investigation showed that the posters were also pasted in some major local governments, apparently to warm up for 2015 campaigns in the state.

Family of late Rimi’s wife to appeal judgment

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HE family of the late Hajiya Sa’adatu Abubakar Rimi, who was murdered in 2006, yesterday said they would appeal the Kano High Court judgment which freed the principal suspect in the case.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court, presided over by Justice Lawal Wada, on Wednesday dismissed the case of murder case against Mustapha Abubakar Rimi. The convict is not a relation of the late Kano State Governor Abubakar Rimi.

The court, however, found him guilty of theft and sentenced him to a five-years imprisonment.

A younger brother to the deceased, Alhaji Bamanga Sambo, who spoke for the family, told reporters in Kano that they had contacted their lawyers to file an appeal against the judgment.

He said: “We are not satisfied with the judgement delivered by the court against Mustapha and we have resolved to appeal against it.”

The family spokesman urged the Kano State Government to assist the family so that justice is done in the matter.

NAN recalls that Mustapha was arraigned in 2006 on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide. But the court dismissed the last charge following the failure of the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

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FOREIGN NEWS

NEWS Absence of witness stalls trial in N170m EFCC case

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•Flower to remember: A carnation is placed between lists of names during a demonstration in Istanbul marking the 98th anniversary of the massacre and deportation of Ottoman Armenians during World War I…yesterday PHOTO: AFP

40 found alive after Dhaka building collapse

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ESCUE teams have been frantically searching for survivors as they are aware that they are racing against time.

The heat and the dust could take its own toll. The broken concrete blocks are precariously placed and there are concerns for rescue workers as well.

When more people are pulled out alive, that gives lots of encouragement to the rescue workers, many of whom are local volunteers.

The collapse has already triggered anger among garment factory workers who were holding protests in some places in Dhaka. Garment factory owners and Western retailers are likely to face tough

S

•Over 280 dead questions from labour rights campaigners in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said those thought to be responsible for the disaster, including the owner who allegedly told workers to enter the building despite the cracks and has since fled would be prosecuted.

“Wherever he is, he will be found and brought to justice,” she told politicians.

Teams from the army, the fire service and border guards have been working around the clock at the site to find survivors, using heavy

lifting gear, tools and their bare hands.

The news that 40 people had been found alive was greeted with jubilation at the scene, the BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan reports.

One rescue official told the BBC that the group was found after they were heard screaming in the rubble.

The military said at least 12 of the group had since been pulled free.

Search teams have been dropping water bottles and food items to other survivors who are still trapped.

One trapped man,

Boston aftermath: Putin optimistic on US-Russian ties

PEAKING in his annual town-hall meeting, which this year ran nearly five hours, the Russian president called for greater US-Russian cooperation on terrorism after the Boston bombing.

“I just call for this tragedy to be an incentive for us to become closer in tackling common threats, with terrorism being one of the most important and dangerous of them. If indeed we combine our efforts, we won’t take such hits and sustain such losses,” Mr. Putin said.

In the wake of the bombing it became known that one of the two suspects,

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had been on the radar of both the FBI and the Russian FSB security service, and that the Russian agency had warned both the FBI and the CIA about him in 2011. Yet a subsequent FBI check failed to validate the Russians’ suspicions, and the FSB itself apparently did not follow up on Tamerlan when he made a six-month visit to the Russian republics of Dagestan and Chechnya the following year.

“We always have said that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to declarations about terrorism being a common threat, and [that we should]

engage in closer cooperation. Now these two criminals have proven the correctness of our thesis,” Putin added.

Putin’s yearly telethon, which took place even during the years Dmitry Medvedev was president and Putin was prime minister, is seldom a news-breaking event. But it is a good opportunity to take the Kremlin’s temperature on, literally, scores of issues.

On the issue that will be of greatest interest in the US, Putin combined his plea for greater security cooperation with some tough criticism of past US policies and attitudes.

Haitian rescue veteran heads DR Congo mission

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HE UN has appointed a Brazilian general credited with bringing a Haiti slum under control to lead peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Gen Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz will lead 20,000 troops, including a new combat force charged with targeting rebels in the east of the country.

This is the most offensive mandate given to any UN peacekeeping force.

Gen Santos Cruz told the BBC his troops would be trained to consider civilians

and private property in DR Congo.

“The most critical area is nowadays the eastern part of the country,” he told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

“I am ready to face the most difficult of scenarios.

The main objective is to relieve the suffering of the people.”

Gen Santos Cruz will be in charge of a new 2,500strong brigade tasked with “neutralising and disarming” armed groups which have ravaged eastern DR Congo for the past two decades.

The most recent uprising, by the M23 rebels, began in 2012 and has led some 800,000 people to flee their homes in the mineral-rich region.

Both neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda have denied UN charges that they are supporting the M23.

The UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo, known as Monusco, has been widely criticised as ineffective.

Troops from Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa are likely to form the bulk of the new brigade, which is expected to be deployed by July.

Mohammad Altab, was able to speak to an Associated Press reporter, telling him he had two children.

“I want to live. It’s so painful here,” he said.

Another man, trapped deeper in the rubble, begged for rescue, telling the reporter: “It’s hard to remain alive here. It would have been better to die than enduring such pain to live on.”

Local hospitals have been overwhelmed with the arrival of more than 1,000 injured people.

Our correspondent says the rescuers intend to continue their operation for several days, but that they are aware time is now running out.

Israeli military shoots down drone

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SRAEL shot down a drone yesterday as it approached the country’s northern coast, the military said. Suspicion immediately fell on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

The incident was likely to raise already heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, a bitter enemy that battled Israel to a stalemate during a monthlong war in 2006.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in northern Israel at the time of the incident, said he viewed the infiltration attempt with “utmost gravity.”

“We will continue to do everything necessary in order to protect the security of the citizens of Israel,” he said.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the unmanned aircraft was detected as it was flying over Lebanon and tracked as it approached Israeli airspace.

Lerner said the military waited for the aircraft to enter Israeli airspace, confirmed it was “enemy,” and then an F-16 warplane shot it down.

The drone was flying at an altitude of about 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) and was downed roughly five miles (eight kilometers) off the Israeli coast near the northern city of Haifa.

Lerner said Israeli naval forces were searching for the remains of the aircraft.

HE absence of a prosecution witness yesterday stalled trial in a N170 million fraud Suit by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Jonathan Udeagbala.

EFCC, last year, arraigned Udeagbala before an Igbosere High Court, Lagos, for allegedly defrauding Francis Nwagbale and Leo Eze of N170million, under the guise that he had a valid MTN dealership.

Also, the defendant, who was remanded in custody last week with two other persons on a six-count charge of obstruction of justice and forgery of a medical report purportedly issued by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), was denied bail based on alleged incriminating evidence against them.

In the four-count charge of fraud, stealing and obtaining under false pretence, counsel to EFCC Rotimi Oyedepo, expressed surprise that the witness was not present in court.

He told the court that they spoke while he was coming to court and that

By Precious Igbonwelundu

the witness told him he was on his way.

“I apologise for the absence of the witness and I pray the court to give an adjournment date so that the witness can be produced in court,” Oyedepo said.

Defence counsel O. C. Ikebulu did not object to his plea for adjournment.

He said there was no witness for him to cross-examine.

Udeagbala and Lynq Communications Limited were alleged to have fraudulently obtained N106 million and N250 million between September 2009 and September 2010, belonging to Victory Electronics Company Limited and Fakwe Investments Limited. The offence contravenes Sections 285, 313 and 390 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos, 2003.

Udeagbala appeared for himself and his company; Lynq pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Justice Deborah Oluwayemi granted him bail and adjourned the matter till May2 for mention and May 20 for the substantive suit to allow the EFCC produce the witness in court.

World Malaria Day: Dangote urges private sector to tackle disease

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S the World Malaria Day was celebrated across the globe yesterday, Nigeria’s Malaria Ambassador, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has decried the prevalence of the disease despite the development of new drugs to combat it.

The business mogul said the disease remains a major threat to the health of the people in developing countries.

He noted that the challenge of eradicating malaria is a collective task that must be accomplished to free Africa of the deadly disease.

Dangote, who spoke in Lagos, stressed the need for all to be involved in preventing diseases, such

as malaria, measles and polio.

He noted that the success achieved in stemming the tide of the disease was key to stimulating the nation’s economy as the potentials in the productive sector are the vulnerable groups.

The Dangote Foundation had teamed up with the Bill and Belinda Foundation to partner Kano State Government on the eradication of polio through provision and application of required vaccines.

Earlier in the month, Dangote disbursed $500,000 to the United Nations Chidlren’s Fund (UNICEF) to fight measles across the country.

Commission approves 221 applicants for Cadet Insp., ASP

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HE Police Service Commission (PSC) has released the names of 221 applicants, who passed the prescribed examination for recruitment into the police as Information Communication Technology (ICT) professionals.

The successful applicants comprises 74 Cadet Inspectors and 147 Cadet Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs).

Chief Information Officer of the commission Mr Ferdinand Ekpe confirmed this yesterday.

Ekpe told the News Agency of Nigeria

(NAN) that the successful candidates would soon go for training.

A breakdown of the recruits in the Inspectorate cadre showed that Katsina had the highest with six, followed by Kaduna, five and Bauchi, four.

Anambra, Bayelsa, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau and Zamfara states had one candidate each, with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) having none.

In the ASP cadre, Edo topped the list with 17 candidates, followed by Benue, nine; and Abia, Gombe, Kwara and Zamfara with eight each.

The FCT has one.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

NEWS Fayemi bids deputy tearful bye Continued from page 4

never lost your capacity to be happy.

“Your word was your bond and you never tolerated any action that remotely smacked of sabotage. You were a superstar to the end; you will ever be the amazing amazon of Ekiti land.

“A deputy governor who changed the face of Ekiti politics with grace, panache and elegance. To me, you will always be a dependable ally.

“You lit positive candles in Ekiti State. You are a true icon of democracy. Your family will be our family till the end of time.

We shall not relent until we make poverty history in Ekiti State.”

Erelu Fayemi, in her tribute, promised to sustain the memory of the late deputy, describing her as a “partner in women emancipation who contributed immensely to the empowerment of women in Ekiti State”.

She said: I solemnly pledge before you today that henceforth, your children would be mine, your husband , my brother and your parents , my parents - till the end”.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Mr. Olayinka’s home state said a chapter of a glorious life had been closed, with the death of Mrs. Olayinka.

Amosun, who was represented by his deputy, Prince Segun Adesegun, urged the mourners to learn from the Book of Ecclesiastes in which King Solomon stressed the vanity of life.

“In Ogun State, we will miss her sorely because she was a wife to us. We thank Ekiti State Government for this wonderful rite of passage. This is one of those uncommon occasions on

which we, as a government, must take the bull by the horn by putting more money into our health sector, our universities and research activities to check the spread of cancer,” he said.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s tribute was read by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, who said the news of the death of Mrs. Olayinka was received with shock.

“She was our friend, our colleague, our compatriot and comrade in the struggle. She was a fighter with a cool, calm demeanour and as a deputy governor, she was a loyal, humble but a firm subordinate.”

The daughter of the deceased, Olamide, in a tribute on behalf of her siblings, described their mother as “God-fearing”, brilliant in many ways and amazingly intelligent”.

They narrated how their mother used every opportunity available to her to ensure that they were brought up in a Christian way.

“We remembered how our mother strove to ensure that we were brought up in a Christian way. She used to anoint us every morning before going to school and sought God’s guidance and protection for us on daily basis.”

The children added: “Our mother is amazingly intelligent.

She believed that she could walk through the sea in solving problems with the intention that she would not get drowned.

“She was compassionate, loving, caring and had ready made answers to all knotty situations, especially when we have any challenge. We will sorely miss her.”

According to them, they were comforted in the fact that their mother had lived a worthy and

fulfilled life, having touched the lives of many people in a positive way.

“She knew that even if cancer won, God would be there to take her to heaven. She would ask me to recite Philippians Chapter Four Verse Three which says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.

“She was an epitome of beauty, her sense of style was exceptional. though fun-loving, she was a disciplinarian. You know you are in trouble if she called you by your first name,” Olamide said.

Others who gave tributes were the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mr. Tayo Ekundayo, who spoke on behalf of the State Executive Council, the Personal Assistant to the late Mrs. Olayinka, Princess Teju Okuyiga, representatives of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), labour unions, Igbo and Hausa communities.

The governor later led other dignitaries to file past the body to pay their last respects.

Others at the tributes session were the Deputy Speaker of the Guateng Provincial Legislature, South Africa, Uhuru Moiloa, Senators Babafemi Ojudu, Tony Adeniyi; and Bimbo Daramola, Prince Adesegun.

Also there were: House Speaker Adewale Omirin, Chief Judge of Ekiti State Justice Ayodeji Daramola, Secretary to the State Government Ganiyu Owolabi, Head of Service Bunmi Famosaya, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti, Bishop Felix Ajakaye, Chief Imam and President , League of Imams and Alfas in Ekiti, Alhaji Jamiu Kewulere, members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), traditional rulers, chiefs and party chieftains, including ACN Chairman, Chief Jide Awe.

Five policemen, 20 suspected terrorists die in JTF, Boko Haram clash in Yobe

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DAY after President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the committee on amnesty for Boko Haram, members of the sect engaged Joint Task Force (JTF) in a battle.

Twenty-five people were killed in the clash early yesterday, which occurred in Gashua, in Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State. Scores sustained injuries.

Gashua is 187 kilometers north of Damaturu, the state capital.

JTF spokesman in the Northeast state, Lt. Eli Lazarus, said in a statement yesterday that the insurgents were repelled.

“At about 12 mid-night, Thursday 25th April, 2013, unknown gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists attacked JTF location in Gashua town, the Police Area Command and Gashua Divisional Police Station.

“Men of the JTF were able to repel and contain the attack on its location.

“Reinforcement was, however, dispatched swiftly.

“Two police officers were

From Duku Joel, Damaturu

killed in the attack while five of the suspected terrorists lost their lives during the encounter.

“Some of the suspected terrorists escaped in two vehicles with injuries while others are believed to still be in the town.

“The fleeing terrorists took away one police Hilux vehicle fitted with siren at the top, one other vehicle, police uniforms and other items from the police stations.

“Items recovered include: Toyota Corolla car, Peugeot 406 saloon car, Isuzu pick-up van, one AK 47 rifle, a police riot gun, one locally -made pistol, one Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) bomb, one generating set and large quantity of ammunition.”

The statement warned citizens to be careful but not to panic as JTF is poised to flush out the insurgents.

It reads: “The public is enjoined to be mindful of the fact that the terrorists are still around and are bent on wreaking havoc and instilling fear in law abiding citizens in other to make life unbearable for them.

“Let no one be in doubt however, that JTF would continue to respond appropriately to such attacks.

“The taskforce urges all lawabiding citizens to remain calm as it is currently on top of the situation.”

A cordon-and-search operation is currently ongoing in Gashua town.

State Police Commissioner Alhaji Sanusi Rufai, who confirmed the incident said that over N9 million was carted away from a commercial bank during the attack by Islamic terrorists.

Rufai told reporters in Damaturu that two injured policemen were taken to the hospital.

According to him, the gunmen seized the bank manager and forced him to open the vault.

The Commissioner said one of the gunmen who was arrested, has been assiting the police with information on the attack.

He said: “It is the same group using police and military uniforms that attacked Tarmuwa, Gulami and Geidam in recent times.”

Federal, states get green light to borrow $9b Continued from page 4

target of 20,000 by 2020.”

“It further noted that investing in the needed transmission infrastructure would ensure, among other benefits, the needed return on investment, the maximization of proceeds from the sale of the generation assets, improved GDP growth rate as well as ensure effective distribution of generated power to the ultimate consumers.

“As a means of solving the envisaged significant transmission constraint by the end of

this year and bridging the gap for counterpart funding in hydro plants, the report recommended the following: “utilisation of the proceeds from sale of generation assets for reinvestment in transmission and hydro projects; Disbursement of $1.65 billion to fund critical transmission infrastructure; $1.72 billion to fund hydro generation; the sourcing and immediate release of $3.37 billion to bridge funding, pending the realisation of proceeds from generation asset sale”.

NEC, he said, commended

the Committee for the detailed report and recommended the implementation of the recommendations to ensure adequate evacuation of generated power towards meeting effective power demand in the country.

“The Council also recommended that 11 small dams spread across the country should be accommodated in the funding plan because of their potentials towards boosting power, water supply and agriculture in the country”, he stated.

THE NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

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SPORT EXTRA Glo hails Eaglets’ final berth •Urges team to win African U-17 trophy

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ELECOMMUNICATIONS giant, Globacom, has congratulated the Golden Eaglets at the on-going African U-17 Championship on its qualification for the final, describing it is a good omen for Nigerian football.

A statement by Globacom in Lagos on Thursday described the Eaglets as true conquerors, urging them to go for the trophy.

The Golden Eaglets, who opened scoring in the semi final match, trailed the Young Carthage Eagles of Tunisia 2-1 before making a remarkable comeback that saw the encounter ending 4-2 in Nigeria’s favour.

“We reckon with the great fighting spirit the team has, so far demonstrated and we believe the spirit will help the team to achieve the ultimate

goal of lifting the trophy,” the statement said.

“A team that has scored 17 goals in four matches deserves special recognition and we urge them not to rest on their oars until the trophy is won on Saturday.”

Globacom also commended the Eaglets’ coaching crew for their tenacity, while asking Nigerians to sustain their support and prayers for the team.

“We started this year well by winning the AFCON trophy in South Africa and we should continue the winning streak in Morocco,” the statement further said.

Globacom is the major partner of the Nigeria Football Federation and official sponsor of the Nigerian national teams.

3ra’fique , Ali Baba fight malaria with soccer S part of efforts to commemorate World Malaria Day this year, 3rafique communications, a wholly independent Marketing Communications organisation based in Lagos, is hosting a novelty football match between On-Air Personalities and Nigerian comedians on Saturday, the 27th of April at the Campos mini stadium.

The initiative tagged ‘Join the Cast’ is in partnership with foremost comedian, Ali Baba, and is aimed at leveraging on the appeal of soccer to deliver Malaria prevention messages whilst mobilising communities against Malaria.

Irabor Okosun, CEO 3ra’fique Communications said: “Malaria is both a cause and consequence of poverty.

Football on the other hand is the most popular sport in the

A

•Victor Moses gave Chelsea the early advantage as he headed in a Frank Lampard corner

EUROPA LEAGUE

Moses scores in Chelsea win at Basel late David Luiz free-kick gave Chelsea the advantage in their Europa League semi-final first leg with Basel as the Blues enjoyed a 2-1 victory in Switzerland.

Super Eagles’ striker, Victor Moses gave the Blues a 12th minute lead when Frank Lampard’s corner evaded Branislav Ivanovic and hit the striker on his head,

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• Yobo secures narrow victory over Benifica before bouncing into the top corner of the net to put Rafa Benitez’s side ahead.

Valentin Stocker and Fernando both hit the post with second half efforts before Basel were awarded a controversial late penalty when César Azpilicueta was judged to have brought down Valentin Stocker.

However, Luiz’s late kick found a way through the Basel wall to give Chelsea two vital away goals and a lead going into the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Super Eagles’ skipper Joseph Yobo and his Fenerbache team-mates also earned a narrow 1-0 win at home to Benfica in the first

EAGLES’ WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS IN DANGER

NFF sources for World Cup, Federation and mileage Cup funds leverage HERE are possibilities available as regards funds of the Super Eagles

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finding it difficult to honour crucial 2014 World Cup qualifying matches as well as FIFA Confederation Cup as paucity of funds has almost crippled the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

NationSport exclusively gathered that the situation is so bad that the President of the NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari has resorted finding alternative means of borrowing funds in order to meet up the busy schedules of the Super Eagles in June, 2013.

It was also gathered that the NFF’s monthly grants that used to be N151 million during the Alhaji Sani Lulu regime as the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, has now been slashed to just N71 million under Maigari. But the NFF boss has vowed to go to any length in ensuring the Eagles honour both the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and FIFA Confederation Cup. The Chairman of the Finance Committee of the NFF, Dr. Shehu Adamu, a Board member of the

From Segun Ogunjimi, Abuja

Football Federation, however, made some clarifications on the issue as well as stating clearly that too much litigations and instability in the system has slowed the Federation down and have robbed it of many sponsors throwing their weight behind Nigerian football.

Adamu also used the opportunity to point out that the prize money for winning the Africa Cup of Nations and the N350 million sponsorship package from Globacom, would not be enough to cater for Super Eagles’ assignments alone, talk less of other remaining seven national teams.

“Despite the Super Eagles being the top brand in African football now, coupled with the fact that both the Flying Eagles and the Golden Eaglets have qualified for the World Cups, we are still finding it difficult to enjoy the

because of the too much litigation and instability of the particular system.

leg of the Europa League semi-finals.

The hosts came close to taking the lead midway through the first half, but Moussa Sow’s header from Dirk Kuyt’s cross came back off the crossbar.

Fenerbahce then squandered a glorious opportunity at the end of the half as Cristian Baroni hit the post with a penalty following a foul on Gokhan Gonul.

Benfica was an improved side in the second half, but the Turks made the breakthrough on 71 minutes when Egemen Korkmaz’s header crept over the line from a corner.

NIGERIA DEAF TABLE TENNIS TRIALS

Lagos, Delta Flood Final Trial List

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ABLE Tennis players from Lagos and Delta states proved the stuff they were made of at the finals of the three-day Deaf National Table Tennis Trials, which end on Friday at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

At the initial stage, Lagos players were leading the pack but , their efforts were not enough to clip the wings of the Deltans who dusted them to fourth, sixth and eighth, leaving Ondo and Rivers to share fifth andseventh positions in the men's category.

In the women's category, Tokosi Munirat led the pack of Lagos players, claiming the first, third, fourth, sixth and eighth.The two players from Rivers settled for fifth and seveth positions.

Addressing reporters after the event, the Technical Director/Coach of the association,Mr. Mukaila Olaoye, hinted that he was particularly delighted with the outcome of the trials.He said it enable him to select the best hands, as planned.

"To be candid, I'm really delighted with the way the trials were conducted with the outcome generally, I stronglybelieve the players selected will prove their worth". he posited Eight men and eight women were picked at the just concluded event. It will resume camping in the next few days in Ibadan, where the number will be pruned to 4 men and 4 women for the championship billed for July 24th-4th August, 2013 in Bulgaria.

world and Nigerians love it.

The command of the sport provides an endless stage that provides a vantage point for upholding health awareness fights.”

The football match will feature a cast of Nigerian comedians (Team Comedians) who will play against On-Air Personalities (Team OAPs) from Radio and Television stations in the country.

Mr. Okosun said, “Malaria Kills 655,000 people each year, 86% of which are children and It is on this ground that we are inviting Nigerians of all ages to join in the fight against the disease by coming out to participate in this soccer match, even as we continue to work towards transforming the lives of the less privileged and eliminating untimely deaths caused by the Malaria malaise.”

Ekeji bows out in grand style

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HE Honourable Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi and the staff of the National Sports Commission (NSC), honoured the out-going Director-General, Dr. Patrick Ekeji on Thursday24th April, 2013 with a send-forth party.

The ceremony which took place at the Banquet Hall of the Government House, Ilorin, Kwara State was very colourful and well attended by major stakeholders in sports, enthusiasts and other invited dignitaries.

In his good-will message, the minister commended Dr. Ekeji for his remarkable contributions to the development of sports in Nigeria which has made him a focal point in sports administration not just in Nigeria alone but also the world in general.

“Tonight, I am watching the departure of a very strong pillar from the sports arena,,,you are a true icon of Nigeria sports, an Institute and Research Centre in sporting affairs”, he added.

In his response, Dr. Ekeji thanked the NSC for the event which he described as one of the very memorable occasions in his life. He assured the minister of his ever ready assistance whenever he is called up.

The highpoints of the occasion were the reading of the citation by the Director of

Grassroots Development, Yakmut Al-Hassan, presentation of various commendation plaques and awards for his immense contributions to the growth of sports in Africa as well as good-will messages from prominent stakeholders in the sporting community such as the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) President and former minister of sports Engr.

Sani Ndanusa, International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive member, Engr. Habu Gumel, Directors at the NSC and Presidents of various national sports federations.

The event was one of the hallmarks of the activities marking the 19th edition of the National Council on Sports meeting holding in Ilorin, Kwara State.

• Ekeji

TODAY IN THE NATION

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

RIPPLES

Yes God...and a COMMITTED GOVERNMENT

VOL.8 NO.2,470

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

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OURAGEOUS. Honest. Humble.

Smart.

Tenacious.

Loyal.

Beautiful.These are a few of the numerous adjectives that, friends and admirers have used to describe the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, also known as Moremi Ekiti, the amiable Deputy Governor of Ekiti State until her passing on April 6, 2013. She was a noble soul whose sojourn on mother earth, though short, was wrapped in meaning. According to our human understanding she left the stage too soon; but she left behind a lasting footprint on the sands of time, and, hopefully, one that can initiate a tradition of excellence and selfless commitment to public service.

The adjectives that describe Funmi Olayinka are commonly deployed by many of us without paying attention to the reality that they depict. The danger here is that they get applied frequently even in situations where they hardly fit. It is therefore essential to remind ourselves of what they require and why they apply so fittingly to Funmi.

Courage is one of the most important virtues. A courageous person is one who does the right thing even when it is clearly too risky. Going into politics, especially in Nigeria, and particularly for a woman carries a lot of risk. Beside the physical threat to life, there is the threat to integrity and honour. It is said that fear and courage are cousins between who there is always sibling rivalry.

Victory for one is defeat for the other. Naturally, we are disposed to fear in the face of danger. The person that faces danger headon, knowing that she intends to fight for what is right and just and is not subdued by fear, is the courageous person. That was the decision that Funmi Olayinka and Kayode Fayemi made, going into the murky waters of Ekiti politics. They were both comfortable as successful professionals. But they saw the decay and they were moved. But they also noticed that political discourse in the Land of Honour was anything but honorable.

Faint hearts would cringe. But as the famous jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, there can be no courage unless you are scared.

Kayode and Funmi went ahead and plunged in. That is what courage means.

In the course of the campaign, the election, and the subsequent thwarting of the people’s will, Funmi was steadfast. She could betray the cause as some did. She could jump ship.

She could make herself available to the highest bidder. Not a few did just that. But Funmi didn’t. She stayed strong even when hope dimmed and all appeared to be lost. That was courage. It was also loyalty, not to a man, but to a cause that is larger than any human.

Funmi’s close friends and associates, including Erelu Bisi Fayemi, have recounted how she faced her health ordeal with courage and complete surrender to the will of her maker.

Many of her colleagues in and outside the government hardly knew what she was go-

‘The venomous situation, currently witnessed in most parts and the displayed inefficient official disposition, cannot continue if the Nigerian project is still of importance to those in the corridors of power. ’

SEGUN GBADEGESIN gbadegesin@thenationonlineng.net

An Amazon goes home

•The late Mrs. Olayinka

ing through. Indeed, as late as September 2012, when she must have been weakened by chemotherapy, she represented the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at an event in Ireland. She bore the fate of her life with dignity and grace. That was courage at its best.

It is easy, but wrong, to associate loyalty with blind allegiance to a person or cause.

Dictators value loyalty which they wrongly identify with patriotism. Philosopher Josiah Royce defines loyalty as “the willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a cause.” By a cause, Royce means something that is objective, in the sense that it is beyond oneself, and it is good. It was clear from her life story that Funmi has always placed the cause of transforming Ekiti State in the centre of her political mission.

She subscribed wholly to the Fayemi administration’s eight-point agenda and was in the

forefront of the implementation. Her loyalty was not blind; it was not misplaced because the governor acknowledged her contributions and respected her as an invaluable colleague by giving her the responsibilities that befit her office and skills. And she delivered.

Loyalty to a cause also implies honesty in the pursuit of the cause. It is easy to embrace fraudulence and deceit especially in public service in our clime. It takes courage to embrace honesty as the best policy. Indeed, as Immanuel Kant puts it, honesty is not just the best policy, it is the only policy.Funmi radiated honesty and everyone around her attested to this fact. During the campaign and the struggle to reclaim their mandate, she was entrusted with the coordination of resources and she demonstrated not just the professional competence that was essential to success but also the virtues of integrity and rectitude that were indispensable to building trust among the grass-root and foot soldiers.

All religions and moral systems consider humility as a virtue. The humble will inherit the earth. But humility can be misconstrued, especially when it is taken by others as a sign of weakness. The goodness of humility may be abused as foolishness and taken advantage of. Even in the face of such a risk, again, the courageous person does the right thing; humble herself before her God and fellow humans. The reward is what we are witnessing today in the case of Funmi. The person who showed respect for everyone around her is now receiving an unprecedented level of respect as she takes her leave. She was humble but not humbled.

It was in this matter of the quality of Funmi’s humility that I first encountered her.

Four summers ago, I was on a short vacation and had paid a visit to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his Ikoyi residence. I sat in his living room with a number of guests, including Funmi who I had not met before that

HARDBALL

MOBOLAJI SANUSI

time. She and I exchanged greetings with her going the way of Yoruba custom and tradition. It was at that point that Asiwaju came out and asked if I had met the future Deputy Governor of Ekiti State. I was embarrassed to say no. Funmi’s gracious response was: “Prof, I am one of the fans of your column.”

As in the matter of courage, tenacity implies hanging in even in the face of extreme difficulties. It is not being stubborn; it is being thoughtfully hopeful. A tenacious personality is persistently hopeful that things will turn around for the better while she is also action-oriented and works towards the set goal. Every aspect of her short life points to the virtue of tenacity in Funmi’s personality. You cannot have a good purposeful education without being tenacious.

You cannot be on the Dean’s Honour Roll for four years without being tenacious. You cannot succeed in the murky waters of Nigerian politics without being tenacious. And in the face of the most scary health challenges that a human being can face, you cannot deal with them and still maintain your dignity and grace without the virtue of tenacity. In all of these Funmi excelled, and succeeded in teaching all of us the important lessons of life even as the avatar once taught us: it is not life that matters but the courage that you bring into it. She brought in a lot of courage and tenacity to life. For this we must be grateful.

We must also be grateful for her smartness and the opportunity afforded the people of the Land of Honour to benefit from her intellect. It takes a lot of wit to perform successfully the oversight functions over such sensitive and strategic agencies as the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, State Emergency Relief Agency, Boundary Commission, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and many others. One anecdotal report suggests that whenever she presided over the meeting of the State Executive Council in the absence of the governor, members dared not to be late because “mama” was going to preside. In what may be perceived as a “man’s world, Funmi earned the respect of her peers and subordinates. To crown it all, as Mrs. Funso Adegbola elegantly put it, Funmi was beautiful inside out. It appeared to me that it was the inside beauty that reflected so gracefully outside. An amazon paid us a short visit and left us asking for more. So long, virtuous woman!

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•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Fed Govt shifts goal post and glib talk again

F

OUR years ago, Nigeria had hoped it could catapult itself into membership of the G-20 (Group of twenty) major economies by the year 2020. That ambition was not only imprecise and misleading, it was rather too grand for both the competence of Nigeria’s political leadership and the structure of its economy. When Nigeria enunciated its developmental ambition in 2009 and christened it Vision 20:2020, the ordinary man on the street believed it implied that Nigeria could squeeze at least one country off the G-20 list and ensconce itself in their midst. But the G20 is actually 19 major economies plus the European Union (EU) which is represented

by President of the European Council and by the European Central Bank. Precisely, the EU is a group of 27 countries in Europe generating about 20 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) measured in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). “The G20,” according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “account for 82.2 percent of the world’s economic growth by GDP (PPP).

In effect, four years ago, Nigeria had hoped to displace in real terms some 27 countries, wherever they come from out of the 46 countries that are, by and large, in the G-20. But even if the EU is one country in the group, as it is statistically represented, why would Nigeria hope it could carry out that strange feat

of joining the elite economic group in 11 years? The president who could answer that question, and the one under whose watch the target was set in 2009, Umaru Yar’Adua, is no longer with us. But mercifully, according to the National Planning minister, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, the 2020 date is no longer realistic for Nigeria to become a member of the G-20. We should look at perhaps joining the G-25 as the more realistic group our economic output merits, the minister said wistfully.

His consolation, however, is that we have made much more progress than we give ourselves credit for. Hear him: “Where were we in 2009? We were number 44. By the end of 2011, we were number 39, by the end of 2012, we were 36.This is progress. We made quite a lot of progress. In other areas we are not. I don’t want any of you to meet me in 2020 and say you are the one telling us that we are going to be among the top 20. But what I am saying is that even if we are not among the 20 by that time, we were number 44 in 2009. If by 2020 we are number 25, I will be a very proud man. The reason is because we are consciously moving and doing all the necessary things to move up there. It’s not saying we must be there. What I am saying is if we get there then these are the actions we must need to take as a country. We must do this and that in governance, in human development, in in-

frastructure…”

Setting aside the absolute lack of realism in our economic planning, as evidenced by failed expectations over the decades, is it not possible that Nigerian leaders are simply too besotted to sloganeering for their own good? Do we not remember how magical it sounded in the early 1990s when our leaders ululated over Year 2000, when, they hoped, everything from poverty to malnutrition, lack of housing and eradication of all forms of injustices and health problems would be banished? Were we too young to remember that once the magical Year 2000 became unrealistic, our leaders began to whoop for Vision 2010, from whence their irrepressible souls soared on the wings of imagination to the sweet-sounding Vision 20:2020? What next? Might Vision G-8:2080 not be appropriate, even poetic?

It is uncertain our national fecundity for coining socio-economic catch phrases can be mollified by disappointments, but now that Nigeria’s enduring flight of fancy has proved repeatedly and spectacularly unreal, even surreal, if we consider the chasm between goals and ability, would we now embrace reality and moderation with the simplicity and innocence of a boy? It is good, of course, to dream, but how does the hopeful idealist draw a line between dream and daydream? The answer should not prove too arcane for our gifted and imaginative economic planners.

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