Aug 1st, 2015

4

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

Buhari under pressure to move P against oil thieves RESSURE is mounting on President Muhammadu Buhari to kick start his clampdown on oil thieves following his recent admission that he now has in his possession a list of such thieves.

Buhari, addressing Nigerians during his just concluded trip to the United States, had announced that Washington gave him the list.

He said that some members of the Jonathan Federal Executive Council stole as much as 250000 barrels of crude daily.

Several Western countries including the United Kingdom and France are said to have reached out to him to waste no further time in bringing the suspects to book.

Nigerians are also itching

•Sagay, Yakasai, others task President n Segun AJIBOYE (Assistant Editor) & Innocent DURU n to know the identities of the oil thieves .

A cross section of prominent Nigerians say President Buhri should make the names public forthwith and prosecute them.

Frontline lawyer,Professor Itse Sagay (SAN) told The Nation yesterday that he shocked by the magnitude of the stealing.

“Before this fresh revelation, one was very disturbed

when Okonjo Iweala, raised the alarm that about 400, 000 barrels were being stolen every day. To hear that the quantity is as much as one million barrel per day is something else,” he said.

“It shows the country went into a total rot under the last regime of President Goodluck Jonathan. They would have looted the country to bankruptcy within a year if they were not removed from

office. We should be grateful that a disciplined and upright man has taken over to clean the mess and save the country.

“The punishments are not farfetched. They are already enshrined in our law books.

“We may ultimately have to resort to special court with specific time frame to decide the cases. The situation is very grave and we need to deal with it in an exceptional way.”

Also shocked by the reve-

• From left: Chiarman, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Kola Jamodu; National Co-ordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Sir Sunny Nwosu and Chairman, Eko Hospital, Dr. Sunny Kuku during the induction of new Directors by the Institution of Directors Nigeria (IoD) held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos...

Photo: Biodun ADEYEWA

Cameroon deports 2,000 Nigerians in fight against Boko Haram AOUNDÉ Cameroon has deported more than 2,000 Nigerians who were living in the country illegally as part of new security measures intended to prevent suicide attacks by Boko Haram jihadists, according to reports last night.

Regional newspaper L'Oeil du Sahel reported that about 2,500 Nigerians had been "rounded up" in Kousseri, in the far north of Cameroon, and sent back to their country on Thursday.

The weekly posted a photo on its Facebook page showing several departing trucks crammed with hundreds of passengers.

A source close to regional authorities confirmed that "more than 2,000 'irregular' Nigerians have been ex-

Y

pelled from Kousseri".

Mey Aly, an official from a local NGO, said that most of the Nigerians "had fled the atrocities of Boko Haram" to take refuge in Cameroon.

Thursday's deportations came just a day after President Muhammadu Buhari visited Cameroon for talks on how to combat the escalating regional threat from Boko Haram.

Buhari and Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya pledged to strengthen cooperation between their two countries in the fight against the insurgents.

The Cameroonian border post at Kousseri -- which has been hit by two suicide attacks since June -- occupies a strategic position, with just a bridge separating it from Chad's capital N'Djamena.

Authorities in Cameroon's far north have taken significant steps to boost security, including banning women from wearing the full face-veil amid fears that suicide bombers could use the garment to conceal explosives.

"With these attacks, the tone of the authorities has changed," said a security source in Maroua. "They have asked that foreigners

(notably Nigerians) and displaced people in the border areas go home."

Some 300 Cameroonian children were removed from their Koranic schools in Maroua and taken back to their villages on Friday, according to a source close to local authorities, as the schools' managers feared that insurgents could try to use them for suicide attacks.

lation is Chief Ladi Williams (SAN) who said: “the President should make public everything about it because the oil they stole belongs to the good people of Nigeria.

The people have the right to know what is happening.

“Some schools of thought have suggested that the Chinese option should be applied in dealing with the suspects. It is a common knowledge that corrupt public officers in China always end up being executed. But here in Nigeria, we have the criminal and penal code. The suspects should be tried.

“The National Assembly has the power to establish a tribunal to try the suspects because the courts have too many cases already. From the tribunal, the next step should be Supreme Court because many of us are not happy with the way the Appeal Court has discharged itself.

The Supreme Court has discharged itself creditably well.

“The suspects should be made to produce the money they realised from the sales of the stolen products. Any of them that parts with a substantial part of the money should be leniently dealt with.”

Elder statesman Tanko Yakassai said:“The president should not only tell us about the crime, he should go a step further to list the names of those involved in the criminal act and the amount involved.

He should get them arrested and prosecuted. The truth is that these atrocities didn’t start today. They started way back when Obasanjo was the head of state.

“Key figures during that regime became instant multimillionaires. There is not going to be any solution to the atrocities except the perpetrators are brought to book.

I want to appeal to President Muhhamadu Buhari not to limit the probe to the Jonathan administration. If he really wants to get to the root of the problem, he should go back to the days of Obasanjo as military head of state.”

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Second Republic politician, Enechi Onyia, said the suspects should be made to face the wrath of the law.

“The government should not stop at that. They should also do everything possible to retrieve the full value of the money that the country ought to realize from the product from the suspects.

The government should not be swayed by sentiments that people are likely to express about its position or action plan because in everything

that happens in life, people would always express sentiments,” he said.

Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamio called for prosecution of everyone found culpable in the crime, saying: “The effort of the President in fighting corruption in the country is highly commendable. This is what Nigerians looked forward to when they voted for him and I am glad that he is living up to his electioneering promises. I want to do everything possible to make sure that the perpetrators do not escape justice.”

Former Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Abubakar Tsav, expressed surprise at the revelation.

He said:“ “If the president’s statement is true, then, it is a serious matter. How can one person steal such quantity of crude oil? What are they using the money for when many people are hungry, homeless and sleeping under the bridge? “ The crime is capable of collapsing an economy of a developing country. The perpetrators don’t mean well for the country and should be severely dealt with.

“I don’t support death penalty, but the offence is worth it. I will suggest that they should be sent to 25 years or life imprisonment. If the suspects are not fished out and dealt with, there would be a big challenge if Buhari is not re-elected after four years. If Buhari is not elected and another government that is worse than Jonathan’s come tom power, the country would be worse for it.

“If I were Jonathan, I would be ashamed of myself and refrain from making any comment. I think he should also be probed because it was before his very eyes that all this rots was taking place and he did nothing to stop it.”

The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos State chapter, Joe Igbokwe, said more sad revelations of the activities of government officials in the Jonathan’s administration are coming.

According to him, “What Nigerians are hearing and seeing now will be a child's play when the full story of how Nigeria was pillaged and plundered under Jonathan is told.

“In the fullness of time Nigerians will get to find out that former President Jonathan's tenure was a systematic regime of heists. I am believing God that President Buhari will have the energy, strength and power to go the whole hog in repositioning Nigeria in the comity of civilized nations. Nigeria is getting better and this, l believe because a good man is in charge.”

Gov Lalong constitute panel to investigate Chlorine gas disaster HE Plateau State Governor Barr.

Simon Lalong has constituted an administrative panel to look in to the circumstances the lead to the Chlorine Gas leakage that explored on the 25 July, 2015 in the state capital.

The Chlorine Gas accident at the state owned Water Treatment Plant on Saturday 25 July,2015 claimed the lives of 8 and 101 persons were hospitalized in various hospitals in the state capital.

T

n Yusufu AMINU IDEGU, Jos n The administrative panel made up of eleven members has a Former Director of Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Engr. Jimmy Cheto as Chairman.

According to the Secretary to the State Government, Rufus Bature, who inaugurated the panel on behalf of Governor Lalong said, "the constitution of this

Committee is to investigate the real cause of the gas explosion and proffer solutions to guide against future re-occurrence and ensure industrial safety at the treatment plant.”

The SSG said, "The work of the panel is technical in nature which is why members are drawn from various professionals fields" The committee were given four weeks to submit their report to government.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

NEWS 5 250 KLM passengers stranded at Lagos airport n Kelvin OSA OKUNBOR n

VER 250 passengers of KLM Airlines heading to Europe and other destinations across the world were stranded for almost 48 hours, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, (MMIA) Lagos, following a technical fault developed by the airline’s aircraft on Thursday night.

Some of the passengers who spoke with The Nation were apprehensive that they might not meet up with their appointments, as they alleged that the management of the airline was not communicating with them after they were checked into a hotel at Amuwo-Odofin area of the state.

One of the affected passengers who simply identified himself as Chris, told our correspondent that they had already boarded before the airline’s crew informed them that they would not be departing Lagos as arranged due to technical fault developed by the aircraft, adding that they were disembarked at 11pm and later taken to the hotel.

Though, he agreed that their inability to travel as scheduled because of the technical fault was in line with international best practices, he lamented that none of the officials of the airline had since Thursday, told them when they would depart the country to their various destina•Chairman, DHB Contruction Limited, Mr. Hakeem Alobo-Bakare (middle) signing the memorandum of understanding, Legal tions.

Adviser to DHB Contruction Limited, Mr. Sheriff Adebayo (left) and Legal Adviser to the Sandgrouse Market Association, Mr. He said: “Apart from checking us into the hotel, none of Adebowale Omar (right), during the signing of Memorandum of Understanding on the redevelopment of Sangrouse market, us was given ordinary refreshments as recommended by Lagos Island at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Friday the International Civil Aviation Organisation, (ICAO).

Such maltreatment would not have happened in Europe and other countries.”

Chris, who claimed that he was on his way to New York for a conference scheduled to hold between today and Monday expressed doubts about meeting up ASSIVE attacks by with the event which he the armed forces on said was crucial to his proBoko Haram camps fessional advancement. are in progress in Threatening to press for Borno,Yobe and Adamawa "The President believes A suicide bomber struck a n Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation/ n the refund of his money, he States on the order of Presithat all our neighbours must crowded Gamboru market Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja dent Muhammadu Buhari be involved in the anti-terror in Maiduguri yesterday, said: “It is sad that these in the latest effort to end the Basin Commission will has- many Forest bases of Boko war. This is why he is not killing 16 people, in an at- people are treating us this ten the defeat and elimina- Haram insurgents in the taking terrorism in the Northeast. anything for tack that bore the hallmarks way in our own country. We North-East. The counter-in- granted."

A no retreat, no surrender tion of Boko Haram. of the terror Islamist militant were supposed to have travelled since Thursday He said that the morale of surgency attacks could be operation modality has been Confirming the Lake group Boko Haram. adopted by the military for troops in the front-line states likened to a full-scale war.

Chad operation against There was no immediate and up till now, there is no "The President has man- Boko Haram,spokesman for claim of responsibility for information about our dethe operation even as the has improved significantly Chadian Army announced following the establishment dated the military to adopt a Chad’s army, Col. Azem the blast, but the city has parture. There ought to be a yesterday that its men had of the Command and Con- no retreat, no surrender. The Bermendoa Agouna, said : been repeatedly targeted by helpdesk for passengers through which we could killed about 117 terrorists on trol Centre of the military in new Service Chiefs are lead- “For two weeks, Boko the extremists.

Maiduguri. ing this new initiative.

Lake Chad islands.

Haram terrorists have been The National Emergency communicate with the air“You can tell the Secre"With the understanding trying to infiltrate our is- Management President Buhari who reAgency line’s officials but they did turned to Abuja from tary-General that we are of Chad, Niger Republic and lands on Lake Chad to carry (NEMA) said 11 people not provide that.

“To make matters worse, Cameroun on Thursday at doing our best and our best Cameroon, there will be no out attacks on peaceful citi- were wounded in the attack, the end of another round of will be good enough for the hiding place for the insur- zens. which came just as 10 other Nigeria Civil Aviation Authe anti-Boko Haram cam- nation and the sub-region,’’ gents.

“Our armed forces and se- people were killed when thority (NCAA) that is even "Some of the bombings curity forces have launched Boko Haram insurgents supposed to protect us is paign is due in Benin Re- President Buhari told Dr. Ibn being recorded in markets a vast offensive to dig out raided Kikuwa-Gari village not doing anything about public today to rally the Chambas.

Buhari’s visit to benin Re- and motor-parks in the and neutralise these terror- ,Yobe State , in a revenge at- our plights. We are just like support of the government are conse- ists on these islands. and people of that country public today ,according to North-East tack against local vigilantes. displaced people here. Peoin the war against terrorism. Presidency sources,is aimed quences of the pursuit of the “Several boats have been Reports said about 32 ple are angry and hungry He also told the United at consolidating the "mili- insurgents from their hide- destroyed and several gunmen on motorcycles here because there is no Nations Secretary-General’s tary alliance" between the outs." weapons of different calibres raided the village at around provision for dinner for us and Nigeria, On President Buhari’s have been recovered.

Special Representative and country 10:30 pm on Wednesday, as I am talking to you now.

Head of the United Nations Cameroon, Niger and Chad. visit to Cotonou today,a “117 terrorists have been killing 10 people including They can’t do this in Europe or elsewhere because they But a suicide bomber source said "Buhari's trip is killed, two Chadian soldiers two women.

Office for West Africa , Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, struck at the Gamboru mar- part of the steps to co-opt died and two others were Witnesses said the driver would pay heavy compenwho visited yesterday that ket, Maiduguri yesterday Benin Republic into the new wounded” in the operation of a tricycle detonated a de- sation. It is unfortunate that the army is now more ready killing 16 people while Boko military alliance by Nigeria, against the Nigeria-based vice at the entrance to the they come here and get than ever before to defeat Haram extremists went on a Chad, Cameroon and Niger movement, which began crowded market around away with so many atrocities without any protection revenge mission to Kikuwa- Republic.

Boko Haram. two weeks ago.

7.30 a.m. yesterday.

"Troops are closing in on He was confident that the Gari village ,Yobe State, “The sweep continues and "The wreckage of the tri- for the flying public the relthe insurgents in all fronts, the definitive toll will be re- cycle used by the bomber evant government bodies. full activation and deploy- leaving 10 villagers dead.

A top military source said we do not want them to use leased later." ment of the Multi National was there. I saw the charred They appear not to underJoint Task Force which has yesterday that troops " have Benin Republic as a new body of the bomber," said stand that it is not all of us that are going to Amsterbeen established under the launched massive attacks on base, especially for their supSuicide bomber kills 16, • Continued on page 67 dam. A number of us are auspices of the Lake Chad the over 200 camps and plies. injures 11 in Maiduguri going to the United States of America and other destinations in Europe.”

When our correspondent contacted the spokesman for NCAA, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, OVERNOR Samuel Ortom of and overheads are responsible for payment of full salaries and over- velopment it became impossible for he promised to contact the Benue State yesterday, in the increase in Benue wage bill. heads in the state. the figure to remain at N2.7 billion.

Customer Protection DirecMakurdi, explained that the The statement reads: “A chieftain “Hitherto, the past administration “Yet it will be recalled that the torate of the agency for more resumption of payment of full of the Peoples Democratic Party ( had effected deductions from Governor had expressed discomfort information, but as at the salaries and overheads in the state PDP), in Benue State, Mr. Godwin salaries of civil servants for several with the current wage bill and di- time of filing this report, he are responsible for the increase.

Ayihe, requested through news- months. Overheads were also not rected a staff audit which is cur- was yet to do so.

In a press release signed by his men, to know why the state wage paid to ministries, departments and rently going on. We wish to assure The spokesman of KLM Special Adviser Media and ICT, Mr. bill has risen above N2.7 billion agencies for months. Governor the people of the state that their fi- could not however be Tahav Agerzua, the Governor which he claimed the last adminis- Samuel Ortom commenced the pay- nances were in safe hands and reached as at the time of filstated that the payment of full tration used to pay. The answer is ment of full payment of salaries and would be deployed to judicious ing this report for comsalaries to the State civil servants that there has been resumption of overheads in May. With these de- use” Mr. Agerzua stated. ments.

O

Boko Haram: Buhari orders total war

•Says army more battle ready than ever before to defeat terrorism

M

•Chadian army kills 117 •Suicide bomber kills 16, injures 11 in Maiduguri •Boko Haram kills 10 in revenge attack on village

Governor Ortom explains increase in wage bills G

6

THE NATION, SATURDAY AUGUST 1, 2015

News

T

HE Economic and Fi nancial Crimes Com mission (EFCC) yesterday interrogated the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Enugu State, Ikeje Asogwa, as part of the ongoing probe of the administration of ex-Governor Sullivan Chime.

The commission has also arraigned two former clerks of National Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, Kano State, before Justice Dije Aboki of the State High Court, Kano, on a three-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and theft of N3.18m.

According to findings, Asogwa, who arrived at the headquarters of the EFCC in Abuja about 10.30am, was being quizzed over allegations on his tenure as the former

EFCC grills Enugu PDP chairman, arraigns hospital clerks Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation Managing Director of Enugu State Housing Corporation.

A top source said: "The interrogation of former aides and associates of Sullivan Chime has continued with the grilling of Ikeje Asogwa, former Managing Director, Enugu State Housing Corporation, and incumbent chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State.

" Asogwa's invitation followed the discovery that Enugu State funds were allegedly moved through him ostensibly for housing development, but with no trace of the houses as the funds were believed to have been diverted.

"His interrogation came a day after Ifeoma Nwobodo, Chime's ex- Chief of Staff, was grilled for alleged money laundering and misappropriation of funds. She is still

in the custody of the agency."

Meanwhile, the EFCC said it had arraigned one Umar Yusuf and Ibrahim Ahmed Bebeji, both former clerks of National Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, Kano State, before Justice Dije Aboki of the State High Court, Kano, on a threecount charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and theft.

According to a statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the commission, Yusuf and Bebeji had "be-

tween January and September, 2013 allegedly conspired and fraudulently altered information on official revenue receipts in their custody for services rendered to individuals."

The statement added: "An audit report carried out by the Hospital Management revealed that, the sum of N3,331,167 (three million, three hundred and thirty one thousand, one hundred and sixty seven naira) was collected as revenue by the accused.

“But the duo declared and paid the sum of N150,314 (one hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and fourteen naira) to the hospital coffers, while pocketing the sum of N3,180,853 (three million, one hundred and eighty thousand, eight hundred and fifty three naira).

"One of the charges reads: ‘That you, Umar Yusuf and Ibrahim Ahmad Bebeji between January to September,

2013 in Kano within the judicial division of the High Court of Justice, Kano State, while being clerks of National Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, Kano, committed theft of the sum of N3,180,853.00 (three million, one hundred and eighty thousand, eight hundred and fifty three naira only) which was received as part of the revenue accruable to the hospital and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 286 and punishable under Section 289 of the Penal Code.”

The accused persons pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them.

The counsel to the EFCC, Musa Isa, asked the court for a date for hearing sequel to the plea of the accused persons.

However, the defence counsel urged the court to admit the accused persons to bail.

Justice Aboki granted the accused bail with two sureties of not below Grade Level 12.

The sureties must sign a bond of one million naira each. The accused are to be remanded in prison custody until their bail conditions are met.

The case has been adjourned to October 8 for commencement of trial.

Oyegun urges consolidation of success

A •Traders in confusion as a section of Mile 12 Market, Ketu, Lagos, is on fire.

PHOTO: NAN

Why I accompanied Toyin Saraki to EFCC —Melaye S ENATOR Dino Melaye (Kogi West) yesterday defended his decision to accompany the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, to honour the invitation from the anti-graft agency,the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), saying his action was motivated by the desire to establish the truth.

Melaye, who had come under a barrage of criticisms from Nigerians for his action said the EFCC invitation of Mrs Saraki was “not a criminal indictment.” ”I will not abandon my friend because of a mere EFCC invitation. I also went there as a private investigator and an anti-corruption crusader to find out the extent of culpability of my sister and friend since she was not told the contents of the petition against her before her appearance before the EFCC,” he said in a statement entitled: “Stand up for what you believe in regardless of the popularity or acceptance of your belief”, in Abuja.

He said: ”I was arrested 14 times in one year by the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan because my desire for a country where my grandchildren will dwell without problems. “ I cannot throw away my sacrifice of being beaten and my clothes torn on the floor of the House of Representatives because of fighting against corruption. I have come too far to compromise my stand on corruption and corrupt persons.

“I make bold here to challenge anybody who will controvert the truth that I have never done any government

Olugbenga ADANIKIN, Abuja

contract. It is not criminal to do so, but he who must come to equity must come with clean hands. I have made sacrifices to the extent of escaping assignations. Will my fellow citizens forget all these too quickly on

the altar of loyalty to friends, family and loved ones?

“My loyalty to friends is not only when the going is good. I will be there even when the roads are rough. ”My definition for friendship is he or she who walks in when others are walking out.

If my father is invited by the

EFCC, I will go there; if a prima face case is established against him, I will shout for his prosecution. So, my great people, I have no regret following my friend and sister to the EFCC. If you are my friend, you are my friend. I cannot control what my friends will do, but they remain my friends. I am not fighting corruption out of passion only, but because it is a Godly thing to do.”

LL Progressives Con gress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday charged members of his party to work harder to sustain the victory that was recorded in the last general election.

He narrated a long story of how the sacrifice of the leaders of the party culminated in the formation of the APC and the eventual success of President Muhammadu Buhari, which he described as an act of providence.

He was represented by the National Auditor, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, at the party’s second anniversary lecture organized by the Coalition of APC Support Groups at Abuja.

The chairman said for the party’s victory to endure, the members must not rest on their oars.

He said : “I call on you today to emulate those qualities above

APC to PDP: Produce Daura’s party membership card or keep quiet

T

HE stand-off between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over claims that the acting Director General of the Department of Security Service (DSS), Mr. Lawal Daura, is a card-carrying member of the ruling party raged on yesterday.

The APC challenged the PDP which made the allegation to show proof of Mr.Daura’s membership of the APC. “Nothing short of producing Mr. Daura’s membership card or evidence of his membership registration will convince discerning Nigerians that he is indeed a member of the APC as alleged by the PDP,” the APC National Publicity Secretary,Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement.

He added:’’While it amounts to rabble-rousing and crass politicking for the PDP to have wrongly accused Mr. Daura of being a member of the APC without a scintilla of credible evidence, the PDP has weakened its argument by using the pictures in which Mr. Daura

appeared with the President and the fact that he served on an election committee as evidence of his membership of the APC. ‘’Possession of an APC membership card by Mr. Daura or evidence of registration as a party member at his ward, local government area or state will be the only conclusive evidence of his membership of the party. ’’Until such evidence is produced, we are sorry, we have to tell the PDP to shut up!’’

The APC said the PDP is jittery because it is keenly aware of the kind of impunity perpetrated under the federal government it sired from 1999 to 2015. ‘’PDP has forgotten the saying that he who must come to equity must come with clean hands. When Mr. Mike Okiro chaired the Security Committee of the PDP Campaign Organization in 2011, did that prevent him from being appointed the Chair of the Police Service Commission, which is responsible for issues concerning the wel-

fare, promotion and discipline of all police personnel, in 2013? ‘’When the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, was appointed into the Jonathan Election Committee in 2015, did he resign his appointment as head of the agency or did he automatically become a card-carrying member of the PDP? ‘’Did retired Col. Kayode Are not become the DG of the DSS despite being a close confidante of Gen. Obasanjo during his electioneering to become President? Was this not under a PDP Federal Government? ‘’In any case, even in the world’s most advanced democracy, the USA, was a card-carrying Democrat, Mr. Leon Panetta, not named as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by President Barack Obama in 2009? Here in Nigeria, the APC-led FG has not even gone that far, and the PDP is blabbing. ‘’It is an irony that the APCled Federal Government, which has continued to conduct the

affairs of state with a strict adherence to the law, is the one being accused by the immoral, irresponsible and grossly hypocritical PDP, a party that should cover its face in shame for wasting all of 16 years in the life of our country, a party whose members should show penance by hunkering down has continued to assault the sensibilities of a decent nation. What a shame!”

John OFIKHENUA, Abuja as we mark the formation of our great party two years ago.

You must know that as we became victorious in the past election, our adversaries are envious and obviously not happy and could be praying for pitfalls on our path as walk in victory.

“For us to continuously be victorious, we must not rest on our oars . We must rise above board in order to be able to see these pitfalls. We must learn to queue in the new order of bringing about a country of the dreams of our founding fathers most of whom made supreme sacrifices.

“We must not sleep just because we were victorious in the last election. As you will agree with me, for you to constantly be successful and victorious in your endearvours, you must continue to work hard and focus on retaining your victorious crown. Keeping our structures intact and fulfilling electoral promises are greater challenges than winning the election itself.”

The chairman challenged the party to embark on a massive membership drive, stressing that the APC should move to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and plant its seed of “change” .

Oyegun said: “Let your presence be felt. Mobilize our sons and daughters to join this moving train of the APC”.

Ecobank to restructure loans to states

E

COBANK said yesterday it was working on a plan to restructure loans to the states, after putting almost a third of those loans on a watch list as the finances of the states grow more precarious.

The pan-African lender has loaned about N29.4billion ($150 million) to Nigerian states. Of this amount,N8.820billion ($45 million) was placed on the watch list.

The bank said it was working on a remedial action proposed by the Debt Management Office to restructure the debt into a 20-year government bond, it said in a conference call to investors.

The 36 states are in debt to the tune of 658 billion naira ($3.3 billion) and one way out of the crisis would be for banks to extend the maturity of loans made to them as much as 20 years, one of the state governors has said.

THE NATION, SATURDAY AUGUST 1, 2015

News 7

President orders release of N5bn to Victims Support Fund

P

R E S I D E N T Muhammadu Buhari yesterday directed the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, to facilitate the immediate release of the N5 billion pledged by government last August to the Victims Support Fund (VSF).

Receiving a briefing from the VSF Presidential Committee headed by Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) in Abuja, the President also urged the committee to ensure proper coordination with other government agencies, providing support and assistance to victims of terrorism.

General Danjuma had told the President that of the N55.92 billion pledged at the fund-raising dinner for the project last year, N33.54billion was still outstanding, including N5billion from the Federal Government.

He said the VSF currently had N23.33 billion in four bank accounts and that the committee received approval from the immediate past administration to incorporate the money into a trust fund, to “insulate it from political interference”.

General Danjuma asked the President to use his office to persuade all organizations and individuals to honour their pledges to the committee.

President Buhari, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, assured General Danjuma and members of the VSF Committee that his administration was taking proactive steps to defeat terrorism in the country.

He said despite the challenge of acquiring much needed strategic equipment and weapons to confront the terrorists, the Nigerian military had recently gained much ground in its effort to defeat and degrade Boko Haram.

He added that the full deployment of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), under the auspices of member-states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, would further boost ongoing military operations against the

•Danjuma complains of unremitted funds 2Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja

insurgents.

Speaking to reporters at the end of his meeting with the President, General Danjuma said the committee" will continue to ask people who pledged to honour their pledges.”

He described the N20 billion as a drop in the ocean compared with the needs of the victims.

“If really the war stops tomorrow, already those displaced are really looking for support to go back to their homes and this N20 billion is nothing," he added.

Also yesterday, President Buhari declared that with the formation of a stronger regional coalition, Nigeria and neighbouring countries now have an increased capacity to deal effectively with Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.

Receiving Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari reaffirmed his belief that the full activation and deployment of the Multi National Joint Task Force which had been established under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission would lead to the speedy defeat and elimination of Boko Haram.

With the Command and Control Centre of the Nigerian military now in Maiduguri, Borno State, he said that the morale of troops in the front-line states had improved significantly.

“You can tell the SecretaryGeneral that we are doing our best and our best will be good enough for the nation and the sub-region,’’ President Buhari told Dr. Ibn Chambas.

Against the background of upcoming elections in Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea and Burkina Faso, the President also called on the United Nations to assist African countries in the

‘Call for sack of acting INEC boss unnecessary’ Gbenga OMOKHUNU, Abuja

T

HE raging controversy surrounding the appointment of the acting National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Amina Bala Zakari, has been described as unnecessary.

Rising from their Executive Committee meeting in Abuja tagged, "Issues of the Moment", the Coalition of Civil Society Groups for Transparency and Good Governance (CCSGTGG), condemned the recent calls for the sack of the acting chairman.

In a statement jointly signed by the group's National Coordinator, Comrade Ali Abacha, and the Director of Organisation, Mr. Zeb O. Ijewa, the coalition decried what it described as “unnecessary heat and controversy” generated by the appointment of the acting chairman by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The group said there were more pressing national issues yearning for public attention than the “unhealthy argument” as to whether Mrs. Zakari has a close relationship with Buhari's family or not.

They said Nigerians should realize that as a free citizen of Nigeria, Mrs. Zakari has her own life to live and should not be denied the right to aspire or rise to higher or greater positions in life because of perceived parentage or circumstance of birth.

The coalition pointed out that the acting INEC boss has the experience, character, needed qualities and drive to take the commission to the next level, having served closely under the immediate past chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

They advised her to remain steadfast and focused in her determination to give her best to the country.

acquisition and use of innovative technologies to ensure more credible elections.

“When citizens recognize

that their votes count, it will boost their confidence in democracy and their countries’ electoral systems,” he said.

Recalling that in the last general elections in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission used

smart card readers to authenticate prospective voters, President Buhari observed that while Nigeria could afford the use of such technology in its elections, other African countries may require support and assistance from the international community.

Immediate past governors of Lagos and Rivers states, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (middle) and Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi (right), during a courtesy visit to Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka (left), at his Abeokuta residence...yesterday

I owe my triumph to Buhari, party leaders, says Gbajabiamila H

OUSE of Representa tives Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday reviewed the 49day leadership crisis in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly and said he almost called it quits.

Gbajabiamila, who was named to the position only last Tuesday following high level politicking, said the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress hierarchy persuaded him to remain in the battle to the end.

He told reporters that Buhari and the APC leadership prevailed on him to continue with his aspiration to be part of principal officers of the 8th House of Representatives.

Gbajabiamila, who was the party’s official candidate for the Speakership, was surprisingly defeated by Mr. Yakubu

Dogara in the June 9 election on the floor of the House.

He subsequently entered the race for the position of House Leader only for Speaker Dogara and his loyalists to oppose him on the grounds that the Southwest could not have the positions of Deputy Speaker andHouse Leader.

The matter was resolved on Tuesday.

Gbajabiamila, speaking at a media parley yesterday, said he was pained that the stalemate was manipulated to centre around his person.

His words: “A lot of people do not know this: a long time ago, I saw the President, I saw my party; I explained to them that this thing has been framed to be about me.

"So I said I wanted to with-

draw for the sake of the House and the country. I told them I would leave this thing in a heartbeat without even thinking about it and I would go and sit on the floor of the House, without even accepting anything, not even chairmanship.

On why he continued with the struggle despite his resolve to withdraw from the race, Gbajabiamila said the issue got beyond him at that point.

He said President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected his offer to withdraw from the race.

“On principle, the President did not accept it; my party did not accept it and I thank God for the kind of confidence they have in me to be able to deliver the goods for the party. Who am I to say no? It

was on principle that we stayed the course,” he said.

He said he was all for full disclosure of lawmakers' remunerations.

Such disclosure, according to him, would enable the public to know what each lawmaker earns and will also go a long way in deepening transparency and accountability in government.

"For instance, if you say for transportation, this is how much a lawmaker gets, the public can determine whether that X amount is too much for transportation or not.

“But to roll everything up in a ball park is not helping at all. There are a lot of conflicting figures, you leave yourself vulnerable to speculation as a legislator.

“I am for the National Assembly to open up its book to the public".

Senate election: Melaye loses at Appeal Court

S

ENATOR Dino Melaye, representing the Kogi West Senatorial District, lost at the Court of Appeal yesterday as the court upheld the appeal filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi against the decision of the Kogi State Legislative Election Tribunal.

The tribunal led by Justice Akpan Ikpeme had on June 18 this year, dismissed Adeyemi’s petition on technical ground, holding that the petition was incompetent and abandoned on the ground that the petitioner was out of time in its response to the reply by one of the respondents.

In a unanimous judgment yesterday, Justice Justice Mohammed Adume, who read the decision of the threeman bench, disagreed with tribunal that the petition was

Eric IKHILAE, Abuja

not filed within the 21 days frame allowed by law.

The court rejected the tribunal’s view that the response of the petitioner to the reply of the defendant (Melaye) was filed seven days after being served with the reply as against the five days allowed by law.

The appellate court rejected arguments by Melaye and held that there was no affidavit evidence from the bailiff of the tribunal that the reply of Melaye to the petition was served on the petitioner on May 13 as held against the petitioner by the tribunal.

“From the available record, the petitioner was reportedly served with the response of the defendant within 26

minutes the response was filed at the registry of the tribunal, but, for all intents and purposes, it is practically impossible for the petitioner to have been served with the response within 26 minutes, more so when the contact address of the petitioner is outside the tribunal premises in Lokoja.

“It is against natural sequence of human events for a court process to have been served on recipient in just 26 minutes when the recipient is not within the court premises,” Justice Adume said.

The court observed that deposition by one Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed on the services of the tribunal process on the petitioner was inconsistent and not logical

and should not have been believed by the tribunal.

“Findings of the tribunal that the service was effected within 26 minutes was not supported with affidavit by the tribunal’s bailiff. The tribunal was wrong in its hasty conclusion and in striking out the petition on technicality.

“A tribunal has the duty to verify and evaluate evidence before it in order to arrive at a just conclusion. The tribunal was wrong in stopping the train while on its way to justice”, Justice Adume said.

The court consequently ordered the tribunal to rehear the petition promptly in line with the provision of the Constitution which stipulates 180 days from the date of filing.

8

THE NATION, SATURDAY AUGUST 1, 2015

News

S

ECRETARIAT staff at the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have threatened to report members of the party's National Working Committee (NWC) to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation.

The workers are also calling for the immediate resignation of the party leaders over alleged corrupt practices, which they said, led to the PDP's defeat in the last general elections.

The leadership of the party had on Wednesday given the workers notice of a 50 per cent slash in their salaries and allowances.

In the memo signed by the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, the party also gave notice of reducing the workforce by half.

At a protest organised by the workers at the party secretariat yesterday, they specifically called on the EFCC to investigate the party's Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.

The protesting workers accused the party leaders of squandering over N12 billion proceeds realised from the sale of nomination forms for the last general elections.

Mr. Dan Ochu-Baiye, who

Workers threaten to drag PDP leaders to EFCC over alleged corruption Gbade OGUNWALE, Assistant Editor, Abuja

spoke on behalf of the workers, said: "We call on the antigraft agencies such as the EFCC, the police and ICPC to beam their searchlight on the nefarious activities of the PDP NWC before they finally take the party to the graveyard".

Ochu-Baiye said the workers were in possession of incriminating documents on the party leaders and they would not hesitate to avail the antigraft agencies with the documents.

He continued: "It is curious to observe that a party which once prided itself on being the biggest party in Africa could be so liquidated by such executive recklessness of its NWC members so much that N12billion was squandered in nine months.

"Party members will need to know why delegates were compelled to pay N10,000 each into a private account of a company called Morufi Nigeria Limited. We are aware that over N1 billion was realised from this fraudulent exercise".

The workers said criminal

•They are being instigated by APC, says Metuh imposition of unpopular candidates and the extortionist tendencies among the party leaders during the last general elections had brought the PDP to its knees.

They cited the case of N750 million some of the party leaders collected from a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, to help him secure the Delta State governorship ticket but which they failed to deliver.

"In Kogi State, it is widely alleged that the incumbent Governor was requested to cough up the sum of N1billion to the same NWC members for

him to retain his ticket.

"In view of the incontrovertible fact that the current NWC has lost relevance and direction and has proved grossly incompetent of leading the party out of the present quagmire, we demand their immediate resignation", Ochu-Baiye said.

The aggrieved workers appealed to the party's Board of Trustees, the National Caucus and other members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to invoke the relevant sections of the party's constitution and call for a meeting of the NEC. They also demanded that

Prof. Oladipo must withdraw the memo conveying the 50 per cent slash in their pay and to adhere to provisions of the establishment manual if the party no longer required their services.

But Oladipo in a reaction said, "I have met with them severally on the allegation of no meeting between my office and the workers, but you only meet with people based on regulation. They are not members of the NWC. "They said we should go.

How do you tell somebody to go and also say he should withdraw a circular? It is contradictory. You cannot go and at the same time withdraw a

circular".

Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the workers' allegations were "baseless falsehood", adding that they were only playing out the script they were handed by the opposition APC. He noted that the party was aware of plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to infiltrate her members and create confusion within the party, using the workers.

Metuh wondered why the protest was coming at a time the PDP has become "a thorn in the flesh" of the ruling APC and its government at the centre.

Buhari appoints Kari as insurance commissioner

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Alhaji Mohammed Kari as the new Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

His appointment was conveyed through a letter signed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi.

He succeeded Fola Daniel whose second and final tenure as commissioner ended yesterday.

Until his current appointment, Alhaji Kari was the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance (Technical) in the commission. The appointment is with immediate effect.

Mohammed is a chartered insurance practitioner with over 35 years local and international insurance and management experience.

He started his career with Royal Exchange Assurance Nigeria, Kano Branch, in 1979 after completing a Diploma in Insurance.

Two years later, he proceeded to the Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, to study insurance. On his return in 1984, he joined Yankari Insurance Company where he worked until 1989, when he was appointed as an Executive Director in Niger Insurance Plc. In January 1992, he was appointed to the position of Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, a position he held until March 1993 when he was

•Kari

Omobola TOLU-KUSIMO assigned to take over the Chief Executiveship at the NICON, a then leading company in the insurance industry.

He served in that capacity until January 2000 when he resigned his appointment to set up Arit Solutions Limited.

He returned to insurance management in 2007 as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of UnityKapital Assurance Plc, after consulting in the acquisition and merger of the three companies that formed the entity, Unity Kapital Assurance Plc. On the Professional level, he has been exposed to various roles in the following: - West Africa Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) (Member, President and Chairman of Council for two consecutive terms), United Nation Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): Financial Services Committee (Vice Chairman for two consecutive sessions), African Insurance Organisation (AIO) (Governing Council Member), Council of the Bureaux of the ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme (Member, Chairman two consecutive sessions), Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) (Governing Council Member), Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) (Governing Council Member), among others.

In September 2001, he proceeded to the University of Central England in Birmingham, UK to undertake a MBA programme. He has since graduated with a Masters Degree in Information Management. This is furth2er enhanced by the obtainment of Professional Certification from the Learning Tree Centre in the United Kingdom for IT Management.

Mohammed was a member of the Nigerian Vision 2010, a member of the 20:2020 Committee and a recipient of the much-coveted African Insurance Organisation’s gold medal for excellence.

•Rescue workers towing a car from Gamboru Vegetable Market, the scene of a bomb blast in Maiduguri...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Unpaid N200m allowance sets National Assembly on edge

T

HE non-payment of Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) totalling approximately N200 million is set to cause crisis at the National Assembly, if not properly handled, The Nation’s findings indicate.

Many of the close to 3, 000 legislative aides who served 109 Senators and 360 members of the 7th House of Representatives have suspicions that a clique within the management of the National Assembly has perfected arrangements to divert a portion or the entire sums meant to pay their last DTA. However, officials of the National Assembly assert that the situation was only being misread by anxious persons.

But suspicious legislative aides who sought anonymity assert that while the National Assembly’s management had dutifully paid the quarterly DTA of about N75, 000 – 90, 000 along with aides’ salaries in the past, payment of the April 2015 quarterly DTA has inexplicably remained in limbo.

They attributed their suspi-

Jide BABALOLA, Assistant Editor, Abuja

cions to the fact that all Senators and members of the House of Representatives in the 7 th National Assembly have received every kobo of all outstanding allowances while other payments worth millions of Naira have been paid to legislators who resumed in June this year.

“The National Assembly management is harbouring people who are smart by half and because legislative aides’ attention is on the impending payment of severance benefits ranging from N1 million to about N4 million. These people want to ‘eat’ the outstanding DTA totalling approximately N200 million for all aides”, one of the legislative aides told The Nation.

Findings by The Nation indicate that rather than calm nerves, an official memo signed by Director, Personnel Management Department Dr. I. S. Habu, on behalf of the Clerk of the National Assem-

bly and pasted on various notice boards within the National Assembly further spurred suspicions as it unusually bore no date.

The memo reads: “I am directed to inform all legislative aides to please be patient regarding the payment of their severance gratuity and duty tour allowance (DTA), as management is making concerted efforts to secure the funds from the Ministry of Finance.

“I am to add that as soon as the monies are released, payment will commence without any delay.”

When contacted, the Director of Finance and Accounts at the National Assembly, Alhaji Lasisi Bukoye, emphasized that there is no basis for allegations and suspicions, stressing that “no funds have been released by the Federal Ministry of Finance”.

Also, the erstwhile chairman of the National Assembly Legislative Aides’ Forum (NASSLAF), Honourable Mahmud Mohammed, who became a member of the

House of Representatives in June asserted that his leadership of the association would not have any reason to make compromises with any official who aims to short-change legislative aides.

“The management has put up a notice indicating that they are yet to access the required funds. The rumour (allegation of diversion) was so much that I advised them to write and put information on notice boards so that it would not be as if they are deliberately refusing to pay (legislative aides’ DTA).

“The funds are yet to be released, but they will pay because we had taken up issues with them.

“We are not expecting 100% payment because it would now be payment for two months out of the three months that make a quarter.

“Things have been worked out; we are counselling our people to just have little patience as the notice pasted by management underlines a commitment,” Honourable Mohammed stated.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

9

Security, diplomacy and emerging perspectives N IGERIA’S President Muhammadu Ribadu, under pressure to choose his cabinet in time, was reported to have retorted that there was scarcity of good honest human capacity. According to reports he said so many knowledgeable Nigerians have been compromised by those who want to use them to subvert our security and loot our economy. So it is not as if the Nigerian president is wasting time or buying it. He is busy working to live up to his mandate and his billing, especially on security and the anti corruption crusade. But he knows as well that what is what doing at all is worth doing well and I cannot agree more.

That really is the name of the game today as we look at how what seemed to have hamstrung the Nigerian president in living quickly up to the expectations of those who elected him recently seem akin to the same thing that has changed the course of world diplomacy in recent times. This is because on the global diplomatic scene solutions are not forthcoming fast enough and where they have surfaced they have been baffling and complicated, throwing up confusion in terms of expected appreciation or understanding. The result is an emerging trend of world perspectives, relations and alliances pitching strange bedfellows together in bizarre and assorted relationships both in the volatile hot spots as well as the peaceful regions of the world.

Starting with Turkey in the EU, NATO had to hold a special meeting last week to consider how to defend Turkey against the increased onslaught of ISIS which has killed several people in that nation recently. Yet Turkey has been struggling for over 50 years to become a full member of the EU in which some powerful member nations are suspicious of Turkey’s Islamic credentials and background. But now NATO is to defend an Islamist nation against ISIS in the name of humanity and for its own security.

Similarly, US Secretary of State John Kerry was busy this week explaining to US legislators why they should not throw out the Nuclear Deal the Obama government had struck with Iran. This is in spite of the fact that even the US president has sworn to veto any turn down of the deal by Congress and the Ayatollah Khameini, the real power in Iran has questioned US good intentions on the deal. So on whose side is the US Secretary of State? Definitely the US legislators are not going to take him seriously as most of them have sympathy for Israel and its security and Israel has said through its vocal Premier Benjamin Netanyahu that the Obama government has been fooled on the deal because an Iran spokesman still recently said that Iran will never recognize Israel. So the new perspective is a US government pleading for understanding of a nuclear deal with, of all nations- Iran, whose Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called America the ‘Great Satan‘ during the Iran Hostage Crisis during the Jimmy Carter Presidency.

More bizarrely Iran and Saudi Arabia are jointly fighting ISIS on all fronts except Iraq where sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims have

made Iraq ungovernable and a doomed failed state in spite of US airstrikes to shore up the country and preserve the territorial rumps of its sovereignty. Yet it has not occurred to the ruling House of Saud which is the monarchy in Saudi Arabia or the Islamic Autocracy in Iran that they could bury the hatchet on their sectarian differences to fight a common ruinous foe that ISIS has become to them in their nations and regions of influence. Instead the Iranian Nuclear Deal made the Saudi Monarchy suspicious of US intentions although they knew that the volume of trade with the US assured that he who paid the piper should dictate the tune. Even then however given the enormity of the challenge of ISIS the two champions of Shiite and Sunni Islam should have shown each other some armistice or respite to get ISIS out of the way as quickly as possible in the interest of their religion and the welfare and security of the millions of adherents following their dictates and direction.

In the same vein the visit of the US President Barak Obama to Ethiopia a Marxist nation almost laid waste recently by IMF conditionalities which it rejected when it needed economic assistance is instructive. This time the US is asking for Ethiopian military cooperation in fighting Al Shabaab in the region on the Horn of Africa. When Ethiopia asked for World Bank loans in the past the American funding officials and bankers asked for such repayment arrangements and terms that

’

The fact that the new Army Chief was photographed as he set his walking stick aside to do press ups in front of troops in the war zone of the North East showed that the era of pot bellied leadership of the Army is over and that indeed the days of Boko Haram are numbered under the new military leadership

would have crippled the Ethiopian nation and ruined its social fabric and cohesion. The present Ethiopian government rejected such anti social and anti people conditions and did things their own way and Ethiopia survived to date to be the new bride of the US in the war against Islamic terrorism now threatening the global dominance and security of the US. Actually the visit of the new Nigerian president to Cameroun should be seen in terms of new perspectives and diplomatic vistas. After the past, bad vibes of Bakassi and the trauma of the World Court verdict favoring our neighbour our president has done well to let bygones be bygones and allow the two nations to chart a new course of détente. Of course the Boko Haram menace was a stimulant for the new cordiality and its security input are certainly undisputable.

But then Francophone nations in Africa especially West Africa have always begrudged Nigeria’s size and leadership not through their own volition or disposition but because they have been culturally tied to the apron string of France their colonial master that never wanted them to be truly independent individuals capable of being on their own.

President Paul Biya is over 80 and is much older than our president but the issue of security cooperation transcends age as it has to do with the present dangers and the protection of populations and posterity. Boko Haram has penetrated both Cameroun and Nigeria with impunity in recent times and especially during the life of the last administration. We even read stories of Nigerian soldiers shedding their uniform and surrendering across the border to be returned later in humiliating fashion. The appointment of new service chiefs especially for the Army and the appointment of a new Army Chief should show unserious military personnel that it cannot be business as usual in the fight against Boko Haram.

The fact that the new Army Chief was photographed as he set his walking stick aside to do press ups in front of troops in the war zone of the North East showed that the era of pot bellied leadership of the Army is over and that indeed the days of Boko Haram are numbered under the new military leadership. That surely is another welcome perspective that should delight Nigerians in terms of the expected turn around of our security and economic fortunes under the present dispensation. Again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

10

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

COMMENTARY

Bobbi Kristina; gone too soon T is with a heavy heart of melancholy, penning down this article. The world awoke to the news of the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, who tragically died on the 26th of this month, roughly three years after her late mother, the great songstress, Whitney Houston passed away. Upon hearing news that Bobbi Kristina had lost the fight I prayed so hard for her to win, sleep eluded me, words failed me, emotions flooded me and sadness overcame me.

The death of Whitney and Bobby Brown's daughter, who died at the young age of 22, made headlines when it was reported that she sadly passed away in a hospice care facility in the U.S. where she has been since June 24 ... when her family decided to take her off all medications. Bobbi Kristina was found submerged in her bathtub on January 31, and police believe she was underwater for anywhere between 2 and 5 minutes. Paramedics were able to resuscitate her, but she was in a medically induced coma and placed on life support. The family says Bobbi Kristina was surrounded by family and, "She is finally at peace in the arms of God." Throughout her teenage and adult years, Bobbi Kristina Brown had been the focus of reports about her purported drug usage. It was even speculated that she was under the influence of drugs the morning she was found unresponsive in her bathtub. Multiple sources who knew her have confirmed that she regularly used heroin, cocaine and Xanax, especially in recent months. In addition, she was also said to be a heavy drinker. In a particular report, it was said that she often appeared to be high in some instances, slurring her words and seeming incoherent. Her death was déjà vu all over again when her mother also died in a bathtub in 2012, from what was later ruled an accidental drowning with cocaine use listed as contributing factors. Indeed, what happened to Bobbi Kristina is a textbook exemplification of the impact a parent's death, linked to drug addiction can have on their children. Growing up in a household or an environment where illicit or hard drugs are frequently used exposes a child in picking up the insidious habit. One can only imagine the demons she must have grappled with in an attempt to avoid using drugs like her parents. Arguably, she stood little chance once surrounded by drugs and it was inevitable that she was also going to pick-up the habit from her parents.

Coming closer home, over the last decade, the consumption of hard drugs has drastically increased in Nigeria. The sorry case of popular reggae singer and guitarist, Majekodunmi Fasheke, popularly known as Majek Fashek, who is currently a wreck as a result of drug addiction speaks volumes. Due to his addiction, Majek Fashek, was seen roaming the streets of Lagos aimlessly and had resorted to begging to satisfy his urges. This is indeed a very sad story for such an accomplished musician and icon in Nigeria’s entertainment industry. It’s disheartening to know such a talented person is seen on the streets of Lagos looking for petty change to buy food, drinks and drugs. Recent sightings and pictures of him show a sickly, frail and haggard looking Majek. How can a national hero be left on the street like that? We must do something to save and take care of him. I wish to use this avenue to implore on well-meaning Nigerians and also the government to help one of our illustrious musical icons to get into a reputable rehabilitation centre in an effort to help him kick the habit.

Substances such as alcohol, cannabis, heroin, cocaine among others are now being taken frequently and in large quantities by youths in our society. Sadly, among these youths, teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 30 constitute the high risk groups. Other drugs taken by our youths which also constitute drug abuse are legal substances such as prescription drugs like valium, chloroquin, cough syrup, etc, when used in excess or without medical prescription. Given the enormous

I

seven-day sacred traditional oro festival known has been declared in Ile-ife, Osun State.

According to traditionalists, during the period of the festival�, residents of the ancient town, especially women must not stay outaside beyond 7.00 p.m.

Meanwhile, major markets in the ancient town remain opened, as commercial and economic activities continued.

Also, the Ooni palace at Enuwa was devoid of the usual human and vehicular traffic, except for the presence of the private guards and about four

A

damage narcotics do to humanity, no effort should be spared in curbing this menace. A drug can be said to be any substance used in medicine. It can also be said to be any substance taken by some people to get certain effect, such as happiness and excitement. Driving from these definitions above, drugs can be classified into two categories; 1] the soft Drug e.g. antibiotics and analgesics. And 2] the hard drugs e.g. cocaine, marijuana heroin e.t.c. Consequently, a drug addict is said to be someone whose life has become dependent on drugs, hence drug abuse.

There are two primary causes of drug abuse among youths.

These are peer pressure and Depression. Through the former, youths associates with different types of people otherwise known as friends. Through the pressure from these friends, they can be lured into having a taste of these drugs. And once this is done, they continue to take it and become addicted to it at the long run. The latter can lead to drug abuse when certain things happen to someone that is considered very sad and disheartening; the person starts thinking of the best way to become happy once more hence the use of hard drugs will come in. This later on turns to a habit, hence drug abuse. Other major causes of drug abuse are as a result to the high rate of unemployment among youths, economic depression, social deprivation, anxiety, frustration and parental/family influence.

The effects of drug abuse amongst youths can be viewed from firstly, the social aspect. The hard drugs make the taker hyperactive at the point of taking this drug. This make the taker to behave abnormally, contribute to immoralities such as armed robbery, rape, sexually transmitted diseases and many other societal vices. Second is the financial effect. An addict tends to spend more money on the purchase of these drugs. This can make the addict to become bankrupt or start searching for money by all means. Third is the health effect. The addict becomes unstable and starts behaving abnormally.

Addiction to drugs/substances can be emotional, psychologi-

’

Drugs or substance addiction can affect any family or person, regardless of creed, age, status, gender, education, or ethnicity. Once a person becomes an addict, they never have full control of their actions; the drugs take over. They are hooked for life; hence, love, care, understanding, and kindness must be adopted in dealing addicts

’

cal, biochemical dependent or a combination of the three. Users who are psychologically dependent feel that they need drugs in order to feel good about themselves, whereas those who are emotionally dependent need increasingly larger doses of drugs in order to achieve the initial effects and will suffer from withdrawal symptoms when they stop. Cannabis and Indian hemp are the most frequently abused and used drugs in Nigeria, followed by amphetamines and to a lesser extent heroin and cocaine. Organic solvents are also becoming increasingly popular especially among street people.

With the high percentage of youths in Nigeria addicted to drugs, drug abuse can totally be overcome and eradicated in Nigeria through government intervention projects and incorporating a nationwide program to help addicts. Also, the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), saddled with the fight against illicit and hard drugs in our county can still raise the cadence of its effectiveness by investing heavily on technological devices that can enhance its ability to detect drug traffickers or consumers to effectively thwart their efforts. The agency and relevant stakeholders should also embark on sustained public enlightenment campaigns against consumption of illicit drugs using bill boards, radio/TV jingles, fliers, banners, pamphlets etc. The suggested plan to introduce the campaign against the use of hard drugs into primary and secondary school curriculum should also be encouraged and fast-tracked.

Government via the NDLEA should also embark on an aggressive extinction of all the sources of these hard drugs including the farms where they are planted. Parents should monitor the kind of friends their children keep and guide against bad company. Lastly, stiff penalties should be meted against anybody found dealing on hard drugs.

Drugs or substance addiction can affect any family or person, regardless of creed, age, status, gender, education, or ethnicity.

Once a person becomes an addict, they never have full control of their actions; the drugs take over. They are hooked for life; hence, love, care, understanding, and kindness must be adopted in dealing addicts.

I am completely devastated at the passing of Bobbi Kristina. I gave birth to my daughter not long after Whitney Houston gave birth to Bobbi Kristina, so I have always viewed her through the eyes of a mother. I have loved her from so far as any mother would. When I saw the turmoil and the dark cloud that surrounded her throughout her life, I prayed for her to find a way to overcome it. When I witnessed the grim seduction of drugs overcome her, I hoped she would somehow come through it. But it was evident from the very start of her life, that Bobbi Kristina stood a very little chance at life. The slim element of life and happiness that beautiful child had, seemed to evaporate the minute her mother, Whitney Houston died. After her mother died, I wrote an emotional tribute to Whitney Houston and sent it to her. Bobbi Kristina responded to me directly.

Since I learnt that she had fallen into a coma, I sent her several messages and prayers every couple of days, willing her to pull through. I prayed so hard that she would somehow make it, wake up, maybe see some of my prayers and respond to them in the way she did after her mother died. But it wasn’t to be.

‘The death of Bobbi Kristina has rendered me numb; the tragedy that claimed her, she could not overcome; now almost like Whitney she did succumb.’

Her death devastates me because although she was Whitney Houston’s daughter, she could have easily been mine.

I send my heartfelt condolence to the Brown and Houston families and to all those who loved Bobbi Kristina, even though she struggled in a drug-fest. Now that we know that she did die, this is our time to say Goodbye.

Bobbi Kristina has gone too soon…

Ife declares 7-day oro festival •Festival not related to Ooni's rumoured death, say traditionalists police men manning the gates of the palace.

Though the reason for the declaration of the oro festival was not known, but informed sources believed it might be in connection with the alleged death of the traditional ruler of the town, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, which his chiefs

Adesoji ADENIYI, Osogbo have continued to dismiss and described as mere rumour.

Preferring anonymity, the sources said that whoever violates the traditional order of the oro festival might have himself to blame for a dire consequence.

According to the sources, traditionalists would use the period of the festival to appease the gods and perform necessary rituals that would make the town to enjoy peace and also avert looming danger in Ife and its environs.

The sources, however, disclosed that the festival had nothing to do with the alleged death of the Ooni.

Abia governorship tribunal fixes Aug. 10 for hearing in Otti’s petition HE Abia Governorship Election Petition Tribunal said on Friday that it would commence hearing in the petition before it on Aug. 10.

Its Chairman, Justice Usman Bwala, gave the date in Umuahia during its sitting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petition was filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April election, Dr.Alex Otti.

Otti is challenging the declaration of Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu as the winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral

T

Commission (INEC).

The date for the hearing indicates the end of pretrial of the petition challenging the declaration of Ikpeazu as the governor of Abia.

The judge also said that ruling in the motion filed by Ikpeazu, urging the tribunal to strike out the petition for incompetence, would be taken along with the judgment.

The counsel for Ikpeazu, Mr Adeniyi Akinlola (SAN), had argued in his motion that the petitioner’s application for pretrial was filed out of time.

He described the application as ``invalid and premature’’ and

should be struck out.

The counsel for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Paul Ananaba (SAN) and that of INEC,

Mr Hargler Okorie, reinforced Akinlola’s argument and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition on grounds of incompetence.

They also claimed that this year edition of the festival only coincided with the "rumoured death" of the town's monarch.

To prove that Oba Sijuwade is alive, they said: "There is a door that remained closed during the life time of a sitting monarch, and since the door remained closed, it means that the monarch is presumed to be alive.

"The closure of markets to business and ringing of a special bell to announce the death of the monarch are two major significant signs to show that a monarch has joined his ancestors and these are yet to be done."

Two policemen killed in bank robbery in Okene WO policemen were shot to death by suspected armed robbers during an attack on the Okene branch of First Bank on Friday.

Eyewitnesses said the robbery suspects, numbering about five, invaded the premises of the bank at about 8.55a.m. and shot sporadically into the air to scare

T

away workers and customers.

About five policemen on duty were said to have responded swiftly by engaging the invaders in a gun duel at the end of which two of the policemen were felled.

The incident disrupted commercial and other activities in and around the Old Prison Junction area where the bank is

located.

Police Public Relations Officer in Kogi, Mr Shola Adebayo, said one of the policemen was killed on the spot while his colleague died on the way to hospital.

He said the police had started trailing the robbers as investigation into the attack had commenced.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

COMMENTARY 11

Health is wealth…nope…wealth is health EALTH is wealth’, goes the popular maxim, nope, not in Nigeria, ‘Wealth is Health’. I do not know of other countries, don’t want to know, don’t care to know, not my problem, but by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended standards of doctor-topatient ratio of 1:600, we have an abysmal ratio of 1:3500 due to the abject shortage of medical personnel. I mean, without the support of the healthrelated Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), basically the rich countries taking pity on us for having ‘no government organised’, where would we be?

Within this dearth of medical personnel, where ideally every health sector professional - doctors, pharmacists, dental surgeons, nurses, medical laboratory scientists, etc., should be like hot cake, we have them leaving the country in droves. So in this shortage of medical personnel, we have a surplus!

After expending huge resources in training them, we can hardly pay them their true worth. Where do they justifiably go? The private sector or drawn by the international money vector - 50,000 Nigerian Doctors are in the US alone according to one of the US officials interviewed during the recent trip by the President to the United States…Oh! Hello dollars, here we come! Back home, when they are in the private sector, can we afford them? Majorly, no - so no wealth, no health. What about when abroad, are they of any use to the Nigerian health sector? Nope. Well…until they come back and they discover the knowledge, skills and experience gained are well and truly way above and beyond what medical infrastructure is available for them on ground here assuming they are not equally frustrated by those back home. What then happens?

Go back abroad or be in the private sector. Of use to whom? Wealthy healthy ones invariably.

On the path to developing our economy, in the midst of scarce resources, the necessity to move our industrial and agricultural sector forward by all means, how much value for money does/can one get from the health sector? Granted we need people to be healthy, if they can afford it. Ok, now we are healthy, what next? Would this mystically revolutionise our thinking, make us visionaries, improve our work ethic, engender creativity, inventiveness and generate innovative ideas in us, implement our policies and plans better? Maybe?

Or more likely we are healthy morons – physically healthy, economically and productively moronic.

Granted it is the duty of medical professionals to keep patients alive but they can’t make them live.

Take the Boko Haram, MEND guys, kidnappers, criminals, etc., for example, all engaged in a multitude of nefarious activities. While their psycholog-

‘H

ical state of mind is patriotically and productively questionable, what is not in question is their physical well-being. Try picturing the amount of energy it requires to be carrying guns, running with it, riding bikes, power boats, canoes outsmarting patrol boats… You really would have to be in pretty good shape physically to engage in such arduous activities. And it does not end there. Let’s apply the same physically challenging activities to the street hawkers, daily chasing cars, wheel barrowing all kinds of goods for miles on end, balancing 25-50kg loads on their heads, you’d have to be unbelievably healthy to engage in such menial but physically draining activities. Put the nomadic cow herdsmen in the frame and you wonder if one can possess any ounce of laziness to take on the daily long strenuous and perilous walks over all kinds of terrain in order to make a living? While medical people may think they are not holistically healthy according to the WHO definition of health, physically, most of these guys would outrun most of us, come rain or sunshine, while carrying heavy loads.

Medical personnel or no medical personnel, these people would still be there, toiling away endlessly and of minimal productive value to the Nigerian economy at large, individually valuable may be, but certainly not nationally. To take these millions of teeming masses of underemployed or misemployed energy, channel and launch it on an agricultural or industrial setting, the economic growth would simply be exponentially mind blowing. In the need to prioritise industrial growth and reduce massive unemployment, do we expend more immediate resources on the health sector or divert a lot of it to the agro-industrial sector, assuming there is a plan in place for effective implementation?

For now, the recommendation of WHO for 15% of the national budget on health is not economically feasible. Is the return on investment the most

’

The day the economy appears so good enough to be able to conveniently afford the international compensation rates of our health professionals, attractive enough for them to stay and not jump the nation’s ship, then we can spend all we like on the health sector able to focus more on preventive than curative health

’

healthy of the Nigerian populace up to 15% and able to justify that huge chunk of the budget on health considering our current economic challenges? To borrow from the maxim of an economically-minded health professional, a consultant lecturer no less, “the value of a medical professional is based on the productive value of the life saved.”

What is the worth of a life? As a rich man with an ailment or disease, it is guaranteed that I am prepared to pay any amount to any medical personnel available to save my life. As one of the hawkers trawling our streets with misemployed energy but engaged in an accident - at the point of death, I would be begging not to pay. Hippocratically, for most of the time, I would be saved, but unable to pay. While life is precious to the medical personnel, the national economy demands its productive value. Hippocrates may have saved the life, but economically, national non-productivity has won the day. So, who now pays the medical personnel?

When push comes to shove and the health sector goes on strike, it would be hypocritical economic necessity that would dictate the turn of events and not the Hippocratic oath. The conundrum, economically, is, when not on strike, what is the productive value of the lives toiling away to the nation? This minimal difference, if any, between the economic value of our citizens when the health sector is fully functional and when it is on strike is why such strikes can be allowed to go on for weeks with what can sometimes be deemed a callous response by the authorities. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, economy rules not health.

The day the economy appears so good enough to be able to conveniently afford the international compensation rates of our health professionals, attractive enough for them to stay and not jump the nation’s ship, then we can spend all we like on the health sector able to focus more on preventive than curative health. Until that El-Dorado time comes when health will truly be wealth, wealth is health for now…just hope on the wings of a dove that you can afford it…or be on the death queue of the public health sector. Ask those unfortunate enough to be acutely sick or for any reason are in the accident and emergency ward during any health sector strike…you really do not want to be there, trust me.

No country on this planet does not value its health sector, the problem is, are we productive enough to pay their value’s worth?

•Dele Owolowo, Author ‘Nigeria’s Odyssey…’, is an Educationist, Trainer and Rural Entrepreneur with widely travelled background. owolowo.dele@gmail.com

South South’s expectations from Buhari HE South South Region remains pervasively poor and under developed, lacking virtually in all forms of social amenities and infrastructure. Though the region is known for producing the oil wealth that accounts for the bulk of Nigeria's foreign earnings, its glory remains far-fetched. The vast revenues from this region have barely touched its own pervasive local poverty. The South South region today is a place of frustrated expectations, poverty and all forms of social backwardness. The region is endowed with enormous natural resources. It has the world's third largest mangrove forest with the most extensive freshwater swamp forests and tropical rain forests characterized by great biological diversity. It also has vast reserves of non-renewable natural resources particularly hydrocarbon deposits in oil and gas. Despite these gifts of nature the people are endowed with, life in this region is like living in the riverbank and using spittle to wash one's face, a life of scarcity in the midst of plenty.

However, these people are indeed optimistic that they will experience landmark and unprecedented achievements under President Buhari. The confidence reposed on President Buhari will in no doubt bring about enormous development in all spheres of life across the region. The South South is strategically located and its full potentials can be fully harnessed under this new administration. As different governments have come and gone with promises unfulfilled, President Buhari has already made himself trust-worthy and hence, confidence has been renewed by these indigenes. Long have they suffered and waited for government to bring develop-

T

ment into their town. Knowing fully well that our nation relies on the resources of these oil-rich areas, it is rather appalling when the knowledge of crude oil theft comes into the know; other people stealing their resources while they wallow in poverty. These were reasons that birthed the freedom fighters: they wanted their resources to reach them too, and proper maintenance of the areas of extraction of the oil and cleaning up pollution.

The people are expressing optimism that the government of President Buhari will speedily look into their plight by bringing the long awaited succour, which could not even be achieved under past administration due to their insensitivity to the cry and yearnings of these people, by allowing them to wallow in abject poverty and total neglect, out of no

’

At least, the fowl that lays the golden egg needs to be treated with care, special attention should be given to the youths of this region, so it wouldn’t be a case of a fisherman catching fishes, only to throw them back into the river. The attention of idle youths in this region needs to be addressed

hope in sight turning our people into violent species with a radical departure from the peaceful loving people we were known for in the past, irrespective of the ex-president being an indigene of this region.

During the last electioneering campaign, the President painstakingly trans versed the length and breadth of the region and he is personally acquainted with the plight of the people and the challenges before his administration to remedy these pitiable state, the slumps, the environmental degradation, the neglect, the moribund seaports begging for urgent attention, the high unemployment rate that have turned quite a size able number of its youths into militancy, kidnappers, bunkers and violent demeanour with the sole objective of survival.

Never has Nigeria exhumed so much confidence in a president. As Buhari’s reputation precedes him, it is only sensible for the government of the day to place urgent priority on the South-South. At least, the fowl that lays the golden egg needs to be treated with care, special attention should be given to the youths of this region, so it wouldn’t be a case of a fisherman catching fishes, only to throw them back into the river. The attention of idle youths in this region needs to be addressed. If there are idle hands, they need to be engaged gainfully, before becoming the devil’s workshop. Also, President Buhari should consider maintaining some programmes of the previous government as regards the South South. May God grant President Buhari the wisdom to handle it all for the progress of Nigeria.

•Votu Obada sent this piece from Lagos

12

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

16

Benue communities T under siege

HESE are trying times for residents of Katsina Ala, headquarters of Katsina Ala Local Government Area, and the adjoining communities in Benue State. They were plunged into deep sorrow and mourning last week when unknown gunmen unleashed terror on them, killing no fewer than 19 of their kinsmen. From one street of the local government to the other, loud wailings of men, women and children whose loved ones had been brutally killed by bloodthirsty gunmen pervaded the land and causing the people to live in perpetual fear.

Some of the bereaved family members who spoke with The Nation were inconsolable as they recounted how their relations were brutally murdered in cold blood. They regretted that their farmlands, which have been contributing immensely to the economy of the state that prides itself as the food basket of the nation, were fast becoming a graveyard for their loved ones.

A bereaved member of the community, who simply identified himself as Bar Ajon, was visibly shaking as he relived the callous murder of his brother.

He said: “My immediate brother was murdered in his house around 2.30 am by gunmen that have turned our land to a place where human beings are killed like rats on a daily basis.

“They had stormed his house in the dead of the night hoping to meet him at home.

“When they got to his house, they searched everywhere and ransacked where the wife was lying down with the hope of getting him but he was not there. He slept elsewhere that very night.

“After they left, somebody called him to inform him about the incident.

“Surprised by the development, he left where he was and started going home. Unfortunately for him, the hoodlums met him on the way and killed him.”

That was however not the only loss he suffered during the week many residents of the area have described as that of calamity. He also relived how his friend and his friend’s partner were murdered that same week.

“There was nothing concrete that one could hold on to as their reason for killing him and his friend,” he said. “He was supervising his building project when two young men approached, pretending as if they •The late Ihindan with his wives wanted to greet him.

“They stood almost side by side with one a step in dreams in life. All the good plans he had for the family front of the other. As he was trying to fathom what their n Innocent DURU and Uja EMMANUEL n and the community at large have all been wasted. We mission was, the one in the front pulled out a pistol and have concluded plans to bury him on July 29. shot him. lowing day after killing a couple.

“It is unfortunate that instead of going to put seeds in “Unfortunately, the shot missed him and killed the “My father was on his plot of land where he had our land which produces good harvests, it is our illusperson beside him. Before the gunman could fire angone to inspect work on the perimeter fencing project trious sons and daughters, brothers and sisters that we other shot, his colleague in crime, brought out his gun opposite the Federal Low Cost Housing Estate when are digging the land to bury. It is irreprehensible.” and shot my friend three times on the chest, killing him the incident occurred. He was there in company with Masterminds’ motive shrouded in controversy instantly. his police orderly, Mr. Iliya, who has not been arrested Controversy is trailing the motive of the masterminds “Immediately this happened, the bricklayers at the till now or asked to give a statement. of the killings. While some of the people believe that site left their tools and ran away. The killers also “Four other people Mzughulga Ugba, D. D. they were politically motivated assassinations, others ran away on their motorcycle after achievVanger , Hon. Peter Ukaa and Aondongu chose to be indifferent. Those who believe that the ing their purpose.”

Butu were also with him. Before he was killings were politically motivated alleged that two He continued: “The following day, killed, my father had sensed danger beleading members of the community were the sponsors these same people attacked a couple cause seven of his kinsmen had earlier of the heinous crimes. and killed them. When they been murdered.

It is unfortunate Speaking specifically about his father’s murder, Hon. started running away, the people “I condemn the dastardly act and Terfa said the incident was purely a case of political asin the community ran after them. call on all well meaning citizens of that instead of going As the gunmen tried to escape, this country to join me in doing so, sassination, stating that they knew the people responsithey didn’t know there was a to put seeds in our land particularly because my father did ble for the dastardly act.

He said: “The reasons for suspecting them have been bridge ahead of them. They ran not do anything to warrant being which produces good given to the Inspector General of Police in a petition I into it and couldn’t move forassassinated. submitted on July 21, 2015. One of the suspected perward again.

“I am particularly distressed harvests, it is our illustrisons was part of the last administration and the new “As the people were apabout the political assassinations one. proaching, one of the gunmen ous sons and daughters, in Nigeria. The killing of people “He had always threatened to deal with my father put his hand in his pocket to because of political differences is brothers and sisters that and all of us his children because he believed that my take his pistol to shoot at the reprehensible and does not help father was responsible for his sack by the administrapeople. As he was struggling to we are digging the land our efforts to build democracy in tion of former Governor Gabriel Suswan. remove the gun, he mistakenly this country. to bury “After his announcement as a key player in the prespulled the trigger and shot himself “Human life is sacred and those ent government, his friends held a party for him. He in the leg. that deprive other humans of their life openly boasted that he would deal with us.

“Sensing that danger was looming, should be held to account for their “He eventually carried out his threat last week. In his colleague abandoned him and wrigcrimes. I call on you to assist me to bring the spite of this, he has not given up. He is still bent on gled his way out of the area. The people killers of my father to book and to be vigilant killing me and my siblings for no just cause. picked him and handed him over to the police. so that together we can put away this sad, horren“As I speak now, I am his principal target. His killer “He has made a confessional statement and mendous activity from our national life.” squad accosted my brother’s car last week using a tioned the names of some top people behind their unHir Nyamkeng, another bereaved person, was yet to Hilux van. Fortunately, my brother was not the one holy activities.” overcome the shock of his brother’s death when The driving the car. It was driven by one of his friends who Lamenting the spate of murder in the area, Hon. Nation sought his comment. Still visibly in shock, he was very observant and saw the van trailing him for a Terfa Atoza Ihindan, recounted how his father Rt. Hon. eventually managed to speak. very long time.

Atoza Ihindan, MFR and his political father, Mr. IorHe said: “My brother and his friend were among the “At a point, he drove into a popular market. After manger Mouna and his driver were assassinated within people that the hoodlums murdered. That week will rethey left, he drove out again, but before he knew it, the 72 hours. main indelible in our memory. They met his friend and van followed him again. He had to abandon the vehicle He said: “The late Iormanger, my political father, was asked him to lead them to his house. When they got and ran for his dear life.” murdered on Tuesday July 14 along with his driver there, they shot both of them dead. while my dad, Rt. Hon. Atoza Ihindan, MFR was killed “The wicked ones didn’t allow him to fulfill his Continued on page 18 on July 17. The killer of my father was arrested the fol-

• Bereaved families recount brutal murder of relations • Residents flee in droves • Churches organise special prayer session, fasting

,

,

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

22

,

Sometime in April 2013, my brother bought GCE forms for her and her friend and sent money for her to come to Lagos for that purpose. They expected to see her in Lagos but didn’t. I called my parents to know if she was with them but they said no...“Subsequently, my brother called to tell me that she called with a foreign number. After some time, she called to tell me that she was in Libya with her friend. I asked how she got there and she said that someone took them there. Thereafter, she didn’t communicate with me for a very long time.

My brother got angry and told her the implication of what she was doing

,

HELP!

My 20-yr-old daughter is trapped in Libya •Distraught mother laments daughter’s plight in the hands of human traffickers Continued from page 3 the returnees lamented that hundreds of young men and women illegally trafficked from Africa to Europe through the Sahara Desert are dying on a daily basis.

They are particularly miffed that in spite of the hordes of people that die on a daily basis, the human traffickers remain unperturbed. “Their consciences are dead. All they are concerned about is the gains they make from selling their victims. They merely regard the death of a victim as one of the risks of business,” one of them said.

One of the returnees, who gave his name simply as Emeka, said: “I never knew the fate that was about to befall me when a relation came to ask my parents if they would not mind giving me out to his friend who was based abroad for some years of apprenticeship, after which I would be settled and I would stand on my own.

“He painted the picture so well that my parents became too convinced and naively gave me out. I was equally happy because the story line given to my parents was too tempting to resist. I was already imagining what my life would look like living abroad.

“When the time came for us to travel, he told me on the way that because of some financial challenges, we would not be able to go by air, but we would certainly get to Europe. I did not bother about how we would get there, as long as I would be there, only that I wished to have a feel of what it takes to travel by

n Innocent DURU n air.

“Along the line, I discovered that I wasn’t the only one he was taking along.

When I made my observation known to him, he said he had a lot of friends over there who had requested for apprentices, saying that he could not even get as many people as he would have loved to take along.”

“Midway into our journey, the story changed. He began to prepare our minds on what to expect on the way and what the journey would look like. I wasn’t even disturbed at that point because for all I cared, the end would justify the means. I was also encouraged by the fact that numerous others, aside from people in our team were also embarking on the same journey.

“By the time we got to the desert, we had run out of water and were dying of thirst. In the desert, water was like gold.

It was like diamond which people would do anything to get. The fragile ones among us started falling ill and were dying of exhaustion.

“Everywhere in the desert, there were dry skulls as well as fresh and decomposing bodies. It was such a horrible sight. Unfortunately, the parents and relations of the casualties thought they were already in Europe and would send money to them.”

Angela, a female returnee, said apart from thirst, many of the travelers died of torture and rape in the hands of rebels and criminals in the desert.

•Mrs Osumade

She said: “It was such a “The mohorrible experience I ment you would not wish even my can’t get enemy. I was lured into water to the arrangement by a drink, you friend who was equally would begin brainwashed. She came to get tired telling me that an opporand unable to tunity had opened for us proceed. It is to come out of the poverty always worse if that was eating us up and your team that very soon, we would be should leave you counted among the big girls behind because in town. you would have to “I jumped at it because I find your way •Blessing wasn’t going to spend a dime. I through. And where was told that all the expenses would you are unable to do so, be paid by an agent who would only be you would become a prey to the taking commission from our salaries predators.” after we would have been assisted to get Apparently bemused by the escalation jobs in Europe. of the worrisome trend, Femi, a returnee, “The trip was not smooth at all. It was said: “It appears the people doing this a journey of life and death. Danger business use charms on the victims and awaited us at every point of the trip. It their parents, because one can hardly rewas a jungle kind of life and even your sist them when they come calling. closest friend would not care about you “Another thing I observed during my because it was a situation of survival of journey was that most of us were young the fittest. Everybody is out to save his or people in our teen ages and early 20s. her neck. It is after you have survived Only a few were adults. This is another that you can begin to think of another form of insurgency because an appreciaperson. ble number of the youths who should be “Ladies were openly raped, with some the future of the country are daily lost in contracting sexually transmitted diseases the desert. and dying. The men, especially those “I was lucky to have returned alive. So who proved stubborn, were mercilessly many others didn’t. beaten and at times murdered by rebels A mother’s ordeal and criminals who specialised in extortIn a chat with our correspondent, Mrs. ing money from the travellers.”

Esumadu, whose daughter is currently Decrying the weather condition in the stranded in Libya, bemoaned the fate of desert, she said: “The weather condition the young girl, saying: “Blessing was is always inclement. It is always very born in 1995. The father is late. She was harsh. It is as if fire is burning one’s supposed to write her senior secondary body. This makes one to get dehydrated Continued on page 68 easily and exhausted.

T

HE other contingent from Nigeria is the Africa International Film Festival with not less than 20 participants. They include its Founder/CEO Ms. Chioma Ude; Advisor and Chairman of AVRS, Mr. Mahmood Ali-Balogun who is also a guest of DIFF; Artistic Director Keith Shiri and Project Director Afie Braimoh. Others are Kunle Afolayan, Ramsey Nouah and Chioma Onyenwe. Others are Mildred Okwo, actress Uru Eke and actor OC Ukeje.

Sponsored by Arik Air, AFRIFF held sway on Friday with an Industry Programme tagged Nollywood Meets eThekwini Filmmakers Association (AFA). The session which held at the Elangeni Hotel provided an opportunity for professional exchange between practitioners of Nigeria and South Africa.

The event was an offshoot of a meeting held in March in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal at the invitation of the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, as a fact-finding mission to determine how the two industries could work together in the area of film, and how a formal working relationship could be established.

The second leg of the forum will take place in Nigeria this November during the next edition of AFRIFF. Nigeria's highest selling comedy, 30 Days in Atlanta by Ayo Makun, was another side show and a part of AFRFF's offerings for DIFF this year.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

Potential suitors are scared of me –Ex-BBC presenter

Ajai-Lycett Describing Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, 74-year-old star of popular soap opera, Tinsel, could be an enormous task because she is a woman of many parts. She is a cosmetologist, businesswoman, broadcaster and teacher, among other vocations. With just a production done in the UK in the 1960s, she became famous even when she was not prepared for fame. The popular actress also found love at a time she was not really ready for it, but like her acting career, marriage only helped her to glow! Lycett’s acting career is still blooming even as a grandmother, with busy schedules in Nigeria as well as the UK. No wonder she insists that life has just begun at 74! The recipient on Nigeria and UK national awards spoke with PAUL UKPABIO about her joy as a grandmother, her trials as a widow and the fond memories that keep her strong.

Stories on pages 30,31,34&35

29

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

30

‘Secrets of my staying power’ So, when will you retire from acting?

ETIREMENT does not come into the picture. To retire from what I am doing now is to retire from life. One should never retire from what one loves to do. And that is the secret. You should do what you love to do and enjoy it so that you will not need to retire. That is because at that point, you cannot retire from it because it is your life. If you are doing something that you do not like, you will always be thinking of running away from it. Then it is a chore, in which case you will retire from it. But even those who do that, when they retire, you notice that within a few years, they are dead, because whatever you are working on and working at means you have committed your life to it.

And when you say you are retiring, it is like shutting the door on your own life.

How do you perceive your kind of work?

It is not work, it is living, and it is breathing. See I am nearly 75 and I am still sprite, I’m still moving around and working like anybody else. From there, you can see what is meant by the saying that age is a number.

What is the secret of your staying power?

I believe that it is being committed to what one is doing. Loving what you do and being committed to it means that you give it everything that it needs for you to function. For instance, I am in a job where I am very visible. I am constantly talking to people on stage. So how do I keep it going? I have to continuously work on my skills. After acquiring the skills, I have to keep nurturing them. If it is my voice, then I have to keep working on it constantly, because if it is in deepening the voice or doing all sorts of things with the voice, then one has to learn those things, learn breathing, which I do, by also learning aerobics and yoga. More or less, you are constantly learning and polishing up yourself. For the physical, I do breathing lessons, I do yoga and I dance too. I love dancing.

What kind of music do you love?

I am crazy about jazz. I went to bed last night with the sound of jazz in the background coming to me from my iPod. If you have to really dance, which music appeals to you?

Oh, if I have to dance, I dance to any music, especially the common ones around, like Shoki and others, though I do not think that the lyrics make sense at all (laughs). The lyrics are empty. But that is what people are dancing to these days. So if I have to dance, I dance to it because I am a professional dancer. I find a way to express that music.

They are all singing the same song, but different lyrics. The beat is the same. Nobody is taking them up on it; everybody is dancing to it, and they say somebody has dropped an album, as if it is a ton of bricks! I am being delicate about my choice of words here; otherwise there are

’

R

words that I can use that would not be flattering.

How have you been able to keep your beauty over the years?

Why won’t I look agile and beautiful, when I have beautiful people taking care of me? When you are loved, you radiate in beauty.

As an actress, which part of your body do you value most?

The part of me I value most is my voice, because with my voice, I can express absolutely everything. If you have a good voice, you can express affection. People can fall in love with your voice. You do not have to do anything else like having Cossy’s chest or Omotola’s behind! But really, it is not about that, it is about the intellect. There is nothing wrong with beauty; it is lovely.

What actors do is not just about beauty; it is the expression of ideas. Ideas make money. Ideas are more important than material. In fact, ideas create abundant material prosperity. The signal I give to people always is that black is beautiful.

Our natural hair is fantastic. Over five decades now, I have continued to send out that message; that as black people, we are absolutely fantastic.

How do you handle your numerous prospective suitors?

I have been lucky. I have not had people just ‘toasting’ me for the sake of ‘toasting’ me. People have followed me because they see brilliance in me. It’s a different thing. And I think that that is a better way of looking at it, because those people listen to me and then they feel like coming close. They wanted to know more about the person that I am.

So, with my African beauty, I have sent the message out to other women out there that you can actually be old but still be hot. You can be old and still be attractive. You can be old and still be sophisticated. You can be African and still be natural and elegant. As far as I am concerned, those are wonderful messages to be sent without beating drums.

At almost 75, do you still have suitors?

(Laughs) At 74 going on to 75, I don’t think I can get suitors.

Okay, when was the last time a suitor called?

(She thought for a while) People come, but they just talk. I think I look too formidable for someone to just walk up to me and say he wants to marry me! Although some people who are close could be naughty, and say this and that but without hitting the main issue. You know, you could see when a man comes around and he is admiring you up and down, doing his eyes this way and that, you know, but they wouldn’t dare say anything up the hill like marriage.

And that could be because people think that I am too hard, that I have an intimidating look. I look too formidable, too intimidating even for the older people.

What do you think is responsible for your hard-stance outlook?

Although people are friendly with me, they still feel like ʻbetter not go too far with that one because, we do not know what she will tell you nextʼ.

So they just feel intimidated. I have been a widow for 22 years, so where are the men?

’

•Ajayi Lycett African men like their women to be submissive or to appear submissive! I am too opinionated and men do not like a woman who likes to match up to them (laughs). Men do not like that. So although people are friendly with me, they still feel like ‘better not go too far with that one because, we do not know what she will tell you next’. So they just feel intimidated. I have been a widow for 22 years, so where are the men?

Do you still get people your age to hang around with?

I guess the answer to that would be a reflection of a lifestyle. I work all the time.

It is not likely that you see me in an eatery with anybody. I hardly go out. I live here in Lagos, Nigeria, and I also live abroad.

Whether here or abroad, I am usually working all the time.

My work is my life. That is because the work I do is so beautiful that everything that I want from this life is in my work. I meet beautiful people; all kinds of people.

How many people in other jobs do so?

Could one say then that your work filled the vacuum your husband’s death created?

No, I was working like this even when he was alive.

Did he love your work?

He was my number one fan. His name is Thomas Aldridge Lycett. He was formerly working with Shell. He left England to settle here with me. That was when I had become a success in England and he told me that my people do not know what I have in me that I must return to my country. He said that I must come home to let them know who I am. So, after 22 years that he has gone, and all these are still happening, I really wish he was here to see it. I wish he could be here. I think he did all these for me. He made me do it.

Was it easy for you to re-integrate into the Nigerian society, having stayed abroad for so long?

When I returned, I was in business as well. I was an executive member of the Advertisers’ Association. I was running an advertising agency, Partnership Advertising. I had a marketing communications consultancy called Taiwo Ajai Public Relations Company.

Why did you stop?

My husband and I were doing it. As time went on, the business was getting somehow. We had to share budget and so

on. That is not how we do business. I am an 'Oyinbo' when it comes to such things.

I get a budget and I was not looking at sharing it with the General Manager or any other. So, when my husband died, I still operated our businesses for a couple of years. But after that, it was getting worse and worse, especially hearing all sorts of things. He died in 1993, but I was still running it even till 1997. So, on the anniversary of his death, 31st of December 1993, which is an awkward day to die, I wanted to do something that would remind me of him always. Not just the mourning and the sadness, but also to remember all the wonderful moments that we had spent together and all that he meant to me and still means to me now.

And when did you stop?

He had always wanted to start a school.

He was always worried about our educational system. Not only that, he saw how expatriates come here with hardly anything in their own land but once here, they get a gardener, a cook, a driver, and they get to the airport, people are waiting with placards. But when they go to the other side, nobody welcomes them. They flag down taxi by themselves and carry their luggage themselves. He thought it was lack of confidence on our part, which education would correct.

I remember when we were running business, he used to hate it when people thought that he was the one running the show because he is 'white.' I was the MD while he was the GM. He used to feel insulted that people felt he was doing it while I was just an appendage. So, since he was always talking about a school, I started Tal-House Private School, Egbe. It turned out very successful. I have students who passed out from the school all over the world. Some of them are married now. I ran a primary school, a theatre school and a computer school.

How about the school itself?

About eight years ago, a member of staff organised with armed robbers to come and rob me in the big house at about 2 am. They nearly killed me. So I thought I had been running the school for about 12 years, all alone, and I decided to rest it.

People said that I was attacked because I was alone. I was still going to continue being alone, so I decided to stop it.

So you travelled abroad?

Yes, I did. I needed time to sort out my-

’

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

31

People come, but they just talk. I think I look too formidable for someone to just walk up to me and say he wants to marry me! Although some people who are close could be naughty, and say this and that but without hitting the main issue.

You know, you could see when a man comes around and he is admiring you up and down, doing his eyes this way and that, you know, but they wouldnʼt dare say anything up the hill like marriage

’

self and think out what I wanted to do next.

Did that make you angry with the Nigerian society?

No, I knew that these things happen to people around the world. It was not something different or special.

Is it because you loved your husband that you didn't think of re-marrying?

(Thought briefly) Yes, partly. Yeah, it has to be. I think that my husband spoilt me in many ways. Where was I going to find a man like that? Where am I going to find a man who didn't feel diminished by devoting his life to me? And he did that because he was a special man who believed that I was doing something special. He did not see himself taking second place; he saw us as one.

Was it love at first sight?

Yes, for him, it was, because of the circumstances that we met. I was successful abroad and wanted a new apartment. I went to one of the top estate agents who found a flat in some condominium for me and asked me to go and view the site. And on the other side were terrace houses. Later, he told me that he saw me that day I came to visit. He saw me arrive in my car, a sports car. I then dressed like I used to dress from head to toe.

I used to cover my head. It was elegant and I always wore a hat. It had nothing to do with religion. I also did not believe in showing legs. Yoruba say oju ni oro wa (it is the eyes that matter).

Are you saying age has changed your lifestyle? I mean has your style changed over the years?

No, I still wear my hat. I do not go out without my hat. I do not think that my fashion and style have changed. That is because I still wear things that I had over 20 years ago.

Some of them I owned since over 40 years ago. Fashion is coming to meet me. Most things that I wear are not new.

What do you miss about being young?

Nothing! I do not miss a thing. When you are older, you have confidence. I did not have to go and quickly change so that you can see me in charming clothing or something. I do not have to titivate myself and be false. Younger ladies do that because they are insecure.

There must be some certain things you were doing then that you cannot do now.

I cannot imagine. I was an old young per-

Continued on page 34

Acting Provost of Osun State College of Education, Dr. Basiru Gbadamosi, proffers solutions to the various problems bedeviling education in the country. He also speaks about his developmental agenda for the 36-year-old institution in this interview with ADEBISI ONANUGA OW has it been working as a lecturer in Osun State College of Education and now as the acting provost?

There is nothing difficult for somebody who is determined and hard working. At the time I joined the institution, I did any assignment that was given to me to the best of my knowledge, knowing full well that if you are a good follower, there would be a day you would turn out to be a good leader. That has been my maxim since I joined.

So, when I attained this status, I did not see it as a challenge, because there is hardly an assignment I cannot handle as far as academics is concerned.

For instance, even as a Lecturer III, I was made the exams officer. That is the most tedious assignment in any school because as the exams officer of a school, apart from your normal teaching schedule, you have to coordinate all other departments in terms of collection of questions. By the time the results are out, you have to collate them. You have to do the computation of the results and all sorts of things.

By the time I attained this status, I saw it as child’s play because I had acquired all the experience I would need to function as the chief executive. That is why all my people believe that there is no hiding place for me, knowing full well that I had passed through the various stages. If anybody wants to say anything I would tell you that this one, this is how to do it or this is how to go about it.

Looking at the state of education in the country, what future do you see for colleges of education compared to polytechnics and universities?

On a very serious note, colleges of education have better future than even the universities and polytechnics. This is because if we are talking about the polytechnics, they should be practical-oriented, but where is that practicality? But in the college of education, you are a professional teacher, a nation builder. You will continue to be relevant as far as people continue to bear children. In those days, out of three or four children, only one would go to school. Today, if you have 40 children, your interest would be that all of them should be educated.

For your information, presently, the computer has taken the place of all other professions, but it has not taken the place of teaching till now. That is to say that college of education is a very good foundation for the training of teachers. All the rudiments you need here, you acquire it, and when you now go to the university, it becomes very easy for you, particularly if you are well grounded in your area

H

My anticorruption battles in Osun College of Education

—Provost

of specialization.

But the employers of labour usually prefer university graduates to those of colleges of education?

Presently, when you talk of acquiring the first degree for teaching, there is a level at which first degree can operate, because at the degree level, the higher you go, the narrower your specialization becomes. Can you now employ degree holder to go and teach in the lower level of primary school where the knowledge is limited? It is the NCE holders that are specially trained to handle education at that level, particularly the lower level, the middle basic and the upper basic. It is

Dr. Gbadamosi at the senior secondary that the degree becomes relevant.

What change agenda or reforms would you like to set for the new administration in the country in terms of education?

Reforming education is like erecting a structure. If the foundation is not properly laid, the entire super structure would have a problem. Primary education is the foundation upon which all other super structures of education are laid. In fact, it is the gate way. In those days, we had people who passed through primary education and did not go to secondary school. But because of the knowledge they had acquired at the primary level, they developed themselves, wrote GCE and from there went to universities. But we have never seen a single person who never attended primary school going to the university.

So, emphasis should be on the development of primary education, just like the Governor of Osun State is doing.

When you look at his programme, it is meant to build primary education and put primary schools on very sound footing. If the foundation is properly laid, the super structure on it would be superb. That is why I highly commend him in the areas of feeding, infrastructural facilities and employment of quality teachers. If you get to primary schools in Osun State, the least qualification you will get there is NCE, which is a very good foundation. When that is done, the whole of the country would become a project.

With that, everybody will now build on a very solid foundation.

So, the emphasis should be that the federal government should think of emulating what is happening in the State of Osun, with particular emphasis on primary education. Findings from and psychologists of note reContinued on page 34

THE NATION SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

32

Pastor Chris Ekeh marks birthday in style T

HE presence of gaily dressed people, including the popular Pastor of the Word and Spirit Assembly, Satellite Town, Lagos, Dr. Chris Ekeh, at the Maximum Security Prisons and the Female Prisons, Kirikiri, last weekend may have elicited some questions. But you need not search further, the visit to the prison by the pastor's team was part of the activities marking the 40th birthday of the Lagos pastor, Ekeh. While many expected him to throw big party, the handsome cleric shocked many; he chose the occasion to lift the abandoned and the neglected in the society.

He put smiles on the faces of the inmates by donating food items and other personal effects to the inmates. He also took care of their spiritual needs.

He did not stop at that, he also visited the Heart of Gold Children's Hospice, Surulere, Lagos, where he also made some cash donations and also gave out some food items to the inmates of the home.

TTunde Ologburo, family in rare celebration

T

HEY say there is time for everything. For the family of Ibadan-based businessman and Chairman of Quickborn Enterprise, Alhaji Babatunde Ologburo, this is a time to celebrate. It is a time to gather his nuclear family to make merry.

The socialite's children made him a very proud father and he is savouring the joy of raising success-driven children. So elated is Ologburo that he does not hesitate to begin every discussion with the feat attained by his children.

One of the socialite's children, Temitope Ologburo, made a First Class in Accounting from the Birmingham University.

For the feat, Ifedolapo earned the Taylor Walton's Best Law Student award in Hertfordshire, while Muhammed Babatunde became a Forensic graduate of the University of Gloucestershire and has proceeded to a graduate job in America.

The rare feats no doubt brought joy to the family, prompting it to organise a vacation and dined in some classy restaurants in Europe where the father armed the children with advice to prepare them for the future.

Kayode Oduoye

All set for sustains dad’s legacy E Dupe Jemibewon’s father’s burial D

EEP grief, remarks Elizabeth Barrien, is sometimes almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place.

It would seem that Barrien had Dupe Jemibewon's current situation in mind when he made this insightful observation many years ago. Dupe, wife of former Police Affairs Minister, General David Jemibewon, lost her father, Pa John Bosede Ajayi, on June 22, 2015.

The octogenarian, who passed away in his sleep at his Ibadan, Oyo State home, was born in 1930 and was aged 85.

Since the news of Pa Ajayi's death broke, the

Jemibewons have been inundated with condolence messages from eminent Nigerians.

Plans to give the deceased a befitting burial are already in full swing and Dupe's friends are warming up to give support for the lovable and connected woman.

According to those in the know, the late community leader will start his final journey home on August 6, 2015. A service of songs will be held for the deceased on Thursday, August 6, at Ikolaba High School, Ibadan, followed by a commendation service at Catholic Church of Ascension, Bodija, Ibadan the following day.

Thereafter, Pa Ajayi's body will leave for his ancestral home town of Orin Ekiti.

VEN in death, a man who lived an exemplary life continues to permeate the hearts of those who knew him. The late Senator Simeon Oduoye was a super cop who did not only earn the rank of AIG before retiring but also had the privilege of serving as military administrator in Ebonyi and Niger states.

He also did well on the political lane.

Apart from being a one-time gubernatorial aspirant, he got elected and served as a senator representing Osun Central from 2007 to 2011.

While supporters, friends and associates of the senator naturally lamented his exit, they have taken solace in Kayode Oduoye, who has not only successfully filled the gap left by the death of his father, but is also imbued with burning interest to help in turning things around in the state.

Kayode, a legal practitioner cum businessman, is a devout Christian. He recently hosted a post-

Sallah get together, which was one of the legacies left behind by the late senator. It was a good platform to merry, interact and unwind, as top faces in the state's political circle, the private sector and other categories of people gathered at Kayode Oduoye's Osogbo residence for the 2015 Sallah party last Sunday.

Among those who graced the occasion were former local government boss, Bamidele Salam; former Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Sola Oladehinde; Hon. Abiodun Ojo and Chief Bisi Jinadu, among others.

The Onigbaye of Igbaye, Oba Joseph Okunlola Oni, added a royal touch. Star actress, Mosun Filani, Kayode Oduoye's wife, stood as a good co-host, ensuring that things went well.

THE NATION SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

33

Oba ba Fredrick Akinruntan’s amazing lifestyle

Prince Bimbo Olashore’s latest moves

D

ESCRIBING the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan, as Nigeria's richest monarch is stating the obvious. His pocket is deep just as his influence transcends the shores of Africa. Respected international magazine, Forbes, once listed him as one of the five richest monarchs in Africa. Oba Akinruntan, according to the magazine, is worth more than $300 million.

Aside commanding immense wealth, the respected traditional ruler is a man of class and style. He exhibits sheer sophistication as he stations luxury cars in his magnificent palace. His status as a man of class became undisputable in 2012 when the 2014 edition of Bentley was made for Queen Elizabeth of England in the belief that other people would wait till 2014 to ride it. But Oba Akinruntan shocked all by buying the same version in 2012.

And just as he has dazzled all on land, he is also dazzling people on water.

PECULATIONS about the whereabouts of Prince Bimbo Olashore can finally be put to rest. It can now be revealed that he is currently working on his golf course.

Golf, generally believed to be a game for the elite, is one sporting activity that will soon find a pride of place in Iloko-Ijesha, Osun State. Prince Olashore has decided to provide a high end recreational activity for the elite in the serene town.

The former DMD of the defunct Lead Bank is set to mount a nine-hole golf course at the Royal Park International Hotel, Iloko Ijesha. It is expected that the Royal Golf course and the club house will begin operations before the end of 2016, eventually turning the dreary town to a Mecca of sorts.

Bimbo, whose business forte is in education, is the Chairman, Board of Governors, Olashore International School, a vision of his late father, Oba Oladele Olashore. Twenty-one-year-old Olashore International School is an all-hostel school rated as one of the best in the country.

Bimbo is also the Chief Executive Officer, Lead Capital PLC.

S

Those who should know say he controls some of the most expensive yachts. The billionaire businessman owns the largest petroleum depot in Africa.

Lekan Osifeso debunks Bulletin rummour

Leah Abiara set for motherhood S

INCE Ibadan big girl, Leah Abiara, daughter of Pastor S. K Abiara of the CAC Agbala Itura, got married to Ibadan big boy, Tunde Samuel Omolola a.k.a Nero, the story was that she relocated to America.

Years back, she returned from the US with so much affluence that she painted Ibadan red with all kinds of state of the art cars.

But Leah may have relocated to the US again, and those who should know say the controversial couple is expecting their first child.

Tunde Okewale’s fresh moves S

T. IVES Specialist Hospital is indeed making strides in the medical world. It is that time of the year again when its management goes out of its way, not only to perform medical miracles for its numerous patients, but to make In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments affordable and accessible.

The management of St. Ives Specialist Hospital, in conjunction with Ives Medicare Foundation, has announced its annual promo of 50 per cent discount in the cost of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments for willing parents.

The initiative was hatched in 2010 and has helped thousands in the past six years. It aims to reduce drastically the burden on couples who are experiencing delay in procreation as a result of one fertility challenge or the other.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

34

‘I’m not religious at all, but I’m intensely spiritual’

’

Continued from page 31 son (laughs). When I was young and people thought it was fashionable to wear one’s hair this way and that, I never did!

Ideologically, I was and still firmly and convincingly African.

How did you choose to be so African even when you lived abroad?

When we were growing up, that is when Africa was getting independence, it was like if you were not proud of yourself, then why did you want to be independent? Like what women are still doing now, they think that they are sophisticated by using Brazilian hair and the like. If we are truly proud of Africa, then why are we wearing long hair that God did not make us with? Maybe it’s too far for them to know, but we were growing up then in the time of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Leopold Senghor and so on.

Didn’t you suffer some form of segregation at that time?

I didn’t. There was only one time somebody stood up from where I sat, and that person was black, possibly a Nigerian.

And that was because I was wearing my hair tied the African way. He probably didn’t want to associate with me because he thought I must be bush to wear such a style!

Where did that happen?

It was in the London underground tube.

That was in the sixties.

When I got to England to study, I had no qualification. I applied to work to clear tables as a waitress in the city of London, where people in the financial district used to come and drink tea. They were called the city gents! They wore bowler hats, carried rolled up umbrellas and worked in banks around where the Bank of England was.

They used to stop by to talk to me. They thought I was special and would be great because then, not many people were used to travelling abroad and not many had seen a black woman before. A lot of them used to come to the cafe, just to see me. I made friends like that. I started learning to type. I applied to the General Post Office, got an interview and was employed. I was also sent on training.

But why did you leave Nigeria to be a waiter over there. There must have been better opportunities here then?

There weren’t that kind of opportunities if you weren’t educated. You had to get

When we were growing up, you grew up with your man. You went to college or work together.

Nowadays, our girls are looking for someone who already has a car or comfort. That wasnʼt my ambition. But I got married anyway

’

education. And about that time, we did not have the universities like it is now. In those days, there was only one university and everybody wanted to get in. I went to England to study Law. I went by myself and I needed money. I worked there to get money to go to night school. That was how we did it in those days.

What did your Nigerian friends say

when you decided to marry a ‘white’ man|?

My friends didn’t say anything. When you are there and working at par with them, going to the same school and probably you are on top of the class, how do you think that anyone will discriminate against you? And you are probably going about your life the way I was doing it, behaving like I am the Queen of Sheba (laughs), not accepting that I had to change. We were brought up to be proud of ourselves, so who was going to come and discriminate against me?

Europe is about merit. So also is America. I was moved up the ladder. Even my boss was recommending books to me that I should read. That was the kind of relationship that I kept before I got into showbiz. After a while, I was given a paid sabbatical to go to college. I knew I needed certificate to return to Nigeria in future.

Do you feel fulfilled?

If I die this minute, I would have lived a wonderful life. I am very grateful for this journey. I have however just begun. There are people who are over 80. Life is a bit different now. I am still learning. One can go to school online. Not going to college does not stop anyone in a digital age from going to school.

When did you go into showbiz?

‘Why I won’t speak on

Dr. Gbadamosi Continued from page 31 vealed that in the early part of a child’s life, he is very productive, very relevant. And the type of food given to the child determines what happens to him in the nearest future. That is the relevance of the home grown programme embarked upon by Ogbeni (Aregbesola) in Osun State.

What are you doing to equip your students in order to be self dependent instead of being certificate driven?

I have just conceived an idea of entrepreneurship and skill acquisition programme whereby all the students that pass through this college would have to acquire one skill or the other before they graduate, in

addition to their NCE certificates. The way to it is that I want to identify some departments with vocations, like the Technical Education Department, Home Economics, Agric Education, Fine and Applied Arts and Computer Education. So, we would now identify various vocations. For example, in Home Economics, we have bakery and other things. In Fine and Applied Arts, we have tie and dye and some other things. In Agric, there is fadama and some other things.

Each child would be encouraged to consider his nature and interest, vis-à-vis the environment where he comes from. We have committees on ground working on various vocations identified for these practical areas, so that each of the students would now go and register in the identified vocations.

The committee is yet to give me the list of the various vocations. All the students would be made to go and register for one vocation and we want to link that vocation to JSE Department and extramural studies.

We would make that course to be practical so that each child would study a particular vocation and at the end of the day, they would showcase what they have done.

We would link them with entrepreneurs in form of apprenticeship training. For instance, if the technical education is for repairing handsets, we have some people who are repairing handsets. We would attach them to such people and they would have that knowledge. The same goes for computer, typing and others. That is the plan I have.

Presently, I am still functioning in acting capacity.

But it is my thinking that if I become the substantive provost, I would have the priviledge of introducing them. Already, I have set up a committee to work on that. By the time the report is out, we would sell the idea to the Governing Council and from there to the Academic Board. The moment it is approved, we will make it compulsory for all students. By the time they leave, some may decide not to look for white collar jobs. They would become self dependent and gainfully employed rather than relying on government. Even if they are gainfully employed, during their leisure time, they can go back to this vocation and have something.

Nobody envisages that there could be problem in life. The usual impression is that life is a bed of roses.

Nobody is conscious of the fact that it could be a combination of thorns and roses. Just as we are experiencing the economic recession now, if we have some people with different vocation like in agric or some other areas, they can go and make use of may be their fathers’ lands and would not even know that salary is not paid. Even if the salary is paid, they can use it for other things. So, that is my plan for the institution in the area of entrepreneurship skills acquisition.

The problem with most educational institutions has been paucity of funds. In your own case, how have you been coping?

It is true that there is paucity of funds, particularly with the present situation where tertiary institutions

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

35

•Ajayi Lycett with children I think that must have been 1965, I was a full grown adult.

Why did you start late? Most people in showbiz start at an early age.

Well, I never thought I was an actress. I

didn’t start by thinking that I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a lawyer. I liked the theatre, went to the cinema and went to concerts. I’m an arts aficionado. I love music and so on. That is what I thought it

was. I never thought I was a performer until one day I went to see a friend who was rehearsing. The director asked if I would like to join the production. I joined.

And when we opened, everybody was after me. The next weekend, I was at the BBC working! That is how I was catapulted up! For years, I was a presenter on BBC. Nothing prepared me for this.

You used to be slimmer…

I am 74 going on 75 (laughs). You want me to stay 17 forever? You are perpetually seeing me as that age. It’s fascinating.

How did you cope with advances from men when you were younger?

A woman has to remain focused. If you are not focused on your life, then it’s going to go into your head that somebody fancies you. I have always been focused on my work, profession and so on. The reason women fall for their prettiness is because the girl-child is conditioned to think that she is going to get a husband.

So they play to that, to be dependent. I think I was independent. I didn’t need a husband to live. I am Adufe, somebody that you beg to marry; somebody people rush to pamper.

Are you spiritual or religious in nature?

Both are two separate things. I am not at all religious, but I am intensely spiritual.

That is why I am the way I am. Things like ‘being pretty’ does not affect me. My son, a handsome young man, once said to me that he was at a supermarket and women all over were staring at him. I simply told him to get over himself, because women will always stare at men and vice versa. So what’s the big deal? You think that you are the cat’s whiskers?

So women use this and end up using themselves. They feel because a man looks at them, then he ought to buy this or that for them. I feel insulted at that. When we were growing up, you grew up with your man. You went to college or work together. Nowadays, our girls are looking

for someone who already has a car or comfort. That wasn’t my ambition. But I got married anyway.

As an actress, which has been the most challenging role you have played?

That role hasn’t come yet! That’s because every role I play is very challenging.

There is no way you get on stage feeling that everything will be too easy for you to do. I think that my work is very demanding, very challenging and therefore keeps me on my toes all the time. All of them have been challenging because I had to find my way through them. I don’t know what part I will be given next, or how I will play it.

What makes you still relevant in the industry?

I think what makes me relevant there is what makes me relevant in the world. I have enthusiasm. I have not foreclosed on anything. I do not have any closed ideas about me. I am open to give service.

Above all else, I am not hustling. I have something to give that people think and know that I have to give. It is not about money. If you do what you know how to do, money will be chasing you.

How are you coping with life as a grandmother?

Very well, I love it. If you come to where I live, you will hear them calling me grandma. It’s so wonderful. I like life better now than when I was younger. I am surrounded by love. As you grow older, you get wiser and more confident. You do not worry about what you shouldn't worry about. Your head has more clarity. I have a prayer of clarity with me always.

We are a bit cool about life and less fearful about what is coming. That is a wonderful place to be.

How would you describe your relationship with Tinsel?

This is the third year. It’s been wonderful. I was working in England and my producer asked me to come here to do Tinsel.

’

bursar’s suspension’ is business as usual and you follow the mad crowd, at the end of the day, they would be the one to turn round and condemn you, that you lived a life without a legacy.

Talking about blocking leakages, I am aware that your bursar is serving a suspension. I would like to know from the horses’ mouth what actually happened.

That matter is before the higher authorities. I am not in the best position to comment on it.

What other steps have you taken to block these leakages?

Presently, no bursary staff is allowed to handle cash.

All payments, even if it is N100, has to be made in the bank. If you want to win a fight, it is not always easy.

There would be noise making and condemnation.

But are the members of staff cooperating with you in this fight?

Well, if his is what you want to do and it is for the betterment of the system, if an individual is complaining, that is his own headache. It is for corporate existence. I see it as being callous when an individual is feeding fat at the expense of the generality. I don’t do that. I don’t like it.

Your students went on protest sometime last year, during which three students reportedly died. Can you tell us what happened and what was responsible for the protest?

Since I assumed office, there has been no student crisis and no student has died.

And there has been no school closure?

No, except the staff are on strike. But crisis from students, no. God has been taking preeminence.

There are other colleges of education in Ire and Ilesha and Esa Oke. What makes your own to teak bet-

If you want to succeed, you must be prepared to step on toes. And even if care is not taken, you donʼt only step on toes, you cut some off. If you want to please everybody, you can never achieve anything. It is the legacy you leave behind that would speak for you

are given more to cope with, like payment of peculiar allowance, hazard allowance, medical allowance, and so on. There, we spend so much at the end of every month and, in fact, that is hampering physical development. But the first thing is to block all leakages. The moment all leakages are blocked, the little you have, you would know that it is consolidated.

I equally make sure that we don’t spend spuriously.

It is only the cogent and important areas that we emphasise. We avoid any frivolous or wasteful spending.

If you bring anything, you have to defend what you want to do with it. It is not just a matter of we want to buy this biro; you should be able to explain what you want to do with the biro and what happened to the previous one you bought? So, it all depends on the financial engineering. It is not that we don’t have economic crunch. Whatever is affecting the head, all other parts of the body will equally be affected.

With your stance on accountability, you must have earned many enemies…

If you want to succeed, you must be prepared to step on toes. And even if care is not taken, you don’t only step on toes, you cut some off. If you want to please everybody, you can never achieve anything. It is the legacy you leave behind that would speak for you. If it

’

ter than others?

The first thing is that the tone of the school is discipline. I made the students to know that this is a teacher’s training institution where you produce nation builders. Therefore, the language and watchword of the college is discipline and moral sanctity. This is not only extended to students alone but the staff too.

You have to imbibe and internalise the tenets of discipline. And that is done through regular attendance at meetings. I am happy that since I assumed office, once the calendar is out, they know that I would be married to that calendar.

If exam is to take place at so and so time, I would know. My students are conscious of the fact that if lecture would start at a particular period, I would move around the school. Where I don’t meet lectures, I call the lecturer concerned. So the moment they realise that I am moving around, who is that person that would stay behind?

I told them that the idea that you would not teach when students are not many, I don’t like that. It means that you are punishing the regular and serious students. Out of 100, if you meet only two students in class, start lecturing them. Those ones would inform others that lectures have started and the others would join them. But the moment you wait for them, they would think that it is business as usual; they would not start lecture until so and so time. So, we have imbibed those principles and they are complying willingly because we let them realise that it is not a matter of coercion. We let them realize the importance of decency and discipline; that it is not just a pride but a necessity not only for here but for their own lives as well.

You said you assumed duty in August 2013 and you are still in acting capacity as provost of the school for two years, what is delaying your confirmation?

In life, you must sharpen yourself. You cannot make yourself a king. It is the kingmakers that would do that. I am not in a position to put them on the run or it would amount to overzealousness. To guard against that, I will wait till they deem it fit.

THE NATION SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

with Email: bineharriet@gmail.com

Escapades of fun-loving city ladies Co-ordinated by Patience Saduwa 08023201831 (sms only) psaduwa@yahoo.com

51

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

•Protesters in the community

Inside story of dreaded Lagos land speculator Alhaji Gay ’s killing

,

•The late Olaniyi

T was like a scene from a horror movie in Temidire area of Alagbado, Lagos on Monday as an angry mob hacked a dreaded land speculator, hotelier and suspected homosexual, Alhaji Tunji Rasaq Olaniyi a.k.a. Alhaji Gay, to death. Olaniyi, also known as Tunji Alaso, was until his death the owner of Tunji Alaso Hotels in the community.

It was alleged that until his death on

I

n Kunle AKINRINADE n

that fateful day, Olaniyi, had used thugs and corrupt law enforcement agents to intimidate perceived opponents in the community. He was killed during a protest staged by landlords to against alleged invasion of their property and constant harassment by the late him and his thugs.

The placard-carrying landlords and

community leaders had trooped out at about 10 am, chanting solidarity songs to condemn what they called “undue violent attacks” on residents by Olaniyi and his boys. They urged the Lagos State Government and law enforcement agents to save them from the hands of the demised land speculator.

To prevent a breakdown of law and order, men of the Alagbado Police Sta-

We faulted his claim that he was representing a fictitious Ota community who he claimed are the original land owners because Ota is in Ogun State while our community is in Alimoso Local Government Area of Lagos State

,

tion, who came in two patrol vans, had to provide security for the protesters.

It was learnt that Olaniyi had moved into the community in the early hours of the day to supervise construction work on a building he was putting up on Alafia Street. It was at the construction site that news of the protest got to Continued on page 52

52

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

NEWS

CRIME & OTHER STORIES

Inside story of drea speculator Alhaji Continued from page 51

•Olaniyi, handcuffed, before his death

him.

He was said to have forcibly grabbed the land on which the building project was sited from its original owners.

How he was killed The otherwise peaceful protest snowballed into violence at about 11.05 am when Olaniyi and a handful of his boys stormed the venue of the protest at Irepodun Junction, in a black space bus and started taking the protesters’ photographs.

The angry mob, made up mainly of youths, then mounted barricades on Moshalashi and Ibari roads and challenged Olaniyi for taking photographs during a protest against him.

Olaniyi’s vehicle was smashed by the mob before he left the scene of the protest.

Olaniyi, as gathered, headed straight to Alagbado Police Station where he allegedly accused a senior police officer of conspiring with community leaders to stage the protest.

A source at the station, who did not want his name in print, said: “Tunji Alaso (Olaniyi) came here to accuse one of our bosses of complicity in the protest staged against him by landlords.

He raised his voice in Yoruba,

saying, “O ti dale mi, o ti gbabode (you have betrayed me, you have conspired against me)”. He allegedly stormed out of the station about 10 minutes later.

At about 11.40 am, Olaniyi returned to the scene with more of his boys and shot sporadically as protesters and other residents scampered into safety.

All hell was however let loose when one of the youths, Ganiu Adebayo a.k.a. Oludegun, was felled by bullets fired by the hoodlums.

With the killing of Adebayo, the cutlass-wielding youths became emboldened and pursued Olaniyi, who was by then being shielded by his armed thugs on Moshalashi Road.

Having caught up with him on the road, the angry youths shouted in Yoruba, “Oole sa lo; waa ku loni (you cannot escape, you must die today).

Olaniyi was said to have made a futile attempt to resist his attackers with the aid of his armed thugs. At a point, his boys abandoned him and fled the scene.

The mob wasted no time in hacking him to death at about 11.45 am.

Olaniyi then fell in a pool of blood and wriggled in pain until he was ferried to two nearby pri-

vate hospitals who rejected him.

He later died as he was being taken to a public hospital.

His death unleashed palpable fear on the community as suspected hoodlums loyal to Olaniyi attempted to avenge his death. They smashed vehicles and attacked innocent residents around the AIT axis of Alagbado where Olaniyi lived and operated two hotels until his death.

The intervention of police and soldiers however restored normalcy in the community.

It was gathered that Olaniyi’s boys at about 8.30 am the following day, Olaniyi’s boys, allegedly led by one Waheed, again stormed the community to avenge the death of their boss, but they were repelled by security forces.

The law enforcements agents have since been conducting stopand-search operations on motorists and pedestrians in the area.

Some residents of the area told our correspondent that the late Olaniyi had caused havoc to many people in the community.

He was accused of using unscrupulous law enforcement agents to intimidate those who were opposed to his nefarious activities in the community.

A resident, who identified her-

Woman needs N1m for urgent heart surgery 30-year-old woman has appealed to the public for financial help for an urgent heart surgery.

Kehinde Soyinka, of New Muta Street, Adiyan near Agbado, Ogun State, developed a heart disease about four years ago.

The disease usually comes with shortness of breath and heavy pounding of the heart.

Since she was diagnosed of the disease, she has been attending the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) for treatment and medication, which is very costly.

The mother of three said she has spent more than N300,000 pulled together from her personal savings and donations from family members and associates.

“My heart problem started about four years ago, when I experienced constant high body temperature and pounding of heart. I fell sick several times and I made frequent visits to private hospitals.

A

“At a point, I was taken to Orile Agege General Hospital, where I was asked to run series of tests leading to the discovery of my heart problems.”

“I was transferred to LASUTH and doctors said the solution is a corrective surgery that will cost N1 million and I have been looking for the money since last year without success.

“I am a tailor by profession, but my condition has not allowed me to work for about three years now. As I speak, I am still experiencing shortness of breath among other painful symptoms.”

According to her medical report signed by Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at LASUTH, Bode Falase, “the above named 30-yearold lady was seen in the Cardiothoracic clinic on November 24 and December 3, 2014. She presented with progressive shortness of breath of three years duration. She has been known to have miral valve prolapse.

“On Transthoracic echocardiogram, she has good systolic function (EF57%) left ventricle and left atrium are dilated (LVD 73mm,LVDs,50mm,Lad 53mm) and there is severe mitral regurgitation (TRmaxPG 10mmHg)” “She is in controlled Atrial fibrillation with a pulse rate of 86/min and current medications are Digoxin 0.25 daily, Aldactone 25mg daily and Metoprolol 25mg daily…assessing her, she would be a good candidate for mitral valve repair or replacement. The estimated cost of this surgery in LASUTH will be one million naira.”

Soyinka , a native of Idoani, Ondo State, said she had no money for the surgery and is kindly asking the general public to make a donation towards her health and well-being.

Anyone willing to make a donation can do so through an account at GT Bank, number 0172358959.

She can be contacted via 08188389017 or her husband on 08034242231

•Kehinde

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

olukunle87@yahoo.com

ded Lagos land Gay’s killing ,

self simply as Yetunde, said: “I think that Tunji Alaso (Olaniyi) was killed because his cup was full; otherwise, he was not someone that could be killed so cheaply. He had been terrorising landlords and residents unchallenged and would openly boast of charms.”

Olaniyi, a native of Ogbomoso, Oyo State, was said to have come into the community a few years ago and embarked on forcible land grabbing from property owners.

It was learnt that the deceased built two houses on Moses Olawale Street, in Temidire, Alagbado and occasionally used one of the buildings to host his visitors.

Worried by the development, the community leaders petitioned the Lagos State Government and Lagos State House of Assembly to save them from his continued harassment.

The matter got to a head a few weeks ago when the community leaders protested to the new Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, at the Lagos Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.

Speaking with our reporter before the protest turned violent, the Baale of Temidire, Chief Nojeem Abioye, alleged that Olaniyi and his men had been terrorising house owners in the area.

He said: “Many house owners moved into this community more than 40 years ago without any disturbance until a few years ago when some land speculators decided to make life unbearable for them in their own houses.

“We faulted his claim that he was representing a fictitious Ota community who he claimed are the original land owners because Ota is in Ogun State while our community is in Al-

imoso Local Government Area of Lagos State.

“I told him several times to desist from harassing or attacking innocent landlords in this community but he would not listen to me.

“Only yesterday, he beat up an elderly landlord in this community and the man is now on admission in a hospital. He has annexed so many buildings using his thugs to unleash terror on hapless landlords and residents.”

A community leader, Chief Olanrewaju Ololade, said: We are protesting today because we have more than 5,000 people living in this community.

Many of us bought our property from Fred Williams family over 40 years ago.

“In 1984, some members of Ibari family in Ota, Ogun State came here to harass us and we took them to court. We got a judgment in 1988 wherein the Ibari family’s claim to our property was overruled by the court.

“But lately, Olaniyi started terrorising us, claiming to represent an unknown Ota community as land owners. We told him that we have a valid court judgment which validated our ownership of the property but he resorted to violence, beating and harassing landlords and residents.

“We are, therefore, using this protest to call on the Lagos State Government to save us from the activities of his boys.”

The Chairman of Temidire Joint Community Development Association, Chief Apanishile Ale, said Olaniyi had been using thugs to attack people that were opposed to his reign of terror.

The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Kenneth Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said he received a distress call around 11.45 am that one Tunji Rasak ‘M’, who was attacked and injured during the protest, had died in a hos-

Olaniyi started terrorising us, claiming to represent an unknown Ota community as land owners.

We told him that we have a valid court judgment which validated our ownership of the property but he resorted to violence, beating and harassing landlords and residents

,

pital he was rushed to.

He added that another unidentified person was injured and was responding to treatment. Nwosu said investigation was on going.

Our correspondent, however, learnt that the Lagos State Police Command brokered a peace meeting on Tuesday between the community leaders and family members of the deceased. The meeting, which was said to have been held at the State Police Command headquarters, had in attendance the Baale of the community, Chief Najeem Abioye, and Executive Secretary of Agbado/Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, Engr David Famuyiwa.

His many sins In February 2009, the Area ‘G’ Police Command, Ogba, Lagos, declared the deceased wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting an 18year-old boy, Kabiru Amusa. It was the incident that earned him the moniker Alhaji Gay. It was gathered that he sexually assaulted the teenager at his residence, on Friday January 16, 2009, under the pretext of securing him a lucrative job. He was said to have drugged the boy in conjuction with suspected homosexuals and had marathon sex with him through the anus, leading to bleeding.

While his accomplices were arrested, Olaniyi was said to have escaped through the roof of his house on 7, Barusam Street, Alagbado and evaded arrest until his gruesome death a few days ago.

His suspected accomplices: Wahab Adeniyi, 39; Gbenga Aladelusi, 32; Okoro Emeka, 21; Hastrup Adesoji, 24; Gbenga Odumolu, 23; Azeez Amusa, 45 and a lady who prevented the police from arresting him, Mrs. Yetunde Adelugba, 38 were subsequently arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court 8 for conspiracy and indecent sexual assault on a male. The suspects were remanded at the Kirikiri maximum prison and the case is still ongoing.

The 44-year-old deceased was also accused of operating a syndicate comprising unscrupulous police officers to extort money from internet fraudsters otherwise known as Yahoo Boys as far as South Africa and Malaysia.

He was said to have impersonated operatives of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to extort money and laptops from fraudsters.

In November 2011, he was arrested by the police in Ibadan during one of his illegal outings but managed to escape prosecution.

His death, as gathered, has since thrown the youths in the area into wild jubilation while the residents of the community where he met his gruesome death are still battling with fear of possible reprisals by Olaniyi’s boys.

53

( 08167164657 or 08023910970 )

Man stabs self in the neck …two years after he attempted to cut off his manhood n Kunle AKINRINADE n ESIDENTS of Ago Oko area of Abeokuta, Ogun State capital were shocked penultimate Tuesday when a man simply known as Baba Kogi stabbed himself in the neck.

The man was said to have told his neighbours that he was looking for death.

He was also said to have made a failed attempt to cut off his male organ about two years ago.

It was learnt that Baba Kogi was saved by one of his neighbours who raised the alarm that attracted other people in the neighbourhood.

A source, who asked not to be named, said: “But for the timely arrival of one his neighbours who opened the door to Baba Kogi’s room, he would have succeeded in killing himself with a knife.

“It was the said neighbour who raised the alarm that attacted other people in the surrounding. He was first taken to Ijaiye General Hospital, Abeokuta, from where he was referred to University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, for treatment.

Our correspondent learnt that his relatives however returned him to his house behind Oba Adedamola area of Ago Oko, citing lack of money as reason.

“We do not know why his relatives have abandoned him to his fate. Baba could not eat for some days after he was returned home by his family members. But he is regaining his appetite gradually and can now eat, though slowly,” said a resident who craved anonymity.

Residents who spoke with The Nation said the man was in a very good mood prior to the incident and had even patronised a herbal gin seller in the area before attempting suicide.

The spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, was not available for comment at press time.

R

Woman abandons baby with innocent girl n Kunle AKINRINADE n one-year-old physically challenged baby has been abandoned by her mother in the Sango Ota area of Ogun State.

It was learnt that the mother of the toddler approached an unidentified 10-year-old girl on Ositelu Street, Abebi area of Sango Ota penultimate Friday and told her to help her take care of the baby with a promise to come back for it soon.

“The mother of the baby told the little girl to hold her child for her under the pretext that she wanted to purchase soft drinks from a nearby depot. She promised to come back for her child but was not seen several hours after she left,” said an eyewitness who craved anonymity.

The girl with whom the woman abandoned the baby said: "I was just sitting down in front of our house when the woman asked me to look after the baby till she returned from where she wanted to buy some soft drinks.

“When my mother demanded the identity of the mother of the baby, I told her that it was an unidentified woman that asked me to look after the baby for her till she would return.

"It later turned out that the woman did not come back for her child, hence my mother was advised to take her to the palace of the Baale of this community, Alhaji Yaya Ajibose, who in turn gave us a letter to take the child to the nearest police station."

Our correspondent learnt that the baby has since been taken to a renowned orphanage near the secretariat of Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government.

A

THE NATION SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

54

Why we’re supporting small businesses —MD Heritage Bank, Sekibo HAT role do you think that leaders should play in As a leader, I building successful entrepreneurs? have met and worked with people with different values, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, cultural values, work habits, goals, ambitions and dreams. Because of this incredible diversity of human resources, it is very necessary though sometimes difficult for a diplomatic leader to transform these people into high-performing teams.

Nobody wins by being autocratic, hence diplomacy is very important. That way, you are set to tackle issues that arise from being an entrepreneur.

What has led Heritage Bank to support small businesses to achieve their goals of transforming into bigger companies?

Heritage Bank’s philosophy is to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations. We are in the business to provide service per excellence and to grow with our customers. We are here to help our customers create wealth for themselves, assist our partners preserve their wealth and guide them in transferring it to the next generation.

We have specialised products that enjoy zero commission on turnover charges and high interest yields, amongst others for our partners. These products help us in supporting our customers’ businesses and taking them to greater heights.

Competition in the banking sector is getting tougher everyday.

What measures has the bank put in place for it to continue to stand out from the crowd?

We provide innovative services. To us, innovation isn’t only about creating something new, it is also about taking something that exists and transforming it into something bigger and better. As a new entrant to the banking sector, our edge is that we are starting from where our competitors stopped while being able to avoid all the mistakes they made along the way. Having imbibed a culture of continuous innovation, I am confident of Heritage Bank’s ability to adapt to envisaged customer and sector changes.

The thinking by many people is that government pays lips service to the development of agricultural sector in the country. Tell us what you think the government should do to be taken seri-

•Sekibo

Successful businesses are driven by people who are committed to hard work and excellence. In this interview with COLLINS NWEZE, the Managing Director/CEO, Heritage Bank Limited, Ifie Sekibo said no business can thrive without people. The bank chief believes that getting everyone in his team to succeed makes him a happy and fulfilled man. ously?

The Nigerian Government has done a lot for the agricultural sector. The government has carried out various transformation agendas like Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) - a new innovative mechanism targeted at derisking lending to the agricultural sector. It is also designed to provide the singular transformational and one bullet solution to break the seeming jinx in Nigeria's agricultural lending and development.

There is also the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) which represents a policy and pragmatic shift within the existing Fertilizer Market Stabilization Programme. It provides series of incentives to encourage the critical actors in the fertilizer value chain to work together in order to improve productivity, household food security and income of the farmer.

There is also the Staple Crops Processing Zones which involves the establishment of commodity marketing corporations around each of the agricultural commodities. There is also the Central Bank of Nigeria’s single digit loans which also caters for Small and Medium Enterprises in the agricultural sector. I believe all the government needs to do more is simply communicate more on what it is doing in the sector.

Many people believe that Nigeria needs a system that allows the nurturing of new breed of leaders. How can this vision be actualised?

The nature of every ecosystem is change. Everything working within an ecosystem must evolve and this includes rules, best practices, business models, mind-sets and the leaders themselves who drive the ecosystem.

The rapid-fire changing world of the 21st century presents new challenges and opportunities for leadership. The ideas, concepts, and attitudes that once drove the nation to success need to be updated. To be an authentic, inspiring leader, the young people of today must dramatically increase their chances of success as they meet head-on modern society's issues by cultivating new insights and perspectives.

What is your plan for Heritage Bank?

Our plans for Heritage Bank are unfolding. It is a gradual process. With the acquisition of Enterprise Bank Limited, Heritage Bank is now a bigger and better bank. One of our major strategies is to work with our partners to grow their business and take them to the stock market. As a service organization in the business of banking, we must be in the stock market ourselves for us to achieve this feat.

That is our direction.

What would you say is responsible for the success you have achieved so far?

My tools for success are people and good processes. But most importantly, people, because people drive the processes. I believe that success is largely hinged on people who have been able

ʻ

to key into my vision, believing in such vision and turning it into a common goal.

They are people who invested their time, efforts, ideas and energy in the business. They are people equipped with good business processes, and benefiting from lasting support from partnerships built over time.

How do you unwind and what kind of music do you listen to?

I spend special time with my family, swimming and playing lawn tennis. I listen to a lot of gospel music and l like cool Jazz music.

What is your view about gospel music in Nigeria?

Gospel music is here to stay. There is a huge message gospel music has to spread to the world and this can be done with modern beats and instruments to create soothing and appealing sounds while ensuring the direct message delivery.

Tell us about your salvation experience.

God has been very instrumental in my life. My parents were very religious people and God is the pillar upon which I have built my foundation.

Given the harsh economic situation faced in the country today, what encouragement would you give to someone who is about to give up?

History has shown that formal education, specifically, is not an indication of success or prosperity.

However, a prepared mind merits success, but again time and opportunity happens to us all. We should note that success is for mere humans who are courageous enough not to give up regardless of the failures and/or obstacles which may come their way. Like my favourite saying goes; “Opportunities dance with those already on the dance floor”. Never stop dancing.

To be an authentic, inspiring leader, the young people of today must dramatically increase their chances of success as they meet head-on modern society's issues by cultivating new insights and perspectives

ʻ

W

‘Challenges OULD you tell us about your early life?

I am from Isoko in Delta State but was born In Ekiti State before my parents moved to Ogun State. My parents were peasant farmers, so growing up was very tough. In fact, I was a dullard in my primary school days. One day, my teacher had to lock my friend and I in the toilet for two hours because an inspector was coming to the school. After we were released, I asked why we had to be locked up in the toilet and to my amazement, she said the decision was taken to prevent us from embarrassing the school before the inspector should he decide to ask us any question. That was my experience as a pupil in the primary school back then. The dullard of those days, has become a man imparting knowledge on thousands of school children across the country and the continent of Africa as our books are in demands even in America and European countries. The incident was one of the things that challenged me to aim for excellence in life. I wish that my teachers who see my books would remember me and that ugly event. It goes on to mean that everyone can turn his problems to success and that when a child is not doing well initially, he should be loved and cared for and not given the kind of treatment that I received because it could go a long way to affect the psyche of such child academically and socially. It could make some children to suffer emotional imbalance and inferiority among their peers.

When did you start publishing?

I started publishing in 1996 when I found that there was a dearth of quality books in the country. Instead of buying books made in the country many high brow private schools were not importing books from abroad.

Before you ventured into publishing, what were you doing?

For over 15 years, I ran a private school where I taught in all the classes. That gave me the first hand knowledge about the missing areas in our curriculum. I didn’t just wake uo to start a school. It started when I heard voice instructing me to pick chalk and begin to write. I started this and before I knew it, a parent brought two children, later another one brought three children and it began to grow from there.

Our books are children friendly. What we have done is to break down topics in languages best understood by the children. No matter how complex the topics are, any child that takes our books will easy grasp it because of our approach to it. If you check for-

C

THE NATION SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

55

Mr. Dennis Okoro is a Director of the MTN Foundation. The foundation was established for the purpose of focusing MTN Nigeria's efforts in terms of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) initiatives. In this interview with SEGUN AJIBOYE, Okoro speaks on the achievements and challenges of the foundation among other issues.

Excerpts: OW would you describe the journey so far? So far, the achievements on this programme have exceeded our expectations. When we started the programme, we were not sure on how far we will go.

However, it is interesting to note from the yearly performances, our awardees have continuously shown their accrued skills and appreciation for the support of MTN Foundation on the programme.

We have seen a steady growth of the students who are largely from the middle and lower classes in the society while very few of them are from the upper class. The scholarship is open to all Nigerians although we are particular about students who are talented in music but do not have money to go for classes. It is a two year programme that has consistently turned out young people who are ready to be different in what they do.

You sponsor students from the low class. What informed this decision?

When the proposal to sponsor a programme in MUSON was presented to the board, a number of people felt the idea was elitist. A lot of them thought of our para-music and native music; thinking that only children of the elite study at the MUSON Centre. As it is our style to build capacity and make a difference, we decided to give it a trial by sponsoring more of the students who are talented but could not afford studying at the MUSON Centre.

Happily for us, it has been a success story. We are glad to see the graduating students and their families express heartfelt cheers as they graduate today.

How do you measure the success of the programme?

The testimonies are numerous. We have recorded a lot of successes. For instance, last year some of our students had a concert here. Recently, we found out that some of them are in South Africa making waves. A number of them also got scholarship to study music in the United States of America. Some of them are currently being courted by private schools to teach music in their schools.

So the testimonies have been great because quite a number of them are doing fine.

What other MTNF empowerment activities do you have for young people?

We have been able to furnish many schools across the federation. In some places, students and teachers do not have seats in their schools and classrooms. Programmes like this music scholarship are quality programmes of the MTNF to ensure educational empowerment for young

H

•Okoro

‘Why we are sponsoring the study of music’ Nigerians.

More so, under our yearly school development programme, we have the School Connect programme; where we build computer labs for schools to enable students study adequately. We have done that for over 62 schools across Nigeria and we are not relenting.

At the tertiary level, Lagos State University (LASU),

University of Nigeria (UNN), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) have benefited from our digital library projects. Our flagship is the science and technology scholarship where we award 500 scholarships to students every year in science and technology subjects. And the condition for the award is that you must maintain a 3.5 CGPA for your scholarship to be renewed annually. The scholarship is worth N200, 000 every year.

MTNF is also sponsoring the study of music by young people...

The earlier perception that those studying music are not serious is due to ignorance by a lot of parents.

Unfortunately, due to this ignorance, our young people are losing a lot because they are not doing arts. Arts and music are the two creative elements in the school curriculum. A musician creates music. An artist also creates.

Also, students who can combine arts and music are able to use parts of the brain that others do not use, because those parts are highly logical. Due to ignorance, parents are particular about their children doing sciences, to become doctors amongst others disciplines while neglecting the arts. Unfortunately, this has led to the loss of creativity among some of our young people. We want to be creative and music was introduced into the school curriculum for a purpose; because it helps you to use that part of the brain that is very creative and is rarely used.

If you have a child who can write and create music, you will see the difference. Regrettably, we now have charlatans who simply take a beat and play into it all in the name of music. Music is very attractive to the soul but unfortunately, some schools do not have music in their curriculums anymore. For instance, successful individuals such as those who design computers, usually have a background in arts and other creative activities. A typical example is Steve Jobs who invented Apple and after leaving school ignited the creativity in him with arts; to start doing computer designs with astounding record of successes. So, at MTN Foundation, our goal is to create such genuine individuals and I hope people appreciate it.

Why music?

When you listen to an opera or an orchestra, such music relaxes your nerves. You can be studying when it plays in the back ground. But when you listen to a very noisy music, it distracts and you may not be able to concentrate because you are not “listening” to music. Also, research has shown that when a woman is pregnant, you should create an atmosphere of soft music for her to always relax.

The research connected the fact that when such babies are born, they are usually organised. Another research was done with rose flowers. Some rose flowers were grown under two different conditions: that of noisy music and classical music. The experiment revealed that when the flowers started budding, those planted in a soft and classical music environment were properly rounded while those grown in a noisy environment were scattered.

What is the focus of this music training?

If by our activities we are redirecting the focus of our young people, then we are achieving our goals. For instance the boys graduating in this set have a lot of potentials and possibilities awaiting them in the society.

They can become professionals in music if they choose to.

Music makes you think a lot about life, making the best use of it. Life is not all about making money and that is what good music gives you.

facing publishing business in Nigeria’ eign books, you will see that our culture and traditions are not reflected in them. We have accommodated all these in our books to help the children have a good understanding of our culture and also enhance their moral values. We have brought back the African culture and values in our books and they have been having huge impact on the children using them. We get testimonies about this and academic success from schools and parents. For private schools, especially the high brow ones to adopt a book means it is of good quality. We are willing to and prepared to partner with various state governments.

You appear to be concentrating on the primary classes. Why is this so?

You cannot build any solid house without a solid foundation. This is why we are concentrating on producing books that will help in building solid foundation for our children. We want our children to be well molded from the foundation just like the Americans. When you see an American child, he or she thinks like an adult because of the quality of knowledge impacted on them. This is what we are out to achieve.

What are the challenges confronting you as a publisher?

The challenges are enormous. First is the challenge of power supply in the country. Like many other companies in the country, we rely on generator to generate power and to do this everyday means spending huge resources on a daily basis. This is killing many businesses in the country as it affects your income and capital by extension.

•Ogberaha Another challenge is

As a child, Mr Judeson Ogberaha, the Chief Executive Officer of Learnrite Publishers Services, was deemed an embrassment to his school because of perceived inadequaccies by his teachers. On one occasion, he had to be locked up together with his friend in a toilet for two hours to avoid spoiling the image of the school before a visiting education inspector. Instead of killing his morale and interest in education, the ugly incident became a turning point in his life. In this interview with INNOCENT DURU, the man perceived to be a dullard by his teachers shared the experience of how he rose to become a prolific writer, author and a successful publisher. Excerpts: the huge tax being charged by the government. I am not saying that the government should not collect tax from publishing houses but they should be lenient with us because we are helping to correct social issues and consequently assisting the government to lessen their problems. Finance is the next on the list of these problems. Publishing business is capital intensive and when you approach the banks for loan, they would ask for collateral and several other requirements.

This is making it difficult for many people with lofty ideas to thrive.

This is one area I want the government to look into to help entrepreneurs.

Looking at the books, one can see that your name on all of them. How is it that you wrote Mathematics and English Language books?

It started as a result of necessity. My first degree is in English Language. I also have a Masters Degree in English Language and currently doing my PhD in it but situation made me to study Mathematics. If for the past 15 years our children have continued to fail WAEC, it shows that

our curriculum is failing. Many children believe that Maths is hard but my experience has shown that it is not.

Attention is gradually shifting to e-learning, what threat does this pose to the publishing industry?

We are aware of this and are fully prepared for it. But the challenges in the country don’t make us really ripe for it now. The challenge of power supply does not encourage e-learning and e -library.

The problem of piracy also makes it difficult for e-learning and elibrary because by when you upload your works online, pirates would easily and quickly feast on it.

How do you relax and what time do you have for your family considering your family schedule?

I can count on my fingers the number of times I have attended social functions or travelled outside Lagos State in the last 30 years that I took up this task upong myself. Sometimes, after working all day, I would pick my car key in the evening and drive around.

This is how I relax and I get inspired the more when I do this. I write at night because the brain is more relaxed then.

As an avid reader and a writer one would hardly believe that you would have time for love. When did you find love?

Behind every successful man there is a woman. So, for me to succeed, I needed a woman and I found one, a very brilliant and God fearing one. When I met her, I was still operating a very small class of few children. When we met, I told her that I had a call to teach the whole country. She replied by asking if it was from that small place that I would teach the whole nation. Being a woman of great faith, she saw through it.

58

H EALTH MATTERS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

Dwindling fish stocks: on nutrition, health HANNAH OJO writes on how rising levels of contaminants in the Lagos lagoon poses great danger to nutritional security for the state and beyond

ITH a water area estimated at 261.6 km, Lagos should be a place sprawling with tonnes of fresh fish for consumption. However, this seems to be a distant reality as a huge population and unhealthy lifestyle is not only changing the profile of the fish consumed in most households but also leading to dwindling yield for local fishermen. Findings have shown that dwindling supply has led to exorbitant prices making fresh fish, a rich source of animal protein out of the reach of poor families. This development not only poses danger to food security but also contributes to malnutrition.

A visit to the Lagoon shore fish market in Epe, a fishing community in Lagos shows a beehive of activities, but that should not be taken to mean that all is well with the markets. Fish retailers lament low sales and lack of capital to do business. Fishermen confirmed that fishing has changed as they now spend a longer time in the lagoon with lesser catch to show for their nightlong hunting.

In credence to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation titled “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture”, indications are that in addition to providing food and contribution to the nutritional security of poor households, there is also a cash-income pathway where commercialisation sea products also offer livelihood opportunities to people in fishing communities.

Adeniyi Kotonileru, a fisherman operating in Epe, a coastal community speaks of how lack of capital to purchase fishing equipment by local farmers is responsible for dwindling returns witnessed by fish hunters.

“In the past, our fathers have cooperative societies where they get loans to buy fishing equipment and distribute it among themselves. They return the money in instalment but those groups have closed. Government should organise something like that so that we will be able to buy fishing equipment and pay the loan by instal-

W

•Sea food on display in a market

ment with lower interest," he said.

Dr. Olukayode Olubiyi, a fishing gear specialist at the School of Fisheries and Marine Technology Federal College, Victoria Island, Lagos identified pollution as a major reason for the dwindling number of fishes in the Lagos lagoon and the sea. He listed oil spillage, unlawful disposal of balanced water by ships and untreated industrial effluents that go into the water from different companies as major sources of pollutants for Lagos waters.

“I did a research to test the effect of effluents in our waters on the fishing gear. It is terrible. What goes into our waters is really serious. We knew from long ago that a lot of waste goes into the Lagos lagoon. If the pollutants could affect the nets, then you can imagine the serious effects it would have on the fish."

“These effluents have negative effect because fish is supposed to stay in fresh clean water. For fish that are grown in a polluted environment, if they manage to survive at all, whoever eats them is consuming fish that is contaminated," he submitted.

According to him,

,

Fish protein is essential for iron and blood formation as well as helping the formation of the bones and teeth. It also aids the development of thyroids glands and acquisition of hormones and enzymes

,

the physical test to discern contaminated fish is to see if a fish retains finger identification when touched and also watch out for fishes with cloudy eyes, non- reddish gills and a skin that is not iridescent.

Dr. Ademola Yakub, a Biological Oceanography, who is a senior research officer at the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) admits there is a challenge of fish resources in Lagos waters.

“Fishes within the five nautical miles of our water are already over exploited because we have over-fished and we don’t go to where there is abundance.

The fishes in the shallow waters are being depleted whereas the deep sea resources remain underexploited.

“Some effluents have the ability to kill the fish out rightly. Some will not kill the fish directly but will affect the quality of the water. Some will affect the younger fishes and prevent reproductive activities. Pollution also contaminate fishes by destroying their nostril glands and breathing glands," said Dr. Yakub while answering a question of how pollution changes the profile of fishes.

Lagos being the most urbanized city in Nigeria generates the highest level of both gaseous and solid waste materials which are sometimes let into the lagoon by households and industries.

Although he maintained that the fish in our natural water body is still safe to eat, he however, admitted that there is a rising profile on the level of contaminants in Lagos water and urged for a continuous monitoring of Nigeria coastal water for pollution by the regulatory agencies concerned.

With a growing population and diminishing coastlines as a result of human activities, how does one ensure that the

•Orakwue

next generation would not wake up to discover the ocean's resources necessary for nutritional needs have been finished?

Both scientists make cases for safer practices that would enhance sustainability of marine resources.

“Fish is a renewal resource if proper and effective management principles are adhered to. We should prevent pollution, the source of our pollution from both the point and diffuse sources. All industries must treat their effluents before they discharge them into the natural water body.

The fishery regulating agency should make sure that all the fishery laws are obeyed by fisher folks and fishing companies," Yakub suggested.

It’s been said that the reason why fish is so expensive is because there is too much reliance in the capture sector.

Presently, aqua culture contributes a very marginal percentage of the fish supply in Nigeria.

H EALTH MATTERS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015

Experts warn implications •Fishermen at work on the Lagos lagoon

‘Contaminated fish can affect unborn babies, children’ Mrs. Temitope Sikiru, a Senior Nutritionist at Massey Street Child Hospital, Lagos, in this interview, speaks on the nutritional benefits derived from eating a proper fish diet How does fish diet help to prevent and correct stunted child growth?

Fish is an essential source of protein. This protein is of High Biological Value, known as HBV. A proper fish diet can help to prevent and correct kwashiorkor, a disease condition caused by inadequate intake of protein in children.

Moreso, because of the presence of calcium in fish, it helps in the formation of strong bones which can help to prevent rickets in children and osteoporosis in adulthood.

How does improved nutrition on fish diet for women during pregnancy improve birth weight and also prevent anaemia?

Improved nutrition on fish diet for women during pregnancy can help to prevent anaemia since fish is also a source of Iron and calcium.

To be noted is that fact that for the iron to be properly absorbed and utilized by the body, plant products, especially fruits rich in Vitamin C should also be consumed because Vitamin C aids iron absorption. Moreso, the calcium will proffer great health benefit to support the pelvic bones for small adult pregnant women.

•A fish trader displaying her stock

Olubiyi made a case for improvement in fish farming rather than sole reliance on the capture sector as the major means of getting fishes. Aquaculture also poses the challenge of varieties as it is only the production of cat fish that has been mastered by Nigerian fish farmers.

For local fish farmers relying on the capture means of fishing, they also have to contend with disasters such as floods, diseases break-out and human thefts.

Although government has placed a structural ban on imported frozen fish in the country in a bid to stimulate local fish farming, there is a biting effect on the masses who now have to ration their intake of fish thereby depriving both adults and children of the specific micronutrients necessary for growth and devel-

opment.

Finishing fishes, grim picture for nutrition Why should Nigeria take the dwindling number of fishes on its coast seriously? This is due to the importance that fish nutrients serve noted Mrs. Benedine Orakwue, a nutritionist.

Orakwue who wrote a book on defeating type 11 diabetics Mellitus with diets, said fresh fish contain minerals which are of nutritional value to children as it not only adds to their growth status but also aids kids in developing cognitive abilities.

“Fish protein is essential for iron and blood formation as well as helping the formation of the bones and teeth. It also aids the development of thyroids glands and acquisition of

hormones and enzymes," she told The Nation.

“What fish does in adult is to maintain the bones because of the calcium content and also maintains the heart since red meat can cause blockage in the arteries. Preferably, adults should take dry fish to reduce the level of cholesterol", she added.

In Nigeria, 29.5 of children under five suffer malnutrition according to the 6th report on the World Nutrition Situation published by the United Nations Systems Committee on Nutrition. Not just a statistic to be relegated into a background noise, this spells the fact that one in four Nigerian children suffer from Vitamin A deficiency which could lead to poor sight, stunted growth and failure to develop cognitive abilities for learning.

For women, nutritional deficiencies arising from not having enough intakes of nutrients gotten from fish can also result in anaemia which is a persistent problem contributing to birth related deaths in the country.

The Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 3 aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture as well as ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. It is only safe to say that Nigeria will come near the realisations of these goals if government and stakeholders see to policies that will help to protect resources.

Achieving sustainable food and nutrition security, it appears could only be a viable means of finding lasting solution to hunger and malnutrition in the country.

•Sikiru

What are the health defects that could arise from eating contaminated fish?

The health defects that could arise from eating contaminated fish mostly affects pregnant women, unborn babies and children, and have lesser effects on adults. The effect includes poor nervous and brain development, delayed developmental milestone, numb or tingling fingers and poor neck co-ordination. It should be noted that, mercury is the major source of contaminant in fish.

Are there health defects that could arise from the inability to eat a proper fish diet?

The health defects that could arise from not eating a proper fish diet are serious. In adults, there is susceptibility to or increased risk of development of certain types of cancers e.g breast cancer, oral cancer, and prostate cancer. The inability to get fish protein can also lead to increased risk of high blood pressure and increased risk of depression. It can also cause illness such as kwashiorkor and underweight in children.

59

60

By Professor Dayo Oyekole Ph.D. (Ibadan), NMD, FNCP Tel: 0803-330-3897 Website: www.holisticlifecare.com E-mail: kolemetric@yahoo.com

SOUTH-WEST

62

NEWS

HE battle for the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, assumed a violent dimension yesterday, when a factional secretary of the party, Dr Tope Aluko was injured during a shootout at the party secretariat in Ado Ekiti.

Residents including passersby, commuters and motorists scampered for safety as gunshots rent the air.

Aluko, was shot at close range as he led members of the Tunde Olatunde faction to take over the party’s secretariat shortly after the Idowu Faleye faction left the building shortly after announcing the suspension of four members of the State Working Committee (SWC) led by Olatunde.

While Olatunde is the acting chairman of a faction that has 11 out of 14 SWC members, Faleye is the chairman of the faction recognized by Governor Ayo Fayose.

The Olatunde faction maintained that the appointment of Faleye which was masterminded by Fayose to fill the vacancy created by the former chairman, Makanjuola Ogundipe's appointment as Southwest PDP chairman runs contrary to the party’s constitution.

There was tension in Ado Ekiti earlier on Friday as riot policemen were mobilized to the party secretariat in about 10 vehicles and an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC).

The presence of the minions of law was to prepare ground for the arrival of the Faleye faction who announced the suspension of Olatunde, Aluko, Women

T

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

Shootout at Ekiti PDP secretariat Leader, Mrs. Busola Oyebode, Auditor; Tunji Olanrewaju and Assistant Secretary, Femi Esan.

The ‘suspended’ leaders of the party, according to the Faleye faction are to be tried for alleged anti-party activities by a disciplinary panel to be chaired by Commissioner for Local Government, Kolapo Kolade.

Other members of the panel are Babade Ige; Animasaun Bamidele; Mrs. Lanre Fajuyi; Smart Adebusuyi; Dele Ajibola and Kola Lawal But the Olatunde faction later came to take over the secretariat about two hours after the Faleye faction had left.

The riot policemen were later drafted to the party secretariat at about 3.40 pm and there was shooting with the PDP scribe hit by bullets.

In a telephone conversation with our correspondent, Aluko said: "I was shot at close range by policemen. As I was parking, they opened fire on me at about 3.40 pm. I went there and the policemen were waiting for me and what followed was shooting. My cloth was drenched in blood and I am receiving treatment as you speak with me. I went to the party secretariat because that is my office as the PDP secretary in the state.

"I have taken care of myself, no shaking. I want you to tell Fayose that the war has started and Fayose cannot intimidate us.

We will never leave the party for Fayose or any other person. Tell him that the war has started and

•Factional secretary injured Odunayo OGUNMOLA, Ado-Ekiti we are battle-ready and the people of the state will know the real members of the party".

The spokesman of Ekiti Police Command, Alberto Adeyemi, said: "Our men were there until they (members of Faleye faction) left and we are not aware of any other meeting held after they had left.

"The DPO also told me that nobody had come to the station to complain that he was shot or that any shooting incident took place".

The resolution of the faction loyal to Fayose to take disciplinary action against the five was read by its Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo.

Before he was attacked, Aluko at a news conference described

the action of the Faleye faction as a breach of the party’s constitution, saying that he and other duly elected and recognized party leaders remain bonafide members of the party with right to all privileges being enjoyed by registered members.

Aluko, who spoke on behalf of the aggrieved SWC members, said the state SWC was constituted by 14 members, wondering where Idowu Faleye-led faction had got the quorum to suspend them.

“Nobody can push me out of PDP. I have invested and sweated so much to build the party. But if the party is heading to implosion, then I will take my destiny in my own hands, because nobody has right to my happiness more than myself.

“PDP is being run in line with the constitution of the party. If this is the case, it came to me as a shock that the party could come up with this action through Jackson Adebayo and Idowu Faleye, who have been suspended by the authentic PDP leaders.

“Though, we owe it a duty to respect the NWC, but for suspended chairman to do that was a deliberate attempt to destroy the party; it is rather frightening, embarrassing and also disturbing. Up till now, Faleye has not been properly registered as a PDP member in his ward, having defected from Labour Party (LP) where he ran for the House of Representatives’ seat for Ekiti North Federal Constituency 2 in the 2011 general elections.

He added : “How can eleven members be suspended in

SWC. Only the State Executive Committee acting on the directive of the NWC can do that. If anybody thinks the best way to save the party is by illegal suspension, I won’t be part of that game. Since we assumed office, we have worked hard to win so many elections. We were the ones that put Governor Ayodele Fayose on that seat. I was the state agent in the last governorship poll. I can still not recollect where the meeting was held to ratify our suspension. It was just a decision of Faleye and his faction. The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Olisah Metuh, could not have authored the statement about our suspension , because he was the one that communicated to us about a truce meeting slated for next week.”

Court stops demolition of Ladipo auto spare part market Adebisi ONANUGA Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has asked the authority of Mushin Local Government Council to stop its plan to demolish a part of the popular Ladipo auto spare-part market.

The order issued yesterday will subsist pending the determination of an application filed by the traders before the court presided by Justice Iyabo Akinkugbe. Justice Akinkugbe said it would only be in the interest of justice that the local government authority put its demolition plan on hold pending the determination of the suit challenging the project.

Some auto spare parts dealers, who own shops at the market, had headed for court claiming that the the planned demolition would disturb the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of their tenancy at the market. The traders represented by, Nnamdi Chukwuka, Franco Offai, and eight others as claimants in the suit. They had, through their counsel, Richard Nwankwo, filed a Motion on Notice brought pursuant to Order 38 Rules 2&8, and Order 39 Rules 3(1), seeking 'for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendant, either by itself, agents officials, privies, servants or persons, from unlawfully going into or carrying out any demolitions or ejection of the applicants from their respective business premises at the Ladipo main market, Mushin, pending the hearing and determination of thesubstantive suit filed before the court.

Arguing an ex parte application before the court yesterday, Nwankwo urged the court to make an order for the parties to maintain status quo pending when the issues in the main suit would be determined.

Nwanko told the court that since the first invasion of the market by agents of the defendant at about 4.30am on June 30, 2015, the auto spare parts dealers had been trading under the apprehension that the defendant would eject them.

The lawyer alleged that in spite of the intervention of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, who met with the parties on July 1, 2015 and ordered that peace be maintained, the Executive Secretary of Mushin LGA, Mr. Jide Bello, had not relented on his threat to eject the marketers.

Nwankwo argued that the council would not suffer any loss if the court stopped it from taking further steps in its demolition and ejection plan until a decision was made by the court in the main suit.

But counsel to the defendant( Mushin local government), Mrs A.O. AkinAjayi, told the court that the defendant was served the Motion Ex-parte Notice on July 27, 2015 and would require time to file its reply.

A

Group allays fears over monarch’s absence in Ogun community group, Rebuilder Association of Ado Odo community in AdoOdo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, yesterday said that there was no crisis in the community as a result of the absence of the monarch, Oba Lateef Akanni.

The spokesman of the group, Mr Rasheed Ayinla, said there has been relative peace in Ado Odo since the embattled monarch relocated to Abeokuta shortly after he was attacked in 2103.

“As we speak, there is relative peace and normalcy in our town and the absence of Oba Akanni is of no effect on residents. Mischief makers who have sympathy for Oba Akanni are the ones peddling negative stories about our community in order to create the impression that the town has been in disarray since Oba Akanni went into selfexile.”

“The intention of those spreading negative tales about our community is to create fear and shatter the relative peace that we have witnessed in recent times, but we thank God that their efforts have yielded no fruit.”

A

• The scene of the fire incident

Three children roasted in Lagos fire HREE children were roasted yesterday in a fire outbreak that occurred at Jakande Housing Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos.

The incident happened at about 3am at a Mechanic Village in the area.

The fire, not only consumed the three girls, Christiana (12), Pelumi (5) and Feranmi (3), but also ravaged three cars, more than eight shops, including a building.

The fire, according to eye witnesses, was triggered by a head on

T

Evelyn OSAGIE collision between a LT27 bus loaded with jerry cans that were filled with fuel and a 14-seater commuter bus parked along the street. The impact of the collision dragged the commuter bus from its spot, colliding with a stationary Toyota truck also packed in front of the line of affected shops on No 14, Rainbow Street LSDPC, Estate Oke-Afa, Isolo.

Residents blamed the incident on the indiscriminate chase of the driver of the LT27 bus by some

Oke, Majekodunmi hail Buhari, Oyegun, Tinubu over resolution of House of Reps crisis Ernest NWOKOLO Abeokuta, Damisi OJO, Akure former Peoples Demo- elect their leaders and in the same cratic Party (PDP) 2012 vein, permit the supremacy of governorship Candidate party decision to tower over and in Ondo state, Chief Olusola Oke above individual interest. �has commended President "This is a leadership that lends Muhammadu Buhari for his ma- itself to party discipline and comturity in handling the leadership mitment to party interest. We are crisis at the House of Represen- proud of his maturity and comtatives. mitted to what his leadership A statement by his media aide, represents" Rotimi Ogunleye in Akure, the Oke also praised the qualitative state capital, said President leadership style of the party's NaBuhari's maturity demonstrated tional Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinrespect for the freedom of ubu for displaying a good democracy among the legislators dexterity stressing that it is a sign in the Assembly. that APC is moving forward.

Oke,who is now a chieftain of According to him"worthy of the All Progressives mention is the maturity and poCongress(APC) described such litical dexterity of the leadership action as testimony for change of the party, especially in the and worthy development to the southwest. Of particular interest country's national life as a na- is the leadership role played by tion.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The former National Legal Ad"The manner the matter was viser of the PDP said"President handled by our leaders particuMuhammed Buhari has demon- larly, Asiwaju Tinubu is a sign strated leadership and respect for that the APC is a party that memthe freedom of the legislators to bers should be proud.

A

policemen.

It was gathered that in his bid to escape from the police, the driver of the bus accidentally ran into the stationary bus packed beside the road which led to the fire outbreak.

The girls, who were of the same mother, were said to have been sleeping in one of the shops.

The Nation gathered that the heartbroken mother of the four children was only able to save her son whom she took along with her. There were conflicting reports on the exact reason why the kids were left alone overnight by their mother, who is popularly called Mama Faranmi, in room connected to the shop.

Some said she went for a church programme, while others said she had left her children to pass the night with her new husband.

Her neighbours also claimed that she was fond of locking up her children in their apartment whenever she passed the night outside.

On hearing of the fire outbreak, she had raced back to the shop and raised the alarm that her kids were trapped in the shop next to her room. Unfortunately, efforts of residents and firefighters proved abortive as the children had already been burnt to death.

The charred bodies were later removed from the scene.

Although, efforts to speak with Mama Faranmi proved abortive, however, The Nation gathered that she owns the property and ran two shops – a salon and provision store among a row of shops.

The children were sleeping in the salon when the incident occurred.

Another casualty, whose name was given simply as Joy, a resi-

dent, was lucky to have been woken up by the shouts of her son who was dreaming that his mother was dying, only to realize that the whole place had been engulfed by fire. They narrowly escaped but lost all their belongings to the fire.

Mama Feranmi was not the only one who lost property; a shop owner and neighbor, Madam Beauty Chikezie, wailed uncontrollably over the loss of her property worth over N2 million.

“Where do I start from now? I got a call around 3am that my shop was burning. By the time I called my brother, he said it is true. On getting here everything had been burnt to the ground. Where do I start from; I have lost goods worth more than N2million,” she said.

Other shop owners were seen picking what was left of the rubble and were unwilling to speak.

Executive Secretary of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Mr Jaiye Alabi, described the incident as regrettable. “It is very unfortunate. I was woken around 3am. I was told that the fire was triggered when a varagon bus collided with the Danfo bus that was stationary. It was put out by 5am.

The fire fighters really tried. They did a great job”.

A community leader in the community, Peter Adediji said: “It is sad and very unfortunate that the children from the same parents were roasted to death. It goes to show the economic situation in the country, that kids would be left to sleep in the shop. There is no reason why they should be sleeping in the shop. I can imagine the agony that the parents would be going through.”

NEWS 63

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

Kogi 2015: Group mobilize 20,000 volunteers for Senator Ugbane n James AZANIA, Lokoja n HEAD of the November 21 gubernatorial election in Kogi State, a pressure group within the All Progressives Congress, Volunteer Network (AVN), said it has mobilised over 20, 0000 volunteers to canvas for the emergence of Senator Nicholas Ugbane as the party’s flag-bearer, and victory at the poll.

The state coordinator, Mr. Tony Akeje and the Secretary, Babtunde Oyejide, in a statement issued in Lokoja and made available to journalists, said if voted as governor, the Ugbane will among other things transform the state into an agrarian success, considering its huge agricultural potentials.

They said they were in Lokoja to mobilise the youths and the market men and women, to support Ugbane’s aspiration.

"Senator Ugbane was a two-time commissioner for education and served in different other ministries in the state. He is reputed the brains behind several notable achievements recorded in Kogi, and if elected as governor, he will do more.”

The advised voters to get it right this time around by rejecting money politics, as well as the do-or-die attitude of some of the politicians

A

•Suspected armed robbers paraded in Kaduna... yesterday.

Photo: Abdulgafar ALABELEWE

Group asks Yobe governor to reverse scrapping of ministry HE Civil Society Advocacy Partnership on Conservation, Water Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Yobe State has called on Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam to reverse his decision on the scrapping of the Ministry of Environment in the state.

According to the civil society organization, led by its Chairman, Mallam Sherrif Kura Ibrahim, which took its cry to the Yobe State Speaker, Adamu Dala Dogo, at the Assembly complex, the merging of the ministry would have dire consequences on Yobe State and its people, especially the state being one of the 12 frontline desert prone states in the country.

The group worried that

T

Illegal arms factory uncovered in Kaduna ADUNA State Commissioner of Police, Umar Shehu, yesterday paraded Bulus Kinze and James Kinze, both from Kogun village of Jema'a Local Government Area of Kaduna State for allegedly using their residence for illegal manufacturing of arms and ammunitions and equally serving as main supplier of arms to armed bandits within the area.

According to the police commissioner, when the suspects were arrested and their residence, two locally made AK-47 rifles, one locally made SMG rifle and its magazine, two locally made pistols, two police coloured AK-47 magazines, one locally made AK-47 magazine, twenty live 0.36 special revolver ammunition, three live 7.62mm long ammunitions, eleven live 7.62mm short, AK-47 ammunition and three live cartridges.

Others are one live 5.5mm, T.6 ammunition, 14 empty shells of 7.62mm

K

n Abdulgafar ALABELEWE, Kaduna n short, AK-47 ammunition, seventeen empty shells of 0.36 special revolver pistols ammunition, one expanded cartridges, some parts of locally made AK-47 rifle and parts of other rifles, one drilling machine use in production of rifles, one hand driller, some instrument for fabrication of rifles and some assorted charms.

Meanwhile, when one of the suspected manufacturers of the illegal arms, James Kinze was interviewed at the police command headquarters where he was paraded alongside other armed robbery suspects, he owned up to manufacturing of locally made arms but said it was meant to protect themselves against bandits that have continued to terrorise their areas unabated.

"Armed bandits have continued to terrorise our area and killing our people, so since we could not get ade-

quate protection from the security agencies, we decided to produce locally made arms to protect ourselves and our people from the recurring attacks by such arm bandits," he said.

Also paraded were 20 suspected persons who were arrested for various offences ranging from, armed robbery, criminal conspiracy, and various acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, CP Umar has reassured members of the public of the readiness of the command to rid the state of all criminal elements in the society.

He urged residents of Kaduna State to continue assisting the command with useful information to track down the criminals from every nook and crannies of the state.

The Commissioner informed that as soon as investigation into the various offences is concluded, the suspects would be charged to court for prosecution.

Taraba: Alhassan, APC, fault INEC's request for tribunal's relocation HE Taraba State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last election, Hajia Aisa Alhassan and her party have faulted a request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the relocation of the election tribunal to the state.

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bilkachuwa, empowered under the Constitution to constitute election tribunals in respect of disputed elections, set up the Taraba governorship tribunal in Abuja owing to security challenge in the state.

INEC, in a motion, challenged the sitting of the tribunal in Abuja. It argued that the tribunal ought to sit in the state where the election was held.

It also noted that the state's legislative election tribunal was currently sitting in Jalingo, the state capital. INEC urged the tribunal to relocate to the state.

In a counter-argument yesterday, lawyer to Alhassan and APC, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), faulted INEC's

T

•Tribunal rules today n Eric IKHILAE, Abuja n

request, wondering why the electoral umpire was more concerned about the location of the tribunal than the other respondents.

"INEC is crying more than the bereaved. The main respondents to this petition (Governor Darius Ishaku and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party) have not challenged this tribunal's decision to sit in Abuja," Magaji said.

He wonderd why INEC, with its headquarters in Abuja, was uncomfortable with the tribunal's sitting in Abuja.

Magaji argued that since INEC was, by its motion, challenging the Court of Appeal President's exercise of her constitutional power, it should go before the Federal High Court.

While urging the tribunal to note the decisions of the Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states governorship tribunals in similar motions, Magaji urged the

tribunal to dismiss the motion by INEC. He also prayed the tribunal to grant his application for extension of time, which INEC objected to.

The Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states tribunals had, in separate rulings, held that their relocation to Abuja, on grounds of security, was constitutional. They consequently assumed jurisdiction over petitions on governorship elections in both states.

Lawyers to Ishaku and the PDP (whose victory are being challenged by the petitioners) Kanu Agabi (SAN) and Solo Aguma were indifferent to the tribunal's sitting venue.

They left decision on the issue to the tribunal's discretion.

The petitioners are challenging the outcome of the last governorship election in Taraba State, won by Ishaku of the PDP. Alhassan and her party are of the view that the election was marred with irregularities.

Tribunal Chairman, Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar has fixed ruling for today.

n Duku JOEL n that the decision has compromised Article 7 of the Millennium Development Goals which attaches high premium on global warming and environmental sustainability. It also contravenes the International Conventions under the UN Development programs like SEED, NEEDS, LEEDS etc which Nigeria is a signatory.

The group insisted that the decision would slow down or completely cut the flow the support of donor agencies to the state.

The group called on the Speaker to impress on the governor to reverse his decision and bring back the ministry.

Kogi pensioners renew protest threat n James AZANIA, Lokoja n N a renewed hostility between the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Kogi State Chapter and the state government over the alleged appointment of consultants to oversee pension payment, the union yesterday demanded that the services of Remita, the e-payment platform handling pensioners’ payment be disengaged.

It threatened to carry out its planned protests across the state to show its dissatisfaction over the way the state government is handling the matter.

Addressing newsmen in Lokoja, the state capital, state chairman of the NUP, Mr. Onu Abdullahi alleged that the purported engagement of Remita by the Accountant General of the state, Mr. Ibrahim Idakwo, has led to deduction of pensioners’ monthly entitlements, as well as the unexplained omission of some of their names from the roaster, even as he called for rectification of the anomaly.

He warned that the delay in enforcing the seven-day ultimatum issued by the union owing to the Sallah break must not be taken for granted, adding that if nothing was done within the stipulated period, the union will have no option than to embark on peaceful protests across the state.

I

Kano to enact law on grazing reserves ANO state government plans to enact a law to prevent grazing reserves from trespass, the state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said.

Already, the state Commissioner for Justice and Agriculture has been directed by the State government to produce a draft bill, which would be forwarded to the state House of Assembly for consideration and possible assent.

The governor, who stated this while receiving the report of a committee he constituted on Development of Master plan for Rivers and Streams in the state, explained that the law, which would entail

K

n Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano n penalty for people, who encroach on the reserves, would also help in curtailing clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.

Apart from that, the governor maintained that the law would complement other efforts of the government in general agricultural value chain addition.

Also, the governor disclosed that the state agriculture and water resources management agencies, namely, WRECA, KASCO and KNARDA would be reorganized and revitalized to promote agricultural production in the state.

SOUTH-SOUTH

64

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

Pick an insider as rector, ASUP tells Wike •Applauds governor for naming institution after Saro-Wiwa polytechnic Precious DIKEWOHA, Port Harcour HE Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Rivers State chapter, yesterday urged the state governor, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, to look inward in the appointment of a Rector for the polytechnic.

The union vowed to resist the appointment of a person from outside the institution as rector, saying that that the polytechnic has capable hands that can be appointed as Rector.

The Chairman of ASUP, Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, Comrade Ferry Barineka Gberegbe, disclosed this at a press briefing, held at the main campus of the polytech-

T

•From left: Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Acting National Chairman of PDP, Mr. Uche Secondus; Manager, Nigeria Port Authority, Eastern Zone, Mr. Obumneme Onuenyenwa and Managing Director, Zerock Construction Company, Mr. Maroun Kassouf, at the inauguration of the maintenance of Rivers Port access road in Port-Harcourt on Friday Photo: NAN

Kidnappers kill two policemen, abduct 80-yr-old woman in Bayelsa •Kingpin arrested A •Police foil abduction of council chairman team of policemen yesterday foiled an attempt by a gang of kidnappers to abduct the Chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Mr. Remember Ogbeh.

But two of the policemen, identified by their ranks as corporal, were killed by the rampaging gunmen.

The operatives, attached to the chairman, were said to have spotted the gunmen around the residence of the council boss in Amasomma, Southern Ijaw,, at about 8pm on Thursday.

The gunmen were said to have opened fire on the security team after sighting them.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: "The bandits had sophisticated guns. They were shooting indiscriminately, especially after their sporadic gunshots were replied by the police.

They kept shooting at the building.

"But the policemen withstood them. They showed some gallantry. However, two of the policemen were not lucky enough.

They were hit by bullets and they died. The gunmen escaped without fulfilling their sinister mission of abducting the chairman."

The gunmen were said to have escaped into the creeks with the

Mike ODIEGWU, Yenagoa riffles of the slain policemen.

The incident, it was gathered, threw the area into confusion and sent people scampering to safety.

It was, however, gathered that a special squad of the police carried out preliminary investigations on the fleeing gunmen and later arrested an alleged mastermind of the incident, identified as 24-year-old Seigha Oduwaiye.

Oduwaiye, who hails from Akassa in Brass Local Government Area, was said to have made useful statements to the police.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Butswat Asinim, said the men of the antikidnapping unit of the police have intensified efforts to arrest Oduwaiye's fleeing gang members.

He said: "On the 30 July, 2015, at about 8pm four dare-devil gunmen stormed the residence of the of Southern Ijaw LGA, Hon Remember Ogbe, at Amassoma in Southern Ijaw LGA to abduct him, but were engaged in

UNICEF advocates child friendly investment and budget Precious DIKEWOHA, Port Harcour HE United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has urged the Rivers State government to get involved in child friendly investment and planning, adding that it is the only way the future development of the nation would be guaranteed.

UNICEF made the call yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during its yearly Review Meeting to implement its planned activities and also plan for 2016.

The two-day meeting, a collaboration between UNICEF and the Rivers State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, had over 60 participants in attendance.

They were drawn from Akwa Ibom Bayelsa and Rivers states.

Speaking to newsmen, Chief of the UNICEF field officer in Enugu, Mr. Charles Nkuzi, called on policy makers to invest into the future of the nation through what he termed as child’s investment budget.

Nzuki said the purpose of the collaboration between UNICEF and government is to bring about the desired level of development.

He said, “In this review meeting, we are partnering with the government of Rivers State because we have work-plan for each of these three states for 2015.

“We are looking at the progress we are making towards the implementation of the planned activities. Part of it is informing the plan for 2016, because we want to ensure that UNICEF’s support and contribution is aligned to the government‘s budgetary and planning processes.

T

a gun battle with the policemen attached to the chairman.

"The unknown gunmen retreated, but the two police orcporals lost their lives due to injuries sustained in the encounter. The corpses of the deceased policemen were deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Mortuary, Yenagoa, for autopsy."

In a related development, a gang of kidnappers was said to have attacked the residence of

one Mrs. Tonye Aroh in Opume community in Ogbia, and abducted her.

The 80-year-old Aroh was said to have been kidnapped at about 8pm, same time the other gang of gunmen killed the policemen.

The bandits were said to have unsettled the community with sporadic shooting before whisking the octogenarian away in a speedboat.

Confirming the incident, the

Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Ogbia Clan, Mr. Osanya B. Osanya, condemned the abduction and urged the kidnappers to release the old woman without delay.

"The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Ogbia clan will partner with the security agencies to make sure the woman is released safely. We advise the youths in the clan to conduct themselves properly and engage in legal activities," he said.

RPC warns Wike on dirty fight against Amaechi IVERS People's Congress (RPC) an umbrella body of ethnic, social and non-governmental organisations in Rivers State, yesterday alleged moves by Governor Nyesom Wike to rubbish the legacies of his immediate predecessor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi .

The Governor is also said to be planning to tar Mr.Amaechi’s image with corruption, with a view to making the former governor ineligible for appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Co-ordinator of the Congress, Ipinabo Chinda said in a statement that, while it is not opposed to a probe of the eight-year rule of the former governor, information at its disposal showed that some persons in government “are dubiously collecting and fabricating documents to push out to the media with the intent of presenting the former governor in bad light.”

The PRC said the people of Rivers state “will not accept this ungodly move and will definitely, as one stand together and say NO to it.”

The group wondered why the Wike administration is keen on probing only the last four year in office of Mr.Amaechi and not the whole of his two terms of which Wike was a key player.

R

It said: “We are bold to say that until a properly constituted body finds empirical cause to indict the person of our former governor Rotimi Amaechi, no one should descend to the cesspit of witch hunting, in an attempt to score cheap political victories.

“Already there is massive restiveness which can easily lead to implosion in the state, if the Wike government does not thread softly the part of truth. We caution the Wike government to avoid this road to odium and toe the part of fairness, justice and truth.

Non-indigenes tell Wike's ex-chief of staff to join guber race Mike ODIEGWU, Yenagoa

ON-INDIGENES in Bayelsa State and members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) yesterday backed an ex-Chief of Staff, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, for the party's governorship ticket, ahead of the December 5 election in the state.

Ikiogha, an ally of former President Goodluck Jonathan, served as a chiefof-staff under the current administration of Governor Seriake Dickson.

He, however, dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC with his supporters after resigning his appointment.

The Non-indigene Vanguard for APC (NVA), in a statement in Yenagoa, said Ikiogha is the most qualified aspirant for the ticket of the

N

APC. The Leader of NVA, Mr. Boniface Monye, said Ikiogha has the muscles and good track records to square up with any candidate from the PDP. Monye said with his experience in public and political services as special adviser, two-time commissioner and chief-of-staff, Ikiogha should fly the flag of the APC. "We recall his tenure as a Commissioner for Power and Energy, he brought constant power supply to Bayelsa. But today, we are paying electricity bill without light.

"As Commissioner for Agriculture, he gave farmers loans. He singlehandedly built a church, which was commissioned by the VicePresident, Yemi Osibanjo."

nic in Bori, the ancient city of Ogoni.

He said Governor Wike, being a man who believes in due process and in the growth of the polytechnic, would follow due process in the selection of a Rector from the school environment to replace the present Rector, whose tenure will expire in January 2016.

He noted that their decision is in line with the law which stipulated in section 31(3) of Rivers State Polytechnic law of 1999 as amended.

Comrade Ferry said: "Just as all politicians will like to rise to the highest political office in the land, all academic staff in the polytechnic desire to also rise to become the Rector.

We don't have space for strangers and learners, but experienced polytechnic staff that understand the intrigues of the polytechnic system.

"We are assuring the governor of Rivers State that we have many capable hands that can manage the affairs of our institution. There is nobody that can understand our problems better than an insider. In fact, the issue of appointing an internal Rector is sacrosanct to all the unions in the campus.”

The ASUP, however, commended the governor for renaming the polytechnic after the late activist, Ken SaroWiwa.

Extra-judicial Killing: Group petitions Army Osemwengie Ben OGBEMUDIA, Benin group, the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has petitioned the Chief of Defence Staff, Defence Headquarters and the Chief of Army Staff, urging them to investigate the activities of the officers and men of the 19 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Koko, Delta State over alleged extra judicial killing of one Mr. Benson Ogedegbe.

This is contained in a petition signed by Festus Ukpe, ESQ and John Ainetor, ESQ for Festus Keyamo Chambers, counsel to ANEEJ and made available to journalists in Benin City yesterday.

The petition also indicated that, “An expeditious determination of this petition is essential to restore the confidence of the citizenry in the security forces.”

According to the petition, Mr. Benson Ogedegbe was the head of the vigilante group that was set up by the residents and traditional rulers of Oghara community to assist the security agencies with intelligence and operations.

“The community was besieged by criminals carrying out criminal activities, ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery and oil bunkering.

These criminals operated with relative freedom despite the presence of the Police Force and the Nigerian Army stationed at Koko, Delta State.”

The petition further explained that the vigilante group reduced criminal activities to the barest minimum in the community.

A

SOUTH-EAST

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

65

Anambra PDP crisis worsens faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State yesterday dismissed as a nullity, last weekend’s congress that produced Prince Ken Emeakayi as state Chairman.

The Ejike Oguebego faction claimed the existence

A

Nwanosike ONU, Awka

of a court order given in 2013 by a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt , declaring that status quo antebellum be maintained pending the hearing and determination of the substantive matter.

Oguebego, at a press

• Faction faults Emeakayi's election • Releases previous court order, INEC’S letter to party conference in Awka, brandished a copy of the court order and an October 23, 2014 letter, purportedly written by the Independent National Electoral

Commission (INEC) to the PDP national chairman recognising Oguebego and his group.

Oguebego, who is backed by Chief Chris

Uba, told reporters that last weekend’s congress in the state was an exercise in nullity, as his tenure subsists until it ends on March 17,2016.

He said it is only then that the PDP can hold fresh ward, local government and state congresses in Anambra.

Alameiyesiegha, Bayelsa Speaker rally support for Dickson Mike ODIEGWU, Yenagoa ORMER Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alameiyesiegha, and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, yesterday began moves to mobilise support for the re-election of Governor Seriake Dickson.

The duo inaugurated a group, the Dickson Support Movement (DSM) as a major platform to champion the governor's second term ambition ahead of the December 5 governorship election in the state.

Inaugurating the state and local government chapters of the group, led by the speaker, Alamieyeseigha, said the state had witnessed massive transformation under Dickson in the past three years.

He said the era of changing governors at will was over, and called for support for the current administration.

He said: “You should go to all the nooks and crannies of Bayelsa State to sell this good product, Governor Dickson for another term in office.

"We cannot afford to be changing our Governors at will. Other states created the same time with us have only had two governors in the last 16 years. But we have had four state governors.

This does not bring continuity.”

The Speaker, who is the Director-General of the DSM, said the projects embarked upon by the Dickson-led government were enough to bring him back to office for another term.

He said: “You don’t have big work other than a responsibility to sell our worthy governor. He has done well. Go out for the lost sheep, bring them into the Dickson Movement. This group is the brainchild of some right-thinking people of the state.

"This movement is not here for any other business other than supporting the re-election of Governor Seriake Dickson.

"The same group that drew down Chief Alamieyeseigha, are the same voices that are singing the songs to bring down our governor, but we will not allow them again because we are wiser now. Chief Alamieyeseigha remains our hero and a great Ijaw leader,” he said.

Also, a former Speaker of the old Rivers State House of Assembly, and Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Talford Ongolo, urged the people of the state to prepare for the forthcoming election and participate actively in the process to return the governor for another term.

F

•Police patrol teams in front of the Ariaria Police Station, along Faulks road, Aba, during Friday’s protest by traders over the alleged killing of their members by officals of NDLEA

Police arrest suspected killer of Enugu monarch HE Enugu State Police command has arrested one of the suspected killers of a traditional ruler in the state, Peter Onuoha of Nkerefi in the Nkanu East Local Government Area of the state.

A statement signed by the command’s spokesman, Mr Ebere Amarizu, said the suspect was arrested at Ebu village in Illah, Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta

T

State.

He said that the suspect, who gave his name as Sunday Agbara Edwin, was a mason from Mgbaraocha Umuokpala Community in Nkerefi.

Amaraizu said that the suspect was arrested through intelligence gathering, adding that he had confessed to committing the crime along with others now at large.

“The suspect said they committed the crime because of

the actions of the traditional ruler in their community.

“The monarch was violating human rights by killing people and throwing them into the river, as well as forcefully collecting pieces of land belonging to helpless people,” he said.

Amarizu said that the suspect confirmed that some youths had organised themselves and unleashed their anger on the monarch and his

supporters.

The spokesman quoted the suspect as saying, ``I was not the one that fired the two gun shots on the day the victims were killed. I had only a machete with me.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the monarchs, along with some of his supporters, were on July 11 murdered in cold blood by hoodlums, numbering about six.

Commercial activities grounded in Aba as angry traders protest alleged killing of members by NDLEA officials OMMERCIAL and economic activities were on Friday afternoon grounded along the busy Faulks road in Aba, Abia State, as traders from the popular Bakassi Line, Ariaria International Market in Aba, took the streets to protest the alleged killing of their members by officials of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Commercial banks and shop owners along Faulks road, A Line, Power Line gate I&2, Samek and Bakassi Line, amongst others, were forced to close early.

Unconfirmed reports have it that two traders who were in the shops were killed by stray bullets from NDLEA officials who fired gun shots at drug dealers who were fleeing from an illegal drug bunk in the area.

However, a source, who confirmed that many traders were injured during the protest, told our correspondent that only one person hit by the bullet died on the

C

spot.

Sources told our correspondent that other traders in the area also sustained injuries from the gun shots.

The situation was said to have worsened when a group of another traders brought the lifeless body of one of those hit by the bullet and dropped his corpse in front of the police station.

It was gathered that the angry traders went after the NDLEA personnel who ran into the Ariaria Police Station for safety.

A report had it that some of the traders overpowered the policemen on guard at the police station and went after the NDLEA official, setting free some detained suspects in the police cells in the process.

But another report had it that efforts by the traders to gain entrance into the police station to attack the NDLEA official was foiled by the efforts of the combined team of Police from Abayi, Eziama and other divisions in the

Sunny NWANKWO, Aba

city who fired several teargas canisters into the air to wade off the surging traders from gaining entry into the Ariaria Police Station.

The police were later joined by army personnel who arrived the scene with about four patrol vans and an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) to repel the

traders from entering the police station.

As at the time of filing this report, staff and customers of various commercial banks on the road were still in their bank premises, even as traders whose shops were far away from the area could not go into the bank to deposit their cash.

Efoorts to speak with NDLEA Abia State Com-

mandant, Dele Akingbade, were futile, as he did not pick his calls.

But the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ezekiel Udeviotu Onyeke, when contacted, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident, but disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, Habila Joshiak was already in Aba to ascertain the situation.

Court dismisses case against Ayade, as IPAC sues for peace lying on oath.

OLLOWING Nicholas KALU, Calabar Akpama, who the dismissal of the case instituted against Cross River lauded the decision of the court, said "Ayade State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, in the Abuja can now concentrate on the business of develFederal High Court, the chairman of the Inter oping the state without distraction.

"We believe in the capacity of the governor Party Advisory Council in the state, Mr Godwin Akpama, has called on all parties to work to deliver. Anyone with ideas should work with the governor for development of the state. with government for the benefit of Cross RiveMr Joe Agi (SAN), who contested the Peo- rians. I urged Agi to sheath his sword and ples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries against bring his wealth of experience and ideas to Ayade last year, had dragged the latter to court work with the present administration to make it better. for perjury and non-payment of party dues.

"The governor has started on the right and it According to Agi, Ayade filled different dates of births in different forms submitted to the In- needs to be sustained to bring the dividends of dependent National Electoral Commission democracy to the people."

(INEC), which according to him, amounts to

F

Police nab tricyclist over possession of arms, ammunition HE Police in Delta State have arrested a commercial tri-cyclist in connection with the possession of arms and ammunitions during a stop and search operation.

Police spokesperson, DSP Celestina Kalu, announced said this in a statement he issued in Asaba on Friday.

Kalu said the suspect, Friday Nwankwo, was nabbed in Warri on Monday.

The police spokesperson said that the suspect was nabbed after two of his accomplices abandoned him and took to their heels when police stopped the tricycle. ``On July 27, 2015 at about 8.45p.m., anti-crime patrol men attached to Enerhen Division while on special stop and search at Motel ‘A’ black spot, Enerhen accosted tricycle with Reg. No. TDU872QA. ``While searching the tricycle, the two passengers jumped down, took to their heels’’, Kalu said.

The police image maker said items recovered from the tricycle included a travel bag containing one double barrel gun cut to size, six live cartridges and charms.

T

NEWS UBA resuscitates professorial chair in UNILAG

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

66

HE United Bank for Africa, yesterday resuscitated its professorial chair of finance at University of Lagos. The bank presented a cheque of N52, 904, 000 to the institution for the purpose.

The event which was attended by top executive

T

members of the bank and the institution was held at the Senate Building of the institution.

The cheque was presented by the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr Phillips Oduoza to Prof Rahamon Bello, the Vice Chan-

cellor of the institution.

Delivering his address, the Vice Chancellor said: “ Today’s event is just a confirmation and demonstration of the robust relationship that exists between UBA and the University of Lagos. I am particularly grateful to the

Yoruba actor, Ajigi Jaga dies at 60 HE death has been announced of popular Yoruba movie actor, Muftau Adio.

In his early 60s, the actor was famously known as Ajigi Jaga.

He died on Friday, July 31, in his Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos residence.

According to information, his death is as a result of complications following injuries he sustained from a motorcycle accident about two weeks ago.

The actor’s demise was confirmed by the President of The Golden Movie Ambassa-

T

n Ovwe MEDEME n dors (TGMA), Saidi Balogun.

Confirming the sad incident, Saidi described Ajigi Jaga’s death as a big loss to the movie industry, especially to members of The Golden Movie Ambassadors.

According to him, “I can recall that he mentioned that his absence at our last meeting was due to injuries he sustained in a motor-bike accident about two weeks ago.

I was shocked this morning to get a call from one of his children that he has passed on. We shall miss his useful

contributions to discussions on how to move the movie industry forward and instill discipline and professionalism in our members. May his soul rest in peace,” he stated.

Ajigi Jaga will be remembered for always playing tough roles in movies, earning him the alias, Broken Bottle. He recently got married to a young bride, Taiwo Hassan.

According to information, his remains will be interred in his village near Wasimi, along Abeokuta, Ogun State today according to Islamic rites.

present management of UBA under the visionary leadership of Mr Phillips Oduoaza for resuscitating the UBA Chair at the university, despite the economic, meltdown in the country.

“It is noteworthy to mention here today that the first financial institution to show its presence on campus and to support academic excellence in the university was UBA. In addition to this, when the University Council approved the upward review of academic prizes, UBA was one of the first institutions to comply by upgrading the value of two prizes endowed from N1,000 to N50, 000 cash award each to the best graduating students in the Department of Finance and Accounting inn perpetuity, for which management, staff and students of the university are extremely grateful. “

Speaking, Mr Oduoza said resuscitating the UBA Chair in the institution is another milestone for the bank, adding: “ We have been carrying out different projects in various higher institutions across the country to improve the learning environment for the students. We decided to jump start this because the educational institutions in the country are not well funded. And we all know finance is key to development.

“We are encouraged by the positive feedback we have been getting from our beneficiaries. We therefore call on other banks and other privileged organisations to join us in supporting research works in our institutions to improve the qualities of graduates being produced. The government can’t do it alone, we enjoin other private bodies to support the efforts of the government.“

Police tasked on security situation in Festac HE recent killing of the All Progressives Congress chieftain, Mr. Shalewa Daramola , in Festac, Lagos, and the strangulation of an innocent Nigerian about two weeks ago in Ojo is causing anxiety among the residents and corporate organizations in that area.

Mr Kunle Abiona, a chief executive of one of the leading indigenous companies in the area expressed worries over the recent spate of killings and in-

T

security in the area .

He said the development had truncated the peace and tranquility that reigned in the community before now.

He therefore enjoined the new police boss in the community to take the issue of security head on.

While commending the last police boss in the area, he noted that the new police boss, Frank Mba, is an experienced policeman who is competent and capable to arrest the spate of insecurity

in the area.

The chief executive also called on the Inspector General of Police, Solomion Arase to look seriously into the security situation not only in Festac but the entire Amuwo Odofin in general .

He said: “The community is cosmopolitan and that is why its security is imperative . Good security network will not only combat crime but will restore peace and tranquility once enjoyed in Festac and its environs.

SSCE: Nasarawa State not owing WAEC n Yusuf ALLI, Managing n Editor, Northern Operation HE Nasarawa State Government yesterday said it is not one of the states owing the West African Examinations Council ( WAEC) about N4billion examination fees.

The state government made the clarification in a statement by tAhmed Tukur, who is the Special Assistant, (Media and Publicity) to Governor Umaru Tanko Al Makura.

The statement said: "The attention of Nasarawa State to a story, “N4bn debt: parents in Nasarawa appealed to WAEC”. Nasarawa State Government wishes to state that it’s not indebted to WAEC as portrayed by the publication.

"We wish to make it categorically clear that the State has not made any commitment with regard to payment of WAEC fees for student of public schools.

"But rather, the state has since assumption of office in 2011 been paying NECO examination fees for all students in public schools.

"This is in consonance with the Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura free education policy.

"We call on the public to disregard the report, and urge media practitioners to always cross check their fact from relevant government agencies for clarification before going to the press."

T

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

Boko Haram: Buhari orders total war • Continued from page 5

Usman Ali, adding that he saw rescue workers removing bodies from the scene.

But a police officer who works in the Explosives Ordnance Department said he counted eight bodies at the scene of the blast near Gamboru market in Maiduguri.

He said the bomber, a male, arrived at the scene carrying a female passenger on a tricycle laden with explosives.

“From the way his body was destroyed it showed that he was actually the suicide bomber and not the woman,” the police officer, who did not want to be named, told journalists.

A source the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital confirmed to journalists they received five bodies and seven injured persons.

Boko Haram 10 in revenge raid A resident of KukuwaGari,Baba Nuhu said the terrorists who attacked the village also destroyed much of the village.

"They burnt more than half of the village, including food silos and livestock on which the people depend for their livelihood," Nuhu said.

"The attack came two �days after two Boko Haram members who came into the village were identified by residents and mobbed to death," Nuhu said, adding that "the attack was obviously in reprisal" over their killing.

News of the attack was slow to emerge because the insurgents have destroyed telecom masts since the insurgency began in 2009. �The Gujba area of Yobe state, where Kukuwa-Gari village is located, has been hard hit by Boko Haram violence in the past but has seen relative calm since troops reclaimed it in March.

Buhari orders release of N5 billion to Victims Support Fund President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday directed the Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, to facilitate the immediate release of the N5 Billion pledged by government last August to the Victims Support Fund (VSF).

Receiving a briefing from the VSF Presidential Committee headed by Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) in Abuja,also urged the Committee to ensure proper coordination with other

government agencies providing support and assistance to victims of terrorism.

General Danjuma had told the President that of the N55.92 Billion pledged at the fund-raising dinner for the project last year, N33.54 Billion was still outstanding, including N5 Billion from the Federal Government.

He said that the VSF currently has N23.33 Billion in four bank accounts and that the Committee received approval from the immediate past administration to incorporate the money into a Trust Fund, to “insulate it from political interference”.

General Danjuma asked the President to use his office to persuade all organizations and individuals to honour their pledges to the Committee.

President Buhari, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, assured General Danjuma and members of the VSF Committee that his administration was taking proactive steps to defeat terrorism in the country.

He said that despite the challenge of acquiring much needed strategic equipment and weapons to confront the

terrorists, the Nigerian military has recently gained much ground in its effort to defeat and degrade Boko Haram.

He added that the full deployment of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), under the auspices of member-states of Lake Chad Basin Commission, will further boost ongoing military operations against the insurgents.

Speaking to reporters at the end of his meeting with the President,General Danjuma said the committee " will continue to ask people who pledged to honour their pledges.”

He described the N20 billion as a drop in the ocean compared with the needs of the victims .

“If really the war stops tomorrow, already those displaced are really looking for support to go back to their homes and this N20 billion is nothing," he added Also yesterday ,President Buhari declared that with the formation of a stronger regional coalition, Nigeria and neighbouring countries now have an increased capacity to deal effectively with Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.

•President Muhammadu Buhari (right), welcoming the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas to the Presidential Villa in Abuja...yesterday Photo: NAN

10 killed in Ogun accident T least 10 persons were killed yesterday in an accident involving two trucks and two commercial vehicles at the Ogunmakin section of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.

The two buses rammed into the trucks at about 5a.m,according to Mr Adegoke Adetunji, the FRSC Sector Commander in the state.

He said:“a Mazda bus with registration

A

number MAY 152 XA and a Toyota bus with registration number LND 21 XQ, were travelling to Ibadan before they rammed into the trucks.

“We understood that the first truck had broken down in the night and was rammed into by the second truck while the two commercial buses also rammed into the trucks around 5a.m.

“Motorists should desist from travelling at

night because visibility is limited. Broken down trucks should always use reflective signs so that oncoming drivers would be able to see them.

He asked the public to “always call our number 122 anytime they see any broken down vehicle on the highways.”

Adetunji said that corpses of victims had been deposited at the Fakoya Mortuary in Sagamu. (NAN)

67

Aregbesola's battles with opposition in Osun Continued from Page 3 Coffin of his governorship ambition, they resorted to these illegal means to continue to keep their few followers together as well as attempt to discredit the government.

“It is a project in the hands of the PDP and other allies to bring down the government, and that forms the basis of all these daily accusations against the governor.”

Adebisi says the CSCEO has been sending out wrong information about the state to give it a wrong image. “But they can only do that for a while before the whole world sees through their lies,” he said.

Ademola Yaya, a former Student Union leader and now researcher, who lives in Osogbo, the state capital, in his analysis of the group's activities, explained that it is merely catching in on the opportunities that media platforms offer to gain attention.

“Before now, real activism involved deep understanding of the issues at stake. Activism involved commitment and not cash and carry pursuits. More importantly, it is the activities you engage in as a group of people fighting the cause of the people that bring you attention from authorities and the people. Now, an unknown group of people can just hide under one name and send out falsehood and the media give them audience,” Yaya said.

Asking the media to wake up to its responsibilities, Yaya said it is not enough for media houses to just take press releases from everyone who has access to the internet without adequate verification of the claims they make and the activities they claim to engage in.

His assertion appeared to corroborate an earlier charge by Comrade Waheed Lawal that most of the claims the so-called coalition sends out should be verified by media houses. “For instance, often times you read about that group claiming to have held press conferences in Osogbo whereas no press conference was held. That is unprofessional and fraudulent,” he said.

Adeoye, the regular issuer of the press statements containing the allegations against Aregbesola says he is not connected in any way to politicians in the state, yet there are those who insist that he is one journalist who has had more than casual relationship with politicians and still enjoys same with some of the leading opposition figures in the state. As a former correspondent in the state, he was was alleged to have taken a stand against the government of former Governor Bisi Akande; a situation that was said to have endeared him to Akande's political opponents, including Omisore, the then deputy governor.

Adeoye later became two-term chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists' Correspondents' Chapel in Osun and subsequently won election to become the State Chairman of the NUJ. In all these periods, he was said to have openly identified with Omisore and his political allies.

“Call him a politician and you will not be far from the truth,” says Ibrahim Lawal, a lawyer based in Osogbo, who said he had watched the activities of the group and the involvement of Adeoye.

“I think he uses his pen to arrange imagined atrocities of the Aregbesola administration with a devious view to raising anxiety and causing confusion. That is what they send out every day in the name of press releases. But the people in this state know the truth. There is no coalition anywhere. It is just a camouflage by Adeniyi Sulaiman and Seun Adeoye.”

A quick ride through the state capital gives the impression of a peaceful city. While the effect of unpaid workers' wages appears to have slowed down business, commercial activities in the state capital do not reflect the topsy-turvy pictures that are being painted.

Bose Ande, an event management consultant in Osogbo says the state remains at peace with itself.

“If you go by the impressions being created in the minds of news readers, you would think the state is upside down. But that only exists in the imagination of those who are doing that for their own reasons.” She said.

Science meets the gods n Sam OMATSEYE n The king is dead, Says science No, says the gods, The king lives We felt no pulse, The blood is cold, the

Eyes closed and the lips Icy to the touch, proclaims Science Before science we Gave signs of life Leave definition to us, Insist the gods How do you separate

mourning from mortal, Asks philosopher, Do we build two houses?

One with heartbeat, the Other heartened The mortician, the wood carver, The minstrel, the food merchant and peddler

Of spirits await the bugle While the heavens wait for arrival And the earth must first swallow with Its digestive juices six feet deep The people wonder: is science In danger of a curse from The spirits?

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

68 Ida Sorbye, is a Norwegian researcher and freelance journalist. Her first trip to the African continent brought her to Nigeria, during which she visited Edo State for fact finding on human trafficking. She believes that her findings would help to educate her nationals and those of other Scandinavian countries on how to properly deal with the issue of sex workers.

She recalls her experience so far in this interview with BEN OGBEMUDIA.

,

Why are you in Nigeria?

I am in Nigeria to research into the trafficking of women and why so many women in Nigeria leave to Europe for prostitution.

Why is that your focus of all the issues involving Nigeria?

I have been researching on the topic and realised that the issue is not very well covered in the Norwegian media because it is skewed from the Norwegian and the authority point of view without even going in-depth into why the women are leaving and how they are standing on the Norwegian streets selling sex to strange men.

What has being your finding?

First of all, it has been very good coming here to know the culture of the people better. We come from two very different cultures and I have also seen where these women come from and met with their families. They often say that one of the reasons they leave the country is to support their families and they sacrifice themselves for the family. It is an issue that is very prevalent in Benin and it is very interesting to uncover why it is prevalent in Benin and not other parts of Nigeria.

I found out that it seem like it is mainly because there has been a lot contact between Benin and Italy, and then it developed from small scale to bigger scale and it spread to other places in Nigeria. I also found that these women who are working as prostitutes are often portrayed as selfless victims of trafficking. I was a little bit suspicious of these and also found that these women are not victims but are rather strong women who are trying to make a change for themselves and for their families because they see that it is the only choice they can make.

You have been in Nigeria for almost three weeks now. What is your general perception of Nigeria?

I have never really met people who are as happy as Nigerians, and I feel very welcome in Nigeria. People are always welcoming you politely. And, of course, coming from Norway, it feels very different to be here. There is more poverty and you realise in a new way how twisted the world is from the North to the South. For me, it is something I will always remember from this trip. It feels different for me than reading from books back home. But in general, Nigeria has been a very good eye opening experience.

So what are you taking back home?

I actually thought about that last night.

I am taking home a lot of smiles, good pictures, because the people here have been smiling a lot and the feeling that a lot of people are always trying to help out to make my stay here great and my findings here also successful. I’m also taking home my Princess Idia little statue I got at Igun Street.

There are negative perceptions of Nigeria or Africa by the Western media.

In Nigeria, we have such issues of Boko Haram and corruption. Are you not scared about coming to Nigeria for an assignment?

I think that is definitely a very interesting issue to bring up. I think for a lot of people back home, when they heard that I was coming to Nigeria and they don’t

I have never really met people who are as happy as Nigerians, and I feel very welcome in Nigeria. People are always welcoming you politely. And, of course, coming from Norway, it feels very different to be here.

There is more poverty and you realise in a new way how twisted the world is from the North to the South. For me, it is something I will always remember from this trip. It feels different for me than reading from books back home. But in general, Nigeria has been a very good eye opening experience

,

I don’t mind settling down with a Nigerian man ‘I’ve never met a people as happy as Nigerians’

know about Nigeria, they were worried about my coming. But having Nigerian friends I could talk to and reading about Nigeria, it was easy to realise that even though the only thing we hear about Nigeria is Boko Haram in the news, then it is very important that I am here as one of the few Norwegian journalists to come here and experience the country and portray more real picture of Nigeria back home than what the media can do far away.

I am sure that one of the things you found during your stay in Nigeria is that poverty is at the centre of it for these sex workers. Do you think the government is doing enough? If not, what is your advice?

Well, I think what we have seen going around and talking to some of these organizations is that the government is doing something very good at NAPTIP, and they are up and working. They have been trying to help some of these women in so many good ways and also prosecute the traffickers by setting a good example.

We also found out that some of these victims have not heard about NAPTIP and they are very hopeless about the future. It seems such a prevalent issue, especially in this state, and it seems government is not doing enough.

A lot of the NGOs we have met say

they don’t receive any funding from the government. But when it comes to what to do to stop, the issue is to make home so good that people will not want to leave because it is the only choice they see, that they can leave to Europe to make money. I think development back home is the only way to address this.

How to create that development is a big question which I think Nigeria and northern government can be responsible for.

In Nigeria today, we have a new government in place and the expectations are high. What will you advise the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari to focus on in order to move the country forward?

It seems like Buhari is doing a great job when it comes to setting an example with his anti-corruption drive. And that is one of the most important factors, especially when you look at how prevalent corruption is in Nigeria and how much it is hurting the people and the quality of life.

So I guess such a strong example is very important. He is also trying to focus on electricity for people to be able to invest, innovate and develop.

How were you able to cope with the food and culture of the people you’ve met?

Well, I had a great friend of mine in

Abuja who took me round. And I had Ehis and Patrick who took me around. I think it is a great experience to come into a culture where people are very friendly and welcoming. It has been easy to talk to people. I really enjoyed tasting Nigerian food and am also looking forward to getting back home to eat my food too.

Which of the foods did you find fascinating?

Meat and fish in the same dish; I had never tasted that before. I think in general, the way they are put together, like the swallow, and everything is pounded, is more fascinating than anything I have ever had.

Any plan to coming back again?

I am looking at how I can get back to Nigeria next year, hopefully to be able to come to Nigeria and West African to report news for the Scandinavian audience.

Because I think they need more input from this region.

What is your impression about Nigerian men?

I find Nigerian men very polite and well-mannered, and they are very good at telling you how nice you look. I appreciate that.

Any plans settling down with a Nigerian man in the nearest future?

If a Nigeria man comes along, why not (laughs)?

THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014

69

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 31-07-15

SEC reads riot act to operators

S

ECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) would not hesitate to withdraw the operating licence and prosecute any capital market operator that violates market rules and professional ethics.

Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, said the apex capital market regulator operates zero tolerance on infractions and would move decisively to deal with any company or individual that breaches market's rules and standards.

"We are engaging the market closely and we have severally highlighted to the operators that we must operate within the rules of the game.

Once you cross the green light and you are on the amber, we will tell you to go back. We are ready to tell you that two or three times, but once you decide to cross the red line, we will have no option that to pick that operator out of the market. We have done that before and we are ready to continue to do that," Gwarzo said.

Taofik SALAKO Capital Market Editor

Responding to questions from the media, Gwarzo said the Commission is committed to implementing the capital market master plan, a longterm development plan that aims at making Nigerian capital market globally competitive and the preferred destination for investors within the continent.

According to him, the capital market master plan contains several initiatives that would enhance the development of the Nigerian market and the Commission would work with all stakeholders to ensure the implementation of such initiatives.

"Our focus under the current leadership is to implement that report (capital market master plan) and one of the recommendations is to set up an advisory council, an advocacy group where if there is a need to change certain provisions of the law we will have a vanguard that will interface with the National As-

sembly. If we want government to change certain policies, we will have the team that will interface with government," Gwarzo said.

He said the Commission would in the next few weeks name members of the advisory council that will be interfacing with the judiciary, the parliament and the executive while it has also set up the technical team that will interface with the various groups or committees.

"What we did with the master plan was that we looked at what sort of things that we have to do. We came up with seven initiatives and we have a committee that is implementing that. We now have a monitoring team within the SEC led by a deputy director; those people will be interfacing with those committees that are working with those initiatives to make sure that we achieve what we want to. Our commitment is to ensure that those seven initiatives are completed before the end of this year," Gwarzo said.

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 31-07-15

THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

70

SPORT EXTRA Shame as Governor's cash tears Rangers apart

• Amapakabo

TWO million Naira gift to Rangers by Enugu State Governor has torn the team apart rather than fire them up for Sunday’s derby against Enyimba.

AfricanFootball.com can report that some officials of the club Friday morning got into a shout-

A

ing match because they felt short changed, after a training session at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.

According to our ever reliable source who witnessed the show of shame Friday morning, the camp commandant and the kit manager who felt shortchanged by the amount they received from the governor’s gift did not hide their emotions as they demanded for what they felt should be paid to them.

“It was really a shameful act from both club officials. This was supposed to be a gift to motivate the team for the task against Enyimba in Aba, but it now seems to be a curse,” said the source.

“It got so bad that the technical adviser in trying to settle the rift lost his eye glasses.

“I just hope this disgrace will not affect the players who have been putting their best in training for the Aba encounter.”

NSC to investigate Keshi’s N1billion suit T

HE last may not have been heard of Stephen Keshi’s N1billion lawsuit against the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as the National Sports Commission (NSC) has said it will investigate the matter and make their investigations known.

Keshi, former Super Eagles coach who was sacked earlier in the month, is suing the NFF for N1billion for ‘wrongful dismissal’ and ‘defamation of character’, a development which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the sports supervising body in Nigeria, the NSC. Speaking on the development, Director of Sports at the NSC, Ademola Are said necessary action will be taken when their investigation is done with.

“When we investigate the issue I am sure necessary action will be taken,” Are told

• Keshi

Obaje: We must fight, fight, fight

W

IKKI Tourists striker Godwin Obaje believes his side can make the CAF Continental Competition come the end of the season.

The Bauchi-based team is currently 4th in the table, three points behind leaders Sunshine Stars.

But the former Mighty Jets forward has claimed that a win over Heartland.

FC on Sunday could kickstart something special.

“We can still aim for continental ticket as for the title it is too early to talk about,” he told a News24. “But we have to give it our all.“We must fight, fight, and fight. We need to set the bar high and could not go under it.

“But it will be tough against Heartland who defeated us 40 in the match-day 19. The main objective on Sunday is getting the three maximum points.”

Mohammed rejoins Pillars

E

XPERIENCED campaigner Bala Mohammed has rejoined hometown club Kano Pillars.

Bala was skipper of the league champions when they reached

• Mohammed

the semifinals of the 2009 CAF Champions League.

“Bala’s transfer back to Pillars has been completed,” Pillars spokesman Idris Malikawa told AfricanFootball.com.

He was released by Pillars three seasons ago during which time he featured for Jigawa Golden Stars and Enyimba.

He is a versatile player who is comfortable anywhere in the defence as well as in defensive midfield.

Pillars will on Sunday host Lobi Stars in the first game of the second round of the league.

Both teams played out a dramatic 3-3 draw in the reverse fixture in Makurdi two weeks ago with the home team coming back from three goals down to salvage a draw.

‘Write off Gateway at your own peril’

T

HE Chief Coach of Gateway United, Samuel Abimbola warned the coaches and the players of Mountain of Fire and Miracle MFM FC to write his team off at their peril.

Speaking ahead of the Nigeria National League week 9 fixture between his team and MFM at the Agege Stadium in Lagos, Coach Abimbola said MFM having won the week one game between both sides in Abeokuta should not think that Gateway were coming to Lagos to be beaten.

Coach Abimbola who has just been contracted by the Ogun State outfit and won his first match against J. Atete FC last weekend said his boys were fully charged and motivated to fight for the three points at stake in the match against MFM in Lagos.

He therefore called on Gateway supporters, Ogun State indigenes, inhabitants as well as well-wishers to storm the Agege Stadium to cheer their darling

team to victory.

Gateway has now moved away from the bottom of their Group B2 table to the 6th position.

Meanwhile, the management the team has charged the coaches and the players to make sure that they get a win against MFM in Lagos.

Club’s General Manager, Prince Adetunji Onatolu said everything would be put in place for them to do well in Lagos as the club cannot afford to lose for the second time to MFM this season.

• Abimbola

Brila FM. “We cannot really say anything categorically now until we have the relevant documents and find out what transpired between the two parties,” Are stated further.

He also added that they have already been told by the NFF that they are not in breach of their contract with Keshi, as Keshi’s camp feels.

“When it (Keshi’s sack) happened, Chris Green (NFF’s legal and disciplinary committee chairman) said they were not in breach of any contractual agreement with Keshi and they have looked through their papers and everything, so I am sure the National Sports Commission will make appropriate announcements after taking a look into what actually transpired,” Are stressed.

Osaze not retiring yet N

I G E R I A N international, Peter Odemwingie is not about to call time on his career.

Odemwingie, 34, made his debut for the Nigeria national football team in 2002 but last turned out for the Super Eagles in 2014 at the FIFA World Cup. He has represented his country at U-23 level previously, helping the Dream Team win Silver in the men’s football event at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

At senior level, Odemwingie has played over 60 times including at two World Cups and four Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles.

Odemwingie, currently on the books of Barclays English Premier League club, Stoke City has however declared that he is not about to retire from the sport that brought him fame and fortune.

“I’ve not given it too much thought to be honest, and I could remain in sport.

But I definitely do want to get some more education.

You never know what will happen next in life….do you?,” Odemwingie asked

rhetorically when quizzed by duckstoke.co.uk.

The forward is now setting his sights on a successful season with the Potters whose fans have taken to him like a duck to water.

“I was always surprised how quickly Stoke fans took to me. I came here and fans saw I was really

happy with the move.

Everything about the club was right for me. The reception I had that day at comeback game was truly amazing.

“Ryan Shawcross has been here a number of years and even he said at training during the next week that he had not heard anything quite like it,” he said.

‘Siasia allowed Yahaya to return to Spurs’

B

• Odemwingie

Saviour shuns Anderlecht, Club Brugge for KV Oostende

F

LYING Eagles and U23 star Godwin Saviour has opted for Belgian top-flight club KV Oostende ahead of Anderlecht and Club Brugge.

Saviour’s transfer is now pending a routine medical early next month.

The Belgian club announced Friday the highly-rated forward from FC Sports of Jos has agreed a three-year contract with a year’s option beginning with an initial yearlong loan deal.

The player's agent further confirmed to AfricanFootball.com they are getting set to fly out to Belgium for a medical soon.

Oostende already have an-

• Yahaya (left)

other Nigeria striker, Joseph Akpala, on their books.

Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk as well as Gent were among the clubs who tabled offers for the exciting youngster.

Saviour was considered ahead of Gent star Moses Simon at the recent FIFA U20 World Cup in New Zealand, where he scored twice and provided an assist.

He has also been capped by Nigeria at U17 level and he is currently with the country’s U23 team for a CAF Championship qualifier in Congo.

Last season, Oostende finished 10th in the 16-team Jupiler League.

They got off to a flying start

in the new season when they won 3-1 at KV Mechelen and welcome Westerlo in their second game of the campaign today.

• Saviour

ABAWO Mohammed, the intermediary that handles the affairs of Musa Yahaya, has rubbished reports that said the Tottenham Hotspur trainee dropped himself from the Dream Team VI squad ahead of their trip to Pointe-Noire.

While with the Olympic Team, Yahaya put his career at the White Hart Lane outfit at risk by failing to return to London despite the commencement of pre-season training.

Now, the Jos-based agent has stressed that the attacking midfielder's departure from the Nigeria U-23s camp had the blessing of coach Samson Siasia. ''Musa Yahaya did not run away from camp, he asked for permission and the coach granted him to leave,'' said Babawo Mohammed to news24. ''Siasia authorised him to go to the embassy and submit his visa application to England.

I repeat he did not run away. ''He is in England now training with Tottenham Hotspur's Under 18 and Under 19 teams.''

All things being equal, the Mutunchi Academy product will pen a professional deal with Spurs in the first week of January next year after attaining the age of majority.

THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015

71

SPORT EXTRA OPERATION CRUSH CONGO

Siasia rings 3 changes N

IGERIA coach Samson Siasia is set to ring at least three changes to his starting XI in Sunday’s crunch CAF U23 Championship in Congo with Turkeybased forward Umar Aminu expected to now start.

Aminu saw only seven minutes of action in the first leg match in Port Harcourt, but still showed class as Dream Team VI pressed for more goals in a game they won 2-1 in Port Harcourt a fortnight ago.

Enyimba winger Daniel Etor is now likely to give way to the Osmanlispor ace.

Skipper Azubuike Okechukwu could also lose his place in the first team to Kingsley Sokari, who did not feature in the first encounter because he arrived late to train-

• Visa knocks out Shehu ing camp on account of a proposed switch to Tunisian club Esperance.

This change in midfield is to allow FC Taraba skipper Usman Mohammed to fully express himself after a subdued performance in the first leg caused by the need for him to always track back to help out Okechukwu in defence.

Supreme FC of Abuja defender Sincere Seth has recovered from a thigh injury and will take his place at rightback after Atanda Sodiq filled in for him in the Port Harcourt match.

Abia Warriors central defender Erhun Obanor could also lose his place to Warri Wolves ace Semiu Laide, who

Dream Team lands in Pointe-Noire • Ajayi vows to nail Congo

T

HE U-23 National Team, Dream Team, Friday afternoon landed in the economic capital of Congo, Pointe-Noire.

The Nigerian delegation led by the Chairman of NFF Technical and Development Committee, Felix Anyansi-Agwu landed at the Augustino Nero International Airport, Pointe-Noire at about 12.25pm local time (same time with Nigeria) on board an Ethiopian Airline flight.

On arrival, the Nigerian delegation were received by the Consul-General of the Embassy of Nigeria, Brazzaville, Mr. Adamu Shuaibu Hamza, accompanied by Mr. Adebayo Iyaomiye and the president of the Nigeria community in Pointe-Noire, Mr Ezenwabasili Egbuna.

With the assistance of the Embassy officials took the team to Hotel De Fez where they are accommodated .

The Nigerian community in Congo were seen wearing Tshirts they have produced specially for the 'battle'

• Ajayi

RESULTS Int'l - Club Friendlies Nacional 1 - 1 NA Hussein Uniao 0 - 0 Sanjoanense Palermo 3 - 0 Pontisola Mensajero 0 - 5 Las Palmas Darmstadt 3 - 1 Real Betis De Graafschap 1 - 1 Emmen ADO 1 - 0 Mallorca Osasuna 1 - 0 Eibar

was drafted to the squad after the first leg.

Siasia is also toying with the idea of lining up striker Junior Ajayi and Taiwo Awoniyi from the first whistle, but it is left to be seen if he will eventually settle for this arrangement.

A training ground injury caused Awoniyi not to start the first match.

However, Portugal-based Shehu Abdullahi will not feature for Nigeria in Sunday’s CAF U23 Championship qualifier in Congo because he was not granted an entry visa, AfricanFootball.com has specially gathered.

“Shehu was originally on the squad for Congo, but it was later discovered that he was not given a visa to Congo and so he could not travel with the squad again,” a top source informed AfricanFootball.com.

“He has since left Abuja for Sokoto to visit his family.”

Shehu’s availability was initially in doubt because of a thigh

• Siasia

injury he suffered in a pre-season game in Portugal last week, but his club later cleared him for the Congo match.

The former Kano Pillars star arrived Nigeria on Tuesday and was to have played as cover at right fullback.

On Wednesday, he also featured in a test game against Amakson Academy, which the Dream Team VI won 3-0.

Falcons train in Bata • ‘We ‘re condemned to win’

T • Sokari celebrate with mates Nigeria is currently on the edge of securing a place for the continental event after failing to utilise home advantage two weeks ago, when they could only narrowly beat Congo 2-1 in Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, Junior Ajayi is hoping for a repeat of his heroics on Sunday in their quest to reach the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The Dream team won the first leg 2-1 in Port Harcourt on July 19 but Ajayi who scored both goals on the day says it was not a good result.

“It was not a good result because an away goal counts for two. However, we managed to win so there is something to defend in the second leg,” the attacker told supersport.com.

On his brace, the forward said he felt relieved as the pressure kept building after a stoic first half performance by the visitors.

“I felt relieved after scoring because the first half ended goalless and the pressure was building.

“Every striker wants to score goals so I was very happy to have scored two in the first leg,” he said.

He rounded off by voicing his sentiments on the second leg which comes up on Sunday at the Stade Monumental, PointeNoire.

“I know we will crush Congo in the second leg because they will play differently (as opposed to how they played in the first leg). In the first leg, they concentrated on defending and stopping us from playing.

“They have to score so they will come out and attack against us. That will give us the space to attack them and play our normal game. They have an experienced coach-one of the best on the continent (Claude Leroy) but I am sure we will crush Congo,” he said.

HE Nigeria senior women’s team arrived in Bata, mainland Equatorial Guinea on Friday morning, and after catching up with some rest, had a light training session at a venue not far from the team hotel.

Led by NFF Executive Committee members Ibrahim Gusau and Dilichukwu Onyedinma, the delegation arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s administrative capital on Thursday night, and slept there before proceeding to Bata on Friday morning.

“The Equatorial Guinea FA officials have been behaving funny, but we expected that.

They have been trying to frustrate our team,” said NFF official Tunde Aderibigbe, who is on the delegation.

NFF protocol official Barnabas Joro added: “The FA sent only one member of their staff to receive us at the airport in Bata, and since then, we have not seen them.

“We need information on the match coordination meeting, tickets for members of the Nigeria community here and so on.

But they are nowhere to be found. Even when we went to the FA office in Bata on Friday afternoon, the place was locked.

“It was through our own efforts and that of the staff of the Embassy of Nigeria, who have remained with us, that we were able to get somewhere for the team to train.”

• Oparanozie

However, it is expected that the Super Falcons will be allowed to have the official training at the match venue – Stade Nkoatoma de Bata – today by 4pm.

However, Falcons captain and midfielder, Evelyn Nwabuoku has declared that her side are condemned to win against the Equatorial Guinean opposite, Nzalang Nacional.

The Nigerian campaigners are already in Bata, Equatorial Guinea for the make or mar 2016 Olympic Games qualifying clash on Sunday.

Fortnight ago both sides ended their superiority hostilities one goal apiece at the Abuja National Stadium.

Nwabuoku said her side will not allow the Equatorial Guineans to deny the seven-time African champions the life time opportunity to appear at the multiple global sports showpiece.

“We are condemned to win in Bata, Equatorial Guinea against the side opposite, Nzalang Nacional.

“We know it will not be an easy game after both sides battled to a 1-1 draw two-week back in Nigeria we have no choice but to go all out to claim the Olympics spot at their own expense.

“It will not speak well of our reputation as African champions to miss the Rio Olympics the same sore manner we missed the 2012 London Olympics.

“We have pushed behind us the psychological trauma that held us down in the first fixture as the reverse clash is almost a life battle we must win.

“Though we are missing some key members of the team we have resolved to win for them, ourselves and Nigerians.

“We will not disappoint this time around in Bata, Equatorial Guinea,” said the playmaker of Kazakstan Women Premier League (KWPL) champions, Biik Kazygurt to supersport.com.

Overall winners of the encounter will automatically claim a spot in the women football tournament of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Waiting for Moses <<<<<<Continued from back page pened to him at Stoke last seapect two Nigerians - Victor son.

Moses and John Mikel Obi -to Where does one start to write star for Chelsea in the Charity about Mikel and Chelsea? The Shield game against Arsenal. cheery news that Mikel is secUntil recently, the rumour ond on the log to replace John mill had speculated the moveTerry as the next Chelsea capment of Moses to Stoke in a tain says a lot about his contriswap transfer for goalkeeper butions to the team. Mikel Asmir Bergovic. But Moses needs to score goals for the sneezed at the arrangement, Blues. This has been the distininsisting that he would rather guishing line between Mikel want a proper transfer from and those who bench him.

Chelsea to Tottenham Ivanovic's choice ahead of Hotspurs, another Barclays Mikel has to do with his English Premier League side spartan fighting spirit, playing than any demeaning deal to for Chelsea. Ivanovic is a flank Stoke, where he played last defender, yet he has scored season on loan. goals that have earned Chelsea Moses has played three cherished victories. Ivanovic matches, lasting 45 minutes in doesn't sit back to play defeneach game. And Mourinho has sively. He moves forward to spared no adjective in describscore goals when teams appear ing Moses' exploits. Moses can to have caged Chelsea's strikraise his chin up from ers. No coach will have Mourinho's comments because Ivanovic and not give him the it paves the way for him to captain's band when the need shake the world with his subarises. Ivanovic is a fighter and lime skills. Moses has what it a winner any day. These traits takes to tie down a regular are lacking in Mikel's game. shirt, except that most NigeriCommon Mikel, grab the headans who ply their trade in Eulines by being Chelsea's captain rope, usually cannot string five by exhibiting the typical Nigegood outings together, raising rian can-do spirit this season. fears about their ages.

If Mikel plays for Chelsea on For Moses, this argument Sunday, it would be for tactiisn't tenable because he is a cal reasons. Yet, he needs to young man. But he must conplay the Ivanovic way because centrate for the 90 minutes and he has what it takes to be the play to the tactics rehearsed at most exciting player at Chelsea the training. Indeed, Moses' only if he dares to be ambitious knack for goals underscores and score goals. Goals win why he would command a matches and coaches don't regular shirt, only if he boycotts joke with scorers. the social vices that have ruined It's interesting that Mikel is many Nigerian players in Eubeing considered to captain a rope. I also hope that Moses big side like Chelsea. It undercan whisper to Mourinho's ears scores the abundant talents in the need for him to play for the country. Pundits hope that Nigeria, whenever there is a NFF chieftains get the puzzle clash between club and right, with the recruitment of country's matches. Besides, Sunday Oliseh and the other Moses must change this penfacets of his contract, meant to chant of reporting late to the produce truly young lads from Eagles camp, even when he is the grassroots. released early by Chelsea.

I expect Oliseh to be at Again, Moses must return to Wembley Stadium to watch Chelsea after Eagles' matches Moses and Mikel. I expect instead of remaining in NigeOliseh to use this visit to rub ria and getting back late. Moses minds with his former team and indeed Mikel Obi are guilty mate Michael Emenalo. He of these traits and it is the reacould use Emenalo to establish son why they lose their first a rapport with Mourinho. team shirts.

They could sit in a meeting to At 24, Moses should be the streamline how he hopes to efpivot of Chelsea's games, havfectively use Moses and Mikel ing played for England as a without clashes in fixtures bejunior international. Moses tween the two parties. A synwent through the coaching reergy between Oliseh and gime that most of the English Mourinho will foster better a players were exposed to. He, relationship. A picture having therefore, has no reason being Mourinho, Emenalo, Oliseh, benched by players who Mikel and Moses walking out looked up to him to win games, of the Wembley stadium after when they were much the game will headline most younger playing for England.

Nigerian newspapers, espeAs Chelsea file out against cially if Chelsea beats Arsenal.

Arsenal on Sunday, most NiPlease, I have not tipped gerians will want Moses to Chelsea to beat Arsenal. The grab the headlines with a mebetter side should lift the Comteoric outing reminiscence of munity Shield on Sunday. what Nwankwo Kanu did for I also expect to see Oliseh Arsenal several years back, and his men at the stands, when he rose from the bench watching our players during in the second half to score the matches, instead of relying on hat-trick that decided the game views from partisan agents and in Gunners' favour. Arsenal scouts to pick players for beat Chelsea 3-2 and Kanu's Nigeria's games. Oliseh should name reverberated in the melearn how to interface with the dia for months. That spectacucoaches of clubs where our lar outing by Kanu forms some players earn a living. That way, of the landmark ties of the Enhe can find out why they are glish game, which his kids now being benched or relate with cherish now that their dad has them when they are injured. retired from the game.

This idea of using boys to prosIf Moses doesn't start the ecute our matches and not care game, he would be introduced about their welfare must stop. as a second half substitute they Our players must feel way Mourinho did in Chelsea's wanted by Nigeria. It starts last game. He needs to seize the with taking interest in what day with a stellar performance. happens to them in their clubs Moses looks like our best bet for and how we respond to their the 2016 African Footballer of difficulties. When these two the Year diadem if he remains parameters are met, the playfocused and enjoys an injuryers will give their best. free season unlike what hap-

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.10, NO. 3293

TOMORROW IN THE NATION PUNCHLINE Apparently the culture that forbids announcement of the death of an Oba until certain rites are performed, or until certain protocol is observed, did not ... reckon with the fact that a time will ever come when the world would become a global village that today’s world has become, with the advent of the ubiquitous internet. If Oba Sijuwade had died in London, that is an open society and the demise of such a personality cannot be a guarded secret for long

—Tunji Adegboyega

I

T was impassioned. It was soul stirring. It was statesmanlike. It brimmed with moral fervour and patriotic ardour. It was the perfect speech clinically crafted to meet the demands of the moment. I call it Saint Bukola Saraki’s sermon on Mount Abuja. Senator Bukola Saraki had emerged Senate President on June 9 in controversial circumstances and against the preference of his party hierarchy. To achieve this feat, Saraki had swung the bloc opposition votes of 49 PDP Senators to his side by offering the minority party the deputy Senate Presidency.

With nine rebellious APC Senators and in the absence of a majority of his party’s Senators, Saraki was elected Senate President in perhaps the hastiest leadership election in the history of Nigeria’s National Assembly. Some saw this as wily political pragmatism at its best. To others it was nothing but cynical Machiavellianism in which Saraki’s ends, no matter how ignoble and self- serving, justified any means no matter how foul or disreputable.

The Senate had adjourned abruptly on June 9 ostensibly to let tempers cool and allow some form of compromise and reconciliation before the resumption of plenary. To strengthen his hands and pre-empt the APC leadership, Saraki had immediately announced principal officers immediately after his election. Perhaps his most clever and strategic move in this regard was the naming of Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who had lost to Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP in the contest for the position of Deputy Senate President, as Majority Leader. This not only broke the ranks of those opposed to him within the APC but was also calculated to shift the geo-ethnic balance of forces in his favour.

It was against this background that the Senate President gave his impressive welcome speech on resumption of the Senate on Tuesday, 28 July.

The speech was wide ranging touching on the economy, the country’s dwindling revenue profile, crude oil theft and the challenges of security among others. For me, however, the most important aspect of the address was Saint Saraki’s sermon on the challenges and demands of leadership at this critical juncture in Nigeria.

In his words “Distinguished colleagues, we have our work cut out for us, we cannot afford to frolic. Nigerians did not give us our mandate to come and pursue leadership; their mandate was for us to pursue governance and bring solutions to their burning issues…Leadership is secondary to our primary responsibility of good governance. As Senate President you have given me responsibility to ensure that our primary responsibility is placed on the table not under the table”.

What is remarkable about Senator Saraki’s pious admonitions to his colleagues on leadership is the wide gulf between his words and his actions in his burning, remorseless pursuit of the Senate Presidency. In his cynically single-minded pursuit of his ambition, nothing mattered to him – not the interest of his party, the sanctity of the Senate’s rules and conventions or the moral health of the National Assembly.

Having attained his objective of leading the Senate at all costs, it is therefore quite convenient for Senator Saraki to advocate the virtues of

Saint Saraki’s sermon on mount Abuja

‘ •Bukola Saraki placing service to the people above selfish personal quest for leadership positions.

Even more damaging is the fact that the rules under which Dr Bukola Saraki was elected as Senate President seemed to have emerged mysteriously from under the table rather than from on top of the table to adapt his own phrase.

No amount of sweet sounding words can

I agree entirely with Saint Saraki’s submission. But that process of change cannot preclude pursuing the alleged forgery of Senate rules to its logical conclusion and bringing to book all those implicated in the odious infraction

’

deodorise the lack of transparency and credibility that characterised the way he emerged as Senate President on June 9. The truth of the matter is that the Senate 2015 Standing Orders (as amended), under which Dr Saraki was elected Senate President is of doubtful provenance and illegitimate paternity. All the acts purportedly carried out under its purview on June 9,

…still on the Unibadan vice chancellorship race Dear Segun, I read with keen interest your reference last week to the on-going race to fill the Vice Chancellorship seat of the University of Ibadan, which will become vacant in November. I am elated that our alma mater is taking steps to infuse greater transparency and credibility into the process. Perhaps because of space constraint, you were unable to write extensively on all the 12 candidates in the race.

Like you said, however, I am convinced that only the best and brightest can be among those qualified to occupy this critical office at UI. Professor Adigun Agbaje whom you mentioned is surely a sterling example in this regard. I was not in his Department (political

science) but as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2003-2005), Professor Agbaje’s indelible imprints of academic and managerial excellence are still there. Many of those who graduated after me also speak with fondness of his outstanding contributions as Deputy Vice –Chancellor (Academic) between 2006 and 2010. I wish my Professor and all other distinguished aspirants for the exalted position the best of luck because only the best is good enough for UI. Please consider this as my own humble contribution to the process.

Yours, Iyiola Falodun Agbo Isijiola Street, Ilupeju, Lagos.

particularly the election of principal officers is akin to constructing a structure on a nonexisting foundation.

How do we explain the magical leap from the 2007 Senate Standing Orders (as amended), which guided the 7th Senate between 2007 and 2011 and the 2015 variant, which is said to be the arbitrary contraption of some National Assembly bureaucrats in utter contravention of the extant rules of the Senate? Given the inexplicable haste with which the National Assembly bureaucracy conducted the Senate Presidency election in the absence of half of the Senators, they were obviously in partisan collusion with some forces to achieve a predetermined outcome of the process. Can the leaders of such a bureaucracy be entrusted in future to carry out their duties in an objective and disinterested manner that will enable them enjoy the confidence of all partisan tendencies in the Senate?

Of course, given the nature of Nigerian politics with most actors being largely self-seeking, Senator Saraki’s hands have been considerably strengthened by his emergence as Senate President no matter how dubious and questionable the process. He now has considerable largesse, including juicy Committee memberships to dispense. Thus, the vote of confidence passed on him and other leaders of the Senate by a majority of Senators on July 28.

The prevailing sentiment among the majority of Senators is that they should put the unsavoury events of the past behind and move forward in the national interest.

Some of the pro-Saraki Senators, obviously referring to the on-going investigation into allegations of forgery of the Senate rules; a crime that allegedly aided his emergence as Senate President contend that the affairs of the Senate should not be externalised. This they argue will amount to threatening the legislative immunity of the Senate. Indeed Senator Samuel Anyanwu urged “The Nigeria Police Force and all other security agencies in Nigeria not to allow themselves to be used by any person or persons to harass, intimidate or blackmail the Senate, Senators and/or their spouses”.

Of course, the crime of alleged forgery of Senate rules is not an internal affair of the Senate.

It is a crime against the laws of Nigeria for which there is no legislative immunity. Since the investigation into the alleged crime has commenced and has even become a subject of litigation, the process cannot now be aborted without doing grave damage to the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of change.

Senator Bukola Saraki concludes his sermon on Mount Abuja with the stirring declaration: “My distinguished colleagues, the job of changing our corporate destiny starts today.

Though the challenges are huge, they are not insurmountable. Let these challenges inspire us as leaders to show courage, statesmanship and valour”. I agree entirely with Saint Saraki’s submission. But that process of change cannot preclude pursuing the alleged forgery of Senate rules to its logical conclusion and bringing to book all those implicated in the odious infraction.

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

Waiting for Moses

W

OMEN cherish the opening of the Eu ropean football league season. Their men sit at home to watch their favourite teams fight weekly for the points required to play in the prestigious UEFA Champions League competition next season.

From this weekend, beginning with the Charity Shield "London derby" tie between Barclays English Premier League champions Chelsea and the English FA Cup kings, Arsenal at Wembley Stadium, till May 2016, soccer-crazy families will be broken by the clubs they support during the 90 minutes duration of matches. Winners laugh; losers frown.

The scenario is most exciting if the kids' teams beat the ones supported by their fathers. The kids tease their fathers, who momentarily surrender the right to discipline them. It gets very

interesting if the mother is a supporter of the kids' clubs. Indeed, my colleague Emmanuel Tobi of the New Telegraph named his first son Fabregas.

No prize for guessing that Tobi is a Gunner. I wasn't surprised that his wife didn't object to naming their first child after an Arsenal great.

She too is a Gunner. I wonder what they would tell their son, now that Fabregas plays for Chelsea. Such is the awesome power of soccer.

But I digress.

These weekly sessions further unite families, especially the homes where the fathers are engrossed with the demands of their jobs. But, somehow, they find a way of getting home early to watch the matches with their families. The women however love this period most because they are sure where their husbands are. Even when they watch the matches with the boys, their wives know where they are and could pay

surprise visits to such centres.

Nothing is spared to ensure a hitch-free session. People don't rely on the regular supply of electricity because they don't want to miss any moment in a game. Power Generators are pressed to service. Fridges are stocked with drinks. Family members sit to watch the games, wearing different jerseys (for fathers who allow siblings and their wives freedom to belong to teams of their choices).

For those who love to "conscript" their wives and kids, the fun is lost when their favourite team loses. The fun is best appreciated if family members are divided among the teams. Indeed, the zero moment is here after the hectic European transfer windows where teams strengthened their ranks with quality players. The fans cannot wait to see the game and share in the sighs, joy and sadness of each weekly game.

Again, the fans, mostly the youth, throng viewing centres on match days to watch their favourite teams. The atmosphere in most centres can be tense, depending on the placing of both teams on the league tables or the trophies at stake. At the business centres, you will marvel at the fact that many of the fans wear jerseys bearing the names of their idols. Some others wear theirs with customised names. It is really a spectacle to behold.

But, there have been terrible incidents, leading to deaths in many instances. People have wondered how people could kill themselves for teams who know nothing about their existence.

But for journalists and national team coaches, this is the period to monitor our nationals to see those who prosecute the country's international soccer matches ahead of continental and global football competitions.

Perhaps the best way for Nigerian journalists and coaches to begin the monitoring will be on Sunday at the Wembley Stadium where we ex

•Continued on Page 71

Published and printed by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025, Oshodi, Lagos.

Telephone: Switch Board: 08034505516. Marketing: 01-8155547, Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, Tel/08099650602. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790 ` Website: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: saturday@thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 Acting Editor: VINCENT AKANMODE