August 30, 2014

www.thenationonlineng.net

2 NEWS

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AKAR — A man infected with Ebola travelled to Senegal, becoming the first recorded in this country of an outbreak that has hit four other West African countries and has killed more than 1,500 people, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

The infected person is an undergraduate from Guinea who sought treatment at a hospital in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, this week, Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck, told reporters.

The young man said he had had contact with Ebola patients while he was in Guinea and was immediately put under quarantine, she said.

Tests from the Institut Pasteur have confirmed that he has Ebola, and the World Health

EBOLA OUTBREAK

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

Senegal records first Ebola case

Organisation has been alerted.

The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa began last year in Guinea. Since then, the disease has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. At least 3,000 have contracted the disease, which is spread by bodily fluids and for which there is no known cure.

The arrival of the dreaded disease in Senegal, which is a tourist destination and whose capital is a major transportation hub for the region, underscores that the outbreak is not under control, despite efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders and other organi-

sations.

WHO said yesterday that the past week has seen the highest increase of cases — more than 500 — since the outbreak began.

It is not clear how or when the young man came to Senegal, which has closed its border with Guinea. But Seck said that this week an epidemiological surveillance team from

Guinea alerted Senegalese authorities that they had lost track of a person who had had contact with the sick. The team said this person may have come to Senegal.

Seck said authorities have determined that the young man now in quarantine is one who fled.

WHO, which is the U.N. health agency, has warned that

the disease could eventually infect 20,000 people, and unveiled a plan Thursday to stop transmission in the next six to nine months.

But a top official from Doctors Without Borders, which is running many of the Ebola treatment centers, said the agency wasn’t doing enough.

“The World Health Organization can’t handle” the out-

break, Mego Terzian, the group’s president for France, told France Inter radio. “I don’t see how with the current measures how we’re going to control the outbreak and stop the outbreak.”

He called for a far greater response from the international community, saying the U.N. Security Council should take up the matter and noting that there are countries with military medical units that could be useful.

Uduaghan expresses worry over new cases

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•Urges increased vigilance

ELTA State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has expressed deep concern over the new cases of Ebola virus outbreak in Rivers State, with a call on the citizens to be on the alert and take their personal hygiene and other preventive measures seriously.

Governor Uduaghan, who has already set up an emergency committee on the deadly disease in the wake of the index case in the country, condemned the action of the diplomat that spread the virus to Port Harcourt and the doctor that attended to him in a hotel.

Dr. Uduaghan, in a Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, broadcast live from Asaba yesterday, as part of activities to mark the 23rd anniversary of the creation of Delta State, also called for increased and sustained advocacy campaign by stakeholders to curtail further spread of the disease.

“I am not only concerned that the virus has entered Port Harcourt, I am worried and we need to step up advocacy programme for people to raise the level of awareness,” the governor who is a medical doctor by profession said.

“I feel very sad, very bad as a professional that a colleague, a medical doctor went to a hotel to treat someone who was suspected to have Ebola virus. This calls for great concern and need for more awareness to be created.”

He said: “It is ridiculous why a diplomat should leave Lagos for PortHarcourt knowing that he had been in contact with the primary Ebola victim.”

He disclosed that the Delta State Government had set up isolation centres in different parts of the state to ensure proper management of the disease.

While expressing the hope that the disease would not spread to Delta State, Uduaghan called on the people to be vigilant since a lot of persons were still migrating to the state from different parts of the country.

Answering question about some persons protesting against the location of isolation centres in their locality, the governor said such complaints had not been witnessed in Delta State, noting that there was no need for such protest as preventive measures would have been

put in place to ensure the safety of those working in the centres and the people living in the area.

Rotary takes Ebola fight to Lagos market Kunle AKINRINADE

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O curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease, the Rotary Club of Omole Golden (District 911) yesterday organized a sensitization programme for traders at the Iju Ishaga market in Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The event attracted market leaders and members of the public who came to witness the demonstration of hand washing as a prevention of the spread of the virus.

In his welcome address, the President of the club, Mr. Chris Alabi explained that the club decided to embark on the sensitization programme in order to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

He said:” We have come here today to help in the fight against Ebola virus that has killed so many lives all over the world. We know the peculiarity of the health challenges facing market women and traders especially in the rural areas and that is why we chose to bring health professionals that will not only enlighten you but teach you how to undertake personal hygiene that can prevent you from contacting the virus.”

In her speech, Dr. Wunmi Bakare of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, cautioned the traders against touching sick persons with bare hands. She instead urged them to wear protective gloves and imbibe the practice of hand washing.

She said:” We know that it is necessary to attend to sick relations or family members but I want to urge you not to touch them with your hands except you wear protective gloves.

But more importantly, hand washing with any soap remains the best protection against contacting the deadly virus from infected victims.”

The Iyaloja (market leader) of the market, Madam Amoke Williams, urged the traders not to ignore the preventive measures learnt during the programme.

The high point of the event was the demonstration of hand washing and distribution of sanitation equipment to the market leaders.

•From left: Iyaloja of Iju-Ishaga Market, Mrs Amoke Williams; President of Rotary Club Omole Golden, Mr. Chris Alabi and Dr. Wunmi Bakare of the Lagos State Ministry of Health (middle) demonstrating how to wash hands during a sensitisation programme for traders at Iju-Ishaga Market, Lagos on Thursday

TAN’s rally for Jonathan is firing squad –Rivers groups

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•Doctors demand safety measures to work at quarantine centre

HE Rivers State Chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC) and Ikwerre Citizens for Democratic Movement (ICDM) have declared their opposition to a pro-Jonathan rally scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt today.

The Transformation Ambassador of Nigeria (TAN) a group supporting President Good Luck Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015 is billed to hold its South–South rally in the Rivers State capital.

But the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other groups in the state have described the rally as untimely and an avenue to spread the Ebola virus disease, following the outbreak in the state.

Reacting in Port Harcourt yesterday, the State Chairman of APC, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said the rally is nothing but a firing squad against the people.

He said as a party, the leadership of the APC in the state was not afraid of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but was only concerned about the threat it poses to the lives of residents of the Garden City.

Ikanya said: “The rally is a firing squad, it is an invita-

Precious DIKEWOHA, Port Harcourt tion to death. The same people who said the public should avoid crowd and that they are committed to the fight against Ebola is today organising a rally in Rivers State when they are aware of the outbreak of the disease in the state.

“We are committed and we are not threatened by their coming. I think the group who said they are going to protest against the rally by tomorrow has a point.

“The President should be thinking about how to assist the state government to fight Ebola instead of organising political rallies.”

The President General of Ikwerre Citizens for Democratic Movement (ICDM), Comrade Prince Obiajunwo Dike, said the group had given President Jonathan up till 11 pm yesterday to call off the rally or see himself as one of the enemies of Rivers people.

He said the people of Rivers State, especially the youths, were being mobilised to barricade the

Elekahia Stadium venue of the rally in the interest of Rivers State.

Dike said even the President is aware that there is an outbreak of Ebola in the state, which he said had rendered the rally unnecessary in order to prevent further spread of EVD in the state.

He said he expected the Federal Government to focus on the pressing needs in the state and not to play politics with the lives of the people.

He said: “As far as I am concerned, the rally will not hold in the state. If they go ahead to hold the rally by tomorrow, then Jonathan hates Rivers people.

“We will mobilise against them. We don’t mind if our action leads to an uproar tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the health sector in the state have said that the government was yet to provide safety measures to contain the spread of the EVD in the state.

They expressed fears that some people in the state who had contracted the decease were yet to be located for quarantine. They also advised that action be taken immediately to close down

the hotel and the hospital the deceased victim had contacts with.

The Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) Chapter, Dr. Prince Dan– Jumbo, said many doctors were not willing to work at the Edohia quarantine centre because of lack of safety measures.

Dan-Jumbo who is not happy with the way his colleagues were being treated following the recent directive of the Federal Government to sack residence doctors, said some doctors were willing to make sacrifice if necessary safety measures were provided for them.

He also revealed that two women visited the late Dr. Ikechukwu Sam Enemuo’s wife and left the widow’s house to a supermarket at Government House but were yet to be traced.

He said: “The most important thing now is awareness.

There were two women who visited the wife of the deceased, but nothing has been done about them.

“They ought to have been quarantined or placed on surveillance. Such a big super-

Riot in Guinean city over market disinfection

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UINEA’s second biggest city, Nzerekore, has erupted in riot after the market was sprayed with disinfectants by government officials in a bid to halt the spread of the Ebola virus.

Health workers and the hospital in the city were attacked by people shouting: “Ebola is a lie”.

The current outbreak of Ebola began in Guinea.

More than 1,500 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria have been

killed by the virus.

There have been relatively few cases in Guinea recently, with far higher infection rates in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, and six deaths in Nigeria.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that the situation could get much worse and infect more than 20,000 people.

The BBC,quoting a local journalist, reported yesterday that many Nzerekore residents still do not believe

that Ebola exists.

He said that a market was sprayed following a funeral - although the death was not the result of Ebola.

Local traders were apparently not warned and held a protest march to the city’s hospital, which was attacked.

Police responded by firing tear gas.

Reuters reported that local Red Cross workers had to flee to a military base while Youssouf Traore, president of the Guinean Red Cross,

said the rioters had fired guns.

“A rumour, which was totally false, spread that we had sprayed the market in order to transmit the virus to locals,” Mr Traore said.

This is not the first time that health workers trying to combat Ebola have been attacked.

Nzerekore is the capital of the Forest Region, where the Ebola epidemic has its epicentre,although it has miraculously remained free of Ebola so far.

THE NATION,

EBOLA OUTBREAK

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

NEWS 3

Ebola: Outbreak in Rivers causes panic in Bayelsa, Cross River

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HE spread of Ebola virus disease (EVD) to PortHarcourt, Rivers State, has created panic in neighbouring Bayelsa State as well as Cross River State.

Residents in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, became apprehensive when the news broke that a doctor had died of the virus in PortHarcourt.

The fear was heightened by the proximity of PortHarcourt to Yenagoa.

People were seen in clusters at the popular Ekeki Park, where travellers normally board vehicles to PortHarcourt, discussing Ebola.

Although vehicles were seen leaving for Port-Harcourt, passengers and drivers took extra measures to protect themselves.

Some quickly dashed to nearby shops to buy sanitisers while others, including drivers, wore hand gloves.

A driver, who identified himself as Emmanuel, said although he was scared of the development, it would not deter him from engaging in his job.

He said: “It is unfortunate that this virus has come close to us in Port-Harcourt. But we believe that it won’t get here.

We will take measures to protect ourselves,” he said.

Mike ODIEGWU, Yenagoa

In other places, including markets, people were heard expressing fears over the disease.

The government had earlier set up a task force headed by the Commissioner for Health to take measures to stop the spread of Ebola in the state.

The committee had embarked on aggressive campaigns to sensitise people on Ebola, including visiting the orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The Bayelsa State Government had while closing the 2014 Batch B Orientation course charged corps members to lead the Ebola virus awareness campaign.

The governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, appealed to the corps members to move into the rural areas and educate the people on the causes and prevention of Ebola.

Dickson who was represented at the event in Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, by the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Salo Adikumo, asked the corps members to play a committed role in ending the disease.

Like Yenagoa, there was also panic at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) in Cross River State yesterday over a suspected Ebola case.

A worker in the hospital said the scare was due to the appearance of a very sickly patient.

The worker said: “The way the patient looked, it was really bad. So, people started running away from the patient. Even some health workers at first ran away before attending to the person.”

The scare was intensified when a member of the National Conference from Cross River, Mr Orok Duke, took to his Facebook page to spread the information.

Duke said an Ebola patient arrived from Port Harcourt

and had been quarantined alongside others who contact was made with.

But the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Thomas Agan, said it was unfounded.

A text message addressed to Mr Duke read: “I am shocked that someone of your status will post an unfounded story on Facebook to misinform not only Nigerians but the world at large! You know the implications are far reaching!

“Please be informed that there is no case of Ebola both in UCTH and General Hospital Calabar. I will advise you to retract what you have posted immediately sir!”

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Angela Oyo-Ita, said it was not true.

She said: “It is absolutely false. Whoever is bringing that

up does not mean well for the state. A sick patient came in, yes, and people ran away. I received a call and acted on it.

So they got back to me and said the person tested for HIV. The person came from Port Harcourt.

“It is not true that people have been quarantined in the hospital. The patient was tested for HIV, not Ebola.”

Commissioner for Justice, Attah Ochinke, on his Facebook page reacted: “This is not correct information. There is no Ebola in Calabar. While we encourage people to take precaution, we should be wary of creating panic.

“A woman came in today from Port Harcourt sick and delirious. Medical staff at General Hospital were afraid to attend to her initially for fear

of Ebola. Eventually, she was attended to and tests were conducted which proved she was not infected by Ebola.

“It will be dangerous if every sickness is tagged Ebola as people who ordinarily should get quick medical attention may not get it, and we don’t know who.

“Vigilance is high and isolation facilities have been prepared in Calabar just in case. But we pray that we don’t have to actually encounter a case of Ebola here.”

Meanwhile, 82 new border patrol officials have been deployed in the state by the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) to help check people coming into the state from the borders in order to check the disease.

South Africans must seek permission to visit Ebola-striken countries

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OUTH Africans wishing to travel to and from high risk Ebola virus countries are now required to first seek permission from the national department of health, the South African Airways (SAA) said yesterday. ”All travellers between South Africa and the Ebola high-risk areas in West Africa must follow the new procedures introduced for the airlines aimed at ensuring compliance with a recent cabinet decision.

“The measures are effective as we speak,” said SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali.

Government has previously advised South Africans to avoid all non-essential travel to Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone but new procedures now state that all travellers intending to visit these areas must get permission.

Permission to travel can be sought from the national Department of Health.

Applicants are expected to supply :Full personal details, including residential addresses of South African citizens or in the case of non-South Africans, the address of residence while in South Africa (ie, hotel, etc.);next of kin details in the case of South African citizens;full details of the reasons for travel to or from South Africa;and the traveller must complete a Traveller Health Questionnaire and submit it with the request to travel A written response from the national department of health will be provided informing the applicant of the outcome of their request to travel.

However, travel restrictions do not apply to Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal that SAA flies to in West Africa.

“None of them fall under high-risk category. Our schedule to those destinations remains unaffected,” explained Tlali.

Last week, Health Minister

Aaron Motsoaledi announced that South Africa has taken the decision to impose a total travel ban for all non-citizens travelling from identified high risk countries to limit the spread of Ebola to the country, unless the travel is considered absolutely essential.

He said citizens of South Africa who wish to travel to these countries will be requested to delay their travel unless it is also absolutely essential for them to travel.

Over 1 000 people have died from the virus in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have each declared the outbreak a national disaster.

•From left: A participant, Sir Godfrey Edoziem; Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Jerry Gana; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Chief Host/Managing Consultant, New Vision Consults, Mr. Linus Okorie; Minister for Youth Development, Alhaji Boni Haruna; British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Pocock and Chairman, Punch Nigeria Limited, Mr. Wale Aboderin, during the Emerging Leaders Conference, 2014, in Abuja... yesterday

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1,000 Igbo corpses await clearance in Lagos mortuaries —Ohanaeze

O fewer than 1,000 corpses of Igbo people are awaiting clearance in various mortuaries in Lagos State, the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the state, Chief Fabian Onwughalu, has said.

Church organises prayer conference in Rivers

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OLLOWING the outbreak of the dreaded Ebola virus disease in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, the Rivers Diocese of African Church has included enlightenment on Ebola in their ongoing annual conference at Oboma, AkukuToru Local Government Area of the state.

The conference has Divine Abundance as its theme.

The Diocesan Bishop of the church in Rivers State, Rev. Isaac Adeniyi Akinkunmi Falana, disclosed this in a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday.

A medical doctor, Iky. Sam. Enemuo, died of the disease in a private hospital in Port Harcourt recently.

His young widow, who is also a medical doctor, has taken ill after the death of her husband and has been quarantined. More than 100 persons are presently under surveillance in the state.

The news has raised panic and fear among residents.

Falana said Ebola disease is a warning sign by God and appealed to the people to

Rosemary NWISI, Port Harcourt

reverence Him and go back to Him in repentance.

The clergy said the disease has become a huge worry to the world and Nigeria, and having already claimed a life in the state, it is importantthat participants in the conference are educated on the disease and encouraged to imbibe and maintain sound personal and environmental hygiene to ward it off.

According to him, the conference would also feature free medical check-up and teachings on rape and widowhood, among others, adding that a dedicated prayer session would be undertaken against Ebola disease, which he insisted is a spiritual problem.

He said: “I see Ebola as a warning signal to all, just as HIV/AIDS is a warning against immorality. We have been talking about Nigeria returning back to God, but people have remained undaunted about it. Ebola disease is not beyond God.”

Innocent DURU

He blamed the development on the Federal Government’s ban on inter-state movement of corpses in the country.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Khairu Al-Hassan, announced the Federal Government‘s decision at a meeting held at African House, Government House, Kano recently.

He said it was part of the means the government is exploiting to curtail the spread of the disease in the country.

Bemoaning the plight of the deceased and their relations, Chief Onwughalu said: ”As I am talking to you now, there are over 1000 dead bodies of Igbo people waiting at various morgues only here in Lagos State for movement to their homeland.

”The ugly development has serious effect on the families of the deceased because in Igbo land, we believe that the moment a late family member is buried, the pains of losing him will gradually fade away. But in a situation where you keep the body of a deceased family member unnecessarily, the pains will be increasing.

“The Federal Government should rescind the decision or decentralise the authority.”

Asked what the body was doing to address the problem, he said: “At the highest level, we believe there are consultations going on. But we are worried that it is taking too long to yield fruits.”

He added that the sole authority vested in the minister to give clearance to bereaved families before they can take their dead relations home is fraught with bottlenecks that

cause untold hardship for the people. He described the process as a violation of the Igbo culture.

To enable bereaved families take the corpses of their members home for burial, he advised that “the Federal Government should authorise other government health officers and doctors to issue certificates to bereaved families to enable them carry the remains of their deceased ones home for burial.

“If the authority to issue certificate is decentralised such that federal health centres and teaching hospitals would be able to attend to bereaved families and give them certificates within a short time, it will enable our people to convey the remains of their beloved ones to their ancestral homes in line with the traditions of their people.”

Abdulgafar ALABELEWE, Kaduna

He also warned public school principals to stop using their personal bank accounts for the deposit of school fees.

“All public schools must make frantic efforts to remit school fees to the government coffers in due time and as a matter of urgency open school accounts, in case you don’t have an active school account,” he said.

Kaduna schools to screen students, pupils on resumption

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ADUNA State Government yesterday directed primary and secondary schools in the state to screen all their pupils and students as a condition for allowing them back on resumption on October 13.

Education Commissioner Ibrahim Ali told head teachers of private and public schools in Kaduna that government would distribute the necessary medical equipment to

the schools before the resumption date to enable them carry out tests on the pupils.

Two such machines will be given to each school with a population of 500 and below while schools with a population of up to 1,000 students will receive four each.

On school fees, Ali warned private schools in particular to desist from arbitrary increase .

See more Ebola stories on Page 60

4 NEWS The race for Aso Rock in 2015 is revving up across the states even with no aspirant yet to formally declare his interest.

But endorsements are already rolling in for those eyeing the office.

Thirty four members of the Kano State House of Assembly, yesterday endorsed Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso for the race .

The assemblymen and the governor are all of the All

THE NATION

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

2015 presidential race hots up

•Jonathan, Atiku, Kwankwaso get endorsement Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano/ Mike ODIEGWU,Yenagoa/ Nicholas KALU,Calabar

Progressives Congress (APC).

President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice president Atiku Abubakar

were separately endorsed by two groups in the Southsouth –De Servants for Jonathan and South South Youth Forum for Atiku.

The Kano Assemblymen told reporters in the city that only a “ resolute, competent and detribalized leader” like

Kwankwaso can deal with the prevailing security challenge and other socio-political problems in the country.

Alhaji Yusuf Babangida Sulieman, Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly, who spoke for his colleagues said

From left: Chief Host/Managing Consultant, New Vision Consults, Mr. Linus Okorie; Chairman of the occasions, Professor Jerry Gana; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, during the Emerging Leaders Conference, 2014, in Abuja... on Friday.

that with the fast rate at which Nigeria is sinking,only a very capable hand can rescue it from total collapse.

According to them,the security of life and property, which ought to be the most cardinal responsibility of any government in power, has depreciated to a record low while governance is reeling under the weight of corruption.

They said that until Governor Kwankwaso took over the reins of power,the situation in the state was as bad as what currently prevails in the country at large.

The governor,they claimed has turned things around and sanity restored .

The assembly men also described General Muhammadu Buhari as another good candidate and pledged that whoever the APC picks between them would enjoy their support.

De Servants in throwing its weight behind President Jonathan were confident that he would soon come out to declare his re-election bid.

The group berated the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) for giving President Jonathan an ultimatum to rescue the Chibok girls or forget his reelection in 2015.

Leader of the group, Mr.

Adamawa: Jonathan, PDP ask Acting Gov to shelve ambition

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HE Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have launched a last minute move to abort the aspiration of Adamawa Acting Governor Umaru Fintiri to fly the party’s flag in the October governorship election.

Fintiri,was Speaker of the state House of Assembly until last month’s impeachment of Admiral Murtala Nyako but he is now a leading aspirant for the office.

He and 11 other members of the party are to be screened today ahead of the governorship primaries scheduled for September 6.

Among them are former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; former Lagos military administrator, Brigadier General Buba Marwa; and former Adamawa governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Marcus Gundiri,all of whom were cleared yesterday by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) for the primaries.

The trio almost lost out following a sharp disagreement in the party’s hierarchy over their eligibility having joined only recently.

It was gathered yesterday that the Presidency and PDP were working on Fintiri to forgo his aspiration.

The Presidency has made its position known to him while a three-man team from the party was said to have met Fintiri on Thursday night on the issue.

But he is adamant on contesting,according to sources.

Rooting for him are members of the State Assembly.

Two other governorship aspirants, James Barka and Jerry Kumdisi, are understood to have stepped down for Fintiri.

•Party screens Ribadu, Marwa, Modibbo, others today Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation/Gbade OGUNWALE,Abuja The two aspirants did not submit their nomination forms on Monday, the deadline for aspirants to turn in their forms.

Investigation showed that Presidency and the PDP are not comfortable with Fintiri’s ambition,citing moral reason.

A source familiar with the development ,said Fintiri’s participation in the race is capable of tainting the credibility of the election.

“There is pressure on the Acting Governor not to contest for the governorship to make the process free and fair. There is no way he will not use the advantage of incumbency to intimidate other aspirants,” the source said.

“The Presidency and PDP are of the opinion that Fintiri’s participation in the primary will be sending a wrong signal that the intendment of the impeachment of ex-Governor Murtala Nyako was to make him governor at all cost.

“If Fintiri succeeds, there are fears in the Presidency that impeachment might be used as a weapon to deal with governors.

“Security reports were said to be against Fintiri’s participation in the governorship race.”

But he reportedly stood his ground,claiming it was his “inalienable right to vie for the governorship slot.”

Another source said: “Fintiri is banking on the support of members of the House of Assembly, local government chairmen and leaders of PDP in the state.

“He believes he enjoys wider support from PDP members. He is asking the party to leave the race open.

“The Acting Governor also said he should only be allowed to complete the tenure of Nyako till the next poll in February 2015. To underscore his determination, two aspirants (James Barka and Jerry Kumdisi) have stepped down for him.

“As it is now, only the Screening Panel of the NWC can stop Fintiri. And if it does that, it might lead to litigation.”

Meanwhile, all is set for the screening of the remaining 12 aspirants today in Abuja as from 10am.

The aspirants are the Acting Governor, Umaru Fintiri; Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Modibbo; Nuhu Ribadu; Markus Gundiri; Auwal Tukur; ex-Minister Aliyu Idi Hong; Sen. Abubakar H. Girei; Andrawus Sawa; and retired Gen. Aliyu Kama; exMilitary Administrator of Lagos State, Gen. Buba Marwa; Ahmed Gulak and a former presidential aide, Dr. Umar Ardo.

Of the 12 aspirants, three (Ribadu, Marwa, and Gundiri) were given a waiver yesterday by the National Working Committee (NWC) after intense-horse trading at the Presidential Villa.

A PDP source said President Goodluck Jonathan personally intervened before the waiver could be granted.

The source said: “At the Villa on Thursday night, there were two camps for and against the waiver. On one hand were members of the pro-waiver group including the National Chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu, the Principal Secretary to the President, Hassan Tukur; and the National Vice-Chairman of PDP(North-East), Lawal Girigiri.

“The anti-waiver group had comprised governors led

by Barrister Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), who is the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, and other members of the NWC. “Every side argued and at a point it was Muazu-Tukur versus Akpabio. The situation almost got out of hand.

“But the insistence of Tukur that Ribadu must not be disgraced having sacrificed everything to defect from APC to PDP proved to be the magic wand. The President became emotional and later made a simple pronouncement: ‘Give them waiver, create a level playing field for all. Let them go and sort it out at the primaries.”

National Publicity Secretary of PDP,Chief Olisa Metuh who broke the news of the waiver said the decision was taken "after very careful and thorough consideration of all applications and the report of the Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha-led Adamawa

State PDP Governorship Waiver Committee.”

The NWC ,he added,was satisfied that all the aspirants met the requirements stipulated by the PDP constitution to participate in the process.

Metuh said the NWC restated its confidence in the leadership of the National Chairman, Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu in “providing a level playing ground for all eligible citizens of the state to participate in the democratic process.”

The PDP pledged that the nomination process, including screening of aspirants as well as the primary election will be conducted with utmost transparency and strict adherence to rules and the principles of justice, fairness and equity.

The party denied reports that its leadership was divided on the granting of waiver to the affected persons.

Kime Engozu, said it was the responsibility of all Nigerians to fight insecurity in the country and asked the Northern elders to exhibit the kind of patriotism displayed by their Niger Delta counterparts when the region was ravaged by militancy.

He recalled that Niger Delta elders moved into the creeks to resolve the problem and succeeded in restoring the peace to the region.

He said the group’s endorsement of Jonathan for a second term was to enable him consolidate on his achievements so far including the convening of the just concluded National Conference.

He said: "We acknowledge the constitutional right of Mr. President to seek re-election and any other person with similar or other ambition to contest without intimidation.

"We resolve that having been satisfied with the monumental achievements of Jonathan, we have no option but to urge him to exercise his constitutional right to seek reelection into the exalted office of the President.

"Therefore, he should declare his ambition openly as soon as possible."

The South-South Youth Forum said Alhaji Atiku Abubakar fits the bill of a qualified and experienced candidate needed by Nigeria in 2015.

Chairman of the committee, Mr. Benjamin Simialayi said: “after wide consultations and deliberations, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar stood out amongst other candidates, based on his experience and wide network, major criteria that will better the lots of Nigerians.

“Atiku was unanimously adopted and endorsed by the Central Planning Committee and the state Co-ordinators.

It was pertinent for the organization to set in motion its structures in the state, local governments and wards to mobilize support for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and other credible candidates in the next general elections.

He said the forum which is the largest youth political network in the South-south is a transformation network that has structures in all the cells, polling units, political wards local governments across the six states in the region.

“We are inaugurating our new central planning committee and state coordinators to drive and give the good people of the South-south region a direction to bring in new generational leadership,” he said.

Agency tackles illegal revenue collectors on highways

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HE Federal Committee on Surveillance and Ac tion Against Road Abuse (FECSAARA), has promised to wage a total war against illegal revenue collectors on major federal highways in Ogun State.

The Ogun State Coordinator of the agency, Engr. Segun Kaka, said:” “We have a statutory mandate to prevent local government officials, transport unions, both state and federal ministries and other organisations whose operations on the highways are not approved by the Federal Ministry of Works, from collecting revenue on the highways. The sensitisation methodology of the agency has not been effective because of civil service bureaucracy that has hampered

Kunle AKINRINADE our operations. This is the reason we are calling on law enforcement agencies to assist us in cleaning up unwanted elements from the federal highways.”

He advised organisations whose presence on the highways is not approved to leave the highways and look elsewhere for their revenues.

“Council areas in Nigeria collect their monthly allocation from the federal government and should not go on federal highways to collect revenue. The National Union of Road Transport Workers, Ministries of Commerce, Environment and Forestry don’t

have anything to do with highways and should restrict their operations to their parks and offices.”

“We are calling on the police, Department of State Security Services(DSS) and men of the Nigeria Security, Civil Defence Corps and other law enforcement agencies to cooperate with us in tackling the menace of illegal revenue operators on federal highways.”.

He warned against indiscriminate building of petrol stations and shanties along federal highways saying: “Building of petrol stations and erection of signage without due approval from our supervising ministry as well as shanties on roadsides will not be allowed at all.”

THE NATION

NEWS 5

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

FG must change strategy to end insurgency, corruption- NBA

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HE Nigerian Bar Asso ciation (NBA) has urged the Federal Government to reorganise its intelligence gathering strategy if it must win the fight against insurgency.

It said the government must be proactive in its efforts at tackling terrorism.

NBA urged Nigerians to join hands with the government in the fight against terror, saying the battle should not be left to government alone.

“All Nigerians must collaborate with the government and the security agencies in order to address the issue of the seemingly intractable security problems confronting the country, particularly the escapades of the dreaded terrorists called Boko Haram,” NBA said.

These were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the association’s annual general conference held in Owerri, Imo State capital from August 24 to 29.

The conference, which had the theme: “Nigeria: A 100 years after”, ended with the inauguration of a new executive led by Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN).

NBA blamed insecurity and corruption on bad leadership, adding that values have also been eroded.

“A major portion of our socio-political and economic problems are caused largely by lack of exemplary and visionary leadership,” it said.

The association said the progressive erosion of core values in Nigeria leads to communal disintegration and insecurity.

“There is need for national value re-orientation through leadership by example and the entrenchment of the rule of law and eradication of impunity,” NBA said.

The association called for adequate protection for prosecutors and witnesses involved in terrorism cases as provided by the UN guidelines for prosecutors.

It urged military hierarchy to caution its personnel on the overzealous display of anger and emotions in their duty so as not to violate human rights.

On corruption, NBA called for a reinvigoration of the criminal justice system as a panacea for dealing with criminality.

“There’s the dire need for the Federal Government to reengineer and re-invigorate all the anti-corruption agencies as well as grant them more autonomy.

“This is to ensure their impartiality and for them to exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice and without interference from any person or organ of state,” NBA said.

To further discourage corrupt practices, the lawyers’ body urged judges to impose the maximum sentences provided in law rather than a mere ‘slap on the wrist’ for those found guilty of graft.

“Judges should be equitable and balanced in the administration of criminal justice in such a way that punishment is blind to status and class.

“Cases involving serious

Joseph JIBUEZE, Owerri crime should be assigned to very experienced judges in order to ensure that inexperienced judges do not tacitly encourage such crimes through faulty determination of such matters.

“The imposition of fine alone is inappropriate for serious crimes. Punishment should combine both fine and imprisonment to reflect the societal revulsion of such serious crimes.

“The Federal Government, through all stakeholders in the administration of criminal justice should establish a national crime data bank in order to keep information on fingerprints, identification and criminal records of every offender,” NBA said.

•From left: Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital,(LUTH); Professor Akin Osibogun, Multilpe Council Chairperson, MD 404, Nigeria, Lion Sam Ekpuk, Past District Governor, Lion Chief Stella Agbogun and Past International Director, Lion (Engr) H.O.B Lawal during the handing over ceremony of LCIF Mercy Home for Cancer patients on admission to LUTH by the International Association of Lions Club Multiple District 404, Nigeria in Lagos yesterday

Another tragedy hits Rivers as two kids, eight A others die in boat accident

pall of gried again de scended on Rivers State yesterday when no fewer than ten persons including two children were feared dead in a boat accident in Bonny Island, a suburb of Rivers State.

Seven persons, including a youth corps member, as at press time were still missing, with the Caretaker Chairman of Bonny Local Government Council, Adoye Wilcox, declaring in a telephone interview that the divers, who had been combing the river bed were stil searching for bodies.

Eighteen of the thirty five passengers, including four corps members, in the boat,

meant for 28 persons, had so far been rescued and are being treated in hospitals in Bonny and Port Harcourt.

Wilcox also blamed the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration for abandoning the strategic Bodo-Bonny Road, which would have put an end to the use of boats to access the densely populated Bonny Island, the headquarters of Bonny LGA. Witnesses stated that the boat capsized around 7 am yesterday, barely ten minutes af-

FG recalls 16,000 sacked resident doctors

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OLLOWING the suspen sion of the strike action embarked upon by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), the Federal Government Friday, reciprocated by recalled sacked doctors.

The Federal Government according to a terse statement issued by the media aide to the minister of Health Dan Nwomeh has lifted the suspension of Residency Training Programme in all federal hospitals with effect from Thursday, 28th of August, 2014, while the ongoing appraisal of the programme continues.

Over 16000 resident doctors

were believed to have been sacked in the light of FG’s earlier directive.

“Accordingly, all Chief Medical Directors and Medical Directors of the training centres are directed to issue letters of reinstatement to the resident doctors to enable them resume work immediately.

“The Federal Government urges the resident doctors to see the magnanimity of government in reinstating them as a goodwill gesture to engender greater commitment and dedication to their duties”,the statement said.

Bisi OLANIYI, Port Harcourt

ter taking off from Bonny jetty and heading for Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

It was also gathered that all the passengers in the ill-fated boat wore life jackets, but could not swim to safety.

Speaking further,Wilcox said: “This is the darkest moment in the history of Bonny Kingdom. The boat might have been hit by a sharp object before it capsized. Divers are still working, but they are observing the tide. I am not sure there will be more survivors, but we

will be looking for the bodies of the dead victims.

“The boat mishap is quite pathetic. Ten persons, consisting of eight adults and two minors, died in the incident.There are however eighteen survivors.

“Does the Federal Government want all of us in Bonny LGA to die? We are pleading with the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to deem it fit to construct the Bonny-Bodo Road, which is annually in the Federal Government’s budget, without any work done on it till date. The boat accident is avoidable. With a link road, we

APC chair visits IBB

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•Ask leaders to drop political labels to save Nigeria

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) wants all Nigeria’s past and present leaders to put aside their political differences and come together for the purpose of salvaging the nation.

National Chairman of the party, Chief John OdigieOyegun,on a courtesy visit to former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida,in Minna yesterday said events in the country border on hopelessness ,and leaders like

Jide ORINTUNSIN, Minna Babangida should use their influence to rescue the nation from its present state.

Odigie-Oyegun who was at the head of an APC delegation to the former President said that for Nigeria to get back on its feet ,it would require "a real, inspired, focused and passionate leadership that can help to correct the nation from where it has sidetracked.”

Power to be stable by October, says Minister

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HE Federal Government yesterday promised that power supply will be stable in the country by October, this year.

The Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of a meeting on power chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the State House, Abuja.

Maintaining that other issues in the electricity value chain are being addressed in the country, he said that power supply has improved in the country in the past one week due to improved gas supply.

He also said that the Federal Government is making arrangements to ensure that the bills of electricity generating companies are promptly paid.

He said: “The cheering news

Augustine EHIKIOYA, Abuja from all of these is that if you have noticed throughout the country in the past one week people have been getting much better power supply.”

“The gas is now beginning to come back and it’s something that gives all of us a lot of joy. And we know that it will continue to grow that way even until December because now some of the facilities, maintenance, repair works on the gas equipment and so on.”

“The gas producers have come to a place where almost all of these is being taken care of, and then the new gas we are expecting we have then trickling in right now.”

“So that part of the shortfalls

will no longer be using boat to get to Bonny LGA.” Wilcox also announced the ban of passenger boats from operating on Bonny Island, especially along the Bonny-Port Harcourt route, while he also dissolved the Bonny LGA Marine Safety Committee.

The council boss called on the people of the council area to remain law abiding.He sympathised with the families of persons who died in the incident.

Spokesperson of the Rivers Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the incident saying that ” seven persons are still missing.”

we’ve had in production up to this time, we hope that by the beginning of October, we will see a much better stabilisation of the entire power delivery system in the country.”

He went on: “First, I would say we rejoice that for the first time in a long time we have been averaging over 4,500 MW when we include nearly 300 mw of spilling reserve which is always put there to make sure that the reliability and stability of the grid is ensured at all time.”

“So, we are really moving forward; it may not be as rapidly as Nigerians expect but it is important to let everybody know that indeed we are advancing, we are making progress and we will continue

to make progress.” He said On the bills of the generation companies, he said: “The generation companies have been complaining that they need to have all their bills paid.”

“The good thing about this is that arrangements are being made to make sure that all the generation companies get their money as and when due.”

“We are working on that.

That is part of the meeting that was chaired by Mr Vice President. Next thing is how far we have come with the issue of even settling the gas question.

The gas question has remained for quite a while.”

“But very thankfully, the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources and I, the central bank governor and chairman of NERC met severally to address those issues.”

"We have reached a stage where political labels is not necessary.Every true Nigerian, who means well for the nation knows that this country needs salvage. And to salvage the nation, we need to put aside party labels and come together for a common cause.

We just cannot let things continue to go in the direction it is going now," he said.

"Every facet of our national life, we have not recorded a single inch of progress. The statistics that concern us as national leaders is not all about building roads or hospitals but to look at the people’s faces if they are satisfied.

"Do the people have hope for the future? Can the country guarantee the future of the generations to come? Can we bring corruption under control? To do all these is not about building roads or schools.It is about repairing the damage of the psyche of Nigeria. ?Permanent damage has been done to the psyche of the people and it would take true change to bring a reversal to the nation."

Responding,Gen.Babangida said past leaders were already at work to make the nation better for the citizens.

He hailed the APC for its position on the need to heal Nigeria and told his guests of his preparedness to continue to work for the growth and prosperity of the country.

THE NATION

6 NEWS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

I'm not competing with Osoba, help me beg him, Amosun tells Ogun people S ENATOR Ibikunle Amosun yesterday said he would do everything within his power to settle the rift between him and Chief Segun Osoba, appealing to the elders and people of Ogun State to help him beg the ex - governor for forgiveness if he has done wrong.

Amosun said he is neither in “competition with Osoba” whom he called his “leader” nor anybody, adding that he would continue to accord him utmost respect at all times.

The Governor who spoke during a live programme of the Abeokuta - based RockCity 101.9 FM radio station and monitored by The Nation, said the Office of Governor is temporary but added that he has come to develop the state and then leave a legacy that would outlive him.

According to him, he is not ignorant of the fact that no politician would want to go

Ernest NWOKOLO, Abeokuta into the general elections with a divided house or in an atmosphere of division and acrimony as such, rarely profit anybody.

He revealed that the debt profile which stood at about N40bn last month, has crashed to N36bn. He said that, Ogun does not owe the fabulous N300bn debt being peddled about, by “mischievous persons” out to put wool over the eyes of residents and friends of the state.

Amosun noted that his administration has had to pass through “strenuous and difficult approach” to source funds from banks, to enable it execute its many capital projects among others, across the state in the last three years.

He said: “opposition said

we have borrowed over N300bn debts to finance our projects. They are just liars.

No bank in Nigeria can lend any government more than N25bn. What they don’t know is that, we have increased our IGR to more

than N5bn monthly from initial N730m we met.”

According to him, the highest credit facility ever collected at a time by the administration is about N15bn managed in such a

way that the debt profile does not exceed N40bn.

He declared that the administration inherited crippling debt burden, left for it to carry by his predecessor which is being

settled in bits. But that in civilized climes, such people that plunged Ogun State into needless liability, should be walking on the streets in palpable remorse, and perhaps made to face justice.

False alarm over Ebola at Lagos Airport •Ex- boy friend alleges infection against ex- lover on board flight

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HERE was anxiety yesterday at the General Aviation Terminal

(GAT) , domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos following a false alarm raised by a certain passenger identified to be an exboy friend against his estranged female ex- lover.

According to sources, the certain passenger raised a false alarm that his former girl friend has been infected with the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The young lady was onboard a domestic flight enroute Lagos from Enugu.

Sources hinted that passengers were soaked in tension and anxiety when an aircraft that arrived about 2pm was given a medical emergency landing and clearance following a call the airline received from Enugu that one of the passengers on board the flight has been infected with the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease.

On arrival of the aircraft at the domestic wing of the Lagos Airport, a lady ; an Enugu based nurse, was subjected to screening for Ebola following information received from a certain caller, who alleged that she has been infected by the deadly Ebola Virus .

Ensuing from the confusion , all passengers and crew members that arrived on that flight were tested by a medical team from Port

Kelvin Osa Okunbor Health Services, the airline and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) officials.

Investigations revealed that no one tested positive of the Ebola Virus.

It was learnt the false alarm arose from a call made by a young man , said to be an actor that the exlover was infected by the Ebola Virus Disease.

Their relationship was said to have hit the rocks after she allegedly found a new suitor .

The young man was said to have been heart broken when he allegedly found out that his ex-lover has found new love.

A source said: ”When he came to her residence on Thursday with the intention to pass the night with her, she was said to have refused.

It was on the strength of that disappointment, that he threatened to deal with her, after he got to know she was on her way to Lagos.

The young lady it was learnt got into a relationship with the ex- lover less than a month ago before the romance went sour.

Sources hinted that the young lady was taken in a yellow van belonging to FAAN aviation security officials to the Port Health Services located near the airport for further test.

•From left: Secretary to Oyo State Government, Mr. Olalekan Ali; Deputy Managing Director, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Plc (IBEDC), Mr. John Darlington; Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi; IBEDC Managing Director, Engr.

Fortunato Leynes and his Director, Mr. Olatunde Ikurewopami, during the commissioning of the rehabilitated 2 X 15MVA injection substation at Akanran Road, Olorunsogo in Ibadan... yesterday.

Lawmaker appeals to Apapa residents over traffic gridlock M EMBER of the Lagos state House of Assembly representing Apapa constituency 1 at the Lagos state House of Assembly, Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe has appealed to the people of Apapa to persevere and exercise some patience with the state government over the traffic situation in Apapa.

Egberongbe made the appeal while responding to questions from reporters after commissioning a block of public toilets which he renovated at the Apapa General hospital at Apapa on Wednesday.

Though the lawmaker said he still was not happy with the traffic situation despite the seeming improvement,

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clarification became necessary following a recent newspaper publication linking him and some members of the association to certain acts in 14 communities located within Lagos-Ogun boundary on the outskirts of Ikorodu.

Said Owoeye: “Ordinarily, I don’t join issues on the pages of newspapers, but I am now being forced to put the records straight. A group of

he however pointed out that “we are however not where we were yesterday as far as the traffic issue is concerned.

He promised that the state government will continue to collaborate with the Federal Government to ensure that the traffic gridlock becomes a thing of the past in Apapa.

“A major prerequisite of attaining that is the use of the inland waterways. Prior to this time our navigable waterways remain a veritable source of transporting goods in Nigeria as a whole and I think we need to go back to them. They are relatively cheaper, all we need is for the

FG to collaborate with the state government.

“Just bring our railways back on track, let’s use our waterways to carry these cargoes. It is not new, it is what we were using before in this nation, let’s go back to it. We should not begin to play politics with the lives of our people, it is not going to serve anybody any good”, Egberongbe said.

Reiterating the call for a special status for Lagos state, Egberongbe said “Lagos is a cosmopolitan state where people from all over the country are represented; we will be doing a serious disservice to our people and nation if we

Boko Haram: Cleric urges FG to be more swift, decisive

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HE Presiding Bishop Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, Nigeria, Bishop Francis Wale Oke has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to be more swift and decisive in checking Boko Haram insurgency before escalate to the entire nation.

He gave this charge on Fri-

Estate Owners reiterate support for rule of law HE SSOCIATION of Land and Estate Owners (ALEO) in Lagos and Ogun States have reiterated their belief in the present democratic dispensation as well as support for the rule of law.

President of ALEO, Chief Mutairu Owoeye who stated this at a press briefing in Lagos, urged his members not to do anything outside the ambit of the law.

Owoeye said the

Oziegbe OKOEKI

fail to do what we should do for the state.

“The state remains the economic capital of Nigeria and if we over stretch the infrastructure, it might eventually cavein and collapse and that would affect our economy. The ever growing GDP of the state, the so-called largest economy in Africa ascribed to Nigeria, reasonable percentage of these economic activities reside in Lagos. So Lagos state represents Nigeria and we will all have to pay for it, including the FG if we fail to do what we are supposed to do.

“Let’s give the state a special status, let’s give something back to the state in terms of our VAT, derivation etc., so that the Nigerian nation will be better for it”, Egberongbe said.

hoodlums invaded OkeAgbo community early this year and sacked the entire community. As law abiding citizens, we wrote to the Inspector-General of Police to intervene, consequent upon which the police boss, sent a crack team of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) from Abuja who stormed the area and arrested six of the hoodlums.” ”The six suspects were arraigned .

Tayo JOHNSON, Ibadan day while addressing journalist to herald the 32nd annual Holy Ghost convention of the church which begins on Sunday August 31 at the Christ Life Church International Headquarters, Garden of Victory, Old Ife road, Ibadan.

Bishop Oke who revealed that the prominent ministers of God like Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, CAN President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and Bishop David Oyedepo will minister during the convention, said the church is calling on the federal government to use every power to check the insurgency.

“We’re calling on the Federal Government to wake up and use every power within its fold to defend Nigerian

territory. The federal government should be more decisive because Boko Haram is acting the script of ISIS. “The trend at which the insurgency is moving is dangerous. For more than 48 hours they declare caliphate on a section of the country and there is no swift reaction? Let the Federal Government evacuate all civilian from that area and shell the area. The insurgency step is unacceptable. The Federal Government is given us an impression that we have a very weak government which cannot defend its territory.

“The church is demanding that the Federal Government must take action; that the beheading of christians is unacceptable, the kidnap of over 200 girls for over 200 days without any positive sign is unacceptable, that taking over of the Catholic

church is unacceptable. We demand that the government should show us that we have a government that is capable of defending the people,” Bishop said.

The clergyman also noted that the action of the run away soldiers recently, portends a great danger in tackling the insurgency.

“The action shows the mental state of the military officers and how ill equipped, ill trained and weak command structure they have. It is something that should amaze Nigerians.

We should stop playing politics with security. Some people should lose their head because of this, our military command should be overhauled, if that will make our men who are serving in the security sectors to be well motivated,” he opined.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

COMMENTARY 7

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News of the Boko Haram caliphate declaration have been compounded by the more disturbing news of Army officers being tried in the Army for mutiny for refusing to be posted to the war front to confront Boko Haram.

Surely a house divided against itself cannot stand

The enemy within and the ‘Salvation’ army AST week I wrote that Boko Haram was becoming a state within a state and a few days later it was reported that the blood thirsty militant insurgency had declared the towns and villages surrounding Gwoza, whose Emir it killed sometime ago, part of its caliphate.

This week a Catholic spokesman reportedly said that the properties of the Church in Madagali a town close to Gwoza had been vandalized by Boko Haram and it seemed only Christian properties were being targeted by the sect. At about the same time an Australian Security contractor who left Nigeria recently was telling the whole world on the internet that Boko Haram would soon join the caliphate of Islamic State –IS – in Iraq and that of Syria and that Nigerian Opposition leaders were supporting Boko Haram and President Goodluck Jonathan could do nothing about this as he would be accused of tampering with the 2015 elections. Surely these are ominous and woeful news that show clearly that all is not well with the state of Nigeria, if they are all true.

Luckily the Nigerian army has dismissed the Boko Haram Caliphate declaration as ‘empty ‘ which I take to be a sham and one should be comforted by that. The Opposition I am sure can fight for itself and debunk the claim of the Australian security contractor who incidentally was contracted to get the 200 Chibok girls out of Boko Haram’s captivity by government, but failed and bolted after collecting his juicy but undisclosed contract sum. All the same there is no doubt that in terms of security in the Nigerian state today there are powerful enemies within and without the government apparatus that need to be contained urgently if our political stability as a nation is to survive the present volatile scenario.

News of the Boko Haram caliphate declaration have been compounded by the more disturbing news of Army officers being tried in the Army for mutiny for refusing to be posted to the war front to confront Boko Haram. Surely a house divided against itself cannot stand something urgently needs to be done to instil discipline in the army to defend Nigerians against Boko Haram. Which in effect means that Nigerians should pray for the government to evolve urgently a ‘Salvation Army‘ plan to rescue us from the terror of Boko Haram and put it in the heart of our army to put its house in order to put Boko Haram out of action permanently and as soon as possible. Amen However, it is not only in Nigeria that’ Salvation ‘armies are needed as it were to confront threats to democracy, political stability, terrorism and religious militancy globally. Pakistan for instance is awash with demonstrations asking the elected PM to resign because his election was fraudulent and the army has been accepted as mediator by the politicians to resolve the issue. Egypt has just charged its last elected President to court for giving state

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secret to Qatar a country that the Egyptian government said is a supporter of the Islamic Brotherhood which is now banned in Egypt but was in power when the so called deal was done. The Russian army is said to be in Ukraine to support the rebels fighting the legitimate government although the Russian authorities have denied this. The UN has also just announced that 3m Syrians have fled that nation since the insurgency there began making that number of refugees’ the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time‘. Of course to all intents and purposes Syria seems particularly headed for perdition as no concept of salvation or army can salvage a nation that has become a broken egg that no force in the universe can put together again. I will expatiate later on these nations and their security conditions and the threat to their political stability from their present plight.

Before that however I want to recall a special report in the Economist in July 2005 after the London terror bombings that killed several people. The report titled-Muslim Extremism In Europe; The Enemy Within - noted in part that - ‘In an age of globalised ideologies, globalised communications, and porous borders there is no real distinction between domestic and foreign threats.’ It noted that ‘Islamic Radicalism had been aided by the internet and made it elusive to monitor ‘.

Indeed it concluded in part that‘ to a large extent the internet has replaced Afghanistan as a source of training and inspiration for militant Muslims. Such information should be food for thought to our security authorities and even the army to know that the battle line may not be the war front of our North Eastern states, but the sitting rooms or internet cafes spread all over the nation. In any way the North East of Nigeria has one of the most porous borders in the world and is so vast that it is no surprise it has provided easy haven for Boko Haram. I know this because I served as a youth corps member in the former North Eastern State, in Gwoza and Mubi, before six states were carved out of it. Then we used to go to Boukula Market in Cameroun and crossed the border by lifting a pole gate while the Customs officials dozed off as we went to and fro. It is quite easy to see why Boko Haram has chosen the area as its safe haven and now caliphate. What is important now however is to secure the area and monitor the vast and porous borders on the edge of the creeping and hostile Sahel, which itself is hostile to human habitation and vegetation.

Let me now comment on the political situation of the places I mentioned before. First is Pakistan, where PM Nawaz Sharif is being asked to resign by Islamic leader Tahir ul Qadri and Cricketer Imran Khan, both popular politicians in their own right, who have led the demonstrations that besieged Islamabad and has made governance virtually impossible. But these politicians are playing into the hands of the army as it happened in Egypt. In Pakistan the army usually intervenes with coups when politicians are at loggerheads as at now . The Pakistani Army led by General Raheel Sharif has its grouse

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against the present government of PM Sharif because it is trying its former boss , former military President Parvez Musharaf for treason. Which really is a political trial because it was Musharaf who sent Nawaz Sharif packing in a military coup before he got elected again as PM. Nawaz Sharif thought it was pay back time to deal with Musharaf. Now his fellow politicians are pointing a gun at his head for a fraudulent election.

Since both sides have agreed for the head of the army to mediate it is not difficult to see who will pull the trigger in this political saga which can only bring reprieve for the army boss targeted by the PM. For the politicians and Pakistan’s turbulent and violent democracy the army is definitely not their salvation army as they are the enemies within themselves.

In Egypt the situation is clear in terms of today’s topic.

Former President Muhammed Morsi is being tried for a crime that was not one while he was president and he had a mandate to do. But the Egyptian army was and is still an implacable enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood and only allowed Morsi’s election to take place because the US and Western Europe were watching and warning the Egyptian army against intervention in the street demonstrations in Cairo and all over Egypt that toppled former President Housni Mubarak. Now the Egyptian army has its Army chief elected as Egypt’s president and I do not see how former President Muhammed Morsi can survive a treason trial carrying a death sentence. To the Egyptian army and present democracy, Morsi and the Islamic Brotherhood are the enemy within and the Egyptian army has become that of salvation against the militancy that the Muslim Brotherhood now and again, represents.

Which again shows that in life and in politics especially with regard to security, no condition is permanent. With regard to events in Ukraine and Syria the issues at stake depend on the personality issues between the presidents of the US and Russia and the resolution of such issues.

Meanwhile the humanitarian crisis in Syria will escalate with the attendant explosive growth of jihadist radicalism which has sprung into a global and dangerous trend towards pronouncements of borderless caliphates from Iraq to Gwoza, Nigeria. Really, if the US had called the bluff of Russia over chemical weapons in Syria and the invasion of Crimea, Russia would not now be invading the rest of Ukraine while denying, tongue in the cheek, that it is not doing so. To Russia therefore its army is one of salvation for pro Russian rebels in Ukraine and it has no qualms about it since the EU and US have declared economic war on Russia through sanctions which are apparently hurting Russia. On Syria I presume Russia will not lose any sleep over the humanitarian crisis as it knows American values and compunction will not allow the millions of fugitives to perish. Of course it is left to the Americans to learn on Syria and Ukraine that a stitch in time saves nine and that procrastination on military intervention and indeed in diplomacy is the wily thief of time.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

COMMENTARY

Declaring a cliphate is unacceptable E are grateful to Allah for the big victory he granted our members in Gwoza and made the town part of our Islamic Caliphate. Oh you people, here I am Abubakar Shekau, still standing on my feet. I am still the leader of Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lid Da’awati wal Jihad, that country called Nigeria; a name we don’t believe; but forced to address as such because it has no better name. For us there is nothing like Nigeria but Islamic Caliphate; because God the creator of the world and the earth we are all standing is the sole owner of the earth and no one else. So we have no option but obey the owner of the sky that is above us, even as He is the owner of the earth. We Muslims obey our Creator. Oh people of the world, Allah has granted us victory in the town of Gwoza, not because of our might but because we are committed to do His work. Oh people, I chose to deliver this message in order to refute the lies being spread by the government, about the operations we had in recent times. We warn the Vigilante, called Civilian JTF to back out. If not, there will be no place for them to hide. We have evidences of how you killed some of our brethren whom you would ask if they are Boko Haram before you kill them. We know how you humiliated them by asking them if they had ever carried guns or killed someone; we know everything about the evil you committed against our brethren. We still have the magnanimity of asking you to repent; because you will never succeed in this way by the grace of Allah and I swear by Allah that we will never stop killing you because Allah commanded us to kill people like you. If we pity you and spare you, one day you will become infidels, so to us having pity on you is an act of disbelief. You can continue to run or hide your identities in women’s attire, but we will get to you and remove the women clothing off you. Then while you are shouting for mercy, we will strike, smash your heads and kill you all. Even if you don’t do anything to us we will kill you. We would do it even to avenge our brethren. You killed our brethren in large numbers. We don’t joke with religion. (Quoting from the Koran: “There is no hypocrisy in this religion. It is only the truth”). Therefore, woe on to you vigilante! It is Allah that torments you and even tomorrow Allah will torment you. By Allah you will never achieve your aim.

I swear by Allah. To the Americans: who is America in the sight of Allah? Who is Israel in the sight of Allah? Who is France in the sight of Allah? It is only when we don’t have firm belief. We don’t fear you at all. We are the ones who carried out all these attacks.

Not just Gwoza but all the attacks you see in Borno or any part of the country. We are the ones carrying them out. This is the life for us; it is our world and we are living it out. How can one fear these American people if one is indeed a believer? One needs not to.

This is the speech I have to make which is a warning for worse things to come. Better submit to Allah before it becomes too late.”

Above is the transcription of the latest video posted by the deranged psychopathic Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, taunting the Federal Republic of Nigeria and claiming the captured town of Gwosa an “Islamic Caliphate”. This act in itself is tantamount to treason and a declaration of war by the marauder and bloodthirsty Shekau, and the government needs to react fast, as it is at war. Declaring an Islamic caliphate in a sovereign nation like Nigeria is unquestionably, a treasonable act of secession. In an earlier article I wrote sometime in 2012 (Non-Right To Self

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Determination), in the provisions of the United Nations Charter, international law has always held the right to self-determination at a high standing because its recognition is vital for the effective guarantee and observance of individual human rights and for the promotion and strengthening of those rights. However, the right to self-determination as a group right applies to the people of a State wholly and not severally. So as long as majority of the population are opposed to “political autonomy” or a supposed Islamic caliphate, Shekau has formally committed an act of treason amongst all other atrocities, and in Nigeria, an act of treason is punishable by capital punishment – death. I have never been a fan or proponent of capital punishment, however, in this instance, an exception is in order. A caliphate is the territorial jurisdiction of a caliph; essentially, Shekau would be the undisputed caliph, ruling the caliphate. One can only imagine how such a murderous raving lunatic like Shekau would rule a people under supposed Islamic law. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group can be likened to Boko Haram in Nigeria.

They both claim religious authority over Muslims and aspire to bring Muslim-inhabited regions under their direct political control. ISIS has been labeled by the international community as a terrorist organization.

Like ISIS, Boko Haram is an extremist group and has been compelling people under the penalty of death, torture and mutilation, to declare Islamic creed and to live under its interpretation of Sharia law. This has been largely achieved by Shekau through our peddling in “conspiracy theories” and blame-games. The emergence of the dastard sect saw majority of Nigerians apportioning blame on one section, individual, ethnicity or group within the country. Some dwelled in the notion that Boko Haram is a Northern agenda, formed in order to make Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency insufferable. Some maintained that Boko Haram was indeed the President’s agenda, formed in order to exterminate Northerners.

Overheating the polity further, the two major political parties has been trading in blame games, accusing one another of facilitating the growth, and sponsors of the dastard sect for their selfish agenda. Nevertheless, while we keep trading in blame games and conspiracy theories, we have inadvertently allowed the insurgency to fester for too long, thus, making things to already get out of hand, and the fact remains that the sect has transformed to be a formidable group, hydra-headed monster that is insidiously devouring the north-eastern part of the country. And our highly celebrated and decorated armed forces have not been able to effec-

tively curtail the advancement and “successes” of the sect. The sect and its leader have increasingly thrived in this ambience of blame games and conspiracy theories, making taunting and euphoric statements via YouTube videos, meant to ridicule the government.

Reports from local and international agencies have revealed that an intolerable amount of Nigerians were both displaced and are refugees in neighboring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

If caution is still thrown to the wind, their bloodthirstiness and rampageousness might just engulf us all. It is a fact that the dastard sect has particularly committed crimes of mass-murder and kidnappings, and hitherto, the over 200 Chibok innocent teenage girls abducted from their school sometime in April are yet to be found. However, there have been much more unsung abductions, which over the years have amounted to thousands, still under captivity, majority of whom are females. One can only imagine the various forms of violence these women and girls would be subjected to. The increased spate of suicide bombings by females, particularly teenage girls in recent times is an exemplification of leaving the fate of innocent girls to the murderous hands of the Boko Haram sect members. Also, there is the looming threat of the “Stockholm syndrome” or capture bonding, whereby the hostages would begin to express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them.

For a fact, Borno state in particular is very huge and sadly the hub of the sect atrocities/activities, as 30-40% of the state is in control of the sect, despite the state being under a state of emergency for a long time now. This is a very dangerous quandary. In Borno alone, the sect has established themselves to be a force to be reckoned with and have grown stronger there. The widely perceived “conversion to Islam” via threats and terror might not necessarily be so. Since the sect has become bolder, they have also begun appealing to communities not necessarily terrorizing them. They have begun subtly indoctrinating members of these communities, enticing them with better living conditions, glory and a better life, and majority of the people are willingly joining their ranks. The danger here is that the sect is becoming bigger and appealing to the less-privileged in the society. It is imperative, more than ever before, for the government to go all out and decisively put an end to the sect murderous atrocities, rampage and bloodbath, restoring peace and tranquility to the country immediately. If not, the insurgents would become more and more emboldened and spread their belligerence to other parts of the country. I had earlier proffered a 72 hour window whereby all persons not affiliated with the sect in the affected region should clear-out or be relocated, allowing the military to move in with precision, all the arsenal and artillery at their disposal in order to bring this farce of Shekau’s opportunistic Islamic agenda to an end once and for all. In addition, the government should admit that they have been overwhelmed by the sect’s atrocities and seek active/decisive foreign assistance. The government should endeavor to reach out to countries with superior and technological advanced weaponry, military tactics, and aerial surveillance and bombardment crafts such as drones and tanks, to assist in obliterating the supposed mouthpiece for Nigerian Muslims, misconstruing Islamic teachings, portraying Islam in a bad light, once and for all.

The way we are going...

ITH the 2015 general elections frantically knocking at our doors, we seem to have conveniently forgotten where the shoes pinch and why we need to take urgent action in treating the putrid sores that abound all over.

At this time of complex national crises when serious-minded policy-makers are expected to sit their butts down to, presumably, think a way through this troubling maze of tragic moments, Nigeria’s lawmakers are scattered across the globe on a prolonged leave. By the last week of September when they are expected to return, 2015 politicking will hardly allow us see much, other than passage of the 2015 national budget. Our ‘distinguished’ senators and ‘honourable’ representatives left the hallowed chambers some months into the abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents. Inured to their ways, Nigerians know that there is no likelihood for them to return with any positive thought or heart-warming initiative towards making something good out of the promised rescue by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian military. I had to nudge myself to the reality that I am writing this some 136 days after those innocent girls were forcefully dragged to Sambisa Forest (so we were told) and gleefully displayed as spoils of a sickening assault on our collective humanity by their captors. Put bluntly, it’s been four harrowing months since those girls disappeared from their school dormitories while those who claim to know their whereabouts tell us they are busy strategizing on how to get them back to their grieving parents.

Sadly, we have seen more politicking and jostling for retention of plum offices in those four months than any serious thought or concrete attempt to get the girls back. Besides, the little effort that has been made by the government to reassure the abducted girls’ parents of a determination to bring back the girls, after months of confounding procrastination, was laden with a benumbing bribery scandal. Slowly but gradually, the hoarse voices of increasingly worn-out conscientious protesters are waning daily as the authorities continue to feed the public with phantasmagorical tales of how some elements within the opposition camp have been behind practically all the bombings and killings in the country. You would have thought that the authorities have their jobs cut out for them as all that is required is to swoop on these common enemies and save the nation from this bloody misery. Strangely, that hysteria of naming and shaming ends as soon as a leading member of the opposition joins the ruling party and shifts loyalty. Such persons automatically become squeaky clean and the searchlight is then turned

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Knucklehead With

Yomi Odunuga E-mail:yomi.odunuga @thenationonlineng.net SMS only: 07028006913 on those still romancing with the opposition. Actually, that’s how we’ve been rolling our common destiny back and forth like a yo-yo.

And while we were still wringing our hands in utter cluelessness, a dangerous dimension to a war our leaders appear to prefer losing, creeps in. The men constitutionally entrusted with the monopoly of coercion - even against the forces of terror - are not just craftily avoiding the war front; they are tactically deserting the force. This is not just about the 480 soldiers that reportedly fled to Cameroon in the face of superior firepower by the Boko Haram insurgents and their subsequent disarming by the Cameroonian gendarmes. It’s not about the technical clarifications given by the Defence Headquarters that the herd of soldiers who had decades-old rifles to contend terrorists’ armoured personnel carriers, merely embarked on a “tactical manoeuvre” after a “sustained battle between the troops and the terrorists around the borders with Cameroon.” It’s not even about the reassuring news that the wandering soldiers have since returned to Nigeria and are currently engaged in another fierce battle with insurgents who, in a new video, declared a caliphate in Gwoza town after taking a Mobile Police training facility, wantonly carting away arms and ammunition and abducting an undisclosed number of police trainees. It is more about the things we ought to talk about but which we have struggled to sweep under the carpet---things that the high and mighty would rather we erase from our memories.

Truth is: we need to ask the tough questions no matter how unnerving they may be to some persons. When and if they ever get out of their reverie of self-delusion and pontificating, maybe they’ll come to terms with our greatest fears about the Nigerian security system. It is in tatters. It may not have failed complete-

ly but that it is dangerously slanting towards that abyss is not in doubt. Sometimes you wonder what Jonathan discusses with his security hawks whenever they lock themselves up in the cool ambience of Aso Rock, sipping tea and back-slapping as terror roars with fearsome rage. This, I must say, is not the time for the shambolic posturing where ‘intelligence’ gathering has dovetailed into working from a prejudiced answer to a question. It is this kind of charade that has turned us into a laughing stock in climes where serious attention is paid not only to details but also what is vomited by officers of such agencies.

Now to the discomfiting questions; first, exactly how did The Presidency and the security chiefs resolve the allegations made by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Defence, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the Nigerian military received a whopping sum of N130.7 billion from the Federal Government between January and April 2014 with another N3.8b approved by the president being processed for it? Did the military get the money? If it did, was the money used to buy needed equipment to tackle the war against terror or did a large chunk of it evaporated into the pockets of powerful officers within the rank and file as being rumoured? If the money was used to buy sophisticated arms and ammunition, what explanation could be given for the mutiny in which some officers claim that the military is ill-equipped to face the insurgents with the antique weaponry being given to them? By the way, how much has the military appropriated from the 2014 budget at the end of August? Any answer? How do they feel reading reports that soldiers’ wives staged a protest, demanding that the military apparatchiks should “equip our husbands with sophisticated weapons or else we won't allow them to go anywhere” while also blaming obsolete weaponry for the deaths of numerous soldiers? Do these operational heads feel cool about the anguished lamentations of these women? Listen to them: “Our men are telling us that they go into battle with guns that cannot withstand that of Boko Haram. Some of our friends are now widows and nobody is taking care of them and their children once their husbands are dead. That is why we have to lock our husbands at home to keep them alive.”

Could things have been different if, as it is being suggested out there, some powerful hawks can put an end to the unpatriotic act of feeding fat from a war that continues to threaten our collective existence as a nation?

•Continued on page 62

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THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

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Nollywood: ‘Why the problem persists’ • Continued from page 13

•Jide Kosoko

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There are lots of things involved in this. But the bulk of the problem is that the industry is not regulated. We don’t speak with one voice. If we have a body that can bring us together, whether you are Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa, it would go a long way to take care of our problems

Popular actor, Ahmed Oduola a.k.a. Dento, died last year after a prolonged battle with stroke. To save his life, Dento, whose face graced many grade A Yoruba movies, needed just N250, 000. For months, Dento and friends went round with cap in hand for donations, which came in trickles and later proved inadequate to keep the veteran actor alive.

Before his death, another famous actor, Lekinson, had also died as a result of his inability to meet his medical needs. In his life time, Lekinson was very famous for roles that saw him controlling large business conglomerates.

A few months ago, Nigerians woke up to the shock of the rumour that Nollywood actress, Ngozi Nwosu, known as Peace and one of Chief Fuji’s wives in the popular TV drama series, Fuji House of Commotion, was seriously ill. The rumour was confirmed to be true when the once chubby and robust Ngozi appeared in public. In place of the vivacious Ngozi was a frail woman that found it difficult to exchange the least of pleasantry.

She later came out to explain that she had kidney and heart-related issues. Her decision to come out, she said, was because of the widespread speculation that she was HIV positive. “I don’t have AIDS ooo,” she declared.

But to stay alive, Ngozi needed the sum of N6 million, and it was not a sum that she or anyone close to her could afford. To save her life, friends and colleagues had to go public again. For months, her friends issued different kinds of appeals to the public to help save the life of the versatile actress. It eventually took the intervention of Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, who gave a lifeline of N5.5 million before Ngozi could be flown to the UK for treatment.

Shortly after that sad experience, movie watchers across the country were shocked when news broke that popular actor, Kayode Odumosu, aka Pa Kasumu, was critically ill. But the mood soon changed when another story had it that the veteran actor could not afford to pay his medical bill, said to be in the region of N12 million.

The veteran actor later made a passionate appeal to Nigerians to come to his rescue. “The problem is with my heart and liver. It had been there for a long time, but for God who so loves me, when I met that doctor at LUTH, he was able to curb the ailment from getting to the kidney. So now it’s just the heart and the liver,” Pa Kasumu explained.

Yet again, it took the intervention of the Lagos State Governor to give Pa Kasumu another shot at life.

While Ngozi Nwosu and Pa Kasumu were lucky to have the support of a state governor to raise enough money for medical help, not many of their colleagues have been that lucky. Although they operate in a movie industry regarded as the third largest in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood, only a few Nigerian actors and actresses could be said to be successful in the true sense of the word.

This sad trend has become a source of worry to stakeholders of the industry on how best to ensure that practitioners, especially the veterans, get the best out of their sweat.

Former President of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioner (ANTP), Jide Kosoko, is sad that nothing is working in the industry.

According to the veteran actor, most of the problems bedeviling the industry occur because it is not regulated. He believes that things would improve in the industry if the practitioners speak with one voice under a single governing body.

He said: “There are lots of things involved in this.

But the bulk of the problem is that the industry is not regulated. We don’t speak with one voice. If we have a body that can bring us together, whether you are Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa, it would go a long way to take care of our problems.

“If we continue to look up to politicians as some of our people are doing, then the problem will continue. The few that are able to do good jobs are those who can run to Abuja. It is true that we need government’s support, but there are things that should be done first. For instance, a bill is waiting for attention in the National Assembly.

“We had an idea of a Motion Picture Council, which is expected to take care of all artistes in Nigeria. Whenever that is done, it would take care of many things from production to marketing and other related issues. I tell you, what we have now is parlour drama. Although some people are making good efforts, but a lot more is needed. We have Kunle Afolayan and Tunde Kelani, but more people need to get involved.”

On the poor state of practitioners, especially within the Yoruba genre of the industry, Kosoko called for better planning by practitioners. He said his effort to introduce an insurance scheme during his tenure as the president of the association failed because of the dismal response to the scheme by the actors.

“The association cannot continue to pay the bills for everybody. As president, I realised this and tried to introduce an accident insurance scheme. But it failed because only about two per cent of our people responded. I tell you, our people need to realise the need for them to begin to plan for themselves. We need to do more for ourselves. We don’t have to wait until we are struck down by one illness or the other.”

Popular Yoruba actor, Yomi Fash-Lanso, blamed the trend on what he termed a lack of structure.

According to him, while the Nigerian movie industry has the potential to be a money-spinning one, it has remained stunted because there are no structures on ground to guide the stakeholders.

“I tell you, this industry can be very big if it is well

•Dento

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

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The association cannot continue to pay the bills for everybody. As president, I realised this and tried to introduce an accident insurance scheme. But it failed because only about two per cent of our people responded. I tell you, our people need to realise the need for them to begin to plan for themselves. We need to do more for ourselves. We don’t have to wait until we are struck down by one illness or the other •Ngozi Nwosu

structured. It is an industry that can generate huge money for the economy. But because there are no structures on ground, we have been groping in the dark.”

Fash-Lanso also blamed the lack of cohesion among the stakeholders for the problem in the industry. “I don’t think that we can achieve anything until we all come together. And that is what people like us have been preaching for a long time now.”

But in the words of entertainment writer and publisher of E24-7 entertainment magazine, Biodun Kupoluyi, the prevailing condition in Nollywood is unfortunate. Kupoluyi, a film critic and actor himself, said it was rather unfortunate that the actors have not been able to interpret their popular roles and translate them into real life situations.

“I feel pains when I see these people. Believe me, I really wish they are able to interpret and translate their roles into reality,” he said.

Kupoluyi expressed surprise that the female actresses seem to be faring better than their male counterparts, but quickly added that many of the females have found the industry as a good platform to use what they have to get what they need.

He also lamented the failure of the male actors to seize the opportunity provided by their relationship with politicians who are willing to sponsor their productions. “It is unfortunate that rather than seize the

•Yomi Fash-Lanso

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•Femi Adebayo

opportunity, these actors would rather want to get own. You know, that was the traditional way of peanuts for their pockets, instead of doing someassisting themselves in those days. We ought to have thing that would help the industry as a whole. gone beyond this, but that is not the case.”

“What we see these days is the desperation of This situation, The Nation found out, has helped to artistes who want to be assistants to politicians. further pauperise the practitioners, leaving them Some have even gone further by coming out openly with huge fame and large fan base but little or nothto display this desperation. It is really unfortunate. ing in their pockets. While they have become house“But perhaps the biggest problem we have now is hold names across the country, they have not been with corporate Nigeria. These companies should able to match the fame with wealth. begin to see the potential in this industry. They need The situation has also given rise to the situation to get involved with their money and make sure that whereby actors and actresses rush to become movie they supervise from the script writing, to the shootproducers rather than stay committed to their role of ing and even the marketing.” simply interpreting the characters. Explaining the But award-winning actor, Femi Adebayo, does not situation, the source said production has become the see anything wrong with the discrepancies between only way through which actors and actresses can an actor’s role in a movie and his real life condition, survive the harsh conditions in the movie industry. saying that an actor is only trained to interpret roles, Unfortunately, only a few connected artistes, espeirrespective of his background or class. cially the ladies, can afford to raise enough funds to Adebayo said: “I don’t really see anything wrong produce movies. The trend, Kupoluyi explained, is with this. As an actor, it does not matter whether dangerous for the growth of the industry. you are rich or poor. You are only interpreting the “It is a sex thing. It is a reflection of our society. role given to you. Therefore, it is nothing whether a The girls are doing better than their male counterman is poor in real life but acts the role of a wealthy parts; not because they are more man in movies. It is not about who you are, but the talented but for the simple role you play.” reason that they can While admitting that more still needed to be done raise money from about artistes’ take-home, Adebayo said the problem sponsors of movies. of poor pay is not restricted to the acting world.

Few men have such He said: “Wealth is a relative term. For instance, I opportunity. And it am comfortable in my own little way. No doubt, our is because they take-home can be better, but the bulk of the probhave a platform lems responsible for the seeming poor state of our that their male people is piracy. These people reap where they did counterparts don’t have.” not sow, thereby robbing us of our hard-earned wages. However, things can be better with us if we get it right.”

Findings by The Nation revealed that at the root of the problems in the industry is lack of proper structures and regulations to guide its operations.

According to sources, the practice in the industry, especially in the Yoruba genre, does not give room for talents to grow.

A notable actress, who asked not to be named, said the industry is replete with practices that do not encourage proper development.

She said: “The Yoruba movie industry still lives in the 19th Century. The leaders do not encourage the young ones to grow. For instance, unlike other industries, the pay is not regulated. It is only the established actors and actresses that can negotiate what they want.

“You can imagine, sometimes, all you are paid is your transport fare and lunch; like it was done during the era of Hubert Ogunde. In the industry, we call it bami se (help me do it).

“The practice is that you help me to shoot my own movie and I would help you whenev•Kunle Afolayan er you want to shoot your

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

KANO: An emerging mega city ,

I must confess to you that Kano State has greatly transformed. I was here about six years ago; and I can tell you that I almost missed my way when I drove into the city from the airport. After checking into my hotel room, I was forced to ask the airport taxi to take me round the city and what I saw was really impressing. The current governor of the state must be commended for what he is doing

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•The new multimillion naira First Lady College along Audu Bako Way

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

ATING back to over a century, the ancient city of Kano has remained an exquisite abode for all northerners and indeed Nigerians. Apart from its status as the commercial nerve-centre of the northern region, Kano’s avalanche of tourist attractions and beautiful features have continued to make it thick and unique among other cities in the North. It is on record that visitors and tourists travel from far and near to Kano just to have a glimpse at the historic city walls and Dala Hills, two important sites that have endured time and ages.

Kano was born as a state in 1967. The first Military Governor of the state, a Commissioner of Police from Niger State, Ahaji Audu Bako, had wonderful dreams for the ancient commercial city. His dream, as at the time, was to transform Kano into a mega city. Just as he tried to build a modern city out of the groundnut pyramid state, he created avenues for the expansion of industries and modernisation in his eight-year regime. No doubt that Audu Bako’s tenure brought about tremendous development to Kano in all facets, especially after the Nigerian civil war.

Unfortunately, successive governments seemed to have abandoned Audu Bako’s road-map of making Kano the ‘Dubai of Africa’. But today, Kano is the cynosure of all eyes, thanks to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso’s determination to place the ancient commercial city on the same pedestrian with big cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar.

The beautification projects, road constructions and rehabilitation, construction of fly-overs, head-bridges and installation of street lights in virtually all the roads within the Kano metropolis have added unbeatable value to the city, which before now had continued to wear dilapidation looks.

An encounter with an American businessman, Mr. Jones Patra, reveals the changing impression of people about Kano. “I must confess to you that Kano State has greatly transformed. I was here about six years ago; and I can tell you that I almost missed my way when I drove into the city from the airport. After checking into my hotel room, I was forced to ask the airport taxi to take me round the city and what I saw was really impressing. The current Governor of the state must be commended for what he is doing; and I must say that, had other governors performed like this, Kano would have been a different world all together.”

Apart from building three cities close to the metropolis, it is on record that Governor Kwankwaso has turned Kano around. From the State Road, to Ibrahim Taiwo Road and down to Panshekara, BUK Road, Hadejia Road and New Road in Sabon Gari, construction works are nearing completion, while in many other roads, work has been completed. For the first time in the history of Kano, flyovers have crisscrossed the city, decongesting traffic and making vehicular and

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•The first Kano Fly Over bridge along Ibrahim Taiwo Road n Kolade ADEYEMI, Kano n human movement less cumbersome.

Today, Kano is a beautiful sight to behold at night, as street lights adorn everywhere, revealing beautiful features like the round-abouts, flower parks, relaxation centres and road-side interlocks. Another new feature of Kano is the Kano Government House. The place has been so transformed that residents from the hinterlands take time out to visit the edifice, just to admire it.

Another unique feature of the new Kano is the presence of high-brow shopping malls located at different strategic locations within the commercial city. Chief Mrs. Anna Onochie told our correspondent that despite the security challenges, Kano is a place to be.

“Let me tell you, my only worry is the bombings and shootings.

Apart from that, my family and I enjoy ourselves here in Kano. My husband always takes us out for shopping. There is nothing you need that you cannot get here in Kano. Is it gold, silver, jewelries, wears?

Name them, they are all here; and they are affordable.

As you can see, we are just coming out from Shoprite and we had beautiful moments in there.”

At night, residents can be seen taking leisure walk on the interlocks, savouring the beauty of the street lights, just as they take in fresh air. Another beauty to behold is the abandoned Magwan water restaurant, which has been renovated and converted to the First Lady College.

The Nation gathered that during the 2011 electioneering campaign, Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso was determined, to not only make a mark for returning to Kano Government House the second time, after eight years of a forced sabbatical, but to also instigate what many of his associates describe as a revolution in Kano in terms of physical infrastructural development. When he assumed office on May 29, 2011, Kwankwaso raised an alarm that he met an empty treasury. His critics saw that claim as a veritable excuse to fail the people on his promise of transforming Kano into a mega city. But that was not to be, as the governor went on to work and made huge investments in road construction, urban renewal and restoration of Kano’s original master plan.

To be able to achieve his aim, Governor Kwankwaso, first of all, led his think-tank to excursions to mega cities around the world, including Lagos, where they borrowed a leaf on urban renewal. In the last two years of Kwankwaso’s administration, Kano has witnessed massive infrastructural development. It is a transformation that is driven by a visionary and purposeful administration.

In his urban renewal programmes, Kwankwaso has provided decent accommodation to Kano citizens. Three new cities, Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo, have been developed. There are five kilometres of dualised roads in the 44 local government areas, with street lights constructed to the tune of N100 billion. The metropolis has been beautified with interlock pavements and street lights. The state government has spent over N31 billion on the construction of metropolitan roads, including BUK to Gwarzo road; Zaria, Hadejia, Sheikh Ja’afar, Independence, Abdullahi Wase, Yantsaki, Mandawari, Airport roads and Sharada Bata roads, among others.

Also to his credit, Kwankwaso has completed some

Pe a c s CitY

selected roads, which were abandoned by the previous administrations. He has also constructed a flyover, the first of its kind in Kano. The flyover at Kofar Nassarawa is billed to cost N5.9 billion. Kwankwaso has further rehabilitated and constructed pedestrian flyovers within the city.

According to Alhaji Isyaku Mukhtar Kura, the Managing Director of Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KNUPDA), the Kwankwaso administration has been so much involved in the provision of infrastructure, especially roads and drainage channels. “We are also seeing to our main function, which is planning. But when we came in, we realised that the Government Reserved Area (GRA) in the Nasarawa area of the state is no more a GRA, it’s just like the city. It’s now a carbon copy of the city, because all those large parcels of land that used to beautify the area have been subdivided and allotted to individuals for residential buildings. It was against this background that the Executive Governor told us that we should create new cities for low and high income earners.

“Following his directive, we created three cities, that is, Kwankwasiya city along Zaria road, Amana city on the opposite side of the road and Bandirawo on the other part of the state. All these are big towns which we have created to serve the people of the state. Initially, we only created the area, but His Excellency asked us to go into building and now some of the houses in these cities have been completed. In these cities, especially Kwankwasiya, we provided many infrastructure, including drainage channels, roads and even bridges that link the city with other areas. In Kwankwasiya city, we have five-bed room and four-bed room flats that have been completed and people have started to apply for their purchase.

Though, the building of the houses is not my area, but what I’m trying to arrive at is that we have selected, designed and planned the new cities.

“In our efforts to give pedestrians unhindered access roads, we have interlocked all the major roads in the state metropolis. We are doing the interlocking because in planning if you talk about motorists, you must also talk about other categories of road users. To this end, we have interlocked 65 roads in the city and the contracts for the remaining roads have been awarded. We have also considered the contractors that were left by the previous administration of the state. I think these are some of the things that earned us the National Productivity Order of Merit Award.”

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Kura also said so far, over N1 billion has been spent on the interlocking project, “we are doing it, not only for beautification, but as I said earlier, to provide roads for pedestrians,” adding that, “we have been doing a lot to bring Kano’s master-plan back to base. In fact, this is one of the strong-points of Governor Kwankwaso’s administration. Remember that we had three or so. We had one in 1963 and we had the revised edition of 2003.

But unfortunately, they did not follow it to the letter.

The master plans were not implemented, but this time around, we are reviewing it. From all indications, the government is committed to it. The World Bank has sent in representatives to contribute, if not financially, but in the technical aspect of it. So we are reviewing our master plan and we are going to implement it fully for the interest of all.’’

Kura also gave an insight into Kwankwaso’s vision for Kano in terms of physical infrastructure and beautification by 2015, saying, “honestly, we want Kano to be like Mecca and Medina or to be modest; we want it to look like Dubai. In these two years of our administration, there have been a lot of changes and it’s still going on. If you want to appreciate what we are doing, come to Kano at night from either Abuja or Lagos by air and see what is happening. You’ll see light everywhere, which can only be compared with what is obtainable in either Abuja or Lagos. So we want to see a city that is accommodating more people, providing more jobs and as well as maintaining its beauty. You can see that traffic in the state is now moving.”

A visitor who came to Kano about three years ago would be surprised at the level of infrastructural development going on in the state, as all streets within the metropolis now wear adorable and glittering looks, even at night, with streetlights flooding everywhere around the city.

The Nation reports that despite the security challenges facing northern Nigeria, Kano, which has survived a number of attacks, has continued to experience booms in terms of business and tourism. People and visitors continue to defy security threats, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency, as they continue to visit Kano for business transactions and other private purposes. However, many residents remain worried that as 2015 draws nearer, the days of Governor Kwankwaso in Kano Government House are numbered.

Their worry centres on whether Kwankwaso’s successor can sustain the tempo of the transformation being witnessed in Kano and build on his legacies or whether it will be a replay of the bad old days.

Today, Kano is a beautiful sight to behold at night, as street lights adorn everywhere, revealing beautiful features like the round-abouts, flower parks, relaxation centres and road-side interlocks.

Another new feature of Kano is the Kano Government House.

The place has been so transformed that residents from the hinterlands take time out to visit the edifice, just to admire it

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rime Stories C 19

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

& r e h t o

Death of 21-yr-old sparks protest in Ogun HERE was a protest in Sagamu, Ogun State, penultimate Saturday following the death of a worker of Celplas Industries Nig Ltd, Damilola Ayobami Adebodun.

The deceased was riding on a commercial motorcycle popularly called Okada to work with another unidentified passenger when he was crushed to death by a hit and run trailer on the Sagamu-Ijebu Ode Road.

An eyewitness, who spoke in confidence, said:”The incident happened about 8am when a truck hit the Okada conveying Damilola to work, killing him and another passenger instantly. The scene of the incident was repulsive as their skulls were opened while their intestines littered on the road.”

One of the victims, Damilola Ayobami Adebodun, 21, according to a family source, was the only child of his mother. The other victim, whose identity remains unknown, according to sources, is from one of the eastern states of Nigeria and his body has since been taken away by family members for burial.

The incident sparked protests following what an employee of the company, who asked not to be named, described as “the unfeeling

T

n Kunle AKINRINADE n posture” of the company’s management.

“Each time a worker dies in active service, the management usually asks us to go back to work without sympathising with the bereaved family. They wanted to do the same thing today; hence, we resisted them and staged a protest to express our feelings about the directive.”

“How can we go back to work when our colleagues have just been gruesomely killed? They are human beings and not chickens as some people want to make us believe. We have lost about five colleagues in the last few weeks and the only honour we can give them is to have a work free day,’’ added the anonymous source.

Men of the OP MESA police patrol team were drafted to the scene to maintain law and order when the aggrieved workers refused to return to work as allegedly directed by the management of the plastic manufacturing company.

“During our break time on Friday, he (the deceased) came over to me and insisted on sharing in the meal I was having for lunch. His action was quite strange because he was known to be finicky and would not

eat or buy food food vendors. I never knew that he was fraternising with me for the last time,” a colleague of Damilola who asked for anonymity recalled the last moments they shared.

At the home of Damilola’s parents on Church Street, off Hospital Road, Sagamu, his heartbroken mother bemoaned his loss, as she fought back tears amid sympathisers.

Our reporter overheard her saying:“He was my only child…where will I start from now….where will I start from…? He just collected a form to further his education in a tertiary institution before this unfortunate incident…’’

The angry workers continued with the protest on Monday August 26, 2014 and it took the intervention of the leadership of the Sagamu Youth Council (SYC) to calm them down.

The company has since remained shut while the SYC promised to hold talks with the management of the company for an amicable resolution of the matter, which, as gathered, has the approval of the traditional ruler of the community.

An official of the company, simply identified as Sikiru, said:” The inci-

Continued on page 20

‘I was moved from minimum to maximum prison after committing another crime in Kirikiri’ five-man robbery gang suspected to have been terrorising motorists in traffic jams on Lagos highways and major streets have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command.

Among the suspects is Yinka Arokoyo a.k.a. Seye Campus, a 32year-old native of Kaba, Kogi State and holder of a primary school certificate. He is said to be an ex-convict who had to be moved from the Kirikiri Minimum Prison to the Kirikiri Maximum Prison after the authorities sensed how dangerous he had become. He is married with three children. A resident of No. 14, Ogo Oluwa Street, Bariga, Lagos, Arokoyo said he trained originally as a furniture maker.

Another suspected member of the gang is Sule Aliu a.k.a. Down Town. Aged 21, Aliu is an Igbira man who dropped out of school as a JSS 3 and became a car air conditioner repairer at Ifako, Gbagada area of Lagos State. He was said to have been resident at No. 3 Akin-

A

•The late Damilola

n Ebele BONIFACE n soji Street, Oshodi with his sister who claimed not to know that Aliu was into armed robbery because he always told her that he used to be very busy in the workshop repairing car air conditioners for customers, hence the reason he was always returning home late. If he went on a night operation and could not return, he would lie to his sister that he had travelled outside Lagos to work and that by the time he finished, it was too late for him to return home.

The third suspected member of the gang, Nnamdi Humphrey (22), a native of Iseluku, Delta State, is also said to be an ex-convict who abandoned his job as an electrician to join the gang. There are also 19year-old Adekunle Michael, a native of Ile-Ife, Osun State who dropped out of school in JSS 2 after his father’s death, and Ibrahim Martins, a 20-year-old native of Isale-Eko, Lagos State. He is single

Continued on page 45

•Yinka

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THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

Advanced concepts in clinical human anatomy:

Anatomical basis of emotional intelligence The Human Brain In Health Some few weeks back , a group of non medical professionals was engaged in an argument as to which organ , the Brain or Heart was more important in the maintenance of life or life force. Put differently, given the choice, which of these two organs would a Physician pay more attention to in a serious medical emergency involving both? When invited, I told them that it was not an easy task , explaining what choice to make in most of the conditions involving failure of the major organs of the human body beside the fact that a Medical Doctor working alone by his rigorous training is usually able to prevent multiple organ failures provided he has the equipment ,but that the brain comes third after the heart and diaphragm when considering situations of dying and death, and so, a Physician would want to do what ever he can to ensure that the heart does not stop beating, and the patient does not stop breathing before any other considerations.

However, what matters most is that the patient recovers to live a healthy normal life ,for as long as possible depending on many other factors. Structures in the part of the human brain known as the Medulla oblongata are passionately involved in activities of the heart and lungs ,but the muscles of the heart and diaphragm are able to work on their own (though for sometime ) when disconnected from the brain. The brain on the other hand has only a few minutes to live when there is no heart to supply blood to it , and whereas you can hold and feel the heart ,the brain in life is like tooth paste carefully and delicately wrapped in transparent water proof bag and enclosed in the skull case . In terms of quantity and quality of life therefore, the brain and the heart are equally important.

The heart has received more attention in terms of health education and health matters. For an example, ordinary people are aware of the links between uncontrolled high blood pressure and sudden cardiac death ,and between excessive consumption of sugar ,cigarette smoking and the development of heart diseases. Many different types of equipment are all over the place for measurement of blood pressure and blood glucose . With the brain, it is quite different .

Not many people know what the brain does in the body ,and whereas blood pressure can easily be measured using simple and very cheap equipment, activities of the brain can only be measured with sophisticated pieces of equipment ,which are not only very expensive but require

specialist training .

Physicians therefore place emphasis on taking care of your brain by living a healthy life style by way of what you do, what you eat and drink , how you view the world and the other living organisms sharing the good things in it with you, being careful what you do or say to others openly or secretly wherever you find yourself as an individual, family head , member of organizations, churches, schools, offices, governments .

Health has been defined as a state of physical, mental and social well being and not just the absence of infirmity or disease. What that definition implies is that very many people you see on the street and places are not healthy . It also means that very little things we tend to ignore matter no less than the big ones we are afraid of and until appropriate and relevant enquiries are made and laboratory tests done no one can claim any measure of health. Just as trauma ,smoking, alcohol and other medicines can damage the brain, certain food substances consumed in normal or excess quantities can equally kill important tissues of the brain. In many other different ways, proper functioning of the brain requires certain micronutrients like iodine, vitamin A, Zinc and iron. The brain has large amounts of immune cells to help it fight of infectious agents and others capable of inducing cancerous changes. It relies partly on the external environment to be able to perfectly achieve this goal

Applied Anatomy According to Grays Anatomy; 40th digitized ed., the brain of the full-term new borne ranges from 300 to 400 g, with a mean of 350 g. The brain of male infants on the average are slightly heavier than those of females, though this has no established relationship with intelligence . Because the head is large at birth, measuring 25% of the total body length, the brain is also proportionally larger and constitutes 10% of body weight, compared with 2% in the adult. At birth the volume of the brain is 25% of its adult volume. The greatest increase occurs during the first year,at the end of which the volume of the brain has increased to 75% of its adult volume. During the second and

subsequent y e a r s , g r o w t h proceeds much more slowly. The b r a i n reaches 90% of its adult size by age 5 years and 95% by 10 years.

It is about the age of 17 or 18 years that the brain attains adult size.

The prefrontal association cortex and its connections with the limbic system, and in particular, with the amygdala, are essential for problem solving b e h a v i o u r ( e x e c u t i v e functions) and the affective motivational aspects of behaviour.

Experimental damage involving both sides of these areas (e.g. in frontotemporal dementia) lead to the 'frontal lobe syndrome', in which there is a radical change in personality, with loss of reason, judgement, and insight, together with loss of personal and social feelings (sympathy and empathy). The restricted involvement of the orbital frontal areas and limbic connections leads to over-activity and disinhibition (pseudo psychopathic behaviour). Spread of lesions into the dorsolateral surface of the pre-frontal area leads to an inert, apathetic, state (pseudo depression). Unilateral focal lesions of the prefrontal areas are not usually associated with obvious cognitive or behavioural change. The limbic allocortex and its connections comprising the Papez circuit (hippocampus, mammillary body, anterior nucleus of the thalamus, and cingulate gyrus) are responsible

for the laying down of autobiographical (episodic) memory. Bilateral lesions (e.g. in Alzheimer's disease) or following alcoholic encephalopathy (Korsakoff psychosis) lead to the loss of ability to learn new information (anterograde amnesia) or remember experiences in the relatively recent past (this is retrograde amnesia). However, the temporal neocortical association areas are spared, and so perceptual information about the world and language (semantic memory) are preserved

Basics Of Emotional Intelligence Many people talk about knowing exactly what constitutes the human mind, the soul, the conscious and the subconscious. Others talk about the paranormal and powers whatever they may be .It is often difficult to appreciate that in all these, the brain and it's billions of circuitry cells is the seat and driver ,all in one.

In developed countries interest in contemporary biology and medicine, has encouraged multidisciplinary research into the nervous system across a range of frontiers to better understand the behavioral aspect of deviant lifestyles, low grade mental illness and degenerative diseases of the brain with the prospect of better prevention and treatment of many neurological disorders in the future. Unfortunately, the need to explore the anatomical aspects of what makes people; men, women, children , leaders and politicians behave in certain ways has not been fully appreciated.

When someone tells 'followers' to celebrate single parenthood ,it is simply swallowed without any attempts to ask further questions. In the same token, someone finds it appropriate to announce to the whole world and celebrate that her marriage lasted for just thirty five days.

To be continued

Hypo embarks on cleanliness campaign

I

N a bid to ensure a hygienically safe environment across the nation, Multipro Enterprise Limited, the makers of Hypo bleach is currently embarking on a nationwide hygiene sensitization and sanitization campaign, which saw the Hypo hygiene team visit residential areas in Ogba/Ikeja community on Monday.

This initiative which according to the company, is part of its commitment to encourage the society to cultivate and

•From the left, Mr Bras Ogun, Group Finance Director, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc; Mr A.A Adeniji, MD Vitavisco Nigeria Limited; Mr O.O Bankole - MD Vitapur Nigeria Limited; Mr Joel Ajiga, Group Managing Director, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc; Mr Tunji Anjorin, MD, Vono Products Plc; . Mr Taiwo Adeniyi, Group Technical & Development Director, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc during the unveiling of the Vono Plc new brand identity

maintain the culture of a clean and germ free environment, especially at a time when there are Umpteen number of diseases epidemic out there, one needs to be careful about.

The Senior Sales Manager, Multi-pro Enterprises Ltd Hypo Division, Mr. Jude Nzeata shed more light on the company's resolve in helping to ensure a clean and healthier environment by deploying the Hypo hygiene team to visit households and hospitalsto sanitize their toilets and drainages with the brand, disclosed that this sanitation exercise which has already impacted more than 5 million households/ hospitalsnationwide, has been consistently ongoing for 3 years.

Nzeata, further said, the initiative would do well to encourage the public in ensuring a clean, greener

and friendly environment against the spread of communicable diseases and infections like Cholera, Ebola, Flu, and other pathogen.

He also noted that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), routine cleaning and disinfection of home and surroundings with sodium hypochlorite, (an active ingredient) in Hypo bleach should be effective in inactivating most viruses and other dangerous bacteria.

He also noted, Hypo Bleach which not only clean up dirts on white clothes, but also kills germs that tend to germinate in toilets, drainages, tiles, floors and other hard surfaces.

It is also safe to use for cleaning children's toys and room.

Dr. Amos Azun, the Chief Medical Director, County Hospital Ogba, Lagos which was one of the hospitals visited, commended the organization on their efforts to sensitize and sanitize the society, adding that at this stage of the nation, no amount of environmental sanitizationis enough and this would serve as a wakeup call to the general public as health is wealth.

The Chief Medical Director revealed that the use of sodium hypo chlorite present in bleachis not only active in sanitizing the home environment, drainages; it also serves as sterilizing solution for surgical equipments.

While urging the public to be health conscious he called for positive health attitude at reducing the rate of poor hygiene and sanitation related diseases by increasing their level of personal hygiene.

Commenting on the hypo sanitation exercise, a resident in Ogba, Mrs. Margaret Emem commended the Hypo hygiene team for doing a wonderful job in coming to conduct the sanitation exercise in her area. “I ordinarily use hypo to wash my white clothes and bed spread; it is now good to know that it kills germs and viruses lurking around the environment.

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THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

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THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

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THE NATION

56 NEWS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

Last moments of Nigeria’s oldest preacher, Sadela

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T was fittingly a glorious exit. At exactly 4:30am last Sunday, world’s oldest preacher, Pastor Samuel Akinbode Sadela, breathed his last at Sacred Heart Hospital in Abeokuta, Ogun State. He died just a few hours before his 114th birthday.

In a remarkable preaching career that spanned 82 years, Sadela remained an untiring and unending force. Many aides, who spoke with our correspondent, stated that his capacity for life and impact remained matchless.

Sources in the church hinted that plans had been concluded for his 114th birthday tomorrow. The church was to commence a 6-day revival programme to usher in his birthday celebration.

Many had obtained gifts and prepared to lavish encomiums on the enigmatic church leader.

“My wife and I had prepared a gift for baba as we do every year. We cherished how passionately he prayed for us when we had challenges. It was to be our token of appreciation for his support,” Mr. Kunle Oyesina, a member told our correspondent.

But when they arrived the church’s international headquarters at Gbagada in Lagos last Tuesday, many were shocked to come across a condolence register with Sadela’s picture. It was learnt many broke down in tears while others lost their composure. The service ended with many members totally at a loss.

“I couldn’t even concentrate. It was not that one didn’t expect him to die at 113 years but we were completely taken aback because he gave no sign of tiredness,” a member, who craved anonymity, shared.

His last moments Investigations revealed that the late preacher was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital where he always received treatment when it became obvious that his life was on the line. All efforts to stabilise him failed at the hospital.

Members who saw him penultimate Sunday recalled he was wheeled to the church auditorium for the benediction, which he had been giving in the last one year.

“In the last one year, Baba could not preach again. He had become so weak and tired but he remained enthusiastic and lively.

They would wheel him to the church for benediction and he would shower prayers on us.

“But that Sunday, he prayed and prayed. He just went on.

The amen was resounding but he was unstoppable. Now that I heard he is dead I can say he was giving us his last blessings. It is sad but we cannot complain considering how long he lived,” an official of the church told our correspondent.

A family source said he if it was left to the late preacher, he would keep living. “Baba loved life. He believed he was born for a purpose and was bent on fulfilling the reason why he lived long. He told us several times that God kept him alive for a purpose. So, he wanted to live on and affect more lives but there is always a last day for every man and we are glad he has gone to rest in the Lord’s bosom.”

Spokesman for the church, Pastor Adebola Oladeko, spoke of Sadela’s last moments. He said: “Baba died in the early hours of Sunday, at 4.30 a.m. to be precise. We were not caught unawares.

Baba had been telling us and preparing us for that day. He told his son that he was going home, but they did not quickly understand what he was saying. He had prepared us, even somebody else got the same vision. His major concern was for us to go out there and win souls for Christ.

“That Sunday, he was conscious, he knew what he was doing; he told them to bathe him. After exchanging pleasantries

Bubbling with life and energy, Sadela remained strong physically until he died. Until sometimes last year, he kept preaching at the Gospel Apostolic Church, which he founded in 1972.

Sadela ensured he shook hands strongly to tell people he was as fit as a fiddle Sunday OGUNTOLA with everybody, he said he wanted to rest. Immediately he lay on the bed, he died.”

His many amazing feats Bubbling with life and energy, Sadela remained strong physically until he died. Until sometimes last year, he kept preaching at the Gospel Apostolic Church, which he founded in 1972. Sadela ensured he shook hands strongly to tell people he was as fit as a fiddle.

“Don’t think I am weak because I am old. I may be old but I am strong and able,” he once joked with reporters at a parley a few years ago in his church. Members watched him with astonishment as he stood preaching for years during services without stress.

Until some two years ago, he walked unaided from the storey building behind the church’s auditorium where he lived.

His physical strength was not unconnected with his tough background. Born in 1900 as the 12th and last child of his parents, Sadela was programmed for a life of ease and comfort. His mother was ready to make him a spoilt brat being her last child. But the rascally Sadela would have none of it. He realised he was not cut out for a rosy life.

The young, heady Sadela chose the tough path. It was the path that would ultimately lead him to his purpose and destination.

To underscore his radical posture, he dropped out of primary school in 1914. From his place of residence in Ifon, the young village boy from Imoru in Ondo State, proceeded to Sapele. His mission was to break away from the rosy life outlined for him.

At Sapele, he offered himself as a houseboy to colonial district officers. He served Captains Pullen, Balmour and Gavin diligently. Those years prepared him for the tough challenges ahead.

He later completed his standard six education in 1920. By then, his passion for education had taken roots.

In 1946, went on to pass the Senior Cambridge and London University Matriculation in 1949. The late preacher enrolled as a Law student of Woolshall College London. He studied Law for three and half years and was just nine months away from being called to the Bar when he gave up Law study on the advice of the late Pastor Joseph Babalola.

While his education was a resounding success, his marital life was a colossal failure. He alleged that his first wife was a witch.

All the seven children they had together died in mysterious ways.

“My first wife was a witch.She killed all the seven children I had!

After much prayer, she confessed and I left her,” he recalled.

He could not bear to look the way of any other woman until some ten years later. A second marriage, consummated in 1965, was blessed with four children, but only two survived. Madam Juliana died in 2001. He remarried 30-year-old Christiana in 2007 to the amazement of the world.

He was blessed with amazing memories of events and incidents laden with specific dates. He could recall major events and times in his life without much ado.

Encounters with Orimolade and Babalola If he succeeded as a church leader, it was because he rode on the shoulders of the first generation of indigenous church founders.

In 1928, he encountered the legendary Prophet Moses Orimolade, founder of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. Orimolade reportedly blessed the young Sadela and prophesised he would be great.

Two years later, the popular Prophet Orekoya stopped over in Ifon on a missionary journey to Sapele. He was to meet the late Babalola in 1931 under whose direct guidance he trained from 1932-1937.

Outpouring of tributes The National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) told our correspondent on the phone that Sadela’s death was the end of an era. He regretted he died when his wealth of experience would have benefitted the younger generation.

“He will live long in the memories of those who were privileged to know him directly as a non-compromising preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ and one who devoted his entire adult life winning souls and encouraging evangelism,” Oritsejafor stated.

The National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Dr Felix Omobude, said: “I thank God he lived a good life. We condole with his family and the church in general for the life he lived. Our prayers will continue to go to his family.”

Rev. Samuel Ogedengbe, Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State governor on Christian Religious Matters, said Sadela had fought a good fight as a minister of God, describing him as a wonderful man of God and that he learnt under him.

“He was a wonderful man who touched many lives. He had lots of challenges, but he was focused and never deviated. Young pastors should emulate him and not deviate from the word of God,” he said.

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS ( FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 14) Im a43 year old man suffering from frequent urination. I have been to the doctors and I was told that my bladder is too big; this has seriously affected my erection, that in most cases I dissapoint my wife with NO erection at all and this is causing serious problem in our marriage. Please save my home. What can you recommend that I use? Ola Mr Ola, frequent urination can be caused by a lot of things ranging from diabetes, microbial infections to mention but a few. I’d advise you go for a wider test to really bring out the cause, cos im not sure its just because your bladder is too big. Be that as it may, I’ll advice you go for either Plant vigra , Powerzen Gold , Libigrow or Xzen 1200 to help you get strong erection on demand. But if you want a more lasting result , you can opt for Vimax. All these supplements are 100% herbal and as such very safe for use by all categories of men.

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Prosolution helps corrects premature ejaculation and also helos you go more than one round and that’s why its good to combine both. While Prosolution is doing a permanent correction work, cockring is giving you an instant result and its reusable for as many times as you want.and for strong erection, you can get Plant Vigra, Xmen or Xzen 1200.

Can I get another pack of Powerzen Gold and Stiffnite pills? Both of them really worked for me and gave me very good erection unlike some other products - Bill Yes you are welcome any time.different product works for different people.

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NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

Delta youths shut NNPC flow station n Bolaji OGUNDELE, Warri n OLLOWING the recent local government primaries of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Isoko South Local Government of Delta State, some youth groups have shut down the Olomoro flow station, one of the facilities on OML 26.

It will be recalled that the primaries have been trailed by protests, violence and rejection of the results.

The violence continued yesterday at Olomoro when youths belonging to a faction of the PDP took to the streets to protest the outcome of the councillorship primaries for Ward 6, which produced a candidate outside their faction.

The Nation gathered that the situation worsened, as the angry youths stormed the flow station run by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), forcing it to shut down.

An environmentalist, Barr. Okiroro Iki-Ebieroma, who described the development as the action of selfish politicians, said the attack on the flow station was a mere ploy by a section of the PDP to thwart the popular decision of the people.

“The truth is that a group camp within the PDP felt that the result of the primary election did not favour its candidate. It was the group that instigated some youths of the town to attack and shut down the flow station.

“The point here now is that we must not mix community agitations with individual ambition. This protest has nothing to do with the NPDC’s activities. Though the community has issues to thrash out with the company, but this protest is misguided and misplaced.”

Meanwhile, a reliable source in the NPDC, who seeks to remain anonymous, confirmed to The Nation that the company had suspended its operations at the flow station following the development, saying the safety of the staff and facilities were the consideration.

“The NPDC flow station at Olomoro was shut down this morning. A demonstration is going on in the community over the election of their leaders. So, for the safety of our staff and facilities, we decided to suspend our operations,” the source said.

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Rivers 2015: Ijaws want to succeed Amaechi •Plan 50,000-man rally n Precious DIKEWOHA, Port Harcourt n HE Ijaws in Rivers State, under the aegis of Eastern Delta Peoples Association (EDPA), has said it will embark on 50,000-man rally to demand the right to produce the next governor of Rivers State in 2015.

Spokesman for the group, Mr. Kingsley Adonis Pepple, made this declaration yesterday during the inauguration of the local committee of EDPA youth wing in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

Pepple said the purpose of the rally was to demonstrate the unity of Ijaws ahead of the 2015 governorship election and to mobilize support of all fair-minded people to support their cause for the emergence of an Ijaw as Governor of Rivers State in 2015.

He said what the group needs at the moment is the support, understanding and cooperation of their upland brothers to realize their ambition, noting that EDPA has assured the people that the unity rally it is planning would be peaceful and devoid of violence.

He added that Ijaw youths have the right to accept gifts or any other inducement from politicians, but urged them to always stand for their right.

“The fifty thousand man match will hold at the historic Isaac Adaka Boro Park. This place has a deep meaning to Ijaws worldwide. We are riverrine and creek dwellers. We have concluded plans to organize this rally to press forward with our resolve to produce the next governor of Rivers State come 2015.

“We spread across 10 of the 23 local government areas of Rivers State. EDPA has already collected not less than twentyfive thousand signatures endorsing the rally, and more persons are expressing support for the emergence of a Riverine Ijaw governor of Rivers State.

“Twenty groups have also expressed support and solidarity with the Eastern Delta Peoples Association. Believe me, two former Governors and eight other highly-respected dignitaries of the state are billed to speak at the unity rally, scheduled for October in Port-Harcourt.”

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Akwa Ibom guber aspirant calls for Akpabio’s support n Nicholas KALU, Calabar n governorship aspirant in Akwa Ibom State, Bishop Samuel Akpan, has called on Governor Godswill Akpabio to support his ambition in the general elections next year.

Addressing a crowd of supporters in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday, Akpan said the governor owed him a debt, which he said he should pay back by supporting him.

Akpan said he supported Akpabio’s support to become governor, adding that it was time for the governor to pay back the debt.

Speaking at the occasion, which also served as the flag-off of the Cross River State chapter of the Bishop Samuel Akpan Organization, Akpan said, "I have not betrayed my friend the governor. I supported an Annang man. I have paid my dues. If I was wicked to him, let me have wickedness in return. But if I was sincere, let me get sincerity in return. This is the time to test Akpabio to show the kind of man he is. This is the time to know if he is a good man.

"This is the time for truth. I will never betray him. If he supports me, it shall be well with him, but if he does not, there are many questions on his table to be answered. I enjoy a massive support of Annang people because I supported an Annang man.

Others should support me as I supported them."

He said he had a mission of empowerment, economic freedom and industrialisation for the people of the state.

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•From left: Spokesperson, student and youths wing of Eastern Delta Peoples Association, Mr Kingsley Pepple; Secretary, Mr. Adonye Stephen and facilitator, Mr Ibidumo Asawo, at a news conference on a planned 50,000-man unity rally, in Port Harcourt,...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Sylva's 87-yr-old uncle dies in Kidnappers’ den, buried in shallow grave P •Police exhume body for autopsy •How he died n Mike ODIEGWU, Yenagoa n

A Benson Adigio-Eseni, the 87year-old abducted uncle of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, has died in his captors' den.

His remains were buried by the heartless kidnappers in a shallow grave at the entrance of Kula community, a border town between Rivers and Bayelsa State.

These revelations were made by a 27year-old suspect, simply identified as Nelson, who also disclosed that Pa Adigio-Eseni died in the creeks on August 14.

Nelson, an indigene of Rofogbene in Burutu Local Government Area, Delta State, said the octogenarian died before the group collected N5million ransom from his family.

The suspect, who claims to have completed his secondary school education, said he was coerced by the leader of his gang to join in the criminal act.

Nelson, who identified the leader of the gang as Ebino, said the gang bought a Turaya phone from the Robinson Plaza in Warri, Delta State, with which they established contact with their victim's family and negotiate for a ransom.

Nelson said he collected the sum of N250, 000 as his share of the ransom.

He, however, said the octogenarian would not have died if their leader had listened to the pleas of the other members of the gang to let him go.

Narrating how the old man died, Nelson said: "We begged the leader to release the man because as at that time, the family had refused to discuss ransom.

"The old man looked sick. And at night, while he was eating, he started choking and he slumped. We rushed to his aid, but he died before we could help him."

before we received N5million ransom –Suspect

Nelson said another gang member who was negotiating the ransom with the victim's family said the remains of the old man should be returned to his family.

"Ebi said he would take the corpse of the old man back to the family. But we argued against it. He then insisted that he would bury him at Kula village.

"He buried the old man at the entrance of the community. While we all wanted to leave, thinking that the kidnapping was a failed business, Ebi insisted on collecting the ransom. He said his share would assist him to escape abroad,” Nelson further explained.

He claimed that he was trying to locate a lawyer who could help him to report the matter to the police when he was arrested.

According to family sources, the kidnappers wrapped the body of AdigioEseni in a polythene bag before dumping him in the shallow grave.

"We have been informed by the police that we should be present when the autopsy would be done.

"It is sad that a man that served the nation as a military man and retired as a Major in the Nigerian Army was killed in a dastardly manner.

"It is a shame on the security of the state and the nation. We paid a ransom of N5million for his release, and yet he was killed."

Meanwhile, the police have confirmed that the corpse of the octogenarian was recovered from a shallow grave.

The recovery was said to have been done under the supervision of a senior pathologist from the state Ministry of Health.

It has since been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa.

While parading the suspect, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bello Ahmed, said the police had deployed a special team to arrest other fleeing suspects.

Ahmed, in a statement inYenagoa, said: "Today, 28th of August, 2014, on a tip-off, a combined team of security agencies in Bayelsa State and men of the Bayelsa Ministry of Health were led to a border town between Rivers and Bayelsa State, near Kula village, where a shallow grave was discovered.

"On excavation, the body of the late Chief Adigio Eseni, aged 87 years, who was earlier kidnapped on 28th of July, 2014, by unknown gunmen was exhumed from the shallow grave under the supervision of a senior pathologist from the Bayelsa Ministry of Health.

"The corpse was removed and deposited at the Federal Medical Centre Mortuary, Yenagoa, for autopsy."

It will be recalled that Adigio-Eseni, an octogenarian uncle of Sylva, was on July 28, seized and whisked away at about 2am in Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area, by gunmen who rode in a speedboat.

The hoodlums were said to have shot sporadically before abducting their victim.

Edo commissioner denies alleged N22b fraud n

Osemwengie Ben n OGBEMUDIA, Benin

DO State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Lucky James, yesterday described as blackmail fabricated to rubbish his hard earned reputation, the alleged illegal deduction of N22 billion from the allocations of the local government areas in the state.

The commissioner said besides the statutory deductions, the ministry has no legal right to dabble into the funds of the local government areas. He said: ‘’Don’t forget

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this is an era of blackmail, either from the PDP or from those seeking elective positions within my party who want me down.

“Nothing transpires in this ministry without the approval of the State Governor.

Besides the 1% statutory deduction to the state local government commission authority, 5% for traditional rulers and teachers salaries, which is even the sole responsibility of the State Basic Universal Education Board, I m not aware of any other deduction.

“The Governor does not know what goes into the local

government accounts, much more deducting from the account. The PDP lawmaker who raised the false alarm was, before now, the chairman, House Committee for local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. How come he never drew the attention of the House to this mischievous allegation before now?”

Chief Lucky James said the only deduction ever made from the local government account by the present government was the accumulated compulsory 5% PAYE tax, which ought to have been remitted to the account of the state government via the

Board of Internal Revenue He also denied having any property in the United State of America. ‘’There is nothing like a U.S property. I detest traveling abroad.’’

The records are there. They should go and verify both at the embassy and any other exit point.’’

It will be recalled that the commissioner, the state attorney-general and the Finance were alleged to have been under investigation over a N22 billion fraud, bordering on inflation of contract and illegal deduction of local government funds.

NEWS

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

2015 guber poll: Zoning tears apart Abia PDP n Ugochukwu UGOJI-EKE, n Umuahia group in Abia State has described the decision of the leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party [PDP] in Abia State to zone the party's governorship ticket in the 2015 general elections to Abia South senatorial district as retrogressive.

The group, which has threatened to mobilize the people of the state against the party, said the practice would give room for mediocrity in the running of government.

The decision of the group was contained in a press statement signed by its Media Director, Chief Nwaka Inem.

According to the group, “We must elect a governor based on his antecedents and record of performance. He must be a man who will be ready to take the state to the next level.

"What matters is for Abia to elect a governor, who will not only consolidate on the achievements of Governor Theodore Orji, but open a new vista in the developmental process of the state.

“Abia people should remain focused and become major stakeholders in the installation of a governor who will meet their needs as against one who will owe his allegiance to zoning protagonists."

‘Dismantle illegal cells in South East’

n Okodili NDIDI, Owerri n HE immediate past Governor of Imo state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, yesterday declared his interest to have another shot at the governorship seat of the state in 2015 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ohakim, who addressed party members and journalists at the state PDP Secretariat, affirmed that he is not ashamed to re-contest the position after losing out to the incumbent, Rochas Okorocha in 2011.

According to the former governor, who stated that he was tired of responding to the questions posed at him by the people of the state on why he is re-contesting, noted that he is vying to complete the gigantic projects he started in the state, which he claimed have been abandoned by his successor.

"There is no need hiding my joy. This is the month of August, the month of my birth, and the good news I have for you is that after completing my consultations, I have offered myself to complete my tenure as the Governor of Imo state.

"Some people have made publications that Ohakim forgot nothing in the Government House, or that has Ohakim no shame? Yes, I am the only person that has no shame and seeking the mandate to go back to the Government House to defend the mandate giving to me before.

The man in office now has one term. But I have another tenure to complete. The next fight would be to fight governor to governor, project to project and mandate to mandate," Ohakim stated.

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pan Igbo group, Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF) Worldwide, has called on Governors in the South East to dismantle illegal cells springing up in the region.

In a statement, signed by Augustine Chukwudum and Chinedu Onyebuchi, the President and the Secretary respectively, the group expressed the fears that the development could constitute serious security breach in the area.

“We have observed the sprouting of illegal detention centers established by vigilante operatives in some communities in Ichi, Ekwusigo Local Government, Ojoto in Idemili South Local Government, Nkpor and Ogidi, both in Idemili North Local Government, Umuchu, Aguata Local Government all in Anambra State.

“We have also observed that local vigilantes have started mounting illegal checkpoint in Isouchi near Isouchi Police Station in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State. Similiar worrisome development has also reared its ugly head in Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

“We are against any detention cell apart from the ones recognize by law and therefore call on relevant authorities to ensure that all illegal detention cells in the South East region are dismantled with immediate effect,” the group stated.

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Ohakim joins Imo guber race

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•From right: Eze Peter C. Umeh, Eze Ndi-Igbo of Mushin, and his second-in-command, Chief (Dr) Sylvanus Ike, during a meeting of Ndi-Igbo in Lagos which was hosted by Umeh.

MASSOB crisis worsens n Nwanosike ONU, Awka n

•Shun factional meeting or risk your life, Biafran group tells members

EMBERS of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) have been warned to stay away from the meeting, scheduled to hold today in Owerri, Imo State capital, or risk sacrificing their blood again.

The warning was given yesterday in a statement issued by the group’s Director of Information, Uchenna Madu.

He said the planned meeting by some leaders of the group was meant to shed the blood of the opposition members of MASSOB. Madu debunked the claims making rounds that he was paid N47 million by

the Federal Government and Chief Victor Umeh to destabilize MASSOB, describing it as a way of tarnishing his reputation.

He also denied receiving the sum of N10 million from former Anambra State Governor, Chief Peter Obi, to name him as one of the prominent Igbo sons to be honoured during MASSOB’s Heroes day celebration.

It will be recalled that members of the group clashed at Okwe in Okigwe in Imo State, about two weeks ago, which claimed five lives, while many others were injured during a shootout.

He said MASSOB lost 18 members in Onitsha during

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the last sit-at-home order. He said the group also lost eight members in a recent clash, and lamented that the families of the victims were yet to receive any compensation.

According to the statement, "Members should be aware that the security situation in Imo State is not healthy for MASSOB because of the current crisis and the recent death of some of our members at Okwe.

"This meeting of 30th August, 2014, is to create tension and violence, which may result in the loss of innocent lives in Owerri.

"Nobody gave me money to betray MASSOB. Biafra has made me suffer neglect, torture, persecution, deten-

tion and poverty for the past 15 years of this struggle.

"After spending almost four years in prison, I was released through the intervention of some Igbo leaders, led by Sen Uche Chukwumerije (Dike-Ogu Ndigbo), my father died as a result of psychological trauma and I got married in 2010. But I was arrested again during MASSOB meeting in Izzi, Abakaliki, and my wife suffered heavily."

Madu said that the crisis tearing MASSOB apart was as a result of the selfishness of the leaders, adding that the planned meeting was another evil plan to sacrifice the blood of some members.

Akunyili: Ngige, Ezeemo, Emodi, Ekwunife others pay tributes OLLOWING Thursday’s burial of former Information and Communications Minister, Prof Dora Akunyili, prominent Nigerians have continued to praise her sense of dedication and strong character.

Senator Chris Ngige, who defeated Akunyili in the Anambra Central Senatorial elections in 2011, said that Dora’s death was like a shock to him and a confirmation that good things don’t last in the world of sin.

According to Ngige, Dora had shown great sense of honesty and strong character of what she believed in from her childhood days.

“We all grew up together and schooled as well. I have known her over the years as a woman with strong colors and she stood for her rights,” Ngige said Also, Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, who contested the governorship of the state in

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2013 under the umbrella of the Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA) paid his condolence to the Akunyili family yesterday.

He described Akunyili as one who stood for many coins in areas of administration and management and broke the jinx men were afraid to dare.

“Surely, we the Igbo will miss her as a personality. But what she stood for would live after her,” Ezeemo said He urged the her family to always carry on as was taught by their mother and ensure that they live her legacy wherever they find themselves, saying that would keep her prints going.

Ezeemo was represented at the condolence visit in Agulu community yesterday by his wife, Nneka.

Among the people that joined Ezeemo were his running mate during the 2013 governorship election, Dr.

Ralph Chikwenze, Bar Emma Uduone, Mr. Linus Ihuo, Chief Barnabas Okonkwo and Engr. Mike Igweilo among others.

Prof Godwin Onu , Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, said that Dora was a gift to Nigeria, adding that she used her talent to work for the common good of all citizens.

The lawmaker representing Anaocha I constituency, Ebele Ejiofor, said Akunyili was and would remain his role model, noting that he had a close contact with her during their campaigns for the 2011 elections and found her a trusted fellow Former commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters in Anambra State, Mr. Dubem Obaze, said the late Akunyili lived a life for all and made sacrifices when it mattered most without the fear of losing her life.

Ebola: Stop TAN rally today –Group writes Jonathan network of non-governmental organizations in the Niger Delta region, under the aegis of DDM, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to stop the planned TAN campaign rally, scheduled to hold today at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt.

A statement signed by Anyakwee Nsirimovu, the Convener of the group, cited the threat of a further spread of the dreaded Ebola virus as the reason for its call, and urged President Jonathan to use his goodwill to stop the planned rally.

The statement reads in part: “We have been made aware of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) SouthSouth campaign rally to campaign for

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your second term. The Minister for Health and the Rivers State government announced that the deadly Ebola Virus Disease has hit Rivers State, with one dead and scores of other quarantined.

“As we have all come to know, Ebola has become a major challenge to public health and is now a critical concern to our nation, West Africa and indeed the world. We are all aware of the informed professional medical advice on the need to avoid body contacts, which is basically the easiest and common form of transmission of the Ebola virus.

“As the Federal Government and other relevant bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors

without Borders, and the United States Embassy join hands with the state in combating and containing this outbreak in Rivers State, we are using this platform to plead with you and all concerned, to call off the planned campaign rally by TAN in Port Harcourt, in the interest of adhering to the advice of ‘avoiding body contacts’, which you know is inevitable if the rally is allowed to hold.”

The group insists that it’s call on the president to stop the forthcoming TAN campaign, has nothing to do with politics, saying the right to health of the Nigerian public is far more important than any politicking in any guises at this point in time.

Sacked Abia workers hold peaceful protest in Aba

n Sunny NWANKWO, Aba n ORKERS disengaged from the Abia State civil service in 2011, on Thursday in Aba, held a peaceful protest to further press home their demand to be recalled and reintegrated into the state workforce.

The protesters, dressed in black outfits, matched to the office of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and a local radio station, after attempts by a combined team of police and soldiers to stop them failed.

The protesters displayed placards with various inscriptions like ‘Call us back to work’; ‘Igbo is one’; ‘Call us and pay us’; ‘56 disengaged non-indigenes are dead’; ‘We need Justice’ and ‘We need total recall, no discrimination’ among others.

The leader of the group, Mr. Ugochukwu Unogu, said that they decided to embark on the peaceful protest to further press home their demand to be reabsorbed into the state civil service after other attempts to attract the attention of the state government have failed.

“The so-called recall is a charade. It is not true. Only very few were re-instated.

An insignificant number has been recalled, but over 3,500 non-indigene workers have not been recalled.

“Our demand is that we should be recalled totally and not given selective recall, while the three years arrears owed us should be paid.

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ICE President Namadi Sambo on Friday met with the governors of Kogi and Anambra to discuss the long standing boundary dispute between the two states.

The meeting, which held behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, had in attendance, Gov. Idris Wada of Kogi and the Deputy Governor of Anambra, Mr Nkem Okeke, who represented Gov. Willie Obiano.

Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, Wada and Okeke said that they were satisfied with the way the vice president handled the matter and expressed optimism that the dispute would be resolved by

Sambo meets with Kogi, Anambra governors over boundary dispute the end of the year. ”We are making a lot of progress. Under the direction of Mr President, the boundary commission (National Boundary Commission) is tracing the boundary between the affected states in our area. ”And by the grace of God, by the end of this year all these issues will be behind us. ”Security is a dynamic issue. Kogi is relatively peaceful by the grace of God and every effort is being made to

maintain peace and tranquility in Kogi,“ he said.

On his part, Okeke said that a peaceful resolution of the dispute was top on the priority list of the Anambra governor. “`I’m here representing my principal, Chief Willie Obiano, who is unavoidably absent because of the burial of Dora Akunyili. I think this is one thing that is foremost on his mind to solve. ”Nobody wants senseless killings; killings for no rea-

son. So, he sent me here to make sure that we get things moving, and I’m quite pleased with the way the Vice President handled the meeting. ”He gave directive to the National Boundary Commission to set a date to do all the necessary surveys and establish the boundary between us and Kogi state, and I believe in the near future, things will be sorted out,“ he stated.

Okeke also said that Anambra was committed to

•Covered pedestrian level crossings by the Lagos State Government at Cement Bus-Stop, Iyana Dopemu, Bus/Stop, Iyana Ipaja Bus stop, IyanaOke-Odo Bus/Stop, Abule Egba Bus/Stop and Ijaye Bus/Stop under construction all along the LagosAbeokuta Expressway.

PHOTO:Rahman SANUSI

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Adamawa gov poll: Lawmakers set to battle PDP over Fintiri

HE members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly have drawn a battle line with the People’s Democratic Party PDP National Working Committee (NWC), over the gubernatorial ambition of the Acting Governor Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, if he is not allowed to finish Nyako tenure.

The House through a press conference addressed on behalf of the members, by the Chairman House Committee on Information, Hon Adamu Kamale, said unless Fintiri is allowed to finish the tenure of the impeached former

Barnabas MANYAM Yola.

Governor Admiral Murtala Nyako, the house would be pitching the battle line with the members of the majority of the house, against the National Working Committee of People Democratic Party PDP. That is because, only the house fought to bring back the stolen mandate by Nyako.

The Adamawa lawmakers have vowed to protest against any decision made by the National Working Committee [NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party aimed to frustrate Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri from

emerging the substantive Governor to complete the remaining 8 months of then Governor Nyako.

The lawmakers also vowed to fight the NWC if Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who recently donated 100 vehicles to PDP, is imposed on the party as its candidate because, Ribadu is yet to contribute any meaningful thing to PDP either at the state or national level to enable him deserve waiver at the gate of entry and subsequent imposition as PDP flag bearer for October by-election in the state.

Hon Adamu Kamale said at a press conference held at NUJ secretariat, Yola, that

“The Acting Governor of the state Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, should be allowed to complete the remaining term of ousted Governor Murtala Nyako to set a good slate for 2015 general election”.

He appealed to the national leadership of the party on behalf of other lawmakers to consider their prominent role in Nyako’s removal and allow Fintiri, to complete the un-expired term of 2014 election for him to stabilize the affairs of the state.

Mrs. Victoria Amihere passes On

Northern elite charged on positive attitude against insurgency

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IGERIANS, especially the northerners have been told to stop the blame game and contribute positively to allaying the security challenge that is threatening the sovereign and oneness of the country.

Dr. Danlami Arabs Rukujei, the Executive Secretary of Gombe State Emergency Management Agency SEMA, made the call in the state capital at the weekend.

“So much is being done.

But we all agree it is not enough. There is no community in the north that is sleeping with two eyes closed.

That means there is still more work to be done,” said

Vincent OHONBAMU, Gombe Rukujei.

He told northern elites to face the issue squarely and address properly by identifying the root cause of the problem and proffering solutions once and for all, instead of the present self deceit approach.

“We need as northerners to address the issue properly. Let’s identify what is happening and address it headlong so that we don’t deceive ourselves.

“We cannot continue to deceive our people by saying that if Goodluck goes, all our problems will be solved. We as elite in the north know

that it is not true.

“Our problems will not end if Goodluck goes in 2015. What are you coming back to tell the people if that happens,” Rukujei wondered.

He said much was being done to contain the security challenge in the northeast, but acknowledged that it is not enough as long as some communities in the north still sleep with their eyes open.

He called on anyone with the magic wand that could stop the insurgency to kindly wave it, not for President Jonathan, but for the survival of the people in the north and indeed Nigerians as a whole.

•Late Amihere rs. Victoria Amihere (nee Fearon) of Lokoja, Kogi State passed-on on Sunday August 17, 2014 at the age of 75.

According to a statement from her family, signed by Ndanusa Amihere of The Quadrant Company, she will be buried on August 11 and 12, 2014 at The Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity, Lokoja. She is survived by four children and grandchildren.

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the maintenance of peace and security with Kogi and ensure the matter was trashed out. ”His Excellency, you know, security is foremost on his mind; my principal has been working hard on security. ”The bottom line is to make sure there is security presence in the area, and make sure that

people don’t encroach into other people’s land, and make sure that people don’t come into your own land.

“And I believe his counterpart in Kogi is doing the same thing to try and maintain peace. We will continue to pray and hope that there won’t be any more violence in the area,`` he said.

The dispute, which started in August 2012, involves oil wells located in the boundary towns of Agulueri-Otu in Anambra and Odeke in Kogi State.

Lamido appoints Obasanjo Chancellor of Jigawa varsity

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OV. Sule Lamido of Jigawa yesterday appointed former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the pioneer Chancellor of the newly established Jigawa State University in Kafin Hausa.

The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Haruna Wakili, disclosed this in an interview in Dutse.

Wakili said the State Government had sent a delegation to present the appointment letter to the former President at his country home in Abeokuta.

He explained that the appointment was based on Section 8 of the Jigawa State University Law, 2013.

Wakil said that Section 2 of the Second Schedule of the law also supported the appointment.

The two sections, he said, vested on the Visitor of the University the powers to appoint Chancellor for the in-

stitution.

He added that extensive consultation was made before reaching the decision to appoint Obasanjo as the pioneer chancellor of the university.

“The government arrived at the decision after due consideration of his immense contributions to the making of modern Nigeria; as former military head of state and two terms democratically elected President.

“Obasanjo is an internationally recognised and respected elder statesman and indeed an eminent personality of proven integrity who served his country to the peak, diligently, selflessly and sincerely’’, he said.

The commissioner stated that he was part of the delegation that presented the letter to the former president.

“I am therefore glad to inform you that the former President had accepted the appointment and assured the governor and people of Jigawa of his readiness to serve.

'PDM 'll not participate in Adamawa guber by-election'

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HE People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) says the party will not participate in the Oct. 11 Adamawa by-election.

Alhaji Ahmed Abubakar, the National Publicity Secretary of PDM, made this known in Abuja on Friday.

Abubakar attributed the development to lack of substantive leadership in the party, adding that PDM was yet to conduct its congresses.

According to him, it is more important for the party to have successful congresses than to partake in an election when the party’s substantive leadership structure is not in place.

“Our party’s congress at wards, local governments and states had already been fixed for Aug. 30 to Sept. 3 across the country.

“Our party considers congresses and convention as

critical task that must be properly done so that we can have solid structures at all levels.

“They are coming up on different dates so that we can ensure emergence of committed executive members at all levels.

“The congresses are going to be in three batches; first batch will be held in 28 states and FCT between Aug.30 and Sept.3.

“The second batch of the congresses as well as the zonal congresses will come up in eight states at a date to be announced later,” he said.

Meanwhile, a statement from the national secretariat of the party said that the first batch would take place across the six geo-political zones of the country and FCT. The eight states where the exercise would take place later are: Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Adamawa and Ekiti.

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

Chris Oyakhilome's wife, Anita, files divorce suit in London

HE marriage between the founder of Christ Embassy Church, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, and his wife, Rev. Anita Odegwa Oyakhilome, finally collapsed last night with Anita reportedly filing for divorce in a UK court.

Cable reports said the wife is seeking divorce on the grounds of “unreasonable behaviour” and “adultery”.

Anita was reportedly said to have levelled several allegations against pastor Oyakhilome.

The allegations are however being withheld because of their legal implications.

•Accuses husband of adultery •Adultery charge not true, says church elder Adebisi ONANUGA

The divorce case, with Suit No FD14D01650, was filed on April 9, 2014 at Divorce Section A, Central Family Court, First Avenue House, High Holborn, London, UK. It was filed on Anita’s behalf by Attwaters Jameson Hill Solicitors, a full-service law firm with expertise in commercial law and a strong consumer focus in family, wills and estate, personal injury law and medical

negligence.

Efforts to reconcile the popular couple, whose church is one of the biggest denominations in Nigeria and has branches all over world, have failed. The couple have two teenage daughters, Sharon and Charlyn.

Oyakhilome is the president of Believers’ Love World Inc, the registered name of the Christian ministry, while his wife is the vice-president.

However an elder of the church, who spoke on condition of anonimity, has

denied allegations of adultery on behalf of Pastor Chris.

The elder believes that Chris' wife, Anita, is being influenced by those he labelled “bad friends” who are intent on destroying their home.

On the other hand, Anita is said to have been complaining of being relegated in the scheme of things in the church.

Sources said her husband has reportedly accused her of trying to usurp power and

HE Concerned Youths for Good Governnace in Adamawa State yesterday wrote a petition to the Adamawa State Governorship Screening Committee against the Acting Governor of the satte, Umaru Fintiri, alleging that he is still a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) The group said Fintiri is yet to formally defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

It also alleged that the Acting Governor has not returned the APC membership card to his ward.

The group made the claim in its petition dated August 29, 2014, which was sent to the National Chairman of PDP, Adamu Muazu; the Chairman of the Board of

Ebola: Dead doctor’s infected widow moved to Lagos HE widow of Dr. Iky

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Sam Enemua, the medical doctor who died of Ebola in Port Harcourt after treating an ECOWAS official infected by the virus, has been moved to Lagos.

Her three-month-old baby is also one of the 160 people under surveillance in the Garden City, the State Government announced yesterday in an update on the spread of the disease to the oil city.

Also under observation is a patient on whom the late medical doctor performed surgery shortly before he fell ill and 157 others who had direct contact with him.

Most of the contacts were patients he attended to in his Samsteel Clinic at Rumuokoro, Port Harcourt.

The rest are the doctor and other medical personnel who treated him at Greenhart Hospital, also in Port Harcourt, Health Commissioner Sampson parker told reporters.

Dr. Enemua was infected and later died after treating in a hotel, a Nigerian diplomat, Oluibukun Koye, who was among the group that received the late Patrick Sawyer, the Nigerian index case in Lagos.

Koye who was apparently in isolation sneaked out of isolation in Lagos and left for Port Harcourt, after booking appointment with the late doctor in the said hotel.

Enemua reportedly treated the diplomat in secret and thereafter proceeded to de-contaminate the hotel room.

He however fell ill soon afterward and was rushed to Green Hart Hospital where he died.

The hospital authorities

• 160 under surveillance in Rivers

Rosemary NWISI, Port Harcourt

appeared to be unaware of his health status at the time.

He is the sixth Ebola victim to die in Nigeria.

Commissioner Parker said more contacts might be detected in due course.

He urged anyone who might have come in contact with the deceased and others to come out.

He spoke of government’s determination to face the challenge headlong.

He said experienced and capable hands are ready for the challenge.

Already Federal Ebola Emergency Committee headed by the Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu, and the Mobile Ebola Laboratory of the Federal Government are in Port Harcourt to assist the state government.

Dr. Parker also said that Mrs. Enemua ( widow of the doctor) who is the only symptomatic person among the 160 on the watch list had been moved to the Lagos treatment centre.

He explained that her movement became necessary for her emotion sake and also to allow the team in the state to concentrate on tracing the deceased’s contacts.

He urged members of the public not to panic over the disease or the corpse at the Unversity of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital(UPTH), stressing that the entire morgue and corpses would be de-contaminated.

The Chief Medical Director of UPTH, Prof. Aaron Ojule confirmed the plan to de-contaminate the mortuary and corpses yesterday evening, adding that con-

trary to widely spread speculation, Ebola virus does not survive in non-living organism.

Parker urged the people of the state, especially PDP members, to join hands in fighting the disease instead of indulging in politics.

He said the state government has invested so much in money and time in preparing to contain the virus.

He said: “As of today, the Rivers state Ebola Response Stakeholders meeting has been transformed to Emergency Operations Committee, like the National Committee.

“This is because the Abuja Epidemiological team (public Health group), the National Centre for Disease Control, some of the persons that worked in Lagos centre, the CDC, WHO, team from Hospital for Humanity in United States of America, group from Germany are all in Port Harcourt, we are now one team.”

He alleged plot by some people to politicise how Ebola got to the state.

His words: “This is not time for politics.When it is time for politics, we’ll play it, and no reasonable person should play politics with what we are facing now, because it can happen to anybody.

“Certain person in company of the late Liberian American citizen, Patrick Sawyer, identified as Oluibukun Koye, a diplomat who was among those that received Sawyer, sneaked out of Lagos after the death of Sawyer, to Port Harcourt, in connivance with one of his female colleagues, Lilian,dwho ar-

absolute) if no new evidence is provided to stall proceedings.

Church insiders said Oyakhilome had been hoping for rapprochement, but he was left with no option but to receive the papers when the lawyers cornered him at his hotel room in London.

It was said that the decree absolute, which will officially and effectively end the marriage, is expected to be issued soon while terms of the divorce will be worked out by the lawyers on both sides.

Adamawa: Youths petition PDP panel, says Acting Governor still in APC

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•Sacked Abia State civil servants protesting in Aba... Thursday

authority above her seniors in the ministry.

Sources reveal that the pastor had been making efforts to avoid divorce in the hope that the wife would eventually have a change of mind.

However, the decree nissi was served on the charismatic pastor in his hotel room during a recent visit to the UK. Decree nissi, in legal terms, is likened to a yellow card in a football match which is a prelude to a red card (decree

ranged for him to meet a Doctor in Port Harcourt who happened to be the now late Iky Sam Enemua,.

“They were looking for him in Lagos without any trace.Later they discovered he had boarded a flight to Port Harcourt.They quickly sent us his phone number with which we called him, but he did not answer, till after three days.We could not trace him in Port Harcourt.

“Lagos later called to say he had been found in Lagos; so nobody was sure he came to Port Harcourt.

“By the time he reappeared before the Lagos response team he was well again.He denied contact with anybody or going for treatment anywhere, so he was cleared and discharged, but was still under surveillance.

“After that he went his way and continued with his life, it was when he learnt about the death of the victim (Iky).

“In Port Harcourt, they checked into one of the local hotels around where he was treated.

“Dr. Iky actually treated him with the knowledge that he was suffering Ebola infection. We learnt that he tried to protect himself and also tried to de-contaminate the room after the treatment with a substance and left.

“He fell sick days after and was rushed to Green Hart Hospital at along Evo Road, GRA phase 2, Port Harcourt.

Iky deceived the Doctor, he did not tell him about his contact with Ebola Victim.

“It was when news of his death came to Koye that he confessed that he travelled to Port Harcourt and was treated by Iky, that is how the information was discovered.”

Yusuf ALLI, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Prof. Rufai Alkali.

The group said: "The fulcrum of democracy is observance of law and order and respect of laid down rules and regulations. It is also the basis on which our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) commands a lot of respect and popular acceptance in this country.

"It is therefore for this that whenever we see the party being misled to act in contempt of its own spelt out rules and regulations, we as loyal members of the party would have to act quickly to abort subversion of the cherished democratic credentials of the PDP. "It is therefore for this reason that we write to draw the attention of the Screening Committee and other organs of the party’s leadership to the imminent swindling of the party by the Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, who is legally not qualified to vie for the governorship, or any other position for that matter, being a returnee who has not been granted a waiver."

The group insisted that Fintiri was still a card-carrying member of APC in the state.

It added: "Mr. Chairman, the said AhmaduUmaru, like many other officials of the last administration of the state, had decamped from our party, the PDP, and sub-

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scribed to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

"AhmaduUmaru had actually registered with the APC during its membership drive in February at his Kirshinga Unit of K/Wuro Ngayadi ward of Madagali Local Government, with the following details: NAME: UMORU AHMADU REG NO: 05009281; TEL: 08058536087; GENDER: MALE; AGE: 44 YRS "To our knowledge, AhmaduUmaru, having purportedly returned to the PDP, had not applied for waiver to contest for any position, thus he was never granted same by any organ of the party. He has also not returned his APC membership card to his Ward chairman, thus keeping one of his legs in that party.

"We are also aware that he has entered into a discussion with some APC elements to immediately dust up his membership card if he did not win the scheduled primaries of our party, the PDP. "By the provisions of Section 16 (2) and Section 16 (4) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as amended, AhmaduUmaru has no right to contest for any position under the party’s platform. It is therefore a misnomer that he is positioning himself as an aspirant for the position of the governor of Adamawa State.

"With these available and verifiable facts, we believe that the committee will do the right thing of disqualifying the said aspirant as he is not in any way qualified to contest for anything under the PDP platform, as at this time."

Varsity sensitises students in Benue

HEAD of its semester examination which commences on Monday, the Directorate of Health Services of the University Agriculture Makurdi, has launched a sensitisation campaign against the dreaded Ebola virus disease( EVD).

In his key note address at the occasion, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, urged the students to wage war against the Ebola virus through enlightenment and remain on high alert.

Kucha, represented by the Dean, College of Science, Prof. Rufus Shaato, said the sensitisation exercise, organised by the university in collaboration with

the Nigeria Medical Association ( NMA), Benue state branch, is part of the fight against Ebola.

He said it was also meant to complement the efforts already put in place by the states and the Federal Government and charged everyone to deepen the sensitisation campaign against the spread of the virus.

Kucha said: “The University community is indeed unique as its members are highly mobile and travel widely within and across the national boundaries and territories.

“It is important they are informed of the need to imbibe the culture of personal hygiene to prevent contracting Ebola virus.”

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

COMMENTARY

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Dissecting Ikimi’s bikini problem and his hatred for Tinubu NY one attempting to write Tom’s surname on a smartphone or tablet will find that the in-built auto-correct feature will attempt to write the surname as ‘Bikini’-that flimsy, not-meant-for-highoccasion clothing worn by fun seekers on beaches.

While this gives good cause to LaughOutLoud, it isn’t really Tom’s fault but it is very telling in an ironic way. Tom has come to symbolize that typical ‘not-tobe-taken-serious’ Nigerian politician whose value at any gathering is, at best, comic, and at worst, disruptive. This is why, when Tom recently felt compelled to write an article justifying why he decided to renounce his membership of the only credible opposition party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress (APC), many people were amused. This is because he didn’t have to offer any justification. No one was expecting any justification from him. After all, what is it to Nigerians that this Tom was decamping…once again…as usual and…as expected?

After reflecting on Tom’s flip flopping on the political stage over the years, his igno- • Tinubu minious role in the dark days of Nigeria’s political history and his childish rant in the letter announcing his departure from the APC, one could not but understand how, in the minds of discerning citizens and keen political watchers, the reputation of Tom as one not to be entrusted with the important and consequential was fully earned.

Given his antecedents as the ‘sell out’ Chairman of the National Republican Convention, Tom is rightly regarded in political circles as the fun seeking beach goer in a bikini. While I won’t advise any one to conjure up the picture of Tom in a bikini in one’s mind, the metaphor explains why Tom will never be trusted with any office of consequence. No one invites the bikini wearer to the high table.

Tom continues to complain to any one who would listen that he was barred by certain forces from emerging as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress. The truth is that Tom keeps missing the point and breaking one of the fundamental rules of life inscribed in the Temple of Apollo in Delphi: Man, know thyself. Tom should look in the mirror and limit his ambitions and his opinion of himself. Tom was not barred by ‘certain forces’. Tom was barred by the will of the members of the party. And the members were right. No Nigerian would have taken the party seriously with Tom as its Chairman.

Only very exceptional men can manage the inherent weakness of man in failing to know himself. Tom does not appear to be one of such exceptional men. Tom needs to begin to see himself as he is seen and as he is: •Tom cannot, even under the most twisted definition of the term, be counted as a true Nigerian Progressive. He is one of those of whom Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu spoke of in the Punch Newspapers of June 12, 2013: “Many who connived with the clique in those debasing and disenfranchising years are … today even masquerading as champions of democracy … Such people include those … who now today sit atop parties’ Boards of Trustees …

Some reign at the pinnacle of the legislative arm of government in Abuja. There are numerous others in the arms of government and even among the progressives, who ought really to search their conscience, if the survival, well-being and progress of Nigeria is truly in their agenda.”

•Tom cannot live down his role in the scuttling of the aspirations of Nigerians in 1993. For, if one is revolted by the duplicitous politicians who, while heading political parties connived with the military to annul and waste the democratic gains of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Elections, one of one’s prime objects of anger should be Tom. •If one is convinced-as are all independent observers and students of history-that most of our nation’s woes are the result of years of military misadventure in governance aided by self-serving and sycophantic civilian politicians, Tom should deservedly be one’s punching bag.

•Tom is one of the Nigerians who have helped the PDP design, oil and perfect its anti-democratic electoral fraud machine. One needs look no further than to Chief Tom Ikimi, the owner of the ‘Obasan-joooh….Obasan-jooh’ voice that, in 2003, manufactured the contraption that foisted even more years of PDP misrule on Nigeria. (In furtherance of that electoral fraud machine, the PDP stole the recent election in Ekiti and, even before formally declaring for the PDP, Tom is already helping that party spread the official lie by blaming APC’s loss in that state on the perception of APC’s leaders by the people of Ekiti.)

• Tom is one of the lead facilitators of that dark episode in Nigeria’s history when, 19 years ago, the respected playwright and activist, Mr. Ken Saro Wiwa and others were gruesomely murdered by the ruthless regime of General Sani Abacha which Tom enthusiastically, obediently and dutifully served as an adviser and foreign minister and who proudly and unapologetically defended gruesome murders and miscarriage of justice before the whole world.

•Tom is undoubtedly that imposing man who possesses fairly impressive oratory prowess. But it is largely for amusement as of those fun seekers in bikinis. However, people who know what is at stake should not be amused by it. We must begin to reject the culture and leaders that promote the use of empty words and phrases to disguise the issues or to disguise their own lack of understanding of the issues and lack of good will and intentions.

Tom, in his defection rant, claimed to have played a prominent role in the founding of the Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Progressives Congress and felt that entitled him to the Chairmanship of the APC. In light of the above, he should know that if he had been promoted ‘in his bikini’ to such a high office in the APC, which is Nigeria’s surest bet out of the doldrums, all progressives would have been part of those George Santayana referred to as “Those who do not remember history” and are, ipso facto, “condemned to repeat its mistakes.” If the military and the PDP would gladly treat Chief Tom Ikimi as a leader, the APC rightly cured itself of such malady. The APC must not been seen as suffer-

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• Tom Ikimi

n Edmund OTUDEKO n ing from collective amnesia.

The only problem with Tom’s rant and diatribe is his attempt to cast aspersions on otherwise principled politicians dedicated to the struggle to liberate Nigeria from the shackles of corrupt and inept leadership foisted on the nation by Tom’s natural family, the Peoples Democratic Party (“PDP”). In the same old, intellectually lazy fashion we have become accustomed to from PDP sympathizers and enemies of progressive politics, Tim joined the ranks of desperate detractors of the Asiwaju of Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in attempting to cast aspersions on his person and integrity.

It is a historical fact that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is one of the visionary behind, and one of the principal architects involved in, the formation of the All Progressives Congress. It was the Asiwaju’s personal leadership that led the now-defunct Action Congress of Nigeria to unanimously support the vision to cast lot with the APC and it was his (and few others’) tireless and selfless investment of time and resources that built the APC into the formidable alternative party that it now is.

Long before the formation of the APC, the Asiwaju has since cemented his reputation as the leader of a new brand of politics and activism in Nigeria. The politics that vigorously promote the welfare of the electorate and activism that courageously and doggedly pursues the enthronement of the rule of law and the pursuit of business as unusual for the sake of the greater good.

In his first Inaugural Address as the Governor of Lagos State, he famously said, “As flag-bearers, we are not unmindful of the heavy burden and responsibility that we carry. We are not unmindful of the huge expectations of our people, young and old, man and woman, able and disabled. Nor are we unmindful of the misery and poverty that the generality of our people have had to endure almost forty years after Independence. … Our goal, as the Prophet of old commands, is to lighten the burden of our people, alleviating poverty by providing jobs for our youths, houses, secure homes, water, good roads and creating efficient mass transportation system, industrial development and providing life more abundant for our people.”

And long before his election into executive office, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu played key roles in Nigerian politics. He was elected to the Senate from Lagos West constituency with the highest votes in the country in the short-lived Third Republic. In the Senate he was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Currency and Appropriations. In that capacity, he initiated a far-reaching probe of the finances of the National Assembly that set him at loggerheads with the legislative bureaucracy and the military regime at the helm of affairs at the time.

Asiwaju was also at the forefront of Chief MKO Abiola’s campaign for presidency in 1993. When the June 12, 1993 election, described as the freest and fairest in the country’s history was annulled, he emerged as one of the fiercest opponents of the annulment. As the arrowhead of the struggle to actualize Abiola’s mandate, the military junta reached out to him severally to jump ship and come over to their side. He was offered juicy appointments and contracts to no avail. He refused to betray his principled commitment to the sanctity of a free and fair election. Exasperated by Tinubu’s intransigence, the military viciously went after him. He was detained. His house was fire-bombed. He eventually had to flee the country for his dear life. His wife, now Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her children had to be smuggled out into exile. Tinubu, while in exile remained steadfast in his commitment to the prodemocracy struggle, making great personal and financial sacrifices towards this effort. A pseudo democrat would rather enjoy the transient benefits of economic and political power rather than risk his life fighting for truth and justice but not Tinubu who remained steadfast.

It is in the light of the Asiwaju’s indisputable record of service and sterling leadership that the attempts by some elements in and outside the APC to reduce the Asiwaju’s influence in the party raise red flags for many Nigerians who have anchored their hope of Nigerian redemption on the APC. Do people like Tom think that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s claim to leadership is simply that he was once elected to the Senate of the Federal Republic or that he performed as one of the most conscientious Governors of Lagos State in recent years? No! It is because of his profile in courage! It is because of his sacrifice for the greater good in good times and bad times. Who was the rallying point and strategic voice for all the opposition figures in the dark days following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections? Who was in the forefront of the global assault on the regime of General Sani Abacha? Who was the governor that redefined governance after years of mismanagement by the military? Who was the governor with the courage and vision to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to establish the fiscal rights of States in the

Federation? Who is the politician with acumen and endurance to organize the political opposition that our democracy surely needs to survive? It is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Thus, to reduce the influence of such a leader or to discount the value of his guidance is the recipe for doom. The people perish when they lack vision, so the holy writ says. In the same way, the APC will lose its way if it forsakes the counsel, leadership and vision of its founders and, in particular, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Asiwaju has always sided with the aspirations of the people of Nigeria and his vision is, first, of leadership that is not about the spoils of office or ethnic loyalties but about ideas. The prime idea being that democratic governance must be transparently fair and must deliver tangible benefits to the people.

Also, the Asiwaju’s vision is of the promotion of leaders whose democratic credentials are unimpeachable, he himself having sacrificed greatly both during the struggle for the enthronement of democracy and now during this struggle for the enthronement of good governance. In the dark days of the June 12 struggle, was it not the Asiwaju who sacrificed greatly to mobilise and support the forces of democratic governance? Was it not the Asiwaju who successfully led the defence of the Constitution and the rights of states against an imperial presidency? Was he not the one who led democratic forces to ward off an onslaught of the might of the humongous and corruptly oiled political machinery of the PDP in the desperate effort to ‘capture’ the states of the South West? Was it not during his leadership that the winning electoral strategies that restored progressivism to most parts of the South West were successfully formulated and implemented?

Furthermore, the Asiwaju’s vision for the APC is of the elevation to leadership of persons who are not men of mere words but men who have toiled in office for the sake of the people and who have performed so exceptionally well that they can raise their heads up high and walk confidently among the people of this country. The Asiwaju himself was a popular Governor of the cosmopolitan state of Lagos for 8 years. It was the Asiwaju’s administration in Lagos that in 2001 became, perhaps, the first state administration to record 90% budget performance. In fact, for his excellent performance as the Executive Governor of Lagos State of Nigeria (1999 – 2007), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu received several awards. These include Best Governor in Nigeria for Y2000 by the NigerianBelgian Chamber of Commerce; Y2002 Best Practices Prize in Improving the Living Environment, awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works and the UN Habitat Group; and the Y2000 Best Computerized Government in Nigeria Award by the Computer Association of Nigeria.

In the Asiwaju’s vision, the APC should be a party of resolute leaders who are in the forefront of the fight for justice, for good governance, for the integrity of the ballot box, for real development and for change in a corrupt and dysfunctional polity. It should be a party of leaders who are echoing the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln who himself paid the supreme sacrifice in his leadership of his people by dedicating themselves to the unfinished work which heroes in the past have thus far so nobly advanced. The APC of the Asiwaju’s vision should be a party of leaders dedicated to the great task remaining before us: that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish.

The APC will also do well to take advantage of the Asiwaju’s wide, varied and rich experience of Nigeria. He has been priviledged to know Nigeria well from the perspective of an ordinary citizen living in a country struggling with developmental issues and every day infrastructural problems; from the perspective of a Nigerian living in the diaspora; from the perspective of a citizen making his first foray into the murky waters of politics; from the perspective of an activist-politician co-leading the often very dangerous struggle against military dictatorship; from the perspective of a public servant twice elected to serve as the governor of the largest, richest and most cosmopolitan state in Nigeria; and from the perspective of a political leader now seeking to put democracy on firmer footing by organizing a viable, coherent, and alternative political leadership for Nigeria For the umpteenth time, people like Tom must surely be reminded that it is intellectually lazy to capitalize on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s relationship with the Managing Director of Oando Plc to create ridiculous conspiracy theories. Surely, the deal between Oando Plc and Conoco Phillips is one scrutinized by regulators in Nigeria, the United States and South Africa. To suggest that it was a front for some shady deal is lazy and also mischievous, uninformed and rash.

Tom referred to the number of defectors from the APC to justify his own defection. But he should be reminded that the struggle of the opposition is not one that can be endured by all. It is a natural phenomenon for the chaff to be separated from the grain. The wheel of the formidable machine of progressivism will continue to roll undeterred. When the battle is finally ended and the roll is called, we know those whose names will be missing.

Even the most ardent sympathizer and fan of the PDP or President Goodluck Jonathan now agrees that Nigeria is in desperate need of a breath of fresh air, longing for an influx of air that is not stale or smelly, a portion of air that is not "contaminated" with unpleasant people or situations and demanding a new, fresh, and imaginative approach to the Nigerian Project. Gladly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has, thanks to the vision of courage of selfless and indefatigable progressives, offered longsuffering Nigerians an alternative to the clueless and debilitating failed leadership offered the nation by the PDP over the last 15 years.

And as the year of battle draws close, there may be more defections but there also will be more people enlisting for the struggle.

But even as the APC is seeking the help of all and sundry to defeat the cancerous monster that is the PDP, only men of sterling characters and reputation may apply. Beach goers and large men in Bikinis may keep amusing themselves.

THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

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SPORT EXTRA

FIFA disowns Giwa-led NFF

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ORLD football governing body, FIFA, has ruled as null and void the election that brought in Christopher Giwa as the new president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and has given a deadline till midnight on Monday, 1 September for him to vacate the office.

This order was contained in a letter addressed to the NFF general secretary, Musa Amadu on Friday, August 29 and signed by its secretary general, Jerome Valcke, FIFA warned that failure to adhere to the directive could lead to sanction which may include suspension of the NFF. Two factions had emerged during the General Assembly of the NFF held last Tuesday in Abuja, with one faction, holding election, where the owner of Giwa FC, Chris Giwa was declared the new President of the NFF, while another faction, consisting 40 of the 44 delegates, held their own Congress, where they nullified the decisions reached at the earlier Congress and fixed elections for September 4 in Calabar, the Cross Rivers State.

FIFA now stated that they only considered the September 4 elections valid, and would not recognize the President elected by the ‘socalled elective general assembly’.

“Finally, we have learnt that the persons who claim to

•Gives Monday deadline to vacate office

By Akeem Lawal

have been elected during the so-called ‘elective general assembly’ have come to the NFF offices claiming to be the legitimate president and members of the NFF. It also appears that the Ministry of Sports has recognised them.

“As a consequence, we will not recognise the outcome of the above mentioned

elections and should there still be persons claiming to have been elected and occupying the NFF offices at midnight on Monday 1 September 2014, we will bring the case to the appropriate FIFA body for sanctions, which may include the suspension of the NFF. “We ask you to inform all parties concerned accordingly and we thank you in advance for keeping us informed of any developments in the

situation. In particular, we would like you to confirm that the date of 4 September 2014 will be met because the timing seems very short,” the statement read.

It could be recalled that Nigeria only recently saw FIFA lift its suspension on its football federation on July 18 after Aminu Maigari was impeached in a move the world football governing body frowned at.

•NFF president, Christopher Giwa (right) and Obinna Ogba taking oath of office.

Our position will convince FIFA—Giwa

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RESIDENT of Nigeria Football Federation, Ambassador Chris Giwa has allayed the fears of Nigerians over a letter from world football –governing body, FIFA of Friday, 29th August, 2014, saying that the NFF will relay a detailed and convincing response to the world body on Monday morning.

“We have seen the letter from FIFA and digested the full content of it. Nothing has changed, as far as we are concerned. We will present our position to FIFA by Monday

morning and they will be convinced beyond any reasonable doubt.

“We call on Nigerians not to panic. The NFF is not intimidated and we do not expect any sanction because we have done the appropriate thing. For us, it is not about noise -making. FIFA has admitted in its letter that the General Assembly is the highest decision –making body of any association/federation. That is perfect,” Giwa noted.

Giwa recalled that the General Assembly of Nigeria Football Federation had at the

69th meeting on Thursday, 28th November, 2013 decided that elective Congress would take place on 26th August, 2014 “If FIFA admits that the General Assembly is the highest decision –making body, and the highest decision –making resolved at their meeting in 2013 that elections would take place on 26th August, 2013, no other body can change that decision. Certainly, the NFF Executive Committee is not qualified to change that decision.

“FIFA talked about some persons walking away from

the Congress as a result of the fact that some persons were arrested. We were not aware of that. The Congress went ahead and moved a motion to hold elections same day, in accordance to the decision of General Assembly of November 28, 2013, and the motion was seconded and there was no counter motion.

“There is absolutely nothing to fear. Our response is ready.

FIFA will receive the position of the Federation and will be convinced that elections have, indeed, taken place,” Giwa concluded.

The way we are going...

•Continued from page 8

Is it not to our collective shame that the Cameroonian troops did not only disarm 480 Nigerian soldiers who jauntily wandered into their territory in a tragicomic ‘tactical manoeuvre’ but also faced the insurgents in a battle that left 27 dead with the seizure of heavy weapons and destruction of the militants’ vehicles? So, our men were so badly battered by the insurgents that the Cameroonian troops had to ‘escort’ them back home? Is that how they plan to win this war?

When Borno State Governor, KashimShettima, pleaded with the Federal Government to boost the military with state-of-the-art equipment to enable it face the threat posed by the Boko Haram insurgents who appeared to be better equipped, he was shouted down and called names for daring to cast aspersion on the preparedness of our military to live up to the expectations of modern warfare. They said his outburst, which apparently came out of his first-hand experience as the governor in a state that is mostly affected by the activities of the militants, could undermine the efforts of the military and the morale of the combatants. However, recent events seem to have vindicated Shettima as the insurgents have become emboldened by their superior firepower that they now take over towns and villages, dethrone traditional rulers and install their own laws and norms with cold-blooded brazenness that is better imagined than experienced.

Now, what would the authorities say when one their own, the acting Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has confirmed that the country continues to suffer heavy casualties in the security forces because of the sophisticated weaponry in the hands of the sect members.

Admitting that the Nigerian security forces are incapacitated, Abba lamented: “It was not the first time

the Academy (in Gwoza) would be attacked but our policemen had always repelled them. This time around, they came with armoured vehicles with sophisticated equipment mounted on them. They also came in large numbers. As at today, 27 policemen have not returned but we have located them. We are doing everything to bring them back safely.”

If we continue this endless movement without motion, we would still be on this same cheerless track for many years to come. We have counted 136 days since the Chibok girls were abducted and we are still counting. We have lost track of when some girls were abducted in Yobe State without any trace. We’ve heard about the serial abduction of young men and women from several locations in the North-East and there has not been a single story of a daring rescue. Now, 27 policemen have been abducted from their training school and Abba tells us they have been located and everything is being done to bring them back safely. If wishes were horses even the dim-witted would hike a ride. Does Abba’s statement sound like a typical refrain with the omen of hope turning into hopelessness? Did they not tell us that they have located the Chibok girls some months back? Didn’t they promise to bring them back safely to their homes? And did they not say the enemies have been caged within the confines of Sambisa Forest? Yet insurgents are taking more towns unchecked and declaring a Caliphate of darkness. So, where do this large number of ravaging insurgents spring from?

How long are we going to live with indifferent and insensitive officials in high places as well as their longpracticed deceit of hiding the truth with tissues of barefaced lies as the rot deepens?

Wanted:a neutral arbiter •Continued from back page have taken anything away from Danagogo if he told the DSS operatives to free Maigari and Chris Green to witness the Chida Hotel session like he did for Musa. Or could it be because Musa was his employee?

That we have two factions in the NFF is laughable just as it puts a lie to all that transpired at the truce meeting with Anyim on Saturday. If Danagogo must wash his hands of this mess, he should immediately nullify the election that produced those masquerading as NFF helmsmen and ensure that proper elections are held on September 4. I don’t need to be a seer to know that FIFA won’t relate with those elected at Chida Hotel.

Let me remind Danagogo that FIFA sends its representatives to observe what happens in elections of members into its affiliate bodies. No one from FIFA witnessed the Chida Hotel joke. It has also been widely reported that 40 of the 44 people who ought to form the Congress sat out of the mess, insisting that the tenets of the Statutes should be followed to the letter. Where did they get the figures to justify the election, if 40 people were absent? Is it not true that clips of the session is everywhere in the social media showing the empty hall?

Part of the complaints by everyone was the unprofessional manner in which the electoral body sold forms to the contestants. It is a shame that the electoral body could clear a candidate who bought forms for VicePresident, yet submitted such for the presidential bid. Can one form be used to contest two elections? Those who accused the electoral body of bias pointed to the fact that with the way the forms were sold to contestants, only one candidate would emerge to run for president. Sir, it is not in your interest that what was predicted came to pass.

Danagogo sir, I know you don’t want FIFA to slam Nigeria with a ban. In 2006, two congresses held in Kano and Abuja. Both were cancelled by FIFA. A fresh exercise was conducted by the world governing body in Abuja, which produced Sani Lulu as president.

As a lawyer, Danagogo ought to have known that what happened where Maigari was impeached, dismissed and asked to walk out of the board meeting didn’t occur in the eyes of FIFA, once the decision was rescinded. To say, therefore, that Maigari’s letter could be held against him leaves much to be desired. If Maigari’s letter was the fallout of the meeting with Anyim, Tuesday wasn’t the best time to flaunt that letter. Besides, a copy of Maigari’s letter showed where a word was erased. It was tampered with and won’t be accepted anywhere if Maigari produces the original copy of what he signed. I don’t want to believe that is the document that Danagogo has with him.

Is it not interesting that the vice president who anchored the campaign to impeach Maigari is now saying that what happened in Chida Hotel wasn’t an election? Is he saying the process was illegal because he was schemed out?

Nobody can fault President Goodluck Jonathan’s contributions to sports. Jonathan’s era marks a rebirth of our sports. His tenure has seen Nigeria excel in many international sports competitions. This government has achieved the most in sports than any other government.

Therefore, Danagogo must move fast to truly reconcile the warring factions by sticking to what was agreed with Anyim.

FIFA’s intervention in the NFF crises ought to have reminded Danagogo that he should fast-track the abrogation of Decree 101.

Again sir, I understand your problem of trying to resolve the issues. But your solutions must conform to international best practices.

You have inadvertently tied the hands of the new NFF board with your decision to ask Stephen Keshi to continue with the Super Eagles job. If Keshi takes the Eagles through the two games within four days and Nigeria fails (God forbid) to grab the six points at stake, who do we blame? Would we have any basis to negotiate below the N15 million monthly pay that Keshi is asking for, if he secures the six points on this temporary arrangement?

Coaches eager to continue with their jobs don’t abandon the ship and start to ridicule their employers in the international media. Nobody begs coaches to continue with their jobs.

Nigeria’s game against Congo is next Saturday and I dare say that we are giving Keshi an alibi, if we don’t get the desired results against Congo. I only hope FIFA doesn’t ban us before then. Nigeria has competent coaches to handle the Eagles in the interim. Keshi’s contract details must be settled before he sits on the bench on Saturday and not after.

N15 million a month salary is ridiculous. Even N10 million is outrageous in Nigeria. I just hope that such salaries are not tax-free for a man who earns $20,000 for matches won and $10,000 for games drawn. We must not encourage NFF to pay more than N5 million for any coach. Coaches who tell us to our faces that they have other suitors elsewhere should be allowed to go. Nigeria won’t cease being a nation if we fail to qualify for the next World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations. No. We cannot be paying the coaches, players and officials match winning bonuses yet they hold us hostage in foreign land, demanding appearance fees for the World Cup. Is anyone surprised that the NFF is perpetually broke and unable to foot its bills?

Even before FIFA releases our share of the 2014 World Cup, our coaches and players have set us back by $3.815 million which was paid to them as appearance fees. Others have not received the fees; only Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon - all African nations - have, what a pity.

THE NATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

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TOMORROWPUNCHLINE IN THE NATION

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL.9, NO. 2954

At this point, it is perhaps time for me to get to what “transformational grammar” is and how my encounter with it in Professor Banjo’s class eventually proved very fateful in my intellectual development —Biodun Jeyifo

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HIEF Tom Ikimi, who is the latest mani festation of the virus of political va grancy in Nigeria, deserves commendation for at least rigorously, meticulously and logically attempting to justify and rationalise his decision to quit the All Progressives Congress (APC). His treatise, titled 'My Reflections', is no doubt a valuable document for students of Nigerian politics.

Of course, like all analysts and historians, he tells his story from his own perspective based on certain assumptions, facts and values that others may consider biased, selective, selfserving and jaundiced. But that is no sin.

After all, others can also write their own version of history in which they are puritans, saints and principled heroes no matter the depth of their ideological and moral bankruptcy. Ikimi is a rebel with a grouse. His pain is that he was prevented from emerging as National Chairman of an APC that he believes he worked harder than any other person to bring into being.

Chief Ikimi writes with passion about his commitment and sacrifice towards constructing an alternative political platform to challenge the PDP for power. His vision is that of a Nigeria in which power oscillates periodically between two dominant parties through the ballot box. But what would be the ideological content of such political platforms?

Would power simply rotate between the two alternate parties for its own sake? Should the APC seek to replace the PDP only to continue with the same bankrupt neo-liberal and excessively centrist political and economic policies that have spelled disaster for Nigeria since 1999? Ideology hardly features in Ikimi's lengthy treatise on party construction.

He thus does not see the irony when he writes that "It is not a coincidence to me that the prominent members of APC targeted by Bola Tinubu such as Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, Senator Ali Modu Sherrif and myself as former NRC member are those perceived as conservatives". Pray, what are professed conservatives doing in a supposedly progressive party? As the APC Chairman, Chief OdigieOyegun rightly noted as regards the on-going party defections and counter defections, "What is happening really is that the PDP and APC are being purified. All the birds that ought to flock together are beginning to fly together. That is a good thing for the country; it is good for the APC and the PDP".

Unfortunately, the rigour and quality of Ikimi's analysis is blunted by his obsessive preoccupation with the person of Tinubu. As far as Ikimi is concerned, Tinubu is the alpha and omega of his woes in the APC. Adopting crude 'bolekaja' tactics, he employs rumour, innuendo, unproven insinuations and even gossip in an attempt to savage Tinubu's reputation. For instance, he asserts that Tinubu boasts that he is the sole financier of the APC. He does not tell us where and to whom such claims were made. In any

Ikimi, Tinubu and APC

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Given his years of experience in politics and the tireless efforts he contributed to the merger that resulted in the APC, Ikimi should look beyond Tinubu for his failure to emerge as the party's national chairman. It is not impossible that he is being haunted by the moral burden of his political past

•Ikimi case, Tinubu has been known to have given strong financial support to whatever political causes he believes in right from the prodemocracy struggle that resulted in the present political dispensation. Wondering about the source of Tinubu's wealth, Ikimi alludes to "whispers in the inner circles of the party" that "Tinubu is the recipient and dispenser of bags and bags of party funds" as well as "the beneficiary of most of the lucrative contracts in all the ACN states without exception". The respected chief does not give a scintilla of concrete evidence to support these insinuations. In any case, Ikimi is himself a man of immense wealth and there is no evidence that his riches "derive from any stupendous inheritance, ancient or modern".

Utilising one's financial resources to further set political objectives is no sin. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was able to found and run viable political parties in the first and second republics as well establish as the country's oldest private newspaper in the country because he had the means to do so. This is why the vindictive Coker Commission of Enquiry accused

’

him of building a political empire around himself based on financial wealth - the same kind of allegation levelled against Tinubu today. When the defunct National Concord newspaper mischievously published that Awolowo owned 360 plots of land in Maroko in 1983, the sage famously noted that "if a poor man is fighting for the poor, he is accused of being jealous of the rich and if a rich man fights for the poor, he is asked to first of all go and commit class suicide!" He wondered how he could have sustained his political struggles if did not have a solid financial base.

MKO Abiola's wealth was a key factor in enabling him to build the national political network responsible for his decisive victory in the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

According to Ikimi, Tinubu boasts that "he has control of all the votes from South West Nigeria". We are not told where or when such an absurd claim was or to whom. Yes, Tinubu and the tendency he symbolises has become a major force in the politics of the South West.

No one familiar with the politics of the Yoruba will ever claim that he is the custodian of "all the votes" of such a proud and

politically sophisticated people. Ikimi apparently underrates Tinubu's intelligence. There is a major contradiction that runs through Ikimi's otherwise rigorous analysis. On the one hand, he creates a superhuman image of a Tinubu who dominates the APC and can manipulate and steer the party in any direction he wants for his selfish interest. On the other hand, he brilliantly paints the picture of the APC as an emergent dynamic party with contending and countervailing interests that are simply too volatile and unpredictable for one man to dominate.

Some of the contending forces at play within the APC, as rightly noted by Ikimi include regional caucuses, legislative caucuses, the influential governors' forum as well as caucuses built around such powerful individual politicians like General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Given the vitality and vibrancy of these interests, it is impossible, for instance, for one person or tendency to unilaterally determine the colouration of the party's presidential ticket.

The final decision will be the outcome of intricate and delicate negotiations, balancing, compromises and trade- offs. At the end of the day the party's saving grace will be transparent, free and fair primaries conducted in strict fidelity to the party constitution. Going

by Ikimi's own logic, for instance, Tinubu would have wanted Chief Bisi Akande to continue as National Chairman because of his alleged preference for a "weak national leadership" that could be easily manipulated.

At the end of the day, Ikimi writes, Tinubu and others had to reach a compromise that resulted in the emergence of the current APC leadership. That is the beauty of democracy.

It completely makes nonsense of Ikimi's attempt to portray the APC as a one-man party.

Ikimi is unhappy that Tinubu "parades himself as party leader and leader of opposition".

That Tinubu is a notable leader of the APC and has been at the forefront of political opposition since 1999 is beyond dispute. It is impossible for Ikimi to re-write history. His insinuation that Chief Bisi Akande and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun are 'weak' leaders vulnerable to external manipulation is completely misguided. A core and unrepentant Awoist, Akande is as principled and spartanly disciplined as they come. His perceived rigidity on principles is a major reason why he lost the 2003 governorship election in Osun despite his sterling performance in office. Ace columnist, Professor Olatunji Dare, who is not flippant with praise, has attested to Oyegun's character, competence and ability. Given his years of experience in politics and the tireless efforts he contributed to the merger that resulted in the APC, Ikimi should look beyond Tinubu for his failure to emerge as the party's national chairman. It is not impossible that he is being haunted by the moral burden of his political past.

Ade Ojeikere on Saturday talk2adeojeikere@yahoo.com

Wanted: a neutral arbiter

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HIS is my most difficult weekly column.

Why? Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo’s media man is a colleague.

I have known Patrick Omorodion since our high school days at the Advance College, Igueben in 1979.

My apologises, Omorodion. He may be feeling that I should have discussed these issues with him instead of writing a column on his boss. But this is a national issue and I feel strongly that Danagogo hasn’t been the neutral arbiter as his exalted office demands.

Sir, the biggest public relations tool that Nigeria has is sports. The sports industry has redefined people’s perception of our country.

Soccer crazy Nigerians around the world didn’t sleep on Monday morning to watch our gallant girls fight the Germans to a standstill. Images and complimentary comments from our girls litter the media space at a time the government is pumping billions into fighting the Ebola scourge.

Nigerians hug themselves only when they celebrate the nation’s success as they ignore

ethnic or religious inclinations.

Besides, it is sad that those who should work with the kangaroo NFF board are pulling out, knowing the implications with FIFA. May I ask the minister what his duties would be if the domestic game is destroyed by this confusion? What would the players, coaches and those ancillary workers in the clubs be doing now that the league matches have been halted? How do these board members hope to work with others, most of who are aggrieved with the way the election was conducted to openly favour those on the board? Is it not ridiculous that Segun Odegbami can be denied a right to contest on frivolous grounds of endorsement of his papers? A system that can so brazenly reject Odegbami for all that he represents in our soccer today should never be allowed to organise our game.

I first met Danagogo at an interactive session in Lagos in May. Some of the questions I asked then are chiefly responsible for the crises in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). I misread Danagogo’s stoic silence then to mean that he was studying

the situation. With what has transpired since that interactive session, I shudder to ask if Danagogo enjoys what is happening. Is he looking at the bigger picture?

Sitting in my office on Tuesday night, Channels television’s crew caught Danagogo live discussing with an unknown caller on telephone. Danagogo didn’t know that he was being recorded. His utterances told the story of why the crises won’t abate. Channels television showed us clips of the virtually empty conference room, with very few stakeholders. The minister ought to have asked what the problem was. At what time did Danagogo leave Chida Hotel? Was it after the purported Congress?

Even with the apparent confusion on the ground, which was adequately covered in the international media, Danagogo told his listener in the telephone conversation that all was well and that he had just arrived in Chida Hotel, Abuja to declare the ceremony open.

I was shocked when I saw him arrive with NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu for the Chida session. I thought that at the truce

meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim that the congress would be without an election. I was miffed when it dawned on me that Danagogo had secured Amadu’s release from the DSS custody as part of the ploy to legitimise the Chida charade.

Danagogo ought to have known, with the reversal of Aminu Maigari’s impeachment by the NFF board, that only Maigari can convoke a Congress, more so when FIFA’s letter categorically directed that Maigari should take charge of the Congress.

Since the sham at Chida, I have waited patiently to hear Danagogo’s pronouncement that what was done wasn’t in sync with what was agreed with the Secretary to the Government. If what happened at Chida Hotel was just a Congress, Danagogo’s flaunting of Maigari’s resignation letter would have been justified.

In defending his decision to leak Maigari’s letter to the public, Danagogo stated that he waited until August 26, when the body’s tenure ended, to release the August 12 resignation letter because he didn’t want to rock the boat. Why didn’t the minister wait until the next election as decided with Anyim before releasing the letter? It also would not

•Continued on Page 63

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20

CRIME

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Three workers in court for stealing n Stories by Rukayat JIMOH n HREE employees of Worldwide Commercial Venture Limited, Lagos, were brought before an Ebuta Metta Magistrate’s court for allegedly stealing property worth over N6 million belonging to the company.

The accused persons are Endurance Ebiyebo, 38; Idowu Afolabi, 31, and Blessing Imoudu, 28.

They are arraigned on a three- count charge, bordering on conspiracy and stealing, preferred against them by the police. They pleaded not guilty.

The Police prosecutor, Corporal Cyriacus Osuji, told the court that the defendants conspired with others still at large, to commit the offence on February, 2013 and July 2014, at No 13, Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Mushin, Lagos State.

Osuji said that the defendants stole seven cartons of Mixtard 10ml valued at N6,300,000.00. He added that the offence contravenes Section 285(5) (F) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

The presiding magistrate, Mrs E.B Daodu, granted them bail in the sum of N1m each and one surety each.

The magistrate further adjourned the matter till October 10 for trial.

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THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

N Ebute Metta Chief Magistrate's Court has sent a 32- year- old man, Johnson Elesho, to prison custody for allegedly killing a 25- year-old man, Suleimon Abdullahi.

Elesho, who works as security guard in the estate, allegedly killed Abdullahi with a locally made single barrel gun. The incident happened about 6pm on August 3, 2014, at Marplewood Estate Oko- Oba, Agege, Lagos.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Nwosu George, told the court that the defendant has committed an act which contradicts Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

The presiding magistrate, Abolarinwa Olatunbosun, ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody pending a legal advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP). He has adjourned the matter till October 9, 2014.

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Man held for policeman’s death n Uja EMMANUEL, Makurdi n EN of the Benue State Police Command have arrested one James, a suspected member of the gang who allegedly killed a policeman, Sergeant Bawa Ekoja.

The command's spokesman, Mr. Daniel Ezeala, who disclosed this in a telephone interview with newsmen, said the deceased policeman was returning home after the close of work when the assailants in an ash colour Toyota Camry car shot him dead.

He said:” Seargent Ekoja was riding on a motorcycle when the gunmen shot him. He died instantly and his body has been deposited in the morgue at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Makurdi.

“Our men would not rest on their oars until other criminals are apprehended and made to face the wrath of the law,” he added.

It would be recalled that Governor Gabriel Suswam had last week raised the alarm over the spate of insecurity •The suspect occasioned by the

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olukunle87@yahoo.com

Abia Police arrest 22 robbery suspects HE Abia State Commissioner of Police, Adamu Ibrahim, has paraded 22 suspected armed robbery suspects who were arrested at various points in the state.

Speaking in Umuahia while parading the suspects, Ibrahim said that his men responded to a distress call from one Eze Stephen of Okpuala village Ntigha in Isiala Ngwa North council area that youths from his village saw one Obumneme Eze from Orota Lokpaukwu with a stolen goat and motorcycle.

Ibrahim said the suspect was caught while negotiating for the sale of the motorcycle. “The motorcycle and goat were suspected to have been stolen and we are investigating the case”.

The Abia police boss said that his men on stop and search operation at Mba village along Umuikaa/Omoba road in Isiala Ngwa South council area intercepted one Justice Onyebuchi a native of Amayi Umuokwu.

“On searching his bag, my men discovered one locally made single barrel short gun and two live cartridges concealed in a big loaf of bread, including a wallet containing N3,000, one Diamond Bank ATM card and one MTN SIM card. We are after members of his men who are on the run.

“Also, my men on night patrol responded to a dis-

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...remands suspect for alleged killing of 25-yr-old

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OTHER STORIES

Court sends murder suspect to prison N Ebute Metta Magistrate's Court has ordered the remand of a 26- year- old man, Azeez Ibrahim for allegedly killing a 22- year- old woman, Adebusayo Ogunkoya.

He was alleged to have killed Adebusayo with a pump action gun on July 6 at about 2.30 pm at Mambila Hotel, Owutu, Ikorodu , a suburb of Lagos.

The police prosecutor pleaded with the court to remand Ibrahim in prison custody pending a legal advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

The presiding magistrate, E.O Ogunkanmi, granted the prosecutor’s prayer and ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody pending a legal advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).He later adjourned the matter till September 29, 2014.

THE NATION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014

•Some of the paraded suspects

and claimed that he was living at his father’s house on Majuola Street, Baale Bus stop, Lagos.

A police source said the five suspects were armed with sharp machetes when they were arrested on August 14 at Oworonsoki area of Lagos after they had attacked a woman at her workshop and held her hostage, threatening to kill her with machete if she failed to release the thousands of naira in her possession as well as her cell phone and the recharge cards meant for sale. The suspects were said to have carted away recharge cards worth N7,000 as well as other valuables.

The source also revealed that two of the suspects were ex-convicts who had just been released from prisons. They claimed to have gone into armed robbery because they had no money to feed or start a trade with which they could take care of their families. It revealed how the gang on at about 6 am on August 14 confronted a man whose car broke down on the Third Mainland Bridge and robbed him of his two cell phones, two ATM cards and a sum of N9,000. The source said the suspects were arrested at Oshodi where they had gone to sell the phones.

The suspects claimed that they had no guns and that they operated with machetes in order not to draw the attention of law enforcement agents and because they had not plan to kill their victims except the victim becomes a threat by resisting or attacking them with dangerous weapons. They also said they used machetes so that the police and members of the public would not suspect them whenever they were going on an operation. According to the source their major targets were mobile phones, handbags, wallets, laptops and cash. They also targeted the ATM cards of their victims.

Confessing his role in the gang when he spoke with our correspondent, Arokoyo said he spent three years and two weeks in prison at Kirikiri.

He said: “On August 8, 2009, I was arrested for armed robbery and I spent three

years and two weeks in prison. I was first sent to minimum prison, but while in prison, I committed robbery again, hence they transferred me from minimum to maximum prison in Kirikiri. The latter offence was greater than the former, and the court sentenced me accordingly. At Kirikiri, inmates are located according to the level of their offences, hence they had to transfer me to the new maximum prison.”

Sule a.k.a. Downtown said: “I was living with my elder sister in Ifako, Gbagada area of Lagos State after learning how to repair car air conditioners because I could not afford to rent a room. Initially, I was doing well because at least I returned home with between N500 and N700, depending on how many cars I worked on.

“My trouble started when I met Yinka at an Indian hemp joint in Gbagada area where I went on break. He told me that he was making at least N3,000 daily without much stress and wondered why I was wasting precious time repairing car air conditioners and my master would take 90 per cent of the money. He lured me to join his gang by offering me N1,000 to eat and smoke Indian hemp when I had no penny on me.

“The following day, being a Thursday, we went to Ifako Expressway at about 6 pm, armed with machetes. Within a few

•Some of the suspects

minutes, we saw a man in a traffic jam and approached him. We asked him to stop and showed him our machetes and he complied. We immediately ordered him to drop his phones or we would cut off his head and run away with it. The man became afraid and dropped his two phones.

“We undertook another operation around the same Ifako area two months ago. A motorist slowed down on the expressway because of heavy traffic and we approached him. We asked him to drop his phones, wallets and some cash but he rebuffed us. We hit the back of his head with a spanner and he fainted. We collected his phones, a wallet containing N23,000 and his car key and ran away.

“Our third operation was an attack on a man who was urinating by the side of the expressway. We approached the man and acted like KAI (Kick Against Indiscipline) men. We told the man that he was under arrest.

“We slapped him and threatened to drag him to our nearby office. When we notice that the man was afraid, we seized his wallet, Nokia phone and the laptop in the bag he was carrying, and the sum of N30,000 in his pocket. He only had N1,500 in his wallet. We also collected his shoes.

It was when we ran away that he realised that we were armed robbers on the high-

n Kunle AKINRINADE n

n Ugochukwu UGOJI-EKE, Umuahia n tress call that some thieves had broken into a shop at No 2, Lagos Street, Umuahia,and stole valuable items. During the operation, my men arrested eight suspected armed robbers inside a Mitsubishi L300 bus with registration number APR 467 XA, where they pretended to be sleeping at Eket Street, Umuahia. The suspects are, Obinna Dike; Chibueze Amaobi; Elijah Nwosu; Chiehiura Ahiwe; Promise Anyalewechi; Sule Ali; Nkwachukwu Ihejirika andChimezie Peter”.

Ibrahim also said policemen on routine patrol at Umuagu village in Obingwa council area of the state arrested one Chijiokee Gabriel, 32, and Ibezim Ogbonna, 25, for their complicity in robbery and kidnapping activities.

He said that the first suspect, Gabriel, on interrogation confessed to his involvement in violent crimes in the past, alongside some of his gang members who include Ugonna Nwokeleme alias Agbaja, Deenwa and others.

“The suspects had confessed to taking part in the kidnap of a woman in January this year near a manufacturing company in Aba, adding that Gabriel got a motorcycle from Ugonna as his own share of the ransom.”

‘I was moved from minimum to maximum prison after committing another crime in Kirikiri’ Continued from page 19

Team of policemen arrested for tanker driver’s death

way. He was shouting thief! thief! but we managed to run very far.

“The fourth was a woman who was making a call by the expressway. We went to her and collected the phone and her bag and gave her a machete cut on her hand and ran away. She shouted and cried but nobody came to rescue her. It was around 9 pm.

“The fifth operation I participated in involved a hairdressing salon at Gbagada.

We entered the salon at about 8.30 pm and collected the owner’s phones and money.

We also collected the phones of her customers. We collected about six phones from the salon that very night.”

Asked how he was arrested, he said: “It was when one of our receivers called Akeem wanted to sell some of the phones at Oshodi that policemen arrested him and later transferred him to SARS for investigation. When he saw the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, he confessed and promised to lead the police to arrest the remaining members of the gang and some receivers of stolen phones in Oshodi market.

“When I heard that Akeem had been arrested by SARS operatives, I ran into hiding because I knew that the Commissioner of Police would order him to get all of us.

But all of us were tracked down and arrested.”

Nnamdi, an ex-convict and suspected member of the gang, said: “I spent one month in Ikoyi prison in 2009 for fighting.

I started stealing because my parents had no money to allow me pass my papers. I wanted to retake the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination to see if I could get the missing papers but my parents had no money to assist me.

“I first learnt electrical work and was going to building sites to do wiring of houses that were being built. It was while I was doing a job at the site that our second-in-command, Sule, approached me and told me that they were big boys doing big business and that if I joined them, I would become a big boy. I asked him how I could join and he said it was with a SIM card that would only cost me N1000.

“The following day, I called them together at the site and presented N1000 to them. They used a white cloth to tie my face. They sang a song that sounded strange to me, saying I was now their brother. They then told me to open my eyes.

“When I opened my eyes, I saw raps of

Indian hemp and bottles of whisky. They opened it and we drank from the bottle.

We did not use a cup. We also smoked one rap of Indian hemp together. From that day, every evening, we would go to the expressway to rob motorists.

“I attended Mosco Secondary School at Oworonshoki, Lagos State. My mother is late while my father is an accountant with one of the new generation banks in Abuja.”

The fourth suspect, Michael, said he joined a robbery gang because he could not repeat SS 3 as he had no money to sponsor himself.

“My mother and my father are not living together. Both of them remarried. I had nobody to live with. It was in this desperate and pitiable condition that I was when I met Nnamdi at a smoking joint and he promised to help me. He took me to his house and we started living together.

“I used to sell pure water in traffic jams, which enabled me to identify the car that my gang could rob and get something reasonable.

“I did not know that Nnamdi was a thief until he had made me to become one.

I used to see him in the streets. I was the one that told him that I did not have a place to sleep and he promised to help me.”

The fifth suspect, Martins, who claims to be an indigene of Lagos State, said: “I live in my father’s house at No. 25 Majuola Street, Baale Bus Stop, Bariga Lagos.

My father remarried and abandoned me and my mother.

“I finished SS 3 and learnt Aluminum work for three good years. Unfortunately, I got no job. To survive, I started snatching women handbags and handsets with one Seye. The police did not know me; they were looking for my friend, Seye.

“Unfortunately for me, on the 13th of this month, I was at Bariga when Pedro policemen came and arrested me. They said we attacked one man, collected his two ATM cards, N9, 000 cash and other valuables. Police arrested Seye at Oshodi and transferred him to SARS.”

T was a grim evening on Sunday August 17, 2014, when a policeman allegedly killed a 29-year-old father of one, Yusuf Olalekan Agboola, shortly after purchasing food from a food vendor in the Olomi area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

It was learnt that Agboola had joined some of his friends who were discussing near the road when a team of policemen arrived and jumped down from their patrol van. One of the policemen allegedly shot Olalekan in the leg several times.

“One of the policemen shot him four times and he felled in a pool of his blood.

Realising their wrong deeds, the policemen rushed into their van and wanted to zoom off but Olalekan’s sister called Abibat prevented the offending policeman from leaving. The boy was to be taken in the police van to the hospital but died on the way,” recalled an impeccable family source that preferred to be unnamed.

“He had just left a spot where his mother sells liquor, which is just a stone’s throw away from where he went to eat.

Bystanders who heard sporadic gunshots even thought it was armed robbers that were operating in the neighbourhood not knowing that Olalekan was the one shot by an errant policeman. It was when he felled down in a pool of his blood that some sympathisers drew the attention of his mother to his predicament. He is survived by a two-year-old daughter,” the source added.

The incident assumed a twist when the policemen allegedly deposited his remains in the mortuary at the State Hospi-

I

•The late Olalekan tal, Adeoyo, Ibadan, where his body was allegedly registered as that of an “armed robber”.

It was gathered that some Muslim clerics have admonished Olalekan’s distraught mother, Alhaja Rafiyat, to accept the death of her son as the wish of Allah, so he could be buried on time.

The remains of the late driver were, however, yet to be buried at press time.

Confirming the story in a telephone conversation, the spokesman of Oyo State Police Command, Mrs.Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor said: ”The policemen who were involved in the case have been arrested and detained for their complicity in the death of the deceased person (Olalekan) while investigation continues.”

Death of 21-yr-old sparks protest in Ogun

•The protesting workers

Continued from page 19 dent actually happened when the Okada operator taking Damilola and another passenger took a one- way lane and were crushed to death by a hit and run truck driver.

“The issue of protest is currently being addressed and there is an ongoing intervention by the community leaders to douse the face-off between the workers and the management of the company.”

The spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident during a telephone conversation.

He said: “One of the victims (Damilola) was actually a staff of the company (Celplas Ltd).The Okada operator that was conveying him and another passenger had taken a one-way route when they were crushed to death by a truck. There is no linkage between the incident and the protest.”