August 30, 2015

PAGE 2

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

Teacher who was late 111 times says he was eating breakfast

CAPTURED

A

N elementary school teacher who was allowed to keep his job despite being late for work 111 times in two years said at the weekend that breakfast is to blame for his tardiness.

“I have a bad habit of eating breakfast in the morning, and I lost track of time,” 15-year veteran teacher Arnold Anderson told The Associated Press.

In a decision filed August 19, an arbitrator in New Jersey rejected an attempt by the Roosevelt Elementary School in New Brunswick to fire Anderson from his $90,000-a-year job, saying he was entitled to progressive discipline. But the arbitrator also criticized Anderson’s claim that the quality of his teaching outweighed his tardiness.

Anderson was late 46 times in the most recent school year through March 20 and 65 times in the previous school year, the arbitrator said.

Anderson said he was one to two minutes late to school “at the most” but was prepared and was never late for class.

“I have to cut out eating breakfast at home,” he said Friday.

Anderson remains suspended without pay until January 1.

A message seeking comment was left Friday with the school superintendent’s office.

The arbitrator found that the district failed to provide Anderson with due process by not providing him with a formal notice of inefficiency or giving him 90 days to correct his failings before terminating his employment.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie referenced the case in a tweet on Friday. Christie wrote: “Think I’m too tough on the teachers union? This is what we’re dealing with in NJ.” Anderson said he was “very upset” to be suspended but conceded that losing his job would have been worse.

When he returns to school in January, “I will be early,” he said.

Sign writing or sign righting?

Barbing Salon or Babing Saloon? Don’t mind the confused spellings, just walk in and have your hair cut by a London(?) trained barber, perhaps.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki is full of guile, courage and ambition, and he has brought all three attributes to his quest for relevance in the polity and dominance in the National Assembly.

More accurately, however, he has become a slave to these attributes, deploying one where the other would do, and summoning yet another where, sometimes, just being plain himself would be adequate. Now he can’t think, sleep or move without being guileful, ambitious or embroiled in one stratagem or the other. His life has become one rousing scheme of intrigues and foolhardy confrontation.

Yet, what he actually lacks, sadly, is wisdom, without which his attributes, as desirable as they may seem, cannot take wing. The fear among many commentators is that his heart is so full of schemes that there is no room for anything else, let alone that pearly substance, wisdom.

As the 8th Senate was about to settle down for business in June, a defiant Dr Saraki brusquely adopted Machiavellian tactics to seize the Senate throne. Not only did he seize the throne and poke a finger in the eye of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), he also stuck adamantly to his resolve to ignore party leaders’ remonstrances. Worse, when it seemed an olive branch to party leaders would make them sheathe their swords, he preferred to uproot the entire tree and incinerate its

sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Saraki’s long, lonely walk

branches. Even if the party was reluctantly prepared to concede the throne to him, he was told he couldn’t also determine who would be the party’s principal officers in the Senate. He could, and he would, he

G

IVEN the narrow trajectory President MUhammadu Buhari has taken in his recent appointments, a trajectory that has not widened beyond his close and trusted circle of friends and northerners, and the intransigence and undisciplined politics of many senior All Progressives Congress (APC) legislators and executives, it is becoming increasingly clear that the party needs a different capability from the one it deployed in winning the last polls. The party is apparently so blessed with a killer instinct and warrior mentality that it is unable to recognise peace, let alone manage it.

The APC needs to restruc-

growled. And so he did with such infuriating, off-putting panache, leaving his party with the short end of the stick, and lying indecently naked in bed with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Dr Saraki’s continuing defiance notwithstanding, the public and party leaders had probably thought the crisis in the APC could not get any worse, and that sooner or later, the Senate President would finally send the mythical olive branch. Instead, with the aid of an elaborate alibi, including planning foreign trips and deploying his foot-soldiers and men Friday, he has appeared to intensify the war. If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could haul his wife, Toyin, in for interrogation on money laundering charges, why, the Senate could also haul in the

EFCC boss himself, Ibrahim Lamorde. It is good old balance of terror. It does not matter whether the process of hauling in Mr Lamorde agreed with Senate rules. All that mattered is that the feet of the EFCC boss must be held to the fire, even if it causes or exacerbates divisions in the Senate and aggravates bitterness and divisions among party members and leaders.

Since he enacted that spectacular coup in the Senate in June, Dr Saraki has been given the cold shoulder by the president and party leaders. That isolation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks. Indeed, the isolation will intensify into full-blown animosity if Dr Saraki spurns peace. There are signs of a thaw, however, a thaw that some fear could end in a disgraceful compromise.

The Senate President has not

denied he is seeking a rapprochement with party leaders, but he seeks peace on his own terms. His opponents, the Senator Ahmed Lawan group, insist Dr Saraki must show remorse and be willing to respect and accommodate party wishes. That suggestion galls the Senate President. However, his emissary, Senator Ali Ndume, has embarked on a shuttle diplomacy to reconcile Dr Saraki and party leaders, including the president. The effort may end futilely.

A wise Senate President Saraki, after securing the top legislative prize through unethical means, would have bent over backwards to accommodate the party and adopt its list of principal officers. He probably however believed that doing so would make him vulnerable. But without accommodating the

party on a substantial level, he could become even more vulnerable. In fact, if the war becomes drawn-out, there is a higher probability that Dr Saraki’s position would become more untenable, as the turmoil in the chamber would convince more frustrated members desirous of peace and reluctant to remain at daggers drawn with the presidency to jump ship and abandon him.

Time is on the side of the APC leadership. They should not be desperate to reach accommodation with Dr Saraki. The misunderstanding between the Senate President and his party is not just one of personality or a normal struggle for positions. It is a misunderstanding anchored on the salient principles of party politics, party ideology and party ethos. The APC will be in greater danger if, as seems obvious, they are unable to influence President Muhammadu Buhari into more open, expansive and broadminded leadership, nor tragically even compel obedience and respect from Dr Saraki and other iconoclastic legislative leaders.

APC needs peace management acumen ture itself in such a way as to command the respect of its members, no matter how highly placed. It will not be easy to do this, given the clumsy foundation laid for the Fourth Republic by recent leaders, particularly former president Olusegun Obasanjo, in which presidents and governors automatically become party leaders to the detriment of the party itself and its officials. It is unlikely, for instance, that even the seemingly disinterested and sometimes bemused President Buhari can be made subordinate to the ruling party.

Importantly, too, it is time

the APC fine-tuned its ideology, raise its profile as an organised and disciplined party, and establish its authority over its fractious and unyielding members in the best democratic and federalist traditions.

If it fails to impose discipline, and can’t seem to influence its elected officials in appointments and policies, especially the president and governors, it may find itself facing an electoral debacle in 2019, and perhaps before. It is clearly not an option for the party to proceed along its present unworkable, unprofitable and undisciplined path.

What manner of political

party is the APC when it can’t coax the president into cultivating every part of the country in appointments, restrain the Oyo government from the twin electoral traps of abolishing WAEC fees and imposing school levies, and encourage the Osun government to abandon its inimical attitude of not appointing commissioners for months on end? Let the APC call a retreat of its governors and party leaders, and let the party frankly and boldly tell themselves some home truths.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

Catharsis before closure

A

S the Buhari administration settles down to real business, the consequences of the last general elections are beginning to unfold before us in all their ungainly profile. Once again, elite division and disorientation are shaping up in their ethnic, cultural and regional particularities. We are beginning to see a sneak preview of the antagonistic forces that will shape up to, and shape in turn, the contours of the new regime.

Let us get this clear. We have argued several times in this column that in inchoate colonial contraptions conveniently described as nations, elections do not resolve National Questions. At best, they sharply accelerate the national contradictions or at worse they exacerbate them. While the Nigerian masses are swooning over the dramatic improvement in some aspects of their daily existence, there is a resurgence of elite mischief over the seeming ethnic and regional insularity of the president.

There is therefore a sense in which it can be argued that President Mohammadu Buhari is both the nemesis and saviour of the Nigerian ruling class. As nemesis, he must purge them and whip them historically into line. As saviour, he can redeem them and save the nation from ethical implosion. On this crucial point, we can only conclude with the great historians of the past that in human societies, there are certain periods when certain exceptional individuals encapsulate the drama and cruel dilemmas of the age. It is beginning to look as if Buhari is such an individual.

Going forward in divinely ordained reprieve from the hangman’s noose, or going into well-deserved oblivion as it seems to be the secret wish of some sections of its errant ruling class Nigeria, as we know it, is passing before our eyes. No matter what happens or does not happen, this country will never be the same again after the second coming of the man from Daura.

We must revert to our favourite Lenin quote: “There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen”. The old iconic revolutionist should know, having earlier lost his own beloved brother to the Tsar’s implacably proactive executioners. Revolutions do not suddenly erupt on the stage, and in a jiffy.

They are usually a chaotic combination of remote and immediate causes.

But because revolutionary circumstances represent a radical rupture with the past, they are usually accompanied by much tempest and turmoil. The world is no longer at ease. There is a foul and fearsome distemper abroad. As the old ruling class expires before our very eyes and the long-suffering masses finally find their voice, there is fear and trembling in the land. A drama of restitution is playing itself out. It is a chain of actions and reactions the end of which no one can foresee.

For decades, Nigeria has been roiling in an organic crisis of state and nationhood. An organic crisis, as this column never tires of reminding us, occurs when the ruling class fails in a major national endeavour or its own self-imposed mission. From the current chaotic mess, it is obvious that the ruling class has failed in the project of giving Nigerians a sense of genuine nationhood and has been utterly remiss in the economic empowerment of the desperate citizenry. It has accordingly lost its raison d’etre.

The failure of a particular ruling class is not the absolute historical tragedy it seems as long as there is a viable and coherent alternative to step into the void and vacuum. This is where the problem seems to lie at the moment. The old order is dead, but the new is taking its time to emerge from the womb of time. It is a revolutionary situation without genuine revolutionaries. President Buhari’s messianic populism may just not be enough and being a democratically elected leader, he cannot revert to the

Aristotelian drama in Nigeria

S

COLUMN

3

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Map of Nigeria

draconian despotism of old or seek revolutionary measures to handle the situation without provoking a nationthreatening backlash.

Yet if the sanitisation of the policy is stalemated by a recourse to legal chicanery or by a combination of ethnic and religious blackmail by desperate factions of the political elite, Buhari may be panicked into losing the surefootedness and assurance with which he has proceeded so far. As the dazed and traumatised Nigerian populace continues to bray for vengeance and restitution , the Nigerian post-colonial state is besieged and embattled on many fronts by non-state actors. It is a novel situation which is structurally, systemically and ideologically different from Buhari’s first coming.

It is just as well, then, that the trope from the stage and acting comes in handy at this point. There are moments when dramaturgy imitates life and there are moments when life itself is indistinguishable from compelling drama. At this point, the Nigerian post-colonial state and its restive denizens resemble a vast Aristotelian theatre as the action approaches a climax.

May the good Lord bless the ancient Greek. They were a wise and sober lot. Their tragedies were in fact barely disguised ancient morality plays designed to inculcate certain morals particularly the virtues of rectitude, humility, decency and sobriety in the citizens of that glorious civilization. When exceptional men and women who owe much to the society are brought low by their fatal failings, they must pay restitution. This is the ideological principle on which dramatic tragedy is anchored.

This is what is known as catharsis. Ordinary people shudder at the plight and fate of extraordinary people and are bound over to be of good conduct when they witness how great men can be unhorsed and brought down to bare earth. No tragedy is complete without this cathartic expurgation of unwholesome emotions and desires as a way of moral rearmament for the entire society. No crime against humanity, irrespective of the status of the person in society, will go undetected and unpunished by the stellar array of ancient gods no matter how long it takes.

This is why those who urge President Buhari to move on without exacting restitution and justice on those who looted Nigeria dry are dead wrong and profoundly mistaken. The poor people of this country and those who are crying from their untimely graves will not be silenced until they have seen justice done. The large scale and unprecedented burglary of the Nigerian exchequer has put Nigeria in an ethical cul de sac from which it

cannot emerge without wholesale cleansing of the land.

There can be no untimely closure until there is timely catharsis. Even if this is what Buhari manages to achieve in four years, it shall be said of him that a man once came to this land who laid the foundation for good governance and moral rectitude. Without this ethical salvation, Nigeria is doomed as a viable nation.

Democracy is usually an elite driven affair. For a long time, this column has been warning the Nigerian ruling class to put its house in order and to get its act together. In every sane and sober society, the political elites act as the glue that binds the whole nation together. But when they allow pressures from down below and from the margins to overwhelm the political architecture of a nation, the ruling class loses the initiative to hostile elements and everybody

is imperiled.

There is every possibility of mob rule and mob justice. This is what should concern the organic intellectuals of a decadent and retrogressive ruling class and all those fanning the embers of religious and ethnic opposition to Buhari’s sanitising imperative.

There will be no place to hide when the dam of popular fury breaks as the solid wall is already breached—if the foul public mood is to be believed.

In retrospect it can be seen that the feckless and heedless Goodluck Jonathan ruled the country in deliberate political extremis as if he was convinced that after him the deluge would be such that Nigeria would cease to exist as a viable entity. In his complicated simple-mindedness, Jonathan might have decided that he would be the last ruler of Nigeria as a corporate entity if he didn’t have his way in ruling the country in perpetuity. Only this can explain the psychotic state larceny that took place under his watch.

But having failed in this Samsonine option, having failed in his bid to bring the national roof crashing on his head, the former president and his henchpeople must be ready to pay restitution to the land. It will be unfortunate if this looks like or is seen as ethnic and religious witch hunting. Jonathan could not have come to power based solely on the votes and sole endorsement of his ethnic nationality. He was elected on behalf of the Nigerian ruling class. In civilised climes, the ruling class sacrifices its own once they transgress certain bounds. Every now and then, as an English wag famously put it, an admiral is quartered to encourage others.

However, it may well be the case that Jonathan ruled the country in

political, religious and economic extremity as a result of sullen resentment against past and howling injustice in the land. If that injustice cannot be redressed without opening a Pandora’s Box or resorting to extraconstitutional measures, a case can be made for letting the poor man and his accomplices off the hook once restitution has been made and stolen money recovered. A genuine foundation for justice and equity would have been laid and Nigeria can start on a clean slate.

But it is an ethical quicksand for General Mohammadu Buhari which would require utmost political sagacity and statesmanship rather than unwise self-righteousness. It will also require him looking out of the cultural conditioning of his immediate habitus. How does he balance the demand for prompt and instant justice of a political mob that has sniffed blood with the delicate architecture of a multi-nation nation that has endured five and a half decades of serial abuse in the hands of various political and military hegemonies?

Perhaps history will be very kind to the Daura born former infantry general. Twice in his lifetime, it has been the unfortunate lot of this man to be called upon to salvage a nation after a major ruling class implosion and at periods of revolutionary combustion.

The first time around, aborted catharsis occasioned by the failure of Buhari’s corrective mission in particular and military messianism in general led to a thirty year wandering in the political wilderness for the country. This time around, the nation’s tattered and thread worn fabric cannot endure such a historic rigmarole. The consequences will be more immediate and far more devastating.

Okon takes the president to court

A

S the historic trial of looters and freeloaders of the national patrimony gets underway, fierce legal fireworks are crackling across the length and breadth of the country. Trust Okon not to miss the epic legal melee. The crazy boy has cottoned in on the latest road show and has been as busy as a bee hauling and logging hefty tomes of archaic law books in and out of the house.

“Okon, who is the owner of all these books? I hope you have not been burglarising some law chambers?” snooper demanded.

“Oga sebi dem say dem wan try people? Small time all dem Yoruba lawyers for Lagos go dey look for dem yeye gown. Abi stealing of dem evidence na evidence of dem stealing?”, the mad boy retorted.

“But who owns these law books?” snooper insisted.

“Oga leave me o jare. Na dis one dem dey call contract stealing. We don tell Okechukwu make him remove all dem books for all dem law office for Lagos. Dem Yoruba lawyers go cry. Bayelsa trouble dey sleep, Fulani and Yoruba yanga wan wake am. We don tell una people say stealing no be corruption. When all dem mala and dem Oloye dey steal all dem oil money you no dey complain. Opiya man come thief dem remaining dollar and dem wan jail everybody”, the crazy boy snorted.

It was not surprising when Okon showed up early one morning with a retinue of riverine stalwarts and other menacing swamp-dwellers with an aptitude for fracas and urban affrays.

“Oga, I don take dem Buhari man to court and dem say make I come now now”, the crazy boy drawled with a triumphant glee.

“I see”, snooper grunted with muted relish, hoping that the mad boy will get his comeuppance in court. Even the normally contrarian Baba Lekki took a dim view of Okon’s prospects.

“O ma se o, omode yi a w’ewon. It is a pity Ogunmuyiwa , Baba ewa ,is late”, the old man lamented.

“Baba you don come again? Abi kainkain don scatter your head again?

Who be dat Yoruba herbalist?” Okon demanded with a wicked grin.

“Ha wereee! Ogunmuyiwa baba ewa na old magistrate. If him dey alive na for prison you go die”.

After this sharp exchange, it was a sleepy and bleary-eyed snooper that followed the mad boy to the magistrate court as he was borne aloft by his rogue retinue chanting Efik war songs. As soon as we got to the court premises, snooper got a foretaste of what to come. With drunken gusto, Okon accosted a light-skinned policeman on duty.

“Ah Yellow, no accidental discharge today oo. My change still dey with you”, the mad boy scoffed as the embarrassed cop quickly slunk away. The fireworks started almost immediately as the magistrate, a genial matronly enforcer and obvious veteran of many legal skirmishes, swept in and ordered proceeding to commence without any fanciful rigmarole.

“Where is the plaintiff?” the magistrate demanded and Okon leapt to the floor.

“Point of incorrection!” the mad

boy screamed. “I no be plain thief at all and I no dey steal for dem plane.

Na dem Haric people dey do dat nonsense and na dem generals dey thief dem whole plane “.

“I see. What is your occupation?” the magistrate inquired with a polite smile.

“Ha thank you my sister, uwannem maranma. Na only for Sikira dem give me dem certificate of occupation. I beg dem Fashola boy sotey, he no gree. As he don comot office now, if him come play football for Surulere again I go wire him labalaba leg bad bad”, the mad boy shouted.

“Look, what do you do for a living?” the magistrate demanded with a hint of impatience.

“Ha, ha, my sister, I get dem oil block for Arepo after we come drive dem Yoruba people comot from dem area. Dem come with them egungun and I beat dat one too, silly silly. Abi na dem Diezani give me dat one too?” the boy demanded as laughter rocked the entire court.

“In fact what is your locus standi in this matter?” the old lady demanded as she appeared to have lost her cool and patience with the impertinent lout.

“You see make una no vex. I don tell dem Yoruba people sotey say locusts no dey stand. Dem dey bite.

He get time like dat one I dey farm for Itigidi and dem locust come bite everything, dem even bite dem old man blokos”. Okon sniggered.

“This must be a mad fellow! Case adjourned sine die” the ageing magistrate screamed as she packed her things and fled into her chambers leaving security people to throw out a screaming Okon.

4

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

NEWS

N2.4bpayoff bonanza for ex-Senators, Reps L

EGISLATORS who served in the immediate past National Assembly (NASS) are going home with N2,494,300,000 as severance pay, it has been learnt.

Those reelected into the present NASS also benefited from the package.

The severance pay is computed at the end of every session of the National Assembly. The 7th session ended on June 4, paving the way for the inauguration of the 8th session on June 9.

There are 109 senators and 360 House of Representatives

•Lawmakers also went away with Prado, Peugeot 407 vehicles members in the National Assembly.

Senators got N6. 7 million each; Representatives, N4.9 million each.

They were also given their official cars. Senators parted with N2 million each for their Prado Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) and representatives, N1.9million each for their Peugeot 407 cars.

The vehicles were distributed to them after their inauguration in 2011. The exercise sparked outrage across the country.

The National Assembly leadership then said the vehicles were “for use in performing committee functions.”

Investigation by The Nation showed that the Prado SUVs allocated to the Senators were supplied at a contract price of N12 million per unit although the market price then was about N8 million.

Sources said the amount deducted from the lawmakers’ severance gratuity was the ‘depreciation value’ of their cars.

Payment of severance gratuity to federal legislators is contained in the “Remuneration Package for Political and Public and Judicial Office Holders” (Feb 2007 to date) prepared by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

Under the RMAFC guidelines, the Senate President is entitled to N7, 482, 727.50 as severance gratuity and House of Representatives Speaker, N7, 431,330.

Senators are entitled to N6, 079, 200 each and repre-

sentatives, N5, 955, 637.

So far, members of the 8th National Assembly have collected N12,967,600,000 in salary and allowances within the first two months of their sitting.

Senators got N36.4million each and representatives, N25million each.

The first tranche of N10million, totalling N4.6billion, was paid to the Senators and Representatives in June to ‘cushion’ the difficulty of settling down in Abuja.

The amount covered their housing, transport and furniture expenses.

Last month, senators got another N13.4 million each and representatives, N7 million each as quarterly allowance.

The legislators have gone on recess three times since their inauguration. They have yet to pass a bill.

There are proposals to cut their emoluments because of the prevailing economic situation.

‘Stop bragging about fake economic achievements’

•Bury your head in shame, presidency tells PDP

T

• Some of the 10 suspected Boko Haram members who were executed yesterday in Chad during their trial in the capital,N'Djamena.They PHOTO:AFP were convicted for their roles in the June bomb explosions in the capital. Story on page 6.

HE Presidency yesterday asked the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to bury its head in shame instead of bragging about fake economic achievements while in power.

It said while the PDP was in power, the economy was gasping for breath under the egregiously corrupt administration.

It said if the former ruling party was doing so well, the opposition parties would have found it difficult to defeat a popular ruling party.

The presidency blasted the PDP in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu.

The statement was a reaction to the PDP’s claim, through its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, that the economy was going down under the APC. The statement said: “The presidency has advised the PDP to stop its pathetic efforts to play down President Buhari’s achievements in his first 100 days in office and bury its head in shame for subjecting Nigeria to the worst economic plunder through corruption in its recent

Buhari has destroyed economy, says PDP

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday wrote off the economy, accusing the Buhari administration of destroying it since assuming office on May 29.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief OlisaMetuh, the party said the “shambolic state” of the economy within the period represented the worst in the nation’s contemporary history.

The situation, the party said, was a fallout of uncertainty created by the government’s inability to chart a clear-cut economic policy, adding that the matter is worsened by abuse of regulations, and flagrant violation of constitutional provisions.

According to the PDP, official reports showed that the last three months under the APC-led government had brought a sudden decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with attendant losses and hardship to the citizens.

The government, it said, embarked on propaganda of imaginary achievements, in addition to attempts to foist harsh economic regime to cover its ineptitude.

The statement reads: “If not for crass incompetence or a possible ulterior motive to subjugate Nigerians for selfish reasons, what else explains the adamant stance of this administration in running a government without the statutory

From GbadeOgunwale, Abuja

components of a full cabinet and precise fiscal policy direction, even when the negative consequences of this strange totalitarian approach are taking serious toll on the economy and the polity in general?

“Whereas the APC led government is busy with its propaganda of imaginary achievements, official reports from the National Bureau of Statistics show that that the economy is being grounded with Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunging with about 2.35%, while job creation has dropped by 69 percent.

“In the last three months under an inept and poorly coordinated APC-led government, our nation’s economy, which before now, held the record as the largest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world, suddenly plummeted as officially evidenced in the lull in the capital and money market sectors which have lost billions of naira; spiral rate of inflation, and stagnation in domestic and foreign direct investments, with investors scared away due to the uncertainty arising from lack of economic direction and apparent confusion in the polity.

“This is in addition to the halt in infrastructure development projects in most parts of

the country with associated massive job loss, closure of auxiliary small scale businesses, low purchasing power of citizens, among other negatives that have bedevilled the economy since the coming of this government, despite the much APC celebrated promissory notes from the President’s diplomatic shuttles, especially his recent visit to the United States.

“Nigerians would recall that we recently raised alarm on the negative consequences of the recent foreign exchange transaction restrictions, wherein this government is making it impossible for honest Nigerians to engage in free trade and regulate their personal activities as guaranteed by the constitution.

“We also warned about the consequences of foisting a communist economic regime with bans and clampdowns on free trade and the freedom of Nigerians to freely open and operate domiciliary accounts as provided by the Foreign Exchange Monitoring And Miscellaneous Provisions Act, otherwise known as Decree No. 17 of 1995 and wondered whether the nation was not heading back to the era of import duty licenses and regulation of commodity prices.

“Only recently, Fitch Rating, which, under the previous administration, affirmed Nigeria’s long-term foreign and local currency IDRs as well as

senior unsecured bond and Short-term foreign currency IDR ratings respectively at ‘BB”s, had now alerted that Nigerian banks and other businesses in the sector would be adversely affected by the economic slowdown occasioned by the incompetence of the President Buhari-led APC government.

“This is more so as the absence of ministers have left the coordination of important government policies in ministries, departments and agencies in tatters, while creating loopholes for overzealous persons claiming closeness to the President to invade the system for inflated concessions, allocations, jobs and other financial sleazes, including misleading the President for approvals outside his limits.

“We invite Nigerians to note that whereas the Presidency has gone ahead to unilaterally deplete the funds inherited in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and other government savings, as well as reports of engaging in discussions with the World Bank for loans without recourse to appropriate statutory arms of government, no corresponding improvement has been witnessed in the economy. Indeed, we are worried that the damage already done in the last 90 days may linger with us for years to come.

“Nigerians are no longer in doubt that they have been scammed with long list of empty promises which the APC government has no intentions or capacity to fulfil.

The free meals for school children, allowances for discharged Corps Members, N5,000 monthly allowance for indigent Nigerians, free houses, bringing the dollar to the same value as the naira and other bogus promises for which they were voted into power, have become streams of mirage.

“Instead, what we continue to witness is the outworn excuse of clearing the so-called Augean Stable, loud propaganda and artful move to appropriate the achievements made by the PDP-led administration; such as the effort in ending polio, the improvement in power supply, the reopening of the refineries, among others which are a dividend from numerous investments by the previous administrations.

“Finally, we state categorically that Nigerians are becoming tired and weary of the diversions and propaganda of creating imaginary achievements, dramatisation of routine appointments, offering mundane excuses for crass incompetence and orchestrating a selective and witch-hunt of anti-corruption crusade”

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

history.

“The economy of Nigeria was gasping for breath under the egregiously corrupt PDP administration, and that the country was witnessing an acceleration of poverty which united Nigerians for change.

“The excruciating hardship experienced by Nigerians under the PDP misrule was unprecedented. It is ridiculous to for any sane government to artificially rebase the economy and claim to transform Nigeria into the largest economy in Africa as the PDP administration did.”

He explained that the defeated former ruling party was artificially manipulating statistics to create the illusion of impressive economic performance record.

He added: “One falsehood built on another cannot stand, adding that if the PDP claim of economic successes in terms of GDP, employment generation, poverty alleviation and others were genuine, Nigerians wouldn’t have voted the party out of power.

“If the former ruling party was doing so well, the opposition parties would have found it difficult to defeat a popular ruling party.

Malam Garba Shehu said that the PDP assumed performance was nothing more than window dressing, and a detachment from reality.

The Presidential spokesman said: “No economy can grow with corruption, an area in which the PDP administration demonstrated more competence.

“Criticism for its own sake is not the Hallmark of credible opposition.

“Nigerians no longer face exploitation at filling stations because the government is taking punitive measures against marketers that punish poor Nigerians.

“Queues have disappeared at the filling stations and the Naira is also enjoying favourable exchange rate.

The Media aide said the Buhari administration has successfully blocked leakages and other avenues for corruption, practices which he said the previous PDP administration lacked the will or the desire to stop.

“As a result of the measures to block leakages, the Buhari administration has frustrated the efforts by corrupt elements to divert public funds to private pockets.

“Once the formal trial for corruption begins formally, the PDP might no longer have the moral legs to stand on, let alone talk down on Nigerians with fake claims of economic miracles under its most incompetent and grossly purposeless and sleazy administration.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

S

ECURITY agencies are now probing how the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly withdrew $6.9million (N1.460b) from a secret account of the Nigerian National P e t r o l e u m Corporation(NNPC) to buy three 12 meter (40 feet) mobile stages for use at public events.

The cash was said to be part of the unremitted funds into the Federation Account by NNPC. The purported purchase, according to investigation, did not pass through due process and was known only to Dr. Jonathan, his then Chief Security Officer, Mr. O.J. Obuah and former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Obuah, it was gathered, raised a memo to his boss for the purchase and the release of the money to that effect.

Jonathan allegedly gave his approval and authorized the former minister to disburse the fund.

Shedding light on how the deal was struck on October 17, 2011 through a curious memo from Obuah, a source familiar with the development said preliminary investigation suggested that there was no record of purchase of the said stages.

It was learnt that the $6.9million was paid into a company’s account after NNPC directed that the money be taken from one of its accounts in New York CITIBANK with sort code CITIUS 33, and Routing number 021000089.

The affected company, J. Marine Logistics Limited, Abuja, was purportedly registered by Obuah.

The source said: “Between himself, his Chief Security Officer and the former Petroleum Minister, former President Goodluck Jonathan spent in just one shot deal a whopping $6.9 million dollars to buy three 40-feet mobile stages for use at public speaking events.”

Federal government investigators and security agencies, sources added, believe this is just one of the tons of alleged corrupt practices frequently engaged in and condoned under the last president.

“Besides the fact that the sum for the stages was incredibly inflated, according to mobile

NEWS

Jonathan, Alison-Madueke, ex-CSO fingered in $6.9m scandal •Security agencies probe purchase of mobile stages •How NNPC secret account was used FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation/ Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

stage industry experts, government investigators say there is no evidence yet that any stage was purchased at all,” one source said, citing several documents.

One of the documents says: “At the centre of the fraudulent financial ring was the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. O.J. Obuah who initiated a memo to the former president on October 17, 2011 asking for the purchase of three mobile stages.

“He said in that memo to the former president that this is regarding “my earlier discussion with Your Excellency on the security implication of your public appearances and your subsequent directive on the need to procure a secured presidential platform.”

“And on the same day without any financial advice or purchase order reviews, the former president minuted his approval of the request to buy the three stages to the then Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani AlisonMadueke.

“In his minute, the president said ‘we have discussed this, please deal.”

“Right after that okay from the president, on the same October 17, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administrative Matters, Matt Aikhionbere did another letter on the strength of the president’s approval requesting the Petroleum Minister to take action on the request to purchase the stages for $6.9m.

“By the next month, an NNPC payment voucher number 3840336 was already in place revealing that the money was released. NNPC directed that the money be taken from

one of its accounts in New York CITIBANK with sort code CITIUS 33, and Routing number 021000089.

“It was first routed from the US bank to an NNPC account in Zenith Bank account number 5000026593, Maitama branch in Abuja, from where the money was sent to a private account. The sum of $6.9m was then credited to a Sterling Bank account of one J. Marine Logistics Limited, Abuja, a company investigators say was registered by Obuah.”

Responding to a question, the source said: “The $6.9miilion in question was promptly paid on November 29, 2011 into a private account belonging to the former CSO. “The former president approved the procurement of the mobile platforms without due process and bye-passing the Procurement Act neither was there an appropriation in the

2011 budget for such facility.

“Neither the minister of Finance nor the Director-General of the Budget Office was aware of the deal.

“There are no records of this purchase which was carried out late 2011.”

The preliminary findings also indicated that the cost of the stages might have been inflated.

The source said: “According to the investigators, the cost of mobile stages depends on size and designs; only outlandish rock star musicians in Europe and the US spend hundreds of thousands on their huge stages way bigger than the 40-feet stages.

“Even then, those musicians and super stars would not pay over $2m per stage, according to industry sources.

“The process of procurement of the three mobile stages was not known to extant Nigerian

laws and due process regulations, nor were the offices of the Auditor-General and the Accountant-General in the know.”

It was learnt that the deal was one of the issues for which the ex-CSO was grilled quizzed by the Department of State Security(DSS) during his recent arrest and detention.

One of the officials handling the investigation added: “ The CSO himself according to investigators has not been able to show proof of the purchase and his memo irked his bosses at the SSS that he took the initiative to request for the stages, an action which officials say was way above his pay grade.

“It is not the duty or responsibility of the CSO to make the determination on that purchase. He was meant to have informed the service, which will

5

then review the situation and act accordingly.

“What has happened here is that the former president and the former minister with the collusion of the CSO decided to use public funds for other purposes since no one has found the stages as we speak.”

“This is just one of the several instances where the Jonathan administration used secret NNPC accounts to fund questionable projects and for alleged personal financial aggrandizements.”

It was gathered that some of these embarrassing issues were part of the matters raised by Jonathan with the National Peace Committee headed by the former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar.

The committee later facilitated a secret parley between President Muhammadu Buhari and exPresident Jonathan.

But at the session, Buhari insisted that the law must take its course with anyone found guilty of corruption.

At the June 29th meeting of the National Economic Council at the State House, the council had raised questions over the non- remittance of the finances generated by the NNPC into the Federation Account.

•The vehicles impounded by the NDLEA, yesterday

Arik crew arrest: NDLEA impounds two more vehicles, invites brother of main suspect The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has obtained closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of how Arik Air staff, Ikechukwu Chibuzor Oliver who works as a catering loader smuggled three bags of cocaine among food supplies for flight W3101.

The Agency also invited the younger brother of the main suspect, Chika Egwu Udensi for questioning.

Udensi, 32, was invited in connection with alleged complicity in the ongoing investigation of 20kg of cocaine seized by the United Kingdom Border Force at Heathrow Airport.

The vehicles seized from Udensi include a Land Rover, an Equinox Chevrolet and a Dodge Hemi Magnum.

Narcotic investigators are still working on evidences so far gathered on the case. The management of Arik Air is giving necessary assistance to the Agency.

Meanwhile the Chairman/ Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade who expressed satisfaction with the success of investigation, directed

•Gets CCTV footage of main accomplice

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

investigators to further widen their search for more collaborators.

“I am impressed with the success recorded in the ongoing

investigation. The swift arrest of the main accomplice reflects our determination to speedily bring to justice all parties to the crime.

Let me reassure Nigerians and

the international community that those behind this crime have no hiding place” Giade stated.

Further investigation has shown that Mr. Chika the main suspect lives ostentatious

lifestyle far beyond his salary.

He is also believed to be involved in laundering illicit proceeds of drugs under the cover of automobile importation.

The operational tasking

order issued by NDLEA Chairman to its operatives to look inwards into the activities of the Agency and other airport workers is an immediate measure to avert acts of compromise calculated to undermine airport security.

Buhari replacing PDP’s impunity with rule of law, says Amaechi

T

HE immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday took a dig at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying President Muhammadu Buhari is busy replacing the impunity by the party with the rule of law and good governance.

“You do not solve impunity with impunity. If they (PDP government officials) had impunity before, we shall have the rule of law now,” Amaechi declared at the dedication of St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church at Elechi Beach, Mile One, Diobu, Port Harcourt.

Using his personal experience as an example of what he called the new dawn in the country, he said: “when I landed today (yesterday morning) at the Port Harcourt International

•Wike free to make noise, release as many govt documents as he likes •Jonathan, wife, wanted me out as governor at all costs From Bisi Olaniyi,Port Harcourt

Airport and I saw soldiers, I said ‘no, I do not want soldiers anymore. Let federal institutions remain federal. Nobody should use them carelessly.’ But when they (leaders of the PDP) were in power, they were using them everywhere and chasing us about.

“I assure you in this government, it will not happen again. I can tell you what the President (Buhari) says: that you do not solve impunity with impunity. If they (PDP government officials) had impunity before, we shall have the rule of law now.”

He said that if ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife – Patience- and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers had had their way, he (Amaechi) would have ceased to be governor long before the expiration of his tenure last May.” He said, “If not for your prayers, I probably would have been an ex-governor a long time ago. The ex-President (Dr. Jonathan) wanted me out at all costs. The present Rivers State governor (Wike) and the former President’s wife (Dame Patience) wanted me out at all costs and they did everything they did, they had everything, except God. “Nyesom Wike can make as

much noise as he likes. He can release as many documents of government as he likes, tell him I do not like money and I do not like stealing.”

He denied that the state government contributed money to the building of the church to which the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Steve Dedua nodded in support.

He told the congregation that he now sleeps very well since leaving office.

“If you know me very well, you will know that nothing bothers me. I told my Chaplain to tell the Bishop (Most Rev. Etokudoh) not to worry, because the God I worship will always take care of me.”

Amaechi said he has been avoiding the public for some time ‘except it is extremely necessary.’ “This is the second time I am speaking after I left office (on May 29, 2015).

“The first time, it was at the International Conference Centre (in Abuja) , when the party (APC) chose to host me to a reception and I was on my way out of the country, when they reminded me that the President (Buhari) had approved a reception for me and that I must return. So, I left Lagos and came back to Abuja.

“My Lord (Bishop), you were not here (in Rivers State) in 2007/2008. I nearly changed my church, not my faith, because •Continued on page 69

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

NEWS Troops not involved in torture in North-East, says DHQ 6

Nigerian, nine other Boko Haram members executed in Chad

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

C

T

HE Defence Headquarters yesterday dismissed as untrue claims by Amnesty International (AI) about the involvement of soldiers in torture or any violation of human rights in the North-East.

It also said it has reorganised the Special Task Force operating in Plateau State, NorthCentral Region.

The DHQ made the clarification in a statement by the Acting Director Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar.

He said the allegations “have been convincingly refuted and proven to be an orchestrated conspiracy against the Nigerian Armed Forces.”

The Nigerian military, he declared, “is a professional organization with track records of achievements in peacekeeping operations and therefore shares no comparison with rag-tag band of terrorists whatsoever.

“The military is constitutionally empowered to secure Nigeria from any form of insecurity.

“It is therefore unfair for Amnesty International and any other group to accuse the Nigerian military of human rights abuse based on cropped images used by the country’s enemies and detractors to achieve their purpose.

“The Nigerian military under the new dawn will never humiliate or harass any law-abiding citizen, and would remain focused to end terrorism soon.”

In a separate statement, the DHQ said: “In the new arrangement, the erstwhile internal security outfit known as Special Task Force (STF) is now designated “Operation Safe Haven”.

“The arrangement is in line with the mission and vision of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin.

“The reform is geared towards giving the security operation in the state more bite for better performance.

“With this vigour and determination, it is hoped that the incessant killings in the area as a result of ethnic clashes would be contained by the troops of the reinvigorated Operation Safe Haven in line with its Rules of Engagement.”

It assured innocent citizens of protection of their lives and property, and urged the communities to live in peace and report any case inimical to the breaking down of law and order to the security agencies for prompt action as nobody is above the law.

•Students at the National Open University of Nigeria's 2015 Matriculation at Dutse in Abuja yesterday.

Photo: NAN.

DSS arrests underage Boko Haram spy at Abuja Airport

T

HE Department of State Services (DSS) has beefed up security at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after intercepting an espionage attempt by Boko Haram there.

It said yesterday that it was able to “disrupt” the activities of the spy network.

It said a 14-year old boy Sulaiymon Abdulraman (a.k.a Sunday Ajayi) from Kogi State was used as an agent to monitor travellers’ movement including passenger screening, boarding procedures and other processes in the departure and arrival halls.

The DSS was originally on the trail of one Dauda Sadiq (a.k.a Peter) when its men

FROM: YusufAlli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation stumbled on Abdulraman.

The duo are accomplices, according to spokesman for the DSS, Tony Opuiyo.

He said, “On the 24th August, 2015, the Service in liaison with Aviation Security of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, disrupted a spying network mounted by the Boko Haram terrorists.

“In the process, a 14-year old Sulaiymon Abdulraman (a.k.a Sunday Ajayi), of Kogi State was apprehended.

Abdulraman has disclosed among others that he infiltrated the airport with the assistance of one Dauda Sadiq (a.k.a Peter) who is presently at large.

“Abdulraman further revealed that Dauda Sadiq directed him to spy on the installation and pass to him information in respect of travellers’ movement including passenger screening, boarding procedures and other processes in the departure and arrival halls.

“With this knowledge, the Service is working closely with major Aviation stakeholders especially the Aviation Security Department to forestall any possible attack and to ensure adequate security at the airports. This is aside other measures which have been put in place to ensure protection of lives and property across the country.”

The Service advised the

public to remain vigilant, be security conscious at all times and to report all issues and persons of suspicion to the nearest security agency.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at the airport.

A reliable source said: “In the last few days, we have witnessed heavy security surveillance with a thorough screening process.

“Even the ticket counters have not been spared of surveillance and screening by security agents. In fact, since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office, the security arrangement at the airport has changed. All loafers are being checked and the security at the boarding end is tighter.”

HAD yesterday executed a Nigerian, Mahamat Mustapha, also known as Bana Fanaye, and nine other alleged members of the terror sect, Boko Haram, by firing squad, 24 hours after they were found guilty of a double suicide killing that left 38 people dead in the capital N’Djamena.

“They were executed this morning on a shooting ground north of N’Djamena,” a judicial source told AFP. The report was confirmed by a security source who asked not to be identified.

The 10 were condemned to death Friday in the country’s first trial of presumed members of the Islamist group.

The trial lasted 48 hours.

Prosecutor Bruno Mahouli said on Friday soon after the sentence was handed down that “the accused have recognized their guilt and accepted the sentence.”

Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have all suffered attacks by Boko Haram and earlier this year they announced a regional force to end the militants’ insurgency that has claimed more than 15,000 lives since 2009.

The defendants were accused of criminal conspiracy, killings, willful destruction with explosives, fraud, illegal possessions of arms and ammunition, as well as using psychotropic substances.

The accused included a Mahamat Mustapha said to have masterminded the June 15 suicide attacks that struck a school and a police building in N’Djamena, killing 38 people and injuring 101.

Seven die in Air Force jet crash at Kaduna cantonment

•Air Chief launches probe into mishap

T

HE military has launched a proble into yesterday Air Force Jet crash in Kaduna in which seven passangers aboard died. Dornier-228 aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) crashed into a house at the Ribadu Cantonment in Kaduna shortly after takeoff.

The aircraft had taken off from the Kaduna Military Airfield around 06:45 only to come down soon afterward.

The dead included the crew of four and three passengers, according to military sources.

The Air Force itself was not immediately forth coming on the casualty figure and the manifest.

But the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, aborted an official trip to Port Harcourt to visit the scene and the families of the deceased.

He also raised a panel, headed by an Air Vice Marshal to probe the incident.

The Director, Air Force Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Dele Alonge, confirmed the development in a statement, saying: “A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Dornier-228 aircraft, with call sign NAF030, has crashed into a house at Ribadu Cantonment, Kaduna.

“Though no casualty was recorded on ground, there were no survivors among the passengers onboard the aircraft.

“The aircraft was Abuja bound and had taken-off at about 6:45am from the Kaduna Military Airfield before the mishap. Bodies of the passengers have been

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation/ Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

recovered and fire fighters are already at the crash site to curtail fire from spreading to other buildings within the vicinity.

“Meanwhile, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has aborted his official trip to Port Harcourt to visit the site of the air crash and families of some of the deceased personnel in company of the Air Officer Commanding Training Command, Air Vice Marshal Alikali Mamu.

“The CAS has also set up an investigation panel headed by an Air Vice Marshal to unravel the

cause of the accident with immediate effect.”

A military source however said: “Seven people, including crew members, on board of the aircraft died in the crash.

“Being a military crash, the details will not be released until a technical appraisal is done. The families of those who died had been contacted.”

An eye witness who lives in the cantonment said: “Just before the flight crashed into my neighbours’ houses, I noticed that the aircraft was making an unusual sound. So, I came out to see what exactly it was.

“Then, I saw the plane coming

down, only for it to pick up again.

But when it came down a second time, it could not go up again. The next thing I heard was a deafening explosion.

“Before I could say jack, it was in flame and the fire gutted my neighbours’ houses. But thank God for the timely intervention of the fire service.

“We thank God that our neighbours are safe. They said all the passengers on board died. It’s very unfortunate.”

Officials of the Kaduna State Fire Service and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) raced to the scene to put out the fire.

They were assisted by

sympathisers who thronged the scene.

Governor Nasir Ahmad ElRufai of Kaduna State commiserated with the families of the victims.

The Governor, in a statement by his spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan said the governor received the news with shock and sadness.

He also condoled with the Chief of the Air Staff, and the officers and men of the Air Force over the crash and prayed for the repose of the souls of the dead.

The accident occurred about two weeks after a Bristow Helicopter flying from an oil rig in Escravos, Delta State, with two crew members and ten passengers, crashed into the Lagos lagoon.

40, 000 policemen for promotion

H

APPY days are coming for about 40, 000 police officers cutting across all cadres who have been earmarked for promotion over the next two months.

Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase, said yesterday in Lagos that those to be promoted are from Constable to Inspector.

In the same vein, the Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the promotion of 260 Senior Police Officers to different ranks.

The promotion, according to the Commission, is based on merit, availability of vacancies and maturity on a rank.

Arase said that it is the rank

•260 officers elevated From Faith Yahaya, Abuja

and file doing the major jobs such as arrests, investigations and other special duties and therefore deserve to be rewarded.

He said: There has been a backlog of promotions between the Constable and Inspector cadre involving about 36, 000 of them.

Two groups are already undergoing their promotional courses.

“Within the next two months, about 40, 000 policemen between the rank of Constable and Inspector will undertake promotion exercises and be moved up to the next rank.

“If we are able to solve the problem of the rank and file in the Police, half of the issues we are dealing with which is corruption would be resolved.

Corruption is borne out of insecurity.”

Speaking on the promotion of police officers, Head of Press and Public Relations Unit of PSC, Ikechukwu Ani said: “One Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) (Medical) was promoted to the next rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) while 205 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSP) were elevated to the rank of Superintendents of Police (SP).

“54 Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASP) (Veterinary) were upgraded and promoted to the rank of Superintendents of Police (SP)”.

PSC’s chairman, Mike Okiro, said the commission will continue to encourage the Nigeria Police Force through regular and timely promotions.

Okiro advised the officers to reciprocate the gesture by committing themselves to greater productivity and efficiency in the service of the nation.

He also urged them to operate at all times within the confines of the law and to be guided by the extant rules and regulations of the Police Force.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

‘Buhari’s probes not to witch hunt’ From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

P

R E S I D E N T Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft war is not to witch hunt anybody, the National President of Institute of Public Speaking Nigeria, Samuel Salifu, has stated.

He spoke yesterday during the institute’s induction, graduation and awards ceremony in Kaduna.

Salifu said Nigeria needed serious reformation as the culture of anything goes will not move the nation forward.

According to him: “For me as a person, I’m not particularly happy because of some of the attacks on the president because he wants to probe some of the issues that have gone before, so that we are not going to live in a culture where everything goes, and nobody says anything. So I believe that probe is not witch hunting anybody.”

He also frowned at insinuations that the appointments of President Buhari were lopsided.

“Everybody should know that they have just started making the appointments and he is going to ensure that it cuts across the country.

“People should be patient for the mere fact that there is somebody who is willing to do things right should be an encouragement to the country at this time,” Salifu argued.

S

OME yet- to- be identified gunmen last Thursday killed Captain Samson Amineshi (rtd.), a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akoko- Edo local government of Edo State.

He was shot along the Igarra-Okpe road.

Amineshi, a former councillor, was believed to be preparing for the forthcoming council polls in the state.

NEWS

Gunmen kill Edo APC chieftain From: Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

He was said to be driving back home to Okpe after attending a social function in Igarra with two other occupants.

They were reportedly flagged down by the first set of gunmen who he was said

to have dodged by speeding off.

Unknown to him, another group of gunmen laid metres ahead of him.

The late Amineshi told the occupants of his car to dock when the second set of gunmen suddenly appeared and fired directly at him.

The victim was said to have

died on the spot. His killers later made away with undisclosed amount of money collected from the occupants.

Another version of the story suspected assassination as the gunmen were said to have shot directly at him and sped off in a motorbike parked nearby.

He was a former council-

lor and was believed to be preparing for the forthcoming council polls in the state.

Family sources said the matter has been reported at the Igarra police station.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Stephen Onwochei, could not be reached yesterday for confirmation.

Tension in Bayelsa as policemen, sanitation officials clash

A

THERE was panic in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital yesterday following a clash between policemen attached to All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman Chief Tiwei Orunimighe, and officials of the Environmental Sanitation Authority (BSESA).

Officials of the BSESA led by its chairman, Oboku Offorji, were said to have tried to stop the APC chairman through a barricade mounted to restrict movement on the sanitation day.

Offorji, in a statement, alleged that APC chieftains and their loyalists deliberately flouted the restriction order contained in the sanitation law.

He claimed that the party stalwarts tried to disrupt the exercise, using security operatives attached to their chairman.

He accused the police of

• PDP scared of me, says Alaibe From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

shooting sporadically into the air.

But the APC leadership debunked the allegation, saying the officials of the state government were on a mission to discredit its leaders.

Offorji insisted that Orunimighe and other APC chieftains ordered security operatives to shoot into the air and remove the barricade to create a passage for their convoy.

He said the action created fear at the Tombia roundabout.

The agency, he said, had concluded plans to petition the police authorities demanding the arrest of policemen and the APC leaders.

He said: “It was a sad situation. Nobody could go close.

I want to make it clear that our

experience today as a government agency was a bitter one.

“A political party that claims the PDP government has not done well and wants to take over is subverting the law of the land.

“It is quite unfortunate. It is very important that our people should be wary of these people. If this situation continues they are likely to turn Bayelsa into a theatre of war.

“I don’t know why they want to create a state of anarchy towards the election.

Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has done so much to achieve the peaceful atmosphere in Bayelsa and they want to destroy it.”

The media adviser to Orunmighe, Alawoei Opokume, dismissed Offorji’s claims, saying the PDP was scared of the APC.

He said since the PDP sees the APC as its greatest threat, it is trying to create an issue to discredit the major opposition party.

APC’s publicity secretary, Fortune Panebi, asked Bayelsans to disregard Offorji claims.

Former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC, Chief Timi Alaibe, denied claims by the PDP that he knew about the clash.

Alaibe said he was not even in the state when Offorji claimed that he and other leaders of the APC flouted the sanitation law.

He said it was obvious that the PDP and its remnants were scared of losing Bayelsa.

He said the PDP was aware of the massive defeat awaiting it in December, pointing out that its members have resorted to rabble rousing to seek relevance.

“I have not been in the state for some days now. But they dropped my name.

“The report that I violated traffic law is a figment of their imagination. They are scared of me. They are feverish and jittery.

“I have become their headache and that is why they have been leading a smear campaign against me.

“But I have a message for PDP. We have come to take Bayelsa from them. There is no going back for APC. “The PDP will surely go in December 5 because we are totally committed to ensuring the victory of APC.”

Ortom raises accounting panel ENUE State Governor Samuel Ortom has inaugurated a committee on International Public Sector Accounting Standards to overhaul its accounting system.

Speaking while performing the ceremony at the old Banquet Hall of the Benue Peoples House, Ortom said: “The importance of this committee lies in the fact that it is capable of modernising the state government accounting system in line with internationally accepted standards.”

He added: “We hope that with the adoption of the accounting standards the state would increase its eligibility for access to economic benefits from donor agencies and other sources development funds.”

Ortom said his administration welcomed initiatives that enhance its credibility before partners and inspired the confidence of the people.

B

Boat mishaps: NEMA to train divers From: Jide Orintunsin, Minna

T

HE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will train volunteer divers in the riverine areas of Niger State in the act of saving people during coastal mishaps or flooding.

Its Director-General, Mohammed Sidi, made this known in Minna, Niger State while reacting to the death of 14 girls in two boat mishaps at Rivers Guni and Sarkin Pawa in Munya Local Government area of Niger State.

Sidi spoke through the head of Minna office of the agency, Slaku Bijimi, during a stakeholders’ workshop on solid and liquid waste management in the mitigation and prevention of flood disaster.

The NEMA boss identified poor management of solid and liquid waste as one of the major risk factors responsible for most urban flooding.

He warned that indiscriminate dumping of refuse in gutters, water channels and converting such drainages into dump sites of their wastes are also responsible for recurrent flooding annually.

Sidi said communities have to take serious interest in early warning of the agency on imminent flood, especially during serious downpour.

7

•L-R: Bishop of Lagos West Anglican Communion, Rt. Reverend James Olusola Odedeji; President, Women Organisation, Lagos West Anglican Communion, Mrs. Lydia Odedeji; Dean of Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral, Venerable Abel Ajibodu and his wife, Esther at the diocese’s 16th Annual Women's Conference held at Caroline Adefiola Adebiyi Women Conference Centre, Ipaja, Lagos.

PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Dickson, ex-chief of staff quarrel over govt property

F

ORMER Bayelsa Chief of Staff Chief, Dikivie Ikiogha, yesterday challenged Governor Seriake Dickson to name the government properties in his possession.

The Government House had accused Ikiogha, who is one of the leading All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants, of failing to return government properties six months after his resignation as the Chief of Staff to the Bayelsa State Governor (Abuja office).

Ikiogha, a close associate of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was at the vanguard of the campaign that made Dickson the governor in 2012.

He was appointed the Chief of Staff, Government House, Yenagoa, but moved to the state office in Abuja in controversial circumstances.

He failed to secure the

From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the House of Representatives in the last general elections.

Ikiogha was one of the earliest friends of Jonathan to dump the PDP for the APC with his numerous supporters in a carnival-like event in Yenagoa.

A source from Government House, who spoke in confidence, said the government has ordered Ikiogha to return all properties in his possession.

The source claimed the former Chief of Staff only returned some properties but retained others in his custody in defiance of civil service rules “No public officer after leaving office has the right to withhold government properties.

“However, instead of doing the needful by returning the remaining property in his possession, the former Chief of staff headed for court asking for injunction to stop police from arresting him.

“Ikiogha, after leaving office as the Chief of Staff, Abuja office, is still having some government properties in his custody.

“It is clearly stated in the public/civil service rules that any official leaving the office should handover property in his/her possessions to the most senior officer in the Ministry, Department or Agencies.”

But in a swift reaction, Ikiogha said there was no government property in his possession.

He dared the governor to name the items.

Describing the governor as a drowning man, Ikiogha said Dickson was after him because

he (the governor) was nursing fears that he would emerge as the candidate of the APC and his rival in the December 5 governorship election.

He said: “I would not have bothered to reply this infantile statement, which was not specific on what government property are in my possession and which I absconded with.

“But for the wrong impression that may be created in the minds of Bayelsans and Nigerians as, I may indeed be, God willing, Dickson’s rival for the governorship elections scheduled for December 5th, 2015.

“When I left government, the only government property with me were the two Hilux vehicles given to me by Mr. Dickson personally, which I have since returned with the official plate numbers as demanded by the governor himself.

“I challenge him to be specific on any other government property in my possession that I have not returned as claimed by his office.

“It is regrettable that Dickson has reduced himself to pettiness instead of facing governance which is what he was elected to do.”

The APC governorship aspirant added: “Following my indication to contest against him, Dickson has been looking for ways to humiliate me.

“He even attempted to use law enforcement agents to arrest me but I went to the courts to stop the illegal move.

“I want the governor to wait till we get to the political field where we will face each other in a popularity contest instead of resorting to blackmail.

“He is a drowning man clinging to political straws. He will drown alone.”

8

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

NEWS

Lagos insists law on sanitation still in force

Rep. berates Afenifere over attack on Buhari

By Tajudeen Adebanjo HE Lagos State Government has reiterated that the law on the monthly environmental sanitation and restriction of movement within the period is still in force.

It enjoins residents of the state to ensure total compliance with the law and keep their surroundings clean.

Offenders, reiterated the state government, would be made to face the penalties as stipulated in the environmental sanitation law.

Stating the position of government was the deputy governor of the state, Dr. Ididat Adebule, while monitoring the monthly exercise at Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area.

Addressing residents of OriOkuta, Agbede and Idiroko communities within the LCDA, the deputy governor charged them to ensure regular cleaning of their surroundings and obey all the environmental laws of the state, assuring that government will continue to provide basic infrastructures for the people.

She said: "We are here to see things for ourselves within Ikorodu West LCDA and I want to implore our people to be committed to the issue of the environment and ensure adequate cleaning of their surroundings at all times.

"We have noted your complaints and I want to assure you that appropriate government agencies would be mobilised to address them, but you must also be ready to take ownership of these facilities once they are in place and ensure their adequate care of them."

The deputy governor added that the state government remains committed to making life better for the citizens of the state, stating that the government is already compiling list of projects to be embarked upon across all the 57 local governments and LCDAs in the state, while assuring that the people would soon begin to feel the impact of the administration.

member of the House of Representatives representing Akoko South/East federal constituency, Kolawole Babatunde, has berated leadership of the panYoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, for its criticisms on President Muhammadu Buhari's style of governance.

The group led by Chief Reuben Fasoranti at its last meeting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, had accused Buhari of being too slow and running the country like a military dictator.

But Babatunde, who spoke with reporters in Akure, described the Afenifere leaders as selfish individuals only leaving on past glory and not acting in the interests of the Yoruba people.

He noted that the statement was a calculated attempt to distract Buhari in his mission to reform various sectors of the nation, particularly in the fight against corruption.

The lawmaker urged Afenifere to offer constructive criticisms and useful suggestions that would assist the government in addressing the various challenges confronting the country.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, who expressed satisfaction with the various steps taken so far by the Buhari-led administration in combating insurgency in the North-East region, further charged the President not to relent in his agenda of fighting corruption to a standstill without fear of intimidation by any individual or group.

Babatunde also advised the Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odunmakin, to desist from what he described as his "inglorious style of running down Yoruba leaders while hiding under the name of Afenifere."

From Leke Akeredolu

A

T

Eschew primordial sentiments, Bishop advises elite, interest groups From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

A

retired clergy, Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, has urged the political elite and interest groups to eschew primordial sentiments and support the policies of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

Ladigbolu gave the advice today at a sensitisation programme in Oyo town.

He said despite the fact that the country is abundantly resourced, there has been an absence of real development in terms of the quality of social existence and social relations of majority of the populace.

He said: "The first prerequisite of good governance is that the average citizen must have an assurance or at least a near assurance of justice, fairness and equity in most of his or her relationships in the society, be it in the economic, political or social realm. It is in this kind of situation that the average citizen will have a stake in the stability and progress of the society as a stakeholder."

• Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd left) with the Chairman, PZ Nigeria Plc., Chief Kola Jamodu (left), the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu I (middle), member, Board of Trustees, PZ Cussons Foundation, Chief (Mrs.) Nike Akande (right), the Opeluwa of Lagos, Chief Lateef Ajose (2nd right), Chief Executive Officer, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc., Mr. Christos Giannopoulos (left, behind), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola (2nd left, behind), the Vice Chairman, Lagos West, All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Funsho Ologunde(middle, behind) during the inauguration of Onikan Youth Centre donated by PZ Cussons Foundation at Onikan, Lagos, at the weekend.

Fayose imposes higher levies on Ekiti residents E KITI State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has imposed series of new levies on corporate organisations and private business concerns in a bid to generate more revenue into government coffers.

Speaking at the weekend during his monthly media chat, 'Meet Your Governor', which was aired live by the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State (BSES) and Radio Nigeria Progress 100.5 FM, the governor declared that residents must be ready to make sacrifices to ensure the development of the state.

He ordered all private nursery, primary and secondary schools in the state to pay N150, 000 each to the state government before resumption by the middle of September.

He emphasised that the payment of the levy is a precondition for any private school to operate in the state.

The governor also disclosed that any vehicle parked in unauthorised places would be impounded, while the owner is expected to pay a sum of N10, 000 to retrieve such a vehicle.

‌Ado monarch wants crackdown on street urchins From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti One week before the governor's pronouncement, the order had been in force, with hundreds of vehicles towed and taken to the premises of Ekiti State Traffic Management Authority (EKSTMA).

During the media chat, Fayose also disclosed that a sum of N1, 000 would be paid on every cow slaughtered in the stateowned abattoirs.

Also affected by the imposition of new levies are developers of new buildings throughout the state.

Although the governor was silent on the amount to be paid by private developers, he however warned, "I will not tolerate a situation in which somebody building a house worth N15 million would find it difficult to pay N20, 000 as tax.

That will no longer be tolerated."

He also put hoteliers, beer

sellers, artisans, sawmillers and other business owners on notice, while urging them to be prepared to make sacrifices for the development of the state.

He stressed that allocations due to the state from the Federation Account has reduced sharply, disclosing that the state got N2.6 billion for the month of July which could barely pay workers' salaries.

In another development, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, has expressed concern over the activities of street urchins otherwise known as 'Area Boys' and land grabbers in his kingdom.

While making the appeal on Saturday during the annual Udiroko Festival, the traditional ruler urged the state government and security agencies to clampdown on the suspected criminals in order to allow lawabiding citizens to go about their businesses peacefully.

Udiroko marks the beginning of a New Year in the Ado Ekiti traditional calendar and is celebrated by indigenes of the communities who paid homage to their king.

The monarch said: "I am not happy with the activities of these youths; I want to call on our chiefs to be vigilant in all their areas and ensure that their activities are checked. They are not only harassing people, they are taking people's lands to make money.

"These Area Boys and Omo Oniles have taken over all corners ofAdo Ekiti and if care is not taken, the situation will get out of hand. Ado Ekiti belongs to everybody and I urge traditional rulers and chiefs to be on the watch and take care of their children."

In his address at the event, Fayose assured that no monarch would suffer any form of humiliation under his government, while urging the Ewi to support all the projects being initiated by his government in Ado Ekiti and beyond.

'Appeal Court ruling signifies end of PDP in Lagos'

A

member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Segun Olulade, says Wednesday's ruling of the Appeal Court, which upheld the victory of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the April 11, 2015 governorship election, has brought an end to the existence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State.

Olulade, who is representing Epe Constituency 2, noted that the

T

By Oziegbe Okoeki

ruling was a vindication of the people's mandate which was demonstrated at the poll and a further testimony to the affirmation of Ambode's victory.

Speaking in a statement issued over the weekend, the lawmaker said, "Ambode's victory at the polls was adjudged as free and fair; the Tribunal confirmed this and now the Appeal Court has upheld that decision. With this,

members of the PDP should admit that there is no place for them in Lagos State.

Alleging that the PDP only relied on federal might and other extraneous factors to achieve victory at the polls, Olulade added, "While we (APC) were busy campaigning all over the state, the PDP and its leaders were busy plotting with former President Goodluck Jonathan on how to take over the state by any means

possible, including the use of force and intimidation.

"PDP was busy working with militant organisations, security agencies, non indigenes and others to subvert the entire process. I will advise the party to stop distracting Governor Ambode from consolidating on the good works that have been done by his predecessors and instead engage in constructive criticisms that will assist in moving the state forward."

APC decries state of Ondo Varsity

HE All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ondo State has decried the "pathetic situation" of the stateowned university of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH).

The party alleged that since the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko assumed office; he has abandoned the institution to its fate.

A statement by its Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, the party decried the present state of the University, which it noted has deteriorated in the last six years.

The party said, "No sooner had the founding fathers left office than the institution started going down. The administration of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, which

From Damisi Ojo, Akure took over government after the inauguration of the institution, has neglected it.

"A university is a universal institution that should primarily serve as a center for learning, research and community development. Unfortunately and regrettably, OSUSTECH is not standing on this tripod right now. It is critically ill. Academic and administrative activities in this institution have been paralysed.

"It is clear that the Mimiko led-administration is on a deliberate mission of wiping out this once lively institution and a legacy of formal governor Agagu going by the actions and inaction of Mimiko in recent

times."

The APC, who accused the institution's Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tolu Odugbemi of acting the script of the governor in running the university, further alleged that Odugbemi on several occasions, instituted exorbitant and arbitrary increment of school fees, payment of ICT fees without the facilities, non-payment of staff salaries, arbitrary withdrawal of money from the university account without recourse to due process, slow response to happenings and negative developments in the institution.

The party added, "It is unimaginable that in this year's annual budget, Governor Mimiko only voted N100

million to OSUSTECH. This budget was passed by his rubberstamp House of Assembly led

by Jumoke Akindele, who incidentally is from Okitipupa, whereas the newly established Medical University in Ondo, the governor's hometown "smiled" home with a largesse of N2.6 billion. There is no obvious justification for this double standard."

However, the state government had on many occasions maintained that priority attention was being given to its three tertiary institutions, including the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko(AAUA), Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo and OSUSTECH.

Ajimobi's aide defends construction of 800 roads From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

A

former Commissioner of Works in Oyo State, Mr. Bimbo Kolade, has disclosed that within 2011 and 2015, a total of 800 kilometers of roads were constructed by the Abiola Ajimobi-led administration.

The projects, he added, were executed by the state government without incurring any debt.

Kolade noted that the 800 roads, which cut across the state, remain the highest to be constructed by any governor in the state within four years.

The former commissioner was reacting to a recent criticism by the Accord Party, which accused the current administration of neglecting state and local roads, while paying more attention to federal roads.

Challenging the opposition party to show the list of roads exGovernor Rashidi Ladoja constructed during his tenure from 2007 and 2011, Kolade reeled out statistics to buttress his claims.

He said: "Oyo State has total motorable roads of about 14, 000.

Within 2003 and 2007 when Ladoja was governor, Ladoja did a total of about 300 kilometre of roads which included federal, state and local government roads.

"His successor, Adebayo Alao-Akala between 2007 and 2011, did about 678 kilometres of roads. Between 2011 and 2015, Ajimobi did about 800 kilometre of roads, out of which the 56.1 kilometre roads that were dualised are federal roads. Every of the other roads belong to the state and local governments.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

SPECIAL REPORT

9

•The late Abiola

I

N its heyday, Ekene Dili Chukwu Transport Company was the toast of travellers. Its fleet of luxury buses and haulage trucks were arguably, the most preferred by passengers and businessmen especially those from the southeast.

The luxury buses traversed the country and the West Coast, raking in huge profits and employing thousands of Nigerians. The company was synonymous with its founder, the late Chief Augustine Ejikeme Ilodibe. The Nnewi, Anambra State-born transport mogul and billionaire businessman called the shots in the long distance luxury passenger transit and road haulage sector.

It was in response to Ilodibe’s exploits that several other transport companies sprang up in a bid to take a slice of the juicy road transport business pie. Yet, Ekene Dili Chukwu Transport Company, which remained ahead of the competition, was just one of the thriving enterprises under the Ekene Dili Chikwu Group of Companies. Another member of Ilodibe’s once expansive business empire, Ekene Dili Chukwu Motors Limited, which he incorporated in 1977, was involved in the distribution of Mercedes Benz trucks, cars, buses and spare parts. Like his other businesses, its success dwarfed other companies’ in its category.

Sadly however, the company’s success, together with others in Ilodibe’s vast empire was cut short on July 1, 2007 following the death of the super-rich patriarch. From that day the fortunes of the business empire began nose-dive.

Flodibe’s three widows and family members could not build on his legacy. Rather, they went for one another’s throat in what has turned out to be the fiercest family legal battle ever over who gets the lion’s share of his inheritance.

First, it was war among his widows over his Will, which reportedly favoured the second wife, Ifeoma Stella Ilodibe. She was said to be the only one among the widows who provided the late transport magnate with an heir. This did not go down well with the other wives and their children.

But as they kicked, the business crumbled, dragging along with it the collective hope and aspiration of its original owner and the expectations of Nigerians that perhaps, one day, the company would grow into a flourishing transport conglomerate.

Ekene Dili Chukwu is not the only family business to disappear soon after the death of its

Receding fortunes of family business empires They were mostly family businesses that drew their legendary success from the resourcefulness of their founders. They also held promises of growing into some of the world’s most diversified conglomerates. But like a pack of cards, they crashed soon after the death of their founders.

What went wrong? CHIKODI OKEREOCHA and IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF examine the issues. founder. The way things are now, any Nigerian child born after 1993 would probably think that the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, more popularly called MKO Abiola, was only synonymous with democracy, having won the June 12, 1993 presidential election declared Nigeria’s freest and fairest election by national and international observers. But unknown to them, the Abeokuta, Ogun State-born multibillionaire businessman-turned politician was a seasoned industrialist.

M.K.O, an accountant and an internationally acclaimed entrepreneur, successfully ran Concord Group of Newspapers, Concord

Airlines, Abiola Farms and Wonder Loaf Bakery.

Other business concerns include the late Abiola Bookshops and Radio Communications Limited.

For instance, Abiola’s farm enterprises, which dealt in biological products, was in every part of the country. But for his incarceration in 1994 and subsequent death in prison on July 7, 1998, in suspicious circumstances, his farm would probably have had no rival today.

Before the enterprise started its awful decline soon after Abiola’s death, it was said to have acquired farms varying from a few hundreds to thousands of hectares of land across the country.

For instance, a 5, 000- hectare farm dedicated to sunflower, cowpea, maize and upland rice production was acquired on the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State.

There was also a 2, 000 hectare farm in Lafiagi, Kwara State, intended for maize, upland rice and cowpea. A 25, 000-ton capacity silo built at Lafiagi farm was meant to store maize for all seasons for the farm and other farms nearby so that growers can send their maize for off-season storage, for human and livestock.

Another 100-hectare land in Etinan, Akwa Ibom, was for oil palm plantation, while in Eggua, Egbado North area of Ogun State, an 1,000-hectare land, originally intended for maize and cowpea, was converted to a farmland where the first largest African fish farm was to start. But was stalled by Abiola’s imprisonment and subsequent death.

The fortunes of Concord Newspapers, which in its days was one of the most vibrant media outfits in the country, also started declining until it finally fizzled out, throwing its employees into the labour market. Recalling the disappearance of Concord from the newsstand, National Coordinator, Management Systems Consultants Association of Nigeria (MSCAN), Mazi Coleman Obasi, said: “When you go to Concord newspapers in those days, you see some of the best brains in journalism; so many journalists who are still living today worked in Concord newspapers. Some of the people that helped set up Sun newspapers were all stars in Concord.”

Mazi Obasi expressed regrets that following the demise of the business mogul, who garnered enormous wealth and experience when he was Financial Director for the International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), a Fortune 500 company, his family, like that of Ilodibe in protracted dispute over alleged illegal sale of some of the property he left behind.

The story of the collapse of the business dynasties of Ilodibe and MKO is just two in the long list of family-owned businesses that crumbled soon after their founders died. The Executive Director of Shokas Industries Limited, a textile company in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, Mr. Lekan Sote, recalls, for instance, the sad story of one of the country’s dynamic indigenous entrepreneurs, Mr. Henry Fajemirokun. He said

•Contd. on page 10

•Ambode

10

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

SPECIAL REPORT

Receding fortunes of family business empires •Contd. from page 9 today, no one hears about Fajemirokun’s legendary Henry Stephens Group, which included more than 20 companies in his lifetime.

According to Sote, who is also a journalist and an accountant, the premises of the previously venerated headquarters of the Henry Stephens Group in Lagos has since been farmed out to Indian businessmen and others. The only trace of the Henry Stephens Group is a half-portrait of the ‘Great Fajem’ sitting lonely on the floor, unattended to,” he said.

Sote however, noted that ‘Fajem’ was wise enough to partner with foreign firms like Rank Xerox and Johnson Wax, adding that these companies endured because they have structures, and will not succumb to family pressures and intrigues. “They operate under best business practices, observances and protocols, unlike a sole-proprietorship enterprise that operates only under the whims of the individual proprietor,” Sote said.

Other notable family enterprises that collapsed partly because they operated under the whims of their individual proprietors include those of Sir Joe Nwankwo, industrialist and politician whose beverage factory, which produced GINA soft drink, perished alongside his other businesses soon after his death; Chief G.A.D. Tabansi, founder of the Tabansi Group; Chief Israel Adebajo who was synonymous with Stationery Stores Football Club in the late 1960s; and the Odutolas.

The Odutola business empire, for instance, was the fruit of the dreams and industry of two blood brothers, Alhaji Jimoh Odutola and Timothy Adeola Odutola.

Although, the brothers were said to have laid the foundation for modern commerce and industry in Nigeria; their legacies did not

•Sote endure because their children were not interested in their businesses, which started to decline, even before their death.

Why the business empires crumbled For Sote, many factors are responsible for the collapse of Nigeria’s once vibrant and promising family enterprises. The first, he said, is that Nigerian business owners appear not to be in tune with Western business practices. “We are not too well grounded in the nuances of Western business practices. We are being forced into the 21th century by technology, practices from the West; we are being compelled especially in this era of globalisation such that we don’t have what is needed such as the thinking, intellectual, moral, and even academic and mental

• Omoregie infrastructure needed to sustain a business,” he told The Nation.

Secondly, Nigerians, Sote said, appear to be either too scared or too spiritual to accept the inevitability of death, which is why most business owners don’t want to write a Will.

“Death is inevitable, so if you are a realistic person, you will know that one day you are going to die.

By writing your Will, you are setting the stage for succession because that is one way to start,” he said.

He, however, pointed out that even when sometimes people had a Will, there have been cases where children and family members of the deceased contested the Will, insisting that their

father or mother was mentally unstable when he wrote the Will. He said because many business founders die intestate, leaving no Wills about the future direction of the company, there are conflicting and contradicting claims on the estate.

While some of the children see the business as an ongoing concern or an asset that could bring future returns, others merely see it as an inventory of items to be disposed for immediate gratifications. According to Sote, it could be that the beneficiaries are not emotionally or technically prepared for the demands of the business or the founder may have failed to expose his children to the business, its method and its contacts.

He said many times, the business founders failed to build enduring structures for their businesses. The implication is that when they die, their children have no straws to hold on to; they start guessing, and with time, the whole thing collapses.

Mazi Obasi argued that lack of structures is responsible for the collapse of businesses. He said most businesses and companies in Nigeria are built around their owners rather than on structures that stand the test of time. They do not put policies and procedures in place on how things should be done.

His words: “When you hear about creating or designing business processes and procedures it means that you are designing a process that will now drive the business beyond human beings because initially the business was built around human beings. But you should create a process that human beings will now drive. So, when you leave that seat today another person sees the document, uses it and follows it; this is how this business unit is done; this is how this business is carried out etc.”

There is also the cultural problem. For instance, as Sote observed, the dead patriarchs

•Contd. on page 11

‘Why family businesses fall after founders’ death’ M OST Nigerian businesses hardly survive after the demise of their founders. What is responsible for this trend?

Most businesses of them do not put policies and procedures in place on how things should be done. And when you hear about creating or designing business processes and procedures it means that you are designing a process that will now drive the business beyond the human beings because initially the business was built around the human beings, but you should create a process that human beings will now drive. So, when you leave that seat today another person sees the document, use it and follow it; this is how this business unit is done; this is how this business is carried out etc. When you do that type of documentation what you are looking out for is purely improvement, as any other person who comes in joins and follows what has been done and he will be looking at how to improve on what is already in existence because there is a document. So, you find out that in most Nigerian businesses there are no documents, no procedures, and no policies; they don’t even hold meetings, what they call management meetings or departmental meetings. Also, some of the businesses collapse because some of the children of the original owners may not be interested in the type of business their fathers or mothers are doing. Others see themselves as outsiders and the business has no meaning to them; they don’t have shares; they don’t have any other thing they are benefiting apart from that salary. But if you employ me and give me the impression that look! If you help me grow this business to this level I will sell shares to you I now have interest to protect that business? That’s the mistake we are making. In some of the businesses, their family members who are interested have other ulterior motives particularly if it’s a polygamous arrangement. But what of families where the man did not marry many wives yet, their businesses collapse? I think it’s a matter of education to know how to run a business because entrepreneurship takes a lot. You need to read a lot, you need to learn, and you need a mentor and consultants to help you.

What about a situation where business owners send their children to schools overseas in the hope that they would come back and

National Coordinator, Management Systems Consultants Association of Nigeria (MSCAN), Mazi COLEMAN OBASI tells CHIKODI OKEREOCHA why most Nigerian companies collapse after their founders’ to mentor you and show you how things are done. demise among other issues.

•Obasi take over; isn’t it better they stayed at home and understudy their parents before taking over the business?

Experience is not something you acquire from school so, if you want to learn then you should start from where those missing gaps would be so that he can grow like a normal person in that organisation. Knowing that at the end of the day that top position is meant for him, but he should acquire experience through the ladder. In ISO quality management system what we describe as competence include education, knowledge, skill, and training. Somebody can be qualified for a job because he has been to school, but he is not competent, he doesn’t have experience and skill for that senior position. Experience is something you cannot fill if you don’t have it, somebody has

To what extent does fear of ownership dilution contribute to the problem?

If somebody like Alhaji Aliko Dangote has been operating with that kind of mindset he will not be where he is today. Anybody who has grown his small business to a certain level and refuses to acknowledge that at this level he can no longer run the business alone, he needs to bring in professionals to help him run the business is shooting himself in the foot. At the end of the day if he is no longer there the business will collapse except he is lucky that his wife or somebody else can help. You cannot succeed alone no matter what you are; you must bring in people to assist you, competent hands, people who can buy into that vision. A lot of business owners also lack leadership qualities, anybody who has leadership qualities is not threatened or afraid of bringing people closer to him. But when you lack those things, you think that if you bring in people they will take the business from you. So, I advise any entrepreneur who wants to grow his business to a level to bring in competent hands. They don’t even send their staff for training. You need to continually train your staff. If you cannot send them to where they will pay higher fee, why not arrange in-house training for them. Some of them say if they train their staff they will run away and go and work in another place, and normally I will ask them what is your own social responsibility; these people you are employing they were trained by other people before you recruited them. That is one major problem of Nigerian businesses-they don’t like training except those of them who have been exposed to a level that they now know that training is the only way to improve the performance of staff. Training is an investment.

Is African culture that encourages polygamy also a factor? If so how does a business owner who has more than one wife guard against the collapse of the business after his demise?

First and foremost, Africans or Nigerians ought to have outgrown that; you don’t say because you have enormous resources it must end up helping you marrying as many wives as possible except you have a formula that these children or wives, after you are no longer there, can run the business effectively. Alternatively, if while you are alive, let each one of them tell you the kind of business he or she will like to run so that you can

pay attention to your own business. Your own business you structure it in such a way that it can be run without you; what you need is leadership. I discovered over time that in most companies or business organisations the managers don’t see the managing director’s office as a department. The objectives of the business must be measurable whether you are meeting them or not on yearly, weekly, daily basis. Then you now create the necessary structures, which we call ordinarily, departments of that organisation and document why they were created, what they are doing, that is the nature of work they are doing, their key performance indicators and others so that whether it is your wife or son that occupies that office the first document he or she should be able to ask is what is commonly known as the standard operating procedure, which each department should have. That will become their guiding principle; they will use it, study it to do the job of the department, not his own job as a person, but job of the company; that is the process we are talking about, because you separate the human being from the job of the company so that whether he is there or not anybody he brings in will look at it and follow it.

Where does Will come in here, because some business owners either die intestatewithout a Will or the Will was not properly done?

It’s a serious problem if they don’t have a Will. But I don’t want to think that Will include handing over a strategic business to a son or daughter. The Will should only talk about how to share your resources, not taking over the company. In most cases people who have successful businesses they put the business aside, they have their own resources, other properties they have apart from the business they have.

But I don’t think Will should include willing the whole business organisation to someone.

If they do that it’s okay, but I don’t advise anybody to do that because the business is a living entity; whether it is managed by a member of the family or not what we want is a successful business. If that has not been the case, organisations like Shell and Cadbury would have died long ago. The central point is that you don’t structure a business around one person, but around a business idea. Your business should not be structured around you, but around an idea because a business should outlive its owner.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

SPECIAL REPORT

Contd from page 10 sometimes usually leave many wives, many children, and other dependents of different ages, spanning many generations, and with varied temperaments, caprices and values. This leads to so much unnecessary distractions and squabbles.

The responsibilities of taking care of the younger members of the family who are either in school or learning some trade immediately (and rightly) falls on the resources of the company.

Unemployed wives also begin to make demands on the estate. These demands affects cash flow requirements of the company for future reinvestment or new investments.

He said because some people are essentially self-centred, it makes them distrust others, “Some of the beneficiaries, who have the opportunity to operate the companies, may be dishonest, incompetent or inept, and may therefore run the business aground. Others may divert part of the commonwealth to their private use. Even professional managers, who may be more competent, end up pilfering the resources of the unsuspecting beneficiaries,” Sote said.

This, according to Mazi Obasi, holds true. He noted that in some cases, family members who are interested in being part of the business have other ulterior motives particularly if it’s a polygamous arrangement. “There is this infighting in the house, he said, adding that distrust is also responsible for why some business owners are reluctant to engage the services of mentors and consultants despite the fact that entrepreneurship takes a lot. “In this part of the world the word consultancy sounds utopian,” he told The Nation.

That is not all. According to President/ Founder, Anabel Group of Companies, Dr. Nicolas Okoye, most businesses fail because their owners make the mistake of holding onto the business with little or no regard for growth and expansion. Okoye, an expert in strategic planning, leadership, business growth and development, said, “Majority of our companies are not public companies and once they’re not public, they are not meeting corporate governance standards that place high premium on sustainability.”

Fellow/Senior Lecturer in Finance at Lagos Business School (LBS), Dr. Kayode Omoregie, also observed that poor governance issues are rampant in most family-run businesses because the owners are not willing to let go to pave way for better management.

Omoregie who has over 25 years experience different sectors with bias for financial advisory consultancy and strategy formulation, said there is something about the average African that makes him believe that everything should be for him alone. This, according to him, explains why most family-businesses do not surrender themselves to the principles and tenets of corporate governance.

Local successes Some, not all Nigerian family businesses fail.

There are quite a number of good examples of family-businesses that have stood the test of time, having put in place robust succession plans and corporate governance standards. For instance, Okoye pointed out that the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie didn’t just wake up and assume the leadership position.

According to Okoye, “He got well-trained and well-groomed that eventually when it became his time, he was appointed by the board. So his father didn’t even have to play a role in his emerging CEO anymore because he was the most senior executive director at the time. And this is all because he had the training and the grounding. So, even in Nigeria there are examples of where proper succession planning has been done. We can only hope that other companies will emulate those examples and take advantage of it.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB), another of Nigeria’s successful banks, may have done just that. Its GMD, Ladi Balogun, is the son of the founder, Otunba Subomi Balagun. As Obasi noted, the elder Balogun had sent Ladi abroad where he read and learnt everything related to banking. Upon his return, Ladi’s father gave him a senior management appointment, which he quickly turned down. Rather than take up the position, the young Ladi decided on his own to be a cashier at the counter where he would have the opportunity of dealing directly with customers.

Obasi said by beginning the learning process from the lowest rung of the business ladder, it is impossible for anybody to tell the GMD what is happening at the counter now that he is at the top echelon of the bank. “If you over promote somebody he is missing a lot. Experience is not something you acquire from school. If you want your successor to learn then he should start from where those missing gaps would be so that he can grow like a normal person in that organisation knowing that at the end of the day that top position is meant for him, but he should acquire experience through the ladder,” he counselled.

The Nation learnt that in the case of Diamond Bank, the financial institution decided to be even

•The late Odutola more successful simply because it was being derisively referred to as a family bank. The bank’s network of branches locally and internationally attests to its remarkable success of yanking off the toga of a family bank.

Grooming, overseas training critical Sote recalled that at 12, he had started attending to customers in his father’s textile business even before he ventured into manufacturing. He said apart from the need to introduce children into the business early enough, “you need to train them in your business irrespective of what they studied.”

But in doing so, Okoye advised that parents should ensure that their children are grounded not just in the business, but also in the environment they are asking them to operate in. “The grounding has to be in threefold, that is the local environment, the business itself and the industry itself,” he said.

While noting that there is nothing wrong in parents putting their children in charge of their businesses, he told The Nation that it becomes a problem when this is done without appropriate training. “Some parents still do it and I think that’s a really poor judgment. It is at huge cost to their business. Most of the people who did in the past their businesses crashed not too long after they died. So, the need for education around the business is very important,” he insisted.

Okoye is right. Some business owners send their children to some of the best schools abroad.

Upon their return, they are put in top management positions without being groomed. He said putting a green horn in a position of authority where he or

she takes decisions that affects the lives of people that work for them and the business as a whole is a recipe for disaster. “Without that grounding, even with a Harvard education, they can’t take the right decisions,” he emphasised.

Omoregie, who concurs with Okoye, said while there is nothing wrong with allowing kids to takeover companies, not allowing them grow through the ranks is a recipe for failure.

“You just don’t bring them from wherever and dump them there. Even with the best Harvard education, a child who doesn’t understand the locale in which he would operate is not likely to succeed in business. So proper grounding is important and absolutely necessary. There are no two ways about it,” he said.

For Okoye, the tendency to allow the wouldbe successor grow through the ranks is more if it’s a public corporation, as the founder can’t just make his son or daughter the CEO. “He has to grow through the ranks. You can be the majority shareholder no doubt, but for your son to become the CEO, if you so wish, he has to learn the ropes,” he pointed out.

To underscore the importance of proper grooming/training of would-be successors, Mazi Obasi said Nigerian businesses could learn a few tricks from what happens in the royal family in the United Kingdom (UK). While noting that the issue of who occupies the position of king or queen has never been in contest, “Whoever occupies what position is made to go through the normal school; for training, they send them to the military, they also go to war, it’s to build the person up. That is not what our business owners are doing.”

He also remembered the story of a guy whose father was successful in business. But when he came back after schooling abroad, he refused to join his father’s business, preferring instead to work elsewhere to acquire the experience needed for him to be able to come and join his father’s business. Obasi said although, the guy’s father is late now, he is the one managing the business after acquiring a lot of experience from outside.

Lessons from successful global brands Sote recalls, how an American grandfather encouraged each of his two sons-in-law to start a small scale family business. While the first sonin-law produced soap, the second made candles.

This family business grew into the business behemoth now known as Procter & Gamble (P&G), with tentacles all over the world. The multinational is said to produce more than 300 fast moving consumer products including detergents, soaps and toothpaste.

Omoregie said P&G and indeed, other global brands that have survived many generations are mostly those that surrendered themselves to the principles and tenets of corporate governance.

He said because many Nigerian businesses observe such principles and tenets only in the breach, they could not boast many branches except perhaps, banks because of the peculiar services they offer.

Omeregie recalled his experience when he visited a winery, a family-owned business in Spain, where the CEO and chairman of the company is a 60-year old man. According to him, the acreage where the winery grows its fruits

11

was massive, even the cellar where they store wines required about 45 minutes journey by mini train to get there.

“The entire cellar was built underground, and the value of the inventory of the wines we had there was over 1.8 billion Euros. Some of the wines were as old as between 60 and 100 years, while the business itself was over 150 years old.

And here was a business that was not publicly quoted yet doing well, having survived many generations. And there are hundreds and thousands of that kind of business situated in Spain and other parts of the world,” he told The Nation.

Other existing foreign businesses dating back over a century and counting include Ford Motors, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Wal-Mart, MacDonald’s, Johnnie Walker, Coca Cola, General Electric, Sony, Panasonic, Julius Berger, and General Motors, among others. A common thread that runs through these companies is ‘survivability’, which, according to a brand specialist, Mr. Sola Oladipupo, is the ability to sustain brand equity.

He said compared to most of Nigeria’s indigenous businesses, a lot of companies that have survived centuries and are still in existence have been able to achieve that longevity simply by adopting winning techniques, which have placed them in good stead. He however, said winning techniques are not cast in stones, as the world is dynamic, requiring any business to constantly think out of the box.

“There are also bad stories out there. For instance, IBM typewriters, Polaroid cameras, to mention just two, are no longer in vogue. The promoters of these businesses probably didn’t take the initiative when their contemporaries did and hence were driven out of business,” he said.

Mr. Ifeanyi Nwade, General Manager, Finance, Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM), believes that any businessman worth his salt must adopt what he described as “the IMF, the three nuggets of business success, which are ideas, management and finance.”

Stock market to the rescue For the President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Boniface Okezie, one way to guarantee businesses is to be listed on the stock exchange. He told The Nation at the weekend: “The only way is for family businesses, personal businesses to be listed on the stock exchange. That way, the company is out of the control of the family, it then becomes a publicly quoted company, where professional consideration, and not sentiment, informs every decision to be taken in the interest of the company. That way, it is no longer a oneman show.”

He recalled that despite being the president of the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) at a time, the late MKO Abiola never got his companies listed.

He said ABC, a transport firm, founded by Frank Nneji, is one company that will outlive the owner simply because it is now owned by the public. The founder has taken the right steps by having it listed on the exchange,” he said.

Will owners of existing family enterprises listen to these words of wisdom? Time will tell.

‘Businesses fail for lack of corporate governance standards’

S

OME family-owned businesses prefer their wards to take over ownership of their businesses without proper succession plan.

What’s your idea of a good succession plan?

You’re talking about when parents put their children in charge of their businesses. It is still a practice around here, I agree. There’s nothing wrong with that really. But it becomes a problem when this is done without appropriate training.

Some parents still do it and I think that’s really a poor judgment. It is at huge cost to their business.

Most of the people who did in the past their businesses crashed not too long after they died.

So, the need for education around the business is very important. And I would assume that our masters and captains of industries that have built formidable businesses over the years should have the discipline to groom and train their children before they put them in positions of authority where they are taking decisions that would affect the lives of people that work for them and affect the business as a whole. Without that grounding, even with a Harvard education, they can’t take the right decisions. So, I think that people who own companies, especially family-owned companies should look at things differently.

Is there a global best practice?

Parents should ensure that their wards are grounded not just in the business, but also in the environment you’re asking them to operate in.

That’s key. So, the grounding has to be in threefold, that is the local environment, the business itself and the industry itself. They must understand the business, the industry and of course, they must understand the local environment too.

DR. NICOLAS OKOYE, President/ Founder, Anabel Group of Companies is an expert in strategic planning, leadership, business growth and development. In this interview with IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF, he shares his view on business sustainability among other related issues.

Are there global best practices we can cite?

There are quite a number of good examples of family-businesses that have stood the test of time.

Halliburton is someone’s name. Somebody set up that business many years ago. And the business is still operating till date. Becker Hues, Philips, Nike, Macdonald’s and so. All these big companies you hear about today were owned and founded by people. They set up these businesses many years ago and they are still operating till date. I can go on and on.

Are there local examples?

Of course, we haven’t got to that stage here in Nigeria because we’re making the mistake of holding onto the business with little or no regard for growth and expansion as the case may be.

Majority of our companies are not public companies and once they’re not public, they are not meeting corporate governance standards that place high premium on sustainability as it were.

Because if it’s a public corporation, you can’t just make your son the CEO, he has to grow through

•Okoye the ranks. You can be the majority shareholder no doubt, but for your son to become the CEO, if you so wish, he has to learn the ropes. So, even in Nigeria there are examples of where proper succession planning has been done. So, we can only hope that other companies will emulate those examples and take advantage of it.

12

NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

‘Adieu, my indefatigable, reliable warrior’ • Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima pays tribute to his deputy, the late Zannah Umar Mustapha

I

CAN’T remember the exact date I gave him that name, ‘Mazan Fama’. I had given him series of assignments, some of them really tasking. All I did was to give him targets. I wanted all the assignments accomplished for the good of Borno but I wasn’t expecting them accomplished in one outing! It was typical of what we do in the banking sector where I spent most of my professional years. In the bank, targets are always given to banking executives and in most cases, the targets were raised so high that meeting them may appear unrealistic but then achievable. Fortune favours the brave and the paranoid always survives! I spent years in the bank always under pressure of pursuing ever increasing targets. This is still the practice in banks, meant to keep bankers on their toes, push them to going after customers with the motive of meeting these targets set as conditions for promotions or retaining their jobs.

It was early into our first term in office, when I commissioned our Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha to travel to Gombe, Abuja and Lagos with a tall list of deliverables. As he was glancing through the list, I looked at his face, expecting to see him wear a look of anxiety like we mostly wore in the bank any time we had new targets to meet. The deputy governor seemed normal. I asked him, have you gone through the list, he said ‘yes, sir’ and pocketed the list. He was then asking if there was anything in addition to the tall list. ‘What is wrong with this man?’ I said to myself before responding to him. ‘No, there is nothing else, Your Excellency, just proceed with that and please try to return to Maiduguri as quickly as you can I said to him. He left me immediately. I was confused, wondering if he understood the weight of the work ahead of him, the number of people he needed to meet at some agencies of the Federal Government, with and without prior appointments. The task was really challenging. All I expected was something out of his planned trip. My anticipation was somewhere around 50 to 60 percent which would have been okay by me, given the importance of the tasks. Within few days that he left, he was back to Maiduguri unannounced and walked straight to my office. I was rudely shocked when I saw him. I was afraid of asking him what happened. I was so sure he must have encountered a serious setback.

But then I asked myself, ‘why didn’t he call to tell me the problem so I could try to come in instead of returning to Maiduguri?’. I was becoming impatient as he stood in the middle of the office exchanging pleasantries with a guest that I dismissed on

•Shettima (right) and the late Mustapha at an event.

sighting the deputy governor. Before he sat down properly, I said to him, ‘Your Excellency, hope all is well?’. He smiled but I was too anxious to make anything out of his face. I folded my hands, waiting for sad news. He brought out an envelope he was holding, brought the list I handed him before the trip. One after the other, my deputy governor had convincingly achieved all the tasks I gave to him. He went further to accomplish two others that were related and important but which I didn’t note.

Then, he amazed me with three words, ‘what next, sir?’. It was that day I nicknamed him ‘Mazan Fama’ which I used in describing him as my ‘reliable warrior’.

For four years and 78 days, I had such a sufficiently efficient man as my deputy in Borno before the untimely, cold hands of death came calling on Saturday, August 15, 2015.

My late deputy wasn’t only efficient; he was also extremely honest and prudent. Officials serving in committees liked his commitment but preferred not to take request to the deputy governor because he mostly cut down unreasonable requests mercilessly and very correctly, to save funds for the government. He transparently used little to achieve so much and disclosed savings for return to treasury. Taking advantage of his competence and character, I made sure the deputy governor was chairman of any special group that was to be entrusted with so much funds for execution of public programmes and capital projects. He chaired the committees that built more than half of the 2,500 houses we are completing, coordinated disbursements on immunisation programmes, and was my permanent Ameerul Hajj from 2011 till he died during which he remarkably raised the welfare of pilgrims; he was empowered to summon

any government official and any contractor handling any public project in Borno State and he did many interventions with my expressed approval. But in all that he was doing, he was most passionate about his role as chairman of central coordinating committee on the welfare of internally displaced persons, IDPs, to the extent that there was virtually no time I and him were alone that he wouldn’t say something about IDPs. In fact, even when he died in Yola, one of his schedules after the convocation ceremony at the Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH), was to follow up on his earlier visit on matters affecting the welfare of IDPs from Borno State who were conveyed from Cameroon to Yola.

We went through the darkest moments of Borno like ‘tube and tyre’ as they say. Four years have gone by after the seemingly interminable and deadly conundrum that has gripped our land. A renewed air of optimism is now sweeping through the hearts and minds of our beleaguered, yet resilient people, seeing that in the dark clouds that have hovered over the skies for so long, the glimpse of a silver lining is beginning to appear, thanks to the strong political will demonstrated by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in tackling the insurgency. As a result, we in Borno - both as a government and people - are bracing to tackle head long the enormous but not insurmountable challenges

that are bound to come with the onerous task of rebuilding Borno and restoring it to its former glory, and my late deputy’s trailblazing role is assured in the scheme of things.

My unyielding show of confidence was far from being misplaced, for the late deputy governor was hardwork, passion, commitment and diligence personified. A workaholic par excellence, an asset virtually indispensable, always cheerful and full of life, my Man Friday, Mazan Fama (the reliable warrior); the quintessential Zannah Umar Mustapha. Therefore, to say that His Excellency’s sudden death in the early hours of that dark Saturday in his sleep, hit me like a bolt out of the blues is to grossly understate a glaring fact.

As unwavering believers, we solemnly affirm not only that “every soul shall have taste of Death” (Kullu nafsin za’i katul Mawt, Qur’an 3:185), but no death is untimely. Indeed, when our appointed time arrives and the Angel of death comes knocking, there is absolutely no room for negotiation, debate or casting the ballot. That undeniable truism does nothing however, to detract from the sheer depth of the devastation caused by our irreparable loss.

Considering how our friendship, nay comradeship, blossomed with time, I could say my crossing of paths with Zannah occurred in fairly inauspicious circumstances. As

‘My late deputy wasn’t only efficient; he was also extremely honest and prudent...We went through the darkest moments of Borno like ‘tube and tyre’ as they say.’

astonishing as it sounds, before the irresistible allure of politics eventually pulled us in the same partisan direction, we were at best casual acquaintances, and by the time we had our first real and sustained interaction in 2011, I was already

by God’s grace ANPP Gubernatorial candidate and he my presumed running mate.

Four years and 78 days absolutely changed what we meant to each other. In that relatively short period of time, we bonded into a friendship very rare in its cordiality, political soul mates of a special hue and, above all else, into brothers as though of the same blood.

In the immortal words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jnr., “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in the moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenges and controversy”. Zannah Umar Mustapha endeared himself to me in particular and our people in general chiefly and precisely because he was able to prove his mettle in our handling of the well-known security and other developmental challenges that have confronted Borno in the last half a dozen years or so. He relished the hardwork and loved to carry out difficult tasks assigned to him and more importantly, he possessed an uncanny ability to deliver results, and speedily too. Therefore, entrusting such tasks to him became a second nature to me, knowing I was totally at home and could sleep with my eyes closed.

Both on account of the law of nature and constitutional requirement, the gaping hole created in our administrative set up by the unexpected exit of the amiable Zannah Umar Mustapha must be filled. Yes, fill we must the vacant position of the Deputy Governor of Borno State, but without any shadow of doubt Zannah is irreplaceable. He was an honourable man and extremely loyal; a trusted deputy and ally.

What made us a pretty good team was that my late in-

defatigable deputy and I complemented each other rather seamlessly. Where I am an introvert - quieter, more reserved, he was aggressive and vivacious; where I am diplomatic and (I am told) self-effacing, he was blunt and point-blank; where I am the product of a free wheeling, laissez faire civilian up-bringing, he was a beneficiary of military regimentation. In fact, even in terms of our physical attributes, we mixed quite well - where I am fair in complexion, he was dark ebony.

About the only attribute we had that didn’t complement each other is our age, which is about the same, both of us having been born in 1966.

I dare say that our complementarity tended to conform with the Yin and Yang (literally meaning dark and bright) strand of Chinese philosophy which describes how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary, interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Like Yin and Yang, we tended to act as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts.

That was how the deputy governor and I blended.

I state without any iota of ambiguity that I have lost my bosom friend and brother; the APC, our party, has lost an astute politician and a consummate mobiliser; Borno’s multitudes of IDPs and other hapless victims of Boko Haram, a comforter; Borno State, a committed leader; and Nigeria, lost a true patriot.

Mazan Fama is gone forever, but we cannot afford the luxury of wallowing in selfpity, for there is an awful amount of work to be done.

Besides, we can’t question the wisdom of the best planner of them all, Allah the Almighty. Indeed, the most befitting tribute we can pay his sweet memory is for us to rededicate ourselves to doing sufficient justice to the sacred mandate the good people of Borno freely and overwhelmingly gave us. The best honour we can bestow on the soul of our departed hero is to make Borno a bastion of good governance, an enduring model of excellence in sustainable development, a true home of peace and harmony, a much better place for its teeming inhabitants to live in than we found it. In short, to restore Borno’s diminished glory and reposition it for greatness. As Abraham Lincoln succinctly captured, “In the end, it is not the years in your life that count. It is the life in your years.”

Adieu my dear friend and brother, may Allah (SWT) forgive your sins and grant you abode in Al-Jannat Firdausi. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un (surely, we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return)!

Ropo Sekoni

13

Page 14

Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

Wanted: incorruptible judges tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

The dearth of upright judges is lamentable otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net

08050498530(SMS only)

A

LTHOUGH I would have loved to see where the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, was quoted as having said the committee was finding it difficult to get judges of integrity to try those who looted our treasury, especially in the immediate past, I have no doubt he said so because he has not denied the report days after it hit the headlines. Definitely, Prof Sagay must have come across the report, or his attention drawn to it; so, to the extent that he has not denied it, I take it to mean that he was not misrepresented as many public officials are won't to claim when they realise the import of what they have said.

It may be an overstatement to say there are no more judges of integrity in Nigeria.

This is because it is only if we do not walk far that we cannot find a squirrel with a hunchback; if we look close to the ground, it is not unlikely that we will see ants that are lame. So, I guess what Prof Sagay is saying is that judges of integrity are so rare in the country such that it takes time and effort to see them; which is bad enough. The rule should be that in the judiciary, we should be able to find so many good and incorruptible judges, and only a few bad ones because, among every 12 disciples, there will always be a Judas.

But it seems the reverse is the case with us in Nigeria, with 11 Judases amongst every 12 disciples!

To put Prof Sagay's statement in context, however, we should not be surprised that we have found ourselves in this situation. It could not have been different in a country where we eat corruption and drink exotic wines to wash it down. We could not have got a different result in a country where we are trying to draw a line between stealing and corruption! That we can't find enough good judges merely shows the depth to which the county has sunk.

But nothing I have said should be misconstrued that corruption, whether in the judiciary or elsewhere in the country, started in the Goodluck Jonathan years.

As far back as December 1993, the then Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha had appointed Justice Kayode Eso to head a panel on judicial reform. But the committee's findings and recommendations were so radical that the government simply ignored the report, except for the aspect recommending the setting up of a National Judicial Council (NJC), a thing which was done six years later via the 1999 Constitution. This means that perverse as the Abacha government was, it saw the need to do something about the rot in the judiciary, even if ostensibly so.

What I am saying is that Sagay has not said anything new. A few years ago, Justice Eso too had told us about the emergence of 'billionaire judges' after the 2007 elections. Of course, we knew that some of our judges were corrupt or corrupted in that era, what we did not

Social media and good governance

W

•Mahmud Mohammed, Chief Justice of Nigeria

know was that the corruption made some of them billionaires. But what would the politicians of that era not do in their desperation for power and influence? That was a period when President Olusegun Obasanjo allegedly said one of the ruling party's governors (names withheld) could bribe God! We have seen instances where some judges gave permanent perpetual injunctions in cases that made an open mockery of the judiciary. But no one seemed to care, as the judges smiled to the banks. I am yet to see any other country where public officials would go to court to ask that they should not be probed or investigated. Nigeria's embattled former petroleum minister in the Jonathan era, Diezani Alison-Madueke, had rushed to court to seek an interim injunction ordering the House of Representatives to discontinue an ongoing investigation into how she allegedly squandered more than N10billion of public funds leasing private jets for two years. Mercifully, the judge who was earlier reported to have granted the injunction denied ever doing so.

But the case of former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, is a good example.

The former governor approached Justice Ibrahim Buba, then of the Port Harcourt Federal High Court and secured a perpetual injunction restraining the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from prosecuting him or even investigating his tenure, despite the fact that he was alleged to have diverted about N100billion public funds during his tenure as governor. Eight years after, the EFCC is yet to discharge the injunction to allow for Odili's prosecution.

Interestingly, many groups, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), have been calling for a full implementation of the Eso panel's recommendations. Even the

“To have corruptible judges at the temple of justice is to sleep under a burning roof. If the court is the last hope of the common man, it follows that we must have trustworthy, credible and honest people to dispense justice. Otherwise, the society is doomed.

Obasanjo government that promised to do something on it did not go far. The Justice Babalakin-led review panel, that was set up later, in line with the Justice Eso's report, made ground-breaking recommendations for the radical transformation of the nation's judiciary, including the establishment of a monitoring committee to monitor the performance of judges all over the country by requesting them to produce mandatory quarterly returns of cases completed by each judge to the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Other measures recommended to sanitise the system include the establishment of a system of monitoring and declaration of assets by serving judges, with a view to curbing corruption. The panel also requested the NJC to make honesty and hard work the fundamental benchmarks for appointment to higher judicial offices.

But how many of these recommendations have been implemented?

What the integrity question in the judiciary has brought vividly home is that, as with other spheres of our life, the problem is not about a dearth of ideas about what to do to correct the lapses in the system, including the judiciary; rather, it is more about implementation. But the judiciary is the last place where we should tolerate corruption. To have corruptible judges at the temple of justice is to sleep under a burning roof. If the court is the last hope of the common man, it follows that we must have trustworthy, credible and honest people to dispense justice.

Otherwise, the society is doomed. So that we are not doomed, the time is now for us to revisit the Eso and Babalakin panels' recommendations. If the judiciary stinks, then all facets of the society suffer from that stench. The judiciary must be sanitised if we are to have a sane country. Otherwise, the war against corruption is dead on arrival.

That is why we must support the Buhari government to cleanse the Augean stable so that we all can have a fresh breath of air in a truly transformed country.

CHIBOK GIRLS: STILL ON MY MIND

HAT has social media got to do with good governance and sustainable democratic culture in the country?

This was the question I spoke on at a seminar organised by some former student union leaders in University of Lagos last Thursday.

At a time the social media is increasingly coming under attacks due to abuse of the use of the platforms, its role can easily be dismissed.

However, if carefully examined, social media has undoubtedly become a major tool for sourcing and sharing information. The excesses by some users notwithstanding, Facebook, Twitter and others have, indeed, been and will continue to be useful in ensuring good governance and sustainable democratic cultures globally.

In the last sixteen years since the return to civil rule, the need for good governance and sustainable democratic culture has continued to be an issue of concern to ensure that the people get the dividends of democracy.

There has been the cry for good governance in view of the inability of governments at various levels to meet the expectations of the people and wanton abuses of the rule of law.

I need to state that good governance should be enacted at the level of student unions, campus associations and university administration.

While some of us are very good at making demands on political office holders to live up to expectations, we are not able to show that we can do same in the groups we lead.

I am always ashamed when I see some Aluta branded vehicles driving against traffic or when I read reports of corruption in union activities.

Hitherto, the traditional media had been saddled with the responsibility of holding the government accountable to the people. The print and broadcast media as gatekeepers of information had been playing this crucial role.

However, the coming of the new media has made it possible for not only the traditional media to be the main source of information exchange.

With social media, which according to wikipedia are computer-mediated tools, everybody, including those in government and the citizens are now able to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/ videos in virtual communities and networks.

Unlike before when the government had a major control on information dissemination through ownership of some media organisations and was subjected to monitoring by only few traditional media, it is now virtually answerable to every citizen that has one social media account or another.

Through major social media accounts, government activities are now subjected to more intense scrutiny with instant feedbacks from the people.

It is not unusual these days for the traditional media to be forced to report issues it had earlier ignored when the social media continue to focus on them.

For youths who make more use of the social media, they need to realise that the platforms are no longer useful for only social interaction, but for engaging governments and officials in the quest for good governance.

Social media is power in their hands which they must not fail to use, but must do responsibly.

The platforms make it possible to hold the government accountable in many ways and not allow the officials get away with false claims.

Government agencies and officials who have social media account must realise that social media is a two-way communication and not only a channel for sending out information.

They must be ready to respond to comments directed at them as promptly as possible through trained staff who should have access to up-todate information.

14

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

COMMENT

Derailing of Nigeria: the smaller picture (2) Within the country, a visit to passport offices across the country often reveals that the Immigration Service is also engaged in sharp practices but only in a way more subtle than that of the police on inner-city streets and highways.

There has to be a general recognition that this crisis (corruption) is moral as well as economic. It is, indeed, a perfect illustration of the economics of morality—the absence of a sense of propriety, of restraint and of right and wrong, was not just obnoxious, it was economically disastrous.—Fintan O’Toole

T

HE first part of this column last week argued that as much attention as is being paid to the big picture of political and bureaucratic corruption by President Buhari needs to be paid to less elaborate corrupt practices thatexist within the security forces and other agencies. Today’s piece will conclude the series on what appears to be minor corrupt practices but which call for as much effort on the part of the Buhari government to initiate an elaborate process of ethical re-engineering, without which no modern nation can thrive.

On the topic of uniformed officers using their positions to defraud citizens and the state, the two agencies not covered last week: the Customs and Immigration Services do not generally fare any better than the Nigeria Police Force, Federal Road Safety Commission, and military units assigned to perform civil duties that we covered last week. Nigeria in the last few decades has been one of a few countries in which Customs officers act as highway police.

It is common practice to see Nigerian customs officers on highways that are farther than 100 miles from the coast or any international border. Customs officers, such as are found on the highways between Lagos and Ibadan, Ibadan and Ife, Ijebu-Ode and Ore, Ore and Benin, for example, stop not only vehicles carrying containers but individual motorists going or coming from work to check if they carry contrabands or goods that had not been duly cleared at the seaports or at the borders.

Most of the time, motorists who get stopped end up being made to give some money to the officers who stop them. It will be more costeffective for customs officers operating in the middle of the forest in many parts of the country to be deployed to seaports and highways that link Nigeria with other countries. If there

were efficient and honest performance of customs officers, citizens or foreigners who convey containers on highways would have cleared their goods at the ports or at border posts before getting on domestic highways, thus obviating the need to post hundreds of customs officers to highways in the middle of the country to apprehend persons trying to evade customs charges. Citizens who are often flagged down by customs officers on the highways need to be saved from such harassment and exploitation. If the Customs Service is overstaffed, then the agency needs immediate rightsizing through deployment of redundant customs officers to other sectors.

Similarly, customs officers in collaboration with NDLEA staff at international airports also harass citizens, not for carrying illegal drugs but for carrying food items that they want to consume in their destinations. Tricks used to create difficulties for travellers include asking them to go and obtain licence to take food out of the country, even when the food being transported is not in commercial quantity. For fear of missing their flights, such customers are often pressured to part with some money. Such harassment makes citizens lose respect for and confidence in the authority of customs and NDLEA officers who are deployed just to check the luggage of travellers exiting the country. No public servant should be given a chance to create the type of difficulties that citizens experience on their way out of the country at each of the country’s international airports. The technology for effective detection of cocaine and other illegal drugs has gone past two or three uniformed men or women rummaging with their hands through travellers’ bags, just to complain about small quantity of food in the luggage of travellers, especially those with children.

Immigration officers appear to be more restrained than other agencies. Yet there are many cases of harassment by Immigration officers of citizens, particularly those coming back

home on expired passports. Many of such officers appear ignorant of the general problem in Nigerian embassies abroad with respect to renewal or re-issue of passports. Even in places such as New York, Washington and London (second home to millions of Nigerians), Nigerian embassies are often unable to process new passports for citizens in good time for their travel plans on the excuse of not having in store passport booklets. Most of the time, such persons still get to enter the country after ‘greasing the palms’ of officers at the Lagos or Abuja end. Moreover, those who come to the country to obtain their visas at the entry point are not immune from harassment. Within the country, a visit to passport offices across the country often reveals that the Immigration Service is also engaged in sharp practices but only in a way more subtle than that of the police on inner-city streets and highways. Each passport office allows touts or passport contractors to run after potential applicants for passports right from the gate, marketing benefits of accelerated service. Unlike in other countries, such quick service attracts double the cost of a regular passport and receipt that does not reflect payment for accelerated service.

Even traffic wardens in uniform are wont to take full advantage of their uniform to fleece motorists. It does not matter what names they bear from state to state, traffic wardens who are not full-fledged police also extort money from motorists for claim of infractions of traffic code. They too are in the habit of jumping into vehicles to negotiate traffic fines. In some instances, there is collaboration between police and traffic wardens to extort money from motorists. In addition, during the era of Sure-P’s special federal task force staff, citizens were also pressured to part with 200 or more naira, particularly on Lagos roads.

All this is to draw attention of the new government to the abysmal level of ethical standards on the part of those employed to enhance security and safety of citizens. The

culture of corruption cuts across income levels and across occupational lines. Those endowed with political and bureaucratic power make efforts to steal billions of naira, most of which President Buhari is already planning to retrieve. On their own part, those with the little power bestowed by the uniforms they wear steal whatever they can get from poor citizens.

But the effects of formal sector corruption of ministers and civil servants and of informal sector extortion of citizens by police and other uniformed workers are similar. In both cases, citizens are robbed directly or indirectly. State authority is also eroded.

Just as big-time thieves of state property rarely get punished and shamed to restore citizens’ confidence in the state, so is it rare to find erring police, immigration, and customs being subjected to the principle of crime and punishment. In societies where corruption is nurtured by impunity, citizens either become cynical or resigned to corruption as a way of life.

The 2105 presidential election was a rebellion against kleptocratic governments in the country. While there are several individuals, groups, and non-governmental organisations that are already pleading with President Buhari not to probe anybody unless he is ready to probe everybody from the government of Balewa to that of Jonathan, there is no doubt that majority of voters who brought Buhari to power with their votes, though generally voiceless, are enthusiastic about the fight against corruption.

But the war against corruption will remain half-hearted or half-won if it is directed solely at big-time looters. It will be in order for the Buhari government to involve citizens in the fight against corruption. Citizens may not be adept petition writers, but they know their neighbours who live above their wages and salaries. Opening special Ombudsman offices in state headquarters to collect information from citizens suspected of graft or extortion may be a good addition to the two major anti-corruption agencies. Moreover, the principle of crime and punishment needs to be invoked at all times. The best way to restore and sustain citizens’ confidence in government is to assure them that those who dare the state by violating its laws are punished accordingly.

This is also the best way to promote compliance habit on the part of citizens.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

COMMENT

15

Redefining pilgrims' progress It's not enough to limit government involvement in hajj but to institutionalise it permanently

W

HETHER the constitutional secularity of the Nigerian state should accommodate its participation in the spiritual lives of the people, and what should be the limits of such involvement, are not new issues. But the Muhammadu Buhari presidency has reopened the unresolved debate by an official announcement of its detachment from the funding of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for the hajj. Instead, the Federal Government's role will be restricted to providing consular, medical and welfare support to the pilgrims. A national coordinating committee set up to supervise the hajj will be funded by the service charge paid by pilgrims to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

Furthermore, in a significant departure from convention, there will be no delegation representing the central administration at the 2015 hajj for "procedural and economic reasons." The government is expected to save one million US Dollars and N30 million in local expenses as a result of this decision.

It is noteworthy that 66,000 pilgrims are expected to be flown to the holy land ahead of the closure of Jedda Airport on September 17, according to NAHCON Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Muktar Muhammad. They are scheduled to return to Nigeria in batches in an operation that will be concluded by October 27.

It is unclear whether the position of the Presidency on this year's hajj is essentially a policy that will be effected throughout President Buhari's four-year tenure and define his perspective on the customary sponsorship of hajj pilgrims by the federal and state governments. The question is: Considering the premise of financial straits, will improved economic circumstances prompt a rethink? The possibility of a reversal, not only by the Buhari administration but also by succeeding authorities, is a strong indication that the question of state funding of pilgrimages

W

HEN the government of the late President Musa Umar Yar'adua announced him in 2009 as the head to pilot the affairs of the second highest generating revenue outfit in the country, no one was in doubt, as his avowed determination to steer the ship of this agency to the expectation of entire Nigerians.

Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi would be leaving the Nigeria Customs Service with

T

O fight the war against corruption, the first step to take is to set up an anti-corruption tribunal with its own laws & guidelines which will make it impossible for a case of corruption to last more than six months before judgement is delivered with a reasonable punishment.

If corruption cases are channelled through the regular courts, some of the cases will outlive the GMB's government before it gets to conclusion, if ever.

T is quite clear to all informed Nigerians that from the time that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) was established by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida there have been massive reduction in the spate of road mishaps. Great Nigerians including Prof Wole Soyinka, Gen. Haladu Hananiya, Dr. Rotimi Agunloye, Osita Chidoka etc. gave their best in

I

remains a question and needs to be answered in definite and definitive terms.

Apart from the presidential position, the Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai's example also reflected a reconsideration of the subject that may become appealing to other governors. ElRufai was quoted as saying that the state had saved N221.8m following its decision to shun pilgrimage sponsorship. His argument that the state had to save resources to be able to address other pressing problems, especially in the areas of education and health, has the force of sound logic in the context of the country's development challenges. In a repeat of the Federal Government's reasoning, the Kaduna State government said: "The government recognises its duty to provide officials who will cater for the spiritual and welfare needs of the pilgrims.

Therefore, the government will discharge its obligation to the pilgrims and send a delegation of guides, preachers, medical personnel, media professionals and pilgrim officers."

Statistics that 5,682 citizens of the state would attend this year's hajj, to be supported by 116 officials, paint a picture of the size of supposedly privately sponsored pilgrims. However, El-Rufai's boast that his administration has made the concept of pilgrimage-sponsorship by government irrelevant suggests a lack of appreciation of his constitutionally limited tenure and the possibility

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh

•Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile

•Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye

•Associate Editor Sam Egburonu

•General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

of a reversal by succeeding administrations.

What this means is that it will take more than the personal perspective of political helmsmen to put a stop to the practice of government-funded pilgrimage. To prevent possible flip-flop on the issue based on the preference of whoever is in power, there should be a formal concretisation of the no-government-funding position.

It must be stressed that the principle of nongovernmental pilgrimage-sponsorship should be applied to Christian pilgrims as well. Specifically, Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem and related holy lands ought to be privately sponsored too.

It goes without saying that government sponsorship of pilgrimages related to Islam and Christianity involves money that could be better employed for development purposes. Faith is personal and should be treated as such by the political authorities. This will free much-needed funds for critical developmental projects at both federal and state levels.

Particularly in the new era of President Buhari focused on and driven by an intense anticorruption crusade, the privatisation of matters relating to religious pilgrimage will probably have positive implications for the anti-corruption war. Given the rottenness of the old political order, it may not need any special investigation to support allegations that government pilgrimage-sponsorship has been a platform for corrupt practices by political players.

It is high time the secular and the spiritual were distinctly differentiated in a country that claims a non-theocratic tag. The actual problems of the secular world, particularly in a development-challenged country like Nigeria, are too demanding to excuse the use of scarce funds on spiritual aspirations that are personal and only narrowly promote the corporate good. We must separate pilgrims' progress from socio-economic progress.

LETTERS

Good bye Dikko Inde Abdullahi legacies that would be remembered for many years to come, due to his focussed, visionary and purposeful leadership when he held sway as the customs boss for the period of six years.

The revenue under the

tenure of the former Comptroller General rose from a monthly revenue of 29 billion to about 90 and 100 billion naira, which was part of his six-point agenda he set for himself when he assumed duty as the helms man of the service.

The other notable agenda he would be leaving for the service include capacity building, introduction of ecustoms, enhancing productivity through improved welfare package, moral rebirth for discipline and

The war against corruption This is because the people involved are wealthy people who can conveniently hire the services of as many SANs as possible to defend themselves.

They will penetrate the judges through these senior lawyers to procure incessant & frivolous injunctions that will last the four years tenure of the president.

Prosecuting corruption, I have no confidence in Nigeria's regular courts because that is

where corruption gets its life line from. Corrupt judges feel their reward should not be in heaven but here on earth, helping themselves to filthy money from politicians.

Since 1999, how many looters of public fund have been tried & found guilty, with looted money recovered & sentenced to some years of imprisonment?

None.

Examples abound of people

who stole a large amount of public money from N2billion to N10billion who were given less than N1million fine instead of imprisonment with hard labour to serve as a deterrent to would-be-looters. Somebody who looted N10billion & he is fined N1million, does the criminal lose anything? No, it is Nigeria that loses because 99 % of looted money remains with the looters, apart from the

Challenges facing the FRSC the service of the fatherland while at the leadership of the commission.

However, the untoward attitude of rascally nationals who should know better is hampering the noble effort of the outfit. Many private car drivers make calls with their cells phones while on the wheels. Their counterpart on

tricycle (keke) do the same, and the motorcycle drivers (okada) are not left out.

Truck and tanker drivers that ply our highways are not left out in this ignoble practice of breaking traffic rules. They park their vehicles indiscriminately, and endanger the lives of other road users.

On the other hand many a driver still works under the influence of alcohol and other mind-bending substances.

Many others disobey traffic lights while other stubborn drivers drive against traffic with careless abandon.

The commission should be more proactive. They should establish post offices in all the

integrity in the service, collaboration with stakeholders and international organisations and as well as fostering understanding of the service in the general public.

The Nigeria Customs fared better under the regime of the money spent by the govt to prosecute the case.

Most of the corruption cases prosecuted in Nigeria ended up in plea bargaining which is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Nigerian courts prefer to sentence a pick pocket who stole N2,000 to 10years imprisonment to sending a politician who looted billions to prison. Remember, God is watching everyone.

• By Israel Oyegbile, Sabo Tasha, Kaduna local government headquarters across the country and the area councils in the federal capital city, Abuja. Media campaign on road safety should be stepped up. We already have harsh penalties for offenders but it is cheaper and better to prevent then to cure.

• By Dickson Nnaji Ogbodo Agbani, Enugu

former Comptroller General Inde Dikko Abdullah where the welfare of officers was brought to the front burner.

But as human being, the former CG can't be exonerated from some short comings which were noticed during his stay as the head of the Customs.

We believe the next CG will be a person that will build on the success of the former CG, and correct certain areas and lapses he would notice.

The current government of President Muhammadu Buhari of giving leadership position, based on merit, will ensure the person to occupy the position of next Comptroller General of Customs would be a man of proven integrity, hard working, season officer, an officer that would be acceptable to the entire Nigerians and would key into President Muhammadu Buhari's change that Nigerians are seeing at present.

Much has been said and written about this much respected and revenue-yielding organ of government without taking into cognisance the peculiar role it plays in revenue generation, suppressing of smuggling and other security issues that affect the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

As Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullah takes a bow from the Nigeria Customs Service, we wish him success in his next endeavour and say jazaka lahi • By Bala Nayashi Lokoja

SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 500 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS: sundaynation@yahoo.com

16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

COMMENT

Bishop Kukah’s grandiloquence: A mere rearguard face-saving effort The Peace Committee having been denied the joy of playing a Job's comforter to now President Muhammadu Buhari, is merely out on a fishing expedition, eager, always, to protect the object of its adulation as well as its raison d’etre.

T

ATALO scored the bull's eye when in 'The Trial Of Bishop Kukah', (The Nation, 23 August, 2015) he wrote: "Let it be bluntly and baldly stated that this committee, the Nigerian Peace Committee, that is, is not about peace at all. It materialised as a last ditch ruling class initiative to force General Buhari to accept dishonourable defeat and hence to stave off the revolutionary turmoil and anarchy that would have accompanied electoral miscarriage…'

Indeed, I make bold to say that it was, essentially, the apogee of the many schemes put in place by the core Jonathanists and their acolytes like Afenifere to hoodwink Nigerians into silence after gifting an undeserving President Jonathan a second term. Granted that it would be uncharitable to suggest that Afenifere is not serious about restructuring, they were well aware they sold the idea of a national conference to a most unwilling President Jonathan who would later show his utter revulsion for the event by failing to do anything about those aspects he could, very easily, have effected by a mere stroke of the pen. Yet they wanted him to win and would do everything to secure that victory. For Afenifere therefore, the national conference was seen as a 'deu ex machina' to guarantee Southwest votes go to Jonathan. That intended victory must also be sustainable because only then would Afenifere get out of its decades- old consignment to political Siberia in a region where they used to be the undisputed leaders; its most important reason for supporting Jonathan. In the certainty of that victory, to get which the PDP had

other schemes to eventuate, and about which Afenifere may have been completely unaware, they had to help Jonathan prevent any post election conflagration as we saw in 2011. Because of the urgency of that victory, Afenifere raised no objection, whatever, to the president's intent to inundate the country, especially the Southwest, with soldiers and masked members of the Niger-Delta Volunteer Force. Not even when Asari Dokubo threatened to level the entire Southwest did we hear a whimper from Afenifere. Jonathan's victory, without a repeat of the 2011 post-election conflagration was uppermost in their calculations and for this reason, we would have some international diplomats come on a 'salvage mission'.

Aside Afenifere, PDP was, of course, certain of its candidate's reelection. Many were the strategies, legal and otherwise, put in place to ensure it. Up until the eve of the election, when the respected Professor Chidi Odinkalu weighed in, supporting deployment of soldiers all over the country in a democratic election, the Ekiti model, which failed in Osun because we were fast in unravelling what happened at the Ekiti election, and the yeoman's effort to frustrate them, was to be the template. Nigerians have since come to know the details, courtesy Captain Koli's Ekitigate tapes. For a confirmation of this claim, I quote from my article titled: "It Will Be Most Unlike PDP Not To Rig The 2015 Election," of 4 January 2015 in which I quoted Musiliu Obanikoro ( a major player in the Ekitigate saga) in an interview

boasting as follows: 'I can tell you that we are going to win. The president is going to win BIG; we are going to clear the Southwest. You can mark today's date and quote me." I invite the reader to note Obanikoro's emphatic arrogance. As at that date, Nigerians have not known anything about the tapes.

While the PDP was scheming, APC was working on much surer ground, a fact which enabled Dr. Femi Olufunmilade, a member of its Presidential Campaign Council to observe as follows in a recent interview: "The schisms within the PDP and the support of innumerable groups across the federation and the Diaspora were there to ensure victory. Many youth organisations, trade unions and so on lined up behind the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket. It was a rainbow coalition that cut across ethnicity, religion, region, class, professions etc. A unique feature of the ticket was that the talakawas, the lower class, the very poor in society gave their time, money, and intellect to it. It was unprecedented. I recall that when my campaign team of the BuhariOsinbajo Support Organisation (BOSO) campaigned in the Ibarapa region of Oyo State and we offered to pay some local folks to paste the Buhari-Osinbajo posters we took along, they rejected our money and felt somehow insulted."

Incidentally, this widespread cult following was also being observed by some people in the other camp.

Such persons knew that to rig the presidential election would be tantamount to inviting a conflagration far worse than we saw in 2011. This, I suspect, was how the former U.N Secretary-General, Kofie Anan and his former Commonwealth counterpart, Chief

Emeka Anyaoku, suddenly emerged on the scene. It must be recalled, however, that this was soon after Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, with clear sympathies for Afenifere, proposed the signing of a MOU between the two leading presidential candidates.

Integral to the proposed memorandum of understanding was the suggestion that the two candidates should sign that their supporters will, willy nilly, ACCEPT WHATEVER THE RESULT(caps mine) of the election. Because I have never seen or heard anything like this before, I soon reacted to the suggestion. On these pages, Sunday, 18 January, 2015, I queried: "Is this diplomacy or duplicity? Nobody wants violence but how has PDP shown it won't rig the election, being in power? Will the president deploy soldiers, policemen, militants in masks or not? Why didn't the diplomats or Professor Akinyemi emphasise transparency and integrity of the electoral process? Left to me, this accord is a carte blanche to PDP to rig to their hearts' content.

I am sure something preposterous is afoot and APC had better wake up."

In my view, these were all attempts to mollify Nigerians into quietude after candidate Buhari would have been mindlessly rigged out and I believe this was when the Peace Committee was birthed; aimed at giving a victorious, re-elected President Jonathan, a safe landing, devoid of any of our usual postelection bloodletting.

I could be wrong, anyway, but this is the logical deduction I can make from the extant circumstances.

With Muhammadu Buhari's victory having become obvious hours before the close of vote tabulation, wringing a congratulatory telephone call from

the defeated candidate to the winner became about the only remarkable thing the peace people could do. And the success of that must, to a great extent, be attributed to the massive and totally uncompromising stance of the UK and the U.S whose ambassadors were on ground, literally, eye ball to eye ball. To this must be added Olusegun Obasanjo's earlier, and very timely, warning to President Jonathan about the not too pleasant circumstances of President Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire.

Given this background, it should not surprise Nigerians that Bishop Kukah has since experienced a reverse Pauline conversion which took him away from the Nigerian hoi polloi and dropped him, 'dead', on the side of the oppressors. But there is something more about this Peace committee. According to the inimitable Olatunji Dare in his article: "Between 'national icon' and iconographer" (The Nation, 11 August, 2015) the Peace committee Chairman, in a newspaper advert, recently congratulated Chief Tony Anenih as follows on his 82nd birthday: "A leader of uncommon achievement, keeper of the peace of the nation, a political heavyweight and mentor to the upcoming generation; an elder statesman and a leader of indomitable mien. No doubt yours has been a life of consistent hard work, total commitment to higher principles and unalloyed loyalty to the national cause." Conceding that all this is true of the elder statesman, and given what Nigerians know about the relationship between Chief Anenih and former President Jonathan, I ask, is it likely that the Peace Committee could ever lend its weight to a probe of former President Jonathan? I doubt.

Nigerians should, in the light of all these, take Bishop Kukah's grandiloquent disavowals as nothing more than blowing an empty wind.

The Peace Committee having been denied the joy of playing a Job's comforter to now President Muhammadu Buhari, is merely out on a fishing expedition, eager, always, to protect the object of its adulation as well as its raison detre.

How not to be a gentleman and other (un)social etiquettes! ...The fine print of a larger law says gentlemen do not abuse the accounts of their offices or the other privileges of those offices.

The finer print of that law says that abusers are liable to be called Common Thieves.

I

HAVE many observations on the male race in Nigeria, mostly because I am not a member. My most profound discovery about them is that nearly every member of that group does not have a single idea what it means to be a gentleman. Just check out the traffic. Many men, even menin-black, can be seen struggling for the right-of-way with every other road user, lady or ruffian. I have searched in vain for those I can call knights-inshinny-armour to redeem the race. All I see around me are men in burnished armour. Nearly all of them appear to be versed in the veritable art of how not to be a gentleman. You are offended? Wait then till I ask you this: how many of our men, not counting your fashionistas, know how to sew a button on their most beloved shirt?

Most Nigerian men cannot tell one end of the needle from the other. Yet, the book of etiquette says 'a gentleman knows how to sew on a button'.

For that matter, how many of our men know that a gentleman should always walk behind a lady, except of course when there is danger? There you are, none of you! Most men have no idea that they are supposed to walk in such a way that they shield their lady from all dangers, oncoming or from behind. Alas, your Nigerian men appear to need the shelter that women provide; that's why they make women walk behind them. Yet again, the book

says a gentleman always walks behind a lady.

There is a rule in the book of social etiquettes that says men ought always to give their lady friends flowers to mark a variety of occasions: Christmas, birthday, baby bearing, apologies, weekend get-away, valentine, request-to-be-mine, apologies, valentine... Now, all those men who gave their ladies flowers this last valentine should please stand up. That's what I thought: two men out of one hundred and something million (or whatever you think the population of the country is). Haba!

Did you say something about giving flowers not being in our culture?

Mmm! I always wondered why the Almighty caused the silly things to grow around here, seeing they are really not part of the culture of Nigerians. You know the way one would hold a baby's heavily soiled nappy when it's full of the stuff? That's how a Nigerian male holds flowers when he is giving them to a lady. He thinks it's more than his reputation can withstand to be seen doing that.

The only time I received a flower in my house was the year I made a lot of noise about it. Since then, there has been a flowery silence.

From this book of social etiquettes for men, I also see that gentlemen are not expected to leave dirty crockery around. Ha! That is the

one I love most. I wait for the day when Nigerian gentlemen will finish their dinner and promptly see that there is no dirty crockery lying around, not just by instructing the little ones to deal with it but by rolling up their sleeves and plunging their hands into the soapsuds. In the meantime, we must continue to watch as Baba Wande finishes his dinner and slides off the table end of the conversation, in person, particularly when he ignores the thin voice of the woman wailing about 'who will wash these plates'. Well, sometimes, the cuckoo waltzes home and daddy decides of his own freewill to clean up. Such days are rarer than finding ruby on the beach; that is why there usually is a song and dance about it when it happens. Even the neighbourhood knows there is something different in the air because the voice of the turtle is heard clearly in the land.

Once, I came upon a woman who, unprompted, quickly explained that the father of the house was cooking dinner that evening. I never asked her.

I rather think that she needed to explain why she was in the sitting room that dinner preparation hour, rather than in the kitchen. I have not been able to decide whether that was occasioned by guilt or a need to fill the time, that she had normally used for pottering around the kitchen, with words.

By far the most profound of the How to be a gentleman's rules is that gentlemen are expected to laugh and talk quietly. Actually, I think that is

where we all fail, both men and women. This abuse of noise is something that is very Nigerian.

From waking time to sleeping time in this country, there is no abating the noises buzzing and belching out of every religion-linked loudspeaker, record dealer, transport canvasser, beer parlour adherent, irate husbands, termagants, and all else. To a man (and woman), Nigerians are just mindless noisemakers. One day, we really should talk about why we have not all become The Walking Deaf in this country.

Most importantly, my book revealed that real gentlemen do not abuse expense accounts while on business trips. This is the fine print of a larger law that says gentlemen do not abuse the accounts of their offices or the other privileges of those offices.

The finer print of that law says that abusers are liable to be called Common Thieves. I don't think this rule was written with Nigerians in mind exactly. If it was, then it has fallen flat on its face. Nearly every facet of Nigerian life is peopled with men who do not only abuse their expense accounts, they actually insult them. That exactly is the bane of public life in this country: the fact that Nigerians do not really know the meaning of the epithet Common Thief. Actually, being called common is an abuse that real gentlemen dread for it implicates plainly that one has no sense of refinement, is a black soul, or that one is worth less than the grass he walks on.

Unfortunately for us all, Nigeria is

not a class-minded society. Perhaps, once upon a time in its history, it used to be. At that time, there were behavioural expectations for every segment of the tribe. What qualified one for membership within that segment was no more than conformity to the rules. Aberrations were not only frowned at, they qualified one for exclusion from the segment. That was class behaviour. It did not depend on money; it depended on a certain mental tuning and keying in to a particular degree expected of one.

Now, the diffusion that came through the modern life-style has restructured the society to the Haves and the Have-nots. The Haves are those who can rub two kobo together, say the magic words and bring out millions of Naira, while the Have-nots are those who do not know the magic words. Unfortunately, either by coincidence or luck, the magic words are known only to the nation's leaders, the Haves who use them to abuse expense accounts, insult charge accounts, assault subventions, batter budgetary allocations and clubber the country. Now, those are the common thieves who cannot be called gentlemen. Does it then follow that the Have-nots are gentlemen? I honestly don't know; do you?

By the above accounts, therefore, a gentleman is someone who seeks to maintain class behaviour that hinges on responsibility. To say that Nigeria needs gentlemen in its public offices (and private ones too) is an understatement. Responsibility allows one to choose that action which can be called the thing to do, you know, the gentlemanly thing. That is what makes a society successful, when it can count on its public citizens to be real gentlemen.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

COMMENT

17

(131) T

HE month of September is around the corner; it is almost upon us. If they haven’t already started, speculations will soon start on when Buhari will actually announce the members of his federal cabinet and what women and men will be in the cabinet. In starting this week’s column with these observations, I do not myself wish to start what, for the most part, I consider idle speculations. There isn’t anything special about the President’s choice of September, more than three months after his inauguration, as the month in which he would announce the members of his cabinet to the country. I mean, for all we know, he could as well have chosen August, October or even November. But he did choose September and I for one wish to give him the benefit of the doubt that September was not a random choice. And this is why I am invoking the trope of “Septemberists” in this article to explore the possibility, the necessity even, that members of Buhari’s cabinet might turn out to be women and men that in experience, abilities and impact, will be unprecedented in our country’s political history. What does this trope of “Septemberists” allude to; what does it mean? And why am I invoking it here when I am absolutely certain that Buhari and his advisers do not have the events in European and world history to which the trope alludes in mind at all?

Our comments on the “Septemberists” will be shorter.

Known in the Portuguese language as “Setembristas”, they got their appellation from their successful revolt of September 9, 1836 against Queen Maria 11. Their revolt was essentially against the terrible inefficiency, corruption and backwardness of Portuguese monarchical rule in the period of European colonial and imperial overseas adventures. In effect, they were liberals and “modernizers” who wished to lay the foundations of sound and efficient constitutional rule in feudal Portugal. One of their most notable actions was the prohibition of slavery in Portugal itself and all overseas Portuguese colonies. Ultimately, their success was short-lived, the British joining forces with the Portuguese crown to crush them.

In order for this excursion into European and world history to have any pertinence to the subject of this essay, this being the potential impact of Buhari’s cabinet to be announced in a September that is only days away, we must be able to discern in presentday Nigeria a movement among our politicians and technocrats that can be adjudged to have the same liberal, progressive and modernizing worldview, values and dedication as the “Septemberists” of Portuguese revolutionary history. Please note that “September” happened to be merely incidental to the more substantial nature and impact of Portugal’s 19th century “Septemberists”. If their revolt had taken place in the month of October, they would have been called “Octobrists”. In this case, we are in the happy circumstance of being able to match the month of the announcement and institution of Buhari’s cabinet with a term that already exists in world history as a term with quite portentous significance. In other words, by their deeds ye shall know them: if Buhari’s cabinet proves to be exceptional in relation to all the cabinets we have ever had in this country, it will be our clos-

Will members of Buhari’s cabinet be ‘Septemberists’ of destiny?

•"The Federal Secretariat, Abuja: Will our own 'Septemberists' soon be directing affairs in this edifice?"

est equivalent to the “Septemberists” of history.

Last week, in his column in this newspaper, Tatalo Alamu declared assertively that we are more or less in “revolutionary times”. I do not wish to take issue with that declaration; I merely wish to reflect on it with specific regard to the issue of those who will be on the ramparts of the administrative machinery of governance for the next four years. Will they make a difference in the lives, the yearnings, the aspirations of the majority or generality of Nigerians?

Will they make a substantial departure from the mediocrity, the corruption and the inefficiency of the PDP era that reached the peak in the Jonathan administration? If it is the case that we are now living in revolutionary times, like all revolutions the Buhari “revolution” must have its revolutionaries. But so far, in the National Assembly and in the agencies and parastatals for which the President has appointed managerial heads, no “revolutionaries” have surfaced. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that in the National Assembly, the exact opposite is what we have seen: the seizure of power by counter-revolutionaries.

Concerning the President as head of state and head of government, Buhari has himself humorously and rather fetchingly acknowledged the fact that Nigerians have given him the nickname of “Baba Go-Slow”. He is difficult, he is challenging to read.

He is not exactly like a closed book, but neither is he an open book. He contested for the presidency four times and only won the fourth time.

Thus, he had all the time in the world to work out a vision of what he wanted to do, what he wanted to achieve with power. For unlike mili-

tary coups where you seize power first and then scramble around trying to find out what to do with it, in an epic electoral quest lasting more than twelve years, Buhari should have come to office prepared from day one with a clear sense of what to do and where to go. And if we grant that with the doctrine and the practice of separation of powers Buhari could not have done much to avert the seizure of power in the National Assembly by the “counter-revolutionaries”, it has to be admitted that the President is in full control in the executive branch of government. If that is the case, nearly four months since his election is a long time to wait to find out what caliber of men and women he will select for his cabinet.

Ben Nwabueze has suggested that the long delay in Buhari’s announcement of the members of his cabinet is nothing other than the manifestation of a lingering holdover of autocratic predilections from the time when the President was a military dictator. This may or may not be true. Definitely, there are other rather more mundane explanations for this long delay. One of such explanations is the fact that country was left so broke, so close to the edge of bankruptcy by the Jonathan administration that putting a cabinet in place right away after electoral victory was not one of the priorities of the new administration. This is certainly true of many of the state governors, many of whom, finding totally emptied treasuries in the state capitals when they took over from the departing former governors, actually “saved” a lot by deliberately being slow, being unhurried in appointing members of their cabinets: if you don’t have commissioners,

special advisers, personal assistants and protocol officers, you don’t have to pay their huge salaries and allowances.

Sooner or later, sooner rather than later, Buhari will announce the names of the members of his cabinet. I am not betting on it, but I hope that they will be like the “Septemberists” whose role in a short episode of European and world history I have invoked in this essay, together with their legacy. I am in particular looking forward to the people who will fill the slots for two Ministries, these being Justice and Education. In the last four weeks in this column, I have focused rather single-mindedly on how the law, through the agency of senior lawyers, magistrates and judges became the perfect and almost inviolable shield and protector of those who looted our national coffers on an unprecedented scale. With the passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 into law, the new Minister of Justice and Attorney General will have a powerful, almost invincible weapon against this entrenchment of Bar and Bench in service of corruption in Nigeria. Only someone in the mold of the “Septemberists” can be expected to make this possible. Let us recall here what the “Septemberists” stood for: a liberal, progressive and modernizing overhaul of the inefficiency, corruption and backwardness of the monarchical order of feudal Portugal.

To the last of my days on this side of the grave, I shall remain in bafflement why not one of the Ministers of Education in the PDP era failed to declare a state of emergency at all levels and areas of our educational system – primary, secondary and tertiary; private and public; denominational and

non-denominational. Pupils were failing at historically astronomically high rates and yet not once did any Minister of Education seriously express a sense of crisis. And ironically, some of the Ministers concerned were themselves members of the academic profession!

These two Ministries are not alone, they do not stand apart from the general rot; they are indeed symptomatic. The last impression I wish to leave is that the cabinet, the ministries exist in isolation and can therefore be “saved” by supermen and women that in this essay I am calling “Septemberists”. The historical “Septemberists” were not individual technocrats or politicians seeking to make a name or a fortune for themselves; above all else, they were members of a movement in Portuguese politics, culture and society with a pronounced and consistent dedication to liberal, progressive and modernizing values and ideals. Do we have such a movement in our country at the present time? That is the question. I happen to think that we do; however, I also think that individuals who correspond to this type in our society tragically generally tend not to see themselves as part of a movement, a trend.

Ultimately, the bottom line is this: Is Buhari himself cut in the mold of a truly progressive and modernizing statesman and will the Party of which he is Head by virtue of being the President be a party of destiny that will do what needs to be done at this particular moment of our history? In another month or two, we shall begin to have the outlines of a plausible answer to this tantalizing question.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

18

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

COMMENT

T

HE stance of the Muhammadu Buhari administration on prosecution of those who have looted Nigeria's treasury lean is crystal clear. If there is anything Nigerians believe Buhari owes them, it is to bring sanity to the nation's political space and redefine our value system that is fast depreciating.

There is panic in the land; those who have participated in wicked deflation of the nation's treasury are going through hard time. The Nigerian masses on their path eagerly await announcement of jail terms of their oppressors, possibly know jail numbers and who is sleeping where among the nation's major prisons; who goes in first is the question the masses are asking and when.

The country is witnessing a dimension of stretch tug of war between the masses and advocates for soft stance on probing of past administration of Goodluck Jonathan, with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claiming witch-hunt allegation on the part of those who have been nabbed for alleged corruption and looting., though the PDP is unable to come up with a singular defence that those alleged are innocent. What an irony?

Truly, what does Buhari owe us as a people? What direction do we intend to channel our cause after a new administration has been ushered-in? When are we planning to take off and join the comity of nations who are advancing frontiers for growth and development in the 21st century reality?

All the above may not produce immediate answers with the Abubakar Abdussalami National Peace Committee (NPC) junketing around Aso Rock to persuade President Muhammadu Buhari to tread softly on probing of loots.

Again, the masses have been asking "what was the mandate of NPC and

Jail: Who goes first?

By Segun Olulade time-line" as an intervention group.

While insinuations were going that the latest visit of the committee to Aso Rock was to beg Buhari on behalf of former President Jonathan to save his (Jonathan) face from embarrassment that may emanate if the probing continues, a position swiftly denied by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto and member of National Peace Committee, Hassan Kukah, it is unfortunate and revealing while Kukah in an interview immediately after the meeting stated that former President Jonathan saved the nation from chaos and crisis and should be left to go even he had stolen all the money in the world.

The position of Kukah has since left many questions unanswered as to the place of value in our system.

Logically, the role of the Peace Committee was to proffer soft landing for former President Goodluck Jonathan when it was obvious that the tide of the masses' decision prior to last general elections was in favour of Buhari and the reality that Jonathan was not willing to leave power if he lost.

That intervention role was largely to the benefit of Jonathan to concede defeat and leave office without further overheating the polity. Since then, the committee was proud of their achievement for having broker the peace, a good one indeed, but swiftly resuscitating at the instance of President Buhari's anti-graft crusade.

For the Change promise made

by Buhari to be fulfilled, Mr President must do the needful to renew confidence of the people in leadership in Nigeria. If Buhari wanted to let go, the mind boggling

figures realised to be missing is so whoping that generations to come will never forgive him for allowing the commonwealth of the people to be carted away when he had all the opportunities to help people recover their money back.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) according to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole withheld N3.8 trillion out of N8.1 trillion from crude oil sale from 2012 to 2015. A Minister in the Jonathan government allegedly made away with $6 billion, an amount that is sufficient to alleviate poverty in a number of states in the country. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)is yet to account for N183 billion while $13 billion dividend from the nation's Liquefied Natural Gas is also missing just to mention a few. The situation becomes so terrible that former President Jonathan said he was hearing most of the revelations on corruption for the first time.

The peace brokered by the National Peace Committee was a fine gesture but the truth is any pressure on President Buhari to prevent him from doing the needful now is more injurious to the nation than the Peace Committee's initial efforts and success, and is totally unacceptable. Anyway, the hard stance of the president on anti-graft is an interesting movement Nigerians are happy with. Going by international cooperation agenda before the current government, the whole world is even waiting to assess the seriousness of Buhari's administration by its posture on fight against corruption and aggressive looting.

As Nigerians await who goes in

there first, I mean jail, Nigeria will be taken back 30 years again and change will become a scarce commodity we cannot access in another one century if the chance we have with Buhari to make the change slips off. We must define what we want to do with our destiny as a nation. Without fear or favour, we must summon the courage to breed a society that is fair to all and owned by all. According to renown AfricanAmerican writer and statesman Frederick Douglas, "where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."

Are we ready for real Change?

Of course not everyone is meant to be ready for it and those who are opposed to change will mop up all reasons and strategies to scuttle the change agenda. It is good to note that the crusade is not selective and has even since been taken down to the civil service sector where no one goes scot-free with the nation's treasury without any check.

Point blank, what the nation needs now is vibrant legislative process for ensuring blockage against corruption.

The National Assembly should begin to enact laws that will make stealing unattractive in the country. We must devise mechanism for making looting difficult rather than relying on judicial system for probing corrupt officials, a process that is only an aftermath. We need antidotes against graft and it is important for the National Assembly to devise proactive measures that will place the Legislature on the same page with the Executive on fight against corruption;

for now, that is yet to suffice even though the nation waits patiently.

In most developed democratic nations, the people rely on the Legislature first to check excesses in government. The lawmakers have mandates to speak peoples' mind and protect popular interest of the people.

The NASS should constantly call for private member bill to address actual needs of the people. Even as elected legislature, one cannot be so sure he is representing real voice of the people by his own thinking and assumptions alone. The leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives should mandate federal lawmakers to constantly fall back and conduct public hearing with their people in order to ensure they are actually speaking right for the masses.

As the revolution train moves, it is a good thing for our country that everybody is beginning to possess a share of ownership of Nigeria as a sovereign nation. Buhari/Osinbajo's approach to judicial system with inauguration of special anticorruption judicial committee of credible persons is very laudable.

Many other reforms on-going are strategic and driven by best approach that suits our current situation.

If Kukah and his committee, for fear of the unknown, say the Buhari administration should soften stance on helping Nigerians live better lives by recovering looted funds, we must rise to prevent any suggestion capable of drilling hole in the anti-corruption boat being paddled by this administration and the community of change.

When next I air my personal opinion on this very topical issue of serious concern, maybe answer to the heading of this write up might have been found; yes, that is about knowing who goes in there first. The people are winning! • Olulade is a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Epe Constituency II

Ogun and politics of examination paper T

HE situation in Ogun State as it relates to the sacked education officials appears to be fluid. It seems some of us who initially wanted Governor Ibikunle Amosun's head on a platter may now have to recant, or as we say in local parlance, eat our words.

The scud missiles of the SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the rocket-propelled grenades of some opinion writers, lawyers and academics and the Molotov cocktails of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) appeared to have been directed at a wrong target.

What a colossal error! I had read an article in the newspapers by one educationist, Ayobami Odesanya, who said "The greatest tragedy in the question paper has not been highlighted by many commentators.

I discovered to my horror and chagrin that the so-called SUMMARY passage was actually a summary or synopsis of opinions expressed in newspaper adverts sponsored by the opposition in the months leading to the April 11 governorship election in Ogun State!" Initially, I was not strongly persuaded because of the plight of teachers in Nigeria. I joined in the condemnation of the Ogun State governor based on what has now turned out to be one-sided information available at the time. Some of my not too apolitical colleagues at the weekend showed me a couple of leaflets and handbills distributed by the opposition parties towards the end of 2014 and in early 2015. I also saw some newspaper adverts by the leading opposition party in the state.

When I married them with the controversial question paper which led to the dismissal of some education workers, I saw a smoking gun. Indeed, some words appeared to have been lifted from the opposition materials.

This is regrettable. I am not an educationist but I agree with the

By Sola Adekanmbi

submission of Mr Odesanya: "The action of the teacher or ministry officials who approved the question is totally inadmissible. It's an attempt to corrupt the pupils politically and discredit the government that has provided them with free education...

Condensing into an exam passage published attacks of the opposition political party against the government is totally reprehensible. Children are too impressionable to be drawn into such high-wire politics. We should not toy with their future." There is something particularly funny about the Ministry of Education in Ogun State. Was it not in the same ministry that a scam of two hundred million naira (N200,000,000) was uncovered in 2013? I understand huge sums were traced to the accounts of some of those involved. Certainly, the practice must have been going on for years, where money voted for WAEC by the government was diverted into private pockets. If N200,000,000 could be stolen in one year, then not less than N400,000,000 must have been stolen in this ministry under the current administration before the sleaze was discovered.

It is not clear whether this is the reason the government stopped giving running cost to the schools as investigation revealed it was during the scam that the grant stopped. Could it be they were equally fiddling with the grant which was increased by about 50% by the Amosun administration? Of course, there is bound to be reactions since the state government has shut all the sleaze doors and blocked loopholes that were being exploited by the workers. And one could see manifestation of such frustration in the partisan political question set for the innocent children.

It's really a shame. We often criticize governments across Nigeria for not

devoting enough budget to education but here in Ogun were education officials diverting millions of government money meant to pay WAEC fees of children of the poor into their private pockets! I think we've really been unnecessarily hard on the government. For a state whose IGR is ridiculous in comparison to Lagos to be paying teachers higher salaries deserves commendation rather than scorn. What is more, the number of public schools in most of the states in the country is so small in comparison to Ogun. Lagos with humongous resources has about three or four public higher institutions of learning but Ogun State has more than 10! I wonder what the government wants to do with such number anyway!

In all, Ogun State alone has almost twice the number of public schools in Lagos. And the number of public schools keeps increasing, necessitating the need to employ more teachers.

Perhaps this is the reason why the government dithered in dismissing the over two hundred teachers involved in the WAEC scam, many of them in the service for many years. If, in spite of these challenges, the current governor has been able to renovate over 2,000 school buildings, pay arrears of WAEC fees, salaries, and pensions he inherited, build world class model schools for public school pupils, I think he deserves our understanding and support even if such support is measured. From information in the press, enrolment figures for primary and secondary schools rose sharply as a result of the free education and free textbook policies of the Amosun government. Between 2011 and 2013, enrolment figure for upper secondary school increased from 146,737 to 162,536 while that of lower secondary school jumped from 174,820 to 214,837.

And the number has been growing every academic session.

Last week, the taciturn governor

finally reacted to the spate of attacks, which now appeared to have been directed at the wrong person. The news media carried the press release signed

by Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa who is the Secretary to the Ogun State Government. Following this press release, I got a copy of the constitution.

I discovered that the Civil Service Commission is a creation of section 197 of the Nigerian constitution. I also checked Part II, Third Schedule to the document and confirmed this: 2. (1) The Commission shall have power without prejudice to the powers vested in the Governor and the State Judicial Service Commission to - (a) appoint persons to offices in the State civil service; and (b) dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding such offices. (2) The Commission shall not exercise any of its powers under sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph in respect of such offices of heads of divisions of Ministries or of departments of the Government of the State as may from time to time be designated by an order made by the Governor except after consultation with the Head of the Civil Service of the State. It is crystal clear that those of us who had and are currently attacking the personality of the governor are all guilty of jumping the gun and leaping before looking.

We all need to own up to our mistakes and error of judgement. So the governor even had no power to sack any civil servant! We should not excoriate public officials for the sake of doing so. Just as public office holders can be wrong, we also, the public watchdog, can be wrong. However, by my own reading of the press statement, it does not mean the approval of the governor would not be obtained before the disciplinary measures were effected. Without prejudice to Part II, Third Schedule of the 1999 constitution, the combined reading of the constitution suggests that the governor

cannot entirely be shut out from major employment or major dismissal of workers by the Commission. The Civil Service Commission cannot do major employment without the authority or permission of the governor, because he has to pay the workers. In the same vein, the CSC cannot dismiss workers at such a level that involved very senior officials without seeking the final approval of the governor. But to hold that it was the governor that sat behind a desk in his office and sacked the errant officials, as some of us initially believed, is a grievous mistake. When the National Judicial Council dismisses a judge and the president accepts the dismissal, no one talks about the judge being sacked by the president. The blaring headline is usually, "NJC hammers, sacks or dismisses a judge." The process of sacking a civil servant or a judge is extremely tortuous. No one can wake up in his bedroom and then order the sack of a civil servant. There are procedures upon procedures and from my personal study so far all these were complied with by the Civil Service Commission in respect of the sanctioned officials.

In parenthesis, I wish to use this medium to draw the attention of the governor to the Sango-Akute road.

When he started this road, we were all very happy, but construction work appeared to have halted. One understands the current financial situation in the country but kindly give it priority once things begin to improve. Finally, I think the Ogun State Civil Service Commission owes the public a duty to unravel the processes that led to its decisions in order to aid further commentaries on this matter. What does the law say about those that set partisan political question to school children, thereby attempting to corrupt them? •Dr Adekanmbi writes from Akute, Ogun State

19

LIFE

SUNDAY

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

‘My gay wedding memoir and close shave with lesbianism’ I

T was an all-pink affair early March. All the girls were in pink bum shorts and rise and fall cropped top - that was the dress code. The atmosphere was surreal, with sensual lights, music, dance, rich perfume and sweat mingling. Wine and food was also in abundance; shawarma, asun , cake. Chicken barbecue... The celebration in the air was also unmistakable.

At the centre of it all were Tope and Tola (not real names), two women who found love and comfort in each other's arms and decided to quit the pretences, damn the consequences and get married.

Although it is common knowledge that same sex relationship and marriage is outlawed and punishable with up to 14 years imprisonment in the country, this couple was beyond caring, as they revelled in the joy of their day, exchanging vows.

Another woman, also a lesbian, served as officiating minister and blessed the union.

Bimbo Adetokunbo (not real name) relays her experience at an exotic gay wedding in Lagos. She also shares the stories of her close shave with lesbianism, the pressure, threats and attractions with Gboyega Alaka and Omolewa Oshin.

They also exchanged wedding bands in the form of exquisite ear rings and thereafter went into a frenzy of kisses and endless cuddling.

As if taking a cue, all the gay lovers in attendance also went into a frenzy of applause, cheers and kisses.

The wedding took place at a popular nightclub on Victoria Island, Lagos, and the couple, who are obviously from very comfortable backgrounds, wowed all present by capping it up with a

presentation of exotic cars to each other as wedding gifts. The party went on until early the next morning, when the couple drove away in each other's arms to their hotel room at the prestigious Eko Hotel and Suites, and guests sauntered away in trickles after wearing themselves out in a most exhausting bout of fun.

To tell the truth, it was probably the most exciting party I've been to in a long time. Even the nightclub staff and other people who had come on their own couldn't help but join us, seeing the wild

fun excitement in the air.

Like in normal wedding, both couple considered themselves the luckiest people on earth, having found best friends in each other. Tope could not hide her feelings and actually confided in some us, who are very close to her that the day was her most memorable so far, because she was not only hooking her best friend, but also her confidant. They generally exuded that familiar joy found amongst normal wedding couples. In their joy, they urged all present to enjoy all the food and drinks.

The party was organised by their gay friends, who felt compelled to host a wonderful bash for the 'delightful couple'. Other gay lovers were also present in abundance, both the men and the lesbians.

•Continued on Page 20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

20 SUNDAY LIFE • Continued from Page 19

Tope is a final year accounting student of a frontline private university in Ogun State, while Tola is a final year student of a federal government institution in Lagos.

Somehow, they both looked set for a fulfilled family life, except that, as an outsider who got invited plainly on the level of my closeness to them, I kept wondering how they hope to make a life, and more importantly, make babies.

But from the look of things and the celebration on the night, that worry seemed not to be on their radar at all.

The whole gay thing You may wonder and rightly so too, why I felt so comfortable in the midst of gay people, when I'm not. Well, I'm not gay, but it has taken me a lot of determination and will-power to resist and weather the temptations they throw at me. I attend the same private university with Tope in Ogun State. Tope was my roommate in school in year one, and a very jolly one too except for this gay thing. In fact, my five roommates were all lesbians, except for me. And it was not for lack of trying that they didn't win me over. As a buxom lady, they all seem to have eyes for my body, and you could tell that they'd do anything to get me into their beds. They tried all tricks possible to lure me into lesbianism, promising me all the excitement possible and the fact that I only need to try it out to know why it is the fad today. But I stood my ground.

My reason? I just couldn't bring myself to doing it with them, because that's just not who I am. Often, they'd grab me and steal touches at my sensitive parts, all in the name of playing with me.

Sometimes, they'd rush into the bathroom with me and start fondling me, but usually I smile and laugh over it, because I understand their plight and because they were not getting to me.

Besides, I've never had any feeling or affection for girls, and before you could really engage in lesbianism or lesbian sex with a fellow woman, you really must love the person. As I speak to you, the only woman I love is my grandmother, and of course falling in love with her in that skewed manner is not even in my wildest imagination, nor possible.

Also, the biblical verse that says one of the greatest sin anyone could commit is having sexual relationship with same sex, kept ringing in my head, and strengthened my resolve not to be a part of it.

But I maintained my relationship with them, because we were roommates anyway, and even if I moved away from that room, there was no guarantee that I would not meet more desperate ones where I was going.

Same sex relationship here to stay To tell the truth, same sex has come to stay, even in this part of the world, as they seem to be swelling in ranks by the day. Even back in my secondary school, lesbianism had been the in-thing amongst students in boarding house. Although I was an innocent little girl, I still suspected that what they were doing was wrong each time they were at it, and I somehow distanced myself from it. I was sexually harassed by seniors who wanted to initiate me, and some even tried to force me through threats. But I resisted. Even my school mother was a lesbian don't know if she still is.

It wasn't until I got into the university that I began to really understand what it was they were doing. Prior to that time, I only just felt it was not right and nauseating. Besides, I was sixteen and had become more perceptive. It had also reached an alarming rate and level, way beyond what I witnessed in secondary school.

So as the only straight person in my room, I was the odd one out. They engaged in open cuddling, sex and all,

‘My gay wedding memoir and close shave with lesbianism’

without giving any recourse to me. I think they somehow felt comfortable with me, even though I refused to be drawn into their 'sexcapades.'

They do things together, eat together, reff together (reff is a slang for indulging in Refnol drug or Rohypnol), which sort of gets them high. I think it helps them get maximum satisfaction in their escapades.

As we became closer and they got more comfortable with me, I summoned the courage to ask them what they derive from lesbianism and why they couldn't just conform to the natural order of heterosexuality.

One of them, Sylvia, told me that she got inducted by her aunt (her mum's sister), who used to abuse her, from when she was a toddler, right through to her teenage years, until she began to enjoy it and suddenly feels nothing for male overtures.

Now, she's hooked and actually believes it is heavenly and most satisfying.

Another, Vivian, said she was raped by her male cousin early in her teenage years and therefore developed hatred and aversion towards men. Because that rape experience was painful, she came to believe that sex with men is painful, while it is gentle and sensual with fellow women.

For Temi (short for Temitope), she got into it as a result of peer pressure. She was introduced to lesbianism back in secondary school, and has found it pleasurable ever since. The fact that lesbians are not in short supply in the university also further entrenched her into it. Now, only god can extricate her from it.

And my fourth roommate, the newly 'married' Tope, said she had always been caged at home and never allowed to go out and have a taste of the world, except when going out with either or both her parents. So her first full independent outing was to the university, where unfortunately, she found herself in the midst of lesbians, who wasted no time in wooing her over.

Five years down the line, she has got so deep into lesbianism and decided it was the only way for her. Following her marriage to Tola, it is left to be seen whether she can ever get out of this 'quagmire'. Time will tell.

My close shave To tell the truth, they have never stopped making passes at me. I also find that there are more lesbians that many of us who consider it appalling and sinful may be able to imagine. Usually they approach me,

ogling all over me and telling they like me as a total package.

I have also been tempted more than once.

You know how it is when your tempters never stop.

On one such occasion, my boyfriend just left me and I was suffering a heartbreak. They saw that I was sad and brooding and tried to console me in their own way. They couldn't understand why I wanted to die over a guy, whom they consider a mere wood, and told me as much. They also seized that opportunity to get closer to me and further give their life-long ambition a try. To tell the truth, I almost began to respond, but held back at the last minute.

Another close shave for me was more recently, when I met a woman on Lagos mainland who, asked me out. She wanted me to be her girlfriend. Because I had heard that she was an incorrigible lesbian, who had even initiated her daughters, I vehemently resisted her offer of friendship, even when she promised to regularly give me N250,000 as pocket money whenever I am going back to school.

When my friends heard the story, they all told me off and thoroughly insulted me; but I stood my ground. Later they begged me to introduce them to her, which I did. It's their business if they want to mess around.

But not long after, I found myself in a dire financial situation and thought of her. I actually went to look for her, hoping secretly that she would show interest in me again, but she didn't. I later learnt that she has found herself another lover.

The evil money can do, you may say, but thank God she found herself another lover.

Money, a big incentive Aside my own story of how money almost swayed my resolve, I can tell you authoritatively that most converts to lesbianism are almost always swayed by the money incentive their 'toasters' dangle before them.

Usually, the richer girls, who are already deep into it woo innocent girls by toasting them like a man would a woman, and then they proceed to make irresistible promises once they notice that you're giving them a listening ear, but not sure of yourself. How many indigent girls would be able to say 'no' to regular pocket money, good life, the pleasure of sex and the safety of pregnancy?

Don't forget, you can never get pregnant. So at home, you're still the little homely mummy's girl. Most times, when your partner even comes visiting at home, when you're on holidays, your parents allow her

into your room, and leave you both to 'enjoy some privacy'.

Sometimes they even permit the girls to go spend days with each other, not knowing that they are lovers. So often, the girls get lured by money. It is a really big attraction. And once you're hooked, you're hooked.

Men, as logs I also hear them say that sex with fellow female is more exciting and fulfilling, in the sense that they open even their hearts to each other. So it goes beyond mere sexual intimacy. They complain that men are like logs of wood, while it is more sensual with fellow women. They claim that only a woman can understand a female body; where to touch to get maximum pleasure and all that; whereas men only come with their usual mad rush and fizzle out in two minutes.

To tell the truth, the way they talk about it is always very tempting.

Now, it does not matter whether the government frowns at gay relationship or that there is a law stipulating long prison sentences, these people seek themselves out and have great fun. To have sex, they now use sex toys. They also do mouth job until they reach orgasm and climax.

Today, technology has made things easier. There is a group called Lesbiangay bisexual transgender, through which they fight for their rights in public. They connect through this group. They also connect online through BBM, facebook, and at strippers' clubs. And when they connect, they make friends and then subsequently engage in sex.

Usually it starts by them getting familiar; and then they come with the line, ''Are you into girls?''

So you see, they seek each other out and do their thing. They also fight for each other and even go to stations to bail themselves, when they run into trouble.

Like in the case of Tope and Tola, it sometimes results in marriage, or they may end up living as live-in lovers for as long as they can. As we speak, I can tell you that another wedding is in the offing.

Are parents aware?

Maybe, maybe not. How do you want to begin to suspect your daughter or sister with her female friend? It is hard, unless of course you got wind of the fact that her new friend is a lesbian, or you are also an enlightened parent and know the signs.

However, some parents are fully aware and condone it, since they are also into it or have been into it before. Some parents even consider it harmless. The lady I said proposed to me and promised me huge money has two teenage daughters, whom she has introduced to lesbianism already. She practically groomed them for lesbianism by instilling hatred for men in them.

Back to Tope and Tola Tope met Tola through her friend, also a lesbian. She saw her picture, liked it, begged to be connected, and then it took off from there. Gradually they became inseparable and became engaged. They courted for four years and then announced that they were getting married. Of course they could not announce it openly, since it is against the law, but they passed the information through their friends and clique and it went round.

They live together now in the exclusive Banana Island Estate. Like I told you, they are daughters of powerful people and they can afford all the luxuries of life.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

Medinat Kanabe highlights some of the ways some unscrupulous policemen extort money from motorists across the country.

SUNDAY LIFE 21

The police and the culture of extortion

O

ne fine Thursday evening, Esther Amanze was returning home from her workplace in Mushin. She boarded a tricycle heading towards Isolo just before the fly-over at Daleko; as the tricycle approached Aiye Bus-stop, the operator noticed a police officer standing by and instinctively turned to Amanze.

“Madam I beg hurry up, give me that your N50, I no wan give this man N100. She immediately obliged him and handed him the polymer note, which he in turn added a ten naira note and handed over to the policeman. On the police officer's shirt was written the name, Tajudeen Oloyede.

The officer took one look at the money and said: “Ah ah, eleyi kere nah,” (meaning 'this is small'); and the operator in turn told him, “eba wa manage e,” (meaning, please manage it). In the end, and following some pleas, the officer squeezed the money into his pocket, waved to the operator and said ese o, ko ni tan n be o, literally meaning, 'more blessing'.

On another occasion, this reporter boarded a tricycle, still along the same route and observed that within a spate of one kilometre, the operator had already parted with money thrice. First a 50 naira note, then a 100 naira note and another 50 naira note.

Usually a youth between ages 25 and 35 would dash out from the roadside, scream 'owo da', collect the note and run to another bus.

Thinking she had seen enough, this reporter asked, “All these money you've been giving out, whose pocket is it going to?”

Perplexed, the driver said “Na money for police o.”

Asked what will happen if he refused to give out the money, the tricycle operator laughed and said, “See this woman o! Why you dey ask questions as if you are not in Lagos? If you don't give them the money, they will delay you and take your Marwa (tricycle) to the station.”

This reporter then replied: “Very good now, then you can explain to the DPO that they want to extort you.”

At this point, the operator hissed and said in Yoruba: “Ema wo eleyi o (Look at this one). As soon as the DPO set eyes on me, he will come out, scream at me and call me a thief.

He will even tell me that I stole the Marwa and that they have been looking for me. The next thing, they will throw you in jail until our people (the tricycle union) will come and bail you. Apart from wasting your day, you will end up paying more than the 100 naira that you're trying to claim your right over. They will also call you a thief and beat you to confess to what you're not.”

Asked how much he makes per day, he instead reeled out a list of the levies he pays, legal and illegal: “We pay N400 to the police everyday; we pay N1, 500 as ticket money, we deliver N3, 500; we also pay council money N600. That makes it about N6000. This is excluding the money we use to repair the tricycle if it breaks down o!”

He explained that this is why some of them work till late in the evening, so they can make some money for themselves after paying all the levies.

He said the police employ the use of touts as fronts to collect these illegal levies, to shift attention from themselves and their unwholesome practices.

Besides, he said “They must pretend as if they're working.”

Another tricycle operator narrated his unfortunate experience in the hands of the police after his tricycle was seized for one whole week for refusing to part with 50 naira. “My sister na yesterday dem release this Marwa to me o! If to say I know, I for no talk

•Slugging it out: Some police officers trying to stop a vehicle

•Officers sharing their loot

anything. I for just give them the money. One of the boys stopped me for Pako bus-stop before General Hospital Isolo; as I slow down, I come say which kind thing be this self, useless policemen. I no know say dem hear me o! Na so I enter trouble. They seized my Marwa and took it to their station. I beg them until I left the place. Na yesterday them give me my Marwa after collecting N3, 000 from me. I didn't work for days, I really suffer o.” He said in pidgin English.

Jill Okeke, a freelance journalist based in Lagos, also shared her experiences. She spoke of other modes of corruption practice by the law enforcement officers that border on the desperate, in which they practically set traps for road users. She said they have a way of placing road signs in a manner that'll confuse road users and get them to unwittingly break traffic rules.

This, she said, gives them the opportunity to pounce on drivers and force them to pay bribes.

She said, “One day I was heading towards Oshodi from inside Ikeja, just after the computer village. I had driven through Awolowo Way, I had passed Anifowose, passed Akinremi Street and heading towards the turning before the railway. I saw a signboard saying one way on the street before the last one, so I did not

enter and drove to the last street (Adegbola Street) that didn't have any such sign. As I turned, a police officer came out and told me I had taken one-way.

Apparently, they had positioned themselves there, waiting and knowing that motorists would definitely fall prey.

“I told them there was no indication, but they insisted I had committed a traffic offence and said I must follow them to their office. They said it is not their duty to put the sign at the right place. In the meantime, I took out my phone and took some pictures of them as they argued with me, before following them to their office at Ikeja Local Government Council. I deliberately refused to drive in, knowing that they would immediately deflate my tyres.

“At their office, I asked why they didn't arrest other motorists plying the same street, but they told me that according to the law, it is the first person that passed the road that they would arrest. They asked why I took pictures of them and I told them I am a journalist, this got them scared as they began to demand that I delete the pictures I had taken.

Seeing that I wasn't cooperating, they went to call a senior officer to plead with me to delete the pictures, which I

eventually did and was thereafter allowed to go.” She said.

Another such occasion, she said was at Ikeja GRA. “As you are driving down from Leventis and leaving Ikeja GRA to join the highway, there is an indication saying 'No Entry' before the last street. But they placed it in a way that you're not sure which road it is referring to. As usual, they had positioned themselves; waiting for victims to pounce on. Again, I managed to wriggle free from their trap, but if you ask me, I think it is really despicable when people who are supposed to protect you and serve your interest are the same people setting you up for arrest.

“What is wrong with correcting the erring driver for instance, especially when you know that the signs are not wellplaced? They could even correct the anomaly and ensure that the signs are well-placed to avoid any confusion.”

Another group of people that suffer in the hands of the law enforcement officers are the motorcycle riders, popularly known as okada riders. Following completion of the Ajao Estate road, Okada riders literally took over the road, ferrying passengers in record time and making lots of money. But they soon became a menace and the Lagos State government promptly banned them from plying the route.

But rather than enforce the ban, the police simply seized the opportunity to extort the riders and make sleaze money from them.

According to a rider, Kamal Jubril, “If we carry two passengers, we will pay police N200, but if we carry one passenger we would pay police N100. So what we do now is that once we're nearing their spot, we would plead with one of the passengers to get off and walk past the policemen, so we would only pay N100. If you refuse to pay, they will seize your bike, and because the government has banned us from using the road, they may not even give it back to us once it gets to their office.”

Continuing, he said, “Do you know we even tell them 'thank you' after giving them our money?”

Stella Adams, who sells at the popular Computer Village, also told the story of how some Rapid Respond Squad (RRS) officers blocked their vehicles from moving after loading passengers at the park, all because of N1000, which they said the council was supposed to settle them.

She also cited the case of police officers, who collect money from motorist doing one-way against traffic and collecting bribe from them, wondering whether they do not know that it can lead to loss of life.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

22 SUNDAY LIFE

I

N all of your 26 years of ministry, what would you consider the most challenging?

The most challenging is that many people have shifted focus; and once you shift focus from Christ, you will discover that you are doing another thing. They have shifted focus from preaching Christ which is the core of gospel.

Like I was sharing this morning, Christ is the foundation; people are building on things that have no foundation. The foundation has been tampered with and if you are building any structure on it, it will collapse after some time. That is why the characters of people are not changing in Nigeria of today.

That is why people will say that our behavior and character as a people are not changing, despite the growing number of churches. That is the greatest challenge we have now.

Do you think the entire body of Christ can do anything to address it?

Yes. At least in our own little corner, we should make sure we're leading people to Christ and teaching them the truth. You know materialism has taken over people's heart. And how they get the material things does not seem to matter anymore. It is as if the conscience of people is dead.

That is why someone can wake up and say gay marriage is the main thing. There are things that are called abomination which people now fancy; things that used to look very bad that now looks very good.

God will help us, but men of God should wake up and make sure the emphasis is on how to mould the character and destiny of people.

As a pastor, if you have sufficient information that a church member, who is a generous giver, has a fraudulent source of income, would you reject his tithe and offerings?

If I have such information and it is genuine, I will call him and let him know that it is not acceptable to God. Whatever is not acceptable to God, should not be offered because you may be bringing a curses on yourself.

Instead of having benefits for the giving, one will be having losses. God does not take just any offering from us. We read in the Bible that He rejected the offering of Cain.

So, I will tell the person that God is not accepting his offering because it is from a wrong source.

What is Hand of Grace Christian Centre all about?

The focus of the church is inspiring people with the love of God. It also centres on making people to focus on God. We are also out to address unhappiness in the world. There are some people who are unhappy in the church and in the world.

Through grace, all these areas can be addressed. So, Hand of Grace Christian Centre is given that assignment. And that is what God has called us to do.

What was your Christian life like as a young boy?

I could remember that as a young person, I used to go to Baptist Convention to do recitation. th y ick d yo , abl to reci e tO tce you we e we cramm d he scri tur s, In our .me. t i not that w s igno ant of t e reli ion I used to go to Baptist Convention and I recited the scriptures. My parents are very religious. You don't see anything wrong in them and their lifestyles. They made sure they go to church; they were serious about religious activities. I was in the choir.

Do you still sing?

I si g to, A lea t. of m b t ot for omm rc al urp se love sing ng as it is part . I do, es worship God and inspire myself before I preach.

You said you later had an encounter with Christ?

Yes. What makes the difference between the kind of Christian you were and your encounter with Christ?

The difference is relationship.

Christianity is about relationship. Until a young man has a relationship with Christ, he cannot know Him. So, you didn't have a relationship with ?as young man were a Baptist im hile ou So. kn w t e eason why you are doin what y u are do ng' nd you are a tiv b t you do . The e as no person l t uch or nterac ion b the rowdyou are ju t c rri d a ay, W en y u a e i relig onme people don't know the reason why they are doing some things. You met it so, and you have to

‘What is unacceptable to God should not be offered’ Bishop Mike Afolabi is the Presiding Bishop, Hand of Grace Christian Centre Ibadan, in Oyo State, which clocked one recently. The cleric, who turned 60, last week, spoke with Bisi Oladele, on his life and ministry.

•Bishop Mike Afolabi continue doing it.

Do you acknowledge that some people are still operating at that level in the church?

Yes, definitely! ?themWh t is your me sag for You know there is what we call self development; nobody can develop yourself for you. It is just like physical growth; a child is born and so when someone is born again too, that is the spiritual birth. A baby born physically is helpless; they have to help him do everything: breastfeed him, bath him, dress him; but he cannot remain like that.

If a baby remains like that for many years, then something is wrong. A time will come when he will be walking on his own, feeding himself and doing virtually everything by himself.

That is how spiritual things are also. But if the baby does not do anything on his own, he will remain undeveloped.

So, many people remain undeveloped in the church or maybe we should call them canal Christians because they are not growing, and because they are still involved with the system of the world. But a Christian that is spiritual is one that is ruled by the word of God. A canal Christian is still being ruled by the world.

You talked about encountering Christ.

We read in the Bible how Saul encountered Christ on the way to Damascus. We also read in the Bible how Peter encountered Christ when he allowed Christ use his boat.

Was your experience similar to these ones?

Well, it does not need to be like that. God does not have a conventional way of doing things. It may not be the way Paul had it that there was a great light that struck and said "Paul, Paul, why persecuted thou me?" One does not need to have that kind of experience.

When you have a kind of encounter, you

have a conviction by the spirit; the Holy Spirit will convict you of sins; confirming that this is not the way to live, this is the way to live.

It will dawn on you that the life you are living is not in conformity with the word of God. And if you want to be sincere, you will know that what you are doing is out of order.

So you can now re-order your steps. So, that is what it means to encounter Christ.

There are people Christ appeared to, like these Muslim converts; Christ appeared to them that this way you are living cannot take you anywhere, you are going to destruction.

So, God may decide to reveal Himself in different ways to different people.

God knew the kind of person Paul was; he was a stubborn person and so if he did not appear that way, Paul may not be converted.

Don't forget that this was somebody who had been persecuting the church and killing people. God saw that he did not need soft words.

When I was in secondary school, I was very religious. I attended fellowships and thirsted after God; I wanted things of God and I knew I was not there. So, going to fellowship and hearing the word of God, without conviction, that this was my way.

But if you follow God's way, there will be no confusion.

I did not know I was going to be a pastor; I did not dream of it. I knew that for me to have a good life; I needed Jesus and I was committed to finding out things in the word of God; if you are interested in the things of God, He will begin to show himself more and more.

Were you involved in terrible acts before Christ saved you?

No, I think the way I was brought up helped me to be disciplined and cool-headed.

The family I came from is not known for violence; we were never involved in trouble.

So, it helped me. My parents, especially my father, were quiet persons.

In fact, in the village, they called him 'jejeniwa' (complete gentleman). If you go to the village and say you are going to Matthew Jejeniwa's house, they will take you there.

So it never occurred to you that you could end up a pastor?

I studi d bui di g. I was in the buildi g industr , Anyway at Kaduna Polytechnic and worked as site engineer and project engineer, even with the Air force in Kaduna as a civil servant; but I felt that this was not enough; that I could be practising my profession and still serve God. our hoice of Winne sWhat in ormed y' Chapel?

Living Faith just started when we joined; there was nothing on ground as it were. That was in1984. I was in Jos, working as an engineer for three years with Enamy Construction Company before I came back to Kaduna. We were doing some construction works in a federal secondary school in Jos and some residential buildings for the Air Force with a foremost architecture company, Niger Construction Architect.

The company was very popular T ey wan e to re ain m after s rvice. Bo nu State w th th Mini try f W rks and ou ing, se ved in M idug ri, La er as it ha a lo . of jobs Why did you choose Living Faith?

Living Faith just started when we joined; there was nothing on ground as it were. That was in1984. I was in Jos, working as an engineer for three years with Enamy Construction Company • Continued on Page 23

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015 before I came back to Kaduna. When I came back from Jos, I was asking the Lord to direct me to a church. Although I had a Baptist background but you know, now I have known Christ and I wanted to grow vibrantly where the word of God is being preached.

One day, a lady from my village started going to that fellowship; the church was small at the time though. So, I went there and I discovered that at least this one can help someone grow spiritually. That was why I joined.

When did the journey of servant hood begin and how did it happen?

That was in 1988, four years after I joined Living Faith. You know there is a way God speaks to people. What normally comes up is: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. You will hear a word from my mouth and you will teach them. If they hear or if they don't hear, speak to them."

Several times, indications showed that God was calling me. I was thinking I should start it on a part-time basis and be practising my profession on the other hand. It lingere for a long time, but I eventually decided that I needed to resign from my job and join fulltime ministry.

You started your ministry in Kaduna?

I th ugh wa oing to be in ch rg of c ur h p oject a . I ever kn w I would p s or eo le I wa til hand ing chur h proj cts. I sa t as ait. i was till i line w t my pro e sio , In ac .

An I was a roject pastor. es a project pastor. But eventually, I found myself in the church.

How has pastoring been?

Interesting. Life is about learning and you draw lessons. Also, someone is growing. After I worked on I was t ans err d to B uc i as t 199 in , projec f r two ea she pastor. That was my first pastoral experience before a congregation.

God used all these avenues to build me and prepare me for future challenges. I was tr nsferr d t Ilo in h re w also s en abou , 199 In . I was in Bauchi for f ur and half years four years.

From Ilorin we came to Ibadan in 1998.

We were in Ibadan for six years and 13 days when we went back to Ilorin from where we went to Warri. We came back again to Ibadan from Warri and then to Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009. And we came back to Ilorin.

From there we were transferred to

SUNDAY LIFE Lagos, then to Ikorodu. In 2010, we moved from Ikorodu to Kaduna where we spent two years and in 2012 or thereabout, we went back to Ilorin and in 2013, we felt we had to disengage. I was with Winners Chapel for 25 years.

Why did you leave?

I listened to the voice of God. He gave us another assignment.

How would you describe the experience of pastoring people of different cultures across Nigeria and even outside?

I have learnt so much about how to relate with so many people, in love and how to be patient with people. You have to be accommodating; you have to be tolerant, and you have to be ready to help people.

Our joy is that we are affecting people positively. Our fulfillment is that God is using us to affect people's lives positively.

We have also learnt that people need help. It may be little but you may not know what it means in the future. There are people God used us for. We have even forgotten some people but they cannot forget; they still remember.

There are people we meet today that tell us we've helped them but we don't even remember the year. And you are not the one doing it but God who should take the glory.

It is God that did it. So you don't neglect people.

Human beings must touch lives positively. That makes life more relevant.

We learned that you have to be relevant and when you are relevant to people you are eager to do little things God has given you power to do; that is life. By God's grace, we've also learnt humility and meekness.

By nature, I hate arrogance and pride. As much as possible, I make people to be humble before God and man.

D o you regret abandoning your building career to answer the call?

No, I don't. The joy is that I am spiritually building people's life and then, there are opportunities for me to build physical buildings. It is 2-in-1 now. Like now, I am ministering, and very soon, I will be building.

After 26 years of pastoring, would you say you are fulfilled?

When you are talking about

fulfillment, it is when somebody has finished his work. I have not finished the work and so I cannot say I am fulfilled. I am just happy being in the will of God and that is success.

Success is not measured by material things. When you are in the will of God, you will be fulfilled and satisfied. Now, I am fulfilled in the sense that I am in the will of God. I cannot say I am fulfilled because I cannot achieve everything I say I want to do because there would be restraints, but

by God's grace, I have been able to do some things in line with what God has asked me to come and do.

Why the choice of Ibadan?

I prayed and that is where God said we should go. It would have been easier if I go to my state of origin because there is house there but God said we shoul d stay here. It is not something someone just decide on.

Naturally, people may want to pin your disengagement from Winners Chapel to crisis; have you heard a n y s u c h comments? And how do you react to them ?

23

we wil all leav , But t ere s no he e so eone lives. The will say all anner f th ng includ ng a rift Th t i norma . reason why somet i g too pl ceth y ant to .now the Peopl i sinu te hings Whether we like it or not, even the socalled founders will leave. You know when your time is up, you'll go. God told us that our time was up. That is just it.

There is no quarrel, no misunderstanding. Valedictory service was conducted for us. That was done 15th November 2013 in Ilorin because that was our last station. The ministry was well represented. Bishops Ade and Aremu were there. It was a church service.

60D yo fe l ? H w h s it been. ye rs ?ld this ee 60 ou a e Life has been interesting and I give God the glory, because to be alive for 60 years is not a joke. It is God's mercy and faithfulness that have kept me alive.

It has been interesting because whatever you call challenge, God always turns it around for the good. God has given me victory over all battles and opposition in the past 60 years; so I am a product of His faithfulness, mercy and favour.

How has it been in the last one year?

It has been glorious, without any exhilaration. What God has done in the past one year, three months is unquantifiable. People around can testify. Some people cannot even believe that our ministry is just a year old.

Many people are testifying to the glory of God.

When couples met on Money and Financial Matters V IRTUALLY everyone understands that a prosperous, organised and morally balanced society is hinged on good homes. Unfortunately however, this often becomes a dream when marriages are in disarray.

The need for peace in marriages and by extension the society is perhaps the major reason Mrs. Tinuola Agbabiaka, a lawyer cum relationship expert, through her nongovernmental organization (NGO), Practical Christian Living Initiative (PCLI), recently hosted a special timeout for couples at Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lekki, where issues relating to 'love of money and finance in marriage' were discussed.

In his welcome speech, chief host of the occasion, Mr. Oriyomi Agbabiaka,

•A Couples at the event

Couples recently gathered at the initiative of Practical Living Initiative to discuss ways of sustaining peace in the family, reports Yetunde Oladeinde

explained that many marriages have crashed because of the inability of partners to have a workable understanding about finance and other thorny issues, but PCLI, a peace-loving organisation, in the past nine years, has been impacting relationships and helping couples to build wholesome unions.

The event, which was attended by over 50 couples from different parts of the country, came to a high point, when the convener, Tinuola Agbabiaka, in her presentation, urged couples to work as teammates because this will not only strengthen their union, but also make couples committed to each other's overall growth.

While delivering a talk on money tips, she emphasized honesty and transparency as important factors couples need to imbibe in managing the economy of their homes.

She also enjoined them to have money talk time because this is one of the prerequisites for financial prosperity in marriages.

“Don't go into debts without your spouse's knowledge. It is very important for you to have your facts ready before calling for a meeting. During

such meetings, talk about long and short term goals and responsibilities. Have your figures right and don't hide things. Create plans and agree on money. It is also very important to understand different views on money.”

She went on, “There are too many liars as couples. The funny thing is that you can't get away with it because your spouse eventually finds out. Don't go into debt without your partner's knowledge or consent. Don't hide your pay slip. Don't hide things; remember that lie begets lie.”

“Be prepared to make sacrifices.

Understand that men and women have different use when it comes to money. For men, money is like a scorecard and not having it is like failure; it makes them less of a man. Women on the other hand see money as security, they believe that with money, their children's future is secured,” she added.

Guest speaker at the occasion, Albert Oluwole enjoined couples to guard their finances jealously and prevent it from affecting their sex life. While highlighting importance of fidelity, honesty, righteousness and mutual trust in marriage, he encouraged couples to have financial plan that respects Five S: “Sow, Settle debts, Spend, Save and Spare.”

Marriage according to him requires certain attitude and has certain graces, which makes it important for couples to understand each other's view on money.

Oluwole also identified prayer as a necessity in building homes.

Of course it was not just a talk-affair, as couples present prayed, danced, sang God's praises, and ate and laughed together. Prayers were also offered for ailing marriages. Couples present also took part in couple's dance. The best dancing couple was presented with gifts.

At the end of the proceedings, not a few couples who attended the event opined that Christian couples need more of such outings to re-ignite their love, as well as explore ways to improve themselves.

The event began earlier in the day when the NGO hosted a special men's summit tagged, 'A man worthy of respect'.

The forum was held to educate young male adults willing to learn and improve themselves to be good husbands and fathers.

Mrs. Agbabiaka, who spoke extensively on the theme, urged participants to be open to God and be ready to be guided in the right path, adding that if more men avail themselves of opportunities to improve on their lives and relationships, instead of remaining fixated on the values and culture imbibed from their background and environment, relationships and by extension the nation, will be positively impacted. The overall effect, she upheld will be peace and prosperity for the land.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

24 SUNDAY LIFE

F

rom time immemorial, water availability and access of man to this essential commodity of life have dictated where human beings pitch their tent to eke out a living. In biblical times, it was beside a well while in search of the liquid that Isaac got a wife to marry. This in essence demonstrates how water is important to the sojourn of man on earth.

It is in this same fashion that many coastal cities in the world today are more populated than those located in the desert where access to water is more challenging. The Nigerian novelist Elechi Amadi in his novel The Great Pond made access to water the main focus of his novel. In the novel, water is the central theme although the real issue is to prevent the other village from fishing from a pond. Water is the centre of life, without its availability life is endangered and lead to epidemic.

Out of reach The recent move around the globe by the World Bank and some governments to privatise public water supply has therefore continued to get the kick from the civil society and activists who are of the opinion that privatizing water supply would take this essential commodity of life out of the reach of the common man across the world.

It is against this background that the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) recently hosted a two-day Lagos Water summit to examine the plan by the state government to privatise the commodity in the state.

Availability of water became more of concern to many people around the globe because it was in the same week of the summit that the picture of the wife of one of the richest men in the world, Belinda Gates (wife of Bill Gates), made the front cover of many newspapers and magazines when she travelled to Malawi and went to a village river to fetch water and have a feel of what it was for an average African woman to get water from the stream or river for her daily chores.

In his keynote address at the summit, renowned environmentalist Nnimmo Bassey said, “Undeniably, water is an essential right without which no other right can be enjoyed. This is so because water is the basis of life. Every human person needs water in sufficient quantities to live and do so in dignity.”

He recalled that the United Nations had in 2010 at its general Assembly recognized that the right to safe and clean water and sanitation is a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life.

He emphasized that avoidable deaths and diseases have continued to dog the human race due to the lack of adequate water. While condemning the race to privatise water across the globe, he noted that this gale of privatization have been reversed in countries such as Bolivia, Argentina, Tanzania, Mali, France and Indonesia and wondered why other countries' governments are bent on going on a route that had proved to be failures in other climes. He called for the absolute rejection of water privatization in the country.

On his part, the executive director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Ojo, the host said the “wave of globalization and natural resource privatization is leading to the commodification of water especially in developing countries.” It is this “commodification” that he called on all to resist and not allow it to take water away from the table of the proverbial common man.

The summit which was attended by labour leaders and activists both at home and abroad had resource persons from Philippines, United States, Argentina who gave testimonies of the failure of the privatization of water in their countries.

It was generally agreed that privatization is not in any way a cure-all solution to the issue of lack of water.

The campaign was endorsed by about twenty three members of the Congressional Black Caucus of the United States of America who sent a letter of solidarity to Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi of ERA/FoEN. In their message they observed, “When people cannot access or afford clean water, the impact on their health and livelihood is devastating. As you know all too well, these

Water: The search for life’s essential liquid

•Mrs. Gates (left) after fetching water from a stream in Malawi

What is the place of water in life and sanitation? This and other issues were recently tackled at a two-day seminar in Lagos. Olayinka Oyegbile was there.

•Shayda Naficy of Corporate Accountability International, Joe Odumakin, ED Women Arise, Nathaniel Meyer and Greg Akilli of Corporate Accountability International at the summit.

circumstances force families to make painful economic choices.” They added that the protection of public good should be transparent in issues of water provision “we wish to express our solidarity with the people of Lagos and of cities around the world as they raise their voices in support of public water, participatory governance, and universal access.” Among the Black Congressional Caucaus members who signed the lteer are John Conyers, Jr., Karan Bass, Emmanuel Cleaper II, Charles B. Rangel and others.

But whatever is decided on the privatization of water, what is of

importance to Mama Joy in Ajegunle, Iya Taofik in Alagbado is for water, clean one at that to be available for her to take care of her house chores. Expatiating on why ERA decided to organize the summit, Ojo said, “Well, the Lagos Water Summit is a metaphor for the resistance against water privatization in Lagos and Nigeria and on a global scale. We are highly worried with the way global capital is seeking profits and they have identified the Lagos population as a good mine where they will invest on raking money. It is not about enhancing water supply to the people but rather about where capital will make investments and maximization of profit

and that is what we are against.”

He believes that the summit has provided a firm foundation to resist water privatization not only in Lagos but across the country. He promised that what was agreed on at the summit would be pursued doggedly to ensure potable water is made available to all citizens.

The two-day summit received solidarity messages from notable civil society actors and policy stakeholders.

These include Dr. Wale Okediran and Uche Onyeagucha former members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Centre (CISLAC) and Ms. Joe Odumakin, Chairperson of Women Arise for Change Initiative. At the international front Greg Akili, Project Coordinator, Corporate Accountability International (CAI); Priscilla Achakpa, Executive Director of Women Environmental Programme; Sani Baba of Public Service International (PSI), and Shayda Naficy of Corporate Accountability International attended and identified with the cause. At the end of the summit, the formation of an Africa Coalition Against Water Privatisation was formed to galvanise a network of civil society and development experts to promoting access to potable water a human rights issue. This initiative will address the challenges of governance, human rights and corruption in the water sector across the African continent.

The two-day summit was organised in partnership with Corporate Accountability International, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Public Services International (PSI), Transnational Institute, Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development, and Freedom from Debt Coalition.

25 THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

B A D N HUS I’m looking for

S S E R T C A D O O W Y L L —NO COSSY ORJIAKOR Pages 52 & 53

26

GLAMOUR

‘My

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

husband

fashion sense’ has a wonderful

W

HAT is it like being married to Bishop Mike Okonkwo?

Life with Mike Okonkwo is an interesting one but not without challenges.

Since I married him about 35 years ago, God has really been our helper all the way. The Bible says we should look up to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and because we agree together, we overcame.

W e agree together, stand in faith, trusting God to help us solve this challenges and He has seen us through. It's not been all rosy.

Anyone telling you everything went so beautifully, it is not true. We just hang in there, there is nothing else you can do, and you can't run from God. When it comes to God, you run to him, even when there are challenges. He is the one that would see you through. I would say it's been 35 years of God's helping us in the ministry and in our home. He has helped us thus far to bring up our daughter, and by the next few months, she would be getting married.

How did you meet your husband?

A long story. I met him in one of the churches. You know when the war ended, people were seeking God, getting close to God because we lost everything. In one of the churches, we were young and everyone felt that we needed God now. That was where I met him but I didn't meet him first, I met his senior sister, the woman liked me so much. Bishop at that time was very shy; he can't talk to a woman. He was a very shy person and it was his sister that said, 'my brother likes you.'

I was surprised and asked which of her brothers liked me because she had six brothers. Then she said the one that works in the bank and I said 'okay, we will talk about it.' So one thing led to the other, I still travelled abroad and came back.

What attracted you to him?

Nothing! The first time, I didn't see anything. He was so arrogant because of his family background. The first time I said, what is wrong with this young man, why is he all over the place? Gradually things changed.

How did he convince you to join the ministry?

He didn't convince me. He travelled and because we all started the ministry together, we got along. My husband is somebody that is hungry for the Word; he always wants to improve in everything he is doing. So he wanted to go to Morris Cerullo abroad, and he went. When he went, he said God spoke to him. I was very much involved in the work of the ministry. I have been an usher, sang in the choir and had got involved in almost every department of the ministry. I was working somewhere in Adeniyi Jones as secretary to a white man. The company has folded up now. He said, God spoke to him that I should give up the job but he didn't tell me. He said 'God, if it is you that is saying it, talk to her.'

Then, the board came at a time saying that for the input that you are making, why don't you come full time? I said to them that I would pray about it and I am the first out of

Bishop Peace Okonkwo is the Resident Pastor of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM). In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, she talks about being married to Bishop Mike Okonkwo for about 35 years, how they met, things they share in common and their

many children. I have lots of sisters, a brother and my mother who depended on me because my father is late. So when I was praying, I told God the situation and when I later told my mum she agreed. That showed that the money that I usually send to her for the upkeep, I won't be able to meet up. When I had my first child, my mum came down and I told her about it, she said the Lord would provide. She said the best thing you can do is to work for God and I threw in the towel. I told him that I didn't want any allowance for one year, I wanted to prove God. What were the first few years in marriage like?

It's been 35 years together, what can I remember now? Bishop is somebody that can defend you anytime. He loves you, he stands for you and he is not somebody that would deny you once he knows that you are doing the right thing. One of the two things I know how to cook, he taught me. He is a good cook. It's so funny because he comes from a family of six boys, few girls and they always have people living with them. I don't know how he learnt how to cook those vegetable soups. Everywhere we go, people ask what you are giving this man? He is looking younger; it is just the grace of God. His schedule is out of this world. I have begged him to slow down, to reduce his schedule but he said, 'my friend, all you need to do is pray for me.'

The other day, my daughter said no, I should leave him because if he reduces his schedule, he may start becoming sick.

Today he is not in; he comes back from Ijebu Ode to Abuja. As I was coming back from Aba on Monday, he was coming back from Warri. He is also a funny person. If you play games with Bishop, you would fall on the floor, especially ludo. If he is winning you, just resign because he would play and laugh at you that you would say you don't want to play again. Bishop is quite interesting to be with. I am a football lover. I love football, love tennis and my club is Chelsea. They won the league last season and I love the manager. I also like some of the players. I started liking the club since Drogba was there. Bishop is Man U, when they lose he gets angry. We watch football together and laugh. When we are watching a match, we sit on the rug in the sitting room and because I like tennis, he now became interested in lawn tennis.

Some women feel lonely when their husbands travel all the time. How do you balance all that?

When you know what God has called you to do, there won't be a problem. My schedule has also increased but before then I knew that he had to do this. He had to be used by God, that is what gives him joy and he has to be happy.

Are there times you wished he was always around?

Not that way. There's been a time I felt somehow, especially the time that we were facing trials. I said 'God this is too much, you just have to help us with this.' We got married and the following week he went to Morris Cerullo for six months.

What happened to your honeymoon?

We went to Ghana for a few days and came back. The women in my church said they had never seen anything like this, but I told them that he had to go. God needs his attention. I knew I was marrying a man of God and I knew that his time would be demanded. I use this experience now to talk to my pastors' wives.

Looking at your experience with Bishop, what is your take on men handling chores in marriage?

I believe that a man should help his wife.

Thank God, for this part of the world, you have people that can help us. Over there, the man does it and the woman does it at home.

Even in Nigeria, I have walked up to my pastor's house and I saw the man cutting okro. They just came back from abroad and the people present were shocked. So, I asked what was wrong with that, if the man can help in any way, but don't force it on him. Let him help out of his own freewill.

I don't see anything wrong with it.

How do you handle what Bishop wears?

He is the one teaching me. He is very stylish. Honestly, Bishop can put things together. My daughter would say, 'mummy if you want to buy anything for me, let daddy see it first.'

You can see it in the way he dresses.

When I was younger, I didn't really care about looking stylish or corporate. All I know is wear your clothes and be neat.

Let's talk about the women's group. What are some of the achievements over the years?

A lot. We started with just ten women, but now if you come on t h e l a s t Thursday of the month and i n t h e mornings between 9 a n d 1 2 noon, you would see up to three or four thousand women here.

W h e n I turned 60, my women knew my

passion. I told them that women are dying of cervical cancer and that project was the gift that they had for me. They planned a conference on this, now we are going from state to state to test women free.

About 8000 women are beneficiary and for the general screening we had about 12,000 beneficiaries. Then we have the widows empowerment and maybe because my mother is a widow. She is 85 years and still around. At a point, God spoke to me to look at how my mother toiled and that I should start something. That year, I sent some people to some villages and we touched some widows. These women prayed for me even though they didn't know me. When the schools in Nigeria were facing depression, this gave birth to the Word of Power Group of Schools.

Everything God used me to pioneer comes out of a burden. We also have the rehabilitation centre for girls and some of them were sent out of the house by their parents or the fact that the person who made them pregnant is nowhere to be found. So what we do is to take them into the home, take them to the hospital and pay the hospital bill.

When they have their babies they decide what they want to do with the babies. I don't get involved with that. My interest is that you must go to school or attend a vocation after giving birth to the baby.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

GLAMOUR Ex-beauty queen and rising actress, Peggy Enoho Ovire, tells Adetutu Audu her favourite things.

1

Favourite food Boiled yam & egg sauce 2

Favourite fashion designer I am a Bebe girl, their outfit fits perfectly well 3

Favourite shoe designer I will go for YSL because of its comfort 4

Favourite handbag designer It will be "Bally" because it's got class 5

Favourite perfume Chanel 6

Peggy’s

top

0 1

Favourite holiday spot Miami 7

Favourite make-up Black Up, it is mild and nice for our weather 8

Favourite sunglasses designer Christian Dior 9

Favourite wristwatch designer Tiffany & Co. 10

Favourite car Range Rover

27

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

28 GLAMOUR

ADETUTU AUDU

Landlord set to battle

KATE

HENSHAW T

HERE is no respite yet for Nollywood star actress, Kate Henshaw, whose Lekki, Lagos home was recently gutted by fire.

Nigerians have been sympathising with her since the incident, with many thinking that she owns the house. The property, we gathered, belongs to a former ambassador and his wife, who is also a retiree. Sources say Henshaw’s rent expired in July, adding that the couple had been trying to get her to pay before the incident. She is believed to have moved to another property in the nearby Oniru Estate. Her landlords in Lekki are allegedly poised for a showdown with her. They claimed that the fire that gutted their property was caused by a power surge from her air-conditioner which she did not switch off when she left home that fateful day.

08023849036, 08112662587

crownkool@yahoo.com

When Ndoma-Egba’s brother buried wife

T

HE serene village of Akparabong, about six kilometres from Ikom town in Cross River State, was agog on August 22 as dignitaries came to condole with the Ndoma-Egbas on the death of Jenny Ndoma-Egba, wife of Ransome Ndoma-Egba, elder brother of Senator Victor Ndoma-

Egba (SAN), the immediate past Senate Leader. The event began with a service at the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria at Akparabong, with over seven ministers officiating. Mrs NdomaEgba’s remains were interred at the country home of her husband, who managed to conceal his emotions.

Homto Dokpesi throws lavish birthday bash for son

A

BUJA-based multiple awardwinning fashion entrepreneur and CEO of Duchess H Couture, Homto Zaida Dokpesi, threw a lavish first birthday for her son, John Khaleed, last week in the Federal Capital Territory.

The high point of the event was the launch of the perfume and oil line of the birthday boy, who is the grandson of media mogul, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi. The fragrance line, Khaleed, which means eternal is available in eau de toilette, body butter and scented candles. It is in commemoration of his first birthday.

This is a follow-up to the successful launch of his fashion line, Babies

by K Collection, under the Duchess H Couture brand, which was launched in October 2014.

Haruna Momoh goes on holiday

F

ORMER Managing Director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Haruna Momoh, is lying low. The reason is not far-fetched. The dashing young man, sources say, is said to be watching things as the Buhari administration plans to probe the oil sector.

Momoh, who is said to be close to former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani AlisonMadueke, has reportedly travelled to Switzerland on vacation, while monitoring developments back home.

The world of Yemisi Suswam

F

ORMER first lady of Benue State, Yemisi Suswam, seems to be enjoying life outside power. In the last few months, the beautiful woman of style has been holidaying abroad away from the hustle and bustle of public life. Sources say the Ekiti State-born architect is contemplating returning to professional practice as soon as she returns home. As first lady, she only consulted for close friends and associates free of charge, a situation that may change once she puts her practice back on course.

OUT & ABOUT 29

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

Surat weds Tubosun The families of Abejide and Alli became one on August 16 when their children, Tubosun and Surat, got married at Classique Events Centre Place on Kudirat Abiola Way in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos. The Owa Oye of Oke Imesi in Osun State, Oba Gbadebo Adedeji, Chief of Staff to Lagos State governor, Samuel Ojo and his wife, Olufunmilayo, among others, graced the occasion.

Parents of the groom, Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Abejide, the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Tubosun Abejide, and parents of the bride, Mr. and Mrs. Mohammed Alli.

Chief of Staff to Lagos State governor, Samuel Ojo (centre), his wife, Olufunmilayo, and the guest of honour, Owa Oye Of Oke-Imesi, Oba Gbadebo Adedeji.

Parents of the bride, Mr. and Mrs. Mohammed Alli (4th and 5th right) and old students of Anwar-Ul Islam College, Agege, Lagos. Photos: MUYIWA HASSAN

Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro gets new president The Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro District 9110, Lagos, has got a new president, he is Rotarian Michael-Smith Atoe, who took over from Rotarian Omonigho Ego- Egonwa as the Club’s 14th President. The classic event was held at Protea Westwood Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos. Olusegun Rapheal was there.

L-R: The newly turbaned Chief Imam of Ajegunle Atan Ota, Sheik Imam Misbaudeen Hussien Ajibawo, Chief Imam of Ado Odo, Sheik Imam Soliu Ibrahim Adeyemi •L-R: Chairman on the occasion, Mr. Ayo Thomas, Rotarian Michael-Smith Atoe; Abanigbe and Bale of Ajegunle Idowu Ashamu Lanisa during the installation.

Rotarian Omonigho Ego-Egonwa and guest speaker, Mr. Sulaiman Aledeh.

Igbomina in Diaspora

The Igbomina Community of North America (ICNA) honoured its own at its second conference held in Atlanta Georgia, United States. The President, Larry Bode Ojeleye, said the organisation is dedicated to improving lives.

•L-R: Alhaji Lateef Amolegbe; ICNA President, Larry Bode Ojeleye; Oniwo of Iwo, Oba Joshua Olutade and his Olori, at the event.

Former Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin at the event.

30

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

ETCETERA

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

Lyrical cynicism

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

If you ever stopped to probe man’s biological complexities, then the following deductions should not surprise, for they reflect the irony of existence as captured in the English Language.

WHAT really makes a man?

Definitely shaped at birth, he is one of the most vulnerable animals at infancy. He rapidly develops, but faces emotional challenges at adolescence and psychological tests in adulthood.

He has an Adam’s apple that isn’t really an apple, two calves that will never become cows and a nose bridge that doesn’t lead anywhere. He has a roof of the mouth that doesn’t cover much, twenty nails that can’t fix a board and a chest that won’t hold folded clothes.

How about a belly button that won’t button, two shoulder blades that support rather than cut and an Achilles heel that doesn’t necessarily make him a warrior? Or a small intestine that is much longer than a large intestine?

What of a chin that invariably doubles in middle age, eyelashes that do not lash anyone and an arm that is only equal for everyone in measurement of the length for keeping unsolicited company at bay?

And when the man chooses a highly skilled profession, he could be a psychologist, the one who concentrates on everyone else when a beautiful woman enters the room, or a professor, the one who talks in someone else’s sleep. Then again, he could be a consultant, someone who takes the watch off someone else’s wrist so as tell him the time, or a diplomat, one who calls the bluff of another in such a way that he does not perceive the slight.

There is always room for scepticism in any vocation or profession as further allowances infer.

If the man turns barber and makes a mistake, it’s a new style. If he becomes a tailor and makes a mistake, it’s a new fashion. If he makes a mistake as a dancer, it’s a new move.

If, as a teacher, he makes a mistake, it’s a new theory. If he makes a mistake as a scientist, it’s a new invention. If, as a politician, he makes a mistake, it’s a new law. If he chooses to be a businessman and makes a mistake, it’s a new experience.

If he is employed as a driver and makes a mistake, it’s an accident. If he works at a newspaper and makes a mistake, it’s ‘our error’. And if, as an artist, he makes a mistake, it’s a masterpiece.

If he becomes an officer and makes a mistake, it’s a new order. If he operates as an engineer and makes a mistake, it’s a new design. If he becomes a parent someday and makes a mistake, it’s a new generation.

Now if the boss makes a mistake, it’s the subordinate’s mistake. But if the subordinate makes a mistake, it’s a mistake!

Books inspired worldwide by ex-president G. Jonathan’s Kenya safari:

CHEEK BY JOWL

•The French book: 1001 Ways to Cook Elephant •American book: How to Make Bigger and Better Elephants, or The Elephants I Shot on Safari •Japanese book: How to Make Smaller, Durable Elephants •Greek book: How to Trade Elephants for Debt Relief •German book: How to Make More Efficient Elephants •Canadian book: How to Handle Elephants in the Cold •Russian book: Vodka, Roulette, War and Elephants •Italian book: Elephants and the Mafia •Brazilian book: How to Use Elephants in Carnivals •Chinese book: How to Make Cheaper, Imitation Elephants •Nigerian book: How to Travel and Forget White Elephants

QUOTES

•Problems are only opportunities with thorns on them.

— Hugh Miller •Marriage: An agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her masters.

— Anonymous

Jokes Humour The Escape DURING WW II an American fighter pilot was shot down over Japan and he was captured.

He was hurt pretty bad, so the Japanese doctor amputated his left arm. He requested that they drop his arm over his base in the U.S. The Japanese did.

The next week they amputated his other arm and he asked the same thing. The Japanese complied.

The next week they amputated one of his legs, and he again asked for them to drop it over his base in the U.S. The Japanese doctor said, “Sorry, we do dis no more!”

The pilot asked why not, and the Japanese said, “We think you trying to escape!”

References A MARRIAGE broker offered Mathew a beautiful young girl, a real prize, to be his wife. But Mathew was stubborn.

“I’m a businessman,” Mathew argued.

“Before I buy material from a mill, I look closely. So before I get married, I need a

sample too.”

The broker had no choice but to relay the message to the girl. “He says he is a good businessman, and he has to know exactly what he’s buying. He insists on a sample.”

“Listen,” the girl said. “I’m good at business too. A sample I can’t give. But, I can give him references!”

Fat Plate TO celebrate his 40th birthday, the boss, who was battling middle-age fat, bought a new convertible sports car. As a finishing touch, he put on a vanity plate with the inscription “18 Again.”

The wind was let out of his sails, however, when a salesman entered the office the following week.

“Hey,” he said out loud, “who owns the car with the plate ‘I ate again’?”

Sub-standard Deviation HE: Would you like to dance?

She: Not with you.

He: Oh, come on, lower your standards a little ... I did.

•Adapted from the Internet

Writer ’s Fountain OW to write and win: French scholar Georges Polti strong story should involve one or more of these primal drives. If the protagonist is not identified only 36 master plots in all the personally threatened or engaged in these stories of the world. His first master plot primal areas, he must become emotionally involves a Persecutor, a Supplicant and a involved with a character who is challenged dubious Power which may favour one side in one or more of them. or the other. The theme of this master plot?

For example, a crime story may appear, at The power of mercy over hate. first glance, to involve no primal drive. It Have you engaged the original emotions? could be a grim whodunit or escapist The theme must engage the protagonist’s, entertainment. But the heroine, a forensic and, by extension, the reader’s, primal expert, is obsessed with a passion to avenge emotions or carnal drives. Defined in the the dead – to re-assert the values of a civilized crudest terms, these include sex (or community and so protect the ‘tribe’. That’s a procreation), physical survival (for self, primal drive. family or tribe), emotional comfort (love, The author can invoke a primal drive friendship and community), and spiritual explicitly, as in a suspense thriller, or tacitly, survival or advancement. as in a literary story which fits into no obvious The theme and ensuing conflicts in a genre. But it must be done. If your story Queer remarks: incorporates all these, and is well-written, it •Monday is the only day of the week that deserves to be short-listed for an award.

Otherwise, no plotting, characterisation or has an anagram, ‘dynamo’.

•If you live to be over 100, you are dialogue can help. The stories will simply fall flat and not engage the reader. considered a Centurian.

There is a lot more to writing great stories, •French was spoken in England for though. Some stories may break these rules hundreds of years.

•In literature, the average length of a and still win. Keep learning and, sooner or later, you will find a formula that wins. sentence is around 35 words.

H

Insight

AUGUST 30, 2015

Photo: GBOYEGA ALAKA

THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

31

Many facilities across the country are in a sorry state.

Gboyega Alaka takes a critical look at the deplorable state of roads and other infrastructure and the seeming neglect of Nigeria's commercial nerve-centre, Lagos by past administrations.

•Continued on Page 32

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

32 INSIGHT •Continued from Page 31

•Shodeinde

•Alabi

PAGE 33

AUGUST 30, 2015

• Mohammed

• Ribadu

• Umar

• Alkali

Who becomes PDP chairman?

Pages 36 & 37

Kogi 2015: Wada’s second term blues

Pages 34

• Fayose

'I’m the best for Ondo governor'

Pages 38

'Why lawmakers will accept salary cut'

Pages 40

34

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

POLITICS

Buhari and Tinubu: The umbilical tie

Mohammadu Buhari F there is anyone who is blessed with the achievement of a life time objective of ruling his country, it is President Mohammadu Buhari. He is the only Nigerian, and one of the few in the world, who had contested presidential elections a whopping three times without the fulfillment of his heart's desire. Frustrated, he had given indications that he probably would not contest again each time he lost the presidential election which always ended up in the Supreme Court. After three times, it was obvious to him and Nigerians that, perhaps, his time was up, judging from his age, which in any way, was no barrier, and the uncertainty of victory at any further contest. For a person famous for discipline and incorruptibility in and outside office, and the only Nigerian Head of State who was toppled by military coup not because of corruption but because of his discipline, incorruptibility and tough mindedness which threatened the entire military, Buhari was removed in a palace coup by General Babangida on 30 December, 1983.

Buhari is definitely a man always on a mission - to deal decisively with the endemic lawlessness, indiscipline and corruption in the Nigerian society, and rid it of its bad image abroad. He was the only Head of State known to have kept all his fingers out of the national purse as well as refrained from building mansions all over the country and outside the country like others before and after him.

Apart from being Head of State (1983-85), he had headed lucrative positions like the NNPC and Petroleum Trust Fund, apart from other important military positions, like Garrisons Commander. Here, then, is a man with a visionary zeal - to serve his country and not himself. It is a well known fact that more than 90% of those who won in the last elections, especially in the North, did so not by themselves, but by the incredible popularity of Sai Buhari.

Let any politician who may want to dispute this claim get himself expelled from Buhari's APC and contest election in the North on the platform of the discredited PDP or any other party and see what calamity would befall him or her in such a misadventure. So, I advise our APC governors, legislators in the State and National Assemblies to beware of their activities and utterances against Sai Buhari. It is precisely this incredible popularity that makes Buhari as perhaps the most powerful president in Nigeria who enjoys the overwhelming support of what we call "people power". The widespread and rigorous criticisms that instantly greeted Mathew Kukah's criticism of Buhari's popular anti-graft crusade is enough to teach a would-be critic a great lesson on how not to talk rough about a very popular government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.

From all indications, Buhari might have been disappointed that he was removed by the military at a time he was up and doing in fighting indiscipline and corruption for which he set up the popular War Against Indiscipline (WAI) but which, unfortunately, was unpatriotically truncated by the military under General Badamosi Babangida. Buhari has not forgotten his nursed opportunity to kill corruption before it killed Nigeria. He has lived uncomfortably with "Nigerian corruption unlimited" as installed and entrenched in our lives and body polity by previous administrations, military or civilian. This was the agonizing scenario and engine that propelled the spirit in Buhari to keep on contesting elections after one loss and the other until he was tired of trying, although still with the conviction that he had tried his best to be a president that would have redeemed

I

•Buhari

By Moses Akinola Makinde

Nigeria's bad image of being one of the most corrupt nations on earth!

Ahmed Bola Tinubu Thereafter, and suddenly, providence struck an opening, with God making a way where there had seemed to be no way. His party, the CPC, merged with the bigger ACN and other parties, the ANPP and a fraction of APGA to form a formidable party, the APC. Naturally, the biggest party, ACN, could have bargained for the position of presidential candidate. But we must give kudos to the ACN and its leadership, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for gunning for Buhari, with no hole barred, right from the word go. Two divinely circumstances played a mighty role. First, Tinubu was looking for a formidable candidate, regardless of age, and he saw that in an incorruptible Mohammadu Buhari, thus leading Tinubu to give up his own personal ambition. But there were ambitious candidates from the North who wanted to dislodge Buhari from the presidential candidacy. But Tinubu was able to rally the support of APC's National Executive Committee to give effect to Buhari's presidential nomination among other nominations from the North and South-East.

Second, the question of age, which was being badly tossed around by some party members and, especially the PDP, did not bother Buhari so as to give up his ambition which had already got a robust support from Tinubu and the entire members of his political clan in the formidable ACN, its governors, members of national and state legislatures, local governments and chairmen and members of state chapters of the party - all united in a fell-swoop for Sai Buhari. Thus started the veritable cause and effect of an energized umbilical tie of Buhari with Tinubu. And Tinubu was driven by this umbilical tie to see to it that nothing stopped Mohammadu Buhari from snatching the Presidential candidacy at the celebrated primary election, seen as the best in Nigerian political history. There of course existed a pocket of silent anti-Buhari movement that is still working underground after his victory at the primary election.

•Tinubu One thing has become typical of Tinubu's careful and thoughtful nominations of people into public offices.

He goes for whom he thinks is the best. He had demonstrated this in the case of Fashola who later became the most celebrated governor in and outside Nigeria, and then saw Buhari as the best presidential candidate for Nigeria, whom he thought should be assisted as Vice President in Yemi Osinbajo, an internationally respectable Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and also a man of God in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) as an intellectual and legal power house of the presidency. From then on, there was no going back. Tinubu even told the world throughout the presidential campaigns that "Buhari was the person Nigeria needed at this time", just as former President Olusegun Obasanjo said much later, that "there is no alternative to Buhari at this peculiar period of the country's life" (The Nation, August 25, p.4) for the change envisaged by the party. And everywhere Tinubu went on campaign, he kept on reminding Nigerians that when America was in trouble, they called Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to the rescue; in Britain, Sir Winston Churchill, and in France General Charles de Gaulle.

‘Tinubu was able to rally the support of APC's National Executive Committee to give effect to Buhari's presidential nomination among other nominations from the North and South-East’

Therefore, for Tinubu, Nigeria needed Gen Mohammadu Buhari more than Buhari needed Nigeria at that time of its near calamitous existence. In effect, Tinubu might be warning us, without knowing it, as Sir Winston Churchill warned Britons during the build-up to the Second World War (in the second volume of his book, The Gathering Storm), that "every organism that ceases to fight for its existence is doomed to extinction; any society which ceases to fight for its existence is equally doomed". This might just as well have been Tinubu's warning, to prevent Nigeria from going into extinction, as part of his entreaties on Nigeria's need for Mohammadu Buhari's presidency. After the vigorous and strategically guided and guarded campaigns in which Tinubu dragged Buhari's wife to actively participate, and in spite of the vicious hate campaigns of age and irrelevant entertainment of certificate saga, Nigerians voted passionately and overwhelmly, as never before, for Sai Buhari on March 28, 2015 presidential election, thus becoming the first candidate to defeat an incumbent president in any such election in Nigeria.

The umbilical tie at work With the commendable roles Tinubu played in Buhari's ascendency to power after three previous failed attempts, and with Buhari's chance of now completing the job he had in mind but which the military coup against did not allow, he has every reason to thank God for bringing up a Tinubu for the divine and unstoppable realisation of his noble objective in his magnificent victory at the Presidential election which is now sweet and memorable history. From then on, Buhari and Tinubu became one, jointly and highly focused on what they and the APC had vigourously fought for - CHANGE. Now, with the increasing strength of the tie between Buhari and Tinubu over the incredibly vital roles the latter played in the former's journey to the presidency, some elements of envy (Awolowo calls it negative emotion) has set in among •Contd. on page 39

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015 f Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State gets the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to contest for a second term in the November 21 governorship election he will host his loyalists to a special thanksgiving or a survival party of sorts. This is because Wada, who had expected an automatic ticket to fly his party’s flag in the election, suddenly found himself contending with very powerful forces within and outside the party determined to deny him a second term in office.

The bitter distrust arising from the intrigues that led to the cancellation of the party's ward congress, which was, according to a source, worsened by the position of the National Working Committee of PDP, was and is still too deep to allow all members of PDP in the state to work together.

An insider, a top official in Lokoja, told The Nation this week that Wada's men did not understand the depth of the crack within the party until it was almost too late. "It took us time to understand the level of hatred of some so-called PDP chieftains to the governor here in Kogi and their resolve not to cooperate with him in the coming elections. So, we were working with the illusion that it is one family," the source lamented.

This seems so for by the first week of this month, August, when the party’s working committees in the local government councils from the Eastern Senatorial District publicly endorsed the governor to run for a second term in office, his admirers said the automatic ticket story will come true.

Mr. Idris Waja, the chairman of the forum of the party's local government councils working committees in the zone, who disclosed the endorsement at a press conference in Lokoja, the state capital, had explained that the decision to adopt Wada was “to avoid rancour and unnecessary bickering which,” he identified as “the greatest undoing of the party during the last general elections.”

Calling on his colleagues in Kogi West and Central senatorial districts to “similarly adopt the governor in the interest of the party, growth and development of the state,” Waja therefore called for “a consensus arrangement that would save the party a lot of money and make the party more formidable to contest the governorship election.”

As expected by keen observers of Kogi State politics, this call was, within some weeks, followed up with reports of similar endorsements of Wada by some PDP elders from Kogi West and East senatorial districts.

The elders, said at the conferences where they declared their endorsements, that "Wada deserves a second term in office to enable him continue his developmental projects in the state."

Senator Tunde Ogbeha, the Leader of Kogi West PDP elders, was quoted as saying in a communique that over 150 members attended the meeting where they took the decision to endorse Wada for a second time.

The cycle was completed when the Kogi East PDP elders also reportedly gave their endorsement for Wada on the occasion of Igala Summit held at Anyagba, Dekina Local Government Area.

As would be expected, Wada was so excited of the endorsements that he told his supporters at Anyagba, during the Igala Summit, that his brand of politics was not that of ‘do or die’.

Observers said he may have read the situation then and had concluded that the coast is not only clear but also that he would not have a major obstacle ahead as he strolls along to pick the ticket for reelection.

It was on this note of certainty that Govenor Wada formally declared interest to seek reelection on the ticket of PDP. His supporters, emboldened by the reports of endorsements, most

POLITICS

35

the current realities arising from the strength of the two leading political parties.

Recent investigations show that although the ruling PDP in the state still lays claims to being in control of the local governments' political structures, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which boasts of habouring a galaxy of top politicians in the state, has grown so much in the state that it probably has more than 50 percent chance of snatching the coveted seat from the PDP this November. This reality has received further boost by the emergence of APC as the ruling party at the federal level and by the overwhelming popularity of its change campaign in the state. The influence of the change campaign on Kogi citizens can be better appreciated by the fact that Kogi State is today the only state in the North-Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria that is still a PDP state. All the other states in the zone are now APC -controlled states.

As a result, APC change campaigners are putting everything within their kitty to win the state.

I

•Wada

Kogi 2015: Wada’s second term blues

Until the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came up with the resolution that there would be no automatic ticket for Governor Idris Wada, only two aspirants showed interest in the party’s ticket for the November 21 governorship election in Kogi State. With the party’s stance and Wada’s acceptance, it has become an all-comer race. Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, examines Wada’s second term blues. of which were allegedly sponsored or stage managed, thought the race would certainly be a walk over.

But all that has since changed as it has become obvious to all that Wada would have to work hard not only to retain the ticket of his party, the PDP, but also to win the November governorship election in Kogi, given the growing influence of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and across Nigeria.

The first concrete evidence that Wada's reelection bid would not be a mere tea party was when his bitter rival, Alhaji Jibril Isah (Echocho), ignored reports of endorsements and automatic ticket for Wada and formally declared interest in the governorship race. As Echocho, Wada's old political rival, collected the form, thus formally joining the race, even the governor's aides and associates acknowledged that the contest had begun.

There is also the presence of Muhammed Ali, who, like Isah, is ready to slug it out with Wada. Ali has what one of his associates described as "good reason to engage his former boss in a political battle, if for nothing to prove a point and to seek a way of bringing out the hidden truth." Although the associate did not explain fully what he meant by hidden truths, it would be recalled that Ali, the former chairman of Dekina Local Government, was sacked by Wada over

some unsavoury allegations while in office.

On the part of Isah, better known as Echocho, his entry into the race was described by one commentator in Lokoja as "Wada's big headache." This assessment is mainly because of the bitter political rivalry between the two, which peaked in the run-off to the party's governorship ticket in 2011. Till date, Echocho's supporters still nurse deep grudges against Wada over the manner their principal lost the party’s ticket to Wada in 2011. They have allegely sworn never to allow a repeat of the scenerio ahead this year's elections.

More than the personal strength of Echocho, Ali or any other aspirant or stakeholder in the state, is the reality of the allegation that some powerful elements within PDP at the national level have planned to replace Wada with Isah.

The Nation gathered that Wada has since reached out to his contacts across the country, especially in Bayelsa State, in a desperate bid to neutralize the influence of such personalities.

PDP v APC: The power game Besides the issue of some powerful personalities within the state allegedly ganging up to stop Wada from returning to the Government House, the other factors that he may have to contain with include geopolitical considerations, and

Internal geopolitical agitation As has been the case for some time now, the issue of power change in the state is not just limited to change from PDP to APC. It is not also limited to change from the aged to the youths.

More than all these, there is this desperate and persistent call for a shift of power from the Kogi East to either Central or West. This is another battle that Wada, an Igala from Idah Local Government Area, must win to return to the Government House. Advocates of this call have consistently argued that "the easiest way to dislodge the Igalas of Kogi East from power is for the Kogi Central and West to come together under one voice to vote one candidate."

The passion with which these advocates of power shift have carried out their campaign is fired by the fact that the Eastern Senatorial District, where Wada comes from, has been producing governors since the creation of the state.

While Wada's supporters, for fear of swimming against the tide, may not out rightly condemn the current call for power change on geopolitical ground, they have tactfully aligned their arguments on the ground that this may not be the right time to effect the change, pledging that the governor will need another four years to consolidate on his achievements.

For example, the Kogi State PDP publicity secretary, Chief Bode Ogunmola, put up that argument in a recent television chat, when he said, “I am from the Central Senatorial District, it is my wish that one day I should be the governor of Kogi State; no doubt about that, but we are saying that we should sit around the table and talk about it.

Must we kill ourselves because of power shift?

"The Eastern flank has nine local government areas, Central has five and the West has seven. Let us sit down and talk. We don’t need a haphazard arrangement only when election is around the corner. We want power shift, but when election is over you go back to sleep and you forget about it. Let us sit down as reasonable human beings and agree that when this district finishes, the seat goes to Central or West. Let us have a template, let us constitutionalise this; we cannot fight over this. God that brought us together did not bring us together to come and kill ourselves because of power.”

While Kogi East continues to depend on the argument that politics is a game of numbers, there is no doubt that for Wada, his return to the Government House, will, to a very large extent, depend on his response to the desperate call for power shift in Kogi State.

36

• Mohammed

Who becomes PDP c

The race for the national chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has begun. No fewer than 20 aspirants have indicated interest in the plum seat, reports Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo LMOST four months after Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu left plum seat of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), members of the party are gearing up for the election of a new helmsman.

Muazu had resigned following pressure from exPresident Goodluck Jonathan and other party stakeholders and was replaced with Uche Secondus, the party's Deputy National Chairman in acting capacity.

For a party yet to get over its massive drubbing at the 2015 general elections by the All Progressives Congress (APC), the election of a new National Chairman, if not handled properly, observers warn, may sound the final death knell of the party.

This is against the backdrop of a recent statement credited to the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, that the SouthWest instead of the North, as being proposed by many party stakeholders, should produce the next National Chairman of the PDP. Fayose hinged his position on the fact that since the North is expected to produce the presidential candidate of the party in 2019, the South-West should fill the National Chairmanship position in the spirit of equity, fair play and justice.

The governor had also argued that since the North had produced the last two National Chairmen of PDP in the persons of Adamu Muazu and Bamanga Tukur, the SouthWest, where PDP currently controls two states (Ekiti and Ondo), should be allowed to take a shot at the position.

His opinion is, however, not in tandem with the prevailing mood in the party, it was gathered. Most of the major stakeholders, sources say, still favour the retention of the seat in the North, which perhaps explains why all the known aspirants, who are allegedly interested in the seat, are from the region.

They include former Minister of Transport, Abdullahi Idris Umar; former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil; National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement, (PDM), Senator Abubakar Mahdi; former Special

A

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

POLITICS

• Ribadu

• Alkali

Some of the aspirants

• Abdullahi Idris Umar • Mohammed Wakil • Senator Abubakar Mahdi • Prof. Rufai Alkali • Bala Mohammed • Mallam Nuhu Ribadu • Ahmed Ali Gulak • Paul Wampana • Habu Fari Adviser on Politics to President Goodluck Jonathan, Prof. Rufai Alkali.

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed; former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as well as former Presidential Adviser, Ahmed Ali Gulak and former PDP National Vice Chairman, Paul Wampana are also said interested in the position.

But of the lot, only Bala Mohammed has formally kicked off his campaign for the seat. A few days ago, he was in Ekiti to enlist the support of Governor Fayose for his aspiration.

From all indications, the northern elements in the party appear not willing to compromise on their resolve to back a northern candidate for the national chairmanship seat.

A few weeks ago, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, disclosed that the tenure of Mu'azu, was yet to expire before his resignation, stressing that the party had long resolved that its next National Chairman will come from the North-East geo-political zone where Mu'azu hails from.

Jalo said about 10 PDP members, drawn from Bauchi, Taraba, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and Gombe states are now jostling and strategising to succeed Muazu.

He said: "The procedure is that the tenure of Alhaji Mu'azu, who recently resigned has not expired, so the next chairman will definitely come from the North-East where Mu'azu hails.

There are more than 10 to 20 aspirants for the position. So, the North-East will still produce the next National Chairman of the PDP, because the tenure of Mu'azu didn't expire before he resigned and this is in line with the constitution of the party."

Of all the aspirants, Mohammed seems to be the man to beat. Sources say he has received the endorsement of former President Goodluck Jonathan, who had been impressed with his loyalty and commitment to the party.

The former minister's visit to Fayose was strategic. Since his election as governor last year, after defeating an incumbent, Fayose has assumed a larger than life status in the party both in the South-West and at the national stage.

Past PDP chairmen

• Chief Solomon Lar • Chief Barnabas Gemade • Chief Audu Ogbeh • Col. Ahmadu Ali • Prince Vincent Ogbulafor • Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo • Dr. Bamanga Tukur • Alhaji Adamu Muazu His outbursts against the ruling APC and President Muhammadu Buhari, sources say, has made him more popular in the party, with many now seeing him as a huge factor whose support would be highly sought after by all the chairmanship aspirants to get the needed support in the South-West.

Mohammed may however face a stiff competition from Idris Umar, who is also very close to ex-President Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience.

In the race to succeed Bamanaga Tukur in January 2014, Umar's name had come up for mention by some forces that had the ears of the former First Lady, owing largely to his cool headedness and non-controversial nature.

Two other strong aspirants from the North-East are Ribadu and Wakil. Some powerful forces in the party, it was gathered, have commenced intensive campaign for Ribadu, who is perceived as the man with the image, guts and intelligence to rebrand the party and put it at the right pedestal in the run-up to the next presidential race.

Wakil, on the other hand, stands an outside chance to clinch the position. Beside the fact that he has been lukewarm in his

‘From all indications, the northern elements in the party appear not willing to compromise on their resolve to back a northern candidate for the national chairmanship seat’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

POLITICS

37

'Selling the Buhari brand was easy' Dr. Dapo Williams was the Chairman of the London political organisation known as Buhari-Osinbajo Diaspora Organisation (BODO), which sold the candidacy of General Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo in the UK before the last elections. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo, he speaks on how the Buhari brand was sold to the international community

Y

P chairman?

• Umar

• Secondus alleged interest in the seat, no critical bloc within the party is said to be promoting his candidacy.

Even as Bala Mohammed and Ribadu are considered as frontrunners in the chairmanship race, a new aspirant, Habu Fari, has indicated his interest in succeeding Muazu.

The former Director-General of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida 2011 Presidential Campaign is coming into the race with a rich political pedigree.

A former National Administrative Secretary of the PDP, Fari, who hails from Taraba State, served as a Director in the Atiku Abubakar campaign group and was also the founder and Chairman of the now defunct National Democratic Party (NDP).

Following Bamanga Tukur's emergence as PDP chairman, Fari was made his Chief of Staff. However, disagreements among members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP over Fari's overzealousness in the discharge of his duties, led to his firing by Tukur.

In announcing his interest in the PDP chairmanship, Fari in a statement said, "I hereby inform you of my intention to contest the chairmanship of the PDP that is vacant. I am one of the founding fathers of the party. I was the one that took the party to Taraba State.

I was the party's first National Administrative Secretary. I was the Chief of Staff to Bamanga Tukur, the former National Chairman."

But can Fari make any headway in a race having Ribadu, Mohammed, Wakil and Umar as the leading candidates even as they boast of support from major stakeholders of the PDP? Only time would tell.

Besides these aspirants from the North there are PDP stakeholders who are still wondering why a new PDP chairman should take over from Secondus when everyone knows that PDP convention will take place in the next five months so, whoever emerges now will only serve for five months only before the official national convention of the party when the next national chairman should emerge.

OU are one of the few Nigerians in the Diaspora who promoted the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari through your organisation, BODO. What is the reason for your action?

It was a great pleasure to be part of the success of the President. When I joined the campaign, there were so many individual Buharists and Buhari support groups all over the place; so we decided to consolidate the groups into one and this was coordinated by the Diaspora Coordinator, Dr. Odaro Omorege, who worked at the BSO office in Abuja. The groups merged into one and we called the group BODO, meaning Buhari Osinbajo Diaspora Organisation. I was elected the first Vice Chairman by members of the group. I share the post with Hadjia Khalifa, a seasoned political scientist with Malam Sanni Garba, a technocrat as the chairman. I was responsible for the design and production of most of the campaign jingles and electioneering materials. We met with the President in London during his visit to the UK. We also met with the Campaign Director-General and his team in the person of ex-Governor Rotimi Amaechi with other eminent personalities like Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Mrs. Lola Shoneyin-Soyinka and all the heavy weights in the campaign team. We had several strategy meetings. We also liaised with the team on the grounds in Nigeria, people like Senator Mamora (the Deputy Campaign Director) et al. We campaigned tirelessly both day and night in the last few months, weeks, days and hours leading to the elections.

At that time, there are two or three factions of the APC in London, but we were recognised more than the APC group members, although they were doing their own campaign too, we sometimes meet at big events such as the Chatham House event where there was a fiasco between the APC and PDP supporters. After the presidential elections, we continued with the gubernatorial elections for all the APC candidates. We teamed together with the HOPE Movement; we went to the Canary Wharf in Docklands, Trafalgar Square, The Nigerian Embassy and other locations. The toughest was the 'battle for Lagos'. Ambode's campaign was a big one! The reason for joining the campaign team was to be a part of the change movement and to help contribute to the success of the candidates that will transform my beloved country Nigeria to a place to be proud of and to become a great nation.

From a Diaspora point of view, what do you think is the major challenge with Nigeria?

There are so many challenges Nigeria is confronted with, such as lack of basic amenities, youth unemployment, corruption on a large scale, lack of security, Boko Haram insurgency and so on. But I believe with time, PMB will turn the situation around for good

• Williams

It was said that you were one of the facilitators behind President Buhari's Chatham House talk in February, how easy was it selling the Buhari brand abroad?

We give glory to God that all our efforts were not in vain. I was later appointed the Chairman of the group (BODO) where I positioned the group strategically in the Nigerian community where we became a force to reckon with.

We were able to sell the qualities of our candidates to the electorates back home; we worked with another support group known as 9jadiaspora led by Hon. Deen Oduniyi. We met with the President and had one-on-one closed door meetings with him and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on different occasions.

There is a massive campaign in some quarters that Diaspora experts should be brought into the government; what is your take on this?

There is no place like home; it would be a great pleasure and honour if the opportunity comes, of cause, I would like to be part of the change agents that will use the skills and knowledge we have gained over the years in the Diaspora to help reshape our dear country. A lot of Nigerians are holding top positions in corporate establishments in various disciplines such as medicine, technology, finance, administration and so bringing them on board to be part of the Buhari/ Osinbajo team would be very much welcome.

Are you confident that the present government has all it takes to turn the country round?

I knew that President Buahri and Prof.

Osinbajo were sellable products and that was why I was proud to sell them to the Nigerian community in the UK and in Nigeria through social media. They were perceived as winning horses and that was the reason I became a stakeholder in the project. If I didn't have a strong belief in them, I would not have joined the campaign team. PMB's past records on war against indiscipline and corruption are there for all to see. I have a strong belief in the team and I wish that Nigerians should give him the time to turn things around. The challenges confronting Nigeria cannot be fixed overnight; it will take time but we shall get there.

What is your worst fear for Nigeria and what do you think is the panacea?

My worst fear is the insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country and the kidnapping and bombings going on around the country. I believe President Muhammad Buhari will use his military training and skills, coupled with the assistance from countries like the US, Britain and Germany to tackle and find solution to the problem.

38

Y

POLITICS

ou are a technocrat. At what time did you become a politician?

It began after the late governor of Ondo State; Chief Adebayo Adefarati, made me his Special Assistant (SA) on Information Technology. I was in that position till about December, 2002. That was the beginning of my journey into politics. I assisted him in the area of strategies.

But we envisaged that it might be difficult for him to get a second time.

We studied the situation and we came to the conclusion that the best way to actually get him another opportunity was for the governor to let the people know those things we considered to be his mistakes and offer them hope that he was willing to make the necessary changes. The suggestion also included changing his deputy and replacing him with somebody we considered to be very vibrant and more capable. We told him to change his ticket composition which was originally Adefarati and Iyantan.

We believed that that ticket would not win him the election. When we presented this to the governor, he stood up and prayed for me in the presence of one Kunle Oyegoke, Alex Adediran, Charles Bosede, etc. He told us that we had superior argument and that we should give him the time saying if anything would change what we presented, we would be the first to know. He was so happy that his friend, the late Wumi Adegbonmiran, wanted to enter but he told him that he was discussing with Tunji. We later got to know that some forces took advantage of our political naivety.

Was that what spurred you to join the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu- led PDP? A lot of things happened that eventually broke our relationship with the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati. After that incident, we heard on the news that the governor had picked his deputy (Iyantan) as his running mate. Based on what he told us, we felt that as the governor's boys, it was a fake story. In order to be sure, at night, I drove down to the house of the then Managing Director, OSRC, Mr. Ayeni. We told him our concern. He told us to go to the station and we met the guy who was on the desk and he told us that the news was brought by somebody who was in the capacity of Chief Press Secretary to the Governor. I called the CPS; he said he was not aware of it. The spokesperson to the Deputy Governor was a very clever man and brilliant. We later concluded that some people somewhere tried to box the governor to a corner. On the basis of this, I gave directive that the news should be stopped forthwith. Between that Friday and Monday, there was nothing the Deputy Governor did not do to have the news on air. We just felt that when Baba, who was not around, returned, we would go straight to him. One of my people, who was working with me, had been romancing the Deputy Governor.

That was my proper welcome to politics One-Zero-One. I felt betrayed. I tried to reach the governor independently. I wanted to hear directly from him. For days and weeks, I was denied access to the governor. In other for the governor to quickly call me, we filtered out a rumour that we had resigned. We did that and the feedback from the State House was that a particular son of the governor laughed and said 'that one, na hunger go kill am'. I got more annoyed and I resigned that day. I prepared three letters of resignation. I took one to the State House, Governor's Office and another one to NTA, Akure. That was how I severed that relationship. From that moment, there was no politician worth his salt that did not reach out to me. Chief of Staff to the Governor told me to tear the letter and return to work but that was not what I was looking for.

I wanted certain issues addressed and they were never addressed. Dr

'I’m the best for Ondo governor' Tunji Light Ariyomo was as an aide to former Ondo State Governors Adebayo Adefarati and Olusegun Agagu. The former students union activist, who is seeking the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket, tells Damisi Ojo, in this interview, that he is the best man to rule the state.

• Ariyomo

Olusegun Agagu of blessed memory reached out to me. When a situation persists in politics, you have to take a side.

I honoured Dr Olusegun Agagu's invitation. At that meeting were Barrister Boluwaji Kunlere, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, Charles Bosede and Niyi Oladipupo. He assured me that he would listen to advice and that day marked the beginning of our relationship. I also told him that if they were looking for the secrets of the previous administration, I would never do that. I told him what I do is development plan.

You cannot say that Tunji-Light mingled with Adefarati and so you could get secret to damage Adefarati.

You are one of the governorship aspirants of APC in Ondo State today.

What are your plans for a better Ondo State?

My governorship ambition, yes, Ondo State is the target but Ondo State is not my ultimate target. By the grace of God, we are only seeing this as an opportunity to use Ondo State to send a statement that the black man is capable of leadership.

That the black man can fix totality of what constitutes energy, including the subindustry of oil and gas, bitumen and electricity that have now constituted a serious issue in the country; That the black man can fix education by not only changing the content but an entire fabric of what constitutes education.

Why have you chosen to contest on the platform of the APC and not another party?

Number one reason is that most of the good people in this state are in APC. I have noticed that good people like me. Over the

past three years, it will surprise you to know that the only people I have had political relationship with are people like Dr Tunji Abayomi who would call me to find out what is happening. People like Mrs. Tanimola from Akoko and Ade Adetimehin. All the people in PDP, especially in Ondo State, tried as much as possible not to relate with me. Suddenly, I realised that all the good people are in the APC. Just like any other person, I will like to be close to the good people.

There is a second reason. The gubernatorial ticket of the PDP is inside the pant of one man and that person is Dr Olusegun Mimiko. It is a waste of time for a genuine progressive democrat who is trying to use popular support to win election to waste his time trying to obtain a ticket that is inside the governor's pant.

Governor Mimiko is our elder brother and we also recognised a couple of things he has done but that may not meet our own expectation. Also the fact that Buhari is the President of this country is an exciting thing too. If you look at the entire country too, you will find some leaders like Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu that are doing us proud. Asiwaju increased the IGR of Lagos State to a level that every Lagosian could be proud of. This was the legacy that the next governor after him built upon.

Akure for governor is the newest agenda in town today which the Deji of Akure has vowed to personally lead. Are you part of the movement?

No! I carry a different spirit within me.

I carry the Ondo State Agenda. I believe

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015 every other agenda should quiver in reverence before Ondo State Agenda.

However, I understand the reason some people insist on Akure Agenda. The reason is because some people are manipulating the political process to suit some ideas about zoning. If they do that, they will short-change the Akure people. I will give you an example.

When Ondo State Province was established, there were critical stakeholders' ethnics groups, including the Ekitis. Then, there were about four district divisions based on their subethnic units. Outside the Ekiti, we have what now constitute present day Ondo State. We have a large ethnic unit. We have Okitipupa/Ikale axis. We have Ondo Ekinmogun people. We have Akure Kingdom which comprise of Ifedore, present day Akure South, North and as far as Iso in Owo. It is still the largest ethnic division in Ondo Sate today. We have the Owo and Akokos.

These are the original political divisions that Ondo State is made up of. Some people, out of their own selfish interest, harp on zoning. In 1999, an Akure man (Chief Reuben Fasoranti) was practically offered the opportunity to become governor. He never lobbied for it. Every other person was rushing to Ogun State to the family house of Baba Adesanya.

He was not interested and he did not want to lobby. Baba told me one-on-one that they had to pressurize him to bring somebody he wanted. I am telling you just to understand the character of an average Akure person. Akure people are peace loving and we love visitors. Baba Fasoranti had an option. In Ekiti, a leader had just submitted the name of his son to be governor. Baba Fasoranti also had opportunity of doing that but he decided to pick Adebayo Adefarati from Akoko. Everybody knew that AD would win that election even if they pick a goat or a lion. Baba Fasoranti knew he would win but he gave excuse of not having a wife as a reason for him to turn down the ticket. He also failed to pick his son or anyone from Akure. If we are looking at this sentiment alone without conceding our right to contest on merit, we can see that Akure people have been wonderful brothers to the Akokos. That was the reason why an Akure man had not been elected governor of Ondo State.

So, when these other people started the sentiment of zoning, Akure people decide to fire back and say that they cannot do this to them being brothers.

You know that Ekimogun people are different people from Akure. If you say Ondo Central, we have Akure people.

You cannot follow that zoning arrangement of rotation based on senatorial districts. We must follow the divisional arrangement that produced late Chief Adekunle Ajasin from Owo Division, late Chief Adebayo Adefarati from Akoko Division, late Dr Olusegun Agagu from Okitipupa Division then the incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko from Ondo Division. The next naturally should be from Akure. My team, we call ourselves merit-driven society, because some of my powerful associates are the youths from Akoko, Irele and other places and half of me is from Ilaje because that is where my wife hails from.

But when you see Akure people agitate thus, what I have done is to provide the basis that led to this agitation. They have the right to so agitate but I carry a different spirit of Ondo State Agenda.

Ondo State Agenda will ensure that I put super multi-highway turnpike in the history of West Africa that will cross from Ikare Akoko-Owo-Akure-OndoOre-Okitipupa-Igbokoda. I know that the way I am built will ensure that I achieve that with the rest of my team without spending Ondo State money. We need the super turnpike because it will give us opportunity to increase our revenue.

So, I am not against Akure Agenda but I am carrying Ondo State Agenda on my shoulder.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

POLITICS

'Wike is an ingrate'

Buhari and Tinubu: The umbilical tie •Contd. from page 34 politicians jostling for Buhari's closer attention. They began to plan how to scheme out Tinubu from the sphere of influence in the presidency, and poison Buhari's mind against Tinubu in order to portray him (Buhari) as an ungrateful animal. With the large number of votes from Buhari's supporters in the North, the South-West provided the platform on which Buhari clinched the presidency later at the March 28, 2015 presidential election. Hence, while the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom for corrupt politicians, the fear of Tinubu is the beginning of wisdom for the jealous ones who wanted to destroy the umbilical tie between Buhari and Tinubu and, indeed, anybody close to him for that matter.

Right now, it is being rumoured that the Senate under Saraki might be waiting to reject the nominees of the duo of Buhari and Tinubu when the president sends the names of nominees to the Nigerian (not the Senators') National Assembly, forgetting Buhari's good will and popularity among the Nigerian electorate. This is to say that people voted for Sai Buhari and not for the legislators as such. A similar scheme had earlier been carried out at the election of principal officers in the same National Assembly. The fear of Tinubu produced Saraki as Senate President, and the "odd man out" from a brutally defeated opposition party, Ekweremadu of the PDP, as an awkward Deputy Senate President that left the APC painfully struck by the incongruity of the situation; and, by extension, Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives all against the party's supremacy and directive.

Even the timing of the ongoing attempts to discredit Rotimi Amaechi and Babatunde Fashola are a part of the diabolical plot to prevent Buhari and Tinubu from presenting the loyal, highly respected and popular duo for ministerial appointments.

But then, like some in the National Assembly who are still in the EFCC net, but have not been convicted even if indicted, the President should present his popular candidates, unless they have been convicted in a court of law. Period. Indictment is not a terminating judgement, as I once wrote. And this was why Obasanjo's instigated indictment of Abubakar Atiku could not prevent him from contesting for the president under the Action Congress in 2007, according to the court judgement against President Obasanjo and in favour of an indicted Atiku. Until recently, Tinubu had said that the attack on Fashola is attack against him (Nigerian Tribune, pp1&16, The Nation pp1&4, and Punch p.9, all of August 27, 2015). The same can be said of Amaechi's as an attack on both Buhari and Tinubu for the great role Amaechi played in President Buhari's victory. Behind all this political subterfuge is the fear of Tinubu's undisputed influence in the party and the umbilical tie between him and President Buhari which, by virtue of his principle and integrity, Buhari has refused to untie, but instead, has tightened it with an iron rod! President Buhari deserves the nation's appreciation for his decent moral act and spectacular act of appreciation which we hope would endure.

It is intriguing to see that, apart from the South-East and South-South where Buhari's support was only in Imo State,

Buhari seems to be having difficulty in parts of the North, with exception of the SouthWest where he has 100% support and where Tinubu's influence is at work. In the North the Sarakis, the Dogaras, the Melayes and many others of this world cannot, in reality, be said to be 100% loyal to Buhari and the APC while some of them are being suspected of surreptitiously working against the president for their own selfish interests against 2019. To these people, there may be payback time at the 2019 primary elections (if they ever reach that stage) at which time they will realise the importance of party loyalty and supremacy.

For those of them who may be scheming to take over from Buhari in 2019, they may have a difficult task convincing the leadership of the party of their loyalty to Buhari and the party. Besides, if Buhari succeeded in bringing about change, especially on the vexed issues of indiscipline, corruption, insecurity, employment, power supply, rail and air transportations, fuel supply and the overall economy of the nation, he could re-contest even against his will, propelled by popular demand, given the fact that some successful presidents of the world ruled their countries at over 80 years of age! President Reagan, the oldest president in office in the USA, was 77 years and 349 days when he left office as a result of the completion of his two terms of office as stipulated by the constitution; the hero of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, came into office on 1st September, 1999, at 75, did second term from 1st September, 2005 at 81, third term in 2011 at 87 and died on April 14, 2015 at the age of 91. President Mugabe came into office on December 1, 1987 at 63, and now at 91, he is still Zimbabwe's president. In 2019, Buhari would only be 77 years of age.

Buhari's allies and the party, but definitely not individual ambitious politicians, would decide when the time comes. That would be left for Buhari, his trusted allies and the general public through the court of public opinions.

While Nigeria has been thanking God for Buhari's presidency, I think we should also thank Buhari for being a man of principle, honesty and integrity. Were it not for these unusual qualities that are absent in many Nigerians, leaders and followers, overambitious and disloyal politicians in Buhari's administration would have succeeded in driving a cruel wedge between him and Tinubu whom God had used to play such a great role in achieving his life objective of ruling Nigeria for the purpose of taking it from the desert to the promised land. It seems that all entreaties, cajoling, double-talk and double speak had fallen on deaf ears, as Buhari continues to listen to Tinubu whose strategic position in the party as a great ally of the President to clinically carrying out his famous crusade for change is incontrovertible. Nigeria should say this prayer: that the umbilical tie between President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu should not be cut off by treacherous politicians but that the tie should remain tighter and untouchable. And for Buhari we say, in the words of Conrad: "a great heart hath no man than this".

–Makinde (FNAL), a Professor of Philosophy, is the DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.

‘Buhari is definitely a man always on a mission - to deal decisively with the endemic lawlessness, indiscipline and corruption in the Nigerian society, and rid it of its bad image abroad’

39

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Andrew Uchendu, is a three-time member of the House of Representatives (1999-2011). In this interview with Bisi Olaniyi in Port Harcourt, he speaks on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari, the fight against corruption and Rivers politics, among other issues. Excerpts:

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari is still being described as Baba-Go-Slow by some Nigerians. Do you subscribe to this?

I completely disagree with this view. We want the best. We want an improvement on our situation, at the same time; we seem to be so much in a hurry. Possibly, a good number of us do not know the depth of the rot in the body polity.

I will expect a responsive leader, in the mould of a President, in the case, President Muhammadu Buhari, on assumption of office, to settle down, take some time off, to do situation analysis, to know what he is inheriting and the situation. This is a system that has been riddled with corruption. We are prepared to mislead ourselves, not to talk of the other persons.

It will be unexpected of Mr. President to rely on the handover notes given to him and then dishing out instructions, in terms of governance. Everybody can see what President Buhari is doing now, sitting down to take on each of the ministries in the various sectors of our economy, to have the best eye-view of the situation he is going to manage in the next four years. This is a very laudable approach.

Will it be right to state that the current anti-corruption war of the Federal Government is targeted at political opponents, as being claimed by the members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party?

That is unfair, from the supporters of exPresident Goodluck Jonathan, whose government was known for impunity. People should make their cases against whoever in the system, members of APC, PDP or those in the private sector.

With the little we know of President Buhari, the anti-corruption agencies will be allowed to perform unhindered and the President has promised that even if the persons indicted are his party members, he will definitely ensure they are investigated and prosecuted.

However, in the states where APC controlled, we expect too that those who have the evidence should present it to the anticorruption agencies and see what will be done to the persons mentioned. We should give President Buhari a pat on the back that he is not interfering in the activities of the agencies.

How can corruption be adequately tackled in Nigeria?

The fundamental is adherence to procedures. System must be developed and there must be procedures in doing everything.

Complying with the procedures is what is called due process. It is ignoring the procedures that generate corruption.

Anti-corruption agencies were in Nigeria during the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Why are the officials now working?

When the fish starts getting rotten, it will start from the head. Once the head is right, everything will be right. Everybody knows that President Muhammadu Buhari, an ambassador of change, is a man of integrity and will not take nonsense, the people will sit up.

Another problem in Nigeria is enforcement for people to comply with procedures. Set up the procedures and get persons to ensure that the people comply, everything will be right.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is the first SouthSoutherner to become president, as a Niger Deltan, are you comfortable with his performance as president?

I am thoroughly sad about the performance of ex-President Jonathan, while in office. Our forebears did not willingly accept to be part of the movement for the independence of Nigeria. The fear was that the Niger Delta had

‘looking at both of them, how we started, I will say Wike is an ingrate and sadly so’

• Uchendu so many problems, that the centre would ignore and they wanted a government that would be closer to them. So that their problems, created naturally, would be tackled. Promises were made, assurances were given and they finally agreed to be part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

For many years, Niger Delta's sons and daughters fought to ensure that the centre focused on the development of the Niger Delta and the plight of the people.

Finally, the good people of Nigeria gave the Niger Delta region, through Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the opportunity to produce the country's President for the first time, since independence in 1960, but we misused it. I felt sad as somebody from the Niger Delta. We did not make good use of the opportunity given to us by other Nigerians.

As a former member of the National Assembly, did you advise Dr. Jonathan on the need to ensure commensurate development of the Niger Delta. The East-West Road has not been completed, yes he embarked on constructing the more strategic East-West Coastal Road, from Calabar to Lagos?

When I said I am sad, I mean every word.

At my age, I should be responsible enough to know where my person has failed and I stand by the truth. I was the Chairman of the SouthSouth Parliamentary Caucus, while I was in the House of Representatives and we proposed a number of programmes to the then President Jonathan, for the development of the Niger Delta.

In fact, Dr. Jonathan, from Abuja, declared open the first South-South Parliamentary Conference of the lawmakers in the House of Representatives, under my leadership. The conference took place in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Will it be right to say that former President Jonathan was misled by his wife, Dame Patience, and his associates?

I do not have enough information to that effect, but with the published revelations by newspapers, we may likely look into that direction.

As an Ikwerre leader, how will you describe the relationship between former Rivers Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and his former Chief of Staff, Chief Nyesom Wike, now a governor. Will it be right to describe, Wike, a former Minister of State for Education, as an ingrate?

I owe ex-Governor Amaechi and Wike nothing, but to tell them the truth. I owe Ikwerre people nothing but the truth. I owe the wider Nigerian society nothing but the truth in this particular matter, because I was involved.

Barring what might have transpired between Amaechi and Wike, privately, which might not be known to me, in terms of personallevel relationship, but as a politician, looking at both of them, how we started, I will say Wike is an ingrate and sadly so.

POLITICS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

Mallam Sani Zorro is Chairman of the House of Representatives AdHoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs.

The former President of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) speaks with Sunday Oguntola on the agitations for cut in lawmakers’ pay and other issues. Excerpts:

regulate our activities. If the Senate wants, it can follow suit. The Senate could also have its mechanism though. It has set up a committee to reduce its salaries and allowances but we are not going that way yet. We want to tackle the issue of running costs.

Isn't this arrangement just playing to the gallery? Will the House really implement the report of the committee?

I can assure you that this House of Representatives is change champion. The President is a change sponsor. All of us in the House are not averse to the change agenda. We're committed to change for good.

We are ready to diffuse that change agenda down. Nigerians should give us the benefit of the doubt. You can quote me that we are committed to the change agenda.

We want to do what Nigerians want because they elected us.

Another complaint is that lawmakers work part-time for 180 days in a year and earn full-time salary. How do you want to address the issue of frequent recesses?

All over the world, legislature works in a certain way. Nigerians don't know, for example, that Judges are on recess for three months in a year. They shut down the courts and leave behind vacation judges.

That is how the judiciary regulates its activities, as regards vacation.

They need the vacation to go to training programmes and stay with their families.

There are hazards because they do a lot of concentrated studies and writings. They need to maintain their sanity. So, that arm of government goes on vacation for three months at a stretch.

The executive arm works for eight hours from Mondays and Fridays. We work on Tuesdays-Thursdays between 11am-1pm every day. Do you know why? That is how it is everywhere in the world. That plenary work is just 20 percent of our work. 80 percent of our work is in committees and oversights functions.

So, when we are not in plenary, we are either doing oversights works or meeting in committees. Besides, the first recess was to enable us put logistics such as accommodation, transfer, movement of families and all the likes on ground.

The second recess was because a fight erupted on principal officers of the House for which we have since apologised. We needed to take a break to sort out the crisis.

The current recess is the real first one since the House was inaugurated.

Are House members ready to accept pay cut?

Yes, we are ready to make that sacrifice.

We note what the President and his vice did. We also noted what the senate is doing on reduction of salaries and allowances.

We are also on the same page with them.

We are willing to accept pay-cut and adjustments. Whatever Nigerians want in this season of change, we will do.

What is your take on the constant bashing of legislators?

Yes, the legislature is the most criticised arm of government worldwide and there is a reason for this. It is because 80 percent of parliamentary procedures are in the open.

Our plenary sessions are open to media coverage and public participation. Our oversights tours are witnessed by members of the civil society organisations as observers.

So, because people see what we do every time, they can interrogate us and input motives to our conducts. They can criticise us.

For the executives, you don't know much about what they do. For example, the FEC meeting is only open to the media for the opening sessions. It is at the end of the meeting that one or two of them will brief reporters on their decisions. It is a closed process. You don't know how governance is conducted on daily basis. MDAs are so detached from the public.

It is the same in the judiciary. You don't just go to courts if you have no business there. Only judiciary correspondents get to cover court sittings. It is also a closed shop.

But the legislature is always in the open and that is why we are heavily criticised.

40

• Zorro

'Why lawmakers will accept salary cut'

IGERIANS are incensed by what they call the bogus and unjustifiable high cost of running the National Assembly. What is your reaction to this?

First, let me say that this perception or agitation did not start with the 8th National Assembly. It's been there since the return of democracy in 1999.

But the present House leadership is concerned. The House of Representatives, as a result of the outcry of Nigerians, who have been taking critical exemption to the funding of the National Assembly, has decided to review the holistic funding of the activities of its members.

This review will also result in rightsizing and the funding of various aspects of our activities. We have already put a mechanism in motion to achieve that. It will also result in drastic cuts of our finances, including salaries, allowances and running costs.

What I can assure is that we are submitting to the will of the people as a responsive and responsible legislative institution. We can no longer ignore the popular observations and wishes of the people who elected us in the first place.

Even if the majors we consider will inconvenience us, we would rather do it and respect the views of Nigerians, once and for all. By the grace of God, the House of Representatives will be credited with addressing these issues of persistent agitations against our finances.

How do you intend to go about this?

The House under the speakership of Hon. Yakubu Dogara has adopted a legislative roadmap that will guide our conducts and activities. I can assure that in the two weeks that we have deliberated on it most members that made inputs into the debate agreed that we need to change.

You know the House of Representatives is a hub of diversified competencies. With 360, all sorts of professional bodies and practitioners are represented there. You find experiential capacities, skills and talents at play. We have a concentration of knowledge at our advantage.

So, we considered the agitation and empanelled an independent committee purely made of members of the civil society to blue print funding of activities of the

N

House. From purchase of newspapers to the conduct of public hearings and oversights, we expect the committee to evaluate how we do things.

They can, for examples, say such members read newspapers to be enlightened? If they say yes, they can then determine if the four papers we currently receive are enough or too much. They can scale the papers to two and say the treasury should expend not much than N600 per day on each member. If that is their suggestion, we'd accept.

Many Nigerians also say you don't do much; that you just sit for few hours in three days and earn so much. What really do you do?

You see, that is a misunderstanding of how the legislative arm works. Many think that all we do is to debate and return to our constituencies. That is not the case at all. What most people are aware we do is representation through motions in open plenary. That is what is televised every time and many think that is all we do.

We also do committee works where all the motions generated at open plenary are referred to the committees through the Standing Committee for implementation or further actions. That takes a lot of our time.

And this business is never in public purview.

Then there is the oversights function, which involves going round the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure they comply with the Appropriation Acts approved for them. We meet with the officials and authorities of the MDAs. We also consider the quality of works they are doing and general assessment of the appropriation of the acts.

National Assembly members are entitled to certain monies when they do this function.

So, we want members of the technical committee to determine how much we should be paid for hotel accommodation, mileages and whatever in the course of this assignment.

When we go abroad for engagements, how much should we be paid as Duty Travel Allowance (DTA) or hotel accommodation as obtained in all arms of government? When we conduct public hearings, you will have to buy beverages and snacks for participants.

How much should we spend? All our mandates should be determined by the committee in the region of running costs.

Nigerians hear of the National Assembly budget but the truth is the bulk of the money goes into running costs, not salaries and allowances. Nigerians should focus on the running costs because that is where most of our expenses go to. So, the activists in the committee are human rights crusaders and they will consider how we can bring down these costs.

The committee is our mechanism to address the controversies of funding and finances of the House. There are only two members outside the civil society organisations. One is the President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) because the media is the watchdog of democracy and the society.

There is also the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Fiscal and Allocation Committee (RMFAC). RMFAC is the constitutional body empowered to fix the salaries and allowances of public servants across the three arms of government.

The chairman is in the committee to throw light on how they fixed our allowances and salaries. If they are convinced, they will retain them. If not, they can say the nation is not in the mood for them and review them downwards or otherwise. Whatever they decide, we will abide by.

There is also a staff from the Speaker's office that will just facilitate things for the committee's members. If they need stationeries or meeting rooms, he or she just facilitates.

Otherwise, we will have nothing to do with the outcome of the committee's work. If they give us a template, we will accept it.

How long does the committee have to work?

It is open-ended. We have given them some months to work but they just have to be conscious of the sentiments of Nigerians to come up with something within the time tolerable.

We are eager to implement their recommendations. We are lucky in the sense that we don't need to raise a White Paper or subject it to another committee like the executives. We'd respect the report wholesale and voluntarily ask the bureaucracy of the House to implement it.

Will there be a similar exercise in the Senate?

I do not know because we are only in the House. As an arm of the legislature, we will do what we can because we are allowed to

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

POLITICS

41

Cross River APC should rise above pettiness T

HIS is an appeal to APC leaders in Cross River State to rise above pettiness as it is currently being exhibited by some members who are creating unnecessary obstacles and would want to impose non-existent conditions for the admission of new members or decampees from the PDP to APC. Article 9.1 of the APC Constitution is clear on membership eligibility.

It is disturbing that whilst in other states, the APC is like a church, launching out for new members, in Cross River State APC, the reverse is the case. In Cross River State, since the matter of new entrants being wooed into the party became public knowledge, some members, out of fear, have become paranoid.

Let it be placed on record that freedom of association of members into any organisation, including joining a political party of one choice is a fundamental human right only subject to the written conditionalities of the association's constitution. Thus, Article 9.1 of the APC Constitution has set out how one becomes a member; it does not set out a situation of preposterous apologies or the selfish view of waiting until food is eaten by those who set the food before others can be allowed to join in the eating.

Cross Riverians are aware that some big time politicians who worked hard for the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari without necessarily doing so under the platform of the APC platform, want to formalise their membership of the party, and therefore, meanness and pettiness should not be employed to attempt to deny them their legitimate rights to join an association of his/ her choice.

The puzzling issue is why would APC leaders from the Southern Senatorial District carry out the propaganda against the entry of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) when they are from the Central Senatorial District which Ndoma-Egba represented? When Ndoma-Egba in good faith led other Cross Riverians to congratulate the president for his victory in the last presidential election, these same set of leaders protested. For the avoidance of doubt, it is the desire of all progressive minded Cross Riverians that APC should grow so as to check the excesses of the ruling PDP. The leadership of the APC should key into the good works of the human rights and anti- corruption crusader, Chief Okoi Obla, a lawyer, who as an individual, has formed credible opposition against the activities of the PDP. While no one is saying that new joiners to the APC should not follow due process, the unnecessary anxieties created because Senator Ndoma-Egba and others are being wooed to join the state APC is uncalled for.

It is an illiterate and indeed pedestrian logic to call for an apology on account of the actions or in-actions of a party, its candidates or supporters during election and or electioneering campaigns. If that were so, then the political parties involved in the last general elections are guilty and need to tender apology to other Nigerians. But under which law can this be predicated? President Buhari said it before that he is a president for everybody and for no one.

It is sad that at every attempt to create a formidable opposition in Cross River State since the days of AC to ACN has been thwarted by internal squabbles arising from suspicion and fear of competition. Why would party leaders relocate to Abuja to position themselves for political appointment? Does President Buhari give anybody the impression that unless and until one relocates to Abuja, he would not be given a place in his government?

Buhari made it very clear from the onset that appointment of persons to positions would not be limited to APC members, otherwise the Director General of the SSS, the GMD of NNPC, Prof Sagay, appointed to head the anti-corruption committee, and others already given appointments to suit their standing in society were not necessarily members of the APC. This should be noted.

The state APC leadership is a victim of infighting inherited from the old AC transferred to the ACN and finally to the APC, otherwise why should a party scantily populated for now, show such sponsored apathy because big names are likely to be admitted into its fold?

By Utum Eteng If indeed it is true that former Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, former governors, Clement Ebri and Donald Duke, former Minister, High Chief Emmanuel Nsan, Chief Sam Bassey, former Cross River State SSG and Head of Service, Chief Wilfred Inah, former Chief of Staff to Duke, Jimy Aniyom, former Rivers State Governor, Gen Anthony Ukpo, Chief Orok Duke, Hon Paul Ada, Ambassador Ekpang, former Secretary of the National Economic Commission (NPC), Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo, Nela Andem Ewa Rabana (SAN), and a host of other big names are speculated to be wooed by the national party to join the state APC, then common sense requires that Cross River State APC should celebrate in advance.

For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) did not at anytime come to Cross River State to campaign for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Governor Imoke gave the impression that he could do it all alone with his stooges in the PDP. Senator Ndoma-Egba was not at Ikom or anywhere in Cross River State during the presidential election since he was under watch.

The leadership of the APC should be traumatised by the fact that in spite of the heavy finances the national party invested in the state in the last general elections, the APC did not win a single seat to show for it and if an opportunity is about to be created to expand its membership possibly in view of the coming local government election, it should go for it with all sense of truth, commitment and diligence.

It is expected that the APC National Vice Chairman South-South, Mr. Hiliard Eta, has a responsibility to coordinate strictly the activities of the APC in the six states of the zone as laid down in Article 14.1 of the APC Constitution; he should be above board by refusing to domesticate his office or meddling into the state party affairs not reported to him by the state Chairman.

It is important to remind Elder David Okon, said to be the state Caucus member, that he has no locus to talk about Senator Ndoma-Egba, who has never represented him in his senatorial district, and that his argument that without him, the Cross River State APC would not have been as preposterous and traumatising. As an elder of the church, he should learn to stand on the side of truth not exigency or convenience.

I remain positive that the State Chairman, Pastor Usani U. Usani, is anxious to have his party extend its tentacles to get new members and would not be contented with the present smallness or littleness of the APC in Cross River State. Those at the vanguard of refusing to allow others join the APC should be bold enough to show to the national leadership the number of votes they scored in their various polling units and electoral wards if they are to be taken serious, otherwise they should shut-up and allow the party to grow.

If all the leaders of APC states selfishly acted as it is done here in Cross River State, certainly, President Buhari would not have won the presidency. As an alternative therefore, Senator Ndoma-Egba (SAN) should be apologised to by the National Vice Chairman for leaving his job as a South- South Vice Chairman to interrupt in the affairs of the party in the state.

•Eteng, a lawyer and anti-corruption activist, writes from Calabar

• Egba

• Uko

'Ndigbo not against Buhari's probe' The Professor Ben Nwabueze-led Igbo Leaders of Thought has been accused of opposing President Muhammadu Buhari's planned probe of corrupt past top government officials. In this interview, Evangelist Elliot Uko, the Deputy Secretary of Igbo Leaders of Thought, denies the allegation, saying the group supports the probe and would want it extended to 1999. Sam Egburonu reports

I

GBO Leaders of Thought has been criticised for opposing Buhari's plan to probe corrupt public officials and looters of the treasury. Why are you against such initiative?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Igbo Leaders Thought is led by Prof. Ben Nwabueze, the man who warned Jonathan not to run in 2015. The man who was abused by Doyin Okukpe for telling President Jonathan in 2013 that Nigeria was drifting, the man who was denied honor due him during the centenary awards, for speaking truth to power.

Igbo Leaders of Thought will never condone, support or defend corrupt officials.

Igbo Leaders Thought confronted Jonathan on several occasions. In one of them, Senator Femi Okoroumu and Chief Edwin Clark called Professor Nwabueze Jonathan's enemy.

Jonathan's government tried to scuttle Nwabueze's event at Uyo. He continues to speak truth to power regardless of whoever becomes president. In his publication, he clearly stated that the PDP almost ruined Nigeria; he also averred that all who stole our common wealth must be prosecuted and the loot returned. What is happening is simple. Those who can't stand the punch and power of his argument, resort to deliberately twisting the Igbo Leaders of Thought's position and falsely give the impression that some people are against probe.

Nobody is against probe. We are all agreed that looters must be punished and the loot returned.

But reports have it that the Igbo Leaders of Thought wants the probe to begin from 1999?

Truth is most times inconvenient. We respect and appreciate the war against corruption. We said the thieves must return their loot and must be jailed. We also said it is best to clean your house in a holistic manner for the clean-up to make sense. If you spray air freshener in your sitting room and dust your settee because you are expecting a visitor, the stench from your dirty toilet will still pollute the atmosphere of your home. We said, wash your toilet, use disinfectant, sweep off the dead rat from your kitchen, sweep the heap of rubbish from under the bed, clean and mop your bathroom, then the clean up exercise will make sense. But it seems Nigerians are willing to dust just the sitting room. They say that washing the toilet and sweeping the kitchen and the rooms will be a "distraction". But, we have made our point though.

So, as an official of Igbo Leaders of Thought, how will you assess President Muhammadu Buhari?

To be fair to him, he seems to mean well, but it is safer to monitor him for a while before

making comments on his direction. As it is, his government is yet to take off. He is yet to form a government; he is still a sole administrator. He has challenges that are real.

We should continue to pray for him. Nobody benefits if he fails, therefore, we pray God to give him the wisdom to lead Nigeria on the path of success. I am wondering how he hopes to grow Nigeria and create jobs without restructuring the polity, without revering to true federalism. We wonder how this present 36 state structure under the 1999 Constitution will transform Nigeria. He seems to believe that once you defeat Boko Haram and jail some corrupt politicians then, the Nigeria of our dreams will suddenly emerge. You and I know that, that will only happen when we revert to true federalism. The present structure encourages corruption and nepotism.

Arewa Consultative Forum has said that the Biafran question was settled in 1970; so the group asked Igbo leaders to speak up and condemn MASSOB. What is your reaction to that?

The ACF is correct. We are all for one united Nigeria built on equity and justice.

We will continue to stand for one Nigeria.

The problem really is with the structure of the country. I am not sure those who created the states and local governments and delineated the federal constituencies based on land mass had equity and justice in mind.

The Biafran breeze is fallout of the frustration of the painful, unfair structure we are stuck in. We are doing our best, pleading with the young people, that secession is not the best option. But the refusal of certain sections to restructure Nigeria is directly fueling their frustrations. They feel they are imprisoned, they feel they are enslaved. They believe they have no future in this unitary structure deliberately designed by past military leaders. But we will continue to plead with them to believe in Nigeria.

Nigerians truly think the Igbo Leaders of Thought is sympathetic to PDP? No way. The PDP bred an army of hyenas that mismanaged Nigeria and rubbed us all blind. Some of them thought they were in paradise. They stole more than they would ever need. We don't support them. We just want the best for the country. You don't kill a snake by cutting off its tail. It will re-grow.

You kill a snake by cutting off the head. We insist probe would make sense if it dates from 1999. It's just that praise singing is not in our DNA. We are not against President Muhammad Buhari's probe. It's just that we are not praise singers.

42

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

POLITICS

Between Gbajabiamila and Tambuwal

M

AJORITY Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, has confirmed that all is not well between him and Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In a television interview, the lawmaker expressed disappointment over how Tambuwal expressed doubts on his competence to lead the House. Tambuwal had said he supported Yakubu Dogara for the job because of the latter’s leadership qualities. Gbajabiamila said he has not been on speaking terms with the former Speaker, hinting that his former political ally betrayed him because of politics.

Bayelsa 2016: Sylva set to join governorship race

F

ORMER Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva is set to join the 2016 governorship race in the state, it has been revealed. In the last few months, signals from the Sylva camp have been unclear on whether he would throw his hat into the ring or support a candidate. The former governor, according to sources, appears to have finally made up his mind to give the governorship race a second shot.

Acknowledged as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Sylva may slug it out with Mr. Timi Alaibe, former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the battle for the party's governorship ticket

• Ndoma-Egba

Joshua Dariye puts defection on hold

Why APC South-South leaders are afraid of Ndoma-Egba

T

HE fear of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba taking over the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South- South may not be unconnected with the lukewarm disposition of some leaders to the likely defection of the former Senate Leader to the party. Reports indicate that Ndoma-Egba has almost concluded plans to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC, a development which sources say, has unsettled the APC leadership in the oil-rich region. But the former Senate Leader is unperturbed about the opposition to his muchawaited defection. Lately, he has been engaged in highlevel discussions to finetune preparations for his eventual move to APC.

F

• Tambuwal

• Gbajabiamila

Abubakar may probe Yuguda

ORMER Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye, may have put his alleged plans to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on hold.

Shortly after the last elections, there were reports that the former governor who is now a Senator, had decided to join the APC alongside another PDP senator from the state, Gen. Jerry Useni. But the plan was shelved following entreaties from their supporters that more consultations should be carried out before a final decision is taken.

T

• Abubakar

• Yuguda

HE alleged seizure of dozens of government vehicles from the wives and aides of former Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda may be a prelude to the probe of his administration by Governor Mohammed Adbullahi Abubakar, sources have said. Shortly after his inauguration on May 29, Abubakar accused his predecessor of sundry things, ranging from misappropriation of funds to mismanagement of properties. It was gathered that the governor is under pressure from his close associates to probe Yuguda, who is said to be holidaying abroad.

• Dariye

• Egba

45

48

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

New WOMAN

IN VOGUE

By Kehinde Oluleye

Tel: 08023689894 (sms) E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

Panache with tops made with

LACE T

HESE days, many prefer to take to 'the less is more' trend to look good. The simple but glamorous effect can therefore be made by choosing an item that is irresistible but paired with something creative and dynamic.

One item that comes to mind is a blouse made with the lace fabric.

They radiate class in a unique way and obviously set you apart from the crowd. The lace as a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread can be very dynamic, no matter the event.

Originally, linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used for the lace fabric. Now lace is often made with cotton thread, although linen and silk threads are still available.

Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fibre. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread. A totally different scale is the architectural lace fences by Dutch designers.

PILLOWTALK Raising a voice for the Nigerian girl With Temilolu Okeowo temilolu@girlsclub.org.ng 07086620576 (sms only) Please visit my blog www.temiloluokeowo.wordpress.com for more inspiring articles. Twitter@temiloluokeowo

YETUNDE OLADEINDE molaralife@yahoo.com

55

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

ME AND MY BOOKS ‘I love historical fiction’ Richard Ali is a novelist, poet and lawyer. He has participated in writing workshops across Africa. In 2012, he cofounded Parresia Ltd, which publishes African novels and writers. He is a former Editor of Sardauna Magazine and Sentinel Nigeria Magazine. He is on the Executive Council of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and on the Board of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation. He is a member of the Jalada Writers Collective. He speaks with Olayinka Oyegbile on his favourite books and writers.

•Ali

W

HAT books are you currently reading?

Eat, Drink and Blame the Ancestors by South African satirist, Ndumiso Ngcobo. I’m also reading Roses for Betty, an anthology of stories from the 2015 Writivism mentorship programme. On my tablet, there is John Cabot Abbott’s Napoleon Bonaparte and I’m rereading The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.

Who is your favourite novelist of all time?

Difficult to choose just one. But it has got to be Michael Ondaatje. And then there’s J. M. Coetzee, but that would be cheating, wouldn’t it?

Whom do you consider the best writers — novelists, essayists, critics, journalists, poets — working today?

My bias is African, I’m for African arguments. So, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, he’s

doing something thoroughly exciting with fiction in Nigeria. Emmanuel Iduma, a literary stylist from Nigeria as well, great potential. Serubiri Moses is a critic of fine taste.

Journalist would be Mehdi Hassan—intelligent and intrepid.. Best poet is a very tricky category—I like all the poetry collections of Ahmed Maiwada, I love Amu Nnadi’s Through the window of a sandcastleparticularly and third would be Harriet Anena, a northern Ugandan poet who put together A Nation in Labour. There are two other poets, forgotten, and I don’t know why they are forgotten—Niran Okewole in my generation, and Esiaba Irobi in the previous generation. Best essayist is easy, Yemisi Ogbe, sans pareil.

What is your favourite Nigerian novel?

Helon Habila’s Measuring Time. Followed by Biyi Bandele’s Burma Boy. What genres do you enjoy reading? And

which do you avoid?

Prose. Fiction and nonfiction, I like well written biographies and novels that aspire to the literary. Novels that take themselves seriously and unashamedly so. Historical fiction, I love. Next to this would be poetry, but one is more careful—a bad poet can ruin ones mood in a way all his own, hard to recover from. Drama is rare foraging ground for me. Regardless of genre, what seduces me is language, how well certain writers are able to charge mere words with resonant beauty and meaning. I stay away from romance, I don’t seem to have a soppy gene.

What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?

Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Currently considered an American “conservative” institution, I’ve often thought it’s unusual to treasure it as a writer.

How well do you remember what you read? And the circumstances in which you’ve read a book? What do you remember most?

I tend to remember the better books exceptionally well. Never to the level of remembering paragraphs verbatim though. I remember enough to recommend these books, even a decade after reading it. I recommended Okri’s The Landscapes Within weeks back, nearly two decades after reading it.

If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?

Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran.

You’re hosting a literary dinner party.

Which three writers (living or dead) are invited?

Michael Ondaatje. Jhumpa Lahiri. Lola Shoneyin.

What books do you find yourself returning to again and again?

The English Patient, Ondaatje. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee. Cyprian Ekwensi’s novellas.

The short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. I find myself returning to Cotyledons, a collection of poems by Esiaba Irobi.

What do you plan to read next?

Nadifa Mohammed’s The Orchard of Lost Souls and Ahmadou Korouma’s Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote.

You are a lawyer, writer and publisher.

How do you divide your time? Do you still go to court?

One tries one’s best, the writing suffers a bit but then I always try to make up when I can. It’s a constant attempt to do corporate law and some real estate amd comsultancy.

Easier, time wise. Tough to balance all these adjectives and the adjectives of a life, for someone like me who is an avid lover of discovering new ones, it is always a tricky, jealous lot. Regarding the courtroom, not so much. I have just two cases in court now.

Most of what I do is corporate law, some real estate andconsultancy. Easier, time wise.

‘Why more children are taking to acting’

“W

ELL, to begin with, this programme has been an eyeopener to me and to most of us who have been involved in it. The satisfaction it gives me is that when the children come here initially, you’ll see some of them so shy because they have not been on stage.

But then, give them two weeks or so after they have been molded, you see them very agile and eager to go,” Igberaese began.

“Now they can begin to talk and mix freely. For me, this makes life easy for them.

That self-consciousness is no more there.

Apart from that, the education they get in the areas of creative writing, acting, music – those talents their parents were not aware they have, we discover them here during this process of molding them. Those who know what to do but do not know how to go about it, we also begin to nurture that. In the end, the children I see after one month of their being here are a different breed of who they were when they came in. This is part of the joy we derive from teaching them.”

Igberaese who studied Theatre Arts at the University of Jos, explained that the best way to keep the children busy during the long vacation is to allow them do some creative endeavours. “You see, they have been in school for this while. Then what again will

Josephine Igberaese is a director with the National Troupe of Nigeria.

In the past, she handled Creative Station, a drama series for children during the summer holiday. In this chat with Edozie Udeze, she talks about how the programme has helped to discover new talents and refocus creativity in others. you teach them now? And children do not necessarily learn in formal setting, because this year we are dealing with the theme, the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Last year, it was about the Nigerian nation and many of them learnt a lot. Now when they do not teach them History in schools anymore, the topic becomes handy for them to learn about Nigerian cultures and traditions and more,” she said.

To her also, learning and mixing up with one another gives the children plenty of joy.

“Yes, you have to tell the story over and over again and you can see them glitter and glimmer. This also makes their parents proud.

They now see what other options they have for the children – those who can sing; those who can dance or paint or even play the drums and perform. There are varieties of creative things each can show his or her preference for.”

In the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade story, Igberaese and her team are looking at the

movement of slaves from Africa across the Atlantic to the new world. It is a whole new experience for the children who indeed marvel at the fact that truly for over 300 years human beings were parcelled like cargoes across continents. “This movement also affected farming because the youths who were sold into slavery would have been useful in that regard. They took away all the able-bodied men to help develop Europe and America while Africa was left barren. And apart from that, what was the reason for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade? The children were quite curious to know the reason and you could really see that enthusiasm to get to know about their past.”

Before this lesson began, the children were mandated to go and check on the internet what the topic entails. “So by the time we began to work on the topic as their creative theme, they’d already known what it is all about. We then spent time talking about each person’s research. Each person stood up and told us

•Igberaese what he researched on. Each kid told us based on his age. The older ones were of course more matured about it and in the end, we had plenty of issues to dwell on. Most of them asked me, did it really happen? And I said yes and they were shocked.”

Having been better informed now, the next step was to take them on the creative exercises based on the chosen theme. But

•Continued on page 56

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY,

ARTS

I

T all began before we set out to Idoto…the exchange in verses. Responding to Amu-nnadi’s poem announcing his journey from Port Harcourt to Awka, the poet, NdukaOtiono had cheerily declared “See you in Awka this weekend, Chijioke as poetry becomes love, becomes war…” Well, Otiono was quite prophetic; it was love. It was war. But it was also memory. A memory of love.A memory of war. A memory of love and war… as poets became pilgrims and pilgrims became prophets; tracing the footsteps of the poet-protagonist in Heavensgate.

We had set out from the Okigbo compound after breaking his birthday cake and downing several cups of tasty palm wine. Mother Idoto had summoned all the children of Christopher Okigbo for a feast of return under the floral canopy of her grove. Poets from far and near had arrived Ojoto with voices tremulous with new songs. They had all assembled in answer to the call for The Return to Idoto …

Poetry’s most illustrious river!

We arrived a point where we would have no further need of our vehicles and disembarked. Someone had pointed at a verdant green forest as we sped by and remarked that it was known as theOilbean Forest. His remark ignited interest since oilbean occupies a great place in Okigbo’s poetry.We filed out like worshippers arriving in a temple. As we stood in what seemed like a single file,Okigbo’s lines in Fragments out of the Deluge came to me unbidden “And to the cross in the void came pilgrims; Came, floating with burnt-out tapers,”Okigbo had sung and I began to see everyone on the journey as a pilgrim of sorts. We had all come to immerse ourselves in the mythologies of Okigbo’s art which requires a complete self-surrender that might help our understanding of his poems by sharing in a piece of his lived experience.

The voice of OkigboMbem wafted into the mid-day air as we lined up in a single file. OkigboMbem who may well pass for a male version of Chielo, the priestess of Agbala in Achebe’s • Continued from page 55 again Igberaese allayed the belief that the programme is basically for rich men’s children. “No, it is not” she said, “Here, we have children from Orile, from Ajegunle, from Ijora Badia as well as from other local places around. Most of them were sponsored by kind-hearted Nigerians. They’ve been paid for to be part of this show. So it cuts across. Last year, I called them children without borders because you could see them all mixing together, whether you were from Ikoyi or Lekki or Mushin. Once they dropped their bags, they also dropped their social classes.”

While on stage, it was not possible to know who came from the rich or poor family. The children ranging between five to seventeen years old were in the mood to bubble, to thrill and to impress. In them, you see theatre, you perceive drama and feel the razzmatazz of all sorts. “There is no class distinction here and that is why I call them children without borders. It is only incidental that it is parents who are a bit affluent who

AUGUST 30, 2015

Remembering Christopher Okigbo

•Artists and guests going to the stream Idoto where Okigbo derived his inspiration from

By James Eze

Things Fall Apart, led the procession. His voice rose and fell eerily with the wind, imbuing the air with a gathering ritual.

His voice switched seamlessly from invocation to incantation and then supplication, spraying spells in dizzying torrents.

Then suddenly, a middle aged woman emerged with emblems of a religious worship.

A priestess of Idoto, she was colourfully dressed in the ceremonial clothing of her office.

A crown of beads graced her head. She had a flywhisk on one hand and a bowl of offerings on the other. Her appearance lent depth to the procession.We were soon joined by another priestess, similarly dressed and exuding the peculiar charms of a sorcerer. Their combined aura completed the ring of solemnity around the procession.

The procession observed brief stopovers at two sacred places before we continued our journey to the riverbank.

At one of the stops, ObiageliOkigbo fired up her laptop and played a recorded voice of her poet father recitingElegy for Alto, a poem in Path of Thunder, a set of poems prophesying the Biafran War that eventually claimed him. A cold chill descended on everyone as we listened to his voice lament; “the robbers descend on us to strip us of our

laughter, of our thunder.” A new sense of awakening draped the pilgrims on hearing the poet for the first time and getting a new intimation beyond the pages of his verse.

I quickly recalled that in an interview several years ago, the nonagenarian poet, Gabriel Okara had told me that Okigbo did not have a good reading voice. But I was too awestruck by the sudden reality of hearing Christopher Okigbo’s voice to tell whether Okara was right or wrong. In retrospect though, it did appear to me that the voice I had heard bore close resemblance to the voice of his son, Onyebuchi. The voice had the same effect on me as the sudden discovery that Christopher Okigbo has a son.

According to John Okigbo, Onyebuchi was conceived shortly before Christopher fell to federal bullets at Opi Junction during the Biafran War. He was re-united to the Okigbo family in 2004.

We lost our way once before we arrived the Otosi Grove. As the grove opened its floral depths to welcome us, it dawned on me just how close our long tortuous trek from the clearing where we had parked our vehicles, through two stops to the Otosi Grove seemed reminiscent of the experience of the poetprotagonist that Okigbo as-

sumed as he explained in the second paragraph of his introduction to Labyrinth. Okigbo had observed that in Heavensgate, “the celebrant, a personage like Orpheus, is about to begin a journey…the various sections of the poem, therefore, present this celebrant at various stations of his cross.”In a funny way, the brief stopovers andcollective recitation of the Poem, HeavensgateThe Passage by the six poets on the way can be compared to the observances of their Stations of the Cross to purify their art before the eventual arrival in the watery presence of Idoto. A fascinatingconversation between art and life!

The urgent sounds of Ekwewelcomed us to the Otosi Grove. We had a sense of stepping into an otherworldly hall as the lush green leaves of the surrounding bamboo formed a thick floral canopy above our heads. On the left side of the approach, a huge banner proclaimed our arrival to Idoto…Poetry’s Most Illustrious River. On the far side, a solitary woman sat in a corner roasting corn and Ube on a grill. There were a few benches made from the hollow stems of bamboo. Behind us, the flute sang in a twittering voice, weaving itself around the liquid thundering

of the drum. The stage was set for the first poetry festival in honour of Christopher Okigbo in his home town.Again, Okigbo’s lines came to me – Thundering drums and cannons/in palm grove/the spirit is in ascent.Less than three feet away, Idoto gurgled away in majestic splendour.

The show soon got underway. The six poets filed out and sat on the low bamboo bench beneath the big banner. They made a striking view, looking like worshippers who had finally arrived in the shrine of their new deity. But all of a sudden, the bench snapped under their weight and tipped everyone over. The Grove reverberated with laughter and screams as we rushed to help them back to their feet but that was not an easy task. Poets are not always athletic. They sit down too long to practice their craft.

So, they gather weight.

As was the case with Words over Bonfire held the previous night in the Okigbo compound, UcheUmez opened the show with a riveting performance and Amu-nnadi brought it to a close in thunder, lightning and rain. All the poets gave a good account of themselves, taking the audience through variegated experiences that added to the universe of stories told in verses.

New voices like

AmarachiAtama, MunaChuma-Udeh and EjioforUgwu and literature teacher and Orator, Dr.Mrs.NgoziChuma-Udeh all gave beautiful performances. The hair-raising displays of the Edge Crew also spiced up the show as a fitting interlude. But the atmosphere took a new shade of colour when amu-nnadi performed his widely acclaimed poem Shrine. The globules of words strung together with his genius set themselves loose and became cowries in his hands with which he supplicated the river goddess whose phosphorescence hung in the air like musk. The flutist accompanied him. The drum egged him on. The audience watched, enchanted.

The poets later walked to the banks of Idoto to stand before her watery presence and contemplate her legend. But not every poet made it to the waterfront as trees had fallen on the pathwayand sealed off access to the original clearing demarcated for the final recitation of Heavensgate by the riverside.

Undaunted, we persevered until we finally accessed the famous river through a flood swept path, coated in treacherous mud that felt slippery underfoot. As it turned out only four poets finally made it to River Idoto; Amu-nnadi, UcheUmez, ChumaNwokolo and IquoDianaAbasi Eke. They were ecstatic as they romped around in her cold waters on barefoot, washed their faces, drank from her shinny surface and took memorable photographs with their feet submerged in the river. The festival came to an end when the four poets raised their voices to read Dark Waters of the Beginning fromHeavensgate, their voices rising in the wind, the setting sun casting a fading yellow over the lush green leaves and the river-birds twittering in nearby trees. It made for a lovely symphony; a long symphony of extraordinary beauty strung together on memory.

Watch out for the next edition of The return to Idoto.

More children for drama National Troupe gets four new directors see the need to bring their children here. It is they who see the need for a vocational education which includes sports, art and all. And probably many of them will go to school abroad. And in applying, these are some of the things they ask them. So what we do is to help link up these children sooner or later.”

In all, it is not that the parents of the less privileged do not appreciate them. They only do not have the wherewithal to allow them to come for the programme. “This is why we keep looking for sponsorship for those who have the talents but do not have the money to come. You see also children of the rich who can afford to have their holidays abroad but their parents want to prepare them for tomorrow. There are no jobs anywhere, and they can learn now how to be big actors in the future. This is the opportunity we are offering them with this creative station. They watch most of their idols on TV or on CNN and now many of them want to be like them. This is why parents are encouraging their

children to be in Maltina Dance, in American Idol and so on. This is the time when creativity pays and most parents do not want to lag behind.”

From experience, Igberaese further explained, some of the graduates of the scheme are now prepared to record their own music. “It is so awesome to see kids of just yesterday so eager to do their own music. It is so amazing. The irony of it all is that once you’ve been here before, you get addicted to it. These children are like that; they want to act and be involved even when they have passed the age. They still come for the programme and function back stage. They mingle with the children, telling them one or two things as they make up.

The issue of acting or taking up theatre as a profession is already in them. Those who have done it before appreciate what they have learnt and that is why they try to come back every year not only to say hello but also to hobnob with the younger ones.”

F

OUR Deputy Directors in the National Troupe of Nigeria Mr. Elemi Hilary Omogor, Ayanwu Chidozie Michael, Bisi Ayodele and Adejoh Lawrence Wada have been promoted to Director effective January 2015. Their promotion followed an examination that was conducted and supervised by officials of the Human Resources Department of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation on August 10.

Elemi, formerly Deputy Director Technical and Production Services, is now Director of the same department. Anyanwu, who holds a BA and an MFA in Theatre Arts from the University of Calabar and an MS.c in Mass Communication and LL.B from the University of Lagos takes over as substantive Director of Music. Elemi holds a BA and MA in Theatre Arts of the University of Calabar.

He joined the National Troupe in 1983; Anyanwu joined in 1989.

Also, Ayodele who holds a B.sc in Sociology of the

•Ayodele

•Adejoh

University of Ilorin, is now Director in charge of Human Resource Management; Wada, who holds a B.sc in Economics from the University of Maiduguri and an MBA and MSc in Financial Economics from the Lagos State University was promoted to

Director in charge of Finance and Account. Ayodele joined the National Troupe in 1991; Adejoh joined in 1993.

The National Troupe of Nigeria is a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.

Igogo Festival kicks off

T

HE yearly Igogo festival will start next week according to a statement from the palace of the Olowo of Owo. According to the statement, the first Upeli Procession will hold on September 1, by Uloro chiefs;

the second Upeli procession will be on September 5 . It will be followed by other events which will last for one week.

The Igogo festival is over 600 years old. It is also called ‘Festival of love.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

Whither the $200million entertainment fund?

-- Page 53 ‘Lack of creative learning responsible for mass failure’

Page 58

Secret of MTN’s success by Dozie •Dozie

•Olaoluwa

Page 59

57

Page 60

•Nwachukwu

MultiChoice boosts capacity of installers

By Bukola Aroloye

I

L-R: Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, Kolade Oshinowo, Founder/CEO Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) Prof. Pat Utomi, his wife Ifeoma,and Mr Fred Agbeyegbe, during the colloquium for Onobrakpeya and Agbeyegbe to mark their 80th birthday by CVL in Lagos.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

CBN will curb internet fraud, says director

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will ensure that e-payment fraud is reduced, CBN Director, Banking and Payments System Department, ‘Dipo Fatokun, has said.

Speaking during the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Bi-Monthly Forum in Lagos he said the Payments System Vision 2020 launched in 2013, was meant to re-organise the National Payments Governance Structure and encourage more people to embrace e-payment.

Fatokun, would represented by the CBN Deputy Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Musa Jimoh, said the project identified agricul-

By Bukola Aroloye

ture, smart cities, health, transportation, hotels, entertainment, government flow, education and Consumer Bill Payment and direct debits as focus areas.

He explained that the absence of a unique identifier in the banking industry would have negative consequences on the growth of e-payments . He said there was need to resolve the challenge that prompted CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee to launch the Bank Verification Number (BVN) project. The project, he said, would help build confidence on the e-payment channels and enhance integrity of transactions.

“The BVN initiative is aimed at protecting bank

customers and further strengthening the Nigerian banking system by uniquely identifying all bank customers and acts as a stop-gap, prior to the full implementation of the National Identity Card system,” he said.

Also, the CBN has mandated all Banks, Switches and Processors to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS). It has conduct an oversight on compliance which showed that most banks had been certified.

The certification lasts for one year, adding that banks are currently at various levels of re-certification. He explained that PCIDSS is a global compliance standard for any entity that stores, transmits or processes card pay-

ment data.

CBN, Fatokun said, also directed banks to set up systems that will enable the automatic refund of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) dispense errors to customers. The regulator has also issued guidelines for card issuance and usage meant to provide minimum standards and requirements for the issuance and usage of payment cards in the country.

“Its implementation enables issuing banks, other financial institution, processors and cards schemes upgrade and maintain their card operations to ensure optimum security, efficiency, cost effectiveness and customer friendliness,” he said.

CAC, FIRS to partner on e-stamping of documents

T

HE Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is to partner with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to ensure the integration of e-stamping module into its company registration portal (CRP).

The aim is to create a seamless registration process and further reduce time and cost of registration of companies and other post incorporation processes in the country.

The Registrar-General Bello Mahmud gave this hint at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Abuja.

Justifying the need for this partnership, Mahmud said it was part of major reforms in the Commission’s operations to make it possible for customers to pay for stamp duties and stamp their company registration documents electronically on the CRP. Mahmud said customers could stamp their documents on the CRP after completing their forms without manually taking them to stamp duties office of FIRS. He explained that CRP when fully developed would serve as a one-stop compa-

ny’s registration software capable of handling the stamping of incorporation documents, some post incorporation filings and other matters without users stepping out of their homes or offices.

“The CRP has also eliminated the restrictions of time of the day and day of the week to transact business with the Commission,” he said, adding that customers can submit their registration applications at anytime including weekends and public holidays The Registrar-General said the CAC would adopt

in place measures to create log-in details for each company that is registered by it.

The log-in details, he said will ensure that only authorized persons have access to the company’s profile to enable the operators make changes in the portal. Such changes, Mahmud said, would include change of directors, appointment of secretaries, and increase in share capital.

The objective, he said is to prevent corporate hijack, and ensure that only the right people make changes to the company’s records.

N its quest to improve the quality of DStv installations, and offer superior after-sales services, MultiChoice, Nigeria’s leading video entertainment company has trained and accredited 500 installers. They will join the existing base of installers and will be responsible for new installations, as well as the provision of maintenance services to existing subscribers.

MultiChoice Nigeria has also introduced tricycles that have been stocked with high quality installation equipment. Upon completion of their training, the installers will be handed the tricycles to ease their travel logistics.

According to General Manager, Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. Martin Mabutho, the introduction of the tricyclescheme is MultiChoice’s way of stretching its economic empowerment drive by engaging Nigerian youth through a private sector entrepreneurial scheme. “We are helping to create a new pool of expertise through these MultiChoice trained satellite television installers and engineers which will consequently grow the nation’s economy,” Mabutho said.

Mabutho explained that the tricycles would be used by a selected team dubbed “Elite Installers”.

The first recipients of the pilot phase of the nationwide scheme are six installers but before the end of the year, more beneficiaries will be selected from major cities across the country. In addition, 125 installers in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt have undergone a refresher training course this month.

The six beneficiaries of the tricycles are Stanley Nwachukwu, Ameen Adesola, Micky Joe, Tope Adeogun, Ibrahim Akinsemohin and Chima Igwe.

Speaking on the criteria for selecting the beneficiaries of the tricycles, the General Manager Marketing said, MultiChoice selected the installers based on commitment, dedication and diligence.

“This initiative is aimed at providing the best service to our customers. We train and certify installers, and also ensure that they are equipped with high quality installation tools that will guarantee reduced hitches and minimise repeat installer visits to our customer’s homes. He remarked.”

Mr Mabutho also urged new and existing subscribers to make more use of the self-help options and convenient payment options such as Paga, Quick Teller and ATMs to resolve DStv issues and payment challenges quickly. Besides the tricycles, each accredited installer will also get a well-equipped tool kit to enable them provide quality installation to subscribers.

‘Poor maintenance bane of power sector’

L

ACK of maintenance is the cause of the crisis in the power sector, President, SkipperSeil Group Company Mr. Jitender Sachdeva, has said.

Speaking in Lagos at the just concluded seminar on “Nigeria and India: Leveraging on the economies”, insisted that maintenance and service remain a major challenge that must be addressed so as to curb waste in the sector.

According to him, Nigeria has enough equipment in the sector that can generate effective results if optimally used. He, lamented that most of these equipment were lying idle due to lack of maintenance, a situation which also compounds the problem in the sector.

The SkipperSeil boss, whose company has impacted on Nigeria’s power sector, said if all the non-performing assets were put back to the system to perform there will be, tremendous improvement in power supply.

“As every country is bringing their non-performing assets back to performance, this is the biggest contribution Skipper has given by investing in huge maintenance facility in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria. It is better to talk about maintaining our equipment and bring them back to operation instead of buying new ones. Besides, Skipper has a huge manufacturing facility within Nigeria and outside Nigeria,” he added.

He predicted a robust power supply 6,000 and 7,000mw in the next eight to nine months.

“The power sector is now fully ready to function effectively because NIPP has already installed about 5,000mw, there are many IPP’s from Shell, from Lafarge, from many other private sector industries who are ready and who have started given electricity into the grid, even Dangote have more than 200mw surplus capacity. So, all these things you see and the way our new IPP’s are thinking of coming, have resulted in the major increase in power generation which currently averages 4,500mw,” he said.

58

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

BUSINESS

•Jonathan

Where is the $200million entertainment fund? The immediate past Jonathan administration was said to have released the fund for the growth of the entertainment sector before its exit.

But many in the industry are claiming not to have benefited from the fund. Bukola Aroloye examines the issues

I

T was money meant to reshape the entertainment industry, especially the money spinning Nollywood. Former President Goodluck Jonathan promised the sector $200million and the money, it was gathered was released before he left office.

But today, players in the industry have not drawn from the money. Where is the money?

This is the question many are asking.

A Pandora’s box During the 30th anniversary of Silverbird Organisation on November 9, 2010, in Lagos, Jonathan said the fund would enable his administration pursue a policy that would assist and grow the entertainment sector to a global brand.

The funds were kept with the Bank of Industry (BoI) for disbursement to who ever comes up with viable business plans. Emeka Ossai, a renowned Nollywood actor, told reporters in 2014 that he got money from BoI, after he presented a workable business plan.

Bottom of Form Veteran actor, Larry Williams recently urged President Muhammadu Buhari to compel BoI to explain the whereabouts of the $200 million Entertainment Fund.

Like Williams, many players in the entertainment sector believe, that the money meant for them may have been misappropriated by those responsible for managing the funds.

In the past, they thought that it was all a ruse as nobody knew anyone that benefited from the fund.

A rebuttal Williams’ claim that BoI should be questioned for the funds did not go down well with the bank.

The bank denied receiving the $200 million entertainment fund, saying: “The attention of the bank has been drawn to a news report titled:”Probe Jonathan’s $200 million Nollywood Fund, Larry Williams tells Buhari,” wherein Mr. Williams alluded to the domiciliation of $200 million with the Bank of Industry Limited, for eventual disbursement to artists who are able to come up

•Orya

•BoI Managing Director, Rasheed Olaoluwa

•Williams

Whither the $200million entertainment fund?

with viable business plans.

“BoI would like to state for the records that it is not managing any $200 million Entertainment/Nollywood Fund and at no time did the bank receive any such fund from the government for the Entertainment/ Nollywood sector.

“This publication became necessary as some practitioners in the creative industry believe that BoI is in receipt of $200 million Entertainment/Nollywood Fund.

“Due to the commercial potential of the entertainment industry in Nigeria, the bank has been making investments in the industry from its own resources since 2011. It has provided financial and advisory support to the following sub-sectors of the industry: movie production, cinemas, amusement/theme parks production studios, etc. Recently, the Bank launched the NollyFund with a fund size of N1.0 billion to support movie production and distribution.

“Based on the foregoing, we hereby state unequivocally that the Bank of Industry Limited is not in custody of $200 million meant for the Entertainment/Nollywood sector”.

BoI confirmed that earlier in the year, it announced a special product tagged the BoI NollyFund, as part of its plan to support Nigeria’s creative industry. It said the fund would be available to movie producers for the production of films of international quality that would be screened on various platforms of movie distribution available both in Nigeria and internationally.

According to the bank, only commercially-viable scripts with good storylines would benefit from the scheme.

It said it has set up a NollyFund implementation advisory group made up of two cinema management experts, one national film distributor, two production and post-production experts, two film critics/reviewers, and two film producers to critically review all film scripts and associated budgets submitted to BoI by movie producers and make technical recommendations to BoI management for final credit appraisal and approval.

BoI said the fund is in line with it’s credit policy and has an initial programme limit of N1.0billion and a single obligor limit of N50million for individual loans.

The Bank of Industry has, in the recent past, financed the following creative-industry projects: Half of A Yellow Sun, Flower Girl, Digitization of Silverbird Cinemas, The Filmhouse, Viva Cinemas, Ozone Cinemas, G-media amongst others.

Accredited distributors by BoI for the initiative include G-Media, Filmone Distribution Company, Silverbird Distribution Company and Genesis Deluxe Distribution Company; while accredited studio operators are Fans Connect Online Nigeria Limited (Afrinolly), Kingsley Ogoro Productions Limited and 4Screams International Nigeria Limited.

Laudable as BoI’s support is, many stakeholders believe that the practitioners were being shortchanged.

NEXIM’s perspective Managing Director of Nigeria Export Import (NEXIM) Bank Roberts Orya said in line with its mandate, the bank is doing everything to better the lot of the creative industry and its practitioners.

Gregory Odutayo, Director of Royal Roots Productions, in this chat with Edozie Udeze, explains the nitty gritty of the disbursement of the intervention fund.

W

HAT is the essence of the $200m fund released to the entertainment industry by the Federal Government?

The fund is meant to support the entertainment industry. It is a fund meant for the artists. Well, it started from the point where a lot of artists could not have access to the funds provided by the Bank of Industry (BoI). At that point, a grant-like fund was instituted by the Federal Government for the artists. It was essentially with a group that was managing it. This was under the Federal Ministry of Finance and people were then asked to submit their projects. And with their own wisdom and understanding, they then call you for an interview to come and defend your project. You will be asked to defend how you will implement that project.

And based on that, the grant will be given to you. I’m not here to question the rationale behind it. But I think the government did it because of that gap that existed between the Bank of Industry and the banking sector as a whole. This is like a business to business relationship between the bank and whoever was operating it. Therefore what the Federal

Orya said funding the industry represents a significant commitment by the federal government to the creative segment of the economy.

According to Orya, the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment Industry Stimulation Loan Scheme is intended to address issues regarding the institution of credible structures attract investment in the development of content and infrastructure in the media and entertainment sector as well as improvement in production standards, distribution, marketing and exhibition standards.

NEXIM worked with the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) in a co-sponsoring arrangement at the 65th edition of Cannes International Film Festival, held in Cannes, France last year.

‘Entertain m Government has given to the entertainment industry is just like a grant for the film makers and other artists.

Essentially, what we were expected to do was to ensure that the project was done and the Federal Government was credited as being the facilitators of the grant. This sort of fund or grant is done all over the world and that was the reason for what we have.

All the applications people made were looked into. I’m also aware that a lot of people were given some certain amount of money to pursue their projects. Some of the projects are to do radio and television projects.

Who is supposed to disburse this money and how much was really released?

I really have no idea as to how much that was released. You know, in terms of who is in-charge or the group, it was a group working under the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. This was so because I know that the Minister of Tourism was also part of it. And it covers not just productions, but marketing, empowerment and then it also covers training. A lot of schools, practitioners were sent on training abroad based on that fund. That was the first set of grants. Then I know a lot of distributors also were given grants to pursue their own projects.

Producers were also given grants. However, I was not in the group of the people as they

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015 NEXIM team, as revealed by Orya, was at the festival to seek co-financing/co-production opportunities in support of the Nigerian motion picture industry. At a special session held on May 23rd 2012, in conjunction with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the NFC, the bank enjoined exhibitors to explore areas of synergies between producers and film makers. It was also an avenue to showcase the abundant opportunities in the Nigerian movie industry.

Last March 20 at the Pan-African University, Lagos, Oryo said the creative and entertainment industry is a key driver of global growth and can contribute to sustainable global economic recovery.

During the recession, he said, the creative economy continued to thrive as people continued to go to the cinemas and museums, listen to music, watch videos and TV shows and played video games.

“Specifically, the industry is now globally adjudged as the most prolific with consistent production of more than 2000 titles in the country’s three major languages rendered every year since 2008. This has placed Nollywood as the third in global revenue earnings, with receipts over the years reported to range between $300m and $800m in the recent past to the extent that the practitioners and businessmen from Hollywood and other global equivalents can no longer ignore the industry as is being reflected in several collaboration movie works,” he said.

Orya spoke on the topic That They May be One: Towards a Greater Synergy Between Nexim and the Creative Industry. An initiative of the School of Media and Communication (SMC) through its Mass Media and Writing Department, the NEXIM MD took the audience through the business of the bank and Nollywood.

Orya revealed Nollywood has very high prospects for growth and sustainable development based on a combination of advantages which include prevalence of high pool of creative talents, strong and growing domestic entertainment industry, established overseas market demand in Africa, UK, USA and the Pacific Islands coupled with huge Diaspora population, among others. Thus warranting government’s attention and recognition of the industry as a major contributor to employment and foreign exchange generation and justifying the $200m Entertainment Industry Fund and the N3billion grant recently announced.

The rebuttal notwithstanding, analysts in the sector are not persuaded that the funds meant for the development of the sector may have been used judiciously, thus stressing the need for a proper audit of the sector in the light of the raging controversy over the whereabouts of the $200m Entertainment Industry Fund and the N3billion.

BUSINESS

Secret of MTN’s success, by Dozie Dr. Pascal Dozie, founding chairman, MTN Nigeria, in this interview, reflects on the growth trajectory of one of the foremost telecos, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

J

OURNEY of MTN Nigeria Over the years, Nigeria has made efforts to improve its telecommunications industry.

That attempt became realistic during President Obasanjo’s administration when the government decided to invite mobile telecommunications operators into the country to bid for operating licenses because NITEL was no longer an option.

Then, MTN, a South African company decided to come to Nigeria to bid. During the bidding, the company sought for partnership with other businesses in Nigeria on a 40-60% basis in favour of the South Africans. Unfortunately, there were push backs apparently because mobile telephony was a new concept in Nigeria, not understood by many people. Also, most foreign investors whom we approached were not sure about the success of operating a telecommunication company in Nigeria.

Eventually, it turned out that the ratio of ownership between MTN South Africa and MTN Nigeria was about 21% for Nigeria Investors and about 79% for MTN International, South Africa. Our inability to find Nigerians willing to invest initially explains the ownership structure.

The statement that ‘success has many friends’ came true after few years of our operations. Some of my friends whom I invited earlier started making enquiries, blaming me for not pressurizing them to join in the business.

However, after much deliberation, the Nigerian and South African investors entered into a shareholders’ agreement and started the bidding. Luckily, we won. We all contributed in terms of equity and within a short period of time, our operations blossomed.

MTN Nigeria is the fruit of people with like minds. In taking our decisions, we agreed that we will spread ownership amongst Nigerians and will engage people, who had a molecule of virtues; who understood the principles of good governance and what it takes to be responsible.

MTN’s mission at inception Our mission was to be the best. We wanted to be a very serious company that could provide quality service in telecommunications to

•Dozie the country.

We are happy that we are closer to this mission. The population is growing and becoming more sophisticated, demanding to talk more. Aside Voice, the use of data through BBM, texting and chatting has helped to make people plan their lives better. It has impacted on all aspects of life.

Guiding vision of MTN Foundation Our vision is to participate in the lives of Nigerians in all aspects. As a company, we want to participate in the lives of people living in the communities where we operate. We want to at least help in the areas of education, health and economic empowerment. Every moment about the foundation is a proud one.

I wish we could do more, but we are doing our best presently.

Decision to establish a Foundation Every organization has a responsibility and it depends on you to either accept the responsibility or not. We wanted to be a good corporate citizen and that has been the hall mark of

in ment fund didn’t go round’

•Odutayo

were given the grant and, so I wouldn’t be able to say how much each person or group got. I do not know how much that was

disbursed or what quota that was involved.

But I know for sure that people got money while some people were trained abroad.

But whether the monies given out were up to the amount earmarked for those purposes, I cannot really say. We were not party to how much each person got. You can probably know how much you got. The money is not meant to be recovered; it is just a grant to help the sector and the practitioners.

The money is meant to give capacity to the industry. And like I said earlier, it is done all over the world. When you give out grants, it is not meant to be recouped. All I know is that there are different levels of grants. Some are being given out as loan, others for capacity building while some others for cultural grants.

So it depends on the terms of that grant as it is given out.

Do you think the grant has been helpful to the industry?

Oh, unfortunately, I can only speak for myself. Yes, I was a beneficiary, even though when we applied, some of the questions asked before the grants were given out were not satisfactory to us. Some of us were not happy with it because we believed that some of those questions were not relevant to the issues raised. I appreciate the amount that was given, yet it was less than 20 per cent of what I asked for. Yet in a way, it was a catalyst for a lot of productions that I made.

Unfortunately, and I say that with all sense of responsibility, there is no control process in the manner the grants are being given. I know a lot of people who have collected that

59

all our operations. Good corporate citizenship means that we identify ourselves with the aspirations of Nigerians.

To harmonise our goal and objectives, we thought about which sectors we can make meaningful impact. A study was carried out in 2003 on our Corporate Social Investment Initiative. From the results of the study, it was recommended that we focus on three areas of Health, Education and Economic empowerment. We decided to back the process up with sufficient resources both in terms of finances and capacity to execute. Thus, we decided that MTN donates 1% of its profit after tax to the Foundation’s activities to carry out CSI activities in Nigeria.

We selected capable people to run and govern the Foundation and form the board using the same principles of the MTN board in terms of quality and characteristics of the individuals. We looked for people with impeccable character; people whose values can be emulated; individuals who are not tempted, corrupt and have no skeletons in their cupboards; individuals that can positively contribute to the system.

Apart from the board members we also have patrons, eminent and experienced Nigerians and state men who watch and serve as the third eye of the MTNF Board. So, it has been well with the Foundation, we have achieved most of our objectives and we hope to maintain the tempo and be impactful to ensure sustainability.

We have endeavoured to touch many aspects of life; in education, we are promoting excellence in schools, promoting excellence in music and providing schools with computers to ensure our children are computer literate.

On economic empowerment, we are helping women set up businesses. In the health sector, we have funded the installation of machines that help in the early detection of cancer. With these interventions, we are fulfilling our responsibilities as a company to Nigerians; not only set up to make profits but to enhance and improve the lives of Nigerians.

To ensure we achieve our goals, we have decided that anywhere MTN exist, the MTN Foundation must be present; thus making the activities of the Foundation national. We did not want it concentrated in only few states. It might interest you to know that MTN contributes 4% of Nigeria’s GDP and that speaks volumes in terms of our activities.

In essence, I believe giving is an over flow of concern. It is beyond charity but about whatever you can do to alleviate other people’s burden.

Sustenance of MTN Foundation I believe the Foundation will subsist with the determination of the parent company to continue to contribute to the Foundation to improve the lives of the good people of Nigeria. The sustenance is also predicated on MTN Nigeria’s continuous improvement and success as a business, so it can continue to donate the required 1% of its profit after tax to the activities of the Foundation.

money who will not use it for the purpose for which it is meant. Some applied to use it to produce films but I’m not sure they will. This is so because there are no checks, no balances and no control. They should check to make sure that the money they give out are properly channeled. This is not happening and that is the stack reality on ground. But for those who have made use of it, I think it has empowered them. A lot of productions now happen because of that grant.

It is something that is worthwhile. For me, I have used mine with money I got elsewhere to produce a film that will be released in December this year. However, physically, from what we can see in the industry, it has achieved some purpose. All my development now as a producer has nothing to do with that grant. But I have channeled mine into film production. I got only N7 million and that is not enough to do a film. But that was what I was given.

However, my attitude to it is that if I am given one Naira for a purpose, I must utilise it for that purpose. I should be able to give account of that money on how I have used it.

If I knew it was not going to be enough, the moral thing to do was to return it. But the fact that I had taken it, I must use it for the purpose it was given to me. It was a drop in the ocean, less than 10 per cent of what we needed to do a film. When the film is released, we will give the Federal Government a copy to justify that grant. We wish that government will pump more money into the industry because soon, oil will dry up but our culture, our tradition, our heritage and so on, will never dry up.

60

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

BUSINESS

‘Lack of creative learning responsible for mass failure’ Mr. Isiani Anthony Nwachukwu is the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Schools Development & Support International Limited, a technology solutions company providing services to schools at all levels. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he speaks on challenges facing education and proffers solution. Excerpts:

T

HERE is nothing to cheer about the last WAEC results. As an education engineer, what do you think can be done to address this?

Failure in WAEC examinations is a national disgrace. This year has proven to us that our expectation has been cut short. I tell you from our primary and post primary levels of education, it has all been garbage in and garbage out. That’s why, new recruits in banks, or whatever sectors need to go for trainings to be able to fit into an organisation.

A lot has to do with the configuration of our educational system, which pays little or no regard to the development of the mind.

When you train brain, it can be destructive but the mind is the sit of conscience, it inspires creativity. Thankfully, the sixth sense coordinates the sit of creativity. Creativity if you like, is required in all spheres of life.

There is need to encourage creativity in our wards right from their formative years. It is the only way to address the issue of failure in our educational system.

It has also been argued that tutors and teachers hardly contribute to efficient teaching and learning these days due to absence of training and retraining. What is your take on that?

It is high time we focus on the type of teachers that teach Mathematics and English language. In most of the schools the teachers are not qualified to teach in kindergarten or nursery section but you see them teaching in the secondary section. What we need is qualified teachers and right teaching materials.

Improvement of teaching materials and method of implementation is a perfect or most suitable way of teaching in the right direction.

The school needs the right facilities in their classroom to teach with so that they can excel. Impacting knowledge to the student in an ideal way using the right teaching facilities and method require a combined effort of human and teaching aids in an engineering viewpoint.

The education system needs to be responsive and

adapt to the changing demands. Subsequently, as the education sector expands, there emerge needs for technology development which only the education engineering can offer this solution.

The first time a child comes to a school what he needs to know is how to identify letters and numbers. Anything you do from the nursery class to the university, all we are looking at is either letters or numbers.

But you have to identify it before writing it.

In the exam of today, especially in this part of the world, you have to put everything down in black and white. May be in the future, exam can go electronic, but today writing still takes preeminence over other means of assessment. Let’s take a hypothetical situation, as a scholar if your handwriting is not decent, your examiner cannot understand you, and in that process you lose a valuable friend as far as that exam is concerned. But when you have a decent handwriting, you get a friend as an examiner. Immediately he opens your paper he tries to get the point you are trying to make and scores you appropriately.

However, if your handwriting is not decent and the examiner cannot understand you, then it becomes a problem for him to assess you accordingly.

As a company, what we have done is to fill this yawning gap by making handwriting a culture that can be sustained rather than as a mere subject being taught in the lower classes. We have designed different kinds of boards to aid the student so that as he or she progresses, the culture of good handwriting can be sustained to a large extent.

I give you another example: If you look at the number of students taking mathematics during most examination these days, you discover that only a few of them take graph option, many of these students are all shying away. But the graph option ironically, is more practical than anything. But students are all running away because there is a failure in the facility provision. In most of these class-

•Nwachukwu

rooms, there is no efficiency in transferring this knowledge to the students because the teachers don’t have graph boards to better illustrate whatever points he wants to make. But in a case where the teacher has a graph board, the transmission of this knowledge becomes rather seamless.

What role can the organised private sector play towards addressing the malaise in the education subsector?

There is need for the private sector to make an immense contribution towards the education sector in Nigeria because the Federal Government has failed beyond expectation. Now lets take a look at the private sectors in other countries, like Ford Foundation, Bill Gate Foundation, they all support one worthy cause or the other. In Nigeria, we have not gotten there yet. Having said that, I can say without any fear of contradiction that in SDS, we have recorded some modest achievements, especially in the area of providing solutions to problems affecting the nation’s education sub-sector in the last 14 years. Today we have what we call the three major solutions, such as Development and Sustenance of Decent Hand writing (DHW), Establishment and Encouragement of Good Reading Habit (GRH), Expansion and supporting the Intelligent Quotient of the student (IQ).

Talking more on Decent Hand Writing, you will agree with me that 50 percent of the WAEC examination failure recorded so far this past years is as a result of poor or bad hand writing.

When an examiner finds it difficult to read and understand what the student has written on his/her answer script it becomes difficult to ascertain whether the answer is correct or wrong, with this the student stands a great chance of failing that subject already.

Besides, students no longer cultivate the habit of reading. Briefly, habits are

things we do regularly. After school hour students should endeavour to revise what they did in the school that day, draw up a personal reading schedule and paste it in a conspicuous place as a reminder, they can as well cut down the number of hours spent in front of the T. V. set, face book or internet chat. It is high time we devout our time to teaching them the right thing such as what would add value to their education and making their brain active. Students fail when they prefer a life of conven-

ience, convenience studying has never and will never produce great result. The road to a brighter future is not always easy and smooth, it requires sacrifices because there is bound to be hurdles. But hard work, effective study habits and focus will surely catapult one to a greater height.

For a company that has lasted over two decades, where do you see SDS in the next five years?

The future of the company is so bright. Our products are highly indigenous.

It belongs to Nigerians, by a Nigerian. But now, we’re looking at expanding outside the frontiers of Nigeria, specifically across the west African sub region. We have made inroads to Ghana, where they are already excited about our products.

But our capacity to deliver has been our bane. I’m also aware that in Nairobi, Kenya, Ugandan, there are opportunities for expansion there too. But we’re looking at west Africa first and foremost for a very strategic reason.

Across the West African sub-region, you find that we’re academically backward. So, we have brought out these solutions to address some the challenges in our educational system.

We’re looking at inefficiency within our environment.

What we want to offer is a holistic solutions to some of these identified problems.The people, the environment and the opportunities therein.

In the next five years, we hope that we would have penetrated the entire nation, where the At the risk of sounding immodest, I can tell you without any sense of contradiction that already our products are of international quality, they’re branded, and it has gained general acceptable locally.

61

WITH JILL OKEKE jillokeke@yahoo.com, 07069429757, 08158610847 THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

Getting good bargain for right school essentials A

BOUT two weeks from now, most primary and secondary schools will be resuming for business after the long holidays. This is the right time for parents and guardians who do not want to be caught up in the back- to- school rush to start shopping for school essentials like school shoes and bags.

However, with the various brands and designs in the market, how do you determine the best for your children?

A visit to the market and shops may even leave you more confused due to the various brands on display. We need to buy the right things and also get value for the money being spent. It is such a pity that many children wear shoes that are ill-fitting, not knowing the risk of deformity and injury attached to those shoes.

Regarding school bags, you need something with sturdy exterior, hand straps, spacious and separate compartments that will let your children keep their items and protect their books.

The bags should be made with durable materials to last for a long time though not a life time. Apart from durability of the material, it should be well stitched and designed stylishly.

Every child has a personality, so find a bag that suits your child’s personality and add a sense of fun to their outfit. So many bags now are designed with classic and modern themes to bring delight to children.

The bags feature their favourite cartoon characters, so before you set off for shopping, find out your child’s favourite cartoon character.

The colour of the bag also matters. Girls are primarily identified with pink while boy’s major colour is blue.

Make sure you to take into consideration the colour of the school uniform so that at the end, the overall look of the child is good and smart.

Carrying books to school can be a tedious task as heavy school bags weigh down the shoulders, sometimes making it difficult to walk. If the ground is tarred and well kept, you can consider buying beautifully designed school box with rollers with long hand pulling grips.

Lunch boxes/bags of course must be the insulated ones which can keep food hot or warn till when the kids are allowed to eat. When food is kept hot or warm, bacteria and other food spoiling agents will find it difficult to grow on the food.

Back to school shoes.

There are important things you must consider before

•School essentials

buying those shoes. The International Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists offers a checklist for choosing the right children’s shoes. *Choose shoes with laces, straps or velcro fastening which act like a seat belt in a car, holding the shoe onto the foot. Be wary of the current fashion for girl’s ballet style pomps which lack support to the inner border of the foot and provide no shock absorption. *Always have both feet measured for length and width. Shoes that are the wrong size can damage a growing foot. *A newly fitted shoe should be approximately a finger’s width longer than the longest toe to allow for growth and elongation of the foot when walking. *Avoid the use of plimsolls in school all day. *Heel height, should not be more than 4cm. Lower for younger children. The heel should have a broad base and be made from shock ab-

sorbing material. *Natural material uppers such as leathers are best.

Check inside the shoe for seams or stitching that may cause irritation. *The toe area of the shoe should be deep enough to allow the toes to move freely and not be squashed from the top or sides. *The shoe should fit exactly around the heel without being tight or loose. The inner border of the shoe at the heel and arch area should be firm and support the foot. *Always remember that there are slight differences in sizing by different footwear manufacturers.

After taking the above into considerations, the next thing is the price and where to get the best bargain. From the market survey we carried out, the major school shoes in the country, are mainly shoes from Europe, United States, Dubia and China.

From Europe and the US, you have brands like Smart

Fit, School Smart, Calvin Klein, Clarks, Goody 2 Shoes, Easy Strider, Chatter box, Cuddles and Kicks, BHS, Aerosoles, Tough Class, Dunnes, Cole Haan.

Also amongst the big brands in selected shops are Disney, Minnie Mouse, Mercury, Leather Velcro Strap, BOC, Berr, Laura Ashley, BTS, Sergio, Junior Zone Shoes, Clarks Framton BI, Distinct Trend, Pitter Patter etcetera.

Majority of these shoes are made from quality synthetic and leather materials.

The price ranges from N4,000 to N6,000 except for BHS, Clarks Framton BI, and Chatter box which sells between N7,000 and N9,500.

Junior Zone Shoes cost the highest. It sells for N13,500 at the Online market place Konga. Com. Though they do not come cheap, the beauty about them is that they endure tough handling and they are the kind of shoes that can be passed down to

younger ones.

Next in class are Dubai shoes. They are mostly sold in the open market and side shops. The quality is not high. They are hardly made from good leather material but they still come stylish, fashionable and good looking.

The popular brands amongst them are Back To School, Ostra, Weilong, Boys Maiqi, Langguda, George, Coolboy, Droly, Symphony, etcetera.

According to one of the retailers, Mrs. Basirat Oseni of Shop 34 Bread fruit Rd, Balogun Market, the most sought-after brands are Langguda and Symphony shoes. While Langguda sells for N3,000, Symphony brands cost N4,000 while the other brands cost between N2,000 to N2,500.

However, Mrs. Oseni, who is a big shoe dealer, said that shoes for younger children cost less than the older children’s shoes.

At various shops and malls at Gbajumo Street, Balogun, the story was the same. Majority of the shops displayed shoes imported from Dubai while selected shops have school shoes from Europe and US. Hassan Abubakar of No. 3 Gbajumo Street, proudly displaying his wares, disclosed that shoe sellers prefer shoes from Europe, US, and Dubai to shoes imported from China as there were so many poor imitation shoes from China.

“There is grade 1 China shoe which is of good quality but the other China grades are so inferior that people do not buy them,” noted Hassan.

Going further inside the market to Fred Mcwen Rd, Dosumu, Gorodum etcetera, one is confronted by an array of colourful school bags,

lunch boxes/bags and other school essentials.

Chatting with Mr. Obiora Onukwube of shop No. 4 Fred Mcwen shopping complex where school bags and lunch boxes are sold at whole sale price, he acknowledged to have ordered more stock in anticipation of school resuming next month.

About price changes, Mr. Onukwube said that due to the increased foreign exchange rate, that there has been a minimal price increase in the goods. “Lunch bags that were formerly sold for N700 now sell for N750 while school bags attracted extra N100.”

Most of the brands in the open market are from China and Dubai. Majority are copies of the original ones from Europe and the US bearing children’s cartoon characters.

Popular brands which are designed as backpacks are Hello Kitty, Dora, Thomas and Friends, Frozen, Sponge Bob, Barbie, Doc McStuffins, High School Girls, Spiderman, Ben10, Mickey Mouse, Tiger Strap, Disney, Princess, Yakpak, Hannah Montana, Marvel, Lalolopsy, amongst others.

Those ones imported from China and Dubai sell between N900 and N1,500 depending on the size of the bag. These bags can last longer than one school term, depending on handling.

The original brands which can be sourced from selected shops in the market, Online shops, and some other shops in town sell for between N3,500 and N6,000, depending on the foreign exchange rate.

Original brands of lunch bags sell for between N1,500 and N2000 while the copies go for between N600 and N900, depending on the size.

NAFDAC certifies bread in Rivers bromate-free

T

HE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has certified bread in Rivers State potassium bromate free following an on-the-spot test on bread baked in over 180 registered bakeries in the state.

NAFDAC’s Rivers State Coordinator, Mrs. Mercy Ndukwe, said that the state achieved 100 percent success in the annual bread-monitoring exercise due to effective regulation and enlightenment campaign embarked upon by the agency over the years on the harmful effect of using potassium bromate in bread-baking.

In his key note address at the flag off ceremony of the annual bread-monitoring exercise in Port Harcourt, the Director Gen-

eral, Dr, Paul Orhii, reiterated the determination of NAFDAC to enforce the ban on the use of potassium bromate in bakeries.

The NAFDAC boss who was represented by NAFDAC South-South Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Benson Kine, said that, “use of potassium bromate in flour milling and bread-baking was banned in Nigeria since 1993 and NAFDAC in her unflinching determination to enforce the ban has prescribed stiffer penalties, including prosecution of defaulters to serve as a deterrent. In addition, continuous collaboration, dialogue and consultation with the stakeholders, Association of Master Bakers, Flower Millers, etc, are strategies to enforce the ban.”

He urged bakers to participate in the bread-monitoring exercise which will be conducted annually and designed to include on the spot testing of bread and if required the improver used for baking, training of bakers and issuance of certificate of attendance to participating bakers and list of approved bread improvers to be made available to bakers.

“Bread consumption being widespread and unrivalled as a staple food cutting across cultural and religious barriers and is imperative that NAFDAC and master bakers ensure that the quality and safety of bread sold and distributed in Nigeria is produced under satisfactory GHP,” Orhii stated.

“The variation in composition of flour necessitated the

need for an improver and potassium bromate became attractive due to its low cost and ability to act as an efficient oxidising agent,” he stated. But its use was banned since 1992 and removed from bread improvers generally regarded as safe (GRAS) ingredients by the Food and Agricultural Organisation/World Health Organisation (FAO/ WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives worldwide.

He said that toxicology study on potassium bromate has shown that it degrades vitamin A2, B1, B2, E and niacin which are the main vitamin available in bread, in humans it can cause cough and sore throat when inhaled.

Other health hazards include; abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, kidney failure, hearing loss,

bronchial and ocular problems and its potential to cause cancer (carcinogenic), while chronic exposure may lead to kidney damage.

The state coordinator urged the bakery owners to build on the successes recorded by striving to maintain NAFDAC standard by upgrading to modern facilities and to stop the criminal and clandestine use of potassium bromate.

Chairman of Master Bakers Association of Nigeria (Rivers State Branch), Mr. Kolawole Adelegan, commended NAFDAC for the seminar, saying that every interaction with NAFDAC enriches their knowledge while pledging continuous compliance of its members on the ban of potassium bromate.

62

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015 OW would you describe the partnership between IITA and BATNF? It has been very complementary. First, at IITA, we are technical experts and we always interact with farmers. We always listen to their complaints about what they would love to do and what they would love to achieve. From our findings, one major thing they have always lacked is the resources to getting inputs that they require to implement the technical knowledge they have acquired from the different trainings we have given to them. This, for many years, has been affecting adoption. It is easily discernible, owing to the fact that people assess farmers based on their outlook.

Understanding that the main challenge confronting smallholder farmers is lack of resources to transform their farming operations, BATN Foundation stepped in to fill this gap by providing unique opportunity for these smallholder farmers to have access to the right inputs that cover everything, from land preparation, planting materials, technical resource persons to be on ground, herbicides and fertilizers. So, what is left is the actualisation of these findings, and results that we have got so far have been positive. It is no longer business as usual. It is remarkable that BATN Foundation has made it a grant, but it will turn out to be a revolving fund. The grant will always be there for this group of farmers to access as entrepreneurs. Also, there are some elements of sustainability which you cannot find in other relationships. But we have found it in this one.

As partners, IITA will ensure that every missing gap like marketing, forming of cooperatives, group dynamics, conflict resolution between crop farmers and livestock farmers and all those kinds of hiccups are all addressed. The goal here is to ascertain the viability of the model and how this can serve as a useful tool for many other prospective farmers.

For how long has this partnership on the distribution scheme been on?

The collaboration started in 2014 and this is the second cycle.

We just rounded off Cycle One and we are about moving to Cycle Two, where we believe that the cooperatives will be registered. And from the sales of some of their farm produce, they will pay back a certain percentage of this loan into their cooperative account. By so doing, it will be easy for them to manage the Cycle Two. Also, by the time they sell these farm produce in 2016, they will be able to save up more money for the sustenance of this initiative.

We have also been able to watch the group grow. We have been able to help them resolve conflicts, considering the challenges that money presents. By the time we are exiting in 2016/2017, we believe that they would have got a good purse, as well as links to all the partners, the input, the suppliers, the fertilizer companies and the herbicide companies. With this unique opportunity, it will be easy for them to source for their raw materials in the right places. Another good thing about this is that these farmers are also linked to where they will sell their (cassava)

H

‘Smallholder farmers require subsidy to remain in business’

Dr. Richard Okechukwu is Project Coordinator for International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) Cassava Project. At its launch at Otu Community Town Hall in Itesiwaju local government area of Oyo State, he spoke with Bukola Aroloye on the project and the need for sustained public-private sector initiative in driving the agricultural revolution. roots. And hopefully, if the other investors that we have invited to come to Otu, Igboho and Ogboro finally yield by building micro processing centres this year, then we believe that this 110 hectares will be like a child’s play compared to what we will achieve. There will be a gross expansion.

Are there lessons to be learnt from this partnership between BATNF and IITA? Yes, there are lessons to be learnt.

A very good example is that agriculture requires patience and sustained support. For any smallholder farmer to do any business there has to be some sort of subsidy. There has to be some sort of support to enable him move forward. In advanced countries, smallholder farmers receive subsidies regularly. Even when they produce and there is a glut, government will buy it. Farmers here in Nigeria, don’t have any coverage.

The lesson here is that of a foundation that is looking at agriculture and must be targeting this issue of sustainability so that when you give the fund, you should come back to see how they are faring and also see better ways you can support them, not that you should finish and go. It’s a very good lesson that is being learnt here.

What impact has this scheme had on the benefiting families in terms of improving their productivity in subsidiary farming?

As of the time we came in 2014, we found that many of these farmers didn’t really know what a hectare (of land) is. Many of them were mixing their crops, planting up to four types of crops on a piece of land, which is primarily subsistence farming.

Any farmer you see doing that is just looking for what to eat and how to survive. They were not thinking business. Right now,

there is a big shift. You will find out that their yields have gone up from those seven tons in a year to 20/21 tons.

But we want to push these yields to over 25 tons. Now that we are getting the market sector doing very well, they will not be at the mercy of monopolists; they won’t be at the mercy of middlemen. Now, they would have a stronger power to negotiate. By so doing, we can start addressing the issue of income, hoping that their income will increase, and their productivity and livelihoods will change.

In what areas do you think that government and the organised private sector can render more support?

Government’s responsibility is basically policies. They must sustain policies that are pro-agriculture that are capable of empowering indigenous production. You must sustain those kinds of things. You must provide the enabling environment.

Also, certain things like feeder

roads, tractor hiring services, some basic water management systems, empowerment of the youths and soft loans for farmers, are areas governments can come in to motivate farmers. It is very important that these things are put in place in very good strategic places. The private sector firms are willing to participate but there is no way they can pay for the cost of everything.

But once they find out that a good arrangement is in place, a lot of people from the private sector will love to come into that line of business because they need these raw materials for their production. Most of the starch we use in this country are imported. We can endeavour to produce starch from our cassava, maize, cocoyam and Irish potatoes for local consumption. We will not be importing any of these things anymore.

The high quality cassava flour has become so useful today especially in the production of bread. Wheat, on the other hand, is so expensive. The high quality cassava flour has to be sustained. The private sector, I’m sure, is willing to support its production. A lot of young people, including those in the Diaspora, want to come home with their money but they need an enabling environment.

How well does the Foundation’s initiatives resonate with the Institute’s and the farmers that have been helped so far?

Well, all our contracts with the BATN Foundation have moved very smoothly. They have provided all that we agreed ab initio. I think that the free hand and the belief in us as the lead technical partner make the difference here. And it is a relationship we will like to sustain.

In fact, IITA will like to work with them more in other areas such as yam, plantain, banana and maize cultivation, because these are all important

crops in Oyo State and so many other places.

Most companies in Nigeria often direct their corporate social investments towards providing social amenities, welfare support, etc. Are you satisfied with this kind of CSI in the area of agricultural support?

Sincerely, I will tell you that most companies will like to go to places where they will have quick visibility. They always like to go to where they will have immediate results.

Very few people like this long-term approach and agriculture is longterm business that requires patience.

For a company to tread this line, there is some sincerity in helping people to grow. This is one very good thing I love about working with the BATN Foundation.

Yes, the big ones are okay but agriculture needs something longer.

If you are going to intervene in agriculture, you have to be there for a longer time. You have to be there to balance things. Naturally, the environment is changing, the climate is changing and there are challenges to it. The rains are not coming when we want them to come and these are things that farmers cannot control.

Any investor who goes into agriculture has to plan bigger and has to be able to do this.

From IITA’s perspective, what is the future of this scheme?

The future is big. Now, Nigerians are realizing that agriculture is the way. The former minister of agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina harped on this. So IITA is fully on ground to support this process. And we will pool all our resources and technical knowledge together to make sure we support anybody who makes agriculture move forward; not only to produce food, but also to make money while producing the food.

We have to make sure that we look at the entire value chain, from the market to the production; and most especially the young ones, the youth: they are our focus. We need to get more and more people involved in this process. There is nothing we can’t produce in this country that there is no machine or expertise to do it. We must not continue to be the country that produces the raw materials for others to use.

Addressing this whole food value chain is very important for Nigeria and IITA in conjunction with our partners like Africa Rice that is focusing on rice, and others that are focusing on cassava including the national research institutes. I think that we will do more now that more and more investors are looking towards agriculture.

What are your challenges in managing the BATNF-IITA partnership while trying to help these farmers?

Well, in partnerships there are always challenges. Organisations do have their own. The main thing is building harmony with the federal ministry of agriculture, and the state ministries of agriculture. The people that need it belong to the grassroots. This harmonisation is very important. The goals and objectives of the donor organisation have to be properly streamlined by targeting certain key value chains. The main challenge is getting all things to jell together. This also means connecting all the partners, connecting the research, the extension and getting the government policy to be functional in the way it should work.

63

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

INTERVIEW

Y

OU have been away lately. What has been taking you out of

town?

It wasn’t as if I planned missionary works outside the country. It was initially in response to some health challenges I had then. From there, it is turning out to be missionary works and it’s been good in the sense that I have met people from different cultures.

I know have cross-cultural exposure on church works. I have realised that what we see here is different from what others see elsewhere. For me, ministry works is networking.

You might think you know something until you meet people who know it much more than you do. That has been my experience.

This is how it starts. Are you working on relocating?

No, I can’t and God forbid.

I can never live outside Nigeria.

What do you mean God forbid? Will it be such a bad idea?

I believe I am not called to live in the US. I could start a branch of the church there in the distant future. But I can’t live there. This is my country and I love it so much. Most of the times when I hear how people rubbish Nigeria, I hate it with a passion.

I am very proudly Nigeria.

I can never, in the name of Jesus, relocate to Nigeria.

You are sounding too emphatic but you know you never can tell. Can you?

I am telling you now that I can never relocate there. I don’t know about my children though. They might want to go and live there, but not me.

This is where God wants me to operate. But I will always travel there for ministry works and other reasons.

There is no man on earth that does not think of moving to the other side. The reason for moving to the other side is for insightfulness. Other than that, there is no big deal about there. You meet people there just as you do here.

How has it been ministering there considering that many have pointed out preachers tend to compromise once they start preaching

I’ve been tempted to dump ministry several times’ you see the truth being preached, people stay away.

Two, the lifestyles of many of our preachers are discouraging people. Many of us are ostentatious and that discourage people.

Three, I believe churches are becoming boring for many people. Four, many preachers don’t live what they preach. That will certainly discourage people. So, when you put all these together, it becomes very tough for genuine churches to grow effortlessly.

I have gone to church growth schools; I have applied the principles but I just realised that people don’t love the truth. Whoever wants to preach the truth hardly attract much people.

Has that been frustrating to you?

It has been my brother.

Everybody wants to grow.

I hear some people saying they never for once considered quitting ministry. That is absolutely untrue. I have thought of leaving ministry several times.

I was comfortable before I came into ministry works. My experience is that people just leave you after God has used you for them. They just walk away without telling you why they are leaving.

It can be very hard but the truth is I’m not in a hurry to grow the church. I just want to move at God’s pace. Yes, you could say I should have grown more than this. But growth is not in my hands. It’s not in any man’s hands. Except the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain

that builds it.

It is God that brings increase. I have been tempted to walk away from this work but anytime I think of doing that, God will just do one thing to encourage me and I will say thank you Jesus and move on.

Challenges are part of ministry. Life will be boring without them. So, we all have our challenges.

You mean men of God? Of course we do have challenges because we are still human beings. Anybody alive is challenged in one thing or the other. Don’t believe the lies that men of God don’t have challenges.

Some men of God don’t have children. They live in massive houses, travel whenever they want but they have issues. Some have children but cannot take care of them. So, these things are in different shades and no one is really insulated from them. Men of God have their own fair share of challenges.

Many men of God have health issues. I know a particular gym where many pastors go to. 90 percent of them have different levels of strokes. You only see a few pastors doing well but I can confirm that most pastors are suffering.

We carry the burden and problems of the church on our heads. We think through the problems of members and forget our health in the process. Many pastors are stressed because of high expectations. So, we have our problems that the pulpits just cover up.

So, are you here to stay in the ministry?

Yes, I am because I love God passionately. I was in the IT business and how many people knew me? I had money but I was not affecting lives. So, I am happy with what God is doing through me and here to stay.

I don’t have an alternative job to do. I had been prophesying as early as 1974.

I am here to stay regardless of the challenges. What gives me joy is when I see people turned around. I get discouraged but I’m encouraged. I have passion and burden for people. It’s all good because it’s been an exciting journey.

and encourages people to grow in the Lord and in the kingdom.

People are encouraged to move up and on in the Lord. They grow to true disciples of the Lord and ministers of the gospel. Every member a minister works in healthy churches.

•Ministry opportunities: People are allowed to discover, develop and deploy their spiritual gifts and ministries for the kingdom. People are being trained and empowered to reach out for kingdom expansion. Healthy churches expand God’s kingdom into hearts and territories of the world.

•Supernatural demonstration: The presence and power

of the Holy Spirit is in full display and miracles of God are daily occurrence. The pre-eminent presence, guidance and leadership and leadership of the Holy Spirit are evident in healthy churches because without Him, nothing else works.

•Life- changing pulpit: A healthy church has a life-transforming pulpit. The undiluted word of God is being declared in the power of the Holy Spirit and people are obeying in their daily lives.

•Akin-John (08023000714; akingrow@yahoo.com; www.churchgrowthafrica.org; allroundgrowth.com) is President International Church Growth Ministries

General Overseer of House Favour Church Egbeda Lagos, Rev. Bayode Olubo, speaks with Sunday Oguntola in his ministerial endeavours and challenges. Excerpts: abroad?

For mature Christians, I don’t think that should be a challenge. I have been very exposed in the earliest years of my life. I was very exposed before I came into the ministry. So, I don’t see what I can come over there that will make me compromise my faith. I love Jesus with a passion and will never trade him for anything.

But your constant absence must be affecting the church back home?

It is not at all. We have very reliable people at home. You know if your wife knows what you know, there won’t be a problem. If you train your wife for 80 percent, you wife will pick you up from 80 percent.

In fact, when I came back, my members said they enjoyed my wife while I was away. I am even trying of looking somewhere else and leave this place for her to pastor (laughs).

In truth, they had more attendance while I was away. So, maybe I am on my way out of the headquarters.

What are the differences you have come across in what they do there and what we practise here?

I don’t see any major difference my brother. I’d just say people are just people everywhere. Yes, there could be some slight cultural variations but things are pretty the same.

Over there, no matter how well you do or the gravity of the miracles during your ministration, what they have purposed to give is what they will do.

If you like wake the dead and heal the sick, they won’t change anything. There are

just as organised and structured. I was in a church in Texas, predominately white. It’s 99 years and the pastor has been there for 38 years. Yet, there are less than 100 members. I was there for ministration.

So, I don’t see much dif-

ference other than they will do only what they are convinced to do. Once you pastor people, they are with you as long as you don’t compromise your faith.

Why is church growth becoming tougher these days?

For me, I believe that it is because people don’t love the truth. Anywhere

•Olubo

CHURCH CLINIC

T

HE healthy church is not a perfect church but a biblical one. It is being free from the sicknesses and diseases that ravage other churches.

It is being a thriving, spiritually, lively, living, vital, transforming, growing and vibrant church. To be healthy as a church is to be biblical, Christlike in all areas, possessing godly and matured leadership, continually evangelistic and being free from internal squabbles and carnalities.

In a healthy church, 80 per cent of the members are saved, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and spiritually active for the Lord. Only 10 per-

By Dr Francis Bola Akin-John

cent are inactive and another 10 percent unsaved.

What are the marked signs of a healthy church?

•Healthy Pastor: The spiritual health and leadership of the Pastor is very crucial and fundamental to the health of the church. If the pastor is not healthy, the church can never be healthy. If the leadership is sick, the church will be diseased.

•Vision-driven: A healthy church has discovered and is relentlessly pursuing God’s vision for her, side stepping all distractions. She is vision driven and pursues God’s vi-

The healthy church sion in her locality and globally.

•Powerful prayers: A healthy church prays and spends time in communion with the Lord. She derives her power in prayers and workings of the Holy Spirit. Genuine, heartfelt and intensive prayers are the hallmark of healthy churches.

•Loving atmosphere: A healthy church demonstrates love to God, to her leaders, one another and to her community intangible ways. Loving relationships are the hallmark of

healthy churches.

•Outreach minded: A healthy church continually seeks the lost, welcomes them and integrate them into responsible church membership.

Evangelistic fire is burning high, always.

•Ibrant small groups: A healthy church allows small groups to thrive so that people will be nurtured and equipped for the Lord. Dynamic small groups are the life-wire of healthy churches.

•Growing people: A healthy church creates rooms

64

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

WORSHIP

COLUMN

C&S Unification Church backs anti-corruption war

T

HE Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church has backed the anti-corruption thrust of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

It said Buhari’s commitment to recovering all looted resources will return the nation back to glorious path.

The church also appealed to the federal government to recover stolen funds using available democratic means.

The chairman of National Executive Council, C&S Unification Church, Special Apostle, (Dr) Olusesi Sowande, told reporters in Lagos that Buhari must not relent until every

By Tosin Adesile

kobo stolen from the treasuries is recovered.

He spoke ahead of the 90th anniversary of the church with the theme rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.

Sowande said: “Corrupt elements are the root causes of all afflictions bedeviling our county, blocking the resources of the country from flowing freely against the citizenry.

They must be tried but following democratic principles.”

He pointed out that the church’s key processes have undergone major reengineering to cope with

modern realities.

Sowande also stated that works were being speed up on the Proposed Moses Orimolade University at Omu-Aran in Kwara State.

On efforts at unifying the church, he said: “At a nearest time, other C&S will drop their certificates and understand the need for oneness so that the church can forge ahead.”

He vowed that the church will continue “preaching righteousness and salvation while others are busy preaching prosperity. We will continue to adhere strictly to biblical principles.”

•L-R: Pastor Adamolekun Adebayo; Sagbele of Orin Odo Ikole-Ekiti, Chief Femi Adamolekun; the Archdeacon-elect, Venerable Ademolekun Olusegun and Mrs. Ogunjobi Oriola during the elevation of ministers at The African Church Cathedral Bethel, Lagos.

Catholic parish celebrates priest

F

OR his dedicated service and commitment to the development of Saint Michael, Raphael and Gabriel Catholic (Archangels Church) Satellite Town, Lagos, members have praised the priest, Rev. Fr Vincent Ezezue.

They described him as God-sent and a great mobiliser.

The members said the

parish has witnessed manifold transformation and development since Ezezue took over the parish.

They spoke at the 6th anniversary of the cleric’s ordination recently.

A parish member, Ugochukwu Umotto, said: “He is a kind hearted parish priest that places the wellbeing of the lay faithful above all considerations.

• Ezezue

“The dynamic, industrious and indefatigable parish priest advises lay faithful to be in love with one another, forgive one another, work with another for the development of the church and humanity as God is the only one that blesses and rewards.”

The parish was ordained on 11th July, 2009 by Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie.

Night of recovery in Lagos

D

OERS of the World Evangelical Church will today begin a seven night prayer session tagged night of recovery.

The session with the theme abundant recovery is slated for the church’s headquarters along 89, Kajola road, Ndike Obawole, Ifako Ijaye, Lagos State.

It holds from 11pm-4am daily.

The host, Rev. Samuel Olatunji, assured that participants will witness abundant recovery during the session.

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

Walking in the realm of the miraculous!

E

VERY child of God is naturally redeemed to operate in the supernatural realm. For, it is written:Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion(Isaiah 8:18; see also Roman 8:19).

We also understand from scriptures that the realm of the supernatural is the realm of the miraculous (John 3:8). However, if we don’t know what we have, we cannot manifest in it.

Therefore, by a way of introduction, let’s understand what a miracle is.

WHAT IS A MIRACLE? They are the display of the supernatural acts of God in response to the needs of mankind. They are acts of divine interventions in response to the issues of concern in our lives. However, we must understand that miracles are no accidents; they are the deliberate acts of God, provoked by the desperate faith of men. For instance, in the story of the woman with issue of blood, the Bible says: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.

And the woman was made whole from that hour(Matthew 9:21-22).

This helps us to understand thatwe don’t wait for our miracles to happen; we are to engage the weapon of faith to compel the miraculous in our situation.

In addition, we must know that there are situations that our ordinary faith may not deliver; it will take our desperate faith to de-

liver the miracle we desired. For instance, blind Bartimaeus knew that Jesus could heal him, so he cried desperately for mercy and was made whole (Mark 10:4652). Therefore, whenever our faith seems not to deliver our desired result, let’s engage our desperate faith and watch God take over the situation.

WHY DON’T WE WAIT FOR MIRACLES? It is important to know that we serve a “now” God, not a “later” God. The Bible says: I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Remember the Bible also says that if your neighbour asks for your help and it is in your power to do so today, don’t tell him to come tomorrow. In like manner, God has the power to give to us our desired miracle today; therefore, we don’t need to come another time (Proverbs 3:27-28).

WHAT ARE THE ESSENCE OF MIRACLES? •To Destroy the Works of the devil: The Bible speaking of Jesus said: He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

•To Reveal the Glory of God on our Lives: Miracles are packaged to reveal the glory of God over every situation and circumstance of our lives (John 11:40).

•Miracles are Packaged to Draw Souls to the Kingdom: Every miracle is ordained to attract someone to the Kingdom of God (Zechariah 8:20-23).

However, we must understand that only those who believe in miracles experience them. This is because we are only empowered to become what we believe. Hence, those who de-

spise miracles never experience them (John 1:12; 2 Kings 7:1:2).

Again, we must understand that it is not enough to believe in the miraculous; we must think the miraculous. This is because our mentality of the supernatural/miraculous is what empowers us to flow in same. Remember, divinity dwells in our humanity and that is what empowers our manifestation of the supernatural. That is why the Bible says: I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High (Psalm 82:6).

When we become conscious of the supernatural; we begin to operate in that realm.

Paul said, I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). No wonder, he was the greatest Apostle that ever lived.

Our lives are reflections of our thoughts. As such, no man can possess the mentality of the natural and flow in the supernatural. Similarly, no one thinks like a vulture and commands the dignity of an eagle (Matthew 7: 16, 20).

Friend, let’s see ourselves as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. Remember, we are citizens of heaven and ambassadors on earth, ordained to manifest the supernatural in every aspect of our lives. You can also operate in this realm, but you must first accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord? If you haven’t, you can do so by saying this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today.

I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!”

For further reading, please get my books: Releasing The Supernatural, Walking In The Miraculous, Commanding The Supernatural.

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

NEWS

Jail looters, inter-faith group urges Buhari

T

HE Christian and Muslims Peace Advocacy and Enlightenment Initiative (CMPAEI) has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to try and jail those found to have looted the treasury.

It said the President must not shy away from doing what is right, regardless of whose ox is gored.

The inter-faith group said the current administration should also beam its searchlight on religious leaders and prosecute those found to have enriched themselves.

Its national president, Prophet Maurice Iwu Ogbu, said Buhari must sustain the ongoing anti-corruption war and not allow any in-

By Sunday Oguntola

terference or pressure to slow it down.

Ogbu said: “Treasury looters should go to jail, including religious leaders who are robbing their members.

“The current administration is doing a good job in its anti-corruption drive and must not allow any pressure from whatsoever quarters to derail it.”

He argued that until people start going to jail for corrupt practices, the anti-graft war will remain a mirage.

“If we do not punish those who have stolen or cheated in one way or the other, how are we going to minimise or eradicate evil in the society?

“We must start prosecuting people to serve as a deterrent.

• Ogbu

Until then, the anti-corruption war remains just another gimmick without any tangible result.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015 CHANGE OF NAME CHANGE OF NAME OSUH Formerly addressed as Roselyne Onyechigoziri Osuh, now wish to be addressed as Roselyne Onyechigoziri Emerokwam.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ONWUSOWULU Formerly addressed as Onwusowulu Chika Evan, now wish to be addressed as Udeozor Chika Evan. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OKO-OBERE Formerly addressed as Mr. Okechukwu Oko-Obere, now wish to be addressed as Mr. Okechukwu Ikeagu. Former documents remain valid. First Bank ,UBA, Access Banks and general public take note.

NWANKWO Formerly addressed as Miss Chioma Maureen Nwankwo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Chioma Maureen Nwaiga. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OHUCHE Formerly addressed as Ohuche Ogbonneya Ihuoma, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Eleazu, Ogbonneya Ihuoma. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ONIKOYI Formerly addressed as Olabode Onikoyi, now wish to be addressed as Adebowale Olabode Onikoyi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OGUNSANU Formerly addressed as Ogunsanu, David Oluwafemi, now wish to be addressed as Adedayo Davids Oluwafemi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

RAMATU Formerly addressed as Miss Ramatu, Yakubu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ramatu Usman.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

THOMAS Formerly addressed as Seiyefa Thomas, now wish to be addressed as Seiyefa Thomas Ologun. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FAYEHU N Formerly addressed as Ms Fayehun Bankeye Christianah, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ewegbemi Bankeye Christianah.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ELEREIJE Formerly addressed as Miss Juliana Olufunke Elereije, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Juliana Olufunke Gbadebo.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

NEEDOM Formerly addressed as Miss Needom Barinyima, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Zaabel Felix Barinyima. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

UMEZURUIKE Formerly addressed as Miss Umezuruike Esther Nnenna, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Uloh, Esther Nnenna. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I Mary Bassey Ebong and Mary Emmanuel Udoh is the same person as Mary Bassey Ebong. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OPAWANDE Formerly addressed as Opawande Opeyemi Sandral, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adebayo, Opeyemi Sandral. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

RAJI Formerly addressed as Miss Aishat Adedolapo Raji, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Aishat Adedolapo Obanla. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ILERIOLUWASE Formerly addressed as Miss Oluwayemisi Maria Ilerioluwase, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oluwayemisi Maria Ojulari.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OGUNSOLA Formerly addressed as Mrs. Ogunsola, Atinuke Comfort, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ogunsola, Atinuke Omowumi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OBIOHA Formerly addressed as Miss Ethel Chizurum Obioha, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ethel Chizurum Ikwechegh. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ORIAKU Formerly addressed as MISS ORIAKU, JOVITA, now wish to be addressed as MRS. OGBODO, JOVITA CHIAGOZE. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ODUESO Formerly addressed as Miss Idowu Helen Odueso, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Idowu Helen Lawal. Former documents remain valid. First Bank of Nigeria Plc. and general public take note.

OGUNLARU Formerly addressed as Miss Ogunlaru, Adetutu Oluyemisi, now wish to be addressed as Adeniran, Adetutu Oluyemisi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OMOKORO Formerly addressed as Miss Lesley Eloho Omokoro, now wish to be addressed as Lesley Eloho Ozue. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AJILEYE Formerly addressed as Miss Ajileye, Emmanuella Fehintola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oyewole, Emmanuella Madinat Ajileye. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AROHUNFARA Formerly addressed as Arohunfara Taibat Bolanle, now wish to be addressed as Oyatolu, Taibat Abeke. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AROHUNFARA Formerly addressed as Arohunfara Taibat Bolanle, now wish to be addressed as Oyatolu, Taibat Abeke. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that the names ODODO AGHUDUMENAAN, ODUH VICTOR NATHANIEL and ODUH VICTOR AGHUDUMENAAN refers to the same person. Former documents bearing the above names remain valid. F.C.E.T. Omoku, Rivers State University of Sci. and Tech., Min. of Education and general public please take note.

KORNA Formerly Miss Shagbakwase Cindirella Korna, now wish to be known and called MRS. Shagbakwase, Cindirella Fanen Terdoo.All documents remained valid General public please take note.

MOSES Formerly Miss Moses Idowu Racheal, now wish to be known and called Mrs. Adewumi Idowu Racheal.All documents remained valid General public please take note.

ODUKOYA Formerly addressed as Miss ODUKOYA, TEMITOPE OLUWASEUN, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. UGO TEMITOPE OLUWASEUN. Former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

AFE Formerly addressed as MISS AFE OMOLADE IBUKUN, now wish to be addressed as MRS. SHORUNKE OMOLADE IBUKUN. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ALBERT Formerly addressed as ALABURAH AHMADU ALBERT, now wish to be addressed as ALLBRIGHT ALLBRIGHT KARLGERMAZ. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

JACOB Formerly addressed as JACOB PATIENCE .I, now wish to be addressed as JACOB PATIENCE ANITA. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ONONWUKA Formerly addressed as MRS. JOY ANYA ONONWUKA, now wish to be addressed as MISS JOY ANYA ABOH. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

ABUBAKAR Formerly addressed as BOBBOI HUSSAINA ABUBAKAR, now wish to be addressed as BOBBOI MOHAMMED HUSSAINA ABUBAKAR. Former documents remain valid. Bayero University, Kano, Nation Commission for Colleges of Education Abuja and general public should please take note.

AUDU Formerly addressed as MISS CHRISTIANA ELEOJO AUDU now wish to be addressed as MRS. CHRISTIE ELEOJO AWUNOR. Former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

SAIFULLAHI Formerly addressed as SAIFULLAHI MALLAM MUJITABA, now wish to be addressed as SAIFULLAHI MUSTAPHA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Arowolo I. O. , Ismaila Ganiyu Arowolo is the same person as Arowolo Ismail Olasunkanmi Ganiyu. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AZEEZ Formerly addressed as Miss Azeez Shukurat Olawumi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adedokun Azeez Shukurat Olawumi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

65 CHANGE OF NAME AGEMA Formerly addressed as Miss Edna Mngusughun Agema, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Edna Mngusughun Denga. Former documents remain valid. Benue State University Makurdi and the general public should please take note.

ADEYEMI Formerly addressed as MISS ADEYEMI GANIYAT ADEBUNMI, now wish to be addressed as MRS. SALAUDEEN GANIYAT ADEBUNMI. All former documents remain valid.

TESCOM,OYO STATE and general public should take note.

OKEREKE Formerly addressed as Okereke Martins, now wish to be addressed as Mgbada Martins Ndubuisi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

AHMED Formerly addressed as Ahmed Fatai, now wish to be addressed as Hamzat Fatai. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NWOKPOR Formerly addressed as Apostle Charles Nwabueze Nwokpor now wish to be addressed as Apostle Abraham Nwabueze Nwokpor.

All documents bearing my former name remain valid. General public should please take note.

NNENWA Formerly addressed as Miss Grace Amarachi Nnenwa,now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Rebecca Amarachi Nwabueze.

All documents bearing my former name remain valid. General public should please take note.

BABALOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Babalola, Ibironke Eunice, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Awolope,Ibironke Eunice. Former documents remain valid. Hospital Management Board, Akure, Ondo State and general public take note.

FASOGBON Formerly addressed as Miss Fasogbon, Olusola Ayobami, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Alabi, Olusola Ayobami. Former documents remain valid. Osun State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and general public take note.

OLUWAFEMI Formerly addressed as Miss Wemimo Oluwafemi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Awodola, Elizabeth Wemimo. Former documents remain valid. First Bank of Nig. Plc and general public take note.

AFOLABI Formerly addressed as AFOLABI KAMORU EMMANUEL, now wish to be addressed as AFOLABI FEMI EMMANUEL. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

IKUJESIN Formerly addressed as Miss Ikujesin Modupe Oluwaseyi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adebiyi Modupe Oluwaseyi.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

UBAH Formerly addressed as Stephen Chidera Ubah, now wish to be addressed as Lawrence Chidera Okechukwu. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OSHO Formerly addressed as Miss Osho Olubusola Agnes, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. David Agnes Olubusola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

KING Formerly addressed as Miss Racheal Omolola King, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Racheal Omolola Toriola-King. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

KUFO Formerly addressed as Miss Fehintola Yetunde Aduke Kufo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Fehintola Kufo Garber. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHIZEA Formerly addressed as Miss Bridget Nkiruka Chizea, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Bridget Nkiruka Olukoya-Adeniyi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

EVOR Formerly addressed as Miss EVOR, MERCY SAMUEL,now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. EWOKOR, MERCY PETER. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CLETUS Formerly addressed as Miss DAVIES JANET CLETUS, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. ENEOGWE JANET PRINCESS. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

AYINDE Formerly addressed as Miss Silifat Suzan Ayinde, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Silifat Suzan Babarinde. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME HUDU YUSUF and FUDU YUSUF, refers to one and the same person.

Former documents bearing the above names remain valid. Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund and the General public please take note.

NWOGWUGWU Formerly addressed as Mr. Nwogwugwu, Chidiadi Timothy, now wish to be known and addressed as Pastor Sampson Chidiadi Timothy. Former documents remain valid. The Apostolic Church Igboland Territory and general public should please take note.

IKIRI Formerly addressed as Mr. Ikiri Eric Ogechi., now wish to be addressed as Mr. Samuel Eric Ogechi. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

RAJI Formerly addressed as Miss Raji, Olubukola Olaide, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oguntunde, Olubukola Olaide . Former documents remain valid.

University of Ibadan and general public take note.

OLUMOH Formerly addressed as Miss Olumoh, Alirat Titilayo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Abass, Alirat Titilayo. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AMBALI Formerly addressed as Miss Oluwabunmi Adedoyin Ambali, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oluwabunmi, Adedoyin Kehinde.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

UDOH Formerly addressed as Racheal Edet Udoh, now wish to be addressed as Imoh Edet Udoh.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Usifoh Don J. Ehis is the same person as Usifoh Don Jacob Ehis Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ORJI Formerly addressed as Miss Ifeoma Favour Orji, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ifeoma Favour Ogbuehi.

Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLUSHOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Olushola Abosede Taiwo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Olushola Abosede Williams.

Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

EKWE Formerly addressed as Miss Ekwe Nkeiruka Sarah, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Dim, Sarah Nkeiruka. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME OSANUWA TAIYEWO RICHARD, and OLUWAFEMI TAIYE RICHARD refers to one and the same person now wish to be known as OLUWAFEMI TAIYE RICHARD. Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

ANYANWU Formerly addressed as Miss Anyanwu Georgeline Oluchi, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Nwosu Georgeline Oluchi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ODUTOLA Formerly addressed as Miss Odutola, Olamide Omolara, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olayioye Olamide Omolara.

Former documents remain valid.

NYSC, Osun State University and General public take note.

IBEAWUCHI Formerly known and addressed as Dr. Miss IBEAWUCHI NKEMDI CHINEYENWA. Now wish to be known and addressed as Dr. Mrs. BOMA-EGENTI, NKEMDI CHINEYENWA. Frmer documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

EZE Formerly addressed as Miss EZE, IFEOMA NJIDEKA, now wish to be known as Mrs. IFEOMA SAMUEL OBINNA. Former documents remain valid. ESUT, Fidelity Bank PLC. and general public take note.

NWOKEKE Formerly addressed as Miss NWOKEKE, MARTINA NGOZI, now wish to be known as Mrs. ANYANWU, MARTINA NGOZI. Former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ONYEMEREKWE Formerly addressed as Miss ONYEMEREKWE, CHRISTIANA OLUCHI, now wish to be known as Mrs. CHRISTIANA OLUCHI KENNEDY EJIREOBE. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ORI-IBIOKU Formerly addressed as Miss ORIIBIOKU, O.K. ISOKARIARI, nowm wish to be known as Mrs. ORI-IBIOKU ISOKARIARI ADEJUMO. Former documents remain valid general public take note.

MMUENU Formerly addressed as Miss MMUENU BURABARI BETHEL, now wish to be known as Mrs. WIGWE, BURABARI BETHEL. Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

IHEMADU Formerly addressed as Miss IHEMADU, LILIAN IJEOMA, now wish to be known as Mrs. NDUKA LILIAN IJEOMA.Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OKHUELEIGBE Formerly addressed as Miss OKHUELEIGBE, ADESUA AUGUSTA, now wish to be known as Mrs. ORJI, OKHUELEIGBEB ADESUA AUGUSTA. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ANYIAH Formerly addressed as Miss SILVERLINE CHIOMA ANYIAH, now wish to be known as Mrs. SILVERLINE CHIOMA GODSWILL ABBEY. Former documents remain valid, general public public take note.

CHIOKE Formerly addressed as Miss CHIOKE FELICIA CHINEDU, now wish to known as Mrs. SUNDAY FELICIA CHINEDU. Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

OMOLEWA Formerly addressed as Omolewa, Bukola Funke, now wish to be known and addressed as Oke, Bukola Funke. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, EREBA LEKPA GIFT and BARAOL EREBA LEKPA refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known and addressed as EREBA LEKPA GIFT. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OBIJIAKU Formerly addressed as Miss.

CHINYERE CHIAZOM OBIJIAKU, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. CHINYERE OSINACHI OGUWUIKE. Former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

NDUBUISI Formerly addressed as MISS NDUBUISI ADAORA UJUBUONU now wish to be known and addressed as MRS MMIRIUKWU EGBO ADA. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

TYODZUA Formerly addressed as Miss Tyodzua Mimidoo Anne now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Kadev Mimidoo Anne. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME HAWKINS EGOAZAOKU EGO. and JOSEPH HAWKINS EGO. refers to one and the same person. now wish to be known as JOSEPH HAWKINS EGO. Former documents remain valid, general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME DAKA JONAH YIAPU and FRED JONAH refers to one and the same person, now wish to be known as FRED JONAH. Former documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME CHIAMAKA CYNTHIA NWOKE and CHIAMAKA CYNTHIA EZE, refers to one and the same person, now wish to be known as CHIAMAKA CYNTHIA NWOKE. Former documents remain valid general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME JOHN THOMAS UGARE and JOHN THOMAS ABENE refers to one and the same person now wish to be known as JOHN THOMAS ABENE. Former documents remain valid general public take note.

MADU Formerly addressed as Ifunanya Ruth Madu now wish to be known and addressed as Ifunanya Ruth David. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AROMIRE Formerly addressed as Aromire, Yetunde Salamot, now wish to be known and addressed as Azeez, Yetunde Salamot. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

TIAMIYU Formerly addressed as Miss Tiamiyu Adijat Aweni Adeola, now wish to be known and addressed as Odeboju, Adijat Aweni Adeola. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OCHIEDIKE Formerly addressed as Miss Ochiedike, Margaret Nmerechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okoro, Margaret Nmerechi. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OSHINOWO

Formerly addressed as Taslimat Modupe Oshinowo, now wish to be known and addressed as Taslimat Modupe Sulaimon Bakare. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLOYEDE

Formerly addressed as OLOYEDE OMOLOLA MARGRET, now wish to be known and addressed as AJIBADE OMOLOLA MARGRET. Former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ISA

Formerly addressed as ISA FAITH, now wish to be known and addressed as ITEPU FAITH. Former documents remain valid. General public take note.

JENNIFER Formally address as Miss Onyejiuwa Nkechi Jennifer, Now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ochenehi Nkechi Solange.

Former document remain valid Tai Solari University of Education Ijagu, NYSC and the general public take note.

KAKA Formally address as MISS KAKA RAMATA, Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS BAMIDELE AFOLABI RAMATA. Former document remain valid. General public take note.

OYEDIRAN Formally address as MISS OYEDIRAN OPEYEMI NAFISAT, Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS BAKARE OPEYEMI NAFISAT. Former document remain valid. General public take note.

UCHEGBU Formally address as MISS UCHEGBU ONYINYECHI FLORENCE, Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS SOLOMON OLUSHOLA OYINYECHI FLORENCE. Former document remain valid. General public take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to - gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or thenation_advert @yahoo.com.

For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Emailgbengaodejide@ yahoo.com or our offices nationwide.

Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to notify the general public that the original document of Deed of Assignment and Partition of Plot 9, Adeboye Solanke Street, Off Allen Avenue, Ikeja.

Belonging to Mr Anthony Omotesho Akala got missing in transit. All effort to trace it prove abortive.

If found please contact Mr Anthony Omotesho Akala of 11A, Alabi Street, off Toyin Street, Ikeja.

General Public take note.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

66

Waiting for another flood?

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH M 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Pundits disagree (2) Q UITE in character with him, it was a lengthy lecture on 'titled'.'entitled' My claimand is authenticated by (1) Chambers' 21st Century Dictionary, Revised Edition (2) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 6th Edition.

My grouse about Oguntunase is not so much on his stance on some grammar points as his excoriation of persons with opposing views.

Consider this fiery dart at a contributor: 'Ebere, your so-called 60-year old 'uncle' Danisa, is an intellectual thug. His linguistic problems are stereotypical;--not wellgrounded in the grammaticality/ grammatology of the language, he does not read everyday, he has no fundamental libraries; he is unschooled, unchurched, unlettered, uneducated and uncultured----" (The Nation on Sunday, August 4, 2013). Haba!

Why was Oguntunase this implacably hurt?

Anything personal?

On yet another occasion, he referred to him as being mad and eccentric (The Nation on Sunday, July 19, 2015). It was such a vitriolic attack as the above that made me acknowledge Samson Dare thus, "---He is advised to maintain the style of 'language & style'.

"He needs to be satirical and humorous here, snide and pungent there, for effect. Unlike other garrulous and frivolous columnists, susceptible to committing grammatical blunders (I don't have in mind erudite writers like Ladbone and Wordsworth) and having chips on their shoulders when corrected----, Samson Dare demonstrates he is master of his trade" I concluded.

(Sunday Tribune, September 13, 1992).

Oguntunase did not forget to remind us of his enviable antecedents, having taught in such famous institutions as the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and College of Journalism (COJ); and with his type of temper, he must have indeed been a wonderful teacher(mirabilis magister) loved by all his students."

However, we have not always been at daggers drawn as evidenced from this excerpt from my article " Bravo Editor, But": "Such instructive,

entertaining and revealing columns as 'Mind Your Language', 'Concord Laff' and 'Snooper' have made the Sunday Concord a must for me in recent times.

Bayo Oguntunase is making an indefatigable effort to convey his muchneeded message across to journalists and the public.

Suffusing his articles with quotes and references, he is no doubt an epitome of a columnist well-versed in the English language".

I continued, "However…Oguntunase should note that the subject is 'Technical Words' not 'Feedback' in the last paragraph… of the September 17 edition. The verb, therefore, is 'come' not 'comes' (Sunday Concord, September 24 (?)

1989).

I will say this much for him-he is an undeniable lover of good English with a burning passion for high linguistic standard and an uncommon knack for hard work, but he is much given to outbursts of temper. Our man will have to pay heavy costs for his numerous argumentum ad hominem charges (I am not a lawyer, please). Talking seriously, I am advocating we do away with these frivolities and trivialities; let there be no discrimination between British English and Americanisms, more so, since they both observe the basics; promotion of adherence to basic rules should be the be-all and end-all of all advocates.

May I conclude this essay with the admonition of Gbenga HassanAyoola; "…Bayo Oguntunase should take better cognisance of the varieties of the English language, even among the native users than get embarrassed, and equally embarrass a Nigerian for saying the obvious". (The Guardian, Wednesday, February 1, 1989) The above was not lost on Oguntuanse when he responded, "Grammar is so subtle and complicated and the 'rules' do not always lead to acceptable solution". He observed further, "one thing is certain: people will not give up arguing about language usage", he finally concurred. "On this note, I rest my submission," Oguntunase concluded (The Guardian, Tuesday, February 14, 1989).

Some three decades after, as one casts a retrospective glance over the role played by these newspapers (especially The Guardian) that untiringly carried all the articles, one is overwhelmed by admiration for them.

CONCLUDED KOMOLAFE G. O., ILESA "TRAGEDY as dog eats 4-months-old baby" Voice of the nation: either 4-month-old baby or 4 months' old baby "To probe or not to probe" Get it right: To probe or not to probe?

THE NATION ON SUNDAY of August 23 offered readers a few howlers: "Ex-PHCN workers protest nonpayment of 16 months (months') salaries, allowances" NATIONAL MIRROR front and inside pages of August 20 disseminated kindergarten flaws: "The PDP Representative said it would be a clear case of witch-hunting (witchhunt) to limit the graft war…."

"NIPSS alumni backs (back or alumni association backs) FG's anti-corruption crusade" "From May 30, there have (has) been a resurgence of violent and bomb attacks…." Just by the way, is bombing not a violent attack?

Next is NATIONAL MIRROR Editorial: "Following the formal c o m m i s s i o n i n g (inauguration/ auspication) of the Orient Petroleum Resources…."

"Scholar advocates new approach to Africa (Africa's) problems" FEEDBACK "CASH cow", meaning "a business or part of one, that provides a steady cash flow", is colloquial, oldfashioned and an informal term, while "Milch Cow" (note the spelling), meaning "a source of easy profit" (Germanism) is formal and preferred in modern English.

Please, take note that being human presupposes fallibility. Yes, there will be mistakes. Therefore, what?

"Even Jesus Christ Himself made a mistake when He selected Judas Iscariot (let me add, a Chartered Accountant) in His choice of the Twelve Disciples", so asserts Charles William Golding.

Ebere, I have since left Egypt and moved on! Keep smiling, my brother!

(BAYO OGUNTUNASE/ 08056180046)

ANY lowland communities located in Nigeria's River Benue basin live in absolute dread of the month of September. Depending on the mood of officials in charge of the Lagdo Dam in Garoua, northern Cameroon, entire towns and villages in Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Niger states, and going all the way to the Niger Delta, could be washed away by floods that typically leave the landscape looking apocalyptic. When the flood comes, it usually lasts only a few weeks, but leaves longterm devastation in its wake as it sweeps away human lives, homes, property and livelihoods!

While relatively less flooding was experienced in the usual areas last year, same cannot be said of 2012 when floods displaced about 2.3 million people; killed 363 persons and destroyed about 597,476 houses in 30 states, according to official figures from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). In fact, post-disaster assessment surveys put the estimated total value of damages and losses to the flood at about N2.6 trillion or $16.9 billion! In a broadcast to the nation, the then President Goodluck Jonathan unveiled a relief package of N17.6 billion. The Federal Government also received about N2.5billion ($12.8 million) from donors (individuals and organizations) as part of the flood relief fund. The total was a whoping N2.6 trillion!

Now, there had been credible allegations that these funds were not used in transparent and accountable fashion, but that is not really the main focus of this article.

Of course, this is not to minimize the importance of accountability and transparency in emergency management, but the larger concern here is that this scenario, with changes only in inflationary terms, has been re-occurring since Cameroon built Lagdo Dam in 1980 with absolutely no evidence of lessons learnt! Just two weeks ago, the Cameroonian government notified Nigeria of its plan to commence routine release of excess water from Lagdo between August and November this year.

When the floodgates of this dam are opened, lowland communities in the Nigerian side of the border are damned.

Sadly, Nigeria's reaction to this warning has been to, in turn, warn "all those living around the dam and along River Benue in Garoua up to Nigeria to be at alert and be ready for evacuation in case of possible flooding."

[Translation: lowland communities are, once again, on their own in the face of imminent catastrophe!]

The Director General , NEMA, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi told newsmen in Abuja last week that NEMA had reached out to governors of the states that are usually worst hit by the floods to commence emergency response planning and to prepare safe locations for possible evacuation of communities at risk.

NEMA did not

By Rickson Fukoti Ethan

disappoint with its predictable response. It's a script that has been rehashed every August since the NEMA Act came into effect in 1999. However offensive and absurd NEMA's response may sound, it pales into insignificance against the confounding level of lack of intelligence packed into the Federal Government's response, which is as old as 1981 when the annoyingly famous "Dasin Hausa Dam" was designed but never built.

The background to this pathetic failure by successive Nigerian governments is this: Well before Lagdo Dam became operational in 1981, both Cameroon and Nigeria had agreed a year earlier that the latter would embark on a similar project on its side of the border to contain excess water released upstream from the dam as a means of curbing possible flooding in its territories. In 1981 the "Dasin Hausa Dam," conceived as a shock-absorber dam, was designed by Nigeria. It was simply visionary in concept, scope and design! It was not only supposed to mitigate flooding from Lagdo Dam, but was also expected to generate 300 megawatts of electricity and provide irrigation for over 150,000 hectares of land with the hope of generating an estimated 790,000 tons of crops in Adamawa, Taraba and Benue states.

This project was also intended to provide about 40,000 jobs and open up the Benue River for inland water transportation from Nigeria's southern ports, all the way to Garoua in Cameroon. The dam was to be sited in Dasin village in Fufore Local Government Area, Adamawa State.

Now, fast-forward by 34 years and the response from the Nigerian Government has yet to change! The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Musa Istifanus told the media in Abuja last week that the government was making efforts to see that the construction of the dam commenced. Thirty-four years later and we are still making efforts to see that the construction of the dam commenced!

It should be noted that peak flow in the River Benue at Garoua end is usually in the months of August and September. According to the Cameroonian weather w e b s i t e www.climatemps.com, the average flow observed in the river at Garoua in August this year is about 247.9 mm or 9.7inches! This is the wettest time of the year for Garoua, when the rains are at their peak and the authorities are often compelled to release the accumulated excess water from the Lagdo Dam to save their own Cameroonian communities. Nigeria, ever so unprepared, gets to bear the brunt while Cameroon does not only protect its population, but even generates electricity for them to boot! Some have even described it as some form of cold (water) war on Nigeria

by Cameroon.

The truth of the matter is that as long as Nigeria does not build that Dasin Hausa

Dam, it will never be in a position to contain the perennial floods as neither of the country's two major rivers has its origin within its territory. While the larger River Niger has its source in the highlands of Guinea, River Benue, itself a major tributary of the Niger, rises in the Adamawa Plateau in northern Cameroon, from where it flows west, and through the town of Garoua and into the Lagdo Lake and on through Nigeria's Adamawa, Taraba and Benue states before reuniting with the Niger in Lokoja, Kogi State.

The 40-metre high Lagdo Dam straddles the Benue at about 50km upstream of Garoua.

Apart from repeating the line about building the Dasin Hausa Dam each time there is a flood or threat of one, the Federal Government has also added another tired stanza to its song, namely, the dredging of the River Benue to deepen it and to also boost inland water transportation.

Over the years, a huge volume of silt has built up in the riverbed and rendered it so shallow that it doesn't take much water for it to flood its banks and cause damage to lowland communities. That is why the idea of dredging the riverbed makes absolutely perfect environmental, security and economic sense.

Earlier in July, the Federal Government announced the award of a N26 billion contract for the dredging of the lower River Benue basin to Messrs Oyins Oil & Gas Limited. The project is expected to be completed in two years, the government says. But whether or not there are plans to also dredge the upper River Benue basin is something the government is not saying at the moment. However, whether the government admits it publicly or not, the urgency of the need to dredge the upper River Benue basin cannot be lost on anyone who has seen the devastation caused by flooding in those areas.

Without a doubt, perennial flooding poses serious thought to Nigeria's food security. It also comes with public health challenges and sets the environment back by decades. It robs the affected communities of homes and livelihoods and leads even to death. It causes the government to incur avoidable economic costs, a luxury that Nigeria could ill afford given the crying need for investment in public services, infrastructure, security and the national economy. Building the Dasin Hausa Dam and dredging the Benue may cost a fortune in the short term, but it is a much cheaper option in the long-term, just like it was 34 years ago.

The challenge to President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government enjoys unprecedented local and global sympathy, is to move quickly to show that he meant his promise of making Nigeria better again by saving ordinary people from watching their lives swept away by a flood that has been more than three decades in the making.

• Ethan is a student of Mass Communication, Taraba State University, Jalingo.

67

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015 Pakistan army kills 14 suspected militants near Afghanistan

T

HE Pakistani military says its latest airstrikes in a troubled tribal region near Afghanistan have killed 14 suspected militants.

The military says in a statement that 14 "terrorists" were killed in yesterday's airstrike in Shawal, a town in North Waziristan where the army launched a ground operation this month to eliminate local and foreign insurgents.

The military gave no details and did not elaborate on the nationalities or identities of the slain men.

The Pakistani army has been carrying out a major military operation in North Waziristan since June 2014 and it says security forces have cleared more than 90 percent of the region and killed more than 3,000 militants. The army has lost nearly 300 soldiers in the region in the past year.

Tens of thousands rally in Malaysia, demand Najib resign

“T

ENS of thousands of Malaysians wearing yellow T-shirts and blowing horns defiantly held a major rally in the capital yesterday to demand the resignation of embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The crowds were undeterred by a heavy police presence after authorities declared the rally illegal, blocked the organizer's website and banned yellow attire and the logo of Bersih, the coalition for clean and fair elections that's

behind the weekend rallies.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad added momentum to the rally when he made a surprise brief appearance in the city late yesterday with his wife to loud cheers from the crowd, and telling

protestors to "carry on."

Najib has been fighting for political survival after leaked documents in July showed he received some $700 million in his private accounts from entities linked to indebted state fund 1MDB. He later said the

IS detains dozens in Iraqi town after rare street protest

I

SLAMIC State militants detained at least 70 people in a remote western Iraqi town yesterday following a rare street demonstration protesting the extremist group's execution of a local resident, security officials said.

They said the protest by hundreds of residents in Rutbah, in Anbar province, was triggered by the execution earlier yesterday of Munir al-Kobeisi, a civil servant, for killing a member of the extremist group. The killing was part of a long-running blood feud between two local clans.

Eid Amash, a spokesman for Anbar's provincial government, confirmed alKobeisi's execution and the subsequent protest. Officials said they did not know the whereabouts of the detained residents.

Elsewhere in Anbar, much of which is under IS control, a roadside bomb yesterday hit a border guard convoy making its way to the border crossing of Trebil on the Jordanian border, security officials said.

Five officers were killed in the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, whose militants are active in the area near the Jordanian and Syrian borders in western Iraq.

The officials also said a pair of roadside bombs killed five people and injured 19 south and west of Baghdad yesterday. Also in the capital, assailants using pistols fitted with silencers killed two people in the Jihad neighborhood in western Baghdad before they fled in a car. Other details were not immediately available.All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

•Protesters asking for the resignation of Najib in Malaysia yesterday

Man, three journalists sentenced in Egypt

A

S three Al Jazeera journalists were jailed by an Egyptian court in a glare of international publicity, three students were also quietly sentenced as the cameras pointed elsewhere.The Cairo court's decision to sentence three journalists to jail, handed down in front of worldwide media coverage with a top human rights lawyer present, brought instant and international condemnation.

But also present was a young Egyptian student,

S

Shadi Ibrahim, photographed patiently reading the Koran in court as he waited for his ruling.According to Amnesty International, Mr Ibrahim was among three students sentenced yesterday accused of working at a Muslim Brotherhood-run media company, editing and broadcasting videos in order to undermine Egypt's reputation. They deny the charges.

In a chain of events similar to Mohammed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, he had been ar-

rested in 2014, imprisoned, and then sent for retrial following a brief release.Egypt makes it illegal for journalists to contradict official account of terror attacks. Amnesty International confirmed to The Independent he now faces three years in jail - the same sentence handed down to Mr Fahmy, Mr Greste and Mr Mohamed, who were yesterday represented by Amal Clooney.

The human rights group estimates as many as 41,000 people have been illegally ar-

rested, charged or indicted with a criminal offence since Abdel al-Sisi swept to power in 2014.

Many have disappeared into Egypt's murky criminal system, where allegations of torture and mistreatment are common."Today's ruling is sadly only the tip of the iceberg. The Egyptian authorities are relentlessly cracking down on independent and critical media across the country to silence dissent," Pete Luther, Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty, said in a statement.

South Sudan rebel chief orders ceasefire

OUTH Sudan's rebel chief Riek Machar ordered his troops to lay down their arms in line with a ceasefire to end a 20-month civil war, his spokesman said yesterday.

His rival, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, had on Thursday ordered all government troops to stop fighting rebel forces as part of the agreement to end the conflict, which has left tens of thousands dead.

No clashes were reported between the two sides yesterday morning, according to both Machar's spokesman and the regional eight-nation

IGAD bloc which brokered the ceasefire deal along with the United Nations, the African Union, China, Britain, Norway and the United States.

But the government accused rebels of attacking its forces in the strategic northeastern town of Malakal in violation of the deal.

"The rebels yesterday attacked our position in Malakal but they were repulsed and this morning they again attacked Malakal," said government spokesman Michael Makuei.

"This is a violation of the cessation of hostilities of the agreement and it should be re-

corded".

It was impossible to verify the claim independently.

Makuei, who is also minister of information, led the government team at the negotiations over the ceasefire but is believed by observers to be hostile to the peace deal.

The accord gave a 72-hour deadline for a permanent ceasefire, which comes into effect around sunset on yesterday.

The UN Security Council on Friday called for the ceasefire to begin immediately and threatened sanctions against those who undermine

the accord.

Machar's spokesman, Nyarji Roman, earlier yesterday said the former vice president had ordered his rebel troops to lay down their arms in line with the accord.

Machar "gave a declaration of a permanent ceasefire to his troops last night," the spokesman told AFP. Kiir's spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, told AFP on Friday the president had ordered the entire army "to stop shooting and remain in their barracks where they are, but they can shoot in self-defence once attacked".

38 girls, women killed in crash while travelling to famous Swaziland festival

A

T least 38 girls and young women were killed in a crash while travelling to a famous traditional festival in Swaziland, a rights group said yesterday.

About 20 others were injured when the truck they were in collided with another vehicle , the Swaziland Solidarity Network said in a

statement. The young women and girls were travelling on the back of an open truck, the rights group said.

Police in Swaziland, a small mountainous country of 1.4 million people bordering northeastern South Africa and Mozambique, discouraged reporting on the accident, said the group.

News photographers were

prevented from taking pictures at the scene, said a Swazi journalist who insisted on anonymity for security reasons. However some people managed to take photographs with their cellphones.

A high-ranking police officer contacted by The Associated Press refused to comment, saying the matter was

related to the "highest authority," and no details could be disclosed to the media.

"You don't hide a death," said Lucky Lukhele, spokesman for the Swaziland Solidarity Network. Members of the Swaziland Defence Force alerted the rights group to the accident, Lukhele said, adding that he expected the death toll to rise.

money was a donation from the Middle East, fired his critical deputy and four other Cabinet members as well as the attorney general investigating him.

Protesters in yellow Bersih T-shirts and headbands converged at five locations and marched to areas surrounding the landmark Independence Square, where celebrations to mark Malaysia's 58th National Day will be held Monday. Police estimated yesterday's crowd at 25,000 while Bersih says 200,000 participated at its peak.

The crowd thinned in the evening, though some protesters pitched tents on the streets to camp overnight. The rally was scheduled to last until midnight today.

Scores of police sealed off roads leading to the square, which authorities have said is off-limits to protesters. Previous two Bersih rallies, in 2011 and 2012, were dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons.

Some activists carried canvas bags with the words "My Prime Minister Embarrasses Me." Some held placards saying "We will not be silenced," while others chanted "Bersih" and waved Malaysian flags.

In one area near the square, a comedian entertaining the crowd poked fun at Najib.

Dressed up as an Arab, he pretended to hand over a multibillion-ringgit check as a donation to a rally participant.

"Stop treating us like fools, Mr. prime minister," said businessman Tony Wong. "We deserve to know the truth about 1MDB. Where has the money gone to?"

Najib slammed the protesters for tarnishing Malaysia's image.

Three children critical after being rescued from lorry in Austria

T

HREE young children have been found in critical condition due to dehydration after police in Austria stopped a truck with 26 people. The lorry, believed to contain migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, was stopped in the small town of St Peter-am-Hart, close to the German border, Austrian news agency APA reported on yesterday, quoting local police.

"It was a very close call," said David Furtner from the Austrian police. He added that the children had grown dizzy in the back of the hot, sticky lorry. "Medical staff told us they would not have survived much longer."

The 29-year-old Romanian driver was arrested, while the children and their parents were taken to the hospital in the nearby town of Braunau.

The discovery comes after 71 refugees were found dead in an abandoned lorry on an Austrian highway on Thursday. The driver was arrested

by Hungarian police on Friday.

68

THE NATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2015

NEWS

Saraki, Ashafa mourn Adefuye

By Adeyinka Aderibigbe

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki has expressed sadness over the death of Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, in Washington DC. Saraki described the death as a monumental loss to Nigeria whose international image Adefuye passionately shaped and defended in the U.S until his last breath.

He commiserated with the federal government, Ogun State and the immediate family of the deceased over the sudden departure of the Nigerian envoy.

The Senate President in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, in Abuja, said: "It is really sad that Adefuye waved us goodbye at a time his excellent services as a diplomat of repute are in dire need.

Also, Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) commiserated with the family of the late ambassador saying Adefuye was well known to him.

Ashafa said the late ambassador's legacy of service in Nigeria's Diplomatic Corps has earned him a well-deserved spot in Nigerian as a country.

"During his time as Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, he demonstrated that he was a passionate Nigerian both in words and deed.

"We can't help but remember his spirited, patriotic defense of our national interest and image every time Nigeria's reputation was at stake in the United States.”

Abba Kyari: A man for all seasons R

UMOURS and speculations about who will hold what political assignment(s) in President Muhammadu Buhari's government have been partially scotched by Thursday afternoon's announcement of appointees.

One of the most interesting is Abba Kyari's appointment as Chief of Staff to the President. It is a square peg in a square hole. Abba Kyari is a versatile, energetic, extremely well educated public servant who puts such a premium on industry and public relations. A double Masters Degree at Cambridge University, England's Premier University, was preceded by a first degree in Sociology at Warwick University, also in England where General Gowon studied after his retirement as Head of State in 1975.

Such lofty academic heights belie his lowly and modest beginning. After Sec-

Abba Kyari’s appointment as Chief of Staff to the President has laid to rest speculations about who will get the plum job. ondary School in a Christian School in Wusasa, Zaria, Abba took to teaching.

His restless energy drove him to seek a journalist's job in New Nigerian. The only vacant position he was offered was as a proofreader.

He readily took the job; his journalistic prowess grew to such an extent that he eventually became editor of another newspaper, The Democrat. Alas, to Abba's intense chagrin, both the New Nigerian and The Democrat have closed down.

After short stints in Government as Commissioner in Borno State as a legal officer and company secretary in Zamfara Textiles, he moved to Banking. From being company secretary in the African International Bank to being

the brains and workhorse of a team that revived and rebuilt the dying UBA that he eventually became Managing Director and Chief Executive and later ViceChairman of the bank.

On returning from the Bank, he was much in demand by Nigerian and multinational companies and offered many directorships.

But being extremely careful about his reputation, he would only agree to serve on a few Boards after rigorous scrutiny of the companies and being fiercely independent in expressing his views at meetings.

His foray in active politics started in 1998 when the consensus of Nigerians who take interest in such matters was that General Obasanjo should be re-

habilitated and put up for election as President. Abba Kyari was very much attracted to this line of thinking. He was even touted as Vice Presidential running mate to Obasanjo. In the end, the General chose Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

When in 2002, numerous delegations at last extracted General Buhari from retirement and persuaded him to join partisan politics, Abba Kyari found his happiest position as he had been close to Buhari and his family for over 30 years. He went into Buhari's politics head on, heart and soul.

As a soldier who had rubbished the political class 17 years earlier, Buhari was not noticeably popular among politicians.

The ANPP convention in Abuja was charged. ANPP Governors, party apparatchiks and power brokers opposed Buhari.

The rank and file and "the

Ajimobi closes appearances of witnesses From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

O

'All Ilaje communities are oil producing' From Damisi Ojo, Akure

A

GROUP in the coastal area of Ondo State, Ilaje Kitikiti Development Association (IKDA), says the entire Ilajeland is endowed with crude oil deposit.

This is contrary to the claim by the Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ibuchukwu Ezike, that only Ilaje constituency 1, Ugbo, has the natural resources.

Besides, the group kicked against the agitation that Ondo State should produce the next Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

IKDA noted that the statement by the CLO boss was ignorant on the workings of the NDDC Act, 2000 and the even distribution of oil production in Ilaje Local Government.

A statement signed by the group's Chairman, Comrade Bode Asogbon; Secretary, Emorioloye James and Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Orimisan, noted that the current Board of the NDDC was inaugurated in December 2013 for a fixed period of four years.

On the position of the MD and the two Executive Directors, the group said it is provided for under Section 12 of the NDDC Act and that it should be rotated in the order of quantum of production starting from the highest Ondo State with five in that order Executive Committee cutting across the entire Ilaje Local Government Area.

crowds outside" were on the side of Buhari almost to a man. Abba Kyari spent two nights and two days without ever sleeping going round the 36 state delegations in Abuja to canvass support for Buhari. In the end, Buhari was nominated. Abba Kyari accompanied him on a campaign tours to 34 of the 36 states nearly all by road, sometimes on the road for 24 hours at a stretch- all unsuccessfully as the elections were massively rigged. Neither Abba nor, of course, General Buhari relented.

The rest as they say is history.

Abba Kyari brings to his new job impressive credentials. In his various careers, whatever he touched turned to gold. He is a man for all seasons. You could almost say he is a Master of all trades and Jack of none.

His numerous friends are in no doubt that he is equal to the task.

•L-R: Member, National Working Committee, Royal School of Church Music, Nigeria , Eyitayo Oginni; Country Manager, RSCM Nigeria, Sunday Olawuwo; Regional Director, RSCM Northern United Kingdom, Gordon Appleton and Board member, RSCM Nigeria, Sir Abayomi Phillips at a briefing on the 6th edition of RSCM international music conference in Lagos... yesterday

Moro dissociates self from ex-Immigration boss’ plight

F

ORMER Interior Minister Comrade Abba Moro, has asked the immediate past Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. David Parradang, to blame himself for his fate instead of shifting it elsewhere.

He claimed that Parradang went on a birthday binge in Jos, the Plateau State capital, when he should be supervising recruitment into the Immigration Service.

Moro alleged that Parradang also frustrated his efforts to sanitise the service.

In a statement titled, "My story", obtained by our correspondent, Moro said its Immigration officials accusing him of misdeeds while in office, should search themselves.

More was reaching to a

operated within the confines of my mandate according to the Law. I did not in any way interfere in the running of the Nigeria Immigration. Mr. Parradang and his co-travellers should note that there are other agencies/services in the Ministry of Interior. I wouldn't have singled out the Nigeria Immigration Service for interference."

The ex-Minister accused Parradang of travelling abroad without approval.

"Upon advice from the Presidency, the Board directed the Board Secretariat to liaise with the Service to grant special promotion to deserving officers specially those attached to VIPs who made sacrifices in carrying out their duties across

the Services. It was a Board decision. Why the hue and cry from Immigration about Abba Moro?

"I am therefore shocked and surprised at the insinuations contained in the media reports. I am certainly not responsible for Mr. Parradang's present predicament. I will not certainly allow myself to be a pawn in Mr. Parradang's hand.

"Throughout my tenure as Minister, I did not engage in taking decisions because they were popular and people liked them. I did all I did because I knew them to be right for the system. I did my utmost best in service to my fatherland. Mr. Parradang should accept responsibility for his actions in office."

Mustapha irreplaceable, says Shettima

him was to make the state "a bastion of good governance, an enduring model of excellence in sustainable development, a true home of peace and harmony."

Though he said the gap left by the demise of Mustapha must be filled, the deputy, according to him, is irreplaceable.

B

ORNO State Governor Kashim Shettima has showered encomiums on his deputy, Alhaji Zannah Mustapha, who died on August 15.

Shettima described the late Mustapha as irreplaceable and reliable.

By Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Abuja

statement by some senior Immigration officials, blaming him for the rot in the service.

The officials accused Moro of bringing business partners to conduct the March 2014 recruitment liason in which some applicant died.

Last week, Federal Government removed Parradang for allegedly recruiting 1,600 immigration officers without following due process.

His deputy, Mr. Martin Kure Abeshi, has since been named at his successsor.

But Moro, his statement, gave rare insights into developments in the service, saying: "As Minister of Interior, I

By Sunday Oguntola

The governor, in a tribute yesterday, said Mustapha was "an honourable man and extremely loyal; a trusted deputy and ally."

He praised his dedication to service, stating that the late

deputy "relished hard work and loved to carry out difficult tasks assigned to him and more importantly he possessed an uncanny ability to deliver and speedily too."

Borno, he said, will miss Mustapha, pointing out that the only way to immortalise

YO State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, who is the first respondent and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 elections yesterday, closed the appearances of his witnesses at the Election Petition Tribunal? sitting in Ibadan, the state capital.

Ajimobi's lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN)?, called off the appearances of his client's witnesses after the appearances of six witnesses within three days.

The Tribunal had earlier given the first respondent five days to present his witnesses.

The Accord Party governorship candidate, Rashidi Ladoja, ?is challenging the declaration of Ajimobi by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the April 11 governorship election in the state.

The petitioner also joined APC, Dr. Rufus Akeju, who is INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state and INEC as co-respondents.?

Speaking on the development, Olanipekun? said: "We have used three days out of the five days allotted to us by the tribunal.

"We are pleased with the six appearances we have presented so far. We have observed the appearances of the ?petitioners' witnesses and we have reserved our observations."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

NEWS

69

Game of throne: Race for Ooni stool

T

HE race for the stool of Ooni of Ife has begun in earnest, with some members of the ruling houses showing interest.

Since the burial, its indicate past Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, the kingdom has been agog with claims and counter-claims of contending clans and candidates to the crown. All the eligible princes in the ancient town have cast their lot in the contest. Among them is Prince Adetunji Adeyemi Ogunwusi, 48, who is the most likely candidate worthy of the crown, according to pundits and sources within the ancient kingdom's royal circuits.

Ile Ife has four ruling houses - Giesi, Lafogido, Osinkola and Ogboru. The late Oba Sijuwade emerged from the Ogboru ruling house. As it is now, the Ogboru ruling house is out of the race because of the principle of rotation in the ancient town. In that case, it means that only the other three ruling houses are in contention for the vacant stool. They are: Giesi, Lafogido and Osinkola ruling houses. Despite the ongoing scheming and wild speculations about the likely successor to Oba Sijuwade, it is incontestable that it is the turn of the Giesi ruling house to nominate a candidate or candidates to occupy the stool. The records are there.

However, despite the seeming eligibility of several of the contenders, the royal stool requires a candidate whose innate constitution, personal and work ethic reflect a streak to trigger the kingdom's much clamoured socioeconomic and technological progress. While Oba Aderemi was regarded as a development Oba, the late Oba Sijuwade was considered to be a consolidation Oba. What this means is that, today, there is the urgent need for Ife's rapid development. This, no doubt, requires the ascension to the throne of a young, vibrant and energetic monarch at this time in the ancient town’s history. That is exactly what the candidacy of Prince Ogunwusi represents.

Progressive agenda for Ife Prince Ogunwusi charts a purposeful developmental agenda for Ile-Ife. "My main thrust of returning Ile-Ife to its pre-eminence is based on my desire to redevelop the historic city into becoming the regional centre for commerce and promote its cultural heritage. Ile-Ife in the past accommodated and welcome visitors and traders alike with warmth and open arms for the economic benefit of the indigenes. So, this would be the driving ideology for all my infrastructural, economic policy and developmental strategies," he said.

According to the Prince, his decision to vie for the throne of his forebears is premised on his ambition to further re-unite the Yoruba and promote the race's cultural heritage. "My desire is to re-ignite the interest of our youths in the development of Yoruba land and redefine the richness in our cultural beliefs. Taking a cue from what I have done all my life which is wealth creation, my six-point agenda derived from the

•Ogunwusi

By Olakunle Omolabi letters of the word "WEALTH" include: W = Wealth creation; E = Education; A = Agricultural Development; L = Leveraging; T = Tourism and Trade and H = Human Capital Development," he said.

Prince Ogunwusi seeks to work with organisations like Ife Indigenes in Diaspora organization (IIDORG) to strengthen business, travel and investment opportunities in the kingdom. "This will be achieved by harnessing and developing local content and talents for business growth and development of the land. Our people are known for art and craft, pottery, and artifact development. We intend to promote indigenous industries by sourcing and developing markets for the products.

Our overall wealth creation ideals shall be achieved by vigorously pursuing other agendas," he said.

Humble roots Born on December 8, 1967 into the family of John Oluropo Ogunwusi from the famous Ojaja Lineage of the Giesi ruling house of the Agbedegbede Quarters in Ile-Ife, Prince Ogunwusi's mother, Margaret Wuraola Sidikatu Abegbe Ogunwusi was born into the family of Soji-Opa, a prominent Cocoa merchant in Ile-Ife. He attended Subuola Memorial Nursery and Primary School, GRA, Agodi, Ibadan, between 1971 and 1977, Saint Patricks Grammar School Orita Bashorun, Ibadan, from 1978 to 1983. He had his A-Level education at the defunct Oyo State College of Arts and Science, Ile-Ife from 1984 to 1986 and proceeded to the University of Ibadan where he studied Agric Economics between 1986 and 1990.

After his education, Prince Ogunwusi joined the then Nigeria Intercontinental Merchant Bank in 1991, where he distinguished himself in loan packaging and investment arrangement for four years. In 1995, he assumed

Bello appoints The Nation man as SSA

N

IGER State g o v e r n o r Abubakar Bello has appointed Mr. Jide Orintunsin of The Nation newspapers as his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity.

The appointment, which takes immediate effect, was contained in a letter by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Shehu Danyaya.

A graduate of Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta Ogun State and Federal University of Technology Minna, the new appointee is the current Niger State Correspondent of The Nation newspapers.

The new SSA started his journalism career with Ogun State

•Jide Orintunsin

Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) before joining the defunct Concord Press of Nigeria as a reporter.

He rose to the rank of Senior Assistant News Editor at Concord Newspapers.

Orintunsin also worked with This Day newspaper and had a brief stint with The Guardian newspaper before joining The Nation.

the position of Head of Credit and Marketing at Hillcrest Merchant Bank which later became Intercontinental Bank Plc and now, Access Bank Plc. He became a managing partner at New Africa Investment Limited between 2001 and 2007 after 10 years of meritorious service in the banking sector.

Entrepreneurial exploits Prince Ogunwusi doesn't believe that you have to follow the conventional way of doing things. An unconventional self-starter, he became fascinated with the real estate market while still at the helm at New Africa Investment Limited, thus his foray into real estate with a revolutionary mind-set to do what private developers regarded as nearly impossible.

The Prince established Primewaterview Limited in 2005 although he became actively involved in the affairs of the company in 2007 after spending six years with New Africa Investment limited. He established the company with a lofty vision to become the best real estate company on the African continent. Prior to the advent of Primewaterview Limited in the Nigerian real estate industry, residential high-rise development was a no-go area for indigenous private development companies.

The completion of Gardens 1 Estate (107 units of high-rise development) within 14 months and the immediate commencement of Gardens 2 Estate another high-rise development of 348 units before Gardens 1 was delivered, was a record in Nigeria's real estate industry.

Within nine years of operations, Primewaterview under his leadership, has been directly involved in the completion of over 700 units of various types of housing units on the Victoria Island Annex/Lekki Corridor. Most of his large-scale projects were either embarked upon or ongoing during the credit crunch and banking crises in 2009 giving credence to the fact that Adetunji never looks back pursuing a goal.

Strategic partnering is another important area where he excelled in business; the Prince has strategic partners in major countries of the world and has also facilitated same for many business concerns in Nigeria. Some of the countries where he has business interests and partners include: China, United States of America, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirate, Taiwan, Italy, Hong Kong, Spain and Australia, among others.

Philanthropy Prince Ogunwusi believes that to be truly successful and build sustainable wealth, you must create wealth for others thus his relentless zeal to impact on the lives of others. He is regarded in many circles as a mentor par excellence; his entrepreneurial acclaim is founded on mentoring people who subsequently help to create additional value in the lives of others, in what has been severally applauded as a chain reaction of positive developmental culture.

Some of the notable real estate development companies on the Lekki axis, for instance, are offshoot from Primewaterview. Those who founded them were directly mentored

by Prince Ogunwusi and despite being responsible for the success of these business concerns, the Prince persistently shies from claiming credit for their breakthrough.

Prince Ogunwusi is married to Ibilola they have four children: Ayotoluwafunmi Adetomilola, Adelayo Oluwalonimi, Motunrayooluwa Iyunadeoluwa, and Adeyemi Adetunji. The Prince is a philanthropist who never cringes from lending a helping hand to struggling businesses, family and friends.

In others’ eyes Several beneficiaries of the Prince's amazing generosity attest to his humaneness and capacity to inspire and improve the lives of others. Kehinde Oropo, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of PWV Management Services Limited described him as a kind, good hearted person who is indeed his "Brother's Keeper."

"He encourages the growth of others and is a mentor figure for many people. His nature forgives and allows for mistakes in the process of growing. He has given a lot to the society he has encouraged preservation of culture while embracing global development.

He is of good humor, cheering people up when they are down, offering words of encouragement. He is a person of impeccable character that is worthy of emulation," Oropo said.

Prince Adegboyega Aderemi in his estimation of Prince Ogunwusi's personality, said: "Prince Adetunji Ogunwusi, a scion of Giesi Ruling House of Ojaja quarters in Ile-Ife epitomises royalty in conduct and character.

He is a humble, disciplined, steadfast, hardworking, builder, whose leadership qualities have endeared him to many. He has a passion for building and will be bringing a wealth of experience in physical development as a foremost real estate developer, to Ile-Ife which is in urgent need of reconstruction.

Adetunji Ogunwusi in summary is a good man." Will the kingsmaker favour this “good man”?.

Chibok girls: Buhari offers economic support to grieving parents

T

HE Federal Government is offering economic support to parents of the over 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, who were abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014.

Also being offered them by government is trauma management support.

President Muhammadu Buhari in a fresh message of hope to the parents yesterday on the occasion of the 500th day of the abduction said the support is not any way compensation for the missing girls.

He said: “these priceless schoolgirls are our daughters and they are dear to us as much as they are to you. We share the agony and sorrows you are experiencing as

•Sends them message of hope From Duku JOEL, Maiduguri

well as our abducted girls. As government we are working hard to rescue our girls alive and healthy.

“I am optimistic that the girls are still alive and will soon be rescued and handed over to you parents by the grace of God. As leaders we are responsible for the welfare of our people and are accountable before the Almighty God. “As such, while the rescue efforts go on relentlessly, the government will continue to render assistance to you as their biological parents. We are aware that most of you the parents cannot attend to your sources of livelihood, go to work, go to farms or carry on with your trading because of the

psychological trauma and agony you are going through and this is to be expected.

“It is for this reason, we find it an obligation to support you in trauma management and in offering some economic support and these support are not compensation for your daughters because we have not lost hope in recovering them, indeed no sane parent gives up on the recovery of a missing child.”

The President’s message was delivered to the parents by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State at a meeting in Maiduguri, according to his Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mallam Isa Gusau.

Ninety parents were at the meeting.

The President said Boko Haram’s actions have religious or tribal inclination whatsoever and regretted their senseless killings.

He said: “government is fully committed to fight the insurgents to a standstill especially with renewed global and regional military cooperation as well as the commitment so far displayed by the newly appointed service chiefs and their gallant armed forces who have shown so much patriotism and great sacrifice in defense of their father land.”

The president said he fully understands the pains and agony of losing a child having once lost a child too.

Buhari replacing PDP’s impunity with rule of law, says Amaechi •Continued from page 5

the church was involved in politics and I said I was going to go to one of these Pentecostal churches and worship.

“Today, I am very proud

to be a Catholic. Maybe the church listened to my criticisms then or the leadership of the Bishop and the church is now avoiding politics.”

Etokudoh, in his sermon,

said ex-President Jonathan tried his best through his transformation agenda, and that President Buhari is proceeding to change Nigeria for the better.

The bishop described the building of the church as a

miracle.

“When there is life, there is hope. There is no competition in destiny. What God has destined for you will come to pass,” he said.

QUOTABLE “By the time more appointments are made, it will balance out. The president is trying to get the very best of Nigerians.

The issue of key positions and no key positions should not be the issue…”

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 9, NO. 3323

—The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, assuring Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments would soon balance out.

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari’s seemingly grudging gesture in appointing a few southerners into the presidency and security staff can neither escape attention nor censure. Of the 12 or 13 appointments so far in the presidency, only three have gone to southerners. If appointments to the nation’s security network are added, the number of southerners rises to five out of a total of about 20. It will be interesting to find out how the president’s mind works on this curious issue. He approved the appointments, indeed, he made them. But does he have the presence of mind to appreciate the troubling message the skewed appointments convey about his worldview, and to the country and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)?

Until last Thursday, many commentators had given the president the benefit of the doubt on the structure and motive of his over 30 general appointments. After the recent appointments, some six in all, few analysts doubt any longer how his mind works or what his perspectives are. They still see him as upright, honest and eager to remake a country battered by more than six years of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency. In fact they will rather have him fighting corruption and sloth in public office than anyone else. But they probably no longer see him as the presumed nationalist of their hopes and imagination, nor conceive of him as the one who will be Nigeria’s moderniser and unifier. In just two or three bouts of appointments, President Buhari may have demystified his government and person.

The signs had been there all along. Top Nigerians, some of them former presidents and former governors, had been uncomfortable with the president’s narrow circle of friends. He had a tendency to stick with those he knew and trusted, they said. He rarely experimented nor ever imbibed the wide-ranging relationships that conduce to great governance in a multi-ethnic, multireligious and very plural and complex nation like Nigeria, others volunteered. Even this column, which fanatically advanced his interest before the elections, muttered under its breath about whether Candidate Buhari had overcome the provincialism and exclusionism that hobbled his past or were ascribed to him by his critics and detractors. Might there be no one else who could galvanise the society, especially the critical mass of voters in the North, to sweep Dr Jonathan out of office? The answer, sadly, was no. And so Candidate Buhari won the support of this column, notwithstanding the reservations.

Whatever his past, whatever was ascribed to him fairly or unfairly, and whatever bad names he had been called, there is nothing in the appointments he has made so far that justifies what he has done as a presumed and corrective patriot. The culmination of the appointments is that Nigeria will in the foreseeable future, perhaps all of four years, have to cope with a presidency that will be distinctly northern in outlook and culture, in the same reprehensible and damaging manner the Jonathan presidency was distinctly Niger Delta/Southeast. Surely, President Buhari must recognise that one of the major reasons Dr Jonathan was repudiated by a chafing electorate was the fact that his parochial aides fouled the presidency in a manner completely irreconcilable with 21st century dictates. Why would President Buhari ignore the lessons of history?

This must be quite an unsettling time for the APC. For, in the end, they will have to both manage the backlash that will follow these appointments and struggle to keep their fractious party together. After the riling intraparty controversy that nearly fragmented the ruling party and the National Assembly in June, it was hoped that the president would take sensible and measured steps in addressing both the apparent exclusion of the Southeast in the scheme of things and the token recognition given the Southwest, the region that inspired, structured, energised and harmonised the antiJonathan and anti-PDP coalitions. Instead,

Buhari’s puzzling appointments even the mistakes never made nor contemplated by the PDP, nor yet by Dr Jonathan, as poor in leadership as he was, are being flagrantly committed.

Assuming President Buhari is convinced he disdained better options, it is doubtful whether there is anything he can do in the short run to remedy the situation. He cannot rescind the slanted appointments he has just made; and there are no more key and powerful presidency and security positions to fill. Worse, once a negative impression of the Buhari presidency has taken root, thus confirming the scepticism of those who doubted the so-called political and attitudinal reformation the president claimed he had undergone, it is unlikely that the hard opinion of Buharisceptics would thaw anytime soon.

What is probably worse is that the political opposition to President Buhari and the APC will now feel emboldened by the sudden realisation that this Achilles indeed has a vulnerable heel. No amount of remedy can dispel the accusation of bias levelled against the president. There are hundreds of other positions waiting to be filled. But the president has already lopsidedly filled the key positions with northerners. All that remains is for this negative impression of him to harden. Every step he takes will then be viewed from that distorted prism. His policies may be sound, and his appointees, tilted towards the North as they are, may be among the best technocrats the country can boast of, but he will be denounced for permitting that skewness, and the value of his policies and the true worth of his appointees will be held continuously in doubt.

Probably the most acute part of the national embarrassment flowing from the appointments is that President Buhari will now be seen as running and nurturing a presidency that is anything but Nigerian in outlook, and a kitchen

cabinet he trusts absolutely but is not ennobled by diversified and inspiring perspectives of issues. After ruling Nigeria as head of state and running for the presidency four times, President Buhari was presumed to recognise the need to make the presidency largely reflect the cultural and political pastiche of Nigeria. He failed to understand this. He should be worried. His supporters suggest that by the time he is through with the remaining appointments, Nigeria’s colourful diversity would manifest.

Perhaps. But to the embarrassment and dismay of the circumspect northerners he has appointed, that diversity will be absent at the highest level of the presidency.

The problem is not that President Buhari has malevolently assembled a constricted presidency, or that he naturally wishes to exclude the rest of the country from his inner circle. Indeed, those who served with or under him in the military have attested to his sense of fairness and patriotism. The real problem is that he has spent most of his active years cultivating or mentoring a very restrictive circle of friends, mentees and subordinates. He apparently prefers to have close to himself those he can trust and feel comfortable around. It is not, therefore, that he is taking the wrong steps by design, as some Southeast politicians have alleged, but that he seems precisely the sort of leader who would do right inadvertently. For a complex society like Nigeria, that orientation is clearly intolerable, and to the Southeast, indefensible.

Notwithstanding the most copious amelioration of the situation, including vouchsafing the remainder of the so-called juiciest min-

isterial and MDAs positions to the Southwest and Southeast, the president must have no illusion that any such amelioration can expand the worldview and perspectives of his presidency. Since he assumed office, this column, among many other analysts, had wondered which shadowy personalities were behind his policies and decisions in the absence of a cabinet. These policies and decisions, it was already manifesting in the weeks since he became president, did not gesture appropriately to the wider needs and cultural and political sensitivities of the country. It may get worse now that presidency and security positions have been all but filled up.

The foundation of a government is as important as the structure of governance erected on it. Yet, no Nigerian government has attracted such dreadful unease over appointments as the Buhari presidency has managed in a few momentous weeks. Had he availed himself of appropriate advice, had he assembled a kaleidoscope of technocrats and politicians, it is unlikely he would have made the kind of appointments he made last week and before. Indeed, it is likely he would have avoided the fiasco in the National Assembly that is certain to dog his presidency for some time, not to talk of the current, unseemly controversy over presidency positions. Commentators did their best to warn the president of the growing slant in his appointments a few weeks ago, especially after he announced his new security chiefs. By ignoring them and going ahead to make the even more controversial appointments of last week, it seems clear the president knew what he was doing.

President Buhari knew what kind of presidency he wanted. He has now consciously assembled it, and must live with it. His worldview will very likely remain constricted, unable to benefit from the variegated exchange of ideas and backgrounds that diverse presidential aides give. His perspectives will also doubtless be coloured by the philosophies and textures of the men he has assembled to work in close quarters with him. He and his supporters and party must now hope that the foundation he has laid for his presidency, from which he hopes to govern the country adroitly, will sustain his cumbersome vision of a remade and thriving Nigeria. He has his work cut out for him. If he gets away with this unprecedented experimentation of skewness, he will be a lucky man indeed. What is not certain, however, is that he can deliver on the great country the people envision, a country that retains the Buhari legacy after his time in office, renders superfluous the laying of another foundation many years down the road, and is able to offer Africa leadership because it had itself mastered its own cultural, religious and political complexities.

Belonging to everybody and to nobody. How quaint!

T

HE most memorable part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural address was his assertion that he belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody. It was interpreted that he had sent signals he would not be held hostage by any religious, ethnic or political interest. Given his antecedents and hurtful opposition campaigns during the last polls that alleged religious and ethnic biases against him, the memorable statement signposted some relief to many Nigerians.

President Buhari had indeed changed, they chorused. He himself encouraged and wore the change toga extravagantly.

Not many southerners will, however, accept that President Buhari has changed, or that he belongs to everybody and to nobody. In fact, the Southeast in particular has alleged that the president belongs unquestioningly to the North. Judging from their coverage of the president’s new appointments, the press also seems persuaded that his assertion of detachment from vested interests must be taken with a pinch of salt. After exhausting the security and presidency positions available, it must have become apparent where

•Buhari •Awoniyi the president belongs. But don’t take the critics’ words for it.

Only President Buhari’s speechwriters know why he appropriated the phrase. It was not original to him, and his inaugural address did not indicate that he borrowed it. He can, however, be forgiven, for the phrase was used in December 2003 by Sunday B. Awoniyi who was chairman and guest lecturer at a book launch on Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna about 12 years ago. Chief Awoniyi was a Kogiborn politician and bureaucrat who was close

to the late Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and was in 1975 permanent secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Broad Street, Lagos, when the then Col. Buhari was federal commissioner.

In the lecture, Chief Awoniyi contextually situated the paradoxes of his origin and politics, especially insinuations that he was at various times a Babangida man, a Buhari man, an Atiku man, or an anti-government man, and then declared: “It is a no-win situation. I want to say it loud and clear that I, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, am nobody’s man. I am everybody’s man. I am a Yoruba man and proud to be one. I am a Christian and glad to be one. I am from Okunland in the old Kabba Province of Northern Nigeria, now a state called Kogi State. That makes me a northerner...”

Chief Awoniyi could in the context he used the phrase claim he was everybody’s man. It is, however, not certain whether in the context he used it or as far as his actions so far are concerned, President Buhari can claim to be nobody’s man.

Published by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025, Oshodi, Lagos. Telephone: Switch Board: 08034505516 Marketing: 4520939, Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Telephone: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790.

Website: www.thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE