The Nation February 19, 2012

FUEL SUBSIDY PROTEST

Police arrest Gani’s widow, son

–PAGE 4

Fraud mars Sokoto guber polls

SSS raids another Boko Haram leader’s home Recover pornographic tapes IGP, SSS DG meet on how to tackle sect –PAGE 5

–PAGE –PAGE5 ??

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.06, No. 2040

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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3 killed, 39 vehicles burnt in Lagos tanker explosion T

HREE people dead. Thirty-nine charred cars and buses. Heavy pall of smoke hanging in the air.

Passers-by and sympathisers in tears.

That was the story of the popular Mile Two Oke, Lagos, yesterday after a 33,000litre fuel tanker exploded at about 1am and triggered a fire. A first timer at

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, Joe Agbro and Miriam Ndikanwu

the terminus could be forgiven if he mistook it for a recent battle front.

The tanker with registration number XB370ATN, according to an eye witness who gave his name simply as Kazeem, had fallen on its side and exploded.

It was said to have lost one of its tyres and instead of the driver to stop and rectify the problem he kept going.

Kazeem who claimed to have escaped death by the whiskers in the accident said: “We were more than 20 people at the park at the time, because most of us plying

•Continued on Page 2

KOGI GUBER Echocho faults PDP over suit –PAGE 5

Carcasses of some of the burnt vehicles caused by a petrol tanker explosion in Mile 2 Oke Park, Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos, which occurred early Saturday morning.

Photo: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Civil war: Ojukwu defended his people –Niger Gov

–PAGE 6

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NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

LAGOS TANKER EXPLOSION

•Scenes from the devastation caused by the tanker explosion at Mile 2, Lagos-Apapa Expressway early Saturday morning •Continued from Page 1 intra state routes leave quite early and most of the time we sleep in the park to enable us take off early.

“I had just finished eating with some other people in the park here when we noticed that the tanker had a problem. I quickly ran up to the driver to stop as one of the tyres was off. I advised him to stop while I get people to help.”

He said the tanker driver ignored his plea and kept moving. Within seconds it fell on its side and exploded.

“I just heard a loud sound behind me and when I turned I saw fire. It was so bad that all I could do was rush to the park to alert those who were sleeping and we all ran out of the place,” he said.

He said the three people that died were fast asleep and were trapped in the inferno that took a team of the State Fire Service several hours to put out.

The scene still oozed with the smell of burnt human flesh and vehicles last night.

Many of the commercial drivers who parked their vehicles there after close of

Photos: OLUSEGUN RAPHAEL

3 killed, 39 vehicles burnt in Lagos tanker explosion work on Friday returned yesterday to find the burnt remains of their sources of livelihood.

Dr. Oluwafemi OkeOsanyintolu, General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and Disaster Manager, said the petrol tanker which was enroute Oshodi from Mile 2, spilled its content while trying to manoeuvre.

His words: “Although investigation is still going on, we were able to curtail the situation. However, we had three mortalities in this disaster. All the dead people have been moved to the mortuary. We have 36 vehicles involved. Thank God that it did not spread because all the stakeholders important in managing emergency were on ground including men of the Fire Service coordinated by the LASEMA.”

“Mr. Fred Obroh, the manager of Ufuoma Transport Service said a driver named Michael Ohwosafa, from Delta State, had to be restrained from jumping into his burning bus. Ohwofasa had taken a loan of N2.8m to procure the bus.”

The Unit Secretary of the park, Tunde Raji and other officials of the drivers union spent much of yesterday condoling those who lost their vehicles.

He attributed the cause of the accident to impatience often associated with drivers of articulated vehicles plying the route.

He said: “One of our members was telling him to be patient so that they could

assist him but he refused to listen. Soon afterward the tanker exploded.”

Mr. Fred Obroh, the manager of Ufuoma Transport Service said a driver named Michael Ohwosafa, from Delta State, had to be restrained from jumping into his burning bus. Ohwofasa had taken a loan of N2.8m to procure the bus.

A distraught Ohwosafa told The Nation in an emo-

tion-laden voice: “All I know is that, suddenly I heard a sound as the tanker upturned. I only had third party insurance. I don’t know how to face this condition I find myself now.”

Some of the drivers succeeded in manoevring their cars to safety even in the midst of the confusion.

One of the unlucky ones was Ayodele Adewuyi, a driver with Uyi Line.

Adewuyi had just parked his bus after a journey from Port-Harcourt but could not take it out of the danger zone when the fire started.

A total of eight Toyota Hiace mini buses were lost to the inferno. A unit is estimated at N6million.Also burnt were two Space wagons, eight LT buses, a towing vehicle and 16 salon cars.

An eye-witness confirmed that the charred remains of the accident victims were taken to the mortuary in an ambulance at about 3.am.

One of the deceased was an NURTW official said to be sleeping inside the union’s office while the other two were a driver and an attendant in the park. His name was given as Alayinla.

One of the early callers at the scene of the accident yesterday was the Vice Chairman of AmuwoOdofin Local Government, Alhaja Qudrat Omolara Dada, who said the council mobilised nine fire fighting trucks to quell the inferno.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jaiyeoba Joseph, a Superintendent of Police, who confirmed the incident in a text message to The Nation correspondent said: “The accident occurred around 0100hours when a petrol tanker with registration No. XB370ATN heading to Mile 11 from Orile-Iganmu, Lagos, upturned and spilled its content, leading to inferno which claimed three lives and burnt 39 vehicles, mostly commercial buses with the driver still at large.”

Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

T

HERE is something about the ancient city of Ibadan which lends itself to permanent combat-readiness. It is not a city for the weak. It was a city founded by warriors, and affray and municipal hellraising are all a domestic pastime.

Its colourful stalwarts and strongmen have taught us a hard lesson in politics as native warfare. Yet it is also a city of egalitarian instincts and emancipatory ambition where anybody with talent and capacity for hard work could rise to the very top.

To this extent, Ibadan speaks to, and in many ways captures, the essence of the resurgent Yoruba spirit after the collapse of the feudal order.

As the battle to redefine and redesign the sovereignty of the Nigerian post-colonial state commenced in earnest, Ibadan is once again in the news. So far, this one is proving to be the most intense and ferocious since military rule was terminated in 1999. It began in earnest on the first hours of the new year when the entire nation took to the street in protest. As forces in contention take up position on the various fronts, it is intriguing to see so many early casualties litter the battle field.

In what is so far the clearest rebuff to advocates of a Sovereign National Conference, the president of the Republic of Nigeria has told them to direct their inquiries to the Belgore Committee on Outstanding Constitutional Issues. Goodluck Jonathan gave the marching orders to a delegation of South South and South Western political veterans when they came to submit the communiqué of a two-day joint meeting held in Ikenne.

Earlier, the Senate of the Republic through its spokesperson had offered words to the same effect. A few days later, the House of Representatives spoke in the same vein noting tersely that a Sovereign National Conference would cause more prob-

Ibadan and the crisis of sovereignty

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi lems for the nation. Let it be noted that the combination of executive and legislative blackmail will not make the calls to go away.

They are merely taking up position in the battle formation. The calls for a conference are a shorthand or subtext for a drastic reorganisation and reconstruction of Nigeria from the current historic mess. They will not go away as long as the current tragic morass prevails. No amount of executive and legislative denunciation can stop this. It is idle verbiage.

Nobody expects purveyors of unearned and unmerited privileges not to defend the status quo. It is those who are essentially well-meaning but who are used as miserable pawns on the political chessboard that must beware. In the din and camouflage of battle, it is easy to confuse enemies for friends.

This is why the case of some Yoruba elders is particularly depressing as battle fatigue and ring rustiness overwhelm valiant men.

Now, old age and past distinctions must be respected and venerated. But

The life and time of Sam Aluko ND while we are still on the subject of ethnic patriotism within the context of Nigerian nationalism, it is meet to report on the passing of a great man who emblematized all the contradictions in their turbulent and pressing convergence. Uncle Sam was no Uncle Sam poodle and neither was he John Bull’s blue eyed boy. With the passing of the great man, Nigeria has lost its foremost common sense economist and iconic avatar of activist intellectuals.

Throughout his distinguished academic career and meritorious public service, Aluko remained true only to himself and his inner conviction and could not care a hoot what anybody thought or felt about the choices he made. Like all selfmade men, the late professor developed an unusual sense of self-worth and a great natural confidence in his own ability which made him suspicious of all passing economic, political and ideological fancies. He had no time for urban sophisticates with their chic elocution and sartorial razzmatazz. He remained true to the storied antecedents of his hardy Ekiti forebears.

Having taught himself economics up to the degree level, he could not be fazed by new-fangled economic theories about rolling back the state. Throughout his life, he remained an economic nationalist; a Keynesian advocate of benevolent state capitalism. He was particularly contemptuous of any economic dogma which increased the misery and burden of the ordinary folks. As far as he was concerned, and like Awolowo, his trusted leader and political comrade, human capital is the foremost capital. Any economic doctrine which devalues this in the name of growth and statistical sleight of hand is an enemy of mankind.

With great clarity of mind and razor-sharp intelligence, Aluko

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could cut through thickets of economic confusion with withering and devastating consequences. He was unpretentiously folksy in his approach and when he expressed an opinion, it was always pungent and pitilessly pithy. When General Babangida declared that there was no alternative to his Structural Adjustment Programme, Aluko retorted that there was an alternative to death.

And when he was asked whether the Nigerian economy could collapse after Babangida wondered aloud as to why it had not despite his valiant attempt, Aluko sneered that an economy like Nigeria’s could not collapse since people can always take to the bush to hunt rabbits and uproot wild cassava. In other words, the informal economy has become the bulwark of the formal economy.

You would have thought that with all this, and despite having learnt at the feet of the iconic Harold Laski, that Aluko would be a flaming Marxist radical. He was not. He was in fact a man of muscular Christianity. In order to distinguish his brand of earthy radicalism from Marxist flame-throwing, Aluko famously authored a pamphlet titled Why I am Not A Marxist. When his colleagues went on strike to protest their conditions of service, Aluko even more famously demurred, claiming that he was eminently pleased with his package and take home pay. Many of his radical colleagues never forgave him.

It will be recalled that Aluko had earlier rejected the post of Economic Adviser to the old government of Western Nigeria on the grounds that the salary and perquisites attached to the office could not be defended.

This singular act of eccentric honour would create a permanent froideur between Aluko and the government which eventually hounded him out of his teaching post at the then Uni-

versity of Ife. Akintola famously extracted his pound of flesh. In a story that is possibly apocryphal, the late premier on a campaign trip to Ode-Ekiti, Aluko’s hometown, was alleged to have asked where Aluko’s personal house was. Upon being told that the great economist had not been able to build a personal house, the great oratorical wizard exploded in mirth. “You see, whenever we say anything Aluko will say he is a man of integrity but when we got to his hometown Aluko tegiriti.” (He could not build a house!)

But every Rome has its own barbarians. The obverse of this iconoclastic streak of independence and maverick eccentricity is that it could degenerate into a covert and faintly amoral collaboration and complicity with the status quo at the expense of group solidarity and cohesion and the collective resolve of an embattled ethnic nationality. Not many of Aluko’s equally illustrious Yoruba compatriots would appreciate the fact that the old man went to serve General Abacha even as their ranks were being criminally decimated and many of them hounded into exile.

It was surely rich for Aluko to argue that he did not believe in ethnic organisations after having been a staunch supporter of a party that originated from Egbe Omo Oduduwa and even as his fellow Yoruba compatriot who won a pan-Nigerian mandate was being mercilessly done to death in horrendous captivity.

But this dark blot on an otherwise unblemished career notwithstanding, Aluko has earned his spurs.

All great men are entitled to some foibles and character defects. When all is said and done, it is the great economic nationalist and forthright man of unusual candour that will be remembered by generations to come.

May the great man rest in peace.

it is curious and touching that twice in less than a month, the Yoruba political stalwarts have fallen for sucker punches which exposed their weak chins. First, when some of them allowed themselves to be conned into attending a so called national summit of dubious and suspect provenance.

But now more ominously, they have allowed themselves to be used as a decoy and canon fodder in a political musical whose lyrics may not be entirely displeasing to the ears of their dodgy fellow travellers from the South South. They went cap in hand to Jonathan openly complaining of marginalisation and begging for slots in a misbegotten federal set up. Chief Awolowo would be weeping in his grave.

You cannot disown and own at the same time.Whoever heard of the late sage complaining of marginalisation? Isn’t this what Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was saying all along, that no matter the colour and complexion of the skies what the bird eats is what the bird flies with ?

Those of them who have spent a lifetime abjuring the memory of the slain Ogbomosho political wizard must now kneel down in contrition and sober penitence.

In politics, once your heart is consumed by irrational hatred for a particular individual, you continue to make unforced political errors which will eventually prove fatal. In appreciation of their past heroic and sterling services to their nation, and in the light of their recent performance, the Yoruba old guard should now be encouraged to go home to a well-deserved retirement.

Let’s be fair to Jonathan, nobody ever gives up sovereignty, except under unbearable pressures or by actual force. He has not said anything out of sinc or out of order from what all post-military rule Nigeria civilian leaders have said. From Obasanjo through Yar’Adua and now to Jonathan, the battle cry has always been that there can be no two sovereign authorities in a country at the same time.

Let us help them deepen the argument. Elections are the democratic mechanism through which a people collectively and voluntarily surrender their sovereignty to an elected person who rules on their behalf. In the circumstances, once elections are held, it is idle and irrelevant if not mildly treasonable to talk about another sovereignty.

All this is neat and logical on paper. But it ignores the realities of a dysfunctional society and failing post-colonial states. In such countries, elections do not resolve national questions. In fact they tend to exacerbate them as we have seen in the case of the last presidential elections in Nigeria. Sovereignty in such climes tends to oscillate between the violent mob and the equally disturbed ruler, that is between the state and the street.

In certain cases, sovereign rule may lack sovereign authority and legitimacy. This occurs when the state and its physical embodiment have lost all authority and credibility. The ruler is in place but the ethical and coercive paraphernalia of the state have been completely eroded. The very notion of sovereignty has become a site of combat and fierce contest and contention by active and hostile forces. The state and its embattled actors cling to old notions of sovereignty but everybody knows that the game is up.

The Lockean contract stipulates that while people freely and willingly give up their sovereignty to an elected

ruler, they have the right to demand it back when the state fails in its sacred covenant of providing political, economic and spiritual security to the people. When and where elections become an empty ritual for the perpetuation of a debased and thoroughly debauched status quo, the situation calls for a more fundamental reorganisation of the polity before anarchy takes over. Anarchy is the final triumph of the street over the state.

As it is at the moment, there can be no doubt that the Jonathan presidency has reached the end of its historic tether. Wracked and strafed by conflicts and crises of all sizes and shapes, Jonathan does not seem to know where to turn. Yet by foreclosing the possibility a national dialogue whose outcome should be binding on all, Jonathan has also foreclosed the possibility of state redemption. Whenever there are clashing and conflicting notions of sovereignty, when the contest is between the sovereignty of the state and the sovereignty of the street, the sovereignty of rational nationals must intervene. This is the true essence of the real modern nation-state.

Unfortunately, by spurning the one safety valve which could reinvest the Nigerian state with the aura and authority of a real sovereign state, Jonathan might have inadvertently opened up the possibility of a chaotic endgame. For now, if care is not taken, there is nothing standing between Nigeria and onrushing perdition. Nigeria, as it is currently constituted, is not designed for sovereign citizens. It was designed for metropolitan extortion and extractive predation as infamously proclaimed in Lugard’s Dual Mandate Doctrine. A slave plantation will always end up as a Banana Republic.

In a very sobering irony and while the legislative and executive chicanery was unfolding at the centre, the political, intellectual and technocratic elite of the old west, including Edo state, particularly its elected representatives at all tiers, took a robust step forward to rescue their people from the tyranny of a slavenation and its misguided unitarist system.

So far, the Ibadan historic declaration is the most solid and constitutional challenge to federal overlordship in Nigeria. It is a charter of freedom and the right to selfdetermination. If the governors and leaders were to give muscle and teeth to the bill, it remains to be seen how the current structure of Nigeria could withstand the tidal wave of revulsion and indignation.

This is not to be taken lightly.

Ibadan is always where it all begins and ends. It was on the sprawling plains that the Yoruba first politically regrouped after the dissolution of the old empire became a historic inevitability. It was here that the first modern army of the Yoruba emerged. It was here that the most purposeful experiment in governance in the history of Nigeria unfurled. And it was here that the federal authorities in the First Republic first overreached themselves with fatal consequences. Will history repeat itself?

It can be seen from the foregoing that the battle to reinvent and redesign the Nigeria nation and to invest its failing state with real sovereignty has only been joined. A pair of trousers that has come up for short has come up for short. No amount of amendment and attachment can redeem it.. Only a foolish person will attempt to argue with an earthquake.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News

FUEL SUBSIDY PROTEST Police arrest Gani’s widow, son A

PROCESSION rally in memory of the victims who died in last month’s protest against the withdrawal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government was yesterday stopped abruptly by the police at Maryland, Lagos.

The police then arrested a former President of Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Dr. Dipo Fasina, the widow of the late Lagos lawyer-activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Ganiyat, his son, Mohammed and 13 others.

The procession was to mark the 40-day memorial of the victims who were shot dead by security operatives during the nationwide protest.

The subsidy withdrawal led to an increase in petrol price to N141 per litre from the former price of N65.

Government was, however, forced to review its decision with the price coming down to N97.

The procession had taken off peacefully at 9am from the Yaba, Lagos Secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and was headed for the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park at Ojota when gun-

By Dupe Olaoye-Oshikolu and Dare Odufowokan

wielding policemen intercepted the marchers at Maryland.

The policemen led by Deputy Superintendent Noah Adesoyin demanded the police permit authorising the procession.

An argument ensued between the two parties with the police asking the activists to disperse. The activists insisted on continuing.

The policemen fired canisters of teargas into the crowd and arrested some of the protesters.

The names of the others arrested by the police were given as Ayodele Akele, Tunde Agunbiade, Keshinro, Popoola Ajayi, Sola Olatunde, a journalist with City FM - Iyatse Joshua, Kazeem Akinrinade, Kulu Oladejo, Alex Omoteseyin, Prophet Moses Adeola, Akin Adedeji, Agbodemu Musiliu, and Ismail Olawale.

They were, however, released last night on bail following the intervention of Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana.

SNC unnecessary, says Ekwueme S ECOND Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, has opposed calls for the convocation a Sovereign National Conference (SNC).

He said it is not the most viable solution to the myriad of problems threatening the unity of the country, rather he said national dialogue would be a better option.

Dr. Ekwueme, a one-time strong advocate of SNC, says a similar conference organised by the administration of the late General Sani Abacha yielded no fruit He now prefers national dialogue which, according to him, would fall in place with the democratic principle.

Speaking yesterday at the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, Onitsha, during the 10th Episcopal anniversary of the Archbishop of Onitsha and the Metropolitan of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, the Most Reverend Valerian Okeke, Dr. Ekwueme said the Abacha-organised SNC failed largely because of the influence and the nature of the military government in power at the time.

According to him, “We have the National and state Assemblies and a democratic government in place; so the call for a Sovereign National Conference is inappropriate. I don’t believe in it, I don’t support it.”

Also speaking, the Archbishop of Onitsha, Dr. Okeke called for proper understanding of the need to come together to achieve peace.

He urged Ndigbo to make sure they always come home to build a formidable force anchored on unity, adding that the major problem facing Ndigbo as a people is their lack of unity of purpose.

“There is need for Ndigbo to come home and build a formidable front and also help us rebuild our states. It will help us back to our feet because it appears our brothers and sisters have forgotten that they came from home and should build the home for the fu-

From Okodili Ndidi, Onitsha

ture of our people” Nigeria, he said, is passing through a lot of challenges such as insecurity, pointing out that the bombing and security challenges in some parts of the country are being masterminded by a few elements who lacked the spirit of God. “Those people that throw bombs on our brothers in the North may think that we don’t have a place to stay if we leave their states, but if Ndigbo come home and build their investments in Igboland they will know we have homes”, he said.

In his sermon, the Bishop of Enugu Diocese, the Most Reverend Calistus Onaga described the level of development in the Archdiocese under the leadership of Archbishop Okeke as monumental and urged him to continue with the good works.

Bishop Onaga described the office of Bishop as very tasking and dangerous and called on all the clergymen especially the Bishops to always place God first in all that they do.

The procession was organised by the Joint Action Front (JAF), the Lagos branches of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and The Muslim Congress (TMC).

The TMC expressed disappointment at the police action which it described as insensitive, unprofessional, irresponsible and

dastardly.

It said the deployment of aggressive policemen to “ repress, brutalise and injure innocent Nigerians on peaceful procession” was “ uncivilised, intolerant and undemocratic, considering the fact that the procession had been widely publicised through press conference to dispel fears, suspi-

•Mrs Ganiyat Fawehinmi, (left), Dr. Sina Fasina and Ayodele Akele during a march by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Joint Action Forum (JAF) in memory of those who died during last month’s fuel subsidy protest, held in Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: BADE DARAMOLA

Ojukwu’s burial: Tension as traders protest eviction

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ENSION mounted in Nnewi yesterday as over 1,000 displaced owners of shops at the Nkwo Nnewi triangle staged a peaceful protest.

The protesters comprising of traders, artisans, commercial vehicle drivers and other categories of workers denied ever collecting N250,000 each from the Nzuko Ora Nnewi as alleged for their compensation.

The Nation had reported on Friday that the Nkwo Nnewi Triangle Park was demolished by the Anambra State government in collaboration with Nzuko Ora Nnewi to make way for a parking lot during the burial of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu next month.

They were alleged to have collected compensation from the fed-

Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

eral government but the traders yesterday denied the compensation claiming they were unjustly sacked from their business zone and now they are stranded.

The traders who chanted songs of disagreement marched round the Nkwo Triangle and displayed placards with various inscriptions including: “stop violation of our fundamental human rights’’, “demolition without notice is inhuman’’, “no notice, no compensation were given us’’.

They insisted that they must be adequately compensated and be shown a new place to relocate.

Spokesman of the protesters, Mr Harold Ekwebenam described as misleading and mischievous

Lassa fever epidemic hits Rivers • Kills female nurse • Health personnel scared of treating patients

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LASSA fever epidemic has hit Rivers State with a female nurse already dead.

Six cases have been confirmed and health personnel are reportedly scared of attending to patients.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, told reporters in Port Harcourt yesterday that the viral disease spread by rats is difficult to diagnose.

He said: “Rivers State currently has a challenge of Lassa fever. It is real. It is the first time medical notice of the ailment is taken in the state.

With one person already dead, it is an epidemic.

“Lassa fever is carried by species

cions and insinuations from government and security agencies.

“Even journalists and pressmen from TVC, Galaxy, AIT, Silver Bird and print media were not spared. The use of tear-gas for peaceful protest devoid of violence caused pandemonium, injuries, traffic jam and confusion at Maryland-Ojota area. Whosoever ordered the disruption has made a costly mistake by subverting free speech and freedom of association, a cardinal principle cherished by the international community and advanced democracies. This is another error from the Nigerian Police authority and government.”

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

of rats with eight breasts, which stay in filthy environment. We must ensure personal and environmental hygiene, as well as good waste disposal. All domestic wastes should be covered in bags and disposed of appropriately.

“Rivers people should be vigilant and correct one another, because one person’s mistake can be disastrous. The dead medical staff might have ensured personal hygiene, but her neighbours might not have been very careful. We must discourage self medication. Go to the nearest health

facility for examination by health personnel.

“The rats shed the virus in urine and droppings. The virus is transmitted through direct contact when eating food contaminated with faeces and urine or cuts and sores, when they may have contact with them.

“There is airborne transmission, when a person inhales tiny particles in the air contaminated with rat excretions. Lassa fever is also spread through person to person contact with virus in the blood tissue, secretions or excretions of an infected individual.

It is common in villages and healthcare settings and medical equipment.

the claims that the affected occupants of the Nkwo Nnewi Triangle Park received N250, 000 each from Nzuko-Ora Nnewi (Nnewi Town Union) as compensation to relocate. He added that if each of the occupants had received such an amount of money that they would not have any cause to complain.

“The newspaper report that Nzuko Ora Nnewi paid each of us N250, 000 as compensation is a lie. I bought my stall for N15, 000 and paid N800 monthly to Nzuko Ora Nnewi. One day we were called to Anaedo Hall for compensation and after being in a queue for two consecutive days, I was paid N2, 750 only with my photograph. So it happened to others,’’ Mr Ekwebenem, a dealer in telecommunication goods lamented.

He argued that the displacement of traders at the park would lead to increase in insecurity in Nnewi as many would be thrown out of job.

Another protester, Mr Amaechi George said he had paid N11,000 to obtain a form for relocation exercise without having anything in return and asked for intervention of the state government. Mrs Azubuike Chioma regretted that three years ago she paid N20,000 to Nzuko Ora Nnewi for the relocation arrangement to no avail even as she claimed that she was paying N2,000 monthly as stall fee to Nzuko Ora up to January, 2012.

She noted that the current displacement would lead some ladies to prostitution and men to crime for being jobless.

T THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News

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SSS raids another Boko Haram leader’s home T

HE State Security Service (SSS) took the battle against the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, to the home of yet another of its ring leaders in Abuja at the weekend.

Operatives of the agency, acting on information, raided the home of Bashiru Madalla in the Federal Capital Territory.

The man identified as the co-ordinator of the sect in the FCT and Niger State is however on the run.

He is believed to be a close ally of Habibu Bama, the exsoldier declared wanted last week by the SSS in connection with the Christmas day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla.

A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We have identified the coordinator of Boko Haram operations in FCT and Niger State, Bashiru

• Recover pornographic tapes • IGP, SSS DG meet on how to tackle sect From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

Madalla. Although he is on the run, we succeeded in locating his home.

“We raided his residence in Madalla and retrieved many sensitive documents and pornographic films. It really baffled our agents that we could find such.

“We have launched a manhunt for Bashiru wherever he may be either in Nigeria or outside.

“From intelligence gathering, the suspect also facilitated most of the bombings in Niger State and the FCT.” Responding to a question, the source said: “The

operation against Boko Haram is yielding results we have a reasonable number of their leaders with us.”

The SSS has however foreclosed the return of the recaptured Kabiru Sokoto to the Police although it will allow any security agency to interrogate the suspect within its facility.

Meanwhile, the DirectorGeneral of the SSS, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong and the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar have held a closed door meeting on how to tackle the Boko Haram menace.

On the fate of Kabiru Sokoto, who was re-arrested in Taraba State, the source

said: “The suspect is still with the SSS, we have not handed him over to the Nigeria Police or any security agency.

In fact, we have never handed over our suspect to any agency and we will not start now.

“We know that there are sister agencies, like the police, investigating the activities of Kabiru Sokoto. We will allow them access to Kabiru Sokoto in detention for interrogation.

“So far, we have not received any official request from either the police or any agency for an interaction with Kabiru Sokoto.”

A reliable source said:

“The two security chiefs met for hours on how to tackle the Boko Haram challenge.

In the past, each service tried to work alone but the two leaders are after synergy.

“From the outcome of the session, the police and the SSS will have more collaboration than it had been before.

“They are also looking for a working tie beyond the menace of Boko Haram.”

Demand for new states now 45, says Ekweremadu

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HE demand for additional states now stands at 45, according to the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu who doubles as Chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Review, said at a lecture on “Constitution Amendment and State Creation” organised by the Otu Oka’Iwu Lagos, a group of lawyers of South East extraction based in Lagos that while about 34 of the requests are intra-state, seven are interstate and four cut across geopolitical zones..

His Special Adviser (Media) Uche Anichukwu, quoted him as listing minority fears, search for equity and speedy development as well as quest for political empires and influence by the elite as the key factors for the proliferation of states since independence and the agi-

From: Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

tation for more.

He noted that the country would become a federation of 81 states should all the requests be granted.

Ekweremadu reiterated the resolve of the National Assembly to address critical issues of federalism such as devolution of powers, local government administration, structural imbalances, state police, among others in the current phase of constitution amendment.

He, however, observed that the country was yet to provide satisfactory answers to some nagging questions in respect of the 36 states structure or creation of new ones as against a return to regionalism on the basis of the six geopolitical zones.

He listed these as: *Has the creation of more

states allayed the fears of minorities and the feelings of marginalisation and domination? *Has it resulted to good governance and speedier development at State levels than we had before?

He said: “If it is meant to bring governance closer to the people, what then is the essence of the local government areas? Important too, is the proliferation of states and even the extant ones viable and self-sustainable.

“Again, at a time the global trend is aggressively moving towards the contraction of the size of government and cost of governance and at a time the nation is already sweating profusely under the yoke of unwieldy size of government at the federal, state, and local levels, can we really sustain the status-quo let alone create new burdens?”

Supreme Court’s verdict: Echocho faults PDP’s claim on Kogi suit

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HE embattled former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Jibrin Isah Echoho, yesterday faulted the party for disowning a suit it lost at the Supreme Court on Friday.

He also said that the controversy over the right candidate of the party in last December’s poll has not been resolved.

He said only a competent court could determine the real candidate between him and Governor Idris Wada.

Echocho made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja through the Media Consultant to his campaign organization, Mr. Phrank Shuaibu.

The statement followed the claim of the party that it had never approached the Supreme Court for a consequential order.

The apex court had on Friday thrown away the applica-

From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

tion of the PDP to declare Wada as the Governor-in-waiting.

After the judgment, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Rufai Alkali said the party did not file any suit at the Supreme Court for any consequential order on the governorship seat in Kogi.

But Echocho faulted the claim of the party and he insisted that PDP was properly before the apex court.

The statement said: “We have found it neccesary to call this conference because of the laughable attempt by the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to distance itself from the benign and failed move to compel the Supreme Court to grant consequential orders recognising Captain Idris Wada as the Governor of Kogi State.

“Of course, we are well aware that you are familiar

with the bellicose statement from the PDP headquarters.

And we make bold to declare that nothing can be further from the truth. To put it mildly: we say that, PDP lied.

“The soliloquy engaged in the said statement issued by the PDP National Publicity Secretary to the effect that, the PDP never approached the apex court to seek consequential orders on the governorship seat of Kogi is quite disturbing that it needs to be addressed in order to save the public from fatigue through his cacophony of complaints and lies . “ Let me place on record that,the Zonal Legal Adviser of the PDP,one Mohammed Kabiru of plot 1970 Micheal Opara street,Wuse Zone 5,Abuja, was the one who deposed to a 13-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion with which the PDP, through its Counsel,Chris Uche,SAN filed a motion at the Supreme

Acting Sokoto State Governor, Lawal Muhammed Zayyana casting his vote at Maiturare polling unit, Gwadabawa Local Government yesterday.

• Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, casting his vote at Shiryan Ajiya polling station in Tambuwal. With him is former Deputy Speaker, Alhaji Bayaro Nafada (left), during Sokoto governorship election yesterday.

Fraud allegations trail Sokoto governorship election

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LLEGATIONS of fraud yesterday trailed the governorship election in Sokoto State with the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) accusing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of manipulating the votes.

But voting was generally peaceful across the state. Members of the PDP were alleged to have harassed the ANPP polling agent at the Girkau Primary School Polling unit at Kebbe, the home base of the ANPP flagbearer, Alhaji Yusha’u Muhammad Ahmed.

There was no election at Milgoma ward in Bodinga local government area after a member of the State House of Assembly allegedly insisted on the accreditation of men before women. The people did not

From: Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

agree with his proposal and stalled voting there.

Milgoma is the home base of the state chairman of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP).

Yusha’u after casting his vote said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had done well with the arrangement for the election.

He alleged malpractices

by PDP thugs in parts of Kebbe and Kuchi districts with a view to distorting the result.

“Some INEC officials and security agents including police were involved in the attempt,” he said adding: “our agents were able to resist similar attempts in some areas.”

Democracy, he said, “is all about franchise and

right to exercise same by vote and through the ballot without intimidation as choosing a leader.”

Voters’ turnout was low in places like Bodinga, Shagari and Tambawal local government areas.

Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko of the PDP who was one of the five state governors sacked by the Supreme Court last month on the ground that their tenure expired last May voted at the Wambai polling unit at 12:35pm. He described the turnout especially of women as impressive and orderly.

He commended INEC for the prompt arrival of materials at polling units.

Acting Governor Lawal Muhammad Zayyana voted in his hometown of Gwadabawa and also described the exercise as peaceful and orderly.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News

Civil war: Ojukwu defended his people N

IGER State governor Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu yesterday rose in defence of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s action to take arms against the country, saying ‘’he was greatly misunderstood’’.

Defending the circumstances that forced Ojukwu to go into the 30 month civil war, Aliyu said he would have done same if he found himself in similar situation.

The Governor stated this at Zungeru in Wushishi local government area of the state during the kick-off of the funeral rites of the late Biafran leader.

• I’ll do same if in his position, says Gov Aliyu Jide Orintunsin, Minna

“Many saw him as controversial, a war lord and a rebel whatever we might think of him, we must appreciate the issue of the time and majority of the people concluded he was forced by circumstances to take up arms against the country he loved and swore to defend.

“I Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu from my studies know that, I will take up arms to defend my people if confronted with similar circumstances that

Ojukwu found himself that time,’’ Aliyu stated.

Eulogising the late EzeIgbo-gburugburu, the governor said that despite his privileged and advantageous background, Ojukwu ‘’choose to remain very humble, disciplined and devoting his early and even later years to the struggle for the emancipation of the under-privileged.’’

On national unity, Aliyu said that Nigerians should come to terms with the reality of the difficulties and challenges of national build-

Edo 2012: Anenih is finished —Oshiomhole

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DO State Governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole yesterday described a chieftain of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, as a finished politician.

Anenih, the Governor said, can never revive his political career winning the state for PDP. Oshiomhole was reacting to Anenih’s comment in Yenogoa, Capital of Bayelsa State, during the campaign train of Governor Henry Dickson that Edo State will soon return to PDP. He spoke at a well-attended sensitisation workshop by women leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Benin, capital of Edo. Oshiomhole said, ‘’The godfather can never resurrect from his political death.

Abuja cannot revive him. ‘’Abuja will not define votes in Edo. Edo people will decide the votes. When an old man decides to live on fraud, cheating, manipulation, he is poised for a bigger place in hell. ‘’That hell began from here. There is nothing the chief can do to revive himself from his political death.

He cannot resurrect. He is finished and he remained finished.”

He challenged the former Chairman of the Nigeria

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

Ports Authority (NPA) to a walk on the streets of Benin to canvass for votes for the scheduled July 14th governorship election.

According to him, ‘’Let him come to Benin and make the statement he made in Yenogoa. He should come here. He should come to the streets of Benin. Let us march together to markets in the state. ‘’He must not hide inside a bullet proof vehicle and be making statements he cannot make even in Uromi.’’

ACN women leader, Mrs. Modina Emovon and Secretary, Mrs Patience

Omorotiomwan, in their speeches, urged women to compare Oshiomhole’s administration to PDP’s 10 year rule.

Mrs. Emovon told the women not to sell their voter’s cards which she described as their weapon to retain good leadership in the state.

According to her, “We are happy with what Governor Oshiomhole is doing. We are asking him to continue and we will stand solidly by him in the elections.

“Edo women will vote ACN. We will not allow the PDP to come back again.

They are enemies of development.’’

ing and not to engage in anything that will jeopardise the unity of the country at the slightest opportunity.

According to him, “We must stay here together to fight for our rights because 52 years after independence we should not be seen to be threatening the breaking up of the country at the slightest challenges”.

Earlier, the Chairman of South-Eastern Governors Forum, Mr. Peter Obi said, the Igbos are ready to continue with the Nigerian project if only they will be given their dues in the coun-

with their host communities, assuring that the Igbo nation will continue to promote the unity of the country.

Commending Niger State government for putting together the ‘Icho Nmadu’ funeral rite, Abia state Governor, Theodore Orji stated that burial rite in Zungeru, the birth place of the late sage was a befitting tribute to a man who rose up to the be counted when it mattered most in the history of the Igbo nationality in Nigeria.

“We salute Niger state for protecting two illustrious Igbo sons; Zik and Ojukwu especially, Dim, the man who taught us how to fight for our rights”.

•L-R: Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike; former NBA President, OCJ Okocha (SAN) and his wife(the celebrant) Ifeoma; Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, Nyema Weli and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) at the 50th birtthday anniversary of Ifeoma at Emmanuel at Anglican Church, Port Harcourt... at the weekend

Supreme Court: Petition against Suswam different from Borno’s case–Benue ACN

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Benue State has assured its supporters that its petition against the declaration of Mr. Gabriel Suswam of the PDP as the winner of the last governorship election in the state remains on course.

The party chairman in the state, Comrade Abba Yaro dismissed the position of the PDP that the petition

against Gov Suswam was no longer tenable on the strength of last Friday’s ruling by the Supreme Court on the Borno and Zamfara governorship election petitions as they related to the time frame within which judgement should be delivered by the tribunal on such petitions.

Comrade Yaro in a statement said: “The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),

Benue State Chapter is aware of a Supreme Court judgment delivered Yesterday, February 17, 2012 where the apex court made pronouncement on the issue of Section 285(6) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which provides time of 180 days within which a Tribunal must deliver its judgment in writing. This

Ekiti buries former Internal Revenue Service boss

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ORMER Chairman, Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Prince Kolade Ayodele has been buried in his hometown, Efon Alaaye.

Prince Ayodele chaired the IRS for eight months.

He turned around the operations of the department and grew the state’s monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from about a hundred million to nearly N700million.

Speaking at the lying-instate service at the premises of the IRS office in the Old Governor’s Office, AdoEkiti, capital of Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi said the late banker was appointed because of his achievements.

try and stop being treated as second class citizen of the country.

“Nobody can drive the Igbos away from Nigeria because we are the true Nigerian that promotes national integration and developments.

“We are committed to building a better Nigeria but the only thing we demand is equality in the union that is what Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu fought for all through his life,’’ the governor maintained.

Obi who is the governor of Anambra State then enjoined Igbos living in any part of the country to continue to co-exist peacefully

• The widow, Folake and the three children... yesterday From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

He said; ‘Prince Ayodele was a banker with First City Monument Bank (FCMB)

when I met him. I was the one who asked him to join my cabinet and serve the state.

‘He was a performer

and his achievements have continued to speak volumes of his intentions for the state. ‘’Within the brief period of his service, he performed so well that three newspapers ran editorials on his performance. He was not a politician and needed not be a politician to be appointed.’’

Fayemi pledged that the state government would continue to support late Ayodele’s wife, children and parents to cushion the irreparable loss of their breadwinner.

Ayodele is survived by his wife, Folake; three children, Oluwabukunmi, Oluwatusayo and Tokunbo as well as his mother and elderly siblings.

ruling has made the PDP propaganda machinery in Benue State to misinform the masses that the case of the ACN at the Tribunal is over.

“We wish to state the following facts: * When the ACN started campaign in the April General elections, the PDP said the party was not on ground but at the end of the day, PDP rigged its way into office in addition, featured a Governorship Candidate who was not qualified to have contested the election. * On September 19, 2011 when the Justice Munir Ladan-led Tribunal dismissed the ACN petition, the PDP went celebrating that the ACN petition had come to a dead end. On November 14, 2011 the Supreme Court despite a motion filed by the PDP that 180 days had lapsed, restored the petition. * Top state officials of government and PDP were on the State owned Radio Benue misinforming members of the public that even though the Supreme Court had restored the ACN petition, 180 days had lapsed and that the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain same. It came to

pass that the Tribunal overruled them and proceeded to hear the petition. * The PDP appealed to the Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division on the issue of 180 days but lost woefully. *. Yesterday, there were celebrations across the state that the issue of 180 is settled in the case of Borno.

Radio Benue is also misinforming members of the public about this development.”

The ACN chief asked party supporters to “ remain calm, prayerful and resolute, as the Supreme Court, which ordered our petition to be heard on the merits, cannot turn back and pronounce otherwise on our case. Cases are determined based on facts and their peculiar circumstances. It is very clear that our petition is not on all fours with that of Borno and as such can be distinguished.

“We advise the PDP in Benue State to vigorously pursue her appeal to the Supreme Court on the issue of 180 days and stop relying on a case that is totally different from theirs. Why is PDP scared of defending her so called victory in the April 26, 2011 Governorship election in Benue State before the Tribunal?”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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HE scramble for the speakership of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly has begun at the various sections of the Bayelsa Central Senatorial District where it is zoned to.

This is more so because of the likely exit of the current occupant Nestor Binabo, touted to take over from Governor Henry Dickson at the House of Representatives.

Impeccable sources disclosed that the major contenders for the speakership are the legislators from SILGA and KOLGA as YELGA is seriously gunning for the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) position.

For the Speakership, the outgoing Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Fini Angaye who hails from KOLGA Constituency 1 is said to be highly favoured.

He was said to have lobbied for the support of fellow lawmakers during his stint as acting speaker.

Though Angaye was in the Sylva Camp, he never hesitated to reach out to members of the restoration team, especially during the recent campaigns of the team around the state.

Another legislator from Kolga area, Tonye Isenah of KOLGA 2, also reportedly showed interest in the Speakership but his moves may not make headways because he is a first termer.

He has the backing of his mentor and former governorships candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Ndutimi Alaibe, who is now in the PDP and played a major role in the making of the present Governor Dickson.

Angaye has however reunited with Alaibe, his former political godfather, a move that sources said have put paid to Isenah’s ambition.

Some also see the proximity of Kolga area to

News

Aregbesola decries Search for new Speaker, violence against women SSG begins in Bayelsa W

By Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

the Sagbama area where the governor hails from as a factor that may rub Kolga of the juicy position.

The argument is that if the speaker and governor are produced by two LGAs with common boundary, the larger Southern Ijaw area, which is mostly in the riverine area of the state, may be neglected development wise.

Sources disclosed that the restoration team is being very careful on the issue to avoid making a mistake of supporting someone who would be used against its agenda later.

The much expected replacement of Dickson at the House of

Representatives by Binabo, is also reportedly facing some potholes.

Sources disclosed that the major factor against Binabo was his seeming reluctance to open heartedly support the restoration team’s campaign process.

As a product of former Governor Sylva, his role during the campaigns around the state was below average, noted a source in the team.

However, a source disclosed that there is still hope for Binabo to clinch the slot if Mr. President intervenes.

For the SSG slot, the YELGA axis in the Central Senatorial district is said to be eyeing the position.

Though the governor is from the Sagabama axis of the West Senatorial District, Ekeremo area within the district is also said to be eyeing the SSG. In the race are Chief Fred Agbedi, who was the Director of Campaigns of the restoration team, and Chief Dikivie Ikiogha, a one-time commissioner in the Goodluck Jonathan and Sylva administrations.

Chief Agbedi seems to be favoured by public opinion considering his track record in virtually all facets of human endeavour.

The horse trading in the new administration is still in progress and lots of surprises are expected.

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IFE of Osun State Governor, Mrs. S h e r i f a t Aregbesola, has condemned the spate of violence against women.

While speaking at the 14th Annual Family Day Celebration, organised by the state chapter of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), in Osogbo, Mrs. Aregbesola lamented the increase in cases of rape across the country.

The state’s first lady, who frowned at the way governments at different levels have been handling the issue of violence against women, called on those in authority to ensure that the development is put under control.

She also called on parents to protect their female children against abuse by giving them adequate attention that would make

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

them feel loved and secured.

“Parents should not discriminate in providing quality education and care for their children. Even God does not discriminate against any sex when providing for the family need.

“As parents, therefore, we should not discriminate against our children in providing quality education for them. I wish to urge mothers here to raise our daughters according to the tenets of Islam. It is the best way to protect them against social vices, especially sexual abuse. We should always be there for them, counsel them, care for them and love them,” she added.

Mrs. Aregbesola called on government at various levels to design more programmes that would give women more access to economic power.

Abia arraigns three for fraud

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L-R: Commissioner for Finance, Chamberlain Peterside; Skye Bank General Manager Chike Memeh; Acting Chairman Board of Internal Revenue A.C Dokubo; Special Adviser on Revenue Generation Nwankwo Nwankwo and Special Adviser on ICT Goodliffe Nmekini at the commissioning of the Rivers State Tax Management Software in Port Harcourt, recently

Businessman sues NDLEA for N25m

HE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has been dragged to court over the invasion of a private business man’s warehouse in Aba for alleged importation of hard drugs.

After searching the warehouse and the containers belonging to Bundi International Limited without any trace of hard drugs, the Managing Director of the company, Robert Udeagha, was allegedly asked to sign a document that his goods were not damaged.

But alleging that his goods have been devalued and destroyed, Udeagha headed to court.

He is demanding compensation of over N25 million.

Udeagaha told reporters, “During the search, the military were there with NDLEA men from Aba, Umuahia, Calabar, Owerri and Port-Harcourt offices and they opened all the bales of textile and searched material by material and did not find anything incriminating”.

NDLEA officials, he

7

From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

said, urged him to sign a document purporting that nothing was destroyed while the search was going on.

“When I refused, they

now threatened to deal with me and that they are going to do their job. Doing their job was to come back the next day being Saturday, 11th February to break into my warehouse for another search on the same container

saying they have orders from above. This shows that they have ulterior motive either to frame me up or for a hidden agenda,” he said.

17 Ondo communities cry out over oil spillage

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E V E N T E E N communities in the coastal area of Ondo state have been affected by oil spillage triggered by activities of Bonga field operated by Shell Company in its water front.

Mostly affected are Ikorigho, Odonla and Molutehin communities.

The oil spill, which has become worrisome to the affected communities and the state government, had traumatised residents in the area.

It was learnt that their source of livelihood have been affected by the development.

The aggrieved communities alleged that some of the Bonga oil field pipes had rusted and burst into their water front, thereby bringing about the spillage.

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

The Alagho of Odonla, Oba Elias Ikuomola and the Head of Ikorigho community, Pa Erejuwa Omadele, told reporters that the spillage had destroyed all the fishes in their water front and contaminated their water.

The duo lamented that their people have no water to drink and have now resorted to fetching water from their neighbouring local government which is about 20 kilometers away.

According to them, many of their children are falling sick due to contaminated water.

They lamented that Shell Company has refused to visit the affected communities despite series of letters and delegations sent to the company.

“Our youths are angry.

The elders are sad. The fisher men are crying because of this spillage caused by the activities of Shell Company in our water front.

“We are human beings and not animals. Why should Shell Company do this to us? Why is the company paying us in this manner?

“The company has paralysed our economic activities and brought untold hardship on our people,” Oba Elias lamented.

The State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Chief Sola Ebiseni, could not be reached for comments.

An official of the ministry who spoke in confidence said the ministry had commenced investigations into the issue.

HREE young men have been arraigned in two magistrate courts in Abia State for various offences ranging from using the name of Chinedu Orji, son of Abia State Governor, to commit advanced fee fraud and a threat to assassinate him.

Obinna Onyeka was arraigned on two count charges of conspiring with others now at large to defraud people with the name of the governor’s son on January 28, 2012, an offense punishable under section 422 of the criminal code Cap 80 vol 3, law of Abia state of Nigeria 2005.

The second charge which borders on terrorism said that Onyeka also known as tallest was said to have put Chinedu Orji, “in extreme fear by threatening to kill him through hired assassins”.

The presiding chief magistrate of court 2, Mrs M. Ken-Ahukanna said that the first charge was within the jurisdiction of her court.

The other one, she said, will not be tried at the magistrate court and

From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

adjourned the matter till March 22 for an appropriate court to take over.

Earlier in magistrate court one presided over by Mrs Nkechi Nnanna Kalu, two other men Stanley Nwaobilor and Silas Ihemeremadu were charged at another magistrate court for using the name of the governor’ son to defraud one Charles Esonu of the sum of N1 million on or about February 3 2012.

The magistrate upheld the amendment and remanded the accused in prison custody in Umuahia pending the transfer of the case to a high court of competent jurisdiction.

It adjourned the matter till 22 February this year.

Chief Press Secretary to Governor Orji, Ugochukwu Emezue, said that the state government is determined to fight corruption to a standstill.

He added that the three men will be used as example to others like them.

Atilade heads South West CAN H R I S T I A N Association of Nigeria (CAN) South West Zone last week elected National President of the Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas, Most Rev. Magnus Atilade, as its new chairman.

With the election, Atilade becomes a member of the National Executive Council of CAN. The election held at the CAN headquarters Ijokodo Ibadan, Oyo State.

Atilade promised to work towards the unity of Christians in the zone and o r g a n i s e interdenominational crusades and revivals.

C

He said, ‘’this is a call to serve in the vineyard of God and we shall do within our powers to take CAN to the next level’’.

The President of Christian Welfare Initiative (CWI) also pledged to organise national days of fasting and prayers.

He said the organisation will liase with stakeholders to improve the lots of Christians economically and politically.

Other elected officers include Rev. Fr Osegbohun as vice chairman; Rev. A.O Aro Secretary and Ven. B.K Omikunle, Assistant secretary.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News

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PEAKER of Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has assured theatre arts practitioners that tighter laws will be enacted to effectively combat piracy of intellectual works in the state.

He gave the assurance while receiving a delegation of the Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP) led by its outgoing President, Prince Babajide Kosoko yesterday in Ikeja.

The Speaker commended ANTP for mirroring the society and proffering solutions for ‘‘our problems.’’

He however noted that ‘‘there are still problems militating against the growth of the industry.’’

Ikuforiji assured them that ‘‘all necessary legislative backing will be put in place to ensure offenders are effectively brought to book.’’

The Speaker called on law enforcement agents to be more committed to ridding the society of pirates.

He said, ‘‘I strongly believe that the House will

‘Stiffer law on piracy PDP expels ex-senator S underway in Lagos’

By Oziegbe Okoeki

swing into action to get a committee set up to actualise this (implementation and review of existing law on piracy) immediately. ‘’These laws are there, but outdated; some are not effective to deter offenders.

We will review the law in order to eliminate piracy in Lagos State.’’

Kosoko said the law has not really done much in addressing copyright violations in the society.

He argued that illegal duplications of films have

caused incalculable damage to the industry and forced many practitioners into oblivion.

The renowned actor implored the House to assist in the use of Taskforce Committee to curb piracy activities in the state.

CMC ordains 400 pastors, 200 chaplains

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From: Emma Mgbeahurike, Owerri.

APGA. They alleged Izunaso was invited severally to defend himself but declined.

The decision of the ward to expel Izunaso was conveyed to the zonal leadership of the party by the Orlu West executives through a memo signed by its chairman, Sule Odimega and secretary, Kenneth Akumakwu.

It explained that “after an exhaustive and due deliberation on the issue (i.e.

Ohakpu ward decision) and considering that Senator Izunaso’s anti-party activities permeated the entire L.G.A. and that all earlier invitations extended to him to defend himself were rebuffed, the executives and entire members agreed to align themselves with the position of our members from Ohakpu chapter of our great party. ‘’Consequently, the Orlu West chapter of the party has expelled Senator Osita Izunaso from the party forthwith.”

Kaztec showcases at NOG N indigenous

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

HE Covenant Ministerial Chaplaincy (CMC) yesterday ordained 400 pastors and 200 chaplains in Abuja.

The ordination ceremony, which took place at the high braw International Conference Centre, Abuja, attracted a large crowd of people.

The convener of the ordination ceremony, Rev. Bob Alonge, said that those ordained were not just ordinary preachers but chaplains commissioned to deliver community services.

He noted that those commissioned are professional doctors, nurses, architects and engineers.

Alonge said that CMC discovered that churches have failed to change and impact humanity positively because they have failed to build society.

According to him, “there has been explosion of churches in terms of volume but not in terms of impact.”

He said that CMC wants to raise professionals from different backgrounds to “move to the marketplace and change for the good of humanity.”

He said, “We envision marketplace Chaplains from diverse professional backgrounds, culture and nationalities, trained, certified, equipped and empowered with the necessary tools, to serve selflessly.”

The strategy, he said, is to give Christians from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds the opportunity to serve humanity in their community and in the marketplace.

Alonge blamed security challenges afflicting the country on mistrust.

He said, “The root of the security challenges we have is lack of trust, people no longer trust their leaders, Christians no longer trust Moslems, people no longer even trust their mechanics.’’

ENATOR Osita Izunaso has been expelled from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He was expelled over the weekend for alleged “vicious sabotage and antiparty activities.”

A letter titled: “Expulsion from PDP,” and dated February 8th, 2012 has been dispatched to Izunaso accordingly.

Orlu Zonal Chairman and Secretary of PDP, Chief Greg Madu and Barr. Israel Onyeoyibo, signed the letter respectively.

The letter explained that the decision to expel the former Senator was based on “serious and verified allegations of anti-party activities” by his ward and local government executives.

It further explained that the Ohakpu ward executives of the party wrote to the local government chapter informing them that Senator Izunaso was working openly for the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and leading PDP members to

•L-R: Former Oyo State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala; wife of Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG) rtd, Mrs Alapinni; Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, the couple and father of the groom, AIG Tunji Alapinni (rtd) at the wedding reception in Ibadan, Oyo State...yesterday.

Popular Oyo fuji musician alleges threat to life

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popular fuji musician in Oyo town Alhaji Lateef Ololade aka “Matester” has alleged that some faceless groups are after him and his family.

He spoke during a visit to The Nation office in Oyo town at the weekend.

Ololade said he had been receiving calls and messages warning him not to honour invitations or risk

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

death.

He said the threats became impossible to ignore after he was beaten during a recent outing.

The musician said, “I was invited to play at a naming ceremony in the town when some thugs descended on me. ‘’They beat me to a pulp and inflicted injuries on me. I was rushed to the

Boko Haram: Churches must invest in security, says Makinde

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RELATE of the Methodist Church Nigeria (MCN) His Eminence, Dr Ola Makinde has called on Christians across the country to be vigilant and securityconscious.

He said prayer alone is not enough to tackle the Boko Haram menace.

Makinde spoke last week during the 24th annual synod of the Methodist Church Trinity Council in Lagos.

The cleric said Christians should not only pray but watch.

According to him, ‘’some people pray without watching. This is ineffective.

Security is the business of us all.’’

He called on branches of the church to increase security, especially in Bishop’s houses and worship centres.

On how to practically ensure security, Makinde said, ‘’Make provision for circuit television which will enable you to see those coming into the premises and what they are carrying. ‘’Do not allow vehicles to be parked unattended to. Do not allow strangers to enter

By Sunday Oguntola

church premises with bags or strange possessions.’’

He called for convocation of a national conference on how Nigerians want to coexist.

Oppositions against such conference, he said, is merely postponing the evil day.

Bishop of Tinubu, Rt. Rev. Oluyemisi Ogunlere, called for judicious management of the nation’s resources.

He said it is a shame that Nigeria is still lagging behind despite its natural and human endowments.

Thanksgiving service

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thanksgiving service holds next Wednesday for the late Pastor Elsie Arinola Vaughan at the Cherubim and Seraphim Church Movement Headquarters, Ayo Ni O Surulere.

She died recently aged 78.

She is survived by Evangelist Ayo Vaughan and Senior Apostle Zaccheaus Ayo-Vaughan, a retired deputy director at the Lagos State Ministry of Information.

hospital by sympathisers. ‘’The hoodlums accused me of singing against the Alaafin, and described me as a threat to the progress of the town”.

According to him, “He (Alaafin) is my father whom I respect so much and nobody can use me to insult or ridicule his esteemed royal status. ‘’There is nowhere I go to play that I will not honour or acknowledge the Alaafin. He is a paramount ruler per excellence.”

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engineering, procurement and construction company, Kaztek Engineering Ltd, is set to showcase its cuttingedge technology at the annual Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition kicking off in Abuja tomorrow.

Executive Chairman, Sir Emeka Offor, explained that the company is ripe to display the calibre of technology at its disposal having maintained excellent performances since 2005.

He said Kaztec is currently handling some very high profile projects such as the Pipeline Integrity Assessment and Metering Station Rehabilitation and Upgrade/Expansion of Metering Facilities and the

installation of Subsea Pipelines and Topsides for oil companies like Addax deploying some hi-tech vessels such as the Ekulo Cheyenne, the only one of its type in West Africa.

Describing Kaztec as a major player in the local content drive of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Offor said: “Our vision was to create an indigenous EPC capability, covering both onshore and offshore where few other indigenous companies ventured.’’

Offer further stated, ‘’This vision, I believe is dynamic and will continue to grow to encompass new capabilities leading the company to become a major in the West African oil and gas industry.”

NEWS REVIEW

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

“Society questions the police and their methods, and the police say, Do you want the criminals off the street or not?” - Kurt Russell

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S of the time Hafiz Ringim, the former Inspector General of Police, was shoved aside by President Goodluck Jonathan, many Nigerians have become tired of the heavily moustached officer. In fact, many had given up hope that he was going to be asked to go, they were just waiting for March or thereabout to come when he would hopefully had proceeded on his preretirement leave. However, when his immediate ouster was announced on January 14 many breathed a sigh of relief.

The appointment of Mohammed Abubakar, an Assistant Inspector General, as his successor was however greeted with some measure of anxiety and doubts by some. Those who welcomed him in anxiety based their feelings on waiting to see what steps he would take to change the badly damaged image of a Force which he has been saddled with at the nation’s most trying times.

It was a Force with a badly tattered reputation that even a change of uniform could not correct. The segment that viewed his ascension to the top job with doubts based their scepticism on the report of the Justice Niki Tobi panel which ‘indicted’ him and labelled him a “religious fanatic not fit to hold any public office.”

Benefit of doubts That he was appointed at a time when the Boko Haram menace was threatening and gnawing at the soul of the country’s unity was seen by many as a costly mistake by the federal government. With this cross hanging heavily on his neck and colouring his every move, Abubakar, perhaps more than any of his predecessors has a big task ahead of him to convince Nigerians that the Justice Niki Tobi panel verdict was either a wrong reading of his personality or that he has turned a new leaf. Which is which?

Before his appointment the issue of corruption and atrocities committed by the police across the country have been widely documented and many citizens would rather go home sulking after being robbed than branch at the nearest police station to report any crime. John James (not his real name because he pleaded for his identity not to be revealed for safety reasons) was once robbed of his car and all valuables at gun point. He was held hostage by the robbers and when he was dropped off in a far bush near the Benin Republic border close to midnight, was sheltered by a farmer in his barn till the next morning.

As he was leaving the barn the farmer could only afford to give him a dirty shirt and trouser which he would never had allowed his house help to wear. On getting to the nearest police station to report his ordeal he met a hostile reception and was asked to give them some money to buy biro and paper on which to record his case. “I was astounded.

Where does this man for goodness sake expect me to get any money after I narrated what hap-

How far can Abubakar go?

At his first meeting with the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police last week, the Acting Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar ordered the immediate dismantling of all road blocks across the country. In this report Olayinka Oyegbile wonders if the IGP will walk the talk. pened to me? I angrily walked out of the station because they even refused to convey me in their van to where I can get a bus to town.

Is this the police that Abubakar wants to redeem? Hmmm...,” he said cynically and dismissed the reporter with a wave of his left hand.

Blowing hot, empty air Perhaps reading the body language of many Nigerians correctly, Abubakar on his first meeting with the Force’s Assistant Commissioners read them the riot act. In a tough voice and without mincing words he told them that things have to change; “It’s no longer business as usual”, as we say in the Nigerian popular lingo. He directed an immediate dismantling of all roadblocks and warned that “Any observed non-compliance to these directives and subsequent ones which shall be issued from time to time will attract severe sanctions”, adding that his administration will not brook any flagrant abuse that has subjected the service to open indiscipline, indolence, corruption, inefficiency and all other negative tendencies.

Delving straight into the heart of the issue that has worried people like James, the police chief spoke the home truth to his senior men, “Police duties have become commercialized and provided at the whims and caprices

of the highest bidder. Our men are deployed to rich individuals and corporate entities such that we lack manpower to provide security for the common man, our investigations departments cannot equitably handle matters unless those involved have money to part with. Complainants suddenly become suspects at different investigation levels following spurious petitions filed with the connivance of police officers. Our police stations, state CID and operation offices have become business centres and collection points for rendering returns from all kinds of squads and teams set up for the benefit of superior officers. Our respect is gone and the Nigerian Public has lost even the slightest confidence in the ability of police to do any good thing.

These attitudes must stop and we must collectively purge the police system of all undesirable elements and criminal tendencies.”

These are nothing but the stark naked truth that the police chief has stated. No one could have said it better and coming from an insider there is perhaps nothing to add. But among the populace, the directive has elicited different kinds of reactions, both in support and in mockery.

The most biting is from a cartoonist who in a recent newspaper cartoon said the sound bite was only meant for the ears of those

who are to confirm Abubakar’s appointment later! Yes, things have gone so bad that not many citizens take seriously any promise by any public official talk less of the police.

Since Abubakar gave the order on February 13, all roadblocks in Lagos and environs have been cleared and traffic gridlocks usually created by these roadblocks have ceased. Isa Alade, a danfo driver who plies the Sango-Osodi route in Lagos told The Nation in Pidgin English laced with Yoruba “This Oga Olopa (Abubakar) is a correct man. No more go slow and roadblock in Abule Egba, Iyana Ipaja, Meiran, Ijaiye Alakuko and Toll Gate. We dey move freely and can go more turns”, he believes the step would go a long way to ease commuters and drivers’ frustration and lead to reduction of transport fares because according to him, “we dey put the police bribe for the money we dey charge passengers.” He is however, afraid that this honey moon may not last because all other police IGs before Abubakar have done the same in the euphoria of their appointment only for the roadblocks to return few weeks or few days after.

He has an ally in Okechukwu Nnamdi, a lawyer resident in Lagos, “I remember challenging an officer at one of such roadblocks

and he told me they were not mounting a roadblock but were on “Stop and search operation.”

So, whichever way you look at it they are going to frustrate this noble ideal of the IGP. Well, that is if he’s going to allow them to do so.” The question is: Will he?

Asked what he thinks of this directive, Seun Akioye a Lagos based freelance journalist and activist said, “I believe the IGP is pursuing a populist agenda, designed to endear him to the Nigerian public especially after allegations of tribalism and religious fundamentalism levelled against him. He is not the first IGP to make such declarations and what has come out of those former declarations? Nigerians know this is chasing after the wind. What is needed is institutional cleansing.

Let there be a fundamental change in the hierarchy of the police force, with law and order.

Then the people will know the police are ready for change, any other thing is hopeless” The mounting of roadblocks by the police have led to deaths of many citizens across the country. These are so many that many say the Force has the blood of many innocent souls soiling their hands and making them filthy.

On August 16, 2010, under the watch of the former IG Ogbonna Onovo, 25 people were burnt beyond recognition in an accident at a roadblock along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Eyewitnesses said the policemen who mounted the roadblock immediately fled the scene after the accident which led to the inferno in which the 25 were killed. Earlier, on August 14, 2007 in Effurun and Warri, Delta State, lorries at different times ran over okada riders near police checkpoints.

These led to rampages in both cities. It was the same checkpoint deaths again on July 14, 2009, at which five students of Government Secondary School, Tunjga, Maji were killed while travelling on the Zuba-Gwagwalada (Abuja)-Lokoja road.

Profiting from people’s distress A non-governmental organisation, International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), had recently released a report in which it said N53.48 billion were made from roadblock extortion from 20092011. This is a revealing and damning report which the organisation through Emeka Umeagbalasi, its Chairman, Board of Trustees, has forwarded to Abubakar. In the report, it listed the number of roadblocks that littered various parts of the country and an estimated amount of money realised at each of these roadblocks. Will Abubakar take this report seriously?

Well, whether he acts on the report or not, the group has had its say and Nigerians are watching. However, one cardinal thing the Acting Inspector General may do well to note about his decision to dismantle roadblock is: Never make a law you can’t or don’t intend to enforce because it’ll mock you. Will Abubakar allow this to mock him? We shall see.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News Review

Whitney’s farewell, deadly infernos Fed Govt earmarks N888b for fuel subsidy

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HE Federal Government is setting aside N888billion this year for fuel subsidy after revising the budget proposals.Government ended up achieving only partial deregulation following massive rejection, by Nigerians, of the move to increase fuel price to N141 per litre. A litre now goes for N97.

The Co-ordinating minister of the Economy and Minister of

Finance,Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in Abuja that the 2012 Fiscal Framework earlier submitted to the National Assembly assumed 100% subsidy removal with only N155billion provided as carryover of 2011 subsidy payments.

Government is also slashing N100billion from this year’s budget with a view to cutting fiscal deficit and minimising domestic borrowing.

199 inmates freed in gunmen attack on prison

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NE hundred and ninety-nine inmates of the Koton Kafe prison in Kogi State were forcefully set free by a 15-man gang of hoodlums who launched an attack on the prison on Wednesday night. The spokesperson of the Nigeria Prisons Authority in Lokoja, Mrs Hadiza Aminu,said the inmates were among the 120 persons awaiting trial.

She denied that the attack was carried out by members of Boko Haram,explaining that rather it was the handiwork of a robbery syndicate some of whose members were awaiting trial in the prison.

The robbery syndicate,it was gathered , had in the last few days written three letters to the prison authority in Lokoja, asking for the unconditional release of their colleagues, but the request was rejected.

Aminu, who neither confirmed nor denied the information, said that a male prison official was killed in the attack, which took the authority by surprise.

She said the attackers gained entry into the cell by blowing up the iron bars with improvised explosive devise before setting free their colleagues and other inmates, except one who chose to stay back.

Some residents who witnessed the attack said that the gunmen, some 15 of them, arrived at the prison premises on foot, armed with sophisticated weapons with which they overpowered the prison officials.

Koton-Karfe, the headquarters of Kogi Local Government Area, is about 30 kilometres from Lokoja, the state capital.

•Whitney Houston: 1963-2012

Supreme Court reinstates sacked Kwara CJ

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HE Supreme Court Friday in a unanimous judgment ordered the Kwara State government to reinstate its former Chief Judge, Justice Raliat Elelu-Habeeb who was sacked in 2009 by then governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

The apex court held in its judgment that under the 1999 constitution, the governor did not have the power to sack her without the approval of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

A panel of seven justices of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Mohammed Mahmud, upheld the ruling of the Federal High Court that Justice Elelu-Habeeb was sacked without giving her fair hearing, adding that the Federal High Court had jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter.

INFERNO

NEW ECOWAS BOSS

Prison fire kills hundreds

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T least 300 prisoners have been killed after a mas sive fire swept through a jail in Honduras. Many victims were burned or suffocated to death in their cells in Comayagua, north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

The officials say at least 300 are confirmed dead, but a further 56 inmates, out of the 853 in the prison, are missing and presumed dead. Relatives of prisoners clashed with police as they tried to force their way into the prison, desperate for news. Police responded by firing shots into the air and tear gas.

An inquiry is under way whether the blaze was caused by rioting or an electrical fault.

•Two women pause Saturday near a memorial to singer Whitney Houston at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. before funeral services.

Ouattara succeeds Jonathan

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VORIEN Presi dent Alassane Ouattara was elected Friday to head the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at a summit in Abuja. He assumes leadership of the regional body less than a year after coming to power following the bloody postelection conflict in his own country.

“It is a confirmation of the return of Ivory Coast to the international scene,” government spokesman Bruno Kone told AFP in Abidjan.It would allow the country “to reinforce its position in the region, as well as beyond,” he added.

Ouattara, 70, a former International Monetary Fund economist, had been the favourite to take the key job, which carries a one-year mandate.

IN THE RUNNING

Nicholas Sarkozy’s presidential bid

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RENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally declared he will stand for re-election in the presidential polls on 22 April.

Mr Sarkozy’s candidacy has never been in doubt but he issued the confirmation during an interview on France’s TF1 channel.

Sarkozy’s main challenger in the election is the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande.

Opinion polls suggest Mr Hollande will win both the first round and a run-off.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News Review

and resignations

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THE WEEK IN QUOTES “I feel so bad that Nigeria, which used to be the beacon of security and prosperity in Africa, is slipping into chaos and anarchy because of the challenges of insecurity, terror threat and religious extremism.”

-Kenya Presidential aspirant, Professor George Wajackoyah speaking to reporters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja on the Boko Haram threat to national security.

“I am aware we will face resistance and I will be misunderstood. We will always do what is right in our best interest.”

- Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State on his inauguration in Yenagoa.

“The military Constitution is masquerading as a Constitution. The National Assembly is engaged in a temporary panel beating effort.

But when a car is going through that too much, it is useless.”

•A hearse drives away from the funeral service for Whitney Houston outside New Hope Baptist Church on February 18, 2012 in Newark, New Jersey. Whitney Houston was found dead in her hotel room at The Beverly Hilton hotel

-Professor Akin Oyebode on the need for a new Constitution, at the Second Legislative Summit on South-West Integration held in Ibadan.

“To achieve peace and stability, there must be justice and equity. The 1999 Constitution is neither just nor equitable to the overwhelming majority of Nigerians, neither does it promote development and good governance.”

-Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi at a meeting of South -West and SouthSouth Leaders with President Goodluck Jonathan, in Abuja.

•Oyebode

•One of the first to arrive was the civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson, a friend of the Houston family.

QUIT NOTICE

SCANDAL CASUALTY

German President resigns

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World Bank President leaving

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ORLD Bank President Robert Zoellick said Wednesday he is stepping down, raising the possibility that a non-American might be chosen for the first time to head the 187-nation lending organization.

Zoellick, 58, informed the board he will leave June 30 at the end of a five-year term, during which he led the bank’s response to the global financial crisis.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers have been mentioned as possible successors, though Clinton has said she is not interested in the job.

ERMAN President Christian Wulff an nounced his resignation Friday, after pros ecutors called for his immunity to be lifted.

An ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Wulff, 52, stepped down over corruption claims involving a dubious home loan. He denies any wrongdoing.

Mrs Merkel cancelled a visit to Italy on Friday to deal with the crisis, and said she regretted that he had quit. German media say the crisis is unprecedented in postwar Germany.

Merkel h a d fought to get M r Wulff, from her centre-right Christian Democrat p a r t y (CDU), appointed as president.

He had been in the job for less than two years. She said she accepted his resignation “with respect but also with regret”.

•Wajackoyah

•Dickson

•Gbonigi

OBITUARY

Times Correspondent dies in Syria

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NTHONY Shadid, a gifted foreign corre spondent whose graceful dispatches for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Associated Press covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, of an asthma attack, on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in Syria. Tyler Hicks, a Times photographer who was with Mr. Shadid, carried his body across the border to Turkey.

Mr. Shadid, 43, had been reporting inside Syria for a week, gathering information on the Free Syrian Army and other armed elements of the resistance to the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose military forces have been engaged in a harsh repression of the political opposition in a conflict that is now nearly a year old.

The death of Mr. Shadid, an American of Lebanese descent who had a wife and two children, abruptly ended one of the most storied careers in modern American journalism. Fluent in Arabic, with a gifted eye for detail and contextual writing, Mr. Shadid captured dimensions of life in the Middle East that many others failed to see. Those talents won him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 2004 for his coverage of the American invasion of Iraq and the occupation that followed, and a second Pulitzer in 2010, also for his Iraq reporting, both of them for The Washington Post.

He also was a finalist in 2007 for his coverage of Lebanon, and has been nominated by The Times for his coverage of the Arab Spring uprisings that have transfixed the Middle East for the past year.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News Review

How Boko Haram wreaked havoc in Minna

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AST Thursday in Minna, the Niger State capital, as dawn was crashing for the dusk to set in, many people were going home thanking God for a peaceful and successful day. The serenity that usually ushers in the night never showed that danger was lurking in a corner, but at about 8 o’clock when many families were settling down to watch their popular television soap drama soap, the devil struck.

Venue: Muhammadu Inua Wushishi Housing Estate located along the Eastern Bye Pass, on the outskirts of the state capital, the dreadful Islamic fundamental group; Boko Haram added the peaceful Gwari home land, Minna, among its battle fields.

Typical of the previous onslaughts by the sect, the attack on three unsuspecting Policemen at the main gate of the estate at about 8pm on Thursday had the trappings of the past attacks on security formations in Borno, Yobe and Bauchi states by the sect. They struck and left two Policemen - Inspector Bala Maigida and Sergeant Markus Barde lifeless, injured a corporal and carted away their rifles.

Cashing in on the clustering of many people, mostly water vendors (Mai ruwa) and food vendors at the main gate leading to the estate, the gunmen of the sect wreaked havoc within a twinkle of an eye; they left their trade mark –”sorrow, tears and blood”.

Of the two victims, the case of Inspector Maigida was so pathetic. Sources in Maitunbi Police Station where they are all attached told our correspondent that the slain cop had just reported for work that fateful Thursday after he just returned from Kafinkoro, his home town, where he went to bury his mother.

“I pity my Inspector dearly.

This was a man who just returned from home, where he went to bury his mother. Oga just resumed work yesterday (Thursday) and was posted to the gate. It was a sad ending for him. He just lost his mother and few days after burying his mother he was equally killed.

It is pathetic and sad,” a corporal in the station lamented.

An eye witness, who spoke with our Correspondent on condition of anonymity, said that the operation may have been carried out by a three man gang. Two of the gang men operated on a motorcycle, while the last member was in a getaway BMW car that was neatly

•Wreakage from recent Boko Haram attack From Jide Orintunsin, Minna parked some few meters away from the estate gate.

Recounting how they struck, our source said that the duo on the motorcycle drove straight to the main gate of the estate and pretended as if they were visiting one of the residents. No sooner had the corporal cleared them that the gunmen rained bullets on the unsuspecting policemen leading to the untimely death of the two.

“As soon as the people on the motorcycle were allowed to move in, the one at the back of the bike pulled out his gun and rained bullets on the policemen. The gunmen caught the policemen off guard and the sporadic shooting sent everybody, including all the Mai ruwas and traders scampering to safety. The other member of the gang quickly jumped off the bike and carted away the guns of the slain policemen,” our source recalled.

Corroborating this, another witness, who watched the five minutes onslaught from across the road said, “after killing the policemen, the trigger happy gunman started to shoot into the air to further scare people and I saw them from my vantage position where I was lying down when the two of them abandoned their motorcycle and joined the get-away BMW car parked some few meters away from the estate main gate and the car drove off towards Maitumbi area of the city.”

Recalling his own experience, Alhaji Kamal Makusidi, a resident of the estate, described the five minutes operation as the “most traumatizing period” of his life. “I was retiring for the day, having had a busy day. I was about going for my dinner when we heard the gun shots. I was unable to go out for fear of been caught in the shooting, because we don’t know who and who was responsible. But when I remembered that my

son had gone to buy recharge card for me from one of the kiosks at the gate, I became apprehensive. The shooting was so intense that I asked everybody at home to lie flat on the floor. I was just praying for the safety of Abdulmalik the boy I sent on errand.”

The shootout at the Wushishi Estate sent panic to residents of the estate who were outside of their houses.

Like a thunder bolt streets of the ever bubbling estate became deserted, everybody ran inside for the period the shooting lasted. The sporadic shooting sent fears into residents of neighbouring Kafintela area.

The next morning, when a team of policemen led by the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Richard Oguche (ASP) came for an on the spot assessment, the visit paid off, as the team discovered a polythene bag containing three improvised explosives in perfume cans and a small bottle purportedly dropped by the gunmen before they fled the scene of the crime.

Oguche confirmed the incident saying, “We have sent the items recovered in the polythene bag to Bomb Disposal Unit. I cannot give you details about the explosive that we found at the scene of incident yesterday morning. We have sent them for further analysis.”

The attack in Minna came barely 24 hours after a Corporal was similarly killed by unknown gunmen who attacked Maje Police station, in Suleja local government area of the state. Like the Minna attack, two young men on a bike opened fire on a Corporal, who was on station guard at Maje Police station, killed him and fled off towards Dikko town carting away his rifle.

Police are still on the trail of the perpetrators of the dastardly acts in Minna and Maje.

Though Boko Haram was yet to claim responsibility, the two attacks were fashioned after the onslaught of the group.

It’s a weird world

A Houdini escape: driver survives a 20-ton boulder dropping on car roof

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DOVIC Masciave, 36, was driving his car through the Arly Gorge in the French Alps when a 20 ton boulder crashed onto the roof of his vehicle.

Amazingly, Masciave survived the crash and is recovering in a local hospital, according to Landov.

“I remember the impact of the rock,” Masciave told French newspaper Le Parisien. “I’d been driving slowly at between 40 and 50 kilometres [25 to 31 miles] an hour

when suddenly there was a terrible shock which brought the vehicle to a sudden halt. I immediately lost consciousness.”

Analyzing the photo, it’s nearly impossible to imagine how Masciave escaped from the vehicle alive. The entire vehicle appears smashed under the weight of the 20 ton rock. The Daily Mail reports that the vehicle was so damaged that rescue workers couldn’t even determine the make and model of Masciave’s vehicle.

COMMENT and ANALYSIS

13

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Sanusi and the politics of generousity Festus Eriye

CBN governor’s problems go beyond one controversial act of generousity

efestus2003@yahoo.com 08052135878 (SMS only)

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HAT is wrong with the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Kano-born Sanusi Lamido Sanusi donating N100 million to comfort the families of victims of the recent Boko Haram attack on his hometown?

Plenty, say a legion of critics: everyone from the South-East socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze N’digbo, to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states, to activist lawyer, Femi Falana.

The northern CAN described the CBN governor’s action variously as “selective” and “worrisome” and said it raised serious ethical questions. Sanusi was pointedly accused of having “exhibited sheer insensitivity to the multi-ethnic structure of Nigeria consequently taking actions that tend to set the nation on fire.”

In his defence a member of the apex bank’s board, Professor Sam Olofin, indicated that the donation had board approval and was not limited to Kano alone. Apparently, a similar donation had been cleared for the families of victims of a similar disaster – the Christmas Day bombing at the Catholic Church, Madalla, near Abuja. Somehow, by a freak and mischievous design of fate, the Kano donation happened first.

Now that we know that some effort had been made at recognising Nigeria’s peculiar ethnic and religious sensibilities, maybe we should just lay the matter to rest. Not so fast.

Among the questions that have been asked is whether making such donations is part of the CBN’s core responsibilities. In a vibrant discussion going on online, some have argued that the bank’s enabling act allows it to perform corporate social responsibility (CSR) functions.

Such a provision would place the generous donation within the bank’s remit. The governor’s friends have helpfully dished out a list of donations made to universities by Sanusi’s predecessors from the 1990s to date amounting to about N200 million.

Clearly, the core mandate of the CBN is not CSR. We also know that an institution like the United States’ Federal Reserve did not throw open its gold storage to assuage the pains of victims of disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

No problem; nothing says we have to be as hardhearted as American bankers.

Actually, I am not too concerned that Sanusi and the CBN board have suddenly been overcome with compassion, and decided to connect Kano and Madalla to the tap of milk of human kindness flowing from their vaults. I am more troubled by something in the character of the governor that keeps dragging him and the office he occupies into unending and unseemly controversies.

I have always known banks to be conservative institutions. That would make the

•Sanusi

bankers’ banker an ultra-conservative entity – headed by individuals who cannot be described by any stretch of the imagination as fire-breathing radicals or wave-making polemicists.

I have tried to find a parallel for the model of a central banker in the mould projected

by Sanusi, and I have not found one within or without Nigeria. From Ola Vincent to Abdulkadir Ahmed, from Ben Bernanke of the US Federal Reserve to Mervyn King of the Bank of England, I have not found anyone occupying this sensitive position that is as excitable and controversy-seeking as Sanusi.

My understanding is that the primary function of a central bank is to manage monetary policy. In most countries the institution is designed to be independent from political interference; by extension, its managers go out of their way to maintain that independence by conducting themselves in ways that do not encourage politicians to meddle with their freedom.

Not so in Sanusi’s CBN. He is not content with sitting atop an autonomous central bank promoting macroeconomic stability. He just must jump into every raging political or socio-economic debate.

In a country where dissembling and speaking from two sides of the mouth have become a national pastime, the governor’s penchant for spitting out unedited, politically-incorrect sound bites has won him quite a following. The problem is Sanusi is not a populist union leader: he is governor of the Central Bank, for goodness sake!

The other day he landed flush in a vat of hot water when he tried to link the Boko Haram insurgency with supposed imbalance

“In a country where dissembling and speaking from two sides of the mouth have become a national pastime, the governor’s penchant for spitting out unedited, politically-incorrect sound bites has won him quite a following. The problem is Sanusi is not a populist union leader: he is governor of the Central Bank, for goodness sake!”

in revenue distribution in a Financial Times interview. He said: “There is clearly a direct link between the very uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence. When you look at the figures and look at the size of the population in the north, you can see that there is a structural imbalance of enormous proportions. Those states simply do not have enough money to meet basic needs while some states have too much money.”

Anyone who has tracked the rise of the extremist sect knows that it was never about hunger or the politics of derivation: it was always about religion and the desire to live in a paradise governed by Sharia law. To seek to now create some fancy philosophical backdrop for the terrorists is to really stretch things too far. Again, what was the CBN governor doing getting involved in

this?

When the fire of the fuel subsidy debate was raging, there he was prancing up and down at the town hall meeting organised by Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN). Was it the CBN governor’s job to sell government’s policy on deregulation?

If a CPC president takes over and scraps the policy tomorrow would he jump before TV cameras to defend the new policy?

A few months ago, former Minister of Finance, Chief Olu Falae, was so incensed with Sanusi’s carrying-on during the Islamic banking debate that he said he would have fired him were he still finance minister.

Falae said: “I do not have issues with Islamic banking and its establishment in Nigeria, but I’m really concerned about some of its operation and the Governor of CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi. When a public officer is making such political statements on Islamic banking which has several emotional attachments, it is wrong. If the governor forgot that he is governor of CBN, he should be notified.”

Sanusi is no doubt a man of many parts.

Long before he walked into the CBN or became CEO of First Bank Plc, he had made a reputation writing controversial newspaper articles on the merits and demerits of some of Nigeria’s major ethnic groups, and proffering suggestions for resolving the national question.

There is no question that the political activist in Sanusi has been straining at the leash for too long, and is desperate to burst out of his favourite Mao suit. The call of his conservative office must be a frustrating check on this other side of the man – causing him to let fly with unwise verbal fusillades whenever he gets the itch.

President Goodluck Jonathan can put the man out of his misery by firing him. Some have said he wouldn’t want to offend the north by doing so. The truth is there are many equally brilliant northern economists and technocrats working within and outside Nigeria who fit in as like for like replacement.

Once upon a time Sanusi was flavor of the month with his strong opinions on every topic under the sun. But his hubris has blinded him to the fact the Central Bank governorship is not a platform for ventilating extreme views.

He either zips up and continues in office, or steps down and heads for the nearest barricade with a placard: but he can no longer have it both ways.

A better way to buy politicians

By Lindsay Mark Lewis

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RESIDENT Obama’s recent endorsement of a Democratic “super PAC” — Priorities USA — that will support his re-election campaign makes one thing clear: money will dominate this year’s election like no other in history. Already, Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, has hauled in over $17 million from just 60 donors.

Big money has always played a role in politics, but the advent of super PACs means that America’s presidential candidates have effectively outsourced their campaigns to the megarich. The wealthy turn over big bucks to super PACs, which in turn make whatever arguments they want, often much dirtier than anything a candidate would want to attach his or her name to.

I’ve been involved in Democratic politics for two decades, and I’ve had a front-row seat to observe outside groups’ tightening grip on American elections and reformers’ repeated efforts to loosen it — efforts that I’ve always supported.

Nevertheless, I’ve decided that the best way forward may be to go in the opposite direction: repeal what’s left of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as McCainFeingold, which severely limits the amount of money the parties can collect for their candidates.

Doing so wouldn’t get rid of the role of money in American politics. But by channeling it back into the parties, it would reintroduce accountability to the system, the lack of which is what makes super PACs so pernicious.

First, a brief history: Before the passage of McCain-Feingold in 2002, donors could give unlimited amounts of money, but only to the political parties and their national committees.

No-limit donations aren’t ideal, but at least they were accountable: the parties knew who was giving, how much was given and where it was spent.

Moreover, donors provided direct input in crafting a candidate’s message. Sometimes, donors got too involved, but at least they were working within the campaign, not around it.

McCain-Feingold limited contributions to national party committees; it also forbade independent political advertising by outside groups within 30 days of a primary or caucus and But, as the Beltway proverb goes, money flows like water downhill, and large donors soon found a way around the law. They pumped cash into the first iteration of outside groups — so-called 527s, after a reference to the relevant section in the tax code — in the 2004 election cycle, including the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Senator John Kerry.

Rules governing the new 527s were vague, and the Federal Election Commission did a poor job of designating which groups were subjected to a $5,000 donation limit as “political action committees.” Many decided to accept unlimited money regardless, risking federal fines for doing so.

In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case cleared up any ambiguity: it permitted unlimited donations to all outside expenditure organizations, which could advertise right up to the day of the election, as long as they didn’t communicate directly with the official campaign.

In short, candidates have become little more than proxies, as the wealthy attack one another on issues in which they have a direct, often financial, stake: Wall Street regulation, climate change, health care and foreign policy. Candidates running for America’s highest office have no control over the potentially billions of dollars being spent on their behalf to stake out positions they may or may not agree with.

But therein lies a potential solution, too. The moneymen behind super PACs may enjoy the freedom to spend money however they want, but in my experience, they would prefer the old system, where at least they knew the candidate was on the same page.

The best way to return to that is to loosen the rules that drove the two apart in the first place: in other words, repeal federal limits on party donations, the one important part of McCainFeingold that Citizens United didn’t touch. Limits on transfers between party committees and candidates should also go.

• Culled from New York Times

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Ogochukwu Ikeje ohgeeoh@gmail.com 08084235961 (SMS only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Comment & Analysis

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s speech must have moved his subregional audience on Thursday. It was the opening of the 40th Ordinary Session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. There, he spoke urging unity and cohesion in order to achieve and stimulate regional development. He chided divisive and selfish elements in the fold, rallying them to the collective goal.

“We should not allow any division in our ranks to be exploited to the detriment of our regional goal,” he pleaded.

Jonathan longed for one regional voice, not the cacophony and division witnessed at the last African Union session where members inexplicably struggled to elect the chairperson of the Union. He reminded members of the subregion to use their numerical strength, being the most populous of the five regions of Africa, to advance the interests of West Africa.

He spoke well. In that valedictory speech, the President could well have been addressing Nigeria, the country of more than 150m people, which he was last year mandated to administer. But beyond a mere address, I wished he were dealing decisively with the forces hellbent on tearing up this hugely potentially great country and bringing it to its knees.

Nigeria has faced tough challenges in the past, but it seems to me that the

The one Nigeria question President Jonathan urges unity in West Africa; he should achieve it at home Jonathan administration will be defined by mainly two issues: security and unity of the country.

He may well have a go at other pressing demands, and even make an impact, but security and national cohesion seem to be the most worrisome. Niger Delta militants, in their day, unleashed terror on the region, blowing up oil facilities, disrupting production and crucially hurting national revenue.

In due course, kidnapping crept in, chilling everyone to the bone marrow. But things have since simmered down on those fronts. Oil production activities have gone on with considerable ease. Expatriate workers, grandparents, monarchs and children who used to be irresistible targets of kidnappers have been going about their business.

But even at the height of militancy in the delta, the region could not have compared to what is happening in the North in the face of the Boko Haram onslaught.

The terror of the fundamentalist sect has spread far and wide. The blood of its victims continues to flow from the streets to churches and from police facilities to military barracks. Even the United Nations office has had its own blood pool.

Boko Haram has forced an InspectorGeneral of Police into early retirement. It has caused the President and his security chiefs intense worry. After initially talking tough, Jonathan held out the olive branch, seeking dialogue with the violent sect, but it would have none of it.

Non-indigenous residents of the North have been fleeing, fearing the worst and concerned about the oneness of the country. That Thursday when Jonathan was rallying ECOWAS on cohesion, some 1000 Nigerians of Igbo extraction were confirmed to have fled from the North and were living in Cross River State. They would be happy to settle down there for good. There would be others in other parts of the country considered safer

“Nigeria has faced tough challenges in the past, but it seems to me that the Jonathan administration will be defined by mainly two issues: security and unity of the country. He may well have a go at other pressing demands, and even make an impact, but security and national cohesion seem to be the most worrisome”

than the North.

The Boko Haram terror and the inability to contain it have further undermined what many have called the thin unity of the country.

In fact, the clamour for Sovereign National Conference is inspired not just by the enduring perception that the interests of federating units of the country are not being well served, but, more alarmingly, that some Nigerians are not safe in other parts of their country.

So they want a forum to discuss the way forward. In January, Boko Haram warned non-indigenous residents of the North to leave. For good reasons, many complied.

The call for this national conference is weighty. Some of the most respected personalities in the country have lent their voices to it.

But that is not to say there is no counter-argument, however marginal. It is said that any national conference outside the National Assembly will divide the country, and that under the democracy it is only the federal legislative organ that can organise and manage such an enterprise. The debate may endure.

But there is a lot the Jonathan administration can do to reassure everyone. It should work harder to stop the wanton killings, and contain the source of the people’s fear. That will boost confidence in the unity of the country.

The President spoke well at ECOWAS. He should achieve at home what he preached at the sub-regional forum.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Comment & Analysis

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Hatchet job against Salami What is the real reason former Governor Oni wants to prosecute the suspended appeal court president?

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HE news that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Mustapher, has recommended to President Goodluck Jonathan the reinstatement of Justice Isa Ayo Salami as the President, Court of Appeal, was applauded by many. Nigerians saw that as a restoration of sanity in the management of the nation’s judiciary, which was on a tailspin towards the end of Justice Aloysius KatsinaAlu’s headship of the judiciary. But while the President delays on this noble part, the plot to ridicule the judiciary seems set to resume.

It is unbelievable that the disgraced former Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni, is at the head of this hatchet job. Submitting once again to a new treachery, Mr. Oni has obtained an order of an Abuja High Court to compel the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF) to prosecute Justice Salami for allegedly giving false evidence on oath. We recall that Mr. Oni was sacked by the Appeal Court when Justice Salami was the President, over the despicable rigging of election in Ekiti State that allowed him to illegally preside over the state for about three years.

The so-called perjury was Justice Salami’s insistence that retired Justice Katsina-Alu directed him to disband the Sokoto State Governorship Election Appeal Tribunal. The other so-called perjury was the statement on oath of Justice Salami over the publicly condemned hideous attempt by the former CJN ‘to promote’ him to the Supreme Court. Many believed then, that the promotion was orchestrated to have a new President of Court of Appeal who would disband the impartial appeal tribunals that eventually set aside many of the shenanigans called elections in 2007. In

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F there is any quixotic issue that has generated an unending controversy and debate in Nigeria since independence, there is none other than the continued agitation for state police. There is no doubt that proponents and opponents have both come up with brilliant reasons in pitching their tent either for or against this age-long agitation.

The 1999 Constitution gives room only for existence of federal police which by extension constitutionally empowers the Federal Government to have the only and final say with absolute control as far as policing of the country is concerned.

Those clamouring for state police strongly believe that the life and properties of citizens would be better secured and managed by state police. There is no doubt that there is need for cognizance to be taken of the dire effect of familiarity with the people at the grass roots vis-à-vis their historical background, tradition and culture on effective policing of the people in a state coupled with a view to securing the life and properties of the people.

On the other hand, those rooting for the retention of federal police will be quick to say that is suicidal for

essence, Justice Salami’s travails started because of his resistance of untoward intervention to ridicule the Court of Appeal. He was harassed and eventually suspended.

It is that suspension that the present CJN has asked the President to lift to have Justice Salami restored to his position. Interestingly, he has barely a year to retire from the Court of Appeal; but his detractors appear set to ensure that his recall is truncated. While the majority of Nigerians are convinced that Justice KatsinaAlu’s interference in the Sokoto Governorship case was unconstitutional and in bad faith; Oni and his co-conspirators are furthering their persecution of Justice Salami for standing up for the cause of justice.

Ironically, the current CJN was allegedly the lone witness that gave evidence which exculpated the immediate past CJN. He was reported to have given evidence that he was at the meeting with Justice Salami and Justice Katsina-Alu, and the directive to disband the tribunal was not given at that meeting. It was allegedly based on that evidence that the National Judicial Council (NJC) reached the

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

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conclusion that the former CJN did not give the directive. Now, the lone witness as the current CJN has asked President Jonathan that Justice Salami be restored to his position; but suddenly Oni of all people has turned a public interest advocate; and pronto a court has granted him the locus standi to compel the prosecution of Justice Salami.

For whatever it is worth, Oni may be providing an opportunity for a court’s determination of the veracity of Justice Salami’s accusation against the former CJN, as the finding of the NJC was an administrative inquiry. But we suspect that this sudden activism of Mr. Oni may just be to give the President a reason to further delay the implementation of a constitutional prerogative of the NJC. We recall that the President did not hesitate to remove Justice Salami on a similar request by the former CJN on the ground then that he was respecting the doctrine of separation of powers. So, Oni may just be a pawn in the hands of political conspirators to further denigrate our justice system.

While Mr. Oni is free to go on his frolic, Nigerians are watching to see where the President stands on this issue. Whether he will promote a political interest over a constitutional prerogative; or whether he will bow to fairness, equity and good conscience in the interest of Nigeria. But we have no doubt that constitutionally, the continued delay by President Jonathan to recall Justice Salami as demanded by the CJN who doubles as the head of NJC is interference in the affairs of that arm of government. We therefore urge President Jonathan to do the right thing in the interest of our constitutional democracy.

LETTERS Nigeria to introduce state police considering the volatility associated with the use of religion as a means of achieving selfish and parochial interests by powerhungry politicians in our country, coupled with the crude and uncivilized winner-takes-all syndrome.

They may cite Kogi State as an example, where one senatorial district has been the lord over the other two senatorial districts in state since its creation in 1991. This

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No state police, please unfortunate situation has continued to increase the tempo of cry over glaring marginalization and open lopsidedness in political appointments and imbalance in distribution of posts in the state’s civil service.

For now, the predominantly Yoruba-speaking Okun people of the West Senatorial District and the Ebira/Ogori people of the

Central Senatorial District will for now keep their fingers crossed to see if the newly sworn in governor, Wada Idris will follow the footstep of his predecessor, Ibrahim Idris or make a Uturn in line with his promise made during his maiden broadcast to the people of Kogi state when he said that “a virile state where there will be equal opportunities

for all and sundry” will be the foundation upon which his administration will be built.

Without mincing words, state police is not a bad ideas in states that are predominantly peopled by one ethnic nationality and where there is religious tolerance such as Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun states, all in the South-West geo-political zone. The same applies to the South-East geo-political zone comprising of

What is the future of ASUU?

T a widely known thing that the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) is always going on strike over the claim by the body that the federal government is not implementing the agreement reached with it in 2009. Ever since then, ASUU has gone on many warning strikes as well as indefinite strikes. In all of these cases, students have been at the receiving end.

If the previous cases are anything to go by, the question most students may be asking by now is: when

again is ASUU going on strike?

It is becoming a tradition that after suspension of strikes, students are jubilant but before this sinks down another strike will begin. At each resumption; either after strike or holidays, students trouble themselves over ASUU strikes. The question now is, are we truly at the end of this strike?

I read from a newspaper that the president promised to sign some certain documents such as the retirement age. I want to be convinced that no denial will come after

this promise again. This is because the issue of promise, trust and failure where FG will say ‘X’ while ASUU will be saying ‘Z’ is not a good depiction on their parts and this is showing them as being carefree about education.

Education is a very important sector of any country and any country toying with it stands the risk of retrogression. We need to know that the key to the survival of Nigeria in this 21st century lies in its ability to produce applied and theoretical knowledge in Science, Technology and the Humanities there-

fore, there is need to be up and doing in revitalizing the development of the Nigerian University System to become internationally acceptable.

There is also need for the federal government to critically realize the pains and the gains of the various strikes and then try to avoid any looming one by carrying ASUU along. It is high time we stopped wasting our resources on strike actions.

By Muritala Omikunle Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.

Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi states which are predominantly peopled by the Igbos.

Considering the rampant threat to the unity of Nigeria, as exemplified by the wanton killings of Christians and southerners residing in some states in the northern part of the country by the Boko Haram militant sect, it will be suicidal allowing the birth of state police for now.

The harrowing experience of helpless Nigerians and foreigners who often take refuge in police stations and police barracks during upheavals and religious strives in some states that can aptly be classified as being volatile in Nigeria, can be better imagined if the control of police were to be left in the hands of state governors, especially in those states where the President has already declared state of emergency in some of the Local Government Areas.

It must also be noted that terrorism is no longer new in our country, and so the creation of state police will no doubt act as the recipe and catalyst for invitation to the disintegration of Nigeria.

Odunayo Joseph, Mopa, Kogi State.

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Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

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HE view that Nigeria’s post-military experiment in democratic governance is still under the influence of military authoritarianism gains popularity by the day, as members of the executive, legislative, and even judicial branches of government exercise the power under their control. It is popularly believed that civilians who are now in power behave like military generals as well.

Even thirteen years after the exit of military dictatorship, it is not uncommon to hear that civilian governors shut the gates to state secretariat to warn civil servants about the importance of punctuality. Some governors even say to members of their executive council that it is only governors that can come late to council’s meetings. Some governors are known to use phrases borrowed from the era of military dictatorship: “I shall not tolerate this kind of behaviour in my government” or “I shall deal with any individual or group that challenges my authority,” etc.

Nowhere is this military mindset more manifest than in the recent reading by the National Assembly of the principle of sovereignty.

Only a few days ago, the Chairman of the Senate Commit-

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Comment & Analysis

HAVE many times attested, on this page, to Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s humaneness; a man you would have sought out to be your son’s Godfather had politics not dealt him a bad card. Here also is a man about who you would ordinarily hate to do a single paragraph of commentary that can be considered adversarial. I read Reuben and saw him labour, uncharacteristically, to defend the President’s ‘stoning gaffe’ and you knew instinctively that things can never be the same againnot after the catastrophic oil subsidy brouha-ha. Here too is a man you have freely offered tips on how he still could leave his name in gold, that is, if he cares. You observe the cascading comedy of errors and felt only pity for a man who ordinarily should be Nigeria’s Ataturk and you are lost as to what or who to pity: Nigeria, or a very educated President, who has a PH.D to boot, and has both been a state Deputy Governor , Vice-President and Acting President. You wonder what the devil crept into him to have purported to remove a farcical oil subsidy at the time he did – on the very first day of a new year- on top of a marauding Boko Haram insurgency that had laid several sections of the North to waste via indescribable suicide bombing. If nothing told President Jonathan that Boko Haram was not a joke, the mere fact of some virile young men thinking nothing of committing ‘Kamikaze’, should have warned him he had a real problem on his hands.

In a twinkle of an eye, he had shredded lives that were already on tenterhooks and complicated life

Our senate versus sovereignty Berates Nigerian leaders for their authoritarianism tee on Information and Media pontificated from his seat about the power of the Senate. He claimed that the National Assembly has absolute power over the life of the nation: “Our position is that we are already elected to represent all persons and citizens of Nigeria. If you look at the composition you are either represented by a House of Representatives member or a senator….

Therefore, if you want any alteration to the way of life in the country the vehicle is the National Assembly. If you want to change the constitution, bring it through the Representatives and the Senate.”

Although it is hard to know if the chairman was quoting from a resolution by the Senate or just using his position to present his personal view as that of the body of which he is a member, yet his statement has agitated individuals and organizations that believe that Nigeria is not working and may not work until it goes back to the federal structure and constitution upon which the three regions obtained independence in 1960 and which the country operated until the emergence of military dictatorship in 1966.

The President of the Senate, like Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of the Information and Media Committee, reinforced the privileging of the voice of elected officials over that of their electors when he said at the launch of a book by Senator

Mamora that the Senate can create a people’s constitution through the amendment of a constitution imposed on the country by his military colleagues before David Mark himself became a democrat in 1999. In a magisterial tone, Mark said: “Nobody has amended the constitution, but when we do, it will be the people’s Constitution.

We were elected by the people, and we will do what the people want us to do, not what we want to do….

But once you are a minority, don’t insist that you must be right anytime you speak. Nobody has exclusive preserve of knowledge as to what to do to move this country forward.” With these statements, Mark left nobody in doubt as to his desire to privilege the authority delegated by the people to senators over the political will of the people, givers of the authority that makes it possible for some citizens to call themselves senators or lawmakers.

It is hard to find the source of the Senate president’s data on the numerical strength of those calling for or willing to accept the call for a sovereign national conference. It is on record that people from the Southeast, Southsouth, Southwest, and many northern states are among the ranks of citizens calling for or prepared to use a national conference to enhance the country’s unity. Even the Arewa Consultative Forum that includes Mark’s state of ori-

gin has openly stated that it is willing to join other segments of the nation at a conference to determine how to improve the country’s chances of meeting the needs of its citizens. It is only after a referendum that anybody can honestly claim that those calling for re-structuring, national conference, and creation of a people’s constitution can be categorized as majority or minority.

What is clear from the statements of Senators Mark and Abaribe is that members of the legislative branch of government have a bloated idea of the extent of their powers in a modern democracy. The notion expressed by both senators and one member of the House of Representatives from Kwara that it is only the National Assembly that can give the people the constitution they want says so much about how little our lawmakers know about the dynamics of democratic governance, particularly rise of the principle of sovereignty as the basis of democratic governance since the French and American revolutions.

The sovereign power that the legislators are claiming to have exists only to the extent that the people allow. The world moved away over 200 years ago from the notion that sovereignty resides in rulers, be they presidents or legislators. The idea of popular sovereignty represented in the

writings of John Locke, JeanJacques Rousseau, and practiced in such countries as France, the United States, Australia, Canada, India, and other democratic countries shifted sovereignty away from Louis XIV’s C’est etat, c’est moi (Iam the state) ethos. It shifted it to the principle that it is the people that have an unbiased means by which to ascertain the general will, not those to whom they delegate power.

The principle of popular sovereignty in modern times emphasizes that there is no institution of government or form of delegated power that is superior to the will of the people. It is the will of the people that the National Assembly must not try to block by insisting that the elected lawmakers can be used to replace the direct voice of the people in determining what kind of constitution they want.

If National Assembly members care to know, the power in their hands, like the one in the hand of the Executive, is a delegated power which they use as surrogates. The giver and taker of that power is the people. And in a federation, groups that are federated also have the power to invoke their pre-union sovereignty to call for a review of the charter of union, if they feel unprotected or threatened by the power the centre had acquired without their consent. We have seen examples of this in many countries. The closest to us is the change that Scotland is seeking regarding the structure of the United Kingdom.

Jonathan: Leading a thoroughly uncoordinated government Sees the President’s team as hawks in government much more even for the struggling middle class. How does a government, well aware of its huge body of unemployed youth, literally roaming the streets for survival, begin to remotely contemplate this ill-thought public policy? Where has hardheadedness gone in governance? Who are this President’s advisers and how much stock does he set by their advice? Or, as is being alleged, is he really a prisoner of sorts to the penny pinching IMF/World Bank unseen over-lordship over Third World governments?

See where they led Greece.

If anything became crystal clear in the aftermath of the oil subsidy crisis, it is the fact that the President leads a humongous , excessively expensive government that is, above all, thoroughly un-coordinated and ineffective. You wonder too, if this has anything to do with some ministers’ angst about their no longer having access to their boss. But even if this were so, it is improbable that the lady sitting on the honey pot would be denied access. But if Mrs Dzeani Madueke sees the President, what do they discuss?

Where does the President get his facts and figures about the country’s prized commodity from if the minister in charge is ever so unsure about anything?

Here is a minister who claims not to have seen a year old audit of her ministry, and who gives figures, either of imported fuel or the locally refined one far at variance with what other departments of her ministry gave. You will not but wonder whether she is, in reality, a Special Duties Minister seeing her yeoman’s

role in the President’s election, especially in the area of fund mobilization.

With the disclosures coming out of the legislative hearings into the oil subsidy palaver, not even friends of this minister should wager that she is in control. There is overwhelming evidence on ill- or non-coordination and a penchant, for a regulator, or superintending minister, to perpetually come to the aid of her ministry’s contractors in a replay of Professor Soludo’s ever ready defence of many of our erstwhile banking chiefs.

All the unimaginable disclosures at the hearings – mutilated Form M’s, Invoices with the exporters names where that of the importer should be; serial under discharge of cargo from what they call Mother vessels etc, are nothing but confirmation of a poorly led Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

We saw the case of a contractor who over two years had orders to import 215 tons of fuel but brought in only 15 tons on the very last order but without the slightest evidence of shortage in the market place thus confirming a very lax and elastic ordering process, most probably, at the whim and caprice of the Oil Minister. It was obvious many of the young fellows who appeared before the House Ad Hoc Committee as Chief Executives of importing companies were nothing but plants of either top oil industry officials or PDP members making billions at the expense of poor Nigerians. And she is still sitting pretty on that desk? Even way back, the Central Bank Governor, so far away from the ministry saw all these and alerted

legislators to the fact that the ministry of Petroleum Resources has become nothing more than a cesspool of corruption with regard to oil importation where documents are forged at will. In an incident so conclusive of collusion with oil importers and obviously for illicit enrichment, the department of Customs asserted under oath that the Ministry of Finance specifically instructed the agency to close its eyes to necessary importation documents. If one may ask, at what point were the cargoes inspected and by what agency; certainly not by the DPR which one hears stinks to high heavens.

Looking at the total confusion within the Oil Ministry and how its leading lights controvert themselves at every opportunity and you wonder how unsafe the United States of America would be today if its Department of Homeland Security –comparable in importance to our ministry of petroleum resources- were to run half as unserious as our oil industry is run. And in all these Mr President appears so comfortable, forever promising us transformation, but with neither transformation nor an agenda for its achievement seen beyond television sets.

Without a doubt we have seen in the past few weeks, a coterie of knee jack committees spring up from the President’s table and you have this nagging feeling somebody had been sleeping on duty. Nothing gave them up more than the fact that these committees, however well-intended they are, have no enabling laws. Were Mr President serious about them he

could, given the extant circumstances, gotten the legislature to expeditiously pass laws to make these committees concrete institutions that can serve the urgent needs of the country. And this is where one has fears for the likes of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who has been seduced into a job he probably sees as helping to salvage his country but who should always be reminded of patriots like him in the hands of a morally deficient PDP. With them, Ribadu, I hope knows very well, that anybody is both dispensable and/or disposable. He could, in fact, be jettisoned as soon as he collides with a top election financier or a big party man. Nor should Uncle Christopher Kolade –UP SCHOOL- with his roaring integrity believe himself invincible in the hands of the unscrupulous politicians that populate that party as they are always thinking of the next election for which anything else is secondary.

I am personally not convinced this government can rein in the rampaging corruption in the oil industry because that exactly is their milch cow.

It pays, not only for elections, but also for the easy lifestyle of party top guns and members of their family as we recently saw on the internet, pictures of a well-connected young man luxuriating in a private jet.

I need not repeat that I wish this President well. However, his destiny lies strictly in his hands. As at today, there are members of his cabinet who should be made to kiss their seats good bye just as many of those election financiers should be made to realize that he now intends to run a serious government; no longer beholden to anybody besides Nigeria and Nigerians.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Tunji

Adegboyega tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

T

HAT defeated governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially in the southwest of Nigeria could still be talking despite the electoral travesty they committed, which gave them, undeservedly, the governorship seats in that part of the country before the judiciary sent them packing, is not their fault; it is the fault of the system. If we had an electoral law that makes the prison the next port of call for such electoral bandits, (after taking the governorships that they stole from them), they would still be cooling their heels behind bars now and the question of them instituting suits against decent people would not have arisen.

But our legal system is such that forgets a matter once we have told the thief to run and he ran, and we told him to drop what he stole and he dropped it. We now have people who should perpetually bury their heads in shame engage in judicial activism by trying to frustrate an honourable judge like Ayo Salami That is the kind of fate the country has to suffer; when we cut off the head of a snake, we should not assume that it is all over. Some snakes are most deadly when their heads are cut off and the remaining parts of the body are not quickly buried.

Honestly, the PDP stalwarts, especially in the south-west are largely, bad losers. And, as I said in

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 08187172799 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

S

OMETIMES, a conference is required to solve problems. I have used it often myself.

Whenever I have noticed that a particular food fails to disappear as fast as others, I have called the tribe to a roundtable conference with a oneitem agenda. Is there any chance that this food X is not the exact favourite of anyone living within the sheltering precincts of these walls?

Then I count hands, and then I weigh them. If the majority of hands raised up do not weigh anything up to the minority of hands not raised up, then we the conferees come to a unanimous decision to ignore the raised hands, particularly if they are puny. Trouble comes however when two giant hands are in opposition but, even then, we soon come to a compromise: where the kitchen is concerned, only one hand matters. End of conference.

I believe Nigeria and the international halls of justice can learn one or two things from the way we do things in my kitchen.

The Nigeria we know today is only a contraption put together by an indifferent Britain intent on solving her own administrative problems.

She wanted to use only one file from coast to hinterland. So, she saw nothing wrong in lumping together all the groups she had identified on the coasts and in the hinterland into one entity, never mind that those ones

Comment & Analysis

17

PDP’s ‘Plan B’ against Justice Salami Satanic plot to disgrace suspended PCA thickens some of my write-ups on the elections that they stole in Yorubaland, many of them are hardened criminals too. Only hardened criminals would behave the way they are behaving.

Repentant ones would still be seeking the face of the Lord for stealing a property as sacred as the people’s mandate. These were people that ruled over the Yoruba states against the wishes of the otherwise politically sophisticated people who rejected them at the polls.

Now, some of them are going to court to seek the help of the Judiciary that many of them rubbished while in power, over their satanic intention to commit an otherwise decent jurist to prison over alleged perjury.

Controversy over the perjury charge against the suspended President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) Justice Ayo Salami, is the fall-out of the faceoff between the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and the former PCA over the Sokoto State governorship election petition. The law must be an ass indeed! I had thought they say that those who go to equity must go with clean hands.

Pray, which clean hands have former Governor Segun Oni of Ekiti State to institute a suit about integrity against any other person, not to talk

of a jurist who has been diligent at his duty over the years?

The truth of the matter is that the PDP men who are after Justice Salami are doing so in revenge for the judgments of the election petition tribunals which sent Oni and other impostors packing from the south-west. Salami was the head of the court of appeal that decided the cases. This has led the PDP to amend the electoral law that would now see the governorship cases terminate at the Supreme Court instead of the Court of Appeal that it hitherto stopped, as if to suggest that the party can handle matters at that level better, having failed to promote Salami into obscurity. Apparently, the PDP losers do not want to rest until they have extracted their pound of flesh from Justice Salami. Ever since, they have been looking for ways to make sure the man does not retire in peace; they want to discredit him at all cost, to send signals to other judges who might want to follow his path, that they can only dispense justice without doing the bidding of the ruling party, at their peril.

This is dangerous, not only for democracy but for the entire country. The judiciary might not have smelt entirely like roses in this democratic dispensation, the fact remains that it is still somewhat

“The President cannot now use the Oni case as an excuse to delay action on the matter, because it would be convenient for him to want to hide under that to say his hands are tied … When he ratified Salami’s suspension in the first place, the matter was in court; yet, the President suspended him without prejudice to that”

sane in spite of attempts by the PDP to tarnish its image. The perjury case is obviously the ‘Plan B’ of Salami’s traducers. The ‘Plan A’ has collapsed like a pack of cards, with the recommendation by the panel that looked into the matter absolving him of blame and asking that he be returned to his seat.

Let me seize this opportunity to warn the PDP that fuel subsidy was not the only reason Nigerians trooped to the streets last month; it only happened to be the last straw that would have broken the proverbial camel’s back. It was an accumulation of grievances against the ruling party, bothering chiefly on corruption. And corruption has many faces; it is not just about money or finance. It is not unlikely that Nigerians are already collating fresh ‘charges’ against the ruling party and the Salami case might feature prominently because Nigerians are never the fools that the PDP takes them for; they know the real reason why Oni and Co. are angry with Salami and want to pull him down the way they fell from grace to grass. Nigerians know that when a judge like Salami is so callously brought down by people without conscience; the country is doomed.

My advice to President Goodluck Jonathan is that he should lift the suspension on Justice Salami based on the recommendation of the Uwais panel that found nothing against him. This has been corroborated by the Chief Justice of Nigeria himself; that Justice Salami ought not to have been suspended in the first place.

The President cannot now use the Oni case as an excuse to delay action on the matter, because it would be convenient for him to want to hide under that to say his hands are tied. The President and his party can only foist on Nigerians their agenda under their ‘Plan B’, but Nigerians know and at the appropriate time, both the President and his PDP will account for their actions in office. Gone were those days when impunity would ever go unpunished. When he ratified Salami’s suspension in the first place, the matter was in court; yet, the President suspended him without prejudice to that.

The judiciary should rise to this occasion; it should not be seen to be aiding and abetting funny characters to profit from where they have not sown. Those judicial officers who are to determine Salami’s case (if the President wants to hide under the suit that may be instituted by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, and refuses to recall him from his unjust suspension) must realise that the judiciary has always survived irrespective of the kind of government we have. Politicians and soldiers have always come and gone, the judiciary remains. So, they should not allow such buccaneers to pour’ sand in their ‘garri’. It is only a bastard that points to his father’s house with his left hand. If the matter gets to them, they should grant it accelerated hearing, especially with Salami’s retirement only a few months away. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.

Between a sovereign national conference and a referendum …

had never seen each other before, did not understand each other, and had nothing in common with them. Now, that’s what I call power. It reminds me very much of the kind exercised by the so-called ‘conductors’ of commercial buses in Lagos who just lump people together, irrespective of their origins and destinations, to go and break a certain amount of money to be able to individually retrieve their change. Power corrupts indeed.

Like a bird on a wire, managing the contraption has expectedly been full of headaches and toothaches and every other ache for both rulers and the ruled, because, neither bird nor wire has peace. As I have written here before, two unkindnesses were visited on the young nation by Britain. First, the nation was new to selfgovernance. Two, each previously self-determining part of the new nation had no idea what to do with its new brothers, sisters and neighbours: love them, hate them, love them, hate them, then HATE THEM, HATE THEM, HATE THEM! Indeed, every attempt to enforce love seems to have failed, and everyone is wondering why. Then, someone came up with a suggestion: why don’t we talk and air our grievances?

There would indeed have been nothing wrong with a good talk except a few things. One, a decent conversation is hard to come by. I have since discovered that people come into talks with their entire baggage: bad breath, loud mouth, mouth wash (or lack of it), impatience, intolerance, bad ideologies, unemployment anger, failed marriage guilt, and so on. Then, all

kinds of exercises go on there too. If people are not jumping the gun, they are jumping to conclusions, running off with the bad end of the stick, running off with the conversation, getting started on side talks, hitting the nail on the head, pounding the point, knocking down other people’s arguments, tearing at characters, and generally emphasizing their point by spitting it out with much passion!

Please!

Anyway, that’s why good conversationists find me boring – I generally prefer to demure to the last speaker: I detest people spitting into my face. But I suspect the sovereign national conference will not attract demurists; it’ll likely attract pounders and knockers and tearers, people who’ll give pound for pound, flesh for flesh and blood for blood. I believe I am seeing them already. Just recently, I read an article on the internet by someone from the north daring the country to split up and see if the north will not survive better than others, and with panache too.

Then I read from someone in the south east doing the same thing and I thought ‘ugh, ugh, isn’t this, like, sort of, you know, as in reaching the conclusion before the argument has even started?’ If this is the kind of conference we are going to have, I hope someone will do me a great favour. I hope some kind fellow will just help my feeble ol’ bones to a seat on the sidelines where I can watch and hear the combatants really going at it like gladiators and tearing pieces of flesh off each other’s points to make sure they get the last words in. I hope also I will be able to get a word in

edgeways, like say, ‘Could you people turn down the volume of your spit a little? I’m getting quite wet here, thank you.’

Really, people, the issues, as I see them through my myopic eyes (that’s right; that is why I wear glasses), are quite simple. The peoples who make up the present Nigerian state never agreed to come together but they were too young and polite to complain back then. They would not even know how anyway seeing they did not speak the same language before English came along, like the proverbial spider. It’s a little like an adult holding a child in foster care.

There is a stipulated age in which the child is mandatorily given his adulthood, ready or not. I think Nigeria is old enough to decide for herself whether she wants to continue in foster care or not and whether as an entity, ‘undulating along in agony’ as a poet so poetically put it. The problem then is how to take that decision: in peace and quiet or in wrath and belligerence?

I’ll take peace any day, for wrath and belligerence never solved a thing. If you don’t believe me, ask Hitler. I have heard people say that the conference is not expected to lead to a break-up and I have asked, then why do we need a conference? If you will not have a break-up, then you will have a break-in. Anyway, I rather think that what we need is not really a sovereign national conference where people will just come to talk, talk, talk, go home and continue bellyaching. No, what we need is an honest, sincere commitment to the Nigerian project if it must continue.

It’s called P-A-T-R-I-O-T-I-S-M. Short of that, then let everyone prepare his tent because no conference can guarantee it.

Listen, no cake ever stood where people behaved like mice, biting off chunks from it for the sheer pleasure biting gives. There is no reason on earth why government officials should live above the people, why traditional rulers should live in unbelievable opulence, parading their harems like trophies of war, where the central government is so strong it controls everything the people do, and when it can’t, there is trouble, etc.

Look, we the people want very little.

The people want an effective social service system. I would not go so far as to call for a cost-free housing, electricity, education, health care, water system, etc., or anything like.

That would not be realistic. Instead, let there be a system where these things are provided at reasonable costs so that the least of the least, including the unemployed, can have a fairly comfortable ride through life without dreaming of stealing, killing or calling for a sovereign national conference. That is a bad sign indeed.

This present contraption is obviously too big to manage. Things are tight now, so it is better to let the steam out a little or the whole thing might burst. So, let’s have a republic that is truly federal with each region providing a more effective social service system and keeping an eye on things locally where the tall eye of the central government cannot reach.

Let’s have a referendum now to decide whether we want regional governance or not.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

19

POLITICS THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

As the contending political parties conclude arrangements for next Saturday’s governorship elections in Cross River State, NICHOLAS KALU in Calabar, reports on the last minutes’ alignments and plots to stop PDP’s Liyel Imoke

CROSS-RIVER GUBER RACE

Imoke coronation or real contest?

OME February 25, 2011, Cross Riverians would be trooping out to decide the next governor to steer the affairs of the state for the next four years.

Already some major contenders for the governorship position have emerged.

But although the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mike Igini, said 12 political parties are to take part in the governorship election slated for February 25, only four have so far shown appreciable visibility and seem determined to contest against the ruling PDP in the state. The opposition parties in the fray are the Labour Party (LP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and the Hope Democratic Party (HDP).

Although it has been widely said that it would amount to a futile effort to grab power from the ruling party, the opposition in the state still remain undaunted in their bid.

C

THE CANDIDATES

•Imoke

Liyel Imoke, PDP: The PDP candidate, Senator Liyel Imoke from Abi Local Government area, who was governor of the state until a Supreme Court judgment vacated him from office recently, beat Ambassador Sonny Abang in the PDP primary to emerge the flag-bearer of the party. Although he is still believed to have the machinery of government behind him, as the acting governor is widely believed to be marking time for him, the ousted Imoke does not seem to be leaving anything to chance. He recently embarked on an aggressive campaign tour of the entire 18 local governments to beg for votes, a gesture which has been admired by many as a sign of humility and sincerity which may play out positively for him in the election. The former governor, who already has a myriad of support groups working for his return promised he would do more if returned as governor.

Addressing a massive crowd of supporters at the Cultural Centre Complex at a re-

ception organised for him by the supporters before embarking on his campaign tour, Imoke described the large turn out as a “Sign of Victory”, saying the people of Cross-River State had spoken in a voice which is stronger than the Supreme Court judgment, which terminated his tenure.

According to him, the people of the state had hitherto been disadvantaged as those in the rural areas had not seen or felt government but today, they are feeling the impact of government which gives them true meaning of democracy. He said though he was being criticised despite the laudable progress his government made across the state, especially in the area of rural development, he promised he could only do better if re-elected.

Mrs. Ima Nsa Adegoke, LP: Mrs. Ima Nsa Adegoke emerged as the sole candidate of the Labour Party and was unanimously affirmed by the delegates in the party secretariat in Calabar. She is from Odukpani Local Government but married to a Yoruba man. She is vibrant, intelligent and articulate and stormed the political scene in the state last year to contest for the governorship seat before the election was postponed by the Appeal Court. Although new to the political scene, she has proven to be one of the most visible opposition on the political scene. The only female governorship candidate who always insists she is not a politician, but “a person on a mission who has received vision fuelled by passion to bring restoration to Cross-River and her people.”

She brought in with her an infectious effervescence and sincerity that made an impact wherever she went. The woman, who has been in the forefront of fighting for the widows, had last year, before the postponed elections, embarked on a tour of the state to canvas for votes. Adegoke has summarised her programme in the acronym, I HEAR U, where I stands for Infrastructure, H for Health, E for Education, A for Agriculture,

•Adegoke

•Okomiso

•Onyuku

•Usani

R for Research and U for You, the people.

Her words, “I am the best candidate because I have a plan. Something the common man can relate with. I have something that is not just in the air but ‘doable.’ It is something that can be achieved. I think if people look at the plan and look at the agenda, they will understand that there is direction. We cannot afford a visionless leadership anymore. We have only a few short years in which to achieve. Four years is enough to be able to achieve things and if in the last four years, we cannot really lay hold on things that affect the life of the common man, then that means there has been no vision in government. So, I am a better candidate because I have laid out my agenda very well and lucidly so that everyone can understand it.

“Where a lot of political parties have no agenda, my mission is to emancipate Cross Riverians by renewing our minds. In my tour around the state, I discovered that our people are more in the bondage of the mind. I want to make them know that all limitations imposed on any man are meant to be broken by providing legitimate opportunities and that is what I would do if elected. It does not matter where you are coming from, what matters is where you are going to.

Among factors believed to work against her is her surname Adegoke which is Yoruba, but this she says is not a problem.

Her reaction to this, “Which man, having a daughter or any child, he has given out in marriage, comes home and sees his father’s house leaking or the house unkempt, everything falling apart and says oh because I am married, let the house go to rot.

No, that cannot be. I am in my father’s house.

I cannot fold my hands and watch Cross River going to pieces and I am here with the full backing and permission of my husband who supports me totally. This is about the people of Cross River. We must look at excellence and like I always say, excellence is never at the mercy or prejudice of race, tribe, sex or religion. You cannot say because the pilot that can fly an M16 very well is a woman and then you go and take a man who only flies a tuke tuke helicopter in the time of war. This is about excellence. I present excellence.”

On her chances at the polls, political pundits hope the decision of the electorates on February 25, will match her zeal.

Mr. Patrick Okomiso, ANPP: Mr. Patrick Okomiso, from Yakurr Local Government Area, beat Mr. Wabili Niam and Mr. Iheke Awa Solomon to pick the ANPP ticket. Until January this year, Okomiso was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, he bought the PDP nomination form to contest for the party’s governorship primary election in January, but did not return the form. His reason was that he perceived a level playing ground would not be given to all. The manner in which he grabbed the ANPP ticket barely a month after leaving the PDP had given rise to suspicions. One of such is that he might be a mole from the ruling PDP to destabilise the ANPP. However, reacting to this, Okomiso said, “We are going to start up a new dawn in Cross River State.

•Continued on Page 23

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Politics

EADING lights and members of the progressive hue in the Southwest, gathered in the region’s political capital - the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State for three days last week, during which they dissected the current political arrangement in the country, identified its inherent multifarious flaws and suggested ways out of what seems a cul-de-sac.

The event was the “Legislative Summit for Regional Integration” held under the theme: “Achieving regional collaboration for rapid development,” and organised by The Nation newspaper. It held between February 13 and 15.

Speakers, including old and new political leaders, renowned scholars, retired technocrats, university dons, who witnessed the golden era in the old Western Region, now comprising Oyo, Osun Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Delta and lately, Lagos states, regaled participants with endearing tales of good governance and dedicated leadership, which resulted in the momentous growth and development witnessed in the region.

To them, the event was a home coming of sort for all participants, as everyone spoke eloquently about the role Ibadan played and has continued to play in the political life of the region.

They noted that the city, being the political capital of the Western Region, and the engine room of the then governments in the days of the Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), served as the incubating point for all the ingenious policies and programmes that transformed the region and kept it ahead of others.

When the curtain dropped last Wednesday, after all the presentations, consensus was achieved on major pressing national issues that currently inhibit the nation’s growth.

Participants said the country will make no progress should it persist in operating the current federal arrangement. They agreed on the urgent need to restructure the country to ensure devolution of more powers to the constituent units, with fewer responsibilities and funds at the disposal of the centre.

They also agreed on the need for urgent review of the constitution to reduce the overbearing influence of the Federal Government, with some suggesting a total reduction in the items on the Exclusive Legislative List and the possible creation of a list of items on which the states could also legislate on.

Participants also agreed that recourse to the days of regional integration and collaboration was desirable as a cure for the current era of stunted socio-political and economic growth. To them, national growth cannot be achieved under the current regime where states look up to Abuja for its monthly lifeline.

It was agreed that regional collaboration and integration will not only translate into national economic prosperity, it will afford such regions the opportunity of benefiting from economy of scale.

Key participants include Governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, her counterpart in Osun State, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, Ajibola Bashiru, representative of the Olubadan of Ibadanland and OsiOlubadan, Senator Lekan Balogun.

Others are President, the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), MajorGeneral Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande , former Ogun State Governor, Chief Segun Osoba, former Ekiti State Governor, Niyi Adebayo, Oyo State Deputy Governor, Moses Adeyemo, former member of the National Assembly, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, and Edo State Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion, who represented Governor Adams Oshiomole.

Also at the event were former Federal Director of Budget, High Chief Olawale Kuye, Prof. Moses Makinde, renowned scholar, Prof. Adebayo Williams, Speakers of Oyo and Ekiti State Houses of

Southwest lays foundation fo

•Mamora

•Akande

South-West leaders met in Ibadan this week to lay the foundation for the integration of the region . In this report,Eric Ikhilae captures the mood of the participants Assembly; Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu and Dr. Wale Omirin; Senators Ganiyu Solomon, Oluremi Tinubu, Gbenga Ashafa, Ayo Adeseun, and Jide Omoworare.

Others present were House of Representatives members, Yakubu Balogun and Jimoh Adewale, Ekiti State Information Commissioner Funminiyi Afuye, Secretary to Osun State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti and Osun State Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties.

There were others, particularly law makers from Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Lagos and Kogi states.

Chairman, Vintage Press Limited, parent body for the event organising Newspaper, The Nation, Chief Olawale Edun, stressed the relevance of the gathering when, in his opening remarks, he said the summit was meant to afford law makers from the region the opportunity to review existing rules, legislations and laws with a view to identifying how they could hinder the achievement of the much desired regional integration.

He added that the broader aim of the event was to seek ways of strengthening the nation’s democracy by identifying ways of ensuring the practice of true federalism in the country.

He urged all, particularly the legislators, to strive towards realising true federalism within which regional integration would be achieved.

“While you are thinking about regional integration and economic cooperation, you should pay attention to the need for federalism and its imperatives. There is the need for the review of the revenue allocation formula.

The key mantra is fiscal federalism. It defines the financial arrangement.

“There is vertical sharing of revenue. This means adequate resources should be located to the tiers to carry out their responsibilities, instead of the lopsided arrangement. The other is horizontal allocation.

“The Yoruba nation stands for justice, equity and fairness. The allocation should be based on derivation to ensure fairness, equity and justice. Lawmakers should work for fiscal federalism, to ensure equitable distribution of the nation’s resources,” he said.

Governor Ajimobi, who emphasized the need for collaborative relationship among states in the region, identified avenues of growth should states in the region agree to ensure realization of the desired regional integration.

Noting that such collaboration could lift the region in the area of education, for instance, suggested the establishment of a single university for the union, which could serve as the region’s tertiary education symbol, while existing states’ universities become affiliates.

He also stressed the need for qualitative leadership in the region and collaboration on economic development, noting that these elements were germane to ensuring integration and growth.

Ajimobi paid tribute to the First Premier of the defunct Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who, he said was described by an African anthropologist as “a recent Yoruba ancestor”, adding that he achieved sparkling feats, which catapulted the zone to the horizon of progress in the fifties.

He lamented that in post-Awolowo era, the region regressed backward, in spite of the advances in technology, making the earlier republics to remain the benchmark of excellence and examples of purity of mental sophistication.

Ajimobi noted that the integration agenda had been criticised by politicians in the zone, pointing out that these critics can never pursue the initiatives, if they find themselves in power, despite its benefits.

The governor urged the six states to collapse all social, political and legal constraints

militating against integration and development, reiterating the determination of the ACN to pursue the initiative because it is germane to the wellbeing of the people.

He added: “However, the dream will remain a pipe dream, unless the legislatures in the states buy into the idea and promulgate legislations that will translate the dream into reality. Legislation on integration and development is the key to the collaborative development that we desire”.

Ajimobi stressed the value of regional economic integration, saying that it would lead to the maximisation of economies of scale, urging the Southwest professionals to come up with blue prints that would be operated to foster infrastructural and educational development and security.

“I envision a Western Nigeria where the 20 million people in Lagos State can be daily served with vegetables from the riverine area of Ogun State, cassava from the vast land of Oyo State and Dodo Ikire from Osun State, fish from the mangrove of Ondo State and the popular pounded yam from Ekiti State.

“We can replicate this collaboration in all spheres of human endeavours like education, health, sports and other areas where the states can partner for the boosting of their economies”.

“Our quest for regional integration should include educational and cultural integration of our people. Although we speak the same language and share the same culture, the balkanisation of the states has introduced many policies that have sought to push us afar from one another. For instance, all the states in the Southwest, except Oyo State, have a state university.

“Why can’t we, as a people, jointly work on our human capital development to enjoy the benefit of economies of scale, rather than •Continued on Page 21

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Politics

on for regional integration

•Aregbesola

•Fayemi

•Oluremi Tinubu

•Continued from Page 20 each state spending funds that could be better utilised to provide more services and facilities to our people?

Ajimobi said that regional rail, communication system, and agricultural programmes would launch the zone on the path of greatness.

He said: “Is it not possible that we take advantage of proximity, size and teeming population to establish a cheap and seamless communication service in this era of expensive calls that keep dropping? Can’t we integrate our air travel system in a way that many of our airports that are condemned as unprofitable can be profitably used for the benefit of our people and drive our economy better and efficiently?

“Is it not possible to organise a rail transport system in such a way that our teaming population in Ibadan, Lagos, Abeokuta, Osogbo, Akure and Ado-Ekiti can receive fresh farm products from all the six states in the Southwest on daily basis? Is it not possible that we collaborate to establish an integrated transport system that will ensure that our people live in the hinterland located in other states, but can travel to the industrial centres in other states daily to earn their living?”.

Akande called for a review of the 1999 Constitution, which he described as “a code of impediment”, urging the legislators to remain faithful to constitution change. “In our days, we saw the good things, but I don’t know what is left for the present and future generation.

We need integration to move forward.

“We need a circular rail system. Nigerian constitution is a code of impediments that does not allow those who want to move forward to move forward. You should look at this in your deliberations,” he said.

Osoba, in his keynote address, asked governors in the country to initiate a bill on deregulation of electricity generation and distribution to enable the states revitalize their moribund economic activities.

He regretted that Nigeria was currently at a crossroad and added that the solution is a productive federal system. He praised the late

Awolowo for laying a proper foundation for the zone, advising the stakeholders to work for its economic growth to lift its standard of living.

The former governor frowned at the unitary structure, which makes the centre to block access to resources by the states to their detriment.

He reiterated his support for regionalism, and recalled that Awo had proposed a federation based on cultural units.

“In the First Republic, there was true federalism and extant laws did not prevent the development of the regions. Legislators should come up with laws in aid of the agenda. At the federal level, our legislators must lobby their colleagues for the review of extant laws that prevent regional initiative. Our legislators must know that without integration, there will be no development in the long run,” Osoba said.

In his presentation, Prof Williams warned that the nation may not survive its current contradictions unless it reverts to the practice of true federalism. He argued that national growth and economic prosperity could only be achieved through regional growth and collaborations.

Prof Williams, who presided over a session during the summit, noted that although the colonialists bequeathed to the indigenous leaders a nation with faulty foundation, the nation’s post independence leadership has failed to determine a more convenient for the people to cohabit; a system that will afford each constituent unit the freedom to grow at its pace.

The scholar, who praised the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for the development witnessed in the Western region during his era, charged current political leaders in the states comprising the old Western Region to work diligently to achieve the much needed development.

Sen. Solomon argued that there was an urgent need for a fundamental review of the Constitution for the anticipated regional economic integration to be realized. He regretted that the lopsided federal structure and over-concentration of power in the centre constituted con-

straints to regional autonomy and growth.

Solomon, who spoke on the topic:”The law as a tool for development,” said the key to regional integration is devolution of power, stressing that the federal government should share some critical items on the Exclusive List with the states.

Governor Fayemi urged the region to brace up for the challenges of regional integration, stressing that the initiative encompasses the comprehensive overhaul of all the critical sectors germane to the welfare of citizens.

To achieve the agenda, he said the zone must re-focus its priorities in relevant sector, including education, health, infrastructure, communication, agriculture, urban development, housing, energy,security, culture and tourism.

Represented by Information Commissioner, Funminiyi Afuye, Fayemi observed that the idea of integration came at a critical time in national history when the component units are suffocated by the unitary structure foisted by the military. Lamenting that the military incursion into the governance wiped away the gains of regionalism, he said the regions lost their right to generate revenue for wider development.

Fayemi said the collapse of regions into states and local governments displaced regional economies, giving rise to a bogus federal purse, from which subventions were then granted to states and councils.

“This present endeavour at the revival of regionalism is in the effort to restore the Southwest to its pride of place as an economic and developmental unit. Regional integration within the context of true federalism is important for the democratic growth of the Southwest and Nigeria,” he said.

Renowned Law professor, Akin Oyebode, decried the warped federal system being operated in the country. He stressed the need for integration in the Southwest, but urged states in the region to appoint commissioners for integration, adding that there is need for structure and clearing house to commence the implementation of the initiative. Oyebode ad-

21

vised the legislators to make legislative enactments to back the regional proposal in the interest of the generality of the people.

Describing antagonists of the clamour for a people’s constitution as uninformed, Prof Oyebode argued that the National Assembly, as currently constituted, cannot make a new Constitution for the country.

“The 1999 Constitution is Decree 24 of 1999. It is an outdated constitution foisted

by Abdulsalami. The Patriots described it as a fraudulent constitution that told a lie against itself. The National Assembly can amend it, but it cannot make a new constitution for Nigeria. It is anti-historical to give the task to them.

Sen. Mamora and Lagos State Special Adviser on Regional Integration Rev. Tunji Adebiyi, directed attention to the limitation to the powers of the National Assembly to make peoples’ constitution for the country.

Foremost female professor, Adeotun Ogunseye, lamented that the military destroyed the regions when states were created. She said the National Council of Women Societies, which she founded in 1952 to empower women and stimulate development, has been affected by the onslaught against regionalism.

She said, although the society made impacts when it set up nurseries and owned a property in Shamanda, people from the north have hijacked it and excluded Southwest members from its core leadership positions.

Ogunseye said, since efforts are now on to revitalize it, governors in the region should encourage women in the current move aimed at recreating the old Western Region.

On the last day, Gov Aregbesola made an enthralling presentation that got all participants thinking. He argued that regional integration was an idea, whose time has come. He gave a graphical demonstration of how regional integration in the Southwest could be achieved and the many benefits that await the states.

Aregbesola urged the zone to pursue the initiative with courage, determination and relentless zeal. He called for a peer review to be incorporated into the implementation process, adding that “there must be a formal arrangement where each state government must be assessed and its performance reviewed by its peers”.

He canvassed a broad policy thrust and programme outline, which would focus on the most critical needs of the people of the region. The governor listed the needs of the region, including youth employment, food security, education, and transportation.

The governor said the push for integration should not be misconstrued as the clamour for succession from Nigeria, stressing that other states which share the Southwest’s philosophy are free to join the train. “The critical area therefore, comes with the acronym-JETAJobs, Education, Transportation and Agriculture,” he said.

In their separate presentations, members of the National Assembly, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin and a former university don, Prof Adesegun Banjo, reemphasized the urgent need to restructure the country to reverse the current arrangement where the centre is allocated more powers than it requires at the expense of the constituent states.

To achieve this, they called for the amendment of the Constitution to create a weak centre and robust states that could afford the federating units a level of autonomy to determine their pace and strategies for growth.

While the duo blamed the nation’s underdevelopment on the warped form of government being practiced, Senator Lanlehin said progress could only be achieved with a return to true federalism, with Prof Banjo suggesting a confederation.

Before drawing the curtain at the tail end of the last session which he chaired, Ekiti State Speaker, Hon Adewale Omrin, called for the presentation of the summit’s communiqué, which contained fundamental issues on which participants agreed on.

Participants also suggested the adoption of Speaking of Yoruba Language in the Houses of Assembly in Southwestern states on assigned days, the adoption of Osun State’s flag and state anthem as the anthem for the region, among others.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Politics

Rancour over funding of National Summit Group’s meeting T

HESE eminent Nigerians, from politicians to technocrats; traditional rulers and religious leaders; retired and serving military officers; elected and appointed public office holders; pro-democracy activists and self determination agitators; and many others, they all came from various nooks and crannies of our embattled nation, eager and ready to discuss the ways out of the melee of confusion currently bedeviling Nigeria.

And top on the agenda of the summit as participants started arriving that Monday morning was the issue of a Sovereign National Conference. Not a few Nigerians saw the summit as a bold step that will eventually see the country on the path to the much needed independent national conference that may in turn give the nation a constitution that will reflect the wishes of the various confederating units.

But hardly had the deliberations began when signs that all may not be well after all started to materialise. And at the centre of it all was the nagging question of how independent the proposed Sovereign National Conference will be if eventually the National Summit Group succeeds in brokering one.

The problem arose from the suspicion amongst the participants that the federal government may be bank rolling the entire process from the summit to the proposed conference. It started as mere suspicion, but in no time, it acquired a life of its own, threatening to curtail or truncate the entire project.

Those raising the posers didn’t just start out to be mischievous.

At least, a number of them were able to explain why they fear for the independence of the much awaited NSG-brokered conference.

Though the matter was already being discussed in hushed tones and snide remarks right from the moment the meeting kicked off at the Banquet hall of the Lagos Sheraton Hotels, it took the outburst of a participant, Prof.

Remi Sonaiya, to make public the controversy when she asked the organisers to tell the gathering the source of funding.

The retired Professor of French from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, perhaps unable to control her curiosity any longer, urged the organizers to clear the air by telling the gathering how they were funding the summit.

“If the federal government is funding this initiative, I don’t want to be part of it. It is important for us all to know how this initiative is being funded so that we can put a stop to unnecessary remarks,” she told the gathering.

And when it appeared she was not going to get an immediate answer following an appeal to her to see the organisers privately for further explanation, the obviously worried woman raised her voice, insisting she be told publicly how the project is being

The source of funding for the two-day meeting, recently called by the National Summit Group (NSG) to discuss the state of the nation and chart course for Sovereign National Conference has created a sense of distrust. In this report, Dare Odufowokan captures the suspicions and wonders if NSG is presenting the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob? funded.

“I asked for information. I asked, could you tell us the source of funding since it is going to hold across the geo-political zones. I don’t want a private answer. I want a public answer,” she charged.

Explaining her agitation, the university scholar said she demanded to know the source of funding because the organisers accepted to pay the hotel bills of participants on demand. She argued that the country’s resources should not be used to hold meetings.

Not satisfied with the turn of events as the organisers could not answer her questions, Prof.

Sonaiya stormed out of the venue.

On her way out, she told reporters that unless the summit is free of government sponsorship, the succeeding conference can never be independent.

“What Nigerians want is a Sovereign National Conference to discuss their future. How do we own the summit if you are paid to put it together? You own it by putting your resources into it. This type of initiative should not be government sponsored. It is repulsive. Why should organisers underwrite the hotel bills of participants?

With that singular display of dissatisfaction, Prof. Sonaiya propelled more and more people to ponder over the possible involvement of the federal government or its proxies in the race towards a Sovereign National Conference.

And to say the truth, the development is doing more harm than good to NSG’s well received idea.

The high expectation that gripped the nation in the wake of the summit is understandable.

Since the return to civil rule in 1999, the call for a Sovereign National Conference has heightened.

Not even the euphoria that greeted the exit of the military from governance blurred the agi-

tation for a process that will give the nation a people’s constitution.

At every critical point in the nation’s history since then, Nigerians never failed to return to the call for the SNC, especially when the issues at stake bother on the peaceful co-existence of the various ethnic nationalities in the country.

But in spite of the numerous calls for the conference, the various governments formed at the centre since the return to democracy simply ignored the agitations. The closest the nation got to a conference of that type was the Justice Nikki Tobi-led National Political Reforms Conference (NPRC), sponsored by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Held in July 2005, the NPRC failed to meet the yearnings of Nigerians. Though it was attended by many stakeholders in the Nigerian project, with huge amounts of money expended, the deliberations at the conference fell below people’s expectation.

With the disappointing end of the NPRC came a renewed agitation for a Sovereign National Conference. This agitation was soon heightened further by some factors that daily threatened the continued existence of the polity called Nigeria.

One of such factors is the issue of presidential succession following the fatal ill-health of the then President Umar Musa Yar’ Adua. But for the wisdom of the national assembly in invoking the doctrine of necessity, the stiff opposition mounted by some blocs against the constitutional provision that the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan should step in as Acting President, would have made mince-meat of the fragile bond holding the country together.

And when late Yar’Adua eventually died, the vexed issue of zoning joined the list of factors

that threatened the existence of the nation. As the 2011 presidential election approached, a section of the country wanted Jonathan out of the race on the argument that the north was yet to complete its term.

The arguments and counter arguments that trailed what is supposed to be an intra party dispute within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) further showed the many defects of our current constitution. Expectedly, the call for a Sovereign National Conference peaked.

By the time the nation witnessed the menace of the Niger Delta militants and the ongoing onslaught by the Boko Haram sect, many more argued that time has come for the people to sit down and decide how they want to remain together in the contraption called Nigeria.

This was the situation when the NSG offered its platform to Nigerians. And it also explains why much was expected from the summit.

Though Dr. Tony Uranta, the Executive Secretary of the SNG ruled out government funding just as he insisted that the summit is a private initiative, devoid of any form of funding or interference from the federal government, Prof. Sonaiya’s observation could just not be wished away.

“We did not get any support from the federal government. Only Lagos State Government, the Inspector General of Police and Lagos State Police Commissioner gave us support,” he said.

Even at that, the SNG did not disclose the nature of support given by the people and organisations and individuals Uranta acknowledged as supporters of the project. Thus, rather than help his cause, the defense merely fuelled further suspicion.

This much can be gleamed from the observation of another eminent participant at the confer-

ence, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the second republic governor of old Kaduna State.

While insisting that a national conference is long overdue if Nigeria is to continue existing as a nation, the elderly politician admitted the suspicion of government involvement in the Lagos summit.

“No, I was not aware. I only suspected this when I attended the first session on Monday. On the first day, I saw something that is completely unnecessary and ought not to have happened. I saw the presence of the Commissioner of Police for Lagos State. He was there and participated from the beginning to the end of the discussions. I couldn’t understand that. The second thing is that there was too much concern about what government might feel about the discussion at the summit. There were other observable issues which I cannot understand,” Balarabe responded when he was asked if he knew of government’s involvement in the meeting.

But the former Kaduna governor is still very optimistic that irrespective of who is calling the shot, the process must be continued in the interest of the country.

“Well, as far as I am concerned, whether it was sponsored by the government or anybody, something has been achieved by the summit. And in any case, it is just a process towards the national conference. Before the conference proper, every negative aspect will be dealt with. I remember before we had the 1994 all politicians’ summit, a number of things happened but when the conference started, things went well. So, I believed before the conference, all these problems will be removed and we will have an independent national conference like we had in 1994,” Balarabe said.

But his view was not shared

by Mazi Max Okwuenu, convener of the National Dialogue Group (NDG), who was also part of the two-day meeting. According to the pro-democracy activist, the process should no longer be trusted by Nigerians.

“I think we should be wary of the intentions of the organisers of the summit. If at the very beginning of a process expected to lead to an independent conference, we are already seeing a situation like the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau, then sincerity has taken flight. I have no doubt the government is sponsoring the entire process,” he said.

Asked why he think the federal government will want to be involved in the call for Sovereign National Conference, Okwuenu said it is a ploy by Jonathan and his men to hijack the process before the initiative would be taken by the masses themselves.

“They know what they are doing. They want to tele-guide the entire process towards a pre-conceived end. They are afraid of allowing the people to freely discuss without supervision. They know they are unpopular. For us in our group, we are out of this very process being championed by the NSG. “The search for an avenue to freely dialogue about their future together continues. This process is already compromised. Soon, you will hear people fighting over money. That was what Obasanjo did with the National Political Reforms’ Conference in 2004.

They are at it again,” he added.

So, is the roaring voice of the National Summit Group real or is it being prompted by the hands of a less patriotic entity? Time and only time will tell.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Politics

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Opposition moves to stop Imoke’s return •Continued on from 19 I would not want to discuss PDP, because I am not a PDP member because I am the governorship candidate of the ANPP, and what I should put my energy into is to look into the programmes that can change the fortunes of the state from poverty to prosperity. That is what my energy would be geared towards.”

Although many believe that Okomiso, who once contested to represent Abi/ Yakurr Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives under the PDP stands little chance, he remains undaunted, confident that come February 25, he will win the governorship elections.

His words: “My administration will not depend solely on federal allocation. Cross River State is so blessed with natural resources that it cannot be poor. This state is blessed with forest, cocoa and many natural resources that are yet to be harnessed.

My administration will look inward to generate revenue. Our state is not poor but has leaders with poverty of ideas. With the right ideas, we can generate enough to pay salaries and execute development projects. Besides our natural resources, we have a seaport that is yet to be fully tilized, Calabar Free Trade Zone and Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort. We will also cut down waste and expenses of government.

“Cross River people are in for a new dawn. My government will thrive on ideas.

Everything I want to do will have a time frame. I don’t have time for eight years tenure. I will govern for four years and go. Four years are enough to put every infrastructure in place, to plan and implement. ‘Before you vie for such office, have your plans in place.”

Pastor Usani Usani, ACN: Pastor Usani Usani, from Yakurr Local Government Area, emerged as candidate of the ACN in the state under controversial circumstances. He beat Mr. Mike Ogar in the party’s primary to emerge its candidate. Usani was a commissioner in Cross River State during the military regime.

The primary elections at the Paradise City Hotel in Calabar, presided over by Lukman Mohammed, the chairman of the Primary Election Committee, had in attendance the members of the police, State Security Service (SSS), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and national officers of the party.

However, Mr. Cletus Obun, who insists he is still the chairman of the party in the state, said the exercise was a nullity.

Recently, in a state congress, attended by national officers of the party, and organised at the same Paradise City Hotel, Hilliard Eta, emerged as the new chairman.

Obun said those involved in the election were infiltrators to the party, and risked a contempt charge as they went on with the election despite a court order.

Reacting to a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) signed by the National Secretary of ACN, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, endorsing the new Executive Council, he said the national secretary was colluding with the Eta-led administration to destabilise the party in the state.

Obun said since the inception of ACN, there has always been infiltration into the party during elections to generate crisis in an attempt to distabilise and put the party in disarray.

It is believed that the infighting within the party will deal a fatal blow to the party’s chances at the polls.

Dr Theo Onyuku, HDP: Dr. Theo Onyuku is perhaps the most controversial of all the candidates. He emerged as the sole candidate of the Hope Democratic Party.

Onyuku was the former chairman of the Labour Party but an intra-party crisis led to his leaving in 2010. Since then, he remained a major critic of government. Though many wonder how possible it would be for him to win the election, Onyuku, believes he has what it takes to grab the seat.

Factors against opposition ACN crisis: It is a scenario that seems to be repeating

itself over time in Cross River State – a crisis situation within the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state whenever elections are by the corner.

As the party, which is believed to be strong enough to give the ruling PDP the most headache, it is believed this has always been a deliberate infiltration of the party to weaken it before the elections.

Now, with the governorship elections at hand, the nightmare is repeating itself all over again, this time with a little more melodrama.

Though the drama started sometime towards the end of last year, it became clearer within the last one month that all was not well within the party.

That was when Mr. Hilliard Eta, who had contested for House of Assembly on the platform of ACN last year and failed, emerged as chairman of the party in a state congress conducted by some national officials of the party on Sunday January 29, 2012 at the Paradise City Hotel in Calabar.

This was despite the fact that the Cletus Obun-led administration of the party was inaugurated just in January last year for a constitutionally approved period of four years.

The ACN in the state seems embroiled in crisis over who represents the party. The result was that there seemed to be two chairmen of ACN, Eta and Obun. Already, there are two factions of the party in the state. One faction is led by Mr. Cletus Obun, who has been the chairman of the party since, while the other is led by Mr. Hillard Etta, who emerged in a state congress supervised by national officers of the party in January. The Cletus Obun-led faction produced Mr. Mike Ogar as the party’s flag bearer, while the Eta-led faction produced Mr. Usani Usani as its flag bearer. However, the national leadership of the ACN had reaffirmed Pastor Usani Usani as its duly nominated gubernatorial candidate for Cross River, dispelling reports that the party had two gubernatorial candidates in the state.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Pastor U s a n i emerged at its primary election held in Calabar, which was witnessed by INEC officials, the police and other security agencies.

Duke’s support for Imoke One of the •Duke factors believed to be a big blow to the strength of the opposition in the state, is the open support of the former governor of the state, Mr. Donald Duke, for the PDP candidate, Imoke. Before Duke declared his support by returning to the PDP, voting for Imoke at the party primaries and accompanying him on his campaign tours around the state, speculations were rife that he (Duke) was working behind the scenes with the opposition to make life unbearable for Imoke. This concept was built around the well reported cold war between the two former governors, who it was believed had fallen apart at a point. This speculation was further strengthened towards the end of last year when Duke attended a function organised by the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party in the state, Mrs. Ima Nsa Adegoke.

It was believed that with his popularity and influence, he (Duke) could have lent muscle to the opposition in the state against Imoke.

INEC governorship election date The February 25, 2012 date set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the governorship elections seems to be one issue that has irked all the opposition parties. Though it seems to be on short notice, some observers said opposition’s dissatisfaction with the date seems to suggest they are not prepared.

While the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Senator Liyel Imoke, has expressed delight

with INEC’s prompt release of the election timetable describing it as, “a good and positive sign that buttresses my personal view that basic hierarchy requires a degree of orderliness”, other political parties think differently.

Mr. Hilliard Eta, who maintains he is the true chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state, and who led a street protest against the date, expressed displeasure with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for fixing the gubernatorial poll in February 25. He said the period is not only short but a deviation from the law and due process.

He therefore urged the commission’s chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, to review the date in the “interest of fairness and justice.”

Also reacting to the date, Onyuku of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) said, “We find the sudden re-scheduling of Cross River State gubernatorial elections from April 14 to February 25, 2012 as unacceptable, but deliberate ambush of opposition parties by INEC in active collaboration with the ruling party to achieve a pre-determined outcome.

“HDP is convinced that INEC has begun doing the bidding of the ruling party.

We submit that if INEC can’t give parties equal opportunities, it can as well announce the preferred candidates as winners and swear them in instead of wasting public funds on elections with known outcome.

That’s our stand.”

Mrs. Ima Nsa Adegoke of the LP said, “Certainly I believe that anyone who is ready for this race, such a person would have had certain structures on ground. In as much as I do not agree with the abridged time, because the time had been set by the electoral act, and in as much as I would also say that some of us feel that it is a ruse by INEC to ensure opposition doesn’t have money because they are not in government and all of that, fine. But for us at the Labour Party, I think we are prepared because we think election is about the people. It is about structures. I don’t think election is about money. I don’t think money is going to do much this time around because in Cross River State, people are just tired and they just want to change their situation.”

Mr. Patrick Okomiso of the ANPP also said, “I want to say this with every respect to Jega, I think INEC should not rig elections for the party. Jega should play according to the laws of the land. He should not lose his integrity because at the rate it is going, Jega may lose his integrity. Nigerians may not have respect for him again. Election timetable should be the way it has been. He should not just come up today and say in the next 20 days, election should hold. No.”

Why Kaoje wants PDP’s National Organising Secretary’s job

S

INCE the ban on political activities was lifted in 1998 by the military administration under then head of state, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) and the coming into existence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it has become the party to beat in all elections conducted ever since.

This has made it to become the beautiful bride sought by many in the country. To fill positions in the party has also become a privilege by party members. This year, certain party members would be jostling for vacancies in the party, including that of the Organising Secretary. Though the position of Organising Secretary is not the highest on offer, what makes it particularly interesting is the candidature of Hon. Bala Kaoje. He is reputed for his leadership qualities.

The interest currently shown over candidates like Kaoje is informed by the belief that the party at this stage cannot afford to have a leader that lacks vision to reposition the party for discipline, stability and for future elections.

Political pundits are saying that what the party needs at this crucial moment is a leader who commands respect among its members across the country; a leader that can command members to tow the party

By Aminu Baba

line in order to exert party supremacy that has eluded the party in the recent past.

At over 51, Nigeria cannot afford to be saddled with leaders who only regale in their unenviable pasts and pedigree.

The tendency in recent decades for democracies is to have people who are educated in leadership; a call for ideological shift for optimum development of Peoples Democratic Party and the Nigerian society.

Politics according to Dick Morris in his seminal work “Power Play” is the pursuit of power. The story of that pursuit is history.

The history of people and their successes or otherwise, is a revealing insight for people who seek power, especially political leadership. Hon. Bala Kaoje, although an exceptional engineer with several firsts, is equally well versed in current international and political developments both in the country and abroad. He is not only dynamic, a politician to watch. Peoples Democratic Party and Nigerians would indeed be counted lucky to have such a workaholic in the saddle as its national organising secretariat at this time in history. Though, not much has been heard of him due to his humble background and his philosophy not to be too visible, those who know him said

Kaoje is the man that will bring about the desired change in PDP. As a former minister of sports who reportedly brought transformation to the ministry, Kaoje has a track record that may serve as a proof to his ability.

This is a man who has built a reputation as a leader who cares about people and whose belief is that the only way development can reach the ordinary people is to involve them directly in governance.

One can aptly describe Hon. Kaoje as “One of the true men of actions in our time” with his record of hard work, political sagacity, excellent human relations, tenacious diplomacy, fortified with an avid simplicity.

With his visible achievements both as a diplomat and former minister of sports, Kaoje is reputed to have analytical mind and this is one of the qualities his supporters are projecting to put him ahead of others.

He is also a party man. As a founding member of the PDP, he has remained determined to contribute to making the party great.

Flaunting this curriculum vitae, Kaoje said his mission is to reposition the party to an enviable height. *Baba is an Abuja based journalist

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Politics

O

NE major tragedy of governance in Nigeria is the fact that most political office holders were never prepared for governance.

Many got to the position of authority either reluctantly or were pressurized to contest for political office. This situation has accounted for the failure of many in political offices.

Even in cases where politicians drew up programmes for execution, it is often regarded as a mere window dressing to cajole the electorate into voting them into office. This lack of confidence in political office holders by the electorate is responsible for the incessant pecuniary demands by the people on politicians.

But in Ekiti State, the youthful governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi appears to be charting a new path of confidence building between the electorate and the rulers. After a three and half year legal battle, he assumed office with an eight point agenda with which he has asked his people to assess his performance.

The eight-point agenda The all embracing agenda included participatory governance, infrastructural development, modernizing agriculture, education and capital development, health care services, industrial development, tourism and gender equality and empowerment.

Almost 16 months into the four year tenure, people have started assessing the performance of the governor based on the eight point agenda. For instance, a prodemocracy group, Ekiti Democrats, believed that the governor has not disappointed the electorate.Coordinator of the group, Dr. Funso Adekunle said the various welfare programmes put in place by the governor has endeared him to the grassroots of the state. He said the state Social Security Scheme through which indigent elders are being paid N5,000 monthly and the Youth Volunteer Corps through which thousands of youths across were allowed to earn a living are pointers to this.

True to Adekunle’s claim, over ten thousand elders across the state are benefiting from the Social Security Scheme. The programme was designed to take care of the indigent elders, many of those who do not have children that could look after their welfare at old age.

The Youth Volunteer Corps has removed 5,000 unemployed youths from the streets while more are in the process of being recruited by the Youth Employment and Job Creation Agency.

The youths who were camped and trained to inculcate the values and other virtues for which the state is known, are presently working in different government establishments.

A review of the performance of the governor in the last 16 months showed that he dedicated his first one year in office to putting in place a legal frame work for the actualization of his programmes and the implementation of welfare programmes for the people of the state. No wonder that several bills were sent to the state assembly for passage into law.

Having dealt with the issue of the legal frame-work for the transformation, the governor embarked on several other welfarist programmes such as Micro Credit facilities, tourism development, mechanized farming, free education and free health programmes and provision of pipe borne water supply, rehabilitation of dams, road construction among many other programmes.

For instance, apart from continuing with inherited road projects, the governor awarded 13 new road projects to improve on the network of roads in the state. These contractors who have been mobilized and are already working to meet the deadline of between six and twelve months.

These roads include Igede-AwoIdo; Igbara Odo-Ikere; Ikogosi-Ipole Iloro-Ayetoro; dualisation of Old Garage- Ojumose; dualisation of First Baptist-Atikankan; Ijan-Ise; Ijero-Ipoti and Ilawe-Igbara Odo-Ibuji road.

These are in addition to the Ado-Ekiti Ifaki dual carriage road, Ado-Ilawe, Ado-Afao, Ewu Bridge, Aramoko-Ijero-

If there is any area that the people have felt a purposeful governance, it is in the area of health care delivery. Apart from the introduction of the free health programme which took care of physically challenged, pregnant women, children under the age of five years and adults above the age of 65 years, the government introduced a free health mission to take care of all the citizens of the state irrespective of their religious or political leanings.

The free health mission which is a mobile clinic takes health care delivery to the door steps of the beneficiaries.

The mission comprising of medical personnel specializing in different fields of medicine were put together by the governor as part of his electioneering campaign but had to continue in the face of the successes recorded by the programmed.

Diseases treated by the mission range from malaria, to eye disease, rheumatism, diabetes, typhoid fever, hypertension among others. As at last year, over 145,000 residents benefitted from the programme.

In the area of educational development, the governor introduced free and compulsory education at primary and secondary levels. He also reduced fees payable in state owned tertiary institutions. The government also merged its junior and senior secondary schools into one administrative unit to remove the usual friction between the management of the two separate schools.

The governor in a bid to improve learning introduced students in secondary schools to Information Communication Technology {ICT} through the supply of laptop to every student. This is to continue till the end of the administration.

To restore the lost glory of the education sector, a summit of stakeholders was convened and at the end of the summit, the hitherto existing universities, though on paper were merged into Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, while the hitherto comatose College of Education, IkereEkiti was revived.

In the area of tourism, the governor has equally fulfilled his promise to the people. The neglected Ikogosi Warm Springs has received due attention. It is the intention of the governor to make the state a tourists’ haven which informed the ongoing massive transformation of the Ikogosi Warm Springs. The 130 hectares Warm Springs and Resort phase 1 is to be commissioned soon.

While the process of transforming the state continues, the governor in keeping with his eight point agenda has declared that this year is a year of delivery on his electioneering promises. This accounted for the massive construction works going on in the state.

While, the governor continues to deliver on his electioneering promises, it is equally good to wish the tireless, prodemocracy activist, scholar and leader of men more years of service to mankind.

Sayo, is a Senior Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor

Taking Ekiti to greater heights

By Ifedayo Sayo

PERSPECTIVE Ido, Osun-Iloro and Awo-Iyin which are nearing completion. Others are Ikole-Ijesa Isu-Ilumoba; Ijigbo Baptist College-Ilawe road; and a host of others.

The Kayode Fayemi administration; in keeping with his agenda for the transformation of the state has also embarked on urban renewal project to give the state capital, Ado-Ekiti a new look. The renewal project which commenced last year is expected to be completed this year. The programme include planting of ornament trees and flower as well as construction of walk ways, and construction of mechanic village and new motor parks.

Also, traffic lights have been installed at major junctions to ensure orderliness on the roads while the state government is in the process of awarding contracts for the erection of street lights to replace the non functioning solar powered street lights inherited from the immediate past administration.

The urban renewal project will involve the construction of ultra modern market to replace the existing Central Market. As part of the preliminary work on the new market which drawings have been completed, the market and traders are being relocated to Agric Road where over 100 shops have been erected.

Beyond the issue of urban renewal, the state government has placed the provision of portable water to the citizenry on high priority.

For instance, in continuation of the 2009 Millennium Development Goals, it has provided water treatment plants for the five communities including Ido-Ile, Okemesi, Efon Alaaye, Ipole Iloro and Erijiyan To ensure that residents of AdoEkiti have access to drinkable water, the government is laying a dedicated 300m ductile steel pipeline from AdoEkiti head works to Mary Hill, a distance of about 4.5km. There is also pipeline extension from Mary Hill to Ajibade-Idolofin-Housing and another pipeline extension from Ogotun to Ipole Iloro, a distance of 12km.

Political Politics turf

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Can Lamorde tame corruption monster?

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is in the news once again. Since it was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the commission has been in the eye of the storm. Successive chairmen took their exits in very controversial circumstances.

First, the inimitable Nuhu Ribadu. A senior Police officer at the time of his appointment, Ribadu came well recommended.

He was seen as the man for the job, the no-nonsense cop who would not entertain any attempt to stain his immaculate attire.

But, within a short period, he got sucked into the system.

Till date, no one has been able to pin corrupt practices on him. He has not been credited with property beyond his means. This is much more than could be said about 99.5 per cent of public officers in the country. He appeared very straight, but not so strict. It has been said that he who pays the piper dictates the tune to be played.

Ribadu had to go. In the process, he was made to lose his rank and literally pushed to exile. The paymaster or godfather was Obasanjo, he therefore took liberty to prod Ribadu on the way to go. Friends of the President and the federal government could do no wrong. Those who were in the good books of Ribadu’s master could do no wrong, but those regarded as the enemy had to be brought to book. Eventually, as soon as Obasanjo had to step down from the dais, his successor, himself an Obasanjo protégé, felt no need for the EFCC chief executive.

Then, the second chief executive, Mrs. Farida Waziri. She stepped into office as a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police. Again, she had a reputation that preceded her to office.

She is a lawyer and one regarded as principled. But, no sooner did she mount the dais than all attempts were made to pull her down. Some members of the Club of the Politically Exposed Persons disliked Waziri’s guts. At the inauguration of the 7th National Assembly, senators railed at her at a summit. She maintained her gait. She pointed out that she has a former Senator as husband and would therefore do nothing to deliberately bring politicians to disrepute.

It was a question of time. Dr. Jonathan, on his first visit outside Nigeria as President under the doctrine of necessity, had indicated that he was not satisfied with Waziri’s performance. And, when joined by the Senators and the international community in the opinion that the war had flailed, it was obvious that the czar would be sacrificed. But, the manner of her exit was not particularly tidy. She had only a few months to the expiration of her first term. President Jonathan would not wait for that, he showed her the exit door. No courtesy. She was still meeting with her men when word came across that her removal had been announced. Yet, the President gave no reason for his action. If a high official of state must be removed in such unceremonious manner, it must be for heinous crimes. The President owes the Nigerian people an explanation. In a democracy, it should never be a take-it-or-leave- it.

Now, Lamorde is in the saddle. As he faced the Senate during screening, he sounded modest and honest. He acknowledged that the commission is not free of corrupt officers, but promised that action was on to fish them out and mete out correct punishment. He presented the mien of a career public servant who knows very little about politics and political direction. Nothing could be further from the truth. To have survived for as long as he did since the inception of the commission, Lamorde must know more than he is letting out on political connection. But, I fear if a serving Police officer could tame the monster. All officers are taught to obey orders. The orientation in the Forces is to obey the last order. In view of the texture of Nigerian politics, all political leaders are given to abuse of power. In the short period that he has been in charge, President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is not an exception. He understands the aroma of power, appreciates the colour and is adept at its use. One of the tools available to do the odd job of pinning down opponents is the EFCC. As 2015 beckons, Jonathan will certainly stop at nothing to have his way. He may stay true to his pledge to stay away from another contest, but, even at that, as Obasanjo demonstrated in 2007, Jonathan would be very interested in installing a protégé or stooge.

Corruption has been central to our operations since independence. Even before then. Remember the Foster-Sutton Tribunal that indicted the legendary Zik on the operations of the African Continental Bank? Remember also the Storey Commission that investigated affairs and spending of the Ibadan Municipal Government under Adegoke Adelabu?

Others that came after independence, even though in cloudy circumstances, include the Coker Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of government corporations under the Awolowo Western Nigeria leadership.

Under the military we all remember the Scannia Bus Scandal.

Some of those involved later emerged leaders of the Second Republic. The Murtala purge of the public service in 1975 and Buhari punitive actions on 1984/85 remain very fresh.

So, can Lamurde step in? Is he the man for the job? Does he have what it takes to rid the nation of this burden? To me, he does not appear qualified, prepared and ready. But, I may yet be proved wrong.

SUNDAY INTERVIEW

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

PRESIDENCY It’s turn of South East, says Uwechue Ambassador Raph Uwechue, President-General, Ohaneze Ndigbo in this interview with Okungbowa Aiwerie, speaks on national issues and Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu’s contribution to nation building

•Orji

•Uwechue

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How does it feel leading an organization as large as Ohaneze Ndigbo?

It is quite exciting in the sense that you feel you are with your people who have need for whatever assistance you can render. Obviously it is not a light assignment. It is to ensure that the Igbo nation within Nigeria sees itself as an integral part of our great country. But first of all as they say charity begins at home. They must sort themselves out and help to sort Nigeria out.

What has been your major challenge and success in the last three years?

We had the Igbo state union led by Chief Zaccheus Obi before the Civil War and it brought together a lot of Igbo people both culturally and politically. This was banned by the military when they came in since then many Igbos began to be too individualistic in their approach to the affairs in Nigeria. What we are trying to do is to say that they have as other ethnic nationalities some common interests which they should clearly identify and join hands to promote in the interest of the Igbo nation and of Nigeria. We have some core values in our traditions, respect for elders, keeping the laws and ensuring that selfless service is rendered to the community. These values we intend to re-enforce and inculcate into the national ethos of the country What has been the level of co-operation of the Governors of the South-East and other civil society organizations like “Save Igbos from Extinction” to Ohaneze Ndigbo?

Ohaneze Ndigbo is the apex body of all Igbos. Oha means the population and Eze means the Kings. So it means the rulers and the ruled, so to say. Ohaneze comprises ev-

erybody. The governors are a part of Ohaneze, including the traditional rulers. What we are trying to do is wherever there are bodies that are trying to promote the interest of the Igbo people we cooperate with them. And of course we guide and help moderate the activities of those who may want to get out of hand. Ohaneze is the father of the family, looking at the interest of the family and when the children are doing well applauding them, when the father thinks that they will do better advice is proffered.

For the Aniomas, the Igbos on this side of the River Niger, do you think they really belong to Ohaneze Ndigbo?

Well, it is not a question of think. The vast majority believe that we are part of the Igbo nation. You see the River Niger is not a barrier, take Onitsha, for example, on the other side of Asaba. We have Onicha Ugbo, Onicha Ukwu, Onicha- Olona, and we call the people across the River Niger Onicha-Mili. So the link has always been there and action speaks louder than words. We have a few people not used to identifying but we have had Igbo day celebrations the latest was on the 29th September, 2011.Our traditional rulers among other people were represented en masse. You can therefore not say that our people do not believe that they are a part of Ndigbo otherwise how is it that the Kings graced the occasion? So you do not have to have everybody saying we belong here or there, but the vast majority of people say that we belong. The ethnic thing cuts across nations for example the Ijaw nation cuts across five states. Really those who see our connections with Ndigbo in a negative light are holding the wrong end of the stick.

They should see us as a bridge to the biggest ethnic group in Africa.

Sir, you will agree with me that the nation is facing serious security challenges? What is the position of Ohaneze Ndigbo?

As a matter of fact we released a statement on this issue on January 7th and I led a delegation to meet Mr. President on the same issue. President Jonathan wrote a letter to Ndigbo stressing the fact that his government recognizes the urgent need to improve security for Nigerians anywhere they may be in this country and assuring us that every step is being taken to beef up security, he explained that some of the things that have happened took everyone by surprise, so it is not as if the government is not interested or able to do things. It is just that we were not expecting those particular incidents. The president has told us that they are beefing up security to ensure that Nigerians are safe.

There has been calls for Igbos in the North to relocate to the South East, or for the brave ones to send their children down South and remain up North. What is Ohaneze Ndigbo’s position?

We have released a statement on that issue where there is clear vulnerability of Igbos in isolated areas. Those who feel they are not safe enough are free to organize and relocate to where they feel safer. However, there should be nothing like mass exodus of Ndigbo as happened just before the civil war, not at all. They are Nigerians like anybody else; this country belongs to all of us. They should stay where •Continued on Page 26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012 •Continued from Page 25 they are in cooperation with security agencies organize to defend themselves where they are. Many have made vast investments in those parts of Nigeria, for example the former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mallam Nasiru el Rufai was quoted a few years ago as saying that 70% of indigenous investment in property in Abuja belongs to the Igbo people that can be said for quite a number of other places in different parts of Nigeria particularly the North. So you just do not abandon those things and run away we are telling the government to concentrate heavily on security for everybody. Let those who are doing their business stay where they are and organize to defend themselves against those who are illegally attacking them.

As an expert in conflict resolution, what will be your advice to the Federal Government in order to stem the tide of violence?

We have had a meeting with Mr. President as I said earlier on.

He actually wrote to us. He committed himself in writing that we are aware of the fact that some of these things are not in Nigeria before but that we need to organize ourselves in order to cope with them. We are talking of economic development, but you have to be alive to enjoy the fruit of economic development so that much more effort should be put on security in the country. When the country is secured the people will feel comfortable and start going about their business, even the so-called foreign investment we crave for, it does not matter how much you preach to them if they feel that their investment is not secured they will not come here. We emphasise that the federal government beefs up security. People talk about indigenes and going to send other people away. Some of the people who are claiming to be indigenes in some parts of the North came here from Senegal some 20 decades ago. What makes them more indigenous than other Nigerians they met here? We belong to this country at independence we chose to be one country.We are all citizens of this country in an equal fashion.

Do you see any need for reforms in the Nigeria Police Force since it is referred to when it comes to managing crisis?

Well, Mr. President has set up a committee headed by Mr. Parry Osayande to recommend changes that have to be made in view of what we now know as the challenge facing the NPF. We are all waiting and hoping that the committee will come out quickly with recommendations to improve matters. But you see security is not the job of just the police. The nation has a police force with about 500,000 and we expect them to police over 150,000,000 people. It is the population that needs to become aware on the need to cooperate with security agents.

There is the apprehension that if issues are not resolved amicably the nation may end up breaking up There was the report by some American agencies that Nigeria will break up, some are saying the year 2015.Well. Nigeria has shown it can absorb shocks. We all have a lot to benefit keeping this country together the only thing is that if it is a situation where you feel unsafe you can be killed like rabbits at any time then in the minds of those who are being affected adversely they begin to rethink the value to them of this much vaunted unity. Unity has to be based on a level of security and comfort of every group that make up the country. We are a composite nation; we are not one homogeneous ethnic group. Take

Sunday Interview

26

‘Igbos are being sidelined’

•Uwechue countries like the former Soviet Union, powerful and prosperous.

It broke up along ethnic lines the same happened with Tito’s Yugoslavia and the same fate befell Czechoslovakia, just in our backyard in Sudan, it is the same thing.

We do not want that kind of breakup in Nigeria and the way to resolve this is for all Nigerians to say look this country belongs to all of us and rein in those who want to make this country ungovernable.

We have to come together and say you are not going to succeed in doing this.

There has been calls by some for a sovereign national conference, what is the Ohaneze Ndigbo’s position?

You see, Nigeria was made in England; the boundaries we have were not created by us. It was created by the European powers at the Berlin Conference in 1885.That was how Nigeria was carved out. It went across certain ethnic groups, certain lines of allegiance but this fact was recognized at Independence, that was why our founding fathers chose a federation of units, and what are you federating but the ethnic units? It is not by accident that Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo were the ones who masterminded the negotiation for Nigeria’s independence. These three persons are not just any three Nigerians picked from Ibadan, Sokoto or Enugu, they represented the big ethnic blocks. The ethnic units were the foundation blocks that federated to form Nigeria and

the smaller units that did not belong to these groups started agitating. That was how Midwestern region came about. Eventually we now have the six zones, the large ones control three zones and a conglomerate of the other smaller ones also control three to create a balance. My feeling is that we should go back and look at the master plan that created Nigeria. The agreement reached by our founding fathers in their wisdom to have a federation.

The distortion that came with too much central control was introduced by the military. This military deviation should not be perpetuated. We are now back in a democratic dispensation let us all come together and look at what damage has been done to this country’s well being by the military intervention and over centralization and decide as a people in fraternity to how do we adjust to keep this country together because we all benefit from the size of the nation.

How has Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu impacted on the political consciousness of Igbo nation and Nigeria in general?

A close review of the great leader’s impact on the Igbo nation takes us straight to an epochal event that encapsulates the unflinching determination of Ndigbo to resist oppression and persecution in Nigeria. With the Ahiara declaration of June 1, 1969, the then Igbo military leader Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu rallied Ndigbo behind a common cause – the struggle for their survival in dignity and security as an ethnic

“Producing the next president by the SouthEast, a zone replete with outstandingly capable hands is not a favour waiting to be granted, but a logically due and legitimate political right justly accruing to it within the Nigerian family in a true ‘federal character’ setting.”

group. The Biafran secession bid, aimed at securing that objective, failed militarily but the spirit which propelled it remained in the minds of many, symbolized in the towering personality of Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. His enduring message to Ndigbo, now a most treasured legacy, is that they must always be courageous and united in their legitimate struggle for political and economic survival within the Nigerian nation.

In furtherance of the actualization of that unmistakable admonition and as an abiding tribute to this great Igbo leader, Ohanaeze Ndigbo following wide consultation, is launching a determined bid to fulfil Ojukwu’s cardinal dream – a Nigerian president from his home base, the South-East geopolitical zone.

When you said that Igbos should unite in their legitimate struggle for political and economic survival, what do you mean?

Today, there is the general feeling within the Igbo nation, especially among the young up-andcoming generation, that as a people, Ndigbo are being deliberately sidelined, particularly in the sphere of political leadership of the country. No Igbo person has so far been deemed suitable to be put at the helm of affairs, at the apex management position of Nigeria since Independence in 1960. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s pioneer titular head of state, took a shot at the real thing – the Executive Presidency, in 1979 and 1983. In spite of his nationally acknowledged role as the foremost crusader for our nation’s Independence, he scored abysmally in both electoral tests. Dr. Alex Ekwueme fared no better, even as he teamed up with a scion of the northern oligarchy–Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Their joint ticket under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) won the presidential slot in the successive elections of 1979 and 1983.Somewhat as today’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was

the dominant political party at the time. Securing its presidential candidate’s nomination was as good as clinching the presidential position. Dr. Ekwueme was poised to replace Shagari at the impending end of his second tenure, as the party’s presidential flag bearer come the next election. He was eminently qualified and was clearly favoured by Shagari himself for the presidential job ahead. He had to be stopped; hence, the coup of December 31, 1983, carried out by a tiny crop of military elements. This treasonable act traded in the remaining three years and nine months of Shagari’s second and final term, of democratic governance, for an eventual collective autocratic rule of some fourteen years of absolute power, under the successive military governments.

In view of the fact that the office of the President is through elective contest, how collectively prepared are the Igbos to take a shot at the Presidency come 2015?

In pursuit of the objective of South-East Presidency in 2015, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has put forward a case and is canvassing for the rotation of the office of the president among the six geo-political zones of our country. The rallying cry for Igbo support for President Jonathan during the general elections of last April was clearly based on this particular premise. It was essentially a support for a South– South presidential slot, with Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, already in the saddle at Aso Villa, as a lucky, credible and worthy beneficiary. This patriotic political Igbo gesture extended to the SouthSouth zone in 2011 is characteristically consistent with the massive Igbo support similarly given to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, leading to his victory over his kinsman Chief Olu Falae, in a distinctly intra South-West presidential contest. In line with this thinking of Ndigbo, all five governors of the South-East zone in an impressive and patriotic display of unity, irrespective of their different political party alignments, spoke with one voice and acted in unison in support of the South-South presidential candidate and selflessly abstained from the presidential and vice presidential contest. So did a good number of erstwhile SouthEast aspirants to the presidential seat equally abstained. So also did support for the South-South come from our respected traditional rulers, revered religious leaders of all denominations, major political stakeholders and the masses of the Igbo nation, who came out to register and support a South-South presidency at the election proper last April. They all expect the South-East to have its turn in 2015.

Now is the opportunity to complete the first round of zonal presidential representation; hence the SouthEast should take its rightful turn in 2015. Thereafter, and only thereafter, will it become fair and proper, if considered necessary, to change the extant rules of engagement, certainly not in the course of an ongoing game. By the time President Jonathan completes his tenure, South-East will distinctly remain the only zone that has not held the top-most executive office in our country since Independence in 1960. Producing the next president by the South-East, a zone replete with outstandingly capable hands, is therefore, not a favour waiting to be granted, but a logically due and legitimate political right justly accruing to it within the Nigerian family in a true ‘federal character’ setting.

NATIONSPORT SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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LAN NAVARRO is under no illusions about the size of the challenge facing him tonight.

The 30-year-old Brighton midfielder will play at Anfield for the first time since he left Liverpool

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ILAN will face the task of coming up against their hoodoo team of Cesena when they meet at the Dino Manuzzi stadium on Sunday for a 16h00 kick-off slot.

Although history shows the Rossoneri with the better results, Cesena have

constantly proven to be a team in which Milan struggle against. While fresh off a 4-0 win against Arsenal in the Champions League will serve as a confidence booster, the grounds of the Manuzzi cannot be taken lightly.

Following their midweek appearance against Arsenal,

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the goalkeeper told Mediaset Premium.

“However, it is up to me to convince people with my performances.

“If an important offer does arrive then that will be good, otherwise I'll continue with what I'm doing without any problems.

“For now I'm just keeping a tight grip of Udinese.”

The Slovenian international made his Serie A debut for Udinese in 2004-05 before loans spells at Treviso, Lazio and Rimini. He returned to Udine in 2007.

The shot-stopper has played in all of Udinese's 23 League games so far this season.

AMIR Handanovic has admitted that he still dreams of joining a big club after spending the last eight years on Udinese's books.

The 27-year-old has continually been paired with a move away from the Stadio Friuli, but his dream transfer has yet to take place.

“Every footballer dreams of playing for a great side,”

•Handanovic

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ILAN have been dealt another injury blow as Clarence Seedorf has been ruled out of action for a month after picking up an injury midweek.

The Dutch veteran was forced off early on in the Rossoneri's Champions League first leg clash with Arsenal on Wednesday night.

Tests have now revealed the full extent of his complaint, with a strained hamstring diagnosed and likely to keep the No 10 out of action for at least a month.

His is not the only new injury concern for Coach Massimiliano Allegri, as Philippe Mexes also reportedly left training this week with a suspected sprained ankle.

The 4-0 win over Arsenal saw Kevin Prince Boateng and Alexandre Pato both return from recent lay-offs, but in preparing for the weekend trip to Cesena, Allegri is still without more than half a dozen first-team names, as well as the suspended Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Kevin-Prince Boateng and Alexandre Pato will feature in their first Serie A match in over a month, while Christian Abbiati will return to the starting spot once more.

Philippe Mexes could find himself with yet another starting spot as his performance against the Gunners was nothing short of impressive.

“My compliments to Mexes who played an extraordinary game. He's a great player, a great defender and will play for us for many years to come,” noted Milan's Vicepresident Adriano Galliani.

“We'll enjoy his win and we'll think about Cesena from tomorrow. We're alive and we're playing good football. We're happy to be who we are.”

While there will still be over a handful of injuries for Milan, the Seahorses are not without their own injury crisis. Daniele Arrigoni will have to make do without Evangelos Moras - who will remain sidelined until March, Steve Von Bergen and Damian Djokovic.

ITALIAN SERIE A

ARMA director general Pietro Leonardi has criticised Juventus for the way they have conducted themselves since Wednesday's 0-0 draw.

The Old Lady left the Stadio Tardini infuriated after they were denied what they believed to be two clear penalties.

Boss Antonio Conte, director Pavel Nedved and midfielder Andrea Pirlo all criticised the referee's decisions after the game, while the club issued a statement last night.

“Juventus haven't painted a pretty picture,” Leonardi, a former employee of the Turin giants, told the Corriere dello Sport.

“Juve reacted in the wrong manner. A while ago we all said that we had to calm down, instead there have been controversies and outbursts made against referees.

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OTTENHAM boss Harry Redknapp will not be taking Stevenage lightly in their FA Cup fifth round tie and plans to put out a strong Spurs line-up.

Speaking at his weekly press conference, Redknapp confirmed that Rafael Van Der Vaart and William Gallas will miss the match through injury.

However, new signing Ryan Nelsen could be handed

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a decade ago.

Navarro, who came up through the Reds' youth ranks, never made a competitive first team appearance for his boyhood club.

But he played alongside Steven Gerrard in the reserves and knows he has his work cut out trying to halt the skipper.

“I came through as a full- back but then they decided to try me in midfield and I played with Steven a few times,” he said. “It was a good thing but also a bad thing because you knew that you were going to be competing for a place with Steven.

“I trained with him every day for a few seasons and he's a quality player. If he plays against us, he's going to be a constant threat.

Everybody knew what he was going to go on to do. He was always head and shoulders above everyone else. His football, his brain, his pace, his strength, the way he tackles, everything about him was brilliant. He was the player you wanted to be.”

his first start for Tottenham since arriving on a free transfer from Blackburn Rovers.

Younes Kaboul, who is having a fine season in the heart of the Tottenham defence, is still suffering from a slight knock but may be ready to feature in the game.

TOKE boss Tony Pulis hopes the Potters can move a step closer to a Wembley return when they travel to Crawley in the fifth round tonight.

Stoke and Valencia both face away trips tonight following their Europa League clash on Thursday night, but rarely can two teams who have just met taken such different paths.

While Valencia, 1-0 winners at the Britannia Stadium on Thursday, travel to the Nou Camp to take on Barcelona in the Primera Division, Stoke visit Broadfield Stadium for an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Crawley.

Steve Evans' League Two promotion chasers may have little in common with the Spanish and European champions but Potters boss Tony Pulis will certainly not be underesti mating Crawley.

The bigspendin g Reds

have reached the fifth round for the second year in ENGLISH FA CUP FIXTU RES succession and Crawley vs Stoke C. have had two Stevenage vs Tottenham more days to Liverpool vs Brighton & Hove prepare for the game than their opponents.

Pulis, whose side were beaten by Manchester City in last year's final, said: "We did fantastic in the cup last year and we want to have another cup run if we can.

"They're always difficult games. Our biggest thing is to make sure the lads recover in time. They're a good side, the way they play, they've had a great season so far and it'll be a really tough game."

Pulis has been annoyed by the fixture schedule on more than one occasion this season, feeling his side have not been helped around European matches, and this weekend is no different, with the Crawley match kicking off at midday.

SPANISH LA LIGA

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IVERPOOL defender Jamie Carragher is ignoring the odds ahead of tonight’s FA Cup fifth-round tie with Brighton and expects another tough clash.

Kenny Dalglish's side have already squared up against the Seagulls this season when goals from Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt gave the Reds a hard-fought 2-1 Carling Cup third-round victory at the Amex Stadium in September.

And veteran centreback Carragher wants to shrug off the favourites tag with a place in the quarter-

finals at stake knowing Gus Poyet's side is capable of creating an upset at Anfield.

"There are no easy games in the FA Cup - I could tell you that from the teams we've been knocked out by over the years," Carragher told www.liverpoolfc.tv.

"We've had some bad results against lower league opposition, but that's what makes the FA Cup what it is. That's why it's so special when you do win it because you realise the pitfalls along the way.

"It would be disappointing if we were to go out having knocked Manchester United out of the last round. It's a massive game for us and if we win we'll be into the quarter-

finals, and if you do well there then you're at Wembley. It certainly keeps the season going."

Carragher, who has won two FA Cup winners' medals with Liverpool, knows any side that visits Anfield in the competition does so with a 'nothing to lose' mentality - something he is especially wary of against Brighton.

The 34-year-old has been part of Reds sides that have been knocked out of the Cup competition at Anfield, most notably against Crystal Palace, Barnsley and Reading, and is expecting a tough challenge from Poyet's side.

ARCELONA goalkeeper Victor Valdes has called on his team to 'believe and fight' in their bid to retain the La Liga title.

Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has called on his team to 'believe and fight' in their bid to retain the La Liga title.

The Catalan giants lost 3-2 at Osasuna in their last league fixture on Saturday, leaving them 10 points behind fierce rivals Real Madrid in the race for the Spanish title.

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OBERTS describes the game as "the biggest in the club's history".

Stevenage have enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last few years, climbing up from the Conference in the summer of 2010 before being promoted to the third tier of English football last season at the first time of asking.

Having swept aside Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night, the Hertfordshire side are now in the play-off places in League One. On current form, they have a very good chance of achieving their third promotion in as many seasons.

Roberts, 28, concedes tonight’s challenge will be on a completely different level to any other that he has faced as skipper over the last three years.

Spurs, third in the Premier League and favourites to win the FA Cup, are the visitors to Broadhall Way, where a capacity crowd of 7,100, and the TV cameras, will greet the high-flying Londoners.

Playing against the likes of Gareth Bale, Emmanuel Adebayor and Luka Modric would normally strike fear in to the hearts of most lower-league clubs, but having beaten Newcastle in last year's competition, and disposed of Reading this year, Roberts thinks his team have every reason to be confident of causing an upset.

•Modric

•Bale

•Adebayor

OAQUÍN CAPARRÓS publicly criticised his teams defending after two goalkeeping errors and a defensive error allowed Málaga to come from behind to beat Los Bermellones 3-1 last weekend, saying they can't afford to make the same mistake against Villarreal today."We started both halfs well.

But then they got their second which made it very difficult.

We cannot concede goals like this. With all due respect, the result was more down to us than Málaga,' the Head Coach said in the post-match press conference. 'But there is no point lamenting the players or punishing them for this. What we have to do is improve. We cannot allow goals like this in the next match. We must be more forceful. We were dealt two hammer blows against a team with very good players.

We made it hard for ourselves.'

When asked about the performance of Martí Crespí, who replaced the injured Pau Cendrós at right back despite the availability of Gianni Zuiverloon, Caparrós stated, 'he is a player who does not know that position. But I am happy

Both sides have 16 La Liga matches to play, including a Clasico at Camp Nou, which gives Valdes some hope they can still win their fourth title in succession.

Barcelona's 3-1 Champions League victory at Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday has also given the Spanish shot-stopper confidence.

"In other seasons we have been there (behind in the title race) and it's been really hard for us," Valdes said.

"Now we have to believe and fight. If you look at other tournaments, we're still in the Kings Cup and the Champions League, which will set the standard."

"If we keep on playing like we did in Leverkusen the other day, we'll have a chance in all tournaments."

Barcelona's bid to rein in Real Madrid starts on Sunday when they play host to third-placed Valencia, a match in which they are likely to be missing influential playmaker Xavi Hernandez.

Valdes believes Barca will miss Xavi, but expects him to recover soon from his leg injury.

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TLETICO MADRID midfielder Gabi said the club's ambition for the season is to finish in the La Liga top four.

Atletico Madrid midfielder Gabi said the club's ambition for the season is to finish in the La Liga top four.

The Vicente Calderon side are undefeated since Diego Simeone was appointed as coach and are currently seventh in La Liga, only two points adrift of fourth-placed Levante.

The 28-year-old is hopeful of Champions League qualification and rues dropping points in the 0-0 draw against Valencia last weekend.

"Our goal is to be in the top four," Gabi told the Atletico website.

"On Sunday we had a chance to be up there and, although we played a great game, we did not get the result."

Atletico take on Racing Santander this weekend and the ex-Real Zaragoza man feels that his side can get three points if they continue their form of late.

"The key to winning against Racing will be believing in ourselves. If the team continues to work with the aggressiveness that we have been showing and with solidarity, I do not think we will have many problems," he said.

Atletico are yet to concede a goal under Simeone, either, and Gabi believes that a strong defensive outlook will help the team to succeed.

"That is the basis of our success," the midfielder said.

•Gabi

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

‘Style is all about good manners’ – PAGE 42

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

Kehinde Falode Tel: 08023689894 (sms)

E-mail: kehinde.falode@thenationonlineng.net

•Genevieve Nnaji

Foot care this rainy season

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HE rainy season is here and caring for one’s foot is very important during this period because the rainy season takes a particular toll on the feet.

Many problems may occur with feet such as moles, dissociations and particularly bad odours. Foot problems, especially bad odour and infection are big risks during this season. And while you might think that covering them up protects them from the rain, the fact is that damp weather combined with cold temperatures, are a potentially hazardous combination for the feet.

People don’t give much thought to preventive foot wellness, only taking care of unsightly foot problems after they develop. With

just a little bit of care and caution, you can k e e p your feet in top s h a p e .

They need more care during the rainy season.

Always keep your feet warm, don’t get your feet wet in the rain and if that happens, follow the procedure below.

After walking through murky/dirty water, wash your feet with medicated soap, rinse with water and later soak in warm salt water solution.

Spray your feet with antiseptic foot spray for protection against bad odour.

Make sure your shoes are dry; odour occurs from bacteria and sweat glands reactions, especially if your shoes are damp or airless (tight).

Use quality lotion to keep the skin of your feet soft and moist, but don’t apply lotion in between your toes.

Soak your feet in warm salt water solution for about 5-10 minutes once a week. It is helpful Use an antifungal powder in the morning and anti-fungal cream at night.

Cut your toenails regularly to avoid accumulation of dirt.

•Tiwa Savage

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

31

Flattering tunic

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•Lawani

•Ese

•Ndidi Obioha

RE you tired of conventional tops/blouses?

And are you looking for something that is as comfortable as your semi formal wear but a little nicer looking?

The answer, a tunic dress and a pair of black pants for the formal look; the classic jeans or leggings and a tunic for the informal look and the beauty of it all is that this requires no elaborate planning. It is comfortable and cozy.

Dressing in style is one way to keep one from looking shobby. Tunic blouse is a basic favourite for many occasions, from work to parties. But remember corporate casuals do not mean you can let it all hang out. While some office environments may allow jeans, many consider them too casual.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

Sassy bangles are hot this season

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HE resurgence of wrist ornaments like strands cuff, wooden and bold plastic bangles has been widespread. And the way this new development is changing the face of fashion is beyond exaggeration. They come in diverse patterns, style, designs and hues.

They are simply gorgeous and a beauty to behold.

So, festoon your wrist with one of these sassy wrist fashion accessories!

•Kate Henshawl-Nuttal

•Ituen Basi

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

33 1

Love was truly in the air last Sunday at the prestigious Muson Center, Lagos when popular comedian, Julius Agwu held his annual Festival of Love show.

Kehinde Falode brings you the fashion hits and misses

Mrs Onifade glides onto the red carpet in this sexy number, which she set off with whimsical heels and crocheted clutch bag. Kudos!

We don't understand Cyntia Ashie's preference for a see-through cleavage on the red carpet. Oops!

Gift Dweh makes her way down the red carpet in a modern-edged cut-out floral cocktail dress and black peep-toes ankle shoes. Kudos!

Ure Okezie strikes an appropriate note in a little red frock and Christian Louboutin pump top off her sophisticated frock. Kudos!

Photos: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Oops to Anny Love. You disagree? She doesn't have to accessories with too many riotous colours!

One of men's fashion rules to live by is to always match your belt with your shoes. This is a good rule to follow and it keeps things simple. Oops! to Chidi Mokeme Julius Agwu shines in a black and red contemporary traditional wear.. But the red lace on his shoes is not necessary, Kudos!

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

Make-up dos and don'ts

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N order to keep your look simple and fresh always, find a look that works best for you and suits your/the environment. Make-up is most ladies, best buddy. The reason is simply because it can help you hide certain flaws and emphasize certain facial features. While the make-up you wear to work won't actually impact on your performance on the job, it does help set the standard of how people perceive you.

Make-up can within minutes transform a person from being simple to looking glamorous if it is applied correctly.

Below are tips you should take on board and things you must avoid when it comes to facial

beauty.

Do's -Wear products that are especially designed for your type of complexion.

Find out what type of skin you have because different skin types require different skin care products and makeup -exfoliate your skin before you apply make-up to prevent dead skin cells getting trapped in the pores and flaky skin to show when you apply foundation •Apply the make-up in front of a big mirror in a place with good lighting •Moisturize the skin before you apply make-up •Always even out your complexion. If you have a fairly good skin, a sheer foundation may be all you need.

•If you have breakouts or age s p o t s , a creamy-based concealer applied with a brush will do the trick, and for the under-eye area, a lightreflecting concealer will d i s g u i s e da r k circles.

• A l w a y s remember to clean your makeup tools before use to prevent and eliminate bacteria which can form on your make-up utensils •And lastly, remove your make-up every night before bedtime to allow your

skin to breath Don'ts •Never use make-up that is not compatible with your skin type •Heavy make-up is no-go area.

Always keep your look simple and fresh, especially for formal events.

•Don't put on colour riot- wear appropriate colours •Office make-up should always make you look like an enhanced version of yourself, not a photo shopped version.

•Never let somebody borrow your make-up or lend it to anyone. Bacteria and infection can be transferred through make-up sharing.

•Use of alcohol or oil-based products on oily skin is forbidden.

This will o n l y cause your glan

ds to produce more sebum.

•Do not use shimmer or glitter products during day; they are meant for night events.

•Run away from expired make-up and cosmetics, because bacteria could have formed and you risk causing infections and skin irritations

THEATRE

With VICTOR AKANDE

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e-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com

Fantastic prizes as they may be, but will once again the biggest boost the winning band will assess the qualifiers get will be the opportunity to perform to determine which in two of Nigerian's biggest musical of them is good events; Star Trek, a yearly musical tour enough to move on that moves around the country featuring to Star Fameland. some of Nigeria's biggest music icons, Only 36 of the 55 and Star Mega Jam, an annual musical qualifiers will be fiesta where an international music lucky enough to artiste performs in selected venues advance to the Star across the country. Winning the Star Fameland from the Quest competition may well be their grand audition. launch pad to making it big in music, as Then the real work begins. Inside the concerts will afford them the much the Star Fameland, the 36 lucky needed exposure, a chance to show the qualifiers will be required to form six world that their winning the bands of six members each. competition is no fluke, and the Interestingly, the pairings are done prospect of performing alongside an without the interference of the show international artiste. organizers. Here, the bonding process But emerging as the winner will be really begins for the band members. anything but easy. Thousands of Gradually, each of the bands begins to wannabe music talents are expected to develop character and identity turn up at the audition venues for the independent of the others. The six screenings. The music enthusiasts, who bands will have to pick a band name must be within the ages of 18 and 24 and assign specific roles to the years, are expected to show individuals in the band. They will also demonstrable proficiency in at least one undergo extensive rehearsals in vital area of music ranging from vocals, preparation for their regular instrumentals to composition. They will performances. Coached by music have to do enough to convince the professionals, each of the six bands will impressive array of judges made of Paul be required to perform hit tracks from a 'Play' Dairo,Waje and KC Presh before variety of musical genres from both progressing to the next round. In order local and international artistes. This to give equal opportunity to time, their fate lies in the participants from across the fate of the voting audience Winning Star country, the selection will who will determine who Quest is one hold in four cities- Makurdi, stays and who leaves in the Enugu, Benin and then thing. Making a competition via SMS. The Lagos. successful career bands will be trimmed from six to three before the final The auditions may also out of music is round of voting to not be an easy task for the another. When determine the over-all judges, as they are expected winner. to probe through the you win a anxious horde of fame For some past winners of competition seeking budding musicians the event, Star Quest was such as this, you the ticket through which and prune the crowd to 55 from the four audition they achieved fame and must venues. Only the best will in music. One understand it is success advance to the next stage. example is the duo of just the first Then the action will move to Kingsley Okonkwo and Lagos for the grand Precious John of the KC step auditions. There, the judges Presh fame. While speaking

during the press conference, Kingsley Okonkwo expressed gratitude to Star Quest for their role in making KC Presh a success.

“The truth is that we owe it all to Star Quest. Precious and I literarily walked the length and breadth of Lagos seeking for just one chance. We got it through Star Quest and today we have come a long way,” he said. Okonkwo also urged the participants of this year's edition to be very focussed in their careers, saying that winning Star Quest was no guarantee for a successful career in music. “Winning Star Quest is one thing. Making a successful career out of music is another. When you win a competition such as this, you must understand it is just the first step. The hard work continues after that,” he continued.

Speaking in the same vein, Samspon Oloche, Senior Brand Manager, Star, also stressed that Star Quest was a platform for young, aspiring musicians to showcase their talents. “What we are doing through Star Quest is to provide a platform for these aspiring musicians.

What we have noticed over the years is that this country has abundance in talented people but there is hardly a platform for them to express themselves to the world. We hope that after they get the platform to showcase their talent in Star Quest, they will go on to make something of their lives,” he said.

So which band will clinch the 2012 edition of Star Quest? Only time will tell as the Nigerians army of young musicians get set for the nation's hottest band based music talent show.

Tel: 08077408676

Star Quest and bias for live band W

ITH a unique selling point, there is no querying a wining formula, let alone change it.

Thus, with the dearth of professional live performance and a good knowledge of musical instrument among the Nigerian music artiste, there is no gainsaying that the annual Star Quest, a band-based reality show sponsored by Nigerian Breweries plc, underscores the search for the real musician rather than mere singers and showmanship acts that pervade the music landscape.

It is therefore hoped that the excitement and anticipation from music wannabes as another edition of the talent hunt competition is announced is not just about the monetary rewards and exposure, but as a rare avenue to hone creative musical skills. From February 21, 2012, some of the brightest and most talented young musical acts in the country are expected to storm four auditions centres across the country.

They will face possibly the toughest test of their musical life, as their goal is to be the winning band of the Star Quest 2012.

Star Quest, which began in 2002, has managed to carve a niche for itself in spite of the glut of music reality TV shows in Nigeria. The reason is simple: Star Quest is the only band-based musical competition in Nigerian today.

While other talent competitions focus on the search for one individual as winner, Star Quest goes beyond that. It seeks for the blend of talented individuals to form a music band.

Through the show, at the risk of overemphasis, the dying art of live band music is finding expression in the country.

Talking about the reward the rewards that comes with winning the show, is a N7.5 million naira recording contract, a brand new minivan, N3.6m cash for the winning band, plus one year paid accommodation in a choice area of Lagos. The accommodation comes with a studio equipped with the latest musical equipment.

•Celine

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Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Day fan slapped me —Biola Adebayo

Yoruba actress, Biola Adebayo, alias Biola Eyin Oka, is an undergraduate of History and International Relations at the Lagos State University. Very down-to-earth, Biola who also anchors the TV programme; The Identical (NTA, MITV, DBN) in this chat with Mercy Michael opens up on her career, plans for marriage among other issues.

What is the worst scandal that has been written about you; and how were you able to deal with it?

The saying that in every rumour there is an atom of truth is not totally correct; because I've been a victim of rumours that didn't even happen. There was a time I was robbed; it was only I and Sunkami Omobolanle (Aluwe's Son) that was left in the hotel, except for the crew, we were the only two known faces that were on set. By the time the story started making the rounds, they said Sunkanmi and I were in the same hotel room when robbers came to attack us. My

driver was with me when I saw the publication and being that he was at the scene of the robbery, he was shocked. It was painful because anybody who reads that story will conclude that I was having a love affair with Sunkanmi. And how many people do I want to walk up to, to debunk the rumour.

Even if I did, would they have believed me? There was no connection between this guy and I; he is not my friend. We are not even mates. But because we were both robbed at the hotel, they said we were caught in the room together when the robbers attacked

us. Again, there was a time a journalist asked me what was the relationship between Yomi Fabiyi and I. Yomi Fabiyi, Yemi Awomodu and I used to live in the same area and we actually started acting at the same time. My fiancé still refers to that story that if I had not dated Yomi before, the journalist wouldn't have asked me that question. So sometimes, it's so difficult to erase people's impression. My fiancé read it on the internet and till date, he still takes me up on it. I dislike baseless scandals. I'm a Yoruba girl and I

care what people say about me.

How long have you been in this relationship?

We've been friends for a while but the relationship proper is about two years.

So when are you altar bound?

Some things have actually been keeping us back but by the grace of God, it will be this year.

We are in a society where too much is expected of an actress.

Does it not bother you that you live in Ojudu area of Lagos when most of your colleagues live in choice areas?

I'm a natural person. I'm just myself. So far the only thing that stardom has been able to take away from me is that I can't take public transport. That is one thing I've not been able to do because of the way people will harass you, asking you questions regarding a role you played in a certain movie.

They don't care whether you are in a good mood to answer their questions or not. So, for years now, I have not been able to take public transport.

I don't really go to the market to buy things. I don't like standing at the bus-stop and it's just because of the same reason. I don't mind taking commercial motor cycle because that's a bit private. Coming back your question, some people prefer to live in a store, in Lekki than staying in a 2-bedroom flat in areas like Ojudu. I want comfort.

I'm not trying to impress anybody.

It is not everybody who lives in Lekki that is comfortable. I don't have a problem with people who live there; as long as they can afford. Some people live in choice

areas but they can't afford to buy things in that area because it's too expensive.

How long have you been in this industry?

I've been here since 2002, but I started fully in 2003.

What was it like when you were starting off?

It was very difficult. It was tough but God really helped me. Initially, everyone I approached for advice tried to discourage me, so I left, but I told myself that if truly God wants me to act, he will make a way for me. Eventually, one fateful day, I ran into a friend; Liz Idowu and she said to me, “ha! See how you look like Genevieve, don't you want to act? I then told her how I've tried to no avail. Liz then introduced me to one Bunmi, who introduced us to someone in Wale Adenuga Productions. I got auditioned and I was eventually picked for a role.

What title of Superstory was that?

For the love of money; I was an extra in the drama. After that, I spoke to Becky Adeoye, I told him I was really interested in acting, from then on, he would call me for one scene, sometimes two scenes, and that was how it all started.

What is your reception like to upcoming actresses now, because some of them complain that most of you are overwhelmed with superiority complex?

The issue of seniority will always be there.

Truth is, we are Yorubas, and so, when a young artiste is coming into a place to meet it is only proper to give people the respect that is due to them. You want to be like Funke Akindele someday, and when you see that Funke Akindele, you cannot even show some respect. Although, sometimes, senior colleagues too can be wrong in their own way of dealing with the issue. While I was coming up, the need to call someone 'aunty' wasn't a problem because I showed respect to both younger and older colleagues.

The problem these days is that upcoming actresses want to get to the top in a day.

I was somewhere and somebody saw me, she was overjoyed and she went like, “so this is you” and before I knew it she slapped me. She was just happy. It was in Shoprite really. This happened a few years back Is acting what you're studying in school?

I'm studying History and International Relations. I'm writing my final exam now.

Do you find time to attend lectures?

In my first and second year in sch

ool, I wasn't accepting weekend jobs, but now I take weekend jobs because it's my final year.

Sometimes I get notes from my colleagues because I have to work to sustain myself.

Why didn't you study Theatre Arts?

My parents had wanted me to study law. But because I didn't have the opportunity of going to school early, I couldn't study law.

I'd lost admission opportunities like five times before I later got admission to study History and International Relations.

As a popular face, do other students sometimes harass you in school?

Yes, I get to be harassed. I was going to the car pack one day and there was this girl coming right in front of me and she just went, “shoo! Na you be this? But you small sha! I bin think say you big ooo! Well sha, you make am, you make am”. I stood still, completely speechless.

Another time I was somewhere and somebody saw me, she was overjoyed and she went like, “so this is you” and before I knew it she slapped me. She was just happy. This happened a few years back. That's why I don't like walking alone. But the one that can be annoying is when you pass by somebody and the next thing you hear is, “don't you want to greet us? That is how you people behave.” But some people would walk up to me and say, “I like you.

I like your movies”.

Of all the movies you've acted, which would you say challenged you most?

Eyin Oka, produced by Ademola Adelakun. That was the movie that actually brought me out and that's why a lot of people still don't believe that my surname is Adebayo. They believe is Biola Eyin Oka. My name is Biola Ayomide Adebayo. Eyin Oka was a horror movie. The role was challenging. I'm really looking for a script to beat that role that will even make people to forget about Eyin Oka. answering the person.

What are your plans for this year?

I have plans for this year but I don't wan to do it my own way. Doing it my own way has failed me several times.

I've told God, this and this are the things I want to do but let your will be done.

You have such a beautiful pair of shoes…

(Laughs) I love shoes. I love jeans. I'm just a casual dresser.

Entertainment 37 Friends rally round Obey for 70th birthday

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HERE are strong indications that the 70th birthday of juju music maestro cum preacher, Evang.

Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi (MFR), which comes up in a few weeks, will be another huge event, if reports about its preparation are anything to go by.

Impeccable sources revealed during the week that birthday committee had been put together to fashion-out programmes of activities for the event, while a biography and TV documentary have been commissioned to be ready for public presentation during the birthday reception which comes up in Lagos on Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

Obey, it was gathered was unwilling to make an elaborate celebration owing to the homecalling of his wife, but was persuaded on the ground that his late wife was said to have

started the planning for the celebration in collaboration with the church and some of her husband's friends.

A preliminary programme line-up indicates that the birthday activities will commence on Thursday March 23, 2012 which happens to be Obey's late wife's birthday when the Idogo Town Hall (the town where Obey grew up), reconstructed by Evang. Obey would be dedicated and handed over to the community.

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, is expected to officially open the hall.

A thanksgiving service is also expected to hold on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, followed by a reception at the 0 10 Degree Events Centre, Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos where the reception and public presentation of Obey's biography and TV documentary will take place.

Tuface, African China others gears up for MVP camp

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S the Music Video Production (MVP) reality show gathers momentum, latest news emerging from the camp of the organizers of the show is that stars like Tuface Idibia, Funke Akindele a.k.a Jenifa and African China are to storm the camp of the MVP reality show.

The MVP reality television show will feature 50 well spirited and ambitious individuals who will be camped in a house for the duration of 21 days. The aim of this reality show is to expose the 50 individuals to the nitty gritty involved in producing decent and quality music video.

Speaking on why these stars will be guests at the MVP camp, organizer say that the artistes will share their respective success stories and how they all made it to the top while also sharing the various challenges that beset them at

•African China

one time or the other.

MPV reality is open to aspiring musicians, dancers, choreographers, models, actors, actresses, video directors, cameramen, editors, production assistants, graphic artists, make up lines, set designers, welfare and caterers.

To add pep to the show, seasoned and experienced music video producers will be on hand at the reality TV show to impact their knowledge on the house mates and also help in developing inherent qualities in them. These music video producers are the industry's greats: Clarence Peters, DJ Tee, Patrick Ellis, Afam D Man and AK One.

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Entertainment

Anny and her video of ‘Expectations’

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ITH the video shoot of her new single; Woruno on February 5, there couldn't have been a better way to start the year for gospel music singer, Anny Emmanuel. The video features multiple awards winning act, Sammie Okposo.

Anny explained in a statement that the word Woruno is an Uhrobo-Delta state word for 'Exceeded Expectation'.

She said of her expectation on the video: “This is the first time I will be doing an indigenous song in my dialect, Uhrobo language from Delta state. So I really want the best and I do hope we achieve that. We also hope that the video will create more buzz for the brand Anny, and for people to see how versatile I can be with my music. I expect the very best from this video”.

Woruno is one of the well crafted songs on Anny's sophomore album released in 2011. The album which featured Kefee, Soul-E, Sammie Okposo and Mekoyo has the input of notable producers like Wole Oni, Sammie Okposo, Mekoyo, K. Solo, and Phat-E.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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ITH an unusual vigour, Hi-Buzz Limited, distributors of Kunle Afolayan's award-winning film, Figurine (Araromire), are fighting hard by stalking pirates' action of the movie since it was released to DVD recently. With assistance from the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), a dusk raid of some shops at the Alaba International Market, Lagos was staged Wednesday where pirated copies of the film were confiscated.

It would be recalled that the market has been dubbed the hub of piracy activities in the West African sub region.

Last month, Hi-Buzz Limited (Highway Distribution) sent a petition to the Lagos Office of the

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•Anny

NTERTAINMEN T company, Chocolate City Group (CCG) has announced that renowned entrepreneur, Mr Hakeem Bello Osagie is its chairman. Osagie's selection followed a recently reconstituted board for the outfit. Other board members include Yahaya Maikori, Paul Okeugo and Audu Maikori.

Hakeem, who is the current chairman of Emerging Markets

Distributors of Figurine fight pirates Copyright Commission with respect to Figurine. Another petition also came from Sun-Tab Film Nigeria Limited in respect of its film, Eti Keta already being pirated and sold in some shops at Alaba market. The pirated and original copies of the said work were sent alongside the petition, the Commission said in a memo.

It was reported that the officials of the Commission swung into action and carried out long hours of surveillance followed by a test purchase of the said work to confirm the actual shops where the sales were being made. Subsequently, about 11 shops were raided and exhibits

Chocolate City names Bello Osagie as Chairman Telecommunications Services Ltd ('EMTS'), holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, a law degree from Cambridge University and an M.A. in Politics,

Great I fun at Rade Gold’s opening

N Gbagada, Lagos recently, was a gathering of industry stakeholders, entertainment personalities, upcoming artistes, friends and family who came out to show love and support for Kunle Oluwadiya popularly known as Kidkonnect when he officially opened his music studio, Rade Gold to the public. The event had the likes of M.I, Kenny Saint Brown, Andre Blaze, Loose Kaynon, Beazy and other celebrities in attendance.

The event was an evening of fun and relaxation as industry stakeholders, music lovers, friends and fans of Kidkonnect mingled with excitement, while also listening to choice music by favorite Nigerian artistes.

Whitney’s death, Valentine raise concern for Majek Fashek

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HE social media is awash with concern over the present devastating health of one time popular Nigerian Reggae star, Majek Fashek, from ailment largely associated with hard drugs.

At one segment of discussions in the media, concern for the 'RainMaker' was initiated by one Uche Nnaji who drew attention to the overwhelming grief world over following reports that American singer, Whitney Houston was dead.

Nnaji argues that rather than wait to mourn Makek Fashek should he pass on from his present health condition, it is pertinent to channel such emotional energy to rehabilitate the singer now that he is still alive and in the spirit of Valentine.

"I can bet for sure that if this guy passes on today, we will see and hear just as much outburst of emotions in Nigeria as Whitney Houston is getting today".

He described the "Rain-Maker" as an icon like Fela is to Nigeria and Africa.

He suggested charity concerts and documentaries through which the numerous current wave-making artistes could come together and raise fund to rehabilitate Majek Fashek.

He though also, that a remix of the classics of the raggae artiste could be done by well meaning artistes like Tuface, Omawunmi, M.I, Tiwa Salvage, and WizKid for the artiste to witness whilst he is still alive.

•Kunle Afolayan

•Majek Fashek

Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar. He started his career as a petroleum economist and a lawyer. For over three decades, he has been a key player in the Nigerian economy through his participation in several businesses in the private sector particularly in the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors.

CEO of Chocolate City Group, Audu Maikori said: “As Chocolate City enters this new phase of global expansion and rolls out

next generation services for its artists, clients and media partners we are very pleased to welcome Mr. Hakeem Osagie an entrepreneur par excellence who shares our passion and vision of creating a world class entertainment brand.

He will bring to Chocolate City years of vast international experience, relationships and a uniquely successful track record in global business excellence plus invaluable guidance as we execute our objective of building the leading entertainment brand in Africa”.

Chuddy K out with Gaga Crazy

S

INGER Chukwudi Ken, otherwise called Chuddy -K has returned with a new song entitled "Gaga Crazy". The budding talent whom years back, received accolades with his song; Slow Slow, it would be recalled spotted the potentials of a promising R n B vocalist.

Chuddy K who is signed on to SQN Music is here to continue where he stopped and perhaps put up a better challenge in the ever competing Nigeria music industry, starting with Gaga Crazy, currently enjoying broadcast on radio, social joints, and the internet.

•Chuddy K

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012, 2012

The estranged couple seems to have really not called it quits after all.

The controversy which greeted their separation is about to assume another dimension with indications that Tony Payne and 9ice may still unite as man and wife. AHMED BOULOR reports…

T

Is 9ice back to his Payne again?

I gave you the money, the fame and the wife that changed your life and gave you a son. In other words, I gave you a life

Genesis

HEIR union and eventually marriage came to some as surprise as they were both not really known to be an item until they exchanged vows in July 2008 at the Surulere registry in Lagos.

The hurriedly planned wedding had only a few guests in attendance. The bride was already heavily pregnant and the groom's parents were conspicuously absent at the registry.

To the casual eye, the marriage seemed made in heaven; the media celebrated their union; many were fascinated by their love story. But close watchers who had spent time with the pair feared the marriage was a union of convenience and it was only a matter of time before the center would cave in.

dated prior to him meeting Toni.

Another version according to Toni's loyalists at the time revealed that 9ice beat Toni up and kicked her out, after she confronted him about affairs he was allegedly having. 9ice's buddies insist Toni was troublesome and violent and totally impossible.

Eedris Abdulkareem when he started out as an artiste.

The long wait finally came to an end when Ruggedman's third album titled Untouchable was released. The album did not fall short of expectations Ruggedman's antecedents.

Ruggedman's angle: Bone considering Ruggedman's song titled “A Word is of contention enough for the 9ice” turned out to be as ICE'S separation with Payne searing as it is laced with serious sparked up a war of lyrics bragging and advice. between him and fellow artiste Featuring up and comer, Ella, the hook Separation Ruggedman. The feud with lasted for of the song is an interpolation of the ND just like an occurrence months shortly after Ruggedman leaked 1975 classic of unsung juju maestro, waiting to happen, things did a phone conversation between him and General Prince Adekunle and his fall apart in 2010 when the 9ice left so much to be desired by the Supersonic Sounds' Awodi n fo ferere couple announced their watching public as both artiste went for which is the parable of an eagle soaring separation. By January 8 each other's jugular. higher than its normal altitude because when they issued the 9ice fired the first salvo it wants to meet God a vain, fatal statement, they had when he recorded a track attempt. Prince Adekunle's orginal already been living targeted at Ruggedman. version opens the song and sums up apart for months.

The song, which is Ruggedman's lyrical package to 9ice.

After their titled 'Talk I'm Tracing the genesis of their separation, different Listening', features relationship to when 9ice was 'a studio versions of stories fellow band mate rat in producer, ID Cabasa's studio, were being Seriki. The song was Ruggedman said he took him in, bandied as to off 9ice's double album upgraded him, showed him the ropes why both titled 'Bashorun GAA and put him on the music stage where couples and VS albums' which he found fame and fortune. He didn't decided to were both released in stop there. He says, “I gave you the call it quits.

September 2010. money, the fame and the wife that One of the After listening and changed your life and gave you a son. In major digesting the lyrical other words, I gave you a life.” reasons that content therein in Sounding rather penitent, the rapper was put the song titled said he had to leak his private telephone forward “Talk I am conversation with 9ice on the Internet was the fact listening” because he was fed up with myriad that 9ice close accusations that he was overly familiar decided to watchers with the latter's estranged wife. take a walk, were According to Ruggedman, “All I after he expecting a wanted was to clear my name of the realized his reply from dirty rumour,” admitting, however, that wife and Ruggedman he went about it the wrong way out of his friend judging by the desperation.

Ruggedma earlier lyrical n had Still keeping in touch warfare he actually Though both estranged couple had had with •Tony Payne with 9ice

A

39

9

been rumored to be seeing each other because of their son Zion; close watchers were began to reason that there may be more to their recent connection when on July 17, 2011, Toni Payne sent out a subliminal wedding anniversary shout out to her estranged hubby 9ice on Twitter. The message could not have been for 9ice who has been off the micro blogging site for sometime; but, for the discerning ones among Toni's nearly 15,000 followers.

'July 17, 2011…' she first wrote through her handle. Then she adds 'More important than love is true friendship.

This alone can withstand all the ups and downs and still keep us standing. It's been 3 years and still counting. God is great.” She tweeted.

Rumored pregnancy

W

HILE some may be thinking in the direction of a re-union for both 9ice and Toni Payne, such thoughts were further fuelled when news started making the rounds that Toni and 9ice were expecting baby number 2.

O

9ice denies claim

N getting wind of Toni's rumored pregnancy, 9ice took to twitter to deny the rumour describing such claims as untrue.

According to him, "I shake my head in disbelief. I am sure my true fans won't believe such news. It is so untrue. I wish you all the best. Thank you your support. God bless."

According to sources, the talented musician is feeling betrayed by Toni 's sudden pregnancy news. Close source says 9ice feels so bad with the latest developments. The artiste believes the pregnancy would create another controversy and this might impact his career in a negative ways.

Toni on her part has not also been so comfortable since reports have it that 9ice has twins from another relationship and close watchers suggest that she may be using the pregnancy tales to get back at 9ice.

40

Entertainment

BIG

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

PICTURE

F

Supported by: SILVERBIRD CINEMAS

ROM medieval times to modern day, the reality or not of the existence of the devil has always been in contention. Religious dissentions have led to nations going to war with each other but with the flick, Suing the Devil, a new approach is presented.

In the movie, “Luke O'Brien (Bart Bronson), a salesman turned night law student, decides to sue Satan for $8 trillion dollars. On the last day before Luke files a default judgment, Satan appears to defend himself. On Satan's legal team are 10 of the country's best trial lawyers. The entire world watches on Legal TV to see who will win the Trial of the Century. Probably, O'Brien's plan to expose Satan is in keeping with the Bible which urges believers to be aware of the subtle deceptions of the enemy.

That sets the chain of proceedings which culminates in an eerie-tensed movie that begins from the first scene and crescendos to the final confrontation between Luke and the devil. As portrayed in the flick, Satan still can't stand to have scripture quoted at him.

He states in the movie that the Bible is fiction but he sure squirms when it is used against him. He makes comments like "Evil is good' but O'Brien, despite Satan's accusations, holds his own against him when he relies on scripture, a lesson to all believers.

With Tim Chey as Director of the flick, Suing the Devil does not appear to portray the devil as a horrible being, but rather takes the approach that the devil is the same being that tricked Eve thousands of years earlier. The film is based in scripture and many verses are quoted and the special effects are nicely handled as they reveal that Satan is a being from below.

Malcolm McDowell, as the devil,

Suing the Devil takes spiritual battle to courtroom

Death scare brings entertainers together

F packs a powerful, mesmerizing, punching performance to the very end. Bart Bronson also does a commendable job as Luke O'Brien, the salesman who is a lawyer by night and who files a default judgment against Satan as he is tired of his scheming ways and the pain he has inflicted on people over the centuries. The ending brings a new, unpredictable and great twist to the

story.

The supporting cast is pretty strong, especially Corbin Bernsen (“L.A. Law” TV series), who plays a wickedly funny legal commentator, along with Tom Sizemore (“Saving Private Ryan” “The Genius Club”) and Rebecca St. James. Suing the Devil, is a high-concept, faith-based legal thriller that whips up the imaginative abilities of its viewers.

Friends with Benefits packs erotic punch genre.

Jamie (Mila Kunis) meets Dylan (Justin Timberlake), a Web site art director when she lures him to New York to interview for a spot at a men's magazine. They meet when she's scrambling atop an airport baggage carousel and they soon get talking. She needs him to take the job to earn her bonus and so sweetens the deal by showing him around what she calls the real New York.

Despite an attraction to each N the age of other, both realize they are social networking, issues like everything they have both been romance have taken a new running from in a relationship and dimension. Seen from that light, decide to become friends...with Friend's with Benefits portrays a benefits. It is the perfect different notion of one of the most arrangement until both parties engaging social issues of all times. realize there is no such thing as 'no With a adequately matched Justin strings attached'.

Timberlake and Mila Kunis comes a Having both been dumped in comedy flick that is about love and their past relationships, they decide sex, gets some of its juice and tang that an occasional quickie with a partly by trash-talking its own friend is a perfect post-romance

I

deal. Friends with Benefits uses sex and bared skin to get at questions about the possibility of romantic love between true male and female equals.

Directed by Will Gluck, the flick highlights an obvious chemistry, both emotional and sexual, between Kunis and Timberlake.

The film gets away from the maddening plot of the background and focuses exclusively on both acts.

Their clumsy first encounter is the perfect blend of playful and awkward, and when the bedroom romps of the early part of the film later evolve into more complicated emotions, Kunis and Timberlake handle the transition with a real tenderness rarely seen in romantic comedies.

The movie Friends with Benefit is built on the premise that its characters, and probably the viewers, are sick of the romantic comedy clichés that they may secretly adore.

OLLOWING the incidences of deaths in the entertainment industry in recent times, a conscious effort to resort to God in prayers and fasting appears to be the next best thing, as music, comedy and movie stakeholders will be converging in worship, at the Lagoon Restaurant, Lagos come February 26.

Although an interdenominational service, the initiative, scheduled to kick off with a three-day individual fast by the entertainers, beginning from February 24 is the vision of a Port Harcourt based pastor, Paul Ojo Emmanuel. The industry practitioners are expected to pray against untimely deaths, taking into consideration the number of entertainers they have lost within the spate of two years and the adverse effect the deaths have on all of them.

Prior to this coming event scheduled for 5pm to 7pm, the first edition, which held in Lagos last year, witnessed several entertainers and anointed men of God. It was anchored by leading gospel act, Sammie Okposo.

The convener of the programme, Pastor Paul Ojo said “this vision was born out of the burden of seeing our greatly endowed Nigerian acts not living their full time on earth before death, sickness or infirmity come snatching them through unnecessary accidents from hell and worse off, homes breaking away. I prayed about this burden for years and then God spoke to me to do something about it in 2009, thus the vision S.H.I.F.T

•Aisha was born in 2011”.

Among the artistes who have supported the initiative are Segun Arinze, Julius Agwu, Sammie Okposo, Stephanie Okereke, Ali Baba, AY, and Aisha Abimbola. The event is being planned as a twohour, annual nondenominational event. The entertainers are also expected to be joined by their fans to seek the face and place of God in their lives.

Pastor Paul said the vision he got was “to stand in the gap for the Nigeria entertainment industry and say enough is enough to mishaps in their lives as they go about fulfilling their destinies in acting, football, music, arts, to mention a few. To foster covenant relationships with God and to remind them also that God who made them and gave them fame and a name created a void in their lives that He alone can fill. To also create an atmosphere of praise and worship to God which in turn will foster peace, unity, unparalleled speed for accomplishments and ultimately, divine protection”.

The event is expected to also feature special performances like music, jokes and celebrity/fan catch-up.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

‘Style is all H about good manners’ Beautiful and enterprising, Mrs. Olaide Sjumarken, CEO of Flawless Style, a luxury lifestyle brand and the sole distributor of Becca range of beauty products in Nigeria has everything going for her. The UK-based businesswoman left the shores of Nigeria in 1983 to the United States of America where she bagged her first and second degrees in Computer Engineering.

After working as an investment banker in New York and London for 17 years, she quit her paid job to pursue her passion. In this interview with Kehinde Falode, she spoke about her career and beauty secrets

41

ow the journey did begin for you? Before dabbling into the beauty industry, I worked in investment banking for 17 years in New York and London. After I had my second child, I worked briefly and took some time off to raise my children. That was when the business idea was conceived. In the past, I used to mix about three foundations together to get my colour, but I found out with Becca I can get one for my colour and still achieve excellent results.

Who are your target clientele?

My target customers are the everyday woman. It is for a discerning woman who wants the best. The cosmetics are very affordable. Though there are products out there, but the choice lies on that woman out there who wants to look radiant all day.

There are lots of beauty products in the market, don't you think the market place is saturated already?

What sets us apart is the quality of the product and the varying ranges that accommodate different skin types. The introduction of BECCA to Nigeria will see women being spoilt for choice as the brand will challenge already established products in the market.

Becca philosophy is to create and maintain a flawless look regardless of age.

What is style to you?

Style to me is about having impeccable manners; it is about aspiring to be the best person I can be everyday in my interactions with others; treating people how I would like to be treated no matter their religion, age, ethnicity or professional background. To me, that is the most important aspect of style, good manners and good etiquette.

Women have different preferences when it comes to dressing up, what type of outfits appeal to you?

I prefer simple, classic, understated but elegant dressing with a little edge. My typical daily attire is a crisp white shirt, tailored pants or jeans, a comfortable well cut blazer and comfortable shoes. I always advise clients to invest in a very good blazer that can go from work to a night out with clients or friends. I have a small frame, so I avoid wearing prints or too many bright colours.

What accessory do you spend the most money on?

My extravagance is usually my handbag, shoes, sunglasses or wrist-watch. I usually choose to accessorize with one or two single extravagant item at a time.

What determines what you wear?

What I wear is determined by my mood and the event I am attending and the audience. One must try to always think about how one would like to be perceived when dressing up. Is the event of a business nature? Is it an outing with girl friends, a cocktail event with business contemporaries, meeting with my children's teachers or going out dancing at a nightclub. In a professional environment, I like to wear tailored suits. I buy my suits from Bottega Veneta, Dolce and Gabanna or Chanel. On a casual outing, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans with loafers will do. It is important to invest in a pair of jeans that flatters your body type. I wear J. Brand, Notify or Citizen of Humanity jeans. I recently just discovered a brand called Mother. And in the evening, my choice of attire will once again depend on the event and the crowd.

Tell me your favourite piece of clothing.

It has to be a well-cut tailored blazer.

One can dress-up a simple outfit by simply putting on a blazer and dressdown by taking it off.

Who is your favourite fashion designer?

At the moment, my favorite designer is Balmain. The cut of the jacket is perfect for my frame. He makes very edgy, sexy but conservative clothing. His trousers fit me perfectly, but you have to have a very slender frame to wear this designer's clothing. It is for everyone.

Your beauty and style tips It is important to eat a balanced diet. This should include lots of greens, fruits, proteins and moderate amount of carbohydrates and drink a minimum of two litres of water daily. Some form of regular cardio-vascular exercise is a necessity. To keep my body toned and slim, I do not use weights when I train at the gym.

Cleansing the skin and removing make-up before retiring at night is a must.

42

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

When Bill Clinton, Cherie Blair came to town

F

OR the past 10 years, distinguished personalities within the country and beyond who were privileged to be part of the event, had always looked forward to an encore. This year's This Day Award of Excellence was no different. From the array of guests, coupled with the razzmatazz that was the hallmark of the event, the show undoubtedly lived up to its billing, reports Olusegun Rapheal

&

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

•L-R; Wife of Tony Blair, former prime Minister of Britain, Cherie and former United States President, Bill Clinton

•Nduka Obaigbena

•Otunba Johnson Fasawe and Alhaji Atiku •L-R: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Aremo Olusegun Osoba Abubakar

•Mr. Gbolade Osibodu and wife, Funke

•Hajia Bola Shagaya

•L-R: Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi and his Deputy Mrs Funmi Olayinka

•Hajia Abah Folawiyo

•Senator Florence Ita-Giwa

•Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (retd) and wife, Binta

•Bukky Latunji

•Otunba Niyi Adebayo and wife, Angela

•Dr Tunde Soleye and wife, Nike Soleye

•Funmi Omitowoju

•Celine Loader

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Out & About •L-R:GMD/CEO, UBA, Mr Phillip Oduoza and wife, Jumai with Mr. Tony Elumelu

A night of rewards •Former MD, NNPC, Mr. Funso Kupolokun

•L-R: MD, UBA Ghana, Oliver Alawuba and his deputy, Daniel Addo

•ED, UBA, Alhaji Abdulkadir Bello

I

N what has become an 'annual ritual' UBA Plc, penultimate weekend rewarded its outstanding staff, who had distinguished themselves in the course of the preceding year. The award night

•L-R: Funmi Momodu and Pamela Shodipo

•Vice Chairman, UBA Plc Ambassador & Mrs. Joe Keshi

held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, with board members of the bank, management and other rank and file with their spouses stepping out in all splendour to savour the glitz and glamour of the night.

Olusegun Rapheal was there

•Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka

•ED, UBA, Mr. Ifeatu Onejeme

•Director, UBA Plc, Mrs. Angela Nwabuoku

•Chairman, UBA, Chief Isreal Ogbue

43

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Glamour

44

Social KAYODE ALFRED

(E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com, Tel: 08035733605, 08099400057)

Ronke Sokefun loses father

Yusuf

R

ONKE Sokefun, stylish former top shot at Oando and presently Special Adviser on Lands to Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State is bereaved. The vivacious woman lost her father some weeks ago. Preparations are full throttle to give her late father a befitting burial. For this woman, who is a notable figure on the Lagos and Ogun social scene, nothing short of a grand burial for her dad would be good enough. Already, her friends in high places are warming up for the Dday, even as full details of the burial rites are yet to be finalized.

Leah Abiara on nine months course

Sokefun

Suzy night club owner, Susan Yusuf, murdered

L

EST we forget, gloom and grief gripped the Island happening scene late Friday, February 10, when news made the rounds that Susan Yusuf, the owner of Suzy Q night club was allegedly killed by her boyfriend. The late queen of night club reportedly engaged in a bloody fight with her boyfriend named Idris, who also died in the process.

According to one of Susan's neighbours at the famous 1004 flats in Victoria Island, Lagos, “Idris stabbed Susan, who also defended herself in kind�. Sources maintained that Susan's injury was so severe she was the first to give up the ghost.

Idris attempted to make a quick get-away by jumping down from the balcony of the 6th floor scene of the accident. He reportedly gave up the ghost at a Victoria Island hospital where he was rushed to. The details of what led to the deadly squabble between the two lovers are yet to be ascertained. At the moment, Suzy Q Night Club has been shut Sukai down.

Why Binta Sukai went underground

A

BOUT four years ago, former beauty queen, Binta Sukai had resurfaced on the social circuit years after she had gone underground for God knows why. On her return, she disclosed that she was abroad to rest and plan for her future.

Soon after, she had a baby, whose paternity she has refused to disclose to anyone, with the exception of close family member. There were speculations that she had the child for a popular Lagos big boy whose notoriety with women is legendary.

And just when many thought Binta was back for good, the Kaduna Stateborn woman has, in the last one year, recoiled into her shell once more. The gist in town is that Binta may not be finding life easy, as she is said to be really down financially. What has further worsened her woes is the refusal of her baby's father to cater for the upkeep of the tot.

J

UST months after she quit spinsterhood, Leah, daughter of popular Ibadan-based pastor, S. K. Abiara is once again in a joyous mood.

Reason: she is now undergoing the nine months course. Leah, who got married to her heartthrob, Omotunde Nero, last year in a classy wedding was sighted recently in the company of her husband looking so resplendent. Save for the physical manifestation as accentuated by her protruding tummy and increase in body mass, Leah still remains the epitome of beauty she has always been.

Marriage has really changed her for good and gone are the days of heavy partying with the happening crowd. Few years ago, she p o w e r e d around Ibadan in a customized Bentley car that was the talk-oftown for months.

Abiara

Ladi Akindele, Charles Ahize feud deepens

T

HE controversy over the original owner of Chrome Night Club has taken another dimension. According to findings, Ladi Akindele has allegedly taken over the operations of the night club sequel to the orders of a Lagos State High Court. The fun place opened for business penultimate weekend. However, we gathered that Akindele's estranged partner, Charles Ahize is not taking the matter lightly. Ahize is reportedly working through his lawyer to reverse the move that enabled Ladi take charge of the club.

Ahize

FROM THE CAMPUS Prof.

PAGE 46

THE NATION SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012

With

Emmanuel Ojeme

Emeritus Professor Tekena Tamuno at 80

Destined to be for Chipolopolo A

FTER the final penalty which saw Christopher Katongo lift the first ever AFCON trophy for Zambia, I heard someone say “don’t mess with the ghost of the dearly departed”.

Truly the stuff of dreams, not many would have called this one. On paper, Zambia didn’t stand a chance, after all who would have mentioned the Zambian team in the same breath as footballing Nations like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia? This Chipolopolo side definitely had a date with destiny. 19 years ago, the Zambian national team was on their way to play a world cup qualifier in Gabon, sadly their plane crashed in the same city where they finally won their first ever African title. They lost 18 players in that crash. Some people would argue that was the best Zambian squad ever.

If you had asked me to mention five names from this side that won the African cup of Nations before the tournament started, I would have failed woefully. I reckoned with the “big” names, Gyan, Ayew brothers, Keita, Drogba, Toure brothers, Gervinho, Tiote and co, but like my people say, “no be by name” and that is exactly the message the Chipolopolo passed on to football fans in Africa and the rest of the world.

They showed from the very beginning that they came to win the tournament. They played as a team, they looked very good together, they believed, plus destiny was on their side, if not, how can we explain Drogba’s penalty miss in the 70th minute that could have won them the title in regular time. The Ivorian captain who is normally so clinical! They also beat Ghana against all odds, the Black stars who were one of the tournament favorites dominated the semi-final match, created most of the chances but in the end the resilient Zambian side took their one chance to earn them a place in the final.

“We wanted to honour the dead players and that strengthened us. Our first game was against Senegal and the team was on its way to Senegal for a match when the plane crashed. The plane crashed in Gabon and we won the final in Gabon. It is a sign of destiny.” Says the coach What about Kolo Toure and Gervinho’s misses?.....Destiny On a lighter note both are an ex and current Arsenal players, perhaps a carryover of Arsenal’s misfortunes, serious lack of winning mentality. As happy as I was for the Chipolopolo side, I truly felt sorry for the Ivoirians. The 2006 final in Egypt had come to hunt them in Gabon. It was also a penalty-kick loss to the hosts. Imagine, they did not concede a single goal all through the tournament. To get so close and lose is very painful. Maybe Drogba can try again in 2013 or join the likes of Titi Camara, George Weah, Kalusha Bwalya, Kanu Nwankwo on the list of African greats that never won the African cup of nations.

The Zambian coach Herve Renard proved to us that he is not just a cute face with a model-like body, he is a good coach, and the team was superbly coached by the French man who has become an instant hero. Last I heard Saudi Arabia offered him one hundred thousand US dollars monthly to coach their

•Christopher Katongo

national side, but he turned it down. He is clearly looking at the bigger Picture which is to take Zambia to the 2014 world cup and maybe win it. Who says their fairy tale cannot continue? His “lucky” white shirt which he wore all through the tournament might just come through for the team again.

Good to see proper competition on the continent without Egypt, Nigeria and Cameroon. The quality of football played that night and all through the tournament was breathtaking. World class penalties in the final. I don't think I have ever seen Africans take penalties of that quality, at least half of them where hit in the top corner at pace. The first 14 penalties were good and I'd say that on eighty percent of them no goal keeper in the world would have had a chance whatsoever.

AFCON 2012 has come and gone and I am hoping the NFF and the super eagles have learnt a thing or two from this Zambian side. Where are our ex players? It is time for them to stand up and let their voices be heard. Take a cue from their Zambian counterpart Kalusha who incidentally, escaped the 1993 plane crash because he had to fly to Dakar from his European base.

I am not saying being an ex-player will guarantee you success in running the football federation but surely there must be one or two people out there who can contribute positively to the development and growth of Nigerian football starting from the glass house.

Kalusha who is considered the finest Zambian footballer of all time is the president of the country’s football federation. He was highly criticized for giving Herve Renard a second chance but he stood his grounds and thank God it paid off.

Odegbami, Oliseh, Kanu, Jay Jay, Amokachi and co, there’s work to be done guys, don’t give up just yet!!! Congratulations Chipolpolo! Congratulations Renard!! Congratulations Kalusha!!!

Congratulations Zambia!!!!

EMMERITUS Professor Tekena Tamuno turned 80 years some days back. I am using this medium to congratulate the erudite Emeritus Professor for becoming an Octogenarian and to wish him many more fruitful years on earth. Emeritus Professor T.N. Tamuno has achieved everything in life and is still counting. His life is synonymous, one can say, with the Nigerian University system where he was a pioneer and pursued an illustrious and illuminous academic career in Nigeria’s premier university. At the University of Ibadan, in the mid seventies, he rose to become the Vice Chancellor of the university. I never met him until 2000 on the occasion of the public presentation of my first major biographical work on Dr. Awoture Eleyae, the doyen of sports in Africa. Unknown to me, the subject, Dr. Awoture Eleyae, had given the book titled: He Willed to Succeed, to him, to review. The celebration of his 80th birthday, brought back my memories of Professor T.N. Tamuno, at the National Institute for Sports, in year 2000, as he gave a very resourceful and legendary review of this book.

I saw a very learned, knowledgeable and versatile Professor, who himself, is an experienced and accomplished biographer. His review of the book, written by someone he has never met, was objective, instructive, analytical and a rich lesson in book review. I saw a professor that is very calm, collected, humorous and endowed with deep and rich intellectual tradition. I learnt so much from him on that occasion. He enriched my skills about the use of anecdotes in presentation of an academic material. Sir, I thank you so much for your kind words on the quality of the book and for your lesson on that occasion on the structure, style, method and procedures of a biographical work and book review.

You were so unique. Sir, your thoughts about my work on that occasion has been one of my biggest testimonial and stamp of authority on my intellectual ability and capability on the matter under consideration. Emaritus Professor Tamuno commended the biographical work for its richness in the use of illustrations, analytical, methodical, logical and scholarly material among other qualities of the work. He noted that this book met the standard requirements of writing a biography. Who were we talking about on that occasion? As I stated earlier in this piece, it was about Dr. Awoture Eleyae, the Doyen of sports development in Nigeria. The man that was a renowned athlete in the 1950s and 1960s and through whose hands the cream of Nigerian athletes in the golden years of Nigerian sports emerged. Awoture Eleyae has a special place in the history of Nigerian Sports for his legendary role in winning laurels for Nigeria and his professional contributions to sports development Nigeria. Dr. Awoture Eleyae was a pioneer coach of the national sports council, who also pursued his education upto PhD level in physical Education. He later rose to become the Director General of the original National Sports Commission and the secretary general of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa. As a perceptive professional, I founding his story so irresistible to tell and domesticate in the public domain.

He served Nigeria and African sports well. I hope the many ex-internationals on parade will find him worthy of emulation. In his review of Awoture Eleyae’s biography, Professor Tekena Tamuno said as much about the man. He described Eleyae as the Mustard Seed of Uzere, (Eleyae’s home town), who grew from a humble background to a giant tree of benefit to humanity, through sports, particularly track and field, coaching, Administration and Teaching. I hope many would find this work worthy of their possession and consumption.

I wish professor T.N. Tamuno, so happy birthday and so many more fruitful years on earth. I remain a joyful to have met you on the occasion of the public presentation of my work on Dr. Awoture Eleyae. I learnt so much from you.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

47

VOL 1 NO. 037

Accountability comes to advertising (1) I

F we were to recast this headline it would read “WHO MANAGES YOUR BRAND?� We published a series under same headline sometime last year, in which we stimulated critical thinking on brands management, with special focus on advertising agencies' core value-essence in terms of service delivery.

The objective of that series was to sensitize clients in the direction of advertising agencies' performance appraisal against certain very important professional parameters bordering on core competence and global best practice. As measure of standard, every successful advertising support is grounded in professional competence. It follows, therefore, that the ideal advertising practice is about achieving set objectives. At some instances, it is the agency's responsibility to set these value expectations in the first place. Over time the role and essence of advertising agencies come up for reckoning, and this is one of such times.

For purpose of perspective we shall consider advertising within the context of developing advertising messages. So much has taken place in the world of advertising that makes the common reference to advertising archaic and un-inspiring in today's world, but we shall permit the traditional reference here for purpose of basic analysis. Advertising is a mind conditioning engagement driven on mass communication. It requires plenty of intellectual involvement, for optimal result. So it is easy for advertising to be subjected to effectiveness check. More interestingly, advertising is always matched with measurable results and subject to distinct performance indicators, led by identified or set-marketing as contained in the client's brief.

Again all of the above are based on assumption of standard practice environment. As practitioners, we have loads of notes on both industry derivatives and own-jobs to be able to make top line judgement on advertising practice and effectiveness in our local environment. Over time, the industry has recorded persistent decline in relevance and effectiveness, so much it is almost losing its status as a profession. Today's experience is one of all-commerce service delivery, much the same way with newspaper vending and any such activity not requiring of special skills, training and competence.

The sad development brings to question the need for brands investing in engaging consultants.

Time past, the decline in advertising practice vexed some of us practitioners to the point of self-defeat.

The compromises amounted to erosion of substance for the true practitioners. Clients and prospective clients were quick to downgrade on professionalism in advertising (with the reward value), because as far as they are concerned developing advertising messages is really not such a big deal to attract or support the traditional professional fee structure. Soon, the Asians reduced agency relevance to media buying at a hugely discounted cost (almost free of discount or commission earning to the agency), in addition to free creative concept development and design.

Painful as this development is, it became beneficial to the extent that it necessitated self-appraisal and evaluation. As it stands today advertising is a service provided by just anybody. It is quite interesting, because it may only take some time for those that engage non-professional advertising service providers to realise that true professionals have repositioned for true professional practice, safe-guarding the true nature of the profession. Such clients are the bigger losers because the seemingly cheap and compromised service they pay poorly for amounts to self-destruction. Otherwise how would one explain advert mes-

sages without a clearly defined objective; when creative products are just assemblage of words and pictures, without strategic direction (and many other signs of compromises in creative form and structure?)

The bad news for all those who undermine true advertising process is that advertising is coming to judgement and accountability. As stated earlier, advertising and indeed brands management is about intelligence gathering, processing and creative communication. In going back to value appreciation, it is pertinent to note the contribution of the not-too-discerning client. To begin, it takes an equally informed mind to set and uphold the rules of best practice in anticipa-

tion of optimal return on investment in any given market. So when we asked the question WHO MANAGES YOUR BRAND? It is an ell-encompassing appraisal for both the client and agency personnel. How much do those employed to manage a given brand at both ends of the divide know, and capable to demonstrate. It is about appreciating and upholding top quality standard.

We shall not put creative process in a box, figuratively, because the creative process for developing advertising or campaign materials is complex and subjective to an extent. It is that individually in concept and expression that distinguishes one advertising agency from the other. However, the complexity of this process permits for some level of certainty of established patterns. In other words, there are basic rules towards efficiency in the discharge of agencies' professional services.

To begin, the entire advertising creative process is predicated upon full appreciation of three key elements: the client/brand, the market and the message.

The task in any campaign development is about enabling a connection and correlation between the brand and its market in a way that is beneficial to the client, at all times. To perform creditably in this regard requires a creative application of insight in all three directions as stated above.

It all begins with the client's brief. As a rule, the client starts up the process of campaign planning and development by developing and dispatching the ad-

vertising brief to the agency. Among other things, the brief tells the whole story concerning the brand, the market and the competition in a way that stimulate further thinking, information gathering and processing in a professional environment. A well written brief clearly states what the advertising and marketing objectives are and what advertising is expected to achieve.

It is on the strength of the client's brief the agency's creative process takes off, starting with studying and understanding the client's brief. As far as I am concerned the clients' information on own-brands' strength and competitive advantage(s), market performance and position, and pedigree are only hypothetic, subject to scientific test. At this stage, the agency is expected to engage research and strategic planning for the following reasons: ?

Confirm aspects of the client's brief classified 'hypothetic' as above; get deeper insights on the market, including competitive analysis, in order to properly place the brand within its competitive environment. ?

Through elaborate SWOT analysis, put in proper perspective the brand's potentials to enable a safe strategic navigation, moving forward. ?

To know the prevalent market perception and impression of the given brand, expectation, buying/ usage patter in relation to its brandworld. ?

Confirm trade issues, especially traits, attitude and behavioural pattern within the context of possible competitive advantages Derivatives from the above will enable easy sail at the stage of establishing the campaign's strategic thrust. We trained to, at this stage, be able to fill out our advertising brief forms. It gets really interesting at this stage because from this stage on, everybody in the agency gets involved in the consideration of task team leader way back from when agency received the brief. This is the stage where the team leader calls for what we call the PLANS BOARD MEETING. The plans board meeting is a session of critical analysis. THE OTHER INTERESTING THING AT THIS STAGE OF THE PROCESS is that the task team leader (usually a clients service person) is also open to instant appraisal. The respect he/she earns from this stage on is equal and commensurate to the weight of its intellectual content and creativity. As the client service person leads the meeting in consideration of the advertising brief forms, everybody's focus is on the reliability of its data, analysis of the market and competitive environment and the over-all positioning statement (as derivable from what we called the SINGLE-MINDED PROPOSITION) THE SINGLE-MINDED PROPOSITION is the steering wheel or rudder that directs every single creative thinking, thrust and input in the creative process. It is the single most definite statement that establishes the brand's promise upon which the entire campaign or advertising message is built upon. Since every other department takes its cue from the agreed creative direction, they all equally expected and in fact invited to contribute in critically analysing every aspect of the creative brief forms. So much pain is taken to ensure a thorough job is done at this stage because it is critical to the success of the agency's final proposal to client. It is the stage where pitches are won and lost; very critical indeed.

(To be continued next week)

48

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

‘Being married to a doctor is fantastic’ ly Cancer Care and Support Centre, founded the Centre Dr. Omolola Salako, the Programme Co-ordinator for Sebecc a Senior Registrar, Department of Radiation and in 2006 after losing loved ones to Cancer. Salako, who is also ), in this interview with Rita Ohai, gives insight into Oncology, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH the activities of her organization and her personal life.

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HAT is your organization about?

Sebeccly Care provides awareness on breast cancer and provides breast cancer survivorship services. Our awareness is under the 'Stamp-OutCancer' campaign where we go into communities to provide information and screen women for breast and cervical cancer. We go into schools to teach young ladies how to do the breast self-examination and we use the social media to reach the younger generation on ways to live a healthy life-style and how to prevent cancer by adopting good habits from a young age. We also offer a referral service where people can come into our office and with their complaints and we refer them to the appropriate Teaching Hospital or General Hospital so we are the midpoint between health-care professionals and the general public.

The other thing we do is breast cancer survivorship services where we have an active support group meeting of over a hundred women. Through this channel we are able to provide drugs at a subsidized rate. We adopt certain cancer patients and take care of their bills whenever we find a corporate organization to foot that bill and in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, we offer capacity building opportunities especially for women who lose their jobs due to the fact that she cannot work while undergoing treatment.

Do you think Cancer is as prevalent as people say it is or is it just hype?

It is not a hype. The incidence is increasing and it is estimated that it would even get worse. The patients that present themselves at the hospital are just a tiny proportion. Most patients do not get to the hospital. Some are lost to herbalist or quacks drug stores. From experience, the patients we have seen every year increase.

What is the cause for the increase in the number of Cancer patients in this part of the world?

The most common reason would have to be westernization but we need to prepare for research. We are not doing

any real research into the causative factors of cancer in Nigeria. People are doing hospital based research but we are talking of a situation where various hospitals come together with the government and start looking into the reason why cancer is now increasing and ways we can prevent and improve the treatment of cancers among Nigerians.

In running the centre, could you highlight some of the success that you have recorded with the NGO? The fact that we are able to make a difference and enlighten people on the

awareness aspect but more importantly there are a lot of people who can survive breast cancer but end up in very bad conditions because of ignorance or they lack where to go to or they cannot afford their treatment and for every breast cancer patient we have been able to help regardless of their financial background, the fact that we have been able to help them in accessing care is what puts smiles on our faces.

What are some of the challenges you face?

Funds and the low awareness on breast issues amongst women and the

commitment of cancer stakeholders and corporate organizations to cancer care.

Our activities are dependent on funding from donor organizations but we have created a scheme which we call '1k for Cancer' which we started last year in October where people donate N1000 each and with that we were able to raise enough money to help about four patients.

What is the five year vision for Sebeccly?

Five years from now, Sebeccly will have its own cancer care center and it will be providing discounted, cheap services because at present, a lot of patients accessing care are not able to afford it. It is common practice for a patient to get to the hospital and not be able to afford treatment. Treatment for cancer runs into hundreds of thousands and even millions of Naira. So when we get our center, we will be able to cushion the effect by getting donors to invest in Cancer care. That is the big picture.

On the policy level, we hope to get cancer care subsidized for every Nigerian patient. For children, cancer care should be free or almost free. For adults who have surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a lot of investigations to undergo, we are looking at a time where the government would pay for the surgeries and then the patients can take care of all the other expenses because one of the greatest reasons why we are losing patients is that they come to the hospital but they cannot afford the drugs.

How do you find time to manage other activities such as working as a professional, taking care of the home and running the NGO? I believe with passion, you will always find time to balance things out and I think women are able to handle so many things at the same time. I think it is an innate characteristic of women to be able to manage family, organizations, business and career all at once.

What is it like being married to a doctor?

Fantastic! It couldn't be better. My husband is a Medical Doctor. I am married to my friend so it's not just about our profession. My interest is his interest. He is a staunch member and supporter. He is also a great brain behind my projects because when I founded Sebeccly, it was my idea but he was part of the team who assisted in moving it forward Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I am from Ogbere, Ijebu East in Ogun State. I was raised by my dad and mum who are both engineers and they encouraged me to become a doctor. I went to Staff School, University of Lagos, International School Lagos (ISL) and then College of Medicine, University of Lagos. I am from a large family and there were a lot of people to play with, read with and travel with.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

New WOMAN

How an abortion divided America to end her Single mother who took a pilllan dmark pregnancy is now fighting a prosecution in a conservative state

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HEN Jennie Linn McCormack walks the streets of Pocatello, the town in southern Idaho where she was born, raised, and still lives, she attempts to disguise her face by covering it with a thick woollen scarf.

It doesn't really work. In the supermarket, people stop and point. At fast-food outlets, they hiss "it's her"! In the local church, that supposed bastion of forgiveness, fire-and-brimstone preachers devote entire sermons to accusing her of mortal sin.

Ms McCormack never wanted to be notorious. A 33-year-old single mother, she has for years devoted herself to raising three children on $250-a-month (£160) in child support, plus cash from a part-time job at the local dry cleaners.

Then, last autumn, came the controversy that would change her life. It began when she learned she was pregnant and decided to self-administer a termination. The ensuing events have placed her front and centre of the next great legal showdown in America's endlessly divisive abortion debate.

In Pocatello, that's not a great place to be. This deeply conservative town of about 55,000 residents, with a railroad and a small university campus, is dominated by its churches. Some are Mormon, others fundamentalist Christian, all of them vehemently anti-abortion.

"I feel like my life is over," Ms McCormack says. "I now stay home all the time. I have no friends. I can't work. I don't want to take my kids out in public.

People can be really mean about what has happened."

When Ms McCormack fell pregnant, she was unmarried, alone, and living in a tiny apartment with three children.

The potential father of her fourth was no longer on the scene; in any case, he was penniless. It would, she concluded, be barely possible to survive with another baby.

With this in mind, she decided to have a termination. But in Pocatello, this is not easy. The nearest abortion clinic is in Salt Lake City, almost three hours' drive away. She had no car, no one to care for her youngest, who

is two, and since the local law mandates a waiting period for abortions, she would have been obliged to make two round-trips.

After transport, there were medical expenses. With no savings and only a tiny income, Ms McCormack was concerned about financing a procedure that could set her back thousands of dollars. Alone, and without a computer, she was unable to research alternatives. And that's when someone told her about a pill called RU-486.

Ms McCormack is legally barred from discussing what happened next. But she told police, when later arrested, that she had telephoned her sister, who lives in Mississippi, and asked her to purchase the drug, which induces a miscarriage, over the internet. She allegedly took the pill, which cost a little over $200, on the day it arrived by post. Things immediately went wrong. RU-486 is licensed for ending early term pregnancies.

But Ms McCormack's was more advanced than she thought, perhaps as much as 21 weeks.

The size of the foetus terrified her. So did the blood. In a panic, she placed it in a cardboard box on her porch, and called a friend.

That friend telephoned the police.

So began a legal saga that is now winding its way upwards through the justice system and, should it reach the Supreme Court, may see Ms McCormack's

name preserved alongside that of Jane Roe, the plaintiff in the Roe vs Wade lawsuit that in 1973 established the constitutional right of US women to an abortion.

Under Roe vs Wade, terminations are legal in the US until the foetus is "viable", or able to survive outside the womb, a point at around 23 weeks. But Idaho has a law, never before enforced, which bans women from carrying out their own abortions. It was under this, Idaho Code Section 18-606, that Ms McCormack was arrested and prosecuted.

In court last summer, the case was dismissed, due to lack of evidence. "The US has a law called corpus delecti which posits that you can't only convict someone on the basis of a confession. There has to be other evidence," Ms McCormack's lawyer, Richard Hearn, says. "In Jennie's case, there was none. The autopsy found no medicine in the foetus. Prosecutors had no computer record of the pill being brought, no packaging or boxes in which the drugs came."

Despite the ruling, it still remains possible for Ms McCormack to be charged again with a crime that could carry five years in prison. Mr Hearn has filed a lawsuit claiming that Idaho's law (similar to ones on the statute books of six other Continued on Page 55

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Relationships Deola Ojo 08027454533 (text) Pastordeegfc@yahoo.com

Marriage anchors (2) Continued from last week

K

IKE was tired of being at home alone every evening. How could Made be so heartless? She believed that she had found the perfect partner when they met, but she was increasingly getting disheartened by his behavior.

As she laid in bed alone night after night, she began to contemplate ending her marriage. When she was about six months pregnant, Made's mother came for a visit. Made's mother was a devout woman who had very high family values. She had a wonderful marriage before her husband passed on. She was on her way out of the country to visit one of her children and decided to spend a few days with Made and Kike. She had called Kike to tell her that she was coming but asked her not to tell Made because she wanted to surprise him. The first day she arrived, Kike had just come back from work. She assumed that Made would soon be home and decide to stay in the sitting room to wait for him. Kike made a meal for her mother in law and asked her if she would like to refresh herself but she declined. She was eager to see her son and wanted to watch his reaction when he opened the door and saw her in the sitting room. At about 9pm, Kike suggested that perhaps her mother in law should rest a little before Made came back, but she insisted that her son must meet her in the sitting room. Kike decided to sit with her and they both started watching television.

By 10pm, Kike was already dozing. Made's mother was beginning to get worried that her son was not home yet. She asked her to call Made and make sure he was fine. Kike wondered if he should tell her mother in law that coming home late was her son's habitual practice but thought against it. She felt that it was better for his mother to find out herself. Kike tried his number a few times but it was switched off.

By 11pm, Kike decided to excuse herself and go to bed. Made's mother wondered what kind of wife would go to bed when her husband was not yet home. She felt that a good wife would stay up to wait for him to be sure that he came back home safely. She decided that she would wait in the sitting room for her son. But she was getting increasing worried as the night wore on. She began to think of all the terrible things that happen to people at night. By the time he arrived at 1 am, she was so relieved to see him that she just jumped and hugged him. He was reeking of alcohol, but she did not mind, the joy of having him come back home safe and sound was what was paramount on her mind.

They both went to sleep shortly afterwards. Made's mother thought that her son would come back home early the next night but she was shocked when he came back home at 2am. He was smelling of alcohol a second night in a row. She decided to ask him where he was coming from.

He told her that he and his friends decided to stop somewhere to relax before coming home.

“You left your pregnant wife at home and went about roaming the city with useless friends?”

Made had no answer. He knew when his mother was angry, it was better not to argue with her.

His mother sat him down for over an hour telling him all the reasons why this was not the way to live his life.

“What if your wife goes into premature labour while you are out partying?”

“What if thieves break into your home, who would protect her?”

“What if you were the one pregnant and your wife decided to leave you and go and party?”

“What if something happens to you at the club and you die, what will you say to God”?

“If you die now, what will happen to your unborn child, do you want him to be raised by another man?”

“What if your wife gets tired and decides to leave you?”

“Does any responsible man roam the streets at night?”

“When your son grows up is that what you will be teaching him?”

He had to endure tongue lashing from his own mother. He was just glad that his wife was not there to witness it. He would have been too ashamed. He reviewed the way he had been living for the past few months and realized that he needed to make a few changes. Made and Kike's marriage was saved in the nick of time.

He was blessed to have a mother who could tell him the truth. There are some men who do not respect their own mother and would probably not have heeded her advice.

The anchor that saved his marriage from collapse was “Respect for family values”.

Made's mother had respect for family values and insisted that her son uphold the same values.

So now his marriage added another anchor of respect for family values.

Couples, who come from homes where there is respect for family values, have a greater tendency of making their marriage work. While family values will vary from home to home, there are some key elements that should be in every home. Such values include: Love for God, Love for your fellow human being, Fairness, Respect, Courtesy, faithfulness, Honesty, Hard work and Giving. These are values that should be handed down from generation to generation such that the marriage of the next generation is stronger than that of the previous generation.

A couple that have built their home on the strong anchors of “The belief in the Almighty God and deference to Him over and above our own personal desires and preferences.” As well as “Respect for family values” also need to have the anchor of good…(to be continued next week)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Arts & Life

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

POLITICKLE

Why, oh why?

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

IF people evolved from apes, why are there still apes? Why do insects squeeze into enclosed light fixtures only to die? Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do bad decisions make good stories? Why is it easier to obtain pardon than permission? Why is it so hard to decipher the fine line between boredom and hunger? Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat would have materialised?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try? Or when we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologises for doing so, why do we say, ‘It’s all right?’ when all we long to say is, “That really hurt.

Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that’s falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over? Why is it that you never hear father-in-law jokes? Why can you not laugh alone or talk to yourself as you walk along without the world thinking you are idiotic or mad?

And why is it that when walking down the street and you find that you are going in a different direction than intended, instead of turning and walking back in the direction from which you came you prefer to check your watch or phone or make an arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy in randomly switching directions?

And why do bills travel through the post at twice the speed of cheques? Why is it that broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist exchange places in middle age? Why do opportunities always look bigger going than coming?

Why do you throw away junk three weeks before you need it?

Why is it that you never recognise the significance of a mistake until you make it again? And why is that by the time you find greener pastures, you cannot climb the fence to get in anymore?

Why is that more often than not, when someone is telling you a story all you can think about is that he finishes quickly so that you can tell your own story that is not only better, but also more directly involves you? And why do you get that sinking feeling at the moment you realise you are wrong during an argument?

Why is it that most of the people in the “people you may know” feature on facebook are people you do know, but deliberately choose not to be friends with? Why is it that sometimes you will watch a movie that you watched while younger and suddenly realise you had no idea what it was about the first time you saw it?

Why is that we would rather attempt to carry 10 plastic shopping bags in each hand than take two trips to bring the items in? Why do we say “what?” a number of times before nodding and smiling because we still didn’t hear what someone said?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are almost dead? Why is that the one holding the remote control device in a room full of Reader’s Response people watching TV feels so Just read your Sunny Side of today. much pressure from the others?

And why are the misdeeds of You are indeed a genius. I hail. the rich and great mistaken for Iyobosa in Abuja. +2348035976029 error while those of the poor and lowly are for crimes?

QUOTE If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round.

Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don’t embrace trouble; that’s as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you’ll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Jokes Humour At the Border

SANCHEZ comes up to the American border on his bicycle. He’s got two large bags over his shoulders. The guard stops him and says, “What’s in the bags?”

“Sand,” answers Sanchez.

The guard says, “We’ll just see about that.

Get off the bike.”

The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand. He detains Sanchez overnight and has the sand analysed, only to discover that there is nothing but pure sand in the bags.

The guard releases Sanchez, puts the sand into new bags, hefts them onto the man’s shoulders, and lets him cross the border.

A week later, the same thing happens. The guard asks, “What have you got?”

“Sand,” says Sanchez.

The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand. He gives the sand back to Sanchez, and Sanchez crosses the border on his bicycle.

This sequence of events is repeated every

day for three years.

Finally, Sanchez doesn’t show up one day and the guard meets him in a bar in Mexico.

“Hey, buddy,” says the guard, “I know you are smuggling something. It’s driving me crazy. It’s all I think about. I can’t sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?”

Sanchez sips his beer coolly and says, “Bicycles.”

Slow Customer A MAN walks into a shoe store. As he tries on a pair of shoes, it is soon apparent that he is a rather slow-thinking person.

“How do they feel?” asks the sales clerk with some sympathy.

“Well, they feel a bit tight,” replies the man.

The assistant promptly bends down and took a closer look at the shoes and the man’s feet.

“Try pulling the tongue out,” offers the clerk, only to hear the man say, “Nath theyth sthill feelth a bith tighth.”

•Culled from the Internet

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RITE what you Writer ’s Broth know Given the chance, Once you write something, at least some of your what do you talk about endlessly? What drives you readers are going to believe you. You owe them to seek out information? What are your passions? accuracy. Remember that memories, even yours, can When you write what you know, you write with be faulty. The details of fiction need to be as accurate authority. People listen to you because you are one as the details of non-fiction. Even when you invent a who knows. You are interesting because you are universe, you invent it to be understood by earthinterested. Your knowledge is a gift to share. lings. If you are going to have impossible things Research happening, you need to offer some explanation that Deepen the well. No matter what you know about will make sense. the subject, there is always more to learn. Make Use a structure sure you have the latest information available on For some writers, having a structure in place first your subject. makes the writing easier. These writers prefer to think If there are differences of opinion in the area things out ahead of time and then build to a plan. you are writing about, acknowledge the other side. Other writers put down all their ideas in a glorious Your statements will come across more strongly if profusion of words. Papers may be spread all over the reader knows you have addressed the argu- the house, the car, the office desk, in fishing tackle ments others would raise. boxes. These writers like to see all the material and then build the structure.

And why is that: Both approaches work well depending on the •Fingernails grow four times faster than personality of the writer. Both kinds of writers need toenails?

•In space astronauts cannot cry, because to end up with a structure that supports the reader’s understanding. There is no one right structure for a there is no gravity, so the tears don’t flow?

•The average person has 1, 460 dreams a year? book any more than there is one right structure for a •When snakes are born with two heads, they house. Some will be linear, and take the reader step by step directly through to a conclusion like a long fight each other for food? hallway opening into an inner courtyard.

•Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s?

THE ARTS

51

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

‘Nigeria is not viable reading public’ Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is a professor of English at the University Lagos, and has authored over 30 books across all genres of literature. She is also a past winner of the NLNG Nigerian Literature Prize, and other literary awards. In this interview with Edozie Udeze and Joe Agbro Jr., she bares her mind on the state of literature in Nigeria and why authors find it difficult to survive solely on their works. Excerpts:

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HY are Nigerian authors unable to live exclusively on their works?

Well, there are many reasons for that.

You know in Nigeria, we do not have what you may describe as a viable reading public. Some people read in Nigeria, but not everybody reads. The other day I went to Abuja and when I was coming back, at the airport, I sat down waiting for an hour. The flight was delayed and I looked around. We were more than 200 people.

But I did not see a single person with a book. I was amazed; the Nigerian public, oh, if it were another public, you would see many people in that audience reading. I couldn’t even find many people reading newspapers. I looked up to see if people were reading newspapers, but none, because you don’t have to necessarily read novels. It can be newspapers or magazines. Many Nigerians indeed do not read anything.

Then I saw one young man carrying a book and I said oh, my God, at least I have seen one. This is wonderful; there is someone there carrying a book. And you know what he was reading? How to make friends. It was one of these motivational books. But I said at least he is reading something. This is a book.

What I am saying is that many people do not read here and that goes to affect the fortunes of the writer and the book industry itself. It affects also the marketing of books and the publishing of books. If publishers feel that what they have published is not read, then they will be discouraged from publishing more. I believe that is why many publishing companies bring out only a few titles. Sometimes authors publish themselves. People spend one year selling one thousand books. So, part of the problem is that many Nigerians are poor.

They, rather buy food than books. If somebody is starving, you do not expect him to go and buy a book for N1,000 when he can use it to buy food for the family. Parents also prefer to buy textbooks for their children. School textbooks sell, those ones sell more and I feel that is why many publishing companies prefer to publish them instead of prose or collection of short stories or poetry.

Many parents are compelled to buy

textbooks for their kids and that is why that aspect of the book business seems to be booming.

Many people complain that Nigerian authors do not write what is called popular literature and this also affects the reading culture. What is your take on this?

But I have seen books of that nature around. I know a friend of mine, Professor Femi Osofisan, a wellknown author, has gone into that. He has been writing popular literature ever since.

And you also, your book, This Wonderful Life is in that category. But I don’t know how many people are reading them.

I know people who have written on love, on simpler themes than politics, no one is reading them.

That’s the truth.

Then what do you think can be done to remedy the situation?

Yes, I think government should re-introduce what we had when we were growing up. There were mobile libraries in Eastern Nigeria. I remember that very clearly. When I was a student in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, there were mobile libraries. Every week, they would drive to my school and we would borrow books. We looked forward to it. They came on a particular day, and the girls would be so excited to have books to borrow to read. And there were all sorts of books. I know many of them were foreign books because a lot of people were not writing here at that time.

But we were reading them, detective stories, Hardley Chase, Denis Robins, Agatha Christie and so on. They were all there and some African authors too.

And all these helped to build us, broadening our exposure and knowledge.

But comparatively, do you think Nigerian books are still good and can attract the attention of readers?

Yes, of course, there are many books that are still very good. Yes, some may not be so good. There are many people who are writing good books in Nigeria today, many, indeed.

The other day Professor Kole Omotoso alleged that Nigerian writers do not delve into political issues in most

Ezeigbo

of their writings. Is that a correct assessment?

Well, I don’t quite agree with him. In fact I remember one of the comments one of the judges of the NLNG made sometime ago, that writers were always talking about politics in their poems, in their fiction and all that. And they were saying why don’t we write about other issues? I am surprised to hear somebody saying we don’t write about politics enough. I think that is an extreme or rather a strange statement. People still write politically. There are people who are still writing about political issues in Nigeria today. Even the books about the civil war, there are elements of politics in them. It is history; it is political.

Your book Roses and Bullets is on the Nigerian/Biafran War. What is the reaction of the public towards it?

The book is still selling well; people like it a lot. You see, I was a young girl when the war broke out. I felt a bit of it and it had been in my memory all along.

And I know I was going to write about it. It was such a terrible experience, very traumatic for all of us. I also had my Ph D Thesis on the Civil War, facts and fictions of the Nigerian civil war. I had been meditating on that and I knew I would write a novel on it.

How long did it take you to finally get it out?

I started collecting materials for it as far back as 2003 and it finally came out last year. The publicity about it has gone down somewhat. But when it came out there was plenty of publicity about it. And we had some readings.

Right now, the book is being read in some institutions. So, it is doing well.

Some of your books have been prominent winning awards in Nigeria. What is your plan to make them attract international attention and awards?

Well, you see, the thing is that you have to submit your work for it to attract an international award. But I haven’t been submitting my books and I don’t think my publishers have been submitting my books outside the country. And then one other thing you must realize is that most of these international awards have other conditions.

For instance if you have to submit for Booker Prize, the book must be published in the UK. But it could be written by authors from anywhere. However, one of the conditions is that the book must be published by a UK publisher in the UK. It is the same thing with the Orange Prize. The book must also be published in the UK, but it could be by a woman from any part of the world. So the problem now is how to find UK – based pub•Continued on page 52

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Arts/Reviews

BOOK REVIEW

Writers should reflect the society

•Dada and Garba at the book reading

T

HE issue came up once more at the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Lagos State Chapter monthly reading last week – what is the role of a writer in a society like Nigeria where there is little to celebrate and so much to mourn? The event was ANA’s first reading session for the year and an opportunity for writers to look at the various socio-cultural and political issues that trouble the nation and what the writer should do to let his readers know what the correct situation should be This was why the theme of the session centred on: The country’s love for citizen and citizen’s love for the country. This means – at what point is a writer expected to show patriotism to his fatherland and at what point too does the country do the same to make him proud of himself as a citizen.

By Edozie Udeze

Ayo Dada, the generalsecretary of ANA put it more succinctly: “Don’t always expect what your country will do for you, but what you will do for your country. This way, you can begin to fashion out ways to write on issues that will help to promote your country and not otherwise. After all, there so much to write about this society – positive issues that can truly help to make people happy and encourage outsiders to be part of the Nigerian project.”

Disagreeing with Dada on this view which “will be the undoing of an objective writer”, Augusta Okon, a lawyer and writer said, “That’s impossible. You do not have to tell a writer to be unduly patriotic or to write just for the sake of writing. A good writer will weigh the options available to him very well. For

me, there is nothing so positive to write about this country. Show me what it is, and I will write about it.

Every good writer writes to make the society better. If the society is bad today, it is our duty to write about it. When it turns out to be good, we will still say so”.

The panel of discussants agreed, however, that an artiste owes it both to himself and to the entire people to reflect what he sees and feels in his work.

Ralph Tathagata, a poet, stated that an artiste is the mirror through which the society sees itself. “Once we have compromised on this ideal, all of us will certainly sink with the doom that will follow. Our duty is to set the goal; present issues as they really are and then call for amends.

And the time for that is now,” he said.

Most of the books that were read dwelt on love, and celebration of this sea-

son of valentine. Writers were advised to celebrate love, to use this season to extend hands of fellowship to fellow writers and other people.

According to Dada, “love is in the air. We have to jolly well be part of it.”

In Comfort Ashore, a love poem written by Femi Onileagbon, vice-chairman of the association he said ‘birds call to birds, while lovers lie on beds. All find comfort in the other’s fort’.

In his own contribution, Sheriff Garba rendered a few lines from ‘If not that, a collection that embellishes love in its total epitome. He said “it is not that I do not love you. You are my angel, if you will let me be. I will be in time to keep a date with you on February 14.

February 14, my one and only valentine!”

Four new books by members were announced to the house. They iwere This Wonderful Life (prose)

by Edozie Udeze, More Candid Lyrics (poetry) by Folu Agoi, Endless Road by Ralph Tathagata and This Country is not a poem (poetry) by Dagga Tolar. In all, writers were advised to make copies available to members and to also ensure that the condition in the country does not discourage them from writing more.

The gathering was made lighter by Edaoto, a singer and entertainer who performed a few tunes to the delight of all. Edaoto who sings mainly poetry lyrics told the writers that even careless utterances and innocuous behaviours of some Nigerian leaders are enough to form volumes of works. “We should look into this” he sang, throwing his guitar up and down.

When women pray

T

HIS is a warning. If you don’t like reading material heavy on the scriptures, don’t read The fire and power of prayerful daughters of destiny written

by Ola and Bose Adejubee.

The book which aligns towards maximising the feminine power starts by harping on the fact that every individual is packed with potentials.

It however urges women to use their skills and Godgiven talent to serve the Lord as ‘they will grow like multiple stars.’ The authors also go ahead to highlight 21 reasons to pray. These include, ‘to receive daily bread,’ ‘to gain spiritual understanding,’ ‘to access divine promises,’ and ‘to live a purposeful life.’

On important aspect of this book are the revealing interviews of spouses of some church founders. For instance, Mrs. Folu Adeboye, the wife of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye said she became born-again in 1974 and when asked how a woman can

By Joe Agbro Jr.

be effective in prayers, she said; ‘A woman who wants to be effective in the place of prayer should think deeply about the magnitude of her challenges: How to take care of her husband and satisfy him; the upbringing of children and follow-up prayers in every area of their lives when they’ve grown up; career issues, healthrelated matters.’

The book also posits that one’s social standing does not matter when it comes to praying. On page 128, the authors write: ‘It is common knowledge that the poor man does not have access to the high and mighty, but not God.’ The book also lists 21 benefits of fasting, citing from the Bible as well as researches of professor of physiology, A. J. Carlson and Dr. Don Colbert.

The book also deals with numerous issues concerning woman and the church. However, a downside of the book can also be regarded as its highpoint too – it has a high dose of Biblical references.

My plots tackle local issues Continued from page 51

•Ezeigbo

lishers or foreign publishers because people believe that when you are published outside the country that your work will circulate more; you are going to have more readers and that you might even make more money, even if you do not win a prize. There are many good books abroad that have not won any prize, but I don’t know whether the authors are making money. I don’t have an idea because I haven’t asked them.

What I will say is that Nigeria has a very large market. And if we harness our book market very well, a Nigerian author doesn’t even need to worry about what they think of him outside the country. This is because most of these books, we write them for our people. And we write about our culture and so this is our primary market.

As far as I am concerned Nigeria is my primary market. My books are read widely here in Nigeria

and I am satisfied with it.

But if my publishers are also able to market my books outside or get them on Amazon where people also buy books, oh, that will be fine. But I am very happy that I am known in my country. For me that’s very important.

You have won the NLNG Prize twice. The first was an honourable mention and the second you were a joint winner.

People expected you to also make it a joint-winner award last year as the chair of the prize. What do you say to that?

Well, the first time it was like an honourable mention because three people were shortlisted but no one won it. No, you see the three last books were good. But the one that won – The Missing Clock stood out. I can say that – it stood out. We looked at all the books before we made the final judgement. We saw that there was no need to have joint winners. Our consideration was excellent.

We were looking for excellence and that was even the mandate that NLNG gave to us – to look for excellence. And that was what guided us right from the long list until we got to the final.

Having being part of it for this long, what do you think the NLNG prize is doing for Nigerian literature?

You can see now that NLNG is building awareness; more people are getting to know about this prize. When the winner was presented last week you saw that a lot of school children were there. And I remember last year, NLNG took my book to Bonny town in Rivers State. Over a thousand copies were distributed to primary and secondary school children.

The children were so eager to interact with authors and writers. The press men also came and talked to them. They were saying oh, ma, we hope NLNG will continue to give this prize so that when we grow up we will write and win it. So, it is creat-

ing awareness and improving the standard. When the children read the book, they will share the same experience we also had in our own time. In our time we had functional libraries both in primary and secondary schools. My school was run by the missionary and what I did was to read virtually books in all the disciplines.

I love writing for children. Even though I have written in other genres, children’s literature gives me more joy. How I come to write for children was when my children were growing up. Each time I went to buy books for them, all I saw were foreign books with foreign cultures. I didn’t speak English to them until they were three years old. And by that time they were speaking fluent Igbo. It was then I sent them to Nursery school, and began to speak English to them.

Then I began to buy English books for them for I needed them to also be proficient in English Language.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

53

How our student died, by Crowther Varsity VC —PAGE 54

•Mosunmola Akinola

I

T was the eve of Christmas.

A time when many were busy putting finishing touches to their Christmas shopping. But that was the day some evil men decided to put a knife through the chord that bonds two villages together.

Egua and Igan Alade, both in Yewa North local government area of Ogun State are two villages whose peace was shattered on Christmas eve by the killing of a school teacher whose throat was allegedly slashed by suspected Bororos (Fulani herdsmen).

The herdsmen had been chased out of a border town in Benin Republic because of their alleged destruction of farmlands with their grazing cattle.

After being chased out of Benin Republic, the Bororos moved into Egun and Igan Alade shooting and killing anyone on sight. A school teacher and artiste, Abayomi Lanre Akinola ran into them. He made a u-turn and dashed into the bush. The Fulanis caught up with him and killed him. His body was found two days later after a frantic search by the community.

Akinola was a teacher at Area Community High School, Ibeku and had just been transferred to his new school. He was 33years old and had a three - year old baby. He had NCE certificate and was about to complete his degree course at Tai Solarin University of Education, Ikenne, when he was killed. According to Mrs Mosunmola Akinola, the mother of the deceased, the news of her son’s death was broken to her while in the church. “I was in a Celestial Diocese meeting in

•The late Abayomi Akinola

•Lekan Olaleye

Murder at dawn The killing of a school teacher by Fulani herdsmen has led to the arrest of several people in two communities in Yewa, Ogun State. Taiwo Abiodun, who visited the communities reports Imeko when I was called by one of my sisters to come home. I was tricked home before the news was broken to me. In fact, he [late son] sent some rice to me to cook for Christmas, not knowing that he would not observe the Christmas.”

Narrating what has been going on in the community, she said “We are afraid, single girls cannot walk alone, married women are raped. A woman was raped in the presence of her husband and had a big stick inserted into her. They killed and hurriedly buried the victim.

We are in trouble here. I could not look at my son’s mutilated body. We have buried him in our compound. It is sad. But I want the government to fish the killers out.’’

Olayode Williams Oluranti, the late Akinola’s friend said he got the report of his and “five hours later we found his body in the bush while his okada was parked on the road. His throat was slashed, they had used machete to cut his body. Riot later broke out on December 25 as angry youths carried the body to the palace of Onigua of Igua to let him see the corpse.”

This, according to the youths was to make the monarch

•Elizabeth

believe them and act on their complaints against the herdsmen. However, the Elegua of Igua, Oba Michael Dosumu Gbadebo repeatedly invited Mobile Policemen to disperse the angry protestors. This angered

the youths who accused the insensitivity to their plight. The youths departed the palace and set ablaze the Fulani market warning them to leave the village.

A few days after the riot a batch of policemen from Eleweran stormed Igan Alade village to fish out the rioters. In the dead of the night they went from one house to the other arresting people. Among those arrested were Sina Ogunjobi, Segun Oloyade, Lasisi Aruku, Oke Ege, Ayinla Laisi, and Edun Alama. Others are Kudaju Arubi Alaba, said to be physically challengedan a minor, Lekan Olaleye,13, a student of Ketu College, Igan Alade and a widow.

When The Nation visited Igan Alade, it deserted. These reminding recounted what they went through in the hands of mobile policemen.

According to the residents, the Fulanis reported that one of them had been killed while their cows were slaughtered. “They said one of them was killed and his body was found in Abule Iya Nla, which is about 10 kilometers to this village, yet nobody saw any Fulani corpse,”

a young man who begged for anonymity said.

Mrs Taiba Olaleye, mother of the 13 year- old student said the Mobile Policemen came at about 4am on January 21 to demand for her husband. “I told them that my husband had died and that I am a widow but they refused to listen. They went into my cooking pot, asked whether I had stew with meat .They later grabbed my son (Lekan Olaleye) who was sleeping and asked me to produce his father from the grave. Since then he has been in detention in Eleweran. I don’t know how these policemen are working at all’’.

Another woman who was whisked away while breastfeeding her one and a half year old baby is still in detention.

An old woman who is now taking care of the baby said “They came looking for the husband of Alice and when they did not see him they took her wife away. They should have taken her away with the baby.

Now the baby is sick, she could die any moment from now. I am old and cannot breastfeed her’’, She looked, lamented in tears.

Another man, Segun Oloyade, was taken away. His wife said her husband was innocent. When The Nation visited Igan Alade police station, it was confirmed that there was a riot in the community and those arrested had been taken to Eleweran Police headquarters in Abeokuta.

Residents accused the Oba of harbouring and supporting the Fulanis, against his own people.

They also claimed by gave them land and was defending their •Continued on page 70

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Life

How our student died,

by Crowther Varsity VC

• Vandalised Senior Librarian’s car.

•Prof Jaiyeoba • The vandalised security portal at the main gate.

T

HE advent of private and mission run universities in the country was touted as ‘cureall’ for the malaise of strikes, riots and other ills bedevilling their public run counterparts. That was before February 5, 2012 when students of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Oyo, punctured that myth!

On that fateful day students of the university went wild destroying any school or member of staff property on sight. It was a day Beelzebub had a field day at a mission run academic institution.

The cause of the mayhem was

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

traced to the death of a student at the institution’s medical centre. He had been rushed there ill and while being attended to he died. The institution thus became the first privately run higher institution in the country to witness such a massive scale of students discontent, which prompted the authorities of the school to close it down indefinitely.

However, the Vice Chacellor of the institution, Professor Kolawole Jaiyeoba, has said the crisis was

masterminded by external influence, and not the students. He dismissed media reports of the crisis as over blown, saying it did not reflect true pictures of what transpired.

According to him, on the fateful day, he received a call that one of the students named Evly Paul Abu, was seriously ill, and had been taken to the University Health Centre.

He added that the medical doctor on duty made frantic effort to stabilize the student, but after a while his condition changed for the worst.

“Before he (the deceased student) could be transferred to the hospital,

Murder at dawn •Continued from page 53

atrocities, thus encouraging them to be more brutal.

When The Nation visited the Oba’s palace, he refused to speak with our reporter. One of his aides told the reporter that he had no time for any journalist.

At Oja Odan , the monarch Oba Ganiyu Adegbola Olukunle, decried the activities of the Fulani herdsmen saying, “They are destroyers and killers .They have killed many of our people and we don’t want such things to happen again. That was why I went to court with the community but instead of the police to support the court order to implement the injunction given us at the court, and be a good friend to the community, they are cooperating with the Fulanis.”

The Alademeso of Igan Alade, Oba Gabriel Olukunle Olalowo said 12 people have been killed in his community so far by the Fulani. He pleaded with the state government to release those detained as they are innocent. He accused the Bororos of being invaders,”The Fulanis here are afraid of the Bororos who come here during the dry season from the North.

They are neither Hausa nor Fulani, that is why they are called Bororo.’’

On his part, the Iselu of Iselu , Oba Akintunde Akinyemi decried the way the Bororos are infiltrating Yewa and Yorubaland. He said “If we are not careful the so called Boko

Haram will easily penetrate into our midst without our knowledge.” He called on the government to provide grazing land for the Fulanis in order to avoid bloodshed.

In the community now the mention of Bororo drives fear into the residents. Expressing this fear Mrs. Mosunmola Akinola, a staff of Ketu College, Igan Alade, said “They (Bororos) are feared. They stay on tree branches and shoot at people, they are sharp shooters. They are always armed with swords, guns, daggers, bows and arrows. They are nomadic cattle herders. We are not safe in their hands. Nearly over 20 schools have been shut down over the fear of Bororos.”

At the Kara Market where the Bororos operate none of them agreed to speak with own reporter. They said their leader had gone to Abeokuta and none of them could speak on his behalf. Most of them are said to have come from the Chad and Niger Republic, and they only speak a smattering of Hausa language. They are often armed and allow their animals to feed on farmers’ crops. This has led to incessant clashes between farmers and pastoralists and farmers the two parties.

The way to stem this in the bud is for the government to act now..a stitch in times, as they say, saves nine.

Names of those allegedly killed so far Names 1. Adegbola Ajibiran in Agbon Ojodu, 2. Ayinde Korole in Korole, 3. Soji Aretola in Agbon Ojodu, 4. Oga Aja in Asa, 5. Oga Ruth in Asa, 6. Adekunle Adewale, 7. Moses Oga in Igbo Ila, 8. Sunday Idosu in Asa, 9. Durosinmi Gbenga in Ibore, 10. Abisekan Femi in Koomi, 11. Ogunjobi Amos Dotun, 12. Akinola Abayomi in Igan Alade, 13. Akan Phillips in Owode Ketu, 14. Ogunyomi Ige in Igan Alade, 15. Dele in Ibeku, 16. Ajana Ogunlana in Moro, 17. Prophet Orisade Oga in Igbo Ila, 18. Olofinjin Amosun in Agbon Ojodu, 19.Tunde Akinola Agbon,

Year 2000 2000 2004 2006 2006 2010 2006 2005 2005 2008 2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 2006 2012 2012

• The fence near the main gate that collapsed

he gave up the ghost. The student drinking at a wild party in a hotel in the community, after obtaining a pass on the pretence that he wanted to go home preparatory for the semester examination.”

The students were expected to take their first semester exams in the week the crisis happened.

External influence Prof. Jaiyeoba, a reverend canon, denied media reports that the student died because the oxygen mask used on him ceased to function when light went off, and that only the vice chancellor could give directive whether or not to put on the generating set.

He said, “The health centre has its own generating set. I have never given instruction to those working there on when to put on the generator, let alone the one used by the university. They are competent personnel who know their job very well. Besides, the oxygen used on the student was a cylinder one, and not a centralized one. There is no truth in the report.”

He debunked another report that part of the university’s fence was pulled down, saying the wall gave way owning to pressure by students who sat on it when they were being addressed over the unfortunate incident. He blamed the crisis unknown people who allegedly invaded the campus from outside, and hijacked the situation to forment trouble.

“It was not a big surprise that the students came out in sympathy for their departed colleague. I and the entire management team were fully on ground and gave instruction on what to do further. I was able to calm the students down as they were not only law abiding, but submissive and have respect for me and the authority.

They were also co-operative. Our students are law abiding and not destroyers.”

He said that after the address, the students noticed that the Department of Economics had been set on fire by persons, and immediately alerted the management.

“We immediately alerted the

Police, who came in to maintain law and order. The students were neither molested nor unruly in their behaviour, as there was peace. It was the students that alerted us about the burning of the department, after which the fire was put out”.

On the allegation that the health centre was not well-equipped, Prof.

Jaiyeoba stated that the centre has three qualified medical doctors with adequate essential drugs, and facilities to take care of any case.

According the vice chancellor, about N30million has been spent on the reticulation of water in the campus, while a 400-bed hall would soon be commissioned.

“The incident was most unfortunate and the university is investigating, as a high- powered panel has been set up. We felt very much for the deceased student. The father was informed when his son was critically ill. We have released the corpse to the family,” he said, adding that the authorities will soon pay a condolence visit to the bereaved family.

Jaiyeoba said the university is doing well and that the incident was unfortunate “We have experienced and seasoned academics, while our students are excelling in their various callings. Students who could not meet up with our standard have been asked to go. We are in the process of building; remember that Rome was not built in a day. We wish the boy had not died. Property damaged by the students is not more important than the loss of soul. We care for their welfare and comfort and would continue to provide the enabling environment both for learning and character.”

On the extent of damage, the VC said contrary to some media reports, neither the health centre’s ambulance nor the solar centre was destroyed by the students, adding that only the window were broken, while some, drugs were looted.

He added that the varsity would be re-opened after the meetings of the Council and Senate which will determine the level of peace and security on the campus.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Life

55

Cut down in his prime

For killing one of them, youths of Igbo-Ora, Oyo State, descended on a trigger-happy policeman.Tunde Busari writes

O

NE of the biggest tasks the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar will have to tackle is the incessant extra-judicial killings that his men have continued to perpetrate in the country.

In the sleepy town of Igbo-Ora, Oyo State a business man Kola Eniola was killed three weeks ago by a policeman identified as Femi Ajayi.

It was gathered that Eniola who was driving his car had been stopped at a police checkpoint and he voluntarily gave the policemen a generous tip of N200. As was the custom, because he was driving a private vehicle he was not expected to give anything to the policemen. But he in his characteristic magnanimity gave N200!

The source added that the deceased until his promising life was tragically terminated was a prominent trader with an eye for variety of items from the neighbouring Benin Republic. He was also said to have been in the trans-border trade for some years and had made a name difficult to ignore among those in the same trade in the community and its environs.

On how he met his death an eyewitness said, “Some people in the town even said that he was returning home from a business trip to Cotonou on the day he was killed. But in my opinion, if this is not true, he probably gave the police the money as a way of showing solidarity with them because they know him and the kind of trade he does. If not because of this he was not supposed to give them anything, after all he is not a commercial driver.”

Three weeks after the incident, the tragedy is still a subject of debate among the residents of the town on account of the fact that the cop who pulled the trigger had no reason to do so. It was learnt that his colleagues at the check-point had already collected money from the deceased, after which they allowed him to go.

Stopped in his tracks However, the gun-wielding Ajayi, who was standing alone some metres away, still stood on his way. He barked at Eniola to stop and directed him to alight from the vehicle. He threatened that should he failed to heed his directive the result would be disastrous.

Apparently frightened by the threat, Eniola slowly applied the brakes but before he could disembark Ajayi had fired a shot at him from the back. He was not

alone in the car when the incident happened. The passenger with him jumped out in fear and ran to Eniola’s side who was bleeding and had already falling down. Seeing what had happened the Ajayi made frantic effort to apply first aid to his victim, and with assistance from passers-by the deceased was hurriedly taken to a private clinic.

The nurses at the clinic, having observed the volume of blood gushing out of the deceased’s body, directed that he should be taken to the Igbo-Ora General Hospital. While the deceased was being revived by a medical team, irate youths held Ajayi hostage in the hospital premises. He begged the youths to forgive him saying it was “an accidental discharge.”

Because of his seeming repentant nature the youths were ready to consider his plea for mercy. However, this was snapped by the news of Eniola’s death.

The dam of their anger burst and the suspect was pulled out of where he was held hostage and they descended on him with all sorts of objects in sight.

Pandemonium enveloped the atmosphere as more youths trooped to the scene to confirm the death. What further angered the mob was the suspicion that Ajayi had some charms around his waist which neutralized all the beatings. The mob decided to go for the kill.

The final showdown From nowhere emerged a keg of fuel which the mob quickly sprinkled on Ajayi.

In less than a second he was already submerged by fire, struggling to save his life. This was the situation when a team of Policemen from the Division where Ajayi served stormed the scene to rescue him.

But the undeterred youth put up a measure of resistance, which almost forced the police to a retreat.

“The intervention of a respected elder saved the situation to give the police the opportunity to carry Ajayi away from the spot,” according to a witness. But news later spread that Ajayi was dead, too.

Wife of the deceased Bunmi, is still groaning in the painful reality of the untimely death of her husband for whom she has three children. Even though traffic of sympathizers is a common feature in her Jagun compound residence, she intermittently shouts the name of her husband in the manner that draws tears from all visitors.

•Eniola

In an emotion laden voice she cries, “Where does the policeman want me to begin now? My husband is everything to me. He supports me and makes me comfortable. He has a lot of plans for our children. He always says that he would make sure our children are given quality education. He likes education so much.

But now he is gone.”

As the town continues to mourn the death of Eniola, the alleged corrupt practice of the police at the check-point along Igbo-Ora-Idere road in particular is the issue that has since dominated discussion among the old and young .

It was learnt that caretaker chairman of Ibarapa Central local government, Akinyemi Akinlabi, was enraged about the incident, especially coming on the heels of the public outcry over the alleged police unethical conduct on the highway.

The policemen, allegedly acting on the instruction of their superior officer, have turned to thorns in the flesh of road users including farmers who pass through the road to their farmland.

“There is nobody they cannot stop on the road. There is nobody they cannot

How an abortion divided America Continued from Page 49 conservative states) is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

“I have two aims,” Mr Hearn says. “The first is to prevent Jennie from being prosecuted and to give her a right not to live in fear. The second is to set a precedent.

If Idaho cannot prosecute a woman for taking RU486, then women in the USA will be able to legally have access to abortion drugs from their computer. That would be revolutionary.” The lawsuit is currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, one rung beneath the Supreme Court. It carries far-reaching implications.

Although 35 per cent of American women have abortions at some stage, many face severe upheaval to access them, since 98 per cent of rural counties do not have abortion clinics. If Ms McCormack succeeds, that problem will become superfluous: US abortion law will have been updated for the internet era.

In a country still consumed by culture wars, that’s a big deal. Only last week, Texas began mandating that expectant mothers be forced to see an ultrasound before undergoing a termination. And

extort. People are fed up with these policemen. I think this incident may be the opportunity for the government to ask the Commissioner of Police to call them to order. Igbo-Ora and other towns here were peaceful until the police took over the road,” another source said.

Ironically, the heavy presence of the policemen on the road, the source further disclosed, had not checked the alarming rate of robbery incident in the town. Irked by this, the caretaker chairman was said to have held a meeting with some community leaders with a view to forwarding a formal protest letter to Ibadan.

Although the Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Femi Okanlawon, an Assistant Superintendent, could not confirm the receipt of a protest letter, he said the corpse of Ajayi had since been released to the family for burial.

“Honestly, I am not aware if such a letter has been submitted but I can tell you that autopsy has been carried out on the corpse and it has been released to the family.”

The question is: when will this stop?

Barack Obama is still facing a relentless barrage of hostility from the religious right for attempting to ensure that employers give women health insurance that covers birth control.

At the centre of this gathering storm, Ms McCormack carries on struggling with her status as a social pariah. At first, customers at the dry cleaners where she worked started ignoring her. Then they refused to be served by her. “The more it got in the paper, the more I got dirty looks and the more people started asking for someone else to help them,” she says.

“Eventually, I quit.”

Her relationship with her mother, a Mormon, has become severely strained.

Her sister, worried about being dragged into the prosecution, has virtually stopped speaking to her.

Fearful of arrest, Ms McCormack spends most of her waking hours alone, and at home, wondering when the police might return. “Anybody who comes to my door and knocks, I think it’s my time,” she says. “I’ve always been shy, but I’ve now gotten nervous and anxious. I’m embarrassed, too. This should have been something personal, but it’s affected everything. Sometimes, I think it will drive me insane.”

• Source: www.independent.co.uk

56

Your HEALTH THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Caring for your ear

Simple remedies for ear infections

•Oranges

I

E

“

ARS not only let us hear, but they also play a role in maintaining our balance, which is vital to our ability to function in daily life. Yet, we ignore them. Very often, we take for granted what they do for us until we notice something's wrong,” says Dr. (Mrs) Foluke Akinkunmi of Tealth Sinai Diagnostic Clinic, Ojota.

Because we can't see our ears workings as they transmit sound waves to our brain, we forget our ears can be vulnerable to injury. For instance, a slap on the ear or an injury while diving could cause a ruptured eardrum, the thin membrane that separates the outer ear from the middle ear.

In a Nigerian society where children are often corrected by inflicting physical punishment on vulnerable body parts, the ear, more often than not, falls victim to constant violence from slapping and ear pulling. This act of slapping the cheek or blowing the ear can rupture the delicate ear drums of children.

Another common cause of a ruptured eardrum and other ear damage is putting an object into the ear. All too often, people do this because they think they're doing their ears some good such as relieving an itch or cleaning out wax.

But, indeed, you can do serious harm especially when one resorts to the use of pen covers or sticks for cleaning the ear.

In view of the level of harm that a person may cause to the ear, knowingly or otherwise, some of the things that can be done to care for the ear include: Teach proper nose-blowing technique: Once your child is old enough, teach him or her to blow his or her nose softly rather than with

excessive force, so as not to drive infection into the ears. And teach your child not to stifle a sneeze by pinching the nostrils, since this too, may force the infection up into the ears.

Don't smoke: Avoid caffeine, tobacco, and addictive substances.

The unhealthy habit of excessive caffeine intake and smoking can not only harm your lungs but also trigger an ear disorder called Tinnitus. Also children who live with smokers seem to be more susceptible to middle-ear infections than are those who live in smoke-free homes.

Cigarette smoke irritates the linings of the nasal passages and middle-ear cavity, which in turn interferes with the normal functioning of the Eustachian tube. If you cannot quit, at least take your habit outside.

Protect the ear: Do not use cotton buds to clean your ear because they often carry infection-causing microbes. Putting harmful substances in the ear can damage one's hearing abilities and so can hitting or punching the ear.

Be careful with bottle-feeding: Avoid giving a bottle of milk or formula to a baby who is lying on his or her back, because the nutrient-rich liquid can flow into the Eustachian tube during swallowing and pool there, creating a luxurious breeding ground for infectious organisms.

Avoid loud noises: Everyone knows that loud noises can damage your ears so if you must stay in a noisy environment, try and wear some ear muffs for protection.

Foreign objects or sudden blows to the ear can damage the eardrum,

resulting in temporary or, in some cases, permanent hearing loss.

Take care of your child: Since middle-ear infections generally start with a cold or other upper respiratory infection, you'll help protect your child from ear infections by keeping him or her away from other kids who have infections. Making sure that any nasal allergies that your child has are well controlled can also be beneficial.

NFECTIONS in the ear can arise from taking an innocent leisure swim or cleaning the ear with contaminated cotton buds. Sometimes, when the ache caused by the infection begins, the services of a doctor might be hours away. To help the infection heal faster and prevent further spread, here are some basic steps to take; Increased zinc and vitamin C intake helps the body reduce the impact and props up the immune system for tackling the infection respectively. Some major sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits like oranges and lemon.

Apply mild heat to the ear with the use of a warm washcloth or a heating pad to the side of the ear.

This will help relieve the pain caused by the infection. Do not allow children to go to bed with a heating pad. They could get burned. Use a heating pad only if your child is old enough to tell you if it's getting too hot.

Rest as often as possible so that your body will have the energy to fight off the infection-causing germs and it will help keep your blood pressure down.

Cut down on salt and aspirin intake, arrange a healthy diet with large amount of calcium and avoid eating processed foods and hydrogenated oils. This is particularly important for people who suffer from Tinnitus.

How to clean the ear properly

T

HERE is an old piece of medical advice which suggests putting nothing in your ears that is smaller than your elbow. The real point of that saying is to use extreme caution when cleaning in and around the ears. It is far too easy to insert small objects into the ear canal itself and cause painful infections or even perforation of the ear drum.

Ears do suffer from the same hygienic problems as other body parts, but extra care must be used when addressing those problems. These are some pointers on how to clean your ears safely: 1. The outer portion of the ears (the connection between the scalp and ear) is usually exposed to the same conditions as the hair and scalp. In order to clean this part of the ear, take a damp, soapy washcloth and

gently scrub the perimeter. You might actually see a waxy residue on the cloth.

Go back over the area with a portion of the wash cloth soaked in clean water until the soap residue has been removed.

2. The external ear (ear canal) contains small folds which can trap dirt, sebum and earwax. While showering, it may help to use a damp washcloth in a light scrubbing motion, following the natural curves of the folds. Between showers, cleaning the external ear may involve the use of a small roll of cotton swab.

Gently insert a cotton swab into a natural fold and apply pressure while moving the swab across the skin. If the tip becomes clogged with dirt material, use the other side or get a fresh swab.

However, do not attempt to clean the outer ear if an obvious wound exists. You could accidentally rupture the skin or introduce contaminants.

BUSINESS

57 ‘Government will offset N340b PHCN liabilities’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

T

O many Nigerians out there, the power sector has remained the butt of derisive jokes because people’s expectations have been dashed several times such that it is now taken for granted that the Federal Government is really keen on turning the tide in the sector, beyond the much hyped reforms being implemented.

Road to power sector reform The country’s energy sector since the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, ECN, ordinance No. 15 of 1950, has been punctuated by operational failures.

The journey to the current state of affairs in Nigeria’s energy sector, in retrospect, can be traced to the Power Sector Reform Act 2005

by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

That reform, which came about through the enactment of Electric Power Sector Reform Bill, EPSRB, started the process of privatising the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

In line with this reform, the Federal Government was expected to retain the transmission arm of PHCN, which would be subsequently handed over to a credible firm under a five-year contract.

Consequently, PHCN was established and subsequently unbundled into 18 successor companies.

Unbundling of PHCN In furtherance of the power sector reform, liquidation of the company was announced recently.

The Minister of Power, Prof.

Barth Nnaji read the riot act himself. “PHCN is no longer legally in existence”, Nnaji said, while confirming the liquidation of the behemoth.

He further added that, “the regulatory agency simply in its responsibility had instructed the market operator that the PHCN headquarters is not a market participant and should no longer get paid, they need to be transferred to where they can be useful.”

To say that the minister’s pronouncement came as a rude shock to stakeholders in the sector is an overstatement.

To many industry analysts, the implication of this move is that the Federal Government, would henceforth, relinquish 70 per cent of its stakes in Nigeria’s electricity generation and distribution.

The government had initially planned to sell just 51 per cent stake to investors who had put forward various bids for the purchase of any of the unbundled units of the PHCN, especially in distribution and generation, while it was to retain 49 per cent.

Analysts have described the decision as a bold move and an investment friendly initiative that could fast-track the privatisation of the sector.

It is also expected to open up opportunities for the 18 unbundled successor companies of PHCN to be sold to successful bidders by the end of the first quarter of 2012 as projected by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Power Ministry.

Despite this, the question of how best to handle the redeployment of PHCN staff to successor companies, appears to be a stumbling block to the final lapse of the privatisation exercise.

In a manner similar to the wave

Putting power sector reforms on a scale The reforms in the power sector notwithstanding, not many Nigerians are optimistic that the different measures taken so far would bring about the needed efficiency in the generation and distribution of electricity in the country, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf. With additional report by Rita Ohai

-- Page 59

Briefs Firm targets value creation at CSR awards

T

RUCONTACT Limited, organisers of the annual Social Enterprise Report and Awards, have hinted of plans to focus this year’s edition of its CSR awards around value creation.

Justifying the need for this year’s theme tagged: ‘Creating Shared Value in a New Eco-Economy: Pushing Back the Frontiers’, TruContact helmsman, Kenneth Egbas, observed that: “For developing countries battling hydraheaded development challenges posed by poor governance structures, increasing poverty, high unemployment, energy crisis and compounded by political/civil upheavals, the general outcry is “What is the way forward?”

Egbas adds that there are no easy answers. But an increasing number of people are looking in the direction of business entrepreneurship as the dim light in a very dark tunnel. They are looking up to business leaders who admit, “we made a lot of mistakes in the past when we conducted business as though the earth’s resources are inexhaustible; when we did not care that all around us everything was ebbing or dying save for our business ventures but now we want to set the records straight”. According to him, this will usher in what the project terms – the “New Economy” 2012 marks the sixth season of the annual Nigeria CSR awards. Like the previous editions, the project’s partners - Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) CSR International and others will ensure adherence to top standards by participants.

STOCK MARKET REVIEW •High tension electricity cable. (inset)Amadi

of protest that trailed the beginning of the process few years back, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), are already at war with the Federal Government over certain aspects of the programme.

The workers under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) kicked against Federal Government’s plan to redeploy PHCN workers.

The President-General, SSAEAC, Mr. Bede Opara, noted that government ought to have addressed all pending labour issues before giving up the PHCN corporate headquarters in Abuja.

“All labour issues must precede bidding and sale of any public company, and that PHCN must comply with all outstanding agreements reached with the workers before any staff will be made to leave the service of the organisation,”Opara noted.

His NUEE counterpart, Mr. Joe Ajero in a similar protest, petitioned Mr. Emeka Wogu, Labour Minister, over perceived illegal liquidation, warning that that if the plan was carried out, it would amount to an illegality since PHCN, as a limited liability company, could only be liquidated through a court process.

But for the unfolding dispute

between, NUEE and the Federal Governent, not a few would have been aware, that PHCN had silently been buried, leaving in its trail a lot of contentious issues.

These issues, findings revealed, bothered on labour matters, criteria for redeploment of staff to successor companies, job security of affected staff, how the reforms would enhance power generation and distribution, the role of PHCN in the new set up, among others.

For Dr. Sam Amadi, Chairman Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission,NERC, the latest position of PHCN staff on the power sector reforms, suggested that there are some grey issues that needed to be addressed.

“What is going on about the power sector reforms presently, suggests that there are some incoherence somewhere. And as a public policy expert, I will suggest that such areas of incoherence should be identified and the questions resolved in the interest of all the parties involved. For example, if you want to privatise as quickly as possible, most of the agencies in this sector are bloated and overstaffed. So, sharing them to successive companies also implies overstaffing,” he stated.

He further said: “The operating cost is high. You can not have over 57, 000 people, producing 4000MW.

So, for me the whole idea of transferring them, should also be done along the efficiency yearnings of the consumers and NERC as a regulator.”

Experience from other lands A joint UNDP /World Bank Energy sector Management report, noted that power sector reform has conventionally begun with an initial stage of commercialisation and corporatisation of state-owned utilities, which is followed by their unbundling and the introduction of competition when country size allowed and private sector participation.

The report further stated that: “Private participation is now present in the form of IPPs (Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania),concessions (Mali, Uganda), and management contracts (Mali, Tanzania and, briefly, northern Namibia), throughout the continent, countries that have undertaken the reform of their power sectors have established electricity regulators with various levels of success.”

Unions’ extra-legal measures In its determination to ensure its members are not shortchanged, the workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have had to deploy extra-legal measures Continued on page 58

NIGERIA Stock Exchange All-Share Index was upbeat last week as the market as bullish sentiments drove activities in the banking sector with Skye Bank and Access Bank, top favourites and recording cumulative gains of 16.1% and 15.2% respectively. UBA also recovered midweek to book a 4.4% mark-up, while First Bank and GTBank recorded cumulative gains of 5.8% and 3.7% respectively, on the back of healthy demand.

On the flip side, Stanbic IBTC and Fidelity Bank lost marginal points, with sentiments skewed to the sell side for Fidelity Bank, a trend that could lead to more losses in coming sessions.

Bearish sentiments were the bane of Dangote Cement, as it caved in to supply pressure that shaved off 5.0% from its price. Also heading south was Lafarge Wapco, with a 3.3% cumulative loss. On the flip side, CCNN and Ashaka Cement recorded respective gains of 4.4% and 0.9%.

In the petroleum marketing sector, robust demand led to a 21.0% cumulative gain in Eterna Oil, while Oando inched up by 4.9%. Forte Oil and Total however shed 9.6% and 9.8% respectively.

Nigerian Breweries and Guinness both rallied from previous losses with gains of 1.6% and 0.3% respectively. NB could rally further in coming sessions as closing demand outweighed available offers.

UACN booked the only gain in the conglomerates sector, as the sector was skewed to the sell side. A.G. Leventis and Unilever lost 4.3%and 0.1% respectively, while PZ Cussons closed relatively flat.

58

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Business

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ‘Lagos generates N16b monthly from taxes’ IT expert optimistic of CBN’s cashlite policy

A

TAX expert, Mr Semiu Shitta-Bey, has urged the Federal and State governments to emulate the Lagos State government’s tax collection strategy which, according to him, has resulted in increase in tax revenues from N600million to over N16billion monthly within the last 12 years.

Shitta-Bey, Principal Consultant of Ssbey Consulting, a tax consultancy firm, said through proper enforcement, Lagos State government has been able to broaden its tax base by bringing more people, who have been evading paying taxes, into the tax net.

Shitta-Bey who spoke during an interview in Lagos, said tax administration in Nigeria has not measured up to expectations in terms of putting in place an effective tax system that ensures nobody evades taxes payable to the government, describing Lagos as a model for other states.

According to him, tax evasion is prevalent in the country. He attributed this to lack of effective enforcement from tax regulators at all levels of government.

He called on the governments at all levels to be more accountable to the treasury, adding that being accountable to tax payers would encourage more Nigerians to be alert to their fiscal responsibilities and rid the tax system of corruption.

He said: “Everybody keeps reading about corruption. Yet, it looks as if we are just paying

By Adline Atili

lip-service to this thing. If government shows sincerity, honesty and accountability to funds they are meant to use for the general populace, people would be more favourably disposed to paying taxes.”

He cited Lagos State as a typical example of a state where tax administration has been receiving a boost following government’s accountability in the area of improved infrastructure in the state.

“Prior to 1999, the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) generated about N600million monthly. That was prior to the tenure of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; but I can tell you that from May 29, 1999 till date, Lagos is generating no less than N15billion to N16billion monthly as revenue from taxes, if not more.”

He noted that in Lagos, many companies and individual business owners even go to the bank, do self-assessment and pay their taxes directly into the coffers of the state government without being forced.

“This is because they have seen improvement in the tax system and the government is seen as being responsible in terms of what it does with the money it collects as taxes from the people.

“They have seen improvement in infrastructure. After all, we the citizens are not stupid; we know when a government is working,” he said.

T

HE Managing Director RightClick Nigeria Limited, an IT support firm, Mr. Bolaji Finnih has expressed optimism over the cashless Lagos initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos, the financial IT expert said feedback around Lagos regarding the implementation of cashless policy in the state, is gathering positive momentum.

Mr. Finnih revealed this at a press meeting where the company launched her new logo and also officially opened her new ultra-modern office complex.

Stories by Charity Williams

“We must applaud the Central Bank of Nigeria for this initiative. Information gathered from our clients who are majorly financial institutions revealed that Lagosians are speedily adopting the new policy as e-transaction volumes are steadily climbing”, Finnih said.

It would be recalled that the announcement of the cashless policy by the CBN raised a lot of questions from some Nigerians. However, Finnih believes the considerable success recorded so far

was due to the intensive communication about the policy, its benefits and the preparedness of financial IT providers in Nigeria.

“In several fora, I made mention of the need to adequately communicate these policies. Massive public enlightenment has thus resulted in massive stakeholder buy-in for the policy. You can see banks and other financial institutions placing adverts in the media to further enlighten the general public and I believe the awareness has a positive effect in terms of the acceptability” Finnih enthused.

Further speaking on the readiness of financial IT service providers in Nigeria for the e-business, the CEO said “I have always maintained that I.T service providers in Nigeria are ready to deliver 360° e-businesses solutions.

We have equipped ourselves adequately knowing that ebusiness is the future. We have the expertise and the man power to continually stay at that optimum level and we have also aligned with international partners that would further boost our services globally enabling us give our clients real value for their investments.”

Inaugural showcase invites leaders in African ICT

I

TNEWSAFRICA is set to host its inaugural Tech Demo Africa Showcase, aimed at showcasing cutting-edge technology from established companies, as well as startups.

The show which will be hosted at the Radisson Blue Gautrain Hotel from 17th – 18th April 2012, will focus on enterprise technology and eGovernment as well feature cutting-edge demonstrations and engaging keynote speakers.

Tech Demo Africa will attract international key industry influencers, business leaders, service providers, government dignitaries, venture capitalists and de-

PHOTO SHOP

velopers. Invited international journalists from as far as Nigeria, China and the USA will also in attendance attending, lending international coverage to the Showcase.

Tech Demo Africa will prove that there will be no better event to launch and

•L-R: Director, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, West Central Africa Division, Abidjan, Mr Chiemela Ikonne; President/Chancellor, Adventist Universities in West Africa, Dr. Gilbert Wari and Vice Chancellor Babcock University, Prof. James Kayode Makinde at a leadership conference organised by the management of Babcock University in Lagos. PHOTOS: BADE DARAMOLA

app development cannot be ignored in a showcase of this kind; “Apps will play a major role in the Showcase, providing businesses and government the opportunity to witness the latest in mobile applications for social development, eGovernment and enterprise services.”

Farmers’ association seeks aid

F

ARMERS under the aegis of the Agbekoya Farmers Association have impressed on government at all levels, the need to support production processes to ensure optimum productivity in the agriculture sub-sector.

The President General of the association, Chief Kamorudeen Aremu Okikiola made this appeal at a public forum held in LaContinued from page 57

•L-R: Executive Director/Chief Risk Officer, FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Remi Odunlami; CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Group Managing Director, FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Bisi Onasanya; Manager, British Standards Institution (BSI), Middle East & Africa, Mr. Shahm Barhom and Director, UK Trade & Investment, Mr. Mike Purves at the formal presentation of the BS 25999 Business Continuity Management Certification to FirstBank by BSI in Lagos recently

display a product or service, as top consumer electronics manufacturers have been invited to exhibit their worldclass creations, while also highlighting the importance of eGoverment solutions.

CEO and Executive editor of IT News Africa, Abby Wakama, believes that mobile

against government’s plan to privatise the company.

Last week the workers embarked on a nationwide prayer session led its president, Monzor Musa along with the secretary, Joe Ajaero.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that the union leaders were expected to have met the government over the weekend to decide on the final pay off of the workers.

Public perspective In the view of Bayo Shobowale, a vulcanizer stationed on Ladipo road, Oshodi, the measures so far adopted by the Federal Government are rather cosmetic.

"All of them are saying rubbish. First of all, they say they want to change the name from NEPA to PHCN, as if that is the solution to all the problems. When they now changed the name, the prices of the meter now increase.

Then they say that they want to sell the company and yet we don't have light but the price still triple again. Those NEPA people just sit inside their office and chop money.

As they have sold the NEPA, what is the assurance that we will be getting constant light?

Absolutely nothing!"

Fred Amadi, who sells frozen fishes and poultry in his cold room, is also on the same page with Shobowale.

"In this my business, I run my generator every day. They (PHCN) only give us light for two hours a day and yet they bring huge amount of bills at

gos.

According to him, there is need to encourage the commitment of farmers at the beginning of the farming season.

“Agriculture sector in Lagos and indeed Nigeria as whole has to be reorganised in order to make it economically viable”, he stressed.

Expatiating, he said: “Our plan is to establish model farms in the senatorial dis-

tricts in Lagos for the training of new and young farmers. For improvement, Nigeria now has a data base of farmers and the association is putting a new structure in place to make sure that farmers get fertilizer directly at subsidised rate. He called life-patron, the executive governor of Lagos state to help by giving farmers financial support in form of grants and loans.”

The power sector reforms the end of the month. If we decide not to pay, they will cut the remaining small light that they are giving us. So if as they are selling PHCN, new people from top to bottom are coming in to manage the place and they can deliver, I think it is a good idea because these set of people that are there now are not doing anything at all."

Laboratory Scientist, Vincent Ekeora, views the privatisation process as a laudable one: "I think it is a welcome development. We have had years of abuse of government and public properties by incompetence people who hide under the shadow of being government workers to carry out their corrupt deals. We all know that apart from the oil sector, power is the next most corrupt sector in the country and if the private companies that are buying up PHCN are

serious, we will find that the competition that we saw happening in the telecoms sector will take place here and these companies will start doing things to make their customers happy."

Exercising a note of caution, Angela Momoh, a recharge card distributor, said: "For now, it is too early for us to be saying that they have done a good thing because that is the same problem we saw during the fuel subsidy crises where fake companies were registered to import fuel. If they just share PHCN among themselves at the top, then all this extra money that they have added to our bill (monthly) will be a waste and just increase suffering. I believe we should just wait and see first how they will perform before we start praising the government."

A peep at the 18 unbundled companies/successor companies

S

OME of the companies that are to be privatised in the electricity sector include: Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Benin Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Plc and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company Plc. Others include the Jos

Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Kano Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc and Yola Electricity Distribution Company Plc. In addition, among the new successor companies are: Discos, Transyco, NELMCO, Bulk purchaser, NERC and NAPTIN.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Business

59

‘Government will offset N340b PHCN liabilities’ D

OES your company has the capacity to settle the over N340billion PHCN liabilities?

Yes we have the capacity. Don’t forget that the Federal Government is taking over these liabilities. Before now the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Plc itself has been part of the reform of the power sector to give the. investors a clean bill. The Federal Government is making provision in the budget to settle them. So, that is the capacity that we have. In other words, we have Federal Government might behind us. Indeed, part of the reform is that this company should be set up and migrate some of these liabilities here and government will give us the resource to pay outside the sale of some noncore assets.

How soon will you commence these payments?

This is going to be as soon as possible. In fact, in this year’s budget government has us some provisions. And we hope that as soon as the labour issue is settled we will begin to sell the non-core assets, which we will use to also clear part of the liabilities. We are hoping that in the next couple of months, we will begin to pay since we have gotten a lot of response to our advertisement. In short I have on my table here a letter which is from Agip. There are others from other companies.

So they are responding. As soon as we are able to do reconciliation, we will confirm them and begin to effect payment. But we have a plan that in the next two to three years we will be able to pay all liabilities.

Have you been able to identify any fake claims?

No we have not. In fact, we have given everybody to the end of this month to make their submission. It is only after that we will begin the verification process. There are a few that are not very serious matters. And we will just pay them because PHCN has paid part of the liabilities and some parts are still outstanding. They have paid part of the liabilities and we assume that they are all good debts. But we will certainly ask for some discounts so that we can effect payment to them. But the other ones we are going through due diligence; look at the contract documents and also look at the agreements.

What percentage discount are you asking the creditors to grant you?

It all depends on individual cases and for sure some who is owed N3million and someone who is owed N300million are different. So it all depends. I will not tell you that it is x or y amount. Definitely, we are going to ask for discount because we are going to make sure we pay them within a time frame.

You told journalists that government could go for bond as part of the measures to pay the liabilities. How much bond are you looking at?

The option to this fund is through the bond process. We are hoping that working with the Ministry of Finance we will be able to access the market and then raise sufficient bonds to pay off those liabilities. In fact the earlier we have got money to pay everybody off the better for everybody. And the bond can be managed thereafter. So that is one instrument that we are hoping that before the end of this year, we would have concluded all arrangements to go to the market. We have to get this money through the sale of bond.

And once that one is done we can now transfer the bond to Debt Management Office or one institution and NELMCO can begin to wind down its operations.

Like how much bond do you want?

We it all depends on what government is able to bring and what the shortfalls are. We are expecting that government should bring about N240billion. And the other ones we are going to source from sale proceeds from assets. And we may need about N240billion and that we may go to the bond market to take because as soon as we negotiate with a credi-

Mr. Samuel Agbogun is Managing Director, Nigeria Electricity Liabilities Management Limited (NELMCO), one of the companies set up by the Federal Government to manage the liabilities of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Plc. In this interview with John Ofikhenua he gives useful insight into the present status of PHCN among other issues

• Agbogun

INTERVIEW tor we want to pay him off. We don’t want to keep him. I don’t want after we agree in the next six months I have not paid you.

Does that mean that you will be going to the bond market for about N100billion, since you owe N340 and you expect a budget of N240b?

Obviously nothing less than N150billion.

But we are going to work out the arrangement with the Ministry of Finance, the DMO in the process to get to that.

At the moment what is your relationship with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)?

We have a cordial relationship with the BPE. I was a director in BPE before I came here myself so we have a very good relationship. In short all that is being done here is done is connection with them because the liabilities and assets are being transferred from BPE to NELMCO. So we are working amicably it is part of the transfer instrument so we are working in tandem with them.

Why did the Presidential Committee on Power approve the transfer of NELMCO to the Federal Ministry of Finance?

The reason is that the NELMCO is more or less a financial vehicle. The whole essence is to raise funds and pay. So you can see from that that it is purely a financial institution.

Unlike the Ministry of Power or PHCN that is involved in the generation, distribution and transmission of power, we are not like that.

That was why the concept as BPE envisaged was that it should be a financial outfit. Now the reason why NELMCO has to move to the Federal Ministry of Finance is because of the system of budgeting the Federal Government operates. You know, we operate the envelop system so they give each ministry an envelope and limit them to the amount.

And that will be a constraint if NELMCO is under the Ministry of Power. Secondly there will be competition as the Ministry of Power will be competing to give Nigeria power supply, give infrastructure as opposed to paying liabilities. So it is better to be in a ministry where financial management is understood, where payment of debt is an obligation as per the contract and that is the essence of ministry of finance. Under the Ministry of Finance we speak the same debt languages and we speak the same terminologies and why you should pay your creditors. If you don’t pay your creditor it has effect on your corporate rating. So Finance is where they have the where whither to manage that. Besides that the debt office is under the Ministry of Finance. And when these debts are verified and agreed it is easier to make provision for NELMCO. And thirdly, the process of going to the market to raise bond is a financial matter. So these three reasons have made NELMCO to move to the ministry of finance.

Who are your creditors?

Yes. I can give you an idea of who they are. The major creditors are the power producers. The Shell, Agip, Ibom Power, EAS. These are the major creditors but we also have some foreign creditors, they are some companies that supplied PHCN or NEPA in those days some materials or did construction works. We also have some financial institutions like the World Bank, the ADB, then a few countries like Japan and Germany that gave Nigerian government some loans to build power plants, which have not been paid. They are still there. So these are the major creditors. The local creditors are very minimal. They are not many.

We have local creditors like those who provide service for PHCN like medical, insurance. We also have government creditors, we call them legacy debts. They are the ones owned by the Federal Inland Revenue, Ni-

geria Gas Company, NICON Insurance and the Industrial Credit Fund. So these are parts of our creditors.

Do you service these debts? Do they attract interest?

No the debts don’t attract interests. I forgot to tell you that there are debts owed banks.

Some of the banks in Nigeria: Union Bank, First Bank and Afribank. Those banks’ debts have interests. The Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) have interest. The PPA also has interest built into it. So if you don’t pay within a time frame you have interest you pay different from financial reasons.

What percentage of the liabilities is the interest?

It is minimal. It is under N2billion. It is not a big deal.

What is the fate of PHCN staff?

That is not for us to decide. It is for BPE to decide. But I think their fate is safe. I don’t see any problem with their fate. It is just that it is taking too long to agree to certain details which the government and the union are trying to negotiate. So for me I don’t have any challenge with their fate. I think they are good.

Has your office settled any of the PHCN workers?

NELMCO is not meant to settle them. That is part of the confusion. PHCN workers are supposed to be settled by the BPE. But the pensioners of PHCN are my responsibilities.

That is why I am always talking to some pensioners. I am working with some consultants on pension on how to deal with those ones.

We will pay them their monthly pensions, which is quite substantial; over N800million every month. We will pay that until we are able to agree with the union on the way forward because we cannot continue forever. So we have to buy out some pensioners and give them lump some money and those who don’t want to be bought out we can migrate them to PFAs to pay them monthly pension until they pass on to the great beyond.

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Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

COMPANY NEWS

Nnaji, Dozie, others for Aret Adams memorial lecture T

HE 9th edition of the annual Aret Adams Memorial lecture series being facilitated by the Aret Adams Foundation is scheduled to hold in 1st March, the organisers have said.

The event which holds at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, will have the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji as the Guest Speaker, with the Chairman of MTN, Dr. Pascal Dozie as Chairman.

According to the Programs Coordinator of the Aret Adams Foundation, Mr. Akin Jokojeje, the theme for this

Stories by Rita Ohai

year’s lecture is: “Infrastructural Improvement-An Imperative for National Growth.”

He said that the Foundation was launched to immortalize the late Aret Adams, the first Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from 1988 to 1990 and former Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Matters, adding that Aret Adams made outstanding contributions toward the growth of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and the nation’s

economy in general.

Also speaking on the forthcoming annual lecture, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Foundation, Mr. Egbert Imomoh reveals that the Foundation has successfully, in conjunction with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), institutionalized the Aret Adams Professorial Chair in the University of Port Harcourt, aimed at carrying out research and scholarly work on Petroleum Engineering. In the last two years scholarship awards had also been given to some post graduate

students of Geology, of the University of Ibadan which has propelled them for further academic pursuits abroad.

According to him, “Chief Aret Adams left behind a legacy of professionalism and humanitarianism as epitomized in many lives he touched, irrespective of tribe or religion affiliations. It was those virtues of his that motivated few colleagues and associates to establish the Foundation, to propagate and sustain the life-long dreams of the late Godwin Aret Adams.”

Airtel, First Bank Sign MoU on mobile money service

T

HE FirstBank of Nigeria Plc (FirstBank) and Airtel Networks Limited on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as part of building synergy aimed at providing a seamless mobile money services to millions of Nigerians.

Speaking at a meeting between the two companies recently in Lagos, the two companies promised to combine their strengths to provide secure, convenient and user-friendly mobile banking services to unbanked people throughout via mobile phones.

In his speech, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Rajan Swaroop, said, “Partnering First Bank to bring mobile financial services to all corners of country further demonstrates Airtel’s commitment to Nigeria and supports the concept of borderless mobile telecoms services across the country.

“Indeed, we are excited to partner with one of the biggest financial institutions in the country. This partnership will, without a doubt, assist us in realizing our vision of empowering more Nigerians with innovative and affordable mobile financial services. At Airtel Nigeria, we are committed to creating value propositions that will delight, enrich and benefit our customers regardless of their income level and location.”

Commenting on the initiative, FirstBank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bisi Onasanya said mobile banking is hinged on three planks which are defined in terms of financial inclusion for the unbanked and the underbanked, person to person transaction in terms of sending and receiving money as well as retail payment for the purchase of goods and services. He added that “With over 600 branches and thousands of business partner outlets in strategic proximity to the people, coupled with over 1,500 ATMs including cash deposit ATMs, cardless and biometric ATMs, over 5million active accounts and

more than 1,200 Point of Sale terminals, FirstBank has always been at the forefront of innovative finan-

cial services solutions.

In addition to the mobile money services, Onasanya said FirstBank

has in place a world-class IT infrastructure to drive its epayment services across transaction touch points.

Club commissions child care centre

L

IONS Club International District Governor 404B has impressed the need for government at all levels to partner with non-forprofit, non-governmental organisations towards ensuring all-round socio-eceonomic development in the country.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Child and Adolescent Centre, Psychiatric Hospital, Oshodi, recently, the

International District Governor 404B, Prof Ayoade Adesokan said this was the only way to effectively impact the life of the down trodden in the society.

Adesokan who disclosed that the district has been involved in several worthy causes such as distributing free eye glasses, treating eye cataracts in Oluyole council area of Oyo State and providing N3million worth of relief

materials to the victims of flood disaster in Ibadan, capital of Oyo state.

In his speech, the chairman of region 2, Lions Club International, Kayode Olabiran commended the entire members of Region 2 particularly Ilupeju Diamond Lions Club, Ikeja Lions Club, Ikeja Omole Lions Club amongst others for their moral and financial support for the project.

•L-R:Public Relations Manager, Dufil Foods Plc, Tope Ashiwaju; Starprize winner of iPad Nwankwo Chiamaka; winner of Blackberry phone, Yimakiola Olajide and President, Student Union Government, Yaba College of Technology, Comrade Olowu Micheal at the 2012 Indomie Red hot jam in the college recently.

PHOTO: BOLA OMILABU

•L-R: President Rotary Club of Accra-East, Joe Hyde; President Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Rita Ejizie and Dr Mike Ileka at 10th anniversary of Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro at Golden gate Restaurant in Lagos, recently.

PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Beyond Talent

By Adetayo Okusanya Email: adetayookusanya@hotmail.com

Effective time management: Own and drive your timetable

T

HIS week, I would like to start by summarizing the top three things that I hope you have learnt over the past two weeks about time management. First, you should now know that to become a master of your time, you must invest adequate time upfront in defining what success means to you in terms of personal and career goals that you desire to achieve within a set time frame. Second, you should clearly understand that the demands on your time, energy and attention far outstrip the supply of time that you possess. Therefore, it is mission critical that you make discriminatory choices about how you spend your time. Third, you should have found it extremely liberating to know that you can delegate or eliminate about sixty percent of tasks on your to-do list without significantly impacting your desired outcomes.

Now that you have become erudite in planning and prioritizing your tasks, it is important that you also develop the ability to effectively manage your schedule. Your schedule is your timetable for accomplishing tasks on your prioritized to-do list, and scheduling is the process of sequencing and assigning blocks of your time to these tasks.

The impact of effective scheduling on time management is comparable to the impact of an effective budget on financial management. Effective scheduling is, therefore, a discipline that is crucial for success in life. Below are four principles that you can apply to become better at managing your schedule.

Manage your schedule using a calendar. This is a musthave for anyone who is serious about mastering their own time. A calendar that breaks your year down into months, weeks, days and hours is a great tool for keeping track of what you need to do and when you need to do them. It can also be useful for doing an analysis of how you have spent your time, so that you can take corrective actions if it becomes clear that you are not getting your desired results.

At a minimum, you should manage your time using a manual calendar. However, I strongly recommend an internet based calendar that you can access using multiple devices such as your phone, laptop and iPad. This way, you can make on-line real time changes to your schedule as you go through your day.

Create weekly schedules and manage them daily. The saying “He who fails to plan, plans to fail” may be a cliché, but it also a truth. It is important to start your week with a prioritized plan of how you will be spending your time and your life. If you do not develop the habit of making thoughtful choices about how you will spend your week, others will determine it for you, and you will not be happy with the final results that you get. Spend twenty to thirty minutes reviewing your schedule every morning or night to assess your progress against set goals, reprioritize your to-do list and give yourself the flexibility to proactively reallocate your time, reschedule appointments and delegate or eliminate tasks as you see fit. Allocate your most productive time to your most critical tasks. For example, if you are more productive in the morning, spend your mornings focused on important activities and not time wasters.

Do not schedule all your time. Do yourself a big favor by avoiding the tendency to overschedule and you will minimize stress. Unforeseen events happen every day such as a family emergency, a critical meeting scheduled at short notice, an angry customer that needs to be attended to, a flat tire, etc., and you need to build a time “buffer” into your daily and weekly schedule so that you can easily accommodate these unplanned events. Do not schedule meetings back to back. Give yourself some time to think about and prepare for your next meeting. Also, avoid the mistake of underestimating your transit or commute time by giving yourself an adequate window of time to navigate through traffic. Perpetual lateness to meetings and appointments can negatively impact your personal and professional brand.

Create a balanced schedule. All work and no play will cause you to burn out quickly, not to mention its potential negative impact on your mental and physical well-being.

Plan ahead to spend time with family, friends and yourself. Build socializing, important hobbies, recreation, vacation, physical fitness, professional development and… yes… sleep, into your calendar. Seek the support of your supervisor and colleagues in accomplishing your non-work related goals. Help them to be more accommodating by giving them sufficient notice of your schedule and clearly communicate your non-work priorities. It is perfectly okay to say “No” sometimes or ask your stakeholders to prioritize their requests of you. You cannot be everything to everyone and do all things all at once.

Become well practiced effective scheduling. Own your timetable and do not let others drive it for you, unless it is their job to do so and your success is their priority.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

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WORLD NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

H

OW would describe the relationship between both countries?

We have had a relationship of mutual cooperation from colonial days to post-independence and most recently when we had our difficulties, Nigeria came in and supported us strongly and it was because of that support that really made us to continue to stay as a state before United Nations and other people came in. So, Sierra Leoneans are very appreciative of that great support by Nigeria and we have collaborated closely at the level of ECOWAS, at the United Nations, at the African Union and the relationship is excellent.

What is the relationship between both countries in the area of trade?

I must say that, now that the opportunities are opening up in the country, we have a lot of Nigerian presence. There is not a bank that is in Nigeria that has not opened an outfit in Sierra Leone. We have Nigerian companies, the petroleum companies going for exploration. Alhaji Dangote is going to open a cement factory in the country and so we have huge Nigerian presence and we welcome it. We believe that it will enhance our relationship not only at a diplomatic level but also at a private sector engagement and I think it will further strengthen and solidify our ECOWAS objectives and, personally, I think we have great responsibility to ensure that while it was difficult, Nigerians were there and now that things are okay, Nigerians should come in.

How has it been governing a country just coming out of a difficult period?

I was elected in 2007 and have been able to articulate the aspirations of our people. And, as for the promises we made during our campaign into what I call Agenda for Change, we have prioritized areas of intervention by our government because coming from war, coming from difficulties, every aspect of government activities, every aspect of the sector needed attention because of the need to focus on the sector that will create the opportunities for us to transform our economy to a growth sector. That was why we created the Agenda for Change. Our aim was energy, infrastructure, agriculture, health and education. And of course we addressed the issues of good governance and creating enabling investment climates for private sector activities to take place. We decided on these sectors because we believe these are the sectors that will lead the basis for a sustainable economic growth. When we came in, the electricity situation was very low. Even the city was in darkness. But we quickly turned the situation around. As I speak to you now, we now have light; not only in the city but in most of the district headquarter towns and we are in the process of enhancing and ensuring that our growth is sustainable. We have also embarked on the largest infrastructural development of the country since independence. We are constructing roads that will link the country to our neighbours, Guinea. We have completed the Guinean road; we are looking at doing the Li-

‘Sierra Leoneans are eternally grateful to Nigeria’ While attending a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Abuja Bureau Chief, Yomi Odunuga and State House Correspondent, Vincent Ikuomola, interviewed President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone. Excerpts: berian road so that we have transnational connections. We are connecting roads within the country to linking regions, districts and we are doing roads between the district headquarter towns and also not forgetting the feeder roads.

Some people, because of the road construction that is going on, describe the country as a beehive of construction activities because everywhere you go, there is some activity.

In what way has your government boosted agriculture especially when majority of the people in the rural areas are farmers?

Beyond the road network infrastructural activity, we have embarked on the transformation of the agricultural sector, because that is where you have a good number of our people involved. 60% of our people are involved in agriculture, but most of them are poor because of the method of agricultural activity which is subsistence agriculture. Our belief is that the only way we can enhance agricultural activity is to have food security in the country. We also believe that, to address the issue of poverty, we need to transform the agricultural sector. We have rolled out a programme that is geared towards removing agriculture from subsistence to a commercial activity. The programme is a four-year programme and it is a $400 million investment. We have had commitments from our donor partners and the programme is going on very successfully.

How about health and education?

The mortality rate, especially for our mothers and children, was very high. We have conducted a study which clearly indicated that the vulnerable groups are those who suffer from this high mortality rate because they cannot afford the cost of the health services. That is why we, as a government, introduced a healthcare system that takes care of pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five. This covers everything from pre-natal, surgery, drugs and everything is provided for by the government. I will say that it has proved very successful because we have saved so many lives. The mortality rate has reduced substantially; the children dying of malaria for the past two years have reduced by 85%. The educational sector is also a sector that we are addressing with other sectors but because of the deplorable situation in the sector, we did commission a group to look at the possibility of overhauling the whole sector and the group has come out with very interesting recom-

• President Ernest Bai Koroma

mendation which we are now adopting.

There still remains the nagging issue of institutional corruption and good governance.

Where does your government stand on these two key elements?

Now, we know too well that with all of these, you have to continue with the issues of good governance, the issues of deepening your democracy and fighting corruption. That is why we have also laid emphasis on ensuring that our fight against corruption continues and we have put in place one of the toughest anti-corruption laws which has given authority to the anti-corruption commission not only to investigate any government official, anybody in the country, but also to prosecute and they have been doing very well. The institutions of governance, political party registration, they were all provided with support and I have given them independence to ensure that we develop a culture of democracy and deepen the freedom of speech and protection of human rights. Now, beyond these, we are of the view that the government can do what it takes to develop the country but the main player should

be the private sector and that is why we aim to position the private sector to become the engine of economic growth of the country.

What kind of strategy did you adopt in tackling the energy crisis?

What we did was to quickly restore electricity in the capital city which we did within 100 days. And to sustain that, we have completed the construction of the hydro project that has been undergoing construction for over 30 years before I came into office.

But we succeeded in completing the first phase which provides 250 megawatts. We have signed the second phase that will provide us with 350 megawatts.

Now, for sustainability, we have taken 2-3 pronged approach. The first is that we continue with the construction of hydro dams. We have contracted Chinese and other people to continue with the construction of the hydro dams; there is a group that is called the Jewel Africa that is going to do the second phase. We are also in the process of doing the mini hydro project within the country so that those communities that are off the national grid will be serviced with the

power generated from the hydro projects that we are developing. Additionally, we know very well that we have limited capacity in terms of hydro and that is why we are also developing the thermal. We have signed contract with companies for the provision of 1000 megawatts. We have other Independent Power Projects that we have encouraged to come in and help in the process of generating power because we don’t want our group to be limited by the limited energy in the country.

For the communities that are inaccessible, we have put in place the development of solar energy and we have established that through the help of Indians. With this, we are able to ensure that at all levels, electricity is provided.

You speak as someone who is enjoying a smooth ride in governance. Are there no challenges?

Yes, we have made progress but there are also challenges. We have had huge challenges in the areas of resource mobilization. Although our resource base is very limited, we’re trying to expand it. We are trying to make it efficient and we are trying to increase the level of

resources that we have to limit our dependence on donors. It has been a challenge but we are working on it. We also have the challenge of capacity building. Everywhere you go, because of our illiteracy levels.

This affects the institutional capacity in the smooth running of the system. Running a country in Africa is not an easy task because you have to go extra mile to ensure that things work as you want them to. Some of the issues are not because of the nonchalant attitude of the people but some of it is because of the limited capacity. So we really have to work on the capacity building. Unemployment is also a big challenge, especially among the youths.

But some of them are unemployed because they are not educated. Some are unemployed because they lack the appropriate skills. But you have a responsibility as a government to create the employment opportunities to prepare them for the job market and within a short period, there is so much that is expected. That is why you really just have to create a fine balance of making provision for employment opportunities.

Your election was significant because you came in from the opposition. Would you say you have done enough to deserve a second term which, we heard, you are gunning for?

Five years ago, I was campaigning on the basis of the manifesto I presented to the people and a mandate was given to me. I have tried to condense that manifesto and the aspiration of the people to the Agenda for Change. Five years on, I can see that we have rolled out most of our programmes. We have come a long way. I will not say that we have addressed all the problems, but I think we have a substantial change in the country. People see it everywhere and I believe that because of the changes that we have made, because of progress that we have affected in the country, I still enjoy a lot of support. I still believe that I am a popular president; people talk about it.

I know that we have challenges; I came in at the time all the crises in the world started cropping up and exactly in September 2007, when I was swornin, that was the time the commodity prices shot up. That was the time the oil prices that were at $76 a barrel started moving up and ended up in 2008 at a $145, the highest level; that was the time the price of rice, flour and other commodities started moving up. With all of these challenges, the fact that we have been able to move on to roll out our programmes with difficulties, reducing the death rate in health sector, constructing the country, providing energy, creating a business environment, attracting investors now, effecting changes in the country. I believe that I have, to a great extent, succeeded in meeting the promises that I have made to the people in the midst of all the difficulties; I am proud of the record that I have made and I believe that the people are happy and that is why I am confident that in seeking the second term, I will be re-elected.

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World News

YRIA has entered the dreaded of all conditions. No matter the color of its final resolution, all involved shall lose something valuable along the road. No one will emerge truly victorious; there only will be those who lose relatively less than the other side. Everyone involved will be asked to pay a tax for their hypocritical misbehavior at a time when objectivity and some human compassion might have braked against the wider disaster that now threatens.

The Syrian predicament is not open to easy solution. Long-standing internal fissures, compounded by international rivalries, make this situation one of sundry questions and calculations that beguiles neat answers. Syria has become a violent maze with several ways in yet no accessible way out. After several millennia of civilization, we are often no better now than we were at the start of it all. We still find it much too easy to start war but futilely difficult to end them.

Syrian clearly is at war with itself. At the same time, competing international powers have made of Syria a proxy battle to alter the regional and global balance of power. Already too many people have died and more will.

Some people have reduced this to a battle of good versus evil, of the advent of democracy versus perennial despotism. Others counter that this is a contest of order versus chaos, of secularity versus religious extremism. The arguments of both sides do little but add ballast to the heavy self-righteousness of their proponents. Neither side admits to the narrowness of its own self-interests yet each paints the broadest condemnation of the other. War is hell and Truth is an angel. Thus, where War is, Truth will not be. What is generally said about the Syrian crisis has more to do with the speaker's subjective views than with what is actually taking place in Syria. Syria is like a proposed burnt offering that members of competing religions are trying to place on their different altars at the same time. Such a situation is blunt to compromise and dialogue. The nation tears apart.

The facile conclusion served us by those who dominate the global media is that Bashar Assad is an unregenerate assassin parading about as a head of state. The tune is that if Bashar would only leave, democracy would then flourish. We have heard this melody before. The song's title is promising but when actually played, the tune play discordantly. This was the case in Iraq. British and America boast the world is a safer place with Saddam Hussein gone. That may be the case for their world but same may not be true for the world of the average Iraqi. Hundreds of thousands have died and the fragile nation sits on the knife edge of civil unrest as tribal rivalry and overlapping sectarian and political animus dehisce on the hour. Many Iraqis think the nation is more perilous now than during Saddam's reign. Things will likely get worse before they get better.

Regarding Libya, Western governments claimed Gaddafi had equipped his fighters not just with guns but also with pills of Viagra to effectuate a policy of systematic rape. The claim was proven to be false. It was claimed Gaddafi threatened to massacre innocent civilians. However, objective analysis of his statements finds no such genocidal hectoring.

They claimed Gaddafi had no support and that those revolting against him were freedom fighters of the highest virtue, sacrificing themselves to plant democracy where it had never been. This proved to be a careless, expensive lie. Gaddafi held out against the NATO onslaught for months not because of mystical powers the erratic man claimed but because he had the support of a large segment, if not the majority, of the people. Meanwhile, the putative "freedom fighters" have added new meaning to the definition of the term. It now seems they fought not for the freedom of democracy but for the freedom to impose themselves on Libyans of other tribal and regional affiliations.

By and large, the global media has turned its back on the Libyan carbuncle. The media has done so because it does not want the international public to know the depths to which the nation has fallen. Gone is Gaddafi.

He has been replaced by a nihilist's galaxy of militias which are nothing but brutal gangs fighting each other over turf and oppressing people living under their unofficial writs. Life for the average person is arguably worse than a year ago when the tussle started.

Meanwhile, international oil companies are swiftly reinserting themselves and pumping

The fog over Syria To be human is to believe we know that which cannot be known beforehand. As such, we turn Life into Death.

•Bashar-al-assad

By Brian Browns oil. In all of this, the West got what it wanted, the irksome Gaddafi is gone and oil is streaming once more. However, the people of Libya remain under the scythe of uncertainty.

Thus far, if you say the Libyan populace received a bargain you would have to add that it has been an unfair one.

Bashar Assad is far removed from being a good leader; he is nothing if not an accomplished butcher of men. Yet, his sudden ouster will not bring rainbows and zephyrs.

The sad reality is the removal of the terrible leader can be followed by something even more twisted just as likely as it may be followed by something more irenic. It is simplistic to believe Bashar's exit resolves Syria's problems. Bashar is not the problem. The deeper problem is that Bashar is an accurate representation of the political and leadership culture of the nation. Syria is ancient land with a rich history of achievements. However, democratic good governance is not among them. The nation has known centuries upon centuries of war and occupation. It has been vassal or annexed territory of great empires.

Aggrandizement by the powerful and subjection of the weak has been a way of life for so long that it is part of the soil and air.

Moreover, while today's Syria is founded on ancient soil, the nation as now composed is a relatively modern phenomenon. It is a threadbare patchwork of Sunni and Alawite Muslims and of Christians who are Arabs and a significant minority of Muslim Kurds.

These groups are further divided along clan lines. While all are Syrian, few feel primary loyalty to that identity. The gravity of these sub-national identities attracts the weight of loyalty of most Syrians. The nation is a now combustive partnership of groups more suspicious than trusting of the others.

The Assad government is dominated by Alawis. Prior to coup engineered by Assad's father roughly forty years ago, the heterodox Alawis were the most downtrodden and despised of the major groups. Many Sunnis and not a few Shias considered them outside the Muslim faith. On all accounts, Alawis occupied the lower basement of the national tenement. The majority Sunnis dominated the landscape. The oppressed Alawis fed off the dry crumbs. Hafez Assad's seizure of power turned the order of things on its very head. The elder Assad gathered his Alawite brethren and other minorities, with a smattering of pliant Sunnis, into political alliance to keep the Sunni mass in check.

The alliance was based on mercenary interests and was held together by patronage and persecution. Whenever

•Gadaffi

Sunnis protested Assad's unfairness, he was fond to demonstrate just how unfair he could become. He felt no compunction in ruthlessly crushing dissent and stuffing his victims in mass graves. After all, that was the way things were handled in this old but dangerous neighborhood. However, he acted with even greater alacrity and drive than his predecessors, knowing that his was a minority regime trying to corral a majority accustomed to the driver's seat.

Against this historic backdrop, the West's interpretation that Assad the younger is "killing his own people" is true enough to use as journalistic device but is inaccurate enough to be dangerous as a functioning assumption upon which a great power might base its policy. The media is adept at finding secular Syrians fluent in English to stand before cameras and espouse that the revolt is one of a democratic people against an unyielding dictator. Those of us unaccustomed to the place would find solace in this neat explanation. However, much danger lies in believing something because you want to believe it as opposed to believing because it is true. The truth of the matter is that these secular democrats represent a vocal but scant minority with uncertain influence and power. The more the situation becomes one of arms against arms and people are compelled to align with their ancient grouping, this modern secular minority will progressively lose the influence it had. They will be the voice the international community most hears. In Syria, they will be seen as naĂŻve interlopers shouting into the rushing wind.

The more complex truth is that Assad has significant support. He and his supporters do not see the revolt as one promising democracy. They see it as the continuation of the sectarian uprisings the father had decimated. Alawite and much of the Christian minority are aligned and fear a Sunni ascendance. Those lowly Sunni tribes that Assad's father help elevate are now wedded to current structure. They fear change will return them to their inferior positions. A Pew survey taken a few weeks ago indicated that 55 percent of the people backed Assad and did not want him to go.

The initial Arab League Observer report came to a similar conclusion. That report also mentioned that death tolls had been inflated and that many of the deaths are more rightly attributed to the opposition than the government. (Qatar, which is against Assad and which is the current president of the Arab League, embargoed the report. It need not have bothered. The Western media would not have aired it because it

undermined the positions erected by their governments.) While many poll respondents likely feared they would be identified and so answered the poll accordingly, the general premise of the poll's findings remains valid: Assad is not the universally hated ogre the global media portrays. Many Syrians see their fate tied to Assad. They do not want him to go despite his terrible feats and flaws.

These are the real calculations that permeate the thinking of most Syrian actors.

This struggle revolves around the crude dynamics of power not the fine principles of democracy. We must realize Syria is already gripped by civil war. Western nations want to ignore this fact so they can continue to berate Assad for massacring his own people.

To admit this is civil war would be to admit Assad has the right to combat those against him.

This brings us to a major complication in resolving the Syria predicament. Other, more powerful nations are pursuing their own interests at the expense of Syria.

Western powers claim to support democracy and say Assad should back down because the world opinion is against him. Yet these same few nations defend Israel's longstanding defiance of a global consensus against its treatment of Palestinians. However, their true aim is to deal Iran a setback by supplanting the government of its most reliable Arab ally.

Rich Qatar and Saudi Arabia likewise support Assad's downfall to install a conservative Sunni government. Given the internal politics of these two nations, democratic progress in Syria is not something to be strongly encouraged.

Moreover, these nations should be asked if they support the Sunni majority in Syria why won't they support the Shia majority in Bahrain.

On the other side, Iran supports Assad because it has too much invested in him to cut the man loose. Assad is their conduit into the Arab world and to providing support to Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel. Russia and China support Assad because they fear American military expansionism will alter the balance of power in the oil-rich Middle East. Russia is also afraid of losing is naval installations in Syria.

While this ensemble of foreign powers talks of peace, each is already providing clandestine weapons and materiel to those in Syria it backs. That Syria is a dysfunctional family is beyond debate.

Sadly, the nonpublic interventions of these outsiders serve to make Syria's subnational groupings even more combative.

Instead of working toward peace, these nations plan for a civil war than ends in terms most favorable to them. As such, Syria has become the ground for simultaneous regional (Iran versus Qatar, Saudi Arabia and America) and international (America and the European Union versus Russia and China) proxy wars the dimensions of which have not been seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall. When historians look at this episode, they may well identify the Syrian crisis as the onset of a new, multilevel Cold War. In the end, fixing Syria will take the realization that a military answer is unavailing in the short run and extremely costly and uncertain in the long. Syrians themselves must devise a political structure that gives all groups a piece of the cake.

Whether that resolution would include Bashar or not should not be something for other nations to decide. Thus, Syrians have a long overdue discussion ahead but it will take time before they get to that point.

Unfortunately, too many people are now in a martial state of mind. The fighting will likely intensify as will the military support given by outside powers to their Syrian beneficiaries. With such an important nation entering a state of chronic agitation, the Middle East as a region moves farther into the whirling storm. The chance of gross miscalculation that begets a more generalized conflagration becomes more possible. Tragically, the world may be tottering toward an event no one wants but no important leader has the courage to halt.

World leaders need a quick lesson on how World War I began. Perhaps that would make them change before mistake becomes catastrophe within a span of years that can be counted with but the digits of one hand.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2012

EBERE WABARA

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WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Newspaper opinions!

T HE GUARDIAN EDITORIAL of February 15 misspelled a commonly-used word: “While not justifying the Egyptian Security Services non-challance and outright insensitivity….”

Spell-check: nonchalance (and without hyphenation) The next two slips are also from the preceding edition: “Monitors seek early deployment of polls materials to (in) Sokoto, C’ River” “These are the sorts of action (actions) as opposed to….” “…its location that makes it a melting point for the various ethnic nationalities that surround the city….” (Vanguard COMMENT, February 15) In this case: melting pot.

“Many primary and secondary schools are not wired for basic electricity, talk less for (sic) ICT.” (Vanguard Cyber Platform, February 15) ‘Talk less for’ is primitive English! Solution: let alone ICT. “We urge you to continue to avail the nation your sterling contributions in the Defence Sector” (Full Page Congratulatory Advert, THISDAY, February 15) Avail the nation of your sterling….

“NAFDAC: “How My Pikin tragedy occured” (Source: as above) Spellcheck: occurred Again: “Solutions for a cash-lite Lagos” (Fidelity Bank PLC Full Page Colour Advert, THISDAY, February 15) Let’s keep our word: solutions to…

“The statement issued

by Bello certainly helped to sooth frayed nerves.”

(DAILY INDEPENDENT Editorial, February 15) The rains are here: soothe. “…the current political arrangement that concentrates undue and enormous economic and political powers at (on) the centre is….” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Comment, February 15) “When early morning downpour wreaks havocs in Lagos” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, February 15) Havoc is non-count.

“Euro giants lock horn at San Siro” (Source: as above) In sporting arenas, giants lock horns (not horn).

Vanguard COMMENT (Editorial/Opinion/Viewpoint) of February 14 issued two embarrassing lines: “Shots are not fired to (at) the leg or other places that could disable the target.”

Still on Vanguard Editorial: “In Lagos, the police jumped off their vehicle and started firing life (live) bullets….”

“SKorean (sic) pastor arrested over children’s deaths” World Watch: S/ Korean pastor arrested for children’s death—not ‘deaths’!

Finally from the Lovers’ Day edition of Vanguard: “Heroes welcome for Chipolopolo” (Back Page Sports Bold Headline) Do you mean a hero’s welcome?

“Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Omar Suleiman (another comma) in a warm handshake with the President….” (Vanguard Business Page Caption, February 14) Of what use is it to the reader whether the handshake is cold, hot or warm? Beyond the issue of temperature, it is meaningless telling the reader what he can decipher (the obvious handshake). A rewrite: “…Suleiman with the President and Chairman of Council of Nigerian Institute of Management (name carelessly withheld by Vanguard!) at (sic) (during) a visit to NPA. “AIDS: 1.1m Nigerians in need of anti-retroviral” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Headline, February 14) For their safety: antiretroviral drugs “111 NURTW miscreants arrested in (on) Lagos Island” (Source: as above) THE NATION ON SUNDAY Front Page Banner of February 12 created unnecessary misunderstanding: “Boko Haram: SSS draws up wanted leaders list” Truth in defence of freedom: leaders’ list Still on this widest-circulating newspaper in Nigeria: “Poll records low turn out” Next time: turnout “I learnt from him, (what is the function of this comma here?) how to control my breadth when I am playing the sax.” Entertainment plus: breath Let us take more blunders from last week’s edition of this medium before we move to another publication. Its EDITORIAL entitled ‘MEND’s resurgence?’ contained three gaffes: “One of the unfortunate fallouts of the Amnesty Programme….” My comment: ‘fallout’ is uncountable. “…transforming a large number of former militants from armed banditry to productive livelihood.” There cannot be ‘banditry’ without the use of arms (violence)! Therefore, why ‘armed banditry’—and not just simply ‘banditry’, which is robbery with violence? “…the bombing that destroyed lives and property in Abuja during the

country’s 50 th independence anniversary.” In defence of grammar: One of these: life and property (which should apply here) or lives and properties, depending on context and usage competency.

DAILY INDEPENDENT Editorial of February 10 goofed: “…which as The Economist once pointed out can make loans with tenors of between 10 to 15 years.” Not my view: between 10 and 15 or from 10 to 15.

“Police arrest reporter on trump up charges” (Vanguard Headline, February 10) Get it right: trumped-up charges “Anger of the matriachs” (THE NATION Front Page, February 10) Spell-check: matriarchs “Jonathan condoles Dantata’s family….” (National Mirror Headline, February 9) The president condoled with Dantata’s family.

THE NATION of February 9 circulated copious blunders: “Congratulation to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, GCON, and the Dangote Group for (on) today’s commissioning of the new….”

“Army arrests soldier over (for) Kaduna bombing” (Front Page Subheadline) “Man, 59, charged over (with) alleged issuance of N134m dud cheque” (Vanguard Headline, February 9) “…they advocate for government of nationalities or (a) government of people with similar ethnic or historical backgrounds.” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, February 9) Replace ‘for’ with ‘a’ in the interest of a cohesive polity.

“Is it lawful to give riot victims mass burial without the permission of their living relatives? Would it have been their dead relatives? Balderdash!

FROM MY IN-BOX Your column is interesting and educative. More power to your elbow. Keep it up. (Suleiman Abdul A l i y u / K a n o / 08057664871) How I missed you recently….(Komolafe G. O./Ilesa/08037277985) Assure me of your column every week and I assure you of my annual subscription! We need a censors’ board at WAEC English level to certify these writers posing as graduates. The employee is a reflection of the employer, just as the subordinate typifies his boss.

(Lasun Lawal/Ibadan/ 08072720414)

or most Nigerians, the new driver’s license and vehicle registration number scheme is nothing but a ploy to skim more money out of the pockets of hapless citizens for government officials to embezzle. Now that the scheme has taken off fully with the new number plates everywhere for us to appreciate, that impression has not waned a bit as people often wonder what the difference really is between the old number plates and the new ones beyond the fact that the later are a little larger, with the three letters indicating the city or town of registration brought forward before the number and the Nigerian map emblazoned on it. One often hears people complaining that those changes are not worth the trouble and the cost that the Federal Road Safety Commission is imposing on Nigerians. This reasoning is widespread and betrays the typical Nigerian attitude of judging a book by its cover or, more precisely, hasty and over-generalization.

It is really not true that the fallacy of overgeneralization is peculiar to Nigerians; it is just that we as a people have always given in to it and allowed it an unfettered reign in our national life to our own detriment. A few examples will suffice here. In 2005, the Senate commenced a process to amend the constitution. Then along the line the monster of tenure enlongation/third term crept in. By the time the Bill for the amendment came before the National Assembly for debate it had been taken over by antithird term sentiments; the third term clause contained in the Bill was generalized to represent the entire Bill.

It suddenly became the ‘third term Bill’, not even the lawmakers who should know better were able to rise above this fallacy; and so the Bill was shot down with all the other clauses designed to amend various sections of the constitution years ago when. Today, we are back to the same spot we were five years ago trying to amend sections of the constitution.

A similar scenario played itself out during the recent fuel subsidy removal strike. Of all the gains of fuel subsidy removal enumerated by the administration, only one that it will free up funds for government stuck indelibly to the minds of most Nigerians. This led to the generalization that the whole scheme was all about raising more money for government, which will invariably end up in the pockets or personal bank accounts of its top officials.

The most prominent gain of the subsidy removal – stimulation of private investments in the refining sector – was conveniently down played or forgotten.

This is exactly what is happening to the FRSC new driver’s license and numbering scheme, many people only see it from the perspective of generating revenue for the government

F

Another perspective on FRSC’s new driver’s license, number scheme

Chidoka

By Ben Ekori without seeing the clear gains in terms of helping to collate and preserve data that could help stem the rising insecurity in the land. Even the House of Representatives that ought to know better hurriedly issued an order that the commission should suspend the project, which its members described as exploitative. They forgot that the constitution does not confer them with such power as the execution of projects falls within the purview of the executive arm of government.

President Goodluck Jonathan highlighted the security advantage inherent in the scheme during its launch on 2nd September, 2011, when he stated that times like this (referring to the rising scourge of terrorism with vehicles used as means of conveying bombs) call for innovative solutions such as the new license and number plates which have individual faces attached to them. With the new system, the data for driver’s license and vehicle registration number are more robust and complete with the picture, fingerprints and address of owners such that the number plate is linked to the person. This means that you can retain the number plate on your car when you want to sell it if you choose to. But the beauty of this system is that every car in the country can be traced to the owner at anytime as the process of selling one’s old car involves going back to the registering authorities to effect change of ownership since the proof of ownership document is now computer generated.

We may not be able to fully appreciate the security benefits of this system yet, but a bit of it would begin to dawn on us when we understand that it has not been possible to locate the real owners of the

vehicles that have been used for the recent terrorist activities in the country because the present data of vehicle owners is not adequate. Most of those to whom the vehicles were traced based on available data were reported to have informed security agents that they had sold the cars and did not know the addresses of the people they sold the cars to. This, no doubt, frustrates investigation.

We all want the current terrorism scourge behind us as soon as possible. It is a new security challenge that needs new tools and innovative ideas to surmount. If the price to pay to make the work of tracking down the perpetrators of these heinous crimes is to pay a little more to transit to the new driver’s license and number plate system, it is definitely not too much. The near-perfect security systems in the developed countries that we always refer to when our security agencies are not able to deliver as efficiently as we expect them to were built with the cooperation of their citizens who subjected themselves to the requirements for basic needs such as driver’s license and vehicle registration number that helped to build the data that their security agencies have come to rely upon to track down criminal elements for speedy resolution of criminal cases.

It is not too late for us to start building such data in our country. That is what the new driver’s license and number plate project of the FRSC is all about. It requires the cooperation and support of every patriotic Nigerian.

We must resist every attempt to play up our usual failing of falling for the fallacy of over-generalization this time around and give the FRSC and relevant agencies our support to ensure the success of this scheme.

•Ekori, a public affairs consultant, sent this piece from Lagos

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

News Review

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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Farouk Abdulmuttalab's new home

•Exterior of the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), Colorado, USA •Abdulmuttalab

T

HE United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) is a federal supermax prison for men located in the city of Florence, Fremont County, Colorado. Unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies, it is going to be where Farouk Abdulmuttalab, popularly referred to as the 'underwear bomber' would spend the rest of his life. He was on Thursday, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by a US federal court.

The facility, located on 37- acre, is 490-bed complex at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Denver. It is one part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FFCC), which comprises three correctional facilities, each with a different security rating.

ADX was designed jointly by two

T

HESE indeed are interesting times where all manner of persons posing as public spirited commentators and pseudo economic analysts of the fallout of the recent fuel subsidy protests in the country, are seeking subterfuges to throw darts and score cheap political points.

One of such mischievous advertorials titled Fuel subsidy and the undertakers was published on page 52 of the Vanguard of Tuesday, January 17, 2012.

Authored by Godwin Erhahon and Isaiah Osifo, chairman and secretary of the Edo State chapter of Coalition of Progressive Political Parties (CPPP), the piece pretended to be offering dispassionate review of the mass protests against the removal of fuel subsidy in the opening paragraphs but suddenly veered out as a diatribe on Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

The duo who have similarly authored many insidious pieces throwing mud on the governor, should have come clean as commissioned hirelings of a faction of the state People's Democratic Party (PDP), resolved on undermining Oshiomhole's chances in the Edo 2012 election, instead of putting on the veil of dispassionate commentators.

Erhahon is chairman of the Edo State chapter of Congress of Political Change (CPC) while Osifo, a failed senatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) was the chief of staff to Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor, a usurper governor of Edo State. Since Osunbor was booted out via the verdicts of the Tribunal and the Appeal Courts in 2008, Osifor has never spared any venom in seeking his pound of flesh.

Supposedly pretending to be posing some of the critical governance issues thrown up by the recent anti-fuel subsidy protest, the piece queried the use of public funds under Governor Oshiomhole. The ostensible reason for their piece was underscored as they also laboured to lionise the phantom projects embarked upon during the 18month tenure of Osunbor. Although we do not attempt to dignify the spurious

leading architecture firms in Colorado Springs, DLR Group and LKA Partners. The majority of the facility is underground. Each cell has a desk, a stool, and a bed, which are almost entirely made out of poured concrete, as well as a toilet that shuts off if blocked, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink lacking a potentially dangerous trap.

Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, a radio, and a black and white television that shows recreational, educational, and religious programming. These are considered privileges that may be taken away as punishment, so they are placed out of the inmate's reach and remotely controlled.

The 4 in (10 cm) by 4 ft (120 cm) windows are designed to prevent inmates from knowing their specific location within the complex because they can see only the sky and roof through them, making it virtually im-

possible to plan an escape. Inmates exercise in a concrete pit resembling an empty swimming pool, also designed to prevent them from knowing their location in the facility. Telecommunication with the outside world is forbidden, and food is handdelivered by correction officers. The prison as a whole contains a multitude of motion detectors and cameras, and 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors. 12 ft (3.7 m) tall razor wire fences surround the perimeter. Laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs alert staff of any activity between the perimeter fences and the prison walls.

At ADX, inmates are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for at least the first year. Being let out for longer periods depends on their conduct. The long-term goal is to transfer them to a less-restrictive prison to serve out the remainder of their sentences.

And those who will be Abdulmuttalab's neighbours now,

would be inmates who have been deemed too dangerous, too high-profile or too great a national security risk for even a maximum-security prison.

The list includes the leaders of violent gangs who even continue their reign of terror from within the facility. In these category are Larry Hoover of the Gangster Disciples, and Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham of the Aryan Brotherhood.

ADX also houses foreign terrorists, including the only person convicted in civilian court of the September 11th attacks, Zacarias Moussaoui, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef; as well as domestic terrorists, including serial bombers Theodore Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph.

Timothy McVeigh, who carried out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, was housed at ADX before he was sentenced to death in 1997 and transferred to the United States Peniten-

Doomsday analysts and their requiem

By Ehiakhame Isidahome

write up with a reply, the Edo people desire some explanations as to the judicious use of public funds.

For historical records, many of the governance issues that came out of the mass protests have been posed long before now by Governor Oshiomhole.

Flashback to the discourse organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria in Abuja where he not only gave an insight into the high wired under dealings in the oil sector under the watch of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but queried the powers of the organisation to unilaterally decide what to bring to the distributive table.

"NNPC is not a government and does not have powers to spend money without appropriation", Oshiomhole has always argued. Has the stench oozing from the House of Representatives probe on NNPC not vindicated his stance? Is it not strange that Oshiomhole's albatross stems from having the effrontery to speak truth to authority?

If there's any example of judicious use of public funds, the case of Edo under Oshiomhole where the government has invested heavily in socio infrastructure, readily lends itself. The former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress has no doubt turned around a near basket case.

From a state where almost nothing worked in the last 30 years to one which has now emerged the centre of attraction. Even the World Bank and other international development agencies have attested to the laudable projects in Edo under Oshiomhole. The government's massive investment in the building of roads, schools, hospitals and the provision of water and rural electrification evokes the wizardry of a deft financial manager.

How Oshiomhole has mobilised resources to fund more than 500 kilometres of roads covering more than 400 communities across the 18 LGAs in

•Oshiomhole

Edo State with its poor resources, is still an enigma. All the contractors are on site in the projects located in different parts of the state.

Even roads like the Ekperi Anegbette and 57 kilometre Evboeghae-UgoUrhonigbe which were thought to be very difficult to contemplate because of the resources needed to navigate their respective terrains are virtually on the homestretch.

The government's showpiece contribution to the health sector apart from the building of a women and children hospital in Ewohinmi and Otuo, is the ongoing construction of a five star complex at the Central Hospital, Benin City.

Unlike the arid 10 year reign of the PDP, Oshiomhole in a little over three years has impacted significantly on the lives of the Edo people.

The storm water project conceived to check flood in Benin City via its 23 catchment areas and the rebuilding of many adjourning roads represents a bold attempt by the Oshiomhole government

to fundamentally resolve the perennial problem.

Although the Coalition of Progressive Political Parties, (CPPP) Edo State Chapter is said to be an amalgam of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), Congress of Political Change (CPC), Citizens Popular Parties (CPP), Labour Party (LP) and People's Progressive Party (PPP), Comrade Godwin Erhahon and Isaiah Osifo, both hired goons of a faction of the PDP have hijacked it for political ends. This has prompted the CPC to pull out from the organisation.

Given the massive investment in infrastructure by the Oshiomhole administration, the recent palliatives by the governor should be seen as a way to further touch the lives of the people because of envisaged additional revenue from the withdrawal of oil subsidy. It merely falls as part of the philosophy of government under Oshiomhole to utilise available resources for the good of a greater number of people.

Long before the myriad of governance issues thrown up by the last antifuel subsidy nationwide protests, the Oshiomhole government has mobilised the state's meagre resources to make a significant difference in the lives of the Edo people. In fact Oshiomhole started tackling those issues of governance from the very moment he took over.

Apart from reversing the ratio between capital and recurrent expenditure which weighed largely in favour of recurrent expenditure for close to 20 years, the government embarked on a bold move to cut waste leading to the saving of N13.5 billion in the first year.

Savings from the running of the Governor's Office amounted to N5 billion.

Anchored on transparency and fiscal governance, the Oshiomhole government has harnessed the state's little resources to make significant impact in

tiary, Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. McVeigh's co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, is currently serving a life sentence at ADX. Robert Hanssen, the former FBI agent who betrayed several spies to the Soviet Union and Russia, is serving a life sentence at ADX for his crimes.

The prison also houses inmates who are a high escape risk, including Richard McNair, who escaped from a county jail and two other prisons before being sent to ADX. During a guided media tour of ADX on September 14, 2007, by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, reporters remarked on "an astonishing and eerie quiet" within the prison as well as a sense of safety due to the rigorous security measures in place within the facility. One journalist, Henry Schuster, said: "A few minutes inside that cell and two hours inside Supermax were enough to remind me why I left high school a year early.

The walls close in very fast." different areas of the people's lives never seen since the Samuel Ogbemudia and Ambrose Ali years.

This is not fired by an attempt to score cheap political point.

The massive investment in road construction, rebuilding of schools, building of hospitals and provision of water and electricity to many communities across the 18 LGAs which has not been witnessed in close to 30 years, is a testimony to the vision to run a people oriented administration.

Rather than those who prefer to play to the gallery, the palliative measures represent an added move to touch the lives of the people. While some PDP states are still grappling with the issues of N18,000 minimum wage which Edo under started implementing since June last year, the government has gone further to abolish all forms of fees and levies at the senior secondary school level as a way of sustaining the compulsory education at the primary and junior secondary school level.

The governor has also directed the authorities of the Ambrose Ali University (AAU) to reduce tuition fees payable by each student by N15,000 for regular undergraduate students irrespective of state of origin. In the same vein, he has directed a N5,000 reduction in fees payable by each part-time undergraduate student.

We may need to pause and ask the authors where are the roads constructed by the Osunbor government? They've largely given way like a pack of cards few months later because they were poorly designed. Wise counsel should prevail that all these shadow boxing will not save the waterloo awaiting the PDP. Let no one be deceived. Edo 2012 will be a choice between the massive development of the Oshiomhole years and the sterile 10 year stewardship of the PDP government. These doomsday authors should begin to rehearse their requiem.

Isidahome, a public affairs commentator writes from Igueben, Edo State.

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WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

NEWS Living ‘Why Nigeria is underdeveloped’ Faith T

By David Oyedepo

Why you need to live right!

L

AST week, I taught on other blessedness of sanctification, what it takes to be righteous and the dangers of desecration.

This week, I will be teaching on why you need to live right, the price for living a sanctified life and God’s ultimate provision for your sanctification.

Living right is all about maintaining a daily walk with God, with fear and reverence. That is what living a sanctified life is all about.

God’s Word says: Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28). When the grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear becomes your lifestyle, then you are making the most of life.

If you want to maintain relevance, then it’s important to maintain a daily walk with God in your life. The Bible narrates a story about a son of David called Amnon who had an incestuous relationship with his sister called Tamar. This sin caused him his life (1 Samuel 13:1-14).

Can you now see what not living right can cause? This is why you need to live right (sanctified life). May you not end up like Amnon!

Let me show you why you need to live right: 1. It is commanded: God won’t tell you to be what He knows you cannot be. So, ‘be ye’ means, you have the capacity to be. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

From this scripture, it is clear that the need to live a sanctified life is commanded by God Himself.

2. You cannot make it to the Promised Land without it: Lusting after evil things disqualified some of the Israelites from making it to the Promised Land (1 Corinthians 10:1-14). So, without sanctification, it is impossible for you to enjoy a glorious life, which God has packaged for you in His agenda.

3. Sanctification enhances health and vitality: Sickness is not only an oppression of the devil, it’s also self-inflicted by sin.

There was a man that was held down by sickness for 38 years in John 5:1-9. He was at the Pool of Bethesda, but would not be healed.

At the root of his 38 years plague was sin. What he needed was forgiveness of sin. So, sanctification enhances health and vitality.

What is the price for living a sanctified life?

1. Crave after righteousness: Go after righteousness, crave after righteousness, and follow after righteousness. Matthew 5:6 says: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. We are in the time of the rain of righteousness. Let’s seek for the rain of righteousness (Zechariah 10:1).

2. Beware of spiritual emptiness: Refuse spiritual emptiness.

Spiritual emptiness is a risk. It makes you vulnerable to the invasion of wicked spirit. Active Word practice secures your spiritual destiny (Matthew 7:24). Endeavour to fill your heart with the Word of God. 3. Be filled with the Holy Spirit: You are either filled with the Holy Spirit (Spirit of God) or an evil spirit. The war of sanctification is a war within. Until you conquer that war within, you cannot manifest a sanctified life (Mark 7:21-23).

What are the strongholds?: The strongholds against your glorious destinies are within your thoughts. Satan operates through one’s thoughts to defile one’s life.

The spirit of the world is a stronghold (1 John 2:15-17). It operates through the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

So, the spirit of the world simply means the spirit of lust.

Another stronghold is the lying spirit (1 Kings 22:22). It makes one to see lying as a normal way of life. These are all spiritual things and they will take a stronger spiritual force — the power of God — to conquer them.

God’s ultimate provision for your sanctification: The Blood of Jesus: (i).That is the Blood that blots out everything that is against us (Colossians 2:14). That is the Blood of justification (Romans 5:9).

So, the Blood of redemption is the same Blood of sanctification. (ii). The Blood is a purging force that purges us from within and that happens from the Communion Table. (iii). The Blood is God’s provision for servicing our conscience, so we can live a sanctified life (Hebrews 9:13-14). (iv). The Blood is God’s provision for our conquest within (Revelations 12:11). If you want to be sanctified, engage the Blood weapon in prayers.

If you are not yet born again, you can do so right now as you say this prayer with sincerity and confidence: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. I cannot help myself. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. Deliver me from sin and Satan, to serve the Living God. Today, Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!

I will continue this teaching next week! This is your year! You must not fail destiny!

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. Our midweek services hold on Wednesdays between 6 and 8 p.m. We have four services on Sundays. The first one holds between 6.30 and 8.15 a.m., the second between 8.25 a.m. and 10.10 a.m., the third between 10.20 a.m. and 12.05 p.m. and the fourth between 12.15 and 2.00 p.m.

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books — Walking In The Newness Of Life, Conquering Controlling Powers and The Blood Triumph.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO, Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: bishop@davidoyedepoministries.org

HE Sunday service of Guiding Light Assembly, Lagos literally turned to a town hall meeting recently where members denounced corruption in the country and declared only good governance can save Nigeria.

Tempers flared as members seized the opportunity offered by the general overseer, Pastor Wale Adefarasin, to express views on why the nation is backward.

They blamed bad leadership, greed and corruption for the nation’s underdevelopment.

Former Lagos Deputy Governor, Mr. Femi Pedro, said only drastic actions can save the nation from corruption.

According to him, “You

By Sunday Oguntola

don’t call a conference to talk to thieves. Thieves are always faceless until they are caught. You deal with thieves when caught and you melt out judgment on them. ‘’The judgment in most cases has to be a drastic one to teach others a lesson that would make them not to venture into it and stop those who are in it from continuing”.

He suggested the China option to arrest graft in the nation.

Pedro explained, ‘’Today in China, it is “steal be caught and be executed”. Interestingly no one wants to die so corruption has been dealt with in that country. ‘’China today has risen

from a poverty stricken nation that dwelt on rice alone to the second largest industrial market in the world”.

He acknowledged capital punishment might be impossible but said “something equally permissible should be put in place to drive real fear into the mind of corrupt elements in and out of government.’’

Mr. Olumide Akande, son of Chief Aret Akande the renowned international business mogul, called for reduction of cost of governance and operational expenses.

According to him, “Most of the people who today are in government have no agenda more than to lick the honey and drink the milk at the centre. Let Nigeria make

•Members during the session

the centre less financially attractive and we shall see a great change.’’

Mr. Ademola Ade-Ojo of Elizade Motors blamed lack of vision for the nation’s endemic corruption.

Ade-Ojo said, “In Nigeria, we need to ask ourselves as a nation what philosophy or style of government we believe in? What are we striving for? What is our goal? ‘’Once we are able to arrive at this, all other components that would make that goal realisable would fall in place.’’

He went on, “It is this lack of focus that breeds the grabbing attitudes of politicians and those in power in this nation. This gives rise to cabals and birth all manners of corruption.’’

On why he threw the pulpit open for discussion, Adefarasin said “religious leaders of the 21st century should be pragmatic enough to know that the church is an active part of the larger society and not an island unto itself.’’

He said Jesus adopted a similar method, stating ‘’worshippers should be allowed to bring forth their opinions on issues that are at the forefront in the society on regular basis.’’

The national secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), added “It is not all of us that can go to the Freedom Square at Abuja or Ojota (Lagos) and other places in the nation to press for our right. ‘’But all of us have our views on the nation. These views are to help build a nation where no man is oppressed as the old national anthem says.’’

Cleric donates to police stations, schools

T

HE founder/ spiritual head of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church Lagos, Primate Elijah Babatunde, last week donated gift items to police formations, traffic law enforcement agencies and schools in Lagos.

The gestures were in commemoration of his birthday ceremony.

Babatunde said the donations were to demon-

By Sunday Oguntola

strate his belief in the police force and law enforcement officers who are always criticised and unappreciated. ‘’These people stand under the sun and rain to protect all of us. Yet, we never acknowledge their efforts. We instead blame them for everything that happens to us.

‘’We must show them love and gratitude for them to perform better,’’ he stated at the Police Divisional Headquarters in Ilasamaja.

Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station, ASP A.O Ochogwu, thanked the cleric for the donation.

He said Nigerians must consider security a collective responsibility to achieve a safer nation.

Babatunde also do-

Boko Haram will end by April, cleric assures

T

HE Boko Haram insurgency that left many killed and rattled the nation will frizzle out before April, General overseer of Palace of Miracle Evangelical Ministry otherwise known as Holy Ghost Agbara Oro, Lagos Apostle Godwin Akinsola, has declared.

Akinsola spoke during the annual Bethel convocation of the church with the

By Dayo Adewunmi

theme ‘’God’s wonders’’.

He said the cup of sponsors and members of the deadly sect were full.

The cleric said they had up to April to repent or be exposed.

According to him, ‘’God will reveal the cabal behind Boko Haram before the end of April. He is giving them grace to repent before then.

‘’The whole nation will be shocked to know those behind the dreadful Boko Haram.’’

Some of them, Akinsola said are cabinet members of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He urged the President to look inward, assuring ‘’God will show him those Judas and they are very prominent and very rich’’.

nated to Isolo, Mushin, Idimu, Ikotun and Ikeja Police Divisonal Headquarters.

He was also at the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Isolo/Okota and Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO), Okota where he donated water dispensers.

At Akingbaye Primary School Isolo, he doled out cash gifts to the school ‘’to ensure students are better taken care of’’.

The train moved to Mega trio College Ilasamaja where many students are on scholarship under the Inri Widows Foundation (IWF), the humanitarian arm of the church.

Babatunde donated undisclosed cash to the school.

The principal, Mr. Sunday Adedigba, described Babatunde as a ‘’practical Christians and a father to the less privileged’’.

Worship

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

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First fruit: To pay or not to pay?

I

T happened too suddenly. Before the nearest usher could reach him, he was already on the pulpit. He confronted the pastor full of rage: ‘’How dare you ask us to pay all our salaries? How do we survive the longest month in the year? Is God so demanding that he will leave us impoverished all in the name of giving? This is certainly not of God’’.

The pastor was speechless. He just watched on.

Members were dazed. It took almost a minute before ushers mobilised to bundle the enraged member out.

This was the scenario penultimate Sunday in a new generation church somewhere in Lagos. It was in the middle of the pastor’s admonition to the congregation to pay their first fruit, a special offering that has sharply divided Christians in the country.

tional Abuja, Bishop John Praise, also practises and preaches first fruit. ‘’I have been doing it for years,’’ he began. ‘’It is a commandment in the Bible. It is not a strange doctrine. If you bring your first fruit in January, you have sanctified all your finances in the year.

The first sanctifies the rest.

It is predicated on the idea of first things first.’’

Shooting down first fruit

But General Overseer of The Stone Church, Ibadan Oyo State, Pastor Alex

The practice of first fruit offering is generating serious controversies among churches and Christians, reports Sunday Oguntola Adegboye, will have none of this. ‘’I don’t pay first fruit because I don’t know what they call first fruit,’’ he declared. First fruit, he believes, is not mandatory as the tithe because it was given after the law. He frowned particularly at the idea of asking Christians to

drop their January salaries to guarantee prosperity and increase. ‘’If people bring all their first salaries, how will they feed? What happens to the rest? What do we expect to feed on? Those making it a doctrine have put God’s people under bondage,’’ he

charged. He said churches that demand payment of first fruit are after money. ‘’I consider it another gimmick to make more money really. I think some people are just always coming up with different methods of making people part with their money. This is crass materialism and we don’t need it’’.

Senior Pastor of Shepherd hill Baptist Church, Obanikoro Lagos, Rev Israel Kristilere, is incensed with what he described as ‘’bastardisation of a biblical doctrine’’. He said first

For

The injunctions

First fruit offering is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. In Proverbs 3: 7 states, ‘’Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase’’.

Ezekiel 44: 11 is even more pointed. It says, ‘’And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.’’

The case for first fruit

Advocates of first fruit easily refer to these passages to support their position. General Overseer of Great Commission Bible Church, New Oko Lagos, Rev Olu Johnson, believes it is wrong for any Christian not to pay first fruit.

Johnson said, ‘’We keep doing what we like and expect supernatural results. We cannot see the mighty move of God until we learn to obey his commandments, whether they are convenient or not.’’

The command to pay first fruit, according to him, is incontrovertible. ‘’It is all there in the Bible. We have a choice to obey or ignore it. The earlier we do what God wants the better for us.’’ Johnson, who claims to have been practising first fruit for years, said he has seen God moved in his life. ‘’In 1996, I started working and decided to give God my first salary.

The next month, I received favour and was given double of my salary by management. I decided to give God one part of it. What did I see? The next month, my department was split into two and I was promoted to head it. That would have not happened if I was not obedient to God,’’ he shared.

General Overseer of Dominion Chapel Interna-

• ‘’We cannot see the mighty move of God until we learn to obey his commandments, whether they are convenient or not. ‘’The command to pay first fruit, according to him, is incontrovertible. ‘’It is all there in the Bible. We have a choice to obey or ignore it. The earlier we do what God wants the better for us’’ -Rev Olu Johnson, Great Commission Bible Church, New Oko Oba Lagos.

fruit is only applicable when someone gets a new job and decides to freely give to God. ‘’If you get a job and decide to give God all your first salary, that is first fruit. It is a one-all thing and not a yearly ritual or practice.’’

The Bible, he points out, calls it ‘’first fruit and not first salary’’. Kristilere said ‘’it is wicked and ungodly to ask people to bring all their first salaries to the church. While the pastors are smiling, members are frowning and struggling to survive. It is just a crooked way of amassing wealth’’.

Former Vice Chairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Lagos Chapter, Bishop Abraham Olaleye, said he does not preach first fruit or demand from members. He however said some members of his church, out of their own volition, have been practising the offering for years. ‘’Nobody told them. They just said God told them to do it. I do not preach it but since they said God told them, we accept the offering from them.’’

He said churches should leave members to decide whether they want to practise it or not. To coerce or lure them into payment, he said, will be ungodly. ‘’It is wrong for any church to pressurise anybody to do it. It is even worse to penalise who do not believe in it or treat those who do better,’’ he added.

The controversy lingers • ‘’IF you bring your first fruit in January,

you have sanctified all your finances in the year.

The first sanctifies the rest. It is predicated on the idea of first things first’’ - Bishop John Praise, Dominion Chapel International, Abuja.

Against

• ‘’It is called first fruit, not first salary. It is wicked and ungodly to ask people to bring all their first salaries to the church. While the pastors are smiling, members are frowning and struggling to survive’’

• ’’It is wrong for any church to pressurise anybody to do it. It is even worse to penalise those who do not believe in it or treat those who do better’’

• ‘’I consider it another gimmick to make more money really. I think some people are just always coming up with different methods of making people part with their money’’

- Rev Israel Kristilere, Shepherdhill Baptist Church, Obanikoro Lagos.

- Bishop Abraham Olaleye, former Vice Chairman, Lagos PFN.

- Pastor Alex Adegboye, The Stone Church Ibadan.

Johnson however said Christians don’t have to pay all their first salaries. ‘’It is open to individual interpretation. Some pay all their first salaries, others opt for the equivalent of their first week wage.’’

Praise agrees how much is paid depends on individuals. ‘’Some businessmen pay their first profits or even everything they make.

It depends on how much people want God to bless them’’.

For those who said first fruit has no place in the New Testament, Johnson refers to Romans 11: 16 and I Corinthians 15: 23.

He said, ‘’It does not matter whether it is in the old or new testament. As long as it is somewhere in the Bible, it is the word of God. Besides, the New Testament came to perfect, not abolish the Old Testament’’.

Chuks Adam, a school administrator, is a member of a mega church where first fruit is highly recommended. He said he has been practising it for years with results. ‘’My brother, I have tasted it. I do it happily and have never been in need. God has always been there,’’ he claimed.

Others who spoke with our correspondent said they will have nothing to do with it.

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http://www.thenationonlineng.net

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 6, NO. 2040

QUOTABLE “We want Sovereign National Conference. Nigerians who voted for the President have the right to demand for convocation of the conference, and not that the President should select some people to make the constitution. Sovereignty belongs to the people. ” — Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

E

XCEPT I err gravely, I think regular Nigerian newspapers contain some of the most salacious essays and provocative photographs of women in various stages of undress than any other country’s in the world. I do not know where we got the culture from, but it is certainly not from media practice of a few decades ago; not in the 1950s, 60s, 70s or even early 80s. Sometime in our recent past, the dam burst and our papers went full throttle purveying torrid stories on copulation and horrifying, explicit photographs mimicking Western haute couture.

I once drew attention to this subtle pornography and wondered whether the objective was profit or whether, if newspapers can indeed take the liberty, it emanated from the bohemian creed of art for art’s sake. This second objective is a little complicated. L’art pour l’art, the French rendition of art for art’s sake, by definition indicates a separation between any work of art and its moral, didactic or utilitarian function. Could newspapers therefore publish highly suggestive photographs simply because they represent the reality of our existence and society?

Today, as the melange of newspaper front pages published below shows, I am even angrier at what threatens to become a worrisome subculture of newspaper journalism in Nigeria. The electronic media unabashedly purvey violence, but are slow to embrace the sort of open practice of suggestive nudity their print counterparts celebrate. In fact, newspapers, particularly weekend editions, promote both photographic and written pornography with an assiduity that is baffling and unprecedented. Why editors are not uncomfortable publishing indecent photos both young and old have unrestricted access to is hard to explain. I myself can only hazard two guesses: economic reasons and art for art’s sake.

First, the photographs. It is said that a man is wired to be stimulated by what he sees in a woman. Therefore, women seem endlessly afflicted by concerns of how they look, how they can preen before men, and perhaps too, for the gifted among them, how they can seduce with fluttering eyelashes and lascivious looks, and striking poses revealing thighs, cleavages, and sculpted derrieres. A whole range of fashion repertoire is dedicated worldwide to profiting from this state of affairs. But such crass commercialisation is often limited to select and special publications, not regular newspapers. It has, however, become standard fare for weekend newspapers here to flaunt such seductive photographs on their front pages, more or less

Subtle obsession with journalistic prurience

•Labaran Maku

•Mike Omeri

to lure readers rather than promote art for art’s sake.

The inside pages, supposedly dedicated to haute couture, are even more provocative and ingenious. Some newspapers pretending to draw censorious attention to dowdiness have perfected the art of publishing photos of women in near nudity. I have repeatedly spied my sons dwelling a little bit longer on those photos, as they warily watch out for my withering, disapproving gaze. Worse, perhaps unconsciously, they seem, like other young boys, unerringly drawn to newspapers that entertain such atrociousness.

Even the silly photographs of WAGs (wives and girlfriends of high-profile British footballers) find routine expression in our newspapers, and they are often very scandalously over-exposed. I squirm today when impressionable minds lay hold of our newspapers. In the distant past, young people used to learn the mechan-

ics of grammar from newspapers, and were taught great lessons in morality and exemplary behaviour. Now, they acquire unadulterated filth, and dispense it with equal relish.

Yes, men are wired by sight, but must serious newspapers, as opposed to junk papers, help the devil in them? There are a host of other media dedicated to spreading the enervating malaise of pornography, but, unlike newspapers, these are not readily available. Unfortunately, even these explicit photographs cheapening and debasing women and making them susceptible to attacks and abuse are the least of the irreverences of our newspapers. Today’s newspapers match the photos with abhorrent essays purportedly designed to help relationships last longer and be more fulfilling.

I do not want to go into the background of the permissiveness that is undermining families and societal fabric. It is un-

Time for decisive action on Somalia

T

HE African Union (AU) is one of the most awkward continental bodies in the world, far clumsier than any in Asia, Europe or the Americas. It is not certain why this is so, whether it has something to do with culture or economics, but we know African leaders have not responded with elegance to the Arab Spring that began in North Africa, their peer review mechanism having failed them most miserably, and they also did not respond well to the Libyan war, not to talk of the electoral stalemate that bred the contrapuntal leadership in Zimbabwe. They have sacrificed troops and money in Sudan’s Darfur region and in Somalia. But such sacrifices have been vitiated by lack of political will and deft handling of power relations between competing groups.

Still in the mood of the beneficial effects of the Arab Spring, it is important

that the AU must closely monitor developments in Libya and help its people to transit form war to peace. The war is won; peace must also be won. There will be competition for power and prominence, and there will be ethnic, social and religious groups to rein in, especially in the absence of one powerful, unifying figure. The task is onerous, but with firmness rather than vacillation, it should not be impossible for AU leaders to help the transition. They must not leave the country solely in the hands of Western powers, as they inadvisably did at the beginning of the revolt.

But while they are plotting their way back into relevance and reckoning in Libya, it is also time the AU intelligently and firmly kick-started a permanent solution to the Somalian imbroglio. It is time for the AU to assemble an armada, a great army far in excess of the tokenism with which it has handled the situation so far.

It is not a job for occasional Kenyan or Ethiopian forays into Somalia. Somalia has been in disarray, without a real government in control, for far too long, and it has bred all sorts of terrorists kidnapping people on land and at sea, killing and maiming at will. Without first pacifying the land, I do not see how competing groups, some of them profiting immensely from violence, can be brought to the round table for discussions.

The AU does not have a culture of brilliant and bold initiatives, as Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan and Libya, among others, have shown in the past. But in the name of God, it must quit pussyfooting over Somalia. The time to act is now, and Nigeria must prompt the AU into action.

• First published on October 23, 2011

necessary to describe what Europe went through after Freud and other psychoanalysts tried to establish a connection between sexual repression and psychological illness; or how the untrammelled spinoffs from centuries of sexual liberty has culminated in more bizarre forms of sexual preferences and expressions. Even the socalled atheistic societies of the East, which sanctimoniously condemn the decadence of the West, are not spared the full blast of the degradation to which women are subjected, and of which everyone is now a victim.

Instead, I am directing my unhappy focus at the many quacks specialising in relationship issues, who preface their impassioned essays with caveats warning the young away from their unrestrained articles on sex. How they expect the young and unmarried to skip those pages is beyond me. How they expect the young, after learning about sensual spots in the female body, spots named after alphabets such as ‘g’, not to experiment is also beyond me. The purpose of those appalling essays, their authors suggest, is to encourage first sexual satisfaction among couples, and second to establish an atmosphere where relationships can last. We are all now victims of marital and relationship philosophies that predicate satisfaction on how well a man pleases his woman, and vice versa.

The effect of this promotional photo and written pornography is to both induct the unwary into the culture of hankering after flesh, and the mature into seeing himself or herself and relationships purely as one in which the one gives pleasure to the other.

As a consequence of what newspapers now reinforce – to be sure, these things already exist in one form or the other in the society – men are now primed to boast of possessing the faculty of a jackass, and women to glory in their ability to take any man captive with a seductive glance, an inviting wink and fiery cleavages. Around their distorted sociology has grown a cornucopia of sex bibliography, chemical and pharmaceutical substances to aid performance, and relationship experts whose existentialist teachings encourage men and women to abjure any moral core in their beings.

It is time a firm demarcation existed between serious newspapers and junk media. Let the serious recognise their important role as agenda setters; and let the unserious pander to the base emotions of the rabble. The media has a responsibility to defeat the stereotyping of women as items existing for the pleasure of men, items to be taken at will, as South African President Jacob Zuma once notoriously said, or as materials with no right over themselves.

Sadly, because this lie about women has gone on for too long, most women themselves have surrendered to that demeaning profiling and have become victims of all sorts of sexual violence. Importantly too, it is time men began to see themselves not as inanimate creations designed to give soulless pleasure to the other sex, but as living beings with a purpose in life far greater than actuating their libidinous passion and giving it free rein.

Newspapers should clean up their act.

If they won’t, they should be compelled by newspaper proprietors. But if neither group is amenable to rectification, the readers, particularly those with impressionable young by their sides, should insist there must be an end to the dispensation of trash, the depressing victimisation of women, and the sickening and chimerical promotion of man as the ultimate Casanova and Adonis.

• First published on November 6, 2011

• Palladium will return next week

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