The Nation July 20, 2014

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

PAGE 2 Hollande visits future French force site in West Africa

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RESIDENT Francois Hollande wrapped up a three-day West African tour yesterday with a visit to the future headquarters of a new French force designed to combat religious violence.

The operation, which will be based in the Chadian capital N'Djamena, will involve some 3,000 French troops and operate in the restive Sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara where terrorists have staged multiple uprisings and incursions.

Operation Barkhane takes over from the French military mission in Mali, which had wrested control from Islamists who had overrun the north of the former French colony.

That mission is being wound up, but 1,000 troops will remain in Mali's north.

The rest will cover the states of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Hollande has said the Barkhane force will allow for a "rapid and efficient intervention in the event of a crisis" in the region.

France also has some 2,000 peacekeepers deployed in the Central African Republic, another former French colony riven by religious and ethnic conflict.

Hollande visited Niger and Ivory Coast earlier in the week, inspecting French military installations and meeting with fellow heads of state on security and development issues.

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AST Monday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives took the fawning step of endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan for 2015. The Majority Leader, Hon Mulikat Akande-Adeola (PDP, Ogbomosho North), gleefully announced the caucus decision to the press after they met.

“We are PDP caucus of the House of Representatives,” she said tersely. “A meeting like this is not strange because we met with the President who is our leader. We deliberated on issues affecting our party. The House caucus on our own decided to pass a vote of confidence (in) Mr. President and also endorse him for second term. We did the endorsement and we are urging him to run for second term.”

It is not clear why lawmakers representing different constituencies, and therefore different interests, could come together so casually to endorse a president just because they belonged to the same parliamentary caucus. Nor is it clear why they did so after knowing that their party and even the Electoral Act stipulated the procedure by which an aspirant could become the choice of his party. But perhaps the electorate will remember that this kind of endorsement harks back to the sycophantic days of the Gen Sani Abacha regime, when jobholders and other yesmen jumped over one another to curry favour from the head of state by endorsing him for transmutation from a military leader to a civilian president in breach of established procedures.

Already, many groups, some of them ethnic, and others political, have begun to curry the favour of the president by endorsing him for a post we all know he is eager to occupy for another four years.

But few Nigerians least expect that that sort of endorsement would begin prominently in the House of Representatives, a lawmaking body expected, together with the Senate, to fiercely defend its independence and protect its integrity. But having made the endorsement and announced it with little shame, the Reps PDP caucus leaves everyone with the

Gone shopping A vehicle shot off the end of a raised car park and smashed into some shops below after the driver mistakenly hit the accelerator rather than the brake in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China. The driver compensated the shop owners with around 3,000 Yuan (£280) before calling a crane to recover his vehicle.

BAROMETER Senator Mark versus sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Mulikat Akande-Adeola and the Jonathan endorsement

impression that they seek servilely and thoughtlessly to please the president and put him in their debt.

It is, however, not too surprising that the announcement of the endorsement was done by Hon Akande-Adeola.

Recall that in 2011, President Jonathan backed her for the position of Speaker, after the party zoned the position to the Southwest. But Hon Aminu Tambuwal trounced her by 252 votes to 90 in a political manoeuvre deftly inspired by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The ACN, precursor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had argued at the time that it was not in the interest of the coun-

try to elect President Jonathan's candidate into that office, for it would dangerously compromise the independence of the legislature and undermine the health and integrity of the Fourth Republic.

Many critics, especially short-sighted politicians and analysts from the Southwest, thought ethnic solidarity was to be preferred over legislative independence and integrity, and had pilloried the ACN for thinking objectively and grandly in terms of the future and democracy. Well, finally, the ACN/APC has been proved right. With the Senate firmly conservative and pro-Jonathan, mostly unthinkingly so, dictatorship would have bloomed much earlier than it has. Had she been elected Speaker, and had she survived the unavoidable banana peels her ingratiating style might have fostered in the lower chamber, it would have been inconceivable that she would stand up to the Jonathan presidency or mould the Reps into the democratic bulwark it has become, let alone inspire the numerous investigations the lower chamber has conducted into the heists alleged against the government.

Imagine the horrendous disaster the country would be facing today with a Senate and Reps fully devoted to pleasing President Jonathan and massaging his increasingly autocratic ego. With an obstreperous House of Representatives, it has still been impossible to curb the president's authoritarian fantasies, especially with the leeway granted him by a groveling Senate. The country must thank its stars that whenever the presidency loses its mind, and the Senate nods somnolently and absentmindedly in agreement, we still have an independent Reps to put the leash on the president, no matter how tenuous. It is up to us to defend the Reps against the massive assault on the lower chamber and its leadership by the Jonathan presidency, for it is clear that in their ranks, as we have seen of Hon AkandeAdeola, are many who cannot call their souls their own.

BringBackOurGirls campaigners

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O far, the Senate has been unable to dispel the unfortunate impression that it is unbearably, unwisely and subserviently too close to the Jonathan presidency. If last Tuesday's solidarity visit by the BringBackOurGirls campaigners led by former Education minister, Oby Ezekwesili, to Senate President David Mark is anything to go by, it does not look like the upper legislative chamber would be able to change anytime soon. Dr Ezekwesili, in her presentation, had complained that the government was indolent in its response to the Chibok abductions and was also harassing those campaigning for the girls' release.

Senator Mark, however, cautioned the campaigners to adjust their methods “so as not to be seen as working at crosspurposes with the government.” He also added that he did not “think any group should play politics with it.” Flustered by Senator Mark's response, Dr Ezekwesili shot back irritably: “This group is a group for the citizens and a group for Chibok girls.

You have not given us a very tangible response we can hold on to. I hope when we come back, we will have a tangible response.”

But not to be outdone, Senator Mark also angrily retorted: “I am sure you were not expecting me to tell you the girls are going to be rescued tomorrow. Let us not reduce it to what the people discuss in the classroom. The point I am trying to make is that we should be at the same wave length. Government is doing whatever they can; I do not know the tangible answer you want, which you have not received.”

What apparently worried the Senate president and was uppermost in his mind was the low opinion the campaigners had of the presidency. Contrast this with the response of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, when he received the campaigners and listened to their plaintive presentation.

Said he: “I have heard you talk about insinuations and attempt to label your group something that you are not. That should not bother you. It should encourage you. Do not be deterred by that.” Thank God Nigeria does not have a unicameral legislature.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

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S Justice Kutigi’s gavel brought the Jonathan constitutional conference to an abrupt conclusion, little would the eminent and distinguished jurist realise that there is a greater array of forces at play in this matter than the motley assemblage he had just dispersed. There is a touch of historical irony about all this in the sense that in the heat of human contention, a historical actor cannot see himself the way history sees him.

An otherwise decent and fairminded jurist, Kutigi was called upon to play the role of a political titan in order to midwife a new order for Nigeria against the run of play and the play of structural contingency. It was a role for which he was signally and historically illequipped. But he has wisely refused to play the political messiah, choosing to play along with avuncular relish.

The witty Nupe man knows one or two things about bucolic wisdom. Those who are going to sell a tiger and those who are hoping to buy it must negotiate from a safe distance. Kutigi has truly and thoroughly enjoyed himself, passing the ball and the bait back to where it belongs. When the history of stumbling nations is written, it shall be said that the famed jurist and his colleagues played their part.

The cost to the nation may be astronomical and prohibitive, but it is small beer compared to other fruitless chicaneries that have held the nation spellbound in the past.

The Babangida Transition programme gulped a whole forty billion naira before it dissolved in a historic fiasco. The Obasanjo Political Dialogue was equally prohibitive and given the underhand bribery and cajolery that characterized that exercise, nobody is ever going to know the cost. And it is morning yet on creation day.

The Jonathan Constitutional Conference has ended as a damp squib, unable to touch the major structural disfigurations that afflict and hobble the nation. The major fault lines of the nation have surfaced once again in hideous relief.

As this column has repeatedly predicted, nothing will come out of nothing. The conference was nothing but a diversionary ploy conceived as a crude weapon of consensus forgery but ending as a great charade.

The confreres need to ask themselves why the nation is still roiling in monumental crisis with the ongoing armed critique of the state and nation by the Boko Haram insurgents assuming a national complexion, with electoral abracadabra in the air in Osun State and with a gale of impeachments turning many state assemblies into a theatre of warfare. Surely, it takes more than additional state creations to address the issues.

As this column has noted, Jonathan, before the conference, had two major political jokers in his possession. He could have used the conference to engineer a historic stalemate and chaos which would eventuate in a state of emergency warranting the continuation of his tenure. But judging from the way and manner the northern delegates steamrolled his core constituencies and their nominal allies forcing them into precipitate retreat each time they tried to advance, it should be obvious to the president that he has formidable adversaries who are past masters of attrition.

Yet there is a paradoxical complicity of opposing forces in all this which speaks volumes for the impossible contradictions that beset Nigeria. While the old north wants the old structural status quo to continue, irrespective of the damage to the political fabric of the nation, the Niger Delta emergent hegemonists want the new political status quo to continue irrespec-

COLUMN

Structural contingency and human agency

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Kutigi

tive of the monumental costs of presidential incompetence to the nation. Since this is not about genuinely moving the nation forward but about maintaining privileges and advantages, there can be no meeting of mind.

With their eye on the main centre as an avenue for primitive accumulation and an excellent weapon for launching punitive expeditions against the rest of the nation, neither Jonathan and his cohorts nor the northern power Mafiosi are interested in a radical restructuring of the nation which will lead to new fiscal equations. The major problem between the two factions is who gets what and when.

While the northern power merchants insist that the north has been shut out of the power loop for too long and that Jonathan should leave very soon or at most at the next election, Jonathan’s supporters are insisting that he must stay put irrespective of actual performance in office because the north had in the past held on to power for too long.

With nothing to play for, the usually visionary and proactive Yoruba traditional powerbrokers have been reduced to political contractors and wizards of the Australian season of political pools betting.

These things cannot be settled at a conference. They can only be resolved by elite pacting or an outright showdown which can only encourage extra-constitutional forces always waiting in the wings.

This is why one must feel very sorry for the few patriots who went to the conference thinking that it was a genuine call for the structural reengineering of the nation. They have failed to factor in the role of

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OW much more can a nation and its stricken people take? Within a sadistic spell of six months, the good people of this beautiful and enchanting country with their quaint political institutions have suffered two major air catastrophes the likes of which are very rare and far between in aviation history.

First, their plane flew into calamitous oblivion in an aviation mystery which remains unsolved despite feats of human endurance in inhospitable seas and the deployment of latest gadgets.

Stunned and dazed by this chilling development, we mourned with the Malaysians and the rest of the

structural contingency in human agency. Some changes are simply impossible in certain circumstances.

Now that the conference has come and gone without making a dent on Nigeria’s numerous ailments, Jonathan has only one major joker left, which is the electoral subjugation of the nation by hook or crook without minding whose ox is gored. Even before the conference terminated in an abrupt and undignified manner, this strategy appears to have been operationalised and is already gathering fearful momentum.

Anyone in doubt about the arrival of Jonathan’s juggernaut only have to reflect on the events of the last few weeks: the complete militarization of the election in Ekiti State in a way that suggests that the people behind this heist harbour no illusion about justice and fair play; the electoral larceny being cooked up in Osun; and, of course, the gale of impeachments which seeks to alter the political equation in states considered unfriendly or even hostile to Jonathan.

Such has been the psychotic daring behind these political offensives and their sheer disregard for the cultural and political sensitivities of the nation that one cannot but conclude that Jonathan is determined to be the last president of Nigeria as we know it.

Given the ongoing political rebellion in the north of the country and the growing economic distemper in the land, any other violent uprising of a cultural or ethnic nature may tip the country in the wrong direction.

Jonathan may yet get his wish in any of the areas where the government is currently fishing for trouble. Nasarawa is already astir.

Al-Makura is not a”Baba Mangoro” who is completely disconnected from the populace. Given the active cultural volcano in the state which simmering just below the surface and the capacity of the Ombaatse cult for maximum mayhem, one would have thought that Jonathan and his handlers would be more discerning in their choice of confrontation.

This must now bring us to the central thesis of this intervention which is the play of forces between human agency and structural contingency. Perhaps in the end, nothing can beat this column’s description of Jonathan as a boy-emperor handed a toy rigged with explosives. Given Jonathan’s baffling lack of elementary state wisdom and his serial breach of the complex cultural sensitivities and contending political realities of the nation, one must marvel at the ironic mockery of national fate and the convergence between human agency and structural contingency which have made a Jonathan presidency an inevitability at this critical and very crucial period in Nigeria’s history.

To perform this conceptual shifting of gears is to leave Jonathan momentarily out of the equation and see whether we can come up with some startling insights about the state of the Nigerian state.

Structural contingency is the constellation of social, political and historical forces at any point in the life of any political society. Human agency is the capacity of humanity to determine their destiny through both collective and individual exertion.

It is obvious from this that nobody can act in a vacuum. As it has been famously observed by Karl Marx, men make history but not under the circumstances of their choice.

In other words, human agency is conditioned and in the last instance determined by structural contingency. It is only in extreme cases of extraordinary collective heroism that certain societies manage to transcend the material basis of existence to leapfrog into a new dawn.

If we pursue this line of thought, we may come to the startling conclusion about the grim and chilling inevitability of a Jonathan presidency at this particular point in our history which is a judicious reflection of the balance of force between agency and structural contingency.

Of course, it can be argued that Jonathan had been imposed on the nation by General Obasanjo. But that is only to confirm that we were powerless in resisting the imposi-

Malaysia on my mind world that lost human invaluable.

All sorts of conspiracy theories have been flying about, but we are no nearer solving the tragic riddle.

Now, another Malaysian plane with invaluable human capital has been shot down while flying over the apocalyptic meltdown of what used to be the Ukraine in a chilling presage of the new Cold War. When the old Cold War ended, we all rejoiced. But the new Cold War, because it is based on identity and barmy brotherhood rather than ideology, is going to be more vicious and marked by an unprec-

edented savage ferocity. Globalization and the democratization of the arsenal of cheap death will see to that.

As we glimpse the site of horrific carnage and human wastage on an industrial scale, with international passports strewn all over, it looks more like a modern enactment of Dante’s inferno. Stunned and even more disoriented, we mourn with the good people of Malaysia and the world at large. It doesn’t rain but pours, and it has been pouring in the enchantingly named Kuala Lumpur.

tion in the first instance.

Going further back, it can also be said that even Obasanjo himself is a product of our powerlessness, having been imposed on the nation by a political mafia of northern generals to watch their back and protect their interests.

By this arrangement, the electors choose the winning candidate while the electorate rubberstamp the decision in “elections”.

The only time in history when the Nigerian multitude tried to act as both electors and electorate it ended in a historic melee with the electors stepping in to vaporize and abolish both the electorate and the putative winner. That was the June 12 1993 presidential election which threw up Abiola as winner and eventual martyr of the Nigerian military state.

The beauty of it all is that there seems to be some logic in sheer illogicality and a fundamental order to disorder. Even when it appears to be stuck in a permanent groove, there are variables to structural contingency and some variations to human agency even when it appears to be rooted in powerlessness and paralysis of the will. In the Nigerian case, there may well be a divine instrumentality to national dysfunction.

The northern power masters put Obasanjo there to protect their interest but Obasanjo had other ideas and swiftly went after them. Obasanjo put Jonathan there probably as a clueless rookie to be manipulated at will.

But it should be obvious that Jonathan is anything but anybody’s monkey marionette. In act of filial gratitude, he has gone after the political jugular of both Obasanjo and the northern feudal barons, even as he fine tunes how to decimate the dominant progressive tendency in the South West.

It is a war of all against all which showcases an inchoate and incoherent state formation that has proved incapable of an organic transformation from a national ruling class to a nationalist ruling class almost sixty years after independence. Unfortunately and given the structural contingency, the current opposition cannot fill this vacuum as long as it remains disarticulated from forces of civil society and other potent mass organisations. It is a loyal opposition; a national coalition rather than a nationalist formation.

We are faced with a classic political and historic conundrum.

While it appears virtually impossible to move the country forward given the current structural constraints and as the failed Jonathan Constitutional Conference has shown, there is absolutely nothing stopping the country from further regressing. Yet any further regression either at the economic, political or religious level risks putting the continued existence of the nation in grave doubt and jeopardy.

All of this, including the dramatic ascension of Jonathan and its deleterious effect on our collective existence, may represent the final working out of some deep historical and political contradictions. Like a captive audience in a horror movie, let us ask ourselves what we happen to be doing in the cinema house in the first instance.

4 Boko Haram: Death toll hits over 100 in Damboa •Writes nine villagers of invasion A

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

NEWS

VICIOUS Boko Haram campaign in Damboa, Borno State claimed more lives on Friday evening as residents gathered to bury relations killed overnight by the extremists.

The death toll climbed to over 100 yesterday, according to a civil defence spokesman and • a human rights advocate.

• The figure comprises those who lost their lives in two separate attacks by the sect members between Thursday and Friday.

Hundreds of residents of another town, Askira Uba, are on the run after receiving letters from the extremists threatening to attack and take over their areas, spokesman Abbas Gava of the Nigerian Vigilante Group said.

“Nine major villages are on the run,” he said.

Survivors said yesterday that insurgents fired rocketpropelled grenades and lobbed homemade bombs into homes, and then gunned down people as they tried to escape the fires in the attack on Damboa launched before dawn Friday.

Much of the town has burned down and left undefended by the authorities, they

said.

A human rights advocate said the extremists struck again as people were trying to bury the dead later Friday, and said the death toll is probably much higher than 100. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

The only defence came from vigilantes armed with clubs and homemade rifles, Gava said.

The town had been under siege for two weeks since Boko Haram dislodged soldiers from a new tank battalion camp on its outskirts. It seemed that instead of offering protection, the camp drew the wrath of the extremists.

In Thursday’s attack, the terrorists set fire on the town’s main market, the home of the local government chairman and the area’s top cleric.

“They killed many people.

Women and children fled into the bush,” an official with the Damboa Local Government, who requested anonymity said of the first attack.

“Those who could not flee surrendered and were killed by the insurgents,” he added.

“Most houses in the town

•Residents on the run have been burnt. Only a few still remain,” said resident Ahmed Buba. “The destruction is massive… This is the worst attack by Boko Haram on Damboa.”

“We were defenceless because all the security personnel, including soldiers and policemen, have withdrawn,” Buba told AFP. The Defence Headquarters had claimed to have repelled the attack and killed at least 50 insurgents for the loss of six soldiers including the commanding officer. But locals said many soldiers were killed and the military was driven from the base. They said the extremists twice have ambushed military convoys trying to reach the base in the past week.

The militants had cut off access to the town from the south on Monday when they blew up a bridge further south.

Damboa is on the main road south from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and at a strategic crossroads for farmers to

bring their produce to market.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been driven from their lands in the five-year-old insurgency, and officials have been warning of imminent food shortages.

Boko Haram has attracted international condemnation for the abductions of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who have been held in captivity for three months.

The insurgents have increased the number and deadliness of attacks this year, particularly in the Northeast though they claimed to have been the brains behind the recent detonated bombs at Apapa, Lagos.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday asked the National Assembly to approve a $1 billion foreign loan to upgrade the military.

The over 200 school girls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok have spent three months in captivity.

Human Rights Watch in a report last week said the in-

surgency has claimed at least 2,053 civilians in an estimated 95 attacks during the first half of 2014. That compares to an estimated 3,600 people killed in the first four years of the insurgency.

The New York-based advocacy group said there has been “a dramatic increase” in casualties from bombs, with at least 432 people reported killed in 14 blasts so far this year.

As the insurgency raged, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai, yesterday expressed shock at the increasing attacks by suspected terrorists in the state.

Receiving opinion and political leaders from Damboa in his palace in Maiduguri, the traditional ruler said he was saddened by reports of last Thursday’s attack in the town.

Garbai condoled with residents of the town over the attack and urged them to consider the incident as an act of God. “The news of the attack in Damboa came to me as a rude shock. I pray that the almighty

Allah will bring these attacks to an end,’’ he said.

Garbai advised the people to remain calm and law abiding.

He promised to channel the community’s request for increased military presence to Governor Kashim Shettima.

Leader of the delegation, Alhaji Kaumi Damboa, said the visit was aimed at seeking the assistance of the royal father towards ending the attacks.

Garbai said the recent attack had completely destroyed public and private buildings in the town.

He said the attackers stormed the town around 6p.m. when Muslim faithful were preparing to break their fast.

Garbai lamented that the attack took several hours due to absence of security agents in the town.

“Boko Haram attacks have become recurring in our town on daily basis. Our people now live in perpetual fear because of the attacks,’’ he said.

Damboa appealed to the Shehu to use his influence to ensure the deployment of troops to the area to prevent future attacks by the insurgents.

We’ve not abandoned Damboa, says military •Firms up deployment in embattled town

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ESPITE serial terror attacks on Damboa, Borno State, the military says it has not abandoned the town and its environs.

The town came under fresh assault on Friday evening as residents returned from hiding to bury victims of an earlier attack that day.

Death toll in both attacks is said to be over 100.

Residents alleged that they have been left defenceless by the military and thus exposed to incessant assaults by Boko Haram insurgents after the July 5 attack by the terrorists on the army base on the outskirts of the town.

However, a military source told The Nation yesterday that “We have not abandoned Damboa.” He said that on the contrary, “we have drawn battle line against Boko Haram in the area.”

“The reality is that Boko Haram made nine attempts to take over Damboa town and they were repelled by troops.

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) is rallying its leaders to save Governor Umaru Tanko AlMakura of Nasarawa State from impeachment by members of the State House of Assembly.

Former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, is leading APC governors and federal legislators as well as other party chieftains to Lafia, the state capital, tomorrow on a peaceful anti-impeachment protest.

The Assembly has levelled 16 allegations against the governor bordering on alleged “gross misconduct.”

On his part, the governor is warming up to challenge in court the advertisement of the impeachment notice against him without compliance with the 1999 Constitution and the relevant laws.

He has already put in place what a source called a strong

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

During one of the counter attacks, they set some of their suicide bombers against military tanks leading to the death of the Commanding Officer of the troops in one of the tanks deployed in the town. He was a Lieutenant Colonel.

“If we had abandoned Damboa, troops would not have successfully repelled the insurgents nine times. Although the troops for a few days were initially demoralised losing their CO; they have thereafter risen to the occasion by curtailing the insurgents.”

Responding to a question, the military source added: “The occupation of Damboa is important to the insurgents because it is contiguous to Sambisa Forest, which is their main base.

“They have also been desperate to take over Damboa because it is a corridor to link some neighbouring countries through which they get supplies.”

• Rescue workers at the accident site of a bus crash on the A4 motorway linking Poland and Germany near the Neustadt district in Dresden, eastern Germany, yesterday. At least nine people were killed and dozens hurt, police said, as a coach AFP PHOTO / DPA carrying Polish holidaymakers collided with another coach near the eastern German city of Dresden.

Buhari, Oyegun, APC governors storm Nasarawa for Al-Makura From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

legal team to challenge some steps considered illegal taken by the Assembly especially the manner of service of the impeachment notice.

The Nation gathered that the APC leaders and governors opted for a march on Nasarawa to draw the attention of the international community to the clampdown on the opposition

by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Buhari has volunteered to lead the battle to Nasarawa to protest over the impeachment move against Governor AlMakura, who is his political godson,” a source said yester-

•To lead anti-impeachment protest in Lafia on the way the Nasarawa House of Assembly •Gov assembles legal team issues is going about this impeachday.

“Others for the event are all APC governors, members of the National Executive Committee of the party led by its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Senators and members of the National Assembly.

“The solidarity visit is to sound a note of warning to the president and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party that the opposition will not condone any further move to emasculate it.”

Responding to a question, the source said: “It is going to be a peaceful march to prove a point that the plot against Al-Makura is sheer vendetta.

Irrespective of the security siege on Lafia, we will assert our rights to freedom of movement and assembly anywhere in Nigeria. There is a pronouncement by a court that protest is normal in a democracy.”

On the legal option being taken by the governor, the source said: “There are legal

ment process. This is why the governor has assembled a legal team, sought opinion and might head for court to assert his right to fair hearing.

“Certainly, unlike what happened in Adamawa State, the lawmakers will not eat their cake and have it. We want to pursue everything within the ambit of the law.”

The National Chairman of APC, Chief John OdigieOyegun, had on Wednesday accused President Jonathan of declaring war on the op-

position with state-sponsored impeachment proceedings.

He also said the party was being pushed to the wall and would fight back.

His words: “At this critical juncture of our history and despite our desire for restraint and mature engagement with President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) it is evident that inaction is no longer an option and we must resist.

“Indeed, keeping quiet in the face of the ceaseless and unrelenting reckless violations of all known laws of the land and the Constitution will amount to complicity in the lawlessness and impunity that has become the norm under President Jonathan. We know it has been the dream of the ruling PDP to rule for 60 unbroken years, not minding if Nigeria becomes a desert land in the process.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 13, 2014

NEWS

Storm brews in Kano over call for registration of southerners A

NORTHERN group, Concerned Arewa Citizens, is initiating a bill for the registration of all southern Nigerians residing or running business in Kano State.

The proposed bill, signed by the group’s President, Audu Bulama Bukari and General Secretary, Sunusi Umar Sadiq, is aimed at protecting the state from “robbery, kidnapping and other criminal acts.”

However, Second Republic presidential adviser on Assembly Matters to former President Shehu Shagari, Alhaji Tanko Salihu Yakasai, has taken a swipe at those calling for the registration of southerners.

He said that such a call could threaten the peace and unity of the country.

Also, leaders of Ethnic Traditional Leaders Forum (ETLF) in Kano has condemned the two-week ultimatum issued to nonindigenes resident in the North to relocate to their states of origin.

The bill is entitled “Kano State Registration of Southerners and Allied Matters Law, 2014” and if passed is expected to come into effect from August 1, 2014.

It proposes that any southerner entering the state must first register with the appropriate authority and be issued with an identity card Spokesperson for the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Salisu, confirmed that a group of lawyers is sponsoring the bill but said it is yet to be submitted it to the House.

The group had, last week, protested against what it described as unfair treatment of northerners in the south and asked the Emir of Kano to intervene in the issue as a matter of urgency.

The CAC has also forwarded the bill to all the Houses of Assembly in northern states, urging them to pass a law that will compel all southerners resident and doing business in the north to be registered, so as to curb the wave of crime in the region.

The Bill “is, among others, meant to protect our state against drugs and human trafficking,

•Yakasai calls for caution

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano.

kidnapping, baby factories, armed robbery, importation of firearms, pipeline vandalism, and other terrorist activities, which have become prevalent in the South.”

CAC is insisting that all southerners in the north, particularly in Kano State should be registered and issued identity cards.

However, Yakasai maintained that those making such calls do not comprehend the Constitution of Nigeria and therefore should be ignored.

“Such people are not eligible to being in a position of leadership. A leader should be somebody who has foresight and can think of the consequences of his action. If a leader should foment trouble that means that he is not qualified to be called a leader,’’ he said.

The former presidential adviser added, “To those governors who initiated and started all these rubbish about registering people,

what difference will it make if you register somebody; and after registering him, he will turn around to become a Boko Haram’?

“In Nigeria, there is only one constitution and one citizenship. There is nothing like Abia citizenship, Imo citizenship, Lagos citizenship or Kano citizenship. We are all citizens of Nigeria and the constitution of Nigeria has guaranteed equal human rights to every Nigerian; that we are entitled to go and reside anywhere in the country, and that we are entitled to go and pursue our legitimate businesses anywhere in the country and that nobody has any right to harass you in whatever business you are pursuing legitimately. “ It is clear to me that these people do not read the constitution of Nigeria, otherwise, where do they get their authority to register people and why discriminate against citizens from a particular section of the country? Why not a Yoruba man be registered, why not

an Urhobo man to be registered, why only northerners—what argument to they have to advance to justify their action?”

He said those calling for such action have definitely not read the country’s constitution. He added, “What we need to do is that if anybody wants to enhance security in the country, you can support security agencies to do their job, if they are not well funded, they should contribute. They can do so by providing free accommodation to security agencies in their states, they can provide them with uniforms, they can provide them with means of transportation for them to do their work or provide them with close circuit cameras to monitor crime and curb criminal activities; but to ask people to register, you are asking other states to follow suit.”

He wondered, “How do you explain to somebody who has been staying in your state even before you were born to register? This is

unthinkable!

I am particularly disappointed with Rochas Okorocha. I am more annoyed with him because if people were not allowed to leave their states of origin and settle in other states, Rochas Okorocha would not have been born in Plateau. He would have been somewhere else; and all the fortunes he has made started here in the north.”

In a statement by three Southern Traditional Rulers in Kano, His Highnesses, Alhaji Abdullahi Salihu (Oba Yoruba), Igwe Boniface Ibekwe (Eze Ndigbo), Deacon Fred Akhigbe (Enogie 11 of Edo), ETLF, said: “we take very serious view of (AYDF) pronouncement in a written statement in their address to the Emir to the effect that non-northerners, residing in any part of northern Nigeria should relocate to their various regions of origin within two weeks to make room to accommodate those who would be returning home from the southern parts of Nigeria.”

They called on security agencies to be vigilant to deal with those who may want to hurt non indigenes.

weekend killed two people in Brass and Nembe communities of Bayelsa State.

It was gathered that the victims were travelling on a passenger boat on Friday when the gunmen ambushed them along Ogbia and Nembe waterways.

It was learnt that the pirates opened fire on the passenger boat killing two persons, including the aide to the former Commissioner for Information and Orien-

‘PDP governors are more corrupt’ From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

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HE youth wing of the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has linked the ongoing impeachment process against the Nasarawa State governor, Tanko Al-Makura, to an alleged plan by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take-over all the opposition-controlled states before the 2015 general elections.

While calling on the ruling party to purge itself of corruption before accusing others, the APC noted that most of the PDP governors cannot scale the litmus test of a comprehensive probe of their government.

Speaking with reporters shortly after the inaugural meeting of the APC youth leaders in Akure, the state capital, the party’s Youth Leader, Babalayo Olutayo, noted that in terms of delivery of democratic dividends, the worst APC governor is better than the best PDP governor.

While further alleging that the PDP has become a cesspool of corruption, Olutayo said, “I think the Senate and the House of Representatives should start the impeachment process against President Goodluck Jonathan because he is also guilty of misappropriation of fund.

“It is this present administration that has granted state pardon to people like ex-governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. PDP leaders should bury their heads in shame because since 1999, it is only governors elected on the party’s platform that have been charged for corruption; the records are there.”

Lagos has not neglected construction of Oshodi roads- Hamzat

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

AGOS State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, has said that contrary to insinuations making the rounds, the state government has not neglected the Oshodi axis in the construction of roads.

Hamzat, who gave the assurance while briefing journalists in his office, said so far, the state government has finished the reconstruction of roads on Oyetayo, Brown, Church, Kike Adeyemi and Adisa Ajibulu streets within the Oshodi area.

The commissioner further disclosed that the government has put in motion a process, which is intended to revamp road infrastructure of the state under the Strategic Inner Road Development Programme.

He assured residents of government’s commitment to continuously rehabilitate and construct road networks in the State in order to ease movement of people around the State.

Hamzat said, “We have identified roads that are high traffic bearing capacity of the roads. It is the major link roads that we first addressed before embarking on the arterial roads, which we have also started focusing on.”

He added that the stateowned Public Works Corporation (PWC) has, in the last one year, worked on 39 roads within the old Oshodi Isolo Local government.

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•Akwa Ibom Governor Godswill Akpabio receiving a souvenir from Obong O. Etukafia during a courtesy call by elders & stakeholders of the Ekot Abasi/Mkpat ENin/Eastern Obolo Federal Constituency at the Governor’s Office, Uyo… at the weekend

Pirates kill two, ex-commissioner’s aide G UNMEN suspected to be pirates at the

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From: Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

tation, Chief Nathan Egba, on the spot.

A House of Assembly aspirant from the Brass Local Government Area identified as Alfred Belemote, his mobile police escort and boat driver were reportedly shot by the sea robbers.

The deceased aide was identified as Awotimigha Iyabi and was said to be in his early 40s.

He was said to be mar-

ried with four kids.

It was gathered that the sea robbers were armed with sophisticated weapons.

Sources said the gunmen were operating along the waterways and dispossessing boat passengers of valuables and money when the victims said to be heading to a remote community for a funeral ran into them.

The gunmen were said to have attacked the victims with volley of gunshots.

While some persons

claimed the armed men were sea robbers, others alleged that they simply targeted the boat because of the deceased and his friend, Alfred, who is believed to be a major contender for the House of Assembly election in the state.

“The gunmen stopped one of the speedboats in the convoy of two being used by the aspirant and were reportedly shouting that ‘he is not here. It is the second boat.

“It was at that point they sighted the second boat and opened fire. The mobile po-

liceman attached to the aspirant put up a good fight by returning fire. But the fire power of the gunmen was huge,” a source said.

Egba expressed shock at the attack, describing the deceased as a “non-violent man and gentle”.

Contacted on the development, the spokesman of the Bayelsa Police Command, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, confirmed the development.

He, however, said details of the incident were not available.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

NEWS

Nigerian wins Dubai International Holy Quran Award

APC raises the alarm over expired rice in Osun

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State yesterday alleged plan by the PDP to flood the state with thousands of bags of expired rice confiscated several months ago from smugglers. The rice, according to the APC, is to be distributed to voters for the purpose of voting for the PDP in next month’s governorship election.

The APC said it gathered on good authority that the rice is not good for human consumption, and therefore warned residents against eating the alleged dangerous rice.

APC’s Director of Publicity in the state, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said yesterday that the PDP had earlier boasted that it would “win the election with a bag of rice and at least N10,000 to each voter.”

He added: “Osun people are not hungry and they will not sell their birthright for stolen public money which the PDP wants to distribute in towns and villages of Osun.

“Those who love their lives should be careful because the PDP will stop at nothing including the distribution of poisoned rice to win election.”

Flood claims lecturer’s life From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

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HEAVY downpour from Friday through the early hours of Saturday has claimed the life of a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Offa in Kwara State, Mr. Adeniyi Adebowale.

Adebowale was said to be returning from Offa to Ede, his home town for the weekend when he ran into the flood.

The victim, who was reportedly driving in his Toyota Camry car marked LSD 783 CA LAGOS, had entered into a swampy area with heavy water after which the flood submerged the car.

The deceased, who was said to be living with his family members at Oke-Gada area, was just a short distance away from his residence located at 40/40 Avenue when the incident happened.

According to a family source, who preferred not to be named, the deceased reportedly communicated with his wife, Sade, just few minutes before the incident.

It was gathered that the deceased had been warned not to take the swampy road by other drivers plying the road, but he was alleged to have insisted on passing through the route.

•L-R: Aramide Toal Noibi with APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the celebrator CEO, NAHCO Plc, Ikeja Mr. Ganiyu Tunji Adebayo at the 70th birthday reception for Mr Adebayo, at the All seasons Plaza Ikeja, Lagos.

Impeachment: Ex-Nasarawa governor warns against plunging state into crisis

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HE First Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, foresees a prolonged crisis arising from the plot by some members of the State Assembly to impeach Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura.

He has therefore cautioned them to have a rethink and avoid being conned by fifth columnists who do not wish the state well.

Adamu, in a letter to the Assembly asked its members to remember that the state, which was created on October 1, 1996, is not immune from the political upheavals being witnessed in some parts of the country.

He drew their attention to a saying of former US President, John F. Kennedy that “It is not all the time that you do what you can do.” He added : “ those of us who made so much sacrifices to get our young state created did not bargain for this unfortunate path you are about to take our people through.

“You are all aware that after our struggle to get Nasarawa State created, I was privileged to lead our dear state as its first executive governor from 1999 to 2007. I have worked with

•Says lawmakers should beware of baits from fifth columnists FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation some of you and for the period we worked together, we had very fruitful working relationship, given that our ultimate goal has been the betterment of the millions of citizens of the state. I am of the view, therefore, that putting our young state through this tortuous road will do more harm than good for our people.”

He said that given the heterogeneous nature of the state and the recent sectarian upheavals there, nothing should be done to further rubbish the image of the state.

“Permit me to remind you that we in this young state cannot afford the luxury that people in states that were created 30, 40 or more years ago would afford. I therefore wish to appeal to our sense of reason, to reflect and ponder deeply over the ultimate implications of taking our young state through an unpredictable path,” he said.

“As the popular saying goes, ‘Discretion is the better part of valour’. While you

ponder on these few words of mine, I also urge all of you to listen to the voices of those who elected you. All of us in high and low positions of leadership in the state owe it to our people to do all we can to save our dear state from an ill wind that blows no one any good. You are advised!”

The former governor said although the 1999 Constitution gives powers to the lawmakers to serve as checks to the Executive, such must be wielded with restraint.

He added: “While the Constitution empowers you in the Legislative arm of government to serve as a check on the excesses of the Executive arm, such powers must be exercised with restraint and caution particularly where exercising those powers may be detrimental to the overall well being of the state and its people.

“My dear compatriots, the political atmosphere is indeed heated and tense as we approach the 2015 general elections. You must realise that a lot of the things happening have a bearing on the coming elections both at state and at the federal level. Your action must therefore be

measured at all times and guided by only what is of interest to our dear state and its people.”

He appealed to all to work across party divides “and put our state first, we can overcome the differences that may exist and work to turn the fortunes of Nasarawa state for the better.

Having known and worked closely with Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, I can attest to his imperfections as we all are as human beings. I, however, believe these shortcomings can be addressed if the executive and legislature close ranks and dialogue with open minds, with a view to understanding each other and ironing out the perceived differences.”

Adamu said he wrote the letter out of genuine concern for the development of the state and not based on partisanship. He clarified that the letter was written in the overriding interest of the state rather than opportunism.

“Fellow compatriots, I am compelled to write this letter to you as a last resort. Those who know me well or have followed my political history will agree that I have never been an opportunist.

JUSUN strike: Activist seeks Jonathan’s intervention situation where judges solicit for

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KURE-BASED lawyer, Charles Titiloye, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Muktar, to urgently address the crisis in the nation’s judiciary system, particularly the incessant closure of courts.

According to him, democracy cannot function effectively without a vibrant and independent Judiciary.

Speaking with The Nation against the backdrop of the ongoing strike embarked upon

by Judiciary workers’, which has shut down the nation’s courts, Titiloye made reference to Ondo State where lawyers have in the last two months boycotted the Courts to protest over a circular from the state’s Chief Judge, Olaseinde Kumuyi, on the production of executive tax clearance by sureties as a compulsory bail condition.

Titiloye said: “A responsive government will not fold its

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

hands and watch the Judiciary, which is the only institution that can resolve disputes shut down indefinitely due to resolvable issues.”

The lawyer noted that the request of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) for financial autonomy is justified in view of the unchallenged judgment of the Federal High Court granting financial

autonomy to Courts.

He noted that lack of financial autonomy for the Judiciary has turned most judges to beggars who are ready to do anything for the executive in order to get fund.

The activist also queried the alleged partisan involvement of judges in the affairs and policies of the executive arm of government.

“How can we explain a

tax clearance by using the Court proceedings to generate revenue for the executive arm even at the expense of the citizen’s fundamental human rights to liberty,” he questioned, adding, “Is our Courts still for both the rich and poor? How do you explain the relocation of Courts to the private building of a businessman in Ondo State due to lack of fund to build Courts?”

FRSC deputy spokesman pledges to do more

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R. BISI KAZEEM, the Deputy Corps Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), has pledged to do more in saving lives as an operative of the Commission.

He made the pledge in an interview with journalists shortly after being decorated with his new rank of Corps

Commandant.

Kazeem was among 23 senior officers including four female recently promoted to corps commandant.

He said, “I am very elated because to be promoted as Corps Commander is not something that is very easy, many were called but few were chosen. To whom much is given, much is expected; I

want to pledge that with this, I would do more of my job.”

Earlier, Mr. Osita Chidoka, the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, represented by Deputy Corps Marshal Ayodeji Omidiji, urged the newly promoted officers to brace up to the challenges of their new rank.

Kazeem was appointed the deputy spokesman of the Commission in 2009.

NIGERIAN, S u l a i m a n Abdulkarim Isah, has won the top position in the international Quran completion category of the Award, apart from the Dh250,000 prize money.

Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, attended the concluding ceremony of the 18th session of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award at the weekend.

The event which took place at the Cultural and Scientific Association, Mamzar was attended by Sheikhs, ministers, senior officials, and dignitaries.

Saudi Omar Hussain Baeisa came second and Yemeni Mohammed Khaled Yaseen third.

While Baeisa won Dh200,000, Yaseen bagged Dh150,000. The other top eight winners are Abdulaziz Abdulla Alhamri, Qatar; Abdul Rahman Alshuwaie, Kuwait; Mohammad Amdadulla Tajul Islam, Bangladesh; Anis Ali Al Fadel, Libya; Salem El Emjad, Mauritania; Mohammed Arif, USA; and Abdulrahman Abdulla Hasan, Bahrain.

They were given Dh65,000 to Dh35,000 Dh5,000 less against each lower position. “The Mauritian and American contestants, having got the same marks, were ranked eighth and second eighth.”

Contestants, who scored 80 per cent and above, were rewarded with Dh30,000 each, while those whose performance was estimated at 70 to 79 per cent, received Dh25,000 each. Participants, with scores less than 70 per cent got Dh20,000 each.

Three of the best 15 contestants with most tuneful voices initiated the ceremony with some verses from the Holy Quran, followed by speeches of the Chairman of the award organizing committee Ibrahim bu Melha, and Head of the arbitration committee Shaikh Sameeh Ahmed Athamneh.

Three documentaries were then displayed on the award’s 18-year history, an outstanding Quran memoriser, and Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb Sheikh Al Azhar who won Dh1 million the Islamic Personality of the year Award. Finally the jury members and top ten winners were honoured.

Bu Melha said the Award, which started with two sections in 1997, branched out to 12 categories this year and saw the participation of 160 countries over its 18year history.

“This is basically due to the incessant support of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

NEWS

ASUP/COEASU resumption: Students recount pains of prolonged strikes

‘Farmers earned N407b from local rice production’ From: Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

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ICE farmers and small scale rice processors earned N407 billion from local rice production, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.

Adesina said that with the new drive in production and the amount of arable land, Nigeria has the capacity to produce sufficient rice for its populace.

The minister said this at a media chat in Abuja on “self sufficiency in rice production.”

“You can see that we are creating value to the domestic economy because we are engaging people to work, we are also increasing the GPD of those states.

“Our farmers and small scale - rice processors have earned N407 billion from the current transformation in the rice sub-sector,” the minister said.

Adesina assured that Nigeria was on course to surpass its target of 20 million metric tonnes of food and produce 22 million tonnes of additional food by 2015.

He encouraged states to key into the Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) to increase rice production.

Doctors' demands justifiable, says Lagos lawmaker

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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HE majority leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Ajibayo Adeyeye, has backed the ongoing industrial action by medical doctors.

He said the demands of the doctors are reasonable and justifiable.

Adeyeye, who was a medical practitioner for close to twenty years before joining politics, made this observation while speaking at a weekly programme organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondents in Alausa Ikeja for lawmakers.

The lawmaker attributed the incessant industrial action to”unhealthy rivalry in the health sector”.

He expressed displeasure that nurses, laboratory technologists, physiotherapists and other allied medical groups want to usurp the responsibility of doctors.

While citing some of the issues that led to the strike, the Leader condemned a situation where somebody who is not a doctor would be the head of a hospital.

He believes such a trend contravenes the essence of setting up hospitals.

According to him: “Doctors are trained to offer unalloyed treatment to patients. I wonder why a matron who probably claims to have been serving for more than 30 years would not take instructions from a doctor.”

While responding to a question on Hippocratic oaths sworn to by doctors, Adeyeye argued: “I find it difficult to agree with that just because I am a doctor, I should not seek a livelihood. In anything you do, survival is first.

“The reality today is that many doctors can’t train their own children to become doctors because our doctors are impoverished. They can’t afford to put their children in schools to become medical practitioners.”

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•Decry unwanted regnancies From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

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•Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (2nd left) when he observed the Iftar (breaking of fast) with representatives of students of higher institutions in the state at Government House, Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta…yesterday

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has approved the release of additional funds for the procurement of military hardware in the ongoing campaign against terrorism and insurgency.

The Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, disclosed this at the weekend while on an inspection tour of Navy formations and facilities in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, Obanikoro said the approval sought to rearm and boost the capacity-building drive of the Nigerian Armed

Jonathan approves funds for military hardware From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

Forces to surmount growing security challenges posed by Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

He noted that President Goodluck Jonathan is committed to enhancing military efficiency and capacity to deliver in the fight against insurgency.

“In the fight against ter-

CAN applauds President over fund intervention for Boko Haram victims

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HE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday commended President Goodluck Jonathan for instituting a special fund to cater for the emergencies of Boko Haram victims.

The development, CAN said, has further demonstrated that Jonathan means well for the victims regardless of their backgrounds.

The National President of the Christian body, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, also praised the quality of persons nominated to serve on the special fund and wished them well in their task of raising and disbursing funds to victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the north.

He appealed to persons who will be directly and indirectly involved in the scheme to have the fear of God in all they will be doing and be fair in exercising their mandate.

In a statement in Abuja, Oritsejafor said: “The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) receives with gladness and great relief the news of the institution of a special fund to cater for the needs of victims of insurgency in parts of the country.

“On behalf of the association and the entire Christian community in Nigeria, I want to specially thank Mr. President for taking such a bold and courageous step to care for the victims of insurgency in the northern part

From: Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

of the country.

“The action is a further demonstration that President Jonathan is indeed the father of the nation and a father to all Nigerians irrespective of the background of the victims of the crisis and the decision has demonstrated that the present administration is responsive to the plight of the people.

“For long, it has been the conviction of CAN that victims of the senseless killings and wanton destruction of property should be given some ‘life line’ in whatever name it could be called and we are glad that the President has heard our call and responded appropriately.”

He added: “I believe that the fund will address a wide range of issues facing persons displaced by the crisis as well as provide the basis for a more comprehensive programme of rehabilitation and reintegration of the victims at the end of the crisis (insurgency).

“It my hope that funds realised from the various donations and contributions will be judiciously used for the good of those affected in the crisis.

“I honestly believe that this initiative will give hope to our people and instill in them a sense of belonging while reducing the psychological and physical impact of the burden created as a result of the losses incurred in the crisis.”

rorism, the president has approved huge acquisitions to build up the capacity of our military and this has not been done in the last 25 years.

“These are efforts that are highly commendable, and we should continue to encourage and support government to do more in the fight against insurgency,” Obanikoro stated.

He said: “The fight against terrorism is not all about the president – it is not about you and me, it is about all of us and it is a war that we can only win if we stand together.

“Without sounding immodest, I commend the commitment, dedication and the sacrifices they (military personnel) have been making and made in the past.”

OLYTECHNIC and College of Education students who wasted close to a year during the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) have described the industrial action as a wasted venture.

ASUP and COEASU suspended their strike after the intervention of the newly appointed Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.

In separate reactions yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, the students regretted that the strike caused socio-psychological havocs in their lives, leading to unwanted pregnancies and involvement in crimes.

The Student Union Government (SUG) President of Federal College of Education Technical Omoku, Rivers State, Comrade Ekeakita Hector Chinem, said: ”the strike is a total failure and had caused more pains to students than what the management intended to achieve.”

He said the action frustrated students, adding that more than 25% of their female counterparts are carrying unwanted pregnancies while some of the males are wasting in police cells for various offences.

8

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

NEWS

NSCDC boss tasks officers, men on crime, terrorism

Oyo seeks Australia support for women development

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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HE Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Ondo State, Mr. Andrew Ugwumba, has tasked officers and men in his command to brace up in the current fight against terrorism and other security challenges in the country.

Ugwumba gave the charge at the weekend during a Security Summit organised by the Command in Akure, the state capital.

According to him, there was the need for the officers to be friendly with people, noting that it is through this that useful information can be made available in the fight against criminals and criminality.

The NSCDC boss said that the purpose of the summit was to focus on the effective handling of security challenges by the security agencies, adding that the issue of security was the collective business of security agencies and the people.

He said, "Intelligence gathering and partnership is the bedrock of our operation as security agencies; the need to gather information and share promptly with relevant stakeholders for effectiveness cannot be overemphasised or ignored.

"We must work with the media with a view to educating and informing the masses and put the record straight on the current trends of security challenges facing the country.

The current security challenge is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, it is a global phenomenon."

Ugwumba urged the officers to do their best in the discharge of their responsibilities and do away with anything that could tarnish the image of the Corps.

Lawmaker receives accolades from constituents

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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•From left: The Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office, Mr. Olalekan Akodu; President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Loan and Risk Management of Nigeria, Dr. Oladipo Abiodun Bailey; Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs. Oluseyi Williams and Registrar of the Institute, Mr. Innocent Nzoba, during the investiture of the Head of Service as Honourary Fellow of the Institute at the weekend

Ekiti holds referendum on new LCDAs T

HE Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) yesterday held a referendum on the creation of new 18 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

Controversy had trailed the creation of the new LCDAs and the referendum, with the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) kicking against the creation, while also calling on the people to shun the referendum.

The exercise, which held at designated primary schools in the 137 wards across the 12 affected local government areas, commenced at about 8 am with the registration of interested voters and ended at 4pm.

Describing the exercise as a huge success, Chairman of SIEC, Mrs. Cecilia Adelusi, noted that the turnout of the people for the exercise was an indication that the state government took the right decision to conduct the referendum.

• Opposition parties shun exercise

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

She disclosed that there was a massive turnout in Iyin, Ogotun, Ikole, Iloro, Ifaki and other areas where the referendum took place, as people trooped out in large number, to vote.

The SIEC boss added, "However, there were areas where election did not take place. In places like Osi and Igbole, there was total blockage of the road, because the people there were protesting the choice of the headquarters.

"It is not our duty to look into such agitations, because we will still compute our results and send to the House of Assembly for ratification."

Speaking with journalists in Ikere Ekiti, the

Commissioner for Integration and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Funminiyi Afuye, said the people of the town were enthusiastic about the creation of an LCDA in the town, adding, "This must have informed the mammoth crowd that participated in this exercise (referendum)."

Journalists who monitored the exercise in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, noticed a fairly large turnout of people in all the designated centres in the 13 wards of the council.

At Ward 5, St. Michael's Primary School, Ajilosun opposite Mobil Petrol Station, the turnout was quite impressive.

Despite the relative success of the exercise, opposition parties allegedly boycotted the exercise, with the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) describing the creation of the new LCDAs as placing hurdles on the path of the incoming government of governor-elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

A few weeks ago, the PDP had gone to court seeking an injunction to restrain the state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the State House of Assembly and SIEC from going ahead with the exercise.

Defending its boycott of the referendum, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the State, Pastor Kola Oluwawole, hinged its stance on what he described as "insincerity of the outgoing government in its approach to the creation of the councils."

The PDP spokesperson noted that out of the 177 wards in the state, people in about 130 wards allegedly boycotted the exercise, while those who participated did so under duress and coercion from members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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EMBER representing Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Sunday Adepoju, has received kudos from members of his constituency as well as the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

Encomiums were showered on Adepoju when he held a town hall meeting at the Eruwa town hall with members of his constituency to give account of his stewardship.

Speaking at the occasion, the Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba Samuel Adegbola, noted: "As far as I know, this is the first time in the history of this constituency when a lawmaker will come home to render account of his stewardship."

The monarch, however, urged members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and people of the constituency to give Adepoju the necessary support in order for him to contribute more to the development of the area.

In his remarks, the APC Chairman in Ibarapa East Local Government, Alhaji Lateef Ajiboye, also commended the lawmaker for providing the platform to give account of his stewardship.

13 lives lost on Oyo/Ogbomoso road in one week

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O fewer than 13 people have lost their lives along Oyo to Ogbomoso highway in the last one week, investigation by The Nation has revealed.

Motorists and commuters plying the federal highway have, in the last few weeks, had sad tales to tell as a result of their nightmarish experience while transiting from the South West zone of the country to the northern axis.

Just recently at the Araromi

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HE Oragun of Oke-Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, has said that academics and students have critical and strategic roles to play in the nation's developmental process.

The monarch made this observation at the inaugural Students' Week of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the Adeleke University, Ede in Osun State.

Oba Abolarin said universally, one of the multiple roles of the university education system was to provide the bedrock of any

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

junction behind St. Bernadines Girls Grammar School, Oyo, a student was reportedly crushed to death by a lorry, just as a manager of a filling station reportedly lost his life on a commercial motorcycle in front of Labamba Hotel.

Also at Elekara Market, a north-bound lorry rammed into a trailer parked beside the road, killing five persons on the spot.

Same day, another auto crash occurred opposite the Olivet High School where two persons died instantly, while three others sustained injuries.

Also a few days ago, the driver of a red golf car allegedly ran into a parked taxi cab at the popular Owode area killing three persons in the process.

Findings revealed that the major cause of these accidents is largely due to the deplorable condition of the road over

many years.

Within the Oyo axis of the highway, motorists suffer untold hardships as a greater portion of the road network is in bad shape, while the Ogbomoso axis is ridden with potholes and gullies.

On this road, our correspondent counted over 100 potholes and deep gullies, while the breakdown of trailers and other heavy duty truck is also a common sight with these broken down vehicles left unattended to for many days.

'Academics, students have key roles in nation's development' From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

nation's manpower development needs through training of high level managers, innovators, scientists and administrators.

According to him, these professionals would in turn be placed strategically to efficiently manage the nation's economy, polity and the society.

He said: "For students to

come to the rescue of this nation, they need to hearken to our clarion call to national service and begin to think on how best to help redeem our fatherland from the ills and mistakes of our forebears.

"So, I want to recommend that there should be an urgent commencement and increase in the number of students exchange programmes, especially during the long vacation as a way of allowing

the students to cross-breed ideas from multi-cultures that can drive and sustain academic research endeavours and also catalyse national development.

"I want to emphasise that the nation urgently demands a great deal from the students, especially within the contact of the current quest to rediscover Nigeria's real essence and stature as the giant of Africa and in the collective bid to correct the multiple ills of yesteryears."

HE Oyo State Government has appealed to the Australian government to support it in the area of women development and improving the lot of people with disabilities in the state.

The deputy governor, Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo, made this appeal during the official launch of Australian Alumni in Nigeria held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

Adeyemo, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on People with Disabilities, Prince Paul Adelabu, said the state has recorded success in xxx developmental projects, adding that the state government will continue to provide a conducive environment for foreigners who intend to assist in the development of the state.

He also disclosed that the Oyo State Technical University will commence operation soon, adding that the state is also seeking the support of the Australian government for students' exchange programme.

In his response, the Australian ambassador to Nigeria, Jonathan Richardson, said the Australian government is committed towards fostering relationship with developing countries, adding that the country is ready to partner with the Oyo State government to train her citizens in developmental projects.

xxxx

Harmonise factions in APC, NEC urged From Damisi Ojo, Akure

T

HE National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been urged to step up the current reconciliation efforts in order to put the party in good stead ahead of the 2015 general elections.

A chieftain of the party in Ondo State, who is also a former Provost of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Prof. Olu Aderounmu, made the appeal yesterday during the inauguration of the party's new executives in Akure South local government led by Otunba Olubunmi Alo. The inauguration of the new executive is coming two weeks after another executive committee under the leadership of a lawmaker representing Akure North/South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde, took oath of office.

The development was the fall-out of the congress which result has not been harmonised between factions of the party as recommended by the Appeal Committee set up by the party's NEC. In his key note address, Aderounmu maintained that with the inauguration of the new executive, the leaders of the party in Akure South have taken the right step to address the crisis that has been rocking the party in the local government in recent

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

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•Sheriff

•Shettima

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ARRING any last minute change of plan, former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff will, in the next few weeks, defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the All Progressives Congress (APC) of which he was a founding member.

And contrary to reports that Sheriff’s expected move to the PDP was a fall-out of his disenchantment with the outcome of the National Convention of the APC, sources told The Nation that the former governor’s alleged decision to join the ruling party had been on the cards for close to two years.

The former governor’s romance with the Presidency, it was learnt, began shortly after he was allegedly questioned by security agents on his alleged role in the formation of the dreaded Boko Haram sect during his reign as governor from 2003 to 2011.

Before his interrogation sometime in 2013, there were alleged reports that Sheriff was domiciled in the United Arab Emirates, with other unconfirmed reports claiming he was resident in Saudi Arabia.

While Sheriff had consistently claimed that he has no links whatsoever with the Boko Haram sect, sources alleged that he was allegedly given a clean bill of health after the powers that be extracted a promise from him to join the PDP. This development, it was learnt, informed the resolve of some APC chieftains to closely monitor Sheriff’s activities in the party, with not a few alleging that the former governor was a mole planted by the Presidency to destabilise the party.

A source quipped: “No one is surprised that Sheriff is joining the PDP. For many in APC, Sheriff was only an APC member in the day and PDP member at night. No one trusted him from the outset and that is why his defection was long expected.”

Once he settles down in his new

Borno 2015: Shettima, Sheriff renew rivalry With his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) almost a done deal, former Borno State governor, Modu Ali Sheriff, is poised for an epic battle for the political soul of the state with his erstwhile political protégé and successor, Kashim Shettima, writes Assistant Editor, Remi Adelowo political abode, Sheriff, according to sources, will resurrect his battle for political supremacy with his successor, Kashim Shettima, with whom he has been estranged for a while now.

Months before their frosty relationship became public knowledge, sources disclosed that the two men had long fallen apart, a development that was attributed to Sheriff’s alleged meddlesomeness in the running of Borno State, coupled with his alleged secret plot to scuttle Shettima’s second term aspiration.

For almost two years, both Shettima and Sheriff were said not to be in speaking terms, even as two attempts by a National Leader of the APC to reconcile the duo failed to achieve any headway.

With the two men now belonging to different political parties, the political activities in Borno State is expected to witness an upward swing in the next few months, as the ruling APC and the PDP, which has never produced the state governor since the inception of democratic rule in 1999, will engage in a fierce battle ahead the 2015 general elections.

Desperate to prove his continued

political relevance in the state and further warm his way into the hearts of the Presidency, sources told The Nation that Sheriff has, in the last few weeks, been engaged in talks with some aides of the incumbent governor and an undisclosed number of members of the state House of Assembly by allegedly urging them to defect to the PDP. The Maitama, Abuja residence of Sheriff has been witnessing a beehive of activities since the beginning of the Ramadan, with unconfirmed reports alleging that Sheriff had held series of meetings with six out of the eight members of the House of Representatives from the state and 17 members of the House of Assembly.

But it is still not clear yet if the three senators from the state, Mohammed Ali Ndume, Khalifa Ahmed Zanna and Maaji Lawan, have met with Sheriff.

The Nation, however, gathered that Ndume and Zanna are most likely to rebuff Sheriff’s overtures.

For Ndume, a former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011,

he enjoys no lost love relationship with Sheriff, who allegedly denied him a senatorial ticket in the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the run-up to the 2011 general elections.

Angered by this, Ndume defected to the PDP and had the last laugh over Sheriff. He not only secured the party’s Borno South Senatorial ticket after the party’s only aspirant in the zone, Alhaji Sanda Garba, stepped down for him, he also ended up defeating Sheriff’s anointed and ANPP candidate, Dr. Asaba Vilita Bashir.

Zanna’s relationship with Sheriff is even more complex. As the PDP candidate, he defeated Sheriff, then as a sitting governor, in the Borno Central Senatorial election in 2011.

Ndume and Zanna were later to defect to the APC, following entreaties from Shettima.

For the third Borno senator, Maina Maaji Lawan, who also belongs to APC, his stand in the unfolding political development in the North East state remains unclear.

Elected as senator in 1999 on the platform of the PDP, he defected to the defunct ANPP in early 2003 after

he was denied the party’s governorship ticket, which was won by former Presidential aide, Kashim Ibrahim Imam.

Lawan secured the ANPP’s senatorial ticket for Borno North and emerged victorious in the general elections. The lawmaker, who was the state governor in the Third Republic, is currently serving his second term in the National Assembly.

Currently within the government circles in Borno State, there are fears that tough times lie ahead for the incumbent governor if Sheriff eventually succeeds in convincing the state lawmakers to join PDP. Just last week, the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, raised the alarm of an alleged plot by the Presidency to instigate impeachment proceedings against some APC governors, including Shettima.

Though the PDP through its spokesman, Olisa Metuh, has denied this allegation, sources alleged that once Sheriff secures the backing of two-third of the state lawmakers, he could influence the House to move against Shettima, whom his camp accuse of allegedly biting the fingers that fed him.

Not willing to take anything for granted, it was learnt that Governor Shettima has reportedly scheduled series of meetings with some influential stakeholders in the state, including traditional rulers, opinion leaders and politicians, in the next few weeks.

These meetings, according to sources, will dwell primarily on the need by politicians across all divides to avoid any act capable of complicating the dire security situation in the state.

But how the unfolding political developments in the state pans out in the months leading to next year’s general elections remains to be seen.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

NEWS REVIEW

Of all the jobs in Nigeria, why the presidency?

I like that question especially because it is the first time anyone will be asking me directly. I once said it even to those who are my friends that the job of the president is not a job that anybody should just jump at.

It's not an attractive job, so to speak, if you are serious about doing it, especially at this point in our history. But somebody has to do it. It's not as if the idea never crossed my mind, even though people don't really classify me as a politician. And I've been in politics for sometimes. So every time the idea comes to my mind, I dismiss it because I know it's a very demanding job, and I would really want to do it well, if I ever go for it. If you watch those who have done the job in other climes, you will understand that it's not a keeps job. But you know after the 2011 elections, so many people, especially after Buhari said he was not going to contest again, started calling on me, even from the Buhari group, and among some very senior people.

They told me that considering the way the last election ended, and in order not to be caught unawares or unprepared, we should start preparation early; and that my name keeps coming up. Initially I was amazed; but people even in Lagos started calling; and I immediately knew that I had to make up my mind quickly. I didn't want to be dragged into something I was not prepared for. Of course I prayed about it. So when it was clear that I was ready to go for it, which was after I was convinced that there is a clear path to victory for me, I decided to make my intention public. And for me, that is the most important thing because I wouldn't just want to be wasting my time. I tell people that I have a good job already; one that pays even better than the president's.

So why would I just waste my time if I didn't fancy myself winning?

There is the issue of credentials‌ You have said you've been in politics, but there would be people who'd be asking questions like 'What qualifies you?'

About being qualified, I keep saying that my current job is more difficult than that of the president. If it comes to managing resources at my disposal and getting people to come and rescue the situation if need be; then I am fully qualified. My own path is through the private sector clearly and I have built an institution from the scratch. I don't know how many other people have that credential. And what we require in Nigeria at this point in time is to start afresh. We have to start afresh because everything has gone wrong. Of course it didn't start today, but it is under this administration that Nigeria became a failed state. Of course I keep saying that we are lucky and that because of our size, it is reversible. I don't know of too many people who want to be president and have started an institution from the scratch and succeeded. So that is one. I also believe that the entrepreneurial spirit in Nigeria is what is required to solve Nigeria's problem. We have about 50 million unemployed Nigerians, and that is where the danger is.

We keep hearing of crimes everywhere, graduate armed robbers and so on and so forth.

But I also know that there are no 50 million jobs to give to these people. That is why the way to solve this problem is to create the environment and an army or

'Nigeria failing because of extreme corruption' SAM NDA-ISAIAH is an entrepreneur who is better known as the founder of Leadership newspaper. He is aspiring to be president on the platform of the All Progessives Congress (APC).

In this interview with FESTUS ERIYE, he addresses his qualifications for the position he seeks to occupy as well as what he would do differently as president.

•Nda-Isaiah entrepreneurs. And another point I will say is that if you talk about experience, nobody has experience of the future. What you need for the future is vision. You can only have experience of things that happened in the past.

And what we need in Nigeria today is somebody with the right vision to move Nigeria forward.

If for instance the experience you've got to brag about is of the era when there was no internet, how germane is that? Again some people will tell you that they have experience, but you can't have better experience than Jonathan who has had experience as a deputy governor, governor, vice president, acting president and now president.

And the Nigeria we have today is his product. Again, Obasanjo has experience as former head of state and came back and we know that there are many people including me, who will vouch that Nigeria was better off the first time he was president than when he came back. So those that are going to be claiming that they have experience in ruling Nigeria will have to tell us what role that experience played in bringing us to this sorry path. And I think such people should be defending themselves now that Nigeria has found itself in this situation, instead of trying to use that as advantage.

Talking about your Buhari

connection, you mentioned that people came to you after the 2011 election to say that Buhari will no longer be running. But Buhari himself has not come out to say that he is not contesting. Don't you think going against someone considered as a senior friend could be a road block to your ambition?

No, no, no. It's not. Buhari is a kind of role model to me and I still hold him in high esteem. I agree with you that he may contest. He has not declared that he is not contesting. But I'm in the race.

The first person I told that I will be contesting was him. I went to him and told him. He has a right to change his mind. And one of the things I considered while making up my mind was that he could change his mind. What ultimately swayed me into joining the race was not principally because I thought he was not contesting; it was because I thought that I have what it takes and that I can make the difference to change the course of history.

What is your assessment of the present Nigeria?

I have said it severally that Nigeria of today is a failed state.

Within our own country, some hoodlums kidnapped 300 girls and we can't even go and get them! It's not as if some people came from outside. We all know what happens everyday; even in the nation's capital! We can't

even stop them from perpetrating chaos at the same spot within the spate of a week or two as we saw in Nyanyan. You know the state of our education; you know the state of our electricity; they've all collapsed. So the big fortune that we have is our size, our resourcefulness; and the kind of resources that we have, both human and materials. That is the only reason why it is reversible.

What is happening in Nigeria now did not happen in Somalia before it failed. So that is the state of the nation now. And all these are as the result of the extreme corruption that we have in the country now. Nigeria has always had corruption, but it is the level that is different. Under Obasanjo for instance, there was still a lot of corruption when he was paying 250 billion naira for fuel subsidy; but immediately Jonathan came, it rose 2 trillion naira. As we sit now, state governments can no longer be paid their allocations. State governments only get about half of their allocations. They've gone to court and are tired. We don't have money to buy bullets.

Where's all the money going to?

The customs made more money this year than we did last year; we're still selling oil at over 100 dollars per barrel everyday; taxes are still coming, even more. So what happened to the money? It's extreme corruption.

The character of the 2015 election is definitely going to be different from what we had in 2011; and one of the things complicating the issue is religion. Clearly the North has indicated that they are interested in having power come back to the region, and you are a Christian from the North; don't you think this will hinder your appeal across the region?

No, no, no. Clearly we are not campaigning on that basis. Two, I'm campaigning to be president of this country as a Nigerian and I'm going to campaign all over the 19 states of the North and all the Southern states. So this will not affect us at all.

You're quick to dismiss the religion card I mentioned, but this weekend, you were in Lagos to see Pastors Adeboye and Oyedepo. If you really think religion is a non-issue, would you be seeking to make a case to these religious leaders?

No, no, no. I'm seeing everybody. I've seen Sheik Gumi; I've seen the sultan. I've seen many Islamic leaders and Christian leaders including Adeboye and co. I've seen Edwin Clark; I've seen former heads of states; I've seen most of the leaders in this country: political, traditional, business. I've met with every body.

A couple of minutes ago, you said you've seen a clear path, but if you do your political arithmetic very well, you will know that for you to be successful you need to win across 2/3rd of the states of the federation, which is 24 states.

But your party just lost an election in Ekiti state. It lost another just last week; and in another one or two weeks Nassarawa might be gone. Don't you see your path to the presidency contracting?

The first thing is that it's not the governors that vote; it is the people. Even if APC has no governor at all, it does not mean that the party can not win the presidency. The impeachment of these governors is another story entirely. The governor has just one vote. When I was talking of path to victory, I wasn't looking at it from that perspective. Unless if you're thinking of rigging.

There are some states I know I'm going to win that are not been controlled by the APC, because of what we have on ground. And there are some states controlled by the APC, where I know that we have to do more.

Obviously if you're not going to go for a consensus within your party, then it means you're going to go all the way to the primaries; and that means you'll be facing people like Kwankwaso, Atiku and co - taking it that Buhari has not declared his intention. Do you have the financial wherewithal to reach out to the delegates and compete with these people?

Nobody uses his money to be president. That may be the case with house of assembly, senate, governor; but you can't use your money to president. Even if you do, it can't make you president. It is the amalgamation of interests that proves that you're best for the country. The only person that could have used his money to be president was Abiola, but he did not eventually get there. And I will tell you that I know many people who contributed to Abiola's campaign. So that position is bigger than all the money anybody may have.

What would you do differently on the economy and security as president?

First and foremost, Nigerians Turn to page 66

Ropo Sekoni

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Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

The principled satirist Ace journalism teacher, writer Olatunji Dare turns 70 tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

U

NLIKE some of my colleagues who were taught formally by Prof.

Olatunji Dare, I was not. But I had the privilege of benefitting from his wealth of knowledge somewhat fortuitously. The important thing though is that I (as his ‘unknown distant learning student’), and those who were taught by him in the classroom, have benefitted immensely from whatever we have learnt from him. And, as I used to tell another colleague, it is immaterial whether one is selling apples or oranges; what is important is that the two sellers are smiling to the bank! So, it is immaterial whether I was taught formally by Prof. Dare or whether I did it as an ‘unknown distant learning student’. I keep referring to myself as an ‘unknown distant learning student’ of Prof Dare because, unlike Jesus Christ who knew when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of his garment, Prof Dare did not know to what purpose I had put a beautiful piece he wrote in The Guardian condemning Decree 4 of 1984 promulgated by the draconian Buhari/Idiagbon regime.

It was at an interview I attended when looking for job after my National Youth Service in 1985. About 44 of us were invited for the interview at The Punch, to fill four vacant slots. It was a marathon interview which lasted from about 10.a.m. till about past five in the evening. The written test was in two parts: newspaper production, and an essay/ feature article. Right from my university days, I had always avoided the production aspect of print journalism, so I knew I must have had an average performance if that had been the only area of journalism that we were tested on. Of course an average performance could not have been of much use in a situation where about 44 graduates from various universities were contesting to fill four vacant positions. Obviously then, my saving grace was the essay I wrote on Decree 4.

A few days to the interview, I had been trying my hands on everything I imagined could be asked at the occasion. Then it occurred to me that I needed to read up something on Decree 4 and Dr. Dare’s piece came handy. I digested it. It was divine direction as it ended up being part of what we were examined on during the interview. By the time I was through with the question, I was cocksure that if ‘performance infrastructure’ was the only criterion for selection, I had already made it.

But in Nigeria, we all know this is not always so. You can imagine my fears and the fears of many of us who did not know anybody of substance at the company then, when we saw some of our colleagues entering the offices of the ‘big people’ there, some emerging with bottles of water, others with soft drinks. We almost concluded that the interview was a facade and that they already knew the people they were going to take.

Anyway, we later found out that we were wrong by the time the result started coming out, same day. People were weeded out in batches of 10 and somehow, some of those we had thought were ‘well connected’ could not make it to the third round. Our hearts skipped a beat whenever the person announcing the result came into the office where we were awaiting our result. That was the way it went until about 14 of us were left.

This was the most dreaded stage of the interview. Eventually, by the time they came to weed out the last batch, only four of us were

•Professor Dare

left and I cannot remember if any of us knew anybody at the company then. Somehow, all of us were from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos.

Perhaps a major lesson for jobseekers here is that they need not lose hope simply on account of what they see around them during interviews. For me however, Prof Dare’s piece on Decree Four gave me the edge that I needed in that interview as I gave it back to the examiners almost in the elegant manner it was presented

by Dr Dare. I itemised the points just as he did, i.e. that the decree was draconian; it was discriminatory (obviously for the private media as no government medium could dare to run afoul of it, etc.), and argued the points very well, thus giving me that needed added advantage.

My close friends knew how happy I was because securing employment at The Punch then was an ambition realised. Up till the time I did my youth service, I had craved working only with The Punch and Newswatch magazine; I mean the original Newswatch of the Dele Giwa fame.

That should be expected, given the fire of the fresh-from-school radicalism that was burning in me. It was the paper’s radical approach to issues that kept me in the company for about 12 years, despite the fact that one had all it takes to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Don’t forget, that was a time the company could not pay salaries regularly.

My patience paid off. And that was why I celebrated Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, the former chairman of Punch Nigeria Ltd. last week, and I am doing same for Prof Dare today. If we cannot celebrate such people who have contributed immensely to human and economic development, then we should have no business celebrating politicians who only compound our economic adversity. On a personal note, I can only imagine what would have been my lot if I did not rise to the position of editor of the paper’s daily before leaving the company in 1997. Given my post-Punch experience, one might have ended up as a footnote in the long list of veteran journalists, in a profession that one governor described as having ‘no second-hand value’.

Anyway, back to Prof Dare. I guess I must have met him for the first time at a function organised by the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), sometime in the ‘90s. I can’t remember the details of what the programme was all about, but it was from Dr Dare at the event that I first heard the expres-

“Be that as it may, the fact that Prof Dare is never led by ‘toys’ (material attractions) has greatly helped his cause concerning principle. His other armour in this regard is his abiding covenant with simplicity. These are twin commandments for people who want to stand for something ... Life begins at 70! Happy birthday, sir!

sion, the “social cost of SAP’, (Structural Adjustment Programme) introduced by the Babangida regime. Dare was then Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian. I do not know what exactly happened, but I remember that he left the venue in the car of a comrade friend.

Apart from being a journalism teacher, and a good one at that, Prof Dare is more renowned as a satirist. I have tried my hands on satire a couple of times and have always felt so happy when people like him commend my efforts. However, like the hunchback who does not know the enormity of what people who stand straight do until he tries to do same, it is not easy to be satirical, especially in this country. It is also a thankless job because many people don’t understand it. Some people sometimes rain curses on me.

But such people give me both sadness and joy at the same time. Joy because they feel so strongly about what you also feel strongly about but which you have expressed differently; and sadness because their misplaced aggression is a reflection of the state of education in the country.

Born on July 17, 1944, Prof Dare, a first class material of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, is extremely principled. It was on this matter of principle that he left The Guardian when the management decided to go and beg Gen Sani Abacha to reopen the newspaper following its proscription by the Abacha junta, alongside some other strong newspapers in the ‘90s. THe same demand, I remember quite vividly, was made of us at The Punch then and we also refused to go and beg. As far as we were concerned then, it should have been the other way round. Rather than join the ‘we are sorry train’, Dare simply turned in his letter of resignation. Apparently, principle flows in their veins in the family.

Prof Dare’s nephew, Colonel Abayomi Dare (rtd), who was my classmate and good friend at Crowther Memorial College, Lokoja, where we did our school certificate examination had been known as a principled young man since those days. It was on that same pedestal that he took the Nigerian Army to court after his premature exit from the army a few years ago. He eventually won the case. Yomi and I met again for the first time in a long time at Prof Dare’s birthday lecture where he told some of my colleagues that both of us “used to do some funny things together” in those days. But for our longstanding friendship, I would have sued him because in our kind of society where we have too many people with dirty minds, they could interpret those ‘funny things’ to mean something else, which may make me lose self-esteem in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society!

Be that as it may, the fact that Prof Dare is never led by ‘toys’ (material attractions) has greatly helped his cause concerning principle. His other armour in this regard is his abiding covenant with simplicity. These are twin commandments for people who want to stand for something.

It is only a man like Prof Dare that could have attracted the kind of quality crowd that graced the public lecture and presentation of a book to mark his 70th birthday at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, on July 17. Prof Kwame Karikari of the University of Ghana, Legon, was the guest speaker. With General Theophilus Danjuma as chairman, other dignitaries included Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; four other governors - Edo, Lagos, Ogun and Osun were well represented.

It was an occasion attended by many media executives, students and people from all strata of the society.

Life begins at 70! Happy birthday, sir!

Lecturer, journalist par excellence

W

HEN in my final year at the University of Lagos I had to write my project, I instinctively chose one of the popular Mass Communication research topics.

I opted for topics similar to projects I had read in the department’s library. I proposed using questionnaire to be filled by students since I wanted to write on newspaper readership in Unilag on an issue I can’t remember now. .

My supervisor had no problem with my topic but was not sure if the data gathering would be thoroughly done in a way to justify whatever findings I would come up with.

He suggested an historical research on a media-related issue on which not much has been written on which could be a rich source of information. For him, students should not write projects only for fulfilling the graduation requirement, but attempt to make a contribution to advancing the body of knowledge required in Mass Communication study and practice.

His counsel has since proved true with the continuous citing of my project titled ‘30 Years of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ): Achievements, Problems and Prospects in researches and publications on the history of the union.’

My mystery supervisor who I owe a debt of gratitude not only for supervising my project but for the thorough training I got in news and feature writing is Professor Olatunji Dare.

Last Thursday he turned 70 and his birthday was marked with a lecture and book launch in Lagos.

Like many who spoke at the occasion and in other tributes, I testify that Professor Dare belongs to the class of few communication scholars who combines first class academic with contemporary practical knowledge of media practice.

That he has been teaching journalism in the United States for some years now and remains one of Nigeria’s leading newspaper columnists attest to the stuff he is made of and why he deserves all the accolades he has been getting at 70.

Our university system needs lecturers like Professor Dare who are interested in giving students the required supervision and support to write projects they and their departments can be proud of years after graduation.

We need more projects that can come up with findings to enhance productivity in the industry fresh graduates are supposed to work in. Student projects up to the doctorate level will not be worth the trouble and expense if they only gather dust in Libraries of higher institutions.

We need more lecturers who are masters of the theoretical and practical knowledge of the subjects they teach. Many recent graduates are victims of the present system which allows some lecturers who have not practiced some profession to teach the qualifying course of study. University lecturers should regularly update their knowledge of the industry they are producing students for if the degree the institutions offer is to be worth the paper on which they are printed.

Lecturers should always remember that whether they will be celebrated or not by their former students and colleagues like Professor Dare will depend on the quality of their performance in their various academic and professional assignments.

They don’t have to wait to get to heaven ( if they make it there) to get the reward of service, they can get rewarded while alive if they do what they are paid to do.

Congratulations my dear Professor Dare.

You are indeed a teacher and journalist par excellence.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

COMMENT

Jonathan’s confab and the paradox of petroleum Nobody told the president that Nigeria’s challenge is not its diversity but petroleum in the womb of some parts of the country

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ABLO Picasso’s maxim: “Every positive value has its price in negative terms… the genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima” applies in an unmistakable way to Nigeria’s petroleum. There is no other object or action that explains Nigeria’s swing from unity to division than the existence of petroleum in the country put together about 72 years before the first exploitation of the black gold in the country. And nowhere is this pendulum more visible than in the design and implementation of President Jonathan’s idea of a national conference to cap the end of his first tenure as substantive president.

Jonathan’s political opponents and some of his genuine political supporters said that a national conference was the wrong thing to convene towards the end of his tenure, whether he plans to renew his tenure or not. In the style of Cassandra, opposition parties called the conference a waste of resources and time and a diversionary move to tilt the citizens’ political gaze away from the crucial issues at hand. Apart from general condemnation of the conference, none of Jonathan’s opponents paid attention to specific aspects of the country’s experience that were likely to bring the national conference to a laughable end.

Nobody warned Jonathan and his supporters about one product that simultaneously has the capacity to pull together and push apart the diverse groupings in Nigeria. Nothing in the narratives of caution regarding the conference referred to the one product that stands for blessing at the same time that it represents a curse for the nation.

Nobody warned Jonathan and his advisers about a national conference to re-launch Nigeria about the country’s peculiar status as a country that has, since the civil war, been organised to see petroleum as the country’s life support. Nobody told the president that Nigeria’s challenge is not its diversity but petroleum in the womb of some parts of the country that has the power to seize the minds of most of its leaders.

Delegates at the Jonathan conference were able to deliberate enthusiastically and come to conclusions when they considered peripheral issues: national anthem, immunity clause, localgovernments in relation to the states that house them, creation of states, etc. But when the matter that touched the soul of Nigeria: revenue allocation came up, the delegates went into the mode of mfecane, the scattering of the tribes. All the regions (apart from some delegates in the Southwest shooting for regionalism or nothing) saw its survival as interminably tied to revenue from petroleum resources and descended into verbal war that compelled the conference to shut down, in order to avoid giving the impression of ending in a fiasco and thus proving opponents of the conference right and supporters wrong.

It is too soon to classify the conference’s failure as total or partial. The final draft report scheduled for ratification on the fourth of August is likely to provide ample opportunities for public affairs commentators to grade the failure or success of the conference as a whole. It is instructive that the final decision of the conference to take the following matters beyond the ken of the 50 wise men is similar to what their counterparts in the Obasanjo conference of 2005 did. Justice Kutigi says in his final submission: Having critically examined the issues in contention, Conference recognises the need to a) review the percentage of revenue allocation to states producing oil and other resources; b) reconstruct and rehabilitate areas affected by insurgency and internal conflict; c) diversify the Nigerian economy by first tracking the development of the solid minerals sectors….Taking decisions on these matters require some technical details and consideration….The federal government should set up a technical committee to determine the appropriate percentage on the three issues and advise government appropriately.” Similarly, the National Political Reform Conference of Obasanjo ended on the recommendation to the federal government to establish an Expert Commission to make detailed and final positions on

revenue allocation, after the conference was unable to take any firm position on the recommendation of 17% allocation to petroleum producing communities.

Commentators have started to react to the decision to push the matter of revenue allocation to the same federal government that assembled some of the country’s most powerful men and women to serve as conference delegates. Although some of the delegates were in various ways part of the governments that eroded the revenue allocation upon which the country went into an independent federation, many of the delegates did not have such baggage. Some of the delegates were even leading figures in the anti-military and pro-democracy movements that catalysed the two post-military governments that had convened national conference since 1999. It is also uncharitable to conclude that most delegates selected by the president’s men went to the conference for the handsome allowances.

A more fruitful way to enrich the country’s constitutional discourse is to stop paying a lot of attention to effects or symptoms of the country’s problems at the expense of the causes of such challenges. It is those who were over sanguine about the conference at the beginning that would feel disappointed by the failure of the conference to deal with the issue of a just and fair revenue allocation to states that are homes to exploitation of nonrenewable resources, the exploitation of which destroys the eco-system of such communities and the livelihood of their population. It is also necessary to recognise that the president’s selection of delegates has left no room for them to consult with their communities. The president’s decision to handpick delegates must have left citizens out of the debate and deliberations on the conference floor.

In addition, significant constraints were put in the way of the delegates. First, they were told to take the unity of the country as a given. If writing a constitution is finding ways to negotiate how to create or sustain a country that citizens believe would bring peace and a sense of belonging to all citizens, it is wrong for the conference to have been

be told to refrain from debating the indivisibility or indissolubility of the country, regardless of the relevance of outcomes of deliberations at the conference. Delegates should have been elected by their communities and be given the chance to determine on the basis of feelings of representatives (if they were representatives) of federating units what is likely to make the country indivisible. Second, the conference was asked to base any decision on consensus, barring which they must have 75% of the delegates to approve any decision. This was later negotiated down to 70% of votes, still very difficult to attain in most democracies of the world.

Third, delegates were given an encyclopediclist of items—relevant and irrelevant—to establishing basic rules for a country. There were more questions about statecraft than about identifying rules and forms of government capable of sustaining a multiethnic federation. Fourth, the recommendations of the conference were designed to be made without enabling legislation to empower citizens to have any input in the process through a referendum.

Furthermore, delegates did not have the kind of relationship capable of enabling citizens to know how much citizens believe petroleum defines the country’s presence and future. Most of the delegates, especially the 50 wise ones had gotten used to the belief that the country’s life force is the petroleum in the Niger Delta. Some believe that if Nigeria remains in its present form of collecting royalty from petroleum and doling some of the proceeds to states, territorial unity of the country would have been assured. Others also feel that funds from the country’s largest revenue earner should be allocated to their sections to solve all problems, if peace is to be ensured.

As pessimistic as it may sound, Nigeria is not likely to experience proper federalism until its leaders from the various communities are able to say No to social welfare funds oozing from the womb of the Niger Delta region.Moreover, because delegates were not elected, they did not have the benefit of knowing the kind of Nigeria that citizens want.With a referendum, people from various communities would be in the best of positions to determine the indivisibility of Nigeria without any prodding from those benefiting from Nigeria as it is presently constituted.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

COMMENT

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Boko Haram on highways It is the defiant face of terror

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HEN in May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan clamped a state of emergency on three North-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, he did so with assurances to Nigerians that the reign of the terrorist group – the Boko Haram - was about to end.

A year and two months on, Nigerians are wiser – not only has death toll from the activities of Boko Haram continued to mount, a number of the attacks has been most spectacular. In July 2013 – two months after the declaration of emergency, the Boko Haram terrorists attacked Government Secondary School, Mumoda, Yobe State, during which over 40 students were murdered. If that was supposed to be a wake-up call, the one on the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, two months after, in September 2013 – which also claimed another 40 lives – all students – would leave the nation numb. No wonder, the train moved to Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, where another 29 students were gruesomely murdered in their dormitories exactly five months after.

As tragic as each of the attacks was, none appears to have gripped global imagination as the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their dormitories in Chibok community, Borno State, on April 15. It was one terrorist misadventure that would spark global outrage, followed by the birth of the #BringBackOurGirls movement.

Today, more than 90 days after, many of the girls are still in captivity, while a few escaped.

As it appears, the murderous group remains unrelenting. About two weeks ago, it took its reign of terror one step further when, according to reports, it seized one of the main routes into Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, forcing a detour on hapless motorists, many of whom report-

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CANNOT but agree more with the well researched article written by Dr Johnbull Okpe, which harped on the need for Senator Ike Ekweremadu to be allowed to return to the Senate come 2015, because of his laudable achievements both at the National Assembly and the unprecedented service to his immediate constituency.

The article indeed brought to the fore the unfortunate past time of serving governors

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NSAFE abortion has lingered as one of the chief factors for the increasing maternal death ring in the country. The level at which unsafe abortion is destroying the lives of young Nigerian women has become a cause for concern among many Nigerians.

In a recent figure relayed by the President General of Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in the Diaspora, Dr. Kate Ezeofor, it was reprehensibly pragmatic that more than 34,000 young women in Nigeria die from abortion and its complications every year. This, according to Bankole and Henshaw et al, means that one in 10 Nigerian women have an abortion in her lifetime.

The source sustained that there are 760,000 abortion cases every year in Nigeria, 60 percent of which are unsafe. These figures even look like a charade compared to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2007, which divulged that over 25% of young women in Nigeria have their

edly took over 12 hours for journeys that ordinarily would take two hours. Indeed, for motorists along the 187-kilometre Maiduguri-DamboaBiu stretch, theirs have become a daily nightmare in the hands of the terrorists who have since taken over several spots, including abandoned villages, to strike at will – leaving deaths and destruction in their trail.

By some accounts, some motorists who ventured to undertake the journey through the route were reportedly brought back in body bags. There are reports of nearly a dozen communities along the vast stretch said to have been deserted as a result of the activities of the terrorist group. Mohammed Jidda, chairman of the Civilian JTF in Molai, a village some 15 kilometres from Maiduguri was quoted as telling newshounds that about 60 settlements along the entire stretch have been deserted with the residents fleeing to Maiduguri for safety. The Northeast zone of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has since put the figure of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri and its environ at 130,000.

Much as we wish that we could agree with the government on its claim to be ‘on top of the situation’, the reality on ground, obviously paints a contrary picture – one that is hard to ignore. With two TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

successive attacks on Nyanya, within the precincts of Abuja, the seat of the Federal Government in a spate of one month, it is clear that nowhere is spared the siege of the Boko Haram.

For sure, it is not simply about deploying some 20,000 troops to the North-east which the government is all too eager to advertise; or the claim about shipment of more sophisticated hardware into the region in what is supposed to herald a new phase in the push against the Boko Haram; or even the hype about international support to combat the reign of terror.

For the hapless citizens forced to flee their homes in search of safety, the fathers/mothers forced to watch the abduction of their girl-child or the conscription of their boy-child into the insurgency, such claims obviously mean nothing. Of greater relevance is whether the equipment and the troop numbers is effectual when it comes to prompt and adequate response to situation of dire emergencies. The answer to this would seem partly answered by the relative ease with which the terrorists move around with their hardware unchallenged, to wreak maximum havoc.

We must say that given the huge capital allocation to the defence sector in the last three years, Nigerians have good grounds to expect robust response to the challenges posed by the Boko Haram. There are simply too many reports of distress calls unheeded by the military; countless incidents in which the insurgents would spend hours ravaging communities with no signs of security presence to aid the victims.

The current situation in which the terrorists are not only allowed free reign over vast territories, but would go as far as to hoist their flags on the nation’s soil is certainly deplorable. It is about time the security agencies changed the tide if only to assure the citizens that they are truly on top of the situation.

LETTER

Saying the truth about unnecessary Enugu tussle whose primordial desire is to frustrate and deny the party’s ticket to whoever is the incumbent from their constituencies simply because they want the appellation of ‘Distinguished Senator’ added to their Curriculum Vitae CV.

Shedding light on what is prevalent in the United States, where Senators serve for almost 37 and 40 years respectively at a stretch, it therefore beats one’s imagination hollow, why the hue and cry in Enugu State of the alleged de-

sire of the incumbent governor to stop Senator Ekweremadu at a time his service is still needed by his people and nation for doing an excellent job so far.

There are other places governors can play deserving

roles in national development other than the senate instead of heating up the political barometer like also being witnessed in Akwa Ibom where agitation is on also to stop the incumbent from returning to the senate.

One recalls with a sour taste in the mouth, where a former Governor of Enugu State, rail-roaded his way to the senate and there was nothing tangible on his record chart both in the debates on the floor of the senate or meaningful attraction of amenities and infrastructure to his people.

Tony Ugwuzo writes from Ogui, Enugu

Unsafe abortion: Young girls die out of lack of knowledge first sexual intercourse by the age of 15; and by the age of 18 years, over 60% of adolescents have had sexual intercourse, many leading to unwanted pregnancy, hence abortion.

Many of the girls have died in unsafe abortions out of ignorance. A young man in Rivers State confessed to the police recently of giving his now ex-girlfriend an abortion pill he camouflaged as an antibiotic. The ex-girlfriend was barely 18yrs old. There was an unconfirmed story of a respected fertility doctor who caused his pregnant girlfriend to take medication that caused her to abort a barely twomonth-old foetus.

Health professionals were worried that many of the victims could have not died if not for what they termed antipregnancy regulations by some religious bodies. In September 17, 2013 the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria had reiterated its concern and vehemently kicked against at-

tempts by foreign organisations to introduce what it termed as “sickly values into the country, such as same sex marriage and abortion.” Apparently, the bishops also condemned the use of condoms.

The Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Owerri, the same year, tackled Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State for signing what it characterised as “anti-life legislation” into law in the state; forces compelled the governor to rescind his position.

For example, two girls aged 15 and 19, according to a report provided by a non-governmental organization (NGO) known as IPAS, which says that it seeks to offer superior approach into the productive rights of women, had this confession of two young women: “After he forced me to have sex, he started sending my friend, a girl, to talk to me, because he knew I was mad at him and did not want to see him again. My friend convinced me that such

things happen to every girl, so I should get used to it. So, I forgave the boy and went back.”

The other said: “One day, he told me that he wanted to introduce me to his relatives who would help in getting us married: I went there. He was alone. He locked the door; he threatened me saying: how could he marry me if I behaved like this? He beat me when I tried to get out.” Whichever way, abortion has become a game of a sort that any young woman who has not had knowledge of it has a mindset that she is not ‘wise’ or have not ‘grown’.

However, one out of every five cases of pregnancy has been said to be unwanted and unplanned for by the pregnant persons; which professionals have said could be the result of consensual or aggressive sexual meetings like rape or incestuous contraventions. In the opinion of connoisseurs, Nigeria’s abortion law came into existence in 1861, which they said al-

though legalises abortion, but part of the provisions of that law still makes abortion a criminal offence. Nigerians are, conversely, of the view that the law belongs to the 17th Century. According to them, it does not tally with the dictates of modern times.

In a 2010 account, Lemmy Ughegbe, the Guardian bureau office, Abuja, noted how the human rights advocate brought to limelight the position of Sarafina Ojimaduka, an advocate of Female Reproductive Rights, during a training of journalists conducted by IPAS. In the words of Ojimaduka as reported by Ughegbe: “Criminalising abortion drives women from hospitals where they could get better medical attention and make them resort to the use of quarks and crude means all in the bid to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.”

Considering some sections of the law that could help women overcome quackery,

Ughegbe had said: Specifically, Section 228 of the Criminal Code provides that “any person who, with intent to procure miscarriage of a woman whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

Ughegbe went further, saying that Section 229 of Criminal Code provides that “any woman who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, whether she is or is not with a child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

By Odimegwu Onwumere, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

COMMENT

Of the nobel laureate and the emerging emperor From Adamawa to Nasarawa, from Edo to Rivers, and presumably to many other destinations yet unknown, President Jonathan’s paid agents are on the loose

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MID the swirling mess in Berlin of political intrigue, rumours, and disorder, the SA, the Nazi storm troopers, stood out as an ominous presence. In the spring of 1932, many in the German democratic government came to believe the Brown shirts were about to take over by force’.

The last time I saw Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate, up close, was when he visited with his young protégé, the Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, at Ado-Ekiti sometime in 2011, shortly before the general elections of that year. Naturally in tow, were his younger friends - Drs Yemi Ogunbiyi and Olu Agunloye. As we sat at breakfast that morning ra-con-teuring over a wide canvass, a lot was going through my mind. Suppose the Nigerian military buccaneers had seen the last of this gem of a man; suppose he had not survived his many incarcerations, suppose Abacha had been able to feed his flesh to marine creatures or just suppose that goggled butcher had succeeded in making ‘Beokuta, in faraway West Indies, his resting place as he once conjectured. Suppose, suppose, suppose. My reverie was interrupted when his son showed up with dad’s coffee which has to be ‘cooked’ in a special way and I just wondered which of his wine or coffee he liked better the way he relished and doted on it.

At 80, Professor Wole Soyinka, a world citizen in his own right, can be said to have seen the world, if you

will pardon the tautology. He is every mother’s child, the type a father goes on his knees everyday praying to sire. He could also, with ample justification, be said to have impacted life to the limit though the way Nigeria is going, with the president eagerly being made into something of a rambunctious emperor, we may still, and very soon too, see the Laureate again at the barricades.

In the hope that good sense will prevail and the president will himself see the rocky road selfish politicians after their own ‘stomach infrastructure’ are egregiously dragging him, and beat a retreat for the sake of Nigeria, here is wishing the Lion a happy birthday and many happy returns.

No two historical epochs are exactly the same but events in our country in recent times have sent me hurrying back to my history books to familiarise myself again with the history of Germany, especially between the years 1932 -34; a period which saw a former Austrian Corporal become the Führer of Germany, with dire consequences for Germany and the entire world.

When at a church service in September, 2011 President Goodluck Jonathan told Nigerians he was neither a Pharaoh nor a General, little did we know that the pious product of the ‘doctrine of necessity,’ for whom democracy activists lined the barricades when he was being severally upended, would one day mutate to worse, to become like the proverbial bull in a china shop. And to imagine that Nigerians are only just beginning to see the very genesis of a metamorphosis that has the distinct

possibility of atomising this country beyond recognition!

From Adamawa to Nasarawa, from Edo to Rivers, and presumably to many other destinations yet unknown, President Jonathan’s paid agents are on the loose, feverishly impeaching state governors, dismantling settled state structures, misusing sensitive agencies of state like the military and the entire security apparati, all in the attempt to whip everybody into line ahead of the 2015 presidential elections.

October 1931 marked the beginning of the political intrigues that would destroy the young German republic leading to the emergence of the Führer. In circumstances which so uncannily mirror today’s Nigeria of Boko Haram, of several presidential infractions, among them deliberate, state-sponsored disruption of other tiers of government, murder and violence as we saw in Nasarawa this past week, Germany soon erupted into a scale of lawlessness never before experienced. Roaming groups of Nazi Brownshirts walked the streets singing Nazi songs and looking for fights. “Blut muss fliessen, ‘Blut muss fliessen! Blut muss fliessen “Knuppelhageldick! Haut’se doch zusammen, haut’se doch zusammen!

Diese gotverdammte Juden Republik!”, they sang, meaning: “Blood must flow, blood must flow! Blood must flow as cudgel thick as hail! Let’s smash it up, let’s smash it up! That goddamned Jewish republic!” That was the circumstances that led to the event which came to be known as the ‘Bloody Sunday’ which resulted in the death of 19 and about 300 wounded. Today in Nigeria, the military is involved in all manner of things which bear no relevance to securing the territorial integrity of the country: closing down airports, swarming and putting under siege states where elections are being held thus diverting soldiers from the ferocious terrorist war in the Northeastern cor-

ner of the country where over 200 young Nigerian girls are in captivity, and putting a major Lagos road to rout because of an unfortunate fatal accident, smashing cars and causing more fatalities. Not even in the dark days of General Abacha were soldiers brought into such odious duties that has made the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) to cry out warning President Jonathan against using the security establishment to persecute Nigerians; a situation which it says has the capacity to completely demystify the military. It was good news, however, seeing the Chief of Army Staff this past week deprecating indiscipline in the military which this also constitutes. Nigerians can only hope it won’t happen again although it will be very much unlike this government not to go back on its word.

As Vice President Sambo predicted, elections have since become war as we saw in Ekiti even before the election day and despite the pillory and citizen’s overwhelming disapproval of such extreme militarisation, everything points to Osun State being put under no less a suffocating siege on 9 August. It should therefore be expected that, as in Ekiti, these men, paid from the public treasury, will again be used to arrest and incapacitate APC chieftains. And this by an insecure government that claims its party is the choice of the people! Apparently unknown to President Jonathan, the Nigerian army, as well as the entire government, will continue to lose respect both here at home and abroad as we recently saw in its complete put down by the United States. Nigerians can only hope that this eager, and unnecessary involvement of the army in matters that should not in any way concern it will not lead to elements within it getting other ideas because Nigerians will, to the last man, reject any mili-

tary misadventure.

It is gratifying to note that at a time when elders, especially former Heads of State have become so tongue tied they cannot utter a word of caution against PDP’s continuing endangerment of the polity, the Catholic Bishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has again cried out asking the Goodluck Jonathan administration to be tolerant of opposition. Said the Bishop: ‘the politicisation of Boko Haram, in which the government in power sees anybody who disagrees with it as a Boko Haramist’ (as it has done futilely concerning the APC) ‘is very serious and dangerous’. Indeed, with Modu Sheriff who has severally been invited by security agents on matters relating to Boko Haram now firmly settled in the PDP, it will be interesting to hear its loquacious Publicity Secretary’s new slant concerning APC and Boko Haram. After all, Sheriff was considered that important that the president had to order the re opening of the Borno airport for him even if it was denied to intending pilgrims who had to undergo what the NSCIA described as a ‘tortuous and agonising journey by road to Kano on top of their being subjected to physical and psychological grilling by security agents.’

If President Jonathan, in his second coming, does not intend to rule over a conquered territory of a supine and contrite people, if he does not intend to transmogrify into His Imperial Majesty of an unknown, endless tenure, if he sincerely craves a country where not only he, his wife Patience and members of his ubiquitous demolition teams will be able to freely express themselves, then he certainly must soft pedal, climb down from his high horse and allow his campaign to spread and showcase what he considers the good works of his transformation agenda to Nigerians because, without a doubt, he will have to run on his record, and not on how far he can mollify us. We pray good counsel prevails.

This peace that passes all understanding is truly baffling Don’t get me wrong; we are not expecting them to give us fiction for facts. We just need them to share our turmoil, that’s all

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HEN all about you are losing their heads, so goes an adage, it is time to pick up your feet and run, particularly when you know and understand the cause of the general insanity. However, when you are the only one losing your head while all others around you are calm, it is time to quietly surrender your arm for that dreaded sodium pentothal injection. That injection is not called the truth serum for nothing. In no time, it will have you screaming ‘I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything’ as you begin to spew out the facts and fiction you have no idea reside in your brain like hidden germs. After that stormy outpouring comes the peace, the calm that sometimes ascends from the eye of the storm, so to say.

Peace is supposed to mean tranquility, the absence of war, or a calm that signals an absence of violence or disorder. Peace is therefore not expected to spell trouble. However, there can be a peace that is disturbing and troubling when the expected relief does not arise from anywhere near sight of the peace. For instance, around our authorities here, there is a peace that passes all understanding because it is rather baffling.

When one considers the behavioral pattern of the federal government and the Nigerian Army over what has come to be known as the ‘Abduction of the Chibok Girls’, one

cannot help but be seriously baffled.

When the story broke, I honestly saw a Nigerian populace gripped by a serious panic since that kind of brazen abduction had not occurred before in the country. No one could imagine anybody in his right senses, trucking up and carting away over two hundred girls in such a bold manner. It resembles too closely the manner in which cattle are rustled.

Silently, like lambs, they go to the shearer; except that these are human beings. This is why this peace that has settled on us like a fog is so troubling.

Normally, everyone has come to agree that this is a country where anything can happen and there would be no shocking tremors. This is a country where a presidential candidate has died in custody, a sitting president has died mysteriously, a sitting Attorney-general has ostensibly been murdered (wonders of wonders, and the nation never been told whodunit!). It is also a nation where the uncle of a sitting president has been kidnapped; the mother of a most powerful minister has also been kidnapped… Need I go on? So, yes, shock waves the sizes of tremors have been passed through our individual and collective bodies in this country in the process of making us talk. But, as they say in the movies, those events did not break us, until the Chibok girls came along.

Something about those little mites got everyone’s attention. I think it began with their innocence.

There is one truism they say about war: it is often the innocent who get caught and cut up in it. I think the innocence of the girls pulled at everyone’s heartstrings and played on them the tunes of love like no other victim has so far. Nearly everyone went up in flappers over their abduction when it happened; everyone, that is, except the federal government. Playing it cool, the government made it known it did not believe the girls were even missing in the first place until more hullabaloos were raised. Since then, the government has refused to let itself be hassled into rescuing the girls. No one understands why, but ours to ask the reason why.

Even though there have been offers from various foreign bodies to intervene and come to the rescue, so to say, nothing has happened. All we see is a federal government neither flapping its wings in anxiety nor biting its nails in agitation. It is not even ruffled. With this government, everything’s cool even if its over two hundred innocent girls are imprisoned in terrorist camps. It’s wonderful. Something must be responsible for this peace, and I know it’s not Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a few guesses. First, it is possible that the government really knows something that we don’t,

such as whether or not those girls are really missing. It is just too much that the entire nation, nay world, has been up in indignation over this affair except our own government.

Many people have indicated their disappointment, anger, annoyance or even irritation with the government’s response or lack of it over this matter, but not me. Me, I am just baffled by this peace; it is indeed a peace that I cannot understand. Here we are, all losing our heads, and the government is keeping its own; it is not picking up its feet and running. Something is not clear.

I am also baffled by the military response, or lack of it. I have mentioned here before that I believed that the Nigerian Army was among the world’s best armies. I still believe it.

However, it has not been up to the bar on this matter either. First, everyone expected the army to have immediately gone on the trails of the terrorists before they went cold. We are talking about over two hundred girls o! Not only did it not do that, it seemed to have waited for the terrorists to be long gone before appearing to swing into action. Wonderful, but it gets worse.

Much later, after the hues and cries from all corners of the world, the army finally admits to knowing where the terrorists were and where they had kept the girls but would not go after them then for one reason or the other. It still has not gone after

them. Now, I do not understand that kind of statement or what the army wants this country to believe. I cannot even begin to decipher it because it is full of pragmatic innuendos. For one thing, does it mean that the country can still be protected against external aggression even if the internal one has us scratching our heads? I’m only asking. Indeed, I believe only one person understands that equivocation – and that is the owner of the utterance. For that statement, the entire country has been losing its collective head, and the army is calm. I guess ours is not to reason why after all.

Clearly, there are many things we are failing to understand about the government, the army and the Chibok girls. Unfortunately, we seem to have a governance style that does not explain things to the people unless it wants to engage them in fisticuffs over a real or imagined slight.

The country therefore frequently finds itself resorting to rumours, and boy, are those things flying around or what?! But this is not the place to repeat them.

All we are saying here is that there is so much turmoil in the land over the girls’ abduction, and the authorities are too much at peace with themselves. Don’t get me wrong; we are not expecting them to give us fiction for facts. We just need them to share our turmoil, that’s all. Let us end this peace that passes all understanding, bring in some credible action.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

COMMENT

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(74) Nadine Gordimer, 1923-2014: white African, incandescent writer and revolutionary humanist [A Tribute] Then I discovered the truth, which was that in Zambia I was regarded by black friends as a European stranger. It is only here (South Africa) that I can be what I am: a white African.

Nadine Gordimer, in a BBC interview

I

T is surely one of those great ironies of life that just as we were celebrating the 80th birthday anniversary of Wole Soyinka on our continent and the world was rejoicing with us, we would almost at the same time be mourning the death of Nadine Gordimer at the age of 90 and the whole world mourns with us. Like Soyinka, Gordimer was one of a kind. From very early in her life and career as a novelist and activist, she was completely on the side of justice, respect and dignity for all women and men, without any qualifications based on race, class, gender, nationality and ethnicity. To the very end, she stuck to this early intuition without ever wavering. And like Soyinka whose fight against injustice, abuse of human rights, corruption of political leaders and the terrible suffering of the majority of his fellow citizens was and is legendary, Gordimer was also an implacable foe of apartheid in her homeland who saw, with prophetic vision, that it was a doomed system.

Her novels and short fiction are unmatched in their combination of radical or even revolutionary politics with extraordinarily well crafted, luminescent writing. Unlike J.M. Coetzee, her fellow South African Nobel Laureate, she wrote about real, everyday people and their struggles against, or witting or unwitting collusion with apartheid. As a matter of fact, she admitted that one of her most successful works of fiction, Burger’s Daughter, was partly based on the legendary Bram Fischer, the white lawyer that famously defended Nelson Mandela at his treason trial. This may be the explanation for the fact that during the apartheid era, many of her novels were banned and then unbanned and then banned again.

She joined the ANC, significantly at the time when it was a banned organisation and became a lifelong friend of Nelson Mandela. She was quite easily one of the most prominent white members of the ANC. Characteristically, within the ANC both when it was a movement and when it became a governing party, Gordimer was a rallying point of criticism against and dissent from the party’s departures from many of its founding noble aims and ideals. She was very critical of Thabo Mbeki’s retrogressive ideas and policies about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and she has in particular been fiercely critical of the current President, Jacob Zuma.

Personally, I was deeply drawn to and influenced by three of Gordimer’s novels, Burger’s Daughter, July’s People and The Late Bour-

•Nadine Gordimer

geois World which all explore both objective and subjective, subtle changes and transformations that revolutionaries and ordinary people experience in the struggle against apartheid. This pertained to both black and white protagonists but was more focused on whites who, in resolutely taking up the fight to end apartheid found that they both had to give up all their white privileges and, in effect, fight against their own people. In this respect, July’s People in particular, in my own opinion, is an extraordinarily powerful and enigmatic novel. Again in my own judgment, I think there is no book, fiction or non-fiction, as important as this book in exploring all the ramifications of what, historically, it means to be white and African, to be a white person who has not come to Africa to exploit it or is just passing through the continent as an exoticist or a flanneur. This observation brings me to the heart of this tribute which is based not only of my reading and teaching the works of Gordimer but also on my meetings with her.

We met only twice. The first of these two meetings took place in 1992, two years before the formal end of apartheid and the inception

of democratic majority rule in South Africa. A few years ago, I met her again at Harvard when she and other African, African American and Caribbean Nobel Laureates were honoured by Harvard’s Du Bois Institute in an unforgettable ceremony full of glitz but also of gravitas. Since she was in the midst of a great number of the Harvard and global intellectual and social glitterati during this second meeting, we hardly talked beyond exchanging greetings and a few pleasantries. Thus, it was the first meeting that left a lasting impression on me by confirming and solidifying all that I had expected Gordimer to be from reading her works.

The meeting took place in Harare, Zimbabwe. Abiola Irele, Femi Osofisan, Kole Omotoso, Niyi Osundare and I had been invited as the Nigerian delegation to a UNESCO-sponsored conference that was meant to be an encounter between South African writers and intellectuals and their colleagues in other African countries to deliberate on what impact, what reconfigurations we could expect in African writing and thought with the end of apartheid. Thus, there were delegations from other African countries beside the Nigerian

delegation. However, because at that time South Africa was embroiled in a terrible social and political turmoil, the South African delegation was very small, the smallest in fact from any country. But to my great satisfaction, Nadine Gordimer, who had the year before won the Nobel Literature Prize, was present.

Simply stated, she was the most approachable world class writer I had ever met. And also a great conversationalist, completely frank in expressing her views and genuinely interested in whoever she was conversing with. It was a complete surprise and a revelation to me how very quickly and easily we fell into conversation about small and great things; about Nigeria and about South Africa; about African literature and writings from other parts of the world. When I told her which of her novels and stories I fairly regularly taught in my classes, she was very curious to know what my students made of each novel or short story. And she was very, very willing to discuss her own writings, something, by the way, that WS doesn’t much like to do. At some point during our conversation, I suddenly realised that Gordimer was actually saying things about her writings, about what to expect in a post-apartheid South Africa and about our world that other people, a much wider audience should hear or read. I then asked her if I could have a recorded interview with her the next day. Without the slightest hesitation she agreed - which further amazed me given the fact that we had just met and before the meeting she had never heard of me.

We duly had the interview the next day and it was published in a special issue of the journal, Callaloo, the premier African Diaspora literary journal that publishes original creative works and critical studies of and by African and black writers worldwide. I mention this fact because in that published interview, the only important disagreement that I had with Gordimer arose from some comparative reflections that she made on the question of the uses and meanings of race among South Africans and black Americans. More precisely, the issue bears directly on an aspect of this tribute that is captured

in two words in the title of this piece and is directly expressed in the epigraph to this article. The words are “white African”. Let me explain.

Is there a difference between “non-racialism” and “multi-racialism”? In my published interview with her, both Gordimer and I agreed that there was indeed a difference between the two words and that that difference had everything to do with the pasts and futures of race respectively in South Africa and America. In the new constitution that was then being drafted for postapartheid South Africa during that meeting with Gordimer in Harare in 1992, it was explicitly stated that the goal was to build a “non-racial” South Africa. In my comment on this, I pointed out to Gordimer that “non-racial” or “non-racialism” had been rejected in America by all those - black, white, Native American, Latino, Asian and others struggling against historic racism and its contemporary legacies. This was because it was felt that nonracialism conceptually or definitionally denied the existence of race when so much in American society, economy and politics was still based on race and racism. For this reason, anti-racist Americans of all races and ethnicities preferred to talk of “multi-racialism” which, to them amounted to a frank recognition of the reality of race, of there being many races so that racial difference can be better understood as a way of coming to an embrace of the things that make all of us members of only one race – the human race.

To her great credit, Gordimer in the interview conceded the validity of the argument about multiracialism, only insisting that because the Boers had historically made use of the reality and existence of many races to keep South Africans apart and white-dominated, it would take a long time for South Africa to “evolve” to a concept of multi-racialism that could itself lead every South African to accepting and acting of the belief that we are all members of the same race. I cannot but think that Gordimer made this “concession” because this question was one that she personally and heroically had settled for herself decades ago, early in her career. She was white and she was African who belonged to the same single human race with all her fellow South Africans, black, white, brown, colored, Asian and others.

In the long years and decades of the struggle against apartheid, there were many white South Africans who belonged to this illustrious group of proponents and activists of non-racialism, among them Bram Fischer, Joe Slovo, Ruth First and many others too numerous to name here. Nadine Gordimer was a towering presence within that group.

She belonged first, proudly and responsibly, to our continent; from this, she took on some of the outstanding issues of our times and our common human community.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

COMMENT

sms only: 08116759748

Getting 2015 debate back on track I

F one week is a long time in politics, then one month is an absolute life time. In the space of 30 days the All Progressives Congress (APC) which has in the last few months positioned itself as a credible alternative to the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), has had some wind knocked out of its sails.

In that time it lost Ekiti State in circumstances that can only be described as stunning and mystifying. It has had Adamawa State pinched from under its nose. But the fate that befell it in the latter has been one of the worst kept secrets in political circles. For ages the media has been reporting that at the right moment the PDP would move against ex-Governor Murtala Nyako.

The ruling party’s goal of recovering the ground lost to APC following the ‘New-PDP’ rebellion has moved on to the next stage with the impeachment notice served on Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura. It is also said to have Imo, Osun and Rivers States in its sights. Whether these states will meekly surrender as happened in Adamawa remains to be seen.

What is not in doubt is the fact that the ruling party members and some pundits would see the opposition reverses as a clear portent for PDP victory at the center in 2015. But that would be presumptuous, just as it would be foolish for the APC to start feeling sorry for itself. There is still so much to fight for going into the next general election. What we have witnessed so far are just skirmishes: there’s still the war to be won.

What needs to change if the opposition is going to prevail is a redefinition of the terms of engagement. Several months ago I wrote in this column that the APC needs to quickly move beyond celebrating the number of ruling party deserters joining its ranks, to highlighting the abysmal record of the Goodluck Jonathan regime, as well as setting out the alternative it offers.

Nigerian politicians are fickle. They will jump ship at the drop of a hat and not because of any deep principle. We have seen that play out with the shameless crisscrossing between the two camps by those who would offer as an excuse such inanities as: ‘Our people have always belonged to the ruling party.’

It is not surprising that where no principle is involved, it has been very easy to reverse the direction of defections in favour of the ruling party. The opposition has cried out that its

•Jonathan ranks were being depleted by a desperate government using mindboggling sums as inducement. But did they expect a regime that has shown itself willing to use all means necessary to achieve its ends to play fair?

Those presently locked in a power struggle with the administration make several mistakes. First, they underrate Jonathan. He has shown that he’s no longer the timid, tentative player of the early years of his presidency; he is a wily operator who can play the power game with the masters.

Secondly, people underestimate the crowd that has the president’s ear. They fail to understand that the level of desperation we see in the abuse of the instruments of state is driven not just by Jonathan’s second term ambition, but also by the fact that those

“APC is not going to prevail in a slanging match. That suits the PDP perfectly because it takes away the focus from Jonathan’s Achilles Heel which is his record”

A hashtag headache

I

MAGINE if there were no #BringBackOurGirls campaigners, Nigeria and its government would have long abandoned the over 200 innocent girls still in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists. This plucky band of Nigerians are a positive sign that there are still people in these parts driven by higher ideals. The y may not be popular with government for keeping the issue on the front burner, but I nominate them for a national award for their patriotism and humanity.

For the Jonathan administration and security agencies they are a headache. But any attempt to cure this ‘irritation’ using blackmail and trumpedup charges will fail because the world is watching. The only thing that will excise the headache is the safe return of the Chibok girls. The campaigners deserve our support in the face of barefaced intimidation by the authorities.

who are relevant today are in no hurry to become irrelevant if they allow the opposition seize power. Such people would do things Jonathan would not even dream of – in the president’s name.

Thirdly, what looks like a bastion from which an opposition onslaught to unseat the government can be launched – the North – is just an illusion. If you thought the North was split in 2011, now it is virtually fragmented.

The likes of former minister and Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, may rage all they like and declare with ‘certainty’ that the region is taking back power, the reality is its elite are so divided that coherent regional action is virtually impossible.

Never before has the ‘One North’ myth been laid bare than in today’s Nigeria. The Boko Haram insurgency, with its diabolical efforts to set Muslim against Christian, has driven a sharp knife through communal bonds that used to unite the people. Anyone who thinks that the death of thousands felled by the insurgents in minority areas of the region, would not affect the political picture is naïve. It is the very reason the ruling party is making the outlandish claim that the insurgency is a creation of the opposition.

The disarray in the region is made worse by the typical nature of the political elite to be found anywhere in Nigeria. No one can come out to say there’s a consensus for power to return to the North in 2014. For every Ango Abdullahi who insists that it must be so, there are scores of others who are willing to live

•Unpopular with the powers-that-be

with another four years of Jonathan if that will clear the way for their own presidential bids in 2019. In the meantime, they will remain relevant. Acquiescing to an opposition takeover, however, would be tantamount to committing political suicide.

So on the face of it the decks appear stacked in favour of the incumbent. But as we have seen in the Ekiti election this year and in the past, incumbency can be a vastly overrated factor in determining which way a Nigerian election would swing. Dr. Kayode Fayemi lost to Ayo Fayose, but we must not forget also that Fayemi as challenger also toppled the then PDP governor, Segun Oni. Some would say that a state governor’s incumbency advantages are greatly vitiated by the desperation of federal forces who manipulated the polls using cash and soldiers.

But it should also be pointed out that Nigeria doesn’t have enough soldiers to intimidate every voter when the nation would be voting as one in 2015.

So what can the opposition do if it really wants change? It must quickly change the narrative. APC is not going to prevail in a slanging match. That suits the PDP perfectly because it takes away the focus from Jonathan’s Achilles Heel which is his record.

That is why rather than discussing its record, the ruling party has been more concerned with painting the opposition in terms which strike a chord with our most primordial instincts. That is why APC is being defined as an anti-Christian, pro-Muslim and therefore pro-insurgency party.

It was no help that the party in its drive to strengthen its ranks opened up to all and sundry – something that is unavoidable for a public institution like a political party. One of those ensnared in that recruitment drive was former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, under whose tenure Boko Haram really took off as a malevolent organization.

The PDP used his membership of APC to telling effect as it tried to tie the opposition to the insurgency. Now that he has defected to the ruling party can we then conclude that PDP is for Boko Haram?

Those in APC who blithely dismiss the PDP charges as silly and worthy of being ignored would be shocked at how the undiscerning are lapping them up and accepting them as gospel truth.

Jonathan will not be dislodged just because someone says power must return to the North. There is no consensus around that idea.

Add to that the fact that the Boko Haram insurgency has so polarised the nation along ethnic, regional and religious lines that any bid for power that is driven by what is perceived as some sectional agenda will founder in today’s environment.

The only way change will come in 2015 is by focusing like a laser on Jonathan’s record.

In 2011 he swept into office on a crest of sentiment – the self-effacing politician with humble beginnings. He was a breath of ‘fresh air’ with a story that tugged at our heart strings.

Four years later a chunk of the country has become a war front, millions are unemployed, the economy is prostate, personal freedoms are being rolled back in an unprecedented manner, democracy is being given a black eye as the military stages a comeback into our everyday life, and Obasanjo-era impeachments have become the order of the day.

Do you reward a man for this kind of demolition job? In any other country on this earth such a record will topple any incumbent.

Whether at state or federal level we must ensure that the next elections are determined by the records of the incumbents. Let us not be duped by the sleight of hands by political con artists, nor should we be impressed by stage-managed impeachments which may yet be upturned in the courts of law.

19

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

Osun 2014: Quest for peaceful elections PAGES 20

Lagos 2015: PDP strategises to dislodge APC

Why Nigerians should give APC mandate in 2015Onu

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

•Kwakwanso

Ripples over Kwakwanso’s presidential ambition I

T is no longer news that Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State has declared his interest to vie for the presidential race in next year’s general elections on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), but to the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his aspiration is something that must be nipped in the bud immediately.

In spite of Kwankwaso’s proviso that he would only contest for the presidency if the leadership of his party finds him suitable to fly its flag, sources within the PDP say his declaration has unsettled the party’s leadership greatly.

“There is great concern in the party over reports that Kwankwaso may enter the presidential race on the platform of the APC. To many of our leaders, this is not a good development as it has the possibility of further strengthening the opposition party across some states in the northern region.

Before now, the PDP and the

Following Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso’s recent declaration of interest to contest the 2015 presidential election, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports that the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is putting in place measures to counter the governor’s feared popularity presidency had concentrated in the selfassigned task of reducing the importance of General Muhammadu Buhari in the eyes of the northerners. It is not going to be an easy task to combine whittling down the popularity of Buhari with that of a political giant like Kwankwaso in the north.

“The more the northerners who present themselves to their people as possible presidential contenders against Jonathan, the more the party becomes attractive to the people of the troubled region. This will further turn the heat on the PDP and its candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan,” a female chieftain of the ruling party said on Thursday while revealing the worries within the

party since Kwankwaso’s reported declaration.

Kwankwaso, who spoke last Monday with journalists, affirmed his willingness to take up the task with all sense of responsibility to deliver good governance in the country.

“Why not. I would not hesitate to pick up the presidential ticket under our party, APC, to vie for the number one seat. And if our party and the party leadership find me suitable for the seat, why not? I will take up the challenge,” the Kano governor noted.

Kwankwaso, while accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of smuggling a new constitution into the just concluded National Conference,

insisted that the divide and rule style of the president was geared towards his becoming a life President.

Kwankwaso, stressed that it will be harmful for the country to extend the term of office of the President from the proposed single term to eight years by 2015 when the new constitution if endorsed will become operational.

He further alleged that all the injustices perpetrated by the president were “deliberately targeted at the APC states just to destabilise us and so to achieve his inordinate ambition of becoming the life President.”

“Nigerians are not fools. We are aware of the President’s new plans and agenda. The plan was to secure another

fresh eight-year mandate in 2015, all in a bid to perpetrate himself in power and eventually achieve his life ambition.

What Nigerians need now is positive change and not the kind of game being played by the President and with the way things are going, we would continue to pray that the President sails the ship to shore in 2015 and that the crisis in the country do not degenerate into religious war,” Kwankwaso added.

Speaking on Kwankwaso’s declaration of interest, an associate of the Governor, Maliki Kaliya Umar, said he is well prepared for the job.

“Of course, he deserves all the encouragement. I am sure he will perform extremely well. He is a very serious person, and is prudent.

He has friends all over the country.

I assure you that if he is given the chance and opportunity, he will

•Continued on Page 24

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

POLITICS

20

Osun 2014: Quest for peaceful elections

S the 19 participating political parties in the Osun State governorship election flag-off the last lap of their campaigns ahead the August 9, 2015 governorship election, stakeholders and concerned observers are worried over the tensed political atmosphere in the South-West state.

This is because actions and the body language of the principal actors, especially that of the leading candidates, almost suggest preparedness for violence. But The Nation learnt in Oshogbo that elders, officials and other concerned stakeholders are working hard to ensure free, fair and violence-free election.

Observers said the tension may be attributed to the large number of candidates and political parties angling to take over the Government House in Oshogbo.

As at this weekend, there are indications that not less than 19 governorship candidates have been cleared to contest the August 9, 2014, Osun governorship election.

Some of the candidates include, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Fatai Akinbade of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Olusegun Akinwusi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Niyi Owolade of Accord Party (A), Adeoye Adeyinka of AA, Senator Sunday Olawale Fajinmi of AD, Prof. Akintunde Adebimpe Adetunji of APGA, Alhaji Rafiu Shehu Anifowoshe of CPP, Ganiyu Abiodun Lawal of PPA, Adeoti Ibrahim Abiodun of UPN amongst others.

“Though we all expected issue-based campaign, given the large number and the quality of the aspirants, we are worried because what we are seeing today are more of character assassination and tendency to be violent,” said Muyiwa Olatunde, a teacher and social analyst in Oshogbo. Olatunde said “as a result of what we are seeing, we are afraid of what will happen during the forthcoming election.”

So, as at Thursday, July 17, 2014, when the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs organised a well attended Osun State Governorship Election Sensitisation Workshop at Leisure Spring Hotel, Oshogbo, some of the governorship candidates present, while pledging their willingness to ensure peaceful election in August, accused the two leading candidates, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of APC and Senator Iyiola Omisore PDP, who were personally absent, of being responsible for most of the reported cases of violence so far.

They accused the top candidates of deploying armed thugs, sharing money to buy support and making reckless utterances calculated to heat up the polity.

As would be expected, the major speakers at the seminar highlighted the evils of violence in the polity and advised all to eschew violence in the interest of the state and the people.

The convener, Senior Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs (SAP-IPA), Senator Ben Obi, emphasised the fact that all well-meaning Nigerians should be the most concerned when the electoral environment is over-heated by aggressive and provocative language, threats and other forms of intimidation. He concluded by saying, “Osun

A

In Osun State, the political atmosphere is tense but concerned stakeholders are exploring and advancing ways of ensuring a peaceful governorship election in the state, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, who felt the pulse of the people this week when he visited Osogbo, Osun State capital this week for a pre-election sensitization workshop

•Aregbesola

•Omisore

•Akinbade

State, all eyes are on you to address the tense political atmosphere and eschew political infamy.”

The chairman of the workshop, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (Rtd), in his speech read on his behalf by a representative, observed that “a country cannot be truly democratic until its citizens have opportunity to choose their representatives through elections that are free and fair but we are all aware that the public expectations are on the low side as they are wary of political parties and politicians.

In his key-note address, the Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu, called on Nigerian politicians to de-emphasize personalities and elevate ideas, adding, “Let’s have a healthy debate about fixing electricity, reviving the railways and repositioning our foreign policies instead of throwing missiles at each other.”

The Guest Speaker, Prof. Kayode Soremekun of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Ota, in a paper entitled, “From Maigad to Megida: Violence as the Nemesis of Electoral Politics in Nigeria,” observed that “it seems as if violence as a weapon of political redress against electoral fraud is becoming a cataclysm in Nigeria politics.” He therefore said: “One of the ingredients of development is the existence of an acceptable means of leadership succession. Indeed, the perception of political competition as a zero-sum game is an evidence of underdevelopment.”

In his contribution, Dr. Yunuso Tanko, the Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council identified three issues he described as fundamental to the achievement of peaceful election. First, “if you want peace, make sure you give peace. The second is that our political leaders must learn to consult widely to carry the people along and finally, “please, do not be greedy.”

Other speakers, who spoke in the same fashion include: INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and Head of Political section of the European Union, Paul Edwards. While Jega, in a speech read by his representative, said if candidates, parties and their agents abide by existing electoral rules, elections would be free, fair and violence-free, Edwards said “democracy is a journey, a journey that never ends,” adding

that “Osun election will be another step in this journey.” The diplomat however warned that in Osun election, whoever gets into power, the winner must be the people, for in democracy power belongs to the people.”

Part of the 8-point resolutions of the workshop, according to a communiqué, signed by all the political parties include: That preelection sensitisation workshops have continued to be veritable platforms for inter-party interactions, concretizing the ideals of democracy and achieving the objectives of free and fair elections in Nigeria; that politicians and public office seekers should know that in any election, the people should be the ultimate winner and so the gubernatorial election in Osun State should demonstrate that forthcoming election should advance the process of democratic process; that there is the need to avoid overheating of the political atmosphere by shunning aggressive and provocative language, threats and other forms of intimidation; that ideas, not just personalities should reign supreme in political discourse in Osun State; that adequate security be provided during the election period to prevent election mal-practices and ensure that voters exercise their civic duty without let or hindrance….”

Even before the July 17 workshop, elders, agencies and other stakeholders, who had expressed concern over the signals that all may go awry have called on all the candidates and the participating political parties to exercise caution and ensure peaceful election.

For example, shortly after the recent violent attacks between individuals alleged to be APC and PDP supporters in Ile-Ife, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, called a press conference in his palace where he handed down stern warning to all political actors in the forthcoming election “to eschew acts capable of breaching the peace of the ancient town.”

At the conference, Oba Sijuwade, who spoke through the Obalufe of Ife, Oba S. F Omisakin, said “the attention of His Imperial Majesty, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, has been drawn to the recent waves of violence orchestrated by politicians in some areas in Ile-Ife”.

According to him, “landlords and tenants, residing in Ile-Ife and its environs, are hereby enjoined to embrace peace in the conduct of their political activities. Political parties concerned

are advised to refrain from violence and play politics in the most peaceful style of Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the blessed memory”.

The royal father also said:”Ooni remains committed to Ife sons and daughters, who have been contributing both in cash and kind to the progress and development of Ile-Ife, but says capital NO to violence, political thuggery as miscreants, lawless and political thugs shall be handed over to the law enforcement agencies”.

He added: “Senator Iyiola Omisore, Rauf Aregbesola, Fatai Akinbade, Segun Akinwusi and others contesting the governorship election are all my sons,” adding, “I have no preferred candidate among all the candidates’ they are all my children. There is none of them that would emerge as the winner that can neglect Ile-Ife, this is because they are all from the source”, he said.

Other stakeholders and the actors have spoken in similar fashion. For example, the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently said it would do everything to ensure a peaceful conduct of the Aug. 9 governorship election in Osun.

Sen. Chris Ngige, APC chieftain and former governor of Anambra, who made the statement on behalf of his party told newsmen after a meeting of the party’s leaders at Government House, Osogbo that the meeting was centred on how to ensure that peace prevail before, during and after the election.

“Peace is what we have been talking about because we need peace to conduct election but sometimes to achieve peace, we have to make extra efforts,’’ he said.

Mr Segun Oni, a former governor of Ekiti, also confirmed that resolve when he said the ruling party would do everything possible to ensure that Osun election was credible, free and fair.

In his own reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Muhammed, warned the powers that be against rigging the governorship election in Osun State under whatever guise, saying that it will be “foolhardy for anybody to attempt to rig election in Osun state.”

The PDP has also pledged to ensure a violence-free Osun election. Earlier in the week, it was no less a PDP leader than the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, that gave the assurance.

Ripples over Kwakwanso’s presidential ambition •Continued from Page 19 perform extremely well.

Umar, who is the Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice said Kano people are willing and ready to line up behind their governor if he decides to challenge President Jonathan in 2015.

“We will all be proud of that. We will give him all the encouragement and pray for him.

We are looking forward towards 2015,” Umar said.

But sources within the PDP said the leadership of the party and the presidency are not taking the issue of Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition lying low. If anything, plans are on to take him to the cleaners as soon as possible to reduce his chances of getting the opportunity to challenge the president.

“This is not being taken lightly by our party.

Efforts are being made to take him up

immediately. This is politics and Kwankwaso is not a small politician by any standard. His entrance into the presidential race, if not well handled by the PDP can create some serious backlash effect.

As we speak, the presidency is working out modalities to respond appropriately to the development. The party too is closely studying the situation with a view to evolving the right approach to confront the Kano governor.

“It is a serious threat and our response to it will show you how prepared we are for such dangerous attempts. PDP and Jonathan will leave no chance for anybody to create upsets. We will respond appropriately to all challenges,” a PDP chieftain said.

Another chieftain of the party told The Nation that this would not be the first time Kwankwaso will be hinting of his presidential ambition. He also spoke of how President Jonathan and other party leaders took the fight straight to Kano

shortly afterwards.

“You will recall that earlier in the year, Kwankwaso, speaking in Maiduguri, Borno State, told journalists that he would declare his interest “at the right time. I think he then was speaking against the backdrop of insinuations that he intends to contest the presidency as he is not eligible to recontest as Kano governor in 2015 having earlier ruled the state between 1999 and 2003.

You will also remember that in April, at the Kano rally held to receive Shekarau into the PDP, President Jonathan and other party leaders virtually went for his throat.

Jonathan even told the people that Kwankwaso never voted for him and VicePresident Namadi Sambo either at the party level or national level as the governor claimed.

He reminded the crowd how Kwankwaso never liked him to win the presidency of the country, adding that Kwankwaso walked out angrily at the PDP convention when it became

clear that he was going to win the party’s presidential ticket.

“After that rally, not much was heard from the governor about his presidential aspiration again. These are the type of reactions you should expect from the PDP. We know Kwankwaso well.

He was part of us and we know his strength. So, he is not one to catch us unawares,” the PDP chieftain said.

But it is doubtful if Kwankwaso would be easily cowed this time around as he again expressed his belief in the need for government at the federal level to be changed, during the week. Speaking on the state of the nation, the Kano governor expressed fears that if the current political trend continues, only God knows what will happen in 2015.

He alleged that lack of listening ears and other undemocratic activities by the presidency were some of the major problems bedevilling the country. He insisted that only changing of guard in Abuja can save the country from disaster.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

POLITICS

21

Aregbesola, Òrànmíyàn’s Chief of Staff I

•Akinwusi According to him, “Mr. President has assured that there will be free and fair election and we must put back our strength and strategies that Osun State people are given another opportunity to decide their mandate.

“The ruling party comprises of respected elders, traditional rulers, the youth, women and everybody, who would not do anything to cause trouble.

“We are a peaceful party and we are looking forward to have a peaceful election in Osun State,” he said.

The umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is also not left out.

Recently, the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Segun Agbaje, said his commission is aware of the political tension in Osun and will do everything within its powers to be on top of the situation during the elections.

According to him: “There will be improved security deployment. I cannot say the level of security deployment in Osun will be less than that of Ekiti. This is because of the utterances of the political leaders and the heavy threat of violence.”

The assurances notwithstanding, people who spoke to The Nation in Oshogbo during the week, expressed fear. “From what we see on daily bases here in Oshogbo and in other parts of the state, I think it will only take innovative strategies to stop the supporters of the desperate candidates from fomenting trouble on the day of election. That is why we are worried,” said Mrs. Gbemi Odukoya, a nurse in Oshogbo.

Is INEC ready?

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that it is prepared for the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun State.

Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Segun Agbaje, gave this assurance recently at an event tagged “Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room,” a platform organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) for civil society organistions to assess the level of INEC’s preparedness for the Osun election.

The REC explained that of the 1,407,222 total registered voters in the state, INEC has distributed permanent voter cards (PVC) to 63 percent, translating to 792,200 of the registered voters, adding that 1,250,569 of such PVC were received from the INEC headquarters before July 11.

According to him, his commission will engage in its final phase of PVC distribution on July 26 and 27.

Other materials for the Osun election include about 7,000 mats, which according to the REC have been “ordered to complement available bedding facilities provided in all the Registration Areas Centres (RACs) to afford INEC officials the minimum comfort preparatory to their deployment to the field.”

On the security of the supplied electoral materials, Agbaje however said only nonsensitive electoral materials have so far been deployed and that the commission will wait until August 6, before it will allow the release of more sensitive materials from the state’s branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The electoral umpire said INEC has done all it can to ensure that the Osun election would end up as an improvement on the Ekiti election.

“The Anambra case was not as bad as being portrayed. If Ekiti is said to have been an improvement, we want to build on that improvement with the Osun election to ensure that we have the best in 2015,” he said.

Agbaje, who confirmed that 19 candidates have been cleared to contest the election, warned that no voter will be allowed to cast ballot without PVC.

HAD sworn that my first visit to Oshogbo would be to its world-famous Osun Sacred Grove. Instead, I attended a “mega” rally in the historic town of Iwo, one of many at which Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is asking the Oshun people to renew his mandate as their governor. I had first taken notice of him for his spartan look which together with his beard halfway between shaggy and kempt, his ubiquitous white skullcap, and his straight bearing spoke more of an ascetic, a hermit even, than of a governor-in-waiting. This was while he fought in the courts to claim his mandate wrongly awarded to his opponent.

Then I took notice again after he had entered the State House in Oshogbo and President Jonathan was about to take his turn at the favourite pastime of our heads of state: increasing the already unbearable suffering of the people by removing a phantom subsidy on petrol. If I recall correctly, Aregbesola was the only governor that said no to the further enrichment of billionaire contractors at the expense of the people. I wanted to meet him then, and it was only fitting that I should make his personal acquaintance at Freedom Park in Lagos, during the night of tributes to Mandela, led by Wole Soyinka, in November last year. I had heard that he was expected, but the evening had worn on a bit before he came in and walked sprightly to join Soyinka and Femi Falana, two tables removed from where I was seated with Odia Ofeimun, Kole Omotoso, and Tunde Babawale. Surprised that I had yet to meet Ogbeni, Ofeimun had led me to shake hands with the man. Seven months after that first encounter, there I was in Iwo to witness first-hand how he mixed the ingredients to fashion a political persona that is quite unlike any other in our contemporary political history.

I set out from Oshogbo at about 11 AM with Mr Solagbade Amodeni, former Commissioner for Natural Resources in Ondo State, childhood friend of Ogbeni’s and now a voluntary political associate. His mission of gauging the level of preparedness and mood of the people for the rally coincides with mine. As early as Awo town, about 15 minutes from Iwo, we see buses, some screenpainted with campaign posters, ferrying supporters to the venue, small roadside crowds brandishing brooms, the symbol of Ogbeni’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). We arrive in Iwo just after noon and feel immediately the energy in the air. On Bowen University Road in the Oke Odo area, all feet, it seems, are heading to the township stadium (actually, only a fenced field), venue of the rally, about a kilometre away. A record store is blasting Aregbesola’s praise in Yoruba. Various tee-shirt groups, walking campaign posters: brown tee-shirts that say “’D’ Team proudly support (sic) Rauf,” red-and-black shirts are the Progressive Torchbearers and say only “Rauf 2014 OK,” green shirts proclaim him “Oranmiyan — Yoruba Legend,” lemon-green shirts matched with baseball caps are “DeRaufs,” among many other political aso-ebi.

Finally, we are at the venue, a third full, the crowd swelling by the minute. Sounds of competing talking drum groups, in uniforms, can now be heard underneath the amplified music of King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, KWAM I, leading his fuji band to entertain the crowd. Brooms, banners and posters everywhere, and even more tee-shirt groups, among them a clutch of women in navyblue shirts advertising Aregbesola’s “tablets of knowledge” programme with the slogan “Opon Imo, Empowering minds, Enriching lives.” I make my way towards the stage — two actually, one covered, with seats for dignitaries, and an open deck with the microphone stands. With the help of Amodeni, I am allowed past security and onto the speakers’ deck where I can more clearly see the crowd. To get there, I have to walk past the covered stage, at the back of which is a big banner announcing Ogbeni’s signature programmes: “O’Reap (rural enterprise and agriculture), O’Schools (rebuilding schools), O’Meals (balanced diet nutrition for pupils), O’Yes (employment). At the bottom of the banner, a sense of rhyme with O’seun! I climb up the speakers’ stage and scan the “stadium,” nearly half-full and quite agog by now.

Someone cries “My in-law!” and I feel hands enveloping me from behind. It is Basiru Ajibola, one of the fearless tribunes of the NANS crusades for democracy and social justice in the eighties and early nineties, now Ogbeni’s Commissioner for Special Duties. I’m his in-law because he had the good sense to travel further down south to Igbide in Isoko South LGA to find his better half. As soon as he lowers his arms, someone else cries “Comrade!” and hugs me. It is Semiu Okanlanwon, another NANS veteran, now a special assistant to Ogbeni. I learn that Segun “Red Drum” Maiyegun, former NANS president, is in the fold too as a special assistant but duty has taken him elsewhere

By Ogaga Ifowodo

today.

The atmosphere is getting more electric, a red helicopter is hovering above the thickening crowd, circling the vicinity in wide surveillance arcs, and there is very little time to reminisce — that must wait till after the rally. Basiru and Semiu dart off and I turn to read the banner on the wall at the back of the speakers’ stage. “Òrànmíyàn, Leekan si!” it says. “Òrànmíyàn, Once more.” It is a clever pun, as another banner more baldly asserts: “The Return of Òrànmíyàn.” Ogbeni as the reincarnation of the legendary son of Oduduwa whose fabled staff in Ife is probably the most treasured ancestral relic in Yorubaland. Ogbeni has even had the staff stitched onto the breast pockets of some of his shirts and wears it as a personal logo.

If the fastidiously austere Aregbesola can be accused of self-regard, it would be in this appropriation of a hallowed ancestor, but I strain in vain for any outward sign of insincerity. I see, instead, the clever use of myth, blended with pop culture. For soon, Fadeyi Oloro, a popular Yoruba actor, famous for his roles as Ifa priest, comes on stage with his entourage, all in danshikis and blackened faces and hands, one of them carrying a basket of horns adorned with feathers, cowries, strips of red cloth; incantations follow. At their exit, pop culture takes the stage. KWAM I has left his band on a stage 50 meters away to join Sir Shina Peters (Afro-juju/Aregbesola, the difference is clear), Weird MC and Tony Tetuila for banter and photos with their fans among the technical crew and campaign and security teams. Then Peters, Tetuila and Weird MC perform. Back with his band, KWAM I leads sweeping-dance choruses in-between his colleagues’ acts: “Igbale ti m’owa, DEMO ni mo ti gba.” With this broom, I will sweep the reactionary party away, DEMO being a reference to S. L. Akintola’s Nigerian National Democratic Party which allied with the Northern People’s Congress in the First Republic to break the dominance of Awolowo’s Action Group in the old Western Region.

More than three hours have passed since I entered the stadium. And now a loud buzz followed by faces turned en mass to the stadium entrance warn of Aregbesola’s arrival. He makes his entry to the tune of the song “Stand Up for the Champion” cued for the moment by the DJ. The stadium is now feverish with excitement. Ogbeni’s convoy is led in by a throng of jogging men, followed by a horse-rider, and then an aquamarine 24-seater bus, Aregbesola perched atop the sun-roof. He is dressed in his customary white skull cap, matched with ochre aso oke danshiki, sokoto and shoes. In his right hand is a broom with which he sweeps the air above the crowd. At the entrance to the stage, he dismounts and half-runs to the speakers’ deck to greet the crowd, not to speak yet, this time serenaded by KWAM I. Then he takes his seat on the canopied stage while Osun’s political worthies in the APC fold address the crowd: Isiaka Adeleke, the state’s first governor, now a senator; Senator Sola Adeyeye, the re-election campaign director; Najeem Salaam, speaker of the state house of assembly; Mrs Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, the deputy governor, among others.

At 4:55 PM, Ogbeni is introduced, right after his deputy has addressed the crowd. He dances onto the stage, broom in hand, to the pulsating beat of Skelewu. He begins his address with a Muslim chant that progresses into a call-and-response with his audience, then he goes through a long list of personalities and groups whom he greets. When he gets to “the great Nigerian students,” he departs from the formulaic “Mo ki” to salute them in the familiar idiom. “Great Nigerian students!” he hails them, and gets the obligatory response, “Great!” “Great gbogbo!!” Gbogbo!!

“Great gbagba!!! Gbagba!!! Great gbogbo-gbagba!!!!

Greeaaaat!!!! At which point the great Nigerian students in the crowd, all now mysteriously massed in front of him just behind the security fence, break into song. “There is victory for us. In

the struggle for Africa, there is victory for us.”

Now choirmaster, Aregbesola leads them on to fuller voice. “Forward . . . ever! Backward . . . never! In the struggle for Africa, There is viiictoo-ryyy for us!!” Then calling on the youths to resist any attempt to turn elections into military operations, to rig the vote, he raises another staple of student street protests. “How many people soldier go kill o?” They snatch it from his lips. “How many people soldier go kill!” “I say, How many people power go kill o?” Tempo rising higher, “How many people power go kill!! Aayyy, dem go kill us tire . . .”

Slight of frame, were he in jeans, sweat-soaked tee-shirt, and a beret, he would pass for a 21year-old student leader rousing his dare-devil comrades to confront tanks and rifles with stones! Very stealthily, Ogbeni works the crowd to a passionate affirmation of his re-election against any machination of the opposition party, brooms hoisted, fists clenched and raised, talking-drums in frenzied rhythms and KWAM I supplying fuji chants to every applause line.

Ogbeni had been speaking for over half an hour to a rapturous crowd. Amodeni comes upstage to nudge me off the loud-speaker box where I am now seating to give my feet a little reprieve. He says we should leave “just before Aregbe finishes his speech and the crowd surges after him, hampering our exit.” I follow him.

Many others have decided to avoid that scenario as well. Soon, we are back on Bowen University Road for the kilometre-long trek to where Amodeni’s car is parked. Under a large white canopy on the right side of the street, at about midway, is a gathering that will discuss the rally till the wee hours. We enter the car and have barely shut the doors than Ogbeni’s convoy is upon us.

Crowds line either side of the road in the outskirts of Iwo, in Awo, in Ogbagba, down to the suburbs of Oshogbo, brandishing brooms and shouting, APC! Change! The students are in the convoy too. “Aluta Continua!!!” says the back of the white minibus in front of us, belonging no doubt to the Student Union Government of one of Osun’s tertiary institutions.

Above the back bumper the bus declares, “One for all, all for one.” I turn to take in the countryside and when I return to the road I see that a different minibus, plate number “Aluta 003,” has replaced the previous one. “Aluta Intervention,” this one says under the roof before declaiming more loudly above its back bumper “TO HELL WITH OPPRESSION!” The heady defiance of student “governments” finds a perfect echo in the quiet revolution of the state government under Ogbeni’s charge. Or not so quiet, after all, given the exclamatory O’s of his programmes: O’Schools, O’Meals, O’Reap, O’Yes! Nineteen days after, Aregbesola’s brother governor in neigbouring Ekiti State shockingly loses his mandate to a former governor impeached on several grounds, including corruption, in an election that will be known to history by the unfortunate phrase “stomach infrastructure.” The very improbability of that victory gives the opposition in Osun, led once again by an aspirant under a heavy cloud of suspicion, high hopes. If what I witnessed before, during and after the Iwo rally is anything to go by, I doubt very much that it is not a highly misplaced hope. Aregbesola cuts the picture of a man totally immersed in his people and their history, one who comes from and is of the masses. Blessed with boundless energy, he is astonishingly reanimated in their midst to star in the “total” people’s theatre that each of his mega rallies truly is. I don’t believe in reincarnation but I would bet on Ogbeni’s return as Òrànmíyàn’s chief of staff!

-Ifowodo can be reached at omoliho@gmail.com

22

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

POLITICS •CONTINUED FROM LAST SUNDAY

D

URING the recent Freedom House lecture, you said part of this money the country generate should be given directly to the people.

I didn’t say they should give anybody money directly. I said Nigerians don’t abhor corruption. I made that point based on the frustration I have gotten from Nigerians. And, therefore, I think what Nigerians are up to is basically that they feel that if you stay for like six months, like I have been governor for eight years, why should I be governor for eight years? If I have been governor for like six months and I take like maybe N1billion or N2billion and I go, when the next Nigerian comes in and he takes his own billion and goes and probably it will go round all Nigerians, and I agree to that that we should domesticate and democratise corruption in such a way that everybody has an opportunity of being corrupt, so that when you do that, you have excess money chasing very little goods and then the economy will explode, then we realise that by the time you wake up everybody is poor, then we will stop corruption. Because those who are going to stop corruption are not state manly enough to stop corruption.

Going into the election, we saw what experience you passed through in Ekiti State, how much do you fear of the federal government using security forces, the military, police to unduly direct the election?

What the PDP has done in Ekiti is to show you what they will do in other elections. I have said it and I will continue to say it that we don’t have a democracy, we have a diarchy. I said that at the Freedom House lecture: government of the civilians and the military where military officers issue government instructions and enforce them by the force of the gun. The military has no business stopping me on my way to Ekiti.

I was there, a serving minister, Minister of State, drove pass where I was. I was there, the Minister for Police Affairs drove pass where I was. So, would you say the election in Ekiti State was free and fair? The soldiers were escorting PDP members to distribute rice, wrappers (cloth) and money on the day of election. Was that free and fair?

Nigerians must rise against another state of dictatorship in the name of diarchy because there is no difference between what Abacha did and what is currently being done. Your newspapers were impounded and you people didn’t do anything.

We shouted.

What is shouting? You should go beyond shouting to physical demonstration on the streets.

Once you start protesting, they will know you will resist the militarisation of the country.

Your aircraft was prevented from flying in Kano and a couple of other places, and you were stopped from going into Ekiti, it looks as if you were particularly targeted, do you feel humiliated by this?

No. I was a student leader.

There is nothing President Goodluck Jonathan is doing to me now that I didn’t suffer when I was a student leader. That is not humiliation; I see that as dictatorship, what you can call autocracy. I should be asking you, what have you done?

•Amaechi

Jonathan has abandoned Rivers State Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, like most second term governors is on the last lap ahead handing over to a successor in 2015. That run-in promises to be turbulent and exihilirating given his political battles on several fronts. But despite the formidable nature of foes confronting him, he is confident that he can realise his policy and development targets in the time left, and, along with his colleagues, lead his party - the All Progressives Congresses (APC) to capture power at the centre and retain his power base in Rivers State. He spoke with Festus Eriye and Taiwo Ogundipe.

Because it is not about Amaechi, the struggle is not about me, what I am struggling for is not about me. I’ve told people, what else am I looking for from God other than long life. I was governor at age 42, I was speaker at age 34 and I was in government at age 26. What else am I looking for?

You are likely to move higher.

I don’t know about that. Let’s leave that in the hand of God. Your critics have been accusing you of non-performance because of some lapses in the provisions of certain infrastructure.

What are the lapses?

I read somewhere where you were reacting to criticisms that some projects awarded by the government have not been completed.

I along with some journalists and foreigners (white men) have just come back from some trips of some of the projects the state government is executing. The white men were clapping - let me speak like the president, who said when he went to Kenya that the Kenyans were awed by the number of Nigerians who have aircraft. The visitors were wondering and clapping. I took them on the monorail for them to see that I have completed it; it is just that we want to complete the terminal. So, where are those critics? I tell the country that when I took over as governor that there were 1,300 primary schools in Rivers State and these primary schools were of six classroom blocks, built by the

following groups: Rivers State Government, Local Government Councils, all the oil companies (Shell, Chevron, Total, Agip, etc).

All of them put together including NGOs built only 1,300 primary schools of six classrooms blocks.

During my eight years of governorship I have completed 500 primary schools. There are also about nearly 100 that are uncompleted. We are about furnishing 300 of them. And the furnishing is not cheap; to furnish one with ICT costs about N34million. When I took the white men there, they were shocked that there were schools in third world country that are like these - with computers, libraries, auditorium, music instruments in the auditorium, sick bays, reception classes from where you go to primary one and all the classrooms have computers for the teachers to use to teach. I also took them to the secondary schools we have built.

We were to build 23 but we didn’t have enough money to do that. We have been able to build only seven.

I took them to one. In one of the classes we have virtual class where you study using instruments. The teacher does nothing rather than to punch those computers and you will hear somebody talking and identifying what he is teaching.

By the time we went round President John Kuffor was present – He asked me where did the vision come from? I told him the vision to build the secondary schools came from Achimota Secondary School.

I told him I drove into Achimota one day and I saw the expanse of land and I said I will build a school that has the same kind of land. I borrowed the idea of the number of structures from my children’s school when they were in England.

The people I took on the tour were shocked when they saw the projects.

People are not saying I did not perform. All they are saying Amaechi is all about the first term as if my father killed me in my first term. This time I decided to take them to the only projects I have completed in my second term. And I could give him example, I said I completed 75 primary schools in my first term and in my second term I have done 400 and 25 to make it 500 and I am furnishing 300 of the schools. In which term would you say I’ve performed better?

The difference basically is because my first term, you saw me on the streets jumping, shouting and running. I was pursuing criminals to secure the city. Now the city appears to be secured and I am no longer 42. I cannot jump any longer because one day I may fall.

In my second term, I’ve improved power supply. I want the federal government to let the public know that the power we are enjoying here comes from the Rivers State government and they don’t pay us any money. We buy gas every month to supply the power and the federal government reduced the revenue for the past seven years I have been governor. So, what are the critics saying? Do you know

what I call those critics? They are stomach infrastructure critics.

When I tell people I don’t have a house, they tell me to stop saying that, that it is I who don’t want a house. That is what my critics say. They are not afraid, they have houses everywhere; they are not scared of the consequences because there is no anti- corruption policy. Nobody is pursuing anybody. The impunity with which the stealing is going on, small ministers are living in mansions they just built. From being ordinary chairmen of councils they now live in mansions. Nobody is asking.

Most things government need to realise is that when you deny people the necessary infrastructure that will keep them alive, when they die you should be charged for manslaughter. If you are supposed to build the hospital that will keep people alive because they have handed their resources over you to build the hospital and you divert the resources into your pocket, when they die, and no one charges you of manslaughter, when God comes, He will charge you for manslaughter.

Let’s talk about your party, APC. Are you satisfied with the outcome of the convention?

Yes I am.

We learnt that the governors in APC were rooting for your former colleague, an exgovernor.

It is not true. We met, we agreed completely. That is why when I heard that somebody published that they interviewed me, I was surprised. l had left Abuja since 6am that day for UK, I didn’t even have a ticket. There was no prior ticket. I bought a ticket right there. It was an economy ticket then. They later managed to take me to the business class. I got to the UK that day. The next day in UK I was reading on the internet that somebody said he interviewed me.

Some people believe that the victory of PDP in Ekiti State will create momentum for the party that will cut across especially the South- West axis.

Why not we wait? It’s about performance. A change is coming. For me, the election of 2015 will be a referendum on our president’s government. It is not going to be a referendum on my own because the campaign won’t be about Amaechi. Is Amechi running for presidency?

He might be.

Well if I’m running for presidency and I’m on a ticket as a presidential candidate, I won’t say judge me by what I have done in the country, I will say judge me by what I have done in the state. And I will show you what I have done in virtually diverse areas, especially in the area of sports.

Port Harcourt has one of the best stadia in the country. I took the visitors to the sport complex because I heard one of these critics say that my colleague and brother has built a better stadium and how cheap mine is.

The entire sport complex is N33billion and it includes two Olympic size swimming pools and two diving pools, hockey pitch, basketball, handball, long tennis, squash courts, shooting range and indoor game. It is an athletic stadium. All of them put together cost us N34billion.

They should compare us to the

•Continued on Page 68

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

POLITICS

23

Dickson: Breaking Bayelsa’s re- election jinx

B

AYELSA, a state with about two million populations, equivalent to countries like Botswana and Mali does not need introduction. It occupies a very strategic spot in the geo-political equation in the Nigerian configuration. Those who may underestimate the state or take its tiny population for granted may receive a shocker, given the relics of its historical struggle, right from the days of the early resistance movement against colonial incursion to the days of twelve days Isaac Adaka Boro, down to the recent activities of militancy have remained an interesting feature of the people.

So the question of expressing surprise at the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as president of Nigeria and the longest democracy in Africa should not arise.

Despite the sophisticated and republican nature of its politics, one thing you cannot take away from them is the unity of purpose they have displayed over their son’s administration, President Jonathan.

They would not need the biblical Balm of Gilead to heal its differences, once a common interest is placed on the table.

So you don’t need to be told by a spiritual surgeon or wear a military binocular to view the corporate unity the Ijaw people have weaved around President Jonathan.

However, back to the Local Politics of the state, it is a tale of intrigues, not different from the Nigeria politics of who takes over and who gets what and where.

One common feature about the state is the politics of re-election of governor of the state. It is always characterized by highwire intrigues and blackmail erected against the incumbent.

Interestingly, opposition parties are not the real problem of re-election, rather the problem always lie within the rank and file of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party that have been in the saddle of governance since the restoration of democracy in 1999.

Contrary to what is obtainable in advanced democracies where the incumbent enjoys the benefit of first in the line up, in Bayelsa State re-election of any incumbent within the ruling party is like a Carmel passing through the eye of a needle.

For instance, when the first democratically elected governor of the state Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha sought for reelection in 2003, he was almost over ran by the powers that be.

If Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha will be frank about what he went through, one will doubt if he would allow an incumbent governor who will later become his colleague in the league of former governors to be subjected to what he passed through in the very hand of his own political party.

When Chief Alamieyeseigha was eventually re-elected, he was impeached two years into his second tenure in 2005.

Given the huge resources wasted on lobbying party officials during the re-election bid and the attempt to ward-off political foes and detractors, it becomes a nightmare that one will not allow it to visit the worst enemy.

When Dr. Goodluck Jonathan eventually took over the baton of governance following the impeachment and exit of Chief Alamieyeseigha, the then governor Jonathan, now president was faced with the reality of seeking elective position of governor in 2006 and 2007.

Though he got the ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party the harrowing experience he had will remain evergreen in his memory. To the glory of God, Dr. Jonathan was nominated and elevated as vice presidential candidate to the late Musa President Yar’ Adua.

Only recent, former governor Timipre Sylva who was seeking re-election could not realize it. He has his own story to tell.

Vast majority of the people of the state are wondering whether it is a spell on the state.

The common denominator that everyone seems to point at is poor performance on the part of the governors and politics of mischief and greed on the part of the citizens.

From which ever side of the coins you view the problem, one indisputable fact steering at the faces of Bayelsans is that resources which would have been used for

Season of anomie

T

•Dickson

By George Fente the general uplift of the people are being wasted on frivolities and politics of vendetta and that of re-election.

Certainly, you do not need a professor of mathematics to compute the huge resources wasted on re-election bid.

The question that is begging for answer is why can’t the people of Bayelsa state, for once avoid this worn out path, come together and give the incumbent governor the benefit of doubt to continue particularly when there are concrete indices of performance.

Why can’t we break this jinx which has become more or less a spell as some people may assume?

The answer is simple. We cannot afford the luxury to waste our scarce resources in fighting ourselves.

This is where the people of Bayelsa State must view any attempt by governor Henry Seriake Dickson to seek re-election as a golden opportunity to break the jinx associated with re-election.

It is a sad commentary that huge resources that could have fixed several critical sectors in the state have been wasted on electoral matters of re-election.

The Peoples Democratic Party should as a matter of fact take stock of the transformation taking place under the administration of governor Dickson.

If performance index is a yard stick to measure re-election; then a peep into the performance profile of governor Dickson does not require any further debate in the state.

For example, in the area of education, when governor Dickson came on board, the education sector was in a state of comatose. The indices in terms of enrolment in schools and performance in the WAEC (NECO/JAMB was not a cheering news and in fact a serious concern.

Infrastructure in schools were in a state of dilapidation, lack of sitting desks, ill motivated and poorly trained teachers.

It was so embarrassing that in some schools in the rural areas; only one teacher served as headmaster and same time the teacher.

Moreover, the governor was not comfortable in placement of the state in the bracket of educationally less developed state, a tag that we have been hearing over 17 years ago when the state was created.

It was against this background, when the governor Dickson declared a state of emergency in the area of education, it was greeted with general applause.

Governor Dickson, who is popularly described by many in the state as “Talk na do governor which literarily means “Action Governor”, swung into action.

This is what Dennis Alemu surmised, as “The sturdy political will to entrench functional education delivery in Bayelsa state has become an article of faith in the restoration project”.

The government commenced the building and equipping of schools, engaging qualified teachers backed by training and retraining of the teachers, provision of educational inputs such as laboratories, libraries, ICT halls, among others to enhance learning.

Apart from sending thousands of Bayelsa State students to pursue foreign programmes in undergraduates and graduate studies, the government has set aside N7 billion naira for this purpose.

So far, 400 schools have either being built or comprehensively renovated. Model boarding schools have been built in all the three senatorial districts of the state.

Also, within a short period he took over as governor, several courses at the state owned Niger Delta University that were unaccredited have been accredited by the national university commission based on the life-line the governor provided for the school.

In the few years to come, Bayelsa state will come top in terms of human capital development.

In other areas of infrastructural development the governor has endeared himself to the people through people oriented projects like the first ever flyover built in the state. In the health sector there is massive rehabilitation of hospitals across the state. In the business hospitality, government is doing everything possible to make Bayelsa state a tourism destination by accelerating the construction and completion of the only five star hotel in the Yenagoa metropolis.

A visitor to the state who expressed delight at the unprecedented spate of development said, “Bayelsa is wearing a look indeed, an evidence of a serious government at work” With these starling performance for just barely over two years deserve the commendation of all the good people of Bayelsa state not minding the political divide.

This uncommon government of restoration is a pride to the ruling PDP and indeed a beautiful bride to market at any election.

Therefore, any right thinking Bayelsa man or woman who has the development of the state at heart should rally round the governor and shun negative and despicable acts that would draw back the hand of development that had already been set on the desk.

Any body acting contrary to this should be treated as enemy number one of the state, a state that had suffered several development set backs as a result of politics of bitterness.

The governor on its part should not rest on its oars and resist the temptations of praise singers and concentrate on taking the state to the promise land.

• Fente wrote from Yenagoa

HE Nigerian Leviathan has finally decided to bare his fangs. He has moved from being an emperor to a Leviathan; one in whose temple all must worship or be sacrificed to the political gods of the land. I have always had reservation about operating a oneparty state. It is the only reason why I rejoiced when a coterie of relatively weaker parties decided to fuse into one in order to challenge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The resultant All Progressives Congress (APC) was able to attract discontents from the PDP and it appeared the 2015 general elections would not be a stroll in the park for the party that has monopolized the hold on power in the past 15 years. It appeared that the boast that PDP would maintain its hold on the levers of power at all levels for 60 years could be vigorously challenged.

At the time, no one reckoned with what the man in the saddle could do to ensure that power did not slip off. We have since realised that the PDP has enough resolve to decapitate and decimate others and gobble up opposition leaders and democratic institutions. An obvious move has now been made to destabilize the APC. As was the situation during the Obasanjo regime, especially between 2005 and 2007, the Federal Government has now chosen to encourage dissension in the major opposition party and is using impeachment as weapon of enforcing compliance with its diktat.

As was the case under Obasanjo, institutions of state are being subverted and used to hound opponents of the government. Wherever the governor refused to dance to the music supplied from Aso Villa, the Leviathan deploys money and other weapons to suborn the lawmakers on spurious charges and, within a few days, the governor, and possibly his deputy are pushed away from the dais to make room for a quisling. It is a dangerous turn- dangerous for the President, his party and the country. It could be likened to using a hammer to slaughter a fly that perches on the eyelid.

Does the President have the moral right to raise issues with ethical standards in the states? What has he done with the popular quest to bring sanity to bear on the management of our oil revenue? How has he responded to the call for removal of the powerful Oil Minister-Diezani Alison-Madueke? She is being shielded from accounting for how the subsidy money is being expended. And, how has his Attorney General handled the prosecution of cases against former PDP national chairman Vincent Ogbulafor? What improvement has been made in terms of transparency in budgeting and financial management? Why is the country wittingly moving into the debt trap again? Could anyone justify what the money being borrowed is being used for?

While state governors and officials are being persecuted, what example is being set at the federal level? Stella Oduah was indicted in the reckless purchase of two armoured vehicles by the aviation ministry, but rather than make her face the music, she was helped out of the system and presented as a paragon of hard work. The journalists are also being hounded by federal agency. The outlook is indeed ominous.

Our President is desperate. The PDP would stop at nothing to win the next presidential elections and capture the states. The same gale that blew across the land in the Second Republic when the NPN could not read the mood of the nation and deployed federal resources to rake in fake votes from states controlled by the opposition is about being released on the political landscape now. Realising that the North and the discerning and politically conscious Nigerians would do all possible to halt the clueless administration of the man from Otuoke, the President is now resorting to strong-arm tactics. Knowledge of the Nigerian political history would help the President avoid pushing this country off the precipice.

As the Commander-in-Chief, he should also call military tacticians to teach him what happened to all Generals who decided to open too many flanks at the same time.

Why would attempting to remove the governors of Rivers, Nasarawa and Edo be considered smart by anyone?

Anyone who understands those involved would realise that Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole and Tanko Almakura would not go down like trhe lamb; they are unlikely to yield the other cheek as the PDP deals them slaps on one. They are suave and charismatic. Unwittingly, the President and his men could be setting this house on fire.

The Yoruba talk about the monkey who, trusting its dexterity at prancing from tree to tree decides to jump beyond the leavers of the tree. It finds itself calamitously writhing in pains or broken.

Let the hawks make way for the doves in the cabinet to have the ears of this President.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

POLITICS

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Lagos 2015: PDP strategises to dislodge APC As 2015 governorship election draws closer, Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan, reports that Jimi Agbaje has emerged a beautiful bride, currently wooed by the two leading opposition parties in Lagos State.

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HE Peoples Democratic Peoples Party (PDP) in Lagos State is teaming up with the polarised pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, to oust the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state, during the forthcoming 2015 gubernatorial election.

The move, party sources said, is part of a grand plot to ensure the victory of the opposition party at the 2015 general elections. Currently, the state is a stronghold of the APC. The PDP had suffered massive defeats on the four previous occasions it had entered political battles against the ruling party in the state.

“The resolve to reach out to Afenifere by our party in Lagos State is to further position the PDP as the party of the people ahead of the 2015 election. For years, the people have been made to see ours as a party of outsiders. Sincerely this has affected the performance of the PDP in elections in Lagos State.

“Now that we are heading towards another election year, we are making effort to solidify our position as a grassroots party and this is one reason we are in talks with eminent Yoruba leaders under the auspices of the Afenifere,” a member of the party’s State Executive Committee (SEC) told The Nation during the week.

Also, the party is wooing former governorship candidate of Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) in the 2007 election, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, to join its rank and be picked as the party’s standard bearer for the 2015 governorship election.

Agbaje, who was defeated by incumbent governor Babatunde Fashola in the keenly contested 2007 gubernatorial election, is seen by many analysts as a strong contender for the governorship position given his popularity and widespread acceptability in the politics of the state.

Recently, it was rumoured that Agbaje, who is the CEO of Jay Kay Pharmacy, was set to officially declare his intention to contest the 2015 governorship seat in the state. Sources claimed then that pressure was being mounted on him from some quarters to join the guber race.

“Agbaje will soon declare his intention to vie for the governorship position again. He is under immense pressure to declare. I can assure you he will run. There is even overtures to him from the PDP to join the PDP so as to run for governor-

•Fashola

•Tinubu

•Agbaje

•Bode George

ship.

“The Labour Party too has been putting pressure on him to be their flagbearer. So, Agbaje will contest the election either on the platform of the Labour Party or the PDP,” an aide of the politician told The Nation few weeks back.

Investigation by The Nation also revealed that the politician revived his old political machinery weeks back after consulting widely among prominent stakeholders and politicians across party divides in the state.

“His close aides, political associates and friends have also been meeting with politicians across the state on his behalf to test the waters concerning his political aspiration. We want to test the pulse of the people who are the ones to determine his fate at the polls.

“I cannot say much about which political party he will be joining to contest the election. For now, what we are doing is listening to all those calling on him to join the race; afterwards, we will sit down to decide on the platform to use,” a close associate of the politician said.

Also, the ongoing clamor for a

Christian governor by a section of the political class in the state, according to sources, is responsible for the near consensus choice of Agbaje as the next guber candidate of the opposition PDP in the state.

“Agbaje is a Chrisitan. The people are clamouring for a Christian governor from the east. Agbaje has his roots in Ikorodu in the east.

So, his choice is a clincher anyway. That is why we are reaching out to him to join the party and pick the ticket to confront the APC candidate,” a chieftain of the PDP said.

Although he is believed to still be weighing his options, findings

by The Nation suggests that Agbaje may have made up his mind to throw his hat into the contest in 2015.

Indications to this effect emerged when his name popped up among people who notified a screening committee set up by a group of eminent personalities in Ikorodu division, of their intentions to contest the 2015 governorship race in the state.

“Agbaje is one of the many sons of Ikoroduland who has indicated interest in contesting the governor-

ship election in 2015. He informed the committee of his interest and he is one of the aspirants we are going to screen as we decide on who to present as our consensus candidate,” Chief Kabir Shotobi, the Odofin of Ikorodu, told The Nation.

We however learnt that the politician is yet to indicate the political platform he will be contesting on.

“In spite of the fact that we asked them to indicate their party, I can tell you that Agbaje is yet to tell us his political party. Of course, we will ask him that question during the screening,” our source said.

But sources said the PDP may not find it easy getting Agbaje to fly its banner in 2015 as the politician currently enjoys a good relationship with national leaders of the Labour Party.

Sources claim Agbaje has been meeting regularly with the Ondo State Governor in recent time and their discussions bother on the 2015 governorship race in Lagos State.

“The Labour Party is also wooing him. In fact, arrangements may have been concluded between Mimiko and Agbaje on how to hand over the leadership and control of the Labour Party in Lagos State to

the latter. If this happens, then the PDP will have to search for another candidate,” a leader of the Labour Party in the state said.

Agbaje’s emergence as a much sought-after candidate is not unconnected with his brilliant showing at the polls in 2007, when, contesting on the platform of the little known Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) he made a huge success of touring the nooks and crannies of the state to sell his candidacy to the people.

“Many Lagosians still believed that he could have won the 2007 governnorship election but lost because he contested on a less popular political party, the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA).

He is remembered for his colourful campaign, beautiful brand and charismatic presentations at public debates. All these endeared him to many Lagosians in spite of the fact that he eventually came third in the election behind Fashola and the PDP candidate, Senator Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro,” Kunle Olowooribi of the Independent Poll Monitors (IPM) said.

His entrance into the race at a crucial time like this in the politics of the state will no doubt affect the chances of the ruling party at the general election. He is charismatic and popular. He is definitely a contender,” he added.

There are claims that PDP leader in the state, Chief Olabode George, was the person who came up with the idea of fielding Agbaje, as the party’s standard bearer for the 2015 governorship election. The idea was widely accepted by a good number of party leaders.

Consequently, George and some other PDP leaders are said to have opened discussions with Agbaje to join the PDP as a first step to flying its flag in the election. The idea was also sold to President Goodluck Jonathan.

It was also gathered that chairman of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Mr. Ezekiel Olajida Adeniji, recently took Agbaje to see the President in company of George.

At the meeting, Agbaje was said to have insisted that the only reason he could join the PDP was if he was assured of the party’s ticket for the election in 2015.

George is not alone on the Agbaje candidacy as other PDP topnotch like his estranged friend, former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, and Chief Mrs. Remi AdiukwuBakare are said to have been working independently on the Agbaje candidacy.

The party and the Afenifere faction, led by the former Commissioner for Finance in Ondo State, Chief Rueben Fasoranti, are currently in talks over the forthcoming election. Agbaje is a prominent member of the Fashoranti-led Afenifere.

The faction enjoys the backing of the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, who is strongly opposed to the APC. Between 1999 and 2003, Afenifere did not open its door to the chieftains of the PDP, which they perceived as a conservative party but today, the party, according to sources, is willing to work with the PDP against APC in Lagos State.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

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HAT is your perception of the way things are going on in the country?

Nigeria is a great nation and God blessed the country enormously in both human and material resources. Nigeria has a very important role to play, particularly in Africa and also in the world. If there had not been a country like Nigeria, I’m sure that Africa would have called for a nation like Nigeria.

But we have not developed at the pace that we should. The great potential in Nigeria has not been realised. Currently, we have various problems but what worries many people like me is that many of these problems are self inflicted and can be avoided. Right now we are a nation that imports almost everything. We have all the raw materials, we have the human resource to convert these raw materials into products and goods that we need but we are not doing it.

Most of these issues you raised are blamed on the leadership of the country. Most Nigerians believe that Nigerian leaders have failed the country. Do you share this sentiment?

Definitely, this is why we are concerned; those of us who are in opposition, who hold current executive leadership positions. We are saying that we, as a nation, we have tried one political party for a period of time, now at the federal level we’ve tried the ruling party for 15 years; by May of next year, it will be 15 years. If these problems are there, as a nation why don’t we try another political party?

You were the National Chairman of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) which fused with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC). Not many Nigerians gave the parties the benefit of the doubt that the merger would work. Leaders of major opposition parties pulled through a successful merger. How did it happen?

Yes, you are right, not many Nigerians believed the merger would work. Actually at the time they were feeling that way, some of us didn’t feel bad because we knew that for political parties that control governments to come together, give up their identities, assuming a new name, motto, logo, it is not easy. It has not happened before in Nigeria and it has never happened even any where in Africa and it has happened rarely in the world.

So, those who were skeptical, those who thought that it could not happen, yes nobody could really blame them. But those of us who wanted it knew what we were doing because we know that that was the only way our country can develop at the rate we want it. You know that if you have smaller opposition political parties, it will be extremely difficult to defeat a political party that, take for example, the ruling party that controls 28 out of 36 states of the federation. But by coming together, you will now build a new opposition party, strong enough to defeat the ruling party. As at today, we are controlling 16 states, the ruling party is controlling 18 states.

You can see that the difference is substantially narrowed now. We also felt that the only way those in government can really put in their best is if they know that if they don’t do so they can be voted out. If they believe that no matter what they do they will always win, they will go to sleep. So, by give and take we were able to come together and it is good for our country to do so.

What about the insinuation that APC is a party of strange bed fellows?

Certainly it is not true. You find that the progressive credential is in the APC. This is a party that is very committed to having a new and a modern Nigeria. Coming together for them didn’t really pose a problem. Even with the ruling party there were people who had progressive credentials and obviously they will not fit very well in the ruling party. It will be like oil in water. So they came to us.

So we have shown that the parties that came together were driven by love of the country.

They desire to make our country truly great.

That is the very strong driving force for our coming together, the desire to make our country truly great.

Some party men and women were not happy with the outcome of the National Convention of APC. What is the party doing to ensure that aggrieved members do not carry their anger too far.

APC is now a very big party. The party is controlling two of the most populous states in the country, Lagos and Kano States. So in terms of even registered voters, you find that we have majority of the registered voters. So it is a very large party and it is very difficult to organise a convention and you won’t have ripple effects. You are likely to see certain

POLITICS

Why Nigerians should give APC mandate in 2015- Onu In this interview with Assistant Editor, Onyedi Ojiabor, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, former governor of Abia State and former National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) before the party merged with the All Progressives Congress (APC), xrayed the June 21 Ekiti State governorship election and returned a verdict of a skewed and slanted poll.

He also reveals how the APC was able to pull through its merger and its national convention. He did not leave out the Igbo question in APC. Excerpts

•Onu persons who may be dissatisfied. But the important thing is that the party has taken it upon itself to do all it can to make sure that, one, you find grievances, two, you get those grievances resolved. The process of ensuring harmony in the party is ongoing. We believe and hope that in the end, the party will get everybody on board.

Considering your pedigree, many people, thought that you will go for the chairmanship of APC. What really happened that you didn’t take a shot at the party’s chairmanship?

No, the position of national chairman of our party was zoned to the South-South geo-political zone and I am from the South-East. So it won’t be nice for somebody like myself who believes in party discipline to go outside that zoning. It will not be proper.

How will you explain the much talked about Igbo question in APC. Some believe that people of Igbo extraction are not really in APC. Is there any problem?

No, Igbo are in APC. Imo State, for instance, out of the five South Eastern states is the most populous. APC is controlling Imo State. Igbo are in APC but we are not satisfied with what we have and we are working very hard to attract more people not just in the South-East but across the country into the fold of the party. I must also say that Igbo, by our nature, we travel a lot and we reside in places outside our indigenous home. So you should not limit Igbo in APC to only those who reside in the South-East.

We have Igbo everywhere in the country. We are working very hard, those of us who are in APC, to attract more members. And there are quite a number of people who have expressed

interest. We are working, it is a gradual process.

Don’t forget that APC is just about one year old even though it is made up of old political parties that are now defunct but it is a new party. It will take some time but we are working.

As one of the leaders of APC are you satisfied with the positions assigned the South-East in the party?

Right now we just completed the national convention and the convention was designed to elect officers of the party as zoned to the six geopolitical zones of the country. Other things will also follow and I believe that the South-East will always get its due. APC is going to do well in the South-East. It is true that the incumbent governor of Imo State won election on the platform of APGA, he is doing extremely very well in the state. The governor has improved substantially the infrastructure base in the state.

The unexpected happened in Ekiti State on June 21 when the Independent National Electoral Commission declared the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Ayo Fayose, winner in the governorship election against the candidate of the ruling APC in the state. In your view what went wrong?

As a party we will be meeting to look at what happened in Ekiti State on June 21. We will draw a lesson that we will be learning from what happened in Ekiti State. And I think the nation also, including the ruling party, has some lessons to learn from Ekiti.

We will not allow what happened in Ekiti to affect the party in future elections. I’m sure you know that even though that election was said to be transparent and credible, certain actions that

25

took place before and during the election question whether that election was truly free and fair.

For example, the final campaign which took place two days to the election, I was a victim. We traveled by air from Abuja to Ekiti, through Akure (Ondo State). We landed and went to Ado Ekiti through Akure. When we wanted to come back we couldn’t, the plane was there. We had to go back to Ado Ekiti and travelled all through the night by road to Abuja. Even the governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, had to travel by road to Owerri (Imo State).

You know a situation where a serving governor was not even allowed to enter Ekiti, he was stopped at the boundary of Ondo and Ekiti.

These are acts of harassment which you can also classify as intimidation. Certain actions like that question whether an election under such an environment can truly be called free.

When at the eve of an election and also on the day of election you start arresting leaders of a major political party like APC, arresting and detaining them, you wonder whether such election can be considered free.

An election can be credible, an election can be transparent but an election that is credible and transparent may also not be free. We believe that the Federal Government also learnt a lot of lessons from Ekiti to ensure that future elections are truly free. People should not be intimidated, people should not be harassed because a situation where serving governors cannot move freely in any part of the country is a very serious problem.

So also the ruling party I believe ought to learn a lesson from what happened in Ekiti because in 2011 there were serving governors who ran for re-election like in Imo, in Nasarawa, in Zamfara , in Oyo. They were defeated but they didn’t concede defeat. They didn’t congratulate those who won and these were all of the ruling party. But look at what the APC has done now, the Ekiti State governor yet may have been defeated , has already congratulated the man who won and told him look we will work together for the good of the state, to bring peace and remove violence.

I think that the ruling party ought to learn this and everybody should be aware that election can go either way. So if you are in government today you can be out of government tomorrow. So the ruling party should not rejoice too much, they should also be getting ready to be in opposition because this is a possibility. It is important that we learn lessons because if we say that everything went on well, next time the same level of intimidation or even more, that will be very unfortunate.

The APC has gone through the hurdle of merging and came out successful. The party again succeeded in organising its national convention. Skeptics are now focusing on the presidential flag bearer of the party. How is the party working to ensure that there would be no rancour in choosing its presidential hopeful?

The national convention that will elect our presidential candidate will most likely come in November. But I just want to say something, you see, at every stage our people have been skeptical, the party will not be registered; it was registered, during the membership registration exercise, people said it will not work; it worked, the national convention to elect officers of the party will collapse, it succeeded.

So I believe that so long as the party continues to be fair in whatever we do, so long we would continue in give and take, and so definitely we will be able to pick our presidential candidate and then come out to offer Nigerians the alternative to what the PDP has failed to offer.

Former Edo State Governor, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun emerged national chairman of APC. You were governor of Abia State when he was Edo State governor. Do you think the party made the right choice for a man who can carry the weight of the party?

Yes, very well, he will, yes he will. Both of us were colleagues. While I was governor in Abia, he was governor of Edo State.

There were 30 states then, I was the first Nigerian to be chairman of conference of Nigerian governors. So that gave me an opportunity to interact very closely with governors. You know when you are chairman, you get to know people more than every other person. We worked very closely together when I was the national chairman of ANPP in carrying out functions of the party. I believe he has the capacity to move the APC to greater height.

He has the drive and also the capacity to do what is best for our party.

26 POLITICS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

ripples

Bankole to opt out of Ogun 2015 PDP race; Akinlade favoured

Delta 2015: Edevbie’s alters permutation •Akinlade

Yuguda for Senate •Edevbie

Obanikoro still keen on governorship

•Obanikoro

•Yuguda

Kwara PDP leaders in cold war with Shagaya

•Shagaya

Daniel,MimikotemptedtoreturntoPDP? •Daniel

•Daniel

37 37

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

•Continued on Page 40

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

MAGAZINE 43

My mother introduced my wife to me

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014 Continued on Page 53

ENTERTAINMENT

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

56 GLAMOUR/OUT & ABOUT

Prof.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

No longer at ease with Bureau de change operators •CBN, Abuja

Page 58, 59

• Yusuf

Page 60

Investment firm raises questions over Afribank liquidation

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IGERIANS may not have heard the last word from Intangis Holdings, the American based investment company which claimed to have bought majority shares from Afribank PLC before it was taken over by AMCON, as the firm says it has evidence that the liquidation of Afribank and subsequent transfer of its assets and liabilities to Mainstreet Bank in August 2011 is illegal.

In a statement issued on behalf of the firm by African Media Agency from Dubai and made available to The Nation, Intangis said:

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, with agency report

"Nigerian Bad Bank, AMCON, which was mandated to only deal with Afribank's non-performing loans invested in its share capital, then liquidated the bank and transferred all its assets and liabilities to Mainstreet Bank, which it wholly owns. Afribank's shareholders and creditors, including Intangis Holdings have been stripped of their rights, "said Jean Missinhoun, senior partner of Intangis Holdings.

On July 1, 2014 Intangis Holdings filed a claim for

damages for tortuous interference against AMCON in the Supreme Court of the State of New York to assert its rights.

"The suspension of the ICC arbitration is a matter of procedure - Intangis Holdings has been substituting for the payment of Mainstreet Bank's share of the advance on costs. This decision does not affect the outcome of the case. Intangis Holdings is fully focused on the action against AMCON in the Supreme Court of the State of New York," confirmed Jean Missinhoun.

AMCON the firm stressed, had taken steps to

divest from Mainstreet Bank from 15th of September 2014, while omitting to make provision as required by the international accounting rules (IFRS) for certain liabilities of the bank, estimated by Intangis Holdings at US $ 1.4 billion.

At the time AMCON invested in its share capital, Afribank with total assets of US$ 3 billion was ranked 16th among West African banks according to the 2009 league table "The top 200 African banks", published by Jeune Afrique magazine.

Afribank was also listed in the Dow Jones index "Africa Titans 50."

Assistant Company Secretary, GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc, Mr. Olaleye Dada; Managing Director, GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc, Mr. Thandalam Sriram Dayanand, Communication and Engagement Manager, Ms. Bolaji Sanyaolu; Director General, Nigeria Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema and Chairman, GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc, Mr. Edmund Onuzo during a courtesy visit by the NSE Director General to the GSK Head Office in Lagos... recently

Customs boss, others fingered in alleged N7m fraud

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HESE are not the best times for Mrs. Nkiru Okere, Managing Director of Nkylinks Business Concept Limited, a firm dealing in imports and exports.

Having sought to purchase used motor spare parts worth about N4, 000, 000 from Dubai in January, the business dealing which involved her husband, brother-in-law and his younger brother seems to have turned awry.

A petition tagged: 'An Urgent Complaint of Abuse of Official Powers, Harrassment, Initimidation, Assault, Unlawful Detention and Seizure Against Mr. K. Mohammed, Deputy Comptroller Enforcement,

Apapa Area Command,'written and signed

by Theophilus Idehen for Abdulmalik Chambers and sent to the Commissioner of Police, Port Police Command, Marina, Lagos, made available to The Nation, alleged that: "Sometime in the month of January 2014, our client was defrauded of the sum of N4, 000, 000 (Four million Naira) and her container with No: PONU 0963916 criminally and deceitfully converted by one Tony, her supposed husband and his younger brother Ifeanyi."

According to the petition, the duo of Tony and Ifeanyi had in January swindled Mrs Okere by changing the name on the bill of lading of her container such that when it

-- Page 53

'Why new pension scheme won't fail'

arrived Lagos, it bore Test and See Global Resources, a company name different from hers, Nkylinks Business Concept Limited.

In the petition, Idehen also frowned at harassment and unlawful detention against his client by the Nigeria Customs Service, saying his client was detained in a cell with male inmates for over eight hours on orders of a Deputy Comptroller when she sought to clarify issues surrounding her container.

"The big question here calling for answer sir; Whose interest is the Deputy Comptroller serving?" Idehen asked in the petition.

An earlier petition dated on the 23rd of April and also addressed to the

Commissioner of police, Port Police Command stated that Mrs. Okere had reportedly paid the sum of N3million, $2, 400, $3, 700 and N350, 000 separately to the duo of Tony, Ifeanyi respectively, for which she got nothing in return.

Expatiating, the lawyer said: "our client informed us recently that she has been receiving strange telephone calls from unknown persons telling her to drop this case otherwise, she would not live to see the end of this matter."

As at press time, attempts

by The Nation to reach the Nigeria Customs Service for comments were futile as the spokesman of the Service failed to pick his calls or respond to text messages sent to his GSM mobile.

‘I encourage team spirit’ Page 62

•Oladipo

ITF to establish 32 skills training centres nationwide

By Uyoatta Eshiet

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HE Industrial Training Fund (ITF), a government agency charged with the responsibility of training required manpower for the nation's industrialization needs has assured the nation that all things being equal, it will keep delivering on its core mandate.

The agency through it Director-General, Dr (Mrs) Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko announced that plans to establish 32 skills training centers across the nation is underway. She stated this yesterday during the graduation ceremony of its 4th batch (2013) trainees in Lagos. The skill manpower training which is in partnership with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA)graduated 45 now highly skilled youths in its Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP) at its Industrial Skills Training Centre (ISTC), Ojota Lagos.

Chukkas-Onaeko said the TSDP is an initiative which aims at producing appropriate technical skilled workforce with a view to reduce unemployment and youth restiveness by empowering Nigerians with industrial and vocational skills for paid or self-employment. She added that the major plank of President Jonathan's transformation Agenda is the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIPR) and the graduation of the trainees, a modest effort of ITF and partners to ensure availability of sufficient quantity of required skilled workforce for driving the NIPR. Through synergy with other stakeholders, she announced that 37, 000 youths were trained in Autotronics, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Tiling, Sewing and Knitting, and welding and fabrication in 2013.

To address the issue of poverty and unemployment, Chukkas-Onaeko said three most effective strategies include political, social and economic empowerment. She appeals for release of statutory funds from relevant government agencies to make their all important assignment easy calling for the resuscitation of technical skills training at least in phases.

The Chairman of the occasion and Managing Director, Vono Products Plc, Mrs Titolola Bakare said the graduation of the skilled trainees was made possible because the synergy between ITF and NECA calling for its sustenance as the manufacturing sector of the economy has benefitted immensely since the inception of the programme four years ago. She said no nation can attract investors without sufficient manpower requirements to drive the investment. Mrs Bakare advised the teeming youths roaming the streets to take advantage of skills acquisition opportunities provided by the Federal Government as it can make their dream come true.

Customs makes 1,608 seizures worth over N600m in six months

By Biodun-Thomas Davids

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HE Federal Operations Unit, Zone 'A', Ikeja, Lagos of the Nigeria Customs Service has recorded a total of 1,608 seizures comprising assorted, prohibited goods from January till date.

Making this disclosure was the outgoing Comptroller of the Unit, Comptroller Nuhu Isa Mamoud.

Mamoud, who was lately re-deployed to Customs headquarters, while giving the mid-year report of the Unit, recalled that "the seizures were valued at N612,513,600.00 with a payable duty of N323,823,327.00 and a duty paid value of N936,336,927.00", adding: "This figure represents over 50% positive differences when compared with the report of corresponding period of 2013."

He listed seized illicit items included: rice imported through unapproved routes, foreign frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, used tyres, fridges, compressors, used vehicles, spaghetti/noodles and a host of other general goods.

Further commenting on the operations of Customs thus far, the Customs boss said: "The present regime of the Nigeria Customs ensured full automation of Customs procedures, noting that the direct effect is the Assycuda ++ (Automated System for Customs Data) which enables all Customs Commands to assess information online. This is targeted at trade facilitation. It is therefore instructive to state that the Federal Operations Unit Zone 'A' has keyed into the full automation with a robust Assycuda section in the Unit, which enables compliance in line with the CGC's directives."

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BUSINESS

INCE the announcement by the nation's apex bank that Bureau de Change operators would henceforth pay the sum of N35million as capital base as a prerequisite for setting up shop, the centre has refused to hold again as operators in the industry are crying blue murder over what they described as an "orchestrated plan by the powers that be to frustrate them out of business."

Crux of the matter When the CBN in mid June first mooted the idea of the new capital base and set aside July 15 as the deadline, not a few people were happy about the development.

The CBN had recently increased the capital base of the BDC companies from N10m to N35m, among other guidelines. It gave the BDC companies until July 31, 2014 to comply.

Among those who raised their voices above the din was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

Makarfi had in clear terms described the whole thing as hogwash, saying that the N35m minimum capital base imposed on Bureau de Change operators was unfair.

While addressing journalists in Abuja, he had assured then that both chambers of the National Assembly were already making moves to intervene in the matter.

He said, "The House of Representatives has taken it up as a motion, but we in the Senate will adopt a different method to bring about dialogue between the operators and the regulators so that something more workable, more humane may emerge at the end of the day."

He maintained that the Central Bank of Nigeria could only justify the imposition of a huge capital base on the BDC operators if the regulatory agency had enough foreign exchange to sell to them at regulated rates.

He advised that the apex bank should make the payment of the minimum capital base optional if it could not guarantee enough forex for all the operators.

He said, "If the reason for raising the capital base is because of scarcity of forex, that means government does not have enough to sell. There is no harm in making such a policy. If it wants to raise capital base for those that are buying forex, it may do so, but the bulk of the operation of bureau de change should not be because they are going to buy from government.

"In other countries, government can sell forex to bureau de change in order to regulate exchange rate through various means. But the day-to-day activities of the bureau de change are not like that, they sell based on what they buy.

"With the minimum capital requirement, for you to open bureau de change, you should be allowed to operate and buy your forex where you can get them to sell and make a living but if the CBN is saying you need a minimum capital base of N10m or more before it can sell, then it must sell what is commensurate with what the capital outlined out. The CBN should make it an option, pay the minimum capital base if you want to buy forex from the CBN or ignore the directive if you have an alternative way of sourcing forex."

Makarfi asked the CBN to guarantee selling at minimum rate of exchange.

"For me, a policy like that could make sense if they have much to sell but to slam such a standard on everybody, without an assurance of what they can sell,

No longer at ease for Bureau de change operators The N35million minimum capital base imposed on Bureau de Change operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria effective from Thursday, July 31, 2014 has remained a hotly debated issue with stakeholders, raising many questions and concerns as to the real intent of the new policy regime. Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf reports.

•Central Bank, Abuja

that will be commensurate with the capital you are asking the people to tie down. I think it is not just; it is not fair; it is not equitable."

Makarfi also cautioned the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, against making sensitive statements that could affect his reputation.

A breather In deference to the complaints by the lawmakers, last week, CBN swiftly amended the fresh capital requirements for BDCs unveiled on June 23 and extended the deadline to July 31, from the initial July 15th date.

In a circular, Director, Financial Policy and Regulation at CBN, Kelvin Amugo, said interest would be paid on the mandatory cautionary deposit of N35 million, based on the savings account rate.

The CBN, Amugo said, would on expiration of the deadline, cease

to fund any BDC that fails to comply with the fresh requirements.

Groundswell of opposition Expectedly, stakeholders in the sector are not happy with the socalled remedy offered by the CBN, and leaving anything to chance in their quest to ensure that the status quo is maintained.

Specifically, the Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), an umbrella body of operators, said the recapitalisation was an indirect attempt to empower few operators and force many into liquidation.

Speaking on behalf of the group, ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the amendments were far from the recommendations made by the association during a meeting with the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on July 1.

"We recommended that

deadline for compliance should not be less than one year as it is the tradition of the CBN in the recapitalisation exercise for other regulated entities. This is because no organisation can meet the statutory requirements for recapitalisation, either by raising fresh capital or through mergers/ acquisition, within the period stipulated as deadline by the CBN for BDCs to meet the new minimum capital requirements. By asking BDCs to recapitalise within one month, the CBN is probably asking them to disregard these statutory requirements, and hence commit illegality.

"We also recommended that the mandatory caution deposit should be eliminated as there is no justification for such deposit. BDCs are not deposit-taking organisations, we operate on cash

and carry basis. We pay for CBN dollars two days in advance. So there is no need for such deposits," Gwadabe said.

ABCON, he said, also rejected the CBN decision to limit the weekly dollar sale to BDCs that meet the new requirements by July 31.

This, he said, would bring back the activities of black market and fake currency operation, which the BDCs were able to abolish following their emergence as monetary tool of the CBN in 2006.

The policy, Gwadabe said, would give banks opportunity to hijack the weekly dollar sales to BDCs. "Before CBN started selling dollars to BDCs in 2006, banks were not interested in BDC business. But as soon as the dollar sale started, they saw it as an avenue to make cheap profit, and pressurised the CBN to categorise the sub-sector into

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

•Emefiele

•Makarfi

Class "A" and Class "B" BDCs." He explained that the minimum capital requirement for Class "A" BDCs, mostly owned by banks and money bags, was set at N500 million, adding that they were allowed to buy $1 million per week, while Class "B" BDCs, with N10 million minimum capital requirement, were allowed to buy just $50,000 per week. That was how the CBN allowed the banks and money bags to hijack the dollar sales to BDCs in 2009, he added.

"This, we believe is what will happen once the CBN limits dollar sales to BDCs that meet the N35 million minimum capital requirement, and mandatory caution deposit. It is an indirect way of handing over the weekly dollar sales to banks and money bags, which had no interest in BDC business until CBN started selling dollars to BDCs. "The savings interest rate on caution deposit should also be reviewed to reflect market reality as the chunk of deposits to be realised by the CBN would be placed in treasury bills that attract between nine and 10 per cent per annum presently," Gwadabe said.

Like Gwadabe, a patron, while not entirely against the initiative, however, appealed to the CBN to tarry awhile before full implementation of the policy.

"Much as we want to appreciate the CBN for the initiative, I think the CBN should give BDCs adequate time to recapitalise or merge. For God's sake, one month is not adequate except if you deliberately want to send many youths back to the labour market or into crime once again. The time is just too short," Marcel Okeke, a BDC operator in Ikeja, Lagos, said in an interview with The Nation over the weekend.

Blessed assurance from CBN The CBN has assured that the new policy on the regulation of Bureau De Change in the country was not a deliberate one to annihilate the business interests of any section of the country.

Instead, the CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the policy was directed at conserving the nation's foreign reserves and strengthen its economy, just as he appealed to the House to support the policy.

He said the CBN's expectation is to have in place BDCs that are

BUSINESS well-capitalised, properly structured and can effectively perform the roles of BDCs in the Nigerian economy.

Relatedly, the CBN boss disclosed that over 200 Bureau de Change companies had met the new guidelines introduced by the bank recently.

Emefiele, who stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives' Committee on Banking and Currency, said the time frame given to the BDC operators to comply was adequate.

According to the CBN governor, the bank is committed to stemming the depletion of the country's foreign reserves from unproductive transactions.

Far from achieving the objectives for which BDC companies were set up, Emefiele said the operations of the BDC had been characterised by rent-seeking, weak operational structure, financing of illicit transactions, gradual dollarisation of the economy and multiple ownership of BDC licences.

The governor, therefore, reiterated that the bank had resolved to sanitise the operations of the BDC companies, among other measures, to stop what he described as haemorrhage in the foreign reserves of the country.

Contrary to the misconception that the policy was targeted at a particular section of the country, he noted that the central bank formulated policies for the good of the entire country.

He appealed to the legislators to support the bank in its resolve to strengthen the economy for the benefit of all Nigerians.

Notwithstanding the assurances b y the apex bank, operators are not convinced that the much touted initiative is a blessing after all because they are yet to see the big picture.

Pray, would the CBN still be persuaded to shift grounds on the planned implementation of the new policy regime? Time will tell.

GMO controversy: Adesina lambasts activists Stories by Joe Agbro Jr.

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URORE has continued over what some activists say is the sneaking in of Genetically Modified (GMO) foods into the country by the federal government.

Recently, officials of Monsanto, a leader in the GMO foods industry visited the ministry of agriculture seeking inroad into the country.

But some activists have kicked against this, saying the ministry of agriculture must not allow GMO crops to be introduced into the country.

One of the activists, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, referring to a news report titled 'Monsanto to introduce 40 new seed varieties' questioned Monsanto's presence in the country.

In the report, Monsanto's vice President Michael Frank said Monsanto would focus on maize, soybean, cotton, and oil-grape seed production in Nigeria.

"There is nothing conventional or natural about Monsanto Transgenic modifications neither is there anything natural about inserting DNA from bacteria into cowpea," said Rhodes-Vivour.

Monsanto, on its blog blasted Vivour-Rhodes, saying his accusations are rants which "lack any credible substantiation."

However, reacting to the activists, the minister of agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, had said the activists wanted to misinform the population andGMO crops were not planted in the country.

"What we have in Nigeria is biotechnologically improved crops to raise yields for farmers and not genetically modified crops as being speculated," the minister said.

According to Adesina: "Through conventional breeding and biotechnology we have safe nutrient enriched crops such as pro-vitamin A cassava, orangeflesh sweet potato, drought resistant maize, flood resistant rice and bananas resistant to virulent black sigatoka disease that can wipe out all of Nigeria's and Africa's bananas, and cassava varieties resistant to cassava bacterial blight that can wipe out Africa's largest source of food. Does he (Rhodes-Vivour) expect us to fold our hands and do nothing and watch poor farmers go into such devastation?"

Over the years, countries like Japan, France, Germany, and Russia have frowned against GMO products entering their country. And while RhodesVivour agrees with Adesina's assertion that Africa embraces modern technologies, he poses some questions for the minister.

•From left: Strategic Assistant to MD/CEO, Unilever Nig. Plc, Garba ElSuleiman, Nollywood Actor, Ronke Ojo and Brand Building Director, Home and Personal Care, David Okeme at the New Omo Fast Action Trade Launch in Lagos ... recently.

LG unveils inverter air conditioner

Coolworld donates building to Heritage Homes

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EMBERS of staff of Coolworld Electrical Retail Stores in Lagos recently presented a building block to Heritage Homes. Under the banner of Inner Hearts, employees of the store which is a subsidiary of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc pooled resources from their salary to erect the tworoom structure.

At a brief ceremony at the Anthony, Lagos premises of the orphanage home, Yomi Ifaturoti, Corporate Affairs/ Admin Director, PZ Cussons Nig Plc, said that "God has commanded us to look out for

our neighbours and this is our own way of giving back to the society."

Olugbenga Kolawole, MD, Coolworld Retail Stores, said that the project which began in September took about 10 months and gulped N700, 000. According to him, "To task ourselves over a ninemonth period to continually give and establish something that would stand the test of time was a key driver for all of us. This would not be a oneoff donation because we have decided to stand with Heritage Homes."

Kolawole said: "People should

stop seeing CSR as a companydriven initiative but from the hearts of people."

On her part, Olakitan Osuntokun, General Manager, Heritage Homes, was moved by the act of human kindness from staff of Coolworld and full of praise. "I feel very happy, not just myself but the whole management. When they first visited us, they realised our need and we are all witnesses of what is happening today."

Heritage Homes, founded by Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, caters for over 40 children under the age of three.

Firm calls for national database to fight insecurity

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HE Manager Director, Comfied Transnational Limited, Mr. Babatope Agbeyo, has called for a wellintegrated national database in fighting criminality across Nigeria.

Agbeyo made this call at the Special Database Forum and Investiture Ceremony of the Institute of Data Processing Management of Nigeria (IDPM) held at Westtown Hotel, Lagos.

The theme of the ceremony, 'Authentic and effective national databases, proficient tool to fight or combat challenges `in a pluralistic nation' featured a workshop, talks and awards to Commander, Search and Disposal Regiment, Nigerian Army, Col. A.A Salako; Dean, Faculty of Engineering, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Bolade Olaniyan; Lecturer at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Dr Tola Odule; Founding Pastor of Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, among

By Adeola Ogunlade others.

According to Agbeyo, in today's information-centric society, reliable and effective dissemination of information play an important role in government sector as it helps provide a mechanism that ensures the integrity, authenticity and effectiveness of such data to help various kinds of unforeseen challenges.

Agbeyo noted that a database is a civilised way of keeping digitalised records about a place, thing or people who converge in a community and share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent or history.

He opined that national database is a dynamic and intelligent data record system.

In his welcome address, the President of IDMP, Barrister Obiefule Ogbonna, called on federal and state governments to consider the inclusion of data processing and

management as a subject into federal and state academic curricular and make it compulsory for students in secondary schools.

He said that a human being, irrespective of his or her calling or discipline, processes one data or another at all times, and defined data as the act of collecting and analysing facts to produce useful information that can be used instantly, secured or stored for future use, reference or retrieval when needed.

"We shall establish a standard professional, training online or elearning and media centre for training of students and to provide professional service to the public and for special training of students on geographical information system," said Agbeyo, while adding that IDPM shall initiate and complete the establishment of IDPM national Data Colleges for professional training and award of Chartered Data Manager.

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N its quest to serve low end customers, LG Electronics (LG) has introduced its latest LG Gen Cool Inverter V Air Conditioner with small capacity generators.

Announcing the entry of the branded LG Gen Cool Inverter at the product launch in Lagos recently, the Managing Director, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr. Deog Jun Kim, said: "Going with our notion of Africa at heart we introduced products with local relevance. Starting with Plasma, Titan AVS, Mosquito Away air-conditioners and our latest energy-efficient solution, the GEN COOL Inverter V AC, which allows 1HP AC to run on small capacity generators of 0.9 KVA with Gen Mode. This air conditioner comes with Ecofriendly refrigerant -R410A." Echoing similar sentiments, General Manager, Air Conditioning and Energy Solutions, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr. Junhwa Jeong, said: "LG's GEN COOL Inverter V offers Nigerian consumers efficiency, cost saving and durability. Thanks to the innovative GEN Mode, our latest air conditioner can work effectively when being run off a small capacity generator. Not even high outdoor temperatures or power grid failure can prevent this impressive model from providing strong, reliable cooling. LG will continue to meet the needs of the African RAC market with a comprehensive range of residential solutions."

Also speaking at the event, Managing Director, Fouani Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mohammed Fouani, said: "Customers who value durability, stability and powerful performance will find the LG Gen Cool Inverter V as the perfect addition to their apartments. The air conditioner reduces indoor temperatures fast; sending out a large volume of 18 degrees Celsius airflow for 30 minutes.

The GEN Mode allows the air conditioner to operate effectively when powered by a small capacity generator, even at a capacity as low as 2KVA."

•From left: Regional Training Manager, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr. Michael Elutilo, Managing Director, Fouani Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Mohammed Fouani, Managing Director, Mr. Deog Jun Kim, Mr. Junhwa Jeong Mr. Vijay Bakshi all of LG Electronics West Africa operations, during the official launch of LG Gen Cool Inverter V Air Conditioner, in Lagos…recently

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BUSINESS

OW will describe the Nigerian pension industry as currently constituted?

Nigeria's pension industry is positively growing, in the sense that this is the first time we are having a well structured, well regulated formal pension industry in the last decade.

Before the 2004 Pension Act, the only seeming regulator we had was the Joint Tax Board (JTB), the private sectors have one scheme or the other and they go into it because of the tax benefits they get. Everybody tried to meet up with the requirements of the Joint Tax Board because of the tax benefit when they are rendering their account at the end of the year. For the public sector, it has always been Pay-As-You-Go, so the Head of Service was in charge of regulation there. So there was no formal structure or regulation, so to say, prior to 2004 we had a seemingly well regulated pension industry and clearly defined operators and those who they are managing the scheme for.

Unlike where we had the public sector taken care of by the government, private sector left in the hands of the employers and the only thing the government did at the time was to say ok if there is no formal scheme for the private sector then the NSITF which used to be NPF that was the only saving grace for the private sector. But since the 2004 pension reform, we have a formal, well-regulated, structured pension industry and we can all see the benefit today with N4.21 trillion in accretion of capital to be used for the economy.

What is your take on the newly amended Pension Reform Act (2014)?

It's a welcome development in the sense that it addresses many issues from the employee, the employer and the government. The complaint from the employees has been that what they get is not commensurate and how do we increase this amount?

That has been addressed by increasing what the employer puts into the account of the employee from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent. And also on the employee side their own contribution has to go up to from 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent.

This, for me, is a welcome development because you are running a scheme based on what you are able to accumulate over time and what returns on investment.

So, this, for me, is going to improve what will be in the purse of the employee at retirement.

ICT in pension administration was a topical issue at the World Pension Summit, how do you hope to integrate ICT with pension administration?

The success of this industry is hinged on ICT because it's a retail market and in the retail market a lot of data passes from the employee to the employer and to the operators and also the regulator. So, if there is no good, robust ICT, then there will be a major challenge we all know the era we are in now, the swoosh media, information goes left and right. At the beginning of 2004 pension system, the level

'Why new pension scheme won't fail' Mr. Bayo Yusuf is Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Pension Custodians. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Nduka Chiejina, he speaks on the prospects, challenges of the revamped pension scheme and what it bodes for the economy. Excerpts: of information technology was inadequate. The law says we should collect on behalf of the PFAs with no restriction, yes the requirement to be a custodian is that you must be a subsidiary of a bank with a very large branch network, UBA, for example, has over 700 branches; that does not mean we have to now select that as an employer you must go to X branch, no you can go to any branch of UBA and make your payment, you can go to any branch of UBA to make your lodgements. At the beginning, electronic payment was not popular, so employers to the branches submit cheques, in some cases accompanying schedules are not included so there were a whole lot issues at the beginning. We also had money deposited which employer we did not know.

For example, you send an employee to make lodgements, this employee puts his name as the depositor and when the teller captures it he captures the personal name; it becomes an issue to identify who made the lodgements and when you identify who made the lodgements finding the schedule becomes an issue again.

So, you need technology in collection. At the initial stage, we had a whole lot of money taking us time to track down but what we have done over time now is that in the last two to three years with the advent of electronic banking and the support of the CBN, with a directive that all public sector organisations must make their payments electronically. This put an end to cheque writing and this was another challenge as money was trooping in in large volumes and there was no industry standard to say when you are paying electronically.

These are the basic information that must accompany the payment from the receiving bank to the sending bank so we see a lot of money coming in via different channels without proper narration and identification. So, the question of how to address this came since this the era of electronic banking, things have to change we now had to come up with a system that will capture this fully, as technology is improving, we need to also use technology to drive the collection which is the number one assignment of the custodian.

So, we came up with a platform which is being driven by holistic needs by using the platform called Electronics Pension

•Yusuf

Collection System. With this system, an employer, after running a payroll for the month, all he needs to do is to log on to the platform, upload the schedule, irrespective of the employers, employees and the PFAs, the pension generated from your payroll application and you upload it on this system, this system will break it down to respective PFAs and respective custodians.

Immediately you finish that, there is an automatic payment system; if you have an internet banking, from there on, you will just transfer the money.

As you upload the system, the schedule of pension into that platform, turns into the respective PFAs, so the PFA gets an alert that XYZ employer has uploaded and awaiting payment and immediately the employer makes payment, alert is sent that payment has been made, so that enables us to have what we call security processing of collection. This is a system that we are testing now which we believe as an industry is going to go a long way to reduce the number one challenge of the industry today as a custodian.

Collection is our number one challenge.

We are doing the testing

of the application now, it is an industry initiative which the custodian is playing a major role in driving and ensuring that it comes to light and as soon as this is done, it takes off the collection challenge that the industry is facing. So, when employers deduct your money that 24 hours specified in the Act will now be seen because as we speak, it is very difficult to achieve in that 24 hours. We cannot have a smooth pension system without ICT but the number is growing.

Right now, we are just six million and we are talking of bringing in the informal sector into it. The informal sector is another area entirely in the sense that they are not all experienced individual and we know that so we are working with the banks, specifically UBA, to come up with a product that will enable the informal sector use their phone to remit their pension contribution, they don't need to go to the bank.

So, technology is a major game changer and also it is going to be a differentiating factor in few years to come.

So, we cannot do without the ICT in pension landscape, especially administration.

The President and Minister of Finance hinted that they were targeting a

$100billion pension asset in 20 years, do you see this as being feasible in the next 20 years or do you see it coming a lot earlier?

I see it coming a lot earlier.

I was sharing statistics with you before and I said, there are 17.6million employers in the informal sector and these employers have employed 43million as of march 2014.

Total Retirement Savings Account opened is just 6.2million, so, you can see the gap. Now, the new Act makes provision for a minimum of three and above and when you look at the figures of 16.7 million and 43million, you can see that there is minimum employment figure by the SME. So, it is just for the operator to hit the market. I can assure you, in a couple of years, twenty years is very far.

With the rate of growth that we have been having at 30 percent annual growth contribution, I can assure you, in the next two years, the rate of growth will be more than this even with the fact that we have a new set of people. The main challenge for us is to have the mechanism, the framework. We know that in whatever we do, we need to domesticate it.

We know the average informal sector employer, the financial education is very limited. They believe in what they can get back in the immediate and pension is a long term thing and when you look at the demography of the majority of the people in the informal sector; secondary school leavers, ONDs, these are people in their twenties.

So, in coming up with a framework for the informal sector, there is need for us to have a portion of their accumulation that they can have access to at any point in time.

What I mean is 100 per cent of your contribution will not be locked down till retirement. A provision says 20 per cent of your contribution, you can have access to it at anytime. That is you are domesticating it. A fashion designer, for example, if you run into problem or see a new machine to buy, you cannot tell her that she cannot access the money, that it is tied down until retirement age, even a professional can have access to 20 per cent of his or her money. So, it is not until you get to retirement before you begin to see the benefit of my contribution, I should be able to benefit from it while I am working, not when I retire.

The panel was discussing that the people should see the direct impact of their contribution.

We have a situation where government changes every

four years. What if government changes and the new one says this road should no longer be tolled and the proceeds of pension would already have been used to finance the project and then they did not recoup either the principal or the profit, how do you strike a balance between these two?

Government will not just come and say, stop collecting toll from this land. If government says that, then it is saying, yes, I will pay because that project, the hundred percent fund was not provided by the government. The people that put their money must be paid before it can say, no, we are not going to toll this road again. So, there is going to be a strategy for the people that put their money in this project. I did not fund this project hundred percent, I funded 40 per cent and a counterpart funded the remaining 60 per cent and I am saying as government, because I have a responsibility to the people, I'm saying, I am going to fund this project hundred percent, so, what is the cost of the balancing in financing this project? It will be difficult for government to say, no, the project I did not finance hundred percent, I am stopping it and the counterpart that participated in the financing of the project, I am not going to pay them their money. So it is not every project that is bankable and it is not every project that you should throw your money at.

You should look at the project, if it is bankable, people will bring finance. So, pension fund will not say because they have money, they should throw it into any project, no.

No pension fund will do that.

How much has been paid out to retirees so far?

We are pension fund custodians and we have specific rules entrenched in the Act. Number one is collection on behalf of PFAs that sign us up. We are custodians to 10 of the 27 PFAs; we have 27 PFAs and of these 10 are our clients. On a monthly basis, we collect between N17billion and N18billion in terms of collections spread across the federation. Two, settlement of transactions on behalf of PFA, the administrative part of investment is being handled by the custodian.

So, we settle transaction on behalf of our PFAs and when we settle, we collect instrument representing investment. Also, income collection, the income accrued in all of these investments like the dividends on equity, interest on placement. Also, the payment of benefit to retirees, every month, for those that are on programme withdrawals, we make payment on behalf of our PFAs. We have 25,000 retirees that we pay on a monthly basis and we pay in the excess of N3.5 billion. These are some of the things we do aside other value added services. We are basically servicing the PFAs; we don't have a direct relationship with the employees. We were appointed by the PFAs and that is why you cannot see us in the newspapers everyday because the people we are servicing are just 27.

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N its quests to engender the culture of self-reliance and enterprise among the teeming youths population, Life Can Be Greater (LCBG), an organisation which prides itself as a "solution-provider to everyday problems" has instituted a process aimed at tasking the creative ability of undergraduates.

The LCBG kicked off its inaugural campaign with an ideas contest, which they coined "solutions session" held at Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo campus, recently.

In anticipation of an engaging interaction with the organisers, the students, many of whom are already battleweary from the protest over the tuition hike and prolonged faceoff of the institution's management with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (LASU Chapter), fanned out en masse as they occupied the faculty hall of the Social Sciences, venue of the event.

After filling the hall to the brim, the students got the first shock of the day as a few dozen of the participants were immediately rewarded with a N20,000 cheque in the first few minutes of the event. It was a simple game: they were all to look under their seats and pull out a brown envelope tightly sealed beneath it.

Upbeat, the students ripped open their envelopes; but while some hissed as they read out the words printed on the cards, 'Better luck next time,' there were rapturous screams from various parts of the hall as others proudly waved their new found prize which is to be applied towards their tuition.

Expectedly, this got the event to a fiery head start as the students decided to seize the moment and not only compete for the remaining envelopes with various size cheques, but contend among themselves for the two big prizes: the half and full tuition scholarship on offer, a development the organisers described as heartwarming since they set out to challenge the students to think creatively and proffer solutions to everyday problems in their communities, while rewarding those who come up with brilliant simple answers to internal and

T

WO of Nigeria's brightest young entrepreneurs who won the winning a competition by British Council and Virgin Atlantic in partnership with Zenith Bank had the opportunity of gracing a business master class from Sir Richard Branson recently.

Eseoghene Ise Odiete and Nasir Abdulqadir Yammama won the Enterprise Challenge - an online competition for Nigerians entrepreneurs aged 18-35 and living in Nigeria or studying in the UK. The Apprentice-style

Firm empowers undergrads with grants, life skills

•From left: Director of LCBG, Derin Olukayode presenting a dummy cheque to winner of the full scholarship, Oluwafemi Okunleye in Lagos…recently Stories by Joe Agbro Jr. national issues.

Marketing Executive and PR Director of LCBG, Mr. Derin Olukayode, said Life Can Be Greater is a movement that proffers solutions to societal issues on a small scale and galvanises citizens to push for their implementation on a wider scale. "We are looking for practical solutions, we don't have to wait for the government for everything.

"There are little things we can do to make life better for ourselves and the next person and that is what we want to inculcate into the students. Life, indeed, is hard; schools fees are high, but life can be greater if we focus our minds on solving

those little things that make the country and ourselves greater.

"LCBG is here to let you know there is hope. If I have learned anything in life, it is the power of hope and the power of one person to change the world by giving people hope.

Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela, Obama and even the young girl from Pakistan, Malala, are examples of the power of what one person can achieve," he said.

During the solutions session, several pertinent issues directly affecting students were thrown up, among which include the worrisome trend of students dropping out of school in large numbers every year because of the high tuition, inadequate funding of

education, insecurity problems, incessant disruption of academic calendar owing to ASUU strike, and absence of accommodation for LASU students.

"We are worried because those that drop out of school today are the ones who will become the society's nemesis tomorrow, and no matter how successful we become, we still have to live in a society with a high level of hoodlums and thugs. Also, we wonder why WIFI network is free in other universities like the University of Lagos (UNILAG); yet, we pay a lot in LASU to subscribe to the internet connection in this ICT generation," one of the students said.

At the end of the ideas

contest, two winners emerged.

Oluwafemi Okunleye, a 300level student of Accounting, won the full tuition scholarship for his didactic analysis of the accommodation problem in LASU and his solution of the state government engaging private sector organisations like Life Can Be Greater, in a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) mechanism that will alleviate the suffering of students who travel long distances to attend lectures.

Lawal Ismail Omoniyi emerged second best and walked away with the partial scholarship for inspiring his fellow students to catch the entrepreneurial bug early in life, because "nobody owes us a job after graduating. It is up to

us to create the future we really want and one thoughtprovoking seminar like this is enough to change people's lives," he noted.

An elated Omoniyi told newsmen after the event that he was happy to have won the partial scholarship. "It is really a great day for me. When I came here, I wasn't expecting to win any money, but along the line I was inspired by what was happening in the hall and I called up my spirit of determination and psyched myself to come up with a brilliant idea, which fetched me N100,000.

"I also thank the organisers of this programme, they have demonstrated that, indeed, life can be greater. I emphasised during my presentation that one seminar is enough to change people's lives and build up the entrepreneurial spirit."

A member of LCBG, Ms. Omorinsojo, explained that the group could not afford to give every student grants and decided not to award the scholarships based on academic performance, "because we believe each student is qualified to be a change agent and history has shown that bright students do not have the monopoly of creative ideas and solutions."

Kemi 'Lala' Akindoju, the MC of the event, said - "We are happy we fulfilled our mission, which is that for the students, even if they didn't win any money, many would be leaving the hall challenged and inspired to change their environment by looking inwards for solutions to their own problems."

While commenting of the initiative, the president of the Students' Union, LASU, Comrade Nurudeen Yusuf, popularly known as Optimist, was full of praise for the LCBG team for bringing such huge relief to students through the programme.

"We look forward to more rewarding cooperation with the LCBG team. We believe there can be greater life in LASU, in Lagos, and even in our country. As a student body, we have the vision of launching a students' endowment fund where we can dip our hands into some millions of naira and give to indigent students. With this, the public will have more confidence in us and even support the project."

Day Branson shared business tips with Nigerian entrepreneurs competition took place over three rounds, during which candidates wrote an essay on their entrepreneurial journeys, created a video pitch for their businesses or business plans, and had their ideas scrutinised by a panel of experts in Nigeria and the UK. The mentoring session between the two winners of the enterprise challenge competition and Sir Richard Branson took place on the 1st of July in London. The session was designed so that the winners could ask about and learn from the magnate's life

and business experiences. At the end of the meeting, it turned out to be more than a mentoring session, it was a master class which everyone benefitted from.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman Virgin Group, said Virgin Atlantic is delighted to have supported the Enterprise Challenge program dedicated to supporting young Nigerian entrepreneurs and fostering new ideas.

He said: “Innovation has been an important part of Virgin's heritage and I was

pleased to see so many young Nigerians keen to embrace new ideas through the competition.

Many congratulations to Ese and Nasir who had fantastic business plans and I'm sure will have very bright futures.”

Eseoghene Ise Odiete runs Hesey Designs - an online store selling African-inspired accessories, which also helps to empower and mentor other young African women. She said: "It was an awesome experience meeting and learning from Richard

Branson; one that will change my life and business and take it to a whole new level. I am super grateful for the opportunity."

Nasir Abdulqadir Yammama, a postgraduate student at Middlesex University in London, won with a business plan for a mobile phone app called Verdant to help crop farmers.

He said: "The Enterprise Challenge has been a remarkable competition which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I believe it has not only developed my skills but

exposed me to a whole new way of looking at things from writing to pitching and presentation. Also, the calibre of people I have been able to interact and network with is the absolute thing every aspiring entrepreneur and innovator wishes to associate with. And Meeting Sir Richard Branson was a priceless opportunity that I will continue to value immensely. I have been able to acquire so much wisdom and inspiration that I feel ready and bound to exceed all expectation."

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

•Omatseye (third from right) with cast and crew of The Siege when they visited The Nation during the week.

“I

SHALL not leave this town even if its spears from your primitive hands cut me down. My room’s candles flare my courage as a matador against the glooms of night and cruel belief. Let them know from their baleful corners that I hide nothing. I am British and glow with the pride and barrel of my country. My Lord once shed his blood to free savages, including you and yours, who now lay siege to serve an aimless god. And even though Gladstone leaves me in harm, I am an imperial martyr and will not leave this spoil of the Lord to a sneering native.”

With these words uttered with grave pride and unbridled stubbornness by Charles Gordon of the British Empire who refused to vacate Sudan after so much entreaties and persuasion, Sam Omatseye opens a new chapter not only in his life as a writer, but as he successfully takes the world into a historical play that represents both the old and the modern world where the insidious divide between religion and politics, if not properly handled will soon tear many societies to shreds.

The play is the story of Charles Gordon, a British army general who finds himself in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and the Madhi of Sudan who, along with his numerous foot soldiers, oppose the role of the British in trying to hoodwink and capture the soul of the country. It is a horrible and protracted standoff that pitches the West against Africa, a situation that is very rampant at the moment.

How does one man’s belief be a yardstick to measure the other person’s attitude to life, to his environment and how he decides to order or run his own affairs? It shows how the bigotry of the West, essentially America and Britain and some others of their ilk have come to aggravate rather than solve the problems of the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.

With Gordon in Khartoum to entrench the ideals of the British and make the Madhi and his people come to terms with his own beliefs and ideologies and philosophies, the never-ending hatred and suspicion between the developed worlds and the third world countries continues to thicken. While each side tries to justify reasons for the prolonged stand-off, the people suffer and the tensions in their minds reach points of crescendo.

Through a two-dimensional theatrical dialogue full of didactic appeal and import, Omatseye dissects the central theme of the story. It is centred entirely on the inflamed creative spirit of a restless playwright who thinks profoundly to give his society enough to chew; enough to remember in order to

PHOTO: EVELYN OSAGIE

Welcoming The Siege Come July 24th, all roads will lead to the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, where The Siege, a political play hinging on the ideological differences that define world politics today will be staged. Written by Sam Omatseye, poet, novelist and essayist, the play forms part of the 80th birthday celebrations of Professor Wole Soyinka as it also highlights the dangers and implications of allegiances to faiths in a polarised global village. Edozie Udeze reports allow people be who they are in whatever fold or norm that best suits them.

The Siege comes at a time when the polarisation of societies and the ideological steam in the world is at its peak and people from across all corners of the global world no longer think as one on how to preserve the earth. Now they think of how to despoil it, creating theatres of confusion, wars, hatred, avarice, racism, ruinations, pride, ego, idiocy and such horrible tendencies that often tear the world apart.

This is the context within which the play is set. Theatre is the soul of a society. All the indices of life patterns, all the issues that propel man to be who he is, to do what he prefers have been brought to bear in this work.

As it goes on stage on July 24th at The Muson Centre Lagos as part of Professor Wole Soyinka’s 80 th birthday celebrations, the beauty it portends has to be poignant and pungent in the lives of thespians. Theatre owes it a duty to portray a society at war with itself. It has to showcase and project and indeed promote the ideals of the past, its numerous mistakes and errors to be able to make for a better society, peopled by reasonable citizens, ready, eager for dialogue and also amenable to corrective ideals.

Through the face-to-face confrontation between Gordon and the Madhi, the world is able to glimpse through the volatile nature of the two worlds as they struggle against each other. Why would Gordon defy Gladstone, his Prime Minister to remain in Khartoum? What is the essence of that sort of disobedience when the owners of the land do not need you around them?

“Yes, my Lord will meet your Lord in blood. I am the Madhi, sent from heaven to redeem my land from the distress of your belief. Charles Gordon, son of a white god. I know him not, neither do I know you but Sudan, our ancestral right. It enshrines our cries, ensnares you for daring to leave. This

siege should yield nothing but peace, if you abandon your pride and your measly soldiers of empire. We shall forgive you the ruins and your epitaph of shreds and bloodshed. These ten months exhort my patience which is a superior virtue by your Lord and mine. But even gods chasten the rut of dead feet. (Therefore) be careful, I am running out of time.”

By sounding this stern warning, the Madhi indeed makes it explicitly clear that neither ideological intimidation, nor the imposing presence of the imperialist would make him and his people bend to the heavy yoke of the invaders.

The playwright took his time to invite seasoned British actors to give real and convincing interpretations to the lines. In doing so, he explains that the reality of a play lies deeply in its ability to convey its messages and import within a proper theatrical setting.

Omatseye situates part of the play in this form: “In his last days, Gordon in his usual stubbornness was caught in a web of dilemma. You can call it a David-Goliath kind of complex. Surrounded by Sudanese soldiers he did not care whether Britain sent a reinforcement of soldiers or not. He was a soldier to the end. But it all shows the kind of complexity we now find in Libya, in Iraq, in the menacing escapades of Boko Haram, Osama Bin Laden and so on. Many people have died, some have been displaced and totally traumatised… Therefore, the detachment of time will free us from enough prejudices in examining the dynamics of today’s events.” And then upon that however is how will history judge those who inflamed the world in order to fulfill their individual or collective idiosyncrasies?

Directed by Wole Oguntokun, one of the foremost contemporary stage directors in the industry, the idea is meant to add total professionalism in the way these theatrical

elements are defined. This is why he says that, “it still puzzles me why Gordon should remain in Khartoum against the orders of his Prime Minister, Gladstone. Why did he stay? Was it due to pride, egotism or his own soldiery bravery? Indeed, the play will help to broaden our knowledge of some events that have come to shape our lives.

The idea is for people to be open minded about life itself and not try to impose their belief systems on others. Whether Christian or Muslim or moderate or liberal, each side must not say that what the other side says or believes in has no substance. Book Haram should not say Western education has no value. There are parts of Nigeria that believe that Western education has meaning. Therefore, it is a play that has a lesson for the whole world.”

Among the actors are Sam Quinn who plays Charles Gordon, Angus Scott-Miller who plays Captain Milliband, John Glynn whose role is to explain the place of Lord Kitchener and Paul Garayo who doubles as Philip and Jacob in the play. The role of Umar, one of the bravest of the Madhi’s soldiers is played by Bimbo Olorunmola.

Glynn confesses that what he would take away from the experience of the play is the ambiguities surrounding beliefs. “It shows us that no one has all the answers to the problems of the society and never should one person stick his ideas down the throat of the next. People should also try to avoid fanaticism of any sort.”

In his own reaction, Quinn says he is in love with the poetic nuances and texture of the play. “Above all, it opens our eyes to the realities of our individual and collective roles as peoples of the world. When the audience see both the white and the black on stage arguing these issues, pinpointing their differences, to me it will make for a better society, for a better world.” And here, really, lies the whole beauty of The Siege.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

NEWS REVIEW

'Nigeria failing because of extreme corruption' Continued from page 12

need to unite from day one. And fortunately I don't need a budget to do that. All you need is sincerity.

As a leader, if you treat the nation the way you treat your family, it shouldn't be difficult at all. So the first thing would be to secure the nation. Even the constitution says the welfare and security of the people of Nigeria is the responsibility of the government.

That is not a manifesto. And it is not difficult to achieve because not too long ago, our police and military were adjudged among the best in the world when they used to go for peacekeeping missions.

So it means they are good, but you have to equip them. We must respond accordingly. You'll notice that I have not talked about fighting corruption. Why should there be corruption in the first place? There is a system. The biggest fighter of corruption in the system is not the EFCC, media or the ICPC; it is the president himself. Anybody found living above his means should be made to explain. There are laws already. And we have enough resources to prosecute these battles. And you would have noticed that I have been talking about big ideas, because only big ideas can change the course of history. And I can talk about big ideas in every field of human endeavour. Imagine that even our government is telling us that their target is 6,000 megawatt or 10,000, when South Africa has 44,000 megawatt and are thinking of

•Nda-Isaiah doubling it in the next decade. And here we're talking about 10,000 megawatt for a population of 144 million! You can't become a great country if you're thinking that way.

Pakistan that is even classified a failed state by the United States, has 22,000 megawatt, in excess of their 17,000 demand. And their population is just about ours. And there are so many things that we

can do in this country to move it forward. If you want a small country, I'll tell you about Singapore, where their prime minister decided to build the biggest port in the world and achieved it. This loan that we are all afraid to take; many countries have taken it and changed their fortune; as long as you take it and pay back. Not to take it and steal.

Brazil became a super power in agriculture. Brazil is about 200million people. They have a power generation of about 121,000 megawatt. If you go to Malaysia, we know the story of how they got their palm kernel; and they decided to become the biggest palm oil producer in the world; and they achieved it. Another country, their neighbor, Indonesia decided to beat them to it and they did about two years ago. So between Malaysia and Indonesia, they produce 25 percent of the world's palm oil consumption. These are the kind of big ideas I'm talking about. And if you want big countries; we know the story of India that elevated 40 million people out of poverty within 15 years. So examples abound. You simply decide what you want to achieve. If you go to Abuja now, all the big houses are owned by people that have been civil servants or political appointees.

Those are the kind of political experience we're talking about.

Abuja has big houses, but no infrastructures. So it's not impossible. You also discover that it is at this period when Nigeria has been variously described as a failed state, that more people are buying private jets - more people that we know are close to government and are not doing any serious resource business. Is it not clear where they get their money from?

What will you do differently if you become president about the Chibok girls still in captivity?

First, we're going to change the

security infrastructure in the country. We cannot continue using the same security structure we used in 1960s and 70s. Our intelligence structure has to be first class. There is no country battling insurgency that does not have first class intelligence service, because that will form the bedrock of the battle.

By now, they should know exactly where they are; and we have enough money to undertake that.

We're going to have Special Forces, taken from among the best in the different services. The strongest weapon against terrorism is intelligence. Let nobody deceive you.

If you're elected president today will Boko haram disappear overnight?

Well things cannot continue like this. But I'm not saying that I'm a magician and that the problem will disappear immediately. But we will start the process and we'll do everything possible to stamp them out. I'm not however going to tell you that if I'm sworn in by ten o'clock in the morning, Boko haram would have disappeared by 10.30 am. It takes time to build. But it also takes an idiot to destroy a whole country. And the fear is that if you don't take action on time, it may get irreversible. So we'll do everything possible to reverse the situation.

One position is at stake here; so if you don't get there, what will be next for you?

The truth is that we are not thinking of not getting there; we are thinking of what we'll do when we get there.

A toast to Punch’s inspirational leader I

N a tribute he wrote to the Punch family in 1984 when the founding Chairman of The Punch, Olu Aboderin, passed on, the immortal Obafemi Awolowo wrote : “Those who mourn and shed tears for his transition should stop doing so and instead, think of the survival of the monument-The Punchwhich he had laboured for years to build. It is that monument that will immortalize his name.”

Ajibola Ogunshola, foremost actuary, Baaroyin of Ibadan, younger brother of Olu Aboderin, took Awo’s counsel to heart. Unknown to him, his brother’s death would dramatically alter the course of his life.

First, he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of The Punch that year and three years later, its Chairman.

The Punch of 1984 was a newspaper gasping for breath in the intensive care unit: salaries and allowances were owed employees for months; it was a period when the newspaper simply couldn’t afford the cost of buying newsprint, the main raw material for the production of a newspaper; not unexpectedly, the company couldn’t meet its obligations to its contractors. As Ogunshola himself, confessed in an interview, there was an occasion when he had to hide under a table to avoid the wrath of a rampaging contractor.

As would be expected in such trying situations, the newspaper lost its quality staff to rival publications.

That was the scenario in 1987 when Ogunshola arrived the then Onipetesi headquarters of the “lively paper for lively minds”.

As the story went, Ogunshola had no doubt about the enormity of the task ahead. He called a meeting of the staff and advised them not to be too hopeful of the arrears

By Gbemiga Ogunleye

of salaries and allowances the company was owing them; but thence forth, they should be assured that they would be getting their salaries and allowances as and when due.

But he told them they would have to earn their pay.

Load-shedding, downsizing, retrenchment, etc, didn’t start today.

Ogunshola, had interrogated the meaning of those words at The Punch in the middle and late eighties.

Hurricane Ogunshola, after a system analysis, sent to the labour market, employees whom he felt would not fit into his new vision of The Punch.

To him, it did not matter whether your surname was Aboderin, Alatede, Are, Osinubi or Ogunshola.

If you were not pulling your weight, if you couldn’t differentiate between the past tense and the past perfect tense, Ogunshola’s axe would cut you down.

The result is the excellent newspapers The Punch group has become today.

But Ogunshola would be the first to say he performed no magic at The Punch, rather attributing the success of the paper to hard work and the countless meetings he held with the staff.

The truth is that, Ogunshola, whose first degree is in Mathematics, brought The Punch back from the brink.

And that is the reason why I am paying this tribute to Ogunshola who joined the septuagenarian club this week. And also, perhaps, unknowingly, and uncharacteristically, the man had paid me perhaps a glowing tribute: “Anyway, you are an editor, who never allowed the position of editor to get to your

•Ogunshola

head.”

As a former Editor of The Punch, indeed, the longest serving editor of the 38 year old daily newspaper, I worked closely with Ogunshola and so can confidently say a few things about him.

An avid reader of newspapers and a lover of good writing, Ogunshola was a regular reader of my Saturday column in the defunct AM newspaper and so, had asked the Managing Director to invite me.

After listening to Ademola Osinubi’s sales pitch with the opening statement: “Let me sell The punch to you…”

I was sold. But friends and colleagues warned me against joining The Punch. According to them, Ogunshola was a difficult man who fires employees at the flimsiest of excuses.

I followed my heart, joined The Punch as its Features Editor and became editor of the daily paper nine

months later.

In the course of my duties as editor and later Deputy Editor-inChief, and because I had to act whenever the MD was on vacation, I interacted with Ogunshola, strictly on an employer-employee basis.

When I was appointed editor and I met Ogunshola, I wanted to know why he had to remove my predecessor. With a wry smile playing around his lips, his response was a curt “business decision”.

That is the quintessential Ajibola Ogunshola. He doesn’t entertain emotion in business.

There were times I wondered why Ogunshola didn’t fire me. I am positive that I came close to the exit door many times.

When I asked a colleague who can second guess Ogunshola, his answer was illuminating: “Africa (that is the name we call Ogunshola behind his back) doesn’t like you, but he likes your job.”

That was comforting for me.

At many of our meetings, Ogunshola and I would disagree and argue about the desirability of still keeping some staff on the payroll. As their editor, I would stress the need for me to determine their usefulness.

At one of our meetings, Ogunshola, always worried about the bottom line and always eager to impress the shareholders by giving them robust dividends, complained bitterly that we were getting late to the market. If the trend continued, he threatened to remove me as editor and appoint a new editor.

As quietly as I could muster, I told him I got home every midnight and so would be glad if he carried out his threat.

After the meeting, the MD, ever calm Osinubi came to calm me down, and as his wont, told me: “Gbemiga, Sa ma wo ntie.” I won’t

translate that.

When Ogunshola calls me on phone and addresses me by my first name, that means I could breathe easy. But when I pick the phone and he says “Mr. Editor”, that was a sign that there was fire on the mountain.

A newspaper administrator par excellence, his colleagues recognized this attribute and elected him President of the NPAN in 2007.

But Ogunshola’s first attempt at leading the body was in 2001. The unwritten rule of the association was that whichever newspaper was hosting the election of the association would produce the President.

So, naturally, Ogunshola felt a sense of entitlement. But his colleagues in the association who were uncomfortable with his self-confidence and intimidating intellect, which could easily be mistaken for arrogance conspired and ensured that he lost the election.

Ogunshola was, to put it mildly, devastated. The Punch family was inconsolable. One of my colleagues in management actually wept.

I was indifferent.

While they were gathered at the Chairman’s room in the NICON Hilton hotel mourning the loss, I was in the bar, nursing a cold bottle of beer.

I reasoned: Ogunshola, a silver spoon kid, probably tasted disappointment for the first time in his life. The Invite, inviting guests to the celebration marking his 70th birthday, has these words: “We respectfully request that you send no material or financial gifts.”

That is vintage Ajibola Ogunshola!

He needn’t have bothered. What do you give a man who has everything?

Chairman! Enjoy your day!

•Ogunleye wrote from Lagos

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

P

OSITIVE signs are daily manifesting that Governor Rauf Aregebesola of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) is indeed the darling of the people of Osun. The people have solidly demonstrated their utmost resolve at all the political rally that have seen Ogbeni traversing the nocks and crannies of the state with the message of hope. They have shown that they have truly rejected the PDP for good.

Ignoring heavy rain along the route leading to Ilesha from Osun Jela, Owode, Kajola, Idominasi, Oke-Omiru, Isokun, Itakogun, roundabout, Oja-oba, last week Tuesday before the governor’s campaign ship berthed at Osun Ankara, Irojo in Ilesha, it was popularity and balmy ride on the crest of the political soapbox. The crowd at the APC rallies has constituted nightmare for the opposing political parties in the state who are ridden by fear of their imminent defeat.

The mammoths crowd that greeted the governor in his home town, Ilesha is a clear testament that the main opposing challenger, the PDP is definitely in the throes of electoral conundrum. Prior to that day, Senator Omisore had said in an interview in one of the national dailies that the crowds seen in all Governor Aregbesola’s campaign rallies are there for mere entertainment.

“There is a crowd at the rallies because there are Fuji artistes there to entertain them. Those people only came to watch their favourite Pasuma or Wasiu Ayinde Marshal performs.

Didn’t you see similar crowd at Fayemi’s rallies? What has that cost him? The votes are in the wards and in the towns. I’ve been going to every ward and polling units”, Mr. Omisore said.

From all indications, Senator Omisore is ignorant of the usefulness of electioneering campaigns. Apart from being an organised effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group, it is the highest profile of political activities that focused on the grand primacy of democracy and the actual processes of institutional governance. Although Senator Omisore has been seen

67

When Ilesha, environs defied downpour for Aregbesola

By Erasmus Ikhide

amongst motley of crowd, grabbing corn ears fitfully to his mouth!

So far, Omisore’s satanising campaign against Aregbesola and the APC has been a dismal failure. Already, the ominous heat of total rejection is tormenting the party leadership and its minders into planning how to traumatised the electorate with security apparatus prior, during and after the election. Thanks in part to Governor Aregbesola’s sterner leadership, his peopleoriented programmes and his consistent called for eternal vigilance on the part of the electorate whose duty it is to reward performing administrations or punish ruinous and tunnel-visioned governments; the shadow in which the PDP has casts itself since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.

Omisore’s campaigns in most parts of the state, especially in Ilesha, the birth place of Governor Aregbesola didn’t go with-

out criminal vandalisation of Governor’s billboards in the ancient city. The PDP venture into Ilesha was not to sell it candidate or manifesto to the people, but to reassert their well known imprint - “violence in trade”. Why would the PDP and its agents insist on continuing on the part of violence when it is faring so poorly in public rating?

The only plausible answer is stomach-turning. The PDP probably calculates that it can win the election by creating a crises situation that would warrants flooding the Governor’s home stead with thousands of security agents who will in turn prevent the people of Ilesha from voting for their son on the day of election whom they have variously described as change agent!

So far, the tactic is not working because there is no corresponding or collateral damage of equal destruction visited on the offensive PDP by the peace-loving APC faithful. The PDP has been doubling down in connivance with the Independent Na-

tional Electoral Commission, INEC. They are both calling for the militarisation of the state prior, during and after the August 9th governorship election, the same way the PDP’s Presidency unleashed military terror on the people of Ekiti in the just concluded June 21 governorship election.

The barrage of attack against the APC followers in Ile-Ife, the home town of the PDP candidate, Senator Omisore has not abated to date, and promises to fester even more dangerously till election day and afterwards. However, this is not adding or winning the supports of the people for the PDP. If anything, it has waned the people’s supports for the party and earned it greater notoriety as a political party that thrives in subversive politics of brigandage and thuggery.

The Presidency’s reaction to petitions by the APC on the cruelty visited on its members by the PDP has been muted. There is the need for the PDP and Senator Omisore to tweak the rules of

engagement. The nation cannot remain oasis of peace and prosperity in a country on fire. The PDP candidate cannot be spurning spectre of unbridled political violence that is certain to bridgeheads the 2015 general elections.

To be sure, the APC government of Governor Rauf Aregebesola has better incentives for the peace-loving people of Osun than the violence spewing and bloodcurdling PDP. The PDP’s engagement in violence campaigns is a reflection of its weakened and poor electability after the party’s seven and a half years of the locust. That cannot be compared with the APC’s three and a half years of tolerable governance, development politics, infrastructural revamp, agrarian rejuvenation, expanded governance, and education for the total man.

Osun electorate have seen through the banal facade and covert gimmickry that the PDP candidate in the forth coming election is pushing forth. The dummy bothers on regaling the

•Governor Rauf Aregebesola

people of the state with suppositions and fathoms that suggest a repentant personage who would no longer be violent. Aside that, the PDP candidate has sought to project Governor Aregbesola as a man who has reduced the standard of education in the state than revitalised it; even though the Governor has been severally laureled by UNESCO and other organisations as the ultimate enabler and promoter of education in Africa.

Senator Omisore has largely painted a desolate picture of the state’s educational system, beating his breasts and vowing to upturn what the world education’s universal body christened “shinning armour in the dark firmament’.

Senator Omisore failed in both attempts. In the eyes of the general public, even though he has been exonerated by court of competent jurisdiction for not having hands in the assassination of late Chief Bola Ige, he will remain hunted, not just for his alleged involvement, but by the stigmal it permanently left in his trail as an accuse felon.

Governor Aregbesola symbolises the new dawn for the people of Osun for turning round the poorly and thoroughly mismanaged government; the run down school system, the collapsed health care delivery system and the comatose infrastructure across the state. Osun electorate will be asking both the PDP and Labour Party, LP candidates alike to point to what their contributions have been to the state since the state was created.

Both Senator Iyiola Omisore and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade have been straddled at the seat of power in the last 15 years of the nation’s democracy. While Senator Omisore was Deputy Governor and a Senator, Alhaji Akinbade was one time Secretary to the State Government.

It is going to be a day of reckoning for political hawks who rule the rust of power in Osun State to the detriment of the electorate whose backs and resources catapulted them to Olympia heights. There will be no room for baring stale charlotte as a bait to swindle the people of their rights to chose who governance them.

•Ikhide wrote from Lagos.

Open letter to Mr President: Militarisation of polity Dear President Goodluck Jonathan, T is with utmost respect for your office and your person that I send you these few words. And I felt compelled to do so because, this for me, is a call to duty. It is a patriotic call and it is timely.

I am aware that most leaders hear only what those close to them want them to hear. They read what those close to them draw their attention to. They see only what those who shield them 24 hours of the day want them to see. It is therefore a pity that most leaders have ears but they do not hear. They have eyes but they do not see. They are literate, but are denied access to books and newspapers.

Please allow me to draw your attention to a most dangerous step your watchers and close advisers are pushing you to take. It is a step that had been taken in the past by some of your predecessors in office with ruinous consequences. It is a step you will not wish for your enemy.

I speak of the militarisation of the Nigerian polity and its ultimate dire consequences.

You may have been too young in 1964/65. At that time, as a little boy growing in Otuoke in the then Eastern Region of

I

By Tola Adeniyi

Nigeria, you were barely seven years old. That period 1964/65 was the time some wrong headed leaders of Nigeria decided to experiment with militarisation of the polity. They wanted power at all cost in areas of the country where they were not wanted, and where their brand of politics was alien to the decencies at that time.

Because these men wanted to ‘win’ at all cost and conquer followers instead of winning their hearts, and because they were in control of the police and the military at the centre, these leaders deployed troops to ‘supervise’ elections in order to destroy opposition and force the populace to surrender to their whims and caprices.

You probably would have been told that your Premier at that time, a very charismatic and hugely popular leader named Dr Michael Okpara was the national leader of the coalition fashioned to free Nigeria from the yoke of the federal might. Their coalition was called UPGA. You may not believe that your Premier Dr Okpara was prevented from touring the Western Region by orders from the Federal government, just as the government you are now privileged to lead is being accused of humiliating

and harassing governors who do not belong to your Party.

Come election time, the ruling Party at the centre, the NPC, deployed police and the military to harass and intimidate the populace. Opposition was thoroughly manhandled. And now that the field was left only in the hands of the ruling party at the centre, even legitimate governments in the regions were tortured while illegitimate governments could not be voted out because such unpopular governments were protected by the federal might.

In the end, the federal might had its way by massively rigging elections. People who felt pushed to the wall danced to the popular dictum of ‘those who make peaceful change impossible will experience violent change’. I am sure you must have heard or read about the ‘Wet e!’ operations similar in dimension and ferocity to the Adaka Boro insurrection or the Ijaw militancy.

Mr, President, it was the Wet e! operations provoked by the big stick of the federal government that led to military coup d’état of January 1966. That coup led to the counter coup which led to pogrom and consequently to the needless gruesome Civil War of 1967-1970. Mr. President,

we do not need or deserve that horrible experience again.

In 1983, the NPN which was a direct descendant of the NPC chose to follow the ignominious path of their father the NPC. It was all about second term for the president and second term for most governors. The government had recorded woeful performance at the federal level and people thought a free and fair election would send the government packing. But we had was that even the government that was very unpopular at the centre was determined to unseat popular governors in some states. The federal government of mallam Shehu Shagari apparently misled by the locusts in his NPN decided to militarise the polity and sent hordes of military and police personnel to lay siege on the states.

The old Ondo State now broken to Ekiti and Ondo states and Old Oyo now broken to Oyo and Osun states were the states the NPN chose to toy with. At the election time there were more soldiers and police on the streets than civilians! Very heavy handed might was visible every where. Elections were recklessly rigged and of course those two states were set on fire.

Several hundreds lost their lives.

And within three months

that is by December 31 the Military decided that it had had enough of the madness of the NPN and sent the governments packing. For 15 years thereafter Nigeria was put under the jackboot while several of the notorious politicians fled the country.

Must Nigeria go through this silly desperation again?

Must Nigeria continue to experiment with ‘Do or die politics’?

You will agree with me that the polity is getting seriously heated up. And right now kangaroo impeachments like in the inglorious days of Obasanjo have started rearing their ugly heads. Must the PDP, a proud child of the NPN and a grandchild of the imperial NPC follow in the destructive path of its forefathers?

Mr. President, we have too many problems on hand. We cannot allow the lure of office and the selfishness of politicians drag us 100 years backwards. The Nigerian military have no business with policing elections. Nigeria is not the only country that conducts elections. India is about six times the population of Nigeria; we did not see a single power drunk soldier on the streets during their recent national elections with over 800 million registered voters!

Mr. President, the buck ends at your table. In all of these, all the self-seeking politicians urging you to deploy soldiers and the police to harass and intimidate opposition will run away and history will speak of only one person: Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, a great Izon man that God and good fortune placed at helm of affairs of a country of 173.5 million people.

Mr President, I beg you in the name of your Christian God, and with everything you hold dear to your heart to resist any pressure to continue to heat up the polity. Do not ever send soldiers to any state to intimidate the civilian population. On good days, the Upper and Middleclass people do not vote. Please do not scare the few who want to exercise their civic duty with stern looking heavily armed police and soldiers.

You have done well in the past by not tampering with judicial processes. Please do not bow to the dictates of desperate politicians in your Party.

And if, as it is being alleged that you are using the federal government war chest to beat opposing governors to line through kangaroo impeachments, please for God’s sake, try and prove your critics wrong.

•Let us save our dear country.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

68

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Godsend, not ‘godsent’ D

AILY Sun EDITORIAL of July 14, with two juvenile blunders, welcomes us this week: “The challenge that this poses is for the states to strive to become stronger, develop their economic potentials (potential or potentialities) and generate sufficient internal revenue to meet their obligations.”

“These states and the ones to be created will, therefore, need to get their acts (act) together and build their economies to justify and sustain their existence.”

From DAILY Sun EDITORIAL to full-page advertorials starting with the one by Benue State Government signed by Rt. Hon. Gabriel Torwua Suswam PhD, CON, Governor: “…on his 70 th birthday anniversary (70th Birthday).” For the umpteenth time, ‘birthday’ and ‘anniversary’ cannot co-function!

“We Note (unnecessary capitalization) with appreciation the various reforms you initiated upon coming to the throne, some of which include, (needless comma) the creation of more districts and higher classes of traditional rulers and the institution of chieftaincy titles among others.” In the spirit of felicitation, delete ‘some of’ and ‘among others’, which are implied.

From Benue to another full-page advertorial anchored by Senator (Dr.) Ben Ndi Obi, CON, FNIPR, Special Adviser to the President on Inter Party (sic) Affairs: “Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Inter Party (Inter-Party) Affairs….”

“Office of the Governor: Appeal to my colleagues (colleagues of mine)” (Yet another fullpage advertorial by Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON, Governor, Delta State) Wrong: “On the employ”; Right: In the employ (Acknowledgement: Kola Danisa, 0 7 0 6 8 0 7 4 2 5 7 / 08028233277, who also wrote: The dailies on July 16 bore headlines stating that Gov. Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State had been ‘impeached’ instead of ‘removed’. Former President Bill Clinton of the U.S. was impeached (guilty) in 1998 but not removed over the Monica Lewinsky sex affair. ‘Removal’ is the

proper word or action resulting from impeachment.

Wrong: “Good in a subject”; Right: Good at a subject (Thanks to Tayo Aluko, Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti, 08148803562, and others, for this reminder).

THE NATION ON SUNDAY of July 13 comes next with a few misapprehensions: “APC alerts supporters in Osun over (to) ‘Omo Ilu’ form” Yet another full-page advertorial by Oyo State Government endorsed by Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, Executive Governor: “You have also not wavered in ensuring good governance and a society that is free for everybody to attain their potentials (sic)….” Correction already harvested!

“Imo, Bethel Amadi and Pan African (Pan-Africa) Parliament” “Imo ticket: Ararume battle (battles) Ihedioha, Ohakim” “He said people have (had) forgotten….”

Still on full-page advertorials: “With Joy (otiose capital letter) in our hearts, I am (we are) grateful to God for sparing the lives of Amiable Royal Father (what is this obsession with capitalization?)” (This was signed

by Hon. John Tondo and family) Get it right: the life of our (take note of this missing word) amiable royal father Last but not least on full-page advertorials.

This one is from Ogun State and certified by Senator Ibikunle Amosun, FCA, Governor, Ogun State: “Every facet of our national life has an unmistakable Kongi imprints (imprint).”

“These two incidents which occurred within a week, (sic) mirrors the society.” Needless delaying the trip, you can readily see the discord. I have not finished with my friends from Uyo. “With these turn of events, some people are tempted to go for wealth at all means.” This way: With this turn of events…. Furthermore, I would prefer ‘at all costs’ or ‘by all means’.

“The activities of these robbers is also taking its toll on traders.” For goodness’ sake, how can ‘activities’ take ‘is’ and ‘its’? The basic rules of any language are emphatic on subject-verb agreement and concord between antecedents and

subsequent pronouns.

“Above all, the military and other law enforcement (sic) agencies should de-emphasize their role in the economy and politics and concentrate on their traditional duties—the protection of the citizens of this country against internal and external crimes.” This is lexical deception! I know that law-enforcement agencies in this country do not protect us against criminals; not against crimes. It is the perpetration of a crime that gives a headache—not the crime itself. ‘Internal and external crimes’ sounds odd.

“In our yester-years’ (yesteryear) republics, indecent incidents in our National Assembly wherein legislators broke the mace, the symbol of democracy, and challenged themselves to duels in the fashion of professional pugilists are still fresh in our memories.”

People can’t ‘challenge themselves to duels’, but can challenge one another….

“UNIBEN Alumni meets (meet)” This kind of error borders on carelessness.

FEEDBACK Please note that in both American and British English, “debut”, like “author, critique, host, impact, hemorrhage, loan, party, pressure and gum (down),” has been promoted/made a verb – verbalized!

The most amusing oddity of the English language is the word, Money, it is classified as uncountable!

But in Constitution, Accountancy, Banking and Finance, “money” has the plural “moneys” (not “monies”, which is the plural of “money”).

“Date back to” and “date from” are now inflected in the past and in the past participle.

“Common sense” should always be written two separate words when used as a noun (NOT one Word), e.g. use your common sense; and as a hyphenated compound rather than as one word when used adjectivally, e.g. common – sense precautions; common – sense English.

Note also that, as a grammatical rule, “whole” is used with a singular noun while “all” is used with plural nouns, e.g. the whole country; all the people.

Bayo Oguntunase Adorobaba1952@yahoo.com

•Amaechi •Continued from page 22

One thing that seems to be driving corruption and impunity among government officials is the provision of immunity against prosecution in the constitution.

Do ministers have immunity? You people target governors alone.

Do ministers have immunity?

How many ministers have been prosecuted?

Port Harcourt has been branded the World Book Capital. You have invested much on literature and education in the state, what do you stand to benefit from this?

Nothing but the literariness of the reading public. We need to encourage people to read. The problem we have here in the country is the fact that most people don’t want to acquire education for the purpose of knowledge.

They acquire education for the purpose of seeking employment etc. We don’t think education is just to enhance their capacity for employment. We think you should also acquire education for knowledge. So, we are trying to open the public space for people to seek education for the sake of knowledge. We are building libraries and there will be libraries all over the state. In every local government headquarters there must be a library. Then in the city we are building reading rooms where there are books as well.

We are going to build a major library that will belong to the state. But even at that, there is an NGO that is building privately, independent of government, the Port Harcourt Book Centre. There is a library, writers’ village and an event centre that will help fund the centre when they complete it.

Everything there is about books.

It seems your apparent love of books came out of your background as an English Literature or Language graduate and we can see that you have a very striking relationship with Prof. Wole Soyinka, could you please talk a little about your relationship with him?

The Prof. is turning 80 in the next few weeks, the Rivers State government is trying to see how they can buy into it to see how we can convince him to give us a date to host him for his 80th but we have not gotten a date yet.

What is the nature of your relationship with Prof, how did this friendship develop?

‘APC not losing momentum’ A: I met Prof Soyinka when I was at the University but I met him through Yemi Ogunbiyi and we established a friendship.

Do you accept the position that some people take that the APC seems to have lost the momentum it had at the time that five governors came from the PDP? You have the direction of defection has changed. People are moving towards the PDP. APC just lost an election in Ekiti State in its own very backyard, do you accept that going forward that the APC seems to be losing momentum?

A: How can we be losing momentum? Don’t forget that the first thing you need to deal with in APC is a combination of regional parties. The only party was national was the new PDP that came in. Now with the new PDP coming, APC has taken the position of a national party. There is no where you will go now in the country that you don’t have APC If PDP could defeat CPC with 10million votes and CPC was just a regional party based in the North - and the PDP defeated General Buhari with just 10million votes, he didn’t have money, don’t forget. He may have CPC chapters in the south but it was non existence ….

Are you saying General Buhari is running for presidency?

I’m not saying General Buhari is running presidency or not. He has never told me whether he wants to run or not, but let us just use him as an example for the purpose of exemplifying what we are talking about. If he were to be a candidate now with APC in the South West, don’t forget that the PDP won everywhere apart from Osun State. So, who is losing now, PDP or APC? There was no APC in Rivers State. Instead what they do is to go pay people to go and destroy our billboards.

Here, PDP scored 2.1milliom vote, no opposition, there was none. Other parties looked for people to field candidates for them. Now there is a strong APC presence, there are two senators from APC, there are eight members of the House of Representatives out of 13, there are 25 or 26 APC members in the House of Assembly.

PDP has also defined APC

very well by trying to make it look like it is a religious party, that it has favoured one religion. And the PDP has virtually tried to force down this question of a MuslimMuslim ticket that they say APC is trying to push forward ….

Why not wait until pick our presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate.

Once we do that, you will know whether are MuslimMuslim ticket. They were using the party structure to accuse us, now the party structure has changed into the hand of a Christian; they have pulled out of that. Wait until we get there.

When they say PDP is making waves, PDP is making no wave. They already have a presidential candidate, and they are running without APC running because APC is obeying the law and PDP is not obeying the law because the president has been campaigning. When we do start our campaign…look at the geopolitics, Lagos is not a PDP, it is heavily populated by voters, Kano is not PDP, Rivers is not PDP, and it has an APC governor. If we vote today, let us assume for the purpose of argument that everybody comes here and say no don’t vote against him, he is our brother -the president is not my brother, I am an Ikwerre man and the president is an Ijaw man. So, the Ikwerre man will vote according to his conscience.

The last election was the ‘Breath of Fresh Air’; he is our brother from the South-South.

That our brother from the South-South has gone to this war, he has returned without any booty for me. Do I still identify with him? The president is a nice man. But look at the state of the Port Harcourt International Airport. It is horrible. It has been abandoned by the PDP government. The federal roads have also been abandoned. There must be something Rivers people have done against the president that he doesn’t like.

If I were to be in PDP, these are the things I’m going to look at, that the president won South-South/South East 100 percent, 13 to 14 million votes.

He also won South-West. Can you say now that even if the president uses soldiers, he would win South-West?

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

‘Nobody can Islamise Nigeria’ Pastor Iruofagha James is the founding pastor of Glory Christian Ministries, Lagos. He spoke with reporters recently on the north, roles of the church and sundry matters. Adeola Ogunlade was there

D

O you see the ongoing insurgence in the north as a threat to national unity?

My major concern is that innocent people are being killed on a daily basic. These are the days we need to cry for help. Consequently, what it portends for the unity of the country worries me a lot. Today, this insurgency seems to be restricted to a particular part of the country but once it succeed, in going to other parts of the country in the guise of religious connotation, it will be misrepresented as a tribal war or attack by other tribe.

It will throw this country into something which we can never imagine. I was young but I saw with my own eyes some of the things that happened during the civil war. I will never want to relive those things again.

I saw young men killed, stoned in my very eyes.

These are my concerns for some of us who were old enough to see some of the things that happened and we will never want to see it again.

Beyond unity, what are the challenges that it poses for us as a nation?

I cannot say that the mutual suspicion, tribal suspicion aroused by the civil war, has faded off. Even several years after, these bombings are arousing similar tribal and

religious hatred. The things we have seen in the Nigerian civil war has failed to die in this multi-tribal racial community called Nigeria.

Recently, the Sultan of Sokoto called for amnesty for Boko Haram militants. Do you subscribe to it?

The amnesty issues are very delicate issues. I will subscribe to Soyinka’s position who said something to the intent that amnesty without justice is not amnesty. But there are some people who are die-hard criminals. I don’t think amnesty may take care of the insurgency at the moment but what are we going to do with those who have lost their lives, families, property?

What kind of amnesty are you going to give to them? I think it is more complicated.

I thank God for the Sultan and again, he is one monarch that I respect so much. Thank God for his peace- loving misdemeanour. I think, however, in this particular case, amnesty must be matched with other kind of actions, not directly only to the militants but also to the victims of the militants.

That is the only way true amnesty can be administered.

You cannot ignore the victims needlessly, not connected with what the Boko Haram is fighting for. There is outright criminality and those perpetrating it must be disciplined.

We must not prolong this because we still have children in captivity. We need to get a quick solution to this problem and fast. I am sure our leaders must be doing something and whatever they are doing must be done quickly.

People are seeing this insurgency as a religious war, considering the demands of the sect. What do you think?

I appeal to the Muslim leaders. We only appeal to people who are close to Boko Haram who have better understanding of the issues to into the matter as quickly as possible. Let them work with them for the sake of Nigeria.

I don’t know whether they are part of it or not, we only appealing to them to do more than they are doing. Let them look at the innocent people who are being maimed and killed. People who have nothing connected with whatever Boko Haram is agitating for are being killed needlessly.

What is God saying about these issues and other problems facing this nation?

Today, I cannot say I have heard from God as God has not told me anything specifically about what we need to do as a country. But anyone in position of leadership cares. Life should be sacred. We don’t need to wait until we hear God speak. Whatever that needs

xxx

•James

to be done to end this crisis should be done. We should not stop praying to see an end to this problem. I have not heard anything from God. Are our leaders sincere?

Every day that we allow this problem to fester, we must know that lives are being lost. If we had stopped this crisis last month, people who died this month would have been saved.

Do you think there is a religious undertone to this problem?

I know whoever is at the heart of this could be using religion to prosecute it pur-

posely to do evil. I will not dabble into something I don’t know.

But I think we also have our own problems as a church and we need to conscientiously deal with them. We may not get involved in criminality but in other areas, there are evils going on. The gospel is being taken to some ridiculous realm. Let us put our house in order.

Are you in doubt of the mission of Boko Haram because they said they want to lsamise the nation?

Personally, I may be wrong and I pray I am

wrong. Whoever, the young man Shekau is should not be taken serious because I don’t have any regard for him. He will never succeed. Let all of them gather together, they will not succeed in Islamising Nigeria. It will never happen.

Anyone making the claim should not be taken seriously at all and for the Christians to believe that notion would be wrong. That is the provocation that is being intended by Shekau. That will never happen and God will never allow it to happen. That is why we Christians are not taking up arms. It will not happen.

Keep hope alive, Adeboye charges Obadare canvasses for fasting,

N

IGERIANS must never give up but remain confident of divine intervention, the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has charged.

He spoke last week at the dedication of Lagos Province 36, Jesus House in Ajao Estate, Lagos.

Adeboye said the nation cannot achieve greatness without prayers.

According to him: “No matter what our past was or our

By Adeola Ogunlade

present condition that looks so depressing, we must never give up as God is still able and powerful to turn things around as we pray in faith to him alone.”

The cleric, who shared wondrous testimonies of divine protection, providence and preservation, said: “God has never changed; what He did in times past, He is still able to do the same today as we put our trust in Him.” He further charged Christians to continue preaching the gospel “because the challenges

World Hope College celebrates at five

W

ORLD Hope College Badeku Oyo State established by Apola king-turned evangelist, Rev Idowu Animasawun, to support indigent students will mark its fifth anniversary on Thursday.

The event kicks off by 11am at the college.

A statement by the Director of Special Projects, Worldhope Ministries, Evangelist (Mrs.) Deborah Animasawun, stated that the celebration would enable the school appreciate God’s faithfulness and mobilise resources for its many future plans.

of insecurity, economic hardship, fear and despair ravaging the world can be taken away when we lift up Jesus Christ and tell of the story of redemption everywhere we go.”

The Pastor- in- charge of Lagos Province 36, Pastor Tunde Netufo, who was full of gratitude to God for the successful completion of the building, said: “what we are witnessing today is the faithfulness of God to us as a parish, province and the Redeemed Christian Church of God in general.”

He recalled that the church on a three-storey building collapsed on October 7, 2011 with no life lost after an inferno.

Though it was sealed off, he expressed gratitude to God the building was reopened for the reconstruction.

He noted that although the journey has been rough and tough God has proved His faithfulness.

P

ASTOR Paul Obadare, the first son of the late General Evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church(CAC), Prophet Timothy Obadare, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a three-day fasting and prayer on the various challenges confronting the country.

Obadare, who is also the general overseer of the World Soul Winning Evangelistic Ministries (WOSEM), made the call last Thursday in a parley with reporters in Lagos.

He claimed that God told him during a private prayer in May to ask Jonathan, as leader of the nation, to declare a fasting and prayer programme.

He said: “The message is urgent and s from God, the highest Supreme. God instructed that Nigeria should confess all her sins and ask for forgiveness, particularly,

prayer

By Sunday Oguntola

the sins of shedding the blood of the innocents, corruption and idolatry.”

Obadare added Nigeria must ask God to completely shut the door against civil and national war and have mercy on the nation.

He added that Nigerians must pray against the wicked plan of darkness to cause bloodshed, especially as the 2015 general elections approaches.

The nation’s woes, he stated, are more attributable to spiritual rather than physical forces.

“God loves this country despite our short comings as a nation. God always reveals himself to us. He is asking us to pray and follow His in-

structions and if we do and forsake our sins, He will guide us right,” Obadare assured.

He vowed that political leaders plotting against the nation would have God to contend with.

Obadare reasoned all the challenges in the land should drive Christians to their knees “There is deep division, security challenges, poverty and joblessness across the land. But we believe rather than give way to depression and despondency, it is a challenge to all Christians to pray and entreat God for mercy,” he stressed.

He said rather than lose hope since the country had not realised her full potential, Nigerians must continually pray for divine intervention.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

WORSHIP

‘Only northern leaders can stop Boko Haram’ T HE National Coordinator, Voice of Christian Martyrs Nigeria, Rev Isaac Newton-Wusu, has called on Muslim leaders, clerics and the governors in the north to go beyond condemning the deadly and calculated attacks on innocent Nigerians in the region.

He challenged them to quench the “fire” of insurgency that is fast spreading by talking to the insurgents themselves.”

He also described the activities of the Islamic sect as a threat to the nation.

Newton-Wusu expressed dismay at the nonchalant attitude of political leaders on the abducted girls.

By Adeola Ogunlade

He said the release of the girls in the captivity of Boko Haram should be the focus and not the 2015 elections, which he regretted has become the preoccupation of political leaders.

He spoke in Lagos at a briefing on the state of the nation and the graduation ceremony of the children of the martyrs who have lost either of their parents to the insurgency in the north on the 23rd of July.

On the activities of the organisation, which has been working relentlessly to ameliorate the hardship of children orphaned by persecution over

the decades, he said: “The first batch of children brought from Kaduna State to Abeokuta was eight in number. Without funding and support, we increased the number to 14 and then to 20, later to 50.

“We later brought children from Kano, Bauchi, Jos and Maiduguri. Now, there are 424 of such children here.

Each of them lost one of the parents or both in the religious uprising in most part of the north.”

He added: “Today, we have had 118 of them graduated from the college. Over twenty of them are in various universities being supported by the generosity of concerned Nigerians.”

•Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. (Dr) Alfred Martins (middle) flanked by Lagos Metropolitan Grand Knight, Engr. Charles Mbelede (left); immediate past Lagos Metropolitan Grand Knight, Sir. Patrick Ikemefuna (right) with other executive council members of the Lagos Metropolitan Council of The Order of the Knights of Saint Mulumba (KSM) during a visit to Adewale… recently

Manna Prayer Mountain graduates 220 entrepreneurs MONTH-LONG skill acquisition and empowerment programme has been concluded for hundreds of Christians at Manna Prayer Mountain Ministry, Ogudu Lagos.

Tagged Manna Care Centre (MCC), the scheme had a rich curriculum on entrepreneurial courses, trades and vocations.

Beneficiaries were trained in photography, video editing, confectionaries, printing, interior decoration, event

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management, bead making and fashion designing, among others.

The general overseer of the ministry, Bishop (Dr) Chris Kwakpovwe, stated the training was intended to raise entrepreneurs.

“It’s a programme designed to open their eyes to the secrets of God’s gifts in their lives. My message to them is that it’s just the beginning of good things that will happen to them,” the publisher of Our Daily Manna

stressed.

He added: “This is just a pilot programme. Very soon, we shall extend it to other countries which citizens always come to Lagos here for programmes. Among them are Canada, Zambia, Liberia, Malawi etc.”

The programme coordinator, Deacon Emeka Ndubueze, said the ministry’s gesture was a replica of The Acts of the Apostles’ communal life style of sharing together with the love of Christ.

Knights of St. Mulumba elect officers

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OHNNY Ngonadi has been re-elected Grand Knight of the Lekki Sub council of the Knights of the Order of St Mulumba.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Anthony Idigbe, emerged Deputy Grand Knight while Dominic Nkwopara was elected‘ as secretary.

Other elected officials are: Brother Peter Unuode, advocate; Eddy Okolie, chancellor; Brother Obinna Anyanwu,

treasurer; Brother Peter Iwegbu, financial secretary; Brother Laz Iloka, auditor; Brother Nicholas Ananyi, warden while Brother Emmanuel Odey was appointed physician.

Ngonadi commended all the elected officials and charged them to strive towards positioning the council as light to the world.

He also charged the newly elected officials to be spiritually awake when the nation is

passing through troubling times.

The prayer for Nigeria as instructed by the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria in 1993, according to him, is still relevant.

“The prayer written in 1993 touches all the troubling issues in Nigeria today.

“This period call for sober reflections and spiritual awakening. It is a crucial period for us as Knights of the church to rise and shine as lights in a decadent world,” Ngonadi charged.

Church visits orphanage at one

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HE Realm of Glory International Church Abuja recently visited Saint Theresa Orphanage home in Gwarinpa as part of activities marking its first anniversary.

The pastor of the church, Mr. Emeka Igwe, challenged Christians to offer hands of fellowship to the less privileged in the society.

He said the last one year has been fruitful and challenging.

Igwe stated that the church should not be measured by its numerical increase but by how far it has gone to transform lives.

On the other programmes lined up for the anniversary, he said there will be a TV talk and a road show on Thursday, July 24.

A musical show holds on Friday while the thanksgiving service is slated for the church auditorium at SOAR Plaza off 1st Avenue opposite Agete hotel, Gwarinpa.

COLUMN

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

Engaging the ministry of angels for signs and wonders!

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NGELS are on assignment to serve our interests, as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ; but many people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). An understanding of angels and how to engage their angelic ministry, will help every believer to lead a life of exploits. ...To which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:13-14).

Surprisingly, many people have never heard or read any material on angels. Also, many think angels are simply characters in Bible stories.

That is why this week, I shall be examining what I have titled, Engaging the ministry of Angels for Signs and Wonders.

But, Who Exactly, Are Angels?

Angels are spiritual personalities with physical impact. They are divine agents of the supernatural that are ordained to serve our interest as sons and daughters of the Most High (Hebrews 1:14).

Characteristics Of Angels •Angels are spirit personalities who operate as flames of fire: ...And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire (Hebrews 1:7). Their fire is unstoppable and unquenchable. They possess the kind of fire that consumes fire. Angels are spirit beings — nothing escapes them and they excel in strength.

•Angels are agents of divine rescue: They brought Lot out of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah into safety (Gen-

esis 19:1-25). An angel of the Lord went into the prison and brought Peter out physically (Acts 12:7-9). Despite the fact that they are spirit beings, they generate equal physical impact.

•They are also agents of divine judgment: An angel of the Lord went forth and smote Herod and he was eaten up by worms (Acts 12:21-22). Also, an angel went forth and began to plague Israel till David reared an altar of sacrifice: Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.

Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.

For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.

Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.

And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation (Psalm 35:5-9).

•Angels are agents of divine protection: (Psalm 34:7) We are guarded and surrounded by the angel of the Lord to deliver us when confronted. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone (Psalm 91:10-12). Let us, therefore, be conscious of our angelic protection.

•Angels are agents of supernatural church growth: In this end-time, we shall be engaging angelic harvesters.

Angels will be invading the harvest field and bringing multitudes into the Kingdom.

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels (Matthew 13:39).

It is one thing to be endowed and another to engage your endowment. In 1 Corinthians 9:12, Paul said: If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.

It is one thing to have some power and another thing to know how to engage that power. So, power is powerless until it is engaged. Power has no relevance until it is engaged. Therefore, it is important for us to know how to engage angelic ministry so that we can walk effectively in the supernatural. These angels are all around us, but we must learn how to engage them otherwise, we will remain helpless as if they were not there.

Friend, the power to benefit from the ministry of angels, is the preserve of those saved. You get saved by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. If you are set for this new birth experience, please say this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You, Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!” This week, you are going to see amazing manifestations of angelic intervention! I will conclude this teaching next week. Stay Blessed in Jesus’ name!

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, you can get my books: Commanding the Supernatural, Operating In The Supernatural and Walking In The Miraculous.

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. respectively.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

NEWS

RCCG dedicates Edo headquarters

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HE general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has dedicated the provincial headquarters of the church in Edo State.

The Pastor in Charge of Region 13 (PICR), Pastor James Dagunduro, performed the ceremony on behalf of Adeboye.

The event attracted leaders and workers in the church as well as the Esama of Benin

Kingdom, Sir Gabriel Igbinedion, who donated the land on while the building christened divine pavilion was built.

Dagunduro applauded the contributions of all members in ensuring the successful completion of the building through the help of God. He said: “As we dedicate this church today our message is that all the members will get their lives dedicated to God because if their lives

are not dedicated to God we will discover that all their services will go in vain.”

The Pastor- in- charge of the province, Pastor Adedapo Oluwaniyi, described the feat as wonderful.

He said: “It has taken long to dedicate the church because you know that to get funds was somehow difficult but thank God that He intervened and things began to fall in line.

By Olalekan Ayeni

He said: “I know that His angels are already at work in Sambisa forest or wherever the children are being held.”

Delivering a sermon at the anniversary, Pastor Victor Odigie from Christ Living Spring Apostolic Ministry (CLAM), canvassed for prayers to overcome the challenges of life.

Church prays for release of Chibok girls

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•Igwe

EMBERS of Pray Through Church of God, Sango-Ota, Ogun State last Sunday interceded for the safe return of over 200 Chibok girls still in abduction.

The prayer session was the climax of activities marking the fourth anniversary of the church.

The theme of the anniversary was God of speedy promotion.

Members raised their voices in agony, invoking angels to orchestrate the release of the girls in abduction for over three months.

The general overseer of the church, Pastor Taiwo Ayeni, led the prayer session.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

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VEN though, the Nigerian Military authorities have been silent on the number of their officers and men so far lost to the fight against insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country, there is no doubt that many have gallantly laid down their lives in defence of the nation against the dreaded Boko Haram group.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu had recently told Nigerians not to sympathise with the military, as they were trained to fight. He was however quick to add that, the only thing they needed from Nigerians is their prayers to win the war against the insurgents.

But, as women and natural care givers that they are, wives of the Army Generals and other top officers, under the auspices of Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) came out of the comfort of their homes in Abuja last week to give succour to widows of fallen soldiers.

Clad in their beautiful NAOWA uniforms, the senior army officers’ wives led by their President and wife of the Chief of Army Staff, Mrs. Felly Minimah, first paid a courtesy call on the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Mechanised Division, Major General Kenneth Osuji.

During the visit, NAOWA President solicited the support of the division to carry out the planned projects of the association, which she noted were capital intensive.

Mrs. Minimah disclosed that, aside its plan to build a world class school for the children of Army officers and personnel, as well as the host community in Abuja, the association had equally lined up several empowerment packages for soldiers wives.

While she showered prayers on the GOC, his team and the division, NAOWA President expressed optimism that her association would get adequate support from the number one division of the Nigerian Army.

The GOC however commended the efforts of the women and pledged the support of his division in all their activities, particularly in the building of the proposed school.

After the visit to the GOC, NAOWA train moved to the parade ground of Ribadu Cantonment where widows of the fallen and wives of serving soldiers were gathered. On arrival, they welcomed Mrs. Minimah and her entourage, among who were wives of the GOC 1 Division, Commander Infantry Corps, Major Gen. M D Abubakar and Chief of Administration, Army Headquartres, Major Gen. Garba Wahab with songs.

However, without wasting time, NAOWA leader stooped to the common barrack pidgin English to have heart to heart talk with the soldiers’ wives. After her long remarks, the women took advantage of her visit to advance their numerous challenges. Prominent among their complaints was the challenge of pursuing their late husbands’ terminal benefits.

Mrs. Minimah who apparently received the complaints with great concern, however, told the widows to make copies of their husbands’ document available to her, assuring them that, she would use her position as NAOWA President to assist them in pursuing their legitimate benefit.

She equally assured them that, since their husbands have fought and died for their father land, their children would not be allowed to suffer. Therefore, they would en-

NEWS REVIEW

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NAOWA: wiping tears of fallen soldiers’ widows The Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) has unveiled its plan to assist widows of officers and men killed by Boko Haram Abdulgafar Alabelewem reports from Kaduna

•NAOWA members during the visit

•Some of the relieve items

sure their benefits are paid, so that their children can have qualitative education.

One of the widows, Mrs. Esther Sylvester, wife of late Corporal Sylvester Moses told The Nation that, “My husband was killed by members of Boko Haram on 4th August, 2013 in Maiduguri where he was sent on a peacekeeping mission and since then, I and my three children have been battling to survive on our own. I do not have any source of livelihood as all I do is menial jobs that just fetch me small money we use to feed and I have not received any help from the employers of my late husband which is Nigerian Armed Forces.

“I have been married to my husband for the past 13 years until the cold hands of death snatched him away from me, leaving me with these three children, Kalistus, 13, Cynthia, 10, and Catherine, 6, to cater for, when it is

first term, my heart skips a beat because I know I have to raise a lot of money to send my children to school now that I know their father is not alive”, she narrated.

Happy widows Commenting on the NAOWA’s visit, she said, “I am very happy with the visit of the COAS’s wife because she also is a mother and she knows what we are going through and it is only God that will reward her,” she said.

Mrs. Sylvester however called on the Nigerian Army to help with scholarships for orphans of the fallen soldiers, saying that without education, no progress can be achieved.

“Education is a necessity, even if these children go to the farm, they will still need education to manage the business so that it becomes a success and they can also contribute their own quota to the development of the barrack community, the state and the country at

large,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts to alleviate their sufferings and the less privileged in the barracks, the NAOWA National President later donated assorted food items and branded clothing to the widows and less privileged in the barrack.

Mrs. Minimah who personally presented the items to the beneficiaries said NAOWA shares in the pains and suffering of the widows and less privileged, hence the reason behind making the donation and to encourage them that there is hope for them.

She charged the widows and other soldiers’ wives to ensure that their children were brought up with good morals, as well as ensure access to quality education. She also disclosed that there were plans at the top gear to empower army widows to make them self reliant such that will enable them to take care of their children.

She also disclosed to the wid-

ows that the association would soon build a model school as part of its efforts to assist the less privileged as well as carter for their educational needs.

“We will also be embarking on the building of a model school at Kurudu to meet the educational needs of our retirees and other civilian populace in the area. The school from our plan will certainly be of world class that will meet every international standard,” she said.

The NAOWA President therefore called on the Nigerian military and other stakeholders to support the association in their quest to build the school and provide quality education to the less privileged.

Items donated included bags of rice, tubers of yam, spaghetti, noodles, bags of maize, millets and beans. While bundles of wrappers and detergents, toiletries were among other items distributed.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

NEWS REVIEW

•Mr. Andrew Ehikwa, the Union chairman

•The workers during their protest

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INE months ago, hungry and frustrated workers of General Metal Products Limited (GMP), Port Harcourt branch protested over 21 months unpaid salaries and outstanding benefits owed to Port Harcourt workers. After the protest which alerted the management of GMP in Kaduna to swing into action on how to settle the workers and probably close down the Port Harcourt branch of the company. However, the aggrieved workers welcome such idea especially as they were no longer interested to continue as workers.

One week after the protest, the company sent a delegation to Port Harcourt headed by Mr. George Onyeacholem, the General Manager, Marketing to discuss with the angry workers. A meeting was fixed between the workers and the representative of the GMP but the meeting ended in deadlock. It was on this premise that the company decided to sell off their lands at the back of the company in order to settle the workers’ unpaid salaries, outstanding benefits and allowances.

But the inability to get a land buyer who could pay without delay extended the 21 months unpaid salaries to 28 months. The workers plight was compounded. They became heavily indebted; their children were no longer going to school. Moreover, the condition of the company and inability of the workers to pay their rents forced their landlords to eject them out of their various homes and they were left with no option than to convert the company’s offices, hall, security rooms including generator house to their homes.

A visit to the company factory located at Ordinance Road, TransAmadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, showed that there is no life in the company. Our investigation revealed that almost all the equipment used in production including the generator and infrastructure have either rusted, broke down or outdated. Some of the managers’ offices visited could be compared with that of a mechanic workshop.

Speaking on the lingering crisis at Port Harcourt branch of GMP, Mr. George Onyeacholem, the General Manager, Marketing told The Nation that the workers at Port Harcourt branch of his company were sabotaging the company for selfish interest by cornering jobs meant for the company for themselves. He also accused them of being sluggish and unproductive which he said has made them to achieve nothing for the company in the past years. He noted that the company was planning to sell the available plots of land at the back of the factory, “as soon as we sell the

•The company office in Port Harcourt

Distressed company sells assets to pay workers General Metal Products Limited (GMP), Port Harcourt branch has sold their land and closed down the company after terminating its workers appointment. The workers had claimed the management owed them several months salary. Precious Dikewoha, reports land we will settle them. Believe me, we are aware of what they are passing through, so we are going to pay them whenever the land money get to us.”

Few months later, the appointments of the workers were terminated, the company sold the land and settled the workers, but the payment triggered another problem with the workers alleging that the money paid to them is not measurable to the money owed them.

Comrade Lawrence Morka, the Chairman of GMP Workers Union, Port Harcourt branch said, “We are owed 28 months and they gave us termination letter on 6th of June 2014, the salary we received ended September last year we still have eight months difference. We are yet to receive our allowances for 28 months which was not added in the recent payment. Our gratuity, medical, shift allowance, transpor-

tation and other allowances were not paid. Those of us whose money were to be N2m to N3m were given only N800, 000. Our argument is that they have terminated our appointment and the company has been closed down; tell me how we can get our balance from the company. We are protesting here today because we are not going to allow GMP pack out their properties from the factory. If we allow them to do that, then our money is gone.”

Another worker, Mr. Otu Honest, said the company decided to disobey the advice of the owner of the company who heard their cries and directed that the company should settle them. “The chairman is a very good man he told the managers in Kaduna to settle us but instead of them to obey the man they went ahead to short pay us. There are many other allowances, like leave, welfare, medicals and so on;

in fact I will say they have not paid us.”

Comrade Fred Okuku, National President, Metal Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (MEPROSSAN) said the peaceful protest last weekend was to draw the attention of labour over injustice meted to GMP workers in Port Harcourt, “I have told them that the law allows the workers to have a peaceful protest, there is nothing police will do about it. It is inhuman to allow somebody to work for over 28 months and you give him only N800, 000 when he is supposed to take home N3million. The problem you are seeing today was created by the leadership of GMP you can imagine that you have contract of N1million and the General Manager takes half of the money and travels abroad or somewhere, how do you meet up with the contract? It is not because the workers are not working. When the company started

having problems, the stakeholders said if the owners of GMP want to close down their company they should settle their workers.”

At a meeting in Kaduna the General Manager openly said that the management is aware of the crisis in Port Harcourt. That, if we take the matter to court, they will frustrate the case through continuous adjournment until we are financially dried. Now tell me, is that what a leader should tell those he is leading. Today while we are protesting here in Port Harcourt the company is calling the Inspector General of Police who directed the Divisional Police Officer in Port Harcourt to stop our protest, because he feels they can coarse people with their power.”

But Dr. Patrick Emmanuel, General Secretary, Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN), who came from Kaduna to sympathise with the Port Harcourt GMP workers said, he has advised the workers to follow due process on whatever they wish to do with the company. He said the workers are no longer staff of GMP following the termination of their appointment, but was optimistic that the company will surely pay the remaining money.”

During the protest by the angry workers, Mr. Andrew Echikwa, the chairman of Steel and Engineering Workers’ Union of GMP Port Harcourt branch narrated how their problem with their employer started. He noted that the company decided to work against the agreement reached on July 3, 2008 between the Association of Metal Products, Iron and Steel Employers of Nigeria (AMPISEN) Iron & Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN), Metal Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (MEPROSSAN) and Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN). He said after the intervention of the above groups in 2009 the company brought some money tagged 1/3 of gratuity without proof on how the money was calculated.

He said, “Port Harcourt branch rejected the money because it did not reflect our agreement with them. In December 2010 money was brought and it was half of gratuity payment and at then workers were owed three months salaries and Christmas bonuses. Meanwhile they thought workers will reject it as well, but with the hunger and frustration we were left with no other option than to accept the money. Today everything they owe us is 28 months including allowances which they did not add from the little money they had paid us. We will not allow them to eat our sweat; the remaining money must be paid to us.”

When contacted on phone Onyeacholem, said: “The company does not owe anybody, we have sold the land and the money was used to settle them, don’t forget we have closed down the company over there and we have no business with any of them.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014 Iran warned of 'last chance' in nuclear talks after deadline missed

Five car bombs in Baghdad kill 26

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IVE car bombs killed 26 people in mostly Shi'ite Muslim neighbourhoods in Baghdad yesterday, police and medics said.

The first explosion, a suicide car bombing, killed seven people at a police checkpoint in the Abu Dsheer district in the south of the capital, the sources said.

Four other car bombs killed a total of 19 people: one in the Bayaa district in southwestern Baghdad, one in the western district of Jihad and two in northern Baghdad's Kadhimiya, which boasts a major Shi'ite shrine.

The army and allied Shi'ite militia are trying to push back Sunni insurgents who swept through northern Iraq last month to within 70 km of Baghdad.

Militants fought off an army offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit on Tuesday. The army was forced to pull back south of the city on the banks of the Tigris.

The fighting has exacerbated a political crisis in Baghdad, where Shi'ite caretaker Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is trying to form a government in the face of opposition from Sunnis, Kurds and some Shi'ites, three months after Iraq held a parliamentary election.

Iraq's Shi'ite clergy as well as Western powers have pressed politicians to overcome their deadlock and agree a new unity government to help tackle the insurgency and prevent Iraq from splitting down ethnic and sectarian lines.

Iraq president returns after long absence

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RAQI President Jalal Talabani returned to Iraq yesterday for the first time since he suffered a stroke a year and a half ago and was flown abroad for medical treatment, state television said.

During Talabani's absence, Sunni insurgents have overrun a large area of Iraq and negotiations are currently underway to form a new power-sharing government that would replace him as president.

Iraqi politicians named a moderate Sunni Islamist as speaker of parliament earlier this week, but have yet to choose a president or prime minister, a position which the incumbent Nuri al-Maliki is fighting to retain.

Although the presidency is a largely ceremonial position, Talabani was widely seen a unifying figure, both within Iraq and his own Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, which has struggled to contain internal divisions without him at the helm.

In broadcast footage of the octogenarian earlier this year, he appeared much weakened, suggesting he is unlikely to reprise an active role in politics.

Nevertheless, Talabani's return will help rally support for the PUK and may help unite competing factions around one candidate for the presidency, which is typically from the party.

I

•Riot police spray tear gas as they clash with protesters near the Barbes-Rochechouart aerial metro station in Parisyesterday in the aftermath of a demonstration, banned by French police, to denounce Israel's military campaign in Gaza and show their support for the Palestinian people.

AFP PHOTO

Israeli troops battle Hamas

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SRAELI troops uncovered more than a dozen crossborder tunnels and battled Gaza militants on the second day of an open-ended ground operation yesterday, as the Palestinian death toll climbed past 330 and diplomats scrambled to revive cease-fire efforts.

The Israeli military said it had severely diminished the arsenal of Hamas, the Islamic militant group ruling Gaza, but the militants have continued to fire rockets.

In the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials reported intensified Israeli airstrikes, shelling and numerous civilian casualties. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said the new round of strikes raised the death toll from the 12-day offensive to more than 330 Palestinians, many of them civilians and nearly a fourth of them under the age of 18.

In Israel, a Gaza rocket killed a man near the southern city of Dimona and wounded four people, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, marking

•Uncover Gaza tunnels the second Israeli civilian casualty from the fighting. An Israeli soldier was killed after the start of the ground operation, likely from friendly fire.

The Israeli military said during its first 24 hours on the ground in Gaza troops discovered 13 tunnels into Israel - some as deep as 30 meters - that could be used to carry out attacks. Israel says it launched the offensive to deal with that threat.

Yesterday, the military said it thwarted a second infiltration attempt through just such a tunnel, killing one militant and forcing the others to return to Gaza.

The military also said it has hit 2,350 targets in Gaza, including 1,100 rocket launchers, during the 12 days of fighting. Militants have fired more than 1,600 rockets since July 8.

"We have struck hard on the two main strategic assets of Hamas: the rockets and these tunnels," Israeli military spokes-

man Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.

Israel says it has encountered little resistance on the ground so far, and has killed about 20 militants in sporadic gun-battles. Three soldiers were wounded in overnight fighting, one seriously, the military said.

In one case, it said troops encountered a man who appealed for medical assistance before pulling out grenades and trying to hurl them at soldiers.

He was shot dead, authorities said. Troops also encountered a donkey with explosives strapped to it.

Israel launched the ground operation late Thursday after its air campaign on the Hamasruled territory failed to halt the unrelenting rocket fire. The rate of Palestinian casualties has risen since the ground offensive began - Al-Kidra said more than 90 Palestinians have since been killed.

Casualties could quickly mount further if the military

moves further into urban areas.

Some 50,000 Palestinians already are staying in United Nations shelters, according to UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians.

Early yesterday, Israeli tank fire killed at least five members of the Al Zawaydi family at their home in Beit Lahiya, including two children. In a separate incident, tank shell fire killed three members of the Hamooda family in their home, among them two children.

In Gaza City, two boys and a 1-year-old infant neighbor were killed Friday evening following the break of the Ramadan fast. On Saturday, at least two of the bodies were carried by somber relatives during a funeral procession in Gaza City.

A neighbour described the damage to the home as a "world turned upside down."

"The blood is filling the place everywhere. Small kids, it's a shame, they're kids," Amer alJumaasi said.

MH17 crash: Ukraine accuses rebels of destroying evidence

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KRAINE has accused pro-Russian militiamen at the site of the Malaysia Airlines crash of trying to destroy evidence of an "international crime".

For a second day, OSCE monitors at the scene have had their movements restricted by militiamen.

Reports that bodies have been moved prompted anger from the Netherlands. Most of passengers were Dutch.

The jet was reportedly hit by a missile over a rebelheld area in east Ukraine on Thursday. All 298 people died.

Both Ukraine and the rebels have accused each other of shooting it down.

The Boeing 777 flight

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It fell between KrasniLuch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the neighbouring region of Donetsk.

The passenger list released by Malaysia Airlines shows the plane was carrying 193 Dutch nationals (including one with dual US nationality), 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians and 10 Britons (including one with dual South African nationality), four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines, and one each from Canada and New Zealand.

In a statement, the Ukrainian government com-

plained that pro-Russian rebels had removed 38 bodies from the site near the village of Grabove and taken them to a morgue in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

The BBC's Richard Galpin, who is at the crash site, says he saw bodies being removed by emergency workers, but it was not clear where they were being taken, nor whether the workers were loyal to the rebels or the government in Kiev.

Dutch Foreign Minister FransTimmermans, who is visiting Ukraine, said he had been "shocked" by the reported removals.

"As soon as we receive proof, we will not rest until

those guilty are put to trial not only those who pulled the trigger, but also those who made it possible," he said.

At the main site the bodies were without covering.

Some lay alone. Others were grouped together amid the twisted metal, the bags and cases, the child's playing cards, the guide books, the laptop computer, the duty free whiskey bottle, the woman's hat.

A militiaman with the nickname "Grumpy" - he was squat and barrel-chested with poor teeth and carried a machine gun - harangued me when I asked if the rebels would now stop fighting.

RAN faced Western pressure yesterday to make concessions over its atomic activities after it and six world powers failed to meet a July 20 deadline for a deal to end the decade-old dispute but agreed to keep talking.

The countries agreed to extend the high-stakes negotiations by four months, and let Iran access another $2.8 billion of its cash frozen abroad during that period, though most sanctions on the Islamic Republic stayed in place.

Germany - one of the major powers trying to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program - warned that the extended talks might be the last chance for a long time to reach a peaceful solution.

Echoing the views of other envoys, a Western diplomat said there had been some progress during nearly three weeks of marathon discussions in Vienna's 19th century Coburg palace and that gaps in positions were not "unbridgeable".

But, the senior diplomat added: "We cannot accept that Iran stays at current levels of enrichment."

The announcement to give diplomacy until Nov. 24 came in the early hours of yesterday, a day before the July 20 deadline that Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China had earlier set for an agreement.

Italian rescuers say 19 dead from migrant boat

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TALIAN rescuers found 18 bodies on a boat carrying hundreds of asylum-seekers yesterday and another died while being evacuated -- all apparently killed by toxic fumes from the engine, the ANSA news agency reported.

The boat, with 600 people on board, was intercepted south of the island of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost point and a major landing point for migrant Mediterranean crossings from Libya as it is closer to Africa than mainland Italy.

Two more people have been evacuated by helicopter from the boat and been taken to Palermo hospital in Sicily in a serious condition, the report said.

The coastguard and navy could not be reached for comment.

ANSA said Italian authorities were first alerted by a merchant ship in the area, some 80 nautical miles (148 kilometres, 92 miles) from Lampedusa.

Meanwhile a merchant vessel, the Panamanian-flagged City of Sidon, arrived in Porto Empedocle port in Sicily yesterday with 61 migrants on board -- the survivors of another shipwreck tragedy close to Libyan waters.

Their rickety boat was intercepted on Thursday 36 nautical miles north of Tripoli and it sank as they were being rescued with 102 people on board, meaning that 41 are feared dead, ANSA reported.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

FOREIGN

MALAYSIAN AIRLINE CRASH MH17

Standoff with militiamen at crash site

O

N the approach road to the crash site we saw a small white bundle. It was alone, far from the other dead, and surrounded by sunflowers.

A fringe of brown hair was visible at the edge of the sheet. At this moment I knew I was looking at the body of a small child.

Somebody passing by had placed the sheet on the toddler.

But when we stopped an ambulance to ask if it would remove the body the driver said: "We are here for the living."

Later they would help in the collection of corpses but this was still early in the morning.

At the main site the bodies were without covering. Some lay alone.

Others were grouped together amid the twisted metal, the bags and cases, the child's playing cards, the guide books, the laptop computer, the duty free whiskey bottle, the woman's red hat.

All of this and so much more lay spread across the fields.

A militiaman with the nickname "Grumpy" - he was squat and barrel-chested with poor teeth and carried a machine gun - harangued me when I asked if the rebels would now stop fighting.

"You are only here because foreigners are dead," he said.

And the old story was repeated, the same story I have heard on numerous roadblocks.

The Western media were all capitalists doing the bidding of their American and EU masters.

When the OSCE turned up in a convoy led by police cars with flashing blue light "Grumpy" came into his own.

Now he was a man of power.

He halted the OSCE and told them they would have to go forward on foot. A standoff followed.

The OSCE monitors went into a huddle. Yes, they would go forward on foot.

Ten minutes later "Grumpy" presented another problem.

The local experts - emergency service workers and local police were working at the place where most of the wreckage had landed.

It would not be possible to go on.

Again the OSCE huddled and the negotiations went back and forth.

And after another five minutes they were allowed to proceed once more.

They saw what the large contingent of journalists had already seen. Except that now corpses were being placed in black body bags and placed at the side of the road.

One bag had not been closed and a man lay naked and exposed to view. He was a young man, killed in the prime of his life.

I asked a militiaman to close the bag. He looked at me and shrugged.

"For the sake of the man's dignity please close it," I pleaded. He agreed and carefully rearranged the bag so that the man was covered.

All morning long we have watched the retrieval of the dead from the cornfields and the fallow land where MH17 came to earth.

Where will they take the dead now? And what transport will be used?

Rumours rippled through the group of journalists. But nobody knows who is in charge here.

Two days after a major international tragedy it is a group of gunmen who still dictate the terms of life and death.

Malaysia Airlines releases manifest

M

ALAYSIA Airlines released a full list of passengers and crew on Saturday that were killed when flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine.

The airline appealed to family and friends of the victims to contact the carrier so it can get a full picture of the next of kin. A spokesman said Malaysia Airlines is assessing security in Ukraine before making a decision about possibly flying next of kin to the country where 298 passengers and crew lost their lives.

The spokesman who declined to be named in line with company policy, said family members are being care for in Amsterdam while a team from the carrier, including security officials, is on the ground in Ukraine. He said the team was trying to travel "500 kilometers (310 miles) through difficult territory" to reach the area where wreckage of the Boeing 777 landed.

Forensic teams fanned out across the Netherlands on Saturday to collect material including DNA samples that will help positively identify the remains of victims. Malaysia Airlines said 193 of the 298 passengers and crew killed in Thursday's strike were Dutch.

"In the past 45 hours, the airline together with various foreign embassies have made every effort to establish contact with the next-of-kin but is still unable to identify many more family members," Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.

Initial reports stated that 23 Americans were on board. However, President Obama said Friday that at least one American was among the dead.

The manifest listed no Americans, but the State Department confirmed in a tweet that Quinn Lucas Schansman, listed as a Dutch citizen on the manifest, held dual-citizenship.

Malaysian woman and family victims

A

Malaysian woman, her Dutch husband and their three children have been identified as victims of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 crash in Ukraine, reported The Age. Shaliza Dewa and her husband, Johannes van den Hende, as well as children Piers, 15, Marnix, 12 and Margaux, eight, died in the disaster, the Australian newspaper reported.

The family lived in Eynesbury, Melbourne’s western outskirts.

Piers played for football team Melton Phoenix Under-15s, and the

club’s president, Steve Williamson told The Age the community was devastated by the loss.

“They were great people, really nice people, a nice family and down to earth, it’s unbelievable,” he said to the paper.

The family was returning from a holiday in Amsterdam, and Shaliza’s mother had been waiting for them at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport when she heard the tragic news, reported Bernama.

The death toll from the plane crash stands at 298, including 27 Australians.

Former Russian military officer suspected as man who might be behind the shooting of MH17

A

RETIRED Russian military officer is suspected of being involved in the attack that downed a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

Igor Girkin, who is also known by his pseudonym Igor Strelkov, has been called “one of the most powerful separatist figures in eastern Ukraine.” He’s a Russian citizen from Moscow and has declared himself the Minister of Defense of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), according to Radio Free Europe.

The Ukrainian government says Strelkov is a covert agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence. In documents posted on separatist websites he has asked Russia to provide military assistance to the DPR. Strelkov is a veteran of both the Soviet and Russian armies, according to Reuters.

A Reuters article in May described Strelkov as “the top Russian operative in the separatist east:” He moves through the streets in a black Mercedes, his face with pencil moustache hidden behind tinted windows, and his aim is to “destroy” Ukrainian forces that venture onto his territory.

In a leaflet distributed in the rebel Donetsk region, “Colonel Igor Strelkov” assumed command of all rebel forces there and called for Russian army help to ward off what he calls the threat from the Kiev “junta” and from NATO. Strelkov’s history and his powerful position within the separatist movement in the east could be taken as proof that Russia is assisting or even coordinating the separatist uprising.

Russia denies this, but in a news conference on Friday, President Barack Obama said that the separatists “have received a steady flow of support from Russia,” and Ukraine’s government claims that Strelkov has been taking orders from Moscow.

Strelkov was reportedly

•Girkin

present during the Russian annexation of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in March. He then moved to eastern Ukraine as the situation in that part of the country escalated.

Before he came to Ukraine, Strelkov was involved in conflicts in Yugoslavia and Chechnya, according to the BBC. Russian media claims that he used to work for the Russian Federal Security Service within the Directorate for Combating International Terrorism.

But in April, the European Union put Strelkov on its sanc-

tions list and described him as working for the GRU, according to Reuters.

Around the time the Malaysia Airlines plane went down, Strelkov posted a statement on Russia’s largest social network that seemed to take responsibility for the attack. The post was later deleted, and it’s now widely thought that the separatists mistook the Malaysia plane for a Ukrainian aircraft.

U.S. officials have said that pro-Russian separatists fired the fatal missile, but no group has claimed responsibility so far.

Nearly 300 people died in the attack.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

FOREIGN

75

MALAYSIAN AIRLINE CRASH MH17

•Mo Maslin, 12, left, with his brother Otis, 8, and sister Evie 10, who died on MH17 on their way back from holiday in Europe.

Photo: AAP/Facebook

‘Please look after my dog’ – stewardess’ last words to her family

A

N air stewardess who died when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine sent a final message to her family asking them to take care of her pet dog.

Angeline Premila Rajandran, a 30-year-old from the Malaysian city of Klang, was one of 298 people on the Boeing 777 when it went down on Thursday after apparently being hit by a surface-to-air missile.

Just minutes before the flight took off Ms Rajandran sent a message to her mother via the WhatsApp messaging service that said, “Look after my dog Lexi.”

“My mum is devastated as Angeline and the rest of us celebrated our mum’s birthday only two weeks ago,” Murphy Govind, her brother, was quoted as saying

by The Star newspaper.

“My mother has locked herself in her room and has refused to come out ever since we heard about the news.”

Dutch prime minister says Putin has ‘one last chance to show he means to help’

Mr Govind described the agony of receiving a phone call from Malaysia Airlines at around 4am on Friday morning with the news that his sister’s plane had failed to land.

“It did not make any sense because the flight was supposed to land only at 6am.”

Friends described Ms Rajandran, who had also worked as a model for the Malaysian airline, as someone who loved travel and animals.

In March, she posted a photograph of her female dog, Lexi, on her Facebook page, alongside the caption: “My LiL Lexi”.

Annette Roman Vermani, a close friend of the air stewardess, said they had been making plans to get to- •Rajandran and her dog “We are all going to miss you gether. “Now it will not happen,” she Angeline Rest In Peace,” said.

She said her friend was “good- Guhanandan Selvadurai, a friend, wrote on Facebook. natured, prim and proper”.

An entire Indonesian family killed. John Paulissen, his wife Yuli Hastini and two children, Martin Arjuna Paulissen, five and Sri Paulissen, three

•Dutch PhD student studying in the US, Karljin Keizer, was among victims

British lawyer killed along with his wife and three sons

A

BRITISH lawyer, his wife and their three sons were all killed on board flight MH17. John Allen, his wife Sandra and their sons Christopher, Julian and Ian have been the latest victims named in connection with the tragedy.

Mr Allen, 44, was a lawyer with Dutch based legal firm NautaDutilh for the past 18 years.

In a statement released on the firm’s website, a NautaDutilh spokesperson said: ‘We were shocked to learn that our muchloved colleague John Allen, his wife Sandra and their sons Christopher, Julian and Ian were on board the Malaysia Airlines flight on route to Kuala Lumpur that crashed in the Ukraine on July 17. Our thoughts are with John’s family and his friends in and outside the office.

‘John joined our firm in 1996 and became a partner in 2007. He was very important in building the

•Allen intellectual property practice group, where his expertise and skills in patent litigation and technologyrelated disputes were highly

praised by his clients and peers.

‘John was one of the few Dutch lawyers featured in the Who’s Who Legal (patent law) as well as in the Intellectual Asset Management Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners.

‘He was a person with many talents, and in addition to his professional contribution to our firm he generously shared his musical and athletic abilities with us as well.

‘All of us who had the privilege of working with John during his 18 years at NautaDutilh came to know him as a kind, down-toearth and humorous man and many of us have also lost a friend.

He will be dearly missed.’

Olympia, the football club in Hilversum near Amsterdam where Mr Allen coached and his sons played, said in a statement: ‘We can hardly believe the terrible news.

•Fatima Dyczynski, founder of data company Xoterra Space

•Newcastle fan, John Alder

•Newcastle fan, Liam Sweeney

•Andrei Anghel, Canadian

76

T

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014

WORLD/COMMENTARY

HIS article started out being about the refugee border crisis in America where thousands of Central Americans, many of them unaccompanied children, seeking haven from the violence and poverty of their homelands. Then came the tragic downing of Malaysian flight airlines MH17.

The tragedy brings the world closer to a war wanted by few save the most powerful nation in the world, the puppet regime in Kiev and the Washington appendage that 10 Downing Street has become. For months, Washington’s strategy has been to keep the temperature high and maintain the pressure on Russia, hoping Putin would be goaded into war as the separatists in the East wilt under the mounting weigh of Kiev’s rejuvenated martial prowess.

When Russia and the EU sculpted an extension of a cease-fire agreement weeks ago, the Kiev government refused the olive branch although the rebels acceded to the proposal.

Kiev rebuffed peace because Washington did not want peace at the moment. Peace and maintenance of the status quo would benefit Putin since the eastern region of Ukraine is currently out of the effective writ of Kiev. This would be a boon to Putin and a defeat to America. Thus war had to continue.

America and its NATO allies have funneled material and advisors to enhance the Kiev military as well as the irregular, neofascist militias in this battle against the eastern separatists. As a result, the Ukrainian military has increased shelling and aerial bombardment of civilian centres, killing dozens of people, including women and children. There are reports of Ukrainian aircraft striking Russian border towns, again in apparent attempt to stoke the Russian bear into a thoughtless reaction. If Russia can be instigated into directly invading Ukraine, then America will be able to marshal the entire weight of NATO and the West to isolate Russia with draconian sanctions, teaching Putin a lesson that might cost him his job, if not his very skin.

These benighted transgressions by the Kiev regime are not published by the mainstream international press. Information about crimes by the Ukrainian government is suppressed or discounted as the regrettable fallout of war.

Now, the rebels apparently have made a terrible mistake that plays right into the hands of the West. Putin had been walking a fine line that now has become a high-wire tightrope.

Ukraine is the place of a civil war doubling as a proxy contest between America and Russia. America wants to advance NATO to Russia’s front door, then exploit that proximity as leverage to undermine or deter Putin from his increasingly independent, antiAmerican demeanor. Putin does not want war in Ukraine nor to annex the eastern regions.

He wants to maintain Ukraine as a buffer zone providing strategic space between Russia and NATO’s eastern boundary.

He helps the separatists in hopes of achieving this objective. However, he has been a study in patience and restraint by not taking steps that would cause him to transgress beyond this logical national objective.

It appears the rebels downed the plane believing it was a Ukrainian military transport. It was terrible and deadly mistake. Yet it is no darker than the work of Ukraine’s military purposefully targeting residential areas and civilians. It is no more wretched than American drones bombing wedding parties and funeral processions in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other nations. An awful thing has happened, but those making the most noise about the tragedy do so to shift our eyes from the blood on their hands. The media abets this legerdemain.

Mainstream media quickly concluded this was a missile fired by the rebels. They did not wait for confirmation. This conclusion fits their script thus they ran with it. Nowhere in the media did I hear any journalist ask whether this could have been done by the governmentaligned fascist militias that have access to such weaponry as well. Why would the fascist militia do this? Seeing the tremendous Western reaction, the answer is apparent.

This sounds far-fetched but it is not. Remember the Sarin gas class levied against Bashar Assad in Syria. America was ready to hurtle its arsenal at Assad for crossing the line President Obama had articulated against chemical weapons use. The precession to war was doused when parliament denied PM Cameron his request to join the belligerent escapade. Parliament did not take this step because it suddenly had become pacifist. It did however, have a pang of conscience. It seems British intelligence had quickly gained information that the Sarin used in the attack had not the same chemical fingerprint as that in Assad’s stockpiles.

Despite the mountain of news reports

Trouble on the border The rich hide behind their strong wall and are glad but the poor despise their habitation

• Putin

naming Assad as the culprit, the gas came from elsewhere. The Syrian rebels and their clandestine sponsors unleashed the attack hoping to bring America into the war. Stripped of his British sidekick, President Obama grew cold feet about going it alone. He knew the evidence against Assad was inflated and uncertain. Thus, he pushed the decision to Congress and Congress also balked.

Don’t forget the well-publicised charge several years ago levied against the Iranian intelligence agency for plotting to assassinate the British ambassador to the United States. The frenzied disclosure of this alleged plot precipitated howls of war among the American neo-conservative pining for war against Iran. Since then, nothing has been heard of this case because there was never anything to it. This alleged plot was a contrivance to stir bellicose feelings against Iran in order to justify harsher sanctions or worse.

The press has also made reference to the gruesome 1983 downing of a Korean airliner by the Soviet Union, claiming that incident was similar to the present one. How it is similar the press fails to mention for their job is not to inform but to plant the seeds of suspicion in our minds. As such, they also fail to mention how an American naval vessel downed an Iranian passenger flight in 1988.

The Soviet mistake decades ago is cited to cast guilt on present-day Russia. The American mistake is not mentioned because they want you to believe America makes no mistakes and is never in the wrong. This is not news reporting it is an exercise in bending the public mind.

In Ukraine, neither side is the precinct of angels. However, Devils are more than enough to go around. Both sides deserve to be condemned.

However, the media would have us see things as a fight between good and bad. It is a charade to get you to believe that which is, in essence, unreasonable. Media coverage has been abhorrent to objectivity. When segments of Ukrainian society bucked against the duly-elected Yanukovych government that was aligned with Moscow, the media did not label those elements as “pro-American coupists.” The media called them ‘freedom fighters and democrats.” But the rain that falls to the right is the same that falls which falls to the left.

The rebels now do to the leaders of the current government what those leaders did to Yanukovych. The media should deem them freedom fighters and democrats. Instead, they are

negatively described as “pro-Russian” as if they have no mind or objectives of their own but are merely the witless, brutish pawns of the cruel genius of Moscow. The purpose of the global media is not to bare the truth but to conceal it behind cascades of misleading information and pejorative labels designed to rouse emotions yet add nothing to our understanding. The objective is to make Russia loom as a sinister machine in need of repair and a different main operator with a completely different global orientation.

With this latest tragedy, the ante has increased in what already was a high-stakes game of wit and nerves. Filled with bile and bellicosity, American war hawks press for more overt military aid to the Ukrainian government and for increased sanctions against Russia, even though sanctions were just expanded the day before the incident. President Obama will mouth diplomacy but this will be an empty feign. He shares the hawk’s objective. NATO must be driven right to Russia’s front door and Putin must be taught a lesson so sharp that it deters future opposition to American foreign policy.

Putin must now decide whether to stand his ground and weather the storm caused by the lethal mistake of his rebellious allies or retreat, leaving them to their own fate. Leaving them to their own fate would gain him temporary respite and perhaps avoidance of more sanctions harmful to his economy. But this would not guarantee his or Russia’s position in the long term. If he shows weakness now, the West will rush to aid the Kiev government in crushing the eastern rebels. A stinging defeat for Putin, this would be but the prelude to the expansion of NATO right to the edge of his western border.

The American policy of isolating Russia from Europe would have gained an important salient, the price of which would be the nearly permanent escalation of tensions along that border. The terrible wall Russia once built in Berlin would have been resurrected on Russia’s own border against Russia’s will. Although this new wall would be invisible its presence would be no less real and no less foreboding than the former.

Given this likelihood, Putin has little choice but to maintain his level of support for the rebels.

Their defeat is his defeat. If the West increases military support for Kiev, Putin must do the same for the rebels. No one will want to back down.

Pride of power and bloodlust will reign. The inter-

necine civil war will become more crimson, escalating in death and depravity much the same as the Syrian conflict except this time America suborns the government while Russia abets the insurgents.

The ingredients have all been placed on the counter. Mix them as predicted, and the world will see the worst of war take hold of Ukraine. Not only will this pit broaden and broaden in the Ukraine, it will draw America and Russia into closer quarters at a time when their intimacy will be nothing if not confrontational. This scenario will drag the sluggish European economy, particularly as summer turns to autumn and autumn becomes the winter when Europe needs Russian gas supplies.

Instead of the escalation that looms probable, the sides would do so much better if they genuinely honoured the victims of the tragedy by using the incident as a means to peace and political solution.

First, a moratorium on further military activity needs to be established. The status quo on the ground should be observed. Second, peace talks should be organised to reconcile the Kiev government with the insurgents.

While separation from Ukraine is not plausible, talks offer greater autonomy for the eastern region. A political solution is the only way this war can end without first being widened and made more devastating by the injection of martial support from the rival outside powers. This political solution must be underwritten and guaranteed by America and Russia.

Third, once a truce is established, the international community must deploy a neutral peacekeeping force as a buffer between the two sides.

Fourth, in the context of the political solution, the parties must seek international judicial assistance to investigate and allocate responsibility for the airline downing and for other war crimes that have taken place. Only within the context of an overall political solution can the tragedy of the airline be resolved. If this item is taken out of sequence, it will not bring justice but will ignite greater animosity and violence.

If these steps are not taken, it will be because someone does not want peace. That party will bear moral responsibility for the deluge to come. (Last, one must wonder about the management of Malaysian Airlines. After the mysterious disappearance of a previous aircraft, one would think the company would have turned into a paragon of caution. Yet, most likely to shave fuel costs, they flew the ill-fated vessel over a nation wrenched by civil war. It was a callous decision.)

Next week, I will return to write in full about the American border crisis. Here, I just want to deposit a few thoughts. In other strifetorn areas around the world, America presses nations to accept refugees. This in consonant with international law. When the stream of desperate, brown-skinned people appear at its border, the American government behaves as it has no international obligations. No American politician, not one of them, has the courage to stand before the television camera and explain to the people that the nation has an international treaty obligation to protect bona-fide refugees.

Instead, the sojourners are all called migrants. The word “refugee” is off-limits. Instead of understanding their legal obligations, the average White and Black American is kept ignorant and in the anger gestated by that ignorance, many protest against the refugees and come to hate them. Both political parties exploit the tragedy to their electoral ends.

Thousands of people have surged from Central America to the U.S. border. Some are gang members and drug dealers who should be turned aside. Most have been unaccompanied minors, released by their parents for the dangerous trip to the border because life has grown too dangerous where they live and where too many like them have died too young. Three Central American nations are a lethal mix of gangs, drug wars, ruthless militaries/paramilitaries, and harsh governments. American foreign policy is almost as culpable for this cocktail as are the leaders in these nations. Honduras suffers the highest murder rate in the world, with El Salvador number four and Guatemala right behind it.

Danger in these nations is of the same league as in other nations formally at war.

Many of the desert walkers now on the border are not idlers out for a perverse stroll.

They flee for their very lives. These are refugees in the truest sense. To turn them away is to violate international and domestic law. It is also inhumane. Yet, this is being done because current American political leaders believe they and their nation live above the law. They have become a law unto themselves, and this arrogance begets a multitude of sins. More next week.

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SELEWA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Hannatu Hassan, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Hannatu Nicodemus. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Police and general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akpan, Queen Monday, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ikoku, Queen Eze. All former documents remain valid. Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, NYSC and general public should please take note.

ANWUTA

FARAYIBI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ifeoma Anwuta, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ifeoma Ruth Obi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OJELADE

I, formerly known and addressed as Farayibi Mobolape Olufisola, now wish to be known and addressed as Lawal Mobolape Olufisola. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State government and general public should please take note.

AKINWUSI

I, formerly known and addressed as Kashiet Mariam Adama, now wish to be known and addressed as Ademola Mariam Adama. All former documents remain valid.

Lagos State government and general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Ojelade Samson Olushola, now wish to be known and addressed as Osuolale Samson Olushola. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinwusi, Ajoke Victoria, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olatunde, Ajoke Victoria. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OJO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojo, Oluwaseun Ajoke, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sangoleye, Oluwaseun Ajoke. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OGUNSANYA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunsanya, Enitan Adeola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Enato, Enitan Adeola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLAJIRE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olajire, Yewande Oyekemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Idowu, Yewande Oyekemi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

EMECHETA

EJILASISI

I, formerly known and addressed as Nimota Titilayo Ejilasisi, now wish to be known and addressed as Nimota Titilayo Thomas. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

LASISI I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Lasisi, Sukurat Ayanbunmi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fatai, SuKurat Ayanbunmi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

KASHIET

OLUKA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chioma Oluka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chioma Ugwunna Ukatu. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AROMOFE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Aromofe, Grace Busayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oyediran, Grace Busayo. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

SANUSI

CHANGE OF NAME MOMSON

I, formerly known and addressed as Momson Aderinsola Adetokunbo, now wish to be known and addressed as Osineye Aderinsola Adetokunbo. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ADEYEYE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyeye, Caroline Idowu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Babatunde, Omoya Caroline Idowu. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission and general public should please take note.

UMANI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Umani, Julianah Beauty, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Esoso Agbor.

All former documents remain valid.

Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti and general public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Asuquo Eneyo Edet, is the same person as Edet Eneyo Samson as used in my WAEC Certificate with Examination No. 4290646035, May/June 2011. All documents bearing any of this names remain valid. Now wish to be konwn as Asuquo Eneyo Edet. UNIBEN, WAEC and general public should please take note.

LEONARD

I, formerly known and addressed as Diamond Oluwatarada Leonard, now wish to be known and addressed as Olulayo Adele Oluseun-Olugbile. All former documents remain valid. ULWS and general public should please take note.

OKEZIE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ijeoma Doris Okezie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ijeoma Doris Amadi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

NZENWA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nzenwa Nkeiruka Patience, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Osafile Nkeiruka. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

MOBOLAJI

I, formerly known and addressed as MRS MOBOLAJI RACHAEL FUNMILAYO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS IBITOYE RACHAEL FUNMILAYO. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

NWANERI

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. NWANERI NKECHNYERE YVONNE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IDIKA NKECHINYERE YVONNE. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ONWUAIKE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Onwuaike Linda Chinwendu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chiwetalu Linda Chinwendu. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

TOMISIN

I, formerly known and addressed as Tomisin Kehinde Eniola, now wish to be known and addressed as Akinrinmade Kehinde Rhode. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

BASSEY

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Genevieve Oqua Bassey, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Genevieve Ibe Kanu. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AKUBUENYI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Rashida Abosede Sanusi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Rashidat Abosede Oyedeyi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akubuenyi Maureen Kelechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Obi Maureen Kelechi. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

OKORIE

JOKOTOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okorie Erinma Onuoha now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Uche Ifeoma Nora. All former documents remain valid, general public should please take note.

ODO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Odo Joy Chinedu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ede Joy Chinedu. All former documents remain valid. Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike and general public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Jokotola Funmilayo Bukola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oketonade Funmilayo Bukola, all former documents remain valid LAUTECH and general public take note.

BOLARINDE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Bolarinde Omolara Mabel now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwatominiyi Omolara Mabel, all former documents remain valid general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME ANYIM

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Anyim Dorothy Ogbeyalu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Kalu Dorothy Ogbeyalu. All former documents remain valid. ASUBEB, Bende LGEA and general public should please take note.

CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH

I, Otu Joseph Chukwu of Amaekwu Nkpoghoro Afikpo in Afikpo North Local Government of Ebonyi State wish to state that (i) That my real and correct date of birth is 19th day of July, 1992 and not 19th day of July, 1995. as was erroneously written by the Nigerian Immigration Service Enugu. General Public take note.

IROEGBU-HARRY

I,formerly known and addressed as MISS. MARYANN IBITORU IROEGBU-HARRY, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. MARYANN IBITORU WISDOMEMEH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ONUMADU

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. ONUMADU ADAKU THERESA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IGWE ADAKU THERESA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OKEH

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. CHIMELE BLESSING NGOZICHI OKEH, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. BLESSING MIEBAKA ASEMINACHIN. All former documents remain valid. UNIPORT and general public should please take note.

UDO I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. NSEKPONG ISEMIN UDO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NSEKPONG ESSIEN EKITOK. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ONWUKA

I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Gloria Sampson Onwuka, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Gloria Godwin Akpan. All former documents remain valid. The Apostolic Church of Nigeria, Western Area, F.C.T. Field and general public should please take note.

GOODLUCK

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. FIDELIA IZUMA GOODLUCK, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. FIDELIA ANDREW EMEZU. All former documents remain valid. Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, NYSC and general public should please take note.

OLUNGWERITA I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. OLUNGWE RITA ALA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. MASI RITA ALA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ODUNSI I, formerly known and addressed as ODUNSI ADESEGUN OLUSEGUN, now wish to be known and addressed as ODUNSI ADESEGUN OMOTAYO. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AMUDA I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Amuda Muibat Opeyemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Asuni Muibat Opeyemi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADULOJU I formerly known and addressed as MISS ADULOJU ADENIKE CATHRINE Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLATUNJI– OJO ADENIKE CATHRINE. All former documents remain valid Ekiti State Civil Service Commission, Ministry of Health, Ekiti State Government and general public please take note.

ADULOJU

I formerly known and addressed as MISS ADULOJU OPEYEMI ANUOLUWA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ABIODUN OPEYEMI ANUOLUWA. All former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic Ado Ekiti and general public should take note.

FATUNASE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Fatunase Adeola Bunmi now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Osadare Adeola Bunmi Mary, all former documents remain valid Osun State University and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME ATAT

I, formerly known and addressed as Edidiong Ezekiel Atat now wish to be known and addressed as Edidiong Dondaniels Inyang-Sam Out. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

AGBONLAHOR

I formerly known and addressed as Miss AGBONLAHOR MERIAMU now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. AGBONLAHOR TREASURE. All former documents remained valid. General Public please,take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I IHEJIRIKA, ALLWELL CHINEDUM is also known and addressed as ALLWELL CHINEDUIHEJIRIKA, and ALLWELL IHEJIRIKA.All former documents remainedvalid.The general public, please take note.

JOSEPH

I formerly known and addressed as Miss JOSEPH NNENWOGO now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. IGWE NNENWOGO CHINWENDU. All former documents remained valid.NYSC, ABSU, UturuAbia state and General Public please take note.

CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH I,Gbadamosi Olubunmi Kazeem hereby notify the general public that my date of birth was wrongly written as 28th of August, 1974 instead of 28th of August, 1976.

ABURIME

I, formerly known and addressed as Aburime Osagie Ndiong, now wish to be known and addressed as Dumitrescu Aburime Osagie Ndiong. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UGWU I formerly known and addressed as Rosemary Ngozi Ugwu now wish to be known and addressed Rosemary Ngozi Esenwa. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name V I N T A G E PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to gbengaodejide@yahoo.com orthenation.advert@gmail.com.

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Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

78

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 20, 2014

SPORTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Ideye delighted with ‘dream’ move

EXTRA

79

JULY 20, 2014

Ex-internationals hold convention in U.S

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IGERIA striker Brown Ideye says he has achieved a "dream" by securing a move to the Premier League with West Brom.

Albion signed Ideye, 25, from Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev on Friday for a club-record fee, believed to be around £10m.

The forward - West Brom's fifth summer signing - has signed a threeyear deal with the option of another 12 months.

"I always wanted to play in the Premier League. I've always been a massive fan, from the moment I moved to Europe. It was always a dream," he told BBC Sport.

"It's what I really wanted for my career and family. I thank God for the opportunity, West Brom and my agents for making it happen."

West Brom have not disclosed how much they have paid for the striker, but said the fee exceeded the amount they paid Sunderland for Benin international Stephane Sessegnon last September.

However Ideye, who began his professional career at Ocean Boys in Nigeria, is not worried.

"I'm not sure about the price tag, that's between the clubs," Ideye added.

"I think the most important thing is putting the ball in the back of the net, help the team and my team-mates and hopefully make everyone happy.

Terry bags brace for Chelsea

A

brace from captain John Terry helped Chelsea overturn a two-goal deficit to defeat AFC Wimbledon 3-2 in a friendly on Saturday.

Having beaten Wycombe Wanderers 5-0 in their first pre-season fixture on Wednesday, Chelsea would have expected a similarly strong showing against W i m b l e d o n a t Kingsmeadow.

But Jose Mourinho's men were up against it as Alan Bennett scored inside the first minute and Matt Tubbs - who joined from Bournemouth last month scored from the penalty spot shortly before the break.

Chelsea improved after the break, however, and three goals in the last 15 minutes saw them complete the comeback Centre-back Terry - on as a half-time substitute scored either side of Mohamed Salah's equaliser, while young midfielder Lewis Baker had a hand in all three goals.

The visitors handed a first appearance to Kurt Zouma. The centre-back joined from Saint-Etienne in January but remained on loan at the Ligue 1 side for the rest of last season.

N

IGERIA'S exinternationals under the auspices of Nigerian ExInternational Footballers Association, (NEIFA), held a mini-convention in Raleigh, North Carolina, yesterday.

Coordinated by Nathaniel Ogedegbe and hosted by Francis "Bulldozer" Moniedafe, the well attended event also had in attendance exinternationals; Emeka "Caterpillar" James, Sam Okpodu, Tony "World Two" Igwe, Humphrey Edobor, Fatai Atere, Paul Okoku, Totty O. Totty, Ike Ofoje, Godwin "Owie" Iwelumo, Dehinde Akinlotan, Godwin Odiye, Thompson Usiyan, Taju Disu, Andrew Uwe, Kenneth "Kendo" Ilodigwe, and Adelabu Adegoke.

The objectives of the group according to Paul Okoku are; to promote the development of football in Nigeria, look after the welfare of former national team players, to serve as ambassadors of football and and to be a voice for Nigerian footballers in Nigeria and in Diaspora.

Oshaniwa: I'm not in hurry to

leave

Otunyo celebrates 60th with golf tourney

Ashdod N

I G E R I A i n t e r n ational, Juwon Oshaniwa, has revealed that his gleaming performance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup was in response to the barrage of criticisms that trailed his inclusion in the 23-man list.

Oshaniwa, who, eventually became the Super Eagles' first choice in the left-back position in Brazil following

injury to AS Monaco's Elderson Echiejile, which ruled him out of the tournament, however, said he's not in a hurry to leave Isreal.

The Ashdod of Israel star revealed that he is not in a hurry to move to another club, not unmindful of several offers coming from other European clubs.

"For every player on earth, there is always a desire for a

greener pasture and I can tell you that mine is not an exception.

"I have set some targets for myself which I am working towards achieving because I'm sure the future is very bright for me.

"Sure, I have received some offers from other clubs and that I won't disclose until everything materialises.

“Right now, I'm with my

Eagles gave their best in Brazil, says Rabiu Afolabi

F

ORMER Nigerian player Rabiu Afolabi has described as 'brave' the performance of the Super Eagles at the recently concluded 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.

Though the African champions missed a chance of making the quarter final in the South American country but the Salzburg player is of the opinion that Keshi's men gave a commanding performance and could have moved a step further if not for poor finishing.

"I think they performed bravely by qualifying from the group stage, compared to other African teams, except Algeria, who were all eliminated at the preliminaries,” Afolabi told Punch.

"Every department

functioned well except for the poor finishing at the last third of the pitch.

"The first three matches were approached in a good and disciplined manner despite the rows over match bonuses prior to the game against France, which is not unusual.

Hopefully, we can keep the team and build stability in this generation set of players.

He also dismissed insinuations that the Super Eagles defeat to France was triggered by the bonus row between the players and the Nigeria Football Federation.

"This issue has been in existence for a long time, I presume since the Green Eagles days, and it has rolled on to the Super Eagles,” he continued.

"It is a shame that this

happens only with African teams, unlike other teams from Europe and Asia.

"But despite that, I didn't sense any unprofessional attitude by the players in the game (against France). They did well until the last 15 minutes when they gave up,” he concluded.

By Precious Dikewoha

I

parents to share some moments with them and also to receive their blessings before preparing for the new league season,” he asserted .

The 23-year-old played all four matches as Nigeria reached the second round for the first time in 16 years.

He stated that self-belief was responsible for his commendable performance as responsibility beckoned on him following Echiejile's blackout.

"It feels good and also a great achievement putting smiles on the faces of critics.

Well, I felt so bad that my friend [Echiejile] was ruled out of the competition despite his contributions to the team's qualification for the tournament,” Oshaniwa told Goal.

"Knowing that responsibility of replacing him beckoned on me, I had to put myself together, take charge to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians.”

F there is anything that brightens the heart of Dr. Amaziah Walter Otunyo, CEO of Amanda Hotel, it is the game of golf and to mark his 60th birthday recently, a golf tournament was put together at Rumuokwurusi Golf Club, Port Harcourt.

Otunyo said golf is the best way to show his appreciation to God and his friends as he turn 60.

He said: “I decided to fix a golf tournament in commemoration of my birthday for my friends in the golf world. Prior to this time, I thought when I am 60; I will be probably confined to the bed. But to tell you that I am still strong and healthy at 60, during the last golf game I beat my opponents who are yet to clock 60. So, I still feel inside me the way I used to feel when I am 40 years. I can say I was 45 years now, though I thank God for good health and for keeping me alive to see this day.”

Cup qualifier: Botswana stun Guinea Bissau

B

OTSWANA Zebras were in fine galloping form as they stormed to an impressive 2-0 win over Guinea Bissau to take a huge step towards sealing a place in the group phase of AFCON Morocco 2015 qualifying.

Red hot Lemponye Tshireletso's first half brace at the National Stadium in Gaborone was decisive for the Zebras.

Botswana put in a virtuoso

performance and had chances to score more goals but failed to convert their many chances as they ran rings around a disjointed Bissau defence.

The Zebras started the game like a house on fire as they camped in the Bissau defence firing from all cylinders .

Lemponye who was in superb form was a constant threat as he broke the deadlock with a fine finish on

the half hour mark before completing his brace seven minutes later as the Zebras went to the break leading comfortably. The second half was a see-saw affair as Guinea Bissau fought hard to limit the damage holding the maurauding Zebras until the end as the hosts won comfortably.

The second leg will be played on the 3rd of August 2014.

QUOTABLE “It (impeachment) is a wild goose chase because no threat of impeachment from the Presidency will make the governor cave in. Twenty-five PDP Assembly members have all defected formally to the APC all in solidarity with the governor (Rotimi Amaechi). … The coffin has been nailed and there is nothing the Presidency can do about it.”

SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 8, NO. 2916

-Chief of Staff to Rivers State Governor, Chief Tony Okocha, dismissing the rumoured impeachment threat against his boss, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, by PDP and the Presidency.

I

F PROOF is required to show how and why Nigeria has been misgoverned, last week’s request by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly to be allowed to borrow one billion dollars from external sources is indisputably the most convincing. Writing to the National Assembly, the president had reasoned: “You are no doubt (familiar) with the ongoing and serious security challenges which the nation is facing, as typified by the Boko Haram terrorist threat. This is an issue that we have discussed at various times.

I would like to bring to your attention the urgent need to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of our Armed Forces and Security Services to enable them more forcefully to confront this serious threat. For this reason, I seek the concurrence of the National Assembly for external borrowing of not more than $1bn, including government to government arrangements, for this upgrade.”

Predictably, the request has stirred controversy. The government apparently banks on the fact that everyone will be so worried by the security situation in the Northeast and elsewhere that the country would be compelled, if not blackmailed, into granting quick and easy approval. In particular, the presidency hopes that no one in the National Assembly would like to be seen as standing in the way of equipping and motivating Nigerian troops in the antiterror war. But if approval is secured as fast and as easy as the presidency hopes, it would be a mockery both of legislative processes and citizen involvement in governance. Both civil society and the parliament should press the government for full explanations on why the Jonathan government thinks the nearly one trillion naira it has budgeted for defence this year is inadequate, and why an estimated 10 percent only is allocated for capital spending.

Importantly too, the government needs to provide adequate proof it has not been profligate with public funds. In my opinion that proof would be difficult to provide. For instance, rather than offer proof of prudence in the use of public funds by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, especially as it relates to the chartering of aircraft for the use of its minister, the government has engaged in vexatious subterfuge. Then there is also the about $20bn the former Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, alleged had not been accounted for by the Jonathan government in the past few years. All the government has said through the Minister of Finance is that only about $10bn or $12bn

External loan to fight Boko Haram a hard sell is yet to be accounted for. Let the government find the missing money and take one billion dollars out of it for the purposes it is seeking authorisation.

By every yardstick, the Boko Haram war cannot be compared with the Nigerian Civil War. While the current anti-terror war has lasted for about five years, it only assumed the dimension it has become in the last two or three years.

Conversely, Nigeria’s finances were so well managed during the civil war that no penny was borrowed from outside the country.

There is nothing to show that the Jonathan presidency has managed the finances of the country and run the military efficiently to guarantee that in borrowing more money we would not be throwing money at the problem. For instance, the government wants more troops, and has begun a recruitment exercise, yet it could spare troops to seize newspapers from vendors in parts of the country, while it also needlessly deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and other security forces to police election in only one small state, Ekiti.

Reports from the Northeast do not indicate that the government has managed the Boko Haram war as efficiently as Nigerians have demanded. Giving the government more money other than for developmental needs

would amount to an indefensible waste. In his justification for the loan request, the Coordinator of National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, offered this trite argument: “Even the United States goes for this kind of facility.

For any country involved in such military expedition, not just the Boko Haram issue, but engaged in a number of military exercises, its stock will deplete.

Every country must restock to reinforce its capability.” He also tried to link the request with the need to expedite action in rescuing the abducted Chibok girls. No one is convinced. The schoolgirls have spent more than three months in captivity because the government approached the problem wrongly and incompetently. The public should not be made to underwrite the government’s wastefulness and slothfulness.

If the Jonathan government cannot explain where the $10bn missing money has gone, nor bring the wasteful Petroleum minister to account, nor give infallible proof it is capable of running the military efficiently, it should not be allowed to commit the country to more debt or be allowed to blackmail us with the rising spectre of insecurity. What the country needs is probably not more money, but more sense in managing its affairs and the many

Jonathan, Malala and Chibok girls

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EWSPAPERS missed both the strident tone and essence of the message Malala Yousafzai passed on to President Goodluck Jonathan during her visit last Monday. The Pakistani girls’ education advocate was in Nigeria for a twoday visit to further her global campaign, advocate urgent efforts to rescue the 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants, and ask the president to meet with the anguished parents of the abducted girls.

She, however, managed in the process to lecture the president in surprisingly severe tones on his duties and responsibilities to his country and the girls in particular.

Somehow, everyone seemed to have focused on her reprise of the discussions she had with the president, during which she donated $200,000 to girls’ education in Nigeria.

Immediately after Malala met with the president, Dr Jonathan extended an invitation to the Chibok parents who had travelled to Abuja to meet the girls’ education advocate. But this invitation immediately became controversial because the Chibok parents declined to meet with the president due to extenuating circumstances. Prickly presidency spokespersons however misconstrued this snub as a plot by opposition forces who it claimed had hijacked the BringBackOurGirls protest. But it turned out that the few parents

•Jonathan

•Malala

in question needed time to receive a fresh mandate from other Chibok parents to meet with the president. The meeting, it now seems, has been rescheduled.

Two major issues come out of the Malala meeting with Dr Jonathan. First is the unfortunate fact, already highlighted in the ongoing controversy surrounding the presidential audience granted the girls’ education advocate, that it took Malala’s visit for the president to appreciate his obligation to meet with the Chibok parents. Second is the even sadder fact that the president does not appear to appreciate the irony, if not irresponsibility, of asking to meet a few of the parents in Abuja. Does he think a crash meeting in Abuja would obviate the need for him to visit Chibok? And does he hope that such a meeting, if it takes place, would atone for his unstatesmanlike behavior in abandoning

Chibok?

At the time of this writing, the Chibok parents do not appear to mind visiting the president in his office. But unlike the president, they give indication they know it is wrong to meet anywhere else but in Chibok. The Chibok parents travel to and fro Chibok, with all the security issues surrounding the trips. Why has it been impossible for the president to plan even a one-hour visit to the troubled town? The Chibok parents may be ashamed for the president and might honour his invitation, but they really do not owe him any obligation to save him from the global embarrassment of failing to visit the town, like any president would have done.

More and more, Dr Jonathan proves himself unworthy of the country he presides over. First he didn’t believe there was any abduction, as if Boko Haram gave him the impression the sect was incapable of such overwhelming monstrosity. Then he rules out a swap arrangement to free the girls without replacing that option with anything tangible.

Furthermore, citing security concerns, he has refused to visit the town or the anguished parents of the schoolgirls, and did not think it fit to invite those parents until Malala emotionally and almost disrespectfully spoke with him.

Finally, he has started to blame his failure and negligence on the opposition, even as he plans four more undeserving years in office. But four more years of what?

challenges confronting it. As the May 1970 lecture given by Chief Obafemi Awolowo at the University of Ibadan shows inferentially, the quality of Nigerian ministers and public servants has declined horribly. Their arguments, appreciation of issues and understanding of the social contract are so elementary that it is not surprising the country is plunging into more mess by the day.

The Awolowo lecture in reference showed how, without external borrowing, Nigeria financed the civil war. The late sage estimated that in terms of the ‘calculable and visible cost of the war’, about three hundred million pounds sterling was spent, and it was made up of two hundred and thirty million pounds sterling in local currency, and seventy million pounds sterling foreign exchange. In his opinion, the country shunned external borrowing in order to save ‘national honour and pride, and (avoid) corrosion of our sovereignty and self-confidence.’ The question today is, where is our national pride and selfconfidence?

It is not certain how the National Assembly will treat the Jonathan request for foreign loan to prosecute the Boko Haram war, but Nigerians must urge their lawmakers to ask Dr Jonathan to instead plug the leakages in the military itself and especially in the NNPC. Enough money has been declared missing or embezzled to finance more than five Boko Haram wars.

At any rate, it must be remembered that when Nigeria financed its civil war without foreign loan, the size of its military concomitantly grew from less than 20,000 before the war to about 250,000 after the war. A proper audit of the current personnel strength and finances of the military may even show that it is unnecessary to engage in any recruitment exercise. If Dr Jonathan can’t run Nigeria, and can’t get the people who can do it to join him, and can’t muster the patriotism, vision, and determination to do what is right, he should step aside rather than seek to commit the country to fresh debt and insolvency.

Boko Haram war is the creation of this generation; it must not pass the financing of it to future generations. One stupidity, if my readers will forgive this coinage, is enough for one generation.

The Nasarawa formula

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s impeachment train may become stuck in Nasarawa, if the civil society in that state keeps its wit and determination not to be intimidated.

Everyone knows that like Adamawa, the impeachment plan against Governor Tanko Al-Makura is inspired from outside.

But unlike Adamawa, the people of Nasarawa appear unwilling to be taken for a ride. They voted for their governor and lawmakers; and they want to be involved in whatever direction the state would be taken. They have, therefore, risen in defence of the governor, without indicating whether they think he committed impeachable offences, and have threatened through demonstrations and legislative recall to punish those behind the impeachment drive. They should remain resolute.

Legally speaking, there is no way the Adamawa impeachment can stand. I think it will be reversed. And I doubt whether that of Nasarawa could be procured as easily and as malevolently as that of Adamawa. But what is interesting about the whole affair is that the All Progressives Congress (APC) states facing the spectre of externally-induced impeachment moves now have a reason and a precedent to fight and defeat Dr Jonathan’s unconstitutional plans to undermine and overthrow the opposition. Nasarawa should begin a campaign to create awareness in their constituencies about federal political malfeasance and interference. As the state may yet prove, Jonathan’s hegemony is quite vulnerable.

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