The Nation June 8, 2014

Newspaper of the Year

2015: Chibok girls delay Jonathan’s declaration –Page 6

?

Ex-Information Minister, Dora Akunyili,

–Page 76

succumbs to cancer

–Page ?

WHERE ARE THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15?

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.08, No. 2863

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

N200.00

JUNE 8, 2014

Jonathan, military I under attack over media crackdown

EDITORIAL

Jonathan's war against the media

–Pages 4-7

T came across at first a mere mistake, the work of overzealous members of the armed forces. But when on Friday, newspapers did not get to the readers all across the country, it was obvious that it was not an act of soldiers acting beyond their call of duty. It was their damnable call of duty.

They had been mandated by the high command to impound newspapers, including The Nation, from reaching their destinations. The Nation was not the only victim in this act of savage disregard to free speech. It affected major newspapers, and the umbrage is evident in the voices of these newspapers because of its throwback to the era of military nervousness.

•Continued on page 15

Siege on press Soldiers, again, seize delivery Presidency justifies Atiku, NPAN, others condemn assault enters Day 2 clampdown vans, invade sales points

•The desolate newspapers distribution center in Area 1, Garki, Abuja yesterday after soldiers invaded it and dispersed vendors and agents gathered for the day’s business.

PHOTO: Abayomi Fayese

BOKO HARAM: SOLDIERS ARREST NEW EMIR OF KANO 13 YEAR-OLD GIRL FOR SPYING –Page 7 EMERGES TODAY –Page 75

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

PAGE 2 Maya Angelou remembered at memorial service

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HE family, friends and famous admirers of US author and activist Maya Angelou have held a private memorial service in her honour in North Carolina.

US First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and media mogul Oprah Winfrey were among the speakers.

Mrs Obama said her words sustained her through life, carrying "a little black girl from the South Side of Chicago all the way to the White House".

Angelou died at home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last week, aged 86.

Mr Clinton praised Angelou for her belief in dignity, love and kindness, and spoke of a time in Angelou's childhood when "she could not speak".

"And then she developed the greatest voice on the planet," he said. "God loaned her His voice.

She had the voice of God, and He decided he wanted it back for a while."

Angelou wrote the poem On the Pulse of Morning and read it at Mr Clinton's first presidential inauguration in 1993.

The service was held at Wake Forest University's chapel in Winston-Salem, where Angelou taught for three decades.

The family has asked the public to make donations to the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity in lieu of bringing flowers to the campus.

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NTIL former President Olusegun Obasanjo bettered him in bad reputation, former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida came across to Nigerians as the most unrepentant subverter of the national ethos and constitution.

General Babangida had annulled the 1993 presidential election adjudged the fairest and freest until then. Consequently, after two turbulent interregna for that was what they really were the winner of that election, and a friend of Gen Babangida himself, Moshood Abiola, lost his life in government custody. The events themselves led to the emergence some say foisting of Chief Obasanjo on the nation in 1999. Historians agree that Nigeria has still not recovered from that historic blunder; for rather than get better, the national ethos has decayed considerably, and values have withered badly.

Worse, Gen Babangida

CAPTURED

Man shall not live by prayer alone!

•A seminary is one of the most unlikely places you would expect to find football fanatics. It would seem though that all they do in there is not just praying.

Here, seminarians of the International Seminary of Saint Pius X play football in their cassocks in Riddes, western Switzerland. After a whole week dedicated to prayer and study, priests and seminarians play football on Sunday afternoons dedicated to sport and relaxation.

PHOTO: AFP

BAROMETER sunday@thenationonlineng.net

Nigerian leaders too proud to apologise continues to equivocate endlessly rather than simply apologise. First, he said the annulment was necessitated by his realisation that some key military officers were poised to pounce on Chief Abiola should he be sworn in. Better therefore to control the looming explosion rather than abandon the system to uncontrolled outcomes, he reasoned. Then, secondly, after much pressure and insults, Gen Babangida finally agreed that he bore full responsibility for the annulment, as if anyone, no matter how whimsically or tenuously,

thought otherwise. As for full and real apology, the general has refused till today to offer one. It is almost as if he does not realise that more than anything else, that annulment defined his government, and will define his place in history. How anyone can head to the grave with such a burden on his conscience is difficult to fathom.

But if Gen Babangida has been somewhat timorous in offering us an apology, Chief Obasanjo has been enthusiastic and even feisty in shirking responsibility for his

So, what exactly is Jonathan doing to free the Chibok girls?

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FTER letting his men speak and act at crosspurposes for a while, President Jonathan finally reined them in and streamlined the flow of information on the imbroglio in the N o r t h e a s t , particularly the April 15 Chibok abductions and the ongoing efforts to free the schoolgirls. That streamlining has worked admirably. What has not worked, however, is evidence of the concreteness of the efforts to free the girls after about 53 days in Boko Haram captivity. If the militants return the girls to us after such a long haul, in what shape and quality would they be?

But let us leave guesswork alone. Let us speak of reality. We all knew the president and his aides were at first skeptical any abduction took place, as Chief O b a s a n j o a l s o asseverated. But once his doubts were dispelled, the president has seemed rooted to a spot, transfixed and angered by unfavourable world opinion, harried by internal dissent and criticisms, and incensed by political opposition which he thinks is attempting to profit from his self-imposed misery.

So far, once he was shamed into doing something by domestic and international media, the president

has done only two things to free the abducted girls: alternating between vexatious dissembling on one hand, and half-hearted tough talk on the other hand. He appeared at first willing to negotiate the girls' freedom, and in fact negotiations had all but been concluded. Then he travelled to Paris and came back with a strange resolve to declare total war. But Nigerians have neither seen evidence of the total war nor heard anything about any further negotiations. It is now speculated that the Afghan ingenuity of the Americans in freeing one of their captured soldiers could encourage Nigeria to do the same.

What is clear is that President Jonathan is in a state of suspended animation. When he finally makes up his mind on the matter, it will definitely not be out of conviction.

sinister roles in perverting the course of Nigerian history and aggravating the comprehensive decay of the national ethos. As for apology, he will not even contemplate it. Speaking truculently on the abduction of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls and the spectacular clumsiness of the President Goodluck Jonathan in rescuing them, Chief Obasanjo denounced the president as slow in responding to an abduction he misjudged, and for being in more ways than one unfit for office. But while the former president is an expert in passing sweeping judgement on both his betters and inferiors, he never accepts responsibility for anything, and is determined, until his dying days, never to apologise for anything, no matter how obviously complicit he is in that thing.

In the Bloomberg TV interview in which he passed acidic comments on President Jonathan, Chief Obasanjo would not even agree that he foisted President Jonathan on us. Said he: “I always tell the President himself; if God doesn't want you to be there, you

won't be there. On instrumentality of people, yes, because God wants him to be there. But having been there, you have to perform. That is what I believe. When you get there, no matter how, just perform and keep on performing.� It is clear that in the imperious and sanctimonious view of Chief Obasanjo, President Jonathan is a misfit in government. But what is in dispute is how and why the president got into office. As far as his theology goes, Chief Obasanjo sees himself as nothing more than a willing and available helping hand to put President Jonathan in office; indeed, a helpless instrument the indomitable God can use at will.

Put laconically, Chief Obasanjo blames God for giving us President Jonathan. The former president's theology, as this column has always maintained, has not grown beyond the evocative story of Adam and Eve or the casuistries he and his bucolic friends propagated during his undistinguished time in office. It will be recalled that the Biblical Adam blamed God for giving him a wife that exposed his weakness and nurtured his disobedience. But neither the Bible of which Chief Obasanjo is so vagrantly enamoured, nor credible philosophers, ancient and modern, encourage such lax applications of moral rules.

By universal agreement, President Jonathan is judged a failure in office. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo shares the biggest part of the blame, for he knowingly sought out the late President Umaru Yar'Adua and President Jonathan to plant them in office after unscrupulously and painstakingly destroying all opposition within and without his party, the PDP. If Chief Obasanjo suffers from amnesia, we do not.

We still feel the agonizing freshness of history.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

COLUMN

The master and the Maracana

•Maracana Stadium in Rio NCE again, the fourth June is here with us and there is excitement in the air. Every four years in the month of June, global attention is riveted on the round puffery leather stuff that soccer sorcerers stroke and push round the field in a bid to outwit each other. The Mundial is the greatest sporting extravaganza in the history of friendly competition. Yet it has once led to an actual shooting war in Latin America, and in Brazil this year it may herald the eruption of uncivil hostilities.

But it is just as well that this year’s edition is taking place in the greatest footballing nation the world has seen, and in the greatest human monument ever built for the game: The iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. As far as eerie symbolism goes, nothing can beat that. We live in a world where symbols mock cymbals and associated ramparts.

Football has become a global opiate. It has virtually replaced reli-

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HE modern game of soccer has a canny way of imitating politics. What with its offside traps, its sudden deaths, its professional fouls, penalty-inducing dives and injury time simulation of death.

Like liberty-watch, football is a game of eternal vigilance. The exceptional footballer is often a great political general: technically accomplished, tactically sound and strategically alert. Bill Shankly, the great Liverpudlian coach, once noted: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”

As an equal opportunity theorist, Snooper has been pondering the great interface, the organic connection, between a nation and its footballing fortunes ever since Henry Kissinger made the connection between football and national character. But national character, like culture, is not a fixed and permanent affair. After Paolo Rossi taught them a memorable lesson in 1982, the Brazilians have since learnt the hard way. But not so the Nigerians. In any society where a culture of impunity prevails, it is almost likely going to be reproduced in the sphere of soccer. No lesson is learnt because no lesson has been taught.

We are still on the connection between national pride and soccer.

When Brian Clough, a.k.a Cloughie, the great coach of the fabled Nottingham Forest club, was asked in 1982 why he was so cocksure that England would demolish West Germany in the world cup duel, he retorted that England had already beaten Germany twice. The whisky-besotted hell-raiser was not referring to football games. He was darkly hinting at the two world wars in which the less fancied English took the Germans to the cleaners. In the event, it was the Germans that sent the British packing.

It was not until four years later, and at the next World Cup final in 1986, that Brian Clough, the superEnglish patriot, would meet his nemesis in the department of rabid na-

gion as the opium of the people. For the gifted poor, it has also become a Baghdad flying carpet to stupendous wealth. Ask the new generation of Third World soccer Mafiosi who have played their way to magical riches.

But it is also the case that football is the talisman of incompetent rulers, particularly in blighted and benighted Africa where human condition has deteriorated so sharply in the past quarter of a century. It seems that the more underdeveloped a country is, the more overdeveloped its football is. Once the Green Eagles are playing, and playing very well, Nigerians are willing to suspend hostilities, their endemic animosities and mutual loathing.

It often comes to point when patriotic activists secretly pray that the Eagles would lose so that we can get on with the serious business of storming the Bastille once and for all. In 1985, General Muhammadu Buhari suspended his annual leave in order to welcome home the victorious

younger eagles, One still recalls the youthful General Gowon donning jerseys with the green Eagles after their continental triumph in 1973.

Apart from the military, football is the glue that binds the nation together.

There is one fabled genius who will be absent for the first time when the soccer fiesta opens in Brazil in a few days time.

He is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian master fabulist and one of the greatest novelists of all time who shed mortality for immortality a few weeks ago. But what has football got to do with writing? Plenty. When they reach the rarefied summit of human ingenuity, there is something absolutely magical about great soccer and great writing.

Soccer is poetry wrought with the legs. At its most sublime moment, the master cadences of soccer, its finely calibrated momentum, the sheer bravura of its melody and the dazzling symphony reminds one of the greatest instances of prose writing. It is like watching a world-historic orchestra and having an orgasm. On that astral plane of human genius, there is nothing to separate great artistry, and there is no point setting up a division of labour.

In novel after novel of stupendous beauty and extravagant lyrical power, the late Colombian wizard took us on a magical excursion of a fictional world in which myth and

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu magic collide with modern science.

Yet that was also the grim reality of Latin America. With its rich overlay and interweaving tapestry of native Indian and imported African cultures leavened by hegemonic western civilisation, Marquez’s Macondo could well be any Latin American country.

The historic lot fell on the great Colombian to produce the most heady cocktail from this discordant witches’ brew.

The irony of it all is that the real Brazil in all its contemporary chaotic splendour could well have been one of Marquez great fictional creations, minus the crazed Caudillos. Remote in the extreme, sprawling, far-flung and always with more than a generous hint of dark and anarchic possibilities, it is in Brazil that the collision of native Indian and African cultures with western civilisation has produced the world first soccer superpower.

It is not surprising that the creative genius unleashed by this collision of cultural altars in Brazil should find its ultimate expression in the game of soccer. With his lithe and supple physique which can defy gravity in endless acrobatic possibilities, the typical Brazilian footballing prodigy often reminds one of a combination of barmy ballet and mad matador.

There is also a hint of the joyously possessed Yoruba bata dancer and of the jaguar in the Amazon jungle. The names, at once outlandish and allur-

Four years later, still at the mercy of Lionel Messi tionalism. It was the legendary Argentinean soccer genius, Diego Amanda Maradona. When he was asked which of his two famous goals against England gave him the greater pleasure, you would have thought that the impish urchin from the slums of Buenos Aires will plump for the second which till date remains the purest expression of soccer genius on display.

But the crazy one went for the first, on the grounds that scoring the goal was akin to picking the pocket of the plodding and clueless English.

For the former pickpocket and denizen of the Argentinean underground, it was no doubt an enriching experience and one made infinitely more satisfying by the way and manner the Brits had trounced and humiliated Argentina during the Falkland War. You can win the actual war by military hook and political crook, but you can be defeated and outclassed in the soccer war. Till date, and in a spirit of comfortable national delusion, the Argentines still refer to the Falkland Island as the Malvinas.

As history evolves, totems of national prestige and feel good often change and today the god of soccer has replaced the old god of nationalism which stalked and abraded Europe in the early twentieth century.

Soccer is now the opium of nations, particularly underdeveloped nations.

In Latin America, nations have actually gone to wars over soccer. In Nigeria, children do not remember Obafemi Awolowo as a hero or role model, but they worship “Oba-goal” Martins.

The Americans have a great but troubling reply for their country’s seeming underperformance in the soccer department. The nation, they argue, cannot afford to have poor and underprivileged children practising soccer on the vast beaches when they should be in school. Neither can they afford potential real estate in the inner city converted to instant soccer fields. The vast sandy beaches and

open ruins of the inner city are nursery beds for future footballing geniuses but they are also epicentres of disequilibrium and dysfunction.

Unhappy indeed is the land that needs soccer heroes. For the past six weeks, Nigerians have worked themselves into a state of frenzy about how to stop Lionel Messi, the pintsized Argentinean football prodigy, from inflicting maximum damage on the national psyche when the two soccer-crazy nations clash in the forthcoming final in South Africa.

Smallish, sharp and built like an eel, Messi is the ultimate nightmare for the opposing player. Nimble of feet and supple of body, Messi glides effortlessly through defence ramparts like a fish in clotted ocean often leaving his opponents in humiliating and embarrassing circumstances.

How to stop Messi has become a national obsession. Nigeria, it seems, is at the mercy of the merciless Messi.

Messi has already stopped Nigeria once in the final of the FIFA junior world cup a few years back. In full flight, Messi resembles a play station, according to Arsene Wenger, the cerebral coach of Arsenal, after watching the ruthless runt single-handedly destroy his hapless team in a onesided encounter a few weeks back.

Messi punishes every single mistake with cruel precision. Give him half a chance and he converts. Run into him in the box with clumsy resolve and it is a penalty. Tackle him in frustration and the exit tunnel beckons.

Anybody thinking that these are ordinary games is not conversant with zodiac signs and the science of political astrology. Like great football teams, nations rise and fall following certain astral signs and signal occurrences in the universe. It was on November 25, 1953 that the magical Magyars, the great Hungarian football team, finally put an end to the English boast that because they gave football to the world, they were still the incomparable masters.

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Ferencs Puskas, a.k.a the galloping major, Kocsis , Nandor Hidegkuti, the unmarkable, deep lying attacker, and co made a mincemeat of the English.

It is a cruel and exacting irony that the Green Eagles should lock horns with the Argentines on June 12, 2010.

June 12 again? That is not a date to be toyed with. It resonates and rubs the Nigerian psyche the wrong way. It was the day the modern Nigeria nation snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Whoever gave the Green Eagles that date is either a master of sly symbolism or a bearer of metaphysical portents. Iran, the other nation that toyed with that date, is still busy clearing hostile crowds from the streets almost a year after.

But it is not as if Lionel Messi and the Argentineans cannot be stopped.

Once again, it is the Italians who show the way. The Italians play highly technical and tactically proficient football.

By resorting to structural and spatial marking, Inter-Milan were able to put Messi literally in his place a few weeks back. It was not a question of arduous man to man marking but of an intelligent cluster which unfurls like a wellprimed fishing net trapping Messi in a seamless web of limbs as he begins his approach to the eighteen.

Famously, Marco Tardelli, a principal architect of the glorious Italian winning squad of 1982, once noted of Maradona’s spectacular run on the English flat-footed defence which culminated in the most spectacular goal ever seen in a world cup. “If Diego had started that run in an Italian league, he would have ended it in a hospital”.

In other words, if Maradona had managed to evade the close attention of Tardelli himself, he would almost certainly have run into the robust, hospital-friendly tackle of Franco Baresi or Antonio Cabrini; or the stretcher-inducing brutish double stud of the hugely misnamed Claudio Gentille, or the hard-hitting brace of Giuseppe Bergomi, an Italian of

ing, are altogether a different ball game. Garincha, Tastao, Pele, Revelino, Zico, Junior, Socrates, Eder, Rivaldo, Romario sound so delicious in their mellifluous musicality.

Across the globe, they have spawned wild imitators. Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s former maximum ruler, was known as Obe the Pele in his football playing days.

But of late, the magic has begun to wane. The hosting of the world cup has also coincided with huge social eruptions in Brazil. It would appear that while the people do not mind the soccer, the sex and the samba, they would want more of the science and social engineering which translate into life more abundant and the uplift of more people out of the poverty trap. Brazilians are discovering that no country has ever lived on soccer.

Protests are erupting everywhere.

Brazil will need all its luck to keep the hounds at bay. The Maracana stadium has been a site of a great national tragedy once before. That was 64 years ago when the Uruguayan national team unexpectedly piped Brazil at the world cup final sending the entire country down a spiral of mourning and wailing. If the masses storm the Maracana this time around, the Columbian master novelist, a great friend of the poor, would be chuckling to himself in his grave. Not even the greatest Latin American novelist could have come up with such a weird plot. Life is a great novel indeed.

Libyan extraction. If all else fails, the final solution would have been left to Papa Dino Zoff, the forty two year keeper-slugger, who would have matched Maradona altitude for altitude and criminal attitude for criminal attitude.

So let us thank god for small mercies and the Italians for little Messi. Perhaps a short spell in Italy before the commencement of hostilities would do the eagles a world of good. It has also been duly noted that since Lionel Messi does not attain his sublime club form while playing for nation, Maradona should be put on retainership by the eagles. The Italians also know one or two things about match-fixing, after all the great Paolo Rossi himself would end his career in disgrace as a result of match-fixing.

He was known to have rued that everything was alright as long as he was allowed to score a couple of goals. If all this should fail, then Monrovia beckons. The only African player who seemed to have actually prospered in the Italian league is the Liberian libero, George Weah, who went on to become a World Footballer of the year. Perhaps Weah should be contacted to serve as ancillary coach for the eagles.

If a country cannot produce the political genius that will solve its problems, or the soccer prodigies that will lift its spirit and pride, then humiliation in both theatres of human exertion is inevitable. When the Americans allegedly proposed to Golda Meir that America and Israel should exchange two of their most famous generals, the Yankees went ahead to name two of modern Israeli’s most illustrious warlords. Feeling short changed, the great woman famously retorted: “In that case, we shall have General Electric and General Motors.” The Americans duly withdrew. Whether in football or politics, it is all about human capital.

First published in June 2010 on the eve of the World Cup in South Africa)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

NEWS CRACKDOWN ON MEDIA - DAY 2

Anger as military crackdown on media enters Day 2 •Newspapers workers detained, vendors harassed by soldiers A

GENTS of the federal government continued their assault on the print media for the second day running yesterday, detaining delivery vans and confiscating newspaper copies across the country.

The soldiers’ action appeared to be aimed at stopping the newspapers from reaching readers as the search for bomb or “material with grave security implication” which the military cited for the assault has yielded no positive result for them.

As was the case on Friday, armed soldiers yesterday invaded the vendors’ distribution centre in Abuja and stopped circulation of all newspapers in the Federal Capital Territory.

They frisked some of the vendors and searched circulation vans at the centre.

Twenty soldiers were driven to the centre in seven Hilux vans at about 5.30am.

An eye witness said: “Immediately they came, they took strategic positions and the team leader addressed us on why the newspapers could not be circulated.

“He said they were acting on sensitive security reports that some subversive elements had perfected plans to hijack the newspapers’ distribution chain to ferry explosives to wreak havoc.

From Yusuf Alli, Shola O’Neil, Bisi Oladele, Chris Oji, Kolade Adeyemi, Adesoji Adeniyi, Bolaji Ogundele, Shola O’Neil, Aiwerie Okungbowa , Osagie Otabor, and Adekunle Jimoh

“They were civil but they gave us stern instructions not to attempt to distribute our copies.”

Another source said: “It was raining when the armed soldiers came. They asked the first set of vendors to arrive to sit on the ground.

“They then proceeded to screen us one by one; they searched our vehicles, collected our phones and asked us to converge on a corner.

“At about 8.30am, they asked us to vacate the distribution centre. We were not allowed to pick our copies.”

At about 9.40am, the leader of the team summoned all the agents and vendors to “go and do proper identification on or before Monday to ascertain those who are in the business. They said only accredited agents and vendors will henceforth be allowed in and out of the centre.”

The vendors’ association has put a process of accreditation in place but not a single copy of the seized newspapers had been released by the soldiers at press time.

A military source said: “Soldiers acted on security reports of the hijack of the newspapers distribution chain to perpetrate insurgency.

“There is no way we can take things for granted in any manner whatsoever. We are trying to sort things out, we will get back to you.”

No fewer than seven newspaper delivery van drivers and their vehicles were seized by soldiers in the South-south yesterday alone.

The Assistant General Manager (Operations), Vintage Press Newspapers, Mr. Olatunde Olasogba, said: “Two of our drivers were arrested at Elele Alimini on their way to Owerri. Godswill and Barnabas, our head driver, were arrested on Friday and Saturday respectively. They were released on Saturday.

“Uche Uka-George was arrested in Delta State on Friday morning. He was released after 12 hours. His colleague, Godknows, was arrested on his way to Edo and Delta states on Saturday. He is still being detained as I am talking to you now (2pm).”

Efforts to reach Godknows were abortive, as soldiers confiscated his mobile phone and also seized the car keys.

In Ibadan, military police-

men seized all the copies of The Nation newspaper meant for distribution in the Oyo State capital and other parts of the state.

A surveillance team of plain-clothed military policemen was at the Oke-Padre newspaper distribution centre before the arrival of The Nation circulation van at about 6:00 am.

The surveillance team then alerted the office about the arrival of the van and within minutes, two military vehicles turned up at the centre, bearing soldiers.

The soldiers led the delivery van to Adamasingba, some 1500 metres away where driver and vehicle were detained for six hours.

They were released at 12.15pm.

Other newspapers were spared the ordeal.

The Nation’s delivery vans heading to Ilorin and Ado Ekiti were intercepted at Ogere on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at 3.30am and detained there until 12noon when the soldiers decided to take them to Ibadan.

At the old toll gate in Ibadan, the soldiers asked for the documents of the vehicles and then released the two vans and the drivers when it was

•L-R: Mrs. Dame Marie Fatai-Williams, Mrs Wonu Folami, Mrs. Yemisi Ransome Kuti, leader, WPJN; Mrs. Aisha Oyebode, leader and Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, (extreme right) Chairman, Nigeria Human Rights, Commission during the Speak-Out-Saturday To; Bring Back Our Girls by Women for Peace and Justice in Nigeria, Lagos Chapter in Lagos yesterday.

PHOTO: BIODUN ADEYEWA

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HE Presidency said yesterday that the clampdown on the print media by soldiers is in order.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, told reporters in Abuja that the country’s security is at stake and “you cannot neglect security threats because we are living in trying times.”

But he claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan has no hand whatsoever in the continuing assault on the print because as he said, the soldiers’ action runs contrary to his principal’s political belief.

The administration, according to Okupe, will neither engage in, nor encourage any acts capable of constituting an assault on any media organisation or infringe on the freedom of

late to do any business.

The Nation and other dailies were also not allowed to be distributed in Kano as soldiers carted away newspaper copies.

The presence of soldiers who were driven to the Galadima Road newspapers distribution centre in five vans caused panic in the area following a rumour that the soldiers were on the trail of terrorists.

The Nation, Leadership and Daily Trust appeared to be the targets of security men in Osun State as they were off the newsstands while other newspapers were allowed to be distributed.

Soldiers took positions at the Osogbo newspapers distribution centre ready to impound copies of the three newspapers if they found their way into the town.

In Ondo State, the driver of The Nation van who was arrested in Okitipupa was released yesterday afternoon and warned not to make a return trip to deliver the next day’s newspapers. He was warned that if he did he would be arrested and the van seized.

Newspaper distributors and vendors in Enugu waited in vain for several hours for the arrival of The Nation.

They dispersed only after it dawned on them that it was not coming.

In Minna, soldiers arrested vendors found with copies of The Nation after the circulation manager had managed to distribute the newspaper.

In Warri, Ughelli and Sapele in Delta State, soldiers intensified search for staff of The Nation to prevent copies of the paper from reaching readers.

Soldiers in three vans were stationed close to the newspapers distribution centre on Effurun-Sapele road, Effurun, from where they monitored activities at the depot.

They intermittently sent out their plain cloth colleagues to look through the parcels of newspapers at the centre, apparently to ensure that The Nation was not among the papers being circulated.

Vendors told our reporter that plain cloth security operatives accosted them at the Airport and Jakpa junction area and went through their piles to confirm that

they were not in possession of The Nation.

The newspaper also did not circulate in Asaba, the state capital and environs after men of the Nigeria Army seized copies meant for sale in the city.

The delivery van was impounded around the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.

Five armed soldiers patrolled the vicinity of the Asaba newspaper distribution depot at Umuagu quarters.

Although the soldiers did not molest anyone, they questioned newspaper agents whether the newspaper had arrived.

In Benin City, plain clothes security operatives continued their siege to the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists which serves as newspapers distribution centre in Benin City.

The security operatives searched vendors looking for copies of the paper though their colleagues on the road ensured that papers did not reach the ancient city.

Attempt by the company’s staff to distribute the Friday’s edition of the paper on Saturday was frustrated by security operatives.

Soldiers in Bayelsa State also intercepted vans conveying newspapers to Yenagoa, the state capital.

The soldiers impounded the vans, arrested their drivers and took them to their base at Elele, Rivers State.

They seized The Nation, Saturday Punch and The Sun after manhandling their drivers.

Our correspondent gathered that the drivers of the vans were kept incommunicado as their telephones were seized by the fully armed security operatives.

Gun-wielding soldiers from the Sobi Cantonment in Ilorin stopped the distribution of The Nation at the Oniyangi newspapers distribution centre, on Emir Road in Ilorin.

The soldiers who were conveyed to the centre in a patrol van with the inscription “Operation Harmony” as early as 5am, stationed their vehicles in front of The Nation office opposite the distribution centre in the state capital.

Motorists driving through the road were stopped and searched just in case they had copies of the paper.

Presidency justifies media clampdown From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

the press.

He said that news reports suggesting that President Jonathan might have ordered that the media be suppressed and prevented from carrying out their constitutionally guaranteed responsibilities are untrue “The military has explained that the checks followed intelligence reports on the possibility of some elements within the society using such vehicles to convey materials with grave security implications across the country”, he said.

He said that the clampdown is a temporary measure and

•Says Nigeria’s security is at stake •Denies Jonathan’s involvement appealed to the media houses and affected stakeholders to view the action in the light of the security challenges confronting the nation.

“If the security of the country is at stake, some segments may have to undergo some discomfort. This is what we have to face because our country is under siege”, Okupe stated.

Okupe, however, could not say when the ongoing military clampdown on the media would stop, saying that the exercise would be relaxed as soon as there is “significant reduction

in the level of security alert.”

He stressed that assurances received from the military authorities are that personal liberties of media practitioners or those of their employees would not be unlawfully tampered with in the course of the exercise.

“We live in very trying times which may necessitate that some section or sectors of the society might experience some temporary discomfort in the overall interest of ensuring that the ideals of freedom, peace and security which we all hold

dear will not be compromised by a few unscrupulous elements in our midst.

“The media, as the fourth estate of the realm is held in very high regards by the President and this has been practically demonstrated in various ways by this administration in the last three years.

“Recall that it was President Goodluck Jonathan who signed the very contentious Freedom of Information Bill into law immediately on assumption of office and has consistently espoused the principles of openness , accountability and liberalism in its relationship with the media at all times.

“While we sympathise with media houses which might have suffered one discomfort or the other as a result of these security checks, we assert, for the avoidance of doubt, that the President has not and will never give any order capable of hampering the smooth running of any media organisation or harass media practitioners in the lawful performance of their duties.

“This government will neither engage in nor encourage any acts that will constitute an assault on any media organisation or infringe on the freedom of the press”, Okupe added.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

NEWS

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CRACKDOWN ON MEDIA - DAY 2

NUJ deplores seizure of newspapers

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HE Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has expressed concern over the seizure of copies The Nation, Guardian, Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers by security agents.

The President of NUJ, Malam Mohammed Garba, said yesterday in Abuja that the media is an important stakeholder in the ongoing campaign against insurgency in parts of the country and wondered why it would come under attack from security personnel.

Garba condemned the seizure of the newspapers, saying that it was not the best way to handle it if there were any issues.

“We have gone through a presentation by the Director of •Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN (middle), flanked by his Ogun and Rivers States counterparts, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (left) and Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (right) during the 4th Nigeria Governors' Forum Retreat held at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday, June 6, 2014.

‘Are the dark days back?’—Atiku •More condemnations trail clampdown

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ORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar is distraught by the continuing assault on the print media by agents of the Federal Government who claim to be looking for Boko Haram bombs.

He wonders if Nigeria is not sliding back into a dictatorship.

“By attacking the press and arresting journalists, aren’t we slowly edging back to the dark days of military dictatorship?” he asked in one of his tweets following the siege which entered its second day yesterday.

The Director, International Press Centre (IPC), Lanre Arogundade, described the clampdown as shocking, embarrassing and totally unacceptable.

“It is unacceptable. The dimension the clampdown has taken constitutes three forms of violation which are: violation of the freedom of the press, violation of the freedom of the public to know and access information, and the violation of the fundamental human rights of the vendors, drivers and other staff that were subjected to psychological trauma.”

Arogundade said a media clampdown by the administration is not the best way to react to the war against the insurgency, saying the media has a major role to play in the fight against terror and should be allowed to do so.

Human rights activist and lawyer, Bamidele Aturu called the soldiers’ action a descent to lawlessness.

“It is unacceptable; it is a descent to lawlessness and an assault on the rule of law and press freedom. There is no reason for what they are doing. I don’t think we should allow this to go on especially in a democracy. This should not be allowed to go on as freedom of the press is pivotal to democracy,” he said yesterday.

Former vice chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikorodu branch, Mr. Adedotun Adetunji said the action is unconstitutional.

“This is a breach of the

By Seun Akioye, Nwanosike Onu, Adesoji Adeniyi

constitution which guarantees freedom of expression, the affected media houses are at liberty to institute legal action against the government and they will get justice in their favour,” Adetunji said.

The Anambra State Coordinator of Transform Nigeria Movement, (TNM), Comrade Obi Ochije, denounced the clampdown as wicked while the chairman of Awka Market Amalgamated Traders’ Association, AMATA, Anayo Nweke said is a throwback to the dark age.

A major newspapers distributor, Chief Alaka Oko, said it was unfortunate that the government has turned against newspapers.

“Why would they say newspapers vans are being used to transport weapons? I don’t see any reason for this action”, he said.

An Osun state-based human rights activist, Comrade Amitolu Shitu, condemned the development, describing it as a repeat of the “evil occurrences of the military era.”

“What we witnessed today is not different from what we experienced during the dark days of the Abacha military regime. It is an indication that President Goodluck Jonathan is weak and can allow suppression of peoples, voice and also allow the rights of the people to be trampled upon,” he said.

The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) condemned what it called the renewed onslaught on the Nigerian Press by the Goodluck Jonathan Administration.

In a statement in Lagos, MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said it was shocking that rather than address the real and pressing security challenges facing the country, which has resulted in most citizens living in perpetual fear, the Federal Government had chosen to chase shadows by unleashing its military and security agencies on the media.

Mr. Ojo said: “We are not

at all persuaded by the Federal Government’s excuse that the action of its security forces in obstructing the operations of media workers all over the country and harassing them for no legitimate reason, is a routine security exercise. There can be nothing routine in such widespread and systematic violation of the rights of media workers and the flagrant breach of Nigeria’s international obligation to respect and uphold the rights of its citizens, including the media.”

MRA urged the Federal Government to call its security forces and law enforcement agencies to order, warning that their actions would only reinforce the already widely held view by both the international community and Nigerian citizens that this is a lawless government which acts with impunity and muzzles the media.

A human rights group, Centre for the Vulnerable and Underprivileged described the seizure of newspapers as an affront on free press and freedom of speech.

The Executive Director of the group, Mr Oghenejabor Ikimi, a lawyer, said the military’s action was autocratic and reminiscent of dark era of military rule.

“We are indeed not oblivious of the colossal losses the above media houses would have incurred in the process and we call on the Federal Government to immediately indemnify the said media houses in the interest of a free and vibrant press as we need a free and vibrant press as a necessary ingredient to grow our fledgling democracy,” Ikimi, a human rights lawyer added.

Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman, Edo State Correspondent Chapel of the NUJ, Mr. Simon Ebegbulem said the media would refuse to be intimidated by the soldiers’ action.

Deputy State Chairman of Labour Party in Edo State, Chief Patrick Eholor asked President Goodluck Jonathan to call his men to order.

Defence Information, MajorGeneral Chris Olukolade, and we feel that the action of the military was unjustifiable.

“We feel that if there was anything that constituted a security threat and was going to pass through any media organisation, the management of such media organisation should have been notified for the necessary adjustment and correction, rather than total seizure of its publications.

“Unfortunately, this action continued till today and I feel that we must condemn this act,’’ he said.

Garba stressed that the situation in the country required all segments of society to join forces against the insurgents rather than the stronger intimidating the

weaker elements in the society.

He said that the media should be allowed to discharge its responsibility to society without intimidation from any quarter, adding that the media remained committed to the unity, stability and progress of the country.

“I feel that at this point in time when the security operatives need the cooperation of the media to fight insurgency, an attack on the media from the same security operatives is unnecessary.”

The NUJ leader appealed to the military to evolve better ways of arresting threatening reports or pieces of information other than confiscating the entire publications of media organisations.

U.S. to finance anti-militant TV channel in tional, a San Francisco-based HE United States is financing a new 24-hour northern Nigeria government contractor that

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satellite TV channel in northern Nigeria aimed at countering insurgencies by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, and other groups in the region, the New York Times reported on Friday.

A U.S. official confirmed the project was under way but did not give full details.

The official said the United States would “support Nigerian efforts to provide an attractive alternative to the messaging of violent extremists.”

The project is a result of discussions with Nigeria dating back to late 2012 on ways to cooperate against Boko Haram and the content of the channel will

be produced by Nigerians in Nigeria, the official said.

The United States has in recent months increased its collaboration with Abuja in response to violence from Boko Haram, including surveillance and communications help after the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April.

The Times said the TV channel, which is not yet broadcasting but is near to completion, is financed by the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and is expected to cost about $6 million.

The project is run in Nigeria by Equal Access Interna-

has managed media programmes sponsored by the State Department in Yemen and Pakistan meant to encourage youth participation in politics and counter Islamist extremism, it said.

The paper quoted foreign policy experts saying the project faced several challenges in a region with low levels of infrastructure, public services, literacy and security. Access to electricity is limited and few people own televisions.

In addition to the broadcasts, the Times said the project would provide training to journalists in the region

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NEWS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

Governors Forum to draw up retirement benefits

Daily Trust marketing executive, vendors arrested in Maiduguri

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AILY Trust Marketing executive and some vendors were yesterday arrested along with copies of the newspaper in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The Trust reported on its website that the marketing executive said the sector commander accused the media of publishing and selling falsehood.

The Trust said: “The Nigerian Army today prevented the distribution and sale of Weekly Trust, the Saturday edition of Daily Trust newspaper, in many parts of the country in continuation of its assault which began at dawn yesterday.

“Many of our distribution drivers, who were detained at dawn yesterday, following the interception of their delivery vans, were not released until late night while two of them, Ibrahim Umar and Ilya Mohammed, were still being detained more than 24 hours later.

“In Abuja where Daily Trust head office is located, armed soldiers in four trucks were stationed at the newspapers’ main distribution centre in Area One. “The soldiers, who were fully armed, insisted on carrying out the “order from above” to flip through each of the several thousand copies of the Weekly Trust in search of alleged “security risk material.”

“Even when they finished spinning the newspapers without finding any incriminating item the soldiers still prevented our sales personnel from distributing Weekly Trust to thousands of anxious vendors who make a living from newspaper retailing.

“In Kano where the Daily Trust has its second major printing press, thousands of copies of Weekly Trust were barred from leaving the press.

“This prevented the supply of the newspaper to many states in the North West Nigeria including Sokoto, Jigawa, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara.

“Similarly, the copies printed at the Maiduguri press were prevented from being circulated in the North East in a bid to starve the readers in Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe States.

“It will be recalled that Daily Trust had published an exclusive lead story on Wednesday on the sharing of an Abuja barrack plots to Army generals and their spouses for personal use.

“The report listed the beneficiaries of the plots as serving and retired military officers also reflected the reactions of relevant Army authorities and officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.”

The Abuja-based Leadership newspaper also reported on its website yesterday that copies of the newspaper were confiscated in Kaduna yesterday.

•Minister of culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke (R), congratulating Mr Ayeni Adetunji, staff of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), who won a gold medal in Scrabble Mixed Double and bronze medal in Men’s Double at the 2013 Federation of Public Service Games (FEPSGA), during a reception for victorious NCMM athletes in Abuja on Friday. With them is the Director-General of NCMM, Mr Abdallah Usman. PHOTO:NAN

2015: Chibok girls’ delay Jonathan’s declaration

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HE abduction of 223 Chibok girls is delaying the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan for second term in office.

The announcement of the President’s re-election bid was tentatively fixed for May ending in Port Harcourt, Rivers State but the mood of the nation forced the President’s strategists to shift the event.

But there were indications that the President may make a declaration on or before August when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold a National Convention.

Also, Ministers aspiring to some elective offices in 2015 may be asked to quit either in July or August.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that a Declaration Committee, which is headed by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, had considered the end of May for the event but for the abduction of the Chibok girls.

•National Convention may hold in August •Ministers with political ambition may quit early August

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

It was gathered that the quick resolution of the abduction saga will pave the way for Jonathan’s re-election bid.

It was gathered that in the alternative, Jonathan’s strategists and cabinet members had been using different fora, including television promotions, to drum support for the re-election bid.

Some of the advertisements are also being used to feel the pulse of Nigerians.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The abduction of the girls has temporarily altered political calculations in the camp of Jonathan.

“The President was expected to lay to rest in May all speculations on his second term bid. And Port Harcourt was already chosen for the event to send a mes-

sage that the President has the full backing of the South-South.

“But with the abduction of the girls, the declaration is put on hold. It is inauspicious for the President to announce his second term plan now because some will see him as insensitive.

“So, the declaration is temporarily on hold until the girls are rescued. The President is working round the clock to secure the release of the girls.

“The government is also careful in managing the rescue operation of the girls to avoid any political backlash for the second term move.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “Well, we hope that on or before August when the PDP will hold a National Convention, the President will make his declaration.

“We pray that the girls would have been released before the declaration. Their re-

lease will add colour to his bid.

“Nobody expected this challenge but we have to bear it and resolve this for a better Nigeria.” The source, however, said Ministers aspiring for office in 2015 may leave the cabinet on or before August.

A Presidency source added: “I think these politically ambitious ministers will go on or before August after completing a wind down briefing on the achievements of the administration of the President in the last three years.

“The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, is expected to organise ministerial briefings between June and July ending. We learnt the budget for the coming score card sessions is being pruned down.”

Going by INEC’s timetable, parties are expected to hold primaries between October 2 and December 11.

said the exercise was an assessment of the physiological stability, emotional and mentally alertness for officers and ratings.

“And these three factors are put together in this exercise so as to test our mental alertness, physical fitness and psychologically preparation.”

One of the participants in the exercise, Petty Officer Esther Adamu, said the exercise would make her fit for the job.

“As a Naval personnel,

sports is very important as it is a major thing that will help me do my job effectively,’’ Adamu said.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the 10-kilometre route march for officers and ratings is aimed at ensuring physical fitness of the personnel.

Participants marched from the Mogadishu Cantonment at Asokoro to Niger Barracks and back to the cantonment.

Navy keep fit to defend waterways

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HE Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Usman Jubril, says the Navy remains committed to its role of defending Nigeria’s territorial waters.

Speaking yesterday during the10-kilometre quarterly route march for officers and ratings of the Navy in Abuja, Vice Adm. Jubril said: “The public should understand that we are ready to defend them and we are keeping fit to defend them. There is

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nothing to fear.

“The route march is to ensure that the personnel of the navy are physically fit for the job which the country had employed them to do.

“We keep fit for the sea; we keep fit for all exercises on land,’’ Jubril, represented by Rear Adm. Duke Osuofa, Navy Secretary, said.

On his part, Director of Sports, Nigerian Navy, Commodore Omatseye Niesiama,

AU joins search for Chibok girls

HE African Union is involved in intensifying efforts to find the more than 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, kidnapped by Boko Haram two months ago, its Ugandan ambassador said Friday in New York.

Asked what the AU was doing to help, Mull Katende said it was engaged in “quiet diplomacy, because some of this information, we don’t want it to reach those who abducted the children.”

“We look forward to

their recovery as soon as possible, and all heads of state of the African Union have offered their support,” he said after talks between AU and UN counterparts in New York.

The Ugandan diplomat said Nigeria could learn a lesson from his own country’s 20-year war against Lords Resistance Army rebels, “on how to isolate Boko Haram from the population.”

Asked how negotiations for the girls’ release could be advanced, Katende told reporters: “There are intensi-

fied efforts and a number of countries are helping Nigeria.”

“Now some of those efforts cannot come into the public, but these efforts are there, and we are hoping that these girls can be recovered very soon,” he added.

He said the African Union wanted to strengthen its institutions and intelligence cells devoted to terrorism and was “employing a wide range of measures,” without going into specifics.

Nigeria’s response to the mass April 14 abduction has

been widely criticised, and the crisis has brought unprecedented international attention to Boko Haram’s extremist uprising.

Washington recently began surveillance drone flights over northeast Nigeria to try to track down the location of the kidnapped girls.

France also has forces in Chad, and Britain and the United States have sent small teams of specialists to Nigeria to assist President Goodluck Jonathan’s government in the search.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

HE Amaechi-led Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) plans to make objective recommendation for governors’ retirement benefits.

This is part of the resolutions adopted at the fourth Retreat of the Forum in Port Harcourt on Friday.

Amaechi, who read the communiqué at the end of the retreat which had health and youth unemployment and transition - life after office prospects and challenges as its major focus, said the governors would henceforth pay attention to good governance and service delivery in the remaining period of their tenure. They said:”We restate our perception of our positions as time-limited public service and our determination to leave behind legacy projects, which we and our states can be justifiably proud.

“We will use our position in the National Economic Council (NEC) to press for low interest rates and enforcement of import policies and collection of customs’ duties. We will also adopt investment for povertyreducing employment strategies, especially by emphasising policies that would generate employment at the local level.”

On youth unemployment, the governors said provision would be made for and support all the infrastructure necessary for speedy Internet connections, including broadband, for the youths in particular and other Nigerians to participate massively in the wealth to be made from the knowledge-based economy.

The retreat was attended by Governors Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Umaru Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Kassim Shettima of Borno State, who was represented by his deputy, Zanna Umaru Mustapha.

Soldiers takeover newspaper premises

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Sango-Otta, Ogun State-based paper, News Direct, said yesterday that its premises at Blessing Estate, Gasline, were invaded by 15 soldiers from 192 Battalion.

They were led by a second lieutenant who said they came on the suspicion that the media organisation might be using its delivery vans to carry explosives and arms for Boko Haram.

The soldiers promised to come back and monitor the circulation of the weekly newspaper.

The publisher of the newspaper, Dr. Samuel Ibiyemi, said customers and staff were shocked by the action of the soldiers.

He called for the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying the paper had nothing to do with Boko Haram and indeed has condemned it in the past.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

NEWS

Jonathan promises free, fair election in Ekiti

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday pledged that the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State will be free and fair.

He warned that any party or candidate banking on rigging or violence during the election will be hugely disappointed.

President Jonathan spoke in Ado Ekiti during the presentation of the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the party’s candidate in the election.

“We are going to provide adequate security that would enhance one man, one vote. I am not in Ekiti today to convert you because by this crowd, you have shown that you are

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

for the PDP,” he said.

“So, don’t be afraid of thuggery during the election. We shall provide adequate security to ensure one man, one vote, one woman, one vote and one youth, one vote. Anyone who brings thugs does that at his own peril.”

With the president were Vice President Namadi Sambo; National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu; Senate President, David Mark; Leader of the House of Representatives, Mulikat AkandeAdeola and Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih.

Others were the Chairman,

PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio, PDP National Executive Council members present included Governors Idris Wada (Kogi), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Theodore Orji (Abia); former governors Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Diepreye Alamieyeigha (Bayelsa), Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo) and Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano), Senators Iyiola Omisore, Hosea Ehinlanwo and Bode Olajumoke; Chief Olusola Oke; and the Alafao of Afao Ekiti, Oba Joseph Ademilua.

The party’s National Chairman who handed over the PDP flag to Fayose and his running mate Dr Olusola Eleka

expressed confidence that PDP would win by popular votes.

His words: “When Ekiti votes for PDP, they will be better for it. We are going to embark on people-oriented programmes that will touch positively on your lives.”

Senator Mark described Fayose as a born again who “would serve you well and put smiles on your faces once again.”

Fayose promised to slash fees in public schools if returned to power.

He said:” Contracts of the state will no longer go to foreigners because I will consider local content. I pledge to you today that if you elect me, I shall look after you.”

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Chibok girls: We have reason to believe they’ll return—US Rep

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HE Chairman of the US House of Representatives Sub-Committee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, Mr. Christopher Smith, is confident that the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted

by Boko Haram in Borno, two months ago will reunite with their parents soon.

Smith told reporters in Abuja that there is a great deal of hope that the girls will be found.

“There is a great deal of hope that they will be found,” he said, but declined to talk about any specifics.

“I have been briefed, but it will be wrong to disclose any of that. But I know that we are working hand in glove with the French, the UK and of course Nigeria in trying to discover the whereabouts and find some means of securing the girls’ release.

“There is so much hope when international community came for the rescue, and now weeks, nothing comes out. Does that mean there is no way to go?

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

“I always believe, especially in a situation with terrorist environment that we all have to manage our expectations. This is Boko Haram: they have grown in capability, in weapons and ability to evade detections.

The effort will be protracted; no one is going to let up until the girls are released.”

He said his country is sincere as are France and UK in their collaboration with Nigeria to find the girls.

Speaking on the attempt to stop the Bring back our girls campaigners, the American Congressman said: “When people freely demonstrate and ask the government to take a certain action whether in the United States or Europe or anywhere in Africa, including Abuja, it is better to embrace that effort; Bring Back Our Girls was a galvanising sign, I believe.

These girls could be anyone’s daughters, anyone’s sisters and I think it has a very positive impact. And again, all governments will be responsive to their constituents,” he said.

Ozumba is new UNN VC

A •Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo condoling with Gov. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano over the death of the Emir of Kano, Alh. Ado Bayero

Soldiers arrest girl, 13, for spying for Boko Haram S PECIAL Forces of the Nigerian Army Unit in Gwoza, Borno State, have arrested a 13-year-old girl for alleged spying on the military formation for the members of Boko Haram, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has reported.

A security source said the soldiers who picked up the girl were said to be stunned when they found an AK 47 assault rifle in her residence.

It was further gathered

that the girl led the soldiers to three other girls who were also said to have been recruited by Boko Haram to spy on military formations.

However, the source did not say whether the soldiers found any lead in the residents of the other girls said to be undergoing interrogation.

It was further stated that there were fears in security

circles that the insurgents might have embarked on the recruitment of innocent children to get information on military formations for possible attacks.

The source added that the military was also concerned that some of the abducted girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, who have been in the custody of the insurgents since

April could be indoctrinated for such dangerous assignments.

The source said: “Do you know what is happening now in Gwoza? There are signs now that the insurgents may be using young girls to spy on military formations in the area.

“The girls are being interrogated. In fact, there are concerns that those people might use some of those Chibok girls for such a dangerous mission when they are eventually released.”

NPAN expresses shock over media raid

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HE Newspapers Proprietors Association Of Nigeria (NPAN) yesterday expressed disappointment at the disruption of newspaper circulation in the country by soldiers under the guise of searching for bombs.

The NPAN at an emergency meeting in Abuja scoffed at the reasons given by the Defence Headquarters for the assault on the media and said it does not believe that “given the already tense situation in the country the government or any agency acting in its name, will engage in acts that can only stifle free speech and encourage rumours to fester.”

President of NPAN, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, in a statement last night, said: “Following the harassment of newspaper vendors/distributors and the seizure of large volumes of newspapers by soldiers who

initially targeted the following newspapers: Leadership, Daily Trust, The Nation and Punch, but later extended the siege to all major newspapers in the country for the second day today, the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) held an emergency meeting in Abuja on June 7, 2014 with representatives of vendors and distributors and resolved as follows: “1. The NPAN unequivocally condemns this attack of FREE SPEECH by soldiers, in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Maiduguri, Ibadan amongst other cities, claiming to be acting on “orders”. This assault on FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION through the stoppage of distribution of newspapers is inconsistent with the values of any democratic society and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We therefore call upon the military au-

thorities to lift the siege immediately and call the soldiers to order.

“2. The NPAN notes the statement issued on Thursday, June 6, by the Director Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, that newspaper distribution channels may have been infiltrated by some persons to transport “materials with grave security implications.” As citizens and businesses, we take the security of our nation very seriously, and especially condemn the continuing daily destruction of human life by a mindless, cruel and criminal insurgency. We have, at our own instance, engaged various security agencies in the past to find ways of dealing with the security challenges we all face. We shall continue to do so. It is, however, deeply troubling that a siege has been laid to the media for two straight days on a

suspicion over which no one consulted the NPAN. We stand ready, able and willing to work with all relevant security agencies to ensure the integrity of the newspapers’ distribution process.

“3. The NPAN wishes to reassure its readers, partners and the public at large, that it will continue to work to promote peace and unity in The Federal Republic of Nigeria, while defending its constitutional role to hold governments at all levels accountable.

“4. Finally, we do not believe that given the already tense situation in the country the government or any agency acting in its name, will engage in acts that can only stifle free speech and encourage rumors to fester. We, therefore, welcome the assurances to NPAN leadership by senior security officials to end this unnecessary siege.”

NEW vice chancellor has been appointed for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

He is Professor Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba, a gynecologist.

He succeeds Prof. Barth Okolo whose tenure came to an end this month.

Ozumba, former provost of the UNN medical school, defeated more than 40 other contestants, to emerge victorious.

The erudite scholar, who had contested in 2009 for the post of vice chancellor, following the expiration of the tenure of Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, now minister of power, attended Government College, Umuahia, before proceeding to the University of Lagos, UNILAG, where he studied medicine.

After joining the serv-

From Chris Oji, Enugu

ices of the university, Ozumba rose rapidly and was elevated to the academic status of professor after seven years of teaching.

Besides publishing more than 300 books, Prof.

Ozumba, had training in different foreign universities, and belongs to several local and international professional bodies.

After serving as dean of the faculty of medical sciences, Prof. Ozumba, was subsequently appointed provost of the UNN College of Medicine in 2004 to 2008 and would be remembered for instituting the Prof.

Chukwuedu Nwokolo annual lecture series for academic excellence, as well as founding the University of Nigeria College of Medicine Alumni Association, UNNCOMA.

Court sentences poly security officer to 33-year jail term

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DELTA State High Court sitting in Warri has sentenced the Chief Security Officer of Delta State Polytechnic to 33 years imprisonment over corrupt acts.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had dragged the convict to court for demanding N150, 000 gratification from a contractor with the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro.

He was also charged for actually receiving N100, 000 from the contractor.

His arrest came through a sting operation

by ICPC operatives as he was collecting N100, 000 marked money Delivering judgement,

Justice Briki-Okolosi, held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt in counts 1,3,4,6 and 11 of the Charge while he struck out counts 2 and 5 for duplicity.

The court further held that counts 8, 9 and 10 were not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The court sentenced the convict to 7 years imprisonment on each of counts 1, 3, 4 and 6 with an option of N20, 000 fines on each count.

It also sentenced the convict to 5 years imprisonment without an option of fine on count 11.

The 33- year imprisonment would run concurrently, meaning the convict will spend only seven years in prison.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

NEWS

North, fertile ground for insurgency, says lawmaker

NGO mediates on tax complaints in Lagos councils

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By Oziegbe Okoeki

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IGH level of poverty and illiteracy are the root causes of the insurgency in the North East zone of the country.’

This statement was made by the Chief Whip of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Razaq Balogun, during the weekly programme organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondents tagged: ‘Time out with the Press’ at Alausa, Ikeja.

Balogun, who recalled his days as a student at the Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto and University of Maiduguri, Borno State, pointed out that the level of poverty and hostile nature against non indigenes, especially in Sokoto State, had prepared the ground for the level of insecurity currently prevalent in the north.

Although, the lawmaker noted that Kaduna State is relatively liberal in terms of hospitality, the situation in Sokoto was unfriendly to nonindigenes who are largely treated as foreigners.

Balogun recalled a protest that was led by some southerners and a few northerners at Uthman Dan Fodio University many years ago over the rule banning female students from visiting male hostels.

He added, “Some of us from the south who spearheaded the protest were expelled from the campus despite denying our involvement, but the few northerners who participated in the protest and acknowledged their participation went scot free.”

MallforAfrica emerges highest rated app

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ALLFORAFRICA.com, a new lifestyle mobile application has debuted as the third highest ranking lifestyle App on the Apple App Store.

By this rating, the MallforAfrica App has emerged as the highest rated App ever targeted at an African audience.

The MallforAfrica App is an online mall with over 80 of the top United States brands in the world, including Amazon, Carters, Payless, Macy’s and Walmart.

Major UK brands that are popular amongst Africans, such as Marks and Spencer, Next, Zara, Selfridges and T.M. Lewin are also available in the online mall.

Chris Folayan, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, who along with his brother, Tope Folayan, founded MallforAfrica to address the issues Africans face with buying products from outside the continent explains, “We strategically launched the App on the Android and Windows platforms first, because these platforms, particularly the Android platform have the higher number of users within the continent and especially in Nigeria, which is the first market we are targeting.

“However, as Apple devices become more popular, we have had to expedite the launch of the App on Apple App platform and are quite pleased with the reception from users.”

It is estimated that the MallforAfrica App gives shoppers access to over 8 billion items, across the 80 stores in the online mall. This makes the mall’s inventory larger than all the physical malls in Nigeria combined.

•Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, receiving an award by members of E-eleven ambassadors when Fayemi was hosted by the group in Ado-Ekiti... on Saturday

Ogun govt, LP aspirant disagree over multi-billion road projects

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HE Labour Party (LP) gubernatorial aspirant in Ogun State, Mr. Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, has faulted the ongoing road projects of the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, saying they have no direct positive impact on the people, particularly the poor.

Isiaka, who contested the April 2011 governorship election in the state on the platform of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), said money being used to build bridges that are under-utilised could have been channelled to ventures that would have benefited the people more.

According to him, since the construction work on the road projects are being handled by the expatriates, it has not created jobs for the unemployed youth in the state.

The former Managing Di-

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

rector of Gateway Holdings during the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel spoke at the weekend in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, while fielding questions from reporters at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Guest Night, an interactive programme of the Ogun State Council of NUJ. Isiaka also dismissed Amosun’s educational policy, construction of model schools and promise of free, qualitative and affordable education.

The governorship aspirant, who was a key player in the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, also defended the immediate past government’s decision to concession all the state’s assets, particu-

larly the state-owned Gateway Hotels to private investors, adding that the Amosunled government has not come up with a better approach to address the issue.

The state government has, however, justified its massive investments in road construction and other infrastructure.

Speaking through the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the government noted that the completion of the new roads will attract investors, in addition to creating direct and indirect jobs.

Adeosun said: “Infrastructure like roads bring businesses, business brings employment and people need somewhere to live and landlords get money. Look at the roads we are opening in areas where there were no roads.

People are now saying they

want to go there to put up factories and they are going to employ local people.

“If you don’t have roads, nobody will look for you.

Now, big companies are coming and are saying we want to relocate our head offices to Ogun State. They have to employ our people. It can’t just be direct employment only, there is also indirect employment. If a factory comes somewhere, somebody has to carry the people to work, somebody has to cook for them to eat, somebody has to supply diesel and so on.

“So, the truth is, those roads people feel is not bringing anything, soon you will begin to see big companies that can employ 2000, 5000 workforce setting up in Ogun State. And I think that is something we should all be very, very excited about.”

Why women are lagging behind in politics- Ondo Speaker

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HE Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, Princess Jumoke Akindele, has blamed inadequate education and finance, among other reasons, as major hindrances preventing the womenfolk from effective participation in politics.

Speaking at the 2014 International Women’s Day Celebration organised by the Women Studies and Development Centre (WSDC) of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Akindele said women constitute a large proportion of the

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

illiterate group in Nigeria as a result of many parents’ preference for educating their male children.

Early marriage plans for female gender and religious and socio-cultural rating of male gender to be more valuable than their female counterparts, according to the speaker, also constitute a major barrier for women in taking part in Nigerian politics.

Speaking further, Akindele also identified lack of enabling legislation

which guarantees women rights in Nigeria as another factor militating against women’s participation in politics.

Earlier in his address, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Oluwafemi Mimiko, said the university has been a forerunner in the task of addressing the inequalities manifest in the social and political structure of the society.

Mimiko, who was represented by the Dean of the Postgraduate School, Prof. Francis Oyebade, affirmed that the university, in its bid to give an

academic face to the advocacy of this development, has established a Women Studies and Development Centre with a mandate to research into gender issues and to provide research and data support for gender equality.

Speaking on the theme of the event, “Inspiring change: Equality for Women is Progress for All,” the Acting Director of WSDC, Dr. Nireti Duyilemi, urged women to take the issue of education more seriously, while adding that the centre is striving to improve the lot of the female folk in education.

1,000 Lagos civil servants begin pre-retirement training

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VER 1,000 officers across various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) under the employ of the Lagos State Government yesterday commenced pre-retirement training in the state.

Lagos State Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pension, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase, said the training was geared towards addressing the challenges faced by most retiring officers, who are often vulnerable in retirement.

Oguntuase said certain parameters would be used at the training to expose the

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

retiring officers to several opportunities and avenues available for them after retirement.

She said the training would also give attention to both the practical aspects such as skills acquisition and also the theoretical aspects, which has been summarised into readable study manuals for future references.

The commissioner said, “Past experiences have shown that participants who have undergone this pre-retirement workshop are usually exposed to theory which

often fades away as time goes by, but the peculiarities of this workshop is that both the practical and the theory aspects will be given equal attention.”

The commissioner said one area to be covered in the manual would be the contributory pension scheme, advising the participants to study it carefully so as to know the necessary documentation.

“You would be exposed to the basic rudiments of how to maintain cash book and start a small scale business. You will also learn about how to access funds

from financial institutions that will be around to exhibit their products and offer professional advice.”

Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Pension office, Mrs. Folashade Adesoye, in her address said it has been observed that many public servants do not plan adequately for life after retirement.

Speaking on the benefits of the training, Adesoye said, “The training was designed to equip participants with relevant knowledge, skills and exposure on how to manage their life after retirement.”

By Joe Agbro

non-governmental organisation, Growth and Employment in States (GEMS3), has mediated in tax complaints in local government councils and local council development areas in Lagos State.

Following frequent complaints by tax payers, especially at the grassroots level of the state, the intervention which held over the last three weeks was to strengthen the tax harmonisation programme in Lagos between the tax authorities and tax payers.

At the penultimate session at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, public relations officers as well as council treasurers from the 57 local government areas and local council development areas attended and brainstormed on various tax complaints.

Previous sessions had been attended by revenue chairmen and council managers.

The workshop sessions were organised in partnership with the office of the Special Adviser on Taxation and Revenue and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Drink alcohol at public swimming pool, pay N20, 000

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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NCE the Lagos State Safety Commission (Swimming Pools) Regulations 2014 is passed by the state’s House of Assembly, possession or consumption of alcoholic liquor, beer or wine at public swimming pools and around the pools shall be prohibited.

This is contained in an eightpage regulation presented by the Director General of the Commission, Mrs. Odebunmi Dominga, at a one-day stakeholders’ meeting held at the Lagos State House of Assembly.

If the proposed regulations are eventually considered by the House, it shall be unlawful for any person to possess any alcoholic liquor, beer, porter, wine or any other similar malt or fermented beverage at any public swimming pool, public swimming access, street end adjacent to the pool, or any government land immediately adjacent to the pool, except as otherwise lawfully permitted.

The rules, which shall apply to every swimming pool in the state which may be accessed by members of the public either without restriction or subject to club membership or payment of a fee, shall also make it unlawful for any person to swim after consumption of alcohol.

According to the proposed regulations, every public swimming pool shall from time to time be cleaned and maintained, just as there shall be a written programme for the cleaning and maintenance of public swimming pool, which indicate the nature of frequency of cleaning and cleaning schedule.

The proposed law also stipulates that no person shall construct or substantially alter any public swimming pool, beach, wading pool, whirlpool, spa, hot tub, or appurtenances pertaining to health and safety unless a copy of the plans and specifications for the new or altered structures has been submitted to and approved by appropriate authority in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

A swimming pool operator who contravenes any aspect of the regulations will be liable to a penalty of N250, 000.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

•Sheik Yusuf Usman. The spokesman for the sect .

•Leader of the sect Sheik Mohammed Abubakar

•Hostel of the members •Personal effects of the members

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HE journey to Lapai, the political headquarters of Lapai Local Government Area is always peaceful. Travellers always relish the smooth 67 -kilometre long road, but on Tuesday early travellers to the ancient Nupe speaking town on Paiko - Lapai Road in Niger State were stunned by high concentration of a team of military men. All were armed to the teeth.

Their mission was to dislodge and evacuate members of a suspected radical and controversial Islamic group, Madinatu Muheenu Nibassiya Islamic sect.

The exercise was a replica of the dislodgement and evacuation of members of the defunct and notorious DarulSalam Islamic sect from Mokwa by the Niger State government.

The operation was carried out with utmost military secrecy and dispatch.

All the personnel involved from the Army, Air Force, Police, Civil Defence and Department of State Security had been assembled since Sunday in an undisclosed location and was moved to operation spot as early as 4 am on Tuesday. Everyone including the people of Lapai were caught unawares by the operation.

The joint military team led by Lt. Col Adamu Yakubu had one mandate: dislodge and evacuate the growing members of Madinatu Muheenu Bustanul Harifina Dahiratul Nibassiya Islamic sect, fondly called Nibrass.

At the dawn of the day, the military struck and no fewer than 240 members of the sect, mostly young men and women were found in the sect’s central mosque under the rapt attention to the teaching of their highly revered spiritual leader, Sheik Mohammed Abubakar. All the sect members were glued to their bare floor seat on the instruction of their leader. None were moved or intimidated by the fierce looking armed men.

Within a twinkle of an eye and like a tornado the armed men had taken over strategic spots in the vast expanse of land including over forty shanty thatched roof houses built of straws scattered across the camp and a new building under construction.

As the officers and men took charge of the camp, another set of armed men

Another Boko Haram rising in Niger?

Last week, the Niger State government and security agents dislodged a suspected radical Islamic sect. Jide Orintunsin reports in five trucks were strategically positioned at the personal residence of the leader of the sect. A thorough search of the house was conducted by the armed men, sending signal of military presence in the serene town of Lapai.

Divisive doctrine Prior to the military invasion on Nibrass camp the sect has been at logger heads with members of the public, especially fellow Muslim faithful and the traditional institution in the land. The spiritual head of the sect, Abubakar and majority of his youth-dominated group have been accused of teaching and propagating wrong doctrines that have no root in Islam. They were accused of violating the preaching code of the state, as most of their messages are not only inciting and volatile but are capable of breaching the fragile peace of the town and by extension the state.

Members of the group were also accused of fomenting trouble, attacking people who do not share their views, engaging in promiscuous activities and forcefully conducting marriages and dissolving marriages at will, while members see other Muslims as not well informed like them.

The leader of the sect is treated as a demi-god. His picture is displayed on cars owned by members of the sect. It was also observed that members dare not wear shoes or stand up talking to the leader. Some of his members claim Sheik Nibrass has the quality and virtues of the Prophet and that he can never make mistake. All these are taboo in Islam.

The nefarious activities of the sect came to a head when the royal father of the town, Etsu Lapai, Alhaji Umar Bago Tafida had to place a ban on public

preaching by the group. This, we gathered forced the group to the forest. It approached government for a virgin land to build a school for training of young ones in both western and Islamic education.

A request that was gladly approved and a Certificate of Occupancy for the land was granted by the state governor last year July for the construction of a modern school with dormitories.

But when the demolition squad stormed the camp, instead of well lay out structures, the forest was filled with thatched roof houses built of straws. But for a new block building under construction, the camp is nothing to write home about.

The acquisition of the land further set the members of the sect in open confrontation with the royal father, as they claimed that nobody can stop their teaching in the camp.

It was gathered that when all efforts by the community to placate the sect failed, a formal complaint was lodged to both the local and state governments.

This led to the setting up of a special task force by the state government to dislodge and evacuate members of the sect.

The problem, however, hit the crescendo on May 13 when the state government revoked the Certificate of Occupancy of the land on which the camp was situated and gave them two weeks grace for the sect members to move out; a gesture that was turned down by the sect until they were forcefully evicted on Tuesday.

Addressing members of the task force earlier before the evacuation exercise, Etsu Lapai, Alhaji Umaru Bago Tafida commended the courage of the state

governor in dislodging the group from their camp, saying, “If action was not taking now, the sect will grow to become a terror that will consume all.”

The royal father lamented that the wrong doctrine the sect leader was teaching the young one was capable of causing problem in the future. “The leader of the sect has been indoctrinating the young boys and girls wrongly. All his teachings have no root in Islam. This wrong teaching makes them to be violent. They attack members of the public unprovoked. They have been told that they have magical powers that cannot be challenged by any one.”

Members of the public are also complaining about the sect. A 300 level Physics student of Niger State owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Khadijat Idris, who has been leaving in the camp since December last year said that the allegations against the sect and its leadership grew out of petty jealousy of the growth of the group and those jealous of the depth of the knowledge of their spiritual leader.

When asked what she was doing in the forest when she was supposed to be in school, Khadijat said, “I am here because I want to be with my Sheik. I want to be with my teacher and leader because of the quality teaching and guidance he has been giving us.”

For Abdullahi Mohammed, a 200 level Micro-Biology student of same University, the persecution of the group will not last. He argued that their spiritual leader was divinely sent. “We believe our Sheik. We are ready to follow him anywhere because we are sure he will not lead us astray.”

Even when he was referred to the

poor condition of living in the camp, Mohammed said, “When you consider the quality of Islamic education you get here, you don’t see your environment as anything. Here we are peaceful people.

We are only after acquisition of knowledge and we are having it under Sheik.”

Efforts to get the spiritual leader of the group, Mohammed Abubakar who was in the camp with his members to react to various allegations failed as journalists were to the sect’s spokesman, Sheik Yusuf Uthman.

He said all the allegations against the sect were blatant lies and described the attack on the group as attempt to blackmail it. He insisted that the group never engaged in all the allegations, rather it has confined itself to teaching and propagation of Islam as stipulated by the Quran.

According to him, “When the military came this morning we were in the mosque, we did not move and when they searched our rooms, nothing incriminating was found, except they (military men) planted one. We are peace loving people and our Sheik has impressed on us on the need to ensure peace.”

But Lt. Col. Yakubu, the leader of the military task force said aside from cutlasses, hoes and diggers his men found one dane gun in the camp and that the owner said it was useful for hunting game.

Justifying government’s action, the Secretary to Lapai Local Government, Alhaji Mohammed Evuti said the exercise was necessary as the sect members were causing havoc and were gradually becoming security threat to the peace of the area.

Shedding light on the revocation order, the Secretary to State Government (SSG) Idris Ndako Kpaki said that the legal document claimed by the sect is subject to a lot of interpretations, especially when the land in use was fraudulently acquired.

According to him, “When Sheik approached state government for the land, he said he wanted to construct schools, where children can acquire both Islamic and Western education, only to discover that he had another sinister motive.”

In the meantime, the Nibrass Camp is now history while its founder and three of his lieutenants are cooling off in security custody.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

10 NEWS REVIEW

Why LASU is boiling,

by Vice Chancellor

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Hat is it about LASU of 2014 that is different from the one you met on assumption as Vice-Chancellor? What are some of the reforms you have initiated so far?

I don't intend to get into the business of apportioning blames or attributing any liabilities with regards to my predecessors. But

honestly, when I came in, I find a LASU that needed a lot of surgery. Of course, you know I came from the medical school. A number of things were not being properly done. And over the past four years that I was there as Provost, we were able to make significant changes. You will agree with me that when you start to count medical schools in this country, by the time you count the first four or five, you will definitely count Lagos State University College of Medicine.

On getting to the main campus, I realized that some of the things that we will take for granted are lacking. Let me give you some examples. Infrastructure wise, not much was happening on the main campus. But when you look at November 2011 when I came in and 2014 now, we cannot but give a lot of credit to the state government and of course, the legislative arm of government for the improvement that we are seeing. We have the new Senate building which is a seven storey structure going on.

We are virtually through with Phase one. They have started phase two A. The last phase is Two B, and we are hoping that under 24 months we will get to end of the road.

There is the new Central Library that can sit about 800 to 1,000 students at a time, comprising four floors. It is under construction. We have started the piling of blocks for the building of the new faculty of Management Sciences. The state government just awarded the contract, and they have started work to put up three buildings, which is the Lagos HOMS model. Incidentally, it is for the benefit of the striking academic staff to assist them in the area of housing. The state government assisted us in refurbishing the three-in-one lecture halls adjoining the Faculty of Eduction. We are in the process of furnishing it now. Also nearing completion is the twin-lecture theatre, a storey-building for the Faculty of Law. If everything goes well, we expect that by the end of July, if we are lucky, they will finish the Faculty of Science complex. These things happen within the last two years.

Apart from the building projects that are ongoing, we have the drainage issue. The state government also came to our rescue through the Ministry of Environment, the drainage section to award contracts and started putting up proper drainage system. In fact, I was shocked when I was going through the plans of the university and noticed that areas that I thought were just plain grounds were actually drainage system that has been filled with sands, and we are talking of drainage sites that were about two metres wide and about one and half metres deep.

Lagos State University has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent times. During the past week protesting students of the institution disrupted traffic on major artery in the city and even blockaded the entrance to the governor's office to demand a review of school fees among other things. Professor JOHN OBAFUNWA, Vice Chancellor on the university in this interview with FESTUS ERIYE sheds light on what is happening in the institution.

They had to excavate all those things in addition to constructing new ones. And that will explain why we do not have the kind of flooding that used to occur in many parts of LASU. By last year, we did not experience any flooding, and we are supposed to be moving on to the next stage. You might come to LASU and see one or two potholes here and there, but I am not so bothered because there are lots of construction work going on, and you have lots of heavy trucks plying the roads. But I believe that at the end of the construction exercise, we should be able to have all the roads done. So, you can imagine the

amount of money that the state government has been pumping into our school.

Also, before I came into the place, for about four, five years, they had no convocation. I came in 2011, but by 2012, we had our convocation. We had another one in February 2013. But for this ongoing crisis, we would have had another one, and we are still going to have it. Also, for the first time in LASU, in 2012, we did not have our convocation outside on the field; we had it in the new auditorium. With the assistance of the state government, we were able to finish the new auditorium building, and that was where we had our convocation. That is just part of things that have changed in terms of infrastructure development in LASU, and it is only fair that people will appreciate those good signs of the university.

LASU used to be plagued with students saying 'I am in 400 levels, but I have not seen the result of 100 levels, or you want to go for exams and instead of 100 people coming for the exams, you will find about 300 to 400 people coming. I came from a medical school where examination results are released 72 hours after writing examination, but It was a shock to me getting to the main campus and finding out that examination results were being delayed. I will agree that in the College of Medicine, we had a smaller population, but the orientation and mentality was quite different. So, we have to review the whole process in the main campus, and I can tell you that this has also become a thing of the past. By so doing, the unsavoury teacher-students relationship in LASU has been minimized. And to come up with this some people will like it, and some others will not like it, but nonetheless, we will progress.

Also, in the area of accountability, when this administration came in, I discovered that LASU was expending almost N13 million a month on imprest. Some people are not even waiting for their monthly salary; they just depend solely on imprest.

We felt something had to be done, and I started with the office of the Vice-Chancellor where the imprest was slashed by 66 percent. At that time, there was only one Deputy ViceChancellor. Despite the fact that we slashed the imprest, we added another Vice-Chancellor. If I could slash the imprest to the Vice-Chancellor's office by 66 per cent, I do not need to think twice before slashing the imprest of other departments to between 40 or 50 per cent. In taking that decision we reduced the cost from about N13 million to about N5million a month. Will some people like that? Definitely, no. Let me also add that we have been able to do much for the school in the area of some courses that were not accredited.

At some point it appeared like some form of stability had returned to LASU, but now you are confronted with agitations from the students and lecturers. Give us some insight into what is responsible for this?

I will try as much as possible to choose my words, but at the same time, I will be as frank as possible. You will notice that it

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014 is not unlikely that because of reforms being carried out, some elements of people will not be happy. But it is also interesting to note that when this administration came in 2011, we had an ASUU executive and there wasn't any problem until that ASUU executive left, and a new one took over. Now all of a sudden, we have a problem. Could we be dealing with issues that go beyond what we are seeing? I don't know. It is an open question. The first sign to the best of my knowledge has to do with the 21 points being raised by ASUU, which includes the tenure of the Vice -Chancellor, retirement age, the issue of 'No vacancy, No promotion', which was not coined by the administration, the issue of Internet provision on campus, issue of environment. Twice, we had rainstorms that damaged our facilities in the ICT unit. The first one I recalled; I got an estimate of N15 million to effect repairs throughout the university. But by the time we finished, we spent a little over N3million, and everything got rectified. The second time we had a problem with ICT, the entire set of equipment were destroyed because of what turned out to be an earthing problem. For the new auditorium where we had our first convocation indoors, I got an estimate that we are to complete it with about N29 million, by the time we are through, we did everything with less than N6 million.

So, we had series of meetings and the Chancellor, Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas even invited us. We held about four or five meetings. But it is like the same issues were being repeated. At some point, the representatives of national ASUU came, and we had discussions in the Senate chamber, then about seven issues were raised. By the time the current trade dispute began, it had already been reduced to three.

And I believe that if from 20, we are now dealing with just 3, it means we have been talking.

On the 'No vacancy, No promotion' issue. Is it true that we have had no vacancy? The answer is no. Because I recall that about 112 people were promoted and appointed in 2011/2012. That is a fact. So, if there are no vacancies, would they have been promoted? I don't want to be too personal, but I have to mention this. The current ASUU chairman, earned his promotion in 2011/2012. In 2012/2013, the exercise that we just completed, there were 256 vacancies declared. Meanwhile, the various colleges and faculties presented only 105 lecturers for promotion. So, we have been promoting people.

ASUU also raised the issue of the hike in school fees saying it is the most expensive among public universities in Nigeria. How do you respond to that?

The issue of school fees strictly speaking concerns the students, parents and the Governing Council. That should not be an issue for ASUU wanting to shut down the university. And I know that this administration is aware of the fact that government is looking into it. Government is interacting with the students, and the students have written a proposal to the government, and a committee is looking into it. So, why not wait for that committee to finish its work? In a correspondence to ASUU, I said if you feel strongly about this, why don't you make your own submission to the government as to what you think should be the school fees? Let government consider it among other things.

Do you have any idea if ASUU has done that?

ASUU never did that to the best of my knowledge. Nobody in government has told me that they have received any document from ASUU towards that effect. It was said that school fees 'hike' had been responsible for low student's enrolment, I will leave us to judge. But you cannot ignore a lot of other things. Remember I mentioned earlier on that LASU lost accreditation, if programmes were not accredited particularly those ones that will attract students like Admin, Public Relations, Insurance, Economics, even Law, you cannot advertise for them. So, that will naturally affect your enrolment because you cannot admit students into those departments. For two years, they could not admit into the Faculty of Law, now we were admitting comfortably.

Because we lost accreditation in Accounting, we could not admit into it. One important factor we cannot overlook is this, if a university is prone to incessant strikes, either by teachers or students, as a parent, would you want to send your children to that university? What kind of brand are we selling to the wider society? It is very myopic to just focus on school fees. We should look at what we are doing to ourselves. We need to think seriously about rebranding, and about the image of the university. The more you convene this riotous environment; every parent will not be happy to send their children here, and that will definitely lead to low enrolment of students. I have received a number of texts from people asking me 'Why did I come to LASU? Am I not wasting my time? I went to give a lecture to medical students two weeks ago, and I realized that the 400 level medical students actually came into the university around 2008. It means they have actually spent six years in the university, and they told me 'Sir, we don't want any other strike in this place'. I am not going to be specific, but it is also a fact that a very senior

NEWS REVIEW 11 official of ASUU-LASU has two children in Babcock University. Meanwhile, he wants LASU to be shut down. I think we need to think seriously about it.

Are you saying that the present crisis was caused by persons who are not comfortable with your reforms?

I have not alleged that some people wanted me out at all cost but some people naturally might not be happy with certain reforms we have made, and you cannot rule out such considerations. The issue of school fees is about two and half years old.

The interesting thing is that government did not just arrive at the figures. The figures actually passed through even the academics of LASU, the Senate. The Senate of the university knew about these things; they approved the fees, so how come they are now raising these issues? I find it very interesting that the President of the students union said nobody should fight for them, that they are capable of fighting for themselves. I don't think the issue of school fees is a big problem. I know government is trying to do something about it, and it will be interesting to see what happens after government has taken a decision on that.

The governor said the new fees are for new students and not the returning ones. Could you shed more light on this?

When the new fee was introduced in 2011, it was stated clearly that it would only apply to people just coming into the system, that the old students will continue to pay their N25, 000 because government felt that they had a pre-existing contract with the old students, and they should maintain that. Now, at some point in time I said the hike in school fees in a quote. This is because it is not really a hike but a review of the value of goods.

But in doing that, government also increased the vote to scholarship and bursary. And I know a number of students who enjoyed both scholarship and bursary.

Have there been cases where indigent students approached school authorities to be exempted from the new fees?

With regards to indigent students, the university never received any request, but I know that the governor also instructed that we should not demand for the school fees at once. People should be allowed to pay in two instalments. Pay 70 percent during the first semester and pay the remaining 30 percent at the beginning of second semester, when you want to register. During this recent crisis, the student executives said that they heard that some people dropped out because of school fees, and I was there and the governor said ' I have asked you to give me a list of those that dropped.

The list was given to me in government house, and we went back to the university to look at it. Of course, we find many on the list who were not students of LASU. We find out that many of them dropped out because they could not meet up with the appropriate CGPA. We find that some people had actually collected bursary and scholarship but still did not pay the school fees. I recall the governor said that upon going through the list, if we have any indigent students who dropped out, government will pay on their behalf. I don't see a government doing anything better than that. The Governing Council also promised to give scholarships to brilliant students irrespective of their state of origin. So, all these things are available.

So what is the way out of the impasse?

I think that is what government is doing right now, by interacting with the students. The ad-hoc committee has been set up. I don't have all the details, but I know that the report is going back to the governor and is being considered by the State Executive Council, and I expect that the outcome wil be communicated to the Governing Council of the University, and we will be able to do something about it. I believe that when that happens, and very soon. That should put a stop to all these things.

What personal efforts are you making as ViceChancellor towards effective resolution of this crisis?

In fact, yesterday (Thursday) I was in Alausa discussing with the committees set up by government. Aside from that, we have been in discussions even within the university. I told you that two days ago, there was a meeting with some HODs and Deans. Also, yesterday at the Senate, there were forty senators there, and we not only took decisions on the way forward, we looked at what had happened, and I can assure you that we have made ourselves available for dialogue. In fact, we are supposed to meet with ASUU for 9am yesterday, but unfortunately, ASUU said it was not available to meet with us.

Up until now, there has not been any bilateral declaration of war, it is just one-sided because it is not worth it. Tomorrow, I will leave this position; we will meet outside; we should be able to relate with one another.

On a final note, Will there be an end to this current crisis? The answer is yes. Whether people like it or not change has come to LASU. I prefer not to talk much, but I just believe in doing what I have to do. Those who want to declare war, let them declare the war. If they have grievances, let them come out into the open to say what they have to say. Whether we like it or not, LASU has to change, we have to move forward.

Commoner who could save Spain's tarnished crown Can Princess Letizia, a divorced ex-TV journalist, restore credibility to the troubled Spanish monarchy, asks William Langley?

"

It is a common proverb, beauteous princess,” quoth Spain's national bard, Cervantes, “that diligence is the mother of good fortune.” Princess Letizia Ortiz, the country's 41-year-old queen-to-be, is certainly beauteous and has worked diligently to be accepted, but, phew!, does her husband need some good fortune.

Later this month, Felipe de Borbón, a hulking, ex-Olympic sailor, will take over the shambolic remnants of what used to be Europe's most admired royal family. Tens of thousands of disenchanted Spaniards have already taken to the streets to demand the end of the monarchy, and the country's equally unpopular government is under pressure to hold a national referendum on becoming a republic.

The abdication last week of Felipe's 76year-old father, King Juan Carlos, merely threw into stark relief the crisis that has been raging around the Zarzuela Palace for years.

Spain's economic woes have made all the country's institutions look culpable, and as the old taboos against criticism of the royal family crumbled, Juan Carlos came increasingly to resemble a cardboard king, saying the right things for public consumption while covertly protecting his own interests.

Outraged by tales of scandal, profligacy and the king's alleged womanising, the public demanded a change. While Felipe, 46, will assume the formal burden, it is, to a great extent, Letizia upon whom the monarchy's survival now depends.

A former television journalist from relatively humble roots, she is broadly popular but not with everybody. Sections of the Spanish media, driven either by jealousy or the desire for a good story, have portrayed her as cold and manipulative and cast doubts on her fairytale story.

Yet Letizia has plenty going for her. In particular, she is widely seen to be a critic of the old royal order, and is credited with keeping Felipe's own reputation squeaky clean. She fits perfectly, too, into the successful new model of the “commoner bride”, personified by the likes of Kate Middleton and Mary Donaldson, a former Sydney office worker who is now the Crown Princess of Denmark.

These women, once viewed as an affront to royal seemliness, have not only revitalised the bloodlines of the elderly, ossifying European monarchies but restored much of their romance.

Traditionalists tend to bemoan the loss of deference to monarchy but, in a sense, the Spanish experience shows where such deference leads. For decades after Juan Carlos came to the throne in 1976, he was treated, not only by the media but also by most of the political class, as an unalloyed blessing upon the nation. While the king certainly deserved plaudits for overseeing the return of democracy after the Franco years, there was no one to oversee his own behaviour, and in the end it brought him down. The final straw for many hard-pressed Spaniards came two years ago, when Juan Carlos and his alleged mistress went on a secret elephant-hunting safari in Botswana at an esti-

mated cost of £100,000 each.

Letizia has shown a far sharper awareness of the new realities. It is no great surprise. She was born into a lower-middle class family in Asturias, a fading steel town in the northwest, and raised modestly, the daughter of a journalist and a nurse. She went to the local secondary school and then to university in Madrid, where she took a course in broadcasting and joined a TV station as a trainee.

Beautiful, clever and ambitious, she quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a star presenter and household name. In 2002, while covering an oil spillage in northern Spain, she encountered Felipe, whom she had met briefly before, and a discreet romance began. The couple were married two years later at Madrid's main cathedral, with Letizia resplendent in a flowing white gown and diamond tiara. This in itself would turn out to be controversial, for it was by now known that Letizia had been married before an unprecedented complication that divided the country's conservative Catholic Church. An agreement was hammered out whereby the church would overlook the first marriage on the grounds of its brevity a matter of months and its civil nature. Yet, ever since, the princess has been prominently on the dirt-diggers' radar.

There have been numerous whiffs of scandal allegations of a Mexican abortion, of teenage drug use and a revelation that she had plastic surgery on her nose (which the palace claims was for a respiratory condition). But the greater damage has been done by murmured suggestions that, behind the façade, she is not such a “buena persona”.

Former colleagues, often speaking anonymously, have described her as “too queenly” for the royal family. A savage profile in the magazine Epocha called her “bossy” and claimed that she was obsessed with her looks and thinness, while Jaime Peñafiel, a leading royal commentator, wrote: “Letizia is a very smart woman… she wants to be the best in every aspect of her life: the most educated, the most stylish. This is why no one can stand her.

She needs to be more aware and humble.”

In the current royal climate, some semblance of humility is unavoidable and the polls show that the new king and queen may have sufficient goodwill to turn things around. Now with two daughters, Leonor, nine, and Sofia, seven, they live in modest quarters in the Zarzuela, and Letizia has made a point of doing her shopping at supermarkets multipacks of pinto beans seem to be a favourite and buying clothes from the kind of chainstores the average fortysomething professional señora might opt for.

Will it work? Spaniards still remember an incident a few years ago when the future king and queen were being interviewed by a television crew. At one point, Letizia turned to her husband and said: “Please, do not interrupt me. I know what I want to say.”

At the time, it was pounced upon as evidence of her shrillness, but she may just be right, and if the royal family wants to stay in business it could do worse than to listen to her.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

Ropo Sekoni

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Page 14

Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

Hungry for knowledge tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

Nigeria’s tertiary education crisis in perspective

D

EPRESSING. That is the way to describe the three stories that appeared on pages 8 and 9 of this newspaper on Wednesday. “Lecturers, Amosun differ on OOU funding”, “OAU defends increase in school charges” and “LASU students’ protest grounds Lagos”. And, just about when this piece was being put together, news filtered in that University of Lagos students were demonstrating over school fees that have just been hiked in the school. I hear Obafemi Awolowo University; Ile-Ife, students too are having issues with their authorities.

Perhaps what makes the matter the more depressing is the fact that this is not an exception; it is rather the rule.

Such stories about tertiary education in the country are a daily feature. We are either having student unrest or lecturers unrest. Either case, the implications are grave: the quality of academic work suffers even as academic calendars become unpredictable.

Many students have become ‘deans’, so to speak, in some of these institutions affected by these unrests due to no fault of theirs. At the heart of the matter is funding.

Yet, Nigerians are hungry for knowledge. This explains the huge number of candidates seeking admission into our universities yearly. Yet, it is not that the country is not rich to make knowledge available to them at a relatively cheaper cost. The problem is the mind-boggling corruption.

President Goodluck Jonathan alluded to the fact that there is no poverty in the land. But we have since told him he was dead wrong. Indeed, he spoilt his own case with the example of the number of private jet owners in the country that he gave to buttress his point. Thank God, President Jonathan’s aides had not seen the story published in The Punch of June 2, to the effect that “Nigerians own 70% of most expensive buildings in London”. They would have added it to the points to give the president to cite as evidence that we are a rich, blessed and potentially prosperous nation. The same way they would have told him that the fact that Nigeria is today placed third on the list of countries with the highest number of students studying overseas is evidence of our prosperity because studying abroad does not come cheap.

Forget Boko Haram’s position that western education is sinful. Even if it is, it is a sin many Nigerians would be glad to commit. No family worth its salt wants to be without a graduate; at least in the southern part of the country.

Even in the north, barriers are being pulled down that hitherto restricted especially the girl-child from going to school. Unfortunately, there are not enough places in the universities to accommodate the about 1.5million school leavers who sit yearly for compulsory entrance examinations into 150 public and private universities in the country whose approved carrying capacity is 600,000 students.

It is this same insatiable quest for knowledge that has forced many Nige-

•Wike

rians to look beyond our shores in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece. A study quoted by a national daily on Tuesday last week indicated that there are at least 75,000 Nigerian students studying in Ghana. What is happening is that those who cannot find space within naturally look for space without, hence, to Ghana and other African, European countries and the United States of America many of such candidates turn for university education; at least for those whose parents can afford it.

And they pay through their nose. In a public lecture Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed the numbers and cost implications for students.

“Although there are no comprehensive data on the number of Nigerian students abroad, recent data have shown that there are about 71,000 Nigerian students in Ghana paying about US$1 billion annually as tuition fees and upkeep, as against the annual budget of US$751 million for all federal universities. In other words, the money spent by Nigerian students studying in Ghana with a better organised system is more than the annual budget of all federal universities in the country,” Sanusi said. He should know; because requests for overseas remittances, including students’ fees and allowances pass through the CBN. This is for Nigerian students in Ghana alone. If we consider our students in other parts of the world, the cost implications would be staggering. Now, the question we may ask is ‘if Nigerians are willing to pay this much for their students abroad, why can’t they pay half as much at home?

The answer is simple: even if they do, what is the assurance that their wards will graduate to time, with all manner of strike and other issues which make academic calendar unreliable? Again, what will be the worth of their degrees?

In the midst of this confusion, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) has advised the Federal Government to take over some ailing pri-

“A situation where qualified people cannot go to university because they cannot afford it is as potentially explosive as the situation where graduates cannot find jobs. I cannot see much difference. The implication is too grave to be contemplated”

vate universities in the country.

Chief Babalola’s (himself founder of a private university, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti) talk will be good talk only if the Federal Government universities themselves are exemplars of what universities should be in contemporary times. The impression created by Chief Babalola is that it is only some of these private universities that are sick and require surgical operation. This is erroneous. Many of the universities owned by governments, federal or state, are chronically sick too; this is the truth. So, how can someone who has not been able to put his own house in order help somebody else do same?

Isn’t it good that you look at what the person promising to give you a dress is wearing to know whether he is capable of fulfilling the promise? If the universities owned by the Federal Government are healthy, how come only one of them is in the list of the world’s first 5,000 universities? The premier ones were recognised worldwide in the past, but no more.

When we consider what the governments, particularly the Federal Government is doing to education, we will see that it is the real Boko Haram; the difference is that it is not carrying bombs to kill education like Boko Haram. But it has its own ‘suicide bombers’ who are killing education with their mouths and actions. Since September 2013 that Professor Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa’i was removed as education minister, there is no substantive minister in charge of this important sector. Nyesom Wike, the supervising minister in charge of the ministry is more of a politician than education minister. How else could a government have killed education?

Now, we are in a situation where universities are finding it difficult to pay their bills and they have to turn to the students who in turn must turn to their parents for an answer. Unfortunately, much as some of the parents would have readily embraced poverty if only to ensure their children get university education, the economy is unhelpful. At this point, the question that comes into mind is what has happened to the scholarship boards? Many of those who are now making things difficult for the younger generation of Nigerians enjoyed one scholarship or the other. As a matter of fact, some had the privilege of more than one scholarship in their time. Now, having emptied the treasuries, having messed up the various scholarship boards, having stashed so much illgotten wealth in foreign banks, having bought up the best of mansions abroad where even the ‘sons and daughters of the soil’ cannot afford the mansions, they are now singing that there is no money to fund education. What a pity!

A situation where qualified people cannot go to university because they cannot afford it is as potentially explosive as the situation where graduates cannot find jobs. I cannot see much difference. The implication is too grave to be contemplated.

I

Who is afraid of the media?

F you get to read this column, you are probably one of the lucky Nigerians who have not been denied access to newspapers following the shocking crack down on media houses by the military.

Since Friday, nationwide distribution of newspapers has been disrupted by armed soldiers and other security men who claimed to be acting on instruction to search for explosives in circulation vehicles.

In enforcing the directive, newspaper distribution centres have been raided, vendors harassed, vehicles impounded and media houses’ vehicles seized.

True to the soldiers claim, the defence headquarters has confirmed that its men were acting on an intelligence report which indicated that dangerous materials were being moved through circulation vans.

“The general public and affected organizations in particular are assured that the exercise was a routine security action and should not be misconstrued for any other motive,” Director of Defence Information Major General Chris Olukolade said in his statement on Friday.

Considering the state of insecurity in the country, it is understandable why the security forces should be at alert and take every intelligence report seriously. They have come under a lot of criticisms for not being able to contain the sporadic attacks across the country by terrorists and other criminal gangs and should be seen to be doing everything possible to live up to the expectations of the people.

It is the duty of the government through the security agencies to ensure the security of lives and property and any step in this direction should be commended.

However, if for any reason there are indeed intelligence reports about use of newspaper distribution vans for moving explosives around the country, the searches could have been better done without leaving room for the motive of the military to be misconstrued.

Except the military believes that the managements of the media organizations could be party to the use of their vehicles for carrying the dangerous weapons, one would expected that the owners and managers of the affected organizations would have been contacted on the intelligence reports to seek their support to arrest anyone who may be using their vehicle without their knowledge.

Since the exercise has nothing to do with the content, operations and personnel of the media organizations as the defence spokesman said, there was no need to have stormed the distribution centres and stopped the distribution of the papers even after searching and finding nothing incriminating in the vehicles.

If the Friday seizures were the handiwork of overzealous soldiers acting beyond their brief as Major General Olukolade’s press statement suggested, why did the crackdown continue on Saturday and affected more newspapers.

Now that no dangerous materials have been found in the vehicles of the affected newspapers, who pays for the losses the media house have to incurred due to the inability to sell the seized copies.

The media and Nigerians deserve more explanation on what is really happening to warrant the undue assault on the freedom of the press under a democratic government.

Anyone or organisation , with enough evidence found liable of colluding with terrorists should not be spared. However, a situation where the media is being given a bad name for no justifiable reason to hang it is rather unfortunate.

For all the media has done, still doing and will do, in the efforts to end the reign of terror in the country, it should be regarded as a partner and not an enemy.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

COMMENT

Okonjo-Iweala and governors’ performance: the noise, silence, and wisdom

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OME of those who are aware that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been minister of finance twice within the last fifteen years are likely to marvel at the sudden burst of anti-corruption wisdom that came upon her during her recent visit to Ogun State. At a commencement speech at Babcock University in Ogun State recently, the federal coordinating minister for the economy and substantial minister of finance called on citizens to ask governors in the states what they have been doing with the funds made available to them under the country’s system of feedingbottle federalism. Others are likely to scream at her for remembering very little and forgetting too much in her call for accountability on the part of those charged with political power and in the process trusted with public funds. Certainly, there is some wisdom, partisanship and evasiveness in her decision to present herself as an anti-corruption radar that captures every nook and corner of the polity.

In a speech calling on governors to account for their allocations from the federation account, the minister thrilled her audience, saying: “Clearly, the federal government cannot do it alone; we need the private sector to work with us and we have reached out to them in transforming Nigeria. But, in addition to that, we should ask ourselves what is the role of the state and local governments in supporting our transformation….A lot of attention is turned on the federal government. So, we also need to ask what our states and local governments do with the resources they get.” Furthermore, she told the nation how much the ten most endowed states received in 2013 from the federation account in order of magnitude: Akwa Ibom 260 billion naira; Rivers 220b; Delta 209b; Bayelsa 173b; Lagos 168b; Kano 140b; Katsina 103b; Oyo 100b; Kaduna97b; and Borno 94b.

The assumption that underlies the disclosure on how much these 10 states received last year is

The assumption that underlies the disclosure on how much these 10 states received last year is that the states may not have done what is required of them that the states may not have done what is required of them. Some audience members of the minister may even think that the states not mentioned by the minister must have gotten too little for performance watchers like the minister to expect much from them. Either way, such thinking does not address the meat of Okonjo-Iweala’s stance on national transformation from the states up to the centre, which to the minister is now the epicenter of economic transformation.

One point upon which admirers and nonadmirers of the minister are likely to congratulate her is Okonjo-Iweala’s enthusiasm to make political leaders at the state and local government levels work for the privileges bestowed upon them. Some months ago at a CNN interview of the minister on the performance of the central government, she was enthusiastic in blaming international communities for encouraging Nigerian politicians. For her to now see that most, if not all, governors are under performing suggests that the minister has bought into the idea that corruption and poor governance are like charity: They begin at home. They may also be like the stench from the kitchen sink that ends in the house. Calling on governors to spend funds allocated to their states on verifiable projects in the state is something to praise the minister for having the energy to do at a time that the rest of the world is pre-occupied with over 200 innocent girls kidnapped and kept incommunicado for over thirty days.

Okonjo-Iweala as a political appointee must have been working for her pay by making transformation the yardstick by which to evaluate governors’ performance in their states. However, she appears to have forgotten to tell Nigerians in what specific aspects the federal government whose economy she coordinates has transformed Nigeria. A commencement speech would not have been in any way inappropriate for her to roll out verifiable statistics of her government’s

achievements with respect to transformation. As the minister in charge of coordinating Jonathan/ PDP’s transformation agenda, she ought to identify in what ways many of the governors whose states she mentioned have departed from applying the funds allocated to them to transformational projects. One point that the minister missed to explain is why the message of transformation was not passed to the states, especially PDP states that are in the majority by the ruling party.

Given the character of partisan politics in the country, over partisan citizens may accuse anyone that calls APC governors to order as bashing the opposition, but nobody will blame a minister or anybody appointed by the ruling party for calling PDP governors to order when they fail to work in rhythm with the transformation agenda of President Jonathan, particularly after some of such states were reported not too long ago of getting some special allocations from the president and author of the transformation ethic. According to citizens’ reports, many changes have taken place in Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, and Kano in the last four years. As most of the states were PDP states until recent migration of the governors of Kano and Rivers to APC, the minister ought to know if those changes fall within the transformation agenda for which she has cited the federal government as the model for all states to follow.

One point of wisdom in the minister’s graduation speech at Ilishan is captured in her advice to citizens to be critical of their governors, commissioners, and local government leaders if they want improvement in the quality of their lives and not be fixated on the performance of the federal government. It is true that media emphasis has been on the failure of the central government to make any visible use of the over 56% of the nation’s wealth that it expends. The minister has a point in asking that other levels of government that are allocated

about 46% of the federation’s funds are also watched as critically as the federal government.

The structure of ownership of most media houses can be blamed for the little attention paid to governance at state and local government levels, especially the latter about which citizens hear virtually nothing. State television and radio stations have over the years become amplifiers for statements from governors and their wives, rather than being allowed to serve as barometers for measuring governors’ performance. Local government chairpersons are out of the media’s watchdog radar most of the time. This may be because most so-called national newspapers are stationed in Abuja and Lagos while most subnational governments are afraid to encourage establishment of newspapers to watch their performance.

Borrowing from the finance minister’s worries about the use of federal allocations at the subnational level, delegates at the national conference may need to look more critically than (most of the conference committees have done so far) at the issue of revenue generation and distribution. It is necessary to change the current system that gives funds to subnational governments from revenue obtained at the expense of the health of citizens in the Niger Delta. States should be made to generate the resources they need through taxation. The current system that creates a parasitic dependence by all levels of government on revenue generated from the Niger Delta ought to be reformed. Allocations from the federation account funded by all the states should be changed to grants that are attached to specific development projects for central and state governments alike. Citizens who create the wealth at the disposal of states under such system will also have more say in how their taxes are used by those who govern them at all levels. Some measure of civic democracy has started to emerge in Lagos State, where taxes bring more funds to the state treasury than allocations from the oil and gas revenue distributed from the federation account.

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

15

Jonathan’s clampdown on the media Continued from page 1

The Nation was not allowed to move in the various regions of the country. In the Southwest, this newspaper did not circulate in the major cities of the region, including Ibadan, Ekiti, Osogbo, Abeokuta, Ondo and Akure. In the South-south, the newspaper did not reach buyers in Port Harcourt, Asaba, Warri, Uyo and Calabar, as well as other parts of the region.

In the Federal Capital Territory, the soldiers clamped down at the distribution hub in Garki.

They hounded away the distribution staff, including drivers, and set the vehicle drivers in disarray. They impounded the vehicles of such newspapers as The Nation, The Punch, The Vanguard, The Leadership, The Guardian, The Sun, and quite a few others. This happened on Friday with a repeat on Saturday.

The Nation newspaper was also barred from the northern cities, including Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Jos, as well as their smaller towns. The fact that this was allowed to happen once and the second time, and the military did not retreat from such act, shows that the military was not alone in this matter. It was not an example of lower level zealousness but upper-crust disdain and fear.

The Jonathan administration that has claimed to give fair airings to divergent views has reached a new high mark in tyranny. At the time of this editorial, no government official from the Presidency has issued any statement on this primitive show of force.

To worsen this matter and establish a pattern, the Nigeria Press Council has issued a directive to broadcast stations across the country, including the TV Continental and Channels TV, stating that henceforth, no live political programme should air without clearance 48 hours before broadcast.

This is happening also against the background of an order in Abuja by notorious police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu (formerly of the Rivers State Police Command but now of the Federal Capital Territory), to ban any protests for

A

CCORDING to Charles Kingsley, an English F F F FheFsays, F F writer,Ffeelings, are like chemicals, the more you analyse them the worst they smell. This could be an aphorism to capture the mood of the nation in this period when clear and present danger rocks the unity of this country. The government’s efforts in the recent past to address some socio-cultural, economic and political hiccups in our nation have is found to be incongruent with policy formation, bi/multi-lateral relations with states government and the governed which had characterised the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Without being detached, the government’s approach should have more to do with addressing the “feelings” that it creates around its people, such as, insecurity of lives and properties, insensitivity to the yearnings and aspirations of the populace.

Amongst the front burners is the display of lunacy by the Boko Haram sect. The federal government’s response to this malady has created hopelessness in Nigerians. The monster in our mist has become more dreadful than ever! That the entire nation is fear-stricken is putting it mild.

I got highly terrified some days back when, aboard a commercial bus en route to Ikeja from Yaba, four strange faces joined the bus - they had with them knapsacks, your feeling is as good as mine was.

These monsters have a lot up

the release of the over 200 missing Chibok girls.

The shameful pirouette on the order has not been adequately explained.

It shows a strong temper of intolerance by the Jonathan administration that it could be comparing itself in deed not the best of democracies but to the worst of military dictatorship. This is a president who in farcical language tended to derogate the vices of Pharaohs and Nebuchadnezzar. Yet his government is presiding over the cruelest act of suppression of free speech.

The excuse advanced by the military on the first day of the clampdown was that they were working on intelligence that the insurgent group Boko Haram was planning to use newspaper vans to carry out attacks. We appreciate the military for being sensitive to a piece of intelligence. But what was the wisdom in detaining vehicles for a whole day?

If they wanted to check the vehicles for incriminating or subversive matter, all they needed to do was search the vehicles and satisfy themselves that the vehicles did not carry any substance that could imperil the peace.

Such an exercise when done professionally should not have delayed the vehicles for more than 30 minutes. They have the tools to search for arms and other explosives, and we believe they ought to have at least technology of modest sophistication to detect them. They could have undertaken their searches and allowed the vehicles to reach their places of destinations. How does a newspaper that trades

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

on truth become a public enemy? How does the Jonathan administration, which has bumbled its way serially in the fight against terror, now want to nail down the media as the enemy? Is this shameful show of cluelessness the way the Jonathan administration has been conducting its war on Boko Haram? If that is the case, we can see why it has become a laughing stock of the international community. They have been tragically pursuing the wrong targets.

Is the media guilty because it wants to report the facts and imbue the society with the various actions and tendencies of the political class? If the Jonathan administration has any point of view to canvass, it has its media staff to articulate them.

The Jonathan administration cannot also explain why it has decided through the Press Council to rein in free speech also in the electronic media. Live shows are an important jewel in broadcasting and in modern communication. The president’s periodic press show is also beamed live on national television and online. So, would the president say that it ought to notify the Press Council and allow it to vet everything the president says?

This muzzling of free speech has no place in a civilised society. It is rash, reckless, irresponsible and out of sync with the high ideals of democracy and liberal society. We therefore call on the presidency to halt this vicious trend. It is not in its place to allow or disallow the media to do its work.

The Constitution already grants that right and it cannot be taken away by anybody, no matter how misguided or powerful they think they are. But the Jonathan presidency must halt its newfound war against the press because it is a distraction too many — and this government is too tragically distracted already. The media mirrors society, and the president has no right in the constitution to stop this. It subverts the tenets of the constitution that guarantees free speech.

Ordering soldiers to impound distribution vehicles and the Press Council to choke out targeted political shows is a sure way to rank this president and its team among the despotic follies of history anywhere.

LETTERS

their sleeves; they now dine, wine, sleep and wake up with the government in Abuja.

What they will do and where they will go next are limitless options for them. They put their lives on the line for the cause they fight. The cause, no one knows! They kill, kidnap and bomb places and people with blitz. It seems the entire nation has become a stage in Nollywood; with the script HE presence of any opposition in any political dispensation is to ensure it lives up to its responsibilities.

The happenings in Kogi politics where the voice of opposition has not been heard of recent, but rather the romance with the opposition party, openly praising all the activities of the ruling party in the

T P

ROPHETICALLY, it is my fervent prayers and wish, that in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, the blessings of God will never forsake President Goodluck Jonathan and that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will continue to give him the divine grace and favour to continue to pilot the affairs of this largest black African country in the continent.

Virtually all peace-loving Nigerians are tired of the incessant killings, bombings, destruction of properties, among others, being carried out by terror-

Smell of a nation

Catch me if you can!

The news of over 200 students of Government Secondary School in Chibok community of Borno State who were, as of the time of writing this article, abducted by marauders came to the entire nation by surprise. They came like thieves at night; in their luxury

buses, they identified and cart away their booty. How it happened in a state under a State of Emergency rule is a mystery. Where were the soldiers?

Or will it be safe to conclude that the nation’s military personnel are not capable of nabbing this modicum of insurgency? An act that would have

saved us from international embarrassment, rescuing the victims has become rocket science! Even the over-one-billion dollar satellite that was sent to space cannot seem to salvage the situation. The international community has been dragged to this show of shame in the country with credence to law of international relations. What a smell!

One big question that is

Where are the opposition parties in Kogi? role in attaining a much desired result in political equation of the giving societies.

The opposition parties in Kogi State have been in doldrums for some time now, without any significant voice of ensuring the ruling party in the state is directed on its pro-

grammed and its policies where it fails to measure up to expectation.

In some states where there are more development and government are seen to be working, the opposition has been voicing some concern in areas where they feel necessary

To end the general insecurity

something is wrong with the intelligence gathering of our security agencies.

We need to seek the support and cooperation of the international communities, and most especially, too, our neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad Republic, to put an end to this threat on the sovereignty and security of Nigeria.

Also, the federal government should ensure that there is adequate funding, more manpower recruitment and capacity building of all the security operatives. Again, the govern-

state.

The role played by an opposition party in an ideal democracy makes it imperative for the party in power to live up to its responsibilities of meeting the yearning and the aspiration of the populace. Hence, vibrant opposition plays much

ists and marauders. It is unfortunate that innocent people are being made to suffer for what they know nothing about.

For four years on, Nigeria has continued to endure unrelenting human and material destructions. Having come this far, every Nigerian is a stakeholder, in this joint-project called NIGERIA, and as minister of God and church planter, we need to save our country from total collapse before it is too late. God loves our country.

I believe there is a better future

for our country, if we will turn to God, love God, shun all social vices, love our nation and love one another, Church should teach righteousness, that exalts a nation, patriotism and dedication, while reproach is a sin.

The time is now for President Goodluck Jonathan to do more in finding a more lasting solutions to the wanton killings, bombings among others… particularly in the North East of the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

One need not to be told that

begging for answer is Boko Haram’s demand; beyond the context of the group’s name “BOKO HARAM” that literarily does not depict its demand ( No to western education ), what do they really want ? There are too many questions with limited answers, but the most certain of all is that there is no negotiation with the terrorist group as claimed by federal government.

By Kunle Oyeleke 13, Moshood Musa Close, Ajuwon, Akute.

Lagos. input are to be made to ensure the ruling party does not derail from the expected norms and value of democratic tenets.

We hope Kogi opposition parties should wake up from their slumber to ensure that government lives up to expectation.

By Bala Nayashi Lokoja, Kogi State. ment needs to involve the religious leaders and traditional rulers and opinion leaders from the places of frequent insurgency, in robust and far-reaching dialogue, to get to the root causes of crime, while parents should stop breeding more children that they could adequately cater for.

Prophet Oladipupo Funmilade-Joel (Baba Sekunderin) The General Overseer, The Way of Reconciliation Evangelistic Ministries (TWOREM) Int’l, Lagos, Nigeria

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

COMMENT

Ekiti 2014: Of sophists and despots Fayemi whose integrity has qualified him as the blue chip asset to our state needs another term

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ODAY, Phil Aragbada, a respected journalist and former newspaper editor, gives his perspectives on the Fayemi phenomenon and the impending governorship election in Ekiti. Happy reading.

A “loving fear”, writes Gunder Anders, is not fear of the dangers that lie immediately ahead but for generations yet unborn. This is what underlies the current political landscape in Ekiti; a panoramic view of the interrelated transactions going on between the different entities across the land of honour which would, ultimately determine the future of the state. The future is a sacred trust held by the present generation. Yet, it is not an abstract concept. Rather, it is determined by the consequences of the decisions a people take in their separate but inclusive inter-relations.

This poignantly brings to the fore, the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti which has attracted gladiators at both intra and inter-party levels, thus reflecting the latitude, and, indeed, the beauty of democracy. Democracy, in spite of its attraction and elegance, however, has a major drawback in its systemic sifting process which, if care is not taken, can end up foisting on the people, clowns, spoilers, sophists, urchins, even, an outright criminal.

The consolation is that politics, like religion, in spite of its tolerance of pretenders and the ignoramus, has a moderating fiat: the Judgement Day. In Matt. 13:24-30, Jesus told his disciples the story of the weeds and the wheat and declared, “let the wheat and

weeds grow together until harvest, and at harvest time, I will tell the reapers: gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Surely, the harvest day for political contest is Election Day. There is no doubt Ekiti people already know the weeds and the wheat and on 21, June 2014, Dr. Kayode Fayemi will be the anointed wheat of the people which the Bible calls the son of the Kingdom.

Without a doubt, the massive transformation which has manifested in Ekiti since his emergence cannot but palpitate those who have in the past hindered Ekiti development as the natural reaction of evil-minded persons to any form of change, as is currently happening in the state, is to obstruct the path of change. This should be expected as the beneficiaries of the old order and the propagandists of obscene deceit are bound to be scared out of their wits. But man must live with change and those, who throughout history, have wrought changes on their environment despite daunting challenges and excruciating sacrifices have always turned out to be men of destiny.

There is no doubt that Fayemi is a man who has a date with history. His path in life is strewn with multiple achievements that can only be ignored by incurable pessimists and pernicious scoffers who are incapable of being impressed by any form of success arising from brilliance, courage, resilience, integrity and measurable hard work. Try not con-

vincing these people as they are already trapped in their closet of pathological ignorance.

Governor Fayemi, conscious of the groaning pain of the aged due to poverty, commenced a welfare package for senior citizens who have attained the age of sixty-five years. He also introduced free medical care for this category of Ekiti citizens. Despite paucity of funds, Fayemi, critically aware of the place of education in socio-economic development, ensured the complete renovation of all primary and secondary schools in the state, made education free to secondary school level and supplied students with free laptops to enable them connect, that early in life, with technological modernity. The tertiary institutions in Ekiti State were leveraged in the areas of infrastructure and funding to make them meet global standards. The immediate dividend of government’s investments in education is the ground-breaking 2012/2013 Bar results of Ekiti State university students who shone like a thousand stars at the last Law School exams.

Fayemi’s empathy for the grassroots is palpable. His proximity to the rural dwellers is evinced by his novel State Assisted Community Projects Initiative acronym-ed SACPI in contradistinction to one of his opponent’s ‘Boli and guguru’ –roasted plantain and groundnut eating shenanigans, which has resulted in sundry socio-economic developments all over the state. The beauty of this project lies in the ability of the governor to personally meet community dwellers, feel their pulse and pains and get the state to assist in providing their needs. This evolutionary strategy has resulted in the provision of 1,906 SACPI socio-economic projects in 131 towns and communities, each executed, directly by the beneficiaries.

Relying on verifiable records the Fayemi administration has not restricted its road revolution to state roads alone. Rather, it took upon itself the burden of rehabilitating some federal roads as a way of minimising the transportation problems in the state. About 1000 kilometres of federal, state and local government roads have been constructed / rehabilitated at the last count.

For a state that has long suffered from the pangs of industrial aridity, Fayemi’s revitalisation of ailing companies like the Iree Burnt Bricks and the Road Materials Company (ROMACO) which also provides jobs surely deserves accolades and a guaranteed cheque of continuity. Of course, the impetus injected into the tourism sector through massive investments in various tourist centres, especially the now world-class Ikogosi Tourist Resort has tremendously expanded the economic base of the state. The youth volunteer scheme has also provided a source of livelihood and hope for thousands of young men and women. This is besides the YCAD programme which has witnessed a trained Medical Doctor veer into commercial agriculture as one of thousands of young men and women enlisted in the programme.

The performance of this human Trojan has not gone unnoticed by international bodies as epitomised by the following: •The Human Development Report (2012) rated Ekiti State as the most conducive environment to live for long and healthy living with a life expectancy average of 55 years (10 years above the national average).

•The state has the lowest infant and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.

•It has the lowest HIV and AIDS prevalence in the country.

•It has the lowest mother-tochild transmission of HIV and AIDs in the country just as it boasts •The least out-of-school children (2%) in the country.

As the saying goes, you do not change a winning team; indeed, no sane people will dissolve a winning team. Ekiti can, therefore, not be enticed with juvenile braggadocio, illiterate pomposity, and some funny appeal to phony populism. Fayemi whose integrity has qualified him as the blue chip asset to our state needs another term. A people who once experienced a culture of economic haemorrhage and ‘janjaweed’ rule in the hands of a despot and kleptomaniac will not dare attempt a repeat.

A shining star in the firmament, Fayemi remains a moral tone of his generation. A man of credible pedigree, he would always stand on the side of the truth even at a cost to his political popularity. A typical example was his plea to the teachers a few years ago to pay their 27.5% professional allowance as soon as the state finances improve. This, he has since done, thus bringing to a happy end, the festering acrimony between the state NUT and the government. This has again confirmed him as a promise keeper, thus re-affirming the people’s sobriquet for him: O WI BEE, SE BEE. Ekiti must stand up and be counted. A vote for the APC is a vote for continuity. A vote for an assured future for our children; even for generations yet unborn. A vote for tranquility. A vote for economic leverage and, a vote for everything that is good for humankind. Come Saturday, 21 June, 2014, the good people of Ekiti must troop out, refuse to be intimidated by the federal police and army lock down and vote Kayode Fayemi overwhelmingly.

Enemies of the people must be permanently shamed.

Phil Aragbada, Governor’s Ajasin’s Special Assistant in the ‘70s, is a veteran journalist, newspaper editor and a retired Bank Executive.

Now we know where all the children have gone Children should please be allowed to be children: learning about life through school and play, play and school, in those orders

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IVING on this planet does not come cheap. One, you have to pay for the food you consume, and two, you have to justify the space you take. Now, you can imagine that that will be a problem for some of us large ones. Generally, though, labour is the accepted means of obtaining getting payment. However, it is well agreed that the age of labour onset varies from how deviant to how devious a society is.

You know the deviant society, don’t you? It is that society that resists the natural instinct of kleptomania, sociopathy and psychopathy. In short, it helps its citizens. Likewise, you can recognize the devious society. That’s the one that knows and willingly yields to the natural instinct of kleptomania, sociopathy and psychopathy. However, its citizens are not helped; so they are mostly sociopaths and psychopaths. We are going to talk about the latter, an example of which is Nigeria.

Coming hard on the heels of the World Children’s day anniversary is yet another set aside for marking child labour day in order to, well, draw attention to the right of the child not to be forced to work. It is most worrisome indeed, when children are put to work that is more serious than eating, playing and schooling. You have no idea how hard it is to cope with learning to add two and two for a child of three or four or whenever it is they are supposed to learn to add two drops of water to

another two drops and make … em… four. One child was so proud of his six out of six score in arithmetic one day that he came home practically gloating and jumping around. After everyone in the house had admired it, he himself settled down to admire it some more, running his fingers over the page and telling everyone who cared to listen how he worked so hard, thought so hard, and wracked his brain so hard to get the answers and no one can guess just how hard he worked on it. After all the gloating, he eventually went to sleep, exhausted.

Oh, I’m sure you would say someone should have put the proud blighter to work. I have nothing against putting children to some kind of work if it keeps them engaged and prevents them from scampering forever in between people’s toes. The question is what kind of work?

Over the centuries, history has regaled us with accounts of how children as young as seven have been put to labours as intense as sweeping sootfilled chimneys, shining shoes in thin clothes and thinner shoes in all kinds of weather or employed… for robbing people. Around here, the labours vary, but no less intense. Well, there is hawking, there is houseboying or housegirling, there’s early marriage lopping, shop-keeping, etc. Thing is, as the ads go, no age is too small for these jobs, as long as the child is weaned.

It was in the course of doing some

research around this topic that I came across a piece flying around the internet purportedly written by Prof. Wole Soyinka. The piece gave details about the various ages in which many of the first/second generations of Nigeria’s leaders assumed national responsibilities. For example, so goes the piece, people like Okotie-Eboh, Enahoro, Nzeogwu, Mohammed, Danjuma, Babangida, Abacha, Buhari, etc., were all in their twenties, while people like Awolowo, Akintola, Ahmadu bello, Balewa, etc., were in their thirties when they assumed national offices. The piece now went on to ask why today’s youths in those age brackets have not assumed such responsibilities as leading their country and generally doing better than they presently are doing. I have a few things to say about that.

Actually, when I saw the list, I heaved a sigh of relief. I felt like the man who went to the doctor to complain about an ailment, only for the doctor to examine him and look perplexed, before asking, ‘Have you had this problem before?’ ‘Yes’, said the patient, writhing in pain. ‘Well’, said the doctor, ‘you’ve got it again.’ A disease that has no name has no cure, like Nigeria’s. To my great relief, though, we have found a name for what is wrong with Nigeria: it is called Youthocracy – being thrust into the hands of irreverent youths.

Just look at the age ranges again, and you will see the origin of Nigeria’s problems. True, there have been many countries whose leaders have been about as young as these. There was

Napoleon Bonaparte; there was Alexander the Great; etc. Those two were clearly under thirty when they went conquering the known world.

However, such leaders had been thoroughly grilled in the philosophy and wisdom of the ages. For instance, Alexander had so much philosophy poured into him by Aristotle that he was practically pouring the stuff out through his ears. Not so our own young ‘uns. Obviously, they had need of more maturity and more aging to be able to carry the responsibility they thrust on themselves, mainly through coup d’etats..

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that Nigeria is exactly what it is today because these early leaders were not much out of their diapers before they were thrust forward. They thus had not outgrown the passions of youth such as ill-temper, greed, intemperance, exuberance, etc., that normally blocks one’s vision and prevents clearsightedness. They were not old enough to even have visions In short, in such untrained, dead-from-the-neck-up youthful hands, Nigeria was doomed from the beginning and practically dead on arrival. The only thing those ones learnt how to do was satiate their lustful appetites.

And have you noticed that that same group has been recycling itself in leadership since that time? Seriously, talk of presidency list, the same group; talk of ministerial list, the same group; talk of senatorial list, the same group; and house of reps list, the same group!

HABA! NA DEM ALONE WAKA COME NIGERIA?! The worst part is

that they have no idea of nation building. Honestly speaking, I hold them responsible for Nigeria’s woes – they did not lay any solid foundation for social engineering, and the woes of the youths today – they have stood solidly in front of everybody. They are like the proverbial tortoise – they can’t move, and they won’t let anyone else through.

Now, what were we talking about before we veered off? Oh yes, clearly, there’s a lot to be said against child labour. All you need to do is look at the Nigerian situation. Seriously, though, employing children may be a cheap means of solving problems, but the long-run costs are huge. Besides, it’s actually taking undue advantage of the wee toddlers. Parents solve their economic problems by engaging children to hawk and the day’s earning becomes food for the family. I told you once of a family of able-bodied fellows which comes every evening to the soliciting point of a mentally disabled young beggar to collect their pocket money from him. There are countless other families that depend on these poor little blighters who hawk things around or look after ailing parents.

It is time that this devious country came out with a definitive statement on child labour. It is wrong, wicked and inhuman and people should be compelled not to do it. I once came across a child, who could not be much older than four years, wandering around the roads and highways hawking some nonsensical thing or the other and I wondered if the value of what he hawked was equal to his life.

His parents seemed to think so, or else he would not be out on the roads.

Children should please be allowed to be children: learning about life through school and play, play and school, in those orders.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

COMMENT

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(68) Is the fundamental question a weakened centre or a just and workable centre? (1)

•A federation of workers, farmers, women, youths and children

•A federation of ethnic nationalities

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HE question that forms the title of this week’s essay comes from the underlying assumption of current debates concerning the survival of our country as a federation of many ethnic nationalities and a political and economic power that works for the good of the West Africa region in particular and the African continent in general. This is the underlying assumption: the center of power, authority and resources in the federalism currently in force in Nigeria is too strong, too bloated and needs to be dismantled and replaced with a center with greatly reduced concentration of wealth, power and authority. It is not that there are no advocates for a center that continues to be strong and powerful in relation to the federating units. The fact is they do not have a strong, compelling case. There are two separate but interconnected reasons for this. One, the strong center at Abuja is not working well at all, either for the political class itself or for the generality of Nigerians. Indeed, this is an understatement: the strong, bloated center of power at Abuja is one of the worst under-performers in governance in Africa and the world; it is so totally mired in mediocrity and corruption that but for the fact that oil revenues continue to sustain it, the abysmal quality of its bad governance would have doomed it a long time ago. Secondly, this strong and bloated center generates a destructive, endgame struggle for its control among our political elites, a struggle that is always and forever on the brink of destroying the country as a one federal unit; sooner or later, this endgame struggle will end and that end may very well be a calamity that is unprecedented in its scale in our part of the world. Already, the perpetual doomsayers of Nigeria’s inevitable demise as one country are projecting 2015 as the final battle in that endgame.

This essay is based on another assumption that is completely different from the very bad case for a strong center for federalism in Nigeria as it

has been entrenched and practiced in the last three or four decades. What is this assumption? It is the belief that because the case for a strong and bloated center is very weak, we do not have to think hard and creatively on what kind of centre should replace the existing behemoth at Abuja. More specifically, I am arguing, pleading in this piece that side by side with the case against the present bloated and dysfunctional center in Abuja, we must make a case for a just and workable center that can hold all our peoples together and at last begin to work for the economic wellbeing and social progress of all Nigerians and the peoples of the West Africa region.

I make this plea, this argument on the strength of the simple but profound fact that a just and workable center of governance in Nigerian federalism will not automatically arise on the ashes of the current strong, bloated and corrupt centre in the manner in which, in the order of nature, day always comes after night.

We are part of nature, we are in nature, but human political and social processes don’t operate as do the workings of nature. Everything that we have gained from, and in nature, we have had to work and fight for.

The struggle for a just and workable centre of a reconstituted Nigerian federalism in the 21st century will be no different. This calls for some strong and perhaps rather extreme measures that are hardly ever discussed in the current national conversation on whither goes federalism in Nigeria of the present and the future. Let me give a few telling illustrations of this contention.

It is apparent that corruption, waste and squandermania that are so rife in Nigerian federalism of the present political order will never, never go away unless and until some rather very drastic and effective constitutional provisions are made to substantially curtail, if not entirely banish them in the present order of governance in our country. Thus, it may seem harsh, but is it not as clear as day that corruption being so rife and

perpetrated with such impunity in our country, only capital punishment for looting national or public coffers can stem the tidal waves of this cardinal crime and sin of our predatory republic? Any sum of money above 100 million naira should fetch the guilty public official the death penalty; guilt for lesser sums below 100 million naira should fetch long prison terms with hard labor. And it is fundamental that these provisions should be written into a new federal constitution. Philosophically, I happen to be against capital punishment. But also philosophically, I believe that the brazen and unconscionable looting of the national or public coffers is a form of social cannibalism: for every 100 million naira that is looted from the public purse, the lives of thousands of our peoples are made poorer to the point that the loss often extends to needless, avoidable deaths on roads that are death-traps and hospitals and clinics that are places in which to go not to be healed, but to die and be taken to the mortuary.

It is very necessary for me to emphasize at this point in the present discussion that I am making this argument, some of whose implications go against some of my most dearly held philosophical beliefs, because I am convinced that we need both a just and workable centre for our federation and that we must think hard and deep about how to achieve it. There are those among progressive thinkers and activists in our country, especially in the South, who have given up entirely on the possibility, not talk of the necessity, of working for and bringing into being such a just and workable centre of governance in our country. In connection with this conviction, let me state as strongly as possible that it is not out of sentimental patriotism that I urge and plead that we should strive for a just and workable centre of governance in our country. Rather, it is out of what I deem a hard-nosed, hard-headed grappling with our given historical and political realities. Perhaps the most fundamental

of these is the fact that for at least half a millennium now, all the peoples of our country and our region of the continent have been living together in strong ties of cooperation and competition in economic, commercial and cultural ties, so much so that it is not fanciful or mistaken to expect that these ties will remain for many millennia ahead of us.

Let me express this last observation as a series of very simple assertions. First, we will always need a centre or centers; this is a fundamental law of history and politics. Second, it is good, it is beneficent that ours be a center or centers that are just and workable.

Third, like all other peoples and places in history, we must work hard for such just and workable centre or centers. Fourth and lastly, just and workable center or centers of governance come either through peaceful means or as the consequence of bitter and disastrous warfare. We must seek the path of productive peaceful solutions over war and strife.

The thing that worries me the most in reflecting on these matters concerning the nature, effects and ramifications of the tragic and predatory federalism that has been in force in our country in the last few decades is how very little interest those who are against the strong, bloated, dysfunctional and federation-wrecking centre in Abuja have shown in what I would call the unhappy unity of hardship, suffering and despair throughout the country, from north to south, east to west. It is true that some geopolitical and socio-economic zones are a little – and only a little – better off than others. And it is equally true that there is a bi-polar hegemony in political influence shared by two power blocs, these being the so-called “Core North” and the Southwest, with the Southeast that was a pre-civil war contender with them being for the present historical moment rather

sidelined. Also, it is true that even after the frenzy of state creation that brought us dozens of additional states within two decades disaffected “minorities” still exist everywhere in the country, again north and south. But hard and terrible poverty exists everywhere in the land and in gargantuan proportions. The educational system, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels, has collapsed utterly and now languishes in malign neglect, again everywhere in the country.

Finally, what of the youths that constitute the human and demographic majority in all parts of the country without exception? Do they not have now in the present and as future prospects expectations of hardships the likes of which were unimaginable in our own youths, those of us at the late stages of life?

No, compatriots, the fundamental argument is not between a strong, bloated centre and a centre with greatly reduced concentrations of power and authority. There are and will always be centers in the present-day federal political orders of the world, just as there have always been. Thus, the crucial question is how just and workable the centre or centers are. Beyond the proposed constitutional provision of the death penalty and long prison terms for, respectively, the big and the small looters of our national coffers, in next week’s continuation of the series I shall explore some other constitutional and institutional arrangements that can secure a just and workable centre of governance for the Nigerian federation of our dreams and aspirations. As we shall see, the underlying premise will be a re-federated Nigeria that works for the benefit of all Nigerians - especially the excluded and impoverished majority - and is also an economic powerhouse in the West Africa region.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

COMMENT

ITH the 2015 general elections fast approaching, the airwaves will understandably cackle louder and louder in the times ahead. As men and women of ideas contend for our minds so also will intellectual mercenaries pollute the space with their cant. A teaser of what the latter category is capable of seems on offer in a piece first elegantly disguised as ‘opinion’ in Sunday Guardian (June 1) and, curiously, later published as full-page advertorial in Vanguard of Tuesday (June 3). It was entitled ‘Edo APC Crisis: Beyond A Struggle For State Resources’.

At the first appearance of the article in Sunday Guardian, this writer was instantly drawn to the said piece like magnet. Against the backdrop of recent development in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, one had instinctively salivated at the prospects of savouring fresh insights on the debacle. But one sloppy paragraph after another grotesque paragraph, one could not help but finally feel duped by the sheer effrontery of a hired pen to mislead.

It was only then one bothered to check who could be so cognitively challenged to cobble such incoherent article together. Lo, it turned out to be no other than, ah!, ‘Dr. Edoba Omeregie’, introduced as ‘a politician, legal practitioner and scholar (writing) from Benin City’. (He seems ashamed or afraid to let the public know he actually operates from University of Benin, lest some self-respecting neighbours issued a disclaimer on him for bringing dishonour to that academic community on account of his political alms-begging.)

Knowing this self-styled ‘analyst’ so well, one should ordinarily not have bothered to rejoin, lest one dignified a vituperation that could, at best, be described as imbecilic. But if left unchallenged, chances are that the gullible may be tempted to believe the cheap lies. From the opening to the closing sentence, the author hardly disguised his bitterness, employing an uncouth language in denigrating the person of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. His allegations against the Edo Governor range from sheer falsehood to pure libel. I shall return to those presently.

At this juncture, perhaps it is necessary to locate the source of Omoregie’s bitterness. Here is an intellectual hustler who had begged Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for a political appointment last year. He had begged his relation who is a top media executive (an Edo indigene) based in Lagos to pass on his resume to the governor to give him a life-line. Not wanting to take chances, he also engaged another character who is among the recent decampees from APC to prevail on the governor to, in fact, appoint him Commissioner for Justice. But after due consideration, he was found unworthy of that high office.

To be fair, Omoregie is not alone. He is only one of the tribe of the disgruntled who straddle the Atlantic Ocean and who, ipso facto, offer their services to those bent on reversing the march of progress in the past five and a half years in Edo. To the unsuspecting, they masquerade on the pages of newspapers as ‘experts’ and ‘analysts’ on Edo politics. There is another jester by name, Tony Igiehon, operating from Dallas, U.S. At a function involving Edo indigenes in Dallas last year to which Oshiomhole was invited as special guest of honour, this comedian literally groveled at the feet of aides to set up a meeting with the Comrade Governor to market ‘a proposal’ on behalf of ‘we in the Diaspora’. Once he failed to have his way, he has since resorted to hurling funny missiles from that safe distance in US. There is another political rat, a failed newshound, operating from a dingy warren in Lagos, whose beef is that Oshiomhole refused to ‘dash’ him senatorial ticket of Edo South in 2011…

Of course, this brigade of intellectual mercenaries are currently being lavishly funded by deluded PDP godfathers hiding in Abuja whose new political strategy appears to be noisemaking with a view to distracting Comrade Oshiomhole from sustaining the Edo transformation begun in 2008. It is now open secret that a heavy war chest in hard currency (which runs into hundreds of millions of naira) has been provided which is now being drawn down to prosecute the ongoing dirty campaign.

Having been humiliated at the polls by the Action Governor repeatedly since 2007, they are still unwilling to accept that the days of ‘Tuke Tuke’ politics are now over for good in Edo State.

In his rambling piece, Omoregie’s tantrums could be summarized into three points: the recent defection of those he falsely described as ‘heavyweights’ was caused by Oshiomhole’s bungling of APC’s congress; the incumbent administration is wasteful in character and without focus in philosophy and that the Comrade Governor is a fascist.

Let us begin from the last point. If Oshiomhole is stubborn, it is only to those who

Of political destitute, intellectual thugs and media specialists

•Oshiomhole

By Austin Nosakhare believe the people’s money should be used to settle party leaders and godfather instead of being used to alleviate the condition of the masses of Edo State. So, calling Oshiomhole a dictator or Hitler is certainly laughable indeed because even worst critics today would admit that he is people’s governor whose humility has demystified the office of the governor.

Anyway, one can appreciate why some guys are envious seeing ‘Oshio Baba’ move the multitude to tears or action sometimes for hours on end with his power of oratory without a prepared text. These are men who could be described as ‘educated illiterates’ who left university with Third Class and cannot address even a family meeting today for one minute without having rehearsed for one hour.

Again, one can understand why some people are not happy seeing the governor being mobbed and hailed as ‘action man’ by ordinary folks on the streets in Edo State. Of course, these are cowards who dare not enter Edo or move about today without a battalion of riot cops for fear of being stoned by the people who have not forgotten those who looted Edo treasury until Oshiomhole came on board.

On the issue of prudence and focus, Oshiomhole is certainly an exemplar. From the ground zero the Comrade Governor met Edo in November 2008 after the nine-year rape

by PDP, the people’s governor has since changed the narrative. Perhaps, we only need to look at a few indicators. With the little he received from Abuja, Oshiomhole has built over 1,000 kilometres of road, rebuilt hundreds of public schools, given water to the thirsty and brought medicare to the poor in the remotest villages.

It is very cheap to seek to confuse the debate over the rehabilitation of public schools in Edo. It is public knowledge that SUPEB involves counter-funding. Being a sensible man, Oshiomhole surely realized way back in 2008 the stupidity in failing to provide your own share, thus forfeiting FG’s. But that commonsense was not so common before the Comrade Governor assumed office, as successive PDP administrations had stupidly left FG’s contribution idle in the bank. So, the question Omoregie failed to answer is why his paymasters hated the Edo child so much that they looted the treasury bare to the extent that there was nothing left to match the FG’s grant.

So, why begrudge Oshiomhole for being sensible enough to match FG’s grant and use the receipt judiciously in fixing public schools for the Edo child.

Today, in the South-South zone, Edo is the least earner in terms of federal allocation. But through prudent management, Oshiomhole has been able to make every kobo count for Edo people. Thank God, even Finance Minister,

•Ize-Iyamu

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently unveiled ten biggest earners in the country. Edo never featured in that exclusive club. Four states controlled by PDP in the region featured among the first five. Yet, unbiased assessors today are agreed that Edo has more on the ground to show for the pittance it has received. So much that even reputable world bodies like the World Bank have since resolved to support the Oshiomhole administration with either grants or soft loans to improve the human condition in Edo State.

Lastly, it is disingenuous for Omoregie to claim that the ‘political Almajiris’ like Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Abubakar Momoh, Tony Omoaghe and others left Edo APC on account of the undemocratic temper of the governor. Nothing could be more fallacious. The truth is that his paymasters left because of greed and inordinate ambition. Momoh, who is currently representing Etsakor at the House of Reps, is Etsakor like the governor. Even though his constituents are agreed that he has largely been a dozing bench-warmer at the House of Reps since 2011, he now wants to be ‘promoted’ to the senate. Whipping clan sentiments, he wants the governor to impose him on the Edo North Senatorial Zone as APC candidate. The incumbent senator, Domingo Obende, is of Akoko Edo stock. The incumbent SSG, the cerebral Professor Julius Ihonvbere, has also indicated interest in the ticket. But being a man of equity, Oshiomhole insists there must be a level-playing field for all aspirants.

In-between his litany of comical lies, the impression Omoregie created was that Oshiomhole’s cabinet had almost emptied on account of ‘big men’ who resigned. Nothing could be further from the truth. At the last check, all the men and women who matter in the Oshiomhole administration were still at their various desks in Benin City. A couple of guys who resigned were either moles or political slaves who decided to follow their master. In real terms, they added no value to the administration. As for Omoaghe, he wanted the governor to anoint him as the new state chairman of APC. But Oshiomhole said the contest must be thrown open to all.

But Omoaghe was afraid of defeat. Soon, he bolted out of the window. Again, it is quite instructive that while Omoaghe has since been nudging people to desert Oshiomhole, he is yet to inform his two daughters appointed Special Assistants to the Governor last year to also resign. Indeed, when the going was good, he was asked to nominate two people from Esan land to fill the posts. But he chose to bring only his biological kids. Such greed and perfidy.

As for Ize-Iyamu, the Secretary to the State Government in the Lucky Igbinedion administration, it is all about his naked desperation to realize a governorship ambition that is more than ten years old. He had refused

entreaties to have consensus candidates for the party offices at the ward and council levels.

Like the Shakespearean Macbeth, he was blinded by ambition. His cold calculation: seize the party structure from the ward to the state level and use same as a springboard to the governorship ticket come 2016 and resume the debauchery halted abruptly in 2008.

He boasted on the election eve that his candidates would sweep the stakes. But on the D-Day, his candidates were beaten hands down.

Only then did he start to accuse the Comrade Governor of being ‘undemocratic’ and calling his benefactors unprintable names. Anyone familiar with Edo political history will readily recall that this was the exact scenario that had played out exactly ten years ago when overambitious Ize-Iyamu, then SSG, began to nurse the illusion that he could succeed Lucky Igbinedion come 2007. But once he saw signs he was headed for a dead-end, he teamed up with others similarly disgruntled under the canopy of ‘Grace Group’ and began to abuse Chief Tony Anenih with the slogan ‘No Man Is God’.

Anyone in doubt should read the interview granted last month by Lucky Igbinedion widely published by the Nigerian media to mark his 57th birthday. In the May 13 edition of the Vanguard, the former governor clearly stated that the warm relationship he had enjoyed with Anenih was strained by some saboteurs within his administration. He said it was his dream all along to hand over to an Esan man in consonance with a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ but the ‘enemies within’ soon set the proverbial cat among pigeons.

Hear him on page 40 of that edition of Vanguard: ‘We said after eight years of a Bini man, an Esan man should be governor. I stood firmly on that ground. But some people in government, unknown to me, had different ideas. They started causing factionalisation within the party. People started calling some unholy names… These are people who had governorship ambition.’

Poor Igbinedion. He had trusted IzeIyamu too much and empowered him such that he soon morphed into the de facto governor because Igbinedion was not around most of the time.

One can appreciate Omoregie’s plight and the need to survive. But he ought to realize that hunger is not enough reason to swallow neither poison nor a justification to sip contaminated water from an open septic pit. Defiance has dire consequences. He is far too discredited to offer an honest analysis on the Edo APC debacle.

•Nosakhare, a doctoral student of the Ambrose Alli University, wrote from Ekpoma, Edo State.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

2015: Can PDP break Zamfara jinx?

Alamieyeseigha’s senatorial bid suffers setbacks

Ondo: Disquiet as lawmakers, party chieftains allege victimisation

PAGE 22

PAGES 21

PAGE 25

2015: PDP chieftains set to battle presidency, Muazu over imposition T

HERE are indications that a fresh wave of crisis is brewing within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the forthcoming 2015 general elections. Sources within the party told The Nation that following allegations that the presidency handpicked current gubernatorial candidates of the party in Osun and Ekiti States, chieftains of the party in many other states are now poised to resist what they described as undue interference in the politics of the states by President Goodluck Jonathan and the national leadership of the party.

Reliable sources further added that across the states of the federation, party leaders and chieftains are plotting modalities to ensure that members of the party in their various states are allowed to decide the fate of governorship aspirants through free and fair primary elections.

“There is serious anxiety in the PDP across the states following disturbing examples from Anambra, Ekiti and now Osun in the way gubernatorial candidates were imposed on the states by the powers that be in Abuja.

As leaders and chieftains of the party in the states, we are the ones closer to the people; we are the ones they always see and ask questions. If we allow such brazen imposition to continue, we will soon lose the confidence and followership of the people.

This explains why we are meeting and discussing on how to help the party remain strong.

By this, I mean if the party is to win elections, imposition must stop. And for this to stop, we must speak out. This is not an issue in my state here alone, but across the country. The national leadership must be told in clear terms that the peoples’ choice must be respected. Those who are banking on Abuja to get the tickets of the party in 2015 must be disappointed,” a chieftain of the party in Lagos State said.

Allegations of imposition marred the emergence of former Governor Ayo Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore as governorship candidates of the ruling party in Ekiti and Osun States respectively. The development led to crises within the two state chapters that saw some prominent chieftains of the party, including former Governors Segun Oni and Isiaka Adeleke dumping the party for the opposition

Chieftains of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) across the country are preparing to resist all forms of imposition of candidates ahead of the 2015 general elections, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

•Jonathan and Muazu

•Fayose addressing supporters at a rally

All Progressives Congress (APC).

Back then in Ekiti, following the resolve of 13 aggrieved governorship aspirants of the PDP to reject the alleged imposition of Fayose, one of them, Senator Gbenga Aluko, was chosen as the consensus candidate of the party. Aluko’s

emergence came seven days after the party chose Fayose as the governorship candidate.

One of the aspirants, Mr. Peter Obafemi, said Aluko emerged the winner of the election done among the 12 aspirants. He said all the 11 aspirants congratulated him

and assured him of their support for the June 21 governorship election in the state. Obafemi said he had hoped to win but was happy because another credible and experienced aspirant won the election and said he was sure Aluko would win the governorship elec-

tion for the PDP. Aluko later affirmed that the Chairman of the PDP in Ekiti State, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, supervised the election which produced him (Aluko) as the consensus candidate of the the party. He said, “Everybody was asked to vote for themselves and one other aspirant. I thank God and my colleagues that I emerged the candidate. We are going to meet the President and the group would present our the consensus candidate to him.”

But in spite of the pieces of evidence that leading chieftains of the party like Abiodun Aluko, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (retd), Mr. Deji Ajayi, Peter Obafemi among other aggrieved aspirants participated in the voting that produced Aluko, the national leadership of the party insisted on Fayose as the flag bearer.

In Osun, where leading chieftains of the party faulted the process that produced Omisore, the national leadership of the PDP ignored all complaints and crowned Omisore’s alleged rigging of the primaries with a nomination certificate few days after the controversial election.

Adeleke, who contested the nomination with Omisore, had said of the outcome of the election, “I started this journey when the leaders of our party realised that PDP might produce a candidate, who may eventually lose the governorship election. All the aspirants have forwarded petitions and complaints to the national headquarters of the PDP and the election petition panel and they have confirmed receipt of our grievances and promised to look into it.

Our position is that the process that produced Omisore is highly flawed. Our petitions have been acknowledged by the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, the Presidency and security agencies and we have the hope that action would be taken over the matter.”

But like it happened in Ekiti, nothing came out of the struggle to upturn the emergence of Omisore. Consequently, Adeleke and numerous other chieftain of the party •Continued on Page 20

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

POLITICS •Continued from Page 19

left the party.

Today, in states like Oyo, Lagos, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Bauchi, and Kwara States, there are insinuations that the presidency may have anointed some aspirants as governorship candidates. This is already creating ripples in the affected states. Determined to ensure that the alleged imposition of candidates witnessed in Osun and Ekiti is not repeated, chieftains of the party in the states are ganging up to reject the anointed candidates.

A highly-placed source with deep insight into the crisis in Kwara State said: “We have a crisis at hand, pitching us as chieftains of the party in our various states against some forces in Abuja over alleged plans to impose candidates on us in 2015. It is a very serious issue which will soon become a major one, if the presidency and the national leadership of the party is not proactive.

“Here in Kwara, the people want to be able to choose their leaders after many years of imposition. The party is being restructured to ensure that but with the fear that candidates may be imposed for certain reasons, the trust and confidence which we have been able to build since we started this new journey may be eroded soon.”

PDP elders and stakeholders in Akwa Ibom State recently said they would not accept imposition of candidates for 2015 governorship election in the state. At a town hall meeting in Uyo, the state capital, the elders and stakeholders asked the national leadership of the party to caution those planning to impose candidates on the people of the state as such would be fiercely resisted.

According to the visibly agitated party elders, governorship election in the state had always been an open contest and not for the select few. The senator representing Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Sen. Aloysius Etok, asked the PDP national leadership not to deny the people the power to choose their leaders.

Etok noted that the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, on assumption of office promised that primaries across the state would be free and fair.

He said, “I have come today to say that this town hall meeting of elders and stakeholders is a necessity and is timely.

I have come today to say that the cries of Akwa Ibom people are heard. I have come today to say that Abuja will not deny Akwa Ibom people what is rightfully theirs.

“I have come today to tell you that your will is stronger than AK47. I have come today to tell you that even if this assembly is scattered now, your will would not be scattered. I have come to tell you that heaven and earth will pass away but the word of God will not pass away: that power belongs to God.” After the meeting, the PDP leaders sent a letter of their resolutions to the national leadership of the party and the presidency as a way of showing their determination to resist imposition in whatever form ahead of the 2015 general election.

Adding his voice to the move against imposition, Oyo State PDP chieftain, Alhaji Adebisi Olopoenia, said the presidency or the national body cannot nominate the party’s candidate in the state for next year’s governorship election. He was reacting to reports that some aspirants had been lobbying party stakeholders in Abuja for the ticket. Olopoenia, who spoke during the week in Ibadan, the state capital, said the era of imposition is over in the party.

He said it was the responsibility of Oyo PDP leaders to nominate a credible candidate for the election, adding: “Nobody in Abuja can pick a consensus candidate for us without our consent. None of the over 10 aspirants is anointed either by the presidency or the national body. Anyone trying to lobby or influence his candidacy is just wasting his time and money.” Olopoenia said he was confident that a credible candidate would emerge at the party’s primary election.

The politician urged aspirants in the

2015: PDP chieftains set to battle presidency

•Yuguda

•Dickson

•Uduaghan

•Akpabio

•Saraki

•Omisore

state to be prepared to seek the ticket from the members of the party and not from any powers that be in Abuja or anywhere else.

Also recently, the Rivers State chapter of the PDP warned the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, of the implication of imposing the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, on the party as the candidate for the 2015 governorship election. A member of the Elders Forum and party stalwart, Anabs Sara-Igbe, who gave the warning, also cautioned the party’s national leadership that PDP would lose scandalously to the All Progressives Congress (APC) if it fields Wike in next year’s governorship poll.

“I don’t want to join issues with my sister because I know that she will go where

the Rivers people are going. Don’t forget that the First Lady also endorsed Timipre Silva and many others including the Minister of FCT, Bala Mohammed .

“She is just a First Lady while we are the foot soldiers, who go to the trenches and warfronts. Whatever she says is just an individual opinion not the opinion of Rivers people or Nigerians. If you allow her, she would want her husband to go for third term.

It is her right to say whatever she likes but it is a wishful thinking because she cannot impose Wike on Rivers people.

Ikweres’ have had their share for eight years. We clustered Rivers into nine zones because we have 25 ethnic groups. We believe that governorship slot should go round

in the state. If you know the peculiar nature of Rivers State, those who produce the oil are not benefitting because their sons are not neither governors nor anything near power. We are not even benefitting from the 30 percent derivation.

We don’t see any major infrastructure and this is a community Bayelsa and Rivers are fighting to control and none of these governors have visited the area,” Sara-Igbe said.

I want to warn that if the PDP imposes Wike as the candidate, the party will run the risk of losing the governorship seat to APC. It is annoying that a group of persons who have not ruled for so many years were given opportunity and they want to take it all,” he noted.

In Bauchi, Governor Isa Yuguda is allegedly battling suspected plans by the presidency and the National Chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu, to impose the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, as governor. The governor has the support of the leadership of the party in the state in his struggle to stop the imposition of the Minister.

“We may witness a repeat of what happened in Bauchi State in 2007 if Mohammed is eventually made the candidate without Yuguda’s support. The opposition will gain from it just like it happened back then. PDP will lose because the leaders of the party here are opposed to all forms of external interference. We want to be able to choose who governs our state at all times,” Bala Abu Fari, a chieftain of the party said.

“Like every other outgoing Governor, Yuguda wants to to have a say in who becomes his successor but Muazu may not allow this as he sees the 2015 election as an opportunity to take control of affairs of both the party and the state once again. Their renewed rivalry is not healthy for the party. However, the people are behind the Governor because of the issues of imposition,” he added.

In spite of the widespread allegations of plots to impose candidates on the state chapters of the party in 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan continue to assure members of the PDP that the leadership of the party will not impose candidates ahead of the 2015 general election. He said members would be free to aspire to any position and test their popularities.

According to President Jonathan, who recently addressed the issue of imposition of candidates, the era of godfatherism and brazen imposition of candidates was over in the ruling party.

He also added that there was no room for dictatorship in the party any longer.

“PDP is not for a dictator because it encompasses all Nigerians irrespective of his or her status and also has members in every voting unit across the country. PDP is not for an individual, it is not for a dictator, there is no more godfatherism and no more imposition in the party.

“We will ensure this is in place in order to allow the people to enjoy the dividends of democracy. It is the people that matter in politics and not an individual because when you get into politics, you have to think of people who voted for you and not be thinking about yourself. If you are to get involved in politics, it is your people that matter, not yourself.

“To get involved in politics, you have to think about your people and not yourself. People who think about the people follow the people’s party and PDP is the only people’s party.

PDP is the party that even if you go outside Nigeria, you ask which the political parties you have in Nigeria are, you will say PDP and others because it is only in PDP that every polling unit, not just wards, that you have PDP members. We don’t have dictators in PDP. No more imposition, no more godfatherism,” the President said recently in Kwara State.

As the battle rages” within the ruling party, it is left to be seen if Mr. President will save the day by matching his rhetorics with action when the time to choose flag bearers of the party for the 2015 general elections across the country come. Then and only then would it be easy to say whether this is indeed a new era for the PDP.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

POLITICS

21

2015: Can PDP break Zamfara jinx?

•Yari

H

AVING been kept out of the control of the Government House in Gusau for 14 uninterrupted years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is poised to change the tide come 2015.

But can the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) break the jinx of its consistent electoral drubbing since the advent of democratic rule in 1999?

This is the big question on the lips of ordinary people and influential stakeholders in Zamfara State at the moment.

Out of the seven states in the North West geo-political zone, Zamfara has been the only state in the zone that the PDP has not succeeded in winning its governorship election since 1999.

But for the defection of two of its governors-Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano to the All Progressives Congress (APC) sometime last year, the PDP has remained the dominant party in the zone at least from 2007 till date.

Currently, the party calls the shots in Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina and Kebbi.

With the exception of Jigawa, Kebbi and Sokoto, which was ruled by the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (now APC) for eight years from 1999 to 2007, the PDP has held sway in Kaduna and Katsina since 1999.

As the 2015 general election draws nearer coupled with INEC’s announcement of election timetable, the political atmosphere of Zamfara politics has heightened, particularly with reference to the race to Gusau Government House.

Presently, three political parties and their aspirants are in hot contention for the governorship position.

The parties are the All Progressives Congress (APC), the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Since the 1999 general elections during which the candidate of the defunct All Peoples Party, Ahmed Sani Yerima defeated his PDP counterpart, Ambassador Mohammed Anka, the PDP has remained the whipping boy in the state’s governorship contests.

Notwithstanding the setback, the PDP returned to the drawing board determined to get its pound of flesh in the 2003 general elections.

But it suffered the same fate, with the APP renamed as All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) emerging victorious again.

In the election, the PDP candidate, Col. Bala Mande (rtd), who is a former Military Governor of Nasarawa State, lost to ANPP’s Ahmed Sani Yerima.

•Shinkafi

•Yerima

The battle for the political soul of Zamfara State is getting fiercier. Assistant Editor Remi Adelowo reports that the opposition Peoples Decmorcatic Party (PDP) is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to displace the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) The 2007 election was not any different.

Effectively taking advantage of his cult-like status in the State, Yerima successfully ensured that his then deputy, Mahmud Ali Shinkafi, defeated the PDP governorship candidate, Malam Yahaya Abdulkarim, who is a former governor of the old Sokoto State.

However, not long after he was sworn-in as governor, Shinkafi parted ways with his former boss and subsequently defected to the PDP in 2008.

Again, history repeated itself in the 2011 general elections as the Zamfara electorate defied the power of incumbency of Shinkafi and elected the ANPP candidate and current Governor, Abdul’aziz Yari, a close political associate of Yerima.

Prior to his election as governor, Yari was a member of the House of Representatives.

He, alongside Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, were the two members of the Lower House who became governors in 2007.

With the 2015 elections fast approaching, the major gladiators in Zamfara PDP are already scheming to test their strengths and popularity with the electorates again.

The Nation gathered that five governorship aspirants have emerged in the PDP. They include former Governor Shinkafi, Bello Mohammed Matawalle, a member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Sagir Hamidu, a retired Director of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) in Abuja, Alhaji Bashir Adamu, popularly known as Bashir IMAD and Engr. Ibrahim Shehu, a member of the House of Representatives recently defected from the APC to the PDP.

Except for the ex-National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, who has reportedly declared interest in the contest, no other person from the smaller political parties has indicated interest.

The APGA former scribe, who contested the same position in the 2011 elections on the platform of the party, has since flooded Gusau, the capital city of the state with his posters announcing that he was keen on realising his governorship ambition.

Shinkafi, who lost the exalted seat to his son in-law and incumbent governor, Abdul’aziz Yari in the 2011 polls, hails from Zamfara North Senatorial District.

Within the PDP, sources claim Yerima appears the aspirant to beat for the party’s governorship ticket. Part of his strength, it was gathered, is his political structure, which has remained intact in the past three years.

Also in strong contention is Matawalle, who hails from Zamfara West Senatorial Zone. The third term member of the National Assembly represents Bakura/Maradun Federal Constituency and is currently the Chairman, House Committee on Security and Intelligence.

Matawalle started politics by vying for the chairmanship of a local government. He also served for four years as Commissioner during the administration of Ahmed Sani Yerima.

Matawale joined the PDP following his loss of the defunct ANPP’s governorship ticket to the incumbent governor in 2011.

Factors for and against Matawalle One of the factors reportedly counting in his favour is his generosity in financing

“Again, history repeated itself in the 2011 general elections as the Zamfara electorate defied the power of incumbency of Shinkafi and elected the ANPP candidate and current Governor, Abdul’aziz Yari, a close political associate of Yerima. Prior to his election as governor, Yari was a member of the House of Representatives.”

activities of his party. But his major drawback is his lack of a formidable political structure to enable him put up a strong fight for his party’s ticket.

Other strong aspirants A philanthropist from Gusau Central Senatorial Zone, Alhaji Bashir Adamu, is also being mentioned in political circles as an aspirant to watch.

A big player in the oil and gas, transportation and real estate sectors, Adamu allegedly enjoys the support of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

Another aspirant from PDP is Eng. Ibrahim Shehu also from Gusau Central Senatorial District. A member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Information Computer Technology (ICT), Shehu was in APC before some irreconcilable differences he had with his former boss, Yerima, led to his defection to the PDP. Like Bashir Adamu, the major factor working in Shehu’s favour is the fact that the senatorial zone where he comes from, Gusau Central, has never produced the state governor since 1999.

A new breed politician, Alhaji Sagir Hamidu, who sources say is highly connected to PDP hierarchy, has been busy setting up structures across the Sstate to enable him actualise his governorship aspiration.

PDP’s new strategy An indication of the renewed determination of the PDP to win next year’s governorship election in Zamfara is the desire of the five PDP aspirants to work together following a recent meeting of their five campaign coordinators to harmonise their activities.

There are also reports of several other meetings convened in Kaduna and Abuja where the five PDP gubernatorial aspirants were alleged to come up with strategies on how to unseat Governor Abdul’aziz Yari in 2015.

A source said the PDP governorship aspirants have resolved to sink their differences and ambition to ensure that they are united behind whoever emerges the candidate of the party in 2015.

Despite all the schemings from PDP aspirants eyeing his seat, Governor Yari, according to sources, is confident of winning a second term next year.

Banking on his achievements so far, Yari’s confidence of retaining his exalted seat also stems from the fact that he still enjoys the confidence of his political mentor, Ahmed Sani Yerima, whose political influence in the State seems to be waxing stronger every passing day.

22

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

POLITICS

ORMER Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, is desperate to revive his political career by vying for a senatorial seat in 2015. But his popularity and current political permutations have pitched him against certain presidential forces.

His supporters could not wait. Even his promoters and godfathers were anxious. Just five days after his curious state pardon on March 12, 2013, campaign posters of former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, flooded the streets of Yenagoa, the capital. The retired Air Force officer, it emerged, will vie for the senatorial ticket of the Bayelsa Central District come 2015.

A little over a year later, the speculation remains rife.

Political observers believe the Amassoma-born politician will soon declare for the seat. They are of the opinion that the posters pasted way back in 2013 were to sound voters out and test the waters. To make matters worse, Alamieyeseigha has refused to comment on his ambition.

He has neither denied nor confirmed the speculation.

In a curious but weighty political calculation, the former governor had decided to keep mum. This, in itself, political analysts say, tells a lot about his moves.

He has chosen to enjoy the permutations, allowing him ample opportunities to gauge public opinion and sentiments.

Fiercely loved by his kinsmen, Alamieyeseigha, in the prime of his political career, was fondly referred to as the leader of the Ijaw nation. He was seen as the face of the region, a dogged fighter that could deliver federal attention to the Niger Delta. His impeachment by former President Olusegun Obasanjo-powered federal forces put paid to this dream.

When he was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced, he appeared to have been confined to permanent political solitude.

But the ebullient politician showed the fighter in him. In a clever manouvre reminiscent of the resurrection feat, Alamieyeseigha returned with a state pardon. Though widely criticised by Nigerians and the international community, the presidential pardon was packaged in a way that it couldn’t be jettisoned.

Presidential aides said the pardon was not the first.

Nothing was special about it, they argued. According to them, Alamieyeseigha was not the first politician to benefit from such largesse. The late Premier of the defunct Western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was pardoned by the Gen. Yakubu Gowon regime. The administration of Shehu Shagari pardoned Gowon and Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, who returned and immediately joined politics.

In 1999, the Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar regime pardoned Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was convicted and given a long prison sentence by the

Alamieyeseigha’s senatorial bid suffers setbacks Following reports of mounting opposition to his 2015 Senatorial ambition, efforts by former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, to revive his political career appear doomed, reports Sunday Oguntola

•Alamieyeseigha

Sani Abacha junta for treason.

Obasanjo emerged from prison to contest and win the 1999 presidential election, they pointed out. Even Obasanjo himself pardoned former Speaker Salihu Buhari. For political historians, the facts are incontestable, the circumstances strikingly similar.

Presidential pact Though the former governor has not openly declared his intention to contest the senatorial race, sources close to him said the ambition is alive. One of his aides, who spoke with our correspondent, said: “If you consider the political climate and his body language, you just know it is the perfect time for him to show up. He has packaged everything to come well this far and things are falling in line for this ambition for now.”

The aide pointed to an alleged pact between President Goodluck Jonathan and the senatorial hopeful to help his former benefactor regain relevance. According to the aide, President Jonathan has a commitment to ensure Alamieyeseigha is politically resurrected and rebranded for the next level. This, he confided, is why the state pardon was surreptitiously kept in the wraps until the last minute of the pronouncement.

The pardon over, he said, the next step is to mobilise resources to support the senatorial ambition. This, it was gathered, is why the ex-governor is participating at the National Conference in Abuja as an elder from Bayelsa. Investigations re-

•Paulker

vealed that the current occupant, Senator Emmanuel Izibefien, has been told to concede the seat to the former governor. It could not, however, be confirmed if the senator has agreed to such demand. The Alamieyeseigha’s camp believes their principal is more than eminently qualified for the seat, owing to his contributions to the Niger Delta as governor from 1999-2005.

A deal gone awry?

But checks revealed that the last few months have witnessed huge setbacks to the deal to return Alamieyeseigha to political relevance. Investigations revealed that political equations in the state has changed, placing the former Governor’s ambition on the hangers. The president’s camp, it was learnt, has reviewed his supports for key politicians in the state. The review, our correspondent learnt, was to ensure that office holders in the state do not become too independent of the president after he is re-elected.

This, sources said, was why the President withdrew his backing for Governor Seriake Dickson in favour of his Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa. His NGO, the New Dawn Initiative Development (NDID) has been gaining grounds in the state, enjoying wave-of-the-moment attention.

Like Dickson, Alamieyeseigha is caught in the web of intense power play in the state. Should they be elected in 2006 and 2015 re-

spectively, it is believed the governor and the ex-governor will be too powerful for the president to control. Without being in control of governance in his home state, presidential strategies are afraid Jonathan may become too exposed, much like what happened to former President Obasanjo in his first term.

Inside the plot to stop Alams It was gathered that presidential hawks have been instructed to work on the project to stop Alamieyeseigha come 2015 at all costs. The arrowhead, sources said, is the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. For Dickson, her objection is that he would become the first governor to earn a second term in the history of the state, a feat her husband could not achieve.

Jonathan was chosen as Vice President to the late President Musa Yar’Adua in 2007, making him unable to seek a second term in office.

For Alamieyeseigha, the First Lady believes his return to political relevance might rob President Jonathan of his status as the undisputed Niger Delta leader.

Dame Patience, sources in the know, said is wary of the largerthan-life stature of the former governor as well as his grassroots support.

Alamieyeseigha enjoys a cultlike leadership in Bayelsa despite his conviction. Ex-militants particularly consider him a father figure based on his agitations during the years of resource control struggle. They believe his return to political power automatically translates

to greater enjoyment for them.

His previous performances in office would make it easier for him to revive his political structures across the state, a development that might make him begin to flex muscles with President Jonathan and even Governor Dickson. This line of thought, sources said, was sold to the presidency by the governor’s camp to checkmate the reawakening influence of Alamieyeseigha. But the same line of thought is working against the governor’s interest too in Abuja.

A source said: “The First Lady suspects that Alamieyeseigha is already popular and grounded.

Should he stage a comeback, he might become the biggest Niger Delta politician despite the presidential powers Jonathan enjoys. That is why she believes Alam should be kept in the cooler for now until the President has consolidated his grip on power in the region and across the nation.

“That is why Alam’s might be sacrificed and his ambition suspended for now.

But should he be stubborn and decide to go on with the race, then there are plans on grounds to ensure he does not win. That will jostle him and bring him back to earth. That way, he will know who is really in charge.”

Neutralising Abuja forces The development, it was gathered, has put the former governor under serious pressure. Sources close to him said this is why he has not declared for the race. For him, going with the race without presidential clearance will pitch him against his benefactor and former godson, Jonathan. He is said to be desperate not to appear overtly ambitious or ungrateful to the Jonathan, who offered him a lifeline again through the presidential pardon.

“Honestly, he is at a crossroads for now. He wants to revive his political career but is careful not to offend the President, who pardoned him and bought him back from the dead,” an aide close to him hinted last week. He is said to be afraid that not joining the race early might work against him despite his popularity.

But he does not want to give the presidency any doubt as to his loyalty or swim against the tide. This was a vital lesson he learnt the last time he confronted federal fireworks in the Obasanjo’s years.

His camp has told him to keep lying low for now, it was learnt. This, it is gathered, is to enable them neutralise all the Abuja forces and gangups against him. Plans are afoot to send emissaries to the First Lady, whose opposition to the senatorial bid has become pronounced and public knowledge. Alamieyeseigha, sources said, is reaching out to traditional rulers to help convince Dame Patience of his “eternal gratitude and loyalty to the First Family regardless of political calculations”.

With the coasts uncleared, Alamieyeseigha’s bid to return to political relevance and the senate in 2015 remains in limbo. Only a dramatic turn in events, like the presidential pardon, could bring him back to reckoning.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

POLITICS

Ogun: Before we forget!

23

2015: Zealot(s) of no-faith and bigots on errand

By Dapo Thomas

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•Amosun

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HE pressure on governments in our country to document,dramatise, advertise and celebrate their achievements, no matter how modest or little, stems from the tendency of our people to easily and quickly forget the difference which such achievements have brought to their lives. Often, our people shake off the effects of what used to be and live what presently obtains as if the present condition has always been the norm.

The difference between the old times and the present situation easily pales into insignificance. The result is that governments at local, state or federal levels are tempted to spend significant time and resources to put on record what positive difference they have brought to the people. It is the era of what government information organs now call the ‘before and after’. Officials of these organs are constantly reminded, even by members of the public, of the need to ensure that they record what the old structure or situation is and place it side by side the new ones so that people can appreciate what the incumbent government has achieved.

While seeking to satisfy this demand for ‘before and after’, some governments end up spending more money than the cost of a new project to advertise or commission it. Perhaps, this is one of the prices we need to pay as our democracy trudges on into maturity stage. However, let me also use this medium to demonstrate how easy it is for our people to forget what used to be and live today as if there was never a yesterday. At several fora, the present government in my state led by Senator Ibikunle Amosun is often commended for its achievements in rebuilding the infrastructure, democratising access to education and returning quality to the sector, making the state an investors’ destination of choice, thereby creating employment opportunities, growing the internally generated revenue and aggressively creating new opportunities in the housing and urban development sector.

However, it usually baffles me how such commentators take for granted the efforts of the government in creating a safe, secure and conducive environment for people to live, do business and recreate. For those who know what obtained in Ogun State, particularly between 2006 and 2011, one of the remarkable achievements of the Amosun administration should be that it returned sanity to the state and ended the era where violence enjoyed of-

•Daniel

By Yusuph Olaniyonu ficial endorsement.

In the pre-Amosun Ogun State, violent crimes directed at people, their property and psyche was the order of the day.

Top government officials undisguisedly promoted and sponsored cult groups in higher institutions. People were openly attacked and a culture of silence was imposed on the people. The official name of the head of government was ‘the Lion’ and many of his key aides claim to be ‘tigers’, making deliberate attempt to spread fear among the people.

During those dark days, hit men were constantly recruited among cult groups on campuses in the state tertiary institutions, security agencies, unofficial security groups and others. It was then easy to buy guns in Ogun State as it was easy to buy cans of coca-cola. Many government officials could produce different brands of guns from their vehicles and they use them to terrorise innocent people at the slightest provocation.

Those who believe I am exaggerating should read the book by a senior official of that government and a close confidant of the then governor.

The author detailed series of violent events staged with official support. The doubting thomases should also check out the views of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, an army General and war veteran while speaking at the state’s Christmas Carol service held in Abeokuta on December 22, 2013. The former president, while stating that ‘things are getting better in Ogun State’, narrated how he often watched with dismay from his hilltop residence, how dead bodies were daily evacuated from the premises of the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, before the present administration came into office.

Though most of these violent activities were organised for political purposes - to silence the opposition and perpetuate the reigning tendency- they have serious economic implications for the state. The proliferation of guns and the official protection for criminals upped the rate of robbery across the state. It scared many indigenes away from home. The situation was so bad then. So bad, that banks located in some sections of Ogun State, particularly the eastern and western parts, refused to open to customers. They closed their doors after suffering several robbery attacks.

People were forced to come to the state capital for financial transactions. Many of such people ended up being robbed on their way back home.

So, what exactly did the present government do to change the situation? It used a combination of strategic deployment of

resources and official change of attitude.

The first thing the Amosun government did was to make heavy investment in security apparatus after a comprehensive need assessment made in collaboration with security agencies in the state. This resulted in the purchase of 13 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), over 200 Hilux vans equipped with communication equipment and supply of other necessary security gadgets to the security agencies.

The government secured the posting of more mobile policemen to the state and therefore formed a new anti-crime unit called Op-Mesa. A joint police-military patrol operations team was also created.

The anti-crime operation is being specially funded by the state government.

The government also launched a Security Trust Fund to create regular source of funding. The fund is headed by Col. Kayode Areh, a former Director General of the State Security Service (SSS).

Again, the government sent a clear signal that there will be no form of patronage for cultists or thugs in the state. So, whoever runs foul of the law will face the consequence of his or her temerity. More importantly, the government deliberately re-orientated the people and created a relaxed atmosphere across the state. Apart from the governor, deputy governor, speaker and maybe two other people, no other government official has any form of security arrangement around them. Top government officials submit themselves to general security arrangement as is available to other residents and visitors to the state.

Even the Governor drives himself around town and mingles with the ordinary folks as he daily inspects different on-going projects. Neither the Governor nor other officials is allowed to use siren.

All these symbolic representations have assured the people that it is a new dawn and the government is people-friendly.

Now, the opposition and other critics can freely express their opinions. It is now a contest of ideas and healthy exchange of words, no exchange of gun-shots. The state-owned media is now open to all political tendencies. The culture of violence and silence is dead. There is now an open, free and orderly society in Ogun Perhaps, before we forget, I should remind commentators on developments in Ogun State that it is not just about physical transformation. The sub-structure of the ongoing Mission to Rebuild our state is the safe environment created by the present government.

•Olaniyonu is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogun State.

HE opportunist of providence is on a revolt.

He is grizzling about another man’s fate with a no-faith declaration. His vantage point is the exalted throne of power that now intoxicates him. Frustrated by the deplumation of his authority to invest his own, our stuck-up personage leads a rebellion of hate against providence and its style.

He is making reflective enquiries that are subsumed in percipient undertone. The Chibok distraction has not hindered his campaign. His own focus is 2015.

Despite the limitation of his existence in power, he still wants to be cloned. He has suddenly become a zealot of no-faith in governance. Why do we have distinction in governance when we can have a man of distinction in government? he blurted at a function. Here is a man whose fate was resolved by his faith, yet he claims there is no faith in governance.

He claims he is the godfather because the man in power is his son. How come a father is plotting against his son with other rebels that are after his son? If he worships the real GOD, and not the iron god, why did he have to swear not to forgive a son he made? It is very strange. Stranger still was his adamant posturing.

Those who hear him speak of no-faith would think he believed in it. He is a galah hoodwinking people with his strange persona. It is a common character: our politicians’ doublespeak. They play Jekyll and Hyde for and at their convenience. They exploit our innocence and our constraint to fame.

They say nonsense and expect us to draw some sense from it, and, arrogantly, they call themselves men of example.

Raddled by the burden of power that has afflicted our subject with some grey contents, the blunder of assuming that there is a fountain of wisdom is feasible and visible. But this is not so: it is simply the swaggering of a parvenu. Now he has sufficient resource contents, procured with studied industry from our collective larder, to talk and act like a god.

Unworried about his common-knowledge empire of pride, our subject is now the emperor of words spitting fire on national discourse to invoke relevance in the twilight of his reign. There is something about power that is curious: it tyrannises the soul that is weak in fraternity. Man’s sojourn in the mansion of power—short or long—is mocked by the reality of life’s vanity.

The mathematics of his tenure is indisputable.

When a man climbs to the top with a ladder and decides to destroy the ladder, he is only facilitating his suicide from power. If he does not find a ladder to ease his drop, he may have to jump to aid his fall.

Now that he is almost like us, our friend is letting loose his dogs. They are wagging tails, barking threats and biting dust: the sick dogs. Men who lack fame and name; men who indulge in name-dropping; men with records of historical indignity; men who are troubled by character somersault; men who are blessed with depreciated rectitude; men who are sinking in questionable parentage; men who have diffident personality are the bigots. Better still, they are the dogs on errand that are ruining our society.

These are the bigots on errand. Our man must win again. He deserves another term. Forget about the abduction of the 200 plus something Chibok girls.

Life must go on. The vehicle of life is constantly on the move. It waits for no one. If they like, let them sing “Bring Back Our Girls” till eternity, the search for power must go on. Who else can run this country better than me? I am tested and trusted. I am the Messiah.

The dogs are on the prowl looking for whom to devour. Oh , famished things. Always hungry. Always barking. Always biting. Helpless things! Hopeless things! These are special dogs re-animated by pecuniary bait to bite the fingers that fed them.

These are the here(rats) and there(birds) dogs running helter and skelter to protect their shelter. How can the society progress when these dishonourable dogs are destroying our treasure of honour and removing the wheels of progress? Who expects dogs to have dignity? Yes, we expect dogs to lack integrity.

The Confab in Abuja needs to fix these dogs, otherwise they labour in vain that build the house.

These dogs are the major problems. They are all over.

They ruin the system: they destroy the values; they violate the laws and cover up the evils of their masters. They are dogs whose past has destroyed our present. They are dogs whose present is threaten•Continued on Page 24

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

POLITICS

24

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HE tenure of Governor Jonah David Jang as governor of Plateau State will come to an end on the 29th of May 2015. Jang became governor of the state in 2007 when he succeeded Chief Joshua Dariye.

As a build up to the change of leadership, political horsetrading has begun in earnest.

Plateau politicians are beginning to scheme against one another so as to realise their individual and collective interests in the affairs of the state. Though Gov Jang will not contest again, he is not ready to let go the party structure, or allow other politicians to play the game. He is still battling others so as to remain relevant when he is out of office.

At the early stage of the build-up towards 2015 general election, two major political camps have been identified as major players in the political game. The groups are Plateau politicians that are based in Abuja and the group of politicians loyal to Gov Jang and are based in the state.

The political group operating from Abuja is led by former governor of the state, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun. While the Plateau-based group of politicians is led by Gov Jang himself.

The Abuja-based Plateau politicians comprises prominent politicians like former governor of the state, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun, former deputy governor of the state, Dame Pauline Tallen, Senator Joshua Dariye, Senator Timothy Adudu, Arch. John Alkali, etc.

The Plateau-based politicians include Gov Jonah Jang and all his political appointees, including the deputy governor, Ambas Ignatius Longjan, the secretary to the state government, Prof Shedrack Best, state PDP chairman, Dr. Haruna Dabin, local government chairmen as well as politicians loyal to the government of Gov Jang.

Among the home-based politicians too are people like Hezechiah Dimka, a retired police commissioner who is back home for politics. There is also Prof Longmas Wapmuk who is about to retire as the Chief Executive of Industrial Training Fund (ITF).

These two political camps, as influential as they are, have succeeded in polarising the entire state. Citizens of the state have deliberately or ignorantly found themselves aligning their interests with either of these two political camps. It is obvious that the next governor of the state must come from one of these two

•Jang

•Dariye

Plateau 2015: Jang battles Abuja-based politicians Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State is up in arms against prominent politicians as the 2015 governoship contest in the state gather momentum, writes Yusuf Aminu Idegu camps as it has been the trend since 1979.

The emergence of these home-based against Abujabased political groups as determinant of political power in Plateau State became outstanding since the beginning of the current democratic dispensation in 1999. As soon as Joshua Dariye became governor in 1999, those crops of politicians who lost out in the political contest converted themselves to opposition party.

Sooner or later, most members of such opposition group will find the state so hot for comfort and they will relocate to Abuja from where they will be secured to play active opposition roll.

During any election, these Abuja-based politicians often come home to sponsor one of their own in an effort to wrest power from the incumbent.

The same scenario is currently playing out in the build up towards 2015 governorship election in the state. The battle between the incumbent Gov Jang and the Abuja-based politicians is steaming up. Those from Abuja like the second civilian governor of Plateau State, Sir

Fidelis Tapgun, former deputy governor, Dame Pauline Tallen, former deputy senate president, Nasiru Ibrahim Mantu, and their likes are already battling to become relevant in the state, come 2015.

Interestingly, both political camps look up to the central seat of power in Abuja for support to achieve their ambition. Both groups are seeking recognition and endorsement of Aso Rock (presidency) and Wadata House (PDP national secretariat).

The political scheming for 2015 among the two groups of politicians started in 2011.

According to Sir Fidelis Tapgun: “Due to the government of exclusion of Gov Jang, we went into opposition party on protest, and I was ready to return to the party, I followed the due process laid down by the party. I went back to my ward level in Shendam to re-register, I was accepted there.

I then proceeded to the local government level of the party to formalise my membership and I was welcomed and I completed the necessary processes. But coming to the state level of the party, I

handed over my particulars which I obtained from the ward and local government to the state party chairman for registration.

The state chairman, Dr. Haruna Dabin, said he needed to do some consultations before approving my request and asked me to give him time as he promised to get back to me. But it has been two years after, he has not communicated to me as to whether I have been registered or not.”

Though Tapgun and his likes were rejected at home, they were accommodated by the national secretariat of the party and they have been serving the party in various capacities.

The two political blocks from Plateau have not only polarised citizens of the state, they have got the mind of President Jonathan divided. They have also sharply divided members of the national working committee of the party.

The presidency is already troubled on the request by the group of Fidelis Tapgun to formally return as members of the PDP, a move that has been countered vehemently by. Gov Jang.

Tapgun’s group in Abuja has been able to convince the presi-

dent that their formal return to the party will boost his presidential bid in 2015. But Gov Jang warned the presidency and the national chairman of PDP of the danger of accepting them back into the Plateau State chapter of the party.

A source close to the national secretariat of the party revealed that the national chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu, has made a move to organise a reception in Jos where the former members will be formally received back into the party. Jang was also said to have opposed the move, insisting that the constitution of the party has no room for such members who left at a point to work against the interest of the party. Jang insisted that their coming back into the party seems selfish and if they fail to achieve their selfish desire, they would create serious problems for the party as they did in 2011.

But according to Tapgun, “Gov Jang himself had left the PDP to contest governorship of the state on the platform of the ANPP when he lost in the primary election to Dariye. Gov Jang had contested the governorship position on the platform of the ANPP in 2003. It was former President Obasanjo that smuggled Jang back into the party when Dariye was suspended during the state of emergency in 2004 to contest the governorship. So, Jang has become a saint today to preach against who left the party in protest and wish to return. Is this not funny?” he asked.

However, the presidency and the national working committee of PDP are being cautious in the handling of the crisis so as not to jeopardise the chance of the ruling party in 2015. The national chairman of PDP believes that the party needs everyone on board to work for the success of the party in the 2015 presidential election. But Gov Jang stood his ground, insisting that the Tapgun group has no political value in Plateau State.

Jang is quoted to have said that “Anyone interested in my seat must show loyalty to me, that is the only way you will get my support. But of you if think you can ignore me and get it, you are wasting your time.”

On the other hand, the Abuja-based politicians have Fidelis Tapgun as their joker.

Tapgun is seen as possessing a huge experience having served as second elected governor of the state after Solomon Lar. Evidently, both Longjan and Tapgun are from southern plateau which most plateau citizens believe is the zone to produce the next governor for the state.

2015: Zealot(s) of no-faith and bigots on errand •Continued from Page 23

ing our future. They are dogs chained and embroiled in eternal morass. Regularly, they mope in the seclusion of their individuality convicted by the pressure on their conscience as to the innocence of their victims.

Every day we ask ourselves in our moments of reflection why our country is not moving forward. The evils of these dogs and their masters have overwhelmed

the mobility of the society.

When good men are persecuted for their progress-friendliness, is it the evil men that will prosecute the imperatives of progress? Until all evil consciences are tortured to submission, no amount of transformative agenda can engender peace and progress for our nation. It is sickening and revolting that since 1960 these dogs have been allowed to flourish and function with impunity. We have allowed them to activate their

mercantilist ventures to a level we can no longer control.

Though it is puzzling that we have dogs who seek survival and prosperity through image assassination and physical damage, our vanishing, and diminishing values are too weak to sustain this moral prognosis.

Abstracted for days on the falsehoods and untruths that permeate our national life and our desperation to survive at all cost not minding what effect it has on fellow human beings, I

chuckle at the celerity at which morality is receding in our public space. Dogs, as earlier stated, consider morality secondary in order of survival strategy. But how can a man enjoy the wealth that is a burden on his conscience? Which man on earth can survive the trauma and the prosecution of a troubled conscience?

The conspiracy between the zealots and the bigots portends an enduring danger to the survival of the society and its sys-

tem. Until we decree a dysfunction into their midst, and demobilise their organised tyranny, this nation cannot move forward. If we cannot subdue the zealots because of their exalted position and influence in the society, we can at least deal with the bigots by cutting their warped tongues and extracting their teeth of greed. Dogs are less dangerous when they are made impotent in all functional departments.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

POLITICS

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Ondo: Disquiet as lawmakers, party chieftains allege victimisation

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RISIS is looming within the ruling party in Ondo State over alleged plot by the government and leadership of the Labour Party (LP) to deal with lawmakers and other chieftains of the party suspected to be critical of the administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

Although there has been indications that all is not well between the Governor and some chieftains of the party for a while now, the latest pointer to the fact that the party may be set to witness a serious internal crisis is the dissolution of the House Committees by the new Speaker of the State House of Assembly,Princess Jumoke Akindele shortly after her election last week Tuesday.

Sources within the party say the action has been interpreted as a move by the Governor and his cohorts to pay some lawmakers who refused to toe the same line with the governor over party and government decisions, back in their own coins.

Already, the ‘G92 lawmakers who voted for Mr Oyebo Aladetan against the new Speaker, Princess Jumoke Akindele, who is widely believed to be Governor Mimiko’s candidate for the position, have gone to town with allegations that they are being targeted for victimisation.

“The situation in the party now is that some people are saying the dissolution of House committees is the first step in a plot that will see lawmakers who opposed the Governor’s choice being removed from choice positions.

It is the first step before the more serious punishment of denying many of them return tickets to the House in 2015. This is why they are alleging that they are being targeted .

Many of them who before now are in juicy committees like Cash Allocation,Finance & Appropriation,Tender,Works,and Human Capital Committees may be removed to pave way for the “loyal” members as ordered from above,” our source claimed.

The loyal members are those who supported Mimiko’s decisions. They include those who voted for Akindele and those who were present at the controversial budget presentation earlier in the year. Those to be dealt with, according to sources are those who supported Aladetan’s decision to contest the Speakership in spite of instructions by the Governor and the party leadership that he shouldn’t.

Also said to be on the list of “offenders” are the unrepentant ones among lawmakers who boycotted the budget presentation. While a good number of those who were absent at the presentation have apologised to the governor, a few are still insisting that the presentation was illegally done.

“These are lawmakers whose hope of returning to the Assembly on the platform of the ruling party are already sealed. Of course, they will be denied return tickets. Of course, they will not get good positions whenever the House committees are reconstituted.

They know all these too and they are ready for the looming showdown.

Knowing many of them for what they are, it is unlikely that they will go down without a fight. Also, many of them are being punished because of disagreements between the Ggovernor and their perceived godfathers or leaders. such godfathers and leaders too are expected to rise in defense of their wards.

The situation is such that a serious internal crisis may rock the ruling party soon. Unless some sort of miracle happens soon, these gladiators may throw the party up in flames,” a source, who is an official of the party in Ilaje Ese-

Intrigues continue to trail the emergence of new leadership at the Ondo State House of Assembly. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan reports that Governor Olusegun Mimiko and some aggrieved lawmaker are now on war path

• Mimiko

• Akindele

Odo L.G.A, said.

The Nation also learnt that G9 lawmakers in the House have rejected efforts by some concerned stakeholders in the party to call for reconciliation after the election of the new speaker. One of the G9 members said “We are awaiting the announcement of the new House committee members. It is then we will know whether there will be reconciliation among lawmakers in the parliament or not.

“We are heavyweights in our own rights. we are no push- over at all. The new leadership must realise that first for any peace move to be meaningful and effective here. They may have the backing of whoever and whatever, but the business of lawmaking cannot be influenced that easily. We will all be here to see to that.”

The Nation also leant that the process leading to the emergence of Akindele has also pitched the Governor against some prominent leaders of the party who had opposed her choice. “These leaders directed their representatives in the House to vote against her choice. They also backed the decision of Aladetan to contest the position.

Now, these leaders and the governor are not on the same wave length within the party. It is expected that the development may have created unnecessary rivalry between them. Now, every action of the Governor is being interpreted as targeted against these leaders,” a source said.

Akindele’s election followed the death of the former speaker, the late Samuel Ajayi Adesina, who died in February after a protracted illness. Following his death, in spite of an agreement that the post should be retained in the southern senatorial district of the state since the governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, is from the central senatorial district, and his deputy, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, is from the northern senatorial district of the state, various camps emerged to canvas for dif-

ferent candidates for the job.

Of all the eight LP members from the southern district, only Oyebo Aladetan from Ilaje State Constituency I and Victor Akinwe from Odigbo State Constituency I are second term legislators. Consequently, many had thought the contest would be between the duo as ranking lawmakers. But Mimiko and the party leadership allegedly backed Akindele for the job in spite of her status as a first term legislator.

And while Akinwe chose to abide by the decision of the Governor, Aladetan, backed by the G9 lawmakers and some prominent party chieftains, decided to go all the way and contest the election against Akindele. Although this was on many occasions denied by the spokespersons of the governor and the government, it soon became public knowledge that the Mimiko administration would rather have Akindele as against Aladetan as speaker.

The new speaker’s unalloyed loyalty to the Governor and the party is believed to have worked strongly in her favor to clinch the job. Also, some analysts say the decision of the governor to ensure that no critic of the government emerge as the speaker worked against Aladetan, who is seen as too independent -minded.

Also while Akindele is a foundation member of the LP, Aladetan, who is a prince of Ugbo kingdom, the oil -producing community of the state, joined the LP from the PDP. He was first elected into the house on the platform of the PDP in 2007 but defected to the LP towards the end of his first term on the seat and was able to secure the ticket of the LP to run for another term.

Of note is also Aladetan’s role in the crisis of the presentation of the 2014 appropriation bill by Mimiko before the house. He was one of those that stayed away on December 31, 2013 when the bill was presented. It is believed Governor Mimiko and the party are yet to forgive

the offending lawmakers for that singular act.

A source told The Nation on Akindele’s emergence that “She is a loyal party member. As a foundation member of the party, she has always supported the government and the party. She is somebody that is so passionate about whatever she believes in and she is not one to unnecessarily rock the boat. She is reliable and dependable. There is no doubt that her emergence will bring stability the house.”

This is not the first time the unity of the ruling party would be threatened by rift between the governor and the lawmakers. In November 2012, tension rose between the leadership of Ondo State House of Assembly and the executive over the sack of nine local government caretaker chairmen in the state. The council chairmen were removed from office for their refusal to submit staff audit in their councils, and other related offences.

But Mimiko, apparently unhappy with the state legislators’ decision, condemned the action of the State Assembly for sacking the former council bosses. At a meeting summoned by an aide of the governor, the new caretaker chairmen were allegedly ordered not to resume office until Mimiko returns from his overseas trip.

Aladetan, who was at the time, the Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Information, , said the House took the decision in accordance with the nation’s constitution. He said the decision to sanction the council bosses was taken to put them on their toes and make them accountable to the people.

However, one of the sacked Chairmen, Femi Ofakurin, said the decision of the House was not taken in good fate.

The crisis was eventually resolved following interventions by party chieftains and elder statesmen, including the national leadership of the party.

But by December 2013, 17 out of the 26 lawmakers elected into the Ondo State House of Assembly, shunned Mimiko’s 2014 budget presentation, sending signal of another breakdown in the relationship between the governor and the lawmakers. Only nine lawmakers were present at the Assembly.

It was gathered that majority of the lawmakers who shunned the presentation did so out of grudge, particularly over what they described as poor implementation of the 2013 budget.

The minority leader, Akpoebi Lubi, did not hide his feelings over the crisis. He rated the 2013 budget implementation in the state as 30 percent.

He added that the House rejected the governor’s request for a review of the 2013 budget in December. Lubi said, “The budget presentation ceremony was illegal,” submitting that the governor needed a two-third majority of the members of the House to present the budget.

The state Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, while reacting to the charge back then, said the budget represented the hope for the development of Ondo State and its people.

He argued that the people could not be kept waiting and their yearnings threatened by any form of politics. According to him, there was no need to overheat the polity, because the governor was in a hurry to deliver projects that would transform the lives of the people.

Akinmade explained that the seeming conflict would certainly be resolved, but the state would need stability for robust politics. Somehow, the issue was resolved and the party appeared to have returned to its peaceful ways until the recent standoff reared its head, threatening to tear the ruling party apart.

26 POLITICS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

Audu declines interest in Presidency in dilemma over Chime, Ekweremadu Kogi 2015

ripples

•Audu

•Chime

Still on Ogun LP crisis

•Ekweremadu

•Daniel

Ohakim, Ihedioha battle for Imo PDP ticket

Clock ticks for Madueke?

•Ohakim •Ihedioha •Madueke

Pressure on Bagudu to contest Kebbi governorship

Kano 2015: Shekarau backs former aide

I

ntense pressure is being exerted on the Senator representing Kebbi Central in the National Assembly, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, to contest the governorship seat of his home state, Ripples have gathered. A close associate of the Abacha family, Bagudu, who won the bye-election into the Senate following the appointment of Alhaji Adamu Aliero as the Minister of the Fdederal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2008, is said to be considering throwing his hat into the ring in the race to succeed the incumbent governor, Saidu Dakingari, whose second term in office ends next year.

•Bagudu •Shekarau

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

53

What AFRIFF can do for Nigerian film industry 窶適eith Shiri

ENTERTAINMENT

55

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

ETCETERA

56

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

Nigeria: 2014 The writer once more invites the reader to chew topical 2014 issues as food for thought.

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

•Continued from last week THE POLICE: ‘your friend’; your fiend. The task of turning the police into a true ‘friend’ of the public continues to defy recommendation and solution as highlighted by a retired top cop. Bad eggs are either recruited or good eggs corrupted by the system. As evidence, and in defiance of more humane and scientific policing, ‘the men in black’ regularly resort to mass arrests and elimination of initial suspects before a convenient ‘conversion’ of the rest to criminal status. Which is more dreadful: ‘the masked marauder’ or ‘the man in black’? Hard to tell, away from the public, in dark corners or at notorious police stations where the innocent or the accused attracts the ‘condemned criminal’ treatment and the luckless criminal meets swift and crude judgment.

As many a citizen knows, the police are hardly your friend. Throw in regular allegations of battery, rape and crass incompetence and the image of a soiled force could not be more complete. In addition to the perils of modern life, meanwhile, pedestrians and motorists ply the streets in constant fear of copping a stray bullet or two from security agents incensed by ‘dissent’ over gratification or method. There is little to suggest, therefore, that the ‘top prize’ perennially awarded the country for human rights abuse by international nongovernmental organisations would not be soon ‘earned’ for keeps.

Security: militants; terrorists. The government erred in the first place by bombarding the swamps and counting collateral damage as by-product of the confrontation between the Joint Task Force (JTF) and militants. Diplomacy, thorough military investigation and prosecution of offenders would have yielded a more lasting solution to the insurgency than open warfare. With the same procedure rehashed against fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram and its reprehensible offshoots as a matter of course, a significant portion of the common wealth seem destined for the pockets of a brazen few in the name of amnesty. For a leadership liable to slumber in place of diligence, AK 47s and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) command more attention than strident advocacy on societal ills. As the marauders raise the stakes through arson, bombing, looting and spiriting of innocent schoolgirls to the dreaded Sambisa Forest, the government beats around the bush: to negotiate or not to negotiate? Despite the refrain ‘Security is under control’ or ‘We’re on top of the situation’, the government looks nonplussed, foreign help sound cagey and citizens appear helpless. As undercurrent, meanwhile, roils a vicious cycle of opposition: south-based hostility to a northern president followed by north-based resistance to a southern president and so on.

3, 000 megawatts: 6, 000; 10, 000. The government’s everlasting wish for a power-starved population is scarcely backed by sincerity of purpose and efficiency of methods. Not content with defrauding the intellect of Nigerians year upon year, it promises a new delivery date for 6, 000 or 10, 000 megawatts of electricity every year – a primitive target compared to South Africa which at about a third of Nigeria’s population generates roughly 10 times more electricity. At the sound of each undertaking, though, citizens scoff, choosing the less disappointing option of dealing with immediate variables by sinking wells for water and maintaining generating sets for power to neutralise the plus or minus 3, 000 megawatts ‘curse’.

ASUU; ASUP: ASAP. The government may have settled the last protracted dispute with the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) but long-term reprieve depends on sincerity from both sides in fulfilling terms of the bargain as well as better handling of a longer-running strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP). As welfare and opportunities for development of manpower and infrastructure in the ivory tower remain essential for learning, the government should stem future crises by resolving current discontent ASAP (as soon as possible).

Eagles: AFCON; World Cup? Here comes the best chance of reaching a peak of national fulfillment reminiscent of Nigeria’s 2013 Africa Nations Cup triumph in South Africa. As many probably observed while the tournament lasted, weak leadership and societal malaise diminished in effect as national pride swelled. For a perplexed government forever dogged by the challenge of good governance, a reason to celebrate sports prowess is invitation to coast blameless for a while. A Brazil 2014 World Cup wish, anyone?

•Concluded

Jokes Humour Big Trouble WILLIAM was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really mad, and she said, “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds and it better be there!”

The next morning William got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought the box back in the house.

She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

William has been missing since Friday.

Wise Ones •TWO cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other, “Does this taste funny to you?”

•Police arrested two strange men yesterday.

One was taking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other one off.

•Susan got home, and the phone rang. She picked it up and said, “Who’s speaking

please?” A voice said, “You are.”

•A lorry full of tortoises collided with a van full of funiture. It was a ‘turtle disaster’.

•Mark was reading the book, The History of Glue. He couldn’t put it down.

•Mathew phoned the local ramblers club, but the receptionist who answered just went on and on.

•The recruitment consultant asked, ‘What do you think of voluntary work?

Kologba said, “I wouldn’t do it if you paid me.”

•A woman phoned the local gym and asked if they could teach her how to do the somersault.

The director said, “How flexible are you?”

She said, “I can’t make Tuesdays or Thursdays.”

•A man went to the local video shop and said, “Can I borrow the film Forever Young?”

The attendant said, “No, you’ll have to bring it back tomorrow”.

QUOTE

Happiness is a direction, not a place.

—Sydney J. Harris •Adapted from the Internet

Writer ’s Fountain IPS for great writing: So get writing. Don’t be afraid that your Write for its sake. Write to let the story draft might be bad. Nearly all good writing in you out, and if you get paid, well, take the begins with terrible first efforts. You need to money and celebrate the feat. Be warned start somewhere. Start by getting something though: writing hardly comes easily. It takes down on paper. a lot of mental energy, strains your working Ditch clichés. memory and makes you feel vulnerable if you If only it were easy to write. Clichés and try to be open and honest in your work. well-worn expressions surround us, and it is Writing is hard enough; add the burden of surprisingly hard to avoid using them. putting your work out in public and letting Clichés dominate spoken and written others judge it, and you may never start at all. language. Because we hear them all the time, The trick to overcoming this is not easy, they become the first phrases that come to but it is effective: give yourself permission to mind. Since clichés are the phrases that strike write badly in the beginning. At the start, our eardrums uncountable times, we either do most writers, even those whose prose end up not associate them with particular ideas and being the most natural and fluid, often products, or we associate many products and experience some form of drudgery. ideas with a particular cliché.

The fact that clichés are so common that you Da Vinci decoded: can attach them to any idea makes them •Leonard da Vinci, the creator, could write ineffective. This in turn informs how we with one hand and draw with the other at assimilate words and phrases in reading. The the same time. more familiar a term or phrase appears, the •He invented the scissors, the helicopter, more often we skip it as we read, rendering it and many other present day items. ineffective.

•He also made sketches of a tracked The best way to avoid this problem is to use armored vehicle to be used as an offensive different language to explain familiar weapon. It was pedal powered. concepts.

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57

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

Microfinance banks: Swimming against the tide Page 58, 59

•Adisa

‘Our mission is to play in advertising’s premier league’ Page 60

-- Page 53

SEC Nigeria intervenes in ETI’s alleged breach Page 62

•Oteh

NEPC spends N40m on export commodities annually

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HE Nigeria Export Promotion Council NEPC had so far spent over N40,000million on export products by increasing the quantity, while improving on the quality of sesame seed and sheabutter produced for export, which is outside its 35% counterpart funding.

This contribution is to cater for areas not covered by the initial project estimate, which include for advocacy visits to participating states, building model shelters in Saki, publicity and awareness creation, delivery of fabrication equipment, sustainability of activities.

The Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer, NEPC Barr.

From: Franca Ochigbo, Abuja Olusegun Awolowo disclosed this at the final workshop to round off the Standard and Trade Development Facility STDF in Abuja, maintaining that the focus is on expanding Nigerians export of sesame seed and sheabutter through improved sanitary and phytosanitary capacity building for public abd private sector.

He said, "The council had embarked on series of activities to increase the quantity and improve on the quality of sesame seed and sheabutter produced for export.

"Between 2010-2013, the NEPC in collaboration with its technical partner,

the National cerael Research Institute NCRI and the National Sesme seed of Nigeria NSSAN conducted training in about 10 states forvover 2,000 sesanevseed farmers.

"The objective of the training was to incrase yeild through improved propagation techniques andvalsi corresponding increase in quality.

"In 2012, the NEPC trained 600 sheabutter women processorsbin tgreevstates, namely Oyo, Kebbi and Kwara states.

The training was geared at building capacity of the women processors and also to enhance their competitiveness through improvement in the quality of sheabutterproduced for export. "

Speaking, Director Product Development Department, Project coordinator, Henry Otowo said the project STDF has been ongoing since 2010, it is located in eight states,nfour in sesame seed producing state of Kogi, Benu, Taraba and Borno and other four in sheabutter producing states of Oyo, Kwara, Niger and Kebbi. This projects have recorded widely acclaimed success in implementation.

Enormous resources have been committed to the project implementation by the NEPC, spending double its statutory contribution. Efforts that has gone into ensuring successful implementation cannot be estimated.

Court jails two exbankers for 43yrs

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USTICE Dije Abdu Aboki of the Kano State High Court has convicted and sentenced Bright Evobai and Okechukwu Okolo, former employees of the Intercontinental Bank Plc (now Access Bank), to 43 years imprisonment for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretence and forgery.

They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on November 27, 2012 on an eight count charge.

The convicts were alleged to have conspired and defrauded the bank to the tune of N9.7 million by allegedly using stolen letterhead paper belonging to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano and forged the signatures of four designated signatories including one of their superiors at the bank, to siphon fund from the hospital's fixed deposit account.

In an attempt to cover their track, they allegedly distributed the proceeds of their crime into five different accounts within the branch.

They both pleaded not guilty upon arraignment and in the course of trial, the prosecution called five witnesses to prove its case.

Justice Aboki, in his ruling, found them guilty as charged and sentenced both to seven years imprisonment on counts 1,2,3,4,5,6 with no option of fine while the convicts are to serve six months imprisonment each, on count seven and eight with an option N50,000 and N20, 000 fine respectively.

FBNCapital shines at EMEA Awards

F

• From left: Chief Legal Counsel, Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs Laoye Denike; Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Jibril Aku; Head Teacher, C&S Primary School 11, Majidun Ikorodu, Mrs Olabode Olasunbo Kudirat, with some pupils of the school, at the handover of block of classrooms renovated by Ecobank to the school authority.

Nigeria has no substandard cement-Stakeholders

S

TAKEHOLDERS in the cement sector have said Nigeria has no substandard cement in the market. This was part of the communiqué issued at a one-day roundtable discussion on Sensitisation, Grades and Usages of Cement in Nigeria held in Abuja.

The roundtable discussion was organised by NGO Network, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO)

in collaboration with the Standards Awareness Group (SAG), aimed at ensuring standards in cement production in Nigeria.

The event had in attendance major players in the Nigerian cement and construction sector and key regulatory bodies including Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Consumer

Protection Council (CPC), and Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI).

They all agreed that incidents of building collapse in Nigeria are caused by the use of substandard building materials and poor application of cement by unprofessional builders.

The Communiqué which was signed by Mohammed BougeiAttah, Project

Coordinator, NGO Network and member, National Technical Committee on Standards reads: "There are established scientific facts and findings that we have no sub-standard cements produced in Nigeria.

"The causes of building collapse in Nigeria are attributed to wrong applications of cement, low level manpower, lack of professionalism, faulty designs, among others.”

BN Capital Limited has again been acknowledged by EMEA Finance Magazine for its remarkable efforts in the successful financing of projects in the Oil & Gas and Telecommunications industries.

At an award ceremony which took place at The Law Society's Common Room London, England, recently, FBN Capital Limited received awards for Best Project Finance Deal in Africa, Best Restructuring in Africa and Best Telecoms Deal in Africa for their projects with EMTS (Etisalat), while also winning the award for Best Energy Infrastructure Deal in Africa for the financing of East Horizon Gas Company's pipeline construction.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Director and Head, Debt Solutions, FBN Capital, Mr. Patrick Mgbenwelu said, "We are very pleased to have received this award. It serves as further testament to our commitment not only to creating value for our clients, but also setting the industry standards with regards to and structured financings in Nigeria."

Mr. Mgbenwelu also received the award of Dealmaker of the Year, making him the first person to win the inaugural award.

FBN Capital was the Joint Financial Adviser, along with Citibank, to Etisalat's US$1.2bn loan facility to fund the company's network rollout. The deal is noteworthy in that it also received the Africa Investor Infrastructure Investment Award in May is evidence of its outstanding nature among industry watchers.

East Horizon Gas Company Limited (EHGCL) secureda debt financing of N10 billion through FBN Capital with the intention of constructing and operating an 18-inch, 128 km gas pipeline that connects with the Obigbo-Alscon pipeline at Ukanafun to supply gas to an industrial off taker located in Mfamosing, Cross River State, and to meet the needs of other industrial users in the Calabar region.

The Managing Director of FBN Capital, Mr. KayodeAkinkugbe, expressed satisfaction on the awards stating: "At FBN Capital we are dedicated to raising the bar when it comes to excellence in delivery, and these awards are a clear demonstration of our unrivalled capability and the dependable pedigree in our business. We believe in attracting and nurturing the best talent that the industry has to offer and these awards reflect not only the results but the people behind our successes, which say a lot about our standards and our capacity to consistently deliver."

These awards come in addition to other awards won in 2013, including Best Local Investment Bank in Nigeria from EMEA Finance Magazine, and Best Investment Bank in Nigeria at the World Finance Banking Awards.

58

BUSINESS

On the back of the revocation of 83 microfinance banks' licences by the former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Bukola Afolabi takes a look at the state of microfinance banks.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

EFORE he left the saddle of the Central Bank o0f Nigeria (CBN), the immediate former governor of the bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, approved the liquidation of 83 licensed microfinance banks in the country.

This followed the non performance of these banks.

According to Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, some of the banks “only existed on paper while some are used to defraud Nigerians.�

This is not the first time performances of microfinance banks would be put into question.

It would be recalled that during military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, he established what was then known as the Community Bank with the aim of helping to finance small scale businesses.

However, many Nigerians had their money trapped in these banks when they folded up as they were used by the operators to defraud Nigerians of their hard-earned money. With the establishment of microfinance banks, it was expected that the failure of the community banks would be corrected.

It sad to say such has not been the case with the liquidation of 83 of these banks. Before their liquidation, Nigeria could boast of 900 microfinance banks operating in the country, a number that has now been reduced.

While explaining how Nigerians' money in these banks would be refunded, Ibrahim said plans have been made on how to determine the number of depositors and how to refund their money.

"Some assets of the banks will also be sold. There is no doubt that the operations of some of the microfinance banks have become epileptic," he said.

Apart from the 83 liquidated banks, the CBN also mandated another 600 microfinance banks to merge within the next few months, failure of which would also result in their operations being closed down.

With this latest development, concerns have been raised about the survival of the remaining microfinance scheme, whether it would go the way of the failed People's Bank. Financial experts are also worried on the habitual collapse of microfinance houses in the Nigeria economy.

In one of her past comments on the issue, the Managing Director of the First Bank Micro Finance Bank (FBNMFB), which is a subsidiary of the First Bank Plc, Pauline Nsa, had attributed the failure of these banks to lack of development and professionalism. She was of the opinion that many are run like personal businesses by the operators, with no feelings of responsibility to the customers.

"When the microfinance policy guideline was launched in 2005, the CBN directed the defunct community banks to convert to microfinance banks. At the time this policy came out, many of the community banks were already on the verge of collapse because they were not doing too well.

What many of them simply did was to raise fresh capital to convert to MFB. Before they changed, what needed to be put in place in terms of development of the industry and building capacities were not done. All they did was to raise capital to embark on the newly introduced MFB. Issues like training and how to run the operations of the new MFBs were not done," she had said.

She added, "What then happened was that the fresh funds, which the operators of community banks raised to embrace MFBs, also went the same way their funds in community banks did. A lot of them had their capital funds eroded by bad loans.

They operated along the same old line they did when they were community banks. They ran their activities like commercial banks instead of facing those individual customers in the small businesses. However, though many of them failed, some also survived and those that did are still offering services to their clients even till now. Also, a set of new ones has come on board. Also the CBN, in an attempt to boost the growth of the SMEs and microfinance banks, has taken giant strides by initiating some schemes and programmes including the N200 billion funds.

We believe that these new ones will learn from the mistakes of those that failed and then do better businesses to ensure survival."

She had also lamented failure of the operators of the bank to adhere strictly to the guidelines regulating the operations of microfinance houses.

"Basically, the reason the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced MFBs was to create opportunity for micro entrepreneur, especially the small business operators, to have access to loans. In the time past, this set of people never had opportunity of getting finance from commercial banks. So, the MFBs were created to help them deposit their money and grow their businesses gradually. Remember, the micro business owners also need finance like their big business owner counterparts. The only difference is size. So what we are looking at here is financial services that are smaller in sizes compared to those ones that can be accessed through the commercial banks.

The CBN launched the micro finance policy guidelines to address those finance gaps that were created in the micro businesses sector, which could not be filled by the commercial banks.

These comprise unstructured businesses that are not well organised like the corporate ones.

In addition, the microfinance system was also designed to attract funds outside the banking system into the sector," she said.

She is not alone in raising concern about the survival of the scheme. An entrepreneur, Mr. Oluranti Adebisi, whose money was trapped in the failed community bank of Ibrahim Babangida's regime, expressed fears that with the collapse of some MFBs, Nigerians have lost confidence in the scheme.

"I do not believe in these banks

Microfinance banks: Swimming against the tide

because of past experiences I have had with them. I lost quite a huge sum of money in the old community banks, and that is

why I don't have deposit in any if these MFBs. You will find out that many of them are just there to collect money from people and

before you know it, the bank would run into trouble and your money is gone. For instance, take the case of Integrated

NDIC to pay MFB depositors HE Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has commenced the verification and payment of insured deposits of 33 out of 83microfinance banks (MFBs) whose licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The first phase of the deposit pay-out of the 33 closed MFBs would cover total deposit liabilities of N588, 685,792.25 and each depositor would receive a maximum of N200, 000.

As part of the verification and payment exercise being

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undertaken by staff of the body, affected depositors are to report to the last known addresses of their closed MFBs with evidence of account ownership, including passbooks, cheque books and personal identification documents such as national identity cards, drivers' licences and voters cards.

Depositors without valid identification documents are to obtain introduction letters with their photographs and the letters duly signed by traditional rulers of their localities or local government chairmen.

The depositors are also

requested to take along details of alternative bank accounts operated in any of the existing banks into which their insured claims could be paid while those without bank accounts have been asked to provide details of accounts of close relatives to which their payment could be made.

In a related development, the corporation has commenced verification and payment of N125 million as first liquidation dividend of 50 kobo each to shareholders of the defunct Rims Merchant Bank at its Abuja and Lagos Offices and eight zonal offices nationwide.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

•CBN Governor: Emefele

Microfinance Bank. The bank came with lots of promises, at a point in time, it was said that it was the best microfinance banks, but where is the bank today? It is no more and depositors' money is gone. That is why many Nigerians are afraid to transact business with them," he said.

Adebisi welcomed the proposed merger of the banks, saying that it would help in strengthening their financial status but advised government to effectively monitor their operation as it is done with the commercial banks.

"I would advise that for people to gain confidence in these banks, government needs to do more in monitoring their operations.

Fewer licences should be given out because it has become a business of every Dick and Harry. Even a one-room apartment is used as

microfinance bank in some places, but if fewer licences are given to those who have the financial capacity to run them, it would help in bringing back the confidence of the people."

In spite of the lapses in their operation, Pauline, however, was of the view that the MFBs have not done really bad and expressed hope that their operations would improve.

"It is wrong to say that the microfinance sector has not had the desired impact. Well, we can say we have not had the type of impact that one would expect. But again, we believe that over time, that impact would be felt. This is because the formal micro finance sector is relatively new compared to the informal microfinance, which has always been there since time immemorial. For instance, the alajo and esusu types of finance

BUSINESS have always been there. The formal microfinance that was introduced in 2005 has not had the impact that is as high as one would expect. Like any new thing, there have been challenges and we believe that with time, give it another 15 years, the impact would become obvious. This is because both the operators and the CBN are trying to make the new system work. I also know that the federal government may have assisted the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to make unprecedented savings of billion in two years with its N200 billion special intervention fund for small businesses. I believe with time the system will be in good shape and operators will benefit more."

Not everyone shared Pauline optimism. Mrs. Remi Alonge, the Managing Director of Rockfield Enterprises, a plastic manufacturing company, said, "I don't believe in the MFBs. Ninety percent of them are fraudulent.

They have not lived up to their purpose and that is why we are still talking of poverty in the land.

Microfinance banks are supposed to assist smaller businesses but the reverse is the case. You talk of the charges on interest and they even ask you for collaterals for you to secure loans. You pay money into them and before you know it, your money is gone. I would prefer government strengthening the existing conventional banks than having numerous MFBs that are of no benefit to the masses."

On the issue of high interest rate, Pauline had also explained that 'worldwide, microfinance interest rates are not determined by regulators like CBN or constituted authority. The reason is that microfinance business is expensive. It is expensive because if a commercial bank has N5 million, it can lend such fund to one customer. But if a microfinance bank has the same amount it can lend it to more than 100 clients. After giving the loans to such large number of customers, it will need to administer it, and to do so, it needs to engage many staff. Beyond that, the microfinance bank also needs infrastructure too like accommodation, light, water, transport and computers. If the loans are given out at four per cent per month, how much do you think that will amount to in a month that the microfinance bank will realise enough profit to meet all the various expenses associated with the loans? That is one reason the interest rate charged by MFBs is high."

She had also said that "most MFBs had issue of capital. With N20 million capital base of a one unit MFB, how long will that sustain a business in Nigeria where a concern has to provide its own generator, water and security? In such a tough operating environment, capital employed in the business will be used up within a short time. This made most MFBs - in order to remain in business - to go out to source money at very costly rates.

That translates into the interest rate that they charge because they need to charge high to be able to pay back the loans and make small profit to remain in business.

But when you look at the target clients of the MFBs, the high interest rate is not really an issue.

The issue is whether they will have access to finance because their transactions are short term."

Adebisi, however, urged government to do more for small businesses through accessible loans and low interest rates.

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Chicken Republic unveils new kitchen

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HICKEN Republic, an ambitious, world-class modern African brand and the leading Chicken QSR in West Africa, has commissioned its new state of the art Central Kitchen. The Central Kitchen, which is located at the company's headquarters in Lagos, is designed to deliver quality and consistency in meals across its restaurants.

Speaking at a recent media tour of the facility, the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Kofi Abunu, said "we are leveraging our supply chain model to optimise efficiency and product quality in order to deliver extraordinary satisfaction to our customers." He further added that "Our Central Kitchen, combined with our well-honed logistics infrastructure, ensures that only the finest quality ready-to-cook raw materials are delivered to all outlets."

The chicken chain famous for its authentic West African spiced chicken recently announced an impressive first quarter performance with a double digit percentage growth versus last year. The brand attributes much of this performance to its new trendy design, product innovations, operational improvements and aggressive customer service training programme.

According to the founder of the company, Mr. Deji Akinyanju, the organisation remains optimistic about its operations and will continue to position itself for an upward growth trend in the industry. "The investments we have made in our businesses will give us a strong competitive edge in the QSR sector," he said.

NFF upbraids NB Plc , others over Super Eagles' property rights

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HE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has read the riot act against some corporate organisations allegedly involved in ambush marketing around the Super Eagles, as the African champions get set to participate in the 20th FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that, the Federation has come out hard against beer-makers, Nigeria Breweries PLC, for its deliberate infringement on the rights of its sponsors, Guinness Nigeria PLC. In a letter to Nigeria Breweries PLC obtained exclusively by The Nation over the weekend, NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu, decried the fact that Nigeria Breweries had "launched communication materials across Nigeria featuring ex-players of the Super Eagles, giving the impression that you are an Official Sponsor of the team."

Amadu added: "We have equally noticed other outdoor materials with unnamed faces in green and white jerseys all in an attempt to associate with the Super Eagles' participation at the forthcoming FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil, and gain undue advantage.

"We declare that this is nothing but blatant market ambushing and this is not only uncalled -for, but highly unprofessional."

The Federation, The Nation learnt has given Nigeria Breweries seven days within which to remove the said materials on billboards and other outdoor creatives, "failing which the NFF and Guinness will take legal action against NB PLC and seek appropriate damages."

Attempts by The Nation to reach Mr Kufre Ekanem, the Corporate Media Adviser to Nigeria Breweries was futile as his telephone lines were switched off.

Institute partners govt agencies on corporate governance

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HE Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), has indicated its readiness in collaborating with the various agencies of government to promote and propagate the ideals of good corporate governance across the country.

Speaking through its president, Dr. Suleyman Ndanusa, a former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently in Lagos, the Institute noted that most companies failed in the past for lack of good corporate governance as they did not embrace international best practices.

According to Ndanusa, "legislations will not work to instill good corporate governance but rather persuasion and moral suasion will be the ideal method."

He in the meantime promised that, "despite the preponderance of abuses in the society, the Institute will continue to produce members who will continue to function as Corporate Governance soldiers and compliance officers.

"The Institute would continue to condemn in very strong terms the high level of corruption in the country just as the abduction of the two hundred and thirty-nine students of Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State."

Re-affirming that ICSAN is the leading institution in the promotion of good corporate governance in the country, Ndanusa said the Institute had in the past contributed immensely to Corporate Laws through the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and various codes of Corporate Governance and would continue to do so.

In a similar statement, he emphasised the need for the proper recognition of ICSAN Certificates by the government as any other professional body to ensure its enhanced entry point into the Civil Service of the Federation.

He hinted of the move to build a new secretariat for the Institute as part of the plans for the Institute within the next one year, adding that they were already shopping for a reputable developer for the high rise building project that would situated within the same ICSAN complex at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

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CEO of marketing communication agency, Noah's Ark, Lanre Adisa, in this interview with Bukola Afolabi reflects on issues in the industry, such as introduction of pitch fees, ability to survive current i n d u s t r y challenges, the onslaught of d i g i t a l advertising, APCON reform and his organisation's philosophy.

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ETWEEN last year and the first quarter, the creative industry is still crying over issues ranging from pitch fee, dwindling creative spark as well as unhealthy financial status of agencies. Why is the industry still in the woods?

The issue of pitch fee is an ongoing thing.

Successful implementation will depend on the individual agencies and their disposition to the collective industry stand on such matters vis-a-vis what they consider to be in the best interest of their business at every point in time.

Considering what agencies put into pitches, paying pitch fees is one way of ensuring that clients don't abuse the pitch process.

Going by the overall performance at the last LAIF Awards, those of us in the creative business know that there's more work to be done to get our work to a desirable standard that can compete favourably anywhere in the world. I believe that process has started with the formation of the Creative Directors Circle (CDC). We

‘Our mission is to play in advertising’s premier league’ only need to rev up the pace.

Recently, top industry stakeholder, Gorge Thorpe, complained that most agencies are not rich while he also noted that multinational accounts are not really juicy as people often report. Are agencies truly poor?

You can say that our industry is going through a phase at the moment. While this is not the best of times for some, this is not necessarily the same for others. Like any entity, there will be challenges. That is not an issue. What matters is how we rise up to the challenge.

How resilient are we as an industry?

I won't say agencies are poor in absolute terms. I think on the average, we are in survival mode. How we bounce back is the most important thing now. And that may not depend solely on the individual entities. We need to apply the creativity we sell to clients to our own business and I think there's a lot in the APCON reforms that can get us going stronger as an industry.

In the era where people believe digital advertising will overtake traditional advertising, how will the creative industry survive?

I'm glad you mentioned the creative industry. It is not the channel that matters; it's how we stay relevant as creative entrepreneurs. I don't think we should fear digital. There will always be a role for traditional and digital advertising. As long as we remain in the creative business, our job is to see how we master all the possible tools in the best interest of our clients. In any case, digital is yet to really take off in Nigeria. What we have is more of media in the digital space as opposed to mould-breaking digital thinking. So there's a big space there for any thinking agency that is ready to redefine itself. Come to think

•Adisa

of it, there was a time when television was the new kid on the block that was revered the same way everyone talks about the internet today.

Many creative agencies now use 3Ds to design their artwork but it is assumed that the technology hardly portrays originality? Which school of thought do you belong to?

We don't subscribe to a house style. We'd rather stick with a house discipline. That way, our execution is driven by the thrust of the idea as opposed to taking a cue from the style of the execution.

Your agency recently embarked on a campaign on child education but the creative concept sparked fear which made some media houses to reject publishing

the advert. What's the intention of the agency?

We are not in business just to make a living. We are all responsible for the little corner we've been given and whatever talent we've been blessed with. We thought at a time when there was so much hush about the menace that had taken over our land, our industry could help stir some reawakening and start a conversation on a possible way out of the terrorism menace from the point of view of the future of the Nigerian child. It's almost clairvoyant in a way if you consider the global attention the Chibok abduction has sparked.

Your agency has always come up with creative concepts that try to break

Bodies launch youth agribusiness competition

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NACTUS Kenya and Syngenta have announced the launch of an Africa Agribusiness Competition that will see youth in Africa generate creative business ideas to improve the agricultural productivity of certain crop value chains.

Through the online platform http:// www.agribiz4africa.com, youth between 18 and 30 years from Sub Saharan Africa are invited to submit a 500 word business ideas that will be judged by leading agribusiness academia from East and West Africa. The best 25 contestants will each receive a USD 1,000 grant to test the viability of their idea.

The best three among them will then be competitively selected by a recognized panel

By Joe Agbro Jr. of agribusiness leaders and invited to attend the important AGRF Forum on African agriculture to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in early September, where they will have a chance to mingle with some of Africa's most influential thought leaders and receive due recognition reward for their effort and ideas.

In recognition of the need to position agriculture as an attractive occupation for young people, youth with talent in the creative arts have a special category in which to compete dubbed the "Agriculture Video Messaging Competition."

Through online submission on the same website, entrants are invited to create messages that depict

agricultural activities from farm-to-fork as "COOL." The top 20 entries will be selected.

From these finalists, a judging panel comprised of recognised leaders in the communication and advertisement industry will select the top 3, who will also travel to Addis Ababa for the award ceremony.

All entries have to be submitted by June 10, 2014.

The objective of the Syngenta - Enactus (K) Agribusiness Competition is to raise awareness amongst the youth and key stakeholders in agriculture, of the enormous business opportunities within agricultural value chains across Africa, and to attract young people to actively engage in shaping this vital industry.

taboo. What's Noah's Ark creative philosophy?

Curiosity and courage are two out of our five creeds.

It means that we go wherever the idea takes us as long as it's in the best interest of the brands in our care.

How will you assess the creative industry in the light of the APCON reform?

I think it's still early days in terms of the effect of the reform on the industry. A lot will depend on the will to implement the contents of the reform. I don't expect to see change overnight, but if we are persistent and truly committed to change, we will see a difference in our business.

Some groups of people believe protectionism will not help industry growth?

I believe the intention is not to stifle growth. It behoves every country, every industry to find a way of ensuring a future for its stakeholders.

In an increasingly global world, that throws up some kind of challenge. You want participation from outsiders, but then you also don't want to leave your flank so open to the point that you get run over. We need some kind of balance and I think that will evolve with time.

With the current crisis hitting the Publicis/ Omnicom merger, what is your opinion on the effect on global advertising and the Nigerian market?

There's a whole lot of ego that plays out at the top of the chain. The hope is that the clients will benefit from these super structures. But then again, is that what we get? The whole world thought the merger was bound to wobble or collapse at some point. Only thing is no one thought it would be this early. As far as Nigeria is concerned, I don't foresee any major change.

You agency is yet to have a foreign affiliation. Are you not a believer of foreign

partnership/idea?

Every organisation will embark on things that are of strategic relevance to its interests. We are not against foreign affiliation as long as we know that it in line with our vision. Having a foreign tag to your name is not a mandatory for our business.

Beyond affiliation, there is collaboration.

We collaborate with other agencies in other parts of the world and that works for us. If we think affiliation will help our cause, we'll surely consider it.

What is the total billing of the creative industry?

One of the banes of our business is the paucity or sometimes absence of data.

Different sources will offer different estimates of the industry. As at last year, the general belief is that the industry is worth 300 billion naira. One can't be really sure.

What is the mission of Noah's Ark and how far have you achieved your mission since you started out?

Our vision is to play in the premier league of advertising, to earn the respect of clients and our peers wherever in the world they may be. It is even more important to earn that respect first in Africa. Every other region in Africa has left some imprint on the world in one way or the other except West Africa.

We hope to change that story and join the conversation. From our modest achievements in the past six years of existence, we believe we are on our way to achieving that goal.

Nigerian ad agencies aspire to get the Cannes Lion award but none has been able. Why are we not there yet?

You can't win the World Cup through mere aspiration. We need to work harder at it. It is possible and we shouldn't give up trying. The consciousness to make it happen is stronger now than when I started my career when it was non-existent. We need to up our game and remain alive to the key issues in our industry beyond our shores.

Regalo expands offerings with Cape Cobra

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EGALO, an African luxury store has secured an exclusive partnership with Cape Cobra, the number one exotic luxury leather producers in Africa, producing for luxury brands in Europe, and the United States as the sole partner in West Africa.

Discerning clients who seek quality products in one-of-akind exotic leather pieces can now easily obtain them at Regalo, located at the exclusive CentroLekki Mall, Admiralty Way, Lagos.

Founded in May 2013, Regalo boasts a rich and eclectic combination of African-made luxury lifestyle goods from respected brand names across the continent such as Cape Cobra Leathercraft, Avoova, Tammy Parfum, Letterpress, YSwara, Buyu of Kenya, Sitota, La Divine Candles and Aweni,

to name a few.

Cape Cobra Leathercraft entered into partnership with Regalo in 2013, based on their common belief in African artisanship. It has a fully integrated design and production facility located in Cape Town. The factory features a design room, stores, engineering department, and production while the showroom offers a complete range of classic and new collections available, each piece intricately designed, intimately handcrafted and timelessly elegant.

Funmi Onajide, founder of Regalo, and General Manager, Corporate Affairs, MTN Nigeria, explaining the inspiration for Regalo and the reasons for its success said, "My love and belief in Africa and in the potential of African

craftsmanship has been strengthened by the quality of artisanship that I have seen across the continent, which is largely tapped by foreign buyers. The excellence in quality and design of our local products has the capacity to position this continent in a very positive light. Uniquely African should not necessarily mean rustic. It should mean elegance and quality. It is for this reason Regalo was established; to bring the very best of Africa to our clients."

Aoife Kelly de Klerk, Brand and Marketing Manager for Cape Cobra Leathercraft, also highlighted the uniqueness of African ingenuity: "We believe that Africa has all the ingredients to compete in the luxury sectors of the market; especially in the exotic leather goods sector.

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BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

N his paper, "Crude Oil and British Imperialism in Nigeria, 1903 - 1956," Ibrahim Khaled Abdussalam of the Department of History, Bayero University Kano, wrote that "the age of petroleum began in 1859, with the discovery of crude oil by Col. Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania, United States of America."

Quoting reports from the Federal Information Service, he said Drake made this accidental discovery when he drilled brine well with the purpose of getting underground deposit of brine in order to extract salt, but to his surprise, after a few hundred feet underground, black liquid began to gush out into the air.

Soon after his discovery, scientists found out that after the crude oil is processed, it could be used as a fuel for heating and lighting and for providing mechanical power.

Abdussalam noted further that the drive for oil as an important weapon of industrialisation, agriculture, shipping and even warfare became irresistible in the world of the first two decades of the 20th century but crazily so by the imperial powers in their mutual drive for global domination. "So sea pages around the world like we have in Nigeria immediately and increasingly attracted the attention of the British" of which the territory now called Nigeria then was a protectorate as determined by the European powers at Berlin in 1854/ 1855.

The first step in this direction, according to federal government records, was the commissioning of geological surveys by the colonial administration of the northern and southern protectorates in the early 1900. The survey team in 1905 turned to the bitumen deposits in the swampy country east of Lagos which helped to establish more information about the potentiality of finding crude oil in Nigeria.

Other accounts confirm that the development of oil mineral activities, that is, exploration of oil and gas, followed this initial geological survey when the German Nigerian Bitumen Corporation discovered crude oil in the waterside area of Okitipupa about 100 kilometres east of Lagos in 1908 but the activities of this company were short lived as its pioneer efforts were halted by the world wars as the German interests could not continue in Nigeria, being a British protectorate.

Considering the emerging importance of oil in world affairs, its discovery and prospects of increased volumes of exploitation, the British administration enacted the Mineral Oils Ordinance No 17 of 31st December 1914 with the purpose of monopolising exploration and production of oil.

The ordinance provided that "it shall not be lawful for any person to search or drill for or work mineral oils within or under any lands in Nigeria except under a licence or lease granted by the Governor under this ordinance.

This monopoly which was reinforced by the amendment to the Act in 1925 and further provided that "no lease or licence shall be granted except to a British subject or a British company registered in Great

Oloibiri versus Araromi?

Where was oil first discovered

• Ebiseni

Having caused a stir on the floor of the National Conference during the debate of President Goodluck Jonathan's inauguration speech, Onyedi Ojiabo, Assistant Editor and Dele Anofi took on Chief Sola Ebiseni, a delegate from Ondo State,on the authenticity of his claims.

From Dele Anofi, Abuja

Britain or in a British colony"‌‌,also stultified the growth of the industry which technological development came under the strains of the festering world wars.

Thus, the attempts by the British in 1921 after the first world war to stimulate further exploration by giving oil exploration licences to D'Arcy Exploration company and Whittal Petroleum company both of dominant British interest did not yield much result bedevilled as it were by the economic recession of 1929-1934 coming on the heels of the debilitating 2nd world war of 1939-1945.

However, the operation of this licence by Shell D'Arcy and Anglo-Dutch Consortium, a subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell group, led to drilling wells in several parts of the Niger Delta though in limited scales. After the 2nd world war, particularly from 1952, Shell, from its base in Owerri, took advantage of its initial pioneer concession and launched an aggressive explorative campaign in the east of the Niger Delta which yielded monumental fruit when it struck oil in commercial quantity in 1956 at Oloibiri in the present Bayelsa State.

Thus the success at Oloibiri in 1956 appears to have dominated public discourse and took the shine off other previous efforts which encouraged and gave hope to explorers to continue to dig until this black gold was struck in commercial quantity at Oloibiri. It must be emphasised that in our academic curricular at the primary and secondary school levels, pupils are simply taught that oil was first discovered in Nigeria in commercial quantity at Oloibiri in 1956. At the tertiary educational level, only those with relevant academic pursuits are told the history of oil before and even af-

ter Oloibiri. Thus, most Nigerians, including writers outside these relevant disciplines, often and quite understandably resort to this residual elementary knowledge of absolute reference to Oloibiri. But other Nigerians, particularly those in whose territory oil was discovered before Oloibiri appear not to ever want their roles in history to be swept under the carpet and thus poise to set the records straight if only for its historic significance.

Leading the campaign for this historical relevance are the Ilaje people of Ondo State. The Ilaje who are Yorubas live in the coastal areas of Ondo State.

The territory is oil-producing and accounts for the status of Ondo State as an oil-producing state and the fifth among the nine members of the states of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). It was at Araromi, a fishing coastal community in the western fringe of Ondo State towards its border with the Ijebu Yorubas of Ogun State, that oil was first discovered in 1908 by the German Bitumen Corporation. Though this significant pioneer achievement was truncated as a result of the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the point being emphasised by the Ondo State people is that it is this discovery that encouraged further activities which led to the Oloibiri experience in 1956.

Championing the Ondo State campaign is Chief Sola Ebiseni, lawyer, three times Ondo State Commissioner for Environment and Mineral Resources and former Chairman of old Ilaje Ese Odo Local Government. Contributing to the debate on the address of Presidennt Goodluck Jonathan, while inaugurating the on-going National Conference, Ebiseni who is also a member stirred the hallowed chamber of the Conference when he introduced himself,

saying, "Mr Chairman, fellow distinguished delegates, I am Olusola Ebiseni, a lawyer and politician. In public service, I have had the privilege of being a three-time commissioner in Ondo State. I am in this conference as the Southwest member among the representatives of former chairmen of local government. I was also in the past privileged to have served as the elected chairman of the oil-producing good people of former Ilaje Ese Odo Local Government in which territory incidentally oil was first discovered in Nigeria in 1908."

To many of his colleagues, particularly those from other parts of the Niger Delta, this was a bombshell they were not ready to let go. But undaunted, the Ife-trained former students' leader insisted that the National Conference is a platform to set all national records straight. While he gave credence to Oloibiri where he agreed oil was later struck in commercial quantity, he maintained that the first concrete evidence that Nigeria was oilbearing was at Araromi in Ilaje Area of Ondo State which showed the light leading to Oloibiri.

He went on: "I wasn't saying anything new; there is no disputing the fact that oil was first discovered in Nigeria at Araromi in 1908 and that further exploration was truncated for a long time by the combination of the world wars and world economic recession of the first half of the 20th century.

"I have had opportunities at different national forums to let Nigerians appreciate our place in the history of oil in Nigeria. I made this same point in a meeting in Lagos when the document on the Economic Integration of Western Nigeria was launched in 2012. The aim was to let the Yoruba realise and be proud of our history as the region that was the harbinger of the good news of this

commodity that has made all the difference in our national and world economy. At the first Stakeholders Conference on the Niger Delta held at Uyo in April last year, I led the Ondo State delegation and also let our compatriots in the other parts of the Niger Delta know that, while we recognise the significance of Oloibiri as the place where oil was later struck in commercial quantity in 1957 as revenue earner, our place at Araromi as the territory where oil was first discovered in 1908 which encouraged further activities leading to Oloibiri 1956 cannot be ignored."

To further substantiate his claim, Ebiseni stated that the first law regulating oil and gas activities and giving its monopoly to the British colonial administration was the Nigerian Oils Minerals Ordinance of 1914 which was also given fillip to in 1925, could not have been enacted to regulate the later Oloibiri activities of 1956 but the achievement which was already evident and extant at Araromi.

Delving into the history of oil and the relationship among the various groups of the Niger Delta, Ebiseni said that oil which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy since the 1970s has ironically become a source of environmental concerns for the people of the region, that no one should attempt to add salt to the injury by undermining the contribution of any group.

According to him, it was the Araromi 1908 discovery that gave impetus to a more aggressive exploration which further germinated into commercial quantity production at Oloibiri in 1956. When other companies, apart from Shell, were brought in, successful operations such as Elf in Obagi Oil/Ubata gas fields, 1963, AGIP at Ebocha, 1965, were achieved.

"In the 1960s Gulf (the progenitor of Chevron) came west

of the Niger Delta ravaging Ijaw and Itsekiri lands, crisscrossing Forcados, Escravos into Ilaje territory. Chevron, Mobil, Express, AGIP and other oil giants have since taken over the whole of Ilaje land, including Araromi, leading to Ondo State being today the fifth among the nine oilproducing states of the federation. The way of God is a mystery in that Araromi, from where oil was first found in 1908 which human memory either forgets or deliberately ignores, is now the seat of multibillion dollar oil and gas projects known as Olokola or OKLNG." Giving reasons for his insistence that there must be a distinction of the historical events of where oil was first found in 1908 and where it was first exported or shipped as commercial commodity in 1958, Ebiseni said, "More often than not, we seem not to appreciate that a nation's progress has much to do with its history and that setting its records straight is a factor of its righteousness. I am concerned that in this country, we are non-challant about history and research that we are unwittingly made victims of propaganda. The Niger Delta area of Ondo State from our boundary with Ogun State in the west to the mouth of the Benin River with Delta State in the east which is about 100 kilometres of shoreline is so extensive and geologically peculiar and distinct. While other beaches among the littoral states are sandy, not less than 75% of Ondo State's shoreline is of transgressive mud beach, soft, sensitive and susceptible to erosion which is aggravated by permanent torture by unrestrained exposure to aggressive oil and gas activities. Yet, while we make this devastating sacrifice but sumptuous contribution to national wealth, we are often thought to be marginal in the benefit from national oil wealth consideration, especially by people who ignorantly believe that the southwest from where oil was first discovered in Nigeria should not be oil-bearing. Thus, when they talk of East - West road, it is from Calabar to Warri (South-South) and not in the proper West from Warri through Ondo State to Lagos; the coastal road is only being grudgingly considered yet the design was not to include the coastline of Ondo State which is longest; at the NDDC, to all intents and purposes, our membership is ignorantly considered an aberration such that in its over 14 years of existence we might not be ever ripe for executive positions; no wonder some people are irritated whenever you intend to correct the lie that is being foisted on the nation and our children unborn on the history of oil. My brother, there is no better forum to tell it than this hallowed assembly of Nigerians from all walks of life, that oil was first discovered at Araromi in Ilaje area of Ondo State in 1908 by the German Bitumen Corporation which activities were truncated by the world wars and global economic recession till the 1950's when resumed activities led to the later finding (not discovery) of oil in commercial quantity at Oloibiri. Before Oloibiri, Araromi was."

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JILL OKEKE

jillokeke@yahoo.com, 07069429757 THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

Subscriber demands N16m from MTN over service issues

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N its avowed commitment to ensuring sound corporate governance in the nation's capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Nigeria, recently waded into issues relating to corporate governance breaches in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI). Both the intervention and its outcomes affirmed Nigeria's pole position in market regulation in Africa. It constituted a pathfinder on regulatory imperatives for multi market jurisdiction players in the robustly evolving African business landscape.

ETI, a celebrated indigenous African multinational success story, is the holding company of the Ecobank Group, with footprints in 34 countries across West, Central and East Africa. As a backdrop to the pacesetting intervention, the SEC Nigeria had highlighted the consumer protection motivation by quickly assuring investing publics that it would take all necessary steps to speedily conclude the investigation and that the outcomes would enhance the ETI franchise rather than diminish its brand equity as well as project the alertness of the African regulatory environment to governance breaches by enterprises.

The commission insisted that the intervention would be thorough and rigorous in a manner which would secure adequate protection of investors in ETI. This proactive and even bullish posture of the Nigerian regulator was not out of character. Indeed, it had coherence with recent trends in which the apex regulator of the Nigerian markets had spiked the market enforcement regime by taking decisive actions against any companies and market participants whose activities were at variance with laid down procedures.

The string of actions gave teeth and bite to the commission's unrelenting sloganeering around "zero tolerance for market malpractices and their practitioners."

The steps taken by the SEC Nigeria have proved commendable and reassuring especially given the challenges with regulatory response to multinational firms particularly on a continent like Africa with a weak institutional development, poor legal frameworks and rule of law inadequacy. In this kind of context, it is so easy for violations of rules to happen unremarked and without being apprehended, particularly when perpetrated by multinational enterprises who take advantage of the overall parlous picture of weak institutions and the regulatory lapses.

It is against this background that the SEC's intervention in isolating, apprehending and arresting governance breaches in ETI must be recognised as an inspiring show of leadership which

SEC Nigeria intervenes in ETI's alleged breach

• Oteh

By Obi Adindu and Efe Ebelo

points the way forward for Africa and the Emerging Markets.

How it all started What triggered this landmark regulatory undertaking was a somewhat innocuous whistle blowing by an employee, Executive Director of Risk and Finance at ETI, Laurence do Rego, who had written a letter to the regulator alleging insider dealings, alterations in the compensation element of the CEO's contract which bypassed governance structures, and a planned sale of the group's non-core assets.

She wrote to express reservation and concern for a number of actions that the MD and Board Chairman had taken. These actions promoted personal interests of the people involved and their conduct ran counter to laid-down operational structures and procedures.

Specifically, in the letter written in August 2013 to the SEC Nigeria and ETI"s board of directors, Laurence do Rego, alleged that the Chairman, Kolapo Lawson, and Group CEO, Thierry Tanoh, were attempting to sell non-core assets at values below prevailing market rates; that the two attempted to manipulate the 2012 results to enable the group show much better 2013 performance results; while raising questions around the propriety of an approval process through which a substantial increase in Tanoh's 2012 bonus (which he subsequently opted not to receive) was arrived at. She also alleged that she was asked to write off debts owed by a real estate company in which Lawson was Board Chairman.

With a less proactive regulator, this correspondence may well have elicited an unenthusiastic response in

• Orya

the manner of a mere call or warning letter to the people involved, but not so for the Nigerian regulator which over time has garnered a reputation for steely determination in rule enforcement and for incessantly hankering after entrenchment of an order of sound corporate governance in Nigeria's market. By universal consensus, the Nigerian regulator had done an assiduous work in recent times to sanitise the Nigerian market which, prior to 2010, had garnered a reputation for constituting a cesspool of sorts for improper conduct by market participants.

SEC's intervention A closer look on the basis of the petition, the Nigerian regulator went to work; it engaged the board and management of ETI on the observed lapses and instituted wide reaching investigations to ascertain both the veracity and enormity of the breaches.

The regulator did not stop there; it engaged the services of KPMG, a leading international audit and management consulting firm, to support the work of an extensive governance audit of ETI. The diligent work spanned months and the results, expressed in an initial report, were confirmatory that indeed significant breaches had occurred at ETI. Sequel to the findings of the rigorous audit, SEC held a meeting with members of the Board of ETI on Monday, 16th December, 2013 during which the results of the exercise were presented in order to elicit feedback from them. It was agreed at the meeting that such feedback be made available to the regulator on or before Friday, 3rd January, 2014 ahead of the audit results being forwarded to ETI for dissemination to the bank's shareholders.

The SEC is certain that the implementation of the recommended remedial plan

would eliminate the governance lapses in addition to strengthening the ETI franchise.

The commission also reiterated its commitment to ensuring the integrity of the market and the protection of the investing public.

"It is important to emphasise that the Corporate Governance Audit is being done at the level of the ETI Holding Company and does not reflect governance at any of ETI's banking subsidiaries that are responsible to the banking and market regulators in the countries in which they operate," the commission said.

The SEC urged ETI to develop a one-year remedial plan with specific measures to address the remarked governance gaps. In the public interest, the regulator demanded a quarterly reporting schedule from ETI to keep abreast with the progress being made.

The commission was persuaded that ETI needed to appoint a substantive Board Chairman in place of Lawson who had exceeded in the course of the governance audit. The new chairman would lead the effort to attain an improved governance climate. "It will be important that such an appointment is the result of a credible selection process," the SEC Nigeria stresses.

"Such a chairman also needs to have the relevant experience and skills to guide this remedial plan. The chairman should have integrity, independence and should not have the potential for conflict of interest in the discharge of the role.

"Steps should also commence to ensure that ETI has board members and a management team that have the requisite skills and experience to oversee or manage the affairs of ETI at this time," the regulator emphasised.

The breaches examined The initial point of

contention involved the former chairman, Kolapo Lawson, and his outstanding loans. Two separate loans were at issue: the first, a real estate loan given by Ecobank's Nigerian subsidiary to a property company owned by the former chairman, known as the Agbara Estates loan; the second related to other loans to Lawson from a number of other Nigerian banks.

The Agbara Estates loan had previously been disclosed in Ecobank Nigeria's annual report at a value of $8.6m. According to management, this loan was restructured in July 2012, with the chairman agreeing to make a bullet payment for the outstanding capital and incurred interest on 31 July 2013.

The more contentious issue was around the sundry loans sourced from thirdparty banks. According to investigations, these loans were transferred to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) as NPLs, which transfer sired concerns over Lawson's fitness as Board Chairman which became the subject of a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) correspondence.

Lawson allegedly failed to disclose this issue to ETI's board of directors.

There were also alleged laxities in the conduct of the board, and there was remarked deficiency even in the capacity of the board to self-regulate. The board's interaction with other cadres of the ETI structure and community similarly evinced limitations.

There were 16 board members, but the board room dynamics were flawed because there appeared to be a schism in which the erstwhile Group Managing Director and Board Chairman had formed a distinct alliance which tended to operate on the blind side of the rest of the board.

There were also issues

appertaining to the ETI Chairman's virtual unilateral rework of the contract terms of the CEO to the detriment of shareholders: the CEO's fat, unearned and undeserved performance bonus; the planned sale of the group's shareholding in telecommunication giant Airtel, among others.

As a consequence of the findings, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ETI, Thierry Tanoh, agreed to pass up his bonus award of $1.14 million bonus for 2012 and reverted to the original terms of his contract as the bank reviews its corporate governance structure following De Rego's allegations.

These were some of the confirmatory startling revelations of the initial report of the governance audit and it formed sufficient basis for the Nigerian regulator to recommend that remedial measures be taken to negate these deficiencies.

Principal among the remedial measures was the convening of an AGM to put the recommended remedial measures to vote and give them the force of legitimacy.

The SEC therefore advised ETI that the findings constituted an important basis for convening an Extra - Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) of shareholders to deliberate and pass resolutions on the critical findings and recommendations of the corporate governance audit.

The SEC further advised that the EGM should be held before the end of February 2014.

The AGM has since held and shareholders voted overwhelmingly for adoption of the remedial measures which are now being implemented. It is history that the Chairman and MD have quit. An inspiration for other regulators SEC Nigeria's show of leadership has elicited commendation from local and global investor publics. The financial media which followed the evolution of the SEC intervention in ETI with an eagle eye have similarly applauded the effort as an exemplar of alert regulatory watch and response.

There is unanimity that the SEC Nigeria showed great reflex, was prompt and decisive in taking actions against the allegations to protect investor funds as well as the institutional health of ETI. There is persuasion that the SEC Nigeria / ETI saga has supplied a classic instance of qualitative regulatory response to enterprises when they manifest governance weaknesses.

There is certainty that business practice and theory have been enriched by the SEC Nigeria's inspiration intervention in ETI. Already, sister regulators in Africa have been flocking to the Nigerian regulator not only to obtain report of the audit but to also share information and knowledge and the modus provender of the Nigerian regulator.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

65

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

66 SUNDAY INTERVIEW

DAN AGBESE @ 70

‘Criticism strengthens democracy'

H

ow does it feel to be 70?

It doesn't feel differently from when I was 69. I haven't noticed any difference yet. I know that the wrinkles will eventually surface, but at least for now they have not surfaced. But I feel good. I feel quite good.

Now, when you view this business of journalism today from when you started, how do you feel?

I feel very happy because people of my generation who entered journalism in 1967 would appreciate the leap that we have made in terms of the development of the industry. At the time I ventured into journalism, there were very few graduates.

Actually, I suspect that Mallam Adamu Ciroma, who was the editor of the New Nigerian Newspaper, was about the first graduate to have ventured into journalism. The entire newsroom was made up of mostly school-leavers and people who'd done short courses in British-run journalism schools and stuffs like that. By the time we set up Newswatch, the least qualification we asked for a reporter/researcher was a first degree. So, we've made a great leap as far as I am concerned. I am happy about the fact that people still regard this profession for what it is. Without the press, you can't even really exercise the freedom of expression provided for in the constitution. So I'm proud of the level that we have attained.

Do you really feel the place of the media is well appreciated or that people just use the media and see them as 'press boys' and all that?

In every society people tend to see the role of the media as purely antagonistic, there is nowhere in the world where the news media is worshipped, either by the government or private individuals or business concerns; and therefore you do not expect a pat on the back all the time. Because the business of exposing people is not a business that those who are likely to be exposed will welcome, there is no way they can be pleased with you. Secondly it is important to bear in mind that the press is a social institution providing social services and because of this, everybody believes they could use it and they use it when it suits them. If it were not so, rich people would not invest in the press; the power of the press is massive. If a businessman has the power of the press behind him, he is far and above his business rivals. And so as a social institution, it is open to manipulations by the society itself, without anybody necessarily saying 'thank you very much, well done.'

With the advent of graduates, doctoral degree holders and co working in the media, would you say the media has benefitted in any way? Has the level of discourse been raised?

Yes it has, because today, the average newspaper reader is also a graduate; is also an experienced person and probably widely travelled. And he doesn't read only Nigerian newspapers; he also listens to news on radio and television from other countries and he can compare and contrast and tell when a Nigerian is doing well or at par with others from other parts of the world, or not. Secondly, in my time, the newsroom was divided to almost about three. The reporters were different from features writers. And then of course you have the sub-editors.

Now, they have merged. The role of the feature writer of the time was to go behind the big news and write feature articles.

The reporter was not allowed to do any analysis. All he had to do was write and report stories. Today, the features writing aspect has merged with the news reporting aspect; and there is

On May 20, Dan Agbese, renowed journalist, columnist and media administrator and former Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine was 70.

In this interview with Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile, Correspondent Gboyega Alaka, he talks about politics, media and the state of the nation. Excerpts.

a greater tendency to analyse. So you're not just reading a story that's telling you: who, where, how, why and the rest. So that merging of these functions has elevated reporting. It means that there is greater in-depth reporting than it used to be, and anybody going into the profession today will have to equip himself, not only in terms of being a reporter, because journalism now is a total thing. You're a features writer; you're an editorial writer; you're a reporter. The only aspect of it that I regret - if that is the right word - is that the pupilage system is no longer there. Even as late as 1984/85, when we started Newswatch, our reporters/researchers were required to do only reporting. They had to

report and give to senior editors who would then write the stories. They were also not allowed to have by-lines until they had gone through the process and the management was confident that they could earn their by-lines. That was the kind of training that we had in those days. The process inculcates in the reporter a very vital aspect of journalism, which is editorial judgment. Editorial judgment is not a function of education; it's a function of experience and you can only have that experience if you have gone through it. What I see today is that a man is editor of a news publication and virtually all the people working under him would have the same level of qualification and experience. And so that pupilage system is non-existent.

The internet has democratized journalism, such that events happening are being reported instantly in the social media.

For instance, if Shekau is arrested this morning and a newspaper comes out tomorrow morning with a headline like “Shekau arrested�, we all know the kind of reception it will get from the readers. This surely is a dilemma for the media.

What is the way out?

No, no, no; it's not a matter of way out. It is something that we should welcome, because you see in my younger days in the profession, the problem of spontaneity rested with the radio; because before you go to press, the radio would have carried it. But it didn't make any difference because the radio couldn't provide the background information; it couldn't analyse and all that. And so people still had to wait till the following day to read the full details. It's the same thing that is unfolding in the social media today. Part of it is that its reach; it is low-level, in the sense that you only have to have a computer and be computer-literate. Of course you can get most of that on your phones now, but you still have to be computer savvy.

And so what it does today is that it gives the reporter an advanced notice of what is happening and challenge him to provide the real reasons, the analysis, the full details to what has happened.

What you've just said now is tantamount to giving hope to those who have come to believe that the online media is like a death knell on traditional print media. But you just talked about the radio being as instant as the online media and yet the print survived. Are you saying that indeed there is a future for print journalism?

Yes. You see, the printed word will never die out in the human society. What you are saying is also being said about book publishing, because people now do e-publishing and self-publishing and you don't have to go to bookshops to buy books. So you can download books and your iPad can have up to ten thousand books, but how do you build a library. If I rely totally on social media and read e-newspapers and need to do a reference, where do I get the materials for the reference?

But you can still do that on-line.

Yes you can do it online, because there is a whole lot of information provided online. But when news is presented, it is gone, because they have to publish on a daily basis. I'm not talking about going to Google and all that now. What that aspect has done is that it has made research much easier, because you can sit by your desk and do all your researches and you don't have to go to the library. But the news presentation, the news consumption will never be affected by the social media. That is my view. What I feel we should do is to recognise the immense challenges inherent in the social media and take advantage of

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014 it, instead of fearing that it's going to affect the industry. There will be other inventions going forward. I mean, you don't expect us to remain in those stone ages, when everybody had to use manual typewriters, and some people couldn't use the typewriter and they had to write long-hand and have typists type it for them. All that is gone now.

You had the privilege to practice under the military and the civilian regimes, both in the first, second republic and now; so under which of the two systems would you say the press has blossomed better and has performed its functions more freely?

The most wonderful thing that can happen to the press anywhere in the world is to have an enemy. The press performs better under a situation of enmity. In other words, under the military regime, the military men were seen as usurpers and so they were our enemies, they were an army of occupation if you like; like our second colonial masters; so just as the press was used during colonial administration to fight the second colonial masters, so it was also used to fight the military regimes.

What it did for the press was that it strengthened the press because the harsher the environment, the stronger the press becomes, because the more it struggled to assert itself. If you have a situation whereby nobody is saying anything, nobody cares what you're writing, it's not good. It gives the feeling of being ignored, and that is the worst thing that can happen to the press. The military will always care because they are on their toes. They knew the civilian politicians were fighting them, and so whatever measures they took to repress the press gave the press the impetus to fight back, to play its constitutional role. So if you look at it from the angle that the press tends to perform better in the face of adversity, then I would say under the military, we performed better. One problem with the civilian regime is that politicians, like the military, have no patience with the press. They believe that with the military gone, the media has no business attacking the government; which is what I keep hearing. 'Oh you are criticising the president? You want to destroy democracy'. I don't buy into that; as a matter of fact, it is criticism that strengthens democracy.

Democracy is only a form of government; there is nothing sacrosanct about it and the press as an institution must respond accordingly. This is not to say that I'll love the military to always be in power, but given the experience that we had, it definitely helped the press develop. Don't forget that it was still the military that liberalised the electronic media, because under the constitution, the right to own radio and television was vested solely in the government. So aren't we happy today to have all these independent radio and television stations? Aren't we happy that we have these privately-owned newspapers and magazines? So things have changed a great deal. I began my rise in journalism during the military regime. I went through several phases during the Shagari administration, which was the first civilian regime that I worked under and I saw a lot of differences between the attitude of the military politicians and the civilian politicians. They had different attitudes towards the press. Part of the problem with the civilian politicians is their tendency to believe that every reporter has a price and therefore has to do their biddings. That is a problem.

Newswatch was generally seen as a breath of fresh air; bringing on investigative journalism into Nigerian journalism for the first time; why did you (Newswatch team) decided to chart a new course at the time, because you could easily have gone the familiar route?.

You see it boils down to what we said earlier about the social media and all that. We tried to do something new, which was a news magazine. All the magazines before then were features magazines, and were mainly monthly or quarterly. News magazine has a different bent, it is a cross between a monthly magazine and a daily newspaper. It takes from the monthly and the daily newspaper.

Also, at the time we decided on a news magazine, Time and Newsweek were the only news magazines that were read in Nigeria, and they were having problems in getting here. More importantly we wanted to do something that had not been done before.

Looking back now, the idea of giving up the Newswatch franchise do you think it was the best thing?

As at the time we did we did our best and thought it was the best. We had put together in a basket a lot of ambitious projects. We wanted to move the magazine to the next level, we knew at that time that the company could not survive on the magazine alone. We have before that tried to publish other magazines, we had published Quality magazine.

We wanted to do a woman's magazine, but too our total shock, the women rejected the magazine. So it didn't do as well as we thought it should. And then we tried to do pro-

SUNDAY INTERVIEW 67

vincial journalism, we floated Eko Weekly Newspaper, which we wanted to be sold only in Lagos, and report all the news about Lagos; but again, we didn't seem to get it right because the people only understood morning and evening newspapers. In 2008 or 2009, we now decided to expand and see what we could do to shore up the magazine itself, so we decided we were going to have a radio station; and that we were going to publish a daily newspaper, we were also going to have a printing press. As a matter of fact, the issue of a printing press had been with us from the very first day of Newswatch publication. And we put all these things together and it came to a whole lot of money. We approached the banks, but what they were offering us was paltry amount of money. So we decided to look out to see if we could have private investors who would be interested. That was Jimoh Ibrahim came in. We thought he shared our vision and shared our concerns. We had a lot of plans for Newswatch and you'd agree with me that except for the Tribune, all the newspapers that came at the time Chief Obafemi Awolowo set up the Tribune are all gone. Even the biggest of them, the Daily Times is gone. And we thought we could make the difference and that Newswatch will be there. We did it with the best intentions. But you see, my intentions may not be the same as someone else's intentions. So what happened is regrettable. It is something that we're going to live with for the rest of our lives. It affected the whole Newswatch family.

The big news around the world now is Chibok. Do you think the Nigerian media has justified its role in the reportage of what is happening?

My answer to that is a very loud 'No'. The shame of it all is that we get news about Chibok from foreign media, foreign television reporters going to Chibok to report to us exactly what is happening there. True, going to Chibok is a

risky business, but if you take away the risk from journalism, it looses its entire integrity and honour. Sometimes, it is the risk that attracts people to the profession, because the aspiring journalists want to see how these things are done. So I expected to see a better approach. When for instance the Ministry of Defence came out with the story that most of the girls had been rescued, when they knew that they had not been rescued, we just went on publishing the story, with nobody saying 'OK, they've been rescued, where are they?� This is a basic question. A whole school was burnt down; we have a principal in that school, we have teachers in that school; and we are talking of over 200 girls abducted, who have parents.

And nobody except the foreign media could go to this place and talk to the principals, teachers and parents! This is something that we ought to be able to do ourselves. In fact, I received a mail from one of our former editors, who said she was pinning for Newswatch and that she was sure that in those days, Newswatch would have piled up a file on Chibok, the people that are there, the military operations, the Ministry of Defence and all that. But today, nobody is doing that. One of our general editors at Newswatch, spent nearly a week riding in the creeks with the militants at the height of their operations.

All she wanted was to be able to meet with their leaders and have an interview. And she did.

Not once but twice. We sent a reporter, an editor all the way to Afghanistan. When they dumped toxic waste in Koko, we sent a reporter all the way to the source in Amsterdam. When we heard about Nigerian girls being taken to Italy for prostitution, we sent a reporter. So maybe that kind of fire is not burning in the newsroom anymore.

Could this be a matter of funding or lack of commitment, because with the newsrooms is filled with graduates of different backgrounds and experiences, it surely would not be for a

lack of ideas?

This is not even an idea, it is a running story.

Maybe the editors are looking at it differently. I don't believe it has to be as a result of funding.

The integrity of a publication is based on how daring it can be. And the more daring you are, the more popular you become and the more seriously you'd be taken and therefore get returns on your investments.

Could this also be the typical the Nigerian mentality? Because the situation is that if a reporter goes to the Ministry of Defence to apply to go to Chibok, he is likely to be scorned or refused a pass, but a reporter comes from abroad they are ready to escort and guide him or her.

Well in a way it is. That's what I talked about a while ago. If you allow the politicians look down on you, they will. If you let them treat you like a boy, they will. In my experience, at no time did we ask for permission to go anywhere to do our job. We simply went. And once you can do that, they will respect your daring and support you. What you're talking about is not just happening today. In past administrations for as long as I can remember, it has always been easier for a foreign reporter to come and obtain information here than our own indigenous reporters.

The biography on former military president, Ibrahim Babangida raised a bit of dust. Here was a man who practically brought Newswatch to its knees at a time. And then there were other persecutions on the team and the industry, yet you turn around to write a book on him to kind of 'deify' him.

Well, I'd say that is an unfortunate conclusion. You have to read the book to know whether or not I in anyway 'deified' him. Doing a book on him is not an endorsement of whatever he did or stood for. Doing a book on him was a way of looking at the military politics in the country, hence the title, Ibrahim Babangida, the Military politics and power. In my second book, Fellow Nigerias; I began from Chukwuma Nzeogwu's coup of 1966 and took each coup's speech, whether successful or otherwise and analysed it against the background of the prevailing socio-economic situation of the time in order to make those who were not around at the time look back and understand exactly where we were and what happened. It was the same approach I took to the Babangida book, and I believe that we'll benefit a great deal if more people can write on our former leaders and bring out the essential things about them; the circumstances that brought them up, because you see, when Babangida entered the military in 1962, it was not exactly his own decision. The dynamics of Nigerian politics got him and eight of his classmates into the military. So it is something that you ought to look at, in terms of the dynamics of our national politics.

There must have been a reason for this. Remember Ojukwu saying that when he wanted to go into the military, his father kicked against and all that; and he said to him: the future of Africa belongs to the military. And it is true to some extent, because at a time, three-quarters of African countries were being ruled by the military.

It is in the same way that when Babangida was voted Man of the Year in 1990 by Newswatch, the criticism was 'why should you do that?' But it was essentially a news judgment. Remember Time Magazine put Adolf Hitler on its cover, but he didn't do anything positive. He simply caused the World War. But he shook the world anyway. There you are. And then whatever you say; the fact is that we are reaping the seed that Babangida sowed. Supposing he had prosecuted the transition programme to a logical end and handed over the government to the winner, the entire architecture of our national politics would have changed. So it is an action that he took that has ramifications beyond his time and will continue to affect the history of this country.

If you look back, whether as a reporter, editor or publisher, are there some decisions you took that you think you shouldn't have been taken? What are the highest points of your professional life and the lowest?

When you become an editor is your highest point in the profession and I became an editor in 1978, when I was appointed editor of the Nigerian Standard in Jos. And for me, I thought that was the highest I was going to go. And then later on I became editor of the New Nigerian; and Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine.

Before then, I was General Manager of Radio Benue before I took up appointment as director of information, which was a political appointment. So I rose to the top of my career and I'm grateful to God for it and grateful to those who made it possible. I don't look at the low points in my life because everybody has series of low points. But as journalism is concerned, I can't remember a single decision that I took that I every regretted. I have always tried to do my job professionally. You may not agree with me, but in my view, it was always not easy to disagree with the reasons for which I took certain decisions.

PHOTOS: Muyiwa Hassan

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

68

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Every nook and cranny

N

ATIONAL MIRROR Front Page Lead Story blunders of June 5 welcome us this week: “Christians and Muslims have been killing each other (one another) over series (a series) of attacks by the Islamic militants, Boko Haram.”

The Views Page of the above medium collects the baton in perpetuation of solecisms: “Our level of humanity and development should be measured by our strict adherent (adherence) to the spirit and letters of democracy (sic).”

Existential humanism: the spirit of the law or the letter of the law (democracy in this application).” “…states that didn’t have universities now have ones.” Yank off the last word in the extract. “…but violence arising there from (sic) never lasted more than few (a few) hours.”

“A desperate decease (disease) requires a desperate cure.”

“In its absent (absence), the state is a failed one.”

Even the Editorial of the paper under review consolidated the front page infraction: “…the latest in series (a series) of coups that have punctuated modern Thai history.”

“IATA urges governments, operators to tackle passengers (passengers’) excesses” “FG tasks Nigerians on climate change induced (change-induced) activities” “Chicken Republic commissions (inaugurates) central kitchen” “FCT minister’s wife distributes items to destitutes” Community Mirror: the destitute (noun and plural). Please note that ‘destitute’ is an adjective.

Finally from the Back Page of NATIONAL MIRROR under focus which withheld some etymological facts: “…the former GMD of Zenith Bank resumed (assumed) office as the new governor of CBN….” I cannot understand this elementary goof! If Lamido Sanusi had returned it would have been ‘resumption’—not the instant case.

“The flurry of activities (activity) that day prompted the acting governor….”

“Associated to (with) this is the….”

“It will specifically serve to identify those transacting business with

Automated Teller Machines (ATM) (ATMs) and Point of Sales (Sale) (PoS) machines.”

From DAILY Sun EDITORIAL of June 2 comes the next gaffe: “…that has potentials (potential or potentialities) to rev up the economy and create jobs.”

“In the next 10 days or thereabout….” (DAILY Sun Back Page, June 2) Voice of The Nation: thereabouts “Reps passes 2014 budget (sic)” Get it right: House of Reps passes or Reps pass 2014 Budget” “Saraki picks hole (holes) in passed 2014 budget (sic)” “…etched his name on marble on (in) many thorny cases, both constitutional and in various other areas of the profession.”

“World Bank cat and mouse game with Nigeria” Get it right adjectivally: cat-and-mouse game “…flattering the country’s potentials” Again, ‘potential’ is noncount, unlike ‘potentiality’.

From DAILY Sun of April 11 we move back to its March 31 edition: “NOSDRA boss commends JTF over (for/on) arrest of oil thieves” “Not surprisingly (Unsurprisingly), when it comes to Nigeria’s recent and not so recent (not-sorecent) history….” (OPINION Page) “The Ministry of Youth and Development created by the federal government only concentrates on the high profile overaged Nigerian youths….” Not a challenge: overage Nigerian youths.

“Like a bad dream, the sore issue of fuel scarcity has refused to go away, posing serious (a serious) challenge to commuters and motorists.”

Next is DAILY Sun of April 2: “Oshiomhole commissions (auspicates, inaugurates…) Dawson-Uselu road in Benin” “20-year-old man remanded in prison for raping a minor” A rewrite: 20year-old man remanded for raping minor “…it is scandalous to learn that the Federal Government plans to import electricity into Nigeria from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a much smaller and less endowed African country.” (EDITORIAL) Please delete ‘into Nigeria’ to avoid lexical shame! “…lead to a blind ally (alley).” (Source: as above) “A progressive who believed in the good of ma-

jority (the majority) over the opulence of minority (the minority).” (OPINION Page) Additionally, this is a hanging sentence! “…has not hidden her grouse on (about) the role played by America and the West in the disintegration of the former Russian federation.” (Source: as above) “…it is admittedly near impossible for anyone of voting age not to hold an opinion one way or the other (one way or another).” (OPINION Page) “Owing to lack of support funding, the centre could not survive after few (a few) years.” (Another OPINION Page extract) “Death for jobs latest” Abuja Metro: Death-forjobs latest “Ekiti agog as Fayemi flags (kicks) off re-election campaign” The March edition of POLITICAL ECONOMIST spread a few slipups: “The sight of a man, probably in his early fifties, raging at a staff (an employee/a worker) of a bank right inside thee banking hall….” “…all may not be well with the use of ATM afterall (after all).”

“Customs raises alarm (the alarm) over fake auction papers syndicate” “Gates said he will (would) closely advise new Microsoft Chief Executive….” “…the nook and crannies of the country….”

Fixed/stock (informal) expression: every nook and cranny (no pluralism or modification)!

Lastly from the monthly publication: “…who only see their appointments as a money making (money-making) venture.”

Let us welcome SATURDAY Sun of March 29 to this edition: “…there is the additional tradition of ferrying loots abroad.”

(OPINION Page) ‘Loot’ is uncountable. “…said it uncovered late (the late) Gen. Sani Abacha’s loot of….” (Still on OPINION Page) “I was also given a ring and an handkerchief among other things I cannot mention here.” Life & Living: a handkerchief, a hotel, a European….

“I love seeing smile on people’s face.” Style Cover: people’s faces “Kiddies world” (Logo) Get it right: Kiddies’ World Wrong: Last but not the least; right: last but not least

'I'm living the life I want'

•Continued from page 55

Still, I suggest now, it's not completely stupid to assume that events in her past would compel her to seek out dark material.

“No,” she says, “it's not completely stupid, but I think it's completely irresponsible for someone who's writing an article on someone else to pinpoint who they are and what their work is, just based on one thing that's somewhat sensational.”

Nevertheless, she is, clearly, interested in stories about women in extreme situations. “I'm interested in people,” she says. She says that Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet, to take two of her peers, play characters who struggle and suffer, but nobody suggests this is because of some horrifying event in their past that they are trying to work through. She says that she seeks roles with the most dramatic narratives, and these often tend to be stories that depict people in extreme situations. She says that people who live in tough environments, like the one she comes from, often have more interesting stories than people who live where we are sitting now, in sunny West Hollywood. She thinks this explains why so many of her films are set in the American Midwest, far from the wealthy coasts.

The thing that bothers her most, she says, is that it's not really any deeper motivations behind her work that the press and the public are interested in. We just want the salacious details of what happened to her family. “It's titillating,” she says. “It sells magazines, at the expense of me and other people who were involved.”

I demur slightly; I'm not sure that discussion of her father's death helps sell magazines. “Oh, I totally think it does,” she says.

“Especially the way people write about it. The reason why I said I was annoyed by that was because I try to come at [interviews] as honestly as I possibly can and so it's… devastating is not the right word, I'm not that dramatic about it, but it's a little bit of a let-down when you do that and then you read something and you feel like you've been made one-dimensional: you are this dark person who comes from this dark past who is therefore obsessed with playing these dark people and it couldn't be further from the truth.”

I tell Charlize I've been reading Dark Places, a thriller by Gillian Flynn, author of the bestseller Gone Girl. It's about a profoundly damaged woman, Libby Day, investigating the deaths of her family, who were killed on their farm when she was a child, possibly by her brother. Charlize has produced a film adaptation for release later this year, in which she stars as Libby.

“I'm asking for it a little bit with that one,” she says. “I'll 'fess up to that.” She thinks for a moment.

“This is why it's so hard: I get it. I get that people, if they know the book, would be like, 'Oh, of course Charlize is doing this.'”

But actually, she says, despite the superficial similarities, she feels she has less in common with Libby than with many of her previous characters. Not that she's denying any personal connection with the world of Dark Places. “I'm not denying that at all,” she says.

“I'm not denying that [her father's death] is a part of me. I just don't think it's the only part of me, and I think sometimes people like to blow it out of proportion. And I think the part that always gets me the most is that other people who are involved in that scenario always bear the brunt of it.”

The other person involved being her mother? “Yeah.”

In 2012, Charlize herself became a mother, to Jackson, whom she adopted when he was nine days

•Charlize Theron

old. She was single at the time, having broken up with her long-term boyfriend, the Irish actor Stuart Townsend. She had wanted children for a while, but the timing hadn't been right. “It's not the reason we split up,” she says. “In his defence, it was not that he didn't want to have children, it was just something that never worked out.”

She says she always knew she would adopt a child, at the same time as hoping and continuing to hope that she will have biological children as well. As soon as Jackson came along, she says, “I was like, 'Ah, finally!'”

The blossoming relationship with Sean Penn, on the other hand, was not pre-planned. She had been content, she says, over the past couple of years, to focus on being a new mother, happy to be single. “I wasn't in any place that I even wanted something like [a relationship]. Then one day you go: Oh, [Jackson's] almost two now, and he has his little activities that he goes to and he's got a bedtime now, and you have more time again.

And it's like if you are open to something, if you just let it happen, it will happen. When you least expect it.”

In summary: “It was nice to be single and now it's nice to be not single.”

We've been talking for a few hours now. Sean is waiting for her at the bar. I try to tie up some loose ends by remarking that Charlize's life now seems very settled. Her career is in good shape. She is a mother.

She is in a new relationship. The exchange that follows is, I hope, illustrative of her allergic reaction to the platitudinous nature of the celebrity interview. It would be so much easier for her to nod and smile and concede that all is well. But that's not Charlize's style.

It doesn't suck to be you, I say.

“It depends who you ask,” she says.

I'm asking you.

“If you're asking me then, yeah, my life is really good.”

Who would say it wasn't?

“I'm sure some people would be like, 'I would never want to have that life.'”

Why would they say that? You have an enviable life.

“Oh, I'm sure there's a lot of aspects to my life that a lot of people wouldn't want.”

What aspects?

“Just personal choice things. Like the fact that I'm single at 38. That's not necessarily what a lot of women want.”

But you're not single.

“I mean unmarried. But I'm just saying, a life is good if it's the life that you want.”

Is this the life that you want?

“Yeah, it is. I am living my life in a way that if tomorrow it ended and I hope not because I have a kid but if it did, this was the life that I really wanted to live. But I work at that, you know?”

She stops again, fixes me with a look. “Here's the one thing I'll give you. If you do go through any severe trauma, if you are put in a situation where you understand that it very easily could have gone the other way, you realize very quickly the value of life. That be-

comes very, very clear.”

You were 15 when you learned that.

“I learned it at a very young age.”

But it wasn't the death of her father alone that taught her to value life. “I was raised in an environment where our country was heading towards civil war,” she says of apartheid-era South Africa. “There was violence, there was an Aids epidemic. There were a lot of things reminding me, constantly, of my mortality.”

As a result, she has never been the sort of person to let life pass her by. She couldn't afford to be.

That's not always the way, she says, with people who survive tragedy or trauma. Some people are defeated by circumstance. They are defined by their victimhood.

“That can happen as well,” she says, “you go through something and you just never come out on the other side. You just walk around with a chip on your shoulder and go, 'The world owes me because I've been fucked over.' That happens a lot. And a lot of times people come from trauma and don't end up being good people.”

Why does she think she didn't fall prey to that?

“I think I am who I am today because I was raised by parents who instilled certain fundamentals in me,” she says. “Yes, there were things in my family that weren't healthy like any family but maybe to a little bit more of a severe degree but the one thing I can give both of my parents was that I was raised with a really good foundation. I was fucking lucky to be born into that.”

What was it that her parents taught her?

“Self-worth,” she says. “Being a young girl and not putting your worth into your beauty. That was not something that I was raised with. So when I left home and everybody was like, 'Oh, you're pretty,' I was like, I don't even know what that concept means.”

Her eyes flash when she says this.

On this point, as so many, she is impassioned, almost angry. It marks her out, this intensity, here in the gilded lobby of the Sunset Tower, where everything is plump and comfortable. It's not just the way she looks, although that is part of it. It's her singular self-assurance that makes her stand out.

She's not haughty, not at all. There's no froideur. But she really is quite formidable. And now she's done with the chit-chat. She promised Pharrell Williams she'd make an appearance at a charity event he's hosting tonight, and she's running late.

“I'm dumping you for Pharrell,” she says. “I hope you're OK with that.”

And off she goes to the bar to collect Sean, head held high, stride brisk and purposeful. The Sunset Tower has seen movie stars before: dazzling, powerful, take-noprisoners women, larger in life even than on screen. But they don't come along too often like this anymore. Even the beautiful old building seems impressed.

•Courtesy: Esquire

69

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

For Women of Owu

•GM of National Theatre, Kabir Yusuf

•National Theatre, Lagos

O

With Women of Owu, a play by Professor Femi Osofisan forming part of the texts for secondary schools students for 2011 – 2015 sessions, the management of the National Theatre, Lagos, has decided to bring back the programme, Schools Dramatised Literature texts. This is to help them improve the standard of literature in their exams and also expose students to the core values of drama. Edozie Udeze writes

VER the years, students offering Literature in English in School Certificate Examinations and University Entrance Examinations have found it somewhat difficult to come to terms with some of the texts recommended for use. This has made it impossible for some Literature students to really understand the depth of the books and what literature itself portends.

Owing to this fact and more, the management of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, in collaboration with a group of artistes have decided to put on stage one of the recommended books for this season. The book is Women of Owu written by Professor Femi Osofisan, foremost Nigerian playwright and academic.

Women of Owu is an African retelling of Euripides, in which the playwright uses a rhythmic mix of choruses, songs and dances punctuated by individual stories of woes, agonies, wars and so on to delve into the historic account of the people. It is a thoughtprovoking account of how the combined forces of Ife, Oyo and Ijebu invaded and pillaged the ancient city of Owu, killing all the men and children. In leaving only the women alive, they found a voice in the Erelu, a woman who rose to stand solidly behind her people. Her strength was driven by the solidarity she got from the other women who indeed chose to defy the allied forces, calling them ‘cursed men who had no dignity for human essence’ In an interview with The Nation, Biodun Abe who is the handler of the drama project, said, “our concern is borne out of the fact that literature is a core subject for students seeking to offer courses in Arts and Humanities in Nigerian universities. In response to the need to aid the students’ understanding of the texts and consequently improve their results, we have chosen to revive the Schools Dramatised Literature Text and Book Fair.

Women of Owu is a text in the syllabus for 2011-2015 academic years.

“We discovered that over the years, most of these students did not quite grasp the profundity of the texts. We looked at the results that have already been posted, especially by the Lagos State, and we discovered that the results were less than excellent performance.

To us, that is not good enough. So what we

are doing is beyond entertainment. We intend also to impact on the society in the area of raising the standard of the would-be leaders of tomorrow”, he said.

When the approach was adopted before, the results during those years were quite better. When the students watched the characters on stage, they were able to identify with them and even got to know the story deeper and better. And since drama is all about life on stage, the reality of the stories and the people involved in it, came closer to the students. “That enhanced their understanding of the text better”, Abe said.

He continued, “then we want to be more creative with the script this season by organizing, at the end of every performance, an interactive session between we, the organisers and the students who watched the drama.

They will field questions and we will attend to them. We will solve also some literature questions and there will be more interaction because we would have taken them beyond what happens within their classrooms.”

In doing this, the Theatre management wants to involve a group of tested artistes who can give their best on stage by bringing out all the essentials of Women of Owu. Sina Ayodele, a teacher of Literature at the Lagos State University, Ojo and who is a member of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), will spearhead the stage. While the venue will be the National Theatre, the technical crew and other stage matters will be provided by Abe and his team.

The play is an emotional drama where women, after being subjected to series of sufferings, preferred to take their fate in their hands. Their power of protest and resolve resembled the stubbornness exhibited by the Aba women in 1929, when they told the British colonial masters that they could not pay tax. In

the play, the women spoke with one voice: they gathered together to give strength and succor to one another. It has been described as a powerful evening of theatre, mesmerising, rhythmic and ever-bourgeoning. The event happened in 1821 or thereabout when these forces laid a siege on Owu for seven years. Initially, Lawumi, their goddess had given her approval to the siege, saying that the rulers of Owu were becoming too arrogant and unapproachable.

However, with the desecration of her shrines and those of Obatala and other forms of destruction unknown in history, she became angry against the invading forces that she also invited Anlugbua, another Owu deity to join her in the destruction of the allied forces. Henceforth, the intrigues that unfold give the drama a special blend, thus making it one of the most successful stage dramas on women historic issues in Nigeria.

“I will destroy them,” Lawumi boasted, “because they too (allied forces) have no regard for me. Just imagine, when they set the town on fire, desperate men and women ran to my shrine for protection. But do you know these allied forces, the very soldiers I gave total support did not spare them! Can you believe the insult! Yes, of course the fugitives were Owu people and so were enemies, but so what!

They had run to me for refuge! Me, their ancestral mother! But no, the allied soldiers did not care for that! They seized them all!! Even Princess Orisaye, Obatala’s vestal votary, was literally dragged out of my hands without any of the soldiers protesting. Then, to cap the insult, look! They have set fire to my shrine!” She was addressing Anlugbua who, on his own part, agreed that time had come to inflict the proud Ijebu, Ife and Oyo soldiers with an everlasting confusion, suffering and agony on their way back.

In the process, therefore, Lawumi beckoned on Esu, the chief mischief-maker, Obatala and other gods and goddesses to begin to perfect strategies to make this journey perilous, tortuous and horrendous. “I want their return journey to be filled with grief”, she said. “Human beings”, she reiterated, “it is clear, only learn from suffering and pain. Already Esu has promised me, there’ll be such confusion at every crossroads…till human beings learn that gods are not their plaything.”

On their part, Erelu and her princesses were determined to foil the plans of the enemy to make them slaves. She resolved to the end never to be subjected to such a trauma. She said, “A father can only chew for a child, he cannot swallow for her. If only you had read your history right, the lessons left behind by the ancestors!

Each of us, how else did we go except by the wrath of war? Each of us, demolished through violence and contention. Not so? But you chose to glorify the story with his! Lies!, our apotheosis as you sing it is a fraud…”

Then she slumped on stage and died. This was even before the allied forces could perfect their final plans to whisk her and others away.

With a deluge of dirges to synchronise with the pitiable condition of the women, the play indeed harps on the power of words as epitomised and espoused by the womenfolk. With their utterances, supported with innuendoes, pregnant with meaning, they were able to harass the generals almost out of existence. Erelu’s final words to others summed it up – “Go, go into the forests, I cannot help you. No one can.

You are going now into years of wandering and slavery. As the penalty for your wasted lives. Perhaps afterwards you would have learnt the wisdom of sticking together and loving one another…”

Osofisan has written over 50 plays and to date, he still remains Nigeria’s most dramatised playwright. Some of his works have even been commissioned by renowned theatres in Europe and America and across the world. That is one of the reasons why this project is essential so as to make the impact more engrossing and outstanding. After it is shown at the National Theatre, it can be taken to other states depending on the interest shown by the government. The idea is to ensure that majority of the students have the opportunity to watch the play.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 8, 2014

70

Prayer and the prosperity hustle (2)

I

N part 1 of this essay, we see prayer developing from man’s primitive infancy into a sacred ritual. The essence of the ritual is also examined, and the point made that modern scientific worldview has considerably influenced the attitude to prayer and raised critical questions concerning whether faith-driven praying can change natural processes.

Incidentally, practically all the praying in Nigeria is addressed to gods created and rooted in alien cultures. Thus, the prayers themselves are derived/ adapted from Islamic-Christian sources, validated by ancient Semitic mythologies, but moderated by prevailing local concerns to invoke putative panaceas for exigent 21st century mundane problems. In this second part, praying as a presumed cure-all ritual is the key element in an evangelical crusade that is expected to usher in the millennium. This crusade has been on for over three decades now, that is, longer than enough for the failure of its pretensions to manifest. Indeed, it has become obvious that the noisy business-promotion carnivals masquerading as religious revivals for national salvation, were conceived in wishful presumptuousness and superstitious belief in magic. Even if it had originally been designed for national regeneration, praying as the major component of a self-serving commercialised enterprise has become a widespread racket, and a lucrative hustle for “prosperity”.

That developments in religion in Nigeria took this turn, and with the acquiescence and active collaboration of the political and intellectual elite is a matter for deep concern. The national elite has adopted praying and related rituals as the prime means of insuring stability and development. Yet, these rituals are not associated with, or driven by, any known ethic.

Apart from the authority of antediluvian sacred texts on the power of prayer already discussed in part I of this essay, there is, perhaps, also the assumption that the act of going about making iwure, or invoking blessings and good wishes is, in itself, salutary. Meanwhile, economic instability has contributed to preaching and praying becoming an all-comers’ hustle. Thus all sorts of characters (many of them refugees from unemployment) with little or no requisite training or disposition for the vocation, have assumed the title of pastors. Ersatz worship centres began to dot the landscape. Above all, big churches sprang up, founded by charismatic preachers with good formal education and considerable entrepreneurial ability. These money-spinning churches, with their “faithhealing” clinics, deliverance rituals, and open-air revivals, have transformed religious hustling in the name of evangelisation into big business. Indeed the big churches have become the hub, while preserving the religious façade of what are, essentially, personalised business empires.

Ironically, this commercialisation of religion represents the culmination of the degeneration of what began outside the established, older churches in the early 1970s as a mission aspiring to pursue the

‘When prayer becomes dominating and manipulative in its intent, it becomes magic….

Imprecation and incantations become, in effect, “oral talismans” (charms)’ A.G. Ha, “Prayer” in New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago 1984, p949

•Christian worshippers

By G.A. Akinola

ideal of “holiness”. Unfortunately this aspiration succumbed to the allure of the Prosperity Gospel under the uncongenial socio-economic environment and the vulgar materialism generated by dissolute dissipation of unearned petrodollars in the late 1970s and 1980s.

In addition to this, the nascent evangelical movement itself has from the beginning been remarkably bereft of leaders of distinguished intellect and character, like the Wesley brothers, whose evangelical revival in 18th century England led to farreaching social reforms, spiritual awakening and the birth of the Methodist Church. It is not surprising, then, that the neoChristian evangelical mission in Nigeria gave birth to a complex of competing, personalised, owner-founder churches, with minimal central coordination or ideals, and without any creative approach to bringing religious values to bear on the problems of society.

Developments in religion and its social and spiritual uses usually take place in response to prevailing societal preoccupations. In Nigeria socio-economic upheavals since the civil war have increased the pervasiveness of poverty and hardships, while the boom in unearned oil income has accelerated the rise of a materialistic culture. It is in this context that the new churches and their doctrines about prosperity, through divine intervention, despite the country’s adverse socio-economic fortunes, assume significance. For example, praying for prosperity, which the clerics themselves represent as ministering to the people’s existential needs, has clearly shifted emphasis away from religious values. Indeed, the new churches actively encourage and promote the impression that religion is principally about overcoming mundane problems through the invocation of

supernatural powers. Little wonder neo-Christianity and even Islam have degenerated into miracle faiths peddling panacean prayers to life’s problems.

The education of the Nigerian elite, like that of their peers in the rest of Africa, has continued to be dominated by the “civilising mission” ideology.

The virtual imposition of Western Christian/Islamic cultures, the wanton assault on ancestral values and philosophies, and the failure of the elite to try and redress these historical calamites, are some of the factors that have rendered religion, as currently practised in Nigeria, an insidious, even noxious, social institution. Practically all “educated” Nigerians grew up believing that Islamic/Christian cultures are divinely inspired, while knowing little of, and therefore despising, indigenous religions.

Members of the clerical profession, in particular, could not escape the enchantment of the imported faiths’ sacred books, the sublime poetry and prose of the Q’uran/Bible, and the engaging seductiveness of the great historical, romantic, and philosophical texts of Hebrew literature canonised in the Bible. All these Semitic cultural and spiritual achievements have now become universalised, with the translation of the Hebrew/ Christian and Muslim deities into the God of all creation.

Thus, smug in their intellectual enslavement to other cultures’ mythologies, and unaware that all religions are valid products of culture in time and space, our clerics (not to talk of our intellectuals) have arrived at the feeble-minded belief that Islam/Christianity are the only “true” religions ordained by God; that these Semitic/Christian faiths can work miracles; and that ancestral systems of belief and worship are demonic, and can embody no values or philosophies of any consequence.

Given the prevailing worldview in Africa, and the belief, even by the highly edu-

cated, that the Muslim/Christian sacred books are packed with supernatural power, it is not surprising that Nigerian clerics, like every Nigerian faithful, believe in the presumed metaphysical powers of the miracle faiths. Hence, these clerics went about trying to heal the sick and make the lame walk in line with the teaching of their sacred books. But, what then happened when they discovered that they could not accomplish these feats, let alone raise the dead on demand, in the name of Jesus? Surely, it must have somehow occurred to these clerics that the sacred books could not be taken literally; and that biblical “miracles” could not be replicated routinely, if at all, in our post-biblical-age, post-Enlightenment world.

The response to this realisation explains, to a great extent, some of the major problems in religion in Nigeria today. Whereas the advanced societies of Western Europe and America outside the “Bible Belt”, have updated their worldview in keeping with growing knowledge about the natural world (while continuing to develop the social, spiritual and other uses of religion) the ignorant but fanatical pseudo-religious African adherent of the miracle faiths would rather impose ancient middle Eastern worldview on reality, as if the world works according to the thinking of medieval religious savants who made no distinctions between phenomena believed to be true by faith, and events validated through modern scientific criteria. Thus, Nigerian prosperity preachers have refused to acknowledge that instant healing and miraculous “breakthroughs” into fabulous wealth, as well as insulation from the usual vicissitudes of life cannot be conjured in today’s world by mere invocation of Jesus’ name. However, to sustain the superstition that there are still “signs and wonders” as of old, there has been a resort to tricks, to theatrics, and

to stage-managed “miracles”.

After all, even men of God have to make a living.

Accordingly, what passes for evangelisation today, especially outside the established and mission churches, for the most part, is an unconscionable pursuit of material success by clerics, using the rhetoric and doctrines of religion. In order to exploit the potentials of the all-comers’ prosperity hustle to the fullest, the enterprise is organised under three main agenda: To persuade the faithful that there are “automatic” supernatural solutions to all imaginable problems. To reveal to believers “prophetic” visions of “breakthroughs” in business and allied endeavours leading to fabulous wealth. Finally, to identify presumed malevolent, demonic powers and, sometimes, to give advance warning of impending adversities that call for “spiritual” insurance.

The media is replete with all sorts of advertisements inviting the faithful to a variety of “crusades” and vigils on weekly, monthly, quarterly, or ad hoc basis. In these advertisements, the most extravagant of claims are made about “deliverance” of the faithful from all sorts of occult powers, as well as their liberation from sundry cares, including poverty and destitution.

Naturally, in a society where the power of impunity has trumped the rule of law, nobody ever asks questions about the failure of the pastors/healers to deliver on their promises. The faithful pay their tithes, donations, or dues and the preachers move on to organise other mammoth revivals, where the demons supposedly afflicting their clients are again bound or scattered. There is usually a session when people come out to declare that they had been healed, although there is no way of verifying such testimonies.

As if failure of governance, which makes the citizenry regular victims to predation at these “evangelical” revivals is not enough guarantee of constant patronage of prosperity clinics,

the industry has invented additional strategies of attracting clients. One is to dream up fictitious “prophetic” visions of “breakthroughs” for patients searching for an end to chronic medical problems, or for people engaged in business and other endeavours. Another, far more diabolic, even if it does show that our clerics are not without creative insights, is the invention of a veritable plague of evil powers, for ever stalking the unwary.

Now, what the creation, by clerics, of these phantom forces do is to fill the minds of their clients with anxiety-inducing neuroses, bogeys and phobias, so that they are forced to approach the pastor for deliverance.

Among such forces and powers are: “covenants” entered into by one’s parents or ancestors; malevolent adversaries in one’s larger family; “curse” of the first-born; unpropitious influence of family names in honour of traditional cultural/historical landmarks like Ifa, Ogun etc; anti-harvest forces; and agbana, the demon that “swallows” one’s profit or money. Whereas we see in the above a manipulation of neo-Christian doctrines, it must be pointed out that there is also provision for certain “prayer points” to deal with these malevolent forces. Consider, for example, the following: “Any power in my father’s house swallowing my money, vomit it and die in the name of Jesus.” “You strong man that appeared in my last dream die by fire in the name of Jesus.” (From “Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries” handbill, New Bodija, 13-15 May 2010).

The marvel about our contemporary modish “evangelisation” is that it is a respectable business, patronised by the political and intellectual elite, while the charismatic pastors that sponsor the “revivals” walk the corridors of power, promoting successive reprobate rulers that have practically destroyed the country. Yet, there is a sense in which the predatory activities of Nigerian politicians, the murderous rampages of armed robbers and kidnappers, and the cannibalistic exploits of children-trafficking/ baby-factory proprietors converge with the fraud, the corruption of values, and the undermining of the truly spiritual, promoted by our charlatan charismatic worshippers of Mammon. These pastors often resort to “spiritual” scams to make more and more money, like the promotion last year by an influential pastor of a scheme named “covenant partners” of God. Others dabble in money rituals that straddle the borders of criminality. It is no use taking any of the more respectable-looking pastors or imams seriously if they deny any part in such occult practices. After all, it is the same kind of doctrines and mentality/worldview that invents superstitions about driving a car powered miraculously, without gasoline, that create and propagate such weird beliefs that there are ritual concoctions for making money out of thin air!

In the following conclusion in two parts, I shall make reflections on two main issues that have emerged from this essay, with particular reference to popular views, and social uses, of religion.

•Akinola writes from New Bodija, Ibadan

71

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

I

S it true or a rumour that you were born deaf and dumb?

It is not a rumour; it is real.

My mother is still alive. She stays here with me in Port Harcourt and you can ask her.

According to my mother, I was in her womb for 11 months and was delivered deaf and dumb on January 18, 1968 at Imode Town in Ughelli, Delta State.

Unfortunately, I was born into a poor family of palm wine tappers. It is expected of every child to cry during birth but mine was different. I didn’t cry even when my two hands were folded. They did everything humanly possible to ensure that I cry. My mother said the whole village gathered to initiate ideas on ways out. You can imagine a new born baby receiving serious beating on his bottom just to ensure that I cry, yet I didn’t.

Then I was packaged inside a village drum and people were beating the drum and nothing happened. Someone suggested that they should put me in a room and shoot the traditional gun, I mean guncannon. They did and nothing happened. That was when the village concluded that I was a useless baby who will grow up to be an imbecile, deaf and dumb.

But after three months when my mother was waterfeeding me, she said amazingly I finally cried and my mother dropped me there and ran out to call others who gathered watching the baby which they all agreed should be thrown into the forest. It was indeed an unexplainable miracle. So, when human effort fails, God starts working.

How was growing up?

It was rough, hopeless and helpless. My father is a palm wane taper; we were living inside the bush where he has palm wine trees. The circumstances surrounding my mother conceiving me, the delivery and the condition after delivery showed that I was an unusual child according to my mother.

She said the family used

• Okoro

‘Why they say I’m a fake preacher’ Bishop Maxwell Okoro is the General Overseer of I Care Ministry International with headquarters in Port Harcourt. He spoke with Precious Dikewoha, on the circumstances surrounding his birth, ministry and challenges. Excerpts: to call me juju because I can wake up in the morning and tell my father that he should not go out today and if he tries it strange things will happen to him. My mother said sometimes for seven days I will decide not to eat their food and they will be beating me to eat.

I developed eye problem when I was young because of the measles affecting children and my father thought dropping palm wine into my eyes every morning will prevent me from having measles. One day after returning from school, he called me and my brother and poured palm

wine into our eyes. My brother immediately started bleeding.

This affected our eyes and it became a serious problem that almost took our sights. Because we lived inside the forest, nobody was associating with us.

I understand you once at-

tempted suicide. Why was that?

That is one of my experiences that has brought me to where I am today. I decided to commit suicide because of frustration. When I finished secondary school, I travelled to Lagos to meet my brother, a medical doctor. While staying with him, his wife made my life miserable.

I had to leave. I decided to stay with one of my cousins in Mushin Olorunsogo.

One day, he called me and drove me out of his house by 12am. I became frustrated that night. I had nowhere to go or sleep. I had to settle for an abandoned fishing trawler at Kirikiri Phase II jetty.

The vessel was seized by the Nigerian Navy but it became my house. The environment is one of the tough jungles and before I could know what was happening, the bad boys in the area stole everything I had, except the cloth I was wearing.

One day, I decided to commit suicide and my plan was to jump inside the Kirikiri River but while I was going toward the river something told me that I should step into a church located by the corner of the road leading to the river to have some rest. When I got to the church, pastor welcomed me very well. I wondered how a pastor could wholeheartedly welcome somebody who is about to end his life.

The pastor told me that God told him that I have future and I am going to be a great man in life. He also told me to be sleeping in his church since I did’t have where to stay. I slept there for two years. One day while I was sleeping in that church, God appeared to me in glory and told me to go out and win souls for him.

He showed me a very big church and crowd of worshipers but I told Him I can’t do His work. I woke up from that trance and saw myself in the clinic called Shungo Clinic. I don’t know if the clinic is still there now;

NEWS

Cleric predicts peaceful elections

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HE 2015 general elections will not only be peaceful but also rancour-free, the General Overseer of Faith Life Assembly International, Kano, Bishop David George, has said.

He spoke with reporters at the weekend in Kano.

George also urged nonindigenes in Kano to desist from panic and remain committed to prayers for the country.

He charged them not to flee the state, claiming he got a revelation that the coming elections will be peaceful contrary to popular belief.

“We do not need to live

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

in fear wherever we are residing. As a spiritual leader, people troop to me to ask for their fate in 2015 general elections and I have continued to assure them that there was no cause for alarm.

“I hereby urge Kano residents, particularly nonindigenes, to remain calm and steadfast to the will of God,” George stressed.

He went on: “I believe we shall conquer all these challenges. Thank God for the military and other law enforcement agents but it should be realised that if God does not watch over the city, everything the

watchmen do is in vain.

“I believe that the peace of this country, only God can restore it. There is an extent to which the military and the government can go but only God can make it all right.”

Speaking to those worried about the violence in the run-off to the elections, the cleric said: “Let us remove fear from the heart of the public, the fear of relocating.

“I urge those who have relocated their families to bring them back. I keep telling them to go back and bring their families. In 2015, nothing will happen.

It will come and go peacefully.”

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it was located close to Tin Can Bus stop. After I was discharged from the clinic, I still maintained that I will not do the work of God. I told God that what I want is money not to win soul for him So, how did you get into the ministry?

God gave me job and made me a millionaire. I got a job in a place where I worked as the Personal Assistant to the Late Rear Admiral S. J . Ugwuna (Rtd), who was the chairman, Suwe Shipping Ltd Victoria Inland, Lagos.

At this time, I was swimming in money. One day, trouble started; everywhere the money was coming from was blocked. Somebody that was staying in a two bedroom flat was now squatting with his brother. Because of thinking and hardship developed severe headache.

I was rushed to the hospital. It was when I regained consciousness that they told me what transpired. The doctor told me that God brought me back to life. That was how I succumbed to His calling to carry the cross.

What are the challenges since you started?

I started my ministry (I Care Ministry) with four people but today God has abundantly increased the number of worshipers into thousands. We are seven years old in this ministry, God has been so wonderful. My only challenge in this ministry is persecution.

God said pastors and believers should be one but men of God come to preach to my members to leave my church.

They say my offense is that God is using me to heal the sick and make the blind to see.

They say that I am a fake pastor. They told me that God’s miracles in my church are fake.

That is the highest persecution I have faced in my life.

When Jesus was an ordinary human being, nobody talked about persecution but when he started doing miracles, persecutions came. They say I am using juju, they say all manners of things against my church.

xxx

Fayemi, Emefiele for integrity award

KITI State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the new Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, will receive the 2014 prestigious integrity awards of the Nigerian Association of Christian Journalists (NACJ).

The award is an annual event designed to specially recognise Nigerians who have demonstrated high sense of integrity in their respective official capacities.

A statement by the Secretary General of NACJ, Charles Okpai, said the recipients were painstakingly nominated and voted for by the public in a transparent process.

According to him, they become automatic ambassadors of the association as well

as symbols of integrity.

The 2014 edition of the awards, he stated, holds on June 12 at the Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja Lagos.

Lt General Theophilus Danjuma(Rtd.) will chair the occasion while Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, will deliver the keynote address with the theme: Integrity in

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leadership: A panacea to peace, economic growth and sustainability.

Professor Jerry Gana will be the special guest of honour while Rivers State Police Commissioner, Tunde Ogunsakin, will be the presenter of the most prestigious integrity man of the year award to the winner.

Church holds 30-day vigil

HE annual 30-day vigil of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Covenant of Peace parish, Ikorodu Lagos commences from June 30.

It holds at the church’s auditorium at 38/40 Lowa street Jumofak Bus-Stop, IkoroduLagos with the theme “while

men slept.”

The host, Pastor Olaitan Aromolaran, in a statement assured participants will witness the grace and intervention of God. He added that marital failure, evil covenants and satanic yokes will be broken at the event.

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HREE years have passed since the Arab Spring wafted transient hopes of democracy across the Maghreb.

Through the oft jubilant protests centered in Tahrir Square, Egyptians inspired themselves into believing they could supplant the sclerotic dictatorship that had ruled their nation for decades. They would instill modern democracy in this ancient land. The Nile itself would be watered and renewed by the outpouring of the popular will.

The Libyan trek quickly turned less irenic.

Gaddafi would brook no replication of Tahrir in his land. Yet, his opponents would not be easily suppressed. Aided by an incongruous, informal alliance of Western nations and itinerant jihadists, the Libyan opposition would graduate from demonstrations and protests to armed insurgency. The nation descended into grim civil war in vain hope that the exit from this plunge into darkness would lead to the light of democracy.

After three years of taking different paths, Egypt and Libya have returned closely to where they started. In an election characterized by languid voter turnout, the Egyptian people resigned themselves to a return to governance civilian in form but military in soul and substance.

In Libya, the fight against Gaddafi was portrayed as one pitting democracy against authoritarian order. With Gaddafi gone, order has vanished with him. Yet, democracy also has failed to arrive. The place has turned into a house madder than it was when ruled by the alleged madman. Libya is no longer governed by his mercurial spirit. Though a desert nation, it now operates by the law of the jungle. Factions and factions within factions now fight battles within battles and wars within wars. Tripoli is the capital but the writ of government extends no further than the buildings it occupies. Libya is not so much a nation but a patchwork of tiny fiefdoms competing for local supremacy. Benghazi would be an independent city state except that it is now too anomic to be considered a cohesive entity. Amidst the confusion, a renegade former general/present warlord has launched battle against the government he vowed to serve as well as against the contumacious, anti-government jihadists in Benghazi.

What happened to these nations pains the heart but should not surprise the mind. In both instances, reformers fell prey to the unintended consequences of their incomplete and idealistic exertions. They recognized neither the enormity nor complexity of the task they assumed. For the truly democratic reformers, august motives were betrayed by a superficial political strategy evidencing a startling lack of depth about the nature of their societies and how to reform them.

At a most fundamental level, they failed to understand that suppressive government does not retreat. It responds to reformist challenge with doubled force. Every stab at reform begets conservative backlash. If the reformer is unprepared for the political fusillade to come, he will melt into a position inferior to that which he sought to change.

Because of this strategic weakness, reformers gave themselves over domestic and international forces stronger and more cunning than they at the craft of power wrangling. As such, they became pawns in the game they initiated. Tragically, their exertions have blown back in their faces like wildfire captured by an ill wind. That which they sought to change has reestablished itself as if a wall of crumbling plaster reassembled itself into reinforced brick.

In Egypt, the reformers thought all they needed was to oust Mubarak. They trounced Mubarak but what they now have may have taken them further away from genuine democracy. Mubarak was an increasingly frail octogenarian whose life force had diminished. Approaching the end of his days, he dreamed of dynastic succession; he hoped to place his son in the seat. This would have rankled senior members of the military, splitting the officer class between those supporting and those opposing the dynastic option.

Instead of being faced with the weakened son of Mubarak, the missteps of Egyptian reformers have made it possible for the reincarnation of Mubarak through the presidential election of former defense Minister Fattah el-Sisi. The new president has the energy, scope and ambition of Mubarak in his prime. The new leader may actually be a tad more ruthless and cunning. While the sun was setting on Mubarak, it is but high noon for el-Sisi. Take it for granted that he believes elections need not be democratic; to him, they are modern-day coronations of a leader already anointed in the most old

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014

Making a general mess of things Better to douse one's head in a boiling pot than curry the favor of a wicked king.

•Egyptian President-Elect, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

fashioned of ways: by brute power allied with established money.

He has it in mind that he will win every election he enters and that he can easily shred constitutional term limits as easily as one can shred the paper upon which these restrictions have been solemnly inscribed. This man envisions himself as leader for decades to come.

In effect, the vernal tumult ignited a process of alternating hope and disappointment that would bring the nation full circle. It was as if Egypt had gotten rid of their version of an aging Ivan the Terrible to replace him with a virile Stalin. This is worse than a bad bargain for it was paid for and made possible by collective activity and sacrifices intended to steer the nation in the opposite direction. Intentions are no substitute for wisdom in strategy; once in the field of actual struggle, belief in the rightness of cause is less valuable than political cunning.

Reformers should have targeted the military as an institution. Their mistake was to view Mubarak as the problem instead of seeing him as the mere personification of a deeper malady.

Thus, they concluded that by ejecting Mubarak, they solved their governance problem. This is akin to believing that by lopping off the crest of a wave one has controlled the entire ocean.

Because they failed to realize the limitations of individual power, they came to underestimate the intransigence of institutional power. It was not so much that they misfired but that they took accurate aim at the wrong target, wasting all their finite ammunition on minor target.

The real nemesis was the military's role in government. Pull the military from government and Mubarak would have folded. However, removing Mubarak did not mean the military would fold. In fact, it was the military that finally told Mubarak to walk the plank as he had become a detriment to their continuity.

To them, removing Mubarak was not surrender. It represented a tactical retreat as the prelude to counterattack at the propitious moment.

The so-called reformers were outwitted by military officers they considered their intellectual inferiors. What this shows is that the politics learned in the classroom is a different animal from the one that walks the street. Political science is a fiction not to be heavily relied upon. The contest of competing subjective human thoughts, emotions and ambitions can never be reduced to formulaic expression. In actual politics, we discount the academician's fluffy words and laboratory observations for they reduce complex real-life figures to lab rats which teach us very little. To master the task of reform, we take our cues, not from the lab, but from those who understand and flourish in the badlands that comprise the true topography of actual politics.

The military cunningly kept itself intact as the fulcrum of Egyptian politics by taking a backseat role momentarily. By doing so, it wedged itself between the secular reformers and the Muslim Brotherhood. This caused the two civilian camps to become estranged. When the Muslim Brotherhood won the election, it garnered the majority of the wider public but it was a minority government in terms of support among the political elite. Thus, it had to bend and rely on the military in order to have two of the three political groupings on its side.

Imperceptible to the reformers, the military had become the indispensable powerbroker between the two opposing civilian camps. When an arbiter becomes indispensable, he ceases being a broker.

He assumes another name: master.

The time to strike came when popularity of President Morsi and the Brotherhood hit low ebb.

The military pulled its support from the Brotherhood and promised to ally with the

secularists. The military deceived the secularists into believing the secularists would be allowed to take the helm from the Brotherhood. The secularists joined the military to harness the Brotherhood. Here was their great error.

They failed to realize the Brotherhood was the second most powerful group behind the military. Sound long-term strategy called for a rapprochement between the Brotherhood and secularists against the military. Two and three combine to contain number one. This was not to happen. What occurred was three joined one to impale two. The military achieved what it wanted. It would have had a difficult time taking down the Brotherhood without the implicit support of the secularists.

With the Brotherhood checkmated, the military simply ignored and walked over the secularists; by themselves, the secularists constituted an insufficient threat. The secularists had been maneuvered to where they stood alone for they had betrayed the democratic mandate given the Brotherhood.

They military was free to reclaim what their exalted position and they wasted little time transforming el-Sisi into the second coming of Mubarak. In the cycle of earth's seasons, spring follows winter. In Egyptian politics, it was winter that replaced spring.

In Libya, things were less convoluted but also less home-grown. If left solely a Libyan undertaking, the uprising would have been extinguished in weeks. Gaddafi would still be in power. Mali would not have come to increased turmoil and Boko Haram would not be so endowed with lethal materiel. However, foreign jihadists came by land, joining in informal but effective alliance with Western power by air and sea. The effort against Gaddafi was hijacked from its domestic authors to largely become a foreign affair. Thus Gaddafi's fate was sealed as was Libya's. The entire nation would be reduced to a brawl.

Libya is now an unalloyed mess.

Governance was by the barrel of a gun or not at all. The nation has become a festival for warlords and misery for the rest. Enter former general Khalifa Haftar. Once a Gaddafi aide, Haftar fled to America. He lived there for years until returning to participate in the drive against Gaddafi.

It would be naĂŻve to think his arrival and quick return to prominence is unconnected with his stay in America. The general likely has amiable connections with American counterparts. Thus, it is unlikely he has embarked on his two-front battle -- mutiny against government and fight against the jihadists -- without the backing of those in control of Washington's geo-political and military strategy. Haftar may ultimately prove to be his own king but for now he will spend significant time as a pawn of others. In effect, Libya went through its dark sufferings just to replace one strongman with another.

The only significant difference is that while Gaddafi was the self-styled apostle of African unity and a thorn in the West's side, Haftar is a client of the West who will likely prove a thorn in the side of his people for years to come.

Because both el-Sisi and Haftar are conservative militarists with no political ideology beyond the lust for power, the West feels comfortable with them as with Mubarak, Pinochet and those of that ilk. Even Israel applauded the election of el-Sisi. For Tel Aviv, el-Sisi promises a return to business as usual after the rather uncomfortable Muslim Brotherhood interregnum.

Sadness drapes both nations. Despite the hard work and sacrifice, reform has been vetoed by retrogression. The situation in both nations shows the difficulty of exacting reform.

Not only must reformers have a visionary idea, they must have the political acumen to see it through to completion. They must have the wisdom to outwit rival political forces but also the ability to garner support among society's undecided and ambivalent. This does not come by happenstance nor are all these gifts likely to be deposited in one person.

Necessary are thorough organization, discipline and correct strategy drawing clear distinction between tactical goals and strategic objectives. So is a bit of luck. Even here, fortune is more apt to shine on those better prepared to take of its advantage. Luck and fortune detest squandering themselves on the unready. As such, those who embark on reform are obligated not to underestimate the task they assume. To do so, is to place the nation they love on a weak and bending limb. If that limb breaks, the nation may find itself in a condition worse than when the climb to reform began.

At the end of the day, the attempt to climb to a better place should never land us in a deeper pit.

0806340825 (sms only)

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FG warns against global warming activities

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HE Federal Government has urged citizens to refrain from activities capable of causing global warming.

Activities such as uncontrolled bush burning, indiscriminate use of generators, candle lanterns and vehicular emissions, according to the government, contribute to global warming.

The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Mallam, said it was important for Nigerians to be aware of the critical challenges posed to the environment by global warming activities.

She spoke during at press briefing to mark the 2014 WED at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Environment in Abuja.

Mallam noted that refraining from global warming activities will help forestall ozone layer depletion, melting of the arctic region, increased rainfall and rising sea levels.

By Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

She said: "The UN and indeed the world have recognised that the very existence of life is largely a function of the type of environment in which we live in.

"This is why we are drawing national and global attention to small issues of profound environmental consequences.

"Sensitisation campaigns on issues of bush burning, cleaning of gutters, cutting down of trees, use of generators, refuse management, use of candles and lanterns, vehicular emission, and use of dangerous chemicals among others should be intensified."

The minister stated that the world was indivisible as far as issues of environment were concerned, stressing it was important for Nigerians to develop environmental consciousness, think globally and act locally.

Kwankwaso: Expect new Emir of Kano today

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ANO State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said that the state government will announce the name of a new Emir of Kano today.

The governor said this yesterday after receiving the Emirate's king makers at the Government House, Kano.

The king makers, who visited the governor, are the Madakin Kano, Alhaji Yusuf Chigari and the Sarkin Dawaki, Alhaji Bello

Abubakar.

Other king makers are the Makaman Kano, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim and Sarkin Bai, Alhaji Mukhtar Adnan.

The late Emir Ado Bayero was named the successor a day after the death of his father, Alhaji Abdullahi Bayero.

NAN gathered that a list containing four names was submitted to Kwankwaso who is to give final approval according to tradition.

Bayero pillar of support to me, says Obasanjo

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ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said that the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, was a pillar of support to him when he was in power.

Obasanjo, who was on a condolence visit to the emir's palace in Kano, described the deceased as a legend and icon who would be missed by all Nigerians. ``He had been a pillar of

support, a confidante, an adviser and a friend," the former President said. ``As a just ruler, his reign spanned over half a century.

He was very active in building this country politically, socially and economically,'' he added.

Obasanjo advised the successor to the throne to emulate the virtues of the late Bayero, who he said left a big vacuum in the heart of his admirers.

Late Bayero was a peacemaker, says NOSCEF

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HE Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) has described the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, as a peacemaker.

The group, in a statement by Mr Olaiya Phillips and Barrister Emmanuel Subilim, its chairman and National Secretary respectively said: "He was a widely revered and respected leader of his community, particularly among the Northern Islamic community.

"Time and again, he displayed great courage in opposing the terrorism of Boko Haram, even despite

their repeated attempts on his life."

It added: "The Emir's influential role as a peacemaker has been vital in preventing Islamic extremism from taking root in both Kano State and Northern Nigeria as a whole.

"His efforts to ease tensions between different ethnic and religious groups will long be remembered."

While declaring its readiness to work with the new Emir, NOSCEF urged traditional rulers to "follow his path in building a united and harmonious nation."

•The celebrator, Anglican Archbishop of Ecclesiastical Province of Enugu, Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma (centre) flanked by immediate right,Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu(right), Senator Manzo, Senator Tunde Ogbeha and other clergies in after the thanksgiving service...yesterday PHOTO: OBI CLETUS

Falode: Tambuwal sends delegation, letter to UAE S PEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has put together a committee to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to secure justice for the murder of Oloruntoba Falode, son of ace broadcaster, Aisha Falode.

The committee includes the Chairperson of the House Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri- Erewa; Chairperson of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nnena Elendu- Ukeje and the

From Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Suleiman Kawu.

The delegation will also be taking a letter from the House to the UAE addressed to the Office of the Public Prosecutor requesting that the case be re-opened.

The Nation learnt that the House has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make contacts with high-

level officials of the UAE with whom they will interact on their arrival in the country.

The House is said to be working closely with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Martin Uhomoibhi to achieve results.

The choice of Suleiman Kawu on the team, our correspondent learnt, is because he speaks fluent Arabic, which will facilitate quick interaction with UAE offi-

cials.

Tambuwal had told outgoing Ambassador of the UAE to Nigeria, Mr. Rasheed Aldhaheri, to prevail on UAE authorities to find the killers of Toba.

Aldhaheri said he could only have acted on a formal complaint from Nigerian authorities.

The preponderance of opinion is that the murder of Toba may be swept under the carpet as the suspect, Faisal, is a blue blood Arab, whose father has extensive investments in the UAE.

Rep makes case for Enugu-Benue link road

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member representing Enugu East/Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency, (Dr) Kingsley Ebenyi, has made a case for the construction of Ikem-Owukpa-Okpoga Federal road linking Enugu and Benue States.

He made the call in a motion to the House of Representatives last Tuesday.

A statement by his legislative aide, Titus Agbo, said Ebenyi, in the motion titled "urgent need for the construction of the Ikem-Owukpa-

Retired Justice Egbue dies

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retired Judge in Anambra State, Justice Don Egbue, is dead.

He was 83 years.

The late jurist was the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the old Anambra State for two years; Chairman of the Miscellaneous Offences Tribunal from 1986 - 1991 and Chairman Anambra State Local Government Election Tribunal in 1997.

The deceased is survived by his wife, Lorina Estella Egbue and four children.

His remains will be laid to rest in his home town Nnobi in Idemili South L.G.A on Friday June 13th.

Okpoga Federal road in Enugu and Benue States" noted the road will link several villages in Ikem and Odenigbo Eha Amufu in Isi-Uzo Local Government of Enugu State and Owukpa in Ogbadigbo Local Government of Benue State when constructed.

The road, according to him, "had long remained impassable due to the huge capital engineering costs required for both the road and the bridges linking the communities of the two states."

He regretted that lack of access road for the communities

has continued to bring untold hardship to the rural inhabitants for several decades.

He assured that the road will enhance agricultural production in both towns and villages of Enugu and Benue States, since the natives are naturally agrarians.

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We've lost a gem - Imoke

By Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

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ROSS River State Governor Liyel Imoke, has described as shocking, painful and saddening, the death of former Information and Communication Minister, Professor (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili.

He lamented that Nigeria has once again lost one of her gems.

Imoke, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Ita, described the deceased as 'dogged, fearless and upright".

Imoke said: "As a patriot, Dora did not only put national interest above other personal and narrow considerations, she also put her life on the line to sanitise the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC)."

He said her death is "not only a great loss to her state, Anambra, but to the entire nation as her wealth of experience and service will be sorely missed."

Saraki commiserates

PROFESSOR DORA AKUNYILI (1954 - 2014)

Ex-Information Minister, Akunyili, succumbs A to cancer FTER a two-year battle, former Minister for Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, yesterday succumbed to cancer.

Akunyili died at 59 in an Indian Specialist Cancer Hospital.

The people of Agulu in Anaocha local government area of Anambra State and the family represented by former Anambra State Governor, Chief Peter Obi, announced her death.

Confirming the death of the former minister and NAFDAC Director General, Obi disclosed she gave up the ghost in the early hours of yesterday morning in the hospital in India.

Obi said: "On behalf of the

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka

Akunyili's family, I wish to officially confirm the death of Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili in a Specialist Cancer Hospital in India this morning at 10 am, Nigerian Time, after a twoyear battle with cancer.

"In spite of her illness, she was unwavering in her belief in a better Nigeria and that was why she defied her condition and was part of Anambra State Handover Committee and the National Conference.

"The last time I visited her in India, even when she needed all the prayers herself,

she was full of concern for the Chibok girls, security and other challenges facing the country and told me that she remained prayerful for the release of those girls and for God to help President Goodluck Jonathan to overcome all the challenges facing the nation."

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, wept on hearing the death of Akunyili, describing it as a national tragedy.

He said Anambra and indeed Nigeria will not be complete without people like Akunyili.

To Senator Chris Ngige

(Anambra Central), her death is a national calamity.

Ngige, who contested the senatorial seat with Akunyili, said her death was a great loss to the country and Anambra in particular.

He prayed God to grant her eternal rest, while urging the people she left behind to perpetuate her good legacies.

The member representing Anaocha/Dunukofia and Njikoka federal constituency, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, also described the death of Akunyili as a national loss and prayed God to grant her eternal rest.

Born in Makurdi, Benue State in 1954, the late Akunyili trained as a Pharmacist/ Pharmacologist.

She is survived by her widower and children.

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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By Jide Orintunsin, Minna

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IGER State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, has lamented the death of former Information Minister, Professor Dora Akunyili.

Aliyu described the former Director General, National Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) as a fountain of knowledge and professional expertise, who promoted servant- leadership during her national service.

The governor, in a condolence message by his Chief Press Secretary, Israel Ebije, said the late Akunyili was a good example of a true Nigerian, who despite her ill health, was ready to offer her fountain of knowledge at the ongoing National Conference.

"Professor Dora Akunyili was a leading example of patriotic leader who believed in the Nigerian project and continued to champion her belief even till death."

He urged Nigerians to emulate the Professor of Pharmacology, and prayed for the repose of her soul.

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

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HE Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, yesterday said the late Minister of Information, Prof.

Dora Akunyili, was a patriot who shone like a meteor.

He said Nigerians will miss her vibrancy and commitment to the nation.

Eze, in a statement in Abuja, said the late minister was unique in her fight against fake drugs.

He said: "She bred life into NAFDAC and in the process sanitised the chaotic and largely unregulated Nigerian medicine and pharmaceutical industry.

"In her usual no holds barred approach in the fight against fake drugs, which had hitherto defied every fight against it, she attacked the syndrome frontally, almost compromising her personal safety in the process.

"Her patriotism was to bloom fully when she arrived the Federal Ministry of Information where she left no one in doubt that she was a very resourceful professional by charting a way for cleaning Nigeria's battered image."

Chime: Her death shocking

ORMER Governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, has commiserated with the governor and people of Anambra State on the death of Prof Dora Akunyili.

Saraki, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, described Akunyili as one of the most vibrant female ministers Nigeria ever had.

"Nigeria has once again lost a rare gem, a vibrant, focused, energetic and passionate woman who drove laudable and sustainable changes in Nigeria through her service to the nation particularly as the Director General of NAFDACwhich marked the beginning of a well sustained revolution in the fight against fake food and drugs in Nigeria," Saraki said.

She was a patriot, says Aliyu

She shone like a meteor - Ayogu

From Chris Oji, Enugu

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•From left: Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejuyigbe; Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) gubernatorial candidate for Ekiti, Ayo Fayose and President Goodluck Jonathan at the Oba's palace during the final rally of Ekiti PDP gubernatorial candidate in Ado-Ekiti… yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Jonathan: She was a distinguished citizen

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday praised Professor Dora Akunyili as "a diligent professional, a public-spirited and forthright public officer and a person of great convictions."

The President, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, stated that her memories will live on for her invaluable national service.

He said: "It is sad that her death has come at a time she

S

Mark, Ekeremadu, Uba mourn

ENATE President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday lamented the death of former Information Minister and Director General of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and control ((NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili.

Mark, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, described Akunyili as an intellectual of international repute.

Mark stressed that Nigerian would not forget in a hurry her resolute and relentless war against fake and counterfeit

From: Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

drugs when she chased the illicit drug peddlers out of the market.

According to him: "We have lost a great amazon. We have lost a scholar. We have lost a crusader.

"We have lost a soldier who stood to be counted when it mattered. We shall miss her robust and honest contributions to the socio- political and economic development on Nigeria."

was making further efforts to help sustain and strengthen the unity and stability of the country in her capacity as a member of the on-going National Conference.

"Without any doubt, she will be greatly missed."

Ekweremadu, in a statement entitled "Akunyili: "It is the Exit of an Uncommon Role Model", lamented the passing of the former minister.

The Deputy Senate President called for the immortalisation of Akunyili.

He said, "Prof. Dora Akunyili was a woman of enormous integrity, a quintessential professional and public administrator per excellence.

"She was amongst the brightest in our galaxy of

While commiserating with the Akunyili family, the government and people of Anambra State, members of the National Conference, he prayed the Almighty to grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

eminent women and never dimmed in quality and character. She was faithful and true to the nation till the very end and will be seriously missed."

Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Andy Uba, described her death as "a colossal loss".

In a statement in Abuja, Uba said that Nigeria has lost one of its finest, "a woman who did her very best for her country and served Nigeria with all her strength till the very end.”

NUGU State Governor, Sullivan Chime, has expressed profound shock and sadness over the death of former Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili.

He described her death as a serious blow to the nation.

Chime, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Chukwudi Achife, said her death has robbed the nation of one of her finest breed of patriots.

He described the deceased as a towering amazon of excellence whose public service record was as exemplary as it was inspiring.

The governor said she lived with rare values of integrity, diligence, dedication, courage and selflessness in the various capacities that she served the nation.

She will be missed- ItaGiwa

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ORMER Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on National Assembly Matters and the Chairman of the committee on Environment at the National Conference, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has commiserated with the government of Anambra over the death of the former NAFDAC boss, Dora Akunyili.

In a statement yesterday, Ita -Giwa described the deceased as a dependable woman who fought tirelessly in reducing fake drugs and control during her enviable stint as NAFDAC DG. She praised her courage and commitments to national course and prayed that the families will have the fortitude to bear the loss that her death has created.

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QUOTABLE “It is people like Elder Edwin Clark that do not understand who we are and who we should be in this country. He is 87 and he should be a father, who should champion the course of nation-building and not sectional interest, if for nothing else, at least for his age.”

SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 8, NO. 2874

—Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettina, taking a swipe at Ijaw leader, Chief E.K. Clark, for asking President Goodluck Jonathan to declare full state of emergency in the North East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

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DAY after President Goodluck Jonathan lectured the media to desist from celebrating terrorists, particularly the Boko Haram sect, the military, probably reading his lips, launched an all-out offensive against the print media in ways that harked back to the worst years of military dictatorship. The president not only lectured the media, he virtually harangued them, suggesting they adopt crude forms of developmental journalism. Speaking through the Information minister, Labaran Maku, during a book launch in Abuja last week, the president enjoined the media to educate and persuade the public to join hands with his government in fighting terror. He said nothing of the astonishing inability of his government in combating the menace. He also said nothing of the chaos that accompany the military campaign in the Northeast, the overarching intelligence failure that has doomed the war, the infighting in government, and the tactical inadequacy that seems to elongate and complicate the war.

Instead, the president appears to reason that if the media could be made to conform to his wish, the anti-terror war would not be as shambolic as it has evidently become. What seemed uppermost in his mind appears to be the insults he has received globally over his poor handling of the anti-terror war, a battering he thinks was instigated and fuelled by the feistiness of the local press. He glossed over the painful realisation by many newsrooms in the country that foreign print media had trumped them in publishing some of the most damning and telling stories on the Boko Haram conflict, including brilliant human interest stories that agonisingly bring into the open the torment being experienced by the abducted Chibok girls and their longsuffering parents. Even if the local media were to foolishly cooperate with the Jonathan presidency, and wear the cloak of a propaganda consortium, how would that prevent the ubiquitous and untrammelled social media and online publishing outfits from circulating damning details of the war in the Northeast, some of them either inaccurate or evocative of the civil war years?

During the Abuja book launch, Mr Maku, representing the president, had said: “Terrorists need publicity to be recognised and they depend on the media, but they do not deserve the type of publicity the media is giving them…The media should sensitise the public with their reports so that they can unite and fish them out thereby bringing terrorism to an end quickly. I am not saying that

Military impunity, creeping fascism

•Jonathan

•Minimah

you shouldn’t report when there are, say, terrorists attacks on innocent citizens but we must report from the point of view of arousing society to reject their message, to unite society against what they are doing. I am still calling on all of us to be able define the thin line that exists between the urge to report and the need to protect. We need to really come to a definition of what the responsibility of the media should be to organisations and persons whose major objective is to destroy society, to incite hatred among normal people. I have said it that if we black out terrorism for a period, I am sure it will go down.”

The president is unrealistic to expect, in this era of globalisation, that the Nigerian media could on their own choose to downplay open stories, many of which the foreign media even accompany with exclusive photographs to the dismay of the local media. He is too idealistic to expect that the media would choose to black out news about Boko Haram attacks even for a moment. In fact, in one vacillating breath, he himself acknowledged the difficulty of evading the publication of open news. But he then cruelly mocked his office by suggesting that in place of effective policies and the adoption of the right military strategies, a compliant press would help deal death blow to terror.

It was in this appalling context of poor reasoning and immature handling of the security emergency in the Northeast that the military has apparently targeted a few opposition papers and marked them down for intimidation and harassment. The sweeping nature of the military harassment enacted in the past three days is unprecedented, the kind never seen before, not even in the darkest days of the Gen Sani Abacha dictatorship. The aim, it seems, is to cripple the opposition media, make their operations economically unsustainable, and hope that they could be browbeaten into submission and hamstrung as a supposed outlet of Boko Haram exploits that paint the military and government as ineffective. But even if the entire so-called adversarial press were to be obliterated, surely there must be enough officials in government who are smart enough to know that that would neither help them defeat terror nor render an ineffective government effective.

Yesterday marked Day Two of the vicious extra-legal crackdown on the local media. That measure will not only fail, as other crackdowns in the past did, it will definitely tarnish the image of the military which appears to lack the officer corps with the mettle to resist un-

Abuja protest ban: what on earth were the police thinking?

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ARLY last week, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, banned further “Bring Back Our Girls” protests in Abuja.

They had become a nuisance, he said irreverently. But in reversing the order a day after, police spokesman, Frank Mba, a chief superintendent of police (CSP), offered an oblique and unconvincing interpretation of the ban.

He said that the FCT police boss merely advised protesters to watch out for fifth columnists and other troublemakers who were out to foment trouble or cause general disaffection through the protests. Given the directness of Mr Mbu’s order and the simplicity of his language, it is unlikely Mr Mba was telling the truth.

It is incontestable that Mr Mbu gave an order that violated the constitution. It was typical of him, of his general political irreverence, of his absolute disregard for lawful authority save his direct masters, of his single-minded desire to serve only those who pay and promote him. Unlike what Mr Mba tried to convey, the FCT police chief did not mince his words. Indeed, what Mr Mbu had to say, he said it with absolute contempt for the public and the constitution. After an annoying preamble, he had said: “Accordingly, protests on the Chibok girls are hereby banned with immediate effect…As the FCT police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness. Information reaching us is that soon, dangerous elements will join groups under the guise of protest and deto-

nate explosives aimed at embarrassing the government…People have been protesting over a month now…it is the issue of terrorism, it is not solved in one day…Then, when you continue to do it persistently, it becomes a nuisance to the government.’’

What worried Mr Mbu was not whether anyone was undermining the constitution or whether he was violating his oath as a police officer. What worried his servile mind is that someone was trying to embarrass the government. In his distorted professional opinion, protests are coterminous, if not interchangeable, with lawlessness. While most responsible, educated and adult Nigerians have struggled to wean themselves off military trappings and behavior, Mr Mbu is still evidently trapped in Nigeria’s militaristic past. He is unperturbed that he predicates his ban order on nothing but a clumsy rationalisation of his powers and the impotence of the constitution. The anomalousness of his order did not occur to him; that it was inconceivable to ban protests in Nigeria when leading rights groups and other activists in other parts of the world were still on the streets shouting and singing Bring Back our Girls.

Mr Mbu is, however, not to blame, even

though in his inimitable antipeople orientation he tried to personalise the order by saying he could not “fold his hands and watch this lawlessness.” It is obvious he could not have woken up one morning and felt the capricious need to ban the Bring Back our Girls protests. If he was neither directed to issue the order nor given the clearance to take that step, then discipline in the police must have broken down dangerously, and the country is badly misgoverned to boot. I believe he was ordered to do what he did partly because the disgraceful order suited his personality, and partly because, at bottom, the government itself is fed up being reminded of its unremitting failure.

But does it not worry Mr Mbu and his bosses that Nigeria would stop showing their displeasure against the abductions when the world was still outraged? Does Mr Mbu not care what image of Nigeria we would be projecting should we keep quiet in the face of that Boko Haram affront to the dignity of our people and the chastity of our daughters? Are they so insensitive that they have become unmoved by the anguish of the girls’ parents? What on earth came over them to issue such a nefarious order?

lawful orders. Worse for Dr Jonathan, the crackdown will complicate and worsen his poor standing globally. The world did not need the Nigerian media to come to a unanimous conclusion that the Jonathan presidency was slow in responding to the Boko Haram menace, and especially the Chibok abductions. The world, including some African leaders, have criticized Dr Jonathan and dismissed him as unfit for the office he occupies. Now they will even be more merciless on him. They will wonder from which Pleistocene past we managed to unearth Dr Jonathan and inflict him on a country struggling to catch up with the rest of the world and also fit into the modern era.

It is pointless discussing the reasons given by the military for disrupting the circulation of local newspapers. No one believes their arguments that it has nothing to do with the content of the newspapers. No one believes the military was merely being proactive in preventing newspaper distribution vans from being used to transport terrorists’ explosive devices. And no one believes the military was not ordered to stifle the press and violate the constitution. By trying to strangulate the press, it is clear which direction the Jonathan presidency is travelling. It has since lost the argument in open discourses; it will lose face everywhere even more. It has now become a danger to itself and to the rest of the country. It is expected that the Jonathan government, like all previous Nigerian governments nearing the end of their tethers, would embark on more dangerous and counterproductive measures from now on. The public will be prepared for the government’s worst shenanigans. What is not clear is whether the National Assembly will recognise that this government is devoid of integrity and credibility, and is comprehensively undermining democracy and endangering the peace and stability of the country, first by its incompetent handling of the anti-terror war, and now by its attempt to castrate the critical press.

The National Assembly must recognise this massive harassment of the media as unprecedented, and an outright subversion of the constitution. From all indications, the country is well on the road to fascism. Neither the Jonathan government nor the military is above the law. They must, therefore, be reined in now. The National Assembly Committees on Intelligence and Defence must summon the military hierarchy for explanation, even if their explanations will be untenable. If the government will not relent in its open and flagrant abridgment of the right to free speech, the legislators must begin impeachment proceedings against a president that increasingly shows gross disrespect for the constitution. Boko Haram leaders, it will be recalled, also at a time attempted to muscle the local press. They were resisted.

The press will also resist this disgraceful attempt by the government to castrate it.

The Jonathan government apparently no longer cares about its image. But Nigerians still care about their country’s image long sullied by the government’s helplessness in the face of the Boko Haram abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls. And for sure, the foreign governments assisting Nigeria to rescue the Chibok girls will come under pressure from their people and media to dissociate from Dr Jonathan’s extraordinary and extra-legal measures. It is also apparent that the Jonathan government, long regarded as vacuous and visionless, may have been inspired by events in Thailand and Egypt among others, where the press and democratic institutions have been castrated. But Nigeria is different. The Jonathan government may feel that some amount of intimidation might not be irreconcilable with the domesticated tenets of the Nigerian constitution. However, as previous governments have found out, Dr Jonathan will find out too late that he is grossly mistaken. He has not won the antiterror war, and seems quite unable to find a way to even make a huge dent on it.

Now he has opened another front. This new front will complicate matters for him and doom his presidency.

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