THE NATION MARCH 15, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

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VOL. 8, NO. 2428 FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

Alamieyeseigha: Fresh row over Diya, Adisa, others WHO SAID WHAT TI, NLC, This decision undermines It is totally unacceptable He lost his position, forfeit- The pardon is quite in orothers reject anti-corruption efforts in that those who committed ed the property ... It is out of der. It is within the PresiNigeria and encourages economic crimes in such place to suggest that the par- dent’s powers to grant the state pardon impunity...sanctions magnitude that affected don is tantamount to aban- pardon to anybody who ...should be strengthened, public interest be granted doning the fight against cor- has committed offence not relaxed state pardon ruption in Nigeria –Okupe —TI —NLC —Nwabueze Akinjide, ers were listed merely “to justi- Head of State, in the “Supple- block the likely outrage over FRESH controversy Nwabueze, fy the action and give it a na- ment To The Official Gazette his former boss’ pardon – broke out yesterday over the state pardon T. Olanrewaju and others were tional spread”. They had been Extraordinary No 33, Vol. 86” critics insist.

The Oxford Advanced published on May 26, 1999, granted former Bayelsa State also pardoned at the Council of punished, said the critics.

Okupe: But proponents of the action granted Diya and others clem- Learner’s dictionary deGovernor Diepreye Alamieyes- State’s meeting on Tuesday. scribes clemency as “mercy; eigha and others.

But critics of President Good- are insisting that what Diya and ency 14 years ago. it’s okay The fresh pardon granted by lenience”.

Former Chief of General Staff luck Jonathan’s action are say- the others got was “clemency”,

A

From Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja and Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu

Lt.-Gen. Oladipo Diya, Maj.Gen. A. K. Adisa, Maj.-Gen. A.

ing the pardon was targeted at Alamieyeseigha and that oth-

Pope Francis shuns protocol

not pardon.

Gen. Abdulsalami, the then

President Jonathan to those indicted in phantom coups was to

Pardon is “a cancellation of Continued on page 4

P

OPE Francis put his humility on display during his first day as pontiff yesterday, stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself. It was a decidedly different style for the papacy usually ensconced inside the frescoed halls of the Vatican.

The break from the tradition-minded previous pontificate was evident even in Francis’ wardrobe choices: He kept the simple pectoral cross of his days as bishop and eschewed the red cape choosing instead the simple white cassock of the papacy.

The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, began his first day as pope making an early morning visit in a simple Vatican car to a Roman basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary and prayed before an icon of the Madonna.

The Pope stopped by a Vatican-owned residence in downtown Rome to pick up the luggage that he left behind before moving into the Vatican hotel for the conclave.

He paid the bill “to give a good example”, according to the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

•SMASHED MASHED:: The car in which the policemen killed by robbers on Wednesday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos car park were resting...yesterday. Story on page 7 PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

ACN, ANPP, CPC leaders vow to defend APC STORY ON PAGE 4

•Chief Ikimi...yesterday

Lawyer behind proxy APC’s letter regrets action

•CITYBEATS P6 •SPORTS P23 •SOCIETY P25 •BRANDS P29 •POLITICS P15

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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NEWS POPE FRANCIS I

•Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi (left) presenting a magazine to former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar ,who visited him in Agodi State Secretariat Office....on Wednesday.

• Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (second right), Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs. Oluranti Adebule (right), Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye (seconnd left) and the Chairman, Lagos House of Assembly Committee on Education Alawiye King (left) at the Support Our Schools Initiative Corporate Social Responsibility Awards/Breakfast Meeting organised by the Education Ministry at City Hall, on Lagos Island...yesterday.

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

Pope Francis before P

OPE Francis began his first morning as pontiff by praying yesterday at Rome’s main basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a day after cardinals elected him the first pope from the Latin Americas to lead the Catholic Church.

The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, entered the St. Mary Major basilica through a side entrance just after 8 am. He was there for about 30 minutes.

He had told a crowd of some 100,000 people packed in rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square just after his election that he intended to pray to the Madonna ‘that she may watch over all of Rome.”

He told cardinals he would also call on retired Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, though the Vatican said it had no information about a visit.

The main item on his agenda was an inaugural afternoon Mass in the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals on Wednesday elected him leader of the 1.2 billion-strong church in an unusually quick conclave.

Francis, the first Jesuit pope and first non-European since the Middle Ages, decided to call himself Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, the humble friar who dedicated his life to help the poor in the slums.

The new pope immediately charmed the crowd in St. Peter’s that roared when his name was first announced and roared again when he emerged on the loggia of the basilica with a simple and familiar: “Brothers and sisters, good evening.”

Waving shyly, he said the cardi-

nals’ job was to find a bishop of Rome.

“It seems as if my brother cardinals went to find him from the end of the earth, but here we are. Thank you for the welcome,” he said.

The 76-year-old cleric, said to have finished second when Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005, was chosen on just the fifth ballot to replace the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. In the past century, only Benedict, the late John Paul I (in 1978) and Pius XII (in 1939) were elected faster.

Immediately after his election, Francis spoke by phone with Benedict, who has been living at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo.

A visit to him would be significant because Benedict’s resignation has raised concerns about potential power conflicts emerging from the peculiar situation of having a reigning pope and a retired one.

Benedict’s longtime aide, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, accompanied Francis to St. Mary Major, the ANSA news agency reported. In addition to being Benedict’s secretary, Gaenswein is also the prefect of the papal household and will be arranging the new pope’s schedule.

Like many Latin American Catholics, Francis has a particular devotion to the Virgin Mary, and his visit to the basilica was a reflection of that.

He prayed before a Byzantine icon of Mary and the infant Jesus, the Protectress of the Roman People.

“He had a great devotion to this icon of Mary and every time he comes from Argentina he visits this basilica,” said one of the priests at the basilica, Rev. Elio Montenero.

“We were surprised today because he did not announce his visit,” he said.

Pope displays humility, stops by hotel for luggage

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HE humility of Pope Francis was on display yesterday during his first day as pontiff.

He stopped by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill by himself in a decidedly different style for the papacy usually ensconced inside the frescoed halls of the Vatican.

The break from the traditionminded previous pontificate was evident even in Francis’ wardrobe choices: He kept the simple pectoral cross of his days as bishop and eschewed the red cape that Benedict • Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke(right)in a handshake with Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio at a thanksgiving service organised in honour of Imoke in Calabar…yesterday. With them is the General Overseer of the Living XVI wore when he was presented to the world for the first time in 2005 — Faith Church (Winners Chapel), Pastor David Oyedipo. choosing instead the simple white cassock of the papacy.

The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, began his first day as pope making an early morning visit in a simple Vatican car to a Roman basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary and prayed before an icon of the Madonna.

He had told a crowd of some 100,000 people packed in rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square just after his election that he intended to pray to the Madonna “that she may watch over all of Rome.”

He also told cardinals he would call on retired Pope Benedict XVI, but the Vatican said the visit wouldn’t take place in a few days.

The main item on Francis’ agenda yesterday was an inaugural afternoon Mass in the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals on Wednesday elected him leader of the 1.2 billionstrong church in an unusually quick • Director, Administration, Julius Berger, Alhaji Zabairu Bayi (left), Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Author- conclave.

Francis might be expected to outity (FCDA), Adamu Ismaila, Division Manager, Julius Berger, Hartmut Warnecke and Special Assistant to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Legal Matters, Bimbola Salu- Hundenyin, at the inauguration of Exhibition Pavilion in line some of his priorities as pope in the homily. It was expected to be commemoration of Nigeria at 50, donated by Julius Berger in Abuja ...yesterday PHOTO ABAYOMI FAYESE

delivered in Italian, again another break from the traditional-minded Benedict whose first homily as pope was in Latin.

Francis urged the crowd to pray for Benedict and immediately after his election spoke by phone with the retired pope, who has been living at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo South of Rome.

After the visit to St. Mary Major, Francis also stopped by a Vaticanowned residence in downtown Rome to pick up the luggage that he left behind before moving into the Vatican hotel for the conclave.

He paid the bill “to give a good example,” according to the Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi.

It was a remarkable show of simplicity and humility for a man who could easily have dispatched someone to do the job for him.

He displayed that same sense immediately after his election, shunning the special sedan that was to transport him to the hotel so he could ride on the bus with other cardinals, and refusing even an elevated platform from which he would greet them, according to Timothy Dolan, a United States (U.S.) Cardinal said.

“He met with us on our own level,” Dolan said.

Later, during dinner, the new pope addressed the cardinals and said: “May God forgive you for what you have done.”

According to Lombardi, Pope Francis also went into the main altar area of the basilica and prayed before relics of the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus is believed to have been born — an important pilgrimage spot for Jesuits

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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NEWS POPE FRANCIS I

begins journey with prayer Byzantine icons of Mary, Jesus

Pope Francis (second right) arriving for a prayer at Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica...yesterday . With him are other cardinals The Pope laying a wreath before a prayer at Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica PHOTO: AFP ...yesterday PHOTO: AFP

Italian bishops thank God for wrong pope Emergence thrills Latin America

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TALIAN bishops were so convinced that one of their own would become pope that they had sent a congratulatory message to the media thanking God for the election of a prelate from Milan.

The trouble was, the new pope had already been named as Argentinian cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

The Secretary-General of the Italian Conference, Monsignor Mariano Crociata, expressed “joy and thanks” to God for the election of Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan in a statement sent to reporters at 8:23pm on Wednesday night.

About 10 minutes earlier, Bergoglio had made his first appearance before the crowds in St. Peter’s Square.

At 9:08pm (4:08pm ET), the Italian Bishops Conference

sent another statement thanking God for the election of the pope, but this time got the name right.

In the days leading up the secret conclave, many Italian newspapers openly promoted Scola as the next pope.

The newspapers - and the Bishops Conference - appear to have missed the warning contained in a traditional Italian saying that front-runners at a papal conclave are often disappointed.

“He, who enters a conclave as a pope, leaves it as a cardinal,” the saying goes.

Perhaps it was never more true in the modern age than in the conclave that elected Bergoglio instead of the Italian favorite Scola.

Jonathan, Mark, Obi hail process

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark and Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, yesterday joined other world leaders to congratulate Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who emerged the 266th pontiff on Wednesday night.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan noted that the new Pope is a divinely inspired choice by the College of Cardinals and an unequivocal testimony of God’s abiding presence in His Church and the world.

The statement reads: “On behalf of himself, the Federal Government and all Nigerians, President Goodluck Jonathan congratulates Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina on his historic election yesterday (Wednesday) as the first Pope from the Americas and 266th successor to the Chair of St Peter.

“With Cardinal Bergoglio’s glowing antecedents as a great scholar, teacher, Catholic philosopher and very humane leader of the Church, President Jonathan welcomes his election as successor to Pope Benedict XVI as a divinely inspired choice by the College of Cardinals and an unequivocal testimony of God’s abiding presence in His Church and the world.

“The President joins Catholics in Nigeria and other parts of the world in praying for God’s blessings and divine guidance for Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis as he assumes the papacy, trusting that he will put his acclaimed qualities and devoutness to the best possible use in resolutely guiding the Church through the many challenges it currently faces.

“President Jonathan and the Federal Government look forward to further enhancing the already cordial and excellent relationship between Nigeria and the Vatican under the leadership of Pope Francis, the beloved champion of the un-

From Augustine Ehikioya, Onyedi Ojiabor, and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

derprivileged and renowned crusader for global equity and social justice.”

The President also looks forward to collaborating with Pope Francis and the Holy See in working towards the realisation of a much more secure, peaceful and just world order.

The statement quoted Jonathan as saying: “As he prepares for his formal installation and ascension to the Papacy on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, the President prays that God Almighty will grant Pope Francis continued good health and strength, and the even greater knowledge, wisdom, understanding and divine insights he requires to successfully maintain the positive traditions of the Catholic Church and discharge the sacred Petrine Mission entrusted to him. He wishes Pope Francis a blessed and successful tenure.”

Mark urged developing democracies to learn from the Conclave, describing Bergoglio’s emergence as a divine and rapid response to the yearning of the Catholic faithful.

According to a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, the Senate President spoke during the morning mass in which he celebrated the election of Pope Francis. It was at

the St. Mulumba Chaplaincy, Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja.

He said: “God has once again shown the world that He is the Lord that knows the heart desires of His people.

“He (God) has once again shown the world His mercy. In the Bible, He entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of God to Peter, His vicar on earth.

“The God we serve is full of surprises and is unpredictable. His ways are not our ways, neither are our thoughts his thoughts. He chooses whomever He wants to be His instrument for the actuation of His divine plans.”

The statement reads: “The prayerful and peaceful nature of the process of the selection of the Pope is to be emulated, especially by developing democracies. I urge religious and political leaders to take advantage of this.”

Earlier, in his homily, Rev, Father, Innocent Joogi said the world has no choice than to accept peace, saying God cannot abandon His people when they truly trust in Him. In his contratulatory message, Obi described Bergoglio’s emergence as the continuation of the fulfillment of Christ to his Church that the gate of hell shall not prevail.

‘The God we serve is full of surprises and is unpredictable. His ways are not our ways, neither are our thoughts his thoughts. He chooses whomever He wants to be His instrument for the actuation of His divine plans’

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HE election of former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as the new Pope has elated Latin America, home to 40 per cent of the world’s Catholics, which has nevertheless long been underrepresented in the church leadership.

Immediately after he was announced on Wednesday, drivers honked their horns in the streets of Buenos Aires and television announcers screamed with elation at the news.

“It’s a huge gift for all of Latin America. We waited 20 centuries.

It was worth the wait,” said Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar at the St. Francis of Assisi church in the colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico.

He went on: “Everyone from Canada down to Patagonia is going to feel blessed,” he added.

“The new pontiff brings a common touch. The son of middle-class Italian immigrants, he denied himself the luxuries that previous cardinals in Buenos Aires enjoyed.

“He lived in a simple apartment, often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited slums that ring Argentina’s capital.

“If he brings that same desire for a simple lifestyle to the papal court, I think they are all going to be in shock,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of Inside the Vatican a must-read book on the Vatican bureaucracy.

“This may not be a man who wants to wear silk and furs.”

Francis considers social outreach, rather than doctrinal battles, to be the essential business of the church.

“As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than 2,000 years — that in each other, we see the face of God,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in a congratulatory statement.

Cardinal Thomas Collins, the archbishop of Toronto, said the cardinals clearly chose Francis because he was simply “the best person to lead the church.”

“I can’t speak for all the cardinals but I think you see what a wonderful pope he is,” the cleric told the Associated Press in a telephone in-

terview.

“He’s just a very loving, wonderful guy. We just came to appreciate the tremendous gifts he has. He’s much beloved in his diocese in Argentina. He has a great pastoral history of serving people,” Collins said.

The new pontiff brings a common touch. The son of middle-class Italian immigrants, he denied himself the luxuries that previous cardinals in Buenos Aires enjoyed. He lived in a simple apartment, often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited slums that ring Argentina’s capital.

“If he brings that same desire for a simple lifestyle to the papal court, I think they are all going to be in shock,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of “Inside the Vatican,” a must-read book on the Vatican bureaucracy. “This may not be a man who wants to wear silk and furs.”

As the 266th pope, Francis inherits a Catholic church in turmoil, beset by the clerical sex abuse scandal, internal divisions and dwindling numbers in parts of the world where Christianity had been strong for centuries.

While Latin America is still very Catholic, it has faced competition from aggressive evangelical churches that have chipped away at strongholds like Brazil, where the number of Catholics has dropped from 74 per cent of the population in 2000 to 65 per cent today. Like Europe, secularism has also taken hold: more and more people simply no longer identify themselves with any organized religion.

Francis is sure to bring the church closer to the poverty-wracked region, while also introducing the world to a very different type of pope, whose first words were a simple, “Brothers and sisters, good evening.”

He asked for prayers for himself, and for Benedict, whose stunning resignation paved the way for his election. Reversing the typical order of blessings, he asked the crowd to bow their heads.

“I want you to bless me,” Francis said in his first appearance from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, asking the faithful to bow their heads in silent prayer.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

NEWS ACN, ANPP, CPC leaders vow to defend APC

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LL Progressives Congress (APC) – the result of the merger of opposition parties – have been warned that the battle to stop its registration will fail.

Any attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to register the new party, will be resisted, its leaders said yesterday in Abuja.

They vowed to guard APC jealously because it is their intellectual property.

They also said they had uncovered a plot by the Federal Government to destabilise the opposition and corrupt democratic institutions.

They claimed that a high-ranking government official had been furnished with huge resources from public funds for the anti-opposition project.

The parties made their position known at a news conference in Abuja by the Chairman of the Merger Committee of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Tom Ikimi.

Ikimi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was supported at the session by the Chairman of the Merger Committee of the ANPP, ex-Governor Ibrahim Shekarau; the Chairman of the Merger Committee of the CPC, Alhaji Garba M. Gadi; and a representative of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Senator Annie Okonkwo.

Ikimi said the sudden emergence of a proxy APC was a “case of the hands of Esau but the voice of Jacob”.

He said: “For several weeks now, our country and indeed the whole world have been put on notice about the decision of our three registered political parties namely Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) to merge into one formidable party, for the purpose, among others, of accentuating political competitiveness, providing a viable alternative political plat-

•Members of merger parties for the All Progressives Congress (APC) from left: Senator Annie Okonkwo, Alhaji Garba Mohammed Gadi, Ikimi, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau PHOTO:ABAYOMI FAYESE and Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Abuja...yesterday

Lawyer behind proxy APC’s letter regrets action

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ITH a tinge of regret in his voice, Mr. Nwokorie Samuel Chinedu, the lawyer who filed the application with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the registration of the controversial African Peoples Congress (APC), has spoken of his role in the row.

Nwokorie, who spoke with our correspondent from his hideout in Abuja Wednesday night, said he was hired by Ugochinyere Ikenga sometime in February to file the application – an action which has kept leaders of merging parties battling to defend their emerging party’s identity.

Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congres for Progressive Change (CPC) have merged to form the All Progressives Party (APC). The proxy “APC” is believed to be an attempt to throw a spanner in the works for the real APC. From Yusuf Alli and John Ofikhenua, Abuja

form and promoting the muchneeded political change in the governance of our dear country, Nigeria.

“Pursuant to the said decision and following a meeting of the accredited delegates and leaders of the merging parties, we addressed a world news conference in Abuja on the 6th of Feb-

From Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

According to the lawyer, Ikenga paid him N30, 000 before he filed the papers. The “client” paid him N50, 000 later and gave him a Samsung Galaxy phone after the job had been done.

Nwokorie said he took the brief as a young lawyer eager to earn a living without any inkling of what Ikenga had in mind. He added that Ikenga told him that he was acting on behalf of the promoters of the party.

His words: “Ugochinyere Ikenga approached me sometime in February 2013 to put in an application for the registration of a political party by name African Peoples Congress.

“He paid me an initial sum of N30,000 and later added another N50,000 and a Samsung Galaxy phone after I had filed the papers, with a promise that he was going to settle me after the party must have been registered.

“I filed the application in the honest belief that it was just another political party because even the application I entered at INEC only

ruary, 2013.

“During the news conference, we announced the unanimous agreement of the parties to merge under a new name, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The name and acronym have, therefore, become the Intellectual Property of the merging parties since the 6th of February 2013 and it has received very wide publicity in the print

bears the name African Peoples Congress. The acronym APC was not included in the application.

“So there was no way I could have visualize, whether or not there was an ulterior motive in the registration of that political party. I was, however, surprised to see my name all over the newspapers, including the a sample of the application letter I wrote to INEC. “I wish to let Nigerians know that I am not a politician in anyway whatsoever. I regret the issues at hand and the dimension the entire thing is taking.”

Asked to explain the discrepancy in the office address in the application and his real address, Nwokorie said the address was correct.

According to him, a friend of his works in one of the two law chambers in the address.

and electronic media.

“All legal and constitutional processes required to formalise the merger and register our new party with INEC in the name of All Progressives Congress(APC) are already in progress, in top gear and include our earlier announcement on the 6th of February 2013 of the decision of the three parties to merge.

“Prior to the adoption of the

Alamieyeseigha: Fresh row over pardon Continued from page 1

legal consequences of an offence or conviction.”

The ex-officers, in this case, are free to revert to their ranks.

Transparency International (TI), the Global anti-corrupt organisation, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday demanded a reversal of Jonathan’s pardon for Alamieyeseigha.

But Second Republic Attorney-General of the Federation Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) and one-time Secretary of Education, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), endorsed the pardon.

The Presidency also, for the second day running, justified the presidential action.

Transparency International urged President Jonathan to rescind the pardon. It said Alamieyeseigha, having been convicted for money laundering and other serious corruption offences in 2007, his pardon has sent a wrong signal.

“This decision undermines anti-corruption efforts in Nigeria and encourages impunity. If the government is serious about uprooting public corruption, sanctions against those who betray the public trust should be strengthened, not relaxed,” said Akere Muna, vice-chair of TI. “Mr. Alamieyeseigha will now be able to stand for public office again.

“President Jonathan should

show that he is committed to fighting corruption and endorse the efforts of law enforcement agencies to end impunity for corrupt officials,” it said.

Nigeria was ranked 139 out of 174 countries in the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has prosecuted a number of high-profile corrupt individuals since its inception in 2003, but most of them have escaped effective sanctions.

The NLC, in a statement signed by its President Abdulwaheed Omar, titled “Withdraw state pardon in national interest”, said it was alarmed by the decision to pardon Alamieyeseigha who was impeached as Governor of Bayelsa State and eventually convicted by a properly constituted court for stealing public funds, and that of Mr. Shetima Bulama, a former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, who was also convicted for misappropriating the bank’s funds.

The Congress said: “It is totally unacceptable that those who committed economic crimes in such magnitude that affected public interest be granted state pardon.

“We still wonder what message the National Council of State is sending to Nigerians, if at the height of unprecedented corruption in the country those who have been prosecuted and jailed for stealing public mon-

ey are granted state pardon.

“The Congress finds it incongruous the state pardon granted to Alamieyeseigha and Bulama.

“While like other citizens, they may be entitled to state pardon, Congress believes that the crimes committed are too weighty for state pardon.

“It is our view that state pardon remains an act of mercy or reprieve dispassionately exercised or granted by the highest authority in the land for and on behalf of the government and people, and it should be a last act of mercy sparingly exercised for the good of the nation. State pardon is recognised across the world not for its own sake but for its potential and capacity for redressing judicial guilt, rewarding penitence, or for initiating reconciliation, and in some instances, for ensuring restoration, but never losing sight of national interest.

“We are surprised that eminent members of the National Council of State could not have deeper reflections on the list brought before them by the Presidency before giving their endorsement.

“Congress believes that decisions as weighty as state pardon should be well thought-out, transparent and devoid of any ulterior motive and accordingly, call for a reversal of the decision.

“We also wish to remind those who canvass the view that

INEC probes proxy APC’s letter of intent

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name, we had carried out a careful search of the existing names of all political parties with extant registration in Nigeria and finding out that none had the name All Progressives Congress nor the acronym APC. We chose the name and unveiled it.

“Thus by that public announcement, the name All Pro-

ENIOR officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are probing the receipt and letter of intent submitted by the African Peoples Congress- the group that is claiming the same acronym as the All Progressives Congress formed by merging parties.

The association, which held a news conference yesterday in Abuja, is “the product of a conspiracy between a top INEC official and the PDP, aimed at pre-empting the decision of the commission on the confusion over the APC acronym,” a source said.

INEC has said no party has been registered with the name APC, but the promoters of the African Peoples Congress, backed by a senior INEC official and a senior presidential aide held a press briefing.

The popular thinking in INEC is that the application by the African Peoples Congress to form a political party was faulty and ought not to have

Continued on page 59

Continued on page 63

Continued on page 59

Proxy APC: ACN, ANPP, CPC have alerted INEC, says Lai Mohammed

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•Alamieyeseigha

the decision is sacrosanct because the National Council of State approved of it and that the buck stops at Mr President’s table. And in any case the role of the Council of State is strictly advisory.

“If the anti-corruption battle must be won, the Presidency must lead by its actions,” the NLC said.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe said: “Since he left prison, Alamieyesiegha has been working strenuously and silently to assist the President stabilise the amnesty in the Niger Delta region.

“Alamieyesiegha is a foremost leader of the Ijaw nation and his political and stabilising influence in that region has imContinued on page 63

HE National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday said the three merging parties have written the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the sudden emergence of African Peoples Congress to scuttle their merger.

He also said the procedure for the merger of political parties is different from registration, making the proxy APC no threat to the merging parties.

He said ACN, ANPP and CPC have complied with the Electoral Act to make INEC ignore the proxy APC. Mohammed, who spoke during a question and answer session with reporters in Abuja after a briefing, said it would be wrong for anyone to insinuate that the merging parties ought to have written INEC to prevent the emergence of the proxy APC. He said: “The SAN has explained to you that the procedure for merger is different from that of registration. Now I want to say it loud and clear that there is nothing we ought to have done, as merging parties in accordance with the Electoral Act, which we have not done.

“If you go to the Electoral Act, it is only after we have conducted our various conventions, we have had the resolution to apply to INEC as he said. We are not like those who are registering

From Yusuf Alli and John Ofikhenua, Abuja

new parties. And it will, therefore, be wrong to say probably we ought to have written to INEC which we have not, we ought to have notified INEC, which we did not. But on the 6th of March, we saw the mischief that the African Peoples Congress was playing, we wrote to INEC, reminding them even though there is no requirement for registration, we have seen them, as people that want to make mischief that INEC should, take note.

“So don’t compare the process of merger with the process of registration of a new party,” he said.

The Chairman of the Merging Parties’ Committee on INEC and Legal Compliance, Mr. James Ocholi (SAN), described the proxy APC as illegal.

Ocholi said: “By virtue of the provision of the Electoral Act, there are different requirements Continued on page 59

ADVERT HOTLINES: 08023006969, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

5

NEWS Jonathan vows to stamp out polio before 2015

Reps to probe NDLEA over 197 convicted drug traffickers

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to eradicate polio from the counrty before the end of 2015.

He gave the assurance when a delegation from Rotary International, led by the Chairman of the Rotary Foundation Trustees and past President of Rotary International, Mr. Wilfrid Wilkinson visited him at the State House.

He said the Federal Government will take all necessary action and work in close collaboration with its development partners and other stakeholders to overcome the challenges of ignorance, misinformation, security, cultural and religious inhibitions that were currently hindering mass immunisation against polio in some parts of the country.

According to him, his administration was actively encouraging pro-polio immunisation advocacy by respected religious leaders and traditional rulers as part of a multi-faceted strategy to ensure the success of the nationwide campaign.

He said: “I promise you that we will continue to do our best because I do not want to hand over polio to the next administration.”

The leader of the delegation, Mr. Wilkinson assured President Jonathan that Rotary International will continue to commit resources and personnel in support of the Federal Government’s efforts to eradicate the scourge from Nigeria.

The delegation included Chief Jonathan Majiyagbe, the first African President of Rotary International.

Earlier, the President also received a Mexican Government delegation which came to seek Nigeria’s support for Mexico’s candidate for the post of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Welcoming the delegation, Jonathan noted that the WTO had a very important role to play in global trade and economic development.

He told the delegation which was led by Mrs. Lourdes Aranda Bezaury, a Special Envoy of President Enrique Pena Nieto that Africa needed someone at the WTO’s helm who will positively address the continent’s concerns over the restrictions that currently hinder the export of African products to other part of the world.

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

T

•Chief Executive Officer, Educomp Solutions, Africa, Mr Shantaram Hegdekatte (left); Director, Training, Edusoft Associates, Mr Varrier Devesh; Mrs Mobolaji Borha of the Federal Ministry of Education (representative of the Minister); Director, Operations, Edusoft Associates, Mr Badri Prassad and CEO of Maximind, Mr Guarav Goel, at a workshop on enhancing schools pass rate organised by Edusoft Associates in Lagos.

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

Jonathan nominates DG for NCAA

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday nominated Captain Fola Akinkuotu as the new Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

This was contained in a letter from the President and read by Senate President David Mark at plenary in Abuja.

The President, in the letter entitled: “Request for the confirmation of appointment of new Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),” said the former DG, Dr Harold Demuren was sacked due to perceived poor internal audit

•Senate confirms reappointment of CBN’s Deputy Governor

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

and quality assurance in the agency.

The letter reads in part: “Following concerns expressed by aviation stakeholders on perceived poor internal audit and quality assurance within the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Government is in the process of restructuring the authority for better and more efficient service delivery.

Senate declares border agency a failure

•Senator Tinubu’s Special Economic Assistance Bill for Lagos scales first reading From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

•Mark

S

ENATE President David Mark yesterday passed a damning verdict on the Border Communities Development Agency: they are a monumental failure.

Mark made the declaration as a Bill, which seeks an Act to amend the Border Communities Development Agency Act scaled second reading in the upper chamber.

The Bill, sponsored by Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South), received unanimous support of other Senators.

Mark noted that the failure of the agency has made the country to abandon its border

Police redeploy seven AIGs

T

“Consequently, Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren has been relieved of his appointment, as the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, in line with the provisions of Sections 8(3) (a) and (c) of the Civil Aviation Act of 2006.

“I hereby present the nomination of Captain Fola C. Akinkuotu, from the same geopolitical zone as Dr. Demuren, as the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for the confirmation of the Senate.”

Also the Senate yesterday confirmed the reappointment of Suleiman Barau as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank.

The lawmakers spoke glowingly of Barau when the Chairman, Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Otu, presented the report of his screening.

Barau was nominated for reappointment following the expiration of his first term as CBN’s Deputy Governor by the President.

Also, Jonathan has sent a Bill to the National Assembly for an Act to establish the Nigeria Police Academy.

HE House of Representatives is set to investigate the truth or otherwise of claims that some convicted drug traffickers were not serving their jail terms.

The lawmakers have mandated Committees on Justice, Interior and Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes to investigate and determine how many drug traffickers have been prosecuted and convicted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) from inception to date.

The Committees are expected to unravel the circumstances leading to the suspicious release of convicts from prison custody.

The decision followed a motion of urgent public importance by Hassan Saleh (PDP, Benue), who emphasised that appropriate sanctions should be meted out to those found culpable in the scheme.

Besides, Saleh pointed out that in 2006, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo set up a committee to investigate allegations that 197 persons who were convicted for drug-related offences were not serving their terms.

“Committee headed by Justice Gilbert Obayan (rtd), showed that out of 143 drug convicts for the year 2006, 96 of them were never brought to the prison while another set of 101 drug convicts for 2005 were also not taken to he prison, bringing the total to 197.

HE Police have redeployed seven Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) to various commands and formations across the country.

The affected officers are Jonathan Johnson, who is posted to head Zone 6, comprising Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Rivers states with headquarters in Calabar.

Christopher Dega now heads Zone 8, Lokoja comprising Ekiti, Kogi and Kwara states.

Zone 3 with headquarters in Yola and comprising Adamawa, Gombe and Taraba states Police Commands is now headed by Mohammed J. Abubakar.

Tambari Y. Mohammed is the new AIG in charge of Zone 9. It composed of Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo states. Zone 10 with headquarters in Sokoto, covering Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states is now headed by Sule Mamman. Adisa Bolanta is now the commandant, Police Academy, Wudil in Kano.

A statement by Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, yesterday said the police have established a Maritime Police Command headed by AIG Mark A. Idakwo.

Mba said the Command will be domiciled at

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

the Force Headquarters, Abuja under the operational control of ‘B’ Department.

“The new Command which enjoys the status of a Zone, is a fusion of the Marine Police Command, the Police Ports Authority Command and the Inland Waterways Formation.

“The Maritime Police Command is further broken into Western Maritime Command with headquarters in Lagos, the Eastern Maritime Command with headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and the Marine Command with headquarters also situated in Lagos.

“Each of these subsidiary Commands under the Maritime Police Command is headed by a Commissioner of Police. The Maritime Command is charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and providing adequate security in our ports and harbours.

“The new Command is also saddled with the task of tackling contemporary security challenges such as armed robbery, piracy, kidnapping, gun running and other related crimes in our creeks, harbours and territorial waterways”. Mba said.

communities to other countries.

He said: “The summary is that the agency has failed and in a plain language, it has failed and woefully too.

“If this amendment can make it become active, that is what we deserve because we have abandoned and neglected our border communities to other countries for so long.

“They (communities) have very good reasons to go and take facilities from where they are available.

“Looking at the agency, everybody there is on part time basis and that makes them not to perform effectively.

The money voted for them what have they done with it.?”

Lanlehin said the agency was established to improve the social and economic lives of and bring succour to neglected Nigerians living in various settlements, villages and towns spread across 96 local governments in the 21 states on Nigeria’s international borders.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lawmaker noted that the condition of the country’s border communities has not improved, neither has the presence of the Border Communities Development Agency been felt in any life impacting way, since President Goodluck Jonathan described the situation in the communities as embarrassing

in 2007.

He said the situation in the border communities could rightly be said to have deteriorated with the current security challenges in some parts of the northern states, which is being fuelled by influx of mercenaries, foreigners and arms smuggling through the border communities.

Lanlehin said an enduring concern of ordinary Nigerian in the border communities is the neglect and lack of basic infrastructure in them, when compared with border communities of neighbouring purportedly poorer countries.

He noted that the fear being expressed in some quarters is that, should the ordinary impoverished Nigerians in those communities have the choice as to their citizenship they might opt to be nationals of poorer neighbours.

He added: “Governance is a social contract between the ordinary citizens who constitute the electorate and the government.

“In this particular case, Nigerians, especially those at the border communities are not asking for too much.

“Their clamour is for the basics of life such as good motorable roads, schools, hospitals and potable drinking water.

The lawmaker said that the current security challenge facing the country is partly being orchestrated and driven by in-

flux of mercenaries, terrorists and other armed groups who gain entry into the country through porous borders.

He added that needless to state that the abject poverty and lack of government presence in the border communities has created a veritable ground for unscrupulous elements.

Among other proposals, the Bill seeks in addition to the financial provision as contained in the Principal Act as amended, 1 per cent of the Ecological Fund accrual to the border states and 0.5 per cent statutory allocation of the border states be dedicated to development of the border communities.

Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Mohammed Ali Ndume, Ganiyu Solomon, Solomon Adokwe and others supported the Bill.

The Lagos State Special Economic Assistance Bill 2013, sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) was read by the Clerk of the Senate and Senate President.

Apart from the Special Economic Assistance Bill, a Bill for an Act to repeal the National Assembly Service Commission Act Cap N7 2004 and enact a new National Assembly Service Act, 2013 scaled second reading.

The Bill seeks to reorganise the management and administrative structure of the National Assembly for improved service delivery.

It was sponsored by Senator Ita Enang, (Akwa Ibom North East).

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

6

CITYBEATS

Minister urges patronage of home-made items

By Jude Isiguzo

MINISTER of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom has said that all efforts would be put in place to encourage the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products.

Ortom said this during a visit to the armouring facility of Proforce Limited at Ode-Remo, Ogun State for a facility inspection yesterday.

He said the armoured vehicles built

by Proforce are a testimony that Nigerians have the will to make things work, adding: "I really commend this initiative. The government is looking forward to seeing the private sector come out and exhibiting the talents God gave to them. And this is coming at a time when Mr. President is looking for more friendly ties with the manufacturing sector."

The minister noted that Proforce's initiative would create jobs opportunities and technological transfer to the teeming youth of the nation. He is very impressed with the company's development, explaining: "I have had the privilege of riding in amour vehicles that were manufactured abroad and I can attest to the fact that what I have seen here are of international standard."

He said: "Our government and wellto-do Nigerians have no business with importing armouring products again.

We have them here and we are creating wealth for the people and Nigeria as a country whenever we buy made-in-Nigeria products."

Ortom said: "We are going to pass a law to the National Assembly because we have been missing so much as result of this. And we in the government will set examples by using the product." The Group Managing Director, Proforce Limited, Ade Ogundehin, an engineer, said their armoured vehicles were designed to withstand AK-47 and other related threats to security.

He added that their products would match any armoured vehicle in the world in quality and degree of armouring.

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Our ordeal, by victims of Zaki-Biam invasion

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ORDID tales of the 2001 Zaki Biam, Benue State invasion by soldiers were relived yerterday at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Some victims told reporters what they went through in the soldiers' hands, at a briefing on the court premises moderated by their lead counsel, Sobastine Hon (SAN).

Andrew Juntu, 35, said his genitals were chopped off and acid poured inside his anus by the soldiers. He has no wife and children.

He said his wife was spared by the soldiers because he lied that he was an Igbo man and not a Tiv. He could only pass urine through a tube inserted in his body.

"Another woman also had her private part scraped off and her hands yanked off by the soldiers," Hon said yesterday.

Federal High Court ordered the Federal government to pay Zaki Biam N41.8 billion compensation following a suit filed by 14 of the victims. The government has yet to pay the judgment sum.

The victims has rejected the government's plea to pay N8 billion instead of the N41.8 billion judgment sum in order to settle the matter amicably. They are protesting that the state government cannot negotiate on their behalf.

In an interview after the press briefing, Juntu said: "People came out to see the soldiers because we thought they were sent by the Feral Government to come

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

and make peace. Immediately people came out, the soldiers attacked us. They poured petrol on some and burnt them alive while others were shot. We were about 80 people. They cut my private part, they cut my anus and put acid. They used knife to cut me and even shot my leg.

"Since 2007 that we got the judgment, nothing has been done. We are hearing that they want to pay Benue Government N8 billion which we know nothing about. I don't have money, I don't have a child. If government compensates us, I can go to the hospital to treat myself. I'm a dead man, I can't do anything; I can't follow a woman, I can't work. I can call myself a dead man. Actually, I'm a dead man.

For 12 years, I can't eat strong food. My food is tea and yoghurt. If I take anything strong, if I go to the toilet, you will see blood everywhere because the muscle is not strong and I don't have money to go to the hospital. I'm dying in my house even to get food it takes time."

On how he has been treating himself, Juntu broke down in tears, saying: "Oh, my friend, I don't want to cry. I'm a dead man because I'm rotting silently but I know God will hear my prayer and save me.

"They killed all the people. I survived because I lied to them that I was an Ibo man. They killed all the Tivs because they said they were animals. This happened in 2001. Although I

•Elizabeth ... displaying her amputated arms survived the attack, I'm a dead man alive. I have no wife or children.

"Pointing to his manhood, they have killed me alive by cutting off my genital organ. I can't marry or have children. I can't even urinate like a normal man.

I can only do this through the tube passed into my body."

Hon said the government and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) were yet to reply the letters sent to them on the victims' plight.

He said: "Over 14,000 people were directly affected by the genocide of 2001. Over 1000 of these were fatalities. Hundreds of women and children have been widowed and orphaned by the senseless killing spree of the trigger-happy men and officers of the Nigerian Army, who mowed down their husbands and fathers in cold blood!

"I, therefore, respectfully call on the President as the father of the nation to direct all relevant agencies of the Federal Government to, as a matter of utmost urgency, satisfy to the hilt the judgment debt of N41.8 billion.

Anguish as bulldozers hit houses, shops in Lagos

W •Ortom

Fashola to declare Synod open THE Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, is expected to declare open the annual four-day Synod of the Diocese of Lagos Central, Methodist Church Nigeria (MCN).

Its theme is, "If God had not been with us" Psalm 124:2.

The Synod, which begins on Thursday (March 21), is being hosted

by Wesley Circuit, Ajegunle, and will be attended by about 200 delegates drawn from the five circuits-AgoIjaye, Fastac Town, Adeniyi Oluwa, Wesley Ajegunle and the newlycreated Ojo-Circuits of the Diocese.

A release signed by the Bishop, Rt. Rev. J.O. Kehinde Adeyemi, the LayPresident, Sir Remi Olukoga, and the Synod Secretary, Very Rev. Ade Ademilua, stated that the synod would review the church activities, in the past year and plans for the new year. It will also review the economic, political, social and religious state of the nation and profer solutions for the nation's ills, particularly the rising spate of kidnapping, shedding of innocent blood and corruption.

A communiqué is expected to be issued at the end of the Synod.

ITH soldiers keeping watch, bulldozers rumbled through Fagba, New Oko-Oba and Awori suburbs in Lagos, demolishing houses and shops standing on pipelines.

The exercise, which bagan on Monday, continued yesterday, with many residents bemoaning their losses.

Before the demolishing started, residents and traders had rushed to save their valuables from the bulldozers.

The Federal Government had unformed them years ago that their houses and shops were erected on pipelines, thus posing danger. The residents claimed that the arrival of bulldozers was unexpected and shocking.

Mr. Lasisi Tajudeen, a caretaker, said he had never seen such a drastic action by the government since he got to the area in 1972. "No notice! We just heard the rumour of possible demolition of structures on the pipelines two days ago. There was no single paper from the government. From Fagba, they started destroying structures close to the pipelines. They marked the shops yesterday and they destroyed them today," Tajudeen said. He refuted the claim that the shops were illegal because, according to him, they were not constructed on the pipelines.

A generator repairer in Awori area, Mr. Oluwasegun John, said the demolition had terminated his 15year sojourn in the area. "They came to mark my shop yesterday (Wednesday) and returned to demolish it today. I have lost millions of naira," he said. Though he said

By Innocent Duru, Damilola Owoyele and Ebele Boniface

the government gave them a notice about 10 years ago, he described the demolition of his shop as unexpected, saying: "Since we were given notice years ago, we had not heard anything from the government."

He pleaded with the government to provide space for victims' businesses that were grounded in the wake of the demolition. He was almost moved to tears when he said: "They did not even allow us to take our belongings out of the shops."

Another victim watched helplessly as all his 13 shops went down. He said he was not in the mood to talk when The Nation sought his views.

He looked distraught.

Chidi Okolie is another victim who got to the area in 1994. He claimed that the government did not warn them of the demolition. He said: "On Monday, we heard that demolition had started from Fagba and could spread here. I went there and saw that it was true, but I didn't believe that it would affect me. Now, they have already pulled down my shop; they have also marked my house for destruction. They have ruined me."

He said he could not evacuate his goods from his shop when the bulldozers came, because his wife and children were not around to help him. He said the goods were worth N200,000. "I will have to go to my village now; I have nobody to live with in Lagos," Okolie said.

Patrick Ogbodo, who just paid a one-year rent, said some of his valuables could have been salvaged if the

government had given him about two weeks to remove them.

He said: "Though I heard that the house was marked for demolition years ago, I still find the destruction so sudden. My wife is pregnant; I don't know what to do. For me, everything is in disarray now."

Some owners of the demolished buildings lamented their losses, saying it would be difficult to retrieve the money they paid land speculators who conned them into building in those areas. The speculator, they said, had told them that the government had demarcated the pipeline area by 30 metres. According to them, they had been assured that they would never by affected by any demolition. They watched their buildings being demolished by bulldozers as early as 6am.

Other residents called on Commissioner of Police Umar Manko to check the activities of land speculators (popularly called Omonile) who deceive unsuspecting buyers of land along petroleum pipelines. They claimed that at times, the speculators come with uniformed soldiers to perpetrate their illegal land deals.

They called for constant postdemolition monitoring by law enforcement agencies in order to arrest anyone trying to return to erect illegal structures on the pipelines. They revealed that pipeline vandals used the illegal structures to shield themselves while carrying out their illegal activities, adding: "Hoodlums also hide there to smoke Indian hemp and keep guns for robbers.

The place must be well monitored by the government to ensure that another demolition does not occur

•One of the demolished sites. Inset: La Baba yesterday in near future."

A few years ago, vandals destroyed petroleum pipes and siphoned millions of gallons of petroleum products and escaped without covering the vandalised spots. This attracted people who scooped fuel for over one hour before the pipeline exploded, killing scores. Many were burnt to death.

A woman and her husband who scooped •John fuel for over 30 minutes filling two drums of fuel in their compound were said to have gone back to fill the third drum when the explosion occurred.

Some observers urged the government to extend the demolition to buildings

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

7

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

•Juntu ... in court yesterday.

This will not only right the wrongs of the Army, but also reassure the Tiv people that they are also bona fide Nigerians."

Mr. Isaac Aoughakaa, who came with his wife, Elizabeth, also recalled how soldiers killed two of his children and also chopped off his wife's hands.

"We had eight children by then but soldiers killed two in the attack on my family. They came in around 5:30 so we were inside our rooms. They

came, surrounded the house and started shooting sporadically so my wife had to run out with the children to escape the onslaught. The soldiers ran after them and killed two of them and macheted my wife. In fact it was God that saved my life. I saw them killing my family but could not do anything than to escape; so, I ran away. They were pursuing me like a wild animal but God rescued me. We were in the

hospital in Makurdi for six months before they discharged us."

Asked how his wife had been coping without hands, Mr. Aoughakaa, who fought back tears, said: "I'm the person feeding her. When she wants to bath, I bath her. When she wants to go to the toilet, I assist her. I do everything she needs to do with her hands for her".

Anongu Orngu, 45, farmer, went to the farm with his parents and that saved her life. Although he narrowly escaped death, his parents were killed.

Orngu lost his limbs. Today, he has only two fingers left.

"I have been at the mercy of sympathisers. I have three children but do not have any source of livelihood to train them. My children are at home; they can't go to school. I was a hard working farmer before the invasion but see the pains they have caused me and my family", he said.

When the soldiers came, Peter Orngu, 30, a former student, was caught unawares.

He said: "I tried to escape.

They started shooting sporadically. Before the incident, I was a student of the Federal College of Education, Katsina-Ala. I could not complete my studies because of the disability I suffered from the attack. I rely on people around me and sympathisers. My mother became hypertensive because of my situation and died. My father had died before the invasion."

The Federal Government had earlier approached a Court of Appeal to reverse

t: Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and his aides... during an inspection tour of Oko-

•Chidi erected along power-line areas to avoid electrocution of people whenever high tension cables drop.

Among the demolished structures were makeshift churches and

•Patrick mosques, whose owners believe that the exercise was grossly unfair.

None of the stern-looking soldiers was ready to speak with The Nation, but an offi-

cial Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who preferred anonymity said all they did was in the interest of the people, adding: "We have come here to save lives."

the high court order but withdrew the appeal and opted to settle out of court.

Hon is accusing the government of insincerity on the out-of-court settlement bid because of its failure to sit at a roundtable with the victims to resolve the judgment debt.

Wondering where the idea of N8 billion settlement came from, Hon said the losses incurred by the victims especially children whose parents and dependants were either killed or maimed cannot be quantified in any amount.

He said: "Rather than comply with the terms of the judgment, the government asked for time to settle the matter out of court, which was obliged by my clients and other parties in the suit, who had no cause to doubt the sincerity of the government.

"However, when my first letter reached the President and the eagle-eyed Nigeria press scooped it, media reports started springing up that the Federal Government had settled with the Benue State Government to pay the sum of N8 billion which will be full satisfaction of the judgment debt!

"I hereby state categorically that whatever settlement the Federal Government and the Benue State have reached is not binding on my clients, who reject same without the slightest equivocation".

"My clients were neither consulted nor did they consent to the terms of that socalled settlement; hence reject it in its entirety. The intentions and actions of the Benue State Government, which we concede may have been for good purposes, are with respect not binding on my clients".

C ITYBEATS Police hunt for MMIA robbers THE Airport Police Command has declared a manhunt for the suspected armed robbers that killed three of its men and a civilian on Wednesday night at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The Nation learnt that a Toyota Sienna space bus and an AK47 riffle allegedly belonging to the fleeing robbers were recovered in the Ikorodu area of the state, yesterday.

A source told The Nation that members of the gang were allegedly dressed in military uniforms when they raided the bureau de change.

Two of the slain policemen were Emmanuel Akujiobi and Lius Atiri, both Inspectors attached to Apapa Police Station.

By Jude Isiguzo

The deceased policemen, were on duty at a company in Apapa and had gone to drop some expatriates who were travelling out of the country when they were killed.

It was gathered that the policemen had gone to park the vehicle with which they brought the expatriates to the airport when the gunmen struck.

The source said that on sighting the policemen with their riffles, the gunmen opened fire, killing Akujiobi on the spot, while Atiri shot and killed one of the robbers before he was eventually killed.

The Nation gathered that the robbers escaped in the Seinna space bus, abandoing the two Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) in which they drove.

Motorcyclists protest killing

By Jude Isiguzo of colleague COMMERCIAL motorcyclists popularly known as Okada riders yesterday, in Akowonjo area of Lagos, protested the alleged killing of their colleague by some policemen on Wednesday night.

The police team allegedly killed the motorcyclists while enforcing the new traffic law.

The deceased, identified as Akeem Rahman, was reportedly run over by a vehicle in his attempt to escape from some policemen at the Akonwonjo roundabout.

It could, however, not be ascertained whether the policemen chased him, thus causing his death.

But eyewitnesses said the deceased was coming from the Shaha end of the road, when he sighted the police patrol van.

"Immediately he sighted the policemen, he attempted to

escape because the van was close to him, but as he made to turn at the roundabout, he fell off the motorbike and landed right under a moving truck which crushed him to death", an eye witness who pleaded anonymity disclosed.

Immediately after the incident, the police patrol team “hurriedly left the scene for fear of mob attack,” while other motorcyclists chased the police van, with some of them hauling stones at the occupants.

The motorcyclists took over the roads after the incident as they blamed the killing on the police.

It took the effort of policemen from Area 'M' Command, Idimu, to disperse the motorcyclists who had already hindered traffic flow on the roads.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

8

NEWS

Auta blames senior lawyers for slow justice dispensation C HIEF Judge of the Federal High Court (FHC), Justice Ibrahim Auta has blamed the court’s inability to dispose of cases with dispatch on senior lawyers.

Justice Auta claimed that some senior lawyers were in the habit of going to any length to frustrate court proceedings once it suits their clients’ interest.

The Chief Judge spoke when a retiring judge of the court, Justice Benedicta Molokwu expressed fears that the frequency with which petitions were written against judges and the way some are eased out of service was capable of eroding the dignity associated with the office of a judge.

It was at a valedictory court

By Eric Ikhilae

session held in Lagos yesterday in honour Molokwu, who formally left the court’s service yesterday.

Justice Auta observed: ”Some lawyers are ready to do anything once they will be rewarded financially by their clients. There are some cases that should not even get to court, but lawyers will not advice their clients not to opt for litigation.

“I know some lawyers and I can mention names if you want me, who will always file objections upon objections, when they are defending any matter.

So, I beg you lawyers to help us, the judges, to do our job.

We are ready to work, but we need your support,” Auta said.

•As judge regrets increasing petitions against judges He noted that it was only in the country that appeals, arising from rulings on interlocutory motions, are taken up to the Supreme Court, a practice, he said, slows down the wheel of justice.

Justice Auta urged lawyers to always realise that they are ministers in the temple of justice, whose actions should always aid the cause of justice and help judges dispose of cases speedily.

Justice Molokwu expressed

regret that frivolous petitions were now being filed against judges, who end up being compulsorily retired, without given a right to fair hearing.

She warned that if the trend was not discouraged, it would place existing judges in an unsafe position and make it impossible to employ the services of new judges.

Justice Molokwu also called for enhanced security for judges to prevent them from falling victims to kidnappers. She re-

gretted that kidnapping was gradually becoming a major security challenge in the country.

She suggested the appointment of new judges to replace retiring to ensure continuity in the justice dispensation process.

Representative of the body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Emeka Ngige, (SAN), frowned at the attitude of some judges, whose courts, he said, were in the habit of not informing lawyers before hand, where the court decides not to sit.

Ngige argued that it was frustrating when senior members of the bar come to court in preparation for their cases and they are informed by the court clerks that the judge was either attending a conference, or will not be sitting.

Lagos Primary Health Centre inaugurated

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

T

HE first model Primary Health Centre (PHC), built in partnership with Zenith Bank Plc at Iga-Idunganran, was yesterday inaugurated by the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) to begin 24 hours operation.

He said the facility, which would serve residents , was the first of the 57 flagship model PHCs proposed by the government under its PHC Revitalisation Programme.

Fashola said the flagship PHC was a demonstration of government’s commitment to strengthen qualitative health care services at the grassroots, adding that the delivery of the 24-hour facility was to fulfil his electoral promise to pursue efforts aimed at widening access to health care in the state.

He said the model health centre was aimed at offering comprehensive healthcare at the grassroots, adding that it would offer general health services to patients and other care seekers.

“I promised sometime ago that we would support the local governments to strengthen the PHC system in a partnership on shared responsibility basis.

“I promised you then that we would deliver 57 flagship PHCs that would offer a 24hour service in each of the local governments and local council development areas.

“The truth is that several hundreds of PHCs are scattered across the state and some of them do not have enough workers because the local governments cannot afford it.”

•From left: National Planning Commission(NPC) Minister, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and former External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, at the opening of the Minna National Discourse on Corruption at the Idris Legbo International Conference Centre, Minna...yesterday

Council of State can’t pardon convicts, says Falana

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IGHTS activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), yesterday, described as unconstitutional, Tuesday’s pardon granted to former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and others by the Federal Government.

Civil Society Groups on Anti-corruption and Good Governance (CSGAGG) are also threatening to mobilise for a mass protest against the decision to pardon persons convicted for corruption.

Falana, who insisted that the Council of State lacks the power to pardon persons convicted for criminal charges in the country, picked on presidential adviser, Dr. Doyin Okupe’s comment that it was the Council and not the President who granted the exconvicts’ pardon.

He said the Council only has advisory role to play, adding that the President is empowered by Section 175 of the Constitution to grant pardon to those he deems fit.

He described the prerogative of mercy for those pardoned, as an admission of error by the Federal Government.

Falana said: “While some of the persons involved in the exercise may be deserving of pardon , it is pertinent to point out, without any fear of contradiction, that the Council of State lacks the power to grant pardon to any person convicted of a criminal offence in Nigeria.

“Being an advisory body, the Council of State cannot usurp the powers of the President to exercise the prerogative of mercy on convicted persons. “To that extent, the decision of the Council

By Precious Igbonwelundu

of States to pardon certain members of the ruling class is illegal and unconstitutional.

“The power, which is vested in the President, cannot be shared with the Council of State. Therefore, President Goodluck Jonathan should be courageous enough to exercise his prerogative of mercy on persons deemed fit for amnesty after due consultation with the Council of State.

“However, unlike other ex-governors whose cases have been successfully frustrated in the criminal courts, Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State, pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“Not only was he convicted by the Federal High Court, he was jailed and made to forfeit all his traceable assets at home and abroad. In the same vein, Alhaji Shettima Mohammed Bulama, the former Managing Director of the Bank of the North was jailed by the Federal High Court.

“He was not as lucky as his colleague in the defunct Oceanic Bank Plc, who was ordered by the trial court to spend her 6-month prison term in a highbrow hospital on Victoria Island in Lagos after forfeiting assets worth N191 billion.

“In the light of the foregoing, the pardon extended to some of the convicts should not be viewed by Nigerians in isolation but in the context of the atmosphere of impunity in the land.”

Senator Tinubu to host constituents on Monday

S

ENATOR Oluremi Tinubu will on Monday host constituents in her Lagos Central Senatorial District to a quarterly Town Hall meeting.

The meeting is the fifth in the series of such parley where the former Lagos First Lady usually presents her scorecard to those who elected her.

Monday’s meeting will afford her the opportunity to explain his activities at the various committees to which she belongs.

The senator will also get a feedback from the electorate at the parley tagged: “Rekindling Hope”.

A statement issued from her constituency office said the meeting will begin at “The Event Place” on Lekki-Epe Expressway by 9am.

Expected as guests are: roral fathers, senatorial leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), community leaders, students, traders and representatives of all interest groups within the district.

At the last meeting which held last December, Senator Tinubu launched the “Elderly Citizens’ Assistance Scheme” (ECAS). Under the programme, 1,300 elderly citizens got N10,000.00 each as part of the senator ’s constituency development initiative.

Since the maiden Lagos Central Senatorial District Town Hall Meeting on December 19, 2011, the quarterly event has become an occasion for the celebration of dividends of democracy and development while reinforcing calls for social change.

Senator Tinubu, whose era as First Lady witnessed people-oriented and youth development initiatives, has sponsored two bills to provide social security for the aged and to amend sections of the Labour Act which restricts employment opportunities for women.

She is currently spearheading efforts for the National

Assembly to grant Lagos state a special status under the constitution.

Previous editions the meetings witnessed novel initiatives including: the launching of her Post-Secondary School Scholarship Scheme (PSSS) in which 26 beneficiaries are being paid N100, 000 annually for four years and 598 students of tertiary institutions receiving N10, 000 bursaries to help defray the cost of procuring academic books.

She also launched the Petty Traders Empowerment Capital Scheme (PETECS) to help 624 residents in her constituency re-capitalise exist-

•Senator Tinubu

ing small scale business.

Beneficiaries of the above and other constituency development programmes are chosen without consideration to political party affiliations.

EFCC re-arraigns Arisekola’s son over ‘N2.6b subsidy fraud’

By Adebisi Onanuga

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday re-arraigned an oil marketer Abdullahi Alao, before a Lagos High Court in Ikeja over an alleged N2.6 billion fuel subsidy fraud.

Abdullahi, son of businessman Alhaji Abdullazeez Arisekola-Alao, was re-arraigned alongside his company, Axenergy Ltd., before Justice Olabisi Akinlade.

He is facing a six-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretences, forgery, uttering and use of false documents.

Abdullahi was earlier arraigned on July 26, last year, before Justice Habeeb Abiru, who has now been elevated to the Court of Appeal.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and Abiru granted him bail in the sum of N100 million with two sureties in like sum.

During yesterday’s proceedings, EFCC counsel, Mr Francis Usani, told the court of the development and asked that his client should be ordered to retake his plea.

The EFCC alleged that Abdullahi had in Lagos in December 2010, fraudulently obtained N2.6 billion from the Federal Government.

The anti-graft agency claimed the money was obtained as subsidy payments for the purported importation of 33.3 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from Europe.

He was also alleged to have forged a bill of lading dated September 16, 2011, purportedly issued by Mercurial Trading Company, which he allegedly used in facilitating the fraud.

The EFCC said that his alleged offences contravene Sections 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006.

It also contravened Sections 467 and 468 of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State 2003.

Abdullahi again pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The judge acceded to his request and adjourned the matter to July 1 for trial.

Missing person

M

ASTER Oluwaseun Alex Adelakin, a 20year old young man has been declared missing by members of his family.

The Year 2 student of Accounting in Bingham University, Keffi Road, Nasarawa State, is about 6 feet tall, dark in complexion and slim.

He speaks English and Yoruba fluently and understands basic Igbo language.

He was last seen within the compound of Zenith Bank on Yakubu Gowon Way, Asokoro Abuja at about 9:50 am on the 11th March.

He was putting on blue jeans, light blue short-sleeve shirt and a pair of tennis canvas shoes.

Anyone with any information on his where about or who has any information on locating him should contact the nearest Police station or call any of the following numbers: 08066909049, 08035065748, 08083132974, 08120638910

9

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

NEWS Atiku hails Ajimobi on urban renewal

Mimiko closes case at tribunal O

NDO State Governor Olusegun Mimiko yesterday closed his defence at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Akure, the state capital, before the expiration of the five days allotted to each respondent.

Mimiko, who began calling his witnesses on Tuesday, was scheduled to close his case tomorrow.

But his counsel, Mr. John Bayeshea, said they had critically analysed the case and concluded that it is legally convenient for them to close the case.

Bayeshea said they were

•No witness for LP

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

closing their case for tactical reasons.

The Labour Party (LP) (the second respondent), which is yet to open its case, told the tribunal that it would not call any witness LP’s counsel Ayo Olanrewaju said the party relied on Mimiko’s witnesses and closed its case.

Mimiko was supposed to present 850 witnesses and LP

ACN: we’ll prove Ondo poll was rigged •Oke urges supporters to remain steadfast

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State yesterday said it would prove that the October 20, last year, governorship election was rigged.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, ACN said: “The inability of the Labour Party (LP) and Governor Olusegun Mimiko to present witnesses at the Election Petition Tribunal, which led to the abrupt closure of their case yesterday, shows that the election was manipulated in their favour.

“The feeble defence they have manifested since the commencement of the hearing has reached a climax with the premature closing of their defence. It is laughable that the LP and Mimiko, who demanded to call several witnesses, ended up pleading for more time to gather their witnesses after calling only 14 witnesses.

“Their decision is a consequence of the embarrassment suffered by the earlier witnesses, who could not defend the lies concocted for them.

“The fear of sharing a similar fate prompted the remaining witnesses to jump off the sinking ship. Having suffered this fatal blow, LP’s and Mimiko’s legal teams decided to find a way around the huge setback.

From Damisi Ojo and Leke Akeredolu, Akure

“Now that they have found it difficult to call more witnesses to defend their case, it is clear to the world that their victory at the poll is a ruse.”

ACN urged residents to remain calm and “endure the Mimiko administration”, adding that its reign is ephemeral.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusola Oke, said the “sudden” closure of Mimiko’s and LP’s defence showed that the election was marred by irregularities.

Speaking through his media aide, Mr. Kunle Adebayo, Oke said the poll was characterised by sundry cases of voting without accreditation, swapping of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) forms EC8A, overvoting and manipulation of election documents.

He said: “Since Mimiko and his agents have inspected records and materials used for the election, it is gratifying that they are encountering the facts and records of the electoral fraud, manipulations and perfidy that smuggled them into victory. Our position remains that the people must be steadfast, vigilant and focused.”

Oyo lawmakers decry contractor’s slow pace

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HE Oyo State House of Assembly Committee on Works and Transport has decried the slow pace of work by the contractor handling the dualisation of the Ibadan/Oyo/Iseyin Junction/ Iseyin/Ipapo road.

The committee, led by its chairman, Mr. Waliu Adekunle, spoke yesterday in Iseyin while inspecting the project.

Adekunle said the contractor has under-performed, al-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

though he has been fully mobilised by the state government.

He said the number of workers and materials on site showed that the contractor may not complete the project on schedule.

Mr. Fatai Salam (Iseyin/ Itesiwaju Constituency) said he would monitor the project to ensure that it is completed on time.

Seminar on parenting

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HE annual seminar of the Bells University Parents’ Forum (BUPF), Ota, Ogun State, will begin next Wednesday at the Main Auditorium of the NECA Complex, opposite The African Shrine in Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

This year’s edition will focus on “Parenting in Terti-

F

ary Education in the 21st century”. The seminar is to reform, reshape, redefine, redirect and re-orientate parents on their roles.

The resource persons will be led by the former Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Kelvin Ejiofor.

600.

The governor ended up presenting 15 witnesses, of which only 13 were accepted.

Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Tunde Falola said he was surprised by the decision of the first and second respondents to close their case.

Falola described it as a “welcome but shocking development”.

He said INEC would open its case today.

Mr. Kazeem Gbadamosi, counsel to the Action Con-

•Dr. Mimiko

gress of Nigeria (ACN) and its candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), said it was good that the first and second respondents are closing their case.

The tribunal’s Chairman, Justice Andovar Kaka’n closed the case of the first and second respondents and adjourned till today.

ORMER Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has hailed the urban renewal programme of Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

He said the Ajimobi administration has transformed Ibadan from a rural-urban setting to a modern state capital.

Atiku spoke on Wednesday during a visit to the governor in his office.

He said he used to live in Ibadan and knows what the ancient city used to be, which made people refer to it as the dirtiest city in Nigeria.

Atiku said he was impressed with Ibadan’s new-look. He said: “I have seen a lot of changes, with cleaner streets and a green environment.”

The former Vice-President praised Ajimobi for the distri-

bution of 320 tractors to local government councils, adding that it would boost agriculture and ensure food security.

He said: “I hail you for the distribution of 320 tractors to local government councils.

This is colossal. Agriculture is no doubt the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, so by doing this, you have succeeded in creating jobs for people. This, I am sure, will boost agriculture and ensure food security.”

Atiku described Ajimobi as a member of his political family. He said they had come a long way and have some things in common.

Ajimobi said his administration has cleanedup and restored peace to the state.

He described Atiku as “a man of impeccable character with simple disposition”.

10

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

NEWS Fed Govt urged to curb extra-judicial killings’ From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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GOVERNORSHIP aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Peter Obafemi, has urged the Federal Government to curb “indiscriminate killings” by policemen.

He was reacting to the alleged killing of a 400-level student of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Seyi Fasere, by policemen in Oye-Ekiti.

Speaking with reporters yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Obafemi said the Federal Government “must weed out bad elements in the police”.

He said: “All lives are sacred and must not be taken without justification.

Fasere’s killing exposes a gap that needs to be filled, if Nigeria is to progress.

“This is one extra-judicial killing in a long list of others that I find painful, regrettable, uncalled for and barbaric. Nigerians must rise to expose the killers. Familiar and common excuses must not be accepted from the police.

“The boy was said to have been arrested after a gang of robbers raided a bank in Oye-Ekiti and was allegedly killed the following day at a police station. This to me is summary execution.

“The killing of Seyi has brought sorrow to his family. I urge the Federal Government and the InspectorGeneral of Police to probe his killing.

“A photograph of Seyi’s body, which was taken at the police station, showed his two hands tied to the back. What can be deduced from this is that he had been earlier arrested. If this is not true, who tied his two hands after he was killed? Or did he engage the police in a shoot out with his two hands tied to the back?

“His family said he had his school fees, N100,000, on him. Where is the money? We know there are good policemen, but the authorities need to weed out the bad ones.

“The Commissioner of Police must arrest and prosecute the policeman accused of shooting Seyi.”

Fashola seeks support to improve schools

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AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola has urged individuals and organisations to assist the government by providing infrastructure in public schools.

Fashola spoke yesterday at a breakfast meeting to appreciate stakeholders that have keyed into the government’s Support Our Schools Initiative.

He said it was necessary for individuals and organisations to invest in the training of future leaders.

Fashola said his experience at his alma matter, Birchfreeman, shortly after he became governor, and a story he read in a newspaper propelled his administration, through the Ministry of Education, to inaugurate the initiative, which he said has been of immense benefit to many schools across

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

the state.

He said: “Not long after I became governor, some of my aides and I were talking about schools and I told them that I was going to attend my school’s Old Boys’ meeting, but inside me, I was planning to show them my classroom and desk.

“But when we got to the school, there was no building, talk less a classroom. Then Yusuf Olaniyonu wrote a piece in This Day and that was a wakeup call for me. He said everybody must go back to where he or she came from and give back.”

Fashola hailed the various contributions towards the initiative, adding that the breakfast meeting was to render ac-

count of what the government has received and how it was spent.

He said: “The impact is already being felt. The performance of our students in last year’s West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination is a testimony that it has started manifesting results.”

The governor said his administration is working towards evolving a model where education will meet the needs of the society.

He said: “Our graduates must be produced in the areas where our economy needs them. That is why we are changing some of the curriculum in our schools to address our present challenges. We have introduced some courses in our tertiary institutions

because we are looking ahead.

Impossible is not an option for us; it is possible and we will deliver.”

Fashola said with over 1,000 primary schools and about 663 junior and senior secondary schools, the government realises the need to continue to retrain teachers to deliver quality education.

He said: “We realise schools do not teach; teachers do, so there is a lot of teachers’ training going on. Last year, about 7,000 teachers were trained and the training is continuous.”

Commissioner for Education Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye thanked the donors and said more support was needed in the area of providing hygienic environment for children.

Ogun PDP exco takes over party secretariat From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

T

HE Mr. Adedayo Bayoled executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State yesterday took over the party’s Secretariat on IBB Boulevard in Abeokuta, the state capital, after almost a year.

Bayo; the Secretary, Alhaji Semiu Sodipo and others were led to the Secretariat by 11:30am by armed policemen on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye. The policemen unlocked the secretariat’s gate.

The executives were shocked by the emptiness of the offices.

Office equipment, including computers, printers, fridges, curtains, documents and public address systems, among others, had been stolen. Doors and windows had been vandalised.

Bayo told reporters that the Secretariat was well-equipped before his team was chased out by thugs sometimes ago.

He said an inventory of the stolen items would be taken.

Three held for illegal gold mining From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

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•From right: Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi with the President/CEO of Samsung Electronics, Africa, Mr. K.K. Park and the Managing Director, West Africa, Brovo Kim, at the 2013 Samsung African Forum in Cape Town, South Africa….on Wednesday.

Lagos council poll: ACN urges court to dismiss tribunal’s verdict T HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday urged the Local Government Election Appeal Tribunal sitting at the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, to uphold its appeal against the verdict of the Election Petition Tribunal (EPT), which declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the AgbadoOkeodo chairmanship election.

The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) declared the ACN’s candidate, Dr. Augustine Aro-

PUBLIC NOTICE NEW LIVING APOSTOLIC CHURCH This is to inform the general public that the above named church has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Abuja for Registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 1 of 1990.

TRUSTEES 1. Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Olusegun Adegbayike 2. Rev. Michael Adenrele Adeleye 3. Evang. Mrs. Omoyeni Olubunmi Ogunshola 4. Elder Engr. Olubukola Awe 5. Elder Engr. Paul Olayiwola Faleti 6. Elder Thomas Olugbenga Taiwo 7. Dr. Babatunde Anokuru Douglas AIMS To Preach the Gospel of our Jesus Christ Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registration General Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420, Tigris Crescent Maitama, Abuija within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: SECRETARY

By Joseph Jibueze

gun, winner of the October 22, 2011, poll and the PDP’s candidate, Otunba Busari Akande, filed a petition at the EPT challenging the declaration.

On November 22, last year, EPT declared Akande winner of the election.

The lower tribunal, led by Justice Ade Owobiyi, voided the certificate of return LASIEC issued to the ACN candidate.

It held that Akande polled the highest number of valid votes in the election, a decision Arogun appealed.

Yesterday, LASIEC’s lawyer Oladapo Akinosun and Arogun’s counsel Kunle Adegoke, in separate appeals, urged the appellate tribunal to uphold their appeals against the EPT’s verdict.

Akinosun argued that the EPT lacked jurisdiction to deliver the judgment.

He said the law stipulates that a petition must be heard and dispensed with within 30 days, unless the petitioner brings a motion in writing seeking extension of time, insisting that the petitioner did not obtain such extension.

Akinosun said jurisdiction is a creation of statute and can-

not be conferred by the court, which he said the EPT tried to do even when it did not receive any application for time extension.

On the issue of fair hearing which the PDP raised, Akinosun said it is only applicable when a petition is still alive.

He said: “In this case, there was no petition since there was no application for extension of time when the 30 days lapsed.

“We urge your Lordships to dismiss the judgment of the EPT and uphold our appeal.

The judgment of the lower tribunal was entered in error and should be set aside.”

ACN’s lawyer Mohammed Ajibola (SAN) also urged the court to uphold the appeal.

Otunba Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN), counsel to the PDP and Akande, said the respondents filed a preliminary objection

on the competence of the appeal.

Urging the court to dismiss it, he said Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution supersedes any law, such as Section 14 (1) of the Local Government Election Tribunal Law, which imposes time limits on the determination of election petitions.

Kalejaiye said: “The intention of the makers of the law is to provide an avenue for ventilation of election grievances. Therefore, any legislation that curbs the exercise of judicial powers would be null, pursuant to Section 36 of the Constitution.

“We urge your lordships in the circumstances to dismiss the appeal and uphold the decision of the lower tribunal.”

The Justice Opeyemi Okeled panel reserved judgment till April 10.

Ondo gets ultimatum to reinstate CTIVIST-lawyer Moworkers rakinyo Ogele has

A

given the Ondo State Government a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate workers sacked last December or face mass protest.

Ogele described the sack of lecturers and council workers as wicked, adding that it

By Precious Igbonwelundu

would increased the poverty.

In a statement, he accused the state government of unleashing “unbearable tax” on the people and threatened to mobilise a mass protest, if the ultimatum is not met.

N old man, Akinola Samuel, and two labourers, Mutari Lemo and Abdulahi, have been arrested in Osun State for illegal gold mining.

The Coordinator, Office of Mineral and Natural Resources, Office of the Governor, Mr. Tunde Ajilore, told reporters in Osogbo, the state capital, that the suspects were caught mining gold illegally at Itagunmodi and Aruwa in Atakumosa West Local Government Area.

The illegal gold mining site in Itagunmodi was said to have been operated by some Chinese men and the one at Aruwa by one Alhaji Haruna based in IleIfe. Ajilore said the sites belong to the state government, which it said pays over N50 million as royalty to the Federal Government annually.

Describing the activities of illegal miners as economic sabotage, he said: “These illegal miners have done a lot of damages to the mining titles that belong to the state without taking permission or paying anything to the government.”

Man dies in Ekiti road crash From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

TRUCK driver died yesterday in a lone accident in Aramoko-Ekiti.

Two others were injured.

The track, marked Lagos 318 FKJ Dry, was conveying a bulldozer to Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

The driver, whose identity remains unknown, was the only occupant of the vehicle.

An eyewitness, simply identified as Mr. Adesola, said the truck’s brake failed.

Adesola said: “I was driving behind the truck driver and noticed he was driving dangerously. I kept a safe distance and watched him. As a professional, I knew his brake had failed, but he did not stop the vehicle when he got to the hill, even though he had the opportunity to do so.

He was going down the bend when the accident occurred. A motorcyclist narrowly escaped being hurt.”

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11

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

At the moment there is an average of about 18 hours per day of constant power supply to different parts of the country. This feat was brought about by the implementation of the integrated power sector reform programme anchored on the power roadmap.

- Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

‘Fed Govt starts 2013 budget implementation’ • Three tiers of govt share N886.4b T • Ministry releases N400b Q1 capital vote HE Federal Govern ment has started the implementation of the 2013 budget, with the release of N400 billion first quarter capital vote, the AccountantGeneral of the Federation (AGF), Jonah Otunla, has said.

In a statement, the Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Paul Nwabuikwu, said the N400 billion capital was released "to give fresh impetus to the execution of projects captured in Budget 2013."

He said: "Of this amount, N120 billion had been

frontloaded to cater for two important initiatives: N75 billion for retiring bonds which have come due. This is in line with the new debt management strategy which focuses on reducing the stock and flow of debt in a proactive manner and N45 billion for the payment of Power Holding Company of Nigeria’s (PHCN) workers."

Otunla, who spoke at the end of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja, yesterday, said that the implementation of the 2013 budget was triggered after the FAAC meet-

From Nduka Chiejina, ( Asst. Editor), Abuja

ing where the three tiers of government collected their cheques from the Federation Account.

Last week, the Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, had hinted that the implementation of this year’s budget would take off after the FAAC meeting this week.

At the end of the FAAC

meeting for last month, N886.402 billion was shared among the three tiers of government.

This amount comprises N450.263 billion statutory disbursements to the federal, state and local governments; N62.707 billion as Value Added Tax (VAT); N173.505 billion augmentation for the month; N35.549 billion from SURE-P; N7.617 billion refund by the Nigeria National Petroleum

Corporation (NNPC) and N156.761 billion arrears of January, 2013 augmentation (December, last year account).

From the statutory allocations, the Federal Government received N209.856 billion or 52.68 per cent of the net sum, states on their part, got a cheque of N106.442 billion or 26.72 per cent, while the 774 local governments received N82.062 billion or 20.60 per cent on the net

Bill Gates boosts cassava bread with $650, 000 From Olugbenga Adanikin and Jane Maha, Abuja

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HE Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have provided a grant of $650, 000 to accelerate production of cassava bread in the country, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said.

The Minister said the grant will be used to support training of master bakers and offer technical support to Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (SMEs) on the project.

Adesina made this known this yesterday at the National Stakeholders’Forum on Cassava Bread organised by Nigeria Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) in Abuja.

The support came through the foundation’s Cassava Adding Value for Africa (C: AVA).

He said: “Our drive to build a sustainable supply chain for the production of cassava flour for bread and confectioneries in Nigeria has received international boost. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through its C: AVA project have provided a grant of $650, 000 for activities to accelerate production of cassava bread in Nigeria.

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa-$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N10.6 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -9% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending -22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $48b FOREX CFA -0.2958 EUR -206.9 £ -242.1 $ -156 ¥ -1.9179 SDR -238 RIYAL -40.472

statutory allocation.

However, the House of Representatives said it has uncovered a plot by the Executive to undermine the implementation of the budget.

The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Dr Bright Okogwu, allegedly instructed Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) to ignore the 2013 Appropriation Act and work in accordance with a yet-to-beseen amended Act. The House has, however, summoned the Budget Office chief to appear before the Appropriation and Finance Committees and explain the content of the memo.

Minority Whip, Mr Samson Osagie (ACN, Edo) who raised the issue under a matter of urgent public importance, said MDAs were directed by Okogwu to implement only the amended part of the Act. “The action of the DG of Budget Office is an infraction on the powers of the National Assembly, as well as an attempt to stop at nothing, but to blackmail the legislature.

“We must sound a note of warning here that no proposed amended budget shall be implemented by the MDAs, other than what was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President,” he said.

Monarchs praise Oando’s stove

• Oba Rilwan Akiolu 1 (middle) receiving the OGAS stove from Awobokun (left). With them is Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Taofik Tijani.

Bulk electricity trader gets $1b

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HE Federal Govern ment has okayed $1bil lion (N158 billion) for the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader.

The Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, said yesterday that the approval came in form of bond.

He stated this while receiving a delegation of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Abuja. He added that the fund would enable the trader to buy electricity from the generating companies.

He restated the Federal Government’s commitment to the privatisation of the power sector, saying there was no going back on the approved roadmap.

He said to close the identified gaps, the government would soon approve Road Map II. In a statement by the Deputy Director/Head of Press, Timothy Oyedeji, the Minister said: “We must hit the ground running. We do appreciate the enormous work you have done in the past, especially in the area of capacity building, we need more help now even in the area of strengthening of institutions that will imple-

• Firm pays 25% for Eko DISCO From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

ment our plan.

“We need to develop the critical mass of experts in all areas of generation, transmission and distribution,” adding that there was need to replace the older workforce in the sector, “for which we would require assistance from USAID.” Also, the Minister of State, Hajia Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi, said the inauguration of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) affirms Mr President’s commitment in resolving the Manitoba issue.

The USAID Team, led by Dana Mansuri, pledged her group’s support for the privatisation efforts of the government, which she said, have attracted the attention of the United States’President, Barak Obama, hence the visit of the group.

Meanwhile, the preferred bidder for the Eko Distribution Company, West Power & Gas, has paid $33.75million, being the mandatory 25 per cent of the cost of the transac-

tion.

According to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), in a statement yesterday, the valuation for 60 per cent equity of the company was put at $135million.

It said West Power & Gas made the payment in two tranches ahead of the March 21, 2013 deadline for bidders to pay 25 per cent of the cost of the deal. It is expected to pay the balance in six months.

The consortium comprises Alpha Consortium Limited, Atlantic Meridean, Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund 2 Mauritius and Siemens Limited of Germany.

The statement noted that following the evaluation of the applications, 80 bidders were shortlisted. At the deadline for the payment of the data room access fees, 72 out of the 80 shortlisted bidders paid the $20, 000 fee to purchase the Request for Proposals (RFP), have access to the data room and proceeded to the next stage of the transaction.

By the bid submission deadline of 5pm on July 31, last year, the BPE received 54 proposals from pre-qualified bidders, the statement added.

The received bids were opened and sorted out on August 1, 2012.

All the 54 bids were confirmed to be complete in terms of having commercial and technical proposals.

But out of these, 10 of them failed the first test of completeness and responsiveness. The others were then subjected to technical evaluation. Thirtytwo bids submitted by 20 bidders scored the minimum of 75 per cent that was required to move to the next stage of the process.

The final approval of the preferred bidders by National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and its announcement for the successor companies was done on October 23, last year for the Discos.

The electricity industry has been unbundled into generation and distribution companies and a single transmission company to encourage private sector participation and attracting foreign and local investment into the power sector to ensure economic and reliable electricity supply.

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HE Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu 1, has praised the OGAS 3kg stove produced by Oando for its efficiency.

He spoke during his Ninth Coronation anniversary, where the stove was used for cooking.

He said: “The OGAS cooking stove is a good product that can be used by all for different purposes and it will solve all problems associated with indoor pollution. I commend Oando for conceiving this great product to help the all Nigerians enjoy cooking without stress.”

Also, the Olu of Mushin, Oba Fatai Alieru,said: “the introduction of this gas cooking stove is a blessing to the common man as they can now use a clean fuel for their daily cooking needs. This product is recommended for residents in Mushin and beyond.”

Oando Marketing has signed an agreement with Lift Above Poverty Organisation to provide on-lending debt capital through its micro-finance banks to low-income households.

Chief Executive Officer, Oando Marketing, Mr Abayomi Awobokun, said: “This is another important step in our quest to provide innovative and affordable LPG cooking stoves to an estimated five million low income households over the next five years.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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AGRO-BUSINESS

Govt urged to create micro-level climate data for farmers T HE Federal Government has been asked to create microlevel climate data to help farmers combat the effect of climate change on food production.

Such data should be made available at the state, local government and village levels, the President, Agric Graduates Association of Nigeria, Comrade Michael Egbuta, said.

Speaking with The Nation, he said agriculture,which is the backbone of the economy and the livelihood of many people, is vulnerable to climate change as most of the agriculture is rain-fed.

Achieving food production growth, he said, depends on im-

Stories by Daniel Essiet, Agric Correspondent

plementing a national action plan on climate change, which takes into consideration the impact on ground-level action at local levels.

According to him, long-term climate prediction is vital for agricultural transformation, which should be implemented at various levels of governance.

To this end, he said the nation needs models that can predict with reasonable certainty, long-term cli-

matic conditions that will prevail over a state in a specific time.

He said local farmers would benefit if the agencies are able to scale down the climate prediction models to predict long-term climatic conditions at micro levels.

Egbuta said farmers need village level forecasts, pointing out how lack of micro-level climate change information at the local levels was affecting planning and implementation of climate resilient development.

The forecasts, he maintained, are useful at the micro-level and help farmers minimise damages due to sudden changes in climatic conditions.

According to him, micro level weather data will help the government projects such as crop insurance schemes and show the impact bad weather conditions have on agriculture.

He said farmers need to ad-

just their management practices to make efficient use of limited rainfall for crops and livestock production.

According to him, erratic onset and cessation of rains coupled with variable extremes of intensity make it difficult for farmers to plan when to plant crops.

As the economy grows, he said weather-related information s h o u l d b e m a d e a v ailable on hourly basis for the benefit of residents and farmers.

Cassava fund ready next month

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ARMERS and researchers will be able to access the Cassava Development Fund CDF) from next month,the Federal Government has said.

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Dr Akinwumi Adesina said at the launch of Park and Shop cassava bread in Lagos, that sufficient money has come into the fund from the levy placed on wheat importation.

The money, he said,would be given out to farmers and millers to acquire machines and expand the availability of high-variety cassava healthier for bread production.

To encourage local millers to comply with the policy, the government announced in June last year a 65 per cent levy on wheat flour imports. The levy took effect

on July 1 and is in addition to a 35 percent duty on wheat flour imports. Adesina said the government is exploring industry partnership to promote rapid market development of cassava bread. He said the cassava bread is beginning to gain market share and has better shelf life and good for human health.

According to him, the government will collaborate with the private sector to establish cassava processing industries with machines that can process 240 tonnes of cassava per day.

He pointed out that the processing industries would create market for cassava.

With increasing food prices,the minister said it was time Nigerians support incorporation of high quality cassava flour into wheat.

Ministry trains women on aqua-culture •From left: Head, Federal Produce Inspection Service, Mr Adekunle Adebambo; President, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, Mr Sayina Riman and Mrs. Margaret Eshiet of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) at Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Scheme workshop in Abuja.

High demand exacerbates cocoa supply problem

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IGH demand and a growing preference for highcocoa dark chocolate are aggravating the cocoa supply problem, The Nation has learnt.

Consequently, cocoa producers are facing challenges producing enough to meet the increasing demand.

President, Federation of Agricultural Commodities Associations of Nigeria (FACAN) Dr Victor Iyama, said it was difficult to guarantee sustainable supply in some areas, because of cultivation challenges and standard import requirements of buyers from Europe and the United States.

To address this, Iyama said there was a need for the government to make significant progress to improve the social and economic

conditions of farmers and their families.

Central to this, he said, is the provision of high-yield disease-resistant plants and seeds and working alongside farmers to improve their practices.

Iyama said some cocoa farmers have ageing trees, and as such the productivity of their farms are diminishing. He said the national production volume is 300,000 tonnes.

The government’s goal,he said, is to achieve 500,000 tonnes yearly by 2015. He said Nigeria needs to increase output in two years to meet record demand for cocoa.

According to him, cocoa is a lucrative cash crop but it takes a long time to be harvested, and between the time of replanting and harvesting, a lot of work and invest-

ment must be done on the farm, without which there will be poor yield.

Iyama called for action at all levels to improve the advice support, and to improve the transparency of cocoa marketing chain, while investment in basic and applied research.

On the Cocoa Transformational Programme, Iyama said the programme is designed to support the development of a sustainable cocoa sector where farmers are able to build better livelihoods for themselves, their families and communities.

International Cocoa Council (ICCO) said four West African countries, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon, produce more than 70 per cent of cocoa used in the world.

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HE Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has trained women and girls in the southwest on aqua-culture entrepreneurship to tackle unemployment.

A statement signed by one of the organisers, Mr Muhammad Adam in Abuja said the training was part of the administration’s effort to address hunger.

Participants were from Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos states.

The Permanent Secretary, Mrs Ibukun Odusote, represented the Regional Director, Southwest, Mr Abdulkadir Olalekan explained that hunger had become a major threat to quality of life.

She said: “The training is in line with the present administration’s efforts at addressing the problems of unemployment and hunger.

“That has not only become a major threat to quality of life but adversely been affecting security of lives and properties of Nigerians.”

She said issues relating to unemployment among women, wealth creation and food security were being amplified, particularly on youths and women.

Mrs Odusote added that the train-

ing was for the benefit of Nigerians and to boost the ministry’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and President Goodluck Jonathan’s agenda on agriculture.

She observed that there was need for government at all levels to convert human resources to programmes and to make positive impact on the economy.

She said the theme of the training was essential to women on fish farming and organising them into cooperatives.

Mrs Odusote, however, urged the trainees to be committed and build consensus around all relevant areas of aqua-culture to ensure the targets for fish production and reprocessing in Nigeria are achieved.

The statement added that the Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Peter Odetomi, described the training as timely, especially now that the government’s attention was being channelled to agricultural production.

Also, the Deputy Director, Women in Agriculture, Mrs Zainab Towobola, explained that the training was aimed at encouraging local fish production, processing and facilitating trade development.

How Africa can create $1tr food market, by World Bank

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FRICAN farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they can expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated land to grow high-value nutritious foods, the World Bank has said.

The new World Bank report tagged Growing Africa: Unlocking the potential of agribusiness, called on African governments to work side-by-side with agribusinesses to link farmers with consumers in an increasingly urbanised Africa.

The report said Africa earns an average of 24 per cent of its yearly growth from its farmers and their crops.

Vice President, Africa Region, the World Bank Group, Makhtar Diop,

said agriculture and agribusiness together are projected to be a US$ 1 trillion industry in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by 2030 and should be at the top of the agenda for economic transformation and development.

He said agribusiness could play a critical role in jump-starting economic transformation through the development of agro-based industries that bring much-needed jobs and incomes.

According to him, successful agribusiness investments can stimulate agricultural growth through the provision of new markets and the development of a vibrant input supply sector.

The report highlighted the great potential of the agribusiness sec-

tor by drawing on experience in Africa as well as other regions.

He explained that Africa is at a crossroads, from which it can take steps to realise its potential or continue to lose competitiveness— missing a major opportunity for increased growth, employment, and food security.

Agricultural production, according to the report, is the most important sector in most African countries, averaging 24 per cent of Gross Domestic Product(GDP).

With aging farmers and aging trees, he said substantial investment would be needed to upgrade plantations and engage a new generation of more professional farmers.

Despite marked improvements,

the report said policies that hinder the functioning of output markets still constrain market access, transaction costs, and risks for agribusiness. For traditional staples and export crops, the report said the highest priority is to deepen market reforms of parastatals and trade policies and to move toward a rule-based and predictable policy environment.

The report urged the government to accelerate the regional integration of markets by implementing trade liberalisation schemes.

Among the steps that should be taken include minimising checkpoints and bribes along main inland freight corridors, reducing the bureaucratic delays and

transaction costs of border crossings, and harmonising standards and procedures are all imperative to create regional markets with sufficient scale to attract investors.

While progress is being made, the report said transaction costs are kept high by poor logistics, bureaucratic freight procedures, nontariff barriers, and bribes.

By diversifying supply, the report said closer regional integration would also reduce price volatility caused by the vagaries of local climates.

The report said there was overwhelming need to improve Africa’s rural road systems to foster the development of less costly alternative models.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

13

AGRO-BUSINESS Make bee-keeping attractive,govt told

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•From left: General Manager, Olam Nigeria Ltd, Anil Nair; Plant Manager, George Reji and Chairman, Presidential Committee on Benchmark on Rice, Mallam Dhiru Ado-Kurawa, when the committee visited Olam’s rice farm in Doma, Nasarawa State.

Only registered farmers ‘ll access N60b loan, says BOA

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HE Bank of Agriculture (BoA) has said only agro-dealers and farmers duly registered under the national farmers’ database can access the N60 billion agricultural loan facility.

The Executive Director, Wholesale Finance of the bank, Mr Waziri Ahmadu, made this known in an interview in Abuja.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had made available the money at nine per cent interest rate in line with the Nigeria Incentivebased Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).The aim is to allow small-scale input retailers to have access to finance to be able to purchase seedlings and fertilisers. ”You need to be an agro-dealer

and you have to be registered under the National Farmers’ Scheme with the relevant office in the Ministry of Agriculture. “And you need to go on the agriculture database as an agro-dealer because you cannot be a large supplier and also be an agro-dealer; you have to be duly registered.’’

He, however, suggested that the Federal Government should review the method of registering agro-dealers.

“The method of registering agrodealers should really be looked at.

Until now, it is mostly the big supplier companies that are nominating agro-dealerships to register.

“The people in the Ministry of Agriculture registering the agro-dealers must look at the criteria for

registering these agro-dealers critically before registering them.”

According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture and the CBN have estimated that the N60 billion will finance five million farmers for effective production this planting season. He explained that some commercial banks and micro finance institutions would be involved in the disbursement of the loans.

“Borrowers will come to us; agrodealers will come to us to borrow and commercial banks are there, they will be doing the same thing.

It’s a market for all banks, including our bank.”

The Federal Government had approved N15 billion to recapitalise the bank.

IITA’s product reduces poultry mortality by 43.9%

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OULTRY fed with maize that had been treated with aflasafeTM – a biocontrol product for controlling aflatoxins— had led to reduced mortality in addition to other benefits, a new study by scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the University of Ibadan (UI).

According to the study, to unravel the benefits of aflasafeTM in the poultry industry, researchers set up a feeding experiment involving 1,020 broilers that used aflasafeTM maize without binders, host farm’s feed with binders, contaminated feed with binders, and contaminated feed without binders. The broilers were fed for 8 weeks.

Results showed that the use of maize from aflasafeTM-treated feeds reduced mortality rate by 43.9 per cent , feed intake dropped by 10.4 per cent, and there was an increase of 3.3 per cent in feed conversion ratio.

Unveiling details of the results to stakeholders at a conference in Lagos, IITA Pathologist, Dr Ranajit Bandyopadhyay, said the results demonstrated the impact of aflasafeTM—a biological control product developed by IITA for controlling aflatoxins. Produced by toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxins have become a menace in developing countries, contaminating about 25 per cent of grains produced in the region. The aftermath effects of consuming aflatoxin-contaminated grains include stunting in children, liver cancer, and even death.

The impact of aflasafeTM on the poultry industry—one of the major consumers of maize—has been hailed by stakeholders. “We

are excited with these results because the use of aflasafeTM is a cheaper and safer solution for the poultry sector,” says Dr Emmanuel Ewuola of the Department of Animal Science, UI, who supervised the animal feeding experiment. He added that with aflasafeTM grains poultry farmers would not need aflatoxin binders in feeds.

Managing Director, Amo Farms, Dr Ayoola Odutan, who is also the Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, in his presentation, lauded IITA for the work, stressing that the future is

bright for the poultry industry because science-led outputs such as the discovery of aflasafeTM that improves the quality of maize have come to the rescue of the industry.

Managing Director of Doreo Partners, Mr Kola Masha, in his presentation, sent the economic gains of using aflasafeTM are immense. He said that the result of the feeding trial translates into an estimated increase in profitability of over N500,000 (about $3,200) for every 10,000 birds.

ROPRIETOR, Gentle Pride Farm, Owode, Ogun State, Mr Sesan Fagbemide, has appealed to the Federal Government to provide incentives that would make bee-keeping a lucrative and attractive business to university graduates.

Fagbemide, whose farm is into bee-keeping, made the call in an interview in Lagos. He said with the necessary incentives, beekeeping would attract youths and graduates, provide them regular income, and help to reduce poverty.

He advised the government to set up a functional extension agency that would provide training via workshops and seminars, in order to actively engage youths and graduates in beekeeping.

“If bee-keeping is made as attractive as possible, many youths would be interested in the business and very soon, we will be talking about mass production and exportation,” he said.

The farmer said bee-keeping was also a sustainable form of agriculture that was very beneficial

to the environment.

“Recent study shows that 80 per cent of food and cash crops were pollinated by bees worldwide, and so, we need them in abundance to increase the quality and quantity of food production,” he noted.

Fagbemide identified lack of enlightenment as the major challenge facing bee farming in the country.

“Bee-keeping is inexpensive.

Youths and other associations can start with a small amount of money. It did not involve mass feeding of bees because they provide their own food all-yearround.

“Beehives can be made locally by carpenters. Though some equipment may need to be imported and it is here the Federal Government can play an important role,” he said.

He, however, urged the Federal Government to introduce modern bee-keeping, which also involves the use of bee suit consisting of bee dress, hand gloves and modern equipment.

Protest over cattle menace in Abia

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ARMERS in Abam, Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State have protested against the destruction of their farm fields by cattle, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The protesters mostly women, numbering over 200, were drawn from the 25 villages in Abam clan. They were clad in black attire and a big placard with the drawing of a cattle and the inscription “No grazing here: they have destroyed our food crops and drinking water.’’

The protesters marched on the major road leading to Umuahia and Ebem Ohafia. Mrs Grace Agwu, the leader of the group, said the protest followed the unabated destruction of their food crops by cattle. According to her, this incident has been recurring in our community and we can no longer bear it. “Our farmers have lost not less than N100 million to this cattle menace over the past three years and we can no longer condone it,” she said.

Agwu said residents of the area had no other occupation than farming and regretted why the destruction of their farm fields would go unabated without any government action.

Abam comprising 25 villages

and one of the major clans in the Local Government area is largely an agrarian community. Chief Uduma Kalu, the Chairman, Abam Traditional Rulers Council, said cattle had taken over Abam clan. “We cannot sow and reap our crops and cannot drink good water as the whole streams are polluted,” he said.

Kalu said the matter was worse as the farmers who had borrowed money from a micro-finance bank had lost all to the menace. He said if nothing was done to forestall further destruction of their crops the community would retaliate “and the outcome could be deadly”.

Kalu said the community would no longer want to see any cattle in their community.

Responding, Dr Ukoha O. Ukoha, and Chairman of the Cattle Menace Committee set up by state government, said the government would act swiftly to calm frayed nerves.

“It was for this that this committee was set and I want to assure you that the government will look into the matter with a view to handling the situation once and for all,” Ukoha said.

The committee was in the community to examine the extent of damage and advise government accordingly.

FCTA distributes grains to farmers affected by flood

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HE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has distributed grains to farmers, who were affected by the 2012 flood in the territory.

The Minister of State for FCT, Ms Olajumoke Akinjide, who distributed 8,400 bags of maize and 6,600 bags of guinea corn to the farmers in Tungan Maje in the Gwagwalada Area Council, said it was to ameliorate the effects of the disaster on them.

Akinjide, who was represented

by Mrs Olyadi Madavi, the Secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), said the gesture was a palliative measure for the victims of the flood.

She said the Federal Government packaged the programme to address the immediate challenges of the displaced farmers and their families.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria deemed it necessary to package a programme such as this to encourage people who were affected by the flood to continue their farming activities.

“This will, thereby boost agricultural production and ensure national food security,” she said.

The minister called on stakeholders to see the development of the sector as a joint responsibility.

“The private sector should take advantage of the various initiative and incentives put in place by the Federal Government to be self-reliant in food production,” Akinjide said.

She said the government’s priority was the development of agriculture and food availability at affordable prices.

Akinjide said the FCT administration, would as part of its statutory responsibilities, assist farm-

ers to increase their production through the provision of subsidised inputs and extension services.

In her speech, Madayi, who was represented by the Director, Administration and Finance (ARDS), Mr John Obiahu, said the administration would continue to address the problems of agriculture, especially natural disasters that affect production.

She said the administration in collaboration with the Nigeria Agriculture Insurance Corporation had sensitised farmers on the need to insure their crops and livestock against natural disasters.

“The FCT is already collaborating with the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) to get necessary data to organise awareness campaigns, for the benefit of all farmers and stakeholders in the FCT,”

Madayi.

She called on affected farmers not to be discouraged by the incident, but to continue with their farming.

The Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Charles Momo, said 734 hectares of farmlands in Abaji and Kwali area councils were destroyed by the flood.

He said Abaji was worse hit by the flood when river Gurara overflew its banks.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Ibrahim Daniel from Kwali Area Council, who was given five bags of maize and five bags of guinea corn, thanked the government for the kind gesture.

Daniel said he was devastated when the ugly incident happened because he was left with nothing, and called on the government to extent the gesture to farmers in other states.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

22

COMMENTS ‘The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of custodians of her affairs.’

————Confucius

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RE Nigerians truly their neighbours’ keepers? Do we pay due diligence to what belongs to others, especially as custodians of public till? Why is it that it is only in Nigeria that what belongs to the collectives is negligently treated as belonging to nobody? These questions have become imperative in view of the charade that had become of pension affairs in the land.

While the public contends with finding answers for the posers, a more confounding riddle is the lukewarm official attitude to the scam that happened in the police pension office and nothing so far has been done to arrest the culprits behind the ugly situation. Let us agree that pension looting has become a depressing routine in the country, but the recent handling of Abdulrasheed Maina’s alleged police pension scam punctures the commitment of the Jonathan government to stomp on corruption in Nigeria.

Maina was a deputy director in the Office of the Head of Service. He was later appointed to head a reform team to sanitise Nigeria’s deeply corrupt pension scheme.

But somewhere along the line, he got enmeshed in the crisis. He was until his infamous disappearance from public glare, Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) that has become an addition to the toll that graft is taking on management of public finance in the country.

Maina’s alleged crime portfolio: He purportedly deployed Police Pensions Account to inappropriate ways. He allegedly opened accounts in different banks, one of the accounts in his younger brother’s name, stashed with billions of naira. The alleged illegal transactions were reportedly yielding an interest of about N100 million monthly. He also allegedly spent about N1billion to carry out biometric verification for the screening of 29 pensioners both in Nigeria and abroad. These are all according to Aloysius Etuk and Kabiru Gaya headed Senate Pension Probe Committee that equally claimed above all that Maina, allegedly misappropriated about N195 billion.

The understandably thinking would rightly have been that if this could happen to the police as an institution that is saddled with apprehending criminals, then, workers in others sectors of the economy that pay pension may need to beware before their

A

S the Anambra governorship election looms ominously later ahead, I must say I do not envy Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state; not in the least. One of the saner governors in Nigeria today in this sad, sad time of leadership kwashiorkor; I have been growing grey hair on his behalf day and night trying to script the Anambra theatre but each time I end up without a viable resolution or denouement.

How will Obi untangle this jig-saw puzzle; is there a solution to this seeming stalemated chess game? But then, he can take solace in the fact that this state of utter confusion is not unlike what is going on, albeit, on a larger scale on the Nigerian stage.

Consider the crazy scenarios: his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been rent in two. Derisively called APGA-PDP and APGA-APC, it obviously cannot win an election as it is. Even before APGA’s current morass, the party had been mortally troubled and windtossed in the last two years no thanks to the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, aka Hurricane Rochas. If APGA stood with the aid of crutches, Okorocha came along and instead of helping the fledgling Igbo party to stand on its feet, he yanked away a crutch leaving the party on a mortal limp.

Now, Ndigbo who needed a platform to call their own have no where to anchor. Majority of Igbo voters who would cast their lot with APGA are now orphans, they are destitutes, to be picked up by some benevolent stranger. Now Igbo land is in disarray like never before. The so-called Ohaneze and so-called Igbo elite have been firmly tethered in Aso Rock to enjoy its lush green grass and get fattened in readiness for 2015 election. APGA has been damaged beyond repairs; whatever Igbo agenda there was has been compromised and handed to Aso Rock.

Yes, Ndigbo has been signed, sealed and delivered four years ahead.

What Obi can do now He was never your wily Nigerian politician; he his probably a bit ahead of his time. Nothing, absolutely nothing takes its normal course in Nigeria’s politics of today. Everything is manipulated, choreographed and orchestrated as the situation requires. Obi is not the average stonehearted Nigerian politician of today otherwise he would have cleared the entire forest

Unresolved Police pension scam riddle

IG, Mohammed Abubakar deferred payments are siphoned by corrupt cabals lurking around the corridors of power. No wonder, pensions of retirees in the country are paid in arrears on flimsy excuses.

The Maina-gate should not be allowed to be swept under the carpet by right-thinking Nigerians. That is why Mohammed Abubakar, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), has a yeoman’s job to do in ensuring that Maina’s case did not go the sordid way of the past. Nigerians still remember that the IGP gave police escorts to Maina while still in Police Pension Office. And he allegedly spent scarce public funds, on a weekly basis, to the tune of N8 million, to maintain 38 security officers guarding him. What an in-

sult to teeming millions of Nigerians without due police protection? Will it then be tenable for the IGP to say that those police guards did not know how Maina escaped police’ arrest when he was declared wanted?

Will it be wise of the IGP to claim to have withdrawn Maina’s police guards knowing full well that he was going to declare him wanted? As an experienced cop, does he think that the man will wait after the untactful withdrawal? It is doubtful if the IGP ever craved the services of the Interpol and nations that are averse to graft to help in fishing out Maina wherever he might be hiding around the world. The needful would have been for him to be able to tell Nigerians by now, where Maina is and when he will be brought back to answer to allegations levelled against him.

Even if the IGP wants to fail in this instance, for inexcusable reasons, the administration of President Jonathan must tell Nigerians when Maina will be brought to book. Nigerians deserve to know what will or happens to those that thrive on mismanaging their life-time savings called pension. Nigerians want to know what happened to the presidency’s recent call for Maina’s dismissal on ground of absenteeism from work. One doubts if that order was carried out by the appropriate agency of government. That seems to confirm and further fuel raging public speculations that the federal government is shielding Maina from justice on this matter.

All those that are shielding Maina and his

EXPRESSO STEVE OSUJI

SMS O8181624757, email:steve.osuji@yahoo.com

NEXT ELECTION: Like Anambra, like Nigeria of Anambra if need be to push through his succession game plan. But we cannot see anyone in the horizon. He must forget about zoning now; he must forget about pushing an ‘anointed’ candidate to further his work for he may not be able to push him/her to electoral victory, he must forget about party too; he must look for the most workable candidate among the front-runners and work out a strategic alliance with him or her in the best interest of the people of Anambra and for the sake of his legacy.

In my opinion, the front-runners (in no particular order) are: Chris Ngige, Andy Ubah, Dora Akunyili, Chukwuma Soludo and perhaps Ifeanyi Uba. The pragmatic move may be to seek the best of these options. November is here, there is no time, Governor Obi must act fast to avoid a calamitous exit from power. He has said he would never seek another elective office. That is a courageous decision and he will do well to keep his word.

He is building a ladder to statesmanship; a position that has almost become extinct in Igbo land today. And he has been a fairly good governor too; one Ndigbo are proud of, but what about post- Obi Anambra and Igbo land? Who succeeds him will speak so much about his legacy and his place in Anambra, Ndigbo and Nigeria’s history in the years to come. While a critical review of his long tenure will wait till later, we must leave him to play his end game now!

Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi Readers’ reaction ON NNPC’S $1.5 B DEBT… God bless you for your column last Friday. Every time I read you, it’s always a reflection of the mind of the people who have no opportunity to voice it out. With these revelations about NNPC, I hope Nigerians will be challenged to act. More focal breakthrough to your glasses sir – Akan, 08067080317 I very much like your straight talk and

cohorts from facing the full wrath of the law should know that even if they do not need pension because of what they too have amassed at the expense of Nigerians, their offsprings, relations and friends will need pension at old age. If indeed they truly care for these people, then something has to be quickly done to the issue of Maina so that the future of hard-working Nigerians don’t end in avoidable jeopardy.

We are all talking about Police Pension scam today but no one knows what havocs Maina would have done in places such as the Customs, Immigration and Prison Pensions Offices that he reportedly had worked before. Even if he had done well in these places, his unceremonious abandonment of the police pension job casts serious slur on his integrity as a civil servant.

Whichever way the matter is looked at, the shoddy handling of the Maina/Police pension has waned public confidence in the current administration’s ability to correct the anomalies of the past in this and other regards. Without equivocation, confusion of aims seems to be the nation’s main problem. Nigeria has been turned into a dangerous haven, not because of the evil people, but because of the people, especially those that wield the big stick in the corridors of power, that are not ready to do anything about the abysmally degeneration of values in spheres of public lives. For the painful fact that those in authority have not learnt anything from yesterday, the way we live today and our hope for tomorrow are being jeopardised. The way forward is for us all not to stop questioning the deliberate inadequacies of those in power on pension and other issues that are unassailably germane to national rebirth.

Maina must be brought before the law if only to serve as deterrent to others in his shoes so that they can desist from such inimical acts in future, and more importantly, to restore confidence in public service. After all, Confucius has shown us the path to follow long time ago when he said: ‘The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of custodians of her affairs.’ Is anyone still in doubt regarding why Maina must be fished out to pay for his alleged sins? We all need to be our neighbours’ keepers in the management of our private and national affairs as a country. As we continue to talk, we must act decisively even as we remain fervent in prayers for sanity to return to our land! writing…NNPC’s $1.5 billion caper – A.T. Mozie, UNN, 07055035265 Please never tire to tell NNPC and its collaborators the home truth. NNPC is house of sin but be assured that they will give account one day; yes one and all. The lord of the harvest is his own auditor-general and not one kobo misses his notice. Ebere, 08099190019 ON DR. ORJI UZOR KALU SANS B.SC… I agree with the piece that OUK should go back to school and acquire degrees since money and education are worlds apart. The problem is that the neo-colonial state protects the imperialist at the expense of the people – Amos Ejiimkonye, Kaduna, 08039727512 Who says Orji Kalu lacks sound university education? Who writes that beautiful column in the Sun every Saturday? Sorry this man hoodwinked Abians and showed the state the road to hell with his mother-wife for 8 years. Having succeeded in that deceit he thought everyday is Christmas. He wants to go to federal not knowing that we are in 2013 – 07030981551 Thank you my brother for your forthrightness. OUK represents the worst face of Nigeria’s elite today – leadership without principle. How I wish he would harken to your advice. Innocent, 08033151662 Thanks Steve, what invaluable advice to OUK, the type his aides would not dare suggest. An education ‘exile’ to Tahiti or Christmas Island for 5 years will do him so much good. He should pay you for this wonderful idea, Dandy Offor, Aba, 07051155762 Mr. Osuji what is your problem with our dear OUK? Whether you like it or not, he is a great man, a great Igbo son whose sandals you cannot lace, Emenike from Aba, 08055601981 ON ABC AT 20 Steve well done on your quality intervention every Friday. But let us give more attention to developments like the story on ABC Transport at 20. One paragraph is not enough. I have not seen any columnist write about that great Nigerian success story. We must moderate our undue attention to Nigeria’s fruitless politics and focus on those truly great achievers like Frank Nneji. Ugo Maduagwu, Owerri, 08033261517

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Former Oyo State governor and leader of the Accord Party Senator Rashidi Ladoja spoke with BISI OLADELE on his grievances against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), relationship with Governor Abiola Ajimobi, 2015 elections and other partisan issues.

‘ACN/Accord Party alliance may collapse’ S

INCE you were elected the governor of Oyo State in 2003, you have been a factor in Oyo State politics. What is the magic?

I joined politics in order to serve the people of Oyo State and I did it to the best of my ability and the people of the state appreciated and are still appreciating that I served them when I had the opportunity of serving them. What has been keeping me going is the love of the people I once served and the love of God. So, that is the magic. I served the people very well, the people appreciated it and they are still appreciating it.

Why did you not re-contest in 2007 and only came back to contest in 2011?

In 2007, it was a complicated issue. I got an offer to run for the seat, but along the line, I declined the offer. I decided to stay in PDP, and before I came back from my impeachment, PDP had already finished their congress and they could not change their candidate because of me. The other offer I had was to contest under another party, which I declined.

But you still came back in 2011 to contest under the platform of another party. What was it that did not favour you in PDP in 2007, but which favored you four years later?

Do not forget that the dramatist personae at that time is different from that of 2011. In 2007, at that time, the former President was behind my impeachment. You can remember that t I spent spent six months outside, from November to May. The House of Assembly was occupied by thugs and it was desecrated. The garrison commander was backed by the then President. I know the people of Oyo State wanted me back, but the atmosphere was not favourable for my return. I also know that, if I contested the election, it would not be free and fair and I would be rigged out. I just had to allow those issues to be a thing of the past and move on with my life. My decision not to contest in 2007 was not because I did not want to contest, but it was because the political climate in the state then was not conducive for me as a person, and having survived till 2011, I discovered that the people of this state still wanted my service.

What particularly will you say that gave you the confidence that it was really a time for you to contest again then?

There is a difference between Obasanjo as a sitting President and an ex-President. President Jonathan still believes in rule of law, but Obasanjo does not. He believes he can get whatever he wants to get at all costs, but President Jonathan promised us that our votes would count and our votes counted. Everybody knows that Obasanjo gave himself out to be manipulated and was humiliated out of office. Prof. Attairu Jega promised us that our votes would count and we all saw the difference.

Do you foresee an improvement in 2015 elections?

Prof. Jega promised us and he delivered in 2011 and the President also promised to allow Jega to work and, if we Nigerians also decide that we want him to succeed, he will succeed only if he can conduct all the elections in one day. They should conduct all the elections in one day. That will not give any advantage to anybody. If they cannot conduct it in one day, they should conduct the governorship and Houses of Assembly in the same day and they can use different strategies to do this in a day. If they should conduct it in one day, it will even be cheaper for the country. They should start it early and the remaining thing to do is just collation. So, that will even make the election to be free and fair and there will not be any record of ballot snatching, if it is conducted in one day.

What do you think about the electronic voting in Nigeria?

It will not make much difference. The main thing is the people in charge. If the INEC believes it is capable of using it, then, nothing stops Nigeria from using that same technique for their voting. The level of illiteracy will not affect it. It is very simple to operate. The electorate will only put their finger on the candidate they want. The only problem is that, if you make a mistake, you cannot cancel it. For example, if you want to vote for Accord Party and you mistakenly vote for another party, you cannot correct yourself again and even, if it is a ballot paper, the same thing occurs. It means you have destroyed the paper. Nigerians are not so ignorant that they will not be able to cope with the electronic voting method and the INEC will also need to give them enough orientation about the voting system. It will also save money. The only problem people might be complaining about is our epileptic power supply because electronic voting uses electricity. But the INEC can adjust on that and meet up with every challenge involved.

What is the state of the alliance between Governor Abiola Ajimobi and Accord Party in Oyo State?

Things have not fallen apart. It is just a question of the ACN not fulfilling its own side of the bargaining, May be, I should say the governor in question. When he came to us, we agreed and he said we were going to have 20 per cent of all the positions in his government. Today, we have 20 commissioners and we have two commissioners there and not four. Governor Ajimobi also promised to allow us to present the caretaker committee chairmen in the councils where we led in the governorship election. He tried to give us two after one and half years and sacked one of them after three months. These are not part of the bargaining. It is either he fulfils the agreement or we should not make an agreement at all. We had a letter of an

•Ladoja

agreement and if he knew that he would not fulfill it, he should have told us that he was sorry that he just made the agreement in order to stabilise his government and not to satisfy it. But all along, he was telling us that his leader, Alhaji Lam Adesina, of blessed memory, was not happy with the alliance. But now Baba Lam is dead and he should have fulfilled it.

It has been alleged the agreement was between you and Ajimobi, not between Accord and the ACN ...

Who is the leader of the party? Is he not the governor? Is he now telling us that he did not inform his party before coming to sign an agreement with us? He told me that he had earlier informed his party. We did not form an alliance with Ajimobi’s party, but we are only an adviser to his government.

What is the position of the Accord Party in this unfulfilled ‘agreement’ ?

We are still waiting for the governor to fulfill it. That is our position.

It was reported that you have been criticizing the urban renewal projects of this government and the ACN has equally been replying you that it was wrong for you to criticize a government you are part of. What is your stake on this?

What we are saying is the truth. A government must have a human face. Government is all about the welfare of the people.

It is not just about building and demolishing alone; it is about the welfare of the people and people should be the number one concern of the government. When you are now destroying other people’s means of livelihood, it is not acceptable. He said these people are selling on the road. He forgets that these old people selling on the street use this to cater for their children’s education up to the university level. But now, he has denied them of their means of livelihood and you are now saying the government will build them a market and not that he has built it. So, what are they going to be eating for the next six months when the markets will be constructed? We are not saying he should not beautify the city, but he should find an alternative

‘Today, we have 20 commissioners and we have two commissioners there and not four.

Governor Ajimobi also promised to allow us to present the caretaker committee chairmen in the councils where we led in the governorship election. He tried to give us two after one and half years and sacked one of them after three months. These are not part of the bargaining. It is either he fulfils the agreement or we should not make an agreement at all’

for these people before doing that. These people have a right to their livelihood. Do whatever you want to do in a way that will give minimal comfort for this people. The government has the right to beautify, but should do it in a way that will please the people. You have to understand the thinking of our people. Many of them went to borrow money to build those shops and tents in order to fend for their children. I do not have any problem with Ajimobi’s government. All I am saying is that whatever he is doing must put first in mind the plight of its citizens.

But government stands on the ground that Ibadan, for so long, has been known to be a very dirty city and in view of climate change, which causes floods, it said that shops constructed on flood planes…

How much climate change does Oyo State contribute to climate change in Nigeria and the world in general? When you are talking about climate change, you are talking about industrialised nations of the world. They are the ones that are contributing a lot of emissions into the atmosphere. How many companies do we have in Oyo State? If it’s because of the flooding, I understand. During our own government, we instructed the local councils to clear their drainages and even we decided to dredge the rivers in Ogunpa, Ogbomosho and Oyo. All other ones were left to the local governments. Also, the habit of our people dumping refuse into the rivers is also to be blamed, but that does not mean that those people do not have a right to their source of livelihood. He should have built the markets before demolishing their shops. Bola Ige built shops and relocated the traders to New Gbagi Market after it has been built.

Illegal structures are not an excuse to deprive people of their means of survival. That is what we are saying. How many illegal immigrants are in America? Are they not making efforts now to accommodate them? Why didn’t President Obama just wake up in a day and decide that they should all be sent away? Rather, he is trying to look for a way to accommodate them because he knows that if he does not, America’s economy will collapse. Government is about the people and not about building edifice. I did it for four years and there was no record of flooding in this state then because we ensured that as from January we have to start clearing all the rivers, streams and drainages Recently, the state government called on the EFCC to expedite the case of corruption against you and former governor Alao-Akala. What do you think about that?

I do not think I have any case with EFCC and I do not like talking about it because the case is still in court. Unfortunately, if the government decides that they should not look at what the law says before they make pronouncement, I do not see it as anti-Ladoja, but I just want to remind them that the people who started it have failed, and they started it not because Ladoja stole any money. I am talking about Akala’s government, but because they are uncomfortable, and just only want to destroy Ladoja’s clean image. Akala, been an ex-police man, used his influence to use Mrs Farida Waziri to start the case then. Akala later apologised to me that he made a wrong decision then and Dotun Oyelade also apologised to me. So, nobody should start talking about the case because it is between me and the court of law.

What is your present relationship with former governor AlaoAkala and PDP? My relationship with Alao-Akala is very good; he is my younger brother. My life in politics does not have anything to do with my personal relationship with other people. I can be your friend and we will not be in the same party. I have forgotten about what Akala did to me because that is gone for good.

He has been forgiven because he has come to ask for forgiveness. If I do not forgive easily, would I have allow Obasanjo to come to my house? But it was unfortunate enough that Baba Adedibu did not ask for my forgiveness before he died, but all the same, everybody that participated in my impeachment saga, Bode George, the honouurable members, including my brother, Bolaji Ayorinde, was in my house some days ago. They have been forgiven. As far as I am concerned I do not keep malice with anybody.

We learnt that the PDP is trying to drag you back to become the secretary of the party. How true is it?

I do not know where the news is coming from because, as far as I am concerned, I have closed the issue with the PDP negotiation long time ago. If they want to open it again, they can.

But they have not informed me personally about their plans and I think it is the work of some mischief makers from PDP who are seeing the way some of their members are crossing to Accord Party and want to use that news to stop them, that Ladoja is coming back to PDP. It can also come from another opposition party because their people are defecting to our party and want to use that as a distraction for them to stay and see Ladoja as an inconsistent man. I have said it over and over again that it is the make-up of some mischief makers and I do not have any parley with PDP for now.

What is the most important condition that can make you go •Continued on page 16

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

POLITICS JIGAWA POLITICS YUSUF SULAIMAN, examines the performance of Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido in the last six years.

Lamido’s gospel of fiscal discipline, good governance

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O the casual observer, it very evident that the socio-economic and physical landscape of Jigawa State has rapidly transformed in the last half decade.

People wonder “what has been the secret behind the success stories.

Many people say it is budget discipline. Important as it may be, the fact is that Budget Discipline is a product of a combination of other factors, principally political the will and commitment, and good governance. Also, the budget itself; how it is conceived and structured; is important, that is how realistic, comprehensive and focused the budget is. It takes a combination of all these factors for the annual budgets to be so implemented as to deliver outputs and outcomes that positively brings transformations as being witnessed in Jigawa State.

The first lesson to be learnt from Jigawa State is therefore, the political will and commitment at the topmost echelon of government as personified by the Chief Executive of the state, Alhaji Sule Lamido. The leadership style of Lamido is rooted in the classical humanistic determinism of the talakawa struggle; it is characterized by sheer will power, self-discipline and strength of character to dare all odds to deliver results. It is portrays a passion for humanity. In these attributes, the governor of Jigawa State stands apart. It is these attributes that culminate to manifest in the good governance stance of the Lamido Administration; and it is exactly this good governance that translates into budget discipline. When budget discipline meets a reformed budget process that tries to adopt to the best practice of public expenditure and financial management, the natural outcome would be the kind of positive transformation being witnessed today in Jigawa State.

Indeed, lack of budget discipline is just one of the many afflictions that have continued to affect the development process in Nigeria; not just at sub national levels; but even at the very first tier of government. The unfolding events in the country, as regards budget implementation, is a case in point where we see controversy between the legislature and executive over the extent of budget implementation leading to crisis of confidence. Indeed, budget discipline is what would make or mar the much-talk-about “transformation agenda” upon which the entire vision 20:2020 depends. That is to say, without budget discipline, or more precisely, without good governance, the vision 20:2020 will not achieve its objective. For most governments in

•Governor Lamido, flanked by aides, signing the budget into law.

the country, the annual budgets are considered a formality and an annual ritual. But not so for Governor Lamido. In his own words during the presentation of the 2013 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly “… for both of us (the executive and legislature), the annual budget process is no longer an annual ritual, but an opportunity of stock-taking by publically reappraising our performance in terms of budgetary outputs and outcomes; and most importantly, re-articulating and restrategizing our plans, in both the shortand medium-terms…” Here is thus another lesson to be learnt by the leaders whose concern is the deliverance of their people; deliverance from all the afflictions of underdevelopment.

Most often, most Nigerians don’t feel enthusiastic when budgets are presented to the legislature, be it at national or sub-national level, because they don’t see it having any direct bearing on their socio-economic wellbeing and living conditions.

Principally, it is lack of budget discipline that gives birth to this genuine apathy. Not so with Jigawa State. Both the appropriation bill presentation and the signing of the appropriation law by the governor were received with joy by everybody in the state from the traditional leaders to the ulamas, from the rich people to the talakawas. Indeed, NGOS, CSO and even development partners see these events as additional milestones in the Jigawa State transform process.

As the governor has said several times, “… Jigawa State has become a reference point in Nigeria…”. This is an incontrovertible fact. With the multitude of socio-economic devel-

‘Indeed, lack of budget discipline is just one of the many afflictions that have continued to affect the development process in Nigeria; not just at sub national levels; but even at the very first tier of government’ opment projects and programmes accomplished and taking place in all the nooks and crannies of the state and with numerous initiatives that has blended the social fabric of the society, Jigawa State is now set on a pedestal that would make it first among equals. At the times of his emergence as Governor of Jigawa State, the State was adjudged, rightly or wrongly, as poorest and among the most backward in the Federation.

Today, the story is different. The governor has brought relief and succor to the people in the state. There is no doubt the Lamido Administration will be written in Gold in Jigawa State.

Consistently, since assuming the mantle of leadership in 2007, budget implementation has been very remarkable - it has always been wellabove 90 per cent at the aggregate level for both recurrent and capital

‘ACN/Accord Party alliance may collapse’ •Continued from page 15

back to PDP? I have never considered it. If the situation does not arise, why do I need to disturb myself to think about returning? So far, it is not on my mind.

What advice do you have for Governor Ajimobi?

He should think deeply on how to implement policies that will affect the citizens of the state positively.

He cannot turn Ibadan to London in a day. Even in London, if you come out of any train station, you will find fruit sellers at the rail sides selling their wares. You find people selling clothes, flowers and others and the government is accommodating them. So, as far as am concerned, every government must know that the essence of governance is the people.

Before he takes any action, his decision must have the interest of the people at heart.

What advice do you have for Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan in view of the current challenges facing Nigeria?

As far as I am concerned on electoral issues, he has got my pass mark. On our economy, he has not gotten it right yet. In power sector, we are not yet where we are going because people still want to see uninterrupted power supply in the homes, businesses and worship centres. Imagine the amount of money spent by artisans on generating sets.

He should tackle the problem of insecurity ravaging the country.

If you look back at your four years in office, is there anything you would do differently, if you have another opportunity to be governor?

There will be nothing I would do differently. I will still maintain that every child has the right to go to school, I will still maintain that everybody must have water. I will still empower the farmers with tractors.

So, I do not see anything I would do differently, if I am given the chance.

All I will always do is to improve people’s means of livelihood.

Are you aspiring for governorship race in 2015?

I do not know yet and God has not directed me towards that. 2015 is still far. All I can say is that by the grace of God, there will be an Accord Party candidate in 2015. It is not part of our agreement to dissolve Accord Party into ACN. If ACN members believe that they want to defect to our party, why should that bring any fight between us? Politics is simple. Those of us that were in SDP then later went to PDP. Even, Alhaji Lam Adesina was in SDP with me. So, in 2015, there will be an Accord Party candidate for the governorship seat in Oyo State and who that candidate will be, I do not know. It will be based on the party’s decision and, if it is the party’s wish that Ladoja should contest then, there is no problem. But do not forget that there are many eligible candidates in our party who are capable of ruling Oyo State effectively.

expenditures. Despite several salary increase; first for the health workers, then workers in the tertiary educational institutions, followed by workers in the judicial sector, and then, the N18,000 minimum wage; personnel emoluments were always paid as and when due. This has also not deterred the governor from allowing for continuous recruitments of personnel in critical areas as in health and education sectors, among others. In the area of overhead cost, the monthly remittance to government agencies has never stopped, resulting in remarkable improvements in service delivery. In the area of capital expenditure funding, the performance is in fact extra-ordinary. Despite embarking on a multitude, multi-million and multi-billion naira projects, there has never been an incidence of abandoned or white-elephant projects in the state. The outputs and outcomes of all these feats are the multitude of projects commissioned every now and then in all sectors - education, health, roads, agriculture, rural electrification, commerce, housing, township / urban development, environment, institutional structures. To give specific instances - massive school rehabilitations (basic and senior secondary education); construction and rehabilitation of over 1300km; the new State Secretariat with a capacity to accommodate twelve ministries with their affiliated agencies and offices of the Secretary to the State Government and Head of the Civil Service; a new permanent site for the School of Nursing; a New School of Midwifery; newly established College of Remedial and Advance Studies -set to become a state univer-

sity; a New NYSC Orientation Camp, a new judicial complex, multi purpose Aminu Triangle, over 1200 houses comprising of two and three bed-rooms houses at Abubakar Rimi and Inuwa Dutse Housing Estates; free maternal and child healthcare services in all public health facilities; foreign scholarships for Medicine and Engineering courses; skill acquisition and economic empowerment initiatives; social security allowance for physically challenged persons; development of major markets; state capital development through the provision of befitting infrastructural facilities; establishment of a state manpower development institute, just to mention a few.

In the governance reform arena, noteworthy includes: establishment of an Integrated Financial Management Information System, upgrading and scaling-up of the State Payroll System, Budget Process Reform, including the adoption of a medium-term perspective to the annual budgeting process; service delivery reforms; fiscal responsibility and public procurement legislations; e-payment system including payment to contractors without the usual follow up with the Ministry of Finance; etc. Recently, reflecting on the past and the focus of his leadership, Governor Lamido reaffirmed his commitment to building strong institutions and ensuring zero tolerance to corruption which he assures to leave behind as living legacies. He however, stressed the need for collective efforts to take Jigawa State to the desired level including through stakeholders consultations and constructive criticisms that would better the lots of the people in the state.

And now comes an Economic and Investment Summit being convened by the governor. The Summit is primarily to attract private investments into the State and to identify broad policy options that would help develop a perspective plan for the longer-term development of the state. The governor has pledged to revamp the comprehensive state strategic long term development plan that would take the state into the coming decades as a modern society.

Indeed, there are lots of lessons to be learnt from Jigawa State and from leadership style and attributes of Governor Lamido. The state stands ready to share these lessons.

May God Almighty give all Nigerians the benefit of experiencing Governor Lamidos’ passion for humanity as you gave such benefit to the people of Jigawa State – so be it.

Akpabio pledges not to disappoint Nigerians • Akpabio

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KWA Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has assured Nigerians that he will not disappoint them as the pioneer Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum.

Addressing members of the party at Akwa Ibom International Airport, Uyo, he explained that the forum was created to foster unity among the PDP governors.

Akpabio said: “When we started as a party in 1998-1999, we controlled the

Federal Government. We had over 30 governors from PDP and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum was almost synonymous with PDP Governors’ Forum. But as time went on, with the incursion of the opposition parties and with the large number of states, we are now Nigerian Governors’ Forum with a bit of opposition. ‘’We don’t want a situation where people who are actually in the opposition and a few of them will control the larger Nigerian Governors’ Forum because sometimes, they will go and have a meeting, then, they will position themselves in the hall strategically and as they are coming as governors, you will know they are learning.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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NDE trains 100,000 orphans, widows

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•Governor Oshiomhole

O FEWER than 100,000 persons, including widows and orphans in Edo State, have benefited from various programmes of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in the state since 1997.

The co-ordinator of the agency in the state, Ms Ayo Edegbai, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Benin.

Edegbai said that the programmes which the people benefited from include vocational skill development, small-scale enterprise development, rural employment promotion and special public work.

She said that the agency created employment for the people “with or without formal education,” adding that they had all been gainfully employed or had become employers of labour.

The co-ordinator said that the organisation recently concluded the training of 50 vulnerable

‘Give us access road’

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HE residents of Omagwa Community in Rivers State have appealed to the state government to provide an access road to link the village with its neighbours.

The Chairman of Omagwa Council of Chiefs, Chief Bright Kpaliku, made the appeal on behalf of the community in an interview with journalists at Omagwa in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

He said that Omagwa communities had, for many years, been cut off from “civilisation” due to a lack of roads, adding that the situation had negatively impacted on the people, especially on activities that could promote good living.

He said that the communities, comprising Okparagwa, Imogu, Omuolo, Omuagubia and Omueketu also lacked basic infrastructure, including power and healthcare.

“We are appealing to the state government to construct internal roads for the communi-

Rivers ties to ensure easy access and free movement within and outside the community.

“We are also praying the government to provide electricity to our communities and it should also construct a modern healthcare centre”, Kpaliku said, regretting that Omagwa was the only clan in Ikwerre area without a healthcare facility.

He praised the state governor, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, for the appointment of an Omagwa indigene, Dr Eddy Adiele, as commissioner in the state’s Independent Electoral Service Commission.

Kpaliku also commended Amaechi for completing the Omagwa axis of the Port HarcourtOwerri highway, urging him, however, to put measures in place to check flooding in the area.

Council to reward outstanding pupils HE wife of the Executive Chairman of Apapa Local Government Area, Mrs Sarah Joseph, has advised parents to take advantage of the Spelling Bee programme to prepare their children for a better future.

Joseph, who spoke last week during the Spelling Bee competition at the council’s secretariat, noted that parent must be proactive the upbringing of the wards in order to brighten their career.

She said: “Let me make it abundantly clear that parents who refuse to educate their children are preparing them for a life of subservience and slavery. Therefore, whatever it will cost us as parents we must not spare any effort at ensuring that our children are adequately educated.”

She explained further that the council would reward unique performance by pupils or students who show exceptional zeal in their studies. “We will handsomely reward those who excel. I dare say that our four children who were recently sent to the United Kingdom were products of such performance.

“I want to challenge today’s competitors to have the determination of excelling to the highest pinnacle of the competition. You must go out there and bring laurels to this local government and never clothe yourself with the toga of local champion,” she stressed.

Similarly, the chairman of the council,

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By Musa Odoshimokhe

Ayodeji Joseph praised the pupils who took part in the programme, for their brilliant performances and urged those who were not outstanding to work harder.

He explained that the competition is meant to prepare them as leaders of tomorrow which they have to start by being serious with their education. “Through this competition we know that those who will be leaders of tomorrow are being discovered and I want those who have not performed well to go back to the drawing board.”

The chairman promised to take the winner of the competition to the United Kingdom for further exposure. He remarked that the tour was meant to prepare them to necessary educational skills on how they can excel in life endeavours.

“I wish to commend the initiator of this programme, Senator Oluremi Tinubu for pioneering this laudable competition. I equally commend the incumbent first lady, Dame Abimbola Fashola for sustaining this good legacy.”

He maintained that the competition was already spreading outside the shores of Lagos State. “Good enough, a lot of other states of the federation have started to copy it, having seen the benefit attached to it.”

• Mr. and Mrs Joseph and Hon. Seheed Danmondan at the event

Kebbi gives free 4,000 UTME forms

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Edo persons, including the physically-challenged, HIV patients and widows.

She said that the programme lasted from mid 2012 to February this year and that people were trained in soap making, beads making, catering services, hair dressing, events management and interior decoration.

Edegbai called on groups, philanthropists nongovernmental bodies to partner with the agency in training more people in the state and helping them out of poverty.

“NDE cannot solve the employment problems in the country alone. So, we need individuals, churches, mosques and organisations to collaborate with us,” she said.

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HE Chairman of Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area of Lagos state, Hon. Abdlefatai Oyesanya has donated a 500KVA transformer to the residents of Maro community of Ketu area of the council to improve power supply.

While commissioning the facility, the chairman charged the community leaders to maintain it so that it can serve the area for a long time.

He used the medium to unveil projects to be completed soon in the area among which are rehabilitation of Olowora road, Olatunji Ige Street and Olaleye Street, all in Ikosi area of the council.

•Governor Dakingari

By Dada Aladelokun

tivities with the target of having 1.3 million people counseled and tested for HIV by the end of this year.

“Also, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been scaled up to include all the health facilities offering ante-natal care services in the state.”

The state, he added, had instituted empowerment programmes for PLWHA, saying that it is being controlled by the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) in conjunction with several line ministries including Justice, Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Mrs. Anu Akinola of the LSACA held the gathering spell-bound with her impressive presentation of an “update on the prevention, treatment of HIV and AIDS, and sustainable livelihood among PLWHA.” She itemised the various channels of the spread of the dreaded diseases and warned Nigerians to take precautions seriously, especially in matters of sexual intercourse.

“Reduce your partners to checkmate the spread. Abstain from irresponsible sex and make sure that if you will do it, do it with condoms,” she • Mrs Adeoye said.

Kebbi stitutions in the catchment areas for the admission of indigenes of the state.

Bawa said the issuance of the forms was increased from 2,000 to 4,000 as part of efforts to encourage indigent students to get admission.

Besides, he said the beneficiaries would be offered scholarship on admission.

The secretary also revealed that the board would soon commence interviewing students for sponsorship to study medical health sciences in Egypt.

Bawa said that the state had voted 50 slots for students of medical health sciences in the state for foreign studies.

“We are awaiting executive approval for the sponsorship,” he said.

Govt hailed over Attah’s appointment he did it to prove his innocence over an allegation of murder levelled against him.

She said: “He was framed up by some bad people who accused him of using human blood to offer sacrifices to the gods instead of animals. He was banished out of Igala land and because he was innocent and did not want to live outside Igala land, he cursed the people and committed suicide. Years later the truth was made known and he was exonerated. That was what my father told me”.

By Jeremiah Oke

Lagos, NGO tackle HIV/AIDS

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HE Kebbi State government has promised to give 4,000 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) forms worth N16 million free to students.

The Executive Secretary, State Scholarship Board,Alhaji Murtala Bawa, told journalists in Birnin Kebbi that the forms would be distributed through the six zonal education inspectorate offices.

Bawa said that students who finished secondary school between 2010 and 2013, and who have a minimum of five credits, including English and Mathematics, would be the major beneficiaries of the scheme.

He said that the zonal inspectors would identify five best students from each secondary school in their respective zones and provide them with the forms.

The scribe said that the board had already communicated to the respective tertiary in-

Community gets transformer

The council chief maintained that his administration would leave no stone unturned in all the areas of human and infrastructural development in the council, urging them to ensure that they pay their taxes so as to enjoy dividend of democracy He said:“I want to use this opportunity to thank the leaders in this community for their support and patience because if not for them, we cannot be here today. I also want you to see this transformer as part of the promises we made before the election was conducted. Other projects are on the way which we are going to complete as soon as possible”. He promised not to let them down.

Oyesanya used the avenue to visit the mile 12 market, close ranks with the leaders of Hausa marketer who have being in logger heads since 1999 for an undisclosed reasons.

He admonished the Yoruba and the Hausa people in the market to live in harmony and forget the discriminations for the smooth running of •Hon Oyesanya inaugurating the transformer the market.

IGERIANS have been advised to take all necessary precautions against the spread of HIV and AIDS to stay healthy and be able to contribute to nation-building.

The executive director, Community Peoples Initiative Against Aids (COPEAIDS), a nongovernmental organisation, Mrs. Feyisike Adeoye, and Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Mr. Jide Idris gave the advice at an event marking this year’s International Women’s Day, which held at the Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), Ilupeju, Lagos.

In her opening address, Mrs. Adeoye noted that an unhealthy environment constitutes a menace to sound health, while “ill-health fuels the spread of diseases including the dreaded AIDS.” She added that environmental sanity “is crucial to sustainable livelihood.”

She urged that action should be taken against environmental degradation. She said: “Poverty and economic inequality are other factors responsible for the increase. Another case is where women, who, owing to their financial dependence on men, find it difficult to ask their male partners to take precautions.”

Mrs. Adeoye praised the Babatunde Fasholaled administration for its efforts in this regard.

She said: “We are impressed by the actions of the Lagos State government in the fight against HIV and AIDS. This state has demonstrated best practices in the important fight.”

Idris, the special guest, who was represented

by Dr. Lateefat Adeleye, spoke on “Tackling HIV and AIDS Prevalence in Lagos State and Sustainable Livelihood among People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).”

He said: “The state has scaled up its HIV services centres and increased its preventive ac-

47

•From left: Immediate Past President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharm. Azibuke Okwor; Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi; President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharm. Olumide Akintayo and Ekiti State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Sola Fasubaa, during a courtesy visit of the president to the governor in Ado-Ekiti

Lawmaker secures loan for traders

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N a bid to ameliorate the difficulties which his people experience in the process of accessing loan facilities for expansion of their businesses, the member representing Ikorodu 1State Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade has secured interest-free loan for 104 traders from his constituency.

•Princess Ibrahim

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HE Omiyahele Attah Igala, Princess Hadiza Ibrahim has praised the Kogi State government for its new choice of the Attah of Igala land.

Ibrahim, who described the choice as that of 99 percent of Igala people, noted that the appointment was timely.

According to her, his emergence is a step in the right direction and one that the people have been waiting for.

She explained that for a long time now, peace and love have eluded the Igala people but with the emergence of the new Attah, things will change for the better.

“The new Attah Igala is a man that has love and peace flowing in his blood. He has the ability to restore the love and unity that existed among the Igala people before the bad eggs took over rulership. He is a great man and we love him”, Ibrahim said.

The high chief who is popularly known by her people as Hadiza Motors, noted that the news making the rounds that the late father of the new Attah Igala committed suicide is the hand work of mischief makers who do not wish anything good for the Igala people.

Though she admitted that the father of the new Attah Igala hanged himself, she said

•Chairman, Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area, Hon Kemi Semiu Surakat (second right) presenting the 2013 budget to the Leader of the House, Hon Aliu Adesanya (left). With them are the Vice-Chairman, Hon Dapo Salami and Council Manager, Mrs Tinuola Fowler

Briefly

Association marks 13th anniversary Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association (ASPMDA), Lagos International Trade Fair Complex,is to mark 13 years of relocation from Lagos Island.

Addressing newsmen at a press briefing to highlight activities for the anniversary, chairman of the anniversary committee, Chief Kinsley Ekebere said all is set for March 21 celebration as logistics are nearing completion for a hitch-free celebration at the ASPMDA Square inside the complex.

Explaining further on the activities lined up, secretary of the committee, Mr. Chukwudi Mmegwa said: “On March 20, a novelty football match will kick off the ceremony as ASPMDA executives will face ASPMDA All Stars.”

“In keeping with our tradition of celebrating hard work in trade and commerce, Nigerians and expatriates that have contributed immensely to the growth of Nigeria’s business development in strategic sectors of the economy will be given special award.

The committee also revealed that top officials of the National Assembly, state governors and lawmakers will be in attendance as Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) is expected as the chief host.

Council lifts the poor

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By Oziegbe Okoeki

In a programme tagged “Constituency Entrepreneurship Aid” which held in his constituency office at Ikorodu, Agunbiade disclosed that he had secured loan facility from Skye Bank Plc for 104 market men and women from 46 markets in the area.

He further disclosed that he would pay the interest on the loan, while the traders are to repay only the actual money within three months.

The lawmaker said: “The programme is my initiative to assist my constituents in the area of entrepreneurship. The reason for this gesture is that there is wrong perception that politicians do not care about the people who voted them into power.

“But I think that giving people money for enjoyment is not as good as giving them money to develop their businesses. We should be able to assist individuals to be selfdependent and self-reliant. So, today, market women from almost 46 markets would benefit from the soft loan which we arranged with Skye Bank.

“The bank gives the loan and no bank gives loan without interest. I have paid the interest. Now, they will collect the loan and use it without any interest and that will take away a lot of pressures from them. Market men and women take loans from some micro-finance banks, pay interests on it. The pressure is much on them and I felt that the best way to ameliorate their suffering is to pay the interest on their behalf. What they return is the exact amount they collected,” he said.

The lawmaker revealed that the loan ranges between N25, 000 and N50, 000 each.

According to him, the programme would be done every three months, and that those who make judicious use of it would have an upward review of any loan they want to access from the bank.

“We want to start gradually and we will review it every three months. At the end of the year, we will increase the number of beneficiaries and the amount of money they could collect.

HAIRMAN of Ikeja Local GovernBy Duro Babayemi ment Area, Hon. Wale Odunlami chief for the assistance, even as they has advised the residents to conurged other leaders to emulate the countinue to support and cooperate with the council by paying their levies, dues and cil boss. rates in order to move the area forward.

He said it is only by paying their rates and dues that the council would have funds to provide basic amenities for them.

Odunlami stated this during the distribution of packed garri (ground dried cassava) to over 1,000 beneficiaries from the six wards of the local government.

He also said that distribution of basic food items to individuals is one of the poverty alleviation strategies of his administration.

Continuing he said: “More efforts will be made towards reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.”

He said beneficiaries of the gesture would strictly be widows, the aged, women, youths among others.

He urged more individuals and organisations to be involved in alleviating the suffering of the people this would bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

The beneficiaries thanked the council • Hon Wale Odunlami presenting a pack of garri (Ground Cassava) to a beneficiary

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

19

COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

FROM OTHER LANDS

Cross Cuba off the blacklist

Belated visit • We do not know the essence of President Jonathan’s trips to Borno and Yobe states

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LL the sound and fury surrounding President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to terror-ridden Yobe and Borno states have ended up signifying nothing. What exactly was the strategic purpose of the presidential visit to these troubled spots in the North East of Nigeria? We find it difficult to identify any tangible gains from the trip. Yet, presidential trips involve huge expenditure of scarce public resources and must thus not be undertaken frivolously.

It is obvious that President Jonathan’s clearly belated visits to the two states was a kneejerk reaction to the recent meeting held by nine governors and one deputy governor of the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC) in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Spurning spurious security reports, the governors – Kashim Settima, Babatunde Fashola, Rauf Aregbesola, Tanko

‘The presidential spokesman wanted to know where the governors were since the Boko Haram uprising started. But this is a question that ought to be rightly directed at Okupe’s principal. Why would it take the whole of 21 months and the visit of governors for the President and Commander-InChief to visit an area of his domain plagued by such a high degree of violence and bloodshed?

Almakura, Rochas Okorocha, Ibikunle Amosun, Adams Oshiomhole, Abdulaziz Yari, Kayode Fayemi and Abubakar Aliyu – braved the odds to hold their deliberations in the Borno State capital.

Beyond this, the governors visited and walked through the Monday Market, which is the biggest market in the state, as well as the Government College, Maiduguri. Apparently appreciating the governors’ solidarity with their plight, the people cheered the visitors and Governor Aregbesola made the telling assertion that “There shouldn’t be a ‘no-go’ area for any leader that means well for his people”.

Obviously riled that the governors had seized the initiative from President Jonathan in visiting the heartland of the Boko Haram insurgency, the Presidency reacted with characteristic fury devoid of sound logic. The Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, condemned the governors for allegedly pre-empting the President who had planned much earlier on to visit the troubled states. Describing the governors as ‘power mongers’ only out to feather their political nests, Okupe saw their initiative as a gimmick and a circus show.

The presidential spokesman wanted to know where the governors were since the Boko Haram uprising started.

But this is a question that ought to be rightly directed at Okupe’s principal.

Why would it take the whole of 21 months and the visit of governors for the President and Commander-In-Chief to visit an area of his domain plagued by such a high degree of violence and bloodshed? The President himself had no credible answer to this question as he struggled in futility to rationalise his utter neglect of the North East in the face of the Boko Haram on-

slaught.

Contrary to Dr Okupe’s claims, there was absolutely nothing to show that the President’s trip to Borno and Yobe states had been meticulously planned over a considerable time span. President Jonathan did not go to these two states with any new ideas to resolve the impasse, reduce tension or restore peace.

Indeed, he had no opportunity to interact with ordinary people as the two states were virtually shut down and taken over by thousands of security agencies during the visit. The President’s carriage was haughty and his demeanour hostile for the most part.

The lowest point of the visit was the altercation between the President and elders of Borno State in Maiduguri.

Surely, if the visit had been better planned, the contending issues could have been resolved behind the scenes rather than before the cameras. President Jonathan was not sensitive enough to complaints about the alleged atrocities of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State. He offered to order the withdrawal of the JTF if the elders would sign an agreement to be held liable for any deaths that might occur. This was nothing but an attempt to shift presidential responsibility to individuals. It also showed the inability of the Jonathan presidency to think out of the box and address the failure of intelligence that is at the root of the crisis in the North East.

Surely, a visit by the President to the JTF headquarters to give a stern warning against the violation of human rights would have sent more positive signals. Overall, the visit was a monumental waste of time and resources.

Grave infanticide Why would armed robbers shoot a toddler?

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ASTY, brutish and short”; this describes the fate that befell one-year-old Taiwo Lawal who eventually succumbed to a gunshot injury on his head, in the aftermath of a string of violent robberies across Lagos on September 9, 2012. The Hobbesian picture of human life in a state of nature is rather apt in this heartrending story, even though the setting is a modern-day mega city.

Taiwo was reportedly shot by robbers in his parents’ home in Gbagada, Lagos, and was hospitalised for the last seven months of his life. Although he had an operation to extract a bullet from his head, he remained on the danger list till he died on March 7 at Ward E of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, Lagos.

It is difficult to imagine that the fatal shooting of the innocent toddler was deliberate. If this was the case, not only does it compound the crime, it also shows a depth of depravity that makes us wonder about the state of society. What kind of criminals would sink so low on the scale of evil, having no compunction about infanticide?

It is commendable that Taiwo’s touching tale of woe attracted donations from various quarters, particularly telecommunications company MTN Nigeria, which gave N500, 000 for his treatment. However, given the gravity of the incident, perhaps more could have been done to save the little boy’s life. According to his

father, Wasiu, “We spent all that we had, unfortunately my son did not survive.

After MTN donated N500, 000 and a few concerned members of the public gave us money, more expenses kept coming up.

The money was not enough as we had to keep spending on drugs and other things.”

Apparently, inconsistent medical diagnosis did not help matters, as Wasiu alleged that doctors initially assured him that the bullet had not affected Taiwo’s brain, but later told him that it did. Furthermore, he alleged, “Initially we were told that Taiwo would require another surgery, but later we were told that he was too young to have another surgery, and that he should have the surgery in a few years’ time. The hospital wanted to discharge him but I objected to it because he obviously was not all right.”

In January, he said, after five months in the hospital, Taiwo’s condition deteriorated seriously, and doctors advised that he should seek treatment abroad. Certainly, this development calls into question the state of the country’s health care system. We wonder why the doctors apparently gave up on Taiwo, and suggested that the patient could be better treated overseas. Was it a result of lack of expertise, or dearth of equipment? The inadequacy of the local health care system has been a frontburner issue for years, and Taiwo’s case once again highlights the need for the authorities to urgently address public concern over the problem.

In the end, Taiwo painfully died a victim of armed robbery. It is disturbing that many Nigerians are tormented by the thought of falling victim to armed robbers, as security remains a big issue across the country. Clearly, the authorities need to do more to ensure the safety of the people and minimise violent crimes.

The police force should be wellequipped to perform its statutory duties.

Taiwo’s killers represent the worst kind of armed robbers, those who not only steal with force but also cruelly take the lives of others.

There should be no place in society for such destructive desperadoes. It is regrettable that the robbers got away, and no one will be made to pay for poor Taiwo’s death.

‘Taiwo was reportedly shot by robbers in his parents’ home in Gbagada, Lagos, and was hospitalised for the last seven months of his life.

Although he had an operation to extract a bullet from his head, he remained on the danger list till he died on March 7 at Ward E of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, Lagos’

The nation has long since changed the behavior that earned it a U.S. designation as a sponsor of terrorism.

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ASHINGTON has for three decades kept Cuba on a list of countries that sponsor terrorism, even though it has long since changed the behavior that earned it that distinction. By all accounts, Cuba remains on the list — alongside Iran, Sudan and Syria — because it disagrees with the United States’ approach to fighting international terrorism, not because it supports terrorism.

That’s hardly a sensible standard.

The State Department says it has no plans to remove Cuba from the list. But Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who recently led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Havana, is urging President Obama to consider a range of policy changes toward Cuba, including delisting it, which would not require congressional approval. Designation as a state sponsor of terrorism carries heavy sanctions, including financial restrictions and a ban on defense exports and sales.

None of the reasons that landed Cuba on the list in 1982 still exist. A 2012 report by the State Department found that Havana no longer provides weapons or paramilitary training to Marxist rebels in Latin America or Africa. In fact, Cuba is currently hosting peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and President Juan Manuel Santos’ government. And Cuban officials condemned the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Moreover, keeping Cuba on the list undermines Washington’s credibility in Latin America. During last year’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, presidents from the hemisphere expressed frustration that the U.S. remains frozen in its relations with Cuba, enforcing an embargo that dates to the Kennedy administration.

Cuba is not a model state. The government often fails to observe human rights. Its imprisonment of Alan Gross, a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development who was sentenced to a 15-year jail term in 2009 after bringing communications equipment into the country, has prompted repeated visits to the island by U.S. officials seeking to secure his release.

The list, however, is reserved not for human rights violators but for countries that export or support terrorism. Clinging to that designation when the evidence for it has passed fails to recognize Cuba’s progress and reinforces doubts about America’s willingness to play fair in the region.

- Los Angeles Times TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

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•Manager, Corporate Marketing Hameed Odejayi • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: The discovery of 45,000 ghost workers by the federal government following the personnel audit carried out shows the level at which corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. The phenomenon of ghost workers is not new in Nigeria. The syndicates operate at all levels of government. In the present circumstance, the 45,000 ghost workers detected through the personnel audit did not enter the pay roll by mistake but a deliberate effort to defraud the nation using administrative and bureaucratic instruments.

It sounds incredible that out of 153,019 workers in the government pay roll, 45,000 of them were found to be ghost workers. The figure cut across 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, according to the audit report. It shows the desperation of some top government officials to amass wealth at public detriment. Indeed, a nation beset by nest of fraudsters is bound to face a lot of economic challenges as the current situation suggests in Nigeria.

The inability of the government to identify the sponsors or find out the details of the detected ghost workers gives an impression of official compromises and elite conspiracy to exploit unjustly the wealth of the nation.

There are bases to direct criticism at Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, for telling the whole world during a media briefing on the 2013 budget in Abuja that Nigeria cannot trace any of

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The menace of ghost workers its officials responsible for introducing 45,000 ghost workers into the government’s pay roll. The excuse of non-availability of biometrics given by the government to justify its failure to find the culprits is also not acceptable. It is equally amazing that the government is requesting the Nigerians to come up with ideas on how to fish out the ghost workers on its pay roll.

If Nigerian leaders are honest, there shouldn’t be problem iden-

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tifying and prosecuting the culprits. In my view, since salaries are paid through the banks, it shouldn’t be difficult to track down the culprits. For each person operating an account with the bank ought to have passport, finger prints, signature and reference letter to properly identify him/ her. In essence, the bank is deeply involved in the scam. Obviously, the salaries of the non-existent workers form part of the monthly salary schedules that go to bank

and get cleared by human beings who are themselves workers. The distressing incident is made possible by connivance of the personnel department, salary section and bank officials and the racketeering is sustained by a chain of syndicates whose parasitic tendencies are causing the nation billions of naira annually.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has responsibility to monitor and investigate the syndicates who ex-

The unfortunate report on polio in FCT

IR: The recent report of two polio cases in FCT is unfortunate and embarrassing and it shows that more still have to be done in the fight against the disease. For polio cases to be reported in Federal Capital City where two ministers of health, the two ministers of FCT and the First Lady reside shows that the government is not serious about fighting the scourge.

Instead of Minister of State for FCT, Jumoke Akinjide to take responsibility for the situation, she

was blaming the reported cases on the influx of the people to the FCT. How many people enter Abuja per day or per month compared to Lagos? Because if it is about the influx of the people, Lagos ought to be reporting polio cases everyday given the high rate of movement into the city.

I expect Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu to be able to give more convincing reason than that given by the FCT minister.

What steps are the ministry of health and the ministry of FCT tak-

ing toimmunise the children entering Abuja and other children in the satellite towns within FCT? It is embarrassing that Nigeria is still one of only three countries in the world where polio still exists. In this, we are in the company of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The campaign to stamp out polio received the first jolt in 2003 when the governments in some northern states and some Islamic leaders rejected the polio vaccines on the ground that it was a western ploy to arrest population growth in the

APC is a call to save Nigeria’s democracy

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IR: Is democracy a blessing to Nigerians or a bane? Democracy as we all know is “the government of the people by the people and for the people”. But the reverse is the case in Nigeria. The dispensation in Nigeria has been bastardised and it has failed in portraying the core values and qualities that democracy is intend to represent from inception.

Now I’m quite sure that the emergence of the APC will mark the

ploit the lapses in the nation’s personnel data base to defraud the nation. So far, the EFCC seems helpless in uncovering the fraudsters.

Even if the conspiracy is veiled in secrecy, I think there are enough civil service rules, control measures and regulatory alternatives to uncover the brains behind the ghost workers’ malady.

The issue of ghost workers is not a new challenge to the nation and stories relating to it are fanciful headlines in the dailies. Yet, no drastic step has ever been taken to trace, apprehend, and prosecute the racketeers and their collaborators. It is high time the government took decisive action on the perpetrators of the financial crime by thorough investigation and prosecution.

• Onike Rahaman, Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora

birth of saviour of Nigeria’s democracy. Nigeria will be free from all mischiefs or misfortunes that democracy has caused it all these wasted years. APC is a progressive and selfless party which has emerged purposely to bring out the good and glad tidings of democracy into reality for Nigerians to witness and enjoy.

PDP has ruled Nigeria for over 12 years without considerable development and they have vowed

to rule Nigeria for another 50 years when we have not seen the dividend of democracy in the years they have ruled the country. Though they became scared by the emergence of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), they are much more scared now by the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC).

As for the furore over the registration of APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), leading figures of APC

should stand firm until the party is registered.

APC is the hope of Nigeria’s deliverance. Nigeria is today in dire need of good leadership, tolerance and people who can get things done correctly. Nigerians are counting on APC for deliverance now that our democracy totters towards collapse.

• Adama Abraham Ibrahim Babangida Badamasi University, Lapai

Muslim world.

Against all odds, Nigeria has reduced polio by 95% as at 2011. But the crippling disease still threatens Nigeria’s children.

Awareness must be carried out in some of the northern states where polio vaccination is still being resisted. The killing of nine health workers involved in polio vaccination in Kano State last month must be condemned by all.

Muslim clerics in the North must also enlist in the task of properly educating their members that polio vaccination means no harm, they must be informed that some Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia had cooperated with World Health Organisation in ensuring that their populations were well covered by the polio vaccination.

If China and India with the populations of over 1 billion each are polio free, I believe Nigeria with population of 170 million has no excuse to be in the company of three countries where polio still exists.

• John Tosin Ajiboye Osogbo Osun State

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013 16

21

COMMENTS

Celebrity trash, trashy journalism and everyone (2)

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HIS minute, conversation degenerates into mere gossip and heartfelt dreams manifest as perfections of perversity, everywhere.

Everybody is a sucker for “high-society.” Like heat-maddened farm rats, ordinary people are persistently yearning for the madness of “high-society.”

It’s the little packets of madness that we need to fear. How unforgivably foolish the society becomes in its lust for celebrity gossip. The news we read, for the most part, is too paltry for the human genius. I do not know why our news should be so trivial.

It is the stalest repetition. Yet we madden and lust for celebrity humdrum to the point that one is tempted to wonder why too much passion is squandered in pursuit of too little substance. We live for idle amusement and thus the nature of our daily news.

Our facts appear to spiral in the atmosphere, insignificant as the spores of the toadstool, and yet impinging on the surface of our mind, poisoning it, till it becomes not much in expression and thought. Superfluities meet superfluities; when our life ceases to be inward and absorbed, interaction degenerates into mere tittle-tattle and humanity relapses into the filthiest of averages.

No thanks to celebrity journalism and an innately perverted public, the Nigerian mind has become a public arena, where the shenanigans of the rich and the idiocy of “high-society” are passionately celebrated.

Every celebrity is a media creation; I repeat. While some may be deserving of the exaltation liberally accorded them, not a few celebrities are undeserving of the hero worship they receive and so desperately seek. It is hardly the fault of the celebrity how-

S

ever, that the press and the society in general have chosen to accord them immeasurable hero worship despite their glaring idiocy and deficiencies.

It takes more than newsworthiness to create a celebrity. The vast, interlocking web of resources and institutions involved in creating and maintaining a single celebrity is astounding. From media outlets to fan clubs and agents, from media products to gossip columnists, a star is never solitary, but often the result of hundreds of backstage orchestrations and player deals.

It is even all the more disturbing to watch our fascination with celebrity gossip slide into precisely the kind of ruthless pursuit of its subject to which we claim to be ostensibly opposed; it is disheartening to observe the infringement of morals and humaneness at the heart of our inquest. Yet despite the evils of our maddening lust for celebrity tittle-tattle, not a few tattlers gladly explain their obsessions away as some kind of virtuous curiosity.

There is no such thing as virtuous curiosity. In respect of the subject matter, our curiosity oftentimes does violence to its object. On the flipside, it leaves the society stuck in a revolving cycle of spectatorship that believes in its own virtue even as it corrupts itself – a perfect representation of Jacqueline Rose’s the “perverting of curiosity in motion.”

And even our so-called superstars have learnt to profit albeit fraudulently from the society’s perverse curiosities about their affairs.

From Chaucer’s early poem, “The House of Fame,” whose hero-poet

INCE I left my comfort-zone, the newsroom in June 2011 to start operating as a member of the Ogun State Government, I have never been scared or saddened by any development than by the events of March 5. Despite the fact that the news had been in the air at the weekend that the state House of Assembly might erupt in crisis, I believed that the 24 gentlemen and the two ladies would always manage their differences and be tamed by the facts of our recent history.

When the legislators again gathered as a committee of the whole on March 4 to screen our new Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu and I watched the news of how the session went unimpeded with the woman getting a handshake from all the legislators, I became more than sure that all was under control. However, when the news came that Tuesday morning, that the House had been divided to two warring camps ready to do battle, I became worried.

At that point, there was little anybody could do but to pray. Though, I am not a politician, I can say that through regular contact with all our legislators at official and unofficial fora convened by my boss, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, I have a good relationship with all or most of them. However, by that Tuesday morning, no relationship would suppress the high-stake power-game that was about to play out. As a member of the executive which, from all indications, was not involved in the bickering in the legislative arm, why was I scared by the events of March 5 in which Ogun State again tested the veracity and functionality of Baron de Montesquieu’s theory of Separation of Powers and the corollary checks and balances?

I knew that with the House of Assembly in crisis, with members damaging their symbol of authority, the mace, and different al-

wrestles with the fame bestowed on him by society to Martin Scorcese’s film, King of Comedy, in which an amateur comedian jokes to a national television audience that it is “better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime!” celebrity worship continues to fester.

Not to forget Nigerian actress, Genevieve Nnaji’s illuminating response to a CNN interviewer’s poser about her celebrity status, “Oh yeah, I don’t even need to wake up. Just sitting down sometimes, I’m like (sighs), sometimes I hate my life, but I can’t complain” — these celebrities and their works speak to us, even give voice to our own desires, as they reflect back to us the realities and illusions of today’s celebrity culture.

Celebrities who insist, often with apparent desperation, that they do not court publicity, who try to hide from the public gaze on which they are totally dependent, are either naive or unapologetically fraudulent. With respect to Nigerian celebrities, being fraudulent and then, infantile, comes easy. Not only are most unable to discern that this is the balancing-act they are required to perform, they believe –erroneously so – that by virtue of their claim to stardom, they should have both the press and the public subjected to their whims.

Therefore, the juveniles that they

are at heart fail to realize that they are never functioning quite appropriately as befits their status; never perpetuating so perfectly the drama and duplicity on which celebrity thrives, as in the moments when they make that exasperating and utterly deceptive claim.

If truly they do not crave media and public attention, let them desist from making their affairs known to the public. Let them desist from scorning such attention only to divulge news of their purported “best kept secrets” to the media surreptitiously. Celebrities who do that while making a show of their distaste for the limelight embody the worst form of infantilism and narcissistic tendencies.

The vanity of their renunciation contains its own disavowal. It is a blatant hypocrisy that they perpetrate claiming that they do not want to be seen or become the subject of public attention; it simply says very much about their impoverishment in character and worth.

It is even more disturbing to watch the society’s curiosity translate into precisely the kind of ruthless pursuit of subjects perpetrated by celebrity journalism. It is about time Nigerian journalists learned to focus on the issues that truly matter. How is news of the “highoctane” wedding of a telecommunication company proprietor’s daughter’s wedding, a Reality

‘It is the stalest repetition. Yet we madden and lust for celebrity humdrum to the point that one is tempted to wonder why too much passion is squandered in pursuit of too little substance. We live for idle amusement and thus the nature of our daily news’

Show contestant’s current boyfriend, a professional hip-hop dancer’s pregnancy – outside wedlock – and the likely father of the child more beneficial to the youth and the society than a report about the dwindling culture of scholarship on the nation’s campuses and outside them? How is such news more beneficial to the public than the lack of functional local government authorities at the grassroots and the deplorable state of vocational and public primary schools across the country?

It should be the media’s job not to give equal time, not to give 12 inches in a newspaper story to the idiocy and eccentricities of Nigeria’s middling rich trash and their spoilt kids.

It is apparent that a passion for celebrity gossip has become the next illogical evolutionary step of journalism and readership in the country.

Basically, it is in the media’s best financial interest to pervert its principal role as “Status-Conferrer” according to the public’s yearnings. This bespeaks a deeper perversion of the journalism ethic particularly, its “AgendaSetter” function.

But the fault is hardly the media’s alone. Now that it has been confirmed that the Nigerian press is fundamentally a trash can cum sounding board for the psychosis and perversions of celebrity trash and their families, the public’s role in their perpetuation of such depravity is undeniable.

Given the public’s fascination with celebrity trash and their world, everyone remains complicit in the societal perversion. In essence, the Nigerian society is being ruled by base desires and voyeuristic inclinations for accounts of celebrities’ lives. This has led us to the point where we are not getting the journalism we need but rather the journalism we deserve.

• To be continued…

Governor as trouble-shooter

By Yusuph Olaniyonu legations aimed at drawing attention and currying favour in the public opinion divide, we would be sending danger signals that the state was about to return to the jungle era of 2009 to 2010. Ogun State that has in the last 20 months been making a gradual return to its usual progressive, development-driven state would now be seen to be relapsing into the ugly period when we got unsolicited front-page news mention for the wrong reasons.

When the House of Assembly is not in session because the membership is divided against itself, its leadership is in dispute and its chamber is surrounded by security men who were battle ready to prevent breakdown of law and order, what can the executive achieve? Only an executive arm that wants to play the ostrich or delude itself would revel in being an oasis of peace surrounded by a troubled legislature.

More importantly, the fight in the legislature makes my own job as a spokesman for the government more difficult. Instead of talking about development projects and lifechanging policies and programmes aimed at truly rebuilding our dear state, the information manager becomes a reactionary or propaganda agent who either has to defend an allegation or raise a counter-allegation in defence of the government. In any case, the government will always be drawn into debates about who is playing what role in the House of Assembly.

By extension, the fight in the House has

‘While I pray that Ogun State should never return to that era when we were a shame to other truly democratic societies, I know that the governor needs to continue to enjoy the goodwill of all stakeholders so that he can be able to rally all, at all times, for good causes’

the potentials to cause an unpleasant distraction and divert public attention from the various on-going development efforts. The hundreds of kilometres of roads being expanded to create room for six-lane ‘Ogun Standard’ roads, the model schools under construction which will redefine infrastructural provision in public secondary schools, the model hospitals which will soon dot the landscapes of each of our nine federal constituencies, various policies aimed at making our state the preferred investors’ destination and the revolutionary projects and programmes aimed at restoring the state’s comparative advantage in agriculture, among other life changing policies, were about to be stalled and dwarfed by the events of last Tuesday.

Again, it should be noted that many believe any fight in the House of Assembly is a proxy war between key characters in the executive, the ruling party or the political space as a whole. Those who have experienced a similar situation in our state under the previous administration vowed that if the group opposed to the House establishment did not have some money bags already sponsoring their action before the fight broke, they would have several offers within 24 hours.

It is as a result of these considerations that my heart jumped into my mouth as the facts of the fight in the Ogun State House of Assembly unfolded. However, I was very relieved that evening when Governor Amosun chose not to attend the meeting of leaders of the new party, Action Progressive Congress (APC) holding in Abuja. He then assured everybody that the crisis will definitely not last.

It was a good test of his popularity and reputation when he invited the legislators to a meeting in his office the following morning and all of them were present. I remember one of the legislators telling me before the meeting commenced that he cried most of the night because he realized the implication of such a bitter fight on peace and progress in the state. Another one said he

was sure that with the governor’s intervention, normalcy will be restored because all of them have utmost respect for the governor, whose programmes, policies, bills and nominees have always got the approval of the legislature after all necessary debates.

It is in the light of all these considerations that one should see the timely intervention of Senator Amosun in nipping in the bud an ugly development which could have consumed the state. The governor’s timely intervention ensured that mischief makers did not capitalize on the situation. The speedy trouble-shooting prevented a situation where combatants embark on ego-trip and get entrenched in their different positions.

By playing the role of a peacemaker in a fight in which one of the groups was already erroneously being touted as having his support while the members of the other were making insinuations against the position of the Governor, Senator Amosun chose to be a statesman rather than a politician. He played the role of the father-figure to the feuding legislators. By putting the interest of our dear state and its good people above political expediency and personal ego, the governor has shown that he is the father of all.

More importantly, it was the governor who suggested the popular line on which the reconciliation in the House of Assembly is now based.

He was the one who said the legislators should go and apologise to the good people of the state who elected all of them into office. While leading the way in tendering apology to the people, he also found the right symbolism in the 106th birthday of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, which coincidentally was that very day the legislators were re-united. I believe Governor Amosun came out of the situation as the typical cultured, progressive and patriotic ‘omo Ogun’.

While I pray that Ogun State should never return to that era when we were a shame to other truly democratic societies, I know that the governor needs to continue to enjoy the goodwill of all stakeholders so that he can be able to rally all, at all times, for good causes.

• Olaniyonu is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ogun State

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

22

COMMENTS ‘The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of custodians of her affairs.’

————Confucius

A

RE Nigerians truly their neighbours’ keepers? Do we pay due diligence to what belongs to others, especially as custodians of public till? Why is it that it is only in Nigeria that what belongs to the collectives is negligently treated as belonging to nobody? These questions have become imperative in view of the charade that had become of pension affairs in the land.

While the public contends with finding answers for the posers, a more confounding riddle is the lukewarm official attitude to the scam that happened in the police pension office and nothing so far has been done to arrest the culprits behind the ugly situation. Let us agree that pension looting has become a depressing routine in the country, but the recent handling of Abdulrasheed Maina’s alleged police pension scam punctures the commitment of the Jonathan government to stomp on corruption in Nigeria.

Maina was a deputy director in the Office of the Head of Service. He was later appointed to head a reform team to sanitise Nigeria’s deeply corrupt pension scheme.

But somewhere along the line, he got enmeshed in the crisis. He was until his infamous disappearance from public glare, Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) that has become an addition to the toll that graft is taking on management of public finance in the country.

Maina’s alleged crime portfolio: He purportedly deployed Police Pensions Account to inappropriate ways. He allegedly opened accounts in different banks, one of the accounts in his younger brother’s name, stashed with billions of naira. The alleged illegal transactions were reportedly yielding an interest of about N100 million monthly. He also allegedly spent about N1billion to carry out biometric verification for the screening of 29 pensioners both in Nigeria and abroad. These are all according to Aloysius Etuk and Kabiru Gaya headed Senate Pension Probe Committee that equally claimed above all that Maina, allegedly misappropriated about N195 billion.

The understandably thinking would rightly have been that if this could happen to the police as an institution that is saddled with apprehending criminals, then, workers in others sectors of the economy that pay pension may need to beware before their

A

S the Anambra governorship election looms ominously later ahead, I must say I do not envy Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state; not in the least. One of the saner governors in Nigeria today in this sad, sad time of leadership kwashiorkor; I have been growing grey hair on his behalf day and night trying to script the Anambra theatre but each time I end up without a viable resolution or denouement.

How will Obi untangle this jig-saw puzzle; is there a solution to this seeming stalemated chess game? But then, he can take solace in the fact that this state of utter confusion is not unlike what is going on, albeit, on a larger scale on the Nigerian stage.

Consider the crazy scenarios: his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been rent in two. Derisively called APGA-PDP and APGA-APC, it obviously cannot win an election as it is. Even before APGA’s current morass, the party had been mortally troubled and windtossed in the last two years no thanks to the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, aka Hurricane Rochas. If APGA stood with the aid of crutches, Okorocha came along and instead of helping the fledgling Igbo party to stand on its feet, he yanked away a crutch leaving the party on a mortal limp.

Now, Ndigbo who needed a platform to call their own have no where to anchor. Majority of Igbo voters who would cast their lot with APGA are now orphans, they are destitutes, to be picked up by some benevolent stranger. Now Igbo land is in disarray like never before. The so-called Ohaneze and so-called Igbo elite have been firmly tethered in Aso Rock to enjoy its lush green grass and get fattened in readiness for 2015 election. APGA has been damaged beyond repairs; whatever Igbo agenda there was has been compromised and handed to Aso Rock.

Yes, Ndigbo has been signed, sealed and delivered four years ahead.

What Obi can do now He was never your wily Nigerian politician; he his probably a bit ahead of his time. Nothing, absolutely nothing takes its normal course in Nigeria’s politics of today. Everything is manipulated, choreographed and orchestrated as the situation requires. Obi is not the average stonehearted Nigerian politician of today otherwise he would have cleared the entire forest

Unresolved Police pension scam riddle

IG, Mohammed Abubakar deferred payments are siphoned by corrupt cabals lurking around the corridors of power. No wonder, pensions of retirees in the country are paid in arrears on flimsy excuses.

The Maina-gate should not be allowed to be swept under the carpet by right-thinking Nigerians. That is why Mohammed Abubakar, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), has a yeoman’s job to do in ensuring that Maina’s case did not go the sordid way of the past. Nigerians still remember that the IGP gave police escorts to Maina while still in Police Pension Office. And he allegedly spent scarce public funds, on a weekly basis, to the tune of N8 million, to maintain 38 security officers guarding him. What an in-

sult to teeming millions of Nigerians without due police protection? Will it then be tenable for the IGP to say that those police guards did not know how Maina escaped police’ arrest when he was declared wanted?

Will it be wise of the IGP to claim to have withdrawn Maina’s police guards knowing full well that he was going to declare him wanted? As an experienced cop, does he think that the man will wait after the untactful withdrawal? It is doubtful if the IGP ever craved the services of the Interpol and nations that are averse to graft to help in fishing out Maina wherever he might be hiding around the world. The needful would have been for him to be able to tell Nigerians by now, where Maina is and when he will be brought back to answer to allegations levelled against him.

Even if the IGP wants to fail in this instance, for inexcusable reasons, the administration of President Jonathan must tell Nigerians when Maina will be brought to book. Nigerians deserve to know what will or happens to those that thrive on mismanaging their life-time savings called pension. Nigerians want to know what happened to the presidency’s recent call for Maina’s dismissal on ground of absenteeism from work. One doubts if that order was carried out by the appropriate agency of government. That seems to confirm and further fuel raging public speculations that the federal government is shielding Maina from justice on this matter.

All those that are shielding Maina and his

EXPRESSO STEVE OSUJI

SMS O8181624757, email:steve.osuji@yahoo.com

NEXT ELECTION: Like Anambra, like Nigeria of Anambra if need be to push through his succession game plan. But we cannot see anyone in the horizon. He must forget about zoning now; he must forget about pushing an ‘anointed’ candidate to further his work for he may not be able to push him/her to electoral victory, he must forget about party too; he must look for the most workable candidate among the front-runners and work out a strategic alliance with him or her in the best interest of the people of Anambra and for the sake of his legacy.

In my opinion, the front-runners (in no particular order) are: Chris Ngige, Andy Ubah, Dora Akunyili, Chukwuma Soludo and perhaps Ifeanyi Uba. The pragmatic move may be to seek the best of these options. November is here, there is no time, Governor Obi must act fast to avoid a calamitous exit from power. He has said he would never seek another elective office. That is a courageous decision and he will do well to keep his word.

He is building a ladder to statesmanship; a position that has almost become extinct in Igbo land today. And he has been a fairly good governor too; one Ndigbo are proud of, but what about post- Obi Anambra and Igbo land? Who succeeds him will speak so much about his legacy and his place in Anambra, Ndigbo and Nigeria’s history in the years to come. While a critical review of his long tenure will wait till later, we must leave him to play his end game now!

Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi Readers’ reaction ON NNPC’S $1.5 B DEBT… God bless you for your column last Friday. Every time I read you, it’s always a reflection of the mind of the people who have no opportunity to voice it out. With these revelations about NNPC, I hope Nigerians will be challenged to act. More focal breakthrough to your glasses sir – Akan, 08067080317 I very much like your straight talk and

cohorts from facing the full wrath of the law should know that even if they do not need pension because of what they too have amassed at the expense of Nigerians, their offsprings, relations and friends will need pension at old age. If indeed they truly care for these people, then something has to be quickly done to the issue of Maina so that the future of hard-working Nigerians don’t end in avoidable jeopardy.

We are all talking about Police Pension scam today but no one knows what havocs Maina would have done in places such as the Customs, Immigration and Prison Pensions Offices that he reportedly had worked before. Even if he had done well in these places, his unceremonious abandonment of the police pension job casts serious slur on his integrity as a civil servant.

Whichever way the matter is looked at, the shoddy handling of the Maina/Police pension has waned public confidence in the current administration’s ability to correct the anomalies of the past in this and other regards. Without equivocation, confusion of aims seems to be the nation’s main problem. Nigeria has been turned into a dangerous haven, not because of the evil people, but because of the people, especially those that wield the big stick in the corridors of power, that are not ready to do anything about the abysmally degeneration of values in spheres of public lives. For the painful fact that those in authority have not learnt anything from yesterday, the way we live today and our hope for tomorrow are being jeopardised. The way forward is for us all not to stop questioning the deliberate inadequacies of those in power on pension and other issues that are unassailably germane to national rebirth.

Maina must be brought before the law if only to serve as deterrent to others in his shoes so that they can desist from such inimical acts in future, and more importantly, to restore confidence in public service. After all, Confucius has shown us the path to follow long time ago when he said: ‘The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of custodians of her affairs.’ Is anyone still in doubt regarding why Maina must be fished out to pay for his alleged sins? We all need to be our neighbours’ keepers in the management of our private and national affairs as a country. As we continue to talk, we must act decisively even as we remain fervent in prayers for sanity to return to our land! writing…NNPC’s $1.5 billion caper – A.T. Mozie, UNN, 07055035265 Please never tire to tell NNPC and its collaborators the home truth. NNPC is house of sin but be assured that they will give account one day; yes one and all. The lord of the harvest is his own auditor-general and not one kobo misses his notice. Ebere, 08099190019 ON DR. ORJI UZOR KALU SANS B.SC… I agree with the piece that OUK should go back to school and acquire degrees since money and education are worlds apart. The problem is that the neo-colonial state protects the imperialist at the expense of the people – Amos Ejiimkonye, Kaduna, 08039727512 Who says Orji Kalu lacks sound university education? Who writes that beautiful column in the Sun every Saturday? Sorry this man hoodwinked Abians and showed the state the road to hell with his mother-wife for 8 years. Having succeeded in that deceit he thought everyday is Christmas. He wants to go to federal not knowing that we are in 2013 – 07030981551 Thank you my brother for your forthrightness. OUK represents the worst face of Nigeria’s elite today – leadership without principle. How I wish he would harken to your advice. Innocent, 08033151662 Thanks Steve, what invaluable advice to OUK, the type his aides would not dare suggest. An education ‘exile’ to Tahiti or Christmas Island for 5 years will do him so much good. He should pay you for this wonderful idea, Dandy Offor, Aba, 07051155762 Mr. Osuji what is your problem with our dear OUK? Whether you like it or not, he is a great man, a great Igbo son whose sandals you cannot lace, Emenike from Aba, 08055601981 ON ABC AT 20 Steve well done on your quality intervention every Friday. But let us give more attention to developments like the story on ABC Transport at 20. One paragraph is not enough. I have not seen any columnist write about that great Nigerian success story. We must moderate our undue attention to Nigeria’s fruitless politics and focus on those truly great achievers like Frank Nneji. Ugo Maduagwu, Owerri, 08033261517

Pg. 24

Sport Friday, March 15, 2013

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

PEOPLE THE NATION

A SEVEN-PAGE SECTION ON SOCIETY

Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Legal Adviser Dr Muiz Banire drew eminent personalities to The Haven, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos to celebrate the 85th birthday of his mother, Alhaja Sarat Banire last Saturday.

TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO was there

•The celebrator (middle) assisted by (from left) Dr Saheed Oki; Dr Banire; Mrs Amosun; Mrs Banire; Alhaja Raimot Banire and Ajibola Banire to cut the cake

‘God has been good to me’ N

OT many believed the celebrator could walk unaided because she appeared fragile. But Alhaja Sarat Abiola Banire, mother of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Legal Adviser, Dr Muiz Adeyemi Banire, proved them wrong.

She walked elegantly into The Haven, an exquisite event centre in GRA, Ikeja amidst greetings from all.

The octogenarian even led dignitaries to the dance floor when it was time for the Waka Queen, Alhaja Salawa Abeni to entertain guests.

Alhaja Banire surprised many with her flawless dance steps. Many of the guests stretched their necks, some even stood to catch a glimpse of the matriarch digging it out on the dance floor with a former Commissioner of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), Alhaji Musbau Oyefeso. Oyefeso, Dr Banire’s childhood friend, got more than what he bargained for when he took on the celebrator on the dance floor.

Her captivating display impressed guests, who sprayed her with new naira notes.

Many at the event would remember for long Alhaja Banire’s 85th birthday celebration last Saturday.

The tripartite event featured prayer, Walimatul Quran of the celebrator’s grandson, AbdulMalik Banire and a lavish reception.

National Missioner of Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh AbdurRahman Ahmad led some clerics to the special prayers. He later delivered a short sermon, highlighting the essence of living and earning the pleasure of Allah through a worthy life.

He congratulated the celebrator and her grandson.

Ahmad urged the gathering, especially politi-

•From left: Gov Ajumobi; Dr Banire and Asiwaju Tinubu

cians to live a virtuous life, reminding them of the Hereafter.

After the prayers and the Quranic graduation, guests moved to the main place earmarked for the ceremony.

The expansive arena was richly decorated. Everything about the place reflected royalty and class. At the centre was a big stage for the musician. Huge banners were hung behind the stage and at strategic points, congratulating Alhaja Banire. They carried her potrait.

The birthday cakes were stylishly done.

Guests were treated to various local and continental cuisines. Choice drinks were inexhaustible. Guests had barely taken their seats before they were bombarded with different branded gifts – some with the potrait of the celebrator.

Politicians outside the ACN fold were also there in large number.

While Oyefeso was assisting the moderators, Hon Ramota Akinola-Hassan of the Lagos State House of Assembly was virtually everywhere, ensuring that guests had a nice time. The law-

‘I am lucky to have her as my mother in-law. She is in all ramifications a mother to me. I wish her long life, abundant mercy, peace of mind and sound health’ maker was seen among others distributing gifts from one table to another.

The duo of Tee A, a comedian and Bashiru Adisa (A.k.a Baba Gboin), a television presenter,

PHOTO: DAYO ADEWUNMI

the masters of ceremony enlivened the atmosphere.

Ewi exponent Alhaji Sulaiman Aremu popularly known as Ajobiewe was at his best, praising guests with panegyrics. In turn, he was handsomely rewarded.

The arrival of ACN National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi charged the atmosphere. Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State stole the show when he arrived.

Asiwaju Tinubu, first of the trio to arrive virtually greeted all the people in the hall, moving from one table to another. For Aregbesola, who arrived after Asiwaju Tinubu and Governor Ajimobi had left, it was like homecoming.

Escorted by Dr Banire and Alhaji Oyefeso, Aregbesola nearly turned the gathering into a carnival.

He later joined the celebrator’s children on the dance floor.

Music was stopped for a while to pave the way for the cutting of the cake.

One of the celebrator’s daughters-in-law, Mrs Olufunmilayo Jemeelah Banire proposed the toast.

Mrs Banire, wife of Dr Banire, described Alhaja Banire as a passionate woman.

“I am lucky to have her as my mother in-law.

She is in all ramifications a mother to me. I wish her long life, abundant mercy, peace of mind and sound health,” she said.

Wife of Ogun State Governor, Mrs Olufunso Amosun supervised the cutting of the cake.

She prayed to God continue to grant Alhaja Banire good health.

ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Muhammed and former Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs Chief Kemi Nelson were invited to give goodwill messages.

The duo thanked God for the life of Alhaja Banire.

Alhaji Muhammed said it is only lucky children that have the opportunity to do such honour to their parent as the Banires have done.

“One of the best rewards from Allah is derived from taking care of one’s parents. I congratulate Mama’s children. I also pray Mama live long to celebrate 90 years and more on earth,” he said.

The celebrator thanked Allah for His mercies.

•More pictures on page 26 and 27

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

SOCIETY

‘God has been good to me’ •Continued from page 25

“I am extremely happy, the array of personalities on ground is fulfilling enough not to talk of the honour bestowed on me by my children. I pray their own children to do more than this for them,” she said.

Alhaja Banire told The Nation that she never thought she would live up to 85.

“Here I am enjoying the blessings of Allah through my children. I live a fulfilled life devoid of rancour and hatred for my fellow being. That is why I am very free with anybody that comes my way,” she said.

She urged the youths to be upright and God-fearing.

Guests included Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Dr Idiat Adebule; Senators Ganiyu Solomon; Gbenga Ashafa and Anthony Adefuye; Ambassador Musiliu Obanikoro; Lagos Commissioners - Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye (Education); Lateef Ibirogba (Information and Strategy); Prince Segun Oniru (Waterfront) and Bosun Jeje (Housing); Hons Abiodun Faleke; Lanre Odubote; Akeem Muniru; Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa; Oluwatoyin Suarau;Jumoke Okoya-Thomas; Ramota

Akinola-Hassan; Abdoulbaq Ladi Balogun; Adefunmilayo Tejuoso; Sanai Agunbiade and Segun Olulade; Prince Rotimi Agunsoye; Mrs Risikat Akiyode; Dr Kayode Omosehindemi; Mr Dele Alake; Dr Leke Pitan; Hon Bashir Oloto; Alhaja Kuburat Hassan; Lagos Head of Service Mr Segun Ogunlewe; Mr Femi Falana (SAN); Mr Kayode Oladele and Hon Obafemi Sunmonu.

Council chairmen led by the Chairman, Conference 57, Hon Akeem Sulaiman; Hons Abiodun Mafe; Jubreel Abdulkareem; Hakeem Bamgbola; Kamal Bayewu; Olatunde Adepitan; Omobolanle Akinyemi-Obe; Ibrahim Sanusi; Adeyinka Durosinmi; Oloruntoba Oke; Wasiu Eshinlokun and Kehinde Sofola; ACN chieftains Alhaji Ganiyu Badmus; Cardinal James Odumbaku; Hon Adisa Adaranijo; Alhaji Garba Abari; Lawal Shuaibu; Abubakar Kari and Mrs Kemi Nelson.

Also there were Mrs Raheemat Balogun; Managing Director, Staco Insurance Mr Sakiru Oyefeso; Alhaji Wale Sonaike and wife Bilikis; LASIEC scribe Mr Adeyinka Jeje; Alhaji Rafiu Olohunwa of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW); Alhaji Lookman Olumo; Alhaja Fatimat Oyefeso; Alhaja Funmilayo Adesina; Chief Aderibigbe Ajose among others.

•Ogbeni Aregbesola (left) and Mr Alake

•Dr Adebule

•Oru of Imoru-Ijebu Oba Munirudeen Bashorun

• Abubakar Kari

• Hon Ibirogba

•Hon Dabiri-Erewa

•Mr Ogunlewe

•Mrs Amosun (left) and Chief Justice of Lagos Justice Ayotunde Phillips

•From left: Ambassador Obanikoro; Senator Ashafa and Hon Okoya-Thomas

•From left: Senator Adefuye; Hon Sanusi and Alhaji Bushrah Alebiosu

•Chief Nelson

•From left: Hons Ladi Balogun; Olulade; Akinola-Hassan and Agunbiade of Lagos State House of Assembly PHOTOS: DAYO ADEWUNMI •Elegushi of Ikateland Oba Saheed Elegushi

•More pictures on page 27

27

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

SOCIETY •Continued from page 26

•From left: Former Minister of Works Alhaji Femi Okunnu; Baba Adinni of Lagos Shiek Afeez Abuo and Bashorun of Lagos Alhaji Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy

•Senator Solomon (left) and Chief Jimi Agbaje

•Mr Falana flanked by Mr Muyiwa Wahab (left) and Mr Kayode Oladele

•Chairman, Sterling Bank Alhaji Sulaiman Adegunwa (left) and Alhaji Muhammed

•Chairman, Vigeo Power, Mr Gbolade Osibodu and his wife, Funke, former Union Bank Managing Director

•From right: Lagos Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Ademorin Kuye; his predecessor Prince Rotimi Agunsoye and Alhaji Oyefeso

•From left: Hon Suarau and wife, Toyin; Hon Kako Are and Hon Faleke

From right: Alhaji Badmus; Cardinal Odunmbaku and Chief Adaranijo

•From left: Hon Akinyemi-Obe; Mafe; Sulaiman and AbdulKareem

•From left: Hon Kamal Bayewu; Mr Tajudeen Olanrewaju; Hon Kolawole Taiwo and Hon Hakeem Bamgbola PHOTOS: DAYO ADEWUNMI

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

28

SOCIETY Obinna Charles Ugbor got married to his beau, Adaobi Francisca at the Dominion City in Ogudu GRA, Lagos. NNEKA NWANERI was there.

Destined to be man and wife

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AST Saturday Obinna Ugbor took his heartthrob, Adaobi down the aisle. In a very colourful ceremony, the couple said: ‘I do’. It was also a day for the couple to be presented before God. They stood looking into each other’s eyes as they took their marital vow; their friends and family members watched in admiration as the couple began their life long journey.

The couple grew up in the same neighbourhood, but didn’t know they were destined for each other.

Adaobi, said she never knew her ‘prince’ was right there. She thought he would come some day and sweep her off her feet. Obinna proved her wrong.

They grew up together but didn’t know they will end up together. Love was not enough to bring them together but they were united by their common vision, values and beliefs.

Last Saturday, at the Dominion City in Ogudu GRA, a Lagos suburb, the couple said: ‘I do’ before Senior Pastor, David Ogbueli. The cleric admonished the couple to sustain their love with true wisdom, upon which a house is built.

Pastor Ogbueli urged the couple to love and submit to each other adding that they should manage their strength and weaknesses so

‘Reflect on the image of your husband and do what Christ does to his Father. Do what the moon does to the sun, by being submissive in all days and season’ that they can have a lasting union.

He told the bride: “Reflect on the image of your husband and do what Christ does to his Father. Do what the moon does to the sun, by being submissive in all days and season.”

The reception was held at the same venue. Pink and purple were the colours of the day and the clothes and decor reflected these colours. Pastor Ogbueli was stunned by that his church had turned into a beautiful edifice he could hardly recognise.

DJ Bobby dished out melodious songs and the couple danced into the arena with Banky W’s Number 1.

Chairman of the event was the President of the Anambra branch of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, (PFN) and Director General of the Institute for National Transformation, Prof Vincent Anigbogu, who said the couple represent something unique and special to him. He described the

groom as a son and the bride a daughter.

Anigbogu urged those searching not to look further as God has a purpose for their lives.

Anne Ugwu, who met Adaobi in 2004 during a Christian fellowship in their school days in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State Capital, proposed the toast. She said the wedding is a forecast of what they prayed for back then.

“When I first met her, I was struck by her beauty. Despite her beauty, she still served God immensely. Her life turned my life around because she isn’t just a lady or a woman but has a pearl inside of her. She got the man she wanted and waited for. The Proverbs 31 woman is not just in the bible but sitting right there. Just like Boaz found Ruth on the fields, such is their story. So let us toast to the Ruth and Boaz of our time.”

Guests congratulated the couple on their union and posed for photographs with them.

• The couple, Obinna and Adaobi

The Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) has held its maiden annual lecture series themed: Nigeria: Arise and Shine. It was delivered by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Prof Rahamon Bello. JOSEPH JIBUEZE reports.

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HE logo is a map of Nigeria, with a green background. In the map are the two palms of an adult joined together as if beseeching God for blessings. Within those palms is a shining star.

That is the logo of a new annual lecture series tagged: Nigeria, Arise and Shine, introduced by the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered).

The maiden lecture was delivered by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Rahamon Adisa Bello.

He spoke on the theme: Appraisal of Vision 20:2020: Perspective of Power Generation and National Development.

It was a gathering of members of the academia, representatives of government and the corporate world.

The event began with an opening prayer, followed by the national anthem, a reaffirmation of the national pledge and a recital of the NIM Code of Conduct by members, all done in solemn involvement by all present.

After the speeches, came the question and answer session, awards were presented to some of the guests, including Bello and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by the Head of Service, Mr Adesegun Ogunlewe.

Venue of the event was the Management House on Idowu Taylor Street in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The auditorium was filled to capacity.

Those who could not find space in the hall were directed to an adjoining smaller hall where a large screen transmitted events from the main hall.

The high table was made even higher by the elevated platform. It was decorated with white and blue overlays, which blended with a white large poster behind the platform.

It was no red carpet event, but

•Mr Ogunlewe (right) and Olawale-Cole. With them is NIM Registrar Maurice Lakanu (middle).

•Onosode (right) presenting an award to Prof Bello (left)

That Nigeria may arise, shine the floors were laid with a red rug.

The brown seats in the hall were soft, and their long backs made them comfortable to sit in.

Prof Bello’s lecture dwelled on how to solve Nigeria’s electricity problems. Governor Fashola also lent his voice.

According to Bello, Nigeria can ensure regular electricity supply by exploring power generation from coal, wind, solar, nuclear and biomass resources.

He faulted the government’s 100 per cent reliance on natural gas and hydro resources for its power

needs.

He said the bulk of the power generation needed to meet the needs of Vision 20:2020 would have to be through the Independent Power Projects (IPPs).

Therefore, a focused effort to encourage the development of IPPs in the country is essential, he said.

For Fashola, the country needs to address fiscal federalism to allow each federating unit to develop at its pace, including generating and distributing power.

NIM’s President and Chairman of Council, Chief Michael Olawale-

•Mr Lawal (left) and NIM Deputy President, Dr Nelson Uwaga

Cole, said once the issue of power generation and distribution is resolved, the nation’s firm match to greatness would be guaranteed.

His words: “It is a common knowledge that Nigeria has been backward in the areas of successful start-up businesses, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and industrialisation generally due to poor power generation. Those are the core catalysts for real national development.

In attendance were the Director of Economic Analysis Department in the Ministry of National Plan-

ning, Babatunde Lawal, who represented the Minister. Bespectacled, he wore a dark suit with a deep blue striped tie.

Others are former Pro-Chancellor, University of Uyo Prof Frank Akoisor, professor of International Law and Jurisprudence, Akin Oyebode; past NIM Presidents Gamaliel Onosode and Michael Omolayole, Mrs Margaret Adeleke, Sir Peter Edeoghon, Mr Lugard Aimiwu; former President, Institute of Directors Chief Olusola Dada and UNILAG Registrar Rotimi Sodimu.

29 FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

Vol 4. No. 1793

In line with its goal of combining uniqueness and quality to give consumers the best, Fayrouz, a soft drink on the stable of Nigerian Breweries Plc, synergised its brand attributes with Darey Art Alade’s Love.. like movie concert in Lagos. WALE ALABI writes.

Union of strange bedfellows

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HE premium soft drink was the cocktail drink for celebrities that graced the event. The unique synergy reflected the uniqueness of the brand and the concert.

Described as the combination of the best of music, art, drama and theatre performance, the concert was attended by international fashion icon and co-host of the concert, Kim Kardashian, Nigeria’s top hip hop artists, Nollywood front liners and other notable corporate executives.

Mr Walter Drenth, Marketing Director Nigerian Breweries Plc, said Fayrouz is a premium and stylish soft drink that often looks out for opportunities to treat its consumers to exciting experiences. “We thought it worthwhile to partner with Darey Art Alade on this event which is premium, stylish and extra ordinary - values which are associated with Fayrouz. The show has brought a new dimension to the music and entertainment industry. It is a marriage of two different and unconventional brands which has offered maximum satisfaction to consumers and guests.

Nnenna Ifeibigh-Hemeson, Senior Brand Manager, Fayrouz and Climax, said Nigerian Breweries Plc as a corporate brand and Fayrouz, as a product brand, do not get involved in anything that is not unique and impacting. “Fayrouz is different, original and unique; it’s in a class of its own.

The same goes for the concert that combines, “Circque du Soleil theatrics and music to present a different kind of experience in this part of the World, it shares great attributes and values with the Fayrouz brand that was why we decided to partner Darey on the show. It is indeed a lifelong experience and we are excited to have been part of it”.

To ensure that its consumers are not left out, the brand provided consumers the opportunity to witness the show live with platinum tickets to the concert which were won through a live radio show on UNILAG FM. The winners praised the brand for giving them an exciting and premium experience.

Meanwhile, after what can be described as one of the greatest musical show in Nigeria, the spectacular ‘Love…like a Movie’ musical concert which took place a few weeks ago has continued to attract encomiums from Nigerians. Fayrouz, a premium soft drink from the stables of Nigerian Breweries Plc have also continued to receive commendations as a result of the brand’s synergy with the organisers of the concert.

Darey Art Alade and Nnenna Hemeson-Ifeibigh at the concert

It would be recalled that the premium soft drink was served as the cocktail drink for the celebrities that graced the exciting event.

The unique synergy – to the applause of the audience - brought the uniqueness of the brand and the concert to the fore.

Ms. Busola Cole, a staff of one of the new generation banks, who was present at the concert, described Fayrouz’s partnership with the concert, as a good match. An ardent Fayrouz drinker, she said: “Fayrouz has always been my favourite soft drink brand. I love its rich taste and it was not out of place to see it as the preferred cocktail drink for the event.”

Seni Lawal, a youth corps’ member serving in Lagos, stated that Fayrouz’s sponsorship of the event is in sync with what the brand stands for. In her words “everybody knows Fayrouz is a premium drink and Darey Art Alade, is a celebrated RnB artiste, their coming together is a synergy of two perfect heavy weights in their different categories and we the fans were the ultimate beneficiaries.”

To ensure that its consumers are not left out, the Fayrouz brand provided consumers the opportunity to witness the show live with platinum tickets to the concert which were won through a live radio show on UNILAG FM, Lagos. The winners commended the brand for giving them an exciting and premium experience.

One of the winners of the Fayrouz ticket, Oluremi Henix, said it was an honour to win the ticket to the biggest concert especially at a time of celebration of love courtesy of the finest and premium drink Fayrouz. “I am happy to have witnessed the exciting time and the unique creativity of Darey Art Alade.”

Another winner, Ishola Daniel, said “this is a moment I will live to remember, because Fayrouz has given me an opportunity to meet Nigeria’ biggest stars. Fayrouz is truly sharing love at this time and I say a very big thank you for the experience. I encourage consumers out there to support the brand.”

The show kicked off with the appearance of the much publicised American reality TV host, Kim Kadarshian. Darey was ably backed up by four of Nigeria’s greatest vocalists Banky W, Timi Dakolo, Praiz and Tolu (of the Project Fame Season 3).

The show also brought to the fore the innovative use of technology such as never been seen before anywhere in this part of world. The audience watched in amazement as the surprises kept coming. From the beginning to the end of the ‘movie’, the love story continued with different songs including Endless Love, A whole new world and a few others which contributed to the build-up of the story until it was wrapped up with the remix of Asiko, one of Darey’s smash hit

‘We thought it worthwhile to partner with Darey on this event which is premium, stylish and extra ordinary - values which are associated with Fayrouz. The show has brought a new dimension to the music and entertainment industry in Nigeria. It is a marriage of two different and unconventional brands, which has offered maximum satisfaction to consumers and guests’

songs.

Walter Drenth, Marketing Director Nigerian Breweries Plc, disclosed that Fayrouz is a premium and stylish soft drink that often looks out for opportunities to treat its consumers to exciting experiences.”We thought it worthwhile to partner with Darey on this event which is premium, stylish and extra ordinary - values which are associated with Fayrouz. The show has brought a new dimension to the music and entertainment industry in Nigeria. It is a marriage of two different and unconventional brands, which has offered maximum satisfaction to consumers and guests,” Drenth said.

Nnenna Ifeibigh-Hemeson, Senior Brand Manager, Fayrouz and Climax, said “Fayrouz is different, original and unique; it’s in a class of its own. The same goes for the concert that combines Circque du Soleil theatrics and music to present a different kind of experience in this part of the world”It shares great attributes and values with the Fayrouz brand that was why we decided to partner Darey on the show. It is indeed a lifelong experience and we are excited to have been part of it,” Ifeibigh-Hemeson enthused.

Commenting on the show, the producer, Darey Art Alade, disclosed that they were able to make a new statement that offers music lovers the best of music, art, drama and dance with live performances. He thanked his friends who made appearances; “2face, 9ice, Iyanya, Timi Dakolo, Praiz, Waje” and others who combined with ‘Circque du Soleil an’ extreme theatre. “These are guys using sand to draw what I am singing. Our normal concept is just to come on stage, either lip-synching or jumping up and down with dancers when the CD you would release starts playing; what we have been able to bring to the fore is different and unique,” he added.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

30

Brandnews Unilever boosts brand profile

Firm kicks off national U immunisation plus days I

N accordance with its vision to promote the health and wellbeing of the Nigerian child, MultiPro Enterprises Limited, makers of Hypo Super Bleach, has once again partnered with the Lagos State Ministry of Health in this year’s Polio Immunisation Plus Days campaign which was flagged off at Ipaja Mini Stadium, Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area (LCDA) recently.

The National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDs) campaign, which has been carried out in Nigeria since 2006, serves as one of the core strategies for improving immunisation activities in Nigeria. This would be done by

Stories by Wale Alabi

combining the usage of the fixed posts, house-to-house and transit teams for the delivery of multiple antigens (e.g. BCG, OPV, Pentavalent , Measles, Yellow Fever, HBV, etc.) on the days set aside for mass campaign. The immunisation exercise would take place from 2nd to 5th March, 2013.

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony, Senior Sales Manager, MultiPro Enterprises Limited, Mr Jude Nzeata, said the National Immunisation Plus Days is an opportunity for Hypo to fulfil its social responsibility to the society. He also emphasised the fact that ensuring the good health and

hygiene of the people is one of the core concerns of the organisation.

“The National Immunisation Plus Days provides us with the platform to reach millions of children who are in dire need of a proper health care services. In line with this we have made millions of Hypo Bleach sachets available for distribution both here at the flag off ceremony and at every Primary Health Centre within the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs through the course of the programme and also delivering proper counsel about the importance of immunisation and hygiene” he added.

NILEVER Nigeria Plc has raised its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) profile, using the Close-Up toothpaste brand.

The brand, in an effort to pull its consumers closer, decided to kickstart a free teeth check campaign to determine the health status of its consumers dentistry in Lagos.

The campaign enabled consumers to visit The Kots Clinic in Surulere for the free check-up.

Speaking, Dexter Adeola, Brand Manager, Close-Up, said the company is doing this, because it had shown that only 15 per cent of Nigerians visit dentists yearly.

He said: “As a leading brand in the paste category, we chose this platform to reach out to Nigerians in need of dental help. This would also serve as an awareness campaign to sensitise people on the need for proper oral care and the importance

of regular dental check-ups.”

On the choice of the location, Adeola said the intention was to strategically reach Nigerians in the two extreme locations of Lagos Surulere and Magodo.

On how close-Up was able to achieve the number that turned out, he said that prior to today (last Saturday) the brand had created heavy awareness in these areas and invited many in need of this dental check.

He went further to say that what informed the initiative was that over the years, Close-Up had given health protection to the teeth and gums of millions of Nigerians.

“The brand has also worked with health professionals and dentists nationwide to educate Nigerians on the importance of oral care. This free dental check is in line with our commitment to ensure Nigerians have the best solutions and care for their teeth and gums.”

Firm develops Star Music

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HE 70TH Precinct has developed a music application for the leading lager beer in Nigeria, Star. The application was launched in Lagos at a spectacular event that featured top Nigerian music stars and celebrities.

The launch added yet another first by the firm. This app will create for Star consumers and also music lovers an avenue to stay in touch with up-to-date information in the music world internationally and locally.

Chief Executive Officer of 70TH Precinct, Osamede Umweni said: “It was a privilege for us to be part of this phenomenon called the ‘ Star Music’. What we have done is to create a remarkable and interactive application, the first by any brand in Africa. Like we all know, music is the platform of the Star brand and it is coming out at a period when Nigerian music has taken over the African continent like Nollywood.”

The application, he said, will deliver latest entertainment news and information; musical videos in association with MTV Base; top video charts; polls chart; Star chat rooms; Star community; photo gallery; advertisement management for event or group sponsor; Star Application sharing via Facebook, Twitter and E-mail; wallpaper and subscribers profile.

Promasidor announces judges for Quill Awards

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• From left: Andu; Gumel; Akpan and Turaki during the launch in Abuja.

National Lottery Trust Fund unveils logo

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HE National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) witnessed a stamp of endorsement that would catapult the organisations and individuals to another level of wealth creation, when it unveiled its new logo last week in Abuja.

In the words of the Director-General, National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF), Mr Habu Gumel, this step by the lottery fund management “is geared towards ensuring that the pace of progress and activities in the lottery sector is in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.”

Secretary to the Government, Pius Anyim who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Duties, Henry Akpan said the significance of the new brand outlook “symbolises the awakening of a sleeping giant.”

Anyim said the unveiling of the emblem indicates that “the NLTF is telling Nigerians that it is now ready to rise up to its statutory mandate, and consequently that Nigerians should also get ready for a new dimension of the Federal Government’s transformation agenda.”

Minister, Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki said: “The decision by the

management of the trust fund to unveil its iconic logo, a website and an in-house information brochure is very strategic.”

He assured that the government will ensure that new regulatory framework and polices that deepens competition and growth of lottery market in Nigeria are pursued and implemented.

The NLTF was established eight years ago under the National Lottery Acts 2005 to take custody of government’s share of the proceeds generated from national lottery operations in the country.

Project consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Visage PR Limited, Afolabi Andu said the design framework of the logo captured the essence of the NLTF’s mandate as a remittance receiving entity whose primary source of fund is lottery and what it seeks to achieve with the funds as provided under the lottery Act. He explained that ‘sports’ was chosen as the main theme because of “its unifying power which transcends religion, ethnicity, race and politics.”

Andu reiterated that “the new NLTF brand outlook is not just about grant-giving; it is about an emblem that could be a stamp of endorsement that succinctly fits in

the transformation agenda of President, Goodluck Jonathan, in facilitating the achievement of set national development goals.

“The new brand draws on what the NLTF intends to achieve in its vision of becoming a world-class transformational lottery intervention funder of sustainable social investments in a broad, distinctive and integrated approach firmly grounded in Nigeria’s development agenda,” he noted.

The public relations specialist said the jagged symbol or emblem seen on the logo is reflective of an aerial view of a stadium when viewed from the air adding that the logo is finished in national colours with shades of lemon green and white signifying elegance and freshness, which “will easily connect with partners and stakeholders in the industry.”

Gumel said: “Our new logo reveals a brand that will be familiar, instantly recognisable by Nigerians and associated with our projects and outreach activities as we commence investments in good causes projects nationwide. The logo remains our voice and messenger that resonates with our valuable customers, development partners and stakeholders.”

ROMASIDOR Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk, has announced the appointment of five distinguished professionals as judges for its Quill Awards.

The awards is a platform to reward journalists for dedicated news reportage on industry, education, corporate social responsibility and nutrition issues all year round.

The awards cover five categories among which are the Brand Advocate of the year, Best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report of the year, Most Educative Report of the year, Best Report on Nutrition and the Best Photo Story of the year.

Mr Andrew Enahoro, Head of Legal and Public Relations of the company said the judges were carefully chosen because of the regard the company attached to the awards.

He listed the judges as Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole, a veteran journalist who will serve as chairman of the panel; Professor Emevwo Biakolo, Dean of School of Media and Communication of the Pan African University (PAU); Barrister Jide Ologun, Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos Chapter; Kadaria Ahmed, former editor of 234 Next, and Kelechi Obi Amadi, a renowned international painter and photographer.

• From left: Marketing Manager, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr James Odejimi; General Manager, Media Division, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr Jae Sang Lee ; an umpire, DJ Sose and Assistant Manager, Media Demand Planning, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr Young Hwan Cho, during the LG XBOOM ‘Scratch 2 Fame’ DJ competition in Lagos.

31

SHOPPING THE NATION

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

Trade fairs are used by manufacturers and suppliers to showcase their products and services. But are they avenues for investment opportunities and trade promotion or just sightseeing for shoppers?

TONIA ‘DIYAN asks.

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net •Send suggestions and comments to: shopping@thenationonlineng.net

•Shoppers at trade fair

Fun and fury of trade fairs •STORY ON PAGE 32

Shoppers speak as Ladipo market reopens Page 33

Shopping online with ease Page 34

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

32

SHOPPING

Fun and fury of trade fairs T

RADE Fairs are as old as history of business. Many see it as a platform where manufacturers, service providers, small/medium entrepreneurs and end users interact and discuss their products and services. Thus, it is a bargain ground for producers/products exhibitors and shoppers; and the economy stands to derive some benefits from it.

The “trade shows” is not only to create an atmosphere for shoppers and buyers to interact; it is also to create room for variety of products among sellers, thus bringing about reduction in prices to shoppers’ delight.

For the fact that shopping is like a stage play where every actor comes, exhibits and leaves, shoppers and vendors adequately maximise their presence at trade fairs.

Nigerian fairs are primarily designed for enterprises seeking wider access to internal and international markets, and investors seeking joint-venture partners and markets for various goods.

Nigeria, being a viable market for assorted goods/services from all continents of the world, makes provision for ample opportunities to market new innovations and bring exhibitors and shoppers together for trade activities.

Trade exhibition poses a lot of competition, especially among those who sell the same products, thus causing pleasant confusion for the shopper who is expected to be prudent and patient on product choice. But shoppers get good bargains, as many products are on promotion with attractive discounts.

In addition, companies provide casual jobs to unemployed youths who help them mar-

ket their products. This helps shoppers purchase items at cheaper rates in a relaxed atmosphere spiced with music and other side attractions.

Trade fairs are significant in the realisation of a nation’s collective aspirations of rapid economic transformation as businesses are enhanced and promoted in the process.

The representative of the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Alayande Olarewaju said at the Lagos Mega Trade Fair presently going on at Tafa Balewa Square that it is through trade that domestic companies can take advantage of bigger markets at regional, continental and global levels.

He said: “Trade fairs offer excellent platforms for the promotion of domestic and international trade. However, for us to benefit from trade, local companies must be competitive. Therefore, the creation of an enabling environment to enhance competition is crucial.

“Putting up trade fair expositions and promotions is the only way the organised private sector can reposition itself to face the emerging challenges of global competition. The importance of trade fairs and exhibitions in the expansion of trade and promotion of economic diversification cannot be over-emphasized as it creates opportunities for buyers and sellers to meet and forge partnerships that can last for a long time. Nigeria like many other developing countries is prepared to streamline trade in its development strategies. The consensus amongst policy makers and the private sector is that in the current economic climate

•A trade fair ground

Tips on buying furniture Are you thinking of furnishing your first home or replacing your couch? There are steps to take in order to make the best buy, writes MOJISOLA OKUNEYE.

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UALITY furniture can be bought from different places. A set of round settee is sold at Garden Supplies on Anthony Village for N30,000; home furniture band fittings are sold by Thomson Furniture at Alimosho, a Lagos suburb for N120,000. Furniture can also be got from Raumplus Nigeria Limited at Victoria Island. The MFD BED comes with mattress, side stool and a dressing mirror for N350,000.

Six by six foreign mattress for hotels and household is also sold at Raumplus Nigeria Limited at Victoria Island and a sofa settee goes for N250,000.

When buying your furniture you have to consider the following steps: Budget: Before you head to the furniture stores, determine exactly how much you have to spend on furniture. If you are relying on credit to buy furniture, think about how much monthly payment you can comfortably afford.

Measure: Measure those areas that you will be putting the desired furniture in. Write

the measurements down and bring a tape measure with you to the store. Don’t rely on being able to judge whether a piece of furniture will fit just by eyeing it.

Quality: If you choose to go to a discount store, don’t be tempted by low prices alone.

Look carefully at the quality of the item.

Notice the floor mode and how they will hold up to customers sitting on them. Even if an item is popular, it doesn’t mean it’s worth buying.

Cost: Just because it costs much doesn’t always mean that it is good quality. It just may be overpriced because of the store that it is in. check it out as thoroughly as you would if you were in a discount furniture store.

Durability: The quality of the furniture will determine how well it is going to hold up to use. If you are looking for a family room that you will be using often, consider how your family will use it, ask yourself if it will stand up to daily use. If it’s a couch, are their cushions reversible? This can help to make it last longer.

where most economies are battling to reduce budget deficits, reduce unemployment and tackle their sovereign debt crises, the most potent tool for sustainable and inclusive economic growth is trade and investment.”

Mr Wole Osunkunle, Managing Director, Osworld Associates Limited, the organisers of the ongoing Mega Lagos Fair with the theme Consolidating global economic and political gains through trade promotions said that a fair is an opportunity for people to make contact with manufacturers, create network for new businesses, make contact as distributors/agents, show-case new products and services as well as other benefits. The essence of the trade fair is not only for buying and selling,” he said.

In a bid to ensure that members of the chamber make maximum use of the yearly fair, he also said, “We encourage participants to give flyers and business cards to those they come in contact with. So, the participants can easily be located for more business deals after the fair,” “Trade fairs contribute meaningfully to the expansion of trade for the sustainable economic growth of a nation thereby leaving a positive impression on the minds of participants.”

The Nation Shopping spoke with some shoppers to find out what their attractions to trade fairs are and how they have gained one way or the other.

Mrs Adesuwa Ehiadolor said her attraction is the free package that goes with visiting the fairs. “There are free this and that everywhere. Sometimes, when you don’t buy any-

thing, you are given something for spending time at the fair. For instance, drink industries like Nutri-C, Milo and the likes give out free drinks to shoppers whether you patronise them or not. Pens and souvenirs of all sorts are commonly given out at fairs. Some of us patronise fairs because of these consolation gifts we get, regardless of any other thing.

For Mr Nurudeen Komolafe, the attraction is the promotion and discounts, where shoppers are sure of getting products at cheap rates. ”If trade fairs continue the way they are today, people like me will not miss one for anything. I look forward to fairs, it is favourable to me”.

Yet for Mr Sanya Akinkunmi, the attraction is also the discounts attached to products. “At the last Lagos International Trade Fair, I was given a 10 per cent discount when I bought a bed, I was to buy it for N40,000, but I was given 10 per cent discount and I got it for N36,000,” he said.

An exhibitor, Mrs Olushola Ajireru who sells Mouka foam, said ‘trade fair is an avenue for creating awareness for products, though customers benefit more from fairs,” she said.

Another exhibitor, Mrs. Praise Shopeju who sold Ghana wears at the last Lagos International Trade Fair said it is a good thing, especially in an international fair likes this where you have exhibitors and manufacturers from other countries. It is an opportunity for us to know how receptive Nigerians are and how they value our own products.”

Osunkunle also noted that whenever there is a kind of bilateral activity, the government would be involved. “That is why, in the course of preparing for a fair, we make sure that we make relevant contacts within and outside the country and with all the government agencies, particularly, our mission outside the country and the mission of foreign countries inside Nigeria. We have to work with them closely because if company “A” is interested in coming from China and the Chinese embassy in Nigeria says Nigeria is not safe; that Nigeria is not a viable place to come, such a company would not come.

“We also need cooperation to make those agencies understand us and understand the situation and then we need to understand them so that we would be able to market whatever we have in mind. That is how it works; the government is grossly involved because we cannot do it alone, especially if it is an international trade fair and even if it is a local government trade fair, these agencies and the government must be involved because they have to provide the security, the land and some other things. So, you cannot do it on your own. No matter how rich or how big the chamber is, it still needs to work with the government closely because there are things that are beyond the chambers; there are things that only the government can provide,” he said.

The benefits and the main purpose of trade fairs is exchange of technology and ideas, so that when you invite people, they come and showcase what they have and they try to pick what you have also. The real gain from trade fair is the exchange of ideas, exchange of technology and exchange of bigger business. The actual benefits are in billions and those come from the discussions and exchange of ideas.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

SHOPPING Regular shoppers and traders at the Ladipo International auto spare parts market, Mushin, Lagos shared their experiences at the reopening of the market on Monday. MOJISOLA OKUNEYE visited the market.

Shoppers speak as Ladipo market reopens

•Ladipo market

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ADIPO International auto spares market, which was closed for two weeks, has reopened for business. It is the second time the market would be shut for poor environmental conditions, road side trading and illegal businesses. Traders have now resolved to always keep the environment clean to avoid recurrence of such closures.

The Lagos State Government has set up a task force to oversee the market’s sanitation exercise, remove illegal businesses and road side traders from the market.

According to the Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage Service, Mr Muyideen Akinsanya, the market is likely to be relocated from the present location if traders fail to adhere to the stipulated conditions and agreement of the Lagos State govern-

ment who have sworn to sanitise Lagos as a whole.

This was contained in an agreement jointly signed by Akinsanya, President Ladipo Central Executive Committee (LACEC), Mr Ikechukwu Animalu, Secretary of Ladipo Central Executive Auto Dealers’ Association; Pastor Steve Paul and Chairman, Mushin Local Government, Hon. Babatunde Adepitan.

However, some traders and shoppers spoke with The Nation Shopping narrating their ordeal while the market was shut.

A shopper, Mr Taiwo Adekoya said: “I am happy now that the market is open, because we don’t have to go very far to buy goods.

Since this market has been closed, business has been very slow for the traders but now customers will be able to patronise them

again.”

Another shopper, Mr Uchenna Okolie said: “I am happy now that this market is open. For the past two weeks I have not been able to buy spare parts to work in my work shop. But now, I can buy my spare parts the way I used to.”

Mr Shedrack Bayowa said he feels very happy because he does not have to go far to buy spare parts. “I used to go to Owode Onirin to buy; now that the market is reopened I can save transport fare for something else.”

Mr Godey Osaghei is not happy because most of the sellers have increased the prices of their goods. “I am here to buy brake pad for my car. The brake pad was sold for N1,200 or N 1,500, but now it is sold for N2,000, N2,500 and this is not encouraging

Traders count losses at Ketu plank market

Weave-on is artificial hair used by women. It is sold in markets and salons, writes TAIBAT IDOWU.

Weave-on for fashionable women

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EAVE-ON has gained the heart of many ladies. Most of them buy the best weave on just to look good. The Inches of these weave-on determines the prices. A weave-on customer, Miss Zainab Orelope said: “I like to buy Brazilian hair because its looks like my natural hair. An original Brazilian weave on cost N 95,000. There are cheaper ones which cost N24,000 and N1,200 respectively, they are in the 12inches and 32inches. The Chocolate weave on cost N5,500. Reamy brazil N6, 600, Peruvian cost N20,000, Laco wig cost 24,000. Celebrity cost N1,200, Pretty cost N7,00, Charming cost N7,00, Chois cost N1,500. Top quality cost N1,800, Lady rainbow cost N2,500, Mix cost N500 and Noble cost N700. Synthetic weave on cost between N3,00 and N1,700.

The prices fluctuate like every other item, especially during December. Most people love to fix not only because its add to their beauty but also covers some ugly secrets.

Mrs Oluwafunmi Adepoju prefers wearing a wig to cover her hair that pulls when touched.

“I put on a wig because I don’t have hair in front, not because it adds to my beauty, it only covers my hair. Miss Chima Kalu loves fixing weave-on because it makes

her hair appear longer.

Despite the huge prices of the Brazilian weave-on, it is most ladies favourite. Miss Sharon William, a student said she prefers Brazilian hair and Peruvian hair.

Ladies and women are the major traders of this business and every two weeks new products and hairstyles are introduced into the market.

To differentiate the fake from the original, smoothness guarantees you are buying the genuine one; on the other hand, the fake ones are hard.

They come in different colours, inches, which determine their prices. Selection of colour is based on individuals. Colour like black and brown are mostly used because its matches all skin type. Weave-on has now experienced new product and designs.

Mrs Kabiru Badejo sells weave on at Aspanda along the Badagry express way.

She said people patronise weave-on like Peruvian hair, Brazilian, chocolate, reamy, solo, laco wig among others. “The longer the weave-on the higher the price it is sold.” she said.

“There are two types of human hair. One is called synthetic, while the other is original human hair.

Original human hair is not slippery, it is straight and soft unlike the synthetic that feels slippery when touched.

at all.”

Mr Okey Maduka said: “We are happy now that the shops are open. Since the market was closed, we’ve been going to other markets only to find that their goods are more expensive and also you don’t have the opportunity of choosing exactly what you want. But now, we can buy goods at cheaper rate and also make different choices. Most of us who live around are used to this market” he said.

Mr Bolaji Ogunade said: “I am happy now that the market is open. But the problem is that the shop owners are not allowed to display their wares outside thereby making it difficult for us to access the goods properly.”

A truck pusher also expressed joy. He said: “I am happy because I am working again.

Since they closed this market, I have been unable to fend for myself; it is my only source of income. But now, I can help shoppers carry their goods and make my money through that.

A food seller, Mrs Basirat Usman is also happy at the opening of the market. She said: ”Since they closed the market, there has been nobody to sell food to because most of my customers are the shop owners and the shoppers. But now that the market is open, I can sell food and make sales.”

As the shoppers are happy, some of the road side sellers and shop owners are aggrieved.

Mrs. Makinde Ololade , a road side seller said: “Now that the shops are open, customers won’t come and buy goods from us again because the owners of the shops have come to take their space. It is going to affect business because I have no other place to go; it is my major source of income.”

Mrs. Rachael Okoro is a road side plantain seller who told The Nation Shopping that a shop owner only showed mercy and allowed her to stay by his shop for this week, after this week he is going to send her packing.

Another road side seller said that when the government has time, they’ll come and send us away, but as for now, some of us are still lucky because they don’t have our time yet.

Mr Solomon Agbator, a shop owner, expressed sadness as he complained that the government officials are not being fair. He complained that most of their goods are being seized. He complained that their shops are too small and that the government should permit them to display their wares outside.

Traders at Ketu plank market in Lagos which was completely destroyed last Thursday have expressed sadness over the millions of naira worth of goods lost in the raging fire. MOJISOLA OKUNEYE reports.

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EW hours after the Ketu plank market closed for the day last Thursday, traders rushed back to see their shops being destroyed in the raging fire, which authorities are yet to determine.

The traders were roaming around the remnants of their shops and the remains of their wares.

The effect of the disaster was evident everywhere as women held their head because there was nothing to be salvaged.

Mr Ibrahim Musibaudeen starred to where his shop once stood, he lost goods worth N500, 000 in his building material shop, he had three other shops in the market and all were destroyed. He started the business about 30 years ago.

Another trader said as at the time the fire started, nobody was in the market.

He was in Ikorodu when he got a call about 10pm that the market was on fire.

The Director, state fire service Mr Rasaq Fadipe complained about how some of the fire fighters were manhandled by the traders and also complained that the traders didn’t allow the fire fighters to carry out their duties effectively as they were roam-

ing across the place. He further stated that if the traders had allowed the fire fighters to carry out their job effectively, some properties would have been saved.

Mrs Adekoya Bolanle, a resident told The Nation Shopping that the fire started at about 9pm spreading fast to other parts of the community where the market is situated.

Another resident, Mr Simon Arebah who described the incident as ‘sorrowful’said the fire razed some buildings but there was no report of death.

According to shop owners, 500 shops, a mosque and two churches were burnt.

They said the incident may have been as a result of sabotage.

Alhaji Aliu Bello, chairman of plank sellers also said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. He said it was speculated that the fire would have started from sparks from an electrical surge in the public power supply of the market.

“Many traders apart from losing their wares must have also lost cash because here it is a common practise for traders to keep their money in their shops at the market.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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SHOPPING MY SHOPPING

Where to shop for Easter W

HAT is the rationale behind the fair?

People will have the opportunity to shop for Easter at very cheap rates and we will take responsibility for promoting any brand or business organisation present at the fair. We want to promote small and medium enterprise because they are the bedrock of any economy. There are some business men and women in Nigeria that are not known, people need to know them and the best platform is the Lagos mega trade fair. We want them to know that this is an opportunity for them to promote their products and services.

The trade fair came into existence out of popular demand by Lagosians who are clamouring for a fair to complement the Lagos international trade fair. So that we can have a situation whereby, come every Easter people can have a place to shop for items, most especially consumables.

What are you expecting from the fair?

Our mission and vision is to have a trade fair that will have what we call international status, where all over the world, people will come and participate. We want to promote job opportunities so that the quality of the trade fairs in Nigeria will be improved.

The fair will be concluded on March 17.

This is the fourth edition of the fair. It is improving daily , and focuses on bringing a platform where by producers, manufacturers, service providers meet with the end users to interact, interpret and discuss about the issues at stake in the economy.

What does the trade fair industry entail?

In the trade fair industry, we have four stake holders which are the government that provides us with conducive environment and infrastructural development. The second are the exhibitors, the manufacturers, industrialists, service providers as well as small scale

•Wole Osunkunle, organiser of the Lagos Mega Trade Fair

By Tonia ‘Diyan

enterprise that want to promote and market what they have. The expertries are the third and lastly we have the consumers/ shoppers, retailers and end users.

How do you intend to bring businesses and companies that will give people value for their money and not just added value?

We have invited different companies, small, new and large scale to give to people value for their money. So, we are looking at what we call mutual benefit, where we help exhibitors to promote their goods and they give shoppers the best service they deserve.

How has trade and investment grown over the years?

Over the years, we have gone far, what we do is to accumulate our resources, put them together and put them in the right places.

Trade and investment will go a long way in boosting our economy.

The government has put in place some programes that will make trade and investment grow. But the private sector must be carried along. They should leave business for business men, encourage them, supervise them, and give them policies that will make business to be done in a better way. If

they can work together, trade investment will grow.

Does insecurity have any effect on the trade fairs organised in Nigeria?

For a trade fair to flourish, we need a conducive and peaceful environment. So if the issue of security is settled, trade fair business will thrive. We want to plead with the government to do more. We also want to encourage men and women to let us embrace peace and dialogue at all times.

How do trade fairs boost the economy?

Trade fairs being avenues for all stake holders, the government, exhibitors, the organisers and shoppers to transact business can boost the economy if necessary measures are put together from time to time by all parties involved.

How do you see the Nigerian commerce and industry sector in the next five years?

It is an evolving industry and with more companies coming into Nigeria we need awareness and sanitisation. People must know the business and know where the business is going to take place, by so doing, we will definitely be come a mega industry.

Do you have brands that will put the Nigerian retail market on the platform?

‘The trade fair came into existence out of popular demand

by Lagosians who are clamouring for a fair to complement the Lagos international trade fair. So that we can have a situation whereby, come every Easter people can have a place to shop for items, most especially consumables’

•Oshunkunle Yes we do, we have almost all the big names, what we do is to promote brands and services, we intend bringing in more new brands and then organise trade fairs in a better way. We want to sanitise and strategies doing more of brand.

How do you see trade fairs creating bilateral trade between Nigeria and foreign countries?

Other countries want to go into a bi-lateral trade with Nigeria. For instance Ghana is here, they have come to showcase their culture in clothing, China is also here with different kinds of technology. We do business together, the world has now turned into a global village where nobody is an island, and we are to exchange ideas.

There are arguments that shopping online can be safer than shopping over the phone or even in person. Just remember to follow these tips to keep your online shopping safe and secure . MOJISOLA OKUNEYE writes.

Shopping online with ease

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HOPPING online has become a part of our lives, but some still worry that their credit card details will be given to the wrong person. Online shopping is here to stay and online security continues to advance.

Ensure that you know the identity, location and contact details of the online retailer as there are many online companies. Additionally, many real life stories now include an online retailing arm as part of their retail services and you already know their reputations. It is important to establish the identity of lesser known to the online companies who do not have instant recognition or external status. In this case, it is important to look for the name, company registration details which include e-mail, postal address, telephone number and also a clear indication of where the company’s head- quarters is based.

•·Find out more about the company’s reputation after looking for these identifications. It is a good idea to also ensure that the company has a good online reputation. Do not assume that just because a store in the real life sell things one way that their online service will be as good.

There might be a risk of lacking service back-up or return policies e.t.c. for online purchase that do not exist if you buy direct in the store.

•Reputation can be checked through the internet for comments from customers. Many reputable online companies allow people to rate their service and product. Another way to determine an online company’s reputation is to check for complaints through a consumer affairs bu-

•e-payment

reau. In addition, you can always phone or email a company the first time you purchase something and ask a question.

•Find out about billings, guarantees and delivery before you buy. Also, look for additional cost and payment details prior to sending credit card details. Look out for : •Delivery costs •Whether you will be billed before or after the delivering of the products •Whether you can track the item from the moment of purchase to arrival at your door.

•Whether the products come with a guarantee or warranty for defects.

•How you can return the product if it doesn’t work or meet your expectation?

•Who will bear the cost of returning the item?

•If there is a cooling off period for large items.

•Read the sites privacy policy: reputable companies will be open about how they collect data from you and what they do with it. Look for a privacy policy and learn about whether the company uses your information beyond the purchase or transaction.

•Use a credit card with online fraud protection: just in case all else fails, it pays to know the policy for online fraud protection offered by your credit card company. Many credit card companies offer protection against purchases made without your consent.

•Record purchase details: after purchasing your item, always record the details of the time, date and receipt number and order confirmation.

Wristrwatches that speak A wristwatch is one of the greatest inventions in the world. It is no longer a tool for people to know time. It is also an important accessory, especially for men. A timepiece plays an important role in a man’s life and work, writes TAIBAT IDOWU.

I

T is important to do some research before buying a wristwatch. It is also important to match wristwatches with occasions. Check shops that have the latest design. Find out the function and its durability. Know if it is leather or chain and how much you can afford. Mind you don’t just go to any shop if you are willing to get the original ones, visit a designer shop like Swatch, Swiss-Movado, Esprite, Dovce and Gabana, Christian Dion, etc. so you can be sure of where you are buying from.

Be sure it is a durable one though the durable ones are more expensive. You can get from any boutique in Lagos. When thinking of the best among other, think of these: police, which cost N20,000. Escort N5000. Versace N25,000. Omega N8,000., Channel N15,000., Water Resistance N20,000; Swatch N5,000. Roland N25,000, N50,000. Rolex N25,000. louis voitton N40,000, Burberry N30,000. Next N20,000. Nike N15,000.

Radioo N25,000.

Police, Swatch, Roland and Omega. Are the latest designers. According to. Mr Dolapo Arowolo “ wristwatches are on point now, the market is really moving. A customer also testify to the fact that Roland and Omega are mostly worn these days.

Though prices varies depending on where you are buying from. You can buy from places like Aprilmix at ikoyi; All saint shopping center at Ojuelgba; Attraction at Allen Avenue; All in one at Adeniran Ogunsaya ; Adeos at Ijesha; and Fashion Ladies Designers etc.

However, A good-looking accessory helps a person to have a good image. A wristwatch is one of the most important accessories for men, it decides whether a man has a good impression or not. If the timepiece he wears is an highend piece which is made by a famous manufacturer, most people would consider him as a wealthy and successful person.Wristwatch lover intend to be responsible and punctual.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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IGERIAN smartphone users are in for a swell time with the introduction of the LG Nexus 4 smartphone into the Nigerian market by LG Electronics, a global leader in mobile communications.

The Nexus 4 Smartphone which comes with exciting features such as the Android Jelly Bean Operating System (OS), an 8 Mega Pixel camera, 16 GB internal Memory capacity, 2GB of RAM as well as a 2,100 mAh Li-polymer battery has been highly rated by phone pundits. The device in a massive way solidifies LG’s position as a brand to be reckoned with in the global smartphone market.

Commenting on this topical feat in setting the pace in the Smartphone market, the marketing manager, Mobile Communications, LG Electronics, Mrs. Bukola Arabome, said: “LG Nexus 4 E960 has an excellent display with a fast processor and Graphic Processing unit; the Android jelly Bean 4.2 brings some welcome new features that puts the best of Google in the hands of users.

Weighing a mere 139g, the LG Nexus 4 employs LCD display technology with a screen resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels, 320 ppi; and a16M colours display with dimensions of 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1mm. With the uniquely designed display photos and videos come to life with stunning clarity and crisp, natural colour. The gently-curved glass edges allow user’s finger to slide smoothly on and off the 4.7-inch screen, while Zerogap Touch technology allows the user to practically touch the pixels- with the scratch-resistant corning Gorilla glass2 providing the needed protection. The thoughtfully designed hardware displays a quality of finish that can compete with the best rival smartphones.

For camera, there is an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel front camera. Users are going to find this feature very interesting as it is so easy to create a panorama with the device. Users will be able to capture 360-degree Panorama directly from their camera app. Once they have a photo to share, they can opt to share their Panorama on Google maps and Google +.

LG E960 which has proven to be a global hit since its introduction in other climes features a cutting-edge 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 processor to give users the power speed they require to stay ahead. Users will also be able to zip round the web, effortlessly switch

35

LG Nexus 4 makes I grand entry between multiple apps without ever missing a beat as well as experience rich 3D graphics and gameplay. The application quality and variety of Nexus 4 outruns those of the other smartphones, allowing users to experience wider variety of features with more user-friendly and considerate settings.

LG Nexus 4 is a powerful unlocked Smartphone with a beautiful minimalist design and fast performance. It wins on internal performance and user experience. The Korean giant, LG Electronics strategically designed and manufactured the E960 in partnership with Google. The introduction of this high-end phone is informed by the company’s quest to achieve its primal objective of meeting the needs of its esteemed consumers.

Regarding display, the large 4.7-inch screen is crisp, detailed and beautiful. NFC (Near Field Communication) and wireless charging show LG pushing new platforms forward. Latest Android, directly from Google, with no delays from carriers or hardware makers guarantees speed and high performance.

LG Nexus 4 is a rare device with a great battery life; with the 2100mAh battery, it features 15 hours of talk time and 390 hours of maximum standby time.

Over all, LG E960 has a distinct advantage over the competition which is why many tech savvy individuals consider the device to be worth investing in. all over the world, people are joining the Nexus 4 brigade because of the amazing features and functions of the Smartphone.

LG Mobile has always been a game changer; the company has good form when it comes to innovation. In recent times it has churned out winning mobile devices such as the BL40, the Shine and the Chocolate.

With the introduction of the LG Nexus 4, LG has once more demonstrated that it is committed to providing consumers with mobile devices that enable empower them in amasing ways that enable them enjoy everyday life and achieve their personal goals.

NNOVATION works. It makes the world go round. It makes the telecoms industry a dynamic one. However, some industries have exposure to innovation while others do not. One of the industries that have benefited from innovation is the telecom.

To start with, for the telecom industry, innovation is a matter of life and death. In telecom, changes are deep and numerous.

Due to innovation, telcos have migrated from merely selling voice communication per minute.

Telcos now enable you to have access to their networks through multichannel communication such as voice, email, internet, picture and smart business intelligent apps.

So, what is next? What new technology will transform this industrial model? No one knows. Nevertheless, a smart telco is always abreast of innovation. What keeps such a telco ahead of the pack is the keen attention it devotes to research and development [R&D].

However, one is thing is sure, in the telecom industry, where the product life cycle is extremely short, innovation is a necessity. It is not an option. Research shows that telcos need to develop cutting-edge technologies in order to sustain organization, systemization and efficiency. This helps a telco to react quickly. It helps to evaluate the technology faster. It helps to discuss and integrate as quickly as possible. Furthermore, the whole economy depends on the creation of a dynamic, competitive and innovative infrastructure.

The marketing eggheads at any telco know that to stand still and do nothing is suicidal.

That is why telcos are constantly innovating, constantly transforming, constantly monitoring the way you and I work in order to plug-in through the products they offer. The only concern is how to keep ahead of competitors in a cutthroat environment like Nigeria. Innovation challenges technology convergence and holds the keys to future business growth.One solution seems to be to expand innovation horizons by defying collaboration limits and opening up to technologies that could be acquired externally.

Now, telcos are thinking globally. They are acting personally. They are managing the technology mix consistently. According to a study conducted by IBM, 80% of telcom decision makers acknowledge the importance of collaborating with a wide range of external partners as 51% of the technologies they develop come from external sources.

Think about the new Blackberry Z10 and the big four. MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Glo, all of them jumped on the train. No one lags behind. The collaborative model works. It works for life. It works for living. It works for business. It works for politics. It works for the telcos.

However, the collaborative model allows the telcos to throw up innovative services or add-ons and offer the same to the endusers. This implies that the more innovative you are as a telco, the more end-users you would attract to your network with the innovative services. The model coming from Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC] - the telcom regulatory powerhouse - does not align with the collaborative model at all. While the model of collaboration and innovation is a global phenomenon, what NCC is proposing is disharmonious with global best practice.

What is NCC’s model? Wait for it. The Federal Executive Council [FEC] has on its table a proposal it needs to deliberate on. NCC submitted this proposal. NCC called it Open Access Model for Broadband Penetration.

NCC is asking FECto approve it. What does the model seeks? Themodel NCC is bandying in the proposal involves the division of the broadband infrastructure market into three exclusive segments.

Let us take the segments in turn: Network company: According to NCC, this company would provide the passive layer. The company would design and build the fibre opti-

NCC and telcom model that works cal network.

The second segment is Operating Company. This would provideactive layer. It would also operate all active network elements. The third company is Retail Service Providers (RSPs). This would offer services to end-users.Etisalat, Airtel, MTN and Glo found themselves in this segment.The NCC model encapsulates a departure from the traditional method in which asingle operator could own and manage infrastructure and directly sell services to end users, as we have currently. However, what NCC is proposing completely negates what is currently in operation.

The model proposes that operating companies/active infrastructure providers will buy bulk bandwidth from submarine cable companies. Bandwidth,in turn, would be delivered via optical fibre owned by the passive infrastructure provider/network company; bandwidth would then be resold to RSPs that will offer retail services to the end-users. NCC would issue a fixed number of licenses in the active and passive segments; price caps would be implemented in these segments using cost based pricing; in the RSP segment, multiple licenses will be issued with pricing to end users determined by prevailing market forces; no company will be permitted to operate in more than two segments. Participation in that sense is now optional.

According to the proposal, the Federal Government, through NCC, would facilitate agreements and engage in dispute resolution between the various stakeholders. Concisely, this is the interpretation of NCC model: the big four would not be allowed to do what they are doing now i.e. own network infrastructure, design and build fibre optical network, provide active layer and operate active network elements or offer services to end-users. The big four would have to choose two segments, as it were.

NCC is canvassing that model. Hmm, since there are two sides to every wall, here is another model, or best practice.

What is obtainable in Europe is this: a model should not create unfair competition or advantage to some licensees over others. It must promote level playing field. Broadband deployment model must avoid duplication of services/infrastructure to avoid waste of resources. However, industry analysts have opined that NCC’sproposal should not focus on infrastructure alone but should also do the following: tackle policies, environmental factors and other critical issues that will enhance the growth and development of the Nigerian broadband industry.These would include but not limited to right of way, protection of existing infrastructure, MTTR, spectrum management issues to facilitate roll out of broadband.

NCC model is not focusing on the above.

Its role in the socio-economic benefits of broadband to individuals and Nigeria should be the focus. NCC needs to promote true competition, open access, transparency and align with national broadband objectives of the Federal Government. Consolidation of industry gains and fostering right environment for development of broadband must be the goal of NCC.Consultations with all relevant industry stakeholders should be done extensively before embarking on such a model, which tends to favour some licensees. NCC’s model should consider existing and future license regimes, and the question should be asked how would it affect existing licensees?

NCC should focus on how to entrench a predictable regulatory environment, one that is devoid of goal post shifting. Over a decade, the country’s telecom market has witnessed far-reaching changes with the introduction of competition into a sector, which was once a monopoly. NCC needs to sustain this by injecting global best practices and telecom model that works.

*Editor - Wale Alabi *Consulting Editors - Rarzack Olaegbe, Sola Fanawopo * Correspondent-Jimi David * Business Development - Kenny Hussain * Legal Adviser - Olasupo Osewa & Co Brandweek is powered by Brandz Republic Consulting and published every Friday in THE NATION newspaper.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

36

COMMENTARY

“B

EWARE of a calamity that may not spare the innocent ones amongst you when it descends; and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe”. Q. 8: 24 The world of humans is predominantly governed by a phenomenon called politics. No individual or family can escape the web of that pervasive phenomenon.

Either overtly or covertly, politics is a virus cruising ceaselessly in the nerves of every man or woman. It is one phenomenon that permeates all aspects of human life directly or indirectly and showers it with a dew of acid. In Nigeria, there is as much politics in religion as there is even in football.

An altercation between President Goodluck Jonathan and some elders of the Northeast last week over the official handling of Boko Haram insurgents is a confirmation of the above assertion. Following Mr. President’s visit to the region, the latter called for official amnesty for the insurgents as a way of ventilating the atmosphere for peace and harmony in the country. But labelling the call a political shroud, Mr. President bluntly rebuffed it saying he would not grant any amnesty to ‘FACELESS TERRORISTS’. Judging by the venomous politics embedded in that altercation at this precarious time, one can imagine the extent to which politicians can go with politics at the expense of the country they are supposed to govern.

Ordinarily, with the precedent laid down by the late President Umar Yar’Adua in 2009 when he granted unconditional Presidential amnesty to the Southsouth economic pirates, no one would have expected President Jonathan to wait for such an altercation. After all, the late President Yar’Adua did not seek to know the faces of those pirates before he acted in that exemplary manner. And it was that laudable policy which no one opposed at the time that brought respite to the polity in the country. The danger in politicising only one of the three legs of insecurity in the land at this crucial time may transcend any short term imagination.

Besides, claiming facelessness as a reason for not wanting to grant amnesty for the purpose of peace may be quite illogical where hundreds of people are being detained without trial for being members of Boko Haram. Is it possible to detain faceless people? And we have been told many times of the killing of some members of Boko Haram by the Joint Task Force (JTF). Can those being continually killed in the various crossfire operations for being members of Boko Haram be said to be faceless?

More than 90% of people killed by the combined forces of Boko Haram and JTF in the North since the commencement of insurgency in that region are innocent women and children. Should such people continue to be murdered in cold blood just for being residents of the areas of insurgency? It is obvious that for every one member of Boko Haram said to be killed at least 10 innocent civilians are murdered in what may qualify for ethnic cleansing.

This is the reason why some foresighted elders in the region are calling for Presidential amnesty as a way of calming the vexed nerves in order to bring back peace to Nigeria. It should be recalled that even the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, (Dr.) Muhammad Sa‘ad Abubakar III had earlier made a similar call based on instinct and foresight. The question now is this: for how long will the government forces run after the ‘faceless’ suicide bombers who are ready to die and care not about other people’s lives?

It is difficult to give politics its befitting definition without dabbling into controversy in Nigeria. While the partisan politicians will describe politics as a means of governing through the legislature, the judiciary and the executive arms, others will call it a means of exploiting the majority by the minority. From whatever angle it is viewed, however, politics, particularly in Nigeria, is a cankerworm eating deeply into the fabrics of human lives often with the exhibition of negative rather than positive effects. Perhaps, no nomenclature is more fitting to politics in Nigeria than SPHINX. Nigerians who are well familiar with European literature must now be reminded of the riddles of a sphinx in Thebes (a capital city of ancient Greece).

FEMI ABBAS ON Femabbas@yahoo.com 08122697498

Riddles of Nigerian sphinx

•Map of Nigeria

In a tragic drama entitled ‘Oedipus Rex’ and produced in 411 BC by Sophocles, a Greek dramatist who lived between 496 and 406 BC, we are told of a curse which once befell the land of Thebes. As a result of the curse, not only were citizens afflicted by mysterious sicknesses and dying in droves but the cattle and herds too were also gripped by an epidemic of reindeer-pest even as the crops in the farms were blighted.

At that time, Oedipus was the king who earned his people’s trust in resolving the crisis. This was because as an adolescent, he had saved Thebes from a similar calamity wrought by a monstrous sphinx which mysteriously took its permanent seat on a rock by the roadside that divided the city into two. That sphinx had a riddle which she put to every passerby. And if the accosted person failed to solve the riddle she promptly devoured him.

Thus, for a long time, the city of Thebes remained under the plague of the monstrous sphinx which was feeding fat on the flesh and blood of the citizens. The entailed sadness and hopelessness turned Thebes into a mourning city of passive inhabitants. In such a situation, when the population of the city was decreasing at an increasing rate, how could any thought of mating for the purpose of reproduction ever cross the mind of anybody? A citizen could only be sure of the moment in which he was without any hope for a minute later.

Many people went on hunger strike. Many committed suicide while many more embarked on endless seclusion.

That was the situation in Thebes until the young Oedipus emerged as the hero of his time by finding a final solution to the riddle of the sphinx while the latter leaped, in despair, from the rock and dashed out into permanent oblivion. Thus, the veil of curse was lifted on the city of Thebes and Oedipus became the king even as he was immortalised as the saviour of the Thebesians.

Today, Nigeria, like Thebes of yore, is passing through an experience of a similar spell in terms of insecurity. The difference, however, is not only that Nigeria’s case is taking a tripod formula, there is also no obvious presence of an Oedipus here who can handle the problem in such a way as to bring succour to Nigerians and thereby become a hero.

Rather than one sphinx encountered by

the Thebesians, Nigeria is encountering three at the same time. There is the vivid presence of Boko Haram vandals in the North; there are the economic pirates called militants in the Southsouth and there are the devilish human kidnappers in the Southeast all of whom have jointly hijacked the governance of the country albeit tacitly. The only part of the country that is seemingly less restive for now is the Southwest. And, incidentally, that is the place from where the Nigerian water stream is being clandestinely polluted for all and sundry through the media. Today, Nigeria has become an unsafe haven in which dangerous tribal and sectarian species are operating with unbridled audacity under various guises.

It was all like a comic drama in 1987 when a frontline Nigerian journalist (Dele Giwa) was blown up with a letter bomb in his living room in Ikeja, Lagos. That criminal act was followed by public lamentations and condemnations. But the politics of the time never allowed it to go beyond that level as no reports of the inquiries into the matter saw the light of the day. With that, an evil precedent was laid in a country where imitation of evil practices has become a fundamental norm.

On October 1, 2010, the first public bomb blast in Nigeria occurred at the Eagles Square in Abuja while the country’s 50th anniversary of independence was being celebrated. The bomb killed several people and injured many more others. But rather than nipping it in the bud, the incident provided the politicians another opportunity to trade politics as usual at the expense of peace and tranquility in the country. And today Nigeria is grappling with more insuperable problems of insecurity than ever before.

The real essence of history is for human beings to learn from its lessons. Without such lessons, history would have served no purpose in the life of man. Governance is like driving in which no one can claim to know all or see all. The essence of having people around you as a leader is to seek and utilise their constructive advice so that if any failure occurs you will not bear the brunt all alone. No human being has monopoly of wisdom and nothing in governance destroys more than sheer whim.

The late President Yar’Adua did not act alone when he declared unconditional amnesty for the Southsouth pirates. He must have surely done it in consultation with some people. And no section of the country raised any objection to it. Perhaps without that singular policy, more than 30,000 former Southsouth pirates who are currently enjoying the Nigerian amnesty programme in various forms would have remained in the jungle killing and maiming innocent people as the Boko Haram terrorists are now doing and vandalising oil pipelines as well as other economic installations.

Tracing the history of amnesty in Nigeria recently, the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku recalled with delight that when the late President Yar’Adua proclaimed unconditional amnesty for the Southsouth militants on June 25, 2009, on condition of willingness and readiness to surrender their arms, a total of 20,192 former agitators gave up their arms and ammunitions. “In return, the FG under Yar’Adua administration pledged its com-

mitment to institute certain programmes to assist the disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of the former agitators”.

Kuku continued by saying that: “pursuant to the letter and spirit of the Amnesty Proclamation, the Federal Government instituted a Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) package for those who accepted the offer of amnesty on or before the expiration date of October 20, 2010. But “another batch of 6,166 was added in November 2010 to constitute a second phase of the programme, bringing the number of persons enlisted in the Presidential Amnesty Programme to 26,358’’. He further said that the Federal Government also approved the inclusion of yet another batch of 3,642 former militants, bringing the total to 30,000 in October, 2012. Kuku said the PAO was committed to funding the disarmament process of 3,642 former militants newly enrolled for the third phase of the amnesty programme.

This, according to him, was aimed at reconciling the disarmament records of the former agitators, who had surrendered their arms to military formations and security agencies, in the third phase of the amnesty programme and concluded that out of the 30,000 former agitators, more than 11,525 had been placed in skills acquisition/training centres, as well as in formal education within the country and offshore. “Of this number, 4,929 are being trained offshore, while the balance of 6,382 have either been returned to formal education or placed in skill acquisition centres within the country”.

Similarly, Kuku said that “6,067 transformed ex-agitators are currently being processed for deployment to reintegration centres (both within the country and offshore) in the fiscal year 2012’’. The presidential aide added that 113 former militants had been assisted in securing employment in maritime, welding and fabrication companies at home and abroad.

He also disclosed that Proclad Group of Companies in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, (UAE), offered employment to 30 of the 150 ex-militants, who were trained by the Proclad Academy because of their exceptional conduct and performance.

“The Presidential Amnesty Office, in collaboration with the International Centre for Non-violence and Peace Development (ICNPD) secured the employment through a partnership with Proclad Academy”. He did not stop there but went further to say that he also facilitated the immediate employment of 40 maritime trainees by the Century Energy Group in Nigeria’’ adding that his office also offered employment to another 24 maritime trainees consisting of “four welding and fabrication trainees who had been employed in Nigeria by Plants and Processing Service Company, while five were offered jobs in South Africa by Ashland Investment Services in addition to “ten who were offered employment by Learning Resources in Ghana’’.

Looking at all these facts and figures from an official who should know, one cannot but ask some vital questions: are we all Nigerians? Should some Nigerians be enjoying the above mentioned facilities while others are being chased about with guns despite committing the same offence in different ways? What else is piracy or kidnapping if not terrorism?

Why should there be different strokes for the same offence in the same country?

One fact must be made clearer here. No one is calling for amnesty in sympathy for terrorism. Evil is evil, no matter what colour it wears. And no sane person will ever condone evil. The point here is that if the late President Yar’Adua, a northerner, could go so far to do what he did for some recalcitrant southerners in order to bring about peace to the land, what stops President Jonathan a southerner from doing same for some northern miscreants for the purpose of peace and harmony? Terrorism may have different colours, tastes and flavours but the bottom-line is one and the same: POVERTY engendered by joblessness. The former US President Bill Clinton emphasised this much recently here in Nigeria and he is not a Nigerian. If more than 60 million youths are jobless in an OPEC member country, the government must re-examine itself. A stitch in time saves ten. This, and not later is the time to save Nigeria.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

37

SOCIETY

Their love story The Nation’s Peter Ogenekaro got married to Oluwabusola Onaopemipo at the Foursquare Gospel Church, Akute, Ogun State last Saturday.

OCHUKO ETABE writes.

T

HEY met in Abuja in 2005, but for six years they didn’t see each other. But they felt something for each other. So when they met again in 2011, their love was rekindled. This is the love story of Peter Ogenekaro of The Nation and his beau, Oluwabusola Onaopemipo, who got married last Saturday.

The union brought together the families of Ambassador Felix Isiaka and the late Deacon and Mrs Geoffrey Emmanuel Odhura.

The wedding took place at the Foursquare Gospel Church Akute, Ogun State. Friends and associates came from far and wide. They were dressed in the colour of the day: pink and ash.

With the processional hymn of O Worship the King, the ceremony kicked off on a prayerful note.

Smartly dressed in an ash coloured

•From left: Mr Daniel Odhura, bride’s mother Rev Florence Isiaka, the couple Peter Oghenekaro, his wife Oluwabusolami,bride’s father Ambassador Kola Felix Isiaka and groom’s mother Mrs Rhoda Odhura PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

suit over a pink bow tie, the groom sat alone on the first row in the front pew waiting for his bride. His six grooms’ men sat behind him. They also complimented him with their black suits with pink bow ties.

The bride, beautifully adorned in a white three layered flowing gown of three step layer, was ushered into the church by her father. The Bible reading was taken from Ephesians 21:31 by Pastor Kehinde Olatunji.

The officiating minister asked the couple to profess their wedding vows with the symbolic ring and Holy Bible.

The sermon was given by Pastor Wale Akinhanmi from Proverbs 30:21. He admonished the couple to always seek the Almighty’s face for the success of their marriage.

He urged the bride to always emulate the biblical Rebecca who always clothed herself in humility to win her

husband.

After the marriage register was signed, guests moved to the nearby Foregate Lounge and Resort, for the reception.

The venue was decorated with pink and silver linen materials. Lighting decoration lined the entire walls of the place, adding glamour to the occasion. The life band of Segun Crown thrilled with scintillating music. The five layered cake was embellished

with pink rose flowers.

The hall was full to capacity. The couple, Peter and Busola, on arrival at the reception, danced from the entrance of the hall to the hall facing their guests.

Supervising the cake cutting was the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Vintage Press Ltd., publishers of The Nation, Mr Ade Odunewu, who urged the couple to let their love be their binding force.

•Alhaji Bashiru Lasisi and Mrs Olufunke Bolarinde

•Chief Bolarinde and Mrs Seriki

Foam giant Vitafoam has held a cocktail to round off its 2012 business year, reports NNEKA NWANERI.

Celebrating a rewarding year

V

ITAFAOM , has held a cocktail to round off its business year that ended on January 30. It served as an avenue to celebrate another successful business rate.

The firm’s directors were among the guests who gathered by the poolside of Protea Hotels, GRA, Ikeja for the event.

At the over 60 minutes event, guests mingled and chatted as they sipped wine. The environment was inviting and calm.

In the background, a DJ played some old tunes.

Welcoming guests, the Manag-

ing Director, Mr Joel Ajiga shared his thoughts on plans for the company.

He spoke of the progress the company made last year despite the economic hardship. He praised the company’s board for its fortune.

“We are determined to do better next year”, Ajiga said.

Chairman Board of Directors, Chief Samuel Bolarinde announced his exit from the board. Mr Bolarinde expressed optimism that those in charge will ensure continuity.

Goodwill remarks were made.

Guests and shareholders proffered

tips on how the company can do better in the coming year.

Managing Director of Insight Communications, Baale Jimi Awosika described Vitafoam as a firm that has the concept of partnership.

Chairman of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Sir Sunny Nwosu said the evening was as an opportunity to thank the out-coming board chairman for what he has given shareholders and stakeholders. Wishing him strength as he retires, he led all guests to sing “For he is a jolly good fellow”. While everyone stood and sang heartily with all eyes him,

•Mr Tella Sulaiman (left) and Mr Ebenezer Ali

Bolarinde sat beside his wife beaming with smiles.

Proposing a toast, former chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Otunba Femi Deru thanked Bolarinde for his diligence and steadfastness.

He also praised Vitafoam for providing comfort to Africans from birth to death.

In attendance were: Chairman of Omatek Computers, Mrs Florence Seriki; a non-executive director of the company Mr Hassan Usman and some former Managing Directors.

•Mr Ajiga PHOTOS: NIYI ADENIRAN

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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SOCIETY The Chairman, Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources and Waterfront Infrastructure Development of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Lanre Ogunyemi, has celebrated his 50th birthday. Family and friends shared the joy of the occasion with him. Reports NNEKA NWANERI .

W

ITH praise and thanksgiving, he stepped into the golden age. The Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources and Waterfront Infrastructure Development Hon Lanre Ogunyemi was full of gratitude to God for his life.

Ogunyemi, who represents Ojo constituency, said: “I am nothing without Him who formed me.”

The atmosphere at the K and G Centre, where the reception was held was calm. If not for the dainty cars parked by the road side on Kudirat Abiola way, nobody would have known that such a big event was on.

It was a two in one celebration.

Ogunyemi’s 50th birthday and book presentation.

The celebrator with his wife, Yemisi and children - all decked in blue Yoruba attire, danced way to the front of the hall. Wellwishers followed them.

The Chief Imam of Oto-Awori, Taofiq Arogundade said the opening prayers; gospel saxophonist, Rev Kunle Ajayi, played scintillating praise and worship tunes.

Daughter of the celebrator, Ayomide also did a special number for her father with the trumpet.

Chairman of the occasion Oba Olatunji Hamzat described Ogunyemi as a loyal and disciplined party man.

Oba Hamzat urged those who want to succeed in politics to emulate the lawmaker.

The book was reviewed by Prof Olu Akeusola of the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED). He said the book is in the prosaic and narrative style and dedicated to the former Governor Bola Tinubu.

Akeusola, who has been friend with the author for over 30 years, said many thought the celebrator will be a professor.

The book was presented by Deputy speaker of the House, Hon Musbau Kolawole Taiwo.

Many described Ogunyemi in superlative terms.

The celebrator’s wife, Yemisi was full of praises for him.

“Oloworimi, the man I met 19 years ago and every day, I know new things about him. And because he never takes no for an answer, he has impacted positively on my life.”

More accolades came from Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who praised

Cheers to the ‘golden boy’ •The celebrator Hon Ogunyemi and wife, Yemisi assisted by (from left) Mr. Dele Ogunsakin; Hon. Akande; Alhaji Adeoti; Cardinal Omolaja Odunmbaku; Oba Momodu Asafa; Prince Ogunleye, Dr. Adebule and Mrs. Ikuforiji to cut the cake

•Oba Hamzat flanked by Prince Ogunleye (left) and Alhaji Akanni Seriki

•Hon Alawiye-King

•Hon Rufai-Adeyemi

Ogunyemi for not turning his back on his political family.

Aregbesola, from an excerpt from the book launched, said the celebrator never faltered throughout his political travails.

Secretary to Lagos State Government (SSG) Dr Oluranti Adebule described Ogunyemi as an honest man who keeps to his word.

“He does not turn from his word, very passionate about the growth of the party. So, this is just the beginning of more successes in life” Dr Adebule said.

Yinka Ayefele on the bandstand, there was no dull moment as guests took to the dance floor till late into the night.

In attendance were: Cardinal James Odunmbaku aka Baba Eto; Secretary to Osun State Government Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; Hon Bisi Yusuf; Lgos Commissioners Taofiq Tijani; (Energy); Cornelius Ojelabi (Rural Development) Lagos State Lateef Ibirogba (Information and Strategy); Mr Sunny Ajose; State Organising Secretary of ACN, Alhaji Shakiru Akani; the Onijanikin of Ijanikin Oba Momodu

Ashafa; Hon Wahab Alawiye-King; State Secretary of ACN, Hon Charles Odubesi; Special Adviser to the governor on Education Hon Fatai Olukoga; wife of the Speaker of the House, Mrs Mayowa Ikuforiji, among others.

Hon Ogunyemi studied at the Lagos State College of Education where he read English and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Lagos State University (LASU).

He is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and holds a Masters in International and Strategic Studies.

AWARD

•Lion District Governor, Stella Agbogun presenting a Melvin Jones Fellow award to Hon Abiodun Mafe

After he cut the birthday cake, Majority Leader Lola Akande proposed the toast. She described the celebrator as amiable and tolerant.

The celebrator thanked his mother and late father for protecting him in the 60s in Kaduna during the Civil War. The Ijebu born politician thanked his wife. “She was with me even when I was nothing. She believed in me and even as a classroom teacher, she stood by me,” Ogunyemi said.

With talented gospel maestro,

CONJUGAL BLISS Mr Jeffrery Chukwuemeka Egbu and his wife, former Miss Genevieve Ijeoma Ekwenchi cutting their cake during their traditional marriage at Isu Ebii Oba, Anambra State

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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SOCIETY Old students of Ola Oluwa Muslim Grammar School, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, have held their inaugural annual reunion and dinner at the Sheik Ibiyemi Multipurpose Hall.

SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN writes.

All for their alma mater

COMMUNICATE YOUR IDEAS So You are Scared of Public Speaking? Good…

So am I! (2) •From left: Akeem Jamiu; Mr Folorunso Akindahunsi; Lt. Col. Tajudeen Olabode and Mr Lamina Asaguna

L

•From left: Mrs Comfort Akinwumi; Pa Daramola and Mrs Fagbeyiro

I

T was an evening to remember for old students of Ola-Oluwa Muslim Grammar School, AdoEkiti, the capital of the Ekiti State, when they converged on the school’s Sheik Oseni Ibiyemi Multipurpose Hall.

Beaming with smiles, the old boys, many of whom had not met since leaving school, recalled their school days.

They talked about how their teachers supported their dreams. One of such teachers was Mr Francis Daramola, who, as the school’s principal then, according to Mr Mojeed Jamiu, steered the students on to the right path.

Besides Daramola, some former teachers were also there as well to rejoice with the old boys. Among them were Mrs. Taiwo Akinyede, also a former principal, Mrs Modupe Fagbeyiro, former Biology teacher and Chief Ayo Olorunofin, English.

Mr K.D. Fasanmi, head of the school was also in attendance.

Numbering about 50, the old boys, who have made their marks in different fields, broke a jinx to hold what they termed the First Annual Reunion/Dinner Nite.

The evening featured the raising of N50 million for the maintenance of the school established in 1970. It was recently renovated by the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration.

Solemn music from Sese Alhaji Band from Ado-Ekiti and many took to the dance floor.

The old students appeared mostly in traditional dresses.

Led by Lieutenant Col. Dele Tajudeen Olabode of the 1981 set, they danced, sang and ate together to savour a day which officially marked the beginning of an annual get-together.

Welcoming colleagues and other invited guests, the Protem president,

•Deal with your fear of speaking

•Fatai Adeyoju (left) and Alhaji Jamiu

Col. Olabode recalled how much time and commitment were invested into convening the maiden meeting, mentioning the roles of some members.

He said the meeting was important to “renew and strengthen old friendships, meet and socialise among the classmates and design strategies for taking the school to higher attainments.”

Mojeed Jamiu, who had set the stage for talks, recalled how students would insist on being taught the practical aspect of reproduction during biology classes while the teacher, Mrs Fagbeyiro, would appeal to them to accept only the theoretical, saying the practical must be postponed to a later date.

He recalled: “Pa Daramola came to the school when the level of discipline was low and within a short time he was able to reverse the situation so much that the students got easily propped to perform wonders. Mr. Francis Daramola was a disciplinarian.”

Pa Daramola hailed them for tak-

ing the plunge, despite the tight schedules of their offices. He praised Governor Kayode Fayemi for the unprecedented move to renovate every secondary school in the state.

He said: “We cannot gain say the fact that the governor means well for every sector, section and segment of this state. The best we all can do is to support him with our prayers. When I realise that teachers are opposed to the Teachers Development Needs Assessment, I just remember that we wrote tests during our time as well.

“That time, we would travel as far as Ibadan to sit for the test. No one then opposed the government. No one could even dare such. This is because we all believed in the plans and intentions of the government.”

In a short address delivered by one of his Special Assistants, Biodun Akin Fasae, Fayemi praised the old students on the achievement, noting that the state government would always encourage them to return to their former schools to partake in their development.

DINNER

From left: Associate Pastor Fountain of Life, Gbenga Onabanjo; Convener Church Cup Championship Pastor Adeolu Adeyemo; Associate Pastor of Trinity House Niyi Akenzua; Vice President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Rev Mercy Ezekiel receiving her award from General Overseer of Bethel Ministries Rev Roseline Oduyemi; former Green Eagles player Monday Odiaka; gospel artiste Sammy Okposo and Pastor House on the Rock Rev Jackson Tugbeh during a dinner/award night in Victoria Island, Lagos.

AST week we examined the fear of public speaking.

You are not peculiar in your fear of public speaking.

Several people fear public speaking, perhaps more than you do! In fact, it was reported that statistics show that around 70% of people rank giving a public speech as their greatest fear.

Last week, we discovered two facts about the fear of public speaking: Fear can be useful and that most professionals still experience some degree of fear.

This week, we shall be exploring how we can deal with the fear of speaking.

Fear of speaking is not insurmountable. We developed the fear in the first place because of the information we fed our minds with. As much as we want to believe that we are independent and that we determine our own courses of action, the way we see ourselves is actually influenced by some factors: •Other people’s experiences: one of the major ways we learn is by finding out other people’s experiences. We also cope with challenges we face by citing other people’s experiences.

When a student fails a test, he quickly looks around at other test scripts so that he can say, “I’m not the only one. In fact, I am better than most!” When we want to be motivated, we look at people we admire. Every day, in the books we read, programmes we watch and stories we listen to, we constantly learn of other people’s experiences. Knowingly or unknowingly, we measure our lives by what we know about others. Hence, if we know several people who are afraid of public speaking, the chances are that we would be too. If we have seen anyone’s public presentation flop, we may dread similar circumstances. If we read a lot about people who try but fail to speak effectively, we are unconsciously giving ourselves over to the same. On the other hand also, if we think that a public speaker is so good that we seem insignificant in comparison, we will be condemning ourselves without a trial. So, what should we do about it? We should identify some good speakers we admire and focus on their successes. As we concentrate on positive images of speaking, we will see how much we can enjoy it and we will stop fearing it.

•What people say to us: a lot of times, we see ourselves through what people say about us.

People never lack what to say about others, whether jokingly or seriously. Consciously or unconsciously, we depend on people’s impressions about us.

When we want to know how we look, we ask people. When we want to take a step, we ask

AMODU LANRE OLAOLU (Ph.D) sospeak2lanre@yahoo.com.

07034737394

people. When we want to buy a new product, we ask people.

When we want to visit a new place, we ask people. We hardly ever act against “popular opinion.” Hence, if there is a consensus about a child being bad, he most probably will turn out bad.

This is because everywhere he turns, he will be criticized, and since faith comes by hearing, he starts to believe he is truly bad.

Same thing applies to a child believed to be good, only in a positive way. Some people may have heard us speak at one time or the other and they joked that we should not make it a habit because we are terrible at it. Some may have been generous with their criticisms when we make mistakes when speaking. So, we tend to avoid speaking, either because of what people have said to us or because of what they may say.

•What we think people think about us: one of the greatest challenges we face in our lives is what people think of us. If we don’t know what they think, we are disturbed. When we know what they think, we are discouraged. What we fail to understand is that what people think constantly changes. If they think someone is a horrific speaker and he happens to deliver a brilliant speech, they suddenly decide that he must have been good all along. On the other hand, if a great speaker makes a great blunder, they wonder why it took them that long to realise that he isn’t really good. Someone once told me, “I won’t speak before that crowd; they think I’m silly.” Then I asked, “How do you know what they are thinking? Did anyone say anything?”

“No,” he responded. Then I said, “It is bad enough for you to think you are silly before that crowd, but it is worse for you to think that is what the crowd is thinking about you!” Listen, you can’t get into people’s minds, so why worry about what they are thinking? If it is true that they think you are a poor speaker, wouldn’t it be better for them to keep it to themselves until you prove yourself?

We should not fear what people think about us. If we keep doing our thing, they will be forced to agree that we are good. And if they don’t agree, who cares? At least we are not scared any more.

We will continue this topic next week by exploring the steps to take to deal with fear of speaking.

Dr. Amodu lectures at the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.

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SOCIETY

•The widow, Taiwo and her children, Pelumi, Tofunmi and Nifemi

• Pastor Tunde Lawal (left) and Pastor Oluboba

Exit of a clergyman The remains of Pastor Michael Sobowale have been interred at Atan Cemetery, Yaba, Lagos Mainland. It was preceded by a funeral service at The Redeemed Christian Church of God (Glory Worship Centre) Yaba. OCHUKO ETABE reports.

I

T was a minor domestic accident to which many did not pay much attention. It was expected that in no time, he would be well, but he died, shocking his family and friends. Pastor Michael Ajani Sobowale, the shepherd of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Praise Palace, Oko-Oba died on February 17. He was 42.

After a funeral service at the RCCG (Glory Worship Centre), Pastor Sobowale’s remains were interred at Atan Yaba, Lagos Mainland, Cemetery.

The deceased’s business associates and close friends were there to pay their last respects. They wore a sombre look. His wife wept profusely and refused to be consoled. Her husband of 11years died at the prime of his age. They had three children.

At the church entrance, there was a banner and the portrait of the deceased. The messages on it were emotional and poetic.

They read: Don’t grieve for me, for now I am free.

I am following the path God laid for me, I took His hands when I heard Him call, I turn my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day to laugh, to love, to work or play.

Task left undone must stay that way, I found that place at the close of day.

The funeral service was attended by many RCCG Lagos Province 17 pastors. Among those who presided over the ceremony were Pastors Remi Oluboba, Seyi Adeniji, Bosun Akintobi and Iyiola Olayori. The service was coordinated by Pastor Wale Talabi.

A day earlier, a service of songs held at Praise Palace, New Oko-oba, Agege, Lagos was attended by the management and staff of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where Pastor Sobowale

held sway before his departure as the company’s West and Central African Regional Human Resource Director.

The GSK officials include Mr Sameer Goel (South Africa); Madike Seye (Ghana), Qumar Kebe (Cote D’Ivoire) Fariha Salaudeen; (Turkey) among other attendees.

The widow, Omosola was dressed in a ash colour attire. She sat with her children beside her.

The wives of other clerics sat beside her as they took their seats at the front rows of the church.

As the solemn music We Shall Gather at the River crafted in the air, the remains of the deceased, placed in a brown casket, lined with silver epaulettes were brought into the church and placed on a white table before the widow and her children.

Pastor Oluboba who gave the sermon entitled; ‘it is a matter of choice‘ drew his message from the Bible. Oluboba described life as a race which must surely end, adding that the deceased had served his term, leaving the rest of the task to others. ‘’Pastor Mike has done his own part. He worked with God successfully in the ministry, and rose to the highest position of his career at 42,’’ he said.

Sobowale’s colleagues, Pastor Akin Akinwole described him as a goal getter, an embodiment of humility.

“Whatever he laid his hands on in the work of the ministry, he always achieved it,’’ he said.

Many gave their tributes of the deceased, describing him in superlative terms.

Pastor Akintunde, who read Sobowale’s profile, described him as a man who had true callings to work in God’s vineyard.

The late Sobowale was a first-class graduate of Actuarial Science from the University of Lagos.

He joined Cadbury Nigeria Plc as a Management

•Pastor David Omunagbe (left) and Pastor Seye Adeniyi

•Pastor Ajayi (left) and Pastor Ayodele Olubiyi

trainee; he became Human Resource Officer in 1995 till he rose to become Human Resource Service Manager.

Under his leadership, he led the first African Global Human Resorces performance benchmarking, by producing an Executives scorecard for the Cadbury Schweppes operating

PHOTOS: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

companies across the globe. He equally worked with Guinness Nigeria Plc before teaming up with GSK as Human Resource Director, the position he held till his death. The late Sobowale won the Young Best Manager awards. He would be remembered for being one of the highest financial contributors in his parish.

MARRIAGE

WEDDING

•Former Miss Rita Madu-West and Nelson Osa during their wedding at Wandsworth Town Hall, London

•Mr Dimeji Ajayi and his wife former Miss Jumoke Adeleye during their wedding at Harvestors International Gospel Church, Lagos

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WHO SHOULD BE AGGRIEVED, THEY OR THE YORUBAS? On the political scene, it is obvious that the South West geo political zone has been clearly marginalized. Though there have been cries of marginalization from different groups, the South West region, made up of the Yorubas has been systematically marginalized since the inception of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

As it stands, the North currently has the highest percentage in terms of appointments in the country. Every other region benefits immensely in terms of appointments at the expense of the Yoruba region, a clear contravention of the Federal Character principle clearly stated in Section 14(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”

The large scale marginalization of the Yorubas is evident in all spheres, especially in the top hierarchy of political authority, in the economic and financial agencies as well as the judiciary and anti-corruption agencies. The North alone takes more than 50% of the key positions while the other regions share the rest. The South West unfortunately gets the smallest share. Below is a table of positions of authority in the country as well as the occupants and the zones they come from.

PARTIAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE EVIDENCE OF YORUBA MARGINALIZATION IN PRESIDENT JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION I. CONTROL OF THE APEX OF POLITICAL POWER

Constituting the apex of the political power structure in Nigeria today are the following: S/NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

OFFICE The President The Vice President The Senate President The Speaker, House of Representatives The Chief Justice of the Federation The Deputy Senate President The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives The Ag President Court of Appeal Secretary to the Govt. of the Federation Chief of Staff to the President National Security Adviser Head of Service of the Federation

NAME Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Arc. Namadi Sambo David Mark Alh. Aminu Tambuwal Justice Alooma Mukhtar Ike Ekweremadu Hon. Emeka Ihedioha Hon. Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa Anyim Pius Anyim Chief Mike Oghiadomhe Col. Sambo Dasuki Alh. I.B Sali

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE South South North West North Central North West North West South East South East North West South East South South North West North East

NOTE Of the above 12 positions, there is no single Yoruba person.

II. CONTROL OF THE PRINCIPAL ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL AGENCIES The key ministries, departments and agencies and those in control are as follows S/NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

OFFICE Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy Governor of the Central Bank Minister of Petroleum Resources Chaiman, NNPC GMD, NNPC Chairman, National Council on Privatization Comptroller General of Customs Chairman, Nigerian Ports Authority MD, Nigerian Ports Authority Minister, National Planning Commission DG, Bureau of Public Procurement DG, Budget Ag Comptroller General of Immigration Minister of Power MD, PHCN Ag Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service Chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation & Fiscal Commission DG, Bureau of Public Enterprises Senior Sp. Assistant to the President on MDGs Accountant General of the Federation Auditor General of the Federation Minister of Niger Delta MD, Niger Delta Dev. Commission (NDDC) Chairman, NDDC Executive Secretary, Petroleum Tech. Dev. Fund (PTDF) Chairman, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Chairman, National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Minister of Aviation MD, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) MD, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Minister of Works Minister of Agriculture Minister of Water Resources Chairman, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Corps Marshall & Chief Executive, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC)

NAME Ngozi Okonjo Iweala Dr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke Engr. Andrew Yakubu Alh. Namadi Sambo Dr. Abdulahi Dikko-Inde Chief Anthony Anenih Mr. Habibu Abdullahi Dr. Shamsudeen Usman Engr. Emeka Ezeh Dr. Bright Okogu Alh. Rilwan Musa Chinedu Osita Nebo Alh. Idris Mohammed Alh. Kabiru Mashi Mr. Elias Mbam Vacant Dr. Mrs. Precious Gbeneoi Mr. Jonah Ogunniyi Otunla Mr. Samuel Ukura Peter Godsday Orubebe Dr. Christian Oboh Dr. Tarilah Tebepah Engr. Mustafa Rabe Darma Alh. Ahmed Adamu Muazu Dr. Sam Amadi Mrs. Stella Oduah Mr. George Uriesi Engr. Victor Briggs Arc. Mike Onolememen Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe Engr. Jide Adeniji Dr. Abdulraham Sambo Osita Chiduka

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE South East North West South South South South North West North West North West South South North West North West South East South East North South East North North West South East Vacant South East South West North Central South South South South South South North West North East South East South South South South South South South South South West North Central South West North East South East

NOTE Of the 36 heads of the above major economic agencies of the Federal Government, only 3 are Yoruba, which equals about 8 percent. The person who could have been the fourth, the former DG of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mrs. Bola Onagoruwa, was unceremoniously retired late 2012 for unstated reasons.

Harold Demuren, a Yoruba man who was until recently the DG of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority too has been kicked out.

III. CONTROL OF THE JUDICIARY AND THE ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCIES The key officials in control of these sectors are: S/NO 1

OFFICE Chief Justice of the Federation

NAME Justice Alooma Mukhtar

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE North West

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45

Ag President of the Court of Appeal Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Chairman, Judicial Service Commission Chairman, National Judicial Council Attorney General of the Federation Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Inspector Gen. of Police

Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa Justice Ibrahim Auta Justice Alooma Muktar ‘’ Mohammed Bello Adoke Ibrahim Lamorde Prof. Okon Ekpo Nta Mr. Sam Saba Ahmadu Giade Alh. M.A. Abubakar

North West North East North West North West North Central North East South South North North East North West

NOTE: There is not a single Yoruba person heading any of the judicial arms of government or any of the other agencies involved in criminal investigation, prosecution and adjudication.

IV.

CONTROL OF THE EDUCATION MANAGEMENT AGENCIES

The principal agencies and those in control are: S/NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

OFFICE Minister of Education Chairman, National University Commission (NUC) Executive Secretary NUC Chairman, Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, JAMB Chairman, West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Registrar, WAEC Chairman, National Board for Technical Education Executive Secretary, NBTE Chairman, National Commission for College of Education (NCCE) Executice Secretary, NCCE Registrar, National Examinations Council (NECO) Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ag Executive Secretary, UBEC Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Registrar, National Business & Technical Education Board (NABTEB) Executive Secretary, National Educational Research & Dev. Council

NAME Prof Mrs. Ruquayat Ahmed Rufai Prof. S.A. Galadanci Prof Okojie Prof. Sam Ukpabi Prof. Dibu Ojerinde Prof. Pius Ike Obayan Alhaja Bello Musa Abdullahi Dr. Masudu A. Kazaure Dr. Kabiru Isyaku Prof. M.I. Junaid Prof. Promise Okpala Vacant Prof. Charles Onocha Prof. Mahmood Yakubu Dr. Olatunde Aworanti Prof. Godswill Obioma

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE North West North West South South South East South West South South North North North West North North West South East Vacant South South North East South West South East

NOTE: Of the above listed positions, there are only 2 from the South West, one of them, (the Registrar of NABTEB), being of relatively minor importance.

V.

CONTROL OF THE SECURITY SERVICES

The Security Services are led and controlled by the following: S/NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

OFFICE Chief of Defense Staff Chief of Army Staff Chief of Naval Staff Chief of Air Staff National Security Adviser Inspector General of Police Director of State Security Service (SSS) Minister of Defense Chairman, Police Service Commission Commandant General- Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps

NAME Adm. Ola Sa’ad Ibraahim Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika Rear Adm. D.J Ezeoba Air Vice Marshal A.S. Badeh Col. Sambo Dasuki Alh. M.A. Abbakar Mr. Ita Ekpeyong Vacant Mr. Parry B.O. Osayande Dr. Ade Abolurin

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE North Central South East South South North East North West North West South South Vacant South South South West

NOTE: Of the above 10 key security positions, only one is occupied by a Yoruba person from the South West.

VI.

CONTROL OF THE BUREAUCRACY

S/NO 1 2 3 4

OFFICE Secretary to the Government of the Federation Head of Service of the Federation Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission Chairman, Federal Character Commission

NAME Mr. Anyim Pius Anyim Mr. I.B. Sali Deaconess Joanna Olatoyosi Ayo Abdul-Rahaman

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE South East North East South West North

VII. CONTROL OF THE INFORMATION BROADCASTING AGENCIES These are controlled as follows: S/NO 1 2 3

OFFICE DG. Nigerian Television Authority DG Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria DG News Agency of Nigeria

NAME Vacant Barr. Yusuf Nuhu Mr. Franklin Nlerum

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE Vacant North South South

NOTE: Despite the pioneering role of the Yoruba in the area of establishment and running of television and radio services in Nigeria, it is surprising that no Yoruba heads any of the above agencies.

VIII.

CONTROL OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC & ELECTIONS-RELATED AGENCIES

The relevant agencies and those in control are as follows: S/NO 1 2 3

OFFICE Chairman, National Population Commission Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, National Identity Management Commission

NAME Festus Odimegwu Mohammed Attahiru Jega Barr. Chris Onyemenam

GEOPOLITICAL ZONE South East North South East

NOTE: The Yorubas are completely shut out of these sensitive agencies.

Signed:

Bowale Oluwole Arisekola

Chairman, Association of Yorubas in Europe Details can also be read using the link below: http://thestreetjournal.org/2013/03/yorubas-in-europe-decry-jonathans-marginalization-of-the-south-west/

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EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Profit-taking surpasses earnings’ expectations

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-3-13

N

IGERIAN equities caved in under the pressures of profittaking transactions yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in spite of considerable demand from investors who continued to take positions ahead of the release of earnings reports by quoted companies.

Average return at the stock market dropped by 0.45 per cent, indicating a dip of about N48 billion in market value of quoted companies.

With 28 losers to 19 gainers, substantial profit-taking deals counterbalanced substantial deals for several equities, especially the banking stocks, which are expected to announce their results in the next two weeks.

Besides the negative impact of losses by some highly capitalised stocks, the preponderance of losers was the major extenuating influence for the negative position of the market.

By Taofik Salako

Investors staked N6.3 billion on equities with strong demand for the duo of United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Unity Bank Plc. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) was the third most active stock.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities slipped to N10.626 trillion from its opening value of N10.674 trillion. The main value index for all quoted equities, the All Share Index (ASI), also dropped from its index on board of 33,357.01 points to 33,207.02 points.

Guinness Nigeria Plc led the bearish stocks with a loss of N5.70 to close at N275.50 per share. Oando trailed with a drop of N1.80 to close at N16.70. Presco lost 30 kobo to close at N23.50. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (Nahco) dipped by 24 kobo to N7.95. CAP was down by 20 kobo to N36.10, while Zenith Bank lost 19

kobo to close at N21.70.

On the upside, Nestle Nigeria witnessed a rebound with a gain of N9 to close at N842 per share. Lafarge Wapco Cement Nigeria followed with addition of N2 to close at N72.

Champion Breweries rose by 22 kobo to N4.78. PZ Cussons Nigeria added 19 kobo to close at N40.25, while RT Briscoe gathered 17 kobo to close at N2.29 per share.

Investors remained focused on banking stocks with more than 62 per cent of the funds staked on banking stocks. Total turnover stood at 638.42 million shares valued at N6.27 billion in 5,879 deals. Banking stocks accounted for 466.13 million shares worth N3.90 billion in 2,341 deals. Insurance subgroup staged a distant second with a turnover of 58.26 million shares worth N59.15 million in 348 deals.

UBA topped the activity chart with a turnover of 140.37 million shares valued at N1.25 billion in 386 deals. Unity Bank trailed with a turnover of 121.81 million shares worth N101.31 million in 113 deals.

ETI placed third with a turnover of 53.39 million shares worth N780.89 million in 99 deals.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 14-3-13

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

MONEY LINK

CBN releases exposure draft for mortgage re-finance firms T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the regulatory and supervisory framework for the operations of a Mortgage Re-finance Company (MRC) as an exposure draft.

CBN Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Olufemi Fabamwo said the framework was drawn based on provisions of the CBN Act 2007, Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) CAP B3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004 and other relevant Laws.

The CBN also set a mini-

•Sets N5b minimum capital for operators Stories by Collins Nweze

mum capital base for the subsector. Intending operators will however, pay a nonrefundable application fee of N100,000 and non-refundable licencing fee of N200,000.

He said the framework provides for the licensing and establishment of a MRCs as

specialised second-tier institution, which would provide short-term liquidity, longterm funding and/or guarantees to mortgage originators and housing finance lenders.

He said the establishment of MRC is primarily aimed at increasing the liquidity within the mortgage sub-sector and availability of mortgage

credit in the country. It will also reduce mortgage and related costs, and make residential housing more affordable.

The document specified the standards and criteria for, and timing of, periodic assessments of the creditworthiness of borrowers, obligors, or other counterparties, and for the establishment of credit

Sterling Bank sponsors challenge for graduates

S

TERLING Bank is set to organise a fashion competition for undergraduates of tertiary institutions in Lagos State.

In a statement, the bank said the exercise was meant to discover and celebrate the creativity of the Nigerian youth.

The competition, which is part of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts in the education sector, seeks to transform the perception artistically inclined undergraduates have of themselves in relation to corporate organisations, their acceptability and the difference they can make given the opportunity and a suitable platform.

The competition tagged “Sketchamania,” is a break from the norm and an unequivocal statement by Ster-

ling bank that it seeks to identify new opportunities to make a difference in a distinct manner by impacting society through deliberate interventions aimed at encouraging and celebrating unique talents, which abound in Nigeria.

According to the Bank’s Group Head of Strategy & Communications, Shina Atilola, participants are to upload their sketched designs on the bank’s Facebook

page. The creators of the top 10 designs will be given some amount of money to produce their designs. The designs so brought to life will be showcased at the final event billed for April 20, 2013 at the University of Lagos Main Auditorium.

The top three finalists will get N1, 000,000.00, N500, 000.00, and N250, 000.00 respectively. Other details of the competition can be got-

ten from the bank’s Facebook page.

Sterling Bank is a leading commercial bank in Nigeria and one of the country’s fastest growing banks. Incorporated in 1960 as NAL Bank (the country’s first investment banking franchise), it acquired the operations of the erstwhile Equitorial Trust Bank in November 2011 in pursuit of its growth and expansion plans.

Naira drops on corporate demand

N

AIRA headed for its longest losing streak in seven months as corporate demand for dollars wasn’t matched by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which cut the amount of dollar it sold in auctions this week, Bloomberg has said.

The currency weakened “largely due to increased corporate demand to cover import bills and other foreignexchange obligations,” Kunle Ezun and Kenneth Asenime, analysts at Ecobank Transnational Inc. in Lagos, said yesterday.

The currency retreated for a fifth day, weakening 0.4 per cent to N159.53 per dollar yesterday. A close at that level would be its lowest since Aug. 8 and the run of losses the most since the same month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

ABCTRANS RTBRISCOE WAPIC CHAMPION EVANSMED LIVESTOCK UTC CONTINSURE CUTIX ETERNA

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

0.61 2.12 1.42 4.56 1.67 2.22 0.75 1.05 1.79 3.79

0.67 2.29 1.49 4.78 1.75 2.32 0.78 1.09 1.85 3.90

CHANGE 0.06 0.17 0.07 0.22 0.08 0.10 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.11

OANDO FIDSON PRESTIGE TRANSCORP CILEASING CUSTODYINS UNITYBNK NAHCO MAYBAKER NEM

O/PRICE 18.50 1.68 0.84 1.55 0.65 2.07 0.87 8.19 2.48 0.95

C/PRICE 16.70 1.53 0.77 1.47 0.62 1.99 0.84 7.95 2.41 0.93

Amount

Exchange

Sold ($)

Rate (N)

Date

350m

150m

150m

155.2

2-7-12

350m

138m

138m

155.8

27-6-12

350m

113m

113m

155.7

22-6-12

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD

147.6000

149.7100

150.7100

-2.11

NGN GBP NGN EUR

239.4810 212.4997

244.0123 207.9023

245.6422 209.2910

-2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

Bureau de Change 152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N)

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

Parallel Market

153.0000

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

LOSERS AS AT 14-3-13

SYMBOL

Amount

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12

(S/N)

GAINERS AS AT 14-3-13

SYMBOL

W

EMA Bank said yesterday said it will complete a N35 billion private share placement to strategic investors by the end of April and apply to become national bank.

Reuters said Wema was one of the lenders forced to recapitalise its operations by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the wake of a financial crisis that nearly sank it and eight other lenders. It decided to meet tougher requirements by scaling down its business to become a regional bank in the 2009.

“We expect all arrangements to be concluded by the end of April 2013,” spokeswoman Kemi Aina said, adding that the new capital will enable them seek a national license.

Regional banks can only operate in six to 12 of 36 states of the federation. They only need a N10 billion to meet the minimum capital base requirement, compared with N25 billion for national banks.

In November, Wema Bank said it was at an advanced stage in raising capital and that it had secured commitments for N15 billion from core investors, which it aimed to finalise by end of 2012.

Aina said the lender had secured commitments from core investors for the whole N35 billion and had won existing shareholders’ approval for the deal.

Offered ($) Demanded ($)

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Wema to apply for national bank licence in April

Amount

Currency OBB Rate Call Rate

The CBN said the bank will approve the appointment of each director who meets the qualifications for licensed bank directors as specified in the BOFIA, or as may be specified by the bank from time to time.

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM

MANAGED FUNDS

NIDF NESF

• CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

DATA BANK

Tenor

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

limits.

It also stilulated the fees to be charged for obtaining, or pre-paying, advances, including any schedules or formulas pertaining to such fees. It also set the standards and criteria for the pricing of the MRC’s products and differential pricing of advances.

It said every director and officer of the MRC is required to sign the code of ethics and business conduct.

It added that the number of directors on the board of the MRC will be a minimum of seven and a maximum of 15 while the non-executive members must be at least twice the number of the executive directors at any point in time.

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY • ARM AGGRESSIVE

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 137.90 146.54 0.80 1.14 1.11 100.00 1,000.00 1,780.91 14.66 1.39 1.87 10,695.04

9.08 1.00 137.47 146.06 0.78 1.14 1.09 100.00 1,000.00 1,777.05 13.95 1.33 1.80 10,397.87

• KAKAWA GUARANTEED

CHANGE 1.80 0.15 0.07 0.08 0.03 0.08 0.03 0.24 0.07 0.02

• STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

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57

NEWS

FCT council poll: I’m still in the race, says ACN candidate

T

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chairmanship candidate in Bwari Area Council for tomorrow’s local government election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Yahaya Isah, has said he is still in the race contrary to a rumour that his party has entered into an alliance with other parties.

Isah said he was still in the

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

race, adding that there was no time he or his party entered into an alliance with any party in the FCT to produce a consensus candidate.

He said: “The alliance entered into by my party at the national level is for the 2015 general elections.”

Corroborating what Isah said, the Chairman of ACN in

•Wada

P

EOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) members in Kogi State yesterday said Governor Idris Wada is not serious about his call for reconciliation.

They urged him to allow the rule of law prevail instead of asking the injured parties to withdraw their cases from the court without taking steps that would ensure peace and internal cohesion in the party.

President of the Kogi Justice and Freedom Forum (KJFF), Mr. Bamidele Zacheaus, said in a statement in Abuja that they have followed due process by seeking redress in court, adding:

“It will be unfair for the governor to attempt to circumvent the process this time.”

He went on: “Let me place it on record that we the aggrieved members of the PDP have neither resorted to self help nor attempted to circumvent the process by armtwisting the Judiciary.

“Why is it difficult for the governor and his fellow travellers to follow this time tested route?

“We believe that if the Kogi State Governor is serious about his statement ‘that court cases shut doors to dialogue and accommodation’, the right step for him to toe will be to seek reconciliation.

“This entails that an alleged offender elects to take responsibility for the offence in addition to the pain it caused and then commits to winning back the trust of the offended person(s).

“Also, the injured person must choose to embark on a path of forgiveness.

‘

What do I gain killing Muslims in Jos or driving away settlers? I’m a Christian.

I know God created human beings, be you a Muslim, Christian or pagan. Who am I to take the life created by God?

Bwari Area Council, Musa Abubakar Shere, said his party has not entered into an alliance with any party with the purpose of producing a consensus candidate for tomorrow’s council poll in the FCT, adding that ACN has what it takes to win the election.

He said Isah is the party’s standard bearer in the chairmanship poll.

‘Wada not serious about reconciliation’ From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Jang: why I advocate state police

“Without these two conditions in place, anger and hurt will only make any reconciliation effort in Kogi State a mere rhetoric and the only realistic option would be for the courts to resolve the political dispute.

“While we believe in any reconciliatory move by the governor, because the PDP remains our party, we state that there can be no reconciliation devoid of fairness and the rule of law.

“The reckless directive by Governor Wada is only a lazy form of grief: a man must accept his fate or be destroyed by it.

“As we contend with the disdainful oddities of this latest directive as published in a section of the media, we are hopeful that the law will take its full course.”

Zacheaus said only sincere acknowledgement of past wrongs would assist the new leadership of the PDP at the national level to heal and reconcile members of the party in the state.

From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

•Jang

P

LATEAU State Governor Jonah David Jang has explained why he advocated a state police.

The governor, who spoke at a public lecture to mark his 69th birthday, said his advocacy for a state police was not out of a selfish intention, but for the improvement of the security of the citizens.

He said: “I support a state police to enable Nigeria be among the top 20 economies in the world. We must do the things advanced countries have done to combat crime.

“If a state under a federal system cannot be protected

by the federal police and army, the next option is a state police. There is no central police in the advanced democratic society.

“The constitution makes us (governors) the chief security officers of our states. We have no control over the federal police, but we are asked to support its funding.

“My colleagues in the North misunderstood my request for a state police. They alleged that I would use my police to kill Muslims and settlers.

“They don’t know that I grew up with Muslims. They don’t know I’m from an ethnic group that is accommodating other tribes.

“What do I gain killing Muslims in Jos or driving

’

away settlers? I’m a Christian. I know God created human beings, be you a Muslim, Christian or pagan. Who am I to take the life created

by God? “I would not have been alive to witness my 69th birthday if I had been wicked.

God would have forsaken me long ago. But I am alive today despite the criticisms because I mean no evil against God’s creatures.”

Governor Jang urged the National Assembly to amend the constitution to give room for a state police before the end of the Seventh Assembly.

The senator representing Plateau North, Senator Gyang Dantong, presented a paper on ‘Police in a federal state: Whither Nigeria’, to mark Jang’s 69th birthday.

Church holds prayer session

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HE Kings in Christ Power Ministries International, Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Lagos, will begin its annual 30-day prayer and fasting from April 9 to May 9. It is tagged: Greater Than The Pool of

Bethsaida.

The programme will hold at the Gymnasium Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

The Chief Host and Senior Pastor, Dr. Anthony Innocent Chidi, said total healing,

deliverance, breakthrough and joy await those who will attend.

He added that the venue had been sanctified as the new Bethsaida where miracles would be performed.

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THE NATION FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2013

NEWS

Odi community to Fed Govt: pay us

T

HE people of Odi Community in K o l o k u m a / Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have called on the Federal Government to implement the judgment by Justice Lambo Akanbi of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt.

Justice Akanbi ordered the Federal Government to pay N37.6 billion to the people for the November 20, 1999 massacre.

The plaintiff, Koku Imananagha, made the call shortly after the court dismissed the Federal Government’s stay of execution on the judgment.

Imanangha said the 21day ultimatum issued by

From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

the court on February 19 has expired.

He demanded that the judgment sum be paid immediately.

The community’s counsel, Lawal Rabana (SAN), said the community has suffered deprivation for 13 years.

“Their farmlands, fishing ponds, ancestral shrines have been devastated; they have been tortured and enslaved in their own land.

“The Federal Government has a lot of money so paying that sum cannot make it bankrupt.”

Imananagha said the community expected the

‘The Federal Government has a lot of money so paying that sum cannot make it bankrupt.’

Federal Government to call for a dialogue instead of returning to court.

He said: “This is what we have been praying for. We never expected anything other than this, this is what we’ve been waiting for.

“We have suffered for 14 years and judgment was given; we expected that the Federal Government will

call us, so we talk things over but we were not expecting this appeal, stay of execution thing.

“I think the money should be given to us immediately, because the 21day ultimatum has expired.”

Asked what they intend to do if government continues to delay the payment he said: “The world is watching, human right bodies are watching, NGOs are also watching, the press is equally watching.

“It is not an Odi affair, this matter has gone beyond Odi, it is human rights we are talking about.”

Lawmakers praise Imoke EMBERS of the Cross River State House of Assembly have praised Governor Liyel Imoke for the development in the state.

The lawmakers gave the commendation when they inspected the Calabar International Convention Centre (CICC).

Led by the Speaker, Larry Odey, the lawmakers were received by the Special Adviser Governor’s Office, Nzan Ogbe.

The Project Manager, Reginald Longdon, conducted them round the site.

Ogbe said the project, which is located within the new development area close to Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, is expected to be a world class edifice.

The new development area is expected to accommodate a referral hospital, 200-bed hotel, an 18-hole golf course, a golf estate and a festival village.

He said apart from the hospital which will be built by the state with International Finance Corporation (IFC) as financial/transaction structure adviser, the other projects will be constructed through a Public Private Sector Partnership (PPP) with government providing the infrastructure.

Odey, who said they were impressed with the project, described the inspection as one way of stimulating a synergy between the executive and legislative arms of government to ensure good governance.

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Senate meets with NDDC MD, contractor HE Senate Committee

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on Niger Delta has met with the Managing Di-

rector of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Christian Oboh and the contractor handling the controversial Eket-Ibeno Road dualisation in Akwa Ibom State, Fountain Construction Company Limited (FCC).

The meeting took place at the Le Meridien Hotel, Government Reservation Area (GRA) with the Chairman of the sub-committee, Heineken Lokpobiri, in attendance.

NDDC awarded the 17.8kilometre road project to FCC in November 2009 at the sum of N2.6 billion, as a single carriage way.

It was learnt that NDDC later changed the scope of the road to a dual carriage way, but refused to issue a letter of award to FCC, to signify the new status of the project.

The commission allegedly refused to pay the contractor for the job already done.

Rather than paying the firm, it was also discovered that NDDC directed FCC to leave the site and move to EdebukAfaha Uqua road and adjoining roads in the state.

Indigenes of Eket and Ibeno

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

local governments protested the refusal to complete the road, threatening to barricade it.

Before the meeting, Lokpobiri said: “We are not here to witch-hunt anybody, but to resolve some key issues that affect the Niger Delta.

“While we were in Akwa Ibom State on oversight functions, Governor Godswill Akpabio made a statement on the Eket-Ibeno Road. Based on that, we summoned the contractor and the management of the NDDC to Abuja.

“We want to ensure that the project is done in the interest of the people of the Niger Delta.

“We will talk to ourselves very frankly. We will find out the facts and report to the Senate Committee on Niger Delta.”

The chairman of the subcommittee also stated that the members would not take any decision at the Port Harcourt meeting, stressing that everything would be decided in Abuja.

Trial of ex-militant’s ‘killers’ begin From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

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RIVERS State High Court in Port Harcourt has heard how an ex-militant, Soboma George, was killed in Port Harcourt on August 24, last year.

George, a repentant leader of Icelander cult group, was killed on his way home after he had gone to watch a football match.

He accepted the Federal Government’s amnesty in 2010.

Three suspects, Doubra Ogbe, Emmanuel Gladstone and Pere Mathew are being held in connection with the killing.

Testifying before Justice Godspower Aguma, the prosecution witness, Emmanuel George, said the trio conspired and killed Soboma by shooting him severally in the head.

He said: “I know the accused, Pere, Doubra, and Gladstone.

They are George’s friends who were always with him.

“I was at a primary school field at Borikiri Township area of Port Harcourt that day to watch a football match with the late George, Henry Sunday and Junior George.

“After the match at about 6.30pm, the four of us walked out of the field, when we got to a Church close to the school, two girls selling groundnuts asked the late George to buy their wares.

“While we were talking with the girls, we saw a navy blue car coming. The car moved near us and in what looked like a movie scene, we saw guns.

“Because the girls were facing us the bullets hit one of them.

I quickly bent down and found a hideout and was watching.

“When George fell down, I saw the three accused persons came out of the vehicle. They went close to his body and shot him severally in the head.

“When they stopped shooting, another vehicle came and I saw the late Faye and another person. Faye was crying and saying: why did you kill him now? Why did you kill him now? let’s carry him. They put him in the back seat and drove off.

The counsel for the accused persons, S.O Osigala and O.A Adeola, said they were not ready for cross examination, and asked for an adjournment.

Justice Aguma adjourned the case till May 30.

59

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

NEWS

ACN, ANPP, CPC leaders vow to defend APC Continued from page 4

gressives Congress and the acronym, APC, became our intellectual property which we shall guard jealously.”

Ikimi said the merging parties were shocked that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could announce receipt of a letter from a faceless and unknown political group.

He added: “It has, therefore, come to us as a shock that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would announce receipt of a letter from what is now known to be a faceless and unknown political group, ostensibly driven by sheer mischief purporting to request for registration with the name, African Peoples Congress.

“The obvious motive of this letter is to attempt, albeit in futility, to scuttle the registration of the All Progressives Congress, which has been so widely publicised and well received to the discomfort of the establishment.

“Besides the fact that the offensive letter emanated from Legal World Chambers of a fake address and its alleged author, the so-called Barrister Nwoko-

rie Samuel Chinedu have been shown to be of dubious existence, the date on the letter, 28 of February 2013, 22 days after we published our name and acronym, a fact that INEC cannot pretend not to be aware of.

“In any case, the provision of the relevant laws makes it mandatory that an application for registration of a political party is made by a political association and not a so-called law firm as in this case.

“Nigeria’s political history is replete with instances of all manner of busybodies who have been known to take actions, legal or otherwise, with the intent of causing mischief, precipitate chaos, compromise political stability and subject Nigeria to international ridicule.

“We would like to state unequivocally that this sort of unsavoury behaviour is no longer fashionable.

“Nigeria has since moved beyond such gimmicks and shenanigans of political jobbers and agent provocateurs, who do not mean well for the country, save insofar as they are able to collect hefty fees for the confusion that they breed.”

The merger leaders also

Lawyer regrets action Continued from page 4

“I used the address because a friend of mine (a lawyer) works in one of the two chambers. But that friend does not wish to be dragged into this matter because of the uproar.

“Legal World Chambers with which I filed the application is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). I personally registered the firm. But if anyone has any doubts, let them check it out with the CAC. “Some people are even doubting whether I am a lawyer or not. I challenge them to go to the Supreme Court and check the roll to see whether or not my name is there.”

Nwokorie said he did his first degree programme at Buea University in Cameroun. He did NYSC in Abuja in 2005/2006 after which he proceeded to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where he got a Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy.

According to him, he attended the Law School, Bwari, Abuja and was called to the Bar on February 14, 2011.

The obviously-frightened Nwokorie said he was forced to switch off his phones because he was bombarded with calls.

“I am not happy about the unfolding event because I did not bargain for it, especially as I have been receiving calls from unknown persons and my present boss, whose identity I

would not want to reveal for now, is not happy with me. My family is also worried and apprehensive about the entire thing,” Nwokorie said.

Meanwhile, Ikenga has kept telling Nwokorie that he should not bother himself about the heat generated by the action, assuring him that the sponsors of the application would handle the matter.

Said the lawyer: “He keeps telling me not to worry, that I should be a man and that he would handle the matter. He also said that the real owners of the party would soon be revealed to Nigerians.

“Once again, I want to tell Nigerians that I just took a brief as a young lawyer and it ended there. I don’t know the sponsors of the party. The only person I know is Ugochinyere Ikenga, who gave me the brief.

“I got to know Ikenga through a friend. I thought it wise to come out and tell Nigerians the entire story because I keep receiving calls all-day through. My major concern now is my letter head, which is in the custody of INEC. “My family has asked me to hands off the matter, which is the reason I have come out in the open,” Nwokorie stated.

When our correspondent called Ikenga on his telephone number provided by Nwokorie, he promised to call our correspondent back and cut the line off. He never did.

Proxy APC: ACN, ANPP, CPC have alerted INEC, says Lai Mohammed Continued from page 4

for registration political party, different requirements from merger and different requirements for de-registration of political parties. What these opposition groups here are up to is merging.

“When African Peoples Congress chooses yesterday or today to unveil their constitution, that is not in compliance with the law.

It is not yet a constitution, until INEC has gone through the process of verification. And before INEC can commence verification, INEC must issue it an acknowledgement.

“There is nothing to show that INEC has issued it an acknowledgment.

Therefore, it is playing to the gallery, which is what they have

chosen to do as the chairman has spoken. There is a provision by law and INEC is bound by the Electoral Act. “Showing constitution, showing manifesto, showing logo is not a requirement at this stage.

It is only when INEC has gone through the verification of the particulars- the location, the geographical spread, combination and all that is required of the Act and constitution and certified them that they can claim to have a constitution.

INEC has not studied the constitution, they have not verified it, they have not done due diligence to know whether they have complied with all that is required by the constitution.

“So what are they showing to Continued from page 63

claimed that they have uncovered a plot by the Federal Government to destabilize the opposition.

Ikimi said a high-ranking government official had been “furnished with unlimited resources to corrupt democratic institutions.

He added: “Unfortunately, we have it on good authority that the establishment, gravely troubled by the emergence of a united opposition, has set up a high powered team headed by a very high ranking officer of government and furnished with unlimited resources from public funds with a clear mandate to corrupt the democratic institutions and destabilise the opposition.

“In the circumstance, our message is very clear. We have informed the whole world of our decision to merge under the name, All Progressives Congress, with the acronym, APC. We are determined to pursue the

process to its logical conclusion in the interest of our dear fatherland. The feeble attempt by any other entity to pretend to use the same acronym is an exercise in futility, which must fail because it amounts to what, in law, is called Passing-Off. “We have taken the pains to furnish the foregoing facts because we will not accept any attempt by INEC, relying on a dubious application clearly not in compliance with the conditions set out in the Constitution or the Electoral Act, to scuttle our plans to formalise our merger under our adopted name and acronym.

We challenge the cowards behind the so called African Peoples Congress to come forth and defend their position or forever hold their peace. On our part, the three political parties, part of APGA and others seeking to merge are steadily and resolutely taking all the steps necessary for the merger as provided un-

der the Constitution and the Electoral Act. We have elected representatives in all tiers of Government.

“We have written to INEC about this ugly development, with the hope that INEC would not allow its credibility to be further undermined by political hirelings and their faceless sponsors who appear determined to truncate the democratic process.

It is clearly a case of “the hands of Esau but the voice of Jacob”.

“We consider it necessary to remind all Nigerians of the sequence of events from February 6, 2013 when we announced to the world our decision to merge.

On the same 6th of February 2013, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through their spokesperson acknowledged our decision in THISDAY Online Edition. Again on February 17, 2013, in the PUNCH Newspaper, the same spokesperson of INEC advised

on the appropriate steps to be taken in order to consummate the merger. He further maintained that as at that date there was no political party existing with the name All Progressives Congress or the acronym APC. “It is important to reiterate that over and above the collective correspondences the merging parties sent to INEC, each of them has communicated to INEC the assurances that the processes stipulated in the Electoral Act are accordingly ongoing towards the consummation of the merger.

“We thank all Nigerians and the International Community for the wonderful support they have accorded us since the announcement of our intention to merge and we solemnly pledge our irrevocable commitment to democratic ideals and the enthronement of good governance in our beloved country Nigeria.”

THE NATION THURSDAY MARCH 15, 2013

60

NEWS Ex-PDP chieftain dead

25 lawmakers endorse Agbaso’s removal

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

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HE former factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Ben Etie, is dead. He was 59.

Etie, a former special assistant to ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, also served as the chairman of the state transport loan scheme and later a commissioner at the local government service commission.

The deceased came into prominence during the prelude to the PDP Congress in 2011, when he joined Ikechi Emenike to form a parallel executive of the party.

His son, Arinze, described his father as a touch bearer to both his family and his entire Nnneato community of Umunneochi in Abia North.

Arinze said he was a man of the people who touched so many lives and will be missed by all.

Come and invest, says Orji

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BIA State Governor Theodore Orji has said the nature of democracy in the country has made it imperative for governors to work hard to deliver good governance to the people.

The governor called on Nigerians in the Diaspora to come home and invest.

Orji spoke while delivering a paper entitled: “The role of governors in Nigeria’s federal democracy: Meeting the challenges”, at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced Studies, John Hopkins University, Washington D.C, United States.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue, said: “The situations the governors have found themselves have propelled them to work tirelessly to meet the aspirations of the people.”

“Every governor has his challenges, which must be surmounted to record success.

“The attributes of good

From Ugochukwu UgojiEke, Umuahia

governance, which the governors strives to enthrone involves collective participation, consensus building, accountability, equitability, inclusiveness and more importantly the rule of law.”

Orji called for the devolution of more power from the centre to the states, which he said, will free more assets for governors in their roles of deepening democracy and enhancing development.

•Orji

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WENTY five of the 27 lawmakers in the Imo State House of Assembly have endorsed the removal of the Deputy Governor, Jude Agbaso.

This puts to rest speculations that the lawmakers’ action was based on party affiliations.

A special Ad Hoc Committee led by Simon Iwunze, representing Isiala Mbano constituency, had indicted Agbaso on a N458million bribery scam.

The Chief Judge, Benjamin Njemanze, has set up a seven-man panel of enquiry

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

for further investigation.

Speaking in a radio programme, Iwunze chided the deputy governor and his elder brother, Martin, for diverting attention from the real issue.

“The issue has nothing to do with 2015 as the deputy governor and his brother, Martin, would have the public believe.

“The deputy governor was given fair hearing. He lied several times before owning up to Joseph Dina, the Managing Director of J-PROS Construction.

“Agbaso also collected

Green label designers Porche Whisky which costs over N150, 000. Crying that his travail is political is diversionary.

“This was a man we gave all the respect and accorded all the honour for him to defend himself.

“Today, we have gone pass all that, we wait for the chief judge’s panel to make its findings known.”

The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chinedu Offor, has called on the deputy governor and his subjects to stop picking on Governor Rochas Okorocha since the matter is

•Agbaso

a constitutional one.

He said the rescue mission administration abhors corruption and any attempt for the governor to shield any official undergoing an investigation for corruption is an impeachable offence.

Delta CP accuses prison authorities of complicity ELTA State Police Commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba has accused the prison authorities of failing to inform the police when conveying inmates to court.

Aduba said in the past the prison authorities usually sought the assistance of the police.

Nine gunmen attacked a van conveying kidnap suspects to court and killed two warders and a civilian.

A kidnap kingpin was freed during the attack.

Two warders were injured and are receiving treatment at the Warri General Hospital.

He said the extra fire

D

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

power of the police may have deterred the gang.

Aduba yesterday said in this case the police were in the dark.

He said he was suspicious of the motives of the prison authorities in not informing the police.

His words: “There is something fishy here, when there is high profile kidnap case the prison authorities usually inform us.

“Why were we not alerted? We smell a rat. We

are not happy over this issue.”

Aduba identified the mastermind of the attack as “Kelvin from Kokori” Kelvin hails from Kokori community, Ethiope East Local Government, according to police sources.

The commissioner lamented that the kidnap kingpin was being protected by his kinsmen.

His words: “My men chased the gang to Isiokolo and Kokori communities.

These twin communities are a problem to us.

“Okada riders mobilised as

soon as they saw the security agencies in the community, they refused to assist us.”

He said during the exchange of gunfire one suspect was killed and three inmates re-arrested.

Aduba said: “Our men chased the gang to Isiokolo, where one of the robbers was killed. My men are still combing the bush where the bloodstained vehicle was abandoned.

“The kidnapped victim was rescued. It is confirmed that the suspect was hit by police bullets.”

Imo ALGON petitions EFCC over phoney contracts T

HE Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Imo State has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the government over phoney contracts awarded without due process.

ALGON, in a statement by its legal counsel, Cyprian Akaolisa, urged the anti-graft agency to investigate Governor Rochas Okorocha for allegedly misappropriating N26.27 billion left by former Governor Ikedi Ohakim.

It urged the agency to also arrest and investigate Okorocha’s wife, Nkechi, and other principal officers involved in the award of the phantom contracts.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday in Owerri, the state capital, Akaolisa said Ohakim left huge amounts of money in different bank accounts owned by the state, which have been allegedly squandered by the Okorocha administration.

He gave the breakdown as: N13.3billion bond proceeds in UBA Plc; N3billion SUBEB project accounts with BankPHB now Keystone Bank; N488million VAT account in Zenith Bank Plc;N450 internally generated revenue with Zenith Bank;N2.5 billion local government joint account with former Bank PHB. The association also accused the governor of diverting the N500million Agric loan deposited in Access Bank; N250million fertiliser sales account with Oceanic Bank Plc; N3.6million JAAC account with Bank PHB; N500million MDG projects accounts with Fidelity Bank Plc; N1billion Education Trust Fund (ETF) with Zenith

•Govt: our hands are clean

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

Bank and N670million Imo Children Education Fund.

ALGON alleged that these funds which were not captured in the Appropriation Budget had been illegally spent.

On the N458million allegedly collected by the deputy governor from some contractors, the association called on EFCC to intervene.

It called on the EFCC to also investigate the contractor and Managing Director of JPROS International Nigeria Limited, Joseph Dina, the Principal Secretary to the governor, Dr. Pascal Obi, Accountant General George Eche, Commissioner for Finance Chike Okafor and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Alex Nebedum.

ALGON also called for the arrest of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Benjamin Uwajumogu, for awarding contracts in the state and installing his own asphalt plant in Owerri where “almost all the asphalt used in the construction were procured”.

But the Commissioner of Information, Chinedu Offor, insisted that due process was followed in the award of contracts by the government.

“The contract was not phoney, it was duly awarded and paid for.

“The issue is that the contractor is alleging that he paid a bribe to the deputy governor.

“If ALGON is patriotic it should commend the government for its zero corruption policy.”

Be prudent in management, says ORMER World Bank Ezekwesili

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Vice-President for Africa Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili has called for prudent management of the economy.

She spoke at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers (NIESV) holding in Benin, the Edo State capital.

Quoting reports from the Bureau of Statistics, she lamented the level of poverty in the country and recommended an economy based on market principle, which will encourage optimum contribution to nation building by the citizenry.

Mrs. Ezekwesili also called for clarity of role between the private and public sec-

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

tor.

She criticised government’s intervention in sectors that will be best managed by the private sector, such as the aviation sector.

In his speech, President Goodluck Jonathan said more premium is placed on funding infrastructure projects to impact positively in the realisation of other priorities.

Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said government is aware of the need to bridge the infrastructure gap and country.

THE NATION THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

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FOREIGN NEWS India orders Itaian envoy not to leave

Israeli PM Netanyahu ‘reaches coalition deal’

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NDIA’s Supreme Court has ordered the Italian ambassador not to leave the country after Rome’s refusal to return two marines charged with the murder of two fishermen in Kerala last year.

The court had allowed the marines to go home to vote in last month’s elections.

Ambassador Daniele Mancini had personally assured the court the marines would return by 22 March.

On Wednesday, PM Manmohan Singh warned that “there will be consequences” unless Italy returned the marines.

In unusually strong language, the prime minister said that Italy’s refusal to send back the marines was “unacceptable”.

Church holds prayer session

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HE Kings in Christ Power Ministries International, Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Lagos, will begin its annual 30day prayer and fasting from April 9 to May 9. It is tagged: Greater Than The Pool of Bethsaida.

The programme will hold at the Gymnasium Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

The Chief Host and Senior Pastor of the church, Dr. Anthony Innocent Chidi, said total healing, deliverance, breakthrough and joy await those who will attend.

He added that the venue had been sanctified to be the new Bethsaida where miracles would be performed.

•Actor Steren Segal looks on as Russia’s President Vladmir Putin meets children at a wrestling School in Moscow. They are promoting the Soviet style regime of rigorous physical training for school children PHOTO: AFP

‘25% of pupils HIV positive in South Africa’

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T least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys because “sugar daddies” are exploiting them, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said.

According to the minister, 94,000 schoolgirls also fell pregnant in 2011, and 77,000 had abortions at state facilities, The Sowetan newspaper reports.

About 10% of South Africans are living with HIV, official statistics show.

Mr Motsoaledi has been

LENTEN TALK Rev. Henry O. Adelegan

Theme: Pleasing God! Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1

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OING the will of God makes one pleasing to Him and when the ways of a man is pleasing unto God, the Bible records in Proverbs 16:7 that He makes even his enemies (whatever or whoever has worked or is working against him) to be at peace with him (be reconciled or befriend him).

Apostle Paul, from our text, told the Thessalonians that when they walk right and please God, they will increase more and more. What this means is that the key to marital, financial, spiritual and occupational increase is pleasing God. Jesus Christ was an example of a person that pleased God during His earthly assignment and no wonder He had a testimony that God stood by Him all through ( John 8:29).

It is a very sad thing to note that the church and the world today are filled with human pleasers, hypocrites, liars and deceivers. A great number of people desire to please men rather than please God because of what they desire to get from man and not for love. The end result of this attitude is heartbreak, disappointments, failures and regrets.

During this season and henceforth, avoid every manner of eye-service, be diligent at your place of assignment (Proverbs 22:29), obey God in everything He commands (John 2:5; I Sam. 15:22b), flee every appearance of sin (Ephesians 5:1-5), pursue the fruits of the Spirit ( Galatians 5:22-23), show love to people around you, be known for good things in the community you live and have a heart of gratitude (Psalm 69:30-31).

Beloved, as you determine to do all that is pleasing to Him during this season, your life will move forward, you will experience growth in every sphere of life, God will miraculously supply all your needs and your enemies will turn to your friends in the name of Jesus.

Prayers: Oh Lord, continue to direct my path and attitude by the power of your Holy Spirit. Give me grace to make you number one in my life and please you in all of my ways in the name of Jesus.

widely praised for his efforts to curb the disease.

It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls” South Africa has run the world’s largest anti-retroviral (ARV) programme since President Jacob Zuma appointed him health minister in 2009.

The number of HIV-positive people receiving lifesaving ARV drugs more than doubled from 678,500 to 1.5 million after he took office, according to official statistics.

The government of former President Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and Aids, had argued it could not afford to roll out this treatment to all the South Africans who needed it.

Speaking at a public meeting in the town of Carolina in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, Mr Motsoaledi said the large number of young girls who were HIV-positive “destroyed my soul”.

“It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls. It is old men,” The Sowetan quotes him as

saying.

“We must take a stand against sugar daddies because they are destroying our children.”

Mr Motsoaledi said some pregnant girls - aged between 10 and 14 years of age - also tested positive for HIV. “[About] 77 000 girls had abortions at public facilities.

We can no longer live like that. We want to put an end to it,” he said.

More than five million people in South Africa are HIV-positive - about 10% of the total population.

Iraq war costs US over $2trn, says report

T

HE United States war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion (about 300 trNaira), with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.

The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at

Brown University.

When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war’s death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000, the study said.

The report, the work of about 30 academics and experts, was published in advance of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.

It was also an update of a 2011 report the Watson Institute produced ahead of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that assessed the cost in dollars

Xi Jinping is Chinese president

X

i Jinping was yesterday named China’s President by the country’s parliament, one of the final steps in China’s once-in-a-decade leadership change.

Four months after taking over as General Secretary of the Communist Party, Xi replaces outgoing leader Hu Jintao after a formal vote of about 3,000 deputies at the National People’s Congress (NPC).

The vote, largely a rubber stamp that completes the highly choreographed leadership transition, was unanimous.

Li Keqiang will become premier, replacing Wen

Jiabao, who stands aside as part of the leadership overhaul, which will see the traditionally ninemember Politburo Standing Committee shrink to seven.

Xi was also named chairman of the state Central Military Commission.

“He has had a stronger military relationship than either of his two predecessors - Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao -when they began, so Xi comes in with a really strong position and he needs it,” Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author of “How China’s Leaders Think,” told CNN.

and lives from the resulting wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

The 2011 study said the combined cost of the wars was at least $3.7 trillion, based on actual expenditures from the U.S. Treasury and future commitments, such as the medical and disability claims of U.S. war veterans.

That estimate climbed to nearly $4 trillion in the update.

THE Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a deal to form a coalition government, officials say.

His Likud-Yisrael Beitenu party list will form a coalition with the centrist Yesh Atid and Hatnua and the far-right Jewish Home.

Mr Netanyahu was forced to give up his alliance with the ultraOrthodox parties: Shas and United Torah Judaism.

It took five weeks to reach deals with his new partners after the general election on 22 January.

“There is a government,” Likud spokeswoman Noga Katz was quoted as saying

by Reuters news agency.

On his Facebook page, Yair Lapid, the leader of Yesh Atid, says the coalition agreement will be signed “probably tonight” (Thursday).

Ohio woman, 106, finally gets school diploma A 106-year-old central Ohio woman who completed classes but didn’t graduate in a dispute over a book has received her high school diploma.

The News Journal reports the Mount Vernon superintendent presented Reba Williams with the diploma Wednesday at her apartment in Columbus. She even got to wear a traditional graduation cap brought by the retired Mount Vernon English teacher who urged the school board to award the diploma.

Williams has said she completed high school in Mount Vernon but was denied her diploma because she refused to read a final book assigned by a teacher. She’d read the book once and didn’t want to read it again.

Williams says she hopes current students realise that learning is important and that they probably shouldn’t follow her example.

62

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

IN THE HIGH COURT OF LAGOS STATE OF NIGERIA PROBATE REGISTRY, LAGOS DIVISION WHEREAS the person whose names are set-out in the first Column under died intestate on the date and place stated in the said Column. AND WHEREAS the person or persons whose names and addresses and relationship (if any) to the deceased are set out in the second Column here have applied to the High Court of Lagos State for a Grant of Letter of Administration of the Real and Personal Properties of the deceased. NOTICE IS HEREBY given that Letters of Administration will be granted to such persons unless a NOTICE TO PROHIBIT THE GRANT is filed in the registry within (14) days from the date hereof.

S/N NAMES OF THE DECEASED PERSON: 1. Onwudiwe Lawrence late of 208 Road, D Close, House 25, Festac Town, Lagos who died intestate on the 18th October, 2009 at Lagos.

2. Yakubu Nasiru Adebisi known as Nasiru Yakubu Adebisi late of 46, Ipao Street, Ilogbo, Ajagbadi, Lagos who died intestate on the 11th September, 2012 at Lagos.

3. Mr. Chukwu Friday J. late of 4, Emmanuel Street, Bariga, Lagos who died intestate on the 12th October, 2012 at Lagos.

4. Sikiru Bakare late of 16, Aloko Compound, Orile Iganmu, Lagos who died intestate on the 12th January, 2010 at Lagos.

5. Tijani Garba known as Garuba Tijani late of Block 2, Room 27, Ijeh Police Barracks, Obalende, Lagos who died intestate on the 12th December, 2012 at Lagos.

6. Ezeukou Ibrahim Uche late of 13, Grace Evangel Close, Canal Estate, Okota, Lagos who died intestate on the 23rd April, 2005 at Johannesbourg.

7. Amusa Rasheed Odufuwa late of 25, Itan Omo Quarters, Odoragunsin Epe, Lagos who died on the 8th September, 2006 at Lagos.

8. Sulaimon Kolawole Ashafa known as Sulaimon Kolawole late of C, 18, Federal Low Cost Housing Estate, Abesan, Ipaja, Lagos who died intestate on the 27th October, 1993 at Lagos.

9. Mr. Olanrewaju Peters Ekundayo known as Olarenwaju Ekundayo Peter and Akanmu late of 8, Ifelodun Street, Surulere, Lagos who died intestate on the 19th August, 2011 at Ogun State.

10. Oshadipe Oluseye Aderibigbe late of Block 71, Flat C, TOS Benson Maruwa Estate, Owutu, Ikorodu, Lagos who died intestate on the 9th September, 2011 at Lagos.

11. Nkwocha Victoria Chinyere known as Adazchiv Lady Nkwocha late of 18, Association Avenue, Oke Afa, Isolo, Lagos who died intestate on the 1st February, 2011 at Lagos.

12. Akujobi Joseph late of 18, Gbadesare Street, Olodi Apapa, Lagos who died intestate on the 3rd April, 2012 at Lagos.

13. Oseni Jimoh Shonola known as Oseni Jimoh late of 70, Odunfa Street, Lagos who died intestate on the 14th February, 2010 at Lagos.

14. Aiyedun Aroworade late of 75, Igbosere Road, Lagos who died intestate on the 13th March, 2011 at Lagos.

15. Kamal- Deen Omotayo Ajadi known as Mr. Kamal Ajadi late of Ascon Topo Badagry who died intestate on the 7th August, 2012 at Badagry, Lagos.

16. Danmole Olabisi late of 15, Alhaji Alimi Street, Ilaje, Bariga, Lagos who died intestate on the 4th December, 1996 at Lagos.

17. Mr. David Ubezoha Ogbonna known a s Ogbonna David Ubezoha late of 31, Swamp Street, Wilmer, Ajegunle, Lagos who died intestate on the 10th May, 2011 at Umuahia, Abia State.

18. Sunday John Udoidiong known as Sunday John late of 7, Ezeagu Street, Off Ojo Road, Ajegunle, Lagos who died intestate on the 4th June, 2010 at Lagos.

19. Gabriel Chukwura Okoli late of 10, Itukwu Road, Umuokpo-Awka who died intestate on the 9th June, 1983 at Zaria.

20. Anyanwu Peter Nolasco Nwachi known as Peter Anyanwu late of 6, Ikenne Street, Ajegunle, Lagos who died intestate on the 20th September, 2010 at Lagos.

21. Ogana Onwezuaka Anthony known as Tony Ogana late of 64, Emordi Street, Olodi-Apapa, Lagos who died intestate on the 14th May, 2008 at Lagos.

22. Mr. Joel Oluronbi known as Mr,. Oluronbi Joel Adeleke late of Block 49, Flat 1, Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos who died intestate on the 23rd January, 2007 at Lagos.

23. Joseph Ade Ademola known as Ademola Joseph late of Close, 37, House 3, Satellite Town, Lagos who died intestate on the 2nd August, 2012 at Lagos.

24. Oyewole Samson Ogbodo late of 8, Bello Joroma Close, Ijegun Road, Ikotun, Lagos who died intestate on the 15th January, 2012 at Edo State.

25. Alhaji Agbosasa Abdul Yekinni Idowu late of 36, Suenu Road, Surulere, Lagos who died intestate on the 6th May, 2010 at Lagos.

26. Engr. Muslim O. Sanyaolu known as Sanyaolu Muslim late of 86, Ilamoye Street, Ijeshatedo, Surulere, Lagos who died intestate on the 31st October, 2009 at Lagos.

27. Fasola Bayo Surajudeen known as Fasholoa Bayo Surajudeen late of 37, Kujore Street, Ojota, Lagos who died intestate on the 22nd August, 2010 at Lagos.

28. Ayoola Adelodun late of 34, Agbayi Road, Ogudu Ori-Oke, Ojota, Lagos who died intestate on the 31st August, 2011 at Eku, Delta State.

29. Ogunlesi Bolanle late of 25, Adebiyi Street, Somolu, Lagos who died intestate on the 14th May, 2009 at Lagos.

30. Mr. Okwe Thormas late of Room 7, Block 8, Bar Beach Police Barracks, Victoria Island, Lagos who died intestate on the 29th October, 2011at Ogoja.

31. Mr. Olalekan Olatunji late of SW2/252, Kososi Isale- Osi, Ibadan who died intestate on the 14th November, 2011 at Ibadan.

32. Ifeyinwa Theresa Nwankwo late of Plot 32, Block 88, Military Estate, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos who died intestate on the 22nd August, 2012 at Lagos.

33. Mr. Lazarus Amushie late of 43, Oluwa Street, Olodi Apapa, Lagos who died intestate on the 27th September, 2010 at Lagos.

34. Engr. Abeeb Toyin Longe late of 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Way, G.R.A, Ikeja, Lagos who died intestate on the 6th March, 2008 at Ikeja, Lagos.

35. Aremu Olaiwola known as Aremu Olayiwola late of 27, Okepopo Street, Lagos who died intestate on the 16th June, 2010 at Lagos.

36. Mr. Lagos Olokpa Ugbeni late of Road 25, Q 81 V.G.C, Ajah, Lagos who died intestate on the 10th May, 1997 at Lagos.

37. Prof. Donald Effiong Udo Ekong late of 12, Wole Ariyo Street, Lekki, Lagos who died intestate on the 12th January, 2005 at U.S.A. 38. Aaron Chidi Edna known as Mrs. Aaron Chidi late of 13, Ibitoye Street, Ilasamaja, Lagos who died intestate on the 12th November, 2012 at Lagos.

39. Opia Alabo late of House 17, A Close, Festac Town, Lagos who died intestate on 23rd December, 2011 at Kwale, Delta State.

40. Madam Ajikanle Sidikat known as Sidikat Asake Ajikanle late of 11, Obanta Street, Orile Iganmu, Lagos who died intestate on the 6th September, 2008 at Lagos.

41. Udogwu Emeka Francis late of 26, Sadiku Street, Olodi Apapa, Lagos aho died intestate on the 1st August, 2010 at Lagos.

42. Ezeadum Francis Okoye known as Ezeadum Francis late of 10, Ezenwekwe Street, Onitsha, Anambra State who died intestate on the 4th April, 2005 at Onitsha.

43. Macaulay Samuel late of 3rd Avenue, N Close, House 8, Festac Town, Lagos who died intestate on the 13th November, 2007 at Lagos.

44. Daniel Oghenechuko Ogude known as Ogude Daniel late of 36, Ayantuga Street, Mushin, Lagos who died intestate on the 23rd October, 2011 at Lagos.

45. Yekini Abiodun Eshinlokun late of 12, Omotashe Compound, Itire, Lagos who died intestate on the 28th January, 2011 at Lagos.

46. Alimi Ajani Sarafadeen Alao known as Alimi Sarafadeen Alao late of 3, Kinito Street, Alafia Street, Itire Road, Mushin, Lagos who died intestate on the 25th June, 2010 at Ibadan.

47. Ogbuitepu Obiora known as Ogbuitepu Obiorah late of Close 47, House 10, Satellite Town, Lagos who died intestate on the 25th March, 2012 at Asaba, Delta State.

48. Mr. Titus Olu Ojuri known as Titus Oluwemimo Ojuri late of 19, Olalekan Magbagbeola Street, Akute, Lagos who died intestate on the 4th May, 2005 at Lagos.

49. Dangana Ngam Amana known as Amana Dangana Ayuba late of 32, Ilupeju Street, Ikotun, Lagos who died intestate on the 28th May, 2011 at Abuja.

50. Abiaze Ifeoma known as Miss. Abiazie Ifeoma and Abiazie Ifeoma Patience late of 144, Lewis Street, Lagos who died intestate on the 2nd July, 2011 at Lagos.

51. Jimoh Adeshigbin late of 18, Babani Street, Ajegunle, Lagos who died intestate on the 15th September, 2010 at Lagos.

52. Folusho I. Sodji known as Folorunsho Mr. Sodji late of House 153, Iru Resettlement Oniru Estate, Lagos who died intestate on the 6th July, 2011 at Lagos.

53. Mr. Francis David known as Mr. David F.T late of 7, Olasonde Street, Papa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos who died intestate on 28th April, 2011 at Yenegoa, Bayelsa State.

54. Mr. Job Adewuyi late of 21, Oni Street, Surulere, Lagos who died intestate on the 7th July, 1986 at Lagos.

55. Daniel Tanpinnu Whensu known as Whensu Tanpinu Daniel late of 1, Toga Men Site, Behind Jehovah Witness, Badagry, Lagos who died intestate on 18th August, 2009 at Badagry, Lagos.

56. Alhaja Mustura Ajoke Adisa-Adeogun late of 15, Olawoyin Street, Mushin, Lagos who died intestate on the 31st December, 2012 at Lagos.

57. John Obogor Okwor known as Obogor John late of Block 11, Flat 21, Queens Barracks, Apapa, Lagos who died intestate on the 22nd November, 2011 at Lagos.

58. Gideon Osita Duru known as Gideon Duru late of 18, Ohamu Close, Oworoshoki, Lagos who died intestate on the 9th December, 2009 at Lagos.

59. Mr. Adeleye Sulaimon Atanda late of 12, Richard Abimbola Street, Ilasa, Lagos who died intestate on the 8th May, 2012 at Lagos.

60. Sunday Kalu late of 99/100, Bamgbose Street, Lagos who died intestate on the 19th April, 2007 at Lagos.

61. Mene Patience late of 6, Ajose Lane, Ajegunle, Lagos who died intestate on the 13th June, 2012 at Lagos.

62. Peter Ikechukwu Nosike known as Nosike Peter Ikechukwu late of 4, Latunde Close, Lagos who died intestate on the 3rd June, 2012 at Lagos.

63. Francis Adekoyejo Okikiolu late of Flat 3, Block 91, Ogba Low Cost Housing Estate, Ogba, Lagos who died intestate on the 18th February, 2011 at London.

64. Taofik Kayode Taiwo late of 38, Akanro Street, Ilasamaja, Mushin, Lagos who died intestate on the 2nd July, 2012 at Lagos.

65. Theresa Ifeanyi Okeleke otherwise known as Mrs. Keleke Theresa of 2, Tunde Liadi Street, Akessan, Off Lasu Road, Igando, Lagos who died intestate on the 5th December, 2012 at Lagos.

66. Alhaji Ganiu Kolawole Dosunmu otherwise known as Dosunmu Ganiu Kolawale and G.K.D late of 32, Idoluwo Street, Lagos who died intestate on the 9th July, 2012 at Lagos.

67. Mrs. Beatrice Adeola late of 11, Olalere Street, Aboru, Alimosho, Lagos who died intestate on the 28th March, 2012 at Lagos.

68. Adegboye Ganiyu Olori Olayinka otherwise known as Adeboye Ganiyu Olori late of 34, Adeniji Adele Street, Lagos who died intestate on the 15th August, 2011 at Lagos.

69. Mr. Rasak Abiola Fasasi late of Rasak's House, Agege Road, Agege, Ibafo, Ogun State who died intestate on the 4th August, 2012 at Ibafo.

70. Mr. Julius Obakachi late of Block 151, Flat 2, Amuwo Odofin, Mile 2 Estate, Lagos who died intestate on the 14th April, 2012 at Lagos.

71. Mrs. Rashidat Ajike Adegoke known as Adegoke Rashidat Ajike and Mrs. R.A Adegoke late of 11, Teacher's Estate, Ladegboye, Ikorodu, Lagos who died intestate on the 28th July, 2010 at Lagos.

72. Samuel Ajewole Fasaku late of F205, Park Avenue, Coop Village, Badore, Lagos who died intestate on the 22nd December, 2008 at Lagos.

73. Mr. Moses George known as Mr. Moses Amaize George late of 2, Adejatu Kasunmu Street, Mosau Ipaja, Lagos who died intestate on the 3rd June, 2012 at Lago 74. Akindele Oluwadare known as Akindele Oluwadare Abiyeye late of 22, Okunlola Street, Agodo Segun Sprintex, Ikorodu, Lagos who died intestate on the 26th April, 2012 at Lagos.

75. Dennis Oviosu Otokhile late of 35, Ajegunle Road, Atan Ota, Ogun State who died intestate on the 10th September, 2012 at Ota, Ogun State.

76. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Manafa late of 19, Adebola Street, Surulere, Lagos who died intestate on the 29th November, 2012 at Lagos.

77. Kolufisayo Fadahunsi late of Beside Mega Chicken, Ajah, Lekki/Epe Expressway, Lagos who died intestate on the 7th July, 2012 at Lagos.

78. Mr. Olutoyin Oladosu late of Plot 10, Block 47, House 30, Chief Samuel Ajayi Street, Magodo, Lagos who died intestate on the 12th January, 2013 at Lagos.

S/N

NAMES OF APPLICANT APPLYING FOR THE GRANT

1. Mrs. Cecilia Azuka Onwudiwe, Mrs. Anthonia Iwugo, Mrs. Ngozi Kanu and Mrs. Nneka Gibniey all of 208 Road, D Close, House 25, Festac Town, Lagos. The Widow and Children of the said deceased.

2. Yakubu Itopa Rasaki and Mrs. Olufunmilayo Sadiat Yakubu both of 46, Ipao Street, Ilogbo Ajagbandi, Lagos. One of the Children and Widow of the said deceased.

3. Mrs. Chukwu Chinyere and Mr. Christopher Sunday both of 4, Emmanuel Street, Bariga, Lagos. The Widow and Brother of the said deceased.

4. Mr. Rasak Adeoye and Mrs. Taibat Olayide Adeoye of 7, Ajayi Bembe Street, Abule Oja, Yaba and 16, Aloko Compound, Orile Iganmu, Lagos. The Uncle and Widow of the said deceased.

5. Fadima Garba and Iliyasu Graba both of Block 2, Room 27, Ijeh Police Barracks, Obalende, Lagos. The Widow and One of the children of the said deceased.

6. Ezeuko Innocent and Ezenweke Scholastica of 13, Grace Evangel Close, Canal Estate, Okota, Lagos and 8, Mekaduwura Street, Awodi Onitsha, Anambra State. The Brother and Sister of the said deceased.

7. Olushola Amusa Ogunbanjo and Olayiwola Ola both of 25, Itan Omo Quarters, Odoragunsin, Epe, Lagos. One of the children and Brother of the said deceased.

8. Mohammed Abosede (Mrs) and Olaseyi Basirat (Mrs) both of 10, Olu Akinkuotu Street, Ora, Ijanikin, Lagos. Two of the Children of the said deceased.

9. Mrs. Damilola Olanrewaju and Mr. Idahosa Samuel both of 2B, Lawal Close, Fadeyi, Yaba, Lagos. The Widow and Cousin of the said deceased.

10. Miss. Oshadipe Oluranti Adekunle and Mr. James Adedamola Salako both of Block 71, TOS Benson Maruwa Estate, Owutu, Ikorodu, Lagos. The Elder Sister and Nephew of the said deceased.

11. Sir, Herbert Nkwocha and Hon. Justice Agatha Okeke b oth of 18, Association Avenue, Oke- Afa, Isolo, Lagos. The Widower and Daughter of the said deceased.

12. Mr. Emeka Akujobi and Mr. Destiny Godwin of 18, Gbadasare Street, Olodi Apapa, and 16, Oguntimehin Street, Olodi Apapa, Lagos. The Brother and Cousin of the said deceased.

13. Mr. Oseni Rasheed, Mrs. Oseni Sherifat and Mr. Ahmed Oseni all of 35, Okepopo Street, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

14. Adeyemi Aroworade and Mrs. Folashade Aroworade both of 75, Igbosere Road, Lagos. Two of the children of the said deceased.

15. Kasali Ayoade Ajadi and Mr. Moruf Oyebisi Ajadi of 20, Idera Street, Oworonshoki, Lagos and Plot 40, Akinyele Layout, Bashorun, Ibadan Oyo state. The Brothers of the said deceased.

16. Mrs. O.N Fujah, Mrs. A. Danmole Subair and Miss. Tolulope L. Disu all of 15, Alhaji Alimi Street, Ilaje, Bariga, Lagos. The Sisters and Daughter of the said deceased.

17. Mrs. Rebecca Ogbonna and Mr. Uchenna Godspower both of 31, Swamp Street, Wilmer Ajegunle, Lagos. The Widow and One of the children of the said deceased.

18. Iniobong Sunday John, Enomfon Sunday John and Esther Sunday John all of 7, Ezeagu Street, Off Ojo Road, Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos. The Widow and Two of the Children of the said deceased.

19. Dr. Dibo Igweanu Okoli and Ekwunife Nwudechukwu Okoli C/0 of Dept. of Obstetrician and Gyneacology, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria. The Sons of the said deceased.

20. Anyanwu Jacinta, Anyanwu Chinaza and Anyanwu Onyinyechi all of 6, Ikenne Street, Ajegunle, Lagos. The Widow and Children of the said deceased.

21. Ogana Loretta Chizoba and Ogana James of 64, Emordi Street, Olodi Apapa, and 5, Nnokwa Street, Ejigbo, Lagos. The Widow and Brother of the said deceased.

22. Mrs. Victoria Oluronbi and Mr. Segun Oluronbi both of Block 49, Flat 1, Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos. The Widow and Son of the said deceased.

23. Mrs. Abosede Ademola and Mrs. Adedayo Adeola Sawyerr both of Close 37, House 3, Satellite Towm, Lagos. The Widow and Daughter of the said deceased.

24. Mrs. Queen Ajagun Ogbodo and Miss. Esther Ajagun Ogbodo both of 8, Bello Joroma Close, Ijegun Road, Ikotun, Lagos. The Mother and Daughter of the said deceased.

25. Mrs. Shakirat Oredola Kazeem and Mr. Hassan Obafemi Agbosasa both of 36, Suenu Road, Surulere, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

26. Silifat Sanyaolu and Fatimat O. Al-Hayunu both of 86, Ilamoye Street, Ijesha-Tedo, Surulere, Lagos. The Widow and One of the Children of the said deceased.

27. Aminat A. Fasola and Mrs. Oluwatosin Fasola both of 37, Kujore Street, Ojota, Lagos. The Daughter and Widow of the said deceased.

28. Adelodun Segun and Adelodun Yemisi Yetunde both of 34, Agboyi Road, Ogudu, Ori-Oke, Ojota, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

29. Mr. Yinusa Osinowo and Mr. Sulaimon Osinowo both of 15, Adebiyi Street, Somolu, Lagos. The Father and Brother of the said deceased.

30. Mrs. Lilian Okwe, Mrs. Anthonia Oneno Okwe and David Godspower Okwe All of Room 7, Block 8, Bar Beach Police Barracks, Victoria Island, Lagos. Widow and Two of the Children of the said deceased.

31. Mr. Basiru Olatunji, Saheed Olatunji and Kazeem Olatunji of SW2/252, Kososi Islae Osi, Ibadan and 22, Idi-Orogbo Compound, Ijegun, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

32. Anthony Amakwe and Peter Nwankwo both of 22, Faruk Abdulaziz Street, Ire-Akari Estate, Isolo, Lagos. The Brothers of the said deceased.

33. Mr. Emmanuel Amushie and Mrs. Rita Amushie of Km 17, Badagry Expressway, Lagos and 43, Oluwa Street, Olodi Apapa, Lagos.

The Son and Widow of the said deceased.

34. Mrs. Iyabo O. Longe and Captain Ajibade Adebiyi both of 42, Remi Fani-Kayode Way, G.R.A, Ikeja, Lagos. The Widow and Cousin of the said deceased.

35. Mr. Tunde Aremu and Kemi ASremu both of 27, Okepopo Street, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

36. Mark Taghogho Ugheni and Jude Ogheneogoga Ugheni both of Road 25, V.G.C, Ajah Lagos. The Two of the children of the said deceased.

37. Mrs. Effiong John Ekong and Dr. Donald U. Ekong both of 12, Wole Ariyo Street, Lekki, Lagos. The Widow and One of the children of the said deceased.

38. Mr. Chidiadi Aaron, Mrs. Queensley Kalu and Mr. Onyekachi Aaron all of 13, Ibitoye Street, Ilasamaja, Lagos. The Widower and Two of the children of the said deceased.

39. Mr. Chukwuma Opia and Engr. Afam Opia both of House 17, A Close, Festac Town, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

40. Mr. Tajudeen Abayomi Hassan and Mrs. Surat Ariyike Hassan both of 11, Obanta Street, Orile Iganmu, Lagos. The child and Daughter-in-law of the said deceased.

41. Mrs. Udogwu Uzor Veronica and Mrs. Lizzy Mgbekem of FDI SOL Estate, Lekki Epe, Ajah, Lagos and Bode Thomas, Surulere, Lagos. The Widow and Sister-in-law of the said deceased.

42. Patrick Ezeadum and Victor Ezeadum both of 52, Akobi Crescent, Surulere, Lagos. The Brothers of the said deceased.

43. Mr. Babatunde Macaulay, Mr. Omolade Macaulay and Mrs. Biodun Ayo, all of 3rd Avenue, H Close, House 8, Festac Town, Lagos.

The Children of the said deceased.

44. Mrs. Stella Ogude and Miss. Okiemute Ogude both of 36, Ayantuga Street, Mushin, Lagos. The Widow and daughter of the said deceased.

45. Babatunde Eshinlokun and Mrs. Kadiyat Eshinlokun both of 12, Omotashe Compound, Itire, Lagos. Two of the children of the said deceased.

46. Suleiman Alimi and Musemilu Alimi both of 3, Kinito Alafia Street, Itire Road, Mushin, Lagos. Son and Brother of the said deceased.

47. Christian Omachona Ogbuitepu and Ngozi Ogbuitepu of 127, Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos and House 1B, 5th Avenue, I Close, Festac Town, Lagos. Two of the Children of the said deceased.

48. Mrs. Grace A. Ojuri and Alhaji Ganiyu O. Ramon of 19, Olalekan Magbagbeola Street, Akute, Lagos and 8/10, Olayinka Olugoke Street, Idimu, Lagos. The Widow and Family Friend of the said deceased.

49. Danjuma Ngam and Garuba Ngam both of 32, Ilupeju Street, Ikotun, Lagos. The Brothers of the said deceased.

50. Anthony Abiaze and Uchenna Abiaze both of 10, Seriafil Mustagium Okoranla, Ajah, Lagos. The Father and Brother of the said deceased.

51. Rashidat Adeghigbin and Ismaila Adeshigbin both of 18, Babani Street, Ajegunle, Lagos. Two of the Children of the said deceased.

52. Adewale Sodji and Bose Monica Sodji both of 153, Iru Re-settlement, Oniru Estate, Lagos. Two of the children of the said deceased.

53. Mrs. Selai David and Samson I. Numotegha both of 7, Olasonde Street, Papa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos. The Widow and Brother of the said deceased.

54. Deborah Adewuyi Adedoyin and Olarenwaju Adewuyi of 3, Opeloyeru Street, Mushin, and 55, Docemo Street, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

55. Mrs. Hannah Whensu and Solomon Whensu both of 1, Toga Men Site, Behind Jehovah Witness, Badagry. The Widow and Brother of the said deceased.

56. Mrs. Modupe Oderinde, Mrs. Wakilat Omolara Adebanjo, Miss Sherifat Abiodun Adisa-Adeogun and Mr. Abdulahi Adetunji Adisa-Adeogun all of 15, Olawoyin Street, Mushin, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

57. Comfort Okwor, Agnes Okwor and Simon Okwor all of Block 11, Room 21, Queens Barracks, Apapa, Lagos. The Widow and Children of the said deceased.

58. Rosita Duru and Saba Duru both of 18, Ohamu Close, Oworonshoki, Lagos. The Widow and Brother of the said deceased.

59. Mrs. Munirat Adeleye and Mr. Fatai Adekunle Adeleye both of 12, Richard Abimbola Street, Ilasa, Lagos. The Widow and One of the children of the said deceased.

60. Chukwuemeka Sunday Kalu and Ogbonannaya Sunday Kalu both of 99/100, Bamgbose Street, Lagos. Two of the children of the said deceased.

61. Morgan Mene and Joseph Mene both of 6, Ajose Lane, Ajegunle, Lagos. Two of the children of the said deceased.

62. Mrs. Rosemary Nkem Nosike and Mrs. Patricia Okonji both of 4, Latunde Close, Lagos. The Widow and Sister of the said deceased.

63. Samuel Oluwaseun Kolawole Okikiolu and Jumoke Okikiolu both of Flat 3, Block 91, Ogba Low Cost Housing Estate, Ogba, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

64. Mrs. Basirat Taiwo and Mr. Taiwo Sikiru .O of 12, Sakajojo Street, Ilasa, Mushin and of 38, Akanro Street, Ilasa, Mushin, Lagos.

The children of the said deceased.

65. Okeleke Chinedu Paul and Okeleke Allen Amechi of 13, Alisau Sumonu Street, Abule-Eko, Ijede, Ikorodu and Pastor Joseph Close, Adenson , Lasu Road, Lagos. The children of the said deceased.

66. Ismail R. Dosunmu, Samiatu Timitope Adebayo, Dosunmu Fatimah and Mrs. Adiat Dosunmu Yakubu of 8, Igbede Street, Ipaja, 2, Mat Street, 23, Lawani Street, and 32, Adeyinka Osijo Street, Akoka, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

67. Adeyemi Adeola, Olubukola Adeola, Adesonmi Adeola and Tomilola Adeola All of 11, Olalere Street, Aboru Alimosho, Lagos.

The Children of the said deceased.

68. Mrs. Adebimpe A. Adeboye, Mrs. Kafilat Oluwaremilekun, Mrs. Sherifat Omowumi Adeboye and Idiat Olubukola Adeboye of 27, Onididun Street, Lagos and 34, Adeniji Adele Road, Lagos. The Children and Widows of the said deceased.

69. Mrs. Rasak Funke Nimota and Mr. Fasasi Mufutau of Rasak's House, Agege Road, Ibafo and 13, Alafia Street, Mokola Area, Ibadan.

The Widow and Brother of the said deceased.

70. Miss. Oluwakemi Obakachi and Mrs. Margret Oladokun both of Block 151, Flat 2, Amuwo Odofin Mile 2, Lagos. The Children of the said deceased.

71. Miss. Ebunola Oluwakemi Adegoke and Mr. Gbenga Waheed Adegoke both of 11, Teachers Estate, Ladegboye, Ikorodu, Lagos.

Two of the children of the said deceased.

72. Adebola O. Fasaku and Latunde A. Fasaku of F 205, Park Avenue, Coop Village, Badore, Ajah, Lagos and Block 3, Flat 4, Mobolaji Palace, Lekki, Lagos. The Widow and One of the Children of the said deceased.

73. Omodele Asemota Dania and Hannah Erepita George both of 2, Adejatu Kasumu Street, Mosau Ipaja, Lagos. The Sister and Daughter of the said deceased.

74. Abiyeye Folakemi, Abiyeye Oluwaseun and Abiyeye Olawale, all of 22, Okunola Street, Agodo Segun Sprintex, Ikorodu, Lagos.

The Widow and Children of the said deceased.

75. Mrs. Taiwo Oluwakemi Otokhile and Mr. Enaifoghe Aikhoje both of 35, Ajegunle Road, Atan, Ota, Ogun State. The Widow and Cousin of the said deceased.

76. Marcel Manafa and Henry Manafa both of 19, Adebola Street, Surulere, Lagos. The Brothers of the said deceased.

77. Oluwatoyin Olajumoke Fadahunsi and Olufunmilayo Morenikeji Fadahunsi both of Beside Mega Chicken, Ajah, Lekki/Epe Expressway, Lagos. The Widow and Daughter of the said deceased.

78. Mrs. Toyin Busola Oladosu, Miss. Oyindamola Oladosu and Miss. Adebimpe Oladosu, All of Plot 10, Block 47, House 30, Samuel Ajayi Street, Magodo, Lagos. The Widow and the Two of the children of the said deceased.

G.A. SAFARI (ESQ.) PROBATE REGISTRAR

63

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013

NEWS Fresh row over Diya, Adisa, others

INEC probes proxy APC’s letter of intent Continued from page 4

been received or even entertained by the Commission.

Said the source, who pleaded not to be named: “First, an individual or a lawyer cannot apply for registration of a political party. Thus, the application of the African Peoples Congress to form a political party ought not to have been received or even entertained by the Commission.”

The group’s letter was accepted because of the influence of the INEC official, it was learnt.

Another source said: “The speed and ease with which the impostor African Peoples Congress (APC) has moved with INEC since the letter submitted by a lawyer applying for approval to register a faceless and officeless party has been made possible due to active inside connivance from within the top hierarchy of INEC. We have it on good authority that a senior INEC official in the PPM&L with a few others deep inside INEC have been tapped by the Presidency to work to register at all cost the African Peoples Congress - all in an effort to frustrate the merger plans of the opposition parties.

“INEC’s collusion is deep, aided by the Presidency where a very senior aide and confidant of the President is in constant touch with the top INEC official to do all that is necessary to register the African Peoples Congress. The presidential aide, who is also from the same geo-political zone as the president and a very senior member of the PDP Board of Trustees have continued to push and pile undue pressure on some senior INEC officials to force through the registra-

tion of APC and where possible promote confusion by sponsoring other groups to apply for registration using the same party acronym, APC. The story of how an association that only sent a letter of intent to INEC on February 28, 2013 through a fake office address could exactly two weeks later hold a press briefing announcing to the world that it has fulfilled all registration procedures and going ahead to announce itself as a national party depicts the level of corruption in INEC. It remains the fastest formation of a party in Nigeria or anywhere for that matter.”

“The promoters of the African Peoples Congress seeing that their game has been exposed and credibility damaged moved quickly to put together a hasty press briefing in which they lied to Nigerians and the world that they had been registered.”

The INEC official aiding and abetting the irregularities is

Continued from page 59

the public? It further paints the picture of the game that they are out to play. May be the person paying the piper is paying them so that they can play high.”

Also responding to some questions, the Chairman of the Merger Committee of ACN, Chief Tom Ikimi insisted that the original APC by the three parties will survive.

He said the merging parties have no problem with INEC so far.

He said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is afraid because a merger has never happened in Nigerian po-

DV lottery: US warns of fake documents, information

T

By Wale Adepoju

getting entrance visa through the DV lottery or tourists’ visa to the US. She said being selected does not guarantee automatic visas, but only affords the selectees the right to have an interview to determine if they meet the minimum qualifications.

Okunubi, who briefed reporters in Lagos, warned that the US government does not have any accredited agents or organisations to carry out visa applications procedures, adding that people should desist from patronising touts, who would take their money and scuttle their chances.

Lagos installs automated washing machine

L

AGOS State Government has installed an automated washing machine for the washing and maintenance of the Lagos Bus Services (LAGBUS) buses.

Governor Babatunde Fashola, who inspected the facility yesterday at the LAGBUS terminus at Olusosun, Ojota, said the development was a commitment of the government to improve its transportation system.

He said the running of metropolitan buses in a

pacted positively on the overall economy of the nation, bringing crude oil exports from the abysmal low level of 700, 000 bpd, to over 2. 4 million bpd.

“Therefore, it is obvious that Alamieyesiegha has been a major player since his release from prison in ensuring that the blood that runs through the Nigerian economic artery is not cut off.”

Okupe likened the pardon granted the former Bayelsa Governor to that granted the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the late Ikemba, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu.

“State or presidential pardons are not intended for nobility or saints. In general, a state pardon is for those who have committed crimes and breached the laws of the land and may or may not have been tried or convicted regardless of their social status”.

According to him, the state pardon granted the former Bayelsa Governor would not in any way jeopardise the anti-corruption crusade.

“He lost his position, forfeited

•INEC chair Jega

said to have advised the promoters to submit new applications for party registration with the acronym, APC. INEC is said to received two other applications from Integrity Chambers dated March 5, 2013, asking for party registration for All Progressives Congress, APC, and another from All Patriotic Citizens, APC, dated March 8, 2013, asking for registration.

“All of these is aimed at causing confusion and frustrating the opposition APC from being registered,” the source said.

the property he illegally acquired and has demonstrated enough soberness after he served his sentence. It is out of place to suggest that the pardon is tantamount to abandoning the fight against corruption in Nigeria” Chief Akinjide (SAN) also likened the pardon granted to Alamieyesiegha to the pardon granted to the late Biafran leader, who led a civil war against the Nigerian state.

He described the gesture as a worthy one which should be separated from sentiments Nwabueze, who spoke in Lagos, said: “The pardon is quite in order. It is within the president’s powers to grant the pardon to anybody who has committed offence against the state.

In the case of Alamieyeseigha, there is nothing wrong in granting him pardon. He saw me in London and engaged my services. I appeared for him in the London court.

“I felt bad the way Alamieyeseigha was treated.

Alamieyeseigha was a state governor. Therefore, he repre-

Proxy APC: ACN, ANPP, CPC have alerted INEC, says Lai Mohammed

NEWS HE United States Consulate-General in Lagos yesterday said only selectees of Diversity Immigrant Visa, who present genuine information and documents, are assured of getting entry visas to the US. Its Vice-Consul, Rachel Okunubi, said most winners, especially in Nigeria, were disqualified because they presented fake documents and inaccurate information.

According to her, many selectees have lost the opportunity to get legal permit to live and work in the US because they presented fake spouses or documents.

This, she said, might prevent the selectees from

Continued from page 4

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

country where such buses were not manufactured was difficult.

Fashola said his administration would maintain and improve the bus services for the benefit of the public.

Said he: “Before now, we had to wash the buses manually. Of course, we spent a lot of time doing that. This caused problem in service delivery. So, we thought about procuring these machines.”

litical history.

He said: “We are aware of those who don’t want us to merge and who are afraid of the emergence of a strong opposition or a strong alternative for Nigerians.

“It is very clear to everyone now that the emergence of the opposition…the All Progressives Congress (APC) is giving jitters to some people. And that they are trying to muddle the water by developing all kinds of APCs. “But there is only one APC and that is the All Progressives Congress.

We will assure you that APC will survive.

“Apart from the name, it is the people that makes the party. As

a people, the whole country is with us; the world is with us. The world is sick and tired of what they have been experiencing in Nigeria.

“Number one is that the major adversary that the opposition has in Nigeria is the ruling party. And if there are people playing pranks with our registration we cannot look further than that.

“Number two, whether President Jonathan wishes to run or not that is a matter of their party.

It is not of any interest to us. As far as we do our registration and inform Nigeria on where we stand, anybody can run for PDP. “As of now, we have no problem with INEC, except of course,

if INEC does the wrong thing.

We have sent in our correspondences to INEC and we are continuing with the processes for merger.

“The processes include constitution, which we received today from our committee, a new manifesto which we received today from our committee and we are processing them and other issues we need to fulfill in order to comply with the Electoral Act. Once these things have been out, together we will approach INEC. For now, we have no problem with INEC, except of course if they do the wrong thing,” Ikimi said.

sented part of the sovereignty of the country. For the Nigerian state to be party to the way Alamieyeseigha was arrested and handcuffed at Heathrow Airport in London was bad. It was handcuffing part of the sovereignty of Nigeria. He was a governor. You don’t disgrace him like that in the public in the view of passengers in the plane.

You were disgracing Nigeria, not Alamieyeseigha alone. So. I felt very bad.”

Nwabueze also said that Alamieyeseigha, who was subsequently impeached, faced the tragedy of being maltreated, despite his position. He said, if the state has now seen the need to make amends by granting him pardon, it is in order.

Proxy APC opens secretariat From Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

THE controversial African Peoples Congress (APC) yesterday opened its national secretariat and unveiled its logo in Abuja.

Addressing a motley crowd at the party’s secretariat, the protem national chairman, Chief Onyime Ikeagwuonu, described existing political parties as purposeless and rudderless.

Ikeagwuonu stated: “The PDP, ACN, ANPP, CPC have taken Nigeria on a journey to nowhere. They have taken our country on a political expedition without any road map or action plan.

“Since 1999, all we have to show for their political dominance is purposeless and rudderless leadership that has added little or no value to the lives and welfare of the average Nigerian.”

JAMB sells over 1.6 million forms ahead UTME

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HE Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) yesterday said over 1.6 million forms had been purchased for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) scheduled for next month.

JAMB’s spokesman Mr. Fabian Benjamin spoke in a telephone interview in Lagos.

He said of the figure, 90.000 candidates would be tested with the newly-introduced Computer Based Test (CBT) and Dual Based Test (DBT).

He said already, the board had put in place strategies that would ensure a hitch free examination across the 3,000 centres na-

tionwide.

According to him, the sale of forms is expected to end today, while the website used for the sale will be closed on March 24.

“We have concluded arrangements for the take-off of the 2013 UTME examination, which will begin on April 27 for candidates for the Pencil Paper Test (PPT).

“We are trying to adjust the examination date for the Computer Based Test (CBT) and Dual Based Test (DBT) candidates because the date coincides with the dates of the 2013 May/June Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examination

Council (NECO).

“I cannot say precisely when it will take place for now until we are through with the adjustment so that it does not cause any clash for the candidates. As soon as this is achieved, we shall communicate to those concerned,” Mr. Benjamin said.

He said the number of candidates that had applied for this year’s examination was higher than that of 2012 which, according to him, was put at 1.4 million nationwide.

Benjamin said the board was looking forward to a hitch-free examination with an almost zero level of examination malpractice in view of the logistics that would be deployed.

“We have written to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, applying for a deployment of their men for the examination.

“We are looking forward to having at least two of these security officers in each of the centres nationwide, to ensure a peaceful and hitch-free examination,” he added.

The JAMB’s spokesman noted that with the introduction of the CBT, there would be no incidence of examination malpractice or rowdiness, which characterised previous examinations.

According to him, candidates sitting for the CBT would have their results promptly released to them after the examination.

Reps tighten noose over plea bargaining, adjournments

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LEA bargaining and indefinite trial of some criminal cases through adjournments are coming under stricter conditions, as a bill for an Act to repeal the Criminal Code Procedure Act, 2004 scaled the second reading yesterday in the House of Representatives.

The lawmakers have also backed the prohibition of the arrest of the families or associates of criminals in lieu.

Sponsor of the bill, Ali Ahmad, who is also the Chairman, Committee on Justice, said the review of the administration of criminal

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja justice system was overdue.

“The bill was developed to address the major shortcomings of the Nigerian criminal justice system by aiming to achieve speedy dispensation of justice, protection of the society from crime as well as protecting the rights and interests of the victims and defendants.”

He stressed that if passed into law, the bill would become a model for states to adopt through their legislatures.

“The implication is that criminals’ option of jumping from one state to the other as a result of lenient criminal justice system would be eradicated,” he added.

Learning from the Halliburton experience, the bill is also placing stricter checks and balances on plea bargaining. Henceforth, plea bargaining must conform with police investigation and must be in public interest among other conditions.

To institutionalise speedy trial, the bill is also

seeking to limit adjournment of cases to five and not more than 14 days in between. Methodology and sentencing were also provided.

The bill states that application for stay of proceedings will no longer be heard until judgment, and so cannot operate to stall continuation of trial.

According to the bill, arrest of families and associates of crime suspects is prohibited in addition to the prohibition of inhuman treatment or torture of arrested persons.

TODAY IN THE NATION

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.8 NO.2,429

‘It is the stalest repetition. Yet we madden and lust for celebrity humdrum to the point that one is tempted to wonder why too much passion is squandered in pursuit of too little substance. We live for idle amusement and thus the nature OLATUNJI OLOLADE of our daily news’

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

T

HE Presidency has spoken and the nation ought to listen and obey. The state is the family writ large, the President is the patriarch, and the citizens are the children. As the father of the nation, the President knows best what is good for the nation.

As such, it is impudent of citizens, his children, to query his judgment. Where did we hear this before?

The idea that the state is comparable to the family is as old as political philosophy. The structure of the state has been explained in terms of the structure of the family and Aristotle viewed the family developing into the state. Interestingly, in The People’s Republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo also explored the analogy with approval, viewing the paterfamilias as the benevolent patriarch who, on the basis of his knowledge of the interests of his children, negotiated with other families for the purpose of becoming a state. And Confucius celebrated the harmony that characterises the model of the state as family, a harmony that is ensured by the naturalness of the obedience that flows from bottom to the top: from citizens to the sovereign. A number of modern states exemplify this model with the attendant stability.

Too bad for the Presidency, Nigeria opted for a different model of the state. Before independence, the founding fathers, Awolowo included, knew that in view of our history and culture, and the experience of colonial rule, we would fare much better with a republican model of governance. This model is antithetical to the family model because it doesn’t treat citizens as children or subjects and it doesn’t credit the president or governor with a superior intellect, or a superlative moral sense. Indeed, in this model, the citizens know best their interests, and the purpose of elections is to register those interests. Political parties sponsor candidates with like minds and interests, and the party that emerges gets the nod to rule on behalf of all the citizens.

Of course, each model has its advantages and disadvantages. The first treats citizens as eternal children who can never grow. After all, even our various traditions acknowledge the progression from infancy to adulthood and respect the decisions of adult children of the family to find their own voice and make their own plans. That the family model of the state doesn’t give due recognition to citizens’ rights to question the judgment and actions of the government is one of its most egregious limitations and whatever advantage it garners in terms of the stability it provides is incapable of making up for this

SEGUN GBADEGESIN gbadegesin@thenationonlineng.net

The state as family writ large

•President Goodluck Jonathan

anomaly.

What some may find offensive about the republican state is its raucous character, occasioned by sometimes riotous debate and debilitating factionalisation which could slow down decision-making. Since every interest has the right to be placed on the marketplace of political ideas for acceptance, republican governance doesn’t favour one person or a group, no matter how well-placed, to impose a position on citizens. If this happens, the right to complain cannot be taken away from them.

In the matter of the power of the President to grant pardon to convicted felons, no one denies the constitutional privilege. The complaint, which the President as a reasonable and intelligent citizen also recognises and presumably appreciates, is that that power and the right come with huge responsibility and precaution against abuse. And when citizens sense a breach of the responsibility,

RIPPLES $45B RESERVES: FED GOVT AVOIDING DEBATE, SAYS EZEKWESILI

Don’t worry ma’am ...GUILTY CONSCIENCE is to blame

they have the right to register their disapproval without being seen as ungrateful kids.

Take a quick look at the sensitivity that another privileged individual in the President’s position displayed recently in the matter of presidential responsibility. Former aide to the Vice President of the United States, Lewis Scooter Libby, was convicted for his involvement in the disclosure of the identity of a CIA agent, Ms. Valerie Plame Wilson.

On March 6, 2007, Libby was found guilty by a Federal Court. On June 5, 2007, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison. President Bush used his Presidential power and commuted the sentence on July 2, so that Libby did not serve the jail time. However, the fine of $250,000 and the felony conviction remained till today. Libby is still a convicted felon.

Bush’s refusal to grant full pardon was born out of his conviction concerning the gravity of the felony committed by Libby. By this decision, he received a full measure of the fury of his party and especially his Vice President. While Bush was rightly chastised by the public on other weighty issues, many believed that he acted right in the matter of Libby, though many liberals wished he didn’t also commute the sentence.

What can we say about the action of Mr. President, which has been the subject of vibrant media discourse the whole week? The President pardoned individuals who had had a brush with the law at one time or the other.

They belonged to different categories. There were the Abacha phantom coup plotters who were believed to have been framed up and wrongly convicted by a phantom court. No one complains against the pardon of those in this category. Indeed, former President Obasanjo, himself, a victim of a wrongful conviction who also received state pardon should have done the right thing during his two terms in office. Jonathan must be applauded for pardoning General Diya and his group.

There is the other category of individuals

HARDBALL

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HE English playwright and poet, William Congreve (1670-1729), wrote in The Mourning Bride, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” It is not a mystery why many scorned women and men take pure delight in hurting their spouses or partners. A scorned woman, as a recent case in Britain is showing, thinks nothing of cutting her nose to spite her face if sufficiently provoked. Indeed, she would as soon gouge out her eyes to spite her head if the circumstances required it. Congreve came to life once again, as he often does when spouses are at war, in the highly publicised case of the philandering Chris Huhne, 58, and his spurned wife, Vicky Pryce, 60. Huhne, a Liberal Democratic Party top shot and former cabinet minister, unceremoniously left his wife in 2010 for another woman, the bisexual Carina Trimingham, a media consultant. Spousal betrayal is commonplace except that in this case, a decade ago, the vulnerable Huhne had made his ex-wife to accept punishment on his behalf for a traffic offense, and the woman was bent on revenge.

Pryce, a notable economist in her own right, tipped off the press on how Huhne had perverted the course of justice in 2003. The subsequent trial, which was meant to humiliate the former Lib Dem high-flyer, unfortunately consumed Pryce herself and ruined the reputations of both the adventurous politician and his scorned ex-wife. In the process, Peter, one of the pair’s sons, displayed unadulterated loathing for his father by sending him bitter text messages deploring his atrocious lies and infidelity. With

convicted of corruption, among which is former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alameyeseigha. There are two issues involved. First is the nature of the felony committed by the former governor. It is now too depressing to recount the details of the embarrassment that his arrest in London, his escape and jumping of bail caused Nigerians in general, and Balyesians in particular. Without any remorse, the former governor went back to his gubernatorial palace, praised God for his dramatic escape and life continued.

That was until former President Obasanjo bared his fang and the EFCC went after Alam.

To the relief of Nigerians, the former governor was arrested, prosecuted, and convicted.

So he paid the price. As explained above, so did Scooter Libby.

Second, there is the issue of the relationship of Mr. President to former Governor Alameyeseigha who was the former boss of the president. A Presidential spokesperson alluded to this relationship which according to him, everyone knows about. It’s as if, we shouldn’t have expected anything less, given the nature of that relationship. As someone who worked well with the President, given him the opportunity to be his deputy, which later translated to his becoming the governor and now the President, he owes Alam the proverbial one. This sad aspect of this reasoning is that it has been the bane of our social and political history. We feel enslaved by primordial instincts and we see our obligations to the country from the blinkers of those instincts. The President acted in good faith with his boss but in bad faith with Nigerians.

I just claimed that the President acted in bad faith with Nigerians in this matter. This is because they look up to him to lead the struggle against corrupt practices with vigour. Pardoning the epitome of the wrong side of that struggle looks to Nigerians as a sellout. It isn’t that Alams had not paid the price; it’s simply that pardoning him sets a precedence which cannot be ignored. What about others convicted of felony corruption since Alam? What prevents a new President granting them pardon in ten years? If this becomes a trend, where is the deterrent effect of prosecution and conviction if you know that with good rapport with the President you can receive state pardon? These are the issues which Mr. President and the National Council of State ought to weigh more heavily in their minds.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

How not to cut your nose to spite your face an investigation and trial that lasted long enough to complete the ruination of Huhne’s public image, followed by an eight-month jail term for each of the disgruntled pair, and harsh public commentaries on the Huhne family, it is surprising that both Huhne and his ex-wife hold out any hope the family could still be redeemed and relationship between children and parent healed with the passage of time.

However, the least problematic part of the Huhne scandal is the humiliating trial or even the jail terms, out of which the couple will serve only four months each. The real tragedy is exemplified by Peter’s text messages to his father, and Justice Sweeney’s characterisation of the couple. Said Peter to his father in one of his texts: “You are the most ghastly man I’ve ever known.

Does it give you pleasure that you have lost almost all of your friends?...Leave me alone. You have no place in my life and no right to be proud…You are an autistic piece of s**t. You make me feel sick…You don’t think about anyone but yourself. You are a pathetic loser and a joke.” The trial judge was even more damning. Said he to Huhne’s ex-wife: “…In November 2010, motivated (I have no doubt) by an implacable desire for revenge, and with little consideration of the position of your wider family, you decided to set about the dual objective of ruining [Huhne] whilst protecting your own position and reputation in the process. Your weapon of choice was the revelation

of his part in the offence in 2003. But it was a dangerous weapon because it had, in truth, been a joint offence.”

But perhaps the most evocative comment on the fall of Huhne and Pryce is the one by her brother, George Courmouzis. In his view, “Anger blinds you and humiliation breeds revenge. And this is what drove her.” Had she kept quiet, the offence of 2003 would probably have stayed buried forever. It is true Huhne would have gone on enjoying his life, and Pryce would have stayed rejected and humiliated. But her reputation would have remained intact, her peace of mind guaranteed, and her children would have continued living in the tranquillity she had woven around them.

It is not certain whether Pryce reflected at all on the consequences of her action, nor ever feared she would find herself in jail so suddenly.

She may have achieved the goal of ruining her ex-husband, but that objective has come at a heavy price. No wonder it is said that once a woman sets her eyes on a man, he would be lucky to escape her charms. But such a man would need far more than luck to escape a scorned woman’s revenge. This is not chauvinism; it is perhaps simple biology, a biology that will see women activating their defensive mechanism of bringing the house down on their families just to get even, to reenact hell, or to generally dissuade bored men from libidinous adventurism.

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