The Nation March 15, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

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NLC splits as Wabba emerges president Ajaero, Aremu, others reject results

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Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.09, No. 3155

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

MARCH 15, 2015

N200.00

TWO WEEKS TO POLLS:

Jonathan’s campaign in disarray as Buhari surges Page 4

President sidelines Ahmadu Ali campaign committee

Eurasia group projects Buhari to win 60% of votes

•L-R: Hon Akeem Bamgbola, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, Hon Abiodun Faleke, Mr. Damola Kasunmu, National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC Governorship Candidate, Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, his running mate, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; during Igbo Endorsement Rally For Buhari/Osinbajo and all APC candidates in Lagos State at Onikan Stadium, Lagos yesterday.

PHOTO: TAIWO OKANLAWON

APC: JONATHAN PLAYING MY HUSBAND MUST DON'T YIELD TO SERVE TWO TERMS CAMPAIGN OF DIVISION, POLITICSWITHIMMIGRATION - PATIENCE JONATHAN TINUBU TELLS IGBOS RECRUITMENT DEATHS Page 5

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

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CAPTURED

Mega church pastor seeks donations for pricey private jet

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HE ministry of a prominent Georgia, USA megachurch pastor and evangelist who teaches that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches is seeking donations to buy a luxury jet valued at more than $65 million.

The website of Creflo Dollar Ministries at the weekend asked people to "Sow your love gift of any amount" to help the ministry buy a Gulfstream G650 airplane. Dollar and his wife, Taffi, are co-pastors of World Changers International Church in College Park, south of Atlanta.

Dollar is one of the most prominent African-American preachers based around Atlanta who have built successful ministries on the prosperity gospel. Ministers in this tradition often hold up their own wealth as evidence that the teaching works.

The ministry's current plane, acquired in 1999, was built in 1984, has travelled more than four million miles and is no longer safe, spokesman Juda Engelmayer said. On a recent trip overseas, one of the engines failed, but the pilot was able to land safely and no one was injured, the ministry's website says. "(W)e are asking members, partners, and supporters of this ministry to assist us in acquiring a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and Taffi and World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace," the ministry's website says.

Gulfstream's website lists an asking price of $67,950,000 for a G650 with a flight record of 1,616 hours and 625 landings since it entered service in mid-December.

Members of the ministry travel for much of the year bringing their message, food and supplies to people around the world, Engelmayer said. They need a plane that's fuel efficient, faster, with enough cargo capacity and enough seats, he said.

The raison d’etre of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafran (MASSOB) is supposedly a separatist agenda for Ndigbo. So why are the ‘Biafran separatists’ pictured in this protest in Enugu on Friday so concerned with a Nigerian election supervised by Prof. Attahiru Jega? Have they suddenly rediscovered their love for Nigeria?

Photo: OBI CLETUS

BAROMETER

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is often indifferent to public perception of his policies and actions. If his countrymen thought he was slow and weak, he scurrilously dismissed their profiling of his government and delved into apposite history of highhanded leaders whom he judged unfit as role models, the Egyptian pharaohs and Babylonian Nebuchadnezzars. If they condemned his sacking of an Appeal Court Justice and caviled at his indecent appropriation of extra-constitutional powers, he replied with a sanctimonious litany of juridic and democratic paradigms erected to underscore what he says is his respect for and acceptance of government of the people, for the people, and by the people. And if they complained against his policemen -- for that is what they really are -- he challenged and sometimes even mocked their fidelity to the law.

It, therefore, did not come as a surprise that President Jonathan peremptorily sacked former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Martin Luther Agwai (retd), whom he had made head of the amorphous and in many instances misdirected Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) agency, a body designed to implement government palliatives to mitigate fuel price hike. Gen Agwai had in a speech he gave at former president Obasanjo's birthday lecture rhapsodised change as an ingredient of development and progress. According to

Biafran activists, Nigerian election sunday@thenationonlineng.net

The sacking of Gen Agwai

the general, "In life, you find out that everything needs change; if that is what the community wants, what the people want, you must give

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AST week's PDP governors' meeting was epochal for two reasons. First, the formerly reticent or waffling governors of Niger and Jigawa States, Babngida Aliyu and Sule Lamido respectively, have suddenly found their voices. Previously reluctant to frontally confront Gen Buhari because of his cult following in the North, the two governors have now abandoned all pretext and have begun to rail fulsomely against both the APC presidential candidate and his party, the APC. Perhaps, both governors now feel President Jonathan has a fighting chance of winning the March 28

it to them and, as such, it becomes inevitable. You can have everything nice, but if you don't have the right leadership to propel it, it cannot go anywhere. Integrity matters doing what is good for the larger society and not just what you want to do for a narrow society to please yourself.”

It was apparent the Jonathan government thought the cap fitted their president.

Gen Agwai had waxed eloquently and knowledgeably of change, the APC mantra, and wailed against leadership failing, a message that sits majestically at the core of

the APC presidential election campaign. Worse, the general had also forthrightly cautioned against the politicisation of the military, a warning that has apparently incensed the Jonathan government. According to the general, “The military has to be transformed and this becomes necessary from the point of recruitment, training and assuming leadership role. Our forces that are trained, equipped to defend us are now in a strange field...The military has nothing to do with politics, and if we allow it, we will run into problems.”

Unfortunately, again, the allegation of politicisation of the military remains one of the major complaints of the APC. And to cap a very bad conjunction, the Agwai speech was made in the presence of the hated Chief Obasanjo, who is believed by the Jonathan crowd to be secretly angling for the APC and change.

Gen Agwai of course did not forget he was appointed to head a federal agency before he made his radical speech in Abeokuta. But whether he meant to attack the Jonathan government or campaign for APC, or sim-

PDP governors' meeting in Lagos poll. Good luck to them.

Governor Aliyu, who has made himself a repository of one-term presidential pacts, disclosed to his fellow governors that Gen Buhari had foresworn a second term if elected in March. Convinced he told the truth to his animated listeners, he warned that the North should be prepared to be shortchanged. He offered no substantiation to a story the APC has described as a notorious lie.

On his own, Governor Lamido accused Gen Buhari of offering no opposition to the financial and

murderous atrocities committed by the late head of state, Sani Abacha, but instead cooperated with him. The APC's anticorruption and democratic credentials were therefore defective, he concluded. He said nothing about whether Gen Buhari was himself found guilty of corruption or not, or whether he connived at murder.

Second, the leitmotif of the PDP governors' meeting is the same recurring theme that drives and undergirds President Jonathan's government. They have little or nothing to say

about their performance in office, but have preoccupied themselves with either assailing the attributes of Gen Buhari and his princi-

ply offer candid advice to the country, is unclear from his speech. He also warned against the politicisation of the military; but is there anyone, including the Jonathan government, who wants the military to be politicised?

Whatever his intentions were, it is clear that by sacking the officer, President Jonathan interpreted the general's speech to be adversarial. He is uninterested in upholding the right of the general to make a fiery speech, let alone on a platform offered by the president's arch enemy, Chief Obasanjo. If anyone still harbours any illusion what the Jonathan government stands for or how his second term would look like, should he get one, that person must be living in a fool's paradise.

pal backers, or telling horrendous, egregious lies, many of them so barefaced it is a wonder how such men got into office in the first instance, and once there, how they continued remorselessly to stoop so low. They are of course at liberty to undermine the strengths of their opponents, but to lie so shamelessly for that purpose, interpret events so mischievously and callously, and resort to abuse so scandalously, must reflect their own abysmal standards and lack of ethical core.

Such men in high office explain why Nigeria is bankrupt of everything.

By ADEKUNLE ADE-ADELEYE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

COLUMN

The longest fortnight S

UDDENLY, six weeks have become a fortnight… the longest fortnight in the history of the country. The postponement of an event however unpleasant is a poor substitute for its outright cancelation. A thousand years will eventually become a thousand seconds. As the nail biting countdown to the most explosive election in the post-colonial history of the nation begins, one must be chastened and sobered by the shocking finitude of time. If only time can stay still, autocrats would have added it to their list of captives.

By now, President Goodluck Jonathan would have discovered that a postponement of six weeks might have been enough to gain some strategic respite, particularly to recover his poise and pull some stunts against an opposition that would have been stung by the sudden turn of events. But it is not enough to scramble what has been fecklessly unscrambled; or to attempt to cobble together a new hegemonic power formation in the country.

Jonathan had a whole six years to will this new power bloc into being by forging new alliances; by building bridges and by breaking out of his ethnic cocoon to create a pan-ethnic charter for the nation.

The time was ripe; the opportunities were abundant. For a fleeting magical second, the moment seemed to have met its man and its match. But he bombed it spectacularly. You cannot give what you don’t have. Unprincipled expectation is the bedmate of promiscuous optimism.

A few months into the Jonathan presidency, it ought to have been clear to all but the most hardy optimists that it was all a horrendous scam. It was obvious that the new ruler lacks the discipline, the diligence, the application, the visionary impetus, the intellectual wherewithal and the psychological stamina and steeliness to administer a complex commonwealth of two hundred million souls tottering at the edge of despair and despondency.

Jonathan’s charm offensive of the past three weeks, particularly in the South West and his singularly offensive and obscene attempt to buy his way back into electoral reckoning by massive bribery of the political elite and agents of influence must rank as the worst instance of presidential delinquency in the annals of electoral corruption in Nigeria . With this in your face , I don’t care impunity, there can be no further proof that the Nigerian president does not care a hoot or give a damn about the sanity of the political system or the survival of the nation itself.

It has been observed that a person should keep his friendships in a state of constant repairs. How anybody in a few weeks can cobble together a dominant power consortium that can withstand the tumultuous revolt of the Nigerian multitude that we have on our hand remains a perplexing mystery even to the most accomplished of political witchdoctors. It is said that politics is the art of the possible, but even in politics, certain things are simply impossible.

The presidential gallivanting, the executive walkabout and the dollar spree even as the naira, the ultimate symbol of national sovereignty, was tumbling in the market would have been unnecessary if Jonathan had done the needful.

At the onset of his presidency, Jonathan had at his beck and call the active base of the traditional South West activists and progressive politicos who fought a relent-

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Jega

less and slogging campaign to validate his presidency.

He could also have tapped into the dormant resentment against the feudal arrogance of an oligarchic cabal bent on sabotaging his ascendancy. But all the goodwill was frittered away in a jiffy as Jonathan retreated into an ethnic igloo to be surrounded by tempestuous tribesmen and other recuperating revanchists.

As for the wise, wily and formidably discerning Yoruba obas who are rumoured to be beneficiaries of Jonathan’s dollar deluge, if they didn’t know what to do, they wouldn’t be on their fathers’ throne the first instance. Past masters of the cloak and dagger politics that come with empire building, they are also astute readers—bar one or two feckless ones—of the dominant political mood of their people. After almost a thousand years of an unending battle of will and wits with the populace in which many of them paid the supreme sacrifice, they know where the balance of power resides. They will collect and then they will recollect.

As the Jonathan presidency slouches towards a momentous finale, the entire country lies in ruins and smouldering wreckage, spiritually, politically, economically and militarily broke and backbroken. At no other point in the country’s history has the nation faced more dire prospects of economic annihilation. At no other point has Nigeria been at the military mercy of neighbours.

Never in its history has Nigeria been confronted with and wracked by such intra and inter-religious animosities and conflicts. Never have the political elite been this riven and polarized along the fearsome fault lines of region, religion and ethnicity. It has even become impossible to get the various factions of the political class to agree on the minimum precondition for the conduct of election.

Never has an election brought out the worst in our people, thanks to a political campaign that has

been unprecedented in its rancour and distemper. Not even in the run up to the infamous 1964 general elections which was boycotted by the UPGA party did we witness such intense bitterness and animosity within the ruling class. It was a bitterness that fed directly into the subsequent violent military mutiny, a momentous pogrom and inevitable civil war.

As we have seen in Nigeria and more recently in Kenya and Cote D’Ivoire, whenever the electoral process is marked by intense hostility and a lack of elite consensus on the basic rules, we may be sure that the outcome is already vitiated by political adversity. When a fourstar general and one of Nigeria’s most decorated soldiers and a global citizen in his own right is summarily cashiered for attending the birthday celebration of his former commander in chief who also happens to be the political benefactor of the current commander in chief, we can be sure that the gloves have come off and the battle line sharply drawn.

This past week, Ben Nwabueze, the respected constitutional lawyer, has advocated a coalition government or a government of national unity to manage what promises to be a momentous post-election tempest. If this is not a wily kite flying on behalf of an embattled government, then it is a case of trying to shut the stable door after its equestrian inmates had bolted.

For it presupposes, against all evidence to the contrary, that there might still be a semblance elite amity after such a polarizing and divisive election.

In the unseemly circumstances that we have found ourselves, a ruling coalition or a Government of National Unity is possible and feasible only under strict international supervision and after the tempest might have blown off.

Under similar circumstances in Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, the old Gikiyu fox, summarily terminated the results as they rolled in and declared himself elected.

In Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo simply barricaded himself in after he had lost the presidential election until he was flushed out of his underground bunker with the aid of French forces. As if to confirm the looming apocalypse, international emissaries have been coming in and out of Nigeria like doctors in an emergency ward, trying to appeal to the political class to save the nation from imminent perdition.

Their grim, unsmiling and taciturn visage tells its own story. In any case if anybody misses the import of all this, the unscheduled but widely publicized visit to Aso Rock by one or two members of our own equivalent of the 1922 Committee of the British parliament should tell those who know how to read tea leaves that once again, the nation is on the cusp of momentous events.

As he rues the ruins and wreckage of the country gifted to him in a moment of spite and hubris by the man who is the most influential and arguably the most controversial personage of the Fourth Republic, the otherwise genial and affable Goodluck Jonathan must be wondering what happened and the road not taken. Never in the history of the country has a ruler snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in this manner. But this is not the time to continue to excoriate the formerly shoeless boy from Otueke. This is the time to put on our thinking cap about how to extricate the nation from the debris of another historic cul de sac.

There are times when sharpening contradictions suddenly mature, forcing a nation into a fundamental rethink about its future. This is the moment of the grand gridlock. In a sense, Jonathan himself is a victim of the post-colonial condition in a way the colonial imaginary that founded Nigeria and the colonial imagination that powers it along could not have envisaged. This is the moment when colonial malice meets post-colonial malignancy. Having been thrown into the chessboard as a helpless and hapless pawn, Jonathan has shown that he has other ideas.

As sober students of history would attest, nothing is completely without some value, not even the most horrendous human experience. As a matter of fact, there are some radical philosophers and historians who push this view to the bitter conclusion that nothing good can come out of history. It is just a record of random brutality and contingent cruelty. As a British historian, floored and flawed by facile empiricism, would put it, “history is just one fxxxx thing after another.”

But history is ultimately and in the last instance structured in such a way that perplexes us and challenges the rigour of the dialectical imagination. It may well be that the paradoxically revolutionary dimension of the Jonathan administration is to expose for all to see, the huge racket of the neo-military civilian fascism foisted on Nigeria by retreating military barons. But having exposed the hoax, Jonathan has shown that he lacks the revolutionary nobility of spirit, the cerebral endowments and the political stamina to force through a new charter for the nation.

This is the basis of the historical conundrum in which we have found ourselves. Even if Jonathan

spends the next hundred years in office, he is unlikely to make a dent on the deep rot, the political malaise, that afflicts Nigeria. What is not there is simply not there. National transformation is not a function of empty sloganeering.

Transformation is deeper than mere change because it involves a deeper, more integrative, more holistic and more deliberately systematic reordering of a society towards a new orientation and a new set of values. As it is, the paradox of our situation is that change is now required in order to even begin to think of transformation.

The last patriotic duty Jonathan owes a country that has given him so much is to leave quietly if he loses the election fair and square.

He must resist the temptation to play the biblical Samson. Thereafter, he must be accorded the respect and dignity accruing to a former head of state, of a man untested and untried who ruled Nigeria in very difficult circumstances and who tried his very best, only that his best was enough. If he cannot lead the way, he has at least taken explosives to the house of cards. The Nigerian ruling cabal must rue the day they invited a neophyte of power nuances to hold the fort for them.

The next fortnight is going to be the longest night indeed for Nigeria. It is going to bring out the worst or the best in Nigerian. There is no point in demonizing and scape-goating poor Attahiru Jega and casting ethnic slurs on a very patriotic Nigerian. As readers of this column would testify, we harbor reservations about the way and manner of Jega’s appointment, but this has never extended to questioning his integrity. Never in the history of the nation has a man been saddled with a more onerous and difficult duty of electoral umpire.

Jega should be allowed to do his job without any further let or hindrance.

One of the lessons that Nigerians must take away from the current crisis is the fact that as a complexly variegated country with diverse ethnic nationalities in different and often divergent modes of economic, spiritual, intellectual and political production, Nigeria is powered along by a micropluralism of power centres which induces a negative equilibrium which can only be disturbed or disrupted by a conventional power formation at its own peril. This is Jonathan’s undoing, just as it has been the undoing of Obasanjo, Abacha and Babangida before him.

A negative equilibrium is a tense equipoise of countervailing forces; an unstable ensemble whose stability is dependent on the dynamic instability of its elements. Only a new revolutionary power group led by complete outsiders or what Antonio Gramsci has described as the emarginati, people from the margins, can shatter the order by inaugurating a new order.

In the absence this revolutionary countervailing power formation, and while still waiting for the arrival of a pan-Nigerian critical mass, it is worth restating that any Nigerian ruler who is a product of the old status quo must keep his friendship in a state of constant repairs. As Jonathan will learn in about a fortnight, scrambling for votes at the eleventh hour is not the sign of a man who has learnt the elementary lesson of politics. .

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

NEWS

HINGS are not adding up for President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his re-election bid with the poll a mere 14 days away.

Suspicion is rife within the party hierarchy, and leaders are pulling in different directions, according to presidency and party sources.

So bad is the situation that the President's campaign has split into five with the president himself taking his destiny in his own hand by personally criss-crossing the country to woo traditional rulers, opinion moulders, youth and women leaders with a view to salvaging the situation.

Shortly after his nomination by the PDP for the race, President Jonathan set up a Presidential Campaign Council led by Dr. Ahmadu Ali to coordinate the campaign nationwide.

But complaints and field reports reaching the president from the states convinced him that the council was far from effective.

In came the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, who, sources said, began to 'remote control' the campaign council.

Soon, four other main groups, all purporting to work for the president's election emerged.

These are: the PDP Governors' Forum; the PDP initiative; and the strategic

Two weeks to polls: Jonathan's campaign in disarray as Buhari surges From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operations

team being driven by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim/ ministers/ Chief E.K. Clark/ and other motley support groups.

A party source familiar with the situation said: "The struggle for personal benefits has overshadowed the target of winning the election. Virtually everyone wants to make money from the campaign as if there will be no tomorrow or as if we are going to lose at the poll.

"The president saw the gaps and decided to personally drive his own campaign."

The situation was not helped by poll results before the postponement of the February election that the President was heading for a humiliating defeat.

He quickly took over the campaign and has been jetting round the country to prop up his image.

"If the president tells you his experience in the last three weeks that he has been shuttling about, you will appreciate that he would have lost the February 14 election woefully," was the way another source put it

• President sidelines Ahmadu Ali campaign committee • Eurasia group projects Buhari to win 60% of votes yesterday.

Only last Thursday, the Deputy Director-General of the PDP Campaign Organisation, Professor Tunde Adeniran, accused the PDP of doing little to promote Jonathan.

"If we continue to show this man has not done anything, others will capitalise on it. The party is not showing enough in this regard. The president's achievement is undersold and in some cases not sold at all. In some places they ask, so Jonathan has done so?" he said.

Within the last three weeks, the president has visited the Southwest, which he sees as the zone holding the ace in the election, at least four times to plead for support.

During the first visit, he spent a whole week in Lagos meeting Obas, youths, market women and other interest groups. He also visited churches for prayers.

On the second visit, he went to Oyo town to see the Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, and Ile-Ife on the third visit where some Obas

were gathered to pray for him He returned to the zone on Thursday to seek the support of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who told him that he should not expect any Oba to campaign for him.

"In Ijebu here, it is not possible for any Oba- not even in Ijebu, in Yorubalandto go out and say vote for this, vote for that. That person is looking for trouble. But they should give them (the politicians) the opportunity to present their programmes so that the people can make up their minds on what to do," the Awujale told him.

Comments by the president's wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, during campaigns are also believed to be alienating sections of the country from her husband.

One of such was the statement she made recently in Port Harcourt that northerners are breeding children they could not cater for, hence the menace of Almajiris.

"Our men no dey born shildren throway for street. We

•Members of United Voices Against Terrorism and Electoral Violence, during a Walk in Abuja at the weekend.

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no dey like the people for that side," she said in pidgin English.

Apparently haunted by the statement, Mrs. Jonathan last week was absent at a women's campaign in Minna, Niger State.

Another was when she declared in Asaba, Delta State that the APC presidential flag bearer, General Muhammadu Buhari was "brain dead."

She was also in Benin, Edo State yesterday where she said that her husband must complete "our two terms" in office.

Meanwhile, the Eurasia Group, the world's leading global political risk research and consulting firm, has tipped the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, to win this month's election.

The firm projects that the APC flag bearer has a 60 per cent probability to beat President Goodluck Jonathan in the election.

The firm's Africa practice head and analyst, Philippe de Pontet, wrote yesterday that the electoral map is tilting to Buhari in swing regions in the Southwest and the Middle Belt.

He said that with Buhari in the saddle, investors could expect business-oriented policies.

He adds: "The election will still be difficult to call, but our expectation of a narrow Jonathan win was predicated on several factors that are losing some saliency late in the campaign.

“Chief among them is the incumbency and financial advantages of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While this still helps Jonathan, its impact is blunted by the intensity of support for Buhari, lackluster grassroots campaigning by the PDP, and new anti-rigging measures by the electoral commission.

"New permanent voting cards and card readers will sharply reduce the level of rigging

seen in 2011, when Jonathan beat Buhari in a landslide …

"While we expected the electoral map to favour Jonathan, current trends suggest that the swing regions may side with Buhari, including the Christian-majority and heavily-populated southwest around Lagos.

That could be the decisive demographic factor in the election …"

A local think tank, the Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, gave Buhari a 58% to 32% lead in Lagos State, where Jonathan won the last election. Eurasia Group thinks Jonathan's approval rating is below the 40% threshold under which incumbents have a hard time getting reelected.

"Despite some important military gains against [the Islamic terror group] Boko Haram in the northeast, and a partial exoneration of its oil revenue management in a recent PWC audit, [Jonathan's] Peoples Democratic Party is starting to look desperate. … [But] it is not clear … that Buhari has a strong economic policy orientation.

This uncertainty is a chief risk for investors."

Jonathan is likely to contest an unfavorable outcome, especially a close election, and that could mean protracted violence.

"The reason we aren't upgrading Nigeria's outlook to positive, however, rests in the potential for an oil disruption and the likely pushback to Buhari's policy agenda in a highly polarized political climate.

His victory is likely to unleash a resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta (Jonathan's home region) that targets the oil sector. Former Delta militants have threatened to blow up oil pipelines, platforms, and personnel as in the past when they routinely took up to 500,000 barrels per day offline. There is likely some bluster in their threats …"

- Read more in News Review on page 9-11

France increases efforts in fight against Boko Haram

RANCE is providing intelligence to Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Cameroun and Niger Republic, all of which are at war with Boko Haram.

Paris says it has also reoriented its military efforts in the region to focus more on

the fight against the terror sect.

France specifically supports the Chadian offensive.

About 30 French troops have been deployed in Niger since last month near the Nigerian border, and French jets frequently fly over the area

to provide intelligence, according to two French top diplomatic officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly.

The country also provides fuel and food supplies to Chadian troops, said one of the officials.

France has a big air base with 600 troops in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, close to Cameroon's border and northern Nigeria.

It has deployed 3,000 troops in five countries of the Sahel in an operation aiming at fighting Islamic extremists

in the region.

The operation to fight Boko Haram is "flexible," which means that some troops can be redeployed from one country to another, one of the officials said, without giving more details.

France's defence

minister said last week that the country would "slightly" increase its number of troops in the Sahel region by the end of the year, but does not intend to take active part in the fight, against Boko Haram.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

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HE National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday urged Nigerians not to yield to any campaign designed to divide the country along religious and ethnic lines.

Addressing party supporters at the Ndigbo APC rally held at Onikan Stadium, Lagos, Tinubu accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of fanning the embers of division with a view to pulling the country down.

Tinubu described the Igbos in Lagos as dedicated and committed people who have made significant contributions to the development of the state and Nigeria in general.

He said: "Some of you have

NEWS

Don't yield to campaign of division, Tinubu tells Ndigbo

By Musa Odoshimokhe

been here for over 50 years, doing your businesses unmolested. Nobody can discriminate against you. Nobody will fight you because of your language.

"Now, they have been coming to Lagos, calling you group by group or giving you dollars, even 'dollarised' rice, 'dollarised akpu' , but can this translate any of these into school fees for your children?

Can this open business opportunities for you in

Lagos? The APC government has opened several opportunities for Igbo and we will continue to do so."

Tinubu said the PDP only remembers the people of the approach of elections.

He said when Nigerians voted for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, it was not done on the basis of where he came from, but in the belief that he would deliver on his electoral promises.

The president, he alleged, has failed to fulfill his promises, and has even made

life more difficult for the people.

He recalled that when the president assumed the leadership of the country, the dollar sold for N120.

"Today, the naira has fallen; it is now N340 to a pound, the cost of living has hit the ceiling, traders are finding it difficult to replace their stocks. The business community is suffering and Nigerians need a saviour to bail us out."

He said General Muhammadu Buhari saved the country in the past when it

was facing socio-economic challenges, noting that the majority of Nigerians now look forward to him to bail the country out of its predicament.

He said those campaigning that age was not on Buhari's side miss the point.

"Chief Obafemi Awolowo contested his last election at the age of 74, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of blessed memory contested his last election at the age of 79, Nelson Mandela ruled South Africa at 74.

"Buhari is a soldier and a patriot, when America needed the greatest patriot to rescue it from economic challenges; they chose a retired soldier Dwight Eisenhower. When France was invaded by Soviet communists, the French went to General Charles De Gaulle.

When Britain was in trouble they invited Winston Churchill to save them "This is the time we need General Buhari who has done it before to rescue us from this

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elephantiasis."

Also speaking, the Lagos State governorship candidate of APC, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode said the Igbo in Lagos have everything to gain if he is voted into office.

"Lagos has stood for all of us, it is time for the people to stand for Lagos," he said.

"I know that economic hardship does not discriminate; we are all facing a difficult time and if something is not done Nigeria will go bankrupt”.

He promised to consolidate on the achievements of Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Igbo leader, Chris Nwakobia, said the PDP has failed the country and declared that the Igbo, are not articles of trade to be used and dumped.

He said the destiny of the Southeast is tied to that of the other geo-political zones, hence the need for all of them to work together.

"We repudiate those who tinker with the idea of dividing us along religious and ethnic lines. We believe that together we can make Nigeria work. That is why the Igbo are for change. We believe that with the Yoruba and Hausa we shall make Nigeria better," he said.

My husband must serve two terms, Patience Jonathan insists

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• Officers and men of the Nigerian Navy during their first quarter route march in Abuja, yesterday

PHOTO: NAN

Why Itsekiri dumped Jonathan for Buhari –Ideh

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tsekiri leader and Secretary of the APC National Convention Committee, Dr. Alex Tosan Ideh, has said that the Itsekiri will vote massively for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, in the March 28 election.

Ideh, in a statement in Warri, Delta State, said President Jonathan has failed the people through denial of economic empowerment and demonstration of ethnic politics.

He said: "Jonathan was supposed to have come to perform the groundbreaking of the $16 billion Export Processing Zone at Ogidigben, which is an Itsekiri community, in November last year. But he refused to do so 48 hours to the event because of protest from the Ijaw community led by an exmilitant, Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a Tompolo, who told the President that 'he could not guarantee his (President's) security' if he dared to come.

"Nobody from the presidency thought it fit to come and give any explanation. It is now that elections are around the corner and the tempo seems to be favouring Buhari that the President thought he could quickly come and visit the Olu of Warri and give explanations.

"We feel he is giving too much credence to ethnic considerations because the instigated protest was coming from his people."

Ideh, national treasurer of the defunct Action Congress

• · Insists Atiku won't quit APC of Nigeria (ACN), said the return of Gen. Buhari from the United Kingdom had put an end to the lull in the political space.

"We are fully back to the turf not just to play but to win the political game outright and move Nigeria forward," he stated.

Ideh said that Delta State governor, despite being a PDP member, is the most humiliated under the present administration.

He said: "Under Jonathan's PDP, Uduaghan is seen as the most humiliated governor in the whole country. First, he

was arm-twisted by Jonathan's government to drop an Itsekiri chairmanship candidate for one of Jonathan's kinsmen in the October 2014 local government election.

"Second, Uduaghan's much publicised senatorial ambition was thrown out in favour of another Jonathan's kinsman.

Even his attempt to secure an ordinary House of Assembly seat for one of his trusted aides was scuttled.

"And, of course, we all know that after many months of struggle, he had no input in who is likely to succeed him in the Asaba Government House.

Uduaghan is a wrong barometer to determine Itsekiris support for Gen Buhari and the APC in Delta State."

Meanwhile, the APC chieftain has described the rumoured rapprochement between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as a ruse.

"Atiku is done with PDP. He won't quit APC for whatever reason. He has put the issue of the presidential primary behind him and has since moved on.

"He has been contributing his quota towards actualising the Buhari presidency," he said.

Jonathan begs PDP members in Yola

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has pleaded with members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State to forget about the rancour generated during the party's primaries which brought about Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and urged them to work hard to win the elections at all levels.

Jonathan made this plea while speaking during the PDP Town Hall meeting with aggrieved members of the party in the state. He said injustice was done to many people but they should close their ranks and remain united for the good of all.

Jonathan reminded the PDP of its performance in 2011 in Adamawa State and urged them to beat the 2011 record despite the problems in the state branch of the party.

The president also

From Barnabas Manyam, Yola promised the candidates that campaign resources will come from Abuja directly to them and not through a third party, as being alleged by Sen. Jonathan Zwingina.

The state party Chairman, Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki, had told the president that before the PDP gubernatorial primaries there were only two parties in Adamawa State, PDP and APC, but shortly after the primaries, crisis that broke out generated to PDP members forming two other political parties; the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).

Madaki pointed out that the lack of reconciliation led the party to losing many of its prominent members to other parties and he called on the president to do everything within his efforts to reconcile

the warring PDP members so that the party is not disgrace in the coming elections.

Also speaking, Senator Grace Folashade Bent condemned the kangaroo primaries which produced many candidates under the platform of the party who cannot win any election because of their lack of acceptability in the state.

Senator Bent, however, assured the president that the state will deliver to Jonathan but it will be very difficult to deliver other PDP candidates in the state owing to their unpopularity among the electorate.

Governor Bala Ngilari had earlier thanked the president for coming to listen to the people of the state and promised that Ribadu and all other candidates will win the May 28 and April 11th elections.

irst Lady Patience Jonathan declared yesterday that nothing would stop President Goodluck Jonathan from completing "our two terms in office."

"Everybody is staying there for eight years. Now it's our turn. We must complete our eight years," she said at a women's rally in Benin, Edo State.

"It is in the constitution of this country. Two, two terms.

We will complete our two terms and hand over."

Taking a dig at the opposition, Mrs. Jonathan said: "I am a peaceful person and I preach peace anywhere I go. They are looking for a fight; they are looking for war. They are troublesome people. That is why they went and took expired drugs. Now they are crying. They are the people stoning people and nobody talked."

She said the opposition should expect what happens to those standing in the way of a moving train.

In a veiled reference to the clash in the booking of the Ogbemudia Stadium for her rally and a separate event by the wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, she charged: "They are dragging stadium with me, but me I am ready to go to the street and do my campaign."

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State had earlier given permission for her to use the stadium while Mrs. Buhari's event was rescheduled for another date.

Making a case for her husband's re-election, Mrs. Jonathan said: "The president is building schools. That is why in the whole federation when he came in, he built university in every state; federal university so that our children can go and learn.

"Goodluck has built uncountable hospitals,

From Osagie Otabor, Benin primary health centres. He equipped primary health centres, trained doctors and nurses "In Edo State, the federal university has been rehabilitated and well equipped for us. He gave our sons scholarships. Mr. President is ready to pay if you don't have money to pay for your children."

She then returned to the APC, saying: "They were there years back. They have nothing to offer. Ask them: what did they offer us when they were there. They were in Aso Rock before (sic). What did they forget in Aso Rock that they want to go and take? Days are gone when old people will continue to dominate us.

"I don't have a budget, no constitutional rights. Will you now say I am corrupt? I am not holding your money. I don't have budget attached to my office. Go and probe me and see if I have your money."

Mrs. Jonathan and her entourage arrived the rally venue at 1.30 pm about five hours behind schedule by which time many of the party supporters had returned home.

At least two women and three policemen who remained in the scorching sun fainted.

They were, however, revived by medical personnel deployed at the stadium.

The police arrested two young men who claimed to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party for allegedly pulling down campaign banners around the rally venue.

The suspects from Ward 10 in Egor Local Government area said they pulled down the banners because they were not paid the mobilisation fees they were promised.

One of them was heard crying and begging the policemen to "Please, let me off. I have no one to bail me."

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Human rights concerns limit U.S. intelligence, military aid to Nigeria

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IGERIA’S human rights record has come under fresh scrutiny with the United States, saying it is the reason it decided to limit its intelligence and military aid in the fight against the terror sect, Boko Haram.

Reportsofviolenceandcorruption by authorities are continuing to tarnish the country’s image.

Washington has shied away from providing Abuja with real-time information for targeting Boko Haram militants, a U.S. government official said, partly in fear that the Nigerian government will use the information to target the wrong people.

Human-rights concerns have also hindered the ability of the United States to assist security forces in Nigeria’s neighbours, including Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which recently have stepped up their engagement in the conflict against Boko Haram, the officials said, requesting anonymity.

Nigeria’s chief of defence intelligence,RearAdmiralGabrielOkoi, said last week in Washington that the United States was doing “not enough” to share intelligence.

“Terrorists don’t wait to share information, so why should countries?

We need to share intel as we have it,” Okoi told an Atlantic Council forum.

He said the Leahy Law, which bars the United States from providing training or equipment to foreign troops who commit human-rights violations, had also limited U.S. aid to Nigerian forces. “The U.S. is doing its best, but the Leahy law is hindering our cooperation,” Okoi said.

Tax evasion: ICPC, NASS probe construction firm, 114 others

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

NEWS

ENATORS and members of the House of Representatives under the auspices of Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition (AMLCSC) are working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), to prosecute about 115 tax offenders.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Pensions, Senator Aloysius Etok, said at a press briefing that the Senate in the course of investigations found that about “50 contracting firms working with Federal Ministry of Works operate with forged tax certificates.”

He said companies that might come under the hammer of the National Assembly for tax evasion amounting to billions of naira, included Arab Contractors, a road construction firm, Septa Energy, Tower Aluminum, B. Stabilini and 112 others.

Etok disclosed that the National Assembly was pushing for the prosecution of companies with high rate of casualised workers and fraudulent expatriate quota practices by foreign construction and some oil and gas companies in the country.

According to the senator, if this trend of tax evasion continues agencies like Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), would fold up, as according to him, the agencies depended on taxes for survival.

NLC breaks into two factions •Wabba’s emergence as President disputed T

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday broke into two factions following the emergence of Dr. Ayuba Wabba of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria as the new president of the congress.

He had defeated Comrade Joseph Ajaero of the National Union of Electricity Employees by 1, 695 of the 3115 votes cast at Friday’s rescheduled National Delegates Conference of the NLC in Abuja.

Ajaero polled 1,140 votes but vehemently disputed the result declared by the returning officer and pioneer General Secretary of the NLC, Dangiwa Aliyu.

Elected as deputy presidents were Adeyemi Peters, Kiri Mohammed and Najeem Yasen.

Comrades Issa Aremu and Igwe Achese who had also been defeated in the race for NLC deputy president teamed up with Ajaero to rubbish the election.

They branded the process as faulty and reminiscent of the earlier delegates’ conference that was aborted last month.

The Restoration Group as they called themselves, accused the former NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar of engineering the emergence of Wabba and rejected the outcome of the election.

The group fixed Saturday, March 21 for a special delegates’ conference in Lagos for the purpose of electing a new NLC leadership with a view to “restoring the credibility of the congress.”

Ajaero, addressing reporters on behalf of his group, said the special delegates’ conference would prove to Nigerians that the congress has the capacity to organise credible elections.

He said what transpired in Abuja on Friday through yesterday morning negated trade union tradition.

He said the group had already reached out to majority of industrial unions to participate in the Lagos special delegates’ conference.

43 of such unions, he said, would be represented by 10 delegates each.

Also speaking, the General Secretary of the National Union of Textiles, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Issa Aremu, said their decision was not to divide the NLC, but to make it stronger and more united.

From Tony Akowe, Abuja Aremu, who lost the position of Deputy President said: “Disagreements, contestations are part of our heritage and tradition.

Nigeria Labour Congress is made up of industrial unions. NLC also has rules and when rules are violated, members are encouraged to fight it and restore proper rules. That is exactly what we are doing.

“What we are doing here is saying that the rescheduled election has followed the same pattern of the first one. Less transparent, cumbersome and the results not acceptable to us and we are doing so as bona fide members of Nigeria Labour Congress.

“We are bona fide affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress and what we are doing here is purely constitutional. The election was an illegal election and we said that our polling agents are not signing and the results are not binding on us. If you look at our constitution, it allows for special delegates conference called

by CWC and NEC members.

“These are NEC members and CWC and we have convened one to come up next Saturday so that we

will have a proper election that will reflect our tradition.

“Don’t forget that we have done this before. The election that brought Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in 1999 was a special delegates’ conference after a long period of military rule and in that election, we allowed for equal delegates.

“That is what we are doing now and save our union from antidemocratic forces and our comrades who do not want to follow rules and want to have short cut to leadership and have leadership without responsibility. We are not just looking for positions; we are also willing to serve the Nigerian worker.”

Aremu said that the meeting condemned what he described as the meddlesome role of the immediate past President, Abdulwahid Omar in the election, adding that once the house has been dissolved, he should not be seen on the floor sorting out ballot papers with a view to putting his favoured candidate in power.

However, NLC Secretary General Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson said in a statement yesterday that the Friday election could not have been more successful and transparent.

Ozo-Eson, in the statement entitled “Do not be agents of destabilisation,” dismissed Ajaero and his group as individuals driven by inordinate ambition and vainglory.

He advised affiliate unions of the congress to ignore invitation to a fresh delegates’ conference, saying: “The processes leading to the elections and the elections themselves were manifestly transparent, incontestable and unimpeachable. All the contestants and their delegates voluntary lent and submitted themselves to the electioneering/voting processes.

“At no time, from the commencement of the accreditation of delegates to the voting, counting of votes and announcement of results was any complaint raised or lodged.

“Congress therefore finds it necessary to advise that individuals should resist the temptation to be used as agents of factionalisation or destabilisation of the Congress.

The Congress is bigger than any of us”.

Dr. Ozo-Eson also announced the conclusion of the Delegates Conference with the election of

Boko Haram: Cameroon promises humane treatment for detainees

C •Out-going NLC President, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar (l), presenting Comrade Ayuba Wabba as the newly elected president of the NLC, at the 11th NLC delegates conference in Abuja yesterday.

Photo: NAN

NIS recruitment deaths: APC accuses Jonathan of taking political advantage of calamities

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of taking political advantage of calamities in the country.

It dismissed as belated government’s compensation of N5million each to families of those who lost their lives in the Immigration recruitment exercise after one year.

The party said the compensation, coming at this time, was aimed at currying votes.

National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Lagos wondered why it took the president all of one year to act on the promise he made to the families, adding that “but for the forthcoming elections, the President would have simply ignored the families, in his usual style.”

He said: ‘’The truth is that this President was forced to act because of the elections.

Otherwise, why has it taken one year for the president to redeem his promise to the bereaved families? Why has his Administration not sanctioned those who sent innocent job seekers to their early graves after extorting them? Why is the Interior Minister, Mr. Abba Moro, who presided over the deaths, still in office, virtually dancing on the graves of those innocent youths?

Comrade Ayuba Wabba, President; Comrades Peters Adeyemi, Kiri Mohammed and Najeem Yasin, Deputy Presidents; Comrades Asuguni Amechi, Dutsinma Lawal and Oyelekan Lateef as Vice Presidents (unopposed) and Khaleel Ibrahim, National Treasurer (un-opposed).

Also elected were Comrades Boniface Isok (Trustee); Safiyanu Mohammed (Financial Secretary); Anchaver Simeon (Auditor), Leke Success (Auditor), Yemisi Bamgbose (Auditor); Amina Danesi (Ex-offcio) and Comfort Oko (Ex-officio).

They are to run the affairs of the Congress for the next four years.

He said that “accreditation of delegates (3119) from all the affiliate unions of the Congress commenced on Thursday, March 12, 2015 at Eagle Square after which voting commenced in the full glare of delegates and invited guests and veterans of the Congress.

“The election of the members of the National Administrative Council (NAC) of the Congress brings to a conclusive end the 11th Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

“Congress wishes to express its appreciation to unions, delegates, invited guests, veterans and members of the media for keeping faith in spite of the grueling hours the process took.”

‘’Sunday, March 15th, will mark one year since those vibrant youths were lured to their deaths by a callous federal government that failed them in all ramifications, including the security of their lives and the assurance of their welfare, the raison d’être of any government.

It is therefore utterly reprehensible, immoral and wicked for the same administration to seek to make political gains out of the needless tragedy.’’

APC said President Jonathan, in his desperation for re-election, has also sought to take political advantage of other

T

tragedies, including the Buni Yadi massacre of school children and the abduction of Chibok girls It observed, ‘’After refusing to even visit the families of those school children in Buni Yadi and Chibok, the President suddenly woke up and started sending delegations to meet with them, all this because he needs votes.

As a parent himself, how will the President feel if he had been so treated? Why must the President put his re-election over and above everything else, including the welfare and security of Nigerians? Is there no limit to desperation?’’

The APC said Nigerians are aware that the President has “suddenly woken up from his deep slumber and become artificially hyperactive, making repeated visits to regions that he had neglected in the past six years and doling out hard currencies even at a time the Naira was taking a beating, all for election purposes. ‘’No one is fooled by the antics of a desperate President, and in the fullness of time, Nigerians will show President Jonathan and his cohorts that they are not impressed by his pretend governance.’’

Yoruba descendants warn politicians against treachery

HE National Association of Yoruba Descendants (Egbe Omo Yoruba) in North America has deplored what it calls the decision of some Yoruba leaders at home to mortgage their conscience “in this era of unprecedented political chicanery.”

Reviewing political developments in the country ahead of the coming elections, the group said it was “saddened that some of our elders and leaders who were on the pedestal of honour appear to have sordidly mortgaged their conscience in this era of unprecedented political chicanery.”

It accused such leaders of churning “out endorsements without empirical basis neglecting the poor state of our people thus

insulting our sensibilities. Not in our name!”

It also condemned “the duplicitous efforts to use our people’s destiny as bargaining chip to rehabilitate those who have fallen into hard times or selfish struggle for Yoruba political hegemony. Such bargainers have subjugated our well being and collective patrimony to the transient gains of time.”

The Yoruba Descendants urged leaders to let the interest and well being of the people be paramount and all political considerations should keep this on the front burner, and reminded Yoruba elders, leaders and political gladiators to “be mindful of our political history and not underestimate our people’s resolve and will to resist any form

of treachery.”

The group added, “Our golden era under Chief Obafemi Awolowo is a vivid reminder that until Nigeria reverts and adopts a true federal structure where the component units become free from the emasculating weight of a behemoth country which prevents our growth and progress, all the scheming for political power would come to nought. “ It asked all the parties seeking the votes of the Yoruba to “make a declaration and articulate a road map to restructuring Nigeria on the sacrosanct tenet of “True Federalism” since this was defeated at the profligate afterthought 2014 National conference.”

AMEROON says it is treating hundreds of suspected Boko Haram militants in its prisons humanely regardless of the death of 25 in a prison cell last December, a government minister said at the weekend.

Rejecting a rights group report that accused the army of abuses, Information Ministers Issa Tchiroma, said several of the Boko Haram suspects were arrested with arms in their possession, while others were caught with mobile phone videos in which they were filmed slitting the throats of their victims.

He denied that the Boko Haram suspects were summarily executed.

“They will be tried according to the laws of the land,” Tchiroma told reporters.

He rejected a January report by the regional human rights organisation (REDHAC) that accused the army of rights abuses in the northern region where it was battling Boko Haram.

Cameroon soldiers, alongside armies from neighbouring Chad, Niger and Nigeria have launched an offensive against the terror group, whose six-year insurgency in Nigeria’s Northeast is threatening the stability of the region.

REDHAC said in its report that some soldiers had carried out acts of intimidation and torture to obtain information about Boko Haram, and in some cases, some soldiers had looted properties from the population in the north.

REDHAC also said that some 50 prisoners suffocated in a prison cell. Tchiroma said, however, that 25 out of 56 suspected militants were discovered lifeless in a prison cell on Dec. 28, and an investigation was ongoing to determine the cause.

Tchiroma did not say exactly how many Boko Haram suspects were being held in total. A senior Cameroon military officer told Reuters in February that nearly 1,000 suspects were in various prisons in the north.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015 Farmers: Signing bio safety bill into law will boost IGR From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

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COALITION of Nigerian farmers yesterday said quick assent to the recently passed bio safety bill

by President Goodluck Jonathan will boost the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the federal government.

They spoke through president of the Cotton Growers Association, Alhaji Salmanu Abdullahi.

The farmer said the bill will also provide employment to youths if signed into law.

Abdullahi, who spoke with reporters, added that the country will also gain a lot from exportation of genetically modified crops that would be produced.

The bill that has been pending before the National Assembly for some years was passed into law last week.

Abdullahi said: “We urge President Jonathan to urgently assent to the bio safety bill passed by the National Assembly to conclude the legislative process on this bill.

“By assenting to the bio safety Bill without any delay, President Jonathan would have commenced a silent revolution towards attaining the ongoing Agricultural Transformation Agenda to a higher level “The signing of the bill will help to address the food security challenges of a growing population like Nigeria.”

He pointed out that the adoption of higher -yielding biotech crops by farmers across the world continues to deliver substantial agronomic, environmental, economic, health and social benefits to farmers and society at large.

“Nigeria,” he stated, “cannot afford to be left out in the global agricultural biotechnology revolution.”

NEWS

Power supply drops to 2,676.54MW P OWER supply has dropped to 2,676.54Mega Watts (MW), it emerged at the weekend.

It was learnt the reduction was due to attack on one of the nation’s most critical gas pipelines, the Escravos Lagos Gas Pipeline A (ELPSA), last Wednesday and the blowing up of an explosive device at Egwa near Batan, in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State.

The energy generation,

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

according to Statistics, posted on the Ministry of Power’s website on March 11 was 2,747.45MW. Besides, peak generation dipped to 3,770.3MW. The Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN) could not evacuate 70.91MW of the total energy generated in the period under review.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, explained that the pipeline at-

tack led to a loss of 800MW. This attack, the fourth this year, came only hours after repairs on an earlier attack on Sunday March 1 were completed.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kande Daniel, said the ministry was intensifying measures to check the frequency and effects of gas pipeline vandalism.

The measures include heightened involvement of security agencies as well as the deployment of digital sur-

veillance equipment to enhance the capability of security operatives to apprehend vandals.

He assured that the Nigerian Gas Company and other sector experts had been instructed to continue effecting prompt repairs on damaged facilities.

He stressed that the nation could now conveniently generate and wheel out over 4,500MW but for gas supply disruptions through vandalism.

Fashola: Pray well before casting your votes

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AGOS State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday urged Nigerians to seek divine guidance before casting their votes during the forthcoming elections.

The governor spoke at the 2015 interdenominational service at the Apostolic Church Nigeria Convention Grounds at Ketu, Lagos.

He reminded the worshippers that the summation of their votes come with consequences.

Fashola said the election presents a unique opportunity for everyone to make a choice to better their lives.

According to him: “Before you cast your votes, ask your-

By Miriam Ekene Okoro

self why you are making the choice.

“At the end of the election, when votes are counted, it will make a statement. The statement is your statement and it will have consequences.”

Fashola, who equally flayed criticisms against the state government for borrowing money to execute some capital projects, said had his government failed to take the initiatives, it would have been difficult to execute projects now considering the falling value of naira in international market.

He explained: “I am happy

to tell you that in the last four years, we have always been above 80% whereas many governments find it difficult to have 40% budget implementation.

“The impact of the budget is seen in the various projects that we commissioned. Those saying we borrowed money to execute projects, if we had not borrowed to build and do the constructions that we did, we would not have been able do it now that a dollar is about N220.”

Prelate of the Methodist Church, Samuel Uche, who preached during the service, upbraided politicians for suffering “from stupendous igno-

rance.”

According to him: “Only few of them are enlightened.

Most of them are not. All these hate speeches and campaigns coming from politicians are unnecessary. God knows who will emerge at the end of it all.

“What I want to tell you is that your vote is your bullet.

If you take N5, 000 and sell your vote, you are the most foolish person on earth. The voice of the people is the voice of God. “They should allow Jega do his work. Jega conducted 2011 elections and we still have confidence in him. Why are we afraid of him now, why shivering now?”

Let us preserve our cultural heritage, UI VC charges

APC faults EFCC •Urges Nigerians to vote out PDP civilian dictatorship

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) has carpeted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged directive to open fresh investigations against its leaders.

The party described the alleged directive as one of the “many under-hand Getsapo tactics being deployed by the Jonathan presidency in its desperation for self-succession.”

It urged Nigerians to vote out the civilian dictatorship being foisted on Nigerians by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a statement by its Director of Strategic Communication, Mr. Dele Alake, the APC said PDP’s dictatorship if allowed to blow full “will spell disaster for the country.”

The party said: “First, EFCC has no authority to pronounce on the authenticity of the letterhead of Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.

“It is the recipient and not the issuing authority. By weeping more than the bereaved, it has exposed its complicity in this intended national security breach of the fundamental human rights of the leaders of the APC. “Second, supporters of the PDP have been touting arrogantly, the democratic credentials of Mr. President.

“This case finally nails the coffin of such blatant, falsehood and exposes the resort to gangsterism in his quest for self- preservation.

“APC leaders are mature, toughened by experience and can stand up to the dictatorship. Nigerian people should support their leaders in this hour of travail. We shall triumph.”

Oyebanji leads ICA governing council

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ICE Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Isaac Adewole, has tasked Nigerians to revitalise and preserve the black cultural for posterity.

Adewole stated this when the Director General of the Centre for Black and African Arts Civilisation (CBAAC), Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Sir. Ferdinand Anikwe, paid a courtesy call on him in his office last week.

The VC, who was represented by his Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Professor Emilolorun Aiyelari, noted that most of our cultural norms and values were gradually eroding.

He lamented that “home videos being watched today do not project our true image.”

Adewole assured the institution was willing to partner with CBAAC to achieve its mandate Anikwe noted that the centre took off from the University of Ibadan, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the institution since 2007.

He frowned at the negative reports about the nation by the media, stating “fraud is everywhere. If not, it would not have been in the English man’s dictionary.”

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By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

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• Ogun State Governor,Ibikunle Amosun (middle);Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo (2nd right); his wife, Olori Tokunbo (right); Agura of Gbagura, Oba Halidu Laloko (left) and Osile Oke Ona, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso (2nd left) during the grand finale of the 29th Lisabi day festival at Ake Palace, Abeokuta...yesterday.

First Lady promises women 45 percent appointments if…

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OMEN will get not less than 45 percent appointments if they support the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan, the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has assured.

She spoke last weekend at Uyo Township Stadium in Akwa Ibom State capital in continuation of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national women presidential campaign.

Mrs. Jonathan was accom-

From Uyoatta Eshiet,Uyo

panied by wife of the vice president, Hajiya Amina Sambo; the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Helen Mark; PDP National women leader, Ambassador Kema Chikwe and a host of others.

She recalled that women got 35 percent appointments following her assurances during the 2011 presidential

campaign, stating that they will get more if they support her husband at the March 28th presidential elections.

The First Lady said the future of Nigeria can best be guaranteed under the PDP led by Goodluck Jonathan.

She reminded women that the party has done so well for them, stating that it was payback time for them to continue enjoying the divi-

dends.

Governor Godswill Akpabio assured the First Lady that winning the presidency is a concluded matter as Nigerians will vote for President Jonathan on March 28.

He said the PDP will not only retain its 21 states in the country but win up to 30 states at the polls.

He described the opposition in the state as made up of bitter and aggrieved people.

FG approves construction of dry port in Kebbi

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HE federal government has approved the construction of the Lolo Dry port Terminal container deport in Kebbi State.

Lolo, a border town in Kebbi State, lies between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin.

The port was sited in the

From Khadijat Saidu, Birnin Kebbi

town to enhance economic activities of the two neighbouring countries.

Governor Saidu Dakingari stated this while inspecting road projects linking Bani-Senji with Benin Republic border.

A statement by the Chief

Press Secretary to Dakingari said the governor expressed confidence that the construction of the port would commence soon.

He added that the project will promote peace, good relationship and economic growth among Nigeria, Niger and Benin Republic, especially

in the area of movement of goods from Cotonou to Kebbi state.

He assured residents that exploration of mineral resources and large scale farming were being pursued vigorously, necessitating the construction of Kamba- Dolekaina to the river bank.

HE Chairman/Managing Director of Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Adetunji Oyebanji, was yesterday inaugurated as the President/Chairman of Council, Institute of Credit Administration (ICA).

The ceremony was conducted at the ICA’s secretariat in Lagos.

Also inaugurated as members of the third governing council were former Managing Director/CEO of Skye Bank and now Chairman, Heritage Bank, Akinsola Akinfemiwa; Registrar/CEO, ICA, Prof.

Chris Onalo; former Executive Director/Chief Risk Officer, Zenith Bank and now CEO Stonebeams Limited, Andy Ojei.

Others on the board include:, Deputy Group Managing Director & Group Executive Director, NNPC, Bernard O.N. Otti; Executive Director, Accounts/Finance, PPMC, Adabonyan Opeyemi; Managing Director/CEO, Standard Alliance Insurance Plc, Alhaji M.T. Mamman; former Commissioner, National Pension Commission, Segun Ogunsanya; Managing Director/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Gimba Ya’u Kumo; Managing Director/CEO, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Roberts Orya, Managing Director/ CEO, Nigerian Export-Import Bank.

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LP, AP hijacked pensioners' protest - Oyo government

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

NEWS

HE Oyo State government has alleged that a recent protest by a splinter group of pensioners in the state, under the aegis of retired primary school teachers, was sponsored by political opponents.

Stating that the pensioners' rank had been infiltrated by the leaders of Accord Party and Labour Party in the state respectively, Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, in a statement said, "This is a season of politics and so we are not surprised. When a group of pensioners say they are not bothered that their pension and gratuity totalling N6.5billion was stolen by government officials and the government of the day then looked the other way while the theft held sway, the details of which are in the public domain and the alleged culprits of this monumental heist are being tried at the moment by the EFCC, then there is more to it than meets the eyes."

The state government disclosed that it had entered into an agreement with the parent bodies of the pensioners, namely Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) and the National Association of Retired Local Government Primary School Teachers, on the modalities for the settlement of the pension arrears and gratuity in installments consequent upon the theft, but alleged that the pensioners were coerced to reject the offer by their political sponsors.

"In the so-called communiqué of the pensioners, you will realise that they are a wing of the Accord and Labour Parties respectively. They stated that they rejected the sum of N100million offered them by the Ajimobi government," the statement said, adding, "No line of the communiqué condemned Adebayo AlaoAkala, under whose watch the N6.5 billion was stolen, nor Ladoja, who has a governmental history of hatred for civil servants and pensioners.

"It was Ajimobi, who personally held several meetings with them to tell them about the state government's financial dilemma, especially aftermath of the theft of N6.5 billion of pensioners' money by some officials during the regime of Adebayo-Akala, and who articulated how he will pay the arrears in the face of dwindling allocation from Abuja that they now have a beef with."

The statement said the state government had started to pay the arrears to the retired primary school teachers until their rank was infiltrated by some politicians.

It said that the Ajimobi administration puts the welfare of retirees on the front burner in the scheme of government's fiscal policy, which informed the implementation of the 142 per cent pension rise by the administration in 2011.

Performance should be the basis for voting elected officials, says Fashola

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has urged Nigerians to vote for politicians seeking elective offices based on the record of performance.

Speaking during the commissioning of the 350-unit Chois Garden Estate, Abijo GRA in Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos, the governor further noted that issues such as ethnicity, religion or language are irrelevant in the coming elections, while calling on prospective voters to focus more on things that would enhance their living standards before casting their ballot.

He added that as a result of the various housing schemes which the state government has embarked upon and delivered in the last six years, thousands of Nigerians have secured jobs and means of livelihood, as well as decent places of shelter.

Speaking on the many strides recorded by the state government in the housing sector, the governor said, "A few weeks ago, we were in Agbowa where we delivered a housing estate of 460 units. Today, we are at Abijo where we are delivering a housing estate of 324 units. I have just driven through Sangotedo where we are painting and finishing I think, about 540 units and in Ibeshe in Ikorodu, we have 722 Units.

"In Surulere, in Iponri, 144 Units are under construction, in Ajara in Badagry, we have over 500 units, in Igbogbo, Ikorodu, there are two units there culminating to over 200 units, and this is going on in no less than 25 places in Lagos."

Commenting on the housing model of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-controlled Federal Government, the governor said

while the APC-controlled state government houses could be seen and known to be real, the Federal Government has continued to make unrealistic proposals such as borrowing $300 million from the World Bank for the entire country.

He added, "But that was not the only problem. That $300 million, what did they want to do with it? They wanted to use it for mortgage refinancing, not to build houses. That was what the Minister of Finance said they were doing with the $300 million.

Now what is mortgage refinancing? It means that you must first find a house of your own and go to bank and take a loan of over 20 percent and after taking the loan, they now refinance your home. So where is the house you want to buy if they are not building?

"Now, assuming that all of

us could actually get that loan, they reported that 66,000 people had applied and that they had shortlisted 23,000 out of 66,000.

So let us say that every one of those 23,000 got it, divide that number by 36 states. It means that no state will get more than 638 houses."

Commenting on the promise by the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, to build low cost houses for Lagosians if elected, Fashola, who noted that the candidate was yet to tell Lagosians where he would find the low cost funds, low cost labour and low cost cement and other building materials, added, "I do not make promises to deceive people; I make promises that are informed, that are researched and that are practical and can be delivered."

Methodist Church holds annual synod

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LL is now set for the 9th Annual Synod of the Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Lagos West.

The four-day event would take place at the Methodist Church Nigeria, Idimu, Mushin in Lagos on March 19 with the Ministerial and Lay Sessions.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, will declare the synod open on March 20, while the Synod programme will be rounded off with a thanksgiving service on March 22.

The theme for this year's Synod is titled 'Aglow with the spirit.'

Speaking on the event, the Lay President of the Diocese, Otunba Morakinyo Hanson said, "This year's Synod, which is the 9th edition in the history of the Diocese, is expected to attract notable personalities within and outside the Methodist family to be led by His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Uche, Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, amongst others."

'Mimiko's support for Jonathan hypocritical' From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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•Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (middle); APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (5th right); Hon. Lanre Ope (4th right), Mr. Abayomi Sutton (far right); Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji (2nd right); APC vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (3rd right), Sen. Ganiyu Solomon (6th right); Mr. Supo Sasore (behind the governor), Mrs. Adetokunbo Tobun-Agbesanwa (6th left); Lagos APC governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode (5th right), Dr. Obafemi Hamzat (4th right), Mr. Tokunbo Wahab (3rd left) and Dr. Tola Kasali (2nd left) at a meeting of all the party’s governorship aspirants in Lagos yesterday.

Ambode unfolds agenda for civil servants

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HE All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has said that his robust experience in mainstream public service makes him most suitable to cater for the best interests of civil servants in the state if elected as the next governor.

He said on Saturday at an interactive session with Lagos civil servants held at the BeroAdeyemi Auditorium in Alausa.

While promising good times ahead, the APC candidate said, "I am proud to stand before you as one of yours and to assure you that this project before us is basically about you. I come with a promise to employ my experience in this noble

profession to serve your best interests as civil servants.

"This is a constituency I readily relate with, and with my vast know-how about the way things work here, I make bold to say that I am in the best position to cater for your interests and thoughtfully admit your wishes and variant concerns."

Fielding questions from the elated civil servants present, Ambode outlined his plans and programs which he assured are designed to better the lives and expertise of workers, whom he described as "the workers who actually put their hands on deck in the process of making government work."

Most of the questions

bordered mainly on the review of salary structure, working standards, welfare, retirement benefits and some misgivings about bonuses and incentives.

To all these, Mr. Ambode gave responses to the satisfaction of the workers.

Clearing the air on his alleged role in the controversy over the mode of payment of leave bonuses to workers, the APC candidate said, "No one can single-handedly make a decision as such; the movement from the harmonised salary structure to the consolidated one you have now, was informed by your very own calls to get a salary structure similar to the federal model. The government back then in the

year 2010 simply assuaged to your yearnings.

"I have always maintained that governance is about the people, and this leave bonus situation helps me drive home that point. Now that most of you want a reversal, we'll definitely sit down again and review it together in favour of your best interests."

Beyond the salary scale and leave bonuses, Ambode also assured that his administration will work assiduously to institutionalise capacity building, training and retraining programme for civil servants, in a bid to make them adapt to the best civil service practices, processes and procedures.

Death threat on Tinubu not mere propaganda, says APC group

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CALL has gone to all well-meaning Nigerians not to wave off the alleged death threat on the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as mere political propaganda.

A statement by Action Group in the Ekiti State chapter of the party, which was signed by its spokesperson, Segun Dipe, urged all Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic, religious and political leanings, to hold

President Goodluck Jonathan responsible should anything untoward happen to Tinubu.

The statement added, "Nothing should be put beyond the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the president's goons in their bid to ensure that they continue in the reign of seething corruption and other numerous impunities. We must all rally together in the condemnation and fight against their evil plan and ensure that it is nipped in the bud to avoid an attendant

colossal negative reprisal."

Dipe further recalled how the APC presidential candidate, General Mohammed Buhari, escaped a well-orchestrated assassination attempt even long before he emerged as the party's candidate.

While pleading with Nigerians not to treat the alarm with kid gloves, the group added, "Let every well-meaning Nigerian put Jonathan on actual notice, and let him read ours as an express notice, that Tinubu

south west

must not die. No, he must not.

Nigeria is too fragile to be able to withstand the magnitude of attendant calamity that will befall it should such is ever attempted."

Describing Tinubu as a political iconoclast, the group said, "Tinubu's passion to see true democracy enthroned in the country did not just start with the present PDP-led government and he remains the foremost consistent progressive alive in Nigeria currently.

HE Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke, has described as hypocritical the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko's support for the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Alleging that governor's stance is not for altruistic reasons, the APC chieftain who was addressing party supporters in Ondo West and Ondo East local government, said the fear of a possible probe of corrupt government officials by the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), if elected as president was the major reason driving the governor's unbridled support for Jonathan.

Speaking in the same vein, another APC chieftain in the state, Prince Olu Adegboro, urged all Yorubas to support the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket. He urged the people not to be carried away by anti-Yoruba elements hiding under different cultural and traditional institutions to work against genuine interest of the Yoruba race.

Osun Speaker tasks students on elections From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo PEAKER of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salaam, has tasked Nigerian students to take keen interest in the country's electoral process.

Delivering a paper at an event organised by the students and management of the departments of Political Science and Philosophy of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife titled, 'The Task of Nation Building and The Political Will of A Leader,' Salaam said that this has become imperative in order to improve on the quality of leadership and governance in the country.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

•President Jonathan being decorated with traditional outfit at the Awujale of Ijebuland’s palace last week.

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ARRING last-minute hitches like "curious court injunctions", the presidential election would have been lost and won in two weeks time. The battle has remained the fiercest, the keenest, the dirtiest and the most expensive for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its archrival, the All progressives Congress (APC). In the last three weeks, the candidate of the PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan had traversed the country in a sleepless manner for the third round of a nationwide campaign because the incumbency factor (a rigging device for democracy in Africa) is not adding up. From the increasing grey hair of the President to the mudslinging on television against APC candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and key opposition figures, Jonathan has been tripping by winning some and losing some. The question is: How did Jonathan run into a tinderbox?

Uncoordinated presidential campaign Until the President took his destiny in his own hands, his campaign had been cosmetic because there was no synergy between the PDP and his Presidential Campaign Council. At a point, the Campaign Council refused to pay the advertisement bills of the party even when such adverts were for the President's campaign. While some members of the council had been looking for crumbs to survive, others had remained mere passengers. Today, the President's campaign is split into five namely: the President's personal coordination; Ahmadu Ali led Presidential Campaign Council but remotely managed by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih; PDP Governors Forum; the PDP initiative; and the strategic team being driven by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim/ ministers/ Chief E.K. Clark/ and other motley support groups. A source said: "The struggle for personal benefits has overshadowed the target of winning the election. Virtually everyone wants to make money from the campaign as if there will be no tomorrow or as if we are going to lose at the poll. The President saw the gaps and decided to personally drive his own campaign.

"If the President tells you his experience in the last three weeks that he had been shuttling about, you will appreciate that he would have lost the February 14 election woefully."

Another source said: "The challenge we are having is that the Campaign Council is too big for nothing, only few are working. To compound the

TWO WEEKS TO POLL:

Jonathan still in a tinder-box Despite a six-week window for more covert and overt campaigns, the nation's presidential race is still getting tighter by the day with much anxiety. Caught in the midst of the campaign web is President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running from pillar to post. In this piece, YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION examines how Jonathan got into a tinder-box problem, the PDP also raised a parallel campaign structure leading to overlapping duties and lack of results. Look, the six-week poll postponement is certainly a saving grace for the PDP." The Deputy Director-General of PDP Campaign Organization, Prof. Tunde Adeniran on Thursday accused the party of doing little to promote Jonathan. He said: "If we continue to show this man has not done anything, others will capitalize on it. The party is not showing enough in this regard. The president's achievement is undersold and in some cases not sold at all. In some places they ask, so Jonathan has done so and so?"

How effective are Jonathan's self-help shuttles?

In the last few weeks, the President had

embarked on shuttles to churches and traditional rulers to repackage his campaign and re-sell himself to Nigerians. Since the three birds (doves) refused to fly at the sanctuary of Rev. Fr. Mbaka in Enugu, the President had attempted to prove the Catholic Priest wrong that there is salvation elsewhere. But the mission to churches backfired with alleged N7billion bribe gift to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Unlike in 2011, religious sentiments do not seem to favour Jonathan this time around. Instead, the church shuttles have left the nation polarized.

The failure of the mission trip made Jonathan to evolve a new strategy of consulting with traditional rulers in all the six geopolitical zones.

He, however, did not take cognizance of history

that most of the same traditional rulers who wined and dined with the late Chief MKO Abiola during the Hope 93 Presidential Race and assisted to annul his mandate were always at the Presidential Villa during the regime of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha to even watch films on flimsy state matters. The all-weather behaviour of some of the traditional rulers has made them to lose touch with their subjects. They prefer to smile to banks with the highest bidder and still have their cake and eat it. The few conscientious ones did not waste time in telling Jonathan the truth, home truth. The Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona (who spoke truth to power when Abacha regime was at its draconian best) reminded Jonathan of the helplessness of the royal fathers.

He said: "In Ijebu here, it is not possible for any Oba- not even in Ijebu, in Yorubaland- to go out and say vote for this, vote for that. That person is looking for trouble. But they should give them (the politicians) the opportunity to present their programmes so that the people can make up their minds on what to do." There could have been no better home truths than the incorruptible Awujale's submission. Again, each time takes a political step, he falters with a higher cost. Now he is being branded as serving God and Mammon for what he thought he had a clear cut intention. Jonathan has however shored up the image of many unknown or attention-seeking priests.

Is the First Lady spoiling the broth with Fayose and Fani-Kayode?

Naturally, the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan is expected to be beside her hubby, President Jonathan, not only as a dutiful wife but as the first beneficiary of power from re-election.

Politically known as Madam P or Mother of the Nation, the First Lady formed the initially effervescent Women for Change Initiative to provide a back up for the President and PDP but when she was overwhelmed by the tightness of the race to the Presidential Villa, she threw decorum to the wind even when her husband has entered into a peace accord with other presidential candidates. On March 2 in Calabar, the First Lady minced no words when she said: "I'm telling you, anyone that comes and tell you Change, stone that person. "What you did not do 19 Kirikiri, is now that age has caught up with you, you want to come and change? You can't change rather you will turn back to a baby. You will turn back to a baby. From old age nothing, so nothing like change. Rather

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(it) is continuity." Though the First Lady was politicking, her office is too sensitive for such a blunder because it can ignite political violence.

To Japheth Omojuwa, a noted blogger with large following, the comments lowered the standard of the Office of the First Lady. He said: "We need not look too far to find examples of First Ladies who brought class and elegance to the privileged office. They may have their own faults but few people will fault the elegance and class of the likes of Maryam Babangida and Stella Obasanjo. Looking to use Michelle Obama as an example of who Mrs. Patience Jonathan should emulate may be asking too much.

"But if the First Lady does not know what is right and what not to say, especially on national television, does she not have media managers?

Are they paid to urge her and her classless disrespectful self on or they are paid to make her look better? Even if they have given up on her getting better, would it be out of place for them to suggest she never appears on live TV? They could at least edit the unwholesome parts of her speech from the whole speech. If per chance the whole speech is unwholesome, would it not be better to make the speech available without its sound? That is, if the First Lady must be on television at all.

"One saw that one or two men in the president's campaign team said they saw nothing wrong in the Patience Jonathan statements. Now, it is one thing to want to earn a living, it is another thing to live life as though living beneath one's belief is a way to earn a living. Or would anyone say stoning those who don't agree with them tallies with the belief system of any civilized person for that matter?

Haba! Should we begin to accord honorary titles to cows just because we are desperate to feed off their meat? Let us call a spade what it is, Madam Patience Jonathan is a disgrace to Nigerian women. Our women have certainly got more class."

Whether Omojuwa is right or not will be tested at the International Criminal Court where the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organization, Governor Rotimi Amaechi has lodged a formal complaint.

With the conviction of ex-First Lady of Cote d'Ivoire, Simone Gbagbo, the case against Mrs. Patience Jonathan might be one of the postelection legal tussles which Nigeria's First Lady will face. In his letter Amaechi said: "Change, as the entire country must know by now, is the slogan of the APC - the rallying cry of a political party that wishes to bring hope of greater and better things to come for Nigeria and Nigerians.

By her statement, Mrs. Jonathan was clearly calling on PDP supporters in Calabar to attack supporters and campaigners of the APC in the state," Amaechi said.

"Mrs. Jonathan's statements and conduct during the ongoing political campaign brings to mind the conduct of Mrs. Simone Gbagbo, wife of the former president of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, prior to that country's 2010 election. The ICC indicted Mrs. Gbagbo for her part in planning to perpetrate brutal attacks, including murder, rape, and sexual violence, on her husband's political opponents in the wake of the 2010 election.

"Mrs. Jonathan does not occupy any formal office in the Nigerian government, as the position of First Lady is not recognized by the Nigerian constitution. But Mrs. Gbagbo's case shows the ICC's awareness of how someone beyond formal governmental and military hierarchies can be identified as responsible for serious international crimes."

The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode however described the ICC threat as an "empty and boastful ranting." He said: "We read with amusement, the threat by the Buhari campaign organization to drag the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, before the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC), for allegedly indulging in what they described as "hate speech" at a recent rally in River State.

Their threat to take the First lady before the ICC is not only absurd, but it is also nothing but the empty and boastful ranting of a perfidious, desperate, decaying and dying political party and such threat will amount to nothing. The truth is that if anybody is a candidate for the ICC, it is certainly not Dame Patience Jonathan, but rather General Muhammadu Buhari himself." Instead of being combative, a solemn First Lady, who spoke through her Media Adviser, Ayo Adewuyi said: "The only thing we can say from here is that Dame Patience Jonathan is a woman of peace that can never in any way be identified with violence before, during and after elections. You do not expect somebody who is the President of African First Ladies to be promoting violence."

The political losses incurred for Jonathan

Two weeks to poll: Jonathan st

• Obas praying for the president at Ile-Ife by the First Lady are dwindling goodwill from Nigerians, including die-hard PDP members and supporters; signs of desperation for power; international odium as the clips have gone viral on the Internet; and swaying votes from the ruling party to the opposition. It requires a lot of image laundering to repair the costly damage.

Contrary to the permutations of those who drafted Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation to Jonathan's campaign council and Governor Ayo Fayose's self-imposed attack dog, the propaganda role of the PDP Presidential Campaign may be short-lived because Yoruba, who are the immediate constituents of these 'butchers', are Republicans who can easily decipher the truth from falsehood. Yoruba cannot easily be led by the nose. And for Fayose, whose state cannot even deliver up to 500,000 votes for Jonathan, he cries more than the bereaved.

Jonathan, Muazu and the fresh fear of losing the north For three days during the week, VicePresident Namadi Sambo and his wife were stuck in the North trying to woo Northerners all over for PDP. The few gains in the North had been eroded by the First Lady's campaign remarks against the APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Northerners. Besides describing Buhari as "brain dead", she accused the North of not having a good family planning system which has led to the emergence of street kids (Almajiri). First Lady Dame Patience said: Wetin him dey find again? Him dey drag with him pikin mate…Old man wey no get brain, him brain don die pata pata. Our people no dey born shildren wey dem no dey fit count. Our men no dey born shildren throway for street. We no dey like the people for that side." According to findings, reports indicated much anger, even from PDP members, against the First Lady to the extent that the wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Amina Sambo is now the one coordinating the last leg of mobilization of women in the North. For a region addicted to its culture, Northerners don't take kindly to derogatory comments on polygamy and insults against those who enjoy cult followership like Buhari.

This was why the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu threatened to resign if the First Lady and others behind hate politics were unchecked by the President. Although the National Publicity of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, dismissed the resignation rumour, a member of the National Working Committee, who spoke in confidence, said: "It was true that Mu'azu protested against the use of uncouth language by the First Lady and some members of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization because the North is

sensitive to uncomplimentary remarks. And you know, we cannot joke with the North's voting strength."

Rather than taking a cue from Muazu, some PDP leaders had been attacking him in the last few days. According to findings, the presidency had been suspicious of Mu'azu for allegedly nursing a secret presidential or vice-presidential ambition.

They therefore felt Mu'azu's threat to quit was a consequence of frustration for not realizing his ambition. They pointed to Mu'azu's remarks at the inauguration of the Presidential Campaign Council to justify what foretold the resignation plan. Mu'azu had said: "Mr. President, I want to appeal to you to consider it a challenge to discuss with your governors, Senators and all elected officials of PDP that members of our party shouldn't be used and dumped. Adhere to equity, fairness and justice." The bashing of Mu'azu had been on in the last three days. The Concerned Elders and chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State accused Mu'azu, of not doing enough to ensure the re-election of President Jonathan. In a statement in Bauchi by a PDP chieftain in the state, Bibi Dogo, they warned Jonathan not to rely on Mu'azu to deliver the mandatory 25 per cent to him in the forthcoming elections. The statement said: "There is also nothing concrete on ground to show Mu'azu's personal commitment to the Jonathan's re-election efforts.

Attending presidential campaign rallies organized

by PDP Presidential Campaign Organization is not enough commitment from the national chairman of the party.

"In fact, to govern a state for eight years under the same party is not enough for Mu'azu to deliver Bauchi to Jonathan 100 per cent, if actually Mu'azu is in control of the party in his state."

Whatever becomes of the party chairman's drama on the chances of Jonathan, it is a selfinflicted problem by the President. In keeping faith with his friend, Jonathan took the risk to make Mu'azu the National Chairman of PDP despite opposition. Many Nigerians may not know that one of the main reasons for the removal of a former Chairman of EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri was because of her insistence to prosecute Mu'azu against legal and 'presidential' advice.

Resurfacing fuel queues and epileptic power supply No matter how temporary the fuel shortage was nationwide in the last one and a half weeks, it created another electoral hurdle for the President because many Nigerians are having a rethink on whether or not to cast their votes for him since there might not be change in the oil sector. It was as if those in charge of payment to marketers have a hidden agenda to draw back the hands of the

campaign clock for Jonathan. The fears of Nigerians that the shoddiness in the oil sector might remain were heightened by the alleged secret memo from the presidency directing some ex-Niger Delta militant leaders to take over Nigerian waterways and oil pipeline protection from Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The ex-militants implicated in the new 'deal' are Government Tompolo; the NDPVF, Mujaheedin Asari Dokubo; and Gen. Shoot-AtSight. Although the takeover was said to be with effect from March 16, it was not immediately clear if the three key leaders got the "new deal" on behalf of all former militants. According to a source yesterday, the militants operating under seven groups had been allocated 'regions' or operational areas as follows: 1. Egbe Security River One (Bayelsa); 2.

Gallery Security (Mosinmi -Ore) 3. Close Body Protection (Edo State); 4. Adex Energy Security(Rivers) ; 5. Donyx Global Concept(Lagos and Ogun); 6. Oil Facilities Surveillance-(Delta) and 7. NewAge Global Security (Mosinmi-Ibadan).

The NNPC through its General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, described the deal as a "community engagement programme" but it was evident that "it is job for the boys" for political purpose. This is why foreign oil firms are skeptical of new investments in oil prospecting in the country.

While Nigerians were recovering from fuel crisis, the power situation has become epileptic nationwide in the thick of rising heat. The electricity market which has 5,500MW installed capacity now generates average of 3,575.85MW following paucity of gas. Yet, the same Nigerians going through the anguish are expected to vote for "continuity."

Poll postponement, international reaction, Jega's fate and Mbeki's visit Up till now, the President and the PDP have not recovered from the backlash of poll postponement. Notwithstanding the repeated assurances of the Federal Government that there will not be a further poll shift, many Nigerians and foreign missions have been asking the media: Do you think this general election will hold? The element of trust is lacking due to alleged plot to remove the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega and the unending debate over the use of Card Readers, which is a prerogative of INEC. An example on Wednesday in Washington DC, USA, further lent credence to the fact that the poll postponement remains an international challenge for the Jonathan government. At a briefing, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ayodele Oke and the Director of

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NEWS REVIEW

an still in a tinder-box

•Buhari Defence Intelligence, Rear-Admiral Gabriel E. Okoi, took time to explain that the nation had overcome most of the security and logistic problems which led to poll shift. Oke said: "INEC was having challenges with regards to the distribution of permanent voter cards (PVCs)".

Okoi also explained how Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the North-East caused INEC to postpone the poll in line with the 1999 Constitution.

He said: "Consequently INEC, after robust consultation with key stakeholders, deferred the elections by six weeks in accordance with constitutional provisions". The session however became charged when Oke said: "When the election was postponed, the NDI and IRI who are both on the ground issued a joint statement which corroborated and gave fuller explanation as to the reason why INEC took the decision it took."

The representatives of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) at the session said neither the US nor any US-based organizations was complicit in poll shift. A former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador George Moose, who led an eight-man joint preelection assessment mission to Nigeria in January said: "nothing in the statement justified postponement."

Earlier, the US and the UK had expressed disappointment over the poll shift. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry said: "The US is deeply disappointed by the decision to postpone Nigeria's presidential election, which had been scheduled for February 14.

"Political interference with INEC is unacceptable, and it is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process.

"The international community will be watching closely as the Nigerian government prepares for elections on the newly scheduled dates. The US underscores the importance of ensuring that there are no further delays.

"We support a free, transparent, and credible electoral process in Nigeria and renew our calls on all candidates, their supporters, and Nigerian citizens to maintain calm and reject election-related violence."

On its part, the UK said: "The decision by INEC to postpone the presidential elections is a cause for concern. The Nigerian people have the right to credible, peaceful and transparent elections. There should be no further delay in delivering democracy and we urge all to remain calm during this period of frustration.

"While we support Nigeria in its struggle against terrorism, the security situation should not be used as a reason to deny the Nigerian people

from exercising their democratic rights. It is vital that the elections are kept on track and held as soon as possible in accordance with international norms."

The increasing doubt over the poll made exPresident of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, likely at the instance of the UN, to spend almost a week in Nigeria meeting Jonathan, APC candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and others alike. A source said: "Mbeki's visit had to do with the anxiety in and out of the continent over the general election.

There are apprehensions on whether or not the poll will hold; the likelihood of violence and the acceptability of the results of the elections.

"So, the ex-South African President came to extract commitment from the key candidates that Nigeria will not be thrown into turmoil. He has been on a peace mission in order to ensure a free and fair poll in the country. He wants any loser to seek redress in court and not on the streets."

Another source said the "recourse to hate politics was disturbing to African leaders and being a man of peace, Mbeki was saddled with the responsibility of intervening.

"You know Mbeki is playing a crucial role in mediation efforts in Darfur and Sudan as Chairperson of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP).

"If you see what happened in Rwanda in 19994, no one will want either pre or post election violence in Nigeria."

Dilly-dally over phone conversation with the King of Morocco Of what use is an international telephone call with a foreign King or President to Jonathan's campaign? Some officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said the President had a telephone conversation with King Mohammed VI of Morocco. The spin was probably to project Jonathan as friendly with Muslim nations to score some political points. The faux pas led to the recall of Moroccan Ambassador to Nigeria. But the real intention was for the President to speak with the Moroccan King to seek support for the candidacy of the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as the President of African Development Bank (AfDB). Expectedly, the opposition has taken advantage of the costly slip. The ebullient National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alh. Lai Mohammed said: "Because of this unnecessary controversy over a phone discussion, Nigerians have now been branded liars. This is very serious considering Nigeria's standing in Africa." The President has ordered investigation into the telephone debacle. If he sacrifices any of the Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs, it will backfire politically. Either way, he has a moral dilemma to come clean and prove to Nigerian

voters that he is a tidier leader.

Jega's fate, PVC and card readers' politics In spite of the President telling the nation that he has no cause to remove INEC chairman, the signs are still ominous over the fate of Jega because of the umpire's adamant position on the use of Smart Card Readers to authenticate Permanent Voter Cards for the election. All attempts to portray INEC as a failure over the distribution of PVCs and deployment of Smart Card Readers have failed due to the overwhelming public confidence the electoral agency is enjoying. Nigerians have chosen to be blind to INEC's lapses, they are just yearning to go to the poll. Jega has so far staved off pressure on PVC distribution with 55, 904, 272 (81.22 %) collected out of 68, 833, 476 cards produced. The battle has shifted to Card Readers with the government and forces in PDP unrelenting in manoeuvre against Jega. The supervising Minister of Information, Edem Duke tested the public pulse about two weeks ago with abracadabra comments on Jega which caught many members of Federal Executive Council unawares.

He said: "On the issue of the INEC chairman, I align myself with what the President said that he has no plan to sack the INEC chairman. That is not to say that if it is time for the INEC chairman to naturally exit his office, then the natural course of things will not take place. It is like saying a civil servant has done 35 years or achieved the age of 60; we now begin to say that he must not retire or he must retire. I think all of that is in the terrain of the Presidency and he has spoken. I have nothing to add to that."

The PDP chieftains have not hidden their disdain for Card Readers because they won't be able to rig the general election or return jumbo figures as the case in some zones in 2011. Following Jega's insistence on Card Readers, the ruling party and 15 others have opted for three options: blackmail Jega through mass protest to force presidency to have a rethink on Jega's stay; go to court to stop the use of Card Readers; frustrate INEC chairman to resign. All these plots were hatched not minding the fact that the presidency had received legal advice that the Card Readers do not violate Section 52(1) (2) the Electoral Act 2010(as amended).

The mass protest which began at the INEC headquarters on Wednesday later spread to the South-East with the outlawed Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra(MASSOB) leading the anti-Jega march.

There might be protest in Lagos on Monday too.

The biggest of the plot is recourse to the court to cage Jega who will have no choice than to obey the order of a court. A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: "There is a fresh plan by the PDP to scuttle the general election on March 28 by securing an order to restrain INEC from using Smart Card Readers.

"The initial plan was to use the registration of Young Democratic Party (YDP) to force INEC to start planning afresh following the new party's claim that Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court had ordered that it should be included in the ballot papers.

"But the PDP and some forces in the presidency got a big shock when Justice Mohammed denied issuing such order and summoned YDP leaders for misinforming INEC and Nigerians.

"They have now resorted to Plan B by taking advantage of the suits on Card Readers to frustrate INEC and Jega.

"The main fear of PDP is that the use of Card Readers will not enable the party to rig and secure jumbo votes like the case in some geopolitical zones in 2011.

Another source said: "The PDP and 15 minor parties made the last botched move against Card Readers on Thursday when political parties met with Jega and INEC management.

"Jega stood his ground and the anti-Card Readers lobbyists left INEC headquarters in Abuja dejected.

"This is why they have seen the court matters as the last hope to call Jega's bluff."

A third source said: "Some forces in PDP in Abuja are already bragging that the Federal High Court, Abuja will give a ruling on Monday to put paid to the use of Card Readers.

"They are celebrating as if the court had ruled in a case that they are not parties to.

"It is left to the Judiciary to save the nation's democracy and avoid a repeat of June 12, 1993 general election when there were conflicting court orders."

Justice Ademola Adeniyi is expected to determine the following prayers of the plaintiffs.

They are: o Seeking an interim order restraining INEC from proceeding with arrangement and plan to use the CRM for the impending elections. o an order of interim injunction restraining the defendant, its agents, servants, privies or assigns, by whatever name, from implementing or commencing or further implementing or further commencing or directing or further directing the use and preparation of the Card Reader Machine

11

or any name of like nature, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. o Deployment of card readers for the election is a violation of the provision of Section 52(1) (2) which prohibits the use of any electronic method of voting in the country.

Obasanjo, Babangida, Danjuma, Agwai et al

The cold war between President Jonathan and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo led to the tearing of PDP membership card by the latter.

Obasanjo may be tagged a paper weight politician, he is respected by some Nigerians and the open derision of PDP might diminish the party before some voters. And the continuing haunting of any public officer associated with Obasanjo might prove politically fatal for Jonathan on March 28. The sack of the immediate past Chairman of SUREP, Lt. Gen. Martin Luther Agwai for advocating change at Obasanjo's 78th birthday lecture was not "too strategic" for a President seeking the votes of the people of Southern Kaduna which recently lost the coveted post of the Group Managing Director of NNPC. Even ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, whose political beacon is still Maradonic, came out openly in the week to back the use of Card Readers which the Presidency and the PDP are opposed to.

Babangida in a statement said: "We must appreciate the creativity and innovation of the card reader which INEC has introduced to make for better election credibility and transparency.

"In a digital world where almost everything is driven by technology, the offer of the card reader is a welcome development.

We may not get to the fullest merit of this, but it is a good way to start. This is one way to bridge the technological gap between those developed and under-developed nations of the world. Let us repose confidence in the system in the interest of the unity of our great country."

The icing on the cake was when Jonathan hosted the urbane former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma at the State House, the guest told newsmen that he was not around to campaign for any candidate. The recurring message is that most retired Army Generals are unhappy with the ill-treatment of Buhari.

Can hounding the opposition figures boost the chances of Jonathan?

The emergence of "curious" watch-list on Friday, purportedly sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the presidency, has upped the ante. Though marked a fake list by the EFCC, there had been apprehensions in the land that Jonathan might play dirty because of the biting opposition. Some vexatious documentaries being run on some television stations have added proof to the door-die or desperate politics of the presidency and the PDP. These same politicians were in the vanguard of the fight for the actualization of Acting Presidency for Jonathan in 2010.

According to findings, those on the "curious" list, alleged to be from the Chief of Staff to the President, Gen. J.O. Arogbofa, are key opposition figures in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).

They are ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Speaker Aminu Tambuwal; Sen. Bukola Saraki; Governors Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomole, Aliyu Wammako, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and Sen. Danjuma Goje.

Others are the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Taraba State, Sen. Aisha Jummai Alhassan; the Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement(PDM) in Adamawa State, Dr. Ahmed Modibbo (ex-Executive Secretary of UBEC); and a former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed; Deputy Governor for Operations of the CBN, Suleiman Barau; Managing Director, NPA, Habib Abdullahi; DG, NCAA, Capt. Mukhtar Usman; MD of NDIC, Umaru Ibahim; GED, Business Development of NNPC, Attahiru Yusuf; and the GED, Commerce and Investment of NNPC, Aisha Abdulrahman.

If the watch-list is implemented, the political terrain will be rough for all and the election might not be free, transparent and fair. Jonathan may succeed in destroying the opposition figures or hounding his political enemies into detention, he will however lose out in the long run. His place in the nation's history might be difficult. Life with history can be lonely because all the so-called strategists, propagandists, friends of the President and blind loyalists would have vanished into thin air.

What next for Jonathan?

The comportment of Jonathan's presidency in the next two weeks will determine his mileage at the poll. Like the wise say, "Your attitude will determine your altitude."

•Contd. on page 12

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

Ropo Sekoni

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Page 14

Femi Orebe Page 16

SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

Thank you, Awujale tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

Oba Adetona has done what is expected of a traditional ruler of repute

O

BA Sikiru Adetona, The Awujale of Ijebuland, deserves commendation for the candid remark he made during President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to his palace on Thursday. It is not all the time that we have traditional rulers speak truth to power. I met the Oba for the first time at Ijebu-Ode Grammar School in the early ‘70s. I cannot remember what exactly he came for then, but I remember he told the story of how he became Oba and also mentioned something about appreciating whatever gift his children gave him, despite the fact that he is blessed himself.

When you deduct about 40 years from the Oba’s age, you would know he must have been extremely young then. And he was extremely handsome, too. Even at his age, he is still any lady’s man, no pun intended.

But these are not matters for today.

The Awujale deserves commendation not just for the frank speech but because of his consistency in such matters. The president had gone to the palace in continuation of his tours to traditional rulers in the southwest. I said it about three weeks ago when the president was in Lagos to meet some traditional rulers, that none of the Obas would dare tell their subjects to vote for the president or any other person for that matter because it is wrong to do that.

One is even at a loss as to why the south west has suddenly become a tourism centre for the president at this point in time.

President Jonathan seems to have made a fetish of such tours as if the Obas would, at the snap of a finger, order their subjects to vote for him. In Yorubaland, gone were those days.

The Yorubas respect their monarchs; but the respect is reciprocal. Any Oba that makes the mistake of asking his subjects to vote in a particular way, and especially for President Jonathan, knows he is courting trouble. A prominent traditional ruler in Yorubaland, who only said something suggestive of supporting General Ibrahim Babangida after his annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, knows what he went through in the hands of the Yoruba people. As the Awujale noted, the Yorubas are too sophisticated to be led in the nose on who to vote for during election by any Oba. “In Ijebu here, it is not possible for any Oba, not even in Yorubaland, to go out and say vote for this, vote for that; that person is looking for trouble. But give them the opportunity to present their programmes so that people can make up their minds on what to do. I think this is a very sound democratic principle and that is what I have decided to do, to give you the opportunity of meeting with the people”. It couldn’t have been better said.

Then President Jonathan did what he knows how to do best: gave himself pass mark on road infrastructure. He said railway is back; but didn’t say what type of railway. He also said his administration has tried “both in the tertiary level, or what we call health tourism”, etc. Then he assured that if reelected, he would implement the report of the National Conference. Earlier, when responding to a demand by the Dagburewe of Idowa, Oba Yinusa Adekoya, who spoke on behalf of the Ijebu Traditional Council, President

• Oba Adetona

Jonathan said he would take the appointment of an Ijebu in his cabinet “very, very seriously” if reelected.

If the president went to 30 palaces in the southwest and all of them made a similar request, he would promise to do something for them all yet, we all know that the constitution is clear on how ministerial appointments should be made. In several other places, President Jonathan had promised heaven on earth things that he could not do in the best of times when crude oil was selling at good prices.

Perhaps the icing on the cake as far as President Jonathan’s visit to the Awujale’s palace is concerned was the monarch’s admonition to his subjects to vote in only people with the genuine interest of the people at heart; honest people with integrity and the fear of God. “Each time I have cause to talk to our people, I have always told them, in the churches and mosques that when you’re going to vote, make sure you back your sons and daughters who will give something back to you; not the ojelus (looters). Those who will be honest with you, who know the way of God; those are the people you should vote for; not those who will give you two, three spoons and mortgage your future. It is not right”. This is what, in Yorubaland, is called oro sunnukun (food for thought). I wonder how the president and his entourage would have felt at the point the Awujale was making. Clearly, they must have been disappointed if their visit was to get his royal endorsement.

Oba Adetona’s speech reminds one of the visit of President Jonathan to the revered Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, during the Edo State governorship election in July 2012. The Benin monarch was as candid as he could be when he was reported to have told the president to allow the wish of the people prevail in the election. As the Awujale rightly noted, the coming elections

All said, the Awujale deserves praise for living to the high standards expected of monarchs of repute like him.

Little wonder he is one Oba that receives the prostration of countless other Obas. Oba Adetona has done what many spiritual fathers would not do. Kaabiyesi o!

are about the most tension-soaked we are having in about 55 years. Although no one has used the expression ‘do-ordie battle’ as former President Olusegun Obasanjo did in his time, the point is, this is the real do-or-die battle. But why?

Why? Even the Moroccan king, HM King Mohammed V1, was not left out of our dirty political tricks. That country’s authorities had to say the monarch declined a telephone conversation with President Jonathan because the monarch too realised the implications of such conversation at this point in time. “The king has actually declined the request of the Nigerian government because it is part of the internal electioneering” (in Nigeria), a statement from the Moroccan authorities said. Yet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja last Monday denied that the Moroccan monarch turned down such a request. It insisted that the president spoke with the Moroccan monarch. “This information is absolutely not correct as the president did in fact speak to the Moroccan monarch … both leaders spoke extensively over the phone on matters of mutual interest and concern”, the ministry said despite the Moroccan authorities’ denial that any such conversation took place. The ministry said it would respond after getting a directive from “higher authorities to do so”. But it was President Jonathan himself who responded, days after, that he never had any such conversation with the Moroccan monarch!

So, what happened? An investigation had been ordered and we await, as usual, its findings. But to show their disgust about the whole thing, the Moroccan authorities issued two statements within 24 hours and crowned what it called “unethical practices” (diplomatically avoiding to say that the Nigerian government lied) with the recall of its ambassador in Abuja for consultations. Although the same Ministry of External Affairs said the conversation (that the president said never was) was not to confer any political advantage on the president and his party, Nigerians know better. What else could it have been all about, especially given the Moroccans’ claim that “there has never been a telephone conversation” between the two leaders?

Does this not show to what extent we are prepared to ridicule the country just for the sake of elections? If we must wash our dirty linen, should we do that in public? So, there is none of our institutions that would not be rubbished all for these elections? Now, it is the turn of the foreign affairs ministry, the most unexpected quarters.

However, by now, it ought to be clear to President Jonathan that no monarch can get him more than his (monarch’s) own vote, that is if the monarch is so pleased to. But hold it, what could have been responsible for the president’s newfound love for Yoruba monarchs?

Could it be because they are believed to have ‘authority’ on their tongues or in their staff of office? All said, the Awujale deserves praise for living to the high standards expected of monarchs of repute like him. Little wonder he is one Oba that receives the prostration of countless other Obas. Oba Adetona has done what many spiritual fathers would not do. Kaabiyesi o!

CHIBOK GIRLS. STILL IN LIMBO. SINCE APRIL 15, 2014.

Battling Boko Haram

T

HE string of successes recorded by the Nigerian military forces in clearing Boko Haram insurgents from towns they occupy in some states of the North East region of the country is heart-warming.

Last Friday, the Director of Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade announced the capture of the Madagali, said to be the last major town held by the terrorists in Adamawa State.

The Nigerian troops had reportedly routed terrorists from different towns and communities in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Gombe.

The six-weeks operation launched by the military, which was the excuse for not being able to guarantee security during the earlier dates fixed for the general elections, seems to be yielding results and there is cause to be hopeful that terrorists days of unhindered takeover of communities are over.

Although the insurgents have continued their deadly attacks in some cities in the region, indications are that the Nigerian army may have finally found the strategies to dislodge them or at best curtail their activities.

The involvement of the African Union regional forces has undoubtedly aided the success of our soldiers, they deserve commendation for halting the worrisome advancement of the insurgents who are determined to possibly carve out their own Islamic state from the country.

Last weekend, Boko Haram’s pledge of alliance with the Islamic State of Syria and Iran (ISIS), which has been globally accepted as a terrorist group is a clear indication of how far the group intends to go in order to achieve whatever cause it claims to be campaigning for.

The Nigerian forces have proved that they have the ability to combat the terrorists if they get the ammunitions required for such sophisticated desert battle against the terrorists. It is unfortunate that it has taken this long to adequately equip our soldiers, many of whom have been killed and wounded along with thousands of other civilians.

Now that we seem to be having an upper hand, everything necessary should be done by the Federal Government to sustain the momentum and once and for all, cut the insurgents to size. The regional efforts should be fortified and there should be no room for any disagreement that can hamper the joint efforts required to win the battle against the terrorists.

If the claim by the Chadian President Idriss Deby that he knows the whereabouts of Shekau, the Boko Haram leader is true, whatever is required to capture him dead or alive should be done. Whatever disagreement exists between the Nigerian and Chadian governments over how to prosecute the anti-terrorist battle should be resolved in the interest of fighting a common enemy group like Boko Haram.

More than ever before, there is need for regional cooperation particularly among countries directly affected by the crisis, and backed by the international community. National pride over territorial issues and credit for who is doing what in the battle should not becloud danger involved in allowing lack of unity of purpose on this matter.

Terrorism is a global problem that has to be tackled urgently before it consumes all of us.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

COMMENT

An unseasonable remembering of JUNE 12

T

HE season of remembering June 12, 1993 as a day in our country’s political history and as a trope for resistance of oppression is three months away.

But the bizarre circumstances of our time make a premature remembrance imperative.

In normal times, nobody will say or do anything that is capable of bringing back the memory of June 12, but words and actions in the last two months by both political and cultural leaders are strikingly similar to the circumstances before the election (that could have brought MKO Abiola to the presidency) and the uncertainty and instability that came after the annulled election.

Although the election contested by Chief Abiola and Alhaji Tofa on June 12, 1993 was sponsoredand supervised by a military dictator while the 2015 election is mandated by the 1999 Constitution, the circumstances before both elections are looking too similar and thus becoming worrisome to anyone who believes that the survival of the Nigerian Union depends on consolidation of democracy and on proper democratic transition between regimes or at the end of each presidential/gubernatorial tenure. In what ways are the days before the two elections looking alike?

In 1993, primaries were cancelled just as citizens were not sure if the election was going to hold until the election came upon them. There was a group known as Association for Better Nigeria that emerged miraculously to make efforts to stop the election through an Abuja court. In 2015, pre-election primaries were not cancelled but the presidential election was postponed from February 14 to March 28. Furthermore, a new political group, Young Democratic Party, threatens to go to court to stop the election shifted to March 28. The desire to stop the election is on account of the insistence of YDP that its name be put on the ballot by INEC to enable it contest the presidential election on March 28, a little over two weeks

Nigeria does not need another June 12, targeted at the North, the South-south, or Southeast away from the election and despite the fact that Young Democratic Party has not conducted its primaries to choose its presidential candidate.

Events after the 1993 presidential election are resonating in the election discourse of 2015. In 1993, an Interim Government was installed to replace what would have been a democratically elected president with mandate from majority of voters in an election that is still being touted today (even by those who annulled it) as the freest and fairest in the political history of the country.

The Interim Government was also branded as a Unity government. The Interim Government that started with Chief Ernest Shonekan quickly transformed into a Unity government under General Sani Abacha after he kicked out Shonekan, and the rest is now history.

In 2015 and even weeks before the election, self-appointed political engineers (as individuals and groups) have also been drumming for Interim government and Unity government. Even a group led by Prof.

Ben Nwabueze, the country’s foremost constitutional lawyer, has called on whoever emerges as winner of the election to install a Unity government that draws ministers and board chairs from the political parties in contest for the presidency. It turned out that the Interim Government put in place

by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1993 was a transition government between two military dictatorships, thus suggesting that annulment of the June 12 election was premeditated and that the matter of Interim Government was a stratagem to prepare for entrance of Babangida’s military successor.

What is confusing about the noise being made in support of Interim and Unity government in 2015 is that the election is supposed to be a process at the end of one democratically elected government to choose another or renew the tenure of the incumbent.

Under the constitution, the incumbent is qualified to contest for a second term in office just as any member of opposition parties is qualified to contest against the incumbent. Under the constitution that brought the incumbent president to power, there is no provision for an Interim or Unity government. And there is no incontrovertible evidence that the incumbent has decided to sit tight regardless of the outcome of the election. If anything, President Jonathan has assured the nation and the world that he will quit if he loses the election.

Are the new political engineers in the country’s boiler room seeing what President Jonathan himself cannot see and what the rest of the country is unable to see? Or, are they simply playing the role of Cassandra, foretelling doom, regardless of the facts on the ground? Are the new political engineers scheming to suspend the constitution and bring a new contraption into being? Is the call for Interim or Unity government simply a manifestation of the nation’s pathological problem, known in popular parlance as the Nigeria Factor, a reference to the propensity of Nigerians to engage in denialism? Whatever it may be, it is a dangerous call to make on the eve of a constitutionally-mandated election. Such calls have the capacity to disorientate citizens and demoralise voters.

What makes the 2015 election different from the one of 2011? The two leading candidates today were the two front-runners in 2011. The campaign in 2011 was decent, even elegant. The two candidates and their supporters focused on what they could or would do if elected, just as the pundits on duty then encouraged voters to exercise their franchise fully. In 2011, nobody mentioned the two concepts now in circulation: Interim and Unity governments. Even when General Olusegun Obasanjo declared that the 2007 election was a ‘do-or-die’ event, no political

engineers called for Interim or Unity government. I still recall the encouraging assessment made by President Jonathan at the end of the 2011 election: “a successful and acceptable civilian to civilian election,” a subtle reference to the 2007 election that brought him in as vice president as not successful and acceptable.

Calls for Interim or Unity government are confusing citizens and are capable of making voters feel that their votes would not matter. Even some social media pundits are more alarmist than the political engineers that propagate their ideas in the traditional media. Some social media pundits are already insinuating that 2015 may produce the June 12 for the North, just as 1993 did for the Southwest. Realising that in 1993 the two principal characters that annulled the presidential election were from the north: Babangida and Abacha, and the victim: MKO Abiola was from the Southwest, any innuendo about a Fulani June 12 should be (and is) worrisome.

Nigeria does not need another June 12, targeted at the North, the South-south, or Southeast. Those who participated in prodemocracy struggle to move the country beyond sidetracking properly conducted elections, just like those who stood by to watch them, cannot but remember that the years of transition from military dictatorship under Babangida to Interim Government under Shonekan and back to military dictatorship with the obsession to transform into elected civilian government were some of the worst years in the country’s history, especially in terms of repression, unnecessary loss of lives through extermination of citizens by those in power, and erosion of Nigeria’s international dignity.

Like a civil war, one June 12 is enough for a country that wants to survive as one.

What is at issue in 2015 is straightforward and clear: fair, free, and credible election.

All suggestions from political engineers and pundits should be to encourage politicians and citizens to talk and work towards free and fair election and to support INEC to conduct free, fair, and credible elections. A free, fair, and credible election is the only thing that can move the country towards further consolidation of democracy and assure citizens that the country as a multiethnic ‘statenation’ is worth giving a chance to find its feet and grow, not calls for extra-constitutional political contrivance.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

COMMENT

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Agwai ‘s sack It smacks of pettiness on the part of the FG and unseriousness with the objectives of SURE-P that he headed The removal of General Martin Luther Agwai as chairman of the intervention agency, Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) is another indication that something is fundamentally wrong with the philosophy of the Jonathan administration. The agency, a baby of the popular struggle for transparency in the management of prices of petroleum products in 2012 certainly needs men of proven integrity to manage it. This explains the appointments of the first chairman, Dr. Christopher kolade, and Agwai who succeeded the former high commissioner.

Kolade was recommended for the job because of his vast experience in both the public and private sectors. He has the reputation of a man who could be trusted with public funds but had to bow out when he could not tolerate the practices that threatened his reputation. Agwai, a retired four-star General of the Nigerian Army who had the distinction of rising to the pinnacle of his career had won laurels at home and abroad. He was Chief of Defence Staff in the Obasanjo administration and a commander of international peacekeeping operations. His appointment was meant to allay fears that the government frustrated Dr. Kolade out with a view to derailing the programme. However, Agwai’s sack last week and his replacement with a regular public servant has raised questions about the sincerity of the Federal Government about tackling national maladies.

We find it inappropriate that the Federal Government could not officially adduce reasons for the removal. A man of such distinction does not deserve such a shabby treatment. If he had done anything wrong, it ought to have been pointed out, if only to allay public fears on the

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh

•Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile

•Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye

•Associate Editor Sam Egburonu

•General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye

distinction, irrespective of their political affiliation. The United States of America is one country that owes its rapid development to the part being played by technocrats who are either apolitical or even aligned to opposing political parties. Realising the need for such bipartisan disposition, President Barack Obama saw nothing wrong in appointing a Republican his defence secretary at the inception of his administration.

We must learn the good lessons. As we prepare to hold another general elections, Nigerians should begin to ask the correct questions of their governments. We must insist that morals and value play great roles in building good societies and thus insist that any government that intends to captain the ship of state must seek good materials and accord them the respect that they deserve. The governments at all levels should realise that public officers are not robots who could be robbed of their independence and viewpoints. General Agwai was entitled to his opinion at the Obasanjo birthday and that certainly is not enough to deprive the society of his sterling qualities in managing SURE-P. The presidential system of government is hinged on competence and the drive for excellence, not blind personal loyalty to the leader or the ruling party.

Now that General Agwai has been sacked from SURE-P, Nigerians, and especially the civil society groups should begin to pay closer attention to the agency and other similar intervention agencies with a view to ensuring that they keep to the highest standards in performing the roles they were set up to fulfill.

LETTER

T

HE ruling party in this country, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would create history and also be listed in The Guinness Book of Records as a party in power but operating as opposition.

After the election of 2011, no sane person would believe the self-acclaimed largest party in Africa would find itself in this tight corner of defending most of the policies and programmes of the party with difficulty.

It’s a well known fact, that

direction of public policy and encourage other men of repute to take public appointments.

It has been suggested that Agwai was removed for attending and presenting a paper at the 78 th birthday of General Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of the country and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It is surprising that the government did not deem it fit to congratulate the former president, let alone being represented at the well-attended and well-advertised event. It is even more unfortunate that a retired General could draw the ire of the government for honouring the invitation of his former boss.

Governance at the highest level in the country deserves decorum, decency and grace. A man of honour at the helm of affairs would realise that the trenchant criticisms by General Obasanjo of recent do not make him an enemy.

Differences in political opinion should not be allowed to becloud our sense of propriety.

What the president did in sacking General Agwai smacks of pettiness. A society faced with the sort of crisis in the country today requires the services of all men and women of

PDP now operates as opposition party before, if you were contesting under PDP in any platform you could go to sleep because victory was assured in any election. However, that has changed for now.

With the coming of All Progressives Congress (APC) as a legitimate oppo-

sition party, the ruling party has been having sleepless nights on how to go about to convince Nigerians to elect the party in this coming election.

PDP, as a political party, in spite of being in government and with its war chest,

is finding it difficult to sell itself to Nigerians unlike what we all saw in the past before any election.

The recent campaign undertaken by the party across the country has exposed the struggle of the ruling party to stay afloat and be relevant

in the scheme of things in this country.

The party is so divided that in most of its campaigns it has always been alleged of buying crowd to attend. The stoning and destruction of posters and bill boards by the same PDP members have

been seen in places like Bauchi, Kastina, Taraba and all PDP states; it shows the centre can no longer hold for the ruling party this time around.

As the general elections of March 28 and April 11, 2015 draw near, what would be the fate of a ruling party that is gradually turning into an opposition party?

We keep our fingers crossed.

•By Bala Nayashi Lokoja, Kogi State.

Water, water nowhere in Benin…! Ugwuanyi’s legal victory: Matters arising

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WRITE to draw the attention of the Edo State government to the sorry state of potable drinking water in Benin City.

I recall that as a young lad, we used to have public water taps where we went to get water. The water from these taps were not only good for all domestic purposes, we could also drink from them as well.

You could find these water taps on almost every street in Benin, and as a matter of fact, they were more in areas where the poor man, who couldn’t afford to rent a three-bedroom flat, lived.

But today, sir, all the water taps have disappeared. What has gone wrong, and if indeed something has gone wrong, why is it taking the government this long to provide a very basic human need like wa-

ter?

I recall that there was once a reservoir of water built during the military government of Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia. It was from here that the whole of Benin City got water. Therefore, I do not understand why the government in Edo State cannot build another one, just so as to give the poor people of Edo State access to clean, safe and potable water. Do you know how much an average family, school or hospital spend on buying sachet and bottle water?

Trust me, sir, the current method of relying on sachet water which source and quality is suspect only helps to endanger the health of the good people of Edo State and Nigeria in general. May I also use this medium to decry the present habit of sinking boreholes in nearly

every home in Benin City, especially in the GRA. Sinking of boreholes in residential areas like the GRA is a threat to the environment because there are cities around the world today which have experienced earthquakes because of the indiscriminate sinking of boreholes.

I make bold to say that it is the failure of government, across board, from the local, state and federal levels, that has forced Nigerians from all walks of life to resort to water from boreholes and sachets. This has to stop. These governments must sit up.

•By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, Africa Network for Environment & Economic Justice, (ANEEJ), Benin City.

R

ECENTLY, a Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a suit filed by the outgoing Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial District, Senator Anyaogu Eze, challenging the victory of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, winner of the last PDP Governorship Primary conducted in Enugu State.

Eze approached the court praying that it should hold that a sister court presided over by Justice Adeniyi Ademola endorsed the delegate list his faction of the party used in conducting the parallel primary which produced him as governorship candidate as authentic.

But, in his judgment, Justice Evoh Chukwu held that the harmonised list which produced Hon. Ugwuanyi as governorship candidate subsists; meaning that the pri-

mary election which trumped up Ugwuanyi as PDP Governorship candidate for Enugu State is the authentic primary that is duly recognised.

He further noted that, the order of the sister court which Senator Eze relied on to hold a parallel primary was merely declarative and not mandatory. Adding that only one primary was held by the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) in accordance with the stipulated rule in section 89 (4) of the Electoral Act. The enthralling celebration and happiness which enveloped the whole state on hearing the victory of Ugwuanyi is a true testimony that he is the choice of the people. Let it be said again that since democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999 and as its currently being

practiced in Enugu, there has never been any candidate that has enjoyed public acceptability like the candidature of Hon. Ugwuanyi!

The difference is that while Eze found himself in the Red Chamber, Ugwuanyi found himself at the Green Chamber but, like I have always believed, it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runeth, but is of the Lord that showeth mercy (Romans 9:16). In this regard, the people of Enugu State have made their choice, instead of fighting against their decision, he should shelve any plan in that direction and join hands with Gburugburu to bring victory to the party come April 11, because the voice of the people is the voice of God.

By Edwin Uhara, Abuja.

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

16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

COMMENT

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom and liberty This is why I am appealing to the APC to instruct all its agents to ascertain that only INDELIBLE, as opposed to VANISHING INK, is supplied for use

“I

N the case of Afenifere that has so shamelessly and so strangely declared its support for President Jonathan, its support is worth little or nothing to the PDP. Afenifere is no longer the formidable political organisation or movement that it once was. None of its present leaders can win elections in the Southwest. They have become irrelevant in the politics of the Southwest where their political influence has fallen considerably.

Equally, the traditional rulers in the Southwest that President Jonathan has been trying desperately to woo have little or no influence on the electorate in the region. Even in Ife, the Ooni, the leader of the pack, has little or no political influence now. So trying to bribe the Obas is a waste of money, time and effort. They cannot deliver the votes Jonathan needs to win the elections, if they are free and fair" -Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, fromer Nigerian Ambassador to the United States and Deputy Nigerian Representative to the United Nations.

God bless the Awujale of Ijebu land. You feel proud as a Yoruba man listening to Kabiyesi respond to President Jonathan during his visit to the paramount ruler, Thursday, 12 March, 2015. Kabiyesi is not one to lie, promising what he knows no Oba in Yoruba land can deliver.

Do you lecture the converted? Received knowledge would say, no. But that exactly was what I saw Governor Olusegun Mimiko do to his colleague PDP governors this past week in Lagos as he lectured them on the advantages of restructuring while everybody else looked like the governor was speaking Greek. The few acclamations that interspersed his long

lecture were extremely tepid and unenthusiastic. Even Governor David Jang, Chairman of the Forum, was so listless he had to be helped out with his contribution. I could not stop wondering whether he knew that TVCs were being withdrawn as people obtained their PVCs, yet he was canvassing its use. Nobody joining the programme midway would ever have thought he was watching a meeting of state governors. It is, however, interesting that it has now become the burden of the Southwest PDP, and of course its acolyte, Afenifere, to carry restructuring literally on their heads for a president who, outside of the Southwest, has never made it a campaign issue. Not surprisingly, no governor at the event, besides governor Mimiko, did either.

It is equally interesting to now see PDP top guns, David Jang, their 16-isgreater-than-19 governor's forum chairman inclusive, with their subalterns, running all over the place, ranting as to why Card Readers should not be used. By doing this, a few things have become clearer to me personally.

In the first place, it says very loudly that the Ekiti rigging template, already eloquently attested to by the Captain Koli tapes, and on the basis of which President Jonathan must have once told some ambassadors that the elections would be the easiest ever, has been abandoned. I must say, however, that the six weeks' postponement could very well be their way of getting their election-fixing rogue scientists to invent other versions. PDP is that desperate. This is why I am appealing to the APC to instruct all its agents to ascertain that only INDELIBLE, as opposed to VANISHING INK, is sup-

plied for use. Secondly, and this explains their strident opposition to the use of card readers, is the fact that by its use, PDP will not be able to profit from a total of about 20 million voters cards which they most probably have cloned from the VIN card numbers fraudulently extracted from the 17.8 million youths TAN claimed endorsed President Jonathan as well as the about two million forms distributed all over the Southwest by a chieftain of the party on the spurious grounds that he was going to give them jobs and loans.

If they contest this, they should tell Nigerians why they required VIN card numbers on those documents. Indeed, thinking that INEC was complicit in this fraud and would feed the 20 million into its system ahead of the elections, I once, on these pages, advised APC to go to court over the use of card readers. But now seeing how troubled they all are, wanting Jega out by just about any means, it is obvious the professor remains his decent self. However, we cannot go to sleep as that does not, in any way, remove the danger still lurking within INEC with many PDP card carrying members like a former Ebonyi State PDP chairman still on duty. There is, too, that one who we heard in the Ekitigate tape gave Fayose some sensitive INEC materials which he reportedly printed and used in rigging the election. Even if it is the last thing Professor Jega would do before exiting, he must fish out that rotten pig who so egregiously compromised the agency.

It is to rig the elections that they are doing everything to discredit a card reader which cannot discriminate between parties but would apply equally to all voters. PDP cannot win a single local government election without rigging as Nigerians have

seen time and again. From the grave vine, we have now heard they would ensure there is no network, nationwide, on March 28 so they could blame INEC for using card readers. If this fails to stalemate the election, as it sure would, because it is not internet-based, we are told, they could orchestrate June 12 all over again, and when trouble erupts, Afenifere and their other endorsers in the Southwest would not only rise in their support but would start leading delegations to Abuja to express that support. It has, in fact, been suggested they already knew there is no way a people completely sidelined from democratic dividends for a whole six years, as we saw in the case of a highly qualified Yoruba CBN Deputy Governor, a 1976 graduate and long time staff of the apex bank, who, indeed, acted as its governor, had to give way for a 1984 graduate and total stranger to the bank, but who is from the favoured geo-political zone, when it came to appointing a substantive Central Bank governor.

Nor did it matter that the Finance Minister and not less than 60 percent of heads of regulatory agencies come from those parts.

For obvious reasons, the Jonathan government had to shift the 28 February election. They just had to go for broke as the auguries were too bad, seeing defeat staring them in the face should the elections hold. But there could never have been a better time for the Sahara Reporters' airing of Captain Koli tapes. It caught the PDP in their very jugular; whatever the braggadocio of the falcons and their falconer. For the PDP, it was road closed. Otherwise, that Igbo serial election rigger would still have been hawking about his photocromic ballot papers and the PDP would have

won the election long before it took place. That route having been closed, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the six additional weeks is to enable the PDP, as indicated earlier, devise new rigging techniques. As at the time the National Security Adviser suggested postponement at the Chatham House on the grounds that sufficient number of PVCs had not been distributed, INEC had distributed about 65 percent which was much higher than the 35 percent it did in Ekiti as at the time of the governorship election and nobody heard all these jeremiads about number of PVCs distributed. Sensing then that it would not gel, they had to quickly manufacture insecurity as if a sevenyear-old insurgency had just dropped from Mars. An insurgency they had romanced all these years, deliberately ill-equipping our patriotic, well trained and disciplined soldiers, suddenly shot into limelight becoming the linchpin for election postponement. Forget, in the meantime, that collaboration with our neighbours had long been suggested by the French President and Abuja did absolutely nothing. It now suddenly hit the president that he had to cooperate with them. I am sure that the full story of these days would be told one day in future and Nigerians will get to know how they were fooled. We can only imagine now, how many lives could have been saved and disruptions to the lives of our hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons avoided.

So here we are, with whatever remains of their magical 6 weeks, and I am pleading with all Nigerians to vote right as four more years of the same, or worse, is certainly not what we deserve as a nation.

Are you a happy person?

I know that most of our adults in this country think that happiness is a fat bank account, stolen or borrowed; while the youths think it is a one-way visa to the USA

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EADER, I wish I could tell you that I look exactly like the picture you are seeing right now on this page, but I cannot. What with one thing and another, I am missing a leg or arm or half a smile on this happiness project. When my eyes are not literally crossing each other's paths trying to make sense of the many incomprehensible troubles Nigerians have a penchant for digging up for me, my mouth is in a permanent snarl of exclamation over the things they take as normal. So no, my eyes are not closed in some blissful inhalation of my inner peace and my mouth is not spread in a wide grin of satisfaction over my social condition. I am a hapless and helpless Nigerian. Indeed, my inner turmoil and outer condition have now collectively radioed in for backup: the tears, sniffles and good ol' adult howling.

What about you, are you a happy person? I know a happy person when I see one; he/she looks exactly like the picture you are looking at. I doubt very much if your happiness quotient can be any higher than mine though: that of any blue-blooded Nigerian cannot be anything to speak of considering the many sources of our national outrage right now.

As I am writing this, there is no electricity. I am using the backup battery thoughtfully devised by someone in another economic market whose own nation first ensured there was elec-

tricity to enable him to spend long hours researching how to make the devise that I would use in my own uneconomic market. You get my drift? Then you're better than me.

Anyway, there has not been enough electricity to fill two cups, and yet there are places, I am told, where electricity is supplied in spoonfuls, no matter that there are national, state and local governments in place charged with the affair of ensuring that electricity flows constantly. So, Nigeria's electricity is shortcircuiting my happiness line.

On the matter of the roads, we have been given over to hissing and gnashing our teeth on account of what our fellow Nigerians have made of us, literally. Have you tried travelling on the Oyo-Ogbomoso road lately? Seriously, you will not only curse the fellow-dude who got the contract but failed to execute the dualisation of that road, you will spit at your government and all those connected with it. That road represents all roads in Nigeria that manage to slice off huge chunks of your contentment.

Then, there is the matter of having to work for a living; children having to transport water over long distances; housekeeping monies buying less and less while responsibilities are increasing more and more, elections being delayed... Tell me now, while we are busy attending to all these,

what time do we have to be happy?

On Friday this week, the world will celebrate the international day of happiness. Don't let us go into why and how it has come about that such a thing as happiness needs to be celebrated. To start with, I had always thought that happiness was a personal thing, a matter between one and one's chi: if your chi smiles at you, you get happy, if it fails to smile, you just go look for somewhere to drown quietly without being a public nuisance.

The United Nations for instance thinks otherwise. It says that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal. That means that I can now go around proclaiming this goal in the face of all my enemies, starting with the government. When the government fails to give me electricity in my house, I now have the right to wave the red flag at it and say, boo hoo, you government are standing in the way of my lawful pursuit of happiness. See you in court. Oh yes, by that UN declaration, you can now take someone to court for obstructing your path in your pursuit of happiness. Let me just check with my lawyer first...

So far, you will agree with me that the pursuit of happiness in the Nigerian socio-politico-economic space is harrowing, if not nigh impossible. Yet,

let us look at another possibility. Let us suppose for a moment that happiness can happen in spite of this cloudy space. Let us look at our governments across the board as errant children that you can't get through to; so we must find ways of getting around them to pluck our own happiness from their tight-fisted jaws.

This is what I mean. I know that most of our adults in this country think that happiness is a fat bank account, stolen, borrowed or begged for; and the youths think that happiness is a one-way visa to the USA. Indeed, most youths and young-at-hearts have the ants in their pants to 'dump' this country and make for parts unknown in search of a better life. Who can blame them? The only trouble is that what motivates most of them is often economic. They have not yet taken the trouble to get to the heart of life and find its meaning in order to know exactly what they want from it. Usually, most of us are after that special thing we can hardly name ourselves, that thing that is so elusive and difficult to pin down, the performance of which just brings out the sweat from our brows, the jump to our hearts and the tongue hanging out sideways. That is the point where our happiness hangs.

For many of us, that tongue hangs out sideways when we are entertaining. Oh, you should just see us at the pinnacle of a successful bash, dashing here and there waiting tables on guests. For some, it is gathering children together and mentoring them.

Oh man, you should see such people showing children the way to go in life. For many, it comes from constructing one edifice after another,

planting houses with government money. All that matters to them is that the buildings should sprout up and sideways like magical things from Aladdin's cave.

It is time I think for us as Nigerians to begin to examine what brings us happiness. True, happiness around here would have been much enhanced if social amenities were present. Such things add to the quality of life. After all, it would be a good thing to be able to flip a switch and bathe the room in light, turn a tap and flood the floor with water or even drive your car and not be jolted through the roof by bad bumps and potholes the sizes of dams. It gets even better when you do not have policemen or their allies harassing the life out of you for not having some intangible thing or the other in your car on a journey at night when all you want is to just get home.

Honestly, what one does for happiness does not matter provided it safeguards the environment, does not harm any other person and it allows one to treat others with respect. That's not me; I got it from the happiness site. But we all need to look inside us and bring out that special thing which perhaps the world has not yet known and which may even do this country some good. I still believe that developed countries are where they are today because their people pursued their happinesses in ways that added value to the environment, one item after another. We can do that too; sure we can - one item after another. So, be a happy person; pursue your dream and change the face of Nigeria for the better. As for me, I am happiest just talking to you...

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

COMMENT

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(107) The bibliophile and the exegete as exemplary teacher: for Modupe Oduyoye @ 80 Ko si ede ti Olorun ko gbo [There is no language that is incomprehensible to God] A Yoruba adage on the philosophy of language

W

HEN word came to me just this week that a symposium is to be held at the University of Ibadan next week to mark the 80th birthday anniversary of Mr. Modupe Oduyoye, my initial thought was one of profound regret that because the notice came so late, it will not be possible for me to be at the event. Then in the manner in which after night comes daylight, my feelings of regret turned to the deep feelings of reverence that I had always had for my old teacher ever since, for about three years, he taught me at Ibadan Boys High School (IBHS) in the 1960s. I am of course not the only old boy of that school that holds Mr. Oduyoye in reverence for the impact he had in the school when he taught there between 1959 and 1963. I have never met a single old boy of the school from that period who does not regard our old teacher’s impact on us as anything less than legendary. Moreover, the circle of Mr. Oduyoye’s fervent admirers is nothing short of astonishing in its breadth and reach, in Nigeria, in Africa and in other parts of the world. This is all the more remarkable given the fact that, shunning all attractions and seductions of intellectual glamour, Mr. Oduyoye has consistently been far more devoted to carrying on his monumental work on historical and comparative linguistics as a basis for unraveling some of the thorniest problems of the African past in relation to the past of the entirety of the human race. In this tribute to my old and revered teacher, I will follow the path of almost everyone I know when they talk about Mr. Oduyoye which is to tell the story from the vantage point of their own particular encounter with the teacher, the man, the intellectual.

Of course I did not know that Mr. Oduyoye was a “bibliophile” and an “exegete” of the highest order when I first encountered him as my teacher in Forms Two, Three and Four. In fact, at that time, these words, these terms did not exist in the achieved vocabulary of my studentship at that stage of my education. All I knew was the fact that from the very first time that I sat in his English Language and English Literature classes, I felt an instant, greatly empowering validation of my love of books, reading and writing. The love of books and of reading had started in primary school days and had been greatly facilitated by my membership of the old Western Region Library close to the Gbagi commercial district of Ibadan. As I have said in a tribute to the late Professor Dapo Adelugba when he turned 70 in 2009, he and a friend of his, one Nelson Olawaye, had greatly encouraged my reading habits while I was still in primary school.

But what Adelugba and Olawaye did not know was the fact that at home, in a very large polygamous family setting in which, at any one time, there were close to twenty children, I did not exactly have auspi-

•?????????????

cious conditions for the fulfillment of my passion for reading books. Indeed, my father took the position that my “escape” into books was a way of avoiding my share of household chores – which was perhaps partly true. Thus, without being in the least aware of it at the time, by the time I entered secondary school I was in a great, almost consuming need for both the space and the validation for my passion for reading. Since Mr. Oduyoye was not the only teacher of English Language and English Literature that I had in my five years at IBHS, the thing that needs explaining is why it was he and not any of the other teachers that had such a deeply formative influence on me and most of my classmates.

Founded in 1938, ten years before the founding of University College, Ibadan (UCI), IBHS used to have many fresh graduates from UCI as either permanent or temporary members of its teaching staff. In my recollection, none of these graduates of UCI had anything remotely close to the impact that Mr. Oduyoye had on us. He not only taught Language and Literature better than anyone else, he was in charge of virtually all the cultural and intellectual extracurricular life of the students. He was in charge of the school library, the

school’s literary and debating society, the school’s literary magazine, “Triumph”, and the school’s Students’ Christian Movement. On top of this, he dressed simply and for the five years when he was our teacher he followed the same invariant dress code of white short-sleeved shirt over white shorts. Perhaps above all else, Mr. Oduyoye was about the only teacher who, though he never used the cane, yet had the greatest moral and psychological authority with us.

Certainly speaking for myself, it mattered a great deal to me that he made me one of the school’s librarians, a member of the editorial board of the school magazine, and the leading representative of the school’s literary and debating society in our contests against the other secondary schools in Ibadan. As incredible as this may sound now, none of this made me feel that I was a favorite of our beloved and respected teacher; in fact, we all knew that nobody was Mr. Oduyoye’s favorite since we all knew that he gave equal attention, equal recognition to each and every student. Rather, the positions to which he appointed me made me feel vindicated in intimations that I was then gradually and imperceptibly feeling that my future career lay in English Language and Literature in particu-

lar and more generally, the profession of an exegete, an interpreter of literary and cultural texts.

In 1964, the year after Mr. Oduyoye left IBHS for Yale University for studies toward a Bachelor of Divinity degree which was also my last year in secondary school, I was expelled from IBHS for leading a student revolt against the school authorities. Luckily for me, my name had already been sent as one of the school’s West African School Certificate Examinations registrants, although the school authorities tried to have my name withdrawn, fortunately unsuccessfully. Although I was fairly sure I would pass the exams even though I would be taking them as an expelled student, I was in utter despair about the future. I mention this fact in this tribute to Mr. Oduyoye because his response to the letter of despair that I wrote to him at Yale about my expulsion did a lot to assure me that beyond my expulsion, in the final analysis what mattered was my belief in my abilities and my determination; as long as those were intact, he wrote to me, I could go as far as my talent and will could take me.

The Young Shall Grow: so goes the well-known name and inscription on the buses of one of the leading transport enterprises in our country.

In time, as I grew older intellectually and professionally, I began to have a clearer and deeper understanding of what Mr. Oduyoye had meant to me and my schoolmates in that most formative period of our intellectual development. This was in no small measure aided by encountering the nearly endless string of the published works of our old master himself in the fields of Biblical studies, Yoruba language, names and culture, African antiquity and historical and comparative linguistics. As author and publisher, Mr. Oduyoye is almost unparalleled in his distinctiveness among our country’s intelligentsia.

At one time he was the Literature Secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria and the publisher in charge of Daystar Press, the Council’s publishing outfit. When he retired from that position, he moved to Lagos and became the publisher of Sefer Books.

In these two positions in which Mr. Oduyoye’s work as publisher and author achieved full flowering, it at last became clear to me how bibliophilia and exegesis – respectively the love or veneration of books and the interpretation of texts, especially

scriptural texts – had been so central both to Mr. Oduyoye’s legitimation of my passion for books and reading at IBHS and to my eventual career as an academic. Let me explain what I mean by this, even if in a rather roundabout manner.

Every time that I speak to a new class of graduate students, I tell them that for my doctoral dissertation at New York University, I read over five hundred plays on and by African Americans, all produced in a period of over two centuries. In addition to these plays, I read hundreds of secondary critical books and thousands of essays and articles. I then ask the almost always astonished freshmen grad students how in the world I could have managed to read so many plays, books, essays and articles in order to write just that one “book” that was my doctoral dissertation. To this question, my students typically do not know what to say. But lo and behold, the mystery, the astonishment is lifted when I tell them that the only way in the world that this seemingly incredible feat was possible was the simple fact that I loved reading so much that far from being a burdensome task, reading hundreds of books and thousands of articles was actually for me a multiplication of reading pleasure, again and again and again. This view goes to the heart of what Mr. Oduyoye contributed to my intellectual development at a very formative time in my life. It also goes to the heart of the rich legacy of his published books and monographs that will be the subject of the symposium to be held in his honor next week.

Working in modern languages of Africa and the wider world like Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Arabic, English and French together with ancient languages like Greek, Latin Aramaic and Hebrew, Mr. Oduyoye has for decades now been challenging seemingly settled orthodoxies on the peopling of our continent and the role of language inter- and comingling in that history.

The number of texts that he traverses in this vast project are literally uncountable. More staggering are the intricacies of transformations that he uncovers between what he calls cognate forms in languages ancient and modern, African and non-African. If there is one grand theme in this vast and endlessly varied work, it is Mr. Oduyoye’s strong thesis that our languages prove that we are all far more related than we know or care to admit. This is why, for the epigraph for this tribute I have chosen the Yoruba adage that states that there is no language that is incomprehensible to God. This is, surely, a utopian philosophical proposition. But it is also something that Mr. Oduyoye takes great pains to demonstrate through the vastness of his work as one of our country’s greatest bibliophiles and exegetes. I was immensely fortunate to have been his pupil and to have very early in my studentship been bitten by the bugs of his bibliophilia and exegesis. In my time, I have proudly but diligently infected others with these bugs. Long life and health to you, old master!

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

COMMENT

sms only: 08116759748

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N less than two weeks Nigerians would be voting in elections that may turn out to be a watershed in the country's democratic development. Despite all the advantages of incumbency, a very strong possibility exists that an invigorated opposition could topple the ruling party for the first time ever.

President Goodluck Jonathan says his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is too big and established to fail. The owners and operators of the tragic ocean-going vessel 'The Titanic' had similar notions of its invincibility before it sank like a stone in the Atlantic. The president might be privy to intelligence we don't have, or perhaps this is just bluster to project a positive front even when things aren't going the way you would like.

The two main political parties have commissioned their own private polls and have a fair idea which way the wind is blowing. That notwithstanding, both sides would tell you in public that they would win handsomely.

To further muddy the waters you have clerics who also say they know who will emerge winner. To give their claims credibility they boast that God let them in on the secret.

There's a little problem though: some say General Muhammadu Buhari would win, others insist Jonathan would prevail. One thing that's not in dispute is that God is not the author of confusion. In another fortnight those who truly heard the Almighty and those who were just hearing things would be separated.

For those who make no claims to prophetic or clairvoyant capabilities, there's a common sense way to project what is about to happen to the nation's power configuration.

These informed observers understand our political behavior and can sense which of the leading contestants has a credible route to power judging by the way the electoral map is shaping.

Of course, their projections cannot be foolproof being the works of men. There are also imponderables that may yet come into the mix over the next 12 days to throw all assumptions out of the window.

However, for the sake of today's column we must stick with what is known at this point.

So what is not in dispute? This is the most bitterly contested election in a generation. The exchanges have quickly headed for the gutter. The feeble attempts at discussing policy have been drowned out by a slew of invective.

Jonathan's campaign has informed us that leading opposition figures have body odour and should be in jail for their supposed crimes. Cashstrapped television stations have lost their heads and broadcast potentially libelous smear documentaries just because they have to pay bills.

First Lady Patience Jonathan - not one to sidestep a fight - declared her husband's rival 'brain-dead' and suggested that Northerners breed like rabbits without caring how present and future almajiris would be fed. She added helpfully that her own people were not that way.

We've heard - albeit without a shred of proof - that the All Progressives Congress (APC) splashed out all of N5 billion so that Buhari could stand in the spotlight at London's Chatham House.

Of course, the APC campaign are no innocents and have given as good as they have received. They have

E-mail: festus.eriye@gmail.com Twitter: @EriyeFestus

PDP: Six weeks is not enough

•PDP Chairman, Muazu

questioned the psychiatric health of the Jonathan campaign spokesman as well as his choice of leisurely diversions in the past. Among other choice insults their characterization of the president as 'clueless' might just be the mildest.

This recourse to coarse abuse simply says one thing: people are not looking to be persuaded about whom to vote for anymore. Minds have been made up and there's not much that either side can do now to convert voters in a significant manner as to swing the direction of the election from what it would have been had it held as scheduled on February 14.

Nothing has happened in the last five weeks since the polls were shifted that can be classified as gamechanging. Rather all that has unfolded has hardened positions and attitudes.

Take the smear documentaries against Buhari and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Tinubu.

The airing of the videos didn't reveal allegations or accusations that were not already in the public domain. Before they were broadcast there was advance warning that the ruling party was considering the nuclear option. That fact conditioned how many received it.

For PDP supporters who watched gleefully and shared same online, the recordings merely preached to the converted. On the other hand they only served to incense APC supporters who felt that rules for political broadcasts were being blatantly violated while so-called regulators of the industry kept disgracefully mute.

The purpose of the documentaries was to destroy the image of the APC leaders and turn

voters against the party. The hope was that after viewing them, Jonathan and his PDP would smell like roses compared to the opposition.

That hasn't happened.

Where the president and his supporters miscalculate is that they don't understand the depth of feeling of those who have turned against the ruling party. Demonising Tinubu isn't going to make the typical APC supporter love Buhari less. Calling the general names hasn't turned his admirers to deserters because they are in love with him - and love is blind.

I am equally mystified as to why Jonathan and the PDP think that the gains of the military campaign in the North-East will shift the electoral equation in any significant way before March 28. The perception of the president as not being up to the job transcends his handling of the insurgency - although that has been a major contributor.

The dampener for Jonathan is that many can see the desperate attempt to manipulate the military success for short term political gain, and they are unmoved. What has been achieved over the last four weeks doesn't obliterate the memory of five years of unrelenting bloodshed and traumatisation of the North-East. The contributions of our neighbours are no big secret and that vitiates the degree to which the president can claim credit.

I am amused when PDP and the military get worked up at the lack of outpouring of love and affection from the public for their efforts. You don't have to browbeat people to make them express what they don't feel.

When the Cameroonians called a demonstration in support of their troops, the response was massive.

When Nigerian government officials

Where the president and his supporters miscalculate is that they don't understand the depth of feeling of those who have turned against the ruling party. Demonising Tinubu isn't going to make the typical APC supporter love Buhari less. Calling the general names hasn't turned his admirers to deserters because they are in love with him - and love is blind

and their spouses tried the same thing in Abuja, the response was underwhelming.

In anger sponsored agents embarked on picketing selected offices of newspapers in Abuja. But they just don't get it: you can't decree affection. The moment the government chose to politicise the military's actions they took it out of the realm of the patriotic and made it partisan.

Again, by jumping legs first into the polarised political atmosphere and forcing through the polls postponement, the military turned many Nigerians against the institution as they were perceived as being too willing to do the partisan bidding of the ruling party.

That perception that the armed forces had been sucked to deep into terrain they shouldn't be found in was what Lt. General Martin Agwai (retd) erstwhile boss of SURE-P harped on at former President Olusegun Obasanjo's 78th birthday celebration. For his troubles he was kicked out of his job.

Clearly, the military's victory over Boko Haram in the North-East is not what is resonating with voters in the South-South, South-West, South-East, North-Central and North-West. If it was so important to them there would have been enthusiastic and spontaneous celebrations of the successes.

Insurgents being chased out of Bama or Baga won't be the reason many would vote for Buhari or Jonathan.

The insurgency would count in the

North-East but not in the way the PDP campaign is hoping.

Perhaps the clearest indicator of how the presidential contest of 2015 is tilting lies in the body language of the two main candidates and their campaigns. The PDP campaign projects a defensive air. The president looks stressed and disturbed. Each new day there's a new embarrassing story like the Nigeria-Morocco diplomatic fiasco or the First Lady putting her foot in her mouth.

Each time the PDP presidential campaign makes some new outlandish claim like blaming the opposition for the recent fuel scarcity they come across having lost the plot.

For Buhari, it has been a remarkable turnaround from the candidate who ran on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) four years. He may not be the perfect candidate but he has handled himself with calm assurance this time around, and he has also learnt to play politics better.

That is evident in the remarkable cohesion that his patchwork coalition of opposition parties has shown going into the elections.

In the weeks leading to his 1992 loss to the then Democratic Party challenger Bill Clinton, the air around former United States President George Bush Snr. and his Republican Party was decidedly gloomy. It is akin to what surrounds the PDP. When the party's governors insist Jonathan would win - and tell voters to ignore the 'APC propaganda', they are simply reinforcing the notion that the other side is now dominant. Clearly, six weeks isn’t enough to undo the damage of six years.

Fayose and the elderly vote

E

KITI State Governor, Ayo Fayose, increasingly sounds like a man who has started something and is clueless how to finish it. He has blundered badly but is too ashamed to admit it. There's no dignified way for him to pull back, so he keeps pushing out silly attack adverts against Buhari and signs them off with a line claiming he has 'No Apology.'

Fayose has this false notion that at 70 people become physically and mentally incapacitated. Some of Nigeria's most celebrated leaders are in that age bracket. Pastor E. A. Adeboye, General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) - one of the world's fastest growing Pentecostal congregations just celebrated 73. His schedule which includes grueling travels around the world is more than some presidents undertake.

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) - an energetic man of God is over 70.

Fayose's colleague, and chairman of a faction of the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF), Plateau's Jonah Jang, just turned 71. He has not quit office yet. If anything he's running for Senate on March 28!

Fayose's feverish verbal assaults against the APC presidential candidate for committing the offence of aspiring for office at 73, suggests that he may not be too keen to live to that age of 'incapacitation.'

The governor drove the drama to a new low in Lagos last week when at the parley between PDP governors, the media and civil society, he announced to all gathered

•Fayose

that his mother aged 72 uses Pampers. What sort of character will subject his mother and family to such indignity and public humiliation? This was too much information for those gathered as the embarrassed giggling that followed his disclosure showed.

Clearly, high office doesn't automatically make a man classy!

In his depiction of septuagenarians as useless Fayose risks turning a huge segment of the voting population against his chosen candidate. In most countries the elderly represent a powerful demographic that politicians court assiduously at election time.

His disrespectful denigration of those 70 and above has not made Buhari less popular. Instead it will drive the offended in this age bracket to embrace one of their own. And PDP has 'Mr. No Apology' to thank for that.

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With the rate at which teenagers in Lagos are smoking Indian Hemp as if it is a candy, and going out of fashion, stakeholders are at a crossroad on how best to handle the helpless situation reports Sina Fadare & Medinat Kanabe

•Continued on Page 20

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20 SUNDAY LIFE •Continued from Page 19

•Kids smoking away at Oshodi bus terminus

•Cartel

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SUNDAY LIFE 21

•Officials of NDLEA ransacking a marijuana plantation

Just back from the United States of America where he got entangled in the marijuana scourge, Precious Elem shares his experiences, many losses and close shave with death; and his activism aimed at tackling the problem in Nigeria

•Continued on Page 20

•Elem

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22 SUNDAY LIFE Dr. Owoeye Olugbenga, a psychiatrist at the NeuroPsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, tells Medinat Kanabe and Sina Fadare in this interview that all hands must be on deck to help hemp smokers quit the habit.

•Olugbenga

‘I started smoking marijuana early’ •Continued on Page 20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

Less than a week after a chance encounter with physically challenged athletes, wife of the All Progressives Congress vice presidential candidate, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, took time out to visit them in their 'base' for an unexpected gesture. Sunday Oguntola reports.

SUNDAY LIFE

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Dolapo Osinbajo takes time out with physically challenged athletes

•Mrs. Osinbajo at lunch with the athletes

•Lekki beach Golf resort

By Dare Odufowokan

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•Liadi

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ETCETERA

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

Significant terms The cynic’s guide to Nigeria The writer concludes his thoughts on fundamental issues in the season of choice.

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

Manufacturing and Infrastructure. Tottering since the austerity years of the 80s and eventually brought to its knees in the President Olusegun Obasanjo years, the manufacturing sector is slowly throttled by Okonjonomics (economics of devaluation, deregulation, high interest rates, government bailouts and statistics sexed up to spur activity as espoused by the finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala).

In a humbling reversal of fortune, smaller neighbours Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo provide alternative base to fleeing firms while Nigeria retains market appeal, accommodating via porous borders and sullied officials mostly substandard products. With the country challenged by provision of regular electricity, potable water, transportation, healthcare and other basic services, even neighbourhood tailors and carpenters find economies of scale elsewhere on the West Coast irresistible.

The National Automotive Policy? It sounds like a ‘figment of the imagination’ of the government, to borrow the cliché. In an import-dependent economy lacking adequate skill and raw materials, neither the policy designed to promote a competitive and sustainable domestic automotive industry nor ‘transformation’ of the railway is worthy of serious mention.

Running on refurbished Asian locomotives and colonial era tracks, the national rail service is worsened by a poor maintenance culture. Coaches are jam-packed and conveniences archaic or non-existent. Dogged by similar problems, intra-city and inter-city commuter bus services hardly fare better on pock-marked roads.

Healthcare. A country that celebrates medical tourism can hardly claim an organised approach to healthcare. Healthcare for mother, child and others as a millennium development goal? Not with the plague of fake drugs and ill-equipped hospitals aggravated by mediocrity and brain drain of personnel. And not when medical tourism thrives despite constant reference to ethics.

The Nigerian lives in perilous times. While life expectancy rose in Rwanda from 41 to about 60 years in recent years, the average Nigerian is expected to live between 53 and 55 years based on World Health Organisation (WHO) figures for 2012.

Power. Not content with defrauding the collective intellect of Nigerians year upon year, the government proceeds to promise a new delivery date for 5, 000 or 6, 000 (sometimes 10, 000) Megawatts of electricity every New Year. At the sound of each undertaking, though, citizens opt to deal with immediate variables by sinking wells for water and maintaining generating sets for power.

But the much-vaunted power sector roadmap seems locked in a vicious cycle.

A long-drawn privatisation process laced with pension scam, lay-offs and bailouts has served the usual fare: shortage of gas, pipeline vandalisation, prolonged blackouts, wanton disconnection and indiscriminate billing, otherwise called ‘crazy bill’.

The president promised to reduce the sound of generators in the country, but the sound of silence is louder than ever following his administration’s failure to meet the modest target of 5, 000 megawatts by the end of last year.

Sports. Read football. Despite claiming a hefty chunk of attention, football at best yields average returns.

The country fluffed, as usual, its best chance of reaching a peak of national fulfillment as indicated by the 2013 Africa Nations Cup triumph in South Africa.

Internal strife in football administration spilled over to the pitch where, led by a technically-hamstrung Stephen Keshi as chief coach, Nigeria’s least talented bunch in decades relinquished the hard-won title before the 2015 Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea.

Keshi may have stayed on to the disastrous end with the backing of the presidency despite alarming results and widespread opposition, but the Nations Cup qualifying campaign witnessed a more disturbing ritual: promotion of the individual ego above national interest. While the Keshi-must-go-Keshi-muststay narrative typified a nation-wide approach to dicey issues, the system would do well to refine thought and method.

QUOTE

A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation.

—James Freeman Clarke

Jokes Humour Wise Gorilla A GORILLA walks into a bar and says, “Whiskey on the rocks, please.” The gorilla hands the barman a N1, 000 note.

The barman thinks to himself, “This gorilla doesn’t know the prices of drinks,” and gives him N100 change.

Feeling good, the barman says, “You know, we don’t get too many gorillas in here.”

The gorilla gulps his drink and says, “Well, at N900 a drink, I’m not coming back either.”

Fingers Up A MAN working with an electric saw accidentally cuts off his fingers.

At the emergency room, his doctor says, “Give me the fingers, and I’ll see what I can do.”

The injured man says, “But I don’t have the fingers!”

“Why didn’t you bring them?” the doctor asks.

Eyes rolling in their sockets, the injured man says, “Doc, I would if I could pick them up.”

Karate chop A HUGE guy walks into a bar, approaches a little guy and karate-chops him in the back.

When the little guy gets up, the huge guy says, “That was a karate chop from Korea.”

A little later, the huge guy again walks over to the little guy and karate-chops him in the back. The huge guy says, “That was a karate chop from China.”

Then the little guy leaves the bar, comes back and hits the huge guy on the back. The huge guy lies unconscious on the floor.

The little guy tells the barman, “Tell him that was a hammer from the shopping mall.”

Ear Accident TWO TOUGH construction workers were working at site. One accidentally cuts off an ear with an electric saw.

He calls out to a guy walking on the street below. “Hey, do you see my ear down there?”

The guy on the street picks up an ear and yells back. “Is this it?”

“No,” says the construction worker. “Mine had a pencil behind it!”

•Adapted from the Internet

Writer ’s Fountain ROFESSIONAL writing tips: Writing great— The fact that clichés are so credible.

Write in your voice. common that you can attach them to any idea To write like you speak is harder than it makes them ineffective. This in turn informs how might sound. It is often easy to put on a we assimilate words and phrases in reading. The tone when you start writing without more familiar a term or phrase appears, the more realising it. often we skip it as we read, rendering it If your writing manages to sound as ineffective. someone from your town or someone you The best way to avoid this problem is know, you are on course. To achieve this, to use different language to explain imagine someone sitting in front of you as you familiar concepts. However, you must type, and write as if you are talking to them. strike a balance between being so different Use short words, short sentences and short that readers are turned off by the effort of paragraphs. understanding content and being so Note that when you write like you talk, you familiar with it that your work becomes tend to write long sentences. You can write a trite. In other words, your audience has to sentence that fills an entire paragraph feel your presentation is new, but also sometimes.

This might be how the words flow out of Spelled bee: your mouth, but one advantage in writing is •A bee can see the colours green, blue and that you have a chance to edit your work before ultra-violet – but red looks like black. the reader encounters it. Therefore, use short •A bee could travel 4 million miles (6.5 words, short sentences and short paragraphs. million km) at 7 mph (11km/h) on the energy Try not to write more than two pages on any it would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of subject. And this is less about editing than nectar. keeping things simple. As much as you can, get •A bee must visit 4,000 flowers in order to to your point down quickly and use the simplest make one tablespoon of honey. language you can.

P

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Like Simone, like Patience?

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MARCH 15, 2015

IN VOGUE

By Kehinde Oluleye

Tel: 08023689894 (sms) E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

MARCH 15, 2015

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Raising a voice for the Nigerian girl With Temilolu Okeowo temilolu@girlsclub.org.ng 07086620576 (sms only) Please visit my blog www.temiloluokeowo.wordpress.com for more inspiring articles. Twitter@temiloluokeowo

I will win if I contest election

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For the sake of women

Udemma Chukwuma writes about an exhibition of twenty paintings to celebrate womanhood

C

• Pastel gisting

The National Troupe recently paid homage to the home of theatre icon, the late Hubert Ogunde.

Ovwe Medeme reports

ELEBRATING the female folks is the main focus of an art exhibition running at the Moorhouse Hotel, Lagos. The show is to mark this year’s International Women’s Day. The exhibition features about 20 paintings by contemporary Nigerian artist, Mr Olusegun Adejumo, who said the works are dedicated to women all over the world because women deserve to be celebrated. The exhibition titled: Le Festival De Reves (The Festival of Dreams), is supported by Alliance Françoise, Lagos.

In this exhibition, Adejumo captured the African women and offers the viewer the opportunity to explore some of the important aspects of the southern Nigerian women life.

“The southern women are beautiful, they know that they are beautiful, they don’t need you to tell them that they are beautiful. You hardly find men around. The men are around but they appreciate the women from far,” he said.

The word to use to describe some of the works at the exhibition hall is “daring.” Series figure paintings of women who could be in their early twenties and late twenties caught the attention of the viewers and some asked the artist if the model was one person, but the artist said no. “Every woman has something in her that will make you desire her and for a lot of artist, you either paint her or you chase her. We spend a lot of energy to depict that which we desire in our work. The models are not the same person,” he informed.

However, the artist refused to put the names of the models on the fascinating pastel series “because of the society we live in, the models might be a little shy to reveal their names.” Many conclusions would be

made and some of the viewers will be tempted to think that something intimate happened between the artist and models.

Another intriguing aspect of the show which is of a particular interest to the viewers is the artist’s ability to conceal a nude woman. In the piece titled Sitting Beauty; you could see a woman who places one hand on neck and place the second hand on her neck.

The hands covered the upper part of her body while the down part of her body was painted with dark colours, leaving the viewers to their imagination.

Mirroring a story he was told in Dakar, Senegal, a mystifying and attention getting painting was born, titled:… “The Wolofwomen have a way which they attract their men, they have beads from coconut shell which they tie around their waists, it is what I was told by the Senegalese people in Dakar.

According to them, the women soak the beads in some ointment, like perfume, and it stays there for a month or two. I think they put some incantation into it. They wear it after all the processes, you could perceive the fragrance and you can’t tell where the smell is coming from. This woman has this particular smell anytime she is around you.

The Senegalese says beware of the Wolof women because they may be an enchantment.”

The work titled: The Wolof Woman caused much controversy and some of the viewers could not make out what the painting is about. “I can’t see anything, I think there is a piano,” said a female viewer. “There is a face in the painting if you look at it very,” said another artist who was at the show. “I decided to do something mystical, hazy and painting of a girl,” explained Adejumo.

National Troupe celebrates Ogunde

I

T was a day of celebrating the theatre world in Nigeria and the Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, accompanied by his management team and the entire members of the troupe, paid a visit to Ososa, in Ogun State, the hometown of renowned moviemaker, Hubert Ogunde.

Members of the troupe met a sleepy community on Saturday when they arrived and were received by the son of the late doyen of the art world, Bayo Ogunde. The younger Ogunde welcomed members of the troupe to his residence, describing it as a thing of joy that the legacy of the pioneer actor still lives on, years after his passing away.

Explaining the rationale behind the visit, Artistic Director of the National Troupe, Akin Adejuwon said that it is important that the history of art is preserved, especially in an environment like ours, Africa.

“We have very littlehistory because things perish easily after the original makers.I have been around and I have worked with quite a number of very important people in the arts and I hardly see many of the families at the demise of the head, keep the legacy going most efficiently as you have done. For that, I want to commend you.I realise as an art historian, that artistic practices in Yoruba land are familial in nature. I knew that we would still find Ogunde here. This is why it was important that we pay this visit,” he said.

Receiving the members of the troupe, BayoOgunde announced that his family is set to mark the 25th anniversary of the demise of its progenitor with the opening of a museum in his honour. According to Ogunde, who took the troupe on a tour of the facility, April 24 has been fixed for the celebration.

•Oduneye and members of the troupe

Responding, Adejuwon said that the body will be collaborating quite closely with the family on the opening of the museum.

“I’m very impressed with the organisational strength of the family and it really strengthened my belief in the fact that the development of art in traditional African culture is pursued by families. Like BayoOgunde, the son of the doyen said today, the artistic calling is not a general one. What I saw today has just confirmed again that maintaining the memory of Hubert Ogunde in this family and the way they are organising the museum to become a tourist destination is one of our very strong focus,” he said.

Prior to visiting Ososa, the troupe made a stopover at Ijebu Ode to pay homage to the first ever Artistic Director of the troupe, Bayo Oduneye.

Thanking Oduneye for what he described as an inspiring track record and selfless service at the troupe, Adejuwon said;”all we are just doing is to let you know that we recognise you

as one of our very worthy predecessors and that we will like to tap from your wealth of experience. We want to interface with you. In Africa, we know that our elders are mobile libraries of the community and of the nation. There is nothing much that we can do than to acknowledge that contribution and celebrate your life.”

Oduneye, an octogenarian, encouraged the members of the troupe to be focused on the chosen profession and to see themselves as special.

“Now I’m getting very old but thank God I can still move around. When I got the call that you were coming, I felt very elated. You have to remember that if you are serving in the theatre, you are serving God. Somebody said many years ago that to serve the theatre is my profession and in serving the theatre faithfully, I am serving God. If you are in the theatre and you are not sincere to it, you won’t get the best in life. It has a way of short changing you. You won’t know. You just find yourself gradually going outside of it and you don’t know why,”

•Statue of the late Ogunde in his residence

Oduneye encouraged.

He described as unfortunate, a situation where the theatre practice in Nigeria is on the decline. “The national troupe kept the theatre going for a long time, but then funds is always the problem. Unless we get funding, we cannot develop. The theatre generally in Nigeria is dead.

It is dead because there are no funds to do anything. Most of the actors have turned into something else. Thank God for television but there is still something about the live theatre. You cannot compare the live theatre to anyother.

Accompanying the Director on the trip were ArnoldUdoka, Head of Dance and Choreographer of the National Troupe; Hilary Elenu, Deputy Director in charge of Technical Services of the National Troupe;BisiAyodele Head of Administration; artistes and some support staff of the troupe.

At both visits, members of the troupe treated their hosts to dance performances.

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•Thomas

Page 60

Experts to aviation minister: consolidate on existing policies S TAKEHOLDERS in the aviation sector have called on the minister of aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, to consolidate on existing policies, programme initiatives as well as stimulate incentives that would accelerate the development of the sector.

They said the minster could only be adjudged to have contributed significantly to the development of the sector if he succeeds in putting in place the sector's master plan that would define how the different policies and programmes would be implemented to enable aviation contribute significantly to the gross domestic product from its paltry less than one per cent .

Speaking in separate interviews, Sheri Kyari, an aircraft engineer and Mr. Ben Ola, an aviation economist, said recent policies announced by the minister concerning automation of revenue for aviation agencies, streamlining of aviation personnel as well as the service performance index rolled for the agencies would go a long way to fix some of the challenges the aviation sector had been grappling with.

They said Chidoka's activities in the last eight months are a pointer to the fact that he appears to have a good understanding of how to fix sore points in the aviation sector.

While giving a performance scorecard, they listed part of the issues he has attempted to resolve to include rampart corruption in the sector at different levels with the inauguration of an anti-

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

corruption committee in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Besides tackling low level corrupt practices among airport workers, the airport authority has attempted to improve security around the airport by restricting the movement of unauthorised persons around the terminal.

The minister, they said, has engaged stakeholders in interactive sessions to gather input on how to develop the aviation sector.

Only last week, he convoked an industry gathering where he sought their views on how to move the aviation sector forward.

Speaking at the interface and discussion session, Chidoka said there are lots of untapped opportunities for the sector, especially Lagos, which, he said, would have positioned itself as hub of aviation in the West African sub-region.

"We also have weak corporate governance in the industry, poor incentives for private sector participation.

Also the under-utilised Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) and under financed domestic airlines are also part of the problem," he said.

The minister, however, said that with appropriate policies, programme initiatives and incentives, this industry would pick up speed.

To achieve the desired result, Chidoka recently collaborated with the Independent Corrupt Practices

Tackling-- Page 53 unemployment through economic empowerment

‘Gas revolution inevitable in Nigeria’

Commission, (ICPC), to check low-level corruption in the aviation industry.

He gave the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) two weeks within which to end the activities of these groups.

Chidoka said that corruption has scared away a lot of foreign investors from the country. He also ordered the Chief Executive Officers in the aviation agencies to meet in one week and submit a report to his office on how to move the airports in the country forward and also improve on them.

He warned that if FAAN fails to get rid of touts at airports, especially the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, he would not hesitate to take a decisive action against the Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma.

He stated that the federal government cannot sit down and fold its hands and overlook corruption in the system and warned that the government would at any moment from now come down hard on touts.

To put an end to corrupt activities at the airport, the federal government has installed new Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in all the strategic places within the airport and monitors the activities of all the officials of the agencies while discharging their duties.

However, due to the inability of airlines to operate 24 hours into some airports in the country and which airlines have been complaining about, which is not the best for Nigerian aviation, the federal government has not rested on

its oars, as it has awarded contracts for the installation of AirField Lighting (AFL) systems in 13 major airports across the country to optimise 24hours airlines services.

Also deployed is 24 hours surveillance patrol at the five international airports, which include Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano and Enugu International Airport (EIA), Lagos.

Also, is the pronouncement by the Minister of Aviation that airlines operating in Nigeria must have at least a Nigerian in the cockpit beginning from July 1, 2015.

"Effective from July 1, 2015, all airlines operating both general and commercial services in Nigeria must have a Nigerian pilot in their cockpits. We cannot grow Nigeria without Nigerians.

For us to grow Nigeria, we need Nigerians. We have been trying to get information from operators and we got this information from those who operate in the industry. We do know that Nigerian aviation industry has come of age and we hope to maximise the benefits for Nigerians," he said.

The policy was also hailed by the Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt Nogie Meggison, who described the policy as a welcome development and that it would help to remove the thousands of unemployed pilots from the street.

•Chief Compliance Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Boye Ogunmolade delivering a lecture at the Day Waterman College, Abeokuta to mark this year's Financial Literacy Day at the weekend

Page 62

Price increase inevitable - MultiChoice MD John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, explains the organisation's new subscription rates

T

HE hike in MultiChoice's subscription rates has hit subscribers like lightning.

The prevalent view is that MultiChoice has no justification for such and is just taking advantage of the lack of alternatives in the sector. How accurate is this view?

Price increases are always painful and we are very mindful of this. However, they are sometimes necessary for businesses to provide service to their consumers and also provide necessary returns to stakeholders. They ensure that we can continue to provide quality entertainment to our subscribers even with the rising costs and inflation. It is because of the prevailing economic situation and rising cost of content and our other inputs that we have had to increase the cost of subscriptions and this has affected all the other entities across the continent. If you look at a lot of goods and services you will see that there an increase in a lot of sectors as we are not isolated.

Many subscribers are calling on MultiChoice to institute a pay-as-you-watch regime, which some claim is available to MultiChoice subscribers in South Africa and some other countries. Are you looking in that direction?

As a leader in innovation, we consider all viable options to provide our subscribers with the best and most affordable way to consume entertainment. At the moment, we provide our services through a model that is in use around the world that allows us to take advantage of the economies of scale and provide an aggregate service that reduces the costs for all subscribers.

I can confirm that no other country under MultiChoice is providing its pay-TV services through a "pay as you watch" model. People often confuse "Pay as you watch" model with "Pay Per view", where essentially, subscribers pay specifically for big ticket events in addition to their monthly subscriptions. This effectively even makes the subscriptions more expensive.

We have opted for a more economic model where our subscribers have access to these big tickets events as part of their monthly subscriptions.

We will always strive to bring the best entertainment in the

• Ugbe most affordable way and also continue with our innovation.

An example is our Catch up service which is our Video on demand service, that allows you to watch your best programs at your convenience and our Box office service which lets you download the latest blockbuster releases with your PVR decoder and online from your couch at home.

There are claims that the hike in subscription rates has been effected only in Nigeria.

Is this the correct position?

This is not true, as subscription rates have been increased across the continent. However, as an independent entity, we ensure that we take the decisions based on the prevailing market conditions.

For example, where other countries may have effected price increases last year, this is our first increase in two years notwithstanding the changes in inflation foreign exchange and other indices in our local market.

Most MultiChoice subscribers in Nigeria believe the country is where the highest subscription rates are charged. Why is this so?

No, we do not have the highest subscription rates as many people believe and this is a fact. Subscription rates vary in Africa and the rest of the world according to several factors including the local costs of doing business.

I am sure that you can independently verify that Multichoice Nigeria does not have the highest subscriptions in the world or the rest of Africa.

58

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

BUSINESS

“T

IMES are really hard. In the over 11 years of my working career as a management accountant, I've never been so disillusioned in my life. I received my last pay cheque last October because my company is in a pretty bad shape, financially.

Even as we speak, there is no hope that things will improve anytime soon. Already, the management considers retrenchment as the one and only option to avoid going completely bankrupt in the coming months. I know it's just a matter of time before the few of us left would be shown the way out."

The foregoing anecdote by a staff of a publishing company, in Lagos, who asked not to be named, because he doesn't want to bring his employers under public scrutiny, not only speaks volume, but largely reflects the fears being expressed by many workers out there, who are faced with the clear and present danger of losing their means of livelihood - work-a-day jobs!

Their fears are not completely unfounded. Findings by The Nation revealed that at the last quarter of last year, perhaps in anticipation of the economic crunch, a number of organisations had taken far reaching steps, including cutting down on excessive wage bills, among other incidentals, just as some prevailed on some members of staff to consider the option of early retirement.

Crux of the matter A cross-section of analysts who attempted a prognosis of the crisis noted that the falling oil prices at the global market may have begun to take its toll on Nigerian companies.

The price of Brent, which hit $115 per barrel in June 2014, has witnessed a steeping decline to less than $50 per barrel, fuelling concerns that the world may be in for the worse recession in years.

In Nigeria, especially, the devaluation of the naira by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, after admitting that a plunge in world oil prices and dwindling dollar reserves were making it difficult to defend the value of the currency, is also partly to blame for the parlous state of the economy, analysts have argued.

Sectors worse hit The sector worse hit by the gale of sack, The Nation gathered, is the manufacturing sub-sector.

Workers in the food and beverage sector are badly affected by a mass sack, as companies struggle to stay afloat in the face of skyrocketing cost of wheat, induced by the sliding value of the naira, which is inching to an all-time low of above N228 to the dollar as at the weekend.

Specifically, over 100 Nigerians in the employ of Nigerian Bottling Company Plc (NBC), part of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling company (CCHBC), have been slated for retrenchment by the beverage manufacturer, it was learnt.

A source in NBC told The Nation that some staff members had already received their sack letters.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said the affected workers cut across all sections of the establishment. Other workers who constitute the company's workforce of about 6,000 are now losing sleep, as about 1, 800 workers of CocaCola worldwide have been lined up to join the labour market when the company concludes its restructuring exercise.

The 1, 800 workers would be the largest to lose their jobs since 2000 when Coca-Cola sacked as many as 5, 200 workers.

The company, which employs about 130,600 people around the

Job cuts everywhere One of the bitter pills of the prevailing economic downturn afflicting the country, as a result of the devaluation of the naira, and by extension, the plummeting oil prices in the global market, is the gale of sack currently sweeping across different sectors like banking, manufacturing, allied industries, among others, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

•Hordes of job applicants thrown into the labour market

world, including a group of about 13, 000 corporate employees who are primarily located in Atlanta, its headquarters, said employees had already been notified about the job cut, a development analyst see as a move to cut running cost.

The job cuts, it was learnt, have been on the drawing board, as the beverage manufacturer reported a 14 per cent fall in earnings for the July to September quarter last year and a dismal revenue growth.

For workers at Flour Mills Nigeria Plc, the fear of job loss looms, as no fewer than two million direct and indirect jobs in the sector are said to be on the line because of increase in the price of wheat and Value Added Tax (VAT).

Group Managing Director/ CEO, Paul Gbededo, raised the alarm that because of the current high price of wheat and the government's plans to increase VAT from five per cent to 10 per cent, the jobs of over 125,000 direct employees and 1,800,000 indirect jobs in the sector were on the line.

The rich also cry Wait for this: one of those worst hit is Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest businessman! The fall in the naira, coupled with falling stock prices, has erased more than $7.8 billion of his fortune since February, when Forbes locked in the values for its annual ranking of the world's billionaires.

As of Nov. 7, Dangote was worth $21.6 billion, $4.4 billion more than now.

Expectedly, The Nation gathered that the loss of fortunes by Dangote may have had an adverse effect on his business interests nationwide as the management has taken certain measures to mitigate the losses.

One of these measures is to

downsize. Some staff, The Nation gathered, were asked to go as part of the cost-cutting measures.

A source who spoke under anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the management, confided in The Nation that some members of staff were retrenched across the board in the different branch networks of the company.

Bank workers taste bitter pill Despite assurances by the CBN governor that the banks have a clean of health, the reality is that majority of the banks have had to downsize in the last few months as a result of the biting economic crunch.

A source at one of the new generation banks, who would not be named, confided in The Nation that the difficult regulatory environment currently experienced in the banking sub-sector has taken its toll on the financial sector this year, a development that has compelled a number of banks to commence the process of cutting jobs and put on hold branch expansion plans till further notice.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that while some of the banks laid off some workers late last year, others asked their employees to go last month, just as many have outsourced most of their job functions to third-party companies.

For instance, Skye Bank Plc announced that it had transferred its tellers, drivers, security personnel and other support staff members to three outsourcing firms.

Hundreds of the bank's workers are said to have been affected by the development.

According to a very reliable source, the outsourcing companies appointed to take over the employees are Optimum Continental Services, Strategic Outsourcing Limited

and Integrated Corporate Services Limited.

However, the bank gave the assurance that the outsourcing firms would engage the affected employees under the same terms and conditions as they were employed by the financial institution.

Investigation by our correspondent showed that the decision of the banks to reduce their workforce and branches was meant to assist them to cut costs in the face of a looming decline in their profitability this year.

It would be recalled that Unity Bank Plc had in July last year announced the disengagement of 170 of its workers as part of efforts aimed at repositioning it for effective service delivery.

Findings revealed that the latest threat of disengagement had to do with the need to realign for their operations for tougher 2015, especially as the monetary policy environment continues to get tighter.

Some of the regulatory measures introduced by the CBN aimed at protecting the economy, according to findings, have started affecting the banks' profitability, with major impact to be felt this year Also, in a bid to halt the sliding naira, the CBN had in December stopped the banks from keeping any of their funds in foreign currencies.

It also said dollars bought from it must be utilised within 48 hours, adding that the actions were aimed at stopping the banks from speculating on the exchange rate.

Experts said the recent regulatory measures would have major negative effects on the banks this year, adding that they were already feeling the effects of previous actions by the CBN, especially the increase in public sector CRR, the Asset Management Corporation of

Nigeria's levy increase, and the gradual removal of certain bank charges.

Global rating agency, Fitch Ratings, and other international and local research firms had late last year predicted that Nigerian banks would witness a fall in profitability this year.

Oil and gas sector The oil sector is no exception. The Nation learnt that since mid year 2014 when the crisis started, the blood pressure of workers in the Nigerian oil and gas industry has been on the rise for fear of possible retrenchment. Such fears are not without justification, particularly in view of earlier warning by the Director, Advisory, Oil and Gas, PriceWater House Limited, Mr. Ritch Wingo, that oil companies may be compelled to lay off workers due to the drop in oil price in the global market.

A recent survey also found that oil and gas managers are planning to scale back their hiring plans this year due to declining oil prices and an uncertain economic environment.

It was further learnt that oil companies are cutting their capital expenditures (capex) and work programmes for this year as crude oil price remains below $50 per barrel for close to two months, it was learnt.

The implication of these cut downs, according to the Managing Director of Seplat Petroleum Plc, Austin Avuru, is that as the oil firms cut their capex, they are also reducing future oil production.

Avuru told The Nation that the stable long term average price of crude should be within $70 and $80 per barrel, noting that if the price is at $40 per barrel, a number of projects

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

BUSINESS

59

Firm unveils hologram to curb counterfeiting

W

•Emefiele

•Dangote

ORRIED over the soaring loss of fortune to product counterfeiters, Kasapreko Company, makers of Alomo Bitters, have designed a new hologram to stem the menace.

Speaking at the unveiling in Lagos, the Managing Director, Kasapreko Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kojo Nunoo, said the introduction of hologram seal on the caps is one of the initiatives by the company to checkmate criminal faking of Alomo Bitters by unscrupulous profiteers and to protect consumers against the consumption of substandard bitters products which endanger human life.

"This initiative is a security standard for global brands, and essentially it is meant to ensure clear brand differentiation and to highlight the unique features that distinguish Alomo Bitters from the imitated version and other substandard bitters products in the market," Nunoo said.

He added, "Criminal faking of the original Alomo Bitters has been a major challenge we face in Nigeria. As a company that places priority on the wellbeing of our consumers, this bothers us a lot. Hence the launch of the new hologram is aimed at helping the consumers identify the authentic Alomo Bitters when making purchase.''

The hologram seal is a silver-like shining seal which is similar to that found on the non-polymer Nigerian naira notes, and it has been strategically positioned on the cap of every bottle of Alomo Bitters for easy identification of the authentic bitters brand as against the imitation.

Buttressing the process involved in having the hologram security features on the caps of Alomo Bitters bottles, Nunoo said the company went as far as Germany and the United States to get reputable hologram seal companies to create the unique hologram for the brand. "This is how much we value the wellbeing of our consumers," he stressed.

The Head, Consumer Prospection Council (CPC), Lagos office, Mr. Tam Tamunokombia, commended Kasapreko Company Nigeria Limited for rising up to the challenge of protecting consumers of their product, Alomo Bitters. "CPC is charged by the federal government with the responsibility of attending to consumers' complaints and also protecting consumers from activities of importers and manufacturing of substandard products and counterfeiters of existing ones."

Justifying the rationale for the new hologram seal, the Marketing Manager, Kasapreko Company

Nigeria Limited, Mr. Peter Adegor, said the need to protect Alomo Bitters brand equity and to continue to guarantee consumer safety were paramount to the management of the company.

"We need to exterminate this fear and reassure consumers that they can still enjoy their favourite Alomo Bitters. The launch of the hologram seal, therefore, speaks to our determination to make our consumers continue to live healthy and active lives by having access to genuine and authentic herbal drink they have always stayed with, which is Alomo Bitters," Adegor said.

Counterfeit is growing in value and reach, harming businesses and brand owners across all continents and industries.

By 2015, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) expects the value of counterfeit products globally to exceed $1.2 - $1.7 trillion.

The estimated economic costs of counterfeiting in the food and personal care industry are about $50 billion each per year. Also, the Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) stated that Nigeria loses N15billion annually to product counterfeiting adding that 40 per cent of product in Nigeria is counterfeits.

PwC forensic audit reports and the NNPC •Oronsaye

•Avuru

will be cancelled and work programmes will be reviewed to reflect the current realities.

He also confirmed that Nigerian companies will cut down their workforce to ensure that their capital expenditures (capex) and operating expenditures (opex) remain within the generated revenue from the current oil price. However, he assured that Seplat will not sack its staff as a result of oil price slump.

He said: "A few things will normally happen when oil sells at $40 per barrel. A number of projects will be cancelled. Every company in Nigeria today is reviewing its capex spend and its work programme.

There will be projects that will be cancelled in deepwater, shallow water, swamp and even some high capex projects on land. In the near term, if the low price persists and the capex cut continues, it will affect production in the future. When you cut down capex today, you are inevitably cutting production in the future. And once the capacity production gets lower and demand doesn't fall with that production, there will be pressure on price."

Civil servants' tales of woes Although the mass sack for now affects workers in the private sector, the fear is that it's only a matter of time before it gets to the public sector.

A good number of states across the federation owe between sixthree months salaries just as workers in the federal civil service are not spared.

Already, some state governments are contemplating reducing their workforce but are only holding back because of the general elections. The state governments are said to be treading carefully to avoid a backlash, as any sack might make them incur election loses.

Recall that Stephen Oronsaye Panel had recommended that some MDAs should be scrapped or merged with others.

The Nation learnt that some MDAs are already working out

modalities preparatory to disengaging some of their staff from service.

In line with civil service rule, some are currently undergoing one form of course or the other on post retirement.

Labour spoils for war The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened fire and brimstone should workers be sacked.

NLC outgoing President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, warned the federal government to take sustainable, viable and proactive steps to address the consequences of the falling crude oil prices instead of punitive measures against ordinary Nigerians especially workers.

He advised against consideration for rationalisation of staff, adding that labour will support government initiatives to tax the rich through luxury taxes.

Job cuts inevitable However painful a job loss is, it is the last resort for any employer.

This is the view of the Director-General, Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Segun Oshinowo.

According to him, the high exchange rate leads to high cost of raw materials such that manufacturers can no longer meet up with their capacity utilisation, then it will lead to layoff of workers. He said this is because it will reduce the companies' cash inflows.

The President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Alhaji Remi Bello, is also on the same page with Oshinowo. Some companies are downsizing their operations and laying off their staff to stay afloat due to reasons bordering on high cost of production and unfriendly government policies.

To many analysts, the surest way to get the country back on track is conscious efforts by government at all levels to apply prudence in the management of resources, and genuinely develop other streams of income rather than overreliance on a monoculture economy, which is sadly the case.

F

INALLY, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Forensic Audit Report draws the curtain on the 15-month drama in which the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was docked in the court of public opinion. The allegations that NNPC was not faithful to its fiduciary responsibility to the federal government and the people of Nigeria began like a child's play. Initial steps taken to douse the issue, including the inter-agency reconciliation committee led by the Ministry of Finance, failed to get Nigerians to give NNPC a clean bill of health.

From exchanges back and forth, during the long drawn drama, it was clear that Nigerians were angry with NNPC. Some, in bitter postulations, imagined that the corporation was a haughty, profit-minded, slave-driving multinational. However, nothing would obliterate the fact that the giant National Oil Company is 100% a Nigerian baby established and managed by Nigerians for Nigeria.

But it bears observing that the corporation over the years had treated mildly or even whitewashed similar allegations. Perhaps unconsciously, it assumed that simply adhering strictly to its enabling legislation and internationally acceptable corporate governance standards and ethics, it owed no duty to the man on the street.

For those who held this opinion, the allegation of unremitted $49.8bn became an opportunity to deflate the mighty NNPC: It was not important whether the allegation was fabricated or not, making it stick would make the corporation look bad, and lose face.

Sad. Maybe the furore and near-panic in government circles that greeted the allegation of missing $49.8bn crude revenue could be attributed to the personality of the person who made the allegation, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (now the Emir of Kano).

Sanusi, who was present at the hearing, expressed satisfaction with the findings of the committee.

It was at that hearing that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala averred that the committee had no technical competence to verify the claims of $2.1bn for pipeline repairs and maintenance, and strategic reserves and suggested that forensic auditors be engaged to examine the expenditure as claimed by the NNPC.

•Allison-Madueke

By Ibanga Akaniyene However, like one launching an ambush, stepping out of the Senate Chambers, Sanusi in a prepared press statement stated that $20 billion was the new amount yet to be remitted to the Federation Account by NNPC and not the $12 billion he had earlier alleged or the $10.8 billion given by the Inter-Agency Committee.

The report asserted that the entire revenue accruable to the Federation Account during the period under investigation was $50.81 billion and not $48.9 billion as alleged by Sanusi.

The amount has been fully accounted for and clearly categorised under the various components of the accruable revenue.

The PwC report did also raise the issue of 'outstanding $1.48 bn' being 'signature bonus due for divested assets and taxes/royalties' which it recommended should be remitted by NNPC to the Federation Account. Was that not an indictment on NNPC? The NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Joseph T. Dawha, in his explanation described the $1.48bn as comprising signature bonus, taxes and royalties on the oil wells divested by Shell, which NNPC acquired and transferred to its upstream subsidiary, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC. Signature bonus, according to Dr Dawha, represents the book value of the assets and was estimated at $1.847bn by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

However, NNPC raised issues with the parameters used in calculating the signature bonus since the assets involved were old wells. NNPC had paid $300 million pending when both parties would come to terms on a mutually acceptable estimate of the book value of the assets. The NNPC boss submits therefore that the $1.48bn was not part of the alleged unremitted revenue from crude oil sales or missing oil revenue.

And going by the explanation, the $1.48bn is not an amount willingly withheld by NNPC but rather an amount which was in dispute by two sister agencies and so the recommendation of the PwC forensic audit report can be seen as a resolution of the dispute. It is therefore erroneous for anyone to see it as an indictment of the NNPC in anyway.

Beyond the hoopla and hysteria, were there any lessons gained from the Sanusi allegations? Several! A significant lesson is that openness and transparency should be the rule of the thumb in the transactions of a public enterprise like the NNPC. Secondly, the public deserves to know how its oil wealth is being managed. As a matter of fact, one assumes that the NNPC has learnt the vital lesson that explanation of issues regarding its transactions does not have to be just once and that it owes it a duty to the Nigerian public to explain as many times as necessary till the people understand and assimilate the issues.

All said and done, the legislature and executive must be proactive in terms of putting in place legislations, institutions and processes that make for robust inter-agency interactions to eliminate the kind of misunderstanding that led to the allegation in the first place. If such proactive measures had been in place, the pains and costs of the past fifteen months could have been avoided.

- Akaniyene is a Port-Harcourt-based financial services consultant. He can be reached at ibakaniyene@aol.com.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

BUSINESS

UCH has been said about Nigeria's enormous gas reserves. Is this a fact or fiction?

I believe that Nigeria should understand that gas revolution has started slowly but from now it will begin to gather momentum. I think in the next 10-15 years, you will see a major improvement in the way gas is being harnessed and used in Nigeria to ensure that you can grow the Nigeria economy.

It means improvement in the quality of life for Nigerians. For instance, if you turn gas into power, it means that the hair dresser can do her business properly; the welder can do his work properly. It means that the factories can produce goods, it means that people can be employed locally to generate wealth and that can only be well for the Nigerian nation. It means that when you finish your work, you can go to your house and turn the same power for you to cook, on your air conditioner, television set and relax before you go back to work the next day. It means a major improvement in the quality of life of every individual in the country.

Your company won the contract for the first marginal gas field. What has happened after then?

Yes, 24 marginal fields were awarded in 2003 and as today, eight or nine are in production. We became the 8th, when we commenced production in January 2014. I think the fact that we are successfully producing today is due to our belief in what we are doing; a belief in the Nigerian economy and system, and a belief that what was supposed to be an oil project turned out to be a gas project, but we did not run away - we did not abandon it, which is what most people have done in the past. We saw that there is a potential for gas to unleash the Nigerian economy if gas became a viable thing to do. We persevere; we took a chance and along the journey, gas pricing improved.

In 2010, the Minister of Petroleum Resources and this current regime increased gas pricing from the $0.5 per thousand standard cubic feet to $1.5. So, that made our budget more hopeful but that was not enough. We persevered and we were able to sell gas on the willingbuyer-willing -seller agreement, first of all, with the Ibom Power Plant and then secondly, with Calabar National Integrated Power Project (NIPP). That allowed us to progress the project on the basis, which is not hugely profitable but, at least, can see some light at the end of the tunnel. I think that the fact that the Minister of Petroleum Resources has again announced an increase in price from $1.5 to $2.5 per thousand cubic feet - you guys should not keep on mixing the units.

MSCF is a thousand standard cubic feet; MMCF is million.

That success tells you the fact that yourself and our partners persevered in what we believed in. We managed to secure the gas contracts and our partners managed to raise the money because their job is to raise the money for this project; our job is to operate.

The success of that dream and that perseverance paid off on

'Gas revolution is inevitable in Nigeria' Dada Thomas is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Oil Limited, operator of Uquo Marginal Field, the first marginal gas field in Nigeria with over 37 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Thomas has managed a variety of increasingly complex engineering projects and general management roles in both Nigeria and Holland before setting up shop. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf and Ambrose Nnaji, he speaks on the pros and cons of attaining a gas revolution in Nigeria. Excerpts: August 14, 2014, when President Goodluck Jonathan himself came to formally inaugurate the Uquo Gas project and the gas plant. We are truly thankful to God that we have achieved something, which really nobody else in Nigeria has achieved; which is to successfully bring on stream the largest non-associated gas project in sub-Sahara Africa and, of course, Nigeria. We are proud of that. It is the first marginal gas field; every other marginal field has been oil.

This is the first marginal gas field development; this is the first gas-to-power project by an indigenous group; this is the first development of a gas supply value chain in the south east Niger Delta - completely brand new. All those are the major firsts, which this project has recorded and we are very proud of that.

I believe there is a future for gas in Nigeria. As for Frontier Oil, we have been in the forefront to develop gas for domestic use and we also want to develop oil as well. As an integrated oil and gas company, we believe in doing the work professionally with integrity because that is the only way to truly grow in the gas field in Nigeria.

I can tell you that the other marginal fields' operators that are not producing will know what will be their fate in 2015 when the government will decide whether or not to revoke their licences. My prayer is that the government will look at each case individually or on its own merit. By the end of March, we will know which marginal fields' company retained what and which one has not lost their licences. I think they should increase their efforts to bring the fields into production. This has shown that marginal fields can contribute to the development of oil and gas industry in the country.

Considering the onerous task of managing the kind of assets you have, how has Frontier Oil been able to cope thus far?

Frontier was formed with a very clear vision. The vision was to build a Nigerian E & P company that would have the demonstrated capacity and ethical approach to developing an oil and gas business entity. So, we have always been very focused; we are not rent seekers; we did not form our company to be rent seekers. We formed our company to grow from a little income into a mighty oak.

Frontier was formed by a group of like-minded people; I am the founding Chief Executive Officer. The

• Thomas Chairman is Chief Odoliyi Lolomari, who is a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the 1980s and represented Nigeria at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

There are also ex-directors of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) - professionals with considerable oil industry experience and non-oil industry experts to broaden the capability of the board. We have a diverse board but mostly oil industry experts and we formed Frontier Oil to grow from a little company to a regional company, making use of Nigerian expertise, knowhow, capability and, of course, you mix that with international knowhow because that is the nature of the oil and gas industry. That is our objective. We were formed in 2001 to participate in the first marginal field round and we won it in 2003 in the most competitive marginal field round. We came out on top and we are very proud of that.

As I said before, we won it 100 per cent - some of the fields have two or three people joined together but only Frontier Oil won this field. As at today, we have a very broad-based shareholding. There are more than 30 shareholders in Frontier Oil and they are all Nigerians. We are 100 per cent owned and managed Nigerian company. We have grown

from staff strength of only me in 2001 to over 130 Nigerians as at today. There is no single expatriate in Frontier Oil. The Uquo Gas Processing Facility was inaugurated and is being operated by 100 per cent Nigerian Frontier personnel.

There is no single expatriate in Frontier Oil or in that plant.

So, we are very proud that our vision of 2001 is still valid.

What we want to do now is that having brought Uquo to life, we want to grow the business- we want to grow the company because our vision is to become a regional company that will be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and possibly, either London or Toronto, or whichever other bourse suits our objective.

The International Oil Companies (IOCs) are not keen in investing in domestic gas because they said that the price is not economic to justify the investment. How are you coping with the current price of $2.5?

I think you have to look at the context of everybody.

The IOCs are very different from indigenous companies.

The reason that they exit marginal fields in the first place is that within the portfolios of the IOCs, those fields are not just economic to develop because their cost structure, their overheads, is just too large to make such fields profitable. In any business, you have to look at cost-benefits ratio. If the

benefit is low compared to the cost, you will leave it. So, you don't blame them based on their own criteria for not wanting to do certain things.

Remember, they have one thing they call choice.

They are sitting in The Hague or London or in New York on San Ramon or wherever it is with a $10 billion and they have the whole world to look at. If the cost per unit of operation is X there and 2X there and 3X in the other place, you will naturally go for X. So, the IOCs have the power of choice to make a decision because they have global reach.

If Nigeria continues to make itself unattractive, we will continue to lose investments. Small players like ourselves - our cost structure and overheads - are completely different. That is why we can make marginal fields successful. That is why there are nine marginal fields producing today, from fields the IOCs would have never produce. But coming to gas why are we able to make a success of it? We are not in the heaven yet with Uquo. The Managing Director of Total spoke in your paper recently, saying that they have spent $900 million to build gas pipeline from Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58 to supply Alaoji Power Station and that the current gas price will not make the project economic, despite the fact that they have done it and that to make sure that the project is economic, they need between $5 and $7 per thousand standard cubic feet of gas. I fully agree with her. The current increase from $1.5 to $2.5 per thousand standard cubic feet is very good but we are not yet near where we ought to be. We are still well below world market price. What it means for us is that it is encouraging that slowly, instead of digging ourselves into 50 feet grave, may be, we are in a 23 feet grave and with time, things will change that will allow our project to become totally economic.

We need to get gas pricing domestically as attractive as may be, Henry Hub in the United States; I am not saying as in Korea because in Korea, that is the highest gas price paid in the entire world.

Henry Hub is about $5, $6 or $7 right now in the United States and that is in spite of Shale gas. We need to get gas pricing moving in that region in Nigeria for you to have absolutely no reason to beg anybody to invest in gas. They will invest so much in gas; you will have so much gas that we won't know what to do with

it. This current price of $2.5 per thousand standard cubic feet is nice but is not going to have people screaming to invest in gas. There is another impediment, which is the infrastructure for distributing gas and transmitting gas. It is expensive to build pipelines and there is not enough gas grid to make it attractive for people to just be developing the infrastructure. The fiscal regime for gas in Nigeria is under threat as we sit here now. What do I mean by that?

Here is an industry you want to grow and my simpleminded concept is that to grow an industry, you should incentivise it. Instead, in the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), they propose to increase gas taxation from 30 per cent Company Income Tax (CITA) to 80 per cent. How does that incentivise an industry? So, you are going to nearly triple the tax and yet you think people and going to run and put their money in that. Secondly, royalty on gas is steep. Why do you want to put additional royalty on top of the proposed 80 per cent taxation? You have royalties on gas. Those policies do not seem sensible to me. To me, what I would expect is to incentivise people to bring their money and put it into gas, which is a long term investment. It is not like oil where people expect to make their returns in two years. Gas is a long term investment.

Therefore, you need to incentivise people - either decrease or retain the current tax rate, which is 30 per cent; you need to make the royalty regime far less stringent.

Relax it, okay. Thirdly, I think you should give people tax break on gas development.

This is what any sensible nation that wants to incentivise a sector to grow by people bringing their money and putting it in that sector. I don't think we should be increasing their taxation on gas. I don't think we should have stringent royalty on gas. I think we should have tax holidays.

Why shouldn't we?

Remember that when Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was being built, they got massive tax break; massive tax holidays. When Chevron was building, the Escravos project, which has just produced its first liquid, they were given massive tax break. Why is it now that indigenous operators like us, who are going to provide all your new gas in the next five years - ourselves, Niger Delta, Seplat - those are the new gas that will come on stream in this country, not from the IOCs. Why are we facing penalties rather than incentives? If you could incentivise IOCs for Bonny LNG; for Chevron's Escravos, why are you not incentivising us, your homegrown players? It does not make sense to me. I will call upon the government to truly look at incentivising gas by reducing or retaining current tax; relaxing royalties; giving tax break and giving gas access to people like us, who have proven that we are not jokers and that we are real.

Total came; Shell came - Shell used to own the entire country. When they come, they have may be, only one field but over the years, they have 20 or 30 fields.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

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HAT business factors or research inspired 'Share a Coke'?

When you look at our core targets, which are the teens, we had to look at a campaign that will resonate with them. And when I talk about the teens, they are people that are born mostly post year 2000. For them, they are people that are restless, they want something that can connect with them. You know when you connect with them, you can't miss it; they just get you. And so, for us, we were looking for that campaign that will be disruptive and at the same time resonate with the teens.

Before now, they were used to the conventional ways brands communicate through promotions, and other ways, but this was the disruptive campaign that we wanted to use to catch their attention and the good thing about the campaign is, in as much as our focus was primarily on the teen, we also looked at it as an all inclusive campaign, so it doesn't alienate anybody.

Why did you choose this time/period to introduce this campaign to this market?

When you have something new and something as big as "Share a Coke", you don't want to sneak it in, you also want to do it at a time people are most receptive to your campaign.

So, we, in a subtle way, introduced the campaign towards the end of December last year, tying it to the season.

It's also for us a good way to set the tone for the year in terms of what is expected from the company and from the brand coke.

So, at the beginning of January, we started off the campaign extensively across the country.

What inspired the choice of names for the campaign?

You know that as Nigerians we are very creative with names.

We recognised the fact that there are lots of names out there. So we got these names and validated these names with our guys out there on the field. So if you are working in the north, we believe that you are more conversant with people from the northern part of the country. We also recognised the fact that though a person is a northerner, it does not mean he/she lives in the north. So, I may be a northerner but I live in Lagos; I may be an easterner and I'm in the north.

After getting these names which cut across, we now had to segment it by region and the seg-

A

N air conditioner comprises three main parts, which are condenser, evaporator and compressor.

In a split AC the condenser and the compressor are placed in the outdoor unit. The evaporator is located in the indoor unit which cools the room.

The window air conditioner is a single unit installed having one face inside and the other faces outside in a window or a gap. The inside part contains the filters, evaporators, fans and control panel whereas the outside portion contains the compressor & condenser.

The split AC and window AC are both equally efficient.

'Bonding with consumers target of campaign' Basking in the success of Share a Coke campaign, with only just about ten weeks into it, the Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi, opens up to Jill Okeke on the many aspects of the campaign, including the strategies, challenges and the initial reactions of consumers. mentation was; the first filter was looking at people predominantly from that area. If I am a westerner, there is more likelihood that I live in the west; some other people may live in the northern part of the country. In Lagos, for example, it's like everybody's land, northerners, easterners, foreigners all live here; and so there were a lot of considerations, we didn't just use one filter across. We looked at regional peculiarity; we looked at the market needs. We also recognised the fact that we cannot have everybody's name on the pack. We also have experiential campaign that we started up which is where people have the chance of personalising their own can, so it's going round the country.

On our social media space, we are also informing people about the venues where they can go and personalise their own can of Coke. But beyond just the physical pack which bears your name, there is also opportunity to go online and create your own virtual can.

While choosing the names, did ethnic/religious differences prove a barrier?

Not particularly, our focus wasn't about religion. It was really about getting the right name in the different locations. The major consideration wasn't let's get 50% Christian names or 50% Muslim names. We were particular about the names that are very popular.

You decided to focus on the teens originally, but from what we see, the campaign has caught on with the adults too…what are your thoughts on this?

As I said, the primary focus was on the teens but this is all inclusive and even in our campaign, we made sure that we did not just do things because you know every brand has their primary target that they communicate with, but we know that Coke is for everybody; it is a universal

•Bayo-Ajayi

brand.

Why we focused on teens was basically from the communications perspective and also because we need to recruit more people into our franchise.

What was the initial reaction from consumers and indeed the market, when this campaign broke till now?

When we started off the campaign, we started ceding off to influencers in December towards Christmas. What we did was to make names of a lot of celebrities, media people, and it was more like a teaser and we presented it to them like "from Coke to you". Now, reading a few comments online, people felt it was just for Christmas, that we were giving those people a special gift for Christmas and so people were like, 'oh… is it only these people you are giving, what about us?'

And then subsequently, we started rolling out to trade.

I think beyond our own ex-

pectation, consumers have helped to embellish the campaign, which is the beauty of marketing. You tell the consumers things and they take your story and run with it.

So would you say that the campaign has been widely accepted by consumers?

I think that goes without saying, really. And like I said, beyond what we expected, consumers have done a lot. There was the guy who proposed with bottles of Coke. That proposal went viral. That was awesome.

A lot of opportunities are opening up from the campaign and I just think the acceptance is beyond our expectation, really.

So are you saying people can now come directly to make orders for their events?

As it is now, one of the attractions for this campaign is the fact that consumers can get it at a price in which they would ordinarily get a Coke even though

Split vs window air conditioner The efficiency depends on various factors, like atmosphere, insulation and not on type of the AC. Below are some of the differences which should be kept in mind before buying an AC. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPLIT AC AND WINDOW AC Design In Window air conditioners heat exchangers, compressors, condensermotors and connecting pipes are placed on the same base.

Split ACs consist of indoor and outdoor unit.

Space Window ACs occupy more

•Split air conditioner space than split ACs. Installation Window AC installation is easier than Split AC. Cost of equipment and installation cost A split AC costs more than

•Window air conditioner a window AC of same capacity and similar energy star rating.

The installation of a split AC costs more as you need to install two units-one indoor and one outdoor, which then need to be connected through copper

the cost of producing a personalised bottle is a lot for the company.

However, for us, it's about putting the consumers at the heart of our business. But beyond the individual packs that we are giving out, like I said, there have been opportunities and request for those special event, so we are working on that and we are trying to put in mechanism in place to be able to satisfy those demands, so until then we will know how the logistics and the prices will go.

What metrics are used to measure the impact of SAC? There are different metrics; there is the metric from the consumer angle in terms of acceptance; in terms of how unique the idea is; in terms of the love they have for the campaign.

There are also metrics from the business perspective, because at the end of the day it is about the bottom line. So is it translating into sales? What is it looking like? And so far, we are just about 10 weeks into the campaign and the result is already above projection.

What other exciting innovations should consumers expect from Coca-Cola?

As I told you, we started off this year with this bang, which is a way of announcing that we have a lot to offer this year. I can assure you that we have other exciting campaigns that we are going to execute this year. We are asking consumers to suggest names they want to see on the pack, which is a way of driving excitement for the campaign.

For example, names that are really not out there or popular, people have the opportunity online to drop those names that they want to see on the Coke pack which we will then try and inject into the campaign as we progress.

What differentiate this tubing. There are other costs for accessories which might be needed for split ACs which include copper tunes and mounting tubes.

Unistallation of split AC and installation of the AC actually needs to refill gas. This also adds to the cost of installation. Window ACs do not refilling of gas when it is uninstalled and again installed at a new place.

Split Air Conditioner Window Air Conditioner Multiple Units Multiple cooling units are in split ACs, single outdoor unit can also cater to multiple indoor units. Window ACs have only one compact unit.

Electricity costs The running cost of

campaign from others?

I have worked in two big multinationals; I have seen a lot of campaigns and it's not because I now work with CocaCola, but I haven't seen a campaign like this. In fact, somebody was telling me over the weekend that we should continue with the campaign forever. That's how far people love this campaign. And the reason is not farfetched; it's like tapping into an innermost need of people. Everybody no matter who you are wants to be recognised; everybody wants to feel a sense of identity, in the sense that they matter. So it's like going on the shelf and seeing your name, I mean nobody needs to define it for you; you get the feeling that you are part of the campaign.

What does it cost to personalise Coke?

It's a technology which is also innovative in itself and which also costs us more money.

I may not be able to give you absolute value. But we are paying like multiples of what we would normally pay, because the normal label is one wheel that shows Coca-Cola all the way.

We are now talking of putting one name at a time. So it costs us more than what we would ordinary pay for the label and it also requires some technology which we have also leveraged on. It's also our own way of showing that it's really about the consumer; that our consumers matter to us.

You know we could have told consumers to pay 20 percent more and they will be willing to, but for us we are looking at the campaign as a means of getting attention of the consumers and bonding more with them and that is the primary objective. Yes, at the end of the day it translates into money because people want to buy. But I'm being very honest with you; one of our objectives wasn't driving money, because the money would come, it's more about the affinity.

So, again to reiterate all that I have said, the campaign is in line with Coke's mission to inspire shared moment of happiness for the consumers and their loved ones, and that is the whole essence of this campaign; to give back to the consumers, showing them recognition and showing them how much we value them.

Nothing really can be more personal than your name and what can be more personal than your name swapped with the iconic Coke logo. window and split for same energy rating is similar. There is no benefit of AC type, the split AC might use a little bit extra electricity but the difference is not enough to affect buying decision.

Noise level The split AC makes lesses noise as the compressor is located in the outdoor unit that is not in the room. If you are light sleeper, prefer split AC over window AC. Service Window AC is easier to service than Split AC. Capacity Generally the maximum capacity of Window AC is 2.0 Ton whereas for Split AC there is no such restriction.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

62

Tackling unemployment through economic empowerment

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OR Jimoh Dolapo, 35, after roaming the streets for years looking for job that was not there, enrolling for the just concluded Expanded Economic Empowerment Programme (EEEP) of the Lagos State government has ended her nightmares. After attending classes for four weeks, the lessons she took in the catering class at the Alimosho centre, has empowered the Economics graduate with the needed skills to start a new vocation of her own and end her endless search for job.

She is now a caterer and employer of labour. Not only that, the mere fact that she paid nothing for the course, for which she also got training kits, makes her life better and the course she learnt more rewarding. And for this, Dolapo is grateful to the Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)-led government in Lagos State for the initiative aimed at giving selffulfilment to unemployed graduates and also fight poverty. As for her, the training has also ended the nightmare of many households as housewives and men to learn one trade or the other during the three phases of the programme which has gone a long way in reducing unemployment and poverty in the state in particular and the country in general.

She is not alone to tell her story to reporters who swam the centres to feel the pulse of the participants and beneficiaries.

'Now that I am self-em-

By Tunde Abatan ployed, I can pay my tax and fulfil my family obligations which have not been so for some time, says Rachael Aina, a B.Sc Accounting graduate of the University of Benin who participated in the second phase of the programme between October and November last year.

The participation in the three phase empowerment programme is not just for the women, the lowly placed and the youths but also those in the royalty are not left out of the urge to acquire knowledge and better their lives.

In this class is Chief Oladeinde Anifowose who, at over 60, enrolled in the soap making class. In his words: "my motivation is to have something to feed myself and my family." A jewellery maker before he opted for the one-month training in the second phase between October and November last year, he feels elated that in spite of the huge amount of money government has expended on the programme, the beneficiaries still went home with tools of their different vocations. The government, he said, came about the idea of skill training to fill the gap in the lack of electricity which is the bane of several artisans, adding "instead of sitting down, we became creative to find a solution and that involved training you in vocations that do not require electricity, that you can do with your hands in your homes to earn money to support yourselves and your family."

•Lagos State Deputy Governor Adejoke Adefulire, (left) Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo and a participant

With the euphoria that greeted the first phase and the consequent increase in attendance and projections, the second phase also overshot its target as beneficiaries who enrolled for the programme increased to 17,220 made up of 2,091 males and 15,129 females.

Babatunde Olowo, 58, a retired marketing manager in one of the blue chip companies, also found an attraction in the vocation programme and enrolled for training in disinfectant making during the second phase at the Alimosho centre. His reasons: "I had always wanted to become a producer of disinfectants, having marketed the product for years for my company before I retired. Hence, I regard this initiative as a rare opportunity given by the

state government."

He did not stop at this as he canvassed for the state government to extend the programme to third phase so as to enable many people also benefit and by so doing reduce the poverty rate in the state through self employment.

The project entered its second phase in October last year. One interesting feature of the beneficiaries in all the centres from Lekki to Ojo, Ikorodu, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos Island, Surulere, Ikeja, Badagry, EtiOsa, Epe and Ikeja was that several people who could not get registered because of the limited space available at the centres are content with coming for the training without being registered. They were determined not to let the opportunity slip

by and hence content with attending lectures where they have to manage to have a seat and receive the much-sought knowledge they needed to start off on their own.

Amongst this category is Jolayemi Opayemi Kamoru, who praised government's efforts to offer means of livelihood to citizens. With his training in events decoration, "the job is no longer a magic to me."

Chief Olaide Anifowose who also put aside his royalty to enrol in soap making was also determined to uplift the status of his family adding, "I have to enrol in order to be able to feed myself and rely less on perks of the office which in most cases are not always forthcoming there."

However, with the commencement of the third phase

of the training programme in February, the enthusiasm of the beneficiaries knows no bounds with the result that thousands of others who could not get enrolled in the first two phases turned up. In all, 11,176 enrolled for the third phase which kicked off in the first week of February and ended on February 27.

Speaking at the occasion, deputy governor of Lagos state, Princess Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire, whose ministry, The ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), supervised the training, said the programme was part of the efforts at alleviating poverty through the training of men and women as well as young graduates in entrepreneurial skills in order to make them selfemployed rather than seeking for white collar jobs.

While congratulating the trainees for taking the opportunity provided by the government, Princess Adefulire said the third phase was in response to the yearning of those that missed the two previous phases of the programme that started in September last year. According to her, about 36,243 residents of the state irrespective of state of origin, religion, ethnic group or party affiliation has benefited from the programme during the three phases.

‘Why Ihiala earnestly craves for Emeka Anohu’

C

HINUA Achebe’s 1983 treatise, “The Trouble with Nigeria”, places the nation’s woes on leadership.

Achebe writes: “the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else.”

Indeed, Nigerians have not been quite lucky with leadership. And it is a challenge that defies the boundaries of military/civilian regimes, political party, and various strata of government over the decades, as Nigerians have almost always got less than they bargained for.

Nothing tells their frustrations more than the rising voter apathy. Data from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, reveal embarrassing dwindling voter turnout since after the first set of elections that ushered in the current democratic era. It is a people’s silent revolt and expression of distrust, disappointment, and deepseated cynicism towards many of their elected leaders.

The good thing, however, is that the people also know and believe in a good leader when they see one. Taking their fate into their own hands, they sometimes go all out to conscript such public-spirited persons into politics and governance, knowing such persons as their best route out of the darkness of poverty and underdevelopment.

So it was that when some political cabals snatched the Ihiala Constituency II State Constituency ticket, which the Anambra Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) faithful had overwhelmingly handed to him in a

By Marcus Ifeatu free and fair primary heralding the 2011 general elections, the visibly angry constituency encouraged Hon. Emeka Anohu to pick the Labour Party ticket and leave the rest to them. Meanwhile, it is common knowledge that his sin was his determination to be his own man, to stand with the people, and refusal to mortgage their future through illicit political deals.

True to their words, the people delivered on promise, massively electing him their State Assembly representative.

That was how Hon. Emeka Anohu became the only Labour Party State Assembly Member, not only in Anambra State, but also in the whole of the South East. Without any Labour Party structure on ground, he not only rode roughshod over the impostor and the cabal, but also trounced the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Since then, Anohu has become a political movement of sorts. That is how much his people love him.

It is imperative to emphasise that Hon. Anohu is, however, a living example of the saying that people do not care until they know how much you care. The people love and crave for him because he first loved them. Burning with innate passion for his people, Hon Anohu comes from a family with immense antecedents of overflowing milk of human kindness and track record of lifting the less privileged out of poverty and want.

Thus, even long before he joined politics, Emeka Anohu had awarded numerous schol-

•Anohu arships, sponsored free medical care for people with various medical conditions, and lifted the youth out of unemployment.

Perhaps, nothing best speaks loudly about Emeka’s compassion for the needy than the Emeka Anohu Foundation for Community and Youth Development, his platform for charity work and community development efforts that long precedes his political odyssey.

The Free Medical Services of the Foundation is not only the first of its kind around his constituency, but attracts highly experienced and respectable medical

professionals like doctors of various medical specialties, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, nurses, etc. comprising Nigerians and foreigners from around the world. This altruistic and utilitarian medical mission has saved lives, restored sights, given limbs to the physically challenged, as thousands of children, women, and men are lifted out of the or precarious health situations. Importantly, it holds multiple times each year.

Besides medical support, Emeka Anohu believes that the best road out of poverty is human capital development for the people through formal edu-

cation, skill acquisition, and vocational training. He has distributed hundreds of thousands of educational learning and instructional in addition to his flagship scholarship schemes. He is also on course to introducing adult literacy programmes to enable the elderly ones, who did not have the opportunity, gain formal education that would make them more effective in the 21st century Nigeria.

His Skill Acquisition Programmes are tailored to train the youth, women, and men alike in various trades such as ICT, tailoring/fashion/ designing, hairdressing, barbing, and various lucrative building trades like tiling, modern roofing, POP, etc. Graduates of the scheme will receive various equipment specific to their areas of trade as well as soft loans to help them takeoff.

A total-visionary Emeka Anohu has, in just less than four years, made good his promise to build a microfinance bank in Okija to service Ihiala and environ. The idea behind the bank is not only to sustain the Skills Acquisition Programmes, but also build a saving culture among the people and aid individuals and cooperatives to access loans for small and medium scale enterprises.

The visionary leader has also set up a bakery that will create immediate employment and train would-be bakers in cutting edge skills in modern art of baking. His Foundation has also embarked on sinking boreholes, road construction, etc to alleviate the sufferings of his people.

Furthermore, although he was forced by circumstances beyond his control to go into the Anambra State House of Assembly on a minority platform fol-

lowing the hijack of his party ticket by a political cabal, Hon. Anohu did not fail to impress his people as a compassionate, effective, and composite representative. He proved a force to reckon with and used his good offices and human relations to attract various development projects to the admiration of his people. Projects he attracted cut across education (renovation and reconstruction of many classroom blocks), portable water, rural electrification, etc.

The reward for a job well done is more jobs. With such quality representation at the State level and sacrificial personal efforts to better the lives of our people, it was only natural for us, the people of Ihiala Federal Constituency, to draft him into the House of Representatives to represent us on a larger scale. But this time, we prefer the platform of his original political family -the PDP, which had not only thought it wise to correct the earlier injustice done to him, but holds greater promise of forming the federal government and commanding the majority in the National Assembly.

Our decision becomes most imperative, especially because the current representative has proved grossly ineffectual, dissatisfactory, and inextricably tied to the aprons of some political cabals who see public office as business empire. Hon. Anohu is the man we trust, the man with the requisite intellect, passion, drive, personality, and connections to work hand-in-hand with Mr. President to further his Transformation Agenda.

- Ifeatu writes from Onitsha

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

INTERVIEW

A

'Jonathan's government is a disaster'

T 85, how do you feel?

I feel very well. I feel better than I felt 20years ago. I don't know how to explain it but I am so happy. I am so contented. I am so peaceful and physically I'm moving about and not tied down.

When I look at myself, I say there is God. I want to be sure at the end of the day I can go and see my father in heaven. I'm so happy that I can go to my father. I am getting closer to Him every day.

Do you have any health challenges as old people do?

I had health challenges about 3 or 4 years ago; I had cancer. And that type of cancer wanted to kill me. I tackled it and asked God if he wanted to kill me. The Lord said no. I went for treatment, kept it to myself and came back here. Last month, they called me. I was to go there (America) for check up in September but I was so busy to go there so also in October, November I couldn't go and also in December.

But I was so busy I couldn't go but I went in February and I went through every test , I had 100 per cent tests and was certified okay. When I attended a church in America recently, I told them that I wanted to give a testimony. I said if anybody doubts that there is a God, he should come and ask me and I would tell him there is a God. Did you have any bigger challenge before this age?

There was none at all. I had no challenge other than if I want to do something I want to make sure it succeeds, so I knocked myself out. Today not that anybody is forcing me since in my life whatever I am handling I handled it successfully, not that I am brilliant or I'm strong but I have God on my side .

When I handled sports, I got to the top. When I handled trade unionism, I got to the top. Even when I got to the Red Cross I got to the top. I got to the gospel preaching, today I'm among those on the top .What is my problem? Everything I laid my hands on, God gave me and He gave me the gift of contentment.

Are you happy with the present situation in the country?

I am so sad and that is my only challenge. The only thing that makes me not sleep today is Nigeria,

At 85, the general overseer of Soul Winning Chapel, Lagos, Rev Moses Iloh, is still bubbling with zeal and vigour. Ever sharp and witty, he spoke with Taiwo Abiodun on the forthcoming general elections. Excerpts: nothing else. Outside that, I would tell you I have no challenges, no problem. I can't sleep the whole day, the whole night. I'm just thinking of Nigeria and at times, the problem tends to want to make me hate humanity but I do not hate humanity because human beings are created by God .

I feel sad particularly what the elites are doing to Nigerians. l don't know whether to pray for God to punish them but I keep on praying for them to repent.

This is one prayer I pray so much that I don't see an answer as rapid as I expect.

Nigeria is my only problem.

How do you see the coming elections?

Today, politics in Nigeria is an act of utter wickedness, bitterness, hatred, bitterness and avarice. I am convinced that devil is in charge of Nigeria now. A lot of political leaders today are all liars. Most of them worship vampires, whether they call themselves Christians or not. This is where I get angry with Christians in Nigeria .Christians in Nigeria should be able to discern what spirit is controlling Nigeria and let Nigeria be a normal nation but instead the Christians are confused.

What is your assessment of the current administration?

J o n a t h a n ' s administration is a disaster.

I will explain this to you.

May be he does not know that he is not capable of being a president. This is one of General Olusegun Obasanjo's greatest errors and I think it's upsetting him now. He has found out now that it is greatest disservice to Nigeria and humanity.

You see when you are going to pick anybody as a leader you should always look at the background of that individual. Even if you have PhD first of all you investigate what is the background of that fellow.

What is his home upbringing? Investigate this.

There are poor people who raised their children in a super way. Zik's father was another example. He was not a rich man but an ordinary policeman.

Anybody who is trying to

• Iloh

look for a president for Nigeria let us have a private committee to investigate what is his upbringing , what exposure does he have?

Instead of talking about degree of Buhari, why don't you talk of the upbringing of individuals? Why don't you talk about his moral standards? As for me, degrees are not what we need. We need a good leader; we need to see the background of our leaders Can you confirm that N6 billion allegedly given to CAN for partisan politics?

That is between them and their God. Anybody who takes money from the devil will pay for it. I want to believe that nobody took the money. If they took that money, they should quickly return it and go back to Lord.

God knows them all.

The way this Jonathan election is going might eventually lead to church leaders losing respect and integrity .Some Christians are so stupid and naïve. If you are a Christian, you should know what is wrong and what is right. A thief is a thief. If they took that money God sees them. If you sow seed, you are going to see your rewards. The things I hear anger me and I begin to say to myself shall there be church in Nigeria at the end of the elections?

My feeling is that the president will do what he

could do to destroy the country if he does not win.

The danger about our president is that he had around him wrong advisers.

He should have employed a Prophet Nathan that would tell him the truth always.

If you give this country to Buhari, this country will change in four years. This country will become a Paradise but I have one fear: the forces against Buhari are too many. God should protect and guide him.

When are you going to retired from active service?

I will retire when God calls me. I am 85 years old and it is not by might or my power not by my might .God never told me he would make me a millionaire.

When God says 'son, I want you back home' then I go.

But I cannot be alive and just keep quiet. I want to warn Christians that if we do not handle these elections honestly, transparently, courageously and

righteously, if we followed the wrong thing, the elections would come and go but the church leaders would have lost at least 80per cent of their respect .

Look at this government how they treat church leaders with ignominy; they treat church leaders like beggars just because someone is making money in the government. He keeps them (church leaders) to be waiting for him those older than his forefathers. No respect for us and if we do not take time it would be worse after the elections. I am sure Buhari will restore the respect for the Church leaders Are you not afraid of being attacked for your strong views?

No, no, I don't care. I am not hostile. I don't plant hostility. I have no fear; I respect human lives. I tell the truth. I don't plant hostility.

Why should I? Truth can never die.

NEWS

An evening of worship with Gbenga Adenuga

H

ANDS raised, eyes closed, a palpable silence fell on the expansive hall. Everyone was truly enraptured. Some were lost while others simply basked in the euphoria of the worship experience. It was at the three-hour worship session with soar-away gospel act, Gbenga Adenuga last Sunday at the Muson Centre in Lagos.

Tagged Worship With Gbenga Adenuga (WWGA), the session attracted no fewer than 500 participants. They came with hearts yearning to worship God in the purest sense. Determined to offer usher them into God's presence, Adenuga launched head on into the worship session.

It didn't take long before the hall became electrified.

Tugged on by the Awimayehun coroner, the worshippers dug deep and deep into the Holy of the Holies. When he launched into arguably his best composition, I fail to worry, an eerie of hope enveloped the worshippers.

"No matter God what you

By Sunday Oguntola are going through, God will come through for you. He will not fail. He will show up right on time," Adenuga stated, as the worshippers, heads bowed, soaked in the essence of the song.

To prove his standing as an all-rounder, the worship leader took the participants to the oldies with a classic rendition of the ever-green hymn "Rock of ages". The rendition wowed many, who had also perceived the singer as only contem- • Adenuga porary. hall. They wanted more.

But Adenuga just can't do They deserved more. God without grooving. He started also demanded more. But with his popular title there will always be another Awimayehun before launch- day. As Adenuga said himing into Abba Father. For self the session has come to over thirty minutes, he kept stay. Come May 17th, there everyone on the dancing would be another opportufloor. Participants became nity to offer much more worfrenzied, trying to outdo one ship to God. another with dancing steps.

Until then, Adenuga can When the session ended live with the satisfaction that by 8pm, it was with utmost the concert was truly reluctance that people left the inspiring and soul-lifting.

64

A

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

WORSHIP

Don makes case for funding of religion

Professor of Sociology of Religion in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Uyo (UNIUYO), Professor John Umoh, has called on government to fund religion just like other sector.

This, he said, is because of the numerous benefits religion offers to individuals and community.

Umoh spoke as the inaugural lecturer at the UNIUYO 42nd inaugural lecture titled "Reaping the earthly dividends before the heavenly rewards: The civic( socio- economic and political) dimension of the religious institution".

He lamented that too

From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo much attention has been given to science whereas religion holds most of the answers to man's problems.

Citing current instances like the missing Malaysian aircraft and the kidnapped Chibok girls, Umoh said in such matters beyond scientific capacities, religion should be explored.

"Religion begins where science ends," he stressed.

Aside from the He said alongside the metaphysical benefits associated with it, religion reduces frustration and difficulties in the social scene.

Religious structures like churches, Mosques, syna-

gogues, temples, shrines where they apply, enhances the promotion of social, economic and political values of and welfare, he added.

"Religion creates and reinforces the collective conscience, creates a bond of unity among the members of the society.

"The force or strength of religion has been instrumental in facilitating social change in the society," Umoh stated.

He said religious institutions have done so much for both man and community in terms of provision of training institutions, health care, employment and guaranteeing peace among others.

• Relations and ministers of Knights at Engr. Adelana Odutola's presentation as the Remo Diocesan Lay President at Sagamu, Ogun State… recently

Breath of Life goes on air

T

HE Breath of Life M i n i s t r y headquartered at 24, Obanikoro Street, Obanikoro Estate Lagos, has launched a show on Silver bird Television(STV).

Tagged impartation broadcast, the show runs Monday- Friday by 6 am to 6 30 am and Sundays by 6:50am to 7am.

The senior pastor of the church, Samson Jedafe, said the broadcast was inspired by the Holy Spirit to enable Christians get refreshed before proceeding to work every day.

He explained: "We live in Nigeria and there are a whole lot of challenges; suicide bombing, terrorism, kidnapping

By Olatunde Odebiyi and the fear is in us.

"It is in the light of this that the inspiration came by the Holy Spirit to put a programme on Silver bird Television where people can get refreshed by the word of God. "The church has plans to run the programme for 30 minutes on Sunday and discussions are ongoing to extend the programme to other television stations before the end of the second quarter of this year so that we can get more people inspired with the word."

In the same vein, the impartation conference of the church holds from March 2122.

Jedafe said the conference will be a time to worship God

• Jedafe

and be imparted with grace and spiritual gifts.

According to him: "We are expecting over 1000 people for the conference which will include men, women, boys and girls from all walks of life to come together under one canopy and it will be an awesome time."

Alokan goes home in blaze of glory

T

HE remains of a prominent leader in the Christ Apostolic Church, Pastor Dr Joshua Aloka, were committed to mother earth last weekend in Efon-Alaaye in Ekiti State.

Alokan, who was 93, died on December 22, 2014.

He was survived by a wife, children and grandchildren.

The deceased retired as a teacher after 40 years of service in 1983.

During his teaching career, he was at different times the president of State Conferences of Principals of Teacher Training Colleges first in the Western State and later in Ogun

• Alokan

and Ondo States.

Alokan served on the State Advisory Board of Education (SABE), Ibadan and on the Institutes of Education of Ibadan and Ife Universities.

He served the as census officer, Ekiti West Division (1963); Justice of Peace Awardee (1971); two-term Chairman, Efon-Alaaye Local Schools Board(1984); Commissioner Ondo State Civil Service Commission (1981) and Chairman Ogun State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board (1992).

As mark of honour for his contribution to the CAC, he became a pastor in 1962, Chairman, National Board of Education (1984) a member of the General Executive Council (1988) and Chairman, CAC Seminary Board of Governors at Ife and its Satellite Campuses at Ilesha, Ede, Ibadan and Lagos (1992)

COLUMN

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

Understanding The Power Of The World To Come!

L

AST week, wr examined the other characteristics of the world to come and what is in the light of the Word. Before we look at the above topic, let me show you the Demands of Accessing the Light of the Word.

•Through prayer: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law (Psalm 119:18).

God's Word is a spiritual entity and requires a spiritual approach to access; we cannot access the truth therein by our intellect (1 Corinthians 2:14). Revelation demands that we pray to access it. That's why before we start studying the Word and other anointed materials, we must engage the prayer altar to access light from them (Jeremiah 33:3; 2 Corinthians 4:4).

•Fasting: This provides a platform for accessing the light of the Word.

It is written: Is not this the fast that I have chosen?...Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily… then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday… (Isaiah 58:6, 8 & 10).

Let's understand that every statement of scripture is lighted, but we must engage the power of prayer and fasting to access the revelations therein.

•Study of the Word: It is not enough to fast and pray, we must also study the Word to access revelation (2 Timothy 2:15).For instance, Apostle Paul was a studious man and he flowed in unu-

sual and abundant revelations (2 Timothy 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:7).

Meditation is a powerful platform for accessing revelation (Psalm 119:97-100).This involves pondering on the truth of scriptures in order to encounter the revelation behind the letters. However, in order to meditate effectively, we must engage the active partnership of the Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God (2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Genesis 24:63; John 8:6-7).

Having showed you the demands of Accessing the Light of the Word, let me go over to the topic for the week: Understanding The Power Of The World To Come! We are indeed in the era of the 'powers of the world to come' where the heavens rule in the kingdom of men.

This power is accessible to all but we must take personal responsibility to be empowered.

Let us understand that the powers of the world to come' is the same as the latter rain, which will establish the dominion of the Church and culminate in the rise of saviours that will rescue humanity from servitude(Zechariah 10:1; Obadiah 1:21&Psalm 110:1-3).

Therefore, the latter rain is the messianic anointing that does not only liberate us but releases us as liberators to our world and also enables us to reign in our fields of endeavour (Psalm 87:5-7).

We must also understand that the latter rain, among other things, is the rain of restoration(Joel 2:23-26).It is important to note that 'the world to come' is a world of full restoration of glory, because the former things are passed away

(Rev. 21:1-4,22:3-5).

CharacteristicOf The 'World To Come' •There is no place for death in the 'world to come': ...And there shall be no more death... (Revelation 21:4). The 'powers of the world to come' confer dominion over death upon the saints. We understand from scriptures that Christ, through death, destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14-15). he dominion of death over our lives was overthrown at Calvary and Jesus now holds the key of death in our favour. It is important to understand that Christ is the resurrection and the life.

Therefore, because Christ lives, we shall live also (John 5:21, 25-27, 14:19, 11:25; Revelation 1:18).

For instance, Paul the apostle demonstrated his power over death when he was stoned and dragged out of the city. However, he jerked back to life suddenly.

No wonder he was referred to as Paul the aged (Acts 14:1920 Philippians 1:23-25).

Friend, to enjoy the above, you must be born again. This entails confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour. If you are set now, please say this prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Today, Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!" I will continue this teaching next week!

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books -Walking In Dominion, Winning Invisible Battles and Born To Win. I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

NEWS

Adesuyi releases third album

A

former Head of Music Ministry at the Foursquare Gospel Church, National Headquarters, Yaba Lagos, Deacon Bayo Adesuyi, is set to launch his third album titled Opaaro.

The launch holds on April 6 at Planet One, Ikeja by 3pm.

A statement said the University of Lagos Computer Science graduate whose single Loke Loke featuring

Chindinma and Emizon is making waves will be performing live at the launch.

The producer and seasoned praise worship leader has two albums Dapada (2008) and Mother indeed (2010) to his credit.

He is reputed for his African contemporary approach to gospel music that cuts across lovers of percussion alongside groove with a great vocal delivery to sooth listeners from the old.

• Adesuyi

SU loses first female president HE Ntia family of Ididep-usuk in Ibiono Ibom , Akwa Ibom State have announced the death and burial arrangements of their departed mother, Late Mrs Stella Ime Okon Ntia.

She was the first female president of the Scripture Union (SU), Ikot Ekpene

T

group, Mrs. Stella Ntia, is dead.

She was 76.

Family sources said the late Stella was born to the family of late Mr. and Mrs. Okon Uko Etuk of Akukwot Village in Usung-Inyang, Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

She was the first child among four children.

Mrs. Stella Ntia is survived by four children including, Rev Ntia I. Ntia, senior pastor and founder of Full-Life Church, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

She was laid to rest at Rev Ntia's compound, Ididep-usuk in Ibiono Ibom LGA, of Akwa State last Friday.

65

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015 CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE CHANGE OF OF NAME NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

GIWA

ADESORO

AFOLABI

OLAMUYIWA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Giwa, Taiwo Temitope Olayinka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. AKINTUNDE, TAIWO TEMITOPE OLAYINKA. All former documents remain valid. General public hould please take note.

ADEDAPO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adesoro, Elizabeth Renike, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Kayode, Elizabeth Renike. All former documents remain valid. Federal University, Oye-Ekiti and general public hould please take note.

ATOFARATI

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ADEDAPO ADENIKE BUKUNMI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. AKANJI ADENIKE BUKUNMI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Halimat Bukola Atofarati, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Halimat Bukola Quadri. All former documents remain valid. General public hould please take note.

UKEYIMA

UTIBEOBONG

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS UKEYIMA SEEMBER, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. SHIMA SEEMBER. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

YABAL

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Esther Nanlop Jotham Yabal, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Esther Jeji Amasa. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that Olusola Fatima Abiola (Nee Kupoluyi) and Ogunsola Morisayo Abiola refers to one and the same person and now wish to be known and addressed as Olusola Fatima Abiola Morisayo.

All documents bearing the above names remain valid. General public and concern authority should please take note.

DAVID I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Esther Grace David, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Esther Grace Success. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

NWOSU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwosu, Glory Ogechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okoro, Glory Ogechi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OKON

I, formerly known and addressed as Gift Edet Okon, now wish to be known and addressed as Gift Ayuba. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

JIMOH I, formerly known and addressed as Jimoh, Akeem Ayinla, now wish to be known and addressed as Jimoh Akeem Ayinde. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

BELLO

I, formerly known and addressed as Bello, Nurudeen Olalekan, now wish to be known and addressed as Bello, Fawaz Olamilekan. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ISMAIL

I, formerly known and addressed as Ismail Adewale Saliu, now wish to be known and addressed as Adebosipo Adwale Oluwagbemiga. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

AKOFE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akofe, Latifat Bunmi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Busari, Latifat Bunmi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AMUNA

I, formerly known and addressed as Amuna Medline Ndidi, now wish to be known and addressed as Ofojama Medline Ndidi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLAYEMI

I formerly known and refers to as Miss MARY OLUWATOYIN OLAYEMI. Now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. MARY OLUWATOYIN KOLAJO. All former documents remained valid.

The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF DATE OF BIRTH

Formerly Adebayo Shakiru Ayoola my date of birth was wrongly quoted as 04 November, 1964, now wish to be known Adebayo Shakiru Ayoola, the real and correct datev of birth is 11th of April, 1964. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OJO

I formerly known and addressed as Utibeobong Saturday, now wish to be known and addressed as Saturday Jeremiah. All former documents remain valid. General public hould please take note.

ANIEKE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Anieke Augustina Amaka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Enemoh Augustina Amaka. All former documents remain valid. General public hould please take note.

ENIANG

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Gloria Nyengibi Eniang, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Gloria Nyengibi Ajayi. All former documents remain valid.

General public hould please take note.

ADEWUMI

OLAGUNJU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olagunju Funmilayo Jumoke now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Balogun Funmilayo Fatimoh . All former documents remain valid general public take note.

NWAGBA

I formerly known and refers to as Miss NGWABA ANN LEWACHI. Now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. NJOKU UGOCHUKWU ANN LEWACHI. All former documents remained valid.

The general public should please take note.

HAMMED

I formerlly known and addresed as MISS HAMMED HAJARA LARABA, now wish to be known and address as MRS. IBRAHIM HAJARA LARABA. All former document still remain valid. General public should please take note.

BADMUS

I formerlly known and addresed as MISS BADMUS OLUWABUSAYO OLANIKE, now wish to be known and address as MRS. IYANDA OLUWABUSAYO OLANIKE. All former document still remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adewumi, Toyin Julianah, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Faola, Toyin Julianah. All former documents remain valid. Enterprise Bank, Ido Ekiti, Ido/Osi Local government and general public hould please take note.

I formerlly known and addresed as Miss Okojokwu Grace Amunu, now wish to be known and address as Mrs. Nworie Grace Amunu. All former document still remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ruth Egbara, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ruth Okejevwa. All former documents remain valid. General public hould please take note.

I formerlly known and addresed as Miss AKINBILE BLESSING BUCHI, now wish to be known and address as Mrs. GEORGE BLESSING BUCHI. All former document still remain valid. General public should please take note.

EGBARA

BOMA

OKOJOKWU

AKINBILE

SALAU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Boma Ebiseye Queen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ugo, Ebiseye Queen. All former documents remain valid.

General public hould please take note.

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Salau Victoria Wuraola, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. Packson Victoria Wuraola.

All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Ezewele Benedita , now wish to be known and addressed as Eromosele Benedita. All former documents remain valid. General public hould please take note.

I formerly known and refers to as Agwu Maureen Ekemma, now wishes to be known and addressed as Okuji Maureen Ekemma. All former documents remained valid.

General public should please take note.

EZEWELE

FALEYE

I formerly known and refers to as Miss FALEYE MARGARET FOLASADE. Now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. OLADOSU MARGARET FOLASADE. All former documents remained valid.

The general public should please take note.

AGWU

ODUBIRO

I formerly known and refers to as Ms. Mofolashade Oyinkansola Odubiro, now wishes to be known and addressed as Ms. Mercedes Folashade Stephens. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

AZUNDA

SODIQ

IHEANACHO

I formerly known and refers to as Mrs. Sodiq, Olufunke Esther, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adekunle, Other name: Olufunke esther. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss EDNA AZUNDA now wish to be known as Mrs. EDNA C. OKITI. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss IHEANACHO ANGELA CHINONYE, now wish to be known as Mrs. AJAYI ADEBAYO ANGELA CHINONYE. All former documents remain valid, Federal Poly Nekede Owerri, NYSC and the general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME KALADA TOMBO and IBIYE TOMBO GODSPOWER refers to one and the same person, now wish to be known as IBIYE TOMBO GODSPOWER. all former documents remain valid general public please take note.

EDAFIOGHOR

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OMOWHO EDAFIOGHOR now wish to be known and addressed as MRS RACHAEL OMOWHO ANAM. All former documents remain valid. General Public should please take note.

EJIM I, formerly known and addressed as MISS EJIM NNENNA IRENE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS MGBOH NNENNA IRENE. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC, and general Public should please take note.

BANKOLE

I formerly known and addressed as MISS OJO MARIA TITILOPE,now wish to be known and address as MRS. OYEDELE MARIA TITILOPE.All former document still remain valid.Osun State Polytechnic,Iree and general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Bankole Omotola Ololade, now wish to be known and addressed as Fatai Omotola Ololade. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ITORO

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Ayere Osarugue Loveth, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ozilly Osarugue Loveth. All former documents remained valid.

General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ITORO EDET UKPONG now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ITORO EMMANUEL IBIOK. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Afolabi Yetunde Tolulope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sanya Yetunde Tolulope. All former documents remain valid N D L E A and general public take note.

AYERE

ADEBAYO I formerly known and refers to as MISS ADEBAYO TITLAYO JANET, now wishes to be known and addressed as MRS OMOTOSHO TITLAYO JANET. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

NKWOCHA

I formerly known and refers to as MISS NKWOCHA JOY, now wishes to be known and addressed as MRS THOMPSON JOY. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

AYODEJI

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Ayodeji Motunrayo Victoria, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olorunyomi Motunrayo Victoria. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

LAMIDI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Lamidi Sekinat Opeyemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onaolapo Sekinat Opeyemi.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ONUCHUKWU

EKEANYA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olamuyiwa Mopelola Abosede now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. AransiolaOlaide Mopelola Abosede. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I formerly known and refers to as Ekeanya Ifeanyi Uzoma, now wishes to be known and addressed as Eze Ifeanyi Uzoma. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

OGUNLEYE

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Chiedu Nneka Nneamaka, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. Jackson-Akhigbe Nneka Nneamaka. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunleye Titlayo Funmilayo Grace, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adeosun Titilayo Funmilayo Grace. All Former documents remain valid. National Health insurance and general public should please take note.

OMAIVBOJE I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OMAIVBOJE BRIDGET OBOFONI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. EHIAGHESHEPHERD BRIDGET OBOFONI. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

NNENANYA I, formerly known and addressed as MISS UKAMAKA MERCY NNENANYA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. UKAMAKA MERCY DIKE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

NWANKWO

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS NWANKWO ROSEMARY CHIGBONKPAM, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ISRAEL-DANIEL ROSEMARY CHIGBONKPAM. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OKAFOR

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OKAFOR ANGELA AMARACHUKWU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. AJUBU ANGELA AMARACHUKWU. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, ANAYO DENNIS and ANAYO DENNIS NNAMENE refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known and addressed as ANAYO DENNIS. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, MR. OLISA CHIBUEZE SAMUEL and MR. ENEMUO PROSPER NTOM refers to one and the same person.

Now wish to be known and addressed as MR. OLISA CHIBUEZE SAMUEL. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, MR. CHINEWUBEZE GODFREY MICHAEL UGOCHUKWU and MR. NDUNELI GODFREY MICHAEL UGOCHUKWU refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known and addressed as MR. CHINEWUBEZE GODFREY MICHAEL UGOCHUKWU. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Immigration Service and general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, MR. JAMES NWAOBAKATA declares that ONYINYECHI NWAOBAKATA is my daughter and the said ONYINYECHI NWAOBAKATA was born on 9th of February,1984 at Omoku in Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State of Nigeria. General public please take note.

OGUNTUNDE

I formerlly known and addresed as MISS OGUNTUNDE EUNICE ADEKUNBI,now wish to be known and address as MRS. OYELOWO EUNICE ADEKUNBI.All former document still remain valid,SUBEB,Osun State government and general public should please take note.

ODUNLADE

I formerlly known and addresed as MISS ODUNLADE TITILOPE DAMMY now wish to be known and address as MRS. ADEBISI TITILOPE DAMILOLA.All former document still remain valid, Osun State polytechnic,iree and general public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that OLUSOLA FATIMA ABIOLA (NEE KUPOLUYI) and OGUNSOLA MORISAYO ABIOLA refers to one and same person and now wishes to be known and addressed as OLUSOLA FATIMA ABIOLA MORISAYO. All former documents remain valid. General public and concerned Authority please take note.

KOLAWOLE

I formerly known and addressed as Onuchukwu Rosemary Obumnaeke, now wish to be known and addressed as IFEAGWU ROSEMARY OBUMNAEKE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and refers to as MISS ABOSEDE VICTORIA KOLAWOLE, now wishes to be known and addressed as MRS. ABOSEDE VICTORIA ADEDIRAN. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

ATAKPA

ASHIRU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Victoria Ita Atakpa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Victoria Aliyu Abdullahi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known as Miss Ashiru Omolola Aderonke, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oyedeji Omolola Aderonke. All former document remains valid. General public should please take note.

CHIEDU

ODIM

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Odim Roseline, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs Dodo Roseline. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

DISU

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Disu, Abiodun Omowonuola, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs Ojo-Disu, Abiodun Omowonuola. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

ILECHUKWU

I formerly known and refers to as Miss Ilechukwu Ada Uzoma, now wishes to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onyekpa Ada Uzoma. All former documents remained valid.

General public should please take note.

IGNATIUS I formerly known and refers to as Ignatius Chukwudi, now wishes to be known and addressed as Ojinika Chukwudi. All former documents remained valid. General public should please take note.

KOYA

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Cecilia Funmilayo Koya now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Cecilia Olubunmi Odukoya.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

KOLAWOLE I formerly known and addressed as Kolawole Gabriel Mayowa now wish to be known and addressed as lssa Habeebulahi Mayowa. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OLAGBOYE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olagboye Wumi Oluwafunmilola now wishes to be called Mrs Adegoke Grace Oluwafunmilola. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State Ministry of Education and general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME BALOGUN

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Balogun Rashidat Abiodun now wishes to be called Mrs Sanusi Rasheedat Abiodun Folashade. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OGUNTUASE

I, formerly known and addressed as Bunmi janet Oguntuase, now wish to be Known and addressed as Mrs Omotoso Bunmi Janet. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

AZEEZ

I, formerly Known and addressed as Miss Azeez Deborah Oluwatosin, now wish to be Known and addressed as Mrs Adeosun Deborah Oluwatosin. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

BUTALI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Risikat Butali, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Risikat Afolayan. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

LAWAL

I formerly known and addressed as Mudathir Olatunde Lawal, now wish to be known and addressed as Mudathir Ahmad Awwal. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

BASHEER

I formerly known and addressed as Mr Basheer Oriyomi Agbabiaka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr Oriyomi Ololade Agbabiaka. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note .

AROWOLO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Arowolo Yetunde Mutiat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adesoro Yewande Mutiat. All former documents remain valid. The general public please take note.

ANJOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ANJOLA OMOTOKE LAPITE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ANJOLA OMOTOKE OGUNBODEDE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

AYETIRAN

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ADENIKE BOLANLE AYETIRAN, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ADENIKE BOLANLE OTENIGBAGBE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

AHMADU

ISHOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as AHMADU, REBECCA OZIOHU, now wish to be known and addressed as OMOSIMUA, REBECCA OZIOHU. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

OLATUNJI

I, formerly known and addressed as OYEDELE ADEKILE ADETOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as ADEKILE ESTHER ADETOLA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ishola Abisola Adedoyin now wishes to be called Mrs Adewole Abisola Adedoyin. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Olatunji Ismail Olamilekan now wishes to be called Salami Ismaila Olalekan. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

LAWAL

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Lawal Ganiyat Ajoke now wishes to be called Mrs Tijani Ganiyat Ajoke. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

YANKEY

I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs Omotemu Juliana Yankey now wishes to be called Mrs Omotemu Juliana Orukpe. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UTHMAN

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Uthman Omobola Esther now wishes to be called Mrs Abegunde Omobola Esther. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

KUSHIMO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Kushimo Oluwatoyin Esther now wishes to be called Mrs Ankole Oluwatoyin Esther. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

IBIRONKE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibironke Phillips now wishes to be called Mrs Bankole Ibironke Phillips. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

AJILE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibironke Pauline Ajile now wishes to be called Mrs Ibironke Pauline Ojo. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OYEDELE

ADEYEMO

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ADEYEMO MONSURAT ADEFUNKE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AKINYINKA MONSURAT ADEFUNKE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

LAWAL

I, formerly known and addressed as LAWAL FATIMOH ABOLORE ESTHER, now wish to be known and addressed as AKINREMI ESTHER AYOMODE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

OJUKO

I, formerly known and addressed as OJUKO OLUWASEUN FUNKE, now wish to be known and addressed as BAKARE OLUWASEUN FUNKE. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through - FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number - 2017220392 Account Name VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to - gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or thenation_advert @yahoo.com.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

66

Abubakar Gimba: ''Thoughts of yesterday!''

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH “I 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Gang-up against Jega

“2

015: No gang up (gang-up) against Jega-Ondo REC" "Niger, Chad troops launch ground, air strike against Boko Haram" International news: Nigerien, Chadian troops…

"Flying Eagles (by the way, are there eagles that do not fly?) start off on bright note, silences (why?) Junior Lions" National Mirror of February 16 comes next this week with four blunders: "…does the situation in Anambra State justify the huge resources that has (have) come into the state since then?"

"Yero deploys security operatives to (in) Southern Kaduna."

"So it is high time Nigeria begins (began) to…." Put differently, it is time Nigeria begins to….

"Suarez: biting more than he can chew" This way, ThisDay: biting off more than he can chew.

"Aregbesola's phone thief bags 45 years jail" All the Facts, All the Sides: 45 years' jail term "Lawmakers pass vote of confidence on (in) Ikuforiji" Confidence in (not on) somebody-the 'passing' should not confuse anyone. For those who may not know, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji is the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

"The issue of who occupies what political position in the country and under (on) which platform appears…."

"In advanced (an advanced) democracy like the US…."

"Dearth of funding slow job creation efforts" Business & Finance: …slows down job-creation efforts "The Alade Market incidence (incident)…."

"Unknown gunmen raid bank, kill three policemen, two others" Yank off 'unknown'!

"The same pattern of foreign excesses and Nigerian laxity obtains when the operations of some foreign firms in Nigeria is (are) considered."

"Minister commissions (inaugurates) Kwali microfinance bank" "Zonal election into sports federations hold (holds) today" "The NGF election has polarized the 36 states (state) governors into two (sic) camps…." Just camps! "…I had lot of contracts with many corporate

organizations." Global soccer: a lot of contracts or lots of contracts (depending on context).

"But industrial relations experts are apprehensive that currently the rate of strikes are (is) undeniably alarming."

"Strike actions: Lawful but inexpedient" We certainly do not need 'action' here. Simply strike.

All strikes are actionbased.

"I am looking forward to the next Igbo summit to comprise of all the Igbospeaking fragments irrespective of where they are located." In order not to abort the language dream, delete the first 'of' and move to the next two errors from the same medium (name withheld like Nigerian newspaper reportage!).

"And in Nigeria, subsequent military regimes which held sway finally culminated into (in) the most dreaded era of military rule in the country-the Sani Abacha years."

"No wonder therefore that every inaction of these elected leaders only seek (seeks) to further entrench and protect the many years of brigandage on this nation."

"Its diverse composition reflected in (on) how its…."

FEEDBACK THE copy on Jimi Agbaje is in order.'Busines' as an important matter to be dealt with is uncountable.

Cheers.

(Intervention by CHARLES IYOHA, 09099879033) COLUMNIST'S COMMENT: Your observation is supported by the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, International Student's Edition. But, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, New Edition for Advanced Learners, describes 'business' as a MATTER (singular) means a situation or an activity, especially one that you have a particular opinion about or attitude towards: serious/strange/funny, etc business. Example: Leo considers keeping fit as a serious business.

(Reactions are welcome). …Now a repeat of last week's copy in question: "Taking care of Lagos is serious (a serious) business." (Centrespread Advertorial by '#LAGOSFORYOU', The PUNCH, March 4) STILL on homophones or words that sound alike but have different meanings, the

Sport & Style Section of The Nation, January 11, Page 34, quoted Daniel Amokachi in the third column as saying: "Then the issue of jet became everyday discuss (did the interviewer mean DISCOURSE? Lord, have mercy!) in Nigeria when it was reported that I bought a private jet."

Second, a "senior staff" and "hard-working staff" (an employee, worker or staffer in American usage) died in a gas explosion with his wife at UNIBEN, courtesy The Nation, March 8, Page 8. The word "staff" is a collection of workers, not a singular noun.

In its cover story on Marital Infidelity on Pages 11-13, Saturday Vanguard, March 7, was not sure of the correctness of "truly" as used on the Front Page or "truely" on Page 11.

Please note: "truly" is right, no "e".

INEC's public service announcement on radio states that "the general elections is here again".

The verb "is" should read "are" because "elections" is plural: Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and State Houses of Assembly polls. (Contributed by KOLA DANISA, 07068074257) Artist or artiste?

"ARTIST" and "artiste" are liable to be confused. An artist refers to "a person who paints or draws. E.g. Twin Seven-Seven was a great artist. This word may also refer to "a person who is skilled in something".

The mechanic is a real artist with an engine.

An "artiste" refers to "an entertainer, such as a singer or a dancer", e.g. "a list of the artistes in the musical performances".

However, the word (artiste) is becoming a little old-fashioned, or obsolescent.

In the 21st Century, anybody who has a musical talent is an artist (not an artiste)! E.g. for Donna Summer the best safeguard for the artist in her own somewhat shambolic world lies in a personal relationship with God, she says, "whatever kind of musical star she may be, an artist is not a spiritual superstar. Thank you.

(From BAYO OGUNTUNASE, 08056180046)

was in the Business Centre situated in the outpatient ground floor of the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India, browsing the Internet to update myself with the elections results of our 2011 April General Elections, when the voice of a man that sounded typically Nigerian came reeling and condemning the reported weeping of General Buhari for the plight he foresaw our nation seemed to have been programmed to fall into…'' This is where I met Abubakar Gimba. I regret that I never met him in person but only on the pages of papers.

On one of my holidays, when I got chatting with Very Rev. Fr. Jerry D. O'Connell Spsof Minna diocese, I mentioned to him the above piece written by one AbubakarGimba titled: ''Et tu, Monsignor Kukah?'' as a reaction to the homily of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah at the burial mass of the late Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa at Fadan-Kagoma, Kaduna State on December 20, 2012. I told him my take on the matter and how I wrote a rejoinder to the said article which I captioned ''Re-Et tu, Monsignor Kukah?''

The old man smiled and told me that Gimba is his friend. He said the man is a renowned scholarfrom Niger State and he lives in Minna.

This heightened my cursiosity.

Fr. O'Connell soon rewarded my curiosity with a book titled: ''Thoughts of yesterday.'' Guess who the author is;behold, AbubakarGimbait was who has drawn my attention by his wit and rendition of prose earlier referred to. I owe a world of gratitude to Fr. O'Connell for the book which I now hold very dear to my heart. The fascinating thing about this book is that it has an autograph of the author plus a short note which reads: ''For Rev. Fr. J. D. O'Connell.

For the commitment to the education of our youth, even a constant shining star to be followed. Dated, May 24, 2012.'' For me, these are timeless words on the marble.

Later events would reveal the identity of this man who has stood tall in the literary world.

Gimba worked in both the private and public sectors. The graduate of economics served in the Niger Sate Civil Service, rising to become a permanent secretary before departing for the banking industry where he was Executive Director of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc at different times before retiring. Little wonder the federal government decorated him with the national honour of the Order of the Federal Republic, OFR. The quintessential man was also chairman, Evaluation and Implementation (EAIC) of IBB University, Lapai, Niger State, a former national president of ABU Alumni Association and a past president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

Interestingly,he has written in virtually all genres of literature as his works reveal: Trail of Sacrifice, Innocent Victims, Sunset for a Mandarin, Sacred Apples, Footprints and Witnesses to Tears (all novels); Inner Rumblings and This Land of Ours (poetry); A Toast in the Cemetery (short story);

• The late Gimba

By Justine John Dyikuk

Letter to the Muslim Fundamentalist and Letters to My Children (social dialogue), A Conversation from the Letter-box (Epistolary), A Matter of Faith (Faith) and two books of essays, Once Upon a Reed and Why Am I Doing This?.

He was also a columnist with some Nigerian newspapers particularly the Nigerian Tribune and Weekly Trust. Gimba's literary prowess seems endless; a knack that has endeared him to many Nigerians, including this writer. My reference to his reaction on Kukah's homily further drew the attention of compatriots one of whom is Francis Damina who needed my permission for the article to be republished elsewhere.

Although we have never seen each other, it was from Damina I got a message that necessitated this piece in honour of the man I respect and admire. On my way to Port Harcourt, Damina called and since I didn't pick he sent an SMS. It was when I stopped over in Abba that I perused through the message which reads: ''…Are you aware that AbubakarGimba died? I (sic) just left MuhammedHaruna's.''

For the rest of the journey, I kept pondering on the life and times of the man l met only on the pages of papers.

The iconic writer will be remembered for his contribution to the world of literary arts. As much as his immediate family, the ABU Alumni Association and the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will miss him, all young writers have missed a tireless guru whose pen never goes dry.

His sponsorship of an annual Schools Carnival of Art and Festival of Songs in Niger State for 10 years shows his vision for young writers in Nigeria.

Hear him on Literature and the path of our future: ''For our literature in the 21st century to be relevant, it must encourage public discourse about every aspect of our national life in a sober intellectual manner, not in vitriolic exchange; it must enhance and enrich public discourse, not fuel it into a social conflagration. We must, as writers, encourage our compatriots to talk to each other. And listen to each other.

Let's encourage the convening of a national sovereign conference.'' It would appear that his voice like that of other patriotic Nigerians was what gave rise to the national confab - something Nigerians will not forget in a hurry.

Gimba is one of the few Nigerians who sees the role of women as pivotal to national development. I find his sense of reasoning revolutionary. In The Woman, All Hail the Woman, he compares the human

community with a colony of bees. He argued that since the human society is made up of males and females, the man plays the role of the drones (though the advancement in science is threatening this role), while the woman plays the role of the queen bee (a role not threatened by cloning and other human replication sciences).

He says in this respect, ''women like its queen bee counterpart, occupies a uniquely central position in the community for its continued existence and self-regulation.

And just as the queen bee is the rallying point for the bee colony to attain its goal of constructing hive and producing honey, the woman in the human society is similarly positioned to ensure that the society attains its goal of 'hive and ''honey.''

He,therefore, surmised that the natural roles of women as mother and, wives uniquely places them as the custodian of our societal values. As such, motherhood is the most important, most sacred responsibility on earth. What could be truer as we recently celebrated the International Women's Day? MallamGimbais a devout Muslim who was never shy of his religion and lived it to the best of his ability. Although I have not laid my hands on his work, Letter to the Muslim Fundamentalist, I believe he had genuine concerns about using religion as a vehicle of violence. His title, Writing for Peace, confirms that. While I am his fan on many fronts, I disagree with him on issues like the ones I raised in the rejoinder earlier talked about and his presentation ''Where are we going?'' of 1998 at a forum of some leaders from the Niger South Senatorial Zone.

Part of his submission, ''our tribalism must not have any agenda of some superiority complex over others, but must have a duty and responsibility to defend and protect ourselves against being made pawns and prey of the self-seeking agenda of others'' seems paranoid. It appears as though he is baptising tribalism. I regret his absence to throw light on this discourse.

Reacting to his death, Hon. Jerry Agada former ANA president said; ''it pains me to bid farewell to this pioneer writer and fine gentleman of great repute. I had known AbubakarGimba through the pages of some of his novels before we eventually met at the 1997 ANA convention in Abuja when he was elected ANA president and I as Assistant General Secretary. Since then, it has been a symbiotic relationship built on mutual respect for one another.

We will continue to cherish his exemplary leadership attributes which Nigeria will sure miss...''Of him The Sun's Henry Akubuiro wrote, ''in death, Gimba's cerebral testaments on print remain deathless.''

May Allah grant his soul eternal rest inAljannatulFirdausi!

Fr. J.J Dyikuk is of the Centre for the Study of African Culture and Communication (CESACC), Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Email:justinejohndyikuk@gmail.com Twitter: @just4realsquare

67

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015 Huge Pacific cyclone devastates Vanuatu, at least eight dead

O

NE of the Pacific Ocean's most powerful ever storms devastated the island nation of Vanuatu yesterday, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and killing at least eight people with the toll set to rise, aid officials said.

The United Nations was preparing a major relief operation and Australia said it was ready to offer its neighbour whatever help it could.

With winds up to 340 kph (210 mph), Cyclone Pam left Vanuatu cut off, with little power, poor communications and a looming threat of hunger and thirst.

Unconfirmed reports said the number of dead could run into dozens but aid workers said it would be days or weeks before the full impact was known.

"It felt like the world was going to end," Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), said from Vanuatu.

"It's like a bomb has gone off in the centre of the town.

There is no power. There is no water."

Tom Skirrow, country director for the Save the Children aid group, told Reuters that Vanuatu's National Disaster Management Office had confirmed eight dead and 20 injured. He said he expected those figures to rise substantially.

Aid workers in Papua New Guinea said at least one person had been killed by the storm there.

Satellite photographs showed the storm covering virtually all of Vanuatu, a sprawling country of 83 islands and 260,000 people 2,000 km (1,250 miles) northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.

The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, told a disaster risk conference in Japan he had no confirmed report of the impact of the storm but he appealed to the world to "give a lending hand".

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Canberra would be willing to offer Vanuatu whatever help it could.

Formerly known as the New Hebrides, Vanuatu was jointly ruled by France and Britain until independence in 1980. It is among the world's poorest countries and highly prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and storms.

Witnesses described sea surges of up to eight metres (26 feet) and flooding throughout the capital, Port Vila, after the category 5 cyclone.

About 50 dead as Myanmar ferry sinks in bad weather

Sierra Leone VP seeks US asylum S A IERRA Leone's VicePresident Samuel SamSumana says he is seeking political asylum at the US embassy in the capital after soldiers surrounded his house.

Mr Sam-Sumana told the BBC he and his wife had fled the residence but it is unclear if they are inside the embassy.

The move comes a week after his expulsion from the ruling party.

Two weeks ago, Mr SamSumana said he was putting himself in quarantine for 21 days after one of his bodyguards died of the Ebola virus.

Police and army sources confirmed to the BBC's Umaru Fofana in Freetown that troops

were sent to the vicepresident's residence on yesterday morning.

They said the troops were dispatched to withdraw Mr Sam-Sumana's security detail, but would not say whose orders they were acting on.

"I don't feel safe this morning as vice-president," he told the AP news agency by phone. He said he had spoken to US Ambassador John Hoover and was waiting for a response.

US embassy spokeswoman Hollyn Green said embassy officials, including Mr Hoover, had "seen the news" but could not provide any reaction.

"There is no comment at the moment and there is no action on our part," Ms Green

told AP. Mr Sam-Sumana was expelled from the ruling All People's Congress Party last week on allegations of "orchestrating political violence" and trying to form a new party in his home district of Kono.

He was also accused of falsifying academic credentials.

He denied the allegations calling them "baseless fabrications and lies" - and rejected calls for his resignation.

Under Sierra Leone's constitution he cannot be sacked. Relations between Mr Sam-Sumana and President Ernest Bai Koroma have long been frosty.

Mr Sam-Sumana, 53, has

been vice-president since 2007, when he first stood as Mr Koroma's running mate.

President Koroma is now serving his second and final term.

According to a biography on the presidential website, Mr Sam-Sumana has spent time studying and working in the US, and is an expert in diamond mining.

He said two weeks ago that he had chosen to be quarantined to "lead by example" in the battle against Ebola.

More than 3,500 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, which along with Guinea and Liberia has seen the vast majority of deaths from the disease.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu leaves hospital

Z

•Sam-Sumana was expelled from the ruling APC party for anti party activities

AMBIAN President Edgar Lungu has been discharged from hospital in South Africa after undergoing surgery to correct a narrowing of the oesophagus.

Doctors describe the results as "good" .

On Sunday he collapsed at an International Women's Day event in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

In January Mr Lungu, 58, won a narrow election victory, replacing the former president, Michael Sata, who died in October.

Doctors have asked the president to return to the hospital in a few weeks for a medical review.

Egypt sacks 41 judges for supporting Brotherhood

A

activism.

Egyptian security forces face a militant insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since Mursi was ousted.

The attacks are mostly concentrated in North Sinai, centre of an insurgency by militants seeking to topple the government.

But frequent small-scale attacks in Cairo and other regions have damaged Egypt's efforts to project an image of stability after four years of turmoil triggered by the 2011 uprising that deposed veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak.

A homemade bomb wounded four people outside an HSBC bank branch east of the costal city of Alexandria on yesterday, security sources said.

N Egyptian disciplinary court ordered 41 judges into compulsory retirement yesterday for supporting the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, judicial sources said, the latest move in a sweeping crackdown on political dissent.

The government has implemented a harsh crackdown on Islamists as well as secular political opponents since then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule.

The Disciplinary Council headed by judge Nabil Zaki did not immediately release the reason for its decision, but the judicial sources said 31 of the judges were sent into

compulsory retirement for signing a statement that condemned the removal of Mursi.

Another 10 were removed from their posts for joining "Judges for Egypt" group which used to be supportive of the Brotherhood even before Mursi's removal, the sources added.

Egyptian law prohibits judges from engaging in politics, but critics and human rights groups say the judicial disciplinary court has turned a blind eye to judges who openly support the government of Sisi, who was elected president last year.

The government says the judiciary is independent and it never intervenes in its work.

"The decision is shocking and it is a massacre of the

A

Putin spokesman denies baby rumours

spokesman for Vladimir Putin has denied rumours swirling in the European media that a baby had been born to the Russian leader.

Several news outlets reported that a woman romantically linked to Putin in the past had given birth, a possible explanation for the leader's unusual absence that has sent the Russian rumour mill into overdrive.

"Information that a child has been born to Vladimir

Putin is not true," Dmitry Peskov told Forbes Russia.

"I am planning to appeal to people who have money to organise a competition for the best journalistic hoax," he added.

The Russian Twittersphere has been alive with speculation over the whereabouts of the typically omnipresent 62-year-old, after he cancelled several meetings this week.

judges," Ahmed El-Khatib, one of the punished judges told Reuters. He made no comment about whether he supported the Brotherhood.

The judges have the right to appeal against the decision.

Separately, security forces arrested 63 middle-level Brotherhood leaders who face charges of attacking police headquarters and inciting violence, the Interior Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

Another 13 Brotherhood supporters were arrested on suspicion of possessing arms and ammunition, it added.

The government has banned the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, and Sisi says it is a threat to national security. The group says it is committed to peaceful

Russian state-media aired footage of Putin meeting at his residence outside Moscow with the head of the country's supreme court in a sign that it was business as usual.

Putin was last seen in person on March 5 at a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and footage of him released by the Kremlin since then has been claimed to be dated.

Speculation earlier this week had focused on the leader's possible ill-health, which Peskov denied.

"There's no need to worry, he's absolutely healthy," Peskov told Echo of Moscow radio station.

He said Putin was busy with Russia's economic crisis and has "meetings constantly, but not all meetings are public."

BOUT 50 people were believed to have drowned off Myanmar when a ferry sank in bad weather, government officials said on Saturday, though residents said they believed more people on the overcrowded vessel had died.

The boat had 209 people on board when it ran into high seas late on Friday on a voyage from the coastal town of Taunggok to Sittwe, capital of the west coast state of Rakhine, officials said.

"Twenty bodies have been found while 27 are still missing.

Rescue workers are looking for them," Pyay Nyein, a senior official from the Inland Water Transport Department, told Reuters.

A Ministry of Transport official said the boat was swamped by huge waves and 167 people had been saved, though the missing were believed to be dead.

Residents in Taunggok, from where the boat embarked, said they believed the toll was higher as the ferry, which they identified as the governmentowned Aung Tagun-3, would have been crowded with many unregistered passengers.

"Normally, the number of tickets sold is not reliable when it comes to the number of passengers. That's very common," said a Taunggok merchant who declined to be identified.

"So the number of missing must be many more than 27. We understand the chances of finding them in this weather are very slim."

Marine accidents are common in Myanmar where many people have to rely on small, crowded and old boats for transport.

Kurdish govt says Islamic State used chlorine as weapon in Iraq

I

RAQ'S semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government said yesterday it has evidence Islamic State used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against Kurdish peshmerga forces.

The Kurdish region's Security Council said in a statement to Reuters that the peshmerga had taken soil and clothing samples after an Islamic State suicide bombing in northern Iraq in January. It said laboratory analysis showed "the samples contained levels of chlorine that suggested the substance was used in weaponised form."

Chlorine is a choking agent whose use as a chemical weapon dates back to World War One. It is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.

It was not possible to independently verify the Kurdish allegation.

The statement said the analysis was carried out in a European Union-certified laboratory after the soil and samples were sent by the Kurdish Regional Government to a "partner nation" in the U.S.led coalition that is fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

68

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

NEWS

PASAN sets up committee to resolve feud

Four arrested with 500 PVCs in Ogbomoso From Tayo Johnson and Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

V

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

P

ARLIAMENTARY Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) has set up a reconciliatory/caretaker committee to resolve the internal wrangling within the association.

Its national president, Comrade Fatai Jimoh, urged members of the central working committee to live above board and abide by the oath of office.

He gave the terms of reference as: to resolve the wrangling within the association; to bring all members together as one big family; to ensure that the association complies with the extant Labour Laws of the Federation and PASAN Constitution 2011 and to oversee the affairs of the Association with effect from 26th March, 2015, pending convocation of triennial delegates conference.

Others include ensuring the payment of the backlog salaries owing the paid secretaries and secretariat staff both at the national headquarters and chapters all over the federation.

The chairman and secretary of the committee are Andrew Abiodun Adebo and Mr. Ibraheem.

Other members of the committee are Comrade Dirisu Gobina vice chairman; Comrade Peter Ohaebosim, national treasurer; Comrade Badamasi Umar, publicity secretary; Comrade Adekunle Akeem, internal auditor; Comrade Emmmanuel Apeh Agada, financial secretary and Comrade Ibrahim Abdul, exofficio.

Omojafor, Utomi, others for Verdant lecture

F

ORMER President of the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAAN), Sir Steve Omojafor; founder, Centre for Values and Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi and the Director, Business School, Netherlands Nigeria, Lere Baale, will lead discussion at the 4th edition of the Verdant Zeal Marketing Communications Ltd ‘Innovation Series lecture.

The lecture holds on Tuesday, March 24 with the theme :”The role of innovation in creating new agenda for national development”.

Omajafor, who will seat as the Chairman at the function scheduled to hold at the Civic Centre, Lagos, will deliver the keynote address.

Utomi will be delivering the lead paper as the guest speaker.

Baale, Chris Uwajewho, award-winning film producer and director, Kunle Afolayan and the General Editor, Sun Newspapers, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, will join the discourse as panel discussants.

•Members of Ophthalmology Society of Nigeria on a road walk to mark the world glaucoma day in Lagos, yesterday PHOTO: NAN

E

IGHTEEN of the 19 northern governors were absent at the 56th anniversary lecture of the attainment of self government by the region yesterday in Kaduna.

Only Governor Mukhtar Yero, the host, graced the occasion.

The absence of the governors, according to political observers, was to express their displeasure with the state of affairs in the nation.

Most of the governors sent in representatives to the event organised by Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in conjunction with the management of Arewa House.

Vice President Namadi Sambo was represented by Yero.

The event was chaired by Ahmed Joda, who represented the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd).

He lamented that northerners that matter in the affairs of the region were eva-

Sambo, Northern govs shun ACF lecture •Mark, Yero blame elites for region’s woes From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

sive on the occasion.

He wondered how the north could progress when its sons and daughters with the economic and political muscles keep away from an arena where their ideas were needed to move the region forward.

Yero advised leaders of the region to concentrate on the economic and political challenges of the North to save the region once and for all.

But the Secretary of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, sharply disagreed with Yero.

He said the region cannot not afford to separate political development from economic growth.

Senate President, David Mark, tongue lashed governors for shunning the event.

He said sending representatives to such an important occasion was a great disservice to the late premier of Northern Nigeria and Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello.

Mark, who was represented by Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central), said: “If Sardauna were to be alive today, these governors and leaders will not send repre-

sentatives to this event.

“Something is terribly wrong with the north and there are many questions than answers. Where are the political leaders of the north?

“Where are the leaders of political parties? We need to change the way things are done. We are not telling ourselves the truth.

“The north only worships money, money and money.

We cannot keep sweeping things under the carpet and pretend all things are well.

“I have spent 16 years in the National Assembly and I know those northerners who love north.”

Police evacuate remains of suspected stowaway

T

HE Police yesterday evacuated the remains of a suspected stowaway discovered in the undercarriage compartment of an Arik Air aircraft Airbus A 345 Registration CS-TFX at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The corpse, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, had been deposited at an undisclosed mortuary following due diligence by the relevant aviation and security agencies.

Arik Air confirmed the incident.

In a statement by its spokesman, Adebanji Ola, the airline said: “‘A stowaway was

T

HE presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to alleviate the plight of pensioners across the country, if elected.

Buhari, who spoke while being presented with petition signed by a group of ex-servicemen protesting their treatment by the PDP-administration, said that he was “saddened by the current situation of military, police and all other pensioners.”

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor today discovered on an Arik Air plane at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

“Arik Air engineers were checking the aircraft in preparation for a flight when the body of the stowaway was discovered in the main wheel well of the aircraft.

“Investigations are still on to determine where the stowaway originated.

The aircraft has been fumigated by the Port Health authorities while the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) officials are carrying out their investigation.”

It was learnt that Federal

Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was reviewing footages of the CCTV system and airside security operations with a view to identifying the gaps and personnel failure, if any, to take remedial actions.

The Authority had intensified efforts at improving security and safety at both land and airside through the installation of high tech screening machines, CCTV surveillance cameras and patrol teams.

Some weeks ago, a teenage suspected stowaway, Samuel Ogundeyi, was arrested after he was found in the wheel well compartment of an aircraft operated by Tag Aviation.

It was gathered the aircraft Ogundeyi was found in was parked in the Execujet hangar at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) Lagos.

He was discovered at about 12 noon by the pilots of the aircraft with registration number M-MYNA while carrying out a routine inspection before starting the engine.

The teenager confessed he gained access into the hangar through the facility of the Headquarters, Air Defence Corp of Nigerian Air Force located very close to the Presidential Lounge at night with the assistance of a collaborator, he described as a brother.

I will lift pensioners, Buhari pledges He said it was wicked to allow senior citizens, who have served the country with zeal and patriotism, to be subjected to indignity and suffering while waiting to be paid their gratuity and pension.

He said it was painful many of them have to engage in protests in their quest to be paid.

If elected, Buhari said: “A situation where corrupt officials of state outrightly embez-

zle funds meant for payment of pensioners or delay such payment in order to fraudulently earn interest from deposit placements with banks will not be tolerated.”

Buhari said he will invoke provisions of Article 1.5 of the APC manifesto to ensure that months before retirement of any officer, his or her entitlements would be worked out and accruing gratuity paid on

the effective date of retirement while pension will follow as at when due.

While noting that the way and manner a society treats its aged and infirm was reflective of the civilisation and decency of its people as a country, the presidential hopeful said Nigeria must strive to provide for the youth and build a strong future for retiring senior citizens.

IGILANT residents of Ogbomoso in Oyo State yesterday nabbed four occupants of a vehicle for allegedly being in possession of 500 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

The development created pandemonium at the OritaSekoni part of the town.

Police officers had to shoot sporadically to rescue the suspected electoral thieves from irate mobs.

An eyewitness told The Nation that the suspects, who occupied a Honda Accord car AR 892 LUY, were stopped by residents on a tip-off.

The timely arrival of police officers saved the suspects from being lynched.

It was gathered that only the driver of the vehicle managed to escape the ire of the residents.

Another eyewitness said the suspects were known political associates of an Ibadanborn governorship candidate of a leading political party.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the incident but said the suspects were in possession of 10 Temporary Voters Cards (TVCs) and four PVCs. He added that only one person identified as Rotimi Okediji was caught and arrested.

UN challenges youths on peaceful polls

By Adeola Ogunlade

T

HE Officer in Charge, United Nation Information Centre, Lagos, Oluseyi Soremekun, has charged youths to chart a course for free and credible polls within their immediate communities.

Soremekun spoke at a youth roundtable dialogue by the African Youths Initiative on Crime Prevention (AYICRIP) in collaboration with Lagos State Police Command and United Nation Information Centre, (UNIC) at the weekend.

According to him, the forthcoming general elections will be violence-free when young leaders brace up to the challenge of engaging their peers at the rural level on activities that would promote unity, harmony and love.

Restating the commitment of the UN towards violence- free polls, he said: “We are not unaware that there is some kind of tension in the land in respect of the elections especially by the utterances of key players on the political terrain.

“This is one of the reasons we are engaging youth as part of our many contributions of in Nigeria to achieving violence free elections.”

The Public Relation Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Kenneth Nwosu, implored youth to toe the path of peace and shun every form of violence during the polls.

He said: “Youths should say no to violence during the elections. We are involved because we cannot talk about elections without taking about security and we are ready anytime to provide that security.”

COMMENT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015

69

Stephen Lampe, God, and the Nigerian project

U

NDERTAKING a rather consuming tasking of reading a deep thinker, theologian and philosopher like Stephen M. Lampe (a Nigerian great mind of world renown), is in part a continuation of my philosophical-theological learning, as it is a commitment to my inter-faith dialogue mission which Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah largely inspired. It is also a learning curve I require for seminar engagement requests of the likes of my dear friend and brother, Engr.

Emeka Ezeh, DG Bureau of Public Procurement, who belongs to the school of thought that Lampe espoused. I met Lampe for the first time in Washington D.C. when he was staff of the World Bank in the company of his friend the late Prof. Bade Onimode. After just a few hours of seminar engagement, he left a great impression of philosophical erudition in me and though we have not met ever since, even as a bible-believing Christian, I can attest of a truth that Lampe knows what he is talking about and deserves not just to be read, but to be savoured. Lampe is also the author of two theological classics: The Christian and Reincarnation and Building Future Societies: The Spiritual Principles.

In this essay therefore, I have a daunting task. This is to reflect on a reflection about the idea of God. Now, that is a difficult, and even dangerous, exercise, especially in our volatile multi-religious national unfolding. This is for the simple reason that the idea of God raises all manner of alarms and hostility from all manners of quarters. This is all the more reason why Stephen Lampe's effort in the 384+viii book, Thinking about God (2014), constitutes a courageous, and even daring, plunge where angels fear to tread. The book is all the more audacious because it is a taut seventeen-chapter 'reflections on conceptions and misconceptions' about the idea of God. It is a genuinely enlightening attempt at unhinging the idea of God from the bewildering ideological clutches of religious dogmas and theological doctrines. This is the unnerving task I have set for myself not only because Lampe's book is intriguing, but also because the idea of God has been part of the firmament of my own philosophical ruminations for many years.

The idea of God is an interesting paradox.

First, it is a simple, three-lettered word submerged under multiple layers of philosophical assumptions, theological reinventions, eschatological anxieties, religious differentiation and socio-cultural interpretations. And yet, the idea is all the more complicated because it references the mysterious, the unknown, the mystical or the ineffable. Second, history is littered with the tales and horrors of many battles fought in the name of God, or many who have died defending the integrity of the idea of the Almighty. The Crusades and Jihads bequeath lasting and gory narrative about how the idea has taken hold of the heart of men and titillate our most base instinct for violence. Yet, the most sublime art and songs have been composed in the name of God. Think about Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus,' Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel murals, or the best of Islam's architectural flowering.

Paradoxically, however, it seems that the more we pluck the depth of what 'God' means, the more we are perplexed about what the word signifies. Moving from the idea of God to its substance fundamentally requires what the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, called 'a leap of faith.' However, does simple faith satisfies the yearning to unravel the depth of God? Stephen Lampe does not think so. Coming to a full and wholesome understanding of what he calls 'the right conception of God' takes more than faith; it is a duty which requires one's entire mind and rigorous attention. Lampe seems to be saying that a conception of an adequate idea of God cannot be done on a part-time mental energy.

And who wouldn't agree? Hence, we arrive at the methodology of the book which is a combination of the theological and the philosophical. With all its fundamental queries, the book makes for a delightful refresher course on the philosophy of religion which I was acquainted with at the university as an undergraduate student of political science with a minor in philosophy.

Consider Lampe's opening salvo: To get it right about the conception of God is to get it right about everything else. False conceptions lead to false religions. False religions in turn reinforce various forms of unbelief. Worse still, false religions inevitably lead to hatreds, horrors, and all sorts of conflicts.

This is straightforward. And the evidence of its truism confronts us on a daily basis. All

•Boko Haram

By Tunji Olaopa

we need do is turn on the radio (if you don't stay right in the theatre of the religious carnage itself). Remember the September 9/11 mayhem at the World Trade Centre in the United States, the result of al-Qaeda's religious revenge. Then draw closer home and remember the Boko Haram insurgency which has been challenging the territorial integrity of the Nigerian state based on a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.

Religious fundamentalism has today become the scourge of modernity. It has resurged where modernisation theorists had predicted its eventual disappearance as enlightenment envelopes us all. They have been wrong. But then, that does not make fundamentalism any less wrong and pernicious.

In seeing fundamentalism as false religion, it is not difficult to see the analogy between Lampe and Marx. For the latter, religion is an opiate which flows from false consciousness. But while Marx was deluded in his conviction that God would wither away with the entire bourgeoisie ideological framework, Lampe holds the idea of God as a primary cosmological fact which, among other things, can guarantee peace at various levels. This is a gratifying thought. Imagine the Crusades had not happened. Imagine alQaeda does not exist. Imagine Boko Haram hadn't killed the over thirty thousand Nigerians. Imagine also that religion is not more than a personal conviction about the Ineffable-without the danger of any proselytising violence. This is why Lampe could argue, with conviction, that 'seeking to acquire the right conception of God is not about religion; it is to follow the natural desire that is implanted in the human essence.

Therefore, the search for the right conception of God is everybody's duty and it should be quite a personal matter, not dictated by other individuals or organizations.'

The Book's Outline and Central Argument The book began with a masterly chapter one which serves as an introduction and an overview of the entire arguments. Chapter two to six constitutes the metaphysical components of Lampe's work. The topics range from 'The Mystery of Reality,' 'The Progressive Revelation of God,' The Human Being and Human Purpose,' to 'Creation and Subsequent Creation' and 'Varieties of Unbelief and Belief.' The other eleven chapters cover topics like the will of God, the perfection and omnipotence of God, the trinity, miracles, prayers, evil and the love and justice of God. All these chapters raise provocative and challenging issues that call for a deep reassessment of what we believe or assume about God. For instance, Lampe insists that our conception of God's omniscience flows more with seeing God as all-wise rather than being all-knowing; his omnipresence presumes that God is accessible from everywhere rather than the orthodox view that he is present everywhere; and miracles are really the function of understanding the laws of creation rather than assuming that they suspend those laws.

Stephen Lampe's Thinking about God raises several thorny and philosophical issues.

The first that one immediately confronts is whether there is actually 'a right conception of God.' This question becomes worrisome since it serves as the basis of Lampe's claim that false conceptions lead to false religions and hence fundamentalism. If our conviction about who or what God is derives from a personal illumination, what makes my conviction better or righter than yours? And does Lampe's philosophically adventurous

effort not constitute an attempt to convince us, contrary to our own personal beliefs that, say; the Grail Message perspective is 'the right conception of God'? Finally, if, as Lampe claims, God 'remains an eternal mystery,' how then can we ever achieve any right conception about him? How do we even know there is a God in the first place?

These are critical philosophical questions which must necessarily attend a serious reading of the book. But my fascination with the book goes beyond a mere philosophical hair-splitting. The idea of God is an inescapable and inevitable dimension of the Nigerian project. We can extend Lampe's fundamental argument that a suitable understanding of God contains a plausible and non-violent path to national renewal in Nigeria. At first instance, such a suitable conception of God would yield an understanding of a good citizen who loves and pray for the peace of Nigeria!

When Harley Granville-Barker, the British playwright, asks the critical questionwhat is the prose for God?-he outlines a battlefield of religious understanding and misunderstanding from which any nation can never hope to be excluded. When fundamentalism hijacked and absolutized that prose, Nigerians die in their thousand. In the next part of this essay, we will critically interrogate how the prose of God can be enlarged enough to accommodate multiple religious and non-religious voices.

A Critical Review 'What is the prose for God?' asks Harley Granville-Barker, the British playwright. That question turns on what anyone or any religion can consider to be the appropriate conception of the idea of God and the thrust of Lampe's contribution. The logic would flow in the following sequence: Is there such a language that clearly delineates how God ought to be conceived? For the religious fundamentalist, the answer is a resounding affirmative. And such a prose, of course, is the scripture the fundamentalist favours. Such an answer essentially excludes others who have contrary voices and conceptions. The attempt to write a divine prose for God has led to so many misconceptions and misunderstanding such that the pages of that prose book have become too convoluted and combustible. We now fight over what we barely understand; we now kill others over a phenomenon that requires our intellectual humility.

Stephen Lampe's book, Thinking about God (2014), is therefore an attempt to induce in us the right measure of theological and philosophical humility that will enable us to rethink and reassess our uncritical assumptions and beliefs about God. While Lampe's book raises critical and provocative theological and philosophical issues (and while I also think it struggles with a serious tension between just enabling a critical understanding of the idea of God and a subtle objective of projecting a Grail Message understanding of that idea), I said in the first part of this essay that my interest would be to see how the insights and lessons generated by the provocative book can enable a positive integration of the idea of God into the rehabilitation of the Nigerian national project.

How might Lampe's objectives in the book enable Christians, Muslims and nonChristians and non-Muslims become good Nigerians? In other words, how can Nigerians continue holding their idea about God without necessarily antagonising others who hold contrary views and conceptions?

Now, if you still believe that religion, or

more fundamentally, the idea of God, isn't implicated in our failure to achieve national development, then you probably don't understand the trajectory of Nigeria's history.

The idea of God, right or wrong, is ever present in the public sphere of political discourse. You perceive it in political rhetoric. Religious leaders and their homilies impinge on our perceptions of national affairs. A particularly virulent conception of the idea of God lies behind the confrontation of the Nigerian state by the Boko Haram insurgents. More importantly, once the idea of God surfaces on the public sphere, we begin to bicker and fight.

Lampe's Thesis as Solution to Nigeria's Predicament There are two significant theological insights from Lampe's book that may be converted for our civic/national purpose here.

The first insight derives from chapter four, and Lampe's consideration of the human person.

The contention is brief and cogent: to understand God at all, we need first understand who we are. And who are we? The simple but deceptively profound answer: we are spirit.

This automatically implies at the immediate level that we are more than our bodies; there is something else that makes us who we really are. This 'something else' is the God-essence in us. Now, let's pause a bit and reflect: If all human are created by God to be spirit-beings, shouldn't an appreciation of that fact be enough to develop a theological understanding of human right? Shouldn't this recognition of our spiritual essence be enough to transcend our ethnic and religious affiliations? There is more-that we are spirit ought to imply that we are spiritual, but it does not. Rather than being spiritual, we remain essentially religious. Being spiritual means, according to Lampe, that one is connected to the Spiritual Realms, and one has thus progressively cultivate the spiritual values of love, beauty, lawfulness, selflessness, harmony, peace and happiness.

Being spiritual therefore implies automatically the recognition of the principle of reciprocal spirituality.

I will add two other values: empathy and tolerance. In other words, it becomes immediately easy for a spiritual person to understand why others are so much like him/ her, and so much unlike him/her. This point is enough to prevent me from fanatically putting the knife to the neck of him/her who shares in the God-essence. This is how Buddha renders his admonition: 'I have never yet met with anything that was dearer to anyone than his own self. Since to others, to each one for himself, the self is dear, therefore let him who desires his own advantage not harm another.'

The second point that Lampe's book provides refers to our willingness to cultivate an open-mindedness that is borne out of our personal conviction about what we believe. If, as Lampe argues, God is an eternal mystery I believe in, then that belief alone ought to cut short my religious arrogance and aspiration to spiritual infallibility. In other words, the mere possibility that my idea about God may fall short of who God really is must be enough to humble me. This humility ought also to generate the willingness to accept the possibility that some other people know something about God that I do not but can learn from. Open-mindedness, especially with regards to religious matter, does not come easy. • Countinued on Page 71

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SPORTS THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Guber aspirant boosts Abia Warriors

EXTRA

MARCH 15, 2015

From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

T

HE gate of Umuahia Township Stadium will on Wednesday this week be thrown open for Abia Warrior's fans and other football enthusiasts in the state capital and its environs as one of the state's football clubs (Abia Warriors) squares up against FC Taraba in their first 2014/15 Glo Nigeria Professional League game.

In a statement from the camp of the Abia State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship standard bearer, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the expense for the match's tickets have been duly taken care of by the guber candidate.

It was gathered that while Ikpeazu has paid for the tickets of about 2, 500 fans, the chairman House of Representatives Committee on Petitions have also paid for the tickets of about 1000 Enyimba's supporters for today's Champions League match between the People's Elephant and an Egypt based Football Club, Smouha SC at the Aba Sports Stadium bid to kickoff at about 4pm today.

Ikpeazu said he decided to embark on the gesture as a way of appreciating the people of the state especially football fans for their support for the clubs and to him, stating he was satisfied with the performance of Abia Warriors in the Glo Nigeria Professional League and wants to appreciate the fans.

Adebayor slams critics

E

M M A N U E L Adebayor has sent a message to his doubters by posting a wacky picture of himself accompanied with a statement suggesting he is not worried what people think about him.

The eccentric character lived up to his personality by posing in a pair of sunglasses with skulls on each of the lenses.

Adebayor wrote on Instagram: 'The important thing isn't what other people think you are. It's who you are. #Godfirst # a f t e r t r a i n i n g #GodisGood #faith #workhard #team228 #whynot #RR #lifesgood.'

Adebayor's last appearance came in the FA Cup fourth round against Leicester City The Togo international has not played for Tottenham since January 24 when he came off the substitutes' bench to make a late appearance in his side's FA Cup defeat against Leicester.

Brown Ideye scores the opening goal during the match between West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City

Ideye sends West Brom closer to safety

B

ROWN Ideye was the hero once again as West Brom edged out Stoke City to move 11 points of the Premier League relegation zone at the Hawthorns.

Ideye headed the only goal of the game in the first

...misses African Player of the month half to end a three-match winning run in the league for Mark Hughes' men, who were second best before the break, but improved after half-time.

A flurry of injuries - to Ben Foster, Victor Moses and Jonathan Walters disrupted the second half and Pulis' old club failed to sufficiently trouble

Pillars starts title defence with victory

K

ANO Pillars began the defence of their Glo Nigeria Premier League title with two goals in the second half to beat Bayelsa United 2-0 at the Sani Abacha Stadium yesterday.

Pillars named two of the five players injured during the robbery attack in their starting line up, the duo of Ubong Moses Ekpai and Reuben Ogbonnaya started while Gambo Mohammed, Eneji Otekpa and Adamu Murtala were not listed.

The champions lacked fluidity in their passes and even when they made incursions the Bayelsa United backline stood firm and frustrated all their efforts to see the first half off at 0-0.

A minute after resumption for the second half speedy f r o n t m a n A d a m u Mohammed benefited from a Rabiu Ali cross to give the champions the lead.

Pillars built on the momentum gained from going ahead by piling pressure on Bayelsa United and they duly got rewarded five minutes later.

Right full back Promise James whipped in a delightful cross turned into the net by Ubong Ekpai, one of the players injured from the robbery attack.

An accidental canister discharge from the police on duty held the game up momentarily as both teams took time out to receive

instructions from the bench.

Upon resumption for the game Pillars piled on the pressure to increase the tally but Bayelsa United were let off the hook thanks to some woeful finishing from the frontmen of Kano Pillars.

In Ibadan, a late goal from Jimoh Oni ensured that Heartland FC defeated Shooting Stars 2-1 in a Nigeria Professional Football League week two match at the Lekan Salami Stadium yesterday.

Fifteen minutes into the encounter, Yinka Adedeji almost gifted Heartland a goal. But the defence was able to clear. Two minutes later, the Naze Millionaires were in front. A superb free kick from Odiche Ebere beat Kola Ige.

Suswam inaugurates Aper Aku stadium

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overnor Gabriel S u s w a m h a s inaugurated the Organic In-filled synthetic turf playing pitch of Aper Aku stadium in Makurdi .

This also Marked the former return of Lobi stars football club , to their home in Makurdi for Glo Premier League matches .

In his brief remark ,Governor Suswam, represented by his deputy, Who is also the chairman of the club, chief Steven Lawani ,said state government would

... As Dream Team VI humiliate Lobi Stars

From Uja Emmanuel Makurdi ,the state government owned continued to support Lobi stars and and sporting activities in the state .

The governor commended Dominic Iorfa for the passion and professional manner he has handled the affairs of the club, which has stayed afloat in the Glo premier league despite lean resources.

Sport commissioner Mr. Igbiri Idaa said with the completion of the stadium

football club will now played all their league games in Makurdi.

Vice chairman , Lobi stars football club of Makurdi Dominic Iorfa commended Governor Suswam for his effort he has shown in the club saying with the completion of the stadium, the players will show their soccer artistry and urged Makurdi people and the state at large to support Lobi.

replacement West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.

The hosts could have extended the margin of victory, but wasted countless chances before hanging on to recover from two defeats in the space of four days to Midlands rivals Aston Villa.

Meanwhile, West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has been picked ahead of Nigeria's Brown Ideye as February's African Player of the Month in the English Premier League.

A statement by the organisers, New African Soccer, announced the award and spoke of the high interest and competition amongst the three fore runners who made the shortlist. West Brom striker Brown Ideye was in the shortlist; and he missed out, only just, according to Adelakun.

“Ideye was good in

February. The media had started vilifying him, calling him a flop based on his lack of goals when he made his recordbreaking move to the Hawthorns.

But he came good in late January/early February and seemed to rediscover his scoring boots, which is good,” Adelakun said.

He probably missed out based on the fact that his performances were good across both the League and the FA Cup, and seeing as the award was only league based, Ideye lost out on that basis.

“Brown is a good player though, and we can see him getting back to his best in the coming months”, Adelakun said.

“A Nigeria call-up for the March friendlies will do him a world of good”.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2015

SPORT EXTRA

Ikeja Captain’s day begins on Monday

George Boyd scored a famous Burnley winner as Manchester City's strongarm tactics backfired ahead of their big date in The Nou Camp

P

ROGRAMME of activities marking the end of tenure of Ikeja Golf Club's captain, Jibola Awoseyi will tee off on Monday with the Caddie staking turn on the course taking the first shot.

The weeklong event which would be rounded up on Saturday with a gala night is already the talk within the club and its environs will also see invited golf professionals and club based counterpart taking part in the competition.

The pros who would be playing on Tuesday will be joined by veteran golfers.

On Wednesday, lady golfers and guest will have their day on the course while a special Captains Day Kitty is slated for Thursday.

It will be the turn of men on Friday. The golf ball strikers are expected to return on Saturday for Day -2 of the men's competition before the closing ceremony fixed for Saturday evening.

Speaking ahead of the competition, Awoseyi thanked all golfers who will be part of the competition for their support ever since he took over as the captain of the club.

The captain who said it's been a wonderful experience ascribes his s u c c e s s t o t h e overwhelming support of the members saying he believes the incoming captain will also enjoy the support of all as he did.

'I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. It's been wonderful being Captain here. I have enjoyed the presence of the elders and the young ones. Of course without them you cannot achieve much,” Awoseyi said.

Though the captain has been described as success, he however said credit should be given to members for their support.

“It is not about me but about the members.”

ENGLAND Crystal Palace 3 -1 QPR Arsenal 3- 0 West Ham Leicester City 0 - 0 Hull City Sunderland 0 - 4 Aston Villa West Brom 1 0 Stoke City GERMANY Augsburg 0 - 2 Mainz 05 Eintracht 4 - 0 Paderborn Hertha 2 - 2 Schalke 04 Hoffenheim 3 0 Hamburg Bremen 0 - 4 Bayern SPAIN Espanyol 0 -0 Atletico Eibar 0 -2 Barcelona

SENEGAL 2015

Flying Eagles hold Junior Elephants

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LYING Eagles forced the Small Elephants of Cote D'Ivoire to a 2-2 draw in a final Group A African Youth Championship match yesterday.

The six-time winners of the AYC, who had already qualified for the semi finals of the competition ended up as group winners with seven points from three games.

Dolphins striker Christian Pyagbara, Abdulganiyu Saheed, Olorunleke Ojo, Usman Saleh and Obinna Nwobodo were all handed

... await Ghana, Mali in semis m a t c h their first starts of the tournament.

Six minutes into the match, Folly Anderson gave Cote D'Ivoire an early advantage.

As at 24 minutes, the Nigerian team were yet to register a shot on goal, much to the amazement of their fans.

Flying Eagles upped their game and were soon back on level terms. Pyagbara got behind the defenders to score

for Nigeria.The goal opened the match and there were more fireworks.

Cote D'Ivoire were again in front through Meite in the 32nd minute and the first 45 minutes ended 2-1 in favour of CIV. Flying Eagles searched for the equaliser at resumption and looked dangerous on the final third.

They were soon back in the

when left-back Mustapha Abdullahi was hacked down in the box.

Team skipper Musa Mohammed stepped up to convert the resultant spot kick for his third goal of the tournament.The dangerous Meite could have snatched a late winner for his side, but big goalkeeper Ojo Olorunleke was equal to the task.The entertaining match ended 2-2 with the fans enjoying values for their hard earned cash.

Lagos ITTF World Tour

Egypt's Assar beats Quadri to retain title

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OR the third time in a row, Egypt's Omar Assar defeated Nigeria's Aruna Quadri to retain the title at the 2015 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour, Lagos Open.

The final between the Egyptian and the Nigerian star attracted a lot of crowd to the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium as the venue was filled to the brim.Although, Quadri started the encounter on a good note leading 2-1 major but the Egyptian fought hard to level up and went ahead to win at 4-2 to the chagrin of the Lagos fans.

But Quadri took solace in the doubles title as he partnership with Kazeem

the third title in Lagos. I think the women's singles while

By Olalekan Okusan it has become a good place for Nigeria's pair of Edem Makanjuola defeated the pair of Diogo Silva and Andre Silva 3-1 in the final of the men's doubles final.

A disappointed Quadri attributed his loss to ill-luck while hoping to bounce back with the German Open holding next week in Bremen.

However, an elated Assar told NationSport that he was lucky to have won the match as Quadri has been in good form in the last five months: “I think when the match started I was really disturbed by the noise from the fans and as the match progresses I settled down. My tactics began to work and I started putting the ball on the table.”

I am happy to have won

me and I hope it will improve my ranking.

Portugal's Shao Jieni defeated Egypt's Dina Meshref to claim the title in

Offiong and Cecilia Akpan fell to the partnership of Egypt's Meshref and Portugal's Jieni 3-1 to lift the title in the women's doubles.

71

CONFED CUP

Warri Wolves earn 2-0 first leg win ...Dolphins walked over in Tunisia

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ARRI Wolves FC defeated Dedebit FC of Ethiopia 2-0 on Saturday in their CAF Confederation Cup first round, first leg match at the Warri City Stadium.

Nigeria U-23 team striker Etebo Oghenekaro scored after eight minutes, but the expected avalanche refused to materialize as the Nigerian representatives then found it difficult dominating their opponents.

Wolves had dismissed Racing Club BoboDioulasso 3-0 in their preliminary round, second leg clash at the same venue, but struggled to get past Dedebit, who pumped Cote d'Or of Seychelles home and away in the earlier round.

Returnee forward Gbolahan Salami made the scoreline respectable for the Nigerians when he tucked in a penalty kick awarded the Nigerians 10 minutes to the end.The return leg will take place in Addis Ababa in two weeks.

Meanwhile, One of Nigeria representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup Dolphins have been walked over by Club Africain of Tunisia in a first round, first leg match yesterday.

The team could not reach the match venue ahead of the time as schedule on Saturday.

Falcons coast to victory over confluence Queens

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UPER Falcons coasted to a three-nil victory over Confluence Queens in a friendly match played at the FIFA Goal Project Technical Centre on Saturday evening.

The warm up clash tested the readiness of the two teams for the tasks that lies ahead of them.

Despite the high score line, Confluence Queens goal minder Ruth Sunday was outstanding for her team.

Falcons who utilised a 43-3 system were quick to get off the mark from the blast of the whistle against a side that played a 3-5-2 formation.

CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Egypt's Omar Assar and Nigeria's Aruna Quadri during the presentation at the Lagos ITTF World Tour

Kaizer Chiefs 0 - 1 Raja Sundowns 1 - 0 Mazembe Coton Sport 0 - 0 Sanga APR FC 0 - 2 Al Ahly Zesco 1 - 1 Kaloum

Stephen Lampe, God, and the Nigerian project • Contd from page 69 Yet, its achievement is very much fundamental to any hope of national integration. This is how Lampe puts it: '…the equanimity and inner stability of genuine conviction precludes desire to quarrel and fight with people who hold different beliefs. Only those whose beliefs are shaky and whose motives are impure employ violence and other vile means.' Yet, the essence of our religious attitude is that

we do unto others what we do not want to be done to us.

In this regard, all religions have a lot to learn from the Yoruba traditional religion and its culture of cognitive o p e n n e s s a n d accommodation. I grew up within such a receptive heritage. I was socialised within an indigenous communal framework whose cultural dynamics was tenacious enough to stabilise the simmering violence of Islam and Christianity. There were hostilities and

stereotypes, but these were subordinated to the higher cultural value of tolerance and belonging. More than this, it made it possible for me to recognise the other persons simply through a spiritual rather than an ethnic or religious prism. I loved my grandmother, and she was a staunch Muslim. She gave birth to my father in a Christian home. And we all participated in the many cultural and religious festivities without, we believe, desecrating our

religious conviction. I grew up with a very strong Christian ethos and perspective, yet I can tolerate others who do not share my faith. This upbringing and its several lessons stand at the root of my 2010 monograph, The Joy of Learning and its argument for an enlarged consciousness which learning instigates.

We are living in a difficult period in Nigeria. The difficulty derived from the fact that for more than fifty years, we have been

struggling to make sense of our nationality as a people.

And to complicate matters, we have thrown the clog of religion into our untidy diversity. The idea of God that stands at the core of our major religions is too significant to be left to our uncritical religious sentiments. For Nigeria to move forward and achieve integral development, then religions must relearn the essence of cognitive openness. If Stephen Lampe's Thinking about God has taught us any lesson, it is that

religious arrogance demeans the God we presume to serve. And the first step towards spiritual humility is the willingness to accept others not as kaffirs, infidels or unbelievers. On the contrary, we are all children of God, however we chose to approach that God. No one religion encompasses the whole of the mysteries of God. •Dr.Tunji Olaopa, is Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Abuja, Nigeria.

QUOTABLE “Over 2.6trillion was uncovered in subsidy scam; as I speaking to you, not one single person has been convicted. And who are those that have been implicated in the fuel subsidy scam?

They are the sons and relations of PDP chieftains.”

SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 9, NO. 3155

—APC spokesman, Alh. Lai Muhammed on the state of unchecked corruption under President Jonathan-led PDP.

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HE past few weeks have seen Nigeria seething with rumours and plots of interim government, many of them quite fanciful and far-fetched, and a few somewhat plausible. The plots proceeded from the palpable fear that President Goodluck Jonathan would have lost the presidential poll had it held on February 14. Fearing that he would lose, and determined not to hand over power to successors he was believed to have described as unworthy, the president was alleged to have concocted a series of plots to enthrone an Interim National Government (ING) supposedly backed by many eminent Nigerians. Among those who lent credence to the rumours of ING plots was former president Olusegun Obasanjo who colourfully denounced the suggestion and castigated the Jonathan presidency for even contemplating it at all.

Though the Jonathan presidency quickly dissociated itself from the ING plots but left strong hints it was not averse to the idea, there was enough amperage in the rumours to link former military president, Ibrahim Babangida to the plot. It is curious that in the heat of the plots and rumours Gen Babangida ignored the controversy. However, late last week, in a lengthy and circumlocutious refutation, the Minna-based general swore he had nothing to do with the suggestion, adding that there was no similarity between the ING he set up in 1993 and the political conditions of today. There was no need for the truncation of democracy now, he said gravely, for he could neither see nor envisage a stalemate. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt.

But just as the ING idea was being buried, especially with President Jonathan’s upbeat feeling that the postponement of the polls had given his flagging campaign fresh impetus, and he was now in pole position to win, a new heresy called Government of National Unity (GNU) seems suddenly to be taking root. The heresy is, however, in fact an old one. Flamboyantly bandied about in 2007 after the late President Umaru Yar’Adua won a notoriously flawed presidential election, the GNU was believed to be a bait to entrap, neutralise or even destroy the then Action Congress (AC) party, the political precursor of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and latterly a constituent part of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The idea collapsed under the weight of the Yar’Adua government’s many contradictions.

The new GNU is poignantly suggested by the otherwise eminent Project Nigeria Movement (PNM), a coalition of civil society groups led by Ben Nwabueze, a respected constitutional lawyer and activist.

The idea, which appears poised to gain ground, is anchored on the fear that the tight race between the incumbent and his main challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state and cult figure to his supporters, could explode into a conflagration either during or after the election. This anxiety is not without foundation, though the GNU suggestion is both impracticable and indefensible. Just as the idea of interim government is silly, the suggestion of unity government is even worse. They are both based on false and unsustainable premises.

Professor Nwabueze’s group has offered reasons, including the fear of electoral stalemate, that could precipitate a political explosion, and they all appear sensible. However, they assume that both the APC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have common grounds upon which to anchor a unity government. The fact is that apart from the viperous campaigns that have sundered friendship and fouled the well of trust between the two major contestants, there are absolutely no philosophical, political or personality reasons for the two parties and challengers to come together. Both are located in the two extremes of Nigeria’s political continuum, with the PDP a smorgasbord of arcane and conflicting developmental agenda amateurishly encapsulated in the so-called transformation agenda, and the

ING to GNU: sheer waste of time APC representing an alloy of rigid, ideological and formulaic approach to development and politics.

Not only will GNU smother the concept of opposition from which the presidential system, and indeed any democratic system, draws sustenance, it will also create an unhealthy political environment that will see whichever party is the junior partner engulfed and strangulated.

In the final analysis, as Zimbabwe recently illustrated with the improbable cohabitation of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the political environment will be further poisoned, and positions hardened and rendered irreconcilable. Rather than run away from the ghosts that haunt the body politic, it is perhaps time to confront them. There are no common grounds between the two parties, for one represents the distant anachronisms of our sordid and disreputable past, and another a

sense of hope and progress, no matter how faint or brittle. Both cannot cohabit in the same space, for one must necessarily yield ground to the other if the country is to make progress and achieve stability and peace.

The country is aware that one of the reasons for the Buhari resurgence is the increasing appreciation that Dr Jonathan has fallen dangerously short of the standard of leadership required to heal Nigeria’s fractiousness, whether ethnic or religious, manage the economy innovatively, tackle the country’s security nightmares, restore confidence in Nigeria’s regional leadership and continental standing, and harness Nigeria’s potential and rally the people behind great causes. The APC has indicated it has no confidence in Dr Jonathan’s ability to innovate, and has even lesser confidence in his appreciation of the major issues affecting and afflicting the country. To ask the APC to jump into bed with a leader that exhibits no leadership traits, someone they have long concluded

could never rise to the level needed to renew the country, is to ask the opposition to commit political suicide.

But the resentment between the two candidates and their parties is mutual. To hear Dr Jonathan declaim on critical national issues is to get a robust sense of his antipathy towards the opposition, his almost total ignorance of modern systems of government, and the blame game he has mastered. In his opinion, his opponents sponsored the 2012 fuel subsidy removal protests because the protesters received refreshments, the media was too critical, making him the most abused president ever, and Boko Haram or any other social or economic revolt was always the manifestation of one conspiracy or the other. With such an unyielding mindset, with such boyish obsession, and with the continuous fulminations of his high-strung wife, Dame Patience, it is impossible to expect that the moderation, restraint, depth, compromise and consensus needed to drive and sustain a coalition government can be engineered

by Dr Jonathan to enthrone the needed national peace and stability the Prof Nwabueze group hankers after so desperately.

As long as Dr Jonathan heads the GNU, the conflict that would assail the coalition government would be unmanageable and even insuperable. Resentment would grow apace, and the inspiration and innovation that had been lacking in the president for more than five years, and which are necessary to remake and energise Nigeria, cannot obviously be produced simply because a GNU was emplaced. The interim national government was an obnoxious, despicable idea; a government of national unity is an even more unrealistic proposition. It will not work. More, it undoubtedly cannot work.

Jonathan’s desperate forays into Southwest

I

IT was largely the activism of the Southwest that made his ascension to the throne in 2010 possible, and he could not have won as fluidly as he did in 2011 without either the Southwest’s indifference to the Buhari presidential campaign of that year or their tacit cooperation. Yet more than five years after that momentous poll success, President Goodluck Jonathan has exhibited nothing but contempt for the Southwest, passing them over for top appointments. In-between, during the 2012 fuel price hike protests largely inspired by the politically conscious Southwest, Dr Jonathan again showed nothing but scathing disdain for the highly critical region, describing the Lagos elite as enervated and pampered, and their children spoilt brats who wastefully rode two or three cars, guzzling a disproportionately huge portion of the country’s oil resources. And in Ibadan, while campaigning at Mapo Hall in 2011, he described the Southwest progressive leaders as rascals from whom the region must be delivered. In particular, at the 52nd Independence anniversary lecture in Abuja, Dr Jonathan made shockingly ignorant remarks on the fuel subsidy protests, which in distorted logic he said were sponsored.

Dr Jonathan has never been at ease with Lagos, though he now courts them. During his 2011 campaigns, he tried to rouse ethnic hatred by suggesting openly to non-natives that if they banded together they could defeat the candidate of the ruling party in the state. The campaign failed, but it has not stopped him from pursuing that same horrifying tactics, nor discouraged him from again reaching out to ethnic groups within the state as well as wowing Lagosians themselves with promises of future projects. Perhaps he is even secretly appalled by how easily members of the Southwest elite can be compromised by contract largesse and other forms of inducements.

Throughout his first term, he never did anything major or strategic for Lagos, but he is back expecting the state to vote for him in March.

Worse, other than fixing a few roads, he has

•Adams

•Fasehun

done nothing concrete for the Southwest, but he has spent nearly the whole six weeks extension of the electoral timetable appealing to the region to support his reelection. Indeed, it was only a few months to the elections that he appointed a Yoruba official as his chief of staff.

Otherwise, citing his displeasure with the region’s critical view of his government and the rebuff of PDP’s Mulikat Adeola-Akande as Speaker of the House of Representatives, he ensured no Yoruba appointee was among the top 15 positions in his government. After all, the region is a den of opposition, and its pungent media, with their fumigant tentacles spread all over the country with sanctimonious lack of grace, too unfriendly, too imperious, too acerbic.

If he had appointed Yoruba men and women into key government positions on his own volition, and had cited key projects in the region, he could justifiably campaign on the bases of these friendly and statesmanlike gestures to wow the region for votes. With no achievements to hawk, and with beggarly outstretched hands, he has embarked on a furious electoral drive targetted at the region’s grovelling traditional elite using the false face of Yoruba leadership and cashing in on the divisions and power struggles going on in the region. He has reportedly seduced Oodua Peo-

ples Congress (OPC) leaders who, in exchange for pipeline protection contracts, have promised him support, as if the region could be sold and bought so cavalierly in transactions masterminded by half-wit and unprincipled traders masquerading as politicians and cultural icons. And those whom he cannot seduce, he has unleashed defamatory attacks on their persons in the hope that he can alienate them from their supporters and party support base.

Dr Jonathan’s Southwest converts have thus deliberately refused to focus on his weaknesses, which are legion and alarming, and on his absolute lack of finesse, diplomacy, intellectual depth, and sound judgement, not to say his abiding suspicion and even hatred for the Southwest elite and their many organs such as the media and democratic structures that define their essence, persons and history. The converts are not discomfited by the unsavoury fact that Dr Jonathan is unreasonably promoting militant groups and other ethnic militias to usurp the functions of military and paramilitary organisations.

In spite of all these depressing manoeuvres, the real Southwest is likely to see through the Jonathan shenanigans. They will recognise that voting for Dr Jonathan is endorsing incompetence, and that voting for, say, Jimi Agbaje, no matter their unhappiness with the progressive leaders of the region, is in fact enthroning the likes of Bode George and Adeseye Ogunlewe and other scoundrels. The region is likely to recognise that should Dr Jonathan be reelected, he would enact the worst economic policies ever seen in these parts, for his government has already crippled the economy and is barely struggling to cover the mess until the elections are over. Wiser counsel is likely to prevail, for the prohibitive and burdensome cost of reelecting Dr Jonathan far outweighs the discomforts of voting Gen Buhari with all his chequered history.

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