The Nation March 17, 2013

Cracks in INEC over APC registration row

S/West PDP in fresh bid to oust Tambuwal

• Jega awaits report on controversy

•Also guns for sack of Acting National Secretary, Onwe–Page 4

–Page 5

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.07, No. 2433

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

MARCH 17, 2013

N200.00

Outrage over N6bn donation to Jonathan’s hometown church –PAGE 2

“It is the height of irresponsibility and insensitivity to spend public funds on such frivolities just because the president is involved” –Usman Bugaje

“Those who made the donation did so not because they love God, but President Jonathan. Ask these people if they have built any church in their localties and the answer will be no.”

–Dino Melaye

“It is not too far from extortion.

Given his position as president, it is doubtful if the invited donors had any choice not to donate so generously.” –Chekwas Okorie

MAJOR DONORS Private Sector Arthur Eze PDP Govs Forum S/S Govs Forum

–N5bn –N1.8bn –N230m –N100m

Ebenezer

Obey

on playing secular music and remarriage Pages 24-25

ALAMIEYESEIGHA

President’s critics are ignorant, says Abati Page 2

2015 may be Nigeria’s last election –Junaid Mohammed L-R: Chief Launcher Arthur Eze; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio; President Goodluck Jonathan and Chairman Visafone, Jim Ovia during the fund raising for St. Stephen's Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre, Otuoke, held in Lagos yesterday.

Photo: AKIN OLADOKUN.

Page 4

IMPEACHMENT: IMO DEPUTY GOV HEADS FOR COURT

Page 4

2

NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Outrage over N6bn donation to Jonathan’s hometown church T

HERE was outrage yesterday after over N6 billion was donated in Lagos at the fund raising in aid of St. Stephen’s Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, home town of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The event attended by the president held at the high brow Civic Centre, Victoria Island. The highest donation was given by Prince Arthur Eze, a business tycoon. He donated N1.8 billion.

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State made a donation of N230 million on behalf of the newlyformed PDP Governors Forum .

He was recently made chairman of the forum which was created as a separate body from the Nigerian Governors Forum headed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Another N100million was donated by Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State on behalf of South- South state Governors.

Governor Seriake Dickson pledged to build the nursery school and cancer diagnostic centre components of the project at Otuoke as the contribution of Bayelsa.

The church came into national consciousness in April last year when Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited, an Italian construction firm donated the multi-million dollar building to President Jonathan’s home church. The donation of the building provoked a hail of criticism against the president with many calling on the antigraft agencies to step into it.

Several PDP governors were said to be unaware, last night, of the donation made on their behalf by Akpabio.

Their spokespersons said their bosses were not consulted on the donation.

Speaking at the fund raising, President Jonathan urged wealthy Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to the development of poor communities in the country.

This, according to him, will go a long way in empowering youths.

Jonathan noted that the only way to ensure that one’s memory is kept alive is to make positive impact in the lives of the people.

He said: “We are all mortal beings, we are all biological specimen so we will all die but when you die, what will you be remembered for, what will you leave behind? I used to tell people that even the house I was struggling to build in the village, these days in this global age, how am I sure that my children will even stay in my root.”

“They want to go to West Indies, they want to go to Latin America, so I was even joking with people that if I look at the behaviour of my children and if I don’t see any of them

The GOC 82 Div. Maj. Gen. Adebayo Olaniyi (right) and other top military officers inspecting the weapons recovered from Exmilitants at 82 Div. Enugu yesterday.

Photo: OBI CLETUS

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja / Sam Egburonu, Dare Odufowokan, Remi Adelowo and Sunday Oguntola that will patronize the village, even my house I will donate it out before I die.”

Jonathan, said that the project for the St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre in his home town was so dear to him.

He spoke of his determination to ensure that the younger generation of Nigerians pass through a better system of education different from the one he experienced while growing up.

“I feel the only thing I can do is to make sure that from Nursery School to Primary and Secondary School, there should be a standard educational facility and youth programme, so that it gives opportunity for the younger ones to grow even if we die in the next 100 years, people will remember that those before them have something for them” He said that the Youth Development Centre was put under the control of the church because of the long history of churches using funds effectively for development and that they had been able to ensure that such developmental projects endure.

Speaking earlier, Akwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Godswill Akpabio said that the project was part of the vision of President Jonathan to ensure that the youths of Otuoke have

better education and secured future.

Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Peter Obi ( Anambra) and Liyel Imoke (Cross Rivers) lauded the initiative, saying that they would replicate such initiative in their states.

Present at the occasion were Chairman of Visafone, Mr.Jim Ovia; Chairman Capital oil, Chief Ifeanyi Uba; Chairman of A-Z Oil, Chika Okafor, Chairman Arik Air, Sir Joseph Arumemi– Ikhide,Mr. Oba Otudeko and Tony Elumenu.

Others who attended the occasion included Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tunde Lemo, some Ministers, Senators, members of the House of Representatives and prominent indigenes of Otuoke.

Critics said yesterday's fundraising was reminiscent of the much-criticised launching by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to raise funds for his presidential library. The event held in Abeokuta on May 14, 2005 realised about N6 billion, but was widely condemned as public extortion.

Reacting to the donations, renowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, said the development shows the abysmal level that ethical standards in governance had fallen in the country.

He said: “This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Remember former President Olusegun Obasanjo also did a similar thing to raise money for his library.”

Describing the president’s action as morally wrong, Sagay continued, “It amounts

to extorting money from sycophants who are unjustly benefiting from government. As far as I am concerned, the development fell below ethical standard and was not supposed to happen.”

Former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye also condemned the huge donation.

“The truth of the matter is that those who made the donation did so not because they love God, but rather President Jonathan. Ask these people if they have built any church in their localities and the answer will be no,” he said.

Melaye, who is also the Convener, Anti Corruption Network, added, “Not only is this action morally wrong, it is an open display of open corruption that has over the entire fabric of this country.”

A chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Dr. Usman Bugaje, also faulted the donations.

He castigated governors who donated at the event, saying it is criminal to embark on such frivolous spending when millions of their supposed voters are languishing for absence of basic necessities of life.

According to him: “Are the monies appropriated in the budget? If they are properly appropriated, is the donation in the best interest of the public?

“Are the monies from their private pockets? It is criminal to ignore the dire lack and infrastructural shortcomings in their states to donate such monies.

“There are people dying because they cannot afford N500 drugs in their states and

the governors are busy spending public funds as they like”.

The former member of the House of Representatives added: “It is a height of irresponsibility and insensitivity to spend public funds on such frivolities just because the President is involved.

Human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo, condemned the use of public funds for private enterprises.

He said the church is a private organisation that should never benefit from public funds.

Keyamo stated: “It is a gross mismanagement of the public funds. It is also against the anti-corruption laws, especially a public official like the President soliciting for donations from private individuals and government contractors like Chief Arthur Eze.” On his part, Chief Chekwas Okorie, expressed shock at the organisation of such fund raising bazaar in Lagos, “My immediate reaction to this news is that it is quite indecent for Mr. President to preside over such a fund raising bazaar. It is indecent for him to gather contractors working for government and government officials superintending over state funds, and using his position as president to extract such huge resources for a village church.

“In fact, for him to even contemplate this fund-raising bazaar shows his level of insensitivity on matters of using executive influence to extract the peoples’ resources. I think it is not too far from extortion though the people and the governors that donated were not openly forced to do so. Given his position as the

President and CommanderIn-Chief, it is doubtful if the invited donors had any choice not to give so generously.

“Also, since no village church would cost up to N6 billion, Nigerians will want to know how President Jonathan will utilise the balance. The whole thing is baffling,” he said.

In his reaction, Chief Ayo Adebanjo said, "This type of uncaring attitude is now synonymous with these people.

It goes a long way to show their brazen display of nonchalance towards how the people feel. How can you explain the fact that a single individual donated nearly N2 billion? It is unimaginable.

Before such a person will cough out that much, he must have benefitted about ten times of that from the system either by award of contract, oil blocks or even undue waivers. I just hope they will stop this because it has a way of infuriating the people. I'm a Christian but I believe Christians too should be above board."

Criticism of Alam’s pardon is ‘sophisticated ignorance’, says Abati

T

HE criticism trailing last Tuesday’s pardon of former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Federal Government is nothing short of ‘sophisticated ignorance’, Special Adviser to the President on Media, Dr Reuben Abati, said yesterday.

Abati, speaking on television, said most of the critics do not understand the issues involved in granting the pardon to Alamieyeseigha and other beneficiaries.

He said such decision is not for the President alone to take but the Council of State which comprises eminent Nigerians such as former heads of state and retired Chief Justices of the nation.

That a citizen has been sent to prison should not mean that the person should be locked out for ever by the society, he said, pointing out that state pardon is to help restore such convicts back in the society.

He also dismissed suggestion that the Alamieyeseigha pardon is an indication that the Presidency will accommodate acts of corruption and that the president is ready, more than ever before, to deal with corruption squarely.

Dr Abati said the previous ‘pardon’ granted to some former military officers including General Oladipo Diya, was not pardon but clemency.

The previous clemency, he said, did not restore their full rights which was why they were not paid their entitlements or their ranks restored.

Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

The wages of arbitrary rule I

T is a normative freefall in Nigeria. When a society experiences a combination of anomie and normlessness, the captive denizens exhibit a certain numbness of feeling and weariness of the soul arising from sheer ethical disorientation.

There is a growing effrontery and shamelessness emanating from the seat of power and governance. A feral compulsion is abroad as the state of nature returns. And since the normative grid around which human societies cohere and coalesce has collapsed, everybody is openly hunting down everybody. It is called social cannibalism.

The ongoing erosion of the templates of democratic rule in Nigeria bodes ill for the former British colony. Arbitrary rule has become the norm in the nation. The dangerous but sure fact about arbitrary rule is that it often provokes its own dangerous and arbitrary reaction. As general arbitrariness takes on specific arbitrary rule mutual cancellation often results. We are not there yet, but we are slowly creeping towards it. When and if the current democratic experiment collapses, it is surely going to take Nigeria as we know it along with itself. This is the danger of democratic rule superintended by a non-democratic elite.

As the societal rot and official corruption accelerate, and as arbitrary and despotic rule takes firm roots in the nation, it is now as clear as daylight that the dominant Nigerian political class can no longer avoid a historic retribution. No one is sure of how and when this will come about. But one thing is now very clear. As it happened in the First and and Second Republics, the national contradictions thrown up by the dissolute and feckless nature of the political class can no longer be solved or resolved under the rubric and template of “normal” democratic rule without some extra-constitutional tinkering with the current structure and political configuration of the nation.

There is an urgent need for a national referendum about certain nation-disabling fundaments which have hobbled Nigeria’s march to authentic nationhood and rendered governance at the centre very amenable to despotic arbitrary rule and the tyranny of jungle justice. Why is Jonathan behaving true to type and like all Nigerian civilian and military despots despite the much rhapsodized pan-Nigerian mandate that swept him into power?

Jonathan’s personal imprimatur in the current phase of the national crisis has been very disturbing, marked as it is by a feckless and reckless disdain for consensus building and the childlike relish with which he seems to delight in cocking a snook at the nation’s dominant power blocs. It may be that Jonathan probably knows what many do not know that Nigeria is an unviable proposition. He has detonated quite a few explosives, and he is not done yet, probably until Mount Vesuvius arrives in Abuja. A product of arbitrary and whimsical messianic delusion, he has shown remarkable courage and consistency in exposing the hollow hubris of those who foisted him on the nation. They will be licking their wounds for a very long time.

As this column never tires of insisting, Jonathan is not the problem.

We must move beyond individual manifestation of national contradictions if we are ever to arrive at the real source of our problems. Take the case of the state pardons that have once again exposed the ethnic, ethical , political and economic fault lines of the nation. The fact that four prominent former rulers of Nigeria stayed away from the Council of State meeting at which Jonathan steamrolled his pardon request

S

3

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Alamieyeseigha

ought to tell its own story. But the president was not going to be fazed by the subtle blackmail of his predecessors.

The irony, however, is that this black market convening of the Council of States does not give the highest advisory organ in the nation the dignity and gravitas it deserves. It also exposes a dangerous dysfunction in the body which cannot endear it to fellow citizens or commend it as a group of revered arbiters. Had General Abdulsalaam attended the meeting, he would have been able to throw light on the precise and specific status of General Diya and co and helped to resolve the legal conundrum. Jonathan would have saved the state much public ridicule and scorn.

Ordinarily, state pardons ought to reflect certain guiding principles which promote core national values.

The whole exercise must be informed by a drastic objectivity and impersonal rigour which promote the institutionalisation of the rule of law and social justice. They must not be informed by personal consideration, disdain for the moral health of the society or by political clientelism.

On several fronts, Jonathan’s pardons fall far short of this. Yet we must learn to disentangle the good from the bad and ugly. In several respects, Jonathan ought to be commended for

showing courage and statesmanship in granting state pardon to the victims of the 1995 and 1997 purported coups against the government of General Sani Abacha.

Some of these illustrious officers paid a terrible price for merely daring to speak truth to power, particularly in the wake of the annulment of the June 12 presidential election.

A few of them were merely the victims of professional rivalry and envy and of General Abacha’s vengeful brutality and dark paranoid furies.

Today, many of them remain walking shadows of their former selves, hobbled forever by the excruciating physical torture and mental torment they were subjected to.

An army that lost its way in the political jungle is a monster indeed.

This pardon ought to have come much earlier as a culmination of the process that led to the Oputa Panel and an act of national closure to an inglorious epoch of military rule. But for some inexplicable reasons, both the process and the outcome were aborted by their initiator. It would appear that General Obasanjo’s judgement and sense of justice were beclouded by vengeful animosities and personal vendetta.

The problem with this inability to rise above petty animus to a statesmanlike enunciation of national principles is that it is also a

function of arbitrary rule. There is covert and overt dimension to arbitrary rule as we have seen in the Justice Salami saga. An arbitrary ruler may decide to keep quiet in the face of strong social and political currents in the society, thus hoping to profit from the ethical chaos of a country he ought to provide leadership for. This kind of arbitrary rule sets the template for future arbitrary rule and the reign of anomie.

If we are looking for the wages of arbitrary rule, we need not look very far. There is a way in which the immediate past always returns to haunt the present.

The Alamieyeseigha saga is a classic instance of political nemesis arising from arbitrary rule. Here is a man who has been sinned against as much as he has sinned against his own country and people. Whatever his economic crimes and as heinous as these might have been, Alamieyeseigha ought not to have been removed from office by a kangaroo assembly.

It was setting a marble template for arbitrary rule. The former governor of Bayelsa State ought to have been allowed to serve out his term as stipulated by the letter of the constitution before being arraigned, provided his economic crimes and the international embarrassment he caused the nation were the real reason for the furious animus of the powers that be. The problem with putting down durable institutions is that it does not allow personal sentiments to get in the way of social justice, nor does it permit private grievances to pursue public rectitude and order.

As this columnist cautioned Malam Nuhu Ribadu then, the kind of noble relief he sought for the nation against economic predators was only feasible in a genuine revolutionary situation and not under a democratic dispensation with entrenched guidelines and legal stipulations. A phantom revolutionary situation has a way of provoking genuine counter-revolutions, consuming its starryeyed idealists in the process.

But the poor Malam was too far gone in this drastic miscognition of subsisting reality. In the event, Nuhu Ribadu himself was to become a victim of arbitrary rule, hounded out of his job and eventually out of uniform

with his former patrons utterly powerless to do anything about it. For a moment, Ribadu himself became an absconding fugitive from his beloved fatherland. The problem with arbitrary rule is that once it is set in motion, it becomes an impersonal fascist terror guillotine which cannot recognise its original owner; an equal opportunity decapitator.

There are more ominous ironies in the air, and those who have ears let them hear. It was the arbitrary and unconstitutional removal of the former governor of Bayelsa that paved the way for Goodluck Jonathan and provided him with an unstoppable momentum to the nation’s presidency. Now, the falcon can no longer hearken to the falconer; the monkey marionette has become his own monkey. Arbitrary rule is the name of the game and you cannot blame Jonathan for sticking to a winning formula.

So far so good. By granting pardon to his benefactor and former godfather, Jonathan has also set himself up in the jungle of arbitrary rule.

Jonathan is mixing politics and grim political calculation involving personal gain with public order and social justice. His outburst and unpresidential diatribe against the perceived enemies of his former boss show how desperate and arbitrary things have become in the country.

In the face of public obloquy Jonathan ought to have maintained a dignified silence.

The political reality is that Jonathan needs the former Squadron Leader to secure his home base in the looming and inevitable showdown with Nigeria’s dominant power blocs and its fractious factions. Whatever his economic infractions, Alams remains a local hero among his people for his sterling contribution to Niger Delta emancipation. The traditional kingmakers of Nigeria have their back to the wall on this one. Before the current reign of arbitrariness exhausts its possibilities, there will be a lot of wailing and caterwauling in the land. Those who set the template for arbitrary rule and their acquiescing godsons will receive their comeuppance in the fullness of time. That is the iron law of the post-colonial jungle.

Baba Lekki unfolds his coat of arms W

HILST we are still on the subject of whimsical and arbitrary rule and its selfperpetuating dynamics, it is proper to report that arbitrary violence is a logical fallout of arbitrary rule. Arbitrary rule is an act of psychological violence against the populace.

Accustomed to the routine and wanton cruelty of arbitrary rule, arbitrary violence takes root in the society as everybody luxuriates in the superiority of brute intimidation.

Last Tuesday as Snooper was making his way through the vehicular maelstrom of Matori, a group of desperate urchins sitting atop a moving train and armed with stones the size of boulders were aiming their hand propelled grenades at passing vehicles. One of the crude missiles landed just behind Snooper and made such a clattering noise that the fear of the lord was driven into everybody. Nobody could have stopped a moving train. This is as close to Hades

as it could get on earth.

A few days later, Snooper was still ruminating on this apocalyptic meltdown when he was confronted by a most outlandish sight in the kitchen. It was a glum and gloomy Baba Lekki wearing a huge outsize coat with its front pockets bulging with poorly concealed weapons of mass destruction. His face was grotesquely swollen with a massive lump superimposed on what used to be his nose. He looked like somebody who had just managed to extricate himself from a giant rodent trap with telltale wounds. Snooper was secretly enthralled by this remarkable discomfiture of the old contra and master of anticipatory violence.

But all efforts to draw him out about the nature of his plight failed woefully.

“Okon, which one be this one again oo, or has your baba become a comedian?” Snooper asked gleefully, casting a wicked glance at the

human fiasco in the kitchen.

“Oga, dis one no be matter of comedian ooo. Even dem comedian dey cry for Lagos, becos palaver no be dem play and anikura come pass alawada. You know say Eko na wicked place. He no good make dem small yeye boys dey beat old man. Na dem beat baba sotey for Idumota him head no correct again.

You no see how him Yoruba nose come big pass him mouth? Na dem panel beat am silly silly. He get one kata Yoruba welder boy for Oshodi.

Him name be Kamoru. Na him dey beat dem people. Efen police sef him dey beat dem. He come beat dem policeman like dat he come shit for uniform”, Okon retorted, eyeing Baba Lekki with a wicked grin.

“Okon, so why is he wearing this big coat?” Snooper asked, trying hard not to burst into laughter.

“Na him native insurance be dat one. Inside one pocket baba get dem

heavy stones, inside another him get dem blade and dem jack knives and inside dem top pocket him put dem Awka pistol and dem Yoruba juju.

If Baba hit dem elephant with dat one elephant go kaput”, Okon sniggered.

“Men, this is anarchy”, Snooper exclaimed.

“Anarchy ko, inaki ni”, Baba Lekki rumbled at last with violent scorn even as he sulked like an infant.

“Okon, tell him not to come to this house with this coat again”, snooper ordered with a comic frown.

“Ha oga, I no fit tell am dat oo.

Baba say na him coat of army be dat.

You no say baba be old soldier for dem Congo. Na for Congo dem wild monkey come bite him head fiam fiam and baba him head no correct again “ Okon snorted.

“I said coat of arms and not army coat”, Baba Lekki groaned as he wobbled out of the house to snooper’s immense relief.

4

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

News

S/West PDP in fresh bid to oust Tambuwal T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest has launched a fresh move to unseat Mallam Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives and Mr. Solomon Onwe as acting national secretary of the party.

The Southwest PDP wants the two positions restored to the geo-political zone to redress what it calls undue marginalisation in the country’s leadership structure.

Stakeholders of the party in the region believe that the party’s chances in the 2015 elections will depend largely on its own occupying the two positions.

Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the PDP National Secretary, was eased out in the festering intra-party crisis.

The national leadership of the party, however, said Oyinlola’s removal was in compliance with a court decision.

The Southwest PDP also lost the slot of speaker to Tambuwal from the Northwest on account of the Southwest’s inability to agree on a common candidate.

They unanimously agreed that there is need for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and general -secretary of the PDP to be occupied by Southwesterners if the party’s quest for a good showing in the region during the 2015 general election is to be realised.

The Nation gathered that party leaders and stakeholders told the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at a meeting in Ibadan that unless the Speaker’s position is returned to the Southwest, the cry of marginalisation by the people of the region will not stop. The leaders said as poli-

By Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor ticians, they are expected to support the aspiration of the people and as such, it has become important to address the issue of alleged marginalisation of the region.

Tukur was in Ibadan to resolve the crisis which has torn the party into shreds in the geo-political zone.

The reconciliatory move, however, hit the rock following the boycott of the meeting

by Segun Oni, the sacked Deputy National Chairman of the party.

Tukur, according to sources at the meeting, ap-

pealed to the PDP Southwest leaders to be patient and allow the party to address what he admitted was lopsidedness in the distribution of political offices by the ruling party.

One PDP leader in the zone said:”Yes, we are in a position to push for the redistribution of political offices.

Specifically, we want the position of the Speaker and that of the party secretary to be given to us in the Southwest.

It doesn’t matter that some people currently occupy the positions. The party’s zoning principle gave them to us and so they should be ours.

“If we must tell our people to look in the way of the PDP again, we must be able

to tell them the party respects and desires them. If the people feel they are not wanted by the party, it will be difficult to tell them about the party.

“From the presidency to the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, that is about ten top positions in the country, no Yoruba is there. We can feel it that the anger of our people against the party is just because of that. We are determined to push for redistribution in line with the constitution of the party.

“Initially we wanted the issue raised publicly at the reception but the leaders prevailed on us to allow for a private discussion of the matter

given how sensitive it is. That was why a brief parley followed the reception same day.”

The complaint, which was to be formally presented to Tukur at a reception held in his honour at Premier Hotel on Friday night, had to be dropped by those delegated to speak for the zone.

However, former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu in his own submission at the reception, harped on the need for the PDP to respect its constitution and promote equality and fairness among its members if it intends to continue to do well as a political party in the country.

“There is too much arbi-

F

2015 may be Nigeria’s last election –Junaid Mohammed From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

N

•Voters during the FCT Council Election in Gwagwalada, Abuja yesterday.

Impeachment: Imo Deputy Gov heads for court ACED with impeachment threats, the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Sir Jude Agbaso has asked the High Court of Imo State and a Federal High Court in Owerri to stop moves to remove him by the state House of Assembly He asked the court to restrain the state Chief Judge, Justice A B Njemanze and the impeachment panel from taking further step with his removal from office, pending the determination of the suit.

The deputy governor specifically urged the court to “stop the Imo CJ from acting on a request from the speaker of the state Assembly, Benjamin Anyanwu, to appoint a six- man panel to further proceed against his removal over unfounded allegation, conclusion or recommendation of the panel pending the determination of the suit.”

The defendants in the suit are the six - man panel (Simeon Iwunze, Ikenna Emeh, Greg Okemili, Innocent Ekeh, Kingsley Dimaku and Samuel Anyanwu) the Speaker (Uwajumogu), state Assembly, Imo CJ, and the commissioner of police, Imo State Command.

In a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed at the state High Court, dated March 14, 2013, Agbaso averred that the constitution of the panel did not follow due process.

trariness in our party. There are too many people claiming leadership positions. The earlier we found a solution, the better for us,” he said.

Other party chieftains at the deliberations, according to our sources, include former Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, Erelu Olusola Obada, Senator Teslim Folarin and Chief Buruji Kashamu.

• Chief Judge raises probe panel From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation and By Sam Egburonu

He said if the impeachment panel is allowed to go ahead, it would “present a fait accompli on the court and render its decision nugatory.”

The deputy governor pleaded with the court to “take judicial notice of the fact that the Imo CJ is aware of the pending suit.

He said the CJ had assigned the suit to Justice F I Duruoha Igwe and directed that the matter be entertained on Monday, March 18, 2013.

Some of the grounds for the reliefs being sought by Agbaso: include.

The applicant is apprehensive that the defendants will go ahead with further breach of his right to fair hearing by proceeding on the contents of the challenged document against him before the substantive suit is determined, which will work exceptional hardship on the applicant.

Unless the restraining court orders are made, the defendants will do everything any moment from now to present the court with a fait accompli and render the decision on the application nugatory.

Given the nature of their statuses and offices personal service of the order and origi-

nating process cannot be conveniently effected on them.

He said: “The posers then are: * If the CJ knew there was a case where himself was a defendant and there is a prayer for him to be restrained from as the CJ of the state from acting on a request by the speaker of the Imo State House to appoint a panel of 7 persons to further proceed against the applicant (Jude Agbaso) in any manner howsoever in connection with his removal from office as the deputy governor of Imo State; * Whether on an allegation, conclusion, finding or recommendation on any issue is, connected with or relating to the report of the special ad hoc committee constituted by the House of Assembly, why did he go ahead with the constitution of the panel knowing full well that section allows him 188(5) of 1999 Constitution, a period of seven days between the passing of the motion by the House and the appointment of seven persons by the CJ? * In view of the fact that the speaker and clerk of the House have received copies of the processes filed in court on Thursday 14th of March, and thereby being aware that there was a pending suit, could they legitimately in a country gov-

erned by rule of law do anything to overreach the pending suit. The Speaker is a trained lawyer and he ought to aware of the legal position.

The applicant pleaded with the court to grant an “order of interim injunction, restraining the commissioner of police and his agents from harassing and intimidating him or invading his residence or office pending the exhaustion of all legal options available to him under the 1999 Constitution (as amended) against the defendants.”

Agbaso is also seeking an order for substituted service of the court processes on the defendants through their agents or through advertisement in two newspapers including DAILY SUN newspaper.

The impeachment threats against Imo State deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, took a new turn at the weekend, as the state chief judge, Justice Benjamin Ahanonu Njemanze, constitutes a seven-member investigative panel to probe the allegations of misconduct attached to the Notice of Impeachment served on Agbaso by the Imo State House of Assembly.

In a statement announcing the constitution of the panel, which was released yesterday, Justice Njemanze said his action was in “pursuant to Section 188 (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic

of Nigeria (as amended), and other laws enabling me in that behalf.”

He also said it was at the request of the speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ben Uwajumogu, contained in a letter with reference number IHA/SP.5H3A/ 23/15 of 13th March, 2013.

According to the chief judge, the panel would investigate the allegations as contained in the articles of misconduct attached to the Notice of Impeachment annexed to a letter from the Speaker.

The five allegations leveled against Agbaso include: * that with intent to deceive the committee and mislead the House, Agbaso denied, before the committee, that he ever had any dealings or telephone conversations with Mr. Joseph Dina of JPROS International Nigeria Ltd, in February – June 2012, “which facts were false and intended to cover your private/underground dealings with Mr. Joseph Dina;” * that “with intent to enrich yourself, you did cause Mr. Joseph Dina of JPROS International Nig. Ltd, to transfer the sum of four hundred and fifty eight million naira only (458,000,000,00) in two installments to two different bank accounts on your instruction and directive on the promise of award of 2 numbers of 15 kilometer of roads.”

ATIONAL Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaidu Mohammed said yesterday that unless efforts are made to ensure that the 2015 general election are free and fair, it may turn out to be the last election in the history of the nation.

Mohammed also said that the promoters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) must learn to imbibe democratic tendencies and ensure that the leadership of the party emerge through a truly democratic process and not toe the line of the PDP whose leadership are not elected, if they want the confidence of Nigerians.

Speaking on a programme, Guest of the Week, on Kaduna based Liberty Radio monitored in Kaduna, Mohammed hit out at northern leaders whom he said are no longer of use to the north, but are feeding fat on the region while the average northern suffer in abject poverty.

While saying that the issue of whether President Jonathan should contest the 2015 elections, he said “I would rather we subject that to constitutional interpretation by the highest court in the land; but the president does not want to subject the matter to constitutional interpretation.

“The National Assembly are not interested, the governors are more interested in who become president after Goodluck must have been hounded out of power. As far as I am concerned, all three are making serious mistakes.

“The only thing to do in a democracy is to subject the whole thing to constitutional interpretation and the rule of law because there can be no democracy without the rule of law. I believe that the governors in the north are making serious mistake.

“They will be shocked by the way they will be willing to give in to blackmail. I want to assure you that the Nigerian people will continue to put pressure on them. All those people who are talking right now cannot make Jonathan president.

News

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

UNAAB identifies two students crushed to death by SUV jeep

ITF training: Youths protest non- payment of allowances From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

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HE Management of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB) yesterday identified two of its students crushed to death by a reckless driver.

The deceased were Ridwan Babatunde and Aromire Sheriff, 100-level students of the department of Water Resources Management, College of Environmental Resources(COLEM) The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole, condoled with the parents of the deceased, member of staff and students on the death of the two promising students.

The students were mauled

by Sorts Utility Vehicle on Friday evening shortly after disembarking from the varsity's bus.

They died on the spot.

In a statement yesterday by the Acting Head of Public Relations, Adewale Kupoluyi, the VC said he received the news with shock and disbelief, and became quite sad when it dawned on him that it was true.

The management did not name the killer - driver but said the reckless driver was neither a lecturer nor a staff of the institution.

Low turnout as FCT records hitch-free area councils’ election From: Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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HE council elections which held in the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday recorded a low turn out, though it was peaceful.

The accreditation of voters begun by 8.30 in the morning while voting commenced around 12.30 in the afternoon at the various polling units manned by youth corps members with complements of policemen, civil defence personnel and officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

Many residents did not turn up at the polling booths as they claimed that they did not know the chairmanship and councillorship candidates fielded by the eight parties that participated in the election.

The political parties included the Peoples Democratic Party, Accord Party, Action Alliance, Action Congress of Nigeria, All Progressives Grand Alliance, All Nigeria Peoples Party and Congress for Progressive Change, among others.

Findings, however, indicated only seven parties were on the ballot paper, while APGA was missing.

5

•Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Commissioner for Works& Infrastructure, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite during an inspection of Ilo-Awela Road, Ota under construction…on Friday.

‘FG won’t pay ransom for French hostages’ •Nigeria, France meet N to review situation in Mali O ransom will be paid by the Federal Government for the release of the French family of seven captured last month by terrorists in the north, Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr.Olugbenga Ashiru, said yesterday.

The French including a five-year-old kid were captured while holidaying in Northern Cameroun and moved into Nigeria by their abductors who said their action was provoked by the intervention of France in Mali.

They demanded that France should quit Mali immediately, failing which the hostages will be killed.

Paris dispatched its Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Laurent Fabius, to Abuja yesterday to review with Nigeria the situation in Mali and discuss the fate of the French hostages.

Mr. Fabius met with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Mr. Ashiru, who briefed journalists on the interaction, said.

Nigerian security agencies are working round the clock to ensure the release of the hostages.

He said: "The Federal Government, with all the security agencies, is doing everything possible to ensure that we get the hostages released without any harm done to them. So we are doing everything possible. We want it to end peacefully so that no hostages will not be harmed in the process."

On negotiation with the group, he said: "Well, am not saying that. I'm saying that we will do everything possible to ensure that we get the hostages released. As part of our own

policy, we don't pay ransom to terrorists but we will do everything possible to ensure that those terrorists release their captives without any harm done to them.

On the meeting, he said: "We were able to review the relations between our two countries. We are satisfied with the political relations, quite robust relations between us. On the economic level also a number of French companies are very active here. So we reviewed all these relations and we are happy that we are both doing very well."

"At the regional level, we reviewed the security situation in Mali. Of course, I must take this opportunity to again thank France for what they did in Mali, for the decisive intervention because if the French had not taken the

steps they did at that time, Mali would have today become a terrorist country and if that happened the target would be to further destabilise the sub-region.

"Nigeria would be a prime target, but we are happy with the intervention, and of course the Nigerian troops under AFISMA are now on ground, they are pushing forward, they are ensuring that the terrorist are totally destroyed and of course their capability are also being attacked so that we make them inoperative in that region."

The French minister said his country needs to be "determined and discrete" in trying to save the lives of his abducted compatriots.

He said it is important to free the hostages, which include a child younger than five.

Fabius said in French: "So it is in the name of humanity that they need to be freed both quickly and well."

O fewer than 1,000 youths trained by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) under the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) yesterday protested the non-payment of their allowances after passing out of a 3-month intensive training in Tilling and Welding/Fabrication.

They vowed to deal with officials of the ITF for not paying their allowances.

Spokesperson of the youths and Course Captain of the Tilling, Okafor Ikenna, lamented the equipment for empowerment promised them were not given to anybody at the end of the training. ''We applaud this President Goodluck Jonathanled federal government initiative to empower our youths in skill development and the collaborative efforts of the state government led by Governor Peter Obi. "But without the empowerment facilities they promised us after learning then it is not worth the efforts."

He went on: ''We did not see any equipment and we suspect they are not telling us the truth.

"We are angry by the way they treated us and we are not happy. They are supposed to give us money for the month of March but they did not give us.”

"Again, they are suppose to give us bulk money at least N200, 000 or less but we are not given a dime.

Another trainee, Chinedu Azudialu, said: ''They should pay us our allowances of N5, 000 a month and other things promised us.

But officials of the ITF maintained that there is no cause for alarm as everybody would be paid his or her dues.

Area Manager of ITF, Mrs. Linda Egbeonu and Head of Revenue Inspectorate and Compliance, Godson Onyedumekwu, tasked the trainees to be employers of labour and do the nation proud.

Rumpus in INEC over APC

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LL is not well at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the organisation's handling of the application for registration filed by the proxy APC (African Peoples Congress).

Officials of the commission have been under severe pressure sparked by the public outrage that greeted what many Nigerians see as a ploy by some vested interests to frustrate the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC), a fusion of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

The commission has not made any public comment on how it will proceed with the

By Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor proxy APC's application, but behind the curtains, INEC officials are working desperately to relieve themselves of the mess caused by the controversial application.

Two groups are believed to have emerged in INEC on the APC matter, each holding tenaciously to its position.

One group wants the application filed by the proxy APC to be disregarded because it was not filed properly.

The other group is in favour of its registration, hinging its argument on the fact that a letter of intent is sufficient to serve as an application.

The battle of opinions in INEC continues and it is the main reason why the commission has been silent on the war of words between the All Progressive Congress and the African Peoples Congress over which of them should be registered.

The group supporting the consideration of the controversial application is said to be led by a director of the commission from the South-South.

The official is said to have agreed with the promoters of the proxy APC to smuggle in the application.

Leaders of the ACN, CPC, and ANPP, promoters of the All Progressive Congress have vowed to forge ahead with their identity and

accused the proxy APC of working for the ruling PDP to truncate the fusion of their parties.

The proxy APC said, having been the first to file in a letter of intent to register with INEC, it should be registered with the acronym.

It said no one can intimidate it into abandoning the identity.

Sources attributed the silence of the commission on the matter to the difference in opinions amongst the leadership of the body.

Said one source: "It has not been easy for the commission to take a position because the leading figure among those supporting the controversial application is one of those

officially saddled with resolving the matter.

"The chairman feels the application was not properly routed and as such should be ignored, but some top persons feel otherwise. There is need for them to come to agreement first.

"The chairman is only following protocol given the fact that there are those saddled with looking into a matter like this. He has expressed his personal opinion and is only waiting for an official report from those currently looking into the matter.

"It is only after he gets a report from them that an official position will be made public."

From Du Dama

News Kano plans metroline

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

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From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

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HE Kano State government is exploring the possibility of partnering with foreign investors for the establishment of a metroline, Governor Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso has disclosed.

Speaking with newsmen on arrival from a five-day trip to Dubai, Kwankwaso said he held fruitful discussion with investors on the proposed project.

This, he said, was part of plans to ease transportation problem in Kano, adding that some potential investors in the project are expected in Kano next month.

The governor maintained that he strongly feels that Kano is ripe for such a project now.

According to him: "If we have to get money or borrow money to execute any project, it is in the areas of metroline and IPP. "The investment in these projects will yield results, so we are looking at our treasury to see whether our budget can accommodate them."

He also mentioned that he met with investors with interests in sustainable energy in preparation for the state's Independent Power Project (IPP) using Tiga and Challawa Gorge dams.

The governor explained although there are bureaucratic bottlenecks, his administration is fine-tuning a farreaching arrangement to install turbines at the two dams for enhanced electricity supply in Kano.

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OUR months after the Federal Government released N500m to cushion the effects of the destruction of their houses and farmlands, victims of 2012 flood disaster in Benue State have expressed concerns over nondisbursement of the fund.

The Nation’s investigation revealed that over 10,000 persons were affected by last year’s flood disaster with properties and farmlands estimated at over N100 billion destroyed.

President Goodluck Jonathan released the sum of N500m through Benue State government to cushion the effects of the disaster.

But four months after the release, it was gathered no victim has received a dime.

The victims, who have since returned to their submerged houses, are worried Benue government has

Flood victims concerned over non-disbursement of funds From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

not commenced disbursement of the funds.

In Makurdi, most of the victims, who settled along Gyado Villa, Kucha Utebe, Agbadu, Coca cola and Tyomu on the bank of River Benue, have vowed to drag

the state government to the National Assembly.

Their spokesman, Hon Paul Asambe, said that they have been patient enough and prepared to tackle the government over the non-disbursement of the relief funds.

Wondering what might have happened to

the funds, Asambe noted the Benue State government set up a relief committee to distribute the funds, but said its activities have been shrouded in secrecy with nothing to show.

Most victims fear the funds have been tampered with following a fire inci-

63m Nigerians have sleep problems, says expert

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ENOWNED neurologist, Prof.

Njideka Okubadejo of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), has revealed about 63million Nigerians have sleep problem, which also affects

By Adetutu Audu about 45 percent of the global world population.

Speaking at the third edition of the World Sleep Day with the theme Good sleep, Healthy aging packaged by Mouka Limited,

Okubadejo said sleep and good health are closely linked.

According to her, the dictates of the modern world has drastically reduced the “number of hours that people sleep be-

'North East ranks top in maternal mortality' From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja ATERNAL mortality estimates in the North East zone are very high compared to those of the South West, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (SSAP-MDGs), Dr. Precious Gbeneol, has said.

Gbeneol stated that apart from other hiccups, campaigns against maternal death among rural dwellers have yielded less result.

The SSAP - MDGs disclosed this at a workshop organised for the validation of reports from the MDGs Acceleration Framework (MAF) technical session at the weekend in Abuja.

Gbeneol said: "As you well know, there is a signi?cant urban-rural divide in estimates, with rural areas doing considerably worse.

"Again as you know, there is signi?cant regional variation: maternal mortality estimates in the North East zone are very high, compared with low estimates in the South West zone."

Gbeneol, represented by the Director MDGs, Mr. Babalola Lateef, noted that government is concerned about incidences of women dying during pregnancy and child delivery.

She restated her commitment to partnership with stakeholders in the health sector to fight the problem.

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• L-R: Director-General Human Development Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, Ms Nobuko Kayashima, Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, Director, Africa Division of JICA, Mr Mitsunori Saito and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr MacJohn Nwaobiala alongside other officials at a bilateral meeting to strengthen basic education in Nigeria at the JICA headquarters at the weekend.

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HE President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, has called for proposals from stakeholders to improve communication and cooperation for coordinated implementation of regional programmes in Member States.

Ouédraogo spoke at the opening of the 7th annual Retreat of officials from the ECOWAS Commission and Community institutions at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.

He said: "Enhancing the coordination and synergy of actions by various actors in the Community is essential in ensuring the coherent implementation of Community programmes."

The ECOWAS chief said the first session under the present management would have an added dimension of providing an opportunity for insight into "huge regional integration projects" for the realisation of the dream of the founding fathers for the socio-economic integration of the region.

He said the projects were

dent that gutted a block of classroom with relief items worth over N50milllion.

Attempts to speak with Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Adikpo Agbatse, were fruitless.

He neither picked nor returned his calls.

ECOWAS chief seeks coordination of projects at national level an expression of the region's commitment to "accelerate the realisation of a developed and integrated West Africa supported not only by dense and complementary infrastructure reinforced by

the creation of an enabling regional environment while increasing the capacity for resilience of their economies."

Governor Godswill Akpabio urged stakeholders to work towards accelerating

the region's integration.

He said this holds the key to regional economic development and safeguarding the welfare of the citizens since none of the 15 Member States could go it alone.

Gunmen kidnap UniUyo teacher

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UNMEN suspected to be kidnappers yesterday whisked away a female lecturer in the University of Uyo, Dr. (Mrs) Ime Udotong.

Udotong, a lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, was said to be returning home from work when heavily armed gunmen numbering about four blocked her vehicle as she tried to make her way into her residence off Idoro road in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

An eyewitness said the kidnapped lecturer is the wife of Prof. Ime Udotong of the Department of Microbiology in Uniuyo.

From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo The source said: "She was driving a jeep while her abductors followed her with a salon car and ensured that she was blocked and not allowed to gain access into her compound.

"I suspect she was trailed from school to her house because there is no other way her place would have been known by people other than those close to her.

"I noticed she had observed the car trailing her and attempted to rush and turn into her compound when the kidnappers crossed her car, blocked her and forced her

into their own car.

"Immediately they got her into their own car, they zoomed off through a different direction."

The Nation learnt that officers of the police arrived the scene minutes after the hoodlums had abducted her victim.

At the time of filing this report, it was not sure if kidnappers had contacted the family members for ransom.

The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Etim Dickson, could not confirm the incident.

Several calls to the Commissioner of Police, Umar Gwadabe, were not answered.

cause of the demand of their lifestyle or nature of their work.”

She noted sleep is a natural process controlled by the brain, which restores body functions.

Okubadejo, who is also an associate professor, College of Medicine University of Lagos, stated the consequences of lack of proper sleep include poor memory recall, decreased academic performance, decreased work productivity, reduced attention, alertness and concentration.

Others, she said, are irritable mood and poor social interaction, increase risk hypertension, increase risk diabetes, mood disorders, reduced immunity, memory deficit, increased vulnerability to accident and errors and reduced lifespan.

She recommended daily sleep of 14 to 15 hours for infants, 12 to 14 hours for toddlers, 10 to 11 hours for children and 7 to 9 hours for adults.

Enugu xxx Community raises alarm on land encroachment

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MUEZUBOKE village union of Umualo town in Isi-Uzo local government council Enugu State has alerted of plans by a neigbouring town to annex its land.

The community warned the situation, if allowed, might lead to the break down of law and order.

Its president, Elder Hilary Eji, alleged the people of Amankanu in Nkanu East Local Government were sighted at farmlands belonging to Umuezuboke with surveyors.

Eji, in a statement, alleged the people of Amankanu bordering Umuezuboke villages were in the habit of encroaching their lands.

He recalled a communal clash occurred in 1982 between the two towns with Umualo chasing away the Amankanu aggressors.

31 years after, he stated it was surprising "this tyranny has resurfaced and the tormentors are employing other tactics bringing along surveyors they claim are from the Lands Ministry."

He added: "We believe it is a tacit methodology to annex our farmlands by force, hence our alerting the government to nip it in the bud."

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

News

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Court jails two illegal lottery operators

542,446 pupils for unified primary exams in Ogun

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

O fewer than 542,446 pupils will take part in the Unified Examinations for public Primary Schools in Ogun State.

The State Chairman of Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alh. Ajibola Mufutau, said the four - day long examinations will commence tomorrow in 1,492 primary schools.

Ajibola disclosed this shortly after a sensitisation visit to some primary schools in the state.

The SUBEB boss, who expressed optimism that the pupils will do well in the examinations, also asserted that it will afford the pupils the opportunity to showcase their teachers’ competence at handling subjects to the rest of the world.

Ajibola also revealed that the board had trained 15,000 teachers across the state since his appointment as the chairman of SUBEB. He, said the rationale behind the re-training of the teachers was to serve as an encouragement for them and also motivate them to perform better at work.

He however, warned the pupils as well as teachers not to engage in any examination malpractice, stressing whoever that is caught doing so would be severely dealt with.

Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

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HE Lagos State Special Offences Court has sentenced Messrs Biodun Adegbola and Ahmed Toro to two years imprisonment with an option of N500, 000.00 fine.

The convicts were arrested in February 2013 at Isokoko, Agege for conducting illegal lottery using coupon in Lagos State.

The General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Lotteries Board, Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila, reiterated that the board will not relent in its effort in ridding the state of illegal lottery activities.

He added that approved and authorised public online lottery operators in Lagos State include Premier Lotto Limited, Winners Golden Chance Venture and Winlot Global Resources Limited.

He said patronising operators other than those registered and approved by the State Government is a punishable offence under the Lagos State Lottery Law. Gbajabiamila identified lottery as a lucrative venture for potential investors and advised all illegal and unlicensed operators to regularise their operation with the board on or before Friday, 15 March or risk prosecution.

Japan to invest in schools for less privileged children

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FFORTS of the Nigerian government to improve technical and vocational education received international boost as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has expressed commitment to invest in the federal government’s programme to infuse vocational training into the nation’s basic education sub-sector.

Its Director General, Human Resource Development, Ms Nuboko Kayashima, spoke during a meeting with the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, at the JICA headquarters in Tokyo at the weekend.

She said that the Japanese government is satisfied with the progress the country has made in enhancing access to basic education for the less privileged.

She stated that officials of the federal ministry of education and JICA will work out critical areas of developing the nation’s vocational and technical education to boost the economy of the country.

Kayashima noted that JICA has made important achievements in Nigeria because the Jonathan administration created an enabling environment for the investments of JICA to grow across the different states of the country. “ We are interested in the new drive towards functional vocational and technical education and we are willing to collaborate with your government,” she said.

Wike noted that the FG’s seeks collaboration with JICA in the area of equipping the schools for the out-ofschool children to be constructed goverment in the South-South and South-East zones.

•L-R: Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Bosun Ayinde; representative of Dame Abimbola Fashola, Mrs. Oluwakemi Sanni; Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Surveyors, Prince Afolabi Solesi; President , Surveyors Wives Association of Nigeria, Princess Modupe Ogunbayo and guest speaker, Barr. Hassan Taiwo Fajimite at the 5th public lecture of the association in Lagos… yesterday.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Arms recovered from ex-militants handed over to Nigerian Army

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total of 39, 880 assorted arms and ammunitions recovered from repentant Niger Delta militants were yesterday handed over to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu.

The inter-agency task force set up by the Chief of Defence Staff carried out the handover.

A breakdown of the weapons include 482 automatic arms, 20,132 ammunitions, 295 magazines and 18, 971 locally made guns.

They were recovered from ex-militants in Delta, Bayelsa and Lacto Marine men.

The General Officer Commanding the 82 Division, General Adebayor Olaniyi, said the exercise was a product of the amnesty’s programme which started in 2009.

The GOC said President Goodluck Jonathan had “reasoned that without security there can be no development; he also reasoned that if the arms had gone out of these areas, it would have done grievous harm to the nation.”

While commending the task force, he said, “these weapons of mass destruction

From Chris Oji, Enugu

will be destroyed openly just as they were openly collected from the armed militants.”

Governor Sullivan Chime lauded the federal government’s initiative in setting up the task force.

Chime, represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. John Egbo, urged the federal government and all security agents not to relent in ridding the Niger Delta of illegal

narms.

The coordinator of the task force, Air Vice Marshal Gbum, said the recovery was in response to new claims and agitations by some groups that felt excluded from the amnesty programme.

He noted the task force was not engaging in fresh amnesty, which is beyond its mandate.

Gbum stated: “The mandate was strictly to verify and reconcile the disarmament

‘DG Budget did not direct MDAs to ignore 2013 appropriation’

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HE Budget Office of the Federation has denied ever instructing Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ignore the recently signed 2013 budget.

A statement from the Budget Office signed by Francis O. Ojiah, Director, Administration, Budget Office of the Federation, said “at no time since the passage of the 2013 budget and subsequent assent by Mr. President did the Budget Office issue such a directive.”

By Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor)

Ojiah outlined what he called the “true situation” to be that: “following the passage of the 2013 Budget, a series of consultations were held between the National Assembly (NASS) and the Executive, during which observations were made on aspects of the passed bill that required adjustment, including personnel cost, overhead votes and critical capital projects. It was agreed that an amendment

Corrupt system threat to Nigerians’ can-do spirit -Study

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HE Foundation for Value Transformation (FVT ) has released its National Cultural Assessment Report, which it conducted in September 2012 in conjunction with Courtney Inglis Consulting and Barrett’s Value Centre (BVC), a USA based organisation.

The report, presented this week in Lagos at a media launch, revealed: “Nigerians are energetic and have a cando- spirit that takes pride in the outcomes they produce.”

It said much of this energy “is, however, overwhelmed by a dysfunctional socio- political system steeped in corruption, poverty and insecurity.”

The report also revealed that Nigerian “citizens are largely disengaged from governance with no input into

records and document qualified ex-militants, who truly submitted weapons to security agencies for inclusion in the Presidential Amnesty Programme.”

He said the mandate took the task force to two states as well as the Lacto Marine men where claims of ex-militants were painfully scrutinised to ensure their records showed beyond reasonable doubt that they truly disarmed to security agencies.

By Sam Egburonu

programmes that impact their lives, even at the local community level.”

Other highlights of the study include a confirmation that “accountability of governance is the highest priority in moving the nation forward” and that “unity is among top values desired by Nigerians.”

Executive Director of the foundation, Segun Caulcrick, said Nigerians desire unity but “the seeming discord among ethnic groups and religions will

appear to be fanned by leaders with selfish motives.”

Making reference to the Human Development Index 2011 in which Nigeria trailed far behind countries like Ghana and Egypt in some key sectors, Caulcrick said Nigerians have what it takes to succeed but would need fundamental change to move forward.

He said the change must begin with individual citizens and “we have to build it up through engagement of leaders for change.”

should be sent to NASS for consideration after assent by Mr. President.”

He added that “the Budget Office subsequently issued a brief Circular Ref No. BD/2000/ Exp/S.132/T/16, dated 6th March 2013, to guide MDAs on steps to observe in proposing any amendment to their budgets, along with a template.

They were to focus on the personnel cost, overhead and critical capital projects.”

The office emphasised “there was nothing in the circular remotely suggesting that the 2013 Appropriation Act should not be implemented, as alleged.

That was never the subject of the circular.”

Ojiah noted that “far from being disrespectful to the Appropriation Act, the Guideline took pains to stress the need for MDAs, in preparing their amendment proposal, to respect the Act as passed.”

The House of Representatives had summoned the Director General of the Budget Office, Dr Bright Okogwu, to appear before it for what was termed a breach of the Appropriation Act “capable of destroying the growing rapport and spirit of cooperation between the legislature and the executive.”

Bayelsa to get committee on rumour mongering

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AYELSA state governor, Seriake Dickson, is to set up a high-powered committee to address the disturbing trend of incessant rumour mongering.

The committee, which will be inaugurated next week, will be tasked with the responsibility of not only finding a permanent solution to rumour-mongering in the state but also fishing out ped-

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dlers. A statement by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Daniel IworisoMarkson, said rumour peddlers spread false and misleading information to the public.

Amaechi to new CP: Step up fight against crime

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IVERS State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has urged the Police Command to step up the fight against crime in the state.

Amaechi spoke at the weekend when the new Rivers Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, paid him a courtesy visit at Government House in Port Harcourt.

He commended the Police Command for efforts so far in combating crime but urged them to do more.

According to Amaechi: ”I must tell you that 80 per cent of those who commit crime in the state are arrested, so I must commend your officers for that.

“But I am also aware that there is a little upsurge in crime and I think we must address it now.

“If not, those boys, the criminal elements will start coming back again.”

53 -year-old, others storm BBA season 8 auditions

By Adetutu Audu

53-year-old woman, Olayemi Olaniyan, was among thousands of Nigerians that stormed the Protea Hotel Lagos, venue of the Big Brothers Africa (BBA) 4-day open event for the shortlisted candidates in Nigeria.

Olaniyan, a multilateral marketer, said if there are youths in the BBA House there is nothing preventing mamas and papas to also be in the show.

The business administration graduate of The Polytechnic Ibadan assured she has everything it takes to make it big on the show.

She said: “If you are youthful at heart, you can deal with the youths.”

The last housemate in the popular show goes home with $ 300,000.

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News

Victims of dualisation to receive compensation - Ajimobi

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OVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has assured owners of structures demolished to pave way for the ongoing dualisation of some roads in the state that they would be adequately compensated.

He gave the assurance while receiving community leaders, politicians from various political parties and traders from Iseyin, led by the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdul Ganiyu Adekunle Salau, who were on a solidarity visit to him in Ibadan on Friday.

The state government is currently dualising some roads in Ibadan, the state capital and other major towns and cities across the state as part of the Ajimobi administration’s urban renewal programme, a situation which has led to demolition of some structures to allow for the projects.

The governor, however, urged the owners of such structures to make themselves available for the verification exercise which had already commenced as part of the procedures for the payment of compensation.

He said the dualisation of Iseyin township road in particular was in fulfillment of his administration’s promise to provide motorable roads and give all entrances to major cities in the state a facelift.

Ajimobi said his administration would not relent in its efforts at making life more meaningful for the people of the state through the execution of development projects.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Attacks: Prisons overhaul coming T

HE Nigerian Prisons Service may adopt new security procedure for the transportation of deadly suspects after Wednesday’s bloody attack on officials conveying armed robbery and kidnap suspects from the Warri Federal Prison, Okere-Warri, Delta State to court.

The ComptrollerGeneral of the NPS, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, dropped the hint when he visited officials of the Warri Prison at the Lily Clinic Warri were they are being treated for gunshot wounds they sustained in the attack.

No fewer than five persons, including four prison warders and an inmate, were killed when armed hoodlums opened fire on a convoy conveying the suspects to a nearby court

From : Shola O’Neil, Warri

for trial.

Ibrahim said the service “would go back to the drawing board to restrategise.”

Four suspects, including a very notorious kidnap kingpin suspected to be the mastermind of the deadly attack, are still on the loose, much to the chagrin of the Delta State Police Command that worked hard to arrest them.

Four of the suspects were rearrested through support of youths in the Okere area of Warri where the attack took place.

The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Okechukwu Aduba, lamented that it was procedurally inappropriate for the NPS to take such

suspects to court without adequate security and notice to the police.

However, the Comptroller-General, who refused to be drawn into debate with the Delta CP on the matter, noted that the level of security provided for the Wednesday’s movement was adequate, considering the distance from the prison to the court and the ratio of prison warden to prisoner.

“A lot of things are taken into consideration when moving prisoners, like the distance and the number of people you are taking. Since the court was just 200 metres away, the security arrangement was adequate.

We had seven of our men taking nine inmates to court which I think was adequate considering the distance but it was just unfortunate.

“Can you tell me any organisation that does not experience this type of incident. All over the world, even the army, police and what have you, things like these happen. You know that society is dynamic and whenever things like these happen, we go back to the drawing board and try to restrategise,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim revealed that an intense manhunt has been launched to apprehend the four suspects that are currently on the run, stressing, “Out of eight, four are already around and four are still at large. Investigation is going on with the police and other security agents; efforts are on to ensure that the rest are apprehended.”

The NPS top shot urged men of the service not to be

Why I equipped hospital -Tompolo From Shola O’Neil, Warri

F

ORMER leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) has donated some hospital equipment to the Ogulagha Cottage Hospital in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

Making the donation through his Tompolo Foundation, Ekpemupolo said it was to enhance good health service delivery in the rural oil-rich community.

Joyous beneficiaries of the gesture said the donation was the first of its kind made to the hospital that was built by Shell Petroleum Development Company and donated to the state government as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Speaking through Comrade Paul Bebenimibo, executive secretary of the foundation, he said the gesture was the beginning of good things to be achieved by the foundation.

“This donation is in line with the purpose of why the foundation was founded; to give assistance to the less privileged; andput smile on the faces of the people who have been marginalised and to enhance the living standard of Niger Deltans.

“We hope to reach out to more communities as we try to eradicate poverty from the area, we want to improve the standard of education, we want to empower the youths, we want to motivate teachers to put in their best and we want good health delivery,” he said.

•L-R Frank Halim, Segun Caulcrick (Executive Director), Laura Johnson and Sir Olusegun George, all trustees of the Foundation for Value Transformation (FVT) at a media launch of the Report on Nigeria’s Cultural Value Assessment, in Ikoyi, Lagos

‘New Pope: Africa not disappointed’

T

HE Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha Archdiocese and Metropolitan, Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province , Rev Dr. Valerian Okeke, has dismissed the rumour that African continent is disappointed over the emergence of Pope Francis I. Addressing newsmen yesterday, Archbishop Okeke said since the Pope is a universal head of the church, the issue of a particular continent being disappointed does not arise, adding that the church does not belong to a particular continent.

“The Church does not belong to Europe or any other continent, the church belongs to God and the fact that the Pope came from South America and not Europe shows that God can work with any of his servants and we are all brothers. So, I am not disappointed and Africa is not disappointed because the Pope is a Pope for the whole world” He further said “the church does not do quota system, it is not a political system, the Holy Spirit chooses who He wants and it is not a matter of whether it was turn of Africa or any other continent to produce the Pope, the Pope can come from Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, America and so on, it is not a

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

matter of Africa being disappointed.”

Archbishop Okeke further described the emergence of Pope Francis I as an act of God, noting that the new Pontiff having spent most of his lifetime with the people in pure apostolate will lead God’s flock to the path of righteousness.

“The new Pope Francis I is the first Jesuit Pope but he has not spent his time with the academia, he spent most of his life among the people as a Pastor and we are having a Pope coming from the area of

apostolate. He is a Pastor and we are experiencing many good things,” he said.

On the age of the new Pontiff who is just two years younger than Pope Benedict XIV Emeritus when he was elected, Archbishop Okeke said the age has nothing to do with the work of papacy and said the work of the Pope is that of a father which requires age and mental maturity.

“The work of papacy is that of a father and so, the older the better because old age is in the mind and we have no doubts that his age would not hamper his ministry” The Metropolitan also de-

scribed the Pope Benedict XIV emeritus as a great Professor, Philosopher, Theologian and living encyclopedia who has authored over 1000 books and as a man who knows the history of humanity and the church while noting that the new Pope Francis I as an intellectual from the Jesuit has spent his time with the poor.

Also the Catholic Bishop Of Awka, Most Rev. Dr. Paulinus Ezeokafor, has described the emergence of the new Pope as a welcome development.

Ezeokafor prayed God to fortify him with good health, wisdom and understanding.

Boko Haram: Don’t listen to amnesty plea, group tells Jonathan

A

group known as Forum Against Impunity (FAI) has advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to listen to anybody that calls for amnesty to Boko Haram group.

It said, if amnesty is granted to Boko Haram, then the highest national honours should be awarded to all criminals, convicted or still at large, including kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists, treasury looters, murderers,

Nwanosike Onu, Awka

pipeline vandals, etc.

President of the group, Chukwuemeka Onyesoh, who made the petition available to reporters yesterday in Awka, said Boko-Haram members are fundamentalist militants.

According to him, “BokoHaram challenge in Nigeria is, therefore, not a terrorism challenge; it is an ideology, a very compelling of ideas

that cause individuals to devote their lives, sometimes to give up their lives for this dream of how society can be ordered.”

He added: “Mr. President, granting total amnesty to Boko-Haram is equivalent to conceding de facto presidency of Nigeria to militant Islamists whereas you remain in Aso Rock merely as de jure president. Nigeria did not elect you for abdication of duty,” Onyesoh wrote.

deterred by the Wednesday bloodbath, noting that “these are parts of the challenges, especially when it comes to security work. Immediately you put on uniform you have put on the uniform to serve this country and we are also praying always for God to help us. But you know when we have this type of incident so many people will be touched.”

Shun confrontation with govt, NULGE Ogun chapter told Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

T

HE national body of the National Union of Local G o v e r n m e n t Employees(NULGE) has advised its Ogun State chapter not to be “anti - government” or “confrontational” in the way it goes about seeking solutions to whatever issues it has with the state government.

NULGE in Ogun had been threatening strike over alleged “inability to pay all deductions made from workers’ salaries to relevant purses such as cooperative societies, check-off dues of industrial unions in the local governments, inability to pay leave bonuses for over a year and non-remittance of 15 per cent pension deductions in most local governments.

But the national body, noting that it cherishes “peaceful atmosphere” and desires same for the local branch to enable members function productively,” said Ogun NULGE should employ the principle of collective bargaining to resolve their grievances with the state government.

The Head of Education and Training, National Secretariat, Abuja, Com. Jennifer Besong, gave the advice after inaugurating the seven - man Caretaker Committee to oversees the affairs of Ogun NULGE in the next three months.

She told Committee headed by Akinleye Benedict Bosun and Com. Dotun Oshunlaja(Treasurer) that it should strive to resolves the union’s issues with the government through dialogue and collective bargaining instead and not resort to confrontations.

‘Jobless politicians, problem to society’ Nwanosike Onu, Awka

A

NAMBRA State Deputy Governor, Emeka Sibeudu, has charged political office seekers to find first means of livelihood before venturing into politics, describing a jobless politician as a problem to the society Addressing reporters yesterday in Umunze to mark his third year in office as Governor Peter Obi’s deputy, Sibeudo appealled to politicians in the state to shun unnecessary criticism and diversionary acts capable of retarding the pace of development in Anambra.

He however, enjoined them, to join hands with the administration of Governor Obi in building a better Anambra for the children yet unborn He assured that “the remaining one year will record more people-oriented projects as well as more democracy dividends aimed at improving the living conditions of the people.”

NEWS REVIEW

9

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

I

GALA land, the land mass east of the confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue, is in a festive mood. Be it in Idah, Anyigba, Ankpa, Dekina, Omala,Olamaboro or Ofu, the people are upbeat as they prepare for the formal installation of their new paramount ruler, the Attah, for the first time in 57 years!

For many Igala, it is history unfolding right before their eyes. The last time an Attah, the late Alhaji Aliyu Usman Obaje, was installed was 1956. He died last July as the 21st Attah Igala and the longest serving holder of the title.

A highly respected ruler, he was a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), the only Nigerian monarch with that honour.

Attah means baba or father in the Igala language. In other words, Attah Igala, means father of the Igala people.

Succeeding him is Prince Michael Idakwo Ameh Oboni who emerged in a rancour free selection process.

The Igala Cultural Association, Jos chapter, hailed the selection process as a confirmation of the unity, love and understanding existing among the people.

It said: "A successor has emerged to the surprise of many Nigerians. It was devoid of rancour, disagreement and controversies. This goes to show the level of unity, love, understanding and respect for the tradition of the people and how much importance the people attach to the seat of the Attah, to which can never be a subject of litigation. The Attah throne which dates back to the 8th and 9th centuries has never witnessed litigation over succession."

The selection is only the first step in the installation process.

Following it would be traditional rites leading up to triumphant entry into the Palace at Idah, the traditional capital of the Igala race.

Witnesses to power Almost every son and daughter of Igalaland has been eager to be part of the history.

No wonder many of them have had to travel home with their friends to witness the events and contribute their own quota.

The jubilation and the interest shown by Igala at home and abroad to be part of the installation suggest the popularity and acceptability of Prince Idakwo Ameh by his people.

The new Attah is a retired deputy director, monitoring and logistics in the Federal Capital Development Administration (FCDA). He is the direct son of the 20th Attah Ameh Oboni.

He now awaits the presentation of staff of office to him by the Kogi State Governor.

The Igala, like the Yoruba and the Itsekiri , are linguistically affiliated to the Kwa group of language of the Niger Congo family.

A new dawn in Igala land For the first time in almost six decades, Igala land is witnessing the crowning of its paramount ruler. Yusufu Aminu Idegu, in Jos, was there and he reports.

Dr. Femi Akinkugbe of the University of Lagos has classified the Yoruba, Itsekiri and Igala as belonging to what he called the proto-Yoruboid sub-group in the main Kwa group. The language itself is undergoing scientific study and recent efforts by Tom Miachi, Yusuf Etu and the late Professor R. G. Armstrong, have enhanced understanding of aspects such as the orthography as well as tone marking.

Today, Igala orthography is one of the only 27 recognized by the National Education Research and Development Council of the

Federal Ministry of Education, as having got an acceptable orthography, out of about 300 languages in the country.

The Igala are the largest ethnic group in Kogi State. They were originally in the old Northern Region.

However, following the series of creation of states in the country, they have at different times been part of the old Benue/Plateau State, Benue State and Kwara State.

Tracing the source The origin of the Igala is not quite certain. Some say they migrated from Benin, some say

from Ile-Ife and some say from Jukunland (Kwararafa). But the most authentic oral source of Igala origin came from the immediate past Attah of Igala, Agabaidu, Aliyu Obaje, who said: "the Igala people came from southern Yemen, passed through Ethiopia where there is an ethnic group called Gala, and then through the then Mali Empire to Jukunland and finally to Idah, present location in Kogi State" The Igala Kingdom was skirted on two sides by the Niger-Benue waterways in shape. In shape, it is roughly triangular, with the confluence

of the two rivers forming the apex and the base, extending irregularly into the Idoma and Igbo areas.

The population of Igala people is said to be about two million, with over 70% of them subsistent farmers. Its strategic location was an important factor in historical development of the kingdom. It enabled the Igala to come into contact with a wide range of people and cultures such as the Jukun, Idoma, Igbo, Nupe, Yoruba, Hausa, Ebira and Edo speaking people of Benin.

Idah, the Igala capital is situated on the River Niger and it will seem from the available records that the Igala have exerted considerable influence in the affairs this river-rein region for many centuries.

But although the Igala were deeply involved in the wide range of contacts provided by the river systems, they were not a river-rein people in the strict sense of the term. The bulk of the Igala kingdom lay inland, that is, to the east and north-east of Idah, the capital.

The riverside regions were occupied mainly by people who regarded themselves as Igala by assimilation rather than by origin. They include the BassaNge and Bassa-Komo on the confluence and the Igala speaking peoples of the Ebira stock further south. Of course, the Igala utilized the waterways for trade in slaves, foodstuff and imported goods but their economy was predominantly agriculture and they value hunting more highly than water or any form of river-rein activity.

Politically, the Igala kingdom was centralized around the Attahship who is the hereditary head of state of Igala land, a monarchical form of government. The Attah was assisted by a council of nine elders known as the Igala-mela.

These, together with an official head known as the 'Achadu' (Prime Minister) nominate successive Attahs from four ruling houses. These ruling houses traced their descent from Ayegba who is said to be the first Attah of Igala. Traditions link the foundation of the Igala Kingdom with the Jukun, Yoruba and Benin and the earliest dynastic founders are listed as; Abutu Ejeh, Aganepoje, Ebulejonu, Idoko, Ayegba etc.

However, Ayegba is said to be the first Attah of Igala and his period seems to constitute a watershed in the history of Igala.

The culture of Igala people is similar to the culture of most other Nigerian people, especially those from geographical Middle-Belt, southwards, to the coast.

Cultural practice such as kingship, funeral ceremonies, beliefs, marriage, masquerading, modes of dress, body adornment etc are very similar to those of other Nigerians in the subregions mentioned above.

10

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

News Review/World

INEC and the burden of proxy APC’s In the last one week, the nation’s political landscape has been heated up over the merger of opposition parties into All Progressives Congress (APC) and the plot to frustrate the process. YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION, explores the intrigues surrounding the formation of a proxy APC and the desperate bid by the establishment for windbreakers.

T

HE opposition is back to the trenches it had been used to against the establishment since the 60s. The crux of the mater this time around is over the merger of three opposition parties into All Progressives Congress(APC), which is a prelude to the electoral battle in 2015 against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

There has been disquiet in the nation's polity since the announcement of plans by three political parties (ACN, ANPP, and CPC) and a group in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to merge and form All Progressives Congress (APC).

There were initial doubts on whether the merger process will be a reality or not in view of past failures by the progressives in the First Republic, Second Republic (1979 -1983) and in 2011. But the announcement of the merger on February 6, 2013 created a jolt in Nigerian political scene and foisted a quake on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The yearning for alternative party to PDP which has been ruling since 1999, and the instant acceptance of APC have forced PDP leaders to pretentiously go back to the drawing board.

The uncovering of a plot on a discreet romance with APC by about 10 PDP governors caused much discomfort for the ruling party which has been covertly acting to undermine the merger of the opposition parties.

Some forces in PDP had tried to dismiss threats from the APC by maligning it as Armoured Personnel Carrier.

The beginning of the war over APC When the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, reacted to the merger of the parties, his comment was taken as sheer politicking. Tukur said: "If you go for a football contest, you have the top striker. You know Lionel Messi? PDP is Messi in that contest. We will dribble them like Messi. Tell them (the) chairman said PDP is the Messi (of Nigerian football).They are not a threat at all. It (merger) is better. It inspires the PDP to action. In that contest, tell them that I said PDP is Lionel Messi."

The reality of Tukur's parable is now beginning to dawn on the opposition parties who are battling to defend APC, which is their intellectual property.

With the dexterity of Messi and a tinge of the style of ace Maradona, Tukur's dribbling theory has started manifesting with the emergence of proxy APCs. Barely 26 days after the Messi formula, a new group, African Peoples Congress applied to INEC for registration with APC as its acronym.

It looks like a case of a witch howling yesterday and a child dying the next day.

Who is really behind the proxy APC? Before the original APC could transform into a full political party, two others -African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens - have applied to INEC for registration with the same acronym. Investigations so far indicated that forces behind the proxy APCs were out to create obstacles for the opposition and distract their attention.

A reliable source said: "The permutation of the PDP Mafia is that when the merger process is unsettled, their leaders will also be distracted with a battle for survival.

"Frustrating the opposition is a big time project that many hawks in the PDP are feasting on at present. And with huge resources at the disposal of the government, they are achieving their objective gradually. At least, they have heated up the political atmosphere."

In spite of the pretension of the Peoples Democratic Party, the cat has been let out of the bag that it is behind the establishment of the proxy African Peoples Congress. Three instances have exposed the pranks of the ruling party

•Jega which appears to be afraid of the merger of three key opposition parties and a part of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). These indicators are the testimony of the lawyer who did the registration, the audacious use of PDP mailing channel to raise false alarm on behalf of the proxy APC, and the behind-the-scene string pulling by some bigwigs of the party.

The revelation of a counsel from Legal World Chambers, Mr. Nwokorie Samuel Chinedu, which confirmed that the self-styled chairman of the PDP Stakeholders Forum, Ugochinyere Ikenga asked him to register the African Peoples Congress, confirmed the suspicion of the opposition.

Chinedu said: "Ugochinyere Ikenga approached me sometime in February 2013 to put in an application for the registration of a political party by name African Peoples Congress. He paid me an initial sum of N30, 000 and later added another N50, 000 and a Samsung Galaxy phone after I had filed the papers, with a promise that he was going to settle me after the party must have been registered.

"I filed the application in the honest belief that it was just another political party because even the application I entered at INEC only bears the name African Peoples Congress. The acronym APC was not included in the application.

"So there was no way I could have visualised, whether or not there was an ulterior motive in the registration of that political party. I was, however, surprised to see my name all over the newspapers, including a sample of the application letter I wrote to INEC. "I wish to let Nigerians know that I am not a politician in anyway whatsoever. I regret the issues at hand and the dimension the entire thing is taking. I used the address because a friend of mine (a lawyer) works in one

of the two chambers. But that friend does not wish to be dragged into this matter because of the uproar.

"Legal World Chambers with which I filed the application is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). I personally registered the firm.

But if anyone has any doubts, let them check it out with the CAC. "Some people are even doubting whether I am a lawyer or not. I challenge them to go to the Supreme Court and check the roll to see whether or not my name is there."

According to findings, Ugochukwu Ikenga's so-called PDP Stakeholders Forum (PSF) had always been used for 'hatchet's jobs' each time there was any crisis in the party. Thus, there is no way PDP can hide behind a finger to deny Ikenga, who plies his trade as a 'stakeholder' through press clips, ambiguous constitutional interpretations, frivolous suits, and cantankerous ventures. When it is convenient, the PDP leadership romances Ikenga Stakeholders Forum which is unknown to its constitution.

However, each time Ikenga swam

against the tide, PDP used to wield the big stick. But with the formation of a proxy APC, Ikenga and his ilk in PDP Stakeholders Forum have come handy as tools. For instance, in June 2010, Ikenga took the party to court over the possibility of the endorsement of Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo as the then National Chairman of PDP. In a suit filed at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, Ikenga had asked for an order of interlocutory injunction to restraint the PDP or its agents from appointing Nwodo as the Party's National Chairman, because he had not spent a minimum of eighteen months in the party as stipulated by the party's Constitution. On March 21, 2012, the same Ikenga organised a protest march under the same PSF platform against the choice of PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, whom he described then as a "spent force." By July 2012, Ikenga through the amorphous PSF launched "Operation stop Bamanga's Destruction of the PDP" by describing his 100 days in office as filled with "many constitutional and ineligibility issues."

Also, the e-mail interaction on

"Unfortunately we have it on good authority that the establishment, gravely troubled by the emergence of a united opposition, has set up a high-powered team headed by a very high ranking officer of government and furnished with unlimited resources from public funds with a clear mandate to corrupt the democratic institutions and destabilise the opposition”

Friday between African Peoples Congress and some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) put paid to any doubt about the involvement of the ruling clique in the formation of the proxy APC. A statement by the acting Publicity Secretary of APC, Sa'id Balogun was mailed to media houses through theapcparty@gmail.com and copied the following PDP leaders: the National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh; a former acting National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje; a former Minister of Information, Mr. John Odey (who was also ex-National Publicity Secretary of PDP). The same mail was sent to PDP and its foreign chapter. Ironically, PDP in turn dispatched the mail to its press corps.

Since the proxy APC emerged from the blues, it had always sent out its press statement through the PDP press corps.

Investigation also confirmed that the constitution and manifestoes of African Peoples Congress were allegedly drafted by some bureaucrats at the PDP National Secretariat in connivance with a member of the National Working Committee and some serving ministers, who have virtually abandoned their offices and duties for this project to stall the merger of opposition parties. The Chairman of the ACN Merger Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, said: "Unfortunately we have it on good authority that the establishment, gravely troubled by the emergence of a united opposition, has set up a high-powered team headed by a very high ranking officer of government and furnished with unlimited resources from public funds with a clear mandate to corrupt the democratic institutions and destabilise the opposition "In the circumstance, our message is very clear. We have informed the whole

•Contd. on page 11

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

News Review/World

•Contd. from page 10 world of our decision to merge under the name All Progressive Congress, with the acronym, APC. We are determined to pursue the process to its logical conclusion in the interest of our dear fatherland. The feeble attempt by any other entity to pretend to use the same acronym is an exercise in futility which must fail because it amounts to what, in law, is called Passing Off." On their part, some civil society leaders, who briefed the press on Friday in Abuja allegedly, indicted the Presidency and INEC on the row over proxy APC. Their indictment followed independent investigation of the crisis over APC. Those who addressed the press were a former National Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Comrade Salihu Mohammed Lukman; a former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Abdul Aminu Mahmud; Alhaji Mahmud Abdullahi; and a former Chairman of Gwale LGA in Kano State, Alhaji Kawu Idris.

Lukman said: "It is clear that the management of the process is problematic and it is problematic probably because when Jega assumed the leadership of INEC two to three years ago, there was some public expectation that his management of the process will sanitize INEC to ensure that there are credible and honest Nigerians who are managing INEC. "Unfortunately, as at today there are still many card carrying members of PDP within INEC. And clearly one of the officials of INEC who is in charge of the capacity of INEC to manage something as basic as party registration is a lady.

"We were told she is in charge of party registration process in INEC and if on something as basic as this INEC is getting it wrong, we doubt the capacity of INEC to lead the nation to have free and fair election in 2015.

"And the issue of sanitizing INEC is what this all leads to. We believe that the PDP and Presidency are behind it through some of these directors. And some of the game plan from our investigation and we invite you to go and check, is also struggling for the position of secretary of INEC. "There are people who have positioned themselves in the Presidency so that they eventually get appointed as the substantive secretary of INEC when the tenure of the current secretary expires."

The Acting National Chairman of the African Peoples Congress, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu however said the party is not being sponsored by PDP. According to him, "My party has no link with PDP. In fact, our intention is to take over power from the ruling party. If PDP is ruling well, there would have been no need to come up. We are out because PDP has failed to touch the lives of Nigerians."

What of All Patriotic Citizens?

According to findings, this group is being promoted by a PDP stalwart from the Niger Delta who was recently saddled with a big party responsibility to lead it to victory in 2015. The manners in which some Niger Deltans have queued behind this group betray the sponsor. It was also learnt that All Patriotic Citizens was formed by the PDP stalwart to complicate the registration procedure and serve as a backup if African Peoples Congress application is rejected.

Will the opposition parties succumb?

The three merging parties have vowed to resist any attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to register their new party, All Progressives Congress (APC). They drew the battle line in Abuja on Thursday.

The Chairman of the Merger Committee of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Tom Ikimi, along with his counterpart of the ANPP, ex-Governor Ibrahim Shekarau; and also that of the CPC, Alhaji Garba M. Gadi; and a representative of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Senator Annie Okonkwo drew the battle line.

Ikimi said: "During the press conference, we announced the unanimous agreement of the parties

•Tukur to merge under a new name, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The name and acronym have therefore become the Intellectual Property of the merging parties since the 6th of February 2013 and it has received very wide publicity in the print and electronic media.

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

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

"Thus by that public announcement, the name All Progressives Congress and the acronym APC became our intellectual property which we shall guard jealously."

INEC: What options For the Chairman of INEC, Prof.

Attahiru Jega, who came in with a reformation agenda, this is certainly not a good omen towards 2015 poll.

The electoral commission's dilemma is compounded by total absence of circumspections to some politically-induced media enquiries to the merger process and registration of proxy APCs. Although INEC was trying to be fair in putting issues in the right perspective before the public, it has fallen into the trap of smart politicians whose intentions are to corrupt the system. At a point, the electoral agency acknowledged the merger process and assumed it only needed formality for the adoption of APC. But in another breadth, it said it is empowered by law to adopt the principle of first come, first served and on that basis it acknowledged the application of African Peoples Congress.

One of the merging parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria through its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed exposed the hanky-panky of INEC. Mohammed said: "The INEC spokesperson who announced to the world that another political association has applied to be registered as APC is therefore definitely being paid by

•Ikimi the PDP to mislead Nigerians, subvert extant regulations and scuttle the proposed merger of the ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC. "He should immediately be called to order before he sets the country ablaze. On February 17, 2013, the spokesperson was quoted to have said in a news story in The Punch newspaper that the All Progressives' Congress (APC) remained a political association, even though it is yet to be recognised by the commission.

"By law, we do not expect APC to come to INEC. The political parties that are fusing into another party will individually and respectively come back to INEC, notifying us that they are fusing into a party with a new identity," ACN quoted Kayode Idowu to have told the paper.

"The same spokesperson also told TVC news on February 8, 2013 that INEC was expecting the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to apply for formal documentation.

"With these statements, it is clear that INEC has always had a constructive knowledge of the All Progressives' Congress (APC) since the merger plan started, and that the emerging party did not have to do anything until all the component parties have held their conventions and ratified the constitution, manifesto and logo of the APC." The conflicting tunes from INEC also showed that its system has been infiltrated by politicians contrary to the mission of Jega. A major challenge facing the INEC chairman is that he has been very slow in cleaning the Augean stable because of his adherence to due process.

For instance, some of those involved in the poll fraud in Ekiti State are still holding sensitive positions in INEC forcing many staff to emulate their footsteps by serving as spies or fronts for politicians. Findings confirmed that Jega has got reports from international consultants on how to restructure the commission for efficiency but he is adopting a piecemeal approach which appears to be backfiring now.

Technical issues before INEC There are a lot of technicalities

woven around the merger process, adoption of APC by three parties, and the emergence of proxy APCs. First, INEC will have to determine whether or not the an0nouncement and adoption of APC by three opposition parties are insufficient in law to lay claim to the acronym. Is it true that the process of merger is different from registration of parties?

The argument of the three opposition parties through Lai Mohammed on Thursday is: "The procedure for the merger is different from that of registration. Now I want to say it loud and clear that there is nothing we ought to have done, as merging parties in accordance with the Electoral Act, which we have not done.

"If you go to the Electoral Act, it is only after we have conducted our various conventions we have had the resolution to apply to INEC as he said.

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

"So don't compare the process of merger with the process of registration of a new party."

Secondly, INEC will need to clarify to Nigerians the procedure for accepting letter of intent from any group wishing to register as a party. Should it be by a lawyer, a consultant, or through the chairman, secretary, and national treasurer of registering group as in the precedent case of APGA? Thirdly, should a mere dumping of letter on INEC by a lawyer with a strange or conjured address be acknowledged without verification?

Does it mean if a mad man writes INEC, it will just acknowledge on the surface without verification? What were the steps taken in the case of African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens?

“Thirdly, should a mere dumping of letter on INEC by a lawyer with a strange or conjured address be acknowledged without verification? Does it mean if a mad man writes INEC, it will just acknowledge on the surface without verification?”

11

Also, what actually is the status of African Peoples Congress which submitted its registration form to INEC on March 1, 2013 but its FORM PA1 was signed on March 12th, two weeks after the submission. Was it able to meet the requirements before INEC made a pronouncement that it is processing its application? Could it be true that the documents made available to INEC by African Peoples Congress were not genuine?

Fifthly, what will INEC do on investigations into the unethical revelations about the African Peoples Congress already in public domain?

Will these allegations count or will INEC gloss over them?

Sixthly, did the relevant department in charge of registration sell out or comply with appropriate guidelines?

Lastly what will be the fate of the merging parties and the two other proxy APCs in the light of Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 78 of the Electoral Act. Will INEC accept the claim to the intellectual propriety of APC or prevail on all groups to drop APC as an acronym in line with the wish of the establishment?

Section 78 reads: "A political association that complies with the provision of the constitution and this Act for the purposes of registration shall be registered as a political party.

Provided that such application for registration as a political party shall be duly submitted to the Commission not later than six months before a general election.

"The Commission shall, on receipt of the documents in fulfilment of the conditions stipulated by the Constitution, immediately issue the applicant with a letter of acknowledgement stating that all the necessary document has been submitted to the Commission.

"If the association has not fulfilled all the conditions under the section, the Commission shall within 30 days from the receipt of its application notify the association in writing stating the reasons for non-registration.

"A political association that meets the conditions stipulated in the, constitution and this Act shall be registered by the Commission as a political party within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, and if after the 30 days such association is not registered by the Commission unless the Commission informs the association to the contrary it shall be deemed to have been registered.

"An association which, through the submission of false or misleading information pursuant to the provisions of this section, procures a certificate of registration shall have such certificate cancelled.

"An application for registration as a political party shall not be processed unless there is evidence of payment of administrative fee as may be fixed from time to time by the Commission.

"The Commission shall have power to deregister political parties on the following grounds; breach of any of the requirement for registration and for failure to win a seat in the National or State Assembly election."

The imperatives of legal battle Irrespective of the decision of INEC, it is obvious that a legal battle is imminent on APC. None of the sides may accept the verdict of the electoral agency without testing it in court. Like the countdown to 1993 general elections when one phantom Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) sprang up to secure midnight judgments, Nigeria is definitely on another tortuous journey.

Fortunately, some of the actors of the 1993 debacle are still active in PDP while those who fought to return the country to democratic path are in the opposition. Will the judiciary live up to its responsibilities? For Jega, who played active role in the struggle for the nation's democracy, history is beckoning on him. He needs a strong will to say the truth in the midst of crude elements making fortunes from this registration crisis.

Can Jega solve the riddle without losing his goodwill?

12

News Review/World

Zimbabweans in 'peaceful' vote on new constitution

Z

IMBABWEANS have turned out to vote in a constitutional referendum which many hope may signal a new beginning for the fractured country.

Despite concerns about low turn-out by an electorate fearful after decades of political violence, people turned in large numbers at over 9,000 polling stations around the country.

Their response is expected to be an overwhelming "yes" to a draft endorsed by all the main political parties which limits presidential powers, curtails terms in office and makes it harder for the country's security services to harass, detain and torture people.

With both Zany-PF and the MDC backing the constitution, there was little sign of the bloodshed that has marked previous elections in Zimbabwe.

Observers reported most polling stations opening as planned and operating efficiently.

Yet it appeared that in some areas, old habits were hard to shake. The Movement for Democratic Change said some of their members were attacked putting up posters encouraging people to vote yes the night before the poll.

Election observers also reported some instances where Zanu PF members had asked people going to vote to submit their names and addresses after voting.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Pope Francis wants 'poor Church for the poor' P OPE Francis has said he wants "a poor Church, for the poor" following his election as head of the world's 1.2bn Catholics on Wednesday.

He said he chose the name Francis after 12-13th Century St Francis of Assisi, who represented "poverty and peace".

He urged journalists to get to know the Church with its "virtues and sins" and to share its focus on "truth, goodness and beauty".

Pope Francis takes over from Benedict XVI, who abdicated last month.

The former Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was the surprise choice of cardinals meeting in Rome to choose a new head of the Church.

In his first audience at the Vatican, he said Jesus Christ and not the Pope was the centre of the Church, which he stressed was "spiritual not political" in nature.

He said the Holy Spirit had inspired the resignation of Benedict XVI and guided the cardinals choosing him as the next pontiff.

The Pope said he had been inspired to take the name Francis by a Brazilian colleague who embraced him and whispered "don't forget the poor" when it was announced that he had been elected Pope.

He said he immediately thought of St Francis of Assisi, the Italian founder of the Franciscan Order who was devoted to the poor.

As well as representing poverty and peace, he said St Francis "loved and looked after" creation

•A police car arrives at the site of an accident involving a truck and cars at the E71 motorway, nearby the Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian borders on Friday, 2013 a day after a heavy snow storm hit the area. A cold snap that caused havoc elsewhere in Europe sent temperatures plunging and blanketed large parts of Hungary in snow, causing major transport problems and leaving tens of thousands without electricity.

AFP PHOTO

- and he noted that humanity was "not having a good relationship with nature at the moment".

St Francis of Assisi is said to have loved animals as his "brothers and sisters" and even to have preached to birds.

Humour There had been speculation that Pope Francis - who was a

member of the Jesuit order - had chosen his name in honour of St Francis Xavier, a 16th Century Jesuit missionary in Asia. But he said this was not the case.

The new Pope's style is very different to that of his predecessor, BBC Vatican correspondent David Willey says.

He talks in simple, easy to understand terms about ethical

values and shows a remarkable sense of humour, our correspondent says.

Earlier, the Vatican said Pope Francis would visit his predecessor Pope emeritus Benedict next week.

Pope Benedict, 85, became the first Pope in 600 years to abdicate last month when he said old age and health meant he could no longer continue in the job.

Nigerian-Lebanese relations take a new leap T

HE bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Lebanon has taken a new leap with the scheduled two-day state visit of the Lebanese President, General Michel Sleiman to Nigeria, beginning today.

It is a historical visit because it is the first of its kind by any Lebanese president to Africa's most populous country Nigeria, despite the age-long close business ties between the two nations.

Ever since Nigeria formally opened a diplomatic mission in Beirut in 1973, relations between both countries have witnessed tremendous progress especially where there are convergence of interest in terms of eradication of colonialism, apartheid, support for the promotion of new world economic order, peaceful settlement of the Arab - Israeli imbroglio and more recently, reformation of the United Nations Security Council.

The history of the Nigerian Lebanese communities in Nigeria dates back to 1885 when Ilyas Khoury, from Northern Lebanon, emigrated to Nigeria on a business adventure. Since that first step of Khoury, the population of the Lebanese community in Nigeria has grown in leaps and bounds with remarkable Lebanese business empires in Lagos, Ibadan and Kano where many of them had inter-married.

Records of the Nigerian immigration service in 2008 put the population of Lebanese in Nigeria at 30,000, many of whom are third generation Lebanese-Nigerians who now hold the Nigerian passport.

"The high-powered delegation of the Lebanese top-ranking cabinet ministers and prominent businessmen expected on the entourage of President Sleiman underscores the

•Suleiman

By Allan Adebayo "high-level'' diplomatic classification of the visit,'' said the Nigerian Ambassador in Lebanon, Ambassador Oluwole Idowu, on Thursday in Abuja.

According to him, there is bound to be a remarkable surge in economic collaboration between Nigerian and Lebanese businessmen after the visit. For the purpose of this visit, he said, more than 90 Lebanese businessmen, technocrats and financial experts recently obtained Nigerian visas in Beirut.

Citing the exploits of the Lebanese-Nigerian Friendship Association (LENIFRA) since he assumed office in July 2011 in Beirut, the ambassador noted that there had been a remarkable improvement in the socio-economic relationship between citizens of the two nations.

Besides the array of bilateral agreements expected to be signed by the two nations during the visit in Abuja, President Sleiman will

also visit Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos where the breath-taking multi-billion Naira Eko Atlantic Project, which is being undertaken

by Lebanese Chagouri and Chagouri Construction as a socioeconomic joint venture with the Lagos State Government.

Community development services are not new to the Lebanese community in the country with signature projects like the legendary Idumota Clock Tower in Lagos and the Kano Polo Club.

Their business interests, which began with cocoa, hide and skin merchandising in the early 20th Century, had gravitated into the oil and gas, tourism/hospitality, construction, food and manufacturing industries in Nigeria.

Nigerians, however, need to spiritedly adjust the current trade imbalance between the two nations through exports into the Lebanese economy.

The president's visit will also elicit the show-casing of many ma-

jor corporate organisations with Lebanese controlling shares in Nigeria. Such companies include SETRACO construction, DUMEX, Seven Up, Manimpex Holdings, Ideal Flour Mills, Mouka Foams, Amigo Super Market chains, M. Saleh & Co Ltd (Generators and Equipments) and Eko Hotels to mention a few. They all occupy prominent planes in the Nigerian economic landscape.

Wassim Ibrahim, the Charge d'affaires in the Embassy of Lebanon, Abuja described the visit as crucial to greater economic collaboration between citizens and governments of the two nations.

He said that the Lebanese community in Nigeria was mobilising fully to accord President Sleiman a rousing and befitting welcome in Nigeria from next Monday.

The Chairman of Manimpex Holdings Ltd., Mr. Nasrat Mansour, said that Nigerian and Lebanese flags had been produced in thousands for use by the Lebanese community in Abuja during the visit.

Mansour, whose company built the famous magnificent Ilorin Central Mosque about 30 years ago, described the growing bilateral relations between Nigeria and Lebanon as phenomenal.

Sources in the Nigerian Foreign Affairs ministry said that the key areas of engagement during the visit are the agriculture and food manufacturing, air services, security collaboration and political collaboration toward Nigeria's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nation's Security Council.

Ambassador Idowu believed that Nigerian businessmen have a lot to learn from the Lebanese tourism and hospitality industry, especially, given the globally recognised exploits of Lebanon in that sector.

According to the Lebanese 2012 Annual Review, the nation boasts of 300 hotels, 21 of which are five-stars.

According to him, Lebanon records more than four million visitors at its numerous tourist locations annually. Although its economy is, like Nigeria's, import-oriented, its export bill of such things as fruits, vegetables, manufactured food products, bottled water, chemical and light machines totalled US$2.294 billion.

One of the mainstays of her economy is remittances from about 14 million Diaspora Lebanese which constitutes about 25 per cent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$18.83 billion per annum, according to the 2012 Lebanese "The Business Year.''

A Nigerian diplomat, who craved anonymity, at a recent dinner in the Embassy of Lebanon in Abuja in preparation for this state visit stressed that increased collaboration between citizens of the two nations will also reduce the current trade imbalance between them, noting that the odds are currently in favour of Lebanon which 2007 population estimate is 3.9 million.

In what can be described as a regional diplomatic shuttle, President Sleiman is also scheduled to visit Ghana, Senegal and Cote D'voire before returning to Beirut.

General Sleiman assumed office as President on May 25, 2008.

He was elected as an independent and unifying candidate following the Doha Accord that settled the Lebanese internal political crisis in 2008.

Prior to that, he had served as the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces. .

13

COMMENT and ANALYSIS SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Talakawa Liberation Herald (4)

BY BIODUN JEYIFO Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:34, King James Bible [Cambridge Edition]

'Before this generation shall pass': our need for a true intergenerational dialogue (1)

Generation, noun: 1. the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time; 2. the term of years, roughly 30 among human beings, accepted as the average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring; 3. a group of individuals, most of whom are of the same approximate age, having similar ideas, problems and attitudes Dictionary.com (online)

F

OR most adult Nigerians whether old or young, there seems to be a great di-

vide, a chasm even between two broad, composite generational groups: those who came of age before and those who did so after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, with its massive infusion of petrodollars and petronaira into the economy, and the SAP-induced devaluation of the naira, with all the attendant humungous cuts in public expenditure, especially in education and health care delivery.

Of course most Nigerians also generally acknowledge the existence of smaller units of generational cohorts within these two broad composite groups. For instance, there is said to be at one end of a spectrum Nigerians much advanced in years that had lived most of their biological and social adulthood before independence and inclusive of the first decade after that. At the other extreme pole of this spectrum are said to be the post-globalization, SMS-texting youths to whom the life and times of late-colonial and early postcolonial Nigeria belong to a misty past that occupies a tiny, indistinct part of their collective imagination. But by and large, I believe that it is the notion of two broadly composite groups of generations before and after the civil war, before and after the rise and fall oil-rich, oil-doomed nairamania, and before and after the SAP-induced turnaround in economy and society in our country that fundamentally frames all discourses about unbridgeable generational gaps in Nigeria.

This is the issue that I wish to explore in the series of two articles that begins in this column. As we shall see, my central argument will be our great need to deconstruct and transcend this alleged chasm between generations of Nigerians if a genuinely democratic and egalitarian order is to take root and grow in our country.

In order to facilitate this review of currently prevalent ideas about the existence of these two broad generational groups, permit me to make an allusion to a keynote address that I delivered at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, in the year 2006 on the 30th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Literature Prize to Wole Soyinka. Titled “The Unfortunate Children of Fortunate Parents”, the speech focused on the innumerable and nearly insuperable problems and challenges faced by younger generations of Nigerian writers, artists, scholars and critics, problems and challenges that members of my own generation and our elders had not faced in our young adulthood. I confess that I did not even remotely foresee the impact that the speech eventually had on my/ our younger colleagues in the arts and humanities community, even though I must also confess that I was deeply gratified that my speech had the impact that it did. At any rate, I used the countervailing terms “fortunate” and “unfortunate” in the title of the speech to draw attention to the great advantages that my generation had enjoyed but which, in sharp contrast, the younger generation sorely lacked. These include second-

•The texting generation

ary and tertiary education of a very high quality; the easy availability of highly professional editing services and publishing outlets; a vibrant homegrown critical community that had both local and international visibility and influence; and a national community of writers and artists small and cohesive enough to be sustaining to us all, as individuals and as groups.

It was with these extraordinarily auspicious conditions in mind that in that speech, I used the word “fortunate” for my generation. And indeed, we had supreme assurance in the reality of these advantages, so much so that we simply took them for granted.

Superior editing and enlightened, wellheeled publishers are indispensable to good writing and its perpetuation; most of the first generation of Nigerian authors had ready access to them. By contrast, the vast majority of the younger writers had absolutely no access whatsoever to first rate professional editors; even more dauntingly, for the most part, they had to self-publish, at great financial, artistic and intellectual costs, in order to have the ghost of a chance to create and nurture a homegrown readership. Thus, their “misfortune”, in the framework of that speech of 2006, was that those highly auspicious conditions that we had taken for granted were as strange to the overall circumstances of the younger writers and artists as life-saving water would be strange to a wanderer lost in the arid, parched wilderness of a desert.

The great point in all of this was of course the hugely portentous fact that these nearly crippling problems and challenges that the generality of our younger generation of writers and artists faced were but a microcosm of what all young people, writer or no writer, educated or unschooled, faced in present-day Nigeria. Permit me to give a personal testimony of my own graphic and unforgettable encounter with this matter when, about a decade and half ago, I visited Kuti Hall to which I had belonged as a resident in my undergraduate years at Ibadan. The tiny room that I had shared in my first year with Tokunbo Dawodu now housed five or six students.

Even the dinning hall of Kuti had been turned into mass sleeping quarters for students called “squatters”. And in nearly all

Nigerian universities, one heard of hyperrealist terms like “one/zero/one” or “zero/one/zero” which were supposed to represent the Spartan daily meal plan a student was compelled to follow in the face of very dire economic conditions.

As if these were not enough, there emerged the strange phenomenon of socalled “professional students”. These were the large number of undergraduates who chose to – or were “chosen” by harsh economic realities – to linger for as long as possible in the university since, out there in the world, no jobs were available to those who had already graduated and left with their Bachelor’s, Master’s and even Ph D degrees. Nearly two years ago, the Governor of our Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, gave the figure of 25 million for the educated and seemingly permanently unemployed in our country. By contrast, when I left university at the end of the decade of the 60s, it was absolutely unheard of, perhaps even unthinkable and therefore unthought, that a graduate from any Nigerian university would still be jobless three months after the completion of his or her university education.

From all my observations and reflections so far in this discussion, it should be apparent that in our social genes, if not in our biological DNAs, we carry the differential markers of the decisive, formative experiences of our separate generations. This is why there seems to be such a deep chasm of memories, sensibilities and perspectives across the generational divides, making nearly impossible a meaningful intergenerational dialogue in our country.

But then there arises the fundamental fact that in one old understanding or usage of the term, “generation”, we are all of us currently living in the same country and the same epoch of human history, members of the same generation. This particular usage of the term is what Christ had in mind in the quotation from Matthew 24:34 that constitutes the first epigraph to this article: “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled”. Similarly, it is this very same idea of “generation” as a national or global community of all those living at a particular moment in time and space that is explicitly stated in the first

dictionary definition in our second epigraph: “the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time”.

I draw attention to these other meanings and usages of the term largely because they are either totally unknown now or have almost been forgotten. At any rate, when I hear or read of conversations between our different generational cohorts – most of them very bitter and extremely recriminatory – it is almost entirely the following particular dictionary definition of the word in our second epigraph that comes to mind: “a group of individuals, most of whom are of the same approximate age, having similar ideas, problems and attitudes”. If this is the case, there would seem to arise this great intellectual challenge: If these diverse uses and meanings attached to the word “generation” are equally true, equally valid, how do we reconcile the differences and tease out a synthesis between them?

I suggest that this problem is more apparent than real, more formal and logical than actual and substantial. For in real life, and at all times and in all places, conversations are always going on, simultaneously and referentially, intra-generationally and inter-generationally. In other words, we talk both within our own generational cohorts and across the presumed divides that separate us from other older or younger generations.

I think we pay scant or no attention at all to this fact because the only divides that typically engage our attention are those, real and/or imagined, constructed around ethnicity, religion and regionalism. Occasionally, we do also talk about divisions based on class and power, but only very infrequently. But in my opinion, least of all do we talk about the fact that in one important sense, we all belong to the same living generation.

The great challenge, the great need is to tease out the common denominators, the bottom line for all, as it were, for all of us of the generation that is coevally alive now, all full of great foreboding and little hope for what looms ahead of us as our common destiny, whether we are of the old, hoary generations or of the generations yet to cut their moral, psychic and ideological milk teeth in response to the crises already confronted or those hovering on the horizon of the present. In these common denominators that will be our starting point in next week’s concluding piece in the series, the things that separate “generation” conceived as a cohort of those of the same approximate age are folded into “generation” conceived as the universal community of all those living at the same time in a nation or in the entire world. As we shall see, there is equal blame and equal inspiration to extrapolate from the experiences of both the old and the young of our society as we confront one the most important statistical figures pertaining to realistic prospects for our national commonweal. This is the fact, compatriots, that the median age for our country is just 19.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

14

Festus Eriye efestus2003@yahoo.com

A

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Comment & Analysis

NYONE who thinks the theatre of the absurd currently playing out at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the acronym ‘APC’ is a freak coincidence, will believe anything. Anyone who believes those most threatened by the opposition dissolving into the All Progressives Congress (APC) are not in some way involved in this circus is naïve beyond belief.

I refer here to the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Forget the bluster, they are worried and are wise to be disturbed. Obviously, you’re not likely to find fingerprints of their national officers plastered all over the grubby application letter of the adulterated APC, when nondescript proxies can execute the task excellently.

Aside the flurry of meetings and caucuses of the PDP in recent weeks, this latest dirty tricks stunt calculated to throw the energised opposition out of their stride, is the best indication yet of how rattled the powers-that-be are. The received notion that certain persons and groups can never work together to challenge the anticipated 60-year PDP hegemony, has bitten the dust. For once, the monster which thought itself invincible is flailing around blindly.

Suddenly, everyone wants to register a political party that will generate the acronym ‘APC.’ Aside the merging opposition parties, the ‘Jankara’ African Peoples’ Congress, a new bunch have turned in a letter at the electoral commission seeking to register something called ‘All Patriotic Citizens.’ The power of imagination displayed by these clowns is simply breathtaking!

This rash of political party formation activity comes against the backdrop of the deregistration, by INEC, in December 2012 of

Adulterated APC and unpardonable sins 28 political parties on grounds of their inactivity and near electoral irrelevance. None of them won a single seat at any level at the 2011 general elections.

Among those consigned to the political wilderness by that action are some of Nigeria’s best known political activists like Balarabe Musa, Olu Falae, Tunji Braithwaite, Dr. Junaid Muhammed, Rev. Chris Okotie to name a few.

While not denying anyone their legal right to seek registration of their wives and children as political parties, the point must be made that such a step bucks the emerging trend.

In a competitive environment where familiar political figures found it difficult to thrive, it is not surprising that the old logic of Nigeria being essentially a two-party state is swiftly evolving into our present day reality.

In this sort of circumstance, it is not credible to expect that any political organisation with serious designs on power will seek to strike out on its own; even worse, do so in the transparently mercenary and bumbling way the fake APCs have gone about the business.

While the mischief is evident for all to see, and while the leaders of the opposition merger vehicle will be foaming at the gills with consternation, the broader worry should be about how low we are sinking into the morass of mediocrity.

Whichever political ‘strategists’ are pushing the adulterated APC operation deserve to be fired. If the best they can come up with to counter the threat of the new opposition grouping is the silly trick of denying them use of a particular name or acronym, then they deserve to be pitied. The parties could always pick another name that will resonate even better with the populace.

Someone is probably wondering what all the fuss about the name is. You need to have

hung around politicians to know why. What may seem trifling to the rest of us carries grave implications where they are concerned.

A typical politician understands that a huge chunk of the electorate – the ones who actually queue in the sun for hours to vote – are largely not too well-educated. So there is the need to keep things very simple for these kinds of voters. So they pick a name or acronym that will, for instance, place them at the top of the ballot paper.

That way they can explain to the simpleminded that their party – Action Alliance – is right at the top of the ballot paper. ‘It’s the very first box; you can even thumbprint it blindfolded.’

Notice that in this fight over names and acronyms, there is no discussion of solutions to the challenges confronting Nigeria. That is because those sorts of matters don’t decide who wins elections in Nigeria. People go through the motions of campaigning, but they know that in the end what will count is how well you have deployed financial resources to get out the vote, or how well you’ve deployed your master riggers to fix the elections.

So rather than beginning to engage the new threat on the basis of what they would do differently, we are stuck in the quick sand of ruling party officials trying to trip up their rivals in the vain hope that it will make them go away.

But that is not going to happen.

What is emerging now is a clear pointer that the elections of 2015 will be more of the same: a rigging contest - full of dirty tricks and uncontrollable violence.

Of course, INEC might still do the right thing and register those who have presented themselves to the world since early February using the name All Peoples Congress and the ‘APC’ acronym. But even if they choose to do

“The opposition needs to quickly get its head out of the clouds and realise that PDP is not going to hand over power on a platter. If they are going down, they will do so making an almighty racket. They will employ dirtier tricks than the current APC stunt, and invent new ones that are not already in the books. Put simply: 2015 will be war”

what the typical Nigerian institution will do, and register any of these other fly-by-night outfits, there will be important lessons for the opposition to learn, and grave implications for the credibility of the electoral commissions as an impartial arbiter.

The opposition needs to quickly get its head out of the clouds and realise that PDP is not going to hand over power on a platter. If they are going down, they will do so making an almighty racket. They will employ dirtier tricks than the current APC stunt, and invent new ones that are not already in the books. Put simply: 2015 will be war.

The Unpardonable

N

O one can accuse President Goodluck Jonathan of not being full of surprises.

The nation is still reeling from his decision to pardon former Bayelsa State Governor, D. S. P. Alamieyeseigha for his wrongdoings whilst in office.

Prominent lawyers have assured us that the President was within his rights to do what he has done. His political advisers had ordered us all to quit making a fuss – after all Alams has shown remorse and returned everything he took.

Frankly, I don’t see why busybodies are going on and on. The Americans have even intervened – expressing their dismay that the pardon represented a backward step in the antigraft war. I expect a press statement from Aso Villa shortly telling them in no uncertain terms to stick their noses somewhere else.

I take the position that if God in His mercies can forgive us our sins on a daily basis, there’s nothing wrong in the President cleansing his benefactor and mentor of his sins against the state.

My only point of cavil is that by pardoning only Alams amongst past convicted looters, he has worsened the ongoing marginalisation of the five other geo-political zones in the country. But he can remedy that with next year’s list – on the cusp of the crucial 2015 polls. That will be political genius!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Comment & Analysis

15

Presidential jailbreak The President's pardon for men of corrupt past undermines EFCC and encourages official sleaze

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OR President Goodluck Jonathan it was another low in the country’s annals when on Tuesday he approved presidential pardon for some Very Important Personality ex-convicts. Prominent among these was Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former Governor of Bayelsa State. Others included Gen Oladipo Diya, the Chief of General Staff during the reign of military dictator Gen Sani Abacha, who was accused of coup plotting; former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Mr. Shettima Bulama, who was also convicted of fraud; former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, the late Gen Musa Yar’Adua; former Minister of Works, the late Maj.-Gen Abdulkareem Adisa, who was also found culpable in the alleged coup that landed Diya in prison. Others included ex-Major Bello Magaji, Mohammed Lima Biu and former Major Segun Fadipe.

No doubt the constitution permits the president the privilege of granting such pardon, after consultation with the National Council of State (NCS). Specifically, section 175 (1) of the constitution says that the president may (a) grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; (b) grant to any person a respite, either for an indefinite or for a specified period, of the execution of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence ; (c) substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; or (d) remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the State on account of such an offence.

Questions ought to have been asked about why soldiers who were convicted for plotting to overthrow the government of General Abacha should be pardoned.

But, that, too, is covered by the constitution. Subsection 3 of Section 175 covers persons concerned with offences against the army, naval or air force law, or convicted or sentenced by a court-martial. However, in all the cases, it could not have been the intention of those who drafted the constitution that the prerogative would be so recklessly abused. It is assumed that whoever occupies the presidential seat will pardon deserving persons like prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in the overall national interest. At any rate, Nigerians seem not too interested in the pardon for the coup plotters as they

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OLITICAL debates are hitting for the 2015 presidential elections.

Opinions are divided among regions, political divides and individuals in the country.

Ndigbo are the most affected in these un-organised debates.

Bystanders are watching some Ndigbo make a mess of their people in a disgusted manner.

Many of them, who are in the employ of the present government, want continuity, whereas others in and out of the government want the president to come from the Igbo extraction, in the next election.

To a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, it would be unfair if the president of the country does not come from Igbo in 2015.

Kalu buys into the debate that Igbo must produce the president of this country in 2015; he has floated an organisation called Njiko Igbo in that regard. Njiko Igbo is his project aimed at uniting Ndigbo for this task. His insight into this project speaks positively as a politician, influential businessman and founding member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). His love for Ndigbo and the unity of Nigeria is unquestionable; he is incessantly travelling out of the country to seek for Igbo unity and attract investors into Nigeria.

As a country that is rated in the comity of nations as developing, Kalu believes that

are in those convicted for corruption probably because the Abacha government itself was not a product of a democratic process. Hence, the focus is on Mr Bulama and, more important, Chief Alamieyeseigha.

We acknowledge that it is not in all cases that such a pardon is popular, but never in our wildest imagination could we have seen Chief Alamieyeseigha as a beneficiary of such magnanimity. This was a man elected Governor of Bayelsa State in 1999, and was re-elected in 2003 for a second term but could not complete the term as he was arrested for money laundering in the United Kingdom in September 2005. At the time of his arrest, the Metropolitan Police found about £1m in cash in his London home. He was alleged to have disguised as a woman and jumped bail in the United Kingdom (although he has denied this) and returned home in December of the same year (2005). Public outcry compelled the state’s House of Assembly to remove him from office, preparatory to his prosecution and conviction.

This paved the way for the then deputy governor, Goodluck Jonathan, to become governor.

But discerning Nigerians must have seen this pardon coming. Chief Alamieyeseigha has been too cosy with the seat of power. This in itself is reprehensible, but that is for a government that has a modicum idea of what is decent and what is not. As a matter of fact, President Jonathan recently described the former governor as his ‘political benefactor’. This may be true given the accident of history that brought both of them together. But if the intention is to rehabilitate a former boss, there are better ways to do that than by ridiculing the entire nation in the eye of right-thinking members of the international community, by granting such a convicted felon whose crime extended beyond the country’s borders, presidential pardon.

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

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

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

We wonder what the Jonathan administration is teaching by such a precedent. As far as we are concerned, anyone who does not want to get wet ought not to go near the brook; in the same vein, anyone who cannot live with the stigma of ex-convict for life should respect the eighth commandment, ‘thou shalt not steal’. The pardon is a big blow to a country that is under the firm grips of corruption. It is unfortunate that the Jonathan administration is fighting corruption in reverse.

Since the president took the decision with the Council of State, he cannot be accused of committing an illegality.

But the morality of the decision is one that will haunt his administration and some of the ex-convicts, especially, Chief Alamieyeseigha, for long. The president abused the grand prerogative of his authority and demystified the grandeur of his position’s moral dignity.

He has encouraged a cycle of immorality, which says a person in office can commit a moral outrage and expect the shining generosity of presidential forgiveness. It implies that we have officially deployed forgiveness for the service of criminality.

If he compels his mercies to pardon soldiers, how do we place a name like Beko Ransome-kuti beside those of the former Bayelsa State governor and the ex-banker Bulama. Beko stood for a high idea with the heroic flavour and potential of martyrdom. But the other two represented the vile and base conducts of a drifting society. Clearly, if there were pardons, they were unequal. The one shames the other.

In a country wanton with corruption, the show of mercy is tainted and subverted. The quality of mercy has been strained. A friend and former subordinate turns the lofty principle of the prerogative of mercy to save a friend and former boss. It is not only cronyism but also nepotism.

Corruption cannot be more vile.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seems unnecessary and its efforts to corral the corrupt among us futile with this slew of pardons.

It will take some time for Nigerians to recover from the rude shock of the uncommon generosity. But if Chief Alamieyeseigha and Bulama could be pardoned, we see no reason why there should be anyone behind bars in this country for fraud or corruption. So, in the interest of fairness, the gates of our prisons should be flung open for such prisoners so they can ‘go but steal no more’. That is the least we can learn from a government that says it is not corrupt but most of its actions point in the direction that its hands are too soiled to fight corruption.

LETTERS

Auctioneers and buyers of Igbo Presidency country. In an interview, one of the auctioneers of Igbo presidency to other regions in Nigeria come 2015, a woman from the South-East, said that what she knew was that 2015 is a mirage for the Igbo, because Nigeria has an incumbent (president) and that he may run for a second term.

“Even if the president says he will not go for second term, I’m not sure that northerners will agree that an Igbo should go.

Let’s plan for 2019, which is more realistic,” she said.

It is very unfortunate that someone who is known as a politician from the South-East can condescend that low, by be-

Ndigbo should not relax on their oars and watch the political events of the country being handled by people from other regions of the country as from time to time; Ndigbo should be able to identify political opportunities for their engagement and growth. He believes that politics has become a key focus of Nigerians.

This is already 2013 and what Nigerians continue to read in the newspapers and listen to on the Radio and TV are cases of official monumental fraud among the ruling class instead of records of breakthroughs in develop-

mental strides that need urgent attention. Any group or person from Igbo can say what he or she likes but one thing remains open: Kalu works with his conscience. He has often said it that Njiko Igbo is not going to fight any opposing agenda of this grand move to actualise an Igbo Presidency. Kalu would say, “We are only negotiating and begging to see that justice is done.”

Ndigbo cannot be fulfilled in Nigeria once the continuous relegation of them is orchestrated as their fate not to clinch the exalted office of the president of the

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On Jonathan’s untold one-term pact

HE Nation on Sunday’s story on President Jonathan’s one-term pact published on March 19, 2013 is no idle talk. But the crucial question is what has President Jonathan got to show as his credential for wanting to go for another term? To me, and many Nigerians, he has got nothing to show.

Another issue is PDP’s assumption that it can win the next general election with or without Jonathan. The truth is that the people of Nigeria at home and abroad are fed up with the rate at which the cof-

fer of the nation is being looted with impunity at the federal level. Billions of naira is spent with nothing to show for it.

President Jonathan merely believes in parading names in his cabinet and most of them are expired both in performance and credibility.

Nigerians are being ridiculed at the international borders because of the lack of performance of our government at the federal level. Nothing

works here; electricity is replaced with generators, roads are crying for repairs, hospitals are not functioning, education system are in shamble.

What shall we say about security? It does not exist anywhere.

The truth must be said, it is not only President Jonathan that Nigerians are fed up with; his party PDP has overstayed its usefulness. Nigerians know who they want. At this juncture, credit needs to be

coming an apologist of northerners. She forgot that the northerners had held power for uninterrupted 35yrs! This is against the grains; those persons from other ethnic groups who have ruled Nigeria for years do not have two heads.

We should believe in the possibility of an Igbo presidency in 2015, and start building bridges of dialogue and form strong partnerships across any warring opinions.

Many are of the opinion that this Njiko Igbo project is feasible. Many dignitaries from other tribes are also aligning with this vision, a fact that has

given to Prof. Atahiru Jega for conducting the last election with tolerable errors and mistakes. The fear most people now have is if he will be able to perform better.

And is it possible “for he who plays the piper not to dictate the tune?” This is why we need to use the biometric register and to prevent Kenya’s experience. And if Kenya did it with some little errors what excuse shall we have for not using it bet-

buttressed that Njiko Igbo is breaking any cultural and political barriers that had held Ndigbo down for ages, and is making sure that other regions see reason why there should be an Igbo presidency in 2015.

It is, however, imperative to say that no matter all the auctioneers that have surrounded this Igbo presidency project because of their personal political lucre in this present government, Kalu who has bought the idea of Igbo presidency should continue to put in his best forward, and should not mind those voices begging for the Igbo presidency beyond 2015.

Ndigbo should not beg for the presidency because they do not signify weakness both spiritually and otherwise.

Odimegwu Onwumere, Aba, Abia State. ter? We will have no excuse, and it is biometric register that can prevent the avoidable fracas that would want to rear its head. Not only that it would also prevent fracas of unimaginable dimension, but it is the only way to keep the country together.

Nigeria is greater than anybody’s ambition. Therefore, let personal interest be shelved for the unity of Nigeria.

By Rev. Christopher Lekan Alawode

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16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Comment & Analysis

Our amnesty and pardon culture Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

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WO words are rife today in political governance and public communication in our country. Both are words that are used by powerful men to give the impression of solving fundamental problems in the country.

These words represent policies that the federal government in particular believes can put an end to some of the basic challenges facing the country's security-economic, political, and physical. In consonance with the proverbial Nigeria Factor, these words quickly assume magical powers capable of serving as panacea to all problems. The words are Amnesty and Pardon.

When the youths of Niger Delta chose to carry arms to reinforce their leaders' demand for economic justice some years back, the federal government came up with amnesty as the way to end a long-standing problem. Niger Delta militants that were fighting for more revenue to oil-producing states and communities were persuaded to receive special stipends in lieu of what should have come to compensate the Niger Delta for ecological disaster spawned by oil drilling and gas flaring. Unlike the political demands of Niger Delta leaders that were ignored for years, the militants were assuaged with amnesty

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

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IKE the evil that men do, the good also live after them. So it is with the elementary school teacher who made the greatest impact on me and whose corporeal bastinado, once inflicted on the soles of my feet, I shall never forget. That story is told anon.

Keen to know him?

Please come with me as I introduce the late Chief Festus Olorunsola Fajana, through the eyes of his erstwhile bosses. Of him, Chief J.B.C Adetola, his Headmaster at St Paul's Anglican School, Odo-Ado, Ado-Ekiti, wrote "Festus, a very loving student of mine who became one of my very loving and amiable friends. He was loyal, dedicated, trustworthy and honest; Papa A.A Abiodun, the unforgettable Headmaster of Emmanuel senior primary school, Ado Ekiti , never known to spare the rod wrote: "Festus Fajana until last year December was a pupil of Emmanuel primary school, Ado Ekiti, under me.

He was the school senior prefect a post always entrusted to the most reliable boy‌". His Principal, and later, Regional Minister , Chief J.E. Babatola said: "Festus Fajana attended the Ekiti Divisional Training Teacher College Ikere Ekiti, when I was the Principal.

He was a stolid character and a kindhearted man who won the confidence of both staff and students. As a result of his remarkable display of good sense I made him the College Senior Prefect in his final year and he discharged the duties of the office creditably'. That was not all, as Prince Owolabi, my own Headmaster at the United School, Are-

Having to pardon Alamieyeseigha for his role in the Niger Delta suggests that we may need to do the same thing for Onanafe Ibori if he too chooses as an Urhobo leader to help prevent young people in Delta State from stopping the flow of petroleum. payments, special scholarships, and occasional contracts to high-profile militants. For Niger Delta militants to qualify for amnesty payments, they were asked to hand over their guns to federal government agents in exchange for forgiveness for attempting to disrupt the flow of oil.

Of course, the issue of economic justice to the Niger Delta remains unsolved after granting of amnesty to militants who agreed to surrender their weapons.

Shortly after implementation of amnesty payments to thousands of militants, a new group emerged in the North, Boko Haram (Western education is sin). This group hit the ground harder than Niger Delta militants. Boko Haram has for about two years acted as terrorists in every sense of the word, killing innocent Nigerians and non-Nigerians. In response to Boko Haram, high-profile Nigerians are calling for amnesty as a way to restore peace and security to the country.

The case for amnesty has been built on mass poverty and illiteracy in the North: the birth-place of Nigeria's foremost terrorist group. It is being suggested that empowering and educating the masses in the North will pacify Boko Haram warriors and end the culture of terror in the country.

The belief that amnesty has solved the problem of the Niger Delta must have influenced the thinking of leaders who now believe that amnesty would also end the challenges created by Boko Haram. Amnesty as panacea to the country's problems focuses not on

resolution of conflict but on assuaging the feelings of individuals by giving them material inducement to abandon the cause that led to physical struggle against the Nigerian state. It does not matter to proponents of amnesty as panacea to Nigeria's social problems if those given amnesty actually change their orientation or if the cause that led to militancy or terrorism that is to be doused by amnesty is addressed. Apart from President Jonathan's statement that he is not ready to negotiate with ghosts, he too seems to believe that amnesty is an option for his government to end the security challenge posed

by Boko Haram. Having been a part of the government that used amnesty to address the demands of Niger Delta militants, it is not surprising that the President thinks that amnesty is an option to change the minds of Boko Haramists, once they show their faces.

It is, therefore, surprising that the presidency is using the pardon of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to warn the country that amnesty given to Niger Delta militants has addressed just symptoms rather than cause. Giving official pardon to Alamieyeseigha is, according to the presidency, in the interest of Nigeria's economy: "Alamieyeseigha is a foremost leader of the Ijaw nation, and his political and stabilising influence in that region has impacted positively on the overall economy of the nation, bringing crude oil exports from the abysmally low level of 700,000bpd to over 2.4 million

bpd, ‌Therefore, it is obvious that, Alamieyeseigha has been a major player since his release from prison in ensuring that the blood that runs through the artery of the Nigerian economy is not cut off."

The import of the statement above is that President Jonathan needs to pardon Alamieyeseigha, to prevent the country's oil-dependent economy from dying. In other words, the first governor of Bayelsa must have been helpful in ending the fight of militants against Nigeria before the adoption of the policy of amnesty. We are also being told that, without Alamieyeseigha's freedom to interact with Niger Delta militants, the flow of oil may be stopped, with the consequence of killing what holds the country together: uninterrupted flow of petroleum. The presidency is unequivocal about letting Nigerians know that President Jonathan is doing Nigeria a big favour by giving his former boss official pardon. The fact that Alamieyeseigha was convicted for crime against the state is no longer as important as the role that he can play in ensuring that militants in the Niger Delta are kept at bay.

From the role the presidency claims that Alameyeseigha is playing to keep the country's economy afloat, it is clear that even the over cited amnesty has not worked. If anything, it has only addressed the symptom of the problem that led youths to carry arms against the state for neglecting the oil-producing states of the Niger Delta. In addition, the fear that new militants

Remembering my teacher Pa Festus Fajana 15 years after his translation Pa Fajana, solid and gregarious, was a kind and jolly person.

Afao, Ekiti, where Pa Fajana taught me, and who would later become the Oluyin of Iyin -Ekiti wrote: "Mr. F.O Fajana had been a teacher, trained and certificated, under me for a period of one year. He is honest and diligent" but the following must be the icing on the cake: J.A Adeokun, his Headmaster at St Louis Anglican School, IkereEkiti, wrote on 22nd November 1961: "He is reputed to combine certain evident qualities like a keen sense of diligence, honesty and tact; he is ambitious and dynamic, a real leader: responsible and cultured; but to be moderate in the issue of this recommendation, one should be constrained to leave the applicant for a further character study to prove the veracity of my honest recommendation.�

As to the veracity of his recommendation, Pa Adedokun can rest easy in his grave because nobody who ever knew my teacher would doubt any of his words. Nor was this surprising as he had been brought up in the strict orthodoxy of an Anglican, at the homes of both Chief James Ajibade, the first Baba Egbe of St. Paul's church, Odo Ado, and that of Rev. Obaweya of Igede Ekiti; was baptized on 7th July 1947 by Rev. Canon Adeyinka and confirmed in a Eucharist liturgy celebrated by the Very Revd. S.O Odutola, in 1953.

Besides his Christian upbringing, my teacher born, 14th April 1928 to Pa Ayegbusi Fajana and Madam Abigail Ibidunt Alege was a scion of the redoubtable Aremo Ogunbiyi Agoketorunse whose dynastic origin dated back to the pre- Ewi era and is believed to be the only cabinet chief who does not prostrate before the Ewi.

His own father, Ayegbusi Fajana, an intrepid hunter, was reputed to have killed not only warthogs, but also Buffalos and Leopards and had special 'ijala ode' and panegyrics sung for him.

Late Papa Festus Fajana, a professional teacher, capped his professional training with a stint at the University of Lagos where he studied Pre-school and Nursery Education. He once toyed with the idea of joining the Nigerian police but he quickly dropped the idea and stayed put with his first love teaching -where he touched and molded thousands of lives, amongst them today are professors, medical doctors, accountants, administrators, lawyers etc, as he taught in various towns dating back to the old Western Region.

It was at one of these various towns, Are-Ekiti, my home town, where he arrived in '58 that I was privileged to be one of his favourite pupils.

The story can now be told of that totally strange bastinado. Pa Fajana had believed that if none of his final year pupils would head straight to secondary school, Oluwafemi Orebe would.

I then took the entrance examination to one secondary school which I passed, but did not attend the interview as it fell on the same date with the entrance examination of another school which I preferred. He did not know this until the interview results were out and I did not go to him to report my 'success'. He was livid, but didn't think twice. He asked late Major Bayo Olorunfemi, a classmate, to fetch him a sturdy cane. At my outstretched hand, he laughed and asked

me to raise up my right leg while the same Olorunfemi and another boy held me up, to receive six strokes on the sole of that foot. However, I knew it was out of love, and concern, and so never begrudged my teacher.

Pa Fajana, solid and gregarious, was a kind and jolly person and was very much loved in the twin towns that co-owned our school. He became much more famous when he became the Headmaster on the departure of Papa Owolabi to ascend to the throne of his fathers at Iyin-Ekiti. He was among the most popular teachers of my era as a primary school pupil in my town, in the same league with Headmaster Akeredolu, Aketi's father, who was astonishingly handsome and popular..

On retirement from teaching, Pa Fajana went fully into the service of his community. Among other things he was Proprietor, Ita Eku Community School, Secretary, Ado-Ekiti Anglican Parish, member, governing council, Ado Grammar School, Executive Officer, Board of Pensioners, AdoEkiti and Chairman, Ifelere Thrift and Co-operative Society.

He joined the Saints Triumphant on 19th of March 1998, survived by children and grandchildren who can justifiably be proud in the imperishable legacies he left behind.

Adieu, my worthy and unforgettable teacher who, we are comforted, is resting at the feet of his Lord and Master, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

OF POLICE COMMISSIONER YINKA BALOGUN (Rtd) Police Commissioner Yinka Balogun (rtd), the dashing, one-time nemesis of Nigerian fraudsters, as Head of the SFU division of the Nigeria Police, is a gentleman in, and out of, uniform. Recently retired as the helmsman

may spring up if Alameyeseigha is not given the freedom and respect to rein in potential militants suggests that amnesty is not an effective way to respond to calls for justice in the Niger Delta. It is also conceivable that if amnesty is given to Boko Haram terrorists, it may not work beyond bribing terrorists temporarily to abstain from violence.

The right approach to solving problems is to face the cause and not symptoms of such problems, as we have done in the last few years.

We threw money at Niger Delta militants but failed to put an end to demands for principle of derivation.

Instead, we were able to pay off militants at work at that time without having any way of preventing other younger people from becoming militants, thus having to need perpetually the service of Alamieyeseigha to ensure the flow of petroleum. We are also being encouraged to give amnesty to Boko Haramists, without ensuring that they denounce their desire to extend Sharia all over Nigeria; their hate of Christians in a multi-religious and multiethnic country; and the sect's opposition to Western education or civilisation, the origin of Nigeria itself.

We will not be able to fight corruption if we have to pardon corrupt politicians for being in a position to appease militants, just as we may not be able to fight religious bigotry if we only choose to give amnesty to citizens that have waged war against the Nigerian state and its citizens. Having to pardon Alamieyeseigha for his role in the Niger Delta suggests that we may need to do the same thing for Onanafe Ibori if he too chooses as an Urhobo leader to help prevent young people in Delta State from stopping the flow of petroleum. The federal government needs to address problems frontally instead of treating symptoms. at the Edo State Police command, we became instant friends as soon as we were introduced to each other by Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Executive Governor of Ekiti State from where Yinka headed to Edo, prior to his glorious retirement from service. As a result of space constraint, not much can be written here of this genial gentleman who was once strongly rumoured to succeed Nuhu Ribadu as Chairman of the anti-graft agency, EFCC. Suffice it then to recall only two of the sterling commendations Nigerians have been heaping on this exemplar of a police officer: 'I believe you must have been watching on the Channels TV, the pictures of the dilapidated structures at the Police College. Ikeja,. May be the other Police Colleges in Nigeria are also in similar parlous state. I will always remember the legacy of excellence you left at all Police formations you headed in Lagos, Abuja, Ekiti and Edo states before your honourale retirement from service. How I wish you had headed one or two Police Colleges in the country. I am sure you would have applied your usual Midas touch to transform them to beautiful places to behold and the policemen who passed through your tutelage/discipline would have profoundly made our nation proud.

Nigeria is the loser that a disciplined, honest, patriotic and highly cerebral officer like you did not become IGP'.

And this one: ''Shame on us! Tears roll down in my heart when I remember all the efforts to put things back on track, especially police, ICPC and EFCC. I am still in shock you did not become the Chair of EFCC or Head of Police Academy. I am honoured to be your friend'.

The trail-blazing Lagos State, if not Nigeria, will need the services of this cerebral -an author - very experienced gentleman, in its totally commendable and continuing efforts at securing the life and property of its citizenry. Over then to the indefatigable 'Class Captain' who I know is reading this. And congratulations on that which President Clinton has perceptively described as 'an ingenious engineering feat' -The Eko Atlantic Project.

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Tunji

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

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N a time like this, Nigerians will always remember the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. If Fela were alive, he would have dedicated a special album to the uncommon presidential pardon granted Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former Governor of Bayelsa State, on March 12. Chief Alamieyeseigha, for the record, is an ex-convict. I guess the lyric of Fela’s release would be something like this: Fela: Alams, you jumped bail; Alams: Yes, I jumped bail; Fela: Alams, you be thief; Alams: Yes I be thief, but the government say I no be thief; Fela: Alams, you corrupt; Alams: Yes, but the government say I no corrupt; Fela: You disguised as a woman in the UK to jump bail; Alams: em.. em.. that one get as e be, but em … em… e no be true, etc.

Never mind the fact that Fela is now dead, the truth is that he left behind powerful messages, some of which have proved him to be one of the greatest prophets Nigeria never anointed.

Fela was a prophet. He died August 2, 1997, that was 15 years before. But we should not forget his ‘Government magic’. President Jonathan’s pardon for Chief Alamieyeseigha is one such magic. Since we cannot analyse the pardon because it defies logic, the kind that only the President and his colleagues in the National Council of State (NCS) understand, then it must eminently qualify as magic; precisely, government magic.

Of course, Chief Alamieyeseigha

Ex-convict in our hearts Presidential pardon for Alamieyeseigha is confounding was not the only ex-convict pardoned by the President; he only happened to be the most celebrated. And we should understand why. Chief Alamieyeseigha is not only from the President’s home state of Bayelsa, he is also President Jonathan’s ‘political benefactor’. So, we cannot put him in the same category as Mr. Shettima Bulama, an ordinary former Managing Director of Bank of the North. Other ex-convicts pardoned included Gen Oladipo Diya, the Chief of General Staff during the reign of military dictator Gen Sani Abacha, former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Mr. Shettima Bulama, who was also convicted of fraud; former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, the late Gen Musa Yar’Adua; former Minister of Works, the late Maj.-Gen Abdulkareem Adisa, who was also found culpable in the alleged coup that landed Diya in prison. Others included ex-Major Bello Magaji, Mohammed Lima Biu and former Major Segun Fadipe.

As we know, even ex-convicts have category. An ex-convict Bulama would put his mouth in what a friend calls ‘permanent position of shut up’ when his senior ex-convict in the person of Chief Alamieyeseigha is talking.

But my understanding of presiden-

tial pardon is that it is usually for prisoners of conscience or political prisoners. But to grant such to common thieves similar to the one on the left side of Jesus on the Cross is, to say the least, disgusting. This was the same Alamieyeseigha who jumped bail in the UK where he was held for alleged money laundering. He ran back home and expected to triumphantly return to his seat as governor but for public outcry. Those saying he did plea bargaining and forfeited most of the ill-gotten wealth to the government missed the point. Alamieyeseigha did not do that on his own volition; he had no choice at the time he did. At any rate, it was not as if he was penitent; he even said he did not want to contest that decision then because age was no longer on his side. In other words, he never admitted he stole. So, why are they now ‘calling dog monkey ’ for us, as if we were not all living witnesses to this shameful episode? Indeed, this is the reason why I am pained. The President did not have to explain why he pardoned Alamieyeseigha; after all, he once told us that he did not ‘give a damn’ about his declaration of assets!

It is unfortunate that Doyin Okupe, the President’s special assistant on public affairs, confused us the more, rather

“This is the same president who said he cannot grant amnesty to ghosts, but is now granting presidential pardon to common thieves. Does that tell us anything about the government, and by extension the ruling party? Remember, just about three weeks ago, one of their anointed who should know said their party harbours more Judases than genuine disciples. Isn’t this a vindication of that assertion?”

than convince us, when on Wednesday the government found its voice, through him, to defend the indefensible. He spoke about the President taking the decision alongside the NCS as if the people in the council are not Nigerians that we already know. Whenever we talk of the NCS and try to make an issue of it, I laugh. I laugh for the same reason that Okupe gave while defending the presidential pardon, that the council consists of some of the country’s ‘most distinguished personalities who could not have been mistaken in its action’. The question I have always asked myself is, why are we like this if really these people taking these essential decisions on our behalf are truly ‘some of the country’s most distinguished personalities’? If they are of impeccable wisdom as Okupe and others like him want us to believe, they all would not have slept facing the same direction on a matter as contentious as the one under consideration. The very fact that the matter has generated this heated debate nationwide is enough dent on the wisdom of their decision and it probably shows that we have always overrated them, or they have always overrated themselves.

So, how is what the President did different from the judiciary which frees high profile criminals in the country only for them to get their comeuppance abroad? If government could set Alamieyeseigha free, why do we blame people who invade our jail houses with the intention of setting free those held there? Has President Jonathan ever considered the effect of this particular pardon on the country’s image abroad?

Now, government officials would be blaming journalists and people who see nothing good in the country when the backlash comes, without being honest

17

enough to accept that it (government) is responsible for the negative image because of these kinds of decisions. With a decision as this, how would President Jonathan feel in the company of world leaders when next he travels out? This is the same President who said he cannot grant amnesty to ghosts, but is now granting presidential pardon to common thieves. Does that tell us anything about the government, and by extension the ruling party? Remember, just about three weeks ago, one of their anointed who should know said their party harbours more Judases than genuine disciples. Isn’t this a vindication of that assertion? The same President Jonathan who is now compassionate when the matter affects one of his own has kept a judge of repute out of his office for months for no just cause, even after the National Judicial Council that rightly or wrongly took the matter to him has said the man is without blemish.

I can live with the pardon granted those accused and convicted of coup plotting. After all, coup plotting can only be illegal in a democratic setting.

The Abacha government that Diya and others were accused of plotting to overthrow was in itself an illegality. In case we have forgotten, a court pronounced its precursor, the Interim National Government, that much. At any rate, many of us were sad about the coup, phantom or real, that they said Diya and others planned, for the simple reason that it failed; thus denying Nigeria the noble service of terminating a government that was unwanted at home and distrusted abroad.

All said, if this is what the PDP wants to continue doing and still hope to return to power in 2015, then the party has a lot to contend with. As I have always noted, a fowl that is excreting in a pot is merely spoiling its final resting place. President Jonathan might have had his way on the pardon for Alamieyeseigha, but we will continue to have our say. Chief Alamieyeseigha remains an ex- convict in our hearts.

And that is what is most important.

Postscript, Between amnesty and state pardon...

Unlimited! I hope I will not soon be telling any FRSC man who stops me, the governBy

Oyinkan Medubi 07057012862 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

I

HOPE I will not soon be telling any FRSC man who stops me, the government is giving amnesty to killers and pardoning plunderers and you are holding me for answering a phone call in traffic?

Not long ago, I wrote that the Maina saga of N195 billion had got to be the limit my shock absorbing system can take, cause I thought how much else was there? Plenty more, it seems. Since then, my system has reverberated from the shock of many more high voltages. For instance, I found that you can cook an entire cow in the microwave; you can walk to Timbuctoo without the aid of a camel; a deaf and dumb can sing on Broadway, my dog can stand on his hind legs and dance to music, and yes, yes, yes, the government can grant pardons to state plunderers. Anything after that, as they say, is cheesecake. I mean, when you think you've heard it all, something bigger comes along, yet, we keep on swallowing our tea, sandwiches and roll-ups of amala. Life goes on, eh?

First came a request from the north that the country grant Boko Haram members amnesty and, like everyone else, the shock of it reverberated right across my teeth. But then, as usual, I recovered in time to think 'Ah ha, Ah ha! Now, we have arrived at exactly where we

ment is giving amnesty to killers and pardoning plunderers and you are holding me for answering a phone call in traffic?

were headed from the start.' It has been obvious to many observers that the northern elites had wanted a replication of the Niger Delta amnesty programme for their own youths in the north for quite a while. However, in creating that organisation, the elites forgot to give the manual of behaviour: do not throw families into needless grief, and do not begin to go after your own. But, here we are, after the group has thrown many families into grief and mourning across the country, they are looking for amnesty, the kind granted in the Niger Delta.

No one needs any crystal glass to see that the activities of the two groups are as different from each other as the north is from the south, but that is not our focus now. Our focus is the use of the word 'amnesty' itself. No, do not fear, I am not about to give you an English lesson, just to point out that the granting of an amnesty to the ND militants in the first place was misplaced.

Clearly, when you take to arms, it is because something is wrong and that is the only way you can point it out, not unless of course you are so taken by consternation as I once was at the sight of a fire that all I could do was gawk like a fish and point at the sight while trying and failing to mouth 'F-f-f-f-f...' So, the government should have reasoned that if there was a problem somewhere, there was the likelihood that there was a problem elsewhere. In other words, it was wrong for the government to have trained its binoculars on just the problem volcano, forgetting that other dormant volcanoes

might just be waiting for the right time to explode.

More importantly, the contents of the amnesty programme itself leave many of us scratching our heads. Why should the government sponsor youths to go abroad to study courses that are available in the country? It amounts to a complete separation of state when one section is given too many handouts, even if that section produces a great deal of the country's resources. It would have been better to translate such awards to social amenities such as schools, effective rail and electricity systems. This would let every section of the country be treated fairly and equally when everyone is given equal access to these privileges. That is good governance.

Bad governance is giving the ND youths monetary gifts, much of which is squandered on licentious living, instead of training them to live worthy lives of work and great achievements. Bad governance is also keeping the ND area underdeveloped and in perpetual darkness while claiming that the area is too difficult a terrain to govern. Yet, the rest of the country enjoys electricity powered by gas from the region. If everyone were to enjoy the commodity equally, no one would feel compelled to cut off the supply since he knows he will also be affected.

Therefore, paying off the restless youths of the ND and failing to develop the region is tantamount to giving sweets to crying children just to keep them quiet. In a while, the sweets will melt off and the crying will resume. It is better to point the

child to the kind of behaviour that can earn him or her as much sweets as he or she can take independently.

Back to the Boko Haram request.

I think we are all inclined to say that the north started the Boko Haram problem, so let them fix it. The truth is that in so many ways, their activities have affected the rest of the country. Many among us can no longer take as much as forty winks of a night; imagine, many are now reduced to taking only thirty-eight or so. Many churches cannot even now pray with their eyes closed but must perpetually watch their gates or place policemen there so that no unwanted visitor comes driving up the wall. Haba, that is just so sacrilegious. So, we cannot wash our hands off them, but a firm answer should be that first and foremost, every drop of innocent blood that has been shed must be accounted for.

However, the government needs to watch out. Soon, the western part of the country will also want the benefits of amnesty, and then the east, and then the middle belt, and then the middle-middle belt, and then the south-south east, and then the south-south-south west, and then the south-southsouth east ... Look, it was wrong for the government to have started the programme in the ND without considering that someday, some others like me would get up and demand their own share. There must be ways of getting off this train though before it crashes. Oh, I forget, it is already crashing. Just look at how Alamieyeseigha was granted state

pardon. And that's the second kettle of fish.

The government just loves fishing in troubled waters, does it not, considering the way it moves from one boiling pot to another? If it is not renaming universities with long standing names, it is granting state pardons to people with whom the country has had long standing grudges. I believe that anyone can be pardoned; I have always believed in second and third and fourth and more chances but please, there is a time for everything. And this is not the most auspicious time for this kind of pardon. Things are too dicey, corruption is irritating everyone's nose and daring all of us to hell, and state functionaries are behaving as if they exist on a different plane and jetting around the world like sparrows. So yes, everyone is sore right now and the atmosphere is as thick and dry as a tinderbox, ready to explode. All it just wants now is for someone to strike a match...

As I said before, my shock absorbing system, and that of the country, appears on the surface to be insensate but I suspect that beneath that thin veneer of invulnerability is a system that can scream, shout and throw tantrums and someday will say enough is enough! I hope I will not have to retort to the next Road Safety man who accosts me for answering the phone in traffic: the federal government is giving amnesty to killers and pardoning plunderers and you are holding me for answering a phone call in traffic? But I won't be alone; I know many of my fellow countrymen will join me.

18

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Comment & Analysis

The groundnut boy and his nation A LLEN Avenue is my regular route when returning home from work.

The traffic there is crazy. I have alternative routes but they are worse than Allen. On this particular day there was traffic as usual. And there was also a throng of peddlers showcasing their items: wrist watches, recharge cards, belts, magazines, garden eggs, pure and bottled water, groundnuts, pirated CDs and DVDs etc.

I like talking to child hawkers. I want to know few things about them particularly about their education. So, this day, I saw one selling roasted groundnuts in bread-size nylon. One parcel costs only N50. He was sitting on the median with his groundnut tray beside him. I did not initially notice his mood. I asked him if he sells groundnuts after returning from school or if he does not go to school at all.

He nodded his head slowly. I asked two questions in one. I did not know which of them he was nodding to. The traffic was at a standstill. I had the time to make further enquiries. It was at this time that he raised his head. I saw that his eyes were wet. He must have cried silently and wiped the tears off with the piece of cloth in his hand. I noticed it and I asked him why he was crying. Because of the pranks I had played while I was a child hawker in my childhood days, I was expecting him to say he had lost the proceeds he made for that day.

I was shocked and moved to tears by his response. He was crying because according to him, he had not sold a single parcel of groundnuts since he came out to the streets. I did not ask him when he came out but my conversation with him was around 7.30pm. The traffic was still at a standstill. I had to quickly ruminate on what kind of kindergarten reflections would have caused the boy to cry because he had not sold one parcel out of the several parcels of groundnuts in his tray. My spontaneous response was to buy N300 worth of groundnuts from him. He was elated. You could see the smile on his face.

The smile was comforting to me too. I gave him another N500 to give to his parents.

The first N300 was for his emotional attachment to his groundnut business while theN500 was an unsolicited donation for the family.

This is not a morality script or an allegorical narrative. It happened for real just few days ago on my way back from office.

I want to state unequivocally that it was cruel and wicked of the government whose responsibility it is to protect the rights of the child to have exposed him to a simpatico situation that was making him to cry in the public. What in God’s name was the boy thinking that could have made him to cry: the thought that his parents would beat him if he dared come back without selling anything? The thought that the inability to take something back home would mean no food for him or even the entire family that probably was waiting for the money he would bring before they could eat their dinner? The thought that the world was wicked to him and his family for being subjected to poverty and its dynamics? The thought that God was unfair to have created or deposited him in a poor family when he could have been born in a rich family? The thought that the government is too distant from him and his family? The thought that his survival was no longer assured since the major means of achieving it is under threat? The thought that his education was going to be truncated if he could no longer play his part effectively? The thought of our politicians showing no sympathy to his plight and that of his family? The thought that his family misery and poverty could be as a result of a generational curse plaguing the family? The thought that he and his family are mere statistics in the projections of government? There could be many other reasons.

As far back as 1923, one man called Englantyne Jebb, the founder of save the children, drafted a series of related children’s rights proclamations because he believed that the rights of the child must be protected and enforced. Some of these

• A street hawker

By Dapo Thomas

ideas are worth reiterating here: 1. The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually.

2. The child that is hungry must be fed, the child that is sick must be nursed, the child that is backward must be helped, the delinquent child must be reclaimed and the orphans and waif must be sheltered and succored.

3. The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress.

4. The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood and must be protected against every form of exploitation.

5. The child must be brought up in the consciousness that his talents must be devoted to the service of his fellow men.

It is interesting to know that all these ideas were adopted by the international Save the Children Union in Geneva on 23 February, 1923 and endorsed by the League of Nations General Assembly on 26 November 1924 as the World Child Welfare Charter. This charter finally became international law on September 2, 1990 years after the UN General Assembly adopted a much expanded version of it on November 20, 1959. This date has now been declared and adopted as the Universal Children’s Day. It is a shame that many years after Jebb came up with the children’s rights and almost twenty three years after the adoption of the expanded version by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990, Nigeria still lags behind other civilized nations that have started enforcing this international law. What is even pathetic is the fact that the government that is supposed to enforce the law is the major culprit violating the same law.

The notion that because most of those at the top today once went through a similar experience should not be a justification to turn poverty into a garment of inheritance or baton of relay race. How many of the children of those at the top that went through a similar experience are out there on the streets hawking items of consumption like groundnuts, popcorn and garden eggs or items of entertainment like pirated CDs and DVDs? The government should not simulate helplessness in solving this problem. It can do a lot. How are they doing it in other countries of the world where little boys do not go hawking on the streets? The government can design comprehensive welfare programs for different categories of its socially disabled citizens which would at least guarantee each family the basic meals per day and some form of shelter. If the government could do this, these little children would be saved the trouble of hawking early in the morning or late in the night, and sometimes in harsh weather conditions, in order to sustain or assist

their poor parents in feeding the families at a time they are supposed to be busy with their education.

The solution is not in our leaders celebrating their birthdays at the orphanages or homes of the children with disabilities nor is it going to be solved by the same leaders donating their salaries to the orphanages. I am sure these people appreciate their gesture. However, this kind of annual cultural and political fraternity is not the remedy to their physical and social disability. The government should design a plan that can provide accommodation for those who are socially disabled to have access to facility that can enhance their capacity for development. The billions of naira people are stealing and stashing in their bank accounts will go a long way in solving some of these social problems. But the truth is that the federal government is very insensitive to the social conditions of its citizens hence its unwillingness to offer any form of palliatives that can reduce the burden of lack.

The common wealth of the nation should not be monopolized, appropriated, dominated, controlled, consumed, aggregated and distributed by an avid parasitic and occultic elite of the society to the detriment of the nation’s peasantry. The impression that the contributions of the poor into the national wealth are negligible and insignificant should be dismissed as a heresy because the cumulative efforts of all citizens are what amount to national prosperity. And of course, there is no empirical confirmation of which group or individual contributes more in view of the complexity of determining with accuracy the exact input of an individual or group into the national collective.

I did not collect the boy’s details because I did not want attention to be focused on a single individual when I know there are thousands of them out there in the streets. Our society cannot develop if what we emphasize is selective attention for individual success and elevation and not the political will for communal hospitality and collective development. Besides, I was not ready to turn an innocent and naïve child into a national charity project with politicians and businessmen making hypocritical and unstructured donations for his upkeep and his education.

My first motive was to set up the boy as a template of sort on our national psyche.

And the other objective is simply to alert our leaders about the declining value and apparent diminution of juvenile humanity in our land hoping that with this they can come up with a systematic framework that will define their strategy for halting this drift.

The Jonathan government had told us that we have every cause to celebrate 100 years of our nationhood. But methinks it is uncharitable for a nation to revel in vainglory while its citizen, a little boy of about ten years at that, sits on a median in a busy street in Lagos late in the night crying for lack of patronage for his roasted groundnuts.

I am worried about power that is not being used to advance the cause of decadent humanity. The perception of our leaders about power is curious. They see power as a piece of furniture they have to romanticize with everlasting fascination.

They forget that power is architectured on a duality: eternity and temporality. The former resides in God while man grapples with the latter. Leaders all over the world always want to play god. It is nothing but sheer foolishness that man whose control of power is ephemeral is indulging himself in the fantasy of eternity.

Whatever power our leaders wield is at the discretion of the one who made their ascendancy to fame possible. They should act fast. They should help fast. Time is not on their side. Temporality is not eternal.

There were several before them. They had been consumed in space and by time.

•Thomas, a former Special Adviser to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies at the Lagos State University.

Lekan Otufodunrin Otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net 08023000621 (SMS only)

The limits of pardon

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan seems to like courting unnecessary controversies which keeps denting the image of his government. If not, how can he or his aides justify the surprise state pardon granted the impeached governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha?

From one controversy to the other by him or his ‘born again’ wife, Dame Patience, the President continues to fritter whatever is left of the goodwill he initially enjoyed when he was elected.

He has a way of sometimes leaving many of his sympathisers, including myself, speechless with some of his controversial decisions, which make one to wonder if he really cares about the implications of his actions.

With the various challenges the federal government is battling on all fronts and the need to enjoy the support of as many as possible, the presidential pardon for his former boss, who was convicted for money laundering and other serious corrupt offences in 2007, is uncalled for.

The President must know something we don’t all know to justify the surreptitious manner of getting the Council of State to endorse his hidden agenda of granting the pardon to Alamieyeseigha and others, which some of those present at the meeting are now faulting.

If the president thought he could placate Nigerians by including the names of the former governor under whom he served as deputy along with some retired military officers who were jailed for a phantom coup, on the list of those pardoned, he now knows better.

No amount of defence by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, can convince anyone that the president does not have a personal interest in exercising his right to grant pardon to those who at one time or the other have been punished for an offence against the state.

Okupe has really been at his best churning out all kinds of justification for Alamieyeseigha’s pardon, including the laughable one that the former governor had used his political and stabilising influence in the Niger Delta region to ensure high volume of crude oil export by the country.

The irrepressible spokesman is obviously stretching the truth too far for want of good reasons for the pardon.

Interestingly, Okupe quoted Lord Denning as saying that “the purpose of punishment is not to destroy the offender but to reform him and deter others.”

Alamieyesigha should be grateful that he is not languishing in jail for the offences he committed. Granting him pardon is clearly not the way to reform him or deter others from corrupt practices.

If President Jonathan is really serious about his anti-corruption crusade, he should not have pardoned the former governor, who was convicted for stealing public fund or any other person like the former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Shetima Bulama, who misappropriated bank funds.

Clearly, President Jonathan is very desperate to help his ‘benefactor’ to erase his shameful past records, which explains why military officers who had earlier been granted clemency are now being pardoned.

Time will tell what the real purpose of the pardon for Alamieyesigha is for, but President Jonathan will go down in history as one leader who sacrificed the desire of Nigerians for a corruption-free nation by pardoning his former boss who was found guilty and jailed for corruption.

POLITICS

19

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

•Jonathan

The current politicking over the registration of All Progressives Congress (APC) is part of PDP and Presidency’s multiple counter attacks against the challenge of the progressives, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu

T

HE mandate was finally issued in clear terms: “The coming together of the opposition politicians is too dangerous a development to be ignored. We, as the ruling party, must wake up to the fact that an enemy is working hard to uproot us. So, we have to fight back.”

How the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership would like to handle the current challenge posed by the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) remained merely in the realm of speculation, even to very influential members of the party, until Thursday, March 7, 2013, when the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, in a meeting he hosted in his Wuse 2 residence, spelt out the mandate alleged to have emanated from the topmost hierarchy to members of the National Working Committee.

A source close to the party’s top echelon said the members in that important meeting were clearly informed that PDP has resolved to employ every tool available to checkmate and frustrate progressives

• Buhari

• Tinubu

APC: PDP stages counter attack ahead 2015 general elections. According to the source, the meeting, which reviewed the progress so far made in the party’s reconciliation efforts, emphasized the need to confront the emerging mega party, even as the members were also told of President Goodluck Jonathan’s concern over this development. They were therefore charged to be more responsive to the emerging political challenge.

Before the open mandate The resolve by the presidency to effectively challenge the coming together of the progressives in the All Progressives Congress, according to our investigations, began long before Tukur allegedly briefed members of the party’s National Working Committee the upper week.

We gathered for example that while the initial negotiations for the formation of APC was ongoing, President Goodluck Jonathan insisted that it would collapse as the leaders of the parties involved would soon disagree over crucial aspects of the merger. This

position, according to our source, led the PDP Leadership and the Presidency to ignore the moves until it became almost too late.

The APGA coup “But as soon as the opposition, after the meeting in Lagos, on February announced their decision to merge and become APC, it became obvious that PDP and the Presidency can no longer stay aloof. Something has to be done. The first assignment was to ensure that All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), a party that has cooperated with the PDP-led federal government is not allowed to be misled into following the socalled mega party,” he said.

Chief Uduma Uduma, an APGA chieftain in Abia State, told The Nation that the division in the party over membership of APC was caused by the interest of the presidency and that of President Jonathan’s associates in Anambra State. “APGA would have joined the APC as a body, but some powerful PDP agents in the east worked

hard to creat the current division.”

He alleged that Chief Anyim Pius Anyim of PDP and Governor Peter Obi of APGA led other powerful Igbos to ensure that APGA did not join the merger as a party.

“It’s all in a bid to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 presidential bid,” he said, adding that this has created serious misunderstanding between Chief Victor Umeh and Governor Rochas Okorocha.”

A source confirming this development told The Nation, how a planned meeting between Umeh and Okorocha in Abuja, shortly after the announcement of the birth of APC, was frustrated and how the two have since been working in different ways. He said “The meeting, scheduled to clarify the position of APGA on APC, was stalled because the two could not agree on what would be in the interest of Ndigbo in the emerging political scenario. This was so because right from the beginning, APGA has been manipulated by president’s men.

Explaining why the presidency ensured that APGA did not join as a party, Uduma said, “While the negotiation for the emergence of the mega party was ongoing, presidential political researchers told the leadership of PDP that if APGA is allowed to join as a party, PDP would find it more difficult to win any state in the South-East.” According to him, Jonathan, who desperately needs South-East support as in 2011, cannot afford to allow the merger.”

Resurrection of UPN Investigations show that the alleged plot to ensure that opposition is not united against PDP is not limited to the South-East where APGA is alleged to have been sacrificed. In the South-West, efforts are also being made to divide the progressives. Although the promoters of recent efforts to resurrect Unity Party of Nigeria, will not hear of it, their critics allege they may have been supported by the ruling PDP to seek re-registration to ensure that all progressives in the west do not flock to APC. It would be recalled that in the past week, •Continued on Page 20

20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Politics

Presidency, PDP tackle progressives •Continued from Page 19 reports that Dr Fredrick Fasheun is currently leading other Awoists now in the process of resurrecting UPN graced headlines of some national dailies. According to the report, Fasheun is the chairman of the new group.

Politics of registration The intrigues however peaked recently when Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) suddenly announced that another party, with the same APC acronym has approached it for registration.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, My Kayode Idowu, broke the news when he reportedly told newsmen that a party called African Peoples Congress (APC), has approached the electoral body for registration as a political party.

He did not stop there but was also quoted as denying that All Progressives Congress has approached INEC for registration. “We don’t have any application from the All Progressives Congress with us, as the body is yet to approach us for registration,” he said. He also advised APC to consider change of name to avoid confusion.

This development has since then led to verbal exchanges and name calling, between progressives and PDP and progressives and INEC. One of the leaders of APC and former Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, reacting to the development said the commission is a

•Okorocha

cesspool of corruption.

Spokesmen of the merging parties in the All Progressives Congress have challenged INEC and stated in clear terms hat they will not change the name of the mega party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the

Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, first explained the position of the mega party when he said the three merging parties have written the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the sudden emergence of African Peoples Congress to scuttle their merger.

According to him, “the procedure for the merger of political parties is different from registration, making the proxy APC no threat to the merging parties.

He said ACN, ANPP and CPC have complied with the Electoral Act to make INEC ignore the proxy APC.” In a statement Mohammed also said “The statement credited to Mr. Idowu is therefore reckless and provocative and clearly betrays INEC as truly having merged with the PDP to frustrate the merger of the progressives under the banner of the All Progressives’ Congress.

The ACN said, “In this case the applicants on behalf of the African Peoples Congress, the clients of Legal World Chambers, have not submitted any of the documents stipulated by the constitution to INEC. They have only written a letter of intent and therefore INEC could not have issued them any letter of acknowledgment, let alone starting the process of verifying the documents.

“At this point, they cannot even be regarded as applicants. Why then did INEC through its spokesperson gleefully go to the media to proclaim that another political association has applied to be registered as African Peoples Congress using the same ac-

ronym APC? “Clearly, INEC is on a mission of mischief and its paymaster is the PDP which has been having sleepless nights since the merger arrangement was announced.’’

The party further called attention to Section 78 (6) of the Electoral Act, which says, “An application for registration as a political party shall not be processed unless there is evidence of payment of administrative fee as may be fixed from time to time by the commission” ACN said it was aware that the applicants in question had not even paid any administrative fees and therefore INEC could not have commenced processing their application.

The party said that Idowu was misleading Nigerians and subverting extant regulations in order to scuttle the birth of the APC. It said what had emerged over the registration issue was that INEC, in tandem with the PDP, was trying to stampede the merging parties into committing errors.

He said, “No, we won’t change our name. We will stand by that name and that is what we want to be called at the commission.”

Rotimi Fashakin, Congress for Progressive Change spokesman, said the same thing. According to him, “ We shall show to the Nigerian people nay, the whole world that INEC is indeed in collusion with the ruling party, the PDP, to extirpate any vestige of constitutional democracy from Nigeria’s political space.”

APGA: Why the centre cannot hold T

HE concourse of events and actions in the only Igbo dominated political party in the Nigerian political firmament is, to put it mildly, unfortunate.

It is a great disservice not only to the memory of late Chief Emeka Ojukwu, but to the Igbo race at large that people he trusted and worked with are today fingered as the very people planning and executing the dismemberment of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as a party and thus engineering the political, social and economic emasculation of the Igbo people in the Nigerian nation.

There is no gainsaying the fact that it does happen occasionally in history when few people, because of personal aggrandizement, take up arms against their people and against the general aim, objective and aspirations of their people. Such individuals are occasionally made to return to the path of social/political rectitude in order to avert the wrath of their people.

A political school of thought for example, which hold Governor Peter Obi responsible for the current development, is of the view that the actions of the governor amounts to political betrayal of his kith and kin.

Those who promote this school of thought also allege that Obi’s actions will also trade off the Igbo people by destroying a major platform for the propagation of their political choices, aims, views and aspirations.

In fact, Obi’s present actions is not only against the Igbos but also against certain persons, who we know helped to bring him from political wilderness and oblivion to the marvelous political light that he enjoys today. One of such personalities is Chief Victor Umeh.

Those who know will attest that Obi was about to be drowned and was at the very point of political asphyxia, having sucked much political water, when personalities like Umeh offered a helping hand. Umeh provided the tabula in na frangio for Obi’s political safety in his dire moments. The details are there for all to see.

Suffice it to say here that the course taken and chosen by Obi at the twilight of his governorship in Anambra State is the very meaning of political suicide or Havakisi.

It will be recalled that it was APGA as a political party that provided the platform

By Oliver Okpala

for Obi to contest gubernatorial election in Anambra State. The same party also afforded him the opportunity of a second shot at governorship. This was mainly through the instrumentality of Umeh, who supported and stood by him and made sure the party leadership under him gave Obi the ticket for a second term. If Umeh had acted otherwise, Obi would have been no more than the somnambulist of a vanished dream, politically.

Real politicians here in Anambra also know that it was Umeh that really campaigned for Obi. Although Obi was seen by some people in Anambra State as some form of a political cross and burden for APGA, Umeh successfully led Obi’s campaign train and implored the masses of Anambra State to give Obi a second chance. This way Obi sailed through against a strong opposition made up of Dr. Chris Ngige, Prof Chukwuma Soludo and others who were more popular than him.

The journey In the beginning, when Obi came to Umeh, wanting to vie for governorship of Anambra State, he was not known politically. Then, he was like a fish out of water.

But today, some governor’s men unaware of how Obi and Umeh’s political relationship began have alleged repeatedly that Umeh contributed nothing to Obi’s election.

This is far from the truth. In fact, since the erstwhile Health Minister, Prof. ABC Nwosu, introduced Obi to Umeh, and urged Umeh to assist him achieve his governorship ambition, Umeh literally took Obi by the hands and navigated him through the murky political waters of the time.

For the records, it should be made known that Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu joined APGA on 26/12/2002 while Obi declared at Onitsha for APGA on 8/10/2002.

It was within this period that Umeh dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s to pave the way for Obi’s ascendancy in APGA, even as a late comer. It is also to the credit of Umeh that he embarked on all the transactions and other actions which finally secured Ojukwu’s support for Umeh in 2003.

It is recent history and it is still clear in mind that Igwe (Justice) Eze Ozobu, then the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, facilitated Chief Ojukwu’s entry into APGA

to give the Igbos a strong bargaining political platform.

Unlike Obi who is more a businessman than a politician, Umeh is a thorough bred politician.

Umeh was elected the State Treasurer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State in 1999. His election was based on his competence, sagacity, honesty and impeccable character. In that capacity, Umeh contributed tremendously to the growth, development and success of the PDP as a political party in Anambra State.

It was on the basis of his competence and ability that the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed him a member of the Board of Nigerian Film Corporation, Jos, a position in which he served with distinction. Chief Umeh resigned from this position in 2001 to join hands with Chekwas Okorie and others to form and register APGA. Before his sojourn into politics, Umeh was a renowned Estate surveyor. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers and he consulted for UTC Nigerian Plc, CCB Nigerian Limited, Innoson Group of Companies and others.

Obi, as stated earlier, also benefitted tremendously from due process, rule of law, democracy and a strong Judiciary in 2003.

Then, a PDP candidate was returned as Governor in Anambra State. It was the Judiciary which nullified Ngige’s election and returned Obi as the duly elected candidate in the election and ipso facto as the Governor of Anambra State.

When Obi assumed office as the governor of Anambra State; the PDP-controlled House of Assembly impeached him and his deputy, Dame Etiaba, took over. Again, it was to the court that Obi ran to for adjudication on the validity or otherwise of the impeachment. Mercifully, the court declared the impeachment illegal and reinstated Obi as Governor of Anambra State.

After all the Political Hullaballoo, Obi again approached the court for an interpretation of the exact length of his tenure. Like a darling, the court cuddled Obi and held that his tenure began when he took his oath of office and not when he ought to have been sworn in, in May 2003. In the aftermath of this decision, Dr. Andy Uba who had been massively elected as Governor by Anambrarians was sacked as governor only

about two weeks in the saddle. Obi resumed his position as governor.

To all intents and purposes, Obi is the Judiciary’s darling. He was a man literally made by the courts. He was a great beneficiary of the rule of law and due process. Otherwise, who was Obi to stand against the PDP political machine and Armada in Anambra State between 2003 to 2007? If the law did not protect Obi, he could have been consumed and decimated by the PDP political arsenal and gigantic structure in Anambra State. His opponents could have eaten him alive and raw, literarily speaking, if bruteforce, connection, patronage and wealth were the deciding factors.

Current matter The law is no respecter of persons. True, the Enugu High Court delivered a judgment dissolving APGA’s NEC and other organs.

True, the said judgment declared Umeh’s election in 2011 as APGA Chairman null and void but Umeh has appealed against the decision to the Court of Appeal.

By this doctrine, all the parties should wait until Umeh’s appeal to the Court of Appeal is heard and determined. Constituting a new NEC for APGA and handpicking persons as officials of the party, when the appeal is still pending, seems rather lawless to me.

Governor Obi or whoever constituted the alleged NEC should know better than to make a mockery of the court and to pretend as if Umeh did not file an appeal.

In continuation of his brazen arrogance, Obi has been in dalliance with the Presidency, using APGA as a shield. The world knows that Obi has no mandate of APGA or its supporters to use the party to advance his selfish agenda in the Presidency. Obi is not APGA. APGA is different from Obi. Obi merely became a governor under the platform of APGA. President Jonathan should remember that, APGA, as a party, and not Obi, adopted him as her Presidential Candidate in the last elections.

I think Umeh has no ill-feelings towards the presidency as Jonathan’s tenure had the approval, support and mandate of APGA under Umeh’s chairmanship.

• Prince Okpala, a political analyst, wrote in from Awka, Anambra State

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Politics

21

I

T is still about two years to the next governorship election in Imo State. The current administration is barely half way with its mandate. But the office of the governor is already a bone of contention with various groups and individuals already agitating over what should be the fate of Governor Rochas Okorocha come 2015.

Political leaders of Owerri zone, using the platform of the Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum (OZOPOLF), led by Prince Charles Amadi, are singing it at the top of their voices that it is the turn of the zone to produce the next governor of the state and they want this to happen in 2015.

Chief Martins Agbaso, elder brother to embattled Imo State deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, has also allegedly confirmed the existence of an agreement between him and Governor Rochas Okorocha to the effect that the governor will do only one term on office and allow Owerri zone to produce the governor in 2015.

If these people should have their ways, the implication is that Governor Okorocha will be denied a second term in office. And given the very clear indications emerging that he is very much interested in vying for another term in 2015, there are insinuations that the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state may feature a serious political showdown between the two erstwhile allies.

Agbaso, according to sources, clarified rumour about the deal between him and Okorocha while receiving leaders of the OZOPOLF at his country home in Emekuku.

The delegation has gone to express their support for the deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, over his ongoing probe by the state house of assembly.

“Chief Agbaso told us that they had an agreement which was signed that Rochas Okorocha should go for one term. After that, the baton will be passed on to Owerri zone.

He also said should he decide to run, Okorocha will choose his deputy, just like he chose Sir Jude Agbaso, his younger brother, for Okorocha in 2011.

The governor was also expected to appoint Chief Agbaso as the Chairman of the Internally Generated Revenue Bureau as part of the agreement. Chief Agbaso entered into the agreement with the governor then as the leader of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Imo state. He represented the party in the deal. Don’t forget he was the one who gave the party ticket to Okorocha then,” our source, who was part of the OZOPOLF delegation, said.

But the governor’s camp has continually denied the existence of any one term pact between Okorocha and any individual or group. Okey Ofulue, a chieftain of the governor’s Agenda group, said, “what is playing out here in Imo is a struggle by some drowning politicians to survive at all cost. The one term pact only exists as a figment of the imagination of such politicians who are bent on holding on to even straws in their struggle for political relevance.

“These are people who suddenly discovered they have lost out on all fronts in the politics of Imo State. They are not in tune with the opposition and they are not friendly with the governor. So, they are in trouble.

They are on their own and so they want to make some noise to attract attention to themselves.

“Unfortunately, we have a few misguided persons in government and within the party allowing themselves to be teleguided by these losers. These are the people helping them to popularize the unpopular agreement between the Owelle and their leader. In 2011, there was no need for such a deal because the entire people of Imo were waiting for Okorocha to declare his intention to run.

“We all know how he came to be governor. The people and the party wanted him to come and confront the then governor and his party. So, what would be the basis for such a pact for a man who was being expected by all to come and perform a liberation assignment? I tell you, it is all lies and Okorocha cannot be distracted by such lies,” Ofulue said.

Investigations by The Nation suggest that the ensuing argument over the existence of the agreement may be at the root of the current face-off between Okorocha and his deputy. Sources said the frosty relationship between the duo may be as a result of the inability of the governor’s camp to continue to trust him in the wake of his elder brother’s renewed interest in the governorship.

Agbaso, whom the House of Assembly is threatening with impeachment on the allegation that he took bribe from a contractor

•Agbaso

• Okorocha

Imo 2015 Between Okorocha and the Agbasos Plans to impeach Imo State Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, has heightened the political temperature of the South-East state, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan to award him contract, has said he never had any encounter with the contractor or collected any money from him. Instead, he said there is a plot to get him out of office ahead of the 2015 governorship election.

“The truth is that I am a victim of power play between two powerful political figures.

I heard that there was an agreement reached between my elder brother, Chief Martin Agbaso that the governor should be in office for one tenure only and give way for him to contest in 2015.

“It is possible the agreement is about to be breached and as part of that, they want to make sure I am out of the office at all costs. I have kept quiet all along but felt it is time to state my side of the story so that all that people hear about me would not be taken as true.

“I am not the governor and do not award contracts and there is no way bribe for contract award should be channeled to me. The facts are there to exonerate me of any charges being brought up now.

“If the House wants to impeach me, it should do it in a tidy way and not trump up vain claims and charges. I know that the House has possibly made up their mind to get me out of the way but the world should know that it is politics and I did no wrong or took any bribe,” he said.

The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Chinedu Offor, also faulted the claim that Agbaso is being victimised. In a statement issued yesterday, Offor said, “the attention of the Imo State Government has been drawn to gross inaccuracies and outright lies by some section of the media about recent events as it concerns the ongoing investigation of corruption levelled against the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, by a Lebanese contractor J-Pros.

“I wish to state that contrary to reports in

the media, the deputy governor continues to carry out the responsibilities of his office and in fact, joined Governor Okorocha on inspection of projects around the state on Friday, when speculations were rife that he has been impeached or that his office has been sealed off.

“These deliberate attempts by some paid agents masquerading as media practitioners speak volumes of the level of desperation of some forces to overheat the polity and drag Governor Okorocha into what is essentially an attempt by the IMHA to determine the veracity of an allegation made against a senior government official in line with Governor Okorocha’s agenda of zero tolerance for corruption.

“In fact, at the invitation of Sir Jude, Governor Okorocha has severally postponed his planned trip to wade into the matter with a view of finding out the truth through a process that is fair, lawful and constitutional. It is, therefore, mischievous and unprofessional for some section of the media to accuse Governor Okorocha of being behind the travails of the deputy governor.

“It is a known fact that Governor Okorocha lacks the powers to interfere in the constitutional duties of the IMHA and should not be linked to the ongoing investigation.

Governor Okorocha’s interest remains to ensure Sir Jude gets the opportunity to prove his innocence. This is consistent with the zero tolerance policy on corruption of the Rescue Mission administration,” Offor said.

Okorocha’s battle with the Agbasos was to assume another dimension few days ago when the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) publicly accused the deputy governor and his elder brother of being part of an alleged plot by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to sack

Okorocha from office and distort the activities of the Imo State House of Assembly.

In a statement signed by Prince Marshal Okafor Anyanwu, state chairman of the party said: “This ill-conceived move is not unconnected with the ongoing investigation by the state legislature over allegation of financial gratification leveled against the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, by one of the major contractors handling the state government road projects. “ Okorocha, a few days suspended his oversee trip to intervene, when events as regards to this subject matter almost assumed a negative direction. We are, therefore, surprised with the way and manner the Presidency and national leadership of the PDP unexpectedly showed interest on the matter and subsequently declared support for the Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, who is not a member of the PDP. “However, we gathered that the 12 PDP lawmakers in the state legislature summoned to Abuja a few days ago, met with the National Chairman of the party and its Board of Trustee Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Chief Tony Anenih at Nicon Hilton, where the lawmakers were told in clear terms not to participate in the ongoing investigation on corrupt allegation against the deputy governor. According to our source, this position was an aftermath of Chief Martin Agbaso’s recent deal with the PDP.” The party accused the senior Agbaso of clandestine moves to save his younger brother from impeachment by striking a deal with the PDP. “He has promised them to remain in APGA as against his earlier intention to join the All Progressive Congress (APC). He also pledged to work for the PDP presidential candidate in 2015, which President Goodluck is favored to pick,” APGA alleged.

Given the intensity of the current faceoff between the two warring camps, it may not be too early to imagine what will happen should Okorocha and the Agbasos find themselves in opposing camps during the 2015 governorship election in the state.

22

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Politics

A/Ibom guber race: Akpabio stirs the hornet’s nest T

HE Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, last week stunned the people of his state when he made a volte face on the issue of zoning of governorship seat in the state ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial election.

Akpabio sent shock waves down the spines of many of his people, especially the people of the Eket Senatorial Zone, when he said, without any equivocation, that he is not a product of zoning and as such, there is no zoning in Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio, who was responding to a question on his succession plan during the Citizens’ Forum/Town Hall meeting, held at Government House Banquet Hall as part of the events to mark the end of the Good Governance Tour of the state, said the issue of which part of the state will produce the governor in 2015 is in God’s hand.

“If you ask me, I will tell you that I am not a product of zoning.

I am a product of the people. In 2007, 58 people from Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene senatorial districts, all contested the primaries, and after the people had spent five days on the street, they finally voted who they wanted and said let’s God’s will be done. For 2015, zoning is in the hands of God,” the governor said.

While some people applauded the governor for what they called his courage to lay to rest the escalating debate over zoning of the governorship in 2015, others condemned him for alleged audacity to challenge what they claimed is an integral part of the politics of the state.

Akpabio’s statement, according to government sources, has generated ripple effects in the last couple of days. It is being seen in the state as proof that there will be no zoning of the seat to Eket senatorial district, contrary to the expectation of numerous leaders of the zone.

“The governor has finally told the whole world where he stands on the issue of zoning. His statement simply means that there will be no zoning of the governorship seat in Akwa Ibom come 2015. This is to say that anyone who believes that he has what it takes to govern the state, no matter where he or she may come from, will be free to contest the primaries,” an aide of the governor said.

But to the people of Eket zone, what they described as Akpabio’s volte face is an act of betrayal. The governor’s alleged turn-around is more shocking given the fact that

•Akpabio

•Attah

Governor Godswill Akpabio’s recent utterances and actions have revived the debate over zoning, ahead 2015 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan barely a week ago, the people of Eket Senatorial District rose from stakeholders’ meeting to laud Akpabio for throwing his weight behind zoning of governorship seat in the state in 2015.

Their celebration of the governor was in appreciation of Akpabio’s averment that he was not opposed to zoning. The governor had reportedly praised the ruling party for adopting zoning as a system.

Checks by The Nation revealed that the political landscape in Akwa Ibom State has further been heated up by the governor’s statement as the 2015 elections draw nearer especially with the people of Eket Senatorial District, (with 12 out of 31 local government areas of the state) insisting that it is their turn to produce the next governor of the state.

This insistence, inspite of the governor’s volte face is based on the arguement that the Uyo Senatorial District produced former Governor Victor Attah, who governed the state for eight years between 1999 and 2007 while the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District produced the incumbent governor, whose second term expires in 2015.

The contention is that for equity and fair play, Eket Senatorial District should be supported by all to produce the governor in 2015.

Disagreeing with Akpabio’s position on the issue, the former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Bassey Essien, said: “It is very clear and there is no ambiguity that it is the turn of Eket Senatorial District to produce the next governor. Any right thinking Akwa Ibom politician will take this advice.

The political ambition of anyone, no matter how high up should not be against the overriding political interest of the entire state.

Collectively, the political elite agreed on how power should rotate among the three senatorial districts.

No individual’s interest can ever override the collective will and desire of Akwa Ibom political elite.

Whatever interest anyone has should be in tandem with the accepted rotational principle of political office sharing in the state.”

He further added that the three federal constituencies in Eket; Eket, Ikot Abasi and Oron, has each reaf-

firmed their commitment to the Eket governorship project and have agreed to work together and with everyone in Eket to achieve the Eket dream.

“We are more determined now than ever to achieve the Eket governorship project and we all have agreed to work together and with everyone within and outside Eket to achieve our desire to produce the governor in 2015,” Essien said.

Senator Etang Umoyo, who represented Eket senatorial district in the Senate in the Third Republic, while explaining that the idea of zoning is a general understanding and a gentleman arrangement agreed to and endorsed by all senatorial districts in the state, which the people have relied on and operated upon in the absence of any written agreement or document, vowed that his people will not back out of the agitation.

“Since the creation of Akwa Ibom State, 25 years ago, Eket is the only district that has not produced a governor of the state. Uyo has produced two governors – Isemin and Attah, while Ikot Ekpene, by 2015 would have completed its own tenure of eight years through Akpabio.”

Reacting to claims by anti-zoning agitators that Akwa Ibom State has never had an election where only aspirants from a particular district contested, Umoyo said the truth of the matter is that the political elites always know where the governorship is going.

“When Isemin contested, we agreed that Uyo, being the state capital and Uyo senatorial district that has the majority of the ethnic groups in the body of the Ibibios, should take the first shot and in Attah’s time, the same principle reapplied. So, the opinions of the mainstream political leaders were in favour of that position.

There was another person from Uyo Senatorial District in the same National Republican Convention (NRC) during Isemin’s era, Ekpong Ntak, who contested against him.

Another person from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, S. U. Akpan also contested against him but at the end of the day, it was the main decision that held sway.

During the time of Akpabio, the same thing happened; we made sure that we worked against his opponents because it was a collec-

tive decision that zoning is the best way to spread political offices and fight domination by any particular senatorial district. So it doesn’t matter whether people contested against these people, who had been endorsed by the mainstream political formations. All those who differed, they all lost,” he explained.

But if Umoyo and the people of Eket zone think they have only the governor to sway in their bid for the governorship, they have another thing coming their way because the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Samuel Ikon, is also calling for the abandonment of the politics of zoning or rotation of power in the state.

Throwing his weight behind the governor’s opposition to zoning, Ikon said, “I am a fan of effectiveness, efficiency and capacity because today in this state, the governor has come to show that even if somebody is not from your state, he can still touch your life. At the federal level, we have a president that is from the South-south, what have you seen that is so special about the South-south. So it is not a function of where somebody comes from.

“You must leave primordial issues, it does not make sense. If we want the state to move forward, let us look at efficiency, effectiveness and capacity. Who has the capacity to deliver that is the issue not a tarnished arrangement.”

The Speaker also said the issue of zoning is fanning the ember of division, calling on the people of the state to rise against it.

“That is my thinking, it might not be popular; but I think for the interest of the state and country, we should look at effectiveness, efficiency and capacity of anybody who wants to administer the state and country. This thing can quietly be assigned. It does not have to be put on a table as means of negotiation, or amplify and use as the basis of division at the end the centre suffers,” he maintained.

Contrary to the Speaker’s position however, the Ekid People’s Union, a socio-cultural group in Eket senatorial district in Akwa Ibom State has said it would not compromise on the issue of zoning for the 2015 governorship election in the state.

In a statement by its President, Abong Okon Ekpo Johnson in Uyo

on Sunday, the group argued that Governor Godswill Akpabio is a product of zoning and that it is the time of Eket Senatorial District to be given the opportunity to produce the next governor of the state.

“It is our strong belief that every society survives on equity and justice even in the sharing of political and economic positions. We wish to state categorically that Eket Senatorial District must as a matter of equity and justice be allowed to produce the next governor of the state come 2015 because we have supported people from other senatorial districts to realise their collective economic and political ambitions.”

Johnson argued that Eket Senatorial District has qualified and competent men and women to handle the highest office in the state as governor. He expressed surprise that the governor who himself is a product of political zoning, should turn around to denounce the political arrangement that brought him to power.

Introducing another dimension into the zoning debate, the Vice Chairman of the Akwa Ibom Community, Comrade Tommy Okon said Akwa Ibom is not a tripod state consisting of Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene alone, adding that if zoning is adopted, it will undermine the interest of other tribes in the three senatorial districts like the Oro and Eastern Obolo in Eket Senatorial district who have never had a shot each time emphasis is given to their senatorial district for the election of governor of the state.

“The Ibibio people for example are present in all the senatorial districts and zoning will mean that they will have an undue advantage, upper hand and supremacy in the power equation in the state if zoning is adopted” he said.

He urged that the governorship election must be open to all aspirants to create a level playing field that will throw up the best candidate in line with the usual tradition since 1992 when aspirants from the three senatorial districts in the state-Eket, Ikot Ekpene and Uyo participated in the governorship primaries without restrictions of zoning.

As things stand, it is left to be seen how the contending forces in Akwa Ibom will eventually resolve the burning issue of whether to zone or not to zone the governorship office ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial election. For now, it appears Akpabio has indeed stirred the hornet’s nest.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Politics

Political Politics

‘Chevron host communities could resort to violence if...’

ONGRATULATIONS on the successful completion of your tenure and the success of the council since its inauguration Thank you very much, let me start by saying nobody wanted the formation of the council - the bringing together of so many communities under one umbrella to deal with Chevron. For a long time, Chevron had been dealing with the communities on an individual contact basis.

That system of dealing with the communities had not worked out very well. It resulted in acrimony, distrust, broken promises on the part of the company and bad blood and acrimony.

We thought the company’s community relationship can be handled much better. So the coming of the GMoU, which is the new engagement strategy for the development and relationship between the communities and company came up in 2005. We were the first people to sign the agreement. We bought into the idea because we had for a long time been advocating this form of strategy because individually the communities do not have the wherewithal to deal with the company effectively. Come to think of it, in any way, the communities were not properly exposed to deal with the company.

So in most cases, one or two persons were probably empowered and the rest of the larger communities were left in poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and so on and degraded environment.

One of the things that this council has been able to do is to bring all the communities together to talk with one voice. Our problem is common problem to all the communities - illiteracy, poverty, very low standard of living, disease, no hospital and poor living condition etc. You can see it all over and poverty was like the face of the rural women, particularly our Ijaw women, who are very industrious.

One of the things this council has been able to do is to bring the communities together to have a common awareness.

That is success number one.

Number two, we have been able to improve the relationship between the company and the communities. Before now, violence was a tool for settling differences. We believe that as long as we live together there will be differences but let’s tackle these differences in a different form. Let’s sit down and dialogue; let’s

C

Amidst succession crisis rocking the oil-rich Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Council, funded by Chevron Nigeria Limited in Delta State, the outgoing Chairman, Mr Edmund Doyah-Tiemo, spoke with Shola O’Neil on cause of the predicament and other issues. Excerpts

• Gbaramatu

understand the constraints of each together and we can move together that way. Today, the communities are more at home with the company and the company’s personnel are more at home with the people than before. They understand the communities and the plights of the communities and a lot of them are willing to address these plights.

Martin Luther King was a civil rights leader but he said his own brand was not gun, but continual engagement and dialogue and letting the other person know and have the inner conviction that what he is doing to you is not right. You should try to convince him that he is at fault. If you are able to convince people using logic

and reason, you are able to live together.

Conversely, if you put a gun to the head of people and try to have their consent, you may get what you want but they will also try to put gun on your head. What we are trying to do here is dialogue and continuous engagement. This has worked.

From 2005 to 2012, which is a period of about eight years, if you go to the communities you can see the presence of the GMoU in virtually all the communities.

We are not saying we have got there, we are still a long way off, but the GMoU pattern of engagement between the communities and Chevron has brought about a lot of changes within the communities.

You can see that Chevron, through this GMoU, encourage the communities to own their developmental process. They try to participate in capacity building and encourage us to own our developmental process. Although Chevron provides the money, but everything is done by the communities. Chevron is in the background guarding us and teaching us what to do. Come to think of it, we have a lot to learn from them.

What are the challenges of the GMoU? The success of the GMoU in itself is a challenge because we have within a short while achieved so much. The GMoU has brought into the communities increased scholarship; from secondary to university to post-graduate. I can tell you that we have also in place an overseas postgraduate scholarship scheme, which Chevron on its own would have never been able to offer the communities. But we came together using part of the annual donation to the communities and set aside a particular amount for overseas master degree and even above to finance disciplines that we think will aid the development and increase participation of the communities in the oil and

•Continued on Page 26

Political

ripples Suswam in dilemma over cabinet reshuffle

I

T is no longer news that the Benue State Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, has dissolved his cabinet. The governor took the action after his reported warning to his aides to put their alleged 2015 ambition in abeyance was not heeded. But in the last few days, there have been intense pressure on the governor to reappoint some of the commissioners, some of whom were said to have contributed immensely to the success of PDP in the state. One of such is the Commissioner for Works, Mr. John Tondo, who is alleged to be eyeing governorship seat in 2015 There are reports that Suswam is allegedly in a dilemma on this issue.

Between Wada, Idris and other Kogi stakeholders

T

HERE seems to be no let up in the battle between some notable members of the PDP in Kogi State and Governor Idris Wada. The real source of disagreement is said to be the overbearing influence of Wada’s predecessor, Ibrahim Idris, on the former in the running of the state. There are unconfirmed reports that Idris still wields considerable influence on Wada, whom he installed against all odds.

23

turf

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Jonathan and Alams

S

INCE that ill-advised state pardon granted Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by President Goodluck Jonathan, many true patriots have queried the puerile reasons advanced by the president’s mouthpiece, Dr. Doyin Okupe.

At first, Okupe told a bewildered nation that the president chose to act against the Nigerian people because Alams had pleaded guilty to committing a crime against the country. To the medical doctor fromOgun State, that was one reason that would silence all critics. He added that the president was not obliged to explain or justify his action.

Then, a few days after, Okupe gave another reason: President Jonathan decided to take the action to reward Alamieyeseigha for the role he played in getting Niger Delta militants to surrender their arms and embrace the amnesty carrot extended to them by the federal government. It sounded more like an afterthought. Besides, Okupe, kept ranting that, with the approval by the Council of State, the chapter was closed. He held to the point that the Council is composed of credible eminent Nigerians.

Dr. Okupe must have thought that his listeners were all daft. He insisted that the Council of State is the highest decision making body in the country, and as such, is infallible. This is not true. The constitution presents the Council as a mere advisory body. It gets to discuss only matters referred to it by the president and rarely turns any down. As a body of elder statesmen, it tends to defer to authority and preserve the aura around the president and the presidency.

In the extant case, the president goofed. On the one hand, he had told the entire world on assuming office that he would root out corruption. On his first visit to the United States, he told Nigerians in the diaspora and the international community that he would build on the foundation laid by General Olusegun Obasanjo. But, on the other, he is now rewarding the corrupt. The argument over the propriety of granting clemency to those involved in plotting against a military regime could rage on, but there is only one position right-thinking Nigerians could take on Alamieyeseigha and Shettima Bulama. The pardon is unpardonable.

The logic stinks. If Alams was set free because he pleaded guilty to charges preferred against him, are we to think that the Council of State would soon be used to rubberstamp clemency for Lucky Igbinedion, Tafa Balogun and Cecilia Ibru? Is it an invitation to others standing trial for snatching bottles from Nigerian children and turning hospitals to mere consulting clinics to cut short trials and buy pardon?

D.S.P waged war against Nigerians living in Bayelsa State by stealing money voted to create jobs, upgrade infrastructure and enhance capacity. It was a crime against the state, humanity and God. Rather than use the power granted him by the people to promote their welfare, he chose to oppress them.

The danger in the action taken by Jonathan is not only in setting free the guilty while the innocent languish in jail for years because the state could not get them prosecuted.

It is a signal that anything goes in Nigeria. All you need to get away with even murder is to be well connected. Check out this list: Joshua Dariye, George Akume, Abdullahi Adamu and Danjuma Goje. They are all former governors who have been arraigned before courts of law for corrupt practices. For six years, the cases have been stalled and the society the poorer for it. Today, they are all in the Senate making laws for Nigeria and sitting in judgment over others.

Other former governors, including Saminu Turaki, Chimaroke Nnamani and Adamu Aliero have served out a term each in the Senate and moved on. Bafarawa, a former governor, formed a political party and sought to be president of Nigeria while a case of tampering with public fund was still pending against him. Orji Uzor Kalu, Jolly Nyame, Boni Haruna and Ayo Fayose, too, were only stopped by popular votes in their bids to assume seats in the Senate.

Only recently, while delivering a lecture at the inauguration of the Olusegun Mimiko administration in Ondo State, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi indicated that corruption is Nigeria’s biggest problem and that all those who parade themselves as billionaires had at one time or the other helped themselves to public wealth. Yet, they are celebrated and some granted the highest honours of the land.

I found it comical when recently we were told that twelve serving governors were being investigated for fraud. It is even more ludicrous that some people are splitting hair that section 308 of the constitution granting immunity to certain public officers be expunged. If, in six years, no former governor has been successfully tried for corruption, what would removal of immunity clause achieve?

President Jonathan has shot an arrow at the heart of the Nigerian state by patting the corrupt at the back. As 2015 draws nearer, Nigerians should tell him and his clique of advisers and assistants that they are tired of such antics.

24

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

‘Music is my life and my life is music’ Tongues wagged a few years ago when Juju music maestro, Chief Ebenezer Remilekun Fabiyi, better known as Ebenezer Obey, started singing his old songs after becoming an evangelist. The special appearance shows brought back the music legend in his full element. He told SUNDAY OGUNTOLA why the shows have come to stay and how he discovered he was born to sing. The renowned musician, who clocks 71 on April 3, also spoke about retirement and his rumoured plans to remarry.

W

HEN you started special appearances and performances for your friends some two years ago, a lot of people, especially in the Christian community, became worried that you were probably returning to secular music. How do you react to this?

People don’t need to be worried. The reason why people should not worry is: number one, God Himself called me. I was not called by man; neither did I call myself. God called me Himself. Two, I am not a baby Christian. I know what I am doing. Everything I do is according to the leading of God. I don’t do anything except God asks me to. I don’t want to satisfy anyone.

So, I am covered and not exposed to contamination, like people are saying. So, nobody needs to lose sleep over me. I can understand their worries but they need not worry. Four, music is my profession. That is what people know me for.

When God called me, I dropped it for 15 years. I was only doing ministry. But when the time was ripe, God told me to use special appearances as an outreach because it is drawing more people to God. I was only singing in churches and revival services. Then, I started sing-

•Obey ing for our partners, sponsoring our crusades and ministry works.

But at a time, people started wondering why I was only reaching out to fellow Christians. They argued even Jesus wined and dined with sinners. So, why shouldn’t I? So, I prayed about it and felt led to go ahead. So, the special appearance outreach is reaching people for God. After all, you find lawyers, judges, doctors and others in ministry. They do not leave what they were doing or their professions but use them as platforms to serve God. So, why not music? This is what people know me with. Obey is music and music is Obey. So, I see nothing wrong in using it to serve God. Some people insinuated you probably considered going back to secular music because gospel music is not viable enough. What would you tell such people?

There is a lot of rubbish people say that you don’t have to react to every time. People just open their mouths because you are a celebrity and say nonsense… …They even said you were probably broke and needed money to survive?

Do I look like someone who is broke? I can never be

PHOTOS: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL broke because my treasure is in heaven. It is hidden in the supplies that come from God. When there was famine, God sent Elijah to the brooks. He hid it from others and a bird was supplying him meals. So, my treasure is not here on the earth. But if I need anything, God will provide because there had never been anything I needed that God has not given me. He is a good God and I am serving Him with all my heart. So, my treasure is hidden in the treasury of God and I can never be broke. If it is about eating good meals, riding good cars and wearing good clothes, I am rich already.

How do you feel at 71?

I feel great and thank God. As you can see, I am okay and kicking despite my active years on stage.

Do you consider yourself lucky that you have no health complications at your age despite your frenetic past ?

I consider myself very, very lucky. The Lord has been so good. Even if I have challenges, they are not as overwhelming as you will think. My mind is sound and my health is unfailing. I am not alone at all. I don’t feel alone. I am not alone.

•Continued on Page 25

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013 •Continued from Page 24 What regrets do you have?

I don’t have any regrets at all. God has been more than gracious to me.

No unfulfilled childhood dreams at all?

There is none at all. I have always wanted to be a musician and everyone around me knew about it. I did not want to be anything else but a musician. So, I am fulfilled and my dreams have come true. When my mates were dreaming of being doctors and engineers, I simply wanted to be a musician and nothing more. I started my band in 1957 while still in school.

How did it all start for you?

My father and mother were from Abeokuta. I was born in Idogo in Yewa South where I grew up. Everything about Obey started there. My mother said I was very active in the choir. My mother wanted me to be a medical doctor or a lawyer. She never thought music could feed anyone, let alone make one successful. She did not want her son to be a musician. One day, after many months of disagreements with her, I asked why.

She said musicians would always smoke, drink and womanise. I looked at her in the face and said, “I will go into music and I promise I will be a good example. I will not do all of those things.”

And she believed you?

Of course, she did.

Since that day, she never stopped me again. But before then, it was a tug of war. She was a good disciplinarian. She would lit her lantern and sneak into my rehearsals. She would grab my hands and take me out of the rehearsals. She would talk to me for hours on how musicians were never-dowell. Amazingly, my band boys would start drumming to invite me and she would ask me if I would go again. Of course, I would and go inside. Trust me, I would seek for opportunity for her to sleep and sneak out for the rehearsals despite her admonitions.

So you were head-clear music was your calling?

Yes, I was. I left school at Secondary Modern level simply because of music. I just knew that was what I was born to do.

Was it a dream, revelation or something that showed you this?

I can’t say anything showed me. I just had that conviction that I was a future star and music was my path.

I loved music and it was my passion. I thank God my mother saw my glory before she died. She came to realise music was my calling and was grateful I followed my instincts.

If your mum had her way, where would you have been?

I probably would have been a frustrated lawyer or an unfulfilled doctor. But for sure, you wouldn’t have heard of Obey. The music in me would have died unsung. But I don’t blame her. She only wanted the best for her son and didn’t see how music could make that happen. She was just being a loving, kind mother. There were no successful musicians to point to then. So, she was insisting I should go to school but I knew I was cut out for music.

Did you know music was going to take you this far?

I did not know. There was no way I would have known. When the success started coming, I was stunned. But I kept my head cool and continued with my passion.

If you were to ask God for just one more thing, what would it be?

Father, please let me do Your will. Let me spend the remaining days of my life doing Your will. Let Your will be done in my life.

What would you consider the breakthrough point in your career?

That was when I was looking for a recording company. In those days, there was no demo or anything to record your music. You must find your way to the studio of a recording company. I trekked all the way from Mushin to Abibu Oki Street in Lagos to get a recording deal. I started from Mushin to Idi Oro, to Alakara, to Moshalashi, Yaba then found my way to Sabo, Alagomeji, Post Office, Oyingbo. I then crossed to Iddo at the Railway Terminus and used the pedestrian bridge to Carter. I landed at Idumota and found my way to Abibu Oki. When I got to the gate, the gateman stopped me. He said I would not go in. I insisted and he said I had sugar-coated tongue and allowed me in. I got to the receptionist and told her I was a future star and wanted to be recorded. She said the artiste manager was on leave and I should come back in six weeks. I started telling

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

25

telling the man I was a future man. That was how I got recorded and the rest is history.

Is it true you were always fighting with KSA in those days in the secular music world?

No, there was never a fight. KSA is a good friend and we remain close.

There were stories you two arranged fights to sell albums?

There was nothing like that. We never fought. People were only looking for troubles where there were none.

I think our fans started the whole thing. They just imagined we were fighting because they were fighting who was the best among themselves You have been at music for over 50 years. People will like to know how much of music is left in Commander Ebenezer Obey.

The whole of my being is music. All I know is music. I don’t know anything else but music.

You still write and produce songs?

Of course, I do. I still write songs, perform live and compose. I record special albums for people. I record songs. I am still very active in the industry because there is still so much music within me. The world has not heard the last or best song from me yet.

How much are you reaching out to the younger generation in the music industry?

Some of them are re-recording my song. They come to me and I give them my blessings. I do it free of charge to them to re-produce my songs. They have approvals as many times as they request.

What about collaborations?

Well, I don’t have to appear with them. They ask to re-produce my songs and they get approvals without much ado.

Are you thinking of retirement any soon?

In life, the path and destination of man belong to God. I will be 71 but my life is in God’s hands. Everything I do is determined by Him. So, I cannot talk of tomorrow now because Jesus asks us not to be anxious. I will keep doing what I should and lean on Him. Whenever He says I should step aside, I will gladly do.

So, I leave everything in His hands.

Do you feel appreciated and celebrated enough as a legend by Nigeria?

Let me put it this way. Even though that is how it looks, I appreciate the way I am celebrated. The doors are

“

There was nothing like that. We never fought.

People were only looking for troubles where there were none.

I think our fans started the whole thing. They just imagined we were fighting because they were fighting who was the best among themselves

“

“I probably would have been a frustrated lawyer or an unfulfilled doctor. But for sure, you wouldn’t have heard of Obey.

The music in me would have died unsung.”

“

“

her I am a future star. We dragged it on and on. Then, the MD suddenly phoned on the intercom and asked, “What is all the noise about?”

She explained I was shouting I was a future star and would not go. The man said she should send me in. The moment I got to his office, I just went flat prostrating. I forgot he was a white man. He listened to me and I said I was a future star. “Please, don’t pay me sir. Just record me and you can pay later when you have made all the money,” I told him. He just looked at me. He called one Yoruba man and said I should be given a try, that I sounded confident. Immediately, the man came, I switched over to Yoruba and kept

now opening and the nation is appreciative. I cannot ask for more because God and this nation have been good to me.

Your wife of several years died in 2011. There is no doubt you miss her a lot Of course, I do. You can see I am sitting right opposite her portrait. I see her every day when I sit here.

That shows how much I miss her. But as a child of God, I know He brought us here and will take us when He decides. I miss her but the grace of God is sufficient.

Out there, people are saying you might re-marry… … Well, I don’t have anything to tell them. Right now, I am not married. But let’s wait and see what will happen.

Your next concert is a joint live performance with the Apola King. Can you talk briefly about it?

It is part of the Africa Mission Conference. The truth is, evangelism and mission need awareness. Everyone needs to know how to support and get involved. So, that is why I am supporting the ministry of Rev Idowu Animasaun, who God gave the vision. He started many years ago in Badeku. So, I am joining him for the concert to unveil evangelism and mission. The concert will unveil how the early missionaries started and broke the grounds. There will be opportunities for people to understand missions and ask questions. So, it will be a good time in God’s presence.

When was the last time you performed with Rev. Animasaun?

Oh, that must have been in the 60s and 70s. We were into secular music then. He was known as the Apola King then. So, I am supporting him so that the ministry can attract more support. Since he received the ministry, he never hid it; he told everyone about it and what he has been doing is quite remarkable. So, we would be doing a bit of the oldies because there is nothing wrong with the music then. All the beautiful songs I have sung before when they request, I will give them. We are using proceeds from the concert to support mission works through Rev. Animasaun’s ministry.

26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Politics

Onofiok Luke is the member representing Nsit Ubium State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. In this interview with Correspondent Kazeem Ibrahym, he spoke about his life as the former Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, his one year rustication from University of Uyo over Student Unionism, his experience in the last 35 years and politics in Akwa Ibom State. Excerpts:

W

OULD it be right to say that at 35, you are fully developed politically?

It depends on the level of development. I know that if you look at politics from the perspective of education, I haven’t learnt enough. I am still undergoing tutelage.

I’m still studying. I am undergoing different stages of development.

For me if you look at it from the perspective of youth politics, I would say I’m fully developed. At 35, I should leave youth politics for the younger generation. I remain a role model. At 35, I have developed. My life is in the next phase.

Haven served as Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, are you satisfied with the role of youths in the country today with regards to leadership in governance?

Firstly, I am not satisfied with the role our youths are playing today in the country. I must be truthful, I must be blunt and I must be plain, in the sense that the way the political structure in Nigeria today is too close circuited. It does not allow for youth engagement. It takes an extra work to break into that political space.

When you eventually break in there, your activities are being misinterpreted.

It will be assumed that you are filled with youthful exuberance, they will say you are childish in your speech, just because you offer opinion and ideologies on the development of the country with people who are not on the same wavelength with you, people who don’t share the same affiliation of reasoning with you, so whatsoever your action is as a young person in Nigerian political class, it will be misinterpreted. So, I am not satisfied.

The political class has made the youths play a second fiddle. We are not seen as partners.

The youths are seen as people used on election day, people used for certain interests, for certain classes of the society. With us coming together as youths, realising this, we will continue to advocate for more political space. We can be granted pivotal roles in nation building.

For me, we have started somewhere

‘Nigerian youths not seen as partners in politics’ through the National Youth Council of Nigeria, through the Youth Parliament of Nigeria. We have advocated and made the political class understand that this is where we are meant to be and it has yielded results. Someone like myself, I got to the House of Assembly at the age of 33. It has never happened here. At the National Assembly, we have a former NANS President, Hon. Baba Lepashe, representing Mugugo Federal Constituency in Kano. There is also Comrade Segun Olaleye in Oyo State House of Assembly and a Chairman, House Committee on Finance like myself and it is a good development.

We want to see the youths as ministers.

We want to see the likes of Frank Nweke Jnr., Chukwuemeka Chikelu in leadership positions. These young people should return in government. We need the likes of those young people as permanent secretaries, ambassadors. They must continue the advocacy for the youths to be actively involved in governance and the need to give us the opportunity to contribute to the development of this great country.

Are you not worried that at the federal and state levels, there have been no meaningful programmes that have been initiated and implemented to enhance the development of youths?

Yes, we have been advocating on this issue.

Thank God from where we come from. The youths saw in Governor Akpabio a committed leader and we did all we had to do, closed our eyes against the money bags, closed our eyes against any form of intimidation and we stood by our choice.

He has come to pay the youths back with appointments, programmes, ideas that benefit the youths. However, in totality across the nation, we have not done well with the youths, that is why I say that state and federal governments should create programmes, innovations, projects that would impact the youths in development, good governance, engage the youths in politics and with this we would checkmate the rising crime rate and vices in the country.

As the chairman, Akwa Ibom State House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, how would you score the budget of the state with regards to performance so far?

It depends, if we look at it at the yearly fiscal details or we summarize all the years of the administration since the beginning of the administration in 2007. As you know, I was not a member of the state legislature in the first four years, but in the last two years that I have been a member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, I can say that the 2011 and 2012 budget has performed at 74 per cent. From the issue of allocation of resources and implementation; from the basic of recurrent capital ratio which over the years has been 80:20, sometimes 75:25, I would give him 80 per cent.

Governor Akpabio has performed exceedingly well. Not only the executive, the House of Assembly has done excellently. It is not everything that is brought forward to the legislature that is just passed that way. We offer inputs. At times we may differ with the executive because as representatives of the people of the grassroots, we know the peculiar needs of the people and what would reflect

their needs. Budget is only an estimate, when you talk about full implementation in the realisation of full income, you can now balance that with what you plan to do and what you projected within the available resources and what the state planned to execute.

Akwa Ibom people are worried about the oversight functions of the legislature, especially concerning the Tropicana Project where an additional N20billion has been added to the budget and you are aware of the issues surrounding it… Can you clarify this issue?

Now there are facts that people are not aware of. When the Tropicana was conceptualised, it was meant to be on a 12 acre property. That was the initial plan. But because of certain other factors that came in, that property is now on an 82 acre land. The road network in a 12acre property won’t be the same with an 82 acre property. There would be variations. There is a hotel inside, Cineplex, shopping mall, recreational centre and other features. Every of these would redefine the find concept of the Tropicana which is now expanded.

The House went there and saw things for themselves. We asked questions like why do we need this amount after much had been expended on it? From there, drawings come out, figures come out, plans come out. We saw actually that there had been a tremendous expansion… over 200 to 300 per cent expansion from the original idea to accommodate the concept that had come on ground. I comment on facts and figures. There was an expansion on the project which affected the costing of the project and that is why the legislature approved the N20 billion additions to the project.

‘Chevron host communities could resort to violence if...’

•Continued from Page 23 gas sector. In petroleum sector, engineering, construction, management, finance and so on.

We have some of our students in Newcastle (UK) doing Chemical Engineering, some in the University of Oxford and on each scholar we are spending about N5million per year. You would normally not have been able to convince Chevron to do this but we are doing it.

Projects are evenly distributed in each of the communities, covering health, water sanitation, peace building, and transportation and so on and so forth?

Now that we are doing these, those who initially opposed this system now come out and say ‘huh, there is money in the council’.

They think that this place is like a conventional local government council that people will come and grab the money and run away with it. But this place is a highly control place; it is not a place that you can have access to the project money and use it the way you want.

There are a lot of people that are struggling to be the chairman of this council, even those without any working or management

experience. We must be careful so that we don’t destroy this place and make it like any government establishment.

The other challenge we have is the fact that the amount of money made available to finance the activities of the council is grossly inadequate. We are engaging the company to see the need to increase the money being donated to the communities on an annual basis.

At the moment we get about N400million and if you look at it that the council is made up of over 17 communities in two local government areas and the biggest in terms of size and population, the money available to us is grossly inadequate.

I would like to warn that if the council is not adequately funded, to continue to grow; if its growth is restricted by fund limitation, then the communities will begin to develop cold feet and will result to the old ways of doing things, which is not good for the company and for the communities.

This brings us to the issue of succession in the council. Your tenure expired last year, why is there delay in constituting new executive for

the council?

Like I said, the challenge is that everybody wants to come into the foundation and many people are coming in are appointing themselves as chairmen even before they come into the foundation. The way this place is set up, it is like a parliament. Nobody is given any office before he or she comes into the council. You are elected to represent you community in the council and when the elected representatives come together they now elect an executive, headed by the chairman and general secretary.

Nobody can become the chairman before getting into the council. It is the decision of elected representatives to decide who their chairman should be.

The principal offices are rotated between the Egbema and Gbaramatu. For instance, the first chairman, Dr. I. K. Tolar, came from Gbaramatu and I was the General Secretary.

When he left at the end of his tenure, he left and I became the chairman. I am supposed to have left and in line with our way of doing things, we invited the communities to send in their nominees to represent them in the council but one community, Benikrukru, up till now from

July 2012 till now (February 26) has not sent in their representative because they are struggling among themselves on who to send in because everybody coming from there wants to become chairman. There is a problem in the community and they want to make the problem in the community a global issue affecting the whole council. Some powerful individuals have used their connection with the police and so on to disrupt activities in the council and have kept us this long. That is what is responsible for our inability to inaugurate the new council.

We think we are almost at the end of the tunnel. The police have looked into the matter and they saw that one community cannot hold the whole council to ransom. But in order to give them the benefit of doubt and the feeling of being part of the arraignment, we agreed to give them 30 days extra, which started from 29th of January to the 28th of February. Efforts are being made and we have complained to the elders of Egbema and Gbaramatu and they have waded into the issue to ensure that they submit their nomination.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

Kehinde Oluleye Tel: 08023689894 (sms)

E-mail: kehinde.oluleye@thenationonlineng.net

Essential casual clothing

•Ayo Finnih

•Lola Udu

•Bogus bangles

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

Nail matters

By Olanike Akinrimisi

•Rihanna

•Uche Uweji

29

30

Glamour

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Shea butter: The luscious

skin magic

By Adedayo Lawal

•Beverly Naya

•Shea butter

•Genevieve Nnaji

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

E G I L B .

J Y MAR

Real regal and

Mary J. Blige, the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul,” is, as the title attests, both regal and real. Blige, 42, has been an indomitable force in the music business for more than two decades, ever since Sean “Diddy” Combs, her friend, mentor, and executive producer of her first album, took her under his professional wing. She has gone on to sell more than 50 million albums and is the only artist to have won Grammy Awards in four categories (R&B, Rap, Gospel, and Pop), having been nominated for the award 29 times, and winning nine.

She has also begun an acting career. She's been in the requisite Tyler Perry movie and last fall completed the upcoming Lifetime Network film Betty and Coretta, about the widows of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., in which she stars as Dr. Betty Shabazz opposite Angela Bassett's Coretta Scott King.

Married for the past nine years to Kendu Isaacs, Blige has come a long way from her troubled past. Born in the Bronx , the daughter of Thomas, a musician, and Cora, a nurse, she grew up in Yonkers, New York, where she attended the charismatic Pentecostal church.

It was a hardscrabble life. And yet she bears her emotional scars with dignity. After we were introduced, we curled up together on a sofa in the corner of the photo studio.

As she sank into the cushionsgiving the brim of her newsboy cap a jauntier tilt as she did sowe dug into just how hard-won such dignity has been for her.

Blige, the artist, has always used “sampling” in her music; here's a “sampling” of my conversation with Blige, the woman.

Interview by Kevin Sessums. Excerpts:

Courtesy: Los Angeles Confidential

THE NATION SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

PAGE 35

ETIM ESIN UNCENSORED My wife gives me reason to live

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NATION SPORT & STYLE SUNDAY, March 17, 2013

NATION SPORT & STYLE

FAMILY AFFAIR Shakira, PiquĂŠ support dad at book launch

By Taiwo Alimi

ETIM ESIN

UNCENSORED

My wife gives me reason to live

F1 girl shows off new tattoo on her nape

T

amara Ecclestone marked the end of her trip to Miami, Florida with a very permanent reminder of her time there.

The socialite was giddy with excitement as she was seen getting a new tattoo. The 28-year-old couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she sat in the chair at Love Hate Tattoo, also known as Miami Ink. Tamara, who already has at least nine tattoos, was joined by her fiance Jay Rutland for the adventure as she added another piece of art to her tanned body.

The reality television star sat patiently waiting for the tattoo artist to complete the design but was overly excited as the needle tapped her skin.

While it is not yet known what mark Ecclestone had done the billionairess was happy with the final result.

Fiance Jay made sure she could see the marking by taking some photographs of it on his iPhone before showing her the finished piece.

Tamara made sure she looked good even for the casual trip and slipped on a tight neon pink vest dress.

With her hair down and her eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses she teamed the bright colour frock with some diamond encrusted sandals.

Earlier in the day she warned her Twitter followers about her impending trip to Miami Ink and posted: 'Last day in Miami going to make the most of the sunshine today and maybe a trip to Miami Ink later.'

True to her word Tamara spent the morning working on her tan with Jay next to her as the couple hit the beach.

Tamara is obviously a fan of a skimpy bikini - perhaps on her last day she wanted to get as much of a tan as possible She wore a fairly modest bikini in the sun drenched state that barely covered her ample cleavage.

Her triangle two piece was held together with a decorative metal hoop which just about kept her modesty covered.

After a spot of lounging around the starlet took a cooling dip in the sea, where she donned a loose tunic, obviously as she was getting slightly too bronzed.

Etim with Ikedieze (Aki)

Etim (r) with Okocha and a friend

SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

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WITH LOVE FROM BOMBAY

Martins picks family ahead of wealth Ranti Martins Personal information Ranti Martins Soleye Date of birth 5 September 1986 Place of birth Agege, Lagos, and Nigeria Striker Playing position Full name

By Morakinyo Abodunrin

Club information Current club Prayag United Number 9 Youth career Anwar-L-Islam College Asante Kotoko 2004 King Faisal Babes 20042012 Dempo 2012 Prayag United 17

• Ranti Martins (r) with family

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Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Great Things

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Entertainment

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Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

PORT HARCOURT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

t e e w s r e t t i b e h T ‘ experience of ’ r e i d l o s a g n i y marr

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

Social

ADETUTU AUDU (E-mail: crownkool@yahoo.com, Tel: 08023849036)

How Fatima Shema celebrated women's day

Jide Adenuga, chip off the old block ck

Toke Makinwa settles for summer wedding

Eyo Effiong’s new love

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

Bridget Awosika still causing stir

Mor Okonkwo plots big for Fred Amata th 50 birthday shindig

o the Nigerian INCE her incursion int et has evolved fashion industry, Bridg ed those who and has not disappoint ntify with her brand. believe in her and ide ee years has come to The brand in the last thr g fashion lovers both be a favourite amon geria. Her aesthetics within and outside Ni n has also no doubt and approach to fashio s ds. One of Bridget' earned her good no ing gg wa es ding tongu designs has been sen d th at sc re en di va en ek sin ce las t we pped out in it at the Genevieve Nnaji ste Choice Awards held at Africa Magic Viewers r nths ago, it was forme the Eko Hotel. Few mo a ed us Darego, who ca Miss World, Agbani thday celebration. bir stir with it during her eative Director of The Head Designer/Cr . rn in Washington DC namesake label was bo e came apparent that sh By age ten, when it be r in fashion design, would pursue a caree rd University in DC Bridget attended Howa a bachelor's degree in and graduated with t. She later went to Business Managemen ere she attended the New York City, wh hool of Design. prestigious Parsons Sc

S

Abby Ikomi still holds the ace

A

BBY Ikomi, the delectable wife of bespectacled former Managing Director of Keystone Bank, Oti Ikomi, is definitely having the time of her life. She seems not to be bothered by the rumour that is rife that there is more to meet the eyes over her hubby's resignation from the bank last year on health grounds. The CEO of Homes and Fabrics still graces social events and still dresses to the nines, to put paid to the allegation that she upped her game because of her hubby's status then. With enough money at her beck and call, the Osun State-born businesswoman can afford to live an affluent lifestyle and you can't afford not to spot her among the lot.

Oti Ikomi, the former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Keystone Bank Limited, resigned from the bank October 2012 after 14 months. His decision, he said, was based on personal and health reasons.

Another feather in Comfort Oduyemi's cap

T

HESE are definitely best of moments for socialite and popular beautician, Comfort Oduyemi. The fun-loving lady and beauty consultant, OlaComfit School of Cosmetology and associate of Shola Ogungbe of the popular Sholly Beauty World, feted family and friends last weekend when she was honoured at Woman of Beauty legacy awards.

The mother of four has actually gone through thick and thin in the beauty business which she has been doing for the past 20 years. Her unflinching commitment and interest in the development of the industry has won her many laurels and accolades.

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M

O R Okonkwo, a single mother of two in her early 30s and new-found love of Nollywood actor, Fred Amata, is leaving no stone unturned to celebrate the golden age of the Delta State-born actor.

Mor, who is a Soul/Jazz artiste, who used to live in the United Kingdom, but currently runs a management consulting and a catering company, we learnt, has set up a planning committee.

There will be a novelty football match and dinner to celebrate Amata's milestone.

Lanre Nzeribe finds new love S

OCIALITE and ladies' man, Lanre Nzeribe, has unveiled the new woman in his life. This time, his love is Nollywood diva and single mother of one, Monalisa Chinda.

The fair-skinned lady stepped out with the Latana Boss after months of playing hide and seek; they were guests at Uche Jumbo movie's premiere last weekend.

Three years after packing out of her husband's house, Nollywood actress Monalisa Chinda seems to be comfortable in the hands of businessman, Lanre Nzeribe. Friends have been talking about the closeness of the two celebs but it seems they just got tired of being subject of rumour mongers; they have started stepping out together. Lanre is known to have dated some actresses and high society women in the past which ended in controversial circumstances.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Glamour

&

e h t l i a h All s n o i p cham A C V at AM S

a rgotten in l not be fo in Africa il w 3 1 0 2 , dustry th March aturday, 9 e Entertainment In ed this year Africa th d n e in hurry se who att ll of Eko and for tho t Expo Ha on Best Continent oice Award held a w i n ela . Tunde K wers Ch and Magic Vie ites, Lagos. Nigeria Emelonye i b O i, m u ter a S a ri d M n W a r l st fo Hote for Be oruba) (Y rd a e g w a a u e g n w on a cobs nt Local Lan melonye w Veteran Actor, Olu Ja E i b O a Amak r Boy, r The Mirro .

(Drama) fo dustry Merit Award In home with

•Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke

•L-R: Dr. Tom Adaba, former DG, NBC and Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

•Mr. John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mrs. Biola Alabi, Managing Director, M-Net Africa, and Mr. Olusegun Aganga, Minister for Industry

•L-R: JJ Okocha and Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya, Chairman MultiChoice Nigeria

•L-R: Mrs. Busola Adeogun-Philips, Regional Director, Dstv Media Sales Nigeria, Mr. Walter Drenth, Marketing Director, NB PLC and Mrs. Thobi Duma, Country Manager South Africa Airline

•L-R: Fred Amata and Jackie Appiah

•Mr. John Ugbe, Managing Director, Multi Choice Nigeria and Mr. Joseph Hunder, former Managing Director, MultiChoice, Nigeria

•Tunde Kelani

Temitope weds Oluwasesan

M

anaging Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of De-Malik Group, Alhaji Luqman Malik's daughter Temitope wedded her heartthrob, Oluwasesan Quaseem Oladoyin. The event, was held at the Cooperative Hall of Johnson Agiri Agricultural Complex, Oko-Oba, Lagos. The ceremony commenced with a brief Nikkah ceremony after which guests were treated to a lavish reception.

• Couple: Quaseem Oladoyin and wife, Temitope

• Chief Mukaila Olayide and Mrs Amusa

• Bride's Parents: Alhaji and Mrs Luquman Malik

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

47

Choosing Your Advertising Agency I

T took some time to cast the topic for this piece, for the same reason we thought of working on it. The options were various as they were finely different in meaning and implication.

Our choice was finally determined by the need to eliminate ambiguity, controversy and argument, just so that the import is not lost in us. We are also clear in our minds, the need to cut out any such distractions occasioned by semantics, flamboyance for reasons of modernity.

To begin, therefore, advertising agencies will remain Advertising Agencies as we know it. We do not have any qualms with those who like to be seen and referred to as creative hot-shops, brand activators…and all such other identities which, at best, come across as desperate attempt at differentiation, it all comes down to ideas and creative work that sell. According to Drew Cannon in her article “How To Choose an Advertising Agency” posted on inc.com in August 11, 2011, unlike in the past when advert agencies were traditionally defined along certain structures, agencies now come in varying forms today, starting from 10-men experimental to enormous traditional firms with global reach, and everything in-between.

We have come to accommodate these products of change, not minding how they present themselves, provided they keep the underlying essence of creative ideas and work that sell brands.

The focus of this piece is draw attention to the importance of advertising agency engagement and the need for brands or brand owners to see the process as very crucial to the success of their brand(s) and entire marketing success, and as such, to strictly adhere to the process, for their own good. Brand management is systematic, procedural, creative and objective-driven. These characteristics explains why on value measurement, what you get is a direct consequence of what was invested (the computer’s GIGO – garbage in, garbageout).

Last week, we considered a set of variables in the process of developing brand communication or brand advertising messages, grouped as the imperatives of the creative process. In it we laid out those key elements that must be derived in the creative process. Every one of those listed elements is weighty and consequential upon the quality of creative product in form of advert or campaign. Characteristically, they can only be derived by working through every step of the creative process.

Because of their importance, deriving these creative elements is the essence of the advertising agency engaged for the job or assignment of working through the creative process. Suffice, therefore, the agency’s quality, strength, capability has a direct relationship and consequence on the quality of the final creative output or product. In other words, an agency-driven brand support is only as good, effective, creative, impactful and successful, to the extent the engaged advertising agency is competent. Interestingly, the competence or strength of any creative team or advertising agency can be determined, just as the creative imperatives for good and effective creative process and products are derived.

Therefore, just as it is the job of the creative team to derive the imperatives for

top-end creative product(s), so it is the duty of the client and/or its representative to determine the right advertising agency or team to be engaged to manage their brand.

There-in lays the justification for a systematic (and creative) agency selection process.

As in every process, selecting or appointing an agency is indeed, only a process. It is open to individual determination along the gamut of adherence. The extent to which the process which we see as equally a creative process is adhered to is a function of the extent to which the selecting team considers it as important, understands its import and consequence, and its intellectual and creative capacity to judge the weighty issues. There must be the will and ability to work the process.

There have been instances where Agency selection process stretches for very long through several stages. For some clients, consultants are engaged to guide them through the process. There have also been cases where the selection process results in a tie between two or more agencies, and the final choice becomes dependent on news and more critical factors. In a situation where it becomes too difficult to clearly agree on the winner-agency, a particular business or account is shared between two agencies because they are considered equally tied based on the agreed parameters set for the selection process.

Selecting and engaging the advertising agency for a brand is serious and as important as developing the brand itself.

That is why, in ideal situation, the process is devoid of emotion. In her article “HOW TO CHOOSE AN ADVERTISING AGENCY” (posted on in.com on August 11, 2011), Drew Cannon, among other

submissions, break the process into four major steps: ASKING – about for the agencies that fall within the pre-determined consideration bracket, WRITING – a request for proposal (in other words, writing the brief), SEARCH thoroughly (carefully run through a guided selection procedure), and ENTER into selection meetings prepared (agency engagement). Cannon’s submission can be taken as a very brief summary of the ideal agency selection and engagement process, open to expansion and a more detailed and functional model. But the important thing here is that it captures the reason and operative guideline for a proper agency selection process: THE (MARKETING) OBJECTIVE! Marketing and its attendant consideration and actions are derived and determined at every point. The process starts with and ends with the client, but focused on the brand and the target market, which is the reason for being. It is the consequence of every such action on the bottom-line (which is the marketing objective for the brand and brand-owners, that makes it imperative for the right decision to be taken at every step of the way. In turn, that right step is as spelt out on the (client’s) brief.

It all starts with THE BRIEF. The process starts with the client’s brief to the initially chosen agencies, inviting them to a pitch. It is upon the strength of the client’s brief, the agencies prepare for presentation at a pitch setting. In turn, invited agencies make a presentation of their proposal, which should essentially be their understanding and interpretation of the client’s brief. After the presentation, the client goes back to score the agencies based on the strength of their presentation, with the initiating brief as the reference

point. Nothing is given to chance, whims and caprices; the brief takes preeminence over every other consideration. The very important consideration in the entire process is the brief. Therefore, the brief has to be professionally written, focused, strategically focused and robust in its consideration of immediate and future success of the brand at the market place.

The flip side of this analysis is the compromise of the ideal agency selection and engagement process. Unlike in the ideal scenario, the compromised system does not respect the brief. It is all based on personal gains, unstructured method, unsystematic process based on the whims and judgment of individuals who operate outside any pattern. The compromised system does not take the brand into consideration.

The decision maker’s choice is based determined by personal relationship, immediate financial gains and other selfish considerations. That is why, as at today, over 75% of big brand management businesses are in the hands of service providers who either outright non-professionals or those who engaged in distant related endeavors such as journalism and public relations, but now positions as brand management consultants BECAUSE THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE MAN/ WOMAN WHO DECIDES WHO MANAGES THE BRAND. In our market place, mediocrity has taken over professionalism as a consequence of corruption, greed and selfishness. Apart from the profession and professionals who suffer from this corrupt system, brands are failing, the consumer/market is suffering and investments are failing – except we go back to the ideal situation.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

A tale of ‘monsters-in-law’ I

T is not uncommon to find the average young woman praying for the quick 'passing-on-to-glory' of her husband's mother.

No matter how hard the wives try, they never seem to be able to hold a candle to their mother-inlaws.

The feeling of bitterness and anger that defines their relationship is one many ladies dread but are forced to live with.

This often causes them to walk into their matrimonial homes with their sleeves rolled up, battle ready.

Sharing her story, Gbemi Lawanson, lawyer and mother says, “I do not want to call my mother-in-law a wicked person even though that is how she behaves.

“My husband is the last child, so I guess that is why they are really close, but she can be a very terrible, controlling person.

Nothing ever pleases her and she is always trying to feed his mind with all kinds of rubbish about me and my children. And if not for the kind of man my husband is, we would have been quarreling every day.

“One day she came to visit us and I asked her if she wanted to have her bath and she said no.

Because I was tired and just came home from work, I served her food on the dinning and went to bed. The next morning, my

Rita Ohai writes on the ‘cat and mouse’ relationship between wives and their mother-in-laws husband asked me why I was ignoring her and I was confused.

He then told me she said I walked into the house without talking to her and went to sleep.

“After telling my husband my side of the story, in his usual tactful way, he gave her a lot of money and helped her get to her house safely because he knows the kind of person she is. Since then, if I see her coming down one side of the road, I cross to the other side for peace to reign,” she said.

Airing a similar view, Priscila Omoregie who runs a bakery in the Isheri axis of Lagos posits, “Mother-in-laws can be hell to cope with.

“Mine said I was trying to kill her grandchildren with too much sugar because I bought a tub of ice-cream for my kids to share.

“There was another time she called all her daughters to come and fight me because she believed I was the one who was stopping her son from sending money to her. What she did not know was that we were going through a crazy time financially and we could barely feed our

kids talk less of send her money.

“After 15 years of marriage, there is nothing she does that surprises me anymore. Instead I just take it in good faith and ignore her when she becomes over-bearing,” she finished.

Like Priscilla and Gbemi, most women turn a blind eye, shut their ears and wall-up their hearts where their mother-inlaws are concerned. After all, good fences make good neighbours.

While some are locked in a battle of supremacy with their husband's mum, others like Ebere Amanze have found the secrets to winning the matriarch's heart.

“This might shock many people but my mother-in-law and I have a surprisingly great relationship. She even treats me better than her son because I understand the kind of woman she is.

“She can be very temperamental. So if I know something will annoy her, I try not to do it in her presence and I never complain to her. If she does something I do not like, I tell my husband and he puts her

in her place immediately. If I want to buy something for my mother, sometimes I will buy two and give her one so that she will not feel left out.

“By doing little things like that, I am able to avoid trouble, and because I have a good relationship with her, all her other children will fall in line.”

Giving reasons for this antagonistic behavior towards their children's spouses, Mrs. Joy Mbanugo shares; “The truth of the matter is that it is not easy to let go of a baby that you gave birth to, no matter how old that person is.

“The womanly instinct to protect her own will always be there especially if she is used to being the center of that child's attention. So, it is up to the wife to learn how to massage their ego's and play smart. Besides, you find that most of the girls who complain about their mother-in-laws end up doing worse!”

According to relationship counselors, becoming a good mother-in-law is easier than one might think. It just involves a little common sense, sacrificial love and the right frame of mind; •Put yourself in their shoes and respect their privacy. Don't tell your son and daughter-inlaw or your daughter and son-inlaw how to raise your

grandchildren unless they ask you for your help.

•Understand that they are now a couple living in their own homes and so you do not have the right to barge in and out of their home as you please. Going into the kitchen or cleaning their home for them without asking first can be offensive.

•When your daughter or son gets married, you're no longer the center of their attention.

Their spouse and family come first. It is biblical so learn to deal with it.

•Don’t scold your son and daughter-in-law or your daughter and son-in-law for not being a clean, immaculate perfectionist like yourself.

•Wedding plans are up to your children and their future spouses, not you. If the person in question does not meet your standards, remember that it is not your life, it's your child's life.

•If you don't like something, bite your tongue. Don't assume your daughter-in-law wants advice on her hair, her house, her clothes, her parenting. Give advice only when she asks or if someone is in immediate serious physical or moral danger.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17 , 2013

New WOMAN

49

When it finally fizzles out

T

S

OMEONE once said, “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it to you when you forget the words.”

This is eternally true as taking the time to nurture a friendship is worth every moment. As the years pass, some people will stay by your side, but many will not and you'll realise that each friendship you keep is priceless.

But to have a good friend, you must be one, and it takes a lot of effort and care.

In spite of the many stories of backbiting and jealousy we hear about female relationships, there are still a few good women out there who will have your back and hold your hands against all odds.

When you find these special people, hold on tight and never let them go. But to keep them by your side, you would need to learn how to be a good friend. These are some tips to see you through; 1. Never forget birthdays or other important dates. Your husband, your boyfriend and your kids may forget your birthday or the anniversary of your big promotion but your girl friend never will. Always call, send a card or a gift on her birthday and any

Ways to be a good friend other important dates.

2. Celebrate her accomplishments.

You love to shine and so does your best friend. So always make sure to celebrate her accomplishments , no matter how big or how small. It is also a great reason to go out and enjoy an evening without the kids and husband.

3. Make time for your girl friends.

As real life begins to get in the way of your social life with kids, husband and job interfering, making time for your girl friends is crucial to maintaining a good relationship. You would never expect to have a good marriage without spending time with your spouse so how can you expect to ignore your girl friends and still have a close relationship. Make time to talk and stay involved in each other's lives.

4. Always have your girl friend's back. True girl friends never gossip about each other and never tolerate someone else talking smack about their best friend. Girl friends know each other's faults and will even point them out to one another but they never allow anyone else to point out those faults.

5. Give and receive to strengthen the bond. Always be there when your girl friend needs you, whether it is to help her move furniture, mourn the loss of a beloved pet or eat ice cream and bash her ex. Remember that your girl friends need to help you too in order to feel close to you.

So, ask when you need help and do not try to do everything alone. Asking for help is as important as giving help when needed because it keeps your relationship in balance and gives both of you the opportunity to feel needed.

6. Be honest. This was the root of what happened with my friend - - she lied to me and involved another good friend in the lie. Girl friends are honest with each other no matter how difficult the subject. My best girl friend of 15 years and I have fought many heated battles because we are honest with each other; however, that honesty is what has held us together for so many years.

7. Laugh, cry and dream together.

Sharing good times and bad times creates a bond that is strong. It helps you through the tough times.

Remember that no man is an island and we all need a shoulder to cry on from time to time.

South African women drinking to harm their unborn babies

WO wonderful hearts met a few years back and at that point they dropped every distraction and decided to forge ahead. But four years after, they are singing a different tune and both feel used, taken for granted and not getting value for the emotions spent. First you ask the gentleman why he decided to walk out of this emotional nest and he spits out the words: “She is not romantic at all.

Yes, she is pretty and dresses very well. However, she does not put in extra effort and this can be a great turn off.”

Haba! Is it so difficult to be romantic or could it be that he has found a more romantic bird somewhere? Every question asked brings more frustrations, arguments and counter accusations. It is obvious that things have indeed fallen apart and whatever magnetic bond shared at the beginning had fizzled out.

The emotional current started fading out some months back and she knew at that point that they had actually come to the end of the road. “I just noticed that he had changed towards me and everything I said or did make him angry.

Even when I kept quite he would make up a story and would read meanings to any response I offered. He didn't use to behave this way and I knew that somebody somewhere had stolen his heart. I just had to let go because it became traumatic trying to win a heart that had metamorphosed from love to deep hatred.”

A quick diagnosis of this emotional ailment and you find that they were not operating on the same love frequency and channel. The girl tuned off thinking she had captured her Mr. Right when he needed her most. Not satisfied with the miserly emotions doled out, he looked elsewhere and found exactly what he had been looking for. By the time the gal realised that another bird had filled in this vacuum, it was already too late.

What a transformation! Love, like life, isn't constant.

While it is possible to win a particular heart for a lifetime, some hearts are quite restless, energetic and very adventurous. Just when you think you have found what you are looking for or dreaming about, it zooms off like a butterfly looking for another beautiful flower to perch on.

So, it is therefore common to find lovers lost on the emotional Island. Unfortunately, you cannot fly alone. What about a by hook or crook way out of the emotional woods?

Oh no! It is impossible to move at your pace; on the love path you can only fly with someone who is willing to fly. If the one you love has other 'interests' then you may just let this lovebird be.

The scenario can also be compared to walking on a broken bridge; here, crossing over to the other side can be a real torment if you are lucky. But if you are not, then you can be sure that one of the lovebirds or both of them would fall off.

Those who are successful in their relationships are usually people who know how to trigger that deeper, more alluring kind of emotional attraction in their partners. This way the person you are attracted to would want to spend more time with you and be around you. Some think that hooking a great pal has a lot to do with their looks, the things they wear and charisma.

Yes, this actually matters, but it's just a tip of the emotional iceberg. Looking and feeling beautiful will definitely be a big bonus but in order for your 'buddies' to want something more than just a fling, you must understand the personality that you are dealing with and get him or her to feel addicted .

Experts also advise that it is better to lead with attraction.

It is also better when you avoid things like: Complaining, talking about "boring" subjects like the weather or what you do for a living or even letting him "carry" the conversation.

A lot of our ladies package themselves very well attending to the physical details, thinking this is all that matters. He'll fall for you because of the way you make him feel when he's around you, and because you trigger that gut-level of intense emotional attraction in him. If you know what this is and how it works, you'll realise how effortless it can be to get a great man to ask you out.

Interestingly, it is better to learn the steps behind taking a man from that initial "physical" attraction to feeling utterly addicted and wanting to be around you all the time. Casting your emotional net into affections' sea is not a predictable exercise at all.

It is better to learn and understand the specific tips and insights into the kind of words, body language and attitudes that trigger a man to think, "Hey, there's something about this girl I really like and I am curious about. I like being around her. How can I spend more time with her?”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

50

With Joe Agbro Jr. 08056745268

Hello children, We’re back. And it feels very good to be back. Now, we will strive to inform and entertain you better.

Do make it a date with us every Sunday.

Also, feel free to contribute and you can send us your photos, stories and poems. Thank you

WORD WHEEL

EXCURSION

How many words of three or more letters, each including the letter at centre of the wheel, can you make from this diagram? We’ve found 23, including one nineletter word.

•Mr Lekan Otufodunrin, Editor Online of The Nation Newspaper (m) with teachers and students of Summerland College, Mushin, Lagos during an excursion to The Nation Newspaper’s office in Matori, Lagos recently PHOTO: VINCENT NZEMEKE

AWARD

TIME LOGIC PUZZLE Four children have four different doctor appointments. Read the clues to find out who had the first, second, third, and fourth appointment.

1:00 JOE

2:00

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3:00

4:00

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.

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KIM

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AMY

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BOB • Asoro Osaruese Elvis, a Basic 7 student of International School, University of Lagos, Akoka, receiving an awardat the school’s 26th Annual Speech and Prize-giving ceremony. He emerged best student in five subjects (Basic Science, Business Studies, Computer Science, French and PHE). With him are his mum and the chairman of the occassion, Mr. Austin Isire, MD, Standard Alliance Life Assurance Ltd. PHOTO: SAMPSON UNAMKA

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.

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1. Joe’s appointment is after those of Kim and Bob. 2. Bob’s appointment is before Kim’s.

3. Amy’s appointment is after Joe’s.

FOR TEENAGERS Do you want your parents to extend you more freedom? Do you wish that they really understand you? You can make it easier for them to do both! How? Be willing to tell them what’s going on in your life. Talk openly.

When you hold back, they cannot fully trust you – and trust is the key to your get-

ting more freedom.

The point is, do not leave all the communication up to your parents about your day. Ask them about theirs.

If you have a complaint, learn how to express it respectfully. Communication is a skill that you will need in adulthood. Why not acquire it now?

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Young Nation

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COUNTRY FACTS KENYA Capital: Nairobi Official Languages: Swahili and English Ethnic Groups: 22% Kikuyu, 14% Luhya, 13% Luo, 12% Kalenjin, 11% Kamba, 6% Meru, 15% other African, 1% non-African • The Kenyan national flag

President: Mwai Kibaki Uhuru

President-elect: Kenyatta

Prime Minister: Raila Odinga

• Pupils of Riverside Montessori School, Isheri-Olofin, Ogun State and pupils of Local Government Primary School, Isheri-Olofin, Ogun State at this year’s World Book Day at Local Government Primary School, IsheriOlofin, Ogun State recently.

PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID

POEM Birds are pleasant creatures with colourful bodies and a beautiful voices.

Birds come in different sizes; some are little while some are big.

Soaring at the highest point of

Birds earth and singing like every little song is in their little throat.

while some are scary, birds are lovely pets.

Birds are everywhere even here right now, Birds, Birds are everywhere.

Birds, some are very friendly

Ikemezue Ononye

WORD SEARCH

Independence from the United Kingdom: 12 December, 1963 •President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta

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Republic declared: December 1964

Agricultural Produce: Tea, Coffee, Sugercane, horticultural products, corn, wheat, rice, sisal, pineapples, pyrethrum, diary products, meat and meat products, hides, skins

Area: 581,309 Sq.Km Population: 2013 estimate 43,500,000 Currency: Kenyan shilling (KES)

Industry: Petroleum products, grain and sugar milling, cement, beer, soft drinks, textiles, vehicle assembly, paper and light manufacturing tourism

Calling code: +254

Herbivores A herbivore is an animal that gets its energy from eating plants, and only plants.

Omnivores can also eat parts of plants, but generally only the fruits and vegetables produced by fruit-bearing plants.

Many herbivores have special digestive systems that let them digest all kinds of plants, including grasses.

Herbivores need a lot of energy to stay alive. Many of them, like cows, eat all day long.

Find some herbivores in the WORD SEARCH below

National

Legislature: Assembly

Natural Resources: Wildlife, land (5% arable), Titanium, Coal

WORD GAME Fill in the spaces to get the correct words using the clue below

1. I

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G

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S

• Popular resort in Ekiti State

2. -

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B

N

-

-

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A

U

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Y

•Former Nigerian Military* President

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•Deers eating off tree branches

1. Buffalo 2. Cattle 3. Yak 4. Okapi 5. Horse 6. Zebra 7. Chinchilla 8. Beaver 9. Deer 10. Elephant 11. Panda 12. Giraffe 13. Goat 14. Hippopotamus 15. Kangaroo 16. Koala 17. Llama 18. Manatee 19. Aardvark 20. Tortoise 21. Iguana Send in your stories, poems, articles, games, puzzles, riddles and jokes to sundaynation@yahoo.com

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

Nigeria: 2013

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

In deference to ruminations past, the writer considers the following to be significant issues for 2013 and invites the reader to chew the food for thought.

DEREGULATION. With Yuletide festivities and attendant speculation around fuel price deregulation over, everyone turns emergency micro-economist to survive. Beyond balancing personal income with deficit caused by overspending during the festive period, there is the impact of government’s overall economic policy to consider. However optimistic the economic indices of inflation and interest rates are, therr hovers a sense of damning deregulation. With diesel pricing long past acceptable levels and kerosene retail rate fairly indeterminable, it’s only a matter of time before the fuel price war is completely lost. The Nigeria Labour Congress? Depend not on faithful representation after a docile end to the last siege, o comrade, nay, compatriot.

Manufacturing. Tottering since the austerity years of the 80s and eventually crippled in the Obasanjo years, the manufacturing sector sputters despite government bailouts and official figures to fuel activity. As ever, Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo offer more viable homes to local industries while Nigeria retains market appeal. Even neighbourhood artisans find economies of scale elsewhere on the West Coast compelling.

Anti-corruption war. Government says it is winnable and propaganda spawned by official brainwave from relevant ministries, departments and agencies to the academia so suggest. But corruption is a fundamental problem that requires immediate overhaul of ideas and methods than cosmetic repair of national structure and image daily singed at home and abroad.

Healthcare and medical tourism. Healthcare for mother, child and others as a millennium development goal? Not with ill-equipped hospitals and medical centres accentuated by ineffectual administration and brain drain of personnel.

And not when medical tourism proliferates despite constant reference to ethics.

Police and human rights. The task of turning the police into a true ‘friend’ of the public continues to defy recommendation and solution as lamented by a top cop recently retired. Bad eggs are either recruited or good eggs corrupted by the system. As evidence, and in defiance of more humane and scientific policing, ‘the men in black’ regularly resort to mass arrests and elimination of initial suspects before a convenient conversion of the rest to criminal status. There is little to suggest, therefore, that the ‘top prize’ perennially awarded the country for human rights abuse by international non-governmental organisations would not be ‘earned’ again by year’s end and beyond.

Niger Delta crisis (and Boko Haram scourge). The government erred in the first place by bombarding the swamps and counting collateral damage as by-product of the confrontation between the Joint Task Force (JTF) and militants. Diplomacy, thorough military investigation and subsequent punishment of offenders would have yielded a more lasting solution to the insurgency than recklesswarfare.

With the same procedure rehashed against religious fundamentalists in the North as a matter of course, a significant portion of the common wealth appears destined for the pockets of a brazen few in the excuse of amnesty. For a government liable to slumber in place of homework, AK 47s and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) wielded by the Boko Haram sect and their reprehensible offshoots command more attention than the most articulate or strident advocacy on societal ills.

6, 000 megawatts. Not content with defrauding the collective intellect of Nigerians year upon year, government proceeds to promise a new delivery date for 6, 000 – sometimes 10, 000 – megawatts of electricity every New Year. At the sound of each undertaking, though, citizens wax sceptical, choosing the less disappointing option of dealing with immediate variables by sinking wells for water and maintaining generating sets for power.

ASUU and education. The government may have settled the last protracted dispute it had with the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) but long-term reprieve depends on sincerity from both sides in fulfilling terms of the bargain. As welfare and opportunities for development of manpower and infrastructure in the ivory tower remain essential for learning, the government would do well to stem the next crisis as lately threatened by university workers unions.

Super Eagles and sports. Here lies the country’s best chance of reaching the peak of national fulfillment as Nigeria’s 2013 Africa Nations Cup triumph in South Africa indicated. As many probably observed while the tournament lasted, the impact of weak leadership and societal malaise appeared to diminish as national pride swelled. For a perplexed government forever dogged by the challenge of able governance, a reason to celebrate sports prowess is invitation to coast blameless for a while. A 2014 World Cup wish, anyone?

Jokes Humour

Library Complaint JANET stormed up to the front desk of the library and said, “I have a complaint!”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I borrowed a book last week and it was horrible!”

“What was wrong with it?”

“It had too many characters and there was no plot whatsoever!”

The librarian nodded and said, “Ah. So you must be the person who took our phone book.”

Reverse Proverb A MAN moved to another state where he didn’t know anyone. In the move, his old piano was jarred, and of course it needed to be tuned when the man arrived. So he asked around, and was told that Dr Opporknockity was the best piano tuner in the area. The man called Opporknockity and hired him to tune his piano.

Opporknockity had a keen ear and a deft touch, and did a wonderful job tuning the old piano. The man was able to play beautiful music once again, and was very pleased.

After a year or so the old piano began producing sour notes again. So the man called Opporknockity, and asked him to come and work his magic on

the old piano again.

To the man’s surprise, Opporknockity refused.

“Sorry, I can’t accept the job.”

“Why not?” the man asked. “I’ll pay you twice as much as last time if you’ll just come tune my piano.”

“Haven’t you heard?” Opporknockity asked, “Opporknockity only tunes once.”

Different Moves A MAN goes skydiving. After a fantastic free fall he pulls the rip cord to open his parachute but nothing happens. He tries everything but can’t get it open.

Just then another man flies by him, going in the opposite direction. The falling skydiver says, “Hey, you know anything about parachutes?”

The man says, “No, you know anything about industrial gas cylinders?”

QUOTE WHO is wise? He that learns from everyone.

Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

—Benjamin Franklin •Adapted from the Internet

H

OW to Writer ’s Fountain B r e a k Writer’s Block: Give yourself a break. yourself should be attainable.

Out-of-reach goals are merely that: out of Remember that nothing and no one is perfect. Your writing isn’t perfect and you’re reach, stressful, and frustrating. Cut yourself not a perfect artist, nor is any other story or some slack. It really does help.

Bend your structure. any other author.

The point is that, as a writer, it’s not rare The most important part of any piece of to set goals that are too high. High standards literature, especially fiction writing, is are great to have, but when they are too high, structure. Writers tend to stick to this writer’s block can easily set in, as you’re too structure, but they often stick to it a little bit focused on finding that one detail that seems too much. Just because your story needs strict structure doesn’t mean that your ideas and like pure perfection.

The goals and standards you have for imagination do as well.

Restricting yourself too much can cut off Have you noticed? your creative thinking. With so much •Apple, onion, and potato all have the same structure, your imagination isn’t able to run taste. The differences in flavour are caused wild. Instead of creating your structure out of by smell. To prove this you can pinch your steel, turn it into rubber – something flexible nose and take a bite from each. They will that allows you some leeway. Otherwise, all taste sweet. you’ll be stuck in a one-idea mindset.

•An ear of corn always has an even number Try ‘freewriting’. of rows because of the genetic formula ‘Freewriting’ allows you to take your mind which divides the cells. off the project at hand and focus on something •An average human drinks about 16, 000 different. Writing straight from the mind gallons of water in a lifetime. seems a bit weird to some writers, as most •An average human scalp has 100, 000 like to have structure and coherence, but strands of hair which still grow some sometimes writing something as it comes months after death. along gives the mind the freedom it needs.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

53

Protecting your kidneys —PAGE 68

Incest: A painful story swept under the carpet Tales of victims of incest and those who commit this abominable act are usually swept under the carpet. And the list of victims continue to swell on a daily basis.

Yetunde Oladeinde takes a look at why incest occurs, cases and the challenge of bringing perpetrators to book

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T was a very sad story. And as she talked about it she just could not hold back tears. Her brother-in-law who was in his twenties had been having incestuous relationship with her daughter. When Bose discovered, all hell was let loose in the house and she reported to her mother-in-law. It was at this point that she hit the brick wall, the old woman asked her to either forget the matter or be kicked out of her matrimonial home if she opened her mouth to talk about the matter again in public.

Even though it was a very painful experience, she decided to keep quiet and have peace at home. “I tried to let my mother-in-law see reasons with me, but she just did not understand. First, she insinuated that this was a ploy to make my husband hate his brother and threatened to fight me with everything if it resulted in any cracks in the family. To buttress her point, mama also claimed that I did not train my daughter properly and that the girl must have made some seductive moves towards her son.”

Bose is not alone, most times victims of incest are ashamed to speak in public because of the stigma associated with it.

Unfortunately, the perpetrators of this act, usually family members and close relatives, continue without being checkmated.

Last month, officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Youths, Sports and Social Development arrested a 39- year-old bricklayer, Olarenwaju Wasiu, for allegedly raping his 14-year-old daughter. The evil deed was committed at his residence in Awoyaya - Ajah,

Lagos; and after carrying out their investigations, it was discovered that he slept with his daughter twice weekly and threatened to kill the girl if she told anyone.

Frightened, the girl kept mute and complied with daddy’s instructions.

However, the bubble burst one day when the poor girl just could not take it anymore; she broke down in tears in school. Her teachers and other students got worried and tried to unravel this tearful puzzle.

Then she opened up and told the sad story.

Could this really be true? On his part, Wasiu did not deny the allegations: “I did not know what came over me, it is not my fault. I don’t know how it happened. It is the devil’s work. I only slept with her twice weekly.”

Another moving example comes from Mary Adetokunboh Akinsanya, a teenager.

“My father started abusing me sexually at the age of 14 years. We used to run a computer school and some of the boys who came for the training took advantage of me.

When this happened, I told my father about it. Then he told me that the only remedy that would heal me was if he did the same thing to me. I accepted and ever since my dad has been sleeping with me. It has happened about 15 or 16 times now.”

You want to know her mother’s reaction to all this, and she replies this way: “Initially, I thought that my mum did not know but later I realised that she did but pretended not to notice because she was afraid of him.”

Akinsanya added: “My dad usually sleeps with me when my mother is cooking

in the kitchen and there are times that he would send her out to go and get something.

We have a second house and there are times when he takes me there to make love to me.”

Maureen Adigun is a counsellor and she has handled a number of cases relating to incest. “There was a very pathetic case that made me cry when I handled it. The lady kept on having extra marital affairs and while we were investigating the matter, we realised that Funsho was a victim of incest.

“Funsho and her younger sisters were victims of incest by their father. Her father, from the age of nine, sexually abused Funsho until she was 13. She was particularly angry with her mother for not protecting her from the abuse. He stopped sexually abusing her when she turned 13 and was about to start her periods. Her father turned his sight on his next premenstrual daughter, Funsho’s immediate younger sister.”

So, why do people indulge in this crime even when they know it’s wrong? “Too many people often assume the devil as the cause of their evil deeds. I know of a recent incident which happened to a friend. In fact, the couple had been married for about 20 years and the union was blessed with three children, a boy and two girls. On that fateful day, Mrs. Blessing Onunkwe, a businesswoman, decided to go home to take some rest. Unfortunately for her, as she opened the door to the bedroom, she caught her husband on her matrimonial bed

having intercourse with their first daughter.”

The big question on the lips of many is what should a woman do if she finds herself in these shoes? According to Naomi Peters, a textile merchant, this should be a no-go area for her man. “No, I just cannot comprehend that kind of idea at all. How can he be sleeping with me and at the same time sleeping with my daughter? Such a man is wicked. As for me, I will take my daughter out of that house and make sure that he never sets his eyes on me again.”

“Personally, I would forgive him because if I don’t, our marriage will lead to divorce. Though it won’t be easy to forget what I encountered between my husband and my daughter, I will forgive him.”

Like Blessing, Mrs. Gbemi Awonuga, a health practitioner, says it is better to let sleeping dogs lie in the matter. “I will forgive him. Though it takes the grace of God to forgive, however, I will forgive him, because if you read your bible very well you would see that Jesus Christ forgave the adulterous woman irrespective of her sin. So, as a Christian, I need to follow the example of my master. I will forgive the man, though it won’t be easy for me to forget that occurrence.”

Shrouding incest and child sexual abuse in mystery is unhelpful. Denying that such acts occur among Nigerians is also counterproductive. “We need to •Continue on Page 54

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Life

Incest: A painful story swept under the carpet •Continued from Page 53

recognise that educational attainment, ethnicity, geographical location or social class does not limit incest. That withdrawn child in your Sunday School class or mosque might be a victim of child sexual abuse. That promiscuous girl on your street may be an incest survivor. That nice woman in your office may be a perpetrator,” bemoaned Folashade Ajayi, a counsellor.

She added that “by establishing trusting relationships with people, you may be able to offer them help and support.

By becoming more aware of one’s environment and asking questions, neighbours, nurses, teachers and everyday folk may help rescue victims of incest from an unbearable situation. Finally, by providing education on sex, treatment for victims and focusing on preventive measures, we as a society can provide hope and succour to those who are trapped in incest or live with the residual effects of this damaging practice.”

Incest is as old as time itself. The 19th chapter of the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible records incest between Lot and his daughters. Incest is a cultural term that describes sexual contact between closely related persons, especially between members of a nuclear family, i.e. between parents and children or between siblings.

Incest can also be sexual liaisons between adult members of a family. A blood relationship does not have to be established before such sexual acts qualify as incest.

When individuals live together under the same roof as a family, sexual intercourse between such is incest.

Incest is different from childhood sexual abuse. A child can be sexually assaulted by a stranger, that does not qualify as incest.

However, intrafamilial child sexual abuse is what occurs when an adult parent

sexually assaults a biological child or a minor in the family. Incest on the other hand can occur between family members of all ages. We also have cases of elderly sexual abuse, where adult children or caregivers sexually abuse frail senior citizens.

Incest can be consensual in situations where both parties are adults and mutually consent to the sexual activity. In 2007, the German courts intervened in the case of a brother, Patrick Stubing and his biological sister, Susan Karolewski. They had given birth to four children from their incestuous relationship. Incest that occurs between underage siblings often has the older child coercing the younger child by virtue of the power differential in the relationship; as

such, a situation cannot be described as consensual.

The principal actor and instigator in majority of incest cases are males, usually the father, stepfather, uncle or brother, while in child sexual cases, majority of the victims are female, i.e. daughters, stepdaughters, grandchildren, cousins etc.

Some researches show that up to 95% of offenders in sexual abuse cases are men and offenders are punished under the law.

The Yoruba’s as well many other African ethnic groups ostracise and socially sanction incest participants as the practice is viewed as an abomination. In the biblical book of Leviticus, incest carried a death penalty.

What are characteristics of incestuous families? According to Jide Babajide: “Traditionally, such families are described by terms such as dysfunctional, secretive, psychologically, physically and socially isolated people. In addition, you find that incestuous fathers are profiled as emotionally immature, rigid and patriarchal. It is tough to be a mother in an average family and worse being in this kind of family. Mothers in incestuous families are sad people; they may be emotionally needy, in denial or often away from home on overnight trips. That is why women must live up to their responsibilities and serve as a guide in every family”.

He adds that: “The victim, because of fear, shame and coercion by the extended family, often conceals incest. Have you ever wondered what a child who is being molested frequently by his parent is exposed to? Who can he or she turn to for help? Of course, we all know that a child who is molested by a stranger can run home for help and comfort, but the child victim of incest cannot. Such children are dependent and entrapped in these sick families.

Throw into this mix, superstitions, fetish rituals and unhealthy respect for elders and you have a child victim in bondage.

Experts also inform that children are not physically or psychologically prepared to handle recurring sexual stimulation and sexual abuse and this often has a lasting negative impact on the life of the victims.

Child victims of incest and child sexual abuse present with certain peculiar traits and behaviours. These include a host of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and post traumatic stress disorders. Other behaviours include nightmares, aggression and sexual promiscuity.

Maiduguri: Life in city gripped by insurgency

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HE city of Maiduguri is an hour’s flight from the Nigerian capital Abuja, or a gruelling 900km (560mile) drive, with no exact time of arrival because of the countless checkpoints along the way - manned by heavily-armed soldiers in full combat gear, many of them hiding behind dark goggles.

Troops on the lookout for the next suicide bomber stand guard on street corners, their positions protected by sandbags.

The streets are lined by deserted buildings, peppered with bullet holes, and people must abide by a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Banks close at 1300, markets from 1600, and many children are no longer able to attend school after buildings were burnt down.

The Boko Haram group behind the faceless campaign of terror gripping the city, is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north.

Drive-by motorbike assassinations of politicians and policemen became their modus operandi, but their activities have grown in confidence and scale, spreading to other states in the region too.

The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means: “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

But Maiduguri’s residents dubbed them Boko Haram, which loosely translated from the local Hausa language means: “Western education is forbidden”.

The group promotes a version of Islam which forbids Muslims from taking part in any political or social activity associated with Western society, including voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.

The group has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.

“As it is, you can’t even tell if your neighbour is a member,” one Maiduguri resident told me, “and you dare not talk about them in public.”

Since 2009, northern Nigeria has been gripped by a bloody insurgency as militant group Boko Haram continues its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. Visiting the Boko Haram stronghold Maiduguri is dangerous, so a BBC reporter filmed with a concealed camera to reveal what life is like for citizens caught in the crossfire. The journalist’s identity has been concealed for security reasons.

Boko Haram’s members are so wellembedded in the community here, that it is almost impossible to know who is Boko Haram and who is not.

The Nigerian state has responded by deploying the Joint Task Force (JTF), an elite military and police intelligence force, and the crackdown has been brutal.

People are being killed by unknown gunmen and the military is accused of killing and detaining innocent people without trial.

Many people are fleeing because of the insecurity and entire neighbourhoods in this once-prosperous city are now completely deserted because the army has warned residents to relocate, so they can try to “weed out” members of Boko Haram.

One of the displaced agreed to take me to his house. On an eerily quiet street, he unlocked a padlock to show me around the dusty, cobwebbed four rooms where he once happily lived with his family.

“It’s been over four months since I left this house,” he explained.

“There was an incident in the neighbourhood and soldiers told us to leave and the house has been locked since then. I have been trying to return but I am scared because I don’t know what would happen.”

One widow told me her husband was killed in 2011 by soldiers on a sweep for Boko Haram. She says he pleaded he had nothing to do with the insurgents but they

shot him in the street.

“We heard gunshots while at home and thought Boko Haram had attacked the area,” the 28-year-old mother of four told me.

“Outside we saw a military vehicle so we ran in the direction of the soldiers seeking their help. Soldiers pushed us into the gutter and took matches and kerosene from inside my house. Then they burnt my house down.

“Witnesses saw soldiers talking to my husband for 15 minutes. Then they shot and killed him and burnt his car.”

Almost every family I meet has a grim story to tell.

Many parents told me their young adult male children have been in military detention for several months and they have not been allowed to visit them.

Sources say there are thousands of young men being held in various detention centres across the city.

“They took my son while he was sleeping and slapped his wife who was six months pregnant,” one woman told me.

“It’s been a year and eight months now since they took him and I haven’t heard anything. I have tried my best to know why he is being held, but without success. The soldiers keep saying that they would release our children but it is all empty promises.”

Both the Nigerian constitution and

Terrorism Prevention Act clearly state that detainees should be brought to court within a reasonable time. But one of Maiduguri’s top lawyers told me that has not been happening.

“People are in detention in JTF custody since 2011,” he told me, “since they came to Maiduguri they did not take a single person to court.”

When asked about allegations of detentions and human rights abuses by serving military officers, Nigerian Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika told the BBC: “I’ve not received a single case against any single identified soldier or officer as Chief of Staff.”

The bloody insurgency here has left hundreds of children without parents.

Without any welfare protection, those not taken in by sympathetic relatives often end up on the streets.

Some of the more fortunate come to the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation orphanage, where free breakfasts and primary education are provided for children whose parents have been killed by either the army or the insurgents.

The school is so popular it has a lengthy waiting list. I visited at playtime while the pupils played outside in the sunshine. But behind the chanting and clapping, almost every child has a chilling story to tell.

“Two men broke into our house in the middle of the night and pulled my father from his mosquito net,” one 12-year-old girl told me. “They shot him, slit his throat and used water from our kettle to clean their knife.

“My mother covered the body and we prayed.”

Across Nigeria, many worry that if resentment against the state builds, it may make recruitment for the insurgents easier.

And as Boko Haram widen their campaign by kidnapping foreigners to reflect their wider regional ambitions, it seems there is no end in sight to the conflict plaguing the country.

Courtesy: BBC Newsnight

THE ARTS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

W

ELCOMING one at the African Artist Foundation in Lagos penultimate Friday was a gigantic and shiny contraption. Looking highly polished, its sleekness, shape, and size seemed a bit ethereal. The gleaming black object later explained to be actually a desk, reminded one of scenes of Starwars, the popular science-fiction movie. But, this wasn’t a space station, neither was it fiction. The desk, codenamed Double Agent, is the creation of Ifeanyi Oganwu, a Nigerian architect based in the United Kingdom.

No doubt, Oganwu’s furniture is out of this world. Its aerodynamics features with black metal finish gives it a space-like look, but it is actually a workstation that can seat two people with room for computers and storage space.

Handcrafted and made from fibre-glass, Oganwu modestly said, “a lot of hours went into the production of the piece.”

The ‘Double Agent’ was one of the works on display at the ongoing exhibition at the African Artist Foundation (AAF), Ikoyi, Lagos. Titled Designing Africa: Appropriating culture, Mediums, and Meanings, runs between Friday, March 8 and April 5.

Oganwu studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago; the Architectural Association, London, and Columbia University, New York. Having worked with reputable art firms, in 2008, Ifeanyi founded Expand Design Ltd, a London-based studio engaging in architecture and furniture design. The result is the spacelike office furniture made from fibre-glass.

Other participating artists at the exhibition are Alafuro Sikoki-Coleman, Native Almaqri, Chinenye Emelogu, and thanksthanksafrica, a fictional art collective on a social media. These artists, using their arts to express latent talent and expressions not yet widely appreciated in many parts of the continent, showed off local ideas. And, in the swanky setting of the AAF, it was a case of the local in collision with contemporary for while Oganwu’s work tends to be futuristic, Sikoki-Coleman, an artist and industrial designer, was interested in taking viewers back into time. Hung on the walls were round mirrors of varying sizes all edged with the combs locally carved from wood. Creating the wow effect were the combs which for many people signified a time when the culture of hair-weaving was the norm amongst Nigerian women.

Titled, ‘The Born Kinky Mirror Series’ the works immediately jump at anyone familiar with wooden combs. Glancing in the mirrors, one can’t fail to appreciate the designs of the combs arranged in circular mirrors. She said; “Every Nigerian woman up till a certain age used these type of combs.” And it is the combination of these combs and mirrors that form the basis of her latest work.

However, it also hints at the disappearance of hairstyles involving local weaving. Though

•Sikoki-Coleman, one of the participating artists

Re-designing Africa Africa is the latest bride, and artists have increased their romance with the hitherto dark continent. Joe Agbro Jr. attended an art exhibition, showcasing Africa as a design hotbed Sikoki-Coleman wears a style that requires weave-on, she said, “I’m growing an Afro undrneath. But, I’m part of the groove too.”

As hair texturisers flood the market influencing more African women to go for artificially straighter hair, the artist who graduated from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia in 2006 with a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design, believes the local carving industry responsible for producing these combs is dying.

She said: “There is a type of comb that has six prongs and it is made in Benin. A man use to do it but he no longer does it. He said, ‘Oh, my grandmother used to make it. I don’t make it anymore. Why do you even want it? Well, I can do it. But if you’re not doing a bulk buying, I’m not doing it.’ Nobody makes it anymore. That industry

is extinct. Think about of it. There is a loss of culture, a loss of heritage that we are not aware of and we’re all contributing to it. For me, this is culture conservation.

There will be a time when our children would be like, ‘what are you talking about?’”

Sikoki-Coleman had also framed some popular sayings which are common lingo in Nigeria. For instance, though dying with successive generation, slangs such as ‘Who dash monkey banana?’ and ‘You Do Me I Do You God No Vex’ evokes a sense of Nigerianness, as such terms are used to convey information: In this case, it could be translated to mean ‘foolery’ and ‘human retribution’ respectively. Using the images of a peeled banana and threatening clouds, she visually accompanies the words for effects.

“Nobody makes it anymore. That industry is extinct. Think about of it. There is a loss of culture, a loss of heritage that we are not aware of and we’re all contributing to it. For me, this is culture conservation. There will be a time when our children would be like, ‘what are you talking about?’”

Sikoki-Coleman who lives and works in Bayelsa also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, Authoring and Design from Coventry University, UK, in 2003. She won second prize at the National Art Competition for her project entitled Cog, which explores television consumption and media saturation in Nigeria today.

Also exhibiting was Chinenye Emelogu. She trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, here she obtained a B.A and is currently completing her MFA. Her installation, Human Hives, won First Place at the National Art Competition in 2012. Human Hives is a colourful sprawl of strip bale (plastic rings strips used for packaging products in bales). And spread amorphously on the floor of AAF, the rings in four colours sought to show the distorted class structure prevalent in Nigeria and how Nigerians live, even amidst calamities; both natural and man-made.

Drawing inspiration from the social patterns of bees, Emelogu explains, “The concept relates to this theme by the visual narrative that defines it. When there is a disturbance within any so-

cial structure, the consequence will be disorder of the structure as a whole.”

Native Almaqri ‘s series in this exhibition include works on paper, with simple splashes of paint that suggest an exercise in typographical design while thanksthanksafrica, a fictional artistic collective that exists primarily on Facebook, in its works examined the global relationship between Africa and the rest of the world. The collective was created in 2010 to support artistic, political, and social inquiry.

Home to over one billion people, Africa is the world’s emerging continent. Purloined for its virgin resources, Africa has grown to become the new bride with global attention focused on it. No doubt, Africa will still mean a different thing to different people, what is certain is that it is moving forward.

According to a statement from Joseph Gergel, Curator, African Artists’ Foundation: “As the arts and design community in Nigeria has evolved at an unprecedented speed over the last decade, it is our goal that Designing Africa will act as a catalyst for future investigation and experimentation in contemporary African design.”

While labelling of Africa in the near future may be irrelevant, African designers seem defiant, ready to challenge stereotypes that labels African designs as only ‘traditional.’ At least, this exhibition proves so by borrowing global influences to infuse into their art, which is definitely African.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Arts/Reviews

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HE book, In the Wilderness of life, an autobiography written by His Royal Majesty Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru- Olagbegi III (CFR), the Olowo of Owo kingdom chronicles his life story from his birth, education, love ties with his father, his law practice, how his father, the late Sir Olateru Olagbegi II was dethroned and his own odyssey to the present monarchical position he occupies.

The beginning of the book gives graphic details of the history of Owo and all the monarchs that had reigned till date.

He traced the circumstances surrounding his birth, how he went to read Law in England and came back to Nigeria to attend the Nigerian Law School from where he left to practice under the late Frederick Fatai Williams (SAN) and became member of the Black Table. He also narrates how he was invited by the Shehu Shagari presidency via Dr Alex Ekwueme, the then Vice President to become a government counsel in 1981.

The HRM became a lecturer at the Nigerian Law School, rose to the position of a Reader and retired in 1991.

The 192-page book is loaded with the monarch’s experience and challenges during the Obaship struggle and crisis, and how he fervently stuck to God and his faith in God remained unshakeable like the rock of Gibraltar. He tells of how several times he turned down all magical and fetish ‘assistance’ offered him free of charge during the crisis in Owo. In the book, he reveals that though he is a traditional ruler

Olowo unveils his Wilderness

By Taiwo Abiodun

but fervently believes in God. And as a practicing Christian, he attends Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG) and does not miss the monthly ‘ritual’ redemption camp along Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway.

He narrates his pilgrimage to Jerusalem which convinced him that all the stories in the Bible are true!

The monarch says in his book that he is not the chief priest of the town. Not only this, it explains in many instances that he is indeed a crowned monarch from the womb who eventually fulfilled his destiny as designed by God. It gives detailed account of his ascension to the throne; the genesis of how he was ‘chosen’ and called to be ordained as King; how they paid obeisance to him as a king by his school mates, colleagues while in England and by his father before his demise.

Chapter one is titled ‘My Cradle in History.’ Therein, the writer traced Ile-Ife (Osun State) and Oduduwa as the progenitor of the Yoruba race.

He traced the reigns of Olowos from the first Olowo of Owo, Oba Ojugbelu, Imade, who ruled from 1070 to 1105AD, to

the most powerful monarch Olowo Ajagbusi Ekun in 1760AD, a blood thirsty and ruthless ruler who undertook 400 military engagements but lost only one. He sacrificed all his princes and princesses in the last military expedition but lost. He dedicated one room in the palace exclusively for his charms and amulets. The room was locked for about 200 years as no monarch had the effrontery to open it until the late Sir Olateru-Olagbegi II opened the room in 1950.

As an eye witness and legal defender of his father, HRM Olateru- Olagbegi III writes on what the Owo people and the old

politicians would like to read about how. He tells why the charming, well exposed and radiant monarch, Sir. Olateru-Olagbegi II was banished from Owo to Okitipupa and replaced. He writes: “The bloody crisis was on for most of 1965, particularly in Western Nigeria. But it quickly spread to other parts of the country like wildfire. In Owo, my father (Sir Olateru Olagbegi II) led the Akintola camp of NNDP, while Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin led the AG. The former group was referred to as“Olowo camp”, that is the symbol of NNDP, while the latter was “Olope”, its political symbol.

Owo was engulfed in crises. A hitherto peaceful, united and progressive town became a battle zone. In the ensuing political quagmire, the Nigerian military was constrained to intervene.....In Owo, it became patently clear that my father could not weather the storm against his stool. Although the military was in power, the regime favoured the AG; after all, its leader, Chief Awolowo was now the cornerstone. Within a few years, the defunct AG orchestrated a deadly scorched - policy to punish those who supported Akintola. Chief Ajasin’s had been appointed as the chairman of Owo Local Government. It would seem that , as a result of this orchestrated machinery the fate of the Olowo was sealed .A concatenation of events , many of them borne out of lazy and flimsy excuses, soon led to a sponsored uprising against him and his supporters .He was exiled , first to Okitipupa and later to Ibadan. All his political supporters in Owo were either

YAA expands activities

• Children playing the recorder at the YAA workshop

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ITH improved facilities and a better ambience, Young at Art (YAA), a children’s workshop which seeks to build future artists and sustain interest in the arts, has increased it number of activities. Formerly a summer event, Biodun Omolayo, Director of the Biodun Omolayo art gallery, conveners of the event says that the workshop now takes place all year round.

“The programme now

By Ovwe Medeme

runs round the year not only because we now have a more conducive environment but because of the growing interest by both parents and children. Also, we now have more facilitators making it more convenient for us to run,” Omolayo said.

On the journey so far, Omolayo says that in its own way, the Young at Art children’s workshop has boosted the interest of not just children but their parents in the

creative industry. “That is why we decided to be flexible. Again, we have started publishing a magazine, Young at Art Express. We have done the second edition, we are on the third edition of the magazine now,” he added.

Situated at the second floor of City Mall, Onikan, Omolayo says that the gallery can now host exhibitions. “The ambience is beautiful. Apart from hosting other artistes and having exhibitions, we also now have

a large collection of sculptures, both contemporary and traditional. The quality of works and numbers too has really increased,” he adds.

Only recently, he said, the gallery hosted an exhibition themed Removing The Veil featuring a group of artistes. “It was a very successful one. It had about 16 artists showcasing their works. We are planning for another one again very soon and other, the artist revealed.

killed, their properties and houses set ablaze, or were hounded into exile. The few who were spared became political pariahs. The General Adebayo Government later validated his dethronement as the Olowo of Owo through a decree.

That was how my father lost the throne to politics. A year later, a new Olowo was chosen by the people of Owo, this putting paid to any thought of Sir OlateruOlagbegi II coming back to rule Owo again.”

However, the book reveals how the banished monarch regained his throne back after 25 years in exile.

In 1999, Oba Olateru -Olagbegi III ascended his forefather’s throne as the then governor, the late Adebayo Adefarati objected with his inflammatory and stronglyworded statements, but Dr. Olusegun Agagu who later became the governor rescued the ancient town by bowing to the people’s wish by giving him his royal staff.

The book is rich in culture, tradition, and laced with Biblical quotes and verses as well as Greek Mythological phrases. It is recommended to be studied by secondary school and university students, as well as historians and Yoruba royal fathers. Its foreword was written by Rt. Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais (CON, GCON) while the preface was written by the late Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams (SAN, CFR, CON).

Published by University Press Plc., the book, which was launched few weeks ago in Lagos, will be launched in Owo on Saturday, 23rd of March.

Wakaabout goes online

A

FTER two years of promoting Nigerian Arts, Culture and travel-related stories in print, waka-about has launched its online version at the address, www.wakaabout.net.

Waka-about was launched in 2011 to unearth and promote Nigerian culture through tourism. According to Pelu Awofeso, the publication’s managing editor and winner of the CNN/ Multichoice African Journalists Awards in the tourism category; “In a country with as limitless a potential for tourism development as Nigeria is, going online and reaching out to the world’s travelling community is just the right step to take, and we’re only too happy to be a positive voice on a global platform and help with improving the perception that the world has of Nigeria.”

He said wakaabout online will regularly feature stories on indigenous Nigerian festivals, recommended tourist attractions, travelbook reviews and interviews with tourists who have visited Nigeria and have positive stories to share, among other segments. There will also be a dedicated link to a hotels directory to help intending visitors make guided choices about where to stay when they arrive.

According to Awofeso, who has travelled to nearly every state in Nigeria as a travel correspondent and

• Awofeso

freelance writer, it is high time that this happened in a country blessed with an amazing variety of physical, historical and cultural gems.

“In the long run, our plan is to make wakaabout online the first port of call for tourists planning a visit to Nigeria,” says Awofeso.

Waka-about is published in Lagos by Homestead Enterprises, which provides the tourist community in Nigeria with literature that is both factual and fun to read.

Since 2002, it has published a guidebook to the Nigerian city of Jos, a pamphlet on bird watching as well as travel books. At the moment, the in-house team of writers, photographers and graphic artists is working on a series of mini-guides to attractions and destinations in Nigeria for future publication.

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WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

'Church leaders should invest in people first' Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere is the founder of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), arguably the fastest growing church in Port-Harcourt, which has been involved in gigantic humanitarian projects around the country. Chinyere spoke with Sunday Oguntola on the vision behind the gestures and sundry issues surrounding his life and ministry. Excerpts:

•Chinyere

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OUR church recently opened a free restaurant and gave out 10 litres of kerosene to 4,000 families. What is the motivation behind these humanitarian gestures?

I will just say it is simply passion for Christ and humanity. Many people are suffering. A lot of families cannot cook because they don't have kerosene. Many are angry because they are hungry.

You can't see all of these as a Christian and fold your arms. You have got to want to do something and that is exactly what we are doing.

But are you sure you are not biting more than you can chew, considering that you also have a multi-skilled vocational centre running in different parts of the country?

We have been able to sustain everything by the grace of God. We have two vocational centres in Ghana, a tailoring institute in Lagos, a free hospital in Abia State. I am sure God is interested in what we are doing and that is why He is providing for us.

OPM is just six years with amazing explosion.

What is the secret?

The secret is the passion for Christ. Many came into ministry to make money or be famous but I can say I am one of the few people God called. I didn't want to be a pastor. I didn't attend any Bible college. God called me and equipped me Himself.

Okay, let's get a bit into your background. Where are you coming from?

I was born into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel Nwankwo of blessed memory in Abia State. We were Jehovah Witnesses until I met Christ. My last church was Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM). I left for about six years before I surrendered to God and started OPM. What were you into before you came into the ministry?

I wanted to travel out and that was what I was living for.

One of my brothers overseas was processing my travelling documents and sponsoring it.

He wanted me to come over to America but for six times, I was denied visa. I guess that was because God wanted me to do His work. Now, I travel without much ado to different parts of the world.

So, how has OPM been faring since it started?

It has been awesome. God has been good to us. We have 72 branches now in London, US, Ghana and other parts of the world.

Well, we have seen many churches that started so well but fizzle out in no time. What are you doing to ensure OPM remains a force to be reckoned with?

You are right. I have seen churches rise and die. But this is of God. There is nothing I have to do to sustain the momentum. It is up to God and I am following Him every time. Mine is to listen and follow His leadings. I don't really have anything else to do.

God is the one at work. If it were brain works, we would have crashed. God is the one calling the shots. I don't even know what to do next until He speaks. We bought our Lagos property. How? God just said we should buy the property and we did. I don't plan. I have no strategies or formulas. This year alone, we have opened three branches but I don't know how many more we will open later. So, it is all about God. He is the one at work in OPM. People allege your humanitarian activities are driven by quest for more membership. They must be right, isn't it?

Well, I went to Government Technical College, Port Harcourt and everybody knows me there. When I was in school, my provisions never lasted for one week because I was always sharing. Giving is a passion for me. The first person I accommodated in life stole my N1, 000 then but that never deterred me. In No 608, Ikwere Road, Port-Harcourt, and I am telling you this so

that you can make investigations, that was where I was doing a phone call business.

There was a pastor of Greater Love Assembly, Rev. Akoma, who was sent packing with his family of two kids, a wife and housemaid by the landlord. I brought them into the shop where I was living. My landlord came and said it was a shop and I could not accommodate people there. I said no I had already paid for the space and could do whatever I wanted. Would you say I did that to get members?

When I was giving out provisions in schools was it because I needed members? I was not even born again then. I was a fighter. Everyone knew me there. I used to be known as Chibuzor Nwankwo but changed my surname to Chinyere. I was always fighting for the less privileged and those oppressed. So, it is part of my life.

You must have had a rough background. You want to recall some of those rough patches you went through?

I was a cleaner at the airport here in Lagos for about three to four years. One day, I was wearing a safety boot.

The former Chief of Staff, Paul Uwadike, knew about this. A soldier came in and said I should remove the boot and I said no. He hit me with the butt of the gun and I collapsed. Uwadike personally paid for my medical bills in Naval Hospital. When I was two years old, I was thrown down by my uncle from a three-storey building. The house was 112, Ikwere Road, Port Harcourt.

Why did he throw you down?

He claimed I slipped off

his hands but I believe the enemies wanted to use him to truncate my destiny.

Thank God for one Dr Green, who rescued me at the hospital. The building is still there till date. In fact, I once contemplated buying it to serve as a monument because I would have died there. You can imagine a two-year-old thrown down from a three-storey building with rough floor. I came to Lagos and slept under the bridge for months before I could get accommodation.

So, these experiences influence what you do now?

I would say yes. But I didn't start when I became rich. Even while I was living under the bridge, I was always sharing my meals. I had many suits and clothes that I hardly wore. So, I came up with the idea of opening a free boutique where people could come and pick whatever outfits they wanted in Port-Harcourt.

When I announced this, many people joined and started donating for the boutique. That is what Jesus will do. I recall a church where the pastor said he had some suits and did not know what to do with them. He then organised an auction where people paid millions to buy the suits. Jesus would never do that. I was wondering why not give it to the poor?

Does it bother you what church leaders like you do with ostentatious living?

It bothers me to be honest. People give to the church so that they can be taken care of, not because they want the pastor to live off them. Any pastor who does that is a criminal. The money should be used to do the work of God and serve

the people.

But the argument is the church is not a charity Then, what is it? The church is a charity. That is why we are exempted from payment of tax. You use God's money to buy private jets and you think you are right? The money should be used for the people. I have built houses for widows and many people but I live in a rented apartment.

Maybe that is because you can't afford to build one yet If I want to build a house today, it takes me nothing. I can even ask one of the widows to vacate one of the houses for me. But I want to build God's kingdom and the people first. That is my priority.

With the rate OPM is going, when are you buying your private jet?

I am not buying any private jet. Do you know the money to maintain it can turn millions of lives around? Some people have three jets and just park them.

So, you will never buy a private jet?

I haven't said that. But for now, let me see how I can invest in people first because the vision is not about private jets. If I have an emergency, I can charter a plane to anywhere in the world. For now, I don't think I will want to buy a private jet. To charter a plane is about $5,000 but to buy a jet is about $2.5 billion. There is no comparison at all. You can eliminate poverty in a church by investing that money into people.

When OPM is 10, where do you imagine it will be?

I see us in every major city of the world, touching and blessing lives.

NEWS

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HE presidential pardon granted highprofile ex-convicts, especially former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, is a big dent on the anti-corruption war and a massive insult to Nigerians according tothe Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) South West region, Archbishop Magnus Atilade.

Atilade said the pardon is totally condemnable and reduces the stand-

Pardon: Atilade blasts Jonathan

By Sunday Oguntola

ing of Nigeria among the comity of nations.

Alamieyeseigha, he said, is unworthy of pardon having been convicted for criminal and corruption charges.

According to him: "This is taking presidential power to a ridiculous level.

What the president has done has turned us to a

•Says he insulted Nigerians laughing stock in the international community.

"How can you pardon someone convicted of criminal and corruption charges? Are you saying he was right to have stolen?

"Honestly, this has lowered the president's integrity and standing among men of goodwill in the world."

He said the other pardoned ex-convicts were worthy, especially those accused of participation in phantom coups that "we all knew were untrue."

Atilade welcomed the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying it will deepen democracy in Nigeria.

He said it was a good omen that most of the parties, which he described as fly-by-night organisations, have decided to collaborate for greater impact.

"With two parties, Nigerians can easily choose because we all knew most of our parties existed only in briefcases. We should support APC because we can know who which is which now."

•Atilade

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

Worship NEWS

COLUMN

Vessels of Revival

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•R-L: James, Okonkwo and Bakare at the dedication service.

GCM clocks 21, dedicates new dome

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EMBERS and wellwishers of Glory C h r i s t i a n Ministries (GCM) Lagos were in a jubilant mood last week during the 21st anniversary of the church.

The anniversary also coincided with the official dedication of the church's new ultra-modern auditorium dubbed The Gloryland Dome.

Resplendent in various attires, members danced and praised God for the double celebrations.

The Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr Mike Okonkwo, in his message titled "Let the flow continue" urged the church to sustain the momentum.

He said the completion of the new building was a call to more works and not the end of a phase.

Okonkwo lamented that many works of God have been truncated because people relaxed, feeling they have arrived.

According to him: "Anointing often comes but the flow is the problem.

Many receive anointing but stop doing the very things that took them there."

Rather than relent, he said the completion of the project was a call to "pray more and be more committed to the study of the word."

He added: "It is a testimony of the faithfulness of God and an evidence of the efforts you all put into completing this edifice. But I want to urge you not to rest on your oars.

"If there is any time that this ministry needs to pray more and work even harder, then this is the time."

Pastor Tunde Bakare, who

By Sunday Oguntola took the dedication prayers, called on God to descend on the building and change lives.

He said: "Attaining 21 years is one thing that we should be thankful to God about. But to successfully complete a beautiful structure such as this is reason enough for more celebration."

The General Overseer of

GCM, Dr. Iroufagha James, expressed delight at the achievement.

He attributed the feat to the grace and mercies of God. He stated: "For us it is a double celebration and we are overwhelmed by the grace and mercies of God in the life of this ministry.

“We have had our ups and down but we have been able to overcome the odd and now we are 21 years old."

READ T S U M 50 N NIGERIAAN I CHRIST R S AUTHO Are you a Christian author? Are you bothered about poor exposure at bookshops and limited patronage?

The Nation is offering you an unbeatable opportunity to showcase your books and talk about your passion.

The 2-in-1 project involves an advert supplement backed with a profile story on each participant.

Kindly contact Sunday Oguntola on 08034309265 or shinystarontop@gmail.com for advert details and participation.

You will be glad you did!

AVING seen the need for revival in the land, we now know how desperately we need God to reverse the ugly trends that have brought about the present spiritual condition and the attendant apostasy.

God is calling upon the remnants to rise in the strength of the Lord and be the instruments in the revival that He is bringing.

Even though revival is the work of God and birthed through the Holy Spirit, there must be men and women responding to the prompting of the Spirit to pray for revival. More than anything else, the Lord is calling on the church to set herself apart and passionately seek the face of God for this great and mighty coming move of His Spirit.

BROKENESS & FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT The people of God need to be broken for the Lord to use them as He will not yield to the pressure of the need for revival to use just anybody. What the Lord is about to do can not be done by anybody. God needs broken vessels. He needs vessels that are totally yielded to Him. He wants to use those who have been in fellowship with Him. These are the ones who have come to know and share His burden through constant fellowship. In this coming revival, the Lord will not use people just because of their gifts, no matter how gifted, but He will use those who are walking and operating in the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5: 22- 23).

In the past, people follow men with the gifts but this time the signs of the vessels will be more of manifestations of the fruit rather the gifts. Jesus told His disciples, "by their fruit you shall know them". Jesus said this because of His deep understanding of the deception of gifts. Satan was an embodiment of unusual spiritual gifts but fell through pride and lost his position as an angel of light.

There is presently a pressure upon many today to manifest in great power through signs and wonders but those the Lord wants to use are those who are not under pressure to perform.

Rather, they are simply content with walking with Lord through fellowship.

In 1994, the Lord told me that work for God requires a walk with God. There are many who want to "work for God" but who don't want "a walk with God". If it's just about working for God, the angels will do much better because of their sheer strength and swiftness in operation. Only

Bishop Abraham Olaleye

REVIVAL HOUR those who walk with God will be in better position to understand the heartbeat of God and become His choice for this divine assignment. All the great men and women used of God in scripture had fellowship with Him. THEY ARE NOT MATERIALISTIC Another mark of those that the Lord will use is that they are not men with passion for material things. When they ask the Lord for wealth, they ask based on passion to alleviate the sufferings of the poor. They fund the gospel and are involved in every good Kingdom work.

Like the Apostles in the early church, they are not covetous and do not exploit the people to accumulate material things.

Many today are in ministry for financial security and continue to heap up treasures for themselves here on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal (see Mattthew 6: 19). Many have left the church today because of flamboyant lifestyles of many pastors. Peter exhorted the elders (pastors) thus, "shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock..."

(1 Peter 5: 1- 3).

God is the One that provides for the needs of His servants and will not but give them the good things of life. But believe me; their hearts will not be after these things. All that these vessels want is the tool for the work, which the Lord Himself provides as the need arises. They will not serve God for the blessing but rather count it a blessing for the Lord to use them. They will ever be thankful to God for honouring, calling and using them. They will serve Him because they love Him and share His burden.

THEY ARE HUMBLE VESSELS One of the things that will stand these vessels out in this coming move will be humility.

These vessels will walk in high level of humility that it will be difficult for people to believe that the Lord had poured such a great anointing on them. They will not only be humble but also simple. They would have and operate the lifestyle of Jesus.

Their appearance will not be intimidating and they will not despise anyone, no matter how lowly such people appear. Jesus was so clothed with this humility and simplicity that it took the kiss of Judas for His captors to recognise Him. These vessels will not seek fame and glory but their passion will be to see Jesus glorified. They will take a cue from John the Baptist, who, when he was told that Jesus was baptising and that all people were coming to Him rejoiced and said, "…this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3: 29- 30). These vessels will care less about their titles. They will answer the titles only for the purpose of identity and when they are not called by such titles, they will not be offended. James says "But He gives more grace.

Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4: 6).

When Peter arrived in the house of Cornelius, the Bible tells us that the Centurion fell down at his feet and worshipped him. The action of this army General is understandable. Peter had been mentioned to him by an angel who had come from heaven and to receive a man known in heaven was no doubt a big deal to Cornelius,he fell down to worship. Lifting him up, Peter said, "Stand up; I myself am also a man"(Acts 10: 2526).

Peter wasted no time in letting the army officer know that he was a man just like him. In other words, Peter was saying the fact that he was a man of God did not mean he was God that he could be worshipped. The fact that God uses us does not mean that we have become His equal.

As a matter of fact, the more God uses us, the more humble we ought to become. No wonder he later wrote that we should humble ourselves under the MIGHTY HAND of God, the hand that crushes every arrogant person. In his submission over this important subject Apostle Peter said "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5: 6- 7) You can reach Olaleye for prayer and counseling through adeewumi@yahoo.com OR Call 0806 285 6991

Preach the truth, cleric tasks church leaders

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HE General Overseer of Christ Evangelical Powerful Church of God and founder of Soromidayo Prayer Mountain, Ijebu Igbo Ogun State, Prophet Michael Ogundipe, has challenged Church leaders to preach only the undiluted gospel.

Ogundipe, in a chat last week, said: “ministers of God need to start preaching sound doctrines to enlighten the congregation about heavenly and earthly things.

“The only way the country can be saved from her present situation is the knowledge of the undiluted

By Abiodun Alade and Adeola Ogunlade

gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He regretted that the Church is deteriorating in carrying out its primary assignment of evangelism and soul-winning.

The cleric lamented that “some ministers of God don’t tell the congregation the truth. They are only after the money of the members.

“If you are not financially viable in the Church, you will not be recognised and that accounts for fraud in the society.”

He said too much con-

centration on materialism has dragged the Church into troubled waters.

He added: “Nowadays, the money that is supposed to be used for evangelism is used for other things in the Church. If you are not using big cars as a minister of God, people might not recognise you.”

On the essence of Prayer Mountains, he said: “Prayer Mountains are different from Church. It is a place where you are alone with God. “It is a place to seek the face of the Lord for interventions.

When you are on the mount, you leave behind you all your challenges and concentrate on God.”

L-R: Member Advisory Board, Worship for Change, Akin Omorodion; Chief Responsibility Officer, Pastor Wale Adenuga; Founder Cerebral Palsy Centre, Nonye Nweke; Members Advisory Board Worship for Change, Justina Mba and Uwa Osa-Oboh with Chairperson of the Board, Emeka Ndu, during the cheque presentation to Cerebral Palsy Centre in Lagos.

PHOTO: Olusegun Rapheal

Worship

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

59

COLUMNS

Love Fever

Pastor Taiwo Odubiyi CHRISTIAN ROMANCE SERIES

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ADI looked at her long, as if she had developed a second head. "Okay, so you came before ten, on a Saturday? Monday to Friday, you come late, and the first Saturday you wouldn't go to work, you came in at this time? It simply shows you have no regard for your husband and you don't care for your child! You behave like an irresponsible woman! Do you know what I eat? You're never at home, never available, all you do is sulk! And no one knows what you're doing with your salary! You may have to leave this banking work!"

"Try stopping me!"

"You're not even remorseful. Is that what you've got to say? How many men do you think would be willing to tolerate this rubbish from you?"

Tosin gave a cynical laugh. "So, what would they do?"

Giving her a hard look, he reached out and grabbed her by the arm, his face rigid with anger. "What would other men do? You really want to know?"

"Leave me alone, and get away!" She said as she freed herself from his grip on her arm.

Ladi stared at her in silence for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled. "That may be a good idea. For once I think you're right. You can have the bed to yourself!"

And with that, he slammed the door shut.

Tosin undressed, showered and got in bed, then she began to feel ashamed and guilty. She was overreacting.

What was wrong with her, why was she behaving this way? Lord, I'm sorry. I don't hate Ladi, You know I don't but I don't feel happy. I'm not. He doesn't understand me, and I feel let down by him.

To prevent the threatening tears, she took her Bible and opened it to the book of John, reading the words of Jesus. She hadn't had time recently to read the Bible, but now she searched it, asking

the Lord to speak to her.

The following morning, as Tosin got up from the bed, she decided she would go to the family church, but not with Ladi. He might not want her to go with him anyway, as he didn't come into the room to sleep, which was very much unlike him. Situations seemed to be going from bad to worse, she thought.

Opening the bedroom door, she went to the living room. Ladi was sprawled out on the three-seater sofa, in his pajamas. He slept there. Hmm. Tosin greeted him briefly which he responded to, with the same casualty. Then she began to move around, doing the usual cooking and the morning chores. Sade woke up too and joined her. After breakfast, Tosin cleared the table.

"We're off to church." She announced to Ladi who was still at the breakfast table, drinking coffee.

He set his teacup back in its saucer as he answered coolly. "Give me ten minutes or so to be ready."

"No, I'll want to go on my own." She told him. She wore a purple skirt suit with a black camisole. The hat on her head had a linen crown and a large front bow.

"Your car is not working.

Let's go together."

"No, I'm not going with you." She said.

Ladi used his thumb to tap his teeth as he thought, what is wrong with Tosin?

Tosin took her daughter's hand. "Tireni, let's go."

And with that she left.

The following day at noon, Tosin was surprised to see Joe in her office. "Good morning, Mr. Olayemi. This is a surprise."

"I hope it's a pleasant one."

He drawled lazily. "How are you today?" He grinned.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"You're looking great as always." He looked at her admiringly.

"Thank you. And thanks for giving me the ride on Saturday."

"Oh, don't worry." He dismissed with a smile, "The pleasure was mine."

She could smell the cologne he used as he sat down on a chair. He seemed self-possessed and sure of himself.

"So, to what do I owe this visit?" She asked pleasantly.

"I came to check the I.T. Manager and decided to pop in to see you. I hope you don't mind." He said.

"No no, I appreciate it."

Tosin answered hurriedly.

"That was my hope." He said, glancing around.

"Would you like to have a cup of coffee?" Tosin offered.

"Yes please."

She could feel his eyes on

her and she tried not to meet his eyes again. "Sugar and milk?"

"Yes, a little of each, Tosin.

I hope you don't mind my calling you by your first name.

And of course, you should call me Joe." Tosin smiled. "That's okay."

But what she felt inside was far from okay. She felt a strange feeling come over her as their eyes met. What is it?

She began to thoughtfully analyse … loneliness, longing, lust or … love? No, it can't be! Impossible. I'm married, she reminded herself and quickly came back to the present.

She prepared the coffee and set the cup in front of him.

They talked as he sipped his coffee and she discovered they had another thing in common, he enjoyed eating snails.

Joe finished his coffee and put the cup down. "So, what have you been able to do about your car? Has it been fixed?"

Tosin shook her head and hissed.

"How did you come to office this morning? Your husband brought you?"

"No, I came in a cab."

"Have you got a mechanic to check it for you?"

"I've told one of the mechanics the Bank uses. He's gone to my house to fix it.

When he's through, he'll bring it for me."

There was a knock and a middle-aged man with tribal marks on his cheeks entered.

"Ah, Baba l'egba, you're back." Tosin was obviously glad to see the man.

"Madam, good afternoon.

Mr. Joe, good afternoon sir."

"Baba l'egba, how are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Baba l'egba, have you brought my car?" Tosin asked.

"Yes but you can't use it yet.

I will need to take it to my workshop, I will need to change one or two parts."

Tosin sat up. "If you're going to change one or two parts, when are you going to get it done?" She looked at her watch.

"This is past twelve. Can't you patch it up somehow so I can take it home, and then bring it tomorrow morning for you to continue whatever you have to do?"

"No Madam, it can't be patched. You can't take it home today."

"What? How do you expect me to get home?"

The man smiled. "Madam, it's not my fault. It's because of the work I have to do on it."

Joe who had been listening to their conversation turned to the mechanic. "What exactly is the problem with the car?"

To be continued.

For this novel and other books by the same author, Contact: 08023000773, 08058040949

Commanding Supernatural Success! (3)

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

W

ELCOME to your regular column.

Last week, I taught on how love enthrones, the proofs of a true heart for God and why love is fundamental for outstanding success.

This week, I will be teaching on another Biblical law of success - The Law Of Divine Ideas.

Divine ideas are divine treasures of unusual values.

Divine ideas are far above natural and intellectual ideas. They are not mere religious philosophies. Every empire is built on ideas. If natural ideas built empires, then divine ideas will build super empires.

A business empire was built by a man called Job. He built that empire by divine ideas. As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle (Job 29:4). He became the greatest of all men in the East, because he was operating from an idea, which is from above (John 3:31).

Joseph, by divine ideas, was able to discover a means of preserving food that would endure for 14 years, without the use of chemicals. He took over the most powerful nation in those days, by accessing divine ideas. Divine ideas will build super empires!

By divine ideas, we are told that Isaac sowed in that land (Genesis 26:12-14). He waxed great, went forward, became very great and the Philistines envied him. He commanded enviable success, by trading divine ideas. Divine idea is eternally superior to every other form of idea.

Channels Of Divine Ideas: • The channel of meditation: Meditation is a channel for accessing divine inspiration, because every idea

NEWS What and where?

Catholic women revive water project

T

HE Ikeja Deanery of Catholic Women Organisation has relaunched its water project plant to ease the scarcity of water facing residents of the area.

The project, which started in 1997, is also expected to generate revenue for the empowerment of women in the Archdiocese.

By Stella Edmund It is also designed to offer succour to widows and the less privileged in the society.

Dr. Mrs. Winfred Osamulere said the empowerment of women cannot be overemphasised considering the vital roles they play as homemakers and life moulders.

2-day crusade holds in Lagos

A

2-DAY crusade tagged “Greater than the pool of Bethsaida” organised by King in Christ Power Ministries International is billed to hold from May 9-10 at the Gymnasium Hall, National Stadium Surulere Lagos.

The chief host and the

senior pastor, Dr. Chidi Anthony, assured there would be total healing, deliverance and breakthrough for participants.

He said: “Bethsaida is where Christ Jesus will touch lives of all and they will never remain the same again.”

is a product of inspiration.

Let us first understand that every child of God possesses a unique mind (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What is that mind worth?

It's a creative mind: It was by the wisdom of God at work in Christ that the world was created, and you have that in you (John 1:3).

The Bible called that mind a sound mind. We all came down with a natural mind, but at redemption, our natural mind was replaced with a sound mind. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Even though you have a sound mind, you need to engage it and one of the channels of engagement is meditation (Psalms 119:97-99).

What is inspiration? Inspiration can be defined as the movement of the Spirit of the Living God in your mental region, engaging the Spirit of God in motion in your faculty.

Every problem has a solution with God, but in most cases, you access this solution through the art of meditation. You allow the Spirit of God to move in your mental region in sourcing solutions to bugging issues. We see a graphic illustration in the life of the prodigal son. The Bible says: And when he came to himself… (Luke 15:17).

This man came to himself and reasoned his way back to honour.

You need to set time apart to think through scriptures, with the help of the Holy Ghost, to know the next appropriate step to take to recover your colour and beauty and to sustain them.

• The practice of quietness: This implies practical quietness. And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you…

(1 Thessalonians 4:11). The practice of quietness provides access to divine ideas (Proverbs 18:1).

Isaac understood the mystery of separation and came up with the idea of irrigation, and became the bread winner of the most powerful nation in the world (Genesis 26).

Let's practise quietness (Psalms 46:10). We need to engage the practice of qui-

etness in our quest to access divine ideas. You need some form of quietness, not just in separation to a place, but in a quiet spirit, longing to access heaven's light on issues of concern to you.

• Divine ideas will flow through a heart of love: Divine idea that causes men to excel is contactable by love. God's love qualifies you to access every idea relevant to the challenges of your life. The love of God connects you to it.

Solomon was a man of love (1Kings 3:3). The Bible says that God gave him largeness of heart, as much as the sand that was by the seashore.

• You access divine secrets by prayer: Daniel accessed divine secrets by prayer (Daniel 2:19). That secret could only have come from heaven. When that idea landed on the earth, it established a throne for him.

• By Operating the Joy of the Lord as a lifestyle: The joy of the Lord is one of the vital channels of divine ideas (Isaiah 12:3). To encounter divine ideas, you must be joyful. Divine ideas will flow through the channel of joy.

One of the most excited slaves that ever walked the planet earth was Joseph. He was full of inexplicable joy.

His countenance was a cheerful one. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance…(Proverbs 15:13). No wonder, God passed a divine idea through him (Genesis 41:39). Divine idea enthroned him over an empire!

• Mystery of Tithing: Tithing, by enabling the flow of divine ideas, opens up your heavens. When you are a tither, you open your heavens for the flow of divine ideas. Committed tithers are natural beneficiaries of divine ideas. God opens the heavens and pours out the anointing that makes them of quick understanding. They become supernaturally smart in dealing with the affairs of their businesses, careers and their finances (Malachi 3:10).

Tithing opened Jacob's life into a realm of divine ideas (Genesis 30:43). Divine idea manifested through him and culminated in outstanding success.

Friend, the grace for divine ideas is available, if you are born again. You get born again as you confess your sins and accept Jesus as your Saviour and Lord.

If you are set for it, please say this prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins.

Cleanse me with Your precious blood. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know, I am born again! I will continue with this teaching next week!

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with us through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

60

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

INSIGHT

Nigeria's Latest Status Symbol:

BULLET-PROOF VEHICLES W

HEN it comes to finding individual solutions to societal

problems, Nigerians can be quite creative.

When public utility companies fail to provide electricity, the people turn to generators and inverters - creating one of the biggest markets globally for such devices. When the education system fails, they turn to private schools at home and abroad, when public hospitals became mere consulting centers, they resort to private hospitals, and when the aviation sector spiraled into crisis, those who could afford to simply bought private jets.

The general insecurity in the country, especially the Boko Haram insurgency up north, killing by unidentified armed gangs, kidnapping and allied atrocities, has made many of the elite to take matters into their own hands to protect themselves by acquiring bullet-proof vehicles. But what started as a reaction to alarming security threats is fast becoming a statement of one's status in society.

Investigations by our correspondents reveal that many among the who's who in Nigeria own between two and three bulletproof vehicles. These persons range from top government officials, legislators, other top politicians, business tycoons, top bankers and other class of executives in oil and gas, telecommunications, entertainers, contractors and the other members of the upper class of like traditional rulers.

A decade ago, you could count the number of bullet-proof vehicles in Nigeria.

Apart from the Presidency and a few security operatives, most top government officials like state governors, ministers, legislators and top corporate executives used regular vehicles - but not anymore.

What began as a protection device has now become a toy acquired by very 'big boys and girls' to prove they have joined the 'A league'.

GENESIS OF THE CRAZE The craze for bullet-proof vehicles amongst state governors may have started when the then Governor of Benue State,

Just as their appetite for private jets and chartered flights stirred by the collapse of Nigeria's aviation industry soon evolved into a way of separating the seriously affluent from the rest of the population, an increasing number of the rich and powerful are shelling out mind-boggling sums to purchase bullet-proof vehicles. But as JOKE KUJENYA, PAUL UKPABIO and INNOCENT DURU report, for many of the buyers it's not just a question of personal security but also a statement of social status.

George Akume, was attacked in 2005.

Akume, then a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was travelling to a meeting in Abuja, when he narrowly escaped death after gunmen opened fire on his convoy at Nasarawa-Egon, along the Lafia-Akwanga axis.

His vehicle was riddled with bullets.

While Akume was lucky to escape, one of his co-travelers, a former Managing Director of Nigeria Airways, Mr. Andrew Agom, was not so lucky.

Agom, who was in the same vehicle as Akume, was hit and died immediately.

After the attack, many governors and top government officials resolved to start using bullet-proof vehicles. Other top state officials who acquired similarly fortified vehicles around that period included the likes of the then Senate President, Ken Nnamani.

There was an uproar around the country when it was revealed back then that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Usman Nafada, had acquired nine bullet-proof cars each for their official use.

Each of the vehicles was estimated to cost between N50million and N85 million.

Since then, almost all top officials of government have added many bullet-proof vehicles to their fleet.

In the 2012 budget, the Presidency provided for the acquisition of two bulletproof automobiles at the cost N280 million.

Earlier this month, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, was reported to have acquired an exotic bullet-proof Sprinter luxury van from the US-based Texas Armoring Corporation (TAC).

NEW HAVEN FOR AMOURED VEHICLES The general insecurity in the country and the vanity of Nigerians has made many international companies which specialise in the manufacturing of armoured vehicles to see Nigeria as a haven.

When TAC started doing business in this country four decades ago, the major reason for acquisition of bullet-proof vehicles was security. Then TAC protected businessmen, politicians, diplomats, expatriates, religious leaders, and oil and gas executives. Today, it is a different ball game. The yearly import of armoured vehicles now runs into thousands.

According to available statistics, on a global scale Nigeria only lags behind Iraq, Afghanistan and Latin America. Executive Vice President of TAC, Jason Forston, revealed that the Presidency, governors, politicians and other wealthy Nigerians had raised their demands for "new anti-

•Okeyomi

ballistic vehicles from the company since the murder of some politicians, "There is this vehicle we call 'The Beast' and it's becoming increasingly popular among wealthy Nigerians." One 'Beast' vehicle can sell for approximately $400,000.00 US dollars. 'The Beast' is an Armoured Cadillac Escalade B7.

Forston revealed that about 30 per cent of his company's sales was from Nigeria.

"Over the years, we've probably sent close to 800-900 armoured vehicles to Nigeria," he said.

A security expert who does not want his name in print revealed: "A lot of politicians and wealthy Nigerians have expanded the internal security around their residences in the face of high-profile kidnappings that the country has witnessed; they have also invested heavily in armoured vehicles.

"Armoured vehicles are of two types: Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) and passenger vehicles. The SPVs are mostly Continued on page 61

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

INSIGHT

61

A KING'S RANSOM FOR ARMOURED VEHICLES It will cost you an arm and a leg to acquire some of these monsters-onwheels. As the figures below show, some of the price tags can make the eyes of even the well-heeled swim.

1. Mercedes Benz S-Guard 600: $1.4 million 2. Audi A8 Security: $685,000 to $1,000,000 3. Bentley Mulliner Division with Armor from Mulsanne: $400,000 4. Maybach 62S with Armor from Rijck: $352,000 5. BMW 7 Series High Security: $350,000 6. Popemobile: $311,000 7. Conquest Knight XV: $310,000 8. Cadillac One: $300,000 9. The Dartz Kombat T98 SUV: $200,000

Bullet-proof vehicles

•Inside the Sprinter Luxury van newly-acquired by the Akwa Ibom State government

purchased by banks and security operatives, while the passenger vehicles are for passenger use."

Vice-President of Inkas Armored Vehicle Manufacturing, which is the parent company of Inkastrans, Mr. Dmitri Khazanski, also confirmed Nigeria as a choice destination for sellers of armoured cars.

Khazanski says that the first time his company received a request for an armoured car by a Nigerian was in 2005 and since then, the number has increased.

2015 ELECTIONS WILL SPUR MORE PURCHASES According to Dipo Okeyomi, a security expert and Executive Director of Marial Security, Texas, United States, the leastexpensive bullet-proof car costs about $485, 000. He agrees that most of the buyers of bullet-proof cars are politicians, government officials and stupendously wealthy Nigerians.

He said: "Armoured vehicles are not what just anybody can acquire. The cheapest armoured car sells for about $485, 000. If you want them to customise it for you, the price will be higher. It is mostly acquired by politicians, and some very wealthy people in the country to protect themselves. Apart from this set of people, some rogues who dupe institutions of huge money also acquire it to protect themselves because they are always living in fear of being attacked."

One of the allegations against the

embattled Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Force, Abdulrasheed Maina, was that he owns two bullet-proof cars for personal security. Maina is not alone.

Okeyomi, however, argues it was not out of place for people to acquire bullet proof cars citing the level of insecurity in the country. He added that fears the 2015 elections could aggravate the security situation in the country has sustained the rush for bullet proof cars among politicians.

"Nigeria is in disarray when you talk about security so it would not be out of place for anybody who can afford an armoured vehicle to have it. There is unprecedented crime wave all over the country. When kidnappers, armed robbers and terrorists are striking on a daily basis, why would it be wrong for anybody to acquire an armoured car if it will enhance his security? Look at the how the late Kwara State Commissioner of Police was killed like a fly. If he had the resources to buy an armoured car, he probably would have not been so easily murdered.

"The whole problem is because of insecurity in the land. If there is no problem of insecurity in the country, there wouldn't be any reason for anybody to waste his hard-earned money on bullet-proof cars since the security components do not add any aesthetic value to the car."

A QUESTION OF COSTS Which one is cheaper in the long run: solving the country's security challenges

or spending billions of naira importing and maintaining bullet proof vehicles?

According to findings, Nigerian politicians and business moguls have in the past six months spent about N3 billion on bullet-proof cars. The most popular vehicles for the buyers are Mercedes Benz G-500, E320, 500, and S-class in the B4, B6, and B7 categories, which cost between N50 million and N70 million each.

Daimler Chrysler, Mercedes Benz S600/S550 as well as the Cadillac Escalade and Toyota Land Cruiser costs in the region of $195,000.00, while the Lexus LX570, ($215,000.00), and Land Rover Range Rover HSE will set potential owners back a tidy $232,500.00.

Though the vehicles are very expensive, the cost of maintenance is just slightly higher than those of conventional vehicles.

But one critical difference are the electrical parts of the vehicles. They are radically different from the conventional vehicle, so it is only those who are highly knowledgeable about electronics who can fix the vehicles.

Secondly, because the windows cannot be wound down, the air conditioning must be on all the time; so the vehicle needs a very powerful battery.

Some of the spare parts, especially the electrical parts could be very expensive, but other maintenance parts are similar to what you have with conventional vehicles.

CONVERSION OF ORDINARY CARS TO BULLET-PROOF

With owning a bullet-proof car being the in-thing, many Nigerians who cannot afford what it costs to buy a new one have resorted to converting their conventional vehicles to bullet-proof ones.

One company that prides itself as the master in the art and science of converting conventional cars to bullet-proof cars is Leks Nigeria Limited. Apart from selling bullet proof vehicles, Leks also convert vehicles that are not manufactured as one to the bullet-proof variant.

Leks claim they can make doors and windows resistant to gun fire, as well as tires that are super steel reinforced so that one could continue driving after being shot.

Okeyomi confirms that there are no armoured car manufacturing companies in Nigeria - only those that assemble. He, however, urges caution and scrutiny for those desirous of using firms that assemble bullet-proof cars locally.

BULLET PROOF WALLS AND HOUSES Sociologist, Adegboye Oyekunle, in his intervention states that the bullet-proof car craze has assumed a new dimension, "Just like craze for education abroad which started with parents sending their kids to universities abroad, these days they even send children abroad for nursery, primary and secondary school education.

"Now it's not just bullet-proof vehicles; we now have bullet-proof doors and windows in houses and offices. Very soon we will start having bullet-proof restaurants and hotels. Once a craze starts here, there is no end. Instead of fixing education, healthcare, water, power, security and others, we resort to quick fix which at the end of the day compounds the problems. We have a long way to go'' Oyekunle believes the craze for bulletproof vehicles is a sign of a failed state. "In Iraq and other parts of the world where these vehicles are a necessity, they are so because those societies have failed. So if bullet-proof vehicles are the in-thing in Nigeria now, then we have also failed like the Iraqis."

LATIN AMERICA, ARAB COUNTRIES ARE SELLERS FIRST CHOICE While the market in Nigeria is growing, it is still second to Latin America and the Arab world.

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolts and with the wealth gap and social unrest rising in many parts of the world, there is no shortage of rich individuals and government workers who suddenly feel Continued on page 65

62

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

BUSINESS

Food preservation turns cash cow In the past, farmers and consumers had problems with storage of farm products. A lot of such products, especially those that are perishable, got wasted and the farmers did not get value for their efforts. These days the trend is changing and farmers and some consumers have converted the extra products to wealth and they have been smiling to the banks, thanks to food preservation. Report by Bukola Afolabi

•Packaged foods

sales. A 2.8kg of Ayoola’s poundo yam sells between N800 and N850 while a 0.907kg of Iyan Instant sells between N750 and N800 depending on location, wandy food sells plantain flour(amala ogede) whole wheat,locust beans flour dry(iru)corn flour, ground rice.

Other brands also selling in the markets include A1 pounded yam flour from Premier Mills Ltd., Oluiyan pounded yam flour from Oluiyan and Foods Ltd, Miller’s Pound by Eghiemai Industries Ltd,Honeywell food and wandy foods ltd.

There is also yam flour which is powdered starch widely used in food preparation. Typically white, the flour is commonly used in African dishes, such as amala. It may be used in many other recipes if desired as well. It is prepared by grinding dried yams until they reach a powdered consistency. Dehydrated flour from yams may also be produced from sun-drying.

Farms usually sell yam flour in the same way other types of flour are sold. One pound (.5 kilograms) of flour is the standard increment used to sell the flour. The wheat-free product can be a good choice for gluten-free recipes. Use of this flour is known to create lighter, fluffier products as well. Peo-

•Awojuyigbe

ple who do not care for dense, flat baked goods may wish to try sweet potato flour as a substitution in their favourite recipes.

Yam flour usually contains 100 calories per serving. High in carbohydrates,

the food also contains some fat and protein. A cholesterol-free ingredient, the flour also contains a small amount of sodium and sugar.

Traditional amala is prepared with just yam flour and water. The flour is boiled

“

Good packaging draws and holds consumer’s attention towards specific brand, increases its likeness; it manipulates consumer’s perceptions to purchase the product.

Package brings uniqueness of the product to the notice of consumer

“

U

NEMPLOYMENT, creativity and determination are some of the things that have driven people to this sector. A quick survey shows that the story of food preservation has changed and many now opt for processed and packaged foods.

Working mothers and a number of career women therefore opt for the new packaged food shopping era coming on the heels of improvement in products’ quality, the growing awareness among Nigerian consumers and increasing disposable income - especially among middle-class consumers.

According to findings, the average Nigerian spends 72.97 percent of his or her earnings on food and with her population, Nigeria provides a large and attractive retail food sector. However, changing demographics and people’s lifestyles are resulting in increasing consumer preference for wide range of convenience in food shopping - processed and packaged as well as nutritious foods.

In Nigeria, the growth of the packaged food market has remained strong and steady, a development that is easily attributable to the country’s large population which translates to growing demand for the products.

Medium income earners now patronise grocery stores which hitherto seemed to be the exclusive preserve of the higher-income class.

The number of these processed foods has also been on the increase. A survey of the perishable food like yam flour brand, wheat flour, beans flour, banana flour etc, to ascertain how patronage stands in the emerging market reveals that poundo yam, a brand of yam flour from the stable of Ayoola Foods Ltd. is currently dominating that segment of the market.

According to market sources, consumers patronise Ayoola Foods’ poundo yam more than the others in the market. However, they say that in terms of quality Ola-Ola’s Iyan Instant, milled in Sacramento, USA is better and expectedly more expensive. This situation, they say, has given the cheaper brands a slight edge in terms of sales. Also, Honeywell wheat flour which was introduced into the market for consumer to access.

According to Sola Aduloju, a foodstuff dealer at Mushin, Ayoola is using home advantage to push its brand into the market even beyond Lagos State.

Emmanuel who hails from one of the eastern states said that the last time he travelled to the east, Ayoola’s poundo yam was selling there.

At Apogbon market, one Mr Ade, another dealer of assorted flours, also pointed out that poundo yam was ahead of others in terms of

until a dough is formed. The dough is then simmered in a small amount of water and kneaded before being served with a type of stew, such as one made from traditional vegetables and meat or fish.

Tolu Adeyanju said, “I married from Ekiti and my husband likes pounded yam so much, but I can’t pound yam. One day, I went to a friend’s house and she prepared OlaOla pound yam for me, it is just like original pounded yam. She taught me how to prepare it and since then I have been cooking it for my husband.”

Wandy Foods was founded in 2001 by Ms. Gbonju Awojuyigbe. Before founding Wandy Foods, Ms. Awojuyigbe was a lawyer and banker, but coming from a farming community in Ekiti State, she was not fulfilled by corporate life.

Seeing the plight of the farming community around her hometown, where raw and perishable products would often rot without being sold, Ms. Awojuyigbe was inspired to process the products, move them up the value chain, and bring them to wider markets.

Wandy Foods’ first products were ground rice and yam flour which Ms. Awojuyigbe sold directly to individuals. Today, however, due to Ms. Awojuyigbe’s passion for

providing healthy food and improving the quality of consumed food without compromising its taste, she has expanded Wandy Foods’ product line to cookies and drinks which are supplied to not only individuals but supermarkets The quality and safety of food is a major benchmark of the economic development and people’s living conditions. Freshness and taste of the edible items completely depend upon well- developed packaging.

Packed foods are everywhere, hence there is competition to capture the large shares of packed food market. To survive in this cutthroat competition as well as improve the safety and appeal of these products, most appropriate food packaging is of great importance.

Generally, consumers buy things which are more convenient to use as compared to inconvenience and hard labour. For example in those days, utensils of clay were in use, later utensils made up of bronze became familiar but when stainless steel was introduced it has easily taken over the place.

In food industries, consumers prefer those products which can easily be used and can be stored in a small place. For instance, all products designed for children such as chocolates, cookies and jellies are packed in the manner in which children can easily open. Products are not made heavy as such they can be transported easily. They are rather designed in comfortable ways that an individual may easily carry them wherever he wants.

The convenience of usage, freshness & improved shelf life, sustainable and environment-friendly and as a tool to positioning and promoting a brand are the trend.

More packaged food products are moving into retail and household stores and there is a spread of products, offering consumers vast choice.

“Good packaging draws and holds consumer’s attention towards specific brand, increases its likeness; it manipulates consumer’s perceptions to purchase the product. Package brings uniqueness of the product to the notice of consumer,” said Mr Uche. Also this packaged food provides job for small and medium scale in Nigeria. Biodun Adeniyi said he started the business with less than a hundred thousand naira. He enthused: “I was one of the people that started this business around my area, today am smiling to the bank.”

Wandy Foods stands out above its competitors because of its excellent customer service and personal home delivery. Ms. Gbonju Awojuyigbe builds loyalty to her products by hosting seminars on using the products and always says, “Once you become a customer, nobody can steal you from me.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

BUSINESS 63 Eko Atlantic City: Turning adversity to prosperity

FG to invest N15bn on NAPTIN W T HE federal government is set to invest N15b on developing infrastructure at the permanent site of National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN).

The director general, Riben Onwuebuna Okeke disclosed this during a courtesy call on the registrar of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria in Abuja.

He said, “10.69 hectares of land has been allocated to the institute at Idu industrial layout in Abuja for development of its permanent site.

“The development of the

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

new site will be based on Private Public Partnership PPP, this is to resuscitate training in the power sector.

“For NAPTIN to turn out one skilled graduate engineer, it would require nothing less than N1.8m, covering accomodation, transportation and tution for one year.

“To meet the government projection of 40,000 megawatts by 2020, the institute will need to turn out one thousand, two hundred and four graduiate engi-

neers each year.

“There is need to improve on the quality of engineers and technical education in the country,” he stressed.

Speaking, the registrar COREN, Felix Atume commended effort being made by the government to revive training in the power sector, especially the huge investment in infrastructural development.

He also said, there should be a review of the engineering curricullum of the nation’s tertiary institution in line with global and international best practice.

UBA Foundation to host minimarathon for prostate cancer awareness

U

BA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa Plc, is organising a MiniMarathon in Lagos to create awareness on prostate cancer.

The event which is in continuation of its annual prostate cancer awareness initiative is scheduled to hold on Saturday March 23, 2013.

The race will commence from the UBA headquarters on Marina , Lagos and terminate via Western Avenue to the National Stadium

Surulere, Lagos, where other health and fitness activities and free screening for prostate cancer have been lined up.

Speaking on this year’s plan, the managing director, UBA Foundation, Ms Ijeoma Aso, said prostate cancer in men is curable if detected early .“We are thus committed to promoting that awareness so that men above the age of 40 can get screened regularly and seek treatment if they test positive.”

According to her, “there

will be free prostate cancer screening at the National Stadium, Lagos immediately after the marathon, for men from age 40. This is billed to take place simultaneously in other centres in Nigeria and other parts of Africa in line with the mandate of the foundation.”

Apart from the marathon, other activities lined up for the day include, health talks, aerobics and novelty soccer match to make the event an all inclusive family affair for all, including children including family and friends.

HEN erosion ravaged a good part of Victoria Island about 11 years ago it resulted in sleepless nights for residents then. The problem became a nightmare and it was very serious threat to Ahmadu Bello Way, whose border had partially collapsed into the sea. Concerned about this development, the state governor at the time, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, sought the help of experts with a view to stemming the tide of erosion which was threatening to swallow up the whole of Victoria Island.

Investigations revealed that if a wall was constructed on the original coastline, it would effectively check the course of the erosion. That interestingly is the origin of the Eko Atlantic City project.When completed, the new city would be home to 250,000 people and a

By Omotayo Ogunbiyi

workplace of 150,000 others as it is planned as a mix of business and residential developments. The city is to have different districts with different offerings.

It is being conceived and developed to be better than Manhattan in New York City and Dubai in United Arab Emirate when it is fully completed. The project represents a peep into the future of Lagos as it offers a world-class infrastructure to facilitate the development of a new African city. With Lagos’ growing population and its attendant implications, Eko Atlantic City will help, in no small way, to widen the options available for socio-economic interaction in the state.

In essence, part of the objective for bringing the city on board is to relieve the pressure on the ever enlarging population of the state. The 10

square kilometer city will have waterfront areas, treelined streets, efficient transport systems and mixed-use plots that combine residential areas with leisure facilities, offices and shops.

Lagos is not alone in this unending struggle between man and the forces of nature.

Similar process had taken place in the Netherlands, large parts of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, parts of Dublin, Ireland, parts of New Orleans (which is partially built on land that was once swamp), much of the urbanised area adjacent to San Francisco Bay, including most of San Francisco’s waterfront and financial district, Mexico City (which is situated at the former site of Lake Texco), large parts of Monaco, 25% of Hong Kong Island, Mumbai, India and loads of individual islands, one of which the Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai lies on.

Airtel Nigeria promises better service

A

IRTEL Nigeria has restated its determination to continue to drive positive change in the nation’s telecoms industry by ensuring a steady stream of innovative product offer-

ings to the market.

Speaking at the on-going 2013 Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) conference in Benin City, the managing director and chief executive

Firm commences West Africa operations

D

MSRetail Inc. Canada has commenced its West Africa operations with the formal signing of Business Operations Agreement for DMSRetail West Africa.

A partner business between Bervidson International Limited, Nigeria and DMSRetail Inc. Canada, the company seeks to make retailers successful at generating more sales, revenue, profits and returns to stakeholders while achieving a lasting positive customer experience.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony recently in USA, the president/CEO, Bervidson International Limited, Mr. Joseph Ebata noted that, “DMSRetail focuses on making retailers in West Africa successful using well established and time tested principles, metrics, materials and other support systems.”

“We are focused on increasing the effectiveness of retail management personnel with practical success guides, cutting edge training, the best utilisation of retail technology and effective measurement tools and results management strate-

gies. These proven principles and metrics of retail success have been tested and used to make retailers successful across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East and we are very excited to make them available to West Africa,” he added.

Convinced of the benefit the new offering brings to retailers in West Africa, Ebata maintained that, “Exciting times are here for all retailers in West Africa because at DMSRetail West Africa we understand your pain and we are here to help you succeed in achieving your seemingly ever elusive dream of growing your retail business, increase sales, revenue and profits, while giving your customers that unforgettable positive experience and value that will keep them coming back for more.”

On his part, Matt Parmaks, retail management and consulting expert and Co-founder/senior consultant, DMSRetail Inc. Canada, expressed delight with the opportunity of bringing the DMSRetail experience to retailers in West Africa through the team of professionals from Bervidson International Limited, Nigeria.

officer of Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, stated that the company’s value propositions were designed to speak to the diverse needs of the Nigerian consumer and open a world of possibilities that would help them achieve their goals.

The CEO also assured that Airtel is determined to make the best of telecoms offerings easy and affordable to the greater majority of Nigerians.

“Our aggressive network coverage and robust 3.75g capability have placed us in a vantage position to lead the charge of accelerated advancement in Nigeria’s telecoms industry. We shall continue the quest for the best-in-class telecoms technology that will open new vistas in the nation’s economy because we believe that only the best is good enough for Nigeria,” Mr. Ogunsanya observed.

Mr. Ogunsanya further observed that this year’s conference theme: “Infrastructure Development and Economic Empowerment,” was one in sync with Airtel’s resolve to play the role of a catalyst in Nigeria’s fast expanding economy.

The Airtel CEO who was represented by the regional head, Corporate Sales and Enterprise, Mr. Victor Enyinna also commended the Edo State government for providing the company the enabling environment to thrive and offering a safe and convenient environment for the conference.

•Ambassador Adebowale Adefuye, Ambassador of Nigeria to United States of America, Ms. Mimi Alemayehou, the Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Tony O. Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings; during a reception hosted by Elumelu for private sector delegations from the United States, held at the Heirs Holdings office, Ikoyi, Lagos, at the weekend

CIBN partners National Open University to improve services

T

HE Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria has expressed the desire to partner with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in key areas with a view to ensuring that the Institute renders world class services to its members wherever they may be located. Mr. Segun Aina, president/chairman of council of the institute, gave this indication during a stakeholders’ engagement with the National Open University of Nigeria, in Victoria Island, Lagos recently.

Aina who led the CIBN delegation to NOUN stated that the institute was ready to partner with the institution on joint certification programme as well as collaborate with it to set up its B.Sc. degree in Banking and Finance programme.

NOUN and CIBN are also expected to collaborate on eLearning project, CIBN International Centre for Financial Studies, among other vital academic and professional areas that would further en-

hance the profiles of the two institutions while adding values to their members and other stakeholders. “The challenges in the global financial sector necessitated the need for the CIBN to professionalise banking”, said

Mr. Aina. In his response, Prof. Vincent Ado Tenebe, vice-chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria, who was visibly excited, expressed satisfaction over the proposed partnership and collaboration with CIBN.

Ericson leads in Telecomm services

E

RICSSON, the world’s leading provider of communications technology and services, has released it’s preliminary market share data for year 2012.The company which enables the Networked Society with real time solutions maintained share of global installed base of radio base stations at 40%, and the number one position in both mobile equipment market as well as LTE specifically Following a very strong 2011, market share for mobile network equipment declined somewhat from 38% in 2011 to 35% in 2012, leading to a somewhat lower market share for the network equipment market going from 27% in 2011 to 24% in 2012.It was also dis-

covered to be a strong year for Global Services leading to continued increase in telecom services market share to 13%, in a strong lead before the closest competitor Ericsson has today in conjunction to publishing its Annual Report for 2012 also published preliminary market share estimates for 2012.During 2011, Ericsson introduced a wider definition of the equipment market reflecting the company’s R&D investments during the past years.

This new definition includes the key segments Radio, IP and Transport as well as Core. Preliminary market data indicates that the market share was at 24%, down from 27% in 2011.

64

BUSINESS

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

‘Indigenous operators need govt support’ H OW has it been operating in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry?

Telecom operators, they are confronted with the same challenges as their support teams, like Bell-X. Number one is poor infrastructure. If you have good roads and reliable, constant power, the site build contractor’s delivery cost will be lower. If you have constant utility power, the subscriber will pay less because the operator’s lower capex and opex will be able to bring down the cost of services to subscribers. In most cases, operators deploy two generators to every site that consumes maybe 250,000 litres of diesel every month if not more. If MTN has about 6,000 sites now, deploying 12,000 generating units, gulping some 250 litres of diesel every month, you can imagine the annual impact on cost of providing services.

For us, it means that we use our own alternative sources of power supply as well. We can’t rely on PHCN; they are not servicing fabrication and production facilities at all. We asked them to disconnect, and for the past four years, we have been running 24 hours on generators.

That’s at a huge cost which means that you have to have three huge generators back to back servicing your operations.

Secondly, you have issues with permits. Federal government, state government, local government, community permits, omoonile ‘permit’, area boys ‘permit’ and all of that. If you plan to build a site for say 30 days it can stretch anywhere from 45 days to three months. Because, after you’ve got permit from the federal government and you think that you are okay, the state governments will tell you ‘No, you need to get our permit too.’ You finish with the state and the LG tells you ‘No, you need to have our own permit too’. Whether or not it is written in the books, these are some of the challenges we face. So, essentially, these are the challenges that we face. The solutions will come from both the Telecoms Act itself and the government.

What is your view of MTN’s local content policy?

I will say it very clearly: MTN has come out as a market leader, and as a responsive organisation, to say, ‘We will give capacity to local private sector service providers (people like us or our competitors) – only that you have to be serious with what you are doing. You’ve got to be organised. It’s an open process’. They have said, ‘we will give you the opportunities’. We appreciate this. We don’t make radios and have no intention of making radios at this time. Let the OEMs bring their radios. I will bring our engineering and project management expertise and together we will make the connection. The OEMs can do the programming in their factories; let them bring it and we will connect it and provide serv-

Herbert Ojeh is the Chief Operating Officer and Director, Bell X Nig. Ltd, Mr. Ojeh has, in the past three decades, gained wide-ranging experiences in engineering, spanning cryogenics, construction, capital equipment procurement, delivery and installation, banking, IT-vending and journalism. In Mr. Ojeh, a Master of Business Administration holder resides a wealth of experience in construction and engineering services delivery. Bukola Afolabi had a recent interview with him

• Ojeh

INTERVIEW ice for the operators. That’s how to improve local content and empower local players.

How did you secure the site construction contracts from MTN? We got the contracts through pre-qualification and bidding. We had some experience from some other operators before we got the chance.

I think we were about 21 or so local contractors that got in there around 2008. We started small – they would give you trial sites and see how you performed. If your performance was satisfactory, you kept growing but if you didn’t perform, you dropped. If you do well, the same process that brought you there will keep you growing and if you don’t do well, the same process that brought you will drop you and that’s what institutional organisations do. An institution that says the following is predictable: ‘If you want to enter, these are the steps. If you are going to be dropped, this is how it works’.

Everywhere, we have had to go through an evaluation process. We have had to sit before a panel from relevant departments. They do their assessment and they tell you ‘Yes, you succeeded, or no, you didn’t make it. It’s that simple. But it isn’t an easy task.

But some people think there is favouritism in this sort of process in Nigeria?

You can’t stop people from making such claims. You can say that from the outside, if you are not inside. But if you

are on the ground, you will know. Our fibre bid evaluation for example, it took us about two months of serious hard work to put it together – spending about 16 hours a day preparing a bid. And you go before a panel where you are given 20 minutes to defend yourself and tell them what you can do. All the guys we met in there, I had never met before. As we speak, I have never met the MD of MTN in person. I know him by name of course, as I see him on the pages of the newspapers, but I never met him. I have never met the new CTO. I never met the former GM before we got to MTN. Even after getting the contract, it was during capital projects meetings that we met and greeted.

Did you have any apprehension vying for the businesses?

Any business you want to vie for, there is always some apprehension; you worry. But if you are going to MTN believing that oh, I am very good and I am going to get it, that’s a very wrong attitude. This is because MTN attracts the best there is. You will find that you are also up against competitors who are equally good or probably more experienced than you are. They probably have the same kind of organisation or better. They also put you against the likes of Ericsson or Huawei, with all their international exposure and technological advantage.

So, yes you can be worried.

But the apprehension does not come from the fact that you fear that you will be short-changed because nobody knows you. Knowing MTN well, it has never hap-

pened to me, or Bell-X, and I will strongly doubt it if it has happened to anyone going through the process we were involved in. You also leave judgement to those who make the calls. We have suppliers here too at Bell-X. If I am going to give this quantity of supplies to a particular supplier, I will go back to their track records – how have they supplied before?

What of the quality of their products? What was their response time? etc. So, the final call is mine, based on past experience with the supplier or their proven track record.

How do you think Nigeria can build more capacity in this area of specialisation?

As a nation, provide constant reliable power and other infrastructure; good road networks, river transport, etc. Give capacity to local manufacturers in terms of things that can be produced or manufactured in-country.

Towers, equipment shelter panels for example. There is now a local company that fabricates towers. In the beginning, it used to be imports from South African companies. So there should be some protection for this industry by way of creating the environment and opportunity for local players; I mean, why would expatriates be given exclusive opportunities for contracts to dig the soil in Lagos for telecom installation? Is it that we don’t have indigenous diggers or what? So, those kinds of things need to be well thought out. Unfortunately, when they were crafting the Telecoms Act, these challenges were not articulated.

Secondly, multiple regulations. Right now, you have to talk to NESREA. You talk to communities. It is as if we don’t want to grow the economy in the first place.

So, that process can be made a little bit more predictable, a little less costly. If it is cheaper, any good organisation will want to pass the savings down to the subscriber because they want to grow and maintain market share.

What other constraints have you come across in the course of building a site?

The issues are many.

There are issues related to the host communities, theft etc. Two huge generators are lifted from a site and the people in the environment will say, ‘oh, we didn’t see the thieves’. Meanwhile, these are not generators you can just pick easily. You need a vehicle, loaded with a crane for the lifting of the heavy generator. Yet, community residents will say they didn’t see a thing.

Beyond Talent

By Adetayo Okusanya Email: adetayookusanya@hotmail.com

Mastering business presentations (part 2 of 3)

H

OW to prepare for, design and deliver like a master presenter.

1. PREPARING FOR YOUR PRESENTATION Ask the Right Questions The first thing to do when asked to give a presentation is to ask questions. The most important questions to ask are: “Who am I presenting to? What am I presenting to them? Why am I presenting to them? When am I presenting to them. Where will I be presenting to them? How much time do I have?” The answers to these questions will help create the right context that will make your presentation a success. Failing to ask questions or asking the wrong questions when creating your presentation is like building a house on sinking sand.

Determine Your End Game Every presentation has an objective. Think of yourself as pilot responsible for getting your audience from Point A to Point B. Your job is to successfully take off at the start of your presentation and land at the desired destination. How will you know when your audience is at Point B? Start your preparation with the end in mind. Is your desired outcome a discussion, feedback, buy in, persuasion or sale? From this point onward, everything else you do should strengthen, support and align with your core idea. Your end game must be simple, clear, meaningful and concrete, and if done right will help you determine who your audience should be.

Know Your Audience The most successful presentations are custom-fitted to the characteristics of the audience. The more you understand your audience, their expectations, education, age, culture, collective similarities or dissimilarities, knowledge of and comfort level with the subject of your presentation, state of mind etc., the better prepared you will be to customize your presentation in a way that supports the achievement of your objectives.

Gather Your Content Determine what content is right for your presentation. Your content should be of a nature and quantity that is sufficient to achieve your objectives. No more. No Less. Research your content from books, journals, magazines, articles, experts and the internet.

Use sources that have credibility with your audience. Do not make the mistake of thinking your audience has to know everything.

They just need to know the right things. The presentation is not about you or your interests, rather it is about your audience and what is relevant, important and meaningful to them.

2. DESIGNING YOUR PRESENTATION Structure As in any other form of communication, the structure of your presentation is important. What form is most effective for your audience and objectives? How will your content be aggregated or grouped and what will be the flow? As the presenter, you should determine which flow structure to use i.e. whether to present your content using chronological, linear, spatial, parallel, matrix, physical, comparative structures etc.

Simplicity It is said that a great presentation is simple, balanced and beautiful. Your presentation should be designed to connect with your audience intellectually and emotionally. Build simplicity into your presentation by eliminating anything that is not absolutely necessary. Trying to showcase all your knowledge can oftentimes be counterproductive because it introduces distractions. If there is no material impact to your outcome by omitting something, practice restraint by leaving it out.

Stickiness One of the qualities of a master presenter is his ability to create messages that linger in the memory of his audience. Your core idea will not be memorable if it lacks stickiness. Design “gooeyness” into your presentation by making your central message simple, understandable, easy to remember, relevant, relatable, emotive, unexpected and/or repetitive. A message that does not stick, is a message forgotten and one without lasting impact.

Visual Aids As a presenter, you should be central to the presentation. Audio-visual aids should complement you not replace you. They are tools to help reinforce or emphasize your message and they include handouts, microphones, recorders, flip chart, black/white boards, overhead projector, overhead transparency, slide projector, videos, charts, graphs, flash cards, posters, etc. Determine which of these tools will be available to you and how best to leverage them to achieve your goals.

Slide Basics In the corporate world today, majority of presenters create their presentations in PowerPoint. PowerPoint can be a very powerful visual aid tool, however many people do not know how to use the tool effectively. PowerPoint slides should be designed to reinforce your words not repeat them. When creating slides create attention grabbing titles, use bullet points not sentences to minimize word wraps, create a consistent look and feel throughout, keep your font type and size consistent across slides and balance the text/words with charts, pictures, other graphics and white space.

Join me next week for the third and final step, delivering your presentation.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

INSIGHT

65

Bullet-proof vehicles Continued from page 61

the need for extra protection.

For companies such as Canada's INKAS, Britain's Jankel and Germany's Transeco, it has been a lucrative decade. Newer entrant Ares Security Vehicles founded in 2010 but largely staffed by industry veterans - says it has a strong and growing order book.

The gold standard, perhaps unsurprisingly, is set by the US President.

Barack Obama's Cadillac limousine - dubbed "The Beast" by the US media and Secret Service. The monstrous automobile is believed to weigh several tonnes and includes its own defensive weaponry and air supply in the event of a chemical attack.

Industry watchers, stunned by the scale and breadth of demand in

recent years, describe it as entirely new. In countries affected by the Arab Spring, analysts say demand from government, individuals and firms is sharply up.

In Latin American countries from Brazil to Mexico, the affluent are increasingly shielding their cars as a precaution against violence that has thrived due to weak police forces, easy access to guns and young, unemployed men on the lookout for lucrative targets.

UNCONTROLLED ACQUISITION With reported cases of armed gangs and robbers possessing superior firearms to those carried by the policemen, uncontrolled acquisition of armoured vehicles for whatever reason - whether security or as a status symbol portend many dangers for the country.

Acquisition of such vehicles by armed robbers mean apprehending them may be near impossible.

Efforts to get the police to speak on the matter were futile. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Lagos Command was either with Commissioner of Police each time The Nation called, or was not available for comments.

We were referred to the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

Here, response to our request was prompt.

They informed us that it is the police that was in the best position to answer our questions.

The office of the PPRO in Abuja referred us to the Operation Department of the Police. As at the time of going to press we were yet to get an officer to comment.

•Obama’s presidential limousine-‘The Beast’, above, it’s specifications

'Bullet-proof vehicles are weapons of war' W

HY do people drive around in

bullet proof cars?

Of course, people do so solely for protection.

It is because they believe that it will protect them.

But more than that, people buy them because they are generally threatened, or they feel that because of their position in society, their security is of utmost concern.

People like presidents of countries, heads of state, statesmen, governors, ministers, and high profile people feel they don't have a choice but to use them.

It is a perception thing, especially when it comes to the high net worth businessmen who feel that they should own such vehicles. People are into all sorts of things; we don't even know what some people are into, and as such, they may feel threatened and feel a need to own a bullet-proof car. It is about perception. By owning a bullet proof car, they reduce their threat level and that makes them happy.

Other people just buy them because they have the money. They can afford it. In such a situation, it is fashionable to own a bullet-proof car, because your friends are cruising around in one.

Or you feel it is stylish.

The last category of people who buy bulletproof cars are those who have money, but do not

Major General Adewunmi Ajibade, a retired military intelligence officer is very familiar with bullet-proof cars and other armoured vehicles. Since his retirement eight years ago, he has been involved in private security technology business and has deep knowledge of bullet-proof armoury technology. He spoke with PAUL UKPABIO. want to squander it. So they buy it and keep the car as a saving, until they need the money and sell it. They may not want to put the money in banks.

Of course, it could also be bought for a money laundering motive. You may not want people to know that you have such money, so you use it to conceal cash.

Though people think that buying bullet-proof cars is more common with politicians, other Nigerians are now buying more than politicians.

What kind of cars can be bullet-proof?

Any kind of car can be a bullet-proof car depending on the body level. The first six levels can be for any kind of car, but from six up is only made for very high profile individuals like the Head of State, the Secretary of State, people who are very important for the society, whose death can influence events and shape things around the world.

It is because of this that such people are flown from one place to another minimising the risk of assassination and so on. At that level, it is expensive, and before

•Ajibade

you can buy it you must have capacity to maintain it or at least get value back from it, and not just buy and keep in the garage.

But at level 5 and 6, that is what most Nigerians need because of the level of violence that we have here, and the kinds of weapons that are used

here. For small cars, you need between levels one to three but in the Nigerian context, such armoury cannot withstand the threat of the kinds of guns presently in our society. Again, you cannot put high level armoury on small cars because of the weight.

How expensive can a

bullet-proof car be?

It depends on how expensive the car is. No car manufacturer manufactures it. It is done by people who know it. So you buy the car first. It depends also on the type of armoury you want to put in the car. Let's take for instance for a Toyota Land Cruiser: the cost will range from N32million to N45million. For a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry car, it will be cheaper.

Approximately, how many Nigerians own bullet-proof cars?

That will be difficult to arrive at because of data problem. It is not even publicised. In countries like America, Brazil, Canada, Dubai, you can get statistics. However, the Customs will have something about that here in Nigeria. But I must tell you also that some people smuggle them in until they are apprehended by the Customs or the police here.

Nonetheless, I can assure you that many office holders have them, high net worth Nigerians have them, and other Nigerians who feel threatened one way or another also have them.

Who was the first

person to own a bulletproof car in Nigeria?

From my research, it was an Owerri businessman that was the first person to own a bulletproof car in Nigeria. It is a weapon of war.

Is it cash and carry?

How long do you wait to get it?

There are some that are cash and carry. For instance if someone is disposing off his own.

There are companies here that you can approach to get it for you.

It takes time though like from three months to six months. I don't know about the clearance at the Customs, but if you bring in things like bullion van, then you must go through the office of the National Security Adviser to get license.

Where can one buy the car?

There are many companies here who can order it. You must, however, understand that it is not a market that is exposed like that. It operates on connection because of security.

How about the police connection?

It is like buying any other car; there is nothing that concerns the police except there is criminal intention.

Do you have any history of where it has protected anybody?

No, I don't. But if it has, such a person would have been happy that it worked.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

66

Umeh and the limits of garrulity

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH H 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Still on oil blocks, not blocs!

W

E welcome the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) to this column once more after a long sabbatical: “National Council of States (State) meets in 2013” (NTA News Headline Scroll, March 13) (Thanks to Uncle Kola/07068074257) for this contribution.

National Mirror of March 14 leads the hall of infamy this week again with almost innumerable blunders in most of its major sections: “Fasehun calls for revocation of all oil blocs” Playing politics with grammar: oil blocks!

“He therefore, called on the members of the intelligentsia class in the region….” Instead of the verbosity of ‘the members of the intelligentsia class’, why not simply say ‘the intelligentsia’.

Word economy is integral to collocation.

“Recently (a comma) the army uncovered a bomb making (bombmaking) factory at Kawo, a suburb of Kaduna, few (a few) metres away from (to) the Kaduna Army Headquarters that was….”

“A cache of arms and ammunitions, including, (sic) improvised devices (device) detonators (IEDs) and detonators was seized.” ‘Ammunition’ is uncountable.

“In the same state, unknown terrorists launched grenades into (on) a mosque….”

“In Kano too, unknown gunmen shot dead a commander of Nigerian Mobile Police Force….” If you do not know the gunmen, just spare readers the agony of faddish ‘unknown gunmen’ and simply write terrorists or gunmen. Very soon, we would have ‘unknown armed robbers/kidnappers’!

National Mirror Editorial of March 14 goofed: “…it often boomerangs when politicians foist mediocres on universities as VCs.” All the Facts, All the Sides: mediocrities or mediocrists (not mediocre, which is an adjective).

“Results cancellation: WAEC summersaults, uploads results three years after…” The examination body made a volte face—and not a somersault, please!

“Government must effectively deploy the USPREP to subsidies (subsidize) broadband

services roll-out to (in) the nooks and crannies of the country….”

The final entry from National Mirror under review: “Bayelsa’s girlchild school delays for lack of land” Why not ‘Land delays Bayelsa girl-child school’?

“It is getting quite chilly out there that our womenfolk abandon the dailies and stick to softsell magazines (the ones that are derogatorily referred to as junks).” The last word is uncountable.

“In democracies, the resources of the nation belong to individual citizens who may join forces by pooling capital together to sponsor ventures.” In the interest of conciseness, delete ‘together’.

“Nigerian ladies have taken Europe by storm with their bizzare (bizarre) sexcapade (sic)….”

“For a fee, they sleep with all manners (manner) of men and animals and do other untoward things.” ‘...the so-called Abuja loots, the missing N40 billion from the ETF and so on.” ‘Loot’ is non-count.

“The last but not the least....” Get it right: The last but not least (a phrase that has become archival, a cliché).

“Providing them loans after training and embarking on infrastructure projects.” This way: infrastructural projects.

“Won’t he be tempted to dip hand into the agency’s coffer (coffers) to oil his political machine?” “…with its entire attendant hostilities meted on (meted out to) both sides of the divides (divide), Nigeria and Biafra.” “…those who wished to view this apparently rare phenomenon from the skies and willing to pay through their noses for such rare excursions.”

Fixed expression: pay through the nose (not their noses).

“Whereas the state government may have preferred the committee treaded softly on some of the unexpected revelations….” For pupils only: tread, trod and trodden. “ D e f e n c e correspondent…was one of those who hiked rides in the air force plane that took....” No bone-chilling expression (hike rides?).

Get it right: hitch or hitchhike.

“A military administration soon took over

the reins of power through a most bloody putsch.” This way: reins of government. There is a distinction between power and government– not just in political lexicon, but English language etymology, too.

“Somehow the heart is gladdened that man has taken the bull by the horn.” Fixed expression: take the bull by the horns.

“Africans are known for being their brothers’ keepers with their extended family system”.

Irrespective of plurality: brother’s keeper (stock) “It was an eight-hour journey; we got to Abuja at about 7.00.a.m.”

Avoid vagueness: either at 7 or about 7 a.m. (depending on exactitude).

Employing both phrases in one breath smacks of confusion.

“There are radio sets in the rooms quite alright….” Alright’ is an unacceptable spelling for ‘all right’.

“Another thing that caught my attention is (was) the number of persons milling around the hotel’s ground floor.”

“The regional police was (were) sometimes deployed as tribal forces, to undermine the welfare and economic progress of non-indigenes.”

“I asked an (a) European why should these people attract people’s sympathy.”

“According to him, those beggars are only asking from me and you their own portion of our collective wealth.” Syntactic orderliness demands that you place self last: you and me (not me and you).

“He retorted back to me….” Delete ‘back’ and move on. “…they all failed because they were directed to (at) the poor masses.”

Do we have rich masses?

“I think the governor and his team of advisers dithered too long on a weighty matter of this nature, knowing fully (full) well that.…”

“They poured venom on anyone who dared to raise eyebrow....” No polemics: raise eyebrows. “…an investigative journalist who blew the lead (lid) off the multinational shaddy (shady) deal at….”

“Those of us who used to hold the party at (in) high esteem thought the very moment the allegations came into the open....”

E left the venue of the programme visibly distraught with a promise to avenge his less than average performance. Politics Today, a programme of Channels Television, not too long ago, played host to Mr. Mike Udah and Sir Victor Umeh.

The subject of discussion was All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, a party currently enmeshed in leadership crisis.

The discussion very much stirred strong emotions.

As he was wont, Umeh wanted to dominate the show.

He was evidently in no mood to allow his opponent any opportunity to air his view.

However, he got the greatest surprise of his life as Mr. Udah assailed him with superior argument and indulged less of his garrulity. To rub salt into the wound, he could not unleash the last of his invectives when the curtain was drawn. Resignedly, as the programme tailed off, he muttered his determination to continue the war in the Print Media.

So when on Saturday 9th March, the Sun newspapers carried a story entitled Udah and the limits of attack, it was easy to tell the face behind the mask.

Unfortunately, the hatchet job as done by a certain Amanze Ubochi lacked convincing argument.

In the beginning ,the leadership crisis in All Progressives Grand Alliance, which Chief Victor Umeh brought on the party, has made him go beside himself. The frenzy was magnified further by the judgment of an Enugu High Court that nullified his office.

Ever since then, he has engaged every imaginable enemy in a war of words. Let me state here that Chief Umeh has for a long time patented this uncommon attribute - unleashing invectives on those who disagree with him politically. The list of those who were victims of his acerbic tongue is endless : Peter Obi, Maxi Okwu, Nwobu-Alor, Dubem Obaze and now Udah etc. This appears his forte, and most people flinch from an encounter with him. But to his greatest amazement and discomfiture ,Mr. Udah refused to be had on toast, and successfully turned the table against him.

I must concede that Umeh exudes some brilliance, but he seems to lose as much of this remarkable trait once in pursuit of some undefined interest.

Otherwise ,why the frenzy about court judgment? If there was a travesty, couldn’t Umeh have pursued his case without smearing everybody, including the Judiciary? Must everybody go down just because his tenure was vitiated by a judicial pronouncement?

I am uncomfortable with this type of self-seeking politics that is caused to wear a toga of populism.

Ubochi in his spirited defence of his master, refers to Umeh as one of the future leaders of this country. I have no qualms with this. But is Umeh an island unto himself? Does his political development derive from the stagnation of others? If the answer is nay, why will Umeh refer to Udah as an ordinary aide to Governor Obi, undeserving of the television chat? Why will an Ubochi be aroused just because Umeh was asked to come down his high horse, but becomes indifferent to the reference of Udah as an ordinary aide to the governor and a non ranking party official? Was Udah not Governor Obi’s running

•Umeh

By Ikelie Udegbuna mate in 2007 under the same party? I have the feeling that until that television chat, Umeh erroneously assumed an inviolable status within APGA and among government officials, talking to all with supercilious condescension.

Ubochi thinks the only reason Udah was made an aide to Obi was because they were classmates at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Beyond this, impliedly, Mr. Udah is undeserving of the job of a Chief Press Secretary. He is also convinced that Udah has borne unremitting malice of fortune until very recently. “It does appear things have changed for the better, hence he may have been well taken care of to deal with the governor’s enemies.”

This assessment of Udah fails woefully to the extent that it cannot be an impression of somebody who claims to know him. For the avoidance of doubt, Udah, apart from enjoying a close- knit relationship with Obi that dates back to their secondary school days, was an awardwinning student (Federal Government Scholarship) and a profound editor. He was comfortable before assuming the office of the CPS to Governor Obi. Udah was more imbued with academic excellence than Umeh. He entered secondary school from Primary Five; graduated Second Class Honours (Upper Division) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka ;has two Master’s Degrees in Public Administration and Philosophy respectively, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication and is currently pursuing a Ph D programme .

Ubochi chronicled Umeh’s academic record and bemoaned what he called the disdain of future country leaders. “If Udah should see an Estate Management graduate of many years standing and practitioner as a nobody simply because of politics, then you can see the disdain people like Udah have for the future leaders of this country, whether tested or not”.

Much as I do not wish to dishonor academic pursuit, I also do not concede that all political knowledge or wisdom consists in it.

Some may have been found worthy in learning ,but not in character. Besides I am not sure Igbo land and, indeed, the entire country is lacking men and women who excelled in their chosen courses of study, including Estate Management.

If we concede brilliance to Umeh, is that enough for him to treat others with supercilious condescension?

What I don’t seem to understand with an average Nigerian politician is his

tendency to assume what he is not. The ease with which he makes his interest seem that of the masses and the unwisdom in not recognising when to tail off from the scene is worrisome. There is noticeable recycling of leaders across political parties in the country lately. Unfortunately, this has been the bane of our political development. Nobody wants to retire even if they function less in office as a result of overstay. Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister in the mid-Victorian period of anti imperialism, writing about this, said: “Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forgo an advantage”.

How many of our politicians can forgo an advantage? Obsession with power and sit -tight mentality makes so many of them unworthy of our trust.

Regardless of Ubochi’s public relation job that seeks to present his master as another hero of the Igbo nation ,we know better. Ubochi wrote again: “Udah also said during a television chat, that there is no difference between APGA and PDP, confirming everybody’s fear that Obi has long left APGA or is rather working to destroy the party to pave way for his future political plans”. Even as Udah was quoted out of context, for he said that Governor Obi is not working with the PDP but with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the good of Nigerians. Can Ubochi tell his readers why APGA under Umeh’s leadership colluded with the same PDP government and adopted Jonathan as its Presidential candidate in 2011.

Or is there any difference between using the rope to tie a goat and tying a goat with a rope?

Finally, Ubochi should wear his thinking cap and stop deluding himself and others, not as smart, that Umeh alone represents the new political leadership in Igbo land. There are duplicate copies of him in every nook and cranny of the Southeast. Besides, if he has become the beautiful bride as this writer wants us to believe ,what is keeping his betrothal?

Ubochi writes: “Those who know the worth of Umeh politically are already making advances at him and last week for instance, one of the master strategists in Nigerian political arena asked his associates what they can do to get that man who wears long red cap to his party.” We cannot wait to see him off to the master strategist and his party. That way APGA will know peace !

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MARCH 17, 2013

News

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67

Amnesty office lauds Kano on pilot training scheme

T

HE Presidential Amnesty Office has described the initiative of the Kano State Government to train youths of the state as aircraft pilots as very commendable.

The state government last week commenced a pilot training programme for 100 graduates of the state origin in a televised deployment of the beneficiaries.

Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, said the initiative will go a long way in stemming youth restiveness in the state and in the country.

He said it is heart-warming that a state government was taking after an initiative of the federal government, which through the amnesty programme is bridging the global shortage of qualified pilots and

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor core aviation industry personnel. �The aircraft pilot training scheme of the Kano State Government is very commendable. It not only complements what the federal government is doing through the aviation training component of the amnesty programme but it also contributes towards bridging the shortage of qualified pilots and core aviation professionals globally,�

Kuku said.

The Presidential Amnesty Programme Chairman, who is also Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, urged states in the Niger Delta, whose youths continually besiege the Amnesty Office to be engaged in its training programme, to borrow a leaf from Kano.

1000 property owners in Lagos to get sub-lease title on Monday

A

NOTHER batch of one thousand allottees who bought their properties from the Lagos State Government Housing Agencies, before January 2000 will be presented subleade registered Title documents.

In an official statement issued by Lands Bureau, the home owners are expected to receive their registered title documents at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, the Secretariat, Ikeja on Monday, March 18, 2013.

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashol (SAN) admin-

istration had initiated the regirstered sub-lease title documents process of allowing the house owners in Government Housing Estates to get title documents, which would serve as their proof of ownership as well as to also use their properties for business transactions, especially to secure mortgages and collaterals.

It would be recalled that about two batches of five hundred and one thousand respectively flat owners in the state government owned estates have benefited in the exercises.

Pa Tadaferua goes home

T

HE Tadaferua family of Udueghe, Jesse clan of Delta State has announced the passing on of their patriarch, Johnson Dabor Tadaferua (JDT), on Monday, March 4, 2013 after a brief illness.

He was aged 85.

According to a statement released and signed

by Ken Tadaferua, the funeral arrangements and final rites are as follows: Service of songs and burial will hold respectively on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6, 2013 at his country-home, in Otoro, Jesse Town.

Johnson Dabor Tadaferua is survived by a very large and prominent family including seven children (Ken, Amos, Emily, Beatric, Grimond, Kefe and Igho Tadaferua), several grand children, sisters, numerous nephews and nieces. Ken Tadaferua, his first son, is a well-regarded journalist and PR/corporate communications expert. He was at various times Editor in Chief of Business Magazine, member, Board of Editors, Thisday newspapers, Head, Corporate Communications of GTBank Plc and Intercontinental Bank Plc.

Baptist Church holds revival service

A

FOUR-DAY revival service organised by The New Covenant Baptist Church Ojokoro, Mount Zion Ground Lagos, holds from March 17-20.

The theme of the service is I will rise and shine in all ramifications.

It takes place at 11, Olaniyi Street off Community Road, Jankara, Ijaye-Ojokoro Lagos.

The guest speaker is Rev Michael Abodunrin while Rev. Stephen Bolarinwa is the host.

69

CONSUMER WATCH With

JILL OKEKE

jillokeke@yahoo.com, 07069429757

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

7 foods that help you lose weight

D

Buying ying Bu right ght the ri wine W

INE, as we all know, is a moderately alcoholic beverage, made from the juice of fresh, ripe grapes. It can also be made from the juice of many fruits and plants, including apples, cherries, tangerines, oranges and palm trees.

Throughout history, people have used wine to compliment meals and to celebrate joyful occasions. They also have used it in cooking various dishes.

The early Greeks used wine as a medicine and today people who have sight problem have been advised by their doctors to indulge in palm wine consumption which has a high concentration of natural yeast.

Mediterranean's usually wash down meals with glasses of red wine because they believe it aids digestion. In the religious services of many faiths, wine equally plays a role. It is mostly used in churches as a part of the Holy Communion.

However, many people encounter some problems when they want to purchase or use wine.

The major problem is knowing which wine is needed for a particular occasion. But let us start by differentiating these wines. Wine experts, for instance, classify wine in many ways. Some group wines by the countries that make them. Others list wines by generic and varietal names.

But most .people who produce and use wines divide them into six main classes according to when the wines are generally served.

The six main classes of wine are appetiser wines, red table wines, rose (pink) table wines, white table wines, dessert wines and sparkling wines, Wine producers base their classifications on commonly accepted ideas of when the wines are served.

However, personal taste plays an

important part in the enjoyment of wine, and so the classifications are usually considered only as guide.

Appetiser Wines stimulate the appetite and are usually served alone, or with appetisers, before the main course of a meal. Their alcoholic content ranges from about 15 to 20 per cent. The leading appetiser wines, Sherry and Vermouth, vary in taste from sweet to dry (non-sweet). Most people prefer the drier kinds because sweet wines may interfere with the taste of the food to follow. 'Pop' wines may also be drunk alone or with appetisers. They have an alcoholic content of about eight or nine per cent and resemble soft drinks in taste.

Red Table Wines Most wines in this group have a hearty flavour that complements such main course dishes as our everyday meals for instance, eba, pounded yam, tuwo, amala with any of our soups. Red table wines can also go with moi-moi, rice dishes, yam meals etcetera, These wines, like all table wines, have an alcoholic content of from about eight to 15 percent.

Popular red wines with generic names include Burgundy, Claret and Chianti.

Well-known varietals include Cabernet Sauvigron, Pinot Noir. Red table wines are served chilled.

Rose Table Wines are considered all-purpose wines. They share some characteristics of both red and white table wines, and can be used with any kind of food. Roses are served chilled as white wines; The best roses are made from the Grenache grape.

White Table Wines are generally served with such delicately flavored foods as Chinese, Indian dishes. These wines range in color from pale to deep gold and vary in taste from sweet to extremely dry. Dessert wines are

sweet, rich wines that are often served alone or with desserts. They have an alcoholic content of from 15 to over 20 percent and are usually served unchilled.

Sparkling Wines bubble and sparkle because they contain carbon dioxide gas. They may be served with any food and are most often used to celebrate festive occasions. Sparkling wines have an alcoholic content of from 10 to 14 per cent and are served chilled. Champagne ranks as the most famous of these wines.

Raffia Palm Wine is a very sweet wine that is white in colour. It is the juice of raffia palm and is quite popular in the tropical region. The alcoholic content is quite minimal and because of that and it's sweet taste it is referred to as female wine in Nigeria. Raffia palm wine can complement any dish but most Nigerians prefer it with local dishes. It is refreshingly sweet if served chilled.

Palm Wine is rich alcoholic wine which comes from palm trees. It has the same colour as raffia palm wine but not the same taste. The taste of palm wine differs slightly. Some are a little sweet but majority taste sour.

The alcoholic content is usually high and it is preferred by men to the raffia palm wine.

Palm wine which is also quite popular in the tropical region is preferred by most men to beer. It can go with any dish but comes out best with pepper soups.

The strong flavour and its natural health nutrients have endeared the wine to the hearts of many people.

Take note and serve the right wine as the occasion demands to avoid embarrassments and to bring out the best in the wine.

ON'T get sucked into the idea that food is your enemy when you're trying to lose weight. In fact, it's just the opposite: Befriend the right foods, and the pounds are much more likely to peel off than if you just try to cut calories across the board. Here, seven foods known to nutritionists to boost your metabolism and make it easier to lose weight.

1. Oats Wait a minute -- aren't oats a carb? Yes and no. Oats are a whole grain, and they're high on what nutritionists call the "satiety index," meaning oats have tremendous power to make you feel full. Not only that, they're also high in soluble fibre, so they cut cholesterol and blood fat. Oats digest slowly, so they don't raise your blood sugar, and they keep you feeling filled up well into the late morning. Oldfashioned steel-cut and rolled oats, with up to 5 grams of fibre per serving, are best, but even instant oatmeal has 3 to 4 grams of fibre per serving.

2. Eggs Nutritionists have been trying for some years to restore the reputation of the lowly egg. No longer thought to be a cholesterol-booster (eggs contain a different type of cholesterol than that in humans), eggs are a concentrated form of animal protein without the added fat that comes with meat. Dietary studies have repeatedly found that when people eat an egg every morning in addition to (or instead of) toast or cereal, they lose twice as much weight as those who eat a breakfast that's dominated by carbs.

3. Yoghurt and skim milk Studies in reputable publications such as the Journal of Obesity (in addition to the controversial ones funded by the National Dairy Council) show that the combination of calcium, vitamin D, and low-fat protein in skim milk and nonfat yogurt trigger weight loss and help build and maintain leanness.

4. Apples To keep the pounds at bay, eat an apple -- or two -- a day. Numerous studies have found that eating an apple a half hour to an hour before a meal has the result of cutting the calories of the meal. Why? The fibre in the apple makes you feel full, so you eat less.

Recent research suggests eating apples has other benefits, too. The antioxidants in apples appear to limit glucose absorption and prevent metabolic syndrome, the combination of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and prediabetes that tends to accompany thickening around the waist. Also, apples are high in pectin, which binds with water and limits the amount of cholesterol and lipids in your blood.

5. Red meat Not exactly what you think of as a diet food, right?

And you're certainly not going to lose weight by eating nothing but steak. But it's interesting that research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared diet results for women who ate lean red meat and those who didn't and found that the meateaters lost more weight. The study results were most noticeable in women who already had metabolic syndrome. Experts think the dense protein in lean red meat helps you maintain muscle mass -- but of course this assumes you're exercising to build that muscle.

6. Cinnamon This simple spice appears to have the power to help your body metabolise sugar, according to surprising data that came out of a USDA study involving diabetics. Eating as little as 1/4 to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon a day was found to increase insulin levels significantly, reducing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon also cut cholesterol from 10 to 25 percent. So add cinnamon to smoothies, sprinkle it on your cereal, or flavour your coffee with it -- particularly if you take your coffee with cream and sugar. The cinnamon will boost the health benefits of the coffee while helping your body rid itself of the added sugars.

7. Almonds and almond butter Another counterintuitive choice; aren't nuts and nut butters supposed to be incredibly fattening? Well, almonds are calorie-dense, but they also pack a huge nutritional punch -- and they help counteract cholesterol and triglycerides, too. One study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating almonds, along with other cholesterol-lowering foods such as fibre and soy protein, was as effective as taking a statin. Spreading almond butter on your morning toast gives you a nice protein boost while preventing the carbs in the toast from spiking your blood sugar.

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

SPORT EXTRA

Utaka, Aiyegbeni may face Barcelona in China

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HE Nigerian duo of Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Peter Utaka playing in the Chinese Super League may be handed a rare chance to play against one of the world's best team FC Barcelona reports suggest.

Barca's President Sandro Rosell has already confirmed that FC Barcelona will tour Asia this summer with China already chosen as one of the destinations.

While the President didn't reveal the teams Barca will face, he did confirm the dates and locations of the team's three exhibition matches.

According to Barcelona's official website, the first game during the Asian tour will be played in Shanghai (China) on August 4, three days later, August 7, Barca will fly to Bangkok (Thailand) for the second match of the tour, and the third match will be held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on the 10th.

The planned August tour will be the second visit to the Far East for Barcelona have embarked on similar visit in the summer of 2010, the Blaugrana played exhibition matches in Seoul (South Korea) and Beijing (China).

Oliseh gets FIFA appointment

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ormer Super Eagles Captain Sunday Oliseh has been appointed by world football governing body FIFA into its Technical Study Group.

Oliseh who has since taken to coaching since his illustrious career as a player said he was greatly honoured and flattered by the appointment.

“It is with great honour that I share with you my appointment by the world's football governing body, FIFA, as a member of its Technical Study Group amongst other functions,” Oliseh said on his personal website, sundayoliseh.tv.

The former Juventus of Italy and Borussia Dortmund midfielder added - I am flattered to be a part of this football family and I believe that this is a blessed period not only for me personally but for my beloved nation, Nigeria!

Oliseh before now has indicated interest in coaching the Super Eagles; he is also being linked with the vacant technical director's job at the Nigeria Football Federation.

500 runners for Ibadan Integrity race

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ore than 500 long-distance runners have registered with the National Sports Commission (NSC) to participate again in the money-spinning 42-kilometre marathon race instituted by Splash FM and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to campaign against corruption in our society.

One of the veterans in the annual marathon tagged 'integrity race', Genevieve Njoku, who had won first prizes in the female category of the meet from its inception 5 years ago has registered her intension and readiness to participate in this year's race slated for March 24th.

The Imo State-born Njoku, 27, according to spokes person for the race, Morakinyo Abiodun, expressed her eagerness and readiness while speaking ahead of the meet from her base in Jos, Plateau State for the race, saying she's ever ready, as the race has become her annual schedule and culture and that is why is not difficult for her winning it.

Njoku, a staff of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), however, appealed to the organiser of the event to review the disparity between the prize money earmarked female category which she claimed was quite diminutive with that of male athletes who cover same distance with female in the race.

Martins set for Sounders' challenge O BAFEMI Martins has declared his readiness to face the challenge of making Seattle Sounders a constant contender for the MLS title squarely, as he faced the American media for the first time on Saturday.

The former Levante striker, who promised the Spanish side "a lot of goals" when he first met the Spanish media, gave a more guarded promise to Sounders' supporters.

“I've been watching the games and they're crazy about football.

They love the game. I want to really see how it's going to be tomorrow,” said Martins, who said he expects to play against Portland. “I'm ready to play. That's why I'm here.

“Sounders have great players.

They have a great team right now, because I've seen them play,” he further told the club website.

“I'm going to say I'm happy to be here and I really want to play with them.”

Some of the well-known names on the Sounders' roster include Djimi Traore, who won a Champions League with LYING Eagles coach John Liverpool, USA national team star Obuh has set his sight on Eddie Johnson, and Marcus qualifying for the FIFA U-20 Hahnemann, who played for World Cup in Turkey and also Everton, Fulham, Reading and retaining the title won two years Wolves, in England. ago in South Africa as the 12th African Youth Championship gets underway in Algiers.

Obuh will hope to make it two consecutive wins when he was in charge of the junior national team.

HE Orange CAF U-20 The Flying Eagles won the last African Championship 2013 edition in South Africa where they kicked off on Saturday, with beat Cameroon 3-2 to emerge the home team Algeria being held champions.

Obuh has expressed confidence to a goalless draw by Benin at O m a r O u c e f S t a d i u m , A i n in the form of the team and is optimistic of getting the success he Timouchent.

In front of a full house stadium Algeria couldn't find the decisive goal despite having the lion's share HE Golden Eaglets are of possession. The opening day solidly behind the Flying double header concludes with Eagles as they begin the Egypt taking on Ghana at the same defence of their Under-20 African venue.

A f t e r a s i m p l e o p e n i n g Youth Championship title against ceremony, Algeria started the Mali in Algiers on Speaking from the team's camp at game on an attacking note. The Young Foxes French coach Jan the Aspire Centre in Doha, Golden Marc Nobilo fielded in a lineup Eaglets' Head Coach Manu Garba with five players who play in (MFR) is confident that Nigeria will France, namely Nassim Torch, record another crucial win against Mokhtar Rabah Tommy, Kenzy their West African rivals. The Zenadi, Bilal Aiulai and Tomas Golden Eaglets as well as the Super Paul Izerghof. The later had the Eagles respectively battered their chance to put Algeria ahead early Malian counterparts in recent into the game but Benin's defense fixtures and Manu believes the stood tall to deny him the opening Flying Eagles can take a cue from it.

“We have absolute confidence in goal.

The second half was very much the ability of the Flying Eagles to the same with the home side defend their title," said Garba, 2007 pressing in search of the opening Under-17 World Cup winner. "This goal. The Algerians best chance is going to be an interesting match came into the 67th minute when because of recent results between Harrouche Zakaria headed from the two countries.

"The Super Eagles beat the Eagles Aouali's cross. The crowd celebrated as they thought the ball of Mali 4-1 on their way to winning had gone into the net only to see it the Africa Cup of Nations and don't forget that the Golden Eaglets was outside the net.

Benin looked more content to stopped Mali from qualifying for use counter attacks but without the CAN Under-17 Championship posing any real threat on Nassim in Morocco when we beat them on a Torche's goal.

Obafemi Martins arrives in Seattle, United State.

Obuh sets AYC target F

Algeria held in AYC opener

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...To play Mali today

craves for.

“We're the defending champions and so we wish to retain the trophy we won two years ago in South Africa,” he explained.

“But first and foremost, we as a team have agreed that we first have to qualify for the World Cup in Turkey by going past the group stage after which we will look to defend our championship,” Obuh said.

The youth championship has been the opportunity for many big names of African players over the years and is CAF's second longest

running competition after AFCON. A win against Mali on Sunday will set the Flying Eagles on a positive note to retain the trophy, with Gabon and Congo DR still to come in the group games.

The Coach had expressed satisfaction with the way preparations for the African Youth Championship has gone in Egypt and Tunisia.

The defending champions have spent a month in a precompetition tour in Tunisia and Egypt they have had a mixture of results in the course of training.

Obuh believes that the playing time afforded every player invited to prove their mettle and

...As Manu, Amuneke tip team for glory

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Ten-man Toffees down City

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EON Osman and Nikica Jelavic scored as ten-man Everton delivered a potentially fatal blow to Manchester City's title hopes with a 2-0 win at Goodison Park.

Kevin Mirallas had a goal disallowed before Osman scored from long range after 32 minutes and the Toffees held on despite the dismissal of Steven Pienaar. The hosts then calmed all nerves when Jelavic struck in injury time.

City could have had a penalty late on when Marouane Fellaini was penalised for handling a Carlos Tevez shot but referee Lee Probert judged the offence to have o c c u rred out si de t he area.

Everton's back-up goalkeeper Jan Mucha, continuing to deputise for

the injured Tim Howard, also produced instinctive saves from James Milner and Pablo Zabaleta as City battled to keep their title chances alive.

All the urgency came from Everton as they demonstrated a hunger and desire they failed to show last week. City were slow to respond and thought they had been punished in the 13th minute when Mirallas lashed the ball into the net after Osman returned a clearance into the visitors' box. Much to City's relief, a flag had been raised for offside but replays suggested the decision may have been harsh.

City finally started to stir with some neat moves leading to a couple of chances for Edin Dzeko and one for Tevez but Mucha was not seriously tested.

4-0 aggregate win.

"I believe Flying Eagles will continue the winning streak for Nigeria against Mali and that will boost their chances of retaining the trophy," he added.

Speaking in similar vein, assistant coach Emmanuel Amuneke (MON) said the Flying Eagles have capable hands to guide the team to glory, adding that the Super Eagles have set a standard for other national teams to emulate.

“From here, we send our best wishes to the Flying Eagles and we know they are capable of going all

the way to defend the title they won in South Africa two years ago," said the former African Footballer of the Year who incidentally made his breakthrough as a youth international at Cairo'91 AllAfrica Games football tournament.

Nigeria holds the best record at this level having won the championship on six previous occasions and the rank and file of the Golden Eaglets is backing the present team all the way.

Golden Eaglets dazzle Aspire chief

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ol. Musa Amedu (retd), Director, Aspire Football Dreams Nigeria, is excited about the quality of players jostling to be part of the Morocco-bound Golden Eaglets.

Amedu, the foremost basketball buff and the brain behind the famous Dodan Warriors, who has taken time out of his busy schedule to watch all the team's training sessions since on arrival at the Aspire Centre in Doha, said the Golden Eagles have what it takes to face the rest of the continent.

"I have followed teams as well as the Golden Eaglets for some time and I saw how good they are when they played Mali in Calabar," he said."I'm really impressed with their discipline both on the field and outside; and I believe this will carry them far."

The Golden Eaglets have been

EPL Results Everton 2 - 0 Man City Aston Villa 3 - 2 QPR South’pton 3 - 1 Liverpool Stoke 0 - 0 West Brom Swansea 0 - 2 Arsenal Man Utd 1- 0 Reading

enjoying the ambiance of the Aspire Centre with quality nutritional diet and fantastic training facility.

“The whole of essence of bringing the Golden Eaglets to Aspire is to keep the players focused," Amedu said. "This team has great potential and this place will allow the players to concentrate on the job at hand.

“It will expose them well and improve their quality of play," he noted.

The players have been describing their experiences here in glowing terms, saying the exposure is great for their budding career.

“This place is massive and wonderful," declared David Micah, the midfielder with the wiles and guiles similar to that of gifted former Eagles' captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha.

Added Saliu Ali-Baba, the former Under-15 captain: "We are very comfortable and we are really impressed with the facilities on ground here.

“It is a great privilege to be here with the Golden Eaglets and it would help us prepare well for the competition in Morocco.”

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

SPORT EXTRA

Oboabona: I'm still a Sunshine player

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UPER Eagles defender Godfrey Oboabona says he's still an important player of Sunshine Stars of Akure in spite of the transfer speculations around him and will be glad to have the club's blessing on his way to Europe.

Stephen Keshi's team will start their 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Harambe stars of Kenya on Sunday, and Oboabona is expected to make the final squad.

“I am still a Sunshine player for now,” Oboabona declared.

“I understand there are foreign clubs interested in me but as of now l am only thinking of Sunshine Stars and Super Eagles World Cup qualifiers.”

“I am happy for my exploits at the Nations Cup and I can assure you that I will not be carried away with it, I will keep improving and learning as I always do. Of course, I dream a big move to Europe soon but I will make it known to everybody when it is a done deal. But above all, I want to leave Sunshine Stars with good tidings because they have really stood by me and I will remain loyal to them till the last day,” he noted.

Orizu earns rave review in Turkey

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TEPHEN Orizu has won rave reviews from fans and journalists in Turkey for his performance with his club in the Turkish lower league.

The burly Nigerian-born winger plays for Super Liga 3 Yeni Diyerbakirspor that is currently on top of the table with six games to end the league.

Orizu, a gifted power winger, is rated among the top promising players in Turkey.

According to a Turkish tabloid, Orizu has become a player to watch because of his dazzling performance, and scouts from the top leagues in Europe have been monitoring his progress.

A Turkish journalist, Hassan Malikki, who first broke a hint on Emmanuel Emenike's promising display back in 2010, has also commented on the 23year-old winger.

"I can't call him a Nigerian because I don't know what is on his passport and I don't know this guy will play for Nigeria in the future," said Hassan. "But he's a very good player. He came from nowhere to start making waves here and I hope he will go places.”

Maureen Mmadu becomes coach in Norway

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ORMER Nigerian women football international, Maureen Mmadu, has successfully made the transition from player to coach and player developer in far away Norway.

The skilful midfielder played for several years in the Nigeria Women League, before making the move abroad, spending a large part of her career in Scandinavian countries.

She turned out for Linkopings, a top women side in Sweden, and also turned out for Klepp, Kolbotn before moving for Avaldsnes, a team she captained, and the same club where she has now been named as one of the coaches.

The woman who played for Nigeria at four World Cups, two Olympics and won multiple African Women titles, posted on her Facebook page on Saturday morning: “New adventure, as a coach and player developer in Avaldsnes. Love it, God see me through and work with me.”

Mmadu also has a women soccer academy she runs back home in Nigeria.

Emenike's tirade divides football fans F ollowing Emmanuel Emenike's tirade and blast of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi for being insensitive to his plight, football fans on Facebook and Twitter and other sites have reacted with mixed feelings.

The South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations Golden Boot winner with four goals sustained a hamstring injury after scoring one of the goals that helped Nigeria beat Mali 4-1 and set up a final clash with Burkina Faso.

The Eagles beat the Stallions 1-0 to win the championship for the third time.

World cup qualifier

Ideye: We must beat Kenya silly

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ynamo Kiev striker Brown Ideye says Super Eagles must prepare to beat Kenya silly next weekend to brighten their chances of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The 24-year-old goal poacher, who played a key role in Nigeria's third Nations’ Cup triumph in South Africa, opines that Nigeria must be on top of its game to qualify.

“I believe we are going to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,” Ideye began, before adding; “The truth of the matter is that we all know the qualifiers are always difficult, especially whenever we are playing away games. So we must ensure we win our home games convincingly, starting with the Kenyan match in Calabar. We must prepare for all the games as if we are going to war because we must be at the World Cup next year.”

Ideye represented Nigeria at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada where he played five games in the tournament and scored one goal against Costa Rica.

In May 2010, he was called up to the senior side as part of the 30-man team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He wasn't part of the final 23-man squad, but he was subsequently called up after a knee injury to John Obi Mikel ruled him out of the competition.

“I have played in UEFA Champions league, Europa League, Africa Cup of Nations, U20 World Cup, now, my target is for Nigeria is to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil and be part of the Nigeria 23 man squad,” he added.

Handball Championship

HFN President hails high standard

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he President of the Handball Federation of Nigeria, Yusuf Dauda, haschampionship in respect of the performance of teams that participated at the Handball Championship in Kogi State.

Dauda spoke on Friday after watching the last group game between Sokoto senior boys and Niger, a competitive game that saw Sokoto earn a slim defeat over Niger on 20:18, said the federation is getting it right in his quest to develop the sports, stressed that his administration will focus on sustaining the high standard already achieved from the championship.

He said, while assessing the championship, that, "I'm impressed at the stardard here, if we are exprerienced this high standard of play, that means there is plenty of hope for us as we expect a tough semi-finals and finals tomorrow.”

Emenike, who was not invited for the Eagles' March 23 World Cup qualifier with Kenya in Calabar, has been on the treatment table at his club.

The former Fenerbahce star alleged on Friday that neither Keshi nor the NFF had contacted him since he returned to his Russian club.

Meanwhile, football fans on the social network sites are sharply divided over Emenike's tirade.

One fan, simply identifying himself as Rawtoy, posted; “Are you saying Emenike has no right to complain if treated badly by Keshi or NFF. When you are angry, you have got the liberty to use any channel to express it instead of keeping it in your mind and dying with it. Do you expect him to fly down to Nigeria and confront Keshi and NFF? or write Keshi or NFF? We have called Osaze, Anichebe, and Nsofor all sorts of names, for not giving their best; this is part of the reasons. In any relationship, communication is very vital - money is never everything.”

Another fan, Segun Olufemi writes: “Emenike complained that Keshi and NFF have not even called to greet him and ask if he was recovering from the injury he sustained while playing for Nigeria at AFCON, South Africa is not bad.

Please, let us try and be a human being for once.”

One fan Tobi, however, feels that Emenike would have been more diplomatic in his approach. “You don't come on the faces of the newspaper to call your coach and FA names. It is not ideal.”

Emmanuel Emenike with Stephen Keshi

CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Kano Pillars beat AC Leopard 4-1

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ano Pillars football club yesterday at the Sani Abacha Stadium defeated the visiting AC Leopards of Congo Brazaville 4-1 in their second leg of the Orange CAF Champions League.

Pillars came out smoking and opened score in the 9th minute through Mustapha Musa, who headed in through a corner kick taken by Rabiu Ali. Musa was on song again in the 21st minute through Kabiru Umar's long throw.

Pillars, as determined as ever, got their third goal in the 57th minute

through Manir Ubale, who beat three defenders of the Congolese side to tuck the ball far into the right-hand side of the net.

The Muhammadu Babagana Ganaru's boys were unrelenting as Umar also got on the scoring sheet in the 86th minute to round up the evening by netting the their 4th goal .However, the visiting team, got their only goal in the 56th minute through Aruna Drame.

After the match, the Technical Adviser of AC Leopards, Joseph Omog, told The Nation Sports that the second leg in Congo Brazaville will be a revenge mission, adding

that; “we promise Pillars a tough second-leg match and we shall cancel the three goals and go ahead to win a convincing match.”

Omog admitted that Pillars played a highly technical game, but his boys played better” because the midfield was in our control, but the goals refused to come.”

CAF CL Results Zamalek 1 - 0 AS Vita Club Zanaco 0 - 1 Orlando Pirates JSM Bejaïa 0 - 0 Asante Kotoko Sewe San Pedro 4 - 1 El Hilal

VS0 brings mini t/tennis board to Nigeria

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HE long-awaited mini table tennis board for kids under age 12 finally landed in Nigeria to further enhance the development of the ping pong game from the grass roots.

Facilitated by Value Sport One (VS0), a sports marketing outfit, the equipment have since been taken delivery of ahead of the proposed Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Elijah Children Table

...Oshodi lauds initiative

By Innocent Amomoh

Tennis Championship for children between ages 4-12, trained and discovered by the MFM in Lagos.

"Twelve clubs from Reuben to Benjamin Teams made up of over three hundred children discovered

by MFM will be registering for the competition which date and venue * Lagos State Commissioner for Sports, Enitan Waheed Oshodi (3rd left), Coordinator, MFM Table Tennis Academy, Adelaja George Ijaodola (2nd left), and Folorunso Omitiran at the presentation of mini t/tennis board to the commissioner in his office.

will be announced soon. Thank God the long-awaited mini board are now he said the coordinator of the MFM Table Tennis Academy, Adelaja George Ijaodola.

VSO, in partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth,Sports and Social Development, said the initiative is geared towards building a new generation of table tennis players that will compete and rank among popular tennis-playing countries of the world like China, Japan, Germany, and Sweden.

In line with the promise of the Patron of VSO,Dr, Femi Olugbile, to transform table tennis with emphasis on the children, each of the mini boards will be given to governors of each state as a symbol of the determination to develop table tennis in every state, starting with Lagos.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Sports in Lagos, Barrister Waheed Oshodi, has commended the move, saying it is laudable to the development of the sport in the state and the country at large.

QUOTABLE

SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 7, NO. 2432

"The government has not proven that it is capable of putting the cap on the antics of those that don't wish Nigeria well. There have been a lot of flip-flops in their approach.

Some people say the government needs to negotiate. Negotiate with whom? In fact, my suspicion now is that those who are canvassing a negotiation as a step towards the granting of amnesty are those that really do not wish Nigeria well. Negotiating with terrorists for me is a sign of weakness.”

— Professor of International Law, Akin Oyebode dismissing calls on the FG to negotiate with terrorists.

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DO not expect President Goodluck Jonathan to reverse or revisit the executive clemency he granted his former boss, former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, last week. He will ride out the storm of controversies generated by the pardon and other pardons; and he will likely grant a few more, equally or surpassingly controversial, before his time in office is over. So, let us ignore the controversies surrounding the pardons, such as the presidency’s poor recordkeeping that led to the late Gen Shehu Yar’Adua being pardoned twice, or the controversies swirling around the list of the pardoned, which we all know was expanded probably as an afterthought to legitimise the main beneficiary of the Jonathan pardons. Let us instead focus our attention on the pardon granted the former Bayelsa governor and the undue emotionalism surrounding the issue.

It is a given, as former United States president Bill Clinton argued in 2001 when he tried to defend the 140 pardons he granted on his last day in office, that “The exercise of executive clemency is inherently controversial.” I, therefore, do not expect that Jonathan would grant pardons without eliciting some controversies or attracting attacks, some of them vicious. Nor do I expect that considering the general nature of pardons, they would be extended only to less grievous offences or less recognisable individuals. I have no problem with the lawfulness of the pardons Jonathan has granted, though it is a different matter altogether whether he adhered to the rules and regulations governing the exercise. But whether the president followed established procedures or not, he has the constitutional right to grant pardon, irrespective of the nature of the crime, and whether it is murder or fraud.

Unlike the United States that has a copious history of controversial pardons and commutations, Nigerian leaders have been fairly laidback, even stingy like Preisdent Barack Obama, in granting pardons. Surprisingly, it is the same US that first took potshot at Jonathan’s pardons. According to a twitter posting by a US embassy spokeswoman in Nigeria, Deb Maclean, the US was deeply disappointed by the pardon granted Alamieyeseigha. This was followed by another terse statement from a US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, who warned ominously that the pardons could cause the US to reassess the kind of assistance it granted Nigeria in the latter’s anticorruption war. She, however, stressed that no sanctions or punitive measures were being undertaken against Nigeria. However, Nigeria has in turn deplored the meddlesomeness of the US in its internal affairs and even invited the US Deputy Chief of Mission in Abuja to receive the Nigerian protest.

Interestingly, the Alamieyeseigha pardon is not even half as controversial as some of the pardons and commutations granted by Clinton.

In the case of Clinton, and with references to the clemency granted the oil mogul, Marc Rich, and the commutation of the sentences of 16 members of the Puerto Rican terrorist organisation, FALN, who set off bombs in New York and Chicago leading to the death of six people and maiming of dozens of others, a bitter US Congress investigated the pardons but found no wrongdoing. Marc Rich had been jailed for tax evasion to the tune of $48m and 51 counts of tax fraud. Like the Marc Rich case, the Alamieyeseigha pardon is without prejudice to any ongoing investigations or future fraud cases the authorities might bring against him.

But as Clinton wrote in 2001 in his defence of the pardons he granted, “The reason the framers of our Constitution vested this broad power in the Executive Branch was to assure that the president would have the freedom to do what he deemed to be the right thing, regardless of how unpopular a decision might be. Some of the uses of the power have been extremely controversial, such as President Washington’s pardons of leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion, President Harding’s commutation of the sentence of Eugene Debs, President Nixon’s commutation of the sentence of James Hoffa, President Ford’s pardon of former President Nixon, President Carter’s pardon of Vietnam War draft resisters, and President Bush’s 1992 pardon of six Iran-contra defendants, including former Defense Secretary Weinberger, which assured the end of that investigation.”

I have no doubt that Jonathan acted within his powers. However, he was not as altruistic as his aides seemed to suggest. His prime ob-

The Alamieyeseigha pardon

•Jonathan

•Alamieyeseigha

jective, it seems to me, is driven by both political calculations for 2015 and the fact that Bayelsa and a large swathe of the South-South are covered by an ethical fog influenced by Niger Delta militancy and decades of appalling degradation of the oil regions. Both the ethical fog and the environmental degradation suffered by the oil regions, as well as the contumaciousness that these have unleashed, all but guarantee that the definition of financial cum political morality in Nigeria will vary from one region to another.

Expectedly, Jonathan is not immune to the influences of his background, nor has he been able to extricate himself from the sometimes narrow and short-sighted uses of presidential powers and the even narrower cultural confines and prejudices of his adolescent years.

Critics have slammed the president for pardoning Alamieyeseigha, thereby jeopardising his government’s anti-corruption war. But the criticisms ignore two important facts. One is that the former Bayelsa governor, who is sometimes referred to as governor-general of the Ijaw, is immensely popular in his region. Jonathan is not unmindful of that popularity, and he apparently seeks to take political advantage of it. Even in the days when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo trou-

bled Alamieyeseigha, militants came to his rescue by denouncing the rest of the country and the media for singling out their hero for abuse. He had not done a fraction of what others did, his supporters grumbled.

Second is that, except I err gravely, the Jonathan government has never really embarked on any anti-corruption war, whether in part or in whole. He has not even verbally campaigned against corruption, partly because he is not as hypocritical as the Obasanjo government that either selectively campaigned against corruption, using his enemies as case studies, or believed that corruption was something others, particularly non-PDP members, indulged in. Unlike Obasanjo who could defend good and bad with equal passion and plausibility, Jonathan is realistic enough to appreciate that the present configuration of Nigerian politics does not conduce to a corruption-free society or any high-sounding moralising campaign. His boyish innocence makes him fundamentally uncomfortable with any anti-corruption sloganeering.

Neither the political uproar nor the moral outrage that has visited the Alamieyeseigha pardon will produce presidential contrition.

The reason is not because the constitution is defective or that it grants more powers to the + president than he can judiciously use. Indeed, it is for people like Alamieyeseigha that the clemency provision is interred in our constitution. If not Jonathan, then some other president will use the provision on a hypothetical tomorrow to achieve some controversial ends.

The reason the president will not be contrite is also not because his natural tendency is to underpin his policies and actions with questionable ethics, for he seems altogether shorn of any ethics, preferring instead to moralise on the minor political and constitutional issues of the day while dodging the great issues capable of defining his presidency.

Rather than seethe with anger on an anticorruption war the president has shown absolutely no inclination to fight, seeing that no one could imbue an inexistent war with a grand notional purpose, the country should instead concentrate on the more nuanced national crisis that the pardons have seemed to underscore.

That national crisis centres on the poor judgement Nigerian presidents have exhibited over the decades. Jonathan could have waited until the closing days of his presidency, whether he wins reelection or not, to grant as many controversial pardons as pleases him, but he chose to do it now perhaps because of political desperation or pressure. The 2015 polls will show whether he has shot himself in the foot or not.

He has been accused of half-heartedly waging war on corruption; but by pardoning his former boss, he goes beyond half-heartedness to confirming he has no interest in any war except one that would furnish him victory in the polls at all cost.

I see no point in all the uproar over the pardons, except to note the depressing fact that it manifests the president’s poor judgement and perhaps incapacity to take great decisions. In this controversy of state pardons, Jonathan will conveniently and excusably hide behind the constitution. It is in fact those who rail against the president’s pardons that inadvertently give the impression they are vengeful and unforgiving, and confirm why Nigeria’s penal system and penal institutions pursue a criminal to his grave rather than reform him. The uproar also shows that Nigerians have only one view of a criminal: that once he is crucified by the law or by public emotions, his soul is forever damned. If the president has good PR managers, he will turn the table against his critics. But if the critics emphasise the point that the president’s choices are nearly always fallible, they may not be saying anything new, but they will be reiterating the sombre view that whenever Jonathan displays firmness and shows initiative, he unalterably fails to rise to the occasion.

Ahmadu Ali’s fulminatory portrayal of the Southwest

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T is easy to miss the Saturday Sun’s interview with Col Ahmadu Ali (retd), a former chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and also former Minister of Education. Often, no wisdom is gained by reading some interviews, not to talk of the flagrant manner the interviewees sometimes concoct approbation for themselves. But thankfully, I saw the Ali interview and read it. As expected, Ali said many things about himself and the great work he did as a three-time cabinet minister and resilient party chairman. If his brilliance did not endure or was not recognised, he blamed the iconoclasts that succeeded him, and the ungrateful barbarians that undid the country with their narcissism.

But for such an eminent self-confessed tactician and public servant, it is surprising that Ali didn’t notice his views, as harsh on others as they might seem, gave an unflattering impression of himself as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s zany. Now, he probably is not such a person, only that he gave that impression of himself.

However, he thinks the world of Obasanjo, and describes him in superlative terms. “Obasanjo is sitting down there,” he began with a fulsomeness that matches his political obscurantism. “He is a bundle of knowledge for this country. If you have any difficulty and you cannot go to him and say come, how did you do it? This is my problem. You are wasting your time. All the people hanging around all these people (in public office) are just bootlickers. They are not advising properly. Obasanjo is the only person who has been Head of State three times in this

country.” Ali’s depiction of Obasanjo reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar.

The high point of the interview was when Ali portrayed the Yoruba as a totally ungrateful people on account of their rejection of Obasanjo both as a leader and as an icon. “This man, (Obasanjo) kept faith and voluntarily handed over to civilians,” Ali gushed. “He could have said he wasn’t going. What can anybody do? After all, it is the gun that got them there. And you people still don’t recognise him, especially the Yoruba people who are totally ungrateful kind of people in this country.” That may be a very sweeping dismissal of the Yoruba, but Ali is entitled to his views, even if it indirectly underscored his idolatrous fondness for someone the Yoruba are unlikely to ever respect, let alone embrace.

Ali took his worship of Obasanjo to dizzying heights when he brutally eviscerated the Yoruba in terms that should make a sober man wince. Ali’s interviewer had suggested that the Yoruba could not forgive Obasanjo for robbing a fellow Yoruba, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of the presidency in the 1979 election. Ali was incensed, and thundered in response: “Don’t talk rubbish. You are talking rubbish. That is the stupidity of the press and the self-appointed Yoruba leaders who are failures in their various fields of endeavour. They are just a total failure. How can you say, in an election where one candidate scored 12 million and showed presence in more than 12 states out of 19 and another candidate scored five million and showed presence in only five

states, you then give it to the second person?

What is democracy about?...Yoruba are another character.”

The problem is not that Ali harbours such a disconcerting view of the Yoruba, and was not wary of going public with it. The problem, as the malevolently discriminatory Goodluck Jonathan presidency is showing, is that there are many more people in high places who entertain such horrendous prejudices against the Southwest, perhaps angered by the region’s sanctimoniousness, crusading disposition on civil liberties, including press freedom and activism, and their irritating superior airs. Do the Yoruba themselves know how rampant these sentiments against them are in other ethnic quarters? If they do, why do they not moderate their internal schisms to enhance their survivability?

Ali’s fulminatory portrayal shows very clearly why most Yoruba politicians are apologetic about their Yorubaness: like Obasanjo, they believe they must be ethnically masochistic to be relevant in national politics. In a country brimming with perverse deductions and analyses of political behavior, it is not enough for a politician to be an exponent of fairness and justice; for the Southwest in particular, he must also deny his background and culture to be electable.

Yet, what we need are not politicians who deny their Hausaness, Igboness or Ijawness, but those who in spite of their ethnic affiliations can be relied upon to be uncompromisingly fair and just, no matter whose ox is gored.

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ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE