March 20, 2015

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Boko Haram men kill own wives •Sect kills 20 in attack

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OZENS of women who were forced to marry Boko Haram fighters were killed by their “husbands” before a battle with troops in Bama, Borno State, witnesses said yesterday.

Five witnesses who recounted the massacres to French News Agency AFP said the Islamist militants feared they would be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from their wives when they fled the town.

They killed the women to prevent them from subsequently marrying soldiers or other so-called non-believers, they added.

“The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels,” said Sharifatu Bakura, 39, a mother of three.

According to Bakura’s account, which was supported by others, Boko Haram fighters received word of a military assault on Bama, formerly an Islamist stronghold.

The insurgents had decided to flee to the nearby town of Gwoza before the troops’ arrival but first decided “to kill their wives so that nobody will remarry them”, she said.

Bukara’s husband was killed by the insurgents

Continued on page 4

U.S. to Jonathan, Buhari: respect Abuja peace pact •INEC praised for Card Reader From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

U

NITED States Vice-President Joe Biden has told President Goodluck Jonathan and his main opponent in the March 28 presidential poll, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that violence has no place in a democracy.

Biden, who spoke with both candidates yesterday, urged them to remain committed to the peace accord they signed. He also supported the deployment of card readers in the March 28th and April 11th elections.

He praised the candidates for signing the Continued on page 4

•AREW A’S TURN: Part of the huge crowd of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a rally for the Arewa community in Agege, Lagos...yesterday.

•AREWA

Buhari promises to revamp economy •STORY ON PAGE 58

•Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu speaking at the rally...yesterday. With him (from left) are: APC presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, APC governorship candidate Akinwumi Ambode and Kabiru Mohammed, an Arewa leader. PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

Polls: Yoruba leaders reject Jonathan’s endorsement •SEE ALSO PAGE 55

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WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15, LAST YEAR EVER RETURN?

Akinrinade, governors, others denounce interim govt plot

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ORUBA leaders have rejected the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for second term by some leaders of Afenifere, the Southwest’s socio-political organisation.

The leaders, who converged on the Parliament Building, Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, yesterday to present the common aspirations of the Yoruba na-

From Leke Salaudeen, Ibadan

tion for the future, also condemned Monday’s violence perpetrated by Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) in Lagos.

A faction of the Afenifere, a forthnight ago, met in Akure, the Ondo State capital, to endorse Dr. Jonathan for a second term, saying he plans to

restructure the country through his convocation of a national conference.

Critics of this point of view insist that all Yoruba demands at the conference were turned down.

In a tacit rejection of the endorsement, Yoruba Assembly Convener Gen. Alani Akinrinade, a one-time Chief of Defence Staff, in his welcome address, enumerated the qualities of

the leadership the Yoruba desired.

He said: “We, the Yoruba are too sophisticated to follow one leader or adopt one political belief. What is required of us is to share a common developmental aspiration and values much more than what obtains now in the present Nigeria.

“We cannot afford a leadership that Continued on page 4

•250,000 EKITI ‘MIRACLE ELECTION’ AUDIO, VIDEO CDS IN CIRCULATION P7

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

2

NEWS Countdown to March 28... 8 days to go

Will Jega yi •From left: Technical Committee member, British-American Tobacco Foundation (BATNF), Fatai Afolabi; General Manager of the Foundation, Abimbola Okoya; facilitator of the BATNF Partners' Workshop, Prof Femi Ajibola and another committee member, Thomas Omofoye at the workshop in Ibadan, Oyo State yesterday.

Over four weeks ago, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, bowed to pressure to shift the general elections. The service chiefs said they could not guarantee security in the three troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe - all in the Northeast. On Tuesday, the service chiefs appeared to be singing the same familiar tunes. Will the electoral agency hold the elections on March 28 and April 11 as scheduled? Group Political Editor EMMAMUEL OLADESU examines the politics of polls postponement and the implications for the electoral process.

A

•From left: Assistant Director, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tobin Jonathan; Chief Finance Officer, LAPO Microfinance Bank, Dr. Kamakyha Singh; Managing Director, Centre of Hospitality Studies, Labisi Talabi; Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan Atlantic University, Peter Bamkole; Assistant Director, Development Finance, CBN, Mrs. Amina Umar and Project Manager, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Ubong Awah at a workshop on MSMEDF organised by the sub-Committee onEconomic Development Sustainability & Gender of the Bankers’ Committee in collaboration with the Development Finance Department of the CBN.

•From left: Action Alliance Party (AAP) governorship candidate Ishola Aregbesola; his Alliance for Democracy (AD), Mr. Bolaji Ogunseye; former Commissioner for Information in Ogun State and Debate Moderator, Alhaji Fassy Yusuf; Lagos Chapter Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mr. Joseph Okonmah; governorship candidate, National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr. Ayodele Akele and his KOWA Party colleague, Mr. Adeniji Victor Adegboyega at the Lagos Decides 2015 interactive session organised by the NIPR for governorship candidates in Lagos…yesterday.

•Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii (left) and Dapo Banjo (aka D-banj) when the musician visited Dr. Orhii at work.

NOTHER coup against the electoral process may be in the offing. Democracy is on crutches. For six hours on Tuesday, President Goodluck Jonathan presided over a crucial security meeting. At the end of the meeting, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, made a shocking disclosure. He could not categorically tell Nigerians that the troubled Northeast region is now safe for elections. He said the area has not fully met the conditions for elections. The implication of the statement is that the cloud of uncertainty over the election has not fizzled out, more than four weeks after the elections were postponed.

The army chief was tactful. He refrained from clarifying whether the polls will hold in local governments yet to be liberated. But, he released security information, which may influence cardinal decisions germane to the conduct of the federal and state elections on March 28 and April 11 respectively.

Gen. Minimah regressed into an innovative excuse, saying that there may be no full return of governance structures and infrastructural facilities in the liberated communities to warrant elections. He maintained that these two conditions, despite the liberation of the areas, are also critical to the elections.

He, however, said that the onus was on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, who was at the enlarged security parley, to decide on whether elections can still be held in the affected areas, in the light of the new reality.

“I am not competent to speak on the elections. INEC is still there. INEC has to re-assess the situation and evaluate because the areas have been liberated.

But, I can also tell you that not all structures of governance have been reinstated so that citizens can go back to their areas and I think it is then that they can exercise their rights to vote,” he stressed.

Before the elections were postponed, the presidency asked for six weeks for the military to restore order in the Hoko Haram-ravaged areas.

Barely few days after the polls shift, the military, backed by forces from neighbouring countries, launched a full-scale onslaught on insurgents. In fact, the National Security Council, as pointed out by Gen. Minimah, passed a vote of confidence on the military, following the successful anti-terrorism operations in the region. But, he could not give a definite time for the conclusion of military operations in the zone. Although the presidency said that six weeks would be enough, the army chief said the conclusion of the special military assignment before March 28 may be illusory. The time frame may be unrealistic. Minimah said: “War is

war. War, sometimes, is not fought on some platforms of permutations.”

Before the polls shift, 14 local governments in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states were considered unsafe for the elections. But, it appears that substantial success has been achieved on the battle fronts in Yobe and Adamawa. Out of 27 local government areas in Borno State, only three - Abadam, Kalabadi and Gwoza - are yet to be liberated. If they are not freed from the dreadful sect between now and next week, the hope of conducting elections there is dim.

In the Northeast, Jega now has two challenges, which may be amplified by advocates of polls postponement, who may blackmail the agency to further shift the eections. The first is the challenge of restoring what has been described as “governance structures and infrastructural facilities.” This is not INEC’s primary duty. The second is the anti-terror war that is now halfwon, contrary to an assurance that there would be a respite in six weeks.

Since these may not be fixed before the rescheduled polls, as hinted by the Chief of Army Staff, there may be new pressures on Jega to consider fresh postponement.

Indeed, Jega was lonely at the meeting. Some observers described him as a sheep among wolves. The general elections have become a herculean task. No INEC Chairman has gone through these inexplicable ordeals since the birth of the Fourth Republic.

Summoning the chief electoral officer to Aso Rock often generates the nasty feeling that the agency is about to be compromised by those avoiding elections without justification. Critics have warmed that the independence of INEC is ebbing away.

A source close to INEC said that, although the agency is ready, but it cannot proceed, unless the government is ready. The Presidency and the PDP may have bought some time, but it is now grossly insufficient. Between then and now, it appears that public opinion has not changed. Thus, the fear of losing the elections is the bedrock of the dummy being sold to the public that the Northeast is still a nogo area for polling staff.

What would Jega have said to convince the security meeting about INEC’s readiness? The meeting was presided over by the embattled Commander-in-Chief and candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the general elections. Some have questioned the propriety of his attendance because his partisan interest aptly conflicted with political neutrality.

Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was at the meeting, has rejected the proposed use of Smart Card Readers (SCRs) by INEC. Military chiefs who have taken a position on the correlates of security and elections were present.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

3

Countdown to March 28... 8 days to go

ga yield to fresh polls shift pressure ?

So were Secretary to Government of Federation (SGF) Senator Pius Ayim and Police Affairs Minister Mr. Jelili Adesiyan. Adesiyan, who allegedly played a controversial role in the Ekiti State governorship election rigging.

Ayim is linked with the campaign group, the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), which has been collating unverifiable signatures and submitting to him.

If the coast, as the impression is being created, is not clear, what are the options before the umpire?

Is it in the national interest to postpone the polls again? What message will Nigeria be sending to the world?

Will the credibility of the electoral process not be jeopardised? If the date is shifted again, can May 29 be sacrosanct? Are there no plausible options for INEC to explore, now that the government is indirectly saying that the

•Prof Jega

security problem has not been fully resolved?

There are other questions begging for answers: Should the presidential and governorship elections be shifted again because three local governments have not been liberated in Borno? Why is it that those who were dislodged from their homes cannot perform their civic duties at Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs’) camps, once their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are authenticated by card readers?

The Northeast Coordinator of the APC Publicity Secretaries, Rev Phineas Padio of Adamawa State, acknowledged the tension in Borno State. But he said the IDPs from the state can vote at their camps in Yola, the Adamawa State.

“Elections can hold in those camps.

Displaced persons have lived there for months. Yola is safe. So, this is not an

excuse. Yola is always peaceful. No bombing has been recorded in Yola.

We have never had any gunshot,” he said.

House of Representatives and Assembly elections are more of local elections in the affected local governments.

Is it against the electoral law to postpone these fractional elections and hold by-elections later, instead of holding the entire country to ransom? If the polls are shifted again, what is the assurance that it will not be shifted the third time by those already allegedly brainstorming on the structures and elements of the interim government?

If the security challenge cannot be resolved fully in six weeks, what is the assurance that it will be resolved before May 29?

More questions. Yet, more elusive answers.

My hatred for Tinubu, by Bamidele I

N Nigeria of today, the more you decide to keep quiet and just do your things, the more things happen that will make it cogent and compelling for you to speak as a man of conscience. This is more so when the issues involved are such that key stakeholders cannot pretend not to know the truth, except you are just choosing to be a passive onlooker who, in truth, must either be a coward or a collaborator.

When, sometime last week, some friends and associates called me to tune my television set to a certain channel to watch what one of them called a “chicanery”, I rushed to comply. And behold, it was a documentary that was running, with the title:”Lion of Bourdillon”. It was supposedly on one of the foremost political players and leader of opposition in Nigeria today, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. After watching it, I was so touched that I felt if I failed to react, I would be doing even myself a lot of disservice for it would be hypocritical and immoral for those of us who know better to choose to keep quiet until some of our leaders are grown up and gone and all we can do is to stand up at their funeral to render a dirge. That documentary brought up so many things on my mind. Definitely, those behind the documentary really hate Asiwaju. I guess I hate him too. But for a different reason.

I hate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he is a man of definite purpose, a visionary per excellence, a political leader extra ordinaire, whose doggedness and strong convictions will never allow him to be compromised in the collective struggle to rescue Nigeria from bad rulership and misplaced governance.

I so much hate this man, Tinubu, because he is a child of promise and a child of destiny, whose entire political career is marked by consistent and unassailable conquests over antidemocratic forces, military dictators and their civilian apologists, retrogressive elements and the evil marauders in the corridor of power, who occasionally pretend as friends but could not hide their character as sworn enemies when the chips are down.

I hate this man, who, among his contemporaries has been the most celebrated for his outstanding political achievements and the most applauded as a political icon with deep intellectual prowess, which also made him to have uniquely surrounded himself with men and women of great intellect, seasoned essayists, political activ-

If clipping the political wings of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu , was all his detractors set out to achieve by sponsoring a hate documentary on him, then, they have achieved nothing. House of Representatives member Opeyemi Bamidele, in his article entitled: "My hatred for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu", writes that those belly-aching over the meteoric rise of the former Lagos State governor to political stardom are chasing shadows.

‘

My hatred for Tinubu flows from his uncompromising stance on the side of progress. His positions on matters pertaining to the rule of law and fundamental human rights are not only consistent but are non-negotiable. He is a man of the people and a man on the right side of history.

•Tinubu ists and scholars of national and international pedigree because only the deep can call to the deep.

I dread his consummate political strategy, his intimidating political profile and highly expansive political network that has continued to give his opponents sleepless nights. This was the man that was nationally acclaimed as the ‘Last Man Standing’, being the only Southwest governor who survived the so-called electoral tsunami that swept away his colleagues during the 2003 general elections.

I hate Tinubu because as a close associate and co-traveller of his for over two decades now, he has never ceased to amaze me by his constant penchant and quest for new ideas. His administrative acumen is matchless. As Governor of Lagos State for eight years, Tinubu practically laid the foundation for the rapid transformation of Lagos from a metropolitan state to a model mega city in Africa that it is today. His creative genius came handy as he grew the state’s monthly Internally Generated Revenue from the paltry sum of N600 million to N7 billion by the time he was leaving office in 2007. Today, the current monthly IGR of Lagos State is over N20 billion. Amidst the odds

•Bamidele and hurdles of legal and political dimensions that lasted for over two years, Tinubu’s administration dared the Federal Government and created 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in addition to the existing 20 local councils. He pioneered the takeoff of the Annual Lagos Economic Summit as well as the repositioning of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) as the dynamo for rapid economic development in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole. He revolutionised the state’s civil service and land administration system through the introduction of high technology-driven record and payment systems. He equally established the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Lagos State Bus Assets (LAGBUS), Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Highway Mangers and Drain Ducks as well as several other government and private sector-driven agencies to improve transportation, traffic and waste management in the city of Lagos.

Before his assumption of office as governor, ugly heaps of refuse dumps

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on the streets and T-junctions were a common feature within the Lagos metropolis while there was regular and static traffic congestion, gully erosion resulting from the blockage of drainages and the headache relating to a ravenous surge of the ocean, which almost claimed about thirty per cent of the settlements and infrastructure along the coastal line. Tinubu created the Ministry of Waterfront & Infrastructure and pioneered the Atlantic City Project to reclaim Lagos landmass on the shoreline from the tyranny of the ocean, and today, more spaces have been provided for exploits on the island, spreading to the Lekki-Epe axis.

My hatred for Tinubu flows from his uncompromising stance on the side of progress. His positions on matters pertaining to the rule of law and fundamental human rights are not only consistent but are non-negotiable. He is a man of the people and a man on the right side of history. During the protracted June 12 struggle and the march towards the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria, I make bold to say that apart from the late Chief MKO Abiola, there is no single Nigerian, dead or alive, home or abroad, that made a big-

ger financial commitment to the struggle than this same man, Tinubu.

Persuaded by the need to protect and defend indigent litigants whose rights were violated by the government and the more privileged in the society, the Tinubu administration established the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) and the Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) during which time Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) vice presidential candidate, was the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.

I hate this man because his profound wisdom and foresight to jealously guard and deepen his laudable achievements in office made him to search out and discover an amiable and brilliant successor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fasola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who did not only consolidate on the progressive, life-transforming and ground-breaking legacies handed down to him but also went as far as carving a unique niche for himself as a role model in mega city transformation as well as a world-class technocrat in regional innovation and integration.

My hatred for Tinubu is partly informed by the fact that he did not limit the flowering of progress to Lagos State. He intensified the struggle and extended the frontiers of transformative governance to other states of the Southwest geo-political zone. Given his consummate political sagacity, doggedness, spartan discipline and confidence in the correctness of his ideological principles and practices, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagarban of Borgu Kingdom, the Aare Ago of Egbaland and the Jagunmolu of Ile Oluji, went back to the trenches and wrestled with political principality and power to rescue the rest of the Southwest from the PDP and today, by the special Grace of God, states like Oyo, Ogun, Osun and even Edo in the Southsouth have joined the train of progressive states where rapid socio-economic, agricultural and infrastructural development is holding sway.

•Continued on page 48

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

NEWS U.S. to Jonathan, Buhari: respect Abuja peace pact Continued from page 1

•Emir of Damaturu, Alhaji Shehu Hashimi II, Ibn Umar El-Alimin El-Kamemi, presenting souvenir to President Goodluck Jonathan during the President’s visit to his palace in Damaturu…yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Abuja Accord, expressing support for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

A statement issued by the US Embassy in Nigeria reads: “U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke yesterday with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the Nigerian presidential election, which is scheduled for March 28.

“The Vice President commended President Jonathan and General Buhari for signing the Abuja Accord in mid-January as a show of their commitment to non-violence throughout the election process.

“The Vice President further expressed the United States’ support for the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission and its work to deliver free, fair, and credible elections, in part through its essential efforts to distribute Permanent Voter Cards and help ensure that electronic vot-

er card readers are in place and fully operational.

“He also noted his concern about the violence during some recent election-related events and reiterated the need for both candidates to make clear that such violence has no place in democratic elections.

“Vice President Biden affirmed that the United States stands with the Nigerian people in support of credible and peaceful elections, and will continue to stand with the Nigerian people whatever the outcome.”

Head of European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West

We won’t concede territory to sect again, says Jonathan From Yusuf Alli, Abuja and Duku Joel, Damaturu

Boko Haram men kill own wives

Continued from page 1

four months ago but she was spared from a forced marriage because she was visibly pregnant.

Boko Haram forcibly married scores of women in Bama after seizing it in September. Nigeria’s military announced the recapture of the town on Monday.

Witnesses who were taken under military protection to Borno’s capital Maiduguri, 73 kilometres (45 miles) away, said the killing of women began 10 days before Bama was liberated.

The Islamists said “if they kill their wives, they would remain pious until both of them meet again in heaven, where they would re-unite”, said Salma Mahmud, another witness.

A vigilante who fought alongside the military in the battle to retake Bama, Abba Kassim, said he saw “dozens of women corpses” in the town.

While other witnesses reportedly a similarly high casualty figure the numbers were impossible to verify.

Fanna Aisami, 52, also in Maiduguri after escaping Bama this week, said the executions followed a warning from Boko Haram’s top commander in the town.

“He informed them of the sit-

uation and ýthe consequence of the takeover of the town by the advancing troops.

“He warned them that when soldiers killed them they would take their wives back to the society where they would be forced to marry and live with infidels,” the mother of seven said, speaking by phone to AFP in Kano.

The commander “said it would be better for them to kill their wives and send them to heaven,” Aisami added.

A number of women were shot dead in front of the commander’s house, she further said.

Yagana Mairambe, 58, reported similar details but told AFP that “some Boko Haram men refused” and fled with their wives towards neighbouring Yobe state.

Boko Haram insurgents killed at least 20 people in an attack Thursday on the Borno State town of Gamboru Ngala, bordering Cameroon.

The raid happened after Chadian forces moved out of the town, leaving it vulnerable to a reprisal attack, Hassan Ibrahim, a member of a militia group that fights alongside government forces, said by phone from Borno state’s capital, Maiduguri.

Many residents fled into Cameroon and Chad, he said.

In Kano, police foiled armed attack and bombing at a bus station yesterday.

An attacker with a gun and bombs in a bag was intercepted as he tried to enter a bus station in Kano and was beaten by a mob that formed before the arrival of the police, Magaji Musa Majia, a police spokesman in the city, told reporters.

“We have taken him to the hospital,” he said.

A witness, Shehu Algoni, told told our correspondent in Maiduguri on telephone that the insurgents invaded the town at a b o u t 4 . 0 0 a m o n Wednesday night in large numbers and spread to neighboring communities slaughtering innocent villagers and setting houses ablaze.

“We heard them shouting Alllahu Alkabar with heavy shooting in different directions People started running up and down for safety. Some fled back to the Cameroon Republic villages and towns that they earlier took refuge while others met their untimely death because the insurgents were just shooting anyhow at people chasing people away and even setting houses and shops on fire again as they

did in the past,” Al Goni informed.

He blamed the absence of the military in the area.

“Anti Aircraft guns mounted on some Hilux vehicles, with large number of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and locally made petrol bombs invaded the communities and wrecked havoc, before Camerounian troops responded gallantly and engaged them in exchange of fire since morning till this afternoon.

We have also fled to Fatakol and hearing exchange of gunshots still from the town indicating that the Cameroon troops are engaging the Boko haram insurgents,” Al Goni said Hassan Ibi a livestock trader, said he was nearly caught up in the attack as he left the town the previous day before the attack on Wednesday night.

“I was there on Tuesday and returned to Fotokol in the afternoon. We started hearing gunshots again at about 5pm and it continued for a long time. Some Cameroon soldiers at Fotokol told us Boko Haram has returned to Gamboru though they pursued them. There was a gun battle with some Cameroon soldiers but some of the Boko Haram may still be in Gamboru now. “

African States (ECOWAS) Ambassador Michel Arrion has also called for violencefree polls across Nigeria. He said the European Union are friends of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Arrion spoke in Port Harcourt when he visited the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State Dr. Dakuku Peterside. The envoy, who expressed anxiety over increasing tension ahead of the March 28 and April 11 elections, called on political actors to play by the rules to avoid violence or anything that is capable of discrediting the elections.

•Yobe Governor Ibrahim Geidam

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday assured that no town or community will be captured by the Boko Haram insurgents again in the country.

The president spoke in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, during his presidential campaign.

He said “the federal government will resist any attempt by the Boko Haram terrorists to take control of any town or village within the country again”.

According to him, the federal government is committed to ending the insurgency and expressed happiness that the insurgents had been wiped out of the state. ”As I speak, I am so happy to announce that Yobe has been freed of Boko Haram as all territories earlier under the control of the sect members have been recaptured by our able troops and we will henceforth resist any attempt by the sect members or any group to take control of any territory again. ”It is unfortunate that our brothers and sisters have turned mad against us and have left us

with these sad memories,”.

President Goodluck Jonathan also pledged that his administration is committed to improving the lives of the people despite the activities of the insurgents in the region.

He listed some of his commitment to include the introduction of the great green wall vegetation as part of efforts to fighting desert encroachment which will in turn create more agricultural opportunities.

The president said he had set up a federal university in the state which according to him,had brought university education to the doorsteps of Yobe people.

He called on the people of the state to vote massively for the PDP pointing out that the party would consolidate on the gains of democracy thereby creating an enabling environment for farmers, civil servants and businessmen alike.

Vice President Namadi Sambo spoke on the return of the rail system to the region as a major achievement of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan, adding that the rail would soon hit Damaturu and Maiduguri as the security situation improves.

He also praised the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan administration to ending the insurgency as well as the establishment of the 132 and 130 KVA ITC Line from Gombe through Potiskum, Damaturu Continued on page 59

Polls: Yoruba leaders reject Jonathan’s endorsement

Continued from page 1

is absent of developmental foresight, that lacks innovative thinking and is not capable of producing the right responses and answers to the challenges of multi ethnic and multi-cultural politics in the country.

“The absence of imaginative leadership in Nigeria in developing the right responses to the Boko Haram insurgency and its terrorist plan to decimate the nation is one we must collectively confront.

“For us Yoruba people, a Nigerian leader must be ready to make the necessary sacrifies and imbibe core value-laden attributes. The national leader that Yoruba people want and would support should subscribe to a body of beliefs based on our perennial and tested values of honour, dignity, integrity, industry, patriotism, which are encoded in the concept of Omoluabi.

“The leadership the Yoruba want should be the body of men and women who are believers and are ready to live

T

‘Elections must hold on schedule’

HE Yoruba took a position on the state of the nation yesterday: elections must hold on schedule on March 28 and April 11.

The race will not accept any undemocratic government in whatever form but will take its destiny in its hands should its democratic tenets be tampered with.

The Yoruba Leaders of Thought expressed their stance in a charter of demands issued after a summit at the House of Chiefs, Parliament Building, Oyo State Secretariat in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The convener of the summit is Gen. Alani Akinrinade, a former Chief of Defence Staff.

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi underscored the importance of the summit, which he likened to the 1955 Yoruba conference on the way forward for the race. It was also held at the same venue.

Ajimobi said: “Talking about historical

according to the tenets of Omoluabi and work for its continuous propagation and effectiveness. It is this embodiment of values that should guide us in the process of who we vote for in the 2015 general elections, not corrupted en-

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

significance, this great chamber – the House of Chiefs – for those who were old enough to know its political history, has hosted great men and women of renown in Yorubaland, at various historical junctures. As history would someday record that, at a critical period of our peoples’ lives as this, we gathered here today to dissect the way forward for the Yoruba in the Nigerian federation, so also did Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Adekunle Ajasin, Bola Ige, to mention but a few, gather inside this House of Chiefs, innumerable times, to brainstorm on the future of our people. Indeed, today, I feel as if I am addressing the crème de la crème of Yorubaland at the 1951 Yoruba National Conference held here on the soil of Ibadan.”

Speaking on the topic: “Marginalisation of Yoruba in the Current Dispensation:”

dorsements.

“To achieve our demands, I call on all Yoruba people to ensure that we use our votes wisely during this 2015 general elections by voting for those who make good their promises and vote out those who fal-

Dr Goke Adegoroye, said Yoruba are 22 per cent of the Nigerian population, stressing that the ethnic group is the single largest nationality in Nigeria.

According to him, Hausa and Fulani will have to be merged to produce a population that is higher than Yoruba.

Because of this, the retired technocrat said only the Senate Presidency is appropriate for Yoruba at any time they do not clinch the presidential or the vice presidential positions.

Adegoroye said no Yoruba is occupying any of the top 16 positions in the country.

He said the claim of marginalisation of Yoruba is not a fluke because they do not occupy top positions and that distribution of positions does not reflect the population strength of Yoruba, particularly in the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

ter. We must take this once-infour-years opportunity and use our votes to successfully empower or reject individuals based on their performance, principles, values, developmental aspirations and good character.”

Continued on page 59

On the OPC protest in Lagos, Gen. Akinrinade said: “The ugly Lagos example of Monday 16 March 2015 appeared an open threat to our space, a society that is naturally and cultural embracing whose receptive nature is now being

abused. It was a further demonstration of a sponsored and organised violence with the intent and potential to attack and pollute our peoples’ values and democratic existence.

This trend will continue, unless every federating unit is opportune to achieve its highest potential within the Nigerian nation without hindrance.”

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola said any Yoruba man who carries a gun to kill his fellow Yoruba is a bastard, because the Yoruba people signed an agreement on 23 rd September 1896 not to fight each other anymore.

“We should counsel our youth against violence and we should tell our leaders who are collecting money from desperate politicians to have a rethink because whatever bribe offered them will be exhaustContinued on page 59

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

5

NEWS Mu’azu: PDP expects no landslide victory

‘PDP plans to discredit APC leaders with imported U.S. dollars’ T T HE All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over a plot to discredit its leadership through ferrying of huge amount of dollars into Nigeria by some people, who will claim they were hired as cash couriers by the party leaders.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, alleged that the funds would be ferried into the country through the Seme or Idi-Iroko, or any other border posts, anytime from now.

It said those, who orchestrated the importation of the raw cash from a West African nation, have tipped off the security agents at the border posts to watch out for those who are bringing in a colossal amount in dollars.

The statement reads: ‘’Their plan is that once the couriers - who have been coached on their assignment - are arrested by Nigerian security agents, they will point fingers at some top APC leaders, who supposedly commissioned them to bring in the money to be used for the elections. ‘’The plotters of the evil plan will then order the arrest of the leaders, with a view to damaging their cred-

PDP: imported hard currencies ‘ll be impounded

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HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Organisation has said the ruling Federal Government would impound any hard currency brought into the country by opposition party leaders.

The ruling party also accused the opposition of not being happy with what it described as President Goodluck Jonathan’s “victory” over terrorism.

Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in a statement yesterday, denied accusation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the

By Wale Ajetunmobi

ibility and destabilising them ahead of the elections. ‘’Let’s be clear: Our leaders, who have been the targets of unprecedented mudslinging as well as physical and psychological threats will not be intimidated into abandoning their epic

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

administration planned to implicate the opposition in phantom importation of foreign currencies into the country.

Spokesman of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had raised the alarm over hard currencies about to be illegally imported into the country by agents of the Jonathan administration, with the view to implicating the APC leaders.

But, Fani-Kayode dismissed the allegation, stating rather that the APC leaders should get ready to face the full wrath of the law, if they violated any law.

struggle to save our country from a rapacious administration. ‘’Therefore, let those who have been unrelenting in threatening them and also painting them black, using every means imaginable, desist, because their game is up. The people of Nigeria have repudiated their primitive tactics. ‘’Let us remind them that we raised

the alarm over their plan to postpone the elections and it came to pass. We raised the alarm over their opposition to the use of card readers and now all Nigerians can see. We raised the alarm that the OPC will demonstrate against Jega in Lagos and it was accurate to the day. We will continue to expose the plotters of evil.’’

HE National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has said he is not expecting a landslide victory of the party in the general elections.

But, Mu’azu is convinced that the PDP would emerge victorious.

According to Mu’azu, “While I do not see a landslide victory coming, I am convinced that our party will perform creditably in the Southwest and the North of Nigeria and elsewhere in all the elections this year, because the evidence is clear that despite our travails at the beginning, we have done very well over the past 15 years of our nascent democracy since 1999 to record victory.

“Those who disbelieve our resilience will be surprised for victory is ours.”

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Tony Amadi, yesterday, Mu’azu also promised that President Goodluck Jonathan would declare a Marshall Plan to rebuild the Northeast geopolitical zone affected by the war if President Jonathan is re-elected.

He added that PDP will win Southwest and the North despite “our travails at the beginning”.

Foreign journalists allege denial of visa

By Joseph Jibueze

S

OME foreign journalists, who applied to cover the general elections, are yet to be granted visas two months after, it was learnt yesterday.

It was gathered that applications

by British media outlets were languish in a pile at Nigeria’s London Embassy.

Among those yet to be granted visa is the Chief Foreign Correspondent of The Telegraph Colin Freeman, who alleged that beside himself, The Times, Channel 4 News and no fewer than 20 other British media outlets were yet to get press visas to cover the elections, despite paying non-refundable fees of £300.

In an article entitled: “Why Nigeria won’t let foreign journalists cover its elections?” published on The Telegraph’s website, Freeman wrote that while nobody has actually been refused outright, there were indications that the presidency was unhappy with foreign media.

“So what’s the real reason then?

Nobody can say for certain, but most journalists, and a number of foreign diplomats, guess it is because of the deluge of bad press that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government got when the schoolgirl kidnapping story became big in May,” Freeman said.

The journalist said while a few applicants have been granted, a lot of others are still awaiting “clearance” from no fewer than three different government ministries.

“Given that the process normally takes only a week, and given that my application went in two months ago, I’m beginning to think the Nigerian government doesn’t want me there. Or, indeed any of the other foreign hacks, whose applications are still waiting at Nigerian embassies around the world.

“Have I written something to offend them?” the journalist wrote.

•From left: Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole; wife of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari, Hajia Aishat; and wife of APC National Chairman Mrs Victoria Odigie-Oyegun, at an interactive session between Hajia Buhari and Edo women at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City...yesterday.

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NLC: election timetable must be sacrosanct

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the Federal Government to ensure that the election timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) remain sacrosanct, adding that the polls must go ahead as scheduled.

The congress assured that it was determined to bring back its members who were aggrieved as a result of the just concluded delegates’ conference, which elected a new leadership.

It has, therefore, set up a reconciliatory committee to dialogue with them with a view to avoiding a division within the congress.

In a communique by its President, Ayuba Wabba and General Secretary Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson at the end of a National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting in Abuja, the Congress asked the Federal Government to take urgent steps to shore up the value of the naira and cushion the declining purchasing power of the workers The NLC also frowned at the trend among state governors to owe work-

•Union to reconcile aggrieved members From Tony Akowe, Abuja

ers’ salaries for several months, praising the Ebonyi State chapter of the Congress for embarking on an industrial action to protest the backlog of unpaid salaries.

The communique reads in part: “The NAC-in-Session acknowledged with relief, the vigour and momentum the Nigerian Armed forces have garnered in recent times in the fight against insurgency. It called on the Federal Government to do the needful to encourage our troops and sustain the momentum to ensure a complete routing of the insurgents.

“The NAC-in-Session examined the state of the economy and its impact on Nigerian workers. It was pained by the heavy burden that has been saddled on the worker.

“NAC-in-Session condemned in very strong terms the vogue among state governments to owe workers salary in excess of eight months. In response to this ugly, trend NAC-In-Ses-

sion set up a task force to drive Congress intervention and actions in redressing the anomaly.

“The NAC-in-Session noted with concern the devaluation of the Naira, which has drastically eroded the purchasing power of the worker and made nonsense of the N18,000 minimum wage. It urged the government to quickly come up with measures to shore up the value of the Naira and also to cushion the effect of eroded purchasing power of the worker.

“The NAC-in-Session resolved to set up a Reconciliatory Committee to woo back the dissatisfied contestants in the just concluded 11th Delegates Conference of the NLC. “THE NAC-in-Session noted with concern the spate of protest calling for the removal of INEC Chairman. It stated that the current elections timetable must be seen as sacrosanct and, therefore, any acts capable of threatening the sanctity of the election dates must not be tolerated.”

Fed Govt assures foreign envoys on credible polls

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HE Federal Government has assured members of diplomatic corps on its plan to hold free, fair and credible general elections, warning foreigners to stay clear of the polling areas.

It solicited for the support and understanding of the international community.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Aminu Wali and

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

Minister of Interior Mr. Abba Moro spoke yesterday in Abuja during a parley with members of the diplomatic corps.

Also yesterday, the military assured that in the next one week, Boko Haram would have been reduced to nothing.

The ministers urged diplomats, especially from neigbouring

countries, to warn their citizens to stay clear of the polling units.

Moro, who was not forthcoming on the actual strategy put in place to man the borders during the election periods, however, said that all the agencies have been mobilised to ensure that the country’s security was not bridge.

Wali, who solicited for the support and cooperation of the international community, also

assured that the country was fully prepared for a free and fair elections.

Justifying the February rescheduling of the elections, he noted that the achievements of the military in routing out the Boko Haram sect has proved the skeptics wrong, stressing that peace and security were very important in achieving free, fair and credible elections.

Pastor Dikwa: DSS after my life over N7b CAN bribe From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

B

ORNO State-born-pastor, Kallamu Musa-Dikwa, has raised the alarm that operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) are after his life.

He had accused the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of collecting N7 billion from President Goodluck Jonathan to campaign against the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the rescheduled general elections.

Insisting that the Christian body collected the said amount, Pastor Dikwa said the DSS forced him to sign a document with which they would used against him “to show the world that the President Goodluck Jonathan did not bribe CAN to work against the presidential candidate of the APC”.

The cleric, who spoke with reporters in Kaduna yesterday, added that after the DSS had treated him like a “common criminal,” they forced him to sign a document indicating that what he said was not true.

The cleric said the DSS planned to use the “document”, which he signed under duress in some national dailies to portray him as telling lies against the body of Christ.

“They forced me to sign and promise to link me up with the CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, for us to ‘settle’,” he said.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

NEWS DPP adopts Buhari as presidential candidate From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

T

HE Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) yesterday officially adopted the presidential candidate of All Progressives Party (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as its candidate.

This was announced after a resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of DPP in Abuja.

The DPP confirmed the Deputy National Chairman, Chief Garshon Benson as the party’s acting national chairman following the resignation of the National Chairman, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi.

The resolution, which was read by Benson, said NEC took the decision to adopt Buhari after reviewing the state of the nation and considering that DPP had no a presidential candidate.

He said the President Goodluck Jonathan led-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had no more ideas how to manage the security challenges facing the country.

“We praise President Goodluck Jonathan for the much he has done for this country. But we believe that much more needs to be done. It is our view that PDP as a party in power for 16 years has ran out of ideas on how to manage the challenges facing the country, hence a serious need for a change of leadership.

“We urge our members all over the country to support and vote for General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC in the election.”

Maj.-Gen. Magashi told The Nation that about six states had joined APC, adding that he has supported Buhari before now.

His words: “Personally, I have been part of the merger idea since inception. We have members all over this country that will be taken part in the election. I am calling on all our members to support APC.”

First Lady: I’m not ready to go to jail

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HE First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, said yesterday she was afraid of going to jail, if the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, wins the March 28 election.

Mrs. Jonathan, who spoke at a rally organised by the women wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the National Stadium, Lagos, said: “I reject to carry food to my husband in prison and l wish you too should reject such an offer.

“The only way to reject this option is to vote for my husband in the election so that he can continue to listen to you.

You will not carry food to your husband in prison.

“Let me tell you while we are building schools, they are building prisons, which they want to send us to. So, l implore you to reject this offer and vote for my husband, President Goodluck Jonathan, so that he can give you more opportunities to do your business.”

Buhari’s wife: don’t be afraid

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HE wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Hajia Aishat, has told the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, not to nurse any fear about anybody going to jail after Buhari’s victory.

According to Mrs. Buhari, the citizenry only want a change in the way the nation is being run.

She spoke in reaction to Mrs. Jonathan’s

By Sina Fadare

Dame Patience, who told her audience that Jonathan had fulfilled his mandate to the people by building roads, schools and providing health facilities, said if re-elected, the President would increase the women quota for government positions from 35 per cent to 45 per cent “Jonathan will give us more women ministers. There is a lot of skill acquisition and free

IGP orders tight security in INEC offices, others

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HE Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has ordered his men to tighten security in vulnerable areas as part of preparation for the election.

The IGP directed that places, such as the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps, media houses, Service Providers Installations, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters and centres, banks, hospitals, national Youth Service Corps (NYSC) lodges, hotels and government offices

campaign that Gen. Buhari would jail his political opponents, if elected in the March 28 election.

Mrs. Buhari, at a mega rally where she interacted with women in Edo State yesterday, said the PDP’s attempt to paint her husband as a religious fundamentalist was a desperate attempt to hoodwink the people.

Only those who want to loot the treasury, she noted, campaign with religion, “which is at variance with politics”.

grants from N1 million to N10 million for Nigerian women by the Jonathan administration.

“I want to appeal to you to vote all the candidates of PDP in Lagos State and Jonathan for President. By so doing, you are going to witness more developments in the country. I can assure you that my husband will not disappoint you.

Please, don’t listen to all the side talks; they want to distract your attention,” she said.

The PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, urged voters to elect him as governor.

PDP’s National Woman Leader Ambassador Kema Chikwe said the nation was blessed with a First Lady “doing all within her power to give more to the Nigerian women”.

“Patience Jonathan has written her name in the history of Nigeria as the best First Lady Nigeria ever had,” she said.

From Faith Yahaya, Abuja

be properly guarded.

Abba, in a statement yesterday in Abuja by the Force spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said: “The security has become imperative in a bid to ward off any likely or possible attempt by hoodlums or men of the underworld to attack these installations and public places.”

Abba urged the public to collaborate with officers and men of the police to stamp out crimes during the election.

Group flays Nigeria, Swiss govt for ‘secret accord’ on Abacha loot From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

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HE Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, has expressed worry about the alleged secret accord by the Swiss and Nigerian governments as well as the World Bank for returning $380 million (N75.2 billion) funds stolen by the late dictator, Gen. Sanni Abacha.

Rev. Ugolor, in a statement, said: “We are concerned that the precedence of best practice set in 2005 when the Swiss government opted to return $500 million being part of the stolen money in a very transparent and open process, involving all stakeholders, is now being undermined with the planned return of N75.2 billion Abacha loot to Nigeria by the Swiss government, and to be ‘monitored’ by the World Bank.

“Lessons from our monitoring of the repatriated $500 million in 2005 under PERMFAR, reinforces our worries that the absence of any credible legal framework to deal with issues of stolen assets, as it stands in the present arrangement, sends the wrong signals and increases levels of anxiety of concerned civil society organisations as ours that have fought long and hard to ensure that repatriated funds from the Swiss government to Nigeria do not end up being re-looted.

“We condemn allowing the Abacha family to go away with some of the loot, which certainly fuels the culture of impunity in looting public funds.”

The group’s executive director urged Finance Minister and head of government’s economic team, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to come clean on the transaction with the Abachas.

He said this would ensure that the transaction abides by the provisions of international statutes involving civil society organisations working on the issue at home and in the Diaspora.

•From Left: Agbaje; his running mate, Alhaja Safurat Abdulkareem; Mrs Abiola Agbaje and Dame Patience, at the PDP rally...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Call for Jega’s sack is illegal, says Senator Tinubu

S

ENATOR Oluremi Tinubu has said the call for the sack or resignation of Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman Prof.

Attahiru Jega is unconstitutional.

Mrs. Tinubu, who is the senator representing Lagos Central, spoke yesterday when she led All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates and supporters in Eti Osa, Lagos on a campaign at Tarkwa Bay. Among the candidates were House of Representatives candidate Abdulhazeez Akinloye and House of Assembly candidate Gbolahan Yishawu.

•Lawmaker leads APC to Tarkwa Bay for campaign

By Oziegbe Okoeki

In an interview with reporters, Senator Tinubu said: “It is not possible to remove Jega or for him to resign. He started this process and he must finish what he started. They cannot remove Jega; they must allow him to finish what he started”.

Reacting to several demands of the community, she urged them to vote for APC candidates in the election.

According to her, many of their demands were within the purview of the Executive arms

at the state and federal level.

She said a vote for APC at federal and state levels would make the provision of their needs to materialise.

The senator, who promised to provide those within her powers, reminded the people of her efforts at ensuring that the community has a health centre, primary, junior and senior secondary schools.

Yishawu urged the people to take good care of their PVCs and vote for APC candidates in the elections.

He advised the voters to wash their hands well before going

to cast their votes on election day.

Akinloye advised the people not to sell their PVCs, saying doing that would deprive them of the opportunity in voting in any other election for a long time. “If you sell it, you can never vote again because the card is for all subsequent elections after the coming election,” he said.

The candidates also met with the traditional rulers of Tarkwa bay and other surrounding communities as well as leaders of the Arewa community.

Ex-VP Atiku committed to APC candidate Buhari’s victory, says Fayemi

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ORMER Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi has assured Nigerians that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar remains committed to the victory of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Fayemi said the rumoured plan of Atiku returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a gimmick from the ruling party to confuse Nigerians and cause division in the APC. He described Atiku as an important pillar of support for the Buhari

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

campaign, whose preoccupation is to ensure victory for the APC and Buhari at the presidential polls.

Fayemi, who spoke while featuring on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, monitored in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said entreaties made to Atiku by emissaries of President Goodluck Jonathan for a return to the PDP failed.

The former governor said the APC was prepared for victory and won’t be distracted by the antics of the PDP,

which, he said, was gripped by the fear of losing the Presidency for the first time in 16 years.

Fayemi declared that Buhari campaign was on course, stressing that any attempt to cause disaffection within the fold of the APC by sponsoring phantom defection to the PDP won’t work.

He said: “Anybody can just pick some people in the street and call them members of Turaki’s group.

Though, I am aware of the surreptitious plans to divide us, but wooing Atiku back to PDP will not certainly work because he is committed to this

project.

“So, Atiku is still in APC and he has come out boldly to denounce this group. It was a fact that he offered himself to be president, but the delegates acted otherwise by voting for Gen Buhari.

“I don’t foresee that he will walk away from APC on the basis of this because there is nothing on ground to make him do that. He has remained consistent for Gen. Buhari and he is committed to APC”.

Fayemi added that Nigerians would query President Jonathan, if he sacks Prof. Jega at this critical time,

saying such attempt could bring suspicion that would do the country no good.

On the mock accreditation conducted by INEC in 12 states to test-run the workability of the Card Reader, Fayemi advised the commission to block all loopholes based on the reservations expressed by some critical stakeholders for the outcome of the elections to be acceptable.

The former governor, however, hoped that the Card Reader would turn out to be a blessing in view of the success recorded in Lagos, which he said was known to be densely populated.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

7

NEWS

Hate speeches undermine democracy, says Fashola

Olubadan endorses Ajimobi From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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HE Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, yesterday endorsed Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi in the April 11 governorship poll.

The monarch gave his endorsement at the Yoruba Summit held at the Parliament Building housing the House of Assembly, Secretariat, Ibadan, the state capital.

The monarch, who spoke through the Eekerin Olubadan of Ibadan, Chief Eddy Oyewole, said Ajimobi’s accomplishments were outstanding and earned him the Atunluse (change agent) of Ibadan.

Chief Oyewole said: “On March 28, vote for Gen. Buhari. And on April 11, vote for Abiola Ajimobi.

“Ajimobi is developing other towns in Oyo State. We didn’t know Ajimobi can achieve this much. We have always heard that there is no money. So, when we saw how Ajimobi was building roads, beautifying cities and embarking on other laudable projects, we asked him where he was getting money.

“Since he was installed the Atunluse of Ibadan, he has done more. Let Ajimobi continue and let them not postpone the election again.”

L

AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola said yesterday that hate speeches by politicians undermine the country’s electoral process and democracy.

Fashola spoke when a delegation of the Council of the Wise, led by its Coordinator, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, visited him in Lagos.

He said efforts must be made to stop the ugly trend, and to institute a means of holding politicians and their supporters accountable for their actions.

“The only way to hold politicians accountable is not only for what is done by them but that also done on their behalf,” he said.

The governor said it was important for candidates disssociate themselves from hate speeches and actions capable of disrupting the peace.

“When thugs begin to terrorise people in the streets, the candidates should be able to disown the actions of such persons.

“We are helping to promote violence by condoning

hate speeches by politicians,” he said.

The governor also stressed that those seeking for political offices must regard their quest as a call to serve the people and not their vested interest.

On the use of the Card Reader, he said jettisoning it would be unfair to Nigerians when so much money had been spent on its procurement.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gambari also visited the Chairman of Channels Television,

John Momoh in Lagos, where he solicited partnership.

He said the station had been objective and committed to the ethics of journalism.

“We need you as partners.

I consider Channels as my station. We need your cooperation,” he said.

He accused some politicians of making “irresponsible speeches” that could undermine the unity of the country.

Gambari called on religious, traditional and other critical leaders to support

Ogun PVCs collection improves From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

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Award for Aregbesola

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HE Saudi Arabia International Islamic Foundation for Education has honoured Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola for his role in propagating Islam.

The organisation said it gave Aregbesola the award because of his role in spreading the foundation’s noble idea of Islamic knowledge in line with modern science and technology.

In a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Governor’s Office, Semiu Okanlawon, the Foundation said Aregbesola’s activities in spreading the message of peace and knowledge that Islam represents prompted it to honour the governor with its international membership.

The Secretary General of the Foundation, Sheikh Ali Maqbool Al-Amrai, said the activities of the governor were in tandem with the universal objective of Islam, which is to enlighten the human race away from ignorance and terrorism.

Fuel queues return to Lagos

•From Left: Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Najeem Salaam; All Progressives Congress (APC) vice-presidential candidate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo ; Ogiyan of Ejigbo, Oba Omowonuola Oyesosi and former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Prof Mojeed Alabi, when Osinbajo visited the monarch.

Why we protested against Jega, by OPC

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HE Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) yesterday explained that its Monday rally in Lagos was not directed against any party but against the injustice being perpetrated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Hakeen Ologunro, the group said “for the benefit of Nigerians, our stand on the election and support for President Jonathan remains unchanged. We decided on President Jonathan simply because we believe that of all the candidates, he has a better agenda for the Yoruba race”.

“So, rather than the allegation that we are supporting the President for personal gains, our decision was because of the larger Yoruba interest,” the statement added.

By Akinola Ajibade

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UEL queues are gradually returning to Lagos, weeks after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) supplied millions of litres of petrol to mitigate the shortfall.

But there were no signs of scarcity in Abuja, as motorists drove into filling stations to buy fuel with little or no stress.

There were queues at the NNPC filling stations at Idimu and Abule Egba. At the Conoil outlet around the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), there was a short queue.

NNPC’s General Manager of Public Affairs Ohi Alegbe could not be reached for comments.

efforts aimed at promoting peaceful elections in the country.

Responding, Momoh promised to support the council to achieve its objective.

“We will do everything possible to key into the vision of the council, we are more than ready to come into the area of support for the council,” he said.

NAN reports that the council of the wise is a thinktank committed to peaceful and acceptable elections in Nigeria.

By Dada Aladelokun

It added: “We have also stated clearly that the INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, has not shown enough commitment to conducting a free and fair election.

“For instance, the issue of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC), which has been shown to have been well distributed in areas where there is violence in the North, whereas the figures released to the South, has been abysmal.

“Also, INEC has created additional 30,000 polling units in the North, giving an unfair advantage to the North over other parts of the country. In simple terms, these forms of deliberate injustice are what the OPC is fighting against.

“It must, however, be noted that since the OPC was formed, we have al-

‘We have always stated that we stand for the emancipation of the Yoruba race. We also stand against any form of injustice’ ways stated that we stand for the emancipation of the Yoruba race. We also stand against any form of injustice.

“And these long-standing principles have not changed. If you recall, we were in the forefront of the calls for the release of Al-

haji Asari Dokubo and Chief Raph Nwazuruike, both of whom are non-Yoruba. We spent our money and resources to fight for the release of these two men without expecting anything in return. “We formed an organisation, Coalition of Free Dokubo and Uwazuruike (COFDU), held several press conferences, printed pamphlets and handbooks to campaign for their release. Nothing has changed between then and now. And we remain committed to fighting for, and defending anybody who we believe is being cheated.”

Condemning the attacks on the group’s National Coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, the OPC National Coordinating Council, the statement said the group comprises people expelled from the OPC in 2007.

APC distributes 250,000 Ekitigate DVDs HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has printed and distributed 250,000 copies of audio and video recordings of details of how the June 21, 2014, election was rigged in favour of Governor Ayodele Fayose.

Its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said the party took the step to let the world know the truth about the “miracle election,” where a governor with unrivalled sterling performance failed to win a single local government of the 16 councils in the state.

He said details of corrupt practices by soldiers as contained in the tape lent credence to the inclusion of the military as a defendant in the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal, where a suit is challenging the return of Fayose as the winner of the election.

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From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

In the tape secretly recorded by Army Captain Sagir Koli, the participants in the fraud were discussing operational details and giving instructions on how to help Fayose win the election.

Koli went on exile after releasing the tape.

The party said: “Nigerians and indeed decent people of the world will hear of how a brigadier-general was thoroughly disgraced by brigands and lawless individuals in PDP. “Nigerians will hear a brigadier- general talking of how he set up “Strike Forces” to be unleashed on APC leaders and supporters to cow them to submission to ensure victory for Fayose.

“It is a pity and tragedy of our history that a man, who is supposed to be in

chains, is the one assuring a serving brigadier-general of promotion if he could help PDP rig the election.

“Nigerians will hear Fayose and his co-conspirators talking and boasting that the top echelons of the Army were the chief executioners of Ekiti poll fraud.

“The world will hear Fayose talking about how he collected soft copies of INEC’s sensitive election materials and got them printed to give him victory.”

The APC spokesman said the revelation by Fayose that he collected soft copies of INEC’s sensitive materials and got them printed had confirmed the party’s claim that photochromic papers were used to fix the election in his favour.

GUN State has recorded an improvement in the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). It was learnt 57.57 per cent of voters have collected their cards.

This shows that about half of the state’s registered voters have collected their PVCs. The state has 1,829,534 registered voters. About 1,053,230 have picked up their PVCs a few days to the elections.

The state was the least last weekend, with 47 per cent collection rate.

Already, 56.4 million registered voters have picked up their cards ahead of next Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The collection rate for the country, according to reports by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is 81.87 per cent.

INEC had insisted that the PVCs would be used for the elections. The electoral body has also test run the Card Reader, which will be used for accreditation of registered voters.

Three APC members arrested From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

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HERE was confusion in Ijero-Ekiti, Ijero Local Government Area, yesterday as three members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were arrested for pasting posters.

John Monday, Ebenezer Ogunleye and Tunbosun Adeluyi were still being held last night.

They were arrested while pasting posters in readiness for the APC campaign rally in Ekiti Central Senatorial District.

Their arrest caused tension in Ijero as party members accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of masterminding it.

Some people suspected to be working for the Ijero Local Government Council stormed the palace square venue of the APC rally, claiming that the party can not hold the event there.

A member of the House of Representatives, Oyetunde Ojo, condemned what he called a “government-sponsored crackdown on the opposition“.

Ojo, who is seeking re-election to represent Ekiti Central 2, advised Governor Ayo Fayose to rein in his party members and respect the peace accord signed by parties.

He urged Fayose and his party members to learn from history.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

8

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

Barons recruit mules for drug trafficking

•Omas

•Ogbu holding some of the cannabis

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HE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered plans by barons to use mules to smuggle locally grown cannabis to United Arab Emirates and China, among others, where drug trafficking carries death penalty.

NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Ahmadu Giade said the agency had foiled several attempts by barons to smuggle cannabis in foodstuff outside the country using mules.

Three persons including a woman were caught with 58.755kg of cannabis destined for Dubai and China at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA),

•NDLEA arrests three with 58.755kg of cannabis

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

Lagos on Wednesday.

They are Ogbonna Ogbu, 33, caught smuggling 35.115kg of cannabis to China; Famolu Adebisi, 34, caught smuggling 4kg of cannabis to Dubai and a woman, Osamunyi Omas, 26, found with 19.640kg of cannabis on her way to Dubai.

Ogbu, a trader in Onitsha main market told narcotic investigators that he was given N100, 000 to smuggle the drugs.

He said: “My friend in China

gave me N100, 000 to take a bag to China. The last time I travelled to China, he assisted me. When he gave me the money to take the bag containing gala to China, I thought he was doing me a favour I never knew he was digging my grave. After my arrest, I feel bad and regret my action. I am married with a child.”

Adebisi, who sells laptops in Lagos, said he bought the drugs himself.

“I bought the cannabis myself for N44,000. I was introduced into drug trafficking by a friend who

Grocer ‘kills’ man over N10 cigarette

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42-year-old grocer, Alli Mustapha, has appeared before the Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for ‘killing’ a customer, Idowu Maliki, over N10 cigarette.

Maliki, it was learnt, bought the cigarette from Mustapha, a native of Ayuru in Niger State, but refused to pay.

Trouble began when Mustapha stopped Maliki from entering his shop at Imope compound in Ikotun on the outskirts of Lagos to pick another item without paying the debt.

A fight ensued and the deceased hit Mustapha with a wooden stood severally.

•Some of the cannabis in a bag

•Adebisi

By Ruqayat Jimoh

After they were separated, the deceased was said to have picked up a bottle and insisted on continuing fighting.

Mustapha told the court that he hit Maliki on the head with a stick in self-defence and the deceased collapsed.

According to him, he tried to save Maliki life by pouring water on him. His efforts failed as Maliki was confirmed dead at Igando General Hospital.

The charge reads: “That you, Alli Mustapha on March 7 around 7:05pm at 5 Imope compound, Ikotun, Lagos, in the Lagos magisterial district did unlawfully kill

one Idowu Maliki by hitting him with a stick on his head and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos.”

Prosecuting police Inspector Cousin Adams prayed the court to remand Mustapha in prison custody pending legal advice from the Office of Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for 30 days in the first instance.

Mustapha pleaded not guilty.

His plea for bail was not taken.

Magistrate F.J Adefioye ordered the defendant remanded for 30days in prison pending legal advice from DPP office.

He adjourned till May 25.

assisted me with my travel documents. He told me that if I can bring 4kg of cannabis to Dubai, he will pay me N500, 000. That was what encouraged me to take the risk. I blame myself because I should have listened to my conscience,” he said.

Omas, who sells shoes and female hand bags, said she had learnt a bitter lesson.

She said: “I lost my parents and I sell shoes and female clothes and bags to earn a living. My friend in Dubai told me that somebody will give me foodstuff

My husband is promiscous, woman tells court •’All rich men womanise’

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MIDDLE-AGED woman, Toyin Ayinde, has gone to an Agege Customary Court in Lagos, seeking the dissolution of her 20-year-old marriage. She is accusing her husband, Mudashiru, of being promiscuous.

The petitioner, a businesswoman, said her husband sleeps with any woman.

“When we got married, we didn’t have enough and we were contented with whatever we had but when we became comfort-

Man held for forging FAAN appointment letter

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•Lagos Island Local Government Executive Secretary Adetoyese Olusi (second right) assisted by his Apapa Iganmu counterpart Funmi Muhammed (left) to distribute gifts to Mr Lamidi Lawal and Mrs Alaba, beneficiaries of the Social Security for the Aged at the council Secretariat, Lagos Island... yesterday

MAN has been arrested for forging a Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) employment letter.

He was apprehended by aviation security personnel yesterday and handed over to the airport police command, according to a statement

by FAAN Corporate Communications General Manager Mr Yakubu Dati.

Dati said the authority is becoming disturbed by the activities of those defrauding unsuspecting applicants by asking them to pay money into some bank accounts to influence their employment.

The statement reads: “It has been brought to the notice of FAAN that some fraudulent individuals are demanding that applicants to the recently advertised vacant positions in FAAN pay money into some bank accounts to “influence” their employment into the Authority.

“The Authority wishes to inform

to take to him.

“That was how I collected the bags from the person. I still find it difficult that this will happen to me but I have learnt a bitter and painful lesson in my life.”

Giade said their arrest followed intelligence report and intense covert operation.

“It is pertinent to alert members of the public of fresh plot by drug barons to smuggle cannabis to countries with capital punishment for drug trafficking because of the high profit involved. Drug barons are wicked and callous. They are only interested in making money even at the risk of others sacrificing their precious lives,” he said.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor

the public, especially applicants to the said vacant positions that the Authority does not demand money from any applicant to get employed. The current recruitment exercise is being done in the most transparent and orderly manner so we advise that nobody should pay any amount of money to any individual or company to get employed in the Authority.”

He enjoined affected applicants to report to the Police, saying FAAN will not be liable for any fraudulent transaction in relation to the on-going recruitment.

“This release became necessary following the arrest of one man by officers of our Aviation Security Service at the Murtala Muhammed Airport while he was handing over a forged letter of employment to an unsuspecting applicant. The suspect has been handed over to the police at the airport,” he said.

By Basirat Braimah

able, my husband began to womanise. He sleeps with anything.

He lacks good taste,” she said.

The mother of three, who are between ages five and 19, told the court that her husband keeps claiming that there is no wealthy man who doesn’t womanise.

“To let you know how loose he is, five years ago, I was admitted to a hospital because our last child had jaundice after delivery.

My husband, who is slack when it comes to women, had an affair with a nurse.

“I once woke him up in the middle of the night to advise him. He cried and promised to stop the act. As I speak, there are no changes,” she said.

Mrs Ayinde sad her husband’s relation sent her out of his house because she refused to sleep with him.

“I refused to sleep with him because I could get infected if he continues to sleep around. Also, he wants to try all styles of sex with me which I strongly disagree. It’s been almost a year since I moved out of his house.

His relations have been pleading with me to go back to him but they don’t know what I am facing. He is loose and I can’t cope anymore,” she added.

Surprsingly, her husband, Mudashiru Jimoh, did not deny the allegations saying: “Everything she said is true. I support our marriage dissolution.”

The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams, advised the couple to reconsider their positions and adjourned till April 9.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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NEWS ‘Thugs’ disrupt rally in Ondo

‘Jonathan not Yoruba candidate’

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

T

S

USPECTED thugs yesterday disrupted the rally organised by lawyers in Ondo State to support the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),Gen Muhammadu Buhari.

Sources said thugs armed with guns, cutlasses and charms disrupted the rally, which was to begin in front of the High Court, Akure, the state capital.

The APC Media Campaign Secretary, Charles Titiloye, indicted security agents for refusing to protect the lawyers.

He said: “The police, Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, Department of State Security (DSS) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officials were informed about the rally but they refused to show up, until the thugs attacked us.

“Our democracy is under threat if lawyers cannot openly associate and express themselves.

“This is a further testimony that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its agents are set for violence against the opposition in Ondo State.”

Thousands join Oyo APC

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HOUSANDS of defectors from Accord, Labour Party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and KOWA Party have joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State.

The defectors were led by Dr. Adegoke Adeyemo aka Okebadan, Mr. Olawale Oladoja, a former director of Odu’a Investment , Mr. Musa Kazeem Obisesan (Accord), Mrs. Olubunmi Oladeji Bamikole, popularly known as ‘For the Mama Ke’ (PDP), Mr. Anthony Makinde (KOWA) and Mr. Agboola Oni (Labour).

The followers of a late Accord stalwart, Mrs. Bola Amole, who died mysteriously on the eve of her planned defection to APC, led by Alhaja Sola Olasunkanmi and Alhaji Salawu Taiwo wept as they announced their exit from the party.

The ceremony also witnessed a solidarity rally and endorsement of Governor Abiola Ajimobi by members of the state chapter of Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Riders and Operators of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), the Okada Union within the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

Mrs. Bamikole hinged her defection and that of other PDP members on what she called “lack of discipline and integrity among the leadership of our former party”.

The endorsement rally also featured members of the Islamic Musicians' Association of Nigeria (ISMAN), led by the state Chairman, Alfa Sarafadeen Bembe Oru, who pledged their support for the governor.

Ajimobi promised them equal opportunities and urged them to work harmoniously with other party members to ensure the APC’s success during the general elections.

•From left: Legal practitioners, Orji Chikezie; Caroline Ibharuneafe; Adenike Awoyomi and Zachariah Adedeji, taking the oath of office as Notary Public before Chief Judge Of Lagos State, Justice Funmilayo Atilade in Lagos.

PHOTO: NAN

HE Buhari/Osinbajo Support Organisations in the Southwest yesterday dismissed the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The group’s Coordinator, Femi Oluwafunmilade, said in Ibadan that the claim that Yoruba had endorsed Jonathan was wishful thinking.

He stated that there was never a forum where such a deal was struck, describing the combination of Buhari/ Osinbajo as historic in the annals of Nigeria’s politics.

He emphasised that no amount of blackmail or intimidation would stop General Muhammadu Buhari from winning the March 28 election.

He called on Nigerians, particularly All Progressives Congress (APC) members, to stand firm and refuse to be intimidated.

Fagge: Govt policy has turned dons to butchers, hawkers

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CADEMIC Staff of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) President Nasir Fagge has said the Federal Government policy for universities to generate funds internally has converted professors to butchers and hawkers.

He said ASUU’s struggles were predicated on the belief that the university system is deformed, its driving philosophy mortally damaged and its established purpose stillborn.

Fagge spoke at the 63rd University of Ibadan (UI) Postgraduate School Interdisciplinary discourse on the topic “ASUU struggles and the Revitilisation of Public University Education in Nigeria”.

The ASUU president lamented that there was a systematic agenda to paralyse public university education to make way for a market-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

based privatisation of university education, adding that Nigeria’s leadership lacks integrity in governance.

He said:”IGR policy of government has meant a shift of focus to production of bread, pure water, fish and meat sale.

“Universities are now competing with the peasant traders they are supposed to serve. Some, such as the University of Ibadan, close their campuses to goods from outsiders and run a close economy while the Department of Economics teaches competition and free market.

“Professors are appointed as butchers, hawkers and supervisors of enterprises that are at the best a waste of time and energy.

“Scarce manpower is diverted from the classrooms and laboratories in the pur-

‘Universities are now competing with the peasant traders they are supposed to serve. Some, such as the University of Ibadan, close their campuses to goods from outsiders and run a close economy’ suit of enterprises that are incongruent with the university mission.”

Fagge said the leadership quality since independence evinces the negative out-

comes of the university system, adding that the irrelevant educational curricula, programmes and pedagogy in universities have succeeded in producing poor leaders and imitators rather than innovators.

“More than seven panels have been set up by successive administrations to evaluate conditions in public universities.

“The failure to implement reports of such panels was due to failure of integrity in governance.

“Contemporary assessment of products of the system characterised them as unemployable and lacking in basic social, emotional and literacy skills.

“The educational curricula, programmes and pedagogy today are as irrelevant and unrealistic as they were in colonial times.

“However, we must agree that the system is effective in

Adebanjo, Mimiko, others back Jonathan

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EADERS of the PanYoruba group, Afenifere, are seeking support for President Goodluck Jonathan.

They spoke yesterday at the Post-National Conference Summit at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

The theme is: ‘Tomorrow Begins Today’. It was convened by the Ondo State government.

Afenifere chieftain Chief Ayo Adebanjo said President Goodluck Jonathan should be re-elected to implement the National Conference held last year.

He added that Yoruba would have a fair and better deal, if the outcome of the National Conference was implemented.

Adebanjo said the Yoruba had been sidelined by successive governments.

He said: “I am not a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member and everybody knows that.

But, there is one interest which I have consistently and in collaboration with my leaders, such as the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, advocated for which is whereever the Yoruba man’s interest lies, I will go there.

By Musa Odoshimokhe

“I am not saying this because of the coming elections; we have been doing it before.

“You remember the struggle for the mandate of the late MKO Abiola; the Afenifere group was in the forefront.”

He said the struggle to assert the Yoruba’s freedom started in 1954, when the Macpherson Constitution divided the country into three regions, which gave the North undue advantage.

He explained that the struggle to make the Yoruba gain their rightful position has met lots of resistance from those who are bent on dividing the people.

Adebanjo said the convocation of the National Conference provided the opportunity to restructure the country, noting that the Jonathan administration should be commended for the bold initiative.

“That is why Jonathan is a candidate of the Yoruba people. He is not a candidate of the PDP. “I am not campaigning for him on the basis of his party affiliation but for trying to provide the opportunity for the Yoruba to assert themselves.”

Ondo State Governor and

the convener of the summit Dr Olusegun Mimiko said the implementation of the conference will make Nigeria better.

He added that the conference would entrench the practice of true federalism that will give power to the states.

He said: “There is the practice of true federalism, states can now create the number of local governments they want. Persons not interested in political parties can contest election independently.

“There will be establishment of state police and community police for more effective security coverage. There will be creation of additional states to ensure geo-political equity,” he said.

Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa said Yoruba must vote for the right candidate in the coming election.

He said Nigeria is at a very critical moment of its life, which Yoruba will play a role to reshape.

“Our son, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, did not convene any conference; we must commend the present administration for taking the step to allow Nigerians reflect on how they want to coexist.”

In the same vein, Dr. Amos Akingba said the Yoruba

went to the conference divided.

“This happened in view of those who supported the conference and those who were against it, but I must say that when the conference started those against it had to join us to project the Yoruba agenda.

“I must say that Jonathan swore to implement the outcome of the conference even if it will cost him his life.

“Therefore, we must take part in the next election and vote for him so that he will implement the outcome of the conference.”

Present at the conference were former Ogun State governor Gbenga Daniel; Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Musiliu Obanikoro, Chief Supo Sonibare, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, Dr. Kunle Olajide, Fredrick Fasheun, National Coordinator, Oodua Peoples Congress, Gani Adams, Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), Capt. Tunji Shelle, Chief Bode Ajewole, Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Sehinde Arofofa, Mrs. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, Chief Bode George, Prof.

Dupe Olatunbosun, Chief Femi Okunrunmu, Dayo Adeyeye, Yinka Odumakin and others.

producing imitators, poor leaders and culturally disconnected individuals.”

The ASUU president noted that private universities render below par services and engage in unwholesome practices to attract and retain students yet provide only three per cent access to university education, despite Federal Government’s approval of new ones.

“It therefore shows that the direction of university education presently can only lead to loss of identity, national disintegration, sustenance of dependency economy and a political ideology of dominance and exploitation.”

In his welcome address, the Dean, Postgraduate School, Prof Adeyinka Aderinto, said qualitative public education was not negotiable, adding that ASUU struggles have helped improved the infrastructural and manpower development in universities.

NYSC advises corps members

By Medinat Kanabe

T

HE Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Lagos State, Akhanemhe Cyril, has said only corps members can deliver credible elections.

He spoke at the sensitisation of corps members within Eti-Osa 1, Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos Island and Mainland local governments at the All Saints Primary School, Yaba.

He said: “The only people who can deliver credible elections are the corps members..”

Warning them not to get involved in electoral malpractice, he said any corps member who runs foul of the Electoral Act will not be rescued by the NYSC. ”Read your Electoral Act prayerfully and meditate on it, we will not allow you drag the name of NYSC in the mud. You will collect you materials from INEC office and they will provide a means of transportation for you.“ “Don’t enter a car that is not provided by INEC, go to the centres early, don’t move if INEC doesn’t provide a vehicle, when you count the votes, don’t wait for the arguments, just leave and make sure you count well.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

What does corporate governance do? It ensures that you have set up a structure and a culture within the institution that can drive the business in line with given rules. That’s what corporate governance does.

-Seplat Petroleum Managing Director Mr Austin Avuru

Oil, gas entrepreneurs to tap from CBN’s N220b MSME cash

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HE Federal Govern ment has unveiled an entrepreneurship, empowerment and employment initiate for young Nigerian entrepreneurs in the oil and gas industry.

To speed up its take off, a window has been opened through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for qualified young entrepreneurs to access funding from the N220 billion Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) fund.

This new initiative, under the Youth Empowerment Strategy of Nigeria for the oil and gas sector will be executed through the Nigerian Content and Development

From Nduka Chiejina (Asst. Editor)

Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

The entrepreneurship, empowerment and employment programme will be manned by an Advisory Team from Annabel Group, that will prepare young Nigerians to become entrepreneurs in the oil and gas industry.

Under the programme, young registered entrepreneurs would be equipped with training and funding to participate in the oil and gas sector to create jobs remain sustainable and expand globally.

Speaking at the launch of the youth entrepreneurship scheme in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the initiative would attract participation from the oil and gas sector of the economy as the government would assist young Nigerians to become Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs in the oil and gas sector.

Addressing the youths gathered at the event, Aganga said: “The greatest asset you have now is your brain and that is where the future is.

“The power of the youth in

• From left: Group Head, Business Banking, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, Mr. George Ogbonnaya; Executive Director, Lagos and Southwest, Mr. Olufemi Bakre; Group Head, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Uchenna Mojekwu and Executive Director, Shopping Internet Services Limited, Mr. Wole Lawani, during a press conference on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) capacity building organised by FCMB in Lagos....yesterday.

$16b EPZ project: Jonathan to perform ground-breaking soon

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has finally agreed to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of the $16 billion Delta Gas City Project next week Thursday.

The project, also known as the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), Ogidigben, had generated ethnic tension among the Itsekiri of Ugborodo on the one hand and Itsekiri and Ijaw on the other hand.

The tension had led to several postponements in the official ground-breaking ceremony dates by the president which fueled feelings that he was taking sides with his Ijaw kinsmen against the Itsekiri nation.

But the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, at a stakeholders’ meeting held yesterday in Asaba, the state’s capital said President Jonathan had agreed to the Thursday date, which he said would not fail like the previous experiences.

The Nation gathered that all the stakeholders at the meeting, including the Itsekiri, Ijaw of Gbaramatu Kingdom;

From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

both in Warri Southwest council area and the Ijaw of Ogulagha Kingdom in Burutu council area, agreed to allow a peaceful atmosphere for the ceremony.

An Itsekiri representative at the meeting, Alex Eyengho confirmed the development to our correspondent when contacted. Eyengho applauded the choice of the new date saying that the purpose of the meeting with the governor was to announce to stakeholders and host communities that Mr. President has fixed March 26 for the groundbreaking ceremony.

Eyengho, who is also a member of the Ugborodo Community/EPZ Interface Committee, noted that the most important thing is that the project is commissioned explaining that just like Escravos Gas to Liquids (EGTL) project, the project will be beneficial to host and impacted communities when it officially commenced operation.

He said: “The agenda of to-

day’s meeting which was called by Governor Uduaghan was clear. It was to officially inform all stakeholders that the groundbreaking ceremony has been fixed for Thursday March 26 which is next week

by Mr President. It was also to appeal and solicit for the commitment of all to ensure that there are no awkward activities especially breakdown of peace during the visit.

“The truth is that there is difference between host community and impacted community. I think people are now beginning to understand. The principal host community of EPZ project is Ogidigben people in Ugborodo. It is Ugborodo’s people that government acquires land from; there is no doubt about that while every other community is impacted community.

“The buttom line is that everybody will benefit from the project. All impacted community in the EGTL project benefited and this is no different.”

economic development is very important today. So any country that does not tap the potential of the youth can’t compete globally.

“It is important we reinvent ourselves and position our economy for industrialisation and entrepreneurship.”

The Chief Executive Officer, Annabel Group, Mr.

Nicholas Okoye said the initiative is an idea that was borne out of the need to empower Nigerians in the oil and gas industry.

Annabel’s role in this initiative he said “is that of facilitation by supporting with bankable business ideas. We want to take advantage of the Nigerian Content Development Act by assuring Nige-

rians to participate in the oil and gas sector to become the next generation of billionaires.”

“A commitment has been received from the Central Bank of Nigeria that part of the N220 billion MSME fund would be deployed to fund MSMEs in the oil and gas sector through the initiative,” he said.

CBN sets N100b capital base for DFIs

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HE Central Bank of Ni geria (CBN) has set N100 billion as the minimum capital base for Wholesale Development Financial Institutions (WDFI).

The guideline for the sector released by the apex bank yesterday said at least N20 billion of the capital shall be paid before grant of Approval in Principle (AiP).

The CBN also put the minimum capital for Retail Development Finance Institutions (RDFI) at N10 billion and a non-refundable application fee of N100, 000 for RDFI while N250, 000 is for WDFI. The CBN expalined that the DFIs were established in order to accelerate the pace of development of the Nige-

By Collins Nweze

rian economy and the realisation of the key roles of some critical sectors in the process.

It said the DFIs will provide financial interventions in enterprises in the identified sectors to complement the efforts of banks and other financial institutions (OFIs).

It explained that due to limited access to long-term and low-interest funds, in addition to other factors, the DFIs have recorded limited success.

“Consequently, the Federal Government in collaboration with development partners and international financial institutions (IFIs) decided to sponsor the estab-

lishment of a WDFI to bridge the gap and to increase the availability and access to finance, in particular, for micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) being the engine of growth, without excluding Large Enterprises (LEs). The benefits of WDFIs are documented and acknowledged in both developed and emerging markets,” the apex bank said.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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THE NATION

BUSINESS SHOPPING

E-mail: toniaitose@gmail.com

sms : 07035302326 Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

Nigeria, because of its tropical location, is believed to hold a huge market potential for renewable energy sources, such as solar power, which could be generated, transmitted and distributed off-grid. The solar lantern is one step towards the embrace of the solar alternative, which experts showcased during an exhibition and public enlightenment in Lagos. This was at the launch of Lighting Nigeria Programme. TONIA ‘DIYAN, who attended the event, reports.

Illuminating Nigeria through solar power T

HE market for solar lighting products has evolved tremendously over the past two years in Nigeria, no thanks to the epileptic power supply from the generating companies (GenCos) and distribution companies (DisCos).

The joint efforts of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank towards encouraging the country to explore this alternative energy source have started yielding results.

Solar consumer products are introduced into the country with the aim of increasing access to affordable, clean and safer energy for both rural and urban population. Some retailers that witnessed the exhibition of solar-solution products at the launch of the Lighting Nigeria Programme in Lagos and Aba are Barefoot Power, Futura Sun, Little Sun, Total Nigeria Plc, Philips, Niwa, Schneider-Electric among others. They expressed satisfaction with the response of consumers, as people turned out in their multitude to purchase and place orders for solar products.

Ti el Attar is the Executive Director of Niwa, an industry leader in innovation and design of solar consumer products. The company empowers families and small businesses in more than 30 countries to grow step-by-step into energy independence. It is a German-Cantonese Hong Kong based company with more than 20years experience in engineering, product designs and mass production of consumer products.

The investors, manufacturer and retailers of solar lantern is aware that over 70 per cent of Nigerians live in rural areas and may not have access to electricity in the next 25 years because of their long distance from the grid according to the IFC and World Bank report. He was at the Lighting Nigeria Africa launch at Sheraton Hotel in Lagos and Aba where he discovered that in many parts of Nigeria, people enjoy between eight and nine hours of sunlight than even Germany, his country which is also the highest user of solar power solutions.

He saw the need for investors such as himself to tap into the huge potential solar market called Nigeria. Attar amongst other players in the industry, believe that for Nigeria to get rid of the epileptic power situation faced by the citizens, power must no longer be seen as charity, but a commodity that consumers will have to pay for.

Hauwa Usman, a consumer, is optimistic. She told The Nation Shopping at the Barefoot Power stand during the exhibition that she lives in the rural area, somewhere in the north, where residents are used to re-

lying on dangerous sources of lighting such as kerosene lamps, candles, battery-powered touches and other fuel-based lighting considered as generally of low quality and expensive, impeding learning and economic productivity.

She said: “The traditional lighting sources in rural areas are kerosene lamps, candle, which is inefficient, costly and dangerous to health but with this great innovation and the involvement of the International Finance Corporation and World Bank aimed at lightening up the country with cleaner, smoother, more economic light system to provide quality assurance, I am hopeful that this will help my children study better while the public places where I stay would remain bolder for longer time. This will ensure better safety in the dark, particularly on our footpaths to our homes, markets and the farm” Barefoot Power is an Australian Energy company dedicated to providing solar lighting and home systems to a wide range of customers in urban and rural settings. By manufacturing and selling their lights through a diverse network of distributors and retailers, the retailer provides families and communities with a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to kerosene and diesel powered generators.

The sales person at the stand during the exhibition said; “As leaders in our field, we are noted globally for our quality products as well as our strong warranty system which is for two years.”

The Lighting Nigeria Programme has succeeded in mobilising local and global manufacturers of solar-powered lighting equipment to the country. The programme has carefully designed interventions and in collaboration with key stakeholders, created new channels through local distribution companies that will help build robust supply chains for off-grid lighting products in the country.

The programme’s Project Manager, Itotia Njagi said solar power is more reliable than every other source as it is cleaner and more environment-friendly.

Njagi said: ”This is different from the inverters, because inverters still rely on the grid. The primary technology that this one uses is solar. And before now, the perception people had about solar is that it is an expensive technology. People had the perception that solar is beyond their reach. But from what we are seeing, we have discovered that people spend an average of between N800 and N1, 000 on kerosene or for charging the grid connected lanterns. Looking at this for a year, that is a huge amount of money, that is sufficient to get a good solar solution. So, for us we are saying if

•A Solar lantern exhibitor with shoppers

•Niwa range of Solar lantern

•Total range of Solar lantern

you are off-grid there is a lot of energy solution available for you at affordable rates.”

People who are off-grid buy kerosene and batteries on a daily basis. But when the cost is summed up yearly, it is more expensive than solar solutions. Therefore, the question of how to provide financing for people living in rural areas comes up. Investors say they have primarily identified two solutions; one is financing through micro finance institutions because they believe the micro finance institutions that have a great role to play in providing people in the rural communities the medium to buy these products.

The second is very innovative and it is the emergence of a technology called pay as you go. This technology rides on the mobile platform and also on the mobile phone. Subse-

quently, what is attainable is a solar product that is activated any time a person pays a certain amount. This system is designed to match the expenses a person spends every day for other forms of power. This technology, according to the Lighting Nigeria Programme would become a reality in the next six months from now.

The initiators of this programme have said a very critical factor that stimulates bad news rather than the good one would prompt them to put measures and strategies in place to ensure that there are quality products in the market, such that will promote quality products and differentiate the good quality solar brands from the not too good ones, to enable the consumer make informed decision.

Ladies to undergo ‘Ignite Spark’ test by Lux tomorrow

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NE of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, Coco Chanel, once said “A woman should wear perfume wherever she wants to be kissed”.

Translation – smell irresistible! This is what Lux will be working with tomorrow in Lagos where it will teach young ladies how to ignite the love between them and their spouse by using the Lux range of products.

The fragrance of this product they say is exhilarating and very inviting, as such will tighten the bond between them and their spouse.

Lux beauty soap thinks it is time for ladies

to ignite the spark between them and their spouse as many marriages and relationships suffer because of lack of romance, love and care. According to Lux, with the passage of time, things are bound to get comfortable, fraternal even with the consistent use of the Lux kit. The firm said the purpose of this event is to enlighten ladies by letting them know that no matter how much in love they remain, their relationship needs a little freshening up from time to time, as well as a reboot. Producers of this product say with the soap, ladies will experience that elating feeling of being closer than close to their man and they will see his eyes reflect that passionate fire in theirs.

The global brand developed by Unilever has thus, decided to put ladies in the Lagos metropolis through some love test. At the event, ladies would be asked to think back to the first few weeks of meeting their spouse. They will be asked to remember the giddy feeling whenever they thought of their spouses when they just met him. They will be asked to recall those heady days when the flame of love was burning bright. Those endless hours spent in passionate embrace. And finally, they will be asked to compare their relationship now to what it used to be.

The teachings will include having favorite fragrance on one’s skin to boost self-confi-

dence miles high, wearing a sassy outfit, stylishly-coiffed hair and perhaps a beloved accessory or two create the perfect equation for igniting the spark Others are: how to increase chances of time together with that special one, how to have a long soaking bath to soften and elegantly scents the ladies skin, therefore, transforming ladies into the right kind of magnet to their man.

They will also be taught to cultivate the simple habit of leaving out one evening just for her and her spouse, void of distractions, these among others, they promise would revive the spark between spouses.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

SHOPPING NEWS

Online retailers recount Mothers’ Day sales A

S the world advances, Nigeria continues to get involved in everything that the western world does. From the ‘Black Friday’ Syndrome to the ‘Buy Nothing Day’ bug, and now the ‘Mothers’ Day’ Crazy Sales, like the online retailers would call it.

On the Konga.com site, the hike in sales around Mother’s Day gets bigger with each passing year.

This is probably because, for special days and seasons, customers are increasingly identifying with Konga as the ‘perfect gifting solution’ for their loved ones.

For this year’s Mother’s Day, Konga created a special catalogue on the perfect gifts to delight and appreciate mothers. The Konga catalogue made it easy for customers to find the right gifts for their mothers. With Konga’s standard offer of nationwide delivery, this meant that people could show love to their mothers even when they did not have the opportunity to be there with them.

Its Public Relations Manager, Olatomiwa Akande said: “At konga.com, we were honoured to serve as a bridge to deliver joy to amazing mothers across Nigeria during this year’s Mothers’ Day.’’

•Shoppers making Mothers’ Day gift choices

Supermart.ng, anchored by Raphael Afaedor and Gbolahan Fagbure saw a trend of sales spikes around the special days.

According to the store management, this Mother’s Day (and the recent women’s day) was no different, as the store witnessed alot

of purchases of perfumes, jewelry (swarovksi crystals) and watches.

Chief Executive Officer, Supermart Store, Raphael Afaedor, said: “We saw quite a significant number of people do big grocery shopping and had them delivered to their parents’

addresses. With over 50,000 products in store, Supermart.ng is Nigeria’s largest online supermarket and delivery service. We deliver within three hours across Lagos and that’s probably what explains why we are seeing the trends we are experiencing.”

Carmudi Nigeria, an online car dealer, thinks otherwise, its Public Relations Officer, Vivian Chidinma said: “At Carmudi, we have only noticed an increase in the amount of app used to access the Carmudi website over the past weeks, but we can’t attribute this to the anticipation of Mothers’ Day at the weekend.’’

She said the firm saw no increase in the amount of page visits or requests for dealer’s information during the Mothers’ Day, but that it had 65,067 page views last week, which was not significantly higher than the previous week.

For Offline Manager, Jumia.com.ng, “Mothers Day sales on Jumia.com saw a double digit growth when compared to sales event last year. What we also saw is Nigerians adopted even further this global event; we saw many early shoppers who, obviously, were looking to have their gifts shipped to their mothers, wives or otherwise in time for Mothers’ Day.’’ Jumia also celebrated Mothers’ day with CSR initiative ‘1 Child 1 Book’, where staff of the firm visited kids of Maryland Primary School for an exercise that had them surprising their mothers with gifts.

‘No awareness on Mothers’Day’

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•From left: Public Health Consultant and Guest Speaker, Dr. Omowunmi Bakare; Convener Babatunde Femi Owolabi Memorial Heart foundation, Mr. Tope Owolabi; CEO, Marketing Mix and Co Ltd., Mr. Akin Adeoya, during the briefing on its campaign on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in Lagos.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Firm develops app for church mgt

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OMPLUSTECH Nigeria Limited has unveiled an application, Church+ v2, for churches to overcome administrative and management challenges.

Speaking to reporters at the CoCreation Hub, Lagos, venue of the launch, its Chief Executive Officer, Peter Ihesie, described the product as dream come true, which is aimed at helping churches build better relationship with members, manage full administrative operations, improve communications and connections and measure performance at any time.

He disclosed that, due to Church+’s flexible, seamless and user-friendly interface, they were upbeat to reach at least 10,000 churches across the country within the next six months.

According to him, Church+ v2 apart from being amazing, simple and effective software for church management and administration, it offers users Better Membership Management; Performance Analysis; Accounting; Improves SMS and Email communication Today, in Nigeria, Church+ remains the right solution, with cutting-edge advantages, offering automated birthday and anniversary email and SMS messages to members on special days; this improves the member to church relationships, thereby reducing outflow. It offers

effective church performance management and helps the churches measure progress better. Church+ even provides many analytical tools best suited for churches to achieve this!

“By using the double entry and fund accounting methodology, church+ provides churches with flexible, simple and proper accounting system for better church financial recording and reporting.

Also, with a scheduled church service email and sms reminder, church+ automatically notifies members of activity date and time when due, thereby improving overall attendance. Aside that, Church+ uses the modern cloud based technology, such that, pastors and administrators can access the solution via mobile and web, from anywhere with internet access”.

The CEO, Complustech Nigeria Limited, added that with “People Management” feature, Churches can, “Easily manage the information of members of the church, new converts and first timers. The Solution has powerful search functionality with quick email and SMS that makes the feature quite special”, while ‘Special First-timer Management’ feature makes it the “Most Complete First timer management and follow up system that aids churches, Fellowships and ministries with the needed tools to

effectively follow-up your first timers automatically and measure your retention rate”.

He explained that with a token subscription fee, Church+ vs can be deployed to churches, fellowships, missions or ministries, mobile, desktop, Private Single Branch Cloud Online Deployment Model or Private Multi-Branch Cloud Online Deployment and these do not require special training for usage and adoption.

On the Church Mobile App, he said the mobile will enable churches to engage with members on the go. given the large adoption of mobile devices by members, church+ mobile app will allow them share testimonies, send prayer request and access audio and media contents, it also comes with a seamless online giving and donation feature.

Ihesie also hinted about the ECollection and Online capability of the platform for churches enabling easy integration and setup of collections of both local and international donation. “This app is in line with our vision which is to build a world class system that will enable a seamless information integration aimed at increasing productivity and efficiency amongst different sectors; this time around, helping churches meet up with their administrative and management systems.

AST Sunday, Mothers’ Day was commemorated in some parts of the world and Nigeria joined in the celebration.

The event, aimed at honouring mothers and presenting gifts to show them love, saw shoppers visiting shopping places to buy what they called ‘the best gift’ for their mothers.

However, some people, particularly retailers, complained that they didn’t get enough awareness to help them stock their shops with needed items and make huge sales as usual. Some shoppers who didn’t know before Sunday had the opportunity of walking into gift shops to buy something for their mothers.

Miss Fatimah Suleiman, a shopper said, she didn’t remember Sunday was Mothers’ Day until she saw people sending greetings to their mothers using the social media network.“I was reminded late; however, I have been able to buy my loving mother a beautiful jewlery box and I know she will love it.”

Another shopper Nkem Agu, shopped for her mother online. “ I thought it was wise to surprise my mum with a beautiful gift, but I didn’t want to do it myself. So, I asked Jumia to do it for me. My mum just called to say she received my gift and I am happy.”

She added that the process of buying, presenting and accepting gifts to celebrate mothers was fun and memorable.

A sales representative with

By Ochu Ohunene Latifah

Justrite Stores at Abule-Egba, a Lagos surburb, Mr Ahmed Tijani, confirmed that sales on Mothers’ Day unlike every other Sunday was on high. “At Justrite, sales skyrocketed for us from 40per cent on a normal sunday to 80 per cent because people bought more gift items to woo their mothers, this is very unusal with sunday sales.”

A retailer, Mrs Faith Nwanchukwu, sells gifts items; also, she complained that the awareness for Mothers’ Day is not like that of the Valentine’s Day held last month.

“I would have stocked up new and trendy gifts for today if i had this information early enough.

Maybe it is because it is not a celebration that we take seriously in this part of the world. For instance, the Valentine’s Day sale was booming and I was able to record huge sales.”

Mrs. Kelechi Ngwu sells kitchen utensils at Iyana Ipaja market where she owns a shop. She lamented that she looked forward to festivities to make huge sales, but the Mothers’ Day is an exception.

Her words: “I didn’t know that Nigerians were used to celebrating with the western world. I would have taken sales for the Mothers’ Day seriously. Some of my customers told me about it when they came to buy some utensils to present to their mothers, some even sent gift items to their mothers in the village.”

•Adora buying a gift for her mother from a store at Abule-Egba, Lagos on Mothers’ Day.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20 2015

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20 2015

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THE NATION FRIDAY MARCH 20, 2015

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“There is this group that says they endorsed the Presidency of Jonathan for another four years. You can do that anytime, but you cannot do it on behalf of the Yoruba people. You don’t have to do that for me. I don’t believe that everybody in Yorubaland would like to support Jonathan

‘

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8D AYS TO GO ...8 DA

PDP can’t win by sharing dollars, says APC ...36 party image makers express concern over Army, police role in elections

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LL Progressives Party (APC) state publicity secretaries yesterday expressed concern over the proposed troops deployment for elections by the Federal Government, saying that the security agencies may be used to manipulate the elections.

The image makers, under the umbrella of the APC Conference of State Publicity Secretaries, also berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for instigating campaigns of calumny against the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Attahiru Jega, who has insisted on conducting credible elections.

The PROs, who stormed Lagos for their second summit, complained that the attempt by soldiers to displace the police in the maintenance of law and order during elections is unconstitutional. Lagos State Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Hon. Lateef Raji saluted their loyalty and steadfastness, urging them to sustain the tempo till the elections.

He said: “This is a critical time for you. But, you now need to inform and educate Nigerians that the dollars being shared by the President and the PDP are the money that should be used to build roads, construct bridges and fix the power sector. You should also resist intimidation by the PDP in your states.”

The Chairman of the conference,

By Emmanuel Oladesu Group Political Editor

Comrade Joe Igbokwe of Lagos State, noted that anxiety is mounting over the proposed deployment of troops, contrary to Jega’s advice, who has insisted that soldiers should not be on election duty.

He said the recent revelation about the scandalous rigging of the Ekiti State governorship election have cast doubt over the neutrality and devotion to professionalism by soldiers during elections under the Jonathan regime.

Igbokwe added: “The army was used in an extensive manner to rig the Ekiti State governorship election, the fact of which is emerging from the scandalous Ekiti rigging tape leak. The Army, DSS and the police were inordinately used in the attempt to rig the Osun governorship election, but that plot failed because of the vigilance and determination of our people.

“While we insist that the Army and other security forces should not be used to manipulate the election for the PDP, we charge state publicity secretaries to, as a matter of urgency, educate our members and supporters across the country to stand firm and resolute to defeat any attempt to intimidate them during elections. We must refocus energy in using the remaining one week to prepare our people not to give in to intimidation by either the

•From left: Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary Hon. Abayomi Adesanya, Comrade Igbokwe and Hon. Raji at the summit.

Army or the police or the DSS in their determination to effect change in the elections.”

Flaying the Presidency and the PDP for campaign of calumny against Jega, Igbokwe said efforts were being made to discredit the umpire because of his refusal to dance to their tunes.

He described as bizarre and potentially dangerous the use of outlawed organisations and ethnic militias, including the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) to intimidate and terrorise the populace to support the agitation for Jega’s sack.

Igbokwe said, while MASSOB staged a show of shame in the Southeast, OPC disrupted socio-

economic activities in Lagos, molested law abiding citizens and destroyed APC campaign materials along Stadium/Ikorodu Road.

The Publicity Secretary added: “Jega is being persecuted by the PDP and its acolytes for insisting that a credible election should be held. There is a devilish machination by a desperate failed party to remain in power. The protests and criticisms of Jega are unfounded tactics the PDP wants to use to frustrate Jega and the PDP and manipulate the election in its favour or scuttle it because it is obvious that they cannot win in a free and fair elections.”

Stressing that the future of Nigeria depends on the elections, Igbokwe said the credibility of the exercise depends on Jega’s leader-

ship of the INEC. The Publicity Secretary also said that the monetisation of the electoral process by the Presidency and the PDP will be counter-productive, adding that the sharing of dollars to compromised stakeholders cannot save him from electoral defeat.

He added: “The President himself has lost confidence in the naira.

He is now talking in dollars, euro and pound sterling. He is ready to buy anybody at whatever price to ensure that he remains in power.

How many Nigerians will Dr. Jonathan reach with dollars? The dollar sharing is an admission of failure and this regime must be sent out by all means, unless it can reach the 170 million poverty-ridden Nigerians with these dollars.”

Yoruba ‘ll vote for performance, says Akinrinade

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HE Convener of Yoruba Peoples’ Assembly Lt-Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd) has said that Yoruba will always vote for performance in general elections.

He said the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by selected Southwest leaders may not achieve the desired result because the people are educated, sophisticated and politically conscious.

Akinriande lamented that the ‘Yoruba Agenda,’ which encompassed the legitimate demands of the Yoruba in the six Southwest states, Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Kwara, was rejected at last year’s National Conference.

Giving reason for the collapse of

By Emmanuel Oladesu and and Musa Odoshimhoke

the agenda, the former Chief of Army Staff said many delegates could not comprehend great ideas.

The elder statesman, who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos on the state of the nation, said selected Yoruba leaders in the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, who have endorsed President for a second term because of his promise to implement the conference report, have misled Yorubaland.

He said, while the Afenifere leaders have the right to personally endorse the President, they cannot speak for Yorubaland at this critical time.

The civil war hero reflected on the proposed deployment of troops for election purpose, saying that it is counter-productive. He said soldiers are needed more in the Northeast region to fight terror and liberate the abducted Chibok girls.

Akinrinade also reflected on the challenges that will face the winner of the presidential election. He said the next President will inherit a divided country, a comatose economy, soaring unemployment, grave security challenges and corruption in the corridor of power.

The former Minister of Agriculture said the warning by Americans on disintegration should not be discarded by wise Nigerians. He said the doomsday can only be averted

•From left: Epe, Lagos All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders Chief Lanre Rasaki, APC Divivsional Leader Alhaji Akanni Seriki-Bamu and Executive Secretary Epe LG Hon. Ahmed Seriki at the commissioning of social amenities at Ward A3, Epe.

by a leadership that can rise to the occasion.

Flaying Yoruba leaders for misleading the people on the outcome of the National Conference, he said the conference did not favour the Southwest region.

Akinriade also lamented that the region is still being marginalised by the Federal Government, adding that nothing has changed, except the appointment of Brig-Gen. Jones Arogbofa as the Chief of Staff to the President.

On the conference report, he said: “There are certain things that are sacrosanct to the Yoruba people.

For instance, when we talk about true federalism, you don’t just do it on paper. All the elements that go with it like derivation, fiscal federalism, you must have responsibilities. Where are the powers which will be used to discharge the responsibilities? You don’t give me a state police and say that there is a national police being paid for by the central government, which people are free to use. But, if I want a state police, that I must pay for it myself.

That is not a fair way to organize federalism.

“The major issue is that we wanted a government that is more accountable to the people, a government that is close to the people. It is the parliamentary system that gives that kind of atmosphere. There was no reasonable discussion, not to talk about the merit of it. It was not the kind of assembly that I like; when you are given three minutes to talk.”

Akinriade said the Yoruba Assembly will remain committed to the Yoruba Agenda and continue to raise public consciousness about its

objectives.

He said the Ibadan meeting has led to a re-awakening in the Southwest.

Akinrinade said Afenifere chieftains were not speaking the mind of Yoruba when they endorsed the President for a second term. He said:” It is difficult to explain in a non-offensive way. There are challenges in Yorubaland. There are group of people who sold us for pittance. They misled us by trying to move us into what they call mainstream politics. All those who stood against it became their enemies.

“There are all sorts of things going on around town about some of our eminent politicians, which people don’t want to recognise. But, I believe during this hours of need in Yorubaland, some people stood up and did very well. If not for them, we should have been in the mainstream politics of Nigeria and that is not a very good idea. It is full of corruption, almost brigandage and we cannot accept that for the Yoruba people.

“There is this group that says they endorsed the Presidency of Jonathan for another four years.

You can do that anytime, but you cannot do it on behalf of the Yoruba people. You don’t have to do that for me. I don’t believe that everybody in Yorubaland would like to support Jonathan. We have always been broad minded people who can think and decide what they want.

You have to convince them about it. I am not convinced that the socalled elders were now looking at the Yoruba agenda viz-aviz what we went to do in Abuja and what the results are.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

COMMENTARY LETTER

EDITORIAL

Arousing transplant • Where is Nigeria in a world where tech development is advancing daily?

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N a world of increasingly mind-blowing scientific feats, news of a successful penile transplant with a positive “long-term result” is arousing in more ways than one. Certainly, it is a thoughtprovoking development as well as an eye-opener. Described as “the world’s first successful male organ transplant” and “a groundbreaking scientific achievement”, the nine-hour operation to give an unnamed 21-year-old man another phallus after the original one was amputated following a disastrous circumcision was reportedly performed at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Surgeons from the hospital and Stellenbosch University carried out the procedure using a penis donated by “a deceased organ donor.”

Understandably, it all sounds hard to believe, and the apparent incredibility can be grasped from the excited reaction of one of the surgeons that made it happen. Prof. Frank Graewe was quoted as saying: “It’s a massive breakthrough.

We’ve proved that it can be done – we can give someone an organ that is just as good as the one that he had. It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world.”

Interestingly, the measure of the success was captured by Graewe who said of the man with the new penis: “He gets good quality erections, ejaculates and has frequent sex with his partner.”

The man deserves congratulations. It is noteworthy that the transplant was done in December last year, and has only just been publicised. A number of

remarkable observations reinforce the magnitude of the miraculous scientific accomplishment, and it must be said that the seemingly paradoxical description emphatically projects the out-of-thisworld reality. In the first place, the man at the centre of the story reportedly “lost all but a 1cm stump of his penis” three years ago. Furthermore, nine other men are expected to receive penile transplants based on the groundbreaking success. In addition, it is worth noting that Prof. Andre van der Merwe who led the operation is said to have experimented on cadavers for years in order to determine how nerves, blood vessels and other elements could be connected to achieve full penile functionality.

It is a testimony not only to the possibilities of science but also the ingenuity of scientists that the delicate procedure has now been perfected. This is against the background that 10 years ago a man in China reportedly received a transplant only for him to ask surgeons to remove the donated penis two weeks after the operation. It is relevant to link the breakthrough to the South African context in which no fewer than 250 men are estimated to suffer penis loss every year on account of a manhood initiation ceremony conducted by the Xhosa tribe. The cutting of the penis foreskin by a traditional expert, which is considered the ultimate test of the rite of passage, often results in complications that may cause penile damage, or even death. It is no surprise that the cultural practice continues to attract criticism and condemnation.

However, beyond the evident environmental inspiration for the penile transplant procedure, it is important to highlight the scientific infrastructure and insight that enabled the exploit. In this connection, there are obviously useful lessons for Nigeria, particularly considering its poor focus on scientific development and its under-developed scientific community. It is pertinent to observe that, according to a 2013 list, recent stunning scientific developments include man-made organs, bionic humans, remote control brains, war robots, human head transplant and genetically modified babies.

Where is Nigeria in this picture? Without doubt, the 21st century imagination and vision require a passionate promotion of science and technology, without which the country is unlikely to make much progress despite its oil-rich status.

‘Where is Nigeria in this picture? Without doubt, the 21 st century imagination and vision require a passionate promotion of science and technology, without which the country is unlikely to make much progress despite its oil-rich status’

Passing of a pioneer • Sylvester Ifeanyichukwu Moemeke, the doyen of Nigeria’s advertising dies at 83

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ALL him a member of the old guard; call him a pathfinder, a pioneer, whichever way you describe him, the story of Sylvester Ifeanyichukwu Moemeke is akin to the very history of advertising in Nigeria. His demise recently at the age of 83 could well signify the end of the pioneering era of Nigeria’s advertising.

Besides being a trailblazer in the industry, his role in advertising was unique in many respects: he joined when advertising was merely referred to as publicity and was not a highly regarded profession. But he was one of the few graduate practitioners of the time, having studied Economics at the Bournemouth College of the University of London, (1961). He was also true to his calling and to the firm. Having joined West Africa Publicity Limited 1962, an arm of the UAC/Le-

‘Though some may criticise him for hanging on for too long at Lintas thus not allowing it to rejuvenate and flower into a modern branding communications firm especially at the turn of the century, on the contrary, some would see his lifelong tenure as providing longevity to the firm and stability in the industry’

ver Brothers’ multinational conglomerates which metamorphosed into Lintas, Moemeke remained with Lintas till his passing on early March.

In 1972, ten years after he joined, he was appointed to the board and in 1975 he became the chairman and chief executive of the world-renowned advertising firm.

For about five decades, Moemeke and his Lintas ruled Nigeria’s world of public relations, advertising and marketing communications.

It had its pick of businesses not only from across sectors in Nigeria but across the English-speaking West Africa. Of course, Lintas had the most dominant and indeed towering presence in the industry until the mid to late 90s when firms like Insight, Rosabel, STB McCann, SO&U and Prima Garnet began to impact the market and break the hold of Lintas.

In one way or the other, Moemeke who was the first black managing director of Lintas did not only influence the industry but many generations of practitioners for whom he opened a new vista of opportunities in a new, white-dominated profession. Most of the adventurous professionals of the 80s and 90s who broke out to establish agencies were indebted to him directly or indirectly.

Lolu Akinwunmi of Prima Garnet and the immediate chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) said of Moemeke: “He was a major industry pillar, one who produced generations of outstanding practitioners.

Whatever the Ad profession is today, he played a major role in shaping it.”

Biodun Shobanjo, who along with Jimi Awosika and Richard Ibe, founded Insight Communications which was to challenge Lintas for preeminence in the industry said of Moemeke: “Here was a man who defined the industry at a point in time. Although I never worked at Lintas, his managerial and professional skills as chairman/CEO resonated across agencies.

“He was like a god, especially in the 70s and 80s. As the first chairman of APCON, of which I was a member, he worked very hard in establishing the building blocks on which the council was to anchor.”

Though some may criticise him for hanging on for too long at Lintas thus not allowing it to rejuvenate and flower into a modern branding communications firm especially at the turn of the century, on the contrary, some would see his lifelong tenure as providing longevity to the firm and stability in the industry. For instance, while numerous agencies rose and fell with the turbulence of the ages, Lintas has remained till today.

Some of the industry big names who have been influenced by Moemeke and his Lintas will include: Ted Mukoro, Dele Adetiba, Ron Mgbatogu, Olu Falomo, Steve Omojafor, Akin Odunsi, Lolu Akinwunmi and Udeme Ufot, to name a few.

Sylvester Ifeanyichukwu Moemeke will be remembered for his unobtrusive industry, quiet dignity and for representing a path-breaker for his generation.

The barbaric assault on Lagosians

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IR: We in the Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate, (CPPM), condemns in strong terms the recent barbaric, crude, uncivilized, undemocratic, provocative, irresponsible, inciting, reckless, undemocratic, unconstitutional and terrorist assault on the fundamental and democratic rights of Lagosians by a group named Coalition of Concerned Nigerians (CCN).

In as much as we recognize the constitutional right of freedom of citizens to protest or hold demonstrations, it must be done with civility and absolute respect for the democratic rights of other Nigerians and the constitution. The barbaric and unconstitutional conduct of CCN in assaulting the economic and fundamental rights of Lagosians through destruction of political party billboards, banners and posters as well as terrorizing innocent road users is highly provocative, despicable and condemnable.

From our investigations, the CCN is allegedly owned and funded by Mr. Gani Adams, the factional leader of OPC who was allegedly awarded recently the contract for the protection of Nigerian waterways and oil pipeline with effect from March 16, 2015 under the name Donyx Global Concept among other militants’ owned companies by the Federal Government of Nigeria. We are also aware that all the companies recently awarded oil pipeline protection contract by the Federal Government are owned by militants who have publicly threatened national peace and security if in their words, President Jonathan is not re-elected.

In the light of the above assault of the economic and democratic rights of Lagosians and the constitution, we want to ask if the recent disruption of the economic life and intimidation of Lagosians from exercising their fundamental rights is part of the oil pipeline contract job of Donyx Global Concept of the OPC? Again, is this part of the grand design to cause mayhem in parts of the country starting with Lagos so as to engineer another postponement of the 2015 general elections on the grounds of insecurity?

Therefore, our committee is hereby demanding the following: Immediate investigation and arrest of the leaders of (CCN) for this breach of public peace: Immediate prosecution of the leaders of this lawless group for violations of relevant laws: Immediate apology to the good people of Lagos State by the Nigeria Police for not living up to their constitutional responsibility by allowing these flagrant violations of the laws to occur and that: The security agencies should rise up to their constitutional responsibility by ensuring a peaceful pre, during and post 2015 general elections.

We are warning that Nigerians are desirous of participating in a free, fair, transparent and credible 2015 general elections and every hand should be on deck to ensure a successful exercise.

All agents of evil and anti democratic elements are hereby warned to stay off our democratic path, lest they be crushed.

• Nelson Ekujumi Executive Chairman, CPPM.

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: Nigerians are getting to know why Rivers State has become a killing field. The last time, it was when the campaign train of the opposition All Progressives’ Congress (APC), landed in the bustling town of Okrika only to be confronted by hoodlums. By the time the dust cleared, one policeman was killed while several APC members and one television reporter were seriously injured. The hoodlums, who attacked APC members in Okrika, like similar attacks across Rivers state merely acted out a well-crafted script. Okrika, as if we need to remind ourselves, is the hometown of Nigeria’s first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. Does it matter?

It does, considering the fact that at a recent campaign rally in Calabar, Mrs. Jonathan, in her characteristic waddle, mounted the rostrum and, in a hate-filled voice ordered that henceforth anyone caught shouting ‘change’ should be stoned! The first lady’s diktat came at a time the word ‘change’ has become the most popular word in Nigeria. As well as being the slogan of the APC, ‘change’ has become a word members of the fumbling ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, now live in morbid fear of. Mrs. Jonathan is reputed for her tantrums since ‘luck’ catapulted her to Abuja but it seem

EDITOR’S MAIL BAG SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 800 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.net

Many ‘virtues’ of patience that this time around, her mouth took her far!

Mrs. Jonathan deserves our pity but, heck! What manner of mother figure would order people to be stoned for espousing opposing views? A mark of the pity Nigerians have for their first lady is the usual recourse to dismiss her tantrums or, at worse, parody her off-the-wall remarks. Her recent call to arms does not depart from her well-known tantrums. But even at that, two reasons make it imperative to caution Mrs. Jonathan since those who should do so have either decided to abdicate their responsibilities or turn the blind eye. One, it was foolish tantrums that just earned another profane first lady, Mrs. Simone Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, a twenty-year jail term.

Another long spell awaits her at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. To avoid a similar fate, Mrs. Patience Jonathan will do well to begin to pray earnestly against election-related violence and learn to keep her genocidal tongue in

check!

Secondly, Mrs. Jonathan has further sullied the lack-lustre campaign of her husband by her call to arms and the few level-headed but non-committal allies of the president must be hugely embarrassed by the first lady’s gracelessness. This is for the simple fact that her husband, President Goodluck Jonathan, is a willing signatory to a peace accord. Or, does the first lady know more than Nigerians think she knows? In any case, these are unsolicited pieces of advice and it will be delusional to even imagine it will make any appreciable impression on the first lady or those close to her! Reason?

Discerning Nigerians thought that Mrs. Jonathan learnt a lesson or two from her sloppy performance in the aftermath of the abduction of more than two hundred school girls in Chibok.

Strangely, the first lady’s initial response to the abduction story was dismissive; she only introduced a comic angle to a serious matter

Re: “The renegades” IR: Omatseye’s “In Touch,” an analytically sound and balanced views, on the state of the nation, every Monday, is a reader’s delight.

We love and appreciate you.

However, the jaundiced view you marketed last Monday under the caption: “The Renegades,” was patently sacrilegious when juxtaposed against our cultural values and heritages.

With the Yorubas as the nucleus race, despite colonial invasion and its resultant desecration and pollution of our highly revered, sacred, holy places and spaces, we are always ‘in touch’ with nature

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and hence hardly forget ourselves to the extent Omatseye did in last Monday’s “In Touch” piece.

A true Yoruba man with nucleus blood running in his veins, knows the existing relationship between him, the elders and the Creator, who made humans the crown of His Creation.

How dare Omatseye cast elder statesman like Chief (Sir) Olaniwun Ajayi in the mould of “raft of renegades”? As a nucleus child, does Omatseye understand and appreciate the potency of the power of the tongue? By that statement, Omatseye has committed a taboo whose chain-reaction, at the level

of the unseen, could be very dreadful.

Hence, you should move fast and tender a public apology for such a grave error in order to avert any violent reaction from Nucleus Ancestors, of which the due date, one may not foretell. We love Omatseye and would not like to miss his analytical mind for any reason, what so ever!

Yours in the service of the Almighty Maharaj Ji. My Love and Blessings • Satguru Maharaj Ji, Living Perfect Master.

when she burst into tears in front of television cameras. Like Kema Chikwe and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, both senior cabinet members in the Jonathan presidency and several men and women of the moment, Dame Patience later passed off the abduction as political gimmick by the opposition! If anything, her unprecedented order that opposition politicians be stoned suggests that the first lady missed the lessons of her Chibok debacle.

Nigerians never had the misfortune of having an occupant who took the office to embarrassing heights as it is being done today! A mark of unpreparedness of Dame Patience for the role was her wrong-headed and misplaced agenda to promote the welfare of Africa’s first ladies and

female presidents when she could have used the office to promote the welfare of excluded and vulnerable women and children in Nigeria.

Judged by the way she has executed her office thus far, it remains a mystery that Nigeria’s first lady has neither presided over cabinet meetings nor appeared at the head Nigeria’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly!

Mrs Jonathan occasionally assumes some of her husband’s official responsibilities. This should not be a problem for a woman who, due to her excessive love for her husband, can order his political opponents to be stoned!

Of course, government should institute a Hall of Fame for the likes of Mrs Jonathan. A first lady who instructs people to stone political opponents deserves to be worshipped! In fact, her name should top the list of those to be so honoured! In view of her order that those who opposed her husband should be stoned, the virtues of patience and hard work are lost on Madam Patience.

• Abdulrazaq Magaji, Abuja.

Electricity Tariffs reduction as Greek gift

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IR: President Goodluck Jonathan’s desperation knows no bounds. How can a government reduce electricity tariffs for private companies’ services or is it a lie that the electricity sector has been privatised? What an election gimmick!

Recently NERC told Nigerians that electricity tariffs would be increased from June 2015 because of the free fall of the naira that is not commensurate with the current economic reality. What informed this deceitful move from the federal government?

It is an indisputable truth that Nigerians all over the nation are crying out and complaining bitterly about high tariff for a nonexistent service through the supply of power by these private electricity distribution companies despite the purported trillions of naira

expended by the government, which has rather turned Nigeria into one huge ball of darkness.

One is aware that because of the clamour for change, this government in misreading the mood of the nation came up with fake palliatives including reduction in the pump price per litre of petrol from N97 to N87. But the reality of the situation is that except in Lagos and Abuja, in most other states, the pump price per litre of petrol is above N100 and for some weeks now, fuel queues resurfaced again; so who is fooling who?

Nigerians should not, as the general elections draw nearer, fall for Greek gift because they don’t last long.

• Nel-jumi, Lagos.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015 16

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COMMENTS

The hard way the only way Email: tunji_ololade@yahoo.co.uk 08038551123, 08111845040

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UBLIME; isn’t it? That a greater number of Nigerian youths have in them the deportment of certifiable adults and the depth of frivolous boobs. Like doped up characters with infrequent lucid intervals, we epitomize the worst that Nigeria has to offer: think desperate youth leaders, overnight celebrities and their credulous, easy to fool peers.

Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, Gani Fawehinmi…Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe; these among others, are leading lights among a firmament of heroes that have appeared in Nigeria’s history. Some are dead and those still living are lamentably in their twilight.

Shame.

Shame that even at this minute; they are the epitome of cool. Shame that they earnestly symbolize a sense, culture and approach to citizenship that signifies an indifference to vanities and which sticks a defiant swivel-on-it finger towards mainstream society.

These individual men are less secular stars than quasi-religious figures and their citizenship has so far earned for them a godly reverence that’s at once enviable and

unique – little wonder they seem deserving of worship.

There’s nothing unique, nor indeed unusual about bestowing divine status on mere mortals. History is full of characters who actually encouraged their followers to do so – the Caesars, Aztec leaders, Pharaohs – and, in the modern world, millennial cults are typically led by charismatic figures claiming messianic powers; think 21st century Nigerian Pentecostal pastors or “Men of God” among many others.

Even individuals who had scorned such attributions, like Bob Marley or Bob Dylan, have been endowed with deistic eminence by fans.

Marley had an oracular presence and his songs were infused with Rastafarian prophecy. Dylan perplexed one generation, while inspiring another with his sour condemnations of war and prejudice. Their influence makes their veneration comprehensible but of what worth is the current crop of Nigerian youth leaders, politicians, music and movie stars and other celebrity icons? What is it that makes them deserving of acclaim and hero-worship?

Their claims to affluence, ostentatious lifestyles and oratory. Add to

‘There is no short cut to success. That is why reality show superstars never last. That is why the actress who sleeps her way to stardom as the artiste who sings gibberish to the gallery evolves into a mere flash in the pan. That is why dishonest politicians and youth leaders fade out into infamy and disgrace’

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RESIDENT Goodluck Ebele “Azikiwe” Jonathan has firmly convinced himself that in the history of all ages, there has never been a space without master; and that there wouldn’t be any in Nigeria of today. The attacker always comes up against a possessor in various forms since the greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of oppressed.

The possessors and the oppressed in this instance are the Nigerian people and the attacker is Mr Jonathan himself.

The Presidency’s confusions and vacillations seemed to increase with each new month of the calendar. To him, the only alternatives are victory or destruction. He has enlisted the unshakable obstinacy of violent ethnic militias in the Niger Delta, South East and now South West to inflict maximum injuries in the minds of those who will not consider him electable.

Like a thunderbolt, the calls for the removal of Prof Attahiru Jega, the chair of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was first echoed by the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB). The calls culminated in advertisements in both prints, electronics and the social media. The campaign is so strong that few days ago, the disbanded MASSOB militia protested in Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, among other locations in the South-East, calling for the immediate removal of Jega.

These protests were attended by violent and untoward destructions as choreographed by the PDP and President Jonathan. Characteristically, the evasive Jonathan maintained dignified silence as though he had no hand in it. While the wanton destruction of property and harassment of law abiding citizens lasted, the Nigeria Police provided cover for the arsonists to have a field day. No words of rebuke or order to clamp down on the protesters came from the Commander-in-Chief. Mr Jonathan, in the past, has broke up protests against his government with the same police and the armed forces. Incompetent and lazy, vain as a peacock, dry and without direction as he has been, the president could be pardoned for not showing leadership.

The aggression didn’t end there. The Oodua Peoples Congress and the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation in Lagos on Monday morning led other protesters to storm the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, demanding the sacking of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, before the March 28 elections.

The bus of the campaign group and the members of the OPC, who massed at the 7UP/Toll Gate end of the expressway, led the protesters, who were chanting anti-Jega songs, giving reasons why Jega should be sacked. The OPC members carried guns, cutlasses, pocket knifes among other weapons, occupying one end of the busy highway while some

the mix, their unrestricted access to eminent politicians, bank chiefs, technocrats and you have a “perfect” role model for the Nigerian youth.

At the heels of many a loathsome politician, cleric and light-fingered technocrat, the Nigerian youth leader, celebrity and advocacy guru to mention a few, have evolved into some familiar but infinitely worse predatorship than we can ever learn to endure. More worrisome is the fact that they seem to be multiplying by the second.

The malaise has degenerated to the extent that these current crops of “superstars,” “youth leaders,” heroes,” “role models cum motivational speakers” are diversifying from their usual forte. Some have learnt to perfect the art of profiting by their clueless, dim peers by veering into politics. Many a self-styled youth leader, celebrity and motivational speaker currently serve as henchmen and henchwomen to the most awful band of leaders the country has suffered so far.

These foetal adults, adept at manipulating fellow youngsters with all manners of anecdotes, celebrity cult culture, mannerisms and clichés attain celebrity status by dint of fraudulence and “hard work.” Eventually, they attain stardom or celebrity status not because they are deserving of it but because they have perfected the art of oratory and deployment of the society’s media apparatus to effectively further their con.

Having ridden to eminence on the might of a pitifully docile and unquestioning media, these embodiments of wantonness and figments of hack writers’ imaginations intrude the imagination of their fellow youths and influence it; basically they corrupt it.

And like pitiful retches of human surfeit, suckers for celebrity culture are taken for endless rides; they remain on the receiving end of a barrage of outright lies, true lies and scorn impenitently dished to them

usually by their most lovable “superstar.”

The problem of the Nigerian youth is the lust for undeserved fame; blinded by their yearnings for acclaim or inclinations to worship their favourite superstar, they do not take care to examine and see their favourite peer heroes and celebrity role models for the fraud they really are. But the problem is hardly with the latter for they can’t truly help being what they are; the problem is with their teeming fans and obsessed peers.

Celebrity worship is measurable; low worship describes what many of us do watching and reading about celebrities. At the other extreme are reverent followers obsessing about celebrity successes and failures.

This is the kind of uncompromising and extreme disposition that might be regarded in a different context as inglorious zealotry or fanaticism.

We must have new names, Marcel Proust presciently noted—in fashion, in medicine, in art, there must always be new names, he said. It’s a very tidy remark, and the fields Proust chose seem smart, too, at least for his time. Now there must also be new names across various fields today. Implicit in Proust’s remark is the notion that if the names don’t really exist and the quality isn’t there to sustain them, it doesn’t matter; new names we shall have in any case. The Nigerian society somehow contrives to supply them.

It’s amazing to think that think that we haven’t had a major statesman whose statesmanship is timeless and worth emulating since perhaps the death of Awolowo, Azikiwe and Balewa or, to lower the bar a little…nobody!

But new names are put forth nevertheless—high among them has been those of the current crops of Nigerian “statesmen” and politicians. It is even more amazing to see what manner of “patriots” are today, invested with national hon-

ours by the country’s leadership.

Year after year, national honours are given out to a myriad of characters, even if so many of the recipients don’t seem quite worthy of them.

Of the many dubious gifts bestowed upon the nation’s youth by celebrity culture, the most innocuous and pernicious is the rejection of abject reality for the comfort of lies and fantasy. The lust dizzyingly manifests into compulsive fixation that translates into a desperate and lamentable inclination to model their lives after that of their favourite peer icon or hero.

It will do the Nigerian youth greater good to understand that, that enviable affluence and grandiosity attractively touted as the result of their favourite peer icon or celebrity’s experience doesn’t really work for the vast majority of people – successful or not. It’s time they begin to see their favourite youth leaders and advocacy gurus for the for the fraud they have become – for what promising youth in their prime would abandon medicine, law, journalism, education, engineering for ‘motivational speaking’ at a fee even before they earned their first keep? It’s the indolent, fraudulent type that does that. It’s the conniving, covetous kind that does that.

There is no short cut to success.

That is why reality show superstars never last. That is why the actress who sleeps her way to stardom as the artiste who sings gibberish to the gallery evolves into a mere flash in the pan. That is why dishonest politicians and youth leaders fade out into infamy and disgrace.

The slow steady path remains the surest path. Everybody has to pay his dues. It is the way the universe is ordered. The greatest fraud is he who would die to get ahead rather than doing what is right – like following the slow, steady path of honest industry to progress.

• To be continued…

Jonathan’s trojan horse arrives South West

By Erasmus Ikhide members of the groups harassed some motorists and passersby plying the road.

Some people, who were clad in black vest, said to be beneficiaries of the SURE-P, also constituted a sizable portion of the protesters.

Heavy traffic built up along the highway as the protesters, who were well protected by heavily armed soldiers and police presence, took over one part of the road, grounding movement of other road users. The protesters took time to distribute leaflets containing seven reasons why the INEC boss should be sacked. The leaflet also contained what the OPC described as the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan and why the President should be re-elected.

Earlier, the National Cordinator of Oodua Peoples’ Congress, Chief Gani Adams has explained that his group resolved to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term, because of the promise to implement 633 recommendations of the report of national confab. “Yet some civil society groups have kept quiet on these issues. So, we need to move this country forward on the basis of structure and not about saying Buhari will come to perform miracle. When Buhari was in power, it was Buhari/Idiagbon government, not only Buhari. Idiagbon did much of the job in government. Buhari was just the administrator. Idiagbon was the master-strategist of that government”, he said.

But prior to the violent protest of the outlawed militia, the All Progressives Congress, APC had alleged that it had uncovered a plot by its Peoples Democratic Party counterpart to fund ethnic militias to protest and demand Jega’s sacking.

This allegation has not be refuted by either the PDP or the presidency.

Vain and tactless and with incredible naivety and speed, Mr Jonathan has truly recruited and resuscitated the bloodcurdling OPC whose banal activities in South West Nigeria in the past almost laid the once urbane and sophisticated ethnic group prostrate. The consequences of arming militia terrorist group partly gave birth to Boko Haram insurgents and Niger Delta crisis for which the president himself is guilty of, and later became its victim when they bombed his house as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State.

In introspection, it’s easy to now see that President Jonathan’s successful gamble with the postponement of the polls has brought him a victory more staggering and more fatal in its

immense consequences than could be comprehended. Nigerians are not certain if Mr Jonathan would heed the note of caution, almost of despair, creeping into his second term bid.

It’s yet unclear, day after day, who stands the most to gain from the chains of chaotic governance guaranteed by the PDP and Mr Jonathan in the last sixteen-years. It could be the people who barely sleep with one eye opened in virtual darkness. It’s possible it is the masses who stay awake all through the nights on empty stomach. If Mr Jonathan didn’t stand to gain from the missed opportunities and aborted chances, why did he soil his hands with innocent people’s blood?

In all of this, the plush official denizens who literarily took possession of his gutter government must have been having a field day.

That Mr Jonathan awarded N9 billion contract to the OPC for the protection of pipelines in a country where you have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, policemen, Navy, Air Force, DSS and Civil Defence is a classical example of a gutter that becomes government.

Feted and flattered by the ethnic militia as a reformist, even by the witches and wizards, the president becomes deprived of knowing how fateful his presidency has become. With the roaring dollars all over the place, Obas defaming their crowns, Christian leader cheering obsessively on the arrival of another easy money, assurances of God’s divinity issuing forth from the ‘Throne of Grace” for his continuity gambit, echoes of victory is all the president could hear.

Well-meaning Nigerians know a thing that is unknown to the hired crowd or they pretended not to know. Should Jonathan stay beyond 2015 in Aso Rock by whatever means, the nation’s decadent economic situation would be worsened to an unbearable, even hopeless extent. The darkening time would have firmly gripped a people whose only hope in the face of many failings was to have a voice in the affairs of their governance.

As things stand, whoever lights the torch of electoral fraud can wish for nothing but chaos. Nigerians are already living in the solid conviction that in our time, nothing of such will be tolerated, not even a descend to the merest of manipulations. The renaissance of democratic ethos must take its full course so that Nigeria may make an imperishable contractual contribution toward the global strive for democratic space. That is the plight of the people in their proud nation and their unshakable belief in its indivisibility.

• Erasmus, A Public Affairs analyst write in from Lagos, Nigeria.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20 , 2015

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COMMENTS 'Fanatics are like debris following the course of the wind; they are swept around like sand, and convinced to believe in what they do not understand'-----Caleb Colton

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HAT could be the mindset of Gani Adams, factional leader of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) when he chose to lead a violent protest, which according to him, was meant to call for the removal of Prof. Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) from his post on March 24? Besides, the disgruntled militia’s main grouse is how to guarantee the inept President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election into power.

Adams led the chaotic protest march from the old tollgate through Ikorodu road to the National Stadium in Surulere area venue of the pro-Jonathan rally. The Oodua protesters reportedly brandished weapons such as cutlasses, guns, knives and others while occupying one side of the highway, harassing road users, including motorists and pedestrians. These apparently sponsored fake democratic campaigners went about destroying campaign posters and billboards of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in their venal best. They, for effect, purportedly came from different zones in Lagos and neighbouring states including Ondo and Oyo. This column gleaned from reliable sources that they were also joined by some individuals in black vest, believed to be FERMA/SURE-P personnel that were, sometime ago, given military training at a yard located around the old toll gate area.

Adams’ protest is misguided because it is not the people of Nigeria that appointed Jega but President Jonathan with the approval of the Senate. And if he is not knowledgeable enough to know this, he ought to seek legal counsel of many brilliant Yoruba lawyers around him that would have advised him to take his gun, cutlasses and amulet-wielding protesters to Aso-Rock Villa, Abuja and the National Assembly to protest the removal of Jega. The major impediment here is that it is obvious that this faction of OPC could not establish any prima facie case against Jega, except that his appointor wants a desperate second term, and gave them billions of naira pipeline protection contract as Greek gift.

And again, the fact that Jega’s insistence on using the card reader for the election is unfavourable to the re-election ambition of their mutual benefactor - Jonathan. While it

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Gani Adams’ barbarity in Lagos our society are the police, the army, and, very occasionally, few licensed individuals, under provocation and in self-defence?

During the last imprudent violent protest of OPC, the group stepped outside the legal charter and ought to have lost all protection for themselves from the compromised police that watched helplessly as they unleashed terror on inhabitants of the state.

Questions for Adams’ OPC: What unknown existing real problem is the group trying to divulge? If it is Professor • Odua protester •Gani Adams Attahiru Jega’s removal, that is no problem for the man has not is good that the contract will avail jobs for committed any crime or abused his position ‘15,000 Yoruba youths,’ it is equally disgust- as at the last time this column checked. Even ing to note that Adams is equating this fig- if the group does not like the INEC man, for ure to millions of others who are well edu- induced partisan reasons, what alternative cated but could not get jobs because of the is being pushed forward other than creation lack of innate capacity of and inept approach of more problems that would ensure the elecof Jonathan to governance in the country, tions did not hold, being the failed reference thereby necessitating the clamour for term promised Jonathan which dubiously faCHANGE by most young and old Nigeri- cilitated the curious N6billion pipeline conans. tract… and would that solve any problem or What is the goal of OPC’s terrorisation of further throw the country into more avoidLagosians going about their daily activities able constitutional problems? In Adams’ in a lawful way through its members bran- moment of personal reflection, does it not dishing guns, cutlasses and amulets on ma- occur to him that the said contract is clear jor roads? Is the leadership of the organisa- usurpation of police and other security agention unaware of the fact that the only people cies’ duties? Must the OPC be involved in who are validly allowed to use violence in intentional law-breaking antics by putting

HERE is no doubt that the only way the Igbos apart from political accident can produce the president in the country is by zoning. If not for the sudden demise of President Umaru Musa Yar Adua in office, and President Goodluck Jonathan’s contest of 2011 Presidency against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning arrangement, PDP would have fielded a southeast presidential candidate, and a North Central running mate in this forthcoming presidential poll. That was why the then PDP national chairman, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor was very frank and courageous at the peak of the late president Yar Adua health saga when he publicly declared that PDP would abide by its presidency zoning arrangement.

But immediately Jonathan assumed office as president, the presidency and its hawks ousted Ogbulafor from office and roped him in, in alleged corrupt practice to silence him.

Some prominent Igbo politicians in the PDP and their Northern counterparts which include Senator Ken Nnamani, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Senator Ben Obi, Prof ABC Nwosu, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Prof. Ango Abdullahi and others met severally then and even signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) that they would work together as a people to ensure that their political interest and aspiration would be met. But before one could bat an eyelid, the Igbo political leaders in the PDP have capitulated and sold out to the Jonathan’s ambition in 2011. Typical of an Igbo man who is always handy to be used to betray his people, many of the Igbo political leaders jumped into the Jonathan’s campaign train to the disappointment of their Northern counterparts. There were settled with contracts, appointments, and cash in exchange for their political opportunity and by the extension right to produce the presidency in 2015.

Ahead of the 2015 polls, they saw the political trend with the formation of All Progressives Congress (APC), the alignment between the North and the southwest which has become the possible game change, they stuck with the Jonathan’s ambition even when it is obvious that Jonathan’s government in the last five years plus has failed the Igbos woefully. In the last five years of Jonathan administration in Igbo land, It has been more of political promise, less action. From the Second Niger Bridge, Enugu-Onitsha road, Enugu-Port Harcourt road, Onitsha port to the refusal to commission Prof. Barth Nnaji’s Geometric power plant in Aba that was ready for almost two years now. The list is endless. But some few Igbo treacherous leaders who are beneficiaries of the President Jonathan’s government and the massive corruption that has characterised it in the last five years have continued to shamelessly campaign for his re-election in Igbo land with nothing concrete for the Igbos.

These categories of Igbo leaders include former governors, incumbent governors, serving ministers, former ministers,

self in arrestable situations in order to make a political statement just because the presidency is behind their injurious procession?

But for the sake of working as a group to collectively fleece the state, it is settled that Adams and his ferocious men cannot in their individual capacity publicly commit such worst barbaric acts of persecuting and harassing fellow countrymen/women that ordinarily should have revolted against their whole being. Adams should realise that the waste bin of history in Yoruba land is replete with men that, at one time or the other, and for pecuniary reasons, jettisoned the larger interest of Yoruba. Their enjoyment later proved to be evanescent while the pains and anguish associated with such betrayals against the larger Yoruba interest is forever.

It is an irony that a Jonathan administration that postponed the February elections simply because of violence in some parts of the country is sponsoring violence through OPC and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in the west and eastern parts of the country, despite its still being unable to abate the earlier northeast insurgency against the state.

The most reasonable thing under the Nigerian situation is to assume that violent tactics, as being deployed by the PDP and the Jonathan presidency, through unthinking militias and other state’s instrument of coercion is wrong and unacceptable. The deployment of militias and the security agencies to fight sitting president’s electoral battle can only breed chaos in a polity where majority of the populace have already made up their minds not to vote in a particular way not favourable to the incumbent. The OPC protest that paralysed parts of Lagos that Monday sent wrong signals to the electorate on how far the OPC would go on the day of election to protect the electorally infamous interest of President Jonathan. The truth is that millions of Adams and his OPC and even MASSOB’s induced savagery, under the guise of expression of ‘constitutional rights,’ cannot stop the electorate of this country from expressing their free will through the ballot come March 28 and April 11. The induced minority, under the prevailing circumstances, would have their say; but the law-abiding rampaging majority that are tired of Jonathan’s ineptitude in the management of the affairs of this country would have their way. Let us all keep our fingers crossed till the election days - being the days of actual decision for CHANGE.

Ndigbo, Fani-Kayode and 2015 presidency

By Jacob Nwaezeorah leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and several others. So much public funds have been made available to them by the Presidency, and they are busy justifying their loots by engaging in all kinds of hatchet political jobs. They are everywhere on the pages of newspaper, in the churches, communities, on the streets sponsoring pro-Jonathan rallies with looted public money, abusing Buhari and APC. They are deluding the people that Buhari will islamise Nigeria if he is elected President, but failed to tell them why President Jonathan has not Christianise the country in the last five years, if it is easy.

In this their hatchet job, none of these so-called Igbo political leaders in the PDP is talking or negotiating anything better for the political future of the southeast in power equation of the country. What matters most to them is the immediacy, which is their private pockets, business interests, and that of their families, and relations. Others can go the hell. That is why majority of them have remained with the tag “Any Government In Power” (AGIP). It is for this reason that some Nigerians and the Director of Media and Publicity of the President Jonathan campaign organisation, Chief Femi-Fani-Kayode could summon courage to insult the sensibilities of the Igbos in the name of campaigning for President Jonathan by re-writing the civil war history.

Addressing journalists in Umuahia Abia State recently, FaniKayode, said there had been “mind boggling allegations” against Buhari over his roles in the massacre of Igbos in the ‘60s and should therefore not be allowed to continue to run from his shadows. He said Buhari’s hands reek of the blood of innocent Igbo civilians massacred in cold blood hence such atrocities could not qualify him as a presidential candidate but a candidate for the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. Citing the horrendous massacre of Igbo civilians, including women and children in the North, and the killing of Igbo men and young boys at Asaba after the town was “liberated” by federal forces, Fani-Kayode insisted that Buhari’s name had always popped up in connection with those heinous \crimes against humanity. “It is important for us to remember that day because one of the allegations against Buhari that was to be put to him at the Oputa Panel was that he was among the

division that took part in the massacre and that ordered those killings,” he said, adding that Buhari should speak up and explain if he was in Asaba on that fateful day and if so apologise to Igbos and Nigerians in general before atoning for his sins.

It had been expected that some Igbo leaders would have called Fani-Kayode to order over the unguarded utterances especially concerning the Igbos and the civil war, but as we know the fear of incurring the Presidency’s wrath appears to be their handicaps because they lack integrity.If Buhari was serving in a military division where Igbos were killed during the civil war does that mean that Buhari killed them? Why was Fani-Kayode trying to re-write history of civil war for the Igbos, and when has he become the Spokesman of the Igbos or Ohanaeze?

Whereas those in the North whom people like FaniKayode tagged enemies of the Igbos did not only protect Igbos property in the region, they returned them to the Igbos immediately after the civil war. People like the late Biafra warlord Chief Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu reclaimed his father’s house in Kano after the war and willed it to one of her daughters at death. That is why it was easy for Igbos in the North to start life quickly after the war. Before the Boko Haram insurgency 80 per cent of Igbos are earning their living in the remote areas of the North where you hardly find an Ijaw man. This is because Ijaw men are not good at adventures. So who is trying to pitch Igbos against the North ahead of the rescheduled polls? When has Igbos become cheap products for sale to the highest bidder?

Ahead of the rescheduled presidential poll, the political atmosphere is very clear. The direction is change and the Igbos should not be behind because immediately the change occurs, these political hypocrites called Igbo leaders in the PDP that have been hoodwinking the Igbos with Greek gift from President Jonathan will be the first to shift base.

They are not truly Igbo political leaders, but political harlots who are specialists in the elitist conspiracy of divide and rule method to remain politically relevant. Igbos must shine their eyes.

•Jacob Nwaezeorah, a retired civil servant wrote from Nsukka, Enugu State

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

NEWS

GTB Ogun Principal’s Cup:

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Semi-finalists emerge

EMIFINALISTS have emerged in the GTB Ogun Principal’s Cup, as St Anthony’s Grammar School, Ijebu Mushin defeated last year’s runners up, Remo Divisional High School, Sagamu 3-0 in the first quarter-final match. Adeyemi Mariam netted a brace as St. Anthony’s picked the first semi-final ticket.

Also Our Lady of Apostles Senior Secondary, Ijebu-Ode proved that been consistent is more than just appearance.

They dominated the game as they edged out Ikenne Community High School 3-0.

For the boy’s category, Makun High School, Sagamu could not contain St. Anthony’s Grammar School,

Ijebu Mushin as they lost 0-4.

Both Ogunleye Emmmanuel and Olaide Kehinde scored a brace to send their school through to the semi-finals.

Ode Remo High School, Ode Remo displayed discipline as they came from a goal

down to take the match into penalty shoot-out, as the game ended 1-1 at regulation time. They defeated Idomila Comprehensive High School, Ijebu Ode 4-2 on penalties.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20 2015

Newspaper of the Year

AN 8-PAGE PULLOUT ON SOUTHEAST STATES

This boy needs N7m to save his kidneys •PAGE 27

From academia to royalty •PAGE 38

FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

PAGE 25

Okorocha’s wife feeds 6, 000 •PAGE 40

Imo Deputy Gov Eze Madumere addressing traditional rulers of the warring communities

Relief as Imo, Abia end 50 years dispute For over five decades, two communities in Imo and Abia states could not iron out their differences over land. Lives were lost and properties destroyed as the crisis lasted, but thanks to the deputy governors of both states, the conflict has ended. OKODILI NDIDI reports

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HE hostilities have ended and both communities reconciled but at a huge cost. Apart from the rancour and distrust between residents of Umuoma-Umudibia in Ihitte-Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State and UmudiawaOfeiyi in Abia, lives and property were lost in the land dispute spanning over half a century. Even on the day of reconciliation, youths of both communities had raised clenched fists and weapons. The deputy governors of both states, Eze Madumere (Imo) and Chief Emeka Ananaba (Abia) helped to calm nerves and bring the age-long crisis to an end.

The dispute had defied all peace accords as both communities remained adamant on their claim of ownership of the disputed plot of land. The hostility resumed recently after years of respite when the Abia community invaded the land

and started building a police post.

This would have resulted in another bloody clash between the two communities but for the intervention of the Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere and his Abia counterpart, Chief Emeka Ananaba.

The two communities have been

locked in dispute over the actual delineation of the boundary between the two sister states. This has led to endless legal battle, which has further threatened peaceful coexistence between the two communities.

Responding to a ‘Save Our Soul’ message sent to the state government

by the Imo community over repeated violent clashes between the communities, the Imo Deputy Governor led the Boundary Commission to the troubled communities and subsequently resolved the age-long dispute.

The traditional ruler of the Imo

The dispute had defied all peace accords as both communities remained adamant on their claim of ownership of the disputed plot of land. The hostility resumed recently after years of respite when the Abia community invaded the land and started building a police post. This would have resulted in another bloody clash between the two communities but for the intervention of the Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere and his Abia counterpart, Chief Emeka Ananaba

community, Eze M. O Onyenukwuru and the Transition Committee Chairman of Ihitte-Uboma Council Area, Hon Emma Ejiogu, told the delegation about the continuous provocations against their community by the Abia community since the boundary dispute started.

According to them, all efforts made by the community to bring a lasting peace to the disputed area had been rebuffed by their neighbor, who they accused of adopting violence as the solution to the land dispute and as a result, unleashing mayhem on the community.

The Deputy Governor and members of the delegation who paid an unscheduled visit to the disputed area, were shocked that the Abia community had already trespassed on the disputed plot of land and was building a police station on the land.

•Continued on page 26

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

26

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT Imo and Abia Deputy Governors quickly went into a closed door meeting after which a truce was brokered between the warring communities.

Ananaba noted that they were constitutionally empowered to mediate in boundary disputes affecting their states and had resolved to end all hostilities •Abia State Deputy Gov Emeka Ananaba, addressing the traditional rulers

Relief as Imo, Abia end 50 years dispute •Continued from page 25 Mistaken the visit of the Imo State delegation as an ambush on plot of land, the armed from the Abia community, who had been posted to watch over the land, attacked members of the delegation.

Worried by the alleged ambush of the ceremony by the Imo state government contingent, the belligerent Umudiwa-Ofeiyi youths, who had gathered in anticipation of any eventuality, however, took no time in engaging with their UmuomaUmudibia counterparts in fisticuffs in the shouting match that ensued.

Sensing danger, the Imo Deputy Governor immediately sent for his Abia state counterpart, Chief Emeka Ananaba, who rushed to the scene and prevailed on the warring community to sheathe their swords and embrace peace.

The two Deputy Governors quickly went into a closed door meeting after which a truce was brokered between the warring communities.

Addressing the people shortly after the meeting, the Abia Deputy Governor Ananaba noted that they were constitutionally empowered to mediate in boundary disputes affecting their respective states and had

finally resolved to maintain peace in the affected area and end further hostilities.

The Abia Deputy Governor, who recalled the blossoming ‘brotherly’ relationship existing between the two states since the splitting of the old Imo state, reminded them that “as brothers, who share genealogical traits it is inappropriate to resort to violence because violence remain an ill wind that blows no one any good”.

Madumere, in his response, reechoed the earlier call for peace by his Abia state counterpart, adding that it was only when there is peace

that the issue of meaningful reconciliation could be achieved.

He further announced that after a brief meeting with his colleague, it was agreed that the erection of the Police post in the area would be a combined effort of the two inter-state communities (Umuoma-Umudibia in Ihitte-Uboma and UmudiawaOfeiyi) for the effective security of their lives and property in the area.

According to him, the process of ensuring that a lasting peace returned to the area would continue till after the ongoing electioneering process before the National Boundary Commission would be invited

‘My life, my camera’ In the profile of a Mass Communication graduate-turnedphotographer, Chiadikobi Ofobeze, there is the cruel hand of fate as well as the indomitable spirit of a young man determined to succed in his profession. In this interview with SUNNY NWNAKWO, the cameraman speaks, among other things, about losing his father early and attending three primary and four secondary schools in various states as his minders moved.

Chiadikobi believes there is hope for youths. Excerpts: •Ofobeze

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DUCATIONAL and family background I come from a family of four brothers and I am the second in line.

My dad was a businessman but died when we were very young, so we were raised by our mum and with the help of good-hearted relatives who were always there for us.

Growing up was not easy; things were tough but God never left us stranded. As a result of my dad’s early departure, I was moved from one place to another as a child. For that reason I attended three different primary schools in different states and four secondary schools in different states as well.

My tertiary education was at the prestigious Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, a school that I am proud to be its alumnus. There I obtained ND and HND certificates in Mass Communication that was between 2005 and 2010. I did my mandatory Youth Service in Cross River State where I used the one year to also touch and impact into lives.

Was Mass Communication a preferred course of study?

It wasn’t my first choice of course.

I wanted to study Law but for one reason or the other it didn’t work out, so I regrettably went for Mass Comm.

But that regret fizzled out within my

first few months in IMT as I came to understand what a great course I was studying because of the quality of lecturers the department had.

They were the best hands IMT and the department had. They helped to redefine my orientation or initial perception about the course and with time, I adjusted and today, I can proudly tell you that I have no regret studying mass comm. under the tutelage of these refined lecturers.

Why did you move to Lagos?

While in school I was a member of Believers LoveWorld Campus fellowship (BLW). The ministry has what it calls Volunteer Graduate Service Scheme which provided interest-

ed graduates of the ministry the opportunity to work as volunteer staff for a period of one year. Having known about the programme I applied to work in the media department and was absorbed. So immediately after I graduated from school, I moved to Lagos to commence work in the media department. I worked there for a year before going for my NYSC and after my service year in Cross River State, I returned to Lagos where I later worked briefly with Sterling Bank.

Why did you not practice journalism?

Journalism is a great profession and I like it. I like it because it gives

to resolve the dispute amicably.

The Speaker, Imo state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu, in his speech, while promising to offset hospital bills of those injured in the aftermath of the fracas, also called on the relevant security agencies to establish their presence in the area to forestall further crisis.

He appealed for the continued peaceful co-existence of the two communities to enable the peace process to succeed.

Uwajumogu restated the readiness of the Imo State government and the Umuoma-Umudibia community towards ensuring the sustenance of peace in the disputed area, while urging stakeholders in the crisis to abide by the decisions reached at the meeting. one the opportunity to influence changes in his society. I still intend to practice it but not as a reporter in a news media but as a blogger. My blog will be coming up soon and I want to specialise in photojournalism because it will give me the opportunity of using pictures to illustrate and to tell stories of events; all kinds of events. So you see that I have plans of infusing journalism into my photography.

Why did you take to photography?

I have always loved photography, even as a child. But it has been more like a hobby. I got my first camera at the age of 16. It was a gift from a close friend, Chike Ugwunze, who after noticing my passion for photography gave me an analogue camera his uncle brought for him from the USA. I loved that camera and I cherished it back then. It was the best gift I got that year. I would buy films and take pictures of friends and relatives at school and occasions.

Years later I got dissatisfied with the quality of its production and later saved money to buy a fairly-used camera (still analogue but a better one, though). The camera had a fault requiring repairs in Lagos but unfortunately, it was lost in transit. I was devastated within that period, but later bought a point-shoot digital camera after my secondary school.

I have been taking pictures for a long time now. But it was actually while I was in IMT that I decided that I was going to become a commercial photographer, so when I returned to Lagos after the mandatory NYSC, I decided it was time but I knew my experience wasn’t enough to compete with some great photographers who had been in the business, so I went •Continued on page 28

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

27

This boy needs N7m to save his kidneys From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

HIS kidney started failing when he was two years old. Now, he is 19 and the problem has not gone away. It has even worsened and there seems to be no help in sight. Chike Okeke is in danger.

His parents are poor and unable to give their only son the required medical attention. The doctors have said Chike will live if he is taken to India for surgery.

The medical procedure will cost N7m.

Who will save him?

Master Chike hails from Umuikwelle, Eziowelle village in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Before now, he had had two operations at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu.

Chike, the only boy in the family of four, had the first operation in 1998 at the age of two.

From the documents made available to The Nation in Awka, the suffering young man does dialysis twice a week, and each session costs N30, 000.

The parents, Mr. and Mrs Okeke Okonkwo Donatus, had been in pains more than their son because of lack of the required fund to take care of their child after exhausting the little the family could provide.

A letter signed by the Unit Senior Registrar, Dr. Onu Ugochi Chika, indicates that Master Chike is currently on the following oral drugs: lisinopril 10mg daily, Ranitidine 300mg, nocte and CaCo 3 600mg.

It further revealed that the young man had Posterior Uretheral Valve (PUV) ablation and urinary diversion 18 years ago following Posterior Uretheral Valve obstruction.

Two years ago, he developed (PUV) structure and bilateral hydrone phrosis and was referred to the hospital a year ago on account of anaemia.

According to the letter dated February 25, this

•Chike

Mr. and Mrs. Donatus are appealing to publicspirited individuals, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporate organisations and government to come to their aid in order to save the life of their only son…Anyone interested in rendering financial helps towards saving Master Chike’s life, should send the fund to the following bank account details: Account Name: Augustine C. Okeke-Okonkwo, account number: 2079457198 of United Bank for Africa (UBA)

year, it was clinically noted to be pale with severe hypertension.

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT My plan for During the period under review, the patient’s condition continued to deteriorate with Abia, by irregularity of his medication and check-up visits due to Ikpeazu financial constraints.

However, five months ago, Chike developed worsening anaemia Hb 5.2g/dl, azotemia and anasarca.

He also had what the doctors called bilateral shrunken ivory white kidneys (Right: 7.29 x 3.91m, Left: 7.58cm x 3.93cm).

His diagnosis was said to have changed to what they called ESRD 2 0 Reflux Nephropathy. The doctors recommended quick kidney transplant.

According to the doctors, if nothing is done between this month and the end of April this year, the 19-year-old boy is likely to die because the parents could not provide the needed N7m for surgical operation on the two failed kidneys. This is why Mr. and Mrs. Donatus are appealing to public-spirited individuals, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporate organisations and government to come to their aid in order to save the life of their only son.

Anyone interested in rendering financial helps towards saving Master Chike’s life, should send the fund to the following bank account details: Account Name: Augustine C. Okeke-Okonkwo, account number, 2079457198 of United Bank for Africa (UBA).

•Members of the NBA Aba led by their Chairman (third left) Chidozie Ogunji

Aba NBA donates to motherless babies’ homes

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S part of activities to mark the 60th anniversary of the Aba branch of Nigeria Bar Association, the executive members of the branch, led by its chairman, Mr. Chidozie Ogunji has visited two motherless babies’ homes in Aba. The homes they visited were Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Motherless Babies’ Home along New Umuahia Road and Joy-Rita’s, a subsidiary of Ngwa Road Motherless Babies’ Home located along AbaOwerri Road, Abayi Aba. Ogunji, in company of other members of the bench donated undisclosed amount of money, clothes, and toiletries among other items.

Though the group could not meet the inmates of Joy-Rita’s Motherless Babies’ Home as they were said to have gone to school at the time of the

From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

visitation, they, however, took time to interact with the orphans at SDA Home who, on their own, enjoyed the company of their guests as some of the kids resisted attempts made by some of their visitors to drop them on the floor.

In his speech at the two motherless babies’ homes, the NBA chairman said: “We are doing our 60 th anniversary. Incidentally, the branch covers Aba, Obingwa, Osisioma and Ugwunagbo and their environs.

“So, we felt that the best way to commence the real activities to mark the event is to, at least, come to see and interact with our children and our people. And more so, to see you people that help in looking after them because the truth is that, without the motherless babies’ home, there won’t

be any forum to care for the motherless.

“So, we just felt that whatever that we are doing, ordinarily, we are supposed to come here on Sunday when some churches celebrated their mothers day because you people are the real mothers because anyone that is raising the child she gave birth to is not doing duty to anybody, the person is investing; knowing that she is investing in the future of her offspring.

“But the person that is taking care of other people’s children is the real mother. They are the real people that appreciates that all there is to life is to help other people.

“So, we just felt to come to you with whatever little thing that we have to say that you people should be courageous in what you are doing.

The only pays is God. We can’t even

repay your efforts in ensuring that the welfare of these children under your care are well taken care of because I know how tasking it could be for some of us who have children in our homes to control kids and so, you can imagine what it means to manage your own and managing another person’s children.

But we thank you for your efforts and pray that the good Lord who pays, who sees in secret will continue to pay you for the wonderful job that you are doing”.

In their responses, Mrs. Joyce Chibuike, the nurse in-charge of SDA home and Christiana Nwabuko of Joy-Rita Motherless Babies’ home on behalf of their homes thanked the NBA Aba for remembering them and wished them well in all their endeavours.

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HE governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu has said he is not going to operate under the shadows of anyone in the state if elected on April 11.

He said as governor of the state, he will not be an appendage to any political stakeholder in the state nor will he be patronised by anybody, stressing that the signature of his administration will be his only.

Speaking in Umuahia while interacting with reporters, Ikpeazu said history has shown that those who left office as governors do not have any control over those who succeeded them, adding that Abia State will not be an exception.

Ikpeazu further said the economy of the state will be private sector-driven; stressing that his aim is to move the state away from dependence on funds from allocation from the Federation Accounts and oil derivation funds.

He noted that the current global fall in oil prices has called for the need for every government to look inwards to generate funds to operate. “Therefore, we are going to ensure that the smallscale industries are revived,” he said.

The PDP governorship candidate noted that in the First Republic the economy of the former Eastern region was anchored on agriculture. “This means that we are going to revive all our abandoned farm settlements to employ at least 25,000 youths,” Ikpeazu said.

He noted that once the youth are employed at the various farm settlements that are scattered all over the state, they will be gainfully employed, the revenue base of the state will increase, while crime rate will reduce drastically.

On the issue of opening up Aba, he said the only way to open up the commercial city is to build a ring road, while other major roads will be tackled, stressing that every city needs access roads for easy movement and economic activities to thrive.

The Abia PDP governorship candidate said his administration will build a Diaspora village where all citizens of Abia State living outside the state and country can come, live and work.

Ikpeazu further said the Obuaku City located along the Port Harcourt end of the expressway will come alive; adding that one of the reasons that made it fail was lack of provision for industrial layouts and standard markets.

He said: “It is a common knowledge that a man must find work first before looking for where to live. So, we are going to ensure that the Obuaku City must have places where those living there will work for it to be operational.”

Therefore, we are going to ensure that the small-scale industries are revived. It is a common knowledge that a man must find work first before looking for where to live. So, we are going to ensure that the Obuaku City must have places where those living there will work for it to be operational.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

28

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

‘My life, my camera’ •Continued from page 26 for six months intensive training.

It was three months practical training and three months internship in a photo studio. There I learnt professional photography. There at the school, you must come along daily with your laptop and DSLR camera for practical; so I’m not one of those self-taught photographers. I have a diploma in photographr and I hope to enroll for more training in the future.

You really like photography Sure. I derive great joy each time I am working with my camera. I have seen some of my colleagues who joined this profession out of frustration. Maybe they lost their job, or that they couldn’t easily find their dream job. I love what I do. It is a good business even though it has its challenges like other businesses, but it is a good one and it gives me the opportunity to be part of people’s life and history.

Has Mass Communication helped your work?

Seriously, my background in Mass Communication has been greatly helpful, both in adapting fully into commercial photography and in relating with clients. Mass Comm in IMT at my time (I don’t know about now) was a serious business. Sixty per cent of our lectures were practically done under the tutelage of lecturers who had working experience in a media or PR firms.

Our Radio and TV studios were well quipped, functional and always available for use during practical sessions. So it is very, very easy for a mass comm. graduate who is well taught to adapt to photography and my knowledge of PR and interpersonal communication gave me a huge advantage over most of my colleagues. So I understand so well who my “public” is and how best to communicate with them. I design and handle my promotional activities (that’s my adverts) personally and many of my colleagues have come to learn that from me. So my training in mass

•Ofobeze

I know it does not look like there is hope but I believe in creating the tomorrow I want to see today. Our future is in our hands, not with any governor or government. The government has successfully proven that it can’t be trusted with something as important as our future. So when I say there is hope, I don’t mean to wait on the government to do what they will never do. I say that because I believe that Nigerian youths are smart enough to create their future themselves. Waiting for men who move in convoys and loud siren to create job for you tomorrow is very unrealistic with the way our leaders are behaving comm. has contributed positively to the level where I am now in my profession.

Who is your role model?

My role model is Kunle Afolayan.

I admire him a lot. The guy is amazing. I want to be great and reputable like him when I grow up (Laughs).

What is your view about unemployment in Nigeria?

I don’t think there has been a time in the history of this country where a government left the unemployment rate less than they met it. It always gets higher and that’s very sad. The government usually comes up with great policies and programmes that if adequately implemented, will create jobs and empower youths to gainfully employment, but most of these policies don’t see the light of day and

some of the programmes are not run with transparency. We hear of SUREP, we know about the Youwin programme, but we see very little of the difference that have made.

In terms of job creation, they (government) are still rehearsing. When they mean business the rate of insecurity and other social menaces will drop significantly. There are plenty of ways the government can create jobs for the thousands of our graduates coming out of our schools.

Firstly is the execution of the policies created in that respect. Our local industries can be encouraged so that they can expand and absorb more graduates. Innoson is producing good quality cars but it is only the government of Anambra state that has been thoughtful enough to encourage him.

Do you imagine the number of people that would be employed if the federal government and some state governments patronize him? Even other potential investors would be inspired to establish businesses that will create jobs.

Another one is the issue of steady power supply. Many businesses will pop up and thrive if that can make electricity supply available and payment affordable so that people like me who do not want the “almighty” white-collar job, but has the capacity of running their business can do so.

Everybody must not work for government and those who want to be self dependent should be encouraged and when they are encouraged, they will help to create job opportunities through employment of more staff

as their business expands and their client base expands also.

As a young entrepreneur, what were your initial challenges?

Capital. Standard photography training can be quite expensive. The equipment is expensive too. Raising capital was quite challenging but I solicited for financial help from my relatives and many of them were kind enough to help. Though I didn’t get up to 40 per cent of what I needed but I kicked off with it and through continued prayers, God assisted me to make some money and today, I have been able to add to what I had. Any hope for the Nigerian youth?

Of course, there is. I believe strongly in the future of this country. The major challenge we have in this country is the wrong mindset. I charge the Nigerian youth to be positive about this country. Let us believe in our future as a nation. Lets us think and speak well of our dear nation Nigeria. I believe one day we shall have not only a responsive government, but patriotic leaders who will put the interest of the nation ahead of their personal interest; people who will embrace the fact that to lead is an opportunity to serve and leaders who will work their talk. There is indeed great hope for the Nigeria youth, so let us all stay positive and supportive in every way we can.

I know it does not look like there is hope but I believe in creating the tomorrow I want to see today. Our future is in our hands, not with any governor or government. The government has successfully proven that it can’t be trusted with something as important as our future. So when I say there is hope, I don’t mean to wait on the government to do what they will never do. I say that because I believe that Nigerian youths are smart enough to create their future themselves. Waiting for men who move in convoys and loud siren to create job for you tomorrow is very unrealistic with the way our leaders are behaving.

But there is indeed a bright future for that young person who will wake up now and begin to do something for himself; something positive notwithstanding how little it may seem to be at the beginning.

Imo governorship debate ends in crisis T

HIS year’s edition was disappointing. Crisis started as Imo State governorship debate traditionally organised by the Catholic Diocese was about to begin.

Every election year, churches and religious groups organise debates for the candidates, though the Catholic Diocese of Owerri has been adjudged the most famous and a mustattend for all the candidates. It is presumed that any candidate who wins the Catholic debate will be elected.

The Catholic debate, which started in 1999, became famous during the 2011 governorship election after Governor Rochas Okorocha defeated the then incumbent Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim and subsequently won the election with the support of the Catholic faithful who were directed to vote him en masse.

But this year’s edition went awry when hoodlums descended on the audience and vandalized sacred Church properties before the candidates arrived at the venue.

As early as 8am, the Odenigbo Pavilion, venue of the event was filled to capacity with party supporters who could not hide their desperation. The stern look on the faces of some of the supporters, especially the youths, was instructive.

Trouble started while the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Rev. Father Casmir Nze, was reminding the audience of the conduct

•The crowd of party supporters at the botched Imo governorship debate yesterday From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

during the debate.

While he was still speaking, a group of women numbering over 200, who were dressed on black clothes, started blowing whistles and displaying red cards, while chanting anti Okorocha slogans. This was followed by a resounding response from another group of women, who were dressed on the regalia of the Catholic Women Organization (CWO), who were chanting pro-Okorocha slogan.

The Catholic women who were listing Okorocha’s achievements took over the premises, singing and dancing.

At this point, some armed hoodlums invaded the podium and destroyed the chairs and other Church properties including the public address system and video cameras, while the clergymen who were already on the podium, jumped down and fled.

There was stampede as the people scampered to safety. It took the efforts of security operatives to stop further destruction of Church property.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have continued to trade blame over the incident.

Addressing reporters, the Direc-

tor General of the Rochas Okorocha Campaign Organisation, Mr Iheukwumere Alaribe, a lawyer, accused the state Chairman of the PDP, Nnamdi Anyaehie for the inciting the hoodlums to chant anti-Okorocha slogans while blowing whistles and displaying red cards.

He said: “We commend the Church for the initiative and are ready to honour the invitation whenever it is rescheduled but we are worried that if the PDP and APGA do not refrain from politicizing the Church, it may have negative effect on the faith of the worshipers. For instance, the PDP Chairman came to the venue with over 50 armed thugs

and the same thing with the PDP governorship candidate Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha who was escorted by hoodlums with whistles and red cards. But we are not worried because we are ready for the election”.

However Ihedioha, who arrived the venue in the thick of the crisis, stated that, “the APC hired thugs and invaded the place because Governor Okorocha knew what awaited him if the debate had held.

He knows that the majority of Imo people have rejected him. With his attitude it is obvious that he doesn’t want the election to hold.

The shocked Archbishop of the •Continued on page 37

Newspaper of the Year

AN EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT ON THE SOUTHSOUTH STATES

FRIDAY, MARCH

20, 2015

PAGE 29

CR OSS RIVER CROSS

OK OMU OIL OKOMU

SOUTHSOUTH

RURAL dwellers in Cross River State have expressed gratitude to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for its intervention, especially in supporting the Liyel Imoke administration to provide water and promote good health among them.

ON February 10, two workers of Okomu Oil Palm Plc in Edo State were murdered by unknown gunmen moments after they resumed duties. This incident and others have pitched the company against its Ijaw hosts, who are complaining about gross neglect.

NIGERIANS United for Democracy (NUD), a human rights organisation, has stated that a slide into anarchy in the Southsouth geo-political zone must be prevented. It also backs the use of card readers, to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

•PAGE 31

•Imoke

•Koledoye

•PAGE 30

•Jonathan

•PAGE 31

What NNPC’s cash has put asunder •Bayelsa Ijaw fight one another •Urhobo, Itsekiri of Delta kick •Govt ‘wrong to favour ex-militants’

•A man injured during a pro-ex-militant leaders protest in Yenagoa

In addition to the Amnesty programme, which they control exclusively, these exmilitant leaders also have a share of the pipeline surveillance contract, but they are fighting to be the only ones to carry out this function throughout the state —Dickson

Dickson is trying to hijack the job meant for the oil-bearing communities in the state.

Most of the Southsouth states have signed the allocation of the surveillance contract but Dickson is insisting that the job be awarded to...Izon Ibe —Ogunboss

The Itsekiri nation has suffered and I am saying that ‘enough is enough’ for a few individuals to continue enriching themselves with our collective wealth which Almighty God has given us.

—Newuwumi •See stoy on page 32-33

• YOU HAVE STORIES FOR US? PLEASE CONTACT US ON 07066954441 OR 08123521990

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

31

NIGER DELTA REPORT

Rivers NUJ declares war on fake journalists

T

HE chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State chapter Opaka Dokubo has said the inauguration of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Chapel of the NUJ would help the body win the war against the activities of charlatans in the profession.

Dokubo made the statement while inaugurating the pioneer executives of the Union in the University recently.

He lamented that journalism profession has been overtaken by charlatans, its image and pride smeared/ gone, hence the urgent need to recover it.

Suspecting poor university training and wrong mind-sets, the chairman expressed the hope that with the inauguration of the UNIPORT chapel, the Union especially in the state is on its way to winning the war.

Dokubo said, “Today our profession out there is nothing to write home about, with many persons doing what they ought not to be doing.

There are a lot of carpenters and bricklayers in the profession who are smearing the image of the noble profession.

“I am so glad that the NUJ having come into UNIPORT, means that you can no longer dissociate yourself from whatever the image of Journalism and the union is out there; so the is need for to take up the challenge in helping to ensure that we bring up the crop of professionals that will go

•Some members of UNIPORT NUJ chapel EXCO taking oath of office From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

out there and make us proud.

“I’ll will like to think that the UNIPORT chapel of the state NUJ will bring in the uniqueness of the institution in the Union to lead the way for other chapels to follow.

“We do not have any other chapel that have the kind of concentration of professors and Doctors that you have, and as such believe that you will bring it to bare into Journalism profession.

“There is dare need for us to redeem our profession, take it back from charlatans. There is need to train our members to become the professionals we can be proud of; obviously there is problem with the training and mindsets of journalists that are being graduated into the system this days, and what we see in them do not give our profession sense of pride.

“Journalism is not like any other trade, what we have is what we give if there is a problem with their training then it will show in their output, and we have the believe that with the

entrant of UNIPORT into this union you will help us to win this war.

“If we insist on standard already established, I assure you that within the next three years we will have only those who are qualified to practice doing the business in the state and by this we would have achieved our goal.

“We need a lot of mentorship in this profession, we cannot hide the fact that there is so much stench among us and we need to sanitize our house.”

He said.

In his opening remarks, the chair-

‘We need to prevent a slide into anarchy in Southsouth’

T

HE Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) has stated that a slide into anarchy in the Southsouth geo-political zone and other parts of Nigeria must be prevented.

It also told the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), especially its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to insist on the use of card readers, to ensure free, fair and credible elections on March 28 and April 11 this year.

NUD described the card readers as Nigeria’s biggest hope for addressing electoral malpractices, while declaring that the persons who are against the use of card readers are election riggers.

The pro-democracy group in the defence of Nigeria’s democracy maintained that INEC must hold elections on March 28 and April 11, in order to move the country forward.

The Southsouth Convener of NUD, Anyakwee Nsirimovu, accompanied by the Chairman of an Abuja-based Partners for Electoral Reforms, Ezenwa Nwagwu, and other human rights activists, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, admonished Nigerians to kick against electoral terrorism.

The pro-democracy group said: “We need to prevent a slide into anarchy. We need to take our destiny in our own hands. We need to ensure that darkness does not once again descend on our country. We are insisting that nothing must change the new dates of March 28 and April 11. Elections must be allowed to hold on these dates. Nigeria is on the march again.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

This time, no one will be able to halt the decisive will of the people for democracy and sustainable livelihood.

“We are also worried by the current move to frustrate INEC in conducting credible elections, by pushing for the use of Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs), which will not allow for the use of card readers, already procured for checkmating election rigging. We wish to emphasise that the use of the card readers is Nigeria’s biggest hope for addressing election day malpractices. The quest to remove the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in the middle of a context, further confirms the attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan’s government to undermine the use of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the country’s forthcoming elections, which the main purpose is to perfect plans to rig the March and April polls.”

NUD also noted with utmost concern, the growing political tension and killings in various states of the federation and their potential to undermine the electoral process.

It particularly stated that the violence recently witnessed in Rivers state required vigilance, impartiality and professionalism on the part of the security agents, while urging the security agencies to ensure their fidelity to the constitution and that the citizens are not in any way undermined by political considerations.

The pro-democracy group also condemned the buying of PVCs by politicians and bribing of voters, stressing

that the electorate would not be able to vote with stolen PVCs, describing any attempt to illegally procure PVCs as an exercise in futility.

The group said: “In rejecting the manipulation of the political transition, the NUD will continue with its rallies across the country, to condemn the conspiracy of the ruling clique against Nigerians.

“The rallies are for Nigerians to stand hand-in-hand to speak with one voice against electoral terrorism, against any further polls’ shift, against any attempt to remove the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, before his terminal date of June 29, 2015, against any attempt to introduce an Interim National Government (ING), against any military incursion into politics, against corruption, against the devaluation of the national currency and conspiracy to use the court to frustrate INEC from conducting credible elections.

“Civil authority is a delegation from the people. You cannot hold the country in darkness. Stop struggling against increasing light and liberality in the land. Allow Nigerians their inalienable rights and ensure the correction of abuses before we are completely destroyed under your (President Jonathan’s) leadership. It is a fact in political history that power abuse justifies resistance.”

NUD also called on Nigerians to come out in large number to assert themselves and take control of their destiny, by fully participating in the nationwide rallies and to always give peace a chance.

man of the occasion Prof. Boniface Nwigwe, a priest of the Catholic Church, described Journalism as important profession, that interacts directly to the people.

Rev. Fr. Nwigwe noted that Journalism is the tier of government that breaks down governments function and activities to the peoples in the grassroots.

“Those who structured governance structured it in such a way that to govern is an act of religious worship like, taking the place of god for the people, or serving as a medium between god and the people so that what you take from god you hand over to the people.”

He expressed the hope that the crop of Journalists who passed through UNIPORT would be distinguished in the profession and excel in the business, stressing that the calibre of teachers in Linguistics and Communication department of the Schools informed his claims.

In his acceptance speech, the chairman of the chapel, Dr. Udoudo Aniefiok said the move became necessary for their love for the profession and the realization on the need to promote journalism practice in the country, not only by teaching but also in practice.

“I want to restate here that we are Journalists; we train journalists after all, before becoming teachers some of us were practitioners in the field.

Once a journalist, always a journalist.”

Rural dwellers laud UNICEF intervention in Cross River From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

•Imoke

R

URAL dwellers of remote communities in Cross River State have expressed gratitude to the United Nations Children’s Fund for its intervention, especially in providing water and promoting good health among them.

Some of them who our reporter spoke with in some local government areas visited said the succor and relief brought by the fund through its programmes especially on women and children had impacted their lives tremendously.

UNICEF has over the years been collaborating with the state government on several programmes, which among others include water, sanitation and maternal newborn and child health week.

A mother of two from Okpoma community in Yala local government area in the northern axis of the state, Mrs. Augusta Arikwu, who was grateful for the free healthcare she had gotten throughout the period of pregnancy and even after delivery hoped that UNICEF would continue its programmes in their community.

“I am praying that UNICEF should not withdraw from assisting the country as it is being rumoured. I am a beneficiary of all their

programmes. Be it water or the maternal newborn child exercise,” she said.

Mrs. Arikwu also commended the state government for partnering with the international agency and urged it to continue, as all its programmes are very important to the well being of the women and children.

“UNICEF water projects are scattered in many communities in Yala today courtesy of the state government collaboration. Before now we usually trek long distances to look for water from the stream for our domestic use,” she said.

Also in the same community, Mrs. Elizabeth Onah, a mother of four was full of praises to both UNICEF and the state government under the leadership of Governor Liyel Imoke for attracting the kinds of programme they got.

“We never had it so good before. Today I do not stress myself before getting water to drink or for other domestic purposes. The free medical care to mothers and their newborn babies is a gift from God. I commend the annual maternal newborn and child week which is always observed in all the local government areas of the state. A lot of health related issues were taught to women during the marking of the week. Newborn babies were also immunized during this period,” she said.

Also, in Akpabuyo local government, the stories were the same as the people expressed gratitude to UNICEF and the state government.

Madam Affiong Okon from Ikot Nakanda said the entire community where she comes from had been lacking potable drinking water for years until the coming of UNICEF assisted water programme.

She said: “We were reluctant in accepting the drilling of the borehole because of the stereotype attitude of contractors. They will start a project and halfway, it will be abandoned.

“Today I can tell you that the UNICEF borehole has being of tremendous assistance to the entire community. The water runs for 24 hours and it has been a blessing to us.”

34

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

NIGER DELTA REPORT COVER

‘Govt’s award of pipeline contracts to ex-militants an affront’ Mr Edward Ekpoko, Secretary of the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought and chairman of the Warri Study Group, in this interview with SHOLA O’NEIL, reacts to statements made by his kinsman and former Minister of State for Defence Dr Rowland Oritsejafor on the award of security contracts to ex-militants. Ekpoko, a lawyer, also speaks on the unending postponement of the $16bn gas project, among others.

T

HE former Minister of State for Defence, Dr Rowland Oritsejafor, recently said in an interview that the Fed Govt is right to award security contracts to ex-militants in the Niger Delta r, what is you view?

There are two issues in that interview that bother me. His position that the Federal Government was right to have awarded the contracts to exmilitants and where he said that the Ijaw militants’ threat of war if President Jonathan does not win the presidential election, which he also supported, because he said that it was a reaction to similar threats made by some persons in the north.

Let me start by saying that I am utterly disappointed in Dr Oritsejafor, not only me; the entire Itsekiri people are disappointed in him. What he has said is an assault on the sensibility of the Itsekiri people. He should realise that the Ijaw, going by their antecedents, when they make such threats of going to war, do they have common boundary with the northerners that they are threatening to fight with? They normally start with the Itsekiri. That has been the case and that is what is happening in the EPZ that has not even started.

They have started attacking Itsekiri people.

So, for Oritsejafor to just come from nowhere and say what he said is an assault and affront on the Itsekiri people. As a matter of fact, after his inglorious exit as a minister, where he did not do anything for the Itsekiri people, since then the Itsekiri people have forgotten about him; no one knew where he was until he resurfaced and began to talk like someone

who has lost touch with his people.

The Itsekiri only remember him for one thing: he is the one who introduced the politics of mediocrity, where you have mediocre holding public offices. When we are talking serious issues about Itsekiri nation, no one mentions him. That he was a former minister for defence or a chief doesn’t make anything. When it comes to serious Itsekiri matter, he has no right to speak on it because he has lost touch with the Itsekiri people and he is disconnected and no on relates with him. I don’t know whether he is seeking political relevance now; but what kind of political relevance is he seeking in a sinking ship, where people are jumping from?

How do the Itsekiri people feel about the failure of Mr President to perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the third time?

What it portends is that the Itsekiri have no place in the PDP agenda and their reckoning. Jonathan does not think of the Itsekiri; as far as he is concern, the Niger Delta is synonymous with the Ijaw. Look at the history of his Presidency, what has he done for us? Nothing. The only thing that could have been his achievement he has refused to commission. The project in the first place, was located there not because Jonathan loves the Itsekiri, but because of the nature of the place and it is investment friendly.

If it was something that he has total control over I know they won’t take it there. But since he is there he has refused to commission it because the Ijaw are making unfounded allegations that they are owners of the land, which he knows is false but because

of the Ijaw agenda which he has, people are now sponsoring the Ijaw to make this trouble.

The annoying part of it all is that on the 27th of February when he came to Asaba, before the Olu and leaders of Itsekiri, he told us that he was going to commission the project in March and he was going to meet with Governor Uduaghan and the date would be communicated to us. March 16 was communicated to us, but up till now the courtesy of even reaching the Itsekiri people that the ceremony has been postponed was not there. He ignored us and treated us with levity as if the Itsekiri are nobody. We are not prepared to accept that and the only way the Itsekiri can tell him and any other political officeholder in Nigeria that they cannot be treated like that is to use their votes to express their bitterness and that is what I have been hammering on. I will continue to do that until the Election Day; Itsekiris will be moving from door to door to sensitise our people on their rights and how they should vote. They have right to vote for any candidate, but they are going to be guided. They cannot use their votes to enslave themselves.

There is the contention by the Ijaws of Ogulagha that they own part of the land for the EPZ project and the President possibly stayed away for security reasons…

The President has not told us anything about that or why he stayed away from today (March 16) ceremony again. But if that is the reason, government acquired land for this project, from whom did it acquire the land? If you know that government acquired your land falsely and

ascribed the ownership of that land to another person, the law court is there, go and challenge it. Why should you resort to arms? Are we in the jungle where people resolve to force of arm to settle issues? They should go to the law court to challenge it, but they won’t because they feel they have the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces as their kinsman and the security of our waterways is in the hands of an ex-militant who is their kinsman. They think the entire Niger Delta is in their grip and they can do anything and the court does not mean anything to them.

Are you worried that the EPZ project could die without leaving the drawing board?

As a matter of fact, speaking from the bottom of my heart, I am no longer keen about President Jonathan coming to commission it. Somebody would commission it one day, but we are no longer keen about Jonathan.

I know it could be part of the Ijaw agenda to move the project from the Itsekiri area to an Ijaw area but the Itsekiri man would not because of this project make ourselves to be slaves to the Ijaw or to President Jonathan. We have our dignity, which we stand on.

Pipeline surveillance contract is causing furrow in Itsekiri land, do you think it is a ploy to scurry for votes?

Any Itsekiri man that is worth his salt, a true Itsekiri man will never betray the Itsekiri cause. At worst, those beneficiaries have one vote and the Itsekiris know where they are going and they know who their true leaders are. The people in PDP are not their leaders because they have failed

•Ekpoko

them and the people know. Some of those so-called PDP leaders cannot even go to their villages. The Itsekiri know what they are doing; you can give the contract to an Itsekiri man, give him a billion contracts, he cannot sell the Itsekiri people because everyone has his vote and they know where they are going. We are not going to force them to vote for whom they don’t want; that is where the card reader comes in and that is what INEC has been saying. Gone are those days; no one can write results and declare people as winners without election.

How has the Itsekiri nation fared since the past 16 years of unbroken democracy; do you think that you are better off today?

We are not better off today. Since the inception of this democracy, the Itsekiri have not made the desired progress. The reason being that we are represented by incompetent persons both at the legislative and executive arms of government.

Bayelsa Ijaw fight over surveillance contract • Continued from page 32 “Because they were annoyed that people were using their monies to do many negative things; buying jeeps and carrying women here and there, they decided to sabotage the pipelines”, he said.

In the case of Bayelsa, he said persons crying foul are not the true reflection of the Ijaw communities. He said Bajero, a firm which the exmilitant leaders want to use to hijack the contracts only represents Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

He said: “You set up a company, Bajero, that has only one local government area as directors.

What of Ogbia, don’t we have oil facilities there?

What of Yenagoa? What of Nembe and Brass?

Even in Ekeremor, don’t we have oil facilities there? Don’t they also have leaders that can form companies and take ownership of their own areas? Of course they do.

“So it is not a personal thing. As the leader of IYC, I have complained and today the government has issued the jobs to OPC using their own company, as an ethnic nationality which we commend the government for because no individual can secure an environment where there are such structures on ground.

“The OPC and IYC are strong organs in terms of issues of security in the environment. In reawarding, you must award to take care of the interest of the IYC, the Urobohs, the Itsekiris, the Ogonis, the Ikweres who must have direct relationship with whatever companies you are using to do the jobs.”

Instead of criticising the governor, the IYC leader said Dickson deserved to be praised for establishing the Izon Ibe Security. Udens who also represents interest of the youths in the security company said the state-owned firm was established to protect the collective interests of the Ijaw communities.

He explained: “The original idea was to use it to bring in leaders from all the states that link up Ijaw and use that company as a front to secure these pipelines in line with the communities. If you look at the programme, the Izon Ibe security

people will be engaged.

That is my interest that the youths from the communities are directly involved to secure their communities,” he said.

He also cried out that some ex-militant leaders were conspiring to kill him for insisting that oil-producing communities should benefit from the pipeline surveillance contract of the Federal Government.

•Residents running when the pro-ex militant protest was going on last Friday.

Eradiri said: “I have been will deal directly with the communities and give threatened. My life has been threatened by some the communities ownership of the infrastructure ex-militants. They have written several text mesin their environment. sages to my phone threatening my life. In any “So, when it got to Bayelsa, the government case, I am reporting the threat formally to the said that we already have a structure. The Izon security authorities so that all of us will be in Ibe was meant to secure the Ijaw environment. Abuja to sign papers.

When the argument that Bajero must sign their “I am surprised that they are threatening me. contract began, it was eventually concluded that What has my house got to do with pipeline sur50 per cent should go to Izon Ibe while 50 per veillance contract? I am not a signatory to that. I cent should go to Bajero. People went blocking have only voiced the opinion of the people as roads and saying all sorts of funny things. the Ijaw youth leader to say the IYC, Ijaw Na“The point is that it is about communities and tional Congress must be part of the process. in the past, they never carried the communities “The IYC position remains that the process along. This time around, these jobs were released must be reviewed to involve the interest of the to communities. The IYC is an institution that cuts communities. We had a meeting with President across every community. We will take part of it. Goodluck Jonathan last Wednesday and they It is not about Izon Ebi. I am a director in Izon but were all in the meeting. you see I am a Bayelsan and a youth leader.

“These issues were raised and the Petroleum “The government decided to bring in an IYC Minister said she was going to ensure that the leader to be part of an Izon Ebi security. I am an issues were resolved. At that meeting, it was IYC President in all the states that have Ijaw peo- agreed that 50 per cent should go to the ex-miliple. What we are saying is that the IYC and INC tants company, BAJERO, and 50 per cent to must have direct link with the contract in the Bayelsa State Security Company, Izon Ibe. states.

“But the ex-militants want to control the en“From the scratch, the IYC must have direct tire 100 per cent of the contract. But they have relationship with these activities because it is an now turned round to accuse me of trying to stop Ijaw thing. The pipelines are not in anybody’s their own after others had signed theirs. head. They are in the communities that we are “I did not stop it. They are greedy and selfish. overseeing,” he said.

I only said the pipeline surveillance contract was “The pipeline contracts, if properly dissemi- going to be reviewed to carry all interests along. nated in our communities, many of our young If not, they did not want the governor to be in-

volved.

“They said all sorts of things about the government and said the governor wants to use their money. Is it their money? Are they the owners of the communities?”

Police launch investigation Irked by the attitude of the ex-militants, it was gathered that the police were on manhunt for Ogunboss.

The police were said to have commenced investigations into the real motives and sponsors of the protest. Already, six ex-militants arrested on Friday in connection with the protest were said to be in the custody of the police assisting them with their investigations.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Asinim Buswatt confirmed that the ex-militants arrested by the police on Friday were still in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

He said the police were unhappy that the protesters vandalised their vehicle adding that the matter was being handled with seriousness. On the manhunt for Ogunboss, he said: “Our vehicle was vandalised and we want him to come forward and tell us his involvement.”

The ex-militants also warned the police and other security agencies against any plot to arrest Ogunboss or any of their leaders following the Friday bloody protest.

But one of the ex-militant leaders, ‘General’ Oyas asked the police to get ready for the mother of all protests if they decided to go after any of the ex-militant leaders.

“The police should get ready because we are prepared to close down the state if any of our leaders is arrested. We are already angry over the arrest of six ex-militants on Friday. So, if any of our leaders is added to that number, this state will be in crisis,” he said.

On Monday, there was a protest by some youths against the ex-militants. The governor also insisted that there was no going back on the sharing of the contract.

For now, the brouhaha is not over. And there are signs it will linger for some time.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

36

NIGER DELTA REPORT COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

S

OME months back, all I could see after quitting my job as spokesperson for the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Niagra, Dame Peace Azikwe, was that a new phase, and a different one at that, was beginning. How different it was going to be was what I was not sure of.

As planned, I took up the job as Deputy Corporate Affairs Manager in the firm my friend, Dodondawa, introduced me to.

All was well at first until I decided to write a book. The idea of doing a book was beautiful and marvelous in my sight. I tried to run away from it. Try as I did it would not leave me. In my dreams at night and during the day, the muse kept drawing me to it. I heard the muse clearly telling me to become a devotee and at the same time nudging me on the shoulder to take the quills. With time, I began to admire the muse and got enraptured. Then one day, I decided to give it form by putting pen to paper and by the time I was about to bask in my new joy, hell came down hard on me. My head began to do topsy-turvy.

Then one day, I was in my three-bedroom apartment when there was a knock on the door. I stood from the only three-seater chair in the sitting-room, where I had been sitting for hours, ruminating over the turn of my life.

I peeped through the door-view and saw a strange face, wearing what looked like a uniform. The colour of the uniform was blue. I opened the door.

“Good afternoon sir,” greeted the stranger.

“Good afternoon,” I managed to reply.

“I’m from Ramson Express. I have a parcel for Mr. Tunde Omoeko…”

“I’m Tunde Omoeko,” I cut in.

I signed and collected the parcel. I bid the courier man farewell and retired to my previous position on the three-seater. I tore the envelope hoping the content would add some sunshine to my wearing-out existence. But it was only a matter of time for me to realise that I had murdered sleep and single-handedly threw it out of the window. And never would I sleep again.

The first thing I saw on opening the parcel sent a rude shock down my spine. It was a picture of a lady, a colleague of mine and myself.

The picture in question was taken inside a fast food joint. I could not immediately remember taking any such picture with Kaira. This must be some trick, I tried consoling myself. But the fact that the parcel was from my fiancée in far away Port Harcourt puzzled me. Even if I had taken a picture like that, how did it get to Adeeza, my fiancée?

Yes, I had taken Kaira out some weeks back when she was celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday. But I could not remember taking a picture with her during this outing. The state of confusion which the picture had put me made me forget that there was an accompanying note in the parcel. Quickly, I fished out the note and

OLUKOREDE YISHAU

ABOVE WHISPERS

•A weekly intervention on Southsouth people and matters

olukoredeyishau@gmail.com

No end yet to my dilemma

‘

That useless book you are working on about Mama Peace must not see the light of the day. If it does, then light will be permanently out of your life. You may be deceiving yourself that you have written fiction but we know you only use the Kole Omotosho style to write about your experience working with Mama Peace fed my eyes and soul with the content: “Lover boy, I’ve always known that I am a pain in your neck. I am debarring your progress as far as the exploration of female anatomies is concerned.

Don’t be surprised that I got this picture of yours and your latest catch, which was at the scene of the bash you organised to celebrate her twenty-fifth birthday.

I’m on my way to Lagos as you are reading this. It is for no other reason than to bid you a final bye-bye, pick my things in your apartment and drop the damned spare keys of your apartment in my possession.

Till then, hold your breath.

Adeeza.”

I re-read the letter more than four times. And all I kept muttering was: “Why bring this at this material time, Adeeza? I’m still battling one mighty problem and here you are adding what can turn me into an emotional wreck.”

LAST WORD

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘

The process must be reviewed to involve the interest of the communities. We had a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan ... At that meeting, it was agreed that 50 per cent should go to BAJERO, and 50 per cent to Izon Ibe

‘

––– Ijaw Youth Congress

‘

Before I knew it, my eyes had turned a flowing river. Tears. Tears. And more tears. I could not really think straight. Things were happening too fast for me to comprehend.

The sun was up in the sky. In high quantity too. But not a dose of this was in my life at the moment. The sun soon peeped through the window and poured harsh rays on my sitting position.

Just when I cleansed off the films of suspended tears in my eyes, my mobile phone buzzed. It startled me as if I was not aware of the facility’s existence. I did not feel like answering it. But when the phone would not stop ringing, I grabbed it and said a very weak “hello”.

There was silence from the other end. A dead silence. I managed to say hello four more times.

Still it was a graveyard silence. But just when I was about to drop the handset, I heard something that sounded like a “hello”.

“Hello, hello,” I cooed.

But there was no answer from the other end.

A thought was about taking a shape in my heart when the phone came alive again. I felt like smashing it. But in no time I was clutching the handset.

“Hello…”

“No time for pleasantries, Tunde,” purred an unfriendly voice from the other end.

“What is it this time?” I asked.

“Nothing much, nothing much…”

And then a dead silence.

“Please say what you want to say,” I begged.

“Don’t be too smart boy!” rebuked the unfriendly voice.

Somehow, I had the impression that the fellow on the other end had a cigarette burning in his hand. I could feel the stench. So nauseating.

This unfriendly voice had been terrorising me on phone in the last one week.

“Mr. writer, do you know what happened to Dele Giwa?” asked my tormentor.

I did not say anything.

“He was blown to pieces…”

“For doing his job,” I managed to say.

“No, no, not exactly…”

“Then, why was he blown?”

“For following a path similar to the one you are now following.”

I did not say anything.

“If you love yourself, just keep the term of the deal…”

“I don’t remember having any deal with you,” I grunted. ”You sure do. That useless book you are working on about Mama Peace must not see the light of the day. If it does, then light will be permanently out of your life. You may be deceiving yourself that you have written fiction but we know you only use the Kole Omotosho style to write about your experience working with Mama Peace…” ”I still don’t understand,” I feigned.

“When you are ready to cut a deal, I’ll be here.

I’ll call you from time to time to find out your price. Bye!” And he hung up. I was soon smoking away the pains searing away my inside. One. Two. Three. Four. Five… By the time I got to the tenth cigarette, my eyeballs had turned red.

I later went into my room and came out with a copy of the manuscript of my coming novella The Dame of our Time. Another copy was with a foreign publishing company. We were trying to work out an agreeable contract.

The time was almost four in the afternoon. I took a look at the manuscript, which I had expended a lot of energy on and had done everything possible to hide the true identity of the dramatis personae. Yet my life was in danger, because of this same work.

“Even if I’ll die, this work must see the light of the day,” I said to myself and opened The Dame of our Time and started reading it for the umpteenth time. But with more attention now…

FROM NICHOLAS KALU, CALABAR

Trouble in the People’s Paradise I

T is called the People’s Paradise and for good reason. Cross River has earned the status of being the most peaceful state in the country. Its capital, Calabar, has been referred to an acronym of Come And Live and Be At Rest. Crimes and vices that characterised other areas of the country were near absent in the Southsouth state. Even during elections when the pressure to keep the peace is stretched to its limit, the state still managed to come through unscathed from the violence that are found elsewhere.

This political season, however, things are no longer the same. With assassination attempts and kidnappings, it appears the halcyon days now belong to the past in the state, which prides itself as a destination in the West African sub-region. This is besides the rate of crime that has also escalated in the past few months. The peace, which has been sustained for so long, appears to have been broken.

The first sign that an ugly trend had come to characterise the political atmosphere in the state was when gunmen attacked the Speaker of the State House of Assembly in his house on Parliamentary Village Road in Calabar, late last year. The assailants jumped into his compound and fired shots at the house. A policeman was shot in the process. It was then strongly believed in political circles to be an assassination attempt. This was a strange de-

velopment as far as the state was concerned and the police had dismissed it as a random armed robbery attempt. However, they were still strong reservations among the people over the incident. These reservations in the times that have followed that incident up to this moment, however, have proved not be unfounded as the situation has escalated. In February, there was a suspected assassination attempt on the life of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the southern senatorial district of Cross River State, Mr Gershom Bassey.

Earlier this month, unknown gunmen again attacked the house of the Labour Party’s House of Representatives candidate for the Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency, Dr Alex Egbuna, in Ekorinm, Calabar.

They were resisted by the security on guard and a policeman was shot and his rifle taken.

Only last Sunday, the LP candidate for the Calabar South/Akpabuyo/Bakassi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr Dominic Edem, was atatcked in his Calabar home by unknown gunmen.

Up till the moment, his whereabouts remain unknown.

Again, at least three persons were reportedly killed and several injured in Ekori, Yakurr Local Government Area in a violent political clash.

LPchairman in the state, Mr Austine Ibok, decried the level of insecurity and the attacks he said were targeted at his party due to its grow-

ing popularity.

In an interview, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Christian Ita, dismissed the accusations againt the ruling PDP on the upsurge of violcnce as attempts at scoring cheap political points.

The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state has condemned the development, especially the kidnapping. The council’s chairman, Mr Goddie Akpama, said: “IPAC condemns in totality, the kidnapping of illustrious son of Cross River. And the government has not done anything about it. We had earlier called the government to order on the issue of non-internal democracy in PDP, which caused problems. We were condemned for that. But today we are vindicated because the problems it has created has become worse.”

While the accusations and counter accusations continue, residents live in palpable fear.

Already there are indications that the situation could increase the level of voter apathy during the elections, as many residents said they would rather stay home on Election Day than risk their lives at polling units.

All the people want now is that the peace of the state, which appears to be yielding to the pressure of politics, be regained and sustained.

This paradise should not be lost so that there will be no need for expending energy regaining it in the future. The madness should stop now. Yes, right now.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

37

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

Orji inaugurates health facilities From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

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BIA State Governor Theodore Orji has flagged off a mother-and-child ward and an administrative complex at Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba. The project will add value to the health sector in the state, the governor said, adding that there were plans to also build an auditorium at the teaching hospital’s permanent site.

The governor while reinstating his commitment in providing medical services in the state for its citizenry, said that health and security remained a priority of his administration.

He said further that his government had invested huge sums in the two sectors.

“It is only a healthy person that can appreciate the dividends of democracy while nothing can be achieved in an atmosphere of insecurity,” he said.

He maintained that his administration has done unprecedentedly well in health as his government has built over 750 centres across the 17 local government areas of the state, including a diagnostic hospital in Aba and Umuahia, ultra-modern dialysis and eye centres to ensure that the people of the state are healthy.

He added that the attention being given to ABSUTH is to ensure that all the necessary medical facilities needed in a hospital were located under one roof, urging residents of Aba and its environs to patronise the facilities at the hospital rather than quacks.

In his speech, the Chairman, Local Government Sure-P, Chief Joseph Ogwo, said the projects will enhance service delivery in the hospital and thanked the Governor for distributing dividends of democracy to all sectors of the economy.

•Governor Orji inaugurates the ward

•One of the structures inaugurated

•Governor Orji at ward

•Another of the health facilities

Imo governorship debate ends in crisis •Continued from page 28 Diocese, His Grace Anthony Obinna, thanked God that no life was lost in the fracas, adding that the event could have gone as planned if not for the crisis.

Meanwhile, reacting to the development, the State Governor, Rochas Okorocha commended the political parties and candidates who would have participated in the debate, for their peaceful conduct, which he said averted what could been a bloody clash.

The governor in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said, “It is a good development for Imo people that supporters of the political parties met for such a function and there was no major fracas and nobody was wounded. It means Imo people have come to appreciate the fact that beyond politics we are still brothers and sisters, whether we are in APC or PDP or APGA or UPP”.

The Imo state governor also commended the Archbishop of the Diocese, His Grace Anthony Obinna and the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri for coming up with such a laudable idea of bringing the governorship candidates together to tell Imo people what they have in store for them if elected.

He assured, saying, “Whenever the debate is re-scheduled whatever caused the postponement of the event would be taken care of.”

According to him, there was the story of the supporters of the candidates and political parties holding

Imo people know the particular political party that has the unbeatable record of beating men of God including a reverend father. It is not in the character of APC leaders and members to do such. Once again, we thank Imo people, members of all the political parties, and moreover the Owerri Catholic Arch-Diocese for their love for the state mini rallies at the venue of the debate and creating a rowdy situation that scared people away. The truth of the matter is that, in an event of that nature involving governorship candidates and the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese such excitement and rowdy scenarios could not be ruled out but the good thing was that there was no fracas.

“However, we took exception to the statement credited to the Governorship candidate of PDP, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha who rushed to one of the radio stations in the state the moment the debate was cancelled to claim that the APC supporters beat up a Reverend father at that event.

“Although eighty per cent of the crowd at the venue of the debate were APC supporters owing largely to the popularity of Governor Okorocha, the truth remains that APC supporters never confronted anybody, talk more, beating a Reverend father, of all people.

“Hon. Ihedioha is not the spokesman of the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese. The Archdiocese has a media Director and a number of good Information Officers. And if Hon. Ihedioha’s claims were right, the Archdiocese would have spoken and they would have also given detailed in-

•Continued from page 28

formation on that like when a PDP governor then flogged a Reverend father.

“Imo people know the particular political party that has the unbeatable record of beating men of God including a reverend father. It is not in the character of APC leaders and members to do such. Once again, we thank Imo people, members of all the political parties, and moreover the Owerri Catholic Arch-Diocese for their love for the state, God bless Imo state and her people.

Two days after the fracas, facts were said to have emerged about how widows and hired thugs, allegedly mobilized by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), disrupted the governorship debate organised by the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri.

The purported widows numbering over 500, The Nation gathered were the same set of women that invaded the Imo State Government House bearing mock coffin at the alleged instance of the Minister of State for Education, Professor Viola Onwuliri.

The women who were dressed on black attire also had red card and whistles which they had earlier concealed in their bags until they were given the signal to blow the whis-

tles and flash the red cards.

It was also gathered that the widows, were instructed to disrupt Governor Rochas Okorocha’s speech during the debate and applaud the PDP candidate, Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha during his speech.

Speaking with The Nation, Bar Iheukwumere Alaribe, stated that the PDP never wanted the debate to hold because of the Governor’s intimidating record of achievement, adding that, “the All Progressives Congress (APC) government has done well in the last three and a half years in the state and this has endeared Governor Okorocha to the people so such debate will expose the PDP and give the people of the state the opportunity to compare between the APC led government and the PDP that frittered the wealth of the state for 12 years.

He continued that, “we were very happy about the planned debate but you saw what happened and how the PDP were fighting to politicize the Church. The people know the truth and will stand by the truth no matter the antics deployed by the PDP”.

Also speaking, the State Commissioner for information and strategy, Chief Chidi Ibe, lampooned the PDP leaders for “hiring thugs to disrupt

an event that was organized by the Church, just to stop the Governor from giving his scorecard”.

He lamented that the disruption of the well attended event, had robbed Imo people the opportunity to have an interface with the candidates, especially to “hear their performing Governor give his account of stewardship”.

A member of the Catholic Church who did not want his name mentioned, described the attitude of the women as sacrilegious, adding that, “it is becoming worrisome that women who have lost their husbands have become tools in the hands of mischievous politicians in the state. How can it be said that widows will abandon their children to go and disrupt public peace because of the peanuts given to them by politicians”.

The source added further “it is this same set of widows that the Governor’s wife has built over 200 houses for I wonder why they are allowing themselves to be deceived by the PDP members. They seem to forget how they were treated during the PDP administration in the state”.

An Owerri-based legal practitioner, Iwuala Emperor, who disagreed with the modalities for the debate, said that it contravenes the Electoral Act, which stipulates that no political gathering or debate shall be held in religious places of worship, adding that it is a criminal offense that attracts one month imprisonment or one hundred thousand naira fine

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

38

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

From academia to royalty Since ascending the throne of his community, former Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof Peter Ebigbo marks his transition to the monarchy, CHRIS OJI

S

O much has changed in the life of former Deputy Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Peter Ebigbo since he was crowned king. Rather than Prof, he is addressed as Eze. Whereas he stood before his students in the lecture hall, he now sits on his throne with his people before him.

Amid fanfare, the monarch has celebrated his transition from Nsukka to the throne in Amaofuo, Imo State.

The occasion was preceded by a pontifical high mass at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parish Amaofuo Imo and officiated by the very Rev. Monsignor Dr. Hypolytus Adigwe together with the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Olive Esomonu while Rev. Fr. Dr. Charles Ebebe and Rev. Dr. Chima Anyaeze assisted. Rev. Sister Onodungene, Rev. Sister Dr. Chizoba and others were also in attendance.

After the mass, a procession of motorcade headed to the palace. At the palace, Mkpokiti dancers of Umunze, Anambra state were already entertaining the people. Soon, His Royal Majesty, Eze Prof. Peter Ebigbo, the Ogbuehi VI, clad in a Royal colourful gown, flowing regalia and a high Ijele cap plummeted with peacock feathers in various shinning colours, was led from his residence in a procession to the podium in the centre of the palace.

The procession was preceded by a young lad holding a sword upright and clad in the special cotton material with the Eze’s picture, then four palace messengers in uniform holding upright each a shining specially designed cultural brass staff knife, then the Eze and his Ugoeze (wife) surrounded and followed by the Ichies and cabinet members dressed culturally in red down flowing regalia. The Igab Eze or Royal cultural dance band followed, beating the royal music as the Eze proceeded, dancing majestically to the podium.

In attendance were eminent Nigerians and foreigners, including famous philanthropist Dr. A.B.C. Orjiako of Uli, Anambra State, retired Federal permanent Secretary Hajia Amuna Ali, Prof. Ibrahim Kolo, Chief

•Eze Ebigbo celebrates his first Ofala

• Ebigbo with some of his cabinet members

Nigerians can learn a lesson from the historic event and transformation that happened at Amaofuo, with the dispute settled peacefully and happiness written on the faces of community members, after elections, losers must join hands and support the winners Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), and the consul general of France, Elvira Saleras.

Others were the Secretary to the State Government of Imo State, Prof.

A

PAN-Southeast professional group, the Concerned Nigeria Professionals and Entrepreneurs Forum, has suggested ten key issues that should form campaign topics for the presidential candidates in the general elections.

They are particularly concerned about the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The group decried the current campaigns of mudslinging and name-calling, when according to the group, the nation was at a crossroads and had better things to do than engaging in campaigns of calumny.

Convener of the group, Emeka Ugwu-Oju, who was in Enugu for the southeast zonal town hall meeting of the forum, told newsmen that the group believed that entrepreneurs were major stakeholders in Nigeria that is presently in a cross road based on the coming elections.

“But we don’t want it to be a negative point for the country. So we are trying to redirect things, the campaigns are to be issues-based, and not on personal issues. The zonal town hall meetings are to reas-

Anthony Awukah who was the Special Guest of Honour and who was to be honoured with the title oha amarala Dike. The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education

It is instructive that if the elections had held as originally scheduled, on February 14, 2015, it would have been a disaster going by the recent experience with the test-run of the card readers.

The case of what happened in Ebonyi State is a pointer to this fact Emeka Ugwu-Oju, the convener

From Chris Oji, Enugu sess the issue to be announced to the presidential candidates at the national town hall meetings that will take place in Abuja on March 20, 2015 that will be attended by the presidential candidates, either as a debate or sep-

arately,” he said.

Ugwu-Oju gave the summary of the ten key issues that should form presidential campaigns as: The fundamental change in the dynamics of the global oil market (guaranteed average low oil price for the foreseeable future) and the negative im-

Dr. Macjohn Onyekwere Nwaobiala, the Hon Commissioner for Community Government Council, Culture and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr. Val Mbamara, and the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Rural Development, Prof.

Lady Victoria Adaobi Obasi.

The Honourable Justice of the Appeal Court, Justice Chinwe Iyizoba, Senator Osita Izunaso, the vice chancellor, UNN Prof. Chukwuma Ozumba, Chief Odurukwe Obiadada of Uli, Chief Bar. Okafor, Dr. Ebozue, the Ezenwa na obosi, and Eze

Mehamobi, the Orlu West traditional rulers council chairman, also graced the occasion.

After the presentation and blessing of kola nut, his Royal Majesty, Eze Prof. Peter Ebigbo, said that Ofala is a modern way of calling Ofo ala, which means the ofo guiding community being together by the land they inhabit. Ofo is therefore, the symbol of truth, laws, justice and power.

He continued: “Usually, each family has its Ofo entrusted on the eldest male member of the family.

Every community has its Ofo entrusted on the traditional ruler or the Eze or the Igwe. Before the traditional ruler is entrusted with Ofo ala he must go into prayers and fasting without leaving the palace for seven days.

After the seven days and he judges himself fit and prepared, he takes on the Ofo ala usually pronounced by the masquerade (the masquerade is bigger than the medicine man.

(Mmawu ka dibia). Therefore the Eze clad in special regalia with the Ijele masquerade hat with his staff of authority dances to the “egwu uhie” the dance of the ancestors after which merriment follows. The word of the custodian of the Ofo ala, the Eze, is virtually law.”

The academic turned traditional ruler said that he was crowned Eze in his palace on September 29, 2008, after serving as regent for one year, after the death of his elder brother, His Royal Majesty Eze Dr Aloysius Mgbokwere Ebigbo, an orthopaedic surgeon. He said that he got his certificate of recognition and Staff of Office from His Excellence Owelle Rochas Okorocha on 30th March 2014, after defeating his opponents in court. His opponents maliciously wanted to truncate the usual succession procedure in Amaofuo community that had enjoyed peace since 1857.

The Eze said that he invited all indigenes of Amaofuo both at home and abroad, including the losers to join hands and ensure that peace reigns in Amaofuo.

“Nigerians can learn a lesson from the historic event and transformation that happened at Amaofuo, with the dispute settled peacefully and happiness written on the faces of community members, after elections, losers must join hands and support the winners”, Eze Ebigbo stressed.

He noted that people should also realize that the land is a kind of Ofo, and once a person is chosen, that person must be respected, as he tries to entrench the justice and peace in the community.

Shortly after the speech of the Eze, several masquerades of the Ozo ebune type came in their members lined up in their rank and seniority •Continued on page 40

Organisation sets agenda for presidential candidates plication for a mono product economy; Restructuring/creation of a fair, just and equitable federation; Reduction in cost of governance at the federal, state and local government level; Transiting from an oil income sharing to a wealth creating economy.

Others issues include: Climate change; Security of lives and property; Unemployment; Corruption; Food, water and housing and Education.

He stated that it was clear there were enormous issues that bother the electorate, which require very clear and unequivocal discussion by the campaigns of the two major political parties that are presenting the two main presidential candidates, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

“These issues will be further distilled at the zonal town hall meetings and subsequently addressed by the

presidential candidates at the national town hall meeting. On the question of the 2015 general elections, all we need to say is that, on no account should any Nigerian who is registered and willing to vote be disenfranchised because of inability to collect a PVC, whether card readers are deployed for the elections or not.

“It is instructive, however, that if the elections had held as originally scheduled, on February 14, 2015, it would have been a disaster going by the recent experience with the test-run of the card readers. The case of what happened in Ebonyi state is a pointer to this fact,” said UgwuOju. He noted that his group was of the opinion that if the electronic card readers cannot work as perfectly as it should work, INEC should better turn to option A4 so as not to disenfranchise any elligible voter.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

39

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

W

HY is the Enugu International Trade Fair Complex not yet developed?

That question was asked repeatedly at the opening ceremony of the 26th edition of the exhibition. The state Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), the umbrella organisation of business groups in the state, was angry that the Federal Government seems to be have turned its sight away from the complex.

Both the state government and EECCIMA rejected the idea of developing the permanent site through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) suggested by the Federal Government.

First to shoot the salvo was the president of the Chamber, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye who insisted that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. In his opinion, it was not as if members of the chamber could not do it on their own but that the Enugu International Trade Fair Complex should be treated the same way those of Lagos and Kaduna were treated before PPP. The ECCIMA president said for the past six years they hosted the fair at the complex, they were able to erect and complete a building and a ceremonial pavilion within the resources available to the chamber.

He appealed to the Federal government to set aside adequate fund for direct award of contract to a competent contractor to complete the development of Enugu International Trade Fair Complex just as was done in Kaduna and Lagos.

Okoye while stating the importance of the fair, said it had offered great opportunities for industrialists, investors, buyers and sellers to interact, exchange business ideas and share experiences for investment promotion and general economic growth.

According to Okoye, one unique feature of the 26th Fair was the Special Agriculture designated area as a major fulcrum in order to refocus

Conflicting court orders stir confusion in Enugu From Chris Oji, Enugu

A

N order from an Enugu High court and another from a Magistrate Court have thrown two claimants to the ownership and control of a petrol station in the New Haven, Enugu into confusion. The police are also mystified.

The High Court in Suit No: E/70/ 2008 Mr. Bede Azubuike Agu and First Bank had on August 8, 2011 made an order of interim injunction restraining “the bank, its servants, agents, and/or privies from selling, giving effect to any purported sale, executing and/or purporting to execute any document in furtherance of any sale and/or perfecting and/or purporting to perfect any transaction relating to any purported sale of the service station of the Plaintiff situate at No. 195 Chime Avenue, New Haven, Enugu.”

The court further restrained the bank its servants, agents or privies any person claiming through or from it from interfering with the plaintiff’s use of the service station.

The plaintiff, Mr. Bede Azubuike, had approached the court seeking among other reliefs an order restraining First Bank from selling, auctioning, alienating or advertising for sale his landed property situate at No: 195 upper Chime Avenue, New Haven Enugu covered by Certificate of Occupancy No: LU/EN/39 and registered as No: 98 Page 98 in Vol. 975 in the Land registry.

In a statement of defence and counter-claim, the bank prayed for other reliefs including an order for •Continued on page 40

•From Right: Akubuilo, Okoye and others

Enugu business group angry over undeveloped trade fair site From Chris Oji, Enugu

attention and adopt a pragmatic approach in restoring the place of agriculture in the development of the national economy.

Declaring the Fair open Enugu state governor represented by the commissioner for commerce and industry Dr. Jude Akubilo lamented that the issue of the development of the Enugu International Fair Complex has dragged for too long.

He wondered why the Federal Government was reluctant in developing the Enugu version of the complex while those of Lagos and Kaduna were built by the Federal Government in record time. Akubuilo also drew the attention of the Federal government to the Enugu

President of ECCIMA, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye insisted that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. He said members of the chamber could develop the complex of the Enugu International Trade Fair on their own, only that the complex should be treated the same way as those of Lagos and Kaduna were treated before PPP Free Trade zone approved by the president, but regretted that “up till date nothing has been done at the site in 9th Mile Corner, Enugu.”

He appealed to the minister of trade to draw the attention of the President to it and the importance of such facility to the people of the South so that the president can break the ground.

The commissioner called on

SMEs to make use of the 3 billion secured by the state government to develop their businesses saying that the government would do anything within its reach to develop commerce and industry in the state.

Akubilo explained that the government aimed at opening up rural roads to ensure development of such areas in relation to the evacuation of their agricultural produce.

He further stated that the ambition of Governor Sullivan Chime for the eight years, was in spite of other things, to change the state from civil service state to industrial hub by providing conducive atmosphere for investors to thrive.

Akubilo promised that before the present administration hands over to the new one the issue of multiple taxation in the state would have been addressed pointing out that he was the chairman of the committee set up by the governor to look into the issue.

Not fewer than 32 foreign companies are participating in the Enugu fair.

Among the first foreign companies that have already taken their positions include Indian, Viatnamese and Ghanaian companies.

Nigerian chairs UNHRC advisory committee

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Nigerian-born university teacher in Canada, Prof. Obiora Okafor has been appointed Chairperson of United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.

Okafor teaches at the famous Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, Toronto Canada, Canada’s top Law Faculty and one of the leading global law schools.

A news item published on the Osgoode Hall Law School website reads: “Congratulations to Professor Obiora Okafor on his appointment as Chairperson of UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (on which he has sat for the last three years.

“Professor Okafor was also re-

•Ngige donates a bus to a group.

From Chris Oji, Enugu

cently appointed Tier 1York Research Chair in International and Trans-national Legal Studies.”

In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious nation-wide, 2010 prize for academic excellence by the Canadian Association of Law teachers.

Prof. Okafor hails from Ukpo, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State.

He is the first African and black person in history to receive a top Canadian nation-wide award for academic excellence for his outstanding contributions to legal research and teaching in Canada and around the world.

He is the first African to be pro-

moted to the highest academic rank of full prof. at a Canadian University and has previously received many other honours and awards, including the Governor-General’s Academic Gold Medal and Award of Excellence of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers.

One of the leading international law and human rights experts in the world, he has also served as an expert panelist for the United Nations working group on people of African descent.

Before his latest elevation as Chairperson, UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, he held among other UN positions, Vice Chairperson/Rapporteur Member

•Okafor

of the Bureau (leadership) of the Committee in charge of supervising the drafting of its documents and the preparation of the reports of sessions of the Committee.

Among positions he holds ion visiting capacity include Visiting Professor of International and Human Rights Law, St. Augustine’s International University, Kampala Uganda, Gani Fawehinmi Distinguished Visiting Professor of Human Rights Law, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Abuja, Visiting Professor, International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg France and Visiting Scholar, Human Rights Programme, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA He started his academic career in Law at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, where he graduated with LL.B (Honours) in 1989 and later bagged his LL.M with Distinction from the same university in 1994.

He sojourned abroad for more academic exploits at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he obtained another LL.M with First Class Average in 1995.

He received his PHD in 1998 from the same University of British Columbia, Canada.

40

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

THE SOUTHEAST REPORT

•The First Lady with members of the Nneoma Kitchen

Okorocha’s wife feeds 6, 000 widows, orphans

I

T was a day the needy would remember as wife of Imo State governor, Nneoma Okorocha gave food to widows and orphans in the state.

No fewer than 6,000 less privileged persons benefitted from the gesture, which was at the instance of her project.

The atmosphere at the Imo International Convention Centre (IICC) venue of the event was emotional as the old women, most of them leaning heavily on their walking sticks waited hopefully to get their share of the largesse.

The beneficiaries drawn from the 27 Local Government Areas of the State were treated to sumptuous meals and given food items ranging from bags of rice, vegetable oil, yam, wrappers and cash.

It was a clear demonstration of kindness and care for the downtrodden as the beneficiaries, who were mostly octogenarians, freely associated and danced with the First Lady and her husband, Governor Rochas Okorocha.

Some of them could not hide their emotions as they broke down in tears before the Imo First Lady and prayed God to reward her for her acts of kindness and philanthropy. It would be recalled that the Governor’s wife had built over 120 bungalows for widows in the state under another of her pet project, She Needs a Roof Project (SNARP).

The event also featured a prayer session by renowned clergymen and women, who took turn to pray for the widows and orphans as well as the First family and the state.

Addressing the emotion provoking crowd, the First Lady, said the gesture was her own little way of expressing love for humanity, adding that nothing is too much to put a smile on the faces of people who feel rejected by the society.

She appealed to the people to always find joy in sharing their wealth with the less privileged, positing that “wealth is meaningless when it can-

We have a culture of philanthropy and it gives us a great joy to assist the needy around us. Today is a very important they because we have put smiles on the face of these indigent persons and widows.

This is not about politics because everything about my life has always been about philanthropy

From academia to royalty

•Governor Okorocha dancing with the chairman of the event, Mrs Orji

From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

not be used to help the poor and the needy in the society”.

The First Lady, who was dressed in full chef regalia, also added that it gives her great joy and a sense of fulfillment to serve humanity, especially those that not well to do.

Governor Okorocha, who was at the event, commended the First Lady for the initiative, adding that it is the culture of the family to cater for the needs of those that are helpless in the society.

According to him, “we have a culture of philanthropy and it gives us a great joy to assist the needy around us. Today is a very important they because we have put smiles on the face of these indigent persons and widows. This is not about politics because everything about my life has always been about philanthropy”.

Expressing her gratitude, an indigent widow from Izombe, in Oguta Council Area of the state, Dorathy Orji, who was randomly selected by the Governor to chair the event, described the gesture as unprecedented and uncommon show of kindness to the underprivileged people.

The octogenarian, who looked overwhelmed by the joy of sitting between the Governor and the First Lady, said that the widows and other beneficiaries will not forget the day in a hurry, while praying for

•The beneficiaries sharing the items

•Some of the items given to the widows

God to reward the First Lady for her kindness.

Another beneficiary, Mrs. Fidelia Chikwem, from Mbano Council Area of the state, said that she lacked words to express her feelings, “I don’t know what to say but I pray God to

reward our First Lady accordingly.

Prayer is the only way we can reward her. This is not the first time she is assisting us; she has been doing it for a long time. She has even built houses for so many widows in the state”.

Conflicting court orders stir confusion in Enugu •Continued from page 39 the immediate sale of the mortgaged property (the fuel station) and repayment of the principal sum and interest of the loan from the proceed of the loan.

While the matter and order subsisted in the High Court the Plaintiff and owner of property Mr. Bede Agu was served with a claim dated 24th February 2012 emanating from an Enugu Magistrate Court in Suit No: MEN/125/2012 asking him to deliver possession of his fuel station describing him as a squatter and asking him to deliver possession of the said petrol station a certain Pinnacle Oil and Gas ltd, believed to have secretly bought the station from the bank.

When the matter which was between Pinnacle oil and Mr. Bede Azubuike Agu came up at the Magistrate Court presided over by His Worship F.C Chukwu on April 2, 2012 Mr. Agu pleaded not liable to the claim of Pinnacle Oil and Gas ltd on the ground of his ownership of the fuel station sought to be recovered from him.

He further produced his title documents evidencing his ownership of the fuel station but the court insisted that the issue before him does not

border on title rather claim for possession or recovery of premises.

Mr. Agu later filed a formal application praying the court to stay further proceedings on the grounds that the fuel station sought to be recovered from him was his bona fide property, that the fuel station was presently a subject matter of Suit No: E/70/2008 and that there was a subsisting order by the High Court in the same suit.

The Magistrate Court dismissed the application and at the end of the hearing during which Pinnacle Oil and Gas ltd as well as Mr. Bede Agu gave evidence of conflicting claims of ownership of the fuel station the court by a judgment delivered on March 5, 2015 ordered Mr. Bede Agu to deliver immediate possession of the fuel station to Pinnacle Oil. Although Mr. Bede Agu has commenced process of Appeal and also filed and served a formal motion for stay of execution of the judgment of the Magistrate Court crisis has been brewing following alleged attempts to recover the fuel station.

Both parties and even the police in Enugu are at a crossroads over what should be done bearing in mind that both orders of the two courts are dealing with the same subject matter.

•Continued from page 38 to pronounce the Ofo. They were led by the highest ranking masquerades from Uli called Ozaraigwe. Leaders of Otana, the central headquarters of Ozo ebune masquerade from Ukpor in Nnewi Local Government Area of Anambra state were also in attendance.

After the Ofo prayers by the masquerades, the Eze and his cabinet danced the “Egwu Uhie” the ancestral dance. After the dance, he also danced to the tune of the “Odi ike” music (dance for the strong, valorous and the titled) before returning to the podium.

Back at the throne, the Eze recognized some prominent persons with traditional titles, whose names had been sent to the office of the Eze Imo (Chairman Traditional Rulers Council) for clearance. These names were announced on Imo Broadcasting Corporation in case anyone had anything against them.

Only three names aree approved for each Eze per year. Two sets of approvals were made since the 2015 Ofala started.

Those who were conferred with Chieftaincy titles with beads/ caps, Staff of Office and Certificates were Dr. A.B.C. Orjiako, Hajia Amuna Ali, Prof. Ibrahim Kolo, Barr. Dr. Livy Uzoukwu SAN, Justice Chinwe Iyizoba and Barr. Elvira Seleras.

The day was rounded off with various traditional dances and indeed over 7000 people in attendance with the roads leading to the palace also filled with people. All these events took place without any ugly incidences. People of Amaofuo and their friends and well-wishers rejoiced that finally someone was now officially in custody of their Ofo ala. There was feasting and merriment in Amaofuo Kingdom.

The members of the ofala organizing committee, who spoke through their chairman, Chief Isaac Nnamdi Agwunobi, said in their remarks, that Eze Prof. Ebigbo, was God- sent and expressed the hope that he would use his experience and connection at the University of Nigeria, were he had worked for over 35 years, to bring development to Amaofuo.

Eze Ebigbo was born in 1947 and studied psychological Medicine in Germany. He is a good family man, blessed with a pretty wife and children.

Despite winning Nigeria’s highest National merit award for medicine in 2000, the Eze belongs to many Local and International bodies, including the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect, ANPPCAN, where he is the International President.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

41

PEOPLE THE NATION

A FIVE-PAGE SECTION ON SOCIETY

Women of substance To commemorate the International Women’s Day, the University of Lagos Women Society (ULWS) gave awards to three women for excelling in their fields, writes NNEKA NWANERI.

G

ONE are the days when women stayed the background; when all they did was to mind the children and keep the house. These days, many are making impacts in their fields; indeed, many have broken the glass ceiling, dared the challenges and made tremendous strides in their careers.

So, when on March 3, the University of Lagos Women Society (ULWS) honoured three women as part of activities to mark this year’s International Women’s Day, it didn’t come as a surprise.

The honorees are Emeritus Professor of Medicine Yetunde Olumide; multiple awardwinning literary giant Prof Akachi Ezeigbo and the first female Registrar of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Mrs Folashade Olumide.

The Julius Berger Auditorium was filled with women and a few men.

Everyone in attendance had a symbolic orange scarf around their necks.

The event began with a prayer followed by a welcome address by ULWS President and wife of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Mrs Memudat Bello.

She said the awardees were chosen because they excelled in their professions and have become role models for every woman in the institution and worldwide.

According to her, the awardees, despite that they have retired, are still radiant and gorgeous in retirement.

The event was chaired by the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Computers, Mrs Florence Seriki.

A Lagos Magistrate, Mrs. Jumoke OlagbegiAdelabu, the guest speaker, spoke on the theme for this year’s Women’s Day: Make it Happen.

She urged women to play their roles as homemakers, custodians of their families and take necessary steps to attain greatness and ensure that Nigeria attained greatness.

There was a break from speeches during which a short drama on the gains of women empowerment was performed. It was followed by the reading of the awardees’ citations and awards presentation.

After each presentation, the awardees, who were accompanied by their spouses, made a short speech. Their husbands and children were there to share in their joy.

Prof Olumide, thanked the society for counting her worthy. Olumide, the first woman professor of the over 50 year-olduniversity, dedicated her award to children.

She urged some secondary pupils at the event to see their self worth in life primarily as their relationship with God. “I never compromised on the time I give to

•AWARDEES ALL: Prof Olumide (right); Prof Ezeigbo and Mrs Olumide

•From left: Mrs Bello; Mrs Olagbegi-Adelabu and Mrs Seriki

•Prof Chris Ezeigbo

‘I never compromised on the time I give to my family; and to keep it, I woke midnights to do my research works’ my family; and to keep it, I woke midnights to do my research works,” she said.

Mrs Seriki described Prof Olumide as a light to the country.

Prof Ezeigbo, former head of Department of English, said she is grateful to God for making her a woman. She relived events that almost led to her not getting married to her husband, whom she said is rsponsible for her success.

She advised other women not to run their country down with what they say.

Mrs Olumide, 71, said there is a thin line between being successful and being honoured.

She worked in UNILAG for 34 years and the university was the only place she ever worked.

Giving the vote of thanks, Channels TV Vice Chairman Mrs Olusola Momoh, represented by a newscaster, Amarachi Ubani, lauded the awardees for doing extraordinary things. She paid tribute to every mother, who has an opportunity to recreate someone’s destiny.

•Mr Kunle Olumide and Iya Oge of Lagos Chief Opral Benson

•Prof Folabi Olumide (left) and Dr Jumoke Oumide

PHOTOS: RAHAMAN SANUSI

42

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

SOCIETY LAGOS BUSINESSWOMAN MRS ADETUTU AWOBIYE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY

•Mrs Sayo Jinadu (left) and Mrs Iyabo Adelusi

•Mrs Adetutu cutting her birthday cake with her husband, Victor Awobiye (in dark glasses) Mr Bayo Adedipe and Mrs Nike Akinla at her home in Isheri, Ogun State

•Mr Wole Adenusi and his wife, Biodun

•Air Vice Marshal Funsho Matins (left) and Admiral Mike Adelanwa •Mrs Bola Sipeolu (left) and former Lagos State Head of Service Mrs Josephine Williams

•Mr Olusesan Adekunle (left) and Mr Laitan Ayeni

•Remi Adejumo (left) and Yemi Oyenuga

•Mr Kayode Afolabi (left) and Wole Ogunleye

Otunba Mike Oladeji (left) and Prof. Demola Omojola

PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

43

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

SOCIETY

Exit of ‘a good man’ The remains of Chief Adenrele Adebiyi Adejumo were interred on March 10 at Ikoyi Cemetery in Lagos. Reception followed at the Harbour Point, Victoria Island.

SAFIYYAH ABDURRAZAQ was there.

•From left: Mrs Koyoro; Ms Olumayowa Kuyoro and Mrs Lande Adejumo

•Chief Tajudeen Agboola and High Chief Abduwaheed Gbadamosi

•Remi Adejumo (left) and Yemi Oyenuga

•From left: Dr Lanre Olumide; Otunba Joseph Ogunfuwa and Dr Seyi Roberts

E

VERYWHERE was blue.

Guests either dressed in blue or had a touch of blue on their attires. The hall was also decorated in blue. This was the setting at the reception for friends and relatives, who attended the funeral of Chief Adenrele Adebiyi Adejumo, the past president, Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria, member of Lodge Academic 1150SC and former Deputy District Grand Master, District Grand Lodge of Nigeria. He died on February 1 at 85.

The chairs and tables were decorated in white, sky blue and navy blue drapes. There were lace overlays on the tables.

Members of the District Grand Lodge of Nigeria were dressed in their customary attire of white shirts, black business suits and aprons.

His daughters and their children were dressed in cream lace; his sons and their children wore cream guinea brocade.

As the guests arrived, a bevy of women dressed in blue ushered them to their seats.

The funeral service, conducted by Rev. Canon Josephus Jaja, began with the cleric receiving Adejumo’s remains.

The hymn, Hark, Hark, my soul was sang. It was followed by the scripture reading taken from Ecclesiastes 3: 115.

In his sermon, Rev. Jaja urged the bereaved family to be happy because the late Adejumo lived a wonderful life.

After the sermon, the hymn I know that my redeemer lives was taken.

Interment was at Ikoyi Cemetery.

It was followed by reception at the Harbour Point at Wilmot Close on Vitoria Island.

•From left: Mrs Kehinde Okunowo; Olori Labisi Tejuoso and Olori Yetunde Tejuoso •Abiodun Adeniji (left) and Olusoji Odukoya

The eldest daughter, Mrs Adefunke Adeteju Kuyoro, described her father as a man with a good sense of humour who loved all his children.

“He educated us to wherever level we wanted. He never told us: “you have had enough. Don’t go forward”.

He had a quiet disposition and sound sense of humour. He was not ill. He was running temperature for a day.

The doctor came and treated him for malaria and said they were going to run some tests to see if he had any infection. He died before he got to the hospital, but it was as if he was sleeping so I believed he must have died a peaceful death,” she said.

His son, Aderemi, said his father would be missed.

“I am tongue-tied. He was such a wonderful man and did a lot. This is Wilmot Point where the Naval Dockyard is. He built the dockyard and worked in Lagos Executive Development Board as the resident engineer that reclaimed the Victoria Island.

One of the memories of him is all that he did. He was very illustrious as you can see from the gathering today. It shows the impact he had on people and the environment. There is a lot he did in his lifetime and he would be sorely missed,” he said.

One of his granddaughters Mayowa Kuyoro described him as a wonderful man.

Adejumo is survived by seven children and many grandchildren.

•Mrs Adetoro Oyedele (left) and Julie Akpuru

PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

WEDDING

SIGNING OF BILL

•Eminent Scholar Prof Adebayo williams (right) and Chief Ademola Jekayinfa at the wedding of Oluwaseyi and Oyindamola Olajide in Ibadan, Oyo State ... last weekend

•Chairman, Yewa South Local Government (right) Area, Alhaji Safiu Abiodun and Clerk of the House, Comrade Idowu Ajayi signing new bills into laws at council secretariat, Ilaro

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

44

SOCIETY Pastor-in-charge of Israel Assembly and the Allen Zone of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Dapo Awoshika has celebrated his 50th birthday at Nana Arena in Ikeja, Lagos, reports OLATUNDE ODEBIYI.

I

T was a show of class last Sunday at the Nana Arena in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, as the Pastorin-charge of Israel Assembly and the Allen Zone of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Dapo Awoshika, marked his 50th birthday.

He joined the golden club on March 10, and was treated to a high-class birthday party by his church members, friends and colleagues.

The hall was tastefully decorated with white fabrics and complemented with colourful lightings.

Chairs were set around tables which had silver overlays. A bevy of beautiful women in white dresses took guests to labelled seats and the waiters ensured that the tables were not empty.

BJ Sax electrified the hall with gospel songs which kept guests dancing and singing along all through the event.

The gathering was relaxed.

Pastor Bolade Osinubu supervised the cutting of the cake by the celebrator and his wife after the spell of JESUS. Deacon Wole Aderinkomi led the toast.

The celebrator said the party was beyond his imagination adding that he is grateful to God for clocking 50 when life expectancy in the country is said to be 4...

“It is grace to get to 50 in Nigeria of today; getting to 50 is a thing that brings me joy. Being on Gods side has made life good and I aspire to live long, live well and serve God for the rest of my life.

“The peace of God has kept me over the years and I don’t allow anything to trouble me. If you allow your environment to control you, you will not live long so it is always good for you to allow yourself to be in control of your environment,” he said.

Pastor Bayo Samagbeyi from RCCG Living Faith said the celebrator is dedicated to the work of God. “He is focused, determined and he is a man of integrity,” he said.

Parish Coordinator of RCCG, Israel Assembly Pastor Femi Onasanwo said the celebrator is faithful, adding that he is a man that is always ready to do anything for God. He said his life is a blessing to others and wished him long life and strength to serve God more.

Assistant Pastor in charge of Admin, RCCG Lagos province 2 Pastor Noruwa Edokplol said the celebrator is a jovial, funny, deep and wise man.

He said the birthday is a testimony of the impact of the celebrator’s life on people, adding that it is to appreciate him for what he has done.

The celebrator’s son, Toluwani, said he is happy for his father. He described his father as a friend and brother, adding that he has always been there for him.

•From left: Pastor Tayo Oriwide, Pastor Onasanwo and Pastor Noruwa Edokpolo

People’s pastor at 50

•Pastor Olaitan Aromolaran (right) and Prophet Peter Olowoporoku

•The celebrator, Pastor Awosika and his wife, Tunuola cutting the cake

•Mr Gabriel Oyeniran and Mrs Bunmi Oni

• Mr Demola Adetola and his wife, Dayo

•Mr Timothy Ademola-Oke and his wife, Fola

•Sola Obabori and wife Simbo

SUMMIT

PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

CONJUGAL BLISS

Former Miss Fiyinfoluwa Banjoko and her beau Dr Tunde Oyesakin after their wedding at the Chapel of Light Lagos State University (LASU)

•General Overseer of Guiding Light Assembly, Pastor Wale Adefarasin and Convener, Awesome Treasures Foundation, Mrs Jumoke Adenowo at the Awesome Treasures Prayer Summit tagged: Generations at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

45

SOCIETY COMMUNICATE YOUR IDEAS

Osun State All Progressives Congress (APC) Director of Publicity Mr Kunle Oyatomi has given his daughter, Olujumoke, in marriage to Oluwasegun Ayinla, a presenter with Africa Independent Television (AIT) in Lagos, reports OLATUNDE ODEBIYI.

Will you pay attention if I say "Please"?

B

Union of love birds •The couple, Olajumoke and Olusegun flanked by (from right) General Manager (Publications) Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard, Mr Gbenga Adefaye; Vanguard Publisher Sam Amuka-Pemu; bride’s father Mr Oyatomi and Managing Director Osun Defender Mr Kola Olabisi

•Groom’s parents, Mr and Mrs Ayinla

•Bride’s mother Mrs Kemi Oyatomi

T

HE Oyatomi and Ayinla families became one last Saturday, following the solemnisation of the union of their children, Olajumoke and Olusegun. The marriage was consummated at the Tabernacle of Faith City, Canaanland in Ota, Ogun State. Olujumoke a daughter of Mr Kunle Oyatomi, Director of Publicity of Osun State All Progressives Congress (APC). Olusegun is a son of Mr Adewale Ayinla, a businessman.

The reception was at JK Komolafe Hall in Idimu, Lagos.

The hall was decorated with white and gold fabrics.

Bassey Raphael, aka MC Pamtop, anchored the event.

The couple was the cynosure of all eyes. The bride was a beauty to behold in a white flowing dress dotted with silver. The groom looked charming in white suit, white shirt and a gold bow tie.

Their entry into the hall with the bridal train caught guests’ attention. They danced to music by the Treasure Music Band. Guests used their phones, iPods and cameras to snap them. The couple danced well; they were sprayed new naira notes.

After the opening prayer by Pastor Areo Olabode, the chairman on the occasion Pastor Folusho Olorunda gave his address.

•Mrs Obasanjo (left) and Mrs Regina Fadayomi

He urged the couple to take themselves as one. He told them to settle all quarrels between themselves.

The couple cut their threelayer cake after the spelling of Jesus.

Oluwasegun said he was elated, fulfilled and grateful to God for the success of the day.

He said his bride is understanding and respectful.

The bride said her husband is loving, balanced, patient and a good listener. “He is the person I find peace with,” she said.

Wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs Bola Obasanjo told the couple to keep third party at boy.

“I wish them the very

best and they should be prayerful. The bride should be calm, she should take the groom as the umbrella on her head, and whatever she wants to do, she should take permission from her husband,” she said.

Oyatomi said he is happy for his daughter. He described her as a visionary and beautiful woman who knows where she is heading to in life. “She has her own independent mind and she believes so much in God.” He said the couple needed to first love God and then they would be able to love each other. “They must be hard working and believe in themselves. They should not take shortcomings so seriously, they should remember that they are from different backgrounds.”

His wife, Mrs Kemi Oyatomi, said she felt great that her daughter is married. She described her daughter as a precious and wonderful girl.

“She graduated from the Covenant University; did her NYSC in Uyo where she was kidnapped and later released.

I thank God for her life, that God did not make me to cry over her and I’m glad that God gave her a wonderful husband,” she said.

The groom’s father, Adewale Ayinla, urged them to pray always as it is the secret to success in life.

His wife, Mrs Elizabeth Ayinla, urged them to hold on to God. She said they must consult God in all their affairs, adding that God is the secret of every successful marriage.

ETTY was excited that her husband had returned from work. She had a lot to tell him, ranging from the broken kitchen knife to the plumbing problem. Unfortunately, Fred wasn't in the mood for any of that. He had a tough day and needed to free LANRE OLAOLU AMODU his mind from everything by watching a game of football. (Ph.D) sospeak2lanre@yahoo.com.

Betty tried to show how much 07034737394 @lanreamodu she cared by asking him about his day at work. For Fred, however, that was the worst conversation he could have at that time, so, he managed a few incoherent statements while keeping his eyes "glued" to the television screen.

Since it was obvious that Fred wasn't ready to share his "daytime" experiences, Betty would readily share hers. So, she started her narration. After a few "hum", "really", "ok" responses from Fred, she was certain he hadn't heard her at all in the last 10 minutes. "Fred, did you hear what I just said?" She asked. "Of course darling, you said…" Fred was once again lost in his game so he didn't complete his sentence. "Fred!" She called. "Yes dear?"

"You weren't listening!" "Of course I was, I just told you what you said," he defended. "No you didn't," she said. "Ok, please give me a few minutes. I will give you my undivided attention during the halftime," Fred pleased.

Finally, it was halftime and Betty started her story again. "Like I was trying to say earlier, I just discovered this morning that the kitchen knife is…" "One minute dear," Fred interrupted, "Francis told me about this commercial at the office and I promised to look out for it". After the commercial, Fred said, "I'm sorry dear, you were saying…" "No! I was TRYING to say that…" Then there was the sound of a phone ringing. Fred looked around for his phone but couldn't find it. He frantically moved books, papers, etc until he found his phone. "Hello Billy," Fred said. "What, he commented on my post? That is fantastic.

And how many likes do I have now? Wow, I'll check it right away." All the while, Betty looked on helplessly.

After the facebook episode, Fred said, "I'm so sorry darling.

So, what happened to the kitchen knife?" He was trying to be nice. "Never mind the kitchen knife. There is a major plumbing problem in our room. The bathtub is…" Betty stopped because Fred had sheepishly raised a finger. "What is it this time?" She asked. "May I use the bathroom?" Betty was exasperated but she let him go. A few minutes later, Fred walked into the room while chatting on Whatsapp. In frustration, Betty screamed, "Will you pay attention if I say 'Please'?" Fred was shocked by the outburst, so he dropped his device and settled down quietly to listen to his wife. But before she could get a statement out, Fred said, "Sweetheart, will you mind terribly if we continue this conversation after the game? The halftime is over."

Can you imagine how many people are begging for attention these days? Wives think their husbands are not listening and husbands say their wives aren't paying attention. Parents feel that their children are suddenly too "grown up" to pay attention and children believe their parents just don't understand them because they never listen. Bosses repeat instructions several times and still don't get enough results, while employees believe their bosses are too unapproachable to be communicated with.

There used to be a time when the problem was lack of information. In this age, however, the problem is information overload. We are told that the term "information overload" was coined by Bertram Myron Gross, an American social scientist, in his 1964 book titled, "The Managing of Organizations: The Administrative Struggle". The term was, however, popularized by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 bestseller, "Future Shock". Information overload generally refers to the challenges an individual can encounter in an attempt to understand an issue or make a decision because of the availability of too much information. If Gross thought there was too much information in 1964, I wonder what he would have thought now! According to Dr. Paul Marsden, in his article titled, "Fast Facts: Information Overload 2013", 90% of all the data in the world were generated over the last two years.

If too much information truly exists, then there must be some direct or indirect consequences. Dr. Marsden, citing Miller's Law, stated that the "maximum number of pieces of information a human brain can handle concurrently is seven." If this is true, don't you think we have a lot of problems today? Too many things are fighting for our attention, yet we can't attend to all of them at the same time if we must be effective. Marsden also claimed that greater stress and poorer health are linked to information overload. It makes sense, therefore, for people to develop a sorting process through which they determine what is important and what is not.

As a public speaker or a communicator generally, can you imagine how much competition you have in getting the attention of your audience? How can you guarantee that your information is not among the ones sorted for the trash? This calls for skillful crafting of information and learning how to grab and sustain attention. Next week, by the grace of God, we shall examine how we can help people to choose our information above others.

Dr. Amodu teaches at the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ogun State.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20 2015

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20 2015

47

COMMENTARY

FEMI ABBAS ON

“W

HEN a matter of trust is kept in the custody of an untrustworthy person, expect the end of time”.

Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

Preamble If anything is called Satan, and that diabolical entity truly lives in the midst of humans, Nigeria must be his abode. As a mysterious entity, Satan may not be physically perceived but his shadow is evidently vivid in the evil machination generally called politics. And the elements in the society often called politicians are his undeniable agents.

Politics is like infectious leprosy. Any contact it makes with human fingers will surely render those fingers ineffective with contagious implication. The evil of politics in any given society is like the slough of a snake which has no life of its own but scares the people around with its empty appearance.

Since her independence in 1960, Nigeria has hardly experienced any calamity that did not emanated from politics.

Thus, like the Island of Ithaca of yore in Greek mythology, Nigeria harbours a sphinx today that poses unanswerable question to her citizens. And any individual or group that fails to answer the question correctly may be instantly devoured by the mythological sphinx.

femabbas756@gmail.com 08115708536

Breaking the Muslim chord of unity

M U S W E N ’ s Communiqué

Paradoxical Odyssey Today, Nigeria has become a paradoxical odyssey on which the only ferrying vessel is politics. And the driving engine of that vessel is money which seems to be the main determinant of individuals’ Hell or Heaven on earth. We are now in an era when the source of money no longer matters as much as money itself.

What really matters today is not how decent you are as a person but how rich no matter the source.

In a nutshell, a rich rogue is by far more relevant and more important in Nigerian society than a poor gentleman. As a matter of fact, there is no gentlemanliness without money. The size of your purse determines the status by which you are recognised in the society. And that is the new definition of pedigree.

It is not surprising therefore that men and women of letters as well as high caliber professionals are now struggling to become servants to mere nonentities who by hook or crook have stuck the opportunity to occupy public positions in a clueless government and thereby control a treasury. The world has changed so much that the same money which used to serve man in the past is now the master that man serves with relish. In the face of money, conscience has become a lost paradise that no one seeks again. And with its disappearance, human dignity has also become an old wife’s tale. Whither Nigeria’s tomorrow in this?

In the wilderness of avarice and aggrandisement imposed by money, Nigerians of today have lost the culture of dignity highly cherished by Nigerians of yesterday and there is no sense of nostalgia for it.

In solo and chorus, the song of this era is ‘STOMACH INFRASTRUCTURE’.

When a hopeful country finds itself in this kind of situation she quickly resorts to the last bastion for solution. The last bastion in the case of Nigeria is religion which is supposed to be the first estate of the realm. But can there be religion without clerics? Where are the clerics in Nigeria? That is the indication that Nigeria, as of now, is a hopeless country.

Sailors without compass The so-called clerics in both Islam and Christianity in Nigeria today are like sailors on a strenuous voyage who have lost the compass that guides them through the waves of water while their congregational passengers continue to pray fervently for safety on a turbulent ocean.

To them (the clerics) religion is no longer the path to salvation but a means to material wealth even as they have relegated morality to the background.

Here is a country where clerics do not only preach material prosperity but also live in stupendous affluence in the midst of their wretched congregations. Here is

ing, the Presidency, in a bid to break the ranks of the Yoruba Muslim Ummah, embarked on an alternative meeting with the League of Imams and Alfas and another with the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN).

The President of MSSN, Alhaji Sirajudeen Abdul Azeez, who volunteered to mobilise the leaders of the group for the meeting with the Presidency, despite a resolution at a recent leadership meeting in Akure, Ondo State, not to attend any such controversial meeting could be said to be acting on his own.

Reflecting on the repercussion of such controversial action, the leadership of MSSN resolved to disown any such meeting at this politically volatile period and warned that nobody should use the name of the group for any selfish political gain.

No particular date has been fixed for the Presidency’s purported meeting with the leadership of MSSN but inside information suggested that is supposed meeting would come up at the Presidential Villa in Abuja before the Presidential election on March 28, 2015".

• A church a country in which clerics are either known for trafficking in drugs or gun running or patronage contract for supply of ammunition to the government as in the notorious episode of a recent South Africa mission that ended up in a fiasco or even for taking bribe from the government as in the case of alleged N7 billion that caused wild brouhaha in Nigeria recently. Here is a country where neither conscience nor morality has a role to play in religion any more as the so-called clerics have banished both and thus become not just accomplices of political rogues but also their dogs.

Meetings without agenda As a result of self-denigration by these clerics, the government has turned them into a willing tool in the game of political machinations to the benefit of the political gladiators. And in their desperate search for votes in recent times, the politicians have consistently chased the clerics around with money knowing very well that nothing remains of religion these days in Nigeria beyond money for which the so-called clerics will fall anybody.

Just this week, a stone was deliberately thrown into the serene brook of Nigeria’s Southwest Muslims by politicians with the intention of causing implacable ripples in that brook. A clandestine meeting of the League of Imams and Alfas was initiated by the presidency and scheduled to take place in Akure, Ondo State last Monday. The agenda of the meeting was not disclosed but its timeliness and manner of mobilisation clearly suggested its undisclosed purpose.

A similar clandestine meeting had earlier been arranged for Lagos penultimate week by the same Presidency which was botched by the region’s Muslim leadership for fear of being politically blackmailed.

Yet another clandestine meeting was initiated also by the Presidency this time with the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) which was scheduled for the Presidential Villa in Abuja. This is yet to take place as the arrow head and chief mobiliser for the meeting is finding a brick wall on the assignment. The Nigerian media has widely reported these clandestine moves by the government with the headline that read thus: ‘Meeting: Yoruba Muslims Snub Presidency Again’.

Media report Here is how the media reported the incident: “Yoruba Muslim clerical leaders un-

•A mosque der the aegis of the League of Imams and Alfas have snubbed the Presidency over an invitation to them for a meeting that was apparently meant to lure them into endorsing the joint ticket of a particular party (Jonathan/Sambo ticket) in the forthcoming presidential election.

The meeting in which Vice-President Muhammad Namadi Sambo was to represent his boss was earlier scheduled for last Monday in Akure, Ondo State but had to be shifted to last Wednesday in the same state for lack of adequate mobilisation.

Learning from the experience of their Christian counterparts who were recently enmeshed in a controversial N7 billion scandal that has caused a crack among Nigerian Christians, the leadership of the League of Imams and Alfas in the six Southwest states plus Edo and Delta decided not to be involved in an embarrassing meeting that could cause a crack in the rank of the Muslim Ummah.

A similar meeting earlier arranged with Yoruba Muslim leaders and fixed for Lagos by the Presidency recently was equally aborted for the same reason cited by the League of Imams and Alfas just a day before it was to come up.

Our reporter’s investigation revealed that the leaders of the League contacted one another and resolved not to be part of any meeting with any political group or individuals at this time to maintain their neutrality as worthy clerics.

The Akure meeting said to be coordinated by the Chief Imam of Owo, Sheikh Ahmad Aladesawe, who incidentally, is the current Secretary-General of the league. He (Aladesawe) was said to be passionately involved in mobilising his colleagues in the league might for the meeting which ended up in a fiasco.

Besides Imam Aladesawe, some other Imams who flouted the decision of the League and attended the meeting for a seeming personal gain were the Chief Imam of Osogbo, Alhaji Rabiu Animasaun and the Chief Imam of Ekiti, Alhaji Bello Keulere. The few others who claimed to have attended the meeting as Imams were quite peripheral and not prominent at all in the league.

From Ibadan, Lagos, Markaz, Agege, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Osogbo, Ilaro, Ado Ekiti, and Auchi as well as other major cities of the region, the common question on the lips of the Imams was “why now?

Following the failure of the Lagos meet-

Meanwhile, the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) has called on the Muslims in the region to once again pray congregationally for peace in Nigeria as the 2015 general elections approach.

The apex body of all Muslim organisations in the region made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of a threeday retreat that was held between 13th and 15th of March, 2015 at the Wale Babalakin Estate in Gbongan, Osun State.

The communiqué was signed by its executive secretary, Prof. Dawud Noibi.

MUSWEN specifically slated Sunday, March 22, 2015 for the prescribed prayers that are expected to hold at the Eid praying grounds or local Mosques in every town within the region.

Quoting the Prophetic Hadith that classifies prayers is the weapon of the Muslims the Organisation implored the Muslims not to relent in offering prayers especially at this precarious time of the nation’s history.

MUSWEN however decried the lukewarm attitude of the Southwest Muslims to the institution of Zakah, saying the consequences of such attitude are very detrimental to the propagation and progress of Islam in the region.

Leaders of prominent Muslim Organisations from Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Osun states, who participated in the retreat said the necessity for prayers

by Muslims was most apt this given the prevailing cloudy political atmosphere in the horizon.

The Apex Islamic body in the Southwest also stressed the need for unity of Muslims in line with the mission and vision of the Organisation stressing that without unity there could be no progress.

In another vein, the Organisation frowned at the lopsidedness in the federal appointments to political offices from the Zone, saying such appointments clearly put the Southwest Muslims at a great disadvantage and paved the way for unnecessary suspicion.

It therefore called for equity, fairness and justice by the Federal government in its treatment for the people of the zone irrespective of their religious inclinations.

Prominent among the Muslim personalities who attended the retreat were Alhaji Najeem Awodele, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Justice Abdul Fatah Adeyinka, a retired Chief Judge of Lagos State, Alhaja Latifah Okunnu, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sekinat Adekola, the Iya Adini of Yorubaland and Dr. Jubril Oyekan.

Delegates at the retreat also paid a courtesy call on Justice Bola Babalakin (Rtd), the former acting President of MUSWEN in his Gbongan country home.

Members also prayed for the repose of some of its late founders such as Prof.

Aliu Fafunwa, (Pioneer President), Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Arisekola- Alao, Dr AbduLateef Adegbite and Sheikh Sadrudeen Biobaku.

The theme of the retreat was ‘MUSWEN: SUSTAINING THE MOMENTUM’.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

48

NEWS

Countdown to March 28... 8 days to go

My hatred for Tinubu, by Bamidele •Continued from page 3 My hatred for this man is borne out of the fact that he is never ever distracted from pursuing the laudable vision and selfless goal of nation building, helping on daily basis to chart a new course for our country with a view to liberating the masses from abject poverty, endemic insecurity and uncertainty that are products of several decades of bad governance, policy summersault and integrity deficit. Here is a man who is never perturbed or ruffled by the obtuse ranting and misguided vituperations of his detractors as he has always remained focused. I suspect this is, most likely, the secret of his outstanding and matchless accomplishments in virtually all areas of life: in politics, he is a quintessential leader and elderstatesman of national and international repute; in business, Asiwaju is a shining star and indeed a great success; as a community leader, the Jagarban is a rare breed. Here is an energetic and resourceful mobiliser for the common good, a man full of compassion, an epitome of kindness and generous spirit.

O the chagrin of his sworn en emies and to the credit of his large-heartedness, Asiwaju’s network of political influence in Nigeria today has grown beyond what some agents of mischief can wake up one day and think of cutting to size.

His determination and quest for a just, egalitarian, viable and prosperous society have left him with no other choice than to join hands with likeminded political juggernauts, elder statesmen, human rights and pro-democracy activists, highly respected legal luminaries, prolific journalists and labour unionists from across the nation and even beyond, to the extent that he is one of the most detribalised citizens of contemporary Nigeria.The success story of the APC, as the most formidable opposition party driving the change movement in Nigeria today, cannot be said to have been completed without a considerable mention of the invaluable sacrifice and hardwork of a man who puts everything he has into any cause or struggle once he is convinced about it.

I hate Tinubu because he is a liberal man to a fault, who surrounds himself with independent-minded people and is never afraid of being contradicted or criticised by even his close associates and lieutenants. This was the more reason I felt comfortable to join him to work for the actualisation of the Buhari/Osinbajo project, having openly disagreed with him and the rest of the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) some months back on the need to conduct party primaries in Ekiti State prior to the governorship election for the sake of internal party democracy.

The transparent conduct of primaries across board and in all the states of the federation by the APC in preparation for the forthcoming general elections is an eloquent testimony to tolerance of divergent views as well as the charismatic selflessness and dynamism that is inherent in the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other prominent leaders of the party such as Gen Muhammadu Buhari, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Alhaji Atiku Abubabakar, Chief Bisi Akande and so on.

The liberality of Asiwaju is not only evident in his politics as he continues to welcome his critics and opponents back to the party with warm embrace for them to work together again to save the ship of the Nigerian State from sinking, Asiwaju has also demonstrated that religious tolerance is not only possible but can be a reality even within the confines of our private homes. For instance, while he is a devout muslim and ardent financier of islamic activities, his heartthrob, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is an Assistant Pastor in the Redeemed Christian

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I feel so offended by this irresponsible manner of smear campaign. So much so that I feel I need to extend a caveat to President Goodluck Jonathan that the political mercenaries who are doing this to AsiwajuTinubu today will, most likely, do worse things to him at some point in the near future

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Church of God (RCCG). As governor of Lagos State for eight years, Asiwaju surrounded himself with fervent Christians and Muslims, with all of them having access to equal opportunities and working together with a singleness of purpose, more so that every meeting of the State Executive Council during his administration always commenced and ended like a nucleus family meeting despite the rigorous debates and divergence of views on different issues that came up every week.

His cabinet was more or less an epitome of the Nigerianity movement; it was an assemblage of representatives from different parts of the country. The rollcall of those Asiwaju appointed into his star-studded cabinet, in addition to prominent sons and daughters of Lagos State, included Pastor Ben Akabueze (Anambra), who served as Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning; Mr. Dele Alake (Ekiti) who served as Commissioner for Information and Strategy; Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN (Ogun), who served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. He is a Senior Pastor in the RCCG; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, an engineer, (Osun), who served as Commissioner for Works & Infrastructure; Mr. Wale Edun (Ogun), who served as Commissioner for Finance; Dr. Bayo Adewusi (Oyo), who equally served as Commissioner for Finance; Chief Ebenezer Akinbolade (Ondo), who served as Commissioner for Establishment & Training and so on. I (an Ekiti man) was equally opportuned to serve in that cabinet as Commissioner for Youth, Sports & Social Development before later serving as Commissioner for Information & Strategy in Governor Fashola’s cabinet.

To those who want to put Asiwaju in the dustbin of history for their own selfish political gain, they must realise that this is a tall dream in the realm of phantasm. It is a dream that can never come true. This is a man who has affected many lives across and beyond the shores of Nigeria in a most positive manner. By his active involvement in national re-engineering and restructuring, Asiwaju has further helped to define politics as a call to service and stewardship to humanity. To those who brand him negatively as someone who rose up from the gutter to the ladder, they should be reminded that Asiwaju was already a self-made success and an accomplished professional of global reckoning before he ventured into politics. After a very brilliant academic exploit in the United States (U.S.), Asiwaju had worked meritoriously with multinational companies in the U.S., including Exxon Mobil Petroleum, before he was posted to Nigeria as a Senoir Audit Manager of this multinational petroleum company. For the records, Asiwaju could only take a leave of absence as Treasurer of Exxon Mobil to allow him contest for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1991, following persistent persuasion from many admirers of his, including my humble self. Before then, he was a major player in the finance sector and a notable financier of various religious and development-driven activities in Lagos State and other states of the federation.

While he was doing all these, we

recognised his passion for progressive development but I doubt if he himself knew the magnitude of leadership skills, talents and intellectual power embedded in him until his eventual foray into active politics.

Actually, his extreme commitment to democracy, the rule of law and social justice and the diverse leadership roles he played during the protracted June 12 struggle, home and abroad, had further placed Asiwaju in the mainstream of popular democratic movement in Nigeria, and he has continued to occupy this placement in history till today, to the extent that no one can successfully re-write his history by a mere launching of a futile smear documentary campaign against this great man of destiny. Despite his unbeatable and enviable contribution to the Nigerian project, none of his biological children is a commissioner or member of the legislature today whereas many of his ardent critics, including some of his close allies, already had their children appointed as Commissioners and Special Advisers as well as elected members of National and State Assemblies. Of course, such children, as Nigerians, have a constitutional right to be so appointed or elected. However, when his wife got elected as Senator, his detractors grumbled and when one of his daughters emerged as a leader of market women in Lagos, Asiwaju’s enemies told him to bring his head to be hanged.

Surely, it was acceptable for the late sage, our own Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his life-time to produce Oluwole Awolowo as a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly for two consecutive legislative terms between 1979 and 1983 before the military later took over the reins of power. It was acceptable for the late Chief Olusola Saraki to produce a governor in Dr. Bukola Saraki. It was acceptable to the American people for President George Bush (Snr.) to leave office as President of the U.S. and have two of his sons simultaneously serving as governors in the States of Texas and Florida and, of course for one of them to take over from their father’s successor eight years later as U.S. President. Equally, it was acceptable for former President Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary, to be elected as US Senator. Why must Bola Tinubu, another phenomenal leader of his time, be crucified for his political and economic fortunes if not for his consistency on the need for us to give birth to a new Nigeria? Enough is enough, the shameless display of crude politics and intrigues must stop at once. We must move forward as a people and as a nation.

OR want of reasonable and convincing strategy to drive home their campaign, some filth columnists have consistently digressed from decent campaign and debate of issues and have wandered into the regrettable abyss of unprofitable calumny and deceit to score cheap political points. But it is high time they woke up from their miasma and come to the reality of the moment, The reality that the movement for change in Nigeria is a moving train that cannot be stopped. That no amount of mudslinging , phrasemongering or smear propaganda against any of its leading lights can

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distract the mass of the Nigerian people from the collective resolve to liberate themselves from the forces of corruption, retrogression and stagnation. Willy-nilly, Nigeria shall be great again!

HE late Rotimi Williams, an SAN of blessed memory had an opportunity to serve as Attorney-General in the Western Region, after which he ran a most successful and profitable legal practice that brought a lot of prosperity. Nobody said his wealth was stolen just because he had served in government. the late Chief Okotie-Eboh was a successful businessman after he had served in government as Minister of Finance. He was respected as a businessman. Gen Theophilus Danjuma left government to launch himself into business and today, he is one of the richest men in Africa. Our respected father, Chief Edwin Clark, was Minister of Information and later concentrated on his business. Today, he is not just a wealthy man, he, in fact owns a private university. No one would insinuate that his wealth came from his having served as a public servant. All over the civilised world, former public office holders end up in the corporate boardroom of reputable companies as key players. But eight years after vacating office as governor, Tinubu’s detractors will always trace his business fortunes to the treasury of the Lagos State government.

I feel so offended by this irresponsible manner of smear campaign. So much so that I feel I need to extend a caveat to President Goodluck Jonathan that the political mercenaries who are doing this to AsiwajuTinubu today will, most likely, do worse things to him at some point in the near future. He may not necessarily need to be a candidate himself at that point, just like Asiwaju is not one today and they are bent on damaging him.

Many of them own prime landed properties in Lagos as a direct result of Tinubu’s generosity. I know it as a fact because I was opportuned to sign thousands of certificates of occupancy between 2004 and 2011 as a serving commissioner under Governors Tinubu and Fashola, both of whom graciously delegated such official authority to me in exercise of their constitutional rights to so delegate.

Some of my former colleagues in Tinubu’s cabinet were mentioned in the documentary to have sold their official residential buildings. I could have bided for my own official residence located at 31B Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, but I chose not to. If I had done so, as done by some of my colleagues, it would have been in order, more so when all of these were happening at a time the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government had come up with a monetisation policy that made it possible for ministers, permanent secretaries, civil servants and other categories of public servants, including legislators, judges and even military officers to buy their official residences under the monetisation policy. Many of the sponsors and promoters of the documentary against Tinubu were beneficiaries. But Tinubu deserves to be crucified for implementing the same policy because he is Asiwaju Bola

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Ahmed Tinubu.

The documentary also made a vicious attempt to portray Asiwaju Tinubu as having worked against the political interest of Yoruba people while others are accusing him of nursing an ambition to become a Yoruba leader. Interestingly, close as I have been to this man in the last two and a half decades, I have never heard him express a desire and neither have I ever witnessed him take any step (overtly or covertly) that could suggest an ambition to emerge as a Yoruba leader. I do not believe it is a position that anyone would have to contest for or struggle to attain.

Yoruba people know who their leaders are regardless of what manner of manipulation that may be orchestrated.

The late Chief LadokeAkintola never had a chance to defend himself against allegations of having worked against the interest of the Yoruba race because he was gone with the crisis.

The late Chief Akin Omoboriowo, before he was gone, did not have the resources and media clout to properly defend himself and reposition himself in history. As a Nigerian, as an unassuming Yoruba boy, as an Ekiti man and as a student of history, I am not convinced that these men deserved the attempt to totally condemn them to the dust bin of history as if they had no cause to disagree with the political establishment that would make it sound as if a disagreement with them was tantamount to working against the Yoruba race and interest.

Well, the late Chief Akintola might not have been alive to offer a later day explanation while the late Chief Omoboriowo might not have had the wherewithal to decisively deal with the matter before he passed on. To the contrary, however, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is alive and has the human and material resources as well as the media strength (be it in print, in electronic or through the social media) to squarely address the issues after the elections. Most significantly, I call on Asiwaju to allow stakeholders within Nollywood adopt the title “THE LION OF BOURDILLON” to make a major movie that will document the man, Asiwaju; his rise from grass to grace; his role in the struggle for democratisation; his contributions to the growth of our polity and in helping to lay the foundations for good governance and democracy; his political wizardry; his unusual transformation from the corporate boardroom to becoming a statesman with unusual political savvy and eventually a rallying point for opposition and change movement in Nigeria; and, of course, the conspiracy and allegations against him, among other salient issues that need to be documented for history even in the simplest form through the entertainment industry.

F the saying is true that nothing frightens the Lion in the jungle, then Asiwaju must not allow himself to be distracted from the present assignment that history has placed on his shoulders as he can always come back to comprehensively and decisively deal with this naughty matter.

Surely, if it is still the same Asiwaju I have always known, I am sure he would stay resolute and not get distracted. And that is part of my hatred for this Bourdillon-based but globally connected Lion, whose roaring, even when done silently, is most ravaging and fearful for a political order whose fear of the people has become so morbid. My hatred for him is that I cannot stop loving him. I hate this man because I celebrate him and because I know many Nigerians celebrate him as an unusual leader.

• Bamidele is a member of the House of Representatives and governorship candidate of the Labour Party during the June 21, 2014 elections in Ekiti State.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

50

As climate change poses a threat to food security, the World Bank, through the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), is working with local scientists to produce improved seed varieties adapted to drought farming environment, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Sowing the seeds of stable agric I

N some parts of the North with a precarious history of food insecurity, seasonality means that there may be food shortage during parts of the year, attributed to drought and climate change.

To tackle this, farmers resort to planting a variety of early-to later-yielding crops, storing or selling harvests to minimise losses and drawing on social obligations of reciprocity when food is scarce. Some of the farmers also take to other economic activities to diversify and ensure income in off-agricultural seasons.

Despite these, prolonged or multiple years of shortage is still being experienced in parts of the country.

The situation is not helped by changing temperature and rainfall which determine when and how often crops can be sown.

Compared to their farming counterparts in the South, who are able to harvest, sometimes, three times in a year, food production in many parts of the North is nearly halted during dry seasons because of heat and other climatic changes capable of ruining harvests.

For the present, drought is the most widespread climatic threat to production in the North. West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) response, therefore, is drought-tolerant seeds which can be made affordable to farmers.

Stressing the need to provide drought-tolerant seeds to farmers, the National Project Coordinator, WAAPP-Nigeria, Prof.

Damian Chikwendu, said agriculture has become very precarious, with production and livelihoods vulnerable to fluctuations in weather.

To address this, he said the programme is taking the issue of seeds very serious, adding that delivery and release of improved crop varieties is a major focus of WAAPP, especially considering the situation in the North.

Describing good seed as basic to sound agricultural growth and prosperity, the coordinator said the programme is ready to foster a more stable agriculture by encouraging research institutes to produce varieties that can be used as certified seed.

As part of its mandate, Chikwendu said WAAPP Nigeria supports and participates in disseminating new technologies resulting from research to farmers, including production and use of quality seed of improved varieties and hybrids.

So far, he said the organisation has cooperated with universities and research institutes in the introduction and distribution of seed stocks and propagation of materials of improved crop varieties.

The project, according to him, is supporting research activities conducted by 15 institutes and 13 Federal universities and 11 colleges of agriculture. Each of these institutions, he added, are demonstrating improved technolo-

gies in some adopted villages and schools, a new approach promoted

by WAAPP to bridge the gap between researchers and communities around them. To boost its activities, he said the project has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 29 states for the dissemination of improved technologies.

These include improved varieties of sorghum, maize, rice, cassava and yam, fish fingerlings and improved post-harvest and processing equipment.

From initial results, Chikwendu said beneficiaries are happy with the quality of technologies disseminated as they contributed to doubling yields for various commodities.

Under component 11, Chikwendu said the target commodity for the project is aquaculture.

Working through National Centres of Specialisation (NCoS) on aquaculture, consisting research institutes in the areas of fish fingerlings, fish feed and post-harvest for the sub region, Chikwendu said the project has scale up adoption of improved technologies to improve aquaculture business.

According to him, all the released technologies by NCoS show an improvement in yield of at least 15 per cent.

In terms of beneficiaries, he said the number increased from 600,000 in April to 1,277,000 in November last year.

In addition, he said the number of women beneficiaries under the project increased from 29 to 37 per cent during the same period.

Expectedly, also, the number of hectares under improved technologies increased from 238,000 hectares (ha) in April 2014 to 330,244 ha representing about 38 per cent increase.

So far, about 300,000 beneficiaries have adopted improved technologies generated/promoted by the project.

According to him, farmers are going to benefit more from WAAPP. The National Corodinator said WAAPP is training farmers on technologies in food processing.

Overall, he said there are several economic benefits of the project, such as increasing the value of a primary agricultural commodity, local production of food products and reducing imports of equivalent ones.

To ensure the high quality of agricultural produce and keep them competitive in the market, he said the programme is sponsoring targeted research for sustainable development.

It also offered training to small and medium-sized enterprises and technicians in the farming industry, agricultural extension workers, among others.

Chikwendu explained that WAAPP, a sub-regional Programme, involves 13 ECOWAS countries. The development objective of the first

•Farmers with garri-making equipment donated by WAAPP

•Cassava processors at work

phase of the programme, according to him, is to generate and accelerate the adoption of improved technologies in the participating countries’ top agricultural commodity priority areas that are aligned with the sub-¬region’s top agricultural commodity priorities, as outlined in the ECOWAS Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP).

Leading the World Bank team to evaluate the project, its Lead Agricultural Economist and Regional WAAPP Task Team Leader GFADR, Dr Abdoulaye Toure said it has been implemented in line with the expectations of the bank.

The project, the team noted, has implemented 90 per cent of the agreed actions from last April’s mission.

On disbursement rate, the team said it significantly increased from 42 to 63.88 per cent for assistance from International Development Association (IDA) while that from Global Food Crisis Response Programme (GFRP) increased from 22 to 56.67 per cent since the last mission.

However, with the GFRP TF closing in May, this year, the team stressed the need for increased disbursement to ensure the full use of the resources.

On the basis of performance and activities, the mission rated the progress made by WAAPP Nigeria

as satisfactory. Nevertheless, the mission agreed that the project should continue to scale up and out dissemination of improved technologies through Innovation Platforms (IPs), adopted villages and schools.

The team also urged the project to speed up the implementation of the full scheme of the e-extension; establishment of the tissue culture laboratory through Public– private partnershipand job creation initiatives for youths.

On the restructuring of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) - WAAPP funded study tours to Brazil, China and India for officials from the council and Federal Ministry of Agriculture of Nigeria, the. team submitted a comprehensive report to the Federal Government, which it considered the way forward.

Outlining a proposal and the next steps to be taken, the team identified some consultants from Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation as ready to launch the technical studies on the restructuring.

The mission, however, noted that no major progress was recorded on the restructuring process since the last mission and that apart from WAAPP; the government has also requested the Melinda and Bill

‘There are several economic benefits of the project, such as increasing the value of a primary agricultural commodity, local production of food products and reducing imports of equivalent ones’

Gates foundation to support the restructuring process.

According to the team, Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation decided to contact the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for implementation.

Other members of the mission were Agricultural Economist and Co-Task Team Leader, SheuSaiau ; Lead Agriculture Specialist,El HadjAdamaToure; Senior Agriculture Economist, AdetunjiOredipe ; Senior Environmental Institutions Specialist, Joseph Ese Akpokodje ; Senior Procurement Specialist, Mary Asanato-Adiwu; Senior Financial Management Specialist ,AkinrinmolaOyenugaAkinyele; Social Development Specialist ,Michael GboyegaIlesanm; Senior Communications Specialist, Obadiah Tohomdet; Nieyidouba Lamien of West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), Emmanuel Ajani of National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS) and Programme Assistant, Abiodun Elufioye.

Speaking at the inauguration of the cassava processing initiative

by WAAPP in collaboration with the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) in Oyo State project at Apete-Onidoko in Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State, Abdoulaye Toure said hope for food security in Nigeria was rising as a result of the adoption and adaptation of variety of new agricultural technologies by practising farmers across the country.

He noted that the adoption of new agricultural technologies has impacted positively on Nigerian farmers as shown in their cassava (gari), among others.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

Expert alerts on African swine fever outbreak T

HE Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, ProfAbiodun Adeloye, has warned feed manufacturers and pork producers of the possible outbreak of African swine fever.

He said the precarious weather condition is creating an environment for deadly diseases to invade the industry, calling for quick action and monitoring for possible traces of strange and common animal diseases, after the recent attack of bird flu on some poultry farms inthe country.

Stories by Daniel Essiet

With African swine fever recorded on pig farms in some parts of Europe, the expert called on health authorities, especially those at the borders, to take steps to keep deadly diseases from crossing into the country.

According to him, national-level health staff should be charged with supervising and coordinating efforts to contain the disease.

Given the ease with which transmission between animals occur, he

urged the government to implement safeguards to ensure that wild boars, the source of African swine fever, donot come into contact with pigs slaughtered for meat.

He also suggested double fencing to keep wild animals out, proper disposal of food and pig feed and contacting a local veterinarian in case a dead boar is discovered in the wild.

In addition, he said facilities that cannot secure the observance of veterinary and sanitary rules cannot be used for rearing pigs.

He called on the government to adopt additional measures to contain and prevent the spread of African swine fever and other animal diseases.

He pointed out the need to raise the awareness among Nigerians about African swine fever and other dangerous animal diseases.

Last year, Adeloye alerted on the need for poultry producers and feed manufacturers to prepare for possible outbreak on bird flu.

Subsequently, the industry was attacked, as smany birds con-

tracted the virus. As a result of the highly contagious and dangerous pathogen, the poultry was in a state of flux.

Since then, scientists and researchers have been working to try and understand bird flu and develop a solution that will protect poultry flocks. However, that still seems to be a long way off and new cases seem to be occurring.

To better manage the issue, he said health authorities should take the necessary steps to prevent occurrence of the disease.

Govt may ban fertiliser imports

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HE Federal Government is drafting a legislation to ban the importation of fertiliser, Planning Minister Abubakar Olarenwaju Sulaiman has said.

He said a ban was necessary to protect local producers.

Sulaiman spoke during a visit to Super Phosphate Fertiliser and Chemicals Ltd in Kaduna.

He said the ban would also include any product which the economy has the capability to produce to reverse the adverse effects of cheap foreign imports on the local manufacturing industry.

Sulaiman said: “We need to stop importation of products that we can produce in Nigeria, including fertiliser.

“A policy statement is coming out in a few weeks to address this. What we can produce in Nigeria, we must not import.”

Sulaiman also reiterated the government’s commitment to revamp the power sector, saying, “Government is doing everything right to make sure that the power sector works better and more efficiently for Nigerians to enjoy.

The idea of privatisation is in the best interest of Nigerians.”

AGRA votes $2.6m to fight poverty, hunger in West Africa

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HE fight against hunger and poverty in West Africa has received a big boost with the training of new plant breeders to help deal with challenges faced by small-scale farmers.

Thirty students from Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have been selected to benefit from the programme, jointly launched by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

They would be awarded the Improved Master of Science (MSc) In Cultivar Development for Africa (IMCDA) degree at the end of their two-year training.

The Programme Officer , AGRA, Prof Rufaro Madakadze, said the objective is to increase the availability of a new set of plant breeders, who would work to lift farmers out of poverty.

The AGRA is providing US$2.67 million to fund the programme.

The Vice Chancellor of the KNUST, Prof. William Otoo Ellis, said it would improve the capacity of the university to train industry- ready plant breeders to produce pest, disease and drought-resistant seeds and hybrid seeds.

They would work more efficiently in both public and private sectors to increase crop yield and incomes of farmers.

Ellis said they would achieve this through the use of modern breeding technologies, data management, emphasis on experimental learning and acquisition of soft skills.

The Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) of the University, Prof.

Richard Akromah, said it would assure the region of food security.

National food safety workshop ends

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FOUR-DAY national training workshop on food safety supported by the United States Government, through its Agency for International Development (USAID) has ended in Abuja.

The training was organised in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. It follows the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Food Safety and the National Food Safety Management Committee by the Federal Government in January.

USAID Mission Director in Nigeria, Michael Harvey said the training was part of the U.S. Government’s long-term effort to support the National Food Safety Management Committee as it puts in place a strong food safety regime to boost Nigeria’s export market, as well as the agriculture sector.

“We are pleased to have USAID and the US Department of Agriculture work together with Nige-

rian counterparts to hold this workshop,” he said.

The workshop involved case studies quality management systems, risk analysis, food safety modernisation act, and monitoring and evaluation procedures.

The workshop’s participants represented th si geo-political zones.

Since 2013, the U.S. Government, through USAID and the US Department of Agriculture, has worked with Nigerian food industry stakeholders in the public and private sectors, and with development partners to revise the national food policy and develop an implementation strategy.

These efforts have laid the foundation for the work of the recently inaugurated committees that are charged with ensuring that food safety systems in Nigeria are on par with international best practices.

Interventions supported by the US Government will improve food safety, thereby helping Nigerians avoid food-borne and food-related illnesses.

•From left: Chief Executive, CGIAR Consortium , Frank Rijsberman and Director-General,International Institute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA),Dr Nteranya Sanginga talk on business models during a forum in Ibadan. With them is Director-General, Biodiversity International, Ann Tutwiler.

Farmers laud Ogun govt’s programmes

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GUN State government has been lauded for its commendable agricultural programmes which have improved the fortunes of farmers in the state.

The State’s Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief Olusegun Dasaolu, gave the commendation during an interactive session between farmers and Governor Ibikunle Amosun on how best to further improve the quality of service delivery in the sector.

Chief Dasaolu said he was impressed with government’s rice cultivation in Eggua in Yewa North, 50hectare Cocoa farm and a plantain farm in Alagbagba in Odeda Local Government, 50- hectare oil palm farm in ImekoAfon and the establishment of Green House in Kotopo, which has started to produce high-yield tomatoes, pepper to the citizens as well as

various cassava farms in the state.

The AFAN chairman also praised the state government for paying its counterpart fund regularly, saying it has allowed farmers to get their input, such as fertiliser, ands seedlings, among others.

He urged the state government not to relent in agriculture, saying more is still needed to be done, so that the state agricultural programmes can lead to industrialisation as seen by more irms opening shops in th state as well as the establishment of an ethanol factory the first in Sub-Sahara Africa in Agbara.

The Chairman, Ogun State Poultry Farmers Association, Dr. Odunsi, urged the state government to look at the possibility of acquiring broiler processing machines as well as egg processing machines, which will turn egg into powder, which can be used

by top companies such as Cadbury.

This, he said, would improve the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Governor Amosun thanked the farmers for their unflinching support to his government in the last 46 months,adding that agriculture will be given more priority in his second term.

He urged them not to relent in their support as his government means well for them and their families especially now that all attention must be focused on agriculture as oil prices has fallen on the international markets Also speaking, Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. RonkeSokefun urged farmers to have faith in Governor IbikunleAmosun’s administration as they stand to gain more if he is re-elected in next month governorship election.

Don seeks support for skills development

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QUIPPING young Nigerians with the skills they need for job opportunities in the food manufacturing sector can help businesses grow and address skills gap, the Director, Cassava Adding Value to Africa (CAVA), Prof Kola Adebayo, has said.

He said while food businesses can create jobs, there is a lack of special skills amid growing expansion in some areas in the industry and that could affect outfits considering expanding beyond their capacities.

To this end, he called on operators and the government to train Nigerians with requisite skills the industry needs as well as create a platform where food

businesses can connect them with skilled workers they are looking for.

One way to achieve this, he suggested, is for the government and the private sector to provide grants to colleges and other institutions of higher education to deliver career training programmes that will help job seekers get the skills needed for in-demand jobs in the food industries.

In line with this, he called on the government to make food science a priority area for apprenticeship schemes, adding that such schemes would help the industry to address major areas of skills shortage.

In fashioning an apprenticeship scheme, he urged that it should re-

flect the breadth of industry interests, ensuring that beneficiaries are provided with practical and competitive skills that will satisfy prospective employers.

He explained that industry skills partnership places employers in the driving seat when it came to developing the workforce, stressing that food manufacturers need to be part of the solution to bridging the sector’s skills gap, if the industry is to entice youngsters into apprenticeships.

With the food industry facing the huge task of meeting food safety compliance, which comes with a colossal cost, Adebayo advised that firms encourage apprentices learn to observe safety rules.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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NEWS PAN YORUBA SUMMIT IN IBADAN

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Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade (left); Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his Osun State counterpart Rauf Aregbesola at a Pan Yoruba Summit at The Parliament Building, State Secretariat, Ibadan..yesterday

•L-R: APC Vice Presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, representative of Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Eddy Oyewole and former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi

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•Senator Sola Adeyeye (left); Eminent Scholar Prof. Adebayo Williams and Senator. Bayo Salami

•Former Governor of Ekiti State Otunba Niyi Adebayo (left) and representative of Ogun State Governor, Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa

Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye (left) and Senator Tony Adefuye

From left: Mr Ghandi Olaoye; Gen Sam Ogomudia (rtd) and Prof Wale Omole

•Amb. Olu-Saanu (left) and Hon. Wale Osun

Former Aviation Minister Prof. Babalola Borisade (left); Director of Strategy, All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Organisation, Mr Dele Alake and Chief Hameed Adetunji Lanihun. Are Onibon Olubadan

•Chief Ayo Fasanmi (left) and former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola

•Prince Tajudeen Olusi (left) and Princess Bisi Sangodoyin

• Obazuaye of Warri, Chief Sunday Rone and High Chief Ritalori Ogbebor.

•From left: Chiet Tunde Daramola, Mrs Ayoka Lawani and Chief Yomi Finnih.

PHOTOS: SOLOMON ADEOLA & FEMI ILESANMI

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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NEWS Rivers APC protests killings From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

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EMBERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State yesterday marched on the Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt over alleged indiscriminate killing, arrest and detention of their colleagues.

The protesters, armed with placards bearing various inscriptions and singing antiFederal Government songs, occupied the Police Headquarters on Moscow Road for some hours, vowing to continue doing so daily, until the police stopped the alleged indiscriminate arrest of APC members in the state.

The leaders of the protesters were later received by the Rivers Commissioner of Police, Dan Bature. They subsequently proceeded to the state’s headquarters of the Department of State Security (DSS).

The aggrieved APC members were led by Commissioner for Agriculture Emma Chindah and Asari-Toru Local Government Chairman Ojukaye Flag-Amachree.

As early as 6 a.m., the protesters had taken over the city’s major roads and streets.

There was a huge traffic snarl.

The police deployed many Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Toyota Hilux patrol vans but nobody was harassed all through the over five hours that the peaceful protest lasted.

Some of the placards read: “Another Mbu is here”; “Stop politically-motivated arrest of APC members”; “CP Bature, be neutral”; “Nigeria police or PDP police”; “CP Bature, be professional”; “Use police against criminals, not against citizens”; “Leave Rivers APC members alone, Nigeria police”; “Is Nigeria Police Force an arm of PDP in Rivers State?”; “Don’t make Rivers a police state”; “Have police stopped being our friends? CP Bature, please answer us now” and “We say no to indiscriminate arrest of APC members.”

Others included: “Mbu and Bature, any difference?”; “Stop harassing and arresting APC members in Rivers State, Nigeria Police”; Nigeria Police Force, agent of PDP”; “Release our brothers now”; “Police in Rivers State acting as security of PDP”; “Democracy is threatened by police in Rivers State”; “Release our husbands now” and “We say no to violent elections, unjust arrests in Rivers State.”

Mbaka: Jonathan wants me dead before election

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IERY Enugu Catholic priest and founder of Adoration Ministry Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka has said there are plans to assassinate him before the March 28 presidential election.

Rev. Mbaka said he was alerted to a fresh plot by a man who found his way to the podium while he was preaching and squeezed in a note in which he advised him to leave the country immediately as his “life has been sold”.

The Reverend, who spoke through the media officer of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria, Ike Maximus Ugwuoke, said he had been marked for death before the presidential election.

In the statement entitled: “Jonathan wants me dead before the 2015 election”, the Adoration Ministry warned that if anything happen to “Mbaka, Jonathan’s government would be held responsible”.

The statement reads: “It is with a deep sense of concern that we are constrained to

make this statement on the continued threat to the life of Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka over his 2015 New Year message titled “From Good luck to Badluck”.

“The issue of threat to Fr’ Mbaka’s life became a public knowledge that it formed the headline of a national daily’s publication of 5th January 2015, “My Life in Danger”. The daily reported, ‘Enugu Catholic priest and the founder of Adoration Ministry, Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka, yesterday raised alarm that he has been receiving threat messages following his New Year eve message’.

“Two days later, 7th January 2015, another daily also reported that the Enugu State Police Command has refuted claims

by Fr Mbaka that his life is in danger .It dismissed Fr. Mbaka’s outcry over threat to his life as baseless. The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Ebere Amarizu , DSP was quoted as saying, ‘We do not have any report by Fr. Mbaka over

threat to his life. We have not received any complaint from him’”.

The Ministry added: “On the backdrop of the above, one begins to wonder whether the alarm raised by Fr Mbaka on an alleged plot to kill him was a mere rhetoric as the police had made it to appear merely because there has not been an official report to the police over it. Absence of a formal report on threat to one’s life doesn’t negate the reality of such threat more so when the victim had made a public outcry on this issue. To argue otherwise is akin to denying the fact of death in the face of a man’s corpse merely because there is no certificate certifying his death.

“Rev Fr. Mbaka had consistently in his public outings been raising alarm over threat to his life and strange calls and messages threatening to assassinate him. The last of this was his assertion that assassins from the Presidency had

been engaged to exterminate his life before the 28th March, 2015 election.

“This was coming after he had made a public statement on 8th March, 2015 that in the presence of some named witnesses, he rejected a parcel of money sent to him by the First Lady through the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and that the rejected money was with the latter.

“The issue of threat to Fr Mbaka’s life has become worrisome that even at his last Friday’s adoration programme held on 13th March 2015, he did not turnout in his usual car due to security alert he had of his planned assassination on that day. Yesterday strange hoodlums in a black Hillux besieged his parish compound but they left disappointed when they could not see him.

“Wherever and whoever this threat is coming from, we state that there are strong and compelling circumstances pointing towards the fact that

Fr. Mbaka’s latest attacks were stemming from his said 2015 New Year message which was not favourable to the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.

“We also wish to state that before the 2015 New Year message of Fr .Mbaka, he used to pray for Jonathan’s Government and never raised any alarm on threats to his life but after the 31st night message, which he was inspired to preach by the Holy Spirit he has been making a public outcry of threat to his life. This is a clear case of a witch cries in the night and one’s child is found dead in the morning.

“We advise the Goodluck Jonathan government that he has a duty to protect and guarantee Fr Mbaka’s life as Adorers, Nigerians, the Catholic Church and indeed the international community will readily point accusing fingers at him, in event of any misfortune against Fr Mbaka or Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria.”

•Wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Aishat addressing the crowd at an interactive session with Edo women at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City...yesterday

Niger civil servants pull out of new pension HE National Pension Commission (PenCom) may have been hit by crisis, it was learnt yesterday.

Hundreds of those who retired from the public service prior to the take-off of the new pension management in 2004, are finding it difficult to assess their retirement benefits, running to several millions of naira.

The development came even as the failure of the

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Breath of Life conference begins

By Olatunde Odebiyi

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LL is set for the Impartation Conference organised by The Breath of Life Ministry. The programme comes up tomorrow and Sunday by 9am and 4pm daily at the church headquarters located at 24, Obanikoro Street, Obanikoro Estate, Somolu, Lagos.

The programme is expected to attract people from all walks of life. Among the men of God to minister at the conference are, Pastor Olumide Olugbenle, Pastor Andy Osakwe, Pastor Paul Rotua and Pastor Poju Oyemade.

From Chris Oji, Enugu

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Niger State government to comply with the guidelines governing the new contributory pension scheme has forced the organised labour in the state to pull its members out of the scheme.

It was learnt that about N8.81 billion contributed by workers under the National Provident Fund (NPF) and the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) have been transferred by PenCom to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

But many, whose pensions were deducted before the introduction of PFAs in 2004 accused PenCom of holding on

to their funds, thus impoverishing them after serving their fatherland.

A former federal civil servant, who pleaded for anonymity, told The Nation that he had not been paid his entitlements years after he retired from the public service.

In Minna, the Niger State capital, chairmen of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Yahaya Idris Ndako and Yunusa Tanimu, told reporters after an emergency meeting yesterday of their decision to withdraw from the contributory pension scheme.

Ndako, who spoke for the unions, said civil servants in

the state have demanded for the immediate stoppage of the deductions for non compliance of the guidelines by the government and new pension scheme administrators on 7.5 per cent pension and 2.5 housing fund contributions.

He added that workers were not only demanding for a stop on further deduction of 7.5 and 2.5 from their salaries but also asked the state government to pull out the state workforce from the new scheme.

The two unions also demanded for the refund of deductions made since 2007 when the scheme started adding that a committee had already been set up to verify the

total amount so far contributed by the workers to enable them know the amount to be refunded.

Ndako said: “Part of the guidelines not complied with are lack of receiving the periodical alert notification indicating how much one contributed under the scheme and no bond certificate of contribution that is supposed to be issued every two years.”

Also speaking, Tanimu of the TUC, corroborated his NLC counterpart and alleged that the deduction of the two percentages from the salaries of primary schools teachers in the state from May, 2013 to date had not been remitted.

Communities warn of crisis over pipeline contracts •Pastor Jedafe

The Host, Pastor Samson Jedafe said the conference will be a time to worship God and be imparted with grace and spiritual gifts.

According to him: “We are expecting over 1000 people for the conference which will include men, women, boys and girls from all walks of life to come together under one canopy and it will be an awesome time,” he said.

OME oil producing communities in the Niger Delta has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan, in the looming crisis of the newly re-awarded Pipeline Surveillance Contracts awarded by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.

The multi-billion naira Federal Government pipeline protection contracts are

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From Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

causing confusion in the Niger Delta.

The National Coordinator and Director, Media and Publicity, Niger Delta Oil Producing Communities/ Youth Leaders Forum, Lawrence Lokiri and Tam Sultan, who addressed reporters in Abuja, said that some oil producing

communities have been excluded from the contract.

They explained that some ex militants in the region have neglected the youths and the host communities that have borne the impact of oil exploration have been abandoned.

They said: “The hijacking of the contract have created serious tension in the Niger Delta.

“This has caused strong resistance by majority of the youths in our communities that bears the brunt of oil related devastation.

We in the oil producing communities express our grievance and say an urgent meeting be held to avert this great danger that might plunge the region into another round of bloody crisis.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY MARCH 20, 2015

NEWS Judge’s absence stalls arraignment From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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HE arraignment of Kwara State Commissioner for Information, Prince Tunji Moronfoye and Mr. Ope Saraki over alleged N320m scandal by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could not take place at the Federal High Court, Ilorin, following the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Olayinka Faji.

The parties were said to have been seated before 9am and at exactly 9am, the registrar came to announce that the court could not sit because the judge was absent. No reason was given for his absence.

The two cases listed were FRN vs Olatunji Oyeyemi Moronfoye suit no. FHC/IL2C/2015 and FRN vs Ope Saraki; Congent Integrated Service of Nig; Ladida Support Service suit no FHC/IL3C/ 2015.

The cases were, however, adjourned till April 23 as agreed by the court in consultation with the defence and prosecuting counsels.

Man arrested for ‘killing’ driver

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•Mark consoling the victims...yesterday

Agatu killings: Mark weeps

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ENATE President David Mark wept yesterday when he saw the bodies

of children between the ages of one and two, who were killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

They attacked Agatu communities and killed over 90

•‘Enough of blood shedding’ From Uja Emmanue, Makurdi

people.

Mark sympathised with the victims at Obagaji, the headquarters of Agatu Local Gov-

ernment.

He condemned the killings of harmless Idoma farmers, saying enough of shedding of blood in Idoma nation.

The Senate President, who

also visited the graves where those killed were buried and the General Hospital to see the injured, wept when he saw children between ages one and two, who were killed with machetes by the invaders, who sources said, were clad in Army uniforms.

Army, DSS raid Boko Haram hideout in Kaduna

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OMBINED forces of the Nigerian Army, Department of State Security and plain-clothes policemen yesterday raided a building suspected to be a hideout of a Boko Haram commander, who is said to be on the run.

The suspected Boko Haram chief and the occupants of the building are at large.

Located on 4, Fulani Road, Ungwan Dosa in Kaduna

From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

North Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the building was said to have been leased out to Mallam Muhammed Mai Borno, who was said to have moved into the building with his wife.

A neighbour, who preferred anonymity, said the man moved in after the rainy season.

HIGH Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at Maitama, Abuja, has granted permis-

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sion to former Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako to sue the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, for alleged wrongful transfer of his (Nyako’s) case from Yola to Bauchi State.

Justice Ishaq Bello granted Nyako leave on March 12 while ruling on an ex parte application to that effect.

With the leave, Nyako can initiate the case to compel Justice Auta to return the file he withdrew from Justice

APC condemns ‘shooting’ of student by suspected PDP thugs •PDP: allegation untrue From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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When our correspondent visited, people were taking pictures of the bullet-ridden building.

It was discovered that the owner was whisked away by security agents and the suspected Boko Haram member was said to have escaped.

The Assistant Director, Public Relations Department, 1 Division, Col. Abdul Usman, said he was yet to be briefed on the matter.

Nyako gets court’s permission to sue chief judge From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

•Nyako

“When we asked after his children, he said they were in school in the Northeast.

We discovered that he always travels. We never suspected anything until we started hearing gunshots in the night,” he said.

Another neighbour, Usman Ahmed, said the security teams arrived about midnight and a few minutes later, the area was cordoned off.

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has condemned the alleged shooting of a student at Agbamu in Irepodun Local Government by suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs.

The victim, Tope Fadile, is said to a National Diploma (ND2) student at the Federal Polytechnic, Offa.

The PDP governorship candidate, Senator Simeon Ajibola, was said to have stormed the local government on Tuesday.

But the PDP denied the allegation, claiming that its campaign team was not in the council on that day.

The Chairman, Publicity Committee of the PDP, Rex Olawoye said: “We were never in Agbamu yesterday. We arrived Ilorin yesterday about 9am and we were in Agbamu late the previous night. We don’t know how they could have measured the number of supporters that night.”

Bilikisu Aliyu of the Yola division of the Federal High Court, to enable her deliver the judgment she reserved in the case.

Nyako initiated the suit to challenge the process leading to last year’s impeachment.

The suit, a fundamental rights’ enforcement case, with the House of Assembly and others as defendants, was one of the two suits filed by the ex-governor shortly after his impeachment.

Nyako, in the suit filed in November, alleged that he was denied fair hearing by the impeachment panel, which recommended that he be removed from office.

Justice Aliu concluded hearing and adjourned till February 12. Before the delivering of judgment, Justice Auta called for the case file on the grounds that a petition was written against Justice Aliu

by Adamawa State Chief Judge Justice Ishaya Banu through his lawyer, Festus Keyamo, complaining that he was denied fair hearing after Justice Aliu refused his application to be made a party in the suit.

On concluding his investigation of the petition, Justice Auta transferred the case to the Bauchi division of the court, a decision Nyako objected to.

PDP campaign coordinator defects

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HE Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) governorship campaign coordinator in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, Alhaji Akilu Ishaku Kuta, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kuta, a former vice chairman of the local government, defected with over 1,500 supporters at the APC governorship rally in Kuta.

He said: “Over the years, there has not been any development in the local government under this admin-

From Jide Orintunsin, Minnna

istration. During the time of ex-Governor Abdulkadir Kure, local governments executed people-oriented projects. But it’s not the case now. Local governments are not performing in this PDP administration and this is why we quit the party.”

The leader of the party and Deputy Governor Ahmed Musa Ibeto, receiving the defectors, urged them to work for the success of APC by voting for its candidates.

25-YEAR-OLD man, Shaibu Tanko, has been arraigned at a Kano Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly stabbing a commercial driver to death.

The police said the suspect contracted the deceased, Lawan Dauda, 24, to carry goods from Kano to Zaria.

Police Information Report said: “You, Shaibu Tanko of

From Kolade Adeyemi Kano

8, Imam Road in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State engaged Lawan Dauda to convey goods from Kano to Zaria.

You stabbed him in the stomach with a knife on the Kaduna Highway and he died on the spot.”

The case was adjourned till April 30 for further hearing.

Students protest ‘provost’s kidnap’

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HERE was violence at Katsina Ala in Benue North East Senatorial District, following the alleged kidnap of the Provost of the College of Education, Katsina Ala, Dr. Hans Senwua.

The victim was allegedly kidnapped between 9 and 10 pm on Tuesday.

On Wednesday and yesterday, over 10,000 students of the institution protested the kidnap.

They made bonfires,

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

blocked major streets, pulled down billboards and set ablaze the campaign offices of parties.

Governor Gabriel Suswam described the protesters as hoodlums, who were being used to cause crisis. He advised patients to warn their children to desist from protests.

The Ministry of Education has shut the college and ordered the students out of campus.

Amaechi: The courage of his convictions •Continued

fron Back Page

Regardless, Governor Amaechi built stuff and he is said to have performed in his time, better than all his predecessors.

One has not been to Rivers for a long time during his tenure but perceptive friends and family members who live there tell me so upon enquiry. They speak about his grand vision, his bold, fearless constitution and his expansive and down-to-earth nature. They think he is a leader in the classic sense who has provided inspirational leadership.

Great; but we are concerned here today by the manifest courage of his convictions. He did the uncommon by standing up to a presidency which was transforming into a leviathan. In Nigeria’s queer federalism presidency often gets carried away and act like a monarchy or benevolent dictator. From the seat of power in Aso Rock, Abuja, presidents hold court and make the states their footstools.

The king and the community field They contrive all forms of aberrant actions to subvert the polity and subjugate the states.

For instance, the presidency arrogated to itself the powers to keep and release the national revenue at its time and according to its whims. If there are any accounts from the accruing agencies, they are opaque and shoddy. The presidency simply hands down to the federating states, just any figures that pleases it and this has been going on in the last 16 years. It does not matter that it is against the constitution; in fact, there are so many harmful practices against the constitution, the state and the people which our presidents can just simply JETTISON and expand the democratic and social spaces. But they would rather not.

In the last two years, Governor Amaechi has been contending with the presidential leviathan that seeks to constrict our spaces all the more. It is analogous to the story of a king who keeps encroaching on the community playing field. Each time he finds a reason to take a little more; if nobody challenges him, he carries on until he takes it all. Anyone who stands up to the rapacious king is easily accused of seeking to dethrone him. Yet everyone benefits from the community playing field.

Such has been the dilemma of Amaechi. If the wife of a president could snatch a microphone from an elected governor in public and tongue lash him, you can only imagine what goes on with lesser mortals. If a president can choose to abort the election of governors’ forum and in fact, set the body in disarray, there is no telling the magnitude of presidential powers.

When an entire state; treasury, governor and all, are virtually surrendered to the first family to do with as they like, then we cannot claim to be under a civil rule. It is indeed this strain of uncivil actions that Governor Amaechi has stood up gallantly against in the last few years to his near peril.

We salute his courage.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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NEWS NNPC tackles Emir Sanusi over missing $20 billion

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HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Tuesday attacked the former Central Bank of Nigeria and current Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, accusing him of attempting to hang the corruption tag on it by all means.

The emir had in an interview on Wednesday with CNN said the issues surrounding the alleged missing $20 billion oil revenue have still not been adequately addressed.

Mr. Sanusi had last year accused the NNPC of not accounting for $49.8billion oil money.

He later reviewed the sum to $20 billion after a reconciliation of the figure by the NNPC, the Federal Ministry of Finance and other government agencies.

The NNPC claimed the money was used for subsidy payment for kerosene and pipeline maintenance.

Amid public pressure, the government commissioned an independent audit of the NNPC, by the PriceWaterHouseCoopers, but has refused to release the report long after the probe was completed.

Mr. Sanusi told the CNN on Wednesday that in spite of the audit, the issue of the billions of dollars paid as kerosene subsidies without appropriation by the National Assembly in defiance of a presidential order was not sufficiently addressed.

“We don’t know who authorised those payments,” The Emir said. “Yet, no one has owned up to say I authorised the payments, or I made a mistake. It must stop. ”I think those issues need to be addressed and until we address them and begin to close all the loopholes in government revenues, we are going to continue to create opportunity for the destruction of the economy.

However, the NNPC in its reaction on Thursday raised strong objections to Mr. Sanusi’s claims, describing it as “the latest gambit” against the findings of the Senate Committee on Finance and the audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The NNPC in the statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe, said the issue of kerosene subsidy was addressed by the Senate Committee on Finance.

According to Mr. Alegbe, the process of implementing the Presidential directive was not followed through by the Minister of Petroleum Resources at that time as required by law, which technically meant that kerosene subsidy was not removed.

Buhari’s wife: APC’ll end trafficking, widow’s pains

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LL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, said yesterday that her husband, if elected, would tackle girl-child trafficking and end widows’ suffering.

Mrs. Buhari, who spoke at an APC women rally in Benin City, the Edo State capital, said there would be a cultural design to accommodate widows and make the girl-child comfortable.

Addressing a huge crowd at the Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, she listed her husband’s plans for the country.

Mrs. Buhari said her husband, who ruled between 1983 and 1985, was returning to sanitise the system.

She wondered why some politicians were afraid of being jailed if her husband became the president.

The wife of the APC standard-bearer said Nigeria need-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

ed somebody like Gen. Buhari to solve insecurity and other problems.

She said: “We are not here to campaign but to thank Edo APC women for educating the electorate. Our problems differ in each zone of the country.

We have our peculiar problems. For me, in this zone, girlchild trafficking should be considered as one of the problems.

“I know there is unemployment, which is a major factor that contributes to brain drain and girl-child trafficking. Gen. Buhari is coming back to sanitise the system. For those campaigning that he is coming to jail Nigerians, I don’t know what they are afraid of because we are yearning for change.

“He has been contesting and they have been using religion as a campaign issue. I’m happy that Nigerians have discovered that they use religion to ground the country. Whoever talks to you about religion is a

For those campaigning that he is coming to jail Nigerians, I don’t know what they are afraid of because we are yearning for change liar and wants to loot the little resources you want to enjoy. Say no to those merging religion with politics.

“I am here to let Edo women know that when my husband is elected, insecurity, girl-child trafficking and suffering of widows will end.

They don’t need to go and prostitute somewhere to survive.

“We are here to let you

know that the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) is important. Don’t sell it. If you sell it for N5,000, you won’t see N5,000 again till the next four years.”

Governor Adams Oshiomhole said the change advocated by the APC was for the people to choose between darkness and light.

He said Gen. Buhari would return the country to production and make the refineries work.

Oshiomhole said: “When Gen. Buhari was the minister of Petroleum, women did not buy kerosene for N170. When he was the minister of Petroleum, he knew that it does not make sense to export crude oil and import fuel to Nigeria.

They built the Kaduna refinery. They ensured that the Warri refinery worked so that your children would have somewhere to work. But today, the refineries are closed.

The jobs are gone. If you are happy about the closure of the

refineries, vote for the past, but if you want the refineries to work, vote for Buhari.

“People must understand the content of this change we are talking about. PDP said kerosene is N50, but women bought it at N170. For 16 years, the PDP could not fix electricity. I provide transformers for communities, but it is the responsibility of the PDP- Federal Government to provide electricity. Buhari is bringing change. Do you want to continue paying for electricity when they deliver darkness?

“Don’t believe those using religion as an electioneering campaign because Christians and Muslims are suffering epileptic power supply. Some people will hold Bible in the day and carry AK 47 rifle at night. Our problem is not religion but who will make the country work and provide power. In 16 years of democracy, Nigeria has become a laughing stock in Africa. We need a man like Buhari, a man with honour and courage.

Those afraid of Buhari know why they are afraid.”

Progressives governors meet Monday From Tony Akowe, Abuja

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•Executive Secretary Ikosi-Isheri Development Area Council, Lagos State, Mr Afolabi Bamise Kazeem (third right); Supervisor for Agriculture Mr Tunde Adetunji (third left); Head of Agriculture Department Michael Dawudu (second left) during the presentation of gas cylinders to beneficiaries by the local government at its secretariat in Lagos.

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APC candidate to revamp economy

LL Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday reassured Nigerians yesterday that he will revamp the ailing economy if elected on March 28.

Gen Buhari, who addressed the Arewa Community in Agege, a Lagos suburb, promised to deliver the dividends of democracy.

He urged the people to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and vote for him, adding that he would assist market women in their business.

Gen Buhari lamented the poor state of the transportation industry, adding that the Nigerian Airways, the railway system and water transportation have collapsed.

The APC presidential candidate who spoke on Hausa assured farmers of the party’s

By Wale Adepoju and Everistus Onwuzurike

support to boost food security.

He promised to defend the welfare of the soldiers and other security agencies.

APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu urged President Jonathan to vacate his post to allow for fresh ideas.

According to him, Nigerians gave him a chance, but he failed. Tinubu said: “He said he wanted to repeat a class but we said no. You entered a class; you did not repeat but started again. You failed your Abuja seat, only one villa they called Aso Rock. So, you cannot repeat. Go home.”

Tinubu urged the people to show President Jonathan a red card, adding: “Out of 16 years, you were given six years, which is one third but you made the condition worse.”

Tinubu chide the president

for the hyperinflation presently plaguing the country, saying sugar price, among others have increased.

“The exchange rate has gone high, no more business even pepper sellers are unable to grind.”

He told the people to choose wisely, adding: “If Mr President is given another six years he would still not perform. Now we want a man who has done it before. A man of honesty, a man they call Mr Gaskiya.”

Alluding from the “Animal farm”, an allegory by George Orwell, Tinubu said: “All the Animals gathered together, and began to tell each other the story of their wives. One said my wife does not have respect; the other said his wife tells lies a lot, and another said his wife is a thief, she does not bath and she is very dirty. The last one said they are all small

cases, that his wife does not have shame.

“Anybody who does not have shame would definitely do all these things: steal, lie and stay dirty.”

Besides, those at Aso Rock are shameless.

“That is why we have broom to sweep them out.

Vote for APC and we would keep you working. We can create more jobs. We can feed our children in school and give them one meal daily. We can grow grain again,” Tinubu said.

At the rally were Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN), former House of Representatives Speaker Hon, Gaali Na’aba, All progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, Alhaji Kabiru Ahmed and Mr Kayode Opeifa, Commissioner for Transport.

OVERNORS of the All Progressives Congress (APC), under the auspices of the Progressives Governors Forum, will meet on Monday in Owerri, the Imo State capital, to deliberate on the elections and finetune strategies for victory.

A statement by the Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum, Salisu Mohammed Lukman, in Abuja, yesterday, said the meeting would be chaired by the presidential candidate of the party, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Deaconess Olugbani dies at 73

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E A C O N E S S W i n i f r e d Olufunmilayo Olugbani (nee Onabote) from Ode-Remo, Ogun State, is dead. She died on March 10.

She was 73.

She was a retired educationist and a head teacher in primary schools in Lagos State. She retired as an educational administrator.

The deceased is survived by her husband, Justice Moshood Olugbani (rtd.) and children, one of whom is Chief Bolanle Olugbani.

Funeral arrangement will be announced by the family.

Cecilia Ibru: Court fixes April 22 for hearing of suit over seized assets

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Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 22 for hearing in a suit filed by convicted former Managing Director of the defunct Oceanic International Bank Plc, Cecilia Ibru?.

Mrs Ibru is, by the suit, challenging the alleged illegal implementation of the terms of the plea bargain and settlement agreement leading to her conviction in October 2010, which saw her forfeit-

ing assets valued at about N191bn to the Federal Government.

Hearing had been stalled in the case before Justice Ahmed Mohammed, owing to the last strike by judiciary workers in January.

Ibru, who sued for herself and some others, wants the court to among others, nullify the striping of the assets and the subsequent sale of Oceanic Bank to Ecobank Plc

on the ground that it was not part of the plea-bargain and settlement agreement which she signed on her conviction on an amended charge.

They urged the court to declare the sale of the defunct bank “a sham, misconceived, mischievous and of no legal consequences”.

The plaintiffs also urged the court to declare that Aero Contractors Nigeria Limited was not on the list of assets

she forfeited to the Federal Government as part of her plea bargain.

They are equally seeking a declaration that any attempt

by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria to “take over the airline or attach its assets as ultra vires and of no legal consequences”.

Other plaintiffs in the suit include Sidochem Industries Ltd., Edgar Sido and Dr. Francis Sido. They listed the At-

torney-General of the Federation (AGF) and AMCON as the defendants.

The plaintiffs had sued following an ex parte order obtained by AMCON from a Federal High Court in Lagos on November 12, 2014 against Sidochem Industries Limited, the company’s Managing Director, Edgar Sido, and two others for the recovery of a N433.5m allegedly owed the defunct Oceanic Bank, which

AMCON had acquired.

In opposing the order, which empowered AMCON to take over assets linked to the company, including Aero Contractors, the plaintiffs argued that the corporation had mischievously obtained the ex-parte order without disclosing material facts contained in the plea bargain agreement she entered with the Federal Government.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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FOREIGN NEWS

Theme: Vote wisely, Choose well and be Rewarded!

China and Japan hold security talks

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Text:”..... one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part.....” (Luke 10:42)

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N our dealings in life, we are always faced with choices of who to serve and obey (human beings or God; physical or spiritual; temporal pleasures or eternal blessings), who to follow, where to go and how to go, what to do or what to leave undone among two or more options. The challenge of choice is more manageable within the clime of the economically challenged than people with wealth.

Problems of choice among the rich begin with the choice of what to eat among the lashings of foods and drinks in the store, kitchen and refrigerator to what to wear and shoe to put on from their walk-in wardrobes and shoe-racks to the automobile to take out from the fleet of vehicles etc.

Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus had this problem of choice when Jesus Christ visited them at their house at Bethany and both of them were torn between taking care of Jesus Christ and sitting at His feet to listen to His word. They were caught in the web of choice between temporality and eternity. Martha chose the former. She went to the kitchen and was preparing Jesus’ meal while Mary chose the latter, she sat under Jesus’ feet to listen to the word of God. This drew the ire of Martha who apparently was so distressed and “distracted with much serving” and frustrated that her sister wasn’t helping but sat at His feet while she did all the work. Jesus then replied her that the choice that Mary made was the only needful thing while her own part was needless. He added that the choice of Mary was not only needful but it’s a part that no one can ever take from her.

Mary of Bethany was a lady that knew the right way and pursued it without counting the cost or minding whose ox is gored (Luke 9:62). One day, Jesus Christ visited her family with the disciples at Bethany and while all were seated to eat, Mary had the option of using her costly perfume on herself and ‘wasting it’ as Judas Iscariot assumed when he said in John 12:5-6 that “why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein”. Mary broke the costly ornament on Jesus Christ and also used her hair to rub it on His leg.

By implication, she used all that money could buy (costly ointment) and what money couldn’t buy (the hair on her head) to give honor to Jesus Christ.

Mary voted for the better of the options and was acknowledged

by Jesus Christ that she chose wisely. She voted for the manna from above, she chose Jesus Christ who is “..... the bread of life....” (John 6:35) and had the guarantee never to hunger or thirst. Mary chose to meditate on the word of God and strained herself to do all that was written therein hence she had good success (Joshua 1:8 cf 2 Timothy 2:15).

She didn’t lose her reward as Jesus Christ promised that “....Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her”

(Matthew 26:13).

By “choosing the better,” Jesus meant that those whose priority in life is Christ, the knowledge of Him, and nearness to Him have chosen what will last through eternity, such as the “gold, silver and costly stones” referred to in 1 Corinthians 3:11-12. From this incident, we learn that those who are distracted with mundane and earthly cares are building upon the foundation with “wood, hay and straw,” materials which will not stand the fire that come to us in times of testing, nor will they be remembered in eternity.

It is quite clear that many choose things that are needless, like Martha, as against the things that are needful; a lot of people opt for things that have temporal value to ways of eternal life while others choose to be selfish as against being selfless. It is important to remind you that things of this world shall pass “... away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17). Solomon in Proverbs 27:24 said that “... riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation”. Jesus Christ encourages us to “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed”. (John 6:27) Beloved, kindly note that what you vote for today and choices you make will determine your joy and peacetomorrow. In all your choices, you must choose the things that are needful as against the ones that are needless; you must opt for the things that no one can take away from you and not the things that wouldn’t last. The food we are eating today has a limited time to function as against the meal of love you share with the less-privileged. Are you aware that the expensive clothes you are purchasing now will become rags in due course but the clothing provided for the naked will remain indelible in their hearts and there will be a record in heaven. Maybe, you need to be reminded that your love for latest electronics expires the moment that purchase has been made as newer ones will be introduced to the market almost immediately. Solomon said that “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?”

(Ecclesiastics 5:11).

Are you serving at the tables or learning at His feet? Are you concerned and troubled about pecuniary gains and benefits for yourself and your family as against the kingdom of God and it’s righteousness? Are you living for yourself alone or using what God has blessed you with for the benefit of other people? It needs be said that the choices you make today determines how you will be rewarded here on earth and of course when this world shall be no more - choose wisely as nothing lasts forever!

Prayer: Lord, give me grace to be like Mary of Bethany and not her sister Martha. When my life ends here, make me worthy of your heavenly crown, in Jesus’ name.

HINA and Japan are holding their first highlevel security talks in four years, following recent tensions over territorial and historical issues.

The meeting in Tokyo among officials comes ahead of trilateral talks with South Korea on Saturday.

The last round of talks was in 2011, before ties worsened over a row over islands in the East China Sea. China also claims Japan has failed to adequately atone for aggression in World War Two. But the BBC’s Celia Hatton in

Beijing says relations are slowly improving and at the top of the meeting’s agenda is the establishment of a maritime communication hotline.

There have been fears that a clash - accidental or otherwise between Chinese and Japanese paramilitary vessels patrolling waters around the disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, could trigger a conflict.

Japan’s deputy foreign minister told reporters that both sides hoped to “especially discuss intentions and thoughts behind each other’s defence policy.”

Nine suspects arrested over Tunis attack

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INE people have been arrested in connection with Wednesday’s gun attack in Tunis that left 23 people dead, including 20 foreign tourists, the Tunisian presidency says.

It alleged that four were directly linked to the attack and five had “ties to the cell”.

The army will also be deployed to major cities, the presidency added.

In another development, Islamic State said in an audio message that it was behind the at-

tack.

It said the attack was carried out by “two knights of the caliphate” and named them as Abu-Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu-Anas al-Tunisi.

The statement was published by Twitter accounts known to be reliable primary sources of IS propaganda.

One of two gunman involved in the Bardo museum attack, named by Tunisian officials as Yassine Laabidi, was reportedly known to the authorities.

UN accuses IS of genocide

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ORE than a dozen bodies were unearthed from a mass grave near the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit yesterday, as a new U.N. report said Islamic State militants may have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during their rampage across the country.

The grim discovery and the report’s findings — detailing

mass killings, torture and rape — raised fears that more atrocities could be uncovered as Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias claw back territory from the extremist group.

Iraqi authorities in Salahuddin province unearthed 13 bodies in the district of al-Boajeel, east of the city of Tikrit, where security forces and Shiite militias are engaged in a large-scale offensive against the militants.

NEWS Yoruba leaders reject Jonathan’s endorsement Continued from page 4

ed one day.”

Aregbesola added: “I don’t know why any reasonable Yoruba leader will ask us to vote for an inept and an incompetent government that has failed to rescue over 200 girls that were abducted almost a year ago.”

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi regretted that the Jonathan administration had relegated Yoruba to the background. He said of the first 50 positions in the country, Yoruba occupy only two.

Ajimobi said now is the time for us to vote in a government that will protect our interest.

The vice presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, thanked the Yoruba and Nigerians for enduring bad government in the past 16 years.

Osinbajo said: Those in government also know that all is not well with the country and the people they govern.

He urged Nigerians, particularly unemployed youths, to be resilient because there will be change on March 28.

Afenifere deputy leader Senator Ayo Fasanmi advised Nigerians, particularly the Yoruba, to reject money being offered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to entice them to vote for the party. He wondered why a government whose tenure would terminate in two months was still appointing ministers.

Former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said true federalism and devolution of power were given priority in the APC manifesto. He ad-

THE ROLL CALL Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Hon Wale Oshun, Pa. Ayo Fasanmi, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Senator Tony Adefuuye Ambassador Olu Sanu, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, Chief Moses Adeyemo, Oyo State Deputy Governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Bishop Felix Ajakaye, Chief Olajumoke Ogunkeyede, Chief Kola Daisi, Chief Bayo Oyero, Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, Princess Bisi Sangodoyin, Prof. Adebayo Williams, Professor Wale Omole, Gen. Samuel Ogbemudia, Chief Taye Ayorinde, Professor Babalola Borisade, Chief (Mrs.) Rita Lori-Ogbebor, Hon. Bola Ilori, Chief Bayo Akande, Senator Bayo Salami, Chief Tola Adeniyi, Mr. Dele Alake, Oyo state Deputy Governor, Moses AlakeAdeyemo; Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN); Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN); Senator Olabiyi Durojaye, Senator Sola Adeyeye and Senator Babafemi Ojudu Prof. Akin Oyebode; National President, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Chief Bayo Oyero; Director General, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Mr Dipo Famakinwa; Industrialist, Chief Kola Daisi and Former Ekiti State Governmor Niyi Adebayo. There were representatives of Yoruba speaking people from Kwara, Kogi and Delta States in attendance. The traditional rulers include the Olubadan of Ibadanland represented

by Chief Eddy Oyewole, the Akarigbo of Remoland Oba Michael Sonariwo, Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Ganiyu Salawu, Oba Samuel Ajegbotola, Soun of Ogbomoso represented by Chief Samuel Otolorin.

vised the Yoruba to always stand up to fight for their rights.

Fayemi said: “We should not turn ourselves into slaves or beggars all in the name of survival. The Yoruba are the leading light of the country; we should not relegate ourselves to renegades.”

Former Osun State Governor Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola advised the Yoruba to always be their brothers’ keepers. He said our problem is rooted in political differences. We should not allow politics to divide us, he advised.

Leader of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) Hon Wale Oshun said the Yoruba had always been in the forefront

of the struggle for true federalism and devolution of power.

The Secretary-General of the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), Senator Tony Adefuye, said the Yoruba leaders promoting Jonathan are not protecting the interest of the race.

According to Adefuye, the YUF, made up of Afenifere and others visited Jonathan twice on the marginalisation of Yoruba in appointments to federal positions. Jonathan never did anything to correct the anomalies, he said, adding: “what is the basis for endorsing him?”.

Sen. Olabiyi Durojaiye advised the Yoruba to vote for the presidential candidate who would serve their interest.

‘Elections must hold on schedule’ Continued from page 4

Adegoroye said Yoruba are not in the rank of becoming the Chief Executive in so many Federal Government agencies, departments or parastatals in the next 10 years.

After reviewing how the Southwest got to its present state where it is “marginalised in political appointments, federal projects and other areas”, the leaders issued a communique decried the erosion of Yoruba values, virtues, and morals.

The meeting affirmed that the marginalisation of Yoruba had attained a deliberate policy of the central government and intensified under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. The marginalisation, according to them extended to Itsekiri land.

The leaders expressed concern about attempts to invade Yoruba land and frowned at those they referred to as “misguided elements” in Yoruba land who have resorted to brazen violence.

They decried alleged decimation of entrepreneurial ambitions of people in the region.

The communique reflecting the the Yoruba Assembly DEMANDS states: •”Yoruba land will not be an

occupied territory •Yoruba must pursue their destiny in line with the development priorities and ambitions of her people. .The creation of a structural environment for effective devolution of powers to the country’s constituent units as a strategic development imperative.

•”A repeal of laws and policies that stifle the creativity of her people.

•”The dismantling of all pseudo-security agencies that impede peace, harass and terrorise citizens in order to enforce predetermined agenda that are not consistent with the wishes of Yoruba people.

• “That regional competitiveness should be the basis and indeed the key driver of growth and development of Nigeria, recognising that the creative spirit and latent capabilities of the country reside within the geo-political zones.

• “That the effectiveness of the Federal Government of Nigeria lies on focusing on the critical issues of governance that are common to all components, like defence, national security, foreign affairs, currency and exchange rate, etc, while all other socio-economic responsibilities, especially that of resource control, devolve to the federating

units.

• “The removal of all bottlenecks in the way of provision of effective and efficient transportation system, electricalpower, and petroleum refining infrastructure.

• “The facilitation of a fully diversified economy, moving away from the existing monoproduct scenario to one in which the federating units can leverage on their endowment and productive resources.

• ”The resolutions of the National Conference failed to resolve fundamental issues that are the prerequisite to a sustainable federalism and without which the few useful recommendations would become meaningless.

• “Finally, Yoruba people hereby state categorically that the General Elections scheduled to commence on Saturday, March 28, 2015 MUST not be postponed or jeopardised. Yoruba people will not countenance any form of unelected government, be it Government of National Unity, Interim National Government or howsoever described.

• Yoruba people will not hesitate to take our destiny in our own hands in the event of any attempt to compromise our democratic existence.”

We won’t concede territory to sect again, says Jonathan Continued from page 4

and Maiduguri.

The PDP gubernatorial candidate Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri while assured the president that Yobe state will be delivered to the PDP. As the military intensifies mop up of liberated areas in Borno State, troops have uncovered many bodies in wells in Bama.

The bodies were suspected to be those of who were either held hostage or resisted Boko Haram insurgents.

The screening of Bama was still in progress as at last night.

According to defence sources, the bodies were discovered during the mop up operation in Bama.

A top defence source said: “The capture of Bama has led to the discovery of horrendous

atrocities perpetrated by terrorists while their hold on the town lasted, and as they fled.

“A large number of bodies were discovered in wells apparently of some of their hostages or those who resisted them. ”Aside those whose bodies were thrown inside wells, others were also said to have been executed on the River Bama Bridge as the terrorists fled the town.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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NEWS Our plans for tradesmen, artisans, by Buhari

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• Gen. Buhari (middle); Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (third left); Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (third right); his Rivers State counterpart Rotimi Amaechi (second left); Lagos APC governorship candidate Akinwunmi Ambode; Hon. Abike DabiriErewa (right); Mrs Bisi Fayemi (left) and Lagos APC Women Leader Mrs Kemi Nelson...yesterday.

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LL Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has said he does not believe in tokenism when it comes to protection of the rights of the girlchild and women.

Gen. Buhari spoke yesterday at a Town Hall meeting with women in Lagos. He said 20 years after the Beijing conference, women in Nigeria have not benefitted from the promises made at the forum, adding that there is still discrimination against women in public institutions and in the private sphere, particularly in education, economic empowerment and political participation.

The retired General said he is on a mission to restore Nigeria’s fading glory and reposition the country on the path

LL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen Muhammadu Buhari vowed yesterday to improve the fortunes of artisans and tradesmen if elected president.

He said his administration would provide soft loans for small businesses, improve power supply to reduce their running costs, and provide security to enable them practice their trade in a safe environment.

According to him, APC recognises the value of tradesmen and artisans as vital components of the economy, and without them, economic progress and job creation

I’m on a rescue mission, says Buhari

•APC candidate promises new lease of life for women

By Raymond Mordi

to greatness and that this will not be possible without addressing the needs and concerns of those who constitute half of the population.

Gen. Buhari noted that what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has done in the last 16 years with regards to women and the girl-child amounts to mere tokenism and that he intends to give the country a new direction.

He told the gathering that an APC government under his leadership would ensure that gender is mainstreamed in government’s commit-

ments in key areas such as the economy, education, health, security, good governance, power and agriculture. The APC standard bearer said he would ensure that the 2005 National Gender Policy, which is a roadmap for the promotion of women’s empowerment and gender equality, is implemented.

“So far, there has been no political will to implement this very critical framework,” he added.

The APC presidential candidate said his government would be committed to the promotion of anti-discrimination legislations and policies, to afford women equal-

ity and equity, especially in employment, education, housing and entrepreneurship and that it would include gender as a component of the Federal Character. He said his administration will have zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.

On whether his government would pay unemployment benefits to vulnerable groups like women, Buhari said it would be difficult to make such promises at a time the economy is in the doldrums. However, he assured the women that an APC administration under him would work towards nurtur-

ing small scale businesses, in partnership with banks.

He noted that this cannot be done without sorting out the power issue and without abolishing waivers, tackling corruption and plugging of leakages or elimination of wastes in governance. After moving round the country on electioneering, the APC candidate said he was almost frightened at a stage, when he confronted the army of unemployed youths at each stop, because he felt that managing such a mob is not going to be easy. “We are sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

If that group decides to sack the elite, the government cannot stop it,” he added.

By Joseph Jibueze

would be impossible.

Speaking during a town hall meeting with different trade associations at the Blue Roof, LTV 8 in Ikeja, Buhari said his administration would focus on empowering small business with a view to reducing unemployment.

“Our government if elected promises to provide basic support to your businesses, especially with regards to power, which constitutes about 30 to 40 per cent of your operational cost and which is eating into your profits. We’re committed to accelerating steady power supply to aid your businesses.

“Regular power supply will mean that you save at least N1,500 a day that you spend on fueling your generators.

That amounts to about N40,000 a month and almost N500,000 per year which you can spend on yourself and family,” Buhari said.

Speaking during the question and answer session, Buhari said the APC government would guarantee soft loans to make access to credit easier.

“You can’t grow the economy without power and credit facilities.

“The loans must be soft – the charges and interest must be very low to encourage businesses. The small industries will be able to employ more Nigerians than the government itself, so it makes more sense to improve the system.

APC government will do this as fast as humanly possible,” Buhari said.

His administration, he added, would study the report of the National Assembly’s probe of the power sector, and would not tolerate corruption.

Promising to fix the roads, Buhari said when one considers how 16 years Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration has resulted in the death of the Nigerian Airways and the Nigerian Shipping Line, one would realise how incompetent the ruling party had been. “Vote PDP out,” he said.

APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu urged the tradesmen and artisans who are yet to collect their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to do so.

He said PVC also stands for “Please Vote Change”, urging them to vote for change to bring in “an intelligent government.”

“You need those who are intelligent to steer the ship of this nation successfully. General Buhari is the person we need this time,” he said.

With reference to claims that Buhari is old to be president, Tinubu reminded the tradesmen and artisans that the late Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe last contested for presidency when they were 74 and 79.

He urged them not to be afraid of soldiers who may be deployed for the poll, telling the women: “The best way to disarm a soldier is to dress well. If you see a soldier, don’t run. Ask him: ‘You no get wife for house?’ I am going to vote.”

Tinubu also reminded them to ensure their fingers are thoroughly washed before going to vote. “Don’t let that powder or foundation remain on your fingers. If you need to use alcohol or spirit to wipe it, do so,” he said.

THE NATION FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

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TODAY IN THE NATION

FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.10 NO. 3159

‘There is no short cut to success. That is why reality show superstars never last. That is why the actress who sleeps her way to stardom as the artiste who sings gibberish to the gallery evolves into a mere...’ OLA TUNJI OL OLADE OLATUNJI OLOLADE

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

T

HIS electioneering season has turned into a drama with several acts and scenes with the ruling party assuming the character of a super dribbler with innumerable tricks.

In Act 1, PDP sponsored series of legal actions against APC’s Buhari to disqualify him and have the coast clear for Jonathan. In Scene 1, supporters of the ruling party contested the qualification of Buhari in the court. A number of these are still waiting to be heard and decided. Buhari, with an equivalent of a Masters Degree from the US War College, is accused of not having the Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent. Who knows, APC may have no candidate after all. In a side show, they also wish him dead with unverifiable claims of terminal illness.

In Act 1 Scene 2, Buhari was alleged to have committed perjury because the Army denied having his certificates which he swore on oath were with that organization. It didn’t matter that other high ranking Generals of Buhari’s age confirmed his declaration. It’s amazing but not surprising that there are judicial officers including SANs willing to take on such baseless cases. ABN of yore had legal representation as well. In these cases we know that the drummer that supplies the beat for the dancing crab is somewhere away from sight.

In Act 2, President Jonathan realized that Nigerians are truly religious people even if many of the sheep and shepherds are godless.

This truth could be exploited in a number of ways, the most sincere and less suspect being to publicly request for a national day of interfaith prayer for peaceful elections, which every true patriot would appreciate. But Mr. President decided to sharpen the division between the faiths, visiting every mega church, knees bent in the full glare of cameras. They prayed for him and in some cases offered him their blessings for reelection. Surrogate pastors went on lecture spree denouncing the opposition and singing the praise of Mr. Jonathan, the messiah.

In Scene 2 of Act 2, it wasn’t enough for the President to show-off his Christianity. It was important for him and his supporters to paint Buhari, his opponent, as the most satanic Muslim on earth. Buhari was demonized as a fundamentalist bent on Islamizing Nigeria. It didn’t matter to them that just as there are Christians in the opposition, so there are Muslims in the ruling party. Neither did it matter that Buhari was the former Head of State who refused to take Nigeria into the Organization of Islamic States. Nor do they now care that Buhari successfully rooted out the Maitatsine sect in Kano. Here political expediency trumps

SEGUN GBADEGESIN gbadegesin@thenationonlineng.net

The last act

•President Jonathan •Gen. Buhari

the truth!

There was Act 3. While the effort to disqualify Buhari was still ongoing, the ruling party decided to diversify its strategy. It sent the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the United Kingdom, not to talk about national security but about the elections. He flew the kite of postponement because the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) had proceeded slowly and voters might be disenfranchised if elections were not postponed. INEC protested that it had made good progress compared with where it was at the same period in 2011. Nigerians and the international community sensed a grand conspiracy.

When the sound and fury of the protest was becoming an embarrassment, Scene 2 of Act 3 was staged with a grand design in full military regalia. Service Chiefs and NSA, citing national security concerns, effectively staged a coup against the February 14 election date on the ground that the battle against Boko Haram had been set to commence on that very day. The military cannot be distracted from that plan, they insisted. The Commander-inChief claimed to know nothing about the plan until it was unfolded. The opposition saw a

Y

OUR vote or your treasury? This is an uncertain time; indeed, it is a treacherous time in the life of our dear country Nigeria. It is a time of buying and selling of conscience, buying and selling of name, of personality, of associations, of ethnic groups and of voters. In fact if you have anything of any value, you can sell it now, pronto! Our traditional rulers like Obas, are selling like hot cake now - in dollar denominations. Their unfortunate counterparts like Obi, Igwes and Emirs have sold in naira. Groups like Ohaneze, Afenifere, OPC, MASSOB, CAN, NANS, celebrities and stars, most of them have cashed in on their names in billions of naira.

Though all the political parties that can afford to are doing it, most of us can see that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its leader, President Goodluck Jonathan are the chief culprit in the on-going money-forvote promo. Never has money been so deployed to woo voters in the annals of Nigeria’s electioneering. It is as if Nigeria’s entire treasury has been emptied for the purpose of this election which partly explains why the economy is prostrate and the land is famished. PDP especially isthrowing money about as if it were the sand of the desert.

It is truly a treacherous time. There is so much perfidy in the air and it seems the country is being disemboweled. We are celebrating a ribald festival of villains and renegades and the atmosphere reeks. All we hear around us are the guffaws of small men who are reveling in today’s ‘burnt offering’ not minding the constipation of tomorrow.

It is akin to the bazaar of the Barbarians; of

landmine and carefully avoided getting ambushed. It appealed to its supporters to remain calm. It worked and the curtain was closed on Scene 2 of Act 3.

Soon there was Act 4. Every perspective observer had concluded from the inception of Scene 2 of Act 3 that the whole episode was to buy time for the ruling party and reduce the yawning gap in popularity between Jonathan and Buhari. In Act 4 therefore we were treated to a re-invigorated campaign on the part of Team Jonathan. They threw caution to the wind and removed the glove of presidential honor and dignity. They took a leave from the playbook of the military as in the days of yearnings for Abacha, except that they cannot afford to stay in Abuja.

In Scene 1 Act 4, Dr. Jonathan relocated to the Southwest with numerous bags of dollar bills which he dished out lavishly in meetings with almost all Yoruba organizations including Afenifere, Yoruba Unity Forum, Yoruba Council of Elders, and OPC. A couple of organizations that he cannot trust, including Afenifere Renewal Group and Igbimo Yoruba Agbaye were left out. The President didn’t leave the meetings without securing the endorsements of a good number of these organizations. One exception was the Yoruba Council of Elders which has denied endorsing the president for reelection.

In Scene 2 Act 4, PDP deployed its governors from their various states to converge on Lagos, ostensibly for their regular meeting. In reality, however, they had a more nefarious mission.

Lagos is the most populous and most diversified state in the federation. It occurred to PDP that its governors must meet with Lagos residents from their various states to sell to them the candidacy of Jonathan. Here it is convenient for PDP to divide Nigerians on the basis of their states of origin. It didn’t matter that this tactic might create tension between indigenes and residents. This scene had a side show featuring Governor Mimiko and his post-

STEVE OSUJI

EXPRESSO

steve.osuji@yahoo.com

•Columnist of the Year (NMMA)

Amaechi: The courage of his convictions National ID card scheme hits the rock again?

F

ASHIONING an identity card for the citizens of this country must be some sort of adventure in the land of no return. Even the first trip to the moon could not have been more troublous. No fewer than three previous times have Nigerian governments tried to identify her citizens but all such attempts have been botched after huge contracts had been awarded.

When a highly regarded professional, Mr. Chris Onyemenam was appointed a few years ago to initiate another national identity gamut, we thought the time was now to kill the serpent; what with today’s vastly improved technology. But we may have rejoiced too soon. After about three years, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is troubled once again.

Since roll out was announced with fanfare over a year ago, nothing more is heard. I don’t know anyone I know who has the National ID. Recently, the major contractor/technical partners of NIMC had to send a long, open letter to the president through several national newspapers. Writing to the president through an open forum means that all other channels of engagement had broken down. It also means going to the court of public opinion.

This is indeed a shame. This scheme failed in the First Republic, the Second Republic, and in Obasanjo’s era. The contractors cry of bad faith; we urge NIMC to seek mediation and ensure utmost integrity in their processes. That is the least we expect for our generation has a point to prove that we can succeed where our fathers failed. The ID scheme is too crucial not to be up and running in this age. We expect a lot more from Chris.

locusts feeding frenzy on the grain fields without a thought about tomorrow.

It is no season for the courageous; for people of noble convictions. It is a time patriots are

confab summits in Akure and Ibadan.

Then there was Act 5. Jonathan decided to bring traditional rulers into the murky water of presidential politics. It didn’t matter to him that every Oba has a diversity of views on politics and religion in his domain. And while our royal fathers still enjoy the respect of their subjects, there is a very thin line between respect and resentment if subjects judge that rulers have overstepped their boundaries.

As in the Abacha era, some royal fathers succumbed to the temptation, abandoning tradition and playing to the gallery of political expediency. This was especially the case in one of the Southwest states with a despicable scum as its governor. In other states, royal fathers were seen in pictures praying with their royal walking stick pointing to Mr. President. In such cases, it could just be prayers for good health and good judgment short of endorsement. But who knows?

Then there was a spectacular Scene 2 of Act 5. Let us call it the redemptive scene. It was the case of the royal father who has always been consistent in dignity and honor speaking truth to power. Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebu Ode, reconfirmed that he is a lion among his peers by sticking to the path of decency. He refused to endorse on the ground that he couldn’t control the voting conscience of his subjects. A voice of reason indeed!

Finally there is Act 6. In Scene 1, Mr. President sneaked into residences at night seeking collaborators to scuttle the whole thing through the ING contraption. If he cannot have it, Buhari will not either. Doyin Okupe has been very clear that Jonathan will not hand over to Buhari. Tinubu was allegedly contacted but refused. Atiku was visited but ended up the following morning with Buhari.

Scene 2 Act 6 is the most bizarre. Just 13 days to the election, “Jega must go” is the desperate scream of militants from MASSOB to OPC. Certainly nine billion naira is no chicken change. What is good for the Southsouth must be good for the Southwest, Gani declared, touting 15,000 potential security job beneficiaries. And Afenifere joined in? The Yoruba have indeed truly evolved! This may be the final act. As I am about to sign off, a message appeared in my inbox. “Jega will be fired before Saturday”, it reads. The curtain is not yet dropped on this drama of political desperados.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080 booed in the market place. We are currently at the crossroads, we are at the bank of the Rubicon; we are actually pulling a tug-of-war and ‘Team Evil’ seeks to pull ‘Team Good’ across the line. We are at a time when darkness threatens to overcome light. It is the new moon of the rampant mob upturning our sacred groves. It is a season that has exposed the latent debaucheries of our debauched elders.

The man who said ‘No’ Reflecting upon this forlorn season, people like Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State comes to mind. One of the few men of courage and convictions left in this clime, when the story of this era is told someday, he is sure to take his place in Nigeria’s emerging dawn. It would be recorded that he was one of the few men stood up to defined this age.

He will stand out not because he governed a state for there are many governors present and past. Not because his state is an oil-rich and strategic one. No, there are richer and more appointed parts of the country. It would not be because he acquitted himself very well in the call of his duty as a governor. A few other governors did quite as well by the standards of the time.

In fact, as we often say, you do not really need a governor to do most of the brick and mortar stuff. Of rephrased, the critical job of a governor is not to build roads and bridges and schools. The key call of a governor is to lead a state by example and to drive whatever noble vision he has set. Where there is a perceptive governor, the ministries, agencies and the citizen would build to the end of the world.

•Continued

on page 57

•For comments, send SMS to 08111526725

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